Hello, fellow puzzlers, and welcome back to the grid!
Every so often, a crossword clue comes along that feels both deceptively simple and wonderfully stubborn. It’s not a wildly obscure piece of trivia or a mind-bending cryptic riddle. Instead, it’s a clue that sits right on the tip of your tongue, a phrase you’ve heard a thousand times, yet it just won’t click into place. Today, we’re diving deep into one such classic crossword clue, a real staple of the daily puzzle:
Comprehensively, thoroughly (2,5)
.
When you first tackle this crossword clue, your brain immediately recognizes the definitional part. “Comprehensively” and “thoroughly” are straightforward synonyms. The setter isn’t trying to trick you with clever wordplay here. The challenge doesn’t lie in understanding what they
mean
, but in finding the exact two-word phrase that fits the specific pattern provided. This is where the real fun of solving a crossword clue begins.
The numbers are our everything here. That little “(2,5)” bracket is the most powerful hint we have. It tells us we’re looking for a very common structure: a two-letter word followed by a five-letter word. Immediately, our mind starts cycling through the usual suspects for that first word. Is it “IN”? “AT”? “ON”? “TO”? “AS”? “BY”? This is the first filtering process. We’re not just looking for any phrase that means “thoroughly”; we’re hunting for one that starts with one of these tiny, essential building blocks of the English language.
Let’s play with a few. “IN…” what? What five-letter word follows “IN” to mean comprehensively? The possibilities start to bubble up. How about “AT”? “AT LARGE” comes to mind, but the meaning isn’t quite right. That’s more about being free than being thorough. This mental gymnastics, this rapid-fire process of proposing and discarding options, is the very heart of the solving experience. You’re not just recalling information; you’re actively testing hypotheses against the rigid structure of the grid.
Of course, in a real crossword puzzle, you rarely solve a clue in a vacuum. This is where the magic of the intersecting letters comes into play. Imagine you’ve already solved a crossing clue and now you have a letter—say, a P—as the third letter of that five-letter word. Suddenly, your search is narrowed dramatically. Any potential five-letter word you were considering must now have a P in that exact spot. This is the beautiful cascade effect of a well-constructed puzzle, where solving one crossword clue directly aids in solving another. The grid starts to talk to you, giving you feedback on your theories.
This particular crossword clue is a perfect example of why we love these puzzles. It’s a test of vocabulary and pattern recognition. It forces you to think about common phrases in a new, structured way. It’s a satisfying little mental workout that relies on pure language logic rather than obscure knowledge. It’s a reminder that sometimes the most challenging answers are the ones hiding in plain sight, waiting for the right combination of logic and letters to bring them into the light.
Available Answers:
INDEPTH.
Last seen on the crossword puzzle: Metro Quick Crossword Clues Wednesday, 12 November 2025