A little after the hour

Once upon a time, there was a little clock named Tick. Tick loved to tell time and would chime every hour to announce the new time to his clock friends. One day, during a game of hide and seek, Tick found himself lost in the maze of the clock’s gears and springs. He was so disorientated and confused that he forgot what time it was.

After wandering for a while, Tick noticed a group of numbers scribbled on a piece of paper that had fallen off a shelf. Tick tried to make sense of the arrangement of numbers when he suddenly realized he must have stumbled across a crossword puzzle! Tick remembered his love for puzzles and decided to give it a shot.

The first clue was “A little after the hour” and had only four spaces. Tick racked his brain for a while but then it hit him. It must be “TENPAST“! Tick had learned how to tell time with his clock friends and knew that “ten past” meant it was ten minutes after the hour.

Feeling proud of himself for solving the clue, Tick scurried back to his clock friends, eager to show off his skills. They were all amazed when he told them how he solved the clue and were pleased to have him back. From then on, Tick made sure to never lose track of time and always had fun solving puzzles with his clock friends.