Conservative, in a sense

As a detective trying to solve the mystery of the crossword clue ‘Conservative, in a sense‘, I first thought of the word ‘conservative‘. However, I realized that this word alone wouldn’t fit perfectly with the rest of the puzzle, as it required an additional qualifier that would more closely match the sense of the clue. Then, I noticed the phrase ‘in a sense‘, which suggested that the answer would be figurative rather than literal. This led me to consider words that are often synonymous with ‘conservative‘ but could also have a figurative meaning. One word that stood out was ‘cautious‘, as it implies a sense of being careful and measured, which could be seen as a figurative form of conservatism. Upon further consideration, I found that ‘cautious‘ also had the added advantage of fitting with any letters that had already been filled in the puzzle. Therefore, I concluded that ‘cautious‘ was the best answer to the mystery of the crossword clue ‘Conservative, in a sense‘.