Guarding, as a goal

As a detective, the first thing I would do is analyze the clue and break it down into smaller pieces to see what it might be referring to. The word ‘Guarding‘ suggests protection and keeping something safe. The phrase ‘as a goal’ implies that this guarding is done with a purpose or a destination in mind. From this, I can deduce that the answer must be a verb that describes the act of protecting something valuable or important. My attention then turns to the letters provided in the crossword, and I can see that they suggest the word may be ‘TENDING‘. This offers a satisfied smile to my face, because ‘tending’ means to take care of or look after, which could be used in the context of protecting a goal. It could refer to a goalkeeper tending goal or farmers tending crops, meaning this answer meets the criteria of the clue. By putting these clues together, I was able to confidently solve the mystery of ‘Guarding, as a goal.’