Last in a series

As a detective, the mystery of the crossword clue ‘Last in a series‘ required me to think critically and creatively. Initially, my first thought was that the answer might be ‘final‘ or ‘end‘. However, neither of those options satisfactorily met the criteria of being a short word that would fit within the allotted number of spaces. As I studied the clue more closely, I realized that the word ‘last‘ was a key component, implying that the answer was likely to be the last letter of a sequence. Furthermore, the word ‘series‘ hinted at a mathematical pattern, which led me to consider the concept of ‘n-th‘ in mathematical sequences. Finally, I put the pieces together and realized that the answer to the crossword clue was indeed ‘NTH‘, the mathematical notation that denotes the position of an element in a sequence. This conclusion felt like a true ‘aha!‘ moment – where all the pieces of the puzzle came together – and serves as a testament to the power of critical thinking and deductive reasoning.