Nellie Tayloe ___, first female governor of a U.S. state (Wyoming)

As a detective solving the mystery of the crossword clue ‘Nellie Tayloe ___, first female governor of a U.S. state (Wyoming)’, my first instinct was to research the history of female governors in the United States. Upon further investigation, it became clear that Wyoming was the first state to give women the right to vote and to elect the first female governor in the country. With this knowledge in mind, I started to look up the names of female governors of Wyoming. The name that stood out to me was Nellie Tayloe Ross, who served as the governor of Wyoming from 1925 to 1927. The clue references her as the first female governor of Wyoming, which perfectly matched the years she served. Therefore, it was a matter of filling in the blanks to arrive at the answer ‘ROSS’. This process highlights the importance of careful research and attention to detail when solving a crossword puzzle or any problem, as well as the value of historical knowledge in cracking clues.