Spread

As a detective trying to solve the mystery of the crossword clue ‘Spread’, I started by analyzing the length of the word, which was seven letters long. The next step was to examine the clues provided in the crossword squares around the word. One of the clues adjacent to the word was ‘disperse’, which led me to consider words such as ‘scatter’ and ‘spread out’. However, looking at the letters already filled in above the blank squares that formed the word, the letters ‘SCAT’ were already visible. Since ‘SCAT’ is a common element in the word ‘scatter’, I tried inserting the word ‘scatter’ into the crossword square, and it perfectly matched the rest of the clues. Hence, the answer to the ‘Spread’ is ‘SCATTER’. It’s incredible how even the most subtle insight can provide the breakthrough in solving a mystery.