Useful information, metaphorically

Once upon a time, there was a little farm in the countryside. The farmer, John, wanted to make delicious bread with his wheat, but he had never made it before. So, he turned to his grandmother for advice.

His grandmother told him that to make good bread, he needed to turn his wheat into grist. John was confused by the term but his grandmother explained that grist was a metaphor for useful information. Just like how wheat needed to be ground into grist to make bread, John needed to gather useful information to bake good bread.

With his grandmother’s advice, John turned his wheat into grist and made delicious bread that he sold at the market. From then on, he always remembered that gathering useful information was like turning wheat into grist, and it helped him in his farming endeavors.

As people started to catch on to John’s delicious bread, they would ask him for advice on how to make bread. John would always tell them about the importance of grist or useful information. And finally, the crossword clues started asking for a metaphor for useful information, and the answer was always GRIST.