Stumped by this crossword clue? Discover the missing piece!

As a detective, solving the mystery of the crossword clue “‘What ___ missing?’” required a keen sense of observation and an understanding of wordplay. Upon examining the clue, my mind immediately honed in on two potential interpretations. The first possibility was that the missing word could be a question word, like “is” or “are“. However, upon reviewing the structure of crossword puzzles, it became evident that the missing word must be of shorter length to fit the available spaces. This realization led me to the second interpretation: the clue might be a play on the phrase “What’s missing?“. Considering this, I searched for a three-letter word that could fit the puzzle. The answer emerged as clear as day—”‘AMI.’” With this understanding, I deduced that the crossword was cleverly utilizing wordplay, replacing the contraction “What’s” with its abbreviated form, ‘What,’ followed by the missing word: ‘AMI.‘ The satisfaction of unraveling this crossword clue reinforced my belief that a detective’s mind must always remain open to multiple interpretations and ready to discover hidden meanings.