Unlock the Secrets of a Tricky Crossword Clue: What You Can’t Make a Silk Purse Out Of

As a detective solving the mystery of the crossword clue ‘What you can’t make a silk purse out of, proverbially,’ my thought process was to understand the deeper meaning behind the proverb. I started by breaking down the phrase, ‘you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear,’ into individual words and analyzing what they signify. Silk is a luxurious and expensive fabric, while a sow’s ear, on the other hand, is a part of a pig’s body that is not considered desirable. From this, it is clear that the proverb is implying that it is impossible to turn something low-quality or crude into something high-quality or refined.

Next, I looked for clues in the crossword that could lead me to the solution. The word ‘proverbially’ was a key indicator for me as it hinted that the answer was a well-known proverb. As I thought about popular proverbs, ‘you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear’ immediately came to mind. Cross-referencing the length of the answer with the number of empty boxes allowed me to confirm that ‘SOWSEAR’ was the correct answer.

In conclusion, solving the mystery of the crossword clue ‘What you can’t make a silk purse out of, proverbially,’ required an understanding of the proverb’s deeper meaning and the context within which it was used. This, combined with a bit of intuition and knowledge of commonly used proverbs, allowed me to identify the answer as ‘SOWSEAR.’