Like one’s most natural emotions - NYT Crossword Clue

Introduction

Today's clue, "Like one's most natural emotions," is a great example of a descriptive clue that relies on understanding a common English phrase and a bit of basic grammar. It's asking for a superlative adjective that captures the essence of feelings in their most primal state.

Clue Analysis

The clue can be broken down into two key parts:

1. "Natural emotions": This points to feelings that are unfiltered, unprocessed, and fundamental. Think of gut reactions or deep-seated feelings before the brain has a chance to analyze or temper them.
2. "Most": This is the crucial word that signals we are looking for a superlative adjective. Superlatives are used to indicate the highest degree of a quality, and in English, they often end in "-est" (e.g., fastest, strongest, happiest).

Combining these, the clue is asking for the word that means "the most unfiltered and basic" when describing emotions.

Thinking Approaches

When faced with a clue like this, a solver can use a few different strategies:

1. Word Association: What words do you associate with "natural emotions"? You might think of primal, basic, visceral, or raw. The phrase "raw emotion" is a very common collocation.

2. Grammatical Transformation: Once you land on a good base word like raw, check if it fits the grammatical structure of the clue. The clue asks for the "most" natural, so we need the superlative form. The superlative of raw is rawest, which fits perfectly.

3. Consider the Crossings: If you have a few letters from intersecting clues, you can test your hypothesis. For example, if you have R_W_S_, the word RAWEST becomes a very strong candidate, confirming that your line of thinking is correct.

Background Context

The concept of "raw emotion" is frequently used in psychology, literature, and art to describe feelings that are powerful and authentic because they haven't been socially conditioned or intellectually processed. A character in a novel might display "raw grief" after a loss, or an actor's performance might be praised for its "raw power." The base word, raw, carries this meaning of being in an original, unrefined state, whether it's applied to food (raw vegetables), data (raw data), or a wound (a raw scrape).

Conclusion

By identifying the core concept of "unfiltered feelings" and recognizing the grammatical cue for a superlative ("most"), solvers can quickly connect the dots. The common phrase "raw emotion" provides the base adjective, and the superlative ending "-est" completes the answer, perfectly matching the clue's description.

Hints

1. Hint 1: Think about adjectives that describe something in its most basic, unfiltered state.
2. Hint 2: This word often describes food that hasn't been cooked.
3. Hint 3: The word is a superlative, meaning it ends in a specific suffix indicating 'the most'.
4. Hint 4: It's the superlative form of the word that describes unprocessed data or a sore spot on the skin.