With the circled letters, a literal depiction of what you need to win tic-tac-toe? nyt crossword clue

To analyze a crossword clue like "With the circled letters, a literal depiction of what you need to win tic-tac-toe?" we need to break it down into parts and identify the key components—or in crossword terms, the thematic elements involved. 1. **Understanding the Game**: Tic-tac-toe is a simple game of strategy played on a 3x3 grid. Players take turns placing their symbols (X or O) in the squares. Winning requires three of your symbols in a row, column, or diagonal. 2. **Literal Depiction**: The clue suggests that we’re looking for a visual representation involving the "circled letters." Given the context of tic-tac-toe, a potential literal depiction could involve the winning formations (three in a row). 3. **Keywords**: The focus here seems to be on what you "need to win." In tic-tac-toe, three of the same symbol in a line (either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally) is needed for victory. 4. **Top Candidates**: The phrase "three in a row" fits well as it is both a common phrase associated with winning at tic-tac-toe and has appropriate linguistic interplay given that it is a direct requirement to achieve victory in the game. 5. **Using Known Letters**: If you have specific letter placements provided (like the circled letters), those can guide you directly toward the correct word or phrase that represents the concept. Without seeing those letters, "THREE IN A ROW" would be the best educated guess for the answer. 6. **Crossword Strategies**: - Always consider multiple meanings of words used in clues. - Look for puns or references that relate to the theme of the puzzle. - When encountering themed clues, it can help to think about related concepts or phrases commonly used in association with the term. If we were to summarize the final answer based on the clue and these deductions, it would be: **THREE IN A ROW**.