Crossclimb #654 Answer – February 13, 2026

So, I sat down with puzzle #654 and immediately got stuck on the combo clue: '___ and ___'. I knew it was an alliterative phrase meaning 'talk in a loud, angry way', but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I kept thinking of 'shout' and 'scream' and didn’t realize until a bit later that it was 'rant and rave'. It didn't help that I mixed up the words in my head! At one point, I wrote down 'rant and rattle', which sounded close but was obviously wrong. Once I finally got the combo, the rest of the word ladder started to fall into place. The transitions were fun, especially moving from 'rant' to 'want'. I love how each word hints at the next one. By the end, I was feeling pretty proud of myself for solving it!