Once clues such as "Decathlon", "Perfect score (sometimes)" fall into place, check the expressions against dictionaries or everyday usage. If the combined phrase sounds natural, keeps the base word intact, and appears in print or reputable references, it belongs to the solution set. Any construction that demands tense shifts, awkward hyphenation, or rare idioms is usually a decoy.
The final verification step revolves around "X (when counting in rome)". If the clue joins "the shared theme" cleanly and the meaning still matches the clue's domain, the theme is locked. This triple-pass approach — hypothesis, verification, confirmation — prevents guesswork from spiraling and keeps every clue anchored to a real-world phrase or concept.