O - Leopard Frog

I don't believe in karma, jinx, or fate. Though something is going on.  It started when I was at my sister's for Thanksgiving.  My brother-in-law was doing a crossword puzzle and I picked it up to see how difficult it was.  After a quick perusal there were two clues I recognized so I announced that I could do that puzzle.  OK, that was a bit brazen.  Since then I haven't been able to do a crossword puzzle without making a mistake in it somewhere.  It's not like I didn't make any mistakes before - I did - just not often.  So instead of considering that I might be doing harder puzzles, suffering from some sort of crossword fatigue, or getting older and losing my faculties, I've decided my sin of hubris has upset  the 'game gods' and I need to confess to assuage them.  Hope this 'mea culpa' is enough of an offering.

The word 'leopard' came into the English language in the 13th century.  It's easy to recognize where the silent 'o' comes from in this word.  In the zodiac constellations, Leo is the lion.  'Leopard' comes from that root word for big cat.