Three in Italian is TRE. We are to enter it going down, and "in flames" -- that is, contained inside the word FIRE. Today's NYT crossword repeats that idea a few times.
elutionary 3:07 · 2023-12-22T08:31:23.490Z
Ahhh, I see. I found "tre" with Google Translate but couldn't see the connection to "fir tree" thank you!