Spartan You required a lot of hints, but you solved the puzzle, so yes, that's good.
If you really don't understand it, I will explain it. All the words in the puzzle are related to a central theme. The theme is also in the puzzle. All the letters are used, either in the words or in the theme. The phrase at the top is a clue as to what the theme is, but it is often pretty unhelpful.
Two days ago, the theme was Cinderella. The words were things like dance, pumpkin, prince, etc.
Looks like you already figured out that you can get hints by making words that aren't part of the theme.
And that's pretty much it!