Applied oneself (to) is a phrase that means to put effort into something, usually a task or job. The crossword solutions for this phrase are 'took' and 'gotat'. Took is a verb that means to take or grab something, while gotat is a verb that means to get or obtain something. Therefore, the phrase applied oneself (to) can be interpreted as taking or grabbing an opportunity and putting effort into it in order to get or obtain a desired result.