What’s the word, bird?
SUNDAY PUZZLE — Hi puzzlers! I’m excited to share my first Sunday puzzle with The Daily! Minis and Links have been such a joy for me over the last semester, so I thought I’d try my hand at a bigger one. As the summer winds down and August rears its surprisingly hot head, I’m getting excited to return to Ann Arbor in just a couple of weeks. When school and work get stressful, I’ve always loved the way crosswords are a small daily challenge for me that makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something and gives me a little win to celebrate. My dad has done the NYT crossword every day for 1,939 days as of today, and I hope this puzzle is at least a little bit fun for him. Big thanks to Milan and Victor for giving this one some zhuzh, and I hope you enjoy! Feel free to reach out to me with comments or questions about the puzzle at lsugawa@umich.edu, or to the team at large at crosswords@umich.edu. Happy puzzling!
Tricky Clues:
11A. The clue, “Frat boy greeting option” refers to DAP, as in to “dap” somebody up. This feels like a pretty young reference, but anyone who has spent time on a college campus in the last five years has likely witnessed or experienced the signature secret handshake that bros everywhere have come to use. I can honestly say that I don’t think I’ve ever done it correctly when given the chance I just awkwardly grab the other person’s fingers.
52A. The clue, “Choir students’ platform” refers to RISERS. I’m not sure that this clue is actually that tricky per se, but I do think that the image of the risers you stand on in choir during middle and high school is one that comes to my mind very easily. It’s such a specific memory that I think anybody who has been exposed to the music of Eric Whitacre can conjure.
69A. The clue, “Mayo, for example” refers to MES, as in “month” in Spanish. “Mayo” is Spanish for “May,” though this clue might have led you to wonder if the clue was asking for something to do with condiments. I often find that the “Spanglish” of my Texan household makes its way into my vocabulary here at college in the midwest which is often confusing (albeit funny) for those around me.
18D. The clue, “What rude customers might leave behind” refers to NO TIP, which actually refers to something the customer actively chooses not to leave for their servers. Although, as a person who has worked in the service industry, when a bad customer leaves, I’d rather them leave absolutely nothing behind, the easier to forget them by.
49D. Another one that is mostly relevant for people who were on the internet in the year 2016. The clue “Whip’s partner” refers to NAE NAE, the dance craze to the song by Silentó which had all of us in a chokehold. That song was on the billboard charts for 53 weeks–whoulda thunk? I remember when the kids at my middle school did it as the big finale at the talent show and everyone got up and danced. Collective consciousness is a weird thing.
Today’s Theme:
Though they be but small, they are mighty! The birds found in this puzzle: MOCKINGBIRD, MOURNINGDOVE, and WHIPPOORWILL all have distinctive calls, and their study is just as much of a mouthful: ORNITHOLOGY. I spent the first part of my summer on a bird-watching kick, and me and my Merlin bird identification app have spent a lot of time together lately. Not a hugely complicated theme, but one I had fun playing with nonetheless!
Answer Key:
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