{"id":5770,"date":"2026-07-12T09:49:05","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T09:49:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2026\/07\/12\/act-1-scene-1\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T09:49:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T09:49:05","slug":"act-1-scene-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2026\/07\/12\/act-1-scene-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Act 1, Scene 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Enter you, a puzzle solver<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><a href=\"https:\/\/games.michigandaily.com\/crosswords\/2026\/07\/12\">SUNDAY<\/a><\/span><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/games.michigandaily.com\/crosswords\/2026\/05\/24\"><strong> <\/strong><\/a><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/games.michigandaily.com\/crosswords\/2026\/06\/28\">PUZZLE<\/a><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/games.michigandaily.com\/crosswords\/2026\/05\/24\"><strong> <\/strong><\/a><strong>\u2014<\/strong><\/span> Hello to all summer solvers! This puzzle was made in honor of my roommate Ella, whose birthday is tomorrow! \ud83c\udf82 (Everyone say happy birthday). Summer is zooming by, and I can\u2019t believe it\u2019s already mid-July. Anyway, I\u2019ve really enjoyed working on this puzzle over the past few weeks, and I hope you all enjoy solving it as well! If you have any questions or comments (or happy birthday wishes for my roommate), please feel free to email me at <a href=\"mailto:jlubke@umich.edu\">jlubke@umich.edu<\/a>. If you have any general comments you can email <a href=\"mailto:crosswords@umich.edu\">crosswords@umich.edu<\/a>. Happy solving!<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tricky Clues<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">9A. First, the clue \u201cHenry VIII\u2019s house\u201d refers to TUDOR, which is something I admittedly knew very little about until making this puzzle. Here\u2019s a quick little history lesson for those interested: The House of Tudor was an English dynasty that was founded after Henry Tudor defeated King Richard III in 1485, which also ended the Wars of the Roses. He then ruled as King Henry VII until his death in 1509, when his son Henry VIII took over the throne \ud83e\udd13. I also am obliged to recommend the musical \u201cSix,\u201d which recounts the stories of his six wives (and also just has some great songs).<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">5D. Thirdly, the clue \u201cKerfuffle\u201d refers to ADO, which means unnecessary fuss or commotion. I wanted to add some smaller Shakespearean references scattered throughout the puzzle, and this one hints toward Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cMuch Ado About Nothing,\u201d of which there is another reference to on this very page. \ud83d\udc40<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">4D. Sixth and lastly, the clue \u201cBest-selling ninja anime\u201d refers to NARUTO. I\u2019m currently slowly making my way through \u201cNaruto: Shippuden\u201d with my brother, and for those who don\u2019t know, there are 500 episodes. We may only be on episode 59, and the animation may sometimes be pretty bad, and the plot may sometimes stall for a few episodes, but I still always look forward to watching an episode.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">54D. Secondarily, the clue \u201cPie cuts, essentially\u201d refers to RADII. This clue reminds me of the best book I\u2019ve ever thrifted, titled \u201cSir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland,\u201d in which the main character and squire, Radius (son of Sir Cumference and Lady Di of Ameter), goes on a quest to earn his knighthood. Ella and I are both big fans of this book, so I was very happy I was able to fit this clue into the puzzle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">68D. To conclude, the clue \u201cCubby hole?\u201d refers to DEN. This is a purposely misleading clue, since you might at first be fondly thinking of the storage compartment that, at least personally, I haven\u2019t seen since preschool. However, this clue actually is referring to a bear or cub\u2019s home.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Today&#8217;s Theme<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My inspiration for this puzzle was based on Ella&#8217;s love for Shakespeare. We\u2019ve seen many plays together over the past few years, so I wanted this puzzle to be themed around something she really enjoys. In this puzzle, I hid the clues to the revealer in circles that are part of other entries. As you can see below, the circled letters spell out the phrase \u201cTO BE OR NOT TO BE,\u201d the beginning of one of Hamlet\u2019s most famous soliloquies. The revealer can then be found at 38-Across as PRINCE OF DENMARK, as that is Hamlet\u2019s royal title in the play. Hamlet also happens to be Ella\u2019s favorite play, as well as one of my favorites, so I had a lot of fun crafting the puzzle around this theme. I hope you enjoyed solving this puzzle, and happy birthday Ella! [Exit]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Answer Key:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" width=\"752\" height=\"752\" data-attachment-id=\"613110\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/crosswords\/constructor-notes-2026-07-12\/attachment\/image-678\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.michigandaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-1.png?fit=752%2C752&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"752,752\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"image\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.michigandaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-1.png?fit=752%2C752&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.michigandaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-1.png?resize=752%2C752&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-613110\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/crosswords\/constructor-notes-2026-07-12\/\">Act 1, Scene 1<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\">The Michigan Daily<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Enter you, a puzzle solver SUNDAY PUZZLE \u2014 Hello to all summer solvers! This puzzle was made in honor of my roommate Ella, whose birthday is tomorrow! \ud83c\udf82 (Everyone say happy birthday). Summer is zooming by, and I can\u2019t believe it\u2019s already mid-July. Anyway, I\u2019ve really enjoyed working on this puzzle over the past few [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[592,5104],"class_list":["post-5770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-act","tag-scene"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5770"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5771,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5770\/revisions\/5771"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}