One of many stuff you be taught as a crossword constructor is that there’s no actual restrict to how cool or quirky a puzzle can get—simply so long as you’ll be able to truly pull it off. So once we elected to throw a bird-nerdy crossword into this winter’s challenge of the journal, I jumped on the likelihood to push the boundaries of a typical grid. The consequence is a enjoyable likelihood to mix some avian ID savvy with the wordplay chops you’d often anticipate a crossword to check. (One tip to get you began: The title, Ready within the Wings, is perhaps a helpful trace about the place you must look to discover a full answer.)
As my colleague in puzzling Matthew Inventory displays in his essay beneath the grid, fixing crosswords and birding are each about getting comfy residing amid the unknown. So whether or not that is your first puzzle or your thousandth, for those who’re on this web page, you’re already in the proper place to stretch your self and be taught one thing new. Take pleasure in! —Jasper Davidoff
Ready within the Wings
Crossword by Jasper Davidoff. Illustrations by Emily Renaud.
If you cannot see the underside of the crossword grid, strive refreshing the web page.
To verify your work, view the full answer key here.
Take It From Me: See Birding As a Puzzle
Throughout one in every of my first outings with the Alachua Audubon Society in Gainesville, Florida, the group and I paused to observe a flock of vultures circling excessive over our heads. A few of them, a gaggle chief defined, had been Turkey Vultures, and a few had been Black Vultures. I skilled my binoculars to the sky—first in pleasure, then in defeat. Even because the chief patiently defined these birds’ variations, I struggled to inform them aside. How had been these refined distinctions in head form, wing angle, and flapping frequency instantly so clear for others? Would I ever be capable of determine this out for myself?
These emotions and questions had been acquainted to me. A number of years earlier, I took my first dive into the world of fixing crossword puzzles. I had all the time beloved language and patterns, and I figured I’d decide it up with out an excessive amount of sweat. Positive sufficient, I broke into simple puzzles rapidly. However as I waded into more difficult crosswords, I hit lifeless finish after lifeless finish. Bewildered by difficult wordplay, I fumbled over references to Nineteenth-century philosophers, plant genera, and traditional tv. How was I alleged to know this stuff?
I used to be nonetheless captivated by the prospect of filling in each final sq. in a grid, so I made a decision to maintain going, chipping away at laborious puzzles and bettering little by little over time. The primary New York Occasions Saturday crossword that I completed took me the higher a part of a day. These days, I can resolve the hardest puzzle of the week in 5 to 9 minutes. And now that I’ve began developing crosswords of my very own, I’ve even had many puzzles published within the Occasions and different newspapers over the previous 5 years.
Since first being bamboozled by these vultures two years in the past, I’ve discovered pleasure in my chook outings by counting on the identical persistence and decided detective work that I exploit for crosswords. Apply is an integral a part of each processes. The extra puzzles I’ve solved, the faster I’ve gotten at recognizing frequent entries and utilizing letter patterns to decipher longer, trickier solutions. Equally, as I’ve spent extra time with my binoculars on the prepared and my ears alert for calls, I’ve turn out to be extra assured in recognizing acquainted species and understanding what to search for when uncommon birds cross my path. In birding and in puzzle fixing, I’ve discovered to take my time and carve out undistracted, unplugged area to cherish the duty in entrance of me. And when issues get laborious, I flip to my fellow fanatics for encouragement and assist. I’ve by no means met a veteran birder or a seasoned crossword buff who wasn’t delighted by the prospect to share what they knew with others.
So in your subsequent stroll or ramble, as a substitute of seeing a difficult chook ID as an issue, strive seeing it as a puzzle. And for those who occur to discover a five-letter feathered good friend in your crossword, it’s in all probability an egret. —Matthew Inventory
This piece initially ran within the Winter 2024 challenge. To obtain our print journal, turn out to be a member by making a donation today.
