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Try and crack the theme of today’s puzzle!

SUNDAY PUZZLE –  Hello solvers! This week we’re publishing what I think will be a slightly more difficult puzzle than usual. I phrase it that way because it’s so hard to tell as a constructor just how hard a puzzle will be. Even with people solving it beforehand, it’s not easy to predict how a general audience will assess it. Nevertheless, I wanted to try and test the waters with a slightly more obscure set of entries and clues, hopefully appeasing those of you who fly through our usual puzzles. If you would like to contribute to the crossword or berate me for a job poorly done, email me at pavkan@umich.edu. Happy solving!

Tricky Clues:

25A. It’s always hard to clue simple words (EAT, SAD, MAD, etc.) without being totally boring, so I was very happy with this clue. “No longer fast” refers to, in this context, EAT. The idea that somebody eats to break a fast is not revolutionary, but a bit of wordplay adds some misdirection. I am a massive fan of misdirection. 

28A. I am so sorry if you haven’t hopped on the “Succession” hype train, but I think about that show too much for me not to use it as a clue. “Youngest Roy sibling in ‘Succession’” refers to ROMAN, as in Roman Roy. Roman used to be a character that I somewhat empathized with, but his recent behavior (no spoilers) has been absolutely disgusting. That’s what I get for trusting a billionaire.

51A. “Brazilian soccer star, to fans” refers to NEY, as in Neymar. Definitely a difficult entry, especially for people who aren’t the biggest soccer fans. That being said, I had to fill my quota of at least one soccer reference per puzzle, and this silky smooth Brazilian seemed like the perfect choice. Neymar will do things with a ball that look impossible until you watch it back in slow motion. He is a walking cheat code who was unfortunate enough to peak at the same time as two of the best to ever play the sport. In any other generation, Neymar is seen as one of the very best. 

66A. Speaking of quotas, I hit my world capital quota with another clue that I’m quite proud of. “World capital that becomes its country when you add two letters” refers to TUNIS. Tunis is the capital of Tunisia, one of a few African nations with direct access to the Mediterranean Sea. I think that world capitals such as Tunis and Mexico City are so lazy. Give me wild and eccentric world capitals. Give me more of Ouagadougou and Podgorica. In my opinion, this is the true first step to world peace. 

1D. This one is tricky mostly due to how obscure it is. “Brainy bunch” refers to MENSA, the self proclaimed “High-IQ society.” Personally, I am not a huge fan of that whole concept. Isaac Asimov wrote this short piece titled “What Is Intelligence Anyway?” where he talks about the idea of being “intelligent.” It changed my entire perspective on what it meant to be smart, so I have trouble taking groups like Mensa seriously. 

50D. This one is my favorite. “Rest of the afternoon” refers to SIESTA. A siesta is a midday nap, more specifically as a cultural norm in Spain. The New York Times recently published a puzzle which clued SIESTA very similarly, which freaked me out when I was solving it as I had just written the clue myself. I felt a lot less clever after that experience.

Today’s Theme:

Hopefully, you found this theme to be both straightforward and engaging. The revealer can be found at 44-Across, with SALT SHAKERS. The idea is simple: you take the letters in SALT, and you “shake” them. For example, at 20-Across, we have SOCIAL STUDIES. The theme is continued at 37-Across with LEGISLATION, and is rounded out by a shoutout to Purdue with WEST LAFAYETTE. I mostly enjoyed the process of finding potential theme entries, but the letters S, A, L and T are found in what feels like infinite words and phrases. Whittling it down to just three felt impossible. Some honorable mentions that didn’t make the cut were VIOLA STRINGS, EAST LANSING, and FINAL STRETCH.

Answer Key:

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How fast can you solve Madi’s puzzle?

SUNDAY PUZZLE –  Hello solvers! This is my first summer puzzle and also my first puzzle without a Taylor Swift theme. I figured that with all the Eras tour buzz, I should leave the spotlight to Taylor herself and instead return to the basics. The elements, if you will. If you have any questions or spot any errors, you can reach me at madihamm@umich.edu. If you are interested in writing puzzles for The Daily, reach out to pavkan@umich.edu. Have fun!

Tricky Clues:

17A. A year ago, my family and I flew to Alaska and drove around in an RV. While I don’t quite remember if we visited the KENAI peninsula, we were fortunate enough to see Denali, the glaciers and several moose.

68A. For those who don’t know, CEDAR Point is an amusement park in Ohio. Despite its relative proximity to my hometown, I have never gone. Maybe someday!

28D. I love the show “Schitt’s Creek”. I was heartbroken when it was removed from Netflix. It is now only watchable with ads and is therefore unwatchable. This clue is an homage to Moira Rose and her iconic mispronunciation of the word “baby” as “BEBE.”

49D. Before making this puzzle, I didn’t know who this man was. However, after some googling, I learned that he was a French philosopher with a particular interest in existentialism. I plan on studying philosophy and am taking two philosophy classes in the fall, so I’m sure I will encounter SARTRE in the future.

61D. This is a tricky one – SHAW is a reference to George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright who wrote “Pygmalion.” Some fun facts: the play “Pygmalion” was eventually adapted into “My Fair Lady,” and Shaw won the Nobel Prize for literature.

Today’s Theme:

The theme of this puzzle is noble gasses, revealed through 1-Down and 63-Down with NOBLE GAS. A noble gas is in the furthest right column on the periodic table and is typically very stable and pretty unreactive. The circled letters represent the chemical symbol for several of the noble gasses. At 19-Across we find LITTLE RASCALS, containing Ra for radon. 36-Across is HEARTBROKEN, containing He for helium, and 43-Across is NEVERENDING, containing Ne for neon. Lastly, 58-Across is FARMERS MARKET, containing Ar for argon. 

Answer Key:

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Take a swing at our first themeless puzzle!

SUNDAY PUZZLE – Hello crossword cronies! Welcome to the second puzzle in our summer series and the first ever themeless crossword! I recently got into making themeless puzzles to take a break from themed ones and have been thoroughly enjoying building these. For obvious reasons, there will not be a “Today’s Theme” section below. If you have any questions or corrections feel free to email me at vschmitt@umich.edu. If you would like to contribute to the crossword, email the editor at pavkan@umich.edu. Happy solving!

Tricky Clues:

16A. “Ones with guns put away” refers to OFF DUTY COPS, this was definitely a harder one to clue without completely giving it away, so I hope it wasn’t too difficult.

41A. “English soccer powerhouse, to fans” is MAN U, in reference to Manchester United. Manchester United is the winningest team in English soccer’s history, with 13 Premier League titles and 2 Champions League titles.

50A. You might have thought that “Barked, as a pup” was YIPPED, but it actually refers to ARFED. I feel like there are many cute puppy sounds to pick from for this one so it’s a good toughie.

62A. “Prepares for printing” is TYPESETS, the process of meticulously setting type on a printing press. I actually got to do this for my Typography class in the Book Arts Studio at the Duderstadt center, I encourage you to check it out!

36D. The clue “FXB building major, to students” refers to AERO, which is student slang for Aerospace Engineering! The Francois-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) building on north campus houses this major!

Answer Key:

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Can you solve Pavan’s puzzle?

SUNDAY PUZZLE – Hello solvers! Welcome to the first puzzle of our summer series. We plan on releasing puzzles exclusively online for the summer term and continuing print publications once The Daily resumes the physical paper in the fall. I’ve been sitting on this crossword for months, so I’m thrilled at the chance to finally publish it. Hopefully, you find the theme entertaining. If you would like to contribute to the crossword, email me at pavkan@umich.edu. Happy solving!

Tricky Clues:

1A. “Capital of Switzerland” refers to BERN. I tried to gauge how difficult this clue was by asking a few of my friends whether they knew the answer. Every single one of them said no. At this point, I was almost compelled to change the clue so that it referred to Bernie Sanders’ campaign slogan from 2020: “Feel the Bern.” I decided, however, that I preferred the world capital.

17A. This one was meant to lead you astray, and hopefully it did just that. The clue “Catch some rays?” refers to FISH. If it hasn’t hit you yet, let me explain. In this context, the phrase “catch some rays” refers to the act of fishing for rays in the ocean. The question mark indicates the wordplay in the clue. 

38A. This clue really only applies to the university, but the clue “Who to call if you have a cold on campus” refers to UHS. The University Health Service deserves a special shoutout, as they continue to deal with the onslaught of frat flus and Markley strep variants year after year.

2D. I had a number of options when deciding on how to clue this entry, and I ended up choosing the one that was most relevant to me. The clue “Soccer legend ___ Cantona” refers to ERIC as in Eric Cantona. Cantona was a prolific French attacker who starred for Manchester United in the 90’s. As a lifelong fan of Manchester United, I remember watching Cantona highlights wishing the current team had a player as good as him. His career was marked by both moments of notoriety and brilliance, but it is undeniable that there will only ever be one Eric Cantona.

57D. The clue “Rapper whose song ‘Tribe’ features J. Cole” refers to BAS. When I’m trying to figure out if a musician is too obscure to put in a puzzle, I use the Five Million Rule. The Five Million Rule is entirely made up and incredibly simple: If an artist has over five million monthly listeners on Spotify, then they’re good to go. Thankfully, Bas currently has roughly 5.3 monthly listeners, so I don’t have to lose sleep over including him in the puzzle. I am a big fan of Bas, especially in the context of his record label, Dreamville Records.

Answer Key:

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Untangle the theme of Killian’s crossword in the last puzzle of the semester!

SUNDAY PUZZLE — Happy last week of classes! I hope this crossword will be a pleasant respite before final exam season begins. To all my fellow graduates, congrats on reaching this amazing milestone, and best of luck on your next chapters in life! Forever, Go Blue!

I am an avid daily solver of the New York Times crossword and have become an aspiring crossword constructor in my free time, so I am thrilled to be making my publication debut in The Michigan Daily! Tricky clue explanations along with the crossword’s theme and answer key can be found below. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about the puzzle, please feel free to reach out to me at killiano@umich.edu. Have fun solving!

Tricky Clues:

36A. No, these aren’t grades in a unique grading system (actually, I’ll get to that later…). “S, A, B, C, D, E, or F in a ranking system” refers to a possible TIER within a tier list. Tier lists, which originated in video game communities, have become increasingly popular across social media. These lists are ways to subjectively rank anything and everything from best to worst within colorful, lettered tiers (S is the best tier while F is what you would expect. Have fun browsing tier lists or making your own on the TierMaker website). What does the S stand for? I always figured it meant “superb,” but other theories suggest that it could stand for “special” or the letter S from the Japanese grading system, which occasionally awards students S grades for exemplary work. Whatever the definition, I hope my crossword is S tier! 

37A. “Predators, on a scoreboard” isn’t referring to a Chris Hansen episode of “Dateline NBC” but rather NSH, the abbreviation for the Nashville Predators of the NHL. TBH, that is a lot of three letter abbreviations, but the Predators joined the NHL in 1998 as the league’s 27th team. The team got its name (and logo and mascot) from the 1971 discovery of a saber-toothed tiger skeleton in downtown Nashville. Other candidate names included “Ice Tigers” and “Attack.” I’d have to say the team made the right choice. 

66A. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? 700 pounds, it turns out, but that’s another story for another day. While a beaver’s “Exclamation while chucking” may be “dam,” enough talking about rodents. This clue refers to YEET, a highly versatile slang word that can be broadly used to mean haphazardly throwing something or as an enthusiastic interjection. Or, as an enthusiastic interjection while haphazardly throwing something. The possibilities are endless! Merriam-Webster yeeted YEET into the dictionary in September 2022, so it is a bit of slang that is here to stay. I’m just happy to have included YEET in a crossword. 

7D. The “Tyler, the Creator album featuring the song ‘EARFQUAKE’” is IGOR, which won the Best Rap Album award at the 2020 Grammys. Tyler, The Creator is one of my favorite artists, so I will always recommend listening to this great album. Besides the standout EARFQUAKE (the music video is fire, literally), some of my other favorite songs on IGOR include RUNNING OUT OF TIME, NEW MAGIC WAND, and GONE, GONE / THANK YOU.

22D. If you have ever played any video game, you have likely encountered this clue’s answer even if you are not familiar with the term. “One who just goes with the flow, in modern lingo” is an NPC, an initialism for non-player character or non-playable character, which is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. NPCs can often be interacted with by players but usually have predetermined behavior and scripted dialogue. The term has spread across the internet on social media platforms such as Twitter and TikTok, where it has become both a meme and a subject of controversy as NPC has evolved to represent anyone who seemingly just follows the crowd or doesn’t think for themselves.

30D. “Anatomical or botanical ring” refers to AREOLE which is a term derived from the Latin word for “small space” and is used throughout the scientific world. In anatomy, the areole is the round pigmented area on the human breast surrounding the nipple. In this context, areola is the more common spelling and what I was familiar with before creating this puzzle, but areole is a frequent variant spelling. In botany, an areole is a small rounded area on a cactus from which spines and flowers grow. Areoles are a distinguishing feature of cacti, identifying them as a distinct family from other plants. Fun fact, my family owns an indoor cactus that is older than I am! This cactus has pricked us in more ways than one as (despite its infrequent watering needs) the cactus continues to outgrow every new pot it is placed in as it reaches out towards the ceiling. 

Today’s Theme:

The shaded squares, what do they mean? The theme revealer at 50-Across begins to unravel this mystery. The answer to “Junior high… or a hint to this puzzle’s shaded squares” is MIDDLE SCHOOL. Junior high is another term for middle school, but this entry also reveals that there are schools hidden in the middle of each theme clue. Which schools are hidden? The familiar names of the University of Michigan’s three largest schools by enrollment! First, at 20-Across, the clue “Percentages of companies’ revenues that are kept after subtracting direct expenses” is a technical definition for GROSS MARGINS which has Ross (Ross School of Business) hidden inside the shaded squares. Next, at 28-Across, the clue “Value in physics that is used to quantify the resistance of an object in a fluid environment” describes the DRAG COEFFICIENT which is hiding COE (College of Engineering). Finally, 44-Across has a much less technical clue than the previous two theme entries: “‘The Daily Show’ specialty” is POLITICAL SATIRE which has LSA (College of Literature, Science, and the Arts) hidden in the middle. But wait, there’s more! If you haven’t caught on yet, each of the theme entries are a subject matter related to a field of study at the shaded school. For example, Ross students might learn about gross margins in a business economics course, while COE students could learn about the drag coefficient when studying fluid dynamics in a mechanical engineering course. Likewise, LSA students may discuss political satire when taking political science courses! 

As a computer science major, I originally planned to construct a University of Michigan themed crossword that somehow included EECS in a theme answer. Fortunately, as it turns out, EECS is not an easy string of letters to work with, so I decided to turn to other UMich lingo. Discovering LSA hidden within political satire really brought this theme to life and added an additional layer of depth to the puzzle.

Answer Key:

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