‘Green Giants’: Crossword Commentary

Play this week’s crossword here.

Difficulty Level: 2/5

Happy Earth Day! Today’s puzzle from contributing constructor Bryan Boyd is best completed outdoors, where you can enjoy Princeton’s campus in full bloom. As you solve, take a moment to acknowledge the work of the people whose names are featured in the puzzle. Also, be sure to explore the rest of the Earth Day issue!

Read on below for help with tricky clues, thoughts from Boyd, and the answer key.

Notable Clues

1A: It is currently the month of Ramadan, when many people who are Muslim will FAST from sunrise to sunset. Ramadan Mubarak to all those who celebrate.

33A: A dog known for his clues is none other than BLUE, from the children’s television series “Blue’s Clues” (an iconic part of my childhood).

62A: This clue refers not to tools you might find in your parents’ shed but to two tiny parts of the middle EAR. Along with the stirrup, these are the smallest bones in the human body.

66A: “I TRIED” is about all there is to say about this semester. There are officially fewer than five days of classes remaining!

4D: I had a nice back-and-forth with Boyd about how best to clue this word. We briefly considered making reference to Princeton’s McCarter THEATRE Center, but ultimately opted for the clue you see now.

32D: Garbage bag brands aren’t all that interesting, so I appreciate Boyd’s effort to do a bit more with this clue. The answer here is GLAD, the happiest garbage bag company.

60D: “INTO the Unknown” might not hit quite as hard as “Let It Go,” but this track from “Frozen 2” still has many characteristics of an iconic soundtrack song. As one of my friends likes to say: “Olaf carried that movie.”

Get the best of ‘the Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Today’s Theme

Boyd features three famous environmentalists in today’s puzzle: JANE GOODALL, GRETA THUNBERG, and GAYLORD NELSON. The revealer sits at 63-Across — ENVIRONMENT being the word that connects all three of these “Green Giants.”

The puzzle is filled very cleanly, with only a few tricky words and lots of fun bonuses in GUMMY WORMS, PURE REASON, BOSEMAN, COLOGNE, and DOTTED I. We’ve published several very tricky puzzles recently, so I appreciate that Boyd changed things up a bit. The clues are mostly straightforward while still being lively and entertaining. It’s especially cool to see the constructor’s interests revealed through the puzzle, as Boyd explains below. Congrats on a great debut!

Constructor Notes

To start, I would like to thank Puzzles Head Editors Owen Travis and Gabe Robare for setting up the ‘Prince’ Puzzles section and for providing a great amount of assistance throughout the process of creating this puzzle. This journey would have been much more difficult without their feedback and support. Special shout-out to Owen, who helped with the editing of this puzzle.

This was a great entrance into the crossword-making world for me since the theme was something that I truly love and find very important. If there are two things my parents have taught me, it’s how to live a “green” life and how to solve crossword puzzles. Additionally, being able to throw in some of my other interests such as golf and rock music made it that much better. I hope you enjoy solving the puzzle and remember how important it is to protect our beautiful planet!

Need more help? See below for the answer key.