April Bonus Puzzle
Every month, The New York Times publishes a bonus crossword puzzle for subscribers. The puzzles are designed to have the difficulty of an early-week puzzle and to use the theme throughout. The theme of this month’s puzzle is national parks. I did not grow up in a particularly outdoorsy family. We went camping a handful of times, but it usually rained, and one time my mother woke us all up in the middle of the night because she thought there was a raccoon in our tent. She started swatting at it. The “raccoon” was me. So suffice it to say I had not visited many of our country’s national parks. Until recently. Because like so many during the early years of the coronavirus pandemic, I got into birding and began to see the world differently. Once you experience the paradigm shift of becoming “bird aware,” you tune more deeply into the nature around you, interrupting a conversation to figure out what species just called from a nearby tree. It makes you travel differently, too. Suddenly, the dream is to visit Haleakala National Park on Maui, not only to catch the spectacular sunrise but to see if you’ll be lucky enough to glimpse one of the most crossword-friendly birds of all time. I’m now willing to withstand a little rain if it means I’ll get to see a black guillemot at Acadia National Park or a coppery-tailed trogon in the canyons of Arizona. These become moments to remember. Which is why Matthew Stock’s puzzle reminded me of some of my favorite sightings. As I solved this puzzle, I had my eBird app open, confirming that my memories were accurate as I relived each moment. I saw my first scissor-tailed flycatcher on a power line as my partner and I drove near 16A’s [Florida national park where you can see both alligators and crocodiles]. We caught sight of its forked tail, and immediately knew it was what we were looking for (call it birding Spidey sense). We pulled the car over, turned around, drove back and pulled out the binoculars — and there it was. And I’ll never forget how, on a cloudless autumn day in 2021, I was biking through Zion National Park in Utah when I noticed a group of people pointing to the top of a cliff. It turned out to be a nest of California condors — part of a decades-long conservation effort to reintroduce the majestic species back into the wild. Yes, there was a baby. Yes, I added it to my ongoing list of the baby birds I’ve seen. I was, in short, 62A, or [Amazed by natural beauty, say]. Enjoy this puzzle. As spring migration begins, may your ears be filled with the 54D [___ chorus (early-morning symphony of birdsong)], and may you begin to see the world through new eyes.
Try This Clue25-Across: [Deep, narrow inlets seen in some Alaska national parks]
How are we doing? Thanks for playing! Subscribe to New York Times Games. If you like this newsletter, you can tell your friends to sign up here. The answer to the clue is FJORDS.
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