by Parker Higgins & Ross Trudeau
Today’s puzzle in a collaboration with artist and activist Parker Higgins. Over the last few months I’ve had several moments of reflection where I thought to myself, “Okay, my friendship with Parker has definitely reached, like, terminal velocity,” only to find myself appreciating him and consulting with him even more. We’ve worked together on a number of puzzles, and it’s sort of surprising that this is his first appearance on Rosswords. Please extend him a warm welcome!
If you’re a blog regular you’ll know that Parker and I have been solving and constructing live on Twitch in recent weeks. We’ll be back at in again tomorrow night at 10:00 pm eastern, directly following the conclusion of the Boswords Spring Themeless League Twitch stream. Join us!
Spoilers and thoughts on “Baby’s First Word!” after the jump.
Parker: I have the good fortune to talk to Ross about crosswords basically every day, and we’ve published a Universal Sunday co-construction together, but until now that hasn’t translated into an official Rossword puzzle. Today that changes!
We hit a wavelength on this theme early on and every step chugged along quickly. Aside from one vetoed clue (53A, Nabokov reference) we were almost eerily in sync. I’ve learned so much from talking and working together over the past year, and I’m looking forward to showing up in more Rossword puzzles… and who knows, maybe making some material for my own 55D!
Ross: I’m officially nominating Parker’s clue for OVIDUCT ([Tunnel of l’ouef?]) for Clue of the Year.
Happy solving, friends!
-R
“Tunnel of l’oeuf” — Well done, that!.
I legitimately guffawed when Parker dropped that in the google doc.
i giggled at several of the clues! great work, you two
to be fair, you’re a pretty giggly human
I’d never heard of 29A before, despite having once lived in Japan for four years. Momo is the Japanese word for peach so it makes perfect sense.
This is a delightful development, Mary. Have a momo of a day!
So many fun clues and “aha” moments for me in this one! 2D is a new term for me, and I’m glad I now know it.
Glad you enjoyed, Steve. 2D was new for me too; what an evocative phrase tho huh?