Crossword Bebop » Bernice Rosella http://www.crosswordbebop.com Improvisations based on Selected Crosswords throughout the Anglosphere. Quite possibly the first Anglospheric crossword blog... Tue, 20 Jul 2010 06:33:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 Canadiana Crossword – Watch For the Birdie http://www.crosswordbebop.com/2009/11/13/canadiana-crossword-watch-for-the-birdie/ http://www.crosswordbebop.com/2009/11/13/canadiana-crossword-watch-for-the-birdie/#comments Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:53:42 +0000 admin http://www.crosswordbebop.com/?p=1729 What do I like about the Canadiana Crossword? Answers (but not clues, at least not yet) in both French and English. Canadian things of which Americans are unaware. The only bird in this puzzle that I didn’t know was a Merlin, clued as “Pigeon hawk.” And no, I’m not hotlinking, and yes, if you click on the picture, you will go to the original source, which has an abundance of gorgeous bird pictures.

Merlin falcon

Merlins are also found in the northern US and the UK. The Merlin Falcon, bird of choice when Mary Queen of Scots hunted, is the smallest British bird of prey species and is an amazing and challenging little bird to fly. Ladies on horseback would hunt Skylark with their Merlins, referred to as “larking about”, which is where the phrase originated.

I would have enjoyed this puzzle had they not included my pet peeve, using the word “Biblical” to signify “archaic.” (Cluing eth as “Biblical ending” I have already said why I don’t like this here. But this time I believe I will contact Bernice Rosella and James Kilner and share my displeasure.

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