Puzzle by Jennifer NuttHey! A jelly”fish” is not a fish at all! A jellyfish is a marine invertebrate. That’s right -- despite their name, jellyfish are actually not fish! Jellyfish are made up of over 95% water, and they do not have brains, hearts, gills, bones, or blood. So, if jellyfish are not fish, what are they? Jellyfish belong to an animal group called invertebrates, because they do not have backbones. Fish are vertebrates, because they have backbones. Further, a “starfish” is really called a “sea star” and they are only distantly related to fish. Sea stars are a group of marine invertebrates.
Ooo...! 'n hey agin! Look at 30D (Like an ivory-billed woodpecker), RARE -- “Extinct” is not “rare” and the “Lord God” bird (Compephilus principalis) has not been proven to be “rare” (as in “hen’s teeth”, well maybe!) but more likely “extinct” (as in “T-Rex”); however, as the article states “Who knows? I personally can't tell a parakeet from a vulture.”
Aside from the technicalities, of which I’m sure I’ll be told no one gives a tinker’s damn, this is a tidy Tuesday crossword that groups the ends of entries with “fish” -- 17A SCAREDYCAT, 23A LITTLEANGEL, 48A EVENINGSTAR, 59A GRAPEJELLY, 11D MIDDAYSUN all tied to 33D FISHTAILS (“Has the rear end move side to side…or a hint to the five asterisked clues”).
Additionally, there is 8D SPANGLED (take your pick, Emperor, Perch, Pike) and 26D EEL (both are in the right family, you know, “fish”, from what I can gather) -- but I personally can’t tell an orca from an opah!
It was nice to see 1D Photographer ANSEL Adams today. Love 6D CYD Charisse of “Singing in the Rain” (the lady has been around the sun 86 times)! Liked that APE and RILL abut longitudinally (15A, 16A) to sort of form a homonym for "April" -- it has thusfar been such a rainy month! Strong macabre clue for 54A CHAIR (Drastic sentence with “the”). Never heard of 38A EVITE (You might R.S.V.P. online to this) before, but now I know -- made an easy correct guess though, what with crossword favorites EMAG, EBAY, EMAIL and E-everything flopping around in…ahem…on the net!
The fill was a little fishy, but not foul (groan) -- the usual ITE, APE, RDA, GPA, ENV, RES, DEN, EVE, ETD, MSG, SIN, OCT, and the four-letter “words” ECCE, AREA, ETTE, MULE, YEAS -- and with that a three-letter “yea” to this puzzle!
Illustrations: Above -- 30D Ivory-billed woodpecker. Below -- 59A, 23A, 17A, 48A, 11D, 8D, and 26D -- in other words, jellyfish, angelfish, catfish, starfish, sunfish -- with the extra catch of the day, a spangled perch and an eel.
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