The Last Frontier
Dave, having spent virtually his entire youth in the eastern United States, decided at age 23 to travel with a friend to Alaska, an exotic destination that he was certain he’d never get to see again. (As things turned out, Dave’s career took him to Alaska some 30 times in the years to follow.) Dave and his friend delivered a car from DC to Seattle, hopped the ferry up through the Inside Passage of British Columbia to Haines, Alaska, and hitchhiked 750 miles to Anchorage. Dave’s reading material along the route was John McPhee’s Coming Into the Country, a remarkable account of life in the state whose nickname is “The Last Frontier.”
Any book about Alaska worth its salt must include material about the extraordinary bears that one encounters there – or at least claims to have encountered there. The quotation in this week’s puzzle pays due homage to the grizzly bear. A number of the themed clues and answers also relate to bears, and to Alaska more broadly.
If you ever make it to Juneau in the summer, consider taking a floatplane to nearby Admiralty Island, where you can climb a wooden tower to watch in safety as bears dine on salmon that are returning to the stream below. The image above comes from a moment our family enjoyed there many years after Dave’s maiden voyage to Alaska. Our son brought to that viewing tower his own bear, Grizz:
For those less keen on seeing bears in the wild, there is always this option, referenced in Clue C:
Do any of you have Alaska memories to share, or stories of bear encounters?
One other note: we will participate in this year’s American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in Stamford, Connecticut, April 4-6. Registration is now open:
https://www.crosswordtournament.com
Friday evening, April 4, will feature (among other things) an acrostic-solving competition. Hope to see many of you there!
John McPhee is one of my favorite writers, so I was pleased to see a quote from one of his most popular books in a NY Times acrostic. “The Pine Barrens,” “Levels of the Game,” and “Encounters with the Archdruid” are also among my favorites.
As usual with your puzzles, I picked up a few new or forgotten words (INUPIAQ, URSIFORM, NAPHTHA), and I liked the novel clue for the Verdi opera. Being able to recall GILGAMESH, NAGURSKI, and TED STEVENS made things a bit easier.
A very different non-fiction account of a journey to the Alaskan backcountry would be Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild.” It’s an ultimately tragic tale, but it’s beautifully written, and Krakauer is one of our best writers about the natural world.
McPhee can make anything interesting, even tectonic geology. The movie based on Into The Wild is good too.
And, of course, Bronko played for the Chicago Bears. But, you already knew that. Then, to get that “…URS…” run in there is something almost ursine.
What a joyful Acrostic. Thank you.
Coincidentally, I’m watching a Boston Bruins hockey game on TV while doing this puzzle! Maybe that’s why I was able to complete it so quickly!
The puzzle was a joy. Not sure how I pulled up EMMETT and NAGURSKI from my childhood memories. New for me was INUPIAQ. Years ago, a friend and I went hiking and camping in Kings Canyon National Park. Early in the morning, he came back to our tent after visiting the outhouse and told me not to go out. He nearly ran into a bear, likely not a grizzly, but still wild. Alaska is on my bucket list, but in the meantime, I enjoy the Disney Family Museum in our Presidio, now a park. It’s a fun experience for anyone out this way. Favorite chuckle, PAWPAW, good one 🐻
After I’ve finished the acrostic I get another treat: figuring out the ingenious ways that Jane and Dave’s clues fit with the puzzle theme. This week Corduroy the bear brought a smile to my face. Ursiform is new to my vocabulary but I’m concerned that I will forget it before I get the opportunity to use it.
On an hunch I looked up Mitzi Bear- and discovered there is a movie about Mitzi Bearclaw and her incredible 25th year. Waiting for it to come to Netflix!
Most importantly, thanks to Ms. Shrdlu, I learned that not only does Bronko‘s last name end in a ski, but he also plays with the Chicago Bears! Congratulate me- I’m now 100% smarter about the sport than I was before.
That went. more quickly than usual because I picked up the author’s name and I know (and love) the book. When we drove from NJ to CA the summer after our college graduation, we used “Basin and Range” as a sort of guidebook, especially since my now-husband knew the scientists McPhee profiles.
My parents took us on a cruise up the Inner Passage when our daughter was four months old. No grizzlies; lots of whales and bald eagles (so many bald eagles) and icebergs. Mom caught a salmon and then instructed the ship’s chef how to cook it. Alaska is definitely on our (very long) list of places we want to return to – for one thing, we didn’t get to Denali.
Fun puzzle! See you in Stamford!
What a wonderful acrostic. For me it was one of the fastest I’ve done in awhile, partly because a ton of the answers were right in my wheelhouse, and partly because Coming Into The Country is one of my very favorite books, by one of my favorite writers. I took a cruise to Alaska 20 years ago and on the train to Seward (the ship’s departure port) I met a woman from Circle, Alaska, who knew many of the people McPhee wrote about in the book’s third section. We had no close encounters with bears on the trip, but on a side trip up a fjord to a small glacier with the mountain slopes rising steeply out of the ocean we were privileged to see two bear cubs cavorting and play wrestling on the little bit of shore. Later kayaking in an alpine lake we could hear the calls of loons and a beaver crossed only a few yards in front of our course (thankfully no bears). Magical!
I loved seeing CORDUROY and YOGI and NAGURSKI in the puzzle as sly bear references. I also applaud the appearance of NAPHTHA, which a recent spelling bee refused to recognize. Thanks again for a great solving experience.
Luckily, many of the clues are still in my rapidly fading memory, and though Alaska is the only state I haven’t seen I appreciated the literary visit. Krackauer and McPhee are both excellent, and a nod to eithr or both is always appreciated!
We both enjoyed this solve a lot, and found it somewhat harder than the average for Jane and David’s acrostics. (We like challenges!)
The Inuit language INUPIAQ was definitely the last clue answer to fall. (But it’s now seared into our brains for next time.)
Love the books, authors, and choices of quotations, and John McPhee is no exception.
Brutal puzzle for me this week. What kept me going was the bruin clue and easy gifted answer hibernates followed by pawpaw and omnivores.
Many thanks
Thanks to all who commented—it seems as though the bears/Alaska/McPhee combination made for an enjoyable puzzle. Yes, Into the Wild is another extraordinary book (and film) set largely in Alaska. We’re also big McPhee fans more generally and commend in particular Encounters With the Archdruid for those who haven’t read it.
Jane and Dave