Kia Ora
◆ · By JeffsPuzzles · Published 2024-02-14T12:30:58.291Z
Constructor's Note
Following last week's ode to Australia, here's a gridded toast to New Zealand, the most beautiful country I've ever visited. "Kia ora" is an indigenous phrase used as a warm greeting or farewell or to say thank you. (Not to be confused wiht a Kia Rio, which is a Korean subcompact, or Rita Ora, who is a British singer born in what's now Kosovo of Albanian parents).
Jeff Linder
JeffsPuzzles.com
PuffinlessTravel.com
It-Could-Be-Verse.com
Checking for previous play data...
1A
Tropical tree (the Nikau variety is the only one that's native to New Zealand)
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Across
- 1ATropical tree (the Nikau variety is the only one that's native to New Zealand)
- 5AJacinda Ardern, vis-a-vis NZ
- 9ASetting for much of "The Taming of the Shrew"
- 10AGreat Tang Dynasty poet, or a slangy way to remove fat
- 11ASheep famed for fine wool (there are over 3 million ot this breed in New Zealand, but they make up only around 10 percent of the total sheep population)
- 12ABread that should help avoid tzatziki spills but in fact seems designed to encourage them, in my experience
- 13AIndigenous name for New Zealand (it means "Land of the Long White Cloud")
- 15ALong-time news org.
- 16AResearch orgs.
- 19AIt is in France
- 22AShakespeare's truth, at times ("In ___, I know not why I am so sad" (Merchant of Venice I.1))
- 24AFounded (abbr.)
- 26AFamed explorer in New Zealand indigenous tradiition (also a Spanish aunt)
- 27ANIckname for a member of New Zealand's rugby team
- 30AIconic New Zealand bird (and a nickname for a New Zealander)
- 33AAmerican state that's roughly 6.5 times the size of New Zealand
- 34AMicro or macro subj.
- 35AMad
- 36AThey're in favor
- 37A4 Down:New Zealand::____:Canada
Down
- 1DNational and Labour are the two main ones in New Zealand
- 2DRoll ___ (start a game of backgammon, e.g.)
- 3DTerra orbiter
- 4DIndigenous New Zealanders
- 5DTexas border city
- 6DSundial point
- 7D.doc, .xls, .___
- 8DExtinct New Zealand bird that grew up to 3 meters in height
- 9DIn New Zealand, they're outnumbered 5 to 1 by sheep (and approximately 3 to 1 by vineyards, I think)
- 11DTrickster figure in Polynesian (including 4 Down) mythology
- 14DSwitch positions
- 17DSeasoning instruction
- 18DLike some fingers and rice
- 20DColors intentionally, as wood, or colors unintentionally, as a white carpet
- 21D___ vez ("maybe" in Spanish)
- 23DDance representing indigenous New Zealanders' pride, strength, and unity
- 25DSauvignon _____ (wine for which New Zealand is justifiably famous)
- 28DCensor, in a way
- 29DHow some people chronically run
- 30DThe world's only Alpine parrot - it's endemic to New Zealand but shares part of the name of a Hawaiian volcano
- 31D"___ dead people" (classic line from a remake of The Sixth Sense, where a grown up Cole Sear stumbles upon a cryogenics facility?)
- 32DMisery