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Sunday, January 24, 2021

USA Today Crossword Clue: "American Indians in Children's Literature founder Debbie"

Anytime "American Indians in Children's Literature" appears somewhere, I get an email alert. I have the alert set up to come once/day. Yesterday, January 23, 2021, I got up pre-dawn (that's typical for me), got my coffee and sat down to read the morning news. 

When I feel more awake, I take a look at email. 

I had an alert, so opened that email. It had a bunch of links to sites related to crossword puzzles. At first, I thought perhaps there was a conversation happening somewhere because sometimes I'll say something about problematic clues like "The Native American word for baby." That's a bad clue (is that the right phrase in crossword puzzle land?!) because it suggests that across the hundreds of Native Nations, we all speak the same language and have the same word for baby. We don't. 

I clicked on one of the links and saw "American Indians in Children's Literature founder Debbie crossword clue." And below that, I saw "Possible Answer" and five boxes with R E E S E in them (see screen cap below). 


And I looked at it, and looked at it, and then Boom! I understood! I searched for USA Today's puzzle for Saturday, January 23rd and found it. I called my husband over and said LOOK at this:



We sat there, grinning, tickled at the idea that I was in a USA Today Crossword! It made me smile as I went about my day. It was fun sharing it on social media and reading the various replies to it. Tribal members, friends, colleagues... we all had a good time with it. 

And I wanted to get a print copy! But as evening drew near, I learned why drugstores, grocery stores, restaurants, and even hotels that I called didn't have it: USA Today does not publish a print copy of the weekend paper! 

What a fun day, it was, Saturday January 23, 2021, to be a clue in a crossword puzzle! 




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2 comments:

  1. TracyStollerMonday, January 25, 2021 at 2:05:00 PM CST

    Congratulations!! You are crossword puzzle famous. That's like being an answer on Jeopardy. I am thrilled on your behalf.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wordle ItalianoFriday, July 3, 2026 at 3:02:00 AM CDT

    That’s an interesting moment of discovery—especially catching your own area of focus showing up in a completely different context like a crossword clue alert. It also highlights why careful, specific wording matters so much in clues involving Indigenous peoples and cultures, since generalizations can easily become misleading.

    ReplyDelete


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