Here are the answers to the Magicicada crossword puzzle.
ACROSS
2. Two of them are…. Answer: compound, as in compound eyes.
7. Mistaken identity. Answer: locust, as in the inappropriate nickname for periodical cicadas.
8. Soil temperature sampler. Answer: Heath, as in James Edward Heath.
10. Insect Singers site. Answer: Marshall, as in David Marshall, owner of insectsingers.com.
11. The cicada’s old outfit. Answer: exuvia.
13. Where you’ll find the arches. Answer: mesonotum.
15. Keep a lid on it. Answer: operculum.
17. Longest lifecycle. Answer: seventeen, as in 17-Year cicada.
22. Ohio expert. Answer: Kritsky, as in Gene Kritsky.
24. Five. Answer: eyes, as in cicadas have five eyes.
27. Never on time. Answer: stragglers.
28. A delicious drink. Answer: xylem.
29. I’m seeing red. Answer: eyes.
30. Grill. Answer: clypeus, which looks like a car’s grill.
31. 5 steps. Answer: instars.
33. Final form. Answer: imago.
35. Seven is the smallest. Answer brood.
DOWN
1. Un-popped collar. Answer: pronotal
3. Four to get off the Floor. Answer: wings.
4. A “cool” cicada expert. Answer: John, as in John Cooley.
5. Three of Five. Answer: ocelli, as in 3 of the 5 cicada eyes are called ocelli.
6. Youngsters. Answer: larvae
9. Plates. Answer: tergites
12. A rare color. Answer: blue
14. Nest knife. Answer: ovipositor
16. Pitch shifter. Answer: neotredecim, as in Magicicada neotredecim which shifts its pitch higher in the presence of Magicicada tredecim. Neither of these cicadas are part of Brood X, but they are Magicicada.
18. Left Connecticut forever. Answer: eleven, as in Brood XI, which went extinct.
19. Drum kit. Answer: tymbals
20. Amphetamine fungus. Answer: Massospora, as in Massospora cicadina, the fungus that infects cicadas.
21. Cicada banners. Answer: flagging, as in flags of dead leaves caused by cicada egg-laying.
23. Keep hanging on. Answer: tarsal, as in their tarsal claws.
25. Mr. Softy. Answer: teneral.
26. Just six of these. Answer: legs
32. Beak. Answer: rostrum
34. Connecticut lab leader: Simon, as in Chris Simon.