Big Trouble

[Bird Lives]

Once upon a time, eighty-three solvers knew what the story was.

78. RC
79. Jim Dean
80. prog plus chat
81. Jade
82. Alex R
83. Mikey G

The answer is “Jack and the Beanstalk.”

1. As the first nudge said, there are four 11-letter entries. These are the themers. You can ignore everything else in the grid.

2. The fourth nudge referred to “the last syllable.” Even in the theme entries, you can ignore everything but that.

3. Say those last syllables aloud and you get FEE FI FO FUM, the signature phrase of the giant in “Jack and the Beanstalk.”

In response to one or two questions from solvers, I did due diligence and looked at the Wikipedia page. Unlike many fairy tales, this story is not taken from Grimm or Perrault. The original version is “The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean,” published in England in 1734. The giant, unnamed in the original, in later versions became Blunderbore, which to me looks a lot like Dumbledore. Hmmm.

Thanks to all for the nice comments. Thanks especially to @abide, who test solved and helped figure out what the best title, prompt, and answer would be.


“Fee-Fi-Fo- Fum” is also the title of a tune by jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter. The original is on his breakthrough album Speak No Evil (https://www[dot]youtube.com/watch?v=5bE0CZi-O8c)
Here’s a big band version: