Watch the Birdie!

[hoover]

Dragged kicking and screaming off the couch!

[Cap'n Rick]

Leaderboard Update

Another 5 Muggles have joined the flock:

PuzNewbie
Darrell
@hoover (who was dragged kicking and screaming )
BarbaraK
Trent Huber

This brings our solver total to 78. Reveal tomorrow!

[Eric Porter]

I'm off the couch with nudges. I'd forgot to look for a MMM xword until I saw the crosshare email. Thanks Rick!

[Cap'n Rick]

Leaderboard Update

Two more Muggles bring our final total to 80:

Prog
Eric Porter

Thanks for solving, everyone! Now for the reveal...

[Cap'n Rick]

Ahoy Muggles!

The meta answer is the common "CROW". To solve, you first needed to heed the puzzle title and find 6 symmetrically-placed "birdies" in the grid (i.e. 14A GROUSE, 16A TEAL, 28A CRANE, 55A GOOSE, 70A WREN, and 72A TURKEY). These birds all had non-avian clues and contained a single letter E, so "Watch the Birdie" was actually "Watch the Bird E". The placement of 31D EREADER off the E in 28A CRANE was intended to hint at this step.

But what to do with these 6 Es? Well, according to another bird-related entry smack dab in the center of the grid (41A DESCENT), you needed to look down or below the Es to uncover the letters M-U-R-D-E-R - the collective term for a group of crows. So, while you thought you were doing some harmless birdwatching, you were actually solving a murder mystery!

Oh yeah, some additional confirming hints included 8D MOBSCENE - ("mob" is another collective term for crows), 42D SYNONYMS (boast and brag are also synonyms for crow), and the golf meaning of "birdie", which is "one under" par on a given hole.

Thanks for solving, everyone!

Until next time,
Cap'n Rick

[cbarbee002]

Well, got MURDER early on, but never connected that to the term for a group of crows . . . . my bad. Good one Rick!

[sharkicicles]

Wow, great meta. Sad that I couldn’t get quite over the finish line…