(DELIA) OWENS, WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING — Marsh is a space of light, where grass grows in water, and water flows into the sky. ... [T]rue swamp crawls into low-lying bogs... in clammy forests. Swamp water is still and dark, having swallowed the light in its muddy throat.
Marsh is not swamp. Marsh is a space of light, where grass grows in water, and water flows into the sky. Slow-moving creeks wander, carrying the orb of the sun with them to the sea, and long-legged birds lift with unexpected grace — as though not built to fly — against the roar of a thousand snow geese.
Then within the marsh, here and there, true swamp crawls into low-lying bogs, hidden in clammy forests. Swamp water is still and dark, having swallowed the light in its muddy throat
| A. | Spirited vigor; sexual allure | OOMPH |
| B. | Saturated area | WETLAND |
| C. | Organisms and their environs as a unit | ECOSYSTEM |
| D. | "Ask me later" (2 wds.) | NOTNOW |
| E. | Leading character of Sophocles? | SIGMA |
| F. | Baby blue-eyes and black-eyed Susans | WILDFLOWERS |
| G. | Good — or bad — roster to be on (2 wds.) | HITLIST |
| H. | Austrian physicist who studied shock waves (2 wds.) | ERNSTMACH |
| I. | Motley; unkempt; hastily assembled | RAGTAG |
| J. | Us, to Klaatu and Gort | EARTHLINGS |
| K. | Warning akin to "Heads up!" (2 wds.) | THINKFAST |
| L. | Ridiculous blunder | HOWLER |
| M. | 1981 hit for the Oak Ridge Boys | ELVIRA |
| N. | Tree whose limbs are a symbol of mourning | CYPRESS |
| O. | Full of branches | RAMOSE |
| P. | Curt, perhaps rudely so | ABRUPT |
| Q. | Trees whose bark gives us salicin | WILLOWS |
| R. | Like fingers and much information nowadays | DIGITAL |
| S. | Comment at a cringeworthy moment | AWKWARD |
| T. | Atypically small | DWARFISH |
| U. | Suit in a tarot deck | SWORDS |
| V. | À la mode | STYLISH |
| W. | Dorsally crested reptile | IGUANA |
| X. | J. K. Rowling's wizard and "magizoologist" ____ Scamander | NEWT |
| Y. | Athlete who hangs around bars a lot? | GYMNAST |