"Bird's-Eye View," by Max Carpenter

Constructor's Comments

This puzzle's theme is a simple one, but I like it and am happy David saw fit to publish it.  In fact, the story of this puzzle's short life adrift in the abyss that is puzzle publishing is a testament to David's great qualities as a person, friend, and all-around cruciverbonaut.  As a good friend who loves nothing more than living and breathing puzzles, David ends up seeing and hearing about a good portion of my crosswording output before it passes by any newspaper editors.  He always stuns me with his deep memory for puzzles and themes when, months after talking about a puzzle with him, he will email me out of the blue with, "Hey, Max.  What ever happened to that puzzle?  Are you still looking for an outlet?"  In the case of this puzzle, David not only remembered it from months before but had, in the interim, considered that the theme would "pop" much better if we spun the puzzle so the theme entries read vertically down (whereas before, I had them reading horizontally).  Needless to say, he was right, though the moral of the story here is that David is a uniquely compassionate and generous editor in the already rather polite and respectful market of crosswords.

I hope everyone has fun with the puzzle.