Unlike its eye-homophone ERE, EAR is by default a concrete word. It’s a visible, recognizable object central to our lived experience. Most of us rely on it almost every waking hour of our lives.
There are a lot of well-known ears that don’t get used much in crosswords, and I collected this set for this piece, only to realize I’d made a mistake when I started writing the clues. Can you figure out why this is not a good grid of ideas for EAR?
Daniel Craig probably wouldn’t like his spot on the list (though Obama would take his with good humor). But the bigger issue is that this is a group of people, beings and objects who are noted for their EARS, plural. (Randy Couture in the center is not as well known, but the unpleasant tendency of wrestlers and boxers to have cauliflower ears is…that might be too intense for some markets, but that’s a side issue.)
It’s surprisingly difficult to write a smooth clue that singles one ear out! “One of Mickey’s circles”? “One of two points from an Enterprise logician”? “Dumbo’s wing” kinda works, but eh. Let’s try again, this time with an eye toward a single EAR.
I’m skipping past the most obvious kind of clue…“Auditory organ” or something like “Sound body part?” That’s totally because I wanted to explore other meanings and associations of the term, not because I just forgot about it.👂🏾
Agriculture offers a number of alternate clues for “ear,” as in ear of corn, but also as in ear of rice, ear of grain, ear of barley…and then there’s a sourdough ear, which you get from preparing the grain.
The most famous one-eared person is mos def Vincent van Gogh. Though the reasons he cut off his ear are still debated, it seems likely to have been an act of fiscal and emotional desperation. But there may’ve been a side order of sexual creepiness: he gifted it to a cleaner named Rachel, who fainted on the spot. Other macabre ear-severings, such as in the horror movies The Fly and M3GAN, are not gonna fly with many editors, but van Gogh’s importance to art history gives his story a pass.
A more abstract definition of “ear” can be attention to one’s words. This can apply to either the short or long term: you can say “he had Clara’s ear at the party” or “she’s got the boss’s ear” with the understanding that the boss listens to her on a regular basis.
Not long ago, I was watching The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special and appreciated how much GotG relies on James Gunn’s ear—that is to say, his musical taste.
Musical prodigies are celebrated for their ear—their ability to reproduce music that they’ve heard. That’s the original meaning of “play by ear,” as in to play a piece of music using only one’s auditory memory…though when most people try that, they end up improvising a bit, which gives us the second meaning of the phrase.
When it comes to pop culture, the most well-known isolated single ear is that of Mr. Potato Head and family. Sure, he does have two, but the act of removing one and putting it where his eyes should go has been a rite of passage for generations.
Okay, I can find some evidence that people used to say “ear” to mean jug handle, but…is this still a thing? I’m not sure it’s still a thing. I can’t think of any reason I’d look at a milk jug and not say “handle.”
Younger solvers may not know her, at least not for this. But Carol Burnett’s still beloved for her place in the history of comedy, and her ear-tug was practically a trademarked gesture.
Beauty pageant winners have a short cultural shelf life, but 2017 Miss Universe Catriona Gray was widely beloved in her native Philippines, and her distinctive ear clasp is easy to clue. Though I’d consider swapping out any of the last three for Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring (“Ring-bearer in a famous painting/in a Vermeer work,” maybe).