RICHARD POWERS, THE OVERSTORY — [T]rees under attack pump out insecticides to save their lives. ... [T]rees a little way off, untouched by the invading swarms, ramp up their own defenses... . The... trees... are signaling. They're linked together in an airborne network... .
The trees under attack pump out insecticides to save their lives. That much is uncontroversial. But something else in the data makes her flesh pucker: trees a little way off, untouched by the invading swarms, ramp up their own defenses when their neighbor is attacked. Something alerts them. They get wind of the disaster, and they prepare. She controls for everything she can, and the results are always the same. Only one conclusion makes any sense: The wounded trees send out alarms that other trees smell. Her maples are signaling. They're linked together in an airborne network, sharing an immune system ...
| A. | Four-legged events on a track | RELAYS |
| B. | "That's hardly surprising" (2 wds.) | ITFIGURES |
| C. | Hoary joke, story or riddle | CHESTNUT |
| D. | Author of the collection "Twice-Told Tales" | HAWTHORNE |
| E. | Singer named for an African kingdom | ASHANTI |
| F. | Tract set aside as a wilderness | RESERVE |
| G. | Monthly subtitled "The Magazine of Maine" (2 wds.) | DOWNEAST |
| H. | Hatchling of a showy fowl | PEACHICK |
| I. | Let one's views be known | OPINE |
| J. | Saturated roots in a grove (2 wds.) | WETFEET |
| K. | Marketplace founded by Pierre Omidyar | EBAY |
| L. | Song on the flip side of "Paperback Writer" | RAIN |
| M. | Conscious and perceptive | SENTIENT |
| N. | Doodad | THINGUM |
| O. | Gerard Manley ____ (poet who wrote "Binsey Poplars") | HOPKINS |
| P. | Assistance for senior citizens | ELDERCARE |
| Q. | Tarred fiber used for caulking | OAKUM |
| R. | Like leaves or marble | VEINED |
| S. | Nimrod with rhotacism (2 wds.) | ELMERFUDD |
| T. | Painter of "The Rainbow Landscape" | RUBENS |
| U. | Wise and insightful | SAPIENT |
| V. | Presage the cry of "Timber!" | TOTTER |
| W. | Novel character born in a workhouse (2 wds.) | OLIVERTWIST |
| X. | "____ wood cannot be carved" (Confucius) | ROTTEN |
| Y. | Branched wonder of Norse mythology | YGGDRASIL |