Jessica

I am always a bit annoyed when clues for INCA and MAYA refer to “ancient civilizations” — since they are also contemporary people, the same way that OTOE, CREE, and UTES (other Indigenous crossword regulars, but north of the border!) are. But “bygone” (1D) is both inaccurate and offensive. Contemporary Indigenous Maya people live today in southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, as well as large diaspora communities in the US and Canada. They make up a significant portion of the population of Guatemala, they speak around 30 different languages, and their cultures have survived despite centuries of colonial violence. I hope the editors can do a better job of not contributing to this erasure by using “ancient” and “bygone” cultures for contemporary people — in an otherwise enjoyable puzzle!

A nice Monday puzzle, but 59A “Yucatan people of old” needed editing. Mayas still live in the Yucatan, and nearly a million of them speak Yucatec Maya, one of around 30 contemporary Mayan languages. This would be like cluing “southwest people of old” for “Navajo”.