Science & Nature
MediumEarth Science Crossword: Our Home Planet
Category: Science & NatureDifficulty: Easy10 × 19
Friday, September 25
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Enter one letter per square. Answers run Across or Down. Omit spaces and accents; any special spelling convention is stated in the clue. This is a freeform themed grid, so some letters are not crossed.
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About Today's Theme
How much of your home planet can you name without looking at a globe? This crossword moves from the air around you to the layers below your feet. The clues are direct, but a few familiar words have precise scientific meanings. Start with a place or substance you recognize, then work toward the longer entries. Think about whether each clue asks for a layer, a motion, or a feature of Earth's surface. That distinction matters more than knowing a long list of facts.
Clues
Across
- 1Opening through which lava can erupt (7)
- 4Imaginary line at zero degrees latitude (7)
- 5Gas making up about 78 percent of Earth's near-surface atmosphere (8)
- 8Earth's layer between crust and core (6)
- 10Path Earth follows around the Sun (5)
- 11Large landmass, such as Africa (9)
Down
- 2Vast saltwater body covering much of Earth (5)
- 3Earth's rocky outermost layer (5)
- 6Attraction that keeps your feet on the ground (7)
- 7Earth's spinning on its axis (8)
- 9Earth's natural satellite (4)
- 12Gas making up about 21 percent of Earth's near-surface atmosphere (6)
Answers and Explanations
After Your Solve
This grid is built around scale. Some answers describe a planet as a whole; others describe just one layer or part of it. Review CRUST and MANTLE together, then compare ROTATION with ORBIT. Those pairs are useful because the words belong to the same subject but answer different questions. A clue about what something is made of should not be solved with a word describing how it moves. If one of those entries held you up, try explaining the distinction in your own words before moving on.
- 1 acrossVOLCANO
Lava reaches the surface through volcanic activity.
- 4 acrossEQUATOR
The equator separates the Northern and Southern hemispheres.
- 5 acrossNITROGEN
Nitrogen is more abundant in the air than oxygen.
- 8 acrossMANTLE
The mantle lies beneath the crust.
- 10 acrossORBIT
An orbit describes a body's path around another body.
- 11 acrossCONTINENT
A continent is a major division of Earth's land.
- 2 downOCEAN
Ocean water covers most of Earth's surface.
- 3 downCRUST
The crust is above the mantle.
- 6 downGRAVITY
Gravity is an attractive interaction between masses.
- 7 downROTATION
Rotation is spinning, rather than traveling around the Sun.
- 9 downMOON
A satellite orbits a larger body.
- 12 downOXYGEN
Oxygen is the second-largest component of that air.
Further Reading
- Theme referencescience.nasa.gov
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