Stumped by the First (and Last) Gift? Find the Answer Here!

Upon receiving the crossword clue ‘With 14-Across, first (and last) gift of a seasonal song,’ my detective instincts kicked in, and I immediately went to work deciphering its hidden message. The mention of a seasonal song indicated a possible connection to Christmas, ringing bells in my mind. I began to think of classic seasonal songs that involved gifts, such as “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” With this in mind, I turned my attention to the words ‘first (and last) gift.’ It struck me that the phrase ‘first and last’ hinted at the beginning and end of something – perhaps the first and last words in a song lyric. To verify my theory, I dug deep into my memory and recalled that ‘partridge’ is indeed the first word in the song. Intrigued, I eagerly moved on to 14-Across, the accompanying clue, wondering what it might reveal. When I read the clue, ‘A popular game bird,’ a lightbulb moment washed over me – a partridge is, indeed, a popular game bird. Excitedly, I realized that ‘partridge’ was the answer I had been searching for, as it cleverly fulfilled both the ‘first (and last) gift’ and ‘a popular game bird’ clues. The pieces came together beautifully, and I marveled at the ingenuity of this crossword puzzle’s construction as I penned ‘PARTRIDGE’ as the solution.