About the theme

Farm Animals is short, plain, and warm. Pig, cow, sheep, goat, hen, duck, rooster, donkey, goose, alpaca. The longest entries (rooster, donkey, gosling, peacock) cap at seven letters, which makes this theme a natural fit for the 8×8 grids where the word-length cap shines. The shortest entries (cow, pig, ewe, sow, yak) are the search hides — three letters of constraint isn't much to lock onto, even in a small grid. A perfect introductory theme.