I pulled out 36A Spam might be kept in it: TIN because I had put CAN early on, and it stayed in awhile. The late legendary test pilot Chuck Yeager referred to astronauts in the Mercury program as “spam in a can” due to their roles as riders rather than pilots, and he had no interest in participating in that way. He was the one who broke the sound barrier in 1947 while hiding that he’d broken some ribs after falling from a horse a couple days before that flight. No one completely sane signs up to be a test pilot.

Still no theme, and there aren’t enough long answers to dedicate space to them, so I’m opting to highlight another clue.

39D Violent-sounding songbird: THRASHER.

Finished this one in 31:19.

Day	This Wk	Best	Average	4-Wk Avg	Streak
Monday	7:27	3:49	9:27	7:38	71
Tuesday	10:25	5:22	13:25	12:25	14
Wednesday	10:06	7:38	17:18	11:34	12
Thursday	27:49	12:12	28:57	26:20	12
Friday	18:33	16:23	33:50	28:18	12
Saturday	31:19	27:43	34:22	34:49	12
Sunday		15:11	55:13	40:49	0