Certain apartment (with a hyphen) or farm housing (without one)

COOP

["Here’s a helpful hint for your crossword clue:\n\n*\"It might house chickens or shareholders, depending on the punctuation.\"*\n\nThis hint gently points toward the dual meanings of \"coop\" and \"co-op\" without giving away the answer directly. It encourages the solver to think about the different contexts where the word appears."]

The clue "Certain apartment (with a hyphen) or farm housing (without one)" leads to the answer "COOP" through a clever play on words and punctuation. Here's the breakdown: 1. "Certain apartment (with a hyphen)" refers to a "co-op," which is short for a cooperative apartment. A co-op is a type of residential property where residents own shares in a corporation that owns the building. 2. "Farm housing (without one)" refers to a "coop," which is a structure used for housing poultry or small animals on a farm. The clue cleverly combines these two meanings by indicating the presence or absence of a hyphen. With a hyphen, "co-op" refers to the apartment, and without a hyphen, "coop" refers to the farm housing. Thus, the answer is "COOP."