Relative difficulty: Medium (maybe even mildly tougher than Medium, for a Monday)
THEME: STATUE OF LIBERTY (57A: New York City landmark suggested by the ends of 17-, 22-, 34- and 50-Across) — last words of themers are parts of said statue; I guess this is a 4th of July-themed puzzle (?):
Theme answers:
PASSING THE TORCH (17A: Handing responsibility to someone else)
TRIPLE CROWN (22A: Major accomplishment in baseball or horse racing)
ASPIRIN TABLET (34A: One way to deal with a pain in the neck)
TOWN AND GOWN (50A: Two interacting communities in the home of a college)
Word of the Day: ARC LIGHT (11D: Intense illumination, as in old movie projectors) —
An arc lamp or arc light is a lamp that produces light by an electric arc (also called a voltaic arc).
The carbon arc light, which consists of an arc between carbon electrodes in air, invented by Humphry Davy in the first decade of the 1800s, was the first practical electric light. It was widely used starting in the 1870s for street and large building lighting until it was superseded by the incandescent light in the early 20th century. It continued in use in more specialized applications where a high intensity point light source was needed, such as searchlights and movie projectors until after World War II. The carbon arc lamp is now obsolete for most of these purposes, but it is still used as a source of high intensity ultraviolet light.
The term is now used for gas discharge lamps, which produce light by an arc between metal electrodes through a gas in a glass bulb. The common fluorescent lamp is a low-pressure mercury arc lamp. The xenon arc lamp, which produces a high intensity white light, is now used in many of the applications which formerly used the carbon arc, such as movie projectors and searchlights. (wikipedia)
• • •
Cringed my way through most of this. The fill just creaked and groaned. Started with old initialism at 1A (YSL) and then ARLO SOPS YESIDO EDER COSI SNL TERA ATON and by now I'm halfway down the grid. And what the hell was up with that clue on LILI (23D: Woman's name that looks like Roman numerals 51 + 51). No, 51 + 51 = 102, and unless there is a woman somewhere named CII, then that clue is garbage. I eventually got it—and it helped me change "YES YES" to "YES, I DO"—but if you want consecutive "LI"s and you're super in-love with your little Roman numeral joke, there's gotta be a better way to go about it than this misleading equation-style clue. HIC IMHO ATTAR ATAB ETTU AGEE HIC CEO NOFEE NSYNC LORRIE ALOEGEL, two different "___ AT" phrases, ETC. It's as if very, very little care went into filling and polishing this grid. When you look at the grid construction, you can see that it's really horrendously choppy, with lots of black squares cutting through the middle, creating a surfeit of 3- and 4-letter answers. The result was just painful to wade through. And it's not like the theme itself is any great shakes. Four things associated with a statue. OK. Kind of tepid for (what I imagine is supposed to be) a holiday-themed puzzle. I guarantee you that most every other major daily will produce a Monday puzzle *at least* this strong today. I don't know how the most famous and prestigious puzzle in the country, the one whose editor loves to tout how many submissions he gets, can't manage better than this. Complacency, that's what this is.
[
I had YIP AT before YAP AT (1D: Threaten, as a little dog might)—or, rather, I left the vowel blank and used the cross to make sure. Speaking of getting yapped at, we were walking in the state forest today and got run at by two dogs who came out bounding up the trail, off-leash. Luckily they were much more bark than bite (they were no-bite, in fact), but it's still freaky to have unattended dogs, especially biggish dogs, run at you, barking. Weirdly, the owners never actually showed. The dogs ran away ... and then we saw them again later, at which point we all exchanged sort of friendly nods ("hey, whassup, nice to see you again") and they went off and left us alone. Maybe their owners live adjacent to the state land. I hope so. Ok now I'm worried about them. Anyway, the woods were beautiful today. Lots and lots of birdsong, and yet when I whipped out my Merlin app to record and identify the song, turns out there was only one kind of bird singing, a bird I've never actually seen (to my knowledge): the red-eyed vireo.
Just wall-to-wall 24/7 non-stop red-eyed vireo. It's a dang forest, how is there only one type of bird making noise? If I sit on my steps in the morning I can ID half a dozen birds within a minute, but I had that app on for a full two minutes in the woods today and the Only bird singing was the vireo. I'm writing about dogs and birds so as not to have to write about this puzzle anymore. Would not mind seeing more VIREOs in puzzles. I hope you have a nice rest of your 4th. Don't shoot off fireworks because they scare both indoor and outdoor wildlife. Leave the explosions to the professionals. Take care.
I consider myself a patriot. I am a Vietnam veteran who served many years in uniform. I have been an involved citizen in my community. Yet I find it difficult this year to celebrate being an American. Today's puzzle, honoring Miss Liberty, helps me to focus on the good while recognizing the work that still needs to be done. Thanks, Bruce.
Medium. Kinda liked the theme, but @Rex is right about the fill. Dogs and vireos are a delightful way to end a blog. Thanks for the smile.
@bocamp - Croce’s Freestyle #723 was a medium Croce for me, with the NW being the toughest corner. There was one 4 letter answer I’ve never seen before, so I was hoping it was actually a word. Good luck!
If you’re going to do a tribute puzzle, this is the way to do it. Not a bunch of factoids, but an actual theme that manages to evoke the subject.
But what Rex said about the fill. LILI/EDER/COSI? Any one of them is fine, but stacked side-by-side? Oof. And turning LILI into the randomest of random Roman numerals? No NO NO.
Happy Independence Day all you USAers! I solved looking at only the down clues, so if the puzzle is as cringey as Rex says, I didn't notice it as much. I was just delighted to finish correctly without having to look at a single across clue. The theme was soon obvious, which helped fill in the theme answers.
There were quite a few dreaded names, but KAHLO was a gimme, NSYNC and WOOLF weren't that hard, and only LESLIE was a complete unknown. (I really don't know any SNL people after Farley and Tina Fey as Sarah Palin.)
[Spelling Bee: yd (Sat): pg-1, missed this 7er which looks vaguely familiar. td (Sun) -0, my last 2 words were kinda non-words.]
I didn’t object to the LILI clue as much as Rex, but perhaps a better one would have scrapped the part about the woman’s name and worked on the misdirection about the math with something like this: “Two times, 51, for ancient mathematician.”
LILI is the name of a 1953 movie starring Leslie Caron, for which she received an Oscar nomination. Not quite an of-the-moment phenomenon, I realize, but it came out more recently than the Roman numeral for 51.
Tributes are tough to build - theme works here but the overall fill doesn’t. When WOOLF and KAHLO can’t revive the grid there’s a problem. Rex highlights the many duds.
Both ALOE GEL and ASPIRIN TABLET feel redundant. I’m not familiar with the term TOWN AND GOWN. Doubling down on PSI from yesterday.
Nobody in the USA is supposed to be cranky on Independence Day. But Rex is over the top cranky, thus demonstrating .....?? I am a moderately capable solver yet I found this puzzle to be easy. And it was a treat to solve it on the Fourth.
Over in the NYT Wordplay column, there is a startling level of moaning and groaning about ROYALS clued as the KC baseball team. On any day of the year, the name of an American major league sports team is fair as a clue. On the Fourth of July, it's not just fair--it's almost required. It's baseball!
LILI was the only clue that bugged me, because, as Rex said, CII. Bad editing.
Loved all the vireos, Rex! Also loved the no-amateur-fireworks plea, which will fall on deaf ears and has been causing misery for one of my dogs all weekend.
Surprised to see that they couldn’t have done better - the entire center section is a complete mess. Very surprised that ASPIRIN TABLET made the cut as a theme entry (and the clue about a pain in the neck is just terrible). The whole section needed to be reworked, and instead they just left in EDER, COSI, LETO, BOYD, and AT BOTTOM (?) - on a Monday no less. Definitely not the NYT’s best effort today - I agree with OFL that this puzzle could have run in any publication in the country and it would still be nothing more than nondescript.
Sweet that TORCH / CROWN / TABLET go from high to low in the grid as well as in Lady Liberty. Plus, I like the little poem TORCH / CROWN / TABLET / GOWN.
And yet … I’ve been feeling the irony of this holiday at a time when liberty’s been taking strong hits – there’s a sadness in me about that – but the puzzle cross of SWAT AT and LIBERTY somehow kicked me in the pants, reminding me to remember that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice” (Martin Luther King, based on the words of Theodore Parker), and that I must get up and rage, rage against the dying of that arc. I must act in its behalf and swat at all the obstacles to that arc.
So, for me, this was more than a fun solve, Bruce; it was a catalyst. I came into the puzzle in a little funk and left it inspired, and I feel a whole lot better. That didn’t have to happen, but somehow it did. Thank you for this, Bruce!
Never heard of TOWN AND GOWN as a thing. Sounds creepy as though there is something elite about the Gown and not so much about the town. Maybe just me.
My five favorite clues from last week (in order of appearance):
1. French cake advocate? (5)(10) 2. Fictional Christian of books and films (4) 3. Grocery bagful (5) 4. Image problem? (5) 5. Like some cheese ... or some movies (6)
No way I’m gonna TORCH this sparkling nod to Lady LIBERTY on Independence Day. And after all these years, isn’t she just lovely standing there in her CROWN and GOWN? Despite the stench that has been coming off our nation’s Capital of late, I still feel inspired at the sight of her. YES I DO.
I for one was delighted to see a holiday celebration theme arrive in my Monday crossworld. It used to be a common thing to have a tribute puzzle on a major holiday but seems like it has become rare in recent years. I’m not sure why we drifted away from that practice but I’d love to see the trend come back into fashion. Anyway, this one was a classic Bruce Haight beauty IMHO. He never disappoints.
For decades at least the NYTimes has been printing a full page of the Declaration of Independence on the back of the first section. I once inherited some music from an old man who was a proud American immigrant, and found that page saved, interleaved between them, year after year. I always bring it out to my cookout and make everybody read it. And today, they did not print it. Just sayin'.
Oh, the puzzle. Cheers actor crossing actor Jared? Left it blank. But I will admit, STOOGE was my first entry.
I just discovered an 1839 American hymn to the tune of the duet 'Secondati' from Cosi fan Tutti. Alas no youtubes:
1 Thine earthly sabbaths, Lord, we love; But there's a nobler rest above; Thy servants to that rest aspire With ardent hope and strong desire. 2 No more fatigue, no more distress, Nor sin, nor death shall reach the place; No groans shall mingle with the songs That dwell upon immortal tongues. 3 No rude alarms of raging foes; No cares to break our long repose; No midnight shade, no clouded sun, But sacred, high, eternal noon. 4 O long-expected day, begin! Dawn on these realms of woe and sin! Fain would we leave this weary road, And sleep in death, to rest with God. Amen.
I am generally not one to seriously comment on issues potentially raised by a puzzle. But today is supposed to be a celebration of the birth of our country and the liberties we enjoy, as symbolized by the STATUEOFLIBERTY. However, those liberties are fewer than we enjoyed just one year ago. And if the twin wrecking balls of liberty known as the Supreme Court and MAGA have their way, we’ll have even fewer liberties by next year. Perhaps a more appropriate theme would have centered on Margaret Atwood’s Republic of Gilead.
Easy puzzle for beginners over the age of 60. Nice pay off, good July 4th tribute. Only Hic was Passing the Baton. Buck was first thought. Only nit, someone needs to come up with a better clue for Sleeve next time. Xword Info lists Slob’s Napkin from Sunday, April 2, 2000 (I’ve been known to).
@Rex, In my new retirement digs I’ve observed from the window an almost exclusive population of wrens. Looked it up and found that they're viciously territorial, pecking a single hole in the eggs of other birds to make sure they eliminate any competition.
This is from the American Bird Conservancy on your Vireos.
“Male Red-eyed Vireos return to the breeding grounds before females. Each male stakes out and defends a territory through song, patrolling a number of singing perches around the edge of his territory, and aggressively attacking and driving out intruding males throughout the breeding season.”
@Joaquin (12:05) I understand what you’re saying. Some days the endless stream of bad news makes me feel discouraged too but I’m sure it’s even more heartbreaking for someone with your background of service. Thank you for that by the way. Yes, much work to be done and my greatest hope is that we can retain enough leaders with the character and integrity to get it done. Wishing you a pleasant holiday.
@Anonymous (7:31) I went over to Wordplay to see why anyone would object to the Royals and most of what I saw were people saying they didn’t know the answer. Seems curious to me as they’re two-time World Series champions and the most recent one not that long ago. I’m only a casual fan but if you give me the city I think I could name just about any MLB team without much effort. Agree with you it’s fair game and especially today.
I live in a town and gown city and am wearing my statue of liberty earrings today so i found this puzzle kinda fun! I also swam in the lake, backstroke to stay warm…Happy 4th of July with birdsongs and ice cream for all.
I was curious so I wandered over to WaPo and USA to see what they were serving for this holiday morning brunch. USA was typically easy with no theme that I discerned. The WaPo (aka LAT) offering had a much less ambitious theme (still holiday-related) and virtually no dreck. It would have felt very much at home gracing the pages of the NYT as well. With theme entries like ASPIRIN TABLET and TOWN AND GOWN, which are just sort of meh, it’s not worth (imo) subjecting your solvers to EDER, COSI, LETO et al. Advantage WaPo today.
*** SB Alert ***
Had a dickens of a time just getting to genius today. It took 33 words to get to 84 points (X-bar of 2.5 points per word!).
@Anon7:31 - I’ve always suspected those Wordplayers were a bunch of damn Tories.
@Phillyrad1999 - As I recall the elitism tends to go both ways. “Ivory Tower” is a good example of TOWNies condescension towards colleges and universities.
@jberg alerted me those heathens in the north, unbeknownst to me, have moved Oslo from Sweden to Norway, which is how they are up there in the cold and dark. This messed up one of my jokes with the savage intensity the 8th and 9th century Varangians creating havoc in Byzantium, and with roughly equal historical significance. Vikings are the worst.
As for the puzzle at hand, it was a joyous romp through lots of junk, but it filled itself in with no drama, so hopefully we'll create the drama here in the comments. We've done it before and can do it again. Pick a topic ... rant.
The theme comes from the proud tradition of themes existing for no purpose whatsoever, except when you're all done you look back and say, "Hm. Okay." Then you pull out your Olivetti typewriter and set to work on your blog post.
I assume the Statue of Liberty is supposed to evoke some 4th of July-i-ness, and I loathe this time of year for the pets dealing with illegal fireworks and the reminder of what a mess this country continues to be.
One of the ongoing discussions we have about names is whether the crosses fill in the unknowns like today. Problem is I now have no motivation to go look up LESLIE JONES or LORRIE MORGAN and they might be lovely.
Yays:
FREAK: I like to say, "Let's not freak out," when some minor issue arises. The more minor, the more it's funny.
TOWN AND GOWN: Didn't know this was a thing, especially a medieval thing, so I read up on it since I like medieval stuff, and now I wish I was more gown than town.
BOT: Always love all robots, even the spammy kind.
ARC LIGHT: Dunno what this is, but I hope it buzzes. And @OFL made it word of the day! I am positive it buzzes.
Boos:
ALOE GEL & ASPIRIN TABLET sound rather overly specific like some pedantic person who thinks you should know Oslo is in an entirely different country.
YAPAT: It's just ugly and I want to pronounce it "yuh pat."
The + in the Lili clue made our favorite Roman numeral comedy just wrong.
Uniclues: 1 Short French designer went for a nude belly flop. 2 Result of drinking champagne while wearing a tiara, a diadem, and a circlet. 3 Answer to, "Do you ever act dumb?" 4 Times for other good reasons. 5 Nighttime Australian skies. 6 Quickly played a composition about a California ghost town with a long history of derailments, avalanches, injuries, arson, death and romance.
1 YSL FREAK SWAM 2 TRIPLE CROWN HIC 3 YES, I DO STOOGE 4 THAT TOO ERAS 5 STARRY AT BOTTOM 6 RAN EDER NOTES
Hope you know your baseball. Otherwise BOYD AGEE LORRIE crossing ROYALS is a whole Natick stack. For a moment I had OGEE instead of AGEE and wondered if they were the Kansas City RObotS.
Hey All ! Har, it's a Bruce Haight puz, ergo bashed by Rex. There has been two BH puzs that Rex actually sorta liked, so can't totally put him in "See BH, bash puz" mode all the time. But still, har
42 Blockers, high. Normal max is 38. This seems like WS reached out to BH to whip up a 4th Themed puz, as none were available. iMHO. Unless I'm a STOOGE (bet the over).
I did like this puz. I don't like the idiots in my neighborhood who shoot fireworks for 6 hours straight right in the middle of the road. Going to a little shindig tonight, hopefully I'll be able to get home later. One year, every single street around me had fireworks being shot off in them, I couldn't get home!
Happy 4th. Remember what the holiday is about, not just drinking and partying and idiot fireworks lighters.
Oh, Apes cats? What a weird clue
yd -7, should'ves 3
Three F's RooMonster (in a mood, apparently) DarrinV
**USA TODAY CROSSWORD SPOILER ALERT** So Skip this if you are still planning on solving that puzzle today. Yes, this means you @Frantic Sloth wherever you have been lurking.
@Southside Johnny - It’s not a quote puzzle so it’s not the worst possible theme, but think about the title but … that’s right … the second word in each themer is an anagram of petals. Blrrgh.
/Spoiler
@Gary Jugert - With everyone wearing anoraks* all the time it’s no surprise you got the two countries mixed up.
Not really in celebrating mood so this puzzle GRATED on my nerves.
Years ago as a university movie protectionist I learned to use carbon arc lamps (and lots of other useful stuff) that led to me getting my highest paid job ever as a non-union protectionist at a now defunct NYC theater that was famous for its midnight showings of... well, if you were there in the 70s you remember and if not it's just boring old stuff.
I know nothing about organized sports, but evidently it's in the ether because I seem to know team names. We don't even have regular TV and I don't get much radio now that I'm retired and don't have to drive, so no idea where it comes from.
The U I went to definitely had a TOWNANDGOWN thing going on. But again, ancient history. I live in a college town now but there's none of that feeling. The businesses are happy to have the kids as customers.
Also, not medium. Easy. Seconds off fastest time for Monday.
Thx, Bruce, for your independently, LIBERal outpouring! :)
Med+
Just a tad on the tough side, needing all the crosses for TOWN AND GOWN & ASPIRIN TABLET.
Otherwise, a very smooth journey.
Enjoyed this one very much! :)
Let us not PASS THE TORCH, but keep it burning in our hearts and actions. We've always had our ups and downs, but AT BOTTOM, we always manage to overcome our shortcomings, moving upward and onward towards the LIGHT. 🗽
Here's a little write-up on the Oxford TOWN AND GOWN riot of 1354, in which several people (mostly students, I think) were killed.
I liked the theme, but have to agree it's a little clunky; until you get ASPIRING TABLET (and like @mmorgan I wanted it to be ASPIRINg...), SNL is the only entry connecting the top half with the bottom; especially tough for those of us who weren't sure about LETO.
@Zed, when I was spending a few months in the UK I was surprised to learn that anorak was synonymous with "nerd." I suppose because the former tended to wear the latter. I've got one in the closet myself.
@Lewis and others -- I share your views on the state of the country, but try to remind myself that the people we disagree with think that WE are threatening THEIR liberty. I'm not sure how that gets resolved.
I love any tribute to "LIBERTY Enlightening the World" and thus found the theme very pleasing. And yet, given the recent snatching away of rights, I couldn't suppress a "LIBERTY my eye!" I'll focus on the broken chains beneath her sandal and hope we can break them again.
Do-overs: PASSING THE baton, "in the end" before AT BOTTOM, gigA before mEgA before TERA. No idea:LORRIE. Fourth of July quiz: Does her GOWN have SLEEVES? Answer.
I find myself with remarkably little to say about this smooth but wholly unexciting tribute puzzle to the STATUE OF LIBERTY. So instead, I'll talk about the STATUE OF LIBERTY.
I was taken to the STATUE OF LIBERTY as a young child by my parents. I had no desire to climb the 300-400 steps to the TORCH or the CROWN or wherever you end up. My parents wanted to not make the climb even more than I did. So we didn't.
An odd, pleasant combination of Monday difficulty. The crosswordese made it easy enough for newbies with at least a little experience. But "pain in the neck" was not something I took literally. Surely something at least a little clever, even on Monday. So got it whenthe revealer to give it away, which never happens on Monday. Nice variant on aloe, which made me think twice.
I thought lili required a different type of reasoning, perhaps more the bit of newcomers. "We'll, we need some Is, and L is a Roman numeral in the right vicinity. 4 letter name...must be Lily...even if I don't see the math yet ..
Not a great puzzle, but good enough for Monday, and a theme worth reminding us of at this awful time for our nation.
@Anonymoose (10:26) Best post of the day! And how dare she stand there brazenly welcoming all those immigrants when they’re all busy trying to build their wall.
A bit about a book I think I should have read, by Gerald Horne: "The Counter-Revolution of 1776 asks us to rethink the fundamental narrative of American history and to interrogate nationalist myths. Horne demands that historians consider slavery not as the exception to the republican promise of the American Revolution but rather as the norm insofar as protecting slavery was a fundamental cause of colonial revolt." ― The New England Quarterly
"History books have painted a narrative of the U.S. founding that any student can recite: Colonists, straining against the tyranny of the British crown, revolted in the name of freedom, liberty and justice for all. But in recent years, historians have revisited that conventional story, examining the important role slaves played for Britain in its quest to quell colonists. Now, in a new book, historian Gerald Horne argues it was the desire to maintain slavery that was the prime motivator of the uprising . . . . Horne revisit[s] the period leading up to 1776 to find out how slavery in North America and the British colonies influenced the revolution."
I see anonytroll's been busy today spewing his White European Men and their western culture is the greatest ever, the rest of history be damned. Most anti-immigrant types go around acting superior. Well guess what? You didn't DO anything or ACCOMPLISH anything except being lucky to fall out of your mother's uterus in the United States. I always wonder how I got so lucky when I could have easily fallen out of my mother's uterus in a poor section of India, or on a dirt floor with nothing to eat in South America, or as a starving child in Africa. This was just plain luck and these people walk around like they actually deserve something and are innately superior people just for being born in a wealthier country.
M&A is almost outraged … outraged, I says. A 5-themer 72-worder MonPuz with some Ow de Speration crosswordese splatzed in there occasionally. How could U, Mr. Haight dude. har
Primo 4th of July theme. And nice to supply Lady Liberty with some ASPIRIN, after the past 5-6 years.
staff weeject pick: ETC. Splatzed in right at the puzgrid end. Cousin of THATTOO. Nice weeject stacks, attop and atbottom, btw.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {Apes cats?} = MEOWS. It ain't often that the only ?-marker clue in the puz gets such an honor.
Kinda appreciated the puzgrid layout, with lotsa so-called "cheater squares" distributed like tinsel on the July 4th Christmas tree. Pretty. Giant T's and (Arc)Lightnin Bolts. Too bad the Haightmeister couldn't quite go for the triple-stacked 8's, in the NE & SW. Cannot imagine the luvly desperation that mighta ensued.
Not real familiar with the TOWNANDGOWN term. Learned somethin new there, which is always nice. No other no-knows to report. Some fave fireworks: FREAK. BANTAM. STOOGE. WEREHOME/IMHO. ARCLIGHT. HIC. LILI clue [raised to new heights by the wolves!].
Thanx for the fun as usual, Mr. Haight dude. Happy 4th to U and everybody else.
This is my 75th Fourth, the saddest by far. It’s just like every year with cars polluting the air, despite the wind, to get to a two-minute bucket list tourist spot, which is well worth the hill climb but wish they all would do it on foot. Cranky is ok today, Rex et al.
My main headache was ASPIRINTABLET; knew it had to be more than one word, aspiring what? Even when I changed giga (down) to tera, I still couldn’t see where it split. When I was a kid, crosswords clued the number of words.
TOWNANDGOWN was a gimme as I went to that kind of college: small town with it’s only university as the biggest industry.
There will be more air pollution tonight from fireworks and crowds of cars inching away and, as usual, I will be dizzy watching pedestrians hurrying home, but all is different….
Yes, a sad 07/04 day. I choose to celebrate INTERDepemce day and think about cooperation, harmony, peace - at the same time posting a video from Big Think about Fascism. (The USA is ticking all the boxes…)
Oh, the 🧩. Is it possible to have interesting answers with a grid full of 3 letter words? 🤔 Anyone haha everyone - with more 🧩 history than I- what do you think?
Puzz was okay. I’ve seen a lot of cartoons with the Statue of LIBERTY in tears and worse. About how I felt when doing puzzle - that’s on me. Puzz was good enough.
Yep, this is my first DNF on a Monday in a while due to that section and the BANTAM/ATTAR cross up north. Sports and famous people from before my time do not make an easy puzzle for this young millennial.
I have done the NYT Crossword for the past 5-6 years. I’m not the greatest, but I’ve got Monday-Wednesday down pretty good. I’m a very casual crossword player. I’ve never entered or sought any type of blog or site devoted to reviewing crosswords…until today. I was so dumbstruck by how awful this Monday’s puzzle was that I thought “SURELY it can’t be just me who found this infuriating.” I landed here and had all my anxieties validated. I’m glad your reviews/analyses exist and I’ll be coming back more!
Hello EDER my old friend, you've come to help my solve again. Time was when you needed to know major---and a few minor---world rivers to be an accomplished xworder.
All that grid space taken up by 4 long themers, a reveal and 42 black squares assured that there would be lots of MEH 3s and 4s. Since the TORCH, CROWN and GOWN in the theme entries are all similar to those carried by the STATUE OF LIBERTY but the TABLET of ASPIRIN TABLET is totally different, maybe the puzzle would have worked better with just three themers and the reveal. I am always bemoaning themer bloat at the expense of quality fill. I much prefer a balanced puzzle over a high theme density at any cost puzzle.
I think 21A ALOE GEL is no more redundant than, say, TREE SAP. There are also ALOE thorns, rind, stalks and flowers. ALOE plants abound hereabouts in TexMex Land and I know from experience that it is the GEL of the plant that has the soothing, pain reducing effect. It also dries to form a protective barrier, kind of like a spray-on bandage.
Hard to be proud, but especially proud of and thankful for all who have served and continue to serve to preserve and protect our Republic and the liberty we all share and that it seems too many take for granted. Thanks @Joaquin.
If ever you have lived in a “college town” in which the University at times appears to control the city more than its own policy makers and the citizens who elect them, or in which the residents, school administration and student population frequently clash about issues like noise, drunk driving, party houses, rent house occupancy violations etc, you would be familiar with the phrase “town and gown.” The city and college seem to have great difficulty cooperating to create harmonious coexistence during the months of student occupancy. The problem is usually denied in official channels. Having lived my entire life in big university cities (Columbus, OH, Chambagne-Urbana, IL and Norman, OK, I have lots of personal experience, particularly during the years I served on city council.
Happy, happy Independence Day to all of the USA!! I was hoping for and received a wonderful tribute to this great nation. Struggles we have, but nothing we cannot overcome. Starts with remembering exactly what Lady Liberty symbolizes, and the sacrifices of our service members who have courageously given their time, talents and their lives to protect our freedoms.
I enjoyed the theme, especially the clever “head to tablet” placement in the puzzle of the clues. Nice touch.
For @Rex re the Red Eyed Vireo, a favorite of mine. These clever little songbirds travel from their winter homes deep in South America ever year all the way to Canada. They pass through Oklahoma in May or early June and large numbers roost on the holly bushes in my yard to enjoy the new crop of red berries. They would undoubtedly be passing through NY about now. Glad you got to experience them! Beautifully cheerful song.
@JD yesterday 2:22pm. Your description really hit home! My childhood through high school was also spent in a very “Lake Woebegone” atmosphere and ave walked through some strange looking glass into a place much as you describe. Hard to stay optimistic.
The puzzle seemed okay to me. However, the many who said they never heard of the term "Town and Gown" means that another expression that I know very well (and was very commonly said or written by others when I was in college) is apparently disappearing from common usage as so many of the bloggers went out of their to say they never heard of it! Another way to be reminded of my age as my 70th birthday fast approaches.
I do agree it is a sad 4th for the reasons stated.
CDily52, Wow. Just wow. Any vireo Rex saw today is whats’ called a nester, or resident. Passerine migration ended many, many weeks ago. In fact, the red eyed vireos in Binghamton have already had their young fledge and leave the nest. And while some nest in Canada, it ain’t the far north. And anyway, the birds that breed in the boreal forests of Canada are done nesting by July. As for your red eyes ( yes, that plural birders use), contact a local bird club. You’ve described some truly amazing things. First, Red eyes are almost always in deciduous trees, and usually at or near the top. So seeing them in Holly is something. And of course they’re insectivores so seeing them eat berries is, well, something an ornithologist should be alerted about. Incredible stuff. Literally.
As for roosting? I’ve been birding for 5 decades I’ve won’t boy never seen a roast of any kind of vireo, I’ve. Ever heard or read about such a phenomenon. Every Independence Day in the US is great. Today included. God bless America.
Not a comment related to the puzzle, but I have been unable to figure out how to register a complaint that the crossword puzzle app has been changed to force me to solve in portrait mode. If you have any in, please ask them to change it back to respect the orientation of the device.
the best historical documentary on the TOWN AND GOWN situation is "Animal House". much like my stay at Clarkson, back when it was just a college. the wimins dorm (only the second or third year they were allowed in), was an old mansion. stick built, not luxurious by even those days' standards.
@Anon 6:20 Vireos indeed do eat berries according to Audubon.org which states: “Also eats many berries, especially in late summer, including those of Virginia creeper, sumac, elderberry, blackberry, dogwood, many other. In winter in the tropics, may feed heavily on berries and small fruit.”
Pretty tight theme, going from top to ATBOTTOM of the Great Lady as we descend the grid. Might've been nice to work in EMMA Lazarus, but you can't have everything. LORRIE Morgan will have to do the DOD honors, beside the Lady herself of course.
The fill to pull this off? That's another matter. Then again the grid shape almost guarantees some rough stuff. Nearly as choppy as yesterday's--and that's saying something when you're comparing a 15x15 with a 21x21. Maybe someday somebody will construct a 51x51. We'll call it "LILI." (Honorable mention to LESLIE Caron.) All in all, we have a par. Same result for Wordle.
MEH….Not bad. The theme works really well. There’s a few rough patches with the fill, whch could have and should have been fixed (LILi, HIC, YSL, LETO, IMHO, ENG, ETC….). A dab too much of cheap glue, but aside from that, nothing to FREAD out about. The thing is, it could have been much better with a bit of editing which is why it’s just okay. But okay is still okay and the glass reamains half full.
PS - many a fond memory of the Lady of the Torch whilst crossing the river on the Staten Island ferry with my grandparents, going to church in Brooklyn. The g-parents came thru Ellis Island et al when they returned to the land of their birth. (Grandpa lost their US citizenship by serving in the Finnish army - oops. So they were born here, but had to immigrate.
A long time ago, I was solving this puzzle and got stuck at an unguessable (to me) crossing: N. C. WYETH crossing NATICK at the "N"—I knew WYETH but forgot his initials, and NATICK ... is a suburb of Boston that I had no hope of knowing. It was clued as someplace the Boston Marathon runs through (???). Anyway, NATICK— the more obscure name in that crossing—became shorthand for an unguessable cross, esp. where the cross involves two proper nouns, neither of which is exceedingly well known. NATICK took hold as crossword slang, and the term can now be both noun ("I had a NATICK in the SW corner...") or verb ("I got NATICKED by 50A / 34D!")
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91 comments:
I consider myself a patriot. I am a Vietnam veteran who served many years in uniform. I have been an involved citizen in my community. Yet I find it difficult this year to celebrate being an American. Today's puzzle, honoring Miss Liberty, helps me to focus on the good while recognizing the work that still needs to be done. Thanks, Bruce.
Medium. Kinda liked the theme, but @Rex is right about the fill. Dogs and vireos are a delightful way to end a blog. Thanks for the smile.
@bocamp - Croce’s Freestyle #723 was a medium Croce for me, with the NW being the toughest corner. There was one 4 letter answer I’ve never seen before, so I was hoping it was actually a word. Good luck!
Thank you for your service.
Also, ASPIRINTABLET? who says that?
If you’re going to do a tribute puzzle, this is the way to do it. Not a bunch of factoids, but an actual theme that manages to evoke the subject.
But what Rex said about the fill. LILI/EDER/COSI? Any one of them is fine, but stacked side-by-side? Oof. And turning LILI into the randomest of random Roman numerals? No NO NO.
Happy Independence Day all you USAers! I solved looking at only the down clues, so if the puzzle is as cringey as Rex says, I didn't notice it as much. I was just delighted to finish correctly without having to look at a single across clue. The theme was soon obvious, which helped fill in the theme answers.
There were quite a few dreaded names, but KAHLO was a gimme, NSYNC and WOOLF weren't that hard, and only LESLIE was a complete unknown. (I really don't know any SNL people after Farley and Tina Fey as Sarah Palin.)
[Spelling Bee: yd (Sat): pg-1, missed this 7er which looks vaguely familiar.
td (Sun) -0, my last 2 words were kinda non-words.]
I didn’t object to the LILI clue as much as Rex, but perhaps a better one would have scrapped the part about the woman’s name and worked on the misdirection about the math with something like this: “Two times, 51, for ancient mathematician.”
LILI is the name of a 1953 movie starring Leslie Caron, for which she received an Oscar nomination. Not quite an of-the-moment phenomenon, I realize, but it came out more recently than the Roman numeral for 51.
Tributes are tough to build - theme works here but the overall fill doesn’t. When WOOLF and KAHLO can’t revive the grid there’s a problem. Rex highlights the many duds.
Both ALOE GEL and ASPIRIN TABLET feel redundant. I’m not familiar with the term TOWN AND GOWN. Doubling down on PSI from yesterday.
So many references today. There’s always one of my sister’s favorite songs but I was drawn to that ARCLIGHT x TORCH cross
This one could have been cleaner - but I’ll take it.
Try as you might, you can't cancel me, Michael!
Nobody in the USA is supposed to be cranky on Independence Day. But Rex is over the top cranky, thus demonstrating .....?? I am a moderately capable solver yet I found this puzzle to be easy. And it was a treat to solve it on the Fourth.
Over in the NYT Wordplay column, there is a startling level of moaning and groaning about ROYALS clued as the KC baseball team. On any day of the year, the name of an American major league sports team is fair as a clue. On the Fourth of July, it's not just fair--it's almost required. It's baseball!
LILI was the only clue that bugged me, because, as Rex said, CII. Bad editing.
Loved all the vireos, Rex! Also loved the no-amateur-fireworks plea, which will fall on deaf ears and has been causing misery for one of my dogs all weekend.
Surprised to see that they couldn’t have done better - the entire center section is a complete mess. Very surprised that ASPIRIN TABLET made the cut as a theme entry (and the clue about a pain in the neck is just terrible). The whole section needed to be reworked, and instead they just left in EDER, COSI, LETO, BOYD, and AT BOTTOM (?) - on a Monday no less. Definitely not the NYT’s best effort today - I agree with OFL that this puzzle could have run in any publication in the country and it would still be nothing more than nondescript.
😂
A perfect 4th of July Monday puzzle. The LILI thing IS kinda wonky but nothing to SWATAT OR EVEN YAPAT, IMHO.
Sweet that TORCH / CROWN / TABLET go from high to low in the grid as well as in Lady Liberty. Plus, I like the little poem TORCH / CROWN / TABLET / GOWN.
And yet … I’ve been feeling the irony of this holiday at a time when liberty’s been taking strong hits – there’s a sadness in me about that – but the puzzle cross of SWAT AT and LIBERTY somehow kicked me in the pants, reminding me to remember that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice” (Martin Luther King, based on the words of Theodore Parker), and that I must get up and rage, rage against the dying of that arc. I must act in its behalf and swat at all the obstacles to that arc.
So, for me, this was more than a fun solve, Bruce; it was a catalyst. I came into the puzzle in a little funk and left it inspired, and I feel a whole lot better. That didn’t have to happen, but somehow it did. Thank you for this, Bruce!
Happy Birthday, USA!
It’ll be tough but we’ll get through it….. hope.
Never heard of TOWN AND GOWN as a thing. Sounds creepy as though there is something elite about the Gown and not so much about the town. Maybe just me.
My five favorite clues from last week
(in order of appearance):
1. French cake advocate? (5)(10)
2. Fictional Christian of books and films (4)
3. Grocery bagful (5)
4. Image problem? (5)
5. Like some cheese ... or some movies (6)
MARIE ANTOINETTE
GREY
FLOUR
REBUS
GRATED
I didn’t mind it that much but I think ASPIRING TABLET is some classic GREEN PAINT.
No way I’m gonna TORCH this sparkling nod to Lady LIBERTY on Independence Day. And after all these years, isn’t she just lovely standing there in her CROWN and GOWN? Despite the stench that has been coming off our nation’s Capital of late, I still feel inspired at the sight of her. YES I DO.
I for one was delighted to see a holiday celebration theme arrive in my Monday crossworld. It used to be a common thing to have a tribute puzzle on a major holiday but seems like it has become rare in recent years. I’m not sure why we drifted away from that practice but I’d love to see the trend come back into fashion. Anyway, this one was a classic Bruce Haight beauty IMHO. He never disappoints.
That bottom right clumping of proper nouns was particularly rough. ROYALS crossing BOYD, AGEE, and LORRIE
For decades at least the NYTimes has been printing a full page of the Declaration of Independence on the back of the first section. I once inherited some music from an old man who was a proud American immigrant, and found that page saved, interleaved between them, year after year. I always bring it out to my cookout and make everybody read it. And today, they did not print it. Just sayin'.
Oh, the puzzle. Cheers actor crossing actor Jared? Left it blank. But I will admit, STOOGE was my first entry.
I just discovered an 1839 American hymn to the tune of the duet 'Secondati' from Cosi fan Tutti. Alas no youtubes:
1 Thine earthly sabbaths, Lord, we love;
But there's a nobler rest above;
Thy servants to that rest aspire
With ardent hope and strong desire.
2 No more fatigue, no more distress,
Nor sin, nor death shall reach the place;
No groans shall mingle with the songs
That dwell upon immortal tongues.
3 No rude alarms of raging foes;
No cares to break our long repose;
No midnight shade, no clouded sun,
But sacred, high, eternal noon.
4 O long-expected day, begin!
Dawn on these realms of woe and sin!
Fain would we leave this weary road,
And sleep in death, to rest with God.
Amen.
I am generally not one to seriously comment on issues potentially raised by a puzzle. But today is supposed to be a celebration of the birth of our country and the liberties we enjoy, as symbolized by the STATUEOFLIBERTY. However, those liberties are fewer than we enjoyed just one year ago. And if the twin wrecking balls of liberty known as the Supreme Court and MAGA have their way, we’ll have even fewer liberties by next year. Perhaps a more appropriate theme would have centered on Margaret Atwood’s Republic of Gilead.
Easy puzzle for beginners over the age of 60. Nice pay off, good July 4th tribute. Only Hic was Passing the Baton. Buck was first thought. Only nit, someone needs to come up with a better clue for Sleeve next time. Xword Info lists Slob’s Napkin from Sunday, April 2, 2000 (I’ve been known to).
@Rex, In my new retirement digs I’ve observed from the window an almost exclusive population of wrens. Looked it up and found that they're viciously territorial, pecking a single hole in the eggs of other birds to make sure they eliminate any competition.
This is from the American Bird Conservancy on your Vireos.
“Male Red-eyed Vireos return to the breeding grounds before females. Each male stakes out and defends a territory through song, patrolling a number of singing perches around the edge of his territory, and aggressively attacking and driving out intruding males throughout the breeding season.”
Birds aren't just up their singing for fun.
@Joaquin (12:05) I understand what you’re saying. Some days the endless stream of bad news makes me feel discouraged too but I’m sure it’s even more heartbreaking for someone with your background of service. Thank you for that by the way. Yes, much work to be done and my greatest hope is that we can retain enough leaders with the character and integrity to get it done. Wishing you a pleasant holiday.
@Anonymous (7:31) I went over to Wordplay to see why anyone would object to the Royals and most of what I saw were people saying they didn’t know the answer. Seems curious to me as they’re two-time World Series champions and the most recent one not that long ago. I’m only a casual fan but if you give me the city I think I could name just about any MLB team without much effort. Agree with you it’s fair game and especially today.
From yesterday: answers
MURPHY BED
embed
I live in a town and gown city and am wearing my statue of liberty earrings today so i found this puzzle kinda fun! I also swam in the lake, backstroke to stay warm…Happy 4th of July with birdsongs and ice cream for all.
I was curious so I wandered over to WaPo and USA to see what they were serving for this holiday morning brunch. USA was typically easy with no theme that I discerned. The WaPo (aka LAT) offering had a much less ambitious theme (still holiday-related) and virtually no dreck. It would have felt very much at home gracing the pages of the NYT as well. With theme entries like ASPIRIN TABLET and TOWN AND GOWN, which are just sort of meh, it’s not worth (imo) subjecting your solvers to EDER, COSI, LETO et al. Advantage WaPo today.
*** SB Alert ***
Had a dickens of a time just getting to genius today. It took 33 words to get to 84 points (X-bar of 2.5 points per word!).
@Anon7:31 - I’ve always suspected those Wordplayers were a bunch of damn Tories.
@Phillyrad1999 - As I recall the elitism tends to go both ways. “Ivory Tower” is a good example of TOWNies condescension towards colleges and universities.
A quick note from yesterday:
@jberg alerted me those heathens in the north, unbeknownst to me, have moved Oslo from Sweden to Norway, which is how they are up there in the cold and dark. This messed up one of my jokes with the savage intensity the 8th and 9th century Varangians creating havoc in Byzantium, and with roughly equal historical significance. Vikings are the worst.
As for the puzzle at hand, it was a joyous romp through lots of junk, but it filled itself in with no drama, so hopefully we'll create the drama here in the comments. We've done it before and can do it again. Pick a topic ... rant.
The theme comes from the proud tradition of themes existing for no purpose whatsoever, except when you're all done you look back and say, "Hm. Okay." Then you pull out your Olivetti typewriter and set to work on your blog post.
I assume the Statue of Liberty is supposed to evoke some 4th of July-i-ness, and I loathe this time of year for the pets dealing with illegal fireworks and the reminder of what a mess this country continues to be.
One of the ongoing discussions we have about names is whether the crosses fill in the unknowns like today. Problem is I now have no motivation to go look up LESLIE JONES or LORRIE MORGAN and they might be lovely.
Yays:
FREAK: I like to say, "Let's not freak out," when some minor issue arises. The more minor, the more it's funny.
TOWN AND GOWN: Didn't know this was a thing, especially a medieval thing, so I read up on it since I like medieval stuff, and now I wish I was more gown than town.
BOT: Always love all robots, even the spammy kind.
ARC LIGHT: Dunno what this is, but I hope it buzzes. And @OFL made it word of the day! I am positive it buzzes.
Boos:
ALOE GEL & ASPIRIN TABLET sound rather overly specific like some pedantic person who thinks you should know Oslo is in an entirely different country.
YAPAT: It's just ugly and I want to pronounce it "yuh pat."
The + in the Lili clue made our favorite Roman numeral comedy just wrong.
Uniclues:
1 Short French designer went for a nude belly flop.
2 Result of drinking champagne while wearing a tiara, a diadem, and a circlet.
3 Answer to, "Do you ever act dumb?"
4 Times for other good reasons.
5 Nighttime Australian skies.
6 Quickly played a composition about a California ghost town with a long history of derailments, avalanches, injuries, arson, death and romance.
1 YSL FREAK SWAM
2 TRIPLE CROWN HIC
3 YES, I DO STOOGE
4 THAT TOO ERAS
5 STARRY AT BOTTOM
6 RAN EDER NOTES
Hope you know your baseball. Otherwise BOYD AGEE LORRIE crossing ROYALS is a whole Natick stack. For a moment I had OGEE instead of AGEE and wondered if they were the Kansas City RObotS.
Hey All !
Har, it's a Bruce Haight puz, ergo bashed by Rex. There has been two BH puzs that Rex actually sorta liked, so can't totally put him in "See BH, bash puz" mode all the time. But still, har
42 Blockers, high. Normal max is 38. This seems like WS reached out to BH to whip up a 4th Themed puz, as none were available. iMHO. Unless I'm a STOOGE (bet the over).
I did like this puz. I don't like the idiots in my neighborhood who shoot fireworks for 6 hours straight right in the middle of the road. Going to a little shindig tonight, hopefully I'll be able to get home later. One year, every single street around me had fireworks being shot off in them, I couldn't get home!
Happy 4th. Remember what the holiday is about, not just drinking and partying and idiot fireworks lighters.
Oh, Apes cats? What a weird clue
yd -7, should'ves 3
Three F's
RooMonster (in a mood, apparently)
DarrinV
**USA TODAY CROSSWORD SPOILER ALERT**
So Skip this if you are still planning on solving that puzzle today. Yes, this means you @Frantic Sloth wherever you have been lurking.
@Southside Johnny - It’s not a quote puzzle so it’s not the worst possible theme, but think about the title but … that’s right … the second word in each themer is an anagram of petals. Blrrgh.
/Spoiler
@Gary Jugert - With everyone wearing anoraks* all the time it’s no surprise you got the two countries mixed up.
Between the filling complaints and the baseball complaints I realized this puzzle needed some pie.
*If you don’t know what an anorak is you haven’t solved enough xwords.
Not really in celebrating mood so this puzzle GRATED on my nerves.
Years ago as a university movie protectionist I learned to use carbon arc lamps (and lots of other useful stuff) that led to me getting my highest paid job ever as a non-union protectionist at a now defunct NYC theater that was famous for its midnight showings of... well, if you were there in the 70s you remember and if not it's just boring old stuff.
I know nothing about organized sports, but evidently it's in the ether because I seem to know team names. We don't even have regular TV and I don't get much radio now that I'm retired and don't have to drive, so no idea where it comes from.
The U I went to definitely had a TOWNANDGOWN thing going on. But again, ancient history. I live in a college town now but there's none of that feeling. The businesses are happy to have the kids as customers.
Also, not medium. Easy. Seconds off fastest time for Monday.
Here here!
Thx, Bruce, for your independently, LIBERal outpouring! :)
Med+
Just a tad on the tough side, needing all the crosses for TOWN AND GOWN & ASPIRIN TABLET.
Otherwise, a very smooth journey.
Enjoyed this one very much! :)
Let us not PASS THE TORCH, but keep it burning in our hearts and actions. We've always had our ups and downs, but AT BOTTOM, we always manage to overcome our shortcomings, moving upward and onward towards the LIGHT. 🗽
Thx, @jae, on it! :)
Challenging Acrostic yd (5 errors). Excellent workout, nevertheless.
___
yd 0 / 35
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
If current trends continue I fear the Republicans will one day demolish The Statue of Liberty on account of it's a Lady.
Here's a little write-up on the Oxford TOWN AND GOWN riot of 1354, in which several people (mostly students, I think) were killed.
I liked the theme, but have to agree it's a little clunky; until you get ASPIRING TABLET (and like @mmorgan I wanted it to be ASPIRINg...), SNL is the only entry connecting the top half with the bottom; especially tough for those of us who weren't sure about LETO.
@Zed, when I was spending a few months in the UK I was surprised to learn that anorak was synonymous with "nerd." I suppose because the former tended to wear the latter. I've got one in the closet myself.
@Lewis and others -- I share your views on the state of the country, but try to remind myself that the people we disagree with think that WE are threatening THEIR liberty. I'm not sure how that gets resolved.
I love any tribute to "LIBERTY Enlightening the World" and thus found the theme very pleasing. And yet, given the recent snatching away of rights, I couldn't suppress a "LIBERTY my eye!" I'll focus on the broken chains beneath her sandal and hope we can break them again.
Do-overs: PASSING THE baton, "in the end" before AT BOTTOM, gigA before mEgA before TERA. No idea:LORRIE. Fourth of July quiz: Does her GOWN have SLEEVES? Answer.
Happy Independence Day all.
Very disappointing, though not unexpected, that OFL didn’t mention it.
I find myself with remarkably little to say about this smooth but wholly unexciting tribute puzzle to the STATUE OF LIBERTY. So instead, I'll talk about the STATUE OF LIBERTY.
I was taken to the STATUE OF LIBERTY as a young child by my parents. I had no desire to climb the 300-400 steps to the TORCH or the CROWN or wherever you end up. My parents wanted to not make the climb even more than I did. So we didn't.
@Anonymous 10:20.
Where? where?
Mods. IMHO the 10:42 Anon post is below what should be the standard here.
An odd, pleasant combination of Monday difficulty. The crosswordese made it easy enough for newbies with at least a little experience. But "pain in the neck" was not something I took literally. Surely something at least a little clever, even on Monday. So got it whenthe revealer to give it away, which never happens on Monday. Nice variant on aloe, which made me think twice.
I thought lili required a different type of reasoning, perhaps more the bit of newcomers. "We'll, we need some Is, and L is a Roman numeral in the right vicinity. 4 letter name...must be Lily...even if I don't see the math yet ..
Not a great puzzle, but good enough for Monday, and a theme worth reminding us of at this awful time for our nation.
I totally agree with you. Hard to be proud of what is going on in our country.
@Anonymoose (10:26) Best post of the day! And how dare she stand there brazenly welcoming all those immigrants when they’re all busy trying to build their wall.
A bit about a book I think I should have read, by Gerald Horne: "The Counter-Revolution of 1776 asks us to rethink the fundamental narrative of American history and to interrogate nationalist myths. Horne demands that historians consider slavery not as the exception to the republican promise of the American Revolution but rather as the norm insofar as protecting slavery was a fundamental cause of colonial revolt." ― The New England Quarterly
"History books have painted a narrative of the U.S. founding that any student can recite: Colonists, straining against the tyranny of the British crown, revolted in the name of freedom, liberty and justice for all. But in recent years, historians have revisited that conventional story, examining the important role slaves played for Britain in its quest to quell colonists. Now, in a new book, historian Gerald Horne argues it was the desire to maintain slavery that was the prime motivator of the uprising . . . . Horne revisit[s] the period leading up to 1776 to find out how slavery in North America and the British colonies influenced the revolution."
There’s a medical dispensary in Binghamton called Vireo Health and I get the joke now, so thank you for that digression.
@roomonster 9:49 Rex loved Bruce Haight's last puzzle.
I see anonytroll's been busy today spewing his White European Men and their western culture is the greatest ever, the rest of history be damned.
Most anti-immigrant types go around acting superior. Well guess what? You didn't DO anything or ACCOMPLISH anything except being lucky to fall out of your mother's uterus in the United States. I always wonder how I got so lucky when I could have easily fallen out of my mother's uterus in a poor section of India, or on a dirt floor with nothing to eat in South America, or as a starving child in Africa.
This was just plain luck and these people walk around like they actually deserve something and are innately superior people just for being born in a wealthier country.
M&A is almost outraged … outraged, I says. A 5-themer 72-worder MonPuz with some Ow de Speration crosswordese splatzed in there occasionally. How could U, Mr. Haight dude. har
Primo 4th of July theme. And nice to supply Lady Liberty with some ASPIRIN, after the past 5-6 years.
staff weeject pick: ETC. Splatzed in right at the puzgrid end. Cousin of THATTOO.
Nice weeject stacks, attop and atbottom, btw.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {Apes cats?} = MEOWS. It ain't often that the only ?-marker clue in the puz gets such an honor.
Kinda appreciated the puzgrid layout, with lotsa so-called "cheater squares" distributed like tinsel on the July 4th Christmas tree. Pretty. Giant T's and (Arc)Lightnin Bolts. Too bad the Haightmeister couldn't quite go for the triple-stacked 8's, in the NE & SW. Cannot imagine the luvly desperation that mighta ensued.
Not real familiar with the TOWNANDGOWN term. Learned somethin new there, which is always nice. No other no-knows to report.
Some fave fireworks: FREAK. BANTAM. STOOGE. WEREHOME/IMHO. ARCLIGHT. HIC. LILI clue [raised to new heights by the wolves!].
Thanx for the fun as usual, Mr. Haight dude. Happy 4th to U and everybody else.
Masked & AnonymoUUs
**gruntz**
This is my 75th Fourth, the saddest by far. It’s just like every year with cars polluting the air, despite the wind, to get to a two-minute bucket list tourist spot, which is well worth the hill climb but wish they all would do it on foot. Cranky is ok today, Rex et al.
My main headache was ASPIRINTABLET; knew it had to be more than one word, aspiring what? Even when I changed giga (down) to tera, I still couldn’t see where it split. When I was a kid, crosswords clued the number of words.
TOWNANDGOWN was a gimme as I went to that kind of college: small town with it’s only university as the biggest industry.
There will be more air pollution tonight from fireworks and crowds of cars inching away and, as usual, I will be dizzy watching pedestrians hurrying home, but all is different….
Yes, a sad 07/04 day. I choose to celebrate INTERDepemce day and think about cooperation, harmony, peace - at the same time posting a video from Big Think about Fascism. (The USA is ticking all the boxes…)
Oh, the 🧩. Is it possible to have interesting answers with a grid full of 3 letter words? 🤔 Anyone haha everyone - with more 🧩 history than I- what do you think?
Puzz was okay. I’ve seen a lot of cartoons with the Statue of LIBERTY in tears and worse. About how I felt when doing puzzle - that’s on me. Puzz was good enough.
😢😢😢😢😢
👍🏽🦖🦖🦖🦖👍🏽
Rex hatin' on a Haight puz ! Can't believe it !
That said, ysl,hic,imho,btus,imdb,etc,fbi,eng,ceo,ive,nsync.and thattoo is just too much garbage.
Yep, this is my first DNF on a Monday in a while due to that section and the BANTAM/ATTAR cross up north. Sports and famous people from before my time do not make an easy puzzle for this young millennial.
Wish people would keep their dogs, even "friendly" dogs, on a leash, partly because of the harm they do to wildlife like vireos
I have done the NYT Crossword for the past 5-6 years. I’m not the greatest, but I’ve got Monday-Wednesday down pretty good. I’m a very casual crossword player. I’ve never entered or sought any type of blog or site devoted to reviewing crosswords…until today. I was so dumbstruck by how awful this Monday’s puzzle was that I thought “SURELY it can’t be just me who found this infuriating.” I landed here and had all my anxieties validated. I’m glad your reviews/analyses exist and I’ll be coming back more!
Hello EDER my old friend, you've come to help my solve again. Time was when you needed to know major---and a few minor---world rivers to be an accomplished xworder.
All that grid space taken up by 4 long themers, a reveal and 42 black squares assured that there would be lots of MEH 3s and 4s. Since the TORCH, CROWN and GOWN in the theme entries are all similar to those carried by the STATUE OF LIBERTY but the TABLET of ASPIRIN TABLET is totally different, maybe the puzzle would have worked better with just three themers and the reveal. I am always bemoaning themer bloat at the expense of quality fill. I much prefer a balanced puzzle over a high theme density at any cost puzzle.
I think 21A ALOE GEL is no more redundant than, say, TREE SAP. There are also ALOE thorns, rind, stalks and flowers. ALOE plants abound hereabouts in TexMex Land and I know from experience that it is the GEL of the plant that has the soothing, pain reducing effect. It also dries to form a protective barrier, kind of like a spray-on bandage.
Hard to be proud, but especially proud of and thankful for all who have served and continue to serve to preserve and protect our Republic and the liberty we all share and that it seems too many take for granted. Thanks @Joaquin.
My sentiments exactly, @Lewis, but mire eloquently said.
If ever you have lived in a “college town” in which the University at times appears to control the city more than its own policy makers and the citizens who elect them, or in which the residents, school administration and student population frequently clash about issues like noise, drunk driving, party houses, rent house occupancy violations etc, you would be familiar with the phrase “town and gown.” The city and college seem to have great difficulty cooperating to create harmonious coexistence during the months of student occupancy. The problem is usually denied in official channels. Having lived my entire life in big university cities (Columbus, OH, Chambagne-Urbana, IL and Norman, OK, I have lots of personal experience, particularly during the years I served on city council.
Had I not known ROYALS and TOWN AND GOWN, it might have DNF’d me too!
Happy, happy Independence Day to all of the USA!! I was hoping for and received a wonderful tribute to this great nation. Struggles we have, but nothing we cannot overcome. Starts with remembering exactly what Lady Liberty symbolizes, and the sacrifices of our service members who have courageously given their time, talents and their lives to protect our freedoms.
I enjoyed the theme, especially the clever “head to tablet” placement in the puzzle of the clues. Nice touch.
For @Rex re the Red Eyed Vireo, a favorite of mine. These clever little songbirds travel from their winter homes deep in South America ever year all the way to Canada. They pass through Oklahoma in May or early June and large numbers roost on the holly bushes in my yard to enjoy the new crop of red berries. They would undoubtedly be passing through NY about now. Glad you got to experience them! Beautifully cheerful song.
@JD yesterday 2:22pm. Your description really hit home! My childhood through high school was also spent in a very “Lake Woebegone” atmosphere and ave walked through some strange looking glass into a place much as you describe. Hard to stay optimistic.
The puzzle seemed okay to me. However, the many who said they never heard of the term "Town and Gown" means that another expression that I know very well (and was very commonly said or written by others when I was in college) is apparently disappearing from common usage as so many of the bloggers went out of their to say they never heard of it! Another way to be reminded of my age as my 70th birthday fast approaches.
I do agree it is a sad 4th for the reasons stated.
👍
CDily52,
Wow. Just wow.
Any vireo Rex saw today is whats’ called a nester, or resident.
Passerine migration ended many, many weeks ago. In fact, the red eyed vireos in Binghamton have already had their young fledge and leave the nest. And while some nest in Canada, it ain’t the far north.
And anyway, the birds that breed in the boreal forests of Canada are done nesting by July.
As for your red eyes ( yes, that plural birders use), contact a local bird club. You’ve described some truly amazing things. First,
Red eyes are almost always in deciduous trees, and usually at or near the top. So seeing them in Holly is something. And of course they’re insectivores so seeing them eat berries is, well, something an ornithologist should be alerted about. Incredible stuff. Literally.
As for roosting? I’ve been birding for 5 decades I’ve won’t boy never seen a roast of any kind of vireo, I’ve. Ever heard or read about such a phenomenon.
Every Independence Day in the US is great. Today included. God bless America.
Not a comment related to the puzzle, but I have been unable to figure out how to register a complaint that the crossword puzzle app has been changed to force me to solve in portrait mode. If you have any in, please ask them to change it back to respect the orientation of the device.
Well, Highland Park decided that the 4th was the best day to celebrate the 2nd Amendment.
the best historical documentary on the TOWN AND GOWN situation is "Animal House". much like my stay at Clarkson, back when it was just a college. the wimins dorm (only the second or third year they were allowed in), was an old mansion. stick built, not luxurious by even those days' standards.
The best town and gown film is Breaking Away.
knew you'd dislike it....was a slog with stupid cluing
@Anon 6:20 Vireos indeed do eat berries according to Audubon.org which states: “Also eats many berries, especially in late summer, including those of Virginia creeper, sumac, elderberry, blackberry, dogwood, many other. In winter in the tropics, may feed heavily on berries and small fruit.”
@Anonymous 7:31 PM: With you 100% on that. "Animal House?" Please.
Wait is this a crossword blog or a hiking and random observations blog?
Much harder than a typical Monday, with e.g. LILI/EDER/COSI) in there. Never heard of TOWN AND GOWN.
Pretty tight theme, going from top to ATBOTTOM of the Great Lady as we descend the grid. Might've been nice to work in EMMA Lazarus, but you can't have everything. LORRIE Morgan will have to do the DOD honors, beside the Lady herself of course.
The fill to pull this off? That's another matter. Then again the grid shape almost guarantees some rough stuff. Nearly as choppy as yesterday's--and that's saying something when you're comparing a 15x15 with a 21x21. Maybe someday somebody will construct a 51x51. We'll call it "LILI." (Honorable mention to LESLIE Caron.) All in all, we have a par. Same result for Wordle.
FBI NOTES
STOOGE: "An ASPIRINTABLET, NO?"
FREAK: "OF course, YESIDO."
STOOGE: "AND OIL or GEL OF ALOE?"
FREAK: "SURE, I'VE got THATTOO."
--- IAN O'BRIEN
MEH….Not bad. The theme works really well. There’s a few rough patches with the fill, whch could have and should have been fixed (LILi, HIC, YSL, LETO, IMHO, ENG, ETC….). A dab too much of cheap glue, but aside from that, nothing to FREAD out about. The thing is, it could have been much better with a bit of editing which is why it’s just okay. But okay is still okay and the glass reamains half full.
EDIT: FREAK out. Not FREAD
@CDilly 4:25pm:
Actually, town and gown is a British term, and has been around for a very long time.
One of BH's better offerings, IMHO. I often don't "get" his wavelength.
But the Syndie-Lag is getting very, very old.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
PS - many a fond memory of the Lady of the Torch whilst crossing the river on the Staten Island ferry with my grandparents, going to church in Brooklyn. The g-parents came thru Ellis Island et al when they returned to the land of their birth. (Grandpa lost their US citizenship by serving in the Finnish army - oops. So they were born here, but had to immigrate.
Lady Di
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