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1970 Neil Diamond song about an imaginary childhood friend / THU 7-2-26 / Simple wooden shoes / Website that added podcast info in 2021 / Unadulterated by plastic, say / "Nixon in China" tenor
Thursday, July 2, 2026
Constructor: DAVID J. KAHN
Relative difficulty: MEDIUM (Hard to tell based on time with this many rebus squares)
THEME: The 13 Colonies — Thirteen squares contain 2-letter postal abbreviations of the original 13 colonies. Their clues are all themed to early American History.
Word of the Day: OLETA (70A: Soul singer Adams) —
Oleta Angela Adams (born May 4, 1953) is an American singer, pianist, and songwriter. She found limited success during the early 1980s, before gaining fame via her contributions to Tears for Fears' international chart-topping album The Seeds of Love (1989). Her albums Circle of One (1991) and Evolution (1993) were top 10 hits in the UK; the former yielded a Grammy-nominated cover of Brenda Russell's "Get Here", which was a top 5 hit in both the UK and the U.S. Adams has been nominated for four Grammy Awards, as well as two Soul Train Music Awards.• • •
Theme answers:
- DELEGATIONS (18A: Groups at the First Continental Congress in 1774)
- BENJAMIN (23A: 10 Hamiltons)
- PATRIOTS (25A: American Revolution heroes)
- ELECT (36A: George Washington's presidential status on February 4, 1789)
- MDCCC (42A: Last full year of John Adams's presidency)
- US CENSUS (53A: Periodic survey started under Secy. of State Thomas Jefferson)
- MADISONS (58A: "Father of the Constitution" and his family)
- NAVAL (60A: Like the Revolutionary War battles led by John Paul Jones)
- JOHN HANCOCK (64A: First signer of the Declaration of Independence)
- COLONY (73A: American settlement until 1776 ... or a hint to 13 squares in this puzzle)
 |
| 23A: 10 Hamiltons (kinda) |
43D: Musical with the song "What's the Use of Wond'rin'?". Carousel also has THIS song, and since I'm a Liverpool fan in a soccer mood, I'm posting it instead.
The only place this puzzle really felt strain to me was in the SE corner. Crossing OLETA (70A: Soul singer Adams) with SHILO (59D: 1970 Neil Diamond song about an imaginary childhood friend) is just brutal. I like Neil Diamond and Oleta Adams seems cool, but that L is going to trip up a lot of people. Not sure it rises to the level of a full Natick, but it's close. Thankfully, I don't have much else flagged as troubling in this grid. The fill might not be too flashy, but theme more than makes up for it.
 |
| 51D: Start to live and breathe (Lin-Manuel Miranda getting a lot of play on the blog today) |
Speaking of the fill, just a couple of things stood out. I think of Romulus and Remus as twins first, but I supposed SIBS (6A) is accurate enough. I also can't picture SABOTS (39A: Simple wooden shoes) without doing an image search, but I have a hard time thinking of a wooden shoe as "simple." You get a little extra American History at 12D (SENATOR - One whose qualifications are enumerated in Article I, Section 3, of the Constitution). I can't decide whether it's better to have a bonus non-theme entry tie into the theme or if it would be better to clue this as a hockey player. Or maybe, since I'm going so musical theater heavy today, as the baseball team from Damn Yankees. I'm probably overthinking it. Let's move on.
 |
| 57D: Rowena's love, in fiction |
Stray Thoughts:
That's all for today; I'll be back with you again tomorrow.
Signed, Eli Selzer, False Dauphin of CrossWorld
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- 22A: Setting of "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" (IOWA) — I was 11 and living in Iowa when this movie came out and it was a huge deal that a movie was set in (and, I believe, filmed in) our home state. I have a feeling Leonardo DiCaprio playing a mentally disabled person doesn't hold up well, but I probably won't rewatch it to find out.
- 37A: Chrome alternative (SAFARI) — I recently switched from Chrome to Safari as Google continues to devolve into unusable AI garbage. I'm liking it so far, but if Apple ever stops letting me turn off AI, I'll move on from Safari, as well.
- 23D: Two-Time Tony winner Neuwirth (BEBE) - In keeping with today's blog theme:
- 26D Bug exterminator? (SPY) — I guess I think of them more as bug planters, but I guess a good spy would exterminate them, too.
- 20A: "Les ___" (MIZ) — I think I have to.
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- Westwords (Berkeley, CA, Jun. 14, 2026)
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147 comments:
This puzzle kept crashing the app on my iPhone. Did anyone else have this problem?
I’m likewise one of those freaks who likes a good rebus, and as I’m spending the morning in the London airport, I enjoyed taking the time to try to remember state abbreviations. I also realized I didn’t have the 13 colonies nailed down in my memory and had always assumed Maine and Vermont were on the list (ya know, since the land where they are was part of the original US), so this puzzle had the added perk of solidifying them for me.
Eli, I happened to be in London for England’s win yesterday, but missed the US game because of the time difference. Thanks for catching me up, and I look forward to being in the same hemisphere for the rest of the World Cup!
Fantastic puzzle - the theme is overly dense and fun and of course temporal. The themers with multiple states are impressive - I loved JOHN HANCOCK. Crazy skills building this one.
Dar Williams
The overall fill is fine given how thick the trick was. GOT A HIT, CAROUSEL, CLINGS TO, SHOW OFF are all top notch.
Hey Hey PAULA
Clearly on the list for POTY - a highly enjoyable Thursday morning solve.
ABUELita
This was a lot of fun! Took me about 25 minutes last night…. Never stuck, but 13 rebuses take a while to find! I loved this puzzle. Writeovers???? JOHNadams (which fit) before HANCOCK (“kind of a flamboyant signature, for an insurance man”, Franklin to Jefferson, from Stan Freeburg’s “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA”). Way to sneak in Benjamin, Madison, some facts about #1 and #2 (George and John). The way the rebi are only in themers/July 4th related answers, which are not symmetrical. And the way it ends with COLONY with New York represented as a rebus in the final square. All amazing touches!!!! Color me impressed!!! [Also just noticed this grid is 15 x 16--16 tall this time. Nice]. Thank you, David!
Best Thursday puzzle in memory. I knew all 13 colonies and their abbreviations, but it was still hard work. No cheats. I got the happy music after a lucky guess at the SHILO/OLETA cross (Eli is right that it's brutal), and only after somehow remembering ABUELA from earlier crosswords,.
Another stumbling block was insisting on "Nassau" for the location of "Sloop John B." ("around Nassau town we did roam...etc.").
Maine was part of Massachusetts until 1819 (1820?) when it gained statehood on its own.
Well solving on the app lets you run the alphabet on a Natick square till you hit without any penalty. Which I sure did for SHILO/OLETA: insane crossing for a Thursday.
The app has also been randomly crashing repeatedly on my ipad for the last few days it seems, hope we get an update to fix.
Yes, I deleted the app then reinstalled and that fixed it.
We just finished watching The American Experiment on Netflix. Very well done doc. It makes a strong case for Benjamin Franklin being the second-most-important person in our beating the English. Had he not convinced the French to join us, we most surely would have lost.
Hillary did a lot of the narration. How much more likable she is when not delivering campaign pitches.
Yes, at least three times
I forgot to mention how much I enjoyed the puzzle. Great fun finding the thirteen colonies in the grid.
No, no and no. Impressed that all 13 colonies and their postal codes fit, but OLETA and SHILO was an absolute Natick as clued, and SABOTS was a WTF. I found it quite difficult and quite annoying.
TORTURE
A tough premise to execute, and it seems like this one was done about as well as it could be done. A very coherent theme, and it’s impressive that the constructor was able to shield us from the impact of amount of strain that it must have put on the entire grid (it shows up a little bit at SHILO v.v. OLETO, for example).
I was initially surprised to see IOWA in a rebus puzzle of state abbreviations. Then I realized the rebus was dealing with the original 13, which gave it a bit of a charm aspect. I’m rarely on the same wavelength as a Thursday offering, so it was nice to enjoy one for a change.
If you delete and reinstall it, do you retain your streak?
And VT was the subject of a dispute between NY and NH. Later it became the 14th star on the flag, after a short time as an independent republic.
The app has been crashing the last couple of days for me, but only on the crossword and mini, not when playing the other games.
A proper Thursday. Not the most exciting theme, but challenging, especially with the random distribution of unmarked rebus squares. I also appreciated that the rebuses (rebii?) were used in the down answers as well.
Yes, Eli, the OLETA/SHILO cross got me. I misremembered the singer as OdETA.
I’m not a soccer fan, but the US game last night was pretty gripping. My reaction to that second goal had my wife and my dog both looking at me funny. :)
Thank you for that!! I just got a new iPad and the Times Games app keeps crashing. I was blaming the (also new) iPad case. Now I know what to do. Thanks again!!
An enjoyable Thursday rebus. The theme was easily gotten.The fillins were harder but very doable Terrific puzzle.🎈🎈🎊🎊
I am filled with admiration for this construction. A great idea, beautifully executed, that was both challenging and fun.
Easy-Medium. As rebus puzzles go, this was one of the least annoying I've encountered. Got the theme early, at PLAI[N J]ANE x BE[NJ]AMIN
* * * _ _
Overwrites:
At 1A, aloft before HAPPY for flying high.
As usual, EkG before ECG for the 46A heart chart.
WOEs:
I think I've encountered CABALA (Jewish mysticism, 50A) before, but I needed every cross.
The Neil Diamond song SHILO at 59D.
OLETA Adams at 70A. I got the cross by guessing at SHILOH.
Hey All !
Rebus heaven for those who crave such things. I found puz on the difficult side, trying to get answers in where the Rebi go. Scattered about, some answers have two, causing the ever moving timer to keep on ticking. This was my longest solve time on a ThursPuz in quite some time.
Neat idea for July 4 week/weekend. Gotta endure my crazy neighbors trying to set my house on fire with the 10,000 fireworks they shoot off.
Isn't the puz missing Maine? Or wasn't that an original COLONY? We got, in order by direction, NH, VT, MA, CT, RI, NY, PA, NJ, MD, VA, NC, SC, GA. Hmm, I didn't know GA was an original one. Someone educate me please.
Liked overall. Puz is 16 Long, btw, unsure why it needs to be, other than cramming 13 Rebi into it.
Hope y'all have a great Thursday!
Three F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Found this one to be some hard work because of all the colony abbreviations but stuck with it. Had a lot harder time with SIDEONE than with SHILO, mainly because I shared that friend so often with Neil Diamond. And I still don’t know how I filled in SABOTS without thinking. Something I read? With regard to earlier comments, my iPad kept crashing throughout my doing the puzzle—wonder if the same problem?
It is where the word sabotage comes from. Literally workers throwing wooden shoes into the machine gears.
I really enjoyed this! I love a rebus puzzle on a Thursday and I loved that there were no circled or darkened squares to dumb it down. For a long time it was clear that there was a rebus of some sort, but where? Then with COLONY it was suddenly clear, and a very fun search for the first thirteen colonies ensued, with the additional memory challenge of which if the upper New England states was an original 13. Vermont was not, I knew from growing up there (it’s the 14th state), but I was not sure about Maine.
The SE was hard, for me not because of the SHILO/OLETA cross, neither of which I knew, but was able to get from crosses - I was flummoxed by SKED. Does it mean schedule? Complication of not being sure about the NCIS letters. So that S square was my last entry.
Huge misdirect at 6 down. How many filled in Nassau? (If like me, very confidently)
This was a Hard. Not for the theme but for all them crazy crosses. Even stuff like SIBS was nearly impenetrable as clued. WHY would you so carefully choose TWINS for that? It's just fill, there's no need to be THAT devious. SABOT was straightforward enough for me, but I agree with almost everyone else about SHILO/OLETA. Oof. Also hate hate hate the Roman Numeral clues. Always just throwing M D C L X V I at the dartboard to see what fits.
DELEGATIONS, JOHNHANCOCK and PATRIOTS were impressive themers, being on-brand and having double colonies. Then there's IVANHOE just waving from the sidelines. Even the single Rebus answers were well branded, mostly, with ELECT and MADISONS and USCENSUS.
But IVANHOE? Heh. Okay.
surprised the SafaRI answer wasn't used for Rhode Island
SABOTS came up in conversation just this week. We were discussing the origin of the word sabotage and realized it was throwing wooden clogs (sabots) into machines, the French equivalent of the Luddites.
i struggled embarrassingly hard to remember which states were original colonies, but it made this puzzle quite satisfying.
SABOTS needed a post-solve googling. turns out i have a pair from my great grandmother on a shelf.
Fantastic puzzle. Had a lot of trouble in the NW when I confidently entered SKI in 1D (yeah, I know the ski bar is a T bar and then tried to make an urban center INHAZE) and spent a lot of time looking for my “missing” thirteenth colony (I’d neglected to circle PA when I entered it into the grid). What a feat of construction!
Same Natick as everyone else, of course, and hated ACES OUT.
Thanks, Eli! Loved the write-up! A LearnedLeague mainstay, a Drew Magary reference, AND the NYT puzzle? My worlds are colliding!
The Divine MISSM ... only me? Does she make a cameo so everyone else knew about her?
The only divines I could think of were The Divine Comedy (and not actually about theater but in a convoluted way, via Commedia dell'arte ðŸŽ), which fit before we realized ME was not one of the original states - thx Dr Random, explains why Maine & VT were missing.
Here's the other Showbiz Divine I know:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/733463000/divine-trump-tshirt-premium-ring-spun?ref=share_ios_native_control
A BENJAMIN is the physical $100 bill. It is not any monetary equivalent of $100. One would never call a $100 bill, “twenty Abes.” Ten Hamiltons is not a BENJAMIN.
I just got a new iPad, too and was thinking the same thing!
Am I the only one who despised this puzzle? Completely enjoyable having to contort your brain in this manner just to think about… America? Was not in the mood and this wrecked my morning.
Always good to be reminded that Maine was part of the original Massachusetts colony, strangely enough. Also - What's Eating Gilbert Grape was filmed mainly in Manor, Texas - just few miles from Austin, and where my grandparents are buried. It was quite the sensation here during filming. It was made the year that SXSW started including films or it might have premiered there.
Very tough for me (over 2x my average Thursday time [part due to solving on a laptop with no INS key, so I had to scroll up and hit REBUS so many time!]), but I liked it. I should have jumped to the revealer sooner, as I knew there were rebuses, but wasn't catching on to what they were. Once I finally realized what was going on, it was a lot easier (e.g., I knew NAVAL and JOHN HANCOCK, but much of the space was blank as I didn't know where the rebuses would land, but I was able to fill them in once I knew VA and NH had to be in there).
I agree that the SHILO/OLETA cross is a Natick. Especially bad because of the singer ODETTA (admittedly there are two Ts in her name, but still!), and the fact that there is no H at the end of SHILO (I'm pretty sure I would have figured SHI_OH was SHILOH not SHIDOH, but after checking the rest of the puzzle, I had to run the alphabet to get the L in that square).
Agree with the earlier poster that the Pet Sounds 'location' clue was a very devious misdirect! I had KABALA before CABALA, but that was an easy fix since CUDS made sense for the first crosser.
I deleted and reinstalled and it’s still crashing. I assume they’re working on it but it’s taking longer than I would have expected. Maybe it’s weighted down by all the new things they’ve added (which I for one do not use).
I only knew SABOTS from Star Trek VI, but there was so much painful stuff in here otherwise. Roman numeral for Adams last year? Ick. Miss M? What? Fancy Dan is a Fop? Between the random trivia and ick, trying to find places to put the colonies was annoying even if you understood the trick. Just annoying to fill
I logged out and logged back in and lost my stats. And it continues to stop working, although less often. It’s frustrating.
@Bob and @Andy, the community historians; nice going!
Massachusetts celebrates PATRIOTS Day (third Monday in April). As it was formerly part of Mass., it's also a holiday in Maine.
It's the day on which the Boston Marathon is run (which goes through Natick). And if it happens to fall on April 15 (or 16 or 17), both states are afforded extra time to file federal tax returns until the next business day.
@JoePop, I was trying to remember the words. Got as far as "...grandfather and me". Never was good at knowing song lyrics. Devious misdirect.
Didn't know SHILO's context at all, but remembered the title with a few letters in place. Fortunately, since OLETA Adams was a complete unknown.
Don’t tell anyone, but I sometimes cheat on Rex with Wordplay. There have been numerous and quite vocal about the app this past week.
Lots of fun and so appropriate going into this weekend. I needed a refresher course on exactly what colonies were the original thirteen, and I got it: not VT, not ME. And don't forget GA.
I didn't know SHILO, but what else could that letter be except an L?
I liked the clues for SMACKED (Kissed or whacked) and SHOWOFF (Hot dog on a roll?).
Thanks for a fun puzzle, David Kahn!
I also had "Nassau" until the crosses made it impossible. I sang the song to myself from beginning to end several times looking for another geographic site in the lyrics. Then I reread the clue...oh, OK.
Rare DNF where I East->West, North->South crush it (relative to a rebus puzzle anyway) until hitting a brick wall in the SE corner. I got IMDB, CABALA, MADISONS, MOC, COLONY, reason the "TO" of [ CLINGS ]TO and then... bloop. Like Ethan Allen failing to capture Montreal, only at the other end of longitude...
My Roman Numeral Brain runs like city grids in a Soviet power plant and this morning it was definitely on blackout mode. And then an incredible FOUR proper nouns that I didn't know and things that could reasonably be more than two or three things. Nasty but... fair, I guess.
Southeast kicked my butt and added minutes to my time. Grrr...
💯
Loved it!
This was just remarkable. POTY nomination, if I get to vote. Five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I can't imagine constructing a simple Monday NYT puzzle, or even on for TV Guide, for that matter. How to even conceive of this is beyond my comprehension.13 rebuses, buried within ten answers that all have relevance to the country's birth. Just wow.
Puzzle ratings are subjective, but for me this was an ultra-rare one where (1) the theme was sound and relevant, (2) it was necessary to know in order to solve the puzzle, (3) the rebuses all fit within the related, featured answers, and (4) when finished I just admired the whole work of art for several minutes.
I know I've seen the name David Kahn (constructor) before. Not sure he can top this, but looking forward to his next offering!
I watched the game at a Bosnia and Herzogovinian bar and they turned the SHOWOFF after the second U.S. goal. Said it was a BORE, but I think they were just SORE. I was probably a bit overserved as my iPad was fine but I crashed every 3 or 4 minutes while doing the puzzle after the game.
Funny how we have each COLONY plus there's another STATEN the puzzle (IOWA).
What did the hipster bro say when he saw a huge bird in South America? Woah, a Reah.
Topnotch puzzle. Thanks, David J. Kahn.
The term also is used today to refer to a bullet with an outer jacket aka a shoe. It allows for a smaller higher velocity inner projectile.
Wow! What a Thursday! In fact what a great puzzle overall. Very tough for me until I figured out the trick but then still challenging because there were so many rebuses and all different.
When I first saw US CENSUS, I briefly suspected there might be just one “US” rebus and felt a little disappointed … until I saw it was not US but SC, the lightbulb went on - aha - they were all different state codes. So much better and more fun. Then, when I realized it was the original 13 colonies, I was just blown away. Not only that but in a couple of places, we even get doubles. How does one do that and do it so well?
This was a shining example of that rare feat of construction which is also highly satisfying to solve. This must have take a lot of effort, but it was paid off. Thank you David, for this clever and entertaining Independence Day treat.
Cool puzzle, but so many problems as the write-up laid out.
Also, as clued, the correct answer is CANNOLO. CANNOLI is plural (as is PANNINI). Even many Italian-Americans get this wrong; of course, in South Philly they call sauce "gravy", so that just goes to show....
Not a reflection on the great skill shown in constructing yesterday and today's puzzles but this has really solidified that personally I greatly prefer a challenging themeless. The elegance and challenge of a well done, difficult, themeless is hard to beat. Even at their best puzzles like yesterdays and today's have to do a certain amount of strain and contortion to really come off. Even when exemplary, as these two are, I get the most enjoyment out of the struggle against a good clue and construction, not the figuring out of the trick.
This is not the crowd for sabot.
A sabot is a sleeve to allow a smaller caliber projectile to be used in a larger bore. Every artilleryman knows the word. And if the military is too foreign, every shotgunner knows it too. Sabot slugs are commonly used for bigger game.
Well, all the across themers were US history branded, which did help me with finding the squares. It would be a bit much to ask the downs to be as well!
Love the idea but am really just so-so on the execution. If your theme idea/placement forces you to put ALLMETAL, GOTAHIT, and CLINGSTO in prime real estate—(not to mention the SHILO/OLETA thing),—I think the puzzle is not ready for publication in the NYT, even for veteran constructors.
The puzzle didn’t land on me well, and that’s partly me. None of the clues made me smile or chuckle, so I’m predisposed to see the flaws.
See other posts regarding ME and VT. You need to subtract VT and add DE (Delaware, the first state to approve the Constitution).
Rough start as the clues were not on my wavelength, skipping around and finally caught on with JOHNHANCOCK, which I entered wrong and it took me forever to discover that the IVANHOE / JOHN cross was where NH was hiding. Come on man. No idea on the OLETA/SHILO cross, stuck and L in there and crossed my fingers and came to the blog to discover that I had guessed right, although SHILOH needs another H, if you ask me.
Hello and welcome back to old friend OLIO. Been gone so long I thought you had retired permanently. Where ya been?
Nice timely and super-dense Thursday, DK. Some stuff I thought I Didn't Know eventually surfaced and this one took longer than it should have. Thanks for all the fun.
Great soccer game, tough to have two goals called back for offsides (right calls though) and thought the red card was undeserved, but the free kick to win it was an absolute cracker and we hung tough with ten men. Well done, USA, and keep it up.
Had to go to the App Store and update the app. This fixed my problem.
There is an update for the app.
I went to the App Store and updated the app. This fixed my problem.
2 days running GREAT puzzles!!!
I guess having a mom who played Neil Diamond cassette tapes on road trips paid off, because I knew Shilo immediately.
Oleta Adam’s most well-known song was Get Here
https://youtu.be/JzS-INaPNJw?si=s0H1Pax3gn-HKCHb
First time - ever - I just gave up. Didn't even feel like cheating. I really, really, (really) don't like rebuses - & this one in particular :(
Yeah but it’s equivalent (in monetary value) to a Benjamin, so it’s fine imo
My PEN just ran out of INK!
Ditto. Also the SABOTS/ABUELA crossing.
Outstanding puzzle. Pretty easy, timely, and clever, without fleeting names. I think SABOT is fair, comes up a lot--and (besides sabotage) isn't it what the Dutch settlers were wearing in NY? In any event all of the crossings were straightforward. "Oleta Adams" was a nice throwback to Pride Month -- "Get Here" was a huge LGBTQ staple in the 90s --so many of the people dancing to it were gone soon after.
I thought this was a terrific puzzle! Rebuses galore and a celebratory theme. I got the idea in the DELEGATION - PATRIOTS area and had so much fun ferreting out the other eleven COLONies. I was stuck in the SE for the longest time....but by then I knew that MA had to be in there somewhere, and that saved me. I loved the cross of PLAIN JANE and BENJAMIN.
I found it pretty easy overall, but the L ofthe SHILO/OLETA cross was a total lucky guess.
Fabulous puzzle. Tough and slow for me but I loved every hour...er minute of it.
This wasn’t that hard but it was time consuming. I mean I got the whole 13 COLONY theme fairly early but remembering what they were and the state postal abbreviations, and where/how each one fit in the grid was a black hole that consumed double the nanoseconds I typically require for Thursday puzzle.
No WOEs but a boatload of erasures trying to make the colonies fit.
A fine July 4th weekend kick off, liked it.
Excellent puzzle for July 2nd - the day that the resolution for independence officially passed congress and before the declaration of independence was officially ratified
ok we've seen this before. The Sunday version is the EEC country email extensions. For reference, the go-to app is neither Safari nor Chrome but FireFox. No crashes, no "we're not compatible with Apple products even though Apple has an enormous installed user base." Defund the Thursday gimmick puzzles. Zippy
Sabots are popular little sail boats with the silhouette of a wooden shoe on the sail. Great puzzle!
This one, in my estimation, is a brilliant creation but a bit over my head.Good one David!
In spite of the undeserved Red card and the loss of Balogon, I give the USA a good shot on Monday. 🇺🇸⚽️
Another vote for ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Brilliant and timely.
I also had Nassau. Left it in for a LONG time as I couldn't imagine it being wrong after running the entire song through my head. Nice mid-direct, though.
No, I did too. I don't like rebuses but I usually hang out to complete the puzzle even if it is a struggle.
This is the first time - EVER - that I said just **** it :(
The offsides were called properly. But why is there an offides penalty at all? Thst is, why should’t a team be able to deploy its men wherever they see fit?
Huh, interesting to see all of the accolades here, because I did not like this one AT ALL. I'm normally very much a fan of both rebus and gimmicks, but this one was just... 'off'... for me. The rebus squares were kinda just arbitrarily distributed, wherever they happened to fit, rather than something more clever. It just seemed rather forced, rather than fully constructed, if you get my meaning. The few other thematic clues (DELEGATIONS or JOHNHANCOCK) were the saving grace.
I thought IN RE ("Regarding, on a memo") was short for "in regard to" and was surprised to have the answer as part of the clue
Timely and impressive idea for a puzzle and I found it to be appropriately Thursday tough. Took me a while to get things going even after the revealer hit. I know there was going to be a Rebus but the heat here in NJ is slowing me down a bit.
I think it hit on JOHNHANCOCK and then it was kinda just meh fun for me to find the other 12 states. Some of the fill held me up a bit. As others pointed out, SHILO and OLETA crossing was a little tough and ACESOUT took a bit.
Funny how my brain works and doesn't work. For whatever reason, 25D took me forever. I knew it was PAULA but I kept trying to Rebus every square but the the P(!!??) I kept hacking away at whether any state is abbreviated AU. Then thought, OK, maybe LA for Louisiana - obviously not! I was clearly in a bit of a fog today. Seeing PATRIOTS after way too long finally let that all drop.
Liked the cluing for SHOWOFF and GOTAHIT.
Again, very impressed that David pulled off such a dense theme in such a clean way. While my fun meter was not off the charts with this one, I can see that this a top notch puzzle. Thanks for the Thursday workout, David!
I was greedy today and went looking for one more cool angle to this puzzle: Could the rebi be in the order of the establishment of the states? This occurred to me because DE was first in the grid. Alas, no, GA was not second so that blew my Easter egg search out of the water (to badly mash a metaphor :-).
I got the rebuses in the SW because I read IVANHOE many years ago and knew JOHN HANCOCK was the first signer. Like the first person to sign a greeting card from a group, John didn't know how much space he should take up.
David J. Kahn, great celebratory puzzle, thanks!
I was unaware that it was a rebus until I could not get answer for ten minutes then I saw Poundstone and all was clear
Not usually too happy with rebus puzzles but this one was lots of fun.
@Whatsername, dangit... I'm a sucker for the -(don't tell anyone this thing that I'm unambiguously telling everybody as we speak–)- bit. Makes me chuckle 'n chortle every time. Cheers.
@Anonymous 14:04UTC —Yep, Kim Cattrell FTW... Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country... "Hence the word... sa-BO-tage."
I knew it could be done! If you ignore the three sport-proximate clue/answer sets (fishing, skateboarding, and “aces out”) we might be able to call this a day without a sports reference! Thank you, David! Very enjoyable puzzle, and I appreciate that you didn’t take the easy way out by fishing in the sports pond.
It's an impressive puzzle for sure. I needed probably one more accommodating clue to not get frustrated, but that's more on me. There were quite a few answers scattered around that missed my wheelhouse and rendered this thing a less pleasant experience.
Spirit of '76 puztheme. Nice and timely. A bit of a challenge, keepin track of all them potential colony abbreve rebus usage dealies.
Always great to see one of the olde xword masters like Mr. Kahn back in action here. [NYTPuz # 192]
staff weeject picks: SA[GA]. [NC]IS. MA[NY]. I[MD]B. A[CT]S. For some reason, the I[MD]B one was hardest to figure out, at our house.
some fave stuff: PIZZA. BANANA. CANNOLI. SABOTS [M&A's fave oldie plural footwear answer; not seen here for six years]. We frequently patronize a pizza joint that serves primo cannoli for dessert.
some fave hijinks: MDCCC. ALLMETAL.
Thanx for colonizin with us, Mr. Kahn dude. Good job.
Masked & Anonymo5Us
p.s.
Runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
M&A
Shilo, when we were young,
I used to call your name.
When no one else would come,
Shilo you always came.
As a Canadian, I found this puzzle extremely frustrating-sorry, but the names of the thirteen colonies or articles of the American constitution are not at the top of my mind. I usually enjoy rebus puzzles, but this one was too singularly American for my taste.
Actually, DeCaprio''s performance in "Gilbert Grape" was a masterpiece of acting. People who actually work with developmentaly disabled children were astounded at how well he portrayed every nuance of body language, speech, facial expression, etc. with unerring verisimilitude. And never once did he slip over into caracture or parody. I think he should have been hands-down for "Best Supporting Actor" that year. It may well have been his finest performance ever.
For a non-American, this puzzle was not very enjoyable at all. I managed to keep my 600+ streak, but hated every moment of it. I can't complain though as it is a crossword puzzle in an American newspaper after all. Just not fun for foreigners.
I'm surprised at so much positive feedback today. For me, it was quite a slog.
We Canadians get inundated with US trivia: 13 states, founding fathers, all that stuff. But for me to remember ALL 13 of them, and then to have to know the 2 letter abbrev's, yuck! And then of course to find them. I don't understand how anyone can enjoy yet another puzzle based on state abbrev's. The theme is actually not a bad idea, but boy the execution, just no.
It didn't help that JOHN ADAMS fit perfectly for 64 across. And for 6 across, Romulus and Remus were BROS, which had the Beach Boys song "location" starting with a B... B SIDER? Right idea, anyway.
Plus just several Unknown Names: BEBE PAULA OLETA SHILO.
Loved this puzzle. Wow, Carousel has some bangers! I've been obsessed with "If I Loved You" for the past few weeks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc4_6z8JsrQ&list=RDmc4_6z8JsrQ&start_radio=1
I’m happy for the many, many commenters who adored this thing. I don’t think I’ve done a puzzle this annoying in the last ten years. I know you guys are setting up for you 250th birthday and I know a boatload of American history - hard to escape when you live next door - and I even knew about 7 or 8 of the founding 13 colonies. (Yay, I knew there were 13!) But GA? I’m assuming that’s Georgia. And MA? Is that Maine or Masschusetts? I don’t send a lot of snail mail so the codes don’t stick with me. So, yeah, a brutal crawl through the mud.
And as @Danny said, it forces you to “put ALLMETAL, GOTAHIT, and CLINGSTO in prime real estate”. So, not terribly exciting.
SHOW OFF and its clue was good as was PLAIN JANE, even though it’s mildly sexist. Hated MDCCC. Was happy to finish this one and hit the sack late last night.
Happy 250th. I just hope you can get through the present quagmire and celebrate some more.
PS. A few months ago I got out of bed to hear my wife talking to one of her California cousins on speaker phone and he said something like "We're Ok, We're in California". He's coming for a visit in a few weeks. There will be some interesting dinner table discussions.
I can sympathize with your Canadian frustration, especially if you know, as we in the U.S. do, that John Adams actually set the Declaration of Independence to music, thus becoming the first singer of the Declaration. But whilst thus occupied, John Hancock snuck in and graffitied the document with his name, becoming the first signer. Hope that clarifies things.
This was a painful slog for me. I HATE rebuses — and 13 of them???!!! Lots of cheating. Totally not worth my time, very frustrating. Yes, TORTURE!! Maybe I’m just missing the part of the brain that can solve rebuses. Oh, well.
Agreed, jazzman. My wife is a child psychologist (retired) and pretty discriminating about this kind of thing. She had a few nits to pick but thought it pretty good. I really enjoyed that film.
Kaballah is spelled with a K not a c. I can see Kuds more than cuds. Natick for me at that spot. Otherwise, fun puzzle.
I thought VT was a colony. Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys.
You're thinking of Odetta! With the O and A in place I tried to get a state abbreviation in there to make her fit.
I so love replying to my own posts … but I forgot to mention that I made a note last night about ACES OUT. I have played sports all my life - mostly team sports like soccer, football (American style), baseball, and hockey - and I have never heard this term. It might be a tennis term. You can ace a serve. Can you ace somebody out?
Also, there's a partial at 10D that bugs me. A _____. A what? A almost anything. Fortunately I''m familiar with the phrase a priori, so no real harm done. But annoying.
10th anniversary Les Miz is THE BEST RECORDING OF LES MIZ!
I'll die on this hill. Well done, Eli!
Also today's puzzle was fantastic.
Incorrect! As a non-US person I enjoyed it. I have limited knowledge of their history and no real idea which states were first, which made it all enjoyably challenging. Obviously their politics are atrocious and most of their voters are deplorable. But I say let them have their weird little party! It is their big day after all.
I also confidently wrote in John Adams. Isn't he one of those old guys they're always on about? And no idea aboot state codes which made it all the tougher.
Well this old timer can tell you the provinces from NB to BC. If there are others I ain’t having Nunavit
For: oknaganer: I'll try to make you feel better. What do the following abbreviations represent? NS PEI NWT LAB
Have to say I hated this puzzle. The rebases became obvious once several answers didn’t fit. Biggest beef is that there was no real pattern, they were stuffed in random locations. Guess I’ll go back and tell people to stay off my lawn!
Excellent very well crafted very difficult puzzle for me. Enjoyed the history. Knew JOHNHANCOCk , thought “oh, NH “- that plus the number 13 made the hunt for the rebuses fun. But all those names , especially BEBE, MISSM, OLETA, CAROUSEL. I could go on. I particularly enjoyed RI ! Thanks Eli for the great write up and the Simpsons quote - Russian farmer and tool indeed.
My problem was except for SIDEONE, I got the tricks right away but struggled to figure out which squares had the rebuses. I got that the year was 1800 in Roman numerals since it had to end in CC but stupidly was trying to put MMCCC. Finally realized I was missing MD and after the music went back and realized SIDEONE was not some mysterious beach.
WTF does that mean?
Cali is the world’s 7th biggest economy, the land of hope and dreams.
The only interesting convo is your tortuous reasoning why you don’t live there.
Sorry Folks, not a fan. It was merciless onslaught of names and trivia. Complimented with words like: OLIO, INRE, SKED, PSST, MIZ, ETA, MDCCC, ECG.
Absolute hell. 1:27:13 time with 57:29 slower than average. That's hours:minutes:seconds btw.
Besides the rebuses, the clue difficulty was Saturday-level nearly throughout. This puzzle has ruined my Thursday and made me angry.
Wow, this puzzle was AWFUL today. I LOVE rebus puzzles, but this was impossible to get a toehold anywhere. Even once I figured out the theme. I like Roman numeral clues too, but combined with random trivia? Like I’m supposed to know the last full year of John Adam’s presidency? Come on. The clues were way too hard for a Thursday, and the fills had too much random trivia. Some of the clues I didn’t understand even AFTER I had the answer! Not fun at all.
Drew Magary reference, nice to hear from a fellow Defector reader!
Same. I was impressed with the skill to make this puzzle, but it was way too hard for a Thursday, and the clues were terrible. This was the first puzzle this year that I couldn’t finish.
We all get an extra day to file if Patriots Day is the 15th & a business day. Chrome is a terrible browser, never used Safari, but Firefox is great (esp with adblock extension). Terrible call on the red card for Balogen, they look at the result of the foul not the actual foul
@Les S., you deserve a ton of credit for finishing a puzzle so clearly not in your wheelhouse.
I guess early on, we get familiar with the 2-letter abbreviations that separately identify US states whose first two letters are the same. MA is Massachusetts, not Maine (ME) or Maryland (MD). Other examples abound. Then you have the case of Georgia, abbreviated GA even without a potential conflict over GE.
Lastly, speaking for most of US (objectively, if published polls are accurate), we appreciate your expression of hope. Right back at you re your upcoming CA visitor.
I've played six-a-side soccer with no offsides and what happens is a team leaves a player far down the field in front of the opponent's goal. If you can get him /her/them the ball the result is almost always an automatic goal. Without looking up justifications for the offsides rule this would be mine. You can't be offsides in you own half of the field, so that would support my theory.
No hay nada en la Tierra tan poderoso como una idea a la que le ha llegado su momento.
I know these puzzles cause a rift in the continuum, but this is exactly what I love in crosswords. Initial ideas don't fit and eventually you see what's going on and then you're on the hunt to do it 12 more times. Who knows where they'll be. Just loved working on this and yeah, it took forever.
Wonderful sense of humor too.
I was only mildly delayed by the SHILO/OLETA problem, but CABALA was so challenging for me. I don't think I've ever heard of it. In fact, I don't think I even know what mysticism is.
Roman numerals with a rebus. Very smart and mindbending.
❤️ Fancy Dan. FRY. Yowza=MAN.
People: 9
Places: 2
Products: 10 {erm?}
Partials: 6
Foreignisms: 3
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 30 of 85 (35%)
Funny Factor: 6 😅
Tee-Hee: TITTER.
Uniclues:
1 Not sure about everywhere, but in downtown Albuquerque they are our unhoused neighbors.
2 Barbecue featuring monkey stories.
3 Why the hungry Italian needed gold teeth.
4 Punched a bunch of stupid vegetarians.
5 Laugh in my slippers.
6 How the carnival owner disguises a clown invasion.
1 PLAZA DELEGATIONS
2 BANANA TALE FRY
3 ALL METAL CANNOLI
4 BEET OAFS SMACKED
5 TITTER AS I MOC
6 SHOW OFF CAROUSEL
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Swedish black and white movies where cigarette smokers lament the Pepsi can stain on the piano. BABY GRAND NOIRS.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Georgia was named after King George II. Definitely colonial.
Loved the puzzle but hated the spelling of Kabbalah especially since the clue made a Jewish reference. CABALA is generally used by western mystics so the clue was particularly misleading.
Finished in the app, but it told me i have an error. Searched and searched, googled unfamiliar answers (sabots, SHILO). Finally came here and i swear my grid is exactly what is shown above. Maybe it’s part of the app malfunction??
Tough but super fun
I was curious and looked up the rule. It's complicated. Hockey has a similar rule - icing. But as in basketball, why doesn't the opposing team just use one of their players to guard the loitering player?
@Bob Mills, NS is Nova Scotia; the others are kinda deprecated. For mailing, Prince Edward Island is officially PE and Northwest Territories officially NT. LAB is rarely used; I don't think I've ever even seen it (Labrador isn't a province or territory anyway).
But!!!!... talking about the old abbrev's which are not valid for mailing, in French, P.E.I. is I.P.E. (with some accents), and N.W.T. is T.N.-O, and my own B.C. is of course C.-B. Isn't Canada great?
Pablo
Of course. But why not put a defender on tge guy in front of the net?
Noni-
Yes!!!!!!!! Why indeed?
Thanks for subbing in, Eli! I was cheering line a madwoman through the match with Bosnia and Herzegovina hoping against hope that we would prevail. I became a football fanatic in the ‘90s when I worked on a case with corporate clients in 5 European countries. I spent time nearly every day for 5 years on the phone with the European team and traveled to London so often I became a student of the game and a true fan. Now, like our wonderfully talented and able sub here in CrossWorld Clare, I am thrilled that we get televised Premier League matches here in the US. America has joined the rest of the world as Football (as it is known the world over) has finally became a major sport here in the US.
As for today, I was excited to have a truly celebratory Independence Day puzzle honoring every original COLONY with its own independent rebus. A July 4th theme is just what I wanted. Hopefully we can continue to celebrate with one more to come on Sunday. And I wouldn’t hate the editors for squeezing in a themed offering on either or both Friday or Saturday. Especially Saturday! I believe it is good for us seriously to contemplate our history and our citizenship at least annually. What better time than the present?
Because of everything that’s so tragically wrong right now, I feel a more urgent need to honor our nation’s true history this year. The beacon of hope on New York’s Liberty Island still stands tall and proud, and her message of welcome should remind us that anyone who is not an indigenous American (or of the First Nations People to our Canadian neighbors) is an immigrant. We need to celebrate our differences and work harder to employ them as assets that can draw us together to reject divisiveness.
So, Happy Independence Day everyone! Today’s puzzle honored the miraculous feat of all 13 colonies’ DELEGATIONS coming together. Guided by leadership of the men at the First Continental Congress (certainly supported by the women in their lives), they clung to one brilliant IDEA whose time had come, had the courage to embark on this “Great Experiment” and through years of labor and the devastation, strife and tragedy of warfare, gave birth to our country.
Those labors continue, and will only allow us to thrive if we honor our duties as citizens. We have pledged to be one nation. That pledge carries with it the obligation to work together through often painful compromise truly to honor the promise of liberty and justice for all, and to see these ideals thrive.
I never celebrate this holiday without sitting in quiet contemplation for a bit to marvel at what we, the people created. We must never allow naysayers, charlatans, liars or thieves to extinguish the light of hope and promise in New York Harbour.
It’s a Latin phrase, not an abbreviation
As someone noted earlier, Maine was originally part of Massachusetts and became a separate state in 1820 as non-slave holding state as part of the Missouri Compromise of 1820, balancing the admission of Missouri as a slave state.
A few woes all detailed above, BUT WOW, I loved it. Very chewy but even at 53 minutes, so rewarding. Kudos!
The Devine Miss M is a Bette Midler character
“Aces Out” is not a thing!
Could be a d or a v. Puzzle is tip-top except for Shilo/Oleta. That Natick takes off a star and precludes PTY status.
See my comment above - one star off and no PTY. The Shilo/Oleta Natick is a dealbreaker.
Yeah I get that only the acrosses were theme answers. But having a down that included two of the rebus squares... I dunno, it glared for me.
I feel sooo stupid! I didn’t get the state abbreviations until I read these replies! I’m usually more awake than that!
I worked for Boston Properties in San Francisco (owns Embarcadero’s, etc.) and we got an annual floating holiday b/c our regional manager didn’t think SF would understand why the office was closed on April 14.
Fellow Canadian here (though now an expat in Latin America) and this was a slog for me too. I can appreciate not being anywhere near the target market for this one but even without the US history, JOHNHANCOCK contains three possibilities for rebuses (again, for those of us that don't know if OH is one of the original colonies). Along with some odd clues that didn't land for me made me appreciate the construction but glad that July 4 is once a year.
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