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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)
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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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- Pop Sensation (vintage paperbacks)
This puzzle kept crashing the app on my iPhone. Did anyone else have this problem?
ReplyDeleteYes, I deleted the app then reinstalled and that fixed it.
DeleteYes, at least three times
DeleteIf you delete and reinstall it, do you retain your streak?
DeleteThe app has been crashing the last couple of days for me, but only on the crossword and mini, not when playing the other games.
DeleteThank 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!!
DeleteI’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.
ReplyDeleteEli, 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!
Maine was part of Massachusetts until 1819 (1820?) when it gained statehood on its own.
DeleteAnd 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.
DeleteFantastic 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.
ReplyDeleteDar 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!
ReplyDeleteBest 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,.
ReplyDeleteAnother stumbling block was insisting on "Nassau" for the location of "Sloop John B." ("around Nassau town we did roam...etc.").
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.
ReplyDeleteThe app has also been randomly crashing repeatedly on my ipad for the last few days it seems, hope we get an update to fix.
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.
ReplyDeleteHillary did a lot of the narration. How much more likable she is when not delivering campaign pitches.
I forgot to mention how much I enjoyed the puzzle. Great fun finding the thirteen colonies in the grid.
ReplyDeleteNo, 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.
ReplyDeleteIt is where the word sabotage comes from. Literally workers throwing wooden shoes into the machine gears.
DeleteSABOTS 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.
DeleteTORTURE
ReplyDeleteA 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).
ReplyDeleteI 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.
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.
ReplyDeleteYes, 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. :)
An enjoyable Thursday rebus. The theme was easily gotten.The fillins were harder but very doable Terrific puzzle.🎈🎈🎊🎊
ReplyDeleteI am filled with admiration for this construction. A great idea, beautifully executed, that was both challenging and fun.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteEasy-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 !
ReplyDeleteRebus 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?
ReplyDeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteThe 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)
ReplyDeleteThis 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.
ReplyDeleteDELEGATIONS, 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
ReplyDelete