The first thing you’ll notice about this puzzle is that it’s bigger than normal. It’s 25×21 squares, and with four extra columns, it adds up to 169 answers, which is 25 more than what I usually have. Why the larger size? The short answer is “go big or go home,” but let’s take a deep breath and get into the longer answer.
There are seven theme answers that have parenthetical information in their clues:
- 27A: [Strongly assertive one (Greek letters)] is ALPHA FEMALE.
- 36A: [Honda Accords’ competitors, once (planets from the sun)] is MERCURY SABLES.
- 55A: [Solitary insects that feed on cockroaches (commissioned Navy officer ranks)] is ENSIGN WASPS.
- 58A: [English photographer who co-founded Rock Against Racism (rainbow colors)] is RED SAUNDERS.
- 92A: [“No need for us to talk much longer” (Roman numerals)] is I WON’T KEEP YOU.
- 95A: [Actress who played Leia (Stephen King novels)] is CARRIE FISHER.
- 111A: [Early home of R.E.M. (Olympics host cities)] is ATHENS, GEORGIA.
The parenthetical clues and the title should hopefully point you to the first aha moment of the puzzle: The first words of these theme answers are the first examples in their given categories. ALPHA is the first Greek letter, MERCURY is the first planet from the sun, ENSIGN is the first commissioned Navy officer rank, and so on. Using the single Roman numeral I may have been cheating a little, but it made me laugh when I thought of it. There’s no Roman numeral for zero, so it was a convenient example of a category whose first item starts with the letter I — and to perhaps prevent a little bit of confusion, I figured it would be best if there were no other Roman numerals in that answer, which is why I landed on I WON’T KEEP YOU.
Moving on: If you head toward the bottom of the puzzle, there are two more theme answers. The first one is at 125A: [Highly important feature of seven answers (and every clue) in this puzzle] which is FIRST LETTER. Look at the first letters of the seven answers, above …
- ALPHA FEMALE
- MERCURY SABLES
- ENSIGN WASPS
- RED SAUNDERS
- I WON’T KEEP YOU
- CARRIE FISHER
- ATHENS, GEORGIA
… and you spell AMERICA, which is appropriate for Independence Day.
But that’s not all. The last major theme answer is the grid-spanning DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE at 141A: [You’ll find an excerpt from this document in this puzzle]. That’s one reason for the expanded grid; that way I could fit in the entire 25-letter answer without breaking it up. Still, where can we find the excerpt from the Declaration? Go back to the clue for 125A, which said that the FIRST LETTER is an important feature of every clue in this puzzle! Indeed, if you look at the first letters of all Across clues and then all Down clues in order, you will spell out this famous passage originally written by Thomas Jefferson:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Holiday puzzles always tempt me to be a little more ambitious than I would otherwise, and this one was no exception, but I don’t usually write Fourth of July-themed puzzles. The last time I did was five years ago, and back then, Independence Day didn’t even fall on a Sunday. It did this year, though, and that won’t occur again until 2027, so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
This was a rare crossword where I was essentially building the grid and the clues at the same time since I had to make sure my answers could actually have the right beginning letters for their clues. Some letters are easy layups, like how I needed a clue starting with A for the answer CARRIE FISHER and “Actress” was sitting right there. Other starting letters, however, can be a nightmare to deal with, and if any first letter makes the clue too bizarre to make sense then you’ll likely have to go back and start over with different answers. I had to keep a constant watch on tough starting letters like the Q at 115A: [QR code recipients] (USERS), as well as some more common letters that are still tricky for starting words like E and I and N. I scrapped at least two clean corners because a clue starting with the letter I had been impossible for the answers I’d had. Thank goodness Jefferson’s most famous passage from the Declaration didn’t have an X in it, otherwise I’d probably still be working on this puzzle.
There were other pitfalls I didn’t expect. I had planned a series of Down clues to begin with specific letters, but some parts of the grid weren’t filling well, so I did what I normally do by adding in a couple of extra black squares (to the left of SKA at 81A and to the right of OTS at 89A) and refilled those sections. What I hadn’t realized at the time was that by adding in those additional black squares, I’d messed up the order of the starting clue letters. If you removed that black square to the left of SKA at 81A, you’d have three five-letter Down answers before you get to LEGIT at 84D’s spot. But when you add in that black square, you then have only two five-letter Down answers before getting to LEGIT. That meant my starting clue letters for SWOOP at 81D: [Suddenly dive] and KOALA at 82D: [Eucalyptus lover] and every subsequent Down answer changed from what they were originally, so I had to toss several clues out and rewrite them. The more I write puzzles, the more ways I find to aggravate myself writing puzzles.
Whatever my challenges were, my hope is that you were able to get past any strange clues and finish what you started and — most importantly — enjoyed solving it. If you’re watching the fireworks tonight, I hope you have a blast!
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July 04, 2021 at 08:00PM
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Solution to Evan Birnholz’s July 4 Post Magazine crossword, “It’s a Start” - The Washington Post
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