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George Elgar Hicks, Mother and Child
Tomorrow is Mother’s Day—time to give your mother a thoughtful present, like a free crossword, or a Victorian novel recommendation. My own mother endures the crosswords of my adulthood as patiently as she did the cross words of my childhood.
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George Dunlop Leslie, The Language of Flowers
If this puzzle doesn’t make you groan, you have simply lost the ability to groan. I ought to be sorry about it, but I’m not. Well, I’m a little sorry to have had to use an old ad slogan for 21-Across. But that’s all. Otherwise, I’m proud of my work! I glory in it! I represent the avant-avant-garde of paronomasia. As Schoenberg was to Schubert, as Rothko was to Rembrandt, so am I to any old-fashioned punster who cares about such stodgy matters as actual homophonic similarity.
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![John Constable, View at [73 Across]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599082a2e58c6284b2a19d1a/1519335001662-T5Z94KU8PVGVYRTQOCZS/John+Constable+-+View+at+%5B73+Across%5D.jpg)
John Constable, View at [73 Across]
If I were sure this picture would always accompany this puzzle, I wouldn’t have bothered with any other clue for 73 Across. “Trees, clouds, cows, hill—why,” says the informed viewer, “this can only be the view at ____!”
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Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Her Eyes Are With Her Thoughts, and They Are Far Away
If you look closely, you’ll see above (and in the works of several of the more daring Victorian painters) the phenomenon described in 16 Across.
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Richard Parkes Bonington, The Pont des Arts, Paris ca. 1826
This puzzle is amusing only if you know the French phrases on which it’s based. If you think you don’t, consult this helpful list of Six French Phrases Every Crossword-Solver Should Know before you start. Memorize these phrases and use them habitually in conversation, impressing your friends with your cosmopolitanism. Then, after some months have passed, and their use has become second nature to you, attempt the crossword below. You’ll find it’s well worth the time and effort.
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Lord Frederic Leighton, The Last Watch of Hero
There are few areas of popular culture I know less about than superhero comic strips and the movies based on them. In this I must be unusual, for they seem to come up frequently in crosswords, especially those in the New York Times. “Thor” is not just a Norse god but, apparently, a superhero. “Atom” is a diminutive superhero, “green” is superhero “ ___ Lantern”; “iron” is superhero “___ man.” Anyway, this puzzle is my little act of protest. It’s filled with superheroes of my own making, the sort of superheroes I’d like to read about. 22 Across, in particular, is the sort of superhero we need right now.
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Frederick Morgan, Feeding the Rabbits
Easter—rebirth—fertility—rabbits—eggs—it’s spring! As an antidote, I’ve provided a crossword featuring barrenness, burglary, drunkenness, sorcery, disfigurement, and job loss. You’re welcome.
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Sir Laurence Alma-Tadema, A Favourite Custom
As every child knows, there were nine Muses: Calliope, Clio, Euterpe, Erato, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia, and Urania. Erato is a crossword favorite, on account of her attractive vowels. However, Wikipedia informs us that there were originally only three Muses, representing Practice, Memory, and Song—and I have constructed this crossword with the purpose of giving some long-overdue attention to this neglected trio, especially its second member, featured in 54 Down, which is where I began work. I really wanted to fit in the other two—Melete and Aoide—but my theme got in the way.
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William Shayer and Edward Charles Williams, The Old Roadside Inn
The above Victorian painting alludes to the Victorian worker of 36 Down. The puzzle itself may seem uncharacteristically up-to-date, but don’t worry: the grasp of social media I display here is every bit as crude as the grasp of computer networking I displayed in last week’s puzzle.
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Sheet music title page, c.1853
I apologize in advance if 16 Across seems too risqué to some solvers. Just imagine what I might have done with 27 Across, if I were not committed to the highest standards of decency.
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Frederick Daniel Hardy, The First Birthday Party
I have never been able to habituate myself to the simulated gore, on television and in the movies, for which the whole world seems to have such an insatiable appetite. Severed limbs, gushing blood, exploding heads—I don’t see the appeal. This crossword is my little act of protest.
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George Goodwin Kilburne, A Meal Stop at a Coaching Inn
The foodstuffs alluded to in this puzzle would not make for a particularly healthy or appetizing meal, but it might be better than the one in the picture above, which seems to consist of a salad, a roast with a chocolate doughnut (?) on top of it, and a giant slice of cake. Appetizing or not, however, I like this picture—the huge fish painting at the left, the horses looking through the window, the dog statues on the hearth, and the wary reactions of the pretty woman and her guardian, seated on the right, to the blotchy-faced man who seems to be inviting himself to join them.
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014-Knife,-Fork,-&-Spoonerisms.puz
014-Knife,-Fork,-&-Spoonerisms.pdf
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John Martin, The Last Judgment
I recommend solving crossword puzzles as a pleasant alternative to thinking about the ultimate fate of self, earth, and universe.
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George William Joy, A Dinner of Herbs
Six spices may not make for much of a rack, but at least you can find the one you’re looking for, assuming it’s one of those six.
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Henry Courtney Selous, The Love Letter
Today’s painting illustrates the predicament described in the puzzle’s entry for 49 Across—if you interpret the girl’s expression as conveying a kind of numb incredulity.
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John Collier, Eve
Who says mortal terror is not an appropriate theme for a light-hearted crossword puzzle?
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Frederick Goodall, Puritan and Cavalier
I admit it—I consulted a thesaurus.
If, like me, you dislike cross-referenced crossword clues, I will assume your gratitude for my resolutely unrelated clues to 12 Down and 56 Across.
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John Collier, The Minx
Last week’s humility didn’t last. But as crossword favorite Lao-Tse says somewhere (or was it Lao-Tzu?), true humility is proven by nothing so clearly as unmerited and unshakable self-regard.
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John Collier, Lady Godiva
After last week’s self-indulgence I try here to show a little humility.
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John Collier, A Glass of Wine with Caesar Borgia
A common crossword genre is the hidden-word puzzle: some word or set of related words is enclosed in common phrases, “stale,” for example, in “first alert” (clue: “Smoke alarm brand”). Fun stuff. But I prefer to enclose words in startling new phrases created not to hide those words, but to tax my ingenuity for clues that make sense of them, “amusing,” for example, in “hippopotamus in-group” (clue: “Semi-aquatic jungle clique”). It’s a matter of taste. In this puzzle I may have gone too far, however.
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