Sunday, July 5, 2015, Elizabeth C. Gorski

HEADS OF STATE

And here's your Fourth of July puzzle, all neatly wrapped up in a theme immediately recognizable by the order in which the four presidential nicknames are presented. Having read biographies of all four of these American leaders, I will say that none of the nicknames came immediately to mind, although they were all four clearly recognizable once I had some crosses in place.

AMERICANCINCINNATUS was probably the toughest of the four. I would have thought "Father of His Country" or something to that effect. Like the original Cincinnatus, once Washington won the war, he resigned his commission to return to his farm. THEMANOFTHEPEOPLE is a pretty bland nickname. Somehow it seems like Jefferson deserves something a little more precise, maybe having to do with writing the Declaration of Independence, or sleeping with his slaves or something.

HEROOFSANJUANHILL is a well known nickname for TR. And nobody could argue with THEGREATEMANCIPATOR for Abraham Lincoln. And the two long bookends are fair pieces of information about Mount Rushmore.

The rest of the fill is hit or miss. It started out pretty rough in the NW with KINSHASA, KOKOMO, and IKEBANA all in the same area, not to mention AKON. There are some other nice bits, including HEREWEGO and YEAHYOU. I liked ASSAILANTS and PARIAHS. There is, however, a ton of meh or worse short entries, the worst of which, like COS, CAF, HOTE, ESOS, etc., made me squirm.

My last letter in the puzzle was a complete guess, although it was the most likely letter, and I never like that situation. It was the cross of TAEL and NEET. The E made sense, but who knew?

Overall, I liked it fine. Here are some EDAMS.

- Colum