Crosswords and Cultural Awareness (Patreon)

Like other old men, I wake up and do the New York Times crossword (now on a smartphone app). For anyone else who does them, I find I can complete Sunday-Wednesday on my own pretty consistently; Thursday-Saturday never. 

I find the crossword to be a useful test of the cultural temperature, since clues have to be phrased in such a way that about one million people every day from all different walks of life will interpret the answer that fits as correct. I'm just now working through the ones from my long sickness and then hospital stay, and I was pleased to see this December 31, 2018 puzzle by Brian Thomas clued the name Odin in such a way that it suggests there is a growing awareness of his strong association with war, and away from the fairly shallow interpretatio romana that would have made Odin analogous to Hermes and Tyr analogous to Ares.

On another note about cultural awareness, one of the Times' crossword commentators, Deb Amlen, has consistently berated crossword writers for cluing anything related to firearms, as if this ought to be a topic forbidden from decent conversation (meanwhile reveling in every new reference to alcoholic drinks, which completely on the other cultural hand I'd consider taboo). I think this is the worst form of cultural chauvinism, since it grows from a Hollywood- and news media-inspired association of firearms with mindless violence, and I don't mind saying that I hope I've communicated what a positive part of my life the shooting sports and its community are.