Saturday, July 3, 2021

There were some fireworks in today's crossword (especially in the top-left and bottom-right corners), with tricky clues like 3D, Strengthen, as an embankment, REVET (!), and 6D, Verdi opera set during the fifth century, ATTILA (!!). Jean labored mightily in this corner, while meanwhile, in the bottom right, Mike was inventing answers out of whole cloth, such as 52A, Metal oxide in dental crowns, ZIRCONIA (not ZINCONIA), and 48A, McCarthyite called out in Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire...