some tricky crossings in this crossword! congrats on 1500 solves :)
banana43 1:32 · 2024-04-05T00:43:34.864Z
Nice puzzle, "jihad" doesn't actually translate to "holy war" though, that's a common but incorrect translation. It translates to "struggling" and refers to the struggle to promote what is right and fight against what's wrong. It just bothers me a bit when I see that lol
Congratulations on 1500 solves! (If you keep putting out four puzzles a day you'll likely be at 15,000 soon!)
I did have a bit of a reaction to the cluing on 1D. That's certainly been a common clue in the NYT through time, but (a) I don't know that the NYT always does a great job of cluing terms from outside the dominant culture and (b) I think it has gotten a bit more nuanced of late (but maybe just avoided).
I don't know that Wikipedia is a definitive reference, but it can converge to factual correctness and a NPOV through time, so thought I'd quote:
Jihad… is an Arabic word which literally means "striving" or "struggling", especially with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it can refer to almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with God’s guidance, such as struggle against one's evil inclinations, proselytizing, or efforts toward the moral betterment of the… community… though it is most frequently associated with armed conflict.
Jihad… is an Arabic word which literally means "striving" or "struggling", especially with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it can refer to almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with God’s guidance, such as struggle against one's evil inclinations, proselytizing, or efforts toward the moral betterment of the… community… though it is most frequently associated with armed conflict.