The New York Times celebrates first night of Hanukkah with a Swastika crossword
But it's just a coincidence. Pinky swear.
Ok. Random coincidences happen. We’ve all seen them.
A second child is born on 2/2/22 at 2pm. The fact that Mark Twain was born — and died — during the pass-by of Halley’s Comet. That sort of thing.
The reality is, unlikely events can occur.
But, sometimes, things are just a little too “on the nose” to chalk up to a simple case random chance.
Case in point: The New York Times crossword puzzle for Sunday, December 18th, 2022.
When you look at the layout of the crossword… what do you see?
A Swastika, right?
Ok. No problem. It’s a simple geometric pattern — one that has been used by people other than the Nazi’s… so we can just say it was a random occurrence. Obviously the New York Times wouldn’t make a Swastika, right?
Then you look at the date. Just so happens this Swastika crossword was published on the first night of Hanukkah.
Ok. Still. Random chance. Crazy but, hey, crazier coincidences have happened!
And then… you look at the clues.
22 Across: “Boxcars”
60 Across: Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate
Oh, man. Seriously? In a swastika? On the first night of Hanukkah?
Add on top of that the fact that the NY Times has spent decades downplaying the Holocaust, and been highly critical (to say the least) of Israel, and it becomes hard to see this as not intentional.
The New York Times defended their crossword by saying this:
“This is a common crossword design: Many open grids in crosswords have a similar spiral pattern because of the rules around rotational symmetry and black squares.”
Oh. It’s a common crossword design. That’s why we see a Swastika crossword every week, eh?
Give me a break.