WEDNESDAY'S PUZZLE — As many of you already know, there is a rule among constructors and editors that thou shalt not repeat a word within a crossword puzzle, but today you're going to see that rule get smashed into tiny, Black and White, pointy-nosed bits.
Art and literature, even in these rule-smashing times, belonged to men such as Ernest Hemingway who, according to Zelda, crashed around Paris talking loudly about nothing but "sex plain, striped, mixed and fancy".
The language, so comfortable, so free of rules, so smashed and contracted and knocked into a cocked hat.
Let my people go!" And last spring, during debate on concealed carry rules, Bost smashed his microphone, prompting a Democrat to quip, "We don't want someone like that carrying a concealed weapon".
If we can imagine liberal democracy as a set of rules for self-governing grounded in popular sovereignty, populism might best be described as when "the people" play up their sovereignty in the interests of changing, bending, or smashing those rules according to their interests.
If I walk into a store and start smashing up the merchandise, the "Pottery Barn rule" is highly likely to kick in -- "you break it, you buy it".
But the rule will be temporarily smashed to smithereens during the London Olympics, when the All England Club hosts the tennis tournament.
The group tore through the building for about 15 minutes, smashing pictures of Mr. Assad, who has orchestrated a bloody crackdown on protests against his rule.
