Licence to kill

The four men in traditional Arab garb didn't attract the attention of Ahmed Khalil, 27, when he drew near his farm not far from the town of Beit Hanun in northern Gaza. They looked like the vegetable merchants who usually come to buy produce in the early hours of the day. But as soon as they approached, two of them fired at his head with pistols equipped with silencers. He died immediately.

The four men, disguised as Palestinians, were members of the most recent death squad formed by the Israeli government in Gaza to eliminate Palestinian fighters. The four thought that Khalil was a member of the resistance movement on his way to carry out an operation against an Israeli target, Israeli military sources later said. The Southern Zone Command of the Israeli army said that the death squad was formed on instructions of the Israeli mini-cabinet, which urged the army chiefs of staff to take more aggressive action against the resistance in Gaza, so as to end the firing of local-made rockets at Israeli settlements. Al Ahram

07.28.07 -- LINKS

ROOTOUT (55A Expose and destroy) -- Illustration: Device to Root Out Evil (1997) by Dennis Oppenheim --
Galvanized structural steel, anodized perforated aluminum, transparent red Venetian glass, concrete foundations

-----------------

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Puzzle by Manny Nosowsky, edited by Will Shortz

Four seven-across/seven-down squares linked by a passage with the letter “O” as a radiant for the entries and for four black-square crosses boldly eliciting the symbol for Christianity, this dense crossword puzzle construction is a formidable achievement visually and in wordplay; however, it does not render itself any less or more than the standard end-of-the-week Saturday stumper, and yet, there is no question that it is a paragon of symmetry.

EOSIN (35A Red stain in a lab) -- Illustration: Histopathology of bladder shows eggs of Schistosoma haematobium surrounded by intense infiltrates of eosinophils

Across:

1 Claimed as one’s own; 8 Paper binder; 15. Sandlot game; 16. Draft pick; 17. Looking ragged; 18 Lined with trees; 19 Rock guitarist born David Evans; 20 Mike Brady of “The Brady Bunch,” e.g.; 21 Half a nursery-rhyme spider’s description: Var.; 22 Longtime “What’s My Line?” panelist; 23 Go jump in the lake!”; 25 Begin, as an enterprise; 26 1947 semi-documentary-style crime drama; 27 Aces; 29 Communist federation: Abbr.; 30; Common site of archaeological remains; 31 They mean nothing; 35 Red stain in a lab; 37 Dance in a pit; 41 Running wild; 43 “Its true!”; 45 Carrying on; 46 First name in electrical engineering; 47 Run-in; 49 Made happy; 50 Bigger and stronger; 51 Class struggles?; 52 Sanctions; 53; Pro performer; 54 Others; 55 Expose and destroy

ELGIN (25D The _____ Marbles) -- Illustration: Lapith fighting a Centaur; detail of a metope from the Parthenon at Athens; one of the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum

Down:

1 Guiness Book weather record category; 2 Former home of the N.F.L.’s Rams; 3 Cooling-off period; 4 Spoils; 5 Immobile in winter; 6 Not wait for an invitation; 7 Eye sore; 8 Bath and others; 9 Carnegie Mellon athletes; 10King of Belgium; 11 Races; 12 Pantries; 13 “_______ and Franklin,” 1976 biopic; 14 Makes flush; 24 Drum accompanying a pipe; 25 The _____ Marbles; 28 Island said to be the home of Homer’s tomb; 31 “Again?!”; 32 With no time to lose; 33 Celebrity chef; 34 Scoundrel; 35 Young members of a convocation' 36 Melville’s Ishmael, e.g.; 37 Comes through successfully; 38 Bristol Cream ingredient; 39 Guide feature? 40 Control tower equipment; 42 Purrer; 44 Links with; 48 Once, long ago; 49 Woodwind instrument: Abbr.

Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES -- Crossword Puzzles and Games

If you subscribe to home delivery of The New York Times you are eligible to access the daily crossword via The New York Times - Times Reader, without additional charge, as part of your home delivery subscription.