Crossroads and Crosswords

Sometimes the internet does what it's supposed to.  Out of the blue, I received an email from a woman named Margaret from an Anglican church in South Carolina. Turns out she was planning a trip to New York to pick up an old school bus and turn it into a mobile art studio!  A crew of people were coming with her and they wanted to know if they could do some interactive art with me when they were in town. 

Because it was raining when they arrived, I decided we should do a project conceived, by Taylor Spong, whom I met when I did the PVC string sculpture. The premise was simple: use the tiles on the wall of the subway to make a giant crossword puzzle.  This way, instead of having each commuter filling out his or her own newspaper crossword puzzle individually, the subway platform could work as a team to complete the crossword together.  And maybe we could even make the commute just a little bit fun.

As soon as we started taping up the grid for the crossword puzzle, people were intrigued.  At first folks were hesitant to participate or would stick the paper letters to the wall and quickly walk away.  But the South Carolinians turned on their southern charm and soon even the grumpiest New York commuters got into it by arguing with each whether the “world’s most popular pet” is a cat or a dog. 

See how you fare with the subway crossword!  Remember, there’s no internet access underground, just a lot of people from all over the world.

Across
4. Trip at 9; trip at 5
7. Metropolitan on the L  
8. Building blocks of hadrons
9. Most popular pet in the world
12. By any other name smells as sweet
13. “The Bambino”
15. pachyderm
16. Founder of Theatre of the Oppressed
19. Hebrew name meaning “He will laugh”
21. Had a vision of our Lady of Guadalupe
22. Ancient Emperor of Persia
23. Sanskrit word meaning “union”
Down
1. Spanish “palabra” in English
2. A friendly embrace
3. Safe place for wildlife
5. Home continent of Queen Dido and St. Augustine
6. Ten pin
9. End of G
10. Star of Mexican Mural Movement
11. Formerly Edo
14. 3 is 1, 1 is 3
17. All you need is ___
18. Both in the ear and pleasing to it
20. Has 8 protons in its nucleus