Dad's Ties Week, Day 4: Crossword Puzzle

Once upon a time in "downtown" College Park, there was a menswear store, where one could actually buy a suit, or a sportcoat, or a necktie, and it was at that store that Mom bought this tie for Dad sometime in the early 1970s. Dad balked at it at first, thinking it was just too much; but when he wore it for the first time people admired it, so it got added to his wardrobe. The design captures the zeitgeist of the era, and thus has a lasting appeal; however, the materials are not quite up to the task. The polyester fabric will undoubtedly last forever, but the colors retain just a fraction of their original brilliance, especially the green and purple squares. I've punched them up a little in the picture, but they are still noticeably faded. The maker label has also been lost, so the designer will have to remain anonymous until someone can clue me in.

I know the color coordination between the tie and shirt is less than ideal, but to paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, "As you know, you go to work with the clean shirts you have. They’re not the shirts you might want or wish to have at a later time." So this is the best I could do with the resources at hand. Next week will be a different sort of theme week. Nearing the end of my 30-shirt rotation, I will have to choose ties to match the shirts, rather than the other way around, which is my normal procedure. But I am up to the challenge!