Head, Heart, Hands, and Health

The Monday, May 12 puzzle (answers) by early-week specialist Randall J. Hartman celebrates The 4H Club, a youth group organized over 100 years ago by the United States Department of Agriculture to benefit rural kids. In today's crossword, it's a framework for including 4 H's in each of the first three theme answers.

Like any self-respecting club, it has a motto:

I pledge my head to clearer thinking,
my heart to greater loyalty,
my hands to larger service
and my health to better living,
for my club, my community, my country, and my world.

I wonder what the crossword community motto would be.

Before I got to the fourth long answer which explained it all, I thought this might be a completely different and perhaps even daring theme. There's an "Anglican body" and a "Jewish high holy day" but WHICH IS WHICH? It turns out that the Great Monday Comparative Religion Puzzle is yet to be written. Work on it folks, ok?

SAPPHIRES is a great word with that double P. The fraud URI Geller gets more free puzzle publicity. MIR soars to new heights - this is its 67th appearance making it by far the most popular Russian word in NYT crosswords. What do you think of "top secret" as a clue for TOUPEE? Mr. Hartman likes it too, having used that exact clue in his previous puzzle less than three months ago. It's worth repeating.

Comments

[PhillySolver]

I don't want to be obtuse, but I have friends in low churches.

I liked this Four H puzzle and had no idea what the theme might be until I got the last answer.

As to a motto and club status, it has been said before, but why would I want to be a member of an organization that would have me as a member?

[Wendy]

Within recent memory (i.e., since I've been solving daily so late 2006 onward) there was another puzzle that used the 4H motif but not in the same way. I believe the words the Hs signify all appeared in the clue answers, but I'm not sure. Anyone remember?

[joon]

wendy,

orange remembers. check out her blog today for the reference.