Swahili for freedom / MON 3-23-20 / Flat-bottomed boat / Cuisine featuring drunken noodles / Founder of McDonald's empire

Constructor: Ed Sessa

Relative difficulty: Easy (2:40)

THEME: A HOUSE DIVIDED (53A: It "cannot stand" per 1-Down ... or a hint to 20-, 25- and 47-Across) — the letters in "HOUSE" are "divided" i.e. split apart in each themer, with HO- at the front and -USE at the back:

Theme answers:

HOPELESS CAUSE (20A: What a last true believer might believe in)
"HOLD THE APPLAUSE" (25A: "Don't clap yet")
"HOW COULD I REFUSE?" (47A: "There was no choice but for me to say yes!")

Word of the Day: Bob GRIESE (6D: Dolphins Hall-of-Fame QB Bob)—

Robert Allen Griese (pronounced /ˈɡriːsi/ GREE-see; born February 3, 1945) is a former American football quarterback who earned All-American honors with the Purdue Boilermakers before being drafted in 1967 by the American Football League's Miami Dolphins. Griese led the Dolphins to three consecutive Super Bowl appearances, including two Super Bowl victories in VII and VIII (a feat since matched by Jim Kelly and the Buffalo Bills with four consecutive super bowls, and Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in Super Bowls LI, LII, and LIII). Griese was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and the Indiana Football Hall of Fame in 1984 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1990. He later worked as a television commentator, calling NFL games for NBC Sports and college football for ESPN and ABC Sports. Griese is one of three quarterbacks from Purdue to win the Super Bowl (along with Len Dawson and Drew Brees). (wikipedia)

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I was just saying I don't need bland mediocrity, but here we are again. Again! Less disappointing today, because I have learned not to expect terribly much from this constructor. To be clear, this is very passable fare. I'd expect to see it in a lesser daily, not the NYT, but it certainly "works" on whatever level it's trying to "work" on. Or ... does it? If A HOUSE DIVIDED cannot stand, then ... are these answers even real? Because it looks like the divided house is standing just fine. All three answers, just ... standing there. So the whole premise kind of undermines itself. And Mr. Lincoln. By the way, pretty dicey move, pretending like the 3-letter crosswordese you've crammed into one of the corners of your grid (i.e. ABE) is actually a "theme" answer. That "author of the quote" reference is a component the puzzle didn't actually need, but now that it's here, it just seems sad; like the puzzle knows it's not good enough and is trying to throw in "bonus" stuff to compensate.

On Sunday night, I invited crossword Twitter to send me any comments they had on the Monday puzzle. I promised I'd post them, no matter who wrong they were. I am a man of my word