A History of Short Words

From the New York Times Crossword Puzzle

UNLIT

Sun, 22 Dec '24
Like new matches
Mon, 28 Oct '24
Like birthday candles before the party starts
Sun, 13 Oct '24
Like the leftmost candle until the final night of Hanukkah
Thu, 11 Jul '24
Totally in the dark?
Fri, 25 Aug '23
Like something wicked and dark?
Sun, 10 Oct '21
Like a birthday cake, pre-party
Mon, 3 May '21
Not illuminated
Sun, 11 Apr '21
Not on