Which of course Lincoln never said.
More than anyone, puzzle creators understand that words matter. Regarding the constructor’s notes, I would like to address “non-male.” This language (widely denounced and ridiculed when a European Green Party briefly adopted it) serves only to center males and erase females. We are all now males or non-males? No women in sight? I, and all females, are far more than just not male. And I do not care to be erased or to be seen as merely an absence, the absence of maleness. It reminds me of Freudian descriptions of women as creatures who lack, and envy, maleness. This is progress?
11
@Lori S.
Ooooooh! Here we go again. (I’ll be there will be a veritable storm of replies when the U.S. wakes up.)
I don’t read “non-male” to be a substitute for “female”.
I think he intends to include - in particular - the “GBTQ” (from “LGBTQ”) members of our society. But I’m not sure. Some gay men I know would be VERY annoyed at being called “non-male”
3
@PeterW
Not the GBTQ, but nonbinary/people who may not identity strictly as male or female.
9
@Bob
Ross seems pretty emphatic - i.e. NON-male - not “maybe male - maybe not”.
1
So much of home in the SW corner... Anyone that’s seen UTAH’s Great Salt Lake up close enough to witness its dangerously diminished WATER LEVEL has surely also said EWW at the godawful smell of the briny EAU that the winds can carry as far as LOGAN sometimes. Logan, UT, that is. But WHAT CAN I DO? I’m homesick anyway.
@Sam Lyons, I knew a guy in Chapel Hill who would take 2 weeks every year leaving job and family to go hike the SouthWest deserts. He was from right here originally, but once he had discovered the deserts he got homesick for them just the same.
I can see it; it's a replenishment to be out there.
1
This link should get one to Wednesday's wordplay column. If not, apologies.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/19/crosswords/argue-repetitively.html
I would personally protest both AIRTUBE and BLEEDER as being nonsense entries. To put them adjacent to each other is not only cruel and unusual, it's just plain MEAN.
2
Emus - if you’re listening, please open up Wednesday’s column.
5
Yes! My puzzle isn’t complete until I’ve read the column. Anyone out there?
Missed opportunity to work SLASH (13 down) into the TOPHAT theme!
(Slash, guitarist of Guns N’ Roses, is known for wearing a top hat as his signature look.)
7
TIL that neurofibromatosis is NOT what the Elephant Man suffered from. Joseph Merrick had Proteus Syndrome, which is both more rare and more disfiguring, and apparently it's important to make this distinction.
https://www.jabfm.org/content/24/1/112
I hope the procedure goes well, Ross True Dough, and provides a long-lasting measure of relief.
The main thing is to not go rabbiting off before the magic starts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC5BwubD9gc
You know how sometimes you hit the button before you've tipped the Hatlo HAT to the constructioneer?
It just happened again.
@Leapfinger
IN RE your late STILE comment from yesterday:
HahahahahaHa!
@P.Mucker, I play to a small but select audience of animal lovers.
2
GENERAL QUESTION
Dear Deb:
Has an announcement been posted of a date for the 2019 edition of Puzzle Mania? Will there be one? Please say yes.
1
Wishing RT a speedy recovery. As a pharmacist we don’t see the abbreviation for “every” represented in this puzzle much anymore, as “quaque” or simply Q is the more common abbreviation. But it is nonetheless exciting to see pharmacy represented in the puzzle!
1
Wow ONEA. I haven't heard that (dreaded) word in many years.
2
Is it the top hat in the grid the black squares in the center?
I used to scuba dive. I've never heard the term "air tube." "Air line" perhaps.
Mr. Trudeau -- To good health in the near future!
1
The Apple Dictionary that comes with every MAC computer gives an almost verbatim definition for BLEEDER in the context of baseball:
"A ground ball that barely passes between two infielders".
I would guess that Mr. Trudeau is a MacMan (not a McDuck).
In British English (informal), the main definition of BLEEDER is:
"A person regarded with contempt or pity"
– which might be applied to the infielders rather than the ball.
2
Fun puzzle! I'd never heard that Abe Luncoln quote before. I liked the clue for RANGE. I hope your surgery goes well and you feel better soon.
Do hope your surgery went well.and you are recovering! 🙏🙂
2
I usually do the MINI on my cellphone before doing the daily in the delivered paper - but I couldn't locate it this morning. Has the Times dropped this from the iPhone app?
@Paladin
It's on my iPhone. Close the app and reload. If that doesn't work, restart your phone. If that doesn't work, delete the app and reinstall it.
This is way off topic other than a Wordplay might not be what you intended. South Dakota just announced a new initiative: "Meth. We're on it"
5
@ColoradoZ Not only that, but they spent something like $500,000 to trademark it.
3
good recovery Mr. Trudeau! we will be thinking of you.
1
re: BLEEDER - I never heard of it used in the baseball sense like in today's puzzle. The only time I'd heard it before was in the movie "There's Something About Mary" when the EMT proclaimed "We got a BLEEDER!"
Search for "there's something about mary we got a bleeder" in Youtube. It's not for the feint of heart and NQSFW.
4
sigh..."faint", not "feint"
1
I’m sure others have said this, but a monogram is: First Initial, Last Initial, Middle Initial
My monogram would be:
BLJ
3
@Brian James Lawson - I never knew there were rules around this. I went to look it up in Wikipedia based on your comment, because you know, Deb said Wikipedia is an authoritative source (ok, she said the opposite).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monogram
I found this section:
A basic 3-letter monogram has the initial of the individual's last name (surname) set larger, or with some special treatment in the center, while the first name initial appears to the left of it and the middle name initial appears to the right of it. There is a difference in how this is written for men and women. For example, if the individual's name is Mary Ann Jones, and Jones is the surname, then the arrangement of letters would be thus: MJA, with the surname initial set larger in the center, the M for Mary to the left and the A for Ann to the right.[5] Traditionally, individual monograms for men[6] are based on the order of the name. The name Kyle George Martin would be written (KGM).
2
@Brian James Lawson
The treatment of a monogram as you describe it is usually reserved for when the first letter of one’s last name can be offset visually. Say, on monogrammed silverware or cuff links. In print, RLS Is correct, as would have been JFK, TSE, etc.
3
I'm guessing that the etymology for BLEEDER in today's sense comes from writing with pen and ink, where occasionally the ink will BLEED through to the underlying leaf.
I never heard of the term bleeder. But I’ve been a Yankee fan for 50 years and when they lost to the Astros in the playoffs, I was bleeding...
2
My last blank was the M in SCROOGEMCDUCK crossing with the M in OMN. When I tried the M running the alphabet, i was surprised that it worked. I don't remember Scrooge McDuck at all, but remember Uncle Scrooge well.
As a young boy, i lived in a rural area with at first no TV reception, then later, one channel that drifted in and out of focus despite a tall antenna perched on our roof. So few cartoons on TV during that time in my life. But I read the comic books and Uncle Scrooge was one my favorites. Google shows that Uncle Scrooge was the comic book name for that feisty character.
2
Like many others, I had never heard of a BLEEDER in baseball, but got it pretty easily with crosses. This was a great Tuesday puzzle. I got the theme early on bc I could see the top hat in the grid and was able to fill in 45D. Also thought I recognized the Lincoln quote. Thanks for an enjoyable distraction from current events (SAD FACE), Mr. Trudeau, and I too hope your surgery goes well.
No write-overs today, but still a slow solve, counter-clockwise from 1A to 4A. Nice to see PARSING, which is an indispensable skill in learning ancient languages.
4
Great puzzle! Good luck with surgery today, wishing you a speedy recovery.
2
The first visual that occurred to me on viewing the grid was a mustard dispenser at the bottom ...
The 18A clue brings a visual of two infielders colliding as the ball hits them. Squeeze? C'mon.
1
Thought the squib hit might be a BLEEPER for a second--you know, something you SWEAR AT....
RUDE dissuaded me from that answer.
An enjoyable Tuesday.
Best of luck with your surgery today, Mr. Trudeau!
i thought the puzzle was a little tough for a tuesday but still very do-able. I can't say I've ever heard the term "bleeder" related to baseball before.
3
All you guys who haven't heard the term before are just too good of a hitters. I've heard it often enough.
10
Mr. Trudeau thank you for this and many other puzzles that delight and challenge us on a regular basis. Also thank you for your efforts to mentor under represented groups despite all the harping about how to refer to those groups.
And mist of all, blessings for a speedy and full recovery from your surgery.
9
I hate it when comment ideas come too late, but when I went back to look at yesterday's column, it struck me that the handbag in the picture looked more like an ASPERSE.
5
Hats off to Mr.Trudeau - fun puzzle . Good luck with your surgery - hope there are no random BLEEDERS . Missing baseball - have not heard that term outside of medicine :)
4
I forgot to say that I really enjoyed the puzzle and I, too, wish Ross a speedy recovery. I do wonder whether after he had emailed the completed puzzle to Will, the latter responded with, “Wow. Can’t TOP tHAT!”
6
I'm pretty basebally, but I've never heard of a BLEEDER. Can't wait to pull that one out of my TOPHAT come April. Also couldn't think of WAS ON or AGT until the end. All this football excitement must be getting to me.
Thoughts are with Mr. Troudeau today. I'll head over to the donation site now.
7
@Ann
Ooof, pardon my poor spelling, Mr. Trudeau.
I solved last night while fending off giggly, squealy, full-body projectiles of my adorable nephews and their equally adorable huge dogs. It went remarkably quickly nonetheless, so I must assume that I speak crosswordese as fluently by now as if the Republic of Crosswordia were listed on my birth certificate.
Now, about BLEEDER: I read the comments this morning and I hereby reconcile myself to the fact that I will never speak baseballese. I read the explanations; I see that the individual words are in English; and yet no light comes on (though my eyes do begin to hemorrhage...)
2
@Sam Lyons
BLEEDER is definitely NOT that common a term in baseball, but it is inside lingo that you'll hear if you watch a lot of games and you have very good commentators on the broadcasts.
When I watch a ballgame on TV (or listen to one on the radio) other than my local one, I am so grateful that we Mets fans have Gary Cohen, Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez on the broadcasts. Any of them can tell you what a BLEEDER is.
@Steve L
It’s funny because it was actually your exchange with another poster re. the term BLEEDER that originally made me think, “Yep, I’ve just sailed into some baseball parlance uncharted waters I can’t even stay afloat in.”
Having grown up in (and subsequently lived in 3 more) state capitals with no MLB teams to their respective names, I will likely never learn to appreciate the game. I do however appreciate those who know it, love it, and speak the jargon. Like you said, you’ve got the Mets and the excellent commentators to go with the game. I grew up in a state where snow conditions were the topic of the day 8 months out of the year and that vocabulary I’ve got down pat. Maybe one day a Rockies newspaper will offer up puzzles as good as the NYT; till then, I’m content relying on crosses for what are obscure to me baseball terms. Now that I’ve seen BLEEDER clued as a baseball term in a puzzle, it’ll be in my memory banks. But can I visualize the explanation? Not anymore than anyone who didn’t learn to ski when they learned to walk can imagine what “corn morning” feels like on the slopes.
1
@Sam Lyons
New Yorkers love their baseball like people in the middle of the country like their college football. New York had three teams until 1957; it's one of only four markets (LA, Bay Area, and Chicago) that has two teams (an argument can be made that Baltimore/Washington count as one as well).
We have college football in New York, but it hardly gets much attention beyond the college gates. But in New York, you're a Yankees fan or a Mets fan. Rarely will you find one who is both.
I'm one of those who's never been on skis, and that has been fine with me. My kids have, a few times, but it never took.
Chaming. Absolutely charming. That's how I describe this puzzle both visually and with its theme answers. Why, even LINCOLN's quote is charming.
Thank you, Ross Trudeau, and I, along with many here wish you all the best today. Take care.
6
If a theme -- however unnoticeable I may find it -- produces a lively puzzle and an enjoyable solve, that's all I ask. And this puzzle was a most enjoyable Tuesday, replete with things I didn't know like NATANT and BLEEDER as clued here (18A). But I didn't notice the asterisks at all, and if I had, I wouldn't have had a clue as to what connected the theme answers. I should know that SCROOGE MCDUCK wears a TOPHAT? I guess if I'd thought about it I would know that FROSTY and WILLY WONKA wear TOPHATS, but I didn't think about it. ABE's was called a stovepipe, but I suppose it's really the same thing.
I only associate two characters with TOPHATs: Eustace Tilly on the New Yorker magazine cover (aren't you glad that one wasn't used?) and Fred Astaire.
But it doesn't matter. The puzzle was fun. And -- Aha!!!!!! -- unobservant me just this nanosecond noticed the TOPHAT in the grid art. Nice.
3
I LOVED the stack of abbr's in the right-side top column and hoped for a moment that was the theme. But then SCROOGE McDUCK showed up...my favorite literary character of all time...and I just settled in to liking whatever else showed up. And I did.
Re Scrooge: Carl Barks, the Disney artist and writer, created marvelous stories, many based on classical tales. They were witty in ways you appreciated as you got older ("Well, I've counted money for 18 hours now; six more hours and I'll call it a day") and flat-out funny always. But touching, too!
Wikipedia calls him "an elderly Scottish anthropomorphic Pekin duck." I never knew that! Anyway, you can find the Barks stories in collections. You'll have fun if you check them out.
Thanks, Ross Trudeau, and best wishes for a rapid recovery.
6
@spenyc
According to Barks, (via Wikipedia), SCROOGE MCDUCK's net worth was one multiplujillion, nine obsquatumatillion, six hundred twenty-three dollars and sixty-two cents. So "billionaire" was an understatement.
3
Oh, and BTW, Scrooge is *not* a billionaire, although the extent of his wealth seems to be controversial.
Again from Wikipedia:
"The sum of Scrooge's wealth is unclear.[16] According to Barks' The Second Richest Duck as noted by a Time article, Scrooge is worth "one multiplujillion, nine obsquatumatillion, six hundred twenty-three dollars and sixty-two cents".[17] In the DuckTales episode "Liquid Assets", Fenton Crackshell (Scrooge's accountant) notes that McDuck's money bin contains "607 tillion 386 zillion 947 trillion 522 billion dollars and 36 cents". Don Rosa's Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck notes that Scrooge amounts to "five multiplujillion, nine impossibidillion, seven fantastica trillion dollars and sixteen cents."
I know y'all would want to know...
5
@Andrew HA! Crossed messages! (Do I detect another fan?)
Re: 18A meaning and our constructor...
I hope Ross is not a BLEEDER and that his surgeon HAS EYES.
4
First of all, good luck on your surgery Mr. Trudeau.
I'm happy the other commenters enjoyed the puzzle. For me there were way to many short three-letter words. Look at the top right corner for an example. EAP RLS OMN OTS DTS ... I know the theme has constraints but I think the fill could have been cleaner. That's not to say there weren't many nice entries, but so many three-letter words take away from the solve.
1
First glance at today's puzzle gave me conflicting feelings: First, I saw the unusual grid and realized with a groan and some dread that we were in for grid art. Then I saw Ross Trudeau's byline and thought there might be hope for some fun after all.
Luckily the second reaction won. I'm still trying to figure out the grid art. Is the bottom middle clump supposed to be a TOP HAT and the top middle clump a baby TOP HAT? Or is the larger one supposed to be the one of those where the wearer (usually Harpo, I think) does something that makes the very top flip up and reveals a flower or something, and that's what the smaller clump is supposed to be?
I'm just not a visual person.
Quite relieved to see from Deb's column and several of the comments that even being a baseball fan or having done post-solve looking up doesn't help with BLEEDER. I needed every single crossing.
I'm just taking all y'all's word for WAS ON.
Beautiful ABE LINCOLN quote.
Thanks for an enjoyable puzzle, Ross, and also for your frank and informative note. I'd never heard of the disorder, but I followed your link and thence some others. And, of course, I am wishing you the best with your current surgery and everything possible to reduce your chronic pain.
4
@Deadline
I too am not one to pick up on grid art. Upon returning to today's grid, however, I distinctly saw a TOP HAT centred in the lower half. That was enough for me, and I didn't care to look for any other representations.
A pox on this puz! Dilute for DILATE, wailed Tom wide-eyed.
Off to Moab on Thursday in a truck laden with Barbies, ammo, explosives, armaments and Nouveau Beaujolais. I often wonder what I might say if pulled over and searched. New route this time as leave from Mississippi. Looking forward to seeing Tucumcari as I hum “Willin.” Best motel neon ever.
Thanks Ross, a doff of my chapeau.
1
@dk
Hmmm, safe travels to you. We came through Tucumcari on our road trip in September. Now I just have to get to Tonopah to complete the . . . quadrifecta?
So fun to see my favorite cartoon character in the crossword! Nice way to start the day-thank you.
1
I just did the Sunday puzzle today, Tuesday, and I would like to read the WordPlay blog post about it. How do I find past WordPlay blog posts? Thanks!
1
@Francis DeBernardo
For recent posts, click on the link at the beginning of today's column. Today, that link says "Tuesday's puzzle." It will take you to a list of recent columns. You will have to scroll down past some feature articles that have nothing to do with any specific puzzle. But the columns of the last week or so are there, with a "Show more" option at the bottom.
For a date that is old enough that this method becomes cumbersome, you can go to xwordinfo.com, and select the date of the puzzle you are interested in. There will be a link to that day's Wordplay at the top of the page that shows the puzzle you are interested in.
2
AIR TUBE is not a scuba term nor is air pipe, which showed up a few years ago. It’s air hose.
7
@John C
You're right, AIR TUBE is not a scuba term, per se, but it is what an air hose is.
If you go to the Wikipedia page for "Hose," here's the first little bit:
"A hose is a flexible hollow tube designed to carry fluids from one location to another. Hoses are also sometimes called pipes (the word pipe usually refers to a rigid tube, whereas a hose is usually a flexible one), or more generally tubing."
So a hose is a flexible hollow tube. Hoses are generally called tubing. It would follow that an AIR HOSE is also an air tube.
Sometimes knowing too much gets in the way.
1
Here's a top-hat-related word I just learned after a bit of puzzle-inspired casual research: GIBUS (pronounced "JAHY bus" according to dictionary.com). It's a collapsible top hat. The word did show up 34 years ago in a NYT puzzle, and once more, 28 years before that.
Thank you for that little side trip and for a fun solve, Ross, and wishing you a heartfelt best on your little adventure.
2
@Lewis
Had never heard of a gibus. Usually phonetic pronunciation helps me out, but "JAHY bus" of dictionary.com doesn't help me at all. Other dictionaries do not describe it this way, and the common pronunciation seems to me to sound like "JY-bus".
@Andrew -- You can see the brief story behind the gibus in the Wikipedia article on "top hat".
Thanks Ross for both a very entertaining puzzle and for your open and honest words. Wish you a very speedy recovery and as little pain going forward as possible.
Also, thank you for 18A and enabling me to type the answer in, slowly turn to my very impressed wife and say, "Babe, see how twenty years of playing baseball finally pays off?"
Now had someone only told Glavine and Maddux...
5
Pretty much the same experience as most everyone else. Very smooth solve except for the top center (or centre), where I had to work it out from the down crosses. Another big baseball fan here who's never heard of a BLEEDER.
All the best to Ross; hoping for a speedy recovery.
1
Donated! Sending healing vibes your way, Ross T.
Wouldn't let go of BLEEPER, figured RUPE was how the youngs say TSK . It's funny that I never mind hitting reveal on an early-week puzzle if there's just one square wrong, but you can rip an incomplete late-week puzzle from my cold. dead. hands.
4
Like some others I struggled with the top centre section. I'm not good with brand names ( and anyway I make my own guacamole and hummus ). I thought of Abraham LINCOLN for the great quote, but that didn't fit, and I had no idea what the film was, so moved on. I didn't get my AHA moment until the reveal at the end, but it was worth the wait, and really enjoyed going back and working out the theme answers.
Good luck to you, Ross, the whole idea of chronic pain fills me with dread.
6
@suejean
Amen to paragraph two.
1
AIRTUBE reminds me of a funny story. Divers were reporting unusual cravings after completing dives. It turns out the Scuba AIRTANKs were filled in a shop near the Nabisco bakery in Philadelphia.
5
LETTER BOXED
C-E(7), E-T(8).
Yesterday I had the NYT solution.
3
@Andrew
I got the same solution today ... thoughts of the Circus!
YESTERDAY:
MARISH HUSBANDLY
BRANDISH HUMBLY
2
@Andrew
Ditto, although it would be a trick worthy of only the great!
Yesterday, I was shut out -- too many possibilities to settle on an answer in my self-imposed fifteen minute limit (which just may have stretched to twenty . . . .).
2
SPELLING BEE GRID
Nov 19 2019
O B D F L T U
WORDS: 41, POINTS: 99, PANAGRAMS: 1
B x 13
D x 6
F x 8
L x 7
O x 1
T x 6
4L x 30
5L x 7
6L x 2
7L x 1
8L x 1
4 5 6 7 8 Tot
B 9 2 2 - - 13
D 4 1 - - 1 6
F 5 2 - 1 - 8
L 6 1 - - - 7
O - 1 - - - 1
T 6 - - - - 6
Tot 30 7 2 1 1 41
44
@Mari Another quick and easy Bee today. An extinct bird, a soya protein product, a compound verb meaning to surpass, a slangy success and a babyish mistake. Most seen before in the Bee. The longest word is the Panagram, starting with the 4th letter of the alphabet.
11
QB! Checked your grid, Mari, was so(y) delighted to have that last one fall!
5
@Mari, @Chica
My last to fall was the same as Chica, even though it’s a staple in our household. Thanks for the grid, Mari.
5
Speaking of “homeless” - - - thus far (5 days into this Amsterdam trip) we have seen NO person who seemed to be living on the street. And we have covered a large part of central Amsterdam.
I wonder what they’re doing that we can’t seem to figure out in the U.S.
6
@PeterW Indeed one would think a super power could figure out how to have a decent life for all its inhabitants.
3
A “mostly Solved” effort today - - from Amsterdam - where there’s no chance I can live a normal life and have a chance at streak-qualification.
The “graphic” theme representation escaped me entirely - - and, frankly, still does. But the answer couldn’t have been anything else - - and only confirmed answers I had previously entered.
Overall - could have been a Monday puzzle except for:
Seems to me that the cluing for LLANO should have had a language reference - - i.e. to Español.
AIR TUBE seems “lame” for “Scuba diver’s need”. How about “Necessary component of a diving helmet”?
“Had a base ...” for WAS ON was - - awkward. How about “Made it to first”?
Overall reaction was “MEH!” Not one of Mr. Trudeau’s finest moments.
And that mosaic could be Dan Quayle - - - or anyone this side of Mickey Mouse. Also MEH!!
2
@PeterW
Google "llano definition" and you will see that this Spanish-derived word is indeed a fully English word. This point is brought home by the fact that its main pronunciation is given as "la-no" in all of the online dictionaries, whereas it would be "lya-no", "ya-no" or (in Argentina) "ja-no" in Spanish.
As for AIR TUBE, does a scuba diver need one or not? If he does (and he does), it's a fair clue.
"Had a base" does sound a bit awkward, but not wrong. It's hard to clue WAS ON without using the verb "to be." I don't disagree that "Made it to first" would work, too. But apparently, Ross and the editors don't exactly know what a BLEEDER is in baseball, either, because as I explained in another comment, it has nothing to do with going between infielders, but rather dying in front of them. (Dying = bleeding out, get it?)
1
@PeterW
The graphic, I think, is that big block of black squares.
@kath
Blechhh!! That would have to be, at least, two rows taller to constitute a top hat in my estimation.
Dropped my beret in my baby's bassinet last night: hat's in the cradle.
(I need more coffee - say, ten gallons.)
(And a very speedy recovery, Mr. Trudeau!!)
10
@Mike
OK. I'll throw my hat into the ring. Just don't make a fedoral case out of it.
8
@Andrew, @Mike
I suppose that you’ve both heard of the French street performer who swallowed his beret as part of his act. At the end of each show he’d pass the hat.
(Blame that one on my joke advisor).
6
@Puzzlemucker
Chapeau!
SABRA/BLEEDER/ERES posed a bit of a tough crossing for me (luckily LLANO filled in on its own).
I liked the visual theme.
3
That SE corner was tough! I just had TEMPO, EAP, and SOPH, so I was convinced that 42D was some variant of HYPOTHESIS that I didn’t know. Fortunately when I bit the bullet and put in PERT (that word feels funny to me), that unlocked the rest of it. Didn’t help that both NATANT and LLANO were new to me.
2
What about AIRHOSE before AIRTUBE? That was my guess, Deb. I’m a big baseball fan and have never heard a ball called a BLEEDER. Also unfamiliar with SABRA. So I had problems in that north central (?) section. But SCROOGEMCDUCK popped up as soon as I had the S from WEAVERS and C from ELASTIC. That, and FROSTY brought a smile. No SADFACE here. Theme was fun, it was a smooth fill, and except for that one pesky section, I’d have beaten my Tues. average. Best wishes to our clever constructor.
4
Yesterday we were PARSING YAPs, today it is YAKS
3
I thought he was just a millionaire, but "daddywarbucks" fit, so I tried it (as I now see did at least one other of us). Lucky for me most of the three and four letter things were obvious.
1
I thought today was a tougher Tuesday. I learned three new words today NATANT and DILATE (which of course crossed) and BRAVURA.
After looking it up, I realized I always said dialate (die ya late) like your eyes when at the eye doctor. It’s dilate?
It’s like how I learned a couple weeks back, it’s ANEMONE not a anenome...
7
@Newbie
Good for you. Glad you're learning new stuff, and glad to see verification that XWPs are not time wasters.
3
@Newbie
You'll make new friends here, (anenomes).
3
I had DADDY WARBUCKS before SCROOGE MCDUCK. Didn't know the duck was that rich! Best wishes to Ross Trudeau.
3
Fun puzzle with some grit. Getting SCROOGE MCDUCK and then TOP HAT pretty early on definitely helped with the other theme answers. TIL NATANT, also.
2
Three of the theme answers were gimmes, I was not familiar with the Lincoln quote, so had to depend on a few crosses to come up with the answer, and unfortunately, one of those crosses was BLEEDER, which I am more familiar with in a medical rather than baseball sense. My other problem was wanting idolize for ADULATE, but the crosses came through there as well.
Hope Mr. Trudeau has as few bleeders as possible and that the surgery goes well and the recovery is quick.
5
Wow. I really like Mr. Trudeau's work. I got lucky with this one - I happened to finish watching a certain 2012 Spielberg production moments before starting this puzzle.
I'll take the PR
3
Sorry, but all I could see when looking at the puzzle was a Space Invader.
13
Anyone who has assisted in an operating room has an entirely different definition of BLEEDER.
7
ONE A doesn’t mean “fit for military service.” Most Selective Service System classifications are fit; classifications constitute a hierarchy not of fitness but of *deferment*. II-S is a student deferment; III-A is a head of family with children deferment. II-S’s and III-A’s are otherwise just as “fit” as I-A’s. I was the Training NCO in an artillery battery that had an admission requirement of a minimum 110 IQ score; in the spring of 1967, we began receiving trainees with IQ scores in the mid-60s; depletion of the manpower pool by the demands of the war in Southeast Asia had caused SSS to start drafting I-Y’s (mental deficiency deferment). I had to instruct them in trigonometry, and I made a point of staying at least 25 miles from batteries whose guns were laid on data from my trainees. Here are some old clues that are on point: “Having no deferments” (2/1/94), “Sans deferment” (4/30/08) = ONE A, “Old draft deferment category for critical civilian work” = TWO A (8/14/05).
7
@Fact Boy
Still, if you had a 1-A designation, you were fit for service, even though, as you say, others were fit but deferred.
6
@Fact Boy
"I was the Training NCO in an artillery battery that had an admission requirement of a minimum 110 IQ score; in the spring of 1967, we began receiving trainees with IQ scores in the mid-60s;"
Well, that might help explain a couple of incidents.
7
@Rich in Atlanta
Amen.
Did FB's trainees get put in charge of the whole thing?
3
Thank you for a fun puzzle, Mr. Trudeau! I hope your surgery went well and that will soon be delighting us with more of your puzzles. It’s always a bright spot in my day when I see you listed as the constructor.
One of these days I hope to take you up on your generous offer of assistance with constructing a puzzle.
I wish you a happy autumn.
30
@Cindy
You said it perfectly!
4
For some reason, all I could think of when I looked at the finished puzzle was, "So WILLY WONKA, ABE LINCOLN, and SCROOGE MCDUCK walk into a bar . . ."
Couldn't get it past that point, though! I did miss seeing Fred Astaire in that mix.
BLEEDER was a mystery. It sounds like even if I paid attention to baseball, I wouldn't have known it, so I don't feel bad about that.
Wishing Ross a speedy recovery!
15
@Liz B i watch plenty of baseball and have never heard that term
2
and Elke
Liz B.- you started it :
So WILLY WONKA saw ABE LINCOLN in a bar and said :"Why the SAD FACE ?" "DON'T ASK" said ABE," but my TOP HAT was on FROSTY , and then he (S)MELT(ed), and now it is NATANT under the SEA."
Ross -T. Speedy recovery.
7
@Liz B
WILLY WONKA, ABE LINCOLN, and SCROOGE MCDUCK walk into a bar.
Bartender tells them, “Sorry boys, no TOP HATS in here.”
Then in walks FROSTY in his TOP HAT and the bartender gives him a hearty “Hi FROSTY!” without a word about his TOP HAT.
ABE indignantly asks, “Sir, is there a double standard in this establishment?”
Bartender says, “No double standard Mac. You transform yourself into a snowman and then walk in here and order a beer and I’ll let you wear any hat you like.”
7
“Grounder that squeezes between two infielders” is sometimes called a “seeing eye” single. For a minute I thought we might have a Tuesday rebus!
Liked the symmetry of the themes/revealer. Fun puzzle. Hope everything goes well tomorrow for Mr. Trudeau.
8
@Tom Kara
I'm with you on the seeing-eye hit. To me, a bleeder is a 40-foot dribbler with the infielders playing back. No one can run in fast enough to get the batter running to first base.
Nothing to do with being between two fielders; rather, being in front of both of them.
1
@Tom Kara
'HADEYES' fit in and slowed me up for a while....
2
I spent many hours in my teenage years playing a computer game on the Commodore 64 called Microleague baseball. There was always some simulated commentary that lent a fun air to the game. A base hit would sometimes elicit a commentary as "That ball had eyes!"
Now I understand from today's comments here that it's a very specific type of base hit.
Original. Little crosswordese for a Tuesday.
7
Ideal Tuesday, imo. A clear level up from Monday in terms of the cluing, fill and theme, but utterly gettable for newer solvers. Most importantly, fun! And, I learned (or relearned) at least two things: SCROOGE MCDUCK and NATANT. Love the grid shape as well, and didn’t mind the three-letter bits on the sides, as they allowed for a lot of wide open real estate in the middle sections. Made me forget all about the controversies of “yesterday.”
4
“Grid art” for “grid shape.” Is that one TOP HAT or 1.5 TOP HATS?
1
NATANT has often been in the Spelling Bee. I learned to enter it each time but TIL what it meant.
5
Agree on the Tuesday being up a level. It took longer than my Tuesday average - first time that has happened in a long time.
3
Or Fred Astaire:
https://youtu.be/RZOJoV6H2UM
Fun, quick, and comfy puzzle.
7
@Alan J
Don't forget Sir Topham Hatt:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV7UDLVxTQU
5
@Alan J Thanks, Alan! Your link inspired my husband and I to watch “Top Hat” tonight. Great fun!
1
@Steve L my kids made me watch so much Thomas the Tank, I'll never forget him