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"Apollo 13" actor Joe / FRI 4-30-10 / Setting of Hill Air Force Base / Tampico track transport / Subject of a Sophocles tragedy
Friday, April 30, 2010
Constructor: Natan Last
Relative difficulty: Medium
THEME: None
Word of the Day: HIDDEN BALL TRICK (57A: Diamond deception) —
The trick is exactly what its name suggests. It’s a deceptive play in which the runner on base is fooled as to the location of the ball, and is then tagged out by a nearby defender. Most often, this involves one of the basemen making a fake throw back to the pitcher who, for the play to be legal, must be positioned off of the mound.
According to multiple sources, there have been fewer than 300 successful instances of the Hidden Ball Trick in the recorded history of the Major Leagues. Considering that the game has been around for over a century, with each team playing more than 100 games, it’s an astonishingly low number.
One of the earliest known practitioners of the trick was Bill Coughlin, a third baseman who played for the Washington Senators and Detroit Tigers in a career which spanned nine years (1899-1908). While there is no way to verify his claim, Coughlin was said to have been responsible for seven successful executions of the Hidden Ball Trick. His most high-profile exhibition came in Game Two of the 1907 World Series, when he caught Jimmy Slagle of the Chicago Cubs. It is the only recorded instance of the trick in World Series History.
[The Wanna-Be Sports Guy ]
• • •
Hi, everybody. PuzzleGirl here filling in for Rex so he can get some sleep before catching his flight to L.A. at oh-dark-thirty tomorrow morning. My flight doesn't leave until the afternoon, so I told him I'd have plenty of time to do this post. Never mind that I haven't packed yet. And the clothes I want to pack need to be washed. And that I have a thing at the kids' school tomorrow morning. But hey, I printed out a bunch of my back-logged puzzles for the plane, so I'm sure everything will be just fine. Priorities, people!
I thought this puzzle was pretty fun. When I saw it was constructed by one of the Boy Wonders, I had a moment of panic. It's not always easy coming out here and telling you all about the mistakes I make and the stuff I don't know. And sometimes on Fridays and Saturdays, I can't even finish the puzzle. For some reason, when it's a young constructor, it makes me feel even worse about myself. So I'm happy to report that I did, indeed, finish the puzzle with no errors. (Whew! And, by the way, you know I adore you, Natan!)Let's talk about the 15s. I'm shocked that THE SUN ALSO RISES (20A: Novel whose title comes from Ecclesiastes) doesn't turn up at all in the cruciverb.com data base. I thought for sure it was more common.
I guess I'm thinking of "A Farewell to Arms," but even its most recent appearance was back in 2006. "Old Man and the Sea" is also 15. You'd think this Hemingway theme would have been done to death by now. Maybe constructors come up with it and think "Nah. Too easy." In any event, that entry seemed kinda blah to me (could also be because I'm not much of a Hemingway fan) and THE GREEN LANTERN (51A: Justice League member) — weren't we just talking about him the other day? Oh no, that was the Green Hornet. I have trouble keeping up with the comic book characters. Maybe I'm not as much of as dork as people think I am.
Anyway … what I was trying to get to was TRUE DAILY DOUBLE (17A: Risky thing to try for on "Jeopardy!"). Now that's an awesome entry. Here at the PuzzleHouse when we watch Jeopardy! we make fun of the contestants when they don't bet very much. "Come on! Bet it all!" we yell gleefully at the TV. Love that show.What else:
- 5A: Bob of stand-up comedy (SAGET). PuzzleKids have taken to watching reruns of "Full House" lately. Every time I hear Bob Saget's voice coming from the television set, all I can think of is his appearance in "The Aristocrats." How is it possible that Bob Saget is the filthiest person in that movie? He's so darn wholesome in "Full House"!
- 23A: Heat unit? (LAP). I thought for sure this was going to be gun-related, not track-related.
- 24A: Player of Sethe in "Beloved" (OPRAH). I read the book, but can't say that I saw the movie. I bet it was weird.
- 42A: Midgets of the 1960s-'70s, e.g. (MGS). This is a car, right?
- 47A: Image on Connecticut's state quarter (OAK). I tried elm first. Hey, I knew it was a tree!
- 9D: It might include check boxes (TO-DO LIST). I'm sorry but, "might"? If it doesn't have check boxes … how do you check the things off? I'm confused. And possibly a control freak.
- 12D: Fit (HALE). With the L in place, I tried able at first.
- 18D: Brunswick, e.g., once (DUCHY). I'm thinking about including a video of Musical Youth here. What? You'd rather pull your fingernails out one by one? Okay, I'll skip it. You're welcome.
- 30D: Crushed corn creation (CROP CIRCLE). This is an awesome clue. Everybody was thinking food, right? It wasn't just me?
- 31D: Total hottie (TEN). I tried to find a video of Roseanne Roseannadanna singing Santana's "Evil Ways," but no luck. ("You've got change your evil way, Bo Derek ….")
- 34D: Martinez of the diamond (TINO). I admit, my first thought was Pedro, but when I saw it was only four letters, my next thought was TINO.
- 37D: Disney doe (ENA). Sometimes I'm just grateful for a little crosswordese. Ya know, just to give me a little toehold.
- 49D: Lara's son, in DC Comics (KAL-EL). Again with the comic book stuff. I started out with Kel-al which is … wrong. Also, I thought Kal-el was Superman's father but it turns out it's actually Superman. His father is Jor-el. His mother, as we know from this clue, is Lara. We wouldn't know that from Superman's Wikipedia page, however, as it doesn't even mention Lara. Not once. Interesting.
Love, PuzzleGirl
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61 comments:
LOVED this puzzle;made me work! I had dona oneil- and wondered who is she? How does she spell her name and why is she here? oneill? Why is that name familiar i do know an oneill but she's--OH and the penny dropped.That just left me with tre- and -ler--Okay,okay sports: is it an "a" or an "n" ??? What to do? Where did i leave that connecticut quarter?
Yes, excellent puzzle. Lots of good stuff. Medium works for me. I also had ABLE at first and tried OMAHA before OGDEN, but the rest was pretty smooth in a snails pace sort of way. Nice job Natan!
Plopping down TRUE DAILY DOUBLE right off the git go was a great big toe hold into a TRUly great puzzle. Top half fell amazingly quickly, bottom half, not so. Had to have a little help from uncle Google. Still don't know what a TREN is, will have to check that out.
Thank you Natan, it was fun.
@PG - Forgot to mention a big thanks for a great write up and filling in for the Chief. Have a fun trip and a great time at the tournament.
Excellent puzzle, with a range from comics to opera, movies and classical plays, with Jeopardy and baseball thrown in...not to mention BAR HOPPING-- in other words pretty much everything humans do to entertain themselves, except... I was going to say food and sex, but those are in there too! Sadly not the crushed corn stuff (which got me for a looong time). But there's that total hottie HANKERING for EDY's ice cream.
Natan's got it all covered. The entertainment puzzle of the year!
I haven't signed up for cruciverb yet but according to xwordinfo (which I like even if people here are not fans) this is the 5th time for THE SUN ALSO RISES in the NYT alone! See www.xwordinfo.com/Word.aspx?word=THESUNALSORISES
Is that going to make it a link automatically? Try here if not.
Neato puzzle. I like waves back!!!
wow, this was fun bec I thought I'd get killed by the sports and comics clues alone, but managed to scrape each one from the recesses of my mind.
usual one square error: SNARe/KALEe
damn! I feel like I do that on EVERY puzzle...we'll see for this weekend.
@puzzlegirl
great write up but is it my imagination or are you starting to sound exactly like Rex???!
Maybe THESUNALSORISES would sound less blah to you if you spelled it as I did with an O...but then I thought, what the heck is a DoCHY?
Loved the CUBS and BARHOPPING clues and the double hounds. Bravo, Natan!
OK, see you Saturday...picking you up at 10! :)
Ah, the Young Tyro... The North went down pretty well--answers that at least I had a chance with! Had no clue whatever about The Justice League, nor the Debutante of 29D. OONA O'NEILL-- of course! But how did she have time to date Welles and Salinger? Didn't Charlie Chaplin marry her when she was, oh, eighteen?
Auntie Google helped me out with those two hints--so by my standards, this is a Fail...but honestly, I do question how many Sixty-somethings would know The Green Lantern. (I would be unable to identify this comic book character in a line-up.)
@Chefwen
El TREN-- is the train.
P.S.
@Chefwen
Oh, yes: I kept trying versions of POLENTA....or hominy grits....or even sour mash (think moonshine)...for the [Crushed corn creation.] Tsk
I am picturing the Peter Gunn theme playing as two devastating blondes in sunglasses drive a convertible along a road lined with palm trees.
This puzzle gets an A from me. As a Jeopardy alumnus who likes the Green Lantern and the hidden ball trick, not to mention quality fill and clever clues in my puzzles, this thing was just my style.
I recently started using the timer on my Across Lite and was pleasantly surprised to get thru this one in 10:11. It felt like it was taking a lot longer because it was not easy, but the struggle was completely enjoyable.
PG, as you know, part of what makes Hemingway a borderline theme cliche is that ERNESTHEMINGWAY, THESUNALSORISES, AFAREWELLTOARMS and OLDMANANDTHESEA are all 15s. You can just drop them into a grid and boom, themed puzzle, but it's been done many times before. It's like ARTUROTOSCANINI or THESTARSANDBARS: we've seen it already.
In this case, though, just the one title with the Ecclesiastes clue was fine. I first thought of Absalom, Absalom! but of course my next thought was that it's a 14. Obviously it can't be an odd number of letters.
Solid writeup as usual, PG. Love the Musical Youth reference for DUCHY. How does it feel to be 39?
p.s. Enjoy sunny California. Wish I could join you guys but too much going on in Chicago this weekend (two comedy shows and my summer tennis club all opening, plus a baby naming). Have fun and remember your ESSE from your ESNE!
I started in the NE and ran down the East Coast and saw the double O at 29D and got OONAONEILL atraightaway and this 60 someting used to read her brother's comic books (wink wink) and got THEGREENLANTERN moving westward.
This puzzle was full of neons for me from Neruda's Elemental ODES to the Charter OAK which produced OGDEN and the baseball clue. Curiously, I got the Southern 15s moving west to east and the Northern 15s moving east to west.
Enjoyed this one a lot. Congratulations, Mr Last
Venus and Adonis
"Hadst thou but bid beware, then he had spoke,
And, hearing him, thy power had lost his power.
The Destinies will curse thee for this stroke;
They bid thee crop a weed, thou pluck'st a flower:
Love's golden arrow at him should have fled,
And not Death's ebon dart, to strike him dead.
Fantastic puzzle, Natan!
My trouble spots were SuffER before SELLER for "Bear,say" and elK before OAK. Also, I didn't know TREN but knew it had to be NLER.
I second all the positive comments that have been made. Perfect Friday.
This felt like two puzzles for me; north fell quickly once I realized that 1D should be act two, and not act iii.
South was much more problematic. Hidden ball trick was my first answer in the entire south, and I had to run my superheroes to figure out 51A- the downs just weren't helping me today.
That said, was impressed by the 15 stacks, and the long downs. And, I learned that Chaplin's wife dated Salinger and Welles.
@PG- great write up.
Medium is the difficulty but it still hard to solve. :-)
Had gat (as in gun/heater, etc.) for LAP and slice for GLARE --- sigh.
Embarrassed to say ABBA and TEN were my first fills. OONA and THESUN as second round fills kinda made me feel a little better. Misspelling EKE put me back in my place
I had a reluctance to enter fill that turned out to be correct. It is odd how some puzzles intimidate and cause self doubt. Maybe I should seek therapy.
I have never seen Jeopardy so I tried all kinds of combos for 17a -- etc.
In short classic Friday.
Good solving to all heading for the City of Angels.
Nice writeup PG.
*** (3 Stars)
Very nice puzzle. Took me a while, though. Medium-challenging here.
OGDEN was the ever-popular OCALA at first. Ditto CALC <= TRIG, POOCH <= MOOCH, PRADO <= PRADA (which the devil DOESN'T wear, but which leads to the nice colloquialism TA DO LIST). Incidentally, my TDLs are resolved by strikethroughs. No checkboxes.
Nice writeup, PG. Nice puzzle, Natan. You have ALSO RISEN via this puzzle. Not that you weren't pretty d**n good before.....
I meant the devil doesn't wear PRADO. @dk = hand up for GAT also.
oops - meant the devil doesn't wear PRADO. @dk - hand up for GAT.
Seems all has been said already, but I will join the chorus:
Just about the perfect Friday puzzle, Medium difficulty, clever clues and answers, wide-ranging interest.
And a fine write-up by PuzzleGirl as well.
I made all the correct guesses where required, but had to look up TREN after finishing to see what it was about. For some reason I was thinking Tampico was a horse racing track somewhere, and TREN was some sort of cart!
I forgot to thank @PuzzleGirl for the write up ... well done!
And I also want to wish everybody at the tournament in L.A the best of luck. Hope we hear reports!
I was done in the by the far NE corner, where I Could Not Give Up abLE, didn't know from Pablo Neruda or skating manuevers and went down in flames. Came here. Said a Very Bad Word.
So that's the end of my humiliation, right? No. Not quite. I also refused to let go of jAM at 35D, so I was thinking to myself, "I guess a jINO is some kind of big chicken I've never heard of, like a Rhose Island Red on steroids. I bet that'll be the WOTD!" I was so smug.
Thanks, PG, for the write-up and for exposing my idiocy. You did it in a pleasant way. 'Preciate that!
Loved BAR HOPPING, CROP CIRCLE, TO DO LIST and TRUE DAILY DOUBLE. Did not care for OONA O'NEILL. And for the life of me, I don't know how THE GREEN LANTERN was in my brain. I am grateful for him, however, because without him, I fear HIDDEN BALL TRICK would never have emerged. Baseball. Bah.
I thought it was cool that Joe SPANO showed up again so soon. Wasn't he clued from Hill Street Blues not long ago? Maybe that wasn't a NYT puzzle. I forget.
Having confessed my inadequacies, I will soldier up and look forward to tomorrow, my soul cleansed.
Demows! (What nature does to my lawn about every 10 days) -- jesser
I know by now that Friday or Saturday puzzles make or break me depending on whether they have gimmes for me or not. Today's was (almost) in the latter category for the 15-word acrosses, with me having never watched Jeopardy, knowing no baseball special plays, knowing no DC comics. I knew the Hemingway novel, but not as clued...so, it was the first of the long answers to emerge out of the white mist, and I could take the puzzle from there...it was still a struggle (with detours via the already-mentioned GAT and assorted other missteps), but I did it in the end, which gives this day a promising start, helped by the sun, which continues to shine after it also rose in front of our house.
Best wishes for all in LA!
Great puzzle. Excellent write-up. Got the top half of the puzzle in record time, but then got stuck on the bottom. Even after I got HIDDENBALLTRICK and THE GREEN LANTERN, took way to long for the rest. Still, I finished, with only a few mishaps, so I'm still pumped up for LA. See you there!
@dk & @Ulrich ... you two ought to get together for a Jeopardy fest!
Tough puzzle. I live in the Ogden section of Wilmington. Use to live in Ct and still couldnt remember the tree. Love Jeopardy - watch it every night
Is there a puzzle-rating category "Stunning"? This one qualifies, for me. Where did I ever come up with THE GREEN LANTERN? All I can say is Wow.
Congrats to Natan for a Fabulous Friday, and to PG for a super write-up.
∑;)
Great puzzle! A perfect Friday. I had the hardest time in the SW, but The Green Lantern seemed faintly familiar so I went with that.
Did have some false starts, though. Spoonbread fits perfectly in 30D! Also started with ebbs for echo, and stir for edge at 53D (I've been cooking too much lately).
Thanks for the write-up, PG, and have fun in LA. Remember what Ashish recommends: find the theme reveal first. Helps me a lot.
Can't believe I finished a Friday (before 10 am. The mania has bitten. Tore down the stairs for the paper before coffee. The blog is an inspiration. Did not time self. It is a Friday. True Daily Double a joy to see. And filled in orals from that. Top went pretty okay but stalled on bottom half. One square empty--the L in snarl. I can never remember the Super family names. Thanks PG. Good write up, too. Remembered Green Lantern vaguely and put him in. Some of the comic characters are really old and spruced up for now. I remember Wonder Woman from WW II. She wore some kind of uniform in her job and the art was very clunky, more individual than now. Anyhoo, I am running on. Have fun in LA. Thanks for the blog.
A beauty! Unlike most of you, I solved it from the bottom up, as I often must on late-week puzzles. Hand up for ebbs, trig, and gat, but they all resolved themselves eventually. MGs were, of course, my gimme; I've owned a couple of them.
PG is to Rex as Canada is to the US - kinder and gentler.
i liked the puzzle, but thought it was closer to "challenging" than "medium." just couldn't get a toe hold. i can never remember the name from bambi since it doesn't seem like a name for a deer. EMO? EMA? ENO? EMU?
it's funny with these puzzles...i get them done but in retrospect don't know exactly how i did them. like this one...one minute i'm totally stumped, and then, it's done.
weird.
i only had to use google once for oona o'neill (oona o'toole must exist somewhere...)
Absolutely great stuff. Sorry for going off topic, but anyone else having trouble with today's BEQ? I get an "error" message.
(parmar) Three putt?
Great, great puzzle. Fridays are hit or miss for me, but getting TRUEDAILYDOUBLE and HIDDENBALLTRICK right off the bat (no pun intended) made this puzzle attainable for me. And the ease of the jeopardy clue was far outweighed by how great of a phrase that is to see in a puzzle.
Great cluing all over, as well, nice job, Natan!
@mitchs
I print up the BEQ, so I did not see any problem. Even solved the sucker; however, theme? What theme?
Did you leave a note for Brendan?
dediaetc--mixed up diet?
This was a mixed bag for me -- went quickly at first but there were several headscratchers. Got TREN from crosses, had no idea what it meant (is there some informal rule about how obscure foreign words can be before they're ruled illegal in crosswords?). Then I got stuck at 35DN -- everything but the D and the M, which I figured out by the time-honored expedient of running through the alphabet -- although I wondered for a while if JINO was a word...
And finally, can someone explain 53DN? Some simple trick, maybe, but I can't see it....
I also thought of guns when I saw "heat unit" and entered CAP, before getting the L from TODOLIST.
Thought of RonaBarrett, before getting OONAONEILL - good one, eh?
One square error aLER, and TREa.
PuzzleGirl, thanks for the Green Onions clip - loved it!
@Sparky
Good job. My timer is "cups-of-coffee" and this came in at one. Probably my fastest Friday ever.
@OldCarFudd
I tend to solve from the bottom up everyday. Have never figured out why, nor do I care. Probably b/c on themed puzzles if there is a reveal clue ... that is where they put it.
Thus my first entry was THUS, go figure.
Well it is Friday, so I'll be IN ON some BAR HOPPING later.
With my TO DO LIST they aren't checked off, I like to draw a line through them.
EMAIL for the second time today, hmmm?
@PG Loved your write-up (as always) hope you have a great time with your sister, Rex and Andrea etal at the LA Crossword tournament.
Yes, terrific Friday puzzle. Done in 50:18 with two errors and no googles. Progress. Really got a workout, especially along the East Coast from 29A down. Lots of fun today.
Started with 35D JAM but, unlike @jesser, filled 35A with the downs and never checked it. 62A had SNARE, couldn’t remember the Superman trivium (shoulda, though), SNARL didn’t immediately present itself, and I failed to take the time for an alphabet run. Sloppy errors, both.
First long answer was 2D BAR HOPPING, which fell into place almost instantly. Not sure whether that’s a good thing. Second long answer was 17A THE SUM OF ALL EVIL, which I am sure wasn’t a good thing.
The aliens who made the CROP CIRCLE also abducted my brain for about ten minutes. Fav clue and answer.
@Puzzle Girl, ENA was my first totally WTF confrontation with the realities of crosswordese. Kinda cool knowing some little something about the Bambi film (not the one with Godzilla) that no one on earth except another crossword geek would know. As always, loved your write-up. And your priorities.
@David L...
"edge in" would be what you would do if you were trying to reach your seat in the bleachers at a football game. you sort of have to "work" your body in, and "edge" around all those people...until, voila, you've done some work edging yourself in.
i had a similar problem with "eking out a profit." i'm used to "eking out a living" much less a profitable one. :)
@David L - I will second your request for a clear explanation of 53 D "Work (in) = EDGE".
I hesitated over that one myself, but thought perhaps one works one's way into a crowd, or edges in, so that might cover it. A slightly more than perfunctory look in the dictionary didn't help me come up with anything better.
For the record, the Stan & Marion team were crushed like a crop circle by this one. Glad to see others made out better.
Good luck to everyone in L.A.
Loved your post today. Wish you would do more!
In the interest of full disclosure:
@jesser -- I had JAM for a while also but JINO just didn't seem right.
I also had STALL before SNARL, TRAM before TREN (which caused me to reright ELLE), and, as a result of an odd misread, JOHN (for John McEnroe) was my first attempt at 1a.
Great stuff. Loved BAR HOPPING, THE SUN ALSO RISES AND MGs. Pretty much sums up my freshman year...
RC: Next up, a TADA LIST?
ACM: You can remember KAL-EL if you remember that Siegel and Shuster were Jewish. Superman's name is Hebrew for All-God.
Had the "L" and the "E" and knew that "Driving Problem" had to be "Slice". Only it wasn't.
Nice Friday puzzle. Didn't finish all of it but came close which is where I'm at in my solving prowess.
Had slice for GLARE and put in hunger for HANKER. I knew it had to be HIDDEN BALL TRICK but it took a minute for hunger to go away.
Yes, nothing like crossing off an item to make you really feel like it's done.
Nothing much to say about the puzzle (enjoyed it) but just have to add: leave it to a poor-quality brand like Edys to a have a gross sounding flavor like "Fudge Tracks". Blech.
Always read the label, people! If you wouldn't have it in your kitchen, don't except it in your ice cream!
Midday report of relative difficulty (see my 7/30/2009 post for an explanation of my method):
All solvers (median solve time, average for day of week, ratio, percentile, rating)
Fri 25:13, 26:28, 0.95, 40%, Easy-Medium
Top 100 solvers
Fri 11:59, 12:47, 0.94, 37%, Easy-Medium
@Bob Kerfuffle et all: I thought the "edge" was probably right but not great. "work in" is probably used in reporting, but I know it best from cook books, where it means to knead or stir in.
Well, PuzzleMom and PuzzleDad found this puzzle way challenging. And we did NOT finish it in under eleven minutes. When we heard PuzzleGirl was doing the blog today we decided to do the puzzle before reading it. We cheated a little, and we still have snare where we should have snarl, and tree where we should have had tren. What's NLER anyway? We encourage everyone to google crop circles. The photos are unbelievable. Really.
Fun write-up, as usual. Have a great time in LA. Love to Addie, too.
I was over 11 too, but I was three minutes faster than I was yesterday.
Your Musical Youth comment was like some of my favorite crossword clues--I couldn't have named them, but given the comment I knew immediately who they must be.
Enjoy LA!
Delicious puzzle. I unhesitatingly filled in BARHOPPING first, probably because the heart-rending Nat King Cole standard Lush Life had been burning inside my brain lately.
Neat writeup too, Puzzlegirl. Have a great time in LA.
dentspor: a fungus on the teeth
@Puzzle Mom - The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the Central Division of the National League. And if you play in the National League, you are an NLER.
ran into Tyler on the plane!!!!!
He politely declined my challenge to have a Southwest Magazine Sudoku race...
but ate half my Chips Ahoy anyway!
Let the games begin!
Of course you are! Thanks.
Great puzzle. The following did not detract at all from my own enjoyment: I promised my comic geek husband that I would clarify that there is not supposed to be a 'The' in front of Green Lantern. There are many, many Green Lanterns and it is a designation for those chosen to wield the power.
The Creed:
In brightest day and blackest night
No evil shall escape my sight
Let those who worship evil's might
Beware my power, Green Lantern's light.
@ Natan: Spot on puzzle: shiney fill, clues. Please make more. The puzzleworld needs your mad skillz.
@PuzzleGirl: Delicious, fun, clear blogging. Have a great time in LA. Bring back gossip por favor.
@PuzzleMom: You rock!
@ACME: I hope someone transcribes your running commentary. That would be blogworthy.
captcha: EXAM VIAL -- ewww. Don't get me started!
From SyndCity:
I must be the only person in the world who immediately recalls the Connecticut state image through association with the Hartford Charter Oaks of the Continental Football League of the 1960's. Why would anyone's mind become cluttered with such errant nonsense?
Fine Friday puzzle today - took a lot of time but didn't require a Google. Just the way I like it!
Fun puzzle
Re-doing ancient puzzles. Two bones to pick:
(1) How is "LAP" a heat unit? One of the previous answers suggests that it's track related. I ran track for 6 seasons, junior high through college. I ran heats as well, but the "lap" is a unit of a particular race, one at least a half-mile (or 800 metres) long, and these races are rarely run in heats. Even when they are, in large meets, the lap is not a *heat* component.
(2) The superhero is "Green Lantern", no definite article. For starters, that description applies to *any* member of the GL corps -- there is no one "Green Lantern" to be designated by a definite article. Also, it's used as a name; you wouldn't refer to Earth's GL as "The Green Lantern" any more than you would call Kal-El "The Superman", or Princess Diana "The Wonder Woman" -- even though those two are, indeed unique in their appellations.
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