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88 98 of autodom / TUE 6-9-15 / Marsupial that looks like small bear / Much-discussed program of 1960s-70s / Eponymous chair designer
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Constructor: Roy Leban
Relative difficulty: Tuesdayish
THEME: Triple Crown winners — theme answers are just years in brackets. Answers are the horses that won the Triple Crown that year. [Note on puzzle reads: "The five Across answers with only years for clues are the five most recent members of a particular category."]
Theme answers:
- CITATION [1948]
- SEATTLE SLEW [1977]
- AMERICAN PHAROAH [2015]
- SECRETARIAT [1973]
- AFFIRMED [1978]
adjective
synonyms: ominous, gloomy, grim, dismal, unpropitious, inauspicious, unfavorable, pessimistic
"dire warnings of fuel shortages" (google)
• • •
Bullets:
- 19D: "Isn't she cute?!" ("AWW") — I had "AAW." Exciting, I know.
- 30D: Onetime Mideast grp. (UAR) — crossing USSR! How … something. HISTorical, maybe.
- 1A: Marsupial that looks like a small bear (WOMBAT) — easily my favorite thing in the grid. I hereby offer to the constructing world the potential theme answer "Mortal WOMBAT." I don't know the theme exactly … puns on video games … or Australian fauna … or a K/W swap dealie … be creative!
[Follow Rex Parker on Facebook and Twitter]
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112 comments:
Medium-tough for me.
Pretty good commemorative puzzle.
Had MosTLY before MAINLY.
I admit to needing to look up the correct spelling of PHAROAH to see how it was misspelled. In other words, it looked fine to me.
I can see how this might be very tough for someone not familiar with racing.
Interesting background story on this one at Xwordinfo.
Timely theme and a reasonably smooth grid, liked it.
The almighty GN is first! Team solving helps with speed
DIY DOOM MRI is its own little story. Then there is AXIS ALLY USSR, a little historical story. As for 1 1 1 clueing ONES, Wow. Tricksy.
So what's the deal horse people? 25 years, then three in the 70's, then 37 years. Did disco help horses run faster? Or maybe Glam? Or maybe it was all the blotter floating around?
Was there a back-up puzzle if AP lost?
Not familiar with racing??? I think you meant not familiar with sports.
Not grammar, but corrected regardless
It's remarkable how many things had to come together for this puzzle to exist.
The coincidental symmetry of lengths not just for CITATION and AFFIRMED, but also for SECRETARIAT and SEATTLESLEW. The choice by the owners, deliberate or otherwise, to misspell "pharaoh" so that AMERICANPHAROAH comes to exactly 15 letters. And of course the requirement to win the Triple Crown for the first time in 37 years, without which the completed puzzle would never see the light of day.
And despite the quick turnaround time, there is hardly any bad short fill and some nice long non-theme answers. Rex's criticism seems more off the mark than usual today.
Two - *tap* - Two - "tap" - Two Puzzles For One!
The International NYT has the original puzzle in print today, not the Triple Crown one. Apparently there was not enough time to swap it out. Will Shorts comments in the notes (at wordplay or xwordinfo) about the task of replacing the puzzle at short notice: It sounds like turning the Titanic. You'll see the puzzle I got today on June 30 according to WS's notes. It's a good one.
'Mericans, other expats, ... Did you get the original puzzle or the triple crown one? No spoilers if you got the other one! I'm just curious who did.
Puzzles with no word play are usually a little flat, so for what it is I thought Mr Leban did just fine. I don't much like III in the grid and 1 1 1 as a clue, but I appreciate the effort to do something interesting there.
SHOOTINGS NEGATE SANTAS! DIRE DOOM at OREGON GNOMES ARENA!
PS, the name length limit for a thoroughbred horse is eighteen letters including spaces and apostrophes, so the owners could have spelled "pharaoh" correctly if so inclined.
Unlike the sire of American Pharoah, 2009 Kentucky derby runner-up "Pioneerof the Nile", who was named weirdly in order to avoid going over the limit.
Anagram of AMERICAN PHAROAH: Aha, rare champion
And of course both "pharaoh" and PHAROAH have the exact same number of letters so I'm not sure what I was thinking with my penultimate comment... never mind.
@Rex, what was more important to you today? U.S. Women's soccer, or maybe an old episode of the Simpsons? We get it, you don't like horse racing. Believe it or not, some of us do. I liked it. Maybe TOM CLANCY , jack KEROUAC and some GNOMES did too.
Only had trouble in the SW corner. Didn't know the operetta or On the Road novelist. I am mostly surprised I got the horse bames right, especially AFFIRMED, since that is a terrible name...
@ John Child: I got the other puzzle where, "poet inks a contract". It was a fun puzzle. Does this mean that on June 30th I will get the Roy Leban puzzle in the INYT?
It is strange to read Rex's comments and the blogs on a puzzle you did not attempt to solve. When you do not endeavour it makes the comments of those who did faceless and lifeless. It is hard to be empathetic relating to crossword solving when you do not participate.
Of course, I can have an opinion of aka Porker as he/she/it does not care for puzzle solving but just having an 'anti' view of anything Rex says.
Easy puzzle made difficult by my own foolish mistakes. Had SEATTLE SLEW at 50A and had to cart him upward to 23A when I discovered the error of my ways, and for the life of me could not remember how to spell 53A KEROUAC, really wanted an L in there for some odd reason.
Might get to spend a day at Del Mar on the way to visit Dear Old Dad in his new digs. If we could convince OFL to join us, we could change his tune on horse racing. Never had a bad day at Del Mar, win or lose.
This fit right in with Sunday's fun puzzle. Loved them both.
Easy puzzle, with the only really interesting thing the misspelling of pharaoh.
Some week clues, especially for ones and shootings. It's only Tuesday, I guess.
It is strange that in a soccer crazy country like Holland you hardly hear about the women's tournament in Canada.
Amazingly, Ulrich was in the same little Dutch harbor town on Friday that I visited on Sunday!
Extremely EZ. Did not have to read the years.
Kelso--greatest horse of all time!!
Just do not think this year's Triple Crown entrants were as strong as in the past.
Liked GNOMES.
Thanks RL
Really good for a Tuesday. WOMBAT over APOLLO in the NW, SANTAS and GNOMES in the SE. MIKADO crossing KEROUAC. All nicely worked into the theme answers. The horizontal and vertical 6-letter three stacks in each of the corners were pretty good. The difficulty was just right for a Tues.
A well earned $300 gamble for Mr. Leban!
This took me one minute longer than yesterday, so that's about right for the beginning of the week. I didn't know CITATION or AFFIRMED right off the WOMless BAT, so there was that extra minute. I'm not offended by topical tributes, so I thought it was fun, although I would have switched this with Monday if it had been finished in time. Hint: a little less mint julep makes for a little faster constructing Roy. This was a cute and worthy Tuesday submission in my book!
Many interesting comments today at the various blogs, and congratulations to @Roy Leban for his "stop the presses" feat of a timely commemoration of a sports accomplishment that has only happened 12 times in history, most recently (before this Saturday) 37 years earlier. The last time a puzzle came out on such short notice was when @Kevin Der collaborated with @Will Shortz and his team to pay tribute to Steve Jobs, who had just passed away (click here for link to @Rex review, and google "Steve Jobs crossword puzzle" for more on that backstory).
For today, writing in SECRETARIAT instead of SEATTLE_SLEW off the first two letters was quickly and easily fixed, and the other theme entries went in with hardly any crossing words. It was amusing to have NEW_YORK and CITY intersect at the Y, since the Belmont Stakes runs in NYC. The "analyze" function at xwordinfo.com quickly leads us to two memorable earlier puzzles on the "sport of kings" --
(1) Exactly two years ago (June 9, 2013, a Sunday), @Liz Gorski honored the 40th anniversary of Secretariat's Triple Crown with a puzzle that included circled letters A through S, that could be connected to show a picture of a horse's head (click here for link to @Rex review).
(2) On May 10, 2006, @Kevan Choset worked in the names of Secretariat, Affirmed, Citation, Assault, and Omaha, along with TRIPLE_CROWN, into his grid. Each Triple Crown-winning horse was clued with an orthogonal definition, for example "United Nations Body" for SECRETARIAT.
Ok, yeah, wordplay is what does it for me, but I’ll take a timely tribute over a quip puzzle. Just the symmetry was cool. This grid may have been waiting around for that center entry for years now, Roy just praying that the name was an odd number of letters, maybe even poised to finish the grid with SMARTY JONES back a few years ago. (I haven’t seen his comments at Xword yet.)
For a while, I was vaguely thinking that the ALLY, AXIS, USSR, and WAR were all part of the theme, too, especially since AMERICAN was becoming clearer, and my husband has been talking up a storm about D Day.
BLEAT is a funny word. Can you picture the animals leaving the little window where they receive their sound assignments? “What’d ya get, man? I got BLEAT.” “Don’t even ask,” said the pig.
Rex – the highlight of the whole puzzle experience for me, though, was your Mortal WOMBAT idea. What a funny image! Maybe your Mortal WOMBAT can fight a Sugar Wookiee. There you have two 12’s.
Throw in PEACH WOBBLER “Bridesmaid in Georgia” - (note to future brides –please let your bridesmaids wear reasonable heels. The only thing that detracts from the carefully- lurching-pitched-forward-Frankensteinish way she walks in those silver stilettos is the dinner-plate sized tattoo on her back of Uga, the Univ. of Ga bulldog, there in all its splendor over her strapless dress.)
The other 12? I dunno - BIRTHDAY WAKE - the rite of passage for a parent, sitting up in bed and smiling as the kids totter in with toast and orange juice, the product of all the hissing and arguing you listened to in the kitchen for thirty minutes prior to delivery. DROPPED WALLS? Nah. Oh, well.
Hey, Roy – I liked this one. Thanks!
I liked this puzzle fine. I'm starting to get get faster now with the NYT's online app, so I'm into easy puzzles :)
Also, by the way, the Times printed a correction for the BAABAA clue from the previous Wednesday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/08/pageoneplus/corrections-june-8-2015.html
It's relevant and Tuesday level (maybe a little easy for Tuesday if you know the famous horses). Someone last week wondered how soon AMERICAN PHAROAH would get into a puzzle, and ta-da! A pleasing Tuesday solve that made me retrieve HELGA and how to spell KEROUAC. We had a DIRE SHOOTINGS DUEL and a WOMBAT/BLEATS crossing. Just like a horse race, this puzzle was workmanlike. Forgettable? Yes, IMO. Good brain waker? Absolutely. Thank you, Sir Roy.
Rex a "vanilla" theme is different than a "non-theme". You may not like it, but this puzzle has a theme, and can you suggest a better way to theme a puzzle with this subject beside "improve the fill"?
As your resident alphadoppeltotter, I can report that this puzzle is rife with double letters -- 18 -- unusually high, and very close to the most ever.
I like horse racing. My older brother really got into it when we were growing up and our dad would take us Canterbury Downs several times a year. I probably placed my first bet (through my father) when I was about eleven years old.
But it's not a sport. Horses are not athletes. To call them so makes me cringe, like a pet owner calling themselves 'mommy'.
Struck me as overly flat. The above mentioned "orthogonal" definitions would've been a better way to theme the puzzle, I think.
I agree with Rex that the fill was fairly bland and it was, in general, a forgettable puzzle. But the difficulty level was perfect for me (for a Tuesday), so it was still an enjoyable solve and went well with a powdered donut.
My comment from Sunday:
"Best thing about American Pharoah winning the triple crown? There's a new crossword word available! When will we see it first?"
Now we know.
Great puzzle!!! with all the horses names and the St. Louis Arch. There are many remedies for stopping the crying when you chop an onion. Use pam all the time...as does puzzle husband...it's cheaper than WD40
Some days I am just a parody of myself.
Take my sentence "This is a non-theme." A blatant falsehood. The question is, what am I trying to accomplish with such a ridiculous statement? Was I too stupid to see the theme? That seems doubtful. Am I so childish and petulant that this is merely my way of saying "I didn't like this theme?" That seems more likely. Sort of like when a toddler is told, "it's bedtime" and answers "no it's not" then has a tantrum. Sadly, it is still, in fact, bedtime. I guess it's hard for me, because there are only so many ways one can say "this theme sucks," which is pretty much what I say every time there is a theme, which is pretty much every day. Except, of course, when I like a theme. Then themes are great.
Simple. Done.
Rex, with all due respect you need Welbutrin. Agree with Rex Porker. You almost never write your blog any more from the solver's perspective -- only a constructor. There was so much to like in this puzzle. And if you really cared at all about the constructor's point of view you might have mentioned that Man O' WAR was a race horse, and that cluing it as such would have ruined the experience for those solvers who didn't spot the theme right away. "Great race horse that didn't win the Triple Crown" just wouldn't fly because there was no Triple Crown when he ran. Also, he was bred by August Belmont who happened to have a famous race track named after him.
Loved the backstory on this puzzle. As Will Shortz mentioned over at xwordinfo, Roy Leban had $300 riding on the outcome of the Belmont leg. Does this make WS a bookie?
The red square on the halfway graphic flags my typo of CITiTION which unfortunately I finished with. I had one too many triples I's in the puzzle!
The correction is a riot and worth printing in its entirety:
>>The crossword puzzle on Tuesday provided an erroneous clue for 1-Down, seeking the answer “Baa Baa.” The clue should have read, “Salutatory cry to a black sheep, in a nursery rhyme” — not “Black sheep’s cry, in a nursery rhyme” — because it is the unnamed speaker of the rhyme (not the sheep, of course) who says, “Baa, baa, black sheep, have you any wool?”<<
OK Rex, you don't like horse racing but give this puzzle its timely due. I'm impressed and thought the difficulty perfect for Tuesday.
I know nothing about horse racing, so DNF'd with AWe crossing "SEATTLE'S LEe". My issue with these horse racing puzzles (today and Sunday) that it seems you can name a horse any stupid thing. Can't you hear it: " 'My Issue' is neck-and-neck with 'The Name', having left 'No Rules' and 'Crossword' in the dust"?
I enjoyed seeing the five most recent Triple Crown winners, but the fill was unexciting.
@Charles Flaster: Kelso was a great racehorse but it's hard to claim that he's the greatest. SECRETARIAT has the best time in history for all three of the Triple Crown races.
Talking about good crossword-puzzle words in recent news, how about Manny Pacquaio. Impressive string of vowels.
I think both yesterday and today's puzzle were solid work for the day of the week and very clean both fill and theme-wise. Good start to the week.
@Charles Flaster. I am not sure. He did run the second fastest Belmont ever and was pretty gritty in the Derby. I hope he runs in the Haskell or Travers and takes on older horses. That should be a good indication.
@lms. Your BLEAT comment is great. Geese and crows got shortchanged too. The owl probably won the lottery. Your W/C's are also great except Mortal Kombat is a K.
@MDMA, I get OH,A RARE CHAMPION. Now that's downright fascinating to me and provides all the wordplay I need in this otherwise "listy" but definitely worthy theme. I'll bet the third race in the quest for the Triple Crown was one of the most watched sporting events ever. I know I was riveted.
Also any puzzle with a WOMBAT (I have a stuffed one on my desk ... no, not a real WOMBAT!), GNOMES and SANTAS is better than fine by me.
Thanks, Roy, and Will for hustling to get this to print.
Factoid: WOMBATs produce cube-shaped poop; they mark their territories by defecating, and it is thought that the shape of their poop keeps it from rolling away.
Quotoid: "WAR does not determine who is right - only who is left." -- Bertrand Russell
Soon as I threw down CITATION I said," Uh oh, Rex gonna' be hatin' this one!" Wish this theme had been expanded and run last Sunday (I.e. before the Belmont was run). We would have had either a "how bold" moment or, better yet, a "Dewey defeats Truman" moment.
@Professor Barany--
Personally, I'm cynical enough to suspect that the "stop-the-presses" feats of the American Pharoah and Steve Jobs puzzles -- constructors' actions -- may not have been so Amazing.
In advance, CNN called AP the "odds-on favorite." In fact, the Saturday morning odds were 3-4, or nearly a 50% chance of winning.
As to Steve Jobs: after suffering from liver cancer, he resigned from Apple on Aug 24, 2011, stating that his growing illness made it physically impossible to go on. He died on Oct 5, but he had lost consciousness on October 4; the puzzle ran on Oct 7, 3 days later. Not such an amazing feat of timing. The news came to Shortz at 11pm Oct 5, and my guess is that he already had this puzzle in hand; the paper's Art Pages "went to bed" at 5pm Oct 6, the next day, some 18 hours later.
BTW, writing this on my IPad, I'm once again amazed at the incredible talent for innovation that this man had; one or two big inventions could be chalked up to serendipity, but for Jobs it was just one after another. What a loss, who knows how many other major innovations we lost by his premature passing!
Anyway, while it's true that Leban and Der were "betting on the come," assuming that these were written in advance of their subjects' passing, these were not long-odds bets; and wise ones, in trying to "up the odds" that they would get one of their puzzles published.
My introduction to musical theater was a production of "The MIKADO" staged by my fourth grade teacher and starring the entire class. I still have the paper scroll cast list somewhere in my memories box. We performed for the rest of the school in the gymnasium. I was hooked for life. Yum-Yum!
My introduction to horse racing was the year I moved to Balto., 1977. In those days, you could pay someone down the street from Pimlico racetrack $1.00 for the privilege of parking on their lawn all day and a $5.00 general admission fee to enter the infield area and party your ass off on Preakness Day. I was hooked for life. Year after year, as evidenced by my collection of Preakness souvenir drinking glasses, a group of us would head to Pimlico and get seriously sunburned, pleasantly buzzed, win or lose a few bucks, and most importantly, get to see the magnificent horses and their colorfully garbed jockeys parade from the paddock to the starting gate and race their hearts out. As my income grew, we graduated to reserved clubhouse seats where the fancy-pants in their ridiculous hats drank champagne in air conditioned comfort. Truthfully, I never felt in my element there after the laissez-faire infield years.
So...a themed tribute puzzle to honor the feat of AMERICANPHAROAH is a wonderful idea, IMO. This horse and all the others CITed in the puzz. are indeed phenomenal athletes, well worthy of a SLEW of accolades. Rex, your BLEATing is unwarranted.
Thanks, RL and WS.
I'm all like triple-crowned out. Perhaps using wordplay instead of the winners' names by year would have made it more interesting, and let the solver guess why those words belong to a theme. CITATION, SECRETARIAT and AFFIRMED are simple enough to clue, but SEATTLE SLEW (a boatload of tourists from the Space Needle city?) and AMERICAN PHAROAH ("____ Sanders": introduction at an international jazz festival, perhaps?) would have given even the best clue writer fits. I appreciated the mention and hint of the three cities involved in the TC, but as I said, I am all triple-crowned out.
Forgetting the theme, it's a fairly unexciting puzzle into which only the MIKADO, a WOMBAT or a GNOME BLEATS some sparkle. Names never do it for me, even if it's TOM CLANCY or KEROUAC, HELGA or ESTEE, or Idi Amin, Yoko Ono or Isao Aoki.
The AXIS-ALLY-USSR axle inserted through the grid was perhaps the best thing in it, although one is reminded of how poorly the latter two worked out a few months after the end of WWII. The III/111 answer-clue repetition is abominable. I think III should have been cross-referenced in the clue for ONES: "32-Down, e.g."
SHOOTINGS are quite unpleasant, especially from the victim's point of view, yet this puzzle deserves a note of gratitude to Roy Leban and Will for squeezing it in by a SLENDER margin at the appropriate time, albeit a day late, if not a whole dollar short.
Easy to criticize, difficult to create.Lewis hit the nail on the head and beat me to what I thought about the write-up. It is a worthy theme, which even those (like myself) who couldn't care less about horse racing should be able to recognize. So if one is so negative about how the theme was implemented, I'd expect to hear how it could be done better. Sometimes the write-ups do include correctives, but not today, which makes the complainer seem a bit of a grouch.
Cynical commentators who read about the constructor's achievements on the other blogs might claim this is just a case of jealousy. Some have made that accusation before. A bit of a stretch.
Reading JTHurst's comment today got me thinking about The Porker's comments. The seemingly ubiquitous negativity of the write-ups almost advertise for parody. Some of the parody is as over-the-top as some of the write-ups can seem, which for me makes the parody seem more painful or juvenile than funny. Sometimes "more is less" works. Regardless, the blogmaster has the power to delete comments. Since he allows The Porker's comments to remain posted, who are we to complain. It's his blog.
Getting back to today's puzzle, the theme immediately seemed obvious to me, and it's a theme I more or less dislike. Expecting an irritating solving experience, I became surprised that I enjoyed solving the puzzle. Go figure.
In 1999, ESPN counted down the 100 greatest American athletes of the 20th century. The list is found here, and each entry hyperlinks to a more complete profile. Note that 5 of the 100 are from horse racing, including Secretariat (#35), Man O'War (#84), and Citation (#97).
The only thing that really sucked was: 1 1 1 for ONES.
.....no, that couldn't be right.
Zeitgeist is a powerful thing. I knew every single one of these horses but I don't follow racing at all. I just knew them because, I guess, I've been breathing for a while.
I agree with Rex on one point. There are lots and lots of other puzzles out there that are current. You'll see who won the latest championship or who shot who or which national figure was caught in a scandal within days...if that long. While the story behind this puzzle is puzzling (Leban said he submitted it nearly a week before hand with "fingers crossed," and WS said it was created after the race), it is an interesting insight into the machinery that is the times. And the fact that they still weren't able to get it out internationally is a sign that these puzzles we do everyday over our coffee or evening glass of wine is a product of a huge machine, like those food processing machines in those Chip and Dale Looney Tunes cartoons. It also provides some insight into just how difficult editing this particular puzzle must be. While independents might be more "nimble," these puzzles come with some serious baggage (evidently) and so having to consider so many other moving parts, it's easy to see how the editing might be a little loose here and there.
As for the puzzle itself, I don't agree with Rex at all. I liked it, even though I don't care for horse racing. I like that there are other answers in the puzzle that refer obliquely to the theme (NEWYORK, Baltimore, and Louisville get shout outs; along with Man O' WAR, and Infield). I didn't care for the WWII sideline...too much of it got in the way of the clarity of the theme.
ISU is also in Normal, IL...so in his haste, Mr. Leban missed one.
And ONIONS don't technically make you cry. You will tear up, but that isn't any more "crying" than if you have allergies. Laughing can feel like crying, but, like crying, the tears come from an emotion...whereas ONIONS just react with your eyeballs. How's that for beating a dead horse?
And for all you that missed the "word play" today...I'm sure you'll get plenty the rest of the week. It's an NYT signature thing. I, for one, was happy to get a break.
WOMBAT BLEATS WAR
SEE DIRE ALERT DOOM AFFIRMED
SHOOTINGS NEGATE GNOMES
🌕🌕 (2 mOOns)
Ahh Tuesday the day that exists to be hated in PuzzleWorld (name for a race horse?).
NEGATE
GNOMES
SANTAS
Seems like a plea to end bad yard art.
Timely and well done puzzle.
WOMBAT may also be a term for needlessly divisive commentary. In fact we could rate commentary with little WOMBATS. Today's would be a 3 wombater IMHO
EDIT: The Looney Tunes cartoons with the food manufacturing plant is not Chip 'N Dale (which is a Disney production), but the very polite Goofy Gophers. I could not find that particular episode on YouTube though.
I really liked it. Great Tuesday!
Hey All !
Ignored the [years] clues, because at first go through, they didn't mean much until you start filling in other answers. I did find this fairly easy, as I had a good chunk of the grid filled on the first pass through. Went back through, and saw the [years] appear as the horses names. Easy peasy. But did like the puz overall.
Interesting about the INYT, having a different puz. Funny stuff. The III and 111 were off putting a tad. (Or a tad offputting?) Wanted koalas for 1A, but clue was singular. Proud of myself for spelling KEROUAC correctly! pAl first for MAC. Always remember SEATTLE SLEW from Jim Carrey movie "Liar Liar". Court scene where he couldn't lie, and finally figures out the marriage was void, he says, "The fact that she was ridden more than SEATTLE SLEW is irrelevant..."
Liked learning about the max 18 letter thing for the horse name. Thanks MDMA! RooMonster fits the bill! :-D
OLDS SEE SANTAS
RooMonster
DarrinV
Only vaguely aware of racing, didnt know the theme until Secretariat, which didnt effect much since i wouldnt have known other triple crown names, althi Seattle Slew sounded familiar.
Got stuck on omni/area/hist .for me, a typucal tuesday. On a Monday i dont blink. A Tuesday might give me pause in a section or two. Had onea for ones so had to sneakpeek to solve.
@lEWIS - If anyone had told me that I would ever type 'wombat cube poop' into google, I would have said "Never, mate!".
I did stop before watching any of the videos. After all, YouTube keeps track of everything I watch (420 Maru videos? Are my eyes really brown?)
But worst than that fact would be the new set of Recommendations they would build for me...
Puzzle was fine, fun. Interesting that the race was important enough to run 2 tributes, when I often bemoan the glaring lack of tribute puzzles on very obvious days - Christmas, D-Day, anniversary of discovery of helium...
My guess is that the delightful serendipity of the horses' names proved just too irresistible for Will!
Some gardeners name their gardens. In particular, those who aspire to have theirs photographed and toured. Being on the fringe of those. (And by fringe, I mean No never would mine be among those, but I hold a jealous admiration for those who succeed..., I have named my garden.
Since what I grow best are rocks and moss, and since my husband has this weird affinity for gnomes, my garden is...cue drumroll...GNOMES in the Moss.
So I consider this to be also a tribute puzzle to me.
Still reading? Back story on the GNOMES. Spouse's last surviving uncle in Ireland had dozens around his garden. Because he loved his uncle, he asked a cousin to "bring me a gnome like Uncle Tommy's". When cousin brought a cute, demure one, Phil cried "No - I wanted a dirty GNOME.
Next visit, cousin brought one that is mooning his oglers.
(BTW - my mom, who has 17th century European antiques and Fragonard prints decorating her home, delighted in painting these GNOMES garish colors. If you come visit, don't stand still for too long - she'll paint you!)
Thanks Mr. Leban!
Good Tuesday.
I fell in love with horse racing by a different route. I had no racing fans in my family. I lived in Brooklyn, and as a kid no one ever took me to Aqueduct or Belmont.
But one Christmas I was given a wonderful board game called "Kentucky Derby." You spun a dial with the names of the horses -- Whirlaway, Citation, Seabiscuit, Twentygrand, Gallant Fox -- and whichever the hand pointed to, you would move the corresponding plastic horse forward one space.
I loved this game, and I always chose Gallant Fox, because Fuchs means Fox and because I love the color blue, which was the color of his lane on the board.
When I became older, the horse that meant the most to me was Carry Back. This horse was famous for winning by lagging badly for most of the race and then making up huge distances in the stretch to win at the very end. Carry Back almost won the Triple Crown, but ultimately failed in the Belmont due to a bad ankle that had not been disclosed.
I always saw him as a symbol of what you can do in life -- no matter how much you screw up (and I did), if you have the right kind of heart and guts, you can still overcome if you really try(I'm still trying).
Blondie: "ewe've got to eat to the BLEAT"
Timely and Tuesdayish. Liked it a lot. Great way to mark Saturday's Triple Crown win.
I agree with Rex this time around. The puzzle seemed listless,lifeless, with some regrettable fill. OPE MOD APOLLO. MME AAS GAD INGE SPA DIY. WOMBAT was good, I agree. And when I worked my way to the bottom, I said to myself, "this is not so bad after all" thanks to KEROUAC MUSS EAMES and the clever clue for ISU. I liked GNOMES, not a word you see every day, but that give us the very pedestrian AMT TEA ESS.
I wonder if it would have been possible to construct a grid with fewer three-letter words? Maybe not, if you wanted to keep the cluing Tuesdayish. But it was interesting to read that Will did a fair amount of editing/rewriting.
I don't think Rex necessarily dislikes horse recing, so much as tribute puzzles that compel so much bad fill. Though I remember the Steve Jobs tribute, and it seems to me that puzzle was done very well.
@Old timer: Did you really just list APOLLO as bad fill?
The very nanosecond I saw the Note about the years-for-clues category, I thought: The theme is going to be Triple Crown winners. And so it was! Many thanks to @Ramses III for reminding us who it was who wondered last week just how soon AMERICAN PHAROAH would be used in a crossword puzzle. I was wracking my brain trying to remember, but felt much too lazy to do the research.
The most interesting question is when the puzzle was constructed. @lms postulates a puzzle partially constructed -- awaiting the next Triple Crown winner, so that the center section would be filled in later. That sounds more frustrating than efficient to me. I had thought that the puzzle must have been done in advance, banking on the likelihood that AMERICAN PHAROAH would win. (Hi, @Billy C. and @NCA Pres.) When I leave here, I'm going to the Wordplay Blog to read the constructor's comments.
To @MDMA and @joho: Do you come up with your anagrams yourselves or is there some sort of computer function you use? Both anagrams are very good.
@lms -- Like others here, I found your BLEAT comment very amusing.
Ho-hum theme for this non-fan, but the rest had enough bite to keep it interesting.
@Anon1047: - I think "regrettable."
OPE MOD APOLLO.
@Oxen in the Sun - I failed miserably at this quiz, Race Horse of Yacht. Good Luck.
@George Barany - thanks for the links. Reading the original @Evil Doug's take on Job's tribute puzzle reminded me of both how great his contributions were and why he pi$$ed off so many people. It also reminded me how lame his imitators are.
I think it is a fairly common opinion that tributes and quip puzzles are not particularly interesting. Reading Rex's "not a theme" comment barely even registered because it is the hyperbolic expression of my own opinion (tribute puzzles aren't much of a theme). Rereading Rex's first paragraph after reading Xwordinfo is amazing. Rex said the exact same thing except Leban and Shortz think "great" while Rex thinks "lame." I think there is room in xworld for both positions.
@Everyone - The next time I rant about some anonymous rant here remind me of this. However inappropriate and juvenile those comments may be - anonymous internet hyperbole does not justify federal intrusion into your life.
Well, I for one would be thrilled to see the federal government go after the grammar nazis, both real and fake.
Have just returned from the Wordplay Blog, where Will and Roy discuss how and when this puzzle came to be. Really insightful. Don't miss it!
Rex may be right that this was a little on the boring side, but it is a Tuesday, and the symmetry of the last 5 triple crown winners is remarkable. I say thumbs up.
Dear Rex, Please take a cold shower. Your critique today was such gibberish that even Rex Porker’s parody was gibberish. I’ll chalk the “non-theme” off to being absurd to make a point. But I cannot dismiss your characterization of this being a tribute puzzle. That is just flat. Ths is not a tribute piece. The theme is the (last five) winners of the Triple Crown. That really is not very complicated to understand. As for the fill, aside from SHOOTINGS -- which is nondescript -- it seems properly Tuesday-ish.
I went back to your critique of the Liz Gorski puzzle as someone suggested. First, that puzzle, unlike today’s was a tribute (to Secretariat). Second, from your critique of that puzzle, your critique of Sunday’s puzzle and your critique today, I get it you don’t like puzzles about horses, especially thoroughbreds. When ACME was a regular contributor, I recall you telling her to get over not liking sports entries. Next time there is a puzzle about horses, ask one of your numerous friends in the business to give the critique. At least, there would be a chance they might have something worthwhile (and maybe even accurate) to say about it.
As always, I’m thinking about your mental well-being….
JFC
FWIW, I like the real Grammar Nazi. He or she is so misunderstood.
In his own ocd way, she can't help but jump all over grammar mistakes, big and small.
Sometimes, I learn from him.
Always, I enjoy the comments in response. (Wait - not the attacks - I mean - the comments about the grammar.)
She knows that lots of times the errors are simply autocowrecks or fat-fingerings, as opposed to grammar-blindness, but he just can't help himself- nor should she...
Fake GN's however- cain't abide them!!
(BTW, was his/her second first comment today from the real GN? Sorry to say, I can't tell them apart...)
...And don't miss @Z's really interesting links, provided today at 11:10 a.m. (I failed the test abysmally, also, @Z. And the 2nd link proved to be truly alarming and extremely thought-provoking.) Many thanks.
I hope you constant commenters pay for the privilege of commenting here. I really can't see what else Rex has to gain by permitting this area to live. It just seems like bad manners to keep on criticizing his take on the puzzle. Unless you are paying. But why would you support someone who you keep accusing of myriad flaws? Bewildering,...
@Professor Barany --
Following up on my skepticism that Roy Leban constructed today's puzzle after American Pharoah's win at Belmont Saturday ...
Deb Amlen's Wordpay blog today
http://wordplay.blogs.nytimes.com/author/deb-amlen/
confirms in Notes by Will Shortz that the puzzle was constructed shortly after AP won the Preakness in May, commenting that "... Roy had a $300 paycheck [NYT's weekday puzzle payment] riding on the outcome." Not that the NYT constructors care much about the money, of course.
@rorosen: You're right. Everyone on this site should agree with everything rex writes. Criticism should be verboten. Achtung!
Dang, Serena sure looks mighty upset in @009's blog pic, that the puz wasn't about 20-time tennis majors winners. Actually, that's what I at first suspected it would be about, when I read the note. Nope. Horsies.
1970's was sure a good decade for Triple Crownings, for some reason. p.s. My fave thing about horse racing is the names they come up with for the horsies. Lucky for Roy, that they didn't pick AMERICANFARO.
This is the first time I can recall that a "conditional" NYTPuz has turned up. That in itself makes this whole thing kinda cool. Usually puzs hedge their bets, with a Schroe dinger set of presidential candidates, or whatnot. Whoa!-- Great challenge for some wile E. constructioneer: a Schroe dinger-style puz that "predicts" the Republican nominee for Prez...
fave weeject: DIY. Try sayin *that* fast, three times.
Why not MRE/HEST? Why not clue 32-D with 48-A? Why not have ten or more U's?? (WAH)
Have a nephew that travels all over the world. He used to bring along this stuffed wombat. Every picture of a famous world scene he snapped had this ratty wombat tucked into it, somewheres. Our family; they oughta sell tickets...
Thanx, Mr. Leban. Liked how U went out in a blaze of "figures".
M&A
Wasn't there a puzzle a while back about an election?? Who ever won was the name you entered in the puzzle
@Nancy,
Constructing anagrams, like constructing crossword puzzles, is best accomplished with computer assistance.
Internet Anagram Server
@MDMA (2:30): What a nifty anagram website! Just for fun, I plugged in "grammar nazi" and got "A razing a.m. Mr." But there's no money in this. Have you got a "constructing crossword puzzles" website for me? It might be worth $300.
I read many of the comments on this enjoyable puzzle, and was surprised that none commented on the artistry of pairing affirmed and negated on the same line.
I read many of the comments on this enjoyable puzzle, and was surprised that none commented on the artistry of pairing affirmed and negated on the same line.
I read many of the comments on this enjoyable puzzle, and was surprised that none commented on the artistry of pairing affirmed and negated on the same line.
If this puzzle were constructed "way ahead of time," why wasn't it run on Monday?
Anon @3:34,
WS covered this on xword info:
"Conceivably, we could have rushed the puzzle into print on Monday, bumping the puzzle that was already scheduled then. But the Times crossword now appears in so many formats that a last-minute swap isn't easy. There would have been a serious chance for a screw-up somewhere besides. So Tuesday was safer, and the puzzle's theme and fill felt more Tuesdayish anyway."
http://www.xwordinfo.com/crossword?date=6%2f9%2f2015
@Nancy, I also guessed the theme from the note, and then proceeded to write Secretariat into Seattle Slew's spot. I mean, what are the odd's there are 2 TC winners with that many letters?
:)
*odds (where are the grammar nazis when I need them?)
@z, aced the test in link 1. Good reminder in link 2.
Like most of the girls on the exurban community I grew up in, I was obsessed with horses. We all read the Black Beauty, the Black Stallion series, collected plastic horses, and knew all the Triple Crown winners. We watched National Velvet. Most of us had parents who couldn't afford horses. So we borrowed nasty little Shetland ponies from neighbors pretending that we were riding wild steeds instead of fat little ponies that knew how to stop dead after a jump and send us flying. So of course this puzzle was a gimme.
My Dad was equally obsessed with boats and my mother almost divorced him when he bought his first little boat before they could really afford it. We always scoped out the funny names on the yachts in the marinas. My parents finally did buy a boat worthy of being named when they retired and called her The Knotty Kaye after her. Not exactly a yacht, but big enough to sleep two, brew a pot of coffea on short cruises and for crabbing in Puget Sound.
Just finished Saturday's puzzle. Count me among those who liked it. I'm easily pleased by geometric gimmicks.
I love the Porker. Usually I don't read many of the comments, just search for the Porker. Those of you who wonder why Sharp doesn't delete the Porker's comments: a while back, Matt Gaffney did a guest post. He said something on Facebook about the comment section, and Sharp said he never reads the comments. His reason was that there's a "weird vibe there" which I took to mean negativity. At the time, the comment section was a bit of a Internet lynching for any constructor who drew Sharps's ire, which was most of them. Since then, I think more of the people who leave comments understand that the constructors who make our pastime possible are people too, and gratuitous cruelty probably doesn't help make better puzzles, the excuse usually given for the personal attacks. I like to think the Porker's humor has helped in this regard.
anonymous at 1:45 you prove my point, suggesting I am a Nazi. I don't ask people to agree with what Rex writes, just to stop questioning his motives and sanity. It is bad manners for guests to insult the host. If you must spit out the wine, do so in your napkin.
Fastest Tues ever for this horse racing fan. A lot to like about this puzzle: AFFIRMED opposite NEGATE, DIY followed by DOOM, plus a bonus horse Man-o'WAR.
Oooh Miss Manners makes another appearance.
@rorosen, this is a blog. On the internet. The proprietor of the blog has left comments open and unmoderated. Here's how it works: Rex writes a post that has something to do with the day's puzzle. By doing so, he invites comments. Commenters, um, comment on the post. Some agree, some disagree. Some insult Rex, or make fun of him, or observe that he is often unfair or insulting of puzzles and their construction. Further commenters comment on the commenters' comments (just like buffalo buffalo buffalo). Some people make jokes, some tell stories about plays they saw in 1955, some comment on language, or history, or classical music. Some write poems. Some share details of their personal lives. I haven't seen anyone questioning Rex's sanity (please provide examples to the contrary), as you suggest (projecting, maybe?), but they are, of course, free to do so, and when they do, they are likely to be sometimes funny, sometimes mean, and sometimes off the mark. If this offends you, you should find another blog or comment board to read. But you can't tell others here what to write. Rex could moderate if he so chose, but he chooses not to. This is not an accident. You certainly don't have the right to moderate what is said here, and you come off as a bit of a presumptuous scold and a mother hen, at best, and an authoritarian asshole, at worst, when you do.
Enjoyed doing the original puzzle in the International NYT. Had enough of horse racing on Sunday.
A Rasping Goon/Groaning Soap/Aging as Porno
just a few of the anagrams for Aging Soprano.
Roy Leban, nice play on the odds. I hope you placed a bet on the race also!
Nothing to BLEAT about here except for 'evil' empire before INCA and remembering a second too late to prevent the writeover that @Rex had pointed out the misspelling of PHAROAH in Sunday's write up. I said, 'Wow,' at the timing of this when I saw 35A filled in and thought the fill was fine for a Tuesday.
I was listening to public radio today - they were talking to a woman who has written a book about the end of the space shuttle program - she thinks people were blasé about the program, unlike APOLLO, because launches occurred more often with many more people in space (over 300 if I recall correctly, too lazy to Google). In a month, it will be four years since the last shuttle launch and I miss the possibilities that going into space represented (not surprising given my penchant for reading science fiction).
@Haiku Nerd, nice one today.
@Aketi, your post from yesterday sounds like your exam went well, congrats.
Agree with @Rex on the difficulty, but disagree with on the fill - I thought it was good fill overall, and especially like WOMBAT, GNOMES and KRROUAC. It does feel to me like we've had ARENA like, eight times in the last seven days. One real stinker, ESS.
What I disliked was the cluing. 1 1 1, Infield for one, Commercial prefix with postale, Place to be pampered (which should be a clue for changing table), Money-saving way to make repairs for short - these are either lame or absurdly wordy.
toSS before MUSS, Ethan before EAMES.
Roy Le Ban, you old poop! I thought this Tuesday baby had a lot of Puzzazz, but wasn't it part of your master-plan to sneak in a shout-out to SEATTLE? [It was my own msfortune to make that SLue at first.]
WOMBAT at 1-A made a great start; it's hard to maintain that level of eclat. The word has an extra association for me, since one of our post-docs years ago always wore those comfy Wallabees, and we harrowed his soul by referring to them WOMBATs. Bill, is it too late to apologize for that Tootsie Roll I threw across the lab at you? The cardboard corner in the wrapper must have been a lot sharper than I figured, and I certainly didn't mean to draw blood. I know it was humiliating to have a Tootsie Roll wound on your forehead.
In today's grid, WOMBAT offers musical possibilities for [female] persons geographically careless with their organs:
I've left my Heart in San FranCisco, but I left my WOMBAT My Old Kentucky GNOME.
[As Dorothy said, There's no place like GNOME.]
@Tita, I'm enjoying the vision of a Gnome in when the moon is full.
@chefwen, if you wanted an L in there, you might have been thinking of the infant formula KEROULAC.
I only know @Roy LeB through blog comments, but I can well imagine the evil chortle that accompanied the [Roman trio] III: [111] ONES pair of pairs!. GAD Zooks, Sir, that really puts the DOOM into DoomItYourself. In case it was your intent, it's a heckuva way to drive home the idea of a trifecta!
Enjoyed the puzzle; I thought it had a lot of lovely Equinimity.
PS: @aging soprano, you are a trip!
JFC, You are right. Now I understand.
@anon at 6:38
"I haven't seen anyone questioning Rex's sanitiy." Today, @Doug Garr, "Rex, you need Wellbutrin..." Last six months,...Rex, you drink too much; Rex, you need medication; Rex, you're taking too much medication; Rex, you're stupid; Rex, you're bitter; Rex, you hate crossword puzzles; And, one of my favorites, Rex, you are a third rate professor at a third rate colllege.
I could go on and on with the personal attacks. Hate his critiques? Does he critique the puzzle or launch a personal attack against the constructor?
And, no, @rorosens shouldn't find another blog. You should. Jerk.
Thanks for the nice comments, everyone. Here are a few answers to some questions:
Some people have criticized some of the 3-letter entries. I would rather have snappy longer entries, and I think I achieved that in all four corners and the middle of the grid, than better 3- and 4-letter entries. It's not that I don't care about the short entries, but they are a lower priority.
I like more playful clues, too, but this is Tuesday, and the number that can fit in is small. I sent Will more playful clues than he could possibly use, so I gave him alternates too, to make it easier for him to pick the ones he liked. We completely disagreed on my favorite clue but he had a good reason. [1 1 1] mirroring III wasn't accidental. I didn't cross ref because there were already enough cross-refs.
I liked the idea of running it on Monday, and Will did, too, but he was right to push it to Tuesday — way too much of a risk of a screw-up with just a 23-hour turnaround. Will reviewed the puzzle and accepted it before the Belmont (with some back and forth on the grid), but he didn't do final editing until after the Belmont. The idea was new this year, inspired by the combo of the Pharoah misspelling and the fact that American Pharoah was a 15.
No, I didn't bet on the race. My brother suggested that I should hedge my bets by betting against American Pharoah. In terms of my gamble, it's true that American Pharoah had 2-3 odds but California Chrome was also a 2-3 favorite in 2014, and I'll Have Another was a 4-5 favorite in 2012 before being scratched. So odds are no guarantee.
Finally, as others have noted, a full story is on Wordplay and I also posted a couple of comments later, which you see in the NYT Picks tab in the comments.
P.S. I don't comment here often. I also thought Saturday's puzzle by Jason Flinn was fiendishly brilliant.
Speaking ss a person with depression, your implication that depression = insanity is insulting and ignorant. Have some courtesy, and please think before you speak.
Admin@9:16: you gave a lot of examples of nobody calling rex insane. Well done.
@ teedmn, thx. I too miss The possibilities of going into space. Definitely wanted to be an astronaut. I settled for scuba diving instead.
Anon @ 9:16 wrote: Does he critique the puzzle or launch a personal attack against the constructor?
The answer is that Rex frequently launches personal attacks against constructors. Usually, they're veiled as comments on the puzzle. I think that's the case today in the long paragraph that begins "This is a non-theme". Rex is saying "If only Will Shortz and Roy Leban" were half as smart as those indie guys."
That doesn't mean that we should do the same. No, it's much nicer when we stick to the puzzle, no matter waht Rex says.
What with having WAR and AXIS, ALLY and all, that part of the grid is a regular BLEATSkrieg. [Wonder whether a WOMBAT BLEATs; the only information I have on the topic right now pertaind tothe other end.]
I don't think it's necessary to give up on space travel. The main difference for now is the shift to privatization, but that's the 'merican way, isn't it? For now, anyway.
@MDMA, thanks for the anagram generator; Wordsmith gave me 829 variations on 'leapfinger'. Yow.
As a young engineer I worked on the Apollo program in the '60s. Met and did initial training of several astronauts on mission software. It was inspiring work.
Now, though, I'm skeptical that there's much more value in manned space travel. Go to Mars? I doubt it, at least with technology available in our lifetimes.
Hey, @BillyC!
Who has the mineral rights to the Moon?
I am here to give testimony of how i got back my husband, we got married for over 9 years and we had two kids. thing were going well with us and we where always happy. until one day my husband started to behave in a way i could not understand, i was very confused by the way he treated me and the kids. later that month he did not come back home again and he called me that he want a divorce, i asked him what have i done wrong to deserve this from him, all he was saying is that he want a divorce that he hate me and do not want to see me again in his life, i was mad and also frustrated do not know what to do,i was sick for more than 2 weeks because of the divorce. i love him so much he was everything to me without him my life is incomplete. i told my sister and she told me to contact a spell caster, i never believe in all this spell casting of a thing. i just want to try if something will come out of it. i contacted traditional spell hospital for the return of my husband to me, they told me that my husband have been taken by another woman, that she cast a spell on him that is why he hate me and also want us to divorce. then they told me that they have to cast a spell on him that will make him return to me and the kids, they casted the spell and after 1 week my husband called me and he told me that i should forgive him, he started to apologize on phone and said that he still live me that he did not know what happen to him that he left me. it was the spell that he casted on him that make him come back to me. my family and i are now happy again. Thank you Dr. Aluta for what you have done for me i would have been nothing today if not for your great spell. i want you my friends who are passing through all this kind of love problem of getting back their husband, wife , or ex boyfriend and girlfriend to contact traditionalspellhospital@gmail.com and you will see that your problem will be solved without any delay. He cast spells for different purposes like
(1) If you want your ex back.
(2) if you always have bad dreams.
(3) You want to be promoted in your office.
(4) You want women/men to run after you.
(5) If you want a child.
(6) You want to be rich.
(7) You want to tie your husband/wife to be yours forever.
(8) If you need financial assistance.
(9) Herbal care
(10) is the only answer to that your problem of winning the lottery
Contact him today on: traditionalspellhospital@gmail.com
Link to June 30th puzzle, which ran in the international edition on June 9th.
my paper had the puzzle that will apparently appear on June 30 in the NYT, don’t know about the rest of syndiland, so I will go with what I have:
POSER OVA ROD
ABBEYS got the HOTS for me on FIELDTRIPS from school,
she’s a GAZELLE and an ACROBAT, that IMP is a jewel,
and she ANSWERS with BRAVADO and no FUSS (she’s so cool),
when I say, “The PRICETAGS still nothing to SLO WAX my TOOL.”
--- ROD STASIS
today’s stream of unconsciousness sponsored by ICY COORS
I too had the other puzzle.
But I wonder if the spellcaster can help me with these things:
(1) I want my ex OFF my back
(2) My dreams are all wet
(3) I want to be promoted OUT of my office
(4) I want to run after only women
(5) I hate children
(6) Nobody would want to be my brother Rich
(7) I want to tie my ex-wife in a closet forever
(8) Don’t want anyone to touch my finances
(9) Herbs are for smoking
(10) The lottery is not a viable retirement strategy
Do not contact me anywhere but here (sorry if I sound cranky)
I thought today’s (June 30?) puz was okay, except maybe a few too many 3 letter ANSWERS. I will withhold further comment to avoid being a (future)spoiler if other Syndilanders got the other puz.
Is that clear??
I certainly don't know what happened today with the "not correct" puzzle but I'm not going to say another word about the error. Not another word, nothing, nada, zip, NOT anything. My lips are sealed and you won't hear me complaining. No Siree. Whatever happened, happened and that's it. No Godly reason to even bring up the subject. It's not worth talking about so let's leave it at that. Some people would make a major issue of it, but not I. As the saying goes, "Stuff happens."
Ron Diego La Mesa, CA.
P.S. The puzzle I did today was cute, clever and Easy. 10-4, and out.
So this is where and when the horsey puzzle fits in? I SURFED all over to find it. Just another stumbling block for anyone DOOMed to syndiland.
But I do have one USEFUL ALERT: I got a CITATION from a NEWYORK cop, it was AFFIRMED by their SECRETARIAT. You SEE, SHOOTINGS and DUELS are against CITY rules, if you’ve a firearm, you MAINLY MUSS carry it. SUR TOMCLANCY III.
So the COST of syndi-solving is that ONE'S time-shifting is in DIRE straits.
Well, this puz may have been more interesting had I not known that it was coming. The beginning note was the reminder that weeks ago those of us not in real-time mode had a substitute puz. So today we finally get to play the ponies.
Not much to say, tho BLEATS repeats from yesterday’s syndi-puz. And OILS. Maybe others.
My wife grew up in the USSR and although she has a degree in Economics, she is pursuing an AAS degree in Business to learn things the ‘merican way.
Didn’t review above comments. There must be a mention of 1d Man-o’-WAR as a fine horse.
I suppose this puz SCORES in real-time, but the syndi sub-puz situation will NEGATE further inspired comments. Especially with no AFFIRMED yeah babies.
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