Turkish bigwig / MON 1-21-19 / Early North American explorer John / Green building certification for short

Monday, January 21, 2019

Constructor: Sean Biggins

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (2:51)


THEME: CIVIL RIGHTS (57A: Cause championed by the figures named at the ends of 16-, 22- and 47-Across) — Martin Luther KING, Jr., Rosa PARKS, Sojourner TRUTH

Theme answers:
  • 16A: Regal (FIT FOR A KING)
  • 22A: Yosemite and Yellowstone (NATIONAL PARKS)
  • 47A: Something promised in a court oath (THE WHOLE TRUTH)
Word of the Day: John CABOT (14D: Early North American explorer John) —
John Cabot (ItalianGiovanni Caboto; c. 1450 – c. 1500) was an Italian navigator and explorer. His 1497 discovery of the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England is the earliest known European exploration of coastal North America since the Norse visits to Vinland in the eleventh century. To mark the celebration of the 500th anniversary of Cabot's expedition, both the Canadian and British governments elected Cape BonavistaNewfoundland, as representing Cabot's first landing site. However, alternative locations have also been proposed. (wikipedia)
• • •

As an MLK Day tribute puzzle, I think this is fine. It's a slightly weird set of CIVIL RIGHTS leaders, since Parks and King were contemporaries, while Truth was active a full century earlier. But maybe there aren't a ton of CIVIL RIGHTS leaders whose last names are also be other things. I might've tried to get WISHING WELLS or something like that in the grid, but again, it's hard to impugn the set. They're all iconic. The fill is reasonably clean and even zingy in some places (HIT THE HAY! SKETCH UP! HELLA!). If anything, it's the themers that aren't lively enough (this is the opposite of most puzzles' problem, which is that the themers are the *only* real interest in the grid). Maybe there weren't better answers to be had. I don't mind the first two, but the third felt oddly partial. It only exists as part of a larger phrase, and so it doesn't quite feel right standing alone. I really wish YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH were 15. It *is* 21, and it's never been used before, so Sunday constructors: have at it!


Five things:
  • 1A: Turkish bigwig (PASHA) — This is the kind of 1A gimme that makes me feel slightly guilty. Relatively sure that word would never occur to me in a world without crosswords. As it is, I know AGA and AGHA and SATRAP and PASHA and BEY and DEY and EMIR and etc.
  • 25D: Green building certification, for short (LEED) — I learned this from crosswords, and by "learned" I mean "experienced for the first time but still routinely forget"
  • 41D: U.S.C. or U.C.L.A. (SCH.) — down near the bottom of my list of Crosswordese Ranked from Beloved to Despised. I remember the first time I saw it in a grid—I just stared at it, first disbelieving, and then seething. It feels fantastically fake.
  • 40D: Native New Zealander (KIWI) — fun fact: my wife is a Native New Zealander. Not a *native* native New Zealander, though. That would be a MAORI. A white New Zealander is a PAKEHA. Put *that* in your grid and smoke it!
  • 46D: "It's c-c-cold!" (BRRR) — normally I'd be up in arms about the stupid extra "R" but the fact that a. the clue tries to tip us to the three "R"s with the three "c"s in the clue, and b. it is HELLA cold right now where I live (5ยบ and falling) means that today, I'll allow it
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld (Twitter @rexparker / #NYTXW)

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

94 comments:

Carter 12:27 AM  

National Parks - topical! And sad!

Weird to have OUT cross symmetrically with OUT (ABOUTME).

Nice puzzle, and a good reminder to spend today doing some reflection/reading on Civil Rights icons.

Carola 12:36 AM  

A fine tribute puzzle. I especially liked NATIONAL PARKS, reflecting the scope of her influence, also the final cross of CIVIL RIGHTS with the first words of the NATIONAL anthem and its evocation of the land of the free.

Help from previous crosswords CERA, HELLA,THEO. No idea SCHMIDT. Fateful cross: COD and the fishing DORY.

chefwen 1:31 AM  

Pretty easy Monday. The only fault I found was KIWI, as Rex said Maori is a native New Zealander, KIWI is just a nickname.

Sketch up? Isn’t sketch good enough?

Nice theme which fit in nicely with tomorrow’s holiday.


Brookboy 1:37 AM  

Nice Monday puzzle to start the week. Not too challenging, not too soft, so to speak. About what Rex sad. I enjoyed solving it, and thank you, Mr. Biggins, for a pleasurable diversion.

Greg 2:15 AM  

I liked it overall. And it's the first time I've seen my surname in a Times puzzle. :)

jae 2:30 AM  

This seemed tough while I was doing it but my time was in the medium range.

Apt and pretty smooth except for maybe BRRR, liked it.

Jeremy 5:07 AM  

Way, way too many proper nouns, especially for a Monday.

@merican in Paris 5:19 AM  

OK, I'll give today's puzzle a thumbs up for being a suitable tribute, but as Gomer Pyle might have said, "Gollleee what a PPP fest!" Too much so for a Monday, IMO. Took me twice my normal time to complete this one.

Fortunately, I was able to recall the family name of Mike SCHMIDT after seeing the D and T there at the end. SETON HALL also emerged from the recesses after half the letters were filled in. And I don't usually have a problem with world geography (OSLO, OZARK, SRI LANKA) or botany (LOTUS).

But being separated from U.S. popular culture (except through crosswords, and the occasional reference in U.S. podcasts) and modern-day sports, I had no earthly idea who are Mike CERA, LON Chaney, ROD LAVER, MARC Maron, ODELL Beckham Jr., or "The View". Also have only heard "HELLofA, never HELLA.

Regarding the theme, I first got NATIONAL PARKS, so mentally parsed 16A as FIT FO' RAKING. TALK SHOW, [we want to know] THE WHOLE TRUTH, CAROM (how OFL's brain works, and I don't mean @Rex), [It's all] ABOUT ME, also could have worked as part of a contemporary political theme.

O SAY I DO, EMILY O'DELL.

Lewis 6:05 AM  

Very nice cross of LOTUS and POSE.

I'm grateful to Sean, as the theme made me read a bit on Sojourner Truth, who I've heard of, but didn't know much about. Here are two quotes by her that struck me as forceful and timeless:

"I am above eighty years old; it is about time for me to be going. I have been forty years a slave and forty years free and would be here forty years more to have equal rights for all."

"I feel safe the midst of my enemies, for the truth is all powerful and will prevail."

Lewis 6:18 AM  

That last quote reminded me of this heartening one by Ghandi:

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it--always."

Anonymous 6:33 AM  

SCHMIDT is a real Natick, unless you know some of the proper noun crosses. I knew SETONHALL and CABOT right away, so was missing only the C of CERA, which made it obvious.

I found this pretty much the easiest NYT puzzle I've ever done, but I guess that's because once I had a minimum of letters I knew SETONHALL, SRILANKA, CABOT, OZARK, RODLAVER, EMILY, and COD (after which DORY couldn't be anything else), as well as NATIONALPARKS, and CIVILRIGHTS. Being heavy on PPP doesn't make it hard if it happens to be PPP that you mostly know. :)

It took me a bit of time to convince myself that MERE (didn't know MARC, and somehow the clue for MERE doesn't seem quite right to me), HELLA (???) and LEED (ditto) couldn't be anything else.

TOTELLTHETRUTH didn't fit in 47A, but as soon as I saw the standard crosswordese KIWI, that one fell into place.

Hungry Mother 6:51 AM  

Still smarting from yesterday’s DNF, but flew through this one. Legs a bit sore from the half marathon yesterday. Running cruise starting next Saturday. I guess all is well.

Anonymous 7:20 AM  

What holiday is Jan 22?

Beaglelover 7:20 AM  

Thank you @Lewis for the quotations from two awesome human beings!
@Rex should have Wickied Sojourner Truth instead of Cabot on this MLK holiday. Everyone would be better for it!

RooMonster 7:22 AM  

Hey All !
Who knew you could add an S to the front of KETCHUP?

Liked this MLK Jr. Day puz. Simple, four themers with Equal Rights figures. No real dreck, nice and clean. PFFT always fun to see. Also like PSHAW (which isn't in here, so don't go looking for it, or think I've lost my mind, just making an observation.) And HIT THE HAY fun too. Maybe we'll get a HIT THE HAR next time. :-)

Put something on Arsenio? SET ON HALL
Paul off key? SRIL ANKA (work with me on that one)

Nice F count today, 4. Seemed alot of P's as I solved, but there's only 5, although they are all in the upper section. Nice Scrabbly NE corner. Z, X, K, P, M.

ABOUT ME (oh, who am I kidding, you don't care!)
RooMonster
DarrinV

Anonymous 7:44 AM  

@merican in Paris-- to be fair, ROD LAVER is neither a current celebrity nor an American one (only player with two Grand Slams, both in the 60's; namesake of the Australian Open's main arena, which is currently being played; etc.).

QuasiMojo 7:58 AM  

What’s that red stain on your shirt? “Sketchup.”

@merican in Paris 8:13 AM  

@Anonymous 7:44 AM -- Thanks. I was making a general observation. I'm not a big tennis fan either (though names like ASHE, GRAFF, and FEDERER are familiar to me), nor of basketball. I see, also, that LON Chaney was an actor who died in 1930. Fair for a Wednesday or Thursday, but not on a Monday, I would argue.

I'll let @Z confirm, but I count 35 or so PPPs, out of a total of 78 clues and answers. That's a density of 45% -- way over @Z's threshold of 33% (or is it 35%?), above which puzzles can get tough for people for which the answers aren't in their wheelhouse.

kitshef 8:22 AM  

Bonus themer PA(X).

Clue for 37D is wrong, and I admit this is a personal bugbear of mine. Rod Laver won 20 grand slams, not 11. He won 11 in singles, six in men’s doubles and three in mixed doubles. If you mean to include only singles, then specify only singles.

chefbea 8:27 AM  

Never heard of the person named Truth!!! Who is she or he???? someone please explain

amyyanni 8:29 AM  

Appreciate an appropriately themed puzzle. Easy, straightforward. Glad Delta put up cash to open the King Memorial for this weekend. When I lived in MN, spent an MLK Jr wknd in Atlanta, visiting his home and Ebenezer Baptist as well. This year, went to a riveting performance of August Wilson's "Fences."

RAD2626 8:56 AM  

Lovely debut. Very nice puzzle. Nice tribute to the holiday. Two great baseball names - both true gentlemen and a bonus tip of the hat to Rod Laver during the Australian Open. Lots of bases covered.

Our family marched in the Civil Rights March in August 1963 where MLK gave his "I Have a Dream" speech. I was visiting Georgetown so we decided to stay and march. I have an old 8mm movie that I digitized, put on a DVD and put Rev. King's speech as the soundtrack. We watch it every year today. Amazing how things like that can become life experiences and memories. The world has changed dramatically since, in many ways for the better, perhaps not in others. The most common slogan that day was "Whoopee! Equal Rights in '63". Do not think that would make the cut today.

Nancy 8:56 AM  

I didn't notice the theme until I got to the 57A clue. Then, because I almost never know what the date is, I said: "I wonder if it's January 21st?" And it is. As tribute puzzles go, this is a nice one -- giving shoutouts to not just MLK, but to other CIVIL RIGHTS pioneers as well.

Some nits: HELLA does not mean "very". HELLUVA means "very".

What on earth is SKETCH UP? You SKETCH something, period. You can "draw up" something, but only if it's a plan and not a drawing.

Can someone explain LEED (25D) for me? Is it some sort of acronym? I've never heard of it.

So Luke is Darth Vader's SON. Is that what all the incessant fuss for all these years has been about? PFFT.

Anonymous 8:59 AM  

THE WHOLE TRUTH I suspect comes from the oath "Tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth". Still a partial but not as contorted as Rex' speculation.

kitshef 9:09 AM  

@Nancy - Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. A LEED certification verifies that a building is 'green'.

@chefbea - Sojourner Truth - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sojourner_Truth

Z 9:13 AM  

I suppose KAC wasn’t available. This is fine, but I’d have done some active recruiting.

SojournerTruth.com

@‘merican - I’m curious about what 4 you’re including that I’m not. I counted “only” 31, still an excessive 40%

My List

OSLO
SON - Star Wars.clue
UZI
TAO Te Ching
ABEL
NATIONAL PARKS - Yosemite and Yellowstone clue
Mike SCHMIDT
TALK SHOW
A Nightmare on ELM Street
FLY - airlines clue
ODELL Beckham
DORA

SETON HALL
HEF
SRI LANKA
LON Chaney
OZARK Mountains
John CABOT
RAID - bug spray clue
MARC Maron
LEED
Michael CERA
THEO Huxtable (nice tip toeing around Cosby)
ROD LAVER
KIWI
SCH - USC and UCLA clue
LOU Costello
EMMYS
EMILA Brontรซ
O SAY can you see ...
GIL Hodges

Please note that at least 6 of these clues were only PPP through the clues. Get rid of things like the Star Wars spoiler and the PPP could be 25 of 78, a still high 32% but much more universally fair than 40%.

L'inferno 9:15 AM  

@Nancy, In your world hella may not mean a lot, but in other age groups it does. Not sure it's still in common usage but as my kids went through middle and high school, it was hella common.

A rare puzzle where I made steady progress with no second look backs but still had to think.

Today's agonizing controversy: Wet willy is gone, Rex profiles a white man instead of Truth. Discuss.

Lewis 9:26 AM  

My five favorite clues from last week:

1. Lid attachment (4)
2. Rental unit, often (5)
3. Stretch for relaxation (9)
4. Mine field? (13)
5. It may have corn on the side (9)


LASH
MONTH
ALONE TIME
PERSONAL SPACE
FARM HOUSE

FrankStein 9:32 AM  

@merican, Lon Chaney is a film legend. He started in the original Phantom of the Opera, Played Jekyll and Hyde, and was known as the Man of a Thousand Faces. His son was the Wolfman and starred in Of Mice and Men. Both would be Monday worthy even if you’ve never heard of them. Ever hear of John Wayne?

@Lewis PS it’s Gandhi, not Ghandi.

chefbea 9:37 AM  

@Kishef thanks

GILL I. 9:41 AM  

A very nice and enjoyable Monday. The only drawback for me was noticing the myriad of proper names. Many I didn't know - but that's on me. Other than that, if this was a debut, then it gets a solid A from me.
I always love seeing Ceylon/SRI LANKA. I was curious as to why its name had been changed. It's not surprising that they did as soon as it rid itself of British colonial rule. Loving, as I do, old black and white movies, I had come upon a documentary called "Song of Ceylon." It's about a small British colony and the native people - told in a lovely spiritual way. I'm pretty sure that after watching it, my fascination for Buddhism was born. Fitting to watch on this MLK day of celebration.....LOTUS!
@Nancy: SKETCH UP (or that tomato sauce thing) is in my language. In my days of idleness, I did that frequently. I had long lasting charcoal stains on my fingers or black ink on my hands for many years. I seemed to have a SKETCH pad with me at all times and I would SKETCH UP something that caught my eye. Now I just click up my iPhone.
I know, it's all ABOUT ME. PFFT - but a HELLA good time had by moi.

Anonymous 9:41 AM  

Maori are not natives--they came to New Zealand by boat.

I spent ten minutes trying to get "attention" to fit in 57 across.

Anonymous 9:53 AM  

Fun, Monday-easy puzzle. Thanks very much Mr. Biggins.

CDilly52 9:56 AM  

I am a James Patterson fan (the Alex Cross series). Detective Cross’s kids went to the fictional sonourner Truth school in DC. The earliest of those books sent me off to learn more about that courageous woman’s actions a century before the Civil Rights movement. @Lewis, thanks for the quotes. She is on my list of folks with whom I would like to have coffee. Great to see her in today’s tribute.

My son-in-law’s sister married a New Zealander and upon my daughter and son-in-law’s return from the New Zealand wedding, they both shared so much about the country and culture, including that Dean a white New Zealander is a PAKEAH. Glad to have that come up again and would rather have seen it than KIWI. I do not believe that the term is widely used among New Zealanders.

Overall, a fitting tribute puzzle with some pizzazz. And I am always happy to see anything baseball, so a fine start to the week!

Anonymous 10:04 AM  

Sojourner Truth

Anonymous 10:07 AM  

I'm kind of new to this blog and don't get the meaning of "ppp"?

Anonymous 10:13 AM  

LEED = Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. (Curious minds might want to know.)

GHarris 10:15 AM  

My first thought of the name ending 47across was the Notorious RBG certainly a worthy civil rights icon.

Anonymous 10:21 AM  

Crossed my mind, too

Michiganman 10:22 AM  

The issue of who won what in tennis has come up before. I think "singles" is implied in 37D clue. Rod Laver's other grand slam wins are in doubles where he had a partner. The partnership won the tournament, not just Rod Laver. OTOH, it wouldn't hurt to be specific in the clue.


JSYK, MLK's birthday is Jan. 15. (It's not the 21st) The observation thereof is a variable date on the 3rd Monday of Jan. We love our Monday holidays! I recall, as many of you will, that we used to observe Lincoln's birthday, 2/12, and Washington's birthday, 2/22, separately and on the right dates. Seemed more meaningful that way. President(')s Day--Ugh!


I waited to complete SKETCH__ and let the downs do it. I thought maybe there was some kind if condiment theme after UP went in. I will forego any lame puns at this point.

Anonymous 10:23 AM  

Someone else can spell it out more accurately, but my understanding is that PPP means proper nouns, particularly obscure proper nouns and related material (such as SON) that you can't guess if you don't know them.

Z 10:24 AM  

@L’inferno - HELLA nom de blog. Anyway, I agree and disagree. The WoD is always what Rex deems the most obscure, not what is most worthy of being profiled. Where I agree with you is that Sojourner TRUTH is at least as undertaught an historical figure as CABOT, so I’d have gone with her. Indeed, I recall CABOT getting lots of coverage in my 8th grade US History class while TRUTH, Douglas, Tubman, got lumped together almost as a footnote. Of course, my 8th grade class was before Black History Month was universal in the US and there was an overemphasis on the Civil War and shocking short shrift on its causes. I suspect that, having experienced his US History class a decade after me means that Rex overestimates how generally well known African-American historical figures are.

Z 10:35 AM  

PPP
Pop Culture, Product Names, and other Proper Nouns as a percentage of the puzzle. Experience suggests that whenever the PPP is more than 33% of the puzzle that some subset of solvers will have trouble solving the puzzle
@anon10:23 is correct, PPP can be easy of you know it, but is often uninferable. I started counting it after finding a Saturday puzzle extremely easy and free of proper nouns while another solver (@OISK) complained about all the obscure proper nouns. It turned out @OISK was correct. I then tracked it daily for a bit and looked at responses and found that at about 33% or more there would be complaints. That is also the point where there would be natick complaints. 33% is also where we start seeing the wheelhouse/outhouse phenomenon, id est exactly what happened on that Saturday. The PPP was in my wheelhouse so I found it easy. The PPP was in @OISK’s outhouse so he found it challenging.

Tonto 10:44 AM  

The word “indigenous” was invented for a reason. Every human is a native of the place they were born. Your wife is a native New Zealander but not an indigenous Kiwi. I am a native American, born of Caucasian parents in New Jersey.

Banana Diaquiri 10:50 AM  

@anon/9:41
Maori are not natives--they came to New Zealand by boat.

by that measure, the only 'natives' on the planet live in some valley in Africa. the rest of us came from there over the years. yes?

Suzie Q 11:12 AM  

Way too easy eve for a Monday. No word play or cleverness. It got the job done as a tribute but there was no fun to be had. Pity.
Only spark of interest for me was the Bellum/Pax clue/answer.

@merican in Paris 11:12 AM  

@Z -- You are right: I miscounted. I think I included SUPER (a clue related to a comic book or TV or film character), but I can't find the other three.

@FrankStein -- I get that LON Chaney is a legend, but I would say much less familiar to large numbers of people than would be Boris Karloff, or John Wayne (which even has an airport named after him). But I will concede that LON might qualify for a Tuesday puzzle. :-)

@Anonymous (9:41 AM) -- If the fact that New Zealand's "Maori are not natives", because they came to the islands by boat (and were the first to settle NZ), then the only people who would count as true natives of the place in which they reside are sub-Saharan Africans. The rest of us are descended from Homo sapiens who long ago emigrated from that area.

@CDilly52 -- Most of the New Zealanders I've met -- and I've met at least a hundred over the years -- do call themselves KIWIs.

Unknown 11:32 AM  

As a native Philadelphian of a certain vintage, I cheer anytime Mikey Schmidt gets props.

JC66 11:38 AM  

I think many of you are missing the point that the KIWI is native to New Zealand.

Masked and Anonymous 11:42 AM  

Good MLK Day puz … its heart is definitely in the right place. Puz seemed slightly feisty for a typical Monday, especially with PASHA comin right out of the chute -- but OK by m&e … only *slightly feisty*, and always best to park yer dedication puz on its right celebration day.

There were some primo moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clues, to keep the feist reasonably fluffy-cuddly. fave: {"E pluribus ___"} = UNUM.

Second day in a row with a debut constructioneer. All-debut week, perhaps?

fave fillins: HITTHEHAY. TALKSHOW. SRILANKA. Symmetrical SCHMIDT/ABOUTME [Hidden meta-ode to the "About Schmidt" flick.]

staff weeject picks: Tie, betwixt INO & SCH. Better INO clue: {"Not me!", more formally than snot??}. Better SCH clue: {Three things About 27-Across??}.

Thanx and congratz, Mr. Biggins. Superb weeject stacks, btw. Scrabbly NE-er stack, too boot. I'm kinda feelin a LOTR vibe, in yer name -- U probably get that, a lot, huh? … M&A promises not to make a hobbit of talkin about that, tho.

Masked & Anonymo6Us


biter:
**gruntz**

jberg 11:44 AM  

Wow, not even noon and everything has been said. OK puzzle, and the jump back a century for the third themer was kind of nice. And I learned that one can say SKETCH UP.

Anonymous 11:58 AM  

Damn you folk be old and technically illiterate. SketchUp (formerly Google SketchUP) is a simple 3D drawing tool. The name was chosen because it means to draw up quickly, and damned if it doesn't enable one to do just that, make a 3D drawing quickly and easily. Been around for a while, used by millions.

Rainbow 12:10 PM  

Kiwi is the nickname used internationally for people from New Zealand, as well as being a relatively common self-reference. The name derives from the kiwi, a flightless bird, which is native to, and the national symbol of, New Zealand.

And there's this:

KIWI fruit is native to northern China. Other species of Actinidia are native to India, Japan, and southeastern Siberia. Cultivation of the fuzzy KIWI fruit spread from China in the early 20th century to NEW ZEALAND, where the first commercial plantings occurred.

Z 12:11 PM  

@Anon11:58 - So PPP? I have a hard time believing that was the intent on a Monday, but it certainly fits the clue. Even with “millions” of users it could be pretty niche. 33 million users would put it at just 10% of the US population. I do think you’re probably right, but it doesn’t seem a Monday level answer. Excel, Photoshop, MS Word, that sort of ubiquity seems more appropriate for a Monday. I just don’t know how many people need 3-D rendering software even once.

FrankStein 12:18 PM  

@Merican, I see your point. And agree.

Nancy 12:22 PM  

Thanks, @kitshef. In a world of too many acronyms, LEED is one that's truly worthy. I shall try to remember it in the future. But better not bank on it.

@Michiganman -- Thanks for the correction. I'm feeling more than a bit embarrassed. But I always have trouble with those malleable, moveable Monday birthdays -- unless they're the ones that 1) I learned when I was very, very young and 2) were actually celebrated back then on the correct date. Think Washington. Think Lincoln.

@merican -- I saw FIT FO' RAKING too. A real DOOK.

Off the subject and re the Patriots-Chiefs game. Is anyone else as furious as I am at the outrageously unfair coin toss OT rule that ruined one of the most thrilling games in NFL playoff history and denied the Chiefs' offensive unit the chance to even touch the ball? This is the worst rule I've ever seen in any sport -- the absolute worst!!!

Rand 12:23 PM  

We are all native to the place where we were born. You can debate whether the Maori are aboriginal or indigenous but they are certainly native New Zealanders, as are Kiwis and Michael Sharp’s wife, if she was in fact born there.

Native New Yorker 12:30 PM  

Kiwi’s are native New Zealanders.The clue is accurate .

Joe Bleaux 12:49 PM  

This is essentially a note to myself: I will post today. If the mystery continues, with the privilege being denied me, and then restored in another day or so, I’m *sigh* gone for good (no great loss to the blog, but I do prize knowing that I *could* put in my penny’s worth.

Gridiron Gary 12:57 PM  

I agree that it's awful. College football has messed up OT rules, too. FWIW, baseball does it right. They just keep playing with no change in rules. I think football should have a timed OT period just like regulation, with no "instant winner". Play the whole OT period.

Sara Dacus 12:57 PM  


Time posted by Arkansas girl who has been solving for a year and a half: 11:04.

Banana Diaquiri 12:58 PM  

@Nancy:

could be worse. could be the original OT rule: the first to score wins, so the coin-toss winner usually wins.
"Prior to the 2010 playoffs, the overtime winner was simply the first team to score any points"
here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_football_rules

if only that blockhead hadn't lined up half a foot over the line!!! if he's still on the team next year...

Austenlover 1:05 PM  

@Nancy, yes, there are a lot of us here in Kansas who think that rule is pretty unfair. Having a coin toss determine who wins a championship stinks!

Crimson Devil 1:27 PM  

Amen. Baseball rocks: pitchers and catchers report Feb 12 & 13.

Anonymous 1:28 PM  

I tied my best Monday time, but I had to fill in some of the proper names with crosses. So I enjoyed it. In my wheelhouse, apparently.

Anoa Bob 1:37 PM  

PPP (lower case) can also be a musical notation for pianississimo ("very soft"). It has appeared several times in the NYT xword, clued as such. I guess ppp would qualify as a PPP. Apparently the mother of all notations in this vein would be pppppp, meaning "as soft as possible". M&A, maybe a runtz inspiration?

I've said it before and I will chime in again to agree with those above who point out that the scientific consensus is that humans are native to Africa, and everywhere else we are immigrants, differing only in when and how we or our ancestors arrived. The beat goes on.

Odd Sock 1:51 PM  

@ JOHN X reported back late yesterday to report he had finished the puzzle. Well done. I'll bet he had more fun than most of us.
First we have a snail named Gary and now we have a fish named Dory.
Hey, my neighbor has a dog named Gavin. So what.
These tribute puzzles can really be a drag. I suppose if something, however lame, did not get published there would be a huge backlash from the easily offended crowd always ready to scream "How dare you not honor Saint So-and-so?" At least we only had to sacrifice a mere Monday puzzle so no big loss.
We are, however, graced with the inane attempt to stir the pot with the indigenous question. Nice try.

pabloinnh 1:54 PM  

@Austenlover

I don't like the rule either, but the coin toss did not "determine who wins a championship". The Patriots still had to score a touchdown, and the Chiefs were allowed to try to stop them.

It's hard to point this out without sounding like a smug Pats' fan, and that's not my intention. Mahomes is the best young player I've seen in a very long time and I think KC has a terrific future. NE keeps winning games somehow, I've given up trying to understand it.

Was just a lot of fun watching such an amazing game.

Amy 2:45 PM  

To be honest, I thought it kind of trivialized the people it ostensibly seeks to commemorate not to be cranky about it. I’d rather see an MLK day puzzle that uses quotes or other real life things or dates or something other than dumb word plays on their names. ����‍♀️

Banana Diaquiri 3:28 PM  

@pabloinnh:

well... you should send D. Ford a Super Bowl game check. he's the only reason the B Boys from Boston (yes, I saw them in Fenway Park) are in it.

Anon 11:58 3:29 PM  

@Z - I really didn't really mean to say that SketchUp as a product was sufficiently well known to appear as a stand-alone answer in a puzzle, just that the phrase sketch-up was well know, well know enough to use as a source for the product name. However, at its peak it was getting 30mm+ new users per year, so that's that.

@NFL Overtime - The game has to end sometime, so at some point it's necessary to invoke rules that artificially stop the game. If they played a full quarter of OT, what does one do when the score is tied after that one? Play another, and another?? I'm betting none of you don't have any idea of how physically stressing a NFL game is, to suggest that these men could just play on indefinitely is absurd. The more tired they get, the more likely it is that they will get seriously injured. There's a reason all physically demanding contact sports (US Football, real football, hockey, etc) are timed and have artificial paths to resolving the winner in the case of ties. Baseball players aren't going to get too tired sitting in the dugout 95% of the time to go out and field the next inning, so they can play forever.

Nancy 4:30 PM  

@pabloinnh (1:54) -- As soon as the Chiefs lost the coin toss, I said to myself: "There goes the ballgame. It's over." My heart sank. I felt I almost didn't have to watch. It comes from too many years of watching Brady march unstoppably down the field for a game-winning touchdown in less than two minutes. He's obviously the best quarterback I've ever seen, as well as some sort of bionic Superman. But I always root against Deflategate Tom and the not-exactly-famous-for-his-above-board-ethics Belichick. (Don't be mad at me, @pabloinnh, I certainly like you -- even if you're a Pats fan.) With both the Giants and the Jets hopeless and hapless and pretty much unwatchable, my only football pleasure these days seems to be rooting against. And the Pats are the team I love to hate. So I was rooting hard* in this game for the Chiefs. And like @Austenlover, I did think that the final result was essentially determined by the coin toss.

* I think this is the main difference between sports-watching by men and by women. Men can watch any game, as long as they think it will be a "good" game, and they will find a way to talk themselves into caring who wins. Caring deeply, deeply, in fact. I don't think too many women can do that. Certainly I can't. Do I like this city better than that city? Do I know anyone in that city or have I ever traveled there? Do I like this [mostly unknown] quarterback more than that one? Is one quarterback handsomer than another. Does one have a more winning smile? Does one team have prettier uniforms? Has one city suffered recently and is it in greater need of gridiron happiness? I've tried all these methods when watching various playoffs and Superbowls and it only lasts for a few minutes. I then start rooting for whoever has the ball -- offense being more fun to watch than defense. And then I realize that I don't really care at all.

Banana Diaquiri 4:38 PM  

@anon 11:58
If they played a full quarter of OT, what does one do when the score is tied after that one? Play another, and another??

that's the rule in playoffs. which it has to be, of course.


There's a reason all physically demanding contact sports (US Football, real football, hockey, etc) are timed and have artificial paths to resolving the winner in the case of ties.

if memory serves, all of those sports previously accepted ties for standing purposes. it was only in recent decades that various OT schemes were instituted to remove those pesky ties. with ties, you have to decide how they weigh in standings, which is necessarily arbitrary. get rid of them. but that means playing until one team is ahead. at that point, does the other team have the right try to flip the score? and so on.

Anon 11:57 5:16 PM  

@Banana Diaquiri Please, please don't be such an argumentative idiot. You are wrong, 99.99% of the time, both with the nits you choose to pick and with this particular one. The 0.01% of the time you might be right here is if the first team doesn't score a touchdown, and after the second team's first possession they are tied with the first team, then no one ever scores again. It is not a sequence of 15 minute OTs with merely some stupid rules for the first possession or two. There's way each team can score 10 points in the OT to force a second OT. It is done that way to assure that there is as quick an ending to the game as possible without totally screwing one team. Partially, sure, as the time that wins the toss has an advantage - if they march down the field and score a TD they win. It goes from a 50-50 chance of winning based on the toss to a 60-40 chance, which is probably as close as anyone can get without risking life, limb and career for these men.

Malsdemare 5:45 PM  

Late to the blog today after a crazy storm-filled, family weekend. Mr. Mr. Mal and I celebated 50 years on Friday, planned a party and then watched as a storm rolled it, grounding about half the guests (who were coming from out of town). Had to postpone until Sunday besides. But lots of fun, topped by the Super Blood Wolf Moon eclipse last night. Grandson and I stood out in sub zero weather gawking at the dazzling Milky Way and the truly red moon eclipse.

Great puzzle! Favorite Sojourner quote: I’m not going to die. I’m going home like a shooting star.

Mourning King’s loss; we need heros these days.

Carola 5:48 PM  

@Nancy 4:30 - I don't know the first thing about the Chiefs, but I was sure rooting for them yesterday, for the same reason as you.
@Banana Diaquiri 12:58 - Ditto on that infraction. Geez!

Walk Away Renee 5:49 PM  

Proper Nouns — names of People, Products, and Places, I think?

Walk Away Renee 5:51 PM  

Awesome family lore! Was it Murrow who had the news show, You Are There?

JC66 6:31 PM  

@Mals

Mazel Tov!

@Nancy

I thought you were going to watch the Australian Open.

@Banana D

What anon 11:57 said.

Banana Diaquiri 6:32 PM  

@anon:
There's a reason all physically demanding contact sports (US Football, real football, hockey, etc) are timed and have artificial paths to resolving the winner in the case of ties.

again, the use of OT is just a mechanism to get rid of ties, most of the time. for decades before, ties were part of the game, you can look it up. wouldn't surprise me that Vegas figured there'd be more betting action if ties went away. just a guess. someone decided ties were bad, thus a changing set of rules. BTW, the NHL still has ties, and assigns points the same way it did before it did OT. and should the NHL even have a shoot out?? that's not hockey.

Tita 6:56 PM  

@Malsdemare - congratulations!!! Glad you were able to celebrate after all. And with a spectacular eclipse to boot!

@Anoa from a few days ago - fascinating about your Tennessee school...
Thanks for sharing that.

Rob 7:04 PM  

Solid Monday, and it's nice to have a tribute puzzle today.

Anne 7:56 PM  

Thank you, Lewis.

Anonymous 8:31 PM  

Banana,
The nfl has been using overtime since at least 1958. Thats 69 seasons ago.
The league only started IN 1920. I'll help you with the arithmetic; the NFL has used overtime for more than twice as long as they havent.

Nancy 9:44 PM  

@JC66 -- Only a person with a heart of stone could have turned off that thriller of a game -- not even to watch the Australian Open. And there was a women's match I cared about a lot on at the same time -- the Osaka match. But as someone who played tennis passionately for more than half a century, it pains me to have to admit this: as a spectator sport, I find football at its most exciting considerably more exciting than tennis at its most exciting. This, despite the fact that I'm an exceptionally sophisticated and knowledgeable tennis spectator and a spectacularly unsophisticated football spectator. When you play a sport you know a sport. When you've never played a sport, you can't understand the sport in all its subtleties. So that in tennis, I can often tell just from the service toss whether the serve will be a fault or not. I usually know as soon as contact is made that the groundstroke will be long. And on disputed calls where "Hawkeye" is brought in to confirm or overturn the line judge, I am right at least 98% of the time. Really! I swear! Whereas in football, I watch the quarterback and I [try] to watch the ball. Often I'm completely faked out and the ball isn't where I think it is. I certainly don't watch defensive formations; I can't tell one from another. When I try to be sophisticated and watch the defensive line, I always miss the play entirely. And yet... as much as I may miss of the nuances of the game, at its best, football is wonderful theater.

Rug Crazy 10:58 AM  

Sorry - PFFT just sucks

fakt chekker 10:14 AM  

@Banana Diaquiri - stop being such a frequent ignoramus. The NHL does not have ties anymore and the points are not divvied up the same as they used to be. There are Wins, Losses, and OT losses; 2 points for a win (even in OT), 1 point for an OT loss, so 3 points possibly divvied up in a game. It used to be a point apiece for a tie, every game worth only a total of 2 points.

Burma Shave 10:20 AM  

TALKSHOW AMOR

I’m not FITFORAKING ATOLL, OMG,
INO longer POSE for HEF, but O,SAY,
if you knew THEWHOLETRUTH ABOUTME,
SON, you’d wanna be ABEL to HITTHEHAY.

--- EMILY O’DELL

thefogman 10:42 AM  

ITS not SUPER or even HELLA good, but good enough. Nothing to make you go PFFT, yet IDO think it lacks a few OMG moments. But enough ABOUTME. TRUTH be told, TIS better than your average Monday, SEW Sean Biggins give yourself a PAT on the back.

Diana, LIW 12:45 PM  

Whilst not so difficult (except for the random sports figure, etc.), I do wonder how a brand new newbie would approach this puzzle. Would it be FIT FOR A KING or would they still be searching for DORY? THE WHOLE TRUTH now!

Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords

PS - Why the long, long delay yesterday in posting comments? Was OFL watching the Oscars and the red carpet shows?

rainforest 1:55 PM  

Decent tribute puzzle which revealed Sojourner TRUTH, someone I'd never heard of, but am glad to now know.

I won't comment further as the inclusion of KING evokes memories of the murderous 60's when JFK, RFK, and MLK were all senselessly killed by guns. Of course, nothing of sense has happened with gun legislation since then.

leftcoastTAM 3:01 PM  

Fitting tribute on MLK Jr. Day (back there in real time).

Paused at HELLA, the UP in SKETCH UP, and had DORa before DORY.

Right, an easy-medium Monday, and a good one.

rondo 5:08 PM  

Let SKETCHUP to 5 weeks ago and M.L. KING Jr. Day. In these parts, those 5 weeks have been by far the coldest of the year, then the snowiest Feb of all time (with 3 days still to go). SEW, I’d rather not be reminded. But a nice puz regardless.

Not all hot rod engines are HEMIs BTW. In fact, probably very few are/were. Chrysler Corp. didn’t have that many cars at all with HEMI engines back in the 1950s – early 60s, so it woulda been kinda rare for say, a DeSoto HEMI to find ITS way into something qualifying as a ‘hot rod’. Even in the late 60s when you could get a Plymouth RoadRunner with a 426 HEMI, most of them had the standard type cylinder heads with a 383 or 440 engine. Most ‘hot rods’ were probably Ford and Chevy powered with a few Pontiac and Olds for good measure.

By a happy coincidence, it is yeah baby Nancy ODELL’s 53rd birthday today.

OK puz and that’s THEWHOLETRUTH.

CBlair 7:59 PM  

I see many people are always going for fastest times. We prefer to savor a puzzle, and work to solve the entire Monday grid by reading only down clues. We can do it sometimes.
CBlair

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