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1986 celebrity autobiography / WED 11-25-20 / Indian state along the Himalayas / Herbal drink full of antioxidants / Concerns for Cinderella and her stepsisters
Wednesday, November 25, 2020
Constructor: John Guzzetta and Jeff Chen
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (untimed)
- MALE HEIR / AIR MAIL (16A: Prince, e.g. / 25A: Stamp on an envelope [and 16-Across flipped])
- TOW PLANE / PLAIN TOE (31A: It takes a glider up to launch altitude / 44A: Basic kind of shoe [and 31-Across flipped])
- TEE TIME / THYME TEA (50A: Golf reservation / 63A: Herbal drink full of antioxidants [and 50-Across flipped])
Buck O'Neil (né John Jordan O'Neil Jr.; November 13, 1911 – October 6, 2006) was a first baseman and manager in the Negro American League, mostly with the Kansas City Monarchs. After his playing days, he worked as a scout, and became the first African American coach in Major League Baseball. In his later years he became a popular and renowned speaker and interview subject, helping to renew widespread interest in the Negro leagues, and played a major role in establishing the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri.
O'Neil's life was documented in Joe Posnanski's award-winning 2007 book The Soul of Baseball. (wikipedia)
• • •
ECON is not a H.S. class, not consistently at any rate (36D: H.S. class). I have no doubt that some HSs offer it, but not mine (30+ years ago) and not my daughter's (3 years ago). My wife has ECON as a unit in the Social Studies course she teaches seniors, and I can Guarantee you none of them have had an ECON class before. It is very much a Univ. or Coll. course, so why not just clue it that way. ENG is a HS course (taught at all HSs). BIO, CHEM, CALC, all HS courses. Everywhere (or nearly everywhere, probably, in the case of CALC). Not ECON. Cluing accuracy is important. Not much left to talk about. I always enjoy remembering Manhattans, so keep the Manhattan clues coming (26D: Traditional ingredient in a manhattan => RYE). Probably have one tonight. Happy Thanksgiving Eve! Also, Happy MyBirthday Eve! It's a twofer this year!
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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87 comments:
High School Principal here ... I tend to agree that I think of ECON as a college class (I certainly took it in college). But ... AP does offer an ECON exam (two actually), so I think this answer is defensible.
Dull is right. 100% with Rex.
I fly gliders and I can assure you there's nothing odd about a TOW PLANE.
@rex -- Happy pre-birthday!
This was an involving theme for me. After getting the first pair of theme answers, it was fun to try to get the others with as few letters as possible. I also thought the difficulty level was pitch perfect for Wednesday, with a fair number of gimmes combined with some halt-and-think zones. My heart gushed when I saw the name of my now two-month-old new grandson ARI, and I’m guessing the thyme tea business will experience a bump in the next few weeks.
This puzzle was also a reminder for me to continually work to connect with other people, because the synergy is so life-enriching. Here, according to the constructors' notes on XwordInfo, John came to Jeff with an idea that wasn’t in Jeff’s radar; Jeff used programming skills that John didn’t have to see if the idea was feasible. It wasn’t, but in the process, an unexpected discovery – flippable homophone phrases – emerged, and this puzzle was born, to the benefit of both constructors, not to mention me, and I suspect, many other solvers.
Thank you for that reminder, J&J, and for this fun solve!
Wow, what a difference a day makes. Yesterday we had a nice wonderfully smooth, crisp and clean puzzle to enjoy. Today we go back to the other end of the spectrum with a very PPP-laden trivia-fest. You don’t even get out of the tiny NW corner and you have
LOBO
IVAN
ONEIL
ELLIE crossing HEIGL
Which is more trivia than the entire puzzle contained yesterday. It doesn’t get much better after that (HOLA crossing ASSAM crossing ARI for example). I agree with Rex - if you insist on including esoterica, at least don’t have them crossing each other. Obviously, the editors at the Times feel contrary (which of course is their right). It sure seems like bad form to me.
Government and Econ are both required at all Nashville high schools, so it seemed pretty down the middle to me. And, as said above, AP Econ is a fairly popular AP offering. Not as popular as Calculus or English, but fairly common.
Agree with the rest. Dull. Boring. Easy, except for names I never seem to know...Uri or Ari was a pure guess from me.
Interesting concept. Enjoyed the wordplay. But agree with Rex that the most interesting fill was slouched.
Eels are found in coral reefs but hardly come to mind whenever I think about reefs. I guess that’s a product of living upstate NY where we find them in rivers. Second day this week with Tempe - the new eke?
Too many names especially in the NW corner! Ivan, Ellie, Heigl. I wanted to scream. No joy here.
So a TOW PLANE and a PLAIN TOE go to the bar after TEE TIME and order THYME TEA. An AIRMAIL stamp is sitting right by the RYE Manhattan and the MALE HEIR shouts "It's the ORANGE OGRE." Then everyone goes home and OINKS.
Easy little hump day puzzle.
I sometimes wonder if I have OCD. I wash my hands 352 times a day.
@Nancy from late last night: How many people on this earth do you know named Brock Chester? No...I didn't date him.... I wasn't prom queen material. My "girl" friend did; she was the one that set me up with "Mr. Cry All Night" BLIND DATE. Pali High was an example of over-indulged, spoiled kids who were bored to tears. I knew some of the people mentioned in the book. One of them (I forget which) was one of my neighbors. She was nerdy as hell; ended up in a commune (I think) and gave birth in a bathtub. See?
I never heard of ELLIE Kemper or her clue Kimmy Schmidt. Other than that, this seemed rather easy for a Wednesday (or maybe just in my wheelhouse).
Best part: Buck ONEIL. I had the immense honor of being seated next to Buck at a small affair in the late 90s. What a character he was; the stories he told!
A near miracle that among IVAN, ELLIE, TED, LYNN, ASSAM, STU, ONEIL, HEIGL, ARI, OTTO, LIESL, (I)TINA, there is only one unknown to me. Because so many of them cross, I have to think if you don’t know some of these … ONEIL/HEIGL/ELLIE OR LEISL/LYNN, this could play really hard.
Never made it to ASSAM, but when we were in Bhutan, we were surprised to see meat available in many places in a primarily-Buddhist country. Our guide told us that it was OK because they did not kill the animals themselves, but got the meat from ASSAM (or possibly from the ASSAMese in southern Bhutan – his English was excellent, but still a second language). It seemed an odd rationalization, but it worked for him. We got to meet the king (at the time, the crown prince) and still have the scarves he gave us. Because he was in town, we got kicked out of the hotel we had booked so his retinue could stay there, and had to sleep in a tent on the grounds of a nearby monastery – sharing pit toilets with the monks, no showers … good times.
Didn't really catch on to the "flipped" aspect of this until I was finished, then went back and saw what was going on, which did not elicit the much-desired "aha!" but instead more of an "oh.". I think I've heard of a PLAINTOE shoe, and have been in a glider being towed by a TOWPLANE (or gone "soaring" which is the preferred term around here), liked MALEHEIR and AIRMAIL, TEETIME, yes, but THYMETEA? Really? Possible, maybe, but not likely.
Soaring is a hoot, by the way. Flying with no noise at all is very different, and you don't have to worry about engine failure.
Some names I didn't know, but crosses to the rescue, some trivia dredged up, which was fun, and you get GLITZ and VORTEX, which will always push a puzzle into the fun column. Thanks to the J's, G and C, for a nice Wednesdecito.
Happy Thanksgiving to all and sundry, and stay home.
Best. Tuesday. Ever.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who wondered if drinking Manhattans is okay at the marina.
Is the ECON clue wrong? No. Did it make my eye twitch? Absotively.
Buck O’NEIL made me think that there are more O’NEaLs than Neals. Shaquille and Tatum come immediately to mind. Who else?
I just googled THYME TEA and discovered that it has amazing! health benefits. It’s on the interwebs so you know it is is true.
I did two puzzles this morning. Both took perfectly good words at 1A and clued them into PPP. Blrrrrgh.
@Rex complains that ECON is not typically offered as a high school course and, therefore, should be more straightforwardly clued as a college course.
My take: This is a crossword *puzzle*, not a crossword *fill-in-the-blanks*. It's supposed to be puzzling.
@John / @Jeff, thank you for this excellent Wed. challenge. Lots of sparkle; great theme, and nice cultural mix. :)
Had a couple of bad ideas in the NW. Had 1A "Lobo", but doubted myself and took it out for 1D "Nile". Got "oval", "O'Neil", and "Ellie", so put "Lobo" back in and replaced "Nile" with "lime" and was on my way. The rest was on my wavelength. No major hangups. Av. time due to NW, but otherwise fast.
Liked the theme, once I figured out that the spelling could change to new words sounding the same as their counterparts.
Ended by revisiting 5D "WDE" (didn't ring true); looked at "dry" and twigged, "ah "wry", and Bob was my uncle.
Write-overs: 1D "Nile"; 5D "WDE"; 14A "dry".
New: "thyme tea"; "Ari".
Hazy: "Lobo"; "WWE"; "gyro"; "variety act"; "ogre" (as clued).
Fav clues/answers: "glitz"; "messy"; "oink"; "slew"; "ball gowns"; "gyro"; "team member"; "past tense"; "slouched"; "idiom".
WOTD: "O'Neil"
LOTD: Assamese
Loretta "Lynn" - Coal Miner's Daughter
Peace Mir Paz অহিংস Pace Frieden 🕊
@Z, yes to the Marina, no to the Roller Coaster. I missed the convergence today since my Rye school is off today.
I spy 2 Semordnilaps!
Had an easy go of this one with a faster time than yesterday. (I was curious, so I checked.) Oh, hey - I just thought of something! Who cares?
Moving on.
The theme is bugging me. What is the word (is there a word?) for that business of rearranging and changing letters, because it sure as hell ain't just "flipping" or anagraming or mirroring or homophoning. Kind of a mishmash of all of those.
And so while I didn't exactly hate it, I really feel like it missed the mark, leaving me utterly uninspired.
This was the crossword puzzle version of socks for Christmas when you're a kid. Yeah, I could use some, but I wanted a puppy.
I can't and shan't go on.
🧠
🎉🎉
TEAM Mascot as an answer to "part of a squad"? Doesn't make much sense. TEAM MEMBER it is. THYME TEA seems quite all right as an example of the theme: it's definitely a thing (deal with it). Has the flipped homophone been used as a theme before? Seems like a clever idea and a creative challenge. An implicit rule would be that you can't repeat a word across the homophones, so I'm not sure why Rex mentions TEa TIME as also "very solid" -- it absolutely wouldn't work with THYME TEA for this reason.
Am willing to agree that the fill wasn't super-exciting. On the other hand, it seemed fairly clean, i.e., not much dreck there. I like LIESL as an Austrian name. I find that "hue" is an odd way of cluing an unqualified color like ORANGE, as I think of hue as referring to a particular shade of color, e.g., burnt orange.
Liked it more than Rex. Theme was cute - but agree that the result is pretty boring. I guess TEE TIME/THYME TEA was ok. The fill was flat but clean - not much gluey stuff. Liked the VORTEX x VARIETY ACT cross and the great Loretta LYNN is always nice to see.
@Z - how about Eugene and Mrs. Chaplin - Oona?
Decent solve - but a overall SLOUCHy puzzle.
I do the syndicated NYTX, so I’m always five weeks behind the discussion here. I often stop in to see what’s being said, but I find myself becoming fatigued by the nature of many of the comments.
Imagine how boring a crossword puzzle would be if it didn’t contain any of the things which raise hackles here: a puzzle without PPP, POCs, stuff that trends too old, stuff that trends too new, things that people who live there would never say, foreign words and phrases, sports mascots, crosswordeses. clues that aren’t dictionary-perfect definitions, awful puns, word play, rebuses (even if they aren’t real rebupodes), things which someone has never heard of, or things which are out of someone’s wheelhouse. Imagine no puzzles that were one and a half Rex’s too hard for a Tuesday, or 30 seconds too easy for a Wednesday, or which didn’t throw a nano-second delay-inducing curve at you.
Then imagine adopting Lewis’s attitude, just for a day (tomorrow might be a good day to try it). Look past your own wants and needs and idiosyncrasies, and try to find and celebrate the good that surrounds you.
Peace to you all.
Homophones rule.
Who needs a cell anyway?
Econ(omics) is a required course in the NYC public high schools. The NYT is, theoretically, a NYC paper
Hey All !
Or... Awl Hay ! (Oof...)
Unfortunately, have to go into the Meh group. An OK concept, but the themer choices were odd. THYME TEA, while a thing, seems wonky to the ears. "Is it TEa TIME? I'd like some THYME TEA, please", said about 2 hoity-toity people ever. :-)
40 black squares, leading to a choppy feel to the grid. Hate to be "Rex-y" on the chopped grid observation, but, there it is. And... It is what it is! Har. Although, it does have 8 long Downs, so a semi-choppy grid?
@Z
Sardonic on the wooden roller coaster? (Yep) WRY in RYE. (OOF, 2)
Is ARIZONA an ARIDZONE? Parts, I'm sure. Two odd-ending names, HEIGL and LIESL. Couple writeovers, sari-GYRO, tDS-YDS, VENTe-VENTI.
Wondering if tomorrow will be a Thanksgiving themed puz, or some other trickery. Hopefully fun, either way. Will should do a special 21x21 Thanksgiving Feast puz, or some such. Gobble Gobble.
No F's (That's like 3 times this week!)
RooMonster
DarrinV
Happy Birthday Eve, Rex! 🎂🥂
While I'm happy for you and your Manhattan cluing affinity, everybody knows that the RYE clue is marina-based.
@GILL 731am Only 352? Piker. 😘
@Z 751am Is there a Marina O'NEaL?
Hey. Wil Schwarts. Why you told us 16-across flipped like it was doing pancakes and omelette stuff? Does you think that we's are stupids? That we's can't see symbolarities without you? We's are on to you, Wil Schwarts.
~twist of lime~
Oh, wait! RYEan O'NEaL!
There was some pleasure to be had at discovering the theme which I thought was clever. But I agree with Rex that there was a lot of weird stuff in here: I cringed when typing in THYMETEA; PLAINTOE, whatever that is, was clearly something dragged in from some nether world because nothing better could be found to round out the theme; and, well, just, ARIDZONE? Is ARIDZONE a real thing or just two words put together to describe a desert?
I really enjoyed this puzzle. Relatively easy but with enough clever clues and uncommon fill to be interesting. However, I agree with Rex about the puzzle lacking zing. The long downs are almost hand-picked to be uninspiring (ARID ZONE, PAST TENSE, PATIENTLY) and stuffy/old-fashioned (BALL GOWNS, GROOMSMEN, VARIETY ACT). I also agree with others that the puzzle contained lots of names, not especially difficult names, but still...
And a nice RYE manhattan to cap it off!
Very difficult start for one who doesn’t own a tv or have cable. My only knowledge of tv is reading the NYTimes.
I stared blankly at the NW corner where I didn't know LOBO, IVAN, ELLIE, ONEIL or HEIGL and came within a hair's breadth of throwing the puzzle against the wall. I couldn't think of a single reason why I wanted to continue. The in-your-face insistence on pop culture cluing just made me cross.
But I went elsewhere anyway. I ended up discovering a theme I liked a lot, embedded in all the junk. So I feel a hate/love connection to the puzzle. It's a wordplay puzzle (very, very good thing) which requires you to plow through a lot of names that, if they're known today, will certainly be forgotten tomorrow. (A very, very bad thing.) If I were editor, I wouldn't have accepted the puzzle without insisting that that awful NW corner be cleaned up.
Nonetheless, the theme itself is clever, playful, and entertaining.
got a kick out of this puzzle, well done. I did pause at ECON. I had it in HS but it was an elective. Liked it enough to minor in Economics in college. Bit of a slip when I spelled Hegel for Katherines’ name. Buck’s name I kept saying to myself “I should KNOW this”. I didn’t really get the theme until I entered THYMETEA... aha! Ellie Keemper Is brilliant in that show, check it out and binge for awhile. We watched West Side Story last night (it is leaving Netflix 11/30) and I told a friend and she said “Oh, I love Rodgers and Hammerstein”.... uh... this was Leonard Bernstein’s baby. But then again I forgot how to spell LIESL’s name. Thanks J and J.... loved the puzzle and just tough enough for a perfect Wednesday.
Reading rex's comments for the better part of a year, one would think that the constructors and will shortz were deliberately teaming up to make the most boring, dry puzzles possible, just to make our lives miserable. . . .
reading Lewis in this blog makes me appreciate that one can, if he wishes, always find something positive in a situation. I much prefer to live in Lewis's world.
This was fun. I got AIR MAIL first and read the "flipped" in the clue and shook my head, huh? Went back to the north central and with IR at the end of 16A, it finally hit me as to what the theme was. Nice.
I did worry after getting THYME TEA and going to 50A and entering TEa TIME but it didn't take me long to see the TEE and breathe a bit easier. No need to anticipate outpourings of vitriol in the comments about an egregious dupe, whew!
My favorite clue today was for OINKS. EIEIO!
Thanks John and Jeff.
👍🏽🧩🤗🧩👍🏽
Enjoyed it.
The theme was fun, but if critical thinking is applied, must agree w/Rex.
Fun and easy Wednesday. Tough start in the NW, but a fun quick solve moving clockwise from the NE. The theme helped me move on from kombucha to THYMETEA, and sparked some interest in finding out what thyme tea is. Also get to see how my bacon infused RYE is coming along for the holidays, speaking of drinks to try (bacon infused rye, some home made cider syrup, and lemon juice - great cocktail). And then spent some time trying to see if I could add RYE and WRY to the theme somehow. Loved my one ride in a glider some years ago, and puzzles with answers related to birds and baseball always appeal, so this one did everything I hope for - spark some interest, connections, and memories.
Kvetcher's Korner: Like some other commenters, I found the NW to provide a singularly uninviting entry to the grid. It remained an ARID ZONE until I was able to back into it with MALE HEIR and piece together the names I didn't know. A joyless exercise that set the tone for the rest of the grid. The one flash of GLITZ wasn't enough sparkle to redeem this dull effort.
Agree. I am still happy when I complete the puzzle, and,that's worth celebrating. But, it is good to know that snarkier people than I exist!! Happy Thanksgiving all
What @Joe Dipinto said. Why on Earth did they feel the need to spell out the "flipped" thing?
Overall I thought a lot of the clueing was very Monday. Oh, Loretta AND country AND No. 1 hit AND "Coal Mine's Daughter," you say?
Guess I shouldn't complain about so many gimmes when there is an ASSAM/ARI cross lurking.
Ha!
My belated thanks to those whose responded to my inquiry, a day or two ago, about other crossword sites. I only look at this site once a day - unless I've posted something and want to confirm that it made it through the gate. Once a day is plenty as far as I'm concerned. Too many of the same folks saying the same thing every day - who needs it? But thanks again for the asked-for info.
The six cute flippers in the puzzles reminded me of six dolphins that trailed our cruise ship a few years back. They would form a tight formation and execute a series of perfectly-synchronized jumps for us as we watched from the deck.
I have a Manhattan almost every night. Rye is a little too harsh for me. I use VO.
@Joe Dipinto (9:09). Nice Borat.
Not much here besides the clever theme.
Snooze fest 😴
Not a PR, but about half of my normal mid-week time today. Very easy and helpful theme. Would have made a good Monday offering, but no complaints here.
To pile on to the ECON comments. My high school offered it 50 years ago, but it was an AP class and therefore in theory a college level class. That said in New York State (not the the City) there is a requirement for one semester of Economics. My oldest fulfilled the requirement with AP Econ by youngest opted out of it by taking an exam.
I found the puzzle very easy, but oddly dull. Was there any wordplay at all besides the (not very interesting) themers? I happened to know most of the names, with the only hitch being ONEaL vs ONEIL, but ELLIE was clearly correct on the across.
From puns yesterday to homophones today, that’s quite a leap. Not particularly exciting but interesting enough on a Wednesday and a situation where the theme was actually UTILE in the solve. I have closets full of shoes but I’d never describe any of them as PLAIN TOE. Did not know about THYME TEA either. If you asked me for an herbal drink full of antioxidants I would have said chai or maybe even green tea. EXALT before EXTOL and TEAM LEADER before MEMBER.
@GILL: I was intrigued by the discussion of the “Class of 65” yesterday and went searching for the book on line. I was delighted to find it available from my local library lending network and have a copy headed my way. I’ll let you know if I see any mention of you.
Have to go now and decide what to wear to the living room for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.
Even split today on gender representation, not counting cartoons.
IVAN, TED, ONEIL, ARI, OTTO
ELLIE, LYNN, ITINA, HEIGL, LIESL
Buck O'Neil! Hell yeah!
I was stumped by the ELLIE!HEIGL cross; particularly tough because I had isothermal at that point, and didn’t know if it was ONEaL or ONEIL. I had to look up the two actresses; but once I did, I liked the HEIGL / LIESL pairing. That consonant-l ending is fairly common in German (be on the alert for Trautl in a puzzle to come).
TOW PLANE is certainly a thing, and PLAIN TOE seems a reasonable name for a shoe. I’m guessing it’s the type where the toe is a smooth curved piece of leather, but I haven’t looked it up.
I’m getting more and more annoyed by the product placement; VENTI is particularly bad. I’m embarrassed that I knew it.
I had Economics in high school almost 30 years ago. In fact, there were two AP tests for Economics even back then. I think it is legitimate to refer to it as a HS class. But agree that the puzzle was lame and the themers the worst. Thyme Tea. No...
Hey, @Z: How about a PPP count?
Didn't find this puz to be dull, but I did notice a few odd things about it …
1. Like most everybody else, had some trouble with all the names right outta the chute, in the NW. In fact, this rodeo had a weird amount of crossin names, such as:
a) IVAN/ONEIL. M&A knew IVAN. Sorta knew ONEIL [other than spellin it], once the startup "O" was in place and it jogged my memory.
b) ELLIE/HEIGL. Didn't know either.
c) ASSAM/ARI. Knew ARI.
d) LIESL/LYNN. Knew both.
e) OTTO/TED. Knew both.
2. Short themers. Always makes the rest of the puzgrid work harder, to stay under the 78-word ceilin. I liked the theme idea ok -- caught onto it off the first pair, which helped somewhat with the rest of em.
But, but -- TOWPLANE…? THYMETEA...? PAINTGREEN-ish.
p.s.: OTTO flips nicely to TOOT.
3. 8-Down's {Naturally occurring example of "opposites attract"?} = ION. M&A thought maybe this was gonna have a theme revealer tie-in. It just ended up bein too chemically cerebral for M&A to understand, I reckon.
4. UTILE. WWE. HOLA. YDS. ECON. Not too bad an Ow de Speration list, all considered.
5. MESSY as a centerpiece. har
staff weeject pick: WWE. Better clue: {Cousin of USS??}. Kinda raw? well, all right, then … thanx.
Thanx for gangin up on us, John/Jeff dudes. Fun theme, but it needed more elegant examples, or somesuch. Had nice desperation, tho … always a humorous plus.
How do these constructioneer collaborations go … does one do the Acrosses & the other do the Downs?
Masked & AnonymoUUs
p.p.s.s. - @RP: Hope U have a real neat b-day celebration. M&A recommends some sorta *masked* ball (gowns optional).
**gruntz**
I was a HS senior 50 years ago. In those days, my Oregon high school transitioned from the traditional Senior social studies catch all class called "Modern Problems" into an offering of various semester classes. I took a semester of Sociology and a semester of Economics. No AP in those days of course.
I liked this puzzle, did it in record time for me for a Wednesday. Much easier than either Monday or Tuesday this week, which seems to be a trend lately.
@mathgent, bourbon Manhattans might appeal. Or one shot VO and one shot rye along with the vermouth and you have a vieux carre (also a favorite, tho I add a little benedictine to mine).
Hadn't noticed the "wry" / "rye" duo. 😉
Little glint of side-eye for "econ" until reading comments of those in the know. Thx for the enlightenment! :)
Speaking of "enlightenment", thank you @Lewis 6:50 AM for your ever-present light! :)
@All the story tellers
Enjoy your anecdotes! :)
___
Shoe salesperson at various times. Know "plain toe" shoes. LOL
Had relatives in Mesa and Phoenix, so traversed "Tempe" many times. Misremembered the "Salt".
Seasonal Vivaldi piece: Autumn "Allegro-Adagio Molto" (The Four Seasons)
Peace Mir Paz অহিংস Pace Frieden 🕊
what's odd about citing ECON as a high school course is that ever since Samuelson turned his Ph.D. dissertation into an 'intro' ECON textbook, back around 1950, it's been increasingly a sub-specialty of math and stat. (most of my grad school profs had flunked out of their math/stat/science Ph.D. programs and were re-purposed into ECON profs - they didn't know much about the principles of ECON, but could fill a whiteboard with algebra and calc and diff eq without breaking a sweat.) one generally doesn't know enough of those to grok present day ECON in high school.
Thyme tea is not a thing. I mean, yes, it exists, but have you EVER heard anyone ask for it/talk about it? Ever?
Buck O'Neil should be in the hall of fame for all he did for baseball off the field. I was disappointed every year of his life that he wasn't given that honor. I was in a sports bar the day he died and when I saw his image on a TV screen, I shed a tear knowing that he died without being properly honored.
Quickie PPP* as requested:
22 of 76 for 29%.
Note that 5 of the 22 are in the NW corner where 16 of 18 squares are part of a PPP answer in at least one direction (stopping at ELLIE and the HE in HEIGL). I did count BALL GOWNS as PPP because of the Cinderella clue. As a whole the puzzle is only on the high side, not excessive, but it isn’t surprising to see plaints about the NW appear.
You guys sent me down a NYS Curriculum rabbit hole. One semester of a course called “ECONomics” is required for graduation in the state of New York. But, Boy Howdy, the stench of grubby politician paws is all over the curriculum framework (page 48 ff,) making me wonder what actually ends up getting taught in the non-AP ECON courses. Any NYS HS ECON teachers out there care to opine? Reading that framework reminded me of one of my undergrad Poli Sci courses where one of the main texts gave “education” and “propaganda” the same definition (albeit, 100 or 200 pages apart so the prof had to call our attention to it)(Flesche - for my fellow K grads out there).
*PPP are Pop Culture, Product Names, and other Proper Nouns. Anything over 33% in the puzzle means some subset of solvers will find the puzzle challenging while some other subset will usually find it especially easy. This is sometimes referred to here by puzzles being in a solver’s “wheelhouse” or “outhouse.”
@Whatsername. I was only at Pali for a year so (thank you very much) I didn't make the cut. My only claim to fame is that one of Brocks girlfriends was a friend of mine and she set me up on my one and only BLIND DATE. He was one of Brocks friends and he was the most empty headed, vacuous person I ever had the pleasure of dumping. I can't even remember his name. I can't remember my friends name either but she was drop dead gorgeous and sweet and nice.
I think you'll be entertained or maybe even sadden by the characters. I'm glad I left when I did - otherwise I might've ended up in some commune killing birds......Let me know what you think of the book!
Hear, hear!
Medium, but I ignored the theme until after I finished, although, I’m not sure grokking the theme early would have help my solve. This was clever, smooth and fun once I saw what was going on. Liked it a lot more than @Rex did.
Econ - although we called it macro since it was macroeconomics - was a required class in my high school. It was a single semester and government was the class in the other semester.
A few I came up with in an idle moment:
"Rear brothers?" RAISE SONS
"Tanning agent?" SUN'S RAYS
"Translation of Hasenpfeffer, possibly" HARE COURSE
"Stubble" COARSE HAIR
"______ do the honors?" WOULD YOU
"Lumber for longbows" YEW WOOD
Read "What Really Happened to the Class of '65" here.
Peace Mir Paz অহিংস Pace Frieden 🕊
As sad/bad as it sounds, there's maybe two people I would ever want to know what happened to from High School. I have no desire to know/care about any others.
If that knocks me down a peg (or two) in your book, then I'll just have to live with it.
I was the typical "nobody" in HS. Sure, I had friends, but never did extracurriculars, sports (well, Band last half of Football Season as a Senior [had I'd known it would be so fun, I'd'a joined sooner]), or anything class related. Just kinda blended in. (I know, Boo Hoo to me! 😀)
Anyway, for some people at that time, it's all you know and your whole life. Everything seems huge. Angst, boys/girls, hair, style, etc. So I can see the other side.
RooMonster Class of '87 Guy
Good to see Buck ONEIL here, a larger than life figure in Kansas City. Today's was easier than yesterday's for me, so agreeing with @Z that this was a good Tuesday puzzle.
Econ was course offered in my high school many moons ago. Not an a.p. course as was Classical Greek or semi- micro qualitative analysis (chemistry class). Back in those days Detroit schools were rocketing - at least mine was.
@bocamp (1:07) -- I was asked to fill out some sort of log-in questionnaire, so I wasn't able to access the link that you say let's you read the whole book.
I found the NYT book review of that time -- which gives a lot of detail. Though it doesn't mention Brock. You could call it the Cliff's Notes version. It was enough info for me.
John & Jeff's construction comments on today's puzzle from "XWord Info": here.
Amy Reynaldo's comments on today's puzzle from "Diary of a Crossword Fiend": here.
Peace Mir Paz অহিংস Pace Frieden 🕊
Had tow cable for a while since plenty get launched with a cable & winch. Screwed things up a bit!
@Nancy 2:50 PM
My bad … thanks for the feedback. I had forgotten that the Internet Archive Open Library requires one to sign up (user name, p/w, etc.). I should have tried the link on a browser that I'm not automatically signed in to. I just now tried it on Safari and can see what you encountered.
Thank you for your link; I think that's all I need to know, as well.
For anyone who may still want to read "What Really Happened to the Class of '65", the Open Library is free, but as Nancy discovered, you have create an acct. This library is a valuable resource. I do support it financially from time to time, similar to Wikipedia in that respect. Donate if or when the spirit moves you websites.
Peace Mir Paz অহিংস Pace Frieden 🕊
I liked this one a lot. Easy and enjoyable. I even got the PPP without a lookup. I did have to correct some spelling (e.g. HEIGL) with crosses.
I got the trick at AIRMAIL and it was fun figuring out the other pairs. Kinda neat that they alternate rows starting at row 3 and alternate sides.
It must be tough to learn American English with the many words that have homophones, some with proper names (ARI and airy). Seems like very few words have just one meaning (that’s one thing that makes for great XW misdirection clues). It must be challenging to master all of this and then have to understand idioms. That’s the way the ball bounces, I guess.
I'm surprised no one, even @Lewis noted all the 18 double letters:
EE – 5
OO, SS – 3 each
NN, TT – 2 each
LL, WW, MM – 1 each
@MontyBoy -- You would have heard from me about the double letters if there were 20 or more, which I call "unusually high". This came close!
@Lewis - So maybe "sorta high"?
@Lewis - I forgot to congratulate you on your new job, grandparent. It's the best job ever! Love 'em, spoil 'em, send 'em home. Give Ari some love from Colorado. If you knew how much fun they are, you'd have them first.
Helical,
Ask Z what happened to turn the spectacular high school you describe, to the dumpster fire that is, and has been for a long while, the Detroit public school system.
Hint: The teachers union and the grotesquely bloated administrative staff that sucked the life out of three generations and counting of kids.
Happy birthday, Rex!
OMG Rex and my daughter have the same birthday...what are the chances??? (1/365)
@montyboy -- Thanks for those kind words. Actually Ari is our second grandchild so it's a sorta new job. But yes, what a divine job!
I agree. That NW corner was just brutal for me. 80s movies, relatively unknown actors. Ugh
I never had ECON until I was in coll. Of course then, I wasn't in Jeff's league, IQ-wise. We didn't ALL have accelerated programs, my boy.
This was sort of a reverse of yesterday: very cool and inventive theme, but as OFC says about the longer fill:
"Alvin, you were a little flat. Watch it. Alvin? Alvin! ALVIN!!!"
Again agreeing with His Nibs, I think SLOUCHED was the best of them. Scary, isn't it?
Katherine HEIGL for DOD; birdie.
I taught economics at a high school in Socal for 11 years. Class was a graduation requirement. We also offered AP economics for our advanced students.
No rEGRETs solving this one.Loved the reverse wordplay. Clever and fun. Just peachy KEEN.
MALE ZONE
The TEAM of GROOMSMEN SLOUCHED down,
EACH MEMBER INN PATIENT suspense
with a KEEN ION TIME for the bride’s GOWN,
PLAINly they were way PASTTENSE.
--- LIESL HEIGL
Neat and clever “flip”theme and worth the TIME, with a pleasureful “aha” at the PLAIN TOE and TOW PLANE pair.
Lots of proper names and other proper nouns tended to slow the pace, leaving WWE until last.
A satisfying Wednesday solve.
Finally a cute theme that actually HELPS with the solve. Hooray Jeff and John.
Agree with Lefty re too many proper names, but the theme really cleared up soooooooooo much. For me. And yes - WWE was my outlier until the end, too.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
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