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Tantalizing film preview / TUES 6-28-22 / Thames-side art gallery / Thieves' stash, maybe / Telenovela, e.g. / Thematically presented
Tuesday, June 28, 2022
Hi, it’s Clare for the last Tuesday of June (how is it almost July already?!). Last time, I did my write-up while in Prague at 7 a.m.; this time, I’m doing it at a much more normal time and from a much more boring place, back in D.C. I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t take this opportunity to say: The Warriors are NBA champs! I’ll say that again: The Warriors are NBA champs!! Their run was just phenomenal, and they’re the best. The Night Night celebration is iconic. And the Dubs core managed to win again despite being dismissed by the media for the past two years. Now, with basketball and hockey over, I’ll rely on tennis to keep me entertained (go, Carlito and Serena!), maybe with some baseball, too, depending on how my Giants do.
Anywho, on to the puzzle…
Relative difficulty: Fairly easy
THEME: TEE TIME — There seem to be parts to the theme: 1) Six of the answers are two-word phrases where each word starts with “T”; 2) There are T’s constructed from black squares in the puzzle; and 3) Each clue starts with the letter “T.”
Theme answers:
- TOP THIS (13A: "Try and do better!")
- TEA TREE (15A: Traditional medicine uses its oil)
- TEASER TRAILER (29A: Tantalizing film preview)
- TREASURE TROVE (35A: Thieves' stash, maybe)
- TAKE TEN (56A: Table the rehearsal for a bit, say)
- TEE TIME (57A: Tiger's slot on the schedule, e.g.)
Samuel Horwitz (March 11, 1895 – November 22, 1955), known professionally as Shemp Howard, was an American comedian and actor. He was called "Shemp" because "Sam" came out that way in his mother's thick Litvak accent. He is best known as the third Stooge in the Three Stooges, a role he played when the act began in the early 1920s (1923–1932), while it was still associated with Ted Healy and known as "Ted Healy and his Stooges"; and again from 1946 until his death in 1955. During the fourteen years between his times with the Stooges, he had a successful solo career as a film comedian, including series of shorts by himself and with partners, and reluctantly returned to the Stooges as a favor to his brothers Moe and Curly. (Wiki)
• • •
What a Tuesday puzzle! T is indeed for Tuesday. In what I think is his debut, Scott Graham gave solvers a meticulously constructed puzzle that was themed on many different levels relating to “T.” There are six words placed symmetrically in the puzzle that are two-word phrases where each word starts with “T.” All of the black squares in the puzzle are in the shape of a “T.” And, finally, all the clues start with the letter “T” (that one took me a while to realize). I originally didn’t notice the theme, but, looking back, I started to appreciate the puzzle more and more. And it’s obviously very fitting to appear in the Times on a Tuesday. The theme answers themselves were alright. I find it clever (if intentional) how there’s TEA TREE and TEE TIME and then the center of the puzzle is HOT COFFEE (34A: Tipplers drink this in the belief it helps sober them up). I also did like TREASURE TROVE and TEASER TRAILER because they’re just fun, long phrases. The others seem a bit basic, but I guess you can’t be too picky when working within the limit of all those T’s.
The placement of some answers in the puzzle was clever, too. There’s 20D: Tailoring related (SARTORIAL), and then right next to it there’s 15A: This is what a tailor seeks to provide, which is also tailoring related (THE PERFECT FIT). There’s ALFA (50A: Turin-based automaker ___ Romeo) and FERRARI (52A: Testarossa or Portofino) near each other, which are both related to Italian cars. The answer TOP THIS (13A: "Try and do better!") is on top of ACE HIGH (16A:
Two pair beats it in poker).
SUSSED (56A) is a great word. YES AND (12: Two-word tenet of improv comedy) is one of my favorite answers in a crossword in recent memory. 57A: Tiger's slot on the schedule, e.g. (TEE TIME) is an amazing clue.
There wasn’t a ton of crosswordese, and the many seven-letter downs were mostly different from the norm.
I know I’m sort of waxing poetic about the puzzle, but I did find some oddities. While it’s objectively very clever and impressive that the constructor managed to start all the clues with a “T,” that led to some weirdly phrased clues, which really confused me (until I realized why they were like that). Case in point: For ACE HIGH (16A), the clue is: Two pair beats it in poker. It’s oddly specific about two pair, as so many hands in poker will beat an ACE HIGH. 43A: To what effect as HOW seems just kind of lazy. I also didn’t love 53D: Tomato shade with RED because it’s pretty boring (and tomatoes come in different shades, anyway; “Typical tomato shade” would’ve worked better). The clue for SWEDEN (59A: Third-largest country in the European Union, after France and Spain) also felt like useless trivia. (Though maybe someone finds the country’s relative size super fascinating.)
I really, really hated the clue/answer VOTER ID (37D: Thing checked at a polling station). First off, it’s not required to vote in California (and about 15 other states). These laws are also incredibly controversial — a number of them have been overturned because they were clearly implemented to suppress voters in predominantly minority communities. I hated seeing this phrase tossed in so casually in the puzzle.
Having SHOWER CURTAIN as a sort of marquee answer at 14D: Tub accessory was a bit disappointing. It’s just so random to give that much space to. Also, not all tubs have shower curtains around them. If I ever achieve my dream of owning a clawfoot tub, there’s no way I’m hiding it behind a piece of flimsy PVC. THE PERFECT FIT (15A) is a good phrase, but I just don’t like seeing THE in the puzzle, especially when it’s just there to take up space. (Now, if you want to mock Ohio State University for getting a trademark on “the,” I’m here for that.) There was a slightly strange number of violent words in the puzzle. You’ve got SHAFTS (39D), TROUNCE (10D), HARM (8D), SMOTE (46D), and ARES (48D) (the God of War). They’re also all downs. How odd.
Anyway, there were some odd bits to the puzzle, but most of them seem to have been in service of what was a very impressively constructed theme.
Misc.:
Signed, Clare Carroll, ta-ta til the (next) Tuesday
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Misc.:
- Today, I learned that there was a Three Stooges member not named Larry, Curly, or Moe! In fact, there seem to have been six Stooges, and they performed for a bit as the Six Stooges. The things you learn while solving crosswords! I had the h, m, and p of SHEMP and for some reason decided that the right answer was “chimp.” That answer is plausible, right?
- I had a BIER (27D: Tall one or cold one, in German) or two while in Berlin — where the lagers are far superior to the offerings here in the States. While there, to be different, I also went to an Irish pub and had a margarita. (The ones in California are better.)
- I filled in TEASER TRAILER (29A) immediately. As in the TEASER TRAILER for "Thor: Love and Thunder," which I shall be seeing in the theater on opening night in a bit more than a week. Color me excited!
- AFT (33D: Toward the stern) being ship-related made me think of the show I just started (and, yes, also finished) called “Our Flag Means Death.” It’s a delightful and quirky comedy about a wealthy aristocrat who gets bored of his life and decides to become a pirate. His moniker is then the “Gentleman Pirate.” Highly recommend.
And that's all! Have a great July.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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123 comments:
Hi Clare! Well you noticed the grid Ts and I didn't; you noticed the clue T thing and I didn't. (How did I become that situationally unobservant??... that makes the theme more impressive.) You good; me feeble. But I'm exhausted after a 4 day weekend trouble shooting problems at the cabin, at least that's my excuse.
Yes yay for the Warriors and Avalanche. Boo for Canadian teams being shut out for the trophy of our national game for the 29th consecutive year. The world has indeed gone to crap since the mid 1990s.
Sweden is the 3rd biggest EU country? It's half the size of BC. Most of those countries are smaller than most Canadian provinces. Just saying.
[Spelling Bee: Mon pg-1 to date; missing a 7er; started at 8:30pm in a mental fog after a 4 hour drive home.]
Thanks for this thoughtful write-up, Clare! I found this one to be on the more challenging side of Tuesday (another “T” - maybe that’s why a puzzle with so many long answers and clever clues was published today?!?) While it was clever, I didn’t even catch the theme until I read the constructors notes, and it didn’t delight me the way I would have liked: I can appreciate the craft but not the experience. So many of the references felt dated and homogenous, unlikely to be familiar to a Tuesday audience of younger, more diverse, less-experienced solvers: an obscure Stooge, ATRA (also: why not “Twin-blade razor brand *for men*” - you know they’d caveat that for a woman’s brand!), RIC Ocasek, Liz Taylor, and SARTORIAL to name a few. I was glad for the challenge but less so for the results!
Easy-medium. No real problems with this one, except for maybe fat fingers. Smooth with a three-way T theme, liked it. Nice debut!
Hey! Where's Taco Tuesday when you need it?
A really cool puzzle - and a debut! - that suited me to a (capital) "T".
I hadn't noticed the T's in the grid nor the clues all starting with t'sReading it here may the puzzle more fun, tho not as much as if I'd been a little more observant while I was doing it. Duh.
Agree teaser trailer and treasure trove were greart sounding.
Don't gert your objection to voter ID not do I understand how it hurts minorities more than anyone else to haave to show one. You have too e registered to vote. Then yu get and ID. Why is it harder for minorities to keep hold of a voter ID?
Tis a tiny bit deflating to struggle on a Tuesday and then see it rated as fairly easy, but alas, that’s why I persist, to keep learning. And Although I knew Shemp, I’d never heard of an Eames chair. After seeing the price of one online, I’m ok with that. Thanks for the late-night write-up!
I did not notice that all the clues started with the letter T! Clever!
Easy Tuesday. I missed most of the T-ness until I came here, so thanks for Clare-ifying why Scott used "Two pair" in the clue when one pair would be enough to beat an ace high.
Great write up, Clare! I noticed the 6 double-T answers and the T-shaped black squares but I didn’t realize all clues start with T until I read Clare’s post. Very clever puzzle!
Thanks for a thorough, insightful, and just-pleasant-to-read write-up, Clare! Once I finished and looked around, Peggy Lee's line, "Is That All There Is?" kept running through my head, until... I came here.
Larry, Moe, and Curly... And Shemp... And Joe (and Joe)! Nguk, nguk, nguk.
Happy Tuesday, all!
Clare, I enjoyed your write up, always do. I am rarely oblivious to the theme on a Tuesday since there always is one. But this puzzle was so gorgeous and the grid was so cool that I just didn't notice and there was no revealer identified as such. This one suited me to a T. So many long answers and so few names.
Yes, definitely liked it. The Perfect Fit even brought to my mind the phrase 'To a Tee', so that echoed around in my brain in this fun romp, too, to go with the T theme. I did think that Sartorial could cause a bit of problems for a Tuesday solve but I Sussed it out from crosses in no time. For some reason I always confuse it with sardonic. Nice write up, Clare.
Back again in my small hometown, where the Chattering classes share the latest Scoops on friends, family and neighbors over Hot Coffee and there’s always a Treasure Trove of Horrors filled with things like the Immoral behavior of someone’s sister-in-law’s cousin who went to school with the neighbor three doors down. Newspaper headlines regularly include things like the 60th anniversary of a last-minute basket that won the high school state championship in 1962, so without much to talk about, the talk is just about each other.
This felt like a bright little Tuesday. Top This, Ace High, Take Ten, Tee Time. Fun stuff. Didn’t we have a big to do over Teaser Trailer a good while back? In all its redundancy we had to accept that it was actually A Thing.
Has anyone totaled all the T’s in play here? Is there a teetotaler in the house? Wish Scott Graham had included that word in his puzzle. Then we could’ve spent the day arguing about Tee_ v. Tea_ totaler again. Focus on the higher intellectual things in life and not just sit around spilling the tea. Sniff...
Fun Tuesday. @Joaquin, also wanted Tom Terrific. Much of the T-ness escaped me as well, @okanaganer, including the shapes and clues.
Didn't like RED being a shade, being a color. Hope you find that clawfoot tub, Clare. I've got a couple, and definitely no SHOWERCURTAIN hiding them.
Clare, Wonderful write up.....in depth and fun to read.
This theme would have worked for me if the grid had been rid of all the non-themer Ts. As it is, it’s basically an easy themeless with a neat grid.
Like many others I did not suss the TWO TEE theme, but that did not impair my enjoyment of the puzzle. Nor my enjoyment of Clare's write-up - although as a Celts fan for 70 years* I could have done without the paean of praise showered on the Warriors.
*I graduated Holy Cross in '56 during the time that NBA teams had territorial rights to college players: the Celts territory was New England. Two Holy Cross players they drafted were Bob Cousy and my classmate Tommy Heinsohn.
One other thing: I confidently wrote in ONEPAIR for 16A. Hope some others did too.
Some random thoughts:
• That is one creative and gorgeous grid design, which I want to call “The Eighties” or “T-Mobile”. It made me like the puzzle right from the start.
• AROAR and AHEM reminded me of last week’s AHUM.
• The clues didn’t feel forced; so hard to do when you start them all with the same letter.
• During a little post-solve research I learned SHEMP Howard’s first name was actually Shmuel, which was anglicized to Samuel. He was called Sam, which, in his mother’s Litvak accent, sounded like Shemp.
• 66-word grid on a Tuesday! Highly unusual. And smoothly filled, with practically all answers in the language.
• Also highly unusual, and something your resident alphadoppeltotter must report, is the high mismatch of double letters on the acrosses (11) and downs (1).
• Apt cross of IMMORAL and STOLEN.
• Lovely answers in TOP THIS, YES AND, THE PERFECT FIT, and SARTORIAL.
Congratulations on your debut, Scott. Terrific Thumbs-up Tuesday. Tata and Thank you!
'The media' certainly did not dismiss the Warriors, and it bothers me to see Clare claiming that.
Any guesses where a letter-based theme falls on my list of top ten theme types? And three separate answers made my eyebrows arch so much they hurt. EAMES chair on a Tuesday? That’s High Ese. And then there’s SHEMP. Yeah yeah, easy for me. But is an occasional Stooge really crossworthy on a Tuesday in 2022? And finally TEASER TRAILER. There are TEASERs. There are TRAILERs. But TEASER TRAILER is the Sunni Islam of redundant phrases. I know Shortz and plenty of other people find letter-play interesting, but “lots of words start with T” doesn’t strike me as a basis for a theme. OTOH, Tuesday has to tuezz, so it’s aptly placed.
If you don’t know how VOTER ID laws are specifically designed to suppress minority’s voting you can always ask Uncle Google. I picked the link at random, the list of articles and studies is seemingly endless. Dig long enough and you will find reporting of Republican lawmakers saying out loud that this was exactly their intent.
Count me as another who missed the T-ness but loved the puzzle. Thanks for your great write-up. However, I think Berlin’s beer isn’t even close to Munich’s. Compare them yourself next time.
@kitshef 7:53 - I dunno. Seems like all I heard about all season was Brooklyn and Philadelphia and Milwaukee. Hell, I was hearing “if the Lakers get healthy” reporting as late as March. Even the Celtics and Miami were an afterthought in most national reporting. Clare’s view might be slightly colored by fandom, but I’d say for somewhere between 75-90% of the season and post-season the Warriors were “dismissed” by the media. As late as June 11 I heard a fairly well respected ex-coach turned media analyst say it looked like the varsity against the junior varsity out there and the Warriors could only win if they played perfect basketball. “The media” is a big tent, so it wasn’t universal, but I’d say “dismissed by the media” is legitimate, especially if we mean the national media like ESPN and Fox Sports.
I found learning that Sweden is the 3rd largest country in EU cool and surprising. And despite Clare's screed about voter ID laws over 80% of people in polls support them. That is right up there with ice cream and apple pie in approval.
A well-constructed puzzle with almost no names at all. Thanks for that, Scott. TOP THIS, everyone else.
I was most thrown by SHEMP. I had the "MP" and wasn't looking for a name. I was looking for a character type: a SCAMP or a TRAMP or a CHUMP. When the "E" came in, I was not a happy caMPer. When the "H" came in I was pretty despondent.:)
My favorite [almost] side-by-sides were THE PERFECT FIT and SHOWER CURTAIN. If you're not the PERFECT size -- and especially THE PERFECT height -- and you don't go to that tailor celebrated in not one but two answers today, instead of having THE PERFECT FIT and looking SARTORIAL, you'll be wearing a SHOWER CURTAIN. Trust me on that.
My mother told me when I was about 12: "Honey, you will need to have alteration done on every piece of clothing you ever buy as I have had to all my life. Accept it as part of the cost of buying clothes and do it every time as a matter of course."
TEASER TRAILER has always struck me as a redundancy. I can imagine the movie execs having a meeting and asking: "Now which shall we use on this film? The TEASER TRAILER or the SNOOZER TRAILER?"
Nice debut puzzle, Scott.
Like a walk in the park with homeless encampments along the way.
Yays:
HOT COFFEE, THOREAU, and SARTORIAL.
Those six big crosses in the center are wonderful.
Boos:
No revealer so it was by happenstance I've later discovered the TTs.
BCCED is never going to be a winner. Take it out of your word list.
TEASER TRAILER are two words for the same thing (not one phrase) and nobody says TEASER. This travesty would have been the first phrase put in the puzzle probably ... so desperate are we for another meaningless T?
Treats VERY unfairly for SHAFTS. What is that VERY doing? Trying to make unfair be extra unfair? Isn't it still just unfair? Surely NYTXW editors have had their VERY talk. Very is very very unnecessary.
VOTER ID. Ug. RWNJs ongoing desperation is embarrassing, but they're beyond shame.
Uniclues:
1 Prideful melaleuca manufacturer's challenge to competitors.
2 The Autobiography of a Bluffer.
3 Understood the Vikings.
4 Fake wells.
5 Legendary hermit carved from tropical drupe.
6 Evidence doggie bakeries have gone too far.
7 Police report why the comedy stunk.
1 TOP THIS TEE TREE
2 ACE HIGH HORRORS
3 SUSSED SWEDEN
4 STAGED SHAFTS
5 COCONUT THOREAU
6 TERRIER EDAMAME
7 "YES AND" STOLEN
The T trick was apparent early. While I can appreciate the chops to construct - it falls flat in the enjoyment category for me. TREASURE TROVE is cool and there’s the auto sub theme I guess. These types of puzzles always end up coming up short given the grid restrictions.
Gimme a T for Texas
Tomorrow’s another day.
Wow. Never noticed the theme. I thought it had to do with tailoring but did not fret about it. Finished w no errors. Not familiar with EAMES chair, wanted EAzEe or something similar. Was at the TATE museum last week on vacay. (One week in Paris, one week in London)
Hand up for missing the T, which is how to get stranded in Boston.
Actually I was zipping through this one and having such a good time that I wasn't paying attention to details. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Lots of interesting answers, minimum -ese, and only had to erase HAIROF___ , as I thought that's where the hangover remedy was going, having the OF in place. Easy fix.
Also gives me a chance to point out that I have a nephew who is a hotshot in the TRAILER industry out there in exotic LA, and he's also a very nice young man.
Hi SHEMP, nice to see you again. Hi @Colin, I believe the preferred spelling is "nyuk". Long time Stooges fans, feel free to chime in.
Very nifty Tuesday, SG. So Good I was sorry to finish it. Thanks for all the fun.
As Stooges go, Curly Joe was the worst, but Shemp was terrible too.
The original Curly (Jerome Howard) should have won an Oscar, a Nobel Prize, and a B.E.T. Image Award.
Clare says she is rooting for Carlito in tennis. I think that she is talking about Carlos Alcaraz, the Spanish teenager who has won two Masters tournaments this year and won his first match at Wimbledon yesterday. He has said that he prefers being called Carlitos (not Carlito). My father was named Carlos and his Spanish friends called him Carlitos.
@Joe from late yesterday: What made you think of Afternoon Delight? I confess I'm a sucker for that one every time, but don't associate it as a TV theme song. Wikipedia says it was a theme for a couple of weekly talk shows abroad for a short time.
Maybe we should have BLOGGER ID policy, since VOTER ID has brought out the trolling anons.
Oh yes, the puzzle! Thought I was playing Tetris. Great to get a solvable, interesting construction feat early in the week. No Tuezzing here.
Apparently, I've been mis-hearing "tea tree oil" as "petri oil" my whole life. I googled petri oil to see if it is also a thing. Petri oil questions pop up in the auto-fill, then all the sites are for "tea tree oil". Apparently I'm not alone on this.
Sweden is the 3rd largest country in population, not land mass, right?
It's "a nyhoo".
It's "nyuk,nyuk".
If you want to make it easier to obtain a voter I.D. card by authorizing more locations to provide them, I'm all for it. But shouldn't you have to be a citizen of a country in order to elect it's leaders ? mean, you need a license to drive a car, for Chrissake.
warriors fans are the absolute worst
Here's what a reputable outfit has to say on the effect of the, ahem, voter suppression law in Georgia.
https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/primary-election-results-latest-news/card/georgia-saw-high-early-voting-turnout-amid-controversy-over-voting-rules-zHqDQUAU5A3vZuOFHCD7
Hey All !
This trope turned out terrific! Trouble today to take time to tell the clue T's.
My (sad) attempt at alliteration...
Neat puz. Add me to the list of those who failed to catch all the clues starting with T. Wonder why that is? Interesting grid design, I believe it ends up being rotational. I don't want to turn my screen (table top computer) over to double check!
Would've been much cooler without any other T's in the grid, but nigh impossible, I'm sure.
For some reason, I actually remember SWEDEN is a large country. Learned it one time, and somehow it stuck. Weird what the ole brain retains.
AROAR. Har. I try it Every. Time. in SB, it's never accepted. I know it's a thing! C'mon Sam!
Telenovela... Way to rub it in! 😁
yd -2, should'ves 2 (argh!)
Four F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
I'm a poll worker in a major city. If you wanted to do this, you'd have to have a list of voters, you'd have to know who had already voted, you'd have to go to a different polling location each time because even on the busiest elections there aren't so many people coming through that we wouldn't notice someone coming twice, if the person you're trying to imitate hadn't voted in that location before you'd need to show ID, if the person requested a mail ballot you'd have to surrender their ballot, age is on voter rolls so we'd notice any major discrepency there, we ask people to confirm their address even without ID so you'd have to have that memorized, there are dedicated poll watchers looking for fishy things that you'd have to fool, if the person you impersonate comes to vote later we'd ask for ID and then your fake ballot would be tossed, et cetera.
There's a lot of great think pieces and statistics on the internet about voter id laws and how they effect POC, if you're genuinely curious to learn about the issue.
Cruised through it without noticing that it played as a themeless. Was scratching my noggin about EAMES - I can't proffer whether it is Tuesday-appropriate or not because I have never heard of it before.
Does anyone ever say TIPPLERS anymore (in fact, did anyone ever say it, like maybe in a movie from the 1940's or something?).
Like many, I saw the theme answers, but missed both the Ts in the grid and the all-initial-t cluing. Hey, that's why I come here, to learn from the pros!
Now that I understand it, I like the theme -- until then, I thought it was pretty weak. But the most fun was:
a) misreading the clue for 3D as "type of scandal," and trying to think of a suitable answer starting with OPEN...
b) for 34A, confidently writing in Hair OF dog, internally grousing that it was missing a 'the,' before the crosses led me to HOT COFFEE.
@burtonkd -- no, it's area. Germany has 8 times the population of Sweden, and Italy 6 times. Sweden is like those Canadian provinces @okanaganer mentioned, big northern area with few people in it.
Double header for me today; we spent the weekend in Baltimore, got in at 10 PM whereon I had to put out the trash/recycling and make dinner before turning to the Monday puzzle, which I didn't finish until this morning. I'm reading the blog in reverse order -- on to Monday!
p.s. @Clare, Washington is pretty exciting actually. We spent a great day Sunday at the National Portrait Gallery; there's also a wonderful theater scene, among other things. You've probably been too busy to explore it.
It's appropriate (and perhaps deliberate) that this puzzle was published on Tau Day. Tau is the mathematical constant equal to 2 times pi, approximated as 6.28, and therefore celebrated on 6/28. Many people feel that tau (the ratio of circumference to radius) is more fundamental than pi (the ratio of circumference to diameter), as pi rarely appears in formulas without being multiplied by 2.
Being a geezer, The Three Stooges were a staple on local TV when I was a kid. Not so much now. But the Shemp era was largely not shown, and it was only much later that I learned he, not Curly, was an Original.
the SE was last to fall: NORWAY before SWEDEN, EATON before EAMES (where's L&O when you need it?), TOP SEED before TEE TIME.
*Gasp*VOTER ID (clutches pearls) ?!?
Because God forbid we verify that a person is actually, you know, who they say they are and eligible to vote.
“How” does not mean “to what effect” but rather “by what means.”
Good review Clare! Fun puzzle with some crunch for a Tuesday with SARTORIAL and THEPERFECTFIT. @Zed is likely right that EAMES is above Tuesday pay grade but I knew it and the crosses were pretty fair (well, if you know the TATE gallery and ALFA Romeo). Unlike Clare, I found the clue/answer SWEDEN very interesting. I figured Russia, Ukraine, were out due to the EU reference, but did not realize France AND Spain AND Sweden were larger than Germany. @Burtonkd I figure you have realized it is indeed land mass.
@TJS I agree on “anyHOO” and “nyuk.” I mean the one word is a bastardization of “anyhow” so let’s not put a REAL word into it. 🤣
@SharonAK…I may be wrong but I always the AK stands for Alaska. My daughter lives in Anchorage now and with such far reaching “only accessible by plane” villages in the state (even county seats) I would think that voting would be difficult, let alone getting a government issued ID. Anyway, I’m old enough to recall a time when all you needed was a voter registration card, and THOSE used to be a bit of a pain to get if someone didn’t go door to door.
Oh good gravy on lumpy poTaToes..I didn't even notice that each clue started with T as in holy Toledo.
I guess I was having some fun solving this and I didn't sniff this very clever Tuesday.
My favorite? SARTORIAL. I haven't seen that word leaping in the wild for ages. Such a bodacious word and it's dancing with THE PERFECT FIT.
Tuesdays are becoming my favorite day because there is always somebody who'll make some sort of Tort complaint. It's fun to watch and guess who might be the first. @Zed?
My two little furry babes are Curly and Moe. I knew SHEMP because when I'm mad at husband I'll call him that.
TATE...so nice to see you again and remembering hours spent staring at Marilyn Diptych.
A most pleasurable puzzle day. The was clever fun.
I'm glad you called out the clue on ACEHIGH. It's actually kind of super lame. A lot hipper if the clue was just "A pair of deuces beats this."
You liked "Yesand?" I didn't get it when I did the puzzle and I still don't.
Litvak is the noun.
Livish(e) in the adjective.
I found this very very easy and finished in record time. Since I don’t time myself, HOW I know that as a fact remains unproven but that’s the way it seemed. This is one of those puzzles where the HIGH level of intricacy in the construction is far more impressive than the ultimate satisfaction of the solve. Normally that does not score many points with me. However this does have some solid redeeming qualities with the grid art and the totally T clue starters.
I kept expecting to see T TOP or TIK TOK somewhere but you can’t have everything. And I couldn’t help but wonder . . . does TOP THIS mean the same thing as hold my BIER?
MEMO to Mr. Graham: Quite a sparkly debut. I look forward to more from you in the future.
Yeah, but none of those things are a constitutional right, now are they
Thx, Scott; nice, crunchy Tues. puz! :)
Hi Clare; good to see you, and thx for your write-up. Yay Warriors! :)
Easy-med.
Very much on my wavelength; this one was THE PERFECT FIT and suited me to a T.
Just now munching on some dry roasted EDAMAME beans included in my snack mix.
Learning 'Testarossa' and 'Portofino' FERRARI today.
Loved this construction; excellent journey! :)
@jae
Exactly as you described Croce's 720. 4 hrs to complete, with a one cell dnf at the 'Entourage' / Stone cross. Good workout! See you next Mon. :)
___
yd 0 / 33
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
One need not collect TWO PAIR to beat ACE HIGH, of course.
Certainly agree re AROAR, get with it Sam.
Some ATRAs have more than TWO BLADES.
German BIERs I’ve enjoyed are not cold.
I too winced at VOTERID.
But what a fine, tight puzzle!
🤗🦖🦖🦖🦖🦖🤗
The Three Stooges was a stupid show. "Friends" beating each other up? Yeah, that's fun. Imagine if they punched a women and she had a miscarriage
@anon 9:29 in regard to voter suppression laws in Georgia, I live in Georgia and I had a lot more trouble trying to deliver my wife's legal vote in the primary and run off these past few months.
Had I not been retired and owned a car and had a few hours to kill, the vote would not have been cast.
My wife is disabled and votes by mail. In the past there was a drop box 2 miles from my house, available 24/7 up to election day. Now the ballot showed up on the Friday before election day. There were drop boxes during early voting in 6 places in the county but by the time the mail came with ballot, they were closed. There is no where to drop ballot the sat sun Monday before election day, when people need them!!. It is also too late to mail it. On election day there is ONE per huge county in GA at the main location. It happens to be a 75 to 90 minute drive for me round trip. It is in an area I'm not familiar with and it's a pain in the ass to get to. I did drive out there though because I had time to kill and gas in my car. I almost blew it off but realized that is them winning. If I had had a job I would have been unable to take it ie voter suppression, make it harder for people to vote. Not impossible just difficult and inconvenient.
The second time I drove out there I spoke to the supervisor and was told they couldn't mail the ballots out sooner because the law cut the window between primary and run off in half and they didn't have time to get it all done. Now tell me how exactly does one stuff a drop box with hundreds fake votes and no one notices? As I was stuck in traffic driving out there I blamed Trump and his Big Lie for having to fucking do this chore BASED ON NOTHING!! NO ONE has been found to have cheated with a drop box. Please.
This happens regularly enough as an Australian doing this crossword, but it's always interesting when you hit a cultural difference where you don't expect it. The thought of requiring ID for voting didn't even cross my mind, even though I have read about the laws in the US and their reported impact on marginalised groups.
I need to think more like an American.
@mathgent-Just to second your point, "Peanuts", the comic strip, is called "Carlitos" in Spanish.
Good old Carlitos Brown.
In every state I’ve lived in there is VOTER REGISTRATION where one address and name are verified and registered, a voter ID if you will. When one goes to vote, provide your name and they look it up, and you can vote. It’s not possible to register more than once or to vote at all if you haven’t registered.
@GIo (11:12) Your story is one of the most vivid tales of VOTER HORRORS I’ve heard yet. Sounds like an ID card is the least of your worries in Georgia. Is anyone challenging these new laws? The ACLU perhaps? Just seems like that goes far beyond suppression to the point of outright denying people the opportunity.
@11:13- I don’t know about Australia but the US is one of the few countries which allows voting without a government identification. I live in NY and I’ve never had to show ID to vote. Same applies to people in CA and several other states. Most European nations require identification to vote. A 2021 Crime Prevention Research Center study found that 46 out of 47 European countries require voters to provide some form of identification to vote — the United Kingdom was the lone exception. So while 80% of Americans support voter ID, according to a June 2021 Monmouth poll , and it’s common in the rest of the world, it remains a divisive political issue here.
@David, I always find the “pearl clutching” designation to be amusing. Does it not seem to be clutching at one’s strand of pearls to think that a significant portion of our population would spend their time trying to vote more than once? Methinks that people immoral enough to do that probably use their time doing other things toward the criminal bent…
This terrific puzzle left me toe tapping. But a TED Talk about it would be a tad too much (about ten times) to titillate me.
I think a great alternate clue for 19A (NOSE) would be “I don’t know Spanish”. If you don’t get it, just Google “no se Spanish”.
What do you call a tantalizing film preview about a guy who stalks stun guns? A taser tailer TEASER TRAILER.
Not being in the least transgressive, I’d have to say IM MORAL.
Happy to report that I caught all three aspects of the T theme, although I didn’t notice the clue-related one until I was finished. I thought the puzzle was wonderful! Thanks and congrats on your debut, Scott Graham.
No problems for me, but it did seem to me the puzzle was a tad tough for a Tuesday. Liked it though, and loved Clare's review.
As a lifelong Californian, I have never had to show ID at the polls, and never heard of any serious voter fraud in this state based on people showing up under false names. Maybe that was common in Chicago, but not here. Indeed now that California has become a vote by mail (or drop box) state, the possibility of fraud is far higher. We used to have polling places within walking distance of every urban home, and I can assure you those little old ladies (and men) who ran the polls would have recognized anyone trying to vote more than once. Plus of course when you voted, they crossed your name off the list of precinct voters, and many times a day posted the list outside, so those who were trying to get out the vote could see whom to contact late in the day, and remind them to go to the polls. Oh, and if votes were challenged, the challenged voter's signature at the polls was compared to his signature when he registered before his vote was tallied down at the Registrar's office.
I miss those days.
@Roo
Out? Couldn't get "out" out? This trope twas terrific. Maybe T-clues too. But can't quite decipher the meaning of that second sentence anyhoo.
Laker fan here so I was rooting for the dubs. But if the Bucks had their second best player they would have beaten the Celts. Giannis even more fun to watch than Curry so then I would be rooting for the Bucks but not as seriously. It was some excellent basketball in any case. So congrats to all.
I saw the T's in the grid (I like unique grids). I saw the alliterative T-answers. I missed the clues all starting with T. So I was looking for more in the theme. All the double-letters (into double digits) and stuff like COCO TATE ALFA STAT AROAR ED(AM-AM)E plus the paired answers had me going down many rabbitholes before I gave up looking for more of a theme.
An excellent puzzle. THOREAU and SHEMP. NO tuezzing here. Can only pity @Zed for being unable to enjoy this.
Not quite as easy as yesterday. A heap more fun.
Equal harassment under the law. Let us make everyone go down and wait a couple hours at the DMV. Or if you own or rent property in another state or voting district you have to submit in person at the DMV a list of all places where you own such properties and affidavits from each of these counties and states affirming you are not registered to vote there. After all, we do not want anyone voting twice.
Or maybe all new voting ID rules should grandfather all current voters in for life or ten years or until they move.
Primary Day here in York. Just got back from my polling place. No ID necessary though I did have to sign my name. Voted for Tom Suozzi in the Democrat primary election. I expect him to lose to Kathy Hochul, who is basically Andrew Cuomo without the sexual harassment and piles of unnecessarily dead Covid-19 bodies. Could do worse I suppose.
@11:01 -
And when the Roman Catholic Supremes get done, there'll be a lot fewer. Didn't know that the Papists run the Supremes?? Failure of modern education.
@11:13 -
Please don't.
@Beezer -
Correct me if I'm wrong. The verified illegal voting across the last two Prez elections have been Trumpbulicans.
The Mods have really, really made a sharp turn to the right. @OFL owes us an explanation why.
@albatross:
Laker fan here so I was rooting for the dubs.Laker fan here so I was rooting for the dubs.
could have been worse. a lot worse. you could have ended up with Kyrie Fruitcake.
@old timer:
the following states have been mostly/totally vote by mail, and none of the Right Wingnuts ever complained. until the Hairspray Head lost.
https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/vopp-table-18-states-with-all-mail-elections.aspx
"Twenty-six states and Washington, D.C., offer "no-excuse" absentee voting, which means that any voter can request and cast an absentee/mail ballot, no excuse or reason necessary."
https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/vopp-table-1-states-with-no-excuse-absentee-voting.aspx
A 66-word TuesPuz. Real different. Luv it.
Shoot, coulda been a themed FriPuz, if U stiffen up the clues. [Should be easy to make weirder clues, since yer startin em all up with a T.]
Nice bonus 8 T-bones in the puzgrid structure. Twenty regular T characters, too boot, btw.
Kinda tuned into the T-startin clues, at the odd {Two pair beats it in poker} = ACEHIGH. Wondered why "two pair", when "one pair" would be plenty to beat an ace-high.
staff weeject pick: ETS. Short for Eight T'S, of course. Cool extra weejectile bonus.
Lotsa faves, but thought the SHOWERCURTAIN+SARTORIAL+THEPERFECTFIT stack crossin the TEASERTRAILER+HOTCOFFEE+TREASURETROVE stack was pretty day-um impressive, for a TuesPuz.
Thanx for the grand T Ball, Mr. Graham dude. Primo job. Can't wait for the next one [maybe a FriPuz with 100 words? har]. Congratz on yer outstandin debut.
Also, the POW this week must really gonna be something else.
Masked & Anonymo4Us
**gruntz**
Thank you I agree! To what effect is more likely the WHY
ALFA Romeo are built in a town near Milan Italy FIATs are built in Turin so that clue is wrong
You should educate yourself man. Voter ID laws are often harmful and there is a pretty good case in some instances that they are intentionally harmful. Google it man. It’s easy to learn something today.
Hello, Clare!! Well SUSSED out, on this “suits to a T” Tuesday. I could not agree more with your analysis, and join the praise for this well constructed and entertaining puzzle. This is one of those that is clearly a marvel of clever and cery thorough construction. What this one has though that so many do not is solvers’ entertainment value. Add that this is entirely Tuesday appropriate (with just a bit of crunch) and I’m a fan, and look forward to more from Scott Graham.
The somewhat awkward or strained cluing gave me some resistance. About 75% through, I was getting slightly grumpy about clunky clue syntax. In fact it was down at 56A, “Table the rehearsal for a bit, say,” that I was mentally grumbling. As I slurped some more coffee, my eyes backed out from their tunnel (with a T) vision and noticed the grid! And then I noticed the answers starting with T and finally that all the clues start with T! And I did an opinion-180. Wow. Just wow. Tidy, tight, truly tops!
@Euclid, my position is only that there are people who would like voting to be easy and (at least it seems) people who want it too be harder because “many” people will vote multiple times and I do not believe there is any indication that a significant number of people have or have tried to vote more than once. I also don’t think the mods weigh in right or left but try to maintain civil discourse. I might find the term “pearl clutching” to be amusing and a little insulting but it is not “beyond the pale” offensive.
Sweden is third largest by area, certainly not by population (expat living in Sweden)
THEMELESS TUESDAY would have been another legitimate answer, with the clue "Today is not one." Appropriate because like others, I finished the puzzle and thought, "Huh. A themeless on a Tuesday? How odd." I can't believe I missed all three indications of a theme -- the clues all starting with T, the double T theme answers, and the Ts in the grid. I feel really stupid. Or really smart because I probably missed all of that by solving the puzzle so quickly.
I also did a double-take at the blandly clued VOTER ID, and I agree with all of those who have posted links to explain why these are used to suppress the votes of poorer people. Sure, 80% of people may say they support them, because it SEEMS logical. And that's why Republicans push them -- they seem to make sense but they can underhandedly use them to SHAFT people more likely to vote Democratic. That said, I am very curious to know what the comments removed by mods said.
An enjoyable puzzle that got way better when I SUSSED the theme (only after coming here.)
Zed
What world do you live in? How can an Eames chair be less Tuesdayish than countless rock musicians and ball players whose names I've never heard, and never wanted to.
And how can you not know that Sunni is one branch of Islam and Shiite another and that split is behind many battles, so it's hardly redundant to say Sunni Islam.
@JD 7:06
Delightful all the way though. I started laughing out loud at "is there a teetotaler in the house"
@SharonAK - Do you say “Catholic Christianity?” And how many chairs make the puzzle? EAMES, a chair design from the 1950’s, is the Yma Sumac of chairs.
@Beezer 1:28p - I tend to agree with you and give people the benefit of the doubt for the most part. However I have an acquaintance - not a friend but someone I know who takes smug pride in the fact that for the past 8 years he has voted for himself, his deceased father, his deceased brother and his previous next door neighbor who moved to Tampa. Idiotic and illegal I know but he thinks he’s proving a point. At least where we are in NY there are no checks or questions asked. Thankfully his votes haven’t been relevant to any elections in NY and he knows that but I worry about marginal states.
There is no question that most large scale government activities like voting, census etc are by nature systematically repressive but there needs to be some controls somewhere to eliminate fraud on either side.
@Beezer
I assumed voter ID was a voter registration card.
If it's something more, then I suppose it could be designed to make it harder for minorities.
Yes, I've lived in Alaska since '67
Re the farflung villages
I'm sure that everyone in the villages who votes has registered to vote. It's no harder for the state to arrange for registration than for the polling itself. But if there has to be an additional ID beyond that it could be hard.
I remember some concerns about the new ID being required for air travel - you know I've forgotten what that's all about since I haven't flown for three years. I think I tried to get it about the time Covid set in and the requirements were ridiculous. I took all the documentation I thought I needed and they weren't accepted because some had a different middle name (out of my four names I have sometimes use my original middle name and sometimes my maiden last name)
Totally ludicrous as I can just use my passport for ID - so why wouldn't the passport alone be enough to get me the government ID.???
@Beezer:
I might find the term “pearl clutching” to be amusing and a little insulting but it is not “beyond the pale” offensive.
Neither do I. But it's the rebuttals to that sort of 'language' that the Mods have been removing, and leaving the Right Wing stuff on the site. Thus my observation that they've turned violently Right. Why??
It's also my observation that the level of engagement, measured by comment volume, has dropped A LOT since OFL and the Mods took this tack.
As to what's going on, generally: y'all should read up Krugman's column today. He splains it clearly.
Perfect puz.
Few proper names.
Few 3s.
Uber-clever construction.
Welldone.
And a really nice write up by rachel fabi of the NYT.
Interesting (read: sad, pathetic) testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson today. Seems @Nancy isn't the only one throwing things at the wall.
@Son Volt so this guy is bragging about committing a felony for 8 years? I think he may have done it once or twice and now is exaggerating. He may get caught since he's been shooting his mouth off. Risking a $10,000 fine x 3 and jail time for 3 extra votes doesn't sound too smart.
California does have voter ID. It's your signature. You must sign in when you vote in person or you must sign your mail-in ballot. If the signature does not match your voter registration information on file your vote does not count.
@albatross
I did say it was a sad attempt... 😁
I couldn't get any more T's intomake it make sense.
@SharonAK - It's the ISLAM that is redundant, not the SUNNI. As @Zed asked yesterday, are there Sunni Christians? Jews? Hindus?
And, believe it or not, more people know just about everything about Cardi B than know anything about EAMES chairs. A lot more people.
@Euclid
Wha? Right-wing mods? What have they been removing? What have they been leaving?
@Son Volt, Yikes with your acquaintance! I can see your point and one (like you) can make reasonable arguments about ensuring that people don’t vote multiple times, or drive over from Canada and vote, etc. but it seems that we should take equal time to ensure that people who COULD vote, can indeed vote. From what I can tell, I doubt you disagree.
@SharonAK…I didn’t Google AK requirements but, yeah, Voter Registration card is not really considered a VOTERID these days. In most states these days voter registration card isn’t required. It gets you on “the roll” and, unlike California (which is how it used to be in most states) you not only sign your name but have to show an ID approved by your state. As you stated with the “Real ID” required to fly now, it can be a very big ordeal to find everything necessary (a certified copy of birth certificate, (if you are old…your ACTUAL social security card), proof that you have resided in a state for X amount of time, etc. Btw…I think you CAN fly with an unexpired passport). At any rate, I feel sure, like you said, that anyone who votes in the remote villages of AK have registered to vote. To someone like me, and possibly you, we worry more about people who would like to vote, but the requirements are too onerous in terms of transportation, sorting out the necessaries to prove you are who you are, etc. I WILL say…in my mind, Alaska would be challenging if you don’t live in Anchorage, Wasilla, (dang, the other community close to Wasilla, Fairbanks, or Juneau. Ok. Maybe Nome? Im sure I’ve left something out. Anyway…AK is beyond beautiful and I love it!
@Euclid…there have been many comments removed today. We don’t know if they were “right” or “left.”
Yeah i also struggled with it and felt bad when it was rated easy. I feel like 90% of these posts say that the puzzles are easy though...
I thought Voter ID was weird because it's the NYTimes puzzle and, you know, NY stands for "New York," where no ID is required to vote. I usually bring my drivers license just in case, as I did today for the primary, but have never had to use it. One does have to sign, but my signature is far, far different than the one they have on file from a thousand years ago (something normal and common that could get me disqualified in some other States...).
Anyway, I rather liked this puzzle mostly because I found it easy. And that's it.
I don’t think the mods make a call left or right. More like Braying Ninny/Non-Braying Ninny. I see both sides still well represented, so I wouldn’t accuse the mods of turning to the right.
2020 Poll Worker here. Election Bureaus have this down pretty well after a couple of hundred years. No, they can’t prevent willful criminals in all cases, but we don’t really need voter ID laws to prevent fraud. In both Michigan and North Carolina I’d fill out and sign a form with my name and address, they’d look up to make sure I was registered and hadn’t already voted, and there you go. There are mechanisms in place to remove people who have died and people who have moved away from the rolls. They’re not instantaneous, but they’re effective. And, yes, most of the documented voter fraud in 2020 was Republicans (Look up Mark Meadows for one hilarious example). BTW - At the polling place I worked the head guy was a Republican. The rest of us were Democrats or independents. The Election Bureau does that intentionally.
@Everyone suggesting they don’t see a problem with VOTER ID Laws - Remember learning about Poll Taxes and other Jim Crow era laws? I think you can connect the dots to how requiring a government issued ID can be a form of a poll tax. There are other hints to what’s up. For instance, Texas accepts gun licenses but not university IDs. Hmmm, why might that be? And, seriously, do a little Googling and you will find Republican politicians saying voter suppression is their purpose.
@Son Volt - Your acquaintance is either a liar or a criminal. Since you take pains to say they aren’t a friend added to the fact that the tale is fairly preposterous, I’m leaning liar.
@Euclid - That any Catholic judge would claim to be an “originalist” and not resign their seat is fairly ironic, isn’t it? People forget that JFK’s Catholicism was a campaign issue just 60 years ago. Accusations of being “Papist” was a common dirty trick in the 1800’s.
@TJS - Why shouldn’t every resident be allowed to vote for people who make laws that affect them? I’ll go one further. It’s unconstitutional to prevent any resident from voting. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Every person has a right to equal protection of the laws in the United States. I’d say denying anyone living here the right to vote is denying them equal protection of the laws. You’re not going to find politicians or judges acknowledging this, but a plain reading of the 14th amendment and the barest understanding of why it was enacted supports this interpretation as accurate.
Oh wait, the puzzle - @Gill I - Was I the first? I don’t know if I cried “tort,” but definitely not my cuppa T.
@Beezer/5:06
Some were mine, so I know. Some appeared and I read, then disappeared, so I know.
accusations of being a papist… is still a dirty trick.
@Zed:
Alas, the founding of the rebellion was 'taxation without representation', and some equate that with citizenship. Of course, it's not. There have been some low level rumblings that any resident, without regard to passport, should have the franchise. Wimins and Blacks didn't for the longest times; in the 19th century when they landed in droves (at different times) Germans and Irish and Italians and ... had a hard time of it.
I considered raising JFK as a counterpoint, but thought that might get me removed. For the record, here's the religious affiliation of the Supremes:
Catholics:
Roberts
Thomas
Alito
Sotomayor
Kavanaugh
Barrett
Gorsuch raised as such, but is said to attend Episcopal church now (not there's much difference)
Jew:
Breyer
Kagan
Anyone who asserts that the Three Amigos didn't get sent up because they are RC, and in lock step with The Pope is an idiot.
@albatross:
See my answer to Beezer. If it still exists. :)
In most democracies in the world, it is extremely easy to vote. In quite a few, it is even against law not to. Despite the intense confrontations in France and Italy between Trump type politicos and their opponents, no one has question the voting system. What you neglected to mention about Europe and elsewhere, everyone already has a national ID, from birth. There is no complicated registration system subject to political whim. You simply vote with said ID. In the US it is a different universe. (Historically, during the "Progressive" Era reformists wanted to suppress voting and they succeeded spectacularly) Efforts to get automatic registration are actively opposed by the Republican party.
The voter ID movement in the US was deliberate response to Obama's election in 2008. Prior to that Republicans were very amenable to make voting easier. They did a u-turn when they realized it would increase Black votes more than white. As has been noted, the purpose of these laws was to make it harder for blacks to vote, as Republicans have said in private ( later leaked).I think it was in Texas where the list of approved ID'S were deliberately designed to favor whites.Locations to get an ID were placed to favor whites also.
These so-called voter ID laws are really voter suppression laws. The European system is totally irrelevant.
I
@Gio 3:43p and @Z 7:23p - you and I and other rational thinkers agree but I’m worried about the outliers on both sides. I vote at the same school as this guy and have seen him in action - it’s no bullshit. He does it because the existing system is broken and allows it and he thinks he’s proving a point.
In terms of worrying about legal ramifications - in the past 7 years we’ve seen Charlottesville, Rittenhouse, J6, Antifa burning cities, Hunter and Jr. and every other conceivable garbage with no repercussions. Voting fraud at this point is akin to us sneaking into the drive-ins when we were young.
@Zed
If you think things aren't titled, count how many oeo-right posts you see. None? Thought so
Wow...what a day regarding voting, rights, fraud, who is Catholic or not and showing an ID.
All I can say is this:
I've lived in third world countries. Those that have never ventured outside this country and, perhaps have never even stopped to think how safe and even how incredible our system is set up, might be living with Alice in Wonderland.
In California, we don't need photo ID. In a nut shell: The signature on your ballot must match your signature on file with the state. Several people on the blog have gone into detail how the system works; I won't bore you. By the way, if your signature changes, they can verify your address etc etc.
It may not be 100% perfect but I'd bet on 99% . When you compare our voting system to other countries, you should be happy you're living here. Would you prefer a hand written ballot stuck into a little box and counted by someone who doesn't read very well?
I know this sound simplistic ...it is. As our friend @Zed said "Election Bureaus have this down pretty well after a couple of hundred years."
I'll take our systems over any other system in the world.
@GILL I. said, "Tuesdays are becoming my favorite day because there is always somebody who'll make some sort of Tort complaint. It's fun to watch and guess who might be the first. @Zed?"
I take that as a challenge.
The clue "Tort basis" probably needed an appended ", almost always".
"Trespass to land involves the 'wrongful interference with one's possessory rights in [real] property.' It is not necessary to prove that harm was suffered to bring a claim, and is instead actionable per se." Wiki article on "trespass" [footnote omitted].
Clare, I always enjoy your write-ups. Aren't you glad the bar exam is behind you?
They are not in lock step with the current pope! At least two of them probably wanna go back to the days of Latin Mass…..
Flags of Europe
Flags of Europe
Well, looky here: A wide-open, themeless-style grid on a Tuesday! (Yeah, I completely missed the clue alliteration.) I did see all the black T's in the grid, but put it down to coincidence.
Now, this isn't super-lovely or elegant fillwise, but a construction marvel for sure. I thought a theme was a-borning when THEPERFECTFIT came down alongside SARTORIAL, but it ended there. In the SW, I smiled at THOREAU next to a clue that included the word "thorough." Coulda done without BCCED and AROAR, but if that's as bad as it gets with this wide-open layout, I count that a W. Birdie.
If Wordle is going to double up on Y, I coyly suggest they make it a par 5. Again by that reckoning, I did manage a par.
An easy Tuesday. No writeovers. New to me were SARTORIAL and EAMES. Not bad. THEPERFECTFIT for the Tuesday slot.
TOPTHIS STAT
For IMMORAL MAURA TATE,
HOW can it TAKETEN to please her?
It TAKEs a TREASURETROVE RATE,
and the HORRORS such a TEASER.
--- SHEMP THOREAU
EX peasy - without one moment of hesitation. Onward.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
EX - Right. EZ for me to say when I mean to say EZ.
Lady Di
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