Constructor: David J. Kahn
Relative difficulty: Medium (I think—untimed)
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THEME:"Proving Them Wrong" — five circled squares around the grid end up containing the letter "I"; that "I" also happens to be at the intersection of different baseball teams' name parts, leading to the revealer (which is "proven wrong" by the theme): THERE'S NO "I" IN "TEAM"(63A: Sports axiom refuted by this puzzle)
Theme answers:
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It was tough to solve this thing after a beautiful day of solving really entertaining tournament puzzles at the Indie 500 Crossword Tournament. At dinner last night a veteran constructor friend of mine—and a far, far nicer human being than I or most people I know could ever hope to be—went off, unprompted, on the diminishing quality of the Sunday NYT crossword, which he no longer bothers with. An editor I'd talked to earlier in the day casually used the phrase, "Back when I was still doing the Times ..." It's slightly weird to see the NYT's crossword app booming and yet routinely hear from solvers and puzzle-makers alike that Sundays just aren't fun any more (in the main). And yet it's the marquee puzzle, the biggie, the one with a title, the one that (if traffic to my site is any indication) has the greatest solvership by numbers. The brand inertia that is carrying that puzzle through the ages is really something.
But anyway, this puzzle. I love baseball so much. I wore one of my hometown AA affiliate's t-shirts to the tournament yesterday and I'm wearing another one today *and* (if the weather holds up, which right now, as I look out the window at the dark blusteriness of an impending thunderstorm, seems increasingly unlikely), I'm going to the Yankees-Orioles game later today at Camden Yards. Oh, and I'm a DETROIT / TIGERS fan, so ... I really, really should be the ideal audience for this puzzle. And yet. And yet I don't get it. I mean, I do, but I don't. What's particularly baseball-y about that slogan? Why baseball teams? Why is there not more non-incidental baseball content? Further, is the premised of the puzzle really that there is, in fact, an "I" in certain team names? Even as jokey wordplay, this is pretty weak. And the totally uneven placement of the theme content is really bizarre. The "I"s are all over the place. The entire E/SE portion of the grid is devoid of theme content. Puzzle wants me to think HOMESTANDS is relevant baseball content, but I'm not buying it. There's nothing to symmetrically complement the DETROIT / TIGERS in the south. MAJORS is totally forced into the grid at this weird, almost-but-not-central place (84A: Group with five members in this puzzle, with "the"). Maybe in the paper / magazine version of this puzzle, there is more evident baseball content. Are the circled squares actually baseballs? Who are these "Them" that you're provin' wrong, these mythical people who militantly insist that "I" does not exist in any team name?
P.S. Lena tried to solve this but like many folks I know, she doesn't usually finish them, often pushing them away at the moment they become no longer interesting to her. Here's what her grid looked like when she finally pushed *this* one away:
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Relative difficulty: Medium (I think—untimed)
Theme answers:
- 20A: Where techno music originated (DETROIT) / 9D: Aggressive types (TIGERS)
- 25A: Where the Sun shines? (BALTIMORE) / 15D: Relatives of bobolinks (ORIOLES)
- 49A: Final, countrywide competition (NATIONALS) / 27D: County name in 30 states (WASHINGTON)
- 78A: Papal enclave members (CARDINALS) / 53D: First U.S. city to host the Olympics (ST. LOUIS)
- 112A: Where General Mills is headquartered (MINNESOTA) / 101D: Delivery that's usually expected (TWINS)
Etta Place (c.1878 – ?) was a companion of the American outlaws Butch Cassidy (real name Robert LeRoy Parker) and the Sundance Kid (Harry Alonzo Longabaugh), both members of the outlaw gang known as the Wild Bunch. Principally the companion of Longabaugh, little is known about her; both her origin and her fate remain shrouded in mystery.The Pinkerton Detective Agency described her in 1906 as having, "classic good looks, 27 or 28 years old, 5'4" to 5'5" [163–165 cm] in height, weighing between 110 and 115 lb [50 and 52 kg], with a medium build and brown hair." (wikipedia)
• • •
But anyway, this puzzle. I love baseball so much. I wore one of my hometown AA affiliate's t-shirts to the tournament yesterday and I'm wearing another one today *and* (if the weather holds up, which right now, as I look out the window at the dark blusteriness of an impending thunderstorm, seems increasingly unlikely), I'm going to the Yankees-Orioles game later today at Camden Yards. Oh, and I'm a DETROIT / TIGERS fan, so ... I really, really should be the ideal audience for this puzzle. And yet. And yet I don't get it. I mean, I do, but I don't. What's particularly baseball-y about that slogan? Why baseball teams? Why is there not more non-incidental baseball content? Further, is the premised of the puzzle really that there is, in fact, an "I" in certain team names? Even as jokey wordplay, this is pretty weak. And the totally uneven placement of the theme content is really bizarre. The "I"s are all over the place. The entire E/SE portion of the grid is devoid of theme content. Puzzle wants me to think HOMESTANDS is relevant baseball content, but I'm not buying it. There's nothing to symmetrically complement the DETROIT / TIGERS in the south. MAJORS is totally forced into the grid at this weird, almost-but-not-central place (84A: Group with five members in this puzzle, with "the"). Maybe in the paper / magazine version of this puzzle, there is more evident baseball content. Are the circled squares actually baseballs? Who are these "Them" that you're provin' wrong, these mythical people who militantly insist that "I" does not exist in any team name?
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| ["At the Copa ..."] |
Hey, did you know the TIGERS' AA affiliate is in ERIE, PA? And that someone who plays for that team is a SEAWOLF? It's all true. PS ERIEPA is one of my least favorite pieces of fill of all time ever, and who abbrs. "Ohio" as just "O."???
Bullets: |
| [at least the morning blogging meeting was fun] |
- 71D: German hunting dog (WEIMARANER)— Adventures in misseplling! See also Charlotte AMELIE (98D: Charlotte ___ (Caribbean capital)) (AMALIE)
- 16D: Only African-American to win an Oscar, Tony and Emmy (VIOLA DAVIS) — Me, a brilliant person: "OSSIE DAVIS!"
- 102A: ___ Minella (Muppet monkey) (SAL) — Why ... would you name a muppet monkey ... after a disease that can kill you ... that's mostly associated with uncooked chicken. The chicken muppet should be called SAL Minella. I have spoken.
P.S. Lena tried to solve this but like many folks I know, she doesn't usually finish them, often pushing them away at the moment they become no longer interesting to her. Here's what her grid looked like when she finally pushed *this* one away:
