Constructor: Harry Zheng
Relative difficulty: Easy
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THEME:"Multi-Hyphenates"— in familiar phrases, "LINE" is replaced by dashes, which form a literal DASHED LINE (112A: Indication of where to cut ... or something written five times in this puzzle?). In the Down crosses, those "dashes" magically turn into "hyphens"
Theme answers:
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True confession: the first time I ever heard the term DASHED LINE was ... today. Just now. Total news to me, this term. I know the term "dotted line," of course. You sign on it, famously. The thing is—and I never thought of this before today—"dotted line" is kind of a misnomer, because most of the so-called "dotted lines" I've seen in my life have, in fact, been composed of *dashes.* I just found out that if you look up the term, "dotted line," you will see many dictionaries acknowledging that even though we're saying "dot," we mean "dash." A dotted line is "a line of dots or dashes on a form or document" per Collins Dictionary, for example. And even though the clue refers to a line that indicates where you're supposed to cut (with scissors), not where you're supposed to sign, I don't know that I would've called that line anything else but a "dotted line." I certainly wouldn't have called it a "DASHED LINE," for reasons established in the first sentence of this paragraph. So the basic terminology in this one—the core concept, the revealer itself—was alien to me today. So that was weird. Also weird: calling your "dash" puzzle "Multi-Hyphenates," as hyphens ... are not ... the same ... as dashes. Yes, a hyphen looks kind of like an en dash, but "dash" and "hyphen" are not equivalent and there are any number of siteson theinternet that are more than happy to explain the difference to you.
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No struggles today. Only one write-over, but it was a doozy. I had the ANT- at 37A: Lion's prey and without much hesitation wrote in ... ANTEATER. Which fit! I did think "huh, never saw that on Wild Kingdom," but I also thought "sure, why not, I can see a lion eating one of those." But no, yeah, ANTELOPE, way more iconic. And I've learned (in about two minutes of cursory online searching) that ANTEATERs are not actually a part of the average lion diet.
Here we see Queso as he tries and fails to string the lights on the tree. "Why do these get so tangled?! Why don't I have opposable thumbs?!" Also pictured: Wolfy, who is absolutely no help.
Penny and Merle like to solve together. Here, Penny throws down her pencil in disgust: "ASTA ... TOTO ... ODIE ... this dog bias is bull***." Merle doesn't notice or care. He's still working on 8-Down: "PURR! Is it PURR! Write in PURR! No, MEOW! MEW! No, TUNA! Write in TUNA!" Penny: "It's eight letters, dummy." Merle: "TUUUUUNA!"
For the first time in three years, Qwerty came out of hiding when guests came over to the house (true story). It's a Chanukah miracle!
And lastly today, here's Felix and Chester, the Siberian Forest Cats, looking dubious about their Christmas gift. "Is that ... a book? That looks like a book. You ... shouldn't have. No, seriously."
Relative difficulty: Easy
Theme answers:
- [LINE] WORKER (22A: Electrician who might put in overtime after a bad storm)
- hyphenated crosses: UH-UH / NO-NO / TO-DO / OP-ED
- [LINE] CHARTS (28A: Graphics that show trends)
- hyphenated crosses: LIP-READ / AGE-OLD / GET-GO / RE-UP
- [LINE] DRIVES (59A: Hard hits off the bat)
- hyphenated crosses: TA-DA / KAL-EL / EMO-POP / TIN-POT
- [LINE] DANCES (72A: The Macarena and Cha Cha Slide, for two)
- hyphenated crosses: TV-MA / PRE-OP / CHIN-UPS / MUST-READ
- [LINE]BACKER (109A: Defensive position)
- hyphenated crosses: DO-RAG / MID-AIR / ORE-IDA / YES-MEN
Jamie Moyer (born November 18, 1962) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Over his 25-year career in Major League Baseball (MLB), Moyer pitched for the Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, St. Louis Cardinals, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Seattle Mariners, Philadelphia Phillies, and Colorado Rockies.At the time of his final game, he was the oldest player in the major leagues and had the most wins, losses, and strikeouts of any active MLB pitcher. He was likened to Phil Niekro due to his long career and relatively old age upon retirement. On April 17, 2012, Moyer became the oldest pitcher in MLB history to win a game. On May 16, 2012, he broke his own winning-pitcher record and also set the record for the oldest MLB player to record a run batted in (RBI). He also holds the major league record for most home runs allowed with 522.
Moyer made the All-Star team in 2003, while with the Mariners. (wikipedia)
• • •
So terminological issues are distracting me today, making it hard to appreciate what the puzzle's trying to do. The puzzle needs the line to be DASHED and not DOTTED today, because the whole point of the theme (wordplay-wise) is that the word "LINE" is "DASHED," i.e. turned into dashes, so that those (en) dashes can then function as "hyphens" in the crosses. The fact that the "dash" becomes a "hyphen" in the crosses is actually really nifty. I totally missed this aspect of the theme until I started describing the theme in this write-up. I thought those Downs that ran through "LINE" were just skipping over a missing "LINE"—I didn't see that the "LINE"needed to be made of "-"s, that all the Down answers *featured* "-"s as part of their make-up. I've spent a solving lifetime studiously ignoring hyphens. I've entered OPED in the grid a million times over the years, but OP [hyphen] ED? Never, that I can recall. The fact that the puzzle got *all* the words crossing "LINE"s to be hyphenated answers—that's pretty impressive. It didn't make the solve itself very exciting, but it definitely made me respect the intricacy of the construction.
The fact that LINE was in every theme answer helped make this puzzle very easy. It also meant that the theme answer set was repetitive and somewhat bland. Further, there just wasn't a lot of other marquee fill to liven things up. Only a small handful of answers outside the theme are seven letters or longer, and most of those are pretty ordinary. Perfectly solid, but not exactly scintillating. So I wish there'd been more oomph and sparkle in the grid overall. Still, there were a couple of moments that really made me light up. The first was running into the book I Know a RHINO (102D: "I Know a ___" (rhyming children's book)). We read this to / with our daughter All The Time when she was little. It was a bedtime story that was actually fun to read. The kind you hope they'll ask for ("oh god please don't let her pick [long boring story, title redacted]!"). The illustrations are lovely and incongruous and silly in that way that little kids love. In short, good memories, especially as earlier today, that same daughter (now 24) was sending me selfies from in front of the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower (stuck in Paris on her way to Venice for work, but making the most of it). Anyway, the puzzle gave me fond memories of the girl, and I'm grateful for that. I literally exclaimed "Aw..." mid-solve.
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| [FUGE (4)] |
The other moment that made me smile was when Jamie MOYER showed up (. I thought "Oh, lots of people are not going to know him. I don't think he's been in the grid since ... since ... wait a minute ..." And sure enough, this is just the second appearance of MOYER—the first since I debuted him in one of my NYTXW puzzles back in 2012.
I'm not saying his name is good fill, exactly—despite his many accomplishments, Jamie MOYER is a pretty obscure name, especially to casual (or non-) baseball fans. But I took a weird baseball-fan pride in giving the old guy his due back in 2012, and I was weirdly happy to see his name again today. "Good for him!" Kinda weird to have MOYER *and* MAYER in the same grid, but ... they *are* different names, so ... judges say: no foul!
No struggles today. Only one write-over, but it was a doozy. I had the ANT- at 37A: Lion's prey and without much hesitation wrote in ... ANTEATER. Which fit! I did think "huh, never saw that on Wild Kingdom," but I also thought "sure, why not, I can see a lion eating one of those." But no, yeah, ANTELOPE, way more iconic. And I've learned (in about two minutes of cursory online searching) that ANTEATERs are not actually a part of the average lion diet.
Further notes:
- 18A: Emmy-winning drama series set in the midwest (FARGO) — still not totally on board with calling North Dakota "the midwest"—all those northern and central states just to the west of the Mississippi are "Plains States" (part of the Great Plains), and should be classified separately from the "midwest," imho—but the Census Bureau says NDAK is in the "midwest," so I guess it just is.
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| [The Census Bureau's idea of the "midwest"] |
- 47A: Language from which "curry" comes (TAMIL)— hesitated at TAM-L between "I" and "A." I blame "tamale."
- 55A: Dien Bien ___, 1954 battle site in Vietnam (PHU) — thank you, Billy Joel
- 61A: McEvoy of cosmetics (TRISH) — no idea. You wanna stump me, give me "cosmetics" names. Anything beyond ESTEE Lauder or OPI nail polish (or ULTA Beauty, or L'OREAL) and I'm done for.
- 76A: "The Simpsons" character who says "I've done everything the Bible says! Even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff!" (NED) — Flanders!
- 90A: They might make you jump (UP ARROWS) — I know I said I had no sticking points today, but I forgot about this answer, which I could Not parse for the longest time (that is, some small amount of time). I had the whole front end (UPARR-) and still: no idea. I was trying to make it be one word. Rookie mistake. UP ARROWS make you jump ... up ... one row ... in whatever text you are working on. (Sorry, I’m being told this is about video games. [Shrug].)
- 91D: ___ Bill, folk hero who is said to have ridden a tornado like a bucking bronco (PECOS) — it's weird, I know the name PECOS Bill, but I could not have told you one thing about him.
Pecos Bill (/ˈpeɪkəs/ PAY-kəs) is a fictional cowboy and folk hero in stories set during American westward expansion into the Southwest of Texas, New Mexico, Southern California, and Arizona. These narratives were invented as short stories in a book by Tex O'Reilly in the early 20th century and are an example of American "fakelore". Pecos Bill was a late addition to the larger-than-life characters, such as Paul Bunyan or John Henry. (wikipedia)
"Fakelore"! What a great term. Someone should cover Taylor Swift's Folklore in its entirety and call it Fakelore. Weird Al? No, that would probably be Folklore (Weird Al's Version). Would listen.
We're nearing the end of Holiday Pet Pics, as the "Holiday" season winds down. I know I said "no more submissions," but I might have room for a few more on New Year's Day, so if you wanna send me Fido in a Santa suit or Fluffy sleeping under the increasingly brittle Christmas tree or Dino eating a dreidel dog treat, go ahead.
This is Miss Frida Flirt Hyman-Taylor, who (in typical Schnauzer fashion) likes to celebrate the holidays by being imperious and territorial. Also cute.
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| [Thanks, Steve] |
Here we see Queso as he tries and fails to string the lights on the tree. "Why do these get so tangled?! Why don't I have opposable thumbs?!" Also pictured: Wolfy, who is absolutely no help.
%20(Robert).jpeg) |
| [Thanks, Robert] |
Penny and Merle like to solve together. Here, Penny throws down her pencil in disgust: "ASTA ... TOTO ... ODIE ... this dog bias is bull***." Merle doesn't notice or care. He's still working on 8-Down: "PURR! Is it PURR! Write in PURR! No, MEOW! MEW! No, TUNA! Write in TUNA!" Penny: "It's eight letters, dummy." Merle: "TUUUUUNA!"
.jpg) |
| [Thanks, Barak] |
For the first time in three years, Qwerty came out of hiding when guests came over to the house (true story). It's a Chanukah miracle!
.jpeg) |
| [Thanks, Deborah] |
And lastly today, here's Felix and Chester, the Siberian Forest Cats, looking dubious about their Christmas gift. "Is that ... a book? That looks like a book. You ... shouldn't have. No, seriously."
.jpeg) |
| [Thanks, Liam] |
See you next time.