Puzzling thoughts:
Doug Peterson is a widely published and well-known crossword constructor. He should need no introduction here as he's created countless LA Times puzzles; probably one for every day of the week
I was literally on the EDGE of my seat today when I saw the 16x15 grid. After solving, I noticed the perimeter of *key words that go with the reveal: 40-across. Situation that occurs under extreme conditions, and a description of the answer to each starred clue: EDGE CASE. Confused? Well, just follow the 12 words around the border (EDGE) of the grid (I've highlighted them in red on the solved puzzle picture below), add the word CASE to them, et voila! The result is a dozen words that fit with a CASE:
CIGAR CASE (Moe has one or two of these, as he's a CIGAR smoker); JEWEL CASE (a now antiquated term for a plastic CD container); SLIP CASE (or is it SLIPCASE, one word?) - not to be confused with a SLIP Cover (a slipcover has 2 openings: top and bottom. A slipcase generally only has 1 opening: the right side); PHONE CASE (mine has protected my iPhone 13 Pro on many occasions, and should probably be replaced); SEED CASE - wait; there's a crossword entry for that "clue" ... "Seed case": ARIL
Next, is MEAT CASE - a feature that Moe appreciates in his grocery store shopping ... maybe I am thinking of a MEAT COUNTER instead? WORST CASE (a phrase which is almost always followed by the word "scenario"); GLASS CASE - the one entry that Moe is a bit confused by ... is it a CASE made of GLASS or a CASE that is built to hold GLASS?? Sorry, Doug, but this was the weakest of the 12, IMO; TEST CASE - a tribute to the IT geeks here - "A test case usually contains a single step or a sequence of steps to test the correct behaviour/functionality and features of an application"[Wikipedia]; COURT CASE - they come in four flavors: Civil, Criminal, Family, and Probate. Don't believe me? Look it up ... or better yet, SUE ME!! Then, of course, there is the DELI CASE ... which surprisingly is almost never located next to the MEAT CASE (nor MEAT COUNTER) in a super market; last but not least is the COLD CASE (an unsolved criminal investigation which remains open pending the discovery of new evidence) which led me to today's puzzle title: CASE CLOSED
The evidence is in, and while EDGE CASE is not one of those terms that many use on a daily basis, it certainly describes today's puzzle. Well done, Doug, but there'll be a few nits to pick with you as I review the clues and all ...
The MHS for today's puzzle is 6.2; mostly for the clues
Here is the solved grid:
Across:
1. *Pipe alternative: CIGAR. Moe-ku #1:
Nude smoker burned self[ok, that one's a stretch]
With lit ash. The end result:
Clothes, but no CIGAR
6. *"You Were Meant for Me" singer: JEWEL. Her (or is it she/they/them??)
11. *Minor mistake: SLIP. This, perhaps? Ladies, you'll understand ... or is a SLIP showing OK nowadays?
15. 2022 Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Tony: OLIVA. Tony OLIVA was a star right fielder for the Minnesota Twins [click on the link for his stat's]. I searched for his "rookie card" and found it interesting and coincidental that he and Pete Rose had to "share" their rookie cards with other ballplayers. That year, Topps (a major player in the sports collecting card business) perhaps wanted to save a few $$ and chose to combine a quartet of rookie players on one card. OLIVA is in the Baseball Hall-of-Fame; Rose would be had he not been caught gambling on baseball games when he was a player and manager ...
16. Savory quality: UMAMI. Think of the flavor of sauteed mushrooms
17. Soft food: MUSH. Soft food = MUSH is just the noun definition; no dogsled driver EVER yelled to his team of Huskies "SOFT FOOD", "SOFT FOOD" ...
18. Hybrid big cat: LIGER. A zoo-bred hybrid. Read all about it
19. "No __!": SIREE. Moe-ku 2:
iPhone assistant
Was being belligerent
I said, "No, SIREE"!
20. Spot's pal in Pixar's "The Good Dinosaur": ARLO. Mr. Guthrie is not pleased ... I had no clue about the clue that Doug used here. Good possibility that this clue was edited for a Friday. Did anyone else know this from "The Good Dinosaur" reference?
21. Most precious: DEAREST.
23. Like Frederick the Great's kingdom: PRUSSIAN.
25. Skin bump: WART.
26. Jedi played by Daisy Ridley: REY. Her
27. Unifying idea: THEME.
28. Boring situation: DRAG. Moe-ku 3:
What Ru Paul's called when
He gets ennui from smoking?
A DRAG DRAG DRAG's DRAG
[or something like that!!]
30. Tara of the "Sharknado" films: REID. I counted only 8 proper names today, so that's not too bad for a Friday puzzle. I didn't know Ms. REID, so perps saved the day ... here is what she looks like:
32. Novelist Santha Rama __: RAU. And of course, one proper name follows another ... another save from perps ... Ms. RAU
33. Bistros, e.g.: EATERIES.
35. Zombies, essentially: CORPSES.
39. Inebriated: LIT. Surprise, surprise! This one came to me lickety-spLIT!!
42. __ kwon do: TAE.
43. Guts: INSIDES.
45. App's customers: USER BASE. Not a term with which I am familiar. An example of its use in a sentence [according to Wikipedia]: "In time, a small user base who created and made their add-in applications available on-line for free or for profit emerged." MEH.
47. Rx writers: MDS. DRS also fit ... I am not a big fan of pluraled abbreviations ... and in the Google world, when you search for MDS you get this
48. Developer's map: PLAT. Interesting information from Realtor dot com
49. Eagle-__: EYED. One thing I hope Margaret is when she proofreads my blog! ;^)
50. Title in a Dumas title: COMTE. Perhaps if the clue were in French, we would know that the word for COUNT (as in The Count of Monte Cristo) was supposed to be in French. A minor nitpick, but a fair one. Regardless, I originally inked in "THREE", so I had the wrong book
More on Dumas and his writings [Biography dot com]: "Dumas was a prolific writer of essays, short stories and novels, as well as plays and travelogues. His interests also encompassed crime and scandals and wrote eight volumes of essays on infamous cases in history such as that of Lucrezia Borgia and Cesare Borgia, and names more contemporary to his time, like Karl Ludwig Sand. But he achieved widespread success with his novels The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers, initially published as serials. The Three Musketeers was one of three novels in his D'Artagnan Romances, the others being Twenty Years After and The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later. The story "The Man in the Iron Mask" from Le Vicomte de Bragelonne, also stands out as one his most widely known."
53. Sewer scamperer: RAT.
54. Some quinceañera attendees: TIAS. Unlike the clue for COMTE, this one was much more correct. Why? A quinceañera is a celebration of a girl's 15th birthday in Latin American cultures, marking her transition from childhood to womanhood. So naturally, possible attendees would be her TIAS - the Spanish plural for Aunts. And a place where this celebration could be held is found in 35-down (Asunción abode:) CASA.
56. Party bowlful: ONION DIP. I prefer guacamole, and I make a killer one
58. British actor who played Bilbo Baggins: IAN HOLM. Moe-l'ick 1:
Bilbo Baggins was recently scarred,
And the news really caught us off guard.
He expired from infection
After getting erection ...
Guess it's true that old hobbits die hard
[sorry if this offended anyone, but this was created in honor of Wilbur Charles, our recently departed blogger who coined the term "Moe-l'ick" and "Moe-ku" ... Bill loved a good limerick, especially ones that were a bit risque ... I know he'd be grinning right now ... RIP, sir ... you will be missed]
61. Gabrielle Union's alma mater: UCLA. This was a WAG but easily perped. Who is Gabrielle Union, you might ask?
62. Do the trick: AVAIL. "WAVE A MAGIC WAND" didn't fit
64. Flood guard: LEVEE. The ones that failed in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina came onshore made news. Tragic event
65. Wants to take back: RUES. Should I RUE what I said about Ru in my Moe-ku??
66. 2022 role for Pattinson: WAYNE. Robert Pattinson (British actor and model) stars as Bruce WAYNE (aka, Batman) in the 2022 motion picture (for those who were stumped by this clue)
67. __ rock: ARENA. [Wikipedia] says: "Arena rock (also known as album-oriented rock or AOR, melodic rock, stadium rock, anthem rock, pomp rock, corporate rock and dad rock ) is a style of rock music that originated in the mid-1970s."
68. *Challenge: TEST. DARE also fits
69. *Tumbler: GLASS. Hey! A clue that we "old farts" recognize!!
70. *Least satisfactory: WORST. Moe-ku 4:
At hot dog cook-off
I finished in last place. Was
The WORST of the wurst
Down:
1. *On a losing streak: COLD. Do you ever see a word (COLD, in this case) that immediately brings a song into your head? Well, I did ... and I am going to share it with you, right here:
[is this an example of 67-across??]
2. "Would __ to you?": I LIE. Hope not
3. Power grid measures: GIGAWATTS. I had MEGA WATTS inked in at first
4. Bowler's statistic: AVERAGE. Every time I see a reference to bowling I remember Boomer ... RIP, Doug
5. More valuable, perhaps: RARER. This word is also a reference to how I prefer my T-Bones or Ribeyes
6. Merely: JUST.
7. Classic record label: EMI. Here is a link to their artists
8. Bent out of shape: WARPED. If it wasn't already obvious, this word is an appropriate adjective for Moe's mind ... ;^)
9. Pedicure abrasive: EMERY. Not to be confused with EMORY - the name of an Atlanta-based University ... there is probably a Moe-ku that should be inserted here ...
10. Substitution word: LIEU. Moe-ku 5:
The actress who played
O-Ren (Kill Bill) had stand-in.
Her name's Lucy LIEU
11. Demolition derby collision: SMASH UP. Here is a video with over 26 minutes worth of SMASH UPs - watch as much or as little as you please ...
12. "Foreign Affairs" Pulitzer winner: LURIE. The last of today's proper names
13. Mullah's faith: ISLAM.
14. *Call: PHONE.
22. Walks purposefully: STRIDES.
24. Impolite observer: STARER. OGLER was too short to fit
26. Gentle hill: RISE. A perfectly fine Friday clue - nice misdirection
28. *Sub supplier: DELI. Do you call your "long sandwich" a SUB? I've called them that as well as a HOAGIE. When I lived in New England they called them "GRINDERS"
29. Reason for indoor recess: RAIN. "Aw c'mon teach! Why can't we go out and play in the RAIN?" Nothing like a good rainstorm to form puddles to stomp in
31. Brain tests, briefly: EEGS. So, this could've been ECG or EKG, too ... what is the difference you ask? It is all explained here
32. Stone discovery site: ROSETTA. [Encyclopaedia Brittanica] says: "The Rosetta Stone is an ancient Egyptian stone with inscriptions in three languages and scripts. It was discovered by a Frenchman in 1799 near Rosetta, Egypt, and deciphered by Thomas Young and Jean-François Champollion in 1821–22"
Not to be confused with Rosetta Stone the learn-a-language software
34. Blush: REDDEN. It would take quite a bit to make Moe REDDEN ... not surprised, are you??! ;^)
36. Spends the night: STAYS OVER. Margaret and I recently STAYED OVER with MM and Valerie in Colorado - thanks again, brother!
37. Relieve: EASE. Moe-ku 6:
What are certain words,
Like apse, Afta, and Ott called?
Methinks, Crossword-EASE
38. *Germ of an idea: SEED.
41. Rock's Blue Öyster __: CULT. One of their iconic tunes in an iconic parody:
44. "My goose is cooked": I'M TOAST. Moe-ku 7:
Foie gras and baguette
Were overheard saying, "My:
Goose is cooked!" "I'M TOAST"!
46. Save the day: BE A HERO.
48. Smoothie fruit: PAPAYA. BANANA fits here, too
50. *Server's spot?: COURT. As in tennis ... and perhaps the best name for a tennis player was none other than this Aussie woman
51. When expected: ON CUE.
52. Some credit card rewards: MILES. POINTS and CASH BACK didn't fit here
53. Uber, to Lyft: RIVAL. I've known some folks who've driven for both ... at the same time
55. Holiday visitor: IN-LAW. Nice Friday misdirection; I had SANTA inked in here
57. University of Georgia athlete, familiarly: DAWG. Go DAWGS! Their mascot:
As a side note, my daughter is beginning her 15th year as a Professor at the University of Georgia!
58. Tahiti et Martinique: ILES. Clues in French = entry in French ... and no, just because the name Dumas appeared in clue for 50-across, does not imply that the word should be in French!! [rant over]
59. Periscope part: LENS.
60. *Charcuterie fare: MEAT. Or foie gras ... or baguette ... ;^)
63. Progressive business: Abbr.: INS. Progressive as in the insurance company? Is that what INS is referring to here? Moe-ku 8:
Abbreviations
Aren't always clear. I guess I'll
Just go with the Flo
Well folks, that's a wrap; CASE closed. Please offer your comments and criticism below. See you in September
I have never in my life heard the expression “edge case.” That being said, the puzzle wasn’t all that difficult, especially for a Friday, and the “cases” were easily seen. FIR, so I’m happy.
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteLike Subgenius, I didn't find the reveal particularly revealing. Don't think I've ever heard EDGE CASE before. D-o did notice the THEME (MOTIF worked until it didn't) of the boundary words. Thanx for the diversion, Doug, and welcome back C-Moe.
RAIN -- We actually got a few drops last evening -- the first time since late June. Probably only totalled about 1/8", but it was welcome. Temp dropped 15 degrees in just a few minutes...all the way down to 89°.
As might be expected, unclefred struggled this morning. It is Friday, after all. Although I did FIR, it took a very long time, since every single name was a DNK. I did see the theme, but as others said, have never heard “edge case” before. PAPAYA brought to mind my mango tree this year, which absolutely went crazy with fruit. My freezer is full, and I gave away scores of them. I have absolutely the BEST mangos, too: large and not stringy. Anyway, the CW: thanx for the challenge this morning, DP. I almost gave up a few times. Thanx too for the write-up, excellent as always, C-Moe.
ReplyDeleteTwo mistakes. I wrote REED instead of REID and didn't know the R in REY,
ReplyDeleteso I had -ESE and missed RISE.
I knew 57D was some form of DOG, but missed the W.
Still, interesting puzzle and expo.
I have several slipcases.
slipcase
USER BASE seems common enough. It's in the news.
LIU. EDGE CASE, situation that occurs under extreme conditions, was new to me. It seems to be used in computer programming.
Sorry to hear that Wilbur passed. So sad.
Slipcase link does not work. Please look slipcase up on Wikipedia. There are pictures. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteThis solve just moved right along - even WEES about EDGE CASE I'm always impressed when the constructor has to place all the theme answers in precise locations.
ReplyDeleteI wanted Martin FREEMAN for the British actor who played Bilbo in all the Hobbit movies- but it was IAN HOLM who played him in the LOTR movies. It didn't help that they had the same number of letters!
I'm sure all the MDs (and DOs) knew what MDS also stands for - it's sort of like a pre-leukemia and eventually if a person lives long enough becomes leukemia (because it is most common in older people) Good summary article CM. I always encourage people who want to look on-line for medical information to only look at sites that end in .edu, .org, and .gov
to get reliable information that has been peer reviwed. Much of what is on .com sites has not, and they are also trying to sell you something or have ads to pay for their site. Some of it is okay - but much of the rest you might as well be listening to a snake oil salesman in the Old West.
Thanks CM for a fun blog and Doug for the puzzle!
FIR, but erased acne for WART, reed for REID, plot for PLAT, dare for TEST, and megawatts for GIGAWATTS.
ReplyDeleteToday is:
National Park Service Founders Day (Why not just "Woodrow Wilson Day?")
National Secondhand Wardrobe Day (Why no just "Jinx Day?")
National Banana Split Day (Where do you learn to make banana splits? Sundae school.)
National Whiskey Sour Day (Too many will cause discourse, causing the need for...)
National Kiss And Make Up Day (Make up "kiss" is the best "kiss" of all)
I usually enjoy Doug Peterson's puzzles, but I really didn't care for this one. Don't really know why, but I liked today's Eugene Sheffer's offering just fine, so it's not just because I'm not in the mood to do crosswords. At least our Chairman came through with a fun review.
Inanehiker, .ORG domain names are available to anyone. I actually had one for a while, which proves that they will issue one to ABSOLUTELY anyone, regardless of psychological disorders or conviction records.
ReplyDelete(I also don't put total faith in .GOV and .EDU sites either. I try to look for confirmable, hard data and to be wary of opinions disguised as facts.)
FIR, but had to work for it. Edgecase? Nope, not in my lexicon.
ReplyDeleteI really dislike the crossing of proper names, and believe they don't belong in puzzles. Took a WAG at Arlo and Lurie and was right. Pure luck.
Also comte was nasty; no indication in the clue to it being French. Not fair.
ReplyDeleteToday is definitely a Friday challenge requiring some esoteric knowledge in natick form to boot. Example: In the NE The “Pulitzer Prize” winner crossed with the “Pixar” dinosaur movie character . Perhaps A _LO is ALLO for Allosaurus? Which gave me LULEY which was wrong !
Who didn’t try Santa for “holiday visitor”?. .. then I insisted on sticking with count as the Dumas “title” which screwed up the SW corner. IAN who?
Say less to need, I DNF 🙁 just in case you were wondering …but the theme filling the periphery of the puzzle is ingenious
Billion questions….. GIGAWATTS
The best liver____ WORST
Bank job …… LENS
The bride bridled when told she must wear _____ AVAIL
It’s not a holiday but INLAWS here for the night to break up a 4 and 1/2 hour Rochester to Poughkeepsie Thruway trek 🚗
Lots of unknowns today with a guess for LURIE crossing SLIP for the last fill. Never heard of SLIP Case or LURIE. I wanted BLIP instead of SLIP the the Demolition Derby wouldn't allow it. The only EDGE case I've ever heard of is in this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteSlip showing? Girls these days are wearing thin low cut bras with protruding nipples and no outer blouse or shirt.
REY, REID, IAN HOLM, WAYNE (and Pattison) didn't think of Batman- filled by perps
ARENA rock- never heard of it except as a crossword term..
Changed MEGA to GIGAWATTS, RCA to EMI, SANTA to IN-LAW,
It's hard to believe that Tony OLIVA wasn't already in the HOF with his lifetime BA over .300. But he didn't play for a NY or LA team and those teams got all the press.
I'm outta here, CASE closed.
Took 7:28 today to finish, so I'll be BRIEF.
ReplyDeleteGood thing I had entered "miles" before enCOUNTering the Dumas clue, otherwise I'd have typed in "count" first.
I was aware of some kind of theme along the edges, but that was it until I finished.
I am not a fan of most foreign words in puzzle, and today's was a good example of why: comte, casa, tias, etc.
I didn't know today's writer (Rau), but I remembered today's actress (Tara Reid) from the "American Pie" movies. I had also entered "Gwynn" for the baseball HOF'er, but quickly had to delete those letters.
Interesting theme. Saw the asterisks and then more asterisks, etc. Fell into the meGA/GIGA trap. Best lead was getting ROSETTA. FIR.
ReplyDeleteThanks to Doug and the Chairman for exploiting our collective intellect today.
Have a great weekend!!
Good Morning! I was a bit overwhelmed when I saw all the starred clues, but I loved the result! Impressive! Thanks, Doug.
ReplyDeleteNE was the last to fill. CIGAR was an AHA moment that took me to the finish line. I was locked into the plumbing version of the word.
Today was not a good day for names for me. WAG: ARLO crossing LURIE.
ESP: CULT and RAU
Google: JEWEL, REY, WAYNE, COMTE, OLIVIA
With JEWEL, I was only familiar with the Gene Kelly song.
Thanks, C-Moe, your recap was delightful: info-ful, tune-ful & Moe-ku-ful!
Musings
ReplyDelete-In math we call EDGE CASES outliers
-Uber obscure names made for a challenge
-I’m sure JEWELL’s song is fine but that lyric should conjure up this song. Oh Boy!
-My neighbor gave us some steaks that had way too much UMAMI
-Calculus APPS probably have a small USER BASE
-Our second cousin Monte Christo was called The COUNT of Monte Cristo when he played QB for the Huskers.
-Arlington High School AVAILED themselves of me for my first sub job of the year today
-Taylor Swift eschews ARENA Rock as she can get 70,000+ into stadium rock
-A lovely young lady for whom I sub here is a demolition derby junkie!
-In Back To The Future, Doc Brown says JIGAWATTS instead of the correct GIGAWATTS
ReplyDeleteFLN
I love misheard lyrics and made up ones. Thanks for a great list Jinx
May I add
The Shirelles/Carole King from “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”… Can I believe the magic of your size
Madonna from “Papa Don’t Preach” … But I made up my mind, I'm eatin’ my baby, hm..
I'm gonna eatmy baby, hm
Whitney Houston “ Climb Every Woman”
In kollidge had a frat brother who would change any song with the word “hand” in it to “gland” I Wanna Hold Your 🎶🎤 ..We’d eventually get kicked out of the bar
Thank you Doug for an outstanding puzzle, which I unfortunately FIW due to a personal NATICK at 20A x 12D.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks MOE for an outstanding recap. I didn't make the effort to trace the answers to all of the starred clues, or I might have completely understood that they were all EDGE CASES and took up all the EDGES. Loved the Kus!
A few favs:
18A LIGER. The other hybrid is the TIGON, a cross between a male tiger and a female lion. IIRC my son and I saw a few LIGERS at the Siberian Tiger Park in China when we went to get our adopted grandson.
20A ARLO. The first half of my NATICK. I swagged ALLO, as in ALLOsaurus.
27A THEME. "meta fill" highlighting the excellence of this puzzle's THEME?
45A USER BASE. A group of loyal users hooked on "KILLER APPS" like EXCEL, WORD, etc., who keep them ever afloat. The problem with this is that their programmers, in order to justify their existence, periodically have to make CHANGES to the APP, whether any are needed or not. When you run across a "Minor mistake" in an app (AKA a "bug"), chances are it's the result of a CHANGE.
67A ARENA. So JEWEL was an ARENA rocker?
12D LURIE. The other half of my NATICK. DNK this novel as I was into "1984" in 1984. We all the thought the world was about to end. The world is still working on it.
32D ROSETTA. Favorite clue. I recall reviewing a similar puzzle, not as clever as this one, that only had STONE sites turning the CORNERS.
Cheers,
Bill
Ray - O @10:08 AM Reminds me of an old college prof I knew -- we'd go out for Chinese food at lunch and whenever he'd read his fortune cookie, he'd add "In bed" with a smile 😁
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteWe haven’t seen this type of fun theme in quite awhile and while I enjoyed the solve, the reveal was a totally foreign phrase. Oh, I saw the “Cases” all around the “Edges” but Edge Case, itself, sent me to Mr. G for a definition. Today’s unknown proper names were Arlo, Wayne, Lurie, Cult, all as clued, and Rey. I knew the author Rau, but had Rao, at first. Most of the cluing was definitely Friday level but, as Moe noted, some clues were a little edgy, no pun intended, and I think my only w/o was RCA/EMI. For some reason, this didn’t feel like a typical Doug Peterson puzzle but that’s an observation, not a criticism.
Thanks, Doug, for a enjoyable solve and thanks, Moe, for the excellent fact and fun filled review. I loved all the Moe-kus, with my favorites being the I’m Toast and the Progressive/Flo for Ins. A little risqué word play never hurt anyone, especially when used to honor and pay tribute to a dear friend. Wilbur would have loved it. I believe the Glass Case refers to the case that you receive when you buy eyeglasses. At least that’s how I refer to those. And, like you, any mention of bowling brings our dear Boomer to mind.
FLN
Charlie Echo, I got a big kick out of your “. . . through the night from the light from a bulb.” Priceless!
Jinx, the only one of those that I recognize is The Age of Asparagus. Just more proof of my pop music ignorance.
Have a great day.
Oops, I meant NW corner was my last to fill and, yup, Santa before INLAW.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Tony OLIVA and Pete Rose rookie cards, here's a little trivia. These rookie cards featured players who have spent little or no time in the majors yet, but have a reasonable chance to play the year for which the cards are released. Sometimes these players never even get to the majors, so rather than give a whole card to an unknown and unproven player, they put multiple on a card. Rose did play the entire 1963 season in the majors, and was Rookie of the Year. Oliva spent most of 1963 back in the minors, and was again on a rookie card in 1964 with one other player, and was Rookie of the Year in 1964. As it turns out, 7 of the 8 guys on these cards had significant major league careers, and the 8th played about 5 years, which is pretty unusual.
ReplyDeleteRookie cards are generally considered the most valuable, presumably because it was less common to save an unknown rookie's card. Once players like Oliva and Rose became stars kids would save them, so there are more of them still in existence. The four player rookie cards were replaced by two and three player cards for awhile. When card collecting hit a boom, Topps and other card makers realized the rookie cards were a big sell, so prospective rookies got their own card.
More than anyone wanted to know, I'm sure! I still have my baseball cards from my youth, including some of Oliva and Rose, but not those rookie cards, unfortunately.
Hand up crossed proper names not nice. Has anyone heard of LURIE as clued? Learning moment about EDGE CASE. Impressed with the construction.
ReplyDeleteFrom Yesterday:
Lucina Thank you for taking the time to read my article and for the kind words. Are you talking about my FEBREZE article or my UTOPIA article?
Here are more of my recent articles if anyone is interested.
Thank you for this reference to your original writing. I "know" you as a fellow crossword solver and now I am a fan of your enlightened thinking based on a wide range of interests from the classics to Madagascar. Bravo!
Delete@Jinx @8:15 - I should have clarified - one should start with the sites with endings like .org and .edu and .gov - but then obviously (or not so obviously) from that first delineation should look at the actual name/organization as a further step. e.g. American Heart Association, American Academy of Family Physicians - yes ; tiptoethroughthetulips.org - no; uchicago.edu -yes; any unaccredited college or university- no- though even the accredited ones one needs to be discerning
ReplyDeleteGary, remember John Montefusco - The Count of Montefusco - of the Giants?
ReplyDeleteRay o - Thanks for the great adds. You reminded me of Ronnie Spector's appearance on Howard Stern's show. IIRC, it was right after they caught Jeffrey Dahmer. Stern's staff had written some parody lyrics of Ronnie's biggest hits, and they talked her into singing Eat my Baby on the radio.
I had kilowatts/gigawatts and Ayers/arena rock but FIR with a little white-out. Thanks Doug for a fun Friday… kkFlorida
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I get CROSS when I see lots of proper names, the majority of which I don’t recognize, and if I look them up, I don’t expect to remember them.
ReplyDeleteI FIR but not only had no fun, had never heard of EDGE CASE, and could not notice the theme because I didn’t have the reveal. Thanks to C-Moe for explaining.
I Hope Saturday will be kinder to me.
ReplyDeleteI guessed the R at the intersection of LURIE and ARLO. Didn't know the Pulitzer winner LURIE, but the name LURIE has recognition. The Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital is highly ranked nationally for pediatric care. #1 in Illinois and the region, and overall #10 in the nation for children's hospitals.
Tante Nique @12:11 --> [spoiler alert] The Saturday puzzle is pretty challenging
ReplyDeleteWhiner @10:54 --> I possessed two Pete Rose rookie cards back in the day. I found them in a shoe box, where they'd been stored for a couple of decades. My Mom gave the baseball card collection plus many other childhood items to me after going through some things in the attic ... I sold the cards back in the 1980's and whatever $ I got for them is long gone
Be back later ...
Tough, but fun Friday puzzle, many thanks, Doug. And your commentary is always a pleasure, Chairman Moe, thanks for that too.
ReplyDeleteWell, as soon as I saw JEWEL I thought there might be a bit of romance in this puzzle--probably meant for the DEAREST one of all. The fellow who cared for her probably did his best to BE A HERO by taking her on a lovely date to her favorite DELI and other EATERIES, where they could order some appetizers with some TOAST and some ONION DIP, and enjoy it all with a GLASS of wine. After a lovely evening like that she might even ask him to STAY OVER for a while longer. Looks like the start of a sweet romance.
Have a good weekend coming up, everybody.
DNF. Today was just not on my personal radar screen. Finally TITT, and came to visit the blog. CMoe picked up my spirits as he always does. This one just wasn't a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteC-Moe@12:39. Now I’m scared. 😜 Actually i don’t mind challenging, in fact I relish it, I just don’t like dealing with a lot of proper names. I’m looking forward to the challenge tomorrow whatever it might be.
ReplyDeleteHola!
ReplyDeleteSeeing Doug Peerson's name as constructor gave me a rush and I knew the puzzle would be fun and not a DRAG. I was not disappointed.
RAIN is a rare occurrence here but we might get some remnants from hurricane Hilary.
I must have heard of Blue Oyster CULT because it slipped in immediately.
My friend from New York flew here with some of her millions of MILES. She is a world traveler and has likely been to every continent including Antartica.
The R in LURIE was a pure guess.
I had no idea about Daisy Ridley or REY and in fact had REN. Oops, EMERY saved the day.
Only one of my nieces calls me TIA. To the rest I'm "auntie".
Have a wonderful day, everyone! Every day is a gift!
Thanks to Doug & Moe for excellent diversions on another hot, hot day!
ReplyDeleteI filled 'er and sorta got the theme as far as EDGE enCASEment went. Did not look long enough to see that each word went with CASE.
The NC section was the last to fill with red-letter help. I only had EMERY and didn't know REY/RISE/REID. JUST for "mere". Okay, I guess.
Hand up: banana smoothie. I've never even seen a PAPAYA that I know of.
Picard:
ReplyDeleteI was referring to "Utopia".
Been in my shell the last coupla days grieving Wilbur Charles.
ReplyDeleteWEES.
Moe, Yellowrocks, Irish Miss, Jayce Thanks for the Wilbur Charles tributes. I had been emailing with him since 2017. A painful loss, indeed.
ReplyDeleteLucina Thank you for clarifying that it was my UTOPIA article that you appreciated. Thank you again for taking the time to read it. As I explained in the article, it has been a passion for me since I was a teen.
Anon at 4:37PM Thank you for the very kind words. Much appreciated. Have we "met" here before? What is your name?
I enjoyed the puzzle and the recap was certainly not chopped liver.
ReplyDeleteDR: Another non-diagonal anomaly today, with its asymmetrical (16Ax15D) grid...
ReplyDeleteOtherwise,a fine Friday PZL. 90% yielded to my P+P. Boo-YAH!
~ OMK
Fun Friday. Thanks Doug and C-Moe (great Moe-kus today).
ReplyDeleteI FIWed and saw the EDGE CASEs, although I am not familiar with the term.
At 11A, I had S_I_ and wanted Suit, but perps and clue did not fit.
Plenty of unknown names today, but they WAGged or perped fortunately.
Hand up for banana before PAPAYA, and Dare before TEST.
Wishing you all a great evening.
Always love The Chairman’s fun reviews and goofy Moe-ku’s! Not a bad Friday offering at all 🤙🏽
ReplyDeleteIt seems I’m in good company here — no one else on the blog has ever heard EDGECASE before, either…but I somehow managed to FIR despite that intersecting-names disaster up in the NE (had I not known ARLO…I’da been TOAST). Proper names are bad enough; let’s not also cross them, please — leaves me “Cold As Ice” 😎
====>. Darren / L.A.