Theme: "Play ball!"
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| Today, we played baseball |
Puzzling Thoughts:
Today's puzzle seemed a bit more Friday-ish in difficulty; clues were more suited to an end-of-the-week puzzle and made for a more satisfying solve
I don't know much about today's constructor, other than this similar puzzle that appeared early in 2024, so this might be a debut for Marc. There are scores of puzzles from Rebecca Goldstein ... unlikely that they're related, but who knows?
Today's "theme" is all about baseball. Five entries; a mixture of words and phrases that begin with a baseball reference and are supported by clever clues:
17-across. Tube on an automatic ball launcher?: PITCH PIPE. A pitch pipe is actually the image shown below and is used by choral groups when singing a cappella:
25-across. Batter's decision not to bunt?: SWING VOTE. A swing vote refers to a vote that is regarded as decisive to the outcome of an election because it is not predictable which candidate or party it will be cast for. Or maybe it just refers to this?
34-across. "I got it!" or "Blazing fastball!," for example?: CATCH PHRASE. Great clue! Here is a little whimsy
50-across. Tally entered on a scoreboard?: HIT RECORD. Of all the hit records out there, I chose the one below as my favorite ... listen to as much or as little as you desire as it's the "album" version ...
The video I found, coincidentally, combines the song with (58-across. Instructional video about getting under a tag?:) a SLIDE SHOW, so enjoy both simultaneously
Pitch, swing, catch, hit, and slide. All BASEBALL terms
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| The Grid |
Here are the rest of the clues/answers
Across:
1. "Whip It" band: DEVO.
5. Substantial account: SAGA.
9. Mint family herb: BASIL. learning Moe-ment but not surprised by it
14. Photoshop, say: EDIT.
15. __ hygiene: ORAL.
16. "My Brilliant Friend" novelist Ferrante: ELENA. A bit tougher clue than to use the name of one of our Supreme Court justices - good Friday clue
17. [entry]
19. "Sorry, got other plans": I CAN'T. I tried "I PASS" first
20. Ghost __ chance: OF A. Partial phrase - thought these were "no-no's" for 21st Century crossword puzzles
21. Cry of discovery: OHO. I tried AHA first
22. Polar vehicle: SNO-CAT®. This spelling refers to the brand name of vehicles produced by Tucker Industries. The actual "vehicle" is referred to as snowcat - a portmanteau of snow and caterpillar
23. __-Leste: first new sovereign state of the 21st century: TIMOR. More info
25. [entry]
28. Bygone boxy Toyota: SCION.
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| Debuted in 2003 - discontinued in 2016 |
29. Art Deco designer: ERTE. aka, Romain de Tirtoff
30. Flagon kin: EWER. A good Friday clue - the word flagon is rarely used, but then again, so is ewer
31. Suffix similar to -ess: ENNE.
32. Crushes, in a way: ACES.
34. [entry]
39. Stock option?: SOUP. You make soup by using stock - here is one of our favorites:
40. Starring role: LEAD.
42. Whack: SWAT.
46. "A Death in the Family" writer James: AGEE. One of many 4-letter proper names that have one consonant and three vowels
48. Container allowances on scales: TARES.
50. [entry]
52. Not suitable: INAPT.
53. Sudden charge: ONRUSH.
54. Racket: DIN.
56. Rock & Roll HoF city: CLE. Here is the list of the 2025 inductees (Rock n Roll Hall of Fame is in CLEveland, OH)
57. Perch: ROOST.
58. [entry]
61. Govt. security: T-NOTE. T-BILL and T-BOND fit, until they didn't
62. Obedience school lesson: HEEL. STAY fit until it didn't
63. "Present!": HERE.
64. Ribald nature spirit of Greek mythology: SATYR. This one certainly fits the description
65. "Relax": EASY. "CHILL" didn't fit
66. "New-to-you," perhaps: USED. Nice clue
Down:
1. Storehouses: DEPOTS.
2. Imposing structure: EDIFICE. The reason the image of my puzzle grid has one black triangle in the corner of the second letter "I" is because I spelled the word edifAce
3. Nutrient in citrus: VITAMIN C.
4. Like 3-Down pills: Abbr.: OTC. Over-The-Counter
5. Former frosh: SOPH.
6. Melodic: ARIOSE.
7. Opening: GAP.
8. Brewpub brew: ALE. IPA fits, too, but I didn't fall for it
9. "The Perks of __ a Wallflower": 2012 teen drama: BEING. Sure, why not
10. Secluded spot: ALCOVE.
11. Dugong, for one: SEA COW. A CSO to my fellow Friday sherpa, Malodorous Manatee
12. Natural: INNATE. Not to be confused with its homophone enate which refers to those relatives traced to the female side of the family
13. More recent: LATTER. LATEST was inserted by me which made the NE corner take longer than it should have to solve
18. Insects in the genus Vespa: HORNETS. More, from Wikipedia
22. Scornful expression: SNEER.
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| Younger generation's "sneer" |
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| My generation's "sneer" |
24. Actress Chaplin: OONA. One of many 4-letter proper names that have one consonant and three vowels
26. Spot for a bar code, often: WRAPPER. aka, a SKU ...
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| One of my favorites |
27. Hankering: ITCH. URGE also fit until it didn't
33. Cracker served with 39-Across: SALTINE.
35. Whistle blower: COACH. Good clue
36. "Les Misérables" novelist: HUGO.
37. English actor Bean: SEAN.
38. Maladies treated with drops: EARACHES.
41. Strongly regret: DEPLORE.
42. Gym bottoms: SHORTS. As opposed to tennis and/or golf bottoms, for women, SKORTS
43. Ryder of "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice": WINONA. She was also in "Beetlejuice" (the original - which I liked better than the remake)
44. Fundamentally: AT ROOT.
45. Unlikely to be undependable: TRUSTY.
47. Swirls of water: EDDIES. <=== this is one of the entries that I considered for a Moe-ku
49. Like some tomatoes and prunes: STEWED. <=== this is another
51. Organic compound: ESTER. No "ku" here
55. Aimlessly: IDLY.
58. Pop duo __ & Him: SHE. Is it just me, or did this song sound a bit like the Beach Boys??
59. Thompson of "Back to the Future": LEA. In "Back to the Future", Thompson plays the role of mother to Michael J. Fox's character, Marty McFly ... in real life, Lea is but 10 days older than Michael
60. Moo __ pork: SHU. Finally, a "Moe-ku":
38 comments:
As baseball season
has recently got under way, I suppose you could call this puzzle “topical,” at least, in a sense. I admit it had some “tricky’ clues. However, in spite of what C-Moe said, I didn’t find it all that difficult, especially for a Friday puzzle. Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
ALCOVE was slow to occur this morning, making the NE the last section to fall. Forgot to look for the theme [Sigh], but enjoyed the outing. If this is a debut, it's a good one. Thanx, Marc and C-Moe.
Took 9:50 today to get on base.
I knew today's actress (Lea, Winona, & Oona), but only one of today's writers (Hugo, not Elena).
As for Lea being so close in age to her movie son, that isn't an example of Hollywood sexism/agism, but due to the fact that she had to be high school-aged when teenaged Marty (her movie son) went back in time.
DNF. Stalled in New England, possibly because I had i'm out instead of I CAN'T.
Hand up for taking forever for ALCOVE to appear, even after the I CAN'T fix.
I liked the puzzle and don't expect to get every Friday offering. However, I think the theme was odd. I got CATCH PHRASE, SLIDE SHOW and, to a degree, PITCH PIPE and HIT RECORD as something that could match the clue. But I thought that SWING VOTE was the one thing that wasn't like the others, to borrow a phrase from Sesame Street. (I had "swing free" at first, which fit the clue and also had the double meaning.) Oh well.
On the upside, Patti let ACES slip in with a clue that didn't include "WNBA."
FLN - Bayou Tony, thanks for the reminder of Sweet's Fox on the Run. But I like the old Bluegrass standard better. Similar to classic rock bar bands that all have a version of Clapton's Wonderful Tonight, Bluegrass bar bands all have a version of this Fox on the Run. (I like the Bluegrass version better, but YMMV.)
Thanks to Marc for the Friday challenge, and to our Chairman for another entertaining review. Yes, they do sound like the Beach Boys, or maybe even First Class, the group that sang Beach Baby.
Thank you, Marc Goldstein Congratulations on your LA Times debut! This MLB fan enjoyed the theme.
Thank you, Chairman Moe. Thanks for linking that video at SLIDE SHOW. One of my favorite songs of the early 70s. The mood that the song generates still resonates with me. That tenor sax gets me every time with the fades in and out.
About a dozen of us went to a Traffic and (56D inductee) Joe Cocker concert in Pittsburgh. The Fandom concerts wiki tells me it the Civic Arena, and was on Sept 23rd, 1974. Were you still at UPITT then? H2P!
DEVO was just weird.
I read most of the Wikipedia article on Timor-Leste. The marine waters around Timor-Leste are one of the habitats of 12D DUGONG.
I tried ette befor ENNE emerged. 50% correct. Handup for latest before LATTER. 83% correct.
FIR. Interesting grid for this puzzle, it was like four crosswords connected in the middle by "catch phrase", each able to stand alone.
I found this to be relatively easy for a Friday. Just a few difficult clues and very few proper names to deal with. Much more like an earlier in the week puzzle.
I went through today's presentation so rapidly I didn't even notice the baseball reference until I got here, and I'm an avid baseball fan.
Overall a very enjoyable puzzle.
We had a PITCH, a SWING and a miss and the player behind the plate had to CATCH it , a HIT, and a SLIDE into a base. No homeruns on this BB puzzle. There were a lot of proper names today. I knew DEVO, ERTE, SNOCAT, SCION, AGEE, OONA, HUGO, TIMOR and WINONA. ELENA, SEAN, SHE, and LEA were perped. I want count Office DEPOTS, BASIL Rathbone, Nabisco SALTINE, or the Charlotte HORNETS. I'm glad those weren't clues.
Satisfying puzzle. At first I thought it would be á washout when I didn’t know 1 Across, DEVO, then when I saw the baseball theme I knew I was sunk. But that was not the case. At SWING VOTE I figured out the gimmick and swang away.
My only real unknowns were SHE, easy enough to guess though I had her at first and LEA but perps took care of them.
Speaking of LEA we have several of them in the grid, ALE, ELENA and LEAD.
Thank you C-Moe for the entertaining review.
I enjoyed today's puzzle, and if it was indeed Marc's LAT debut, I hope he plans a return engagement.
The puzzle was thoughtfully constructed; even though its theme was baseball, the clues and fill were generic and broad enough that the non-baseball enthusiast could feel included.
The puzzle had names, sure, and I knew hardly any of them, but Marc (and presumably Patti) had thoughtfully placed helpful perps in the vicinity.
So thanks, Marc, for an enjoyable challenge, and feel free to drop by the Corner to say hi. And needless to say, ChairmanMoe, we were in usual good hands with you at the recap helm.
Like others here, I had Latest before LATTER, and that fit so nicely with "I'm out" instead of I CAN'T that the NE took forever to conquer.
I'm not a sports nut so a baseball theme is something I usually balk at. I noticed that the terms were almost in order of play: 1-PITCH; 2-SWING; 3-CATCH; 4-HIT; 5- SLIDE. I would've reversed 3 & 4 so the HIT comes before the CATCH.
One of my pet peeves is the DIN at restaurants, and some places are intentionally loud. I went out to dinner with RightBrain at a noisy place recently. "Do you have a quieter table?" I asked. "What?" replied the hostess. "I said, DO YOU HAVE A...oh never mind," and we left.
Super write-up Moe, thanks for the bit about Groucho, my childhood inspiration. "You Bet Your Life!" Also loved Traffic. Little Stevie Winwood was only 14 when Spenser Davis asked him to join his group, so he was still a kid when they recorded "I'm a Man."
Fantastic Friday. Thanks for the fun, Marc and CMoe.
I solved this CW in very good time and saw the Take Me Out to the Ballgame theme with the third themer. COACH was an Easter Egg (and maybe ACES for those PITCHers).
But officially a FIW, as my hand is up for having EDIFaCE (TaMOR seemed OK).
There were plenty of unknowns, but perps were fair. It has been a while since I read My Brilliant Friend, and I pencilled in Maria before ELENA perped.
Perps decided HEEL not Stay.
My gym bottoms changed from Sweats to SHORTS.
I moved from crop to EDIT in my photoshop.
AHA changed to OHO.
I hesitated in the NE corner, until I realized that INNATE and LATTER both required double letters.
My Moo goo pork changed to SHU. (It’s Moo goo gai pan,)
SEACOW crossing SNOCAT was cute.
I haven’t seen ESTER in a CW for eons.
Wishing you all a great day.
Good Morning:
I found this challenging but I’ll chalk that up to not being fully awake and alert while solving. There were several unknowns which slowed me down considerably, i.e., Devo, Timor, Elena, Hornets, and Sean. Adding to those speed bumps were the missteps of Latest/Latter, Aha/Oho, Ette/Enne, and Ediface/Edifice. Props for some clever cluing and a fun, tight theme that was executed perfectly, IMO.
Thanks, Marc, and congrats if this is a debut and thanks, Moe, for the fine expo and commentary. You and I share the same fondness for Reese’s candy!
Have a great day.
Hola! This was very easy for a Friday, though I admit to starting at the bottom and working my way up since it seemed difficult at first glance. The clue for SLIDE SHOW seemed convoluted;; instructional video would have been enough, IMO. And I'm always happy to see an author's name (if I know it!) and I do know AGEE and, of course, HUGO. And yes, I had LATEST before LATTER. No other errors today. It's surprising since I have not slept AT ALL. It was one of those nights when sleep eluded me altogether.
Thanks to Marc and Moe for today's fun.
Have a wonderful day, everyone!
Musings
-This one was a homerun for me. Baseball, cleverness, learning…
-SWING AWAY went in first but it is an actual baseball term which sent it to the bench
-Yes, I am old enough to get the Groucho Marx joke. :-)
-HIT RECORD: I had to quit trying make sense of _ _ _ _ _ CORD. The first letter was wrong with TRUNKS and SKORTS going down.
-DEVO’s silly song brought back memories of when MTV had videos
-One member of our household loves the mint family herb CATNIP
-I have been known to rub the leaves of herbs at the nursery to conjure up the sense of a pizza
-The SNO-CAT 2000 XL featured in the Nicholas Cage movieNational Treasure
-Incidental learning: Chubby Checker did not originate The Twist but had a big hit with the LATTER version. Record producer liked his image better.
-Your summary was a real hit, Moe!
Winona idly stirred her soup, crumpling a used saltine wrapper, sprinkling in some basil. She looked up at me in my shorts like she’d like to swat me away. “Oho, so look who’s come home to roost?”
I gave her a sneer, but there was that itch, no matter how much of a heel she thought I was, I was trusty. Eddies of hornets from outside, sounding like a Sno-Cat, might have given us earaches if it wasn’t for the seclusion of her alcove. I tossed a laptop onto the table and punched up a slide show, did a little edit on an oral show that wasn’t supposed to be there, and the coach’s picture came up. “That’s your SWAT team leader – he and Shu, the seacow are at the root of this saga. Coach was the swing vote in who would inherit the Erte artworks – your DEVO hit record, and a T-note, all worth using a pitch pipe to whistle a high note.”
“I can’t part with my record! You mean Sean will get the first edition Hugo too? My Aunt Elena also had rare collections of the writer Agee and Charlie Chapin’s wife Oona – whos going to get that?”
“Sean,” I said. I opened her refrig and grabbed one of her fortified with Vitamin C pale ales. To use a catch phrase – yuk. “You want me to use my innate being on this one for you?”
“Yeah, Aces – use a giant edifice on his head, because Sean might be her son, a scion, but I know he was washing his hands in the ewer that day she died.”
“Yes, I already know, he had access to the ester they found in her nasal cavities, and there was a gap in time he said he was just back from East Timor that same day. So I don’t mind if we wrap this up today… Back to my place?”
“You sound so soph, but that has an ariose sound to it. Are you gonna play the satyr, again?”
How does “saga” equal substantial amount?
The clue reads: "substantial aCCount", not amount. Hope that clarifies it for you 😐
I got all "Misty"-eyed reading this!
Agnes @ 9:49 ==> I recently tried the dark chocolate version of Reese's Peanut Butter cups and I think I prefer them over the originals. The older I get the more I prefer dark chocolate to milk chocolate ...
FIR in 14:47, I liked the baseball theme and saw quite few other references to the game besides ACES and COACH which C Eh! mentioned. Sultan of SWAT, LEAD-off hitter, Tommie AGEE, batters try to hit the GAP, there was actually a player nicknamed “SOUP” Campbell, and a plethora of EDDIES over the years. Unknowns were SEAN, ELENA, and ENNE, but they perped. Not familiar with AT ROOT either. All in all, a nice Friday puzzle by Marc, and a fine recap by the Chairman, thank you both!
Wow! YooperPhil - you found a plethora of Easter Eggs.
While we are on the sports theme, how about a cheer for Hamilton, Ontario native Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, named NBA MVP the other day.
Thanks for the tip, Moe. I’ll have to give the new version a try.
A rare Friday FIR today. Really enjoyed this puzzle. Clever misdirection, good theme, helpful perps, many Aha! Moments, no WTFs, and a nice recap by C-Moe for the icing on the cake!
20 minutes to FIR. I, too, read AMOUNT instead of ACCOUNT. AHA:OHO, EASE:EASY. 15 names, DNK 7. Also knew ERTE but took forever to bring it to mind. Overall, just glad to FIR on a Friday. Thanx MG for constructing a doable Friday level CW. I caught on early to all the baseball, and thought, "Oh, I bet this is one of C.C.'s creations, but then saw I was wrong when I saw MG. Thanx too to C.MOE for the terrific write-up. I especially liked the Economics cartoon. C.MOE, please know all your time and effort for our entertainment is much appreciated.
Delightful Friday puzzle, many thanks, Marc. And always appreciate your helpful commentary, Chairman Moe--especially with that sweet reference you made this morning. Thank you for that--much appreciated.
Well, I don't know quite how ORAL and SAGA made me think of a bunch of HORNETS who did ROOST in an ALCOVE in the back yard, where their noise gave us an EARACHE. We DEPLORED all that racket and wished we could COACH them to produce more EASY sounds for us to hear, which they finally did. Se now we can enjoy some SALTINE crackers and some SOUP, while watching a SLIDE SHOW. Pretty neat way to spend the morning, wouldn't you say?
Have a lovely day, everybody.
Always great to see another product of the University of Kentucky's NBA factory live up to his potential.
I went in with I’m out, too.
Perfect symmetry would require the duo’s name to be “Her & Him.” Me and I had that first..
I enjoyed doing this puzzle. Same writeovers as many of you.
Even better than Reese’s peanut butter cups are Smoothie peanut butter cups. They’re like Reese’s, but instead of being covered in chocolate, they’re covered in butterscotch. They’re hard to find if you live outside of certain parts of New England. I live in New Hampshire and even here they’re hard to find. If you happen to be in a specialty candy store that sells Smoothies, buy every one they have. You won’t regret it.
Congrats to Marc on this fine debut! I enjoyed the baseball theme. FAV wordplay was CATCH PHRASE.
Thanks to C-Moe for talking us through this one! Loved the SNEER image.
Nice cruise through Marc’s bit of sporty theming — I thought how it was clued made it fair for even non-baseball solvers. Just the right amount of chewiness for a Friday, too, with some very clever sleights-of-phrase in it, even with the cross of HUGO and AGEE (I thought that sort of thing is a no-no for constructors? Still, quite the nice job, Sir!
Like @Big Easy, when I filled in BASIL, I thought of the actor; and I’ve always wondered why they’re pronounced differently 😵💫
The Chairman’s tour was, as always, good entertainment; the Traffic vid is a real blast from the past (did you know that Stevie Winwood was only 14 when he was invited into Traffic? Hella talent, that boy… 🎸). And once again, Moe, we’re proven to be contemporaries — Snidely Whiplash, villain extraordinaire!
====> Darren / L.A.
CanadianEh!, I've been watching. SGA is an amazing ball player
Darren, it was the Spencer Davis Group.
He co-founded Traffic 4 years later.
Here's another one of his songs.
Steve Winwood - Higher Love reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1986.
I don't think I've ever seen the Smoothies, but I'm pretty sure the first peanut butter cups I ever ate were the Boyer's Peanut Butter Cups.
The Boyer's Mallo Cups were my favorite though. And if you collected enough of their cardboard coins, you could redeem them for more!
I remember Boyer's Mallo Cups and the coins they had printed on the paperboard tray! I can't recall what you could redeem them for; more candy? If I'm not mistaken Boyers was also a PA based confectioner
Thanks unclefred for the kind words
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