Comments on: Brian solves the NYT puzzle: Sunday, 7-5-09

By: joon

joon — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:03:57 +0000

rose was still playing while he was managing. his hit record wouldn't be quite so high if he hadn't kept writing his own name into the lineup card long after he deserved to be benched. and trying to pin down exactly when he was and wasn't betting on baseball is both futile and pointless. the only time baseball's long-term popularity was seriously threatened was in the 1920s, when it became increasingly clear that not everybody was trying to win. the culmination of that, of course, was the stunning revelation that the black sox had thrown the 1919 world series. ever since then, the rule about no betting on baseball has been prominently posted in every dugout/clubhouse. you bet on baseball, you're banned for life, no ifs/an(d)s/buts about it.

incidentally, i don't think bonds and clemens juicing has any bearing on pete rose's status. but yes, i agree that it's weird that none of them might end up in the hall. if i had a vote, i'd put clemens and bonds in. either that, or go back and take gaylord perry out.

By: Crosscan

Crosscan — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:14:17 +0000

Well, of course. You can always get another job, but there's only one spreadsheet.

By: Brian Cimmet

Brian Cimmet — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:31:05 +0000

I wonder which threat will resonate more with Will Shortz:

1) NYT: \"Allow us to cut the second Sunday puzzle from time to time, or you lose your job.\"
2) Crosscan: \"Print the second Sunday puzzle, or I'll banish you from the spreadsheet.\"

Clearly, the second.

By: Crosscan, WOTC, WOTC

Crosscan, WOTC, WOTC — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 03:13:01 +0000

Actually, I threatened to have him banned from the spreadsheet. And wouldn't it be weird to think that FMI's all-time leader might not be listed.

By: plum

plum — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:57:33 +0000

Since nobody has acknowledged this so far let me be the first to say that the acrostic was included in today's magazine. Rumor has it that Shortz merely heard about the petition and caved.

By: Brian Cimmet

Brian Cimmet — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:58:04 +0000

See, and I assumed it was Tony who had the bird fetish. Clearly I need to get to know him better.

By: Brian Cimmet

Brian Cimmet — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:54:08 +0000

I suppose I considered SSW to be crosswordese only in the sense that these three-letter directional terms only ever appear (to me) in crossword puzzles. I didn't meant that SSW was the most prevalent, only that the directions seem exclusive to the puzzles.

We have skipped the crossword tip of the week lately, although your mini-thesis on the drections gives me pause to reconsider, and possibly, re-instate.

I'm on the fence about Pete Rose and Cooperstown. That some people are inducted for their managerial work and some for their playing suggests to me that the Hall separates these two worlds. Didn't Rose only gamble when he was a manager? And if he did, couldn't he be enshrined as a player and shunned as a manager? I know that doesn't make much sense... It's just weird to think that MLB's all-time leaders in hits and home runs (as well as the greatest pitcher many people can ever remember playing) might never be in the Hall.

By: joon

joon — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:05:52 +0000

ARAM is quite a bit more likely to show up than either ASHER or LEV, although most of the time it's {Composer Ketchaturian} (i'm putting my odds at having that spelled correctly at something like 3-to-1 against).

i guess you could call SSW "crosswordese," but you know how many times it's been in the NYT puzzle in the will shortz era? about 40. contrast with its opposite, NNE, with 120+ mentions, and ENE with about 240 (admittedly some of those were clued via the suffix, not the direction). the runts of the litter, WSW and WNW, have only been been used 10 and 7 times, respectively. moral of the story: if you don't know the direction, guess something ending with E. maybe that should be the crossword tip of the week, although you guys seem to have stopped doing that.

by the way, no on pete rose. he voluntarily agreed to a permanent ban from baseball. a richly-deserved one, if you ask me, which i guess you did.

By: Amy Reynaldo

Amy Reynaldo — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 21:33:12 +0000

Thanks for the writeup and the kind words, Brian! One minor correction—you've got Tony and me switched in the photo caption. That's me on the right, leaning over to talk to Tony about hot seabirds.

By: Howard B

Howard B — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 17:40:00 +0000

Classic. I had some very cool and interesting science teachers, but none quite like that either. My teachers, in that situation, would have more likely gotten there just in time to see poor Steve plummet, but then at least teach a great lesson on acceleration and velocity.

By: Doug P.

Doug P. — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:33:58 +0000

I think I had that comic book too, and I used to love the "Isis" TV show. Here's a typical scene, featuring some terrifying ladder-climbing action. Isis teaches a young student to be more smarter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6NCCRr5_p8 BTW, none of my science teachers ever looked like that.

By: Crosscan, WOTC, WOTC

Crosscan, WOTC, WOTC — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 14:03:03 +0000

Anyone who played for the Montreal Expos deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.

I'm sure I had that ISIS comic. did you find my old collection somewhere?