As our gift to you, elcroata and I have created a crossword puzzle in honor of today’s holiday.
Here is the Reason for the Season (FK edition).
Enjoy!
(There is also a version for a more general audience, with the same theme entries but less FK-specific fill and cluing, that we intend to submit for possible publication. If you feel like doing that one as well, feedback is welcome.)
Happy Festivus, everyone!
Happy Rickeymas one and all!
Oh great you got me the gift of reminding me I’m a lot less clever than I tell myself.
Merry FKing Christmas my friends!
Merry christmas one and all!
In the true spirit of “Tis the season to be jolly” we have engaged on the 8-hour journey through the Amazon documentary about ETA. We’re 3/8 through and while it’s a difficult thing to watch, it is very well done. It’s been a bit cathartic experience for my wife, going through here childhood/youth again, the one that was marked by both the explosions/cars set on fire/protests/revolutionary taxes on one side and constant controls/checkpoints on the other. If you are a history buff, it’s well worth the watch.
“Staple of the A’s pitching staff, 2016-2020”, 7 letters. Did they cheat and use SMANAEA? Because I’d be stumped otherwise.
He did make starts for the A’s in 5 straight seasons, though fewer total (48) than I would have guessed. Seems like the kind of player who could be successful in Korea, just not quite good enough to stick in an MLB rotation.
Staple as is holding the rotation together when is was injured
Nice theme! Took me too long to realize what it was though… 14:18
Glad you liked it. We had great fun constructing it. Which one did you do?
Yes, that was fun! Don’t know what my time was but I found it more challenging than the typical Monday version.
Comet the asshole youth coach is the Jim Jordan of the Rudolph special.
but he wasn’t talking about FK.
——
also, i got zero on the nyt baseball trivia quiz.
This?
12/45 (It said 10, but I am giving myself credit for one where I didn’t know it wanted the first name, and another where I misspelled the last name.)
that one.
zero!
There are (I think) 18 questions in there that are a simple 1 out of 4 multiple choice.
If you guess randomly on those, you have only about a 1 in 200 chance of getting them all wrong.
Well done!
(I also managed to do worse than pure chance on those ones.)
oh i didn’t guess. just seeing if i knew any and moving on to the next.
13, but one was flat out wrong and they called one wrong because I transposed letters in an uncommon name.
the questions could have been clearer. Especially since it was not really “trivia” as much as it was random factoids, if there is a distinction between the two
Cue Jonah Hill: “He also doubted whether human contact would have much value anyway, when his mathematical models could already tell me everything I needed to know.”
Turchin poses an interesting (and scary) thought pardign but I’m not convinced he’s not overstating what his data set provides. Democracies begat complexity begats over-populations of elites and conflict, ok sure maybe, sounds feasible, but how many industrialized democracies can that possibly include.
Also he makes no suggestions about weathering the impending decay. Guns? Gold bullion? Wind-powered weed farms? I need a strategy.
i suppose he’s saying democracy is one of the ways that bring complexity. the over-population of french elites was not in a democracy, and that had the marquises begat fewer failsons their aristocracy woulda lasted longer.
and the strategy is don’t bunt.
My reaction is similar to FSU’s. It’s not that he’s necessarily wrong, but reducing something as complex as society to what sounds like a very simple model seems awfully dodgy. And this part:
seems downright crackpotish. Statisticians don’t try to draw conclusions from just a few data points in the first place.
Soviet Emigre Is Pessimistic About Humanity.
Nice little catching up chat with Giancarrrrlo EsPOSito.
I knew we were in trouble when the other guys brought in a Harvard man.
That was…spectacular. They out-Raiders themselves. I was listening to Brent Musburger while watching that and even he said something like “I have never seen anything like this” (not really; he called the Doug Flutie BC play).
I’m reading the recap of this ending and I have a hard time believing it is real. Gruden is really that stupid?
Apparently so. If the other team is giving you a TD to get the ball back, it’s usually going to be best to take it if you can’t run the clock all the way down to 0:03 before kicking your own field goal. NFL teams don’t need much to get into field goal position if that’s all they need to win.
Holy Fitz.
Shoulda stayed away from the Vegas showgirls though.
For now, the meaningless Raiders game on Sunday isn’t scheduled to be shown in the Bay Area. January 3 NFL TV maps. I thought every game would be shown for the first couple seasons at least. That could change in the next day or two; I don’t know that Cardinals-Rams would draw more viewers against the 49ers than Raiders-Broncos, but I do know some Raiders fans would be PO’d.
OTOH up here, the Raiders are the in-state team now, despite being twice as far from Reno as they used to be. In the past we would have dumped this one for the main national game, but we’re going to get every game no matter how bad they suck.
For the early game Buf/Mia and Pit/Cle are exactly equivalent matchups (12-3 team fighting for #2 seed vs. 10-5 team possibly needing a win to get in), except that Pittsburgh has looked awful for 4 straight weeks, but I guess mystique still counts for a lot when it comes to national audiences.
“Mystique” is definitely a big part of it. The Dallas Cowboys have that too, although I’m amused at how Providence RI is waving the Tom Brady flag and flipping off the Cowboys.
I also like Bakersfield/Santa Barbara/ The Channel Islands(?) saying we hate both SF & LA!
I yearn for the glory days when LA didnt have a football team. The watching must have been glorious.
I see that the Fresno area has now opted for another opportunity to watch the pride of Firebaugh tomorrow morning, notwithstanding the fact that he might not play at all.
I’m enjoy hate-watching the Steelers and wishing all of the misfortune on them. And I feel I can’t look away from the Browns impending train wreck. The last time Cleveland won 10 games they missed the playoffs anyway.
Snow game, w00t!
Huh.
It’s possible Snell isn’t that good. The rays are going to be fine. i don’t know if they can sustain the winning from last year over 162.
Still, I don’t like it. baseball is better when they don’t do these things.
I don’t know if this will work out for the Padres, but I do know I’d rather be excited about getting Snell, Kim, and Darvish in a 24 hour period than sitting around wondering if we can bring Yusmeiro Petit back.
Gohmert Pyle, seditionist. Well, gollee!
I am tying with the cross word. SLF took over and did all the lower half. I am stuck on the top half.
Any clues we can help with?
Surely ‘eel never fall for this kind of thing again.
It’s like all the Trump enablers or COVID superspreaders who now say “if only I had realized … ” and expect sympathy and forgiveness.
FK you, the information was there, experts across the spectrum were sounding the alarm, and you chose to believe that you knew better and that the most obvious of snake-oil salesmen were trustworthy.
Strangely beautiful clip.
yeah i was watching that one on loop but couldn’t figure out where it was.
what’s that across the way, treasure island?
pier 7!
OK, but have you tried Eel Oil?*
*Not available in Europe, including most of Ireland.
Only Eno Sarris could get an article published (in The Athletic) about pitch design trends built around a lesson in Hegel’s dialectical method.
Nevermoor harvests your keystrokes, I want to harvest your vocabulary prowess.
I’m looking for expressions that can have three or more interpretations. A great example is OUTSIDE SHOT, which can be either a THREE POINTER, A GHOST OF A CHANCE or LANDSCAPE PHOTO. Does anything comparable come to mind?
This question is dope.
A lot of horse racing terms get repurposed. THE HOME STRETCH in racing is literally the last few furlongs, in a race or voyage or task figuratively it’s the final phase, and of course it could also mean stretching at home. A SCRATCH means withdrawn from the race, in golf it means even-par quality talent, and then there’s literal scratching. SHARPS are savvy gamblers, hypodermic needles, and musical notes. And then there’s BREAKING THE MAIDEN.
I like HOME STRETCH. Knowing nothing about horse racing, except that people bet on it and that old ladies wear big hats to watch it, is the length of the home stretch defined, as distances between the bases are? And if so, could XXX FURLONGS be an answer to a horse-racing-unrelated question? There are several activities that come to mind that could mean the same as stretching your body, like YOGA ASANAS or similar, but are there any that are done exclusively or predominantly at home?
A furlong is one-eighth of a mile, so sure, it could be an answer to a non-horse question. But the length of the home stretch (defined as the straight section after the last turn) varies by track. Usually one to two furlongs.
HIGH NOON can be midday, a Gary Cooper western (yes, it’s a stretch), or wake-and-bake.
There should be a rich vein of phrases including JACK, which as a noun can be a game piece, a playing card, the target ball in lawn bowling, a fish, a donkey, a rabbit, a bird, a flag, a lifting device, a brace, an electrical connection, a spit-turner, a harpsichord mechanism, a man, a sailor, a servant, a woodcutter, a detective, a cheese, a spirit, and slang for nothing, and as a verb can be to lift an object, to raise a price, to inject a drug, to masturbate, to steal, to cause someone inconvenience, and to give up, and I’m sure there are more I’ve missed.
Also, a person’s name.
These are the phrases I came up with on the quick:
JACK OF ALL TRADES
JACK IN THE PULPIT
JACK DIDDLY SQUAT
DOESNT KNOW JACK
HIT THE ROAD JACK
JACKHAMMERING
JUMPING JACK
ONE EYED JACK
JACK AND COKE
CAPTAIN JACK
Out of these, on a first glance, JUMPING JACK has most potential. It could be an exercise and perhaps a rabbit? Something else?
Jackie Robinson taking a long lead (getting a jump on the pitch)
mick calls it a gas
ballpark figure: a million five. hot dog vendor. diamond (though guys, it’s actually a square. not sure you noticed. but if you just tip it over and, yeah…). or maybe just “42.”
drawn bridge: a type of span, drawn. a picture of a span. draw bridge in play?
birthday suit: naked. a nice getup when you are claiming your free grand-slam breakfast. legal proceedings after you thought showing up at denny’s naked was a good idea.
stocking feet: be in socks. the lowest part of stockings. job description at prosthetics supply warehouse.
rooting for you: cheering you on. what your truffle pig does. what a plant clipping does when you feel you have a deep personal connection with it.
off the hook: wild. reason for a busy signal. how that fish got away.
drop in the bucket: one of a lot more to come. what the rig on a well does. when you stop using cliches about fait accompli.
listing ships: taking written toll of HMSs. tall masts at low tide. the beagle, the calypso.
breaking records: snapping vinyl in pieces. setting new lows or highs. bug, goo, nevermind.
open secrets: to do investigative journalism. why you don’t need investigative journalism. to inaugurate a gentlemen’s club.
labor day: may 1. unlike may 1, any day you have to work. birth.
labor of love: a hobby. birth. boring sex with a spouse (amirite?).
Excellent – keep ’em coming.
If I end up submitting a crossword with any of these themers, Free Kraut will get a billing. And if it gets accepted the half of the remuneration will go towards the brewing fund.
If you are interested, this is the process that starts each themed crossword construction. I’ll use “ballpark figure” as an example.
A brief explanation for the crossword-uninitialized as I was until recently. As you can tell, I find american-style* crosswords fascinating now, not for the vocabulary part (I knew this kind of puzzles all my life), but for the word play. NYT has early week puzzles that are “themed”, meaning that typically the longest horizontal answers create a unit that is funny, punny or just interesting. There are lot of constraints, though, even at this early phase.
The size of the puzzle is 15×15, meaning that phrases should not be longer than 15 letters, but also at least 10, 11 letters long.
The crosswords are done symmetrically, for the aesthetics of it. Meaning that if you have an even number of theme entries they have to be in pairs of same length. If you have an odd entry it has to be of the odd-numbered length ( you can place it in the middle row, then).
No part of the answer can be included in the clue. I just had this the other they – good luck cluing RADIOMETRY, without being able to use RADIATION or METROLOGY, for example.
*When I told my Brit friend I’m doing those now, he asked me if that means everything is spelled wrong.
First, I check if someone has used that theme before. BALLPARK FIGURES was used twice in the NYT, but only one time as the revealer (normally the last or the middle theme entry, explaining how the other ones came together).
Agnes Davidson did this:
17 Coating for fish that you might think would make you tipsy : BEERBATTER
24 Cinderella’s carriage : PUMPKINCOACH
39 Rough estimates … or what the ends of 17-, 24-, 52- and 65-Across are? : BALLPARKFIGURES
52 Waiter’s refilling aid : WATERPITCHER
65 Overhead cooler : CEILINGFAN
So, it seems the idea of using it the way AV suggested is still up for grabs.
Off to the next step
Now it comes to finding four or five entries we need to make this work.
One is obviously BALLPARK FIGURE(S). I prefer the longer one because it is 15-letters long, which makes the grid-construction easier (13 and 14 letters are the most difficult to fit in).
We also have
ROUGH ESTIMATE(S), which is 13/14
HOT DOG VENDOR(S), which is 12/13
as for DIAMOND, it is too short, so we could go with …
DIAMOND FIELD(S) which is a 12/13.
It’s not considered to be particularly elegant to mix entries in singular and plural, but I think we can do it if the selected version is more in the language.
So, perhaps pairing ROUGH ESTIMATE with DIAMOND FIELDS would work.
If we use BALLPARK FIGURES, then we either need another 15, or another pair of equal length. I think we have some flexibility when choosing the profession, so perhaps we can come up with something that’s 15 letters long.
So my questions for you:
1. Can you “transform” the HOT DOG VENDOR into a person found at the ballpark that’s 15 letters long? Preferably someone like that, well known nd who can be found outside, as well, as opposed to, say, PITCHING COACHES.
2. Could scores on a scoreboard be considered a “figure”? Can OUT OF TOWN SCORES be called BALLPARK FIGURES?
OK, after thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that OUT OF TOWN SCORES consist of numbers, which are in turn figures being shown in a ballpark.
So that settles it. My theme entries are:
OUT OF TOWN SCORES (15)
HOT DOG VENDORS (13)
DIAMOND FIELDS (13)
BALLPARK FIGURES (15)
I can leave ROUGH ESTIMATES as the clue for the revealer, because it would be impossible to work that one in as well.
We have FIGURE as a NUMBER, as a PERSON and as a SHAPE. I like it!
For added elegance, I thought of cluing the theme answers in a similar manner.
OUT OF TOWN SCORES – Sources of information for home team fans
HOT DOG VENDORS – Sources of food for…
DIAMOND FIELDS – Sources of material for some Zimbabwean exports
This is less than perfect. Can someone make it work?
Would this work?
17A – Source of information for home-team fans – OUT OF TOWN SCORES
28A – Source of raw material for the jewelers – DIAMOND FIELDS
47A – Source of food for those in a hurry – HOT DOG VENDORS
63A – Rough estimates, or what 17A, 28A and 47A all are – BALLPARK FIGURES
Now comes the grid construction. We start with an empty 15×15 grid.
Next I draw the so called “fingers”, the delimitators along the edges.
First, note the required diagonal symmetry. For every block (black square) I place in the upper left corner, I must place one in the lower right. And so on.
There is some thought that has to be given to these choices now. We start defining how long our entries will be. The minimum is three-letters long. But those offer fewest fun words to play with, so I try to avoid them at this point if possible. There will be plenty enough later, when we fill in the remaining blocks.
I also try to have the corners be 4×5, instead of one being 4×4 and the other 5×5, because the latter are more difficult to fill cleanly.
We also have to consider how to place our theme into the grid. We know that we have a 15-13-13-15 rhythm (BALLPARK FIGURES must be the last one, for the A-ha effect). The earliest row we can place a 15 is row #3*. That means that for the symmetry reasons, the other 15 will have to go to the row 13. The 13s will have to go somewhere between them. We could also place the 15s in rows 4 & 12, but I prefer to have two rows between each theme entry for greater flexibility later on. That means that the other two theme entries go in the rows 6 & 10.
* Technically we can place them before, in the second, or even the first row. However, as there is a three-letter minimum requirement for all the entries, this would mean that we would have no ability to place any blocks at all in the rows #2 and #3, because doing so would create a vertical answer of one or two letters only. This, in turn, would mean that we would have to find 2 or 3 horizontal entries of 15 letters each that match so perfectly as to create beginnings of 15 valid words. That’s just not gonna happen
We have to place the other blocks. While it’s sometimes accepted to go over it, especially when there is grid art involved, we are expected to use no more than 78 words. Blocks are not specified, nor that important, but if possible, you want to keep to 40 or less.
Now we come back to why 13s and 14s (or N-1 and N-2 in any NxN) sized grid are a challenge. Check out 3D (column #3) . Right now it is an answer of ten letters, crossing three theme entries, meaning that three letters are already fixed. On top of that it has to match with 1D and 2D, both five-letter words, to form five horizontal entries. That’s basically impossible. The only entry that fits this is TETRAHEDRA, not a great entry in itself and we are handcuffing ourselves, before we even began to construct. Same with 23D.
So, we want to cut this into two words, but it is not easy. Placing a single block anywhere along the third column would create a two-letter horizontal entry to the left of it. The only way to do this is to have all three squares (the block we need and both to the left) as blocks. This in, turn, is only possible at two places – right above the finger or right below it. Any other placement would create a less-than-three-letter down entry. As we already have a finger in the fifth row (on the right side) and as I prefer for every corner to have at least some 5+ entries, I’ll put it below.
I will not take you through every single thought process in placing the other blocks, as I’m afraid I’m losing you all through sheer volume of this. But, generally, it’s about trying to identify what words are scarce and avoiding them. For example, there are more words that start with a ‘V’ than end with one, and so on.
I ended up with this, which is a decent start, considering we had to incorporate 13s.
It has 76 words, which is on a low end for an early week puzzle, and only 16 three-letter entries (rule of thumb is trying to keep it below 30% of all words). This means that if I run into trouble somewhere, I can still add a block or two to help me out and be within the gabarit. With 38 blocks I’m on a higher end overall, but on a lower end for puzzles including a 13 or a 14
Filling is calming, exhilarating and frustrating, all at once. The last one because you sometimes just can’t get the last corner to work and you have to unwind and undo all the great crossings you already had. Or even worse, you get everything to work and then you realize you had a dupe (you can’t have a same word in the crossword twice, even as a part of a bigger phrase. With our themers containing OUT, TOWN, HOT, DOG, BALL, PARK quite a few are already off the table, plus everything one forgets having already used).
I try to use lively entries as often as possible and steer away from “crosswordese” (boring entries, obscure ones). I don’t mind using things nobody else has before, If I think they are interesting bits of trivia (JIRO, for example, arguably world’s best sushi chef). I try to go around the globe as much as I can. I like real phrases (like YOU UP?). But I don’t get to choose that much often, because of constraints of making it all work together.
Good thing with this theme is that the theme entries are already lively, as they occupy the most squares.
Here are my 3rd and 4th (possibly last) attempt. As you can see, I added another block to make it work)
I like the latter one somewhat better, I think. Yous?
this was an amazing journey
Heh – thanks. It goes on now :-)
i thought i was done. did i inadvertently sign up to make a crossword??
Don’t worry – your contribution is already enough
Next step, I check the finished grid to see if there are any words that have rarely or never been used in NYT puzzles. This can be both a positive and a negative. If, say, a 4-letter abbreviation for something consisting of common letters has never been used, it’s a pretty good indicator that the editor will not allow it. OTOH, if it’s firmly in the language it is considered positive to introduce it.
This picture shows all the words that have been used fewer than 5 times in NYT (barely missing the cut (GOLF PRO[5], AKON[6], O-LINE[6], SHIRAZ[7])
OUT OF TOWN SCORES, HOT DOG VENDORS, BURKA, JIRO, GO BAG, and LONGS FOR would all be debuting if it were to be published today. JIRO is the only one that might be unknown to general public, but Jiro Ono is a sushi legend. He has a three-star, ten-seat restaurant in Tokyo where Shinzo Abe took Obama to dine on his visit to Japan.
Plenty of other rarely used, good quality material is marked in colors other than red.
“Jiro Dreams of Sushi” was on Netflix here and got a lot of positive buzz. I’m surprised he hasn’t made it into the puzzle yet.
The last step is writing the clues. NYT has a few conventions, one of them that if the clue involves some wordplay, there should be a question mark at the end. I try to have a handful of those in the puzzle. If I’m writing the clues for the things that might not be common knowledge or their crossings, I try to be as straightforward as possible.
Here are the ones I came up with. Any ideas on what to improve?
Across
1. It’s made up of bits BYTE
5. Tape player VCR
8. Indian royalty RAJAH
13. MGM studios founder LOEW
14. Frail sci-fi race ELOI
16. Able to dance a jig, say AGILE
17. Source of information for home-team fans OUTOFTOWNSCORES
20. Loose garment with veiled eyeholes BURKA
21. Slick transition SEGUE
22. Consents OKS
23. Healthy joint? SPA
24. ___kwon do TAE
26. Round figures ORBS
28. Source of raw material for the jewelers DIAMONDFIELDS
34. QB’s protector OLINE
35. Cheerless BLEAK
36. Passing grades ABCD
39. “A Lonely Rage” autobiographer SEALE
42. Certain noble LADY
43. Online list-maker CRAIG
45. Woodsy home LODGE
47. Source of food for those in a hurry HOTDOGVENDORS
51. Nobelist author Wiesel ELIE
52. Refuse to shut up GAB
53. Center of activity HUB
56. Shrink EBB
59. Circus performers? FLEAS
61. Dog breed from Japan AKITA
63. Rough estimates or what 17A, 28A and 47A are BALLPARKFIGURES
66. Plenty loud AROAR
67. Time to get well? SOON
68. Schoolyard challenge DARE
69. Change of locks? NEWDO
70. Org. with a big PAC NRA
71. Israeli automatics UZIS
Down
1. Shapeless things BLOBS
2. What Rick Astley is never gonna give? YOUUP
3. Half of an octet TETRAD
4. Furry sci-fi warrior EWOK
5. One who’s done a tour VET
6. Narrow escape CLOSEONE
7. T. ___ Price (investment firm) ROWE
8. Runner’s ID RACEBIB
9. Long time follower? AGO
10. Sushi Chef legend ___ Ono JIRO
11. Sudanese supermodel Wek ALEK
12. Shell alternative HESS
15. Coined words? INGOD
18. Disastrous FATAL
19. Turf mate SURF
25. Friends, in France AMIS
27. Merchant SELLER
29. Chemical salt IODIDE
30. Gridiron’s “Greasy” who rhymes with 39A NEALE
31. Pastoral setting LEA
32. Tie recipient, often DAD
33. Something we all look up to SKY
36. “Alas!” in Augsburg ACH
37. “Come at me, ___!” BRO
38. Cool type? CAT
40. Craves LONGSFOR
41. Old Norse verse EDDA
44. Good driver? GOLFPRO
46. Emergency kit GOBAG
48. Lizard, river or monster GILA
49. Takes another tack VEERS
50. Red grape variety SHIRAZ
54. Areas of human development? UTERI
55. They might be loaded BASES
56. Israeli politician Abba EBAN
57. Like some essentials BARE
58. Explode, as a volcano BLOW
60. “Smack That” rapper AKON
62. African antelope KUDU
64. Highlands youth LAD
65. Words with word or way INA
It’s very interesting to see the process – completely different from my time compiling cryptics, where almost all the effort was in the clues.
I’d end up with something like of “A dollar of data” for 1 across.
I never did cryptic (as in I never tried to solve it). Are those the ones where you often use the anagrams of the answer in the clue?
Yes – typically there are two definitions of the solution in the clue, one literal and one cryptic (anagram, embedded word, pun, … ). Parsing the clue is part of the puzzle, but it does mean that is is clear when you’ve got the right solution. For example, “Escape in the half-light.” (6) is flight.
Sometimes though it’s just a single word/logic puzzle (like my “dollar of data”), or two deceptively contrasting literals (eg. from the Guardian Xmas puzzle, “It’s steady to be unsteady” (4) is rock), but again there’s only one possible answer so it doesn’t dependent on solving other clues to break degeneracies.
And this is the final result
fumble!
Ann Killion appreciates the supporting role Mickey Morabito played in opening up baseball reporting to women. Good article, despite failing to acknowledge Morabito’s fabulous hair.
Happy New Year from the future, my dear FKers!
Does it get better?
Well, 2020 ended with the idiots march against whatever pretty much under my balcony, and I haven’t seen any of them this year, so a tentative yes to that
Happy New Year, FKers. I am ready to roll the grill out on the Coliseum asphalt for you soon.
Prepare yourself, Soaker.
Yes, I saw that and would definitely love to go if that opportunity were presented, which it won’t be. As it is, like the golf tournament it’s a national commercial for the tourist industry, which one hopes we’re starting to rebuild by then.
The “stay at home” order is CA only, Nevada being open to visitors in hotels and vacation rentals, and I’ve noticed we’ve had no shortage of visitors over the holidays.
Finally got in front of a proper computer to do the FK puzzle. Loved it! Great cluing, absolutely perfect theme. And The Cardigans!
I declare this to be an annual Rickeymas tradition.
Thanks!
ec (whose facility at constructing is demonstrated above) did about 90% of the work, but it was fun to brainstorm about how to make the theme work and help put it together too.
Thanks, GM! andeux did the cluing and he often helps me with it in my other constructions. I’m sure it’s not our last FK puzzle, it was too much fun not to do it again
Lies.
EC did most of the cluing on the FK version of the puzzle. I did more on the other version though.
But, yes, we will do it again. Praise helps.
Oh, right, I got mixed up with the versions
NYT already published the craziest Bay Area story of 2021.
You burn yourself with sticks, abrade the blisters, snort something that feels “like you’ve been pleasantly electrocuted,” then burn your corneas with eyedrops, all as preparation for the actual drug which immediately increases your heart rate, causes a flushed and swelling face, then nausea and diarrhea. Sign me up!
“West Coast wellness elites”
This part sounds ok:
Oh wait. Do they mean not consuming those things? Forget it then.
If Julia Allison, the quotable woman in the lead of this insanity, sounded familiar, it’s because she was a minor mid-00s New York media celebrity/sex columnist with whom Gawker was, for reasons passing understanding, obsessed. Apparently she moved to San Francisco in 2013 to become “a ‘change activist,’ a calling she describes as ‘mounting summits for world leaders and serving as an adviser to startups and entrepreneurs looking to better the planet.'”
Excellent schadenfreude headline to ring in New Year.
Disappointed Mar-a-Lago guests party maskless with Guiliani and Vanilla Ice.
Really stretching credulity to call a game between Notre Dame and Alabama at JerryWorld the “Rose Bowl.”
Notre Dame is getting whacked around, which is great. Alabama is doing the whacking, which is not so great.
Cincinnati lost a one-point heartbreaker on a Georgia field goal with 3 seconds left. Pretty fun game to watch though.
The talent disparity in the “Rose Bowl” is pretty huge, particularly Alabama offense vs. Notre Dame defense. The score isn’t a total blowout with Alabama maybe looking ahead a little bit, treating this as a warmup for Clemson.
Notre Dame should’ve had its spot taken by Texas A&M, who I expect will crush the Heels tomorrow.
The ACC will be looking to the Heels to salvage a bit of conference pride. Clemson’s defenders spent the evening tackling air.
Carolina played them tough, better than the final score suggests.
I had to stay off FK and sports sites until I got a chance to watch it late this afternoon. That was the now-rare good bowl game where it looked like both teams actually cared, within the confines of the “opt-outs”. Mack isn’t going to be there very long but maybe he can put together a little run. I hadn’t realized that the Heels hadn’t been in a premier January 1 game since 1950, which was an even longer streak than the Rose Bowl’s now 62-year run of being Cal-free.
If I wanted to invest in a basic growler for getting takeout beer, what would be my best bet?
People say the ones with the reusable swing-top cap (like on a Grolsch bottle) give a better seal than a screw-on cap, but I don’t know how much it matters. My local does refills as an exchange (drop your old one in the tub of disinfectant, and they’ll give you a new one) so I just use theirs.
Lacking a growler yesterday, I improvised with a couple of glass bottles with those tops. The beer poured out flat 30 minutes later, which I suspect was due to other factors.
You need to be careful with the fill so you don’t lose all the carbonation there. A cold growler really helps – which is easier for businesses that swap, since they can keep their supply refrigerated.
I have one of the fancy “draft” ones with built-in CO2 cartridge, but the company that makes them is really sketchy.
I also have a large number of screw- and swing -top ones spare – happy to pass one along if you can wait.
That’s very generous of you, but I wouldn’t want to take one of yours away. I’m actually now wondering whether I should try to buy one from a local brewery, as a way to give them some extra dough.
I also discovered yesterday that Fort Point will courier over as many cold six packs of cans as you want in an hour anywhere in SF, for a $3 fee, so maybe I’ll just forget about drafts for the time being.
I have more than I know what to do with, so you wouldn’t be depriving me.
Some breweries/brewpubs won’t fill anything but their own, though I’m guessing that has relaxed with the pandemic.
Time was people would just take a metal bucket with them to the pub to fill before leaving (but that was for warm, flat, English beer)
Steam beer too
Fuuuuuuuuuck
A day late for “2020 is FKed up in every way”.
she made the decision in 2020.
I don’t remember, does she live in SF? Doesn’t Mr. Brown cover the giants?
Brown seems to be the Athletic Bay Area’s all-purpose fluffy features guy.
Ugh, FK the Giants.
Well, thanks Susan. It’s been one of the longer beat-writer tenures anywhere.
The A’s are a hard team to be devoted to. Always outspent, often out of contention, and very very rarely great. Cheap owners, constant roster arbitrage, no such thing as a best player with tenure. Being narrated by Slusser and Korach has made it all so much better.
At age 68 (I believe), Ken has already equaled Bill’s tenure and he would probably like to call a season or two of games in a new Oakland ballpark, but if the timeline keeps getting pushed back and he would have to stay until he’s 75 or so, I wonder at what point that might drive a retirement decision.
Those damnable Giants fans do not deserve this. The value of the Chron as my daily A’s source will be reduced, maybe even enough to consider alternatives.
On the plus side, Kawahara seems fine. But it will take a while for him to develop the gravitas of a Sluss.
Completely agree. I also enjoyed following her on twitter, but I can’t have that much Giants crap in my feed. No thank you. I’m sure it’s an exciting new challenge for her after so long on the A’s beat, so I’m happy for her in that respect. But it certainly feels like Shulman took the buyout, and then the Chronicle immediately decided to move their top talent to the Giants. Barf.
Today was Kathleen Pender’s last column in the business section, and I loved her to.
That’s dedication! Fans of TAS Berlin gathered for the game between Hertha Berlin and Schalke 04 to cheer for Schalke 04. TAS holds the record for most consecutive games without a win (31) in Bundesliga and they wanted to keep it. Hertha won 3:0 and Schalke’s streak is now at 30 games
Epic showdown with hoffenheim next saturday
I’m a sucker for historically bad performances, so I hope they break it.
The other day I was treated to a 50 point first-half deficit by the Clippers. Tonight, I’m rooting for the Eagles and the Giants.
Ooops, I just realized Eagles play MNF. This has to be worst combined MNF record on a final day of the season ever, right?
SNF (or MMF for you).
True. ESPN started showing kick-off times in CET and I only saw “Mon”
One down, one to go
Oh wow, this NFC East race is classic.
Giants lead by 4 late, but Dallas has a chance to take the lead. Dalton throws a pick in the end zone. So NY just has to run out the clock with a minute left. Their RB runs for a first down and then just flat out drops the ball. Recovery now under booth review.
Yeah, I underestimated the complete ineptitude on both sides and called it too early.
NY ball. The 6-10 playoff dream lives on.
I wouldn’t mind them getting a playoff win, either
They would be playing TB? Yes please.
In the replay it does look like the Giants should keep it
I made a comment a few weeks back about games between evenly-matched mediocre teams sometimes being really entertaining. These NFC East games, with a playoff spot on the line, can’t even manage that.
Second half possessions in Was/Phi so far have ended: Punt, Punt, Punt, Punt, Interception, Downs (missed on open receiver in the end zone), Punt, Interception, Interception, Fumble (on the snap), FG. And there are still 8 exciting minutes left.
And an offsides on 4th-and-inches just about clinches it. Perfect.
Thanks Big Ben and the first-quarter-Pirates, for another historical suckage!
Streak is over, thanks to a hat-trick from Matthew Hopp, a 19-year old American.
They’re swearing in all those reps and Senators who say the election they won their seats in was suspect, I see. Interesting.
On the bright side, I guess it’s good that this insane call leaked so quickly.
Holly fuck.
On one hand, there will be blood on Wednesday. On the other, he is doing everything in his power to ensure the dems win the Senate.
Seems like there’s a criminal indictment to be made out of this, when combined with the statement that not doing him this favor would be “a very big risk” to Raffensberger and his counsel.
Per your conversation below, Trump clearly believes that wondering out loud about how much [grossly illegal action] would help him isn’t [impeachable/convictable/real].
Just a coincidence, I’m sure.
LOL! OK, buddy. That makes it all better somehow.
Best wishes and GO A’S
Do you think Raffensperger leaked this on his own, or with McConnell’s blessing?
My guess would be on his own, based on the way he has acted since the election. McConnell probably would have asked him to wait until Wednesday.
Yeah, also Mitch isn’t really a party boss in that sense. He’s just so remarkably adept at effectuating evil.
One enduring puzzle for me about Trump himself: he’s always been basically a con man. Even before the politics, and the obvious money scams like Trump U. and Trump Steaks, his core real estate business was mostly built on being a bullshit artist. But while sometimes his lies are kind of lazy and desultory, other times he seems genuinely aggrieved, like he really believes the truth is on his side (like that he really won Georgia by “hundreds of thousands of votes”). So is he actually delusional, or just very committed to the bit (and a better actor than I give him credit for)?
For a while my working theory is that he knows he is full of shit, but thinks everyone else is too (a reasonable first-order approximation in commercial real estate and politics), but now I am not so sure.
I think he basically doesn’t believe facts and laws and rules are real things; what matters is force of will, raw power, and, like, genetic superiority or something that makes him destined to win. There’s also a certain amount of Costanzian “it’s not a lie if you believe it” and, now in his old age and crumbling authority, some good old-fashioned Shakespearean megalomania.
That seems like it would be problematic, but it has gotten him pretty far I guess.
It’s problematic as hell for everyone else, but it’s crucial to his political success in my view.
There’s a certain type of US capitalist, small scale and large, who profits by just doing what he wants in the moment then dragging out any repercussions in litigation and public opinion. Arbitraging consequences into a future risk, ideally to be pawned off on some other sucker later.
Don’t forget the centrality of the NDA to this process.
That all applies to the laws/rules part, and he is not at all unique in that regard. It’s the facts part that still amazes me.
Simply declaring an alternate reality has proven so strikingly effective that it may be evidence for the Simulation hypothesis.
he’s in a bubble of his own engineering. started with his own BS. filtered through maga world. reflected back to him by whatever advisors he has left.
he’s not making up stuff like “dominion is really moving fast to get rid of their, uh, machinery” out of whole cloth nor thin air.
I saw something on twitter today saying that in this case he’s mostly regurgitating qanon stuff, and he really does believe it himself. JFC.
At one point in the call, Raffensberger says that Trump shouldn’t believe everything he sees on social media, because people can say anything there, and Trump says he didn’t see it on social media, he saw it on “Trump media” which pretty much tells you what kind of info he is consuming these days.
they just mentioned this on bros save america pod (actual title may vary) but i couldn’t catch who they were talking about. ben holmes, ben homes, ben haums, something like that.
Probably Ben Collins.
thanks!
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/trump-pushed-qanon-4chan-created-conspiracy-theories-georgia-call-n1252769
Hey McKenzie, save some for my birthday…
Best explanation I’ve seen so far
Bro, come on.
The news didn’t come out until Jan 1, but another 2020 victim was the supervillain, MF DOOM
A bit late, but CYCLONES!
Congrats, Fresno, on this award that even Trump is too embarrassed to present in public.
Finally!
Oh, Mother, this is pathetic.
The hilarious part is that Pence will emerge as one of the biggest losers, scorned by Trumpers, never Trumpers, and reasonable people, and Pence knows this and yet can’t turn away. I am there for every bit of the humiliation of Mike Pence.
Here we go!
Oh, Mike. Running away won’t make Daddy any less mad at you.
Edit: hmmm…
A clinic in sycophancy here. “How frustrated and upset is Mr. Trump? Tell them I’m exactly that frustrated and upset.”
LOL!
2020! LOL!!
Of course Mr President, i would never certify the election on Jan 6, 2020. We agree
So the problem – at least to what passes for his mind – was that the changes were made by politicians, not legislators?
“Mr. Grassley’s aides later said he was suggesting a hypothetical, should Mr. Pence step out for a break at some point.”
Grassley’s name was also prominent in the recent “Has DiFi lost her marbles” stories.
Assume senator confused.
48 hours later this comment has not aged well.
I am liking the stories of Trump’s dark despair. I want all the torments of the damned visited upon him. Would feel better if his hand were further from the button.
One infection every 6 seconds, one death every 10 minutes, and still the LA anti-maskers are storming stores.
sigh.
Judge Future Ed has a nice ring to it.
While waiting in a lull waiting for a something to happen on a case where the DA had recently been elected judge and this was one of her last days, the judge, her future colleague and he chatted about where to order a judges robe and what pitfalls he tries to avoid. He was clear that he preferred the thin sleeve, because it didn’t get caught anywhere as he was doing work.
I am thinking I would get a 3/4 sleeve, with forest green piping.
but how much horse hair, m’lord?
But what would you use for your walkup music?
“I fought the law”
As James Norris and Conn Smythe roll over in their graves.
The Yankees would logically be the featured team in the JPMorgan Chase AL East® Division. The A’s will likely play in the Amazon AL West® Division.
The Oakland Athletics presented by Clorox.
i can’t believe we’ve gone this long without alluding to lawyerball.
Some perspective on the role of VP in tomorrow’s proceeding.
TIL:
fascinating story how things trickled down through history.
i like how this seems to mean that it was obvious being president was not desirable. “…God knows when the time of temptation may arrive for someone to desire to be President to rule in this country…”
the way you highlighted that, sounds like you hadn’t heard of the know nothings. it’s not an insult. the name comes from refusing to answer about the inner workings of the party. the OG fringe conspiracist party. they had a brief toehold with 50 congressmen and 5 senators at their peak. anti immigration, anti papists. today? today, they’re q-anon. the do your own research party.
I indeed had not. Learn something new every day
There’s something very funny about our current dipshits hinging their current “plan” on the idea that the Vice President, famously a person with almost no power to do anything, turns out to have the unilateral authority to decide the outcome of presidential elections just none of them ever figured that out before.
Makes you wonder about the timing
I don’t want to look at the needle tonight but I am probably going to look at the needle tonight.
Based on the early returns, Warnock barely winning and Ossoff barely losing is in play. That would be frustrating. OTOH, it would be very a very funny rebuke for Loeffler, who absolutely deserves it.
We are now at “Tilting Warnock” vs. “Flip A Coin” with an estimated 13% in.
UPDATE: Tilting Ossoff with 16%
Way too soon, but…Joe Manchin, wouldn’t it be fun to be the deciding vote on every major piece of legislation for two years instead of preserving what’s left of the filibuster?
Not getting my hopes up about that part either.
Sigh…
Was afraid this gif would end on the pig pooping on its balls photo.
Seeing a lot of seemingly good signs, but also trying not to get my hopes up.
It’s fine, nothing wrong with feeling good tonight. The ugliness in DC tomorrow will crush any foolish hope for the future.
Twitter with the equally opportunity warning labels.
This Proud Boy refused to talk to the cops about the church vandalism he was arrested for without a lawyer, but was happy to admit to multiple felonies regarding the bedazzled ammo mags he was toting around DC to illegally sell. The local Future Ed is going to have fun defending this one.
There is very much a thin blue line separating client from cop. It was fish in a barrel for the cop to talk guns to the nazi.
The pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church being elected Senator is quite a thing.
The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice, unless democracy plunges off a cliff.
And now they’re tied in GA career wins.
So does Breyer retire at the inauguration, or wait a few hours?
how paranoid do alito and kavanagh get? Extra security? Food taster? Bunker on 30 acres in Virginia?
I like the pragmatism to wait on this until they were sure they had the votes to fill his seat on the DC Circuit. Bodes well for future decisions.
It’s a nice piece of snook-cocking, but I’d have preferred to see someone who wasn’t chosen to be as palatable as possible to Obama-era senate republicans.
The amount of time and effort they’ll save in confirmation battles alone will be huge, and hopefully helpful to, you know, actually govern.
more popcorn please
I feel too embarrassed for our country to actually sit and watch any of today’s shenanigans, but I’m sure you’ll be into it so I’ll lurk and look forward to enjoying your snarkiness.
Uh…
Under no circumstances to you have to “hand it to ISIS.”
Look, I’m not sure why we decided to quote Hitler when I’m sure there were alternatives who could have been used with the same point, but I actually disagree with this line of thinking. Making out Hitler to be some boogeyman who never had a right thought in his life actually minimizes the possibility of the next Hitler taking power. Hitler (and Trump) had enough non-radical ideas that people felt they could gain from them taking office. Even though that’s true, don’t quote Hitler (hell or Trump) in your political speeches.
I get what you’re saying here, but I just can’t agree. It’s treating Hitler as a guy who “was right about some things” that is much more likely to lead to someone like him taking power in the future, especially as the lived experience of his reign fades further into historical memory. He has been treated as evil incarnate for 70-plus years for a good reason; we should analyze how he won power in an academic and journalistic setting but not blithely say that he was “right” about anything. Obviously it’s especially egregious when a member of congress is speaking to a crowd of people that almost certainly included multiple neo-Nazis/holocaust-approvers etc., but I think the principle applies more generally.
The last sentence is the crux here. That’s absolutely terrible. As a blanket rule, no one in politics should ever be quoting Hitler. But for four years, I’ve heard some smart people make the Trump-Hitler comparison and people scoff. Because it’s Hitler. But I think there’s a lot of parallels people have missed because Trump isn’t evil incarnate. He’s its cousin stupid incarnate.
That’s reasonable, but I don’t think comparing Trump or future Trumps to Hitler requires saying that Hitler was “right” about anything. I’m sure there are exceptions I would make to that rule where the speaker is qualified and careful to make very clear she means something like “right about the capacity for a population to go along with genocide,” but I’d still stand by the general rule.
I think the other key is your first line … there are many other ways to express non-radical ideas without quoting Hitler, which is always going to detract from the idea you’re trying to convey unless you are intentionally dog-whistling.
Yeah, 100% agree with this.
How the fuck can you not protect Capitol
they think they are protecting the capital
(not a typo)
Since these are federal crimes I imagine they can expect pardons next week.
Imagine if it were BLM storming the Capitol
Will the ACLU represent Trump when he’s prosecuted for incitement?
This is exactly who you are, you horrible fascist failson.
Holy fuck, there are hundreds of people parading INSIDE the capitol and I saw TWO police officers talking into the radio, that’s all. One guy was carrying a huge bag on his back. Incredible
Where’s the fucking Secret Service, National Guard,…
Holy hell
The maddening thing is this is exactly what I assumed the brownshirts would do today, I don’t understand how this is catching anyone as a surprise.
Especially after what happened in Michigan, Oregon etc. over the past year.
Same here. It’s like when I was in Zagreb. Every fucking year the first snow would put the city to a halt. Who could have thought it would snow in January?
Tim Ryan (chair of the committee that controls the Capitol Police budget)
Libby Casey on Washington Post TV just briefly broke down and wept. Man…
If that’s not a coup, I don’t know what is
I’m going to wait on this one, but if true…
PBS reporting that someone was shot in the chest inside the Capitol.
The shooting video
who the fuck wears an inter milan jersey to the insurrection??
I would have expected Lazio, although I think Inter may have the more fascist ultras of the two Milan clubs.
Here, I fixed it for you
Esteban Cambiasso
when i lived in NYC and RAI was an antenna channel i followed them because zanetti.
yeah, now I feel bad. I saw a screenshot of that on twitter commenting on the $325 hat, and I foolishly just seeing the sleeve piping thought it was a fred perry
Black and yellow. Proud boy. Identifying himself for others to know.
Can’t wait to see them adopt St Pauli
St Pauli? They are primarily black and red. Also, I don’t think there is a football club in the world with the agenda more opposite to that of the proud boys.
yes, that is is the poorly workshopped joke.
Yeah, I thought it must be something going over my head, as I was pretty certain you are familiar with Pauli
yeah, but it’s soccer.
i mean, how papist can you get?