Remiss! I am remiss. Last week when I was telling you about Jessie‘s NYT debut *and* her subsequent solo debut in the Universal crossword, I failed to mention the third (!) print puzzle of her print debut week. It’s perhaps my favorite of the bunch, and it will be included in Common Cause‘s December newsletter. I recommend giving it a solve; it’s a delightful theme. Jessie rules.
You can also find a Sunday #rossword in today’s (12/20) L.A. Times: solve online here.
N.B.: that’s the last L.A. Times puzzle you’ll see from me. A couple of weeks ago they ran a Woody Allen tribute puzzle that I found pretty distasteful considering the allegations surrounding that man. While reasonable people can disagree about how writers, crossword makers, and commentators handle the credibly accused, I see no reason whatever to make such people the centerpiece of a newspaper game. (I asked the editor to preempt today’s puzzle, but he said that it was too late to replace it.)
That being said, I’m ambivalent about this decision. I have several thoughtful feminist colleagues who publicly disapproved of the Woody Allen puzzle and decided to keep their own grids in rotation there, which sounds totally reasonable as well. I’m eager to continue a good faith discussion over what’s good/right here, and would welcome your comments.
Thoughts and spoilers for “Launch Party” after the jump.
Today’s puzzle was inspired by a clip I saw of OSU star Samantha Show (what a name!) celebrating a home run with, well more of a “bat chop” than a BAT FLIP. Awesome.
The construction was pretty involved for two reasons. On the one hand, there aren’t *that* many words that hide T-A-B (and that don’t duplicate the word TABLE). And on the other, I wanted to pretty faithfully represent the ARC of a bat flipping through the air. I figured from the start it would necessitate the mirror symmetry layout you see. My only major regret is that there wasn’t a great way to lengthen the first/last themers in BATH and STAB.
My disappointment was mitigated by the lovely found poetry in the clue for RACKET ABUSE: [Violation that might come to a head in court?] — bam!
Happy solving, friends.
-Ross