Summer is creeping up on us but it’s not here yet. While last weekend had beautiful weather (which was great as I was volunteering to help on the Baltimore Heritage Inner Harbor Boat Tour), the past several days have been cool and rainy. I can’t complain too much – my yard and garden are certainly happy, and the city had instituted voluntary water restrictions last week, so we needed it. I just hope it clears up for this weekend as I am going to two Orioles games and have plenty of yard work to do. In the meantime, I’m parked in front of the O’s game on TV (rain-postponed make-up game) with the puzzle – join me (metaphorically)!
- Name: Hit and Runs
- Grid size: 15×15
- Entries: 72
- Difficulty: Medium (my solve time: 7:17)
I was definitely hoping that “Hit and Runs” referred to the baseball play, rather than the crime, and I was relieved that was the case. The themers are common phrases where the final word in the phrase has been changed to a rhyming word that has something to do with baseball, then clued punnily:
- 17A: [Devout ball caller from Italy’s capital?]: HOLY ROMAN UMPIRE – According to Voltaire, the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy nor Roman, but we’re not here for a history lesson. I’m not sure they play a lot of baseball in Italy, but a new “Holy Umpire” was selected in Rome last week, so there’s that. I chose this week’s quote to tie that event to the puzzle’s theme.
- 25A: [Bullpen portrait artist’s job?]: PAINT A PITCHER – A regular portrait artist would paint a picture. An artist in the bullpen would paint a picture of a pitcher. Say that three times fast.
- 44A: [Switching first and third, maybe?]: A CHANGE OF BASE – I guess if the grounds crew were looking for a change of pace, they could swap fist and third base, rather than just replacing all the bases during a break in the game.
- 56A: [Slugger’s stat?]: FACT OF THE BATTER – As a matter of fact, the fact of the matter is that batting average, runs batted in, slugging percentage, and many others are indeed facts of the batter.
As soon as I read the clue to the first themer at 17A, I knew exactly what the answer was and what the gimmick was for the rest of the puzzle. You’d think that would make the puzzle a lot easier, but not really. While I was quickly able to get the word that was changed to a baseball reference in each entry, the rest of the original phrase was harder to get, so I had to rely strongly on crosses to get the rest of the themers. The puzzle solved slightly harder than Medium difficulty, so I was pleased to see my solve time within a few seconds of my all time average (7:26).
Canadian content:
- 3D: [“The Rock”: Abbr.]: NFLD – The island of Newfoundland is nicknamed “The Rock” by residents. It’s provincial companion, Labrador is sometimes referred to as “The Big Land.”
- 9D: [Research sch. in Vancouver]: SFU – Simon Fraser University is “a research and learning community where excellence matters and everyone is welcome.”
- 11D: [Gatineau girlfriend]: AMIE – Gatineau is located across the river from Ottawa, and is home to the Canadian Museum of History.
- 36A: [RCMP’s red fabrics]: SERGES – The Royal Canadian Mounted Police wear iconic uniforms made of red serge.
- 46D: [Ontario-born pop idol’s nickname, with “the”]: BIEB – I haven’t heard much about Justin Bieber recently, but my nephew was an avid fan so I heard a lot about him 15 or so years ago.
- 64A: [Jays Montreal rivals, once]: EXPOS – The Montreal Expos played from 1969 – 2004, when they relocated to Washington, DC and were renamed the Nationals. I was lucky to be able to attend Game 3 of the 2019 World Series at Nationals Park. I was rooting for the Nationals, but as a fan of the local rival Orioles, no way was I going to wear a Nats ball cap. I mentioned this dilemma to a Canadian colleague I happened to speak to before the game, and he suggested I wear an Expos hat. So I did.
Other stuff:
- 5D: [Low, dark clouds]: STRATI – I had “stratus” in here forever and it kept me from seeing the obvious answer to the themer at 25A.
- 31A: [“___ the loneliest number”]: ONE IS – This is my favorite version of that song, from the soundtrack to one of my favorite movies.
- 33A: [Update, as equipment]: RETOOL – I could not get “reboot” out of my mind.
- 48A: [Saloon foot rests]: BOOT RAILS – The first thing that came to mind was “beer rails” and I knew that couldn’t be right, but then I got hung up on “foot rails.”
- 63A: [Itself, in a latin legal phrase]: IPSA – Of course I had “ipso” in here for far too long. I guess the legal phrase is “res ipsa loquitur,” “the thing speaks for itself.”
Quote of the week:
“Baseball is religion without the mischief.”
– Thomas Boswell