ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ JIMINY CRICKET]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ JIMINY CRICKET]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
Announcement: I have made the decision to start following the Premiership. Plans have been made for this Saturday morning to watch the opening matches at a bar not three blocks from my condo. My team shall be Arsenal based exclusively on the fact that my father-in-law follows them. This way, when the inevitable conversation about football comes up over e-mail/phone calls/holiday dinner aperitifs/etc., I can, at the very least, contribute to the conversation. (Cue all the Man U./Liverpool/Chelsea fans who’ll tell me my team sucks.)
This is not a completely out of the blue decision to follow football. When Liz and I started dating, we followed England during the 06 World Cup, which, yes, involved cramming into a bar in the early morning hours with other hooligans. (Full English breakfasts and beer in the morning. Looking forward to having them in my life again.)
One sport I can’t comprehend is cricket. Not for a lack of trying though. The first time I was in London, I watched about 90 minutes of cricket whilst nursing a major absinthe-induced hangover. Just about when I thought I figured out the rules, time was called and a tea cart was pushed out onto the field. I remain baffled.
That was until one of our friends gave us this ridiculous tea towel that explains the rules for cricket. Dean’s a superfan of the sport, and God bless him for at least trying to get this Yankee to come around to it, but I still don’t get it. (Cue the fans on this blog from Australia who’ll tell me why cricket is the greatest sport ever.)
Okay, share the puzzle. New one on Friday.
Oh, and one final thing: Behold this hot new pic of yours truly.
Great theme! I’ve been following the Ashes this summer so it’s very appropriate for the season. Nothing like an international rivalry played out in sweater vests and sun hats. The BBC radio commentary is the best part: like listening to the best radio broadcast of a baseball game, except it lasts five days and the commentators use words like “obdurate”.
Obdurate? I am so there.
The Joseph O’Neill novel, “Netherland,” which was justly praised when it came out a year or two ago, has cricket at the center of its story.
This puzzle went on nearly as long as a cricket match for me, and I still didn’t finish. Wheel out the tea-cart for this loser.
you should play fantasy premiership. best way to get to know the teams and players. and no, arsenal won’t suck, but they have … shall we say, issues at the back.
A great book about being an Arsenal fan is Nick Hornby’s “Fever Pitch”.
Check out the Football Weekly podcast from the Guardian. They cover the English & European news without taking themselves at all seriously.
And by the way, thanks for the great crosswords!
Nice puzzle, so many sweet niches, especially the “EGAD!” she RASPed, a SATYR! I am AGASP!”
The pimento in the olive.
(Call the PD!)
theme fill meant nothing to me (do one on hockey and I’ll be all over it), but even when looked at as a themeless, this is a hell of a solid grid.
I was expecting the title to be “It’s not cricket” – but thanks for catering to the commonwealth crowd.
Didn’t know they used pink stumps/wickets these days!
[Hope you get paid by Google for the product placement]
I wrote in TRIO for 3-D right off the bat, even thinking at the time that it was boring fill for a BEQ puzzle…ha! I’ll never doubt you again…great puzzle!
And as a fellow EPL fan / getting drunk at 8am on a Sunday fan…if you are ever in NYC for a weekend over the next ten months, you have to check out the footy scene here…there are dozens of bars that open early on weekends, and each club has their own ‘home’ bar…its insane!
And yes, Arsenal sucks! (But not as much as Man United or Chelsea)
In 1984 (strange year) I went to Johannesburg for a month on a company assignment. I checked into my hotel room on a Saturday afternoon and turned on the television. At that time the only station of interest available was the South African Broadcast (SAB) station which had a policy of broadcasting half the day in English and half the day in Afrikaans, alternating daily the order. When I turned on the television it was a broadcast of a cricket game with the commentary in Afrikaans. I considered myself lucky as it could have been something more exciting, like lawn bowling. I did the only prudent thing I could think of (since I already wrecked my car earlier that day from a double parked lorry and not ever before driving a right hand drive on the left) and retired to the hotel bar to get wasted.
I only follow real sports like chess, so I didn’t solve this puzzle. However, if you’re selling prints of the “will cross words 4 $” pic, sign me up.
I know SQUAT about cricket, so this was basically a themeless for me. The whole northern tier was a struggle. After crowing about my fast finish on Monday, I’m back in the 20 minute range…and had to google two letters. I still don’t really get BAN for “Axe alternative.”
Squids have 3 hearts? They gotta be tough to kill.
I’m a guessin that ‘Axe’, a line of body scents and such, have a product that would compete with ‘Ban’, the deodorant. It’s a very clever clue, unless I’m wrong, in which case I don’t get it either ….
Wow. I could not get 37A. I mean not one letter of it. It looks strange to have an entire puzzle filled in besides one single word. And it is sitting there right smack dab in the middle. 12D was fantastic especially as an LT fan. Good childhood memories…
Once again, I am not on your wavelength. You called it medium, I took almost a half-hour with liberal assistance from AcrossLite (especially in the SE). If you ever create a puzzle that you call “Impossible,” I will probably be done in 5 minutes (which doesn’t sound great, but that’s about as fast as I go).
I’m sure it didn’t help that I am in Mo Pelzel’s camp; this was a themeless. Looking back, I can guess which parts relate to cricket, but I never would have come up with any of it independently. And, like jimmy d, I went straight for “trio.” Oh. well. I expect to be humbled here, and this was no exception.
Thanks brah. Maybe after this Premiership thing takes hold, I’ll tackle cricket. But my sports hours are starting to fill up: Football (both kinds) + basketball = Liz dangerously becoming a sports widow (tho’ she loves hoops and some football; not the Patriots-kind, tho’)
Um, I think you talked me into joining your league.
Your welcome, Theresa. Liz is a huge Nick Hornby fan, so “Fever Pitch” was removed from the shelves and put onto my ever increasing pile of “must-reads.”
Consider the PD called.
Hockey puzzle, developing … (maybe)
Google is one of the advertisers that pay me, yes.
I’ll be in NYC on June 22… Where do I go?
I think I learned everything I know about cricket from Douglas Adams. I know that there is a small ball and a wicket with a crossbeam and never bet against the killer robots.
From what I gather heavy drinking is a requirement to appreciating English sports.
Matt Gaffney is always wearing his Jose Capablanca throwback jersey.
Is correct.
Believe it or not.
Amazing clip, fo’ sho’.
Treedweller, I want to hear you say you killed the next puzzle. I have faith you will, dammit!
Well, yes. And just throwing it out there: “Life, The Universe, and Everything” was my favorite of the trilogy.
When I said I am going to be in NYC on June 22, I meant to say AUGUST 22. Still: where do I go?
Cricket is the best sport ever.
That tea towel is also inaccurate, unless you’re talking about ODIs.
There’s a better (longer) version of that joke, but I can’t be bothered finding it right now. Maybe one of the other Aussies/Brits/SAs can find it.
(Oh yeah, and now I’ll do the crossword)
My favorite place is Nevada Smith’s in the East Village…its on 3rd Ave between 11 and 12th Sts. Its a huge bar with cool English Football memorabilia all over the walls…check out their website: http://www.nevadasmiths.net
Let me know if you’re going…first round of Magners is on me!
Thanks for the cricket puzzle, a bit all over the shop (as in 2 fielding positions, 3 references to the pitch and 1 “tournament”), but would’ve lost people otherwise. I’ve been trying to understand baseball recently (on ESPN), and getting just about completely confused. As far as I can tell, it’s similar to cricket, except it’s different in every way. Was experimenting with a theme that builds on the five most common means of dismissal (run out, caught, bowled, stumped, but then LBW came and stuffed that up…) Was intended for a local audience of course, could put LBW as a jocular helper type word, I guess…
In a rush, so if this was GarBled then sorry…
Speaking of your (excellent) pic… how is Harvard Square holding up these days? I’m nostalgic for the early ’90s version, and I know that doesn’t hold a candle to the ’70s version, way before my time!
i don’t think you’d recognize it from the early 90s version. do you like urban outfitters and pacific sunwear? yeah, me neither. about the only things that are still recognizable are ABP and the coop, and even the coop has undergone pretty serious changes.
you’ve got a few months. quite a few, if you want to time it for playoffs (the best time to watch hockey)