04.07.08 -- Play Ball!

The Hillsboro Baseball team of 1900: Back row left to right: Harry Manaham, Al Spacks, John Bauchas, J. D. Herschler, Chris Regier and Ted Schaeffler. Front row left to right: Logan Dole, Bob Schaeffler, Fred Herbel, and B. Herschler.
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April 7, 2008
Click here for abridged post in LARGE PRINT.
Puzzle by Randall J. Hartman, edited by Will Shortz
This Monday back-to-work crossword COVERS EVERY BASE (40A. Takes care of all possibilities). No, not the cliché, “covers all the bases”, but only a killjoy crossword curmudgeon could care! It’s just a breezy and friendly walk in the park for a beautiful Spring day!
FIRSTLADY (17A. Bess Truman or Barbara Bush); SECONDGUESS (25A. Question after the fact); THIRDDEGREE (52A. Grilling); and HOMEALONE (65A. 1990 Macaulay Culkin film) are the entries which cover every base of America’s national pastime begun in Russia 700 years ago! Oh really, see HERE!
With the baseball season having just begun, this tidy little crossword puzzle is timely -- however, it will do for just any day of the year from April to October. Wikipedia provides a neat History of Baseball in the United States, and for the latest news and current stats in the major leagues, one can check out The Official Site of Major League Baseball. You don’t need much more!
Today’s puzzle does provide plenty of people to play a game -- whatever that would be like!: AMIN (1A. See 48-Down) and IDI (48D. With 1-Across infamous Ugandan dictator); ZAPPA (9A. Frank of the Mothers of Invention);ANNA and the King of Siam” (15A.); ELLEN (50A. Funny DeGeneres); GRETA (63A. Garbo of “Mata Hari,” 1932); ASNER (68A. Ed of “Lou Grant”); TYRA (72A. Model Banks); CAL (5D. Iron Man Ripken of the Orioles); WAYANS (8D. Brother comic Shawn or Marlon); ZANEGREY (9D. “Riders of the Purple Sage” author); SAINTJOAN (37A. Play by George Bernard Shaw); LEDA (51D. Mother of Castor and Pollux); IRENE (54D. Ballroom dancer Castle); SONIA (57D. Braga of “Kiss of the Spider Woman”); ILSA (62D. She requested “As Time Goes By“); a GOONY (55D. Foolish person, slangily), Bess Truman, Barbara Bush, Erskine Caldwell, Pablo Picasso, Macaulay Culkin, Superman, and a POSSE (11D. Star’s entourage). Go team!
"Love has its sonnets galore. War has its epics in heroic verse. Tragedy its sombre story in measured lines. Baseball has “Casey at the Bat." - Albert Spalding.
For the complete version of Casey at the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer, as taken from the San Francisco Examiner of June 3, 1888, go HERE.
Play ball!
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For today’s cartoons, go to The Crossword Puzzle Illustrated.
For the classic animated cartoon of "Casey at the Bat" (1946) on YouTube, click HERE.
Click on image to enlarge.
Puzzle available on the internet at
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Across: 5. Stick in one’s ___; 14. Not loco; 16. Decorate; 19. Snooped, with “about”; 20. “You’re ___ talk!”’; 21. Enclosure with a MS.; 23. NNW’s opposite; 24. Hi-___ monitor; 29. Car bomb?; 31. Old letter salutation; 32. “God’s Little ___” (Erskine Caldwell best seller); 34. Competitor of Dove or Camay; 36. Prop for Picasso; 44. Pan-cooked brunch treat; 45. Words after “… as long as you both shall live?”; 46. “Mona ___”; 47. Make the cut?; 56. “Shame on you!”; 59. Crew’s control?; 60. One who indulges too much in the grape; 61. French city famous for its mustard; 69. The “U” in B.T.U.; 70. Compete in the America’s Cup; 71. Bookcase part; 73. Med. school subj. Down: 1. In regard to; 2. Where Bangor is; 3. Put aside for later; 4. Place for eggs; 6. Genetic letters; 7. ___ forth (et cetera); 10. Hullabaloo; 12. “… or ___ 1 for more options”; 13. Peruvian peaks; 18. Play with, as a Frisbee; 22. Star Wars program, for short; 26. Morays, e.g.; 27. Hint; 28. Fit to be tried?; 30. More profound; 32. U.N.C.’s athletic org.; 33. Where streets intersect: Abbr.; 35. “Sweet” age in ancient Rome?; 38. Superman’s symbol; 39. Meadow; 41. Relatively low-temperature star; 42. German river in a 1943 R.A.F. raid; 43. Part to play; 9. Opposite of “At ease!”; 52. “Animal House” party costumes; 53. Like winters in the Arctic; 58. Prepared to pray; 64. ___ Aviv; 66. Bygone Russian space station; 67. When a plane is due in: Abbr.

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