Tuesday, October 31, 2017

My time: 7:06.  In another case of me not thinking about the time, I missed the record by four seconds.  If I'd tried for speed, I probably would have made it.

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Surprise!  Alex Eaton-Salners' puzzle today is not Halloween-themed but MARTIN LUTHER themed, because, as legend has it, he nailed his 95 Theses on the DOOR of the ALL-SAINTS' CHURCH in WITTENBERG to protest the sale of INDULGENCES, starting the PROTESTANT REFORMATION, on October 31, 1517.  The only one of these I didn't know (besides the date) was the All-Saints' Church, and that slowed me a little.  Coincidentally, I had just looked up Wittenberg the day before, knowing that the town Luther posted his Theses in started with a W, but nothing more.

(However, I did initially spell WITTENBERG as *WITTENBURG, leaving me wondering why the "edible part of a fruit" was *FLUSH.)

The clue that got me the most wound up was "what sac flies produce."  What the hell is a sac fly?? Some sort of grub??  Well, it's an abbreviation of sacrifice fly, which is basically a hit intended to help some other teammate to score a run.  And they produce the crossword-common RBIS.

I was also slowed by "sack seeker," though I at least knew that was a sports reference.  It's PASS RUSHER.

OLGA Korbut is a Belarusian gymast who competed for the Soviet team in 1972 and 1976.  And since I enjoy nicknames, here's hers: The Sparrow from Minsk.

I didn't know that Jennifer Lopez had a #1 album in 2001 called J.LO.

I don't listen to much NPR.  I know Ira Glass and initially had *IRA Shapiro (I thought, maybe they have two famous Iras?).  But it's ARI Shapiro.

Who remembers Lukas HAAS from Witness?  Anyone?  Me neither.

Absolutely new to me department: Madame NHU of 1960s Vietnam.  She was the wife of the brother of Ngô Đình Diệm, the president of South Vietnam, and considered the First Lady.

For "something taken on faith" I had *TENET but it's DOGMA.

Clever clue: "Post production?" is CEREAL.

And that's all the NOTES I have.