Sunday, August 30, 2020

Sunday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: August 30, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 16:26, less than two minutes slower than the record!  Wow, go me!  I GOTTA say, that's SORTA good!

Theme: the BUTTERFLY EFFECT, as drawn by the black squares in the center of the puzzle.  This is a branch of CHAOS THEORY, which states that (according to the grid) ONE SMALL THING / CAN MAKE ALL THE / DIFFERENCE / IN THE WORLD.  As one last themed in-joke, the answers TOR (for Toronto, "an AL East team") and ADO are separated by one square, which gets a secret N to make TOR/N/ADO (made by the butterfly's wings) in the online version of the puzzle.

SADE won a Grammy in 2010?  My guess was *CHER.  Sade won for "Soldier of Love." 

The soleus muscle is found in the calf.  Its name is derived from the Latin word "solea," meaning "sandal."

I don't know LEN Dawson, a quarterback who was mostly with the Kansas City Chiefs.  He won a lot of awards!

Never saw the "Pitch Perfect" movies, so I had to guess that the name of the a capella group is the BELLAS.  Presumably they predate the Twilight craze.

For "computer data structure" I put down *TOWER but it's ARRAY.

"They have pointy teeth" is GEARS.  Do they, though?  Pointy?  I wanted to put *BEARS but I knew it couldn't be that simplistic.

For "comic dog that walks on two feet" I immediately put *OTTO but they have ODIE.  While Odie does sometimes walk on two feet, he doesn't normally.  Otto, however, does.  This is shitty cluing.  I demand this egregious error be corrected in future reprints.

"NBA team with black and white uniforms" is NETS, as in the Brooklyn Nets, formerly of New Jersey.

I did not know that the Broadway hit "The MUSIC MAN" premiered in 1957, nor that it starred Robert Preston, but it was easy enough to guess.

"Toy on a grooved track" gave me pause.  I can't say I've heard much about SLOT CAR racing.

The middle black key in a group of three is A FLAT.  I am endeavoring to learn at least the basic rudiments of music notation.  The keys are not the notes.  All black keys are either a sharp or flat, but not all sharps and flats are black keys.  Well, I'm out of my depth.

For "John Wayne, by birth" I wanted to put Marion, his birth name, but it's IOWAN.  He was born in Winterset, Iowa, in 1907.

"Tulsa sch." ORU got me yet again!

Clever clues: "Selling point?" is SHOP.  "Remains here?" is CRYPT.  "Exchanges words, say" is EDITS. 

I'm surprised that I whizzed through this one so fast, but having such long theme entries really helped (even though I misread the second part as can make a l--he — make a lathe, maybe?).  Well, SEE YA and BYE (both "ciao!").

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