Pete Rose is the only player in baseball history to play at least 500 games at each of five different positions. He played 939 games at first base, 628 at second, 634 at third, 595 in right field and 671 in left field. He also played 95 games in center field. Three thousand, five hundred sixty-two games played---a record that will likely never be broken.
Merl Reagle's puzzle in today's Los Angeles Times is titled "Advancement Placement Test." He advised, "Think literally." The theme answers are phrases that include words such as AFTER, ABOVE, BELOW, BEFORE, BEHIND, BETWEEN, OVER, UNDER and ON TOP OF. However, those words are not part of the answers. They become implied by the placement of the other words. For example, THEEARSWET is "wet behind the ears," SCHOOLSTAY is "stay after school" and THEREADSLINES is "read between the lines." The vertical phrase SITTINGTHEWORLD ("sitting on top of the world") was clued with "Happy as a clam." That is a common expression but it is incomplete. The actual phrase is "happy as a clam at high tide," i.e., when the clam is safe from predators. (Another common but incomplete phrase is "The proof is in the pudding." The actual saying is, "The proof of the pudding is in the eating.")
Today's crossword also included far too many foreign words (ALTE, ARTISTE, DES, ETYMA, ILE, OSO) and partial phrases (ABONEO, ATREE, ISO, WHENA), along with the overused product names ATRA and OREO and our old familiar friends Yoko ONO and Mel OTT. I forgive Merl, though, because the phrasing of the theme answers presented a unique challenge.
