June 9, 2011

"Liberal paper takes six days to admit heinous fault that has been destroying lives since last week."

"The crossword puzzle on Friday provided an erroneous clue for 30-Across, seeking the answer 'Ute.' The clue should have read, 'Subject of a museum in western Colorado,' not 'Subject of a museum in eastern Colorado.'"

29 comments:

traditionalguy said...

I never knew that Utes had their own museum. Did they all grow up and move away?

Scott M said...

You've just got to love crosswords. I'm actively training my kids to love them. I can't think of a better way to train both vocabulary and methodical thinking. On the plus side, no batteries required and it requires sitting in one place for extended periods of time.

Doc: Your kid has A.D.D., A.D.H.D. and O.P.P. One 50-page, age-appropriate crossword puzzle book STAT!

Toad Trend said...

"Liberal paper takes six days to admit heinous fault that has been destroying lives since last week."

Gack. What kind of 'lives' are 'ruined' by such a small error?

Could this be modern underachieving American life, in a microcosm?

wv - eurail

Hey garage, are you now programming word verification for Althouse???

deborah said...

lol

Love the first comment: "Don't be so glib about this. It was a Friday puzzle, Chore-e. Fuck you. Just fuck you."

bgates said...

What kind of 'lives' are 'ruined' by such a small error?

It pains me to have to explain this to you, but they're being sarcastic. Their point is that the Times corrects even the tiniest little flaw in their paper, and how can such a paragon of excellence be considered ideologically slanted.

Of course, it pains me even more that the Times gets away with suckering people like that. They love to run corrections like
In yesterday's front page story "All Respectable Economists Agree: 9% Unemployment is the Best We Could Possibly Hope For", the last sentence read, "Buoyed by the confirmation that his administration is in fact performing at the absolute pinnacle of human achievement, President Obama shot a personal best 86 that afternoon." In fact, that was his personal best score at Congressional, but the President has shot 85 at courses at numerous luxury resorts in Europe and the United States.

The Times regrets the error.

Anonymous said...

Lotta utes around here.

Phil 314 said...

Well I bet the error drove more than a couple puzzlers crazy.

And, of course, a Ute museum wouldn't be in eastern Colorado, Ute's are "mountain" Indians.

Phil 314 said...

More

And one of the Wests most famous Indian chiefs was a Ute, Chief Ouray

Ricardo said...

Love Ouray. Great town.

Calypso Facto said...

Wasn't it da eastern utes against the western utes in West Side Story?

deborah said...

bgates, the post was poking fun at avid crossword-puzzle fans. The Awl would have no reason to rip the NYT.

Henry said...

Ute is one of those answers you don't need a clue for. Like St Lo ("Battle of Normandy site") it's too useful for crossword creators to avoid.

john said...

Well, all I got to say is that that heinous fault has been destroying lives a hellova lot longer than a week.

traditionalguy said...

I only hope Anthony Weiner was not twittering sex shots to Utes.

Martin L. Shoemaker said...

Hey, give 'em a break! Newspapers are short handed these days.

That's why the Washington Post is enlisting readers as volunteers in an electronic lynch mob for Sarah Palin. (They learned this lesson from Arianna Huffington.)

Chip Ahoy said...

Lives were not ruined they were made. Crossword solvers live for this sort of gotchya, peruse the NYT crossword forum and see.

I myself earned a gotchya once on a NYT puzzle by the redoubtable Liz Gorski, brilliant constructor. The clue had to do with destroyer of woolens or something and the answer was moth. Everyone knows the moth does no damage, its larva does. Yes, there is some wiggle room, but still.

Scott M said...

Everyone knows the moth does no damage, its larva does. Yes, there is some wiggle room, but still.

I suppose if there's still enough people with this much time on their hands, the Republic's not in as bad a shape as I thought...or it's worse. I can't figure out which.

Toad Trend said...

@bgates

Gack. Double sarcasm takes out commenter.

Between 90 degrees and 180 degrees of azimuth. Direct hit.

Known Unknown said...

Did someone say Utes?

deborah said...

I don't even have to click, EM :)

Calypso Facto said...

Re: Two yutes

My Cousin Vinny was itself the object of an NYT crossword puzzle a couple weeks ago called "Included Herewit"

edutcher said...

Shoulda sed, "Young people in Jersey, including Althouse".

Or Utah university mascot.

Henry said...

Ute is one of those answers you don't need a clue for. Like St Lo ("Battle of Normandy site") it's too useful for crossword creators to avoid.

OT, but no cafe last evening:

Gen. John Alison, who led the Allied invasion of Burma in 1944 with Col. Phil Cochran, died yesterday at age 98.

We remember Normandy, but tend to forget people like that.

bgates said...

The Awl would have no reason to rip the NYT

It pains me to explain the same thing twice. So go back and read my first comment again.

Peter Hoh said...

I wish my father-in-law were alive to enjoy this. He got my wife into them, and once I got into the harder puzzles, I was hooked.

Google has made searching for obscure clues a lot easier, but it feels like cheating.

deborah said...

@ bgates: Sigh. My way was funnier though.

JAL said...

@Martin Showmaker
RE Palin & the NYT

Was it their reporter who had to relieve himself by the side of the road I wonder?

Martin L. Shoemaker said...

Oh, looks like the New York Times is also short handed. They too are signing up volunteers for a Palin lynch mob.

wv: ounce. A measure of shame not met by the Post or the Times.

Big Mike said...

Eastern Colorado, western Colorado. To the readers of the New York Times, once you're west of the Hudson it all looks the same.

showbiz111 said...

It's always the Utes' that are at fault. See, My Cousin Vinny.