There were 2 things in today's puzzle that caused Rex Parker — and me — to see a word that wasn't really the word in the answer and that made it hard to complete the answer because it seemed so likely that the word we perceived was part of the answer.
I kind of resented GO TO THERAPY, both the answer itself and (esp.) the non-clue it gets in today's puzzle (9D: What over 40 million U.S. adults do annually).... [T]he answer seems intended to get you to think GO TO THE... where "THE" appears to be the definite article. I had GO TO THE MALL written in there before I finally got GO TO THERAPY.... Had another misparsing adventure in the SE, with INDIA- .... which ended up being IN space DIAPERS (53A: Untrained, perhaps). But I didn't mind that one so much, because at least that answer has a real clue.
Now, I had the same problem. As I was struggling to see the answer, I got stuck on "the" and "India." Realizing that "the" was really part of "therapy" wasn't very exciting, because the "the" in "therapy" is often recognized in the context of the word "therapist" — "the rapist." Maybe that alone should have caused the NYT to do something else with this puzzle.
Now, seeing "India" in "in diapers" was funnier, because it was more surprising, but it seems like a rather mean thing to do with the good people of India, associating their country's name with diapers.
But speaking of confusing misdirection, Rex himself confused me! He wrote: "which ended up being IN space DIAPERS." I was all: "space diapers?!" Here's what immediately reeled through my head: Space diapers? Yeah, astronauts wear space diapers, they must wear space diapers on short trips, like those billionaires who do space tourism for like — what is it? — 15 minutes? They're sitting there in diapers!
Here's the Wikipedia article "Maximum Absorbency Garment."
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Lisa Nowak, famoust American astronaut/stalker, wore regular adult diapers when she drove from Houston to Orlando to attack the woman dating her object of affection, to avoid having to stop for bathroom breaks and the risk of being caught on camera when doing so.
There you go, a story that combines space and diapers without being about space diapers. None of the story participants were from India, but hey, two out of three ain't bad.
space diapers are (apparently) also useful for cross country trips; to murder a fellow astronaut
(or, wife, or something)
Since you bought a month of Disney+ check out the Jeff Goldblum show on 'Swimming Pools'. There's a fun discussion of space diapers at the NASA space simulator swimming pool...
Yuk.
Space diapers? Yeah, astronauts wear space diapers, they must wear space diapers on short trips, like those billionaires who do space tourism for like — what is it? — 15 minutes? They're sitting there in diapers!
Yes, they do and have since Alan Shepard peed in his suit because of pre-launch delays and it taking too long to pry him out of the Mercury capusle.
Was Lisa Nowak wearing "space diapers?"
If we are looking for courageous, determined astronauts in our conquest of space, would driving non-stop half-way across the country to confront a lover really be minus, rather than a plus?
Alan Shepard had to wait so long on the pad before his flight, he had to pee in his suit. No provision for that had been made because his flight was only supposed to be 15 minutes.
They put a condom on Gus Grissom.
Rex Parker? I only check out his blog when "NRA" is clued. His hysteria is delicious.
I didn’t have the problem with diapers. “Peart” and so had INDI PERS. I still don’t understand the clue for “Shoot Craps” but obviously it fell into place when I got “Therapy”
“ I didn’t have the problem with diapers. “Peart” and so had INDI PERS.”
That’s not right.
Peart gave the A for India. The P came from TORPER.
You can see the whole grid at the Rex link.
I had a hell of a time with this puzzle.
I had GO TO THE R, and then GO TO THE RA, and then GO TO THE RA_Y. I was so stuck on parsing it that way, I ran the alphabet on the blank and couldn't come up with anything. RAPY? What?
I'm in space diapers
Bet you weren't ready for that
We wear space diapers
That way you know where it's at
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Professor-
I apologize for my garbled comment earlier. I should know better than to comment from my phone at lunch when I am pretty sure I will be interrupted by my boss for the third meeting of the day on a huge rush project we were bidding. (We didn't get it-our facility has the capacity to fabricate it but we could not find the steel quickly enough.)
I did not know how to spell PEART (two R's? two T's?) so the "A" square was blank and the line I saw read INDI_PERS. I never saw INDIA because I understood the clue and dropped the "A" in.
Thanks for the explanation, Marty
@bob Boyd
That’s about exactly what Meade sang
Did Captain Link Hogthrob wear pig diapers?
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