“To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.” Amen to that, Voltaire. And Happy Birthday! (1694)

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An issue of pluralism arose in the puzzle today. At 56A the clue was “Aces” and the answer was HOLES IN ONE. Commenter Sam S. raised this issue: It seems to me that HOLESINONE requires the ball to drop into the hole from an initial tee shot, then immediately bounce out of the hole (with great vigor) and travel on its own power all the way down to the next green and drop into that hole, as well. One shot, two holes. Or did I miss something?

Do you see his problem?

I tried to address it with the following:

I can see that happening in miniature golf.

I think what distinguishes your “miracle” shot from the plural of the traditional hole in one are hyphens. Wikipedia says the traditional hole in one can either contain hyphens or not. And dictionaries seem to vary on the matter. Assuming the hyphens, a plural of the traditional hole-in-one would be holes-in-one, as in the puzzle today, with invisible hyphens. And the plural of your miracle shot would be holes in one, sans hyphens. (But since hyphens are not required for the traditional hole in one, there are obvious holes in my theory.)

A later comment aptly noted that if the shot into the first hole bounces out and then goes into the second hole, the first hole would not count. But we’ve already gone far enough with this nonsense.

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It’s opening day for the PWHL: Professional Women’s Hockey League. Go get ’em girls! We already have tix for a few games. Can’t wait!

No one believes me when I tell them how brutal these ladies are. This picture, below, was taken during the playing of the national anthems.

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I thought the clue at 9D today was very clever: “It may bring out the kid in you.” Answer: CESAREAN. But it ruffled some feathers. Some felt it was being too “cutesy” with a serious procedure that many women have to undergo, and were offended. A lot of humor is offensive. The comic (or here the constructor) has to decide where to draw the line. The puzzle was constructed by a woman (Joyce Keller), and women are well-represented on the NYT puzzle staff charged with editing it.

The comic Mike Birbiglia in his excellent “Thank God for Jokes” addresses the issue of jokes that are offensive. He will be hosting an awards show and comes up with a bit that is hysterical but will be very offensive in some quarters and could harm his career. As he’s struggling with the decision to go with it or not, his wife chimes in with the observation that to be true to himself as a comedian he has to use it (and he does). Now, I’m not saying I’d be okay with crossing the lines on racism (use of the N-word, e.g.), misogyny, and the like, but in general I come down on the side of the comic. Or, in this case, the constructor.

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At 50D, the clue was a little weird: “They have five eyes and communicate by dancing.” Five eyes? Maybe a potato, except for the dancing? The Jackson Five? But they have ten eyes. The answer was BEES.

It did not sit well with Commenter kitshef: The overwhelming majority of bee species do not dance. A few do, but cluing it as creatures with five eyes that do NOT dance to communicate would be a better description of almost all BEES.

[A stinging rebuke!!]

Commenter Les added: It’s time the other 90% stepped up and learned to dance. Sweat bees, mason bees, leafcutters, don your tap shoes and take to the streets!

But dgd said: This is a crossword puzzle with clues: not dictionary-level descriptions. All it takes for the clue to be valid is that some bees dance. That happens all the time.

Finally, Anoa Bob shared this: In 1973 the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was jointly awarded to Karl von Frisch, Konrad Lorenz and Kikolaas Tinbergen. Von Frisch won for his study of the “waggle dance” of honey BEES that communicates to other BEES in the hive the direction and distance of food sources. Von Frisch made his discoveries in the 1920s. He ultimately had to stop his research with BEES. He had been stung so many times that he developed a hypersensitivity and even one more sting could have been lethal.

These bees are dancing.

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The puzzle keeps throwing sexy movie stars at us. (Not complaining.) Today it’s Lea Michele. “Fanny Brice portrayer on Broadway.” Lea is 39, married with two kids, and is from the Bronx! Her dad is Jewish and a former deli owner and her mom is Italian and was an RN. She was raised Catholic.

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When’s the last time you were flirtatious? For me it was, let’s see — never? Anyway, a great old-fashioned way to say it might be to say, “she gave him a come hither look.” And that was in the puzzle today: Clue: “Flirtatious.” Answer: COME HITHER.

In a case like that, you have to be careful as the constructor not to come up with the answer COME HITLER. So, e.g., you wouldn’t make the clue “Flirtatious in the Wehrmacht.”

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From The Onion:

Paleontologists Unearth Earliest Known Dinosaur Stickers

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We’re heading down to Baltimore tomorrow and will be, insanely, attending the Jets/Ravens game on Sunday. Why do we subject ourselves to this? It’s part of the Jets fan syndrome. I guess it’s like not being able to turn away from a train wreck. Although most train wrecks aren’t nearly as bad as most Jet games. Oy.

See you next time!