Jun 22, 2011
The crossword puzzle that predicted the future with complete confidence
I’d heard of the famous NYT crossword that predicted the winner of the 1996 presidential elections, but I hadn’t ever seen it till today…
The day before the election, the clue for 39-Across was “Lead story in tomorrow’s newspaper (!), with 43-Across.”
43-Across was “Elected,” so 39-Across obviously needed to be the name of the as-yet-unchosen winner.
How did the puzzle maker know who would be elected? He didn’t.
But he was safe because both “Clinton” and “Bob Dole” fit in the puzzle.
Check it out…
* * * * *
Now that is clever.
Its a good thing it wasn’t the 2000 election!
Insanely clever
41 down: “provider of support, for short” = Bra.
If The answer was Clinton, it would be “IRA” and the only IRA I know of, was a terrorist group in Northern Ireland.
Therefore, fail “amazing” crossword is fail.
Hmm, here in the US (where the New York Times crossword puzzle is published) we don’t have Irish terrorist groups (IRA, you say?). Perhaps where you live, they don’t have Individual Retirement Accounts. It is abbreviated IRA. It’s a way to accrue tax deferred savings for retirement. A means of support, so to speak. (How do they save for retirement in Ireland, or does the government pay everything?)
However, this amazing crossword puzzle would be even more amazing if they had weaved “bra” in with Clinton’s name, rather than Dole’s.
Either way no respectable crossword uses initialisms and if the answer was ‘Bob Dole’ the clue would state that it was Two words, 3 & 4. The whole thing is a fail.
IRA is the name of a savings plan as well so , fail? Not so much!
Anderson’s weak, poorly researched and ignorant argument for the “fail” of the “‘amazing’ crossword” is fail.
Anderson isn’t investing for his retirement it seems. I wouldn’t mind the support provided by an “Investment Retirement Account” (IRA).
Anderson, fail.
The cleverness would be lost on anyone who wrote BLINTON though..
anderson FAILED btw
peace
lol, stupid anderson
anyone outside the states wouldnt have heard of investment retirement accounts, to Europeans,its called a pension fund. Ha and the government pay for nothing,ha
“If The answer was Clinton, it would be “IRA” and the only IRA I know of, was a terrorist group in Northern Ireland.”
Thankfully, the universe of knowledge does not lie within the mind of our dear friend Anderson.
Alas, if only there was some way for Anderson to be enlightened!!! Of course, a Google query (which would have burnt less calories then their complaining (sorry, their “fail” complaining (or is it complaining “fail”?))) would have quickly helped… They would have to scroll down to the third entry, though. Given how lazy they seem, this might not have happened.
And, if there was some grave error in this crossword, how conceited would a person have to be to think that they were so special to have discovered it over a decade later? Do you really think that the millions of people who saw it before just missed the error??? Get over yourself!
Parenthetical win.
It never identifies who designed this ingenious puzzle. Will Shortz obviously didn’t.
Lundy,
According to the wikipedias, Jeremiah Farrell created this little masterpiece.
cheers, d
Not a crossworder, myself. What’s that last clue: “Much-debated political inits.”?
What does inits. stand for? I wanted to think institution and it was copied into this article incorrectly.
And then what does ERA stand for? Equal Rights Ammendment? Not really an institution, so I’m missing something. Assuming the NRA is the National Rifle Association?
Thanks.
“Inits” stands for initials. And yes, ERA stands for Equal Rights Amendment and NRA for National Rifle Association, two political topics widely debated,i.e. gun control and women’s rights.
And what a clever puzzle!
init is not short for institution. It’s an abbreviation for initials
Wtf kind of purchase at a sewing shop is a yard?
A yard of fabric / material. My mom used to work at a decorating store.
has no one noticed that the down clues do not work with both answers? with ‘yard’ is not a sewing shop purchase, ‘bios’ is not a short writing and era is not a much debated political initial.
shoe-monkeys. plug-socket-licking shoe-monkeys
Wrong. Wrong. And wrong. A yard-stick and a yard of fabric can both be purchased at a sewing shop. A bio most certainly can be a short writing, and often is; I had to write a 3 line bio for myself for an interview in a local newspaper. And ERA are the initials for Equal Rights Amendment, a much debated political issue. Don’t take everything so literally, and keep an open mind. Shoe monkey.
Yard. As in, “I am going down to the sewing shop to purchase a YARD of fabric.”
Bios. As in, “I am going to read the BIOS on these two gentlemen.”
ERA. As in, “Some of the people in government have chosen to disagree with the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment).”
Roz, do some research.
I know others have already written this but I felt it needed to be said once more just to make sure it sinks in.