"You Can Bet On It" April 14, 2023

[Jeremy Smith]

With 45 minutes left I saw the four clues ending in "win," and thought it might be the way to success. With about 8 minutes before the deadline I looked for "place" and "show," but using the first letters of the grid entries returned gibberish. Then I realized I had to treat the letters of those grid entries as a horse race. Submitted the answer with 2 minutes to spare. I've never solved that close to the deadline.

[JerryF]

I'm confused. Is Isaac (and the bar) on the ship or on the shore? I always thought he was on the ship, but I see others find him after they get on shore.

[CAe39]

I'm confused. Is Isaac (and the bar) on the ship or on the shore? I always thought he was on the ship, but I see others find him after they get on shore.

Cabana boy on shore Issac on the ship. Drinking in both locations.

[mheberlingx100]

Can’t see win, place, and show without thinking of The Sting. “I said place it on Lucky Dan! That horse is gonna run second!”

Sorry if this is a spoiler, but it is a 50 year old movie.

[Scott M]

Can’t see win, place, and show without thinking of The Sting. “I said place it on Lucky Dan! That horse is gonna run second!”

Sorry if this is a spoiler, but it is a 50 year old movie.

And a damn good one

[Hidden in 3D]

I was determined to solve this meta because of my one claim to fame: I had a racehorse named after me as a child. Not a thoroughbred, but a horse of a different color. Sara Black was a standardbred owned by my grandfather. (He named all of his horses after relatives and people close to him.) She was his most successful on the harness racing circuit; at the time the only Adios-sired standardbred filly to clock a 2-minute mile on the trot. I can’t remember a thing about this momentous occasion since I, like my namesake, was only three years old. Attached is a photo of the plaque that commemorates her accomplishment. It hung on the door to her stall in the stable – and I do remember that place well. I loved playing there while my father was shoeing horses.

And now for my rabbit hole story: I wanted to double check the statistics I mentioned above, so I went to the Pedigree Online All Breed Database. (It’s a website that details horses’ bloodlines and best times.) After finding my memory was correct on Sara Black’s stats, it hit me that perhaps there might be some famous horses in the grid that would lead me to the meta solution. For much longer than I care to admit, I put crossword answers into the search engine to see if there were horses with those names. Here’s the short list of grid answers that are or were actual horse names, in no particular order: TED, TARO, ARMADA, PERCY, MATT, ATHENS, BOUDOIR (!), FARE, FLOSS, DROP, SHARP, SHORE, DOONE, HUTCH, HOUSE, TOAST, ELEPHANT, PRIDE, NORA, REACT, GRIST, COY, TACO, ARAL, BEAR, NEAT, SLIP, IKEA (?), ROMP. I just kept digging and digging in that same burrow, fascinated at the names owners chose for their horses, with no regard as to how said names could possibly help to solve the meta! Me and my one-track mind!

[Colin]

Genius Mike Shenk! I saw the “win”s in the clues, but couldn’t make anything out of TRGR. Didn’t even think to look for “show” or “place”. Saw two clues with “derby” and the corresponding grids answers were FOALS RACE … knew it was wrong by a furlong or two, but it was all I had. So I hoofed it over to my phone and that became my 11:55pm entry with incredibly long odds!

[Bird Lives]

Across the Board. That was the answer I was hoping for as soon as I saw the Win Place Show theme. A bet “Across the board” is an equal amount on each of the three outcomes.

Back in the 20th century,the betting windows at the track specified an amount. There were many $2 windows, some $10 windows, one or two $100 windows. There was also a “$6 Combination” window, where, instead of going to a $2 window and requesting three tickets, one for win, one for place, one for show, you could get a single $6 ticket. But nobody ever said "I'm betting a combination on Number 5." It was "I'm betting it across the board."

The father of a college friend was an accomplished artist, reviewed in NYT and WaPO. But he had a day job – selling at the $6 Combination window at Aqueduct and Belmont.

[SusieG]

How very clever! I never got past the win, place, show clues. Disappointing finish for someone who grew up on a horse farm.

[femullen]

I must have raised her wrong.

It was The Smarter Half of Team Canuck that called my attention to the Win, Place, and Show clues, and a few minutes later I had the solution. But she did not, for she did not know what those terms meant. In the end, then, it took both of us and was a true team win.

[John77]

I combined imagination with laziness, submitting "Across-The-Board" almost immediately after noticing the win/place/show clues and two grid answers that extended across the board.

Fail.

[SusieG]

I also expected across the board!

[eagle1279]

I didn’t see anything until remembering Mr. Shenk’s propensity to put the keys to the meta in the clues instead of the grid. Then it was off to the races!

[sf592000]

I couldn't get out of my own way on this one -- and my 9 week streak comes to an end!

Too many rabbit holes:

Shore - anagram of Horse
House - one letter from Horse

Nothing..

Maybe Horse terms?

Fare -> Mare
Neins -> Reins
Rooftop -> Hoof?

Nothing...

I know, maybe raising actual STEAKS!

BroadwayMusical -> Waygu
Romp -> Rump
Toast -> Roast
Porter HOUSE?
Prime RIB?

Nope. Nope. and Nope!

On to next week!

[mlvilv]

Oops. I was on a shore, just not the shore apparently. I saw the win, place, show and went with trifecta. I had tried to spell something out with the first letters of the answers to those particular clues and couldn't and it never occurred to me to do 1, 2, 3. Nice one!

[jrdad]

The two 'Derby' clues seemed like an obvious starting point: horse/racing clues. Club part, JOCKEY CLUB? Lasso was an obvious horse clue...
That went nowhere fast, and then enlightenment.

[BarbaraK]

I don't have high hopes for this meta since I know nothing about horse racing or betting so I am not too motivated. But, despite not being a betting person, I bet that I won't solve this meta.

Ha, ha! Good thing I never gamble/bet. I would have lost even the one I thought was a sure bet. Gave one more look at the puzzle figuring I have to try the one thing I always resist....and there it was; clear as day. I literally know only one thing about betting that I learned in a movie once decades ago and it came in handy here.

I suspect that knowing a lot about horse racing was more hindrance than help this week. When win/place/show are pretty much the only horse racing terms you know, you don’t have tons of other ideas to distract you.

Of course google can always help overcome this advantage:) Did you all know that there was a race horse named Broadway Musical?! Ran a handful of races in 2013-15 without any notable success.

[woozy]

I'm confused. Is Isaac (and the bar) on the ship or on the shore? I always thought he was on the ship, but I see others find him after they get on shore.

If you win and make it to shore-- You get a drink as a reward. If you fail to make it ashore you and remain stuck on the ship-- you get a drink in commiseration. Either way, you drink.

Isaac is but a state of mind. We may revel on the shore but we know we will always keep company with Isaac in our future.

But on shore... we are served by the Cabana Boy.

[Bird Lives]

Did you all know that there was a race horse named Broadway Musical?! Ran a handful of races in 2013-15 without any notable success.

True also of many Broadway musicals, and their backers lose a lot more money than do those who were betting on the horse.

[Bob cruise director]

Our @minimuggle Marie Wickham chugging along - 3.4Km and going strong.

10K time is 57 minutes and 41 seconds. Even more impressive is that it is about 50 degrees and drizzle.

Marie is halfway home in 2 hours and 4 minutes

30K in 3 hours and 50 seconds - by now the legs are getting tired and all you can think about is Heartbreak Hill coming up

Heartbreak hill is here in 3 hours and 14 minutes = one mile of uphill pain and suffering after going 20 miles.

Heartbreak hill is done in under 11 minutes - great job. However the pain is not over as your quads will kill going downhill. Wave to the Eagles as you go by and watch out for the green line tracks. "only" five miles left.

40K in 4 hours 2 minutes 22 seconds - a short time to go. The finish is almost in sight and the crowds are screaming "muggle!!!"

25.2 miles down - only 1 mile to go. Comm Ave and over to Boylston and sprint to the finish line


Finishing time was 4 hours 15 minutes and 38 seconds - CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!