44 Down

TigerBlog loves to do the New York Times crossword puzzle every day. 

The easiest puzzle of the week is Monday's, and they're supposed to get progressively harder as the week goes along. TB sometimes goes with the "check" function, which will show him if he's gotten everything correct to that point. 

What he won't do is cheat — unless that counts as cheating, which he doesn't think it does. Sometimes he'll reach out to someone for help, especially on pop culture. That's about it. 

There's also a crossword archive that goes all the back to the 1990s. Those are fun, considering how much the world has evolved, technology has changed, pop-culture has moved along and phrases are different, al of which makes the clues completely different. 

Yesterday's puzzle was fairly easy. TB finished it in less than 20 minutes. 

Here was 37-across: 

"Toy Story 2" character who says "I'm packing you an extra pair of shoes, and your angry eyes, just in case"

That was clearly Mrs. Potato Head, who was voiced by Estelle Harris. Mr. Potato Head was voiced by Don Rickles, by the way. 

Then there was 66-across. It was definitely a challenge: 

Catholic university whose mascot is a lion, aptly.

Turns out the answer is St. Leo. TB got that because he had the "t," "e" and "o."

Ah, but this was a special edition of the puzzle, largely because of 44-down and 45-down. Here they were:

44 down: John ___, longtime writer for The New Yorker
45 down: State that's the subject of 44-Down's book "Coming Into the Country"

They were both six letters. 

How great was this? The answers are, of course, "McPhee" and "Alaska." TigerBlog has read almost all the books of the first, including "Coming Into The Country," of which he has a signed copy. 

Mr. McPhee, as you probably know, is one of TigerBlog's heroes and favorite people. They have spent hours and hours and hours together, riding bikes, talking about the writing process, talking about Princeton Athletics history, talking about pretty much anything. Oh, and they've even gone fishing together. 

That's one of TB's favorite pictures ever. 

McPhee, now in his 90s, is a member of the Class of 1953. His father Harry was the team physician for Princeton Athletics in the 1930s and ’40s, and John grew up around Princeton games and athletes.  

What are your plans for your 90th birthday? John McPhee and TigerBlog rode together for 11 miles on the day McPhee turned 90. That's a good goal to have, right? How many 90 year olds do you know, let alone 90 year olds who could ride 11 miles?  

John McPhee has been a living, breathing almanac of Princeton Athletics. His roommate at Princeton was Dick Kazmaier, the 1951 Heisman Trophy winner. His first book was about Bill Bradley and his senior year of 1964-65. He was incredibly close with Pete Carril and is still incredibly close with Bill Tierney. 

He taught a writing seminar at Princeton for five decades, impacting hundreds of students. He has been a longtime Fellow with the men's lacrosse team, where his influence has been felt by another few hundred Princeton students.  

And, of course, by TigerBlog, who has learned a lot from his time with Mr. McPhee. Included in their time together have been three international trips with the men's lacrosse team — they've ridden together in Portugal, Spain and Costa Rica. 

Mr. McPhee has told TigerBlog some of the best, funniest, deepest, well-communicated stories he's ever heard. There are so many of them that TB hardly would know where to start to share them. Trust him though. Every second of them has been way worth it.   

And there John was, in the New York Times crossword puzzle yesterday. TigerBlog smiled and then filled in the correct answers. 

It was a welcome sight in his daily puzzle.  

And of course, if there had been a crossword clue that was, say, a nine-letter word for "has written five days a week since 2009," he's certain that Mr. McPhee would have easily gotten "TigerBlog."