Clearly the MLB All Star Game is on everyone’s mind.
I pulled out 33A Proficient: ADROIT because it is another example of how we love right-handedness and hate lefties. Lefties are sinister.
sinister (adj.)
early 15c., “prompted by malice or ill-will, intending to mislead,” from Old French senestre, sinistre “contrary, false; unfavorable; to the left” (14c.), from Latin sinister “left, on the left side” (opposite of dexter), of uncertain origin. Perhaps meaning properly “the slower or weaker hand” [Tucker], but Klein and Buck suggest it’s a euphemism (see left (adj.)) connected with the root of Sanskrit saniyan “more useful, more advantageous.” With contrastive or comparative suffix -ter, as in dexter (see dexterity).
The Latin word was used in augury in the sense of “unlucky, unfavorable” (omens, especially bird flights, seen on the left hand were regarded as portending misfortune), and thus sinister acquired a sense of “harmful, unfavorable, adverse.” This was from Greek influence, reflecting the early Greek practice of facing north when observing omens. In genuine Roman auspices, the augurs faced south and left was favorable. Thus sinister also retained a secondary sense in Latin of “favorable, auspicious, fortunate, lucky.”
Meaning “evil” is from late 15c. Used in heraldry from 1560s to indicate “left, to the left.” Bend (not “bar”) sinister in heraldry indicates illegitimacy and preserves the literal sense of “on or from the left side” (though in heraldry this is from the view of the bearer of the shield, not the observer of it; see bend (n.2)).
Things you shouldn’t do are gauche.
gauche (adj.)
“awkward, tactless,” 1751 (Chesterfield), from French gauche “left” (15c., replacing senestre in that sense), originally “awkward, awry,” from gauchir “turn aside, swerve,” from Proto-Germanic *wankjan (source also of Old High German wankon, Old Norse vakka “to stagger, totter”), from PIE *weng- “to bend, curve” (see wink (v.)).
But proficient?
adroit (adj.)
1650s, “dexterous,” originally “rightly,” from French adroit, which by Old French had senses “upright (physically and morally); able, clever, skillful; well-formed, handsome; on the right-hand side; veritable,” from adverbial phrase à droit “according to right.”
This is from Old French à “to” (see ad-) + droit, dreit “right,” from Medieval Latin directum (contracted drictum) “right, justice, law,” neuter or accusative of Latin directus “straight,” past participle of dirigere “set straight,” from dis- “apart” (see dis-) + regere “to direct, to guide, keep straight” (from PIE root *reg- “move in a straight line,” with derivatives meaning “to direct in a straight line,” thus “to lead, rule”). It expresses prominently the idea of a trained hand. Related: Adroitly; adroitness.
Now that we’ve gotten rid of the southpaws, here’s today’s theme.
18A Address every aspect of something: COVERALLTHEBASES.
28A Immediately: RIGHTOFFTHEBAT.
44A Oddly and unexpectedly: OUTOFLEFTFIELD.
57A Situation that starts things completely over: WHOLENEWBALLGAME.
6D Kind of pitcher: RELIEF.
39D An umpire’s outstretched arms signifies this: SAFE.
48D Certain worker in a stadium: USHER.
Finished this one in 10:23.
| Day | This Wk | Best | Average |
| Monday | 6:21 | 3:49 | 9:29 |
| Tuesday | 10:23 | 5:22 | 13:42 |
| Wednesday | 7:38 | 17:31 | |
| Thursday | 13:09 | 30:00 | |
| Friday | 16:23 | 35:12 | |
| Saturday | 27:43 | 35:55 | |
| Sunday | 15:11 | 58:36 |