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Oops! Another crossword puzzle moves Rays

By Anne Glover, Times Staff Writer
In print: Thursday, September 18, 2008

The Los Angeles Times couldn’t get it right, ESPN’s announcers rarely get it right, and now Tribune Media Services, where this puzzle came from, got it wrong on our own pages.

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Looks as if some crossword puzzle editors could use a new clue.

A few weeks back we reported that a Los Angeles Times puzzle that runs in our tbt* editions had mistakenly published "Tampa" as the correct answer to this clue: Home of the Rays.

Annnnkkkkk!!! Wrong!

On Tuesday, Tribune Media Services, which was the syndication service behind the previous gaffe, issued another puzzle with the same clue and the same answer. It was published Tuesday in the Baylink section of the St. Petersburg Times, which is an official sponsor of the Tampa Bay Rays — who play their home games in St. Petersburg.

Adding even further irony to what many in St. Petersburg view as a slight? The second puzzle is edited by Wayne Robert Williams, a puzzle editor for Tribune who lives in Dade City.

Reached by cell phone Wednesday afternoon, Williams was apologetic but had an explanation for the five-letter answer.

"I apologize for the mistake," he said. "And clearly it is a mistake."

He then went on to explain that in editing crosswords, the puzzle answers dictate the clues.

Since "Tampa" was the answer, he searched his personal database of clues that would match and found one that said "Devil Rays' bay." Knowing that the team had changed its name, he said, he toyed with just the clue "Rays bay." Sensing that people unfamiliar with the team wouldn't get the answer, he opted for "Home of the Rays."

"It's easy to step on a sensitive area," he acknowledged, noting that he plays golf with friends who follow the Rays, but he doesn't watch as closely.

He also said that providing a clue for the word Tampa isn't as easy as one would expect because people across the country just don't know it well enough. In this case, he said, his editors are sending out a correction for those who might not have run the puzzle, substituting the clue, "Home of the Buccaneers."

He said he also often uses MacDill Air Force Base as a clue.

When asked about the Los Angeles Times crossword mistake, he said he didn't edit that puzzle and that the editor for it is under an entirely different editorial operation.

As for future clues that match the word Tampa, he might consider "Baseball Rays' bay."

Somehow, we think the folks in St. Petersburg will still be a little unhappy over that.