16 | F RIDAY, AUGUST 2, 2019 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION

NON SEQUITUR PEANUTS

GARFIELD

KENKEN

Answers to Previous Puzzles

WIZARD of ID

DOONESBURY CLASSIC 1993

CALVIN AND HOBBES

DILBERT

Created by Peter Ritmeester/Presented by Will Shortz

SUDOKU No. 0208

Fill the grid so

that every row,

column 3x3 box

and shaded 3x

box contains

each of the

numbers

1 to 9 exactly

once.

Fill the grids with digits so as not

to repeat a digit in any row or

column, and so that the digits

within each heavily outlined box

will produce the target number

shown, by using addition,

subtraction, multiplication or

division, as indicated in the box.

A 4x4 grid will use the digits

1-4. A 6x6 grid will use 1-6.

For solving tips and more KenKen

puzzles: http://www.nytimes.com/

kenken. For Feedback: nytimes@

kenken.com

For solving tips

and more puzzles:

http://www.nytimes.com/

sudoku

KenKen® is a registered trademark of Nextoy, LLC.

Copyright © 2018 http://www.KENKEN.com. All rights reserved.

(c) PZZL.com Distributed by The New York Times syndicate

Solution No. 0108 CROSSWORD | Edited by Will Shortz

Across

1 General plan?

7 Reproductive part

13 Locks that might not

be totally secure?

15 Cause of wheezing

16 Put on the line,

perhaps

18 Check names

19 It gets cleared for

takeoff

21 Bit of gymnastics

equipment

22 Important thing to

know, if you will

24 Big biceps, in slang

25 Photos from drones,

e.g.

26 Trail mix morsel

27 “How ___ it?”

28 Some works by poets

laureate

29 Crime for which Al

Capone went to prison

33 Yank

34 Put on the line

35 PC “brain”

36 Character raised in

“Rosemary’s Baby”

38 In the thick of

39 One relatively close

either

way?

40 Female role in “Pulp

Fiction”

41 Silly

42 Pitfall

44 Theater ticket option

46 Debtor’s letters

47 Ones flying in circles

48 BBQ offering

50 Settlers of disputes

54 Noted library opened

in 2001

55 Traveler who picks up

three companions in a

classic film

56 Pledge to

57 Ill will

Down

1 One-time connection

2 Affected response to

an allegation

3 Prickly husk

4 Keeps current

5 First podcast

to win a

Peabody Award (2015)

6 Job requiring a car,

say

7 Fruit in the custard

apple family

8 “Here’s my two cents

...”

9 Dump

10 Tony winner set in

River City, Iowa

11 “Um ... er ...”

12 Doesn’t die

14 Singer with the #

albums “Stars Dance”

(2013) and “Revival”

(2015)

17 Pie that comes “fully

loaded”

20 Green protector

22 Become, finally

23 Colorado’s

official state dinosaur

24 Wonderful time

25 Tiny bit

27 Roll of bread

29 Road goo

30 Peace sign

31 Pontificate

32 Titian’s “Venus

Anadyomene,” e.g.

34 Lbs. and ozs.

37 Tiny bit

38 “Friends” co-star

41 One of the Gandhis

42 Shankbone

43 Romps

44 Modern handbag

portmanteau

45 Shady area

47 Zymurgist’s interest

49 Animal that doesn’t

have a sound coming

out of its head?

51 Series end

52 P

53 Aleppo’s land: Abbr.

PUZZLE BY ANDREW J. RIES

Solution to Aug 1 Puzzle

123456 789101112

13 14 15

16 1718

19 20 21

2223 24

25 26 27

28 29 30 3132

33 34 35

36 37 38

39 40 41

4243 44 45

46 47

48 49 50 515253

54 55

56 57

SHOEBOLTSMASH

PORTFOLIOWILCO

ABSCONDEDAGLOW

MOOGASAFGHANI

SUMDYETHEE

JUNKPILEDRY

OKAYANITAMVP

HEISMANTROPHIES

NSFINDIAACTS

ALISQUAREST

SPEDMSTSIP

PURVIEWHADCEN

APRILOXYGENIZE

SPOCKRIDESHARE

MYLESDIESLOAD

Sports

Two summers ago, the Houston Astros

traded for a right-handed pitcher born

in 1983 who had once won the Ameri-

can League Cy Young Award. That

pitcher, Justin Verlander, carried the

Astros to the World Series, which they

won for the first time.

The Astros made that deal in Au-

gust, after Verlander had gotten

through waivers. With no waiver trad-

ing period this year, the Astros had to

act by Wednesday’s deadline to im-

prove a team that is running away with

the A.L. West. They turned to 2017 for

inspiration, sending four prospects to

the Arizona Diamondbacks for Zack

Greinke and cash.

“He’s one of the best of the genera-

tion I’ve been around baseball,” Astros

Manager A.J. Hinch told reporters in

Cleveland, adding later, “He’s elite

across the board. Adding him to any

rotation is a positive. Adding him to

this rotation is pretty incredible.”

Of all the pitchers in major league

history, Greinke, 35, compares most

closely to Verlander, according to

Baseball Reference. He is 197-122, with

a 3.36 earned run average in his career.

He has earned six All-Star selections,

including five since 2014. He won his

Cy Young for Kansas City in 2009, two

years before Verlander won his for

Detroit.

Greinke has never pitched in the

World Series, but with Houston, he

may finally get the chance. The Astros

now seem like heavy A.L. favorites,

especially with the East-leading Yan-

kees — a team on Greinke’s no-trade

list — adding no major league pieces at

the deadline.

The Yankees’ starting pitching has

wilted against the better A.L. lineups,

but few starters traded in July would

have provided much of an upgrade.

Besides Greinke, the best starters

were actually traded to teams with

losing records: Trevor Bauer from

Cleveland to Cincinnati, and Marcus

Stroman from Toronto to the Mets.

Other top starters, like the Mets’ Noah

Syndergaard, Arizona’s Robbie Ray

and the San Francisco Giants’ Madison

Bumgarner, stayed put.

The Astros, then, stand out as the

only contender in either league to add

a high-impact starter. Greinke, who

was 10-4 with a 2.90 E.R.A. for Arizona

this season, will join Verlander, Gerrit

Cole and Wade Miley in a rotation that

could be overpowering.

Only two starters in the majors this

season have at least 190 strikeouts

with an E.R.A. under 3.00 — Verlander

and Cole. The left-handed Miley, a

nine-year veteran with a 3.06 E.R.A., is

having his best season.

The Astros’ starters are comple-

mented by a bullpen that has held

opponents to an A.L.-low .227 average.

General Manager Jeff Luhnow added

to it on Wednesday by acquiring a

right-hander, Joe Biagini, in a trade

with the Toronto Blue Jays. The Astros,

who gave up outfielder Derek Fisher,

also acquired starter Aaron Sanchez,

who had the A.L.’s best E.R.A. in 2016

but is 3-14 this season.

To acquire Greinke, the Astros sent

pitchers J.B. Bukauskas and Corbin

Martin, first baseman/outfielder Seth

Beer and infielder Joshua Rojas to

Arizona. Only Martin has pitched in

the majors, for five starts this season

before undergoing Tommy John

surgery. The Diamondbacks reportedly

included $24 million in the deal to help

the Astros absorb the remainder of

Greinke’s six-year, $206.5 million con-

tract, which runs through 2021.

“Trading a No. 1 starting pitcher is

not something that we took lightly,”

Diamondbacks General Manager Mike

Hazen said. “It is very difficult to

replace that player. But I felt like we

needed to take an opportunity to

strengthen the organization — and

ultimately the major league team,

eventually — and I felt like this was

going to do that.”

The Diamondbacks acquired two

starters in other deals — Mike Leake

from Seattle and Zac Gallen from

Miami — and were among the more

active teams on a

busy deadline day.

The top teams in

the National League

East revamped their

bullpens, with Atlan-

ta acquiring Shane

Greene from Detroit

and Mark Melancon

from San Francisco,

and Washington

snagging Daniel

Hudson from Toronto and Roenis Elias

and Hunter Strickland from Seattle.

The Chicago Cubs, who are trying to

win their fourth Central division title in

a row, added outfielder Nicholas Caste-

llanos from Detroit and second base-

man/outfielder Tony Kemp from the

Astros.

But the Greinke move had by far the

most sizzle, giving the Astros’ progres-

sive 70-year-old pitching coach, Brent

Strom, another star pupil. The Astros,

who rely heavily on analytics, have

helped Verlander and Cole elevate

their performances and would seem to

be an ideal match for the cerebral

Greinke, who keeps hitters uncomfort-

able by mixing sliders, curveballs and

changeups with a fastball that aver-

ages only about 90 miles an hour.

“The amount and information that

he takes in, in my mind, it’s impossible

for me to try to do,” Zack Godley, a

Diamondbacks’ right-hander, said in

spring training, adding later: “His

thought process on everything is just

on a different level than anyone else.”

Now the Astros’ rotation is on a

different level, too, and it just might

help them win another World Series.

Houston draws to a staff full of aces

On Baseball

BY TYLER KEPNER

Zack Greinke has seen his velocity drop, but he thrives by changing speeds and locating his pitches well. He joins a Houston Astros rotation that could be overpowering.

FRANK FRANKLIN II/ASSOCIATED PRESS

“He’s one

of the best

of the

generation

I’ve been

around

baseball.”

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