The Washington Post - 05.03.2020

C8 eZ re THE WASHINGTON POST.THURSDAy, MARCH 5 , 2020

ACROSS

1 __ Plaines:

Chicago suburb

4 J. Edgar Hoover

Building org.

10 Catch

14 Suffix with hero

15 Sea between

Greece and

Turkey

16 Dutch South

African

17 They’re ominous

19 Decent-sized lot

20 “No more,

thanks”

21 End of many

long weekends:

Abbr.

23 Ad __

committee

24 Many a

“Twilight”

character

25 Gulf State

native

27 That, in Oaxaca

28 They’re

luminous

32 Word in a

January song

33 Wood strip

34 Song first sung

by Ethel Waters

at Harlem’s

Cotton Club ...

and a hint to

four other long

answers

40 Flat-bottomed

boat

41 “Sesame

Street”

pal of Zoe

42 They’re

clamorous

49 “Jingle Bells”

contraction

50 Last Supper

question

51 “Ivy and __”:

kid-lit series by

Annie Barrows

53 Infamous Amin

54 More than

unfriendly

55 Breed of sheep

57 Astrological

transition point

59 They’re

ruinous

62 Wasatch

Mountains

resort

63 “Twilight”

vampire

64 Suffix with

Brooklyn

65 For fear that

66 Trounces

67 Some NFL

blockers

DOWN

1 Finished a job

2 Dental layer

3 Composer

Rachmaninoff

4 Food truck fare

5 Believed

6 Swelled head

7 Pot-au-__:

French stew

8 Outlaw

9 Happy way to

break out

10 Abbr. in an

unfilled TV slot

11 New __, N.Y. :

home of Iona

College

12 Ford’s first

minivan

13 Like some

concrete

18 Big ape

22 Bird’s beak

25 Sole

26 Corn Belt region

29 Guffaw syllable

30 Rum __ Tugger:

“Cats” role

31 __Kosh B’gosh

34 Bus kiosk posting

35 Ones seeing

things

36 Dominate

37 K-12, in

education

38 Latin lover’s

word

39 Parking

violation risk

40 Showing no

emotion

43 50 2, in old

Rome

44 Steer clear of

45 Saudi Arabian

capital

46 Iberian

river to the

Mediterranean

47 Carl with nine

Emmys

48 Most sensible

52 Snoops

(around)

55 Car sticker no.

56 Postings at an

airline gate, for

short

58 Vanna’s partner

60 __ Jima

61 Quick flight

LA TIMES CROSSWORD By Kurt Krauss

WEDNESDAY’S LA TIMES SOLUTION

© 2020 Tribune Content Agency, LLC. 3/5/20

kidspost

TODAY’S NEWS

The Democratic Party’s

presidential f ield, which h ad eight

candidates a week ago, turned i nto a

two-man contest after S uper

Tuesday’s state primaries a nd c aucus.

Former vice president Joe Biden

and S enator Bernie Sanders of

Vermont battled for delegates as 14

states and one U.S. t erritory h eld

high-stakes elections. Biden won i n 10

states, and Sanders in t hree with a

solid lead i n California.

Mike B loomberg, former New York

City mayor, won in the territory America

Samoa a nd t hen s aid Wednesday t hat

he would e nd h is campaign. Senator

Elizabeth Warren and Representative

Tulsi Gabbard won no races.

More important is the number of

delegates each candidate earned o f

the 1 ,991 needed for t he Democratic

nomination. As o f Wednesday

afternoon, Biden led S anders 5 66 to

501 with votes to count, according to

Associated Press estimates.

Tuesday’s results raised questions

about whether the race would continue

to July, when one candidate will be

chosen at t he Democratic convention.

— Associated Press

tImotHy a. clary and frederIc J. broWn/afp/

getty Images

Senator Bernie Sanders, left, and

former vice president Joe Biden.

B iden, Sanders lead

Democratic field

after big primaries

KIDSPOST.COM

climate activist greta

thunberg accuses europe of

only “pretending” to urgently

tackle the climate crisis.

TODAY

this partly-sunny day offers lighter

winds and high temperatures

reaching the mid-50s.

IllustratIon by Zoe mcconagHIe, 7, arlIngton

Washington Capitals
superstar Alex
Ovechkin thrilled
hockey fans recently by
becoming t he eighth
National Hockey League (NHL) player
to score 700 career goals. There’s even
talk Ovechkin could break Wayne
Gretzky’s record of 894 career goals.
But all the excitement about
Ovechkin has hidden a disturbing fact:
The Washington Capitals are not playing
very well.
The Caps started the 2019-2020
season fast. On December 27, their
record was a league-best of 27-7-5 (27
wins, seven losses and five overtime
losses). Since then, however,
Washington’s record has been a so-so 13-
12-1. (Check today’s sports section to see
how the Caps did last night against the
Philadelphia Flyers.)
There are several reasons for the
Caps’ not-so-great play. Their main
goaltender, Braden Holtby, has not been
sharp between the pipes. This season,
Holtby has stopped only 89.8 percent of
the shots on the Caps’ net. Three years
ago, he stopped 92.5 percent of the
shots.
That may not seem like a big deal, but
do the math. An NHL goaltender may
see 100 shots on net every three to four
games. If he stops only 90 of those shots
instead of 92 or 93 of the shots, that’s a
difference of two or three goals every
three or four games. That could be the
difference between winning or losing a
couple of close games.
Of course, it is not always the goalie’s
fault. The Caps defense has been sloppy
at times. That may be the reason they
traded for San Jose Sharks defenseman
Brenden Dillon. He may help to
strengthen Washington’s blue line.
Finally, the NHL regular season is
long: 82 games stretched over six
months. Even the most talented teams
have times when they are not playing
their best hockey. Some fans may think
the Caps will “turn it on” for the NHL
playoffs.
I’m not so sure. As kids who play

sports know, the games and all the

practices are about developing good

habits. Players, from the pros to the

playgrounds, try to get in the habit of

always hustling, always trying their best,

always being focused on the game so

when they are in a big game they don’t

have to do anything differently.

It’s the same outside of sports. Good

study habits — doing your homework

every night, paying attention, reading

instead of playing video games — help

kids become good students and do well

on tests.

It’s time for the Caps to get back to

the good habits — hustling, putting solid

checks on their opponents and playing

heads-up defense — that they showed

earlier in the season.

If they don’t, Washington players may

find when the playoffs come around

they are in the habit of losing.

[email protected]

bowen writes the sports opinion column for

Kidspost. He is the author of 24 sports books

for kids. His latest book is called “speed

demon.”

Ovechkin slides past 700 goals as t he Caps hit a rough patch

The Score

FRED BOWEN

tonI l. sandys/tHe WasHIngton post

A lex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals, above, recently became the eighth

National Hockey League p layer to score 700 career goals. However, the Caps have

been losing too many games this season, partly because the team needs to hustle

more and partly because g oaltender Braden Holtby, l eft, needs to up his game.

KatHerIne frey/tHe WasHIngton post

CHIP SAYS

How do football players stay cool during

the game?

they stand close to the fans!

Adapted from an

online discussion.

Dear Carolyn: My

husband is an

elementary school

teacher and his

students have

been sending

home a bunch of stuff all week

for teacher appreciation. To night

the PTA is having a barbecue for

teachers and their families.

I understand this is nice, but

what I actually want is for my

husband’s classroom to be

stocked with supplies that he

doesn’t have to buy. I want

parents to respect his office

hours and stop texting and

emailing on nights and

weekends. I want him to be paid

a salary that reflects his

education and work ethic.

I feel like events like this are

placating, and I am not in the

mood to participate. My husband

is much nicer and really wants

me to just go and have fun like

the other spouses. How do I

shake this feeling?

— Not in the Mood

Not in the Mood: Your husband

really wants you just to go and

have fun. Since that’s what he

wants, I hope you’ll do it. Even if

you’re in no mood.

Because you’d need to leave

said mood at home to accomplish

this, I suggest this: A PTA

barbecue isn’t placating, it’s

celebrating. Just as with a

retirement dinner or arts/athletic

banquet or even a wedding,

gathering is a legitimate way to

recognize someone’s value to the

community, and not just a

shortcut alternative to or poor

substitute for something else.

You have an enormously valid

point with the problem of

financial support for education,

which includes the lousy-pay

problem and the lack-of-supplies

problem. I’m glad to post your

question as part of the effort to

say, “Come on, people.” I know a

lot of people are working very

hard to support their schools and

teachers, but until we all do so at

the ballot box, we’re stuck with

teachers using their own money

for crayons and kids being lunch-

shamed. It’s appalling. And I feel

safe saying that canceling all the

barbecues is not going to be the

precipitating event that gets the

political remediation process

started.

One more thing. Please don’t

include “texting and emailing on

nights and weekends” on the list

of complaints. If I email you at

midnight, that does not mean I

expect an answer by 1 a.m. It just

means I’m getting to that part of

my to-do list at midnight. If

parents expect off-hours

responses from your husband,

then that’s a valid beef to have

with them. But a lot of us tend to

our kids’ school business outside

of work hours ourselves and

write with the expectation a

teacher will respond during his

or her work hours only. We’re all

just trying to navigate busy lives.

So please at least let your

husband know you’re unhappy

with the text-and-email

intrusions into your family life,

and ask if he’ll commit to

checking them only during his

office hours.

And, one more one more

thing: barbecue! Maybe the food

will be good. And, bonus, neither

of you will have to come up with

dinner tonight.

Write to carolyn Hax at

[email protected]. get her

column delivered to your inbox each

morning at wapo.st/haxpost.

 Join the discussion live at noon

fr idays at live.washingtonpost.com

Feeling heated over a school barbecue

Carolyn

Hax

nIcK galIfIanaKIs for tHe WasHIngton post