" I Made You a Pair of Shorts" September 9, 2022

[hoover]

I have no idea but submitted a Hail Mary anyway.

[Colin]

Pairs in abundance,
But only gobbledygook.
Bender with Isaac!

[JeanneC]

I have no idea but submitted a Hail Mary anyway.

Right there with you.
On the other hand, the finals of the US Open this year were really fun to watch.

[joequavis]

Completely lost at sea on this one. This is as far as I got...

[Franklin.Bluth]

[Franklin.Bluth]

[Magistra]

Failed to send the Hail Mary because I lost all confidence. Eager to see what I missed.

[Magistra]

Completely lost at sea on this one. This is as far as I got...

1662955114851438753139591553626.jpg

That sums it up perfectly!

[Al Sisti]

Been on this spinning orb for almost 71 years and never heard Chip as being short for Charles. Chuck, yeah...

[Bird Lives]

So I’m sitting at the bar. Isaac has just pulled me another IPA. I got the CHIPS thing pretty quickly, but I’m stuck. There are no cartoonists or cartoons named Chip or Chips, at least not in Google’s vast knowledge, except maybe the one that goes with Dale, and that Chip is not credited to any one cartoonist.

I feel an elbow nudge me. “It’s a nickname,” whispers a familiar female voice.

“Chip?” I say, “I thought it could be a nickname for any preppie — Graham, Spencer, Baxter — the guys who have sisters named Bitsy and Muffie.”

“Google it.”

Which I do, and get Charles and Christopher. Who knew? Not me. I’ve known plenty of Charleses and Christophers, and none of them was a Chip. But of course I do know of cartoonists named Charles. Two in fact. Addams, who as far as I know had no nickname. And Schulz, whose nickname, as everyone knows, was not Chip but Sparky.

I’m about to throw in the towel when I look down the bar and for the first time notice the bowls of snacks — those nibbles with enough salt to keep people ordering drinks. In front of me is a bowl of chips. And next to the chips is what often goes with chips.

Peanuts.

Ta-da.

[Cindy N]

Well bummer. I got some assistance to confirm I needed to go further with the names and submitted Matt Groenig, since each of those names is a character on the Simpsons and I was reminded that Bart said "Eat my SHORTS!" Unfortunately, I messed up on the names and went with
ZACK/MARGE/TONY/ABE/JACK. Sigh/

[WSJosh]

Well, I was close with my last resort guess of Chip Sansom of Born Loser fame. Wrong shore.

[rosiegirl]

Had I decided to send in a Hail Mary, I would have sent Charles Schultz. Saw no clues in the grid that led me to that answer, but he
was my first thought when I read the clue and the puzzle title. Congrats to those who made all the connections and really discovered the answer!

[escapeartist]

Not in a gazillion years.

Chip is a nickname for Charles? Ike is a nickname for Isaac?

I didn't know that.. Wow

I only knew the John / Jack thing because of JFK but...


2 for 6 the last few weeks.

Teardrop.

[Cindy N]

Been on this spinning orb for almost 71 years and never heard Chip as being short for Charles. Chuck, yeah...

Neither have I. Just to prove to myself that this must be incredibly uncommon, I Googled "nicknames for Charles". And the first result:

Nicknames for Charles

Chase.
Charlie.
Chip.
Charl.
Chucky.
Chaz.

[JeanneC]

Congratulations to those who solved. You all deserve a mug!

[Al Sisti]

I Hail Mary'ed Walt Disney, as in "I Made You a Pair of Shorts (Otherwise You'd've Been Naked").

[Inca]

Well there was only one reason why I could have solved that one....I actually heard of this cartoonist. In fact, it was the only one that I could think of.

Many more reasons why I couldn't solve. I didn't know that Chip is a nickname for Charles. I also didn't know that Jack is actually a nickname for John (although maybe I should have realized that being that i grew up in the Kennedy era). Also didn't think of Ike as a nickname for Isaac; I thought it's a nickname for Eisenhower. The funny thing is I did think of nicknames (shortening the names) but all I knew were Meg, Tony and Abe...and I simply never thought of combining them with the first letter of the last name. If the word with the extra letter were in the grid, I might have noticed that....but not in the clues, for sure not. Anyway, great job to all who solved and, as always, hoping a muggle wins the mug

[Efox999]

I gotta say I've never had this happen before - a legitimate alternate answer. I got CHIPS the way described, but I submitted Chip Sansom (CHIP S), a comic strip cartoonist. I've never heard of Chip as a short for Charles. I've heard of Chip as short for junior; the only "Chip" I've ever known was given name John who was a junior.

[hcbirker]

So I found the nicknames, the clue answers that included them, and was left with "chips". Hmmm. I originally thought the "s" was superfluous (silly me) and googled "cartoonists named Chip" and came up with Chip Zdarsky who writes for Marvel Comics and has won several awards and in the grid at 18 D "adar" and 64 A "sky" and in my haste to be on page one said that has to be it! But after posting I got a PM from @MarkWoychick about the last names being abbreviated in the clues to the first letter of the last name I HAD to use that pesky "S" to come up with Chip as short for Charles and the "S" had o be Shultz. I've got to remember to take my time and not be pressured into a Page One Solve!