I hear folks talkin’ ’bout this “golf gimme” thing in that New York Times crossword puzzle. Sounds fancy, don’t it? Well, I ain’t too good with those fancy puzzles, but I hear tell this golf gimme is somethin’ related to that game where you whack a little ball with a stick.
What’s a Golf Gimme Anyway?
Now, I ain’t no expert on golf, but from what I gather, a gimme is like when the ball is real close to the hole. So close, you’d have to be a real fool to miss it. It’s like when you’re playin’ horseshoes and you get a ringer – you just know you’re gonna make it. So, they just “give” you that point. That’s what they call a gimme. No need to actually hit the ball in, they just say “that’s good enough, count it.”
Why is it in the Crossword?
Lord knows why they put such things in those crossword puzzles. Maybe to make folks feel smart? Or maybe to make us regular folks feel dumb? I don’t know. But I reckon it’s just one of those words that golf folks use, and the crossword people like to use words that not everyone knows. Kinda like a secret code or somethin’. They like to be tricky, those crossword folks. You need to know all sorts of things to do those puzzles.
- Golf gimme, that’s what they say.
- Ball close to the hole, you see.
- Don’t need to hit it, just count it.
- That’s a gimme, plain and simple.
I heard some folks say the answer to that golf gimme clue is “TAPIN”. That sounds ’bout right. Like you just tap the ball in, real easy. Tap, tap, tap, and it’s in the hole. Like I said, you’d have to be a fool to miss a gimme. It’s practically in the hole already! Just a little tap and it’s done. Easy peasy, like shellin’ peas on the porch.
Some other folks were sayin’ the answer was somethin’ like “86”. Now that don’t make a lick of sense to me. What’s 86 got to do with golf? Maybe it’s some kind of secret golf code. Maybe that’s how many strokes they took to get to the green. I don’t know. This golf stuff is confusing! 86 sounds like somethin’ you’d hear at the diner, not on a golf course. “Give me an 86 on the apple pie, honey!”
Crossword Puzzles Ain’t for Everyone
I tried doin’ one of those crossword puzzles once. Didn’t get very far. Too many words I didn’t know. And too much thinkin’ for my old brain. I’d rather be out tendin’ to my garden or sittin’ on the porch watchin’ the world go by. Those puzzles just ain’t for me. I guess some people like that kinda stuff but give me a good old-fashioned word search any day. That is, if my eyes can still do it.
But this golf gimme thing, that I kinda understand. It’s like when somethin’ is so easy, you don’t even have to try. Like when you’ve been makin’ the same pie recipe for 50 years, you don’t even need to look at the recipe anymore. You just know it by heart. That’s a gimme. Or like when you know your neighbor’s dog is gonna bark every time the mailman comes. You don’t even have to think about it, you just know it’s gonna happen. That’s a gimme too.
Life’s Got Gimmes Too
Come to think of it, life’s got a lot of gimmes. Things that are just so easy or so obvious, you don’t even have to think about ’em. Like the sun comin’ up in the east. Or the rain makin’ things wet. Or me needin’ my coffee in the mornin’. Those are all gimmes. They just are. No need to make a fuss about ’em. No point doin’ a crossword about ’em.
So, this golf gimme in the New York Times crossword, it’s just a fancy way of sayin’ somethin’ easy. Somethin’ you don’t even have to try for. It is just like life, ain’t it? Full of hard things and easy things. And sometimes, you just gotta take the gimmes when you can get ’em. They sure don’t come around every day. You are lucky if you can get one. That is why you need to be careful.
I reckon that’s all I got to say about this golf gimme business. It ain’t really that interestin’, but it’s somethin’ to talk about, I suppose. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go sit on the porch and enjoy this nice weather. Maybe I’ll see a real gimme, like a bluebird landin’ on the fence post. Now that’s somethin’ worth seein’. And maybe that old crossword is not that hard. Maybe I should give it a try. That golf gimme is a good start!
