If you were one of the many New York Times readers (understandably) frustrated with some of the inaccurate coverage in last week's sports section, fear not: The Times has apologized for writing that Orcrist the Goblin Cleaver was Bilbo's sword.
Orcrist, as everyone knows, was Thorin Oakenshield's sword. But it's not the Times' fault! It's the fault of Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey, who doesn't even know the origin of his bats' names. Still, we're glad we could settle this without the help of public editor Arthur Brisbane.
An item in the Extra Bases baseball notebook last Sunday misidentified, in some editions, the origin of the name Orcrist the Goblin Cleaver, which Mets pitcher R. A. Dickey gave one of his bats. Orcrist was not, as Dickey had said, the name of the sword used by Bilbo Baggins in the Misty Mountains in "The Hobbit"; Orcrist was the sword used by the dwarf Thorin Oakenshield in the book. (Bilbo Baggins's sword was called Sting.)
For extra credit, note the typographical error in the print edition that was corrected for web! For extra-extra credit, note why "Orcrist the Goblin Cleaver" is not, technically, the name of Thorin Oakenshield's sword.