The clue for 15 across today was “Holder of keys, phone and IDs,” and the answer was PURSE. Here’s what our favorite member of Rex’s commentariat (LMS) posted today:
PURSE – holder of keys, phone, IDs, wadded-up Walmart receipts, uncapped ChapStick, four dirty pennies, errant stick of gum, hearing aid batteries, pair of scratched-up clip-on sunglasses, one AAA battery, Mom’s grocery list from two weeks ago, four pieces of that soft-center strawberry hard candy for Jamarion that I keep forgetting to slip him (while teasing him again that he likes old-lady candy), nail glue, floss, worn-out emery board, sandwich toothpick with the Cuban flag. . . damn.
Sometimes something in a puzzle opens up a little door and if you look inside there’s really neat stuff in there. The clue for 3 down today was “Line from ‘Dick and Jane’ readers,” and the answer was SEE SPOT RUN. This is the first time that answer has appeared in a NYT puzzle. More interesting, though (if you can imagine anything more interesting than that), was the notion that this line is an example of something called “The Mandela Effect.”
The Mandela Effect is a phenomenon in which a large segment of the public for some reason holds on to some idea that is not true. Wikipedia refers to it as a widespread instance of “false memory.” Apparently, for some reason a large segment of the public is/was under the impression that Nelson Mandela died in prison in the 1980’s. Many “created” memories of news reports of his death, etc. Since this was the first instance of this occurring, it’s called The Mandela Effect.
Comments today suggested that SEE SPOT RUN is an example of the Mandela Effect because it is widely believed it appeared repeatedly in those readers, but it never actually did. (One commenter said it did appear but only in an early edition and never again.) BTW, in the early versions, Spot was a cat.
Another Mandela Effect example is people are sure Darth Vader said “Luke, I am your father,” but he never said that. Even James Earl Jones, the voice of Darth Vader, remembers the line that way. But what was really said was “No, I am your father.”
A discussion of team mascots arose since a Toledo Mud Hen made an appearance at 9 down. The Mudhens are the minor league baseball team in Toledo OH. I’ve been out to see them play twice, in my minor league fandom days. It was great. LMS said she felt bad for the Mudhens because they don’t seem very fierce or intimidating. But then she remembered the UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs and felt a little better. My son Sam (Hi Sam!) who spent some time in Traverse City MI tells me the team up there changed its name from the Beach Bums to the Pit Spitters, which is quite apt since that region is the cherry-growing center of the country.
We attended a Beach Bums game when visiting Sam 8 or 9 summers ago. The Bums pulled off a triple play, I recall. And it was (granddaughter) Lianna’s first (and only) baseball game. She spent the first part playing in a playground they set up for kids, and the second part sleeping. I made her stop and watch one batter on our way out. The reason we left a few innings early is someone in our group questioned whether the ice cream place we were planning on visiting after the game would still be open. We called them and then panic-raced to the car and sped back to town, barely making it. Whew.
In response to LMS’s note about the Banana Slugs, someone else posted:
“My favorite football team name that must make its opponents positively wet themselves with fear is a high school here in Washington DC – the Cardozo Clerks. The sign always makes me laugh. They may not win much, but they take care of that post-game paperwork like you wouldn’t believe.”
It led me to post:
“I was all set to point out that the Cardozo Clerks must be law clerks, as opposed to secretarial-type clerks, since Benjamin Cardozo was a lawyer and Supreme Court Justice. But the school is named after a different Cardozo: Francis Lewis Cardozo, clergyman, politician, and educator. While their team name is the Clerks, the logo features an owl. The school is now the Cardozo Education Campus and it combines two former high schools: Central HS, and Cardozo Senior HS. J. Edgar Hoover graduated from Central. Marvin Gaye and Maury Wills graduated from Cardozo Senior.”
Now there’s an unlikely trio — Marvin Gaye, Maury Wills, and J. Edgar.
Rest in peace, gentlemen.
The Wellington Files 