Let’s open with a poem today. It’s from tomorrow’s Met Diary, and it’s by Danny Klecko.
45 Minutes in Central Park
Between the hours of 9 and 10
On a bench adjacent to mine
Sat a man who was not put together
A man in the grip of some battle
Big drops of rain began to fall
Raindrops by the tablespoon
The man refused to move
A woman with a terrier
Stopped as if she knew him
Offering dry comfort
Underneath her umbrella
The man began to cry
What determines luck?, who makes up the rules?
Why is value attached to everything but me?
The woman sat by his side
Put her arm around his shoulder
In silence, the umbrella twirled
Until she offered explanation
Everything will be fine, she said
Just not today
Today’s puzzle was by Sam Ezersky whom some of you may know as the dude who runs the Spelling Bee in the daily NYT online. (I don’t do that one; I only do Sunday’s.) Anyway, so it was neat to see his clue at 2D: “Unlikely trait for a beekeeper” (my italics). The answer was APIPHOBIA.
Right next to it at 3D, we got a sweet treat. “Snickers alternative” was MR. GOODBAR. And if your tastes run more to the hematologic, 1A was VAMPIRES, clued by “Those out for blood?” Rounding out that excellent corner, 1D was “Emotional assessment of one’s surroundings, in lingo,” with the answer VIBE CHECK. I can see using that phrase. Some party’s going on that you feel iffy about, so you send in your buddy to do a vibe check before committing.
Do you know what a pipit looks like? I sure don’t. I don’t even know what a pipit is. The clue was “Pipit lookalikes,” at 66A, and the answer was SKYLARKS. Here’s one!
According to Wikipedia, the female skylark builds an open nest in a shallow depression on open ground well away from trees, bushes and hedges. She lays three to five eggs which she incubates for around 11 days. The chicks are fed by both parents but leave the nest after eight to ten days. They scatter and hide in the vegetation but continue to be fed by the parents until they can fly at 18 to 20 days of age. Unless they try to make a living in the arts, in which case they are fed by the parents until their thirties. The skylark is known for the song of the male, which is delivered in hovering flight from heights of 50 to 100 meters, when the singing bird may appear as just a dot in the sky from the ground.
The toughest clue for me, was at 32A: “K, for Kay.” WTF? It turns out to be referring to Kay Jewelers. And for a jeweler, K stands for KARAT, which was the answer.
Hands up if you would say “Stiletto feature,” four letters, starting with H is “heel.” Well, it was HAFT, stiletto referring to the thin knife, as opposed to the sexy shoe most of us lunged for. Here’s a shot of the knife, so you can notice the haft (handle). Followed by one of my tax students, in her stiletto heels.
Let’s take a puzzle break. Wanna hear a joke? So these two Jewish guys are walking down the street and they come to a church with a sign out front that says: “Come in, convert, and we’ll pay you $50.” So one of them says, “I’m going to check it out; wait here.” He goes in and after about 45 minutes he comes back out. His friend says, “Well, what happened?,” and he says, “I converted.” His friend says, “Wow. Really?” He says “Yeah.” His friend says, “Did you get the money?” And he says, “Is that all you people care about?”
[I heard that joke told by someone on a panel of Jewish comedians discussing the old Sid Caesar Show. The subject of production costs came up and one of them said it cost $10,000 to produce an episode. And another one said, “For you, $9,500.”]
Sadly, a special Owl Chatter farewell to Ron Labinski, who died on New Year’s Day, at age 85, in Prairie Village, Kansas. If you’ve ever sat in a wonderful ballpark and couldn’t quite understand why you felt so happy, it may have been Labinski’s work. The Times described him as a “visionary” architect, and he specialized in ballpark design.
Labinski designed Orioles Park at Camden Yards, with that gorgeous warehouse wall beyond the right field fence. I’ve been down there for games 3 or 4 times. If you look around you notice that everyone is happy just to be there. It’s magical. The game is secondary. It has all the charm the new Yankee Stadium lacks. I’ve been there once and plan never to return. Labinski also designed Oracle Park in SF. Here’s a shot from Baltimore.
Spring training starts soon! Let’s play ball!
The Wellington Files 