Below is today’s grid. Note the circled letters. Can you infer the theme from them? The “revealer” is at 59A: MUSTACHE. The circled letters spell out four types of mustaches, and their shapes! Quite a feat of construction, IMO.
The best one is right in the middle: HANDLEBAR. The other three are FU MANCHU, DALI, and PENCIL. Happily, the Hitler mustache was excluded. Here’s a nice handlebar: it’s Rollie Fingers, Hall of Fame pitcher.
Rex liked the puzzle, but thought the clue for the revealer was blah. It was “What each set of circled letters in this grid represents.” Yup. Blah. Well, the constructor, Anthony Gisonda, chimed in to defend himself! He said he submitted the puzzle with a different clue, but Will Shortz changed it. The clue (for MUSTACHE) was originally going to be something about the puzzle’s “participation in MOVEMBER.” (What?) Here’s what Wikipedia says: “Movember is an annual event involving the growing of mustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men’s health issues, such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men’s suicide. It is a portmanteau of the Australian-English diminutive word for mustache, ‘mo,’ and ‘November.’” The NYT editors must have thought that was too hard for a Tuesday.
And now for something completely ridiculous, check out this video offered up by Rex commenter Mack:
The clue at 33A was “Famed 1990s TV psychic,” and it’s MISS CLEO. Her actual name was Youree Dell Harris. You may have seen her in late-night TV ads long ago, shilling for the Psychic Readers Network. She answered the big questions of life for callers. It was a total fraud, of course. Callers were charged by the minute, even if they were promised a free trial. She got into that only after failing in more legitimate theater — she wrote and produced several shows in Seattle, but fled the city leaving creditors and unpaid cast-members behind when the shows failed.
When the psychic scam blew up she managed to avoid indictment. The owners settled by releasing callers from $500 million in fees and paying $5 million to the FTC. It had been a billion-dollar business. Harris was very likeable and popular. She used a phony Jamaican accent it was easy to develop due to her Caribbean heritage. She said she never made much money herself as Miss Cleo. But she enjoyed having fans:
“If I’m standing in line somewhere and I’m talking, someone will whip their head around and look at me. People give me mad love, sweetheart. They’ll say, ‘Do you see anything? Where do we find you? When are you coming back? We miss you.’ I get a lot of love.”
Harris died from cancer at only age 53 in 2016. She is survived by two daughters. She can still be reached at an 800 number. Have your credit card ready, Honey.
At 49A, “Baby shower guest of honor,” was MOM TO BE. Here’s a surprise! If you think her dad was mad before over the legs business . . . .
And here’s a real one. Awwww. . .
Phil! Make sure she’s comfortable before you leave.
Here’s a note from mathgent I love:
I just found this on last Friday’s puzzle page. I think it’s the answer to the Thursday cryptogram.
“Have you checked out that chic new bistro, Karma? There’s no menu. You get what you deserve.”
Jim in Canada shared this nice note:
Interesting(?) personal trivia… I met my husband because of his mustache. I searched that term on a dating site and his profile popped up. He has a glorious big HANDLEBAR and looks a lot like the Monopoly guy. Had to quit my job, sell my house, and move to Canada to marry him…. Nine years ago now. Totes worth it.
[Sweet.]
If I could only fly
If I could only fly
I’d bid this place goodbye
And come and be with you.
The answer at 9D was BLAZE, and it led Son Volt to share this song by Blaze Foley, called “If I Could Only Fly.” If you can spare five minutes, you might find it to be beautiful.
So — Owl Chatter fans — we’re coming up on our 250th post soon! I know — hard to believe. Don’t get your hopes up, but the staff is working hard on getting Yevgeny Pregozhin to stop by. It would be quite a coup. (Literally.) The hope is he’d bring some fancy eats — as you may know, he started out in the catering business before becoming a ruthless warlord, which is actually not a very uncommon path for warlords. Word is he’s in Jersey anyway, so it shouldn’t be too big an ask. Hope to see you YP! (If we can get Taylor to show, the men might forgive your gutless cave-in, amirite?)
Thanks for stopping by, folks — see you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 