The clue at 2D today was: “Whoa! . . . say what?,” and the answer was REWIND.
The comment it elicited from LMS had me laughing out loud and uncontrollably at the breakfast table:
“Whoa. Say what? REWIND. I had such a moment yesterday morning. Mom and I were peacefully sharing a space, me with my crossword, her with her iPad solitaire. After a while, she said, Sometimes when my stomach makes noises, I think it’s people talking. Where do you even start with something like that? What a great sentence. On so many levels. Its ambiguity notwithstanding, its ambush factor is fantastic. It would be a dandy way to discourage a pesky guy bothering you at a bar. He confides sheepishly that he can be a little stubborn, that he’s a good judge of people, and that his family can be [grin] a little crazy. Yawn. You can lean in, lock eyes, and deliver Mom’s line very seriously and then do a little eyebrow wag. I imagine he’ll regroup, reassess, and lurch off to greener pastures.”
In response, I posted:
“Too funny! Steps need to be taken to have Mom declared a national treasure!
“My uncles Maish and Calman would go to the movies together and when Maish’s stomach growled, he’d poke Calman and tell him to be quiet. Calman would apologize. It was a form of stomach ventriloquism.”
At 54A, the clue was “One who is loyal to a fault,” and the answer was RIDE OR DIE. I’ve heard of it, but only from puzzles.
“Ride or die” refers to someone who’s always there for you, through the highs and the lows. Someone you can rely on is called your “ride or die.”
“Ride or die chick” is a term commonly used in hip-hop circles to describe a fiercely loyal female partner.
A good example from the news is Walt Nauda who was indicted for abetting Trump with the classified docs. By the way — Walt is not short for Walter — his name is Waltine. (I’m not kidding.) It’s a family thing — his dad is Saltine. And his mom is Pecan Sandy. [No they’re not.]
A variation I’m fond of is ride or die but with a stop for snacks.
When I googled “ride or die images” this came up:
Artist Marc Chagall was born on this date in 1887 in Belarus. His dad was a fish merchant, and whenever Chagall placed a fish in a painting it was meant to show respect for his father. Chagall was admitted to the U.S. with his wife Bella as an “endangered artist” during the Nazi years. When Bella died suddenly, he stopped painting for nine months. He said, “All dressed in white or all in black, she has long floated across my canvases.”
“I was born at an early age,” I once heard Ringo Starr say when asked to talk about himself. In fact, it was on this date in 1940 that he was born, so he is 83 years old today. He was often quite ill as a child as a result of which he was not able to read until he was eight. He spent two years in a sanitorium. It was there that the staff formed a hospital band and Ringo was given a mallet to bang with. You can fill in the rest.
Once the Beatles broke up, Ringo went on to earn seven top-ten hits between 1971 and 1975 in a solo career. Here he is with his wife, actress Barbara Bach. They have been married since 1981, the same year this photo was taken. They had no kids together, but Barbara has two and Ringo three from previous marriages. Ringo’s oldest son, Zak, is a drummer. In 2016, Ringo was the first Beatle to become a great-grandfather.
Here are some of his quotes:
Fondest memory of being a Beatle: Having three brothers.
The trouble with leaving your feet on the ground is you never get to take your pants off.
Did you know that a humorous nickname for a raccoon is TRASH PANDA? Amazingly, I remembered that from a prior puzzle. Joaquin added the following:
The city of Rogersville, MO is known as the “Raccoon Capital of the World.” This weekend in Rogersville, there is an event called the “J6 Truth and Light Freedom Festival.” It is a gathering of participants of the January 6th insurrection who will be celebrating their treasonous deeds while raising money for the many defendants. Could there be a more sad and disgusting abuse of our right to assemble?
Amen to that, Brother.
The answer for “Out in public?” — OPENLY GAY generated some discussion, starting with Rex himself. He wrote:
An answer that felt dated was OPENLY GAY. It has something … shocked about it, something that suggests that not hiding one’s gayness is inherently flagrant or ostentatious. We say “out” now because it’s neutral. OPENLY GAY feels like a holdover from a time when just … being gay out in the open (whatever form that takes) was less common, more startling (to straights). It has a mild suggestion of flamboyance, of “shoving our face in it.” As if “open” gayness were shameless. As opposed to just, you know, perfectly ordinary. It’s a tonal thing. The OPENLY part suggests it’s normally (or even properly) hidden. I don’t know that it’s a bad term; it just belongs to a different era (to my ear). Obviously homophobia is still with us, and people are still closeted, but something about this phrase just sits slightly wrong. When I google “OPENLY GAY” (in quot. marks), the first thing that comes up is an editorial from The Advocate entitled, “Why ‘Openly Gay’ Is an Offensive Term.” “Offensive” is stronger language than I would have used, but the article’s worth reading. Here’s a taste:
“Openly” is a noxious designation that is not as accepting or as enlightened as it seems. “Openly” is in fact the reaction to disapproval. It expresses surprise, shock, that someone LGBTQ+ is actually, officially, not hiding in plain sight.
Mathgent followed with: Are many gay people here offended by the term OPENLYGAY? Rex’s virtue signaling seems excessive.
Magoo wrote: I’m openly gay and not at all offended by the term. It’s dated but real. Once at a work meeting there were 3 or 4 gay people and the person leading the meeting said something that riled a straight female colleague. She pulled us aside after the meeting and expressed her anger and asked if we wanted to complain. We totally didn’t get why she was offended and let her know that we would let her know if something bothered us in the future. People love to get offended on behalf of others.
Anonymous added: “Openly gay” still makes sense in places where the taboo is still in place (sports, religions…) Has a hint of heroism to it.
In the You-Can’t-Make-This-Stuff-Up Department, the cocaine that mysteriously appeared at the White House was blamed on Hunter Biden (voo den?) by Trump. But Trump’s moronic, if attractive, former press sec’y Kayleigh McEnany disagreed.
“For it to be Hunter Biden, he left on Friday, he was at Camp David. There is no way, it is inconceivable to think cocaine could sit for a 72-hour period [at The White House], so I would rule him out at this point,” McEnany said.
Wait, what?
Thanks for dropping in. See you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 