The puzzle’s theme today was the seven days of the week. It’s special for me because it was the last of those things that my Sam mastered when he was little. He knew all the colors and was good with numbers, but he was always asking me things like, “Dad, does Thursday come before Friday?” I told him he’d be calling me up from med school one day to ask “Is Tuesday after Monday?”
In any event, the seven long theme answers started with SUN, MON, TUE, etc. My favorite was the one for MON. The clue was “Hollywood’s Ricardo or Paolo,” and the answer was MONTALBAN. Who doesn’t remember Ricardo intoning “rich Corinthian leather?” Rex posted it for us:
I had no idea who Paolo Montalban is. He’s a Filipino actor who starred as the Prince in Disney’s film Cinderella. Handsome enough for you?
Since the days of the week number 7, it inspired commenter Lewis to share the following:
“Then I started thinking of the number seven, and went down a rabbit hole on that front. Well, more like a rabbit divot, but still, some satisfying treasure:
• It’s a lucky number in our culture; unlucky in Vietnam.
• The number 999,999 can be divided by it.
• Colors in the rainbow, continents, seas, hills in Rome, dwarfs, and… find of the day!… the number of spots most commonly found on ladybugs!”
I added the following:
“As long as we are noodling around with #7, let’s not forget Mickey Mantle, may he rest in peace. I was at the Stadium one day in 1963 (I think); Mantle had been out for months with a broken leg. It was late in the second game of a doubleheader (common back then). For some reason, there was a rustling roar starting up in what remained of the crowd. Then I saw why: Mantle had stepped into the on-deck circle to pinch hit. It was to be his first at-bat in months. The love was palpable in the Bronx. He stepped up to the plate, batting righty, I remember. His home run sailed about eight rows back over the low left-field railing. He was still limping a bit as he rounded the bases. I went to a lot of games when I was a kid, but that may be my fondest memory.
“After The Mick passed away, the Yankees held a day in his honor. Correct me if I’m wrong and anybody remembers, but the winning lottery number in NY that day (randomly determined) came up all 7’s.”
I was today years old when I learned that Mantle was originally assigned uniform #6 as an honor. He was expected to excel so he was given the number next in line after Ruth (3), Gehrig (4), and DiMaggio (5). But he got off to a slow start and was sent down to KC for 40 games (the minors then). By the time Mantle returned, Bobby Brown had rejoined the team (from military service) and reclaimed #6. Mantle was given #7 when he was finally recalled. Last point on The Mick — the expression “tape-measure home run” came about as the result of a mammoth Mantle dinger in 1953. One of the announcers that day coined the phrase. It’s still in use 70 years later.
Pop star NATASHA Bedingfield was in the puzzle at 50A today, and I had no idea who she is. She’s British and 41 years old. She is active in efforts to halt human trafficking.
If you have trouble opening pill bottles, it may be the fault of James W. Lewis who died last Sunday in Cambridge, MA, at age 76. He was the prime suspect, although never charged, in the Tylenol/cyanide scare that killed seven people in the Chicago area back in 1982, and led to changes in how medications are packaged.
Lewis was convicted of extortion for a letter he wrote to Johnson & Johnson saying he would stop the killing if they paid him $1 million. He was excoriated for trying to take advantage of the poisonings but there was not enough evidence to charge him with committing them. The FBI continued to eye him suspiciously, however, for the rest of his life and the crime has not been solved.
And get this —
In 1978, Lewis was charged with murdering Raymond West, a 72-year-old man from Kansas City, who hired him as an accountant. West’s dismembered and decomposed body was found hanging from a pulley in his attic the same day Lewis tried to cash a forged check on West’s account. The case was dismissed after the judge found that the police did not inform Lewis of his rights at the time of his arrest. D’oh!
I ask you, Owl Chatter readers — Does this look like the face of a heartless killer?
Yeah, pretty much, I’d say.
Opening day for my summer class tomorrow! Can’t wait! See you later — thanks for stopping by.
The Wellington Files 