The puzzle was pun-centric yesterday. Hence, “Rule that forbids singing hymns to the devil?” was NO CHANTS IN HELL.

Anoa Bob had an interesting comment: I never thought of CHANTS being the same as “singing hymns,” as clued. CHANTS seem more monophonically repetitive and meant to create an inward meditative state while I’ve always thought of hymns as polyphonic songs of praise and adoration sent outward to some divine presence. A quick peek online shows CHANT and hymn as synonyms so I sit corrected. (But I still think they are different.)

Would this be a good clue/answer, or is it insulting to the Japanese? How do you ask for an “egg-white only” omelet in Tokyo? Ans: YOKO ONO.

Today’s puzzle was Freudian. A clue for IMPULSE CONTROL was “A Freudian concept of resisting temptation.” And it was cleverly built into the grid in four squares where the letters for EGO had to be shmooshed into one square for the across answer, but ID was needed to replace it for the down answer.

For example: The clue at 34A was “Dish near a water cooler?” and the answer was OFFICE GOSSIP. But it only fit into the available spaces if you put the EGO into one square (that’s called a rebus). And the clue at 6D (the answer for which crossed OFFICE GOSSIP), was “Title lyric that precedes ‘There’ll be days like this’ in a Shirelles classic.” The answer, of course, was MAMA SAID, but it only fit if you changed the EGO to ID in that square where the words crossed. And that happened four times in the grid. So, in a way, the ego was suppressing the id, hence the “impulse control.”

Surprisingly, it all came to me pretty cleanly while Rex made a few missteps and struggled mightily with it. It took him a long time to see the trick, and at one point the EGO business was confusing him so much, he just screamed LEGGO MY EGO!

At 65A, “Certain gastropod” (not be confused with gastropub (burp!)), was SEA SLUG. It sounds pretty disgusting, but take a look at these:

---

If you saw the remarkable Oscar-winning documentary Searching for Sugar Man in 2012, you will be sad to learn that Rodriguez passed away on Tuesday at the age of 81. He had three daughters, and was Detroit to the bone.

I won’t do justice to the story: you should try to see the film. Briefly, he was a singer/songwriter performing in clubs in Detroit and he got noticed. (Some compared him to Dylan, but personally I don’t see it.) Anyway, he produced a couple of albums but they didn’t sell. What can you do? It’s so hard to break through. This was in the 70’s. But it turned out that copies made it across to Australia and South Africa (which was then under apartheid). He became super popular, especially in South Africa where he sold more albums than Elvis. But the world was much less wired then, and word of his popularity did not reach the U.S. Rodriguez himself had no idea. In fact, as the years went by a rumor took hold that he was dead — that he died on stage. Of course, he hadn’t — he just slipped into obscurity, working in construction or office jobs in Detroit, still playing in small clubs.

But then a record store owner in Cape Town, Stephen Segerman, developed an interest in him and started tracking down his story, thinking he was dead. He joined up with a journalist and they eventually found him, alive! A sold-out tour of six dates in South Africa followed (in 5,000-seat venues). This was in 1998. He also toured in Europe, and when the film came out, his popularity popped in the U.S. too. During his years of obscurity, he earned a BA in Philosophy at Wayne State. Our photographer Phil got a nice shot of him before he passed. And you can hear him performing Sugar Man below that. Rest in peace, son of Detroit.

Bad gnews for the Gnats: they suffered an ignominious defeat last gnight — a gno hitter at the hands of Mike Lorenzen of the Phillies — the first gno-gno ever suffered in Gnats history! I watched the last few innings. Lorenzen was helped by a bad third strike call by the ump on Joey Meneses, the penultimate batter. But that happens — it’s part of the game. Lorenzen deserved it. Here he is: wet, cold, and joyous.

Let’s close tonight with this poem by John Daniel called “After the Wedding.” It was in today’s Writer’s Almanac, and the poet dedicated it “for Marilyn.”

After the white balloons were swept away
on the wind that had swallowed
most of our vows, after the embraces
and tears, the flung rose petals,
after new friends and old friends and aunts
from everywhere, after you tossed
the bouquet, and the cries of the children
raised coyote cries on the rim,
after chicken grilled on juniper coals,
cold beer from the cattle trough
and hours of hot dancing to Beatles and Stones,
the last of us swaying arms on shoulders,
singing ourselves hoarse,
how good it is
to find you now beyond all
the loud joy, driving north in rain
and the lovely ease of our silence.

See you tomorrow, everybody! Thanks for popping by.