My favorite radio show was Steve Post’s, weekday mornings, on WNYC. It called Morning Music: Post played classical music and jabbered away. Even his take on the weather was great. Patchy fog became patchy frogs. When it went off the air (Steve was ill with cancer and then passed away), I kept my radio tuned to the station. Post was replaced by a talk-interview show. It was background noise for when I worked at home.

One morning, a professor from England was being interviewed. He had written a book on teenage sex and was getting grief about it. He was accused of being in favor of it, or of making it seem like a good thing, and thereby exacerbating the problem. (Exacerbating is not a dirty word — look it up.) He was defending himself by pointing out that he was only describing trends in a factual manner. I dismissed it all as the usual nonsense and turned my attention to my work.

About a half hour later I turned an ear back to the radio and was amazed to find out that that crap was still going on. The poor professor was still being pilloried. Clearly, they had all gone mad and drifted off the planet. First of all, they were worried that the book would increase teenage sex. When, in the entire history of mankind, has a teenager ever read a book? — let alone a book by a professor? And they accused him of making sex seem like fun? Hello? I think the horse is out of the barn on that one. I’m pretty sure the word had slipped out already. Sheesh.

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Everyone loves today’s constructor, Robyn Weintraub. So there were many clever clues/answers. Who else would clue BLT with: “‘Giant ___,’ soft sculpture of a sandwich at the Whitney Museum.” It turns out there is a pretty famous giant BLT sandwich by Claes Oldenburg at the Whitney.

At 6D, “Cheeky attire?” was SHORT SHORTS. Rex shared this ad for Nair with us which I have no memory of seeing from way back when. It always seemed like a weird product to me. You rub this cream all over yourself and what does it do? — burn the hair off chemically?

Alright. I looked it up. Nair works by breaking the disulfide bonds of the keratin molecules in hair. This reduces the tensile strength of the keratin so greatly that the hair can be wiped away. Calcium hydroxide is an active ingredient that chemically breaks down the hair for removal. Some formulations also contain potassium thioglycolate, which breaks down the disulfide bonds in the hair’s keratin. The Nair products often include softening agents, such as mineral oil, to help offset the harsh active ingredients.

I think that’s how the Werewolf was captured. The FBI traced an order for a 50-gallon drum of Nair to a house in Colorado.

At 14A the clue was “Show that featured the first lesbian kiss on prime-time TV (1991).” Five letters. Hands up if you thought it was ELLEN. Many folks did. But it was LA LAW.

At 1A “Bill for expensive clothing?” was BLASS. Blass was born on June 22, 1922 and died a bit before his 80th birthday. His Wikipedia entry says:

In 1943, Blass enlisted in the Army. Due to his intelligence and talent, he was assigned to the 603rd Camouflage Battalion. For three weeks no one could find him. (Just kidding.) Its mission was to deceive the German Army into believing the Allies were positioned in fake locations, for example by using dummy tanks. He served in this unit at several major operations including the Battle of the Bulge, and the Rhine River crossing. After the war, Blass returned to New York, and was promptly hired as Anne Klein’s assistant. However, he was soon fired; allegedly, Anne told him that while he had good manners, he had no talent.

Good manners are important, no? These outfits are his.

How about this one at 55A? The clue: “Subject of a first-person narrative.” The answer ADAM. Good one Robyn!

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In the hall of mirrors in which the GOP now operates, their attempt to cut the deficit by $14.3 billion by tying a cut in funding for the IRS to the foreign aid bill, will actually increase the deficit by over $28 billion. That’s what the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has determined. Historian Heather Cox Richardson notes:

“New House speaker Mike Johnson tried to spin this information in a way that can only be described as dishonest: ‘Only in Washington when you cut spending do they call it an increase in the deficit,’ he said.”

It reminded me of the joke about OJ Simpson’s daughter cracking his car up against a telephone pole. The cop comes over and she says: “When my dad finds out about this he’ll kill me.” The cop sees who she is and says: “You’re right. He’ll get away with it too.”

Just like Johnson will. If not this time, next time.

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Thanks for popping in. See you tomorrow.