Correction: The word game I recommended yesterday (Squeezy) is at imsqueezy.com. I mistakenly wrote mysqueezy.com yesterday. (I have since fixed it.) Sorry about that — give it a try!
This story is from tomorrow’s Met Diary. It’s called “Table for Two” and is by David Kramer.
Dear Diary:
I was in the East Village and went to Veselka, planning to get a quick lunch. I was disappointed when the hostess said it would be15 minutes for a table for one.
As I considered what to do, an older woman who was in front of me in line leaned toward the hostess.
“If we’re together, can we be seated now?” the woman asked.
“I guess so,” the hostess said, looking momentarily confused.
I said I was game, and we were led to a table. On our way, my new companion turned to me.
“Conversation is optional!” she said.
That, of course, kicked off an hour of nonstop chitchat. It turned out that we lived about 10 blocks from each other in the same Brooklyn neighborhood and that our children had gone to the same school.
We talked about our families and shared travel tips. By the time lunch was over, we were splitting dessert.
“One check,” I said to the waitress when it was time to pay. I then turned to my lunch date. “It’s my treat.”
With the Super Bowl nearing, I caught snippets of some old interviews, in particular several involving the game the Giants won in 1991 when Buffalo’s kicker Scott Norwood missed a decisive 49-yard field goal as the clock ran out. Giants coach Bill Parcells was asked to describe his experience as the kick was taking place.
“Well,” he said, “I was standing between our two kickers, one of whom was Matt Bahr, the kicker I would have chosen to make the one make-or-break kick for us. I had full confidence in him. I turned to him and didn’t have to say a word. He knew what I was asking and he said: ’He’s going to miss. It’s on grass, he has to over-kick. He hasn’t made any like this all year.”
Parcells was then asked: ”And you believed him?” And he said, “Yes, he was my go-to guy. I took his word completely. So I expected to win.”
Lawrence Taylor was asked about it next. Taylor is the Hall of Fame linebacker who defined that era for the Giants. Perhaps the greatest linebacker of all time. Taylor was asked “Where were you for the kick?”
Taylor said “Where was I?”
“Yes.”
“When the kick was missed?”
“Yes.”
He smiled broadly. ”I was halfway to Disneyworld,” he said.
Norwood’s kick was 33 years ago last week. Wide right.
This poem, “Jack + Judy,” is by Doreen Fitzgerald. It’s from The Writer’s Almanac:
She was stuck on him like a three-cent stamp
on a postcard showing a roadside diner
shaped like a hat;
stuck like a stool on a chrome stem
waiting to swivel a customer,
or the naked thigh on a summer day
clinging to the vinyl seat.
He could read her like a two-bit cook
reads a scribbled order
jammed on a spike,
fluttering under the greasy fan;
like egg on a fork between the tines,
or a hot beef sandwich between the teeth.
Together, they’re waiting on the night,
halfway between Peoria and Baton Rouge,
where the word OPEN, in red block letters,
hangs under the words, EAT HERE,
spelled out in perfect blue.
The genius behind Rex’s blog is his “discovery” that the puzzle should not just be solved and discarded, like a defeated foe. It can be “read,” like a novel, and appreciated — at least the better ones. It can lead you in different interesting directions. There may be nuances to unveil.
Today, for example, was it just coincidence that at 22A, for “Sir Georg who conducted 999 Chicago Symphony concerts,” the answer was SOLTI, and the clue for GIRLS at 9D was “Ones running the world, per Beyoncé?” What’s the link? Well, Solti won 31 Grammy awards, the most won by any artist UNTIL 2023 when he was overtaken by, hmmmmm, let’s see — Beyoncé.
It was a good solid Saturday puzzle — not a breeze, but not exactly rocket surgery either. Wait, what? Those were the two long answers: The clue for both was “What it’s not, in a saying,” and the two answers were ROCKET SCIENCE and BRAIN SURGERY, crossing at the central S.
If those are what it’s not, then what is it? Well, Steve Forbert says it is what it is (and that’s all).
Fell for this dream girl in Danville
Just in the Central Time zone
I used to kill hours to meet her on time
And then lost one as well drivin’ home
In the “my, the old gray lady has certainly loosened up department” the clue at 32D was “In an intimate way, in a way,” and the answer was CARNALLY. Yikes, really? Okay, Shortz, if that’s the way you want to go, fine.
There was a bit of progression to that from 40D: “It may leave you speechless,” SHYNESS, and 36A: START OUT SMALL, and then 19D: ”Develop feelings for:” TAKE TO.
My favorite clue/answer was at 25D: ”Compatriot,” — PAISANO. Hey - Paisano!
See you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 