The theme of today’s puzzle was DOUBLE OR NOTHING, and it was pretty clever, IMO. For 10 answers (5 intersecting pairs) the same clue could be answered with either a double letter within it or by leaving the double letters out (thus, “double or nothing”). For example, for the clue “Results of some dating app matches,” the answer could be either FEELINGS or F[-]LINGS (flings). Get it? “Flower” could be BLO[-]OM (bloom) or BLOSSOM.
And each double letter had to work both across and down. The constructors were a father/son team: Teddy and Rich Katz.
In their notes, they shared some entries that didn’t make the cut.
“What the ‘Shawshank Redemption’ hero did to his jailers” = F(OO)LED
“Connected to, romantically” = W(OO)ED
“They’re present at psychiatrist offices” = M(OO)DS
“Where Duke plays: Abbr.” = NC(AA) [My favorite]
“Like people you don’t want to talk to” = CRA(BB)Y [Cray = crazy]
“Where you might see dead people” = CO(FF)INS
“Difficult to pin down” = WI(GG)LY [Also my favorite]
“Like some paper” = CO(LL)ATED
We were pretty certain the editors would not have permitted “Venue for a crapshoot” = LO(TT)O. Maybe we should have considered “How hip crossword constructors spend their Friday nights” = CLU(BB)ING.
Our Pistons have hit hard times since winning two in row. They dropped games on consecutive nights to the Lakers and Phoenix. Both were ugly. They trailed LA 71-48 going into halftime, and it was worse the next night: 70-41 at the half. Regroup men!! You can do this!
I saw an interview with KC’s Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. It was his fourth Super Bowl win. He talked about adjusting the defense to work man-on-man instead of zone starting in the second quarter. He said he had a lot of respect for SF QB Purdy. Purdy was picking apart their zone, with precision passes. Man-on-man gives you tighter coverage, and KC’s secondary was so strong they never got burned for long completions. So much of the game goes on without the average fan seeing it, or, in my case, sub-average. Here’s Spaggs. He’s 64 years old and is from Whitinsville, MA. Speaks with a solid Boston accent. Mazel Tov, Buddy!
William Post died on Saturday, or should we say he “popped?” He was instrumental in the creation of Pop Tarts, billions of which are sold each year. Post was 96. They were originally going to be called “Fruit Scones.” Blah. An executive at Kellogg’s came up with Pop Tarts as a take-off on Pop Art. They have become part of our culture. Here’s a mural by Claes Oldenburg in Chicago.
Post was married to his wife Florence for 72 years, until her death in 2020. He is survived by his son, Dan, his daughter, Rachel, four grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren, and over 30 varieties of Pop Tarts, including Strawberry, Brown Sugar Cinnamon, Apple Cinnamon, Banana Bread, Chocolatey Chip Pancake, Cinnamon Roll, Strawberry Milkshake, Sugar Cookie Printed Fun, Eggo Frosted Maple Flavor, Blueberry, Boston Creme Donut, Cherry, Confetti Cupcake, Chocolate Fudge, Chocolate Chip, Cookies and Creme, Grape, Raspberry, Hot Fudge Sundae, Smores, Wildlicious Wild Berry, and Snickerdoodle.
There are gluten-free Pop Tarts too, for all of you silly-acks out there. Here are a couple. Dig in!
Rest in peace, Bill.
LJ Rader has carved out an unusual niche for himself, and the results are perfect fodder for Owl Chatter, i.e., utterly ridiculous. And yet they were splashed across the front page of the NYT Style section today. What he does is identify works of art that correspond to sport scenes.
You may recall the image of Jason Kelce (Trav’s brother) shirtless and screaming as he clutches a can of beer. He was celebrating a TD catch of Trav’s. The NFL called Rader for the equivalent scene in a work of art. Here are the two, below. Can you tell which is Kelce and which is “The Feast of Bacchus” by Philips Koninck?
Hysterical, right?
This is this comparison of Dallas Coach Mike McCarthy’s head with a 19th century still-life by Antoine Vollon called “Mound of Butter.”
Rader insists he’s not making fun of McCarthy’s size. “It’s just the same outline of his face,” Rader said, adding that butter is “bland like his play calling and, most important, melts like him each year in the playoffs.” Ouch!
Rader’s formal background in art is minimal. He credits his grandmother with instilling in him an appreciation for art. And he took an art history course while a student at Vanderbilt. Yet he has developed an uncanny ability to pair sport scenes with classical artworks. Plus, he’s funny. He paired a shot of Jets coach Robert Saleh in his misery with Munch’s “Self Portrait in Hell.”
Here is some more of his work.
D’oh! It’s the birthday of Matt Groening today, creator of The Simpsons. He’s 70 and was born in Portland, OR. He had two sons with his first wife and seven more kids with his second. (Yikes!) His oldest child is named Homer, but goes by Will.
In the show, he named Homer and Marge after his parents, and Lisa and Maggie after his sisters. Bart is an anagram of Brat. How popular was The Simpsons in our household when the kids were growing up? Well, Sam still quotes from it, when appropriate, and Caity had this family portrait of us made a few years ago.
Here’s the birthday boy, with a couple of his buddies.
Can’t top that. See you tomorrow.
The Wellington Files 