I’m going to teach you something about Crossworld lore today, i.e., utterly useless, if not ridiculous, information. You know, the stuff we live for.
Here are four consecutive acrosses in the NYT puzzle of 10/20/2009 that live in infamy. They appear in the same row in the puzzle: (1) “TIC-TAC-TOE loser:” OOX, (2) “Im-ho-[–], Boris Karloff’s role in The Mummy:” TEP, (3) “Celtic sea god:” LER, and (4) “Vote in une législature:” NON. Taking the answers together you get OOXTEPLERNON.
Based on those answers, OOXTEPLERNON has been dubbed the God of Crosswordese, or the God of Short Bad Fill. When you are stumped for some ridiculous three-word answer the constructor had no business torturing you with, you appeal to OOXTEPLERNON for help. If he smiles on you, the answer somehow pops up. If not, you’re f*cked. Needless to say, OOXTEPLERNON is pretty damn fickle.
According to Rex, that puzzle of 10/30/2009 was the only time OOXTEPLERNON “showed his fearsome aspect to the solving world.” No need to sacrifice virgins to placate him (which is good, because they are very hard to find) — he prefers offerings of OREOS. (Some claim NILLA wafers are good too, but Rex feels you shouldn’t risk it.)
This is the only image of “OOX” I could find online. Needless to say, it’s apocryphal.
The theme of today’s puzzle was revealed at 39A: “Certain immature adult.” The answer was MANBABY. And the four theme answers were all men’s names the second part of which were baby animals. Cute, right? CHARLES LAMB, SAMUEL COLT, RYAN GOSLING, and STEPHEN FRY. It’s possible this puzzle’s appearance was timed to coincide with the start of Trump’s trial, Trump being the biggest manbaby we have.
Speaking of the trial, Rachel Maddow had an excellent piece on why Trump’s actions in connection with the 2016 election are only being prosecuted today. I.e., what the hell took so long? She showed how Trump corrupted the Justice Department under Bill Barr to shut down the federal investigation after Michael Cohen was convicted. NYS was waiting for the feds to pursue the case, and it took forever for them to abandon it, leaving the door open for Bragg to pursue only now. It’s not a small matter, as some try to portray it. Cohen was sentenced to three years in jail for it. But you don’t need Owl Chatter to prattle about it. Here are some cute goslings instead.
I can’t find the reference to Henry James I ran across in a recent puzzle, but it reminded me of a story about him that an English prof at U. Rochester shared. James was at a dinner and a woman came up to him and respectfully confessed that she didn’t appreciate his work. She complained, “Mr. James, you can write an entire paragraph on a woman touching a kerchief to her forehead.” And James replied, “Madam, a woman touching a kerchief to her forehead is a novel.”
[If we have to take sides, I’m with the woman.]
Here’s Cybill Shepherd who played Daisy Miller in the film version of James’s novel. She’s named after her two grandfathers: Cy and Bill (not kidding). She’s had several marriages, had three kids, and once said novelist Larry McMurtry was the love of her life, but, sadly, she was generally not happy in love. Maybe she shouldn’t have given up on Travis Bickle so quickly in Taxi Driver.
She is 74, kinahora — exactly 33 days younger than me. In her prime, no one inspired more drooling than she did. It was a deluge. Arks were built.
Cartoonist Don Wright died at age 90 in Florida. He won the Pulitzer Prize twice. His work was mainly political, e.g, on the Vietnam war, sexual abuse by priests, racial segregation, etc. His first Pulitzer was for a cartoon depicting two men representing antagonists in a nuclear war. They stand amidst devastation and one is saying: “You mean you were bluffing?” The racist Governor George Wallace of Alabama sent him a nasty telegram saying “Sometimes even the meanest cartoonists are unaccountably decorated for their work. If the shoe fits, wear it.” Wright was delighted and kept it framed in his home.
Wright was baffled by folks who thought cartoons should be funny. “Humor has a lot of relatives — wry, subtle, slapstick and even black — all aimed at the endless Iraq War, inept and corrupt politicians, rising unemployment, recession, Americans losing their homes, and on and on. But think about it for a moment. How funny are those?”
Wright often said the cartoon of his that generated the strongest response was a sentimental one that depicted Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters in tears when Walt Disney died. Disney’s widow Lillian requested Wright’s original drawing of it, and when she died she bequeathed it to the Library of Congress. [My cousin Aaron works there, BTW — he’s the Head Shusher.]
A mensch. Rest in peace, Don.
It was, far and away, the strangest and most notorious baseball trade that was ever made. Fritz Peterson, one of the central figures, died last week at the age of 82. Fritz was a very good pitcher for the Yankees during their down years,1966 – 1973. They finished in last place in 1966 (tenth), and only finished over .500 four times during that period — unheard of for the Bombers. But Peterson won 20 games in 1970 and averaged over 17 wins from 1969 to 1972. He had the fewest walks-per-nine-innings in the league fives years in a row, and averaged just 1.7 walks per game over his career. His lifetime record was 133-131 with a 3.30 ERA.
He was an incorrigible prankster, once filling Joe Pepitone’s hair dryer with talcum powder. (Pepitone was insanely protective of his hair.) And get this: He used a fake Hall of Fame letterhead to request that Bill Skowron donate his pacemaker to the Hall of Fame after he dies. (We’re impressed with that one! So methodical.)
Now, as for that trade. It wasn’t between two teams. Here’s the story. Peterson and Mike Kekich were close friends, and their families were close too. In the summer of 1972 it became clear that Peterson and Mike’s wife Suzanne had fallen in love, as had Mike and Peterson’s wife Marilyn. So they traded families — wives, homes, kids, the whole nine yards. Peterson and Kekich simply traded places in each other’s home. This photo may help you keep score.
Sadly, Kekich and Marilyn Peterson didn’t last very long. But Peterson and Suzanne Kekich got married in 1974 and remained so. Fifty years! She survives him.
Kekich made this statement at the time:
“It wasn’t a wife swap,” Kekich said. “It was a life swap. We’re not saying we’re right and everyone else who thinks we’re wrong are wrong. It’s just the way we felt.”
Kekich is living and just turned 79. He remarried and lives near Albuquerque NM. Get this — In his first MLB season, he was with the Dodgers and was thrown out of a game for heckling the ump from the bench. Vin Scully pointed out it was the only instance he knew of in which a player was ejected from a game before ever making his major league debut.
A harbinger of his “ejection” by Marilyn? Nah.
The trade’s notoriety never waned. In 2013, commenting on it, Peterson said: “It’s a love story. It wasn’t anything dirty. I could not be happier with anybody in the world. We’re still on the honeymoon and it has been a real blessing.”
Rest in peace, Fritz. Thanks for being a good Yankee through a dark era. We’re glad the trade worked out for you and Suzanne.
Owl Chatter is posting early today so you can all run out and take advantage of Free Scoop Day at Ben & Jerry’s! This is not a joke — google Ben & Jerry for details and enjoy your freebie. See you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 