This poem, from today’s Writer’s Almanac is by Ingrid Swanberg and is called “on my way to Santa Rosa.”
my father and I stood
in the still heat
of the churchyard
grown wild with tall grasses
and red-winged blackbirds’
burrs &
loops
of song
the pews inside were gone
bees hived in the rafters above the altar,
the anger of the Baptist long silent,
and the boarded windows let in streams of moted light.
my father was a man who read
the gentleness of the mountain
in the clear stream
I was afraid he was ashamed
that his old church stood so small
in the wild grass,
but he smiled
with an easy heart
Rex addressed a pet peeve of mine yesterday, viz., how you write a laughing sound. The clue at 70A was “[giggle]” and the answer was HEHE. Here’s Rex: “I have never liked HEHE as a plausible laugh sound. It’s HEE, that’s the syllable. Maybe HEE-HEE or TEE-HEE. I’d also accept HEH if it’s a kind of sneering laugh or chortle. But HEHE just doesn’t wash. Never seen it anywhere but crosswords.”
Amen to that, Big Guy. I’m okay with “ha ha” too, or even “har.” I often go with “tee hee,” unhyphenated (and unhydrogenated).
At 30D, the clue was “Faint from emotion.” I put SWOON down right away, and it was correct. Rex said he tried PLOTZ first — a great word, but less likely as the answer.
The theme was “I’M ON A ROLL.” In three places, the letters IM appeared in circles in a short answer on top of a longer answer that was a type of roll. The IM in IMPS was on top of SNAKE EYES, which is a “roll” of the dice. The IM of RIMS was on top of CLASS ROSTER, which is a class “roll.” And the IM of IMAGE was on top of CINNAMON BUN, a sweet “roll.”
TINA from Bob’s Burgers was a puzzle guest. I’m not familiar with the show, but she sounds like a neat character.
And here are a few quotes: “I have an announcement: my bra is chafing me.” “Do horses get songs stuck in their heads?” “My heart just pooped its pants.”
On Saturday, in a subtle, carefully worded, nuanced dig at his bete noir, Trump called Jack Smith a fucking asshole. It was in the same rant in which he likened the Biden administration to the gestapo.
Here’s Trump on Stormy’s testimony:
There’s a growing concern in Swiftdom that Taylor’s boyfriend, footballer Travis Kelce, may be starting to feel the effects of all those bruising tackles he has received over the years. The issue was addressed head-on, so to speak, by The Onion in this report:
Taylor Swift Begins Day By Playing Video Reminding Travis Kelce Who She Is, How Long They’ve Dated
LEAWOOD, KS—Urging her boyfriend to calm down after he woke up and immediately began to panic, Taylor Swift reportedly began her day Friday by playing a video reminding Travis Kelce who she is and how long they’ve dated. “Hi baby, I know you don’t know who I am right now, but my name is Taylor, and I love you very much,” said Swift, who, for the 200th time since the two started dating, played a 30-minute video that explained who the Kansas City Chiefs tight end was, how he woke up in a mansion, and why he was lying in bed with one of the world’s most famous singer-songwriters. “See, that’s you as a baby. And that’s you on the Kansas City Chiefs, with all your friends like Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid. And that’s me. You thought I was pretty, so you gave me a friendship bracelet with your phone number on it. Now you’re dating a 14-time Grammy winner slash billionaire. To be honest, I don’t know how you pulled it off either!”
I sent an entry in to Frank Bruni’s “For the love of sentences” feature today. It was on Kristi Noemi, who shot her dog and goat. It was on her lying about meeting Kim Jong-un. Bret Stephens: “I don’t think she’s going to be our next Republican vice-presidential nominee, because even Trump knows he needs to surround himself with more competent liars.”
And, speaking of Kristi, it’s no stretch of the imagination to conclude that her brutality to animals is a sign that she’s a pretty poor excuse for a human being in general. But a letter to the editor in The Times today from John Miraglia of Old Bridge, NJ says there’s research to back that conclusion up. “Is how we treat our dogs predictive of how we would treat people? Research says yes. “75% of abused women who have companion animals report a history of their companion animal being threatened or intentionally harmed by their intimate partner,’ according to an article published by the FBI.”
Woof, woof.
In today’s puzzle, 48D was APRIL, clued by its being the cruelest month, per TSE. It gave Son Volt the opportunity to remind us how beautiful this song is. And how sad. For anyone who has ever let love slip through his fingers, it’s a devastating two minutes. “A love, once new, has now grown old.”
A big flap arose over 10D where the clue was “Features of deerstalker hats,” and the answer was EARLAPS. Many folks wanted an F in there. Here’s how egsforbreakfast put it: I like my hats with EARLAPS and my gloves with ingers. M-W has a one word definition for EARLAP: earflap. Welp, I better get my comment finished cuz Mrs. Egs has a mess of lapjacks waiting on the table.
The puzzle’s theme was “RINGS A BELL.” So the long answers were WILLY LOMAN, QUASIMODO, SANTA CLAUS, and IVAN PAVLOV.
It generated some grumbling from the American Nitpickers Association and League, which noted that Willy Loman sold his wares directly to department stores and so did not “ring bells” door-to-door.
I have to say I don’t particularly associate Santa Clause with bell ringing either. The clue tries to make up for that by linking him to the Salvation Army’s endlessly annoying ringers: “Whom a Salvation Army volunteer might dress as.”
Both are close enough for crosswords, though.
Oooh, and I think those last few bells are signaling the end of this nonsense for today.
See you next time!
The Wellington Files 