It’s National Cheese Day. I’m probably considered a rogue cheese eater here in America on this day. When we visited Ireland last year we went to a “cheesemonger” in Dublin. My idea was to bring some fine Irish cheese back for Caity as a gift. (We got Sam coffee beans from Galway.) When I explained to the cheesemonger why we were there, he grabbed a chunk of Irish Cheddar and sliced off a taste for us. It was great and we bought some for Caity and some for us. Back in the U.S. we now use a nice Irish cheddar that Costco carries, see below. I do eat American cottage cheese. So there’s that. Maybe that will placate the American cheese community. I certainly don’t need them on my ass.
I had the remaining part of my molar removed today by an excellent oral sturgeon in Summit NJ: Petar Hinic. I know he’s excellent because this is the third time I’ve used his services. And he knows he’s excellent too. When he showed me the x-ray and explained what would be involved, he said it would be a difficult extraction because there are two roots and the top of the tooth broke off so there is nothing to grab onto. Then he said: “But that’s why you’re here.” Amen to that, Brother. It went very well.
At 5A today, the clue was “‘Inside with Jen ___’ (MSNBC show),” and the answer was PSAKI. Here’s what I posted on Rex’s blog: PS: Psolving for Psaki nearly psent me to a psychiatrist.
Our Dirty Old Man Dept. was unable to find any psexy pshots of Jen, but we learned pshe may be a Gnats fan. Hi Jen!
The puzzle’s theme was revealed across the bottom three answers via this clue at 66A: “With 67- and 68-Across, MC Hammer lyric that applies to each of the answers to the starred clues:” CAN’T TOUCH THIS. And the theme answers were all things that you should not touch. The most clever was at 44A: “Challenge for an under-achiever?” The answer was LIMBO BAR. Get it? As you go “under” it, you can’t touch it. (In the Jewish version of “Limbo” you just lie there and after a while someone helps you up.)
Other things in the puzzle you can’t touch were WET PAINT, CAMERA LENS, ELECTRIC FENCE (“Shocking thing found on a farm”), and CRIME SCENE. A member of ANAL (American Nitpickers Association & League) wrote: “A ‘crime scene’ is not a singular object that can be touched. It is an environment containing multiple things. If you touch an item within that environ sans proper precautions, you have ‘contaminated’ (not touched) the scene.”
Okay. Thanks. Can I go now?
Steven Wright says: A friend of mine got an electric car and really liked it. After that he got an electric blanket, an electric coffeemaker, and an electric lawnmower. Then he got an electric chair, and I haven’t heard from him since.
Two of the answers today were MAMBA (“Black _____ (snake)”) and AGED (“Developed, in a way”).
Here’s how egs spun them: “When I got out of biz school I had nothing. It was just me and MAMBA. Of course that’s a whole lot better than starting out with just AGED.”
Rex had a guest blogger today: Clare. She wrote: “Overall, it was a good Tuesday puzzle and makes me want to get up and dance (and also try to bring back Hammer Pants?).”
Readers! Let’s all get up — I bet you haven’t been silly enough lately — I know I haven’t. Here’s your chance! Turn it up! (Is it just me? — Anyone else see a little Mick Jagger in there? Shattered?)
The newly elected (by a landslide) president of Mexico, Claudia Scheinbaum, is not only a woman (duh), she’s Jewish. She’s not a religious Jew, and in fact thanked Jesus for her victory. Hmmmmmmm. Still, her first official act was to replace the taco with the blintz as the official food of the country. She may be on to something — these look fantastic. Biden! — you paying attention? Somebody — wake him up!
Reviewing our files, here’s an item that appeared in The Onion, last February, after the Super Bowl. The headline was: Depressed Taylor Swift Going To Miss Being In The Spotlight Now That Super Bowl Over.
Realizing her 15 minutes of fame had come to an abrupt end, a depressed Taylor Swift told reporters Monday that she was going to miss being in the spotlight now that the Super Bowl was over. “I guess it’s just me and my cats now that the big game has drawn to a close,” said the disheveled, sweatpants-wearing Swift, who drained glass after glass of wine while explaining that nobody would want to see or hear from her again now that the NFL season was over. “To think that just last night I was at the top of the world. They even put me on the jumbotron!
OMG, what could be more delicious than this? Dr. Anthony Fauci, 83, was facing off against a gaggle of idiotic Republicans yesterday in a House subcommittee hearing on the pandemic. Owl Chatter is impressed that the GOP Reps seemed capable of dressing themselves.
Marjorie Taylor Greene told him he belongs in prison. You go, girl! The hearing occasionally strayed from the pandemic, as when Greene waved around a photograph of some beagles and hammered Dr. Fauci over the use of dogs in federally funded experiments. She later blasted him for “repulsive evil science.” She was rebuked by the (Republican) Chair of the committee for repeatedly referring to Dr. Fauci as Mr. Fauci. (“That’ll show the little f*cker,” she mumbled.) That’s the level of moronity (moronism?) to which the GOP has fallen.
Republicans pressed Dr. Fauci on whether he had earned drug company royalties during the pandemic. Fauci replied that he received $120 per year for inventing a monoclonal antibody treatment a quarter-century ago. He dismissed Republican allegations that he helped fund research that sparked the pandemic or had covered up the possibility it originated in a laboratory, as “absolutely false and simply preposterous.”
Good to see you again, Doc. Give ’em hell.
See you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 