At 1 across on Monday, the clue was “Theater backdrop” and the answer was SET. OK, fair enough. But then when I got to 8D, the clue was “Sink, as the sun,” and that had to be SET also. So what gives? A puzzle is not supposed to have duplicate answers. Then, all hell broke loose when 31A and 31D both had the same answer which, again, was SET. Those clues were “Prepare, as the dinner table,” and “Mathematical grouping using curly brackets.”
Of course, the repetitive SETs were the puzzle theme. And the revealer was at 71A (the last across clue): “Guinness world record holder for ‘English word with the most meanings.’” That was news to me. The puzzle contained 14 meanings, i.e., the answer SET appeared in the grid 14 times, each clued via a different meaning for the word. But in fact, get this —
“The word with the most meanings in English is the verb ‘set’, with 430 senses listed in the Second Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, published in 1989. The word commands the longest entry in the dictionary at 60,000 words, or 326,000 characters.”
What made the execution of the theme “clean” was there were no other three-letter answers at all in the grid. The 14 SETs were the only three-letter answers.
The cutest clue/answer was at 25A: “Cleaning implement for bunnies?” The answer was DUST MOP (think “dust bunnies”).
33D was cute too: “You might stand on them to reach something.” TIPPYTOES.
At 11D, the clue was “Philip Larkin or Patricia Lockwood,” and the answer was POET (I had heard of the former). It led Rex (who is an English prof) to share this:
For today’s puzzle, I’m not sure if this was meant to be a joke, but for 8D the clue was “I’m all _____” and the answer was SET. D’oh! But that was the only SET today.
There was a very non-Tuesdayish word today. The clue was “Trumpet flourish,” and the answer was TUCKET. WTF? One commenter noted: “Retired musicologist here, with a vast vocabulary of arcane terminology related to music and musical instruments. This is my first (and hopefully last) encounter with TUCKET.”
Miriam Webster says: Tucket can be found most notably in the stage directions of several of William Shakespeare’s plays. In King Lear, for example, a tucket sounds to alert the Earl of Gloucester of the arrival of the Duke of Cornwall (Act II, Scene i). The word tucket likely derives from the obsolete English verb tuk, meaning “to beat the drum” or “to sound the trumpet.” Its first known use was in 1593.
Commenter Anony-mouse wrote: As a drag performer, I TUCKET all the time. Well, very often.
Today’s theme was announced by 58A: “Title for Jackie or Jill:” FIRST LADY. And four theme answers all opened with words that form a name when preceded by LADY: GAGA (ABOUT); LIBERTY (VALANCE); MARMALADE (SKIES); AND LUCK (OUT). So that would be Lady Gaga, Lady Liberty, Lady Marmalade, and Lady Luck.
Lady Marmalade is a song made famous by Labelle containing the famous lyric: “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?” But this isn’t that — this is Lady Luck.
Hey Trav — you may have some new heavyweight competition. Maybe a few extra dozen roses? Just sayin’. Here’s what Trump said about Tay:
“I think she’s beautiful — very beautiful! I find her very beautiful… I hear she’s very talented. I think she’s very beautiful, actually — unusually beautiful!”
We don’t usually like to go out on a limb here at Owl Chatter, but, reading between the lines — does it seem to you Trump thinks she beautiful? I wonder if he’ll grab her by the, you know. It may be best if he doesn’t –Back in 2013, someone grabbed her tush and she took him to court. It was a DJ, David Mueller. He got fired for his actions. His defense was: “My hand was at rib-cage level and apparently it went down.” Yup, down and under her skirt. That’s one hell of an “apparently.” I don’t know if I’ve ever seen such a big apparently.
“It was a definite grab, a very long grab,” Swift said in federal court. “I felt him grab onto my bare ass cheek.” She testified she attempted to move away but “he would not let go.”
When asked her reaction to Mueller being fired, she said “I’m being blamed for the unfortunate events of his life that are a product of his decisions, not mine. I don’t feel anything about Mr. Mueller. I don’t know him. … I think what he did was despicable and horrifying and shocking.”
So whadya think folks? — Is Taylor Swift very beautiful like Trump says? Judge for yourself:
Oh, wait — I’m sorry — that’s not Tay — it’s E. Jean Carroll, the woman Trump sexually assaulted. He says she’s not his type at all. Not “very beautiful,” I guess. Never mind. Tay’s out of town right now. Phil promises us some shots of her as soon as he’s sober. Figure maybe October?
Alan Davis posted the following for the Dull Men’s Club (UK): Swmbo decided that a trot around IKEA would be a good idea. Wrong, it was horrible, we couldn’t find the way out for ages. Never again.
First, a comment asked “what is swmbo?” Answer: It’s the person’s wife; it’s an acronym for She Who Must Be Obeyed. Here were some of the other 53 comments:
I’m 63 yrs old and have never been to an IKEA. I’d love to go, if only for the meatballs.
The meatballs are made out of the people who never get out.
There are people in Ikea who’ve been trapped there for months.
In IKEA no one can hear you scream.
Hibbing, MN, is not that big a town. Population only 20,000. It came up today because Rex shared a song by Gary Puckett, and a commenter noted Puckett’s from Hibbing. Many of you know Bob Dylan is also from there, as are, amazingly, Roger Maris, Celtic great Kevin McHale, and Robert Mondavi, the wine guy, among other notables.
Also from Hibbing was Frankie Campbell, the pro boxer Max Baer killed in a match in 1930. Baer was enraged after being knocked down in the second round and beat Campbell fiercely in the fifth round, causing his death. The ref was suspended for not stopping the fight. Campbell’s brother was Brooklyn Dodger Dolph Camilli.
See you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 