From Met Diary:
I stepped into the elevator at my Upper East Side building. A friendly older neighbor was there carrying a hat and some tchotchkes. He was going to the basement and I was going to the lobby. We exchanged small talk, and I asked him about the hat.
His mood shifted from happy to looking like he was on the verge of tears. The hat had belonged to his wife, he said. She had died some time ago, and he was finally throwing it away.
I could feel his pain. It was a perfectly beautiful hat. I asked if I could have it.
He handed it to me, and I put it on.
“You have the perfect head for it,” he said.
I thanked him, and he smiled again.
There was an unintentional connection in the puzzle yesterday I was happy to bring to the attention of Rex’s commentariat. The clue at 42D was “Gas relief brand” for BEANO. And the clue at 37A was “Out” for OPENLY GAY. Attentive Owl Chatter readers will recall our recent discussion of the late Billy Bean, the second openly gay MLB ballplayer.
I also liked the connection between BEANO and GALE FORCE, at 32A, clued by “Ferocious, as winds.” What’s the difference between a tavern and an elephant passing wind? Well, one’s a bar room, and one’s a barROOM.
If you enjoy making a fool of yourself bawling like a baby in front of strangers in a movie theater, you should go see the Icelandic heartbreaker Touch. We saw it down in Princeton and loved every minute of it. It features an incredibly gorgeous couple, the Japanese Koki, and the Icelandic Pálmi Kormákur Baltasarsson. All the characters and actors are spot on. Koki, 21, as shown below, is Japan’s Ana de Armas.
So far the Gnats are surviving the loss of Lane Thomas (via a trade to Cleveland). Alex Call replaced him in right field and is on a tear (that won’t last, alas), and Jose Tena, whom they acquired from the Guardians (nee Indians) was called up from Rochester and thrown right in at third base last night and looks terrific. Tena got a key single/RBI earlier in the game and then slammed the game winning hit to deep left center in the tenth. He made some good plays at the hot corner too. Has our long search in the wilderness for a decent third baseman since Anthony Rendon left after the 2019 WS win finally ended?
Reliever Derek Law, who pitched two stellar innings for the win, joked after the game that he hugged Tena on the field celebrating the win before he even got to shake his hand and meet him.
Here — you can meet him now too.
Thursday is International Apostrophe Day. It comes as the country, if not the world, is grappling with how to write the possessive form for Harris, Walz, and their families. An article in today’s NYT leaves the impression that whatever the hell you want to do is okay, though it’s good to be consistent. That is, if you are going to write Harris is pulling ahead in the polls, you can either write “Harris’ position” or “Harris’s position” in the polls is improving. (Same with Walz’ or Walz’s.) I’m going to go with Harris’s because that looks more like how you would say it if you were speaking. And for plural, I’m going with Harrises’ and Walzes’.
Let’s take a look at today’s puzzle. Rex is still on vacation, so his friend Eli handled the write-up. For obvious reasons, ALE is a common puzzle answer. So we rely on the cluing to make it lively. Today’s clue was “Stuff served in a horn at a Renaissance faire, perhaps.” Did you know about these old-timey horns? Anyway, Eli handled it beautifully with: Not only am I the kind of nerd who brews his own beer, I’m also the type to go to a Ren Faire and drink ale out of my horn. Then he posted this photo with the caption: “Sorry ladies, I’m married.” (That’s as large as I can make it. If you can enlarge it, you’ll have a better view of that horn he’s holding.)
On Eli’s brewing his own beer: I’m jealous. Sam and Sarah brewed their own for a while (pre-Morris), and won a brewing contest sponsored by a brewery in Detroit. Their winning brew was a porter (dark). The prize was that the brewery brewed a giant batch of it and put it on their menu for a few weeks. I was visiting out there while it was up. It was delicious and a real kick to see it on the menu.
Years ago I toyed with the idea, and visited a brewing supply shop in NYC with a friend who made his own wine with his brother. He described their first batch. “You pour a little into a cup and take a sip. Then, after a few moments, no matter how horrible it tastes, you say ‘It’s not too bad.’”
The puzzle was called “Take The El Train” and it was a simple concept: Just add “el” to phrases, and clue them to make them whacky. So, e.g., for the clue “Advice after one’s rival scores a perfect ten?” the answer was: DON’T GET MAD, GET ELEVEN.” And for the clue “Eviction notice sent to a New York deli owner?” the answer was: PACK YOUR BAGELS AND GO!”
For the clue “Magician’s request” the answer was PICK A CARD. Eli posted this neat shot from The Magicians’ Alliance, from Arrested Development.
Johan Olsen posted the following on the Dull Mens Club: I like peanuts. I eat a small bowl of them most evenings. The problem is the salt. Together with the oil it makes a sticky salty mess on my fingers. Wiping them off on my clothes or the sofa is not an option. Therefore I started eating the nuts with a spoon. This works well! I even introduced the idea to a co-worker. He also liked it. His family did not. They said he was nuts (pun intended).
It generated 183 comments. Here are a few:
Karen Severn asks: Do you have curtains you could wipe them on ?
Kelly Owens (and others) suggested using chopsticks.
Andrew Scicluna says: My wife likes to rest her head on my lap of an evening so I can massage her scalp. Little does she know that I am simultaneously wiping my peanut grease and salt into her hair. Still, she washes her hair most days and I save on napkins. Win Win.
James McKillop asks: Have you heard of soap and water?
Reinier Bruggers says: The pun (intended or otherwise) makes no sense since peanuts are not nuts. [They are legumes.]
Vanessa Ortiz summed things up: man eats nuts with silverware rather than wash hands.
Alex Bear asks: Have you considered eating them with your toes?
Stephanie Fairey, off the topic a bit, shared: I drink tea and coffee with a straw so as not to stain my teeth, and I can drink while not taking my eyes off the road when driving.
Squirrely Hill says: I use my hands!
And Jenny McNeil posted:
That’s more than enough nonsense for the day, no? Let’s close with another picture of Koki. See you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 