I’ve never eaten frogs’ legs. I did taste eel once in sushi form and grilled octopus, both pretty good. It came up because of this lovely bit of writing Frank Bruni shared with us in his “For the love of sentences” feature. It’s by Helen Rosner in The New Yorker, discussing what to order at a recently spruced up French restaurant: “You can hardly go wrong, though it would be the height of tragedy if not one person at the table ordered the frogs’ legs persillade, a cancan line of amphibian gams in an audibly sizzling bath of butter and garlic that a server oomphs up, upon presentation, with a squeeze of lemon.”
The puzzle’s theme today was about following directions. Four long answers hit circled squares. Each square represented a direction. You had to fit the direction into the square (e.g., “east”) and then continue with the answer turning in that direction. So, e.g., at 53A, the clue was “Keeps the faith.” The answer starts out HOLD, and then hits a circle which you need to fill in with SOUTH, then you turn downwards and finish with OPE. So the full answer becomes HOLD[S OUT H]OPE (holds out hope).
I haven’t heard of Suzy Bogguss under my rock, but Rex shared this puzzle-appropriate song of hers: “Drive South.” She has the chutzpah to rhyme “smile on” with “nylons,” in this racy stanza:
We can go south with a smile on
Ain’t going to pack my nylons
Just leave these legs showin’
It gets hot down where were goin’
The Gnats shook the baseball world this week taking two from the power-laden Yanks, who drove all the way down Route 95 to get whupped in DC. On Tues, the Nats were clinging to a shaky lead like Leonardo D to his bit of flotsam in Titanic. And then, suddenly, some rinky-dink hits and an error loaded the bases for Aaron Judge. Yikes! But the big man’s hot liner reached CJ on a bounce and was good for two outs and an end to the threat. Whew.
Weds, again, the Gnats took a tenuous lead into the 8th but when they got men on first and second with nobody out, it looked like the Gnats might be able to grab an insurance run or two. New third-bagger Tena drove the ball to the deepest part of center, over Judge’s head, and it banged off the wall. But the lead runner hesitated and was tagged out after a rundown between home and third. And then, oh, no!, the batter was caught between first and second, for an improbable and devastating double play. Instead of getting two runs they ran themselves into two outs. They limped into the ninth, embarrassed by it, and when the first two Yankees reached base, a Gnats’ collapse looked all but inevitable. But Finnegan, grimacing, was having none of it. A soft fly to right, and a feeble grounder back to the mound restored order. When Torres struck out it was over. He’s a Detroit boy, Finnegan, born and raised.
Sarah Palin is back in the news, and not a moment too soon, as far as Owl Chatter is concerned. She’s been granted a retrial for her libel lawsuit against the NYT. You may recall that Ms. P’s political action committee published a map with crosshairs over several congressional districts, including that of Gabby Giffords. Shortly thereafter a shooter went on a rampage that left six dead and injured Giffords. SP said the Times defamed her by wrongly suggesting she incited the shooting. The Times did swiftly correct and apologize for the piece. The jury ruled in favor of the Times, but an appeals court just granted her a new trial. It held the trial judge erred in preventing jurors from hearing evidence that might have shown the Times knew or should have known Palin did not incite the shooting.
If you’re following the case closely, you may want to pick up one of these refrigerator magnets for $7.50 on eBay. Lookin’ good, babe!
Tomorrow is opening day for my final semester. Hope it goes well. Thanks for stopping by.
The Wellington Files 