Sometimes the puzzle works in subtle, understated ways. At 29A today the clue was “Bruce Springsteen album with a red, white and blue cover,” and the answer, of course, was BORN IN THE USA. And guess what — it’s Bruce’s birthday today! Happy 75th Boss!

Oh Sandy, the aurora is rising behind us.
This pier lights our carnival life forever.
Oh, love me tonight, and I promise I’ll love you forever

That’s Danny Federici on the accordion, an original member of the E Street Band. Danny passed away on April 17, 2008 from melanoma. He was just 58. When Bruce performed this song in Asbury Park NJ just last week he dedicated it to Danny’s memory.

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At 5D the clue was “Fortunate somebody” and the answer was LUCKY ONE. It gave me leave to share this old joke with the Rexites:

Maxie goes to see the Rabbi. Rabbi, he says, I have two girls in love with me: Annie and Rachel. Rabbi, with all your wisdom and foresight — can you tell me which will be the lucky one? The rabbi strokes his beard and closes his eyes and goes into deep thought. When he opens them again he says: You will marry Annie. Rachel will be the lucky one.

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As we all know, the moon is made of cheese. But for one week a year it’s converted (pun intended) into matzoh! Need proof?

That painting is by Mark Podwal, who died on Friday at his home in Harrison, NY, at the age of 79. He was a prolific artist and writer (and a dermatologist!) mostly on Jewish themes. In 1977, after the arrest and abrupt release in France of the Palestinian terrorist known as Abu Daoud, the mastermind of the Munich Olympic attacks, Dr. Podwal drew for the NYT the Eiffel Tower dreaming, through a thought bubble, of being an oil well. It caught the eye of Elie Wiesel, who contacted him, and thus began a lifelong friendship with much collaboration.

Dr. Podwal designed the Congressional Gold Medal that President Reagan presented to Mr. Wiesel in 1985. One side is emblazoned, under the words Author, Teacher, Witness, with a likeness of Mr. Wiesel adapted from a photograph by Roman Vishniac; on the other side is an open book with a depiction of Mr. Wiesel’s home in Sighet, Romania, on one page and an image of Jerusalem on the other. Podwal accompanied Wiesel to Oslo, when he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize.

In a preface to one of Podwal’s books, novelist Cynthia Ozick wrote: “Like the Kabbalists, he joins metaphysics to physics: essence to presence; ideas to real objects. Like the Hasidic masters, he owns a needle of incandescent wit.”

Rest in peace Doc.

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America had quite a cohort of Olympians in Rome in 1960: Muhammed Ali, Oscar Robertson, Rafer Johnson, Wilma Rudolph, Otis Davis.

Wait — Who? Otis who?

Yeah, you heard me: Otis Davis.

Davis received a basketball scholarship to Oregon after serving in the army, but Bill Bowerman, the school’s track and field coach, tapped him as a runner. (Bowerman later formed Nike with Phil Knight.) Before the Rome Olympics Bowerman said of Davis: “His job is simple to remember. He is supposed to start fast and finish before any of the rest of them. I think he can.”

Davis set world records. In the 400-meter race, he crossed the finish line at the same time Germany’s Carl Kaufmann did: 44.9 seconds, a world record. But the photo finish showed Davis won. Two days later his relay team set the record for the 4 x 400 relay.

Davis died in hospice care in North Bergen NJ on Sept 14. He was 92. He was a phys ed instructor and ran youth sports programs when his competitive running days were over.

In early March 1994, burglars broke into Davis’s apartment in the Heights neighborhood of Jersey City and stole his gold medals. Neighbors heard about the theft and raised a banner on the porch of a nearby house that said, “Bring Home Otis Davis’ Gold.” Police recovered the medals about a month later.

Davis handed the baton to his daughters Liza and Diana, and a grandson.

Rest in peace, Davis.

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Headlines from The Onion:

Wedding Cake Gets More Compliments Than Bride

NFL Referee Under Fire For Watching Porn On Instant Replay Device

NFL Sunday Ticket Allows Viewers To Simulcast Up To 4 Domestic Violence Trials At Once

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If you insist on bringing up the fact to Melanie Hamrick, who is 37, that her boyfriend is 44 years older than her (I’ll do the math for you — 81), you might as well go f*ck yourself. She doesn’t want to hear about it. For one thing, he’s Mick F*cking Jagger, and for another — they are perfectly happy together. They met at a Stones concert in Tokyo in 2014 and have been dating ever since. They have a child: an 8-year-old boy named Deveraux.

Melanie’s a former dancer with the American Ballet Theater and says she wasn’t star struck when she met Mick because all of her idols were in ballet. Hey, I’ve really been out of touch — did you know Jagger had heart surgery five years ago (aortic valve replacement), and has a total of 8 children? I’ve gotta get out more.

Here’s Melanie. Phil caught up with her at K-Mart.

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Let’s go back and say goodnight on the boardwalk.

Is this the perfect verse?:

Them boys in their high heels, ah, Sandy
Their skins are so white.

Sandy, that waitress I was seeing lost her desire for me
I spoke with her last night, she said she won’t set herself on fire for me anymore
She worked that joint under the boardwalk
She was always the girl you saw bopping down the beach with the radio
The kids say last night she was dressed like a star
In one of them cheap little seaside bars
And I saw her parked with lover boy out on the Kokomo

Did you hear the cops finally busted Madame Marie
For tellin’ fortunes better than they do

For me this boardwalk life’s through, babe
You oughta quit this scene too.

To 120 Bruce!

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See you tomorrow.