When Sarah, Sam, and I saw James Taylor at Tanglewood some years ago he told a story about performing in Jamaica after not being there for decades. He was wearing a cap and at one point removed it to reveal his entirely bald head. And a man in the front row gasped and said “Wha hoppin mon?”
Well, it’s time to hunker down, readers, and brace for a long, dark four years. We will need our puzzles and our poets, and our ballgames and our art more than ever now. Here at Owl Chatter, Phil, George, the owls and I are determined not to give in to despair. (Well at least Phil, I, and the owls are determined. George has that prison thing to worry about.) And Ana, our style and culture consultant: It’s impossible to despair whenever she pops by.
Here’s a poem called “The Nuthatch” from today’s Writer’s Almanac. It’s by Kirsten Dierking and strikes just the right tone.
What if a sleek, grey-feathered nuthatch
flew from a tree and offered to perch
on your left shoulder, accompany you
on all your journeys? Nowhere fancy,
just the brief everyday walks, from garage
to house, from house to mailbox, from
the store to your car in the parking lot.
The slight pressure of small claws
clasping your skin, a flutter of wings
every so often at the edge of vision.
And what if he never asked you to be
anything? Wouldn’t that be so much
nicer than being alone? So much easier
than trying to think of something to say?
And whoa! — look who dropped by to make sure we’re all okay! We just mentioned you, Armas. Georgie’s back, — hope you can stay a while. Grab something from the fridge, and there’s some Toblerone, below.
Today’s puzzle featured some cool wordplay. The theme was the LONG AND SHORT OF IT. And each theme answer contained two answers — one long, and one short, built in to the long! So, e.g., at 53A for the clue “Bird with a distinctive call,” the answers were meadowlark and owl: meadOWLark. At 29A, “Band in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame” was both Black Sabbath and Abba: BlacksABBAth.
I was flummoxed at 67D: “Midwesterner’s embarrassed interjection.” Ever hear of OPE? For me, nope. Here’s what I found on it from Chicago Magazine: This magical, monosyllabic exclamation applies to a whole slew of circumstances: Accidentally pulling on a push door; trying to flag down a waiter; realizing you were served the wrong dish; hearing a mildly juicy piece of gossip; realizing a car is coming when you’re about to cross the street; thanking someone for opening a door for you; feeling the first drops of rain. “Ope!” works for all of ‘em. It’s a way to announce your presence in the most passive, non-intrusive way possible.
I was also at a loss at 11D: “Actress Tracee ___ Ross of “American Fiction.” Turns out it’s Tracee ELLIS Ross, and, get this — she’s Diana Ross’s daughter. Her last name is actually Silberstein, after her dad, Robert Ellis Silberstein, her mom’s music business manager. Tracee is 45 and proudly unmarried and childless. Does she have her mom’s eyes? I think so.
When the kids were little and I had to scramble to come up with 8 days of gifts for Chanukah (Linda was in charge of Xmas), I would give them large bars of Toblerone to cover one of the days. No complaints.
It’s named in part for Theodore Tobler, part-owner of the chocolate factory that produced it, and it was he who came up with the distinctive triangular shape, believed to have been inspired by the Matterhorn. But maybe not: Tobler’s sons say the shape originates from a pyramid shape that dancers at the Folies Bergere created as the finale of a show that Tobler saw. FWIW, there is a picture of the Matterhorn on the package.
Toblerone was the first patented milk chocolate bar. Albert Einstein was working as a clerk in the patent office when the application was filed and might have processed it. Medical records show that Einstein developed a case of acne at the time. [No they don’t.]
The distinct pyramidal shape of the bar lent its name to the “Toblerone line,” a series of anti-tank emplacements from WWII, prevalent in Switzerland’s border areas.
The interior of the Tobler factory in Switzerland was where the title sequence of Willy Wonka was filmed. I mention all of this because the clue for ALP today was “Inspiration for Toblerone’s shape.”
Oy, I’m tired from sleeping through meetings all day at school. Glad I’m retiring. See you next time!
The Wellington Files 