The clue at 1D today was “Small fly,” for MIDGE. The MIDGE will take Yankee fans back to Cleveland, Oct 2007, when midges from Lake Erie descended upon poor Joba Chamberlain in droves. He couldn’t shake them. The trainer sprayed insect repellant but it only drew more to him (a different spray might have helped). They attacked him as he pitched and essentially cost the Yankees the game. Then they lost the series. Joe Torre later said it was a major regret of his career that he didn’t pull the team off the field when the midges arrived.

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Here’s a shot Phil sent in from yesterday’s Chiefs game. That’s Caitlin Clark next to Tay. Phil said the suite was packed. With family members, security, and stalkers, he could barely fit his photog equipment and a case of vodka in.

The scene was not as joyful 750 miles NE of KC where Washington handed our Lions a good old-fashioned thumping, 45-31. With the Lions shorthanded on defense and QB Goff suffering from the turnover bug, it was gracious of Commander coach Dan Quinn to pull up short of 50. Here are some of Washington’s soldiers celebrating on the corpse-strewn field of battle.

We’ll be pulling for the Ravens tonight vs. Beefalo. How fitting that it’s Ed Poe’s birthday!

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If you find yourself a little more cheesed off than usual, you are not alone. Wait, what? Cheesed off? Yes, you heard me — cheesed off. It’s an expression I just learned from today’s puzzle. Miriam Webster says it’s chiefly British and means angry, irritated. The clue for it was “ticked (off).” I posted the following on the Dull Men’s Club (UK), with the dullest responses below.

My DMC(UK) post:

I just learned the expression “cheesed off” from a crossword puzzle in the NY Times. I’m 75 but never heard it before. Dictionary says it’s “chiefly British.” Have you good folks been using it all along, while I’ve been clueless? Anything else I should know about as I descend (or ascend?) into decrepitude?

Kim Thornewell replied: We use it frequently! It’s a great expression and means what it says!

Avi: Thanks Kim!

Andy Spragg: With you all the way up to “means what it says,” Kim. Care to explain how?

Kim: ok, so it means, in cruder language, that you are very pissed off! Fed up. Had enough. 

Andy: Quite. So it doesn’t mean what it says at all.

Stuart Morris: I agree . What is the cheese connotation?

Bronwell Mitchell: It’s what you feel if your cheese is off.

Ryder Cowan: We’re truly two countries divided by a common language. As another example, someone being “homely” has a completely different meaning in the UK, and would be considered a compliment. Many other examples I’m sure.

Paul Searle: To be honest I’m not a happy camper that you are browned off that you didn’t know what cheesed off meant. However I am not fed up to the back teeth — yet.

Sharon Hayton: I’d be jolly miffed if I were you

Avi: I see. So you mean:

Wayne Horrigan: Other cheese-related phrases you may have missed: Hard cheese – bad luck (popular on 80s games shows when a contestant fails in a task). Chalk and cheese – two acquaintances or siblings who are opposite in nature and/or personality.

Joe McLaren: It’s the opposite of chuffed.

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The Poem of the Day from The Poetry Foundation today is by Robert Hayden and is called “Those Winter Sundays.” I’m pretty sure I’ve shared it before, but so what?

Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.

I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he’d call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of that house,

Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love’s austere and lonely offices?

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We just watched Paige and her UConn buddies dismantle a decent Seton Hall team 96-36. Ouch! “Buckets” scored her 2,000th point early in the game, becoming the fastest (gamewise) Lady Huskie ever to achieve that millstone. I mean milestone. She is projected to be the #1 pick in the WNBA draft this year, but the scuttlebutt is she may put another year in at UConn to avoid starting her pro career in Dallas. Or at least threaten to do so to prevent the Dallas pick. We’ll see who holds the higher cards. My money’s on PB. The league does not want her to be unhappy. I bought a mug for Caity years ago that said: “If the princess ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.”

See you tomorrow!