If you watched the Grabbys last night you couldn’t help but notice Taylor all dressed up in Kansas City red, a nod, no doubt, to boyfriend Trav’s upcoming Superb Owl date this Sunday. In case you missed that nod she also had a very alluring T thigh chain on as well. [Hold on a sec. Need to compose myself. Deep breaths.]
In case you are thinking the T might be for Taylor, duh, its designer Lorraine Schwartz confirmed it’s for Travis.
Speaking of the duo, we were surprised to learn from an interview of Taylor’s that it was she who initiated their relationship. She sensed he was genuine and funny from his public appearances and took an interest. She apparently had no trouble reeling him in, to no surprise.
For the record, Tay did not win any Grabbys last night, despite garnering six noms. But we are happy to note Kasey Musgraves won for Best Country Song: The Architect. She has a beautiful voice.
True Confessions: I think this is the first time I’ve ever watched the Grabbys and I only stayed through Taylor’s presentation. It was good to see in people form, names I only knew through crossword puzzles, like CARDI B. She presented the Grabby for best Rap album to Doechii who accepted the award with her mom and gave a beautiful acceptance speech, addressed to Black girls at the end: “You are exactly who you need to be.”
Sunday’s NYTXW by Derrick Niedermann was an all-time classic. I’m not using that phrase as a way of saying “great.” I mean it will be remembered in Crossworld as unusually brilliant for a very long time.
Thirteen clues were comprised of a two-word phrase, like skinny dip. But they were in italics and the words were separated like this: skinny/dip. You then needed to come up with an answer for each separate word that differed only by one letter. Here they were SLIM (skinny) and SWIM (dip). So you fill in the S, I, and M in their squares, and both L and W get squooshed into their square. For the crossing word, you use both the L and W. The crossing answer here was the actress RACHE[LW]EISZ.
So that happened thirteen times in the grid. (Rex, who did not enjoy it as much as I did, said he started screaming “Make it stop!!”) Some of the better ones were: fast/car (QUICK (for fast) and BUICK (for car)), and wild/bunch (ZANY (for wild) and MANY (for bunch)).
And if that wasn’t enough neat wordplay, get this: Since it happened thirteen times and each time involved a two-letter switch (L and W with slim and swim, Q and B for quick and Buick, etc.), you wind up with 26 letters involved in the switches. And these 26 letters were all of the letters of the alphabet, each used once. OMG! How did he do this? It’s freaking me out.
Some individual clues/answers were neat too. At 70A, “Your business start up” was NONE OF. (Get it? The words “none of” start up the phrase “none of your business.”)
At 51A the clue was “Female name that is a body part spelled backwards,” and the answer was RAE. Rex solved the puzzle using down clues only, so he did not see this clue. His comment: I’m glad I never saw this clue, because I’d’ve been like “GEL? That’s a name? MRA? PIL? EOT? Who names their kids these things?”
At 56D the clue was “Kind of line that no one just stands in” and the answer was CONGA. Rex shared this Simpsons scene.
While we’re on the subject (The Simpsons), today’s puzzle contained the words DIDDLY ) (“[blank]-squat”), and DOODLED (“Drew funny little pictures”).
Julie Turley of the Dull Men’s Club (UK) writes: Tinnitus has gotten much louder lately. Any help appreciated.
Pete Holder: Doctor sent me for an MRI scan with tinnitus in one ear….turns out I also suffer from claustrophobia.
Patrick Jeremy: Tinnitus is just a buzz word
Richard Scholfield: Don’t call the tinnitus helpline – that just rings and rings…
Olly Olly: Richard, how long have you been waiting to use that line?
Richard: Since the last time I used it? About a month, I think.
Justin Tucker, place-kicker for the Baltimore Ravens of the NFL, has really stuck his foot in it this time. Well, not exactly his foot. Six women massage therapists came forward with allegations against Pecker for indecent behavior during sessions. The athlete’s conduct was sometimes so appalling they had to end his sessions early. Two spas allegedly banned Pecker from using their facilities after repeated complaints. Pecker denies any improper behavior and an investigation will be conducted. Here he is with his son and one of the therapists. (Just kidding, that’s his wife Amanda.)
Pecker is a devout Catholic and makes the sign of the cross before every kick. It’s unclear if he also makes the sign before massage sessions.
Pecker is also a classically trained bass-baritone who can sing opera in seven languages, including Yiddish. He has been asked by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Opera Orchestra of New York to perform, although he was unable to do so due to conflicts with massage sessions.
Jesus H. Christ, have you read about Kash Patel, slated to head the FBI? There’s a good article by David French (a conservative) in the Times today. (By “good,” I mean horrifying, even by Trumpian standards. He makes Hegseth look qualified.)
How worshipful of Trump is he? He actually wrote a series of children’s books celebrating “King Donald,” who prevails against three terrible plots — the Russia investigation, the 2020 election and clashes with the Department of Justice — with the help of a mighty wizard named … Kash. [I did not make that up.]
He is in bed with right-wing extremists and dishonest to the core. He was a fawning guest on the podcast of Stew Peters, a Holocaust minimizer and vaccine conspiracist, eight times, but claimed he didn’t remember who Peters was at his confirmation hearing.
He is openly vindictive against the likes of Liz Cheney, et al, and members of the media who report honestly on Trump. He still does not accept the results of the 2020 election and believes the FBI helped trigger the January 6th attack on the capitol. Arrrrrgh.
Here’s a headline from The Onion:
Americans Start Stockpiling Moose Ahead Of Tariffs
And here’s a shot of our Caitlin and her/our Lianna on a winter weekend vacation! I don’t know what the hell happened behind them. Afraid to ask.
See you tomorrow Chatterheads! Thanks for popping by.
The Wellington Files 