It doesn’t take trenchant geo-political analysis to conclude Trump’s plan for Gaza is idiotic, — the Middle Eastern equivalent of drinking Lysol to cure Covid — but Brandeis alum Tom Friedman writes about it so sharply today in the NYT we can’t resist picking out a few nuggets. He calls it Trump’s “juvenile Mar-a-Gaza proposal,” . . . “the single most idiotic and dangerous Middle East ‘peace’ initiative ever put out by an American president.”
It opens with: “President Trump’s plan to take over Gaza, remove its two million Palestinians and turn the coastal desert strip into some sort of Club Med proves only one thing: how short a distance it is between out-of-the-box thinking and out-of-your-mind thinking.”
He goes on: “Still, I’m not sure what is more frightening: Trump’s Gaza proposal, which seems to change by the day, or the speed with which his aides and cabinet members — almost none of whom were even briefed on it in advance — nodded their approval of the idea like a collection of bobblehead dolls.”
Oy. Enough.
BTW, bobblehead dolls are not new. I remember I had one (a NY Yankee bobblehead) when I was a little boy, over 60 years ago. What’s new is they’ve taken over the government.
Today’s puzzle was a study in how crosses can make an impossible puzzle doable. There were many WOEs (“what on earth?”) but they were gettable via the crossing words.
16A: “Blind blues singer Paul (4).” I’m thinking, Paul Anka was blind? Sang the blues? Butterfield wasn’t blind either — did he go blind in old age? But Butterfield is way more than 4 letters. Turned out to be Paul PENA. I didn’t know the name, but this song was pretty big:
33A: “One of two official languages of Afghanistan (4).” Right. I can tell you the official language of France or Germany, but that’s about it. It’s DARI. (FYI: The other one is Pashto.) Egs says the Taliban are going to start crowning the best female speaker of the language the Dari Queen.
35A: “Ancient kingdom of Asia Minor (5).” Turns out to be LYDIA. You know, — the ancient kingdom — not the tattooed lady, or the rock singer Ms. Lunch.
56A: “Emmy-winning Sawai of ‘Shogun (4).’” It’s ANNA. She’s Japanese, born in New Zealand. Anna is 32, and she’s not married, fellas.
Our Phil got to know Anna S. pretty well when he was out in Japan last year. This is how pretty she is when she’s not trying, he tells us.
43A: “Pickled ginger served with sushi (4).” At least I know what that looks like. I always give it to Linda. I don’t like ginger. In fact, some ginger candies our friend Astoria Bob got as a gift about 50 years ago still serve as the poster boy for horrible tasting things. (Hi Bob!) Anyway, this stuff is called GARI. Not to be confused with one of the official languages of Afghanistan (DARI, see above), although Okanaganer started humming, GARI and DARI sitting in a tree. . . .
Oy. WOEs, every one of them.
Here: Please enjoy John Prine’s “Donald and Lydia.”
The Thursday puzzle is my favorite because it always has some twist to it, which is sometimes brilliant.
Commenter Southside Johnny posted this plaintive plea: Thursdays can be brutal when you are not adept at discerning the theme – which has been an issue for me ever since I first started solving. If any of you crusty old veterans have any suggestions on how to be more successful on Thursdays, I’m all ears!
Gary replied: You have a well-documented history of being wildly judgmental about every puzzle. This zeal for a puzzle to make sense on your terms only gets in the way of solving. If you accept that literally anything can happen on a Thursday (any day really), and head off like it’s a treasure hunt, you’ll find the weird little prizes left for you. If you trudge in thinking “another stupid Thursday gimmick that’s going to make me mad,” then you will also be rewarded — only after a sad slog. I find it’s helpful to remember the constructors and editors don’t call us first to see what we’d approve of before publishing.
Getting back to Paul Pena, above, he learned a method of singing called “Tuva throat singing.” This is a video concert extra from the film, Genghis Blues starring Paul. He performs along with a local singer in southern Siberia, both using the Tuva throat singing method in which two vocal cords are used at the same time producing a frog-like sound heard only in certain parts of the world. It remains popular in southern Siberia, and among amphibians worldwide.
Several Rex commenters mentioned the film and spoke very highly of it.
At 18D for the clue “State with the highest percentage of federal land,” the answer was NEVADA. Nevada’s at 80% to Alaska’s 60%. Since Alaska is also six letters, several folks got tripped up and entered Alaska. Alaska does have 4 times more actual federal acreage than Nevada, it’s just percentage-wise that Nevada wins. (Hmmm, now that I reread that, it seems suitable for the Dull Men’s Club (UK). I’ll see how it goes over and let you know.)
Tough game for our Sirens of the PWHL last night. Boston scored with under five seconds left in the first half! OMG, could you plotz? The second half went scoreless for both teams. Then I was tired so I went to sleep. I later learned Boston pounded us for three more goals in the third half. Final score: 4-0 Boston Fleet. It’s not helping that one of our top scorers, Alex Carpenter, is on the fritz. C’mon Alex — we’re hurtin’ here!
Let’s close tonight with a poem by that most prolific poet, Anonymous. It’s from today’s Writer’s Almanac and is called “Who Killed Cock Robin?”
“Who killed Cock Robin?” “I,” said the Sparrow,
“With my bow and arrow, I killed Cock Robin.”
“Who saw him die?” “I,” said the Fly,
“With my little eye, I saw him die.”
“Who caught his blood?” “I,” said the Fish,
“With my little dish, I caught his blood.”
“Who’ll make the shroud?” “I,” said the Beetle,
“With my thread and needle, I’ll make the shroud.”
“Who’ll dig his grave?” “I,” said the Owl,
“With my pick and shovel, I’ll dig his grave.”
“Who’ll be the parson?” “I,” said the Rook,
“With my little book, I’ll be the parson.”
“Who’ll be the clerk?” “I,” said the Lark,
“If it’s not in the dark, I’ll be the clerk.”
“Who’ll carry the link?” “I,” said the Linnet,
“I’ll fetch it in a minute, I’ll carry the link.”
“Who’ll be chief mourner?” “I,” said the Dove,
“I mourn for my love, I’ll be chief mourner.”
“Who’ll carry the coffin?” “I,” said the Kite,
“If it’s not through the night, I’ll carry the coffin.”
“Who’ll bear the pall?” “We,” said the Wren,
“Both the cock and the hen, we’ll bear the pall.”
“Who’ll sing a psalm?” “I,” said the Thrush,
“As she sat on a bush, I’ll sing a psalm.”
“Who’ll toll the bell?” “I,” said the bull,
“Because I can pull, I’ll toll the bell.”
All the birds of the air fell a-sighing and a-sobbing,
When they heard the bell toll for poor Cock Robin.
See you tomorrow. Thanks for popping by.
The Wellington Files 