Happy Valentines Day, Chatterheads!! This song is for all of you young (under 90) lovers out there:
That young woman in the quartet, above, is Sarah Sinclair. She constructed today’s NYT crossword, and, hey, she’s wearing a crossword puzzle dress! Pretty sexy if you ask me!! (Feel free to make up your own jokes.)
The puzzle did not have a theme, but it was chockful of romance, appropriate for the day. Thus, it contained the following:
30A: THE KISS (“Classic Gustav Klimt painting made during his ‘Golden Period.’”)
41A: ONE LOVE (Classic ska song with the lyric ‘Let’s get together and feel all right.’”) Are you thinking, isn’t that a reggae song by Bob Marley? Not “ska?” Well, we are familiar with the reggae version, see below. But Marley recorded an original ska version 12 years earlier.
36A: CATCH FEELINGS (“Develop emotions (for)”)
36D: CANOODLE (“Neck”)
43A: AMOUR (“Affaire de coeur“)
She also included herself in the grid, at 39A: SARAH (“‘Ragtime’ role for which Audra McDonald won a Tony). She explained that “Sara” is often in the puzzle without the “H” so she wanted to try to even the score.
She reached out to The Mick at 28A to clue SEVEN. “Mickey Mantle’s retired jersey.” How neat is that!! We asked Phil to dig out the Mick’s wedding pictures in honor of V-Day. Here’s the happy couple!
Mickey and Merlyn had four sons but the marriage was not a good one. This is from Wikipedia: Mantle married Merlyn not out of love but because he was told to by his father who was, at the time, terminally ill. While Mantle’s drinking became public knowledge, the press kept quiet about his infidelities. He was indiscreet about them: at his retirement ceremony in 1969, he brought his mistress along with his wife. [Ouch!] In 1980, Mantle and Merlyn separated but never filed for divorce. During his final days, they made peace, and Merlyn was at his bedside when he died.
For you rabbinical students out there, the clue at 40A was “Body of Jewish law,” and the answer was TALMUD. I shared the following with the Rexites:
Rashi was one of the great scholars of the TALMUD (40A), so much so that when the TALMUD is published his commentary is published alongside the text: trenchant observations, astute questions, etc.
A story is told of a devout young man who was determined to build a house in his village strictly in accord with the dictates of the TALMUD. He met with his rabbi and told him of his plans. Of course, the rabbi found it all most praiseworthy and agreed to assist the young man in his efforts. As each stage of the construction proceeded, the rabbi helped the young man interpret and apply the strict dictates of the text. They made sure the proper materials and techniques were employed, every inch of the way.
When at last the handsome structure was finished, the young man and his family moved in and the whole village celebrated the occasion with several days of festivities. However, a week or two later, a heavy rainstorm struck the village and when the young man and his family awoke the next morning they found their beautiful new home reduced to rubble. Oh no!
In despair and shock, the young man raced over to see the rabbi and explained what happened. “We followed the TALMUD to the letter — every inch of the house was built according to its dictates,” the young man said. “How could this happen?” “That’s fascinating,” replied the rabbi. “Rashi asked the same question.”
* * * * * *
I tried to ascertain if the puzzle’s constructor, Sarah Sinclair, is Jewish. I found my way to her Facebook page where I learned she graduated from Cornell. But there were no clues on whether she’s a “sista.”
I was proud to learn that the Trump-appointed US Attorney who resigned as a matter of conscience yesterday, Danielle Sassoon, is Jewish, and in fact studied the TALMUD at Ramaz, a NYC yeshivah, where she went to high school. She credits her Talmudic studies with helping prepare her for her legal career. Danielle turns 39 this year and has been married to Adam Katz for nine years, an investment analyst she met when they were undergrads at Harvard. She went to law school at Yale. If you were wondering what integrity looks like, here’s Danielle with her valentine.
Posted by Stuart Elstub of the Dull Men’s Club (UK):
Let’s give credit where it’s due — finally, a funny New Yorker cartoon, IMO.
Tired. Closing the shop early. See you tomorrow.
The Wellington Files 