Nina Rachel Gordon Shapiro is Jewish and has a degree in art history from Tufts. She’s 57 now, but back in the 90’s, using the name Nina Gordon, she joined Louise Post to form the alt-rock band Veruca Salt, named after the spoiled-rotten rich girl from the 1964 children’s book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. Nina’s batting lead-off for us today because their first hit was called “Seether” and Rex shared it with us because he was reminded of it by TEETHER which was in the puzzle as the answer to “Something to chew on.” Like for a baby. Here’s Nina, and then the song. (The drummer is Nina’s brother Jim.) I think I missed that whole decade.
Carl Ives, of the Dull Men’s Club (UK) posted the following: I am the proud owner of a dehumidifier the use of which to dry clothes is far too exciting for this club. However, I was wondering is the water that collects a distilled water and drinkable or would it be tainted with the residue of the detergent used to wash the clothes?
Some comments:
Chris Bater: Try it and let us know what it’s like, if you live long enough.
Stuart Kerr: I used to top up the goldfish tank with the water from the dehumidifier in the belief that it was pure water, the goldfish didn’t thank me.
Rowan Diaper: I put some round my plants. They weren’t happy for a few weeks. I think it burnt the leaves.
Scott Richardson: We have one in the chapel of our church. Being a typical church, the building gets very damp and the dehumidifier will collect a couple of litres of water every 2 days. So, because our diocese is striving for more eco-friendly buildings, we’re considering keeping the water for baptisms. This will reduce water consumption and hopefully our water bills.
Mary Lucille Hindmarch: that should discourage the devil & all his works.
Murray Atkinson: Have you checked the cost of water? You’ll be saving about 0.2p per day on water. Turn the de-humidifier off for 5 minutes to save more than that on electricity.
Stephen Arthur: Yeah drink it, it will be fine – water is always fine – any clothing chemicals will just help the body absorb the microplastic from your food which we all know is good for everyone
Jan Close: I think there’s a village looking for you.
Former World Chess Champion Boris Spassky died on Thursday in Moscow, at the age of 88. Cause of death: Pawn to King’s 4. He was a very thoughtful and deliberate man. A close friend once remarked: “I love having lunch with Boris, but it takes him ten minutes to pass the salt.” As a toddler, he studied chess at his mother’s knee: they couldn’t afford a set.
Spassky earned the title of “grandmaster” in 1956 at the of 19. He was best known for his match with Bobby Fischer in 1972. Fischer was portrayed as a lone gunslinger boldly taking on the might of the Soviet chess machine, with Spassky representing the repressive Soviet empire. But in reality Fischer was a spoiled 29-year-old man-child, often irascible and difficult, and Spassky, at 35, was urbane, laid back and good-natured. Fischer drove Spassky and the officials nuts with crazy demands and won 12.5 to 8.5.
Spassky’s position in Russia was diminished after losing and he moved to France for a time via his marriage to Marina Stcherbatcheff, a beautiful woman whom he loved deeply despite never being able to spell her name. “She has me under her spell,” he often joked, though it never got a laugh and their friends found it tiresome. Here’s Marina S.
In all, Spassky was married three times and all three ended in divorce. His second wife was pretty too: Larisa Zakharovna Solovyova. He used to joke that she was impressed with his “moves,” again to nobody’s amusement.
Despite the bitterness of the 1972 match, Fischer and Spasskey became great friends later in life and staged a rematch which Fischer again won. Fischer said of him “Spassky sits at the board with the same dead expression whether he’s mating or being mated. He can blunder away a piece and you are never sure whether it’s a blunder or a fantastically deep sacrifice.”
Here’s how the obit in the NYT ends:
Mr. Spassky’s warm feelings for Mr. Fischer were genuine, as he showed in 2004, when Mr. Fischer was arrested in Japan for not having a valid passport and was threatened with deportation to the U.S. to face charges for violating the sanctions against Yugoslavia. Before Mr. Fischer was ultimately released and sent to Iceland, Mr. Spassky sent a letter to President Bush, asking for clemency.
“Bobby and I committed the same crime,” he wrote. “Put sanctions against me also. Arrest me. And put me in the same cell with Bobby Fischer. And give us a chess set.”
Spassky is survived by his son, three grandsons, a knight, and two bishops.
Rest in peace, Grandmaster.
At 15D, “Shape of the border between yin and yang,” was ESS. I was given the assignment to use that answer in sentences, along with AENEID, (Thomas) PAINE, and ERODED. Here’s what I came up with:
AENEID to re-read Virgil like I need a hole in the head.
Solving parts of the puzzle today was a real PAINE in the ESS.
‘ERODED ‘is ‘orse into town.
At 39A, for the clue “Mafiosi,” the clue was MADE MEN. So it got me wondering: When the mafiosi go to war and “take to the mattresses,” are those “made beds?”
[And you thought Spassky’s jokes were bad!]
Enjoy the Oscars! See you tomorrow.
The Wellington Files 