At 37D today the clue was “Feature of the Brontë sisters but not the Brothers Grimm?” That’s a challenging clue for a Tuesday. You need experience in knowing what to look for. The answer, of course, is breasts. D’oh! Just kidding! It’s those two little dots over the e in Brontë. They are called DIERESIS. They look like an umlaut, but they operate differently.
An umlaut tells you the pronunciation of the vowel under it is different from the usual. An umlaut is only used over a, o, and u. Dieresis tells you to pronounce the vowel under it as opposed to letting it go by silently. So if you put dots over the i in naive, that’s dieresis, letting you know not to just say nave. Similarly, the dots in Brontë tell you to pronounce the e, and not just say bront.
Another difficult clue in the puzzle was at 44D: “Korean dish similar to sushi rolls.” Answer: KIMBAP.
You could use both in a sentence as follows: “I was up all night in the bathroom with dieresis; should not have ordered the kimbap.”
The theme today was names of rock bands that were applied literally. For example, for the clue “Red Hot Chili Peppers,” the answer was CAROLINA REAPERS. (That’s the name of a hot pepper.) For the clue “They Might Be Giants,” the answer was BASEBALL PLAYERS.
Commenter Lewis shared with us how the band got the name “They Might Be Giants.” They took it from a film of that name and it derives from a passage in Don Quixote where DQ mistakes windmills for evil giants. (If you like stuff like that, there’s a book on how bands got their names called “Rock Formations.”)
Headline from The Onion:
Cardinal Who Spent Easter Dinner Telling Pope To Ease Off The Butter Feeling Pretty Vindicated
Also, this local item:
Grandmother Palms Grandson $10 Like She’s Fixing Boxing Match
Is Jim Morrison of The Doors still dead? A documentary came out in January that says he’s alive and living in Syracuse, NY. Here’s the trailer.
And here’s a photo of Jim taken recently:
Actually, that’s a photo of a man named Frank X, a maintenance man for Wegman’s, who some believe is Morrison. The thinking is Morrison faked his death way back then in Paris. In fact, there was never an autopsy, and his Social Security Number remains active (and traces to NY). His girlfriend gave conflicting answers as to his demise. Here she is: Pamela Courson.
The minor league baseball team in Syracuse (the Mets) held a promotion earlier this month in which they invited Frank to throw out the first ball (see below). They also invited anyone who looks like Jim Morrison to attend and they held a Jim Morrison look-alike contest. Nine people entered the contest. Only one looked at all like Morrison, though. (He won.) When asked directly whether he was Jim Morrison, Frank said no. But, then, what would you expect him to say?
The USA defeated Canada in the finals of the Women’s World Hockey Championship in the Czech Republic last night. It was a hell of a game. Canada was down 3-2 with under six minutes to go when OC fave Sarah Fillier scored the tying goal! Brava Sarah!! Then, 17 minutes into overtime, Tessa Janecke scored the game winner for the U.S. Good game ladies. We’ll see you again at the Olympics in February.
See you next time!! Thanks for stopping in.
The Wellington Files 