In the puzzle yesterday at 41A the clue was “Torn” and the answer was RENT. A few folks had some trouble with it. Here’s one exchange:
Q. Why does torn = rent?
A. Because that’s one meaning of rent????
Carola wrote: I associate the word with the Bible – in the translation I grew up with, people would “rend” their clothes as a sign of grief and distress. Example: In Genesis 37:34, Jacob believes his son Joseph as been killed: “And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.” When I was growing up, my family read aloud a chapter of the Bible every evening, so I had many encounters with rent garments.
And I added: I had to rent a tuxedo when my daughter got married. That’s different, right? I managed to avoid crying during the ceremony until I saw the catering bill.
Today, for the clue “Average booster,” the answer was EASY A. (Get it?) Gary remarked that an Easy D would have boosted his average.
The Yankees have a minor league pitcher in their system named Griffin Herring. At 6′ 2″ and 196 pounds, he is by far the largest Herring ever caught, er, drafted. The Yanks just picked him for the halibut, but he’s exceeding all expectations in his performances so far.
Surprisingly, he’s not Jewish, but Max Fried, who is Jewish, was quite excited to learn the Yanks have Herring in their system. While many pitchers submerge their pitching arms in an ice bath after their starts, Griffin keeps a large vat of cream sauce in the clubhouse instead.
Herring played college ball at LSU and excelled in the Florida State League with the Tampa Tarpons (not kidding) and was named the league’s Player of the Month for May! He’s been promoted to the Hudson Valley Renegades.
To avoid confusion, we are picturing, below, first a tarpon and then a Herring.
In keeping with the theme, this poem by Louis Jenkins from today’s Writer’s Almanac is called “Fishing Below the Dam.”
On summer evenings the workingmen gather to fish
in the swift water below the dam. They sit on the
rocks and are silent for the most part, looking into
the water and casting again and again. Lines tangle,
tackle is lost and a fisherman curses to himself. No
one notices. It is simply a part of the routine, like the
backs of their wives in bed at night or short words
to the children in the morning. Only the water holds
their attention, crashing through the spillway with
enough force behind it to break a man’s back. And
the undertow could take you as easily as a bit of
fish line and toss you ashore miles downstream.
The men shout to be heard above the roar of the
water. ANY LUCK? NO I JUST GOT HERE.
We had a rollicking good time with the Tartan Terrors over in Sellersville PA Thursday night. The opening announcement to turn off our cellphones, etc., included telling us that drinking milk in the audience was prohibited. The concern was that something funny might be said and we’d snort it out all over our neighbor. Makes sense.
What a tight good band! They wore kilts but none of them had nice legs except for the fiddler, who, as luck would have it, was the one woman in the band. She also did some mean step dancing when called upon. Most of them are Canadian. Here’s a sample of their work. They introduced the song by looking about the audience and asking if Martin were there. “We saw him earlier — ah, there he is. Martin — this song is for you. It’s called Kiss My Ass.”
Turn it up!! (That motto they shout at the end is “England forever! — and Scotland just a wee bit longer.”)
At 27D today there was a nifty clue, viz., “Vehicles seen in the films ‘Dazed and Confused’ and ‘Two-Lane Blacktop’” for GTOS. In the latter movie, “the sparse, existentialist plot follows a group of street racers during a cross-country race through the American Southwest.” Its Rotten Tomatoes rating is 92%/81%. James Taylor (yes, that James Taylor) is one of the stars. Also in it as the love interest was Laurie Bird, who had a small role in “Annie Hall” as Paul Simon’s girlfriend. She also IRL dated Art Garfunkel and, sadly, committed suicide in his apartment when she was just 25 via an overdose of Valium. Her mom also committed suicide around that age when Laurie was just a baby. Here’s Laurie.
Garfunkel was greatly affected by her death. She is pictured on his album “Breakaway,” and another of his albums is dedicated to her.
Mitch Hedberg: “I saw a commercial that said: ‘Forget everything you know about slipcovers.’ So I did. And it was a load off my mind. Then they tried to sell me some slipcovers —- but I didn’t know what the hell they were.”
“I got a belt on, that’s holding up my pants. And my pants have belt loops that are holding up my belt. I don’t know what’s really happening down there. Who is the real hero?”
I have a new dentist because Kevin retired. He seems good. When I paid his bill Rosie handed me some papers. They were different from the ones I was used to. I said “I can use these for my insurance? Because they look different.” She assured me that I can, that they contain all the required information. So I faxed in the claim and received a letter asking me for some information that was not included on the papers. Among the missing items were the dentist’s name and ID number. D’oh! Is it me, or does that seem like basic info?
See you tomorrow. Thanks for stopping in.
The Wellington Files 