Brian Graham of the Dull Men’s Club (UK) shared the following with the membership:
For the first time ever!!! This morning when I was preparing my usual breakfast of coffee and toast, the kettle clicked and the toast popped out of the toaster at exactly the same time. What a start to the day! As you can imagine, I will definitely be keeping ’em peeled in the future for such another moment of synchronicity and serendipity. I will have a spring in my step for the rest of the day for sure!
Brian Mansfield: I can’t think of anything worse, did you pour the water while the toast sat cooling in the toaster? Did you prepare your toast while the teabag sat dry and unbrewing in the cup? No, this synchronicity is wrong and not something to be sought after, the kettle should always be slightly ahead so the tea can be poured and brewing as your toast pops and is spread.
Avi Liveson: Those are certainly practical considerations, but they miss the magic of the moment — the universe reaching out to Brian.
Neil Johnson: Quick – go and buy a lottery ticket, or a scratchcard, or something.
Rob Taylor: You’re on the cusp of being too exciting for this group.
Nigel Charles Scriven: FFS [for f*ck’s sake], have you EVER thought about cleaning your toaster, kettle and work surfaces… Looks absolutely fecking rank!
John Hannon: Are you living in a cave in Afghanistan or can’t be arsed to clean up?
Alice Green: Did the ceiling fall down at the same time?
Avi Liveson: Thank you for sharing this! Made my morning too!
How bruising a hitter was Dave Parker? This sentence is taken from his Wikipedia page: “Parker’s power hitting resulted in an at-bat that ‘knocked the cover off the ball’ upon landing in the outfield, complicating the subsequent attempt to return it to play.” The only place I’ve seen that happen is in cartoons.
Parker was born in Grenada Mississippi and died last week from Parkinson’s at the age of 74 in Cincy, 29 days before he was to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. He’ll be inducted posthumously (i.e., after the hummus is served).
Parker was a phenomenal ballplayer. He hit for power and average, ran with great speed, and played right field with an extraordinary throwing arm. His lifetime batting average was .290 for a career that spanned 19 seasons, with 339 homers and 1,493 RBI. He won two batting titles, three gold gloves, was an all-star seven times, and was the NL MVP in 1978. He won the World Series with the Pirates in 1979 and Oakland in 1989.
“I could do it all,” Parker said in a 2019 interview. “I vocalized quite a bit. People tell me that I ‘played angry.’ That’s what I did, and it worked for me. But I always played hard, and I respected my fellow man. I did everything on the field that I could.”
To liven up the clubhouse, Parker made up a t-shirt that said “If you hear any noise, it’s just me and the boys boppin’.” It became quite popular.
Former Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle who had to face Parker’s Pirates as a player said, “Back when I played, when the Pirates showed up, it was like a bad circus was coming to town. They had so many different weapons.”
Parker is survived by his wife Kellye and their six boppin’ kids.
Rest in peace, Dave.
Today’s puzzle, by veteran constructor Adam Wagner, is more than just brilliant: it’s boppin’. The theme is “blinkers,” as in your car: right and left. Try to follow this, it’s complicated. Each long across answer had two letters in circles, the first one an L for the left blinker, and the second an R. You were given two clues. The first is answered with an L in the L circle (blinking on), but the R circle blank, and the second clue, vicey versey (the R “blinking” on, but the L blank).
An example may help. The two clues at 50A were: “Area with no coverage? / Sore loser.” And the answers were BA(L)D SPO(–)T, with the L for the left blinker, but no R; and then BA(–)D SPO(R)T, with the L not there, but the R popping in as the right blinker. Can you see it?
That happened four times for the four theme across answers. But then (!!) where the L and R were, the crossing words also had two clues, one for when the L or R was there and one for when it wasn’t! (Get it? They were “blinking” on and off.) So, e.g., the two down clues at 40D for the L in BALD SPOT were “Does some genetic manipulation on / Some aromatics.” So it was SPLICES with the L, and SPICES without it.
So there were a total of 12 double clues that all worked together as the acrosses “blinked” from L and R, and each L and R “blinked” on and off for the crossing downs.
I don’t think I conveyed how masterful it all was. A wordplay classic, IMO.
And watching all of this from his perch at 7D was the too handsome PEDRO Pascal, clued via his role in The Mandalorian.
Pascal is 50. He had an eventful infancy. He was born in Chile, but his parents were listed as enemies of the Pinochet regime so they took refuge in the Venezuelan Embassy for six months after which they got their asses out of the country and received asylum in Denmark. Pedro was under a year old when all of this was going on, so his feelings were pretty much ignored except for those relating to diaper changes. The family eventually settled in the U.S. and Pedro earned a BFA at NYU. He is unmarried even with that punim but has dated a bunch of actresses he’s worked with, including his equal in gorgeousness, Robin Tunney.
Phil! She’s stuck — put your stupid camera down, and help her up!! What the hell is wrong with you?
Mixed feelings with the Gnats playing Detroit last night — both my teams! Rooted for DC. They took an early small lead and squandered it, as feared, but all hell broke loose in their half of the eighth — six runs for a 9-4 Gnats lead going into the ninth. We didn’t expect much more to happen, but then this did:
Yikes! A superhuman catch by Gnats centerfielder Jacob Young. I love his sweet smile and aw shucks reaction. And Finnegan’s disbelief on the mound. The whole stadium erupted; it was a purely wonderful moment. Kevin Frandsen, the Gnats announcer, praised catcher Riley Adams for going to the mound and stalling for time so the incredulous joy could be extended. The catch was replayed on the big scoreboard screen and you could see Young watching along with the rest of us. Can it be that even he didn’t believe it? Bravo Jacob.
At 8A, the clue was “‘Buffalo soldier, dreadlock _____’ (Bob Marley lyric),” and the answer was RASTA.
I’m just a Buffalo soldier, in the heart of America. Fighting on arrival; fighting for survival.
Finally, at 11D, the clue was “State park in the Santa Monica Mountains” and the answer was TOPANGA. So, turn it up and we’ll let our Topanga Cowgirl send us off tonight. See you tomorrow, when, who knows, maybe the toast will pop at just the right instant again! Do you feel lucky?
We’re heading up to the Berkshires tomorrow with Welly and Wilma for the annual festivities. Will try to broadcast from the motel, but can’t guarantee anything.
Happy Birthday, America! Hang in there.
The Wellington Files 