You have one of these when you were little? I did.
Or, if, like me, you are partial to blondes (Hi Linda!),
They are Russian matryoshka (nesting) dolls. If you perform a C section on all but the smallest, they fit inside one another. (The Sedaris family had a beach house they named The Sea Section.)
Did I ever tell you about the blonde Russian economics major who was a student in my law class one semester? She was brilliant, tall, and beautiful beyond all normal bounds. It was a large class (90 students) and it met around lunchtime. One day she sat in front way over to my left and she was eating an apple. She was somewhat alluringly dressed — nothing outrageous, but it certainly caught your eye. Anyway, she finished the apple and was holding the core. She noticed that the trash can was way over on the opposite side of the room, to my right. So she quietly got out of her seat, walked over to the trash can, tossed out the core, and walked back to her seat.
Did you ever see the crowd at a tennis match? All the heads turn from side to side in unison as the ball goes back and forth. That’s what this was like. Every head in the room turned together slowly from left to right following her path to the trash can, and then slowly from right to left, as she made her way back to her seat. My head could have turned into a cabbage and no one would have noticed.
I mention the matryoshka dolls because that was the theme of the puzzle today. The clues were “nested” and each segment served as a part of the overall answer. Clear as mud, right? Here’s an example: At 25D, the clue was “(Church (Buffalo’s (minister, informally) waters) seats).” The answer was PEER REVIEWS. The nested parts are PEWS, ERIE, and REV that come together as PE (ER (REV) IE) WS. Can you see it? That happened four times in the theme answers and the entire central down column was MATRYOSHKA DOLLS, clued as “Compact wooden figures.” That’s some serious-ass wordplay, constructor dude (Sam Brody).
At 38A, the clue was “Elvis Costello hit featured in ‘Notting Hill’” and the answer was SHE. Rex took issue with calling it a “hit,” as follows:
Elvis Costello has had precisely two top-forty “hits” in this country in his entire (nearly 50-year) career: “Everyday I Write the Book” (#36, 1983) and “Veronica” (#19, 1989). He has a bunch of songs that feel like hits (“Alison” “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding” etc.), but never actually were, by measurable standards. I think “SHE” has a lot of plays on Spotify, maybe? 1.5 million “views” on YouTube for the video (below). I guess that’s something. But no, it is not a “hit” and never was. Maybe the least “hit” of any song that has ever been described as a “hit” by the NYTXW.
Good tune though.
Let’s dip our toesies for just a second into the river of crap that is the Trump administration that floats by every minute of the day. This is just an excerpt from the dumpster of nonsense historian Heather Cox Richardson covered in her newsletter today:
Yesterday he fell asleep on stage at the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit. At the same event, Trump told what CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale called “an especially odd imaginary tale,” claiming that his uncle, a professor at MIT, had taught Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber. Trump recounted a conversation with his uncle about Kaczynski, but in fact Kaczynski didn’t go to MIT, and Trump’s uncle John died more than a decade before Kaczynski became famous. Today, Trump called the Chair of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell a “terrible Fed chair” and added: “I was surprised he was appointed.” Of course, it was Trump who appointed him.
Deion Sanders has his share of detractors, and then some. I’ve always loved him. The hot-doggiest of hot dogs. As a defensive back, he shut down entire sections of the field for the quarterback. And he had a successful baseball career as his second sport — something Michael Jordan couldn’t make happen, not to diss Jordan. He’s the only player ever to have played in both a Super Bowl (2) and a World Series.
Prime Time (Deion’s nickname) is head football coach at Colorado now, Coach Prime. In that capacity, he had a nice moment that received some attention. A student reporter, 21-year-old Anton Cherico, working as an intern, asked a question at a press conference. Deion started answering and then noticed Cherico was in a wheelchair (as he has been since he was nine). And he said this:
“I’m proud of you and your resilience and what you go through on a daily basis. I’m so darn proud of you, you have no idea. Because I was in a chair at one point with these toes being amputated. And I know what you deal with on a daily basis. I had to change my whole bathroom and put rails in so I could even get on the darn toilet, man. So I understand, and I’m proud of you man, truly.”
Andrew later posted: Thank you Coach Prime. It means the world to me.
One thing Deion is bad at is suicide. At a very dark moment in his life, with his first marriage falling apart, he intentionally drove his car off a 35-foot cliff at 70 mph. “There wasn’t a scratch on me or the car,” Deion said. The man could even hot dog his own suicide!!
Drop by when you’re in Jersey, Coach. Always welcome. Maybe take an Uber, though.
From The Onion:
Bony Soldier Diving On Top Of Grenade Only Makes It Deadlier
I forgot how incredible Maria Sharapova’s tennis career was. At the age of 17 (!) she defeated Serena Williams to win at Wimbledon. She was ranked #1 in the world at age 18. She won 36 tour-level titles, including 5 majors. She is one of only ten women to achieve the career Grand Slam in singles (all four majors).
Maria has been a very successful businesswoman since retiring from tennis. Among other ventures, her candy company Sugarpova reported $20 million in sales in 2019.
Maria has lived in the U.S. since age 7 and speaks English without an accent. She has spoken out against the Russian invasion of Ukraine and has donated funds to support Ukrainian children.
Maria is 38 now and gave birth to a son, Theodore, three years ago. The dad is her fiance, Alexander Gilkes, a British businessman.
See you next time! Thanks for popping by.
The Wellington Files 