In yesterday’s NYTXW, there was a clue “What two toddlers should learn to do,” and the answer, of course, was SHARE. Easy, right? I had no trouble with it, nor did it raise my hackles. You heard me — not a single hackle of mine perked up in the slightest. But it set Rex off big time:
“Man I hated this clue. ‘Should?’ What are you, Dr. Spock all of a sudden? There’s no reason ‘two toddlers’ (!?) should learn to do anything. Without a clear parental POV here, or some kind of hypothetical indicator, this clue reads weird. Prescriptive in a bizarre, unclear, off-putting way. Why not just ‘What parents might teach toddlers to do with their toys?’ Less wordy, but in that vein. The ‘two’ is also odd, and oddly specific. Honestly this clue looks like it’s referring to some imaginary toddler joke, a la ‘how many toddlers does it take to …’ or ‘two toddlers walk into a bar …’ or something like that.”
So I made up the joke and posted it:
How many toddlers does it take to change a light bulb?
Timmy! Get off the table this instant!!
I can’t recall if Cher has popped by OC before. We always liked her, both her music and acting. Thought Sonny was in over his head. Anyway, she was in the grid yesterday as “One-named singer of ‘If I Could Turn Back Time.’” It’s a good tune, but what the hell is she wearing? It’s the least sexy sexy outfit imaginable. But what do I know? — the sailors seem happy.
This poem by Jack Gilbert from today’s Writer’s Almanac is called “Cherishing What Isn’t.”
Ah, you three women whom I have loved in this
long life, along with the few others.
And the four I may have loved, or stopped short
of loving. I wander through these woods
making songs of you. Some of regret, some
of longing, and a terrible one of death.
I carry the privacy of your bodies
and hearts in me. The shameful ardor
and the shameless intimacy, the secret kinds
of happiness and the walled-up childhoods.
I carol loudly of you among trees emptied
of winter and rejoice quietly in summer.
A score of women if you count love both large
and small, real ones that were brief
and those that lasted. Gentle love and some
almost like an animal with its prey.
What is left is what’s alive in me. The failing
of your beauty and its remaining.
You are like countries in which my love
took place. Like a bell in the trees
that makes your music in each wind that moves.
A music composed of what you have forgotten.
That will end with my ending.
A bruising fight blew up over the clue/answer at 32D today: “Vampire bat feature.” Answer: FANGS.
First comment: Vampire bats do not have fangs!!!!! No sucking involved. They lap up the blood from wounds they cut into their prey.
Angry reply: Yes they do! They may not be the long long, pointy things that are prevalent in fictional accounts, but they do have sharp incisors and canines (which is basically the definition of FANGS) intended to create a wound for blood consumption. Hell, there are even some spiders that have FANGS.
Okay, break it up fellas. Easy does it now.
[OC Note: Phil is refusing to get us a photo — they are too creepy. They clearly do have fangs though (for when you are asked to take a side).]
More picking of nits: ORCA was clued as a “deep sea predator” today. And jberg posted: I hope some of you are marine biologists, and can clear up my doubts about ORCAS as “deep sea predators.” Orcas spend most of their time in coastal waters, not the deep sea, but there is at least one study that tracked a dive of 700+ meters. But to me the clue suggests something that lives down deep — which by definition would not be a mammal.
I responded under the name G. Costanza and wrote: I’m a marine biologist, but must have been absent that day. Have no idea.
Amy ADAMS was in the puzzle yesterday. In case “Actress Amy” wasn’t enough of a clue for ADAMS, the constructor added “or President John Quincy.” Amy was enough for me. Beautiful shot, Philly.
Here she is again, upon receiving the award for “Most Red Hair.”
Amy was born in Aviano Italy while her dad was serving in the U.S. Army. She has four brothers and two sisters and is 50 now. She met her husband in an acting class in 2001 and they have a daughter, Aviana. He is Darren Le Gallo, a painter, actor, and filmmaker. Phil caught this shot of them accepting the “Most Hair Award, Couples” several years ago. Their shampoo budget exceeds the GNP of most countries.
And this one took home the least hair award. Hi Maevs!
The clue for ATOM was “Basic building block.” Egs thought a better clue would have been “The first half of the alphabet.”
Story from The Onion:
Search For Missing Child Drags On To Fourth Boring Day
PICKETT, TN—The search for area fourth-grader Allison Means, who disappeared Friday evening, has entered its fourth boring day, volunteers and law-enforcement officials said Monday.
“The first day or two was okay, I guess,” said Clay Watts, a nearby resident who has been participating in the search since Saturday morning. “But now it’s been four days, and she still hasn’t turned up. The cops arrange us in these straight, long lines, and we advance 10 feet at a time. This goes on for hours. I’ve never been so bored in my life. Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored.”
“I’ve lived here all my life, but you really don’t realize how dull the area is until you’ve participated in a search for a missing 9-year-old,” volunteer Shirley Snow said. “It’s a shame there are no gently rolling hills or picturesque windmills around here—you know, something pleasing to the eye. Besides that ugly abandoned farmhouse, which we’ve been through six times already, there’s nothing.”
The Trump Epstein mess has been delicious, but I predict it will blow over. We will never see the files. The NYT already said today the brainless hordes are being distracted by the shiny toys he’s throwing their way. The thing is, Trump is the only thing that gives meaning to their lives. Without him, it’s an unbearable void. He can betray them relentlessly (and is), and it won’t matter.
Speaking of betrayals, I received a response today from UPenn’s president Jameson to my one-word letter (“Disgraceful”) on their fu*king over a trans student athlete, kissing Trump’s ass, and abandoning all pretensions of decency. I expected a nice bucket of horseshit and was not disappointed. “Penn’s commitment to fostering a respectful and inclusive environment has not wavered.” But it has. It has vanished.
I’m not going to waste my time responding. I have other things to waste my time on.
Let’s repair a culture gap.
K-pop has been bouncing into the puzzles for years now (pop music originating in South Korea). The answer is almost always BTS, a popular boy group. But a group I never heard of is filling up Citi Field next weekend, like the Beatles did at Shea a million years ago. According to The New Yorker “its biggest singles are possessed by a zany hyperactivity offset by a blasé cool.” They are Black Pink, the most successful K-pop girl group ever. Let’s have a look (they are ridiculously pretty), and then they can send us off with their biggest hit, “Kill This Love,” performed in Tokyo to an intimate audience of several zillion.
Thanks for stopping by. See you next time.
The Wellington Files 