Welcome to Post #877. That’s not VFW Post #877: it’s Owl Chatter Post #877. Who would have ever imagined there’d be so much nonsense in the world to revel in? Special thanks to the Chatterheads who’ve stuck with it for so long: both of you!
We’re especially excited today because we already know how we’re ending today: with an exquisite six minutes of piano music composed by LUDOVICO EINAUDI. Luddy to his friends (probably not) spanned the entire grid yesterday (a Saturday-level name, for sure). He was clued with “Italian pianist who composed the scores for ‘Nomadland’ and ‘The Father.’”
The Gnats only have fourteen games left. Three of them are in NY against the Mets and will be key to the latter’s playoff hopes. Things looked bleak for the Washington squad as they dropped their last eight contests in August. Ouch. You had to figure morale was low and they’d just limp pathetically through the rest of the season. But they hit September running, taking eight of their first eleven games, pounding out fifteen runs in one of them. Would you have ever guessed they’d only be four games behind the Braves at this point? Of course, the Braves really stunk it up this year.
The young gnucleus of Gnats we are hopeful about are the established stars Abrams at short and Wood in the outfield, and Crews and Lile, also outfielders, who look like the real deal. We hope they keep big Josh Bell (he just turned 33). The pitching rotation (starters) could be solid, especially if Josiah Gray comes back from surgery strongly. The bullpen has a couple of good arms but could use a few more. We’ll see what the new regime does in the off-season.
Linda and I are heading down to say goodbye to the boys at their day game on Tuesday vs. the Atlantans. It’s a rescheduled rainout so we were able to score great seats for a song on Stubhub. Take me out to the ballgame. . . Hey that would be a great XW clue: small amount to pay for an item: SONG.
Here’s a very Steve Postian item from today’s Met Diary. It’s called “Friendly Dog,” and is by Elizabeth Levine.
Dear Diary:
I was walking near Sutton Place Park, and a man with a tail-wagging dog was walking nearby.
I love dogs and I wanted to pet this one, so I asked the man whether his dog was friendly.
“Yes,” he said, continuing on his way. “But I’m not.
At 27A yesterday, the clue was “Batman : Bruce :: Wonder Woman : _____.” It was asking for the first name of Wonder Woman’s civilian identity. Turns out it’s DIANA. Full name: Diana Prince. She has several different origin stories. The most enduring is that she was sculpted from clay by her mother, Queen Hippolyta, and given a life as an Amazon along with superhuman powers as gifts from the Greek gods.
For a time, she had no powers! Gloria Steinem was responsible for the return of Wonder Woman’s original abilities. Offended that the most famous female superhero had been depowered into a boyfriend-obsessed damsel in distress, in 1972 Steinem placed Wonder Woman (in costume) on the cover of the first issue of Ms.
Just months before the decision in Roe v. Wade, science fiction author Samuel R. Delany planned a story for Ms. that culminated in a plainclothes Wonder Woman protecting an abortion clinic. However, Steinem disapproved of Wonder Woman being out of costume, and the controversial story line never happened.
In 2015, Wonder Woman became the first superhero to officiate a same-sex wedding in a comic series. WW herself is bisexual.
Literally dozens of women have portrayed or voiced Wonder Woman over the years. Here’s Natalie Alyn Lind, who did so in 2023.
At 45A, for the clue “Pooped,” the answer was PLUM TUCKERED OUT. Quite a few commenters thought the expression should use “plumb” and not plum. I thought plum was right, but it looks like plumb is righter (so to speak). It comes from a plumb line that gives you an exact vertical line. So if it’s out of plumb it’s not straight — not perfect. So plumb took on the meaning of completely. And expressions arose like plumb out of luck or plumb tuckered out. It morphed into plum out of luck, etc. over the years.
And how about 43A where the clue was “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” We all know that word from Mary Poppins, but what does it mean? In particular: what does it mean in four letters? Well, it’s a nonsense word but it is used for someone who is terrific, hence the answer today: A-ONE.
39A: “Botanical bristles.” I really bristled at that one. Had no idea the answer was AWNS. Apparently, it was a very popular word in crosswords pre-Will Shortz. Yup, here’s the dictionary on it: a stiff bristle, especially one of those growing from the ear or flower of barley, rye, and many grasses. Note, below, the distinction between an awn and the others: the rachilla, the first and second florets, and the upper and lower glumes.
In the following photo, you can ignore segment C, bottom right. That’s my dental x-ray. I don’t know how it got in there. I really need to floss more.
What a treat for us today! — a Ted Kooser poem in The Writer’s Almanac. It’s called “Student.”
The green shell of his backpack makes him lean
into wave after wave of responsibility,
and he swings his stiff arms and cupped hands,
paddling ahead. He has extended his neck
to its full length, and his chin, hard as a beak,
breaks the surf. He’s got his baseball cap on
backward as up he crawls, out of the froth
of a hangover and onto the sand of the future,
and lumbers, heavy with hope, into the library.
This is a cartoon for those of you who, like me, feel there are way too few cartoons about mimes.
And here’s the piano piece by Einaudi I promised you. Hope you’ve got six minutes to let it wash over you. See you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 