When we moaned at breakfast today “something horrible is happening at 1,” Linda knew exactly what we meant. “Jets game?” she asked. This was to be the dawn of a new era: new coach, new quarterback, new defensive and offensive coordinators, etc. And the Jets hit the ground running. The only problem is they’re running in the wrong direction. Their record is now zero wins and six losses and the only reason it’s not worse is they’ve only played six games. Coach Glenn is beginning to be criticized. I would say the honeymoon period is over, except that with the Jets there is no honeymoon: it starts with a funeral. Sigh. Let’s see what happens today against the 3-3 Panthers in Jersey. [Jets lost.]
These members of the Jets “flight crew” are ready. Whoever #10 is may be in for quite a ride.
I haven’t been following the NYC mayoral race but from my disadvantage point in NJ, it look like Zohran Mamdani is going to win. Once I nailed down the m/n progression I came to like the name. I have a cousin named Zoltan (my Uncle Morris’s great grandson). Cuomo has spent his career making people not like him and that’s coming home to roost, it seems. The NYT has a story today on Mamdani impersonators. Neel Ghosh is a comic who does a good job. Mamdani himself is playing with it. He recently set up two look-alikes to appear at events simultaneously and posted: “I can’t be two places at once. Or can I?”
Here’s Ghosh out of character.
The constructor of yesterday’s NYTXW, Samuel Smalley, took some heat for his clue/answer at 1A. The clue was “Measure of rank in Maori culture, informally,” and the answer was FACETAT. It turns out the Maori markings are sacred and meaningful and calling them face tattoos is disrespectful. They are called Ta Moko. Receiving moko constitutes an important milestone between childhood and adulthood, and is accompanied by many rites and rituals. Apart from signalling status and rank, another reason for the practice in traditional times was to make a person more attractive to the opposite sex. Men generally received moko on their faces (moko kanohi), buttocks (raperape) and thighs (puhoro). Women usually wore moko on their lips (ngutu) and chins (kauae). Other parts of the body known to have moko include women’s foreheads, buttocks, thighs, necks and backs and men’s backs, stomachs, and calves.
At 24D, “Bonheur who painted “Ploughing in the Nivernais” was ROSA. Here’s the work:
Bonheur was widely considered the most famous female painter of the nineteenth century and was best known for painting animals. (To be clear, she made paintings of animals – she did not paint on animals.) She was openly lesbian and dressed in men’s clothing at a time when neither was acceptable in society. Here’s a portrait of Rosa, painted by Edouard Dubufe. Rosa painted the bull herself (not kidding).
Today’s puzzle by Daniel Grinberg is called “Same Difference.” (In the NYT, only Sunday puzzles have names. And they are larger than the dailies: 21 x 21, as opposed to 15 x 15.) At six places in the grid there is a circled square. And in each of those both the down and across answers are correct whether you fill in the circled square or leave it blank. Thus, “same difference.” For example, at 112A, the clue is “Annoyances for ticketholders.” If you fill the circle in with a T, you get (T)RAIN DELAYS. See? Both rain delays and train delays answer the clue. And it works going down as well. At 112D the clue is “Decorative auto upgrade,” and you get (T)RIM: both trim and rim work. That happens six times in the puzzle. Here’s another one COUNT(R)IES and COUNTIES (“Divisions on a map”), work with BU(R)STS and BUSTS (“Ruptures”).
That would be enough wordplay to justify the puzzle for me, though it’s not particularly exciting a play. But there are two additional features that take it to another level. First, the six circled letters are placed symmetrically in the grid, and, second, the six circled letters spell (in order) DROP IT.
33A was clever. The clue was “Fights back tears?” and the answer was DARNS. Get it? Like to darn a sock. The ? in the clue tips you off that something funny is going on,
There was a gay mini-theme, which I liked, given the dreadful anti-LGBTQ bigotry in the air. At 28D, for “Openly reveal one’s sexuality,” the answer was COME OUT, crossed by CLOSET. And at 114A, “Palm Springs or Puerto Vallarta, notably” was the clue for GAY MECCA.
Puerto Vallarta’s in Mexico. In addition to great beaches, the town looks neat.
We had the most perfect day. Shot down to Princeton for Princeton Pro Musica’s Bachtoberfest, followed by brilliant burgers and a Fiddlehead ale at the Rocky Hill Tavern.
It was an outstanding concert. Several Bach concertos in the first half, and exquisite choral works in the second. We came early for the conductor’s talk and he was terrific. Get this: at one point he told us to note that the trumpets that will be played will be the old-fashioned kind, without valves to press. There are several air holes the players can use to affect the sound, but some high notes will depend entirely on the player’s use of lip muscles. Amazing! So the cabbie in our Harry James story yesterday was right: It’s all in the lip!
Don’t the pretzel look good! See you tomorrow, Chatterheads! Thanks for stopping by.
The Wellington Files 