From our “You Cannot Make This Stuff Up” Dept. The subtleties of the video Trump posted on “No Kings” day elude me. In it he’s piloting a fighter jet and spewing sh*t, literally, on the protesters below. What’s he trying to say?
And last week, when HuffPost asked at a press briefing who chose Hungary as the site of an upcoming meeting between Trump and Putin, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded, “Your mom did.” (Not kidding.)
I gotta admit it, between that sexy photo of KL we posted recently and her “your mom” response, she’s starting to win me over. Bondi’s got the looks, but lacks the charm. Although what Leavitt has is more like counter-charm. Still not convinced? How about this baby tuxedo? Adorbs?
How’s this for awkward? For wanting the earth to swallow you up? It was at the Miss Grand International beauty contest in Thailand. A pretty big deal in that world. Seventy-six knockouts adorned the stage, nervously hoping to be among the 22 finalists. When Miss Panama heard herself called, she covered her face with her hands in joy, marched down the steps, and posed for ten seconds as they had been instructed. So what’s the problem? They hadn’t called “Panama.” They called “Paraguay.”
Oopsies. “Aaah, I beg your pardon, I announced Miss Paraguay,” the host said, drawing out the long, awkward silence. “There is a lot of noise in this hall, packed full of fans from all over the world,” he added trying to allay her rising suicidal feelings.
Here’s what the miffed Miss Paraguay looks like. She’ll live.
There was so much to unpack from today’s puzzle. First of all, did you know SHEILA is a term for women in Australia? The equivalent of “bloke” for men. In fact, the clue at 39D was “Young woman, in Australia.” From what I gather, it was a very common term in the past, and still is in rural areas. But it may be taking on derogatory baggage these days. Rex linked us to a discussion in Reddit that contained the following notes (among many others):
“I think these usual terms of endearment/referral (Sheila, chick, missus, bitch) can come off as offensive because they can be interpreted as dehumanising. Even if the user doesn’t mean it maliciously, to me when I’m referred to as those terms it makes me feel like an object, someone who’s name men (or others) don’t bother to learn. It’s like being referred to as a girl when I’m a woman – it diminishes who I am as a woman. Men may not feel this way when referred to as bloke/dude etc because they’re (usually) not made to feel that they’re lower in the hierarchy.”
Reply: “Bitch is not in the same category as those others. If I was talking to a bloke and he referred to his partner as a bitch I would think he’s a fuckhead, the other ones would be fine.”
“I’m a female Aussie.. the term Sheila is one I grew up with.. Not offensive at all.. I just think of it as an Aussie slang for woman..”
These four Sheilas (Gorry, Catley, Kerr, and Foord) are on Australia’s Women’s World Cup soccer team that made it to the semi-finals in 2023, the first time in eight appearances the team made it that far. Brava ladies!
The puzzle had WORLD SERIES as its central answer, clued with “Climactic baseball event,” but it was not otherwise baseball-related. The “series” referred to a series of numbers (via wordplay) in other parts of the world — a “world series.” DOS (2 in Spanish), FIRE (4 in Danish), OTTO (8 in Italian), and SEIZE (16 in French). That series in turn related to nuclear FISSION in some way (don’t ask), which was the answer at 26D (“Atomic reaction”). And the OTTO referred to above, was OTTO HAHN who discovered nuclear fission. FUSION was tossed in for good measure at 3D, albeit clued nonnuclearly with “Kind of cuisine.”
There was other fun stuff today too. 25D: “David Bowie’s astronaut persona.” Eight letters. For some reason I couldn’t let go of STARDUST, as in Ziggy Stardust, but all the crosses fought me. Of course, it turned out to be MAJOR TOM, duh.
And there was this great clue/answer at 8D: “You got that right!” was the clue. It’s an expression I like to use. But the answer was new to me: SING IT! Fantastic. If you need one example of why I love crossword puzzles so much, that might be it. Sing it, Mojambo!
And this at 34D: “Sara Bareilles musical set in a diner.” Answer: WAITRESS.
I usually root for the Tampa Bay Bucs if I’m watching a game of theirs. It’s because their coach is Todd Bowles. He was a defensive back as a player and he’s their head coach now. He stands very still with his headset on and watches the game intently. Linda once asked me if he was a person (i.e., or a statue) and she wasn’t kidding.
My heart goes out to him because for four years he was the coach of the Jets. They went 10-6 his first year and almost made the playoffs. But by the time he left, their record was down to 4-12. He wrote a memoir of those years and bookstores display it along with the memoirs of Holocaust survivors.
Headlines from The Onion:
Anthropomorphologists Find Earliest Known Evidence Of Banana Walking Upright
Study: Pretending Everything’s Okay Works
CAMBRIDGE, MA—A study released Thursday by researchers at Harvard University’s Psychology Department has found that the simple act of pretending one’s life is not a complete shambles threatening to collapse at any moment works. “Even when everything is coming apart at the seams and disaster is almost certainly imminent, putting up a good front for friends and loved ones makes everything better,” said Professor Chris Wanamaker. “Smiling a lot and evasive answers are usually enough to get by. Tell everyone that things are fine, and they will be fine. Just don’t over-think it.”
Damian Kimmi Marritt of the Dull Men’s Club (UK) reports as follows: I’m on holiday in Keswick and we went to the Derwent Pencil Museum. It was far too exciting for me, but my 17 year old son didn’t seem to enjoy it as much as I did. I now know how to wrap a map of Europe up small enough to be hidden inside a pencil along with a compass as was issued to air crews during the second World War.
Steve Craig: I don’t see the point.
Gary John: Didn’t hold my dog’s attention for very long.
Tony Phillips: I went there once but apparently my post wasn’t dull enough for the admin to approve.
David Stiles: Are you the Anthony Phillips who preceded Steve Hackett as the lead guitarist of Genesis?
Tony: I wish.
Clare Lorraine Payne: Cuckoo clock museum in Cheshire, that’s worth a visit….maybe a little over stimulating what with the noises.
Steve Foote: You should try the Barometer museum in Barnstaple.
Tim Bucknall: Surely the spiritual home of the DMC.
Aimee Yates: The Museum of Drainage in Prickwillow near Cambridge surprised me by being quite interesting!
Sarah Harris: I plan to take my grandson on a re-creation of the movie Sightseers (without the murder parts, probably) in a campervan when he is 4 or 5. The pencil museum will of course be one of the highlights.
Avi Liveson: But the murders were the best parts!
See you tomorrow, Chatterheads! Thanks for popping in.
The Wellington Files 