The following was posted by Jose Rodgers of the Dull Men’s Club (UK), for obvious reasons:
But Robert Haggar threw us all in a tizzy:
As someone who uses and orders a lot of fixings and fittings, they’re not called those names at all.
Jonathan Page: Go on then!
Robert: [Examples provided.]
[Arrrrgh! The post was removed before I could mine it for more dull matter. This happens sometimes. It’s very upsetting. I had posted the following comment: A friend went on an all-nuts diet. Now he’s a shell of his former self.]
Happy Birthday to the Indian-American novelist Raja Rao who was born in India on this date in 1908 and passed away in Austin Texas at the age of 97. Wikipedia notes that his works are deeply rooted in metaphysics. I am too stupid to know what that means, and, of course, I have not heard of him. But the Writer’s Almanac shares this opening of his first novel Kanthapura written when he was just 21:
Our village — I don’t think you have ever heard about it — Kanthapura is its name, and it is in the province of Kara. High on the Ghats is it, high up the steep mountains that face the cool Arabian seas, up the Malabar coast is it, up Mangalore and Puttur and many a center of cardamom and coffee, rice and sugar cane. Roads, narrow, dusty, rut-covered roads, wind through the forest of teak and of jack, of sandal and of sal, and hanging over bellowing gorges and leaping over elephant-haunted valleys, they turn now to the left and now to the right and bring you through the Alambè and Champa and Mena and Kola passes into the great granaries of trade.
It’s the prettiest time of the year here at Owl Chatter headquarters in Chatham NJ. I wrote this haiku:
Red and yellow leaves
Against the blue of the sky
Good to take a walk
Today at 3pm the Princeton Women’s Ice Hockey team will face off against St. Lawrence, and we’ll be there to cover it. I checked the roster and found a defensewoman for Princeton from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, with the great name of Brooklyn Nimegeers. Don’t let the sweet smile fool you — you’ll be picking up your teeth with broken fingers if you look at her funny.
The puzzle today was slammed as way too easy for a Saturday, and I agree. But 58A was an outlier, and then some. “Mali Empire ruler who single-handedly made the value of gold almost worthless by giving away so much of it.” Answer: MANSA MUSA. Makes you wonder: If he was a little tight, would Mansa Musa take Metamucil? (Asking for a friend.)
Right above that the clue for ROOT CANAL was “Job for a driller?”
At a ROOT CANAL I had years ago, before the doc started drilling, the assistant placed a tissue in my left hand and explained that they called it the “white flag.” I was supposed to wave it if I felt “discomfort,” and the doc would pause. I asked: Won’t the shrieking tip him off?
A couple of Big Ten states crossed right at the start. Caitlin Clark’s college was tapped for IOWA right at 1A. And I missed the baseball reference in the clue “Red state?” The answer was OHIO and the “Red” was a Cincinnati Red, the consensus was: not politics.
Hi Caity — good to see you again! Put those million dollar legs up and relax with a Diet Coke. George is back so we’re well stocked. You’re looking great! Folks okay?
Another guest today was Liz Olsen, clued via her role in Wandavision. Gorgeous. Grab a cold one, Babe. Cait — shove over. You know each other? Loved Wind River, Liz.
Liz, 36 now, is sister to the Olsen twins, of course, Mary-Kate and Ashley, and has an older brother Trent, who apparently can go f*ck himself for all anyone cares. She’s from California, but went to school at NYU, and has been married to the musician Robbie Arnett since 2019. They live in LA.
11D was interesting. The clue was “Phrase spoken by a dog in a burning room, in a 2010s meme,” and the answer was THIS IS FINE. Apparently, there was a cartoon in which a dog is having coffee while the room is in flames and he’s saying “This is fine.” It became a popular meme for obliviousness, I guess, or the phrase was used to mean its opposite.
At 26A, the clue was “John Coltrane album whose title suggests making major progress,” and the answer was GIANT STEPS. I’m not a big jazz fan, so I’m going to opt for this Taj Mahal tune Rex shared along with the Coltrane.
Good luck getting your food stamps. See you tomorrow, Chatterheads!
The Wellington Files 