I hit a bit of a groove today when looking for bad puns in the puzzle. I worked with the following: BAATH (“Old Syrian political party whose name means ‘resurrection’”); SALUD (“Spanish blessing”); a trio of ETHOS (“Spirit of an era”), ATHOS (“Alexandre Dumas’s Count de la Fère”), and OATHS (“Vows you may stand for”); YEN (“Hunger”); and NOMEANFEAT (“A significant accomplishment”).
Here’s what I came up with:
What Mary’s little lamb needed after playing in the mud: a BAATH
When Trump took office, a number of anti-immigrant churches adopted a rule prohibiting Spanish blessings. They continue to enforce this SALUD bar.
Ironically, the ETHOS of ATHOS includes OATHS to avoid anagrams.
The famed cellist’s urge to strike it rich in Japan: Yo-Yo’s YEN YEN
School ban on kicking at recess: No Mean Feet!
Yo-Yo Ma’s daughter Emily did not want him playing the cello at her wedding. (Not kidding.) She wanted him to “just be a dad.” He danced with her to “My Girl.” She’s a lawyer in a hot-shot NYC firm.
Got sunshine?
You know those headlines that are funny because they are condensed to remove little words that would prevent confusion? They have a special name. But first, here are some examples:
“Squad Helps Dog Bite Victim”
“Child’s Stool Great for Use in Garden”
“Missing Woman Remains Found”
My favorite may be: “British Left Waffles on Falklands.”
And the scariest is: “Gator Attacks Puzzle Experts.”
Anyway, the name for them was in the puzzle today, clued with “Term for an ambiguously worded news headline.” They are called CRASH BLOSSOMS.
The term “crash blossom” came from a headline on a story about a violinist whose career was taking off and whose dad was killed in a famous plane crash: “Violinist Linked to JAL Crash Blossoms.” When an editor asked “What’s a crash blossom?” another gentleman suggested that the term could be used for them and it stuck.
The more I learned about the puzzle today, the more it blew me away. At 28A, for the clue “Arboreal symbol in Billie Holiday’s ‘Strange Fruit,’” the answer was POPLAR TREE. First, learned from Commenter Carolbb that the song was originally a poem written by Abel Meeropol, who, with his wife, adopted the children of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg after they were executed.
More to the point, Holiday described the song as her personal protest. In it the image of “strange fruit” serves as a shocking metaphor for bodies hanging from trees, the victims of racist lynch mobs.
“Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.”
Holiday described how the song would allow her “angriest and strongest voice” to emerge, and how she would have to think long and hard about when the song ought to be performed, and for whom. She nearly always saved the song until last, after which she would leave the stage and go straight to the backroom, where she would be physically sick. It resonated with her personally because her father died after being turned away from a hospital because he was a Black man.
It is not for the faint of heart.
What better way to regain our balance than with a sexy violinist? We’ll be seeing the NJ Symphony tomorrow and they are featuring Francesca Dego performing Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto #2. Here she is with no strings attached.
The average age at these Sunday matinee performances is slightly above 90. So the drooling may get out of hand.
Speaking of orchestras, if you get the chance to see the Westside Chamber Players perform, go. They are brilliant young musicians based in NYC, committed to performing free concerts for audiences in the area. We caught them in a beautiful old church in Hoboken last night.
Linda’s seat neighbor mentioned that the orchestra’s size was good for performing Mozart (the Jupiter). It was comprised of around 30-35 musicians, including twelve tubas. (Kidding about the tubas. Can’t resist tuba jokes.) The NJ Symphony is way larger and the comment made me think about that. So I undertook a massive research project on the matter. You know, a minute or two online. Found this:
During the 18th century, the average orchestra was probably at most 20-22 musicians. Haydn’s orchestra when working for the Esterhazy family was often no more than 14-16 players. For Mozart when he was in Vienna, there actually was no “orchestra” as such, but musicians were contracted by the composer for individual performances. The same was true as late as Beethoven’s time (usually around 8 pm), though the concept of community orchestras had started to spread. Even so, the orchestras were usually much smaller than might be thought.
I know. SRSLY. Who cares?
Here’s Francesca again. This time with strings. Could you plotz?
When it is said that the team you root for is “inconsistent,” that’s generally a bad thing. But the Gnats have been so bad for so long, to find that they are inconsistent implies they at least have flashes of competence. Last night, e.g., we went to sleep with them tied 3-3 in the ninth against a tough Brewer squad in Milwaukee. Hope was hard to come by. But they exploded for a bunch o’ runs and held on for a very nice win. We’ll try to catch them tonight.
See you tomorrow, Chatterheads. Thanks for popping in.
The Wellington Files 