That coffee at Starbucks can be hot. Make sure they put a ZARF around the cup before handing it to you. Didja know that’s what those little cardboard cupholders are called? Zarfs. Learned it from the puzzle yesterday. Any holder for a cup without a handle is a zarf: doesn’t have to be cardboard.
At 10A, for “Bird on the South Carolina state quarter,” the answer was WREN, prompting acerbic commenter Gary to carp: I believe it’s okay to know nothing about South Carolina.
At 14A, for the clue “Capote or chesterfield,” the answer was COAT. Gary again: I call my coats “coats.”
The capote has nothing to do with Truman. It’s a long wrap-style wool coat with a hood. From the early days of the North American fur trade, both indigenous peoples and European Canadian settlers fashioned wool blankets into “capotes” as a means of coping with harsh winters.
The chesterfield is a formal, dark, knee-length overcoat with a velvet collar introduced around the 1840s in the UK.
The puzzle defeated me again! At 21A, I did not know the answer for “Double-______ cassowary (bird of Indonesia and Australia)” was WATTLED. 8D didn’t help. I did not know that “Getting a break on Broadway?” was IN TWO ACTS.
39A was clever: “Don’t start with me!” was SECOND STRINGER.
At 23D, “Once-popular terra-cotta figurine” was CHIA PET. Rex: Wait, you’re telling me they’re no longer popular!? My Chia Obama is … out of style!?!?
Here’s some stuff I gleaned from today’s puzzle:
A good term for the current administration: ERRANCY (“Misjudgment”)
Someone with a TINEAR must have trouble getting through metal detectors.
Real estate ad in an earthquake zone: For sale: Bouncy house.
Sometimes a wave can serve ASAHI (“Japanese beer”)
How an LA RAM makes sure he wakes up in time for the game: ALARM
Old baseball joke: They can’t serve beer at the Stadium this season. The Yanks lost the OPENER.
The “Surname for a family of fictional Kansans” was GALE, from the Wizard of Oz. We’ve had a lot of Van Morrison lately, and I’m a big fan. But in many of the cases, I’m just going where the puzzle leads me. Today, Son Volt posted this one from it.
Like a full force gale
I was lifted up again
I was lifted up again by the Lord
In the gentle evening breeze
By the whispering shady trees
I will find my sanctuary in the Lord
This “tiny love story” was in the Times today. It’s called “The Prettiest Talk” and is by Katie Seigenthaler. It is unbearably beautiful.
My grandmother used to say, “Talk pretty talk.” The active-voice version of “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t bother.” Her great-grandson Georgie has never said a word. Instead, he speaks with his left hand, moving it constantly. He gives high-fives, massages his contorted right hand, rubs his index finger across his lips while blowing raspberries. Once, though, he kept it perfectly still. He was 16. His sister, my daughter, was dying of cancer. At her bedside, he placed his hand over hers and held it there. Death briefly retreated. To me, it was the prettiest talk.
This Met Diary story is called “Hail and Hearty” and is by Emily Baker.
Dear Diary:
It was a bitter cold day on the Upper East Side. My husband and I were leaving the hospital after his cataract surgery.
There were snowbanks lining the streets, and a nurses’ strike was in full swing, making the corner of 68th Street and York Avenue very chaotic. My husband had a huge eye patch on and was walking a bit unsteadily as I tried unsuccessfully to hail a cab.
Suddenly, I heard a man’s loud voice behind me.
“Hey! Hey!” he shouted.
I didn’t dare turn to see whatever seemed to be angering him.
Then I heard him shout again: “Taxi! Taxi!”
I’ll let him get the next cab, I thought to myself. He didn’t sound like someone to be messed with.
The next thing I knew, a huge construction worker wearing a hard hat and a neon vest was running past us. He ran into the middle of the street, stopping all traffic and approaching a parked cab.
He banged on the window and spoke to the driver. Then he pointed at me.
“This is your cab, lady!” he said. “But stay right there, I’m coming to get you.”
Within seconds, he was at our side and escorting us to the cab.
As he loaded us in, he addressed my husband.
“You’re going to be OK, buddy,” he said reassuringly. “I’m praying for you today.”
Let’s have a special shout out to Brian ENO, who was in the grid yet again today: “Brian in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.”
Per Rex: “It was his 78th birthday on Friday. I’m sorry I failed to acknowledge it. His birthday really should be some kind of Crossword Holiday. 343 lifetime NYTXW appearances. OK, not all of those ENOs were Brian (before 1985 ENO was always wine-related), but most of them were. Happy birthday, big guy (with a little name)!
Today’;s theme was “double meanings” and you had to get from one phrase to a completely different one by separately solving the two parts of the first phrase. What? My favorite was getting from “yellow submarine” to CHICKEN SANDWICH. See how it works? Yellow can mean chicken, and a sub is a type of sandwich. Unfortunately, most of the others weren’t very clever.
My favorite non-theme clue/answer was “Inept sorts” — SCHLUMPS. It bounced off some wordplay from yesterday’s puzzle where the clue was “Up to snuff, facetiously,” and the answer was EPT. Get it?
Hold on a sec.
George!! See who’s at the door! Are we expecting anyone? It’s Sunday morning.
Whoa — babe, how are you!!?? What a treat!
[At 43D, “T-Swift, by another nickname.” TAY]
Looking well, as always. How’s TK? Sit. — Fresca? George!!
Happy 40th, Caity! Man that went fast. Just learned your day shares the anniversary of the issuance of the ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark anti-segregation decision. Neat!
Proud of you, Beaner.
See you tomorrow, Chatterheads. Glad you could stop by.
The Wellington Files 