Melee does not rhyme with smelly. As per M-W, the word is pronounced \ˈmā-ˌlā\ or \mā-ˈlā\. NPR, please take note.
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All OCA sheesh posts (Pinboard)
[Have I mispronounced common words? Yes. Was I on the radio? No.]
Saturday, May 18, 2019
NPR, sheesh
Today’s Saturday Stumper
Today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper, by Greg Johnson, offers a good challenge. In other words, a challenge that can be met. There are moments of odd trivia, such as 34-Across, ten letters, “Iceland, originally.” Or 55-Down, four letters, “Salutation popularized by ‘A Farewell to Arms.’” And moments of odd opacity, such as 3-Down, four letters, “Organic digger.” Or 48-Down, four letters, “The ‘where.’” (What?)
My favorite clues from this puzzle: 29-Across, eight letters, “What strollers carry with them.” 40-Across, four letters, “She’s seen in middle names.” And 41-Across, ten letters, “Cooler in the summer.” Especially 41-Across.
No spoilers: the answers are in the comments.
Friday, May 17, 2019
Small fish, good
They are cheap, widely available, very healthy, low in contaminants, and sustainable. Modern Farmer explains: “Why We Should All Eat More Small Fish.”
Related reading
All OCA sardine posts (Pinboard)
“She had shone at a distance”
Maeve Brennan, “The Drowned Man,” in The Springs of Affection: Stories of Dublin (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997).
The stories of enduring failed marriages in this volume are some of the saddest stories I’ve ever read. But beautiful.
Related reading
All OCA Maeve Brennan posts (Pinboard)
Thursday, May 16, 2019
Overheard
A child’s garden of numbers:
“If you have nine-nine-nine-nine, and then you add a one, you have a million dollars — and you’re rich!”
Related reading
All OCA “overheard” posts (Pinboard)
Maeve Brennan again
Channeling James Joyce’s “Eveline”:
Maeve Brennan, “An Attack of Hunger,” in The Springs of Affection: Stories of Dublin (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997).
Another instance of literary dust.
Related reading
All OCA Maeve Brennan posts (Pinboard)
[From “Eveline”: “She looked round the room, reviewing all its familiar objects which she had dusted once a week for so many years, wondering where on earth all the dust came from.” John is a son who has “vanished forever into the commonest crevasse in Irish family life — the priesthood.”]
Wednesday, May 15, 2019
Deleting a podcast from iTunes
A chance discovery while tidying up: choosing Delete from Library will not remove a podcast from iTunes. What will: highlighting the name of the podcast and pressing Delete. The Delete-from-Library problem has been a problem since at least 2017. As someone wrote then, “Something’s wrong in Cupertino.”
“Impassive gray, impassive blue”
Maeve Brennan, “The Poor Men and Women,” in The Springs of Affection: Stories of Dublin (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997).
Related reading
All OCA Maeve Brennan posts (Pinboard)
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