Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper is by “Anna Stiga,” Newsday crossword editor Stan Newman, composing under a pen name he uses for easier Stumpers.

And if I may: though Will Shortz gets the glory, such as it is, Stan Newman oversees a puzzle that is pretty consistently pleasing, especially on Saturdays. What I most like about Newsday puzzles is the relative absence of the arch and corny. No stunts, no connect-the-circled-letters.

This puzzle was an easy one. I solved in a clockwise circle, starting at 11:00 or so, and found the greatest difficulty in the puzzle’s middle. But just mild difficulty.

Some clue-and-answer pairs I especially liked:

1-D, eight letters, “The Star Wars cantina?” Nice. And I don’t even know Star Wars.

6-D, three letters, “Boy, in Brooklynese.” Dat’s me.

9-A, six letters, “Prepares for a take-off.” Is it spelled TAXIES? No.

11-D, four letters, “Squash, for short.” I’d never think of spelling it this way, but that’s how it’s spelled.

15-A, eight letters, “Affecting.” A little highfalutin, this answer.

21-D, eight letters, “Five-sided cardboard box.” Oh — it does have five sides. Huh.

38-A, fifteen letters, “Moneymaking picture takers.” How many p s in papparazzi? Not enough.

46-D, six letters, “Underground comix pioneer.” And comix is spelled appropriately.

64-D, three letters, “‘Mighty swell’ Keats poem subject.” Neato!

No spoilers: the answers are in the comments.

“Butter maiden” retired

The Land O’Lakes “butter maiden,” a fixture on packaging since 1928, has been retired. No explanation from the company, but the explanation should be obvious: the days of Native American “mascots” belong in the past.

The New York Times has an article. But I learned about the redesign from a blog post by Daughter Number Three. As she says, “Finally.”

“Space enough not to escape”

Bernando Soares has opinions about everything:


Fernando Pessoa, from text 67, The Book of Disquiet, trans. from the Portuguese by Richard Zenith (New York: Penguin, 2003).

Related reading
All OCA Pessoa posts (Pinboard)

Spring

[Fragrances everywhere.]

“What fragrance is that?”

“Laundry.”

And so it was. Probably dryer sheets.

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All OCA domestic comedy posts (Pinboard)

Lee Konitz (1927–2020)

Lee Konitz, alto saxophonist, has died of the coronavirus at the age of ninety-two. From The New York Times obituary:

Like many jazz musicians, Mr. Konitz often found himself plying his trade in bars and nightclubs, where the audiences were less than completely attentive. He professed not to mind.

“Wherever I’m at, I’m happy to have a chance to play,” he told the British jazz writer Les Tompkins in 1976. “People come in and say, ‘How can you work in this noisy little joint?’ I say: ‘Very easy. I take the horn out of the bag, and I put it in my mouth.’ I appreciate the opportunity.”

Here is an opportunity to hear a Konitz performance of “Stella by Starlight” (Victor Young), uploaded to YouTube today. All alto, all alone.

लोकः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु

Kavita Pillay, co-host of the podcast Subtitle, spoke with her mother Indira Pillay, a retired pathologist, for the episode “One Virus, Many Languages.” Dr. Pillay said that she doesn’t believe in a benevolent deity but nevertheless has a favorite line of prayer: Lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu. It’s Sanskrit: लोकः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु. Her translation: “Let the whole world be well.” Another translation: “May all beings everywhere be happy and free.” A hope all beings can get behind.

Here’s a parsing of the Sanskrit, which I hope is reliable.

[There’s no transcript for the podcast. I typed the Sanskrit words as I heard them, crossed my fingers, and the Internets did the rest.]

Sardines everywhere

You know how fans feel when their favorite band gets a big recording contract and becomes everyone’s favorite? That’s kinda how I feel about sardines, which are now everywhere.

This week, in The New York Times, Alison Roman explains “How to Make the Most of Those Cans of Sardines.” Though Roman professes to love the small oily fish, most of her suggestions are about masking the flavor, with lemon juice, vinegar, olive oil, herbs, &c. Any or all of which are good in moderation, of course. There’s also a recipe for baby potatoes with sardines, celery, and dill — behind a paywall, but using a browser’s Reader View should show it. Shh.

Since 2017, “the small oily fish” has been my deliberately dumb inelegant variation on “sardine.”

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All OCA sardine posts (Pinboard)

Blanchett’s OED

[Click for a larger view.]

It’s not just Tom Hanks. Cate Blanchett, too, has the twenty-volume second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary on her bookshelves. As seen on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last night. If you disable your ad blocker, you can see it here.

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Hanks’s OED (As seen on SNL)

“I never learn to learn”

“Isolation,” says Bernardo Soares, “has carved me in its image and likeness”:

Fernando Pessoa, from text 49, The Book of Disquiet, trans. from the Portuguese by Richard Zenith (New York: Penguin, 2003).

Related reading
All OCA Pessoa posts (Pinboard)

VDP in and on uncharted waters

Van Dyke Parks talked with the Los Angeles Times about life in and on these uncharted waters:

“Tie me to the mast. Show me what you got. I am not moving. There’s a very social aspect to what I do, but also I’m very monastic. What I do is write. And that takes being alone. This solitude that’s being forced on me and my wife is — hell’s bells as it is — just standard operating procedure.”

His theme song for this time: “Getting to know me, getting to know all about me.”

If the LAT article goes behind the paywall, you can read it here instead.

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