“Under a Rembrandt-style hat”

A friend of Charles Swann’s has seen Odette de Crécy walking, dressed in “a ‘visiting cloak’ trimmed with skunk, under a ‘Rembrandt-style’ hat, and with a bouquet of violets in her bodice.”

Marcel Proust, Swann’s Way, trans. Lydia Davis (New York: Viking, 2002).

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All OCA Proust posts (Pinboard)

Mooch Brown, Earl van Pelt

Mutts channels Peanuts.

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Words of the year Now with another lockdown.

Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper is by “Lester Ruff,” one of the names Stan Newman uses with easier Stumpers of his making. This puzzle could be the work of P. Soffkayk — it’s that easy. Certainly the easiest Stumper I’ve seen. Look at the start: 1-A, seven letters, “Snow job.” And 1-D, seven letters, “Carrot kin.” See? There some a couple of tough spots in the lower left: 38-D, seven letters, “Calixa Lavallée’s best-known tune” and 63-A, seven letters, “They’re hysterical” had me thinking that I would have to guess. But things fell together after all.

If you noticed the sevens: like the December 5 Stumper, also by Stan Newman, this puzzle is fully symmetrical. Thirty-six of its seventy-two answers have seven letters.

Some clue-and-answer pairs I especially liked:

7-D, seven letters, “’60s TV superstar.” I was surprised at how obvious the answer was once I had a cross.

14-D, seven letters, “China groups.” Pairs nicely with its downstairs neighbor, 44-D, seven letters, “‘Free gift’ ads.”

19-A, five letters, “Pens that don’t write.” I’ve found the Pilot G-Tec-C3 prone to skipping.

39-D, seven letters, “Foolish folks.” A word that’s seen a revival of late.

46-A, seven letters, “Western associate.” My first thought: COUNTRY. But it’s not that kind of Stumper.

64-A, seven letters, “Lavalava wearers.” Does everyone already know this?

No spoilers: the answers are in the comments.

The little phrase on the move

At the Verdurins’, a pianist plays for Charles Swann and Odette de Crécy “the little phrase“ from Vinteuil’s sonata for violin and piano "that was like the anthem of their love.“

Marcel Proust, Swann’s Way, trans. Lydia Davis (New York: Viking, 2002).

I like the description of music in painterly terms. Eric Karpeles pairs this passage with the painting Mother Lacing Her Bodice Against a Cradle. Here is a detail.

[Pieter de Hooch, detail from Mother Lacing Her Bodice Against a Cradle (1670). Click for a larger view.]

Not long ago Elaine and I were talking about de Hooch’s Courtyard with an Arbour. We believe we’ve seen it, but where? The Met? In The Age of Rembrandt? But that exhibition was Met holdings only, and Courtyard with an Arbour is in a private collection. Besides, we wouldn’t have been in Mew York when that exhibition ran. I suspect that we looked up the painting after reading about it — somewhere. In which case, we’ve seen not the painting but a reproduction.

Related reading
All OCA Proust posts (Pinboard)

[Eric Karpeles’s Paintings in Proust (London: Thames & Hudson, 2008) is a helpful book to have on hand.]

“Encased or lost”

Odette de Crécy disappears beneath her clothes:

Marcel Proust, Swann’s Way, trans. Lydia Davis (New York: Viking, 2002).

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All OCA Proust posts (Pinboard)

[To make sense of the syntax: read “that led” and “that directed” as parallel.]

Nancy synchronicity

[Nancy, May 19, 1953. Click for a larger view.]

[Nancy, December 18, 2020. Click for a larger view.]

Yesterday’s Nancy is today’s Nancy.

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Idiom of the day: hurrah’s nest

From the Naked City episode “Idylls of a Running Back” (September 26, 1962). Lieutenant Mike Parker speaks:

“This is a hurrah’s nest, and the sooner it’s dumped on the district attorney’s desk, the better I like it.”

A what? Merriam-Webster says that a hurrah’s nest is “an untidy heap, mess.” Specifically, “a tangle of debris blocking a trail or stream.” Webster’s Second marks the expression as Colloq., U.S. The Oxford English Dictionary defines hurrah’s nest as “a confused or disorderly mass,” “a state of confusion or disorder.” The first citation, from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1829): ”A queer-looking Dutchman, with a head like a ‘hurra’s nest.’” The OED marks the expression as U.S. None of these sources explains how this curious phrase came to be.

But I know how it came to be in Naked City: Ernest Kinoy, the episode’s writer, thought, Let me put in this odd phrase. And then someone with curiosity and dictionaries and a little time on his hands will look it up.

Done!

Related reading
All OCA Naked City posts (Pinboard)

[“His hands”: because I am imagining a voice from 1962.]

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Words of the year Now with unprecedented.

Mystery actor

[Click for a larger view.]

I think he’s pretty recognizable, but he’d be more so if this picture were a talking picture. Do you recognize him? Leave your guess in a comment. I’ll drop an oblique hint if necessary.

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Here’s a hint: He’d be more recognizable if you could hear him talking. But if you were sitting at the bottom of a pool in scuba gear, you wouldn’t be able to hear him talking.

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Elaine has a suggestion: You need to look elsewhere for a clue. Elsewhere.

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The answer is now in the comments.

More mystery actors (Collect them all!)
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