2-D, 9-A

Elaine made me a Valentine’s Day crossword. “Poof — you’re a crossword!” she said.

But seriously: what she made was a deeply transgressive puzzle, with uncrossed letters, a two-letter answer (US), and red squares instead of black.

One sneaky clue: 2-D, four letters, “Chat or film.” And my favorite, also sneaky: 9-D, four letters, “Favorite pad.” I was not expecting such sneakiness.

Clues shared with permission. Answers in the comments.

Play, do

[From the New Yorker website.]

This phrasing surprises me, but a quick search confirms that play is a common verb with crosswords. Still, it’s never occurred to me to play the crossword. I do it, or them. Maybe do sounds a little lowbrow to The New Yorker ?

[Google: “play the crossword,” 892,000 results; “do the crossword,” 1,330,000. The Google Ngram Viewer returns no results for “play the crossword.”]

A Grape-Nuts shortage

I somehow missed it. From The New York Times:

After a monthslong, nationwide shortage of its polarizing cereal, the maker of Grape-Nuts is trying to reassure customers that the familiar wheat-and-barley breakfast will soon be back, still with no grapes or nuts.

The cereal’s manufacturer, Post Consumer Brands, announced on Thursday that it would be shipping the cereal at full capacity by mid-March, after supply-chain constraints and higher demand during the pandemic caused a shortage in late 2020.

“We recognize that the temporary Grape-Nuts shortage has been frustrating to fans given that Grape-Nuts is a one-of-a-kind cereal and there is no other cereal like it on the market,” Kristin DeRock, the cereal’s brand manager, said in a statement.

Well, there are cereals like it: Nutty Nuggets, Rocky Pellets, Stony Orbs, and other store brands. But our stash of “the familiar wheat-and-barley breakfast” should last through mid-March.

Other Grape-Nuts posts
Breakfast with the Food Network : Everything I always wanted to ask about Grape-Nuts : Cereals in the hands of an angry blog (Close-reading boxes)

[Monthslong? Yes, it’s a word. Only Nutty Nuggets are real.]

“Weeks of inward winter”

At Dreamers Rise, a passage from Charlotte Brontë’s Villette that seems made for these times.

Bushmiller under the El

Today’s Zippy has one Ernie Bushmiller, one Nancy Ritz, and two beautiful black-and-white panels of life under the El. Which El? The El, the one in the strip.

Notice the meta sign in the first panel.

At the intersection of Nancy and Zippy
All OCA Nancy posts : Nancy and Zippy posts : Zippy posts(Pinboard)

Valentine’s Day

[Lapis lazuli heart amulet. From Egypt, 26th–30th Dynasty, c. 664–334 BCE. Height: 1 9/16″. From the Cesnola Collection, purchased by subscription, 1874–76. Metropolitan Museum of Art. From the online collection. Click for a larger view.]

Here’s hoping

Harry Litman of the Los Angeles Times, on MSNBC just now: “Trump is going to be a criminal defendant, a civil defendant, or a prisoner for the rest of his life.”

0 for 2

I gave up watching the proceedings this morning and am learning only now that Donald Trump** has been acquitted in his second impeachment. I’m disappointed but not surprised.

I suspect that Joe Biden may have offered the House managers his perspective on whether to call witnesses. To call them, and thereby give Trump**’s attorneys the chance to turn the proceedings into an endless Fox/Newsmax/OAN spectacle, would serve only to derail Biden’s agenda in Congress and keep Trump** front and center in the public imagination. Even if witnesses were called, the spine-shortage in the Senate would still make acquittal the inevitable outcome. As it is, forty-three Republicans voted to acquit even with the report of Trump**’s “Well, Kevin” conversation in the record.

Damn those forty-three. Their moral compass points south, to Mar-a-Largo. And kudos to the seven who did the right thing.

Mutts ’n’ Miles

[Mutts, February 13, 2021.]

[Mutts, revised by me, February 13, 2021. Click either image for a larger view.]

Mooch has been at it all week, revising and revising again. When I saw today’s Mutts, I had to do some revising too. Don’t look too closely; I did the best I could to match the font. Listen to Miles Davis instead.

Related reading
All OCA Mutts posts (Pinboard) : No Kindle for me : Three records

Today’s Newsday Saturday

Today’s Newsday  Saturday crossword is by Matthew Sewell. It’s not a Stumper, but it has challenges (10-A, ten letters, “Heaven help me!”), cleverness (57-A, nine letters, “Twist entreaty”), novelty (17-A, nine letters, “Top for telemeetings”), and a fun fact (27-A, three letters, “Fighter who created the ‘Me? / Whee!’ poem (1975)”). Truly, this was a puzzle to 25-A, five letters, “Spend time relishing.”

Some clue-and-answer pairs I especially liked:

16-A, five letters, “Beat guy now a Sir.” And a friend of a friend.

24-D, five letters, “Something checked in a case.” BANJO? VIOLA? Nah.

32-A, nine letters, “Box set holders.” I like box sets.

38-D, seven letters, “Creepy one?” There are so many possibilities these days.

40-A, four letters, “Plum kin.” Gentle misdirection. And a clue rhymes with another fruit.

46-D, four letters, “Works at home.” 17-A made me think for a moment that this answer was supposed to have something to do with telework.

My favorite clue in this puzzle is 57-A, “Twist entreaty.” My first thought: COMEONBABY, but that’s ten letters, and I’m no great shakes on the dance floor anyway.

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.