Lois Ehlert (1934–2021)

Lois Ehlert, artist and author of countless books for children, has died at the age of eighty-six. Publishers Weekly has a lengthy obituary and appreciation.

If Lois Ehlert’s name doesn’t ring a bell, think Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.

Today’s Newsday Saturday

Today’s Newsday  Saturday crossword is credited to “Stock and Vasquez.” I think this must be their first Newsday Saturday. Matthew Stock has a site where he publishes crosswords: Happy Little Puzzles. Quiara Vasquez has a site too: QVXWordz. I’ve seen their names together on an Atlantic Sunday crossword.

Today’s puzzle is tough but fair, as students sometimes say of teachers. And verging, I’d say, on Saturday Stumper difficulty, as students probably never say when describing teachers.

Some clue-and-answer pairs I especially liked (with a minor hint for 44-D):

10-D, six letters, “Matthau’s Odd Couple costar on Broadway.” No, not him. Another guy, and I’m ashamed to say it was news to me.

13-D, five letters, “Piece of one’s mind.” Clever, and a good reminder of what it, the piece, is meant to be.

15-A, nine letters, “They’re tinny and tasty.” My mind went first to ALTOIDS. Too short, or small.

20-A, four letters, “Squat.” Clever.

24-A, twelve letters, “Field full of seeds in the spring.” Even I got this one easily, which might be one reason I liked it.

37-A, three letters, “Open-and-shut case grp.” The clue redeems the answer.

39-D, seven letters, “The ____ did it (solution to ‘Murder at the Winery’).” Groan.

44-D, five letters, “Legislate or recreate.” Heteronym alert!

48-A, four letters, “Sticks together to keep youngsters safe.” Youngsters — that’s sweet.

56-A, nine letters, “Renegade and Renaissance, for the Obamas.” I swear that my first thought was GOLDFISH. Did Malia and Sasha have pet fish way back when? I came back to reality soon enough.

One answer that still baffles me a bit: 55-D, three letters, “Fusion-reaction energy source.” When I typed in the final letter, I thought it had to be wrong. It seems odd to pair this answer with a clue involving science. But I may be missing something.

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.

From the television

“For many of us, Memorial Day marks the official start of summer.”

I think they mean unofficial.

But as Elaine said, official is the new unofficial.

Domestic comedy

“I tend not to look people in the windshield when we walk.”

Related reading
All OCA domestic comedy posts (Pinboard)

“Empty, quiet, cool, and clean”

Charlotte Brontë, Villette (1853).

Related reading
All OCA Charlotte Brontë posts (Pinboard)

An EXchange name sighting

[“HIllside 8661.” From The Blue Dahlia (dir. George Marshall, 1946). Click for a larger view.]

That’s not a pocket notebook — it just sits by the telephone. I believe it’s what used to be called a telephone pad. In a few seconds the bungalow that goes with that telephone pad will fade into the apartment that goes with that number.

As contributors to the Telephone EXchange Name Project attest, HIllside was a genuine exchange name, in Los Angeles (where The Blue Dahlia takes place) and elsewhere.

*

June 6,2021: As I just discovered, that telephone first appeared in these pages in 2016.

More EXchange names on screen
Act of Violence : The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse : Armored Car Robbery : Baby Face : Blast of Silence : The Blue Dahlia : Blue Gardenia : Boardwalk Empire : Born Yesterday : The Brasher Doubloon : The Brothers Rico : The Case Against Brooklyn : Chinatown : Danger Zone : The Dark Corner : Dark Passage : Deception : Deux hommes dans Manhattan : Dick Tracy’s Deception : Down Three Dark Streets : Dream House : East Side, West Side : Fallen Angel : Framed : The Little Giant : Loophole : The Man Who Cheated Himself : Modern Marvels : Murder by Contract : Murder, My Sweet : My Week with Marilyn : Naked City (1) : Naked City (2) : Naked City (3) : Naked City (4) : Naked City (5) : Naked City (6) : Naked City (7) : Naked City (8) : Naked City (9) : Nightfall : Nightmare Alley : Out of the Past : Perry Mason : Pitfall : The Public Enemy : Railroaded! : Red Light : Side Street : The Slender Thread : Stage Fright : Sweet Smell of Success (2) : Sweet Smell of Success (2) : Tension : This Gun for Hire : Vice Squad : Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

Small pleasures

The video of a meeting about an urgent university matter suffered from terrible lag. The problem wasn’t the browser or the connection. It was the website, which probably wasn’t made to stream recordings of hour-long meetings with ease. I quote from the meeting:

“The names of the files are”

Buffering . . .

Buffering . . .

“intuitive.”

If there’s to be lag, it can at least be amusing lag.

[No. 10 in a series.]

Eric Carle (1929–2021)

Eric Carle, artist and author of countless books for children, has died at the age of ninety-one. The New York Times has a lengthy obituary, with links to previous Times coverage of his work.

Here is Eric Carle in 2009, talking about The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

“No Worries if Not!”

What’s happening to The New Yorker ? The styling of a title for a cartoon piece: “No Worries if Not.” The title is all-caps on the page, but in the browser tab and in two New Yorker e-mails (May 23, May 24), if  is styled with a lower-case i. Look, here’s proof:

  [Left to right: May 23, May 24.]

A year ago, The New Yorker capitalized if in titles. As recently as December 21, the magazine capitalized its if s. But by December 28, the capital was gone. It’s still gone, as this April title shows. It appears that in lowercasing if, The New Yorker has ditched The Chicago Manual of Style and the MLA Handbook and cast its lot with the Associated Press and The New York Times.

I must point out: the April title I’ve linked to in the preceding paragraph — “I Am Trying to Decide if I Should Buy Two Rolls of Paper Towel or Three” — is in need of correction. It should read “I Am Trying to Decide Whether I Should Buy Two Rolls of Paper Towel or Three.” How do I know that?

Garner’s Modern English Usage on if and whether:

It’s good editorial practice to distinguish between these words. Use if for a conditional idea, whether for an alternative or possibility.

Merriam-Webster is particularly helpful:

There is a grammatical hint that calls for whether instead of if. Whether is the one that precedes an infinitive, which is the verb form in the collocation “to + simple verb,” as in “I am wondering whether to change our reservations.” Whether, in this case, refers to the making of a choice, whereas if states a condition, as in “If the contestant spells the word wrong, he or she will be eliminated.”

Read “whether I should buy” as “whether to buy,” and the choice is clear. Or you could think of Hamlet: “Whether ’tis nobler,” &c.

Why did the if in the April title make me think about whether ? Because if and whether often confound me when I write. So I keep an entry about the two in a notes app.

But let’s leave rolls of paper towel alone. I think the writer is being arch. No worries if not!

[See also pant. And Apple’s approach to pluralization.]

The Bronx

From To Each His Own (dir. Mitchell Leisen, 1946). Daisy Gingras (Victoria Horne), after hearing about life in claustrophobic Piersen Falls:

“The more I hear of them cozy little towns, the better I like the Bronx.”

[Now streaming at the Criterion Channel.]