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Teaching the unmasked More on an eighty-eight-year-old professor’s last day in a classroom.

Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper, by Matthew Sewell, is yet another week’s worth of evidence, the sixth, that the Stumper is back. It’s a good puzzle, filled with smart clues and novel answers. The clue that somehow, I don’t know how, opened up the puzzle for me: 62-A, ten letters, “International Emmy category.”

Some clue-and-answer pairs I especially liked:

13-A, ten letters, “Fancy low-level furnishing.” I was wondering if it had something to do with a conversation pit. But of course not.

21-D, four letters, “Audio equipment.” GEAR?

22-A, three letters, “British Columbia’s 1000-year-old Big Lonely Doug.” The answer is guessable, but the clue adds value.

23-A, seven letters, “Secured a bill, perhaps.” Clever.

33-D, four letters, “Like some stand-out characters.” The clue works in a couple of ways.

42-A, nine letters, “Sent sideways.” I was thinking boxing, or something to do with pool. No.

53-D, four letters, “Enhance unnecessarily.” Like, how often do we see this word?

55-D, four letters, “Suited to following.” Pretty Stumpery.

59-A, ten letters, “Very early arthropods.” I don’t know what arthropods are, but I know my Clark Coolidge.

And my favorite: 10-D, eleven letters, “Group hitting the bottom of the barrel.”

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.

Heron

[Photograph by me. Click for a larger heron.]

The nearest faraway place for our household right now is a trail around a lake.

Please consider this photograph a brief respite from the day.

A passion for ancient edifices

. . . and another for Henry Tilney.

Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey (1818).

Related reading
All OCA Jane Austen posts (Pinboard)

“Cold ellipses”

[“Totally Elliptical.” Zippy, September 10, 2021.]

“ . . . I feel oddly hesitant for some reason . . .,” says Zippy.

Here’s my favorite way to make an ellipsis in HTML. And here’s my favorite use of the ellipsis in literature. I have nothing to say about Dippin’ Dots save that I have never understood their appeal.

Related reading
All OCA Zippy posts (Pinboard)

Six parties

A New York Times quiz: “If America Had Six Parties, Which Would You Belong To?”

[Me, the Progressive Party. Gracie Allen’s Surprise Party is not a Times option.]

Two eyes, eight parts of speech

Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey (1818).

Garner’s Modern English Usage: “Grammarians have traditionally recognized eight parts of speech: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.”

Related reading
All OCA Jane Austen posts (Pinboard)

Hi and Lois watch

[Hi and Lois, September 9, 2021. Click for a larger view.]

No masks, no distancing in today’s Hi and Lois ? Okay, it’s the comics. But no legs on the desks? There’s a way to fix that problem.

[Hi and Lois revised, September 9, 2021. Click for a larger view.]

If you look closely, you’ll see that I’ve made another revision that all self-respecting teachers should appreciate.

*

An observant reader points out that the dog on the poster is Odie from Garfield. Thanks, Kevin. And we agree, given that it’s a Garfield poster, it should come down.

[Hi and Lois revised again, September 9, 2021. Click for a larger view.]

Related reading
All OCA Hi and Lois posts (Pinboard)

Phil Schaap (1951–2021)

He was a jazz historian who hosted programs on WKCR-FM for more than fifty years. He was a hero of the music.

The New York Times has an obituary. WKCR is planning a tribute and will be rebroadcasting Schaap’s programs at their usual times.

Better books?

Catherine Morland doubts that Henry Tilney could be a reader of novels.

Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey (1818).

Related reading
All OCA Jane Austen posts (Pinboard)