Monday, March 7, 2022
“Casimir Pulaski Day”
In Illinois, it is Casimir Pulaski Day.
[Sufjan Stevens, “Casimir Pulaski Day.” Illinois (Asthmatic Kitty, 2005).]
This song breaks my heart. I brought it into poetry classes several times when teaching elegies.
Editing in Zits
In today’s Zits, Jeremy has asked Connie (Mom) to read his work. “I made a few edits,” she says, looking apologetic. He’s not happy about it: “When I said I was open to feedback, I meant compliments!”
It’s always a good idea to point out what a writer has done well. But a writer does not live by compliments alone. I like what Bryan Garner says about good editing:
It’s an act of friendship, not an act of hostility. Professional-level edits — the kind that would occur on the copy desks of major newsmagazines — make the writer look smarter. So if a skillful editor revises your work, be grateful, never resentful.Say “Thanks, Mom.”
Sunday, March 6, 2022
An Auden poem
A timely “interactive” feature from The New York Times : Elisa Gabbert takes the reader through W.H. Auden’s “Musée des Beaux Arts.”
Related reading
All OCA Auden posts (Pinboard)
Outtakes (5)
These pair well. I have no good guess as to what the kid is carrying.
More outtakes to come.
Related posts
Outtakes (1) : Outtakes (2) : Outtakes (3): Outakes (4) : More photographs from the NYC Municipal Archives
Saturday, March 5, 2022
I am also fond of the composer
Elaine wrote a piece for viola, “I am also fond of lonely islands,” after reading Tove Jansson’s The Summer Book last December. And now there’s a recording, at YouTube (and elsewhere). The violist is Paul Cortese.
Today’s Saturday Stumper
Today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper is by Steve Mossberg, whose name I’ve seen just once before on a Newsday Saturday. Today’s puzzle is a true Stumper. I started with a gimme — 10-A, five letters, “Start of three California county names” — but I sometimes thought I’d have to sound a 1-A, nine letters, “Lament of defeat.” But that would have called attention to me in the café of the performing-arts building where I was solving. So I had to finish this puzzle.
Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:
11-D, eight letters, “Understood!”
19-A, eight letters, “They’re grounded.” My first thoughts were of appliances and punishments.
24-A, four letters, “Really smart.” A nice way to redeem a familiar answer.
24-D, five letters, “Word from Gothic for ‘patience.’” No, not really. (The OED will confirm.)
25-D, five letters, “Music that sounds loud.” Respect the pun.
33-A, nine letters, “Rhythm associated with autumn.” A bit improbable, but the answer’s improbability makes it at least slightly delightful.
39-A, nine letters, “They may mean ‘Welcome home!’” Ick.
49-D, five letters, “Whom Woz once worked for.” Not the giveaway you might think.
52-A, eight letters, “Convenient for eating while walking.” Be careful.
45-A, four letters, “”Understood.” Now you can see the difference that the exclamation point makes in the clue for 11-D.
One clue that makes me want to say no, just no: 53-D, four letters, “Number often seen right after AK.” No, not now, and not ever. There are so many better ways to clue this answer. One Stumpery way: “It’s Felliniesque.”
No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.
*
Steve Mossberg responded to a comment I left at Crossword Fiend about “Number often seen right after AK”: “53-Down was indeed an awful cluing angle that wasn’t meant to go to print. My sincerest apologies for its inclusion.”
Friday, March 4, 2022
The keepers
The Washington Post Book Club newsletter describes Ukranian librarians at work. Quoted in the newsletter, Archibald MacLeish’s “Of the Librarian’s Profession” (1940):
When wars are made against the [human] spirit and its works, the keeping of these records is itself a kind of warfare. The keepers, whether they so wish or not, cannot be neutral.MacLeish was the ninth Librarian of Congress (1939–1944).
Nancy and Sluggo and Ted
From The Mary Tyler Moore Show episode “Just Around the Corner” (October 28, 1972). Mary and Murray (Gavin MacLeod) have been talking about newspapers. Ted (Ted Knight) jumps in:
“Oh [clears throat ], I don’t care much for them myself.”Related reading
Murray: “Ah, he’s very blasé now, but you shoulda seen him run and grab the paper when he heard Nancy and Sluggo broke up.”
All OCA Nancy posts (Pinboard)
[Yes, Ernie Bushmiller described his readers as “the gum chewers.” But Nancy is not for dopes alone. I’ve seen nothing more about Ted and Nancy, but a later episode identifies him as a Three Stooges fan.]
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