Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper, by Steve Mossberg, is the most difficult Stumper in a long time. Thinking that my first thought about 1-A, four letters, “Exercise for young ones” had to be wrong, I skimmed my way down the puzzle and found a starting point at 53-A, five letters, “Nae sayers.” And crossing that answer, 26-D, nine letters, “Margin for error.” And crossing that answer, 44-A, six letters, “Certain tusker.” And after that I stumbled around, a word here, a word there, until I got them all.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

4-D, six letters, “Trim; a tree.” Seasonal; wonderfully clever.

5-A, four letters, “Bear at a baby shower.” It’s been a while.

5-D, twelve letters, “Placebo recipients.” I don’t think I’ve ever seen the answer in a puzzle.

19-D, twelve letters, “Woods works.” I was very pleased with myself when I finally got the answer.

21-A, six letters, “Good word across the sea.” Stumper-y.

22-A, three letters, “Hybrid auto mode.” Yay Prius.

23-A, seven letters, “Singers, to labels.” Ah, the language of the music business.

28-A, six letters, “Provide coverage for.” For the Prius? Are we speaking of insurance?

29-D, five letters, “‘Wonderfilled’ food.” This clue let me know that I miss out on a lot of advertising.

31-A, four letters, “It flattens over time.” Slightly maddening.

43-D, six letters, “His fable book (1923) was one of Elvis’ favorites.” I always like knowing that entertainers are readers.

50-A, eight letters, “Pasta topping.” My first thought was MARINARA. But everyone has their own idea of what counts as a topping.

My favorites in today’s puzzle: 9-D, seven letters, “Anyone can play this” and 10-D, nine letters, “One will play this.”

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.

Nancy at Christmas

“From the legendary Ernie Bushmiller to the cutting edge current work of Olivia Jaimes, Nancy has long been the home to some strange Christmases” (Comic Book Resources).

Related reading
All OCA Nancy posts (Pinboard)

The view from here

“Icicles filled the long window / With barbaric glass”: so wrote Wallace Stevens in “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.”

I’m not Wallace Stevens, but I do have a window, and plenty of ice.

[Click for a more barbaric view.]

That’s the view through a storm-door window, covered in ice on the inside. The door opens onto a breezeway. To the right, the side of the gararge. To the left, driveways and a house across the street. The shadow of a blackbird is not crossing the window to and fro. It’s too cold.

Latest in Dancing

[Latest in Dancing. British Pathé, 1962.]

This brief clip plays in the middle of the 2 Tone documentary Dance Craze. You might remember the Madison from Hairspray.

Dance Craze

For anyone who needs to know: the 2 Tone documentary Dance Craze (dir. Joe Massot, 1981) is streaming at streaming at the Yousual place. With Bad Manners, the (English) Beat, The Bodysnatchers, Madness, The Selecter, and The Specials. Eighty-five minutes of youthful energy.

The January 6 report

The Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol is available from the committee’s website. I’m going to read it — all of it — but I’m going to resist the temptation to post choice excerpts. Right now I am thinking about blog posts as respites from current events.

[And speaking of “6,” it’s -6℉, feeling like -33℉.]

Thomas’ missing carriage

I know that Ye Olde Bakery disappeared from the Thomas’ English Muffins package in some distant past. I remember it from when I was a boy.

[Life, February 29, 1969. Click for a larger view.]

But when did the horses, the carriage, and the people disappear? They make for a striking image, especially with the spokeless wheels.

[Click for a larger view.]

Here’s what the Thomas’ logo looked like recently:

[With spokes. Click for a larger view.]

And here’s what the Thomas’ logo looks like today:

[Click for a larger view.]

I noticed the absence of the horses, carriage, and people only this morning. A company representative tells me that they disappeared a few months ago but that they’re still present at the top of the package. And indeed they are:

[Click for a larger view.]

You can see them on the plastic wrap that’s bunched up above the bread clip. (Or muffin clip?) The little orange figures make me think of a pattern on kids’ pajamas.

I must note that the Thomas’ website, where I first looked for an answer to my question, shows a nice awareness of punctutation conventions:

Why is there an apostrophe after the “S” in Thomas’?

When a name such as Thomas ends with an “s” and is used as possessive of something such as English muffins, an apostrophe can be added after the “s” or an apostrophe “s” can be used. It has been the desire of our Company to use the apostrophe after the “s.” Thomas’ is a registered trademark of Bimbo Bakeries USA.

Carriage or no, apostrophe-s or no, I’ll keep buying Thomas’ English Muffins.

A related post
“Think only pleasant thoughts” (A defense of English Muffins)

Domestic comedy

“Pasta aglio e olio is my signature dish. Pasta with tuna and lemon is my initials dish.”

Both recipes appear in this post. And ten years later, I rediscovered the Village Voice clipping with aglio e olio.

Related reading
All OCA domestic comedy posts (Pinboard)

TCM world

“I live in TCM world”: Charlie Watts, on his taste in clothes. From a Desert Island Discs episode first broadcast on February 25, 2001.

I’ve known about Desert Island Discs for years. Only recently did it occur to me that it’s probably now a podcast. And It is.

These episodes — I’ve listened to five so far — are full of surprises. Did you know that Fiona Hill digs The Specials?

Bloomberg, sheesh

From an article about a defeated former president’s tax returns. Neal is Richard Neal, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee:

Throughout the process, Neal’s more cautious approach to his investigation has grated some of his more progressive colleagues.

Grate, “to cause irritation,” is an intransitive verb. Grating one’s colleagues would be both transitive and uncollegial.

Related reading
All OCA sheesh posts (Pinboard)