Curiouser and curiouser, and Alice would say.
This was not the photograph I thought I had taken, but better.
I was at Sandfly Laundry, entertaining myself as April was already gone for the day.
She and I enjoy splashing Spanish and English back and forth at each other and I had expected her to be there, as it was just 4 PM on a Thursday... but, no.
So, like I said, I was entertaining myself.
Naturally, that meant I'd whipped out my camera/phone, thinking to take a shot of my black kitteh cat mask reflected in the dryer, with the clothes swirling behind.
Fortunately, serendipity had a hand in the result.
This more closely resembles the type of collage art that Axelle does.
On the left is the reflection of a shirt, hung up and out of the way on the laundry cart.
The center features a pale woman in a dark coat, with a very long red scarf wrapped across her dark hair and trailing to the floor.
To the right, another woman stands, this one in a black and white bikini top and dark pants, her long hair blowing out to the side in the light.
My hand, holding the cell phone, anchors the lower right.
Tre bien, n'est-ce pas?
After all, in "Yes Man", an art gallery had a showing of enlarged pictures snapped while the person behind the camera was jogging in the early morning light... and folks were actually wanting to buy those pieces!
Sure, sure, it was just in a movie, so chances are pretty slim that would actually happen.
Then again, reality can be stranger than fiction, so...
I say it could most def happen!
Just like it could happen that the universe would make sure that the first Jonesin' Crossword I find in ages has clue references that would be inside jokes for me.
No, really!
The entertainment paper has changed its look, and its content is mostly centered on bars and clubs, but at least it still has Matt Jones' work in it... and the bin down from the laundrette still had copies of the latest issue.
Right place, right time.
I waited until I was home again to delve into it.
He had given it the title "GIMME A REASON... WHEN YOU KNOW...", and, with the Tracy Chapman song pulled up in my mental jukebox, I set about trying my rusty hand on the hints he'd supplied.
17-Across caught my attention right away: "a copper-colored coin last minted in 1958".
Hey, that's the year I was born!
The answer was "WHeat pennY", I determined.
Well, I wish I had been aware of that while I was teaching!
I liked to have a mole of copper atoms to show my students, and that is the quantity of the element represented by 23 zinc-free pennies!
I'd always have to check the dates, making sure the pennies were before 1962, the date they began having that other metal in their cores.
I could have saved myself the eyestrain if I'd known to just look at the coin backs.
Aye - you live and you learn!
25-Across was the next to grab me: "Alfred E. Neuman line".
Shades of Mad magazine!!!
That had been an influence on my invention, the Elements of Touch Periodic Table.
Determining the answer took a bit of doing, but eventually I got it.
"WHat, me worrY?" - minus the punctuation, naturally.
Hahahaha!
That also cinched it that the circled letters were the same throughout the grid.
47-Across was the next one I solved: "never in a million years!"
It took a bit of doing, but I was finally successful: "WHen pigs flY"!
I immediately thought of that whimsical picture at The Pink Pig BBQ, too.
Hmmm... I wonder if it is still in business?
I just may have to check it out next week!
Time to go back and try my hand at "sport featured in the 2005 documentary "Murderball" ", the clue for 39-Across.
That answer was one that spanned the width of the puzzle.
I don't recall actually seeing the movie, but once I started working on the other hints and revealed that physically-disabled equipment was involved, I remembered hearing of it.
"WHeel chair rugbY" was the game, and those guys were tough!
I've seen clips of it, but I'll see if I can rustle it up for my next Sports Film Festival.
Time for the final clue with the circled letters!
This time, though the three circled spots were sequential, not of the same pattern.
What might that mean?
Well, 58-Across had a wordy clue: "discover (or how to determine what the four circled answers have in common".
Then, the answer popped into my mind: science!!!
Woohoo, he was singing my song!
Sure enough, he was, with his urging to "find out WHY"!
Marvelous!
(smile!)
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