Great roundup. I especially like this line in the expert article “Hammond is best known for his “atomic domino” theory of chained power-plant explosions and his signature lavender silk tie.”
> The front-page headline “‘Well, Someone’s Gotta Play Oboe,’ Screams Frustrated Band Teacher” is no longer online. This joke was a New Yorker crossword clue in 2023 even though the headline in question hadn’t been online for ~10 years.
No surprise there! We love our Onion headline fill-in-the-blank clues. In fact, the instant I saw the word OBOE in an Onion headline I raced to grab a post-it and write it down for future use in a puzzle -- and then growled when I realized that Natan scooped me. All is forgiven, though, because you've just dropped a new (read: 20-year-old) clue for OBAMA. And as far as OBOEs go, there's always [Artistic pursuit mentioned in the "Onion" article "Progressive Parents Allow Child To Choose How He’s Ostracized By Peers"] ...
We are always on the lookout for OBOE trivia, which is why I have spent far too much time trying to figure out whether Anton LaVey actually was a professional oboist :')
It's funny that that in the penny story they mention Loving County, Texas, it's a tiny little place out in west Texas that very rarely makes the news. Loving is the least populated county in the US. It's an interesting place out in west Texas. There are more people on the voter rolls than there are people who live there and the county judge (basically the mayor of the county) was arrested a couple years ago for cattle rustling.
Great roundup. I especially like this line in the expert article “Hammond is best known for his “atomic domino” theory of chained power-plant explosions and his signature lavender silk tie.”
> The front-page headline “‘Well, Someone’s Gotta Play Oboe,’ Screams Frustrated Band Teacher” is no longer online. This joke was a New Yorker crossword clue in 2023 even though the headline in question hadn’t been online for ~10 years.
No surprise there! We love our Onion headline fill-in-the-blank clues. In fact, the instant I saw the word OBOE in an Onion headline I raced to grab a post-it and write it down for future use in a puzzle -- and then growled when I realized that Natan scooped me. All is forgiven, though, because you've just dropped a new (read: 20-year-old) clue for OBAMA. And as far as OBOEs go, there's always [Artistic pursuit mentioned in the "Onion" article "Progressive Parents Allow Child To Choose How He’s Ostracized By Peers"] ...
I love this! I hadn't thought of it that way, but I guess "oboe" is very malleable when you're creating a crossword!
We are always on the lookout for OBOE trivia, which is why I have spent far too much time trying to figure out whether Anton LaVey actually was a professional oboist :')
Oboe is a frequent crossword answer. The clue—in Manhunter fashion—will shed light on the personality of the puzzle constructor
It's funny that that in the penny story they mention Loving County, Texas, it's a tiny little place out in west Texas that very rarely makes the news. Loving is the least populated county in the US. It's an interesting place out in west Texas. There are more people on the voter rolls than there are people who live there and the county judge (basically the mayor of the county) was arrested a couple years ago for cattle rustling.
An arrest for cattle rustling feels like a lazy joke, and yet ...
Thank you for mentioning Loving County. I had a mention of it being the least populous but cut it for space.
Having lived in Texas almost 20 years, I can assure you reality here is almost always stranger than fiction.
Every issue of Texas Monthly and The Texas Observer has a feature about strange goings on in the state of Texas
V good point! I've never spent any real time in Texas so I'm probably hyperaware of not making assumptions