Tom

@Tex The crossing of a French mathematician with a Broadway musical actress with a brand name made the crosses there un-guessable for many of us.

@Petrol Someone earlier in the comments explained that a demerit is a thing you get for being bad. That justified the clue for me. Somewhat at least.

@Tim V. Listen to Ella Fitzgerald sing It Was Just One of Those Things. They are mentioned in the intro. Something like, “As Abelard said to Heloïse, Darling drop me a line if you please.”

@renata2021 Try attending a Metropolitan Opera live broadcast at a theater near you. Our local theater sells out completely more often than not for those live broadcasts. Before the show begins we see the people finding their seats at the Met Opera House in Lincoln Center. It’s always packed. So, not on the radar for some, as it always has been. But very much still alive and well.

@Strudel Dad The idea! That child should have found coal in her Christmas stocking. Santa knows.

@Vaer Retired high school teacher here. Our school offered psychology and the class was so popular it provided a full time teaching position.

@SP I can remember when you just did not use that word that way in mixed company, in school and in front of one's family. Ever.

@MeanOldLady Some 40 years ago I saw a dud musical about Henry VIII's six wives called Rex. Of course when I saw the x, I confidently entered that title amazed that they would ever dare to revive such a flop. Sigh, that took a while to fix.

@Caro His can function as a possessive pronoun. Give it back. That’s not yours. It’s his.

@CCNY It reminds me of the time when Snoopy's house caught on fire and he “exclaimed”, “My Van Gogh!”

@Mean Old Lady Weren’t you allowed to read Archie Comics in the early 60s? Archie, Veronica, Betty, Jughead, Reggie and Moose all went to Riverdale High. So glad I have all that useful info lodged in my brain cells. :)

@Oikofuge Except in Spelling Bee. It only accepts elfin. I can’t tell you how many times I have tried and failed to enter elvin.

@Mike This pun as a certain spring to it.

@Katie And let’s not forget William Gillette who created the stage persona in the late 19th century for American audiences. He wore a deer stalker and smoked the curved pipe that became associated with Holmes.

@Connie I was there too! Watching an actual taping was fascinating and watching how Alex fielded questions from the audience with such aplomb gave me a whole new respect for him.

@Jerry True to my curmudgeon/worry wart persona, B- here.

@Andrzej Emery cloth is used quite a bit for fine smoothing wood and even for smoothing out small chips in glassware.

@jb Hand up for the exact same mix-up!

@Robin I’m wondering if “louse up” is a generational or regional thing. New Englander here who has used it most of his life.

@ Mean Old Lady. The Old Curiosity Shop came in installments to American readers. I read somewhere when the final installment was arriving by ship to NYC, people were lining the piers shouting to the passengers, “Did Nell die?”

@Amy Retired French teacher here. Whenever I ask for Courvoisier as an after dinner drink at a restaurant, someone else at the table has to re-pronounce it for the waiter.

@Nora And Broadway musical actor. He played an important role in the original cast of Hello Dolly.

@ Elle I make an Aztec pie with tacos, chicken, cheese and a green sauce based in tomatillos that is beyond delicious. I use Diane Kennedy's recipe who wrote a cookbook about the regional cooking of Mexico. An excellent cook from Mexico City gave me the book.

@Mark i am unfamiliar with JJ Watt and i deliberated a long time between rail and jail for the monopoly image.

@Mean Old Lady I remember that movie. Bette Davis actually performs a singing number. So unexpected. From what I read, she was very involved in organizing an actual canteen for soldiers in Hollywood.

@Pani Korunova And I believe it’s a prop in the classsic episode of Twilight Zone with Agnes Moorehead besieged by tiny aliens in her home.

@annalise I saw that production as a Metropolitan live broadcast at our local theater. I was awed by both the production and especially by Angel Blue. How lucky for you to see/hear her in person.

@Barry Ancona I grew up with S gauge as the A.C. Gilbert factory was right here in New Haven. The factory has now been converted to a museum about A.C. Gilbert toys. Worth a visit around the holidays when they have a fairly elaborate model train set up.

@Digitalcowgirl If you can find it, try watching the original Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream house with Cary Grant and Myrna Loy. Riotously funny.

@Ernest While agree that The Ghost And Mrs. Muir has become less well known nowadays I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen it. The chemistry between aryx Harrison and the beautiful Gene Tierney is marvelous. One of my favorite old. Time movies.

@Eric Hougland Interesting. Even our humble little farmers market store here carries Comté. But cheese is big in this area.

@David Connell In my ignorant early years of gardening, so many of my plants fell victim to Black Walnuts and the juglone they emit from every part of the tree.

@Mean Old Lady I’ve had the exact same thing happen on several occasions. Like you the only solution I’ve found is to exit, re-enter and scroll back to where I was. Kind of aggravating.

@ Bill In the summer we often serve gazpacho as a main course with a salad on the side, my gazpacho soup is a recipe from Córdoba Spain with bread in it. It’s quite filling.

@Andrzej I am pretty fluent in French and many times while driving through Rhode Island I’ve tuned in to a radio station initially thinking it’s a French station…..until I realized I wasn’t understanding a single word. Big Portuguese population in that state.

@Marshall Walthew Yes, glad to see the shout out to Art Carney, a longtime resident of my little town.

@Stephen Many times I have attempted the word “aitch” in Spelling Bee and it is always rejected. Now that’s annoying!

@Paul I had the same problem this morning. There was a message telling me I had to upgrade my subscription. Then when I contacted support the message was that they were having tech problems. Now it seems close to back to normal.

@Petrol I always thought the comic book character was named Obélix because his height and heft resembled an obelisk. There’s the famous “obélisque” in t(e center of the Place de la Concorde after all.

@Bill I liked Peter Falk in A Pocketful of Miracles very much as well. Very funny sentimental movie.

@Kevin I see what you did there!

@Helen Wright When I taught high school lav was absolutely what the students used to ask permission to leave 5he classroom.

@Eric Hougland And where I grew up there was just Good Humor and no Mr. Softee. Good Humor never played music but just jingled a row of bells.

@Aug Darien figures prominently in the movie Auntie Mame. It is not favorably referenced. I know, I know. An old movie. But a hilarious one with a brilliant performance by Rosalind Russell.

@The X-Phile I always heard Kate Smith referred to as “the Songbird of the South”.

@Nancy J. Also, if you print the newspaper version it includes the solution to the previous puzzle. That squishes the clues and puzzle to a smaller version that’s pretty tough on these old eyes.

@ John Ezra That song evokes a scene from a favorite old movie; The Philadelphia Story and of course Groucho.

@Teresa And being ancient I remember as a kid watching the spooky TV show, Alcoa Presents. As kids we loved it.

@Teresa The show was actually titled One #tep Beyond. Alcoa sponsored it.