Mondrianyone

It was the highest-value clue in the category, so thinking it might be harder than it turned out to be wasn't unreasonable, IMO. You expect the clues to get harder as they get more valuable--you don't expect them to stay at the same level of difficulty. (The parts were a plug and a valve, not a spout, as I misremembered.)

The fact that it was ridiculously easy could very well be why it was a TS. I kept wondering if that was a trick clue--what other trades would deal with a spout and a valve? (I think those were the two components, but maybe not.) And then I just said plumber, because that's all I could come up with. I'm fairly sure they were overthinking it, too.

Bravo should put this on a T-shirt and sell it in their online store.

They come ground quite finely in premade rubs, and if you make your own, you can grind them to whatever fineness you like. Even if the coffee bits are fairly chunky, they aren't noticeably chewy. It's the same as ground black peppercorns, or coriander seeds, or any other hard spice you might use. Cooking breaks them down, so no problem.

Try http://www.sleepwithmepodcast.com/. It's a podcast designed to put you to sleep. It seems pretty weird at first (because it is), and it can take three or four tries before it works. For some people it doesn't work at all. For me it works about 90% of the time, which is about 90% better than anything else I've tried, including sleeping meds, and I've had insomnia all my adult life. I feel you. It's a horrible problem. Hope this helps.

Did he really?? I must've dozed off. Is that even a thing? The fact that "mayonnaise in his bolognese" rhymes makes me want to write a song about it. This could get ugly. I'm sad that Nolan had to leave. I think I would've liked his bruschetta better (that can go in the song, too!), because what's wrong with bacon?

There's a great joke in there somewhere. I took this as a challenge. Bec in French (and what other language would we go to?) most literally means "beak." So that would make him Alex Three-Beaks. Which is kind of a sissy Mafia name. But there are a lot of secondary meanings, like "spout" and "nozzle" and "nose," and on and on. My personal favorite, natch, is Alex Three-Peckers. Maybe that could be a clue someday. Osman did nothing to annoy me. I must not be looking hard enough. But both women got on my nerves by turning to him and clapping whenever he answered correctly, like they were Tony Orlando and Dawn or something. You're not there to cheer him on throughout the game, you're there to compete with him. Clap when he wins. So I'm glad he did.

Another entry in the ongoing Sunny Anderson Vocabulary Watch: On yesterday's show she referred to the final touch added to a dish as "the coup d'état." I think she meant "coup de grâce." Unless she really is planning a violent overthrow of the government. Which I could actually get behind these days. (Just kidding, Secret Service. Don't come knocking on my door. It's Sunny you're looking for.)

Today's show was really enjoyable. Even if there isn't anything revolutionary about coffee in a steak rub (we've been using a coffee rub for years--a cocoa one, too), that steak looked great. And I will be all over that fried chicken. This felt like a throwback show, which is a very good thing, IMO. How easy was that?

The tampon box as hiding place is pure genius. I realize I've completely overlooked feminine-hygiene packaging as a stealth resource. I recently had to hide a jar of fig jam in the fridge so my husband couldn't finish off the whole thing before I got even a taste of it (I bought it for myself, and he knew that, but it didn't seem to matter). I hid it inside the shrink wrap covering a six-pack of this sparkling fruit soda he never drinks. The one other option was to bury it inside a package of ground beef. I always feel as if I hear the Mission: Impossible theme playing behind me while I'm scrambling to conceal something. I adore Helen Mirren, but she holds the distinction of being in the only movie I've ever walked out on--The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover--not because it was shocking but because it was so boring. She looked gorgeous, though. Bye, Carolyn. You annoyed me almost as much as you entertained yourself.

His name isn't Randy by any chance, is it? No, seriously, I hope he's doing great and that the meds fix everything. I asked my cat to send her best wishes, too, but she just yawned. Do not cave. (I don't know a power-fist emoji, so just imagine one aimed at you and all your colleagues. I credit my elementary-school English teacher for giving me the tools it takes to do my job. Everything after that was just icing. You can't be paid enough.) You have peacocks, Saber? I'm so jealous. A neighbor down the road used to have a pair (brace?), but they were often in the road. I don't see them anymore, so they could've ended badly. I liked Alexandra, and she made me laugh. I just don't want her to wear that top combo again tomorrow.

I wasn't suggesting that Reggie Jackson was involved in the Baby Ruth lawsuit, @The Wild Sow, just that he was another "candy-adjacent" athlete (I love that phrase!), per @ClareWalks's post:

She and Reza are looking more and more like fraternal twins! Whatever else you might want to say about MJ and Tommy, he's managed to pull off a true miracle--get Veda to like him (maybe even love him?). Obviously she just needed someone to refuse to take her bullshit and to let her know that she wouldn't be welcome around them or their potential children if she continued to be abusive. MJ couldn't get herself out from under Veda's heel, but Tommy seems to be doing it for her, with a combination of firmness and good old NY humor. Maybe MJ will be someone I'll be able to like once she's her own person. Stranger things have happened. I hope they have a happy life together.

There was skepticism in our house, too. I think the candy company made up that story about Grover Cleveland's daughter to capitalize on Babe Ruth's name without paying him any endorsement fees. She died seventeen years before the candy bar appeared. Wikipedia seems to agree , although there are several layers of different stories (chocolate, nougat, peanuts . . .) The dates just don't make sense.

There was also the Reggie! bar, named for Reggie Jackson. I was present when he hit his 400th home run. Supposedly the candy bars were handed out to fans entering Yankee Stadium, who then threw them onto the field when he hit a homer. I never got one, but a candy bar would have to taste pretty bad for me to waste it like that. Oh, yeah, and I know another bit of trivia about Philo T. Farnsworth. He was born in Beaver, Utah. I know this because that's where our car broke down driving across the country. We had to stay there for about a week, which is how long it took to get the repair done. The Saturday-night show at the movie house was canceled because we were the only people who came to see it. I understand why Philo left.

My whole family moved to south Florida when I was done with college (they said it wasn't to get away from me, but I'm still suspicious), and every car they owned had a bra to protect against the woefully misnamed love bugs. Supposedly they make invisible ones these days--car bras, not love bugs. They seemed pretty essential down there.

What?! I couldn't hear you. Something about a cat with the clap??? No, seriously, thanks so much for the hat, @CarpeDiem54. It's very fetching. You don't often find something both fashionable and utilitarian in one elegant chapeau. I'll have my majordomo dust it off daily.

Oh, cripes, shoot me now. No, never mind, I'll just wait till my ears finish bleeding out. I got a good laugh out of picturing Al Capone and his majordomo, though. And I thought the "brand" that makes Swiss Army Knives was Victorinox. Or maybe I misheard, what with my timpanic membranes hemorrhaging and all.

Nolan Gould is also reportedly a very smart kid. He's a member of Mensa, he got his GED at age thirteen. Planning on going to film school and learn documentary filmmaking to focus on issues of conservation and the environment. I've been having fun watching him. He doesn't strike me as the typical full-of-himself child actor at all.

She creeped me out. Something's not right with Michelle, and the show seemed to go out of its way to avoid addressing it.

No, no, I didn't mean that as a correction! Mulva was one of his ridiculous guesses, but Dolores was her actual name. And even that relies on mispronouncing the body part he thought it rhymed with.

And if I recall correctly, her name turned out to be Dolores. Work backwards.

So funny. I read Hawaii when I was a teenager (don't do the math!), and this was what I loved about the book. Talk about giving the full background!

This Saturday, apparently! I thought the real question wasn't when or where, but if. Go figure.

Apparently I just awakened a sleeping monster. ;o)