Chapter 1: Section 4: Page 28: Line 58 (430)

 Chick Counterfly, less affected, was alert enough to offer, "Well—an entirely admirable lady, whoever she was."

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When is this book going to get impossible to understand?! I just checked again and, sure enough, it says "Thomas Pynchon" on the cover! When is he going to use some highfalutin math concept that I'll never really understand to demonstrate some core principle of the hopelessness of human existence?!

Hmm, I hope you'll remember writing that bit, me, when the time comes that Pynchon finally does do that and my blog entry becomes, "What happened to the Chums of Chance and their airborne adventures around the world?! At least I could understand what was happening then!"

"less affected"
At this point, I always simply assume Chick Counterfly is less affected. By everything.

'alert enough to offer, "Well—an entirely admirable lady, whoever she was."'
Have I been socializing incorrectly my entire life? Should I be casually suggesting I fancy everybody's spouses, nonchalantly shrugging my shoulders and claiming, "If that's indeed your spouse. Whatever. So hot! I mean admirable." Then I'd wink really dramatically and pump my fist back and forth exactly three times.
    It really is the "alert enough to offer" bit that's perplexing me. Like Randolph missed the beat where he was supposed to offer a compliment because he was, once again, so terribly stupefied. How rude must people think I am after every conversation I've ever had?! And how stupefying must my expression constantly be?! I'm stupefied!

Chapter 1: Section 4: Page 28: Line 57 (429)

 "The very customer," Merle beamed, "and that beauteous conjuror's assistant you saw'd likely be ol' Erlys herself, and say, you'll want to close your mouth there, Buck, 'fore somethin flies into it?"—the casual mention of adultery having produced in Randolph's face a degree of stupefaction one regrets to term characteristic.

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""The very customer," Merle beamed"
Even though Zombini the Mysterious is banging his wife, Merle is still somehow proud to be associated with the famous person. If "cuck" were a word that was in my vocabulary (other than to call people who call people cucks "cucks" because they're the only ones who become outraged by it; nobody else fucking cares), I'd call Merle a cuck. But I won't because all that matters is that he's happy. Unless he's just putting on a brave face for the boys.

"likely be ol' Erlys herself"
Erlys, Merle's wife. Erlys seems to be of Welsh origin. It's the Middle English spelling of the word "earls" as in "Earls and Dukes and Viscounts and Marquesses and such." It's an anagram of "slyer," probably because she's slyer than Merle (whose name anagrams to "Elmer" and who has ever known a sly Elmer?!) which is why she cheated on him with a mesmerist.

"you'll want to close your mouth there, Buck"
A "buck" is a male goat or a male deer. I don't think it has any meaning here except as a casual way for Merle to engage Randolph and say, "Look, you're making us all uncomfortable with your reaction so could you maybe not be so dramatic. If I'm fine with it, you can be too."

"the casual mention of adultery"
Was adultery mentioned even casually? I suppose an adult woman doesn't just "run away with" an adult man the way a child runs away to the circus. You've got to assume a little hanky-panky was behind the decision, right?

"produced in Randolph's face a degree of stupefaction one regrets to term characteristic"
If I unraveled this sentence correctly, the narrator is saying that Randolph, all too often, looks stupefied. Poor kid. Shocked by all the earthly and fleshly actions of human beings. You know, the way a pure and innocent angel from Heaven might act!