Sparteye - thanks to you and your husband ever so for your contribution to this - it helped ease my mind greatly. I hope your husband checks out the link I posted, as it's a series of editorials written from the perspective of a gangsta homey who calls himself Tha Stone Cold Funky-Fresh Bad-Ass Of Accountz Reeceevable.

I'd agree that perhaps the editor made a mistake, but it appeared on both words, and it's the New Yorker - is nothing reliable any more?

A murder of crows
A pride of lions

These, at least when applied to animals (strickly speakin', the quarry of a hunter) are called terms of venery. I don't know whether there's a broader term to describe groupings of non-animals, such as a brace of pistols, or a rack of brewskis - will have to consult An Exaltation of Larks.