Yes, he really does say this , though it is usually taken somewhat out of context. This phrase is embedded in a longer diatribe directed at Watson's failure to see what Holmes considers obvious. All we know so far is what doesn't work. When we think we know, we cease to learn. You can lead a theorist to data, but you can't make him think.
Turnips are often more appropriate.
When Alec Boksenberg took over, it took a great leap forward. Yes, I wrote papers on Cold Dark Matter, but I didn't inhale. Just like Clinton didn't. I think Turner is refering here to the acceleration of the universe's expansion rate inferred from the Hubble diagram for type Ia SN, whereas I'm inclined to think of the acceleration scale present in the mass discrepancy problem. The relative merits of different observations are not correlated with the hype surrounding them.