Constructed by: Amanda Chung & Karl Ni
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Reveal Answer: Pet Sounds

Themed answers each include a PET SOUND as a hidden word:

• 64A Beach Boys album with the hit “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” … or things hidden in 17-, 31-, 37- and 49-Across : PET SOUNDS</li>

• 17A One who may have a mortgage : HOMEOWNER (hiding “meow!”)
• 31A Twins : TWO OF A KIND (hiding “woof!”)
• 37A Liquid supply for body art : TATTOO INK (hiding “oink!”)
• 49A Message between two arrows on a shipping container : THIS SIDE UP (hiding “hiss!”)

Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers

Bill’s time: 5m 52s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 Mars candy bar with caramel and milk chocolate : TWIX

I remember Twix bars from way back in 1967 when they were introduced in the British Isles. Twix bars made it to the US over a decade later, in 1979. The name “Twix” is a portmanteau of “twin bix”, short for “twin biscuit”.

9 Shrek’s wife : FIONA

Before “Shrek” was a successful movie franchise and Broadway musical, it was a children’s picture book called “Shrek!” that was authored and illustrated by William Steig. The title “Shrek!” came from the German/Yiddish word Schreck, meaning “fear” or “terror”.

14 “___ she blows!” : THAR

“Thar she blows!” is a phrase that originated on whaling ships. A lookout spotting a whale surfacing to breathe might see the spray from the blowhole caused by the expulsion of carbon dioxide. Thar (there) she blows!

16 Leader of the singing Chipmunks : ALVIN

Alvin and the Chipmunks is a cartoon musical group that was created for the recording of a novelty song in 1958 called “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)”. The three Chipmunks (Alvin, Simon and Theodore) were all voiced by singer Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. but with a speedy playback to create high-pitched voices.

17 One who may have a mortgage : HOMEOWNER (hiding “meow!”)

Our word “mortgage” comes from the Old French “mort gaige” which translated as “dead pledge”. Such an arrangement was so called because the “pledge” to repay “dies” when the debt is cleared.

24 Nile reptile, for short : CROC

Crocodiles and alligators do indeed bear a resemblance to each other, although they belong to distinct biological families. One of the main ways used to distinguish them is by their teeth and jaws. Both the upper and lower sets of teeth of a crocodile are visible when its mouth is closed, whereas only the upper teeth of an alligator are visible with the mouth shut.

33 “___ Theme” from “Doctor Zhivago” : LARA’S

The very lovely “Lara’s Theme” is a leitmotif written by Maurice Jarre for the 1965 movie “Doctor Zhivago”. Lara is the name of the character played by the wonderful Julie Christie. The theme was later incorporated into a hit song with the title “Somewhere My Love”.

35 Indian flatbread : ROTI

In an Indian restaurant, naan bread is very popular. Roti is the unleavened cousin to naan.

36 Your: Fr. : TES

“Tes” is the French word for “your”, when referring to a group of items and when talking to someone with whom you are familiar.

37 Liquid supply for body art : TATTOO INK (hiding “oink!”)

The word “tattoo” (often shortened to “tat”) was first used in English in the writings of the famous English explorer Captain Cook. In his descriptions of the indelible marks adorning the skin of Polynesian natives, Cook anglicized the Tahitian word “tatau” into our “tattoo”. Tattoos are sometimes referred to as “ink”.

44 Bird that usually mates for life : SWAN

An adult male swan is a cob, and an adult female is a pen. Young swans are swanlings or cygnets.

53 Prefix with phobia : ACRO-

Our prefix “acro-” comes from the Greek “akros” meaning “at the top”. Examples are “acrophobia” (fear of heights) and “Acropolis” (“city at the top”).

54 Popular European comic book hero : TINTIN

“The Adventures of Tintin” is a 2011 Steven Spielberg animated feature film based on the series of comics of the same name by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. I was addicted to the “Tintin” stories as a kid so went to see the movie as soon as it came out. Although I enjoyed the film, I enjoyed the books more as a young lad …

55 Old Russian ruler : TSAR

The term “czar” (also “tsar”) is a Slavic word that was first used as a title by Simeon I of Bulgaria in 913 AD. “Czar” is derived from the word “Caesar”, which was synonymous with “emperor” at that time.

62 How a pirouette is done : ON TOE

We took our word “pirouette” directly from French, in which language it has the same meaning, i.e. a rotation in dancing. “Pirouette” is also the French word for “spinning top”.

64 Beach Boys album with the hit “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” … or things hidden in 17-, 31-, 37- and 49-Across : PET SOUNDS

“Pet Sounds” is a 1966 album recorded by the Beach Boys.

When the Beach Boys formed in 1961, they were very much a family concern. Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson were three brothers, Mike Love was their cousin, and the fifth member of the band was family friend Al Jardine. Back then, the manager of the group was Murry Wilson, the father of the three Wilson brothers.

68 Explorer Hernando de ___ : SOTO

Hernando de Soto was a Spanish conquistador who led expeditions throughout the southeastern US. De Soto’s travels were unsuccessful in that he failed to bring gold or silver back to Spain, and nor did he found any colonies. What de Soto did achieve was the exposure of local populations to devastating Eurasian diseases. De Soto was the first European to cross the Mississippi River, in 1541. The first European to see the Mississippi (but not cross it) was Alonso Álvarez de Pineda, in 1519.

69 7/4/1776 and 6/6/1944, e.g. : DATES

On 11 June 1776, the Continental Congress appointed a committee of five people to draft a declaration of independence. Included in the five were John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Adams persuaded the other committee members to give Jefferson the task of writing the first draft. A resolution of independence was passed by the Congress on 2 July 1776. The final draft of the declaration was approved by the Congress two days later, on July 4th. John Adams wrote a letter to his wife that included an assertion that July 2nd (the date of the resolution of independence) would become a great American holiday. Of course Adams was wrong, and it was actually the date the Declaration of Independence was finalized that came to be celebrated annually.

The most famous D-Day in history was June 6, 1944, the date of the Normandy landings in WWII. The term “D-Day” is used by the military to designate the day on which a combat operations are to be launched, especially when the actual date has yet to be determined. What D stands for seems to have been lost in the mists of time although the tradition is that D just stands for “Day”. In fact, the French have a similar term, “Jour J” (Day J), with a similar meaning. We also use H-Hour to denote the hour the attack is to commence.

71 Futuristic movie of 1982 : TRON

Released in 1982, Disney’s “Tron” was one of the first mainstream films to make extensive use of computer graphics. The main role in the movie is played by Jeff Bridges. The original spawned a 2010 sequel called “Tron: Legacy”, as well as a 2012 TV show called “Tron: Uprising”.

Down

1 Gasoline additive : ETHANOL

Ethyl alcohol is more usually known as ethanol. Ethanol is the alcohol found in intoxicating beverages, and nowadays is also used as a fuel for cars. It is also found in medical wipes and hand sanitizer, in which it acts as an antiseptic.

2 García Márquez’s “Love in the Time of ___” : CHOLERA

“Love in the Time of Cholera” (“El amor en los tiempos del cólera” in the original Spanish) is a 1985 novel by Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Márquez. The book was first published in English in 1988. A famous Hollywood movie version came out in 2007, although the film was widely panned by the critics as a poor adaptation of a great novel.

3 One with a squeaky wheel? : HAMSTER

The rodents known as hamsters are commonly kept as house pets. Male hamsters are called bucks, females are called does, and baby hamsters are known as pups.

4 ___ Thins (cookies) : OREO

For those of us counting calories, Oreo Thins were introduced in 2015. There are only 40 calories in each thin cookie, compared to 53 calories in the real deal.

6 Narrow down : WINNOW

We use the verb “to winnow” in a figurative sense to describe the separation of something good from a collection of worthless things. The more literal meaning is the freeing of grain from the lighter chaff by blowing on the mixture, or by throwing it in the air.

7 Singer Turner : IKE

Musician Ike Turner is perhaps best known for the work in the sixties and seventies with then-wife Tina Turner. Turner met his future wife on the local club circuit in St. Louis in the mid-fifties, and together they formed the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. Despite all of his success, Ike’s life went downhill in the eighties and nineties, largely due to addiction to cocaine and crack. He served time in jail, and Tina later described episodes of domestic abuse in her autobiography “I, Tina”. Ike was diagnosed with emphysema in 2005, which left him very weak and in need of a constant supply of oxygen. He passed away in 2007 due to a cocaine overdose.

8 Gen ___ (preceders of millennials) : XERS

The term “Generation X” originated in the UK where it was the name of a book by Jane Deverson. Her book detailed the results of a study of British youths in 1964, contrasting their lifestyle to those of previous generations. It was Canadian author Douglas Coupland who was responsible for popularizing the term, with his more successful publication “Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture”. By one definition, Gen-Xers were born between 1961 and 1981.

11 Send beyond the green, say : OVERHIT

That would be golf.

12 Actress Long : NIA

Nia Long is an American actress who is probably best known for playing Will Smith’s sometime girlfriend and fiancee Lisa Wilkes on the TV show “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”.

13 Member of an underground colony : ANT

Anthills are actually underground nests. The ants in the colony excavate below ground, resulting in a pile of sand or soil above ground.

18 Member of a World of Warcraft race : ORC

Orcs are mythical humanoid creatures that appear in the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien. Since Tolkien’s use of orcs, they have also been featured in other fantasy fiction and in fantasy games.

“World of Warcraft” is an online role-playing game. My son informs me that the game is not that great. Like I would know …

22 Civilian clothes for a soldier : MUFTI

Mufti is civilian dress that is worn by someone who routinely wears a uniform. The term is probably related somehow to the Arabic “mufti”, the word for a Muslim scholar who interprets Islamic law.

28 Goals for QBs : TDS

In American football, one “goal” of a quarterback (QB) is to score touchdowns (TDs).

32 Tic-tac-toe win : O-O-O

When I was growing up in Ireland we played “noughts and crosses” … our name for the game tic-tac-toe.

38 String for a cake box : TWINE

Our word “twine”, meaning a light string, has the same root as our word “twin”. The original Old English “twin” was a double thread.

39 Smidge : TAD

Our word “smidgen” (sometimes shortened to “smidge”) is used to describe a small amount. The term might come from the Scots word “smitch” that means the same thing or “a small insignificant person”.

40 RVer’s stopover, for short : KOA

Kampgrounds of America (KOA) was founded in 1962 by Montana businessman Dave Drum, who opened up his first property along the Yellowstone River. His strategy was to offer a rich package of services including hot showers, restrooms and a store, which he hoped would attract people used to camping in the rough. The original campground was an immediate hit and Drum took on two partners and sold franchises all over the country. There are about 500 KOA sites today.

One using a recreational vehicle (RV) might be called an RVer.

41 “The Addams Family” cousin : ITT

In the television sitcom “The Addams Family”, the family had a frequent visitor called Cousin Itt. Itt is a short man with long hair that runs from his head to the floor. Cousin Itt was played by Italian actor Felix Silla.

They’re creepy and they’re kooky,
Mysterious and spooky,
They’re altogether ooky,
The Addams Family.

42 Tai ___ (martial art) : CHI

More correctly called “t‘ai chi ch‘uan”, tai chi is a martial art that is mostly practiced to improve overall health and increase longevity.

43 Jokey 1978 Steve Martin song : KING TUT

Comedian Steve Martin wrote and recorded the comic song “King Tut”, and it appeared on his 1978 album “Wild and Crazy Guy”. The song was later released as a single, and made it as high as number 17 in the charts. Some of the song’s success might have been due to the fervor surrounding the exhibition of the real king’s tomb artifacts that were touring the country that year.

46 First female Supreme Court justice : O’CONNOR

Sandra Day O’Connor is a former associate justice on the US Supreme Court. O’Connor was the first woman appointed to the court, and was in office from 1981 after being appointed by President Reagan. As the court became more conservative she was viewed as the swing vote in many decisions. As a result, O’Connor was known as one of the most powerful women in the world. She retired in 2006 (replaced by Samuel Alito), and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama in 2009.

50 Moe, Larry or Curly : STOOGE

If you’ve seen a few of the films starring “The Three Stooges” you might have noticed that the line up changed over the years. The original trio was made up of Moe and Shemp Howard (two brothers) and Larry Fine (a good friend of the Howards). This line up was usually known as “Moe, Larry and Shemp”. Then Curly Howard replaced his brother when Shemp quit the act, creating the most famous trio, “Moe, Larry And Curly”. Shemp returned when Curly had a debilitating stroke in 1946, and Shemp stayed with the troupe until he died in 1955. Shemp was replaced by Joe Besser, and then “Curly-Joe” DeRita. When Larry Fine had a stroke in 1970, it effectively marked the end of the act.

56 ___ Grande : RIO

The Rio Grande (Spanish for “big river”) is a waterway that forms part of the border between Mexico and the United States. Although we call the river the Rio Grande on this side of the border, in Mexico it is called the Río Bravo or Río Bravo del Norte (Spanish for “furious river of the north”).

59 Final Fantasy and others, in brief : RPGS

Role-playing game (RPG)

63 Big D.C. lobby : NRA

National Rifle Association (NRA)