Constructed by: Rich Proulx
Edited by: Will Shortz
Not your puzzle? Try today’s …
… syndicated NY Times crossword
Today’s Reveal Answer: Seven Wonders
The SEVEN themed answers are each missing the word ‘WONDER”:
- 49A Monuments of classical antiquity … or what literally is missing from this puzzle : SEVEN WONDERS
- 8A Longtime product with a “Classic White” variety : (WONDER) BREAD
- 35A Popular lingerie item owned by HanesBrands : (WONDER) BRA
- 58A Big superhero film of 2017 : (WONDER) WOMAN
- 15D Bad artist to re-sign to a record deal : ONE-HIT (WONDER)
- 25D Miraculously effective medicine : (WONDER) DRUG
- 32D Domain of the Queen of Hearts : (WONDER)LAND
- 38D He said “Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes doesn’t mean he lacks vision” : STEVIE (WONDER)
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Bill’s time: 7m 18s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
5 Home shopping channel : QVC
The QVC shopping channel was founded in 1986 in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The company now has operations not only in the US but also in the UK, Germany, Japan and Italy. That means QVC is reaching 200 million households. The QVC initialism stands for Quality, Value and Convenience.
8 Longtime product with a “Classic White” variety : (WONDER) BREAD
Wonder Bread was introduced in 1921 by the Taggart Baking company of Indianapolis. Wonder Bread was unsliced back then, with the sliced version being introduced nationally in the 1930s.
13 Weight of an empty container : TARE
Tare is the weight of a container that is deducted from the gross weight to determine the net weight, the weight of the container’s contents.
14 Mideast federation, for short : UAE
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven emirates (states) in the Middle East. Included in the seven are Abu Dhabi and Dubai, with the city of Abu Dhabi being the UAE capital and cultural center.
15 Ancient source of prophecy : ORACLE
In ancient Greece and Rome, an oracle was someone believed inspired by the gods to give wise counsel. The word “oracle” derives from the Latin “orare” meaning “to speak”, which is the same root for our word “orator”. One of the most important oracles of ancient Greece was the priestess to Apollo at Delphi.
19 2005 dystopian novel adapted into a 2010 film : NEVER LET ME GO
“Never Let Me Go” is a 2005 novel by Japanese-born British writer Kazuo Ishiguro (who also penned the celebrated work “The Remains of the Day”). “Never Let Me Go” is a piece of science fiction that follows the lives of a woman and two of her childhood friends. The three discover that they are clones who have been bred to provide vital organs for “normal” people when required.
21 Pastries with a portmanteau name : CRONUTS
A cronut is a pastry that resembles a doughnut but is made using a croissant-like dough. It is filled with cream and deep-fried in grapeseed oil. It is a relatively new pastry, having been invented by New York bakery owner Dominique Ansel in 2013. The term “cronut” is a portmanteau of “croissant” and “doughnut”.
28 Loan letters : APR
Annual percentage rate (APR)
29 Arp and Duchamp output : DADA ART
Jean Arp was a French artist renowned for his work with torn and pasted paper, although that wasn’t the only medium he used. Arp was the son of a French mother and German father and spoke both languages fluently. When he was speaking German he gave his name as Hans Arp, but when speaking French he called himself Jean Arp. Both “Hans” and “Jean” translate into English as “John”. In WWI Arp moved to Switzerland to avoid being called up to fight, taking advantage of Swiss neutrality. Eventually he was told to report to the German Consulate and fill out paperwork for the draft. In order to get out of fighting, Arp messed up the paperwork by writing the date in every blank space on the forms. Then he took off all of his clothes and walked with his papers over to the officials in charge. Arp was sent home …
Marcel Duchamp was a French artist whose works are associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. One of his most celebrated “works” is simply what he called “readymade” art, a urinal which he titled “Fountain”. Even though this work is considered to be “a major landmark in 20th century art”, the original that was submitted for exhibition was never actually displayed and had been lost forever. Replicas were commissioned by Duchamp, and are on display in many museums around the world. I have no further comment …
31 In ___ of : LIEU
As one might imagine perhaps, “in lieu” came into English from the Old French word “lieu” meaning “place”, which in turn is derived from the Latin “locum” that also means “place”. So, “in lieu” translates as “in place of”.
35 Popular lingerie item owned by HanesBrands : (WONDER)BRA
The world’s first push-up bra was the Wonderbra. The Wonderbra became very popular in the 1990s, although the brand name has been around since 1935.
36 Co-owner of the Pequod : PELEG
The Pequod is the ship that figures in Herman Melville’s classic novel “Moby Dick”. The ship is owned by a consortium of the citizens of Nantucket Island, including Captains Ahab, Bildad and Peleg.
37 Word with rain or rock : ACID …
Acid rain is any precipitation that is unusually acidic. The acidity in rain mainly comes from sulfur dioxide that is discharged into the atmosphere from industrial plants and volcanic eruptions.
The musical genre known as acid rock is a subset of psychedelic rock. The term comes from the influence of the drug LSD (acid) on some compositions in the early days.
40 Range org. : NRA
National Rifle Association (NRA)
46 Graffitist, e.g. : DEFACER
“Graffiti” is the plural of “graffito”, and is the Italian for “scribbling”. The word was first used to describe ancient inscriptions on the walls in the ruins of Pompeii.
49 Monuments of classical antiquity … or what literally is missing from this puzzle : SEVEN WONDERS
The full list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is:
- the Great Pyramid at Giza, Egypt
- the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
- the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Greece
- the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
- the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
- the Colossus of Rhodes
- the Lighthouse at Alexandria, Egypt
51 The People’s Princess, familiarly : LADY DI
Charles, Prince of Wales married Lady Diana Spencer in 1981 at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. The wedding was a huge television event, with about 750 million people tuning in worldwide. Although the event was billed as a fairytale wedding, the couple separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996. Famously, Lady Diana died in a car crash in Paris the following year.
54 English churchyard flora : YEW TREES
The family of trees and shrubs known as yews propagate by producing a seed surrounded by soft, sweet and brightly colored aril. Birds eat the fruit and then disperse the seed in their droppings. The birds leave the seed undamaged, and so are unharmed by the potent poisons taxine and taxol that are found within the seed. The seeds are highly toxic to humans.
55 Title girl in a 2001 Oscar-nominated French comedy : AMELIE
“Amélie” is a 2001 French film, a romantic comedy about a shy waitress in Montmartre, Paris played by Audrey Tautou (who also played the female lead in “The Da Vinci Code”). The movie was originally released under the French title, “Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain” (“The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain”).
56 Beehive State native : UTE
When Mormon pioneers were settling what is today the state of Utah, they referred to the area as Deseret, a word that means “beehive” according to the Book of Mormon. Today Utah is known as the Beehive State and there is a beehive symbol on the Utah state flag. In 1959, “Industry” was even chosen as the state motto, for the term’s association with the beehive.
57 River of northern France : OISE
The River Oise rises in Belgium and joins up with the River Seine just outside Paris.
59 It’s divided by the 38th parallel: Abbr. : KOR
Korea was occupied by the Japanese military from 1910 until Japan surrendered at the end of WWII in 1945. While the UN was working towards a trusteeship administration for Korea, the Soviet Union managed the Korean Peninsula north of the 38th parallel and the US managed the south. The UN’s plans came to naught as the Cold War dictated the establishment of the two separate states of North Korea and South Korea. North Korea invaded the South in 1950, leading to the Korean War. After three years of fighting, the border between the two states became the demarcation line between the two military forces on the day the Armistice Agreement was signed. That line runs diagonally across the 38th parallel, and is better known as the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
60 Some fund-raising grps. : PTAS
Parent-Teacher Association (PTA)
Down
2 Setting for a Pirates of the Caribbean ride : CAVERN
The “Pirates of the Caribbean” series of films is inspired by the wonderful ride at the Disney theme parks. The first movie in the series is “The Curse of the Black Pearl”, which was released in 2003. The film is remarkable in many ways, including the fact that it was the first Disney movie to be given a PG-13 rating.
3 ___ Noah, host of “The Daily Show” : TREVOR
Trevor Noah is a comedian from Johannesburg, South Africa. Noah took over as host of the Comedy Channel’s “The Daily Show” after Jon Stewart retired. Noah can speak several languages, including English, Xhosa, Zulu, Sotho, Afrikaans, and German.
4 Wooed à la Don Giovanni : SERENADED
“Don Giovanni” is a comic opera by Mozart, with a libretto in Italian by Lorenzo Da Ponte. The opera follows the adventures of Don Giovanni, a young rakish nobleman who finally comes to a bad end.
5 Participated in a bee : QUILTED
Back in 18th-century America, when neighbors would gather to work for the benefit of one of their group, such a meeting was called a bee. The name “bee” was an allusion to the social nature of the insect. In modern parlance, a further element of entertainment and pleasure has been introduced, for example in a quilting bee, or even a spelling bee.
7 European of the Iron Age : CELT
The Celts are a very broad group of people across Europe who are linked by common languages. The original Celts were largely absorbed by other cultures, although a relatively modern revival of the “Celtic identity” is alive and well in Britain and Ireland. Such Celtic peoples today are mainly found in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Brittany in France.
Ancient societies can be classified by the “three-age system”, which depends on the prevalence of materials used to make tools. The three ages are:
- The Stone Age
- The Bronze Age
- The Iron Age
The actual dates defined by each age depend on the society, as the timing of the transition from the use of one material to another varied around the globe.
8 Heavy ankle-high shoe : BROGAN
A brogan is a heavy boot, with the original brogans being boots worn by soldiers on both sides during the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. Apparently some British soldiers in the Revolutionary War wore brogans that could be worn on either foot in an attempt to get more even wear.
9 Danger in a uranium mine : RADON
The element radon (Rn) is a radioactive gas, and a byproduct produced when uranium decays naturally in the earth. Radon gas can collect and accumulate in buildings and rooms that are particularly well insulated with very little air exchange. The danger is very real, as radon is listed as the second most frequent cause of lung cancer after cigarette smoke.
11 Landon who lost to F.D.R. in 1936 : ALF
Alf Landon was the Governor of Kansas from 1933-37, and was the Republican Party’s nominee against FDR in the 1936 Presidential election. Landon is remembered as the candidate who “disappeared” after winning the nomination. He rarely traveled during the campaign, and made no appearances at all in its first two months. FDR famously won by a landslide, with Landon only winning the states of Maine and Vermont. Landon wasn’t even able to carry his home state of Kansas.
20 Quick Draw ___ (Hanna-Barbera character) : MCGRAW
“Quick Draw McGraw” was a Hanna-Barbera cartoon show starring a horse named Quick Draw who was a sheriff in the old West. His deputy was also an equine creature, a Mexican burro named Baba Looey. When I was a little kid, I had curtains on my bedroom window featuring Yogi Bear and Quick Draw McGraw. Happy days …
24 Blade with a bell guard : EPEE
The hilt of a sword consists of a grip and a guard (sometimes “bell guard”). One grasps the sword with the grip, and the guard is a metal shell that is designed to protect the fingers.
27 Brother of Moses and Miriam : AARON
According to the Bible, Miriam was the sister of Moses and Aaron. It was Miriam who hid baby Moses in a basket at the side of the river to avoid being killed as a newborn Hebrew boy.
32 Domain of the Queen of Hearts : (WONDER)LAND
In the Lewis Carroll novel “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, Alice attends a trial in which the Knave of Hearts is accused of stealing tarts belonging to the Queen of Hearts.
33 Subdivision of a subdivision : ACRE
At one time, an acre was defined as the amount of land a yoke of oxen could plow in a day. Then, an acre was more precisely defined as a strip of land “one furrow long” (i.e. one furlong) and one chain wide. The length of one furlong was equal to 10 chains, or 40 rods. A area of one furlong times 10 rods was one rood.
34 “La Vie en Rose” singer : PIAF
“La Môme Piaf” (the Little Sparrow) was the nickname of France’s most famous singer, Édith Piaf. What a voice this woman had, and what gorgeous ballads she sang. Édith Piaf lived a life that was not without controversy. She was raised by her mother in a brothel in Normandy, and had a pimp as a boyfriend in her teens. She had one child, while very young, born illegitimately and who died at 2-years-old from meningitis. Her singing career started when she was discovered in the Pigalle area of Paris by nightclub owner Louis Leplée. Leplée was murdered soon after, and Piaf was accused of being an accessory to the murder but was later acquitted. During World War II she was branded a traitor by many as she frequently performed for the German occupying forces, although there are other reports of her supporting the resistance movement. Later in her life she was seriously injured in no less than three near-fatal car accidents, including one with her friend, Charles Aznavour. While recovering from her injuries she became addicted to pain medication, an addiction that lasted for the rest of her life. When she died in 1963 she was denied a Catholic funeral mass because of her lifestyle, but the crowds that turned out for her funeral procession managed to stop all traffic in Paris, the only time that has happened since the end of WWII.
The literal translation of the title to the French song “La Vie en rose” is “Life In Pink”, but a better translation would be “Life Through Rose-Colored Glasses”.
38 He said “Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes doesn’t mean he lacks vision” : STEVIE (WONDER)
The great musician Stevie Wonder signed up with Motown Records when he was just 11-years-old. He has been remarkably loyal to the label and is still recording with Motown some 50 years later. The level of Stevie Wonder’s success is illustrated by his 22 Grammy Awards, the most Grammys awarded to a male solo artist. Wonder was born 6 weeks prematurely, and incomplete development of blood vessels in his eyes caused the retinas to detach leaving him blind soon after birth. His mother, Lula Mae Hardaway, co-wrote many of Stevie’s songs when he was a teenager, including “I Was Made to Love Her”, Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours” and “I Don’t Know Why I Love You”.
44 Mother of Calcutta : TERESA
Mother Teresa was born in 1910 in the city that is now called Skopje, the capital of Macedonia. At birth she was given the names Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu (“Gonxha” means “little flower” in Albanian). She left home at the age of 18 and joined the Sisters of Loreto, and headed to Loreto Abbey in Rathfarnham in Dublin, Ireland in order to learn English. Her goal was to teach in India, and English was the language used there for instruction by the nuns. After Mother Teresa passed away in 1997 she was beatified by Pope John Paul II. She was canonized by Pope Francis in 2016, and is now known as Saint Teresa of Calcutta.
Kolkata (formerly “Calcutta”) is the capital of West Bengal, India. Kolkata grew up around a fort that the British built in the area in 1712. Prior to the arrival of the British, there were three villages at the site, one named Kalikata. Kalikata gave its name to the city that eventually developed. This was anglicized to “Calcutta” which became the official name for centuries, until it was changed back to Kolkata in 2001.
47 Havens : ASYLA
Asylum (plural “asyla”) is a Latin word meaning “sanctuary”.
50 Three Stooges laugh sound : NYUK!
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.
53 Like F.D.R.: Abbr. : DEM
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was the only child of Sara Delano and James Roosevelt Sr. The Delano family history in America goes back to the pilgrim Philippe de Lannoy, an immigrant of Flemish descent who arrived at Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621. The family name “de Lannoy” was anglicized here in the US, to “Delano”. Franklin was to marry Eleanor Roosevelt, and apparently the relationship between Sara and her daughter-in-law was very “strained”.
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Variety show lineup : ACTS
5 Home shopping channel : QVC
8 Longtime product with a “Classic White” variety : (WONDER) BREAD
13 Weight of an empty container : TARE
14 Mideast federation, for short : UAE
15 Ancient source of prophecy : ORACLE
16 Exceed the capacity of : OVERFILL
18 Doze : NOD OFF
19 2005 dystopian novel adapted into a 2010 film : NEVER LET ME GO
21 Pastries with a portmanteau name : CRONUTS
22 Intoned : CHANTED
26 Tick off : ENRAGE
27 Not backing, in the backwoods : AGIN
28 Loan letters : APR
29 Arp and Duchamp output : DADA ART
31 In ___ of : LIEU
32 Place for a pin : LAPEL
35 Popular lingerie item owned by HanesBrands : (WONDER) BRA
36 Co-owner of the Pequod : PELEG
37 Word with rain or rock : ACID …
38 Mellow R&B tune : SLOW JAM
40 Range org. : NRA
41 “I’d consider ___ honor” : IT AN
42 Legal rights, in France : DROITS
46 Graffitist, e.g. : DEFACER
48 Expanse far from ports : OPEN SEA
49 Monuments of classical antiquity … or what literally is missing from this puzzle : SEVEN WONDERS
51 The People’s Princess, familiarly : LADY DI
54 English churchyard flora : YEW TREES
55 Title girl in a 2001 Oscar-nominated French comedy : AMELIE
56 Beehive State native : UTE
57 River of northern France : OISE
58 Big superhero film of 2017 : (WONDER) WOMAN
59 It’s divided by the 38th parallel: Abbr. : KOR
60 Some fund-raising grps. : PTAS
Down
1 Without delay : AT ONCE
2 Setting for a Pirates of the Caribbean ride : CAVERN
3 ___ Noah, host of “The Daily Show” : TREVOR
4 Wooed à la Don Giovanni : SERENADED
5 Participated in a bee : QUILTED
6 Low-lying areas : VALES
7 European of the Iron Age : CELT
8 Heavy ankle-high shoe : BROGAN
9 Danger in a uranium mine : RADON
10 Prefix with conscious or catastrophe : ECO-
11 Landon who lost to F.D.R. in 1936 : ALF
12 Surely, informally : DEF
15 Bad artist to re-sign to a record deal : ONE-HIT (WONDER)
17 Thrifty : FRUGAL
20 Quick Draw ___ (Hanna-Barbera character) : MCGRAW
23 Follow : TAIL
24 Blade with a bell guard : EPEE
25 Miraculously effective medicine : (WONDER) DRUG
27 Brother of Moses and Miriam : AARON
30 Loud, as trumpets : ABLARE
31 Sour candy : LEMON DROP
32 Domain of the Queen of Hearts : (WONDER)LAND
33 Subdivision of a subdivision : ACRE
34 “La Vie en Rose” singer : PIAF
36 Raise : PARENT
38 He said “Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes doesn’t mean he lacks vision” : STEVIE (WONDER)
39 Big name in customer satisfaction surveys : JD POWER
41 Stranded during the winter, say : ICED IN
43 Response to “Look!” : I SEE IT!
44 Mother of Calcutta : TERESA
45 Gives some lip : SASSES
47 Havens : ASYLA
48 Have a loan from : OWE TO
50 Three Stooges laugh sound : NYUK!
51 Counselor’s subject : LAW
52 “I love,” to a Latin lover : AMO
53 Like F.D.R.: Abbr. : DEM
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