Day: September 1, 2019

Today’s Theme: That’s a Tall Order!

Today’s grid includes four sets of circled letters that spell out ORDERS that might be given to a dog. Those are TALL orders in that the letters in each ORDER span two rows:

• HEEL!
• SIT!
• STAY!
• COME!

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

Bill’s time: 27m 45s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Volcanic residue : ASH

Our word “volcano” comes from “Vulcano”, the name of a volcanic island off the coast of Italy. The island’s name comes from Vulcan, the Roman god of fire. The Romans believed that the island of Vulcano was the chimney of the forge belonging to the god Vulcan. The Romans also believed that the eruptions on Mount Etna in Sicily were caused by Vulcan getting angry and working his forge so hard that sparks and smoke flew out of the top of the volcano.

4 Iraqi, e.g. : ARAB

Iraq is often called the “Cradle of Civilization” as it was home to Sumer, which was the earliest known civilization on the planet. By 5000 BC the Sumerian people were practicing year-round agriculture and had a specialized labor force. For the first time, a whole race were able to settle in one place by storing food, instead of having to migrate in a pattern dictated by crops and grazing land.

17 Singer with the 2016 #1 hit “Cheap Thrills” : SIA

“Sia” is the stage name of Australian singer Sia Furler from Adelaide. Sia is a cousin of Australian Christian Rock musician Peter Furler.

18 Ancient Iranian : MEDE

The Medes were an ancient people that lived in what is now northwestern Iran. The Medes held sway in the region only for about 60 years, until Cyrus the Great came along and defeated Astyages, the king of Media (not to be confused with Howard Stern, the self-proclaimed “King of All Media”!).

20 Only musical to win Best Picture since “Oliver!” in 1968 : CHICAGO

The wonderful 1975 musical “Chicago” is based on a 1926 play of the same name written by a news reporter called Maurine Dallas Watkins. Watkins had been assigned to cover the murder trials of Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner for the “Chicago Tribune”, and used the story that unfolded as the basis for her play. Annan became the character Roxie Hart, and Gaertner became Velma Kelly. I’ve only ever seen the movie version of “Chicago” and never a live performance …

21 Early encyclopedist credited with coining “Home is where the heart is” : PLINY THE ELDER

Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger were important figures in ancient Rome. Pliny the Elder was a scientist and historian, the author of “Naturalis Historia”, commonly referred to as “Pliny’s Natural History”. Pliny the Younger was the nephew and adopted son of Pliny the Elder. Pliny the Younger was a noted Roman statesman, orator and writer.

25 Reference aids for artists : COLOR WHEELS

A color wheel is a visual device that illustrates the relationship between various colors and hues.

26 Children’s author Lowry : LOIS

Lois Lowry is a writer of children’s fiction. Lowry doesn’t stick to “safe” material in her books, and has dealt with difficult subjects such as racism, murder and the Holocaust. Two of her books won the Newbery Medal: “Number the Stars” (1990) and “The Giver” (1993).

27 Nonkosher sammie : BLT

The BLT (bacon, lettuce and tomato) is the second-most popular sandwich in the US, after the plain old ham sandwich.

32 English channel, with “the” : BEEB

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is also known as “the Beeb”, a name given to the network by the great Peter Sellers on the classic British radio comedy called “The Goon Show”. The BBC was founded in 1922, and was the world’s first national broadcasting organization.

34 Archipelago nation in the Indian Ocean : COMOROS

The Comoros is an island nation in the Indian Ocean, off the eastern coast of Africa. The Comoros gained independence from France in 1975.

35 Stage before pupa : LARVA

The larva is an intermediate stage in the development of an insect. All four stages are embryo, larva, pupa and imago.

36 Gchat transmissions, briefly : IMS

“Gchat” was a name commonly used for the Google Talk instant messaging (IM) service. Google Talk offered both text and voice communication as well as a plugin that allowed video chat. All of this functionality was replaced with the Google Hangouts service, and more recently with Google Duo.

39 Accident-investigating org. : NTSB

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is responsible for the investigation of major accidents involving transportation. Included in this broad definition is the transportation of fluids in pipelines. The organization is independent in that it has no ties to other government agencies or departments so that its investigations can be viewed as “impartial”. The NTSB also earns a little money for the US as it hires out its investigation teams to countries who don’t have the necessary resources available on their own soil.

41 Big dealer in outdoor gear : REI

REI is a sporting goods store, with the initialism standing for Recreational Equipment Inc. REI was founded in Seattle by Lloyd and Mary Anderson in 1938 as a cooperative that supplies quality climbing gear to outdoor enthusiasts. The first full-time employee hired by the Andersons was Jim Whittaker, who was the first American to climb Mount Everest.

44 Fruit with a pit : DATE

Date palms can be either male or female. Only the female tree bears fruit (dates).

49 Some printer hues : CYANS

Four-color printing uses four different color inks: cyan, magenta, yellow and black. The black ink is also known as the “key”. The first letter of the colors (with black being ”key”) give the more common name for four-color printing, namely CMYK.

53 Put forward as a basis of argument : POSITED

To posit is to assume as fact, to lay down as a “position”.

63 Sunbather in the tropics : IGUANA

An iguana is a lizard, and as such is cold-blooded. There are times when pet iguanas need heat from an IR lamp to maintain body temperature.

64 Sources of weekly N.C.A.A. rankings : AP POLLS

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) dates back to the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. When his son broke his nose playing football at Harvard, President Roosevelt turned his attention to the number of serious injuries and even deaths occurring in college sports. He instigated meetings between the major educational institutions leading to the formation of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS) in 1906, which was given the remit of regulating college sports. The IAAUS became the NCAA in 1910. The NCAA has been headquartered in Indianapolis since 1999.

66 Looked at lasciviously : EYED UP

“Lascivious” is such an appropriate-sounding word, I always think. It means “lecherous, salacious”.

68 Work with feet? : POEM

In poetry, a foot is the natural unit of stressed and unstressed syllables which make up the work. For example, an iambic foot consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

69 Pretzel topping : SALT

Pretzels originated in Europe and are especially popular in Southern Germany where a pretzel is known as “Brezel”. Pretzels were introduced into the US in the 1800s by immigrants from Germany and Switzerland who came to be known over here as the Pennsylvania Dutch.

78 Huge mix-up : SNAFU

“SNAFU” is an acronym standing for “situation normal: all fouled up” (well, that’s the polite version!). As one might perhaps imagine, the term developed in the US Army, during WWII.

79 Soft-rock singer who received Kennedy Center Honors in 2016 : JAMES TAYLOR

James Taylor is a singer-songwriter and guitarist who first achieved success with his 1070 song “Fire and Rain”. Famously, Taylor was married to fellow singer Carly Simon, from 1972 to 1983.

82 Philanthropist Broad : ELI

Eli Broad made his fortune in real estate and was one of the founders of Kaufman and Broad, a construction company that we know these days as KB Homes. Broad is the only person to have created two companies that made the Fortune 500 list (KB Homes and SunAmerica).

84 Salacious stuff : SMUT

“Smut” means “dirt, smudge” and more recently “pornographic material”. The term comes from the Yiddish “schmutz”, which is a slang word used in English for dirt, as in “dirt on one’s face”.

85 Anonymous female, in court : JANE ROE

Though the English court system does not use the term today, “John Doe” first appeared as the “name of a person unknown” in England in 1659, along with the similar “Richard Roe”. An unknown female is referred to as “JaneDoe ”, and the equivalent to Richard Roe is Jane Roe (as in Roe v. Wade, for example). Variants of “John Doe” used outside of the courts are “Joe Blow” and “John Q. Public”.

87 Train between N.Y.C. and Montauk : LIRR

The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) is the commuter rail service that runs all over Long Island, New York with 124 stations and 700 miles of track. More people use the LIRR than any other commuter railroad in the US. It is also the only commuter railroad in the country that operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

90 Kind of acid : AMINO

Amino acids are essential to life in many ways, not least of which is their use as the building blocks of proteins. Nine amino acids are considered “essential” for humans. These nine must be included in the diet as they cannot be synthesized in the body.

97 Protein in Wheaties : GLUTENIN

Wheaties were introduced to the world in 1924, making it the oldest cereal produced by General Mills. The idea of mixing wheat and bran together into a cereal was the result of an accidental spill of wheat bran into a stove. The product was first called Washburn’s Gold Medal Whole Wheat Flakes, and this was changed to Wheaties after an employee contest to find a better name.

99 Bygone car model that’s an anagram of GRANITE : INTEGRA

The Honda Integra was sold in the US under the Acura badge. The Integra was produced from 1985 until 2006.

105 “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up” : SEX COMEDIES

“The 40-Year-Old Virgin” is a 2005 comedy film that was written, produced and directed by Judd Apatow. Steve Carell stars as a middle-aged man trying to lose his virginity. I haven’t seen it …

“Knocked Up” is a 2007 romantic comedy written and directed by Judd Apatow, starring Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl and Paul Rudd.

107 Mythical hunter turned into a stag : ACTAEON

The hunter of Greek mythology named Actaeon was trained by the centaur Chiron, as was Achilles.

109 State bordering the Pacific : JALISCO, MEXICO

Jalisco is a state on the central-west coast of Mexico. The capital city of Jalisco is Guadalajara.

112 Avian diver : LOON

The common loon (also “great northern diver”) is the provincial bird of Ontario, and the state bird of Minnesota. The loon once appeared on Canadian $20 bills and also appears on the Canadian one-dollar coin, giving the coin the nickname “the loonie”.

114 Convent-ional sort : NUN

Convents have been religious houses since the 1200s, but it wasn’t until the 1700s that convents became purely female institutions.

116 National Pizza Mo. : OCT

October is National Pizza Month, an observance that was designated by the US Congress in 1987. Really …?

117 ! : BANG

An exclamation mark is sometimes referred to as a bang. The term “bang”, in this context, comes from printers’ jargon.

118 Future Ph.D.’s test : GRE

Passing the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is usually a requirement for entry into graduate school here in the US.

Down

1 Grp. with a pet project? : ASPCA

Unlike most developed countries, the US has no umbrella organization with the goal of preventing cruelty to animals. Instead there are independent organizations set up all over the nation using the name SPCA. Having said that, there is an organization called the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) that was originally intended to operate across the country, but really it now focuses its efforts in New York City.

6 Ritalin target, for short : ADHD

The “official” name for the condition we sometimes still refer to as “attention deficit disorder” (ADD) is “attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder” (ADHD).

Ritalin is a trade name for the drug methylphenidate that is used for treatment of ADHD and narcolepsy. Methylphenidate has a similar structure and similar properties to the drug cocaine, although it is less potent.

7 It’s full of hard-to-spell words : BEE

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.

10 Prez with the dog Fala : FDR

Fala was the famous Scottish Terrier that was ever present at the side of President Franklin D. Roosevelt for many years. The terrier was a Christmas gift to the president from his cousin, who had named the dog Big Boy while she trained him as a puppy. President Roosevelt renamed him after an ancestor of his from Falahill in Scotland, so the dog’s full name was Murray the Outlaw of Falahill. Fala lived on for several years after the president’s passing. I’ve had the privilege of visiting the gravesites of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt in Hyde Park, New York, and Fala is buried just a few feet away from his master.

13 R.N.’s place : ICU

Registered nurses (RNs) are considered very important people (VIPs) in an intensive care unit (ICU).

14 Foreign capital designed by two Americans : CANBERRA

Canberra is the capital of Australia. The city is located in what’s called the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), an area independent of any of the other Australian territories. In this sense, there is a similarity between Canberra in the ACT and Washington in the District of Columbia. Canberra was chosen as the nation’s capital in 1908, a choice that was a compromise in deference to Australia’s two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne.

20 Popular gardening shoe : CROC

Crocs are foam clogs that were originally designed as shoes to be worn at health spas.

22 Early vintner, in the Bible : NOAH

A vintner is a person selling or making wine. The term “vintner” comes from “vinum”, which is Latin for “wine”.

23 Music genre associated with the goth look : EMO

The goth subculture developed from the gothic rock scene in the early eighties, and is a derivative of the punk music movement. It started in England and spread to many countries around the globe. The term “goth” comes from the Eastern Germanic tribe called the Goths.

26 Baudelaire’s “___ Fleurs du Mal” : LES

Charles Baudelaire was a French poet noted not only for his own work but also for translating the work of American poet Edgar Allan Poe.

31 The common folk : HOI POLLOI

“Hoi polloi” is a Greek term that translates literally as “the majority, the many”. In English, “hoi polloi” has come to mean “the masses” and is often used in a derogatory sense.

32 Picnic side dish : BAKED BEANS

Our term “picnic” comes from the French word that now has the same meaning, namely “pique-nique”. The original “pique-nique” was a fashionable potluck affair, and not necessarily held outdoors.

34 Trucker with a transmitter : CB’ER

A CB’er is someone who operates a citizens’ band (CB) radio. In 1945, the FCC set aside certain radio frequencies for the personal use of citizens. The use of the Citizens’ Band increased throughout the seventies as advances in electronics brought down the size of transceivers and their cost. There aren’t many CB radios sold these days though, as they have largely been replaced by cell phones.

43 River mammal : OTTER

Male and female otters are known as dogs and bitches, with the offspring called pups. Males and females are are sometimes referred to as boars and sows. A collection of otters is a bevy, family, lodge or perhaps a romp. When in water, a collection of otters can be called a raft.

47 Music genre from Asia : K-POP

K-pop (Korean pop) is a genre of music from South Korea that emerged in the early nineties. It’s a bit beyond me …

52 { } : EMPTY SET

In mathematics, an empty set of numbers is also called a null set, and is designated “{ }”.

55 Player of many an opera villain : BASSO

The bass is the lowest male singing voice. A man with such a voice might be called a “basso” (plural “bassi”). In an opera, the villain of the piece is usually played by a basso.

60 Family name on a 1960s sitcom : ADDAMS

Gomez and Morticia (“Tish”) Addams were the parents in “The Addams Family”, a creation of cartoonist Charles Addams. In the sixties television show, Gomez was played by John Astin and Morticia was played by Carolyn Jones.

62 Bygone military punishment : KP DUTY

The initialism “KP” is US military slang that stands for either “kitchen police” or “kitchen patrol”.

64 ___ king : A LA

A dish prepared “à la king” (usually chicken or turkey), is prepared in a cream sauce with mushrooms, pimentos, green peppers and sherry.

65 Fantasy series that inspired “Game of Thrones,” briefly : LOTR

Lord of the Rings (LOTR)

72 Kosher ___ : DELI

According to Jewish dietary laws, kosher food is fit to eat, and food that is not fit to eat is referred to as treif (or “tref”). The usage of “kosher” has extended to include anything considered legitimate.

75 Flared dress type : A-LINE

An A-line skirt is one that fits snugly at the hips and flares towards the hem. The term “A-line” was first used in fashion by French designer Christian Dior in his 1955 spring collection.

77 Spice Girl also known as Sporty Spice : MEL C

Melanie C is a member of the English girl band the Spice Girls, with whom she has the nickname “Sporty Spice”. “Mel C” got the gig with the Spice Girls by replying to an ad in “The Stage” magazine, and auditioning alongside about 40 women who responded to the same ad. Sporty Spice really is quite sporty, and has completed the London Triathlon, twice.

79 Bob Marley, for one : JAMAICAN

Bob Marley is the most widely-known reggae performer, with big hits such as “I Shot the Sheriff”, “No Woman, No Cry” and “One Love”. A little sadly perhaps, Marley’s best selling album was released three years after he died. That album would be the “legendary” album called “Legend”.

80 Liqueur often mixed with water : ANISETTE

Anisette is a French liqueur that is flavored with anise. Anisette is different than the popular drink called pastis as it is produced using a different process and anisette does not contain any licorice. The equivalent drink to anisette in Italy is called sambuca.

83 One of the Avengers : IRON MAN

Iron Man is another comic book superheroes, this one created by Stan Lee for Marvel Comics. The character is the alter ego of Tony Stark, and has become very famous in recent years since the appearance of the 2008 action movie “Iron Man” starring Robert Downey, Jr. in the title role. Iron Man’s love interest, Pepper Potts, is routinely played by Gwyneth Paltrow in the same series of films.

91 Koala’s tree : GUM

The koala bear really does look like a little bear, but it’s not even closely related. The koala is an arboreal marsupial and a herbivore, native to the east and south coasts of Australia. Koalas aren’t primates, and are one of the few mammals other than primates who have fingerprints. In fact, it can be very difficult to tell human fingerprints from koala fingerprints, even under an electron microscope. Male koalas are called “bucks”, females are “does”, and young koalas are “joeys”. I’m a little jealous of the koala, as it sleeps up to 20 hours a day …

93 Australian band with the 1988 #1 hit “Need You Tonight” : INXS

INXS (pronounced “in excess”) was a rock band from Australia. The band formed in 1977 in Sydney as the Farriss Brothers, as three of the original lineups were indeed brothers.

100 Cleaning for military inspection : GI’ING

The initialism “GI” stands for “Government Issue”, and not “General Infantry” as is widely believed. “GI” was first used in the military to denote equipment made from Galvanized Iron and during WWI, incoming German shells were nicknamed “GI cans”. Soon after, the term GI came to be associated with “Government Issue” and eventually became an adjective to describe anything associated with the Army.

106 Lyft alternative : CAB

Lyft is a ridesharing service that is based in San Francisco, as is Uber, Lyft’s biggest competitor.

109 Bronx-born singer, familiarly : J.LO

“J.Lo” is the nickname of singer and actress Jennifer Lopez. “J.Lo” is also the title of her second studio album that was released in 2001.