Constructed by: Mark Diehl
Edited by: Will Shortz
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Today’s Theme: None
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Bill’s time: 11m 11s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
1 Blue dye : ANIL
“Anil” is another name for the indigo plant, as well as the name of the blue indigo dye that is obtained from it. The color of anil is relatively close to navy blue. The main coloring agent in indigo dye is a crystalline powder called indigotin.
5 Person in a “Class of …” : ALUM
An alumnus (plural “alumni”) is a graduate or former student of a school or college. The female form is “alumna” (plural “alumnae”). The term comes into English from Latin, in which an alumnus is a foster-son or pupil. “Alum” is an informal term used for either an alumna or alumnus.
13 Snack items from Hostess : SUZY Q CAKES
Suzy Q is a line of snack cakes from Hostess. The cake was introduced in 1861, and named for the daughter of a Cliff Isaacson, a vice president of Continental Baking that was a subsidiary of Hostess Brands.
16 Nordqvist of the L.P.G.A. : ANNA
Anna Nordqvist is a professional golfer from Sweden who plays on the LPGA tour as well as the Ladies European Tour. Nordqvist won the LPGA Championship in 2009, and the Evian Championship in 2016.
17 Snack item from Reese’s : PEANUT BUTTER CUP
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups were invented by Harry Burnett “H.B.” Reese. Peanut Butter Cups were originally called penny cups, reflecting the price at which they were sold. Then inflation took over, and maybe that’s why they were broken into smaller “Pieces” …
20 Heads to Nome, say : LEAD DOGS
The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race covers an incredible 1,161 miles, from Anchorage to Nome in Alaska. The race starts every year on the first Saturday in March, with the first race having been held in 1973. Finishing times range from over 8 days to 15 days or more. The first few races only used a northern route, but then a southern route was added to the roster every second year. It’s kind of a good thing, because when the racers take the northern route they don’t even pass through the town of Iditarod!
22 Red ___ : HERRING
The exact origin of the term “red herring”, meaning “something that misleads”, isn’t known. The most common explanation for the use of the phrase is that kippers (strong-smelling smoked herrings) were used to by fugitives to distract bloodhounds who were on their trail. Kippers become red-colored during the smoking process, and are no longer “white herrings”.
28 People working at home : UMPS
Back in the 15th century, “an umpire” was referred to as “a noumpere”, which was misheard and hence causing the dropping of the initial letter N. The term “noumpere” came from Old French “nonper” meaning “not even, odd number”. The idea was that the original umpire was a third person called on to arbitrate between two, providing that “odd number” needed to decide the dispute.
32 Back on board? : DEE
The end (back) of the word “board” is a letter D (dee).
33 Barn dance call : DO-SI-DO
The term “do-si-do” is a corruption of a French phrase “dos-à-dos”, meaning back-to-back. And parenthetically, this is just the opposite to the familiar French term “vis-à-vis”, meaning face-to-face. In the do-si-do dance move, the partners start facing each other and then advance past each other’s right shoulder, and then move to the right without turning so that they are now facing away from each other (back-to-back). They complete the move facing in the same direction, passing each other’s left shoulder by moving backwards until they return to the starting position. Did you get that …?
34 2002 George Clooney film set in space : SOLARIS
“Solaris” is a 2002 film adaptation of a 1961 novel of the same name by Polish author Stanislaw Lem. The movie stars George Clooney as a clinical psychologist on a solo mission from Earth to a space station orbiting the planet Solaris.
Actor George Clooney’s breakthrough role was playing Dr. Doug Ross on TV’s “ER”, although before that he had a fairly regular role on the sitcom “Roseanne”. George’s aunt was the singer and actress Rosemary Clooney.
37 Celiac concern : GLUTEN
Gluten is a protein mixture found in foods processed mainly from wheat. The sticky properties of gluten are used in making bread, giving dough its elasticity and making the final product chewy. “Gluten” is the Latin word for “glue”.
Our word “celiac” is used for things related to the abdomen. The term is derived from the Greek “koiliakos” meaning “pertaining to the bowels”.
38 Honey : BAE
“Bae” is a contemporary term of endearment. It is a pet name that is an abbreviation of “babe, baby”, although I’ve also read that it is an acronym standing for “before anyone else”.
39 Half ___ (Yosemite attraction) : DOME
President Abraham Lincoln passed a bill in 1864 creating the Yosemite Grant, which was the first piece of federal legislature that set aside park land for preservation and public use. The Yosemite Grant paved the way for the creation of Yellowstone as the nation’s first national park in 1872. Yosemite was made a national park in 1890.
40 Not blackball, say : ADMIT
There is a traditional type of secret ballot in which a voter selects a white wall to indicate support and a black ball indicates opposition. This voting method led to the use of the term “blackball” to mean to shun or to vote against.
41 French day named after the Roman god of war : MARDI
In French, “lundi” (Monday) is the day before “mardi” (Tuesday).
Mars was the god of war in ancient Rome. Mars was also viewed as the father of the Roman people and the father of Romulus and Remus, the twin brothers who founded Rome according to Roman mythology.
43 Kimono fabric : BROCADE
Brocade is a very decorative fabric usually made from silk and often incorporating gold and silver thread. The name “brocade” comes from the Italian word “broccato” meaning “embossed cloth”.
The lovely Japanese kimono is a garment worn by men, women and children. The word “kimono” translates simply as “thing to wear”, with “ki” meaning “wear” and “mono” meaning “thing”.
52 Plains natives : OMAHAS
The Omaha Nation was one of the most welcoming of the Native American tribes, never resisting the influx of European explorers and traders. The Omaha even fought alongside Union troops during the American Civil War, and have stood by the US people ever since. Regardless, the Omaha people lost most of their land and now reside on the Omaha Reservation in northeastern Nebraska and western Iowa.
53 Snack items from Mars : 3 MUSKETEERS BARS
Today’s 3 Musketeers candy bar comprises a chocolate whipped filling in a chocolate covering. There’s a “3” in the name of the bar because it was introduced in 1932 with three pieces in one package, with chocolate, strawberry and vanilla fillings. The latter flavors were dropped during WWII due to wartime sugar restrictions.
55 Hide : PELT
A pelt is the skin of a furry animal.
56 Snack item from Nabisco : OREO COOKIE
If you take a close look at the embossed design on the front and back of an Oreo cookie, you’ll spot the main elements of the Nabisco logo. Those elements are an oval with a cross on top, a cross with two bars. Usually the company name “Nabisco” is inside the oval, but for the cookie it’s the brand name “Oreo”. The current embossed design was introduced in 1952.
58 Actress Best of old Hollywood : EDNA
Edna Best was an English actress, one probably best known for playing the mother in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1934 film “The Man Who Knew Too Much”.
59 Spam comes in them : TINS
Spam is a precooked meat product that is sold in cans. It was introduced by Hormel Foods in 1937. The main meat ingredients are pork shoulder meat and ham. The name “Spam” was chosen as the result of a competition at Hormel, with the winner earning himself a hundred dollars. According to the company, the derivation of the name “Spam” is a secret known by only a few former executives, but the speculation is that it stands for “spiced ham” or “shoulders of pork and ham”. Spam is particularly popular in Hawaii, so popular that it is sometimes referred to as “the Hawaiian steak”.
Down
3 Walton who wrote “The Compleat Angler” : IZAAK
Izaak Walton was an English writer who is most famous for writing “The Compleat Angler”, a 1653 collection of prose and verse that celebrates the art of fishing.
4 Paul who was the longtime “center square” on “Hollywood Squares” : LYNDE
Paul Lynde was a character actor noted for playing Uncle Arthur on the TV sitcom “Bewitched”. He was also known as the longtime “center square” on “Hollywood Squares”, for thirteen years.
6 Setting in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” : LAB
“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” has to have the most devout cult-following of any movie ever made. Famously, fans attending a midnight show of the film will dress up in outrageous costumes used in the film, and bring props with them. The props bear little relation to the storyline, but a tradition of using certain props in a particular way has been established. For example, at one point a character proposes a toast, and the audience throws toast around the theater. Go figure …
7 Marilyn Monroe played one in “Some Like It Hot” : UKULELE
“Some Like it Hot” is such a fun movie, It was released in 1959 and directed by Billy Wilder. The big three in the cast are Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. Several years ago a stage version of “Some Like It Hot” was playing in San Francisco, with Tony Curtis in the cast. This time he played the older man who was wooing the Jack Lemmon character in the movie.
Marilyn Monroe was born in 1926 in LA County Hospital, the child of Gladys Pearl Baker. The young girl was given the name of Norma Jeane Mortenson on her birth certificate, but her mother changed this to Norma Jeane Baker almost immediately. She and her estranged husband, Martin Edward Mortensen, had separated before Baker became pregnant so it is suggested that the Mortensen name was used just to give Norma Jeane “legitimacy”. Norma Jeane married a Jim Dougherty when she 16 years old, and took his name to become Norma Jeane Dougherty in 1932. During WWII she was discovered by a photographer and became quite a successful model. The modelling earned her a screen test, at which time it was suggested that Norma Jeane change her name yet again. The first name chosen for her by studio executives was Carole Lind (after Carole Lombard and Jenny Lind), but then Norma Jeane chose “Jeane Monroe” for herself, using her mother’s maiden name. It didn’t take long before the studio intervened again, suggesting that they had too many “Jeans” already. The name Marilyn Monroe was floated as it had a nice ring to it. Along with the new name, Marilyn changed from a brunette to a blonde, and a star was born …
8 They’re fed by the street : METERS
An early patent for a parking meter, dated 1928, was for a device that required the driver of the parked car to connect the battery of his or her car to the meter in order for it to operate!
12 Dim bulbs : SAPS
“Sap” is slang for “fool, someone easily scammed”. The term arose in the early 1800s in Britain when it was used in “saphead” and “sapskull”. All these words are derived from “sapwood”, which is the softwood found in tree trunks between the bark and the heartwood at the center.
15 Part of the Hardee’s logo : STAR
Hardee’s a chain of fast-food restaurants that was founded in 1960. The first restaurant was opened in Greenville, North Carolina by Wilber Hardee. Hardee’s is now owned by CKE Restaurants, which also owns the Carl’s Jr. chain.
24 God who gave an eye in his search for wisdom : ODIN
In Norse mythology, Odin was the chief of the gods. He is usually depicted as having one eye, reflecting the story of how he gave one of his eyes in exchange for wisdom.
26 Traditional product of North Holland : EDAM
Edam cheese takes its name from the Dutch town of Edam in North Holland. The cheese is famous for its coating of red paraffin wax, a layer of protection that helps Edam travel well and prevents spoiling. You might occasionally come across an Edam cheese that is coated in black wax. The black color indicates that the underlying cheese has been aged for a minimum of 17 weeks.
Some Dutch people can get a little annoyed if one refers to their country as “Holland”, as the correct name is “the Netherlands”. North and South Holland are two of the country’s twelve provinces. The use of “Holland” instead of “the Netherlands” is analogous to the former Soviet Union being referred to as “Russia” and the United Kingdom being called “England”. That said, sometimes even the Dutch people themselves refer to the country as Holland, especially at a soccer match!
28 Green-conscious grp. : USGA
The United States Golf Association (USGA) was formed in 1894. The need for a governing body for the sport became evident that year when both the Newport Country Club and the St. Andrew’s Golf Club in Yonkers, declared that the winner of a tournament at each of their courses was the “national amateur champion”. The first president of the USGA was Theodore Havemeyer, and to this day the one and only US Amateur Trophy bears his name.
41 École teacher : MAITRE
In French, one might learn from a “maître” (master) in “une école” (a school).
44 Title female role in Shakespeare, informally : CLEO
“Antony and Cleopatra” is one of William Shakespeare’s tragedies. It tells the story of the relationship between Mark Antony and Cleopatra after the death of Julius Caesar.
46 Wooden shoe : SABOT
There is a story that disgruntled textile workers would kick their wooden shoes, called “sabots”, into the looms in order to disable them so that they didn’t have to work. This act of vandalism was named for the shoe, an act of … “sabotage”.
47 Business casual material : KHAKI
“Khaki” is an Urdu word that translates literally as “dusty”. The word was adopted for its current use as the name of a fabric by the British cavalry in India in the mid-1800s.
48 California county containing Muir Woods : MARIN
When you leave the city of San Francisco via the famous Golden Gate Bridge (i.e. heading north), you cross into Marin County.
Muir Woods is a National Monument located not too far from here, just north of San Francisco. It is home to enormous old growth Coast Redwood trees. The land was declared a National Monument in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt. The name “Muir Woods” was chosen in honor of the naturalist John Muir.
49 Trouble for Sylvester the Cat : ESSES
Sylvester J. Pussycat is also known as Puddy Tat, and is a character who appeared in “Looney Tunes” and “Merrie Melodies” cartoons. Sylvester is the cat who is often trying to get the better of Tweety Bird, Speedy Gonzales and Hippety Hopper. Sylvester’s trademark line is the exclamation “Sufferin’ succotash!”, which emphasizes the characters pronounced lisp.
50 Sci-fi character who claims fluency in more than six million forms of communication : C-3PO
C-3PO, or “Threepio”, is the protocol droid that appears in the “Star Wars” movie franchise.
52 Killer whale : ORCA
The taxonomic name for the killer whale is “Orcinus orca”. The use of the name “orca”, rather than “killer whale”, is becoming more and more common. The Latin word “Orcinus” means “belonging to Orcus”, with Orcus being the name for the Kingdom of the Dead.
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Blue dye : ANIL
5 Person in a “Class of …” : ALUM
9 Bad response from an audience : HISS
13 Snack items from Hostess : SUZY Q CAKES
16 Nordqvist of the L.P.G.A. : ANNA
17 Snack item from Reese’s : PEANUT BUTTER CUP
19 Skirts : EVADES
20 Heads to Nome, say : LEAD DOGS
21 They have teeth but don’t bite : RAKES
22 Red ___ : HERRING
23 Motors (around) : TOOLS
25 Part of a makeup artist’s kit : TONER
28 People working at home : UMPS
32 Back on board? : DEE
33 Barn dance call : DO-SI-DO
34 2002 George Clooney film set in space : SOLARIS
36 Listen here! : WIRETAP
37 Celiac concern : GLUTEN
38 Honey : BAE
39 Half ___ (Yosemite attraction) : DOME
40 Not blackball, say : ADMIT
41 French day named after the Roman god of war : MARDI
43 Kimono fabric : BROCADE
45 “I’m here if you have any questions” : ASK ME
50 Kind of force generated by the earth’s rotation : CORIOLIS
52 Plains natives : OMAHAS
53 Snack items from Mars : 3 MUSKETEERS BARS
55 Hide : PELT
56 Snack item from Nabisco : OREO COOKIE
57 Pair of 11s? : ONES
58 Actress Best of old Hollywood : EDNA
59 Spam comes in them : TINS
Down
1 In line with : AS PER
2 ___ España (old colonial domain) : NUEVA
3 Walton who wrote “The Compleat Angler” : IZAAK
4 Paul who was the longtime “center square” on “Hollywood Squares” : LYNDE
5 Bills no more : ACTS
6 Setting in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” : LAB
7 Marilyn Monroe played one in “Some Like It Hot” : UKULELE
8 They’re fed by the street : METERS
9 Unsentimental : HARD-NOSED
10 Undercover : INCOGNITO
11 Very close : SNUG
12 Dim bulbs : SAPS
14 Knight’s undertaking : QUEST
15 Part of the Hardee’s logo : STAR
18 Important movie credit : EDITOR
22 Weeds, say : HOES
24 God who gave an eye in his search for wisdom : ODIN
26 Traditional product of North Holland : EDAM
27 It may be looped for a throw : ROPE
28 Green-conscious grp. : USGA
29 Creation of a dentist or a potter : MOLD
30 Surveyor’s instrument : PLUMB RULE
31 Horace and Juvenal, for two : SATIRISTS
33 Went pffft! : DIED
35 Gained back, as ground : RETOOK
36 Suffix with kitchen : -WARE
38 Satan’s spawn : BAD SEED
41 École teacher : MAITRE
42 Response to a disbeliever : I AM SO!
44 Title female role in Shakespeare, informally : CLEO
46 Wooden shoe : SABOT
47 Business casual material : KHAKI
48 California county containing Muir Woods : MARIN
49 Trouble for Sylvester the Cat : ESSES
50 Sci-fi character who claims fluency in more than six million forms of communication : C-3PO
51 It’s a sign : OMEN
52 Killer whale : ORCA
54 Phanerozoic ___ (current period in the earth’s history) : EON
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