Constructed by: Derrick Niederman
Edited by: Will Shortz
Not your puzzle? Try today’s …
… syndicated NY Times crossword
Today’s Theme: Two-For-One Special
We have a rebus puzzle today, with some squares holding a pair of letters. One crossing answer uses both letters sequentially to give ONE answer, the other crossing answer uses both letters individually to give TWO answers. As a bonus, the “pair” clues look like common phrases:
- 22A Lead actress in “The Lovely Bones” (2009) and “The Bourne Legacy” (2012) : RACHEL WEISZ
- 18D Skinny/dip : SLIM/SWIM
- 8D Fictional composer whose first three initials mean “A.S.A.P.” : PDQ BACH
- 24A Fast/car : QUICK/BUICK
- 13D Protective outfits for handling radioactive material : HAZMAT SUITS
- 25A Wild/bunch : ZANY/MANY
- 48A Holland/tunnel : DUTCH/DITCH
- 30A 3,605, in ancient Rome : MMMDCV
- 31D Horse/power : COLT/VOLT
- 45D Honking or screeching, for example : ROAD NOISE
- 61A Stadium/timekeeper : METRODOME/METRONOME
- 36D Excessive praise : FLATTERY
- 74A Average/income : PAR/PAY
- 53D One eager for radical change : YOUNG TURK
- 77A Denver/Colorado : STAGE NAME / STATE NAME
- 101A Stars and Stripes : US FLAG
- 102D Slumber/party : SIESTA/FIESTA
- 79D Classic British sports cars : JAGUAR XK-ES
- 116A Dino/expedition : T REX / TREK
- 117D Digital picture format : JPEG
- 117A Card/game : JOKER/POKER
- 118A Certain emcee : TOASTMASTER
- 111D Promise/keeper : WORD/WARD
- 122A Risk of heavy lifting : HERNIA
- 105D Trail/head : PATH/PATE
Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers
Want to discuss the puzzle? Then …
… leave a comment
Bill’s time: 27m 33s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
1 Trading post : MART
A mart is a market, a place to shop. “Mart” is a shortening of “market”.
8 Italian fashion house : PRADA
Prada started out in 1913 as a leather-goods shop in Milan, one established by the two Prada brothers. One of the brothers, Mario Prada, prevented the female members of his family from participating in the running of the company as he didn’t believe women should be involved in business (!). When the sexist brother died, his son had no interest in the business so it was his daughter who took over and ran the company for about twenty years, handing it over to her own daughter. I’d say the devil loved that …
17 “Ave Maria” finale, appropriately? : ARIA
“Ave Maria” ends with “-aria”.
20 Venetian magistrates of old : DOGES
Doges were the elected chief magistrates of the former republics of Venice and Genoa.
22 Lead actress in “The Lovely Bones” (2009) and “The Bourne Legacy” (2012) : RACHEL WEISZ
Rachel Weisz is an actress from England. I first remember Weisz playing the female lead in the excellent 2001 WWII movie “Enemy at the Gates”. She also appeared in 2005’s “The Constant Gardener”, winning a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Weisz married fellow actor Daniel Craig in 2011.
“The Lovely Bones” is a remarkable film directed by Peter Jackson (of “Lord of the Rings” fame). It stars the talented Irish actress, Saoirse Ronan, who plays a 14-year-old girl who has been murdered and is living in a surreal “in-between” world that is neither Heaven nor Earth. I usually find computer-generated graphics in movies overpowering and distracting, but this movie uses the technique to create a beautiful backdrop that really brings the story to life.
The “Bourne” series of films are based on a series of three “Bourne” novels penned by Robert Ludlum. The first three “Bourne” movies star Matt Damon in the title role of Jason Bourne. Damon opted out of the fourth movie (“The Bourne Legacy”), and so a new lead character was added and played by Jeremy Renner. That said, Damon’s image was used in the fourth film, and references were made to his character Jason Bourne. Damon returned for the fifth film in the series, but has suggested that he is unlikely to take on the role again.
24 Fast/car : QUICK/BUICK
David Dunbar Buick was an inventor working in Detroit, Michigan who founded the Buick Motor Company in 1903. Buick sold his interest in Buick Motors just three years later. He passed away in 1929, practically penniless. Still, over 30 million vehicles have been built that bore the Buick name.
25 Wild/bunch : ZANY/MANY
Something described as zany is clownish and bizarre. “Zany” can also be a noun, a term used for a clown or buffoon. The original noun was “Zanni”, a Venetian dialect variant of Gianni, short for Giovanni (John). Zanni was a character who appeared in comedy plays of the day, and was someone who aped the principal actors.
26 Informer, informally : STOOLIE
Stoolies, also called “canaries”, will “sing” to the cops given the right incentive. “Stoolie” is short for “stool pigeon”. A stool pigeon was a decoy bird tied to a stool so as to lure other pigeons. Originally a stoolie was a decoy for the police, rather than an informer, hence the name.
27 Cartoon character inspired by W.C. Fields : MR MAGOO
Mr. Quincy Magoo is a wonderful cartoon character voiced by Jim Backus. Backus is probably equally well-known for playing Mr. Magoo as well as Thurston Howell, III on “Gilligan’s Island”. Mr. Magoo first appeared on the screen in a short called “The Ragtime Bear” in 1949. His persona was at least in part based on the antics of W. C. Fields. Backus originally used a fake rubber nose that pinched his nostrils in order to create the distinctive voice, although in time he learned to do the voice without the prop. My absolute favorite appearance by Mr. Magoo is in “Mr Magoo’s Christmas Carol”, a true classic from the sixties. There was a movie adaptation of “Mr Magoo” released in 1997, with Leslie Nielsen playing the title role.
W.C. Fields worked hard to develop the on-screen image of a pretty grumpy old man. In his real life he was fairly grumpy too, and fond of protecting his privacy. He was famous for hiding in the shrubs around his house in Los Angeles and firing a BB gun at the legs of tourists who intruded on his property. Also Fields often played the drunk on-screen. In real life, Fields didn’t touch alcohol at all when he was younger, partly because he didn’t want to do anything to impair his skill as a juggler. But later in life he took to heavy drinking, so much so that it affected his health and interfered with his ability to perform.
32 Image on a Missouri state quarter : ARCH
The Gateway Arch in St. Louis is located on the banks of the Mississippi River, and is the tallest monument in the United States. It was designed by Eero Saarinen, with the help of structural engineer Hannskarl Bandel. They did their design work back in 1947, but construction wasn’t started until 1963. In 1980, a daredevil took it upon himself to parachute onto the top of the arch, intending to further jump from the apex of the arch and parachute to the ground. He hit the arch all right, and slid all the way down one of the arches to his death. No comment …
33 Wombs : UTERI
“Uterus” (plural “uteri”) is the Latin word for “womb”.
34 Italian sports cars, informally : ALFAS
The “Alfa” in “Alfa Romeo” is actually an acronym, one standing for Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili (“Lombard Automobile Factory, Public Company”). ALFA was an enterprise founded in 1909 and which was taken over by Nicola Romeo in 1915. In 1920 the company name was changed to Alfa Romeo.
39 Desirable condition for hostas : SHADE
The Hosta genus of plant was once classified as a lily, but is now in a family of its own and is described as “lily-like”. The plant was given the name “Hosta” in honor of the Austrian botanist Nicholas Thomas Host.
42 “Cómo ___?” : ESTAS
“Cómo estas?” is Spanish for “how are you?”
43 Divinity sch. subj. : REL
Religion (rel.)
44 Provoked an online fight : TROLLED
In Internet terms, a troll is someone who attempts to disrupt online group activities. The fishing term “troll” is used to describe such a person as he or she throws out off-topic remarks in an attempt to “lure” others into some emotional response. I must admit to feeling sorry for people who have such sad lives …
48 Holland/tunnel : DUTCH/DITCH
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!
New York City’s Holland Tunnel conducts vehicular traffic under the Hudson River between Manhattan and Jersey City. When it opened in 1927, it was the longest underwater vehicular tunnel in the world. The tunnel is named for Clifford Milburn Holland, the chief engineer who worked on the project and who died from a heart attack before he could see the work completed.
51 Onetime Kia model : OPTIMA
The Kia Optima was sold for a while in Canada and Europe as the Kia Magentis. In 2019, the name was changed to “K5” in all markets.
54 Tik___ challenge : TOK
TikTok is a video-sharing service based in China that is very popular with the younger set (I am told). The original and equivalent service in China is known as Douyin, which went live in 2016. TikTok was launched the following year as the global version of Douyin.
55 Home of the Temple of Poseidon : ATTICA
The historic region of Attica is home to the city of Athens. It comprises a peninsula in the southwest of the country that juts out into the Aegean Sea. As a result, the region is sometimes referred to as the Attic peninsula.
61 Stadium/timekeeper : METRODOME/METRONOME
The full name of the Minneapolis sports stadium, commonly referred to as the Metrodome, is the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. It was home to 1992’s Super Bowl XXVI, in which the Washington Redskins defeated the Buffalo Bills.
A metronome is any device that produces a regular beat. The metronome was invented in 1815 by Johann Maelzel, who intended it to be an instrument for the use of musicians.
66 Steamed Chinese bun : BAO
A baozi (also “bou, bao”) is a steamed, filled bun in Chinese cuisine.
72 Word often shortened to a letter and a number : CANINE
Canine (K-9)
73 Catherine the Great, e.g.: Abbr. : EMP
Catherine the Great (aka Catherine II) was Empress of Russia for 34 years, up to her death in 1796. Her long reign is considered by many to have been Russia’s Golden Age.
75 Jeans popular in the 1980s : GITANOS
Gitano is a brand of jeans that was sold by Kmart in the 1980s.
77 Denver/Colorado : STAGE NAME / STATE NAME
Singer John Denver’s real name was Henry John Deutchendorf, Jr. Denver was a great singer, and he had many other passions. He was an excellent photographer, and an avid skier and golfer. He also loved flying and collected vintage biplanes. He flew himself to concerts in his own Learjet, and had a handful of other planes that he would take out for spin when he could. One of his planes was an Experimental Rutan Long-EZ, a home-built aircraft noted for its fuel efficiency and tremendous range. Denver took the Rutan Long-EZ up in the middle of October 1997. He hadn’t had much experience with the plane, even though he had logged over 2,700 hours of flying time in other aircraft. The plane crashed into the ocean near Pacific Grove, California in an accident that Denver did not survive.
80 The “E” in G.E.: Abbr. : ELEC
The General Electric Company is usually referred to simply as “GE”. One of the precursor companies to GE was Edison General Electric, founded in 1890 by the inventor Thomas Edison. What we know today as GE was formed two years later when Edison merged his company with Charles Coffin’s Thomson-Houston Electric Company. In 1896, GE was selected as one of the 12 companies listed on the newly formed Dow Jones Industrial Average. GE was the last of the original 12 to survive on that list, being replaced by Walgreens in 2018. I spent over ten years with GE at the beginning of my working career, and in fact it was GE that asked me to transfer to the US from Ireland back in the 1980s …
83 Org. once led by George H.W. Bush : CIA
The CIA headquarters is located in Langley, Virginia in a complex called the George Bush Center for Intelligence. The facility was named for former Director of the CIA and US President George H. W. Bush. Langley used to be the largest intelligence agency (by area) in the western world, but that honor now goes to the BND Headquarters in Berlin.
85 Direction of the wind that brought Mary Poppins : EAST
The “Mary Poppins” series of children’s novels were written by Australian-born English writer and actress P. L. Travers. Poppins is a magical children’s nanny with a best friend Bert, who is a chimney sweep. In the famous 1964 musical film adaptation of the Mary Poppins stories, Poppins is played by Julie Andrews and Bert is played Dick Van Dyke.
87 Where “Cheers” is set : IN A BAR
The wonderful sitcom “Cheers” ran for eleven seasons on NBC, from 1982 to 1993. “Cheers” spawned an equally successful spin-off show called “Frasier”, which also ran for eleven seasons and often featured guest appearances of characters from the original “Cheers”. The Cheers bar was styled on the Bull & Finch Pub in Boston (in which I’ve had a pint of Guinness or two!). The owner of the Bull & Finch cleverly agreed to the initial interior and exterior shots, charging only one dollar. Since then he has made millions from selling “Cheers” memorabilia, and also from increased trade.
90 Chart-topping Basil or Braxton : TONI
Toni Basil is the stage name of the singer Antonia Christina Basilotta. Basil is best known for her fun 1982 hit called “Mickey”.
Toni Braxton is a very successful R&B singer, but one who seems to have trouble managing her financial affairs. After two highly successful albums, she had to file for bankruptcy protection in 1993. She recovered and had even more success, and then had to file for bankruptcy again in 2010.
91 Start of “O Come, All Ye Faithful” : LONG O
The lovely Christmas hymn “Adeste Fideles” (entitled “O Come, All Ye Faithful” in English) was written by one John Francis Wade in the 13th century. Well, he wrote the original four verses, with four more verses being added over time. A kind blog reader pointed out to me that the English translation is in fact a little “off”. The term “adeste” best translates from Latin as “be present, attend”, rather than “come”. The verb “come” appears later in the lyrics in “venite adoremus”, meaning “come, let us worship”.
93 Place to buy tickets: Abbr. : STA
Station (sta.)
94 Jewel case holders : CD RACKS
It seems that the derivation of the term “jewel case” (CD box) is unclear. One suggestion is that initial prototypes weren’t very successful, so when a workable design was found it was dubbed the “jewel” case.
96 Architect Maya : LIN
Maya Lin is a Chinese-American artist and architect from Athens, Ohio. Her most famous work is the moving Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Lin was only 21-years-old when she won a public design competition in 1981 to create the memorial. Although her design is very fitting, sadly Lin was not a popular choice for the work given her Asian heritage. As she said herself, she probably would not have been picked had the competition been judged with the knowledge of who was behind each submission.
98 Mel who sang the 1949 #1 hit “Careless Hands” : TORME
Mel Tormé was a jazz singer with a quality of voice that earned him the nickname “The Velvet Fog”. Tormé also wrote a few books, and did a lot of acting. He was the co-author of the Christmas classic known as “The Christmas Song”, which starts out with the line “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire …”
“Careless Hands” is a song that was first recorded in 1948. A 1948 version of “Careless Hands” topped the charts for Mel Tormé, making it Tormé’s first number one.
100 Year abroad : ANO
In Spanish, an “año” (year) has “doce meses” (twelve months).
101 Stars and Stripes : US FLAG
Legend has it that Betsy Ross made the first American flag for General George Washington. However, this story only surfaced during the centennial celebrations of 1876, and although Betsy Ross was indeed one of several flag makers in Philadelphia in the days of George Washington, sadly there’s no definitive evidence that Ross provided that first Stars and Stripes.
104 Rainproof cover : TARP
Originally, tarpaulins were made from canvas covered in tar that rendered the material waterproof. The word “tarpaulin” comes from “tar” and “palling”, with “pall” meaning “heavy cloth covering”.
106 ___ bears : GUMMI
Gummy bears were a 1920s creation of a confectioner from Bonn, Germany named Hans Riegel, Sr. They were originally sold as Dancing Bears, and back then were made from gum arabic (hence the generic name “gummy” bears). The gum arabic was eventually replaced with gelatin, which remains a key ingredient to this day.
108 Hall-of-Famer Martínez : PEDRO
Pedro Martinez is a retired baseball pitcher from the Dominican Republic. Martinez won the Cy Young Award three times, and was on the Boston Red Sox team that won the 2004 World Series.
116 Dino/expedition : T REX / TREK
The most popular dinosaurs depicted in the movies, especially the older ones, are the Tyrannosaurs and the Allosauruses. They look very similar, with the former being the really big guy. One difference between the two, is that they weren’t around at the same time. The allosaurus was around during the Jurassic period, but the T. rex didn’t appear on Earth for another 100 million years or so, during the Cretaceous period.
117 Card/game : JOKER/POKER
Playing cards, in various forms, have been around for centuries and were probably invented in China. The Joker card is an American invention, appearing first in the late 1860s. It was introduced as a card for the game of Euchre, and the suggestion is that the term “Joker” comes from “Juker” or “Juckerspiel”, the original German name for Euchre.
120 Grim Grimm figure : OGRE
The Brothers Grimm (Jacob and Wilhelm) were two German academics noted for collecting and publishing folk tales. Among the tales in their marvelous collection are “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, “Sleeping Beauty” and “Cinderella”.
121 Beethoven dedicatee : ELISE
“Für Elise” is a beautiful piece of solo piano music by Beethoven that is also known as “Bagatelle in A Minor”. “Für Elise” simply means “For Elise”, but sadly no one knows for sure the identity of the mysterious dedicatee.
123 First name in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame : TINA
“Tina Turner” was the stage name used by Anna Mae Bullock, the “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll”. Turner always loved Europe and moved there in the eighties, splitting her time between her homes in England, France and Switzerland.
124 Costner’s role in “The Untouchables” : NESS
Eliot Ness was portrayed by Kevin Costner in the 1987 film “The Untouchables” (good movie).
126 Happy companion : DOC
In the original Brothers Grimm fairy tale called “Snow White”, the seven dwarfs were not given any names. The names were added for the 1937 classic Disney film “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. The seven dwarfs are:
- Doc (the leader of the group)
- Grumpy (that would be me, according to my wife …)
- Happy
- Sleepy
- Bashful
- Sneezy
- Dopey
Down
1 Red rover home : MARS
There have been several rovers sent to Mars from Earth. The Soviet Union’s Mars 2 landed in 1971, and failed. Mars 3 landed the same year, and ceased operation just 20 seconds after landing. NASA’s Sojourner landed in 1997 (what a great day that was!) and operated from July through September. The British rover Beagle 2 was lost six days before its scheduled entry into the Martian atmosphere. NASA’s Spirit landed in 2004, and operated successfully for over six years before getting trapped in sand and eventually ceasing to communicate. NASA’s Opportunity also landed in 2004, and operated for over fourteen years. And then NASA’s Curiosity made a spectacular, hi-tech landing in 2012 and is continuing to explore the planet today. Based on the Curiosity design, NASA’s Perseverance rover landed in 2021, along with the Mars helicopter named Ingenuity. The China National Space Administration landed its first rover, named Zhurong (“Rover” in English), five months after Perseverance started its mission on the planet.
3 ___ Act (measure against mobsters) : RICO
The RICO Act is more fully called the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The law was used largely to prosecute members of the Mafia in the seventies, and has been applied more broadly since.
4 Indigenous people’s name for Mount Rainier : TAHOMA
Mount Rainier is an active volcano in the state of Washington in the Cascade Mountain Range. Native Americans first called the peak “Tacoma” and “Tahoma” meaning “mother of waters”. When Captain George Vancouver discovered Puget Sound in 1792, he named the peak in honor of his friend Rear Admiral Peter Rainier. There have been movements to change the name back to Tacoma, but these seem to have “petered” out (pun!).
5 Officer with a radar gun : SPEED COP
Radar speed guns were first used to monitor traffic by Connecticut State Police in the town of Glastonbury, way back in 1947!
6 Shapiro of NPR : ARI
Ari Shapiro served very ably as White House correspondent for National Public Radio (NPR) for several years. He then became a co-host of the network’s drive-time program “All Things Considered” in 2015. When he’s not working, Shapiro likes to sing. He appears regularly as a guest singer with the group Pink Martini, and has appeared on several of the band’s albums. He also turned up as host of the seventh season of the reality game show “The Mole”.
8 Fictional composer whose first three initials mean “A.S.A.P.” : PDQ BACH
“PDQ Bach” is an alter ego used by musical satirist Peter Schickele. Schickele creates works that he bills as compositions written by PDQ Bach, the “only forgotten son” of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Pretty darn quick (PDQ)
10 Foreign exchange fee : AGIO
The term “agio” derives from the Italian “aggio” meaning “exchange rate, discount, premium”. Most often, the agio is defined as the difference between the actual exchange rate and the nominal exchange rate for two currencies. That difference is mainly made up of the service fee for making the exchange.
11 Chrysler Building style, familiarly : DECO
The Chrysler Building in Manhattan is a magnificent Art Deco structure that was opened in 1930. Standing at over 1,000 feet tall, it was the tallest building in the world for almost a year, until the Empire State Building was completed in 1931. The building was constructed for use by the Chrysler Corporation, but the company never owned it. The car manufacturer’s founder decided to pay for the Chrysler Building out of his personal wealth, so that he could pass it on to his children.
13 Protective outfits for handling radioactive material : HAZMAT SUITS
Dangerous goods are commonly referred to as hazardous materials, or HAZMAT. People working with dangerous goods might wear a HAZMAT suit.
14 Almond-flavored liqueur : AMARETTO
Amaretto is an Italian liqueur with a sweet almond flavor. Even though the drink is sweet, it has a bitterness lent to it by the bitter almonds that are often used as a flavoring. The name “amaretto” is a diminutive of the Italian word “amaro” meaning “bitter”.
19 Poet Pound : EZRA
Ezra Pound was an American poet who spent much of his life wandering the world, and spending years in London, Paris, and Italy. In Italy, Pound’s work and sympathies for Mussolini’s regime led to his arrest at the end of the war. His major work was the epic, albeit incomplete, “The Cantos”. This epic poem is divided into 120 sections, each known as a canto.
23 Horror film locale, in brief : ELM ST
“A Nightmare on Elm Street” is a Wes Craven slasher-horror film that was released in 1984. As I don’t do “slasher” or “horror”, I was surprised to learn that Johnny Depp was in the movie, making his feature film debut.
28 Seasoning brand that dropped the first part of its name in 2020 : MRS DASH
Mrs. Dash was a brand name of seasoning mixes. Just before the product first went to market in 1981, brand owner B&G Foods also considered the name “Mrs. Pinch”. Finally getting with the times, the brand owners changed the product name in 2020 to just “Dash”.
31 Horse/power : COLT/VOLT
The volt is a unit of electric potential, or voltage. I always think of electrical voltage as something like water pressure. The higher the pressure of water (voltage), the faster the water flows (the higher the electric current that flows).
35 What Hester Prynne wore in a Hawthorne novel : LETTER A
The main character in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel “The Scarlet Letter” is Hester Prynne. After the birth of her illegitimate daughter Pearl, she is convicted by her puritanical neighbors of the crime of adultery. Hester is forced to wear a scarlet “A” (for “adultery”) on her clothing for the rest of her life, hence the novel’s title “The Scarlet Letter”.
46 Bygone owner of Virgin Records : EMI
EMI was a British music company, with the initialism standing for Electric and Musical Industries.
Virgin EMI Records is a label that formed in 2013 with the merger of Mercury Records UK and Virgin Records. The list of artists who recorded with Virgin EMI includes Justin Bieber, Elton John, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney, U2, Willie Nelson and Red Hot Chili Peppers.
53 One eager for radical change : YOUNG TURK
In the context of the US, the Young Turks was a group of Republican politicians who split with the main party in the early sixties. The original “Young Turks” was an early 20th-century reform movement in the Ottoman Empire that favored replacement of the monarchy with a constitutional government. The term has further evolved, now applying to any insurgent group within a political party.
56 Kind of line that no one just stands in : CONGA
The conga line is a dance that originated as a Cuban carnival march. It became popular in the US starting in the thirties. The dance is apparently named after the Congo region of Africa, and it was originated by slaves who were brought from there to Cuba.
60 Body parts with caps : KNEES
The patella is the kneecap. The bone’s Latin name “patella” is a diminutive form of “patina”, the word for “pan”. The idea is that the kneecap is pan-shaped.
62 How caviar might be served : ON TOAST
Caviar is the roe of a large fish that has been salted and seasoned, and especially the roe of a sturgeon. Beluga caviar comes from the beluga sturgeon, which is found primarily in the Caspian Sea. It is the most expensive type of caviar in the world. 8 ounces of US-farmed beluga caviar can be purchased through Amazon.com for just over $850, in case you’re feeling peckish …
65 Sephora purchase : MASCARA
Variants of mascara have been around a long time, and certainly there was a similar substance in use in ancient Egypt. “Mascara” is a Spanish word meaning “stain, mask”.
Sephora is a French chain of cosmetic stores, founded in 1969. The name “Sephora” is derived from the Greek for “beauty” (“sephos”). We’ve been able to visit Sephora outlets in JCPenney stores since 2006.
67 Fast-evaporating cleaning agent : AMMONIA
Ammonia is a colorless gas with a very strong smell, and a chemical formula NH3. The name “ammonia” comes from salt deposits (actually the salt “ammonium chloride”) that the Romans collected near the Temple of Amun in ancient Libya.
78 Pickleball need : NET
Pickleball is a sport invented in the 1960s that combines elements of tennis, table tennis and badminton. Originally marketed as a game for children to play in backyards, pickleball is now played on purpose-built courts by many, many adults, but mainly in North and South America.
79 Classic British sports cars : JAGUAR XK-ES
We knew them as E-type Jags in my part of the world growing up, but they were marketed over in the US as the Jaguar XK-E line. The XK-E was manufactured from 1961 to 1974.
86 Feature of rhubarb pie : TARTNESS
We can eat the leaf stalks of the rhubarb plant, but not the leaves themselves. The leaves contain oxalic acid and are highly toxic.
89 Not plugged in, in a way : ACOUSTIC
The term “unplugged” is commonly used for music played on acoustic instruments, music that is usually played on amplified instruments, often electric guitars.
92 Sommelier’s prefix : OENO-
“Sommelier” is the French word for “wine steward”. If that steward is a female, then the term used in French is “sommelière”.
95 Diploma modifier : SUMMA
When an academic degree is awarded, a level of distinction can be noted depending on the degree of success achieved by the student. There are three types of honor, each with a Latin name:
- cum laude: meaning “with honor” (literally “with praise”)
- magna cum laude: meaning “with great honor”
- summa cum laude: meaning “with highest honor”
102 Slumber/party : SIESTA/FIESTA
We use the word “siesta” to describe a short nap in the early afternoon, and imported the word into English from Spanish. In turn, the Spanish word is derived from the Latin “hora sexta” meaning “the sixth hour”. The idea is that the nap is taken at the sixth hour after dawn.
109 Cotton capsule : BOLL
The boll is the seed-bearing capsule of some plants, particularly of flax and cotton.
110 Sony co-founder Morita : AKIO
Sony was founded by Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka as Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation). The two partners met in the Japanese Navy during WWII.
113 Soul legend Redding : OTIS
Otis Redding is often referred to as the “King of Soul”, and what a voice he had. Like so many of the greats in the world of popular music it seems, Redding was killed in a plane crash, in 1967 when he was just 26 years old. Just three days earlier he had recorded what was to be his biggest hit, “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay”.
117 Digital picture format : JPEG
The JPEG image file format (also “.jpg”) was created by the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), hence the name.
119 ___-cone : SNO
A sno-cone (also “snow cone”) is just a paper cone filled with crushed ice and topped with flavored water. Italian ice is similar, but different. Whereas the flavoring is added on top of the ice to make a sno-cone, Italian ice is made with water that is flavored before it is frozen.
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Trading post : MART
5 For example : SAY
8 Italian fashion house : PRADA
13 Hard-liner : HAWK
17 “Ave Maria” finale, appropriately? : ARIA
18 Buying binge : SPREE
20 Venetian magistrates of old : DOGES
21 French friend : AMIE
22 Lead actress in “The Lovely Bones” (2009) and “The Bourne Legacy” (2012) : RACHEL WEISZ
24 Fast/car : QUICK/BUICK
25 Wild/bunch : ZANY/MANY
26 Informer, informally : STOOLIE
27 Cartoon character inspired by W.C. Fields : MR MAGOO
29 Gave a darn : CARED
30 3,605, in ancient Rome : MMMDCV
32 Image on a Missouri state quarter : ARCH
33 Wombs : UTERI
34 Italian sports cars, informally : ALFAS
37 Gear tooth : COG
39 Desirable condition for hostas : SHADE
42 “Cómo ___?” : ESTAS
43 Divinity sch. subj. : REL
44 Provoked an online fight : TROLLED
47 Treasure : GEM
48 Holland/tunnel : DUTCH/DITCH
49 Figs. on flight boards : ETAS
51 Onetime Kia model : OPTIMA
52 Spot : ESPY
54 Tik___ challenge : TOK
55 Home of the Temple of Poseidon : ATTICA
57 Put-down : DISS
59 They put things on the back burner : COOKS
61 Stadium/timekeeper : METRODOME/METRONOME
64 Smash hit : HOME RUN
66 Steamed Chinese bun : BAO
69 Exist : ARE
70 Your business start-up? : NONE OF …
72 Word often shortened to a letter and a number : CANINE
73 Catherine the Great, e.g.: Abbr. : EMP
74 Average/income : PAR/PAY
75 Jeans popular in the 1980s : GITANOS
77 Denver/Colorado : STAGE NAME / STATE NAME
79 Name spelled by the initials of five consecutive months : JASON
80 The “E” in G.E.: Abbr. : ELEC
82 Applied to : USED ON
83 Org. once led by George H.W. Bush : CIA
85 Direction of the wind that brought Mary Poppins : EAST
87 Where “Cheers” is set : IN A BAR
90 Chart-topping Basil or Braxton : TONI
91 Start of “O Come, All Ye Faithful” : LONG O
93 Place to buy tickets: Abbr. : STA
94 Jewel case holders : CD RACKS
96 Architect Maya : LIN
97 Follow : ENSUE
98 Mel who sang the 1949 #1 hit “Careless Hands” : TORME
100 Year abroad : ANO
101 Stars and Stripes : US FLAG
103 For the birds : AVIAN
104 Rainproof cover : TARP
106 ___ bears : GUMMI
108 Hall-of-Famer Martínez : PEDRO
109 Woodworking tool with a belt : BAND SAW
112 “Nothing much” : SAME OLD
116 Dino/expedition : T REX / TREK
117 Card/game : JOKER/POKER
118 Certain emcee : TOASTMASTER
120 Grim Grimm figure : OGRE
121 Beethoven dedicatee : ELISE
122 Risk of heavy lifting : HERNIA
123 First name in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame : TINA
124 Costner’s role in “The Untouchables” : NESS
125 Sheen : GLOSS
126 Happy companion : DOC
127 Right hand: Abbr. : ASST
Down
1 Red rover home : MARS
2 “I smell ___” : A RAT
3 ___ Act (measure against mobsters) : RICO
4 Indigenous people’s name for Mount Rainier : TAHOMA
5 Officer with a radar gun : SPEED COP
6 Shapiro of NPR : ARI
7 Antiquated assent : YES’M
8 Fictional composer whose first three initials mean “A.S.A.P.” : PDQ BACH
9 Dietary plant fiber : ROUGHAGE
10 Foreign exchange fee : AGIO
11 Chrysler Building style, familiarly : DECO
12 Request : ASK
13 Protective outfits for handling radioactive material : HAZMAT SUITS
14 Almond-flavored liqueur : AMARETTO
15 Stand in a cellar : WINE RACK
16 Small entryway receptacle that might also house loose change : KEY DISH
18 Skinny/dip : SLIM/SWIM
19 Poet Pound : EZRA
23 Horror film locale, in brief : ELM ST
28 Seasoning brand that dropped the first part of its name in 2020 : MRS DASH
29 Prompted, in a theater : CUED
31 Horse/power : COLT/VOLT
34 Tour aid : AREA MAP
35 What Hester Prynne wore in a Hawthorne novel : LETTER A
36 Excessive praise : FLATTERY
38 Like some eyeliners : GLIDE-ON
40 Lineage : DESCENT
41 Major shops : EMPORIA
45 Honking or screeching, for example : ROAD NOISE
46 Bygone owner of Virgin Records : EMI
50 “Hello there, good ___” : SIR
53 One eager for radical change : YOUNG TURK
56 Kind of line that no one just stands in : CONGA
58 Party to the left of Dem. : SOC
60 Body parts with caps : KNEES
62 How caviar might be served : ON TOAST
63 Will, given the opportunity : MEANS TO
65 Sephora purchase : MASCARA
66 “Help me out here” : BE A DOLL
67 Fast-evaporating cleaning agent : AMMONIA
68 Sicilian Defense in chess, e.g. : OPENING
71 Adversary : FOE
76 Deli devices : SLICERS
78 Pickleball need : NET
79 Classic British sports cars : JAGUAR XK-ES
81 Conclusion : END
83 What parallel lines never do : CONVERGE
84 Ones in the know : INSIDERS
86 Feature of rhubarb pie : TARTNESS
88 [Kapow!] : [BANG!]
89 Not plugged in, in a way : ACOUSTIC
91 Grabbed, as an opportunity : LEAPT ON
92 Sommelier’s prefix : OENO-
95 Diploma modifier : SUMMA
99 Mothers, in Mexico : MADRES
102 Slumber/party : SIESTA/FIESTA
105 Trail/head : PATH/PATE
107 Crib call : MAMA!
109 Cotton capsule : BOLL
110 Sony co-founder Morita : AKIO
111 Promise/keeper : WORD/WARD
113 Soul legend Redding : OTIS
114 Something to look through : LENS
115 Mild expletive : DRAT!
117 Digital picture format : JPEG
119 ___-cone : SNO
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