Category: Michael Blake

Today’s Reveal Answer: Upper Hand

Themed answers are preceded by the word HAND, which resides in the row above in the grid:

• 58A Advantage … or what the answer to each starred clue has? : UPPER HAND

• 20A *Needlepoint, e.g. : HANDIWORK
• 33A *Sets the odds for : HANDICAPS
• 50A *Plumber/carpenter types : HANDYMEN
• 64A *Submitted : HANDED IN

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

Bill’s time: 9m 19s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

13 ___ Sedgwick, 1960s “It Girl” : EDIE

Edie Sedgwick became famous when she starred in several short films made by Andy Warhol in the sixties. Sedgwick’s life was portrayed in a 2006 biographical film called “Factory Girl”.

14 Wine: Prefix : OENO-

In Greek mythology, Oeno was the goddess of wine, giving us “oeno-” as a prefix meaning “wine”. For example, oenology is the study of wine and an oenophile is a wine-lover.

15 Regional life : BIOTA

The biota of a region is the total collection of flora and fauna found there.

17 React to pyrotechnics, say : OOH AND AAH

“Pyro” is the combining form of the Greek word for “fire”. “Pyrotechnics” is the art of making and using fireworks. “Pyromania” is a strong desire to light fires.

22 Layer of an Italian muffuletta sandwich : SALAMI

“Salame” (note the letter E at the end) is an Italian sausage that is traditionally associated with the peasant classes. The meat in the sausage is preserved with salt, and it can be hung and stored for as long as ten years. The name “salame” comes from “sale”, the Italian word for salt, and “-ame”, a suffix indicating a collective noun. Our English word “salami” is actually the Italian plural for “salame”.

26 ___ Style Awards (annual honors since 1997) : ELLE

The Elle Style Awards have been presented annually since 2002, by “Elle” magazine.

33 *Sets the odds for : HANDICAPS

The noun “handicap”, an advantage or disadvantage in a competition, comes from the phrase “hand-in-cap”, which was the name of an Old English trading game. In the game, two players agree to trade two possessions. The players and a referee all put some forfeit money into a cap, forming a kitty that can be won. The referee determines the value of the items and declares any difference in worth, an amount that has to added by the owner of the lower-valued item so that the trade is “equal”. The players then put their hands into their pockets and draw out a token coin(s) at the same time, signalling that they agree with the valuation given. If agreement is reached, the referee collects the forfeit as a “fee” and the items are exchanged. If neither player agrees with the valuation they withdraw empty hands from their pockets, then the referee collects the fee and no exchange is made. If only one player agrees to the exchange, then that player collects the forfeit, and again no exchange is made.

36 Team with home games at SunTrust Park : BRAVES

SunTrust Park is the baseball stadium that has been home to the Atlanta Braves since 2017. The Braves had been playing in Turner Field since 1997, which was a stadium built for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.

40 East African native : MASAI

The Masai (also “Maasai”) are a semi-nomadic people found in Kenya and Tanzania. They are semi-nomadic in that over the years they have been migrating from the Lower Nile Valley in northwest Kenya, and are moving into Tanzania.

44 Preceder of the Three Kingdoms, in Chinese history : HAN DYNASTY

The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China and lasted from 206 BC to 220 AD. It came after the Qin Dynasty, and before the Three Kingdoms.

During the Three Kingdoms Period in Chinese history, there were three kingdoms vying for control of China. The three competing kingdoms were Wei, Shu and Wu.

51 Rehab woes, for short : DTS

The episodes of delirium that can accompany withdrawal from alcohol are called delirium tremens (the DTs). The literal translation of this Latin phrase is “trembling madness”.

52 Westinghouse rival : EDISON

George Westinghouse was an American engineer and businessman, and a rival to Thomas Edison in developing the first robust electrical grid for the country. Edison’s approach was to distribute electrical power using DC current, but Westinghouse opted to partner with Nikola Tesla and worked with AC current. AC technology won the day!

57 Round windows : OCULI

“Oculus” (plural “oculi”) is the Latin word for “eye”, and is a term used in architecture for a circular window.

62 Country that lost a quarter of its territory in 2011 : SUDAN

Sudan was the largest country in Africa until 2011, when the Southern Sudan region opted by referendum to become independent. “North Sudan” retained the name of Sudan, and the new state is called South Sudan. Sudan is now the third largest country in the continent, after Algeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

63 Parker who was the first president of Facebook : SEAN

Sean Parker came to national attention in 1998 as co-founder of Napster, the file-sharing service for music that caused such a fuss in the recording industry. He started to advise the founders of Facebook in 2004, and became the company’s first president later that year. If you watch the very entertaining movie about Facebook called “The Social Network” you’ll see Parker played by Justin Timberlake. Parker comes across as very obnoxious in the film.

Down

1 Title also held by many a co. president : CEO

Chief executive officer (CEO)

3 One whose guiding philosophy is “What does it matter?” : NIHILIST

“Nihil” is the Latin word for “nothing, and is a term we’ve absorbed into English. “Nihil” is also the root from which we get our term “nil”. Someone described as “nihilistic” is very skeptical and tends to believe in nothing.

5 Gryffindor who founded Gryffindor House at Hogwarts : GODRIC

In J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” universe, The Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was founded by the four most brilliant witches and wizards of their time: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. Each of the founders lent their name to a House in the school, i.e. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin.

7 Big carrier to Tokyo : ANA

All Nippon Airways (ANA) is a Japanese airline, one that is now larger in size that the nation’s flag carrier Japan Airlines (JAL).

9 “Mamma Mia!” group : ABBA

The hit musical “Mamma Mia!” was written to showcase the songs of ABBA. I’m a big fan of ABBA’s music, so I’ve seen this show a couple of times and just love it. “Mamma Mia!” is such a big hit on the stage that on any given day there are at least seven performances going on somewhere in the world. There is a really interesting film version of the show that was released in 2008. I think the female lead Meryl Streep is wonderful in the movie, but the male leads … not so much! By the way, one can tell the difference between “Mamma Mia” the ABBA song and “Mamma Mia!” the musical, by noting the difference in the punctuation in the titles.

10 Soccer star Messi : LIONEL

Lionel “Leo” Messi is a soccer player from Argentina. Messi was awarded FIFA’s Ballon d’Or (Golden Ball) award from 2009 to 2013. The Ballon d’Or is presented to the player who is considered the best in the world in the prior year.

11 “The Jungle Book” protagonist : MOWGLI

“The Jungle Book” by Rudyard Kipling was originally published in 1894, and is a collection of adventure stories or fables featuring the animals of the jungle and a young boy named Mowgli. Baloo is a sloth bear who teaches the cubs of a wolf pack the Law of the Jungle. His most challenging pupil however is no lupine, but rather the man-cub Mowgli.

12 Michael ___, onetime Republican Party chairman : STEELE

Michael Steele served as Chairman of the Republican National Committee from 2009 to 2011 and was the first African American to fill the post.

18 Jules or Juliette : NOM

“Nom” is the French word for “name”.

21 Cause for damage control : BAD PR

Public relations (PR)

22 Singers do it : SEW

Isaac Singer was not only an inventor, but also an actor. For much of his life, profits made from his inventions supported him while he pursued his acting career. Singer didn’t actually invent the sewing machine, and never claimed to have done so. What he did do though, was invent a version of the machine that was practical and easily used in the home.

24 Hoover, e.g., for short : VAC

The first practical portable vacuum cleaner was invented by James Spangler in 1907. Spangler sold the patent for the design to his cousin’s husband, William Henry Hoover. Hoover then made his fortune from manufacturing and selling vacuum cleaners. Hoover was so successful in my part of the world that back in Ireland we don’t use the verb “to vacuum” and instead say “to hoover”. Also, “hoover” is what we call a vacuum cleaner, regardless of who makes it.

30 Those niñas : ESAS

In Spanish, a “niña” is a young girl, a child. The term “chica” applies to an older girl or perhaps a young woman.. The term “muchacha” applies to girls in general, I think …

32 Name on a Cognac bottle : REMY

Remy Martin is my favorite brand of cognac (remember that when it’s my birthday!). In China, the name Remy Martin is not used, but rather the more colorful moniker “man-headed horse” which describes the centaur logo on the bottle.

45 Kind of brief in court : AMICUS

An “amicus curiae” is a “friend of the court”, and is a concept that originated in Roman law. An amicus curiae is someone who assists a court in a decision, without being a party to the case in question.

46 Pablo ___, Nobel-winning poet : NERUDA

“Pablo Neruda” was the pen name, and eventually the legal name, used by Chilean writer Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. Basoalto chose the name as an homage to Czech poet Jan Neruda.

48 Dweller on the Arabian Peninsula : YEMENI

Yemen is located on the Arabian Peninsula, and lies just south of Saudi Arabia and west of Oman. Yemen is the only state on the peninsula that is a republic (its official name is the Republic of Yemen). Everyone over the age of 18 gets to vote, but only Muslims can hold elected office. Yemen has seen many rebellions over the centuries, and has been suffering through a Shia uprising since February 2015.

53 ___ es Salaam : DAR

Dar es Salaam is the largest city in Tanzania, and sits right on the east coast of Africa. The city’s name is usually translated from Arabic as “Haven of Peace”.

60 Shoot down : NIX

The use of “nix” as a verb, meaning “to shoot down”, dates back to the early 1900s. Before that “nix” was just a noun meaning “nothing”. “Nix” comes from the German “nichts”, which also means “nothing”.

61 Letters after Chuck Schumer or Kirsten Gillibrand : D-NY

Chuck Schumer is the senior US Senator from New York, and a Democrat. Schumer was elected Senate minority leader in 2016 following the retirement of Harry Reid. Schumer is a second cousin, once removed of comedian and actress Amy Schumer.

Kirsten Gillibrand is a US Senator from New York, and a member of the Democratic Party. Gillibrand was serving as a member of the US House of Representatives when she was appointed to the Senate by Governor David Paterson in 2009 after Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton left office to serve as Secretary of State.