Tag: Cut some slack? crossword clue

Bill’s time: 11m 05s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

10 One image on a Monopoly board : JAIL

In the game of Monopoly, there are three ways that a player can end up in jail:

1. Landing directly on the “Go to Jail” space
2. Throwing three consecutive doubles in one turn
3. Drawing a “Go (Directly) to Jail” card from Chance or Community Chest

14 Longtime Ford S.U.V. : BRONCO

The Bronco is an SUV that was made by Ford from 1966 to 1996. O. J. Simpson was driving a white Ford Bronco in that famous low-speed chase by the LAPD that resulted in Simpson’s arrest.

16 Knight of film : JEDI

The Jedi are the good guys in the “Star Wars” series of movies. The most famous Jedi knights from the films are Obi-Wan Kenobi (played by Alec Guinness, and later Ewan McGregor) and Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz). Well, they’re my favorites anyway …

17 Charlie horse : CLYDESDALE (Charlie = C)

The Budweiser Clydesdales were first used in 1933, when they carried the first case of beer produced by the Anheuser Busch Brewery in a ceremonial trip through St. Louis to celebrate the end of prohibition. The team of horses was then transported by rail to New York City, where they were used to present two cases of Budweiser to Al Smith, a former governor of New York who vigorously opposed prohibition.

19 “To suffer ___ which Hope thinks infinite”: Shelley : WOES

Percy Bysshe Shelley was an English Romantic poet. Shelley had strong views on vegetarianism. He was dedicated to the cause of all sentient beings, believing that the slaughter of animals by humans for the use of food was a barbaric practice. He wrote a famous essay on the subject called “A Vindication of Natural Diet” in 1813.

20 Fictional thief Lupin : ARSENE

Arsène Lupin is a character created by the French writer Maurice Leblanc. Leblanc was writing in the days of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and his gentleman detective Lupin is as popular in the French-speaking world as Sherlock Holmes is in English.

21 Papa bear : PANDA (Papa = P)

Taxonomic classification of the giant panda has been a subject of great debate for years, the main question being whether it belongs to the bear or raccoon family. The accepted opinion these days, based on molecular studies, seems to be that the panda is in fact a true bear.

22 Body with many pages : SENATE

US Senate Pages are 16- and 17-year-old high-school juniors who get to watch the political action up close in Washington, while doing the “gofer” jobs needed by the Senators and permanent staff. There are 30 Pages during the school year, 16 appointed by the majority party, and 14 by the minority. The list of former Senate Pages includes Amy Carter (daughter of the President), Chris Dodd (who became a Senator) and Spiro Agnew (who made it to the Vice President’s Office).

26 Sierra Leone : SERGIO (Sierra = S)

Sergio Leone was an Italian film director, and someone very much associated with the Spaghetti Western movie genre . Perhaps most famous of Leone’s westerns were the so-called “Man with No Name” trilogy starring Clint Eastwood. The three films are:

• “A Fistful of Dollars” (1964)
• “For a Few Dollars More” (1965)
• “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (1966)

31 Twin actress Mary-Kate or Ashley : OLSEN

I know very little about the Olsen twins, but I am told that many folks believe Mary-Kate and Ashley to be identical twins. They look very much alike, but are in fact fraternal twins. The sisters were cast as Michelle Tanner on the eighties sitcom “Full House”, taking turns playing the role.

33 Longtime wire service inits. : UPI

Founded in 1958, United Press International (UPI) used to be one of the biggest news agencies in the world, sending out news by wire to the major newspapers. UPI ran into trouble with the change in media formats at the end of the twentieth century and lost many of its clients as the afternoon newspapers shut down due to the advent of television news. UPI, which once employed thousands, still exists today but with just a fraction of that workforce.

37 Danger in a Wile E. Coyote cartoon : TNT

The Acme Corporation is a fictional company used mainly by Looney Tunes, and within the Looney Tunes empire it appears mostly in “Road Runner” cartoons. Wile E. Coyote is always receiving a new piece of gear from Acme designed to finally capture the Road Runner, but the equipment always leads to his downfall.

40 Golf course : GAZPACHO (Golf = G)

Gazpacho is a cold soup made from vegetables in a tomato base. It originated in Andalusia in southern Spain.

42 Whiskey soda : WELCH’S (Whiskey = W)

Welch’s is a beverage and food company that was founded in 1869 by Thomas Bramwell Welch and Lee Steger Welch in Vineland, New Jersey. The company’s first product was “Dr. Welch’s Unfermented Wine”, which was later rebranded as “Welch’s Grape Juice”.

43 Yours, in French : A TOI

“À toi” is the French term for “yours”, when talking to someone with whom one is familiar. “À toi” literally means “to you”.

44 Dave or Ray of the Kinks : DAVIES

The Kinks were an English band who participated in the British Invasion of America in the sixties, although only briefly. After touring the US in the middle of 1965, the American Federation of Musicians refused permits for the Kinks to book concerts for four years, apparently in response to some rowdy on-stage behavior by the band.

45 Quebec city : QUITO (Quebec = Q)

The full name of the capital city of Ecuador is San Francisco de Quito. It is the second highest administrative capital city in the world, after La Paz, Bolivia.

51 Alpha male (double) : ARTHUR ASHE (Alpha = A)

Well, maybe a little error? A in the NATO alphabet is written “alfa”, and not “alpha” as in the Greek alphabet.

Arthur Ashe was a professional tennis player from Richmond, Virginia. In his youth, Ashe found himself having to travel great distances to play against Caucasian opponents due to the segregation that still existed in his home state. He was rewarded for his dedication by being selected for the 1963 US Davis Cup team, the first African-American player to be so honored. Ashe continued to run into trouble because of his ethnicity though, and in 1968 was denied entry into South Africa to play in the South African Open. In 1979, Ashe suffered a heart attack and had bypass surgery, with follow-up surgery four years later during which he contracted HIV from blood transfusions. Ashe passed away in 1993 due to complications from AIDS. Shortly afterwards, Ashe was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton.

57 Info in a job posting : SALARY

It has been suggested that our term “salary” comes from the Latin “sal” meaning “salt”. The idea is that a Roman soldier’s “salarium” might have been an allowance to purchase salt.

59 Candy in plastic dispensers : PEZ

PEZ is an Austrian brand of candy sold in a mechanical dispenser. Famously, PEZ dispensers have molded “heads”, and have become very collectible over the years. The list of heads includes historical figures like Betsy Ross and Paul Revere, characters from “Star Wars” and “Star Trek”, and even British royalty like the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (“William and Kate”). The name “PEZ” comes from the first, middle and last letters of “Pfefferminz”, the German word for “peppermint”.

Down

1 “Fleabag” airer : BBC

“Fleabag” is a marvelous tragicomic television show written and created by, and starring British actress and writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge. The very talented Waller-Bridge also adapted the “Codename Villanelle” novels into the hit TV show “Killing Eve”.

2 Off-line, to those online : IRL

In real life (IRL)

8 Kind of lens for long-distance shots : TELEPHOTO

In the world of photography, a telephoto lens is one in which the physical length of the lens is shorter than the focal length. For example, a 500mm simple lens would be over 500 mm (approx. 20 inches) in length, and quite unwieldy. A telephoto version of a 500mm lens includes a group of lens elements, rather than just one, so that the overall length of the lens is reduced, hence making it more practical to use.

10 Three-time N.F.L. Defensive Player of the Year (2012, 2014 and 2015) : JJ WATT

J.J. Watt is an American football defensive end who was drafted by the Houston Texans in 2011. Watt was the first player in the NFL to record two 20+ sack seasons in a career. J.J.’s younger brother is Derek Watt, a fullback for the LA Chargers.

13 TV journalist Ling : LISA

Lisa Ling is a journalist who is best known as a former co-host of the television show “The View”. Lisa’s younger sister is Laura Ling. Laura is one of the pair of journalists who were sentenced to 12 years hard labor in prison for illegal entry to North Korea, but who were released in 2009 after a visit from former President Bill Clinton.

21 Links figures : PARS

The oldest type of golf course is a links course. The name “links” comes from the Old English word “hlinc” meaning “rising ground”. “Hlinc” was used to describe areas with coastal sand dunes or open parkland. As a result, we use the term “links course” to mean a golf course that is located at or on the coast, often amid sand dunes. The British Open is always played on a links course.

22 Singer Gomez : SELENA

Selena Gomez is an actress and singer from Grand Prairie, Texas. Gomez’s first television role was in the children’s show “Barney & Friends”. She then played the lead in the TV series “Wizards of Waverly Place”. Gomez’s fans often refer to themselves as “Selenators”. Offscreen, Gomez made a splash as the girlfriend of Canadian singer Justin Bieber for a couple of years. More recently, she has been playing a lead role in the hit TV show “Only Murders in the Building” alongside Steve Martin and Martin Short.

23 Fake : ERSATZ

Something described as ersatz is a copy, and usually not a good one. “Ersatz” comes from the German verb “ersetzen” meaning “to replace”.

26 Leader of Germany? : SOFT G

The word “Germany” leads off with a soft letter G.

28 ___ Kennedy Shriver, founder of the Special Olympics : EUNICE

Eunice Kennedy was the sister of President John F. Kennedy. Eunice married Sargent Shriver, the running mate of George McGovern in the 1972 presidential race (which was won by the incumbent President Nixon). Shriver founded Camp Shriver in 1962, a day camp for children with intellectual disabilities. Camp Shriver became an annual event and was extended to communities across the country with funding from the Kennedy Foundation. A 1968 Chicago derivative of Camp Shriver developed the first “Olympics-style” competition, and at this competition Shriver announced the formation of the Special Olympics Games that we know so well today.

30 To the ___ (with style) : NINES

The term “to the nines” means “to perfection”. The first person to use the term in literature was Robbie Burns. Apparently the idea behind the use of “nines” is figurative (pun!), with the number nine considered “ideal” as it is arrived at by multiplying three by three.

32 Notable site of enlightenment : BODHI TREE

The Bodhi Tree is a sacred fig tree in the Indian state of Bihar in the northeast of the country. It is venerated as the tree under which the Buddha was sitting when he attained enlightenment. The name of the tree translates into English as “Tree of Awakening”.

35 Pixar film set in the fictional town of Santa Cecilia : COCO

“Coco” is a 2017 Pixar movie about a 12-year-old boy named Miguel who ends up in the land of the dead by accident. There, he seeks out the help of the great-great-grandfather to get back to his family in the land of the living.

38 Grp. whose alphabet is used eight times in this puzzle : NATO

The NATO phonetic alphabet is also called the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) phonetic alphabet. Alfa, Bravo, Charlie … X-ray, Yankee, Zulu.

42 1960s dance craze : WATUSI

The dance called the Watusi was almost as popular as the twist in the early sixties. The Watusi took its name from the Batutsi tribe in Rwanda.

45 Groucho Marx specialty : QUIP

Groucho Marx’s real name was Julius Henry Marx. By the time Groucho started his successful, post-Hollywood career hosting the quiz show “You Bet Your Life”, he was sporting a real mustache. For all of his movies, his mustache had been painted on with greasepaint.

46 ___ Major : URSA

The constellation Ursa Major (Latin for “Larger Bear”) is often just called “the Big Dipper” because of the resemblance of its main stars to a ladle or dipper. Those stars also resemble a plow, and that’s what we usually call the same constellation back in Ireland the “Plough”.

47 Composer Stravinsky : IGOR

Composer Igor Stravinsky’s most famous works were completed relatively early in his career, when he was quite young. His three ballets “The Firebird”, “Petrushka” and “The Rite of Spring” were published in 1910-1913, when Stravinsky was in his early thirties.

49 The whole shebang : A TO Z

The word “shebang” is probably a derivative of “shebeen”, which is an Irish term describing a “speakeasy”, an establishment where liquor was drunk and sold illegally. In English, a “shebang” was originally a “hut” or a “shed”. Just how this evolved into the expression “the whole shebang”, meaning “everything”, is unclear.

52 One of the founding airlines of Star Alliance : SAS

SAS was formerly known as Scandinavian Airlines System and is the flag carrier of three countries: Denmark, Norway and Sweden. SAS is based at Stockholm Arlanda Airport located just north of the Swedish capital.

The Star Alliance was the airline industry’s first code-sharing alliance, and was created in 1997. The founding representative from the US was United Airlines. The other four members of that first alliance were SAS, Thai Airways, Air Canada, and Lufthansa.

53 Realm of Charlemagne, for short : HRE

Charlemagne was the first king to use the title “Holy Roman Emperor”, starting in the year 800, even though the Holy Roman Empire (HRE) was not actually founded per se until over a century later when Otto I was crowned Emperor. Otto was the first of an unbroken line of Holy Roman Emperors who ruled Central Europe from 962 until 1806.