Tag: Loose-cheeked as a mastiff crossword clue

Bill’s time: 21m 21s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A First person, in Austria : ICH

Ich is the German for “I”, as in “Ich bin ein Berliner” (I am a Berliner), the famous words of support uttered by President John F. Kennedy in 1963 in a speech in West Berlin.

4A Pressing activity, for short? : CPR

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)

20A Shawarma wrap : PITA

Shawarma is a popular street food in the Middle East. It is made from thin slices of seasoned and marinated meat, stacked into a cone-shaped column, and then roasted on a vertical spit. Servings are prepared by slicing the outside roasted meat.

28A Vert. counterpart : HOR

Remember the “horizontal hold” (HOR) and “vertical hold” (VER) on old TV sets? Our kids have no idea what we had to go through …

31A Saint Barthélemy, par exemple : ILE

The correct name for the island we often call “St. Barts” is “Saint Barthélemy”. It is in the Caribbean and is one of the French West Indies.

32A Sugar suffix : -OSE

Sugars are usually named using the “-ose” suffix e.g., glucose, fructose, sucrose.

34A Father of Deimos : ARES

The Greek god Ares is often referred to as the Olympian god of warfare, but originally he was regarded as the god of bloodlust and slaughter. He united with Aphrodite to create several gods, including Phobos (Fear), Deimos (Terror) and Eros (Desire). Ares was the son of Zeus and Hera, and the Roman equivalent to Ares was Mars.

44A Cleveland-to-Akron dir. : SSE

Cleveland, Ohio was named for the man who led the team that surveyed the area prior to the founding of the city. General Moses Cleaveland did his work in 1796 and then left Ohio, never to return again.

For much of the 1910s and 1920s, the Ohio city of Akron was the fastest-growing city in the country, feeding off the industrial boom of that era. The city was founded in 1825 and its location, along the Ohio and Erie canal connecting Lake Erie with the Ohio River, helped to fuel Akron’s growth. Akron sits at the highest point of the canal and the name “Akron” comes from the Greek word meaning “summit”. Indeed, Akron is the county seat of Summit County. The city earned the moniker “Rubber Capital of the World” for most of the 20th century, as it was home to four major tire companies: Goodrich, Goodyear, Firestone and General Tire.

45A Ryder of “Stranger Things” : WINONA

Hollywood actress Winona Ryder’s real name is Winona Horowitz. She was born near the town of Winona in Minnesota, from which she got her name. Ryder’s success on the screen has garnered as much media attention as her life off the screen. The papers had a field day when she was arrested in 2001 on a shoplifting charge followed by a very public court appearance. Her engagement with Johnny Depp in the early nineties was another media frenzy. Depp had “Winona Forever” tattooed on his arm, which he had changed after the breakup to “Wino Forever”. A man with a sense of humor …

“Stranger Things” is a sci-fi horror TV show made for Netflix that aired its first season in 2016. I don’t do horror, and so haven’t seen it …

48A Leprechaun’s land : ERIN

A leprechaun is a mischievous fairy of Irish folklore. Traditionally, they spend their days making shoes and hide all their money in a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Our word “leprechaun” comes from the Irish name for such a sprite, i.e. “leipreachán”.

55A Fictional diary writer : BRIDGET JONES (giving “BIG TOE”)

“Bridget Jones’s Diary” is a 1996 novel by English novelist Helen Fielding. The novel is a clever adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” and even includes a lead character named Darcy. “Bridget Jones’s Diary” was adapted into a very successful movie released in 2001. Colin Firth plays Darcy in the movie, and also played Mr. Darcy in a famous television version of “Pride and Prejudice” in 1995.

61A A as in Austria : EIN

The name “Austria” is a Latin variant of the German name for the country, “Österreich”. “Österreich” itself means “Eastern borderlands”, a reference to the country’s history as a prefecture of neighboring Bavaria to the west.

62A Lock lips, in London : SNOG

“Snogging” is British slang of unknown origin that dates back to the end of WWII. The term is used for “kissing and cuddling”, what we call “making out” over here in the US.

80A Craven behind the camera : WES

Wes Craven was a very successful film director and writer specializing in movies of the horror genre, which means that I don’t watch them! He was responsible for “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and the “Scream” films. Craven passed away in August 2015.

81A “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” author : KEN KESEY (giving “KNEE”)

Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is set in a psychiatric hospital in Salem, Oregon. The novel was adapted into a stage play in 1963 starring Kirk Douglas, who had purchased the rights to produce it on stage and screen. The film version was finally made in 1975, with Kirk Douglas’s son Michael Douglas as co-producer.

Ken Kesey wrote the novels “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Sometimes a Great Notion”. Kesey was one of a group of friends who called themselves the “Merry Pranksters”, a bunch of guys who were associated with the likes of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and Timothy Leary, all icons of the Beat Generation.

87A Political understanding : ENTENTE

An entente cordiale (sometimes just “entente”) is a friendly understanding, usually between two nations. The term, which translates from French as “cordial agreement”, was first used to describe a set of agreements between the UK and France that were put in place in 1904.

89A Book before Nehemiah : EZRA

In the Hebrew Bible, the Book of Ezra was originally combined with the Book of Nehemiah, with the two being separated in the early days of the Christian Era.

90A Boot camp shout : TEN-HUT!

“Ten-hut!” is a term used in the US military that means “Come to attention!”.

92A Stanford and Cal joined it in 2024 : ACC

Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)

Leland Stanford became a very successful businessman in California after moving there from New York during the Gold Rush. Stanford then served as governor of the state for two years, and later US Senator for California. He founded the Leland Stanford Junior University in memory of his teenage son who died of typhoid fever while the family was traveling in Italy in 1884. The university opened its doors for business in 1891, and the first student admitted was none other than Herbert Hoover, the man destined to become the 31st President of the US.

The University of California, Berkeley (Cal) is the most difficult public university to get into in the world. It opened in 1869, and is named for Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkeley.

95A From the heart, in a way : AORTAL

The aorta is the largest artery in the human body. It carries oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the rest of the body. Even though it is a single vessel, it is divided into four main sections: the ascending aorta, the aortic arch, the thoracic aorta, and the abdominal aorta.

99A Conan and others : BARBARIANS (giving “BRAIN”)

The character known as Conan the Barbarian first appeared in “Weird Tales” magazine in a fantasy story in 1932. The character was played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in a 1982 film “Conan the Barbarian”, and in a 1984 sequel “Conan the Destroyer”.

105A “Essays of ___” (19th-century collection) : ELIA

The “Essays of Elia” began appearing in “London Magazine” in 1820, and were immediate hits with the public. The author was Charles Lamb, and “Elia” was actually a clerk with whom Lamb worked. The most famous of the essays in the collection are probably “Dream-Children” and “Old China”.

107A You smelt it! : ORE

Metals are found in ore in the form of oxides. In order to get pure metal from the ore, the ore is heated and the metal oxides within are reduced (i.e. the oxygen is removed) in the chemical process known as smelting. The oxygen is extracted by adding a source of carbon or carbon monoxide which uses up the excess oxygen atoms to make carbon dioxide, a waste product of smelting (and a greenhouse gas).

108A Inits. fittingly filling the blanks of Obam_ _ _re : ACA

The correct name for what has been dubbed “Obamacare” is the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (ACA).

109A Luxor Temple deity : AMON-RA

The modern city of Luxor grew up around the ruins of the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes. Thebes was the city of the god Amon-Ra and was the religious capital of the country until the Greeks took control. Luxor is often called “the world’s greatest open-air museum”. Tourists flock there to see the Luxor Temple and Karnak Temple ruins, as well as the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens immediately opposite Luxor on the other side of the River Nile.

118A 114-Across, oddly? : NOT QUITE RIGHT (= “ACUTE”)

In geometry, there are several classes of angles:

• Acute (< 90 degrees) 
• Right (= 90 degrees) 
• Obtuse (> 90 degrees and < 180 degrees) 
• Straight (180 degrees) 
• Reflex (> 180 degrees)

123A Ozzy Osbourne’s “___, I’m Coming Home” : MAMA

English singer Ozzy Osbourne became famous in the seventies as the lead singer of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath. His level of success soared again in the early 2000s when he appeared in an MTV reality show called “The Osbournes”, along with his wife Sharon and two of his three children, Kelly and Jack. Ozzy and Sharon’s eldest child, Aimee, refused to sign up for the show, opting instead for some level of privacy.

127A Spot for charity, say, in brief : PSA

Public service announcement (PSA)

Down

6D Website with an alien logo : REDDIT

The website Reddit is often called “the front page of the internet”. It is a social news aggregator comprising a vast collection of user-created forums known as “subreddits”. Content is ranked by user “upvotes” and “downvotes,” which determines the visibility of posts and comments.

10D Small amount in the kitchen : DASH

In cooking, the terms “dash”, “pinch” and “smidgen” can all be used for a very small measure, one that is often undefined. However, you can in fact buy some measuring spoons that define these amounts as follows:

• a dash is 1/8 teaspoon
• a pinch is 1/16 teaspoon
• a smidgen is 1/32 teaspoon

12D Org. for J. Robert Oppenheimer : AEC

The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was set up right after WWII in 1946, with the aim of promoting the peaceful use of atomic energy. Establishing the AEC was a significant move made by President Truman, as it passed control of atomic energy from the military to the civilian sector. The AEC continued to operate until 1974 when its functions were divided up into two new agencies: the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA). The ERDA was merged with the Federal Energy Administration in 1977 to form the Department of Energy.

J. Robert Oppenheimer was a key member of the Manhattan Project team, the man who led the group of scientists and engineers who designed and built the first atomic bombs. After WWII, Oppenheimer became a chief advisor to the US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). Like many scientists who worked on the development of atomic weapons, Oppenheimer spent many years lobbying against nuclear proliferation.

13D U.S.S.R. news source : TASS

“TASS” is the abbreviation used for the former news agency that had the full name Telegraph Association of the Soviet Union (Telegrafnoe Agentstvo Sovetskogo Soyuza). When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, the Moscow-based agency’s scope changed along with its name. It is now known as the Information Telegraph Agency of Russia (ITAR-TASS).

14D Zwei quadrupled : ACHT

In German, “zwei” (two) cubed is “acht” (eight).

15D What one might take or beat : THE RAP

A rap sheet is a criminal record. “Rap” is a slang term dating back to the 1700s that means “blame, responsibility” as in “to take the rap”, “bad rap” and “to beat the rap”. This usage morphed into “rap sheet” in the early 1900s.

16D World Golf Hall-of-Famer Mark : O’MEARA

Mark O’Meara is a golfer from Goldsboro, North Carolina. He is known as one of the American players who competes in international tournaments more than most, and has a reputation as a real gentleman all around the world.

19D Sector of a color wheel : HUE

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

38D Belgian battle site in W.W. I : YPRES

Ypres is a Belgian city located close to the French border. In WWI, Ypres was the scene of three devastating battles that resulted in almost a million casualties, including many who suffered in gas attacks.

40D Sounding like taffeta, say : SWISHY

Taffeta is a plain woven fabric with a crisp feel that is made from silk or one of several manmade materials. The name “taffeta” ultimately comes from the Persian “taftah” meaning “silk or linen cloth”.

49D Part of A.A.R.P.: Abbr. : RET

AARP is the official name now for the interest group that used to be called “The American Association of Retired Persons”. The name change reflects the current focus of the group on all Americans aged 50 or over, as opposed to just people who have retired. The AARP was founded by Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus in 1958 and is a successor to the National Retired Teachers Association, also founded by Andrus over ten years earlier.

56D Chewy chocolate candy brand : RIESEN

Riesen is a brand of chocolate that is produced and sold mainly in Germany, but is also sold here in the US. Riesen introduced a recipe for a hot chocolate drink in 2007. The recipe calls for melting the chocolate candy over heat in a saucepan, then adding one cup of milk per candy piece. Sprinkle nutmeg to taste.

58D Loose-cheeked, as a mastiff : JOWLY

There are a number of mastiff breeds of dog, all of which are noted for their large size. Even though modern mastiffs generally have an easy temperament, over the centuries the mastiff breeds have been used as guard dogs and war dogs, even back to ancient Roman times.

64D “u slay me” : ROFL!

Rolling on floor laughing (ROFL)

75D Big name in blenders : OSTER

The Oster brand of small appliances was introduced in 1924 by John Oster. He started out by making manually-powered hair clippers designed for cutting women’s hair, and followed up with a motorized version in 1928. The clippers kept the company in business until 1946 when Oster diversified, buying a manufacturer of liquefying blenders in 1946. The blender was renamed to “Osterizer” and was a big hit. Oster was bought by Sunbeam, which has owned the brand since 1960.

79D Classic elevator tunes : MUZAK

“Muzak” is a proprietary name for piped music, and is apparently a blend of the words “music” and “Kodak”. The Muzak system was developed way back in 1922 and was first used in workplaces.

85D Stage item : PROP

We use the word “props” for objects that are used by actors on stage during a play. The term is a shortening of the older term “properties”, which was used with the same meaning up through the 19th century.

86D ___-mutuel betting : PARI

Pari-mutuel betting is a system in which the bookmaker is guaranteed a predetermined profit. All bets are pooled, taxes and house profit are removed, and the payoff is made with the resulting pool. In some parts of the world, the pari-mutuel system is referred to as “the Tote” (as indeed it is in Ireland).

96D Fragrant garden hybrid : TEA ROSE

The first tea roses were so called because they had a fragrance reminiscent of Chinese black tea.

98D The lords in “The 12 Days of Christmas,” e.g. : LEAPERS

The fabulous Christmas carol called “The Twelve Days of Christmas” dates back at least to 1780 when it was first published in England, though it may be French in origin. The concept of twelve days of Christmas comes from the tradition that the three kings came to visit the Christ Child twelve days after he was born. This same tradition is the origin of the title to Shakespeare’s play “Twelfth Night”.

99D Noggin : BEAN

Slang terms for “head” include “bean”, “coconut”, “gourd”, “noodle” and “noggin”.

104D Jazz subgenre for Wynton Marsalis : NEOBOP

Wynton Marsalis is a trumpeter and composer. He holds the position of Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. In 1997, Marsalis became the first jazz musician to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music.

116D ___ bene : NOTA

“Nota bene” is Latin for “note well”, and is abbreviated to “NB”.

117D The Horned Frogs of Ft. Worth : TCU

The sports teams of Texas Christian University (TCU) are known as the Horned Frogs. The name is a reference to the Texas horned lizard, which is also known as the “horned frog”. The school mascot used to be called “Addie the All-American Frog”, but in 1979 was renamed to “SuperFrog”.

119D 19th of 24 : TAU

Tau is the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet, and the letter that gave rise to our Roman “T”. Both the letters tau (T) and chi (X) have long been symbolically associated with the cross.