Constructed by: Peter A. Collins
Edited by: Joel Fagliano
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Today’s Theme: None
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Bill’s time: 15m 13s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
6 “Hound Dog” singer Big ___ Thornton : MAMA
The Elvis Presley classic “Hound Dog” was a big hit, but his wasn’t the first version of the song to make it to number one in the charts. Presley released “Hound Dog” in 1956, but Big Mama Thornton had brought the song to the top spot back in 1953.
15 Reality show winner since 2002 : IDOL
“American Idol” is a spin-off show that was created after the amazing success of the British television show “Pop Idol”. Aired on Fox from 2002 to 2016, the show “jumped ship” and moved to ABC starting in the 2018 season.
22 Fish whose egg casings are called “mermaid’s purses” : SKATE
Skates (formally “Rajidae”) are a family of fish in the superorder of rays (formally “batoidea”). Skates look very similar to stingrays, but they lack stinging spines.
23 Oslo Accords signatory, for short : PLO
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was founded in 1964. The PLO’s early stated goal was the liberation of Palestine, with Palestine defined as the geographic entity that existed under the terms of the British Mandate granted by the League of Nations back in 1923. The PLO was granted observer status (i.e. no voting rights) at the United Nations in 1974.
The Oslo Accords grew out of secret negotiations between the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel in a residence in Oslo in the early nineties. The delegates shared the same house while they conducted 14 meetings. While eating all their meals together at the same table, the negotiators came to respect one another and apparently, friendships developed.
26 Two-time Oscar nominee Joan : CUSACK
Joan Cusack is a wonderful actress, I think, although she always seems to be cast in supporting roles. She is the sister of actor John Cusack, and has appeared with him in many films including “Sixteen Candles” and my personal favorite, “Grosse Pointe Blank”.
36 Pub fixtures : LOOS
It has been suggested that the British term “loo”, meaning “toilet”, comes from “Waterloo” (water closet … water-loo), but no one seems to know for sure. Another suggestion is that the term comes from the card game of “lanterloo”, in which the pot was called the loo!
41 Tony winner Judith : IVEY
Judith Ivey is an actress from El Paso, Texas. Ivey is perhaps best known for playing B. J. Poteet in the last season of the TV show “Designing Women”.
42 Letters on a Busch Stadium hat : STL
The St. Louis Cardinals Major League Baseball team plays at Busch Stadium. Busch Stadium is the third stadium in the history of St. Louis to have the Busch name. The first two were named for Gussie Busch, the brewing magnate and former Cardinals team owner. The current stadium is named for the brewery though, and not Gussie per se.
44 She played Julia in 2009’s “Julie & Julia” : MERYL
Meryl Streep has had more Academy Award nominations and more Golden Globe nominations than any other actor, which is both a tribute to her talent and the respect she has earned in the industry. I am not a huge fan of her earlier works but some of her recent movies are now on my list of all-time favorites. I recommend “Mamma Mia!” (you’ll either love it or hate it!), “Julie & Julia”, “It’s Complicated” and ”Hope Springs”.
“Julie & Julia” is a wonderful 2009 Nora Ephron film that juxtaposes the lives of celebrity chef Julia Childs and home cook/blogger Julie Powell. Childs is played by Meryl Streep, and Powell by Amy Adams. Ephron’s screenplay is based on two nonfiction books: Child’s autobiography “My Life in France”, and Powell’s memoir “Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously”. Highly recommended …
46 Big bird : RHEA
The rhea is a flightless bird that is native to South America. It takes its name from the Greek Titan Rhea. That’s an apt name for a flightless bird as “rhea” comes from the Greek word meaning “ground”.
48 Spin out on the ice? : AXEL
An axel is a forward take-off jump in figure skating. The maneuver was first performed by Norwegian Axel Paulsen at the 1882 World Figure Skating championships.
51 Birthstone that begins with the same letter as its month : OPAL
Here is the “official” list of birthstones, by month, that we tend to use today:
- January: Garnet
- February: Amethyst
- March: Bloodstone or Aquamarine
- April: Diamond
- May: Emerald
- June: Pearl or Moonstone
- July: Ruby
- August: Sardonyx or Peridot
- September: Sapphire or Lapis Lazuli
- October: Opal or Pink Tourmaline
- November: Topaz or Citrine
- December: Turquoise or Zircon (also now, Tanzanite)
52 “ER” actress Laura : INNES
Laura Innes is an actress who is best known for playing Dr. Kerry Weaver on the long-running TV show “ER”. She also played the lead role of Sophia in the short-running TV drama “The Event” in 2010-2011.
53 Go berserk : SNAP
Our word “berserk” meaning “deranged” comes from the “Berserkers”, Norse warriors described in Old Norse literature. Berserkers were renowned for going into battle in a fury, and some believe that they consumed drugged food to get themselves worked up for the fighting ahead.
Down
1 Name on the playbill for the 1936 Salzburg Festival : TRAPP
“The Sound of Music” is a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that was made into a celebrated movie in 1965 starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The musical is based on “The Story of the Trapp Family Singers”, a memoir by Maria von Trapp. The von Trapp family ended up in Stowe, Vermont after the war. One family descended from the Vermont von Trapps lives in the same town in which I used to live in California.
Salzburg is a city in Austria with a great musical tradition. It was the birthplace of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was also the setting for much of “The Sound of Music”.
2 One of a singing duo? : VOCAL CORD
The vocal cords are also known as the vocal folds, and are two folds of mucous membrane that project into the larynx. The folds vibrate when air passes through the larynx, allowing sounds to be made.
3 Solarium : SUN LOUNGE
A solarium (plural “solaria”) is a sunroom or sun lounge, a structure usually built onto the side of a house that contains a lot of glass to let in the sun.
4 Périodes chaudes de l’année : ETES
In French, “été” (summer) is “la saison chaude” (the warm season).
5 With 43-Down, fictional coach of AFC Richmond : TED …
{43D See 5-Down : … LASSO}
“Ted Lasso” is a marvelous sports-comedy TV show about an American college football coach who moves to the UK to manage an English soccer team. The title character is played very admirably by Jason Sudeikis. Sudeikis first played Lasso in a series of TV commercials commissioned to promote NBC’s coverage of the British Premier League. The character became so popular that he inspired a whole TV series. Great stuff, and highly recommended …
7 Building block : ADOBE
The building material known as adobe has been around a long time, and has been used in dry climates all over the world. The original form of the word “adobe” dates back to Middle Egyptian times, about 2000 BC. The original spelling is “dj-b-t”, and translates as mud (sun-dried) brick.
9 Drink mentioned four times in the prologue of “The Canterbury Tales” : ALE
“The Canterbury Tales” is a collection of stories penned by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the 14th century. Written in MIddle English, the tales are presented as a storytelling contest held by a group of pilgrims as they travel from London to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral. “The Canterbury Tales” is often cited as a landmark piece of English literature as it popularized the use of vernacular English, as opposed to the French or Latin works that were commonly published up to that time.
10 Deluxe wraps? : MINK STOLES
There are two species of mink extant: the European Mink and the American Mink. There used to be a Sea Mink which was much larger than its two cousins, but it was hunted to extinction (for its fur) in the late 1800s. American Minks are farmed over in Europe for fur, and animal rights activists have released many of these animals into the wild when raiding mink farms. As a result the European Mink population has declined due to the presence of its larger and more adaptable American cousin.
A stole is a narrow shawl. It can be made of quite light decorative material, but also can be heavier if made of fur.
11 Menace in “Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania” : U-BOAT
The term “U-boat” comes from the German word “Unterseeboot” (undersea boat). U-boats were primarily used in WWII to enforce a blockade against enemy commercial shipping, with a main objective being to cut off the supplies being transported to Britain from the British colonies and the US. The epic fight for control of the supply routes became known as the Battle of the Atlantic.
The RMS Lusitania was a Cunard ocean liner that was sunk off the coast of Ireland in May 1915 during WWI. The Lusitania was on its traditional route between Liverpool and New York City, having departed New York six days before the sinking. She was attacked by a German U-boat, with 1,198 of the 1,959 people on board being killed. The main result of the sinking was to turn public opinion against Germany, greatly contributing to the US entering the war.
12 “À votre ___!” : SANTE
“À votre santé” is French for “to your health”. Cheers!
25 Naughty list? : RAP SHEET
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.
27 Vessel that hasn’t crossed the Canadian border since 1993 : STANLEY CUP
The Stanley Cup is named for Lord Stanley of Preston, the Governor General of Canada from 1888 to 1893. Lord Stanley’s sons became avid fans of ice hockey while in Canada, and so he donated the trophy in 1909, originally as a challenge cup for the country’s best amateur club.
28 The so-called “Rocket City” of the South : HUNTSVILLE
Huntsville is a city in northern Alabama that was founded in 1805 as a settlement with the name “Twickenham”. One of the early landowners was LeRoy Pope, and he opted for “Twickenham” as that was the name of the town in England where Alexander Pope lived, as Alexander was a distant relative. The settlement was renamed within a few years in honor of John Hunt, another early settler and veteran of the Revolutionary War.
Wernher von Braun was a renowned scientist who is credited with inventing the V-2 rocket for Nazi Germany during WWII and the Saturn V rocket for the US during the Space Race. While living in his native Germany, von Braun was a member of the Nazi Party, and later a member of the SS. AS Germany’s defeat became inevitable, von Braun and his team managed to arrange relocation to Austria in order to surrender to the Americans and avoid capture by the Russians. The scientists were then relocated to the US as part of an OSS program called Operation Paperclip, which ultimately transferred over 1,500 scientists from Germany and the rest of occupied Europe just after WWII. The V-2 team were eventually settled in Huntsville, Alabama where von Braun was to live and work for the next twenty years.
38 Where Dr. J played college hoops, for short : UMASS
Julius Erving is a retired professional basketball player who is known as “Dr. J”, a nickname he picked up in high school. Dr. J was a trailblazer in many ways, being the first player associated with slam dunking and other moves above the rim.
39 Amber, e.g. : RESIN
Amber’s technical name is “resinite”, reflecting its composition and formation. Amber starts out life as soft sticky tree resin but then under high temperature and pressure from overlying layers of soil, it fossilizes. The sticky resin can trap organisms or other plant matter, and this material can sometimes remain virtually intact inside the amber fossil giving us a unique gift from the past.
40 Van Susteren of TV news : GRETA
I remember watching Greta Van Susteren as a legal commentator on CNN during the O. J. Simpson murder trial. She parlayed those appearances into a permanent slot as co-host of CNN’s “Burden of Proof”, before becoming host of her own show on the Fox News Channel called “On the Record”. Van Susteren parted company with Fox in 2016, and apparently that parting wasn’t a happy one. She was replaced on air without giving her a chance to bid adieu to her TV audience.
45 National, formerly : EXPO
The Washington Nationals (“Nats”) started out life as the Montreal Expos in 1969, and were the first Major League Baseball team in Canada. The Expos moved to Washington in 2005 becoming the Nats.
46 Asian royal : RANI
A ranee (also “rani”) is an Indian queen or princess, and the female equivalent of a raja.
48 Chicago’s ___ Center, formerly known as the Amoco Building : AON
The Aon Center in Chicago is the third-tallest building in the city. There is also an Aon Center in Los Angeles that is the second-tallest building in that city.
49 Small invention : FIB
To fib is to tell a lie. The verb “to fib” likely comes from “fibble-fable” meaning “nonsense”, with “fibble-fable” coming from “fable”.
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Hotel room staple : TV SET
6 “Hound Dog” singer Big ___ Thornton : MAMA
10 Freshly pressed grapes before fermentation : MUST
14 Way : ROUTE
15 Reality show winner since 2002 : IDOL
16 Bridge piece : I-BAR
17 Spotted, in a way : ACNED
18 Meaning of a finger wag : NOPE
19 Zip : NONE
20 People to hang out with : PALS
21 Mood : VIBE
22 Fish whose egg casings are called “mermaid’s purses” : SKATE
23 Oslo Accords signatory, for short : PLO
24 Fail to tail : LOSE
25 Not spent anymore : RESTED
26 Two-time Oscar nominee Joan : CUSACK
28 Go no further : HALT
29 “We’ll let ourselves in” : DON’T WAIT UP FOR US
34 Medical breakthrough of 1954 that yielded a Nobel Prize : ORGAN TRANSPLANT
35 Masters of bad impersonations? : IDENTITY THIEVES
36 Pub fixtures : LOOS
37 Takes root : SETS IN
38 Incite : URGE ON
41 Tony winner Judith : IVEY
42 Letters on a Busch Stadium hat : STL
44 She played Julia in 2009’s “Julie & Julia” : MERYL
45 Cut and polish, maybe : EDIT
46 Big bird : RHEA
47 Two shakes : A SEC
48 Spin out on the ice? : AXEL
49 Reasons for some street closures : FAIRS
50 In ___ (unmoved) : SITU
51 Birthstone that begins with the same letter as its month : OPAL
52 “ER” actress Laura : INNES
53 Go berserk : SNAP
54 Slim winning margin : NOSE
55 Quite the party : BIG DO
Down
1 Name on the playbill for the 1936 Salzburg Festival : TRAPP
2 One of a singing duo? : VOCAL CORD
3 Solarium : SUN LOUNGE
4 Périodes chaudes de l’année : ETES
5 With 43-Down, fictional coach of AFC Richmond : TED …
6 Skimpy garments : MINISKIRTS
7 Building block : ADOBE
8 Brood : MOPE
9 Drink mentioned four times in the prologue of “The Canterbury Tales” : ALE
10 Deluxe wraps? : MINK STOLES
11 Menace in “Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania” : U-BOAT
12 “À votre ___!” : SANTE
13 Out on a limb, say : TREED
21 Calling : VOCATION
22 Something to wallow in : SELF PITY
24 Spade, for one : LAWN TOOL
25 Naughty list? : RAP SHEET
27 Vessel that hasn’t crossed the Canadian border since 1993 : STANLEY CUP
28 The so-called “Rocket City” of the South : HUNTSVILLE
29 Emphatic agreement : DO I?!
30 When doubled, a pop nickname : TAY
31 Gorgeous : RAVISHING
32 Not yet explored, as a tomb : UNENTERED
33 Map abbrs. : STS
38 Where Dr. J played college hoops, for short : UMASS
39 Amber, e.g. : RESIN
40 Van Susteren of TV news : GRETA
41 They might be bright : IDEAS
43 See 5-Down : … LASSO
45 National, formerly : EXPO
46 Asian royal : RANI
48 Chicago’s ___ Center, formerly known as the Amoco Building : AON
49 Small invention : FIB
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