Tag: Melodic opera passages crossword clue

Today’s Theme: Constant Consonants

Themed answers comprise two words. The consonants in each pair of words are the same, and in the same order:

• 22A With 105-Across, “What walks on four dino legs in the morning, four dino legs at noon and four dino legs in the evening?” and other riddles? : BRONTOSAURUS …
• 105A See 22-Across : … BRAIN–TEASERS
• 35A Says “Quack” instead of “Buzz”? : MISQUOTES MOSQUITOES
• 51A Tables in an Old West saloon, e.g.? : FRONTIER FURNITURE
• 75A Chess gambit employed by gangster Tony Montana? : SCARFACE SACRIFICE
• 86A Claims that Louis XIV’s palace is better than all the other buildings in France combined? : OVERSELLS VERSAILLES

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

Bill’s time: 15m 40s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

11 Most exorbitant : STEEPEST

Back in the mid-1400s, “exorbitant” was a legal term meaning “deviating from rule”. The word came from the Latin “ex” meaning “out of” and “orbita” meaning “wheel track”. We use “exorbitant” today to mean “outside of the scope of the law”, and “exceeding the norms in terms of price, size, etc.”

26 The band Ben Folds Five, oddly : TRIO

Ben Folds Five was a rock group for Chapel Hill, North Carolina that was active, on and off, from 1993 until 2003. Ben Folds formed the group, and despite the name, it comprised just three members.

27 The “A” of BART : AREA

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a commuter rail system serving the San Francisco Bay Area.

29 “Little Women” sister : BETH

“Little Women” is a novel written by American author Louisa May Alcott. The quartet of “little women” comprises Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy March. Jo is a tomboy, the main character in the story, and is based on Alcott herself.

35 Says “Quack” instead of “Buzz”? : MISQUOTES MOSQUITOES

“Mosquito” is the Spanish for “little fly”. The female mosquito actually has to have a “blood meal” before she is able to lay her eggs. Mosquitoes are sometimes referred to as “skeeters”.

39 Like Cinderella’s stepsisters : UGLY

The folktale usually known as “Cinderella” was first published by French author Charles Perrault in 1697, although it was later included by the Brothers Grimm in their famous 1812 collection. The storyline of the tale may date back as far as the days of ancient Greece. A common alternative title to the story is “The Little Glass Slipper”.

41 “High-five!” : UP TOP!

The celebratory gesture that we call a “high five” is said to have been invented by former baseball players Dusty Baker and Glenn Burke when they were both playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the late 1970s.

42 Melodic opera passages : ARIOSI

An arioso (plural “ariosi”) is a solo vocal piece in a classical work such as an opera or an oratorio. An arioso’s structure lies somewhere between that of a full-blown aria and speech-like recitative.

47 Audio engineer’s device : PREAMP

In a home audio system, one might have a preamplifier (preamp) and a power amplifier. In such an arrangement, the preamp isn’t really an amplifier at all as it does not amplify a signal or sound. The amplification task is left to the power amplifier, and the preamp serves as a switch between signal sources (cable box, CD player, DVD player etc.).

55 “My Gal ___” : SAL

“My Gal Sal” is a song written by composer Paul Dresser. “My Gal Sal” is also the name of the movie recounting Dresser’s life made in 1942. It stars Victor Mature as Dresser, and Rita Hayworth as Sally “Sal” Elliott.

61 Member of the Be Sharps, Homer Simpson’s barbershop quartet : APU

In “The Simpsons”, Homer Simpson founded the Be Sharps, a barbershop quartet with a history similar to that of the Beatles. The episode was recorded back in 1993, and so George Harrison was around to make a guest appearance in a crowd scene as himself. The Be Sharps’ members are Homer Simpson, Principal Skinner, Barney Gumble and Apu Nahasapeemapetilon. The actual singing voices were provided by the Dapper Dans, a real-life quartet from Disneyland in Anaheim.

62 Kerfuffle : ADO

“Kerfuffle” comes from the Scottish “curfuffle”, with both words meaning “disruption”.

68 Claude ___, villain in “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame” : FROLLO

The title character in Victor Hugo’s novel “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame” is Quasimodo, the hunchbacked bell-ringer . Quasimodo falls for the beautiful Roma girl Esmeralda, and eventually rescues her just before she is to be hanged. He carries Esmeralda into Notre-Dame crying out “Sanctuary!” There is some recent evidence that a hunchbacked stone carver, working at Notre-Dame at the same time Hugo was alive, may have been the inspiration for the Quasimodo the bell-ringer.

72 Some Dior dresses : A-LINES

An A-line skirt is one that fits snugly at the hips and flares towards the hem. The term “A-line” was first used in fashion by French designer Christian Dior in his 1955 spring collection.

74 Change to the Constitution first proposed in 1921, for short : ERA

The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was written by the American suffragist leader, Alice Paul. Although Paul was successful in her campaign to get passage of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution (guaranteeing voting rights regardless of sex), her 1923 Equal Rights Amendment didn’t make it to the Senate floor until 1972. The amendment was passed by the Senate, and then headed to the state legislatures for the required ratification. 38 states had to approve the legislation for the amendment to be adopted, but only 35 states voted in favor before the deadline. The amendment is still pending, although about half of the fifty states have adopted the ERA into their state constitutions.

75 Chess gambit employed by gangster Tony Montana? : SCARFACE SACRIFICE

“Scarface” is a 1983 gangster movie starring Al Pacino as Tony Montana, a Cuban expatriate drug lord in Miami. The film was directed by Brian De Palma and written by Oliver Stone, and is a remake of the 1932 film of the same name.

A gambit is a chess opening that intrinsically involves the sacrifice of a piece (usually a pawn) with the intent of gaining an advantage. The term “gambit” was first used by the Spanish priest Ruy Lopez de Segura who took it from the Italian expression “dare il gambetto” meaning “to put a leg forward to trip someone”. Said priest gave his name to the common Ruy Lopez opening, which paradoxically is not a gambit in that there is no sacrifice. The chess term dates back to the mid-1600s. We’ve been using “gambit” more generally for any opening move designed to gain advantage since the mid-1800s.

82 Verse, quaintly : POESY

“Poesy” is an alternative name for poetry, and is often used to mean the “art of poetry”.

84 English novelist McEwan : IAN

Ian McEwan is an English novelist with a track record of writing well-received novels. His most famous work of recent years I would say is “Atonement” which has benefited from the success of a fabulous movie adaptation released in 2007.

85 “Je t’___” : AIME

“I love you” translates into “te amo” in Spanish, and into “je t’aime” in French.

86 Claims that Louis XIV’s palace is better than all the other buildings in France combined? : OVERSELLS VERSAILLES

Versailles is a city located just 10 miles from the center of Paris. It is famous as home to the magnificent Palace of Versailles. The palace started out as a hunting lodge built in the village of Versailles in 1624, built for Louis XIII. Louis XIII extended the lodge into a full-blown château, but it was Louis XIV who expanded it into one of the largest palaces on the planet. Louis XIV moved the royal court from Paris to Versailles starting in 1678.

93 In the middle of, old-style : ‘TWIXT

“‘Twixt” is a shortened form of “betwixt”, meaning “between, among”.

94 Parishioner’s offering : TITHE

Traditionally, a tithe is a payment of one tenth of a person’s annual income and is usually given to a church. Tithing is a practice taught in many traditions, and according to a 2002 survey, about 3% of American adults donate 10% or more of their income to a church.

95 Menaces to Indiana Jones : ASPS

According to the “Indiana Jones” series of films, Indy’s fear of snakes goes back when he was a young man. In “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”, we see actor River Phoenix playing young Indie as a Boy Scout and falling into a huge pit of snakes during a chase scene.

98 Side in checkers : RED

“Checkers” is yet another word that I had to learn moving across the Atlantic. In Ireland, the game is called “draughts”.

101 Animal with a flexible snout : TAPIR

All four species of tapir are endangered. Even though the tapir looks much like a pig, it is more closely related to the horse and the rhinoceros.

111 Nickname for the capital of the Peach State : HOTLANTA

The US state of Georgia has two nicknames: the Peach State, and the Empire State of the South.

112 KFC order : WINGS

“Colonel” Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) fame has been portrayed in ads on television by several celebrities. The list includes Norm Macdonald, Jim Gaffigan, George Hamilton, Billy Zane, Rob Lowe, Ray Liotta and even Reba McEntire.

Down

1 Site of a 1920s renaissance : HARLEM

“Harlem Renaissance” is the term used to describe a cultural movement in the 1920s that was known at the time as the “New Negro Movement”. The movement involved new cultural expression by African Americans that was centered mainly in urban areas in the northeast and midwest, and that was especially vibrant in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood.

2 Relative of a guinea pig : AGOUTI

The term “agouti” is used for some rodents in Central and South America who have fur with bands of light and dark pigmentation.

The guinea pig species of rodent is also known as a cavy. Guinea pigs aren’t related to pigs, and not are they from Guinea (in West Africa). Guinea pigs actually come from the Andes. They were commonly used for research in the 1800s and 1900s, and as a result we use the term “guinea pig” for a test subject to this day.

5 Sign of theatrical success : SRO

Standing room only (SRO)

7 Thelma’s road trip partner : LOUISE

“Thelma and Louise” is a much-respected 1991 movie starring Geena Davis as Thelma and Susan Sarandon as Louise. Brad Pitt has a supporting role, and indeed “Thelma and Louise” was the film that gave Pitt his big break.

8 Currency with a “zone” : EURO

The eurozone (also “euro area”) is a monetary and economic union within the European Union that uses the euro as a shared legal tender and sole currency.

9 Tempe sch. : ASU

Arizona State University (ASU) has a long history, and was founded as the Tempe Normal School for the Arizona Territory in 1885. The athletic teams of ASU used to be known as the Normals, then the Bulldogs, and since 1946 they’ve been called the Sun Devils.

10 Old game console, for short : NES

The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was sold in North America from 1985 to to 1995. The NES was the biggest selling gaming console of the era. Nintendo replaced the NES with Wii, which is also the biggest-selling game console in the world.

11 Nickname : SOBRIQUET

A sobriquet is an affectionate nickname. The term “sobriquet” is French, in which language it has the same meaning.

13 Icelandic literary work : EDDA

The Poetic Edda and Prose Edda are two ancient works that are the source for much of Norse mythology. Both Eddas were written in the 13th century in Iceland.

16 Extra couple of numbers? : ENCORE

“Encore” is French for “again, one more time”, and is a shout that an audience member will make here in North America to request perhaps another song. But, the term is not used this way in France. Rather, the audience will shout “Bis!”, which is the Italian for “twice!”

18 Mobile home not much seen nowadays : TEPEE

A tepee (also written as “tipi” and “teepee”) is a cone-shaped tent traditionally made from animal hides that is used by the Great Plains Native Americans. A wigwam is a completely different structure and is often a misnomer for a tepee. A wigwam is a domed structure built by Native Americans in the West and Southwest, intended to be a more permanent dwelling. The wigwam can also be covered with hides but more often was covered with grass, reeds, brush or cloth.

19 Bygone N.Y.C. punk club : CBGB

The music club known as CBCG opened in 1973 intending to feature country, bluegrass and blues music (hence the name “CBGB”, Country, BlueGrass and Blues). The club developed an association in the eighties with New York’s underground hardcore punk music.

23 Informer : 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 “___ longa, vita brevis” : ARS

The famous Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates wrote “Art is long, life is short”, which translates into Latin as “Ars longa, vita brevis”.

31 A in physics : AMPERE

The unit of electric current is the ampere, which is abbreviated correctly to “A” rather than “amp”. It is named after French physicist André-Marie Ampère, one of the main scientists responsible for the discovery of electromagnetism.

32 Trig ratios : COTANS

The most familiar trigonometric functions are sine, cosine and tangent (abbreviated to “sin, cos and tan”). Each of these is a ratio: a ratio of two sides of a right-angled triangle. The “reciprocal” of these three functions are cosecant, secant and cotangent. The reciprocal functions are simply the inverted ratios, the inverted sine, cosine and tangent. These inverted ratios should not be confused with the “inverse” trigonometric functions e.g. arcsine, arccosine and arctangent. These inverse functions are the reverse of the sine, cosine and tangent.

33 Pack rat : STORER

A pack rat is a rodent that can also be called a woodrat. The pack rat is so called because it frequently drags back objects to its nest. We’ve been using the term “pack rat” for a hoarder since the mid 1800s. It’s not certain whether the rodent was named for the human, or the human for the rodent.

34 User of the Twitter handle @Pontifex : POPE

Did you know that former Pope Benedict XVI released a music CD while in office? His Holiness is featured singing on an album released by the Vatican called “Alma Mater: Featuring The Voice of Pope Benedict XVI Deluxe Edition”, a collection of sacred music. All proceeds go to help underprivileged children around the world. Benedict XVI was also the first pope to have a Twitter account. His first tweet went out on 12 December 2012:

Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart.

36 Target number : QUOTA

A quota is an allotment. The term “quota” was used originally with reference to the number of soldiers or quantity of supplies required from a particular town or district.

37 It’s a blessing : SALUD

“Salud” is Spanish for “health”, and is used as a toast. Salud!

38 Person who helps with a crash, informally : IT PRO

Information technology (IT)

42 Large wardrobe : ARMOIRE

“Armoire” is the French word for “wardrobe”, and is used in English for a standing closet that stores clothes.

54 Craft in a close encounter : UFO

A “close encounter” is an occasion when a person witnesses an unidentified flying object (UFO). The term was introduced to us in a 1972 book by Allen Hynek called “The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry”. The public really became aware of the concept with the release of the excellent 1977 Steven Spielberg movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”.

61 ___-compliant : ADA

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)

63 Doomed to fail, for short : DOA

Dead on arrival (DOA)

69 Debonair : RAKISH

Something described as rakish is styled in a sporting manner. The term “rakish” probably derives from the “raking” of the mast of a sailing ship, slanting it away from the perpendicular. Raking a mast can favorably impact the vessel’s performance, and can also make it look more “sporty”.

Someone described as debonair is very courteous and gracious. The term comes into English via the French “debonaire”, which itself is derived from “de bon’ aire” meaning “of good race”, a phrase that originally applied to the breeding of hawks.

70 La-la interval : OCTAVE

I find that terminology in music can be confusing. My way of looking at an octave (my way … don’t shout at me!) is thinking of a piano keyboard. In the key of C, the seven notes of the octave are C, D, E, F, G, A, B (or “do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti”). These are all white keys. Most of these “white notes” are separated by whole tones, so there is room to add a “semitone” in between most of them, and these are the black keys (C-sharp for example). There is room for five black keys in an octave, and 7 + 5 adds up to 12. I assume we use the term “octave” because we often add an eighth note on the end “to bring us back to do” as the song says (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do … or … C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C). That eighth note is really the first note in the next octave up.

71 Sierra ___ : LEONE

The Republic of Sierra Leone is a country in West Africa that lies on the Atlantic Coast. The capital city of Freetown was originally set up as a colony to house the “Black Poor” of London, England. These people were mainly freed British slaves of Caribbean descent who were living a miserable life in the run-down parts of London. Perhaps to help the impoverished souls, perhaps to rid the streets of “a problem”, three ships were chartered in 1787 to transport a group of blacks, with some whites, to a piece of land purchased in Sierra Leone. Those who made the voyage were granted British citizenship and protection. The descendants of these immigrants, and others who made the journey over the next 60 years, make up the ethnic group that’s today called the Sierra Leone Creole.

72 Friend of Athos and Porthos : ARAMIS

Alexandre Dumas’ “Three Musketeers” are Athos, Porthos and Aramis, although the hero of the novel is the trio’s young protégé D’Artagnan. A musketeer was an infantry soldier who was equipped with a musket. Funnily enough, the three “musketeers” really don’t use their muskets, and are better known for prowess with their swords.

73 Smear in print : LIBEL

The word “libel” describes a published or written statement likely to harm a person’s reputation. It comes into English from the Latin “libellus”, the word for a small book. Back in the 1500s, libel was just a formal written statement, with the more damaging association arising in the 1600s. The related concept of slander is defamation in a transient form, such as speech, sign language or gestures.

76 “GoodFellas” co-star : RAY LIOTTA

Actor Ray Liotta is best known for playing Shoeless Joe Jackson in the movie “Field of Dreams” and Henry Hill in “Goodfellas”.

The Martin Scorsese classic “Goodfellas” is a 1990 adaptation of a nonfiction book by Nicholas Pileggi called “Wiseguy”. The film tells the story of a mob family that succumbs to the FBI after one of their own becomes an informant.

77 Onetime fad item with replacement seeds : CHIA PET

Chia is a flowering plant in the mint family. Chia seeds are an excellent food source and are often added to breakfast cereals and energy bars. There is also the famous Chia Pet, an invention of a San Francisco company. Chia Pets are terracotta figurines to which are applied moistened chia seeds. The seeds sprout and the seedlings become the “fur” of the Chia Pet.

87 Portmanteau for a TV addict : VIDIOT

“Vidiot” is such a colorful term. It is a portmanteau of “video and “idiot”, and is used to describe someone obsessed with watching television or playing video games. The term was coined in 1957 by jazz musician and storyteller Ken Nordine who used as the title of a song about a TV-addicted patient in a therapist’s office.

88 Inc. relative : LTD

In Britain and Ireland the most common type of business (my perception anyway) is one that has private shareholders whose liability is limited to the value of their investment. Such a company is known as a private limited company, and has the letters “Ltd” after the name. If the shares are publicly traded, then the company is a public limited company, and has the letters “plc” after the name.

99 Hammer part : PEEN

The peen of a hammer is on the head, and is the side of the head that is opposite the striking surface. Often the peen is in the shape of a hemisphere (as in a ball-peen hammer), but usually it is shaped like a claw (mainly for removing nails).

100 Half-man/half-goat : FAUN

Fauns are regarded as the Roman mythological equivalent of the Greek satyrs, but fauns were half-man and half-goat and much more “carefree” in personality than their Hellenic cousins. In the modern age we are quite familiar with Mr. Tumnus, the faun-like character encountered by the children entering the world of Narnia in C. S. Lewis’s “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”.

104 Texted question to someone who hasn’t shown up yet : ETA?

Estimated time of arrival (ETA)

105 Automotive initialism : BMW

The initialism “BMW” stands for Bayerische Motoren Werke, which translates into Bavarian Motor Works. BMW was making aircraft engines during WWI, but had to cease that activity according to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The company then started making motorcycles, and moved into automobile production starting in 1928. BMW moved back into aircraft engine manufacturing during the build-up of the Luftwaffe prior to WWII.

106 Louis XIV, e.g. : ROI

Louis XIV is perhaps the most famous of the kings (“rois”) of France and was known as the Sun King (“le Roi Soleil”). Louis XIV was king from 1638 to 1715. That reign of over 72 years is the longest reign of any European monarch.

107 Key in a corner : ESC

The escape key (Esc) was originally used to control computer peripherals. It was a key that allowed the computer operator to stop what the peripheral was doing (cancel a print job, for example). Nowadays the escape key is used for all sorts of things, especially in gaming programs.