Constructed by: Dick Shlakman & Will Nediger
Edited by: Will Shortz
Not your puzzle? Try today’s …
… syndicated NY Times crossword
Today’s Theme: Merger Mania
Themed answers are common phrases that MERGE products made by two companies cited in the clue:
- 23A Result of a merger between Quaker Oats and Greyhound? : LIFE COACHES
- 46A Result of a merger between Kraft and Hershey’s? : SINGLES BARS
- 51A Result of a merger between Google and Planters? : DRIVE NUTS
- 68A Result of a merger between Hasbro and Nikon? : TROUBLESHOOTERS
- 91A Result of a merger between Procter & Gamble and Jacuzzi? : TIDE POOLS
- 94A Result of a merger between Hormel and Instagram? : SPAM FILTERS
- 120A Result of a merger between Ralph Lauren and Starbucks? : POLO GROUNDS
Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers
Want to discuss the puzzle? Then …
… leave a comment
Bill’s time: 18m 05s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
1 Men are pigs (after she’s through with them, anyway!) : CIRCE
Circe was a minor goddess in Greek mythology. The goddess of magic, she was fond of transforming those who did not please her into animals by using magical potions. In Homer’s “Odyssey”, Odysseus was given the herb called “moly” to protect him from the magical powers of Circe.
6 The “A” of James A. Garfield : ABRAM
James Abram Garfield, the 20th President of the US, was assassinated in office. He was shot twice, and one bullet could not be found (it was lodged in his spine). Inventor Alexander Graham Bell developed a metal detector in an attempt to locate the bullet, but apparently he was unsuccessful because of interference from the metal bed frame on which the president lay. Garfield died two months after being shot.
20 Lower-cost option on a popular rideshare app : UBERX
The basic service offered by ride-hailing company Uber is known as UberX. The service provides a private ride for up to four passengers in a standard car. UberXL provides a minivan or SUV with room for up to 6 passengers.
22 Frontiersman’s headgear : BEAVER HAT
A beaver hat is one made from beaver fur that has been “felted”, made into felt cloth. Top hats were often made using felted beaver fur, until silk versions started to become popular in the mid-1800s.
23 Result of a merger between Quaker Oats and Greyhound? : LIFE COACHES
The breakfast cereal called Life was introduced by Quaker Oats in 1961. Back then, Life contained just whole grain oats. Today’s recipe includes added sugar and flour.
Speaking as someone who lived much of my life outside of the US, I have to say that the Greyhound bus is a real symbol of America. I grew up seeing Greyhound buses in so many old movies. In Ireland the official provincial bus service “stole” the famous logo that gracefully adorns the sides of these buses, but uses a running Irish Setter in place of the iconic greyhound.
29 “Night on Bald Mountain” or “Finlandia” : TONE POEM
Franz Liszt was the original creator of the single-movement work known as a symphonic or tone poem. A symphonic poem is a musical piece usually based on another work, perhaps a play, story or poem. Liszt wrote the tone poem “Hamlet” in 1858, which was intended to be an introduction to Shakespeare’s play.
32 Musician who was booed in 1965 for playing electric guitar : DYLAN
The birth name of singer Bob Dylan was Robert Zimmerman. Zimmerman changed his name to “Dylan” partly because he was influenced by the poetry of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas.
34 Letters before Gerald R. Ford and Ronald Reagan : USS
The abbreviation “USS” stands for “United States Ship”. The practice of naming US Navy vessels in a standard format didn’t start until 1907, when President Theodore Roosevelt issued an executive order that addressed the issue.
35 Luau instrument, for short : UKE
The ukulele (uke) originated in the 1800s and mimicked a small guitar brought to the Hawaiian Islands by Portuguese immigrants.
41 Second-longest human bone, after the femur : TIBIA
The tibia is the shin bone, and is the larger of the two bones right below the knee. It is the strongest weight-bearing bone in the human body. “Tibia” is the Roman name for a Greek flute and it is thought that the shin bone was given the same name because flutes were often fashioned out of the shin bones of animals.
46 Result of a merger between Kraft and Hershey’s? : SINGLES BARS
The Kraft brand name originated with Canadian James L. Kraft. It was James L. Kraft who first patented processed cheese
Milton Hershey used profits from the sale of his successful Lancaster Caramel Company to construct a chocolate plant in his hometown of Derry Church, Pennsylvania. Hershey started building the factory in 1903, and by 1906 his chocolate was so successful that Derry Church changed its name to Hershey, Pennsylvania.
51 Result of a merger between Google and Planters? : DRIVE NUTS
Google Drive is Google’s cloud-based storage service. I’m a heavy user …
Planters is the company with the Mr. Peanut icon. Mr. Peanut was the invention of a first-grader named Antonio Gentile, a young man who won a design contest in 1916. A remarkable achievement, I’d say …
56 Spelling ___ : BEE
Back in 18th-century America, when neighbors would gather to work for the benefit of one of their group, such a meeting was called a bee. The name “bee” was an allusion to the social nature of the insect. In modern parlance, a further element of entertainment and pleasure has been introduced, for example in a quilting bee, or even a spelling bee.
57 What Santa checks twice : LIST
Santa checks his list of those who are naughty or nice.
59 Rulers’ staffs : SCEPTERS
A scepter (“sceptre” in Britain and Ireland) is a ceremonial staff, one often held by a monarch.
61 Fire man? : ST ELMO
Saint Elmo is the patron saint of sailors. More formally referred to as Erasmus of Formia, St. Elmo is perhaps venerated by sailors as tradition tells us that he continued preaching despite the ground beside him being struck by a thunderbolt. Sailors started to pray to him when in danger of storms and lightning. He lends his name to the electrostatic weather phenomenon (often seen at sea) known as St. Elmo’s fire. The “fire” is actually a plasma discharge caused by air ionizing at the end of a pointed object (like the mast of a ship), something often observed during electrical storms.
63 On the ___ : LAM
To be on the lam is to be in flight, to have escaped from prison. “On the lam” is American slang that originated at the end of the 19th century. The word “lam” also means to “beat” or “thrash”, as in “lambaste”. So “on the lam” might derive from the phrase “to beat it, to scram”.
64 Poet Lazarus : EMMA
Emma Lazarus was a poet from New York City who is best known as the author of an 1883 sonnet “The New Colossus”. “The New Colossus” sits on a bronze plaque inside the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, a fitting location given that the title refers to Lady Liberty.
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp! cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
68 Result of a merger between Hasbro and Nikon? : TROUBLESHOOTERS
The board game Trouble was introduced in the US in 1965, and is very similar to the competing game Sorry! that was already on the market. Both games are in turn based on the ancient game of Pachisi. The big selling feature of Trouble was the Pop-O-Matic dice container in the center of the board. I remember it well …
The Japanese company Nikon was founded in 1917 with the merger of three manufacturers of various optical devices. After the merger, Nikon’s main output was lenses (including the first lenses for Canon cameras, before Canon made its own). During the war, Nikon sales grew rapidly as the company focused on (pun!) equipment for the military including periscopes and bomb sights.
72 Bird like the Canada goose or arctic tern : MIGRANT
The Canada goose has quite a distinctive coloring, with a black head and neck broken up by a white “chinstrap”. They thrive in parks that are frequented by humans, and are so successful that they are considered pests by some.
Terns are seabirds that are found all over the world. The Arctic Tern makes a very long-distance migration. One Arctic Tern that was tagged as a chick in Great Britain in the summer of 1982, was spotted in Melbourne, Australia just three months later. The bird had traveled over 14,000 miles in over those three months, an average of about 150 miles a day. Remarkable …
75 Lummox : OAF
The word “lummox” comes from East Anglian slang , and describes an ungainly and often clueless person. The term is probably a contraction of “lumbering ox”.
76 Cheese offered tableside at Italian restaurants, informally : PARM
Genuine Parmesan cheese is made in and around the province of Parma in northern Italy, which province gives the cheese its name.
80 Eagle constellation : AQUILA
The name of the constellation Aquila is Latin for “eagle”. The brightest star in Aquila is Altair. The name “Altair” comes from the Arabic “al-nasr al-tair” meaning “the flying eagle”.
87 Revolutionary Guevara : CHE
Ernesto “Che” Guevara was born in Argentina, and in 1948 he started to study medicine at the University of Buenos Aires. While at school he satisfied his need to “see the world” by taking two long journeys around South America, the story of which are told in Guevara’s memoir later published as “The Motorcycle Diaries”. While travelling, Guevara was moved by the plight of the people he saw and their working conditions and what he viewed as capitalistic exploitation. In Mexico City he met brothers Raul and Fidel Castro and was persuaded to join their cause, the overthrow of the US-backed government in Cuba. He rose to second-in-command among the Cuban insurgents, and when Castro came to power Guevara was influential in repelling the Bay of Pigs Invasion and bringing Soviet nuclear missiles to the island. Guevara left Cuba in 1965 to continue his work as a revolutionary. He was captured by Bolivian forces in 1967, and was executed. Fidel Castro led the public mourning of Guevara’s death, and soon the revolutionary was an icon for many left-wing movements around the world.
89 Klum of “Project Runway” : HEIDI
German-born Heidi Klum was married to the successful English singer, Seal. Klum is a talented lady and has built a multi-faceted career based on her early success as a model. She is the force behind the Bravo reality show called “Project Runway” that has been on the air since 2004. Klum has been nominated 4-5 times for an Emmy for her association with the show. Klum was also signed up as the official ambassador for Barbie in 2009, the 50th anniversary of the Barbie Doll, and for her service that year a Heidi Klum Barbie was produced. She has been adding a touch of class to the judging panel on the show “America’s Got Talent” from 2013 through 2020.
90 “My love,” in Madrid : MI AMOR
Madrid is the most populous city in Spain, and is the nation’s capital. It is located very close to the geographical center of the country. Madrid is the second-largest city in the European Union by population, after Berlin. People from Madrid called themselves Madrileños.
91 Result of a merger between Procter & Gamble and Jacuzzi? : TIDE POOLS
Tide is a laundry detergent that has been made by Procter & Gamble since 1946. Back then, Tide was marketed as “America’s Washday Favorite”.
“Jacuzzi” is one of those brand names that has become so much associated with the product that it is often assumed to be a generic term. The Jacuzzi company was founded in 1915 by the seven(!) Jacuzzi brothers in Berkeley California. The brothers, who were Italian immigrants, pronounced their name “ja-coot-si”, as one might suspect when one realizes the name is of Italian origin. The company started off by making aircraft propellers and then small aircraft, but suspended aircraft production in 1925 when one the brothers was killed in one of their planes. The family then started making hydraulic pumps, and in 1948 developed a submersible bathtub pump so that a son of one of the brothers could enjoy hydrotherapy for his rheumatoid arthritis. The “hydrotherapy product” took off in the fifties with some astute marketing towards “worn-out housewives” and the use of celebrity spokesman Jack Benny.
94 Result of a merger between Hormel and Instagram? : SPAM FILTERS
Spam is a precooked meat product that is sold in cans. It was introduced by Hormel Foods in 1937. The main meat ingredients are pork shoulder meat and ham. The name “Spam” was chosen as the result of a competition at Hormel, with the winner earning himself a hundred dollars. According to the company, the derivation of the name “Spam” is a secret known by only a few former executives, but the speculation is that it stands for “spiced ham” or “shoulders of pork and ham”. Spam is particularly popular in Hawaii, so popular that it is sometimes referred to as “the Hawaiian steak”.
Instagram (often abbreviated to “Insta”) is a photo-sharing application, one that is extremely popular. Instagram started in San Francisco in 2010. Facebook purchased Instagram two years later, paying $1 billion. The billion-dollar Instagram company had just 13 employees at the time of the sale …
106 ___ Waldorf, the so-called “Queen B” on “Gossip Girl” : BLAIR
“Gossip Girl” is a series of young adult novels by American author Cecily von Ziegesar. The Gossip Girl in the title is the narrator of the tale, a gossip blogger who recounts the experiences of two friends, Blair Waldorf and Serena van der Woodsen.
116 “Been there, done that” feeling : ENNUI
“Ennui” is the French word for “boredom”, and a term that we now use in English. It’s one of the few French words we’ve imported and haven’t anglicized, and actually pronounce “correctly”.
120 Result of a merger between Ralph Lauren and Starbucks? : POLO GROUNDS
Ralph Lauren is an American fashion designer, born Ralph Liftshitz in the Bronx, New York. Lauren started off working as a salesman for Brooks Brothers after spending two years in the US Army. He then opened a necktie store, featuring his own tie designs. The ties were sold under the name “Polo”, which became Lauren’s most famous brand. Other Lauren brands are Purple Label and Black Label.
Starbucks is a coffee company based in Seattle, Washington. It is the largest coffeehouse company in the world and has over 19,000 stores. In the 1990s, Starbucks was opening one new store every single day! Starbucks is named after the chief mate on the Pequod in Herman Melville’s book “Moby Dick”.
127 Basil-based sauce : PESTO
The Italian term “pesto” applies to anything made by pounding. What we tend to know as pesto sauce is more properly called “pesto alla genovese”, i.e. pesto from Genoa in northern Italy. I love, love pesto sauce …
128 ___ Allen, one of the founders of Vermont : ETHAN
Ethan Allen was one of the founders of the state of Vermont. Allen was also a hero in the American Revolutionary War, famous for leading (along with Benedict Arnold) the small band of men known as the Green Mountain Boys that captured Fort Ticonderoga. And yes, the Ethan Allen store and furniture line is named for Ethan Allen the patriot, even though he had nothing to do with the furniture business.
Down
1 ___-de-sac : CUL
Even though “cul-de-sac” can indeed mean “bottom-of-the-bag” in French, the term “cul-de-sac” is of English origin (the use of “cul” in French is actually quite rude). The term was introduced in aristocratic circles at a time when it was considered very fashionable to speak French. Dead-end streets in France are usually signposted with just a symbol and no accompanying words, but if words are included they are “voie sans issue”, meaning “way without exit”.
2 Ditto, in scholarly journals : IBID
Ibid. is short for the Latin word “ibidem” and is typically found in footnotes and bibliographies. Ibid. is used to refer the reader to the prior citation, instead of giving the same information all over again (title, author etc.).
3 Brexit vote, e.g. : REFERENDUM
The UK held a referendum in June 2016 in which 52% of voters chose to leave the European Union (EU). The term “Brexit” was used for the vote, a portmanteau of “Britain” and “exit”. The vote led to some debate about the future of the UK. The Scottish electorate voted for the UK to stay in the EU, and so that revived speculation about Scotland leaving the UK. There is also some discussion about Northern Ireland’s future in the UK, as the Northern Irish electorate also voted to stay in the EU.
4 Home to the Minoan civilization : CRETE
The Minoans were a Bronze Age people that lived on the island of Crete from about 270 to 1450 BCE. Evidence of the Minoan civilization was uncovered by the British archaeologist Arthur Evans at the beginning of the 20th century. Evans coined the term “Minoan” after King Minos of myth, who was said to have built a Labyrinth on the island that housed the Minotaur.
7 2021 Super Bowl champs : BUCS
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (the Bucs) joined the NFL in 1976, along with the Seattle Seahawks, as an expansion team. The Bucs had a tough start in the NFL, losing their first 26 games. Things went better in the early eighties, but then the team went through 14 consecutive losing seasons. Their luck changed again though, and they won the Super Bowl at the end of the 2002 season.
9 Tex who directed the first Bugs Bunny cartoon : AVERY
Tex Avery was a cartoon animator and voice actor in Hollywood. He was the man who created Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, and it was Avery who gave Bugs Bunny the line “What’s up, doc?” Apparently it was a phrase that was common in his native Texas and one that became a bit of a catchphrase at North Dallas High School, which Avery attended in the twenties.
10 Iraqi city on the Tigris : MOSUL
Mosul is located in northern Iraq and is the third largest city in the country, after Baghdad and Basra. It is located on the west bank of the Tigris river, opposite the ruins of the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh in the east bank. Mosul was captured by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in 2014. Those residents of Mosul who did not escape suffered under the rule of ISIL until the city’s liberation following the Battle of Mosul in 2016/2017.
11 Kimono accessory : OBI
The sash worn as part of traditional Japanese dress is known as an obi. The obi can be tied at the back in what is called a butterfly knot. The term “obi” is also used for the thick cotton belts that are an essential part of the outfits worn by practitioners of many martial arts. The color of the martial arts obi signifies the wearer’s skill level.
The lovely Japanese kimono is a garment worn by men, women and children. The word “kimono” translates simply as “thing to wear”, with “ki” meaning “wear” and “mono” meaning “thing”.
14 Lead-in to an Indiana “-ville” : EVANS-
Evansville, Indiana is the largest city in the southern part of the state. It sits on a bend of the Ohio River, and is sometimes known as “River City”.
16 Piehole : TRAP
The term “piehole” meaning “mouth” has been in use since the early 1980s. It is a variation of the older term “cake hole” that originated with the British armed forces during WWII. “Cake hole” is still used in the British Isles, with “piehole” largely limited to North America.
19 Part of a musical note : STEM
In musical notation, a note is made up of the note head connected to the straight line called the stem, and perhaps a flag(s) at the opposite end of the stem to the note head.
42 Little sounds : INLETS
Ships might travel through a sound, a wide channel connecting two bodies of water.
45 Nancy who served as the first female member of the British Parliament : ASTOR
Nancy Astor (nee Langhorne) was born in the US, in Virginia. When Nancy was 26 years old she moved to England with her younger sister. In England she married an American living there, Waldorf Astor, and the couple lived a very comfortable life. Nancy Astor became very active in English politics, and eventually became the first woman elected to the British Parliament.
49 A.O.C., e.g. : REP
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a politician who is often referred to by her initials “AOC”. A Democrat, she was first elected to the US House of Representatives in 2018, representing part of the Bronx, Queens and Rikers Island in New York City. When she took office in 2019 at the age of 29, AOC became the youngest woman ever to serve in Congress.
52 Evening prayer : VESPER
Vespers is an evening prayer service in some Christian traditions. “Vesper” is the Latin for “evening”. Vespers is also known as “Evensong”.
59 Raw material? : SMUT
“Smut” means “dirt, smudge” and more recently “pornographic material”. The term comes from the Yiddish “schmutz”, which is a slang word used in English for dirt, as in “dirt on one’s face”.
60 Quintana ___ (Mexican state that’s home to Cancún) : ROO
Cancún is a city and island on the east coast of Mexico, on the other side of the Yucatan Channel from Cuba. The city is growing rapidly due to its booming tourist business. Cancún is the center of what’s often called “The Mexican Caribbean” or the “Mayan Riviera”.
65 Land governed by the House of Grimaldi : MONACO
The House of Grimaldi started in Genoa, Italy at the time of the early Crusades. The current head of the House of the Grimaldi is Albert II, the reigning monarch of the Principality of Monaco.
68 More hackneyed : TRITER
Hackney is a location in London, and it probably gave its name to a “hackney”, an ordinary type of horse around 1300. By 1700 a “hackney” was a person hired to do routine work, and “hackneyed” meant “kept for hire”, and then “stale, uninteresting”. This morphed into a hackney carriage, a carriage or car for hire, and into “hack”, a slang term for a taxi driver or cab.
69 A head : LOO
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!
In old sailing ships, the toilet area for the regular sailors was located in the forward part (the head) of the ship. As a result, the term “head” has been used since then for any toilet on board a boat.
71 Best-case scenarios : OPTIMA
A scenario is an outline of the plot of perhaps a novel or play. The term “scenario” can also describe a sequence of hypothetical events.
72 Clipper parts : MASTS
A clipper was a three-masted sailing ship commonly crossing the seas in the 19th century. Clippers were built for speed, so were narrow and had less room for carrying freight than many vessels used in trade. They were developed largely due to the demand for speedy delivery of fresh tea from China to Europe. The name comes from the term “to clip” meaning to move swiftly (as in “at a clip”). Perhaps the most famous clipper ship is the Cutty Sark built in 1869, the last clipper to be built as a merchant vessel. The Cutty Sark owes her fame to the fact that she is on display as a museum ship in a dry dock in Greenwich in London.
79 In essence : PER SE
“Per se” is a Latin phrase that translates as “by itself”. We use “per se” pretty literally, meaning “in itself, intrinsically”.
83 Co-founder of the N.A.A.C.P. : IDA B WELLS
Ida B. Wells was an African-American journalist and leader of the civil rights movement. She published a pamphlet in 1892 called “Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases”, which publicized the horrors of lynching of African Americans by white mobs in the South.
The full name of the NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, is remarkable in that it still uses the offensive term “colored people”. The NAACP was founded in 1909, by a group that included suffragette and journalist Mary White Ovington, wealthy socialist William English Walling, and civil rights activist Henry Moskowitz. Another member of the founding group was W. E. B. Du Bois, the first African-American to earn a doctorate at Harvard University. The date chosen for the founding of the NAACP was February 12th, 1909, the 100th anniversary of the birth of President Abraham Lincoln, the man most visibly associated with the emancipation of African-American slaves.
90 One of the Canterbury pilgrims : MILLER
“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.
98 JAMA contributors : DRS
The American Medical Association (AMA) has been publishing the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) since 1883.
105 ___ hole : OZONE
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used to be widely used as propellants in aerosols, and as refrigerants in cooling systems. CFCs make their way up into the ozone layer and trigger a chain reaction that converts ozone (O3) into regular oxygen (O2). That conversion creates “holes” in the ozone layer. Regular O2 is good stuff, but we need O3 to absorb harmful UV radiation raining down on us. CFC is not good stuff …
107 Battery part : ANODE
A battery is a device that converts chemical energy into electric energy. A simple battery is made up of three parts: a cathode, an anode and a liquid electrolyte. Ions from the electrolyte react chemically with the material in the anode producing a compound and releasing electrons. At the same time, the electrolyte reacts with the material in the cathode, absorbing electrons and producing a different chemical compound. In this way, there is a buildup of electrons at the anode and a deficit of electrons at the cathode. When a connection (wire, say) is made between the cathode and anode, electrons flow through the resulting circuit from the anode to cathode in an attempt to rectify the electron imbalance.
108 Language group related to Yupik : INUIT
The Inuit people live in the Arctic, in parts of the US, Russia, Greenland and Canada.
The Yupik are a group of indigenous peoples of Alaska and the Russian Far East.
110 From scratch : ANEW
Apparently the phrase “start from scratch” arose in the world of sports, probably in cricket or boxing. A line would be scratched into the ground to indicate a starting point.
111 Quinceañera, e.g. : RITE
“Quinceañera” is a celebration of a girl’s fifteenth birthday, and is an event common in many parts of Latin America.
119 Oscar-winning lyricist Washington : NED
Ned Washington was a lyricist known for his compositions used in Hollywood movies. Washington won eleven Oscars in his career, including two for Best Original Music, for “When You Wish Upon a Star” from “Pinocchio” and “High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin’)” from “High Noon”.
121 Classic Pontiac : GTO
The initialism “GTO” was used on several touring cars (including a famous Pontiac) and stands for “Gran Turismo Omologato”. Italian car manufacturers started the tradition of calling their luxury performance cars “Gran Turismo”, and calling those cars they approved for racing “Gran Turismo Omologato”. The phrase “gran turismo omologato” translates as “grand touring homologated”, “homologated” being a technical term signifying official approval.
122 Phishing target, for short : SSN
Social Security number (SSN)
Phishing is the online practice of stealing usernames, passwords and credit card details by creating a site that deceptively looks reliable and trustworthy. Phishers often send out safe-looking emails or instant messages that direct someone to an equally safe-looking website where the person might inadvertently enter sensitive information. “Phishing” is a play on the word “fishing”, as in “fishing for passwords, PINs, etc.”
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Men are pigs (after she’s through with them, anyway!) : CIRCE
6 The “A” of James A. Garfield : ABRAM
11 Naysayers : OBJECTORS
20 Lower-cost option on a popular rideshare app : UBERX
21 Egg: Sp. : HUEVO
22 Frontiersman’s headgear : BEAVER HAT
23 Result of a merger between Quaker Oats and Greyhound? : LIFE COACHES
25 Maintaining equilibrium : IN BALANCE
26 Discourage : DETER
27 Soft drink concentrate, e.g. : SYRUP
29 “Night on Bald Mountain” or “Finlandia” : TONE POEM
30 With 18-Down, what has four legs and sprints? : RELAY
32 Musician who was booed in 1965 for playing electric guitar : DYLAN
34 Letters before Gerald R. Ford and Ronald Reagan : USS
35 Luau instrument, for short : UKE
37 Zoom : TEAR
39 Corner : NOOK
41 Second-longest human bone, after the femur : TIBIA
46 Result of a merger between Kraft and Hershey’s? : SINGLES BARS
51 Result of a merger between Google and Planters? : DRIVE NUTS
53 Like the wights on “Game of Thrones” : UNDEAD
54 Best of the best : A-TEAM
56 Spelling ___ : BEE
57 What Santa checks twice : LIST
58 R-rated : ADULT
59 Rulers’ staffs : SCEPTERS
61 Fire man? : ST ELMO
63 On the ___ : LAM
64 Poet Lazarus : EMMA
66 Prefix with thermal : ISO-
67 Bad sound for an engine : SPUTTER
68 Result of a merger between Hasbro and Nikon? : TROUBLESHOOTERS
72 Bird like the Canada goose or arctic tern : MIGRANT
75 Lummox : OAF
76 Cheese offered tableside at Italian restaurants, informally : PARM
77 Recipe amt. : TSP
80 Eagle constellation : AQUILA
81 Passive acquiescence : DOCILITY
84 Voice a view : OPINE
86 Firm decision maker? : SUIT
87 Revolutionary Guevara : CHE
89 Klum of “Project Runway” : HEIDI
90 “My love,” in Madrid : MI AMOR
91 Result of a merger between Procter & Gamble and Jacuzzi? : TIDE POOLS
94 Result of a merger between Hormel and Instagram? : SPAM FILTERS
96 Warehouse : STORE
97 10 to 10, say : TIED
99 ___ reform, cause for the Marshall Project : BAIL
100 Middling grade : CEE
101 Pub choice : ALE
103 Shot across the bow? : ARROW
106 ___ Waldorf, the so-called “Queen B” on “Gossip Girl” : BLAIR
109 Leaves nothing to the imagination : BARES ALL
114 Measured : SIZED
116 “Been there, done that” feeling : ENNUI
118 Disney’s world : ANIMATION
120 Result of a merger between Ralph Lauren and Starbucks? : POLO GROUNDS
123 “Stop your foolishness outside!” : GET IN HERE!
124 Not on : UNLIT
125 Chops up finely : DICES
126 Was uncomfortably hot : SWELTERED
127 Basil-based sauce : PESTO
128 ___ Allen, one of the founders of Vermont : ETHAN
Down
1 ___-de-sac : CUL
2 Ditto, in scholarly journals : IBID
3 Brexit vote, e.g. : REFERENDUM
4 Home to the Minoan civilization : CRETE
5 Shine : EXCEL
6 “Now I get it!” : AHA!
7 2021 Super Bowl champs : BUCS
8 Drink up during a timeout, say : REHYDRATE
9 Tex who directed the first Bugs Bunny cartoon : AVERY
10 Iraqi city on the Tigris : MOSUL
11 Kimono accessory : OBI
12 Natural talent : BENT
13 ___ Young-White, comedian/correspondent for “The Daily Show” : JABOUKIE
14 Lead-in to an Indiana “-ville” : EVANS-
15 ___ Ng, author of the 2017 best seller “Little Fires Everywhere” : CELESTE
16 Piehole : TRAP
17 “Oops!” : OH NO!
18 See 30-Across : RACE
19 Part of a musical note : STEM
24 Held forth : ORATED
28 “Two thumbs down” review : PAN
31 Answer to “Are you asleep?” that can’t be true : YES
33 Drift off to sleep : NOD
35 Ordinary : USUAL
36 “Eh, not really” : KINDA
38 1981 hit Genesis album whose name resembles a rhyme scheme : ABACAB
40 Balls in the sky : ORBS
42 Little sounds : INLETS
43 Muscular : BUILT
44 “Who’s there?” response : IT’S ME
45 Nancy who served as the first female member of the British Parliament : ASTOR
47 Come together : GEL
48 Like some thinking : LATERAL
49 A.O.C., e.g. : REP
50 Meets : SATISFIES
52 Evening prayer : VESPER
55 Come together : MESH
59 Raw material? : SMUT
60 Quintana ___ (Mexican state that’s home to Cancún) : ROO
62 Mayhem : TURMOIL
65 Land governed by the House of Grimaldi : MONACO
67 Obedience school command : STAY!
68 More hackneyed : TRITER
69 A head : LOO
70 A head : EACH
71 Best-case scenarios : OPTIMA
72 Clipper parts : MASTS
73 “You can’t fire me!” : I QUIT!
74 Italian poet Cavalcanti who influenced Dante : GUIDO
77 Procrastinator’s problem : TIME CRUNCH
78 [Bo-o-o-oring!] : [SNORE!]
79 In essence : PER SE
81 Where heroes are made : DELI
82 Sass : LIP
83 Co-founder of the N.A.A.C.P. : IDA B WELLS
85 Word that, when spelled backward, becomes its own synonym : PAT
88 Member of the inn crowd? : HOTELIER
90 One of the Canterbury pilgrims : MILLER
92 One doing the lord’s work : PEASANT
93 In which you might do a deep dive : SEA
95 Mistruth : FIB
98 JAMA contributors : DRS
102 Tool in a wood shop : LATHE
104 Shred : RIP UP
105 ___ hole : OZONE
107 Battery part : ANODE
108 Language group related to Yupik : INUIT
109 Birkin stock? : BAGS
110 From scratch : ANEW
111 Quinceañera, e.g. : RITE
112 Man’s name that spells a fruit backward : EMIL
113 Passed-down stories : LORE
115 “Stop stalling!” : DO IT!
117 “The slightest” or “the foggiest” thing : IDEA
119 Oscar-winning lyricist Washington : NED
121 Classic Pontiac : GTO
122 Phishing target, for short : SSN
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