Tag: Put on a production of a classic Sondheim musical? crossword clue

Today’s Theme: Stressed Out

Themed answers are common phrases, but with the STRESS changed to a different syllable resulting in a change of meaning:

• 23A “We can’t hear you in the back, Johannes!”? : PROJECT, GUTENBERG!
• 38A Put on a production of a classic Sondheim musical? : PRESENT “COMPANY”
• 47A What composers do when they add the finishing touches? : PERFECT SCORES
• 66A What workers at the sticker factory do? : PRODUCE LABELS
• 86A Shorten words like “forecastle” and “boatswain”? : CONTRACT TERMS
• 94A Ignore what you have in reserve while taking inventory? : DISCOUNT STORES
• 111A Encouragement at an N.B.A. mixer? : CONVERSE ALL STARS

… a complete list of answers

Bill’s time: 23m 21s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Stuffs with bacon, say : LARDS

Fat, when extracted from the carcass of an animal, is called suet. Untreated suet decomposes at room temperature quite easily so it has to be rendered, purified to make it stable. Rendered fat from pigs is what we call lard. Rendered beef or mutton fat is known as tallow.

6 Convention handouts : SWAG

“Swag” is “loot, stolen property”, and a term that started out as criminal slang in England in the 1830s. “Swag” is also the name given to the promotional freebies available at some events. That said, there’s an urban myth that the promotional version of “swag” is an acronym standing for “stuff we all get”.

15 Mission-driven org. : NASA

The Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite towards the end of 1957 in a development that shocked the establishment in the US. Within months, President Eisenhower created the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA, now DARPA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The Space Race had begun …

21 Ancient neighbor of Lydia : IONIA

Lydia and Ionia were ancient territories in a part of the world now covered by modern-day Turkey. Both territories eventually fell under Greek and then Roman rule.

22 Intl. group founded in 1960 with five members : OPEC

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was founded in 1960 at a conference held in Baghdad, Iraq that was attended by Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Nine more countries joined the alliance soon after, and OPEC set up headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland and then Vienna, Austria in 1965. The basic aim of OPEC was to wrest control of oil prices from the oil companies and put it in the hands of the sovereign states that own the natural resource.

23 “We can’t hear you in the back, Johannes!”? : PROJECT, GUTENBERG!

The printing press was invented in the mid-15th century by German goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg. Books were printed prior to the invention of the press, but the techniques used were clumsy and slow. Gutenberg introduced the concept of movable, reusable type, which revolutionized book production. Fifty years after the introduction of Gutenberg’s press, over twenty million volumes had been produced in Western Europe.

Project Gutenberg is a volunteer program that started in 1971 with the aim of digitizing and archiving cultural works of significance. The collection of well over 50,000 works comprises the full text of public domain books in ebook format.

26 Winter leaf covering : HOAR

The Old English word “har” meant “gray, venerable, old”, and came into English as “hoar” (and later “hoary”) with the same meaning. The term “hoar-frost” dates back to the 13th century, and reflects the similarity of the white feathers of frost to the gray/white of an old man’s beard.

29 Boston ___ (Sam Adams offering) : ALE

Samuel Adams beers (sometimes ordered as “Sam Adams”) are named in honor of the American patriot who played a role in the American Revolution and the Boston Tea Party. Samuel Adams came from a family associated with the brewing industry, mainly involved in the production of malt.

30 Place to fill up in Canada : ESSO

The brand name Esso has its roots in the old Standard Oil company as it uses the initial letters of “Standard” and “Oil” (ESS-O). The Esso brand was replaced by Exxon in the US, but ESSO is still used in many other countries.

35 Triage sites, briefly : ERS

Triage is the process of prioritizing patients for treatment, especially on the battlefield. The term “triage” is French and means “sorting”.

36 Brown in a Food Network kitchen : ALTON

Alton Brown is a celebrity chef who is behind the Food Network show “Good Eats”, and is the host of “Iron Chef America”.

38 Put on a production of a classic Sondheim musical? : PRESENT “COMPANY”

“Company” is a comedy stage musical by Stephen Sondheim that premiered on Broadway in 1970. The show was originally titled “Threes”, a reference to the three girlfriends that the main character juggles.

45 Pirate’s chant : YO-HO-HO

The fictional sea shanty called “Dead Man’s Chest” was introduced in Robert Louis Stevenson’s great novel, “Treasure Island”. In the book, Stevenson only describes the chorus, which goes:

Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest–
…Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the devil had done for the rest–
…Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

46 Scottish cap : TAM

A tam o’shanter is a man’s cap traditionally worn by Scotsmen. “Tams” were originally all blue (and called “blue bonnets”) but as more dyes became readily available they became more colorful. The name of the cap comes from the title character of the Robert Burns poem “Tam O’Shanter”.

53 “What’s the ___?” : DIF

What’s the dif, the difference?

59 Russian assembly : DUMA

A duma is a representative assembly in Russia. The Russian word “dumat” means “to think, consider”.

65 Western Hemisphere grp. : OAS

The Organization of American States (OAS) was founded in 1948, and has its headquarters in Washington, D.C. Not all of the independent states in the Americas are members. Cuba was barred from participation in the organization after a vote in 1962. Honduras had her membership suspended after the country’s 2009 coup.

70 ___ Royal Highness : HER

His/Her Royal Highness (HRH)

71 Words before “Remember” and “Forget” in song titles : TRY TO …

“Try to Remember” is a song from the 1960 musical “The Fantasticks”. The song was first performed on stage by Jerry Orbach, the actor who played Detective Lennie Briscoe in television’s “Law & Order”. Gladys Knight & the Pips had really big hit with the song in 1975 when they combined it beautifully with their version of “The Way We Were”.

73 Shooter of arrows : EROS

The name of Eros, the Greek god of love, gives rise to our word “erotic” meaning “arousing sexual desire”. Eros was referred to in Latin as both “Amor” (meaning “love”) and “Cupid” (meaning “desire”).

74 Code part : GENE

Proteins are synthesised in the body from amino acids, which are linked together in specific sequences that are determined by the genetic code. The language of the code is a sequence of nucleotides. The nucleotides are arranged in groups of three called “codons”, with each codon determining a specific amino acid.

79 Do some pogoing : HOP

What we know today as a pogo stick was invented in Germany by Max Pohlig and Ernst Gottschall. The name “pogo” comes from the first two letters in each of the inventors’ family names: Po-hlig and Go-ttschall.

81 French France : ANATOLE

“Anatole France” was the pen name for French poet and novelist François-Anatole Thibault. France won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1921.

83 Jackson nicknamed the “Queen of Gospel” : MAHALIA

Mahalia Jackson was an African-American gospel singer who was known as the first Queen of Gospel Music. She recorded many records, including 12 that went “gold”, i.e. sold more than a million copies each.

86 Shorten words like “forecastle” and “boatswain”? : CONTRACT TERMS

The forecastle (usually abbreviated to “fo’c’sle”) is the forward part of a ship where the sailors’ sleeping quarters are located. The term is also used to describe the upper deck, forward of the foremost mast. The related phrase “before the mast” is used to describe anything related to a ship’s enlisted men, those sailors who are not officers.

A boatswain works on the deck of a boat. He or she is unlicensed, and so is not involved in the navigation or handling of the vessel, and instead is in charge of the other unlicensed workers on the deck. “Boatswain” is pronounced “bosun” and this phonetic spelling is often used interchangeably with “boatswain”. The contraction “bo’s’n” is also very popular.

90 Stretching muscle : TENSOR

A tensor muscle is one that tightens or stretches a part of the body.

92 Certain yearling : COLT

There are lots of terms to describe horses of different ages and sexes, it seems:

• Foal: horse of either sex that is less than one year old
• Yearling: horse of either sex that is one to two years old
• Filly: female horse under the age of four
• Colt: male horse under the age of four
• Gelding: castrated male horse of any age
• Stallion: non-castrated male horse four years or older
• Mare: female horse four years or older

93 What a private detective might photograph : TRYST

In the most general sense, a tryst is a meeting at an agreed time and place. More usually we consider a tryst to be a pre-arranged meeting between lovers. The term comes from the Old French “triste”, a waiting place designated when hunting. Further, a tryst taking place at lunchtime is sometimes referred to as a nooner.

99 #MeToo ___ : ERA

The use of the hashtag #MeToo was encouraged initially by actress Alyssa Milano in 2017 to draw attention to sexual assault and sexual harassment. Milano’s was acting in response to the growing number of allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein. The use of the phrase “Me Too” in the context of sexual misconduct dates back to 2006. Social activist Tarana Burke started to use the phrase on the Myspace social network after a 13-year-old girl told her that she had been sexually assaulted. Apparently, Burke had no response at the time the girl confided in her, but later wished she had responding, “Me too”.

100 Underground places with bats : DUGOUTS

A dugout is an underground shelter. The term was carried over to baseball because the dugout is slightly depressed below the level of the field. This allows spectators behind the dugout to get a good view of home plate, where a lot of the action takes place.

102 Anti-bullying spot, for short : PSA

Public service announcement (PSA)

106 Computing pioneer Lovelace : ADA

Ada Lovelace’s real name and title was Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace. She was the only legitimate child of Lord Byron, the poet. Lovelace was fascinated by mathematics and wrote about the work done by Charles Babbage in building his groundbreaking mechanical computer. In some of her notes, she proposed an algorithm for Babbage’s machine to compute Bernoulli numbers. This algorithm is recognized by many as the world’s first computer program and so Lovelace is sometimes called the first “computer programmer”. There is a computer language called “Ada” that was named in her honor. The Ada language was developed from 1977 to 1983 for the US Department of Defense.

107 Side dish with kalua pig : POI

I am a big fan of starch (being an Irishman I love potatoes). That said, I think that poi tastes horrible! Poi is made from the bulbous tubers (corm) of the taro plant by cooking the corm in water and mashing it until the desired consistency is achieved.

108 Betrays a sibling, say : TATTLES

Something described as tattletale is revealing, it gives away a secret. The term is a combination of “tattle” and “tale”, and is probably patterned on the similar word “telltale”. “To tattle” means “to tell secrets”, and the noun “tattletale” applies to someone who tells secrets and informs.

111 Encouragement at an N.B.A. mixer? : CONVERSE ALL STARS

The Converse shoe company was founded in Malden, Massachusetts in 1908 by one Marquis Mills Converse. The company grew steadily, and introduced its first athletic shoe in 1915, a shoe designed for playing tennis. The Converse brand really took off in 1917 with the launch of a shoe designed especially for basketball, which was called the “All Star”. Basketball player Chuck Taylor really liked the new design and was hired by Converse as a salesman and a spokesman. Taylor suggested a refinement to the design, including a patch on the side to protect the ankle. A star logo (representing the “All Star” brand) was added to the patch, with Chuck Taylor’s signature being added to the logo as an endorsement in 1923. The Chuck Taylor All Star became the best selling basketball shoe of all time, and the star became the logo for the Converse company.

115 Irish novelist O’Brien : EDNA

Edna O’Brien is an Irish novelist and playwright who is known for her works that shine a light on the problems of women relating to men and society in general. O’Brien’s first novel, “The Country Girls”, was banned, burned and denounced by the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland. As a result, O’Brien left the country and now lives in London.

117 Lake near London : ERIE

The city of London, Ontario lies about halfway between Detroit, Michigan and Toronto, Ontario. Just like the city’s better known namesake in England, Canada’s London is located on the Thames River.

118 Country ruled only by kings named Tupou since 1845 : TONGA

The Kingdom of Tonga is made up of 176 islands in the South Pacific, 52 of which are inhabited and scattered over an area of 270,000 square miles. Tonga was given the name Friendly Islands in 1773 when Captain James Cook first landed there, a reference to the warm reception given to the visitors.

Down

2 Hairstyles for Pam Grier and Angela Davis : AFROS

Pam Grier is an actress whose most acclaimed performance was in the 1997 Quentin Tarantino film “Jackie Brown”, in which she played the title role.

Angela Davis is a political activist and former leader of the Communist Party USA. Davis also ran twice in the eighties as candidate for Vice President on the Communist Party USA ticket, alongside Presidential candidate Gus Hall.

4 Martial arts center : DOJO

The Japanese word “dojo” literally means “place of the way”. Originally the term applied to training halls that were found in or beside temples. The teaching in a dojo was not limited to the martial arts, but in the Western world we use the dojo as the name for a training facility for judo, karate and the like.

6 Nymph pursuer : SATYR

The satyrs of Greek mythology came with a very high sex drive. They are the “rude” male subjects drawn on the side of old Greek vases. The nubile maidens known as nymphs were often an object of attention for the satyrs.

7 Drag wear : WIG

The etymology of the term “drag”, as used in the transvestite world, seems to be unclear. It perhaps relates to the tendency of a transvestite’s skirts to drag along the ground in days of old (although why they just didn’t hitch up their skirts is beyond me!).

8 Soccer phenom Freddy : ADU

Freddy Adu is an American soccer player who grew up in Ghana. Adu signed for D.C. United in 2004 when he was only 14 years old. That made him the youngest athlete ever to sign a professional contract in the US.

10 Some scuba gear : FINS

The self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) was co-invented by celebrated French marine explorer Jacques Cousteau.

13 Samoa salesperson : GIRL SCOUT

Depending on which bakery makes the particular variety of Girl Scout cookies, the name can vary. For example, Little Brownie Bakers makes the Samoa cookies, while ABC Bakers uses the same recipe and calls the cookies Caramel deLites. The assumption is that these cookies have the exotic name “Samoa” because they contain the tropical ingredients of coconut and cocoa. The most popular variety of Girl Scout cookies sold are Thin Mints.

16 Nonbeliever, now : APOSTATE

Someone may be described as apostate if he or she abandons his or her faith, political party, principles, or any particular cause.

18 Nascar and FIFA, e.g. : ACRONYMS

“NASCAR” stands for the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. NASCAR is very, very popular and commands the second-largest television audience of any professional sport in America, second only to football.

The International Federation of Association Football (“Fédération Internationale de Football Association” in French) is usually referred to by the acronym “FIFA”. FIFA is the governing body of the game of soccer (association football), and the organizer of the FIFA World Cup held every four years.

24 Ibex’s perch : CRAG

“Ibex” is a common name for various species of mountain goat. “Ibex” is a Latin name that was used for wild goats found in the Alps and Apennines in Europe.

34 Big snapper, informally : CROC

Crocodiles and alligators do indeed bear a resemblance to each other, although they belong to distinct biological families. One of the main ways used to distinguish them is by their teeth and jaws. Both the upper and lower sets of teeth of a crocodile are visible when its mouth is closed, whereas only the upper teeth of an alligator are visible with the mouth shut.

35 Book of Mormon book : ENOS

According to the Book of Mormon, Enos was a son of Jacob, and the author of the Book of Enos.

41 End result : UPSHOT

Back in the 1500s, the “up shot” was the final shot in an archery match. We now use the term “upshot” to describe the end result, the conclusion.

44 In ___ (not yet delivered) : UTERO

“In utero” is a Latin term meaning “in the uterus”. The Latin “uterus” (plural “uteri”) translates as both “womb” and “belly”. “Uterys” comes from the Greek “hystera” that also means “womb”, which gives us the words “hysterectomy”, and “hysterical”.

48 Singer who was in 2018’s “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” : CHER

“Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” is a 2018 sequel to the hit 2008 movie “Mamma Mia!” I am an unashamed fan of the original film, and really loved the “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again”. I especially enjoyed Cher’s rendition of a couple of ABBA hits at the end of the movie, and have Cher’s 2018 album “Dancing Queen” on my Christmas list.

54 “Quién ___?” (Spanish “Who knows?”) : SABE

“Quién sabe?” is Spanish for “who knows?”

57 Fateful day in 44 B.C. : IDES

Julius Caesar was assassinated on the 15th (the ides) of March, 44 BC. He was attacked by a group of sixty people in the Roman Senate, and was stabbed 23 times. The first to strike a blow was Servilius Casca, who attacked Caesar from behind and stabbed him in the neck. In Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”, Casca utters the words “Speak, hands, for me!” just before making the fatal blow. The following line, uttered by Caesar, is more famous though: “Et tu, Brute?”

60 Cosmo, e.g. : MAG

“Cosmopolitan” magazine was first published way back in 1886! It started out life as a family magazine, then as a literary publication. “Cosmo” took its present form as a women’s magazine in the sixties.

67 Colleague : COHORT

“Cohort” can be used as a collective noun, meaning “group, company”. The term can also apply to an individual supporter or companion, although usually in a derogatory sense. “Cohort” comes from the Latin “cohors”, which was an infantry company in the Roman army, one tenth of a legion.

69 Giving up time : LENT

In Latin, the Christian season that is now called “Lent” was termed “quadragesima” (meaning “fortieth”), a reference to the forty days that Jesus spent in the desert before beginning his public ministry. When the church began its move in the Middle Ages towards using the vernacular, the term “Lent” was introduced. “Lent” comes from “lenz”, the German word for “spring”.

72 Carrier until 2001 : TWA

Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a big carrier in the US, but was perhaps even more recognized for its extensive presence in Europe and the Middle East. For many years, especially after the collapse of Pan Am and TWA’s purchase by Howard Hughes, TWA was considered the unofficial flag carrier for the US. The company started in 1930, the product of a forced merger of Transcontinental Air Transport and Western Air Express. The Transcontinental and Western Air that resulted (the original meaning of the initialism “TWA”) was what the Postmaster General wanted, a bigger airline to which the Postal Service could award airmail contracts.

75 Rudder’s place : STERN

A rudder is usually a flat sheet of wood or metal located at the stern of a boat, and under the waterline. The rudder is attached to a rudder post, which rotates to change the orientation of the rudder hence steering the boat. That rotation of the rudder post can be achieved by pulling or pushing a lever called a tiller, which is located at the top of the post.

77 Place : LIEU

As one might imagine perhaps, “in lieu” came into English from the Old French word “lieu” meaning “place”, which in turn is derived from the Latin “locum” that also means “place”. So, “in lieu” translates as “in place of”.

80 Retro Chrysler : PT CRUISER

Chrysler’s PT Cruiser has a lovely retro styling (I think). The look and feel of the car was heavily influenced by the Chrysler Airflow from the 1930s. The PT Cruiser was introduced in 2000, and sadly was withdrawn in 2010.

84 Former Haitian leader Jean-Bertrand : ARISTIDE

John-Bertrand Aristide is a Haitian native. When he was 29 years old he entered the priesthood, after having studied in Italy, Greece and Israel. He served as a priest in Haiti under the brutal regimes of François “Papa Doc” Duvalier and his son, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc”. Aristide became an outspoken critic of the dictators, and many times incurred their wrath. While still a priest, he was elected to the office of president, in the country’s first democratic election. Aristide was also an outspoken critic of the church, and in 1994 left the priesthood, getting married 12 months later.

85 Defenders in the Battle of Trenton : HESSIANS

The Hessians were German regiments that fought for the British during the American Revolutionary War. They took their name from the homeland of about one third of the men, i.e. Hesse-Kassel.

First settled in 1679 by Quakers, the city of Trenton is the state capital of New Jersey.. The original settlement was named Trent-towne in 1719 in honor of William Trent, who was one of the biggest landowners in the area. The name “Trent-towne” was later shortened to Trenton. The city was the site of George Washington’s first military victory in the Revolutionary War, in 1776. Because of the Battle of Trenton, New Jersey’s capital is sometimes referred to as the “Turning Point of the Revolution”.

86 ___ Nostra : COSA

Apparently, “Cosa Nostra” is the real name for the Italian Mafia. “Cosa Nostra” translates as “our thing” or “this thing of ours”. The term first became public in the US when the FBI managed to turn some members of the American Mafia. The Italian authorities established that “Cosa Nostra” was also used in Sicily when they penetrated the Sicilian Mafia in the 1980s. The term “mafia” seems to be just a literary invention that has become popular with the public.

87 Film director Nicolas : ROEG

Nicolas Roeg is a film director from England with quite the pedigree when it comes to association with great movies. He contributed to 1962’s “Lawrence of Arabia”, and he himself directed noted films like “Walkabout” (1972), “Don’t Look Now” (1973) and “The Man Who Fell to Earth” (1976).

97 Series finale abbr. : ET AL

“Et alii” (et al.) is the equivalent of “et cetera” (etc.), with “et cetera” being used in place of a list of objects, and “et alii” used for a list of names. In fact, “et al.” can stand for “et alii” (a group of males, or males and females), “et aliae” (a group of women) and “et alia” (a group of neuter nouns, or a group of people where the intent is to retain gender-neutrality).

101 Baseball’s Chase : UTLEY

Chase Utley is a second baseman who played for the Phillies from 2003 until 2015, and for the Dodgers from 2015 to 2017.

103 Ridged fabric : SERGE

Serge is a type of twill fabric with diagonal ridges on both sides. The name “serge” comes from the Greek word for “silken”.

104 Syrian strongman : ASSAD

Dr. Bashar al-Assad is the current President of the Syrian Arab Republic and the son of the former President Hafez al-Assad, whom he replaced in 2001. President Assad is a medical doctor, speaks fluent English and conversational French. Assad was studying ophthalmology in London when he met his wife, who is an Englishwoman by birth.

109 Sporty roof feature : T-TOP

A T-top is a car roof that has removable panels on either side of a rigid bar that runs down the center of the vehicle above the driver.