Tag: Right-eous path crossword clue

Bill’s time: 7m 48s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

4A Dashing through the ___ … : SNOW
21A In a ___ open sleigh … : ONE-HORSE
51A What’s seen “all the way” through this puzzle? : LAUGHING

The traditional Christmas song “Jingle Bells” was first published in 1857, penned by James Lord Pierpont. We associate the song with Christmas, although in fact Pierpont wrote it as a celebration of Thanksgiving.

Dashing through the snow
In a one horse open sleigh
O’er the fields we go
Laughing all the way

13A Possible base for a Caesar salad : KALE

The caesar salad was created by restaurateur Caesar Cardini at the Hotel Caesar’s in Tijuana, Mexico. The original recipe called for whole lettuce leaves that were to be lifted up by the stem and eaten with the fingers.

23A Where Bart Simpson directs his prank calls : MOE’S

On the animated TV comedy “The Simpsons”, Bart likes to prank-call Moe’s Tavern. Bart asks Moe to “page” someone in the bar using a fictitious name, a name which sounds like a rude phrase when called out loud. This running joke on “The Simpsons” is a homage to a series of legendary calls made in real life to the Tube Bar in Jersey City by John Elmo and Jim Davidson that were taped and circulated widely in the mid-seventies. Some of the milder names used in the original prank calls were:

• Al Cholic (alcoholic)
• Cole Kutz (cold cuts)
• Sal Lammy (salami)
• Anita Bath (I need a bath)

31A Old dagger carried by Scottish Highlanders : DIRK

“Dirk” is a Scots word meaning “dagger”, and is the name given to a knife that is worn hanging from a belt in traditional dress that includes a kilt. The dagger worn in a Scotsman’s sock isn’t a dirk (a popular misconception) but rather is called a “sgian dubh”, which translates as “a black or hidden knife”.

32A Michael of “Barbie” : CERA

Michael Cera is a Canadian actor who played great characters on the TV show “Arrested Development”, and in the 2007 comedy-drama “Juno”. Cera is also quite the musician. He released an indie folk album titled “True That” in 2014.

33A Hits from the side, informally : T-BONES

A broadside collision between two cars is also known as a right-angle or t-bone collision. The side of one vehicle is impacted by the front of another, often leaving the vehicles locked in a T-formation.

35A First portrayer of Albus Dumbledore, the final live-action role in his long film career : RICHARD HARRIS

Professor Albus Dumbledore is the headmaster of the school for wizards called Hogwarts, in the Harry Potter universe. Dumbledore’s specialties are nonverbal spells and alchemy. Author J. K. Rowling chose the name Dumbledore as it is an Early English word for a bumblebee. Apparently she pictured him wandering around, humming to himself.

40A Letter after three consecutive rhyming letters : IOTA

In the Greek alphabet, iota follows zeta, eta and theta.

48A JFK or EWR alternative : LGA

The three big airports serving New York City (NYC) are John F. Kennedy (JFK), LaGuardia (LGA) and Newark (EWR).

49A Cable lead-in to TV : TRU

truTV is a Turner Broadcasting cable network that launched in 1991 as Court TV. The name, and programming, was changed to truTV in 2008.

50A Jump in skates : 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.

57A Ado : BROUHAHA

“Brouhaha”, meaning “ado, stir”, was a French word that back in the 1550s meant “the cry of the devil disguised as clergy” . Wow!

Down

1D Chillness : APLOMB

“Aplomb” is such a lovely word, one meaning “confidence, assurance”. It is a French word that literally means “perpendicularity”, or “on the plumb line”. The idea is that someone with aplomb is poised, upright, balanced.

4D “___ the Limit” (posthumous hit for the Notorious B.I.G.) : SKY’S

“The Notorious B.I.G.” was the stage name of rap star Christopher Wallace, who also went by the names Big Poppa, Biggie Smalls and Biggie. While at the height of his fame, Wallace was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles, a murder case that has never been solved. The 2009 movie “Notorious” is about Wallace’s life and stars fellow rap artist Jamal Woolard (aka Gravy) in the title role.

8D Eurasia or Oceania, in “1984” : SUPERSTATE

The action in George Orwell’s 1949 novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four” takes place in the intercontinental superstate of Oceania. Orwell also created two other superstates, one called Eurasia and the other Eastasia.

10D The “R” of P.R. : RICO

Puerto Rico (PR) is located in the northeastern Caribbean (in the Atlantic Ocean), east of the Dominican Republic. The name “Puerto Rico” is Spanish for “rich port”. The locals often call their island Borinquen, the Spanish form of “Boriken”, the original name used by the natives.

17D Phil of the Grateful Dead : LESH

Phil Lesh is a bass guitar player and is one of the founding members of the rock band, the Grateful Dead. The band’s first names was “the Warlocks”, a name that had to be changed as there was already a band called the Warlocks (although the other Warlocks band had in fact changed its name as well, to Velvet Underground). “The Grateful Dead” was suggested by Jerry Garcia, and was chosen from a dictionary.

29D Pilot who shares a tent with Yossarian in “Catch-22” : ORR

The bomber pilot in Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22” is named Orr. He has no other name, just “Orr”.

“Catch-22” is a novel by Joseph Heller set during WWII. The title refers to absurd bureaucratic constraints that soldiers had to suffer. Heller’s “Catch 22” was invoked by an army psychiatrist to explain that any pilot requesting to be evaluated for insanity, to avoid flying dangerous missions, had to be sane as only a sane man would try to get out of such missions. The term “catch-22” has entered the language and describes a paradoxical situation from which one can’t escape due to contradictory rules; one loses, no matter what choice one makes.

35D White House family of the 1980s : REAGANS

Ronald Reagan started out his political career as a member of the Democratic Party, but switched to the Republicans in the early fifties. Reagan served as Governor of California for eight years, and vied unsuccessfully for the nomination for US President on two occasions. He finally succeeded in 1980 and defeated President Jimmy Carter to become the 40th US President in 1981.

37D Loc. ___ (footnote abbr.) : CIT

“Loc. cit”. is short for “loco citato” meaning “in the place cited”. Loc. cit. is used in a footnote instead of op. cit. as it refers not only to a prior work, but also to the same page in that work.

39D Big name in windows and doors : PELLA

Pella is a manufacturer of windows and doors headquartered in Pella, Iowa, whence the company name.

43D Raider in times past : HUN

The Huns were a nomadic people who originated in Eastern Europe in the 4th century. Under the command of Attila the Hun they developed a unified empire that stretched from modern-day Germany across to the steppes of Central Asia. The whole of the Hunnic Empire collapsed within a year of Attila’s death in 453 AD.

49D Intl. org. with 12 stars on its flag : THE EU

The European Union (EU) flag features a circle of twelve yellow stars on a blue background. The number of stars is not related to the number of states in the European Union, nor has it ever been. The number of stars in the design was the subject of much debate prior to its adoption in 1955 by the Council of Europe. Twelve was a deliberate choice, as at that time there was no political connotation, and twelve was considered to be a symbol of unity.

52D Halal cart offering : GYRO

A gyro is a traditional Greek dish of meat roasted on a tall vertical spit that is sliced from the spit as required. Gyros are usually served inside a lightly grilled piece of pita bread, along with tomato, onion and tzatziki (a yogurt and cucumber sauce).

57D ___ Stroker, Tony Award-winning actress in “Oklahoma!” : ALI

Actress Ali Stroker won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress for her performance in the 2019 Broadway revival of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “Oklahoma!” In doing so, Stroker became the first wheelchair-bound actor to win a Tony. She is paralyzed from the waist down due to a spinal cord injury incurred in a car accident when she was just two years old.

60D Zilch : NIL

We use the term “zilch” to mean “nothing”. Our current usage evolved in the sixties, before which the term was used to describe “meaningless speech”. There was a comic character called Mr. Zilch in the 1930s in “Ballyhoo” magazine. Mr. Zilch’s name probably came from the American college slang “Joe Zilch” that was used in the early 1900s for “an insignificant person”.