Tag: Spot for a light punishment crossword clue

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

16A Shankar who co-composed the score for 1982’s “Gandhi” : RAVI

Ravi Shankar was perhaps the most famous virtuoso (to us Westerners) from the world of Indian classical music, and was noted for his sitar playing. Shankar was the father of the pop singer Norah Jones.

“Gandhi” is a fabulous film released in 1982 that chronicles the life and times of Mahatma Gandhi. The film stars Ben Kingsley in the title role, and was directed by Sir Richard Attenborough. “Gandhi” won eight Oscars, including the award for Best Picture and Best Actor for Kingsley.

17A “Well, now everyone will know” : CAT’S OUT OF THE BAG

To let the cat out of the bag means to reveal hidden facts. Apparently, there’s no really clear derivation of the phrase “Letting the cat out of the bag”, but one suggestion is that it is a reference to the whip known as the “cat o’nine tails”. The story is that the “cat” was stored in a red bag, and so someone reporting a punishable offense would be “letting the cat out of the bag”.

21A Eponym of U.S. track and field’s Male Athlete of the Year Award : OWENS

The Jesse Owens Award is presented annually by USA Track and Field to recognize the season’s top male participant in the sport. The female version of the award is the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Athlete of the Year Award.

Jesse Owens is famous for winning four gold medals at the Berlin Olympic Games in 1936, much to the chagrin of Adolf Hitler. Jesse’s real name was James Cleveland Owens, and he went by “JC” as a child. However, his Alabama accent was misconstrued at school when his family moved to Cleveland, so teachers and classmates called him “Jesse” instead of “JC”, and the name stuck.

23A Acronymic weapon : TASER

Victor Appleton wrote a novel for young adults called “Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle”. The company that developed the TASER electroshock weapon partly named its product as a homage to the novel. The acronym “TASER” stands for “Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle”.

25A Tree whose name has multiple pronunciations : PECAN

The pecan is the state tree (and state nut) of Texas, and also the state nut of Alabama, Arkansas, California and Louisiana. That’s not all: Oklahoma’s official state meal includes pecan pie!

31A Wasteful government spending, informally : PORK

Pork-barrel politics have been around for a long time. The term “pork barrel” originated in 1863 in a story by Edward Everett Hale called “The Children of the Public”. Hale used the phrase in a positive way, describing any public spending by the government for the benefit of citizens. By the 1870s the term “pork” had negative connotations, with references in the press to “pork-barrel bills” in Congress. Nowadays “pork” really applies to any government project designed to benefit a relatively small group of citizens (usually potential voters for a particular politician) with the bill being paid by the citizenry as a whole.

32A Big name in sandals : TEVA

Teva is a brand of sandal marketed as a sport sandal. The first design was the creation of a river guide working the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. The design was patented in 1987.

33A “It’s ___ or nothin’!” (classic kids’ commercial slogan) : NERF

Nerf is a soft material used in a whole series of toys designed for “safe” play indoors. The Nerf product is used to make darts, balls and ammunition for toy guns. By the way, “Non-Expanding Recreational Foam” is a popular backronym (an acronym created to fit an existing word) for “NERF”.

34A Many of the characters in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” : TOONS

“Who Framed Roger Rabbit” is a clever 1988 film featuring cartoon characters that interact directly with human beings. The most memorable cartoon characters have to be goofy Roger Rabbit, and vampish Jessica Rabbit. The film is based on a novel written by Gary K. Wolf called “Who Censored Roger Rabbit?” There is a prequel floating around that has never been produced, which is titled “Who Discovered Roger Rabbit”.

36A Tangy hybrid : UGLI

The ugli fruit is a hybrid of a tangerine and a grapefruit that was first discovered growing wild in Jamaica where most ugli fruit comes from today. “UGLI” is a trademark name that is a variant of “ugly”, a nod to the fruit’s unsightly wrinkled rind. Another distributor uses the brand name “Uniq”, which does suggest a more appetizing treat.

37A Gobsmacks : AWES

“Gobsmack” is slang from Britain and Ireland. “Gob” is also slang for “mouth”. So someone who is gobsmacked has received a smack in the “mouth”, is stunned.

38A Elephant mascot of the Alabama Crimson Tide : BIG AL

The athletic teams of the University of Alabama (“Bama”) are nicknamed the Crimson Tide, which is a reference to the team colors of crimson and white. Bama’s mascot is Big Al, an anthropomorphic elephant.

42A Opportunity on Mars, say : ROVER

NASA launched “Oppy”, the Opportunity rover, in 2003 as part of its Mars Exploration Rover program. It was designed for a brief, 90-day mission to search for signs of past water activity, but it roamed the Martian surface for nearly 15 years, traveling over 28 miles. Eventually, a severe, planet-wide dust storm severed its communications with Earth in 2018. There is a fabulous 2022 documentary “Good Night Oppy” that tells the story of the Opportunity rover. I highly, highly recommend it …

43A Piece of ice in the drink? : BERG

An iceberg is a large piece of freshwater ice that is floating freely after having broken away from a glacier or ice shelf. Our use of “iceberg” comes from the Dutch word for the same phenomenon “ijsberg”, which translates literally as “ice mountain”.

44A Name of “the other reindeer” in a common Christmas mondegreen : OLIVE

A mondegreen is a series of words that have been misheard, often with comical effect. For example “I led the pigeons to the flag” is a mondegreen for “I pledge allegiance to the flag”. The term “mondegreen” was created by American author Sylvia Wright citing the mishearing of words from the Scottish ballad “The Bonny Earl of Murray”. The line “laid him on the green” might be heard as “Lady Mondegreen”.

… Olive the other reindeer … (… all of the other reindeer …)

46A Waffle patterns : GRIDS

By definition, a waffle is made from dough or batter cooked between two patterned plates (a waffle iron). Modern-day waffles were preceded in the Middle Ages by communion wafers used in the Christian tradition. Such wafers usually had images of a crucified Jesus imprinted by the iron plates.

48A Where baked Alaska is believed to have been invented, oddly enough: Abbr. : NYC

The dessert known as baked Alaska consists of ice cream quickly baked in a sponge covered with meringue in an oven at high temperature. Supposedly, the dish was the 1867 creation of chef Charles Ranhofer as part of a celebration for the purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire.

56A Besmirches : TARS

“Besmirch” is a derivative of “smirch”, with both words meaning to “make dirty”. In particular, to besmirch is to sully someone’s reputation.

Down

1D Sets (on) : SICS

To sic on is to let at or set on. The verb “to sic on” comes from the attack command given to a dog: “sic ‘em”.

5D Ski slope vehicle : SNOWCAT

The brand name “Sno-Cat” is owned by the Tucker company. All snowcats are tracked vehicles built to work in snow, and are famously used in expeditions to the polar regions. The modern Sno-Cat from Tucker differs from its competitors in that it has four independently-mounted tracks.

10D Trap neighbor : LAT

The trapezius (commonly “traps”) is a muscle in the neck and upper back that moves the shoulder blade and supports the arm.

12D Bejeweled target of a heist in “Ocean’s Twelve” : FABERGE EGG

Fabergé eggs are beautiful jeweled eggs made by the House of Fabergé from 1885 to 1917. The tradition of fabricating the eggs started when Tsar Alexander III commissioned Fabergé to create a jeweled egg for his wife in 1885. After this, the House of Fabergé produced more and more elaborate designs, year after year.

“Ocean’s 11” is a great film from 1960, starring Frank Sinatra as Danny Ocean. The original storyline is updated for the excellent 2001 remake, with George Clooney playing the lead. In the 1960 movie, the love interest is a character called Beatrice Ocean, played by Angie Dickinson. In the 2001 version, the love interest gets a new name, Tess Ocean, and is played by Julia Roberts. The 2001 remake (titled “Ocean’s Eleven”, note the spelling) spawned two sequels: “Ocean’s Twelve” in 2004 and “Ocean’s Thirteen” in 2007.

25D Competitor of Rao’s : PREGO

The Prego brand of pasta sauce is owned by the Campbell Soup Company. It is actually based on the family recipe of one of the company’s chefs. “Prego” literally means “I pray” in Italian, but it translates best in English as “you’re welcome” when it is used after a “thank you” (“grazie”, in Italian).

Rao’s Italian restaurant opened in East Harlem in New York City in 1896. Rao’s also sells a small line of Italian foodstuffs in supermarkets, such as pasta, sauces and olive oil.

26D One likely to be “healthy, wealthy and wise,” per Benjamin Franklin : EARLY RISER

The proverb “Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise” comes to us courtesy of Benjamin Franklin. He published it in his “Poor Richard’s Almanack”.

28D Iris settings : UVEAS

The uvea is the middle of the three layers that make up the eyeball. The outer layer is called the fibrous tunic, and the inner layer is the retina.

38D One dish commonly in the 12-dish Sviata Vecheria, a traditional Ukrainian Christmas dinner : BORSCHT

Borscht is a beetroot soup that originated in Ukraine. It can be served both hot and cold.

43D European fixture : BIDET

“Bidet” is a French word that we imported into English. In French, the word “bidet” originally described a small horse or a pony. The bidet bathroom fixture was so called because one straddles it like a horse in order to use it.

45D Title boy in a 2021 Pixar film : LUCA

“Luca” is a 2021 Pixar animated film. The title character is a sea monster boy who can take the form of a human while on land.

47D Word that comes from Sanskrit for “bread” : ROTI

In an Indian restaurant, naan bread is very popular. Roti is an unleavened cousin of naan.

50D Website associated with the domain www.news.com : CNET

CNET is a technology website, with the acronym “CNET” standing for “computer network”. It started out in 1994 as a television network specializing in technology news. The host of “American Idol”, Ryan Seacrest, started off his career as host of a CNET show.

52D Tour org. : PGA

The Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) was founded in 1916, and was based in New York City. It used to have its headquarters (unsurprisingly) in Florida, where so many golfers live. The HQ moved to Texas in 2022.

53D Fields Medal winner Terence : TAO

The Fields Medal is a prize in mathematics that is awarded by the International Mathematical Union every four years. The official name of the award is the International Medal for Outstanding Discoveries in Mathematics. The unofficial name is in honor of Canadian mathematician John Charles Fields who founded the award.