Tag: Uplifting coverage crossword clue

Bill’s time: 7m 47s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

6A Pinkglow pineapples and GloFish, for short : GMOS

A genetically modified organism (GMO) is one with genetic material that has been altered by genetic engineering. One might argue that the oldest form of genetic engineering is selective breeding, the use of animals or plants with desired traits for the creation of the next generation.

14A Ancient Greek marketplace : AGORA

In early Greece, an agora was a place of assembly. The assemblies held there were often quite formal, perhaps for the reading of a proclamation. Later in Greek history, things became less formal as the agora evolved into a marketplace. Our contemporary word “agoraphobia” comes from these agorae, in the sense that an agoraphobe has a fear of open spaces, a fear of “public meeting places”.

16A Singer Tori : AMOS

Tori Amos is an American pianist and singer. She started playing the piano at two years old, and was composing piano pieces by age five. Amos was playing in piano bars (chaperoned by her father) when she was 14. I’m going to have to find some of her music …

17A “Sleigh’s loaded and ready! How are you feeling, Santa?” : JOLLY, ROGER

The term “roger”, meaning “yes” or “acknowledged”, comes from the world of radiotelephony. The British military used a phonetic alphabet in the fifties that included “Roger” to represent the letter “R”. As such, it became customary to say “Roger” when acknowledging a message, with R (Roger) standing for “received”.

19A Son of Seth : ENOS

Enos was the son of Seth, and therefore the grandson of Adam and Eve, and nephew of Cain and Abel. According to the ancient Jewish work called the Book of Jubilees, Enos married his own sister Noam.

21A Like cotton candy : SPUN

What we call “cotton candy” here in the US has some interesting names in the rest of the world. Back in Ireland it is candyfloss, in France it is “barbe à papa” (Dad’s beard), and in Australia it is called fairy floss. “Fairy floss” is actually the original name for cotton candy, a name first used when the confection was introduced at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904.

25A “I’m at the bakery – what kind of doughnut do you want?” : GLAZED, OVER

In radiotelephony, the word “OVER” is used to indicate the end of a transmission from one party, handing over the airwaves to another party to respond.

31A Kind of dairy-free milk developed in the 1990s : OAT

Oat milk is one of the alternatives to cow’s milk, and is lactose free. I’m a huge fan …

35A Liberal ___ : ARTS

The term “liberal arts” dates back to classical antiquity. The liberal arts were those subjects deemed essential to master for a citizen to take an active part in civil life. “Citizens” were “free people”, hence the use of the term “liberal arts”. The list of subjects studied in olden times were generally sevenfold: grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy/astrology.

36A Hand-held radios used by the speakers of the italicized clues and their answers? : WALKIE-TALKIES

The more formal name for a walkie-talkie is “handheld transceiver”. It is a handheld, two-way radio, and a device first developed for military use during WWII by Motorola (although others developed similar designs soon after). The first walkie-talkie was portable, but large. It was back-mounted and was carried around the battlefield by a radio officer.

41A “___ Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter” (1965 #1 hit) : MRS

“Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter” was a chart-topping song released by Herman’s Hermits in 1965. It is a surprising little song, and very unlike the tracks that Herman’s Hermits were releasing at the time. It turned out to be an unexpected hit, and even the band members themselves were taken aback at its success.

42A Governor Walz, who ran with Kamala Harris : TIM

Tim Walz is a former high school social studies teacher and football coach who retired from the Army National Guard as a Command Sergeant Major after 24 years of service. He served six terms in the US House of Representatives before becoming the 41st Governor of Minnesota in 2019. In 2024, Walz was selected as the Democratic nominee for Vice President, on the ticket with Kamala Harris.

44A Fish with a Kohaku variety : KOI

Koi are fish that are also known as Japanese carp. Koi have been bred for decorative purposes and there are now some very brightly colored examples found in Japanese water gardens.

45A They’re cover-ups! : TARPS

Originally, tarpaulins were made from canvas covered in tar that rendered the material waterproof. The word “tarpaulin” comes from “tar” and “palling”, with “pall” meaning “heavy cloth covering”.

55A “See ya!” : ADIOS!

The term “adiós” is Spanish for “goodbye”. “Adiós” comes from the phrase “a Dios vos acomiendo” meaning “I commend you to God”.

58A Deg. for an entrepreneur : MBA

An entrepreneur is someone who takes on most aspects of a business venture, from the original idea to the execution. The term is imported from French, with “entreprendre” meaning “to undertake”. The original usage in English dates back to the early 1800s, when it applied to a manager and promoter of a theatrical production.

59A Jonathan Van ___ (“Queer Eye” co-star) : NESS

Hairdresser Jonathan Van Ness is best known as the grooming expert on the TV show “Queer Eye” (the Netflix revival of the original series). He joined the cast in 2018.

64A ___ bean : FAVA

The fava bean is also known as the broad bean. “Broad bean” is used “broadly” (pun!) in the UK, whereas “fava bean” is common in the US. “Fava” is the Italian name for the broad bean.

65A Citrus-based sauce in Japanese cuisine : PONZU

Ponzu is a tart, savory sauce widely used in Japanese cuisine. It is typically made with citrus juice (commonly lemon, yuzu, or sudachi), soy sauce, and mirin (sweet rice wine).

Down

1D Kind of pants worn on a rainy day, perhaps : PAJAMA

Our word “pajamas” (sometimes “PJs” or “jammies”) comes to us from the Indian subcontinent, where “pai jamahs” were loose fitting pants tied at the waist and worn at night by locals and ultimately by the Europeans living there. And “pajamas” is another of those words that I had to learn to spell differently when I came to America. On the other side of the Atlantic, the spelling is “pyjamas”.

4D Link letters : URL

Uniform resource locator (URL)

5D Approves a Venmo request, perhaps : PAYS

Venmo is a smartphone payment app that is now owned by PayPal. The first version of the product was introduced in 2009 by two entrepreneurs who had met as freshman students at the University of Pennsylvania. They sold the company in 2012 for over $26 million, and then PayPal acquired it the following year for a whopping $800 million. I wonder if PayPal ever buys blogs …

6D Storied graverobber : GHOUL

Our word “ghoul” comes from the Arabic “ghul”, the name for an evil spirit that feeds on corpses.

7D ___ cum laude : MAGNA

When an academic degree is awarded, a level of distinction can be noted depending on the degree of success achieved by the student. There are three types of honor, each with a Latin name:

• cum laude: meaning “with honor” (literally “with praise”)
• magna cum laude: meaning “with great honor”
• summa cum laude: meaning “with highest honor”

9D Camera type, for short : SLR

Single-lens reflex (SLR) camera

10D Workout program that’s a portmanteau of two different sports : TAE BO

Tae Bo isn’t an ancient martial art, even though it perhaps sounds like one. The discipline was developed as a form of aerobic exercise in the 1990s by taekwondo expert Billy Blanks who gave it the name Tae Bo, a melding of “taekwondo” and “boxing”.

11D Grizzly or black bear (but typically not a panda) : OMNIVORE

The term “omnivore” comes from Latin, meaning “one who devours all”.

The North American brown bear is usually referred to as the grizzly bear. The name “grizzly” was given to the bear by Lewis and Clark. The term “grizzly” might mean “with gray-tipped hair”, or “fear-inspiring”. Both definitions seem to be apt …

The American black bear is the most common species of bear on the planet. My wife and I “ran across” one on a hiking trail a few years ago …

Taxonomic classification of the giant panda has been a subject of great debate for years, the main question being whether it belongs to the bear or raccoon family. The accepted opinion these days, based on molecular studies, seems to be that the panda is in fact a true bear.

18D D&D or WoW : RPG

Role-playing game (RPG)

Dungeons & Dragons (D&D, DnD) is a complex role-playing game (RPG) introduced in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules Incorporated (TSR). Dungeons & Dragons was probably the first of the modern role-playing games to be developed, and the most successful. It is still played by lots of people today, including my youngest son …

World of Warcraft (WoW) is an online role-playing game (RPG). My son informs me that the game is not that great. Like I would know …

24D Important creatures in Inuit culture : SEALS

The Inuit people live in the Arctic, in parts of the US, Russia, Greenland and Canada. A member of the Inuit people is known as an “Inuk”.

26D Popular fast-fashion brand : ZARA

Zara is a clothing chain headquartered in Spain. It specializes in fast fashion, the speedy replication of the latest high-end designs so that cost-effective versions hit the retail stores soon after the original appears on the catwalk.

33D Paul who’s been inducted twice into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame : SIMON

Singer-songwriter Paul Simon’s career took off when he partnered with Art Garfunkel. Simon was really the writing powerhouse of Simon & Garfunkel, and wrote most of their big hits, including “The Sound of Silence”, “Mrs. Robinson”, and “Bridge over Troubled Water”. Simon has had three wives, including actress Carrie Fisher (1983-1984), and singer Edie Brickell whom he wed in 1992.

34D Band whose spelled-out name translates to “Bulletproof Boy Scouts” : BTS

BTS is a boy band from South Korea with seven members. The initialism “BTS” stands for the phrase “Bangtan Sonyeondan”, which translates literally as “Bulletproof Boy Scouts”. It is the best-selling musical act in the history of South Korea.

37D Makes aware (of) : APPRISES

Our verb “to apprise”, meaning “to inform”, comes from the French “apprendre”, which has the same meaning. The past participle of “apprendre” is “appris”.

38D Children’s author Carle : ERIC

Eric Carle was a very successful children’s author and book illustrator, with over 100 million of his books sold around the world. Carle’s most famous title is “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”, and it alone has sold 30 million copies.

39D A little foxy? : KIT

Male foxes are usually called dogs, and sometimes tods or reynards. Females are vixens, and young foxes are cubs, pups or kits.

40D Very spicy : PICANTE

“Picante” is a Spanish word meaning “spicy hot”.

47D Marketing team’s goal with a new product launch, informally : PR BUZZ

Public relations (PR)

48D Pygmalion’s Galatea, for one : STATUE

Pygmalion is a figure from Greek legend who figures prominently in Ovid’s poem “Metamorphoses”. According to Ovid, Pygmalion was a goldsmith from Cyprus who became uninterested in women. However, he carved a beautiful sculpture of a woman (later identified as the sea-nymph Galatea), a statue that was so beautiful he fell in love with it.

52D Thanksgiving pie nut : 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!

53D One in a Himalayan herd : YAK

The English word “yak” is an Anglicized version of the Tibetan name for the male of the species. Yak milk is much prized in Tibetan culture. It is made into cheese and butter, and the butter is used to make a tea that is consumed in great volume by Tibetans. The butter is also used as a fuel in lamps, and during festivals the butter is even sculpted into religious icons.

57D Salt-N-___, “Shoop” group : PEPA

Salt-N-Pepa are an all-female hip-hop trio from New York made up of “Salt” (Cheryl James), “Pepa” (Sandra Denton) and “DJ Spinderella” (Deidra Roper). The group’s 1991 song “Let’s Talk Sex” created quite a fuss as the lyrics explored the subject of sex, and safe sex in particular. A later version addressed the dangers of AIDS.

60D One who holds a company’s purse strings, in brief : CFO

Chief financial officer (CFO)

61D One who’s yukking it up : HAM

The word “ham”, describing a performer who overacts, is a shortened form of “hamfatter” and dates back to the late 1800s. “Hamfatter” comes from a song in old minstrel shows called “The Ham-Fat Man”. It seems that a poorly performing actor was deemed to have the “acting” qualities of a minstrel made up in blackface.

62D French identification : NOM

In French, one might look up a “nom” (name) in “un annuaire” (a directory).