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Constructed by: Kit Sheffield
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Back Tooth

Happy Paddy’s Day, everyone! The BACK (end) of each themed answer is a kind of TOOTH:

• 64A Molar, or a feature of 17-, 24-, 39-, and 50-Across : BACK TOOTH

• 17A Hustler with a cue stick : POOL SHARK (giving “shark tooth”)
• 24A Hunting dogs with keen senses of smell : BLOODHOUNDS (giving “houndstooth”)
• 39A Completely unexpected revelation : BOLT FROM THE BLUE (giving “Bluetooth”)
• 50A Like chocolate with a high cacao percentage : BITTERSWEET (giving “sweet tooth”)

Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers

Bill’s time: 4m 37s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 “A Star Is Born” star __ Gaga : LADY

“A Star Is Born” is a 1937 film starring Janet Gaynor as an upcoming Hollywood actress. “A Star Is Born” was remade three times, in 1954 with Judy Garland playing the lead, in 1976 with Barbra Streisand, and in 2018 with Lady Gaga.

5 Gas additive brand that’s a longtime NASCAR sponsor : STP

STP is a brand name of automotive lubricants and additives. The name “STP” is an initialism standing for “Scientifically Treated Petroleum”.

8 Blokes : CHAPS

“Chap” is an informal term meaning “lad, fellow” that is used especially in England. The term derives from “chapman”, an obsolete word meaning “purchaser” or “trader”.

15 Kanga’s kid : ROO

Kanga is a friend of A. A. Milne’s “Winnie-the-Pooh”, and is a kangaroo. She is the mother of Roo, who appears more frequently in the storyline.

16 One of two on a 747 : AISLE

Boeing’s 747 was the first jet to be called a “Jumbo”, as it was the first wide-body airliner. This means that the 747 was the first to have seating laid out with two aisles running the length of the plane. The plane also has three decks for part of its length, with the lower deck being used for cargo and galley space, and the upper deck for extra passenger seating. The Airbus A380 is called a “Superjumbo” as it has two full decks of passengers.

17 Hustler with a cue stick : POOL SHARK (giving “shark tooth”)

A pool shark is a player who hustles others in a pool hall with the goal of making money unfairly in competition. The term “pool shark” used to be “pool sharp”.

19 Spot for a brooch : LAPEL

A brooch is an ornamental accessory held by a pin or clasp, and worn near the neck. The term “brooch” comes from the Old French “broche” meaning “long needle”.

20 Tennis great Williams : SERENA

Serena Williams is the younger of the two Williams sisters playing professional tennis. Serena has won more prize money in her career than any other female athlete.

23 Color named for a duck : TEAL

The beautiful color teal takes its name from the duck called a teal, which has dark greenish-blue (teal) markings on its head and wings.

24 Hunting dogs with keen senses of smell : BLOODHOUNDS (giving “houndstooth”)

Bloodhounds have an amazing sense of smell, and have been bred to track humans in particular. Bloodhounds have been used to follow humans since the Middle Ages.

Houndstooth is a pattern found in some two-toned textiles that can be described as a “broken check”. The original houndstooth check was introduced in the Scottish Lowlands in woven woolen cloth. The jagged pattern might be said to resemble the teeth of a dog, hence the name.

33 Super Mario brother : LUIGI

Mario Bros. started out as an arcade game back in 1983, developed by Nintendo. The more famous of the two brothers, Mario, had already appeared in an earlier arcade game “Donkey Kong”. Mario was given a brother called Luigi, and the pair have been around ever since. In the game, Mario and Luigi are Italian American plumbers from New York City.

39 Completely unexpected revelation : BOLT FROM THE BLUE (giving “Bluetooth”)

Bluetooth is a standard for wireless technology that was introduced by Swedish telecom vendor Ericsson in 1994. The name was chosen in honor of Harald Bluetooth, a medieval King of Denmark and Norway. Harald is said to have earned his name because of his love of blueberries, which stained his teeth. Harald was said to have a gift for convincing diverse factions to talk to one another, so Ericsson’s communication protocol was given Harald’s name.

45 Gymnast Korbut : OLGA

Olga Korbut is from modern-day Belarus, but was born during the days of the Soviet Union. She competed for the USSR team in the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games. Korbut was 17 when she appeared in the 1972 Munich Games, and had been training in a sports school since she was 8-years-old. The world fell in love with her as she was a very emotional young lady, readily expressing joy and disappointment, something that we weren’t used to seeing in athletes from behind the Iron Curtain. Korbut immigrated to the US in 1991 and settled in Scottsdale, Arizona.

47 1960s TV role for Diana Rigg : MRS PEEL

“The Avengers” was must-see television when I was growing up. It is a sixties comedy spy series set in England during the days of the Cold War. The hero was John Steed, played ably by Patrick Macnee. Steed had various female partners as the series progressed, the first of which was Cathy Gale, played by Honor Blackman (who also played Pussy Galore in “Goldfinger”). Following Ms. Gale was Emma Peel, played by the wonderful Diana Rigg. Finally there was Tara King, played by Linda Thorson.

Diana Rigg was a marvelous actress from England who was best known for playing Emma Peel on the hit sixties show “The Avengers”. Rigg also won an Emmy for her performance in a 1997 television adaptation of “Rebecca”. In my humble opinion, she was also the best-ever “Bond girl” (opposite George Lazenby, the worst-ever Bond guy), in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” …

50 Like chocolate with a high cacao percentage : BITTERSWEET (giving “sweet tooth”)

Chocolate is made from the seeds of the Theobroma cacao tree. The seeds are very bitter and the traditional drink made with the seed was called “xocolatl” by the Aztecs, meaning “bitter water”. Our word “chocolate” comes from “xocolatl”.

57 Philadelphia NFLers : EAGLES

The Philadelphia Eagles football team plays in Lincoln Financial Stadium (“The Linc”). Lincoln Financial Group paid the princely sum of just under $140 million for the naming rights of the new stadium while it was under construction in 2002.

64 Molar, or a feature of 17-, 24-, 39-, and 50-Across : BACK TOOTH

Molars are grinding teeth. The term “molar” comes from the Latin “mola” meaning “millstone”.

66 Drum kit component : SNARE

Snare drums are so called because they have a set of wire strands (snares) stretching across the bottom surface of the drum. When the drum is struck, the snares vibrate against the bottom drumhead producing a unique sound.

67 “Mr. Blue Sky” gp. : ELO

“Mr. Blue Sky” is a 1977 song by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) from Britain. It’s a song that has been described as “Beatlesque”, and I must say that I agree with that assertion …

68 __ Monica, California : SANTA

Santa Monica, California lies on Santa Monica Bay and is in Los Angeles County. The city is home to the world-famous Santa Monica Pier, which opened in 1909.

70 Raspberry shade : RED

Raspberries are perennial plants in the rose family. Raspberries and blackberries are close cousins, with the fruit looking very similar other than the color. One defining difference between the two fruits is noted when the fruit is picked. The stem (torus) of the fruit remains with the blackberry when it is picked, whereas the stem stays with the plant when the raspberry is picked, leaving the fruit “hollow”.

Down

3 Fashion’s Christian : DIOR

Christian Dior was a highly influential fashion designer who is widely credited with revolutionizing women’s fashion in the post-World War II era. Before he became a fashion designer, Dior worked as an art dealer, and he even ran his own art gallery for a time. There, he and a friend sold works by Pablo Picasso and others.

4 Christmas season : YULE

Yule celebrations coincide with Christmas, and the words “Christmas” and “Yule” (often “Yuletide”) have become synonymous in much of the world. However, Yule was originally a pagan festival celebrated by Germanic peoples. The name “Yule” comes from the Old Norse word “jol” that was used to describe the festival.

6 Upper body : TORSO

“Torso” (plural “torsi”) is an Italian word meaning “trunk of a statue”, and is a term that we imported into English.

8 Orioles great Ripken : CAL

Cal Ripken played his entire, 20-year professional baseball career for the Baltimore Orioles. Ripken was known as the “Iron Man” because he showed up for work every day, come rain or shine. He played 2,632 straight games, blowing past the previous 2,130-game record held by Lou Gehrig.

9 Temporary break : HIATUS

A hiatus is a break or opening in a material object, or an interruption in time. “Hiatus” is Latin for “opening”.

10 Colorado ski town : ASPEN

Aspen, Colorado used to be known as Ute City, with the name change taking place in 1880. Like many communities in the area, Aspen was a mining town, and in 1891 and 1892 it was at the center of the highest production of silver in the US. Nowadays, it’s all about skiing and movie stars.

14 Rachel Maddow’s network : MSNBC

TV host and commentator Rachel Maddow hosted a radio version of “The Rachel Maddow Show” on Air America from 2005 until 2010. She started hosting a TV show of the same name on MSNBC in 2008, making her the first openly gay anchor to host a prime-time news program in the US. In 2018, Maddow was the co-creator of a “New York Times” crossword. And, I found it to be an excellent puzzle …

22 Quadriceps locale : THIGH

The quadriceps femoris is the muscle group at the front of the thigh. It is the strongest muscle in the human body, and is also the leanest. The “quads” are actually a group of four muscles in the upper leg, hence the use of the prefix “quad-”.

25 Synthetic fabric pioneered by DuPont : ORLON

Orlon is the brand name used by the DuPont Corporation for the acrylic fibers the company developed in 1941.

26 “Garfield” dog : ODIE

“Garfield” is a comic strip drawn by Jim Davis from 1978. The title character is an orange tabby cat. Davis named his cartoon hero Garfield after his own grandfather.

34 College Park sch. : UMD

The University of Maryland, often simply referred to as Maryland or UMD, is a public land-grant university located in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, it is the flagship institution of the University System of Maryland and the largest university in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

37 Olympics sled : LUGE

“Luge” is a French word meaning “sled”. It describes a small sled used by one or two people, on which one lies face up and feet first. The luge can be compared to the skeleton, a sled for only one person and on which the rider lies face down and goes down the hill head-first. Yikes!

40 Chimney part : FLUE

The flue in a chimney is a duct that conveys exhaust gases from a fire to the outdoors. An important feature of a flue is that its opening is adjustable. When starting a fire, the flue should be wide open, maximizing airflow to get help ignition.

51 Vapid : INANE

Our word “inane” meaning “silly, lacking substance” comes from the Latin “inanitis” meaning “empty space”.

We use the adjective “vapid” today to describe something that is dull, that lacks liveliness. Back in the 1600s, the term was used to describe drinks that were flat. “Vapid” comes from the Latin “vapidus”, which translates literally as “that has exhaled its vapor”.

52 Pre-Olympian god of Greek mythology : TITAN

The Titans were a group of twelve older deities in Greek mythology, the twelve children of the primordial Gaia and Uranus, Mother Earth and Father Sky. In the celebrated Battle of the Titans, they were overthrown by the Olympians, who were twelve younger gods. We use the term “titan” figuratively to describe a powerful person, someone with great influence.

54 Mammal that feeds on krill : WHALE

Krill are small, shrimp-like crustaceans that live in the oceans. Krill feed on plankton, and in turn, krill are the main part of the diet of larger animals such as whales, seals and penguins. There’s an awful lot of krill in the world, an estimated 500,000,000 tonnes of it. That’s about twice the biomass of humans on the planet!

58 One looking after the kids? : GOAT

Male goats are bucks or billies, although castrated males are known as wethers. Female goats are does or nannies, and young goats are referred to as kids.

60 “At Last” singer James : ETTA

“Etta James” was the stage name of celebrated blues and soul singer Jamesetta Hawkins. James’ most famous recording was her 1960 hit “At Last”, which made it into the pop charts. James performed “At Last” at the age of 71 in 2009 on the reality show “Dancing with the Stars”, which was to be her final television appearance. She passed away in 2012.

The 1942 song “At Last” was written for the 1941 musical film “Sun Valley Serenade” in which it is performed by Glenn Miller and his orchestra. Etta James recorded a version of “At Last” in 1960, after which it became her signature song.

65 Massachusetts cape named for a fish : COD

The first European to discover Cape Cod Bay was Italian navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano, in 1524. Along with Narragansett Bay, Buzzards Bay and Massachusetts Bay, Cape Cod Bay gave rise to “Bay State” becoming the nickname for Massachusetts.