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Constructed by: Jeffrey Wechsler

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): The Hard Stuff

Themed answers can all be described as HARD STUFF:

• 17A Hard stuff in rings : NATURAL DIAMONDS
• 26A Hard stuff in school : ROCKET SCIENCE
• 40A Hard stuff in a bar : ALCOHOLIC DRINKS
• 60A Hard stuff for a sweet tooth : JAWBREAKER CANDY

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

Bill’s time: 7m 38s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

8A Radio static sound : CRACKLE

The background sound produced by an untuned radio can be referred to as white noise. It is also called “static”, because it is caused by the discharge of “static electricity”, with those discharges mainly taking place in the lower atmosphere.

17A Hard stuff in rings : NATURAL DIAMONDS

The chemical element carbon has the symbol C and atomic number 6. Pure carbon exists in several physical forms, including graphite and diamond.

21A Small floral bundle : POSY

“Poesy” was the name given to a line of verse engraved on the inner surface of a ring. The related word “posy”, for a bouquet of flowers, arose with the notion that giving a posy might be a message of love, just as a poesy inside a ring could have the same meaning.

22A Robin Hood foe : SHERIFF

The title of sheriff evolved from the Old English “shire reeve”, designating a royal official appointed by the king (“reeve”) to maintain peace and collect taxes within a specific county (“shire”).

Robin Hood is a figure from English folklore who is celebrated in story and song. Some stories suggest that Robin Hood the outlaw was actually a real nobleman, the Earl of Huntingdon. Robin Hood’s famous companion was Maid Marian. Interestingly, the legend of Maid Marian (full name Lady Marian of Leaford) had been around for centuries, before she became associated with Robin Hood starting in the 1700s.

33A Relativity, for one : THEORY

Oh boy … Einstein’s general theory of relativity is beyond me. I think that the basic idea behind Albert Einstein’s equivalence principle is that inertial mass and gravitational mass are equivalent. The image that helps me is of a spaceship “floating” in a location with little or no gravitational field so that the astronauts are “weightless”. We can create the equivalence of gravity by accelerating the spaceship. If that rate of acceleration is a steady 9.8 m/s², then the astronauts will experience the inertial equivalent of Earth’s gravitational field.

36A Org. that oversees food recalls : FDA

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has its roots in the Division of Chemistry (later “Bureau of Chemistry”) that was part of the US Department of Agriculture. President Theodore Roosevelt gave responsibility for examination of food and drugs to the Bureau of Chemistry with the signing of the Pure Food and Drug Act. The Bureau’s name was changed to the Food, Drug, and Insecticide Administration in 1927, and to the Food and Drug Administration in 1930.

49A __ culpa : MEA

Many Roman Catholics are very familiar with the Latin phrase “mea culpa” meaning “my fault”, as it is used in the Latin Mass. The additional term “mea maxima culpa” translates as “my most grievous fault”.

50A Marina __ Rey, California : DEL

Marina del Rey is a coastal community in California bordered by the City of Los Angeles on three sides. It is legally outside of the city’s borders, and its fourth side borders the Pacific Ocean. Marina del Rey is home to the world’s largest harbor for small craft, with a capacity for 5,300 boats.

56A Nocturnal flapper : BAT

Bats are the only mammals that are capable of sustained flight. There are many, many different kinds of bats, and indeed they make up about 20% of all mammalian species.

60A Hard stuff for a sweet tooth : JAWBREAKER CANDY

Jawbreakers (also “gobstoppers”) are spherical, hard candies that usually consist of a number of layers, which reveal themselves as the sweet dissolves in the mouth.

Down

1D Sports analyst Kimes : MINA

Sport journalist Mina Kimes began her career as an investigative journalist for “Fortune” and “Bloomberg”, later transitioning to sports journalism with ESPN in 2014. Kimes quickly became a regular contributor to various ESPN programs like “NFL Live”, “Around the Horn”, and “Highly Questionable”.

7D Bit of hamster food : PELLET

The rodents known as hamsters are commonly kept as house pets. Male hamsters are called bucks, females are called does, and baby hamsters are known as pups.

9D Belfast-born actor Stephen : REA

Stephen Rea is an actor from Belfast, Northern Ireland. His most successful role was Fergus in 1992’s “The Crying Game”, for which performance he was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar. In “The Crying Game”, Fergus was a member of the IRA. In real life, Rea was married to IRA bomber and hunger striker Dolours Price at the time he made the movie.

12D Casino game : KENO

The name of the game keno has French or Latin roots, with the French “quine” being a term describing five winning numbers, and the Latin “quini” meaning “five each”. The game originated in China and was introduced into the West by Chinese immigrants who were working on the first Transcontinental Railroad in the 1800s.

22D Contrail location : SKY

We talk so often about global warming these days but there is another fascinating phenomenon that is related, and known as “global dimming”. Global dimming is the reduction in the amount of heat that radiates daily from the planet due to the insulating effect of pollution and vapor trails (contrails) from aircraft that are present in the atmosphere. The effect has been touted as a theory for decades but dramatic empirical data became available in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Planes were grounded and the skies over America were clear for three days. There was a stark change in the temperature range measured across the US for these three days, demonstrating the impact that air travel has on our climate.

27D Well-financed gp.? : OPEC

The OPEC cartel was formally established in 1960 and has been headquartered in Vienna since 1965. The US is one of the big three oil producers in the world (along with Russia and Saudi Arabia). One reason America isn’t in OPEC is that, prior to 2019, we imported more oil than we exported. Then, of course, there are US federal antitrust laws …

28D Chocolate substitute : CAROB

The carob is a tree or shrub in the pea family that is mainly grown for its seed pods. The carob pods are dried or roasted, and when powdered or chipped make a good substitute for chocolate.

30D Grain ground to make masa : CORN

“Masa” is the Spanish word for “dough”, with the term often used as an abbreviated form of “masa de maíz” (corn/maize dough). Masa is used to make tortillas and tamales, for example.

31D “The Devil in the White City” writer Larson : ERIK

Erik Larson is a journalist, most notably contributing features to “The Wall Street Journal” and “TIME” magazine. Larson is also a very successful author of nonfiction books, such as “The Devil in the White City” (about the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893) and “Dead Wake” (about the sinking of the Lusitania).

32D Nutritional amt. : RDA

Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA)

36D Flowering plant once believed to repel pests : FLEABANE

Fleabanes are perennial flowering plants in the daisy family. Many dog owners plant fleabane daisies in their yards to repel fleas. Fleabanes are also said to deter ticks, gnats, flies and mosquitoes. Some people rub the leaves of the plant on their skin or on their pet’s fur to achieve the desired effect.

37D E, in Morse code : DIT

Samuel Morse came up with the forerunner to modern Morse code for use on the electric telegraph, of which he was the co-inventor. Morse code uses a series of dots and dashes to represent letters and numbers. The most common letters are assigned the simplest code elements, e.g., E is represented by one dot, and T is represented by one dash. When words are spelled aloud in Morse code, a dot is pronounced as “dit”, and a dash is pronounced as “dah”.

38D Rigorous evaluation : ACID TEST

Gold is a metallic chemical element with the symbol “Au”. It is extremely unreactive. Silver and other base metals dissolve in nitric acid, and so testing an unknown sample with nitric acid can confirm the presence of gold. This assaying practice gave rise to the figurative use of the term “acid test” to describe any definitive test.

44D Thing of the past : RELIC

A relic is something that has survived from the past, reminding us of that past. In the world of religion, a relic is an object revered due to its association with a saint or martyr.

46D Muslim headscarf : HIJAB

Some Muslim women wear a hijab in the presence of males outside of their immediate family. It is a veil covering the head and chest. As part of the hijab, some also wear a niqab, which is a cloth that covers the face. Other Muslim women wear a burqa, which covers the whole body from the top of the head to the ground.

48D Ethan of the “Before” trilogy : HAWKE

Ethan Hawke is a Hollywood actor who made his breakthrough in a supporting role in “Dead Poets Society”, playing opposite Robin Williams. Hawke used to be married to Uma Thurman, with whom he has two children.

Richard Linklater wrote and directed a trilogy of romantic drama film starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy as a couple who have periodic romantic encounters around the world:

• “Before Sunrise” is an encounter in Vienna (1995)
• “Before Sunset” is an encounter in Paris (2004)
• “Before Midnight” is an encounter in Greece (2013)

59D Mars rover org. : NASA

There have been several rovers sent to Mars from Earth. The Soviet Union’s Mars 2 landed in 1971, and failed. Mars 3 landed the same year, and ceased operation just 20 seconds after landing. NASA’s Sojourner landed in 1997 (what a great day that was!) and operated from July through September. NASA’s Spirit landed in 2004, and operated successfully for over six years before getting trapped in sand and eventually ceasing to communicate. NASA’s Opportunity also landed in 2004, and operated for over fourteen years. And then NASA’s Curiosity made a spectacular, hi-tech landing in 2012 and is continuing to explore the planet today. Based on the Curiosity design, NASA’s Perseverance rover landed in 2021, along with the Mars helicopter named Ingenuity. The China National Space Administration landed its first rover, named Zhurong (after a Chinese god of fire), three months after Perseverance started its mission on the planet.

61D “My conscience whispers in your __”: “King John” : EAR

In the opening scene of William Shakespeare’s history play “King John”, John’s mother Queen Eleanor says to him, “My conscience whispers in your ear”. This is a reference to the fact that John’s grip on power relies entirely on brute military possession, as his young nephew Arthur has a rightful claim to the throne.