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Constructed by: Craig Stowe
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Reveal Answer: Jumping Bean

Themed answers each include a type of BEAN spelled out in circled letters:

• 59A Tumbling seed, and a hint to each row of circled letters : JUMPING BEAN

• 18A Entirety of a manufacturer’s goods : PRODUCT LINE (giving POLE bean)
• 23A U.S. Forest Service mascot since 1944 : SMOKEY BEAR (giving SOYA bean)
• 39A Indoor tanning aid : SUN LAMP (giving SNAP bean)
• 53A Out-of-office investigator : FIELD AGENT (giving FLAT bean)

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

Bill’s time: 6m 07s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

4 Grand __ Auto: video game : THEFT

“Grand Theft Auto” is an extremely successful series of video games. The game garners some negative attention because of its adult themes and the level of violence in the storyline. The original version of “Grand Theft Auto” was actually banned in Brazil.

9 A and B, for blood : TYPES

The most important grouping of blood types is the ABO system. Blood is classified as either A, B, AB or O, depending on the type of antigens on the surface of the red blood cells. A secondary designation of blood is the Rh factor, in which other antigens are labelled as either positive or negative. When a patient receives a blood transfusion, ideally the donor blood should be the same type as that of the recipient, as incompatible blood cells can be rejected. However, blood type O-neg can be accepted by recipients with all blood types, A, B, AB or O, and positive or negative. Hence someone with O-neg blood type is called a universal donor.

14 Long of “Third Watch” : NIA

Nia Long is an American actress who is probably best known for playing Will Smith’s sometime girlfriend and fiancee Lisa Wilkes on the TV show “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”.

“Third Watch” is a crime drama series about teams of police officers, firefighters and paramedics who work the same 3pm – 11pm shift in a New York precinct. “Third Watch” originally aired from 1999 to 2005.

15 Gung-ho : EAGER

“Kung ho” is a Chinese expression meaning “work together, cooperate”. The anglicized version “gung-ho” was adopted by Major Evans Carlson as an expression of combined spirit for his 2nd Marine Raider Battalion during WWII. From there the term spread throughout the Marine Corps and back to America where it persists to this day.

16 Finnish bills : EUROS

The reverse side of euro coins feature a common design, a design that includes the 12 stars featured on the Flag of Europe. 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.

The Nordic country of Finland is the most sparsely populated nation in the European Union. The relatively modest population of 5.5 million people lives in the eighth largest country on the continent.

22 Inspiring Greek group of nine sisters : MUSES

In Greek mythology, the muses are the goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. The number of muses is a subject of debate at times, but the most popular view is that there are nine:

• Calliope (epic poetry)
• Clio (history)
• Erato (lyric poetry)
• Euterpe (music)
• Melpomene (tragedy)
• Polyhymnia (choral poetry)
• Terpsichore (dance)
• Thalia (comedy)
• Urania (astronomy)

Before the adoption of the nine muses of Greek mythology, there were originally three muses, the three Boeotian Muses. These were:

• Mneme (memory)
• Melete (meditation)
• Aoede (song)

23 U.S. Forest Service mascot since 1944 : SMOKEY BEAR

Smokey Bear is the mascot of the US Forest Service. Smokey first appeared in 1944, in an advertising campaign directed towards preventing forest fires.

32 Dolphin communication method : SONAR

Echolocation, when used by animals, is known as biosonar. The best-known example of an animal using biosonar is probably the bat, although not all species of bat use sounds to locate objects.

35 Oregon city south of Salem : EUGENE

Eugene is the second-largest city in Oregon (after Portland). The city is named for its founder, Eugene Franklin Skinner. Skinner arrived in the area in 1846, after which the settlement he established was called Skinner’s Mudhole. The name was changed to Eugene City in 1852, which was shortened to Eugene in 1889.

41 Reuben bread : RYE

There are conflicting stories about the origin of the Reuben sandwich. One such story is that it was invented around 1914 by Arnold Reuben, an immigrant from Germany who owned Reuben’s Deli in New York.

46 Lighter brand : ZIPPO

The first Zippo lighter was made in 1933, in Bradford, Pennsylvania. The name “Zippo” was simply a word invented by the company founder, George Blaisdell, as he liked the word “zipper”. You can buy one today for $12.95, or if you want the solid gold model … for $8,675.95.

47 Degree for a CFO : MBA

The world’s first Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree was offered by Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, in 1908.

Chief financial officer (CFO)

52 Floride, par exemple : ETAT

In French, “Floride” (Florida) is a “état” (state), and so is “Virginie” (Virginia).

56 Late-night host O’Brien : CONAN

Before Conan O’Brien came to fame as a late night talk show host, he was a writer. He wrote for both “Saturday Night Live” and “The Simpsons”. While attending Harvard, O’Brien was president of “The Harvard Lampoon”.

59 Tumbling seed, and a hint to each row of circled letters : JUMPING BEAN

Mexican jumping beans aren’t actually beans at all. They are seed pods in which moths have laid their eggs. The eggs hatch and grow into larvae as they eat the inside of the pods. The beans “jump” when they are heated, as the larva spasms in an attempt to roll the pod away from the heat source.

63 AAA service : TOW

The American Automobile Association (AAA) is a not-for-profit organization focused on lobbying, provision of automobile servicing, and selling of automobile insurance. The AAA was founded in 1902 in Chicago and published the first of its celebrated hotel guides back in 1917.

64 Author Asimov : ISAAC

Isaac Asimov was a wonderful science fiction writer, and a professor of biochemistry. He was a favorite author as I was growing up and I must admit that some hero worship on my part led me to study and work as a biochemist for a short while early in my career. My favorite of his works is the collection of short stories called “I, Robot”, although Asimov’s most famous work is probably his “Foundation” trilogy of novels. Asimov wrote three autobiographies, the last of which was called “I, Asimov”, which was published in 1994, two years after his death.

68 Traditional piano key wood : EBONY

The traditional materials used for the manufacture of piano keys were ebony (black) and ivory (white). Ebony is still used, but now for both white and black keys. The white keys are made by covering ebony with white plastic.

Down

2 Swamp gas : MIASMA

The word “miasma” was first used for the poisonous atmosphere thought to arise from swamps and rotting matter, and which could cause disease. Nowadays, a miasma is just a thick cloud of gas or smoke.

4 Conical home : TEPEE

A tepee (also written as “tipi” and “teepee”) is a cone-shaped tent traditionally made from animal hides that is used by the Great Plains Native Americans. A wigwam is a completely different structure and is often a misnomer for a tepee. A wigwam is a domed structure built by Native Americans in the West and Southwest, intended to be a more permanent dwelling. The wigwam can also be covered with hides but more often was covered with grass, reeds, brush or cloth.

5 “Jude the Obscure” author Thomas : HARDY

Thomas Hardy was a novelist and poet from Dorset in England. Hardy thought of himself mainly as a poet, but he is best remembered for some very fine novels, such as “Far from the Madding Crowd”, “The Mayor of Casterbridge”, “Tess of the d’Urbervilles” and “Jude the Obscure”.

8 Writer Capote : TRUMAN

The larger-than-life Truman “Tru” Capote was an author and comedian. Capote is perhaps most associated with his novella “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and his true crime novel “In Cold Blood”. Truman Capote grew up in Monroeville, Alabama. There he met, and became lifelong friends with, fellow novelist Harper Lee. Capote was the inspiration for the character “Dill” in Lee’s celebrated work “To Kill a Mockingbird”. In turn, Harper Lee was the inspiration for the character “Idabel” in Capote’s “Other Voices, Other Rooms”.

9 Lunar New Years : TETS

The full name for the New Year holiday in Vietnam is “Tet Nguyen Dan” meaning “Feast of the First Morning”, with the reference being to the arrival of the season of spring. Tet usually falls on the same day as Chinese New Year.

10 Holiday fireplace blazer : YULE LOG

A Yule log is a large log made from a very hard wood that is burned as part of the Christmas celebration. There is also a cake called a Yule log that is served at Christmas, especially in French-speaking parts of the world. The cake is made from sponge that is rolled up to resemble a wooden Yule log.

11 “Orange Is the New Black” extra : PRISONER

“Orange Is the New Black” is a very entertaining comedy-drama series made by Netflix about an upper middle-class woman who goes to jail for a drug-related offense committed ten years earlier, in her youth. The series is based on a memoir by Piper Kerman called “Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison”.

12 Geological period : EON

Geological time is divided into a number of units of varying lengths. These are, starting from the largest:

• supereon
• eon (also “aeon”)
• era
• period
• epoch
• age

19 Mangy dog : CUR

Mange is a skin disorder in animals caused by parasitic mites that embed themselves in the skin, perhaps living in hair follicles. The same disorder in humans is called scabies. We use the adjective “mangy” to describe an animal suffering from mange, but also anything that is seedy or shabby.

21 Hawaiian strings : UKES

The ukulele (uke) originated in the 1800s and mimicked a small guitar brought to the Hawaiian Islands by Portuguese immigrants.

24 __ flakes: cereal : BRAN

All-Bran is a breakfast cereal that has been produced by Kellogg’s since 1916. Kellogg’s Bran Flakes had been introduced a year earlier.

27 PlayStation maker : SONY

Sony introduced the PlayStation line of video game consoles in 1994.

28 Sloth’s hangout : TREE

All four of the extant species of three-toed sloths are native to South and Central America. Cousins of the three-toed sloths are the two-toed sloths, of which there are two species still living.

31 Fool : DUPE

A dupe is someone who is easily fooled, a “live one”, one who can fall victim to deception.

33 Norsk Folkemuseum city : OSLO

The Norsk Folkemuseum (Norwegian Museum of Cultural History) is located on the Bygdøy peninsula on the western side of Oslo. The Bygdøy peninsula is also home to the Viking Ship Museum and the Kon-Tiki Museum.

34 Macadamia __ : NUT

The macadamia tree is native to Australia and is largely grown for its fruit, the macadamia nut. The tree was named in 1857 in honor of Scottish-Australian chemist and politician John Macadam. The macadamia was introduced into Hawaii as a commercial crop in the 1920s.

35 Pair of madmen? : EMS

There is a pair of letters M (ems) in the word “madmen”.

38 Female ’80s arcade sensation : MS PAC-MAN

The Pac-Man arcade game was first released in Japan in 1980, and is as popular today as it ever was. The game features characters that are maneuvered around the screen to eat up dots and earn points, while being pursued by ghosts named Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde. The name of the game comes from the Japanese folk hero “Paku”, who is known for his voracious appetite. The spin-off game called Ms. Pac-Man was released in 1981.

40 Like neat freaks : ANAL

The use of the word “anal” to mean “stiffly conventional” is an abbreviated form of “anal-retentive”, a term derived from Freudian psychology. Regardless, I’m not a big fan of the term …

45 Graffiti signatures : TAGS

“Graffiti” is the plural of “graffito”, and is the Italian for “scribbling”. The word was first used to describe ancient inscriptions on the walls in the ruins of Pompeii.

49 Irish pooch : SETTER

The breeds of dog known as setters are all gundogs and are used in hunting game.

50 Smitten : IN LOVE

“Smitten” is the past participle of “to smite”, meaning “to inflict a heavy blow”. We tend to use “smitten” to mean “affected by love, love-struck”.

51 Slow-boiled, as prunes : STEWED

A prune is a dried plum. The name “prune” comes from the Latin “prunum”, the word for “plum”.

59 “The __ is up!” : JIG

Back in Elizabethan times, a “jig” was a trick or game. So, the expression “the jig is up” has for some time meant “the trick or game is exposed”.

61 Tot’s mealtime protector : BIB

The word “bib” comes from the Latin “bibere” meaning “to drink”, as does our word “imbibe”. So, maybe a bib is less about spilling the food, and more about soaking up the booze …