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Constructed by: Zhou Zhang & Kevin Curry

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Character Emails

Themed answers are all common phrases reinterpreted as automatic email replies appropriate for celebrated fictitious characters

• 18A Automatic email reply from Glinda? : GONE FOR GOOD
• 28A Automatic email reply from Lightning McQueen? : OFF TO THE RACES
• 45A Automatic email reply from Pigpen? : LEFT IN THE DUST
• 60A Automatic email reply from the Tasmanian Devil? : OUT FOR A SPIN

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

Bill’s time: 07:09

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

4A Nearly match : RIVAL

The word “rival” comes from the Latin “rivalis”, meaning “one who uses the same stream, brook” (from “rivus” meaning “stream, brook”). This origin suggests the idea of competition over a shared resource, like neighbors living on either side of a stream, both competing for the same supply of water. Quite interesting …

15A Savory food quality : UMAMI

“Umami” is a loanword from Japanese, literally meaning “pleasant savory taste”. It was first scientifically identified as a distinct taste in 1908 by Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda, who discovered that the amino acid glutamate was responsible for the unique taste (umami) of kombu seaweed.

16A Aptly named cooler brand : IGLOO

Igloo Products is a Texas-based manufacturer of coolers. The company started up in 1947 making metal water coolers, and introduced its first all-plastic ice chest in 1962. The Igloo name was adopted in 1971.

18A Automatic email reply from Glinda? : GONE FOR GOOD

Glinda the Good Witch is a prominent character in L. Frank Baum’s “Oz” series of children’s novels. She is known for her wisdom, powerful magic, and an iconic pink gown.

22A Rejects : NIXES

The use of “to nix” as a verb, meaning “to shoot down”, dates back to the early 1900s. Before that, “nix” was just a noun meaning “nothing”. “Nix” comes from the German “nichts”, which also means “nothing”.

28A Automatic email reply from Lightning McQueen? : OFF TO THE RACES

Lightning McQueen is the protagonist in the “Cars” series of Pixar animated movies. He is an anthropomorphic stock car, and is voiced by actor Owen Wilson. It is often assumed that the character was named for actor and sometime race car driver Steve McQueen. In fact, he was named in honor of Pixar animator Glenn McQueen, who passed away a few years before the first “Cars” film was released.

33A Water nymph of Greek myth : NAIAD

The Naiads of Greek mythology were water nymphs associated with fountains, wells, springs and streams. The saltwater equivalents of the freshwater Naiads were the Oceanids.

41A Many a Marvel character : HERO

Marvel Comics was founded in 1939 as Timely Comics, before becoming Atlas Comics in 1951 and eventually Marvel Comics in 1961. The “Marvel” brand had existed from day one, and Timely Comics’ first publication was “Marvel Comics #1” in October 1939. That first comic featured the superhero the Human Torch.

42A “Let You Love Me” singer Rita : ORA

“Let You Love Me” is a 2018 song that was Ora’s thirteenth to reach the top-ten in the UK. As such, it allowed Ora to beat the record for the most top-ten songs by a female solo artist from the UK.

44A Sources of dates : PALMS

Date palms can be either male or female. Only the female tree bears fruit (called “dates”).

45A Automatic email reply from Pigpen? : LEFT IN THE DUST

Pig-Pen is the kid in the “Peanuts” cartoon strip that is always dirty. Charles Schulz, the strip’s author, said that Pig-Pen was one of his least favorite characters, and he almost disappeared from the later years of “Peanuts” comic strips.

60A Automatic email reply from the Tasmanian Devil? : OUT FOR A SPIN

The “Looney Tunes” character known as the Tasmanian Devil, or “Taz”, first appeared in a cartoon short with Bugs Bunny called “Devil May Care” in 1954.

66A Org. with up to 23 Senators : NHL

The Senators are the NHL hockey team based in Ottawa, Canada. The current team, founded in the 1992-93 season, is the second NHL team in the city to use the name “Senators”. The original team was founded in 1917, and had a very successful run until the league expanded into the US in the late twenties. The cost of operating in what became the smallest NHL city eventually drove the Senators to St. Louis where they played for a year as the Eagles before finally folding.

67A McIntosh or Macintosh : APPLE

Every McIntosh apple grown today can trace its roots back (pun!) to a tree on a farm near Morrisburg in Ontario, Canada. John McIntosh owned the tree, and he started to cultivate seedlings in 1796. Today, the McIntosh is the national apple of Canada.

Macintosh (also “Mac”, since 1998) is a line of computers from Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced in 1984, and I remember someone showing me one at work in those early days of personal computing. There was a piece of white plastic connected to the main computer by a cord, and I was amazed when the guy showed me that it controlled where the cursor was on the screen. My colleague told me that this lump of plastic was called “a mouse” …

68A __ fund : HEDGE

Originally, a hedge fund was a fund that paired long and short positions in a strategy designed to hedge market risk, to avoid major losses. That’s far from the case today, as hedge funds are now relatively high risk/reward investments that are not available to the general public as they avoid or partially avoid regulatory oversight.

Down

4D Prayer __ : RUG

The tradition of using prayer rugs, “sajjada” in Arabic, dates back to early Islamic history. While not explicitly commanded in the Quran, the practice developed from the need for a clean and defined space for prayer, especially when praying outdoors. The rug designs frequently feature a mihrab motif, an arch-shaped pattern symbolizing the mihrab in a mosque, which indicates the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca.

7D MC alternative : AMEX

American Express, commonly known as Amex, is a multinational financial services corporation. Unlike Visa and Mastercard, which operate primarily as payment networks, Amex issues its own cards directly and processes transactions.

9D Christmas purchase : FIR

The custom of decorating trees at Christmas seems to have originated in Renaissance Germany. Those first trees were placed in guildhalls and were decorated with sweets and candy for the apprentices and children. After the Protestant Reformation, the Christmas tree became an alternative in Protestant homes for the Roman Catholic Christmas cribs. The Christmas tree tradition was imported into Britain by the royal family because of its German heritage. That tradition spread from Britain into North America.

12D Bluey, for one : TOON

“Bluey” is a preschool TV show from Australia. The title character is an anthropomorphic blue heeler puppy whose full name is Bluey Christine Heeler. Her younger sister is Bingo Heeler. My granddaughter just loves Bluey …

19D Honors given to Walt Disney a record 26 times : OSCARS

Walt Disney was awarded a record 26 Oscars in his lifetime, winning 22 and receiving 4 honorary awards. He also holds the record for the number of Oscars won in the same year, taking away a total of four in the 1954 awards ceremony. On top of that, he holds the record for the most nominations, with 59.

21D Kebab with peanut sauce : SATAY

The dish known as “satay” originated in Java, Indonesia and is marinated pieces of meat served on a skewer in a sauce, often a spicy peanut sauce. “Satay” is the Indonesian spelling, and “sate” is the Malay spelling.

25D Divining __ : ROD

Dowsing uses tools to find hidden things, usually underground. “Divining” is a broader term for seeking knowledge through supernatural means, which includes dowsing, but also things like reading tea leaves or tarot cards.

27D Co. that purchased Victor in 1929 : RCA

RCA Victor was formed when the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) acquired the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1929. The Victor company was famous for its “Victrola” phonographs, which notably featured a design where the turntable and horn could be concealed within a wooden cabinet. The iconic RCA Records logo, “His Master’s Voice,” prominently features Nipper the dog staring into a Victrola phonograph.

32D Cave man’s hobby? : SPELUNKING

“Spelunking” is an American term describing recreational caving, although the word has Latin roots (“spelunca” is the Latin for “cave”). The term originated in the 1940s in New England when it was adopted by a group of men who explored caves in the area.

36D Cuttlefish’s octet : ARMS

Cuttlefish are marine animals that are related to squids and octopodes. Cuttlefish have a unique internal shell and are molluscs, not fish.

40D Cards, to NFL fans : ARI

The Arizona Cardinals were founded in 1898 as the Chicago Cardinals. That makes the Cardinals the oldest, continuously-run, professional football team in the whole country.

41D Brother of Zeus and Poseidon : HADES

In ancient Greek religion and myth, Hades is the god of the dead and the king of the underworld, one of the three main gods along with his brothers Zeus (ruler of the sky) and Poseidon (ruler of the sea).

43D Status of remote employees, for short : WFH

WFH is an acronym that stands for “Work From Home,” a term that became significantly more prevalent and common during the COVID-19 pandemic.

44D Pizzazz : PEP

Here’s a little Scrabble trivia … “Pizzazz” is the only 7-letter word in English that cannot be played in Scrabble. You can get close by using the Z-tile with the two blank tiles to get to three of the required four Zs, but there’s no way to get to that fourth letter-Z.

55D Accessory in a homecoming court : SASH

The origins of “homecoming” are hotly debated among American universities, with the University of Missouri, Baylor University, and the University of Illinois all claiming to have held the first official event in the early 1900s. The concept of a “homecoming court” and the subsequent crowning of a king and queen evolved over time.

56D Arthur __ Courage Award : ASHE

The Arthur Ashe Courage Award has been presented annually since 1993 as part of the ESPY Awards. Named for tennis great Arthur Ashe, the Courage Award is presented to individuals whose contributions “transcend sports”. The list of recipients includes Howard Cosell (1995), Muhammad Ali (1997), Billie Jean King (1999), Nelson Mandela (2009), Caitlyn Jenner (2015) and Eunice Kennedy Shriver (2017).

59D Fuse using heat : WELD

In the process of arc welding, metal is fused by the heat generated in an electrical arc. The welder uses two cables from an electrical power source. One cable is attached to the metal being welded, and the other to an electrode. The tip of the electrode is touched to the base metal causing a spark and an electrical arc. The electrode is held at an appropriate distance from the base metal to maintain the arc, which creates enough heat to melt the electrode and base metal.

61D NorCal neighbor : ORE

Northern California (NorCal)