Constructed by: Pam Amick Klawitter
Edited by: Rich Norris
Quicklink to a complete list of today’s clues and answers
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Theme: Top Choice
Each of today’s themed answers are common phrases that have been reinterpreted as hairdos:
- 22A. Hairdo for experts? : WHIZ-BANGS
- 24A. Hairdo for gadget lovers? : THINGAMABOB
- 36A. Hairdo for sportscasters? : FOOTBALL HIGHLIGHTS
- 59A. Hairdo for certain Germans? : FRANKFURTER BUN
- 81A. Hairdo for daring gymnasts? : DOUBLE BACKFLIP
- 103A. Hairdo for economists? : INFLATIONARY SPIKES
- 122A. Hairdo for wickerworkers? : BASKET WEAVE
- 125A. Hairdo for burglars? : CRIME WAVE
Bill’s time: 18m 51s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. “Dallas” was one : SOAP
The TV soap “Dallas” revolved around the Ewing family. The show that ran for 13 years was originally intended as a five-part mini-series, with the main characters being newlyweds Bobby and Pam Ewing. But, the devious character in the piece, Bobby’s brother J. R. Ewing, became so popular with audiences that the series was extended with J. R. at the center of the story.
9. Improv style : SCAT
Scat singing is a vocal improvisation found in the world of jazz. There aren’t any words as such in scat singing, just random nonsense syllables made up on the spot.
13. They’re surrounded by agua : ISLAS
In Spanish, there is water (agua) flowing in a river (río), and around an “isla” (island).
20. Dingbat : SCHMO
“Schmo” (also “shmo”) is American slang for a dull or boring person, and comes from the Yiddish word “shmok”.
The word “dingbat” has been used to mean a “fool” since the early 1900s. It became very popular after it was used repeatedly by Archie Bunker in the seventies TV show “All in the Family”.
21. Ohno on skates : APOLO
Speed-skater Apolo Ohno has won more Winter Olympics medals than any other American. Ohno also did a great job winning the 2007 season of television’s “Dancing with the Stars”.
22. Hairdo for experts? : WHIZ-BANGS
“Bangs” is another word that caught me out when I arrived in the US. “Bangs” back in Ireland are called “a fringe”. Apparently the US term is derived somehow from the hair on horses.
24. Hairdo for gadget lovers? : THINGAMABOB
A “bob cut” is a short hairstyle in which the hair is cut straight around the head, at about the line of the jaw. Back in the 1570s a “bob” was the name given to a horse’s tail that was cut short, and about a century later it was being used to describe short hair on humans. The style became very popular with women in the early 1900s (as worn by actress Clara Bow, for example), with the fashion dying out in the thirties. The style reemerged in the sixties around the time the Beatles introduced their “mop tops”, with Vidal Sassoon leading the way in styling women’s hair in a bob cut again. Personally, I like it …
29. John in Dublin : SEAN
The name “John” translates into Scottish as “Ian”, into Russian as “Ivan”, into Italian as “Giovanni”, and into Irish as “Seán”.
The city of Dublin, the capital of Ireland, is known as “Baile Átha Cliath” in Irish (“town of the hurdled ford”). The English name “Dublin” is an anglicized form of the older Irish name for the city “Dubh Linn”, meaning “black pool”.
30. Flier over Hawaii : NENE
The bird called a nene is a native of Hawaii, and is also known as the Hawaiian goose. The name “nene” is imitative of its call. When Captain Cook landed on the islands in 1778, there were 25,000 nene living there. By 1950, the number was reduced by hunting to just 30 birds. Conservation efforts in recent years have been somewhat successful. The nene was named State Bird of Hawaii in 1957.
34. Old German leader : KAISER
“Kaiser” is the German word for “emperor”. The term is usually applied to the Emperors of the German Empire or Deutsches Reich that started with Kaiser Wilhelm I in 1871 and ended with the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II after the Empire’s defeat in WWI.
43. Only NFL coach with a perfect season : SHULA
Don Shula is a former football player and coach. Shula appeared as head coach in a record six Super Bowls, including a run of three successive Super Bowls (1971-73, winning twice). Shula holds the record for most NFL career wins (347). He also led the Miami Dolphins during their 1972 perfect season, the only perfect season in the history of the NFL.
45. “No man __ island … “: Donne : IS AN
“Devotions upon Emergent Occasions” is a work of prose by English poet John Donne, first published in 1624. A couple of famous phrases oft-quoted from the work are “No man is an island” and “for whom the bell tolls”.
46. “With enough courage, you can do without a reputation” speaker : RHETT
In Margaret Mitchell’s novel “Gone with the Wind”, when Rhett Butler finally walks out on Scarlett O’Hara he utters the words “My dear, I don’t give a damn”. Most of us are more familiar with the slightly different words spoken by Clark Gable in the film adaption of the story: “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”
54. Enzyme ending : -ASE
Enzymes are basically catalysts, chemicals that act to increase the rate of a particular chemical reaction. For example, starches will break down into sugars over time, especially under the right conditions. However, in the presence of the enzyme amylase (found in saliva) this production of sugar happens very, very quickly.
56. Oil-rich fed. : UAE
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven emirates (states) in the Middle East. Included in the seven are Abu Dhabi and Dubai, with the city of Abu Dhabi being the UAE capital and cultural center.
63. Secretly includes in the 108-Down loop, briefly : BCCS
(108D. It clicks open : EMAIL)
A blind carbon copy (bcc) is a copy of a document or message that is sent to someone without other recipients of the message knowing about that extra copy.
65. Ambien maker : SEARLE
Ambien is a brand name for the prescription drug zolpidem. I have a friend who used to swear by Ambien for helping cope with jet lag. I once had to deal with jet lag almost monthly and swear by the diet supplement melatonin, which you can buy over the counter here in the US. But, I am no doctor so don’t listen to anything I say …
Searle is mainly a pharmaceutical company, and was founded in Omaha, Nebraska in 1888. The company is famous for introducing the first birth control pill in the late 1950s, as well as the artificial sweetener NutraSweet. Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was Searle’s CEO and then President in the seventies and eighties.
67. U2 philanthropist : BONO
Irish singer Bono is a Dubliner who was born Paul David Hewson. As a youth, Hewson was given the nickname “Bono Vox” by a friend, a Latin expression meaning “good voice”, and so the singer has been known as Bono since the late seventies. His band’s first name was “Feedback”, later changed to “The Hype”. The band members searched for yet another name and chose U2 from a list of six names suggested by a friend. They picked U2 because it was the name they disliked least …
74. Having less vermouth, as a martini : DRIER
The term “martini” probably takes it name from the “Martini & Rossi” brand of dry vermouth, although no one seems to be completely sure. What is clear is that despite the Martini name originating in Italy, the martini drink originated in the US. The original martini was made with gin and sweet vermouth, but someone specifying a “dry” martini was given gin and dry vermouth. Nowadays we use dry vermouth for all martinis and the term “dry” has become a reference to how little vermouth is included in the drink. Famously, Noel Coward liked his drink very dry and said that a perfect martini is made by “filling a glass with gin then waving it in the general direction of Italy”. The German-American journalist and satirist H. L. Mencken referred to the martini as “the only American invention as perfect as a sonnet”.
75. “Family Guy” creator MacFarlane : SETH
Seth MacFarlane is best known for creating the very successful (although they don’t get my vote!) animated TV shows “Family Guy” and “American Dad!”. My kids love ’em …
76. Footnote word : IDEM
“Idem” is usually abbreviated as “id.” and is the Latin word for “the same”. In research papers, “idem” is used in a list of references, in place of citations “already mentioned above”.
77. More work : UTOPIA
The word “Utopia” was coined by Sir Thomas More for his book “Utopia” published in 1516 describing an idyllic fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. More’s use of the name Utopia comes from the Greek “ou” meaning “not” and “topos” meaning “place”. By calling his perfect island “Not Place”, More was apparently making the point that he didn’t think that the ideal could actually exist.
81. Hairdo for daring gymnasts? : DOUBLE BACKFLIP
The flip hairstyle was popular with women in the sixties, and was characterized by an upward curl in the ends of the hair (a “flip”).
89. Andorra’s cont. : EUR
Andorra is a small principality nestled in the Pyrenees between France and Spain. Andorra is a very prosperous country, mainly due to its status as a tax haven and thriving tourist industry. We used help out the tourist industry there in the winters, enjoying a couple of skiing holidays there. Happy memories …
93. Chihuahua cheer : OLE!
The city of Chihuahua is the capital of the Mexican state of the same name. The city was founded in 1709 by Spanish explorers as a village called El Real de Minas de San Francisco de Cuéllar. However, the current name “Chihuahua” predates the Spanish conquest of Mexico, although the name wasn’t adopted until 1823.
95. Prefix with sphere : TROPO-
The troposphere is the lowest layer of the Earth’s atmosphere. Containing about 99% of the atmosphere’s water, nearly all of the weather phenomena that we experience take place in the troposphere. The name of the layer comes from the Greek “tropos” meaning “turn”, a reference to the importance of the rotational turbulence of the air in the troposphere.
100. French honey : AMIE
A male friend in France is “un ami”, and a female friend is “une amie”.
101. Seaman’s shout : AVAST!
“Avast” is a nautical term used to tell someone to stop or desist from what they are doing. The word comes from the Dutch “hou vast” meaning “hold fast”.
107. 2017 Masters champ Garcia : SERGIO
Sergio García is a professional golfer from Spain, and a very colorful character. Garcia also likes his football (soccer). He is the chairman of his hometown team CF Borriol.
110. P.C. Wren protagonist Beau __ : GESTE
“Beau Geste” is a 1924 novel by the British writer P. C. Wren. The hero of the piece is Michael “Beau” Geste, an upper-class Englishman who joins the French Foreign Legion and embarks on a life of adventure and intrigue.
111. Energy Star co-creator, familiarly : EPA
The Energy Star standard was created by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE) during the Clinton Administration. In general, an item marked with an Energy Star uses 20-30% less energy than that mandated by federal standards. Not too long ago, we put an Energy Star roof on our house, and noticed a remarkable difference in our energy bills.
112. Skunk River city : AMES
The Iowa city of Ames was founded as a stop on the Cedar Rapids and Missouri Railroad in 1864. It was named for US Congressman Oakes Ames from the state of Massachusetts in honor of the role that Ames played in the building of the transcontinental railroad.
The Skunk River in Iowa is a tributary of the Mississippi. The etymology of the river’s name is a little unclear, and is probably a mistranslation of the Sauk and Meskwaki name “Shecaqua”, which means “strong and obnoxious smell”. The headwaters of the Skunk River was known for its wild onions along the banks, hence the “odoriferous” reference. A better translation might have been “Onion River”.
113. VMI program : ROTC
The Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) is a training program for officers based in colleges all around the US. The ROTC program was established in 1862 when as a condition of receiving a land-grant to create colleges, the federal government required that military tactics be part of a new school’s curriculum.
The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is one of the six senior military colleges in the country, and is located in Lexington, Virginia. The sports teams of VMI are known as the Keydets, southern slang for “cadets”.
115. Three-layer fishing net : TRAMMEL
A trammel is a three-layered fishing net that is used to entrap and entangle fish. A trammel hangs vertically in the water, with floats on the top edge, and weights on the bottom edge.
128. California cager : LAKER
The Los Angeles Lakers basketball team started out in 1947 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The team chose the Lakers name in honor of the nickname of Minnesota, “Land of 10,000 Lakes”. The Lakers moved to Los Angeles in 1960.
129. Painter Magritte : RENE
Belgian artist René Magritte was a surrealist. His most recognized work maybe is “The Son of Man”, a painting he created as a self-portrait. It is the work that shows a man in a bowler hat with his face covered by an apple. The image features prominently in a great movie, the 1999 remake of “The Thomas Crown Affair”.
131. Disney princess from Avalor : ELENA
“Elena of Avalor” is a Disney Channel TV show about a Latina princess and her family. The title character is a 16-year-old crowned princess of the magical king of Avalor.
132. Neverland pirate : SMEE
Neverland is the fictional location where Peter Pan lives in the works of J. M. Barrie. The name actually evolved in Barrie’s works, starting out as “Peter’s Never Never Never Land”. Also, Barrie used the names “the Never Never Land”, “the Neverland” and “the Neverlands”. Famously, entertainer Michael Jackson renamed Sycamore Valley Ranch as Neverland Valley Ranch when he took ownership in 1988, in a nod to “Peter Pan”.
Down
4. 90-year-old mint : PEZ
PEZ is an Austrian brand name for a particular candy sold in a mechanical dispenser. Famously, PEZ dispensers have molded “heads”, and have become very collectible over the years. The list of heads includes historical figures like Betsy Ross and Paul Revere, characters from “Star Wars” and “Star Trek”, and even British royalty like the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (“William and Kate”). The name PEZ comes from the first, middle and last letters of “Pfefferminz”, the German word for “peppermint”.
5. Rhododendron variety : AZALEA
Azaleas are very toxic to horses, sheep and goats, but strangely enough cause no problem for cats or dogs. And if you go to Korea you might come across “Tug Yonju”, which is azalea wine made from the plant’s blossoms. Azaleas are usually grown as shrubs, but are also seen as small trees, and often indoors.
6. Short title for Lee : GENL
Robert E. Lee is renowned as a southern officer in the Civil War. Lee was a somewhat reluctant participant in the war in that he opposed the secession of his home state of Virginia from the Union. At the beginning of the war, President Lincoln invited Lee to take command of the whole Union Army but he declined, choosing instead to stay loyal to his home state. During the Civil War, Lee’s men referred to him affectionately as “Marse Robert”, with “marse” being slang for “master”.
7. Bits of work : ERGS
An erg is a unit of mechanical work or energy. It is a small unit, as there are 10 million ergs in one joule. it has been suggested that an erg is about the amount of energy required for a mosquito to take off. The term comes from “ergon”, the Greek word for work.
9. Ivy, e.g.: Abbr. : SCH
The term “Ivy League” originally defined an athletic conference, but now it is used to describe a group of schools of higher education that are associated with both a long tradition and academic excellence. The eight Ivy League Schools are: Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale.
12. Roman wrap : TOGA
In Ancient Rome the classical attire known as a toga (plural “togae”) was usually worn over a tunic. The tunic was made from linen, and the toga itself was a piece of cloth about twenty feet long made from wool. The toga could only be worn by men, and only if those men were Roman citizens. The female equivalent of the toga was called a “stola”.
13. Sevillian soy? : I AM
“Soy” is Spanish for “I am”.
The city of Seville is the capital of Andalusia in southern Spain. Seville is a favored setting for many operas including “The Barber of Seville” by Rossini, “Fidelio” by Beethoven and Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” and “The Marriage of Figaro”.
20. Gymnast Kerri who performed an iconic vault in the 1996 Olympics : STRUG
Kerri Strug is that plucky little gymnast who made an outstanding final vault in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics despite having an injured ankle. I think we all remember her being carried off after her vault in the arms of the US team coach Bela Karolyi.
25. Sarcophagus symbol : ANKH
The ankh was the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic character for “eternal life”. The ankh wasn’t just used in inscriptions but was often fashioned into amulets and as surrounds for mirrors (perhaps symbolizing a view into another world). The ankh is also known as “the key of the Nile” and “crux ansata” (Latin for “cross with a handle”).
A sarcophagus is a stone or wooden box in which a body is interred. “Sarcophagus” is Greek for “flesh-eating stones”. The name was applied as a sarcophagus was often made from a kind of limestone that was believed to cause the flesh of corpses to decompose.
28. Grain appendage : ARISTA
An arista is a stiff bristle found on some plants. The bristles seen on some grasses and cereals are called awns, and awns are a specific type of arista.
31. NBA’s Hawks, on scoreboards : ATL
The NBA’s Atlanta Hawks started out as the Buffalo Bisons in 1946, although after only a few months the team was moved to Moline, Illinois as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks. The Blackhawks were one of the 17 original teams playing at the founding of the National Basketball Association. There was another move in 1951 and a renaming to the Milwaukee Hawks, and yet again in 1955 when the team became the St. Louis Hawks. The latest move was to Atlanta, in 1968.
35. “__ Grows in Brooklyn” : A TREE
Betty Smith’s novel “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” is a story that is largely autobiographical. The tree referenced in the title and the story is the “tree of heaven”, a deciduous variety native to China that was brought into the US in 1784. The tree is so successful here in America that it takes over vacant lots and many “waste” spaces of land, and is now considered to be a weed. An awfully big weed, I’d say …
36. Coll. football’s Seminoles : FSU
Florida State University (FSU) is located in Tallahassee, the state capital of Florida. The school’s athletic teams are known as the Seminoles (sometimes “the ‘Noles”). The team name was chosen in 1947 by the students in a vote, and alludes to the Seminole people who originally lived in the state. Most of the Seminole now live in Oklahoma, after their forced relocation by the US government in the 1840s.
39. Calculator feature, for short : LCD
Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) are the screens that are found in most laptops today, and in flat panel computer screens and some televisions. LCD monitors basically replaced Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) screens, the old television technology.
40. First name in Norse navigators : LEIF
Leif Erikson was a Norse explorer and the first European to land in North America, some 500 years before Christopher Columbus’s landing in 1492. The Norsemen named the area they discovered “Vinland”, which might translate as “Wine Land” or “Pasture Land”. Erikson built a small settlement called Leifsbudir, which archaeologists believe they have found in modern day Newfoundland, at L’Anse aux Meadows. The settlement discovered in Newfoundland is definitely Norse, but there is some dispute over whether it is actually Erikson’s Leifsbudir.
41. Half an approval : HEAR
The phrase “Hear! Hear!” is an expression of support that is perhaps more commonly used in the UK than on this side of the Atlantic. The phrase evolved from “Hear him! Hear him!”, which was the original utterance used in the UK parliament in the 17th century.
47. 1978 Broadway jazz revue : EUBIE
James Hubert “Eubie” Blake was a composer and pianist from Baltimore, Maryland. Blake was a noted composer and performer of ragtime music. The 1978 musical revue “Eubie!” features his music. Apparently Blake claimed to have started smoking cigarettes at the age of 10 years, and died 85 years later in 1983. Blake’s celebrity status and long life as a smoker was often cited by politicians who opposed anti-tobacco legislation.
49. First of the second nine : TENTH
There’s an urban myth that the standard number of holes on a golf course is 18 because it takes 18 shots to polish off a fifth of scotch whisky. However, the truth is that the standard number of holes in the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland happened to settle down over time at 18, and that standard was adopted all around the world.
58. Cold War concern : H-BOMB
There are two classes of nuclear weapons, both of which get the energy for the explosion from nuclear reactions. The first nuclear bombs developed, called atomic bombs (A-bombs), use fission reactions. Uranium nuclei are split into smaller nuclei with the release of an awful lot of energy in the process. The second class of nuclear weapons are fusion bombs. These devices are called thermonuclear weapons or hydrogen bombs (H-bombs). In a fusion reaction, the nuclei of hydrogen isotopes are fused together to form bigger nuclei, with the release of even greater amounts of energy.
The term “Cold War” was coined by the novelist George Orwell in a 1945 essay about the atomic bomb. Orwell described a world under threat of nuclear war as having a “peace that is no peace”, in a permanent state of “cold war”. The specific use of “cold war” to describe the tension between the Eastern bloc and the Western allies is attributed to a 1947 speech by Bernard Baruch, adviser to Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
61. Mentalist Geller : URI
Uri Geller’s most famous performance is perhaps his uncomfortable failure on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson in 1973. Carson “hijacked” Geller on live television by providing him with spoons to bend and watches to start, none of which had been available to Geller before the show aired. Clever!
62. Selassie worshiper : RASTA
I must admit that I don’t really know much about Rastafarianism. I do know that a “Rasta”, like Bob Marley, is a follower of the movement. Some say that Rastafarianism is a religion, some not. I also know that it involves the worship of Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia.
67. High-end hotel amenity : BIDET
“Bidet” is a French word that we imported into English. In French, the word “bidet” originally described a small horse or a pony. The bidet bathroom fixture was so called because one straddles it like a horse in order to use it.
68. Sussex smell : ODOUR
Sussex is a county in the very southeast of England that lies right on the English Channel. The county of Sussex has about the same boundaries as the ancient Kingdom of Sussex, a Saxon colony that existed for about five hundred years until the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Hastings, a town on the Sussex coast, was the site of the first battle of the Norman Conquest of England.
71. 1988 Ryan/Quaid remake : DOA
Both the original 1950 film “D.O.A.” starring Edmond O’Brien, and its 1988 remake starring Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan, are excellent movies in my opinion. The basic storyline is that the lead character discovers he has been poisoned, and uses the limited time he has to live in order to discover who “murdered” him.
72. Short lines at the register? : UPC
UPC stands for Universal Price Code or Universal Product Code. The first ever UPC-marked item to get scanned in a store was on June 26, 1974 at 08:01 a.m. at Marsh’s supermarket in Troy, Ohio. It was a 10-pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit chewing gum.
73. Two-piece suits : BIKINIS
The origin of the word “bikini”, describing a type of bathing suit, seems very uncertain. My favorite story is that it is named after the Bikini Atoll, site of American A-bomb tests in the forties and fifties. The name “bikini” was chosen for the swim-wear because of the “explosive” effect it had on men who saw a woman wearing the garment!
82. “Ghost Town” (2008) actress : LEONI
Téa Leoni is an American actress. One of Leoni’s early parts was in the great film “A League of Their Own” (a minor role, Racine at first base). She also played the fiancée of Sam Malone from “Cheers” on the spin-off sitcom “Frasier”. A leading role on the big screen was opposite Adam Sandler in “Spanglish”. My favorite of her more prominent movie roles was as Jane in “Fun with Dick and Jane”. Leoni is now playing the title role in the drama series “Madam Secretary”, a show that I really enjoy …
“Ghost Town” is a 2008 comedy fantasy movie starring Ricky Gervais as a New York City dentist who finds himself with the uncomfortable ability to see and talk with ghosts. I haven’t seen this one, but I hear good things …
83. Almost a ringer : LEANER
In the game of horseshoes, a ringer is scored when the tossed shoe lands around the target stake. A leaner is almost as good as a ringer, and is scored when a horseshoe lands upright or leans against the stake.
84. “Joy of Cooking” writer Rombauer : IRMA
Irma Rombauer was the author of the famous cookbook “The Joy Of Cooking”. Rombauer self-published the book back in 1931 in St. Louis, Missouri. She and her family continued to publish privately as demand was high, and then a commercial printing house picked it up in 1936. “The Joy of Cooking” has been in print continuously ever since.
92. “Brat Farrar” novelist : TEY
“Josephine Tey” was the pen name of Scottish mystery writer Elizabeth Mackintosh, who was best known for writing mystery novels. One of Tey’s more famous works is the 1949 crime novel “Brat Farrar”, the story of an orphan who impersonates the missing son of rich family in order wangle his way into an inheritance.
94. Saturn drivers? : ETS
Extraterrestrial (ET)
96. Deflategate concern : PIGSKIN
“Pigskin” is a slang term for the ball used in American football, even though it’s made from cow leather.
Deflategate is the name given to accusations that someone associated with the New England Patriots supplied under-inflated balls for NFL games to give Patriots an advantage. The NFL suspended Patriots quarterback Tom Brady for four games for his involvement, and fined the Patriots $1 million.
105. Polecat cousin : OTTER
“Polecat” is a term used for several different animals, most of which are in the weasel family.
107. Polecat cousin : SABLE
Sables are small mammals about two feet long that are found right across northern Europe and northern Asia. The sable’s pelt is highly prized in the fur trade. Sable is unique among furs in that it feels smooth no matter which direction it is stroked.
114. Hogwarts messengers : OWLS
In the “Harry Potter” universe, messages are sent by owl post, which uses owls as mail carriers.
117. ’60s TV talking animal : MR ED
The sitcom “Mister Ed” first aired in 1961 and ran for almost five years. It was a very successful show (and even made it to Ireland!). Mister Ed, the talking horse, was a palomino that had the real name of Bamboo Harvester. Mister Ed’s “voice” was that of actor Allan “Rocky” Lane, a star of a lot of B-movie westerns from the forties and fifties. In the show, Mister Ed would only talk to the lead (human) character Wilbur, played by Alan Young, leading to some hilarious situations. Mister Ed had a stunt double and stand-in for the show, another horse called Pumpkin. Pumpkin later made frequent appearances on the show “Green Acres”.
119. Fabled favorite : HARE
“The Tortoise and the Hare” is perhaps the most famous fable attributed to Aesop. The cocky hare takes a nap during a race against the tortoise, and the tortoise sneaks past the finish line for the win while his speedier friend is sleeping.
120. Politico Bayh : EVAN
Evan Bayh is the son of Birch Bayh, and like his father was US Senator for the state of Indiana. Prior to serving in the Senate, Evan Bayh was State Governor.
123. Bambi’s aunt : ENA
Ena is Bambi’s aunt in the 1942 Disney film “Bambi”. The movie is based on the novel “Bambi, A Life in the Woods” written by Austrian author Felix Salten and first published in 1923. There is a documented phenomenon known as the Bambi Effect, whereby people become more interested in animal rights after having watched the scene where Bambi’s mother is shot by hunters.
124. Symbol of peace : VEE
One has to be careful making that V-sign depending where you are in the world. Where I came from, the V for victory (or peace) sign has to be made with the palm facing outwards. If the sign is made with the palm facing inwards, it can be interpreted as a very obscene gesture.
Complete List of Clues and Answers
Across
1. “Dallas” was one : SOAP
5. Like much cheese : AGED
9. Improv style : SCAT
13. They’re surrounded by agua : ISLAS
18. Developer’s plot, perhaps : ACRE
19. Round number? : ZERO
20. Dingbat : SCHMO
21. Ohno on skates : APOLO
22. Hairdo for experts? : WHIZ-BANGS
24. Hairdo for gadget lovers? : THINGAMABOB
26. Roll at a nursery : SOD
27. Honored athlete : ALL-STAR
29. John in Dublin : SEAN
30. Flier over Hawaii : NENE
31. It may follow you, but not me : … ARE
32. Tricks : RUSES
34. Old German leader : KAISER
36. Hairdo for sportscasters? : FOOTBALL HIGHLIGHTS
43. Only NFL coach with a perfect season : SHULA
44. Undistinctive marks : CEES
45. “No man __ island … “: Donne : IS AN
46. “With enough courage, you can do without a reputation” speaker : RHETT
50. Sounds of uncertainty : UMS
51. Household hisser : RADIATOR
54. Enzyme ending : -ASE
56. Oil-rich fed. : UAE
57. System of values : ETHIC
59. Hairdo for certain Germans? : FRANKFURTER BUN
63. Secretly includes in the 108-Down loop, briefly : BCCS
65. Ambien maker : SEARLE
66. “__ gonna happen” : AIN’T
67. U2 philanthropist : BONO
70. Work on, as a soundtrack : REDUB
74. Having less vermouth, as a martini : DRIER
75. “Family Guy” creator MacFarlane : SETH
76. Footnote word : IDEM
77. More work : UTOPIA
79. Gossip : DIRT
81. Hairdo for daring gymnasts? : DOUBLE BACKFLIP
86. Car shopper’s option : LEASE
89. Andorra’s cont. : EUR
90. That, in Mexico : ESA
91. Emphasized, in a way : ITERATED
93. Chihuahua cheer : OLE!
95. Prefix with sphere : TROPO-
97. “I’d consider __ honor” : IT AN
100. French honey : AMIE
101. Seaman’s shout : AVAST!
103. Hairdo for economists? : INFLATIONARY SPIKES
107. 2017 Masters champ Garcia : SERGIO
110. P.C. Wren protagonist Beau __ : GESTE
111. Energy Star co-creator, familiarly : EPA
112. Skunk River city : AMES
113. VMI program : ROTC
115. Three-layer fishing net : TRAMMEL
119. Changeable border : HEM
122. Hairdo for wickerworkers? : BASKET WEAVE
125. Hairdo for burglars? : CRIME WAVE
127. Words with wait or state : LIE IN …
128. California cager : LAKER
129. Painter Magritte : RENE
130. Tough test : ORAL
131. Disney princess from Avalor : ELENA
132. Neverland pirate : SMEE
133. Binged (on), as junk food : ODED
134. Took off : WENT
Down
1. Wise words : SAWS
2. Eight, in 14-Down : OCHO
3. Dry as dust : ARID
4. 90-year-old mint : PEZ
5. Rhododendron variety : AZALEA
6. Short title for Lee : GENL
7. Bits of work : ERGS
8. Old-fashioned do? : DOST
9. Ivy, e.g.: Abbr. : SCH
10. Woodworking tools : CHISELS
11. 1-Across plot staple : AMNESIA
12. Roman wrap : TOGA
13. Sevillian soy? : I AM
14. See 2-Down : SPANISH
15. Places to see studs : LOBES
16. On one’s own : ALONE
17. Like the designated driver, by design : SOBER
20. Gymnast Kerri who performed an iconic vault in the 1996 Olympics : STRUG
23. Uncivilized : BARBARIC
25. Sarcophagus symbol : ANKH
28. Grain appendage : ARISTA
31. NBA’s Hawks, on scoreboards : ATL
33. Avoided on the job : SHIRKED
35. “__ Grows in Brooklyn” : A TREE
36. Coll. football’s Seminoles : FSU
37. “Alas!” : OH ME!
38. Toss from office : OUST
39. Calculator feature, for short : LCD
40. First name in Norse navigators : LEIF
41. Half an approval : HEAR
42. Twisted : GNARLED
47. 1978 Broadway jazz revue : EUBIE
48. Tease : TAUNT
49. First of the second nine : TENTH
52. Grows : ACCRUES
53. Switch positions : ONS
55. Clean and then some : STERILE
58. Cold War concern : H-BOMB
60. Much : FAR
61. Mentalist Geller : URI
62. Selassie worshiper : RASTA
64. Put a price on a flight? : SET BAIL
67. High-end hotel amenity : BIDET
68. Sussex smell : ODOUR
69. Logical opening? : NEURO-
71. 1988 Ryan/Quaid remake : DOA
72. Short lines at the register? : UPC
73. Two-piece suits : BIKINIS
78. Where to see a wake : AFT
80. Still-life fruit, perhaps : RED APPLE
82. “Ghost Town” (2008) actress : LEONI
83. Almost a ringer : LEANER
84. “Joy of Cooking” writer Rombauer : IRMA
85. You and me, say : PAIR
87. Seriously overcharge : SOAK
88. End of a threat : ELSE
92. “Brat Farrar” novelist : TEY
94. Saturn drivers? : ETS
96. Deflategate concern : PIGSKIN
98. Ring duo : TAG TEAM
99. Had dessert, in a way : ATE CAKE
102. Itinerary word : VIA
104. Frontier protection : FORT
105. Polecat cousin : OTTER
106. Looked to be : SEEMED
107. Polecat cousin : SABLE
108. It clicks open : EMAIL
109. Watch again, as a movie : RESEE
114. Hogwarts messengers : OWLS
116. Start to bat? : ACRO-
117. ’60s TV talking animal : MR ED
118. Go for the gold : MINE
119. Fabled favorite : HARE
120. Politico Bayh : EVAN
121. Dripping sandwich, maybe : MELT
123. Bambi’s aunt : ENA
124. Symbol of peace : VEE
126. “That’s really something!” : WOW!
93 minutes, no errors for me. Very annoying all the way through.
30:09, with one correction after getting the silent treatment. (I had provisionally put in ESO instead of ESA and didn’t notice that SET BOIL didn’t make a whole lot of sense.) Cute theme, but a bit of a slog, for sure … ?
I liked this but my time didn’t show it. I thought I was flying through it but when I stopped the timer – 70:39. ?
38:48. Nice to do something normal for a change. I needed almost 14 hours of sleep last night as I had been going non-stop for over 2 weeks now. That combined with a 16 ounce black coffee from Starbucks aided in my time. NYT has a good one today too.
Some clever cluing in this one – too many to list.
Best –
Was able to finish without looking anything up today, just took a while. Thought the theme was cute. Liked the start with WHIZBANGS.
@Carrie – Have been trying to think of clever #ruinabooktitleinoneletter ‘s. Here is my contribution:
Lord of the Fries
A Sale of Two Cities
The Mall of the Wild
Have a great day y’all!
-Megan
35:26, no errors, but needed 2 lookups, so asterisk*! Good puzzle though.
Bill, check your 30 across explanation for Nene. I think 29 across continued there instead.
@Heidi Birker
Thanks so much for catching my slip of the keyboard. All fixed now! I much appreciate the help.
Today’s Newsday puzzle: 21:54, no errors. A very easy solve …
Hi folks! ?
@Dave from Saturday–thanks!! I also think The Least of the Mohicans is legal….And I rather like it, if I may say…?
@Megan — nice!! I kinda want to go shopping at that mall….!!
This Sunday puzzle was kinda boring–or maybe I just wasn’t in the mood. DNF. Has anyone else noticed that we rarely say “DNF” anymore? I guess it’s due to the Great DNF Controversy of 2017, when we had varying theories as to when to use it. ?
Some fun titles from a friend:
The Illustrated Fan
Finnegan’s Cake
Be well~~™???