Day: September 27, 2022

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Constructed by: Christina Iverson
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Two Truths and a Lie

The themed answers start with, in turn, a type of TRUTH, a second type of TRUTH, and a type of LIE:

• 65A Ice-breaker activity involving three claims, or what the starts of the answers to the starred clues literally are : TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE

• 17A *Another thing altogether : WHOLE NEW BALLGAME (giving “whole truth”)
• 30A *William S. Burroughs novel : NAKED LUNCH (giving “naked truth”)
• 49A *Background sound that may be a sleep aid : WHITE NOISE (giving “white lie”)

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

Bill’s time: 7m 06s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

6 Cent : PENNY

The official name of our smallest denomination coin is “cent”, and our use of the word “penny” is just a colloquialism derived from the British coin of the same name. In the UK, the plural of penny is “pence”, whereas we have “pennies” in our pockets.

11 Gender-neutral German article : DAS
[5D Feminine German article : DIE]

The definite article in German is der, die or das, for masculine, feminine and neuter nouns. The indefinite article is ein, eine or ein, again depending on the gender of the noun. A further complication, relative to English, is that the masculine form (and only the masculine form) of the article changes when used in the accusative case, when used with the object of a sentence. The accusative forms are “den” and “einen”.

14 Food safety concern : E COLI

Escherichia coli (E. coli) are usually harmless bacteria found in the human gut, working away quite happily. However, there are some strains that can produce lethal toxins. These strains can make their way into the food chain from animal fecal matter that comes into contact with food designated for human consumption.

15 Infer : EDUCE

To educe is to draw out, although the term can also have a meaning similar to “deduce”.

17 *Another thing altogether : WHOLE NEW BALLGAME (giving “whole truth”)

Do you solemnly (swear/affirm) that you will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, (so help you God/under pains and penalties of perjury)?

20 Annual presidential speech, for short : SOTU

The US President’s State of the Union (SOTU) address is a requirement called out in Article II of the Constitution. George Washington gave the first address before a joint session of Congress in 1790. Thomas Jefferson discontinued the practice of making a personal address by sending Congress a written document that was then read out by a clerk. In 1913, Woodrow Wilson re-established the custom of delivering the message personally, there have been occasions since then when a written address has had to suffice, the last occasion being in 1981 when Jimmy Carter was in office.

21 Maker of Simply Radishing and Can’t Be Beet! nail polish : OPI

Opi (originally “Odontorium Products Inc.”) is a manufacturer of nail polish based in North Hollywood, California. One of Opi’s marketing coups was the introduction of a line of Legally Blonde 2 polishes, which featured in the film.

23 Chain reaction component : DOMINO

White masks with black spots were commonly seen in the old Venetian Carnival. The masks were known as “domini”. The domini loaned their name to the game of dominoes, due to the similarity in appearance between the mask and a domino tile.

27 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame architect : IM PEI

I. M. Pei (full name: Ieoh Ming Pei) was an exceptional American architect who was born in China. Of Pei’s many wonderful works, my favorite is the renovation of the Louvre in Paris, and especially the Glass Pyramid in the museum’s courtyard.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame can be visited on the shores of Lake Erie in Cleveland, Ohio. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation was created in 1983 and started inducting artists in 1986. The Foundation didn’t get a home until the museum was dedicated in Cleveland in 1995. I had the great privilege of visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame some years ago and really enjoyed myself. The magnificent building was designed by famed architect I. M. Pei.

30 *William S. Burroughs novel : NAKED LUNCH (giving “naked truth”)

“Naked Lunch” is a 1959 novel by William S. Burroughs that comprises a series of vignettes drawn from the author’s own experiences. The book was adapted into a 1991 film of the same name.

35 Pad thai strand : NOODLE

The delicious dish called pad Thai is a meld of stir-fried rice noodles with tamarind juice, red chili pepper plus a mix of vegetables and possibly tofu, meat or fish. It is usually topped with crushed peanuts, coriander and lime. The name “pad Thai” translates as “fried Thai-style”.

38 __ Angeles Kings : LOS

The Los Angeles Kings hockey team was founded in 1967 and joined the NHL as an expansion team. The Kings played their home games at the start of the first season not in Los Angeles, but rather in neighboring Long Beach, at the Long Beach Arena. Team owner Jack Kent Cooke built his own arena for the Kings called the Forum, which opened for business later in the season. The Kings called the Forum home for thirty-two years, until they moved to the Staples Center at the start of the 1999-2000 season.

39 Medium for many homemade cards : CRAYON

We use the word “crayon” for a stick of colored wax used for drawing. The term was imported in the 16th century from French, in which language it means “pencil”.

46 Interstate through Chicago : NINETY

I-90 runs in an east-west direction from Seattle to Boston, and is the longest interstate in the US. When I-90 was built, it made use of several existing roads, including the Massachusetts Turnpike, New York State Thruway, Ohio Turnpike, Indiana Toll Road, Chicago Skyway, and the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway.

49 *Background sound that may be a sleep aid : WHITE NOISE (giving “white lie”)

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 upper atmosphere.

52 High-IQ group : MENSA

Mensa is a high-IQ society that was founded in Oxford, England in 1946. The founders were two lawyers: Australian Roland Berrill and Englishman Lancelot Ware. Apparently, the elitist founders were unhappy with the development of Mensa, given that most members came from the working and lower classes.

53 “__ Lasso” : TED

“Ted Lasso” is a marvelous sports-comedy TV show about an American college football coach who moves to the UK to manage an English soccer team. The title character is played very admirably by Jason Sudeikas. Sudeikas first played Lasso in a series of TV commercials commissioned to promote NBC’s coverage of the British Premier League. Great stuff, and highly recommended …

54 Doodads : GIZMOS

The word “gizmo” (also “gismo”), meaning something the name of which is unknown or forgotten, was originally slang used by both the US Navy and the Marine Corps. The exact origin seems unknown.

60 Org. headed by Michael S. Regan : EPA

Michael S. Regan was nominated as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency by President Joe Biden, and he assumed office in 2021.

65 Ice-breaker activity involving three claims, or what the starts of the answers to the starred clues literally are : TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE

“Two truths and a lie” is an ice-breaking exercise in which participants make three statements about themselves, two of which are true, and one of which is a lie. The idea is for the other participants to identify the lie.

71 “Black-ish” role : DRE

“Black-ish” is a sitcom starring Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross that premiered in 2014. The lead actors play Dre and Rainbow Johnson, a married couple leading an upper-middle class black family. The show is noted for tackling tough issues such as racism, police brutality, attitudes toward the LGBT community, and the 2016 US presidential election.

73 Trait carriers : GENES

A gene is a section of a chromosome that is responsible for a particular characteristic in an organism. For example, one gene may determine eye color and another balding pattern. We have two copies of each gene, one from each of our parents, with each copy known as an allele.

Down

2 Cuatro x dos : OCHO

In Spanish, “ocho” (eight) is the product of “cuatro” (four) and “dos” (two).

3 Flue residue : SOOT

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.

7 Holly’s “Raising Arizona” role : EDWINA

1987’s “Raising Arizona” is a comedy crime film written by the Coen brothers, and directed by Joel Coen. It stars Nicolas Cage as an ex-convict, and Holly Hunter as the ex-convicts wife who is also a former police officer. “Raising Arizona” is one of those films that people seem to either love or hate.

Holly Hunter won her Best Actress Oscar for her performance in the 1993 film “The Piano”. Hunter is quite the pianist, and played all her piano pieces in the film herself.

9 March Madness gp. : NCAA

“March Madness” is the name given to the NCAA Men’s Division 1 Basketball Championship (among others), that is held in the spring each year. Another name is “the Big Dance”.

11 International reality show that inspired “Shark Tank” : DRAGONS’ DEN

“Shark Tank” is a reality television show that features aspiring entrepreneurs making pitches to potential investors (the “sharks”) as they try to grow their businesses. The show is a Mark Burnett production and is based on a British series called “Dragons’ Den”.

12 Pinnacle : ACME

The acme is the highest point. The term “acme” comes from the Greek word “akme” that has the same meaning.

Our word “pinnacle”, meaning “lofty peak”, comes from the Latin “pinna” meaning “peak, point”.

13 Writer Silverstein : SHEL

Author Shel Silverstein had a varied career and did a lot more than write books. He was a poet, composer, cartoonist and screenwriter among other things. One of his successful children’s books is “A Light in the Attic”, a collection of poems that was first published in 1981. Some parents have tried to get the book banned from libraries. The collection includes the poem “How Not to Have to Dry the Dishes”, which encourages disobedience and making a mess. Scandalous …

18 __ de plume : NOM

“Nom de plume” translates from French simply as “pen name”.

24 Cruet contents : OIL

A cruet is a small glass bottle that holds a condiment or perhaps a dressing. The word “cruet” comes from an Old French word meaning “earthen pot”.

29 Sticky reminder : POST-IT NOTE

The Post-it note was invented at 3M following the accidental discovery of a low-tack, reusable adhesive. The actual intent of the development program was to produce a super-strong adhesive.

31 Genre associated with black eyeliner : EMO

“Emo” is short for “emotional hardcore”.

32 Country duo Brooks & __ : DUNN

Brooks & Dunn was a country music duo made up of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn.

33 “Two mints in one” mint : CERTS

Certs were the first breath mints to be marketed nationally in the US, hitting the shelves in 1956. A Cert is called a mint, but it isn’t really as it contains no mint oil and instead has its famous ingredient named “Retsyn”. Retsyn is a mixture of copper gluconate (giving the green flecks), partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil (not healthy!) and flavoring (maybe mint?).

34 2003 Outkast hit : HEY YA!

OutKast is a hip hop duo consisting of rappers André 3000 and Big Boi.

40 Milne joey : ROO

Like most of the characters in A. A. Milne’s “Winnie-the-Pooh”, the kangaroo named “Roo” was inspired by a stuffed toy belonging to Milne’s son Christopher Robin.

41 Sacha Baron Cohen persona : ALI G

Sacha Baron Cohen is a comedian and comic actor from England. He is perhaps most famous for playing the characters Borat and Ali G on the small and large screens. I’m wasn’t a fan, but I must admit that I really enjoyed 2020’s “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”.

44 Artery inserts : STENTS

In the world of surgical medicine, a stent is an artificial tube inserted inside a vessel in the body, say an artery, in order to reduce the effects of a local restriction in the body’s conduit.

45 Fragrant wood : CEDAR

Cedar is used for the manufacture of some wardrobes and chests as it has long been believed that the fragrant oil in the wood is a moth-repellent. However, whether or not cedar oil is actually effective at keeping moths away seems to be in doubt.

47 “If u ask me … ” : IMO …

In my opinion (IMO)

48 Brand that had instant success? : NESCAFE

Nescafé is an instant coffee brand made by Nestlé. The name is a portmanteau of “Nestlé” and “café”. Nescafé was developed in the thirties and introduced to the market in 1938.

50 Afternoon nap : SIESTA

We use the word “siesta” to describe a short nap in the early afternoon, and imported the word into English from Spanish. In turn, the Spanish word is derived from the Latin “hora sexta” meaning “the sixth hour”. The idea is that the nap is taken at the sixth hour after dawn.

51 Toll-paying convenience : E-ZPASS

E-ZPass was a technology development driven (pun!) by the tolling agencies of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The first E-ZPass toll booth was built on the New York Thruway, and opened at the Spring Valley toll plaza in 1993.

56 Survivor’s struggle, briefly : PTSD

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

57 Carafe kin : EWER

A pitcher is a container for liquid that has a handle, mouth and spout. The term “jug” is used for the same container in other English-speaking countries. “Ewer” is an older term describing a pitcher/jug. Today, a ewer is a highly decorative pitcher, often with a base and flared spout.

A carafe is a container made from glass that has no handles, and no stopper.

58 No __, no fuss : MUSS

“Muss” means “state of disorder”, and is a term that probably evolved from “mess”. The phrase “no muss, no fuss” means “no bother, no mess made, no excessive hustle and bustle”.

59 Jazz legend James : ETTA

Etta James was best known for her beautiful rendition of the song “At Last”. Sadly, as she disclosed in her autobiography, James lived a life that was ravaged by drug addiction leading to numerous legal and health problems. Ms. James passed away in January 2012 having suffered from leukemia.

62 Actor Rickman : ALAN

Alan Rickman was a marvelous English actor, one famous for playing bad guy Hans Gruber in the original “Die Hard” film, Severus Snape in the “Harry Potter” series and (my personal favorite) Eamon de Valera in “Michael Collins”. Sadly, Rickman passed away in January 2016, after which fans created a memorial under the “Platform 9¾” sign in London’s Kings Cross Railway Station, from where the Hogwarts Express is said to depart in the “Harry Potter” universe.

63 __ wave : SINE

A sine wave is a mathematical function that describes a simple, smooth, repetitive oscillation. The sine wave is found right throughout the natural world. Ocean waves, light waves and sound waves all have a sine wave pattern.