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Constructed by: Pam Klawitter
Edited by: Patti Varol
Today’s Theme: Moving In
Themed answers all end in -ING, with each sound like a common phrase ending in -ON:
- 24A Task for the caregivers of a Trojan War hero? : ACHILLES TENDING (sounds like “Achilles tendon”)
- 36A Method of preserving souvenir tops? : T-SHIRT CANNING (sounds like “T-shirt cannon”)
- 51A Activity in a Toronto pastry shop? : CANADIAN BAKING (sounds like “Canadian bacon”)
- 65A Tall tales about one’s climbing experience? : MOUNTAIN LYING (sounds like “mountain lion”)
- 84A Greeting that may come with barks and licks? : WELCOME WAGGING (sounds like “Welcome Wagon”)
- 95A Rodent who’s really angry he missed the migration? : BITTER LEMMING (sounds like “bitter lemon”)
- 114A Good-natured fun leading up to an election? : CAMPAIGN RIBBING (sounds like “campaign ribbon”)
Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers
Want to discuss the puzzle? Then …
… leave a comment
Bill’s time: 15m 20s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
5 “One Kiss” singer __ Lipa : DUA
“One Kiss” is a 2018 song co-written and recorded by English-Albanian singer Dua Lipa and Scottish DJ Calvin Harris. It was a big hit in the UK, winning the 2019 Brit Award for British Single of the Year, and spending eight weeks at the top of the UK Singles Chart.
8 Southwestern building block : ADOBE
The building material known as adobe has been around a long time, and has been used in dry climates all over the world. The original form of the word “adobe” dates back to Middle Egyptian times, about 2000 BC. The original spelling is “dj-b-t”, and translates as mud (sun-dried) brick.
18 Sans-__: font style : SERIF
Serifs are details on the ends of characters in some typefaces. Typefaces without serifs are known as sans-serif, using the French word “sans” meaning “without” and “serif” from the Dutch “schreef” meaning “line”. Some people say that serif fonts are easier to read on paper, whereas sans-serif fonts work better on a computer screen. I’m not so sure though …
20 Liberty Mutual’s industry: Abbr. : INS
Liberty Mutual is an insurance company based in Boston. The business was founded in 1912 as the Massachusetts Employees Insurance Association (MEIA). Liberty Mutual has a famous advertising icon named LiMu Emu.
21 Toyota’s luxury division : LEXUS
Lexus is the luxury brand of the Toyota Motor Company. As an aside, Infiniti is the equivalent luxury brand for the Nissan Motor Company, and Acura is the more luxurious version of Honda’s models.
22 Common newspaper name : TIMES
“The Times” of London was the first newspaper to bear the “Times” name. The venerable publication was founded in 1785 as “The Daily Universal Register”, and became “The Times” in 1788.
23 Saudi neighbor : OMANI
Oman lies on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula and is neighbored by the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Oman is a monarchy, and the official name of the state is the Sultanate of Oman. All of the country’s legislative, executive and judiciary power resides with the hereditary sultan.
24 Task for the caregivers of a Trojan War hero? : ACHILLES TENDING (sounds like “Achilles tendon”)
The Achilles tendon is located at the back of the leg, above the heel. The name is a reference to Achilles, the hero of Greek myth who was invulnerable in all of his body except for his heel.
Achilles is the protagonist in Homer’s “Iliad”. When Achilles was born, his mother attempted to make him immortal by dipping him into the River Styx. As he was held by the heel while under the water, this became the only vulnerable point on his body (his Achilles’ heel”). Years later he was killed when a poisoned arrow struck him in the heel. That arrow was shot by Paris.
27 __ optics : FIBER
Optical fibers are lengths of glass or plastic that are slightly thicker than a human hair. They are usually bundled into cables, and then used for transmission of data signals. Optical transmission has advantages over electrical transmission, especially in terms of interference and loss of signal strength.
28 Tolkien saga, briefly : LOTR
J. R. R. Tolkien’s novel “The Lord of the Rings” (LOTR) consists of the three volumes:
- “The Fellowship of the Ring”
- “The Two Towers”
- “The Return of the King”
29 Forbes rival : INC
“Inc.” is a business magazine that specializes in articles about growing companies. “Inc.” publishes a list of the 500 fastest-growing private companies in the country each year, calling it the “Inc. 500”. The “Inc. 5000” is an expanded list also published by the magazine.
30 Vitamin C source : CITRUS
The essential nutrient referred to as vitamin C is also known as L-ascorbic acid or ascorbate. A lack of vitamin C causes the disease scurvy.
31 Chicago business district : THE LOOP
The historic commercial center of Chicago is known as the Loop. One theory is that the “loop” got its name from the cable loops in the city’s old cable car system. An alternative theory is that the term only arose with the construction of the elevated railway “loop” that forms the hub of the city’s “L” system.
34 Bootleg booze : HOOCH
In the Klondike gold rush, a favorite tipple of the miners was “Hoochinoo”, a liquor made by the native Alaskans. Soon after “hooch” (also “hootch”) was adopted as a word for cheap whiskey.
To bootleg is to make or smuggle alcoholic drinks illegally. The term arose in the late 1800s as slang for the practice of concealing a flask of liquor down the leg of a high boot. The term has been extended to mean the illegal production and sale of just about anything.
42 March on Washington fig. : MLK
1963’s March on Washington was one of the largest political rallies in the history of the US, with about a quarter of a million people participating in the march itself. The rally was a call for civil and economic rights for African Americans. Famously, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech to the protesters while standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
47 Iris covering : CORNEA
The cornea is the transparent part of the eye in the front, and the part that covers the iris and the pupil. Even though the cornea is not part of the eye’s lens, it acts as a lens. In fact, the cornea does most of the work focusing light coming in through the eye. It is, in effect, a fixed-focus lens passing on light to the variable-focus lens that is inside the eye.
51 Activity in a Toronto pastry shop? : CANADIAN BAKING (sounds like “Canadian bacon”)
What we tend to call “Canadian bacon” in the US, we know as “rashers” in Ireland. One of my uncles worked in the meat trade in Dublin, and his nickname was “Rasher”.
55 Ethiopian capital : ADDIS ABABA
Addis Ababa, which means “new flower” in Amharic, is the capital city of Ethiopia and one of the highest capital cities in the world, situated at an altitude of 2,400 meters above sea level. It is also home to the African Union, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and other international organizations.
59 Certain lamp resident : GENIE
The “genie” in the bottle takes his or her name from “djinn”. “Djinns” were various spirits considered lesser than angels, with people exhibiting unsavory characteristics said to be possessed by djinn. When the book “The Thousand and One Nights” was translated into French, the word “djinn” was transformed into the existing word “génie”, because of the similarity in sound and the related spiritual meaning. This “génie” from the Arabian tale became confused with the Latin-derived “genius”, a guardian spirit thought to be assigned to each person at birth. Purely as a result of that mistranslation the word genie has come to mean the “djinn” that pops out of the bottle. A little hard to follow, I know, but still quite interesting …
60 “Breathe Me” singer : SIA
“Breathe Me” was released in 2004 by Sia and quickly became a hit, especially after being featured in the finale of the TV series “Six Feet Under.” Interestingly, Sia has stated in interviews that she wrote the song in just 15 minutes while feeling frustrated and stuck in her career.
61 Fuel-efficient bikes : MOPEDS
The word “moped” was coined in 1952 by a Swedish journalist named Harald Nielsen. The term is a portmanteau of “motor” and “pedal”.
63 Bertie played by Hugh Laurie : WOOSTER
English author P. G. Wodehouse’s full name was Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse. He is most famous for penning the stories about the goofy Bertie Wooster and his wise and wonderful valet Jeeves. Wodehouse moved to France in 1934, to minimize his tax liability. During WWII he was interned by the Germans for nearly a year, and made broadcasts to the US for the enemy from Germany. Even though his on air talks were relatively apolitical and humorous, they were not well received in his homeland. Wodehouse never returned to England, and died in New York in 1975.
English actor and comedian Hugh Laurie used to be half of a comedy double act with Stephen Fry called simply “Fry and Laurie”. Fry and Laurie met in Cambridge University through their mutual friend, actress Emma Thompson. Over in North America, Laurie is best known for playing the title role in the medical drama “House”.
65 Tall tales about one’s climbing experience? : MOUNTAIN LYING (sounds like “mountain lion”)
The mountain lion is found in much of the Americas from the Yukon in Canada right down to the southern Andes in South America. Because the mountain lion is found over such a vast area, it has many different names applied by local peoples, such as “cougar” and “puma”. In fact, the mountain lion holds the Guinness record for the animal with the most number of different names, with over 40 in English alone.
69 Many an episode of “This Is Us,” e.g. : SOBFEST
“This Is Us” is a television drama that debuted in 2016. The storyline centers on three siblings Kevin, Kate and Randall Pearson and their parents Jack and Rebecca Pearson. Kevin and Kate are the surviving members of a triplet pregnancy. Jack and Rebecca decide to adopt Randall, a child born on the same day as the surviving siblings. The adopting family is white, and the adopted child is black.
73 Kir __: French cocktail : ROYALE
Kir is a French cocktail made by adding a teaspoon or so of crème de cassis (blackcurrant liqueur) to a glass, and then topping it off with white wine. The drink is named after Felix Kir, the Mayor of Dijon in Burgundy, who used to offer the drink to his guests. My wife is particularly fond of a variant called a kir royale, in which the white wine is replaced with champagne.
78 Tallahassee sch. : 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 of Florida.
81 “Some Like It Hot” co-star : TONY CURTIS
Tony Curtis was a Hollywood legend and one of the most famous actors of the 1950s and 1960s. He starred in more than 100 films during his career, including classic movies such as “Some Like It Hot,” “The Defiant Ones,” and “Sweet Smell of Success.” Curtis was also a talented painter and had several exhibitions of his artwork throughout his life. In 2007, he had a joint exhibition with his daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis, titled “Some Like It Hot: Tony Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis.”
“Some Like it Hot” is such a fun movie, It was released in 1959 and directed by Billy Wilder. The big three in the cast are Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. Several years ago a stage version of “Some Like It Hot” was playing in San Francisco, with Tony Curtis in the cast. This time he played the older man who was wooing the Jack Lemmon character in the movie.
84 Greeting that may come with barks and licks? : WELCOME WAGGING (sounds like “Welcome Wagon”)
Welcome Wagon is a company that was founded in 1928 in Memphis. The company contacts new homeowners with coupons and advertisements from local businesses. Up until 1998, new homeowners would be contacted by Welcome Wagon “hostesses” who provided the coupons and advertisements in gift baskets, along with free product samples.
88 Dry Italian wine : SOAVE
Soave is a dry white wine produced in the area around the city of Verona in northeast Italy. Soave is a small town located near Verona.
89 __ Major : URSA
The constellation Ursa Major (Latin for “Larger Bear”) is often just called “the Big Dipper” because of its resemblance to a ladle or dipper. Ursa Major also resembles a plow, and that’s what we usually call the same constellation back in Ireland, “the Plough”.
93 School org. : PTA
Parent-Teacher Association (PTA)
94 __ drop : MIC
A mic drop takes place when a performer has done particularly well and decides to celebrate by throwing or dropping the microphone to the floor. That doesn’t seem to happen at the performances I tend to frequent …
95 Rodent who’s really angry he missed the migration? : BITTER LEMMING (sounds like “bitter lemon”)
Lemmings are small rodents that live in cold climates, usually in or around the Arctic. There is a misconception that lemmings are prone to commit mass suicide. What is true is that like many animal species, lemmings are prone to mass migration, especially when the population in one area gets too great. Lemmings can swim, and will jump into a body of water in order to cross it. However, some lemmings may drown in the attempt. So, the lemmings jump en masse into a body of water to cross it, not to commit suicide. Then there was the famous Disney “White Wilderness” incident. Disney shot footage of lemmings “committing mass suicide” for the 1958 film “White Wilderness”. In fact, the lemmings in the morbid scene were flown to the location of the shoot, and were launched off a cliff using a turntable. Despicable …
99 Rizzo of “Midnight Cowboy” : RATSO
Enrico Salvatore “Ratso” Rizzo is one of the characters in the groundbreaking 1969 movie “Midnight Cowboy”. Rizzo is a down-and-out con man played by Dustin Hoffman.
The 1969 movie “Midnight Cowboy” is a Hollywood adaptation of a novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. It’s a pretty depressing story about a young Texan named Joe Buck (played by Jon Voight) who heads to New York City to make money as a hustler, hiring himself out to women for sex. Pretty soon the young man ends up selling his body for sex with males as well. Prior to release the MPAA gave the movie an R-rating, but the United Artists studio took advice and decided to release it with an X-rating. When “Midnight Cowboy” won the Best Picture Academy Award in 1969, it became the only X-rated film to be so honored.
101 Horn of Africa nation : SOMALIA
The Horn of Africa is that horn-shaped peninsula at the easternmost tip of the continent, containing the countries Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia as well as Somalia. The Horn of Africa is also known as the Somali Peninsula.
102 Tubman of Judy Blume’s “Fudge” series : SHEILA
Judy Blume writes novels for children and young adults. Blume’s novels for teens were groundbreaking when first published, tackling such difficult subjects as racism, divorce and bullying.
105 SUV stat : MPG
Miles per gallon (mpg)
108 Taylor Swift’s “Look What You __ Me Do” : MADE
“Look What You Made Me Do” is a 2017 song co-written and released by Taylor Swift. The song’s official music video broke the record for the most views on YouTube in its first 24 hours, with 43.2 million views.
109 Genius Bar tablets : IPADS
The technical support desk found in Apple Retail Stores is rather inventively called the Genius Bar. The certified support technicians are known as “Geniuses”. The trainees are called GYOs: Grow-Your-Own-Geniuses.
117 Gymnast Comaneci : NADIA
Romanian Nadia Comaneci won three golds in the 1976 Summer Olympics and was the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of ten in the gymnastics competition. Comaneci published a book called “Letters to a Young Gymnast” in 2003, and now lives in the United States.
119 Garlicky mayonnaise : AIOLI
Aioli is a French sauce made from garlic, egg yolks, and olive oil. The word “aioli” comes from “alh”, the Provençal word for garlic, and “oli”, a Catalan word meaning “oil”.
120 “Da 5 Bloods” director Spike : LEE
“Da 5 Bloods” is a 2020 Spike Lee film about four aging veterans of the Vietnam War who go back to Vietnam. Their mission is to find the remains of their fallen squad leader, and to find a stash of gold bars they hid during the conflict. I haven’t seen this one, but am putting it on “the list” …
121 Serengeti grazer : ELAND
The eland (plural “eland, elands”) is a large African antelope, in fact the largest antelope on the planet. Both male and female eland have horns, and those horns have a steady spiral ridge along their length.
The Serengeti is a region in Africa located in northern Tanzania and southwest Kenya. The name “Serengeti” comes from the Maasai language and means “Endless Plains”.
122 John Irving’s “A Prayer for Owen __” : MEANY
“A Prayer for Owen Meany” is a novel by John Irving that was first published in 1989. Although Irving’s work is an independent story, it was written as a homage to “The Tin Drum” by Günter Grass.
123 Painter Picasso : PABLO
Pablo Picasso was not only a prolific painter, but he was also a talented poet. He wrote hundreds of poems throughout his life, many of which were published in literary magazines and newspapers. Picasso also created numerous illustrations to accompany his poetry.
124 AARP folks : SRS
The AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) was founded in 1958 and initially focused on providing health insurance to older Americans.
125 Hook’s sidekick : SMEE
Smee is often portrayed as a bumbling, hapless character in adaptations of “Peter Pan”, but in the original play by J.M. Barrie, he is actually a skilled pirate who is second-in-command to Captain Hook.
Down
2 __-glace: rich sauce : DEMI
Demi-glace is a sauce that’s rich and brown, and is used in French cuisine. The name translates as “half glaze” and comprises veal stock mixed with espagnole sauce. It’s a little more work to make demi-glace, as one has to also make an espagnole sauce as one of the main ingredients. As a result, some chefs just use a veal stock instead, which Julia Child used to call a “semi-demi-glace”.
4 Trigonometry function : SINE
Trigonometry (trig) is a branch of mathematics dealing with triangles, and calculations based on the relationship between a triangle’s angles and the lengths of its sides.
5 Cockney, e.g. : DIALECT
A Cockney is someone who, according to tradition, is born within the sound of Bow Bells in the center of London. The Cockney accent is usually considered “working class”. Cockney speakers often use a wonderful form of speech called rhyming slang. So, Cockney’s drink a lot of “Rosie Lea” (tea), and climb the “apples and pears” (stairs) using their “plates of meat” (feet). Cockneys also tend to “drop their aitches”, so “home” becomes “‘ome” and “horse” becomes “‘orse”.
6 7UP nickname, with “the” : … UNCOLA
7UP was introduced to the world as “Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda”, and was a patent medicine that contained lithium citrate, a mood-stabilizing drug. The introduction of a mood-stabilizing medication was pretty timely, as the 1929 Wall Street Crash happened just two weeks later. 7UP’s “Uncola” advertising campaign dates back to 1967.
7 Kutcher of “Jobs” : ASHTON
Ashton Kutcher played the character Michael Kelso on Fox’s “That ‘70s Show”. Kelso was Kutcher’s breakthrough acting role. Kutcher then starred in the sitcom “Two and a Half Men”, replacing the “disgraced” Charlie Sheen. In 2009, Kutcher became the first user on Twitter to get over 1 million followers.
“Jobs” is a 2013 biopic about high-tech entrepreneur Steve Jobs. Ashton Kutcher plays the title role, and Josh Gad plays Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak. Wozniak served as a consultant on the film and provided input on the accuracy of the events depicted.
8 Tide alternative : ALL
All laundry detergent was first introduced in the market in 1959. The name All was chosen because it was designed to clean all types of fabrics and all types of washing machines.
10 Team members : OXEN
Oxen are herbivorous animals that have been domesticated for thousands of years, often used for pulling carts, plowing fields, and carrying heavy loads. They are usually castrated male cattle, castrated so that they are more docile and easier to train.
11 Anheuser-__ : BUSCH
Adolphus Busch was born in Mainz in Germany. He emigrated with three of his brothers from Germany, to St. Louis in 1857. Still a young man, he met a married Lilly Anheuser, whose father owned a local brewery. When Busch’s own father died, he received a sizable inheritance, which he used to buy a substantial share in his father-in-law’s brewery. When Lilly’s father died, the brewery was renamed to Anheuser Busch.
13 Christmas Eve visitor, familiarly : ST NICK
Saint Nicholas of Myra is the inspiration for Santa Claus. Nicholas was the Bishop of Myra (now in modern-day Turkey) during the 4th century AD, and was known for being generous to the poor. Centuries after he died, his remains were desecrated by Italian sailors and moved to Bari in Italy. One legend has it that the relics were moved again centuries later and reburied in the grounds of Jerpoint Abbey in Co. Kilkenny in Ireland, where you can visit the grave today. I choose to believe that Santa Claus’s relics are indeed buried in Ireland …
15 Boy in “The Kite Runner” : AMIR
“The Kite Runner” was the first novel by Khaled Hosseini, published in 2003. The very successful book became an equally successful film released in 2007. “The Kite Runner” tells the story of a young boy named Amir growing up in Kabul, Afghanistan. Author Hosseini is a medical doctor, but after the success of “The Kite Runner” he gave up his practice and is now a full-time writer. His second book, “A Thousand Splendid Suns”, is also a great success.
16 Eye care brand : RENU
ReNu is a brand name of contact lens products sold by Bausch & Lomb.
17 Inbox fillers: Abbr. : MSGS
Message (msg.)
19 Some evergreens : FIR TREES
Firs are evergreen coniferous trees, with several species being popular as Christmas trees. The most commonly used species during the holidays are the Nordmann fir, noble fir, Fraser fir and balsam fir. We also see a lot of Douglas fir trees at Christmas, but they’re not actually true firs.
26 Big name in water purification : ECOLAB
Ecolab is a company that provides mainly cleaning products to the hospitality and foodservice markets. Ecolab was founded in 1923 as Economics Laboratory, with the company’s first product being a cleaning solution for carpets in hotels.
32 Growth chart nos. : HTS
Height (ht.)
33 Printing measure : PICA
A pica is a unit of measure used in typography. One pica is equivalent to 1/6 of an inch. Also, each pica unit contains 12 points.
36 Wardrobe item on HBO’s “Rome” : TOGA
In ancient Rome, the color of a man’s toga could indicate the wearer’s social status. For example, a plain white toga (known as a “toga candida”) was worn by candidates for political office, while a “toga praetexta” with a purple border was worn by magistrates and certain priests. A “toga picta”, which was decorated with elaborate embroidery and gold trim, was reserved for victorious generals and triumphal processions.
“Rome” is a historical drama television series that premiered in 2005. The show depicts the political and social turmoil that characterized the transition from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire, with a focus on the lives of two soldiers, Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo. “Rome” was one of the most expensive TV series ever produced at the time of its creation, with a budget of around $100 million for the first season alone. The production was so costly that the show was initially intended to have three seasons, but it was ultimately cut short after just two due to financial constraints.
37 Taters : SPUDS
The word “spud”, used as a slang term for “potato”, was first recorded in the mid-1800s, in New Zealand would you believe?
38 Klum of “Making the Cut” : HEIDI
German-born Heidi Klum was married to the successful English singer, Seal. Klum is a talented lady and has built a multi-faceted career based on her early success as a model. She is the force behind the Bravo reality show called “Project Runway” that has been on the air since 2004. Klum has been nominated 4-5 times for an Emmy for her association with the show. Klum was also signed up as the official ambassador for Barbie in 2009, the 50th anniversary of the Barbie Doll, and for her service that year a Heidi Klum Barbie was produced. She has been adding a touch of class to the judging panel on the show “America’s Got Talent” from 2013 through 2020.
“Making the Cut” is a reality TV fashion competition series that premiered in March 2020. The show was created by Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum, who were both previously involved with the hit fashion competition show “Project Runway.”
39 Setting of the 2022 film “RRR” : INDIA
“RRR” is a 2022 Indian Telugu-language period action film. It is set in the 1920s and is based on the lives of two real-life freedom fighters, Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem. The film is a fictional retelling of their fight against the British Raj and the Nizam of Hyderabad. “RRR” had a massive budget of over $60 million USD, making it one of the most expensive films ever made in Indian cinema.
40 Lymph __ : NODE
Lymph is a fluid that exists alongside blood in the body that is transported through lymph vessels. One of the functions of the system is to pick up bacteria in the body, transporting them to lymph nodes where they are destroyed by lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). Lymph can also carry metastatic cancer cells that can lodge in lymph nodes, making lymph nodes a common site where tumors may be found growing.
43 Smock stain : PAINT
A smock is an outer garment that is often worn as protection for one’s clothing. Today, the term often applies to the protective garment worn by a painter.
44 Bert’s BFF : ERNIE
Bert and Ernie are two of the most beloved Muppet characters on the children’s television program “Sesame Street.” Their characters were originally created by Jim Henson and his team to be different from each other in every way possible. Bert is the more serious, analytical and uptight one, while Ernie is more carefree, spontaneous and playful. The contrast between their personalities was intentional, as it was meant to help children learn about different personalities and how to get along with people who may be different from themselves.
48 “Illmatic” rapper : NAS
Rapper Nas used to go by an earlier stage name “Nasty Nas”, and before that by his real name “Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones”. Nas released his first album “Illmatic” in 1994, and inventively titled his fifth studio album “Stillmatic”, released in 2001.
51 Crunch’s rank : CAP’N
The first Cap’n Crunch commercials aired in 1963, at the time the product line was launched. The Cap’n’s full name is Captain Horatio Magellan Crunch, would you believe? Crunch’s voice was provided for many years by Daws Butler, the same voice actor who gave us Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound. Cap’n Crunch is commander of the S.S. Guppy.
52 Disable the security system for, say : ABET
The word “abet” comes into English from the Old French “abeter” meaning “to bait” or “to harass with dogs” (literally “to make bite”). This sense of encouraging something bad to happen morphed into our modern usage of “abet” meaning to aid or encourage someone in a crime.
53 Zilch : NADA
We use the term “zilch” to mean “nothing”. Our current usage evolved in the sixties, before which the term was used to describe “meaningless speech”. There was a comic character called Mr. Zilch in the 1930s in “Ballyhoo” magazine. Mr. Zilch’s name probably came from the American college slang “Joe Zilch” that was used in the early 1900s for “an insignificant person”.
56 “Famous” cookie-maker : AMOS
Wally Amos was a talent agent, one who was in the habit of taking home-baked cookies with him as an enticement to get celebrities to see him. He was urged by friends to open a cookie store (the cookies were that delicious, I guess) and this he did in Los Angeles in 1975 using the name “Famous Amos”. The store was a smash hit and he was able to build on the success by introducing his cookies into supermarkets. The brand was eventually purchased, making Wally a rich man, and Famous Amos cookies are still flying off the shelf. Wally Amos also became an energetic literacy advocate. He hosted 30 TV programs in 1987 entitled “Learn to Read” that provided reading instruction targeted at adults.
64 Two Grants : ONE C
“C-note” and “C-spot” are slang terms for “$100 bill”.
President Ulysses S. Grant appears on the obverse of the US fifty-dollar bill. There have been two unsuccessful attempts in recent years in Congress to have President Grant’s image replaced with that of President Ronald Reagan.
65 Ten-time NBA All-Star Anthony, to fans : MELO
Carmelo Anthony is a basketball player who played college basketball with the Syracuse Orange before entering the NBA draft in 2003 after just one year at university. Above and beyond basketball, Anthony is a soccer fan. He founded the professional club Puerto Rico FC in 2015, but the team went on an indefinite hiatus following severe damage to the club’s home arena by Hurricane Maria in 2017.
67 Fourvière locale : LYON
The city of Lyon in France is sometimes known as “Lyons” in English. Lyon is the second-largest metropolitan area in the country, after Paris. It is located just to the north of the confluence of the Rhône and Saône Rivers.
Fourvière is a historic hill in the city of Lyon, France. It is known as “the hill that prays”, because of its numerous religious sites, including the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, which is dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
68 Yin counterpart : YANG
The yin and yang can be illustrated using many different metaphors. In one, as the sun shines on a mountain, the side in the shade is the yin and the side in the light is the yang. The yin is also regarded as the feminine side, and the yang the masculine. The yin can also be associated with the moon, while the yang is associated with the sun.
69 Escorted to the penthouse, say : SAW UP
Originally, the term “penthouse” described a modest building attached to a main structure. In fact, in centuries past, the manger in which Jesus was born was often referred to as a penthouse. The modern, more luxurious connotation dates back to the early twenties.
71 Light wood : BALSA
Balsa is a very fast-growing tree that is native to parts of South America. Even though balsa wood is very soft, it is actually classified as a hardwood, the softest of all the hardwoods (go figure!). Balsa is light and strong, so is commonly used in making model airplanes. In WWII, a full-size British plane, the de Havilland Mosquito, was built largely from balsa and plywood. No wonder they called it “The Wooden Wonder” and “The Timber Terror”.
72 Pay stub abbr. : FICA
The Federal Insurance Contributions Act tax (FICA) was introduced in the 1930s as part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal. FICA payments are made by both employees and employers in order to fund Social Security and Medicare.
75 Arcade pioneer : ATARI
Atari was founded in 1972, and was one of the pioneers in the video game industry. One of the company’s early employees was Steve Jobs, who was hired to work on the game design for the arcade game “Breakout”. Jobs was tasked with reducing the number of chips needed for the game and he recruited his friend, Steve Wozniak, to help with the project. Wozniak designed a circuit board that used only 46 chips, a significant improvement over the original design that had over 100 chips.
76 Lounge piece : DIVAN
Divans are essentially couches without backs or arms. The design originated in the Middle East, where the couches were commonly found lining the walls of an office that was known as a “divan” or “diwan” meaning “government office”.
78 Subject line abbr. : FWD
Forward (fwd.)
79 Old car from Sweden : SAAB
“SAAB” stands for Svenska Aeroplan AB, which translates into English as Swedish Aeroplane Limited. Although we usually think of SAAB as an auto manufacturer, it is mainly an aircraft manufacturer. If you take small hops in Europe you might find yourself on a SAAB passenger plane. The SAAB automotive division was acquired by General Motors in the year 2000, who then sold it to a Dutch concern in 2010. However, SAAB (automotive) finally went bankrupt in 2011. The assets were acquired in 2012 by NEVS (National Electric Vehicle Sweden), a new company that used the SAAB name on its vehicles for several years.
80 Fruit that’s not so cute : UGLI
The ugli fruit is a hybrid of an orange and a tangerine that was first discovered growing wild in Jamaica where most ugli fruit comes from today. “UGLI” is a trademark name that is a variant of “ugly”, a nod to the fruit’s unsightly wrinkled rind.
82 Ship sunk in Havana Harbor in 1898 : USS MAINE
The USS Maine was a pre-dreadnought battleship launched in 1890. The Maine sunk in Havana Harbor in 1898 due to a massive explosion. A Naval Court of Inquiry found that the explosion was caused by a mine, a finding that helped precipitate the start of the Spanish-American War that began one month later. Those advocating the war were often heard crying, “Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain!”
83 Hong Kong’s Hang __ Index : SENG
The Hang Seng Index (HSI) is the most important stock market index reported from Hong Kong. The index was started in 1969 by one of the largest banks in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Bank.
85 Tiki bar drink : MAI TAI
The mai tai cocktail is strongly associated with the Polynesian islands, but the drink was supposedly invented in 1944 in Trader Vic’s restaurant in Oakland, California. One recipe is 6 parts white rum, 3 parts orange curaçao, 3 parts orgeat syrup, 1 part rock candy syrup, 2 parts fresh lime juice, all mixed with ice and then a float added of 6 parts dark rum. “Maita’i” is the Tahitian word for “good”.
The world’s first tiki bar was called “Don the Beachcomber”, and was opened in L.A. in 1933 by Ernest Gantt (also known as “Donn Beach”). The bar became famous for its exotic rum cocktails. Gantt was called to serve in WWII, and the business expanded dramatically under his ex-wife’s management so that there was a 160-restaurant chain waiting for Gantt when he returned stateside.
86 RSVP cards, often : ENCS
Enclosure (enc.)
“RSVP” stands for “répondez s’il vous plaît”, which is French for “answer, please”.
92 Plumeria garland : LEI
The plumeria genus of plants has the common name “frangipani”. The genus is named after French botanist Charles Plumier. The common name comes from an Italian noble family with roots in ancient Rome. Various species of plumeria are commonly used for making leis in several Pacific islands.
96 “Lara Croft: __ Raider” : TOMB
“Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” is a 2001 action movie that is a spinoff of the very successful video game series “Tomb Raider”. Angelina Jolie plays the title character, and did most of her own stunts during filming. She underwent extensive training in martial arts, weapons handling, and rock climbing. Jolie injured herself during filming while performing a stunt that involved jumping off a balcony and landing on a chandelier. She hit her head on the floor and temporarily lost consciousness, but was able to continue filming after receiving medical attention. I really wanted to enjoy this film, but that didn’t happen …
98 Original “SNL” cast member Gilda : RADNER
Gilda Radner was a comedian and actress, and one of the original cast members of the hit television show “Saturday Night Live”. Radner left her first husband to marry comedic actor Gene Wilder, whom she met while they were both filming the Sidney Poitier movie “Hanky Panky”.
100 __ vincit amor : OMNIA
“Omnia vincit amor” is a line from Eclogue X, one of the major works of the Latin poet Virgil. We know the phrase in English as “love conquers all”.
103 Fabled loser : 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.
104 Watson of “Little Women” : EMMA
Actress Emma Watson is best known for her role as Hermione Granger in the “Harry Potter” film series, which she started at the age of 11. Watson is a highly educated individual, having graduated from Brown University with a bachelor’s degree in English literature. She has also studied at Oxford University and has been recognized for her academic achievements. She is also a talented musician and has played the guitar and the piano in several films.
107 Fish organ : GILL
A fish’s gills are the organs equivalent to the lungs of many land animals. The gills can extract oxygen dissolved in water and excrete carbon dioxide.
110 BFFs : PALS
Best friend forever (BFF)
111 Singer Lambert : ADAM
Singer Adam Lambert is one of the “successes” to come out of the “American Idol” machine. After hitting the big times, Lambert started a collaboration with Brian May and Roger Taylor, performing as Queen + Adam Lambert.
113 “Soldier of Love” singer : SADE
“Soldier of Love” is the title track of English band Sade’s sixth studio album, released in 2010, and it marked the band’s return to the music scene after a ten-year hiatus.
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Performs an operation, in a way : ADDS
5 “One Kiss” singer __ Lipa : DUA
8 Southwestern building block : ADOBE
13 Buzzing cloud : SWARM
18 Sans-__: font style : SERIF
20 Liberty Mutual’s industry: Abbr. : INS
21 Toyota’s luxury division : LEXUS
22 Common newspaper name : TIMES
23 Saudi neighbor : OMANI
24 Task for the caregivers of a Trojan War hero? : ACHILLES TENDING (sounds like “Achilles tendon”)
27 __ optics : FIBER
28 Tolkien saga, briefly : LOTR
29 Forbes rival : INC
30 Vitamin C source : CITRUS
31 Chicago business district : THE LOOP
34 Bootleg booze : HOOCH
36 Method of preserving souvenir tops? : T-SHIRT CANNING (sounds like “T-shirt cannon”)
42 March on Washington fig. : MLK
43 Split __ soup : PEA
46 Most candid : OPENEST
47 Iris covering : CORNEA
49 Bring in : EARN
50 Lead : GUIDE
51 Activity in a Toronto pastry shop? : CANADIAN BAKING (sounds like “Canadian bacon”)
55 Ethiopian capital : ADDIS ABABA
58 Aliens, for short : ETS
59 Certain lamp resident : GENIE
60 “Breathe Me” singer : SIA
61 Fuel-efficient bikes : MOPEDS
63 Bertie played by Hugh Laurie : WOOSTER
65 Tall tales about one’s climbing experience? : MOUNTAIN LYING (sounds like “mountain lion”)
69 Many an episode of “This Is Us,” e.g. : SOBFEST
73 Kir __: French cocktail : ROYALE
74 Naughty : BAD
77 To no __: in vain : AVAIL
78 Tallahassee sch. : FSU
81 “Some Like It Hot” co-star : TONY CURTIS
84 Greeting that may come with barks and licks? : WELCOME WAGGING (sounds like “Welcome Wagon”)
88 Dry Italian wine : SOAVE
89 __ Major : URSA
90 “Let’s go, amigos!” : ANDALE!
91 Concession speech deliverer : ALSO-RAN
93 School org. : PTA
94 __ drop : MIC
95 Rodent who’s really angry he missed the migration? : BITTER LEMMING (sounds like “bitter lemon”)
99 Rizzo of “Midnight Cowboy” : RATSO
101 Horn of Africa nation : SOMALIA
102 Tubman of Judy Blume’s “Fudge” series : SHEILA
105 SUV stat : MPG
108 Taylor Swift’s “Look What You __ Me Do” : MADE
109 Genius Bar tablets : IPADS
114 Good-natured fun leading up to an election? : CAMPAIGN RIBBING (sounds like “campaign ribbon”)
117 Gymnast Comaneci : NADIA
118 On, as an alarm : ARMED
119 Garlicky mayonnaise : AIOLI
120 “Da 5 Bloods” director Spike : LEE
121 Serengeti grazer : ELAND
122 John Irving’s “A Prayer for Owen __” : MEANY
123 Painter Picasso : PABLO
124 AARP folks : SRS
125 Hook’s sidekick : SMEE
Down
1 Starting from : AS OF
2 __-glace: rich sauce : DEMI
3 Dull : DRAB
4 Trigonometry function : SINE
5 Cockney, e.g. : DIALECT
6 7UP nickname, with “the” : … UNCOLA
7 Kutcher of “Jobs” : ASHTON
8 Tide alternative : ALL
9 Sub station? : DELI
10 Team members : OXEN
11 Anheuser-__ : BUSCH
12 Abbr. on some cornerstones : EST
13 Christmas Eve visitor, familiarly : ST NICK
14 Shoe measurement : WIDTH
15 Boy in “The Kite Runner” : AMIR
16 Eye care brand : RENU
17 Inbox fillers: Abbr. : MSGS
19 Some evergreens : FIR TREES
25 Pressing need? : IRON
26 Big name in water purification : ECOLAB
32 Growth chart nos. : HTS
33 Printing measure : PICA
35 Portent : OMEN
36 Wardrobe item on HBO’s “Rome” : TOGA
37 Taters : SPUDS
38 Klum of “Making the Cut” : HEIDI
39 Setting of the 2022 film “RRR” : INDIA
40 Lymph __ : NODE
41 Fortitude : GRIT
43 Smock stain : PAINT
44 Bert’s BFF : ERNIE
45 Tick off : ANGER
48 “Illmatic” rapper : NAS
49 Just scrapes (by) : EKES
51 Crunch’s rank : CAP’N
52 Disable the security system for, say : ABET
53 Zilch : NADA
54 Eagerly expectant : AGOG
56 “Famous” cookie-maker : AMOS
57 Ring match : BOUT
62 Polite address : SIR
63 Artful : WILY
64 Two Grants : ONE C
65 Ten-time NBA All-Star Anthony, to fans : MELO
66 “Me? Never!” : NOT I!
67 Fourvière locale : LYON
68 Yin counterpart : YANG
69 Escorted to the penthouse, say : SAW UP
70 For all to see : OVERT
71 Light wood : BALSA
72 Pay stub abbr. : FICA
74 Witch craft? : BROOM
75 Arcade pioneer : ATARI
76 Lounge piece : DIVAN
78 Subject line abbr. : FWD
79 Old car from Sweden : SAAB
80 Fruit that’s not so cute : UGLI
82 Ship sunk in Havana Harbor in 1898 : USS MAINE
83 Hong Kong’s Hang __ Index : SENG
85 Tiki bar drink : MAI TAI
86 RSVP cards, often : ENCS
87 Sees : GETS
91 Asserts without proof : ALLEGES
92 Plumeria garland : LEI
94 Illness : MALADY
96 “Lara Croft: __ Raider” : TOMB
97 Inbox fillers : EMAILS
98 Original “SNL” cast member Gilda : RADNER
99 Turn red, say : RIPEN
100 __ vincit amor : OMNIA
102 Car warranty call, usually : SCAM
103 Fabled loser : HARE
104 Watson of “Little Women” : EMMA
106 “No __”: “Piece of cake” : PROB
107 Fish organ : GILL
110 BFFs : PALS
111 Singer Lambert : ADAM
112 Have a meal : DINE
113 “Soldier of Love” singer : SADE
115 Space : GAP
116 “About Me” info : BIO
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20 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword 5 Mar 23, Sunday”
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Missed SOAVE. had SOAVI. and the Hong Kong SENG index became the Hong Kong SING index.
Never heard of WOOSTER. interesting WWII story. That’s my OPENEST opinion.
Well, where *I* got screwed up is thinking “Moving In” meant taking the letters IN and moving them to a different part of the answer. Duh. I’ve read and liked both “The Tin Drum” and “A Prayer for Owen Meany” but had no idea that the second had anything to do with the first. I should have.
55:20 no errors…I am not now nor will I ever be a fan of foreign clues crossing foreign clues.
Stay safe😀
I am with you on that one Jack!
Very good puzzle and even better theme. Had to smile when it first hit me and helped solve. One miss–A_OLI. As often as it comes up, one would think I should get it. Maybe next time.
My fastest Sunday ever, even though I had Achilles Tendons as an answer, wondering how the theme went from Heels to Tendons…confused me a bit until I got Welcome Wagging.
1 error, Soave crossing with Seng- I Figured I had a 1 in 5 chance of guessing the vowel- went with “I”, hence, a failure.
24 minutes, one square off
94 across could be mid.
I know it is a stretch but a good puzzle generator doesn’t leave openings like that.
@Bob … But then how would you justify the answer “ENDS” for the clue “RSVP cards, often” at 86-Down? RSVP cards are often “enclosures” and the fact that “RSVP” is abbreviated tells you to use the abbreviated “ENCS”. I see no equally logical way to make sense out of “ENDS”.
A great thing about crossword puzzles is that they aren’t just knowledge quizzes (which I, for one, would find annoyingly boring); they give you more than one hint to the correct answer for each entry.
@Bob … And … many thanks! … I just looked up “mid drop” and learned about a new thing (which I would call “way cool” if that phrase didn’t date me so badly).
If I had any hair left, I might actually consider a “mid drop fade” … 😜.
Pretty straight forward …but “splan” to me Lucy ….let’s go amigos???Dont get it!!
Hi Rheal. Obviously you were never a fan of the cousin of Mighty Mouse, Speedy Gonzales…who’s catch phrase was ándale, usually preceded by Arriba!
Why do people say Andale?
One of the most popular uses of ‘ándale’ is as a synonym of ‘hurry up’ or ‘come one’. As a synonym of ‘come on’, ándale can also be used as a way to beg for something. To show agreement. When showing agreement to a situation or proposal, it’s common to hear ‘ándale, pues’ or simply ‘andale’.
No real problems, but a bit of mulling time. Finished without final error.
Andale is Spanish for hurry.
No errors and 1 lookup. Did not know Hong’ Kong’ s Hang Seng index.
However, I should have known Tony Curtis, which would have saved
me the lookup. But it was fun anyway.
Whew. PPP saturation just about brought this puzzle down to “slog” level for me … otherwise, a fine Sunday diversion.
25 minutes 11 sec, and needed considerable Check Grid help to fix @12 entries. I nearly bounced off this one, and got a DNF because of a combination of those $^&**&$&* punny theme fills (such utter nonsense!!!) and a bunch of down fills in the NE corner that I couldn’t make work … until I figured out the STNICK (I **hate** abbreviations in 2-word fills!!!) fill (the length suggested GRINCH to me); and not being able to decide if 13A was SWARM or GNATS; and the friggin’ NAMES of characters and products that produced odd spellings. This puzzle was an utter annoyance.
@Rheal … I don’t know many words in the language, but Google assures me that “andale” is the Spanish word for “hurry”. (It also tells me that “andale” is the “Nyanja” word for “politicians”, but I think we can safely ignore that little tidbit … 😜.)
Wow! I did this one on-line (a first) and finished in 1:08:06. Of course I had to use grid check a few times and had no idea about RATSO or OMNIA. I finally decided that it was ENCS not ENCL which solved the puzzle. @Bob: I have no idea how you solve these so fast. I can’t even read all the clues in 15 minutes.
17:58 – no errors or lookups. False start: TENDONS>TENDING (after getting the -ING pattern in the other theme answers).
New: SIA, SHEILA Tubman, “Illmatic,” “Fourviere,” Hang SENG Index,” “Soldier of Love.”
Initially looked for a common letter substitution in the theme answers as oppsed to just “sounds like.” But, it worked just the same.
Duplicate cluing with “Inbox fillers.”
i want to learn about the trojan war