Day: May 31, 2023

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Constructed by: Katie Hale
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Bear Hugs

Themed answers each start with BE- and end with -AR:

• 61A Tight embraces, and what the answers to the starred clues literally have? : BEAR HUGS

• 17A *Not so great : BELOW PAR
• 23A *Roe delicacy : BELUGA CAVIAR
• 38A *Laboratory vessel : BELL JAR
• 51A *Currency in San Ignacio : BELIZE DOLLAR

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

Bill’s time: 8m 09s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 __ signs : VITAL

There are four primary vital signs that are measured by health professionals:

1. Body temperature
2. Blood pressure
3. Pulse
4. Breathing rate

14 Guinness of “Doctor Zhivago” : ALEC

Sir Alec Guinness played many great roles over a long and distinguished career, but nowadays is best remembered (sadly, I think) for playing the original Obi-Wan Kenobi in “Star Wars”. He won his only Best Actor Oscar for playing Colonel Nicholson in the marvelous 1957 WWII movie “The Bridge on the River Kwai”. Guinness did himself serve during the Second World War, in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve. He commanded a landing craft during the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943.

“Doctor Zhivago” is an epic novel by Boris Pasternak that was first published in 1957. I haven’t tried to read the book, but the 1965 film version is a must-see, directed by David Lean and starring Omar Sharif in the title role. The story centers on Yuri Zhivago, a doctor and poet, and how he is affected by the Russian Revolution and the Russian Civil War.

19 Singer DiFranco : ANI

Ani DiFranco is a folk-rock singer and songwriter. DiFranco has also been labeled a feminist icon, and in 2006 won the Woman of Courage Award from the National Organization for Women.

23 *Roe delicacy : BELUGA CAVIAR

Caviar is the roe of a large fish that has been salted and seasoned, and especially the roe of a sturgeon. Beluga caviar comes from the beluga sturgeon, which is found primarily in the Caspian Sea. It is the most expensive type of caviar in the world. 8 ounces of US-farmed beluga caviar can be purchased through Amazon.com for just over $850, in case you’re feeling peckish …

26 Blog entry : POST

Many folks who visit this website regard it as just that, a website. That is true, but more specifically it is referred to as a blog, as I make regular posts (actually daily posts) that then occupy the “front page” of the site. The blog entries are in reverse chronological order, and one can just look back day-by-day, reading older and older posts. “Blog” is a contraction of the term “web log”.

31 Drag show accessories : BOAS

The etymology of the term “drag”, as used in the transvestite world, seems to be unclear. It perhaps relates to the tendency of a transvestite’s skirts to drag along the ground in days of old (although why they just didn’t hitch up their skirts is beyond me!).

34 Q’s neighbor : TAB

Like most features on our computer keyboards, the tab key is a hangover from the days of typewriters. When using a typewriter, making entries into a table was very tedious, involving lots of tapping on the spacebar and backspace key. So, a lever was added to typewriters that allowed the operator to “jump” across the page to positions that could be set by hand. Later this was simplified to a tab key which could be depressed, causing the carriage to jump to the next tab stop in much the same way that the modern tab key works on a computer.

36 Fixes a crossword, say : EDITS

Arthur Wynne is generally credited with the invention of what we now know as a crossword puzzle. Wynne was born in Liverpool, England and emigrated to the US when he was 19-years-old. He worked as a journalist and was living in Cedar Grove, New Jersey in 1913 when he introduced a “Word-Cross Puzzle” in his page of puzzles written for the “New York World”. The first book of crossword puzzles was published by Shuster & Shuster, in 1924. The collection of puzzles was a huge hit, and crosswords were elevated to the level of “a craze” in 1924 and 1925.

37 Oblique neighbors : ABS

There are several oblique muscles in the human body. The largest are the internal and external abdominal oblique muscles. There are also oblique muscles attached to the eye, and in the outer ear.

38 *Laboratory vessel : BELL JAR

A bell jar is a bell-shaped glass jar used in a laboratory. The jar is placed over an object that needs to be surrounded by a vacuum. That vacuum is created by pumping air from inside the jar via a hose fitted to the top. Bell jars can also be used as display cases.

41 “__ but a scratch” : ‘TIS

“‘Tis but a scratch” is a line from the cult classic film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”. The “joke” is that the speaker has been gravely wounded.

42 Part of a bath set gift basket : LOOFA

The loofah (also “loofa”, “lufah” and “luffa”, all Arabic words) is a vine, with fruit that’s very popular in Asia and Africa. If the fruit is allowed to mature, it can be processed to remove everything but the more rigid xylem structure (remember your high school botany class?) leaving a soft, sponge-like mass that is used as a skin polisher.

44 Sea-__ airport : TAC

Sea-Tac Airport (SEA) is more fully known as Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Sea-Tac is the main hub for Alaska Airlines.

45 Rat’s home : NEST

Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, is credited with popularizing the elaborate hairstyle known as the pouf. The hair was styled using a pomade made from wholesome ingredients such as beef marrow and bear grease. Because of the complexity of the hairstyle, ladies wore it for a week or two, during which time the animal fat would become rancid. It was reported that vermin would be attracted to the hair while sleeping, which apparently led to the phrase “her hair is a rat’s nest”.

51 *Currency in San Ignacio : BELIZE DOLLAR

San Ignacio is a town in western Belize that has merged over time with the formerly separate town of Santa Elena. The resulting twinned towns are the most populous urban areas in the country after the former capital, Belize City.

56 London’s __ Park : HYDE

Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London. A famous element in Hyde Park is Speakers’ Corner, which is located in the northeast corner of the park. Speakers’ Corner was the site of the infamous Tyburn gallows that was used for public executions in centuries past. Today, Speakers’ Corner is a site for public speech and debate, and a center for public protest. Some say that the tradition of allowing free speech at the site dates back to the condemned man being allowed to say his final words prior to execution at the Tyburn gallows.

60 Abbreviation with a suggested price : OBO

Or best offer (OBO)

63 Beatles hairstyle : MOP TOP

The classic Beatles haircut is called a mop top. Apparently John Lennon and Paul McCartney saw someone wearing the style in Hamburg, and they liked it. The pair hitchhiked from Hamburg to Paris, and when they arrived at their destination, they had their hair cut that way for the first time.

65 Formula 1 need : CAR

In motor racing, the designation “formula” is a set of rules that all participants and cars must abide by. The definition of “Formula One” was agreed back in 1946, with the “one” designating that it is the most advanced of the “formulae”, and the most competitive.

66 Rhyme Syndicate founder : ICE-T

Rhyme Syndicate Records was an American hip hop record label founded by Ice-T in 1987. The label was home to a number of notable artists, including Ice-T himself, Everlast, Body Count, and DJ Aladdin. Rhyme Syndicate ceased operations in 1992.

67 “Hey, bro” : YO, DUDE

Our term “dude” arose as slang in New York City in the 1880s, when it was used to describe a fastidious man. In the early 1900s, the term was extended to mean “city slickers”, easterners who vacationed in the West. The first use of the term “dude ranch” was recorded in 1921.

68 Coffee receptacle : URN

The species Coffea arabica is thought to be the first plant cultivated for coffee. Today, 75-80% of the world’s coffee comes from Coffea arabica.

69 Advanced deg. : PHD

“Ph.D.” is an abbreviation for “philosophiae doctor”, Latin for “teacher of philosophy”. Often, candidates for a PhD already hold a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, so a PhD might be considered a “third degree”.

70 Uses a surgical beam : LASES

The term “laser” is an acronym standing for “light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation”. It has been pointed out that a more precise name for laser technology is “light oscillation by stimulated emission of radiation”, but the resulting acronym isn’t quite so appealing, namely “loser”.

Down

1 Lesson that may involve a thesaurus, for short : VOCAB

The first person to use the term “thesaurus” to mean a “collection of words arranged according to sense” was Roget in 1852, when he used it for the title of his most famous work. Up to that point in time, a thesaurus was basically an encyclopedia. Before being used with reference to books, a thesaurus was a storehouse or treasury, coming from the Latin “thesaurus” meaning “treasury, treasure”.

2 Silly : INANE

“Vacuous” and “inane” both mean “silly, empty-headed”. “Vacuous” comes from the Latin word “vacuus” meaning “empty”. “Inane” comes from the Latin “inanitis” meaning “empty space”.

3 Language in Sri Lanka : TAMIL

Tamils are a large ethnic group of almost 80 million people who speak Tamil as their mother tongue. Despite the large Tamil population, there is no Tamil state. The highest concentration of Tamils is in Sri Lanka, where they make up about 25% of the population.

The island nation of Sri Lanka lies off the southeast coast of India. The name “Sri Lanka” translates from Sanskrit into English as “venerable island”. Before 1970, Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon, a name given to the country during British rule.

4 Pres. in a stovepipe hat : ABE

A stovepipe hat is also known as a top hat.

8 Earth Day prefix : ECO-

Earth Day was founded in the US, where it was introduced by Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin. Earth Day was designed to increase awareness and appreciation of our planet’s natural environment. The original Earth Day was on April 22nd, 1970. Decades later, the day is observed in over 175 countries.

9 Work-from-home types : UMPS

Back in the 15th century, “an umpire” was referred to as “a noumpere”, which was misheard and hence causing the dropping of the initial letter N. The term “noumpere” came from Old French “nonper” meaning “not even, odd number”. The idea was that the original umpire was a third person called on to arbitrate between two, providing that “odd number” needed to decide the dispute.

10 Irish Spring, e.g. : SOAP

Irish Spring soap was introduced in 1972 by Colgate-Palmolive. The scent used for the first twenty years was known internally within the manufacturer as “Ulster Fragrance”. I have no idea what an Ulster fragrance would be …

14 Pokémon species that evolves into Kadabra and Alakazam : ABRA

“Pokémon” is the second-biggest video game franchise in the world, second only to the “Mario” franchise. “Pokémon” is a contraction of “Pocket Monsters”.

24 Company with brown trucks : UPS

United Parcel Service (UPS) is based in Sandy Springs, Georgia and has its own airline that operates out of Louisville, Kentucky. UPS often goes by the nickname “Brown”, because of its brown delivery trucks and brown uniforms.

29 “Try a Little Tenderness” singer Redding : OTIS

Otis Redding is often referred to as the “King of Soul”, and what a voice he had. Like so many of the greats in the world of popular music it seems, Redding was killed in a plane crash, in 1967 when he was just 26 years old. Just three days earlier he had recorded what was to be his biggest hit, “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay”.

The love song “Try a Little Tenderness” was first released in 1932 by the Ray Noble Orchestra, and has since been covered countless times. The most famous version is probably by Otis Redding from 1966. My personal favorite performance is in the Irish movie “The Commitments”. That movie is a must-see for anyone interested in contemporary Irish culture, in my humble opinion …

31 Lip Smacker product : BALM

Lip Smacker is a line of flavored lip balms that was introduced in 1973 by cosmetics company Bonne Bell. The line was originally aimed at the skiers, and later at teens in general.

32 Clarinet kin : OBOE

The oboe is perhaps my favorite of the reed instruments. The name “oboe” comes from the French “hautbois” which means “high wood”.

35 Club alternative : BLT

The BLT (bacon, lettuce and tomato) is the second-most popular sandwich in the US, after the plain old ham sandwich.

39 Lily of “Downton Abbey” : JAMES

Lily James is an English actress who had a recurring role in the hit TV show “Downton Abbey”, playing Lady Rose Aldridge. Her breakthrough in films came with the title role in the 2015 romantic fantasy “Cinderella”, directed by Kenneth Branagh. For several years, James was in a relationship with Matt Smith, one of the incarnations of “Doctor Who”.

40 Starfleet school : ACADEMY

In the “Star Trek” universe, Starfleet is a military service maintained by the United Federation of Planets. Famously, Starfleet is also tasked with deep-space exploration, “to boldly go where no man has gone before …”

45 Org. for Oilers : NHL

The National Hockey League’s Edmonton Oilers are so called because they are located in Alberta, Canada … oil country.

53 Sacred flower : LOTUS

The roots of the lotus plant penetrate into the bed of a lake or river, while the leaves float on the water’s surface. This behavior led to the use of the lotus as a symbol in the Buddhist tradition, as a symbol of purity of the body, speech and mind. The idea is that the lotus flower represents the pure body, speech and mind floating above the muddy waters of attachment and desire.

54 Quarters : ABODE

We use the term “quarters” for a place of abode, especially housing for military personnel. Back in the late 16th century, quarters were a portion (quarter) of a town reserved for a military force.

56 Morehouse, for one: Abbr. : HBCU

Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are a group of higher education institutions that were established, mainly after the Civil War, to primarily serve the African-American community.

Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia is one of only three all-male liberal arts colleges left in the US. The other two are Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia and Wabash College in Indiana.

57 12 months : YEAR

Understanding months and years might have been a lot easier if we had settled on 13 “months” in a year, with a “month” comprising the four weeks that it takes to go through a complete lunar cycle (full moon to full moon). Then, every month would have been 4 weeks long, and it would be easy to understand why there are 52 weeks in a year (13 months x 4 weeks). But, we “mess” around with 12 “messy” months …

58 “Fiddlesticks” : DARN

We’ve been using “fiddlesticks” to mean “nonsense” since the early 17th century. Prior to that time, “fiddlestick” just referred to the bow of a fiddle.

64 “Get a room!” elicitor, for short : PDA

Public display of affection (PDA)