Day: June 14, 2023

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Constructed by: Lynn Lempel
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Familiar Routes

Themed answers are thoroughfares reinterpreted as “punny” ROUTES:

• 18A Route to church? : SERVICE ROAD
• 24A Route to the navy yard? : FLEET STREET
• 37A Route to a showing of “Jaws”? : GREAT WHITE WAY
• 53A Route to basketball camp? : PASSING LANE
• 60A Route to the liquor store? : FIFTH AVENUE

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

Bill’s time: 6m 35s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 “Sheer Driving Pleasure” automaker : BMW

Back in the 1930s, BMW started to feature the word “pleasure” in the company’s advertising. This usage evolved into “sheer driving pleasure” over time, and was adopted as a BMW slogan in 1972.

4 “A Little Bit Stronger” singer Sara : EVANS

Sara Evans is a country singer/songwriter from Boonville, MIssouri. Evans was a contestant on “Dancing with the Stars” in 2006, but left the show after about a month. Evans had filed for divorce from her husband on the same day she left the show. It turned out to be a very messy divorce. Sad …

9 Carmen Sandiego’s crime : THEFT

The “Carmen Sandiego” franchise is a remarkably clever and helpful series of computer games and other media that is designed to educate users (primarily children). The applications were originally designed to use an exciting espionage motif in order to expose young people to geography and history, and even math, English and other subjects.

17 “Science Friday” host Flatow : IRA

“Science Friday” is an excellent talk show broadcast every Friday on NPR, and hosted by Ira Flatow. Flatow is known to television audiences as the host of “Newton’s Apple”, which ran from 1983 to 1998.

23 CPR pro : EMT

An emergency medical technician (EMT) might administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

24 Route to the navy yard? : FLEET STREET

Fleet Street in London used to be home to most British national newspapers, but not anymore. The last British news office moved out of the high-priced neighborhood in 2005. It is now home to investment banking, legal and accountancy firms. The street is named for the River Fleet, which is the city’s largest underground river.

28 Chowed down : ATE

“Chow” is a slang term for “food” that originated in California in the mid-1800s. “Chow” comes from the Chinese pidgin English “chow-chow” meaning “food”.

30 Bubbly bar supply : SELTZER

The term “seltzer” comes from the village of Selters in Germany. Selters has natural springs of carbonated mineral water that is bottled and sold as Selters water. In English-speaking countries, the name has morphed into “Seltzer” water.

31 Oscar winner Poitier : SIDNEY

Sidney Poitier won his only Best Actor Oscar playing the male lead in 1963’s “Lilies of the Field”. Doing so, Poitier became the first African-American male to win a competitive Academy Award.

33 Mama of folk rock : CASS

Cass Elliot (born “Ellen Cohen”) was one of the four singers in the Mamas and the Papas, a sensational group from the sixties. “Mama Cass” was performing sold-out concerts in London in 1974 when she was found dead one morning, having had a heart attack. She was only 32 years old. Eerily, Elliot died in the same flat (on loan from Harry Nilsson) in which the Who’s drummer Keith Moon would die just four years later.

36 River noted for its châteaux : LOIRE

The Loire is the longest river in France. It is so long that it drains one-fifth of the nation’s land mass. The Loire rises in the southeast, in the Cevennes mountain range, then heads north then due west, emptying into the Bay of Biscay at the city of Nantes. The Loire Valley is home to some of France’s most famous wine production, and includes the wine regions of Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé and Muscadet. It is also home to some of the nation’s most spectacular châteaux. There are over 300 castles along the river, built by French kings and their courtiers.

37 Route to a showing of “Jaws”? : GREAT WHITE WAY

“The Great White Way” is a nickname for a section of Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The section is in the Theater District, the area between 42nd and 53rd Streets, and stretches to the west of Times Square. The name derives from the numerous electric lights used to illuminate the theaters and other buildings on the street.

The great white shark is one big fish, and can grow to over 21 feet long and weigh over 7,000 pounds. Great whites also live long lives, over 70 years. They have no natural predator, except for orcas, and are responsible for far more attacks on humans than any other shark species.

“Jaws” is a thrilling 1975 movie directed by Steven Spielberg that is based on a novel of the same name by Peter Benchley. The film has a powerful cast, led by Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw. “Jaws” was perhaps the first summer blockbuster and had the highest box office take in history up to that time, which was a record that stood until “Star Wars” was released two years later.

43 Fallon’s predecessor : LENO

“The Tonight Show” has had six permanent hosts so far:

• Steve Allen (1954-57)
• Jack Paar (1957-62)
• Johnny Carson (1962–92)
• Jay Leno (1992–2009, 2010–14)
• Conan O’Brien (2009–10)
• Jimmy Fallon (2014–present)

44 Discarded stuff : JETSAM

“Flotsam” and “jetsam” are both terms used to describe garbage in the ocean. Flotsam is floating wreckage from a ship or its cargo. Jetsam is similar to flotsam, except that it is part of a ship or cargo that is deliberately cast overboard, perhaps to lighten a vessel.

52 Pre-1991 atlas initials : SSR

When the former Soviet Union (USSR) dissolved in 1991, it was largely replaced by the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The formation of the CIS underscored the new reality, that the former Soviet Republics (SSRs) were now independent states. Most of the 15 former SSRs joined the CIS. Notably, the three Baltic SSRs (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) opted not to join the new commonwealth, and in 2004 joined NATO and the EU.

53 Route to basketball camp? : PASSING LANE

On a US multi-lane highway, the lane closest to the median is the passing lane. Often referred to as the “fast lane” in error, the passing lane should only be used when overtaking another vehicle. Well, that’s the law in most US jurisdictions …

56 Brit’s washroom : LOO

It has been suggested that the British term “loo”, meaning “toilet”, comes from “Waterloo” (water closet … water-loo), but no one seems to know for sure. Another suggestion is that the term comes from the card game of “lanterloo”, in which the pot was called the loo!

60 Route to the liquor store? : FIFTH AVENUE

A fifth is an American unit of volume used for liquor. It used to be equal to one fifth of a US gallon. Since the seventies, we’ve been using a “metric fifth” that is equal to 750 mL, the standard size for wine bottles around the world.

64 Many a dad joke : PUN

Here are a few dad jokes that I use to annoy my kids:

• When does a joke become a “dad joke”? When it becomes apparent.
• I had a happy childhood. My dad used to put me in tires and roll me down hills. Those were Goodyears.
• It’s a shame that the Beatles didn’t make the submarine in that song green. That would’ve been sublime.
• I told your mom she needs to start embracing her mistakes. So she hugged me
• When your mom is depressed, I let her color in my tattoos. She just needs a shoulder to crayon.

65 Musical set in Argentina : EVITA

Eva Perón was the second wife of President Juan Perón who was in office from 1946 to 1955. The Argentine First Lady was known affectionately by the people as “Evita”, the Spanish language diminutive of “Eva”. “Evita” is also the title of a tremendously successful musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice that is based on the life of Eva Perón.

67 Yalie : ELI

“Eli” is the nickname for a graduate of Yale University, and a term used in honor of the Yale benefactor Elihu Yale.

Down

1 Legal filings : BRIEFS

The term “brief”, in the context of the law, applies to a written legal document presented in court as an argument in a legal process. “Brief” comes from the Latin “brevis” meaning “short”. So, I guess those arguments were originally meant to be short, concise. And “briefs” can be carried in a “briefcase”.

3 Untrustworthy type : WEASEL

To weasel out of something is to back away from a prior commitment. The association of weasels with the concept of not being trusted might have arisen from the behavior in which a weasel sucks out the contents of an egg while leaving the shell virtually intact.

4 Like a poor copy : ERSATZ

Something described as ersatz is a copy, and usually not a good one. “Ersatz” comes from the German verb “ersetzen” meaning “to replace”.

6 Busy time for the IRS : APR

April 15th wasn’t always Tax Day in the US. The deadline for returns was March 1st from 1913-18, when it was moved to March 15th. Tax Day has been April 15th since 1955.

8 Derisive : SNIDE

To deride is to treat with contemptuous mirth. The term comes into English via Old French from the Latin “deridere” meaning “to ridicule”. In turn, “deridere” comes from the prefix “de-” (down) and “”ridere” (to laugh). So, to ridicule or deride is “to laugh down at”.

9 Top typically paired with jeans : TEE

The French phrase “bleu de Gênes” (blue of Genoa) gives us our word “jeans”.

10 Fabled procrastinator : 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.

11 Narcissist’s attribute : EGOMANIA

Narcissus was a proud and vain hunter in Greek mythology. He earned himself a fatal punishment, falling in love with his own reflection in a pool. So, taken was he by his own image that he could not leave it, and wasted away and died by the pool. Narcissus gives us our term “narcissism” meaning “excessive love of oneself”.

13 Brother of pols Jack and Bobby : TED

Ted Kennedy was the youngest boy in a family that included older brothers Joseph Jr. (killed in action in WWII), John (assassinated) and Robert (assassinated). Ted went into the US Senate in 1962 in a special election held after his brother became US President. He remained in the Senate until he passed away in 2009, making Ted Kennedy the fourth-longest-serving Senator in history. The 2017 movie “Chappaquiddick” gives some insight, albeit somewhat speculative, about the darker side of Ted Kennedy’s life. It focuses on the events surrounding the infamous Chappaquiddick incident in which Kennedy drove off a bridge, resulting in the death of his 28-year-old passenger Mary Jo Kopechne.

29 Iris locale : EYE

The iris is the colored part of the eye. It has an aperture in the center that can open or close depending on the level of light hitting the eye.

32 Big name in chemicals : DOW

Dow Chemical Company was founded back in 1897 by a chemist called Herbert Henry Dow, and initially manufactured and sold bleach and potassium bromide. Dow merged with DuPont in 2017 to create DowDuPont, the world’s largest chemical company.

35 Africa-to-Asia land bridge : SINAI

The nation of Egypt straddles the geographical border between Asia and Africa. That land border is the 75-mile-wide Isthmus of Suez, which is crossed by the Suez Canal. The bulk of Egyptian territory is in Africa. The part of Egypt that is in Asia is the Sinai Peninsula.

39 Arrivals in “Arrival” : ETS

2016’s “Arrival” is a very entertaining sci-fi film that is based on a short story by Ted Chiang called “Story of Your Life”. Amy Adams plays a linguist who is called upon to communicate with aliens who have arrived on Earth.

40 “Quickly” letters : ASAP

As soon as possible (ASAP)

42 Comfy attire : PJS

Our word “pajamas” (sometimes “PJs” or “jammies”) comes to us from the Indian subcontinent, where “pai jamahs” were loose fitting pants tied at the waist and worn at night by locals and ultimately by the Europeans living there. And “pajamas” is another of those words that I had to learn to spell differently when I came to America. On the other side of the Atlantic, the spelling is “pyjamas”.

45 Rooney of “Carol” : MARA

Actress Rooney Mara is noted for her role in the 2010 film “The Social Network” and for playing the title character in the 2011 hit movie “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”. Mara has American football in her blood. Her mother’s family founded the Pittsburgh Steelers, and her father’s family founded the New York Giants.

The 2015 film “Carol” is about a forbidden affair between a female photographer and an older woman in the middle of a tough divorce in 1950s America. Rooney Mara plays the photographer Therese Belivet, and Cate Blanchett plays the title character Carol Aird. I haven’t seen this one yet, but I hear good things …

48 __-de-France: Paris’s region : ILE

Île-de-France (literally “Island of France”) isn’t an island at all. Instead, it is the most populous of France’s 26 administrative regions. Île-de-France is roughly equivalent to the Paris metropolitan area.

49 Asian capital with a Chiang Kai-shek memorial : TAIPEI

Taipei (officially “Taipei City”) is the capital of Taiwan (officially “the Republic of China”). “Taipei” translates from Chinese as “Northern Taiwan City” and indeed, the capital is situated at the northern tip of Taiwan. The city is nicknamed “City of Azaleas” as flowers are said to bloom better in Taipei than in any other city on the island.

Chiang Kai-shek was the leader of the Nationalist Movement in China right through to the end of WWII. The Nationalists lost out in a Civil War to the Communists backed by the Soviet Union after the war, and Chiang Kai-shek and his government were forced to flee to Taiwan. Chiang Kai-shek claimed rule over China from Taiwan until his death in 1975.

51 “The Unit” actor Haysbert : DENNIS

I must say that I mainly recognize actor Dennis Haysbert from his work on television, even though he did play outfielder Pedro Cerrano in the “Major League” film trilogy. To me, he is Sergeant Major Jonas Blane on the action-drama series “The Unit”, and President David Palmer on the first five seasons of “24”. Oh, and he is of course “the Allstate man” in commercials …

“The Unit” is an action TV show that originally aired from 2006 to 2009. “The Unit” referred to in the title bears a strong resemblance to the US Army’s real-life Delta Force. I enjoyed watching this show, even though the many off-shore settings were so clearly film sets and locations here in California. Star of the show is actor Dennis Haysbert, the “Allstate guy”.

54 Reliever’s successes : SAVES

That could be baseball.

55 Martin of “Only Murders in the Building” : STEVE

Comedian, actor and writer Steve Martin is from Waco, Texas. Martin’s entertainment career started to take off with success as a writer for the “Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour”. He then turned to stand-up comedy and often appeared on “The Tonight Show”. He was, and still is, a popular guest host on “Saturday Night Live”. He is so popular on “SNL” that many mistakenly believe that he was a permanent member of the “Saturday NIght Live” cast.

“Only Murders in the Building” is a comedy-mystery TV show starring Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez as a trio of true-crime podcasters who band together to solve a murder in their apartment building. Steve Martin co-created the series. I’ve got to see it one day …

57 “Beetle Bailey” dog : OTTO

Sgt. Snorkel (“Sarge”) is Beetle Bailey’s nemesis in the cartoon strip that bears the latter’s name. Snorkel has a dog called Otto that he dresses up to look just like himself. Otto started off as a regular dog, but artist Mort Walker decided to draw him more like his owner, and soon Otto became a big hit.

60 Black History mo. : FEB

Black History Month is observed annually to remember important events and people in the history of the African diaspora. The celebration originated in the US, where it is observed in February. Canada also celebrates Black history in February. More recently, Ireland and the UK designated October as Black History Month.

61 “To All the Boys” series creator Jenny : HAN

Jenny Han is a Korean-American author who has written several young adult novels, including the popular “The Summer I Turned Pretty” trilogy. Han created a TV show based on the trilogy under the same title, which started airing in 2022.

63 Guitar kin, informally : UKE

The ukulele (uke) originated in the 1800s and mimicked a small guitar brought to the Hawaiian Islands by Portuguese immigrants.