Day: June 23, 2023

Advertisement

Constructed by: Luke Schreiber
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: LGBTQ Rights

Themed answers in the down-direction and turn RIGHT at the letters circled in the grid LGBTQ. Very clever.

• 64A Freedoms protected by the Equality Act, and an apt title for this puzzle? : LGBTQ RIGHTS

• 1D Bounces back : RAL-L-IES
• 10D RuPaul’s competition : DRA-G-RACE
• 7D Some Arctic Cats : SNOWMO-B-ILES
• 26D Extremely beautiful, perhaps : HEARTS-T-OPPING
• 48D Quilting technique : APPLI-Q-UE

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

Bill’s time: 9m 33s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

11 Oroville structure : DAM

Oroville Dam sits on the Feather River in Northern California, and forms the reservoir known as Lake Oroville. The lake is the second-largest reservoir in the state, and the dam is the tallest in the nation (at 770 feet high).

14 Legends on the road : ACURAS

The Acura Legend was a mid-size luxury car introduced by Honda into the North American market in the 1986 model year. It was the first model produced by Honda with a V6 engine.

15 Depilatory brand : NAIR

Nair is a hair-removal product that has some pretty harsh ingredients. The most important active constituents are calcium hydroxide (“slaked lime”) and sodium hydroxide (“caustic soda”). Other Nair components seem to be there to soothe the skin after the harsher chemicals have done their job. The name “Nair” probably comes from combining “no” and “hair”.

16 Post-op area : ICU

The intensive care unit (ICU) is where many patients head after leaving the operating room (OR).

17 Beatles song with the lyric “Sunday morning creeping like a nun” : LADY MADONNA

The 1968 Beatles hit “Lady Madonna” was the last song the band recorded before starting their own Apple Records label. The song’s lyrics mention every day of the week except Saturday. Paul McCartney admitted in an interview that the omission was a mistake, and one that he and John Lennon only noticed after the song was recorded.

22 Coup de __ : GRACE

“Coup de grâce” is a French phrase that we use in English to describe the final blow that puts a person or animal out of their misery. The phrase is used both literally and figuratively, and translates from French as “blow of mercy”.

28 Nobelist Wiesel : ELIE

Elie Wiesel was a holocaust survivor who is best known for his book “Night” that tells of his experiences in Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. He was also the first recipient of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum Award, which was later renamed the Elie Wiesel Award in his honor.

29 Epicurious.com offering : RECIPE

The Latin “recipere” means “to take”, and the imperative form “recipe” was written at the top of medical prescriptions as an instruction, i.e. “take (the following)”. This use of “recipe” evolved into the instruction for preparing a dish of food in the mid-1700s.

Epicurious is a website owned by publisher Condé Nast. It is a sister operation to the magazine “Bon Appétit”, and serves as an archive for recipes featured in the magazine

32 Lucille Clifton’s “Homage to My Hips,” for one : ODE

Author Lucille Clifton served as Poet Laureate of Maryland from 1979 to 1985. Clifton’s poetry is known for its personal explorations of themes such as race, gender, family, and identity. She wrote many poems about her own body, using parts of her body to explore the perception of African-American women within our society.

33 Lab container : VIAL

A vial is a small vessel, usually closed or closable, used to hold liquids. The term “vial” is derivative of the older “phial” that has the same meaning and is still used.

34 Bright bloom : DAHLIA

The dahlia is a flowering plant native to Mexico and Central America. It was named the national flower of Mexico relatively recently, in 1963. The plant was given the name “dahlia” in 1791, in honor of Swedish botanist Anders Dahl.

35 Gymnast Simone : BILES

Simone Biles holds the record for the most gold medals (4) won by an American gymnast in a single Olympic Games. She achieved the feat at the 2016 games held in Rio. Biles has also won more World medals than any other gymnast in history.

44 SLR setting : F-STOP

Varying the f-stop in a lens varies how big the lens opening (the aperture) is when a photograph is taken. Smaller apertures (higher f-stop values) admit less light, but result in a greater depth of field (more of the photograph is in focus).

46 Halloumi, e.g. : CHEESE

Halloumi is a cheese that I encountered for the first time relatively recently, on a trip to Ireland. It originates in the Eastern Mediterranean, and today is very popular in Britain and Ireland as a meat substitute. It has a high melting point, and so can be grilled and fried easily. That makes halloumi useful in a “cheese” burger, a burger using fried/grilled cheese in place of meat.

48 Québec chum : AMIE

Québec is the largest province in Canada, and the only one with French as its sole official language. The name “Québec” comes from an Algonquin word “kebec” meaning “where the river narrows”. This refers to the area around Quebec City where the St. Lawrence River narrows as it flows through a gap lined by steep cliffs. The province has voted twice in referenda asking whether or not Quebec should become an independent country, once in 1980, and again in 1995. The 1995 result was 49% in favor of sovereignty, up from 40% in 1980.

51 Early Beatle Sutcliffe : STU

Stu Sutcliffe was one of the original four members of The Silver Beatles (as The Beatles were known in their early days), along with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison. Sutcliffe apparently came up with the name “Beatles” along with John Lennon, as a homage to their hero Buddy Holly who was backed by the “Crickets”. By all reports, Sutcliffe wasn’t a very talented musician and was more interested in painting. He went with the group to Hamburg, more than once, but he eventually left the Beatles and went back to art school, actually studying for a while at the Hamburg College of Art. In 1962 in Hamburg, Sutcliffe collapsed with blinding headaches. He died in the ambulance on the way to hospital, his death attributed to cerebral paralysis.

54 Froyo choice : TOPPING

Frozen yogurt (“froyo” or “fro-yo”)

56 Subject of many June parades : PRIDE

The first gay pride parades were held all on the same weekend in 1970, in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The police raided a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn on June 29th, 1969. That raid triggered a spate of violent demonstrations led by the LGBT community. Now known as the Stonewall riots, those demonstrations are viewed by many as a significant event leading to the modern-day fight for LGBT rights in the US. Since then, June has been chosen as LGBT Pride Month in recognition of the Stonewall riots.

64 Freedoms protected by the Equality Act, and an apt title for this puzzle? : LGBTQ RIGHTS

The Equality Act is a bill passed by the US House of Representatives that would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and prohibit discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation and gender identity. The House passed the Democrat-sponsored Equality Act in 2021, with the support of three Republican members. So far, the bill has insufficient Republican support in the Senate to overcome a filibuster.

69 Pouty face : MOUE

The term “moue” comes from French, and means “small grimace, pout”.

71 “¿__ pasa?” : QUE

In Spanish, ¿Qué pasa? translates literally as “what’s happening?” It is used to mean “how are things going for you?”.

Down

2 Berry that’s a superfood : ACAI

Açaí (pronounced “ass-aye-ee”) is a palm tree native to Central and South America. The fruit has become very popular in recent years and its juice is a very fashionable addition to juice mixes and smoothies.

We hear the word “superfood” a lot these days. I think it’s important that we realize that our friends in marketing coined the term to promote foods that have supposed health benefits, even though there’s no obligation to prove those health benefits exist. Since 2007, the European Union (EU) has banned the use of the term “superfood” in marketing of foodstuffs unless there is credible scientific research to back up any health claim. Good for the EU …

3 Truculent behavior, informally : ‘TUDE

Someone described as truculent is aggressively self-assertive. The term “truculent” comes from the Latin “trux” meaning “fierce, rough”.

4 Seafarer’s choice during a storm : TRYSAIL

A trysail is a relatively small sail that is hoisted under storm conditions instead of a mainsail. The smaller sail area is intended to allow the vessel to point into the wind, and hence avoid storm damage.

5 On the __ : LAM

To be on the lam is to be in flight, to have escaped from prison. “On the lam” is American slang that originated at the end of the 19th century. The word “lam” also means “beat” or “thrash”, as in “lambaste”. So “on the lam” might derive from the phrase “to beat it, scram”.

6 Finnish conductor __-Pekka Salonen : ESA

Esa-Pekka Salonen is a Finnish conductor and composer. He was appointed music director for the San Francisco Symphony, starting in the 2020-2021 season and replacing Michael Tilson Thomas.

7 Some Arctic Cats : SNOWMO-B-ILES

The brand name “Sno-Cat” is owned by the Tucker company. All snowcats are tracked vehicles built to work in snow, and are famously used in expeditions to the polar regions. The modern Sno-Cat from Tucker differs from its competitors in that it has four independently-mounted tracks.

9 German article : EIN

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”.

10 RuPaul’s competition : DRA-G-RACE

RuPaul is a famous drag queen who has developed a diverse career beyond performing on stage. He works as an actor, model, author and a recording artist. Famously, RuPaul doesn’t mind whether one addresses him as “he” or as “she” …

You can call me he. You can call me she. You can call me Regis and Kathie Lee; I don’t care! Just as long as you call me.

He currently hosts his own reality TV show called “RuPaul’s Drag Race”, which is billed as a search for “America’s next drag superstar”.

11 South Asian festival of lights : DIWALI

Diwali is a popular Hindu festival. It is a “festival of lights”, a celebration of the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance. Diwali is observed annually over five days at the conclusion of the summer harvest, and when there is a new moon.

12 Tree favored by giraffes : ACACIA

Acacia is a genus of trees and shrubs that is also known as thorntree, whistling thorn and wattle. The acacia is the primary food source for the giraffe in the wild, with the animal eating the leaves high in the tree, leaves that are inaccessible to competing species. The natural gum from two species of acacia tree is known as gum arabic, which is used in the food industry as a stabilizer.

13 Bottom-dwelling fish : MUD EEL

Mud eels are bottom-dwelling fish. They burrow into soft mud, hence the name.

27 Corpus __: prosecutor’s concern : DELICTI

“Corpus delicti” translates as “body of the crime”. It is a term used in the law to describe the requirement of proving that a crime has occurred before convicting someone of committing that crime.

29 Nutrition fig. : RDA

Recommended Daily Allowances (RDAs) were introduced during WWII, and were replaced by Recommended Daily Intakes (RDIs) in 1997.

30 Sideburn neighbor : EAR

Ambrose Burnside was a Union Army general during the Civil War, and a successful businessman. When the National Rifle Association was formed in 1871, Burnside was chosen as the organization’s first president. Burnside was also noted for the very lush growth of hair on his face and the distinctive style in which he cut it. We now know that style of cut as “sideburns”, a term derived from the Burnside name. When sideburns connect with the mustache, they might be termed “mutton chops”, a reference to their similarity in shape to the cut of meat.

31 Michael of “SNL” : CHE

Michael Che is a standup comedian from New York City. Che had worked as a writer for “Saturday Night Live” (SNL), and then started to appear in front of SNL cameras in September 2014. One of his roles was co-anchor for the “Weekend Update” segment of the show.

36 Actor Hawke : ETHAN

Ethan Hawke is a Hollywood actor who made his breakthrough in a supporting role in “Dead Poet’s Society”, playing opposite Robin Williams. Hawke used to be married to Uma Thurman, with whom he has two children.

39 Tour vehicle, quaintly : MOTOR BUS

We use the term “bus” for a mode of transportation as it is an abbreviated form of the original “omnibus”. We imported “omnibus” via French from Latin, in which language it means “for all”. The idea is that an omnibus is a carriage “for all”.

41 Osaka currency : YEN

The Japanese yen is the third-most traded currency in the world, after the US dollar and the euro.

The Japanese city of Osaka used to be called Naniwa, with the name changing to Osaka sometime before 1500. “Osaka” can be translated either as “large hill” or “large slope”. Osaka is sometimes referred to as “the Chicago of Japan” as it is a major center of commerce and industry. The city has also been named the “nation’s kitchen”, and was a center for Japan’s rice trade for centuries.

45 Leaves the larval stage : PUPATES

A pupa is a stage in the life of some insects. All four stages are embryo, larva, pupa and imago. Pupae can look like little dolls, hence the name. “Pupa” is the Latin for “doll”.

48 Quilting technique : APPLI-Q-UE

An appliqué is a small ornamental design that is applied to a surface. Appliqués are often applied to textiles, but also to other surfaces such as ceramics. “Appliqué” is French for “applied”.

49 Henner of “Taxi” : MARILU

As an actress, Marilu Henner’s most celebrated role was as Elaine O’Connor Nardo on “Taxi”. Henner has a condition called Superior Autobiographical Memory. This means that she can recall information and events that took place on every day of her life, starting from a very early age.

55 ASAP kin : PDQ

Pretty darn quick (PDQ)

57 Trees with many streets named after them : ELMS

The most common street name in the US is “Second Street”. “First Street” comes in only at number three, and this is because many cities and towns forgo the use of “First” and instead go with “Main” or something more historical in nature. The spooky “Elm Street” appears on the list at number fifteen.

60 Rosalind of 2020’s “Mulan” : CHAO

Actress Rosalind Chao’s big break came with the role of Rose Hsu Jordan in the 1993 hit film “The Joy Luck Club”. That said, she also played a South Korean refugee in the closing episodes of the TV series “M*A*S*H”. That character ended up marrying Klinger in the final episode, which led to Chao co-starring in the “M*A*S*H” sequel “AfterMASH”.

2020’s “Mulan” is a live-action remake of the 1998 animated Disney film of the same name. Chinese-American actress Liu Yifei plays the title character, a woman from Chinese legend. The movie was received well by the critics, but fans of the animated original were largely unimpressed.

61 Web page standard : HTML

The initialism “HTML” stands for HyperText Markup Language. HTML is the language used to write most Internet web pages (including this one).

62 Petro-Canada rival : ESSO

Petro-Canada started out as a government-owned corporation in 1976. “Petro-Canada” is now a brand name of Suncor Energy.

65 Indian state known for white-sand beaches : GOA

Goa is the smallest state in India, and is located in the southwest of the country. The Portuguese landed in Goa in the early 1500s, at first peacefully carrying out trade, but then took the area by force creating Portuguese India. Portugal held onto Portuguese India even after the British pulled out of India in 1947, until the Indian Army marched into the area in 1961.

66 First member of SCOTUS to officiate a same-sex wedding : RBG

In 2013, when Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsberg (RBG) was 80 years old, she officiated a same-sex marriage for two friends. Two months earlier, RBG joined the majority on the court in the decision that the federal government must recognize gay marriages.

67 Manga artist Junji : ITO

Junji Ito is a Japanese manga artist who specializes in horror tales. I don’t do horror …