Day: July 9, 2023

Advertisement

Constructed by: John Andrew Agpalo
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: And/Or

Themed answers are all common phrases, AND “OR” has been inserted:

• 23A Abridged version of a Greek myth featuring a box full of troubles? : PANDORA EXPRESS (“Panda Express” and OR)
• 41A Title of a “Jack and the Beanstalk” subreddit? : FEE-FI-FO FORUM (“Fee, fi, fo, fum” and OR)
• 58A Cry from a reveler who wants the weekend party to keep going? : SATURDAY NIGHT FOREVER (“Saturday Night Fever” and OR)
• 79A Desire of a greedy lord? : EVERY MANOR FOR HIMSELF (“every man for himself” and OR)
• 93A Like a florist after Valentine’s Day? : BORED OF ROSES (“bed of roses” and OR)
• 115A Research scientist’s unique explanation? : SINGULAR THEORY (“singular they” and OR)

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

Bill’s time: 15m 54s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Power couple? : AC/DC

Anyone with a laptop with an external power supply has an AC/DC converter, that big “block” in the power cord. It converts the AC current from a wall socket into the DC current that is used by the laptop.

13 “Hasta __” : MANANA

“Hasta mañana” translates from Spanish as “See you tomorrow”, and literally as “Until tomorrow”.

20 Musical finale : CODA

In music, a coda is primarily a passage that brings a movement to a conclusion. “Coda” is Italian for “tail”.

23 Abridged version of a Greek myth featuring a box full of troubles? : PANDORA EXPRESS (“Panda Express” and OR)

According to Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman. She was created by the gods, with each god bestowing on her a gift. Her name can be translated from Greek as “all-gifted”. Pandora is famous for the story of “Pandora’s Box”. The story should be about Pandora’s “Jar”,as a 16th-century error in translation created a “box” out of the “jar”. In the story of Pandora’s Box, curiosity got the better of her and she opened up a box she was meant to leave alone. As a result she released all the evils of mankind, just closing it in time to trap hope inside.

Panda Express is a restaurant chain specializing in American-Chinese cuisine. The chain was founded in 1983 by husband and wife team Andrew and Peggy Cherng. Andrew opened his first restaurant in 1973 with his father, Master Chef Ming Tsai Cherng from the Yangzhou region of China. That full-service restaurant in Pasadena, California was named the Panda Inn. The Panda Express chain was introduced as a fast-food version of the Panda Inn.

26 Current event in climate studies? : EL NINO

When the surface temperature of much of the Pacific Ocean rises more than half a degree celsius, then there is said to be an El Niño episode. That small temperature change in the Pacific has been associated with climatic changes that can stretch right across the globe. El Niño is Spanish for “the boy” and is a reference to the Christ child. The phenomenon was given this particular Spanish name because the warming is usually noticed near South America and around Christmas-time.

30 Ecru kin : TAN

The color ecru is a grayish, yellowish brown. The word “ecru” comes from French and means “raw, unbleached”. “Ecru” has the same roots as our word “crude”.

37 Fox chaser? : -TROT

The foxtrot is smooth and flowing like a waltz, but in 4/4 time as opposed to 3/4. The dance is named for the vaudeville dancer Harry Fox, who popularized it in the early 1900s.

39 Hot dog : WEENIE

“Wienie” and “weenie” are informal variants of “wiener”.

What we call a wiener in this country is known as a Vienna sausage in Germany. It was first produced by a butcher from Frankfurt who was living in Vienna, hence the name “Wiener”, which is German for “of Vienna”. Paradoxically, the same sausage is called a Frankfurter in Vienna, as it was created by someone from Frankfurt. It’s all very confusing …

41 Title of a “Jack and the Beanstalk” subreddit? : FEE-FI-FO FORUM (“Fee, fi, fo, fum” and OR)

The line “fee-fi-fo-fum” (with various spellings) comes from the famous English fairy tale “Jack and the Beanstalk”. Within the story, the giant at the top of the beanstalk utters a little poem when he detects the presence of Jack:

Fee-fi-fo-fum,
I smell the blood of an Englishman,
Be he alive, or be he dead
I’ll grind his bones to make my bread.

46 One of Adam’s sons : ABEL

The story of Cain and Abel not only appears in the Christian and Hebrew Bibles, it also features in the Qur’an. In the Muslim account the brothers are named Qabil and Habil.

48 Rios on the road : KIAS

The Kia Rio is a subcompact that has been in production since 1999, and has undergone several updates and redesigns over the years. The Rio was designed by Kia’s chief design officer, Peter Schreyer, who previously worked for Audi and is credited with designing the iconic Audi TT.

50 “__ Too Well”: Taylor Swift song : ALL

“All Too Well” is a 2012 song co-written and recorded by Taylor Swift. Swift’s fans love this tune, and many regard it as her finest song. It deals with a relationship that’s over. There’s a scarf mentioned in the song a couple of times. At the beginning of the lyrics:

and I left my scarf there at your sister’s house

Towards the end of the song:

But you keep my old scarf from that very first week

Well, the scarf has become a “thing”. The assumption is the relationship is between Swift and her one-time boyfriend Jake Gyllenhall. Multiple hours of airtime have been devoted to answering the question, “Where is the scarf now?”

52 Verses-versus-verses competitors : SLAM POETS

A poetry slam is a competition in which poets read their own work (usually), with winners being chosen by members of the audience. Apparently the first poetry slam took place in Chicago in 1984. Now there is a National Poetry Slam that takes place each year, with representatives from the US, Canada and France.

57 Tendon : SINEW

“Sinew” is another name for “tendon”. Tendons are bands of collagen that connect muscle to bone. Tendons are similar to ligaments and fasciae, which are also connective tissue made out of collagen, but ligaments join bone to bone, and fasciae connect muscle to muscle. We also use the term “sinew” to mean muscular power.

58 Cry from a reveler who wants the weekend party to keep going? : SATURDAY NIGHT FOREVER (“Saturday Night Fever” and OR)

“Saturday Night Fever” was a phenomenal movie in its day, but to be honest, I don’t think it has aged well. I still love the soundtrack, which is the third-best selling movie soundtrack of all time (number one is “The Bodyguard” and number two is “Purple Rain”, would you believe?). “Saturday Night Fever” was the first film for which the soundtrack was launched before the movie itself, in a cross-marketing exercise designed to hype the movie before its release.

63 Party-planning site : EVITE

Evite.com is a website launched in 1998 that is used to create, send and manage “evites”, online invitations.

64 Asian occasion : TET

The full name for the New Year holiday in Vietnam is “Tet Nguyen Dan” meaning “Feast of the First Morning”, with the reference being to the arrival of the season of spring. Tet usually falls on the same day as Chinese New Year.

68 Smith of “The Karate Kid” : JADEN

Actor Jaden Smith is the son of actors Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. Jaden played the title character in the 2010 remake of 1984’s “The Karate Kid”. I must say, that is a very entertaining film and young Jaden did a great job. More recently, Jaden Smith has focused more on a career as a rap singer.

70 __ Na Na : SHA

Do you remember the band “Johnny Casino & The Gamblers” in the movie “Grease”? That was actually the real-world group named Sha Na Na. Johnny Casino & the Gamblers sang “Those Magic Changes” at the high school dance, in between “Rock’N Roll Is Here to Stay” and “Hound Dog”. Sha Na Na got together in the sixties, hosted the variety show “Sha Na Na” from 1977 to 1981, and are still performing today.

73 South African author Alan : PATON

Alan Paton was a South African author and an outspoken opponent of apartheid. His most successful novel is “Cry, the Beloved Country”.

75 Bridle attachment : BIT

The type of horse tack known as a bit is placed in a horse’s mouth and is used to aid communication of instruction from rider to mount. The bit is held in place by means of a bridle around the head, and is controlled by the rider using the attached reins.

85 Stationery shade : CREAM

“Stationery” is a noun describing writing materials and office supplies, items that are sold by a stationer. Centuries ago, a stationer was someone who sold goods from a shop or a “station”, from a fixed, “stationary” stall.

86 Lincoln neighbor : OMAHA

Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska. It is located on the Missouri River, about 10 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River. When Nebraska was still a territory Omaha was its capital, but when Nebraska achieved statehood the capital was moved to the city of Lincoln.

The city of Lincoln is the second-largest in Nebraska, and is the state capital. In the days of the Nebraska Territory, the capital was the larger city of Omaha. When the territory was being considered for statehood, most of the population (which lived south of the River Platte) was in favor of annexation to Kansas. The pro-statehood legislature voted to move the capital nearer to that population in a move intended to appease those favoring annexation. As this conflict was taking place just after the Civil War, a special interest group in Omaha arranged for the new capital to be named Lincoln, in honor of the recently-assassinated president. The thought was that the populace south of the River Platte had been sympathetic to the Confederate cause and so would not pass the measure to move the capital if the Lincoln name was used. But the measure passed, the capital was moved, and Nebraska became the thirty-seventh State of the Union in 1867.

90 Hush-hush maritime org. : ONI

The Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) is the oldest of the US intelligence services. The ONI was set up in 1882 to determine the state of advancement of foreign naval forces.

93 Like a florist after Valentine’s Day? : BORED OF ROSES (“bed of roses” and OR)

Saint Valentine’s Day was introduced by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD to honor various martyrs with the name Valentine. However, the saint’s day was dropped by the Roman Catholic church in 1969, by Pope Paul VI. Try telling that to Hallmark though …

96 Church instruments : ORGANS

The organ that we often see in churches, synagogues and concert halls is a pipe organ. Sound is produced by pressurized air driven through particular pipes selected by keys on a keyboard.

100 Start of the Marine Corps motto : SEMPER …

“Semper Fidelis” (often abbreviated to “Semper Fi”) is the motto of the United States Marine Corps (USMC). The phrase is Latin and means “Always Faithful”. The US Marine Corps isn’t the only military unit using “Semper Fidelis” as a motto. It’s also used by the Portuguese Marine Corps, the Republic of China Marine Corps and the Swiss Grenadiers.

102 “Wednesday” actress Jenna : ORTEGA

Actress Jenna Ortega has been in the entertainment industry since she was a child. In 2014, she found her breakthrough role as young Jane in the CW comedy-drama series “Jane the Virgin”. She went on to star in the Disney Channel series “Stuck in the Middle”. Ortega is quite the sports player. Apparently, she almost gave up acting to pursue a career playing soccer.

105 Flaky layered mineral : MICA

Mica is a silicate mineral. Thin sheets of mica are transparent and are used in place of glass in certain applications. This form of mica is called isinglass, and as it has a better thermal performance than glass it is a great choice for “peepholes” in boilers and lanterns. Mica is also used in the electronics industry, making use of its unique electrical and thermal insulating properties.

108 __ Dhabi : ABU

Abu Dhabi is one of the seven Emirates that make up the federation known as the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The two largest members of the UAE (geographically) are Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the only two of the seven members that have veto power over UAE policy. Before 1971, the UAE was a British Protectorate, a collection of sheikdoms. The sheikdoms entered into a maritime truce with Britain in 1835, after which they became known as the Trucial States, derived from the word “truce”.

110 Munich article : EINE

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”.

Munich is the capital of the German state of Bavaria, and is the third-largest city in the country (after Berlin and Hamburg). The city is called “München” in German, a term that derives from the Old German word for “by the monks’ place”, which is a reference to the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city in 1158.

111 Campaign funding org. : PAC

A political action committee (PAC) is a private group that works to influence the outcome of a particular election or group of elections. Any group becomes a PAC by law when it receives or spends more than $1,000 for the purpose of influencing the outcome of an election. In 2010 the Supreme Court ruled that PACS that did not make direct contributions to candidates or parties could accept unlimited contributions. These “independent, expenditure-only committees” are commonly referred to as “super PACs”.

112 Hired ride : CAB

A hansom cab is a very specific design of horse and buggy that was patented by Joseph Hansom in 1834 in England. The “cab” in the name is short for “cabriolet”, an earlier design of carriage on which the hansom was based. It’s from “hansom cab” that we get our modern term “cab”.

113 Writer/director Nora : EPHRON

Nora Ephron had many talents, including writing film scripts and novels. Many of the movies that she wrote, she also directed. These would include some of my favorite movies of all time like “Sleepless in Seattle”, “You’ve Got Mail” and most recently, the wonderful “Julie & Julia”. And, did you know that Nora Ephron’s second marriage was to journalist Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame? She wrote an autobiographical novel based on her life with Bernstein, which deals in particular with Bernstein’s affair with the daughter of British Prime Minister James Callaghan.

115 Research scientist’s unique explanation? : SINGULAR THEORY (“singular they” and OR)

Singular they is a gender-neutral pronoun that has been used in English for centuries. Today, It is used to refer to a person whose gender is unknown, unspecified, or nonbinary. For example, you might say “Someone left their umbrella in the office. Could you please let them know where they can get it?” in a situation where you do not know the gender of the person who left the umbrella. The use of singular they has become increasingly accepted in recent years, as more people have come to identify as nonbinary. In 2019, Merriam-Webster named singular they as its Word of the Year.

119 Discipline featuring slow movements : TAI CHI

More correctly called “t‘ai chi ch‘uan”, tai chi is a martial art that is mostly practiced to improve overall health and increase longevity.

120 Unit in the Monty Hall problem : DOOR

Here is the text of the puzzle known as the Monty Hall problem:

Suppose you’re on a game show, and you’re given the choice of three doors: Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1, and the host, who knows what’s behind the doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat. He then says to you, “Do you want to pick door No. 2?” Is it to your advantage to switch your choice?

The answer is: switch to door No. 2, always. In this situation, you started with a ⅓ chance of choosing the right door. By showing that a goat is behind door No. 3, the odds of the car being behind door No. 2 jump to ⅔.

Monty Hall is the stage name of Canadian-born television personality Monte Halperin. Hall is perhaps best known as the longtime host of the game show “Let’s Make a Deal”.

121 Empire State canal : ERIE

The Erie Canal runs from Albany to Buffalo in the state of New York. What the canal does is allow shipping to proceed from New York Harbor right up the Hudson River, through the canal and into the Great Lakes. When it was opened in 1825, the Erie Canal had an immediate impact on the economy of New York City and locations along its route. It was the first means of “cheap” transportation from a port on the Atlantic seaboard into the interior of the United States. Arguably it was the most important factor contributing to the growth of New York City over competing ports such as Baltimore and Philadelphia. It was largely because of the Erie Canal that New York became such an economic powerhouse, earning it the nickname of “the Empire State”. Paradoxically, one of the project’s main proponents was severely criticized. New York Governor DeWitt Clinton received so much ridicule that the canal was nicknamed “Clinton’s Folly” and “Clinton’s Ditch”.

123 Bronchial malady : ASTHMA

In the human body, the windpipe (trachea) divides into the left and right bronchi, which enter the lungs. Inflammation of the bronchi can cause the airways to contract and narrow, leading to the condition known as asthma.

125 Small coin : DIME

The term “dime”, used for a 10-cent coin, comes from the Old French word “disme” meaning “tenth part”.

Down

4 Fish oil source : COD

Cod liver oil is a nutritional supplement that is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, as well as vitamins A and D. I remember being dosed with the stuff as a kid. Ugh …

5 Use an X-ray, e.g. : SCREEN

X-rays were first studied comprehensively by the German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen (also “Roentgen”), and it was he who gave the name “X-rays” to this particular type of radiation. Paradoxically, in Röntgen’s native language of German, X-rays are routinely referred to as “Röntgen rays”. In 1901, Röntgen’s work on X-rays won him the first Nobel Prize in Physics that was ever awarded.

6 Dishwasherful : LOAD

The first mechanical dishwasher to be described as practical and reliable was invented by Josephine Cochrane of Ohio. Cochrane didn’t wash dishes herself, as she had servants for that task, so the main purpose of her invention was not to save effort. Rather, she wanted a device that washed dishes without chipping them, something her household help was liable to do.

8 Mexico city known for silver jewelry : TAXCO

Taxco de Alarcón is a small city in southern Mexico. Taxco is a center for silver mining, and is also well known for the production of silverware and fine items made using silver.

10 Solution for something that can’t be unseen? : EYE BLEACH

“Eye bleach” is a slang phrase often used in online forums and chat rooms for images or videos that are intended to cleanse the mind of something unpleasant that has been seen. The term can be used to describe a wide variety of content, such as cute animals, funny memes and nature scenes.

11 Mini-albums, for short : EPS

An extended-play (EP) record, CD or download contains more music than a single, but less than an LP.

13 John who won Wimbledon three times in the 1980s : MCENROE

Former tennis pro John McEnroe is known for his prowess on the court, as well his fiery temper. He was one of the great characters of his day, and had many grudge matches against the likes of Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl. In 1984, McEnroe won 82 out of 85 matches, a winning record that still stands to this day.

14 Yahoo! Inc. brand : AOL

America Online (AOL)

Jerry Yang and David Filo called their company “Yahoo!” for two reasons. Firstly, a Yahoo is a rude unsophisticated brute from Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels”. Secondly, Yahoo stands for “Yet another Hierarchical Officious Oracle”.

15 Hours for a typical day shift : NINE TO FIVE

In a three-shift working system, the shifts are known by various names:

1. First shift, day shift
2. Second shift, swing shift
3. Third shift, night shift, graveyard shift

16 Hugo-winning writer __ E. Harrow : ALIX

Alix E. Harrow is a science-fiction and fantasy writer who has also published under the name “Alix Heintzman”. Before turning to writing full-time, Harrow was an academic historian at Eastern Kentucky University.

17 Aloha State bird : NENE

The nene is a bird that is native to Hawaii, and is also known as the Hawaiian goose. The name “nene” is an imitation of its call. When Captain Cook landed on the islands in 1778, there were 25,000 nene living there. By 1950, the number was reduced by hunting to just 30 birds. Conservation efforts in recent years have been somewhat successful. The nene was named State Bird of Hawaii in 1957.

24 Prominent instrument in “Swan Lake” : OBOE

“Swan Lake” is such a delightfully light and enjoyable ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. “Swan Lake” tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by a sorcerer. The ballet also features Odile, Odette’s “evil twin”. Odile is disguised to look like Odette with the goal of tricking the prince to fall in love with her. In the ballet, the roles of Odette and Odile are played by the same ballerina. Odette’s love interest is Prince Siegfried, the only character in the ballet to appear in all four acts.

31 DOJ bureau : ATF

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) today is part of the Department of Justice (DOJ). The ATF has its roots in the Department of Treasury dating back to 1886 when it was known as the Bureau of Prohibition. “Explosives” was added to the ATF’s name when the bureau was moved under the Department of Justice (DOJ) as part of the reorganization called for in the Homeland Security Act of 2002.

34 Former German chancellor Kohl : HELMUT

Helmut Kohl was Chancellor of West Germany when the Berlin Wall came down leading to German reunification. Kohl was Chancellor of West Germany from 1982 to 1990, and Chancellor of Germany from 1990 to 1998. That made Kohl the longest serving Chancellor since Otto von Bismarck.

35 Pantheon member : DEITY

A pantheon is the set of all gods in a particular religion or mythology. The term comes from the Greek “pan” (all) “theon” (of gods). “Pantheon” is also the name given to a temple dedicated to all deities.

36 Note in a C minor triad : E-FLAT

A triad is a group of three and, specifically in music, a chord made up of three notes.

40 Store with a Swedish food market : IKEA

Every IKEA store features a restaurant that serves traditional Swedish food, including Swedish meatballs and lingonberry jam. Each store also has a Swedish Food Market where customers can purchase specialty foods from Sweden.

43 Diviner’s letter : RUNE

A rune is a character in an alphabet that is believed to have mysterious powers. In Norse mythology, the runic alphabet was said to have a divine origin.

49 “Up” actor Ed : ASNER

Ed Asner was most famous for playing the irascible but lovable Lou Grant on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and on the spin-off drama “Lou Grant”. Off-screen Asner was noted for his political activism. He served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and was very involved in the 1980 SAG strike. When “Lou Grant” was canceled in 1982, despite decent ratings, there was a lot of talk that the cancellation was a move by the network against Asner personally. In fact, one of Asner’s activist colleagues, Howard Hesseman (who played Johnny Fever) found that his show “WKRP in Cincinnati” was also canceled … on the very same day.

“Up” was the tenth movie released by Pixar studios, and features the wonderful animation that we have come to expect from Pixar. The film earned itself two Academy Awards. The main voice actor is Ed Asner, whose animated persona as Carl Fredricksen was created to resemble Spencer Tracy, as Tracy appeared in his last film, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”.

55 Tennis player Swiatek : IGA

Iga Swiatek is a professional tennis player, and the first from Poland to win a major singles title (the French Open in 2020).

59 Form 1040 org. : IRS

Form 1040, issued by the IRS, is the “US Individual Income Tax Return”. It was originally created just for tax returns from 1913, 1914 and 1915, but it’s a form that just keeps on giving, or should I say “taking” …?

68 Skippy rival : JIF

Jif is the leading brand of peanut butter in the US, and has been since 1981. Introduced in 1958, Jif is now produced by Smuckers.

69 Proton carriers : ATOMS

A proton is a subatomic particle, with at least one found in the nucleus of every atom. A proton is not a “fundamental particle”, as it itself is made up of three quarks; two up quarks and one down quark.

70 Move closer to home? : STEAL SECOND

That would be baseball.

74 Spanish fleet : ARMADA

“Armada” is a Spanish (and Portuguese) word meaning “naval fleet”.

75 Lingerie piece : BRA

“Lingerie” is a French term. As used in France, it describes any underwear, worn by either males or females. In English we use “lingerie” to describe alluring underclothing worn by women. The term “lingerie” comes into English via the French word “linge” meaning “washables”, and ultimately from the Latin “linum”, meaning “linen”. We tend not to pronounce the word correctly in English, either here in the US or across the other side of the Atlantic. The French pronunciation is more like “lan-zher-ee”, as opposed to “lon-zher-ay” (American) and “lon-zher-ee” (British).

79 Inventor Rubik : ERNO

What was originally called the “Magic Cube” became better known as “Rubik’s Cube”, and was named for its inventor Ernő Rubik. Rubik’s Cube is the world’s biggest selling puzzle game, with over 350 million sold in just over 30 years.

81 Old iPods : NANOS

The iPod Nano was the successor to the iPod Mini and was introduced to the market at the end of 2005. There were seven versions of the Nano, until it was discontinued in 2017.

83 Wind turbine part : ROTOR

A turbine is a machine that uses the flow of a fluid (sometimes air) to create rotational work. Simple examples of turbines are windmills and waterwheels.

84 Winter coat? : HOAR

The Old English word “har” meant “gray, venerable, old”, and came into English as “hoar” (and later “hoary”) with the same meaning. The term “hoar-frost” dates back to the 13th century, and reflects the similarity of the white feathers of frost to the gray/white of an old man’s beard.

89 Black Sea country : ROMANIA

Romania sits just east of Hungary and north of Bulgaria in Europe. It was formed from the union of two principalities in 1859, Moldavia and Wallachia. The Kingdom of Romania grew larger in size after WWI with the addition of three new regions, including the “vampirish” Transylvania.

The Black Sea is in southeastern Europe just south of Ukraine. In the north of the Black Sea is the Crimean Peninsula.

91 “College Football Live” channel : ESPNU

ESPNU (short for “ESPN Universities”) is a sports channel focused on college athletics.

95 Expatriate : EMIGRE

An émigré (fem. “émigrée”) is an emigrant. The term is French in origin, and particularly applies to someone who is a political refugee from his or her native land.

An expatriate (often “expat”) is someone who has chosen to live outside of his or her homeland, away from their “fatherland”.

97 Pointed beard : GOATEE

A goatee is a beard formed by hair on a man’s chin. The name probably comes from the tuft of hair seen on an adult goat.

98 Aqueduct element : ARCH

Aqueducts are bridges built to allow the movement of water across valleys and ravines. The term “aqueduct” comes from the Latin “aqua” (water) and “ducere” (to lead).

101 Joined a conger line? : EELED

Conger eels can grow to be very, very large, perhaps up to 10 feet in length.

103 Avant-__ : GARDE

Someone or something described as avant-garde is especially innovative. “Avant-garde” is French for “advance guard”.

104 Bottomless gulf : ABYSS

“Abyss”, meaning “deep chasm”, ultimately derives from the Greek “a-” (without) and “byssos” (bottom).

105 Like crossword clues about crossword clues : META

In recent decades the prefix “meta-” has been used as a standalone adjective. In this sense “meta” means “self-referential”, describing something that refers to itself. For example, “This sentence starts with the word ‘this’ and ends with the word ‘this’” might be called a meta sentence. A movie that is about the making of the very same movie could also be described as meta.

106 Milkshake beers, for short : IPAS

A popular version of traditional IPA beers these days is the hazy IPA. Hazy IPAs have a foggy appearance in the glass, and usually a less bitter and more fruity taste. A recent addition to the pantheon of beers is the milkshake IPA, which is a hazy IPA brewed with milk sugar (lactose). MIlkshake IPAs tend to be smoother on the palate, and often contain added fruit.

107 Gambler’s marker : CHIT

A chit is a note or a short letter. The term “chit” tends to be used these days in the sense of an amount owed (as in a poker game). The word used to be “chitty”, which is now obsolete but was closer to the original Hindi term. I feel a tad obsolete myself, because when we are at school we would be excused from class if we had a “chitty”.

109 Egg-grading org. : USDA

The USDA grades eggs into three categories for consumers: AA, A, and B. The grade is determined by the interior quality of the egg and the appearance and condition of the shell.

1. USDA Grade AA eggs have whites that are thick and firm; yolks that are high, round, and practically free from defects; and clean, unbroken shells. These highest-quality eggs are deemed best for frying and poaching.
2. USDA Grade A eggs are similar to Grade AA eggs except that the whites are reasonably firm. These eggs are often used in baking and other cooking applications.
3. USDA Grade B eggs have whites that may be thinner and yolks that may be wider and flatter. The shells are unbroken, but may be stained. These eggs are usually used to make liquid, frozen and dried egg products, and are seldom seen in retail stores.

114 Resistance unit : OHM

The unit of electrical resistance is the ohm (with the symbol omega) named after German physicist Georg Simon Ohm. Ohm was the guy who established experimentally that the amount of current flowing through a circuit is directly proportional to the voltage applied, (V=IR) a relationship that every school kid knows as Ohm’s Law.

116 Memoji platform : IOS

Apple introduced the “Memoji” with the iOS 13 release of their mobile operating system, in 2019. Basically, Memojis are customizable personal avatars.

117 The NFL’s Cardinals, on sports crawls : ARI

The Arizona Cardinals were founded in 1898 as the Chicago Cardinals. That makes the Cardinals the oldest, continuously-run, professional football team in the whole country.

118 Dept. of Labor concern : EEO

“Equal Employment Opportunity” (EEO) is a term that has been around since 1964 when the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was set up by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII of the Act prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin or religion.