Day: July 19, 2023

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Constructed by: Brian Callahan & Katie Hale
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Making a Pact

Themed answers each include the letters P-A-C-T. As we descend the grid, the letters approach each other to MAKE the word “PACT”:

• 56A Formally agreeing to terms, and what this puzzle’s sets of circled letters are gradually doing : MAKING A PACT

• 17A Garb Maria creates from curtains in “The Sound of Music” : PLAY CLOTHES
• 23A Administer in small portions : PARCEL OUT
• 34A Practical advice for an overnight stay : PACK LIGHT
• 50A The NCAA’s “Conference of Champions” : PAC-TWELVE

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

Bill’s time: 7m 00s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Chicago MLBer : CUB

The Chicago Cubs baseball team was supposedly subject to the “Curse of the Billy Goat” from 1945 until 2016. Billy Sianis, the owner of a Billy Goat Tavern in Chicago, took his pet goat with him to a World Series game against the Detroit Tigers at Wrigley Field. Fans sitting nearby didn’t like the smell of the goat, and so the owner was asked to leave. As he left, Sianis yelled out, “Them Cubs, they ain’t gonna win no more.” And that is how a curse is born …

4 9000 and 9-5 automaker : SAAB

The 9000 is a car directed at the executive market that was manufactured by Swedish company Saab in the 1980s and 1990s. It was relatively short in length, despite the roomy interior. Designers achieved this spaciousness by mounting the engine transversely instead of longitudinally.

A SAAB 9-5 is a high-end car that you can buy over here in the US. Back in Sweden, the 9-5 was used as a cop car, I believe.

13 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.

15 Like Ralph Lauren clothing : PREPPY

A preppy is a student or graduate of a preparatory school. Such a school is designed to prepare students for college, and is often private with expensive fees.

Ralph Lauren is an American fashion designer, born Ralph Liftshitz in the Bronx, New York. Lauren started off working as a salesman for Brooks Brothers after spending two years in the US Army. He then opened a necktie store, featuring his own tie designs. The ties were sold under the name “Polo”, which became Lauren’s most famous brand. Other Lauren brands are Purple Label and Black Label.

16 Apple co-founder, casually : WOZ

Steve “Woz” Wozniak was one of the founders of Apple Computer, along with Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne. Wozniak was the driving force behind the creation of the Apple I and Apple II computers that revolutionized the computer market in the seventies.

17 Garb Maria creates from curtains in “The Sound of Music” : PLAY CLOTHES

“The Sound of Music” is a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that was made into a celebrated movie in 1965 starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The musical is based on “The Story of the Trapp Family Singers”, a memoir by Maria von Trapp. The von Trapp family ended up in Stowe, Vermont after the war. One family descended from the Vermont von Trapps lives in the same town in which I used to live in California.

19 Hold a cattle call : CAST

A trial performance to appraise the merits of an entertainer is known as an audition. When a group of entertainers is involved, the informal term “cattle call” might be used instead of “audition”. The idea is that those auditioning are often corralled into a single, large room (like “cattle”) prior to performing.

25 Oklahoma city : TULSA

Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma (after Oklahoma City). Tulsa started out as a settlement established by the Loachapoka and Creek Native American tribes in 1836. These early settlers called their new home “Tallasi” meaning “old town”, and this name morphed into “Tulsa” that we use today.

26 Printing goofs : ERRATA

“Errata” is the past participle of the Latin word “errare” meaning “to err”. We use “errata” (singular “erratum”) to describe a list of errors that have been noted in some publication.

29 Fragments : PIECES

A fragment is a small piece or part that has broken off something larger. The term “fragment” comes from the Latin “frangere” meaning “to break”.

37 “Poldark” airer : PBS

“Poldark” is a 2015 TV series made by the BBC based on the “Poldark” series of novels by Winston Graham. The BBC made another version of “Poldark” that was also very successful, airing in the mid 1970s.

40 Salad option : CAESAR

The caesar salad was created by restaurateur Caesar Cardini at the Hotel Caesar’s in Tijuana, Mexico. The original recipe called for whole lettuce leaves that were to be lifted up by the stem and eaten with the fingers.

41 Minnesota representative Ilhan : OMAR

Ilhan Omar has been representing Minnesota’s 5th congressional district in the US House since 2019. At that time, she became one of the first two Muslim women, as well as the first Somali American, to serve in the US Congress.

45 Surgical knife : LANCET

“Lancet” is another name for a scalpel. There’s a publication called “The Lancet”, which is possibly the world’s most respected medical journal. It is certainly the oldest, first published in 1823.

47 Jalisco, por ejemplo : ESTADO

Jalisco is one of Mexico’s 32 “estados” (states).

Jalisco is a state on the central-west coast of Mexico. The capital city of Jalisco is Guadalajara.

50 The NCAA’s “Conference of Champions” : PAC-TWELVE

“Pac-12” is an abbreviation for the Pacific-12 Conference, a college athletic conference in the western US. The Pac-12 has won more NCAA National Team Championships than any other conference. The Pac-12 was founded in 1915 as the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC). Over time as it grew, the conference went by the names Big Five, Big Six, Pacific-8, Pacific-10 and became the Pacific-12 in 2011.

53 Multifunction printer function : SCAN

An all-in-one printer is a multifunctional computer peripheral that typically incorporates a photocopier, printer and scanner.

59 X-ray kin : MRI

An MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) machine uses powerful magnetic fields to generate images that can be used by medical professionals to diagnose injury and disease.

62 With 55-Across, “Spamalot” co-creator : ERIC …
[55A See 62-Across : … IDLE]

Eric Idle is one of the founding members of the Monty Python team. He was very much the musician of the bunch, and is an accomplished guitarist. If you’ve seen the Monty Python film “The Life of Brian”, you might remember the closing number “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”. It was sung by Idle, and was also written by him. That song made it to number-3 in the UK charts in 1991.

The hit musical “Spamalot” is a show derived from the 1974 movie “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”. In typical Monty Python style, the action starts just before the curtain goes up with an announcement recorded by the great John Cleese:

(You can) let your cell phones and pagers ring willy-nilly … (but) be aware there are heavily armed knights on stage that may drag you on stage and impale you.

63 Start of a kindergarten tune : A B C …

“The Alphabet Song” was copyrighted in 1835 in the US. The tune that goes with the words is the French folk song “Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman”, used by Mozart for a set of piano variations. The same tune is used for the nursery rhyme “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”.

“Kindergarten” is a German term, one translating as “children’s garden”. The term was coined by the German education authority Friedrich Fröbel in 1837, when he used it as the name for his play and activity institute that he created for young children to use before they headed off to school. His thought was that children should be nourished educationally, like plants in a garden.

65 Snack (on) : NOSH

Our word “nosh” has been around since the late fifties, when it was imported from the Yiddish word “nashn” meaning “to nibble”. We use “nosh” as a noun that means “snack”, or as a verb meaning “to eat between meals”.

Down

2 Draw Two or Skip : UNO CARD

UNO is a card game that was developed in the early seventies and that has been sold by Mattel since 1992. It falls into the shedding family of card games, meaning that the goal is to get rid of all your cards while preventing opponents from doing the same.

3 Stranger than strange : BIZARRO

“Bizarre” is a French word, one with the same meaning in English. However, back in the 16th century, “bizarre” used to mean “handsome, brave” in French. I guess that’s what my wife means when she refers to me as “bizarre” or “bizarro” …

4 Deadly sins, e.g. : SEPTET

The cardinal sins of Christian ethics are also known as the seven deadly sins. The seven sins are:

• Wrath
• Greed
• Sloth
• Pride
• Lust
• Envy
• Gluttony

5 The “A” of GOAT : ALL

Greatest of all time (GOAT)

6 Avis rival : ALAMO

The third-largest car rental company in recent years is Alamo, which was founded in 1974. Alamo made inroads (pun!) into the market by popularizing the idea of “unlimited mileage”.

7 “The __ City”: Houston nickname : BAYOU

The city of Houston, Texas was named for General Sam Houston, who served as President of the Republic of Texas and then as Governor after Texas was annexed as a US state in 1845. As the city is home to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston was officially given the nickname “Space City” in 1967.

10 Daughter of Polonius : OPHELIA

In William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, Ophelia is courted by Hamlet, the man himself. Ophelia is the daughter of nobleman Polonius. She dies …

11 Briny deep : OPEN SEA

The briny is the sea, with “brine” meaning “salty water”. The term “briny” was originally used for “tears”.

12 “Zounds!” : MY STARS!

The interjection “Zounds!” expresses surprise. It is an alteration of the older exclamation “By God’s wounds!”, a reference to the wounds incurred by Christ as he hung on the cross.

15 “If you don’t mind,” in a text : PLS

A polite texter might type PLS (please) and TY (thank you).

23 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame architect : PEI

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame can be visited on the shores of Lake Erie in Cleveland, Ohio. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation was created in 1983 and started inducting artists in 1986. The Foundation didn’t get a home until the museum was dedicated in Cleveland in 1995. I had the great privilege of visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame some years ago and really enjoyed myself. The magnificent building was designed by famed architect I. M. Pei.

25 Reggae singer Peter : TOSH

Peter Tosh was a musician from Jamaica, a member of the Wailers reggae band. Sadly, Tosh was murdered in a home invasion and extortion attempt in 1987.

30 1950s prez : IKE

When the future president was growing up, the Eisenhowers used the nickname “Ike” for all seven boys in the family, as “Ike” was seen as an abbreviation for the family name. “Big Ike” was Edgar, the second oldest boy. “Little/Young Ike” was Dwight, who was the third son born. Dwight had no sisters.

31 Couple of fellows? : ELS

There are a couple of letters L (els) in the word “fellows”.

32 Jack Ryan’s org. : CIA

Jack Ryan is the most famous fictional character created by author Tom Clancy. The set of novels (and related media) featuring Ryan are often referred to as the Ryanverse. He has been portrayed on the big screen by several actors, including Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Afleck and Chris Pine. On the small screen, Ryan has been portrayed very ably by John Krasinski.

35 Las Vegas WNBA team : ACES

The Las Vegas Aces women’s basketball team was formed in Salt Lake City in 1997 as the Utah Starzz. The team became the San Antonio (Silver) Stars in 2002, before moving to Las Vegas as the Aces in 2018.

37 Once-common flat-screens : PLASMAS

Plasma televisions are so called because the screen is made up of tiny cells containing electrically charged ionized gases (plasmas). Each of the cells is effectively a tiny fluorescent lamp.

39 Athletic shoe : SNEAKER

“Sneaker” is a common name for an athletic shoe, one that is now used as everyday casual wear. The term “sneaker” is used widely across the US. Back in my homeland of Ireland, the terms “trainers” and “tennis shoes” are more common.

42 Aid in finding the food court, perhaps : MALL MAP

Surprisingly (to me!), our word “mall”, meaning “shady walk” or “enclosed shopping space”, comes from the Italian for “mallet”. All of our shopping-style malls are named for “The Mall” in St. James’s Park in London. This tree-lined promenade was so called as it used to be a famous spot to play the croquet-like game called “pall-mall”. The game derived its name from the Italian for ball (palla) and mallet “maglio”. The London thoroughfare called the Mall still exists, at one end of which is Buckingham Palace. Indeed, parallel to the Mall is a street called Pall Mall.

46 Incisor neighbor : CANINE

The canine teeth of a mammal are also called the eyeteeth or cuspids. The name “canine” is used because these particular teeth are very prominent in dogs. The prefix “eye-” is used because in humans the eyeteeth are located in the upper jaw, directly below the eyes.

The incisors are the front teeth, of which humans have eight. The term “incisor” comes from the Latin “incidere” meaning “to cut”.

48 Animal Crossing console : SWITCH

The Nintendo Switch is a gaming console released in 2017. I guess the name “Switch” is used because users can “switch” between portable and home console modes. The device is a table that can be used as a personal gaming unit, or can be docked for use as a home console.

Animal Crossing is a videogame that was released in 2001. Each player is a human character living and interacting with rural villagers who are anthropomorphic animals. The game is described as open-ended, in that there are no objectives. Players just live in the village, carrying out activities in real time.

50 Gravel size : PEA

Gravel is a loose mixture of rock fragments. Gravel is classified by the size of those fragments. For example, pea gravel comprises pea-size, rounded stones.

51 Colorado ski destination : ASPEN

Aspen, Colorado used to be known as Ute City, with the name change taking place in 1880. Like many communities in the area, Aspen was a mining town, and in 1891 and 1892 it was at the center of the highest production of silver in the US. Nowadays, it’s all about skiing and movie stars.

52 One-named actress/flamenco guitarist : CHARO

Charo is an actress, comedian and flamenco guitarist from Spain. She is quite famous for her comedic catchphrase “cuchi cuchi”. Charo’s real name is … wait for it … María del Rosario Pilar Martínez Molina Gutiérrez de los Perales Santa Ana Romaguera y de la Hinojosa Rasten.

Flamenco is a style of Spanish music and dance. The origin of the word “flamenco” isn’t clearly understood, but the explanation that seems most credible to me is that it comes from Flanders in Northern Europe. Given that “flamenco” is the Spanish word for “Flemish” and Flanders is home to the Flemish people it makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?

54 Booker T.’s band : MGS

Booker T. & the M.G.’s were in effect the house band at Stax Records, and so appeared on loads of famous recordings including some by Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding. As such, they became synonymous with what became known as the Stax Sound. One of the unique things about the band was that it was racially integrated, with two white guys making a name for themselves in soul music, which at the time was very much part of black culture. And of course Booker T. & the M.G.’s produced the fabulous 1962 hit “Green Onions”.

58 Opposite of trans : CIS

In Latin, the prefix “cis-” means “this side of”. The prefix “trans-” means “the other side of”.

60 Like unsalted winter roads : ICY

Halite is the mineral form of sodium chloride, and is also known as “rock salt”. Halite is used to melt ice, as salt water has a lower freezing point than pure water. Adding salt to icy sidewalks can therefore cause any ice to melt (as long as the ambient temperature isn’t too low). A mixture of halite and ice can also be used to cool things below the freezing point of water, perhaps to make ice cream.