Day: August 13, 2023

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Constructed by: Matthew Stock
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: Blood Bank

Themed answers are common phrases with the letters A, B and/or O inserted and/or removed:

• 23A Excuse for a presidency’s shortcomings? (A+) : FAILING CABINET (A + filing cabinet)
• 33A Where Parisians get their newspapers? (A-) : LE MONDE STANDS (lemonade stands – A)
• 49A Oscar the Grouch’s backing instrumentalists? (B+) : GARBAGE BAND (B + garage band)
• 53A Angry tennis player, perhaps? (B-) : RACKET BUSTER (bracket buster – B)
• 74A Barista-inspired dessert? (O+) : AMERICANO PIE (O + “American Pie”)
• 76A Warmup stretches at a company retreat? (O-) : STAFF LUNGES (staff lounges – O)
• 91A Excited cry when the shellfish course finally arrives? (AB+) : ABALONE AT LAST (AB + alone at last)
• 106A Reason so many classic songs are earworms? (AB-) : OLD HITS DIE HARD (old habits die hard – AB)

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

Bill’s time: 18m 11s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 Many a personal website : BLOG

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”.

9 Apple player : IPOD

The iPod is Apple’s discontinued signature line of portable media players. The iPod first hit the market in 2001 with a hard drive-based device, now known as the iPod Classic. Later models all used flash memory, allowing a smaller form factor. The smallest of the flash-based models is the iPod Shuffle, which was introduced in 2005.

19 “Am __ loud?” : I TOO

Yes.

20 Spanish tender : EURO

Euro coins carry a design on one side that indicates the country of issue (Ireland uses a harp, for example). Euro banknotes, on the other hand, lack any such indication. The banknotes all feature stylized architectural designs of bridges, arches and gateways that reflect the large number of historic structures found throughout the continent.

21 Purple pet in old cartoons : DINO

In the Hanna-Barbera cartoon “The Flintstones”, Dino the pet dinosaur was voiced by the famous Mel Blanc, until Blanc passed away in 1989.

23 Excuse for a presidency’s shortcomings? (A+) : FAILING CABINET (A + filing cabinet)

What we call “file cabinets” here in the US are usually referred to as “filing cabinets” on the other side of the Atlantic. Also, standard dimensions differ on the two continents, as “filing cabinets” are optimized for A4 size paper.

30 Music producer Brian : ENO

Brian Eno is a musician, composer and record producer from England who first achieved fame as the synthesizer player with Roxy Music. As a producer, Eno has worked with David Bowie, Devo, Talking Heads and U2.

33 Where Parisians get their newspapers? (A-) : LE MONDE STANDS (lemonade stands – A)

“Le Monde” is a newspaper published each evening in France. It is one of the two most famous French papers, along with “Le Figaro”.

41 Jet stream heading : EAST

Jet streams are narrow air currents high in the atmosphere that move very quickly around the earth. The major jet streams surrounding our planet move in an easterly direction.

43 __ au lait : CAFE

“Café au lait” (French for “coffee with milk”) is usually strong drip coffee to which one adds steamed milk. Well, that’s the way we tend to make it here in the US.

44 Tight end Rob with four Super Bowl rings, familiarly : GRONK

Rob “Gronk” Gronkowski is an NFL tight end who was drafted by the New England Patriots in 2010. Gronk is one of five brothers, all of whom have played professional sports.

45 Siddhartha __: the Buddha : GAUTAMA

Gautama Buddha was the sage on whose teachings the Buddhist tradition was founded. It is generally believed that the Buddha was born as Siddhartha Gautama in Kapilavastu in present-day Nepal, in about 563 BCE.

47 Wisecracking extraterrestrial of 1980s TV : ALF

“ALF” is a sitcom that aired in the late eighties. The title character is a hand-puppet, and supposedly an alien named Gordon Shumway from the planet Melmac. The alien crash-landed into the house of amateur radio enthusiast Willie Tanner. Tanner renamed the intruder “ALF”, standing for “alien life form”.

49 Oscar the Grouch’s backing instrumentalists? (B+) : GARBAGE BAND (B + garage band)

Oscar the Grouch is the Muppet who lives in a garbage can. Oscar’s persona comes from various sources. He is named after Oscar Brand who was one of the board members of the Children’s Television Workshop, the backers for “Sesame Street” as the Muppets were being developed in the sixties. Oscar’s personality was inspired by an angry waiter that once served Jim Henson (father of the Muppets). The voice was modeled on a grumpy New York cab driver encountered one day by Caroll Spinney, the puppeteer who brings Oscar to life.

53 Angry tennis player, perhaps? (B-) : RACKET BUSTER (bracket buster – B)

“Bracketology” is a term used to describe the process of predicting which college basketball teams will advance in a bracket in the annual NCAA Basketball Tournament. President Barack Obama famously participates in an ESPN segment called “Baracketology” in which he predicts the outcome of the tournament, game by game.

58 Milne character who likes to swing on Tigger’s tail : ROO

Like most of the characters in A. A. Milne’s “Winnie-the-Pooh”, the kangaroo named “Roo” was inspired by a stuffed toy belonging to Milne’s son Christopher Robin.

Tigger is a character in the “Winnie-the-Pooh” stories by A. A. Milne. He is a tiger with a springy tail and just loves to bounce around. Tigger will tell you himself that “bouncing is what tiggers do best.”

59 Cook quickly, as vegetables : BLANCH

In cooking, to blanch a food substance is to plunge it into boiling water for a short time and then plunge it into iced water to stop the cooking process. The literal meaning of “blanch” is “whiten” (from French), but the procedure does not necessarily result in a color change. The desired outcome is usually a softening or a reduction in a strong taste.

63 Subway Series side : METS

The term “Subway Series” has been used to describe World Series baseball games when both participating teams are based in New York.

65 Menial worker : PEON

A peon is a lowly worker who has no real control over his/her working conditions. The word “peon” comes into English from Spanish, in which language it has the same meaning.

66 “Family __” : FEUD

“Family Feud” is an American game show that has been remade in countries all over the world. We even have a version in Ireland that we call “Family Fortunes”.

70 __ chic : GEEK

Geek chic was a fashion trend in which mainly young people adopted clothing and accessories associated with stereotypical “geeks”. The trend popularized capri pants, suspenders and oversized black horn-rimmed glasses.

71 Oscar-nominated film about a South Korean family in rural Arkansas : MINARI

“Minari” is a 2020 semi-autobiographical movie written and directed by Lee Isaac Chung. It tells the story of a family of immigrants from South Korea who relocate from California to rural Arkansas to grow produce for sale. The title “Minari” translates as “Water Celery”, which is one of the crops that the family cultivates successfully.

74 Barista-inspired dessert? (O+) : AMERICANO PIE (O + “American Pie”)

A caffè Americano is espresso to which hot water is added, bringing the coffee to a similar strength as drip coffee. Caffè Italiano is a similar drink, but a little stronger, with a 1:1 ratio of espresso to hot water.

The first of the “American Pie” sex comedy films was released in 1999. The series now includes some “American Pie Presents” spin-off movies that were released direct-to-video.

80 Button on some scales : TARE

Tare is the weight of a container that is deducted from the gross weight to determine the net weight, the weight of the container’s contents.

85 Short lunch orders? : BLTS

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

86 Knee part, for short : ACL

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of four major ligaments that support the knee. It is located in the center of the knee and connects the femur (thigh bone) to the tibia (shin bone).

88 “Keep this private” docs : NDAS

Non-disclosure agreement (NDA)

89 Handsome, in Honduras : GUAPO

Honduras is a country in Central America that used to be known as Spanish Honduras, in order to differentiate it from British Honduras that is now called Belize. “Honduras” is the Spanish word for “the depths”, which is probably a reference to deep coastal waters.

91 Excited cry when the shellfish course finally arrives? (AB+) : ABALONE AT LAST! (AB + alone at last!)

The large edible sea snails that we call abalone are called ormer in Britain and Ireland, and are served as “awabi” at a sushi bar. The abalone shell resembles a human ear, giving rise to the alternative names “ear shell” and “sea ear”.

96 Confer knighthood on : DUB

Kneel, and a monarch might “dub thee a knight” if you’re lucky. “Dub” is a specific term derived from Old English that was used to mean “make a knight”. As the knight was also given a knightly name at the same time, “dub” came to mean “give someone a name”.

100 Window-switching shortcut : ALT-TAB

On a Windows computer, the Alt-Tab keyboard shortcut allows a user to switch between open windows.

104 Used a loom : WEAVED

There are many types of loom used to weave cloth, but they all hold parallel threads in tension in one direction, while allowing the interweaving of threads in the perpendicular direction. The threads held under tension are the warp threads, and the “woven” threads are the “weft” threads.

106 Reason so many classic songs are earworms? (AB-) : OLD HITS DIE HARD (old habits die hard – AB)

“Earworm” is a colloquial term used for a catchy tune that is also somewhat irritating, one that you can’t get out of your head.

110 Small sled : LUGE

A luge is a small sled used by one or two people, on which one lies face up and feet first. The luge can be compared to the skeleton, a sled for only one person and on which the rider lies face down and goes down the hill head-first. Yikes!

112 Aretha Franklin’s gospel/soul-singing sister : ERMA

Erma Franklin was an R&B and gospel singer. She was the elder sister of Aretha Franklin. Erma toured with Aretha for a while, and even recorded backup vocals on her sister’s big hit “Respect”.

113 Some Ethiopian Christmas celebrants, for short : RASTAS

I must admit that I don’t really know much about Rastafarianism. I do know that a “Rasta”, such as Bob Marley, is a follower of the movement. Some say that Rastafarianism is a religion, some not. I also know that it involves the worship of Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia.

115 Honor roll stats : GPAS

Grade point average (GPA)

Down

2 Capitol Reef National Park setting : UTAH

Capitol Reef National Park in south-central Utah was designated as a National Monument in 1937, and given National Park status in 1971. The name is a reference to the park’s white Navajo Sandstone cliffs, many having a dome shape reminiscent of white domes often seen on capitol buildings.

3 Spider-Man __: monochromatic comic book character : NOIR

Spider-Man Noir is a superhero in the Marvel Noir universe introduced by Marvel Comics in 2009. Spider-Man Noir has similar superpowers to the vigilante version of Spider-Man, and also wages war against the criminal underworld. However, the Noir version of Spider-Man uses more lethal and brutal force against his foes.

5 Square meal? : BENTO

A bento is a single-person meal that is eaten quite commonly in Japan. A bento can be purchased as a take-out meal, or it may be packed at home. A bento is usually sold as a “bento box”.

6 Schlep : LUG

Our word “schlep” (sometimes “schlepp”) means “carry, drag”. “Schlep” comes from Yiddish, with “shlepen” having the same meaning.

7 Large part of a pod : ORCA

A group of whales can be called a gam, as well as a pod.

9 The bee’s knees and the cat’s meow : IDIOMS

There was a whole series of phrases involving animals that developed in the 1920s, with all designed to indicate a superlative. Some are still around today, such as “the cat’s pajamas” and “the bee’s knees”. Others didn’t last too long, e.g. “the eel’s ankle” and “the snake’s hip”.

10 Old Ford named for a horse : PINTO

The Pinto is a small car that was made by the Ford company from 1971 to 1980. The Pinto was named for the type of horse. Allegations were made in 1997 that the neck of the car’s fuel tank could easily break off in a collision leading to a deadly fire. However, the allegations were never really shown to be valid.

11 Solid yellow ball : ONE
[67D Striped yellow ball : NINE]

The more correct name for the game of pool is “pocket billiards”. The designation “pool” arose after pocket billiards became a common feature in “pool halls”, places where gamblers “pooled” their money to bet on horse races.

16 One-named Tejano singer : SELENA

Singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez, known professionally simply as “Selena”, was murdered in 1995 by the president of her own fan club at the height of her career. In a 1997 biopic about Selena’s life, Jennifer Lopez played the title role. Selena had often been referred to as the “Queen of Tejano” during her career.

“Tejano” is the Spanish word for “Texan”. Tejano music is strongly influenced by Cajun culture, because of the proximity of Texas to Louisiana. The other strong influence came with immigrants from Poland and what is now the Czech Republic. These immigrants brought with them the waltz, polka … and the accordion.

18 Others, in Oaxaca : OTROS

Oaxaca (officially “Oaxaca de Juárez”) is the capital city of the Mexican state of Oaxaca, which is located in the south of the country.

24 Key in the sea : ISLE

A key (also “cay”) is a low offshore island, as in the Florida “Keys”. Our term in English comes from the Spanish “cayo” meaning “shoal, reef”.

32 Legume used in vegan chocolate : CAROB

The carob is a tree or shrub in the pea family that is mainly grown for its seed pods. The carob seeds are dried or roasted, and when powdered or chipped make a good substitute for chocolate.

35 Apply messily : DAUB

“To daub” is to coat a surface with something thick and sticky, like say plaster or mud.

36 Many an Emirati : ARAB

A territory ruled by an emir is an emirate. There are two independent states in the Middle East that can be described as “emirates”, namely Kuwait and Qatar. There is also a confederation of emirates that make up a state: the United Arab Emirates.

37 Lamb eaten on Eid, e.g. : HALAL MEAT

“Halal” is a term describing an action or object that is permissible under Islamic Law. In particular “halal” is used to describe food that can be consumed. Anything that is not allowed is described as “haram”.

Eid al-Fitr is a religious holiday in the Muslim tradition that is known in English as the “Festival of Breaking the Fast”. It marks the end of Ramadan, a period of dawn-to-sunset fasting.

40 Some sacred flowers : LOTUSES

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.

43 Those with a driving passion? : CAR BUFFS

Back in the early 1900s, a buff was someone (usually a male) who admired firefighting. The term “buff” was a reference to the buff-colored uniforms that had been sported by volunteer firefighters in New York City since the 1820s. The use of the word “buff” spread over time to describe a person who was enthusiastic about any particular subject, e.g. film buff, WWII buff.

44 Post-punk subculture : GOTH

The goth subculture developed from the gothic rock scene in the early eighties, and is a derivative of the punk music movement. It started in England and spread to many countries around the globe. The term “goth” comes from the Eastern Germanic tribe called the Goths.

45 Long-nosed fish : GAR

“Gar” was originally the name given to a species of needlefish found in the North Atlantic. The term “gar” is now used to describe several species of fish with elongated bodies that inhabit North and Central America and the Caribbean. The gar is unusual in that it is often found in very brackish water. What I find interesting is that the gar’s swim bladders are vascularized so that they can actually function as lungs. Many species of gar can actually be seen coming to the surface and taking a gulp of air. This adaptation makes it possible for them to live in conditions highly unsuitable for other fish that rely on their gills to get oxygen out of the water. Indeed, quite interesting …

50 Sport that encourages horsing around? : ARENA POLO

Arena polo is a speedy version of polo that is played on a much smaller field, and one that is often indoors. Regular pole is played on a 10-acre field, whereas arena polo is played on an enclosed field measuring 300 x 150 feet. The enclosing walls are at least four feet in height.

52 Spycraft files : DOSSIERS

A dossier is a collection of papers with information about a person or subject. “Dossier” is a French term meaning “bundle of papers”.

63 Stereo alternative : MONO

Monophonic sound (“mono”) is sound reproduced using just one audio channel, which is usually played out of just one speaker. Stereophonic sound is reproduced using two audio channels, with the sound from each channel played out of two different speakers. The pair of stereo speakers are usually positioned apart from each other so that sound appears to come from between the two. Quadraphonic sound (4.0 surround sound) uses four audio channels with the sound played back through four speakers that are often positioned at the corners of the room in which one is listening.

69 Portico pillars : COLONNADES

A colonnade is a long sequence of columns that are equally spaced, and often support some type of roof. A colonnade surrounding a porch at an entranceway is known as a portico. A colonnade surrounding a courtyard or the perimeter of a building is known as a peristyle.

70 Buicks, e.g. : GMS

General Motors (GM) was the largest manufacturer of vehicles in the world for 77 straight years, at least in terms of numbers of cars sold, from 1931 until 2007. GM was established in 1908 in Flint, Michigan as a holding company for Buick, which in turn had been founded in 1899. GM’s Buick brand is the oldest, still-active automotive brand in the US. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2009, and emerged from that bankruptcy just one month later, with a lot of help from the US taxpayer. In order to do so, GM had to shut down its Hummer, Pontiac and Saturn operations. The revamped General Motors then had a huge Initial Public Offering in 2010 that raised $23 billion.

73 Banned refrigerant, for short : CFC

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used to be widely used as propellants in aerosols, and as refrigerants in cooling systems. CFCs make their way up into the ozone layer and trigger a chain reaction that converts ozone (O₃) into regular oxygen (O₂). That conversion creates “holes” in the ozone layer. Regular O₂ is good stuff, but we need O₃ to absorb harmful UV radiation raining down on us. CFC is not good stuff …

74 __ Lingus : AER

Aer Lingus is the flag carrier airline of Ireland. It was founded in 1936 by the Irish government to provide air service between Ireland and the United Kingdom. The airline’s name means “air fleet” in Irish. In the 1950s, Aer Lingus became the first airline in the world to introduce a duty-free shopping service on board its flights.

75 Riverside rental : CANOE

The boat known as a canoe takes its name from the Carib word “kenu” meaning “dugout”. It was Christopher Columbus who brought “kenu” into Spanish as “canoa”, which evolved into our English “canoe”.

78 ESPNU focus : NCAA

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

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)

83 Dinner rolls? : SUSHI

Sushi is a Japanese dish that has as its primary ingredient cooked, vinegared rice. The rice is usually topped with something, most often fish, and can be served in seaweed rolls. If we want raw fish by itself, then we have to order sashimi.

84 Infielder’s untimely move : LATE TAG

That could be baseball.

86 Mamá’s mamá : ABUELA

In Spanish, the mother of your “tia” (aunt) is your “abuela” (grandmother).

87 Plot-makers : CABALS

A cabal is a small group of plotters acting in secret, perhaps scheming against a government or an individual. The use of “cabal” in this way dates back to the mid-1600s. It is suggested that the term gained some popularity, particularly in a sinister sense, during the reign of Charles II in the 1670s. At that time, it was applied as an acronym standing for “Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, and Lauderdale”, a group of ministers known for their plots and schemes.

90 Acrimony : BILE

In days past, health was said to depend on the balance between the body’s four “humors”, four vital fluids. These humors were blood, phlegm, yellow bile (aka “choler”) and black bile. Excesses of yellow and black bile were thought to produce aggression and depression. As a result, we use the terms “bile” and “choler” today to mean “ill temper” and “anger”.

92 NASA-approved watch brand : OMEGA

Omega is a manufacturer of high-end watches based in Switzerland. An Omega watch was the first portable timepiece to make it to the moon, Perhaps even more (!) impressive is the fact that James Bond has been wearing an Omega watch in the movies since 1995.

95 “Downton Abbey” figures : MAIDS

Fans of the wonderful TV drama “Downton Abbey” will be very familiar with the exterior appearance of Highclere Castle in Hampshire. Highclere is used as the location for exterior and many interior shots of the fictitious Grantham residence called Downton Abbey. The exterior of Highclere is very reminiscent of the Houses of Parliament building in London. That similarity exists because the house was largely rebuilt from 1839 to 1842 by architect Sir Charles Barry soon after he finished work on the refurbished Houses of Parliament.

99 Accept an invite, perhaps : RSVP

“RSVP” stands for “répondez s’il vous plaît”, which is French for “answer, please”.

101 Poi base : TARO

The corm of some taro plants is used to make poi, a traditional Hawaiian dish (which I think tastes horrible). When a taro plant is grown as an ornamental, it is often called Elephant Ears due to the shape of its large leaves.

105 Pet doc : VET

“Vet” is an abbreviation for “veterinarian”, a professional who treats animals for disease and injury. The word “veterinary” comes from the Latin “veterinae” meaning “working animals, beasts of burden”.

106 __ Henriksen: skin care brand : OLE

Ole Henriksen is a supplier of skin care products named for a Danish-born skin cosmetician who founded the company in 1983.

108 Noche preceder : DIA

“Noche y dia” translates from Spanish as “night and day”.