Day: August 20, 2023

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Constructed by: Amie Walker
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: I’m Out

Each themed answer DROPS THE letter string “MIC” into the down-direction:

• 104A Dramatically ends a performance, and what the answer to each starred clue does? : DROPS THE MIC

• 22A *Wide-angle lens output : PANORAMIC VIEW
• 24A *Deep-fried burrito : CHIMICHANGA
• 46A *Woman who was the first Black model to appear on the cover of Time : NAOMI CAMPBELL
• 59A *”Why won’t anyone notice me!?” : WHAT AM I? CHOPPED LIVER?
• 79A *Paper birds in the Japanese tradition of senbazuru : ORIGAMI CRANES
• 102A *Pedicure tool : PUMICE STONE

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

Bill’s time: 12m 19s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 2026 Winter Olympics range : ALPS

The 2026 Winter Olympic Games is scheduled to take place in Italy, after the joint bid by the cities of Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo was accepted by the International Olympic Committee in 2019. This will be the fourth time an Olympic Games has been hosted in Italy, and the first time that a Winter Olympics has had multiple host cities.

11 Currency featuring activist Viola Desmond on one of its notes: Abbr. : CAD

Canadian dollar (CAD)

Activist Viola Desmond challenged racial discrimination at a movie theater in Nova Scotia in 1946. Desmond was of African descent, and she refused to leave a whites-only seating section in the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow. Desmond was named a National Historic Person in 2018, and later that same year she became the first Canadian-born woman to appear on a Canadian bank note.

14 Peddle : SELL

In its purest sense, a peddler is someone who sells his or her wares on the street or from door to door. The term probably comes from the Latin “pedarius” meaning “one who goes on foot”.

18 Average : MEAN

In a set of numbers, the mean is the average value of those numbers. The median is the numeric value at which half the numbers have a lower value, and half the numbers a higher value. The mode is the value that appears most often in the whole set of numbers.

22 *Wide-angle lens output : PANORAMIC VIEW

Panoramic paintings have existed for centuries, but the word “panorama” was coined around 1790 to describe an invention by the artist Robert Barker. He created an apparatus for exhibiting pictures on the inside of a cylindrical surface, allowing the viewer to stand in the middle with access to a 360-degree vista. The term comes from Greek “pan-” meaning “all” and “horama” meaning “sight, spectacle”.

24 *Deep-fried burrito : CHIMICHANGA

The chimichanga isn’t a dish from Mexican cuisine, but is rather a dish that originated in Arizona, possibly by accident in the 1920s. It is basically a deep-fried burrito (a dish that did originate in Mexico). The name “chimichanga” is Mexican-Spanish for “thingamajig”.

27 With 81-Across, fruity liqueur : SLOE …
81A See 27-Across : … GIN

The sloe is the fruit of the blackthorn bush, and the main flavoring ingredient in sloe gin. A sloe looks like a small plum, but is usually much more tart in taste.

29 Van Gogh vaseful : IRISES

Van Gogh painted his “Irises” while he was in an asylum in the south of France the year before he committed suicide. The original owner was a French art critic and supporter of van Gogh who paid 300 francs to purchase the painting. “Irises” was bought for $53.9 million in 1987, making it the most expensive painting sold up to that point. But, the buyer didn’t actually have the necessary funds, so it had to be resold in 1990. It was picked up by the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, where you can see it today.

30 Comedian Wyatt : CENAC

Wyatt Cenac is a comedian and writer from New York City who was raised in Dallas. Cenac worked for three years as a writer for the TV show “KIng of the Hill” before joining “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” as writer and correspondent.

32 Snuggle, in a way : SPOON

When two people are “spooning”, cuddling in bed perhaps, the person in the back is referred to as the “big spoon”, and the person in front is the “little spoon”.

33 Onetime Altoids rival : CERTS

Certs were the first breath mints to be marketed nationally in the US, hitting the shelves in 1956. A Cert is called a mint, but it isn’t really as it contains no mint oil and instead has its famous ingredient named “Retsyn”. Retsyn is a mixture of copper gluconate (giving the green flecks), partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil (not healthy!) and flavoring (maybe mint?).

Altoids breath mints have been around since 1780, when they were introduced in Britain. The famous tin in which Altoids are sold is often reused for other purposes. The most famous use is as a container for a mini-survival kit.

34 Javier of “The Little Mermaid” : BARDEM

Spanish actor Javier Bardem is probably best known for playing the crazed assassin in 2007’s “No Country for Old Men”, and Bond villain Raoul Silva in 2012’ “Skyfall”. Bardem won the Best Supporting Actor for his performance in “No Country for Old Men”, making him the first Spaniard to win an Academy Award. Bardem wasn’t actually born on the Spanish mainland, but rather in Las Palmas in the Canary Island off the Moroccan coast. He married fellow-actor Penélope Cruz in 2010.

“The Little Mermaid” is a live-action adaptation of the 1989 animated Disney film of the same name. Both films are loosely based on the 1837 fairy tale with the same title that was penned by Hans Christian Anderson.

36 Kelly Ripa, e.g. : TV HOST

When Kelly Ripa secured the co-host spot on morning television with Regis Philbin, she was still acting in “All My Children” in a role she had been playing for over ten years. After a year of holding down two jobs, she eventually gave up the acting gig. Ripa has acted as spokeswoman for several brands over the years, including Electrolux and Rykä.

43 Fuel efficiency stat : MPG

Miles per gallon (mpg)

46 *Woman who was the first Black model to appear on the cover of Time : NAOMI CAMPBELL

Naomi Campbell is a supermodel from England. There’s a lot of interest in Campbell’s life off the runway, as she is known to have an explosive temper and has been charged with assault more than once. Her dating life is much-covered in the tabloids as well, and she has been romantically linked in the past with Mike Tyson and Robert De Niro.

49 Double Dutch implement : ROPE

Double Dutch is a skipping game that uses two jump ropes that are turned in opposite directions.

52 Big Board initials : NYSE

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is nicknamed the “Big Board”.

55 Saskatchewan people : CREE

The Cree are one of the largest groups of Native Americans on the continent. In the US, Montana is home to most of the Cree nation. They live on a reservation shared with the Ojibwe people. In Canada, most of the Cree live in Manitoba.

The Canadian province of Saskatchewan (Sask.) takes its name from the Saskatchewan River. The river in turn takes its name from the Cree name, which translates as “swift flowing river”. The capital of Saskatchewan is Regina, although the biggest city in the province is Saskatoon.

59 *”Why won’t anyone notice me!?” : WHAT AM I? CHOPPED LIVER?

“What, am I chopped liver?” is a Jewish-American expression meaning “Why do I get overlooked”. One suggestion for the rationale behind the expression is that chopped liver was traditionally served as a side dish rather than a main course, and so might be overlooked.

66 Smidgen : IOTA

Iota is the ninth letter in the Greek alphabet, and one that gave rise to our letters I and J. We use the word “iota” to portray something very small, as it is the smallest of all Greek letters.

Our word “smidgen” (sometimes shortened to “smidge”) is used to describe a small amount. The term might come from the Scots word “smitch” that means the same thing or “a small insignificant person”.

68 New Orleans structure : LEVEE

A levee is an artificial bank, usually made of earth, that runs along the length of a river. It is designed to hold back river water at a time of potential flooding. “Levée” is the French word for “raised” and is an American term that originated in French-speaking New Orleans around 1720.

69 Pre-TiVo devices : VCRS

The first video cassette recorder (VCR) was introduced in the 1950s, but it wasn’t until the 1970s that home VCRs became successful.

70 Actor Kinnear : GREG

Greg Kinnear is a favorite actor of mine, one probably best recognized for his Oscar-nominated performance in the excellent film “As Good as it Gets” from 1997.

73 Classic skirt silhouette : A-LINE

An A-line skirt is one that fits snugly at the hips and flares towards the hem. The term “A-line” was first used in fashion by French designer Christian Dior in his 1955 spring collection.

77 Figure skating feat : AXEL

An axel is a forward take-off jump in figure skating. The maneuver was first performed by Norwegian Axel Paulsen at the 1882 World Figure Skating championships.

78 Actress Sorvino : MIRA

Mira Sorvino is an American actress, and a winner of an Oscar for her supporting role in the 1995 Woody Allen movie “Mighty Aphrodite”. Sorvino also played a title role opposite Lisa Kudrow in the very forgettable “Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion”.

79 *Paper birds in the Japanese tradition of senbazuru : ORIGAMI CRANES

Origami is the traditional Japanese art form of paper folding. The best-known example of the craft is the paper crane (“orizuru“). The word “origami” is derived from “ori“ (folding) and “kami” (paper).

Sadako Sasaki was a Japanese girl who was two years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. She was exposed to the radiation and developed leukemia ten years later. While she was in the hospital, she began folding origami cranes. A Japanese folktale says that if a person folds 1,000 cranes (“senbazuru”), they will be granted a wish. Sadako hoped that by folding the cranes, she would be cured of her leukemia. She folded over 1,000 cranes before she died in 1955 at the age of 12.

82 Paul of “The Fabelmans” : DANO

Paul Dano is an actor and musician from New York City. I best know him for playing Brian Wilson in “Love & Mercy”, a fascinating film about the Beach Boys.

“The Fabelmans” is a 2022 coming-of-age drama film directed by Steven Spielberg, who co-wrote the screenplay with Tony Kushner. The movie is a semi-autobiographical story loosely based on Spielberg’s adolescence and first years as a filmmaker. The plot is told through an original story of the fictional Sammy Fabelman, a young aspiring filmmaker who explores how the power of films can help him see the truth about his dysfunctional family and those around him.

83 Coastal city in Italia : NAPOLI

Naples (“Napoli” in Italian) is the third largest city in Italy. The name “Napoli” comes from the city’s Ancient Greek name, which translates as “New City”. That’s a bit of a paradox as today Naples is one of the oldest continuously-inhabited cities in the world.

84 Message in a bottle, maybe : SOS

The combination of three dots – three dashes – three dots, is a Morse signal first introduced by the German government as a standard distress call in 1905. The sequence is remembered as the letters SOS (three dots – pause – three dashes – pause – three dots). That said, in the emergency signal there is no pause between the dots and dashes, so “SOS” is really only a mnemonic. Similarly, the phrases “Save Our Souls” and “Save Our Ship” are back-formations that were introduced after the SOS signal was adopted.

85 Scary St. Bernard of fiction : CUJO

“Cujo” is a 1981 Stephen King horror novel, which means that I haven’t read it (I don’t do horror). The character Cujo is a rabid St. Bernard dog which besieges a young couple for three days in their stalled car. King tells us that he lifted the dog’s name from real life, as Cujo was the nickname of Willie Wolfe, one of the men responsible for the 1974 kidnapping of Patty Hearst by the Symbionese Liberation Army.

88 Monaco attraction : CASINO

Monte Carlo is an administrative area in the Principality of Monaco that covers just under a quarter of a square mile. The area is known in particular as the location of the famous Monte Carlo Casino. “Monte Carlo” translates as “Mount Charles”, and was named in 1866 for Charles III of Monaco who was ruling the principality at the time.

93 Golf shirts : POLOS

René Lacoste was a French tennis player who went into the clothing business, and came up with a more comfortable shirt that players could use. This became known as a “tennis shirt”. When it was adopted for use in the sport of polo, the shirts also became known as “polo shirts”. The “golf shirt” is basically the same thing. The Lacoste line of clothing features a crocodile logo, because René was nicknamed “The Crocodile”.

95 Common allergens : SPORES

Spores are produced by many bacteria, fungi and non-flowering plants. A spore is a reproductive body encased in a protective shell that is highly resistant to damage, and resistant to heat in particular.

96 Genesis locale : EDEN

According to the Book of Genesis, Adam and Eve lived in a garden “in” Eden, with Eden being geographically located by reference to four rivers, including the Tigris and the Euphrates. Some scholars hypothesize that Eden was located in Mesopotamia, which encompasses much of modern-day Iraq.

97 Air marshal’s org. : TSA

Transportation Security Administration (TSA)

The US air marshal program was created by President Kennedy in 1963, with the initial force of only six marshals assigned to flights that were considered at high risk for a hijacking. Just before 9/11, the number of marshals had increased to 33. The exact number of marshals employed today is classified information, but it is thought to be thousands.

99 “Barbie” director Gerwig : GRETA

Greta Gerwig is an actress, screenwriter and director from Sacramento whose best-known acting role is probably opposite Russell Brand in the remake of the film “Arthur”. Gerwig has turned to directing, and was at the helm for the 2019 movie “Little Women”. And then, she co-wrote and directed the hit 2023 film “Barbie”.

The 2023 fantasy comedy movie “Barbie” stars Margo Kidder in the title role and Ryan Gosling as Ken. It was directed by Greta Gerwig, who also co-wrote the script with her partner Noah Baumbach. I highly recommend this one …

102 *Pedicure tool : PUMICE STONE

Pumice is volcanic rock that is formed by lava cooling. There are bubbles in pumice due to water and carbon dioxide frothing out of the lava as it cools. Because of the frothy structure, pumice is relatively light and is a great thermal insulator. As such, it is used in construction to make insulating breeze blocks.

104 Dramatically ends a performance, and what the answer to each starred clue does? : DROPS THE MIC

A mic drop takes place when a performer has done particularly well and decides to celebrate by throwing or dropping the microphone to the floor. That doesn’t seem to happen at the performances I tend to frequent …

109 Kid-lit boy detective __ the Great : NATE

The “Nate the Great” series of children’s novels was written (mainly) by Marjorie Sharmat. Nate is like a young Sherlock Holmes, with a dog for a sidekick called Sludge. Some of the books have been adapted for television.

110 Noir sleuths : TECS

The word “sleuth” came into English from Old Norse as far back as 1200 when it meant the “track or trail of a person”. In the mid-1800s, a sleuthhound described a keen investigator, a hound close on the trail of the suspect. Sleuthhound was shortened to “sleuth” and was used for a detective in general.

111 “Evita” narrator : CHE

“Evita” was the followup musical to “Jesus Christ Superstar” for Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice. Both of these works were originally released as album musicals, and very successful ones at that (I remember buying them when they first came out). For the original album’s cast of “Evita” they chose Irish singer Colm Wilkinson (or C. T. Wilkinson, as we know him back in Ireland) to play “Che”, the narrator of the piece. In the movie adaptation, Che was portrayed by Antonio Banderas.

113 Mireille of “Hanna” : ENOS

Mireille Enos is an actress from Kansas City. She is perhaps best known for her TV work, playing Sarah Linden on “The Killing” and for playing twins Kathy and JoDean Marquart on “Big Love”. Enos is married to actor Alan Ruck, who I mainly remember playing Cameron Frye in the great movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”.

“Hanna” is an excellent action drama series that is based on a 2011 film of the same name. The title character in the TV show is played by English actress Esmé Creed-Miles. Hanna is one of a group of children who were born with deliberately enhanced DNA in order to create a cadre of super-soldiers. Good stuff …

Down

3 2002 Jodie Foster film about a robbery : PANIC ROOM

“Panic Room” is an excellent 2002 thriller film starring Jodie Foster and Forest Whitaker. Foster plays a mother who locks herself into a panic room in her apartment when a gang of thieves led by Forest Whitaker breaks in. Foster’s role was originally played by Nicole Kidman, but Kidman had to drop out of the project after two weeks of filming due to a flare-up of an old injury. Five weeks into filming after recasting, Foster found out that she was pregnant. After some wardrobe changes, Foster continued filming, with a stunt double taking over in scenes requiring excessive exertion.

The wonderful actress and director Jodie Foster got her big break in movies early in her life, playing a very young prostitute in Martin Scorsese’s 1976 film “Taxi Driver”. Sadly, her appearance in “Taxi Driver” led to her being stalked by an obsessed John Hinckley, Jr. Hinckley called Foster on the phone, sent her love letters, and followed her on campus while she was attending Yale. In 1981, Hinckley famously shot and wounded President Reagan, claiming that he believed an assassination of the President would impress Foster.

5 Snake River Canyon st. : IDA

Snake River Canyon in Idaho is famous for its beauty, and as the canyon that Evel Knievel failed to jump across in his Skycycle X-2 rocket.

7 Thomas __ Edison : ALVA

Thomas Alva Edison (TAE) was a very successful inventor. He held over a thousand US patents in his name. Included in the list of Edison’s inventions is the phonograph, the movie camera and the long-lasting light bulb. He passed away in 1931. There is a test tube at the Henry Ford Museum that supposedly holds Edison’s last breath. Ford convinced Thomas’s son Charles to seal up a tube of air in the room just after the inventor died, as a memento.

11 “Hallelujah” songwriter Leonard : COHEN

I’ve never been a big fan of the music of Canadian singer Leonard Cohen (don’t all yell at me at the same time!). That said, his 1984 song “Hallelujah” is superb, and I particularly like the version recorded by Jeff Buckley in 1994. Then again, “Suzanne” is pretty special too. Just ignore me …

12 Young Skywalker’s nickname : ANI

Anakin “Ani” Skywalker is the principal character in the first six of the “Star Wars” movies. His progress chronologically through the series of films is:

• Episode I: Anakin is a 9-year-old slave boy who earns the promise of Jedi training by young Obi-Wan Kenobi.
• Episode II: Anakin is 18-years-old and goes on a murdering rampage to avenge the killing of his mother.
• Episode III: Anakin is 21-years-old and a Jedi knight, but he turns to the Dark Side and becomes Darth Vader. His wife Padme gives birth to twins, Luke and Leia Skywalker.
• Episode IV: Darth Vader, comes into conflict with his children, Luke Skywalker and the Princess Leia.
• Episode V: Darth Vader attempts to coax his son Luke over to the dark side, and reveals to Luke that he is his father.
• Episode VI: Luke learns that Leia is his sister, and takes on the task of bringing Darth Vader back from the Dark Side in order to save the Galaxy. Vader saves his son from the Emperor’s evil grip, dying in the process, but his spirit ends up alongside the spirits of Yoda and Obi-Wan. They all live happily ever after …

14 Flight segments : STAIRS

A landing is the area at the top and bottom of a staircase. Apparently, we called the steps between the landings a “flight” of stairs, because one “flies” between landings! Can that be true?

15 Dadaist Max : ERNST

Max Ernst was a painter and sculptor, and a pioneer in the Dada movement and Surrealism. Ernst was born near Cologne in Germany in 1891 and he was called up to fight in WWI, as were most young German men at that time. In his autobiography he writes “Max Ernst died the 1st of August, 1914”, which was a statement about his experiences in the war. In reality, Ernst died in 1976 having lived to the ripe old age of 85.

Dadaism thrived during and just after WWI, and was an anti-war, anti-bourgeois and anti-art culture. The movement was launched in Zurich, Switzerland by a group of artists and writers who met to discuss art and put on performances in the Cabaret Voltaire. The same group frequently expressed disgust at the war that was raging across Europe.

16 Olympic sleds : LUGES

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!

23 Actress Russo : RENE

The talented actress Rene Russo is a native of Burbank, California. Russo went to high school (with actor/director Ron Howard), but dropped out in tenth grade. At seventeen, she was given the opportunity to train as a model and within a very short time appeared on the cover of “Vogue”. As her modeling jobs slowed down in her early thirties, Russo made a career change and studied theater and acting. Her breakout role was in the 1989 film “Major League.”

28 The “L” of UCLA : LOS

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) gets more applications from potential students than any other university in the country. UCLA also has more students enrolled than any other university in the state.

31 Radio letters : AM/FM

Amplitude modulation/frequency modulation (AM/FM)

In telecommunications, a radio signal is transmitted using a sinusoidal carrier wave. Information is transmitted using this carrier wave in two main ways, by varying (modulating) the instantaneous amplitude (signal strength) of the carrier wave, and by modulating the instantaneous frequency of the carrier wave. The former is referred to as an AM signal (“amplitude modulation”), and the latter as an FM signal (“frequency modulation”).

35 Berry from the Amazon : 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.

36 Froyo franchise : TCBY

TCBY is a chain of stores selling frozen yogurt that was founded in 1981 in Little Rock, Arkansas. The acronym TCBY originally stood for “This Can’t Be Yogurt”, but this had to be changed due to a lawsuit being pressed by a competitor called “I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt”. These days TCBY stands for “The Country’s Best Yogurt”.

41 Sleep disorder : APNEA

Sleep apnea (“apnoea” in British English) can be caused by an obstruction in the airways, possibly due to obesity or enlarged tonsils.

45 __ Goose vodka : GREY

Grey Goose is a vodka that is produced in France. It was developed specifically for the American market using resources and expertise available in the French Cognac region.

47 NBA great Jordan : MICHAEL

Michael Jordan is considered by some to be the greatest basketball player of all time. Not only is he a talented sportsman, but he is also very successful in the business world. He became the majority owner of the Charlotte Hornets NBA team in 2010. Fans refer to Jordan as “His Airness”.

50 Chocolate-hazelnut spread : NUTELLA

Nutella is a delicious hazelnut-chocolate spread made by Ferrero, a company based in Italy. Sadly, 70% of the Nutella recipe is saturated fat and processed sugar.

54 Cowboy __: bean salad : CAVIAR

Texas caviar (also “cowboy caviar”) is a salad comprising black-eyed peas in a vinaigrette dressing. The recipe was created in 1940, and first served at New Year’s Eve in the Houston Country Club.

57 Licensed tax pro : CPA

Certified public accountant (CPA)

58 “The Leftovers” actress Tyler : LIV

Actress and model Liv Tyler is the daughter of Steven Tyler, lead singer with Aerosmith, and Bebe Buell, a celebrated model and singer. Apparently, Buell hid the fact that Tyler was Liv’s father until Liv was 8 years old. Buell wanted to insulate her child from the rock-and-roll lifestyle. Liv Tyler plays the Elf maiden Arwen Undómiel in Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

“The Leftovers” is a television drama that is based on a novel of the same name by Tom Perrotta. I haven’t seen the show or read the book, but the premise sounds very interesting. It is set in a small New York town and takes place three years after a global “Rapture”, an event in which two percent of the world’s population disappeared inexplicably. The focus is on those folks “left over”, and not the people who disappeared.

60 Prefix with climate or greens : MICRO-

A microclimate is a set of atmospheric conditions found in a local area that differ from the general conditions in the greater area. Microclimates might exist in heavy urban areas due to the heat absorbed by concrete and asphalt, or perhaps near bodies of water that cool the adjacent atmosphere.

Microgreens are green vegetables that have been harvested very early in their life cycle. Typically, microgreens are picked just after the first pair of true leaves appear.

61 Dance set to klezmer music : HORA

The hora is a circle dance that originated in the Balkans. It was brought to Israel by Romanian settlers, and is often performed to traditional, Israeli folk songs. The hora (also “horah”) is a regular sight at Jewish weddings. Sometimes the honoree at an event is raised on a chair during the dance.

62 Extra NHL periods : OTS

Overtime (OT)

63 Paper size : LEGAL

Our paper sizes here in North America don’t conform with the standards in the rest of the world. ISO standard sizes used elsewhere were chosen so that the ratio of width to length is usually one to the square root of two. This mathematical relationship means that when you cut a piece of paper in two each half preserves the aspect ratio of the original, which can be useful in making reduced or enlarged copies of documents. Our standard size of “letter” (ltr., 8.5 x 11 inches) was determined in 1980 by the Reagan administration to be the official paper size for the US government. Prior to this, the “legal” size (8.5 x 14 inches) had been the standard, since 1921.

65 LPGA golfer Thompson : LEXI

Lexi Thompson has been a professional golfer since the age of 15, and won her first LPGA tournament at just 16 years of age, which is a record. Thompson had also qualified for the US Women’s Open when she was the ripe old age of 12 years, making her the youngest golfer to play in that tournament.

69 Trattoria menu heading : VINO

In Italian, in a “ristorante” (restaurant) one might order a glass of “vino” (wine), or maybe two …

71 Like yellow bananas : RIPE

The banana is actually a berry, botanically speaking. And, bananas don’t really grow on trees. The “trunk” of the banana plant is in fact a pseudostem. The pseudostem is a false stem comprising rolled bases of leaves, and it can grow to 2 or 3 meters tall.

74 2006 Jodie Foster film about a robbery : INSIDE MAN

“Inside Man” is a 2006 thriller movie about a Wall Street bank heist. Directed by Spike Lee, the film stars Denzel Washington, Clive Owens and Jodie Foster. Fun movie …

75 Sign gas : NEON

The basic design of neon lighting was first demonstrated at the Paris Motor Show in 1910. Such lighting is made up of glass tubes containing a vacuum into which has been introduced a small amount of neon gas. When a voltage is applied between two electrodes inside the tube, the neon gas “glows” and gives off the familiar light.

76 “Put a tiger in your tank” brand : ESSO

“Put a Tiger in Your Tank” was an advertising slogan and theme used by Esso gasoline in the 1960s.

80 Layered rock : 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.

87 Flamenco shout : OLE!

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?

91 Ocean foam : SPUME

Our word “spume”, which we use for “froth”, comes from the Latin “spuma” meaning “foam”.

92 “Nancy” or “Cathy” : COMIC

“Nancy” is a comic strip that was originally called “Fritzi Ritz” when it first appeared in 1938. Nancy Ritz is a mischievous young girl, and Rollo is a friendly rich kid.

“Cathy” is a comic strip drawn by Cathy Guisewite. The strip was largely based on Guisewite’s own life experiences. For decades, cartoon Cathy was a single woman dealing with food, love, family and work. Cathy married her longtime boyfriend Irving in 2005, and the strip ended its run in 2010 with the revelation that Cathy was expecting a baby girl.

93 Pasta choice : PENNE

The pasta known as penne comes in two main types, i.e. penne lisce (which is smooth) and penne rigate (which is furrowed).

95 Leopard’s mark : SPOT

The spots on spotted animals such as leopards and jaguars are arranged in groups. Those grouped spots are termed “rosettes”. The spotted patterns on such animals are unique to each individual.

100 Mambo legend Puente : TITO

After serving in the Navy in WWII for three years, musician Tito Puente studied at Juilliard, where he got a great grounding in conducting, orchestration and theory. Puente parlayed this education into a career in Latin Jazz and Mambo. He was known as “El Rey” as well as “The King of Latin Music”.

The form of music and dance known as “mambo” developed in Cuba. “Mambo” means “conversation with the gods” in Kikongo, a language spoken by slaves taken to Cuba from Central Africa.

101 Solitaire foundation cards : ACES

I think that a single-player card game is usually called “Solitaire” in the US whereas we use the name “Patience” back in Ireland.

105 Genetic messenger : RNA

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is an essential catalyst in the manufacture of proteins in the body. The genetic code in DNA determines the sequence of amino acids that make up each protein. That sequence is read in DNA by messenger RNA, and amino acids are delivered for protein manufacture in the correct sequence by transfer RNA. The amino acids are then formed into proteins by ribosomal RNA. An added complication is that small changes in the sequence of amino acids specified by DNA sometimes takes place in a process known as RNA editing. This RNA editing occurs after the nucleotide sequence has been transcribed from DNA, but before it is translated into protein.

106 Keanu title role : TED

“Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” is a 1989 comedy sci-fi film, starring Alex Winter as Bill and Keanu Reeves as Ted. It’s about two lazy students traveling through time in preparation for a history assignment, with a lot of “Dude!” and “Excellent!” scattered throughout the dialog. Reading the plot, this isn’t a movie that I’d normally go for, but somehow, I enjoyed it …