Day: September 10, 2023

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Constructed by: Meghan Morris
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: Walk Around the Block

Themed answers each start or end with a kind of WALK, and that WALK is wrapped AROUND THE nearest black BLOCK in the grid (and shown in circled letters):

• 25A “But there is a silver lining … ” : ON THE BRIGHT SIDE … (giving “sidewalk”)
• 43A Made a volatile situation worse : ADDED FUEL TO THE FIRE (giving “firewalk”)
• 62A Scramble to meet a deadline : RACE AGAINST TIME (giving “timewalk”)
• 76A “Deadliest Catch” catch : ALASKAN KING CRAB (giving “crab walk”)
• 97A Egg-laying mammal : DUCK-BILLED PLATYPUS (giving “duckwalk”)
• 116A Beethoven piano classic : MOONLIGHT SONATA (giving “moonwalk”)

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

Bill’s time: 13m 14s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

19 Los __, New Mexico : ALAMOS

The town of Los Alamos, New Mexico takes its name from the Spanish for “the poplars” or “the cottonwoods”. Famously, it is home to Los Alamos National Laboratory which was founded during WWII to work on the Manhattan Project, the development of the first atomic bomb. The town of Los Alamos didn’t exist as such, until it was planned and constructed to support the employees working on development of the bomb.

21 Nuclear power sources : REACTORS

A nuclear reactor (originally “atomic pile”) is a device designed to maintain a self-contained nuclear chain reaction. Nuclear fission generates heat in the reactor core. That heat is transferred out of the core by a nuclear reactor coolant, and is used to turn steam turbines. Those steam turbines usually drive electrical generators, or perhaps a ship’s propellers.

23 Some digital watches : CASIOS

Casio is a Japanese manufacturer of mainly electronic products, including calculators, watches and electronic keyboards. It was Casio that produced the first portable and compact all-electric calculator, way back in 1957.

24 Actress Sykes : WANDA

Wanda Sykes is a very successful American comedian and comic actress. Interestingly, Sykes spent her first five years out of school working for the NSA. I saw her perform in Reno some years ago, and she is very, very funny.

25 “But there is a silver lining … ” : ON THE BRIGHT SIDE … (giving “sidewalk”)

Back in Ireland, the “pavement” is what we call the “sidewalk, footpath” (because the footpath is “paved”, often with “paving” stones!). It’s very confusing when you arrive in this country from Ireland, and a little dangerous when one has been taught from a young age to “walk on the pavement” …

The idiom “every cloud has a silver lining” suggests that there is something good to be found in every bad situation. The phrase “silver lining” was coined by English poet John Milton in “Comus”, a piece of dramatic entertainment that was first performed in 1634. The relevant lines are:

Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night?
I did not err; there does a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night,
And casts a gleam over this tufted grove.

27 Uno y uno : DOS

In Spanish, “dos” (two) is “uno y uno” (one plus one).

29 Tater : SPUD

The word “spud”, used as a slang term for “potato”, was first recorded in the mid-1800s, in New Zealand would you believe?

30 Child’s pose, e.g. : ASANA

In yoga, balasana is a pose (asana) that is often used during a session for relaxation. The pose is known as child’s pose in English.

33 Graphics that typically have AK and HI as insets : US MAPS

The official “code” used by the US Postal Service (USPS) is the ZIP Code, introduced in 1963. The USPS also has a list of recommended abbreviations used in addresses. There are three classes of abbreviations:

• States (e.g. AK for Alaska, HI for Hawaii)
• Street Suffixes (e.g. AVE for Avenue, ST for Street)
• Secondary Units (e.g. APT for Apartment, BLDG for Building)

35 City with Heat and Hurricanes : MIAMI

The Miami Heat basketball team debuted in the NBA in the 1988-89 season. The franchise name was chosen in a competitive survey, with “Miami Heat” beating out “Miami Vice”.

The Hurricanes (also “Canes”) are the athletics teams of the University of Miami. The school’s mascot is Sebastian the Ibis. “The Ibis” was chosen as the name of the school’s yearbook in 1926, and was adopted as the mascot decades later in the eighties. The ibis was selected by the Hurricanes as the bird is known for its bravery when a hurricane approaches.

39 __ Fridays : TGI

T.G.I. Fridays is an American restaurant chain that was founded in 1965 in New York City. Today there are over a thousand T.G.I. Fridays restaurants in over 50 countries. I think that Fridays has always been particularly successful overseas. I used to visit one a lot with my family when we lived in the Philippines, and I believe the most successful Fridays restaurant anywhere in the world is the one in Haymarket Leicester Square in London in the UK.

40 Jaded sort : CYNIC

Our term “jaded”, meaning tired and feeling a little “ho-hum”, comes from the noun “jade” which in the 14th century was an old, worn-out horse.

43 Made a volatile situation worse : ADDED FUEL TO THE FIRE (giving “firewalk”)

Firewalking is walking barefoot over a bed of hot embers. Although the practice is labeled by some as requiring supernatural intercedence, basic physics can be used to explain why many people firewalk without injury. Importantly, walkers move very quickly, so that the bare foot is in contact with the embers for a very short time. Also, embers are hot, but are very poor conductors of heat.

48 Devotee of Jah : RASTA

“Jah” is a shortened form of “Jehovah”, and is a name often associated with the Rastafari movement.

50 Perkins known as the “King of Rockabilly” : CARL

Carl Perkins was a rockabilly singer who was so influential in the genre that he was known as the King of Rockabilly. His most famous recording was 1955’s “Blue Suede Shoes”, which was famously covered by Elvis Presley the following year.

52 Currency of 94-Across : EURO
[94A Continental gp. : THE EU]

The eurozone (also “euro area”) is a monetary and economic union within the European Union that uses the euro as a shared legal tender and sole currency.

53 Shakespearean king : LEAR

Shakespeare was inspired to write his famous drama “King Lear” by the legend of “Leir of Britain”, the story of a mythological Celtic king.

55 Christina of “Yellowjackets” : RICCI

Christina Ricci is an American actress who found fame on the big screen at an early age, She played the very young Wednesday Addams in the 1991 movie version of “The Addams Family”.

“Yellowjackets” sounds like an interesting TV show. It is about four teenage girls who survive a plane crash, and have to live for nineteenth months alone in the Canadian wilderness. While this story unfolds in the show, we also track their lives as adults, 25 years later.

62 Scramble to meet a deadline : RACE AGAINST TIME (giving “time walk”)

I’m guessing that a “time walk” is a science-fiction concept, a “walk” through “time”.

76 “Deadliest Catch” catch : ALASKAN KING CRAB (giving “crab walk”)

Fishing for Alaskan king crab is a dangerous occupation, about 80 times more dangerous than the average job. Reportedly, about one crab fisherman dies every week during the fishing season, mostly from drowning or hypothermia.

“Deadliest Catch” is yet another reality show, although this one is perhaps worth a look. It is produced for the Discovery Channel and deals with the exciting life on board fishing boats in the Bering Sea.

82 Immune system component : T CELL

T cells are a group of white blood cells that are essential components of the body’s immune system. T cells are so called because they mature in the thymus, a specialized organ found in the chest.

84 New York 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”.

85 Library IDs : ISBNS

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) was invented by one Gordon Foster who was a professor at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. The code was originally developed for booksellers, so that they had a unique number (and now a barcode) for each publication. ISBNs are ten digits long if assigned before 2007. Since the start of 2007, ISBNs have been thirteen digits long.

87 Pollen pouches : SACS

The fine powder known as pollen is basically a flower’s sperm. Pollen carries a seed plant’s male reproductive cells.

90 Visual communication syst. : ASL

It’s really quite unfortunate that American Sign Language (ASL) and British Sign Language (BSL) are very different, and someone who has learned to sign in one cannot understand someone signing in the other.

94 Continental gp. : THE EU

The European Union (EU) was established in 1993 when twelve European nations brought into effect the Treaty on European Union, usually referred to as the Maastricht Treaty. Those original members of the EU were the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Irish Republic, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Denmark, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

97 Egg-laying mammal : DUCK-BILLED PLATYPUS (giving “duckwalk”)

The platypus (plural “platypuses” or “platypi”) is one of only five mammalian species that we know of that lay eggs rather than give birth to live young. It is a native of Eastern Australia, and it is a weird creature to say the least. Its appearance is bizarre enough, with its bill that resembles that of a duck, but it is also very dangerous. The platypus has a spur on its hind foot that can inject venom and cause severe pain in humans.

To duckwalk is to walk while in a partial squatting position. One of the most celebrated duckwalkers has to be rock ‘n’ roll legend Chuck Berry. He would play his guitar on stage while hopping on one leg is that partial squat pose.

104 Big name in gourmet pasta sauce : RAO

Rao’s Italian restaurant opened in East Harlem in New York City in 1896. Rao’s also sells a small line of Italian foodstuffs in supermarkets, such as pasta, sauces and olive oil.

105 Old Testament prophet : HOSEA

Hosea was one of the Twelve Prophets of the Hebrew Bible. The Twelve Prophets are also known as the Minor Prophets of the Old Testament in the Christian Bible.

108 Pâté de __ gras : FOIE

Pâté is a rich spreadable paste made from a mixture of ground meat and fat to which various vegetables, herbs and spices may be added. The most famous version of the paste is pâté de foie gras, which is made from the fattened livers of geese (“foie gras” means “fat liver” in French).

113 Oscar-winning film set in Iran : ARGO

“Argo” is a 2012 movie that is based on the true story of the rescue of six diplomats hiding out during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. The film was directed by and stars Ben Affleck and is produced by Grant Heslov and George Clooney, the same pair who produced the excellent “Good Night, and Good Luck”. I highly recommend “Argo”, although I found the scenes of religious fervor to be very frightening …

114 Olympic figure skater Midori : ITO

Midori Ito is a Japanese figure skater. Ito was the first woman to land a triple/triple jump and a triple axel in competition. In fact, she landed her first triple jump in training when she was only 8 years old. Ito won Olympic silver in 1992, and was chosen as the person to light the Olympic cauldron at the commencement of the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.

116 Beethoven piano classic : MOONLIGHT SONATA (giving “moonwalk”)

Beethoven subtitled his “Piano Sonata No. 14, Op. 27, No. 2” as “Quasi una fantasia”, or “sonata in the manner of a fantasy” in English. Five years after Beethoven died, a music critic wrote that the first movement of the piece had an effect like that of moonlight shining on Lake Lucerne. Since then, the work has been known as the “Moonlight Sonata”.

The backslide dance move that we know as the moonwalk has been around at least since the 1930s. Back then, it was used by the great Cab Calloway, who dubbed the move “the Buzz”. It was Michael Jackson who popularized the backslide in the 1980s, and gave it the name “moonwalk”.

122 Monopoly payments : RENTS

The commercial game of Monopoly is supposedly a remake of “The Landlord’s Game” created in 1903 by a Quaker woman named Lizzie Phillips. Phillips used her game as a tool to explain the single tax theory of American economist Henry George. The Landlord’s Game was first produced commercially in 1924. The incredibly successful derivative game called Monopoly was introduced in 1933 by Charles Darrow, who became a very rich man when Parker Brothers bought the rights to the game just two years later in 1935.

126 Obama campaign slogan : YES WE CAN

The 2008 campaign that resulted in the election of President Barack Obama used the slogan “Change we can believe in”, along with the associated chant “Yes We Can”. The words “Yes We Can” were perhaps borrowed from the United Farm Workers, which organization uses the motto “Sí, se puede”. “Sí, se puede” translates as “Yes, it is possible” and is a phrase very much associated with labor leader Cesar Chavez.

128 “__ 8”: Sandra Bullock heist film : OCEAN’S

2018’s “Ocean’s 8” is the fourth in the “Ocean’s” series of films made by Steven Soderbergh. The lead character in the original trilogy is Danny Ocean, played by George Clooney. The lead character in “Ocean’s 8” is Danny’s sister Debbie Ocean, played by Sandra Bullock. The gang of “8” thieves is an all-female troupe played by the likes of Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Rihanna and Helena Bonham Carter.

Actress Sandra Bullock is the daughter of a part-time voice coach (her father) and an opera singer and voice coach (her mother). Her father was an American soldier stationed in Nuremberg in Germany when he met his German wife. Sandra Bullock’s maternal grandfather was a rocket scientist working in Nuremberg.

131 Two-wheel scooter : SEGWAY

The Segway PT is a self-balancing two-wheel electric vehicle introduced to the world in 2001 by American inventor Dean Kamen.

132 Long-legged wader : STORK

Storks are large wading birds with long legs, long necks and long bills. Storks use those long bills to search for frogs, fish and other small animals under the water. When the stork finds its prey, the bill snaps shut in about 25 millisecs, which is one of the fastest known reaction times of any vertebrate.

Down

1 Hammer end : PEEN

The peen of a hammer is on the head, and is the side of the head that is opposite the striking surface. Often the peen is in the shape of a hemisphere (as in a ball-peen hammer), but usually it is shaped like a claw (mainly for removing nails).

2 Basic Latin verb : ERAT

“Esse” is the Latin for “to be”. “Sum” means “I am”, “est” means “he, she is”, and “erat” means “he, she was”.

4 Walgreens rival : RITE AID

What we know today as Rite Aid started out as one store in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1962. Rite Aid is now the biggest chain of drugstores on the East Coast of the United States and has operations all over the country.

6 “Goldberg Variations” composer : BACH

Bach’s set of 30 variations (plus the original aria) are known as the “Goldberg Variations”. First published in 1741, the work is named for virtuoso harpsichordist Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, who may have been its first performer.

10 Easter activity supply : FOOD DYE

Tradition states that the first Easter Egg Roll in the nation’s capital was staged by Dolley Madison, wife of President James Madison. The inaugural event was held in 1814, but not at the White House, where it is held today. That first Egg Roll was held on the grounds of the US Capitol. After a new lawn was planted in 1877, Congress passed a law making it illegal to use the lawn as a children’s playground (boo! hiss!), and so President Rutherford and his wife Lucy brought the Egg Roll to the White House (hurrah!).

11 Petrol brand : ESSO

The Esso brand has its roots in the old Standard Oil company as it uses the initial letters of “Standard” and “Oil” (ESS-O). The Esso brand was replaced by Exxon in the US, but ESSO is still used in many other countries.

16 Body of water that’s nearly 10 times saltier than the ocean : DEAD SEA

The Middle East’s Dead Sea lies more than 1,400 feet below sea level, making it the lowest point on the Earth’s landmass. It is also one of the saltiest bodies of water in the world, with a salt content that is almost ten times that of most oceans.

18 Typo discovered after printing : ERRATUM

“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.

26 “Birds of Prey” comic book writer Simone : GAIL

Writer Gail Simone is a very influential woman in the comic book industry. She has penned more “Wonder Woman” episodes for DC Comics than any other female author. Simone first came to the public’s attention in 1999 as the creator of the feminist website “Women in Refrigerators”, where she highlights the stereotypical female character in comic books who is largely used as a plot device to progress the story arc of a male protagonist. She coined the phrase “Women in Refrigerators” from an incident in a 1994 issue of “Green Lantern” in which the hero comes home to find his murdered girlfriend stuffed into a refrigerator.

28 __ generis : SUI

“Sui generis” is a Latin expression meaning “of its own kind”. The term can be used in a number of fields, and in philosophy it refers to an idea which cannot be included in a wider concept, and idea of its own kind.

35 Laptop choice : MAC

Macintosh (also “Mac”, since 1998) is a line of computers from Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced in 1984, and I remember someone showing me one at work in those early days of personal computing. There was a piece of white plastic connected to the main computer by a cord, and I was amazed when the guy showed me that it controlled where the cursor was on the screen. My colleague told me that this lump of plastic was called “a mouse” …

37 Balkans border : ADRIATIC

The Adriatic is the sea separating Italy from the Balkans.

The Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe is usually referred to as “the Balkans”. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains located in present-day Bulgaria and Serbia. “Balkan” is Bulgarian for “mountain”.

38 Sporty Spice of the Spice Girls : MEL C

Melanie C is a member of the English girl band the Spice Girls, with whom she has the nickname “Sporty Spice”. “Mel C” got the gig with the Spice Girls by replying to an ad in “The Stage” magazine, and auditioning alongside about 40 women who responded to the same ad. Sporty Spice really is quite sporty, and has completed the London Triathlon … twice.

41 Saints’ org. : NFL

The New Orleans Saints football team takes its name from the jazz song “When the Saints Go Marching In”, a tune that is very much associated with the city. The team was founded in 1967, on November 1st, which is All Saints’ Day in the Roman Catholic tradition.

44 Cold, in Cancún : FRIA

Cancún is a city and island on the east coast of Mexico, on the other side of the Yucatan Channel from Cuba. The city is growing rapidly due to its booming tourist business. Cancún is the center of what’s often called “The Mexican Caribbean” or the “Mayan Riviera”.

57 Compresses, in a way : ZIPS

A .ZIP file is one that has been compressed. The ZIP file format was co-developed and introduced by programmer Phil Katz in 1989.

66 “Vous êtes __”: French map phrase : ICI

“Vous êtes ici” are important words to know when navigating your way around Paris. They mean “You are here”, and you’ll often see them on maps in the street.

69 Former union member: Abbr. : SSR

The former Soviet Union (officially “Union of Soviet Socialist Republics” or “USSR”) was created in 1922, not long after the Russian Revolution of 1917 that overthrew the tsar. Geographically, the new Soviet Union was roughly equivalent to the old Russian Empire, and comprised fifteen Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs).

71 Actress Witherspoon : REESE

“Reese” is not actually actress Witherspoon’s given name. She started out life as Laura Jeanne Witherspoon. “Reese” is her mother’s maiden name.

76 Wine bottle abbr. : ALC

Alcohol (alc.)

78 North __ Sea: Kazakh lake : ARAL

The former Soviet Union decided to divert the two rivers feeding the Aral Sea in order to irrigate food and cotton crops. Once the fourth largest lake in the world, the Aral Sea began to shrink dramatically in the 1960s due to the loss of water. Today, the Aral Sea is no more. Instead, there are two relatively small bodies of water labeled as the North Aral Sea and the South Aral Sea.

The Republic of Kazakhstan in Central Asia is the world’s largest landlocked country. Kazakhstan was also the last of the former Soviet Republics (SSRs) to declare itself independent from Russia.

79 Sudoku digit : NINE

Number puzzles similar to our modern-day Sudoku first appeared in French newspapers in the late 1800s. The format that we use today was created by Howard Garns, a 74-year-old freelance puzzle constructor from Connersville, Indiana and first published in 1979. The format was introduced in Japan in 1984 and given the title of “Sūji wa dokushin ni kagiru”, which translates to “the digits are limited to one occurrence”. The rather elaborate Japanese title was eventually shortened to Sudoku. No doubt many of you are fans of Sudoku puzzles. I know I am …

80 __ monster : GILA

A Gila monster is a venomous lizard found in the southwestern US and northern Mexico, and is the only venomous lizard native to America. Gila monsters move along at a snail’s pace so aren’t normally a danger to humans. The name “Gila” is a reference to the Gila River Basin in the American Southwest, where the Gila monster was prevalent.

91 Like some spoons : SLOTTED

A slotted spoon is a spoon … with slots. It is used in serving or preparing food. It basically acts as a small sieve, allowing one to lift solids in the bowl of the spoon, while letting liquid pass through the slots or holes.

93 Airport safety org. : TSA

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is the agency that employs the good folks who check passengers and baggage at airports.

94 Stymies : THWARTS

The word “stymie” comes from golf, and is a situation in which one’s approach to the hole is blocked by an opponent’s ball. We use the term more broadly as a verb to describe standing in the way of something.

95 Venezuelan designer Carolina : HERRERA

Carolina Herrera is a fashion designer who lives and works in the US although is originally from Venezuela. She is famous for having designed for several First Ladies, including Jacqueline Onassis, Laura Bush, Michelle Obama, and Melania Trump.

96 Approved, as a PDF contract : E-SIGNED

Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format introduced by Adobe Systems in 1993. PDF documents can be shared between users and read using many different applications and platforms, making them more universally accessible than documents saved by one particular program.

103 Agnus __ : DEI

“Agnus Dei” is Latin for “Lamb of God”, The expression is used in Christian traditions to describe Jesus Christ, hence symbolizing his role as a sacrificial offering (sacrificial lamb) to atone for the sins of man.

110 Justice Kagan : ELENA

Elena Kagan was the Solicitor General of the United States from 2009 until 2010, when she replaced Justice John Paul Stevens on the US Supreme Court. That made Justice Kagan the first female US Solicitor General and the fourth female US Supreme Court justice. Kagan also served as the first female dean of Harvard Law School from 2003 to 2009.

112 Swiss borders? : ESSES

The borders of the word “Swiss” are letters S (esses).

115 Art community in New Mexico : TAOS

The town of Taos, New Mexico is named for the Native American village nearby called Taos Pueblo. Taos is famous for its art colony. Artists began settling in Taos in 1899, and the Taos Society of Artists was founded in 1915.

118 Wolfe of “Death of a Doxy” : NERO

“Death of a Doxy” is a novel by Rex Stout featuring his armchair detective Rex Stout. It was published in 1966, when Stout was 80 years old. After “Death of a Doxy”, Stout went on to pen five more Nero Wolfe books.

125 The White Stripes drummer White : MEG

The White Stripes were a rock duo from Detroit that were together from 1997 to 2011. The duo was made up of Meg and Jack White, who were married from 1996 to 2000. Prior to the couple tying the knot, Jack’s family name was Gillis. Gillis took the unusual step of taking his wife’s family name when they married.