Day: September 26, 2023

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Constructed by: Doug Peterson
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Upstarts

Themed answers each comprise two words, STARTING with the letters U and P:

• 70A Presumptuous newcomers, and what the answers to the starred clues literally have : UPSTARTS, and “UP” STARTS

• 14A *Like birdies and eagles : UNDER PAR
• 23A *Expert in community development : URBAN PLANNER
• 40A *Publisher of scholarly journals : UNIVERSITY PRESS
• 53A *India’s most populous state : UTTAR PRADESH

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

Bill’s time: 6m 38s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

4 Generic dog name : FIDO

“Fido”, the name for many a dog, is Latin for “I trust”.

14 *Like birdies and eagles : UNDER PAR

The following terms are routinely used in golf for scores relative to par:

• Bogey: one over par
• Par
• Birdie: one under par
• Eagle: two under par
• Albatross (also “double eagle”): three under par
• Condor: four under par

No one has ever recorded a condor during a professional tournament.

16 “Très chic!” : OO LA LA!

“Très chic” is a French term meaning “very stylish”.

19 Perfect Sleeper company : SERTA

Serta was founded in 1931 when a group of 13 mattress manufacturers came together, essentially forming a cooperative. Today, the Serta company is owned by eight independent licensees in a similar arrangement. Serta advertisements feature the Serta Counting Sheep. Each numbered sheep has a different personality, such as:

• #1 The Leader of the Flock
• #½ The Tweener
• #13 Mr. Bad Luck
• #53 The Pessimist
• #86 Benedict Arnold

30 Distress call : 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.

31 Baseball Hall of Famer Sandberg : RYNE

Ryne “Ryno” Sandberg is a former second baseman who played most of his career for the Chicago Cubs. Sandberg holds the major league fielding percentage record at second base.

36 Paul of “Breaking Bad” : AARON

Actor Aaron Paul is best known for playing Jesse Pinkman in the incredibly successful drama “Breaking Bad”. Paul got himself a “Breaking Bad” tattoo on the last day of filming of the series, as did fellow cast member Bryan Cranston.

40 *Publisher of scholarly journals : UNIVERSITY PRESS

A university press is an academic publishing house. The two oldest such houses are Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press, in England. Among the list of oldest university presses in the US are Johns Hopkins University Press (founded in 1878) and the University of Pennsylvania Press (founded in 1890).

45 Animal park : ZOO

The world’s first zoo opened in Britain in 1820. Now known as “London Zoo”, the facility was referred to back then as the “Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society of London”. The term “zoo” is a shortening of “zoological”.

50 Montero Lamar Hill, __ Lil Nas X : AKA

“Lil Nas X” is the stage name of rapper Montero Lamar Hill. He was born and raised just outside of Atlanta. His first hit was “Old Town Road”, which is classified as country rap.

53 *India’s most populous state : UTTAR PRADESH

The nation of India comprises 29 states and 7 union territories. The largest state by area is Rajasthan, in the northwest of the country. The most populous state is the neighboring Uttar Pradesh.

58 “No seats” sign : SRO

Standing room only (SRO)

59 “Moonstruck” Oscar winner : CHER

“Moonstruck” is a 1987 movie, a romantic comedy starring Cher and Nicolas Cage. There’s a bit of a love triangle in the storyline, with Danny Aiello playing the man who loses the girl. “Moonstruck” won three Oscars and was a huge success, and somehow, I’ve never seen it …

60 Madeline Miller novel about an “Odyssey” witch : CIRCE

“Circe” is a 2018 novel by Madeline Miller that is set within the age of classical Greek mythology. Miller used the “Odyssey” as a source, adapting it from the perspective of the witch Circe. The novel tells Circe’s life story, right up to the romance with Odysseus and Telemachus, Odysseus’ son.

66 Monopoly space with a police officer : GO TO JAIL

In the game of Monopoly, there are three ways that a player can end up in jail:

1. Landing directly on the “Go to Jail” space
2. Throwing three consecutive doubles in one turn
3. Drawing a “Go (Directly) to Jail” card from Chance or Community Chest

72 Greek vowels : ETAS

Eta is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, and is a forerunner of our Latin character “H”. Originally denoting a consonant, eta was used as a long vowel in Ancient Greek.

73 Private __ : EYE

A private eye is a private investigator, a PI, a private “I”.

Down

1 Sticks for pool sharks : CUES

A pool shark is a player who hustles others in a pool hall with the goal of making money unfairly in competition. The term “pool shark” used to be “pool sharp”.

4 Franciscan brothers : FRIARS

Francis of Assisi was a Catholic friar and preacher who founded the Franciscan order. Because he is honored for his love of animals and nature, many churches hold ceremonies to bless animals on the feast day of Saint Francis, October 4th, every year.

5 Nasdaq debut : IPO

An initial public offering (IPO) is the very first offer of stock for sale by a company on the open market. In other words, an IPO marks the first time that a company is traded on a public exchange. Companies have an IPO to raise capital to expand (usually).

The NASDAQ trading system created in 1971 is the successor to the over-the-counter (OTC) trading system that was common at the time. OTC trading is done directly between two parties without being facilitated by an exchange.

6 “SNL” alum Aykroyd : DAN

Dan Aykroyd is a Canadian comedian and actor who was born in Ottawa, Ontario, although he is now a naturalized US citizen. Aykroyd was an original cast member on “Saturday Night Live” and fronted the Blues Brothers along with John Belushi.

7 Director Welles : ORSON

Orson Welles is perhaps best-remembered in the world of film for his role in 1941’s “Citizen Kane”. In the world of radio, Welles is known for directing and narrating 1938’s famous broadcast of “The War of the Worlds”, a broadcast that convinced many listeners that the Earth was indeed being invaded by aliens.

10 Racers Unser Jr. and Unser Sr. : ALS

The Unser family seems to have auto racing in their blood. Al Unser, Sr. won the Indy 500 on four occasions. Al’s brother Jerry was the first of the Unsers to compete at Indianapolis. Al’s other brother Bobby, won the Indy three times. Al’s son, Al Junior, won the Indy twice. Al Junior’s son is also a racing driver who competes at the Indy Speedway.

11 Board game with the tagline “Trade Build Settle” : CATAN

The Settlers of Catan (now just “Catan”) is a board game that was introduced in 1995, in Germany as “Die Siedler von Catan”. The game is very popular in the US and was called “the board game of our time” by the “Washington Post”. My son plays it a lot, and as a lover of board games, I am going to have to check it out …

12 Kevin of “Dave” : KLINE

Actor Kevin Kline stars in many of my favorite films, like “French Kiss” (in which he had a very impressive French accent) and “A Fish Called Wanda.” Kline also appeared in the romantic comedy “In & Out”, and the modern-day classic “The Big Chill”. It was while shooting “The Big Chill” that Kline met his future wife, actress Phoebe Cates.

“Dave” is a fun 1993 comedy film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver. Kline plays the title character, someone who has a side job impersonating the sitting US president. Dave ends up subbing for the president in the Oval Office, and hilarity ensues.

13 Goat-legged deity : SATYR

The satyrs of Greek mythology came with a very high sex drive. They are the “rude” male subjects drawn on the side of old Greek vases. The nubile maidens known as nymphs were often an object of attention for the satyrs.

21 Broadcaster with pledge drives : NPR

National Public Radio (now just called “NPR”) was established in 1970 after President Johnson signed into law the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. The station’s first broadcast took place in April of 1971, coverage of the US Senate hearings on the Vietnam War. The intent of the act was to provide funding for radio and television broadcasting that wasn’t simply driven by profit. As a longtime fan of the state-funded BBC in the UK, I’d have to agree with that intent …

24 Tusked beast : BOAR

The wild boar might be described as a matriarchal beast. Fully-grown males live a solitary life, except during mating season. Fully-grown females live together in groups called sounders, along with their offspring.

33 Musical set in Buenos Aires : EVITA

“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.

35 Claiborne of fashion : LIZ

Liz Claiborne was a Belgian-American fashion designer and founder of the Liz Claiborne fashion company. She was the first woman to become CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Indeed, Liz Claiborne Inc. was also the first company founded by a woman to make the Fortune 500 list, doing so in 1986.

38 Home of the Norwegian Military Academy : OSLO

The Norwegian Military Academy in Oslo is the oldest higher education institution in the country, having been founded in 1750. Its primary role is the education of officers for the Norwegian Army.

39 Warning that might prevent a click : NSFW

The abbreviation “NSFW” stands for “not safe/suitable for work”. It’s Internet slang used to describe online content that is best not viewed at work.

42 Bumpy-skinned amphibian : TOAD

The “warts” on the skin of a toad have no relation to the viral infection that can occur on human skin. A toad’s warts are colored bumps that are believed to help the animal blend more effectively into its environment.

43 Joining device : YOKE

A yoke is a wooden beam used between a pair of animals so that they are forced to work together.

48 “You’ve Got Mail” writer/director Nora : EPHRON

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

“You’ve Got Mail” is a 1998 romantic comedy film starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, and directed by Nora Ephron. The film is an adaptation of the Miklos Laszlo play “Parfumerie”. The storyline of “Parfumerie” was also used for the movies “The Shop Around the Corner” (from 1940 starring James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan) and “In the Good Old Summertime” (from 1949 starring Van Johnson and Judy Garland).

49 GI’s field ration : MRE

The Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) comes in a lightweight package that’s easy to tote around. The MRE replaced the more cumbersome Meal, Combat, Individual (MCI) in 1981, a meal-in-a-can. In turn, the MCI had replaced the C-ration in 1958, a less sophisticated meal-in-a-can with a more limited choice.

51 Fancy neckwear : ASCOTS

An ascot is a wide tie that narrows at the neck, which these days is only really worn at weddings or part of a dress uniform. The tie takes its name from the Royal Ascot horse race at which punters still turn up in formal wear at Ascot Racecourse in England.

54 Treasure stash : TROVE

The term “treasure trove” comes from the Anglo-French “tresor trové “ meaning “found treasure”.

55 Schlepped : TOTED

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

62 Selma or Salem : CITY

The Alabama city of Selma was settled in 1815. It was named in 1820 by Alabama politician William R. King, who would later serve briefly as US Vice President under President Franklin Pierce. Meaning “high seat, throne”, King chose the city’s name from the Ossianic poem “The Songs of Selma”. Today, the city is perhaps best known for the Selma to Montgomery civil rights marches, which ultimately led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Salem is a seaport on the Massachusetts coast. It is noted as the location of the Salem witch trials of 1692, an event that the city commemorates during the run-up to Halloween every year in October.

68 Agcy. that X-rays shoes : TSA

Transportation Security Administration (TSA)