Day: October 8, 2023

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Constructed by: Carl Larson
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: The ESPY Awards

Themed answers are common phrases, with “SP” inserted:

• 23A Advice for making a stick more fun? : PUT A SPRING ON IT (from “Put a Ring on It”)
• 33A One with joint custody of a pet cat? : KITTY SPLITTER (from “kitty litter”)
• 43A Request from a chef who ran out of asparagus? : LEND ME YOUR SPEARS (from “lend me your ears”)
• 62A Treatment for phaser burns? : SPACE BANDAGE (from “Ace bandage”)
• 69A Peloton instructor from hell? : SPINNER DEMON (from “inner demon”)
• 85A Litterbugs in Alberta’s capital? : EDMONTON SPOILERS (from “Edmonton Oilers”)
• 94A Encouragement to a waiter adding ground pepper to a dish? : BREAK THE SPICE (from “break the ice”)
• 108A Budget for “Hamlet,” “Macbeth,” “Othello,” et al.? : TRAGIC SPENDING (from “tragic ending”)

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

Bill’s time: 19m 17s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 “We Create Music” org. : ASCAP

ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) collects licence fees for musicians and distributes royalties to composers whose works have been performed. BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated) provides the same service.

22 “One ring __ them all”: “LOTR” line : TO RULE

“Lord of the Rings” (LOTR)

23 Advice for making a stick more fun? : PUT A SPRING ON IT (from “Put a Ring on It”)

“Single Ladies” (Put a Ring on It)” is a 2008 hit by singer Beyoncé. The song is all about men in a relationship who are unwilling to commit, unwilling to propose.

26 Capote nickname : TRU

The larger-than-life Truman “Tru” Capote was an author and comedian. Capote is perhaps most associated with his novella “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and his true crime novel “In Cold Blood”. Truman Capote grew up in Monroeville, Alabama. There he met, and became lifelong friends with, fellow novelist Harper Lee. Capote was the inspiration for the character “Dill” in Lee’s celebrated work “To Kill a Mockingbird”. In turn, Harper Lee was the inspiration for the character “Idabel” in Capote’s “Other Voices, Other Rooms”.

27 Ocho menos cinco : TRES

In Spanish, “ocho” (eight) is the difference between “cinco” (five) and “tres” (three).

30 Snarky : SNIDE

“Snark” is a term that was coined by Lewis Carroll in his fabulous 1876 nonsense poem “The Hunting of the Snark”. Somehow, the term “snarky” came to mean “irritable, short-tempered” in the early 1900s, and from there “snark” became “sarcastic rhetoric” at the beginning of the 21st century.

31 Hannah of “Sense8” : DARYL

Daryl Hannah is an actress from Chicago who got her big break in movies playing a violent replicant called Pris in the 1982 sci-fi classic “Blade Runner”. A couple of years later she played the female lead opposite Tom Hanks in the hit film “Splash”.

“Sense8” is a sci-fi drama show that ran from 2015 to 2018. The storyline centers on eight strangers who have a psychic connection, are “sensate”. In the context of the show, this means that they are linked emotionally and mentally, and can share their knowledge and skills. I haven’t seen this one, and just put it on “the list” …

42 Ukrainian port on the Black Sea : ODESA

The city of Odessa (also “Odesa”) in Ukraine was founded relatively recently, in 1794 by Catherine the Great. The city was originally meant to be called Odessos after an ancient Greek city believed to have been located nearby. Catherine liked the way the locals pronounced the name as “Odessa” and so went with the less Greek-sounding name.

43 Request from a chef who ran out of asparagus? : LEND ME YOUR SPEARS (from “lend me your ears”)

Asparagus is a perennial flowering plant that is grown mainly for its edible shoots (or “spears”). The shoots must be harvested when they are very young, as they become woody very quickly.

To lend an ear is to listen. The phrase “lend an ear”, like so many phrases, was coined by the Bard. There is a famous speech made by Mark Antony in William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” that starts with:

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar.

50 Array in linear algebra : MATRIX

In mathematical terms, a matrix is a rectangular array of elements, perhaps number symbols or functions. A key quality of a matrix is that there are equal numbers of elements in each row, and equal numbers in each column. There’s more, a lot more. And, it’s way beyond me …

51 Astronaut Jemison : MAE

Mae Jemison was a crew member on the Space Shuttle Endeavour on a 1992 mission, and as such became the first African-American woman to travel in space. She is also a big fan of “Star Trek” and appeared on an episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation”. That made Jemison the first real astronaut to appear on any of the “Star Trek” shows.

52 Slapstick prop : PIE

Slapstick is a physical form of comedy or horseplay. Back in the late 19th century, the term “slapstick” described a device made from two sticks loosely fastened together, which could be “slapped” together to create a sound effect offstage. The sound effect augmented the audience reaction when a clown or actor was given a slap on stage.

56 Top with spaghetti straps, informally : CAMI

A camisole (also “cami”) is a sleeveless undergarment worn by women that extends down to the waist. “Camisole” is a French word that we imported into English that ultimately derives from the Latin “camisia” meaning “shirt, nightgown”.

60 Tablet alternative : GELCAP

Gelatin capsules (gelcaps) might be an issue for those on a strict vegan diet. The gelatin used in the capsule is made from collagen extracted from animal skin and bone.

62 Treatment for phaser burns? : SPACE BANDAGE (from “Ace bandage”)

A MASER is a device that was around long before LASERs came into the public consciousness. A MASER (Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) is similar to a LASER, but microwaves are emitted rather than light waves. When the storyline for “Star Trek” was being developed, the writers introduced a weapon called a “phaser”, with the name “phaser” derived from PHoton mASER.

ACE is a brand of elastic bandage that is often used as a compression wrap.

64 Pain-relieving drug : OPIATE

The opium poppy is the source of the narcotic alkaloids known as opiates. To produce opiates, the latex sap of the opium poppy is collected and processed. The naturally-occurring drugs of morphine and codeine can both be extracted from the sap. Some synthesis is required to make derivative drugs like heroin and oxycodone.

67 Coastal flock : TERNS

Terns are a family of seabirds. They are similar to gulls, but are more slender and more lightly built. Many species of tern are known for their long-distance migrations, with the Arctic tern migrating so far that it is believed to see more daylight in a year than any other animal.

69 Peloton instructor from hell? : SPINNER DEMON (from “inner demon”)

Peloton is a New York-based company that manufactures exercise equipment, and also provides fitness classes. Those classes are streamed to touchscreens incorporated into the equipment itself. Participation in the classes requires a subscription.

In military terms, a platoon is a subdivision of a company-sized unit, and is usually divided into squads or sections. The term “platoon” arose in the 1630s from the French “peloton”. “Peloton” translates literally as “little ball”, and is used to this day to mean “agglomeration”. “Peloton” gives rise to our word “pellet”. Also, we use the Modern French “peloton” in English now to refer to the main body (agglomeration) of riders in a bicycle race.

72 Bountiful residents : UTAHNS

The city of Bountiful is in the northern part of Utah, and serves as a bedroom community for Salt Lake City. Bountiful was settled back in 1847, the second settlement in Utah right after Salt Lake City. It was originally called Sessions Settlement after the first settler, Perrigrine Sessions, and later North Canyon Ward. The name Bountiful was adopted in 1855, taking the name of a city in the Book of Mormon.

75 Invitation letters : RSVP

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

79 “The Terminator” actress Hamilton : LINDA

Linda Hamilton is an actress from Salisbury, Maryland who is best known for portraying Sarah Connor in the first two “Terminator” movies. Hamilton’s second marriage was to film director James Cameron, with whom she worked on “Terminator 2”.

The 1984 movie “The Terminator” was directed by James Cameron. It was a relatively low-budget production, costing $6.4 million, but has grossed at least $80 million to date. No wonder the Terminator said “I’ll be back” …

80 Rapper will.__ : IAM

“Will.i.am” is the stage name of rap artist and singer William Adams Jr. who is famous as the lead member of the Black Eyed Peas.

81 __ Speedwagon : REO

REO Speedwagon is an American rock band that formed in 1967, and is still going strong. The band’s biggest hits are “Keep On Loving You” (1980) and “Can’t Fight This Feeling” (1985). The founding members chose the name for the REO Speed Wagon flatbed truck. Note that the band’s name is one word “Speedwagon”, whereas the vehicle’s name uses two words “Speed Wagon”.

84 Card game cry : UNO!

In my youth I remember being taught a great card game by a German acquaintance of mine, a game called Mau Mau. Years later I discovered that UNO is basically the same game, but played with a purpose-printed deck instead of the regular deck of playing cards that’s used for Mau Mau. I hear that Mau Mau is derived from the game called Crazy Eights.

85 Litterbugs in Alberta’s capital? : EDMONTON SPOILERS (from “Edmonton Oilers”)

Edmonton is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. The city was founded as Fort Edmonton in 1795, with the name taken from the area in London called Edmonton. Edmonton, London was the home of pioneer John Peter Pruden who suggested the name. London’s Edmonton was also home for deputy governor Sir James Winter Lake of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

The National Hockey League’s Edmonton Oilers are so called because they are located in Alberta, Canada … oil country.

89 Writer Mario Vargas __ : LLOSA

Mario Vargas Llosa is a Peruvian writer of renown, and one of the most significant authors from Latin America by all accounts. Llosa is also very active politically, and in 1990 ran unsuccessfully for the Peruvian presidency.

93 Kilt detail : PLEAT

The lovely Scottish garment called a kilt is pleated, but only at the rear.

100 Hops-drying kilns : OASTS

An oast is a kiln used for drying hops as part of the brewing process. Such a structure might also be called an “oast house” or “hop kiln”. The term “oast” can also apply to a kiln used to dry tobacco.

102 Kolkata dress : SARI

Kolkata (formerly “Calcutta”) is the capital of West Bengal, India. Kolkata grew up around a fort that the British built in the area in 1712. Prior to the arrival of the British, there were three villages at the site, one named Kalikata. Kalikata gave its name to the city that eventually developed. This was anglicized to “Calcutta” which became the official name for centuries, until it was changed back to Kolkata in 2001.

103 “New Rules” singer __ Lipa : DUA

“New Rules” is a 2017 song released by English singer Dua Lipa. The lyrics are about the singer setting new rules for herself to help get over an ex-boyfriend. The success of the song is attributed by some to the popularity of the accompanying music video. It shows Lipa in a hotel room with very supportive friends who are encouraging her to be strong, and not get back together with her ex.

114 __ St. Brown: NFL player named for an Egyptian deity : AMON-RA

Amon-Ra St. Brown played college football with the University of Southern California Trojans before being drafted by the Detroit Lions in 2021. Amon-Ra’s brother Osiris played college football at Stanford, and his brother Equanimeous played at Notre Dame. Equanimeous was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in 2018.

118 Arnold Palmer and Shirley Temple, e.g. : EPONYMS

An eponym is a name for something derived from the name of a person, as in the food item we call a “sandwich”, named after the Earl of Sandwich.

The drink named for golfer Arnold Palmer is made from lemonade and ice tea. The drink named for fellow golfer John Daly is also made from lemonade and ice tea, but with vodka added …

The original drink called a Shirley Temple was made with two parts ginger ale, one part orange juice and a dash of grenadine. The contemporary drink is much simpler, and comprises 7up (or equivalent) with a little grenadine. A variant of the non-alcoholic original that includes some form of booze is often called a “Dirty Shirley”.

Down

1 Google Calendar entry: Abbr. : APPT

I’m a big fan of the Google Calendar app. One of its many features is that the app’s icon changes to show that day’s date.

5 Langer’s Deli specialty : PASTRAMI

In the US, pastrami was originally called “pastrama”, and was a dish brought to America by Jewish immigrants from Romania in the second half of the nineteenth century. The original name may have evolved from the Turkish word “pastirma” meaning “pressed”. “Pastrama” likely morphed into “pastrami” influenced by the name of the Italian sausage called salami.

Langer’s Deli is a celebrated delicatessen located by MacArthur Park in Los Angeles. It is famous for its pastrami on rye sandwich, which goes by the name “No. 19”.

7 Editor Talese with her own Doubleday imprint : NAN

Nan Talese is a retired book editor who worked at Doubleday. Born Nan Ahearn, she married author Gay Talese in 1959.

12 “Smallfoot” creatures : YETIS

“Smallfoot” is a 2018 computer-animated film that is based on a children’s book “Yeti Tracks” by Sergio Pablas. The storyline features many a yeti (bigfoot), and a human (smallfoot).

16 Rigidly moral : PURITANICAL

“Puritan” was a pejorative term used in the 1560s to describe a Protestant extremist who was not satisfied with the extent of the reformation of the Church of England. The Puritans advocated further reforms, believing that the Church of England still harbored a lot of corruption. Facing staunch resistance to their ideals in Britain, many of the Puritans emigrated, the first wave to the Netherlands, with later emigrants moving to New England.

29 Fern bump : SPORE

Ferns are unlike mosses in that they have xylem and phloem, making them vascular plants. They also have stems, leaves and roots, but they do not have seeds and flowers, and reproduce using spores. Spores differ from seeds in that they have very little stored food.

32 Actor Braugher : ANDRE

Andre Braugher is the actor who plays Captain Ray Holt on the sitcom “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”. Braugher played a more serious cop on the TV show “Homicide: Life on the Street”, namely Detective Frank Pembleton.

33 Island home of the Grand Canyon of the Pacific : KAUAI

Waimea Canyon, on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, is also known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. The canyon is about ten miles long and 3,000 feet deep, and is incised into the side of the island’s Mount Waialeale shield volcano. Waimea Canyon was formed by the Waimea River, which itself is the result of the extreme rainfall over the volcano.

37 Mormon initials : LDS

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) is known colloquially as the Mormon Church.

38 __ mater : ALMA

The literal translation for the Latin term “alma mater” is “nourishing mother”. The phrase was used in ancient Rome to refer to mother goddesses, and in Medieval Christianity the term was used to refer to the Virgin Mary. Nowadays, one’s alma mater is the school one attended, either high school or college, usually one’s last place of education.

41 River in northern France : SOMME

The Somme is a river in the north of France. The name “Somme” comes from a Celtic word meaning “tranquility”. Paradoxically, the Somme is remembered as the site of a devastating WWI battle. The river separated British and French forces from the German army from July to November 1916. By the end of the battle, over one million soldiers had been wounded or killed.

48 Stylebook subject : USAGE

A style manual is a favorite reference book of mine, one that sets the standards for writing and design of documents. That said, it’s sad how often I have to refer to “The Chicago Manual of Style”.

53 Summer triangle star : DENEB

The Summer Triangle is the name given to a pattern of stars seen in the northern hemisphere. It is so named as it sits almost directly overhead at midnight in most northern latitudes. The points of the triangle are the bright stars Altair, Deneb and Vega.

54 Designer Gucci : ALDO

Gucci was founded in Rome, in 1921, by Guccio Gucci. Guccio’s son Aldo took over the company after his father’s death in 1953. It was Aldo who established the international presence for the brand and opened the company’s first overseas store, in New York City.

58 Food Network cover : APRON

In Old French, a “naperon” was a “small table-cloth”. The term was absorbed into English as “napron”, describing a cloth used to cover the front of a person at work. Over time, “a napron” was heard as “an apron”, giving us our contemporary noun “apron”.

59 Grammy winner Aimee : MANN

Aimee Mann is a rock singer and guitarist from Virginia. Mann is married to Michael Penn, the brother of actor Sean Penn.

60 Italian astronomer who embraced heliocentrism : GALILEO

The great Italian polymath Galileo Galilei made many discoveries in the world of astronomy. For example, he was the first to identify Jupiter’s four largest moons. Notably, Galileo used his telescope to confirm the heliocentric model, in which the planets revolve around the Sun. For his denial of geocentrism, Galileo spent his final days under house arrest, having been deemed “suspect of heresy” by the Roman Inquisition in 1615.

61 Food from heaven : MANNA

According to the Book of Exodus, manna was a food eaten by the Israelites as they traveled out of Egypt. The manna “fell” to Earth during the night, six days a week, and was gathered in the morning before it had time to melt.

63 LAPD alert : BOLO

A BOLO is a police alert, with the acronym standing for “be on the look-out”. A BOLO can also be called an APB, an “all-points bulletin”.

69 Helmsman under Kirk : SULU

Mr. Hikaru Sulu was played by George Takei in the original “Star Trek” series. Takei has played lots of roles over the years, and is still very active in television. Did you know that he appeared in the 1963 film, “Pt-109”? He played the helmsman steering the Japanese destroyer that ran down John F. Kennedy’s motor torpedo boat. From destroyer helmsman to starship helmsman …

According to the storyline in “Star Trek”, Captain James Tiberius Kirk was born in Riverside, Iowa on March 22, 2233. The town of Riverside displays a plaque, noting Riverside as the “future birthplace of James T. Kirk”, but the date given is March 22, 2228. I sense a disturbance in the space-time continuum …

70 Ounce fraction : DRAM

I think that the dram is a confusing unit of measurement. It has one value as an ancient unit of mass, and two different values as a modern unit of mass, another value as a unit of fluid volume, and yet another varying value as a measure of Scotch whisky!

71 “Duck, duck” follower : … GOOSE

“Duck, Duck, Goose” is a kid’s game, and not one that I’ve heard of outside of crosswords, to be honest …

75 Esther of “Good Times” : ROLLE

Esther Rolle was an actress best known for playing the character Florida Evans on the sitcom “Maude” and on the show’s spinoff “Good Times”.

77 Designer Wang : VERA

Vera Wang’s first choice for a career was figure skating. Although she is a very capable skater, Wang failed to make the 1968 US Olympics team. She switched to the world of fashion, and is now famous for her designs of wedding dresses … and also costumes for figure skaters.

80 Shoshone Falls state : IDAHO

Shoshone Falls is a major waterfall on the Snake River in southern Idaho. It is sometimes referred to as the Niagara of the West, and is actually 45 feet taller than Niagara Falls.

81 College mil. unit : ROTC

Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC)

87 TNT part : TRI-

“TNT” is an abbreviation for “trinitrotoluene”. Trinitrotoluene was first produced in 1863 by the German chemist Joseph Wilbrand, who developed it for use as a yellow dye. TNT is relatively difficult to detonate so it was on the market as a dye for some years before its more explosive properties were discovered.

88 Curved plumbing piece : P-TRAP

Most sinks in a home have a P-trap in the outlet pipe that empties into the sewer line. This P-trap has at its heart a U-bend that retains a small amount of water after the sink is emptied. This plug of water serves as a seal to prevent sewer gases entering into the home. By virtue of its design, the U-bend can also capture any heavy objects (like an item of jewelry) that might fall through the plughole. But the “trapping” of fallen objects is secondary to the P-trap’s main function of “trapping” sewer gases.

94 Sacha Baron Cohen persona : BORAT

Sacha Baron Cohen is a comedian and comic actor from England. He is perhaps most famous for playing the characters Borat and Ali G on the small and large screens. I’m wasn’t a fan, but I must admit that I really enjoyed 2020’s “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”.

95 “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” director Sam : RAIMI

“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” is a superhero film, a sequel to “Doctor Strange”. It stars Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role.

96 Wonderland cake instruction : EAT ME

In Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, Alice follows the white rabbit down a rabbit hole and finds a bottle labeled “DRINK ME”. When she drinks the contents, it causes her to shrink. She also sees a cake adorned with the words “EAT ME” written using currants, and when she eats the cake she grows so big she finds it hard to stand up. After eating the cake, she utters the words, “Curiouser and curiouser”.

104 “Do __ others …” : UNTO

The Golden Rule is also known as the ethic of reciprocity, and is a basis for the concept of human rights. A version of the rule used in the Christian tradition is attributed to Jesus:

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

A derivative phrase often heard today is “Love thy neighbor (as thyself)”.

107 __ thai : PAD

The delicious dish called pad Thai is a meld of stir-fried rice noodles with tamarind juice, red chili pepper plus a mix of vegetables and possibly tofu, meat or fish. It is usually topped with crushed peanuts, coriander and lime. The name “pad Thai” translates as “fried Thai-style”.

110 Card game cry : GIN!

Gin rummy is a faster variant of standard rummy. It was introduced in 1909 by one Elwood Baker and his son.

111 Wrigley Field climber : IVY

The famous ballpark that is home to the Chicago Cubs was built in 1914. Back then it was known as Weeghman Park, before becoming Cubs Park when the Cubs arrived in 1920. It was given the name Wrigley Field in 1926, after the owner William Wrigley, Jr. of chewing gum fame. Wrigley Field is noted as the only professional ballpark that has ivy covering the outfield walls. The ivy is a combination of Boston Ivy and Japanese Bittersweet, both of which can survive the harsh winters in Chicago.

112 Kiss follower : CAM

The kiss cam is a diversion during some sporting events in which a video camera picks out random couples in the crowd, projecting their image onto the giant screen at the venue. The couples are encouraged to kiss, for the entertainment of the fans. Famously, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama kissed for the kiss cam at a basketball game a few years ago, as did former President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter.

113 JFK predecessor : DDE

Dwight D. Eisenhower (DDE) was the 34th US president, but he wanted to be remembered as a soldier. He was a five-star general during WWII in charge of the Allied Forces in the European Theater of Operations (ETO). President Eisenhower died in 1969 at Walter Reed Army Hospital. He was buried in an $80 standard soldier’s casket in his army uniform in a chapel on the grounds of the beautiful Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kansas.

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