Day: November 27, 2023

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Constructed by: Carolyn Davies Lynch
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Play with my Food

Themed answers are all games one might PLAY, with each having a FOOD in the name:

• 51A What I shouldn’t do at the dinner table, except in 20-, 28-, and 44-Across? : PLAY WITH MY FOOD

• 20A Game whose cards have images of red and green fruit : APPLES TO APPLES
• 28A Game whose tiles are stored in a fruit-shaped bag : BANANAGRAMS
• 44A Game in which players compete to collect plastic fruit : HI HO! CHERRY-O

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

Bill’s time: 6m 01s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 “High Voltage” rock band : AC/DC

The hard rock band AC/DC recorded two albums titled “High Voltage”. The first was released in 1975, only in their native Australia. The second was released in 1976, but this version of “High Voltage” was marketed internationally. The second album bears little resemblance to the first.

9 Revolving entryway : STILE

A stile is a structure allowing people to pass over or through a fence, while at the same time preventing livestock from escaping. The derivative term “turnstile” describes a revolving structure in a wall or fence that allows the controlled passage of people.

15 Humpty Dumpty’s perch : WALL

Humpty Dumpty is a character in a nursery rhyme. He is usually depicted as an egg, although that isn’t specifically called out in the original rhyme:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again.

17 Freddie Mercury portrayer Malek : RAMI

Actor Rami Malek’s big break came with the leading role in the television series “Mr. Robot”. In 2018, Malik gave an Oscar-winning performance playing Freddie Mercury in the hit biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody”. That marked the first time that an actor of Egyptian descent won an Academy Award for Best Actor.

“Bohemian Rhapsody” is an outstanding 2018 film about the life of Freddie Mercury, lead singer with the British rock band Queen. Rami Malek portrayed Mercury, in an Oscar-winning performance. The original choice to play Mercury was Sacha Baron Cohen, the title character in the “Borat” mockumentary films.

20 Game whose cards have images of red and green fruit : APPLES TO APPLES

Mensa Select is an award given annually since 1990 by American Mensa for “original, challenging and well-designed” board games. As a big fan of board games, I find the list of past winners to be an informative read. That list includes favorites of mine, such as:

• Taboo (1990)
• Scattergories (1990)
• Trivial Pursuit: Genus Edition (1990)
• Clue: The Great Museum Caper (1991)
• Apples to Apples (1999)

23 “If u ask me” : IMHO

In my humble opinion (IMHO)

28 Game whose tiles are stored in a fruit-shaped bag : BANANAGRAMS

Bananagrams is a fun game that was introduced in 2006. Bananagrams is a little like Scrabble in that letter tiles are used to make interlocking words.

40 Yogurt-based condiment : RAITA

Raita is a condiment served in Indian restaurants that is made from yogurt flavored with coriander, cumin, mint and cayenne pepper.

41 Mama of music : CASS

Cass Elliot (born “Ellen Cohen”) was one of the four singers in the Mamas and the Papas, a sensational group from the sixties. “Mama Cass” was performing sold-out concerts in London in 1974 when she was found dead one morning, having had a heart attack. She was only 32 years old. Eerily, Elliot died in the same flat (on loan from Harry Nilsson) in which the Who’s drummer Keith Moon would die just four years later.

44 Game in which players compete to collect plastic fruit : HI HO! CHERRY-O

Hi Ho! Cherry-O is a children’s board game that first went on the market in 1960. The goal of the game is to collect cherries. There was also a video version of the game sold on cassette, starting in 1987. That version featured a farmer named “Bing”. Cute …

48 “The Raven” poet Edgar Allan __ : POE

“The Raven” is a narrative poem by Edgar Allan Poe that tells of a student who has lost the love of his life, Lenore. A raven enters the student’s bedchamber and perches on a bust of Pallas. The raven can talk, to the student’s surprise, but says nothing but the word “nevermore” (“quoth the raven, ‘Nevermore’”). As the student questions all aspects of his life, the raven taunts him with the same comment, “nevermore”. Finally, the student decides that his soul is trapped beneath the raven’s shadow and shall be lifted “nevermore”.

49 Actress Watson : EMMA

Actress Emma Watson is best known for her role as Hermione Granger in the “Harry Potter” film series, which she started at the age of 11. Watson is a highly educated individual, having graduated from Brown University with a bachelor’s degree in English literature. She has also studied at Oxford University and has been recognized for her academic achievements. She is also a talented musician and has played the guitar and the piano in several films.

58 Mickey or Minnie : MOUSE

Walt Disney’s iconic cartoon character Mickey Mouse, was introduced to the public in 1928 in the cartoon “Steamboat Willie”. Mickey was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1978, making him the first cartoon character to be so honored. Walt Disney had some nice words to say in Disneyland in 1954:

I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse.

Minnie Mouse is the daughter of farmer Marcus Mouse. Two of her grandparents are Marshal Mouse and Matilda Mouse. Minnie also has an Uncle Mortimer Mouse, as well as twin nieces Millie and Melody Mouse. Minnie’s boyfriend is Mickey Mouse.

59 Base x height, for a parallelogram : AREA

A parallelogram is a quadrilateral in which the opposite sides are parallel.

60 Big brass horn : TUBA

The tuba is the lowest-pitched of all brass instruments, and one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra (usually there is just one tuba included in an orchestral line-up). “Tuba” is the Latin word for “trumpet, horn”. Oom-pah-pah …

66 “Better Call Saul” actress Seehorn : RHEA

Rhea Seehorn is an actress best known for playing lawyer Kim Wexler in the TV crime drama “Better Call Saul”. Seehorn’s birth name is Deborah Rhea, but she opted to use her middle name at a young age (which she pronounces as “Ray”).

Down

1 New Age-y emanation : AURA

The New Age Movement is a western philosophy with roots that date back to the early 1800s. The movement focuses on achieving the highest human potential as an individual and embraces many traditionally eastern spiritual practices, but eschews all religious doctrines. New Age music is composed with the intent of supporting this philosophy. It tends to be very minimalistic, very tonal and harmonic. It is often used as a backdrop for relaxation or meditation.

4 Five-alarm potful : CHILI

The spiciness or “heat” of a serving of chili is often designated by an unofficial scale ranging from one-alarm upwards.

7 Ticklish Muppet : ELMO

In 2002, The Muppet Elmo got to testify before a US House subcommittee. Elmo’s goal was to get an increase in funding for music education. In the transcript of the hearing, his statements are ascribed to “Elmo Monster” and “Mr. Monster”.

8 Anna’s “Frozen” sister : ELSA

“Frozen” is a 2013 animated feature from Walt Disney Studios that is based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale “The Snow Queen”. The film is all about the exploits of Princess Anna, the younger sister of Elsa, Snow Queen of Arendelle. Elsa was originally intended to be a villain, a malicious and power-hungry character. By the final version of the film, Elsa had transformed from a one-dimensional villain into a fully fleshed-out protagonist.

9 Common name for a deep-ocean cucumber : SEA PIG

Sea cucumbers are marine creatures that do resemble cucumbers, at least in shape, hence the name.

25 Geologic time : EPOCH

Geologic time is divided into a number of units of varying lengths. These are, starting from the largest:

• supereon
• eon (also “aeon”)
• era
• period
• epoch
• age

26 Hawaiian patio : LANAI

A lanai is a type of veranda, and a design that originated in Hawaii. A kind blog reader tells me that the etymology of “lanai” seems unclear, but that the island name of “Lana’i” is not related.

30 Forty winks : NAP

Back in the early 1800s, folks took “nine winks” when getting a few minutes of sleep during the day. Dr. William Kitchiner extended this concept in his 1821 self-help book “The Art of Invigorating and Prolonging Life”. He suggested “A Forty Winks Nap”, which we seem to have been taking ever since. Mind you, I’m up to about eighty winks most days …

32 British unit of length : METRE

On the other side of the Atlantic we use the French spelling for measurements that originated in French, so “metre” for “meter” and “litre” for “liter”.

33 Slithering reptile : SNAKE

Reptiles are tetrapod (four-legged) vertebrates. That said, snakes are reptiles, and they have no legs at all. But, snakes are still categorized as reptiles because they descended from tetrapod ancestors.

35 Soup base made from fermented soybeans : MISO PASTE

Miso is the name of the seasoning that makes miso soup. Basic miso seasoning is made by fermenting rice, barley and soybeans with salt and a fungus to produce a paste. The paste can be added to stock to make miso soup, or perhaps to flavor tofu.

40 Like baggy pants : ROOMY

The term “pants”, meaning “trousers”, is an abbreviated form of “pantaloons” and first appeared in the 1840s. Pantaloons were a kind of tights named for a silly old male character in Italian comedy named “Pantaloun” who always wore tight trousers over skinny legs.

53 Healthy Kitten brand : IAMS

Iams dog food was introduced by animal nutritionist Paul Iams. He felt that household pets were suffering somewhat by being fed a diet of table scraps, so he developed dry dog food that he felt was more nutritious and suitable for pet dogs. He founded the Iams company, now part of Procter & Gamble, in 1946.

56 Double-reed woodwind : OBOE

A double-reed instrument is one in which two pieces of cane vibrate against each other to produce sound. In a single-reed instrument, just one piece of cane vibrates the mouthpiece. The best-known examples of double-reed instruments are the oboe and the bassoon.

57 “The X-Files” agent Scully : DANA

“The X-Files” is a very successful science fiction show that originally aired on the Fox network from 1993 to 2002. The stars of the show are David Duchovny (playing Fox Mulder) and the very talented Gillian Anderson (playing Dana Scully). By the time the series ended, “The X-Files” was the longest running sci-fi show in US broadcast history. An “X-Files” reboot started airing in 2016 with Duchovny and Anderson reprising their starring roles.

58 Flavor enhancer, for short : MSG

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is the sodium salt of a naturally-occurring,non-essential amino acid called glutamic acid. It is used widely as a flavor enhancer, particularly in many Asian cuisines. Whether or not it is harmful seems to be still under debate. I say that something produced in a test tube shouldn’t be in our food …