Day: May 23, 2024

Advertisement

Constructed by: Jared Cappel
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Spotty Clues

Themed clues are all the same, i.e. “Spot for a spot?” …

• 17A Spot for a spot? : PARKING LOT
• 24A Spot for a spot? : WHERE’S WALDO?
• 36A Spot for a spot? : TEA CEREMONY
• 47A Spot for a spot? : TV BROADCAST
• 57A Spot for a spot? : BENCH PRESS

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

Bill’s time: 6m 42s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Of the kidneys : RENAL

Something described as renal is related to the kidneys. “Ren” is the Latin word for “kidney”.

19 Symbol at the center of a Scrabble board : STAR

The game of Scrabble has been around since 1938, and is the invention of an architect named Alfred Mosher Butts. Butts was born on April 13th, and we now celebrate National Scrabble Day on April 13th each year in his honor.

20 Virtual video game characters : SIMS

SimCity is a very clever computer game. Players build and grow cities and societies by creating the conditions necessary for people (the Sims) to move in and thrive. SimCity was launched in 1989, and to this day it is consistently ranked as one of the greatest computer games of all time.

23 California’s Santa __ Mountains : ANA

Southern California’s Santa Ana Mountains run southeast of Los Angeles. The range was named by Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portolà. Don Gaspar camped below the mountains in 1769 on July 26, the Feast of Saint Anne.

24 Spot for a spot? : WHERE’S WALDO?

The series of children’s illustrated books called “Where’s Waldo?” was originally titled “Where’s Wally?” in Britain, where the books originated. Each book contains page after page of illustrations with crowds of people surrounding famous landmarks from around the world. The challenge is to find Waldo/Wally, who is hidden in the crowd.

27 Language in which “w” can be a vowel : WELSH

The Welsh language is a Celtic tongue that is known as “Cymraeg” by its native speakers. The country of Wales is known as “Cymru” in Welsh.

30 Particle exchanged in water purification : ION

Deionized water is very similar to distilled water in that both are purified versions of the original. The process of deionization removes almost all mineral ions using an ion-exchange resin. Those mineral ions are replaced with hydrogen and hydroxide ions, which combine to make dihydrogen monoxide molecules, i.e. water.

31 Square stuck in a corner : POSTAGE

Philately is the practice of collecting postage stamps. The term “philately” was coined (in French, as “philatélie”) in 1864 by French collector Georges Herpin. He came up with it from the Greek “phil-” meaning “loving” and “ateleia” meaning “exemption from tax”. Apparently “exemption from tax” was the closest thing Herpin could find to “postage stamp”.

35 Mediterranean mountain : ETNA

Mount Etna on the island of Sicily is the largest of three active volcanoes in Italy, and indeed the largest of all active volcanoes in Europe. Etna is about 2 1/2 times the height of its equally famous sister, Mt. Vesuvius. Mt. Etna is home to a 110-km long narrow-gauge railway, and two ski resorts. It is sometimes referred to as “Mongibello” in Italian, and as “Mungibeddu” (sometimes “Muncibeddu”) in Sicilian. The English name “Etna” comes from the Greek “aitho” meaning “I eat”.

36 Spot for a spot? : TEA CEREMONY

The Japanese tea ceremony is called “chanoyu” in Japanese, and involves the preparation and presentation of powdered green tea. When leaf tea is used, the ceremony is called “senchado”.

38 Threading target : BROW

Threading is a method of removing unwanted hair. It involves a doubled thread that catches hairs, which are then plucked from the skin. The process really originated in Central Asia and India and was imported to the US, where it gained in popularity in the 1980s. Ouch!

41 Asset in darts : AIM

Darts is a game that’s often played in English and Irish pubs, even over here in America. The scoring in a traditional game of darts is difficult to describe in a sentence or two, but the game of darts called “Round the Clock” is simply hitting the numbers 1 through 20 on the dartboard in sequence.

54 Blonde hue : ASH

In today’s world, the usage of masculine and feminine forms of English words is largely frowned upon. The one word that seems to have retained it’s gender specificity is “blond”, the feminine version of which is “blonde”.

55 Printing shade : CYAN

“Cyan” is short for “cyan blue”. The term comes from the Greek word “kyanos” meaning “dark blue, the color of lapis lazuli”.

Four-color printing uses four different color inks: cyan, magenta, yellow and black. The black ink is also known as the “key”. The first letter of the colors (with black being ”key”) give the more common name for four-color printing, namely CMYK.

56 Lions or Tigers : TEAM

The Detroit Lions are the NFL team that play home games at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. The team was founded way back in 1929 as the Portsmouth Spartans from Portsmouth, Ohio. The Spartans joined the NFL during the Great Depression as other franchises collapsed. However, the Spartans couldn’t command a large enough gate in Portsmouth so the team was sold and relocated to Detroit in 1934.

The origins of the Detroit Tigers baseball team’s name seems a little unclear. One story is that it was taken from the Detroit Light Guard military unit who were known as “The Tigers”. The Light Guard fought with distinction during the Civil War and in the Spanish-American War. Sure enough, when the Detroit baseball team went into the Majors they were formally given permission to use “The Tigers” name by the Detroit Light Guard.

60 Pakistani tongue : URDU

Urdu is one of the two official languages of Pakistan (the other being English), and is one of the 22 scheduled languages in India. Urdu partly developed from Persian and is written from right to left.

61 Nirvana, for one : TRIO

Nirvana was a rock band formed in Washington in 1987 by Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic. The band effectively disbanded in 1994 after Cobain committed suicide.

62 Patisserie purchase : TORTE

A torte is a type of cake made primarily with eggs, sugar and ground nuts (but no flour).

A patisserie is a French bakery that sells pastries, or “tartes”.

64 Electrical unit : WATT

James Watt was a Scottish inventor. He figured prominently in the Industrial Revolution in Britain, largely due to the improvements he made to the fledgling steam engine. The SI unit of power is called the watt, and was named in his honor.

Down

1 Lumber mill tool : RIPSAW

In woodworking, a cut across the grain is known as a cross cut. A cut along the grain is called a rip cut. Most saws are designed to perform the best cross cuts, but there is a special ripsaw that more easily cuts straight lines along the grain.

2 Only main “Seinfeld” character who was not in the show’s pilot episode : ELAINE

The character Elaine Benes, unlike the other lead characters (Jerry, Kramer and George), did not appear in the pilot episode of “Seinfeld”. NBC executives specified the addition of a female lead when they picked up the show citing that the situation was too “male-centric”.

3 “The truly fearless think of themselves as __”: Margaret Atwood : NORMAL

Canadian author Margaret Atwood is best known for her novels. However, Atwood also conceived the idea of the LongPen, a remote robotic writing technology. The LongPen allows a user to write remotely in ink via the Internet. Atwood came up with the idea so that she could attend book signings remotely.

4 Responds on “Jeopardy!” : ASKS

The TV show “Jeopardy!” first went on the air in 1964, and is another successful Merv Griffin creation. But, it took the introduction of Alex Trebek as host in order to bring the show into the big times. Trebek was host from 1984 until his sad passing in 2020.

5 Hula hoop? : LEI

The hula is a native dance of Hawaii that uses arm movements to relate a story. The hula can be performed while sitting (a noho dance) or while standing (a luna dance).

7 Arendelle’s Elsa, for one : RULER

“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. Spoiler alert: Prince Hans of the Southern Isles seems to be a good guy for most of the film, but turns out to be a baddie in the end. And, a snowman named Olaf provides some comic relief.

8 Narcissist’s problem : EGO

Narcissus was a proud and vain hunter in Greek mythology. He earned himself a fatal punishment, falling in love with his own reflection in a pool. So, taken was he by his own image that he could not leave it, and wasted away and died by the pool. Narcissus gives us our term “narcissism” meaning “excessive love of oneself”.

9 Volleyball move : SET

In volleyball, each team can only touch the ball a maximum of three times before it returns to the other side of the net. The three contacts are often a “bump” (a preliminary pass) and a “set” (setting up the attacking shot) followed by a “spike” (a shot into the opposing court).

11 Climactic moment during an eclipse : TOTALITY

A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes into the shadow cast by the Earth from the light of the Sun, in other words when the Earth is positioned directly between the Sun and the Moon. The more spectacular solar eclipse takes place when the Moon passes in front of the Sun, so that the Earth falls into the shadow cast by the Moon.

12 Ad infinitum : ON AND ON

“Ad infinitum” is a Latin phrase that we use in English to mean “endlessly”. A literal translation is “to infinity”.

13 Lady Gaga, for Stefani Germanotta : PERSONA

“Lady Gaga” is the stage name of Stefani Germanotta. Germanotta is a big fan of the band Queen, and she took her stage name from the marvelous Queen song titled “Radio Ga Ga”.

22 Royal Rumble org. : WWE

The Royal Rumble is a wrestling event that the WWE has produced every year since 1988. The main event of the event is the Royal Rumble match in which about 30 wrestlers vie to eliminate their competitors by tossing them out of the ring over the top rope.

24 “Holy moly!” : WHOA!

The mild expletive “Holy moly!” is a euphemism for “Holy Moses!”

32 PADI certification activity : SCUBA

The self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) was co-invented by celebrated French marine explorer Jacques Cousteau.

Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI)

34 Objet d’__ : ART

An “objet d’art” is an item that has artistic merit. The term is French for “art object”. The plural is “objets d’art”.

35 Burnt brisket bits : ENDS

Brisket is a cut of beef from the lower chest of the animal. The brisket muscles contain a large amount of connective tissue, so brisket can be a tough cut and needs to be carefully cooked. It is often braised and cooked as a pot roast, especially as a holiday dish in Jewish cuisine.

36 Only person to win seven Super Bowls : TOM BRADY

Quarterback Tom Brady signed up with the New England Patriots in 2000, and led the team to more Super Bowl appearances than any other player in history. He signed up with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020, and led them to win the Super Bowl in his first season. Brady is from San Mateo, California, which isn’t very far from here. He dated actress Bridget Moynahan for a couple of years, and the pair have a child together. Brady was also married to Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen, for thirteen years.

39 Côte d’Azur, e.g. : RIVIERA

“Riviera” is an Italian word meaning “coastline”. The term is often applied to a coastline that is sunny and popular with tourists. The term “the Riviera” is usually reserved for the French Riviera (the Mediterranean coastline in southeastern France), and the Italian Riviera (the Mediterranean coastline centered on Genoa).

The Côte d’Azur is on the Mediterranean coast of France and stretches from Saint-Tropez in the west and to the Italian border in the east. In English, we often refer to the area as “the French Riviera”. It’s a little crowded for me (okay, “expensive”), especially in the summer.

42 Ned Flanders’ oldest son : ROD

Ned Flanders lives next door to Homer Simpson on TV’s “The Simpsons”. Ned was married to Maude, with whom he had two children Rod and Todd. Maude died in an accident involving a T-shirt cannon. Ned is voiced by actor Harry Shearer, and has been around since the very first episode aired in 1989.

46 Has an inkling : SENSES

Our word “inkling” apparently comes from the Middle English word “inclen” meaning “to hint”.

48 Brother in Rome’s foundation story : REMUS

According to tradition, Rome was founded by the twin brothers Romulus and Remus. The pair had a heated argument about who should be allowed to name the city and Romulus hit Remus with a shovel, killing him. And so, “Rome” was born, perhaps instead of “Reme”!

57 “I should tell you,” for short : BTW

By the way (BTW)

58 Common __ : ERA

The designations Anno Domini (AD, “year of Our Lord”) and Before Christ (BC) are found in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The dividing point between AD and BC is the year of the conception of Jesus, with AD 1 following 1 BC without a year “0” in between. The AD/BC scheme dates back to AD 525, and gained wide acceptance soon after AD 800. Nowadays a modified version has become popular, with CE (Common/Christian Era) used to replace AD, and BCE (Before the Common/Christian Era) used to replace BC.