Day: May 29, 2024

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Constructed by: Matthew Stock
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Bonded Pair

Themed answers each comprise two words that are BONDED together, as the first words ends and the second begins with the same letter. Those PAIRS of letters spell out “ATOM”, as we descend the grid:

• 59A Kittens who should be adopted together, or what can be found in this puzzle’s circles : BONDED PAIR

• 16A Marine animal that resembles a flower : SEA ANEMONE (bonded “A”)
• 23A Branch of mathematics focused on collections : SET THEORY (bonded “T”)
• 37A Chance to get together and take shots? : PHOTO OP (bonded “O”)
• 48A Genre for 1980s hair bands : GLAM METAL (bonded “M”)

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

Bill’s time: 6m 23s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Retail club similar to Costco : SAM’S

Sam’s Club is a warehouse club that is owned and operated by Walmart. It is named after the company’s founder Sam Walton. Walton opened the first Sam’s Club in 1983 in Midwest City, Oklahoma.

5 Coin flip call : HEADS

The two sides of a coin are known as the “obverse” and the “reverse”. The obverse is commonly referred to as “heads”, as it often depicts someone’s head. The reverse is commonly called “tails”, as it is the opposite of “heads”.

10 Pine family tree : FIR

There are many species of pine tree (well over 100). The smallest is probably the Siberian dwarf pine, which usually grows to less than 10-feet tall. The tallest is the ponderosa pine, which regularly grows to over 200-feet tall.

15 Singer and civil rights activist Horne : LENA

Lena Horne was an American jazz singer, actress, dancer and civil rights activist. Horne started her career as a nightclub singer and then began to get some meaty acting roles in Hollywood. However, she ended up on the blacklist during the McCarthy Era for expressing left wing political views. One of Horne’s starring roles was in the 1943 movie “Stormy Weather” for which she also performed the title song.

16 Marine animal that resembles a flower : SEA ANEMONE (bonded “A”)

The name “anemone” means “daughter of the wind” in Greek, and at one time it was believed that the wind was what actually caused the flower to bloom. The sea anemone is named for the terrestrial plant even though the sea anemone isn’t a plant at all. It is a predatory animal found on the ocean floor.

21 Dance Dance Revolution move : STEP

Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) is a series of music video games that launched in 1998. It is usually found in arcades, as players have to stand on a special dance stage and hit arrows with their feet on cue.

25 Creature in Sherpa folklore : YETI

In the Tibetan language, “Sherpa” means “eastern people” (sher = east, pa = people). Sherpas are an ethnic group from Nepal, but the name is also used for the local guides who assist mountaineers in the Himalayas, and particularly on Mount Everest.

34 Guinness, for one : STOUT

Guinness is the most popular beer sold in Ireland. It is a stout and has that famous creamy white head, a result of mixing the beer with nitrogen as it is poured. You can also buy Guinness that has no nitrogen, which is sold in bottles bearing the name Guinness Export. This carbonated version of the beer has a very different taste, and is my personal favorite …

39 Slam Dunk Contest org. : NBA

In basketball, a player makes a slam dunk by jumping up and powering the ball downward into the basket with his or her hands over the rim. The term “slam dunk” was coined by Chick Hearn, an announcer for the L.A. Lakers. The NBA even holds an annual Slam Dunk Contest.

40 Pixy Stix contents : SUGAR

Pixy Stix is powdered candy that’s packaged in what looks like a straw. The “candy” was sold back in the thirties as a drink mix, but when kids were found to be eating the sweet & sour-tasting mix directly from packets, the producers began packaging it as candy.

46 Minor in astronomy? : URSA

Ursa Minor (Latin for “Smaller Bear”) sits right beside the constellation Draco (Latin for “Dragon”). Ursa Minor used to be considered the wing of Draco, and was once called “Dragon’s Wing”. The tail of the “Smaller Bear” might also be considered as the handle of a ladle, and so the constellation is often referred to as the Little Dipper.

48 Genre for 1980s hair bands : GLAM METAL (bonded “M”)

Glam metal is a genre of music that evolved in the 1980s from the glam rock genre of the 1970s. Glam metal is sometimes referred to as hair metal, a reference to the visual aspects of the musicians in such bands. The list of glam metal bands includes Def Leppard, Quiet Riot, Bon Jovi and Mötley Crüe.

54 Mother of Apollo and Artemis : LETO

In Greek mythology, the goddess Leto and her sister Asteria are daughters of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe. Leto’s twin children Apollo and Artemis were fathered by Zeus, the king of the gods.

55 Thanksgiving, e.g.: Abbr. : THU

Thanksgiving Day was observed on different dates in different states for many years, until Abraham Lincoln fixed the date for the whole country in 1863. Lincoln’s presidential proclamation set that date as the last Thursday in November. In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday to the fourth Thursday in November, arguing that the earlier date would give the economy a much-needed boost.

62 __ Martin: British car : ASTON

Aston Martin is a British car manufacturer founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin. The Aston part of the company name comes from Aston Hill, a famous site for hill-climbing cars that is nearby the original factory. Aston Martin cars are much loved by the British entertainment industry. James Bond was given one in “Goldfinger”, and Michael Caine drove one in the 1969 version of “The Italian Job”. Also, Roger Moore’s character drove a yellow Aston Martin in the seventies television show “The Persuaders!”.

63 Norway’s capital : OSLO

Oslo is the capital of Norway. The city burns trash to fuel half of its buildings, including all of its schools. The problem faced by the city is that it doesn’t generate enough trash. So, Oslo imports trash from Sweden, England and Ireland, and is now looking to import some American trash too.

Down

3 Disney heroine who sings “How Far I’ll Go” : MOANA

“How Far I’ll Go” is a song from the 2016 Disney movie “Moana” that was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda. It was performed in the film by the title character, voiced by Auliʻi Cravalho. That said, “Moana” was released in many, many international languages, and so 44 versions of “How Far I’ll Go” were recorded.

6 __ City: New Haven nickname : ELM

The city of New Haven, Connecticut was founded in 1638 by Puritan immigrants from England. Famously, it is home to Yale University. The city also initiated the first public tree planting program in the country. The large elms included in the program led to New Haven being called “the Elm City”.

11 Float in some water rides : INNER TUBE

In the activity of river tubing, participants free-float down a river in inflated inner tubes. Tubers can also ride on inner tubes down a snowy slope.

26 “Candidly,” in texting : TBH

To be honest (TBH)

28 Muscles stretched in cobra pose : ABS

Yoga’s “cobra pose” is also called “bhujangasana”. The Sanskrit word for snake or serpent is “bhujanga”.

29 High-ABV hoppy beer : DOUBLE IPA

Alcoholic proof is a measure of the alcoholic strength of a beverage. In the US, alcoholic proof is twice the alcohol by volume (ABV), and ABV is simply the volume of alcohol in a the beverage compared to its total volume, and expressed as a percentage. Therefore a liquor that is 50% ABV, is 100 proof. The concept of “proof” dates back to the days of British sailors being paid partly with rations of rum. A “proof spirit” was the most dilute spirit that would sustain combustion of gunpowder. Simply stated, if the rum that a sailor was given was so dilute that it doused burning gunpowder, then it was unacceptable to the sailor. The person providing the rum had to give “proof” that the rum would catch light, proving it was strong enough to be used as payment. It was found experimentally that rum of 57.15% ABV was the lowest concentration that could sustain a flame, so this was named as 100 degrees proof. But nowadays we round down to 50% ABV.

33 Bigwig : MOGUL

A mogul is a person with power. The term comes from the Mughal emperors of India and South Asia.

35 Toon devil : TAZ

The “Looney Tunes” character known as the Tasmanian Devil, or “Taz”, first appeared in a cartoon short with Bugs Bunny called “Devil May Care” in 1954.

37 Gathering for senior partners? : PROM

A prom is a formal dance held upon graduation from high school (we call them “formals” over in Ireland). The term “prom” is short for “promenade”, the name given to a type of dance or ball.

43 “Bingo!” : JACKPOT!

The term “jackpot” dates back to the 1800s and comes from the game of poker. In some variants there are progressive antes. This means that players have to ante up, add to the “pot”, when no player has a pair of “jacks” or better. They build a “jackpot”.

45 Mixologist’s amenity : WET BAR

A mixologist is someone who is well versed in the mixing of cocktails, said he, reaching for the shaker …

56 Binoculars part : LENS

In effect, a pair of binoculars is a set of two small telescopes mounted side by side. The telescopes are aligned so that they point in the same direction. This allows the user to use binocular vision, to use both eyes to view distant objects.

57 God with a bow and arrow : EROS

As always seems to be the case with Greek gods, Eros and Aphrodite have overlapping spheres of influence. Aphrodite was the goddess of love between a man and a woman, and Eros was the god who stirred the passions of the male. The Roman equivalent of Aphrodite was Venus, and the equivalent of Eros was Cupid.

60 Pointillism bit : DOT

Pointillism is a style of painting that grew out of Impressionism. The pointillist technique calls for the artist to use small, distinct dots of bold color to build up the image. Pointillism was developed in the late 1800s by the great French painter, Georges Seurat. You can go see his magnificent work “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” at The Art Institute of Chicago the next time you’re in town.