Day: June 27, 2024

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Constructed by: John Michael Currie
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Beady Eyes

Themed answers each include BDI letter strings (“BDI” sounds like “BEADY EYE”):

• 59A Rodentlike features, and a phonetic hint to a segment of 18-, 23-, 36-, and 50-Across : BEADY EYES

• 18A Sea creature who lived across the Strait of Messina from Scylla : CHARYBDIS
• 23A Objects for separating subjects : TAB DIVIDERS
• 36A Seafood appetizer often seasoned with Old Bay : CRAB DIP
• 50A Land of giants in “Gulliver’s Travels” : BROBDINGNAG

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

Bill’s time: 9m 35s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 False earnestness : SMARM

The word “smarm” describes insincere flattery. The term comes from a colloquial word “smalm” that was used in the mid-19th century to mean “smear the hair with some sort of styling product”.

6 Sawbuck halves : ABES

The US five-dollar bill is often called an “Abe”, as President Abraham Lincoln’s portrait is on the front. An Abe is also referred to as a “fin”, a term that has been used for a five-pound note in Britain since 1868.

“Sawbuck” is slang for “10-dollar bill”. The term was applied to the bill as the Roman numeral X (which used to appear on the reverse) resembles the end of a sawhorse.

14 World capital once called Thang Long : HANOI

The Vietnamese capital city of Hanoi was known as Thang Long from 1010 to 1428. “Thang Long” translates as “Ascending Dragon”.

16 Human rights lawyer Clooney : AMAL

Amal Alamuddin married celebrated Hollywood actor George Clooney in 2014. Alamuddin was born in Beirut, Lebanon and moved with her family to London when she was a toddler. She is a lawyer specializing in international law, with one of her more renowned clients being the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange.

18 Sea creature who lived across the Strait of Messina from Scylla : CHARYBDIS

Charybdis was a beautiful naiad, a water nymph of Greek mythology. Zeus became enraged with Charybdis and turned her into a sea monster. In Greek myth, the monstrous form of Charybdis lay at one side of a narrow channel of water, with another sea monster named Scylla lying at the other. Sailors found it impossible to navigate the channel as getting to a safe distance from one monster left them in the clutches of the other. From this tale arose the expression “between Scylla and Charybdis” meaning having two choices, neither of which is a good one.

Messina is a port, and the third largest city, on the Italian island of Sicily. The city’s natural harbor has a curved shape like that of a scythe. When founded by Greek colonists in the 8th century BC, the settlement’s first name was “Zancle”, from the Greek word for “scythe”. The port gives its name the Strait of Messina, the narrow passage between the island of Sicily and the Italian mainland.

20 Like good things happening to good people : KARMIC

Karma is a religious concept with its basis in Indian faiths. Karma embraces the notion of cause and effect. Good deeds have good consequences at some later point in one’s life, one’s future life, or one’s afterlife. And, bad deeds have bad consequences.

26 Norman Lear’s specialty : SITCOMS

Norman Lear wrote and produced some great television shows, including “All in the Family”, “Sanford and Son” and “The Jeffersons”. He also did some film work, including writing and producing the great 1967 movie “Divorce American Style”.

36 Seafood appetizer often seasoned with Old Bay : CRAB DIP

Old Bay Seasoning is a blend of herbs and spices that is named for the Old Bay Line, a passenger ship that sailed in Chesapeake Bay between Baltimore, Maryland and Norfolk, Virginia. Created in 1939, the blend was originally named “Delicious Brand Shrimp and Crab Seasoning”.

43 Some “Percy Jackson & the Olympians” characters : DEMIGODS

In Greek mythology, a demigod was a half-god, the offspring of one parent who was a god and one parent who was human. The list of demigods includes the Greek hero Heracles and the Celtic hero Cú Chulainn.

“Percy Jackson & the Olympians” is a series of children’s adventure stories written by Rick Riordan. Two of the books have been adapted into movies: “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” (2010) and “Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters” (2013).

50 Land of giants in “Gulliver’s Travels” : BROBDINGNAG

Brobdingnag is one of the lands visited by the hero in Jonathan Swift’s novel “Gulliver’s Travels”. It is inhabited by giants, so we use the term “brobdingnagian” to mean “huge, enormous”.

57 Heroic sister of children’s literature : GRETEL

“Hansel and Gretel” is a Germanic fairy tale found in the collection of the Brothers Grimm. It tells of two siblings, Hansel and Gretel, the children of a woodcutter. The youngsters are abandoned in a forest at the behest of an evil stepmother. Clever Hansel hears of the plan and leaves a trail of pebbles so that he and his sister can find their way home, which they do. But the children are abandoned again and this time leave a trail of breadcrumbs. Unfortunately, the crumbs are eaten by birds and so the children do indeed become lost. But eventually they do all live happily ever after …

59 Rodentlike features, and a phonetic hint to a segment of 18-, 23-, 36-, and 50-Across : BEADY EYES

About 40% of all mammal species are rodents, belonging to the order Rodentia. The key characteristic of rodents is a single pair of continuously growing incisors in both the lower and upper jaws.

65 Home of Lucas Oil Stadium, familiarly : INDY

Indianapolis is the largest city in Indiana, and is the state capital. The state of Indiana was formed in 1816, with Corydon chosen as the state capitol. The capital was changed to Indianapolis in 1825. Indianapolis is the closest of all capitals to the center of its state.

Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis is home to the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts. The facility opened in 2008, at which time the team moved from the RCS Dome. The stadium has a retractable roof, as well as a very large retractable window-wall at one end. This allows the games to be played both indoors and outdoors, as needed.

66 SoCal school : SDSU

San Diego State University (SDSU) was founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School. Back then, the main purpose of the school was to educate women who wanted to be elementary school teachers. It changed its name to San Diego State Teachers College in 1923. The curriculum expanded beyond teacher education in 1935, and became San Diego State College. In 1960, the college joined what is now known as the California State University.

67 Snail trail : SLIME

Snail facials are a thing. Some beauty treatments involve the placing of snails on the face. The assertion is that snail mucus contains nutrients and antioxidants that can smooth out wrinkles and give a youthful appearance to the skin.

Down

1 Literary citation abbr. : SHAK

William Shakespeare was born and raised in the lovely town of Stratford-upon-Avon in the English Midlands. He was the third oldest of eight children born to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden. In 1582, he was only 18 years old when he somewhat hastily married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway, and the couple welcomed their first child six months later. For much of his life, Shakespeare divided his time between Stratford and London, where he worked as an actor and theater owner in addition to penning his plays and sonnets. He apparently retired to Stratford, dying there after three years at the age of 52 in 1616.

3 “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” Oscar nominee Day : ANDRA

Andra Day is a singer/songwriter who grew up in San Diego. Day’s singing career got a lift in 2010 when Stevie Wonder’s wife heard Day performing at a strip mall. Stevie Wonder reached out to Day, and so is at least partly credited with her discovery. Day made her acting debut in 2021, portraying singer Billie Holiday in the biopic “The United States vs. Billie Holiday”. She won a Golden Globe for that performance, and was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar.

“The United States vs. Billie Holiday” is a 2021 biopic based on a 2015 book by Johann Hari called “Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs”. The film mainly deals with her performances of the song “Strange Fruit”, with its references to racial prejudice and lynching, and Holiday’s arrest and incarceration for drug possession. Soul singer and actress Andra Day plays Holiday, for which performance she won a Golden Globe.

4 iRobot products : ROOMBAS

The Roomba vacuum cleaner is a cool-looking device that navigates its way around a room by itself, picking up dirt as it goes. Like I said, it’s cool-looking, but I am not sure how effective it is …

5 Bygone audio format : MINIDISC

Sony introduced the MiniDisc data storage device in 1992, ostensibly as a successor to the cassette tape. Although the MiniDisc was successful in Japan, it failed to take over the audio market in the rest of the world. The compact disc won that battle.

6 Character’s beginning, middle, and end : ARC

In a story, say a novel, characters usually develop in what’s known as a character arc. Traditionally, character arcs are divided into three phases:

1. The Beginning: life before the story’s main events take place
2. The Middle: the character grows and evolves in response to situations encountered in life
3. The End: the new status quo of the character after they develop and grow

7 Faith founded in Persia : BAHA’I

The Baha’i Faith is relatively new in the scheme of things, and was founded in Persia in the 1800s. One of the tenets of the religion is that messengers have come from God over time, including Abraham, the Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, and most recently Bahá’u’lláh who founded the Baha’i Faith. Baha’i scripture specifies some particular architectural requirements for houses of worship, including that the building have a nine-sided, circular shape. It is also specified that there be no pictures, statues or images displayed within a temple.

8 Paperless Post offerings : E-CARDS

Paperless Post has a website on which users can create, send and manage online invitations for events.

9 Pianist Rachmaninoff : SERGEI

Sergei Rachmaninoff was a Russian pianist and composer who was active in the late Romantic Era. Rachmaninoff emigrated from Russia in 1917, having been driven away by the Russian Revolution. He eventually settled in the US, where he toured as a pianist for many years. Rachmaninoff’s most famous works are probably his “Piano Concerto No. 1” and his “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini”.

10 Hot sauce from Louisiana : TABASCO

Edward McIlhenny created Tabasco Sauce in 1868. He recycled old cologne bottles as a container for the sauce so that he could present it to friends, and when he went into business he ordered new cologne bottles for the commercial product. Even today, the Tabasco Sauce bottle bears a striking resemblance to the bottle used to distribute 4711 cologne.

11 Website with a STARmeter : IMDB

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) website offers an IMDbPro subscription service aimed at actors, crew and other professionals in the movie industry. IMDbPro users can access algorithm-generated rankings of actors, movies and companies. Those rankings are known as STARmeter, MOVIEmeter and COMPANYmeter.

12 Vote by __ : MAIL

There are several states in the US that conduct elections almost entirely by mail, i.e. Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah and Washington. Internationally, Switzerland is notable in that elections are also conducted almost entirely by mail.

19 Circular shelter : YURT

A yurt is a wood-framed dwelling that is used by nomads in the steppes of Central Asia. Although a yurt is a substantial structure, it is also extremely portable.

21 Beer alternative : CIDER

The term “cider” is used in most English-speaking countries to describe the alcoholic drink made from fermented apple juice. Here in the US, we often use the term to describe sweetened, unfiltered apple juice, and use “hard cider” to describe the alcoholic beverage. So in Britain and Ireland, beware of what you order …

24 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.

27 Short-cut pasta : ORZO

Orzo is pasta that has been formed into granular shapes, much like barley. And indeed, “orzo” is the Italian word for “barley”. Orzo is also called “risoni”, meaning “large rice”.

28 Beer alternative : MEAD

Mead is a lovely drink that’s made from fermented honey and water.

30 Penalizing sorts, for short : REFS

Back in the early 17th century, a referee was someone who examined patent applications. We started using the same term for a person presiding over a sporting event in the 1820s. “Referee” is a derivative of the verb “to refer”, and literally describes someone who has the authority to make a decision by “referring” to a book, archive etc.

31 Trade unions for onions? : EDIT

An editor might “trade” the word “unions” for “onions”, if a correction is needed.

33 Brief “Not sure yet” : TBD

To be determined (TBD)

37 Comedian Lydic : DESI

Comedian and actress Desi Lydic is perhaps best known as a correspondent on “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah”, a gig that she signed up for in 2015.

38 Chatting on Slack, for short : IM’ING

Slack is a messaging app aimed at businesses. At its core, Slack is an instant messaging system. Slack also provides tools designed to increase collaboration within teams.

39 Voyagers of 1620 : PILGRIMS

The early settlers of the Plymouth Colony were known as English Dissenters and belonged to congregations that separated from the Church of England. Many English Dissenters headed for Holland in the Netherlands, but the Mayflower Pilgrims opted to set up a new colony in North America in an effort to maintain their English cultural identity.

42 Victim in Clue : MR BODDY

Clue is a board game that we knew under a different name growing up in Ireland. Outside of North America, Clue is marketed as “Cluedo”. Cluedo was the original name of the game, introduced in 1949 by the famous British board game manufacturer Waddingtons. There are cute differences between the US and UK versions. For example, the man who is murdered is called Dr. Black (Mr. Boddy in the US), one of the suspects is the Reverend Green (Mr. Green in the US), and the suspect weapons include a dagger (a knife in the US), and a spanner (a wrench in the US). I think it’s a fabulous game, a must during the holidays …

44 Sister of Regan and Cordelia : GONERIL

William Shakespeare’s play “King Lear” is one of his tragedies. Lear demands homage from his three daughters as he divides up his kingdom between them. The two older daughters, Goneril and Regan, pretend to be devoted to their father, but the youngest, Cordela, refuses to be insincere. Goneril and Regan assume power, but turn on their father, who chooses to become destitute and goes insane.

46 “Iliad” city : TROY

The ancient city of Troy was located on the west coast of modern-day Turkey. The Trojan War of Greek mythology was precipitated by the elopement of Helen, the wife of the king of Sparta, with Paris of Troy. The war itself largely consisted of a nine-year siege of Troy by the Greeks. We know most about the final year of that siege, as it is described extensively in Homer’s “Iliad”. The city eventually fell when the Greeks hid soldiers inside the Trojan Horse, which the Trojans brought inside the city’s walls. Beware of Greeks bearing gifts …

47 Arcade currency : TOKENS

Our word “arcade” comes from the Latin “arcus” meaning “arc”. The first arcades were passages made from a series of arches. This could be an avenue of trees, and eventually any covered avenue. I remember arcades lined with shops and stores when I was growing up on the other side of the Atlantic. Arcades came to be lined with lots of amusements, resulting in amusement arcades and video game arcades.

51 Shift, for one : DRESS

A shift is a dress that is cut above-the-knee and has no clearly-defined waist. This style of dress originated in the 1920s when it was worn by the “flappers”, young women who defied social norms at the time. The shift was comfortable to wear and allowed easy movement, particularly on the dance floor.

52 Arcade pioneer : ATARI

Atari was founded in 1972, and was one of the pioneers in the video game industry. One of the company’s early employees was Steve Jobs, who was hired to work on the game design for the arcade game “Breakout”. Jobs was tasked with reducing the number of chips needed for the game and he recruited his friend, Steve Wozniak, to help with the project. Wozniak designed a circuit board that used only 46 chips, a significant improvement over the original design that had over 100 chips.

54 Slangy “Duh” : OBVI

“Obvi” is a slang term, a clipping of the word “obvious” that has the same meaning. But, I guess that’s obvious …

55 Club light : NEON

The basic design of neon lighting was first demonstrated at the Paris Motor Show in 1910. Such lighting is made up of glass tubes containing a vacuum into which has been introduced a small amount of neon gas. When a voltage is applied between two electrodes inside the tube, the neon gas “glows” and gives off the familiar light.

58 Journo’s intro : LEDE

The opening paragraph in any work of literature is often just called “the lead”. In the world of journalism, this is usually referred to as “the lede”. The derivative phrase “bury the lede” means to fail to stress the most important aspect of a story.

A “journo” is a “journalist”.

60 “The Simpsons” disco guy : STU

On “The Simpsons”, the character Disco Stu is voiced by Hank Azaria, although the original intent was for him to be voiced by Phil Hartman. Disco Stu is described as “a black, wrinkly John Travolta”.