Day: July 4, 2024

Advertisement

Constructed by: Tom Pepper & Zhouqin Burnikel
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Yo! Start!

Themed answers are common phrases with YO- added to the front:

• 17A Hatha to Ashtanga? : YOGA’S RANGE (YO + gas range)
• 29A Stuffed teddies that look like a green Jedi master? : YODA BEARS (YO + da bears)
• 46A Tex-Mex snack that improves the performance of an Alpine singer? : YODEL TACO (YO + Del Taco)
• 62A Dice toss style named after a “Hamlet” jester? : YORICK ROLL (YO + rickroll)

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

Bill’s time: 10m 07s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Cronies : PALS

A crony is a friend or companion. The term originated as slang in Cambridge University in England in the 1600s. “Crony” is probably derived from the Greek “khronios” meaning “long-lasting”.

5 Bird in the National Audubon Society logo : EGRET

Egrets are a group of several species of white herons. Many egret species were faced with extinction in the 1800s and early 1900s due to plume hunting, a practice driven by the demand for egret plumes that could be incorporated into hats.

The National Audubon Society is an environmental organization that was formed in 1905. The society is named for John James Audubon, an ornithologist who compiled his famous book “Birds of America” between 1827 and 1838.

10 Above, in Augsburg : UBER

Augsburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany. It was founded in 15 BC, making it the fourth-oldest city in the whole country (after Cologne, Trier and Neuss).

14 With 43-Down, “M*A*S*H” star : ALAN …
43D See 14-Across : … ALDA

Even though actor Alan Alda is the son of fellow actor Robert Alda, both were born with the family name “D’Abruzzo”. Alan is a vocal advocate for science education. He is a founder of the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University, where he became a visiting professor. He also hosted the TV show “Scientific American Frontiers” for 14 years.

“M*A*S*H” has only three stars (three asterisks, that is). These asterisks first appeared on the poster for the 1970 movie, but they were omitted in the opening titles. The TV series went on to use the asterisks from the poster.

15 Writer Mary who specializes in popular science : ROACH

American author Mary Roach writes books about science, using approachable language and a lot of humor. The list of her best-selling titles includes:

• “Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers” (2003)
• “Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex” (2008)
• “Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal” (2013)

16 Party with glow sticks : RAVE

As you might imagine, I’ve never been to a rave, and don’t have one upcoming in my diary. As raves often start at 2 a.m., I’m unlikely ever to experience one. A rave is generally an all-night party featuring loud, electronically-synthesized music usually played by a DJ, as opposed to a live band.

A glow stick comprises a plastic tube containing two substances that, when mixed, emit light as the result of a chemical reaction (chemiluminescence). One of the materials is confined within a brittle container that is located within a larger, flexible container. The larger container holds the second substance. When the outer container is flexed sufficiently to break the inner container, the two substances are free to mix and hence emit light.

17 Hatha to Ashtanga? : YOGA’S RANGE (YO + gas range)

Hatha yoga is a yoga system developed in 15th century India. Traditional Hatha yoga is a more “complete” practice than often encountered in the west, involving not just exercise but also meditation and relaxation. “Hatha” is a Sanskrit word meaning “force”.

Ashtanga yoga is a classical yoga classification, as laid out by the Hindu author and philosopher Patanjali in the early centuries of the Common Era. Ashtanga is also referred to as the eight limbs of yoga. Those eight limbs are:

1. Yamas (abstinences)
2. Niyama (observances)
3. Asana (posture)
4. Pranayama (breathing)
5. Pratyahara (withdrawal)
6. Dharana (concentration)
7. Dhyana (meditation)
8. Samadhi (absorption)

25 Wilson of Heart : ANN

Heart is a rock band from Seattle, Washington that was founded in the seventies and is still going strong. The band has had a changing lineup, except for sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson.

26 TMZ subject : CELEB

TMZ.com is a celebrity gossip website launched in 2005 by producer Harvey Levin. “TMZ” stands for “thirty-mile zone”, a reference to the “studio zone” in Los Angeles. The studio zone is circular in shape with a 30-mile radius centered on the intersection of West Beverly Boulevard and North La Cienega Boulevard.

29 Stuffed teddies that look like a green Jedi master? : YODA BEARS (YO + da bears)

Yoda is one of the most beloved characters of the “Star Wars” series of films. Yoda’s voice is provided by the great modern-day puppeteer Frank Oz of “Muppets” fame.

There was a recurring sketch on “Saturday Night Live” in the nineties featuring several supposed supporters of Chicago teams. The fans were played by Joe Mantegna, Chris Farley, Mike Myers, Robert Smigel and George Wendt. An oft-heard line in the sketches was “Da Bears”, referring to the Chicago Bears NFL team and spoken with a stereotypical Inland North accent.

36 Headlight part : LENS

The high-beam setting on a car’s headlights directs a bright light to the front of the vehicle. The low-beam setting causes the light to “dip” towards the side of the road to avoid blinding oncoming traffic. This causes a few problems for some vacationing drivers in Europe. Many moons ago, I remember taking my car from Ireland (where we drive on the left), over to France (where cars drive on the right) . By law, I had to place adhesive blackout strips over the headlamps so that the lights did not dazzle oncoming traffic.

37 Toe bean locale : PAW

The squishy, pink pads on the bottom of a cat’s paws are known as digital pads. More casually, they are referred to as toe beans.

41 Mother of Clytemnestra : LEDA

In Greek mythology, Leda was the beautiful Queen of Sparta who was seduced by Zeus when he took the form of a swan. Leda produced two eggs from the union. One egg hatched into Clytemnestra and the beautiful Helen of Troy, over whom was fought the Trojan War. The other egg hatched into the twins Castor and Pollux. Castor and Pollux had different fathers according to the myth. Pollux was the son of Zeus and was immortal, while Castor was the son of Leda’s earthly husband, and so he was a mortal. In the world of the arts, William Butler Yeats wrote a famous sonnet called “Leda and the Swan” in 1924, and Peter Paul Rubens made a copy of a now-lost painting called “Leda and the Swan” by Michelangelo.

43 Java spot : ASIA

Java is a large island in Indonesia that is home to the country’s capital, Jakarta. With a population of over 130 million, Java is the most populous island in the world, with even more people than Honshu, the main island of Japan.

46 Tex-Mex snack that improves the performance of an Alpine singer? : YODEL TACO (YO + Del Taco)

The Del Taco chain of fast food restaurants opened for business in 1964, with the first restaurant called “Casa Del Taco” located in Yermo, California. Del Taco serves American-style Mexican cuisine as well as the typical collection of hamburgers, fries and shakes.

49 Anaheim team, to fans : HALOS

The Anaheim Angels baseball team is today more correctly called the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (LAA). The “Angels” name dates back to 1961 when the team was founded in the “City of Angels”, Los Angeles. When the franchise moved to Anaheim in 1965 they were known as the California Angels, then the Anaheim Angels, and most recently the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The Angels are also known as “the Halos”.

50 Condition often treated with ERP : OCD

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is a type of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) often used to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). ERP works by gradually exposing individuals to their fears or obsessions while preventing them from engaging in their usual compulsive behaviors. This process helps to break the cycle of OCD by teaching individuals that they can tolerate their anxiety and that their fears will not come true.

51 Flower at the center of a financial bubble in the 1630s : TULIP

The world’s first ever speculative “bubble” in the financial markets took place in 1637, when the price of tulip bulbs skyrocketed out of control. The tulip had been introduced into Europe a few years earlier and demand for tulips was so high that single bulbs were selling for ten times the annual income of a skilled craftsman. The climb in prices was followed quickly by a collapse in the market that was so striking that the forces at play were given the term “tulip mania”. To this day, any large economic bubble may be referred to as “tulip mania”.

57 Artificial surface sports injury : TURF TOE

Turf toe is a sports injury associated with play on artificial turf or any other surface without much give. It is a sprain of the ligaments around one or more toe joints, particularly the big toe. The medical term for the injury is “metatarsophalangeal joint sprain”.

62 Dice toss style named after a “Hamlet” jester? : YORICK ROLL (YO + rickroll)

In Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, there is a scene when Prince Hamlet holds in his hand the skull of the deceased court jester Yorick. Hamlet starts into a famous monologue at this point:

Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is …

The opening line is often misquoted as “Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him well.”

Rick Astley is an English singer best known for his 1987 worldwide hit “Never Gonna Give You Up”. He retired in 1993 but became a huge hit on the Internet in 2007 when a YouTube video of “Never Gonna Give You Up” was chosen by tricksters as a link (labeled as something else) that was sent around the world so that the clip was seen by millions online. The phenomenon was given the name “Rickrolling”. With all the new exposure that the song received Astley made a whopping $12 in royalties from YouTube. Yep, 12 whole dollars.

64 Dollar alternative : AVIS

Avis has been around since 1946, and is the second largest car rental agency after Hertz. Avis has the distinction of being the first car rental company to locate a branch at an airport.

66 __ Spunkmeyer cookies : OTIS

Otis Spunkmeyer is a company noted for producing muffins and cookies. Kenneth Rawlings founded the company in 1977 in Oakland, California. “Otis Spunkmeyer” isn’t a real person, and instead is a name that was made up by Rawlings’ 12-year-old daughter.

68 Mournful verse : ELEGY

Perhaps the most famous elegy in the English language is that written by Thomas Gray, which he completed in 1750. His “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” is the source of many oft-quoted phrases, including:

• Celestial fire
• Far from the Madding Crowd
• Kindred spirit

69 Unit that might be edited or spliced : GENE

Recombinant DNA is DNA made under laboratory conditions. The recombination technique (sometimes referred to as “gene splicing”) brings together genetic material from multiple sources. The sources of that genetic material might be from a different part of the same gene, or even from the gene of a different organism. The end result is a new, man-made, genetic combination.

Down

3 Italian lake : LAGO

In Italian, a “lago” (lake) is full of “acqua” (water).

4 Stir-fry ingredient : SNAP PEAS

Sugar peas are also known as snap peas. These peas are eaten before the seeds mature, and the whole pod is consumed.

8 Heart charts, for short : ECGS

An EKG measures the electrical activity in the heart. Back in my homeland of Ireland, an EKG is known as an ECG (for electrocardiogram). We use the German name in the US, Elektrokardiogramm, giving us EKG. Apparently the abbreviation EKG is preferred, as ECG might be confused (if poorly handwritten, I guess) with EEG, the abbreviation for an electroencephalogram.

9 James of “The White Lotus” : THEO

Theo James is an English actor who is perhaps best known for playing Tobias Eaton (aka “Four”) in the “Divergent” series of movies.

“The White Lotus” is a comedy-drama TV series about the fictional White Lotus chain of resort hotels. The first season is set in Hawaii, and the second in Sicily. Each season covers a week’s stay at a White Lotus resort. The first season is set in Hawaii, and the second in Sicily. A white lotus flower is symbolic of purity and innocence. Most of the guests and staff at “The White Lotus” are far from pure and innocent. Very enjoyable television, I thought …

10 Like Boo Boo and Smokey : URSINE

Yogi Bear made his debut for Hanna-Barbera in 1958, on “The Huckleberry Hound Show” before he was given his own series. Do you remember that collar that Yogi wore around his neck? That was a little trick from the animators. By using the collar, for many frames all they had to do was redraw everything from the collar up, saving them lots and lots of time. Yogi and Boo Boo lived in Jellystone Park, and made Ranger Smith’s life a misery.

Smokey Bear is the mascot of the US Forest Service. Smokey first appeared in 1944, in an advertising campaign directed towards preventing forest fires.

11 Slapstick prop : BANANA PEEL

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.

18 Gives the cold shoulder to : SNUBS

To give someone the cold shoulder is to ignore the person deliberately. A little research into the etymology of “cold shoulder” reveals that there’s some dispute over the origin of the phrase. To me, the most credible suggestion is that the term was coined by Sir Walter Scott in his writings, and he simply used the imagery of someone “turning away, coldly”, to suggest the act of ignoring someone. Less credible is the suggestion that unwelcome visitors to a home in days gone by might be offered a “cold shoulder” of mutton, rather than a hot meal.

22 Semi areas : CABS

A “semi” is a “semi-trailer truck”. The vehicle is so called because it consists of a tractor and a half-trailer. The half-trailer is so called because it only has wheels on the back end, with the front supported by the tractor.

26 Like an easy job : CUSHY

Our term “cushy”, meaning “easy and profitable”, is actually Anglo-Indian slang coming from the Hindi word “khush”, which translates as “pleasant, happy”.

27 First calendario page : ENERO

In Spanish, the “primer mes del calendario” (first month of the calendar) is “enero” (January).

31 Start to matter? : ANTI-

In the world of particle physics, antimatter is made up of particles that have the same mass as particles of ordinary matter, but with the opposite charge and quantum spin. Mixing matter and antimatter causes the annihilation of both, with a release of energy equal to the mass of the particles according to Einstein’s equation E=mc².

32 Sirius business : RADIO

XM Satellite Radio used to be in competition with Sirius Satellite Radio but the FCC allowed the two companies to merge in 2008 forming SiriusXM Radio.

35 It’s right there on the map! : EAST

A map oriented with north at the top, has east to the right.

40 NCAA champion swimmer Thomas : LIA

Lia Thomas is a competitive swimmer who won the NCAA Division I 500-yard freestyle national championship in 2022, while she was a student at the University of Pennsylvania. In doing so, Thomas became the first openly transgender athlete to win any NCAA Division I championship.

47 Mercedes luxury line : E-CLASS

The Mercedes-Benz E-Class is a range of executive-size cars. Originally, the “E” stood for “Einspritzmotor”, the German for “fuel injection engine”.

55 Big Board abbr. : NYSE

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is nicknamed the “Big Board”.

56 Woody of “Toy Story,” for one : DOLL

1995’s “Toy Story” was the world’s first feature-length computer-animated movie. “Toy Story” was also Pixar’s first production. The main roles in the film are Buzz Lightyear and Woody, who are voiced by Tim Allen and Tom Hanks respectively. Hanks was the first choice to voice Woody, but Allen was asked to voice Buzz after Billy Crystal turned down the role.

59 Lena of “The Reader” : OLIN

Lena Olin is a Swedish actress, and someone who has acting in her blood. Her mother was the actress Britta Holmberg and her father the actor and director Stig Olin. Olin had a very successful career in Sweden, often working with the great Ingmar Bergman. Olin’s breakthrough international and English-speaking role was playing opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” released in 1988. Way back in 1974, Miss Olin was crowned Miss Scandinavia in a beauty pageant for Nordic women held in Helsinki, Finland. Olin’s most famous performance was in “Chocolat” released in 2000, and then she won an Emmy in 2003 for Best Supporting Actress in the TV show “Alias”.

“The Reader” is a 2008 film based on the 1995 German novel of the same name (“Der Vorleser” in German). The movie stars Kate Winslet as Hanna, a character who is illiterate. In the late fifties, Hanna seduces a 15-year-old boy named Michael and has him read to her from books that he is studying. Years later, the boy is a law student observing the trial of a group of women who are accused of Nazi war crimes. Hanna was a guard in a concentration camp, and it is revealed that she had prisoners read to her in the evenings. Hanna is sentenced to life in prison. Michael sends Hanna tapes of his voice as he reads books from the time of their affair. Hanna uses the tapes to learn how to read while she is behind bars..

61 Vader, as a boy : ANI

Darth Vader is (to me) the most colorful antagonist in the “Star Wars” universe. Born as Anakin “Ani” Skywalker, he was corrupted by the Emperor Palpatine and turned to “the Dark Side”. In the original films, Darth Vader was portrayed by English bodybuilder David Prowse, and voiced by actor James Earl Jones. Jones asked that he go uncredited for the first two “Star Wars” films, feeling that his contributions were insufficient to warrant recognition. I disagree …