Day: September 1, 2024

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Constructed by: Scott Hogan & Katie Hale
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: Better With Age

Themed answers are common phrases, but with “AGE” inserted:

• 22A Ancestors infamous for tasteless jokes? : OFFENSIVE LINEAGE (“offensive line” with “age”)
• 32A Instruction from the Juicy Juice shipping supervisor? : PACKAGE A PUNCH (“pack a punch” with “age”)
• 49A Videobomb in an otherwise Pulitzer-worthy newscast? : FOOTAGE FAULT (“foot fault” with “age”)
• 68A Chaos at the spa? : MASSAGE HYSTERIA (“mass hysteria” with “age”)
• 89A Evidence of vacuum misuse? : HOOVER DAMAGE (“Hoover Dam” with “age”)
• 106A Political strategy that relies on folksy sayings? : ADAGE CAMPAIGN (“ad campaign” with “age”)
• 120A Neosporin motto? : I’M WITH THE BANDAGE (“I’m with the band” with “age”)

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

Bill’s time: 15m 06s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Semaphore gear : FLAGS

Semaphore is a system of message transmission that uses hand-held flags (usually). A pair of flags are held in specific positions to represent letters and numbers. The term “semaphore” came into English via French, ultimately deriving from the Greek “sema” meaning “sign” and “phoros” meaning “bearer”.

17 British semi : LORRY

On the other side of the Atlantic, a truck is called a “lorry”, a term that probably comes from the English dialectal verb “to lurry” meaning “to drag, tug”.

18 Gymnast Suni : LEE

Suni Lee is an American gymnast who won the women’s artistic individual all-around event at the 2020 Olympics. A few weeks after her victory in Tokyo, Lee competed in the 30th season of “Dancing with the Stars”, finishing in 5th place.

21 Composer Stravinsky : IGOR

Composer Igor Stravinsky’s most famous works were completed relatively early in his career, when he was quite young. His three ballets “The Firebird”, “Petrushka” and “The Rite of Spring” were published in 1910-1913, when Stravinsky was in his early thirties.

25 Org. with a “meatball” insignia : NASA

The official insignia of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is referred to as a “meatball”. It is round in shape, with white stars on a blue background. There is also a white orbital path, a red chevron, and the letters NASA in white.

30 Graham who co-founded The Hollies : NASH

Graham Nash is a British singer-songwriter who is best known for his work with the bands The Hollies and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice – once in 1997 as a member of The Hollies, and again in 1997 as a member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. In the late 1960s, Nash was romantically involved with Joni Mitchell, another iconic singer-songwriter. Their relationship inspired some of Nash’s best-known songs, including “Our House” and “Simple Man.”

32 Instruction from the Juicy Juice shipping supervisor? : PACKAGE A PUNCH (“pack a punch” with “age”)

Juicy Juice is a line of juices that are packaged for and marketed to children.

35 Some hip muscles : FLEXORS

A flexor muscle is one that works to bend a limb. An extensor muscle is one that straightens it.

38 “King __” : KONG

1933’s “King Kong” really is a classic. It stars Fay Wray as the young woman (Ann Darrow) with whom Kong falls in love. Wray was very interested in the role as she was told that she would be playing opposite the “tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood”. She thought it might be Clark Gable. At least, that’s how the story goes …

39 “Star Trek: Picard” actress Jeri : RYAN

Jeri Ryan’s most famous role is the de-assimilated Borg known as Seven of Nine on “Star Trek: Voyager”. I haven’t seen that show, but I know Ryan from a supporting role on the legal drama “Shark”, playing opposite James Woods. She also plays Ronnie Cooke on “Boston Public”.

41 Engage in a linguistic battle, maybe : RAP

Battle rapping (also “rap battling”) is a contest in which two or more rappers “fight it out” using opposing, improvised lyrics. I’d be annihilated …

45 Manchester United mascot : DEVIL

Manchester United (“Man U” and “the Red Devils”) is one of the most successful football (soccer) clubs in England, having won more League titles than any other in the history of the game. The club is also famous for an airplane crash known as the 1958 Munich air disaster. The British European flight crashed during takeoff, resulting in the death of 23 passengers, including eight members of the Manchester United team.

53 Pacers and Hornets : AMCS

The AMC Pacer is an iconic car from the seventies. It has big glass windows leading to it being nicknamed “the Flying Fish Bowl” by “Car and Driver” magazine.

The Hornet was a compact produced by AMC in the seventies. The Hornet platform was used in the design of the Gremlin, a smaller subcompact that was basically the front half of the Hornet with a truncated rear.

57 Author Rand : AYN

Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist born “Alisa Rosenbaum”. Her two best known works are her novels “The Fountainhead” published in 1943 and “Atlas Shrugged” from 1957. Back in 1951, Rand moved from Los Angeles to New York City. Soon after, she gathered a group of admirers around her with whom she discussed philosophy and shared drafts of her magnum opus, “Atlas Shrugged”. This group called itself “The Collective”, and one of the founding members was none other than future Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan. Rand described herself as “right-wing” politically, and both she and her novel “Atlas Shrugged” have become inspirations for the American conservatives, and the Tea Party in particular.

58 Everett of “An Ideal Husband” : RUPERT

English actor Rupert Everett probably broke through to audiences on this side of the Atlantic playing the bride’s gay friend in the 1997 romcom “My Best Friend’s Wedding”. A couple of years later he garnered a lot of attention playing the male lead in the 1999 big-screen adaption of Oscar Wilde’s play “An Ideal Husband”.

59 Scratching post fiber : SISAL

The sisal plant is an agave, the flesh of which is not generally used in making tequila. Sisal is grown instead for the fibers that run the length of its leaves. The fiber is used extensively for twine, rope, carpeting, wall coverings etc. My favorite application though, is in the construction of dartboards. Sisal takes its name from the port of Sisal in Yucatan, Mexico that was a major shipping point for sisal plants.

62 Tour employee : ROADIE

A “roadie” is someone who loads, unloads and sets up equipment for musicians on tour, on the “road”.

68 Chaos at the spa? : MASSAGE HYSTERIA (“mass hysteria” with “age”)

The term “hysteria” is no longer really used in medical circles, but some attribute the first use of the term to the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates. Hysteria was supposedly a condition suffered by women and attributed to disturbances of the uterus. “Hystera” is the Greek word for “uterus”.

76 “Dust in the Wind” band : KANSAS

“Dust in the Wind” is a lovely 1977 song recorded by the prog rock band Kansas that was written by one of the group’s founding members, Kerry Livgren. It was to be the only top-ten hit for Kansas in the US.

86 Half of deux : UNE

In French, half of “deux” (two) is “un, une” (one).

88 TV host Kotb : HODA

Hoda Kotb is an Egyptian-American television journalist who is perhaps best known as a co-host of the NBC morning show “Today”. She is also the author of the bestselling autobiography “Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee”.

89 Evidence of vacuum misuse? : HOOVER DAMAGE (“Hoover Dam” with “age”)

The first practical portable vacuum cleaner was invented by James Spangler in 1907. Spangler sold the patent for the design to his cousin’s husband, William Henry Hoover. Hoover then made his fortune from manufacturing and selling vacuum cleaners. Hoover was so successful in my part of the world that back in Ireland we don’t use the verb “to vacuum” and instead say “to hoover”. Also, “hoover” is what we call a vacuum cleaner, regardless of who makes it.

When the magnificent Hoover Dam was completed in 1936 it was the largest hydroelectric plant in the world, as well as being the world’s largest concrete structure. The edifice was originally known as Boulder Dam, due to its location near Boulder City, Nevada. The dam was eventually named after Herbert Hoover for his role in having the dam built when he was Secretary of Commerce, and his later support as US President. There was a formal dedication ceremony held in September 1935 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt was in the area, when only work on the powerhouse was incomplete. President Roosevelt managed to make his dedication speech without once referring to the name of his former opponent President Hoover. When the dam was finally put into service in 1936, the project was two years ahead of schedule. Those were the days …

96 Fair-hiring letters : EEO

“Equal Employment Opportunity” (EEO) is a term that has been around since 1964 when the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was set up by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII of the Act prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin or religion.

98 Climate control syst. : HVAC

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC)

101 Brontë sister : ANNE

Anne was the youngest of the three sisters in the literary Brontë family. Her older sisters wrote novels that are more recognized, but Anne’s two novels do have a following. “Agnes Grey” is based on her own experiences working as a governess. Her other novel, “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall” is written as a long letter from a young man describing the events leading up to his first meeting with his wife-to-be. Anne Brontë’s writing career was cut short in 1849, when she died of pulmonary tuberculosis, at only 29 years of age.

113 Coconut __ : OIL

Palm oil and coconut oil are two vegetable oils that aren’t very good for our health. Both are high in saturated fat.

115 Savanna, taiga, etc. : BIOMES

I tend to think of “biome” as another word for “ecosystem”.

A savanna (also “savannah”) is a grassland. If there are any trees in a savanna, by definition they are small and widely spaced so that light can get to the grasses allowing them to grow unhindered.

The word “taiga” is used for an ecosystem largely covered in coniferous forests that exists in northern regions around the world. “Taiga” is Mongolian in origin, and is sometimes used interchangeably with “boreal forest”.

120 Neosporin motto? : I’M WITH THE BANDAGE (“I’m with the band” with “age”)

Neosporin is an over-the-counter antibiotic ointment, one that is a little controversial. I just read that Neosporin is about as effective as petroleum jelly in preventing infection. Also, the low level of antibiotic in the cream has little effect in killing any bacteria and in fact contributes to antibiotic resistance. On top of that, reports of contact dermatitis caused by Neosporin are relatively common. If that’s all true, then I’m going to stop using it …

125 Remote target : TEEVEE

Television (TV, teevee, the tube, the boob tube)

126 Remote insert : AAA

The first television remote control was introduced by Zenith Radio Corporation, in 1950. That remote was hard-wired to the TV, and was marketed as “Lazy Bones”. Personally, my first “remote” was a broomstick that I used by pushing in large mechanical buttons that selected each of the three channels that were available back then on the east coast of Ireland …

127 Polynesian kingdom : TONGA

The Kingdom of Tonga is made up of 176 islands in the South Pacific, 52 of which are inhabited and scattered over an area of 270,000 square miles. Tonga was given the name Friendly Islands in 1773 when Captain James Cook first landed there, a reference to the warm reception given to the visitors. The nation’s capital is the city of Nukuʻalofa on the island of Tongatapu.

128 Passe : OLD

“Passé” is a French word, meaning “past, faded”. We’ve imported the term into English, and use it in the same sense.

129 Atlanta WNBA team : DREAM

The Atlanta Dream is a WNBA team that joined the league for the 2008 season. After moving around a little, the Dreams settled into the Gateway Center Arena in College Park, Georgia starting with the 2021 season.

130 Lode load : ORE

A lode is a metal ore deposit that’s found between two layers of rock or in a fissure. The mother lode is the principal deposit in a mine, usually of gold or silver. “Mother lode” is probably a translation of “veta madre”, an expression used in mining in Mexico.

131 “Lah-di-dah” type : SNOOT

“Snoot” is a variant of “snout”, and is a word that originated in Scotland. The idea is that someone who is snooty, or “snouty”, tends to look down his or her nose at the rest of the world.

Down

2 Like a stripped-back recording, briefly : LO-FI

Low fidelity (lo-fi)

5 Grammar subject : SYNTAX

Syntax is the way linguistic elements are assembled to form phrases and clauses. The term “syntax” comes from Greek via Latin, and ultimately from “syn” meaning “together” and “tassein” meaning “arrange”.

6 Mahershala who was the first Muslim performer to win an Oscar : ALI

Mahershala Ali is an actor and sometime rapper. Among the more memorable roles Ali has had are lobbyist Remy Danton in TV’s “House of Cards”, and Colonel Boggs in “The Hunger Games” series of movies. He also won Best Supporting Actor Oscars for playing Juan in the 2016 drama “Moonlight”, and Dr. Don Shirley in 2018’s “Green Book”.

9 Forensics drama franchise : CSI

Something described as forensic is connected with a court of law, or with public discussion or debate. The term comes from the Latin “forensis” meaning “of a forum, of a place of assembly”. We mainly use the word today to mean “pertaining to legal trials” as in “forensic medicine” and “forensic science”.

10 “To All the Boys” novelist Jenny : HAN

Author Jenny Han wrote a trilogy of young adult romance novels based on her own habit of writing love letters as a teenager to boys on whom she had a crush. Known as the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” series, the trilogy comprises:

1. “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” (2014)
2. “P.S. I Still Love You” (2015)
3. “Always and Forever, Lara Jean” (2017)

12 Pitcher Kimbrel with more than 400 career saves : CRAIG

MLB pitcher Craig Kimbrel won the National League’s Rookie of the Year Award in 2011.

15 Sine’s reciprocal, in trig : COSEC

The most familiar trigonometric functions are sine, cosine and tangent (abbreviated to “sin, cos and tan”). Each of these is a ratio: a ratio of two sides of a right-angled triangle. The “reciprocal” of these three functions are cosecant, secant and cotangent. The reciprocal functions are simply the inverted ratios, the inverted sine, cosine and tangent. These inverted ratios should not be confused with the “inverse” trigonometric functions e.g. arcsine, arccosine and arctangent. These inverse functions are the reverse of the sine, cosine and tangent.

20 Radioisotope activity : DECAY

A radioisotope is a version of an atom with an unstable nucleus, meaning it has an imbalance of protons and neutrons. The instability causes the atom to spontaneously decay, releasing energy in the form of radiation. This radiation can be in the form of alpha particles, beta particles, or gamma rays.

33 Loose hood : COWL

A cowl is a long garment with a hood that is primarily worn by monks in the Christian tradition. The term “cowl” can also describe the hood itself.

36 British singer Lewis : LEONA

Leona Lewis rocketed to fame after winning the British TV show called “The X Factor” (the show that spawned the UK’s “Pop Idol” and America’s “American Idol”).

37 Ump’s call : SAFE!

Back in the 15th century, “an umpire” was referred to as “a noumpere”, which was misheard and hence causing the dropping of the initial letter N. The term “noumpere” came from Old French “nonper” meaning “not even, odd number”. The idea was that the original umpire was a third person called on to arbitrate between two, providing that “odd number” needed to decide the dispute.

42 Exemplar : PARAGON

A paragon is a model of excellence, a peerless example. Ultimately the term “paragon” derives from the Greek “para-” meaning “on the side” and “akone” meaning “whetstone”. This derivation comes from the ancient practice of using a touchstone to test gold for its level of purity by drawing a line on the stone with the gold and comparing the resulting mark with samples of known purity.

48 Hip-hop’s __ Fiasco : LUPE

“Lupe Fiasco” is the stage name of rap artist Wasalu Muhammad Jaco. Jaco uses his real name when performing with the rock band Japanese Cartoon.

52 Online periodical with the slogan “Cure Ignorance” : UTNE

The “Utne Reader” is known for aggregation and republishing of articles on politics, culture and the environment from other sources in the media. It was founded in 1984 by Eric Utne, with management taken over by Eric’s wife Nina Rothschild Utne in 1990.

54 Angela Lansbury role : MAME

The musical “Mame” opened on Broadway in 1966, with Angela Lansbury in the title role. The musical is based on the 1955 novel “Auntie Mame” written by Patrick Dennis.

Angela Lansbury was a veteran actress and singer from London. When she won her fifth Tony Award in 2009, she equalled the record for the most Tony Awards, held by Julie Harris. My wife and I particularly enjoyed Lansbury’s first film performance, in the 1944 classic film “Gaslight”. Lansbury also played Jessica Fletcher on the small screen in “Murder, She Wrote”.

61 “Misery” co-star James : CAAN

James Caan was an actor from the Bronx, New York City. He was noted for his appearances in some very big movies such as “The Godfather”, “Misery”, “A Bridge Too Far”, “Rollerball” and more recently “Elf”. Caan was quite the sportsman. He played golf with an 8 handicap, and was a 6-Dan Black Belt Master of Gosoku Karate.

The 1990 film “Misery” is an adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name. I think it’s the only movie from a King book that I’ve watched and enjoyed. I can’t stomach his books, not because of the writing, but because of the gruesome scenes that are part of the plots. The screen version of “Misery” is toned down a little from the original storyline. In the novel, the Kathy Bates character amputates the James Caan character’s foot to incapacitate him. In the movie she just smashes his ankles. Big difference …

65 Shipping option : DHL

Back in the sixties, Larry Hillblom was making pocket money as a Berkeley law student by doing courier runs between San Francisco and Los Angeles. After law school, Hillblom decided to parlay his experience into his own business and set up a courier service flying bills of lading ahead of freight from San Francisco to Honolulu. He brought in two buddies, Adrian Dalsey and Robert Lynn, as partners and the three were soon hopping on and off commercial flights and gradually making more and more money. And DHL was born … D (for Dalsey) H (for Hillblom) L (for Lynn). DHL was acquired by Germany’s Deutsche Post in 2002.

71 “No regrets” hashtag : YOLO

You only live once (YOLO)

73 Skywalker twin : LEIA

The full name of the character played by Carrie Fisher in the “Star Wars” series of films is Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, and later Leia Organa Solo. Leia is the twin sister of Luke Skywalker, and the daughter of Anakin Skywalker (aka “Darth Vader”) and Padmé Amidala. Leia is raised by her adoptive parents Bail and Breha Organa. She eventually marries Han Solo.

74 Poetic measure : IAMB

An iamb is a metrical foot containing an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. The lines in William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18” use five sequential iambs, e.g. “Shall I / compare / thee to / a sum- / -mer’s day?” With that sequence of five iambs, the poem’s structure is described as iambic pentameter.

77 Elegantly charming : SUAVE

The Latin word “suavis” translates as “agreeable, pleasant to the senses”. “Sauvis” is the root of the English word “suave” that describes someone who is gracious and sophisticated, and perhaps somewhat superficial. “Sauvis” also gave us the English word “sweet” meaning “pleasing to the taste”.

78 Harmon of “Rizzoli & Isles” : ANGIE

“Rizzoli & Isles” is a detective drama that is inspired by the “Maura Isles/Jane Rizzoli” series of novels by Tess Gerritsen. In the show, Angie Harmon plays detective Jane Rizzoli and Sasha Alexander plays medical examiner Dr. Maura Isles.

79 Pomegranate bit : SEED

The name of the fruit called a “pomegranate” comes from the Latin “pomum” meaning “apple” and “granatum” meaning “seeded”.

82 World’s second-largest cocoa producer : GHANA

The country name “Ghana” translates as “warrior king” in the local language. The British established a colony they named the Gold Coast in 1874, later to become Ghana, as part of the scramble by Europeans to settle as much of Africa as they could. One of Ghana’s most famous sons was Kofi Annan, the diplomat who served as General Secretary of the UN for ten years until the beginning of 2007.

85 Tiler’s supply : GROUT

Grout is a thin mortar used to fill the joints between ceramic tiles. The name “grout” comes from the Old English word “gruta”, the word for a “coarse porridge” (due to the similarity in appearance of the two). Interestingly, the word “grits” comes from the same root. Grout … grits … makes sense …

88 Ramshackle residence : HOVEL

Our adjective “ramshackle”, meaning “loosely held together, rickety”, seems to be an alteration of the verb “to ransack”, meaning “to search through vigorously, pillage”.

91 Mammoth’s older relative : MASTODON

Mastodons were large mammals that were related to the modern elephant. Mastodons roamed the forest of North and Central America until they became extinct about 10,000 to 11,000 years ago. Their extinction is believed to have come about due to a rapid change in climate.

102 John Legend achievement, briefly : EGOT

The acronym “EGOT” stands for “Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony”, and is a reference to performers who have won all four awards.

“John Legend” is the stage name of singer-songwriter John Stephens. He has received many awards, and made many memorable performances. Notably, he played Jesus Christ in a live concert version of the rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar” produced for NBC in 2018. In 2019, Legend started appearing as a coach in the TV show “The Voice”. He married model Chrissy Teigen in 2013.

104 Japanese bowlful : SOBA

Soba is a thin Japanese noodle made from buckwheat flour. In Japan, the word “soba” tends to describe any thin noodle, in contrast with the thicker noodle called “udon”.

106 Repair chain with classic “beep beep” commercials : AAMCO

AAMCO is named after one of the two founders, Anthony A. Martino (AAM). The company was founded in 1963 in Philadelphia, and opened its first franchise in Newark that same year. There are now about 800 franchises, and AAMCO is the largest chain in the world specializing in automotive transmissions.

108 Sports commentator Rashad : AHMAD

Ahmad Rashad is a former football player who launched a career as a sportscaster after he retired from the game. Rashad proposed marriage to actress Phylicia Ayers-Allen on national television in 1985. Ayers-Allen, who played Bill Cosby’s wife on “The Cosby Show”, accepted the proposal and became Rashad’s third wife.

110 Chinese greeting : NI HAO

One might say “ni hao” in Chinese to mean “hello”, although a more literal translation is “you good”.

114 “Oh, that way madness lies” king : LEAR

“That way madness lies” is a phrase meaning “taking such an action could drive one crazy”, and is a direct quote from Shakespeare’s “King Lear”. The title character speaks the line while expressing grief for the selfish and cruel behavior of his daughters:

O Regan, Goneril,
Your old kind father, whose frank heart gave all—
Oh, that way madness lies. Let me shun that.
No more of that.

116 Honduran hand : MANO

Honduras is a country in Central America that used to be known as Spanish Honduras, in order to differentiate it from British Honduras that is now called Belize. “Honduras” is the Spanish word for “the depths”, which is probably a reference to deep coastal waters.

121 Lapsang souchong, e.g. : TEA

Lapsang souchong is a black tea originally from the Chinese province of Fujian. Lapsang is also called “smoked tea” as the leaves are smoke-dried to give a nice smoky flavor. I am going to have to try Lapsang …