Day: September 7, 2024

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Constructed by: Rich Norris
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: None

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

Bill’s time: 13m 56s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

16 French Tony equivalent : MOLIERE

The Molière Awards are presented annually for outstanding achievement in French theater. They are considered to be the equivalent of the Tony Awards in the US and the Olivier Awards in the UK. The Molières were the creation of producer Georges Cravenne, who also founded the César Awards for film.

17 Significant tennis term : OPEN ERA

In the sport of tennis, the Grand Slam tournaments were opened up to professional players, and not just amateurs, in 1968. So, the period since 1968 has been called the “Open Era”.

20 Cub Scout leader : AKELA

Akela is the wolf in “The Jungle Book” by Rudyard Kipling. The wolf gave his name to a cubmaster in the scouting movement, who is now known as “Akela”.

22 Flightless island bird : KIWI

The kiwi is an unusual bird in that it has a highly developed sense of smell and is the only one of our feathered friends with nostrils located at the tip of its long beak.

25 Letters for a seaside vacation : SPF

In theory, the sun protection factor (SPF) is a calibrated measure of the effectiveness of a sunscreen in protecting the skin from harmful UV rays. The idea is that if you wear a lotion with say SPF 20, then it takes 20 times as much UV radiation to cause the skin to burn than it would take without protection. I say just stay out of the sun …

28 Hieroglyphic figures : ASPS

The prefix “hiero-” comes from the Greek word “hieros” meaning sacred or holy. The classic use of the prefix is in the term “hieroglyph” (meaning “sacred carving”), the writing system that uses symbols and pictures.

29 “Lost” antagonist : ETHAN

“Lost” is a science fiction drama that originally aired from 2004 to 2010. The show kicks off with a passenger airliner crashing a tropical island as it flies from Sydney bound for Los Angeles. I haven’t seen the show myself and I hear that the intriguing plot didn’t really come to a satisfying conclusion. Others may disagree …

31 Carmichael who composed “Heart and Soul” : HOAGY

Singer-songwriter Hoagy Carmichael was born Hoagland Howard Carmichael. Carmichael’s remarkable first name was given to him in honor of a circus troupe called “The Hoaglands” who stayed at the Carmichael house during his mother’s pregnancy. Now that’s a story …

“Heart and Soul” is a 1938 song that was composed by Hoagy Carmichael, with lyrics by Frank Loesser. It is often performed as a piano duet, although the pair usually play a simplified version of the song. One famous “Heart and Soul” duet is performed on the big screen by actors Robert Loggia and Tom Hanks on a giant floor piano in the 1988 film “Big”.

33 “Jingle Bells” preposition : O’ER

The traditional Christmas song “Jingle Bells” was first published in 1857, penned by James Lord Pierpont. We associate the song with Christmas, although in fact Pierpont wrote it as a celebration of Thanksgiving.

Dashing through the snow
In a one horse open sleigh
O’er the fields we go
Laughing all the way

38 Go a-wassailing : CAROL

Wassail is ale or mulled wine used for toasting at festivals, especially Christmas. The term “wassail” comes from Old Norse “ves heill” meaning “be healthy”.

39 Honorary Oscar recipient in 1955 : GARBO

Famously, Greta Garbo lived a life of seclusion in New York City after she retired from the entertainment business. Commentators often associated her need for privacy with a line she uttered in the great 1932 movie “Grand Hotel”. Her character Grusinskaya the Russian ballerina said, “I want to be alone (…) I just want to be alone”.

40 Old young king : TUT

“King Tut” is a name commonly used for the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun. Tutankhamun may not have been the most significant of the pharaohs historically, but he is the most famous today largely because of the discovery of his nearly intact tomb in 1922 by Howard Carter. Prior to this find, any Egyptian tombs uncovered by archaeologists had been ravaged by grave robbers. Tutankhamun’s magnificent burial mask is one of the most recognizable of all Egyptian artifacts.

43 Play thing : PROP

We use the word “props” for objects that are used by actors on stage during a play. The term is a shortening of the older term “properties”, which was used with the same meaning up through the 19th century.

46 Mil. defense letters : ABM

An anti-ballistic missile (ABM) is a rocket designed to intercept and destroy a ballistic missile (as one might expect from the name). A ballistic missile, as opposed to a cruise missile, is guided during the initial launch phase but later in flight just relies on thrust and gravity (hence “ballistic”) to arrive at its target. As an aside, an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than 3,500 miles.

47 Place for many a last-minute purchase, casually : C-STORE

Convenience store (C-store)

49 Royale and Flying Cloud : REOS

The REO Motor Company was founded by Ransom Eli Olds (hence the name REO). The company made cars, trucks and buses, and was in business from 1905 to 1975 in Lansing, Michigan. Among the company’s most famous models were the REO Royale 8 and the REO Flying Cloud.

51 Lyon’s river : RHONE

The Rhône river rises in Switzerland, passes through Lake Geneva, flows through the southeast of France, and empties into the Mediterranean Sea near Arles.

The city of Lyon in France is sometimes known as “Lyons” in English. It is the second-largest metropolitan area in the country, after Paris, and is located just to the north of the confluence of the Rhône and Saône Rivers.

52 Composer/conductor Lukas : FOSS

Lukas Foss was an American composer, born as Lukas Fuchs in Berlin in 1922. He was a lifelong friend of fellow composer Leonard Bernstein.

56 Pope who was a patron of Michelangelo and Copernicus : PAUL III

Pope Paul III led the Roman Catholic Church from 1534 until he passed away in 1549. He was a patron of the arts, and sponsored works from Florentine artist Michelangelo.

The celebrated Italian Renaissance artist and poet Michelangelo was born Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni in a village near Arezzo in the present-day province of Tuscany. Michelangelo achieved renown during his own lifetime. He was the first Western artist to see his biography published during his own lifetime.

Nicolaus Copernicus was an astronomer active during the Renaissance. Copernicus was the first person to propose that the Earth and the planets revolved around the Sun.

60 Triage pro : ER NURSE

Triage is the process of prioritizing patients for treatment, especially on the battlefield. The term “triage” is French and means “sorting”.

Down

1 Certain market launches, for short : IPOS

An initial public offering (IPO) is a significant event for a company as it marks the first time it becomes a publicly traded company. IPOs are often accompanied by a so-called “lock-up period.” This is a period of time, typically 90 to 180 days after the IPO, during which company insiders, such as executives and early investors, are not allowed to sell their shares on the open market. The purpose of the lock-up period is to prevent a flood of shares from hitting the market and potentially driving down the price of the stock.

4 __ glass : PINT

A US pint comprises 16 fluid ounces, and an imperial pint is 20 fluid ounces. The term “pint” comes into English via Old French, ultimately from the Latin “picta” meaning “painted”. The name arose from a line painted on the side of a beer glass that marked a full measure of ale.

6 Five-book scrolls : TORAHS

A Torah scroll (also “Sefer Torah”) is a handwritten copy of the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures.

7 Troutlike fish : SMELT

“Smelt” is the name given to several types of small silvery fish, with examples being Great Lake smelts and whitebait smelts.

8 Actress Feldshuh : TOVAH

Tovah Feldshuh is an American actress, one who first experienced real celebrity after playing Helena Slomova in the miniseries “Holocaust” in 1978. She had the leading role in “Yentl” on Broadway, a role later played by Barbra Streisand on the big screen. Feldshuh also appeared in the 1985 movie version of “Brewster’s Millions” alongside Richard Pryor.

9 One “ManningCast” host : ELI

“Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli”, also known as “ManningCast”, is an alternate, live broadcast of Monday Night Football hosted by brothers Peyton and Eli Manning. It is produced by Peyton’s production company Omaha Productions. And airs on ESPN2 and ESPN+. The show premiered in 2021, and In its first season averaged 1.1 million viewers, which was more than double the viewership of the traditional Monday Night Football broadcast on ABC. The Manningcast was also the most-watched program on ESPN+ in its first season.

10 “Trouble” Grammy winner : PINK

“Trouble” is a 2003 song recorded by singer Pink. The accompanying music video features appearances by actor Jeremy Renny and the Pussycat Dolls.

15 One of several artists nicknamed for where they lived : LAKE POET

The Lake Poets were a group of Romantic poets who lived in the Lake District of northern England in the late 1700s and early 1800s. The three most prominent members of the group were William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey.

25 Big pile on the floor : SHAG CARPET

Shag carpet is one with a deep pile, one with a “shaggy” appearance.

26 Club members who break the ice with splashy entrances? : POLAR BEARS

A polar bear plunge is a winter event in which participants plunge into really, really cold bodies of water. Such swims are a New Year’s Day tradition in Canada, and in the US are often used to raise money for charity.

30 Seagoing adverb : THAR

“Thar she blows!” is a phrase that originated on whaling ships. A lookout spotting a whale surfacing to breathe might see the spray from the blowhole caused by the expulsion of carbon dioxide. Thar (there) she blows!

34 Snail mail, e.g. : RETRONYM

“Retronym” is a term used to distinguish between the current form of an object and the original form. For example, we tend to call the original guitar an “acoustic guitar” to differentiate it from today’s “electric guitar”. Similarly, we now say “cloth diapers” and “film cameras” when referring to the originals.

44 Cereal promoted by the Creme Team : OREO O’S

Oreo O’s cereal was made by Post from 1998 to 2007. The pieces of cereal were basically O-shaped (like Cheerios) but chocolate-flavored, dark brown in color and with white sprinkles on them. Oh, and lots of sugar.

50 Arc on a score : SLUR

In the world of music, a slur is a curved line that connects neighboring notes that are to be played smoothly, without separation.

52 Violin’s lack : FRET

A fret is a metal strip embedded in the neck of a stringed instrument, a guitar perhaps. The fingers press on the frets, shortening a string and hence changing the note played. The note increases by one semitone as a finger shortens a string by one fret.

55 Finlandia rival : SKYY

Skyy Vodka is produced in the US, although the operation is owned by the Campari Group headquartered in Italy. Skyy first hit the shelves in 1992 when it was created by an entrepreneur from San Francisco, California.

Finlandia is a line of vodkas from Finland (duh!). One of Finlandia’s distinguishing characteristics is that it is made using pure glacial spring water.

57 Yo La Tengo guitarist Kaplan : IRA

Yo La Tengo is an indie rock band from Hoboken, New Jersey that formed in 1984 as the husband/wife duo Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley. The band’s name translates from Spanish as “I have it”, and was chosen with reference to a baseball anecdote. Elio Chacon was a baseball player from Venezuela, the seventh person to play in the Majors from that country. There’s a story that Mets center fielder Richie Ashburn was always running into Elio Chacon in the outfield, because he would call for the ball in English, and Chacon only understood Spanish. Ashburn started to call for the ball in Spanish “Yo la tengo!” (I’ve got it!), at which point he’d be run down by left fielder Frank Thomas who only understood English!

59 The Rams of the Atlantic 10, briefly : URI

The University of Rhode Island (URI) was chartered as an agricultural school back in 1888. Rhody the Ram was chosen as the school’s mascot in 1923, a nod to URI’s agricultural past. As a result, the school’s sports teams are known as the Rams. URI’s main campus today is located in the village of Kingston, with smaller campuses in Providence, Narragansett and West Greenwich.