Day: September 26, 2024

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Constructed by: Amie Walker & Wendy L. Brandes
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer(s): Vanilla Extract

Themed answers are in the across-direction. To make sense we must EXTRACT one of the letters VANILLA circled in the grid:

• 4D With 46-Down, baking staple : VANILLA …
• 46D With 4-Down, how to make the seven starred clues match their answers? : … EXTRACT

• 16A *Medical breakthrough : CURE (CURVE – V)
• 18A *Many a spammer : BOT (BOAT – A)
• 38A *Bae : BOO (BOON – N)
• 40A *Recipe creator : CHEF (CHIEF – I)
• 42A *Valuable deposit : ORE (LORE – L)
• 63A *Attach a button, say : SEW (SLEW – L)
• 66A *__-in-the-bone : BRED (BARED – A)

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

Bill’s time: 6m 38s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Native of Eastern Europe : SLAV

The Slavic peoples are in the majority in communities covering over half of Europe. This large ethnic group is traditionally broken down into three smaller groups:

• the West Slavic (including Czechs and Poles)
• the East Slavic (including Russians and Ukrainians)
• the South Slavic (including Bulgarians, Croats and Serbs)

9 Carlos Alcaraz’s birthplace : SPAIN

Carlos Alcaraz is a tennis player from Spain who won the 2022 US Open, at only 19 years of age. Soon after, he became the youngest male, in the Open Era, to make it to the top of the world singles rankings.

18 *Many a spammer : BOT (BOAT – A)

A bot is a computer program designed to imitate human behavior. It might crawl around the Web doing searches for example, or it might participate in discussions in chat rooms by giving pre-programmed responses. It might also act as a competitor in a computer game.

24 Kiosk : STALL

Our word “kiosk” came to us via French and Turkish from the Persian “kushk” meaning “palace, portico”.

27 __ Angeles Dodgers : LOS

The Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team was known as the Brooklyn Dodgers before the franchise moved to California. Before being called the Dodgers, the team was known in Brooklyn as the Robins, the Superbas, the Trolley Dodgers, the Bridegrooms/Grooms, the Grays and the Atlantics.

34 Cosmetic moisturizer : SHEA BUTTER

Shea butter is a common moisturizer and lotion used as a cosmetic. It is a fat that is extracted from the nut of the African shea tree. There is evidence that shea butter was used back in Cleopatra’s Egypt.

39 NYC rep since 2019 : AOC

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a politician who is often referred to by her initials “AOC”. A Democrat, she was first elected to the US House of Representatives in 2018, representing part of the Bronx, Queens and Rikers Island in New York City. When she took office in 2019 at the age of 29, AOC became the youngest woman ever to serve in Congress.

44 Disney character who didn’t want the other shoe to drop? : CINDERELLA

The classic Disney animated film “Cinderella” was released way back in 1950. The movie was somewhat of a godsend to the studio, as Disney suffered financially during the 1940s, partially due to WWII and partially due to commercially unsuccessful releases like “Pinnocchio” (1940), “Fantasia” (1940) and “Bambi” (1942). “Cinderella” was a box office hit, and the most successful feature for Disney since 1937’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”.

48 Mil. support group : USO

The United Service Organization (USO) was founded in 1941 at the request of President Franklin D. Roosevelt “to handle the on-leave recreation of the men in the armed forces”. A USO tour is undertaken by a troupe of entertainers, many of whom are big-name celebrities. A USO tour usually includes troop locations in combat zones.

49 Forensic tech in a Showtime crime series, familiarly : DEX

“Dexter” is a crime show that airs on Showtime. The title character works for the Miami Police Department as an expert in blood spatter patterns by day, but is a serial killer by night. The original series was based on the “Dexter” novels written by Jeff Lindsay. I haven’t seen this show myself, but my eldest son really enjoys it …

60 Golden State NBAer : WARRIOR

The Golden State Warriors are an NBA franchise based in San Francisco, California. The team was founded in 1946 as the Philadelphia Warriors, becoming the San Francisco Warriors when they moved to City by the Bay in 1962. They changed names again (to Golden State) when they relocated to Oakland in 1971. The statewide name reflected the fact that the team played some of their 1971-72 season games in San Diego, and as such were “California’s” team. The team kept the Golden State name even though they returned to San Francisco in 2019.

62 Singer Bryson : PEABO

Peabo Bryson is a singer from Greenville, South Carolina. Bryson is noted for singing hits on Disney film soundtracks, often duets. Examples are “Beauty and the Beast” with Céline Dion, and “A Whole New World (Aladdin’s Theme) with Regina Bella.

65 Jessica of “Dark Angel” : ALBA

Actress Jessica Alba got her big break when she was cast in the Fox science fiction show “Dark Angel”. Alba had a tough life growing up as she spent a lot of time in hospital and so found it difficult to develop friendships. As a youngster she twice had a collapsed lung, frequently caught pneumonia, suffered from asthma, had a ruptured appendix and a tonsillar cyst. On top of all that, Alba acknowledges that she suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder as a child.

“Dark Angel” is a sci-fi series that ran from 2000 to 2002, and gave the star Jessica Alba her big break as an actress. Alba plays a genetically-enhanced super-soldier in post-apocalyptic Seattle. The show is a creation of celebrated producer and director James Cameron.

66 *__-in-the-bone : BRED (BARED – A)

The adjective “bred-in-the-bone” means “deep-rooted, established as if by heredity”.

67 Obstacle for Jack and Jill : HILL

The “Jack and Jill” nursery rhyme dates back at least to the 1700s:

Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.

68 Animation frames : CELS

Animation cels are transparent sheets made of celluloid acetate that were used in traditional hand-drawn animation to create animated films. They were first introduced in the 1930s and were widely used in animation production until the late 1990s, when digital animation techniques began to dominate the industry.

69 Snarky : SNIDE

“Snark” is a term that was coined by Lewis Carroll in his fabulous 1876 nonsense poem “The Hunting of the Snark”. Somehow, the term “snarky” came to mean “irritable, short-tempered” in the early 1900s, and from there “snark” became “sarcastic rhetoric” at the beginning of the 21st century.

Down

3 WNBA venue : ARENA

Our term “arena” comes from the Latin “harena”, describing a place of combat. Originally “harena” was used for sand or a sandy place. Those Ancient Roman places of combat were covered with sand to soak up blood.

4 With 46-Down, baking staple : VANILLA …
46 With 4-Down, how to make the seven starred clues match their answers? : … EXTRACT

The flavor extract that we call “vanilla” comes from the pod-like fruit of climbing orchids belonging to the genus Vanilla. Genuine vanilla is a relatively expensive spice, second only to saffron, due to the amount of work required to grow and harvest the fruit (also called “beans” and “pods”). Spanish and Portuguese explorers came across the Vanilla orchid while exploring the Gulf Coast of Mexico. They gave it the name “vainilla” meaning “little pod”.

5 Buckwheat noodles : SOBA

Despite the name, “buckwheat” is not related to wheat, and nor is it a grass. Instead, it is related to rhubarb. As the seeds are eaten, buckwheat is known as a “pseudocereal”. The name comes from “beech wheat”, a reference to the resemblance of buckwheat seeds to beech nuts from the “beech” tree, and the fact that buckwheat seeds are used like “wheat”.

6 Actress Birch : THORA

Thora Birch is an actress from Los Angeles. Birch is probably best known for her breakthrough role in the 1999 movie “American Beauty” in which she was the insecure daughter of a married couple played by Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening.

8 One of 28 cards in Monopoly : TITLE DEED

In the game of Monopoly there are 28 title deeds:

• 22 streets
• 4 railroads
• 2 utilities

10 Sliders and fries with a pint, e.g. : PUB GRUB

Sliders are small hamburgers. One suggestion is that the “slider” originated in the US Navy, with the name being a reference to greasy hamburgers sliding back and forth across the grill as a ship pitches and rolls. More recently, the slider became associated with the White Castle fast food chain of restaurants. White Castle introduced the “Slyder” in 1985.

11 Singer India.__ : ARIE

India Arie (sometimes “india.arie”) is an American soul and R&B singer who was born India Arie Simpson in Denver, Colorado.

12 Singer Burl : IVES

As well as being an actor, Burl Ives was a folk singer, which was his original calling. Stemming from his life in Hollywood, Ives had a distressing experience with the House Un-American Activities Committee. He avoided being blacklisted by cooperating to some level with McCarthy and his team. This cooperation created a rift between him and Pete Seeger in particular, as Seeger was a fellow singer whom he “discussed” with the committee.

13 Snipe’s home : NEST

Snipes are wading birds with very long and thin bills that they use to search for small invertebrates in mud. In bygone days, a shot taken by a hunter at one of these wading birds became known as a “snipe”. This usage evolved into the word “sniper” applying to anyone shooting from a hidden position.

31 Emulate a tumbleweed : ROLL

A tumbleweed is the upper part of a plant that has dried out, broken away from the roots, and is blown along by the wind. The tumbleweed spreads seeds or spores as it tumbles.

32 One-third of a hat trick : GOAL

A hat trick is the scoring of three goals by the same player in a game of perhaps soccer or hockey.

33 One-named New Age singer : ENYA

Enya’s real name is Eithne Ní Bhraonáin, which can translate from Irish into Enya Brennan. Her Donegal family (in the northwest of Ireland) formed a band called Clannad, which included Enya. In 1980 Enya launched her very successful solo career, eventually becoming Ireland’s best-selling solo musician. And, she sure does turn up a lot in crosswords!

New-Age music is created to provide a relaxing and stress-free atmosphere. The New Age movement is often said to have begun with the release of an album called “Spectrum Suite” by Steven Halpern in 1975.

34 “Do the Right Thing” pizzeria boycotted by Buggin’ Out : SAL’S

“Do the Right Thing” is a Spike Lee movie that was released in 1989. Much of the action in the film is centered on a local pizzeria called “Sal’s” owned by Italian-American Salvatore Frangione (played by Danny Aiello).

36 Almond alternative : ECRU

The color ecru is a grayish, yellowish brown. The word “ecru” comes from French and means “raw, unbleached”. “Ecru” has the same roots as our word “crude”.

37 Professional phone call response : THIS IS SHE

The much debated statement “it is I” is grammatically correct, and should not be “corrected” to “it is me”. Traditionally, pronouns following linking verbs, such as “is”, “appear” and “seem”, are written in the nominative case. Examples are:

• It is I … who called
• It was he … who did it
• It is we … who care

57 FBI alerts : APBS

An All Points Bulletin (APB) is a broadcast from one US law enforcement agency to another.

58 Garnish on an espresso martini, often : BEAN

An espresso martini is a cocktail that is often served with a couple of coffee beans as a garnish. Most recipes call for a mixture of vodka, espresso coffee, Kahlua and sugar syrup.