Day: October 20, 2024

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Constructed by: Gary Larson
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: Made From Scratch

Themed answers are common phrases reinterpreted as various sums of SCRATCH, i.e. money:

• 24A Celebrity wealth? : STAR BUCKS
• 49A Bocce tournament winnings? : BOWLING GREEN
• 65A Written request for financial aid? : CAPITAL LETTER
• 88A Means for Bambi’s friend Flower? : SKUNK CABBAGE
• 111A Family fortune? : BLOOD BANK
• 4D Petty cash at a national newsmagazine? : TIME CHANGE
• 16D Rent money? : FLAT BREAD
• 74D Gillette company revenue? : RAZOR CLAMS
• 77D Gala fundraiser? : DOUGH BALL

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

Bill’s time: 16m 30s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 __ mater : ALMA

The term “alma mater” is used to describe a school from which one has graduated. It can also describe a school’s song or hymn.

9 Tablet that uses AirPlay : IPAD

Apple AirPlay allows a user to send music, videos, pictures, and even a phone or computer screen, wirelessly to other devices like speakers and TVs.

19 Hybrid tangelo : UGLI

The ugli fruit is a hybrid of an orange and a tangerine that was first discovered growing wild in Jamaica where most ugli fruit comes from today. “UGLI” is a trademark name that is a variant of “ugly”, a nod to the fruit’s unsightly wrinkled rind.

The fruit called a tangelo is a hybrid between a tangerine and either a grapefruit or a pomelo (which gives it the name). A pomelo is a very large, pear-shaped citrus fruit native to Southeast Asia. The Jamaican form of tangelo is known as the ugli fruit.

21 Part of TLC : CARE

Tender loving care (TLC)

22 Jean of “Bombshell” : HARLOW

Jean Harlow was a Hollywood actress who was at the height of her success in the nineteen-thirties, appearing in many hit movies for MGM. Sadly, Harlow died in 1937, when she was only 26 years old, from kidney failure that was probably the result of her suffering scarlet fever when she was 15. Harlow wrote a novel that took many years to get published. Called “Today is Tonight”, it first appeared on bookshelves in 1965.

“Bombshell” is a 1933 screwball comedy starring Jean Harlow as an actress who has been publicized as a sexy vamp but who just wants live a normal life. The actress, Lola, flees Hollywood and falls in love with a romantic (and wealthy) man, and they all live happily ever after. And, after the success of the film, Jean Harlow was forever to be known as the “Blonde Bombshell”.

23 “Ozma of Oz” novelist L. Frank __ : BAUM

The Land of Oz is a fantasy world that was created by L. Frank Baum and introduced in 1900 in his children’s novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”. Such was the success of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”, that Baum ended up writing a total of 14 novels in his “Land of Oz” series:

1. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)
2. The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904)
3. Ozma of Oz (1907)
4. Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz (1908)
5. The Road to Oz (1909)
6. The Emerald City of Oz (1910)
7. The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1913)
8. Tik-Tok of Oz (1914)
9. The Scarecrow of Oz (1915)
10. Rinkitink in Oz (1916)
11. The Lost Princess of Oz (1917)
12. The Tin Woodman of Oz (1918)
13. The Magic of Oz (1919)
14. Glinda of Oz (1920)

24 Celebrity wealth? : STAR BUCKS

“Buck” is a slang word meaning “dollar”. The term has been around at least since 1856, and is thought to derive from the tradition of using buckskin as a unit of trade with Native Americans during the frontier days.

29 Sour fruit : SLOE

The sloe is the fruit of the blackthorn bush, and the main flavoring ingredient in sloe gin. A sloe looks like a small plum, but is usually much more tart in taste.

34 Joints with caps : KNEES

The patella is the kneecap. The bone’s Latin name “patella” is a diminutive form of “patina”, the word for “pan”. The idea is that the kneecap is pan-shaped.

37 Minuscule machine : NANOBOT

Nanorobots (also “nanobots”) are tiny devices that range from 0.1 to 10 micrometers in size. The technology of nanorobotics is in its infancy, but it is hoped that nanobots might be used (for example) in medicine one day. The oft-cited application is the use of nanobots inserted inside the body to identify and destroy cancer cells.

40 Presidential candidate Kamala : HARRIS

Kamala Harris was a US Senator for California starting in 2017, after serving for six years as the Attorney General of California. In early 2019, Harris announced her run for the Democratic nomination for US president in the 2020 election. Although she dropped out of the race, she was chosen by eventual nominee Joe Biden as his vice-presidential running mate. When the Biden-Harris ticket won the election, Harris became the first female US vice president, and the highest-ranking female politician in the history of the nation.

42 Ang Lee’s birthplace : TAIWAN

Ang Lee is a Taiwanese-born filmmaker who has directed several critically acclaimed and commercially successful movies. He has worked in a variety of genres, including romantic comedies (“Sense and Sensibility”), dramas (“Brokeback Mountain”), and superhero movies (“Hulk”).

49 Bocce tournament winnings? : BOWLING GREEN

The Italian bowling game of bocce (often anglicized as “bocci” or “boccie”) is based on a game played in ancient Rome. “Bocce” is the plural of the Italian word “boccia” meaning “bowl”.

52 Ramshackle shelters : LEAN-TOS

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

54 Tehran currency : RIALS

The rial is the currency of Iran (as well as Yemen, Oman and Tunisia). Generally, there are 1,000 baisa in one rial.

Tehran is the capital of Iran and is the largest city in the Middle East, with a population of about 8.5 million. Iran has been around a really long time and Tehran is actually the country’s 31st national capital.

58 Home of the NCAA’s Buckeyes : OSU

Ohio State University (OSU) in Columbus was founded back in 1870 as the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College. The athletic teams of OSU are called the Buckeyes, named after the state tree of Ohio. In turn the buckeye tree gets its name from the appearance of its fruit, a dark nut with a light patch thought to resemble a “buck’s eye”. The school’s athletic mascot was introduced in 1965, and is an anthropomorphic buckeye nut named Brutus Buckeye.

61 Fruit in a tropical smoothie : PAPAYA

The papaya is the fruit of the Carica papaya, a large tree-like plant that is native to southern Mexico and Central America. One traditional use of papaya is as a meat tenderizer. The fruit and sap contain the enzyme papain that breaks down meat fibers. Papain is used today as a component in powdered meat tenderizers.

63 College town north of Des Moines : AMES

The Iowa city of Ames was founded as a stop on the Cedar Rapids and Missouri Railroad in 1864. It was named for US Congressman Oakes Ames from the state of Massachusetts in honor of the role that Ames played in the building of the transcontinental railroad.

69 Supervillain Luthor : LEX

Lex Luthor is the nemesis of Superman in comics. He has been portrayed in a number of guises in the comic world as well in movies and on the small screen. For example, he appeared as Atom Man in the 1950 film series “Atom Man vs. Superman”, and was played by actor Lyle Talbot, opposite Kirk Alyn’s Superman.

72 __-dieu : PRIE

“Prie-dieu” literally means “pray (to) God” in French. A prie-dieu is basically a padded kneeler, with an armrest in front and a shelf on which one places books of prayer.

73 Made curly : PERMED

“Perm” is the common name given to a permanent wave, a chemical or thermal treatment of hair to produce waves or curls.

75 Like corduroy : RIDGED

There’s a myth that the name of the textile known as “corduroy” comes from the French “corde du roi” (the cord of the king). It’s more likely that “corduroy” comes from a melding of “cord” and “duroy” (a coarse fabric that used to be made in England).

78 Mumbai honorific : SRI

Mumbai is the most populous city in India, and the second-most populous city in the world (after Shanghai). The name of the city was changed from Bombay to Mumbai in 1995. It is the financial capital of India and is home to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the oldest stock exchange in Asia.

82 Comics read from right to left : MANGA

The Japanese word “manga” means “whimsical pictures” and is an apt term to describe the Japanese style of comic book. Manga publications are more diverse than American comic books and have a larger audience. Manga covers many subjects including romance, sports, business, horror, and mystery.

88 Means for Bambi’s friend Flower? : SKUNK CABBAGE

In the 1942 animated feature “Bambi”, the title character is a white-tailed deer. His best friends are a pink-nosed rabbit named Thumper, a skunk named Flower, and another deer named Faline with whom Bambi eventually falls in love.

91 Brain scan letters : EEG

An electroencephalogram (EEG) is a record of electrical activity caused by the firing of neurons within the brain. The EEG might be used to diagnose epilepsy, or perhaps to determine if a patient is “brain dead”.

92 Carol opening : ADESTE …

The lovely Christmas hymn “Adeste Fideles” (entitled “O Come, All Ye Faithful” in English) was written by one John Francis Wade in the 13th century. Well, he wrote the original four verses, with four more verses being added over time. A kind blog reader pointed out to me that the English translation is in fact a little “off”. The term “adeste” best translates from Latin as “be present, attend”, rather than “come”. The verb “come” appears later in the lyrics in “venite adoremus”, meaning “come, let us worship”.

93 Baptist university in Waco, Texas : BAYLOR

Baylor is a private Baptist university in Waco, Texas that was founded in 1845, making it the oldest continuously-operating university in the state. Baylor is named for US Congressman and Baptist minister Robert Emmett Bledsoe Baylor, who co-founded the school. The list of Baylor’s past presidents includes Ken Starr, the independent counsel whose investigation led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.

94 Hugh Laurie TV role : DR HOUSE

I think that “House” is one of the better shows made by Fox television. It is fun for me, coming from the other side of the Atlantic, to see English actor Hugh Laurie in the dramatic title role. I have been watching him in various comedic roles for decades. Famously, he played Bertie Wooster opposite Stephen Fry in P.G. Wodehouse’s “Jeeves & Wooster”, as well as one of the bumbling “bad guys” in the film “101 Dalmatians” (the version starring Glenn Close).

English actor and comedian Hugh Laurie used to be half of a comedy double act with Stephen Fry called simply “Fry and Laurie”. Fry and Laurie met in Cambridge University through their mutual friend, actress Emma Thompson. Over in North America, Laurie is best known for playing the title role in the medical drama “House”.

97 “The Mystery of __ Drood”: Dickens novel : EDWIN

“The Mystery of Edwin Drood” is an unfinished novel by Charles Dickens. The story itself is centered not on the title character, but on Edwin Drood’s uncle, a choirmaster named John Jasper.

99 Hothouse flower : ORCHID

Orchids are a large group of flowering plants found almost all over the planet, but especially in the tropics.

108 Schussing spot : SLOPE

A schuss is a very fast run downhill in skiing, one with no turns taken to slow the pace of the descent. “Schuss” is a German word for “shot”.

115 International 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.

116 More unctuous : OILIER

A person described as “unctuous” is oily and insincere. “Unctum” is the Latin for “ointment”.

118 Morales of “La Bamba” : ESAI

Esai Morales is not only a successful actor, he is also a trained martial artist, having studied the Korean martial art of taekwondo since he was a teenager.

“La Bamba” is a 1987 biopic about the life of singer Ritchie Valens. Valens is played by Lou Diamond Phillips, in his breakthrough role. The Ritchie Valens songs shown in the movie were all performed by Los Lobos, a casting that gave the rock band their big break as well. The Los Lobos version of the title song “La Bamba” topped the charts around the world.

122 “Blue Bloods” org. : NYPD

“Blue Bloods” is a police drama series about a family of New York City police officers led by Police Commissioner Frank Reagan, played by Tom Selleck. The show first aired in 2010, and is a creation of husband and wife Robin Green and Mirchell Burgess. Green and Burgess also wrote together for the hit show “The Sopranos”.

123 Salty bodies of water : SEAS

The phrase “the seven seas” has been used for centuries by many different peoples. The actual definition of what constitutes the collection of seven has varied depending on the period and the culture. Nowadays we consider the seven largest bodies of water as the seven seas, namely:

• The North Pacific Ocean
• The South Pacific Ocean
• The North Atlantic Ocean
• The South Atlantic Ocean
• The Indian Ocean
• The Southern Ocean
• The Arctic Ocean

Down

1 Jerusalem artichoke, e.g. : TUBER

The Jerusalem artichoke is grown as a root vegetable.Despite the name, it has no connection to Jerusalem. It isn’t even an artichoke, and rather is a species of sunflower.

3 Caddie’s bagful : CLUBS

“Caddie” is a Scottish word, as one might expect given the history of the game of golf. It is a local word derived from the French “cadet” that describes a younger son or brother, or a student officer in the military. The variant spelling “caddy” is quite common.

4 Petty cash at a national newsmagazine? : TIME CHANGE

The word “petty”, meaning “small-minded”, comes from the French word for small, “petit”. When “petty” first came into English it wasn’t used disparagingly, and was used more literally giving us terms like “petty officer” and “petty cash”. The word “petty” evolved into a prefix “petti-” with the meaning of “small”, as in the word “petticoat”.

7 Hello Fresh offering : MEAL KIT

HelloFresh is a company based in Berlin that provides meal kits to its customers, all over the world. Founded in 2011, by 2024 it was the largest provider of meal kits in the US.

8 Home Depot work apparel : APRONS

The Home Depot is the largest home improvement retail chain in the US, ahead of Lowe’s. Home Depot opened their first two stores in 1979. The average store size is just over 100,000 square feet. The largest Home Depot outlet is in Union, New Jersey, and it is 225,000 square feet in size. That’s a lot of nuts and bolts …

10 __-Man : PAC

The Pac-Man arcade game was released first in Japan in 1980, and is as popular today as it ever was. The game features characters that are maneuvered around the screen to eat up dots and earn points, while being pursued by ghosts named Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde. The name of the game comes from the Japanese folk hero “Paku”, who is known for his voracious appetite. The spin-off game called Ms. Pac-Man was released in 1981.

11 Sacred synagogue cabinets : ARKS

The Torah ark is found in a synagogue, and is the ornamental container in which the Torah scrolls are stored. The word “Torah” best translates as “teaching” or “law”. The Torah ark is referred to as the “Aron Kodesh” in Hebrew, meaning “Holy Ark”.

12 Pigeonhole’s place : DESK

Back in the 16th century, a pigeonhole was a small recess used by pigeons for nesting. Towards the end of the 17th century, the term “pigeonholes” had been borrowed to describe compartments at the back of a writing desk. Two hundred years later, we were using the verb “pigeonhole” figuratively, to mean “label mentally”.

13 The whole __ : SHEBANG

The word “shebang” is probably a derivative of “shebeen”, which is an Irish term describing a “speakeasy”, an establishment where liquor was drunk and sold illegally. In English, a “shebang” was originally a “hut” or a “shed”. Just how this evolved into the expression “the whole shebang”, meaning “everything”, is unclear.

15 “Star Wars” droid nickname : ARTOO

Artoo’s proper name is R2-D2 (also “Artoo-Detoo”). R2-D2 is the smaller of the two famous droids from the “Star Wars” movies. British actor Kenny Baker, who stood just 3 feet 8 inches tall, was the man inside the R2-D2 droid for the first six of the “Star Wars” movies.

18 Scand. land : SWE

Strictly speaking, Scandinavia is a region in Northern Europe that covers the kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The broader region that includes Finland and Iceland is referred to locally as “the Nordic countries”.

25 Wax producer : BEE

Worker bees produce beeswax, secreting it from glands in their abdomens. The same workers collect the wax and use it to make hexagonal cells in which honey is stored.

28 Argentine icon María Eva __ de Perón : DUARTE

Eva Perón was the second wife of President Juan Perón who was in office from 1946 to 1955. The Argentine First Lady was known affectionately by the people as “Evita”, the Spanish language diminutive of “Eva”. “Evita” is also the title of a tremendously successful musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice that is based on the life of Eva Perón.

35 Town across the Thames from Windsor : ETON

The town of Eton in Berkshire, England is home to the world-famous Eton College. The original settlement of Eton was located on an island surrounded by the River Thames, and the name “Eton” means “settlement on an island. A stream on one side of the island silted up almost 200 years ago, but it was cleared in 2019 so that Eton qualifies as an island once again.

38 “The Black Pearl” novelist Scott : O’DELL

Author Scott O’Dell mainly wrote historical novels for young people. His best-known work is the 1960 novel “Island of the Blue Dolphins”, which is about a young girl stranded for years on an island off the California coast. The book is based on a true story of a Native American girl left alone on one of California’s Channel Islands for 18 years, before being rescued in 1853.

“The Black Pearl” is a 1967 novel penned by Scott O’Dell for young adults. It is about Ramon Salazar, the son of a pearl dealer, who finds a beautiful black pearl. So beautiful is the pearl that his father believes it to be the fabled Pearl of Heaven. It turns out that the pearl is cursed, and brings bad luck to Salazar’s family.

39 Flowering plant also known as bitter buttons : TANSY

The tansy is a flowering plant of the aster family, native to Europe and Asia. It is found in other parts of the world, but there it is often considered to be invasive.

44 Super Smash Bros. console : WII U

The Wii U video game console is the successor to Nintendo’s Wii. I’m wondering if “Wii U” is some sort of play on the pronouns “we” and “you”? Maybe I just think too much …

“Super Smash Bros.” is a series of fighting games played on the Wii video game console. Apparently, it’s very popular …

46 “WandaVision” star Elizabeth : OLSEN

Elizabeth Olsen is the younger sister of famous actresses Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who rose to fame as child stars on the TV show “Full House”. Elizabeth didn’t start acting until later in life, and has starred in several critically acclaimed films. She is also known for her role as Scarlet Witch (aka Wanda Maximoff) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“WandaVision” is a TV miniseries featuring characters from Marvel Comics. The title characters are Wanda Maximoff (aka Scarlet Witch) played by Elizabeth Olsen and Vision played by Paul Bettany. I am by no means a fan of screen adaptations of comic characters, but I might take a look at “WandaVision”. Wanda and Vision are living in suburbia, trying to conceal their superhero identities. Each episode progresses the storyline through several decades, using situations encountered in sitcoms of the day. Episodes use the format of shows such as:

• The Dick Van Dyke Show
• I Love Lucy
• Bewitched
• I Dream of Jeannie
• The Brady Bunch
• Good Times
• The Mary Tyler Moore Show
• Full House
• Malcolm in the Middle
• Modern Family
• Out of this World
• The Twilight Zone

Sounds very intriguing …

48 “The Goldfinch” writer Donna : TARTT

Novelist Donna Tartt won a Pulitzer for her 2013 novel “The Goldfinch”. That same novel was adapted into a 2019 film, which bombed at the box office.

50 Rosey of football’s “Fearsome Foursome” : GRIER

Roosevelt “Rosey” Grier is a retired football player. After leaving the field for the last time. He worked as a bodyguard for Senator Robert Kennedy during his fated campaign for the Us presidency in 1986. When Senator Kennedy was shot, Grier was guarding Robert’s wife Ethel Kennedy. However, he did disarm the assassin Sirhan Sirhan, taking control of his gun.

57 Prefix with dermal : EPI-

The epidermis is the outermost layer of the skin. The thickest piece of epidermal tissue in humans is on the soles of the feet and the palms, and measures about 1.5 mm. The thinnest measures 0.1 mm, and that would be the human eyelid.

59 Contacted privately, briefly : DM’ED

Direct message (DM)

65 Annie Dillard’s “Pilgrim at Tinker __” : CREEK

Author Annie Dillard won a 1975 Pulitzer for her 1974 nonfiction narrative book “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek”.

66 Café con __ : LECHE

In Spanish, one might have “café con leche” (coffee with milk).

68 Premium film network : TMC

The Movie Channel is owned by Showtime, which in turn is a subsidiary of CBS. The channel’s name is often abbreviated to “TMC”, although this is informal usage.

69 First Soviet leader : LENIN

“Lenin” wasn’t the birth name of the Russian leader. He was born Vladimir Ulyanov, and originally used “Lenin” as a pen name.

70 Birdie topper : EAGLE

The following terms are routinely used in golf for scores relative to par:

• Bogey: one over par
• Par
• Birdie: one under par
• Eagle: two under par
• Albatross (also “double eagle”): three under par
• Condor: four under par

No one has ever recorded a condor during a professional tournament.

71 Pictures of health? : X-RAYS

X-rays were first studied comprehensively by the German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen (also “Roentgen”), and it was he who gave the name “X-rays” to this particular type of radiation. Paradoxically, in Röntgen’s native language of German, X-rays are routinely referred to as “Röntgen rays”. In 1901, Röntgen’s work on X-rays won him the first Nobel Prize in Physics that was ever awarded.

72 PC scrolling key : PGDN

PGUP (Page Up) and PGDN (Page Down) are two navigation keys found on a PC keyboard.

74 Gillette company revenue? : RAZOR CLAMS

The Gillette brand of shaving products owes its name to King Camp Gillette, an inventor who came up with the idea of a safety razor that used disposable blades. Gillette worked with partners to bring his idea to market, resulting in the founding of the American Safety Razor company in 1901. The company changed its name to the Gillette Safety Razor Company in 1904. Gillette merged with Procter & Gamble in 2005.

75 Leveled, in London : RASED

To raze (“rase”, in UK English) is to level to the ground. I’ve always thought it a little quirky that “raise”, a homophone of “raze”, means “build up”.

78 Fruit-flavored juice brand : SOBE

The brand name “SoBe” can be found on teas, juices and bottled waters. “SoBe” is an abbreviation for “South Beach”, the neighborhood in Miami Beach, Florida.

80 Choleric : IRATE

Choler is anger, irritability. Choler (also “cholera”) was one of the body’s four basic substances of medieval science, the so-called four humors. All diseases were caused by these four substances getting out of balance. The four humors were:

• Black bile (melancholia)
• Yellow bile (cholera)
• Phlegm (phlegma)
• Blood (sanguis)

84 God of the underworld : HADES

Hades was the god of the underworld to the ancient Greeks. Over time, Hades gave his name to the underworld itself, the place where the dead reside. The term “Hades” was also adopted into the Christian tradition, as an alternative name for hell. But, the concept of hell in Christianity is more akin to the Greek “Tartarus”, which is a dark and gloomy dungeon located in Hades, a place of suffering and torment.

87 Norway’s most populous city : OSLO

There are 40 islands lying within the city limits of the Norwegian capital of Oslo. As such, the city provides many transit ferries for use by the public. Interestingly, most of those ferry boats have been electrified.

93 Thames landmark : BIG BEN

“Big Ben” is the name commonly used for the large bell in the Clock Tower (“Elizabeth Tower”, since 2012) of the Palace of Westminster (aka “Houses of Parliament”). Big Ben’s official name is the Great Bell, and there is some debate about the origins of the nickname. It may be named after Sir Benjamin Hall who supervised the bell’s installation, or perhaps the English heavyweight champion of the day Benjamin Caunt. Big Ben fell silent in 2017 to make way for four years of maintenance and repair work to the clock’s mechanism and the tower.

101 Bucky Beaver’s toothpaste : IPANA

Ipana toothpaste was introduced in 1915 and was at the height of its popularity in the forties and fifties. Sales declined in the sixties and the product was withdrawn from the US market in the seventies. Bucky Beaver was the “spokesman” for Ipana. Bucky Beaver’s slogan was “Brusha… Brusha… Brusha. Get the New Ipana – it’s dandy for your teeth!” Bucky’s nemesis in commercials was Mr. Decay Germ.