Day: November 17, 2024

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Constructed by: Ricky J. Sirois
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: Cards on the Table

Themed answers each BEGIN with a CARD GAME:

• 115A “Time to play!,” and what could be said about 22-, 38-, 47-, 67-, 85-, and 92-Across : LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

• 22A Temptation for Hansel and Gretel : GINGERBREAD HOUSE (starting with “GIN”)
• 38A Place to take a long drive? : WARNING TRACK (starting with “WAR”)
• 47A Highly suspenseful : HEART-STOPPING (starting with “HEARTS”)
• 67A Song for Snow White : WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK (starting with “WHIST”)
• 85A Infield feature : PITCHER’S MOUND (starting with “PITCH”)
• 92A Role that earned Renée Zellweger her first Oscar nomination : BRIDGET JONES (starting with “BRIDGE”)

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

Bill’s time: 20m 37s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

15 __ card: smartphone insert : SIM

Most cell phones have SIM cards these days. SIM cards hold the personal information of the subscriber, with the acronym being short for “Subscriber Identity Module”.

18 Atlanta university : EMORY

Emory University is a private school in Atlanta, Georgia with a focus on graduate research. The school was named after a Methodist Episcopal bishop called John Emory, who was very popular at the time of the school’s founding in 1836.

19 Early Ron Howard role : OPIE

Opie Taylor is the character played by Ron Howard on “The Andy Griffith Show”. Opie lives with widowed father Andy Taylor (played by Andy Griffith) and his great-aunt Beatrice “Aunt Bee” Taylor (played by Frances Bavier). Ron Howard first played the role in 1960 in the pilot show, when he was just 5 years old. Howard sure has come a long way since playing Opie Taylor. He has directed some fabulous movies including favorites of mine like “Apollo 13”, “A Beautiful Mind” and “The Da Vinci Code”.

21 Trillion, in computer storage : TERA

The prefix “tera-” signifies a trillion, and comes from the Greek word “teras” meaning “monster”.

22 Temptation for Hansel and Gretel : GINGERBREAD HOUSE (starting with “GIN”)

“Hansel and Gretel” is a Germanic fairy tale found in the collection of the Brothers Grimm. It tells of two siblings, Hansel and Gretel, the children of a woodcutter. The youngsters are abandoned in a forest at the behest of an evil stepmother. Clever Hansel hears of the plan and leaves a trail of pebbles so that he and his sister can find their way home, which they do. But the children are abandoned again and this time leave a trail of breadcrumbs. Unfortunately, the crumbs are eaten by birds and so the children do indeed become lost. But eventually they do all live happily ever after …

Gin rummy is a faster variant of standard rummy. It was introduced in 1909 by one Elwood Baker and his son.

27 Informal French pronoun : TOI

In French, the pronouns “toi” and “vous” both mean “you”, with the former being used with family and friends, and children. “Vous” is more formal, and is also the plural form of “toi”.

29 Layered Italian dessert : SPUMONI

Spumone (plural “spumoni”) is an Italian dessert, one made with a mixture of three ice cream flavors and containing candied fruit and nuts.

36 Drive-in chain with carhops : SONIC

SONIC Drive-In is a fast-food restaurant chain that is noted for its carhops who serve patrons on roller skates. SONIC was founded in Shawnee, Oklahoma in 1953 as Top Hat Drive-In. The restaurant introduced curbside speakers to hasten the ordering process. This led to the adoption of the slogan “Service at the Speed of Sound”, and renaming of the chain to SONIC.

Carhops are servers who bring food to customers in their cars at drive-in restaurants. The first carhops were seen at the Pig Stand restaurant in Dallas, Texas in 1921. These male employees would “hop” onto the running boards of cars as they entered the restaurant’s parking lot in order to quickly take the customer’s order, hence the name “carhop”.

38 Place to take a long drive? : WARNING TRACK (starting with “WAR”)

In a baseball field, there is a dirt track around the outside of the grass field that runs parallel to the ballpark’s wall. This is the warning track, which serves as a warning to a fielder making a deep catch that he is approaching the wall.

War is a card game, one played mainly by children.

41 Farley of “Tommy Boy” : CHRIS

Chris Farley was a comedian and actor who was noted as a member of Chicago’s “Second City Theatre” and a cast member of “Saturday Night Live”. Farley died in 1997 at the age of 33 due to a speedball (cocaine and heroin) overdose.

“Tommy Boy” is a 1995 comedy film produced by “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) creator Lorne Michaels, and starring SNL alumni Chris Farley and David Spade.

47 Highly suspenseful : HEART-STOPPING (starting with “HEARTS”)

Hearts is a fun card game that is in the Whist family of trick-taking games, as are bridge (my favorite) and spades.

52 Gallo Winery city : MODESTO

E & J Gallo Winery was founded by Ernest and Julio Gallo in Modesto, California in 1933. Gallo is the largest exporter of wine from the state of California.

57 “Dead Wake” author Larson : ERIK

Erik Larson is a journalist, most notably contributing features to “The Wall Street Journal” and “TIME” magazine. Larson is also a very successful author of nonfiction books, such as “The Devil in the White City” (about the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893) and “Dead Wake” (about the sinking of the Lusitania).

58 Janelle of “Glass Onion” : MONAE

Janelle Monáe is a singer and actress. I’m not familiar with her as a singer, but did see Monáe play NASA engineer Mary Jackson in the excellent 2016 film “Hidden Figures”.

“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” is a 2022 sequel to “Knives Out”, with both films written and directed by Rian Johnson and starring Daniel Craig as private investigator Benoit Blanc. Johnson wrote “Glass Onion” during the COVID-19 lockdown, and set the film against the backdrop of the pandemic. The score for both films was written by Nathan Johnson, Rian’s cousin.

62 Voice artist Blanc : MEL

Mel Blanc was known as “The Man of a Thousand Voices”. We’ve all heard Mel Blanc at one time or another, I am sure. His was the voice behind such cartoon characters as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, Woody Woodpecker, Elmer Fudd and Barney Rubble. And the words on Blanc’s tombstone are … “That’s all folks”.

64 __ circus : FLEA

In a real flea circus, fleas are attached to miniature items that create the illusion that the fleas are performing circus acts. The fleas are harnessed by wrapping a metal wire around their bodies, which is then attached to props. Because fleas have such strong legs, they can then move objects that are a lot larger than they are. Apparently, the concept of a flea circus originated with watchmakers in the early 1800s. The artisans used the “circus” to demonstrate their metalworking abilities.

65 Ornamental style : ROCOCO

The rococo style is also known as “late baroque”. Rococo is a very floral and playful style, very ornate.

67 Song for Snow White : WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK (starting with “WHIST”)

Disney’s 1937 masterpiece “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” was the first cel-animated feature film. It is still one of the top-ten box office hits in North America, adjusting for inflation. The film was a massive, expensive undertaking in the 1930s, and Walt Disney even had to mortgage his house to help with financing.

Whist is an English card game that involves the taking of tricks. Whist is a derivative of the earlier game of Trump or Ruff that was played in the 16th century. Back in Ireland, where I come from, whist tournaments are extremely popular and are known as “whist drives”.

73 Maryland blue, e.g. : CRAB

The blue crab was declared the Maryland state crustacean in 1989.

75 “CrazySexyCool” R&B trio : TLC

“CrazySexyCool” is a 1994 studio album released by girl group TLC. The album was a commercial success. About 20 years later, a 2013 TV movie about the trio was released under the title “CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story”.

81 Spirit : BRIO

“Brio” is borrowed from Italian, in which language the term means “vigor and vivacity”. “Con brio” is a musical direction often found on a score, instructing the musicians to play “with energy, vigor”.

85 Infield feature : PITCHER’S MOUND (starting with “PITCH”)

Pitch is a trick-taking card game with trump. Players bid on how many points they can score by winning valuable cards like high and low trump, or by taking the most tricks.

88 Half-moon tide : NEAP

Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon on the oceans. At neap tide, the smaller gravitational effect of the sun cancels out some of the moon’s effect. At spring tide, the sun and the moon’s gravitational forces act in concert causing more extreme movement of the oceans.

91 Longtime Celtics GM Danny : AINGE

Danny Ainge is a retired professional basketball and baseball player. Ainge was an outstanding athlete from an early age, and is the only person to be named a high-school All American in the three sports of football, basketball and baseball.

92 Role that earned Renée Zellweger her first Oscar nomination : BRIDGET JONES (starting with “BRIDGE”)

“Bridget Jones’s Diary” is a 1996 novel by English novelist Helen Fielding. The novel is a clever adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” and even includes a lead character named Darcy. “Bridget Jones’s Diary” was adapted into a very successful movie released in 2001. Colin Firth plays Darcy in the movie, and also played Mr. Darcy in a famous television version of “Pride and Prejudice” in 1995.

Renée Zellweger’s big break came with the 1996 movie “Jerry Maguire”. A few years later, Zellweger followed that up with a string of successes in “Bridget Jones’ Diary” (2001), “Chicago” (2002) and “Cold Mountain” (2003). My wife and I love watching her play Bridget Jones, and as someone coming from Britain and Ireland, I have to say that Zellweger does a remarkable job with the accent. She worked hard to perfect that accent, and of course she had a voice coach. She also went “undercover” and worked as a temp in an office for three weeks fine-tuning her skills.

The version of the card game bridge that is played mostly today is contract bridge. Auction bridge is a similar game, and is a precursor to contract bridge.

107 Name associated with two types of cups : STANLEY

The Stanley Cup is named for Lord Stanley of Preston, the Governor General of Canada from 1888 to 1893. Lord Stanley’s sons became avid fans of ice hockey while in Canada, and so he donated the trophy in 1909, originally as a challenge cup for the country’s best amateur club.

Standley is a brand of beverage container that was introduced back in 1915. The brand was the creation of American physicist William Stanley Jr., who patented an all-steel vacuum bottle.

110 “Gesundheit” elicitor : ACHOO

“Gesundheit” is the German word for “health”, and is used in response to a sneeze in Germany, as indeed it is quite often here in the US.

114 Donkey __ : KONG

The first video game featuring the ape named Donkey Kong was created in 1981. That same game introduced the world to the character known as Mario, four years before the game Super Mario Bros became such a big hit.

121 Soul legend Redding : OTIS

Otis Redding is often referred to as the “King of Soul”, and what a voice he had. Like so many of the greats in the world of popular music it seems, Redding was killed in a plane crash, in 1967 when he was just 26 years old. Just three days earlier he had recorded what was to be his biggest hit, “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay”.

122 Congregational calls : AMENS

The word “amen” translates as “so be it”. “Amen” is said to be of Hebrew origin, but it is also likely to be influenced by Aramaic and Arabic.

123 Sixers for the Niners, briefly : TDS

The 49ers football team in San Francisco takes its name from the gold prospectors who flooded into Northern California around 1849 during the California Gold Rush. These “1849 prospectors” became known as the “49ers”.

125 Tabloid fare : DIRT

“Tabloid” is the trademarked name (owned by Burroughs Wellcome) for a “small tablet of medicine”, a name that goes back to 1884. The word “tabloid” had entered into general use to mean a compressed form of anything, and by the early 1900s was used in “tabloid journalism”, which described newspapers that had short, condensed articles and stories printed on smaller sheets of paper.

Down

1 __ and Sara: Canadian pop duo : TEGAN

Tegan and Sara are an indie pop duo comprising Tegan Rain Quin and Sara Keirstan Quin, identical twin sisters from Canada.

2 Buddy, in Bolivia : AMIGO

Bolivia is a landlocked country in South America that is bordered by Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Peru and Argentina. The land now occupied by Bolivia was originally part of the Inca Empire. The country declared independence from Spain in 1809, which led to 16 years of war. When the Republic was finally named, “Bolivia” was chosen in honor of Venezuelan-born revolutionary leader, Simón Bolívar.

3 “Rouen Cathedral” painter : MONET

Impressionist Claude Monet produced a series of paintings of Rouen Cathedral in the 1890s. Famously, Monet painted the same subject at varying times of the day and times of the year, with the intention of recording the changes in appearance with differing light. He produced over thirty such paintings of Rouen Cathedral over a two-year period, resulting in one of the artist’s most famous and prized series of works.

4 Energy unit : ERG

An erg is a unit of mechanical work or energy. It is a small unit, with one joule comprising 10 million ergs. It has been suggested that an erg is about the amount of energy required for a mosquito to take off. The term comes from “ergon”, the Greek word for work.

5 Canapé option : RYE TOAST

A canapé is a finger food, something small enough to eat in just one bite. In French, “canapé” is actually the word for a couch or a sofa. The name was given to the snack as the original canapés were savories served on toasted or stale bread that supposedly resembled a tiny couch.

6 __ strip: mathematics model used in the NASCAR Hall of Fame design : MOBIUS

A Möbius strip is a surface that has only one side. One is easily made by taking a strip of paper and joining the ends together, but with a twist so that it isn’t a regular “band”.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame opened its doors relatively recently, in 2010. It is located in Charlotte, North Carolina.

10 Musical satirist Tom : LEHRER

Tom Lehrer is an American singer-songwriter, and someone famous for writing humorous songs and parodies. One of his most celebrated creations is “The Elements” song, which lists the name of the chemical elements to the tune of the “Major-General’s Song” from the “Pirates of Penzance” operetta by Gilbert and Sullivan.

12 Superhero franchise initials : MCU

Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)

13 First lady after Eleanor : BESS

Harry Truman and Bess Wallace first met when they were very young children at Sunday school. They were friends right through high school and became engaged in 1918, just before Harry went off to France during WWI, and married the next year. Bess Truman never really took to the Washington scene when she became First Lady and stayed out of the limelight as much as she could. Perhaps that contributed to her longevity. Mrs. Truman lived to the age of 97, making her the longest living First Lady in US history.

15 Arizona home of Cathedral Rock : SEDONA

Cathedral Rock is a much-photographed natural sandstone butte in Sedona, Arizona. It is a popular hiking destination located within the Coconino National Forest. It is also known as a vortex site, believed to be a place of concentrated energy.

17 Wendie of “Just Shoot Me!” : MALICK

Wendie Malick is an American actress known for her comedic roles and distinctive voice. She gained prominence in the 1990s for her performances in the sitcoms “Dream On” and “Just Shoot Me!”. She then had a lead role in the sitcom “Hot in Cleveland”.

21 Divided island of Southeast Asia : TIMOR

Timor is an island in Maritime Southeast Asia. The island is politically divided into West Timor, belonging to Indonesia, and the independent state of East Timor (aka “Timor-Leste”). The name “Timor” comes from a Malay word for “east”, and is used as Timor lies at the eastern end of the Lesser Sunda Islands.

23 “American Fiction” actress Tracee Ellis __ : ROSS

Actress Tracee Ellis Ross is perhaps best known for playing lead roles in the TV shows “Girlfriends” and “black-ish”. She was born Tracee Joy Silberstein, and is the daughter of singer Diana Ross and music executive Robert Ellis Silberstein.

“American Fiction” is a 2023 comedy-drama movie based on a 2023 novel by Percival Everett titled “Erasure”. Jeffrey Wright plays a black writer whose publishers reject his latest story as not being “black enough”. The writer reacts to his lack of success by submitting a satirical novel that panders to black stereotypes. To his surprise, and dismay, the book is a great success.

24 Hindu festival celebrated over five days : DIWALI

Diwali is a popular Hindu festival. It is a “festival of lights”, a celebration of the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance. Diwali is observed annually over five days at the conclusion of the summer harvest, and when there is a new moon.

30 Formal Spanish pronoun : USTED

“Tú” is the informal “you” in Spanish, used for friends and family. “Usted” is formal, used for strangers, elders, or to show respect.

32 Smug look : SMIRK

The Old English word “smearcian” means “to smile”, and gave us our verb “to smirk”, meaning “to smile in a self-satisfied manner”.

35 Archaeological site : DIG

“Archaeology” is a word that looks like it’s British English, and one might be forgiven for using the spelling “archeology” in American English. Even though the latter spelling has been around for a couple of hundred years, the former is the standard spelling on both sides of the Atlantic.

40 Classic Pontiac : GTO

The Pontiac GTO was produced by GM from 1964 to 1974, and again by a GM subsidiary in Australia from 2004 to 2006. The original GTO’s design is credited to Pontiac chief engineer at the time John DeLorean, who later founded the DeLorean Motor Company.

45 Joyful cry at a Greek wedding : OPA!

“Opa!” is a celebratory cry very much associated with Greece and Greek restaurants, where it often accompanies the celebratory smashing of plates and glasses.

50 Tony winner Carter : NELL

Nell Carter was a singer and actress from Birmingham, Alabama. Carter won a Tony for her performance on Broadway in “Ain’t Misbehavin’”. She also starred in the TV sitcom “Gimme a Break!” in the 1980s.

51 TV musical with 207 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 : GLEE

The TV show “Glee” has proven to be very popular. The storyline focuses on a high school glee club in Lima, Ohio called New Directions.

53 Danish shoe brand : ECCO

I have to say, after owning several pairs, that ECCO shoes are the most comfortable in the world. The company is headquartered in Denmark.

63 Psych. handbook : DSM

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is a widely used handbook for mental health professionals. Published by the American Psychiatric Association, it provides a standardized classification system for diagnosing mental disorders.

64 Bit of baloney : FIB

To fib is to tell a lie. The verb “to fib” likely comes from “fibble-fable” meaning “nonsense”, with “fibble-fable” coming from “fable”.

“Baloney” is an American English variant of “Bologna” as in the sausage. The term came to be used to mean “nonsense” in the 1920s. “Baloney” was popularized in the 1930s by New York Governor Alfred E. Smith as he used the term quite often.

69 Sandwich option : WRAP

Meats placed between slices of bread was first called a sandwich in the 18th century, named after the Fourth Earl of Sandwich. The earl was fond of eating “sandwiches” while playing cards at his club.

70 Mata __ : HARI

“Mata Hari” was the stage name used by Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, born in the Netherlands in 1876. After an unsuccessful and somewhat tragic marriage, Zella moved to Paris in 1903 where she struggled to make a living. By 1905 she was working as an exotic dancer and using the name Mata Hari. She was a successful courtesan, notably moving in various circles of high-ranking military officers. She apparently worked as a double agent, both for the French and the Germans. When Mata Hari was accused by the French of passing information to the enemy, she was tried, found guilty and executed by firing squad at the height of WW1, in 1917.

71 Pay phone abbr. : OPER

On the buttons of a phone you often see TUV on the 8-key and OPER (for “operator”) on the 0-key. Well, you used to …

72 Shortest mo. : FEB

The name of the month February comes from the Latin word “februum” meaning “purification”. The Romans had a ritual named Februa (purification) on February 15th every year. I don’t think many people pronounce the first letter R in “February”, leaving it silent, but I could be wrong …

80 Doo-wop syllable : SHA

Doo-wop developed in the 1940s and can be described as a vocal-based R&B music. Even though the style has been around since the forties, the name doo-wop wasn’t introduced until the early sixties.

81 Home of the NCAA’s Broncos : BOISE

Bronco Stadium is home to the Boise State Broncos football team. Bronco Stadium has also hosted the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl since 1997. One of the remarkable features of the stadium is the blue color of the playing surface. It was installed in 1986 and was the first non-green playing surface used in the history of American football.

84 Food writer Drummond : REE

Ree Drummond is a food writer and blogger. Drummond’s blog “The Pioneer Woman” recounts her daily life on her family’s working ranch outside of Pawhuska, Oklahoma.

87 Xylophone kin : MARIMBAS

A marimba is a musical instrument that is somewhat like a large xylophone. It originated in Mexico and … it is the instrument that plays the default ringtone on Apple phones.

89 Comfy outfit : PJS

Our word “pajamas” (sometimes “PJs” or “jammies”) comes to us from the Indian subcontinent, where “pai jamahs” were loose fitting pants tied at the waist and worn at night by locals and ultimately by the Europeans living there. And “pajamas” is another of those words that I had to learn to spell differently when I came to America. On the other side of the Atlantic, the spelling is “pyjamas”.

92 Picnic container : BASKET

Our term “picnic” comes from the French word that now has the same meaning, namely “pique-nique”. The original “pique-nique” was a fashionable potluck affair, and not necessarily held outdoors.

94 Tehran natives : IRANIS

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.

100 Las Vegas WNBA team : ACES

The Las Vegas Aces women’s basketball team was formed in Salt Lake City in 1997 as the Utah Starzz. The team became the San Antonio (Silver) Stars in 2002, before moving to Las Vegas as the Aces in 2018.

103 Animal also known as the hog-nosed raccoon : COATI

A coati is a member of the raccoon family and is also known as the Brazilian aardvark, or the snookum bear. The coati is native to Central and South America, but can also be found in the southwest of the United States.

108 What always ends well? : ELLS

The word “well” ends with two letters L (ells).

109 Michelle of “Everything Everywhere All at Once” : YEOH

Michelle Yeoh is an actress from Malaysia who appeared in several Hong Kong action films in which she did her own stunts and martial arts scenes. Her most famous action performance was in the 2000 movie “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, although I best know her for playing opposite Pierce Brosnan in the Bond film “Tomorrow Never Dies”.

111 Psalm starter : O GOD …

The Greek word “psalmoi” originally meant “songs sung to a harp”, and gave us the word “psalms”. In the Jewish and Western Christian traditions, the Book of Psalms contains 150 individual psalms, divided into five sections.

117 Bygone space station : MIR

Russia’s Mir space station was a remarkably successful project. It held the record for the longest continuous human presence in space at just under 10 years, until the International Space Station eclipsed that record in 2010. Towards the end of the space station’s life however, the years began to take their toll. There was a dangerous fire, multiple system failures, and a collision with a resupply ship. The Russian commitment to the International Space Station drained funds for repairs, so Mir was allowed to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere and burn up in 2001. “Mir” is a Russian word meaning “peace” or “world”.

118 Cassowary relative : EMU

The cassowary is a large, flightless bird found mainly in New Guinea. One species of cassowary is the third tallest bird on the planet, second only to the ostrich and the emu.