Day: February 4, 2025

Advertisement

Constructed by: Justin Werfel
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Merge Ahead

Themed answers each include a HEAD of state hidden within. That HEAD MERGES two words in the answer:

• 58A “Road narrows” sign, or when read as three words, an apt description of what 17-, 26-, and 43-Across do : MERGE AHEAD

• 17A Serialized daytime dramas : SOAP OPERAS (hiding “POPE”)
• 26A “Anything could happen” : ALL BETS ARE OFF (hiding “TSAR”)
• 43A Writer and illustrator of Caldecott Medal winner “The Snowy Day” : EZRA JACK KEATS (hiding “RAJA”)

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

Bill’s time: 5m 21s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Calamine lotion target : ITCH

Calamine is mainly zinc oxide, with a small percentage of iron oxide. Calamine is incorporated into a lotion that is used for many things, including treatment of sunburn and itching.

5 __ Peace Prize : NOBEL

The Peace Prize is the most famous of the five prizes bequeathed by Alfred Nobel. The others are for Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Literature. There is also a Nobel Prize in Economics that is awarded along with the original five, but it is funded separately and is awarded “in memory of Alfred Nobel”. Four of the prizes are awarded by Swedish organizations (Alfred Nobel was a Swede) and so the award ceremonies take place in Stockholm. The Peace Prize is awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, and is presented in Oslo.

14 City fooled by a wooden horse : TROY

The story of the Wooden Horse of Troy is told in Virgil’s poem “The Aeneid”. According to the tale, the city of Troy finally fell to Greeks after a siege that had lasted for ten years. In a ruse, the Greeks sailed away in apparent defeat, leaving behind a large wooden horse. Inside the horse were hidden 30 crack soldiers. When the horse was dragged into the city as a victory trophy, the soldiers sneaked out and opened the city’s gates. The Greeks returned under cover of night and entered the open city.

15 Jazz singer Adams who toured with Tears for Fears : OLETA

Oleta Adams is an American soul singer from Seattle, Washington. Adams has had most of her success over in the UK, rather than here in the US.

Tears for Fears is an English rock band formed in Bath, England, in 1981 by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith. Though they’ve gone through periods of lineup changes and solo projects, Orzabal and Smith have reunited several times, continuing to create music and tour.

17 Serialized daytime dramas : SOAP OPERAS (hiding “POPE”)

The original soap operas were radio dramas back in the fifties. Given the structure of society back then, the daytime broadcasts were aimed at women working in the home as housewives. For some reason the sponsors of those radio shows, and the television shows that followed, were soap manufacturers like Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and Lever Brothers. And that’s how the “soap” opera got its name …

20 Balderdash : UTTER ROT

“Balderdash” means “senseless jumble of words”. The original balderdash (back before the late 1600s) was a jumbled mix of liquids like maybe beer and wine, or even beer and milk!

23 Sound in a library : SHH!

Our word “library” ultimately derives from the Latin “liber” meaning “book”.

24 Early web portal : AOL

Founded as Quantum Computer Services in 1983, the company changed its name in 1989 to America Online. As America Online went international, the initialism AOL was used in order to shake off the “America-centric” sound to the name. During the heady days of AOL’s success the company could not keep up with the growing number of subscribers, so people trying to connect often encountered busy signals. That’s when users referred to AOL as “Always Off-Line”.

32 Choreographer de Mille : AGNES

Agnes de Mille was a dancer and choreographer from New York City. She was the niece of famous director Cecil B. DeMille, and the daughter of William C. deMille who was also a Hollywood director. Agnes turned to dance after she was told that she was “not pretty enough” to pursue her first love, which was acting …

35 Miss Piggy’s favorite pronoun : MOI?

The Muppet named Miss Piggy has a pretentious air, and so refers to herself as “moi”. In 1998, Miss Piggy even released her own perfume called “Moi”.

37 Word after Cha-Cha and Electric, in dance songs : … SLIDE

“Cha-Cha Slide” is a 2000 song by Mr. C The Slide Man (aka DJ Casper). It has very simple, repetitive lyrics and a catchy beat, making it a line-dance staple at parties, weddings, school dances, etc.

The Electric Slide is a line dance that purportedly dates back to 1976. It’s a dance often associated with the 1983 song “Electric Boogie” performed by Marcia Griffiths.

40 Director Ang : LEE

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”).

43 Writer and illustrator of Caldecott Medal winner “The Snowy Day” : EZRA JACK KEATS (hiding “RAJA”)

Ezra Jack Keats was an American author and illustrator who is most famous for his 1962 award-winning children’s picture book “The Snowy Day”. Keats was known for setting his books in urban environments and for featuring protagonists with varying cultural backgrounds.

The Randolph Caldecott Medal is awarded annually to the prior year’s “most distinguished American picture book for children”. The inaugural year for the award was 1938. The medal is named for British artist and illustrator Randolph Caldecott. In 2009, the structure of the awards was tweaked so that selected runners-up for the Medal were given the status of “Caldecott Honor Books”.

49 Midwest city with two MLB teams, for short : CHI

Chicago, Illinois is the US’s third most populous city, after New York and Los Angeles. It is also home to O’Hare airport, the busiest airport in the whole world (in terms of takeoffs and landings). Chicago takes its name from the Chicago River, which in turn takes its name from the Native American word “shikaakwa” that translates as “wild onion” or “wild garlic”. Early French explorers chose this name as they found dense growths of wild garlic along the banks of the river.

58 “Road narrows” sign, or when read as three words, an apt description of what 17-, 26-, and 43-Across do : MERGE AHEAD

The “zipper merge” or “late merge” is encouraged by most traffic authorities when two lanes of traffic are merging into one. The alternative “early merge”, where cars move out of the lane that is closing before reaching the merge point, tends to be discouraged. The favored technique is to use both lanes until the merge point, and then alternate (zipper) from each lane through the merge itself. That said, one should always obey whatever instructions are given by the traffic authorities at the scene. And I know, I know … a lot of people think it rude to merge late …

61 Disney princess with a mermaid tail : ARIEL

In the 1989 Disney animated film “The Little Mermaid”, the title character is given the name “Ariel”. In the original fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen that dates back to 1836, the Little Mermaid is given no name at all. There is a famous statue of the unnamed Little Mermaid sitting in Copenhagen Harbor, in Andersen’s homeland of Denmark.

65 Mythical river of the underworld : STYX

The River Styx of Greek mythology was the river that formed the boundary between the Earth and the Underworld (or “Hades”). The souls of the newly dead had to cross the River Styx in a ferry boat piloted by Charon. Traditionally, a coin would be placed in the mouths of the dead “to pay the ferryman”.

Down

2 Pledge of fidelity : TROTH

There’s a phrase used in some traditional wedding vows that goes “… and thereto I plight thee my troth”. “I plight” is an obsolete way of saying “I pledge”. “Troth” is an old variant of the word truth, and meant “truth” but also “loyalty”. So, “I plight thee my troth” means, “I promise to be loyal to you”.

7 Ernie’s best pal : BERT

Bert and Ernie are two of the most beloved Muppet characters on the children’s television program “Sesame Street.” Their characters were originally created by Jim Henson and his team to be different from each other in every way possible. Bert is the more serious, analytical and uptight one, while Ernie is more carefree, spontaneous and playful. The contrast between their personalities was intentional, as it was meant to help children learn about different personalities and how to get along with people who may be different from themselves.

11 Waffle __ : IRON

Waffle irons have been around since the 1300s, in the Low Countries. The original version comprised two iron plates connected by a hinge, and two wooden handles. The plates were often cast with a pattern that left an image on the waffle. The waffles were baked in the iron over a fire in a hearth.

27 “__ Misérables” : LES

Victor Hugo’s famous 1862 novel “Les Misérables” has been translated into English several times. However, the title is usually left in the original French as a successful translation of “les misérables” seems to be elusive. Some suggestions for an English title are “The Wretched”, “The Victims” and “The Dispossessed”. The novel follows the lives of several characters including an ex-convict Jean Valjean, a fanatic police inspector Javert, a beautiful prostitute Fantine, and Fantine’s illegitimate daughter Cosette.

29 All-knowing : OMNISCIENT

Omniscience is the quality of having complete knowledge and awareness. The term comes from the Latin “omnis” meaning “all” and “scientia” meaning “knowledge”.

31 Little white lies : FIBS

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

37 Local meteorologist’s backdrop, perhaps : STATE MAP

Meteorology is the science dealing with weather and weather conditions. The term “meteorology” comes into English via French from the Greek “meteoron” meaning “thing high up” and “-logia” meaning “treatment of”.

38 __ Ness Monster : LOCH

Scotland’s Loch Ness is famous for its fabled “monster”, referred to affectionately as “Nessie”. The loch is the second-largest lake in the country (Loch Lomond is the largest). Loch Ness takes its name from the River Ness that flows from the loch’s northern end.

39 Actress Dennings : KAT

Kat Dennings is the stage name of actress Katherine Litwack, who is noted today for her co-starring role on CBS’s sitcom “2 Broke Girls”. On the big screen, she plays the somewhat humorous character Dr. Darcy Lewis in the “Thor” series of films. Dennings is an avid blogger, and you can check out her video blog on YouTube.

41 Somewhat open : AJAR

Our word “ajar” is thought to come from Scottish dialect, in which “a char” means “slightly open”.

45 Grocery store chain : KROGER

The Kroger supermarket chain is the largest grocery store company in the US. It is also the second largest retailer in the country, after Walmart, and the fifth largest retailer in the world. The company was founded in 1883 in Cincinnati, Ohio by Barney Kroger.

46 Art studio stands : EASELS

The term “easel” comes from an old Dutch word meaning “donkey”, would you believe? The idea is that an easel carries its load (an oil painting, say) just as a donkey would be made to carry a load.

50 White with age : HOARY

The Old English word “har” meant “gray, venerable, old”, and came into English as “hoar” (and later “hoary”) with the same meaning. The term “hoar-frost” dates back to the 13th century, and reflects the similarity of the white feathers of frost to the gray/white of an old man’s beard.

52 Disney princess with icy powers : ELSA

“Frozen” is a 2013 animated feature from Walt Disney Studios that is based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale “The Snow Queen”. The film is all about the exploits of Princess Anna, the younger sister of Elsa, Snow Queen of Arendelle. Elsa was originally intended to be a villain, a malicious and power-hungry character. By the final version of the film, Elsa had transformed from a one-dimensional villain into a fully fleshed-out protagonist.