Day: March 24, 2025

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Constructed by: Janice Luttrell
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Get off the Ground

Themed answers each start with a movement that might GET one OFF THE GROUND:

• 37A Successfully start a new project, and a hint to the starts of 18-, 23-, 52-, and 58-Across: GET OFF THE GROUND

• 18A Completely recover from a hardship: BOUNCE BACK
• 23A Seasonal cause of some flooding: SPRING THAW
• 52A Play hooky: SKIP SCHOOL
• 58A Buddy cop action franchise starring Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum, familiarly: JUMP STREET

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

Bill’s time: 4m 54s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 Sonogram target: WOMB

A sonogram is an image made using ultrasound. “Ultrasound” is the name given to sound energy that has frequencies above the audible range.

14 Sports org. with conferences: NCAA

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) dates back to the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. When his son broke his nose playing football at Harvard, President Roosevelt turned his attention to the number of serious injuries and even deaths occurring in college sports. He instigated meetings between the major educational institutions, leading to the formation of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS) in 1906, which was given the remit of regulating college sports. The IAAUS became the NCAA in 1910. The NCAA has been headquartered in Indianapolis since 1999.

15 Cooking staple, initially: EVOO

Virgin olive oil is oil produced from olives with no chemical treatment involved in the production process at all. To be labeled “virgin”, the oil must have an acidity level of less than 2% and must be judged to have “a good taste”. Extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) comes from virgin oil production, and is the portion with acidity levels of less than 0.8% acidity that is judged to have “superior taste”.

17 Tortilla option: CORN

“Tortilla” translates literally from Spanish as “little cake”.

26 Govt. agent: FED

A fed is an officer of a US federal agency, although the term “fed” usually applies to an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

29 Handy Scrabble tile: ESS

The game of Scrabble has been around since 1938, and is the invention of an architect named Alfred Mosher Butts. Butts was born on April 13th, and we now celebrate National Scrabble Day on April 13th each year in his honor.

31 Creator, writer, and star of HBO’s “Insecure”: ISSA RAE

“Insecure” is a comedy-drama TV show that premiered in 2016. It is co-written by and stars Issa Rae, who also created the comedy web series “Awkward Black Girl” on which “Insecure” is based.

34 George Eliot’s “__ Marner”: SILAS

“Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe” is a novel written by George Eliot and first published in 1861. There’s an excellent BBC TV version of the tale (shown on PBS) starring Ben Kingsley in the title role, with Patsy Kensit playing Eppie, the young orphaned child that Marner takes under his wing.

36 “The Nutcracker” girl: CLARA

“The Nutcracker” ballet, with its iconic score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, tells the story of young Clara Stahlbaum who receives a magical nutcracker doll as a Christmas gift. On Christmas Eve, the nutcracker comes to life as a prince and battles the evil Mouse King, before whisking Clara away to a wondrous land. In the Land of Sweets, Clara encounters the Sugar Plum Fairy and is treated to enchanting dances and celebrations.

42 San Antonio landmark: ALAMO

The San Antonio mission known as the Alamo may have been named for a grove of nearby cottonwood trees. “Álamo” is the Spanish name for the cottonwood.

44 Small corner shops: BODEGAS

“Bodega” is a Spanish term describing a winery or, these days, a grocery store.

48 Lingerie top: BRA

“Lingerie” is a French term. As used in France, it describes any underwear, worn by either males or females. In English we use “lingerie” to describe alluring underclothing worn by women. The term “lingerie” comes into English via the French word “linge” meaning “washables”, and ultimately from the Latin “linum”, meaning “linen”. We tend not to pronounce the word correctly in English, either here in the US or across the other side of the Atlantic. The French pronunciation is more like “lan-zher-ee”, as opposed to “lon-zher-ay” (American) and “lon-zher-ee” (British).

51 Low USN rank: ENS

Ensign is (usually) the most junior rank of commissioned officer in the armed forces. The name comes from the tradition that the junior officer would be given the task of carrying the ensign flag.

52 Play hooky: SKIP SCHOOL

Apparently the term “hooky” comes from “hoekje”, the Dutch name for the game hide-and-seek. To play hooky is to shirk one’s responsibility, as in a schoolkid taking a day off without permission.

55 Travis Kelce’s older brother: JASON

Jason Kelce is a retired American football center who played his entire career with the Philadelphia Eagles. Kelce is also recognized for his close relationship with his brother, Travis Kelce, a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs. Together they host the popular podcast “New Heights”, on which they discuss football, life, and everything in between.

57 “__ luego”: HASTA

“Hasta luego” translates literally from Spanish as “until later”, and is used to say “see you later”.

58 Buddy cop action franchise starring Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum, familiarly: JUMP STREET

“21 Jump Street” is a 2012 buddy cop comedy film that is a remake of the 1980s television series of the same name. The TV show helped launch the career of Johnny Depp, who makes an uncredited cameo appearance in the movie. The film stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as Schmidt and Jenko, two rookie police officers who go undercover as high school students to infiltrate a local drug ring. The success of the film led to a sequel, “22 Jump Street”, which was released in 2014.

65 “__ chic!”: TRES

“Très chic” is a French term meaning “very stylish”.

66 “Beloved” novelist Morrison: TONI

“Beloved” is a 1987 novel by Toni Morrison about a haunted family home in Cincinnati. The disturbing storyline was inspired by real events, and a real person. Margaret Garner was a former slave who escaped from Kuntucky to Ohio. US marshals tried to capture her in accordance with the Fugitive Slave Act, and found her with her dead two-year-old daughter, and attempting to kill her remaining two children and herself. Garner committed those acts rather than see herself and her family returned to slavery. The title character in the novel is supposed to be the spirit of the daughter of a former slave killed by her mother to avoid returning to a life in slavery.

67 Japanese comics: 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. They cover many subjects including romance, sports, business, horror, and mystery.

Down

2 Orgs. with a special tax designation: S CORPS

S corporations don’t pay any income taxes, and are permitted not to do so under Subchapter S of Chapter 1 on the Internal Revenue Code. Instead, taxes are paid by the shareholders of that corporation.

4 “Sensuous Chill” New Age pianist: YANNI

Yanni is a remarkable Greek musician who is very successful in the world of New Age music. What I find so remarkable is that he is a self-taught musician. Yanni was born Yiannis Chryssomallis in Kalamata, Greece and moved to the US in 1972 to attend the University of Minnesota.

5 The last “w” in www: WEB

In essence, the World Wide Web (WWW) is a vast collection of documents that is accessible using the Internet, with each document containing hyperlinks that point to other documents in the collection. So the “Web” is different from the Internet, although the terms are often used interchangeably. The Web is a collection of documents, and the Internet is a global network of computers on which the documents reside. The Web was effectively the invention of British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee. The key to Berner-Lee’s invention was bringing together two technologies that already existed: hypertext and the Internet. I, for one, am very grateful …

6 Lacto-__ vegetarian: OVO

A lacto-ovo vegetarian is someone who does not consume meat or fish, but who does eat eggs (ovo) and dairy (lacto) products.

8 Tree-shaping art: BONSAI

The term “bonsai” is used more correctly to describe the Japanese art of growing carefully shaped trees in containers, although it has come to be used as the name for all miniature trees in pots. “Bonsai” translates literally as “tray planting”.

9 Budweiser, for one: BEER

The American beer Budweiser (often shortened to “Bud”) is named for the Czech town of Budweis (“České Budějovice” in Czech). The name is the subject of a dispute as here is an original Czech beer with a similar name, Budweiser Budvar. American Budweiser is sold in most European countries as “Bud”.

10 Black or chocolate dogs, for short: LABS

The Labrador (Lab) breed of dog has been around at least since 1814. The breed comes in three registered colors: black, yellow and chocolate.

11 Director DuVernay: AVA

Ava DuVernay is a filmmaker who became the first African-American woman to win the Best Director Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, a feat she achieved in 2012 for her feature film “Middle of Nowhere”. “Middle of Nowhere” tells the story of a woman who drops out of medical school to focus on her husband when he is sentenced to 8 years in prison. DuVernay also directed the 2014 film “Selma” about the 1965 voting rights marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.

12 Jiffy: SEC

“Jiff”, or “jiffy”, meaning “short time, instant” is thought originally to be thieves’ slang for “lightning”.

24 Game with putting: GOLF

The modern game of golf originated in Scotland in the 15th century. The first written record of golf is actually a banning of the game, by King James II in 1457. King James IV was a fan of golf, and so lifted the ban in 1502. The venerated Old Course at St. Andrews dates back to 1574. The first golf club established in the US was in Yonkers, New York in 1888. That first club was also named St. Andrews.

35 “That’s all __ wrote”: SHE

No one seems to be very certain of the origin of “that’s all she wrote”, meaning “there’s nothing more to be said”. One popular story is that it stems from the unfortunate “Dear John” letters that some soldiers received during WWII.

37 Kaplan of 1970s TV: GABE

Comedian and actor Gabe Kaplan is known more for his poker playing these days. As an actor, he played the title character in the seventies sitcom “Welcome Back, Kotter”. He started winning poker tournaments in the 1980s, and started working as a TV commentator for poker events in the 1990s.

38 North Carolina college: ELON

Elon is a city in the Piedmont region of North Carolina located close to the city of Burlington. Elon University is a private liberal arts school founded in 1889.

40 Old West icon Wyatt: EARP

Wyatt Earp is famous as one of the participants in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Earp was a city policeman in Wichita, Kansas and also in Dodge City, Kansas. Earp was also deputy sheriff in Tombstone, Arizona where the O.K. Corral gunfight took place. Years later, Earp joined the Alaska Gold Rush and with a partner built and operated the Dexter Saloon in Nome.

41 Classic Pontiac muscle cars: GTOS

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.

46 Culottes kin: SKORTS

The garment called a “skort” is a hybrid between a “skirt” and “shorts”.

In women’s fashion, the word “culottes” is used for a garment that hangs like a skirt but is actually pants. The term was imported from French, in which language culottes were originally split skirts used for horse riding.

48 New England city on the Charles River: BOSTON

The Charles River runs for 80 miles through eastern Massachusetts, taking a twisting route through 23 cities before emptying into the Atlantic in Boston. That circuitous flow reflects the river’s Native-American name “Quinobequin”, meaning “meandering”. The river’s English name was chosen by English king Charles I, who named it after himself.

50 “Ironic” singer Morissette: ALANIS

“Ironic” is a 1996 song co-written and recorded by Alanis Morissette. A couple of lines in the song are:

It’s meeting the man of my dreams
And then meeting his beautiful wife

For an awards ceremony in 2004, Morissette changed these lyrics to demonstrate support for same-sex marriage:

It’s meeting the man of my dreams
And then meeting his beautiful husband

55 Digital image format: JPEG

The JPEG image file format (also “.jpg”) was created by the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), hence the name.

56 “The Thin Man” dog: ASTA

Asta is the wonderful little dog in the superb “The Thin Man” series of films starring William Powell and Myrna Loy (as Nick and Nora Charles). In the original story by Dashiell Hammett, Asta was a female Schnauzer, but on screen Asta was played by a wire-haired fox terrier called “Skippy”. Skippy was also the dog in “Bringing Up Baby” with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn, the one who kept stealing the dinosaur bone. Skippy retired in 1939, so Asta was played by other dogs in the remainder of “The Thin Man” films.

“The Thin Man” is a detective novel written by Dashiell Hammett that was first published in the magazine “Redbook” in 1934. Hammett never wrote a sequel to his story, but it spawned a wonderful, wonderful series of “The Thin Man” films starring William Powell and Myrna Loy (as Nick and Nora Charles). “The Thin Man” was the last novel that Hammett wrote.

59 Can. neighbor: USA

The US-Canada border is the longest international border in the world. The total length is 5,525 miles. Canada’s border with the lower 48 states is 3,987 miles long, and the border with Alaska extends 1,538 miles.

61 Fair-hiring inits.: EEO

“Equal Employment Opportunity” (EEO) is a term that has been around since 1964 when the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was set up by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII of the Act prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin or religion.