Category: Adam Landau

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Constructed by: Adam Landau

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: Four of a Kind

Themed answers each comprise FOUR words that rhyme:

• 22A Expensive streaming ad error? : RICH TWITCH PITCH GLITCH
• 36A Carrier for casino winnings? : BLACKJACK BACKPACK
• 56A “Apparently, it’s better not to dye your hair”? : THEY SAY, “STAY GRAY”
• 82A “Masala tea is getting so expensive,” e.g.? : SKY-HIGH CHAI SIGH
• 96A Tie-dyed quilt? : DEADHEAD BEDSPREAD
• 117A Shooting star? : QUITE BRIGHT NIGHT LIGHT

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

Bill’s time: 14m 33s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

11A Taylor-Joy of “The Queen’s Gambit” : ANYA

Actress Anya Taylor-Joy had quite the international upbringing. She was born in Miami, and raised in Buenos Aires and then London. She is perhaps best known for playing the title character in the 2020 film adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Emma”, and the lead role in the Netflix miniseries “The Queen’s Gambit”.

“The Queen’s Gambit” is a wonderful 2020 miniseries based on a 1983 novel of the same name by Walter Tevis. Anya Taylor-Joy plays a young chess prodigy who has a tough upbringing in an orphanage, and who then struggles with alcohol and drug dependency. The series was so popular with viewers that it sparked a renewed interest in the game of chess, with sales of chess sets and chess books increasing dramatically.

18A Classic Camaros : IROCS

The IROC-Z is a model of Camaro that was introduced by Chevrolet in 1978. The IROC-Z takes its name from a famous stock car race, the International Race of Champions.

19A Beatles drummer : RINGO

Richard Starkey, better known as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Known for his unique drumming style and genial personality, he also had a successful solo career after the band’s breakup, with hits like “It Don’t Come Easy” and “Photograph”. I was lucky enough to see Ringo live, with his All-Starr Band, and what a great concert that was …

20A Appearance : MIEN

One’s mien is one’s bearing or manner. “Mien” shares the same etymological root as our word “demeanor”.

22A Expensive streaming ad error? : RICH TWITCH PITCH GLITCH

Twitch is a live-streaming platform used primarily by gamers. Folks playing games can broadcast their game play live to an audience.

“Glitch” comes into English from German via Yiddish. The original German word is “glitschen” meaning “to slip”. It is a relatively new term, and generally applied to computer software bugs.

26A Northern Nevada city : ELKO

The city of Elko, Nevada came into being in 1868 as a settlement built around the eastern end of a railway line that was constructed from California and that was destined for Utah. When that section of the line was completed, the construction crews moved on towards the Nevada/Utah border, and the settlement was left behind to eventually form the city of Elko

27A Carded at a club, casually : IDED

Identity document (ID)

28A The Emerald Isle : EIRE

Ireland is often referred to as “the Emerald Isle” (and described as “green”). There is a common misconception that the association with the color green is because of all that green grass that grows due to the seemingly non-stop rain. However, the use of green has more political overtones, as it is associated with many of the rebellions against British colonial rule over the centuries.

32A Oft-fried vegetable : OKRA

The plant known as okra is mainly grown for its edible green pods. The pods are said to resemble “ladies’ fingers”, which is an alternative name for the plant. Okra is known as “ngombo” in Bantu, a name that might give us the word “gumbo”, the name of the southern Louisiana stew that includes okra as a key ingredient.

34A Edebiri of “The Bear” : AYO

Actor, comedian and television writer Ayo Edebiri gained prominence for her role as Sydney Adamu, the young sous-chef in the very successful Hulu series “The Bear”.

“The Bear” is a comedy-drama TV show that started airing in 2022. It stars Jeremy Allen White (of “Shameless” fame) as a chef from a Michelin-star restaurant who heads home to Chicago to run his family’s sandwich shop after his brother dies. I really enjoyed this one …

36A Carrier for casino winnings? : BLACKJACK BACKPACK

The card game known as “twenty-one” was first referred to in print in a book by Cervantes, the author famous for writing “Don Quixote”. He called the game “veintiuna” (Spanish for “twenty-one”). Cervantes wrote his story just after the year 1600, so the game has been around at least since then. Twenty-one came to the US but it wasn’t all that popular so bonus payments were introduced to create more interest. One of the more attractive bonuses was a ten-to-one payout to a player who was dealt an ace of spades and a black jack. This bonus led to the game adopting the moniker “Blackjack”.

44A Ballet studio support : BARRE

A barre is a handrail used by ballet dancers for warm-up exercises and to provide support when practicing certain moves.

47A LAX info : ETA

Los Angeles International Airport is the sixth busiest airport in the world in terms of passenger traffic, and the busiest here on the West Coast of the US. The airport was opened in 1930 as Mines Field and was renamed to Los Angeles Airport in 1941. On the airport property is the iconic white structure that resembles a flying saucer. This is called the Theme Building and I believe it is mainly used as a restaurant and observation deck for the public. The airport used to be identified by the letters “LA”, but when the aviation industry went to a three-letter standard for airport identification, this was changed to “LAX”. Apparently, the “X” has no significant meaning.

48A Actor Astin : SEAN

Sean Astin is best known for playing the title role in the 1993 film “Rudy” and the character Samwise Gamgee in “The Lord of the Rings” movies. You might also have seen him playing Lynn McGill in the 5th season of “24”. Astin is the son of actress Patty Duke, and the adopted son of actor John Astin (of “The Addams Family” fame).

49A Streetwear designer Marc : ECKO

Marc Ecko is a fashion designer from New Jersey. He was born Marc Milecofsky. In college, he became a fan of graffiti and used the name “Ecko” to tag his drawings.

55A Guatemalan gold : ORO

Guatemala in Central America became independent from Spain in 1821, first becoming part of the Mexican Empire, and then becoming completely independent two years later.

62A Duplo maker : LEGO

Duplo is a range of Lego bricks and accessories designed for children under the age of five. The bricks are twice the dimensions of regular Lego bricks, hence the name “Duplo”. The size renders them unlikely to be swallowed by a child, and more easily handled by smaller hands.

63A Rifts : SCHISMS

A schism is a split or division, especially in a religion.

66A Sault __ Marie : STE

“Sault Ste. Marie” is the name of two cities on either side of the Canada-US border, one in Ontario and the other in Michigan. The two cities were originally one settlement in the 17th century, established by Jesuit Missionaries. The missionaries gave the settlement the name “Sault Sainte Marie”, which can be translated as “Saint Mary’s Falls”. The city was one community until 1817, when a US-UK Joint Boundary Commission set the border along the St. Mary’s River.

68A Digital art hosted on a blockchain: Abbr. : NFT

Non-fungible token (NFT). I admit it; I don’t understand NFTs (or the related cryptocurrencies).

75A Lhasa __ : APSO

The Lhasa apso breed of dog originated in Tibet and is named after “Lhasa” (the capital city) and “apso” (a Tibetan word meaning “bearded”). The Lhasa apso has been around since 800 BC and is one of the oldest breeds in the world, one very closely related to the ancestral wolf.

77A Albuquerque minor leaguer : ISOTOPE

The Albuquerque Isotopes baseball team is the Triple-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. The team’s arrival in the city was the result of the Calgary Cannons moving from Alberta to Albuquerque in 2003. The team’s name comes from a 2001 episode of “The Simpsons” TV show, in which the fictional Springfield Isotopes were slated for a secret move to Albuquerque. In the real world, when Cannons moved to Albuquerque, a fan poll overwhelmingly chose “Isotopes” as their name.

82A “Masala tea is getting so expensive,” e.g.? : SKY-HIGH CHAI SIGH

Masala chai is an Indian drink made with black tea (the “chai) and mixed spices (the “masala”, a mixture known as “khara”).

86A Mario Kart avatar : MII

Nintendo introduced customizable avatars for the company’s video game consoles starting in 1997. The first customizable avatars for the Wii system were introduced in 2006, and were given the inventive name “Miis”.

91A “¿Cómo __ usted?” : ESTA

“¿Cómo está usted?” is a more formal way of asking “How are you?” in Spanish.

93A Solo’s son : REN

Kylo Ren is the son of Han Solo and Princess Leia Organa in the “Star Wars” universe. The character’s birth name was Ben Solo. He was trained as a Jedi knight by his uncle, Luke Skywalker. However, Ben came to embrace the Dark Side, and changed his name to Kylo Ren. Ren is played by actor Adam Driver.

96A Tie-dyed quilt? : DEADHEAD BEDSPREAD

The Grateful Dead were a rock band from the San Francisco Bay Area that was founded in 1965. “The Dead” disbanded in 1995 following the death of lead guitarist Jerry Garcia. Grateful Dead fans (the ranks of whom include my wife) refer to themselves as “Deadheads”.

103A Cones’ counterparts : RODS

The retina is the tissue that lines the inside of the eye, and is the tissue that is light-sensitive. There are (mainly) two types of cells in the retina that are sensitive to light, namely rods and cones. Rods are cells that best function in very dim light and only provide black-and-white vision. Cones on the other hand function in brighter light and can perceive color.

107A Charcuterie meat : SALAMI

“Salame” (note the letter E at the end) is an Italian sausage that is traditionally associated with the peasant classes. The meat in the sausage is preserved with salt, and it can be hung and stored for as long as ten years. The name “salame” comes from “sale”, the Italian word for salt, and “-ame”, a suffix indicating a collective noun. Our English word “salami” is actually the Italian plural for “salame”.

In French, a “charcutier” is a pork butcher, although the term “charcuterie” has come to describe a genre of cooking focused on prepared meats such as bacon, ham, sausage and pâté. Although these meats often feature pork, it is not exclusively so. The word “charcuterie” comes from the French “chair” meaning “flesh” and “cuit” meaning “cooked”.

111A Big __: Red Sox nickname : PAPI

The Dominican-American baseball player David Ortiz has the nickname “Big Papi”. After each home run that Ortiz scores, he looks upwards and points to the sky in a tribute to his mother who died in a car crash in 2002 when she was only 46 years old.

114A Corleone played by Marlon Brando : VITO

Mario Puzo created the Corleone Mafia family in his 1969 novel “The Godfather”. The head of the family is Vito Corleone (whose birth name was Vito Andolini), a native of Corleone in Sicily. He was given the name Corleone by immigration officers at Ellis Island. Don Corleone was played so very memorably, with a distinctive rasping voice, by Marlon Brando in the 1972 movie adaptation directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

117A Shooting star? : QUITE BRIGHT NIGHT LIGHT

A meteoroid is a small rocky or metallic body traveling through space. Once in the atmosphere, the meteoroid is referred to as a “meteor” or “shooting star”. Almost all meteoroids burn up, but if one is large enough to survive and reach the ground then we call it a meteorite. The word “meteor” comes from the Greek “meteōros” meaning “high in the air”.

124A Fantasy Football domain : YAHOO!

Jerry Yang and David Filo called their company “Yahoo!” for two reasons. Firstly, a Yahoo is a rude unsophisticated brute from Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels”. Secondly, Yahoo stands for “Yet another Hierarchical Officious Oracle”.

126A Manchego sources : EWES

Manchego is a cheese made from sheep’s milk that comes from La Mancha in Spain. The term “Manchego” is used to describe things related to La Mancha.

128A __ nous : ENTRE

In French, something might perhaps be discussed “entre deux” (between two) or “entre nous” (between us).

Down

2D Pomegranate seed : ARIL

The casing surrounding many seeds is called the aril, and it may be quite fleshy. This fruit-like characteristic makes it desirable as a food and hence aids in the dispersion of the seeds.

The name of the fruit called a “pomegranate” comes from the Latin “pomum” meaning “apple” and “granatum” meaning “seeded”.

4D “Gesundheit” prompt : 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.

10D Midwest capital : TOPEKA

Topeka is the capital of Kansas, and is located on the Kansas River in the northeast of the state. The name “Topeka” was chosen in 1855 and translates from the Kansa and the Ioway languages as “to dig good potatoes”. The reference isn’t to the common potato but rather to the herb known as the prairie potato (also “prairie turnip”), which was an important food for many Native Americans.

11D California Zephyr operator : AMTRAK

The California Zephyr is a passenger train that operates between Chicago and Emeryville, California. That’s a distance of 2,438 miles, making it the longest route operated by Amtrak. I’ve taken the California Zephyr several times, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience …

14D Like St. Paul’s Cathedral : ANGLICAN

The Anglican Church is the Church of England, or any church closely associated with that tradition.

The famous and very beautiful St. Paul’s Cathedral in London was designed by Sir Christopher Wren. St. Paul’s was completed in 1708 and was constructed as part of a rebuilding program necessary after the devastation of the Great Fire of London of 1666. St. Paul’s is the second largest church building in the country, after Liverpool Cathedral.

17D Org. concerned with employee well-being : OSHA

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

21D Curl targets : BICEPS

The biceps muscle is made up of two bundles of muscle, both of which terminate at the same point near the elbow. The heads of the bundles terminate at different points on the scapula or shoulder blade. “Biceps” is Latin for “two-headed”.

24D Texter’s qualifier : IIRC

If I remember correctly (IIRC)

25D Morning songbird : LARK

Larks are small songbirds that are found all over the world, although only the horned lark species is found here in North America. Despite their size, larks are sometimes considered game birds, and can be served up as food. It’s not uncommon to find a dish containing lark meat in southern Europe.

31D U.K. honor for Naomie Harris : OBE

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry in the UK that was established in 1917 by King George V. There are five classes within the order, which are in descending seniority:

• Knight Grand Cross (GBE)
• Knight Commander (KBE)
• Commander (CBE)
• Officer (OBE)
• Member (MBE)

English actress Naomie Harris portrays the iconic Miss Eve Moneypenny in several “James Bond” films, starting with 2012’s “Skyfall”. She took on a more serious role in 2013’s “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”, playing Winnie Mandela opposite Idris Elba.

33D Skewered Thai dishes : SATAYS

The dish known as “satay” originated in Java, Indonesia and is marinated pieces of meat served on a skewer in a sauce, often a spicy peanut sauce. “Satay” is the Indonesian spelling, and “sate” is the Malay spelling.

37D “We have the meats” chain : ARBY’S

The Arby’s chain of fast food restaurants was founded in 1964 by two brothers, Forrest and Leroy Raffel. The name “Arby’s” is a homonym of “RB’s”, standing for “Raffel Brothers”. There is a rumor out there that the initials “RB” were chosen for “roast beef”, but that’s not true.

40D Lugosi of “Dracula” : BELA

Bela Lugosi was a Hungarian stage and screen actor who was perhaps best known for playing the title role in the 1931 film “Dracula” and for playing the same role on Broadway. Lugosi found himself typecast for the rest of his career and almost always played the role of the villain, often in horror movies. When he passed away in 1956, his wife had him buried in the costume he wore playing Count Dracula on Broadway.

43D Nautical speed units : KNOTS

A knot (kt.) is a unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour. Traditionally a vessel’s speed was determined by using a “chip log”. A chip log is made up of a wooden board attached to a line wrapped around a reel. The line (called a “log-line”) had knots tied in it at uniform spacings. To determine the vessel’s speed the board was thrown overboard and the line allowed to unroll. The speed was then the “number of knots” paid out in a fixed time interval.

45D Majestic pronoun : ROYAL WE

The “royal we” is more correctly called the “majestic plural”, and is the use of a plural pronoun to describe a single person in a high office. I suppose the most often quoted phrase that uses the majestic plural is “We are not amused”, which is often attributed to Queen Victoria. The “editorial we” is a similar concept, in which a newspaper editor or columnist refers to himself or herself as “we” when giving an opinion.

52D Festive beverage : EGGNOG

It’s not really clear where the term “nog” (as in “eggnog”) comes from although it might derive from the word “noggin”, which was originally a small wooden cup that was long associated with alcoholic drinks.

54D Surfing site for the 2024 Olympics : TAHITI

Tahiti is the most populous island in French Polynesia, which is located in the central Southern Pacific. Although Captain Cook landed in Tahiti in 1769, he wasn’t the first European to do so. However, Cook’s visit was the most significant in that it heralded a whole spate of European visitors, who brought with them prostitution, venereal disease and alcohol. Included among the subsequent visitors was the famous HMS Bounty under the charge of Captain Bligh.

57D Toyota minivan : SIENNA

Toyota’s Sienna minivan was introduced in model year 1998, as a replacement for the first-generation Previa. It was named for the Italian city of Siena. You can’t buy one in the UK, Australia or even Japan, as the Siena isn’t made in a right-hand drive configuration.

58D First Hebrew letters : ALEPHS

Aleph is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and bet is the second.

60D Bottomless brunch drinks : MIMOSAS

Where I come from, the cocktail known in North America as a mimosa is called a buck’s fizz, with the latter named for Buck’s Club in London where it was introduced in 1921. The mimosa came along a few years later, apparently first being served in the Paris Ritz. If you want to make a mimosa, it’s a 50-50 mix of champagne and orange juice, and it is very tasty …

67D “Ariel” voice actor Diggs : TAYE

Taye Diggs is an actor most associated with the Broadway show “Rent”, in which he played the nasty landlord Benny. He then co-starred on the television show “Private Practice”. Diggs’ given name is “Scott”, and the nickname “Taye” comes from saying the given name as “Scottay”.

Disney’s animated TV show “Ariel” is a spinoff of the 1989 film “The Little Mermaid”. In the TV version, the sea witch Ursula is no longer a villain. Instead, she is Ariel’s loving “Tauntie”, who teaches the young merfolk at her magic camp.

71D Like the Capitol building : DOMED

A capitol is a building in which a legislature meets. Such buildings are often constructed with an impressive dome. The term “capitol” is a reference to the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, the most important temple in ancient Rome, and which sat on top of Capitoline Hill.

73D Curly-tailed guard dog : AKITA

The Akita breed of dog is named for its point of origin, Akita Prefecture in Japan. When Helen Keller visited Japan in 1937, she asked for and was given an Akita breed of dog, with the name of Kamikaze-go. Sadly, the dog died within a year from distemper. The following year the Japanese government officially presented Keller with a replacement dog. Supposedly Keller’s dogs were the first members of the breed to be introduced into the US.

74D Irish-themed casino on the Vegas Strip : O’SHEA’S

O’Shea’s Casino in Las Vegas features an Irish pub theme. The first O’Shea’s, a standalone casino, was demolished in 2012 to make way for the The Linq Promenade project on the Vegas Strip. A brand new, redesigned O’Shea’s was then built as part of the new development and opened in 2013.

78D “Jersey __”: MTV reality show : SHORE

“Jersey Shore” is yet another reality TV series, one that ran on MTV from 2009 until 2012. The first season featured a group of eight friends sharing a house on the Jersey shore, and the second season had the same cadre warming themselves in a house down in Miami.

80D Everglades wader : EGRET

Egrets are a group of several species of white herons. Many egret species were faced with extinction in the 1800s and early 1900s due to plume hunting, a practice driven by the demand for egret plumes that could be incorporated into hats.

The Everglades are tropical wetlands that cover much of southern Florida. The area was named “River Glades” by a British surveyor in 1773, and it is suggested that poor transcription of the word “river” led to the use of “ever”. The southern 20% of the Everglades is a protected region that we know as Everglades National Park. The park is the third-largest National Park in the lower 48 states, after Death Valley NP (the largest) and Yellowstone NP.

83D Granola bar brand : KIND

KIND is a snack food business based in New York City that was founded in 2004 (and sold to Mars in 2020). The company runs the Kind Movement, a so-called “cause-marketing” campaign that was introduced in 2008. The stated purpose of the philanthropic initiative is to “make the world a little kinder by inspiring kind acts”. Someone who performs a kind act might be given a #kindawesome card, which can be redeemed for a free KIND bar, and which can also be passed on to someone else. Interesting …

84D Basketball target : HOOP

Basketball is truly a North American sport. It was created in 1891 by Canadian James Naismith at the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts. His goal was to create something active and interesting for his students in the gym. The first “hoops” were actually peach baskets, with the bottoms of the baskets intact. When a player got the ball into the “net”, someone had to clamber up and get the ball back out again in order to continue the game!

92D Around $8 million, for the Super Bowl : AD RATE

The Super Bowl is used for high-profile advertising because of the high viewership numbers. For example, Super Bowl XLIX (2015) had an average audience of 114 million viewers, making it the most-watched American TV program in history.

94D ISP option : DSL

The initialism “DSL” originally stood for Digital Subscriber Loop, but is now accepted to mean (Asymmetric) Digital Subscriber Line. It is a technology that allows Internet service to be delivered down the same telephone line as voice service, by separating the two into different frequency signals.

95D Gator follower : -ADE

Gatorade was developed at the University of Florida by a team of researchers at the request of the school’s football team. And so, Gatorade is named after the Gators football team.

98D Myers-__ personality tests : BRIGGS

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) was created in 1962, by Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers. The MBTI has been a popular tool used by businesses and business consultants for decades. The MBTI is built on the theories of Carl Jung and is designed to assess an individual’s personality type and give insight into how that individual interacts with other personality types.

100D Keto adherent, perhaps : DIETER

A ketogenic (also “keto”) diet is a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet. When a body consumes insufficient carbohydrates to meet the need for energy, then the liver converts fat into fatty acids and ketone bodies in order to make up the energy deficit. An elevated level of ketone bodies in the bloodstream is known as “ketosis”, a term that gives rise to the name “ketogenic diet”. Medical professionals sometimes prescribe a ketogenic diet in order to control epilepsy in children. A condition of ketosis can reduce the frequency of epileptic seizures.

110D Bygone video app : VINE

Vine was a video-hosting service introduced in June 2012. The service allowed users to share 6-second lopping video clips. Twitter bought Vine in October 2012, reportedly for $30 million. That’s a $30 million dollar buyout after just four months of operation!

111D Leaning tower locale : PISA

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world. It is known for its nearly four-degree lean, which is caused by an unstable foundation. The tower was built in the 12th century and began to lean during construction. The lean worsened over time, and by the 1990s, the tower was at risk of collapse with a lean of 5½ degrees. A major stabilization project was undertaken in the 1990s, which reduced the lean to 3.97 degrees.

112D Like good balsamic vinegar : AGED

True balsamic vinegar is a protected product under Italian and European law. To earn this protection, the vinegar must be aged for a minimum of 12 years, and some are aged for 25 years or even longer. Any product aged for less than 12 years cannot legally be called “traditional balsamic vinegar”.

113D 53-Down degs. : PHDS

“Ph.D.” is an abbreviation for “philosophiae doctor”, Latin for “teacher of philosophy”. Often, candidates for a PhD already hold a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, so a PhD might be considered a “third degree”.

115D Asgardian Avenger : THOR

Asgard is one of the Nine Worlds of Norse religions. It is where the Norse gods live, and is also home to Valhalla, the enormous hall ruled over by the god Odin.

The Avengers are a team of superheroes in the Marvel Comics universe. The original lineup, which dates back to 1963, consisted of Ant-Man, Hulk, Iron Man, Thor and the Wasp. Soon after their formation, the Avengers rescued Captain America trapped in ice, and thereafter he joined the team. There is a 2012 movie called “The Avengers” that features Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk and Thor.

118D Excel line : ROW

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program included in the Microsoft Office suite of applications. Microsoft’s first spreadsheet program was introduced back in 1982 and called Multiplan. Multiplan’s popularity waned due to the success of the competing product Lotus 1-2-3. Microsoft then introduced Excel, initially just for the Macintosh. When Excel was extended to Windows, Lotus was slow to respond and Microsoft took over the market.

120D Soap-making chemical : LYE

Soap is basically made by adding a strong alkali (like lye) to a fat (like olive oil or palm oil). The fats break down in the basic solution in a process called saponification. The crude soap is extracted from the mixture, washed, purified and finished in molds.