Category: Angela Olson Halsted

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Constructed by: Angela Kinsella Olson
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Firestarter

Themed answers each START with a word describing something on FIRE:

• 63A 1980 Stephen King novel, and what the answer to each starred clue literally has? : FIRESTARTER and “FIRE” STARTER

• 17A *”She Don’t Use Jelly” band, with “The” : … FLAMING LIPS
• 26A *Mel Brooks Western starring Cleavon Little : BLAZING SADDLES
• 46A *Enthusiastic praise : GLOWING TRIBUTE

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

Bill’s time: 6m 22s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Some rodent pets : MICE

About 40% of all mammal species are rodents, belong to the order Rodentia. The key characteristic of rodents is a single pair of continuously growing incisors in both the lower and upper jaws.

5 Nancy in the National Women’s Hall of Fame : PELOSI

Nancy Pelosi first became Speaker of the House in 2007, and was the 60th person to hold that position. Ms. Pelosi represents a district not far from here, which covers most of San Francisco. She was the first Californian, the first Italian-American and the first woman to be Speaker of the House. As Speaker of the House is second-in-line to the presidency, after the Vice President, Nancy Pelosi was for many years the highest-ranking female politician in US history. That was until Kamala Harris became Vice President in 2021.

The National Women’s Hall of Fame is located in Seneca Falls, New York, which was home to the nation’s first women’s rights convention, in 1848. The Hall was established in 1969, when it was hosted by Eisenhower College, which is also in Seneca Falls. The current facility opened for visitors in 1979. I was lucky enough to spend a very uplifting afternoon there several years ago ….

11 Reno’s st. : NEV

Reno, Nevada was named in honor of Major General Jesse Lee Reno, a Union officer killed in the Civil War. The city has a famous “Reno Arch”, a structure that stands over the main street. The arch was erected in 1926 to promote an exposition planned for the following year. After the expo, the city council decided to keep the arch and held a competition to decide what wording should be displayed, and the winner was “The Biggest Little City in the World”.

14 Water or elec. : UTIL

Utility (util.)

15 Buildings in the Pueblo Revival style, e.g. : ADOBES

The Pueblo Revival style of architecture is also known as the Santa Fe style. The style developed in the early 1900s and is most commonly found in New Mexico.

17 *”She Don’t Use Jelly” band, with “The” : … FLAMING LIPS

The Flaming Lips are a rock band from Oklahoma City that formed in 1983. I won’t expound here on how the band apparently chose its name. It’s a little “out there” …

20 One of the Bobbsey Twins : FLOSSIE

The “Bobbsey Twins” series of children’s novels was first written by Edward Stratemeyer in 1904. Stratemeyer used the pseudonym Laura Lee Hope, as did subsequent authors who wrote 72 books in the series between 1904 and 1979. The title characters are two sets of fraternal twins, one named Bert and Nan (who are 12) and the other named Flossie and Freddie (who are 6).

21 Ticket marketplace with a rhyming name : STUBHUB

StubHub is an online ticket exchange business that is owned by eBay. StubHub acts as the middleman between buyers and sellers of event tickets, whether those buyers and sellers are individuals or large organizations.

26 *Mel Brooks Western starring Cleavon Little : BLAZING SADDLES

“Blazing Saddles” is a 1974 Mel Brooks movie that has become a modern-day classic. I really only enjoy one Mel Brooks film, and “Blazing Saddles” isn’t it. Just in case you’re interested, I very much enjoy “Young Frankenstein” …

Actor Cleavon Little is best known for playing Sheriff Bart in the Mel Brooks film “Blazing Saddles”. Little had a sister, DeEtta West. She sang, along with Nelson Pigford, the “Rocky” theme “Gonna Fly Now”.

33 Brand in the eye care aisle : RENU

“ReNu” is a brand name of contact lens products sold by Bausch & Lomb.

36 __ Roll : TOOTSIE

Tootsie Rolls were developed by an Austrian candy maker called Leo Hirschfeld in New York City in 1896. Hirschfeld named the candy after his daughter, who had the nickname “Tootsie”. A couple of derivative products have become quite popular, namely Tootsie Pops and Tootsie Roll Midgees.

39 Mensch : NICE GUY

“Mensch” is a word that comes to us via Yiddish, and is ultimately derived from the German “mensch” meaning “human being”. We use the term to describe someone of integrity and honor.

43 __ of Reason : AGE

Thomas Paine’s pamphlet known as “The Age of Reason” (published in three parts, in 1794, 1795 and 1807) is critical of mainstream religion and also challenges the legitimacy of the Bible.

45 Med. condition treated by Ritalin : ADHD

The “official” name for the condition we sometimes still refer to as “attention deficit disorder” (ADD) is “attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder” (ADHD).

Ritalin is a trade name for the drug methylphenidate that is used for treatment of ADHD and narcolepsy. Methylphenidate has a similar structure and similar properties to the drug cocaine, although it is less potent.

51 “Hamilton” creator __-Manuel Miranda : LIN

Lin-Manuel Miranda is a composer and playwright from New York City, and the creator and star of the hit Broadway musicals “Hamilton” and “In the Heights”. Miranda also co-wrote the songs for the 2016 Disney animated feature “Moana”. He started composing early, and wrote jingles as a child. One of those jingles was later used by Eliot Spitzer in his 2006 gubernatorial campaign.

52 Ward of “FBI” : SELA

Sela Ward is an American actress who won Emmys for her role on the TV show “Sisters” in 1994 and for her role on “Once and Again” in 2000. She is a published author and released her autobiography “Homesick: A Memoir” in 2012.

57 The U.S., in México : EL NORTE

“El Norte” is the term many people in Central America use for the United States and Canada. It translates from Spanish as “the North”.

62 Ballpark fig. : EST

The phrase “in the ballpark” means “within an acceptable range of approximation”. The term was coined in the mid-fifties as jargon used by scientists developing atomic weapons. The first “ballpark” in this sense was the broad area within which a missile was forecast to return to earth.

63 1980 Stephen King novel, and what the answer to each starred clue literally has? : FIRESTARTER

Stephen King’s 1980 novel “Firestarter” was adapted into a movie of the same name in 1984 starring Drew Barrymore. Barrymore plays a girl with the power of pyrokinesis, the ability to create and control fire with the mind.

65 “The __ of Pooh” : TAO

Author Benjamin Hoff is best known for his 1982 book “The Tao of Pooh”, and a successor title published in 1992 called “The Te of Piglet”. Both books use the “Winnie-the-Pooh” stories to illustrate Taoist beliefs.

66 Cousin of the Bradys : OLIVER

Actor Robbie Rist is perhaps best known as a child actor, playing Cousin Oliver (Tyler) in the fifth and final season of “The Brady Bunch” sitcom. Later in life, Rist provided the voice of Michelangelo in the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” series of films in the 1980s.

The famous sitcom “The Brady Bunch” originally aired from 1969 to 1974 on ABC. If you ever see a movie called “Yours, Mine and Ours” starring Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda (and remade with Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo), you might notice a similarity in storyline. It was because of the success of the 1968 movie that ABC decided to go ahead with the development of “The Brady Bunch”.

68 Chicago WNBA team : SKY

The Chicago Sky are a WNBA basketball team who play home games at Wintrust Arena, located in the South Loop neighborhood of Chicago. The Sky were founded in 2006, and the team’s mascot is a Sky Guy, a blue and yellow bird with a basketball for a head.

69 “__ on me”: “I’m delicate” : GO EASY

More and more delicate with the passing years …

70 IRS form figures : SSNS

The main purpose of a Social Security Number (SSN) is to track individuals for the purposes of taxation, although given its ubiquitous use, it is looking more and more like an identity number to me. The social security number system was introduced in 1936. Prior to 1986, an SSN was required only for persons with substantial income, so many children under 14 had no number assigned. For some years the IRS had a concern that a lot of people were claiming children on their tax returns who did not actually exist. So starting in 1986, the IRS made it a requirement to get an SSN for any dependents over the age of 5. Sure enough, seven million dependents “disappeared” in 1987. Today, a SSN is required for a child of any age in order to receive a tax exemption.

Down

3 “Adieu,” across the Alps : CIAO

“Ciao” is Italian for “‘bye”. “Arrivederci” is more formal, and translates as “goodbye”.

4 Stately trees : ELMS

The Ulmus laevis deciduous tree that is native to Europe is commonly referred to as the European white elm, spreading elm and stately elm.

5 Sandwich made with a press : PANINI

In Italy, a sandwich made from sliced bread is called a “tramezzino”, while sandwiches made from non-sliced breads are called “panini” (singular “panino”). We’ve imported the plural term “panini” into English to describe a single pressed and toasted sandwich.

7 “haha! ur a riot!” : LOL!

Laugh out loud (LOL)

8 Japanese sashes : OBIS

The sash worn as part of traditional Japanese dress is known as an obi. The obi can be tied at the back in what is called a butterfly knot. The term “obi” is also used for the thick cotton belts that are an essential part of the outfits worn by practitioners of many martial arts. The color of the martial arts obi signifies the wearer’s skill level.

9 Mo. many Virgos are born : SEPT

The astrological sign Virgo is the sixth sign in the Zodiac, and is associated with the constellation of the same name. The Virgo constellation is related to maidens (virgins), purity and fertility.

12 Beige shade : ECRU

The color ecru is a grayish, yellowish brown. The word “ecru” comes from French and means “raw, unbleached”. “Ecru” has the same roots as our word “crude”.

13 Action word : VERB

Transitive verbs are those that can take direct objects, and intransitive verbs are those that do not. Examples of transitive verbs are “throw (the ball)” and “injure (a leg)”. Examples of intransitive verbs are “fall” and “sit”.

18 Old Rodeos, e.g. : ISUZUS

The Rodeo is a compact SUV that was produced by Isuzu for the North American market. At the same time, the Isuzu Rodeo name was used on compact pickup trucks sold in Japan.

24 __ Fridays : TGI

T.G.I. Fridays is an American restaurant chain that was founded in 1965 in New York City. Today there are over a thousand T.G.I. Fridays restaurants in over 50 countries. I think that Fridays has always been particularly successful overseas. I used to visit one a lot with my family when we lived in the Philippines, and I believe the most successful Fridays restaurant anywhere in the world is the one in Haymarket Leicester Square in London in the UK.

27 “Anna Karenina” writer : LEO TOLSTOY

I have to admit to not having read Leo Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina”, but I did see the excellent 1977 British television adaptation starring Nicola Pagett. I also saw the 2012 film adaptation with a screenplay by Tom Stoppard and found that to be far from excellent, awful in fact. I am no Stoppard fan …

28 Picnic pest : ANT

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.

29 Male offspring : SON

The offspring is the immediate descendant born of a parent. The term “offspring” comes from the Old English “ofspring”, which had a similar meaning. Someone’s “offspring” “springs off” that person.

30 Singer DiFranco : ANI

Ani DiFranco is a folk-rock singer and songwriter. DiFranco has also been labeled a feminist icon, and in 2006 won the Woman of Courage Award from the National Organization for Women.

36 “Star Trek” series, familiarly : TNG

When Gene Roddenberry first proposed the science fiction series that became “Star Trek”, he marketed it as “Wagon Train to the Stars”, a pioneer-style Western in outer space. In fact, his idea was to produce something more like “Gulliver’s Travels”, as he intended to write episodes that were adventure stories on one level, but morality tales on another. Personally, I think that he best achieved this model with the spin-off series “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (TNG). If you watch individual episodes you will see thinly disguised treatments of moral issues such as racism, homosexuality, genocide etc. For my money, “The Next Generation” is the best of the whole franchise …

37 “At Seventeen” singer Janis : IAN

Janis Ian is a singer-songwriter, mainly of folk music, who was most successful in the sixties and seventies. Her most famous song by far is the 1975 recording “At Seventeen”. In more recent years, Ian has been published several times as a science-fiction author.

Janice Ian wrote her lovely song “At Seventeen“ when she herself was 22, looking back at that earlier age with a little maturity. The lyrics were inspired by a newspaper article she read about a teenage debutante who had learned the hard way that her popularity at school was not the answer to life’s problems.

38 Cobb salad ingredient : EGG

Ty Cobb’s first cousin, Robert H. Cobb, owned the Brown Derby chain of restaurants. One of his regular customers was the famous Sid Grauman, who ran Grauman’s Chinese Theater. Late one night, Grauman asked for a snack, and Cobb came up with a chopped salad simply made from ingredients he happened to have in the refrigerator. Grauman liked it so much that he continued to request it, and the Cobb salad was born.

40 Poolside structure : CABANA

Our word “cabana” comes from the Spanish “cabaña”, the word for a small hut or a cabin. We often use the term to describe a tent-like structure beside a pool.

41 College URL part : EDU

The .edu domain was one of the six original generic top-level domains specified. The complete original list is:

• .com (commercial enterprise)
• .net (entity involved in network infrastructure e.g. an ISP)
• .mil (US military)
• .org (not-for-profit organization)
• .gov (US federal government entity)
• .edu (college-level educational institution)

48 Recovering from anesthesia, say : IN A FOG

“Aisthesis” is the Greek word for “feeling”, from which “anaisthesia” is Greek for “want of feeling, lack of sensation”. And that’s how we get our English term “anesthesia”.

49 __ Pieces : REESE’S

Reese’s Pieces are an extension to the successful Peanut Butter Cups line. They are pieces of candy that look like M&Ms, but are filled with peanut butter.

53 Max Scherzer’s squad : METS

Max Scherzer is a professional baseball pitcher with the nickname “Mad Max”. Clearly, a great pitcher has great eyes. Scherzer’s eyes happen to be different colors; one blue and one brown.

54 “Out of Africa” writer Dinesen : ISAK

“Isak Dinesen” was the pen name of the Danish author Baroness Karen Blixen. Blixen’s most famous title by far is “Out of Africa”, her account of the time she spent living in Kenya.

55 Metric weight : KILO

Today, the gram is defined as one thousandth of a kilogram, with the kilogram being equal to the mass of a physical sample preserved by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (well, up until 2019, when it became more hi-tech than I can explain!). Prior to 1960, the gram was defined as the weight of a cubic centimeter of pure water (at the temperature of melting ice).

56 Cleveland’s lake : ERIE

Cleveland, Ohio was named after the man who led the team that surveyed the area prior to the founding of the city. General Moses Cleaveland did his work in 1796 and then left Ohio, never to return again.

59 GPS suggestions : RTES

A global positioning system (GPS) might point out a route (rte.).

60 __ Choice Awards : TEEN

Fox television network’s Teen Choice Awards were created in 1999 to cater for the teen demographic, along the lines of the existing Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards. Sadly, the Teen Choice Awards have been plagued with controversy, with apparently well-founded claims that winners have been selected and sometimes notified even before voting has closed.

64 Actress Longoria : EVA

Eva Longoria is a fashion model and actress who had a regular role on TV’s “Desperate Housewives”, playing Gabrielle Solis. Her travel and food show “Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico” premiered on CNN in 2023.