Category: David Distenfeld

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Constructed by: David Distenfeld & Seth Weitberg
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Double-Team

Themed answers each comprise TWO professional sports TEAMS:

• 62A Guard aggressively, and an apt description of 18-, 24-, 38-, and 50-Across : DOUBLE-TEAM and DOUBLE TEAM

• 18A Works as a decoy vendor? : HAWKS DUCKS
• 24A Works as a political consultant? : BILLS SENATORS
• 38A Works as a weatherperson? : BRAVES HURRICANES
• 50A Works as a fast-food cook? : BROWNS NUGGETS

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

Bill’s time: 8m 59s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Improvise : AD-LIB

“Ad libitum” is a Latin phrase meaning “at one’s pleasure”. In common usage, the phrase is usually shortened to “ad-lib”. On the stage, the concept of an ad-lib is very familiar.

6 Woodstock supergroup, briefly : CSNY

The supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN) is made up of David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash. The band can grow to “CSNY” when the trio is joined by Neil Young. Fans have been known to call the act “C, S, N and sometimes Y”, a play on the expression that names all the vowels, “A, E, I, O, U and sometimes Y”.

The 1969 Woodstock Music & Art Fair was held on Max Yasgur’s dairy farm located 43 miles southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York. 400,000 young people attended, and saw 32 bands and singers perform over three days.

15 Whooping __ : CRANE

The whooping crane is one of only two crane species that is native to North America. Hunting and loss of habitat led to there being only 21 whooping cranes being left on the continent in 1941. Numbers have increased since then, but the species is still endangered. That’s a shame, because the whooping crane is the tallest of all North American birds.

17 Like most Ken dolls : BLOND

Barbie’s male counterpart doll is Ken, and Ken’s family name is Carson. Barbie’s full name is Barbie Millicent Roberts. When Ken was introduced in 1959, it was as Barbie’s boyfriend. In 2004 it was announced that Ken and Barbie were splitting up, and needed to spend quality time apart. Soon after the split, Barbie “met” Blaine, a boogie boarder from Australia. Happily, Barbie and Ken reconciled and reunited on Valentine’s Day 2011.

18 Works as a decoy vendor? : HAWKS DUCKS

The NBA’s Atlanta Hawks started out as the Buffalo Bisons in 1946, although after only a few months the team was moved to Moline, Illinois as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks. The Blackhawks were one of the 17 original teams playing at the founding of the National Basketball Association. There was another move in 1951 and a renaming to the Milwaukee Hawks, and yet again in 1955 when the team became the St. Louis Hawks. The latest move was to Atlanta, in 1968.

The Walt Disney Company founded the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim hockey team in 1993, with the franchise’s name being a nod to the 1992 Disney movie called “The Mighty Ducks”. The name was changed to the Anaheim Ducks when Disney sold the team before the 2006-2007 season.

22 Layered dessert : TORTE

A torte is a type of cake made primarily with eggs, sugar and ground nuts (but no flour).

24 Works as a political consultant? : BILLS SENATORS

The Buffalo Bills NFL team, founded in 1959, was named after an earlier team with the same name that had merged with the Cleveland Browns back in 1950. The “Bills” name was obviously popular with fans, as the name was chosen in a public contest. The older team had been named for “Buffalo Bill” Cody. The team mascot is Billy Buffalo, and the cheerleaders are known as the Buffalo Jills.

The Senators are the NHL hockey team based in Ottawa, Canada. The current team, founded in the 1992-93 season, is the second NHL team in the city to use the name “Senators”. The original team was founded in 1917, and had a very successful run until the league expanded into the US in the late twenties. The cost of operating in what became the smallest NHL city eventually drove the Senators to St. Louis where they played for a year as the Eagles before finally folding.

28 Meat and potatoes, often : ENTREE

“Entrée” means “entry” in French. An entrée can be something that helps one get “a way in”, an interview for example perhaps helped along by a recommendation letter. In Europe, even in English-speaking countries, the entrée is the name for the “entry” to the meal, the first course. I found the ordering of meals to be very confusing when I first came to America!

31 __ canto : BEL

“Bel canto” is a term used in Italian opera, the literal translation of which is “beautiful singing”. The term specifically describes a style of singing that emphasizes beauty of tone over dramatic power.

38 Works as a weatherperson? : BRAVES HURRICANES

The Atlanta Braves are the only team to have won baseball’s World Series in three different home cities. They won as the Boston Braves in 1914, the Milwaukee Braves in 1957 and the Atlanta Braves in 1995.

The Carolina Hurricanes are a professional hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The team was founded as the New England Whalers, when they were located in Boston, and then Hartford, Connecticut. The Whalers moved to Raleigh in 1997, and became the Hurricane.

44 Dory pal : NEMO

“Finding Nemo” is a 2003 animated blockbuster from Pixar. The film was the winner of the Oscar that year for Best Animated Feature. Believe it or not, “Finding Nemo” is the best-selling DVD of all time and, until 2010’s “Toy Story 3”, it was the highest-grossing, G-rated movie at the box office.

Pixar’s 2016 animated feature “Finding Dory” is a sequel to the megahit film “Finding Nemo”. “Finding Dory” seems to have built on the success of its predecessor and had the highest-grossing opening weekend ever in North America for an animated movie.

45 Fender accessory : AMP

The company that made Fender electric guitars was founded in Fullerton, California in 1946, by Leo Fender.

47 World’s second-tallest bird : EMU

The world’s tallest bird is the common ostrich (9.2 feet). The smallest is the bee hummingbird (2-2.4 inches).

48 Souped-up ride : HOT ROD

A hot rod is an American car that has been modified for speed by installing a larger than normal engine. A street rod is generally a more comfortable type of hot rod, with the emphasis less on the engine and more on custom paint jobs and interiors. By definition, a street rod must be based on an automobile design that originated prior to 1949.

50 Works as a fast-food cook? : BROWNS NUGGETS

The Cleveland Browns football team was a charter member of the All-American Football Conference, formed in 1946. Cleveland is the only NFL city that has never hosted nor sent a team to the Super Bowl. And, the Browns are the only NFL team without a logo on their helmets.

The Denver Nuggets basketball team was a founding member of the American Basketball Association in 1967, at which time they were known as the Denver Rockets. The team name was changed in 1974 as the franchise planned its transition to the NBA. The name change was needed as the NBA already had the Houston Rockets. As is tradition, the new name was chosen in a fan contest.

55 Capital once called Christiania : OSLO

Oslo, the capital of Norway, is an ancient city that was founded around 1048. The medieval city was destroyed by fire in 1624 and was rebuilt by the Danish-Norwegian king Christian IV and renamed to Christiania. In 1877 there was an official change of the spelling of the city’s name to “Kristiana”, and then more recently in 1925 the name was restored to the original Oslo. Things have almost gone full circle and now the center of Oslo, the area that would have been contained by the original medieval walls, has apparently been renamed to Christiania.

57 Sport with takedowns, for short : MMA

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact combat sport in which competitors use a variety of techniques from a variety of traditional combat sports and martial arts.

60 Horned herbivore : RHINO

There are five types of rhinoceros that survive today, with the smaller Javan Rhino being the most rare. The rhinoceros is probably the rarest large mammal on the planet, thanks to poaching. Hunters mainly prize the horn of the rhino as it is used in powdered form in traditional Chinese medicine.

64 Toy truck brand : TONKA

The toy manufacturer today known as Tonka started out as a manufacturer of garden implements in Mound, Minnesota in 1946. By 1955, toys had become the main product line for the company. At that time the owners decided to change the company name and opted for “Tonka”, a Dakota Sioux word meaning “great, big”.

65 Ski town outside Salt Lake City :

Alta ski resort actually lies within the Salt Lake City Metropolitan Area. The first ski lift in the resort was opened way back in 1939. Today, Alta is one of only three ski resorts in the country that prohibits snowboarding (along with Deer Valley, Utah and Mad River Glen, Vermont). The ski resort of Snowbird, located next to Alta, has been in operation since 1971.

68 Cond. once called shell shock : PTSD

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

69 Car rental choice : SEDAN

The American sedan car is the equivalent of the British and Irish saloon car. By definition, a sedan car has two rows of seating and a separate trunk (boot in Britain and Ireland), although in some models the engine can be at the rear of the car.

Down

1 Icy Hot target : ACHE

Icy Hot is a topical heat rub that is used to relieve muscular discomfort and pain from arthritis and rheumatism. The active ingredient doesn’t provide any heat or cold, but it does stimulate nerve receptors in the skin causing the user to experience a cool sensation followed by warmth.

6 Boor : CHURL

A churl is a rude, boorish person. The word “churl” comes from the Old English word “ceorl”, meaning “freeman of the lowest class”.

8 Kicks with swooshes : NIKES

I remember seeing a lady named Carolyn Davidson on the television show “I’ve Got a Secret”. Davidson created the Nike “swoosh” back in 1971 when she was a design student at Portland State. She did it as freelance work for Blue Ribbon Sports, a local company introducing a new line of athletic footwear. The “swoosh” is taken from the wing of the Greek goddess of victory, Nike. Years later, BRS changed its name to Nike, so I suppose the company should be grateful to Carolyn for both the great design, and a great company name.

10 “Notorious” SCOTUS justice : RBG

The 2015 book “Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg” was co-written by Shana Knizhnik and Iris Carmon. Knizhnik had previously authored a “Notorious R.B.G” blog. The moniker “Notorious RBG” is reminiscent of the name of rap star the Notorious B.I.G.

11 Participate in a meting? : ALLOT

To mete out is to distribute by allotments. The verb comes from the Old English word “metan” meaning “to measure”, which is also believed to be the root of our word “meter”.

14 “Friday Night Lights” city : ODESSA

“Friday Night Lights” is a TV series about a high school football team in the fictional town of Dillon, Texas. The television show was inspired by the book “Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, and a Dream”, as well as the 2004 movie based on the book. I binge-watched the show some years back, and really enjoyed the characters and the writing …

19 Big name in bananas : DOLE

James Dole lent his name to today’s Dole Food Company. He was known as the Pineapple King, as he developed the pineapple industry in Hawaii and founded the Hawaiian Pineapple Company, the forerunner to the Dole Food Company. Dole might have had some help on the way, as he was a cousin of Sanford B, Dole, President of the Republic of Hawaii from 1894 to 1900.

25 Film critic Roger : EBERT

Roger Ebert was a film critic for “The Chicago Sun-Times” for 50 years. He also co-hosted a succession of film review television programs for over 23 years, most famously with Gene Siskel until Siskel passed away in 1999. Siskel and Ebert famously gave their thumbs up or thumbs down to the movies they reviewed. Ebert was the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, which he did in 1975. He was diagnosed and treated for thyroid cancer in 2002, and finally succumbed to a recurrence of the disease in April 2013.

26 Classic grape soda : NEHI

The Nehi cola brand has a name that sounds like “knee-high”, a measure of a small stature. Back in the mid-1900’s the Chero-Cola company, which owned the brand, went for a slightly different twist on “knee-high” in advertising. The logo for Nehi was an image of a seated woman’s stockinged legs, with her skirt pulled up to her knees to hint at “knee-high”.

27 Oscar winner Guinness : ALEC

Sir Alec Guinness played many great roles over a long and distinguished career, but nowadays is best remembered (sadly, I think) for playing the original Obi-Wan Kenobi in “Star Wars”. He won his only Best Actor Oscar for playing Colonel Nicholson in the marvelous 1957 WWII movie “The Bridge on the River Kwai”. Guinness did himself serve during the Second World War, in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve. He commanded a landing craft during the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943.

29 55-Across’s country: Abbr. : NOR
[55A Capital once called Christiania : OSLO]

Norway has been ranked as the country in the world with the highest standard of living almost every year since 2001. It is rich in natural resources and has a relatively low population. The people benefit from a comprehensive social security system, subsidized higher education for all citizens and universal health care. And Norway is famous for her success at the Winter Olympic Games, having won more gold medals than any other nation in the world.

30 Helpful item when it’s time to bounce? : TRAMPOLINE

The first modern trampoline was developed in 1936. The apparatus was given its name from the Spanish “trampolín” meaning “diving board”. Trampolines were used during WWII in the training of pilots, to give them exposure to some spatial orientations that would be encountered during flight. Trampolines were also used by astronauts training in the space flight program. The sport of trampolining became an Olympic event starting in the 2000 Games.

34 Sheep in the “Wallace and Gromit” franchise : SHAUN

“Shaun the Sheep” is a popular children’s TV show in Britain and Ireland. The title character first appeared in the even more popular “Wallace and Gromit”. Famously, both shows are created using stop-motion animation.

35 Puffin kin : AUK

Auks are penguin-like sea birds that live in colder northern waters including the Arctic. Like penguins, auks are great swimmers, but unlike penguins, auks can fly.

40 Virtual people in a video game : SIMS

SimCity is a very clever computer game. Players build and grow cities and societies by creating the conditions necessary for people (the Sims) to move in and thrive. SimCity was launched in 1989, and to this day it is consistently ranked as one of the greatest computer games of all time.

41 Dashboard Confessional genre : EMO

Dashboard Confessional is an emo band from Boca Raton, Florida.

46 1990s series starring David Cross and Bob Odenkirk : MR SHOW

“Mr. Show with Bob and David” is a sketch comedy series, hosted by and starring actor/comedians Bob Odenkirk and David Cross, that originally aired from 1995 to 1998. I haven’t seen this one yet, and just added it to “my list”. I hear good things …

49 River rompers : OTTERS

Male and female otters are known as dogs and bitches, with the offspring called pups. Males and females are sometimes referred to as boars and sows. A collection of otters is a bevy, family, lodge or perhaps a romp. When in water, a collection of otters can be called a raft.

51 Wilder role : WONKA

Willy Wonka is the lead character in the 1964 novel by Roald Dahl called “Charlie & the Chocolate Factory”. Wonka has been portrayed on the big screen twice. Gene Wilder was a fabulous Wonka in the 1971 version titled “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory”, and Johnny Depp played him in the Tim Burton movie from 2005 called “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. I’m not too fond of Tim Burton movies, so I haven’t seen that one …

58 Tamale dough : MASA

“Masa” is the Spanish word for “dough”, with the term often used as an abbreviated form of “masa de maíz”. Masa is used to make tortillas and tamales, for example.

61 Dory mover : OAR

A dory is a small boat that’s around 20 feet long with a shallow draft, a flat bottom and a sharp bow. Dories are commonly used for fishing.

62 Kwik Seal maker : DAP

DAP Products is a manufacturer of sealants and adhesives. DAP was co-founded in 1865 by Robert H. Dicks, who supplied sealing wax for canning, working out of his garage in Dayton, Ohio. Dicks’ company went through several mergers and acquisitions over the years, resulting in the company name “Dicks-Armstrong-Pontius”, which the marketing guys shortened to “DAP”.

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