Category: Deanne Cliburn

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Constructed by: Deanne Cliburn & Will Eisenberg
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Moves

Themed answers look like common phrases, with the second word starting with S. But, that S has been moved to the end of the first word, creating a possessive:

• 19A Having to watch the hare win over and over, perhaps : TORTOISE’S HELL(from “tortoiseshell”)
• 27A Cabbie who picks up crustaceans, perhaps : CRAB’S HACK (from “crab shack”)
• 35A Birdhouse opening, perhaps : CARDINAL’S IN (from “cardinal sin”)
• 43A Device needed to renovate a small pad, perhaps : TOAD’S TOOL (from “toadstool”)
• 54A Legal proceeding in the grazing meadow, perhaps : SHEEP’S HEARING (from “sheepshearing”)

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

Bill’s time: 10m 35s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Goal for some night sch. students : GED

The General Educational Development (GED) tests are a battery of four tests designed to demonstrate that a student has the academic skills of someone who has graduated from an American or Canadian high school.

4 Class for a 1L : TORTS

“Tort” is a French word meaning “mischief, injury or wrong”. In common law, a tort is a civil wrong that results in the injured party suffering loss or harm, and the injuring party having a legal liability. Tort law differs from criminal law in that torts may result from negligence and not just intentional actions. Also, tort lawsuits may be decided on a preponderance of evidence, without the need of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

“One L” is a name used in general for first-year law students, especially those attending Harvard.

9 Device with 1080p resolution, e.g. : HDTV

When we buy an HDTV, our display resolution choices might be:

• 1080i (1920 × 1080 split into two interlaced fields of 540 lines)
• 1080p (1920 × 1080 progressive scan)

When we splash out for a UHDTV, the choices are:

• 4K UHD (3840 × 2160 progressive scan)
• 8K UHD (7680 × 4320 progressive scan)

13 Actor Malek : RAMI

Actor Rami Malek’s big break came with the leading role in the television series “Mr. Robot”. In 2018, Malik gave an Oscar-winning performance playing Freddie Mercury in the hit biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody”. That marked the first time that an actor of Egyptian descent won an Academy Award for Best Actor.

14 Star ingredient in Chinese five-spice powder? : ANISE

Star anise is a spice similar to anise in flavor, even though it is obtained from an evergreen tree native to Vietnam and southwest China that is unrelated to the anise plant. The spice is obtained from the tree’s star-shaped fruits.

Five-spice powder is a mixture of five spices that is used in some Asian and Arabic cuisines. The five ingredients can vary, but a common formulation is:

• Star anise
• Cloves
• Chinese cinnamon
• Sichuan pepper
• Fennel seeds

15 Irish cheddar? : EURO

Apparently, we’ve been using the terms “cheddar” and “cheese” as slang terms for money since WWII. The suggestion is that it is a reference to the big lump of cheese that was routinely included in a welfare package issued after the war.

17 Bushel fractions : PECKS

A peck is a dry measure of volume equal to a quarter of a bushel. The term can be used figuratively to mean a considerable quantity in general, as in the phrase “a peck of trouble”.

18 “Call Her Daddy” podcast host Cooper : ALEX

Podcaster Alexandra Cooper is perhaps best known for co-creating and hosting the podcast “Call Her Daddy”. It’s a popular podcast, so Spotify started paying her $20 million per year to continue hosting, starting in 2021. Yep, 20 million dollars …

19 Having to watch the hare win over and over, perhaps : TORTOISE’S HELL (from “tortoiseshell”)

“The Tortoise and the Hare” is perhaps the most famous fable attributed to Aesop. The cocky hare takes a nap during a race against the tortoise, and the tortoise sneaks past the finish line for the win while his speedier friend is sleeping.

23 March VIP : ST PAT

The first Saint Patrick’s Day celebration in the US was held in 1600, in St. Augustine, Florida. There is some evidence that the first St. Paddy’s Day parade was held the following year, in the same locale. The annual parade in Boston dates back to 1737, in New York City dates back to 1762, and in Chicago dates back to 1843.

26 Timetable locale : DEPOT

Our term “depot”, meaning “station, warehouse”, comes from the French word “dépôt”. The French term translates into English as “deposit” or “place of deposit”.

27 Cabbie who picks up crustaceans, perhaps : CRAB’S HACK (from “crab shack”)

Hackney is a location in London, and it probably gave its name to a “hackney”, an ordinary type of horse around 1300. By 1700 a “hackney” was a person hired to do routine work, and “hackneyed” meant “kept for hire”, and then “stale, uninteresting”. This morphed into a hackney carriage, a carriage or car for hire, and into “hack”, a slang term for a taxi driver or cab.

35 Birdhouse opening, perhaps : CARDINAL’S IN (from “cardinal sin”)

Cardinals are a family of birds that inhabit the Americas. The northern cardinal is the species from which the family gets the cardinal name. It was named by early settlers from Europe for the red crest on the male, the color of which resembled the color of a Roman Catholic cardinal’s biretta (a square cap).

The cardinal sins of Christian ethics are also known as the seven deadly sins. The seven sins are:

• Wrath
• Greed
• Sloth
• Pride
• Lust
• Envy
• Gluttony

43 Device needed to renovate a small pad, perhaps : TOAD’S TOOL (from “toadstool”)

“Toadstool” is an alternative name for a mushroom, although these days the term tends to be reserved for mushrooms that are poisonous.

58 Besmirch : SOIL

“Besmirch” is a derivative of “smirch”, with both words meaning to “make dirty”. In particular, to besmirch is to sully someone’s reputation.

61 East, in El Salvador : ESTE

El Salvador is a nation in Central America, the smallest country in the region. The capital of El Salvador is the city of San Salvador. “El Salvador” is derived from the name given to the land by the Spanish conquistadors in the sixteenth century: “Provincia De Nuestro Señor Jesucristo, El Salvador Del Mundo”, which translates as “Province of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World”.

65 Minor name in constellations? : URSA

Ursa Minor (Latin for “Smaller Bear”) sits right beside the constellation Draco (Latin for “Dragon”). Ursa Minor used to be considered the wing of Draco, and was once called “Dragon’s Wing”. The tail of the “Smaller Bear” might also be considered as the handle of a ladle, and so the constellation is often referred to as the Little Dipper.

66 Doctrine : DOGMA

A dogma is a set of beliefs. The plural of “dogma” is “dogmata” (or “dogmas”, if you’re not a pedant like me!)

67 Carry-on inspectors: Abbr. : TSA

Transportation Security Administration (TSA)

Down

1 In spades : GALORE

Our word “galore”, meaning “in great numbers”, comes from the Irish phrase “go leór” that translates as “sufficiently, enough”.

The phrase “in spades” meaning “in abundance” dates back to the late twenties. The term probably comes from the game of bridge, in which spades are the highest-ranking suit.

3 Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, for one : DIET SODA

Coca-Cola Zero was launched in 2005, and marketed as a drink that tasted exactly like Coca-Cola even though it contained no sugar. “Coke Zero” was reformulated in 2017 and rebranded as “Coca-Cola Zero Sugar”.

4 Herbivore with a short proboscis : TAPIR

All four species of tapir are endangered. Even though the tapir looks much like a pig, it is more closely related to the horse and the rhinoceros.

A proboscis is a long appendage attached to the head of an animal, and is sometimes referred to as an elongated “nose”. Many an insect has a proboscis, as does an elephant.

6 Sushi component : RICE

Sushi is a Japanese dish that has as its primary ingredient cooked, vinegared rice. The rice is usually topped with something, most often fish, and can be served in seaweed rolls. If we want raw fish by itself, then we have to order sashimi.

8 Casual get-together : SESH

Session (abbreviated to “sess.” formally, and “sesh” informally)

12 News site that hosts the “Future Perfect” reporting project : VOX

“Vox” is a news and opinion website that was founded by former “Washington Post” journalist Ezra Klein in 2014. “Vox” is Latin for “voice”.

20 The “O” of North Carolina’s OBX : OUTER

The Outer Banks (abbreviated to “OBX”) are a 200-mile long chain of barrier islands lying just off the coast of North Carolina (and a small section of Virginia). The seas of the Outer Banks have a reputation as being very treacherous and so are nicknamed the Graveyard of the Atlantic.

21 First of September? : ESS

The first letter in the word “September” is a letter S (ess).

25 Bout-ending decision : TKO

Technical knockout (TKO)

29 Law that led to many curb cuts, for short : ADA

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)

35 Ocean Spray snack : CRAISINS

“Craisin” is a registered trademark owned by Ocean Spray, and is used to describe dried cranberries, cranberries that look like raisins. An ingredient in my overnight oats breakfast most mornings …

37 Commuter’s way around Philly : SEPTA

Public transportation in and around Philadelphia is managed by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA).

44 National flower of Mexico : DAHLIA

The dahlia is a flowering plant native to Mexico and Central America. It was named the national flower of Mexico relatively recently, in 1963. The plant was given the name “dahlia” in 1791, in honor of Swedish botanist Anders Dahl.

46 Hebrew toast : L’CHAIM

“L’Chaim!” is a Hebrew toast meaning “To life!”, with “chai” being the Hebrew word for “life”.

49 Compact Nissan : SENTRA

The Nissan Sentra is sold as the Nissan Sunny back in Japan.

53 Insurer owned by CVS : AETNA

When the healthcare management and insurance company known as Aetna was founded, the name was chosen to evoke images of Mount Etna, the Italian volcano.

56 __ stick : POGO

What we know today as a pogo stick was invented in Germany by Max Pohlig and Ernst Gottschall. The name “pogo” comes from the first two letters in each of the inventors’ family names: Po-hlig and Go-ttschall. The highest jump on a pogo stick was achieved by Fred Grzybowski in 2010. He jumped over three cars and reached a height of 9 feet, 6 inches.

58 The Mustangs of the ACC : SMU

Southern Methodist University (SMU) is located in University Park, Texas (part of Dallas) and was founded in 1911. The school’s athletic teams are known as the Mustangs. Also, SMU is home to the George W. Bush Presidential Library.