Category: Doug Peterson

Advertisement

Constructed by: Ralph Sharaga & Doug Peterson

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: Book Reports

Themed answers are common phrases reinterpreted as REPORTS from someone giving praise for BOOKS cited in the corresponding clues:

• 23A Praise for a Cy Young biography? : PITCH PERFECT
• 33A Praise for a meditation guide? : BREATHTAKING
• 53A Praise for a rock climber’s diary? : GRIPPING STORY
• 70A Praise for a mechanic’s handbook? : FIRES ON ALL CYLINDERS
• 89A Praise for a Hope Diamond history? : AN ABSOLUTE GEM
• 102A Praise for a bartender’s manual? : FULL OF TWISTS
• 119A Praise for a scuba diver’s memoir? : DEEPLY MOVING

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

Bill’s time: 14m 10s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

12A Pricey German cars : BMWS

The initialism “BMW” stands for “Bayerische Motoren Werke”, which translates into Bavarian Motor Works. BMW was making aircraft engines during WWI, but had to cease that activity according to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The company then started making motorcycles, and moved into automobile production starting in 1928. BMW moved back into aircraft engine manufacturing during the build-up of the Luftwaffe prior to WWII.

21A Honolulu Museum of Art’s location : OAHU

The Honolulu Museum of Art (HoMA) was founded in 1922 by art patron Anna Rice Cooke and opened to the public in 1927. By the 1920s, Cooke’s personal collection of over 4,000 pieces had completely overrun her private residence. Rather than stash the works in storage, she made the radical decision to literally tear down her own home to build a dedicated museum on its exact footprint.

23A Praise for a Cy Young biography? : PITCH PERFECT

Cy Young was a pitcher in the major leagues from 1890-1911. Young is remembered for pitching the first perfect game of baseball’s modern era. Soon after he died in 1955, the Cy Young Award was created and is presented to the best pitcher in each baseball season.

25A “Voyage to India” singer : ARIE

“Voyage to India” is a 2002 studio album released by singer India Arie. The album’s title is the name of an instrumental written and released by Stevie Wonder, a performer much admired by Arie.

26A “The Mole” host Shapiro : ARI

Ari Shapiro served very ably as White House correspondent for National Public Radio (NPR) for several years. He then became a co-host of the network’s drive-time program “All Things Considered” in 2015. When he’s not working, Shapiro likes to sing. He appears regularly as a guest singer with the group Pink Martini, and has appeared on several of the band’s albums. He also turned up as host of the seventh season of the reality game show “The Mole”.

30A Mineral in hemoglobin : IRON

Hemoglobin is the iron-rich metalloprotein in red blood cells responsible for transporting oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. Its name combines the Greek word “haima” (blood) and the Latin word “globus” (sphere, globe) to literally translate as “blood spheres”. Austrian-born British molecular biologist Max Perutz unraveled hemoglobin’s complex three-dimensional structure using X-ray crystallography, earning him a share in the 1962 Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

31A Slaw, e.g. : SIDE

The term “coleslaw” is an Anglicized version of the Dutch term “koolsla”, which in itself is a shortened form of “Koolsalade” meaning “cabbage salad”.

37A Lifesaving pro : EMT

Emergency medical technician (EMT)

43A Trade fair : EXPO

The first World’s Fair was held in 1851, known back then as the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations. The fair was the idea of Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria. It was held in a magnificent glass and cast-iron structure called the Crystal Palace that was purpose-built for the occasion. The Great Exhibition spawned a tradition of what became known as World’s Fairs, expositions that feature national pavilions created by participating countries. The term “Expo” was coined for Expo 67, a 1967 World’s Fair held in Montreal. Since then, we’ve been using “expo” to describe any large exposition or trade show.

44A Cell service initials : LTE

In the world of telecommunications, the initialism LTE stands for Long-Term Evolution, and is a wireless broadband communication standard. In general terms, LTE improves broadband speeds. As I understand it, LTE technology allows a 3G network to perform almost as well as a true 4G network, and so LTE is sometimes marketed as 4G LTE, even though it’s really “3G plus”.

45A Baltic capital : RIGA

Riga is the capital city of Latvia. The historical center of Riga is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, declared as such because of the city’s magnificent examples of Art Nouveau architecture. In fact, Riga has the largest collection of Art Nouveau buildings in the world, with over 750 buildings in the city center designed in the style.

47A Toy with a Botanicals line : LEGO

LEGO launched the Botanical Collection in 2021, starting with kits that created a Bonsai Tree and a Flower Bouquet. The line was so popular that sets for constructing birds of paradise flowers, orchids and succulents soon followed.

50A UV-filtering measurement : SPF

Sun protection factor (SPF)

58A “Priscilla” writer/director Coppola : SOFIA

Sofia Coppola is a filmmaker, following in the footsteps of her father Francis Ford Coppola. She has made some very interesting films, with “Lost in Translation” (2003) and “Marie Antoinette” (2006) being my personal favorites. Before turning to filmmaking, Coppola appeared in front of the camera in several films. She was an infant at a baptism in “The Godfather”, an immigrant child in “The Godfather Part II”, and Michael Corleone’s daughter Mary in “The Godfather Part III”.

Sofia Coppola’s 2023 biographical drama “Priscilla” is based on Priscilla Presley’s 1985 memoir “Elvis and Me”. The film centers on Priscilla’s perspective of her complicated romantic relationship with Elvis, beginning when she was 14 and he was 24. Notably, the film does not feature Elvis Presley’s original music on its soundtrack, because his estate withheld music rights.

59A Branch of Islam : SHIA

Shiism, the second-largest branch of Islam, distinguishes itself from Sunni Islam primarily through its belief in the rightful succession of leadership after the Prophet Muhammad. Shia Muslims believe that leadership should have passed to Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, Ali, and his descendants, known as Imams, whom they consider divinely appointed and infallible. In contrast, Sunni Muslims believe that the Prophet Muhammad did not explicitly designate a successor, and that leadership should be determined through consensus among the Muslim community.

60A Can openers : TABS

The term “pop-top” refers to a whole family of designs for opening the top of a soda can. The oldest method is the “pull tab” or “ring pull”, invented in the US by Ermal Fraze in 1959. The design was long-lived, but it had its problems, so the world heaved a sigh of relief with the invention of the stay-on-tab in 1975. The new design led to fewer injuries and eliminated all those used pull tabs that littered the streets.

62A Showbiz grand slam : EGOT

Emmy, Grammy, Oscar & Tony Awards (EGOT)

70A Praise for a mechanic’s handbook? : FIRES ON ALL CYLINDERS

To be firing on all cylinders is to be operating to full potential. The etymology is perhaps obvious. An internal combustion engine with say a faulty distributor or spark plug might have a cylinder that is misfiring. An engine NOT firing on all cylinders is NOT operating to full potential.

74A Cross-examination follower : REDIRECT

In courtroom procedure, a redirect examination is essentially the legal equivalent of damage control. Following cross-examination by opposing counsel, the attorney who originally called the witness is granted one final opportunity to question them. The rules of evidence dictate that this follow-up cannot introduce entirely new topics or surprise testimony. The questioning is limited to clarifying or repairing any vulnerabilities exposed during the cross-examination.

75A __ & Chandon Champagne : MOET

Moët & Chandon is a French winery, and one of the world’s largest producers of champagne. The company was founded by wine trader Claude Moët in 1743. The name was changed to Moët & Chandon in the 1830s when Pierre-Gabriel Chandon, an in-law to the Moët family, was given co-ownership. Moët & Chandon owns the famous Dom Pérignon brand name, honoring the Benedictine monk who did so much to improve the quality of champagne.

81A Like rams : MALE

An adult male sheep is a ram, although a castrated ram is known as a wether. An adult female is a ewe, and a young sheep is a lamb.

86A __ 500 : DAYTONA

The coastal city of Daytona Beach in Florida is known for hard-packed sand on the beach. This makes a good surface for driving motorized vehicles, and resulted in Daytona Beach becoming a center for motorsports. The Daytona 500 is the event with the largest purse on the NASCAR calendar.

89A Praise for a Hope Diamond history? : AN ABSOLUTE GEM

The Hope Diamond is a very large stone (45.52 carats) that is a deep blue color due to trace amounts of boron found within the crystal structure. The diamond has quite a history, the legend being that in its original (larger) form it was the eye in a sculpted statue of a Hindu god. It passed through a number of hands, being recut at least twice, and in the 19th century ended up in the collection of an Anglo-Dutch banker called Henry Philip Hope, whose name is currently used for the gem. Eventually it fell into the hands of a New York diamond merchant called Harry Winston who agreed to donate it to the Smithsonian. To deliver the diamond to its new owners, Winston popped the gem into a plain brown paper bag and sent it through the US Mail!

93A Like part of a corkscrew : HELICAL

The plural of “helix” is “helices”. Well, it used to be …

95A Luxury shoe brand : TOD’S

Tod’s is a luxury Italian fashion company founded in 1920 that is best known these days for its shoes. The “Tod’s” label came, not from a family namesake, but rather from a random Boston telephone directory. In the 1970s, CEO Diego Della Valle sought an easy-to-pronounce, American-sounding name to attract high-end New York consumers, arbitrarily selecting “J.P. Tod’s” before eventually dropping the initials in 1999.

96A Copenhagen resident : DANE

Copenhagen is the largest city and the capital of Denmark. I haven’t had the privilege of visiting Copenhagen, but I hear it is a wonderful metropolis with a marvelous quality of life. The city is also very environmentally friendly, with over a third of its population commuting to work by bicycle.

97A Galahad’s title : SIR

Sir Galahad was one of the Knights of the Round Table of Arthurian legend. Galahad is the illegitimate son of Sir Lancelot, so appears a little later in the tales. He is very gallant and noble, and some see him as the embodiment of Jesus in the Arthurian tradition. Indeed, legend has it that his soul was brought to heaven by Joseph of Arimathea, the man who donated his own tomb for the burial of Jesus according to the Gospels.

101A Tyrannosaurus __ : REX

The Tyrannosaurus rex (usually written “T-rex”) was a spectacular looking dinosaur. “Tyrannosaurus” comes from the Greek words “tyrannos” (tyrant) and “sauros” (lizard) and “rex” the Latin for “king”. They were big beasts, measuring 42 feet long and 13 feet tall at the hips, and weighing 7.5 tons.

107A Nutrition figs. : RDAS

Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA)

110A “Muy __” : BIEN

In Spanish, something might be described as “muy bien” (very good).

111A Belfry sound : PEAL

In the bellringing art form, a “peal” isn’t just a random tolling of bells, but a mathematical marathon of sound. To ring a true, full peal, a team must strike over 5,000 (!) distinct sequences without a single break, error, or repetition. This feat requires roughly three uninterrupted hours of synchronized ringing by a team. The first officially recorded true peal was rung in England in 1715, establishing a standard that modern bell ringers still strive to achieve.

114A Burkina Faso neighbor : MALI

The Republic of Mali is a landlocked country in western Africa located south of Algeria. Formerly known as French Sudan, the nation’s most famous city is Timbuktu. Mali is the third-largest producer of gold on the continent, after South Africa and Ghana.

Burkina Faso is an inland country in western Africa. The country used to be called the Republic of Upper Volta and was renamed in 1984 to “Burkina Faso”, meaning “the land of upright people”.

117A “Houdini” singer Lipa : DUA

“Houdini” is a 2023 song co-written and recorded by Dua Lipa. It was the lead single from her 2024 studio album “Radical Optimism”.

118A Six-time Emmy winner Tyne : DALY

Actress Tyne Daly really came into the public eye playing Detective Lacey in “Cagney and Lacey”. From 1999 to 2005, Daly played the mother of the title character in the TV show “Judging Amy”.

119A Praise for a scuba diver’s memoir? : DEEPLY MOVING

The self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) was co-invented by celebrated French marine explorer Jacques Cousteau.

124A Designer Gucci : ALDO

Gucci was founded in Florence, in 1921, by Guccio Gucci. Guccio’s son Aldo took over the company after his father’s death in 1953. It was Aldo who established the international presence for the brand and opened the company’s first overseas store, in New York City.

125A Snoring cause : APNEA

Sleep apnea (“apnoea” in British English) can be caused by an obstruction in the airways, possibly due to obesity or enlarged tonsils.

126A 30-Across deficiency : ANEMIA
30A Mineral in hemoglobin : IRON

The term “anemia” (or “anaemia”, as we write it back in Ireland) comes from a Greek word meaning “lack of blood”. Anemia is a lack of iron in the blood, or a low red blood cell count. Tiredness is a symptom of the condition, and so we use the term “anemic” figuratively to mean “lacking in vitality or substance”.

128A Fromage hue : BLEU

Being a bit of a French speaker (admittedly, a very poor one), the term “bleu cheese” has always kind of irritated me. I would prefer that we use either “blue cheese” or “fromage bleu” and not mix the languages, but then I can be annoyingly picky! It’s said that blue cheese was probably discovered accidentally, as molds tend to develop in the same conditions that are best for storing cheese. The blue mold in the cheese is introduced by adding Penicillium spores before the cheese is allowed to set. And yes, it’s the same mold that is used to produce penicillin, the antibiotic.

129A Party spreads : PATES

Pâté is a rich, spreadable paste made from a mixture of ground meat and fat to which various vegetables, herbs and spices may be added. The most famous version of the paste is pâté de foie gras, which is made from the fattened livers of geese (“foie gras” means “fat liver” in French).

Down

7D Uttar Pradesh tourist city : AGRA

The nation of India comprises 28 states and 8 union territories. The largest state by area is Rajasthan, in the northwest of the country. The most populous state is the neighboring Uttar Pradesh.

8D __ Punk: “Get Lucky” duo : DAFT

Daft Punk was an electronic music duo from Paris, France that formed in 1993, with members Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter. The pair split up in 2021.

9D Nerdy type : DWEEB

“Dweeb” is relatively recent American slang that came out of college life in the late sixties. Dweeb, squarepants, nerd; they’re all not-nice terms that mean the same thing, i.e. someone excessively studious and socially inept.

10D The NBA’s Thunder, on scoreboards : OKC

Oklahoma City (OKC)

The Oklahoma City Thunder NBA team arrived in 2008 after relocating from Seattle, where they were named the SuperSonics. The “Thunder” name was chosen as a reference to Oklahoma City’s exposure to the storms of Tornado Alley, and to the 45th Infantry Division “Thunderbirds” who were headquartered there until 1968.

11D “The Daily” podcast producer, briefly : NYT

“The Daily” is a very popular daily news podcast produced by “The New York Times” that first aired in 2017. The main feature of the show is interviews with journalists and people involved in the big stories of the day.

13D Heron habitat : MARSH

Herons are birds with long legs that inhabit freshwater and coastal locales. Some herons are routinely referred to as egrets, and others as bitterns. Herons look a lot like storks and cranes, but differ in their appearance in flight. Herons fly with their necks retracted in an S-shape, whereas storks and cranes have their necks extended.

16D Centipede maker : ATARI

Centipede is an arcade game from Atari (it is my favorite!). The game was designed by Ed Logg and Dona Bailey, with Bailey being one of the few female game designers back then (it was released in 1981). Perhaps due to her influence, Centipede was the first arcade game to garner a significant female following.

17D Fifth element on the periodic table : BORON

Boron is the chemical element with the atomic number of 5 and symbol B. It lies over to the right in Group 13 of the Periodic Table of the Elements. Uncombined, elemental boron is not found naturally on Earth. The boron that is mined is found in oxide form, and not as uncombined boron.

24D Natural rolls, in craps : ELEVENS

In the gambling game of craps, a throw of seven or eleven on the first cast of the dice is called a “natural”.

29D Tropical fruit : PAPAYA

The papaya (also “papaw”) tropical fruit is native to Mexico and South America. Female papaya trees produce just one, high-quality fruit per tree. Male plants produce several fruit per tree, but they are very poor quality. When cultivating papaya trees, commercial growers prefer hermaphrodite plants, which self-pollinate and yield high quantities of quality fruit per tree.

30D 1950s prez : IKE

When the future president was growing up, the Eisenhowers used the nickname “Ike” for all seven boys in the family, as “Ike” was seen as an abbreviation for the family name. “Big Ike” was Edgar, the second oldest boy. “Little/Young Ike” was Dwight, who was the third son born. Dwight had no sisters.

32D Big name in surrealism : DALI

The famous surrealist Salvador Dalí was born in Figueres, Spain. I had the privilege of visiting the Dalí Museum in Figueres some years ago, just north of Barcelona. If you ever get the chance, it’s a “must-see” as it really is a quite magnificent building with a fascinating collection of art.

The cultural movement known as Surrealism emerged in the 1920s, and grew out of the Dada activities that were a response to WWI. The term “surrealist” was coined by Guillaume Apollinaire, when he used it in the preface of his play “Les Mamelles de Tirésias”.

36D Flour for some flatbread : ATTA

Atta is a whole-wheat flour used to make flatbreads in South Asian cuisine, such as chapati and roti. “Atta” is the Hindi or Urdu word for “dough”.

37D Crew team’s workout machines : ERGS

An indoor rowing machine is often referred to as an ergometer (or simply “erg”). However, the term “ergometer” really applies to a device that measures the amount of work performed.

38D Big name in surrealism : MIRO

Joan Miró was a Spanish artist. He immersed himself in Surrealism, so much so that Andre Breton, the founder of the movement, said that Miró was “the most Surrealist of us all”. There are two museums dedicated to Miró’s work. The Fundació Joan Miró is in his native Barcelona, and the Fundació Miró Mallorca is in Palma de Mallorca, where the artist spent much of his life.

39D Chili’s rival : TGI FRIDAYS

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.

42D Bilingual “Sesame Street” Muppet : ROSITA

On the children’s television show “Sesame Street”, Rosita is a character who is fluent in both English and Spanish. Rosita is operated by Puppeteer Carmen Osbahr. Osbahr originally worked on “Plaza Sésamo”, which is the version of Sesame Street that is broadcast in Mexico.

46D Beekeeper : APIARIST

Something described as apian is related to bees. “Apis” is Latin for “bee”.

49D Cold yogurt drink : LASSI

Lassi is a yogurt-based drink from India. Popular variants are namkeen lassi (which is salty), sweet lassi and mango lassi. There is even a bhang lassi, which is infused with a liquid derivative of cannabis.

50D No. 1 hit from the album “Everything’s Archie” : SUGAR SUGAR

The bubblegum pop hit song “Sugar, Sugar” was performed by a completely fictional cartoon band: the Archies. It holds the audacious distinction of being the top Billboard single of 1969, outselling the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

66D A.I. tool that generates text : LLM

A large language model (LLM), is a type of artificial intelligence that’s trained on massive amounts of text data. This training allows the LLM to understand and generate human-like text, and answer questions in an informative way. I think of it as a really advanced version of predictive text. Instead of predicting the next word, an LLM predicts entire sentences, paragraphs, or even articles. Two examples of large language models are ChatGPT and Gemini.

69D Score after deuce : AD OUT

In tennis, if the score reaches deuce (i.e. when both players have scored three points), then the first player to win two points in a row wins the game. The player who wins the point immediately after deuce is said to have the advantage. If the player with the advantage wins the next point then that’s two in a row and that player wins the game. If the person with the advantage loses the next point, then advantage is lost and the players return to deuce and try again. The player calling out the score announces “ad in”, or more formally “advantage in”, if he/she has the advantage. If the score announcer’s opponent has the advantage, then the announcement is “ad out” or “advantage out”. Follow all of that …?

70D Not domesticated : FERAL

“Feral”, meaning “existing in a wild or untamed state”, comes from the Latin word “fera” meaning “wild animal”.

73D Ingredients for brewers and bakers : YEASTS

Yeasts are unicellular microorganisms in the kingdom Fungi. The species of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been used for centuries in the making of wine and beer, and in breadmaking. Saccharomyces cerevisiae converts carbohydrates into carbon dioxide and alcohol in the process of fermentation. When making beer and wine, the carbon dioxide and alcohol may be captured by the liquid. When making bread, the carbon dioxide and alcohol are driven off by heat.

84D Actress Russo : RENE

Actress Rene Russo is a native of Burbank, California. Russo went to high school (with actor/director Ron Howard), but dropped out in tenth grade. At seventeen, she was given the opportunity to train as a model and within a very short time appeared on the cover of “Vogue”. As her modeling jobs slowed down in her early thirties, Russo made a career change and studied theater and acting. Her breakout role was in the 1989 film “Major League.”

85D Ariz. neighbor : NMEX

The perfectly straight Arizona-New Mexico stateline came about because Arizona voters refused to be absorbed by their more populous eastern neighbor. In 1906, the federal government attempted to streamline statehood by proposing the Arizona Territory and New Mexico Territory merge into a single state, but Arizonans rejected the joint referendum. As a result, the boundary dividing them remained the 109th meridian, exactly where Congress had originally drawn it in 1863 to slice the Arizona Territory away from New Mexico.

87D Indiana neighbor : OHIO

The boundary between Indiana and Ohio literally splits a single public elementary school perfectly in half within the bi-state community of College Corner. The College Corner Union School features a layout where the state line runs straight through the front flagpole and separates the building’s two main entrances.The Union County–College Corner Joint State School District is the only remaining joint state school district in the US.

88D Toy for indoor games : NERF BALL

Nerf is a soft material used in a whole series of toys designed for “safe” play indoors. The Nerf product is used to make darts, balls and ammunition for toy guns. By the way, “Non-Expanding Recreational Foam” is a popular backronym (an acronym created to fit an existing word) for “NERF”.

100D Big band singer Vic : DAMONE

Vic Damone is a singer from Brooklyn, New York. As a young man, Damone started taking voice lessons, inspired by his favorite singer Frank Sinatra. Decades later, Sinatra said that Damone had “the best pipes in the business”.

103D Seize illegally : USURP

To usurp is to seize and hold by force. The term “usurp” comes to us from Latin via French, from “usus” (a use) and “rapere” (to seize).

104D Sacred city of Tibet : LHASA

Lhasa is the capital city of Tibet, with the name “Lhasa” translating as “place of the gods”. However, Lhasa used to be called Rasa, a name that translates into the less auspicious “goat’s place”. Lhasa was also once called the “Forbidden City” due to its inaccessible location high in the Himalayas and a traditional hostility exhibited by residents to outsiders. The “forbidden” nature of the city has been reinforced since the Chinese took over Tibet in the early 1950s as it has been difficult for foreigners to get permission to visit Lhasa.

105D Spanish diacritic : TILDE

A diacritic mark is added to a letter to indicate that it has a special phonetic sound. Examples of diacritic marks are the tilde above the letter N in Spanish words like “jalapeño” and “niño “, and the cedilla under the letter C in French words like “façade”.

115D Soil acidity reducer : LIME

Lime is a mineral comprising mainly calcium oxide and/or calcium hydroxide. Calcium oxide is known as quicklime, and calcium hydroxide as slaked lime.

119D Fist bump : DAP

The dap is a form of handshake, and often a complicated and showy routine of fist bumps, slaps and shakes. Some say that “dap” is an acronym standing for “Dignity And Pride”.

120D Clean air org. : EPA

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was set up during the Nixon administration and began operation at the end of 1970.