Category: Freddie Cheng

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Constructed by: Freddie Cheng
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer(s): Mouse Pads

Themed answers are all “PADS” where a MOUSE might be live:

• 65A With 67-Across, desktop accessories, and a description of 19-, 36-, and 54-Across? : MOUSE …
• 67A See 65-Across : … PADS

• 19A Home of Cinderella Castle : MAGIC KINGDOM
• 36A Unpretentious business : HOLE IN THE WALL
• 54A Pizza/arcade chain founded by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell : CHUCK E CHEESE

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

Bill’s time: 5m 35s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 __ shift : DAY

In a three-shift working system, the shifts are known by various names:

1. First shift, day shift
2. Second shift, swing shift
3. Third shift, night shift, graveyard shift

8 Venomous African snake : MAMBA

Mambas, most famously black mambas, are highly venomous snakes that used to be responsible for a great number of fatalities before anti-venoms became available. Mamba venom is a deadly mix of neurotoxins that attack the nervous system and cardiotoxins that attack the heart. A bite, if left untreated, causes the lungs and the heart to shut down.

16 Eye lubricant : TEAR

Tears are produced by the lacrimal glands, one in each eye.

17 Diamond dynasty : ALOU

Felipe Alou is a former professional baseball player and manager. Alou managed the Montreal Expos from 1992 to 2001, and the San Francisco Giants from 2003 to 2006. Alou was born and raised in the Dominican Republic and came to the US to play for the Giants in 1955. Felipe’s brothers Matty and Jesús followed him to the US, and into Major League baseball.

19 Home of Cinderella Castle : MAGIC KINGDOM

The castle at the center of the original Disneyland is Sleeping Beauty Castle. A modified and larger version of Sleeping Beauty Castle is also central to Disneyland Paris. If you visit the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, and Tokyo Disneyland, you can tour Cinderella Castle.

28 Gambling initials : OTB

Off-track betting (OTB) is the legal gambling that takes place on horse races outside of a race track. A betting parlor can be referred to as an OTB.

40 Veal __: Italian entree, briefly : PARM

Parmigiana (familiarly “parm”) is a dish from southern Italy. The original parmigiana was made with an eggplant filling, with cheese and tomato layers and then baked. Versions originating outside of Italy have replaced the eggplant with breaded cutlets of chicken or veal.

42 From Moscow : RUSSIAN

Moscow is the capital of Russia. If one considers Europe to be all points west of the Ural Mountains, then Moscow is the most populous city on the European continent. Moscow also is home to more billionaires than any other city in the world, according to “Forbes” magazine. The city is named for the Moskva River which flows through Moscow. People from Moscow are referred to as Muscovites.

49 “Can’t Get It Out of My Head” gp. : ELO

“Can’t Get It Out of My Head” is a 1974 song recorded by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), and written by ELO’s leader and co-founder Jeff Lynne. The song was somewhat of a breakthrough for the band, as it was the first ELO release to make it into the top 10 in the US.

50 Wharton degs. : MBAS

Wharton is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia. The school was established in 1881 largely due to a donation from industrialist Joseph Wharton, co-founder of Bethlehem Steel.

54 Pizza/arcade chain founded by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell : CHUCK E CHEESE

Nolan Bushnell achieved success as the founder of two very different companies. He co-founded Atari, the video game and home computer manufacturer, in 1972. He started Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theatres in 1977, a restaurant aimed at children that served pizza but also provided entertainment and games. The link between Bushnell’s two enterprises was that he saw Chuck E. Cheese as an outlet for Atari video game consoles.

57 Arctic dome : IGLOO

The Inuit word for “house” is “iglu”, which we usually write as “igloo”. The Greenlandic (yes, that’s a language) word for “house” is very similar, namely “igdlo”. The walls of igloos are tremendous insulators, due to the air pockets in the blocks of snow.

61 One of 14 in a pro’s golf bag : CLUB

Most of the irons in a golf bag had non-numerical names in days gone by:

• 2 Iron … Cleek
• 3 Iron … Mid Mashie
• 4 Iron … Mashie Iron
• 5 Iron … Mashie
• 6 Iron … Spade Mashie
• 7 Iron … Mashie Niblick
• 8 Iron … Pitching Niblick
• 9 Iron … Niblick

62 __ buddy : BOSOM

“Bosm” is an Old English word for “breast” that came into modern English as “bosom” meaning “breast, chest” without any association with either gender. It was only in the late fifties that the meaning narrowed to mean a woman’s breasts”. Terms like “bosom-friend” have been around since the late 16th century, and “bosom buddy” since the 1920s.

63 Passport fig. : ID NO

As a result of a League of Nations conference in 1920, passports are usually written in French and one other language. French was specified back then as it was deemed the language of diplomacy. US passports use French and English, given that English is the nation’s de facto national language. Spanish was added as a language for US passports in the late nineties, in recognition of Spanish-speaking Puerto Rico.

64 Sheltered at sea : ALEE

Alee is the direction away from the wind. If a sailor points into the wind, he or she is pointing aweather. The sheltered side of an island, for example, might be referred to as the “lee” side.

65 With 67-Across, desktop accessories, and a description of 19-, 36-, and 54-Across? : MOUSE …
[67 See 65-Across : … PADS]

The computer mouse was invented at the Stanford Research Institute in 1963, by one Douglas Engelbart. Sadly for him, his patent ran out before mice became standard equipment on computers, so he never made any money from his amazing invention.

66 Ad Council ad : PSA

The Ad Council is a nonprofit that produces public service announcements (PSAs) for various groups, including agencies of the US government. Conceived in 1942, the council operated under the name “War Advertising Council” from 1943 to 1946. It was this organization that produced the famous wartime ads promoting military enlistment, conservation of war materials, and the purchase of war bonds. President Franklin D. Roosevelt made it clear that he wanted the Ad Council to continue its work after the war, and he got his wish.

Down

1 Acid or base indicator : LITMUS

Litmus is a mixture of naturally-occurring dyes that responds to acidity by changing color. Litmus was probably first used around 1300 by the Spanish alchemist Arnaldus de Villa Nova, who extracted the blue dye from lichens. One suggestion is that the term “litmus” comes from the Old Norse “litmose” meaning “lichen for dyeing”. Litmus is often absorbed onto filter paper, creating “litmus paper” or “pH paper”. We also use the phrase “litmus test” figuratively to describe any test in which a single factor decides the outcome.

3 European capital with a medieval astronomical clock : PRAGUE

The beautiful city of Prague is today the capital of the Czech Republic. Prague’s prominence in Europe has come and gone over the centuries. For many years, it was the capital city of the Holy Roman Empire. Back in the 1800s, Bohemian mathematician Bernard Bolzano conducted a count of all the spires in Prague, resulting in the enduring nickname “City of a Hundred Spires”. Today, that count is closer to “Five Hundred”.

The Prague astronomical clock (“orloj” in Czech) is a device from the Middle Ages that is attached to the Old Town Hall in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. It is referred to as an astronomical clock because it has an astronomical dial, a dial representing the position of the sun and moon in the sky. Installed in 1410, the “Orloj” is the oldest astronomical clock still in operation in the world.

4 Aleppo’s land : SYRIA

Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and is located not far from Damascus, the nation’s capital. Aleppo owes its size and history of prosperity to its location at the end of the Silk Road, the trade route that linked Asia to Europe (and other locations). The Suez Canal was opened up in 1869 bringing a new route for transport of goods, and so Aleppo’s prosperity declined over the past one hundred years or so. The city’s population has suffered terribly since the start of the Syrian Civil War, with the Battle of Aleppo raging from 2012 to 2016.

6 “__ Us”: multiplayer logic and deduction game : AMONG

Among Us is an online multiplayer game that went live in 2018. The game’s setting is space, and the players are represented by cartoon astronauts. There are two classes of astronauts: crewmates and imposters. Among Us is an example of something that took off in popularity in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic.

8 Brunch drink : MIMOSA

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 …

Our word “brunch” is a portmanteau of “breakfast” and “lunch”. The term was coined as student slang in Oxford, England in the late 1890s. However, “brunch” described a combined meal closer to the breakfast hour, and the term “blunch” was used for a meal closer to lunchtime.

9 “House of Gucci” actor Driver : ADAM

Adam Driver is an actor perhaps best known to TV audiences for playing Adam Sackler on the show “Girls” that airs on HBO. Driver’s movie career got a huge boost in 2015 when he played villain Kylo Ren in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”.

“House of Gucci” is an engrossing 2021 film based on a 2001 book “The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed” by Sara Gay Forden. The central characters are Maurizio Gucci, heir to a 50% interest in the Gucci fashion house, and Patrizia Reggiani, who eventually married and divorced Maurizio, before hiring a hitman to kill her ex-husband. The leads are played by Adam Driver and Lady Gaga.

10 Civil rights monogram : MLK

Martin Luther King, Jr’s father was born Michael King. On a trip to Germany in 1934, Michael came to admire Protestant leader Martin Luther and changed his name to Martin Luther King on his return to the United States. Famously, he passed on his new name to his son, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr (MLK).

11 Spelling meet : BEE

Back in 18th-century America, when neighbors would gather to work for the benefit of one of their group, such a meeting was called a bee. The name “bee” was an allusion to the social nature of the insect. In modern parlance, a further element of entertainment and pleasure has been introduced, for example in a quilting bee, or even a spelling bee.

14 Terr. that became two states : DAK

The Dakota Territory was formed in 1861 and ceased to exist with the admission to the Union of the states of North Dakota and South Dakota. The territory was split into two states in 1889 largely due to lobbying by the Republican Party, which enjoyed a lot of support in the Dakota Territory. The admission of two states added to the political power of the party in the US Senate, by adding four safe Republican seats.

33 Targets of some bark beetles : ELMS

Bark beetles are so named because some species reproduce in the bark of trees. This can be a problem for the elm tree, as bark beetles are known to transmit the devastating Dutch elm disease. There is another species of bark beetle that is known as the coffee berry borer, and it is the major pest attacking coffee plants around the world.

34 FG’s three : PTS

In American football, three points (pts.) are awarded for a field goal (FG).

39 Glinda or Elphaba of “Wicked” : WITCH

In the stage musical “Wicked”, Glinda is the Good Witch of the South, and Elphaba is the Wicked Witch of the West.

“Wicked” (more completely, “Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz”) is a 2003 stage musical that is a retelling of the L. Frank Baum novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”. The musical is based on a 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire” called “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West”.

44 __ Dhabi : ABU

Abu Dhabi is one of the seven Emirates that make up the federation known as the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The two largest members of the UAE (geographically) are Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the only two of the seven members that have veto power over UAE policy. Before 1971, the UAE was a British Protectorate, a collection of sheikdoms. The sheikdoms entered into a maritime truce with Britain in 1835, after which they became known as the Trucial States, derived from the word “truce”.

46 Rice dish from Valencia : PAELLA

Paella is sometimes referred to as the Spanish national dish, but not by Spaniards. In Spain, paella is regarded as a typical regional dish from Valencia. The name “paella” means “frying pan” in Valencian, and is a reference to the shallow vessel traditionally used to cook the dish over an open fire.

48 Ancient city whose ruins are in Luxor : THEBES

Thebes was a city in ancient Egypt located on the river Nile, the ruins of which are now found within the bounds of the modern city of Luxor. The ruins of Ancient Thebes include the famous Luxor Temple and Karnak Temple, as well as the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens.

55 Poet __ St. Vincent Millay : EDNA

Edna St. Vincent Millay was an American poet and playwright, and the third woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (in 1923 for “The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver”). Millay was noted not only for her work, but also for the open arrangement that she and her husband had in their marriage. Millay took many lovers, including the poet George Dillon for whom she wrote a number of sonnets.

57 Watsonx’s maker : IBM

Watsonx is an AI platform produced by IBM. It was named for IBM’s founder and first CEO Thomas J. Watson.

59 Sch. with a Shreveport campus : LSU

Louisiana State University in Shreveport is an LSU campus that opened as a two-year community college in 1967, becoming a four-year college in 1972.

The Louisiana city of Shreveport was founded in 1836 on the west bank of the Red River. The river had been cleared of a 180-mile long log jam by the US Army Corps of Engineers, making the river navigable. The work was led by Captain Henry Miller Shreve, for whom the city was named.