Category: Jeff Stillman

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Constructed by: Jeff Stillman
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: SAG Awards

Circled letters spell out the names of AWARDS that “SAG” in the grid. Those AWARDs are:

• TONY
• ESPY
• CLIO

• 64A Hollywood honors since 1995, and what the circled letters are? : SAG AWARDS

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

Bill’s time: 7m 57s

Bill’s errors: 2

• OAKUM (oagum)
• BOBOLINKS (bobolings)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 First word of a Shakespeare title : ALL’S …

“All’s Well That Ends Well” is a play by William Shakespeare, one with elements of both tragedy and comedy. As such, “All’s Well That Ends Well” is classified as one of Shakespeare’s “problem plays”, plays of his that cannot be neatly classified as either tragedy or comedy.

5 Chorus member : ALTO

In choral music, an alto (plural “alti”) is the second-highest voice in a four-part chorus made up of soprano, contr(alto), tenor and bass. The word “alto” describes the vocal range, that of the deepest female singing-voice, whereas the term “contralto” describes more than just the alto range, but also its quality and timbre. An adult male’s voice (not a boy’s) with the same range as an alto is called a “countertenor”.

9 Autumn bloom : ASTER

Apparently, most aster species and cultivars bloom relatively late in the year, usually in the fall. The name “aster” comes into English via Latin from the Greek word “astéri” meaning “star”, a reference to the arrangement of the petals of the flower.

16 Volleyball shot : SPIKE

In volleyball, each team can only touch the ball a maximum of three times before it returns to the other side of the net. The three contacts are often a “bump” (a preliminary pass) and a “set” (setting up the attacking shot) followed by a “spike” (a shot into the opposing court).

17 Spot for a TV dinner : TRAY TABLE

The term “TV dinner”, which describes a prepackaged frozen meal, was actually a trademark for C. A. Swanson & Sons back in 1953. Swanson’s original prepackaged meal was sold as “TV Brand Frozen Dinner” and came in an aluminum tray so that it could be heated in an oven. Swanson stopped using the name in 1962, and now “TV dinner” is a generic term.

19 Realty listings : HOMES

The terms “realty” and “real estate” actually date back to the late 1600s. Back then, the terms meant “real possessions, things owned that are tangible and real”.

21 Large amount : SCAD

The origin of the word “scads”, meaning “lots and lots”, is unclear. That said, “scads” was used to mean “dollars” back in the mid-1800s.

23 Audition : TEST

A trial performance to appraise the merits of an entertainer is known as an audition. When a group of entertainers is involved, the informal term “cattle call” might be used instead of “audition”. The idea is that those auditioning are often corralled into a single, large room (like “cattle”) prior to performing.

24 Unqualified : INEPT

If one is capable, one might jokingly be described as “ept”, the ostensible opposite of “inept”.

28 “YOLO” philosophy : SEIZE THE DAY

You only live once (YOLO)

“Carpe diem” is a quotation from Horace, one of ancient Rome’s leading lyric poets. “Carpe diem” translates from Latin as “seize the day” or “enjoy the day”. The satirical motto of a procrastinator is “carpe mañana”, “translating” as “seize tomorrow”.

32 Slower than Mach 1 : SUBSONIC

The Mach number of a moving object (like say an airplane) is its speed relative to the speed of sound. A plane traveling at Mach 2, for example, is moving at twice the speed of sound. The term “Mach” takes its name from the Austrian physicist Ernst Mach who published a groundbreaking paper in 1877 that even predicted the “sonic boom”.

35 Susan Swain’s network : C-SPAN

C-SPAN is a privately-funded, nonprofit cable channel that broadcasts continuous coverage of government proceedings.

Susan Swain is a journalist who started working with C-Span as a part-time producer in 1982. She became co-president and CEO of the network in 2012.

42 Scope of influence : AMBIT

An ambit is an outer boundary or limit, a circumference. The term “ambit” can also be used to mean the sphere or scope of influence. “Ambit” comes from the Latin “ambire” meaning “to go around”.

45 Low-alcohol beverage : NEAR BEER

“Near beer” is a slang term describing a malt liquor that doesn’t contain enough alcohol to be labeled as “beer”. An example would be “O’Doul’s”, a beverage that I tend to consume in a glass full of ice when I am the designated driver.

48 Brownie-making ingredient : COCOA POWDER

Apparently, the first brownies were created for the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. The recipe was developed by a pastry chef at the city’s Palmer House Hotel. The idea was to produce a cake-like dessert that was small enough and dainty enough to be eaten by ladies as part of a boxed lunch.

51 Ship with staterooms : LINER

The use of the word “line” with reference to transportation started in the 1780s, in the context of stagecoaches. Such transportation operated a string of stagecoaches between towns and cities along regular “lines”. The concept shifted to shipping “lines” operating ocean-going “liners” between ports. And then came “airliners”.

52 Oscar-winning role for Ariana DeBose and Rita Moreno : ANITA

Actress Ariana DeBose’s breakthrough role was the lead in the jukebox musical “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical”, which opened on Broadway in 2018. She reached a wider audience playing Anita in the 2021 film adaptation of the musical “West Side Story”. That performance won her the season’s Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

Puerto Rican singer, dancer and actress Rita Moreno is one of the few performers to have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony (EGOT). Moreno got her big break, and won her Oscar, for playing Anita in the 1961 screen adaptation of “West Side Story”. And, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush in 2004.

57 Dollars for quarters : RENT

We use the term “quarters” for a place of abode, especially housing for military personnel. Back in the late 16th century, quarters were a portion (quarter) of a town reserved for a military force.

60 Piano exercise : ETUDE

An étude is a short instrumental composition that is usually quite hard to play and is intended to help the performer master a particular technique. “Étude” is the French word for “study”. Études are commonly performed on the piano.

62 Photographer Dorothea : LANGE

Dorothea Lange was a marvelous photographer famous for images that she created during the Great Depression. Lange’s most famous photograph is the beautiful “Migrant Mother”, taken in 1936.

64 Hollywood honors since 1995, and what the circled letters are? : SAG AWARDS

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards are presented annually by the SAG-AFTRA labor union that represents film and television personalities. The awards were initiated in 1995. The most SAG Awards have been won by actor Alec Baldwin.

66 Caulking fiber : OAKUM

Oakum is a caulking material made from tarred fiber. Traditionally, the fiber was sourced from old ropes, which were unraveled and reduced to fiber in a process known as picking. Picking was a tedious process, and often used as work for inmates in prisons and workhouses.

69 Medicine amts. : TBSPS

Tablespoon (tbsp.)

Down

3 “The Right Kind of Wrong” singer Rimes : LEANN

“The Right Kind of Wrong” is a song written for the 2000 movie “Coyote Ugly” that was performed by Leann Rimes.

5 Reddit sesh for fans : AMA

Ask me anything (AMA)

7 Soft mineral : TALC

Talc is a mineral, hydrated magnesium silicate. Talcum powder is composed of loose talc, although these days “baby powder” is also made from cornstarch.

10 Part of a politician’s media campaign : SPOT ADS

A spot advertisement is a short TV or radio commercial, one usually 30-60 seconds in length, that airs at a particular “spot” in the schedule.

11 Like photographs of an eclipse, say : TIME-LAPSE

Time-lapse photography involves capturing frames at a rate that is considerably slower than the rate at which they are subsequently viewed. Time-lapse is a popular technique for subjects like celestial movement, construction of a building, and growth of plants.

18 Versatile blood donor : TYPE-O

In general, a person with type O-negative blood is a universal donor, meaning that his or her blood can be used for transfusion into persons with any other blood type: A, B, AB or O, negative or positive (although there are other considerations). Also in general, a person with type AB-positive blood is a universal recipient, meaning that he or she can receive a transfusion of blood of any type: A, B, AB or O, negative or positive.

22 Quote from Homer : D’OH!

“The Simpsons” is one of the most successful programs produced by the Fox Broadcasting Company. Homer Simpson’s catchphrase is “D’oh!”, which became such a famous exclamation that it has been included in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) since 2001. “D’oh!” can be translated as “I should have thought of that!”

29 Cab alternative : ZIN

Zinfandel is one of my favorite red wine varietals. It amazes me that the rich and heavy red Zinfandel comes from the same grape as does the sweet White Zinfandel.

The cabernet sauvignon (often just “cab”) grape has been around since the 17th century, and is the result of a chance crossing in southwestern France of the cabernet franc and sauvignon blanc grapes.

31 Handsome Dan’s Ivy : YALE

The Yale Bulldogs are the athletic teams of Yale University. The Yale school mascot is “Handsome Dan”, the Yale bulldog. The Bulldogs’ logo features a bulldog in front of a letter Y.

32 “Wide Sargasso __”: Jean Rhys novel : SEA

“Wide Sargasso Sea” was written by Jean Rhys and first published in 1966. It’s a clever work that was written as a sort of prequel to Charlotte Bronte’s famous “Jane Eyre”, which dates back to 1847.

33 “Oorah!” org. : USMC

United States Marine Corps (USMC)

34 Migratory songbirds : BOBOLINKS

The bobolink is a small blackbird that likes to feed on grains that are cultivated for food, such as rice. As such, the bobolink used to be known as the “rice bird”, and is considered a pest by some farmers. The name “bobolink” is somewhat imitative of the bird’s call.

47 Great place? : BRITAIN

The terms “United Kingdom”, “Great Britain” and “England” can sometimes be confused. The official use of “United Kingdom” originated in 1707 with the Acts of Union that declared the countries of England and Scotland as “United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain”. The name changed again with the Acts of Union 1800 that created the “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland” (much to the chagrin of most of the Irish population). This was partially reversed in 1927 when the current name was introduced, the “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”, in recognition of an independent Irish Free State in the south of the island of Ireland.

49 __ Lingus : AER

Aer Lingus is the flag carrier airline of Ireland. It was founded in 1936 by the Irish government to provide air service between Ireland and the United Kingdom. The airline’s name means “air fleet” in Irish. In the 1950s, Aer Lingus became the first airline in the world to introduce a duty-free shopping service on board its flights.

53 Engine booster, for short : TURBO

A turbocharger is a device that is designed to extract more power out of an internal combustion engine. It does so by increasing the pressure of the air entering the intake. The pressure increase comes from the use of a compressor that is powered, cleverly enough, by the engine’s own exhaust gases.

55 Bushels : A LOT

In the imperial system of weights and measures, a bushel is a unit of dry volume made up of 4 pecks. In the US system, a bushel is a dry volume of 8 gallons. We have used the term “bushel” to mean “large quantity” since the 14th century.

56 Onetime Volvo rival : SAAB

“SAAB” stands for Svenska Aeroplan AB, which translates into English as Swedish Aeroplane Limited. Although we usually think of SAAB as an auto manufacturer, it is mainly an aircraft manufacturer. If you take small hops in Europe you might find yourself on a SAAB passenger plane. The SAAB automotive division was acquired by General Motors in the year 2000, who then sold it to a Dutch concern in 2010. However, SAAB (automotive) finally went bankrupt in 2011. The assets were acquired in 2012 by NEVS (National Electric Vehicle Sweden), a new company that used the SAAB name on its vehicles for several years.

Volvo is a Swedish manufacturer of cars, trucks and construction equipment. The Volvo name was chosen as “volvo” is Latin for “I roll”.

58 Cathedral part : NAVE

In large Christian churches, the nave is the main approach to the altar, and is where most of the congregation are seated.

59 Neutrogena dandruff shampoo : T/GEL

Neutrogena is a brand of skincare products that was founded in 1930 as a cosmetics company called Natone.

61 90° from norte : ESTE

The cardinal directions in Spanish are “norte” (north), “este” (east), “sur” (south) and “oeste” (west).

63 “Mamma Mia” quartet : EMS

There is a quartet of letters M (ems) in “Mamma Mia”.

“Mamma Mia,” it is a popular song by the Swedish pop group ABBA, released in 1975. It was not originally intended to be a single, but rather a track on ABBA’s self-titled album. However, after the group performed the song on a television special, it became so popular that it was released as a single and went on to become one of ABBA’s biggest hits. The song is used as the title of the incredibly successful Broadway musical and a feature film “Mama Mia!” (with an exclamation mark).

65 Communication sys. at Gallaudet : ASL

Gallaudet University is a private school in Washington, D.C. that is focused on the education of the deaf and hard of hearing. Gallaudet was founded in 1864 and is officially a bilingual institution, with classes held in both English and American sign language (ASL).