Category: Joe DiPietro

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Constructed by: Joe DiPietro
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: You’re Missing Out

Themed clues are single letters MISSING the suffix “-OUT”:

• 57A “That’s a lost opportunity,” and what can be said to the writer of four clues in this puzzle : YOU’RE MISSING OUT

• 17A R : LOPSIDED VICTORY (Rout)
• 24A B : PRIZE FIGHT (Bout)
• 38A P : SULKY EXPRESSION (Pout)
• 46A T : CREATE HYPE (Tout)

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

Bill’s time: 11m 54s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

6 “Mad Money” cable network : CNBC

The television show “Mad Money” started airing in 2005, and is hosted by the ebullient Jim Cramer. Cramer recommends that essential funds, such as those reserved for retirement, be safely locked away in conservative investment vehicles. Any money left over (still looking for that here!) is classed as “mad money” and can be invested in more risky stocks.

10 Actress Mazar : DEBI

Debi Mazar plays Shauna Roberts on the HBO series “Entourage”. You might have seen her on “Dancing with the Stars” a few years back, although she didn’t do so well and was eliminated in the third week. Mazar married Italian celebrity chef Gabriele Corcos in 2002. The couple co-hosted an Internet show “Under the Tuscan Gun” that focused on Tuscan cuisine. For a couple of years, they also ran a restaurant in Brooklyn called Tuscan Gun.

15 Does some horticultural work : HOES

A horticulturist is someone who manages and cultivates a garden. The term “horticulture” is probably modeled on the older term “agriculture”, using the Latin “hortus” meaning “garden”.

16 Group with reserves : OPEC

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) controls a significant portion of the world’s oil supply. OPEC member countries account for around 44% of global oil production and 73% of the world’s oil reserves.

20 Widespread alert, for short : APB

An All Points Bulletin (APB) is a broadcast from one US law enforcement agency to another.

21 “The Tilled Field” painter Joan : MIRO

Spanish artist Joan Miro painted “The Tilled Field” in 1923-24. An oil on canvas, It is widely regarded as his first Surrealist masterpiece. The painting is now held by the Guggenheim in New York.

29 __ pen : VAPE

An electronic cigarette (also called an “e-cigarette”) is a battery-powered device that resembles a real cigarette. The e-cigarette vaporizes a solution that contains nicotine, forming a vapor that resembles smoke. The vapor is inhaled in a process called “vaping”, delivering nicotine into the body. The assumption is that an e-cigarette is healthier than a regular cigarette as the inhaled vapor is less harmful than inhaled smoke. But, that may not be so …

30 Whit : IOTA

Both “whit” and “fig” are used to describe a trivial amount, a mere trifle.

35 Reel Big Fish genre : SKA

Reel Big Fish is a ska punk band from Southern California that was founded in 1991, when the band members were all in high school.

41 “Three Little Kittens” treat : PIE

The first verse of the nursery rhyme “Three Little Kittens” is:

The three little kittens they lost their mittens,
And they began to cry,
Oh, mother dear, we sadly fear
Our mittens we have lost
What? Lost your mittens, you naughty kittens!
Then you shall have no pie.
Mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow.
We shall have no pie.
Our mittens we have lost.

55 “__ Flux”: 1990s MTV series : AEON

“Æon Flux” is an animated science-fiction television show that originally aired on MTV in the nineties. The TV show inspired a 2005 movie of the same name that starred Charlize Theron in the title role.

56 HHS agency : FDA

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has its roots in the Division of Chemistry (later “Bureau of Chemistry”) that was part of the US Department of Agriculture. President Theodore Roosevelt gave responsibility for examination of food and drugs to the Bureau of Chemistry with the signing of the Pure Food and Drug Act. The Bureau’s name was changed to the Food, Drug and Insecticide Organization in 1927, and to the Food and Drug Administration in 1930.

The Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) was split in 1979, into the Department of Education (ED) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

64 Brief timetable : SKED

Something not yet on the schedule (“sked” or “sched.”) is to be advised/announced (TBA).

Down

1 Major key for some piano works by Chopin and Schubert : G-FLAT

Frédéric Chopin was a Polish composer who spent most of his life in France. He was most famous for his piano works in the Romantic style. Chopin was a sickly man and died quite young, at 39. For many of his final years he had a celebrated and tempestuous relationship with the French author George Sand (the nom de plume of the Baroness Dudevant). Those years with Sand may have been turbulent, but they were very productive in terms of musical composition.

Franz Schubert (1797-1828) was an Austrian composer who was particularly noted for his large portfolio of lieder (songs). Schubert is also famous for his “Unfinished Symphony”. Schubert’s “Symphony No. 7” was left as a draft after he passed away, and as such was “unfinished”. However, it was more complete than his “Symphony No. 8”, which is the one we know as “The Unfinished”.

3 Climactic scene in the Eminem film “8 Mile” : RAP BATTLE

Battle rapping (also “rap battling”) is a contest in which two or more rappers “fight it out” using opposing, improvised lyrics. I’d be annihilated …

The movie “8 Mile” stars Eminem as a young rap artist in Detroit, and features the song “Lose Yourself” that was performed and written by Eminem. The song won Eminem the 2002 Oscar for Best Original Song, making him the first rap artist to be so honored.

4 Bks.-to-be : MSS

Manuscript (ms)

6 French endearment : CHERI

“Chéri” is a form of familiar address in French, meaning “dear”. “Chéri” is the form used when talking to a male, and “chérie” when addressing a female.

7 Help for the overnight shift, maybe : NO-DOZ

NoDoz and Vivarin are brands of caffeine pills.

9 Procedural franchise since 2000 : CSI

I quite enjoy the “CSI” franchise of television shows, all except “CSI: Miami”. I find the character played by David Caruso to be extremely annoying. “CSI: Miami” was canceled in 2012. No loss …

11 Unit in geochronology : EPOCH

Geologic time is divided into a number of units of varying lengths. These are, starting from the largest:

• supereon
• eon (also “aeon”)
• era
• period
• epoch
• age

18 Hollywood VIP : DIR

Director (dir.)

25 Chris who won four straight US Opens in the 1970s : EVERT

Chris Evert is a former professional tennis player from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She has the best winning percentage in professional tennis, man or woman worldwide, losing fewer than 10% of all her matches. Evert was also the first female athlete to host “Saturday Night Live”, doing so in 1994 just after she had retired from professional tennis.

30 Web access co. : ISP

Internet service provider (ISP)

31 “Certainement!” : OUI!

In French, “oui” (yes) might be stated more emphatically as “certainement!” (certainly!).

35 Number of squares on a chess board : SIXTY-FOUR

It is believed that the game of chess originated in northwest India. It evolved from a 6th-century game called “chaturanga”, a Sanskrit word meaning “four divisions”. These four (military) divisions were represented in the game:

• Infantry (now “pawns”)
• Cavalry (now “knights”)
• Elephants (now “bishops”)
• Chariots (now “rooks”)

36 Fish that can transform into a dragon, per Japanese legend : KOI

Koi are fish that are also known as Japanese carp. Koi have been bred for decorative purposes and there are now some very brightly colored examples found in Japanese water gardens.

40 Neptune’s realm : SEA

Neptune was a Roman god, of both the sea and of freshwater. He was sometimes known as “Neptunus Equester” as he was also the god of horses and patron of horse-racing.

44 Pan-__ scallops : SEARED

A scallop is a marine mollusk that is often served as seafood. They are often served baked in milk and this method of preparation has become known as “scalloping”. So, scalloped potatoes are potatoes baked in milk.

45 Game of love : TENNIS

In sports like tennis, the score of zero is designated as “love”. Some people believe that this usage originates from the French “l’oeuf” (meaning “the egg”). The idea is that the written character “0” looks like an egg.

46 Thief : CROOK

A crook is a criminal, someone who engages in fraudulent practices. The use of “crook” in this context is American English that arose in the late 1800s. The idea is that a “crook” engages in “crooked” conduct.

48 Celerity : HASTE

Celerity is swiftness or speed, coming from the Latin “celeritas” that has the same meaning. And as an aside, in Einstein’s famous equation E=mc², the “c” stands for the speed of light, from the Latin “celeritas”.

49 Some 20 Questions answers : YESES

The parlor game called Twenty Questions originated in the US and really took off in the late forties as it became a weekly quiz show on the radio. Am I the only one who thinks that there aren’t enough quiz shows on the radio these days? Apart from a couple of great shows on NPR, I have to resort to listening to the BBC game shows over the Internet …

50 Luau fare : POI

Nowadays, the word “luau” denotes almost any kind of party on the Hawaiian Islands. To the purist, a luau is a feast that always includes a serving of poi, the bulbous underground stems of taro.

53 “Revolutionary Road” author Richard : YATES

Richard Yates was a novelist and short story writer from Yonkers, New York. The most famous of his works was his first novel, “Revolutionary Road”, published in 1962. The novel was adapted into a 2008 movie of the same name starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo Di Caprio.

58 “__ Doubtfire” : MRS

The 1993 comedy “Mrs. Doubtfire” is based on a 1987 novel called “Madame Doubtfire” by Anne Fine. The movie is set and was filmed in San Francisco. The title role is played by Robin Williams, who spent most of the movie dressed as the female Mrs. Doubtfire. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the movie won the Oscar for Best Makeup.