Category: John-Clark Levin

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Constructed by: John-Clark Levin
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: DIY

Themed answers each include a string of letters that when “RESASSEMBLED” (rearranged) spell out an item of furniture:

• 64A Ikea task, and a task that can be applied to the sets of circled letters in this puzzle : FURNITURE ASSEMBLY

• 23A “The Mousetrap” playwright : AGATHA CHRISTIE (hiding “CHAIR” reassembly)
• 32A Fishy bagel topper : SMOKED SALMON (hiding “DESK” reassembly)
• 48A Dinner table question : WHAT’S FOR DESSERT? (hiding “DRESSER” reassembly)
• 80A Colorful Galápagos bird : BLUE-FOOTED BOOBY (hiding “BED” reassembly)
• 95A Free rein : CARTE BLANCHE (hiding “TABLE” reassembly)
• 109A “You must be joking!” : I CAN’T BELIEVE IT (hiding “CABINET” reassembly)

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

Bill’s time: 13m 45s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Talmud scholars : RABBIS

The Talmud is a collection of writings by thousands of rabbis and is a central text in Rabbinic Judaism, second only to the Torah.

21 Italian aperitif : CAMPARI

Campari is an alcoholic beverage with a distinctive red color and a pleasant, yet bitter taste. It is a key ingredient in one of my favorite cocktails: an Americano (one part Campari, one part sweet vermouth and a dash of club soda).

22 “What a piece of work is a man” speaker : HAMLET

“What a piece of work is a man!” is a line from William Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet, Prince of Denmark”. The line is spoken by the title character, addressing his friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. The same line is used as the title of a song from the musical “Hair”.

23 “The Mousetrap” playwright : AGATHA CHRISTIE (hiding “CHAIR” reassembly)

“The Mousetrap” is a murder-mystery play by Agatha Christie that opened in the West End of London in 1952. Apart from a 14-month closure during the COVID pandemic, the play has been running continuously ever since, giving it the longest run of any play in the world. I’ve seen the play several times, not only in London. Like all audience members, I have asked not to reveal the ending …

26 A, in braille : DOT

The Braille system of reading and writing was devised in 1825 by Louis Braille, who was himself afflicted with blindness. Braille characters are composed of six positions or dots, each arranged in two columns of three dots each. Every dot can be raised or not raised, given a total of 64 possible characters.

27 “The Westing Game” novelist Raskin : ELLEN

Ellen Rakin was a children’s author and illustrator who is perhaps best known for her 1978 mystery novel “The Westing Game”.

28 Fort Knox block : INGOT

Fort Knox is actually a US Army base that lends its name to the adjacent facility that is more correctly called the United States Bullion Depository. Most of the US gold reserves are in “Fort Knox”, although it isn’t the biggest gold repository in the US. That honor goes to the vault under the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in Manhattan. Most of the gold stored in the New York vault belongs to foreign nations and banks.

31 Green Toyota : PRIUS

The Toyota Prius is still one of the most fuel-efficient, gasoline-powered cars sold in the US, according to the EPA. The name “Prius” is a Latin word meaning “ahead, leading”. In the US we pronounce the name “pree-us”, but across the Atlantic it’s pronounced “pry-us”. According to Toyota, the plural of “Prius” is “Prii”.

42 Greyhound, e.g. : BUS

Speaking as someone who lived much of my life outside of the US, I have to say that the Greyhound bus is a real symbol of America. I grew up seeing Greyhound buses in so many old movies. In Ireland the official provincial bus service “stole” the famous logo that gracefully adorns the sides of these buses, but uses a running Irish Setter in place of the iconic greyhound.

44 Former quarterback Tim : TEBOW

Tim Tebow is a former quarterback who played mainly for the Denver Broncos and New York Jets. His relatively short professional career followed a very successful college career during which he became the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy. Tebow often gets down on one knee on the field to make a short prayer, a practice that has been dubbed “tebowing”.

48 Dinner table question : WHAT’S FOR DESSERT? (hiding “DRESSER” reassembly)

The item of bedroom furniture usually known as a dresser (or sometimes “bureau”) here in North America, is generally called a chest of drawers in Britain and Ireland. Whatever the name, the piece consists of a set of parallel drawers, mainly stacked one over the other.

53 Spot for a Hindu bride’s nath : NOSE

A nath is a nose-jewel or nose ring. The more elaborate form of nath includes a light chain that runs from the nose to an earring of hairpiece. Such naths are often worn by the bride during a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony on the Indian subcontinent.

54 Winter sport where competitors wear spiked gloves : LUGE

A luge is a small sled used by one or two people, on which one lies face up and feet first. The luge can be compared to the skeleton, a sled for only one person and on which the rider lies face down and goes down the hill head-first. Yikes!

55 “Queer Eye” fashion expert France : TAN

Tanveer “Tan” France is the fashion expert on the Netflix reboot of the reality show “Queer Eye”. Tan was born and raised in Britain, and immigrated to the US in 2015. He published a memoir in 2019 titled “Naturally Tan”.

56 Lassie, for one : COLLIE

The collie isn’t actually a breed of dog, but rather the name given to a group of herding dogs that originated in Scotland and Northern England. An obvious (and wonderful) example would be the border collie. Many dogs classed as collies don’t have the word “collie” in the name of the breed, for example the old English sheepdog and the Shetland sheepdog.

The canine character Lassie is the creation of Eric Knight, an author who wrote a short story that he expanded into a novel called “Lassie Come Home” published in 1940. “Lassie Come Home” was turned into a movie three years later, the first of a very successful franchise. The original Lassie (a female) was played by a long-haired collie called Pal (a male). In fact, all of the dogs that played Lassie over the years were males, because they looked better on camera, retaining a thick coat even during the summer months.

63 Released early : PAROLED

“Parole” is a French word that we use in English, with the French “parole” meaning “word, speech”. Of particular interest is the French phrase “parole d’honneur” which translates as “word of honor”. In the early 1600s we started using “parole” to mean a promise by a prisoner of war not to escape, as in the prisoner giving his “word of honor” not to run off. Over time, parole has come to mean conditional release of a prisoner before he or she has served the full term of a sentence.

64 Ikea task, and a task that can be applied to the sets of circled letters in this puzzle : FURNITURE ASSEMBLY

The IKEA furniture chain was founded by Ingvar Kamprad in 1943, when he was just 17-years-old. IKEA is an acronym standing for Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd (don’t forget now!). Elmtaryd was the name of the farm where Ingvar Kamprad grew up, and Agunnaryd is his home parish in Sweden.

68 Car care franchise that started as a muffler specialist : MEINEKE

The Meineke chain of automotive repair shops started out in 1972 as Meineke Discount Muffler, founded by Sam Meineke in San Antonio, Texas.

71 Beanies and berets : CAPS

A beanie is a knitted, close-fitting hat with no brim. The name probably comes from the slang term “bean” meaning “head”.

The beret is a type of hat that is believed to have originated in ancient Greece, where it was worn by shepherds.

75 Crossword heading : ACROSS

Arthur Wynne is generally credited with the invention of what we now know as a crossword puzzle. Wynne was born in Liverpool, England and emigrated to the US when he was 19-years-old. He worked as a journalist and was living in Cedar Grove, New Jersey in 1913 when he introduced a “Word-Cross Puzzle” in his page of puzzles written for the “New York World”. The first book of crossword puzzles was published by Shuster & Shuster, in 1924. The collection of puzzles was a huge hit, and crosswords were elevated to the level of “a craze” in 1924 and 1925.

76 Club door requests : IDS

Identity document (ID)

77 Jabot material : LACE

A jabot is a very ornate clothing accessory worn around the neck. Jabots were often made from lace, and were originally worn by upper class males around the mid-1600s, with women adopting the style in the late 1800s. Jabots are still worn today in some official costumes. For example, some of our female Supreme Court justices might be seen wearing jabots.

78 Deep sleep : COMA

Our term “coma” comes from the Greek “koma” meaning “deep sleep”.

79 “__ Wolf”: Shakira song : SHE

“She Wolf” is a 2009 song co-written and recorded by Shakira. It served as the title track of a studio album released later that same year.

80 Colorful Galápagos bird : BLUE-FOOTED BOOBY (hiding “BED” reassembly)

The bird called a blue-footed booby really lives up to its name. The bright blue feet are very distinctive. The coloring is thought to be a result of the bird’s fish diet. Birds with brighter feet tend to be more sexually active, probably because the brighter the blue hue, the healthier the bird.

84 Puccini opera about an opera singer : TOSCA

Unlike so many operas, Giacomo Puccini’s “Tosca” was a big hit right from day one, when it was first performed in 1900 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome. Currently, “Tosca” is the eighth-most performed opera in America.

88 Bird with a down-curved bill : IBIS

The ibis is a wading bird that was revered in ancient Egypt. “Ibis” is an interesting word grammatically speaking. You can have one “ibis” or two “ibises”, and then again one has a flock of “ibis”. And if you want to go with the classical plural, instead of two “ibises” you would have two “ibides”!

89 “21” and “25” Grammy winner : ADELE

“Adele” is the stage name of English singer Adele Adkins. Adele’s debut album is “19”, named after the age she was during the album’s production. Her second album was even more successful than the first. Called “21”, the second album was released three years after the first, when Adele was three years older. Her third studio album “25”, released in 2015, broke the first-week sales records in both the UK and the US. “30” followed in 2021.

90 USAF no-show : AWOL

AWOL (absent without leave)

92 Egyptian fertility goddess : ISIS

Isis was the ancient Egyptian goddess of fertility, as well as the protector of the dead and the goddess of children. She was the personification of the pharaoh’s power. The name “Isis” translates as “throne”, and she is usually depicted with a headdress shaped like a throne.

93 False fronts : FACADES

Our word “facade” has been meaning “front of a building” since the mid-17th century. We started using the term figuratively, to mean “superficial appearance”, in the mid-19th century. “Façade” is the original French word with the same meaning, from which our English term derives.

95 Free rein : CARTE BLANCHE (hiding “TABLE” reassembly)

The phrase “carte blanche” was imported from French in the early 1700s, when it was used to mean “blank paper” (in French it means “white paper”). Later in the century, the term came to mean “full discretionary power”, which is how we use the phrase today.

100 Rubbernecks : GAWKS

We have been rubbernecking since the late 1800s, although the word ”rubberneck” originally applied to someone with a tendency to listen in other people’s conversations. The term really became popular when people started rubbernecking in automobiles.

102 “Gymnopédies” composer : SATIE

Erik Satie was a French composer best known for his beautiful composition, the three “Gymnopédies”. I have tried so hard to appreciate other works by Satie but I find them so very different from the minimalist simplicity of the lyrical “Gymnopédies”.

104 OB-GYNs, e.g. : DRS

A medical doctor (MD) might be an expert in obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN).

115 Bring down a Giant, say : TACKLE

The New York Giants (NYG) football team plays home games in MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, a stadium shared with the New York Jets (NYJ). The Giants are the only team remaining from a group of five that joined the league in 1925. For many years, the Giants shared team names with the New York Giants MLB team, before the baseball franchise moved to San Francisco after the 1957 season.

118 Actress with the most Oscar nods : STREEP

Meryl Streep has had more Academy Award nominations and more Golden Globe nominations than any other actor, which is both a tribute to her talent and the respect she has earned in the industry. I am not a huge fan of her earlier works but some of her recent movies are now on my list of all-time favorites. I recommend “Mamma Mia!” (you’ll either love it or hate it!), “Julie & Julia”, “It’s Complicated” and ”Hope Springs”.

Down

1 __ receipts : READ

A read receipt is a confirmation that an email, perhaps, was opened (“read”).

2 Fictional movie in a real movie of the same name : ARGO

“Argo” is a 2012 movie that is based on the true story of the rescue of six diplomats hiding out during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. The film was directed by and stars Ben Affleck and is produced by Grant Heslov and George Clooney, the same pair who produced the excellent “Good Night, and Good Luck”. I highly recommend “Argo”, although I found the scenes of religious fervor to be very frightening …

6 Yalta conferee : STALIN

Joseph Stalin was General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party from 1922 to 1952, and Soviet Premier from 1941 to 1953. Stalin’s real name was Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili. Not long after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1903 he adopted the name “Stalin”, which is the Russian word for “steel”.

The Yalta Conference was a wartime meeting between WWII leaders Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin. Held in February of 1945, the conference is most remembered for decisions made on the post-war organization of Europe. To a large extent, the three leaders made decisions carving up political influence around the world, decisions that have profound implications to this day.

7 Some flu symptoms : ACHES

Influenza (the “flu”) is an ailment that is caused by a virus. The virus is readily inactivated by the use of soap, so washing hands and surfaces is especially helpful in containing flu outbreaks, and other virus pandemics …

9 Rival sch. of The Citadel : VMI

The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is one of the six senior military colleges in the country, and is located in Lexington, Virginia. The sports teams of VMI are known as the Keydets, southern slang for “cadets”.

The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina, is a college located in Charleston, South Carolina. The school took in its first twenty students way back in 1843, when it was known as the South Carolina Military Academy. Back then “academy” was a word associated with secondary schools so it was decided to change the name to “College” in order to eliminate confusion.

10 Mini-albums, briefly : EPS

An extended-play (EP) record, CD or download contains more music than a single, but less than an LP.

13 10-year event in the “Iliad” : SIEGE

Our word “siege” comes from a 13th-century word for a “seat”. The military usage derives from the concept of a besieging force “sitting down” outside a fortress until it falls.

“Iliad” is an epic poem by the Greek poet Homer that tells the story of the ten-year siege of “Ilium” (i.e. “Troy”) during the Trojan war. “The Odyssey”, also attributed to Homer, is sometimes described as a sequel to “Iliad”.

18 “Hands off my waffle!” : LEGGO!

Eggo is a brand of frozen waffles that was introduced by Kellogg in 1953. The brand experienced a surge in popularity in the 1980s due to a successful ad campaign featuring a family sitting down to breakfast together and enjoying Eggo waffles. The tagline of the commercials, “Leggo my Eggo”, is still recognized today.

19 Dutch painter of “Peasants Before an Inn” : STEEN

Jan Steen was a painter from the Netherlands who was active in the Dutch Golden Age, the 17th century. Steen’s most famous work is probably “The Feast of Saint Nicholas”, which we can see at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

29 Horace, for one : ODIST

One of ancient Rome’s leading lyric poets was Quintus Horatius Flaccus or “Horace”, as we tend to know him. Horace’s most famous work is probably his collection of Latin lyric poems titled “Carmina” (the Latin for “Odes”).

34 Amazon worker? : ANT

Amazon ants are referred to as “slave-raiding” ants. They rob the pupae from related species and use the captured ants as “slaves”. The “slaves” do virtually all the work needed to maintain the Amazon ant nest, including provision of food and nursing the young.

38 Heckle relentlessly : RIDE

Originally, the verb “to heckle” meant “to question severely”, and for many years was associated with the public questioning of parliamentary candidates in Scotland. In more recent times, the meaning has evolved into questioning that is less polite and that is directed at stand-up comics.

41 Shoptalk : ARGOT

“Argot” is a French term. It is the name given in the 17th century to “the jargon of the Paris underworld”. Nowadays argot is a set of idioms used by any particular group, the “lingo” of that group.

42 Miyuki bracelet elements : BEADS

Miyuki beads are high-quality, Japanese seed beads that are made from melted glass and come in a variety of finishes, including opaque, transparent, and iridescent.

43 Banquet dispenser : URN

A banquet is an elaborate feast. “Banquet” is a term that seems to have reversed in meaning over time. Coming into English via French from Old Italian, “banquet” is derived from “banco” meaning “bench”. The original “banco” meal was simply a snack eaten on a bench, rather than at a table. I guess we eat more these days …

45 Heavily hyped : BALLYHOOED

“Ballyhoo”, meaning “hype, publicity”, was originally circus slang dating back to the early 1900s. No one really knows where the term comes from, but I can tell you there is a village in Co. Cork in Ireland named Ballyhooly!

46 Ryan Hurst’s “Sons of Anarchy” role : OPIE

Actor Ryan Hurst got his big break when he was picked to play Opie Winston in the hit show “Sons of Anarchy”. Ryan has acting in his blood, as his father is Rick Hurst, an actor who had a recurring role on “The Dukes of Hazzard” playing Boss Hogg’s cousin Cletus.

47 Quack grass or crabgrass : WEED

Couch grass (also “quackgrass”) is a grass that is usually considered a weed. It is tough to remove from a garden as it grows rapidly using creeping rhizomes. Pulling the plant can leave parts of the rhizome behind, which can develop into new couch grass plants.

Crabgrass may be considered a weed and a scourge of the lawn-loving population, but it has its uses. In Africa, the seeds of some species of crabgrass are toasted and ground into a flour that is used to make porridge, or better still, to make beer.

50 Protruding navel : OUTIE

The navel is essentially the scar left behind when the umbilical cord is removed from a newborn baby. One interesting use of the umbilicus (navel, belly button) is to differentiate between identical twins, especially when they are very young.

51 Swordfish cut : STEAK

Swordfish are predatory fish with long, pointed bills that resemble swords, hence the name. The “sword” is not used to spear its prey, but rather is employed as a slashing tool, injuring the prey and making for an easier catch.

58 IM giggle : LOL

Instant message (IM)

60 Mars counterpart : ARES

The Greek god Ares is often referred to as the Olympian god of warfare, but originally he was regarded as the god of bloodlust and slaughter. Ares united with Aphrodite to create several gods, including Phobos (Fear), Deimos (Terror) and Eros (Desire). Ares was the son of Zeus and Hera, and the Roman equivalent to Ares was Mars.

62 Soccer great Messi, to fans : LEO

Lionel “Leo” Messi is a soccer player from Argentina. Messi has been awarded FIFA’s Ballon d’Or (Golden Ball) award more times than any other player. The Ballon d’Or is presented to the player who is considered the best in the world in the prior year.

65 __ Flip!: Mattel card game : UNO

UNO FLIP! is a card game that is similar to the classic game of UNO, but with a twist. The deck of cards has two sides, a light side and a dark side. The light side plays like regular UNO, but the dark side has more challenging and strategic gameplay. When a player plays a FLIP card, the deck is flipped over and everyone must now play off of the dark side. The dark side contains new action cards that can really shake things up.

69 Amazon gadget : ECHO

Amazon Echo is a voice-controlled hardware device that can be used to provide several services including playing radio programs and music, recording of shopping lists, and managing a calendar. The device just sits in the home listening, until it hears a “wake up” command.

74 Sean of “Will & Grace” : HAYES

Actor and producer Sean Hayes hit the big time when he started playing Jack McFarland on the hit sitcom “Will & Grace” in the late 1990s. Hayes is also very active and influential behind the camera. He co-founded and co-runs Hazy Mills Productions, which produces shows such as “Grimm” and “Hollywood Game Night”.

77 Reporter Lane of “Superman” : LOIS

Lois Lane has been the love interest of Superman/Clark Kent since the comic series was first published in 1938. Lois and Clark both work for the big newspaper in the city of Metropolis called “The Daily Planet”. The couple finally got hitched in the comics (and on television’s “Lois and Clark”) in 1996. One has to wonder how challenging the crossword is in “The Daily Planet” …

78 Musical closings : CODAS

In music, a coda is primarily a passage that brings a movement to a conclusion. “Coda” is Italian for “tail”.

80 “Twilight” heroine : BELLA

The reference is to a character (Bella Swan) in “The Twilight” series of books by Stephenie Meyer. “The Twilight Saga” is a series of films based on the books. “The Twilight” books feature vampires, and I don’t do vampires …

81 Catch some rays? : FISH

Rays are fish with flattened bodies that have gill slits on their underside. There are many, many species of ray, including stingrays and skates. Rays are close relatives of sharks, with both being cartilaginous fish, as opposed to bony fish.

82 Drama honor : OBIE

The Obies are the Off-Broadway Theater Awards. They have been presented annually since 1956. The recipients used to be chosen by “The Village Voice” newspaper, but now are jointly administered with the American Theatre Wing.

85 Colorful marble : CAT’S-EYE

A “cat’s eye” is a type of marble, one sometimes used as a shooter in the game. A cat’s eye marble is made from glass, with a colored insert that resembles a real cat’s eye.

92 Animated film featuring a sloth named Sid : ICE AGE

In the “Ice Age” series of animated feature films, the character named “Sid” is a ground sloth, and is voiced by actor John Leguizamo. Sid is a ground sloth who once lived in a tree with other sloths. But, Sid is dull-witted and accident-prone, and so the other sloths want to leave him behind.

95 Latte art sites : CAFES

“Latte art” is the name given to the designs that can be drawn on the surface of coffee drinks. Some of those designs can be quite intricate.

96 “Ulalume” author’s middle name : ALLAN

Celebrated American writer Edgar Allan Poe (EAP) was born “Edgar Poe” in 1809 in Boston. Poe’s father abandoned Edgar and his two siblings after the death of their mother. As a result, Edgar was taken into the home of the Allan family in Richmond, Virginia. His foster parents gave the future author the name “Edgar Allan Poe”.

“Ulalume” is a poem written by Edgar Allen Poe in 1847. The poem’s line “in the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir” is quoted in another respected work, Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire”. Blanche Dubois says that her sister, Stella, lives “in the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir”, a nod to “Ulalume”.

97 Witherspoon with a book club : REESE

“Reese” is not actually actress Witherspoon’s given name. She started out life as Laura Jeanne Witherspoon. “Reese” is her mother’s maiden name.

Hello Sunshine is a media company co-founded by actress Reese Witherspoon that produces female-driven films and television shows. The company also curates Reese’s Book Club, for which Witherspoon picks a book each month that brings forward women’s stories.

99 More spruced-up : NICER

Our verb “to spruce up” means “to make trim or neat”. The term comes from the adjective “spruce”, meaning “smart, neat”. In turn, the adjective comes from “spruce leather”, which was a Prussian leather that was used in England in the 15th and 16th centuries to make a popular style of jerkin that was widely considered to look quite smart.

104 Hockey term derived from “decoy” : DEKE

A deke, also known as a dangle, is a technique used to get past an opponent in ice hockey. “Deke” is a colloquial shortening of the word “decoy”.

106 Fitbit unit : STEP

Fitbits are wearable activity trackers that are mainly used to track the number of steps walked, although more and more features have been added over time. A Fitbit was even used as evidence in at least one murder case. A Connecticut man claimed that a home intruder had shot and killed his wife. Police used data from the wife’s Fitbit to disprove the husband’s story, and ended up charging him with the murder.

108 Budget rental : CAR

The Budget Rent a Car company started out in 1958 with the intent of undercutting the existing price of renting a car at airports. Budget was founded by Morris Mirkin. Mirkin enlisted Julius Lederer as a co-founder the following year. Lederer was the husband of newspaper columnist “Ann Landers”.

110 “Delta of Venus” author Anaïs : NIN

“Delta of Venus” is a collection of short stories by Anais Nin that was published in 1977, not long after the author’s passing. The stories were originally written on commission for a private collector in the 1940s.

111 Like postseason matchups before the end of the season: Abbr. : TBD

To be determined (TBD)

112 Old TV hookup : VCR

The first video cassette recorder (VCR) was introduced in the 1950s, but it wasn’t until the 1970s that home VCRs became successful.