Category: Jon Pennington

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Constructed by: Jon Pennington
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Let’s Go Crazy

Themed answers each include the letter string L-E-T-S-G-O, but in a CRAZY (rearranged) order:

• 55A First track on Prince’s “Purple Rain,” and a hint to each set of circled letters : LET’S GO CRAZY

• 20A Orange-yellow hue in 1970s kitchens : HARVEST GOLD
• 30A Place to purchase Pixel phones : GOOGLE STORE
• 46A Make drowsy with a lullaby : SING TO SLEEP

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

Bill’s time: 6m 21s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 Golden Rule preposition : UNTO

The Golden Rule is also known as the ethic of reciprocity, and is a basis for the concept of human rights. A version of the rule used in the Christian tradition is attributed to Jesus:

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

A derivative phrase often heard today is “Love thy neighbor (as thyself)”.

9 Green pasta sauce : PESTO

Pesto sauce is more completely called “pesto alla genovese”, i.e. pesto from Genoa. A traditional recipe calls for crushed garlic, pine nuts, salt, basil leaves, parmesan cheese and olive oil. Yum …

14 Hammer or sickle : TOOL

Sickles and scythes are similar tools that are used for reaping crops. A sickle has a short handle, forcing the user to stoop down. A scythe has a long handle, allowing it to be used while standing erect.

15 Amphibian that can regrow an appendage : NEWT

Newts wouldn’t be my favorite animals. They are found all over the world living on land or in water depending on the species, but always associated with water even if it is only for breeding. Newts metamorphose through three distinct developmental stages during their lives. They start off as larvae in water, fertilized eggs that often cling to aquatic plants. The eggs hatch into tadpoles, the first developmental form of the newt. After living some months as tadpoles swimming around in the water, they undergo another metamorphosis, sprouting legs and replacing their external gills with lungs. At this juvenile stage they are known as efts, and leave the water to live on land. A more gradual transition takes place then, as the eft takes on the lizard-like appearance of the adult newt.

24 [Error in original text] : [SIC]

[Sic] indicates that a quotation is written as originally found, perhaps including a typo. “Sic” is Latin for “thus, like this”. The term is more completely written as “sic erat scriptum”, which translates as “thus was it written”.

27 Crockpot topper : LID

We often use the term “crockpot” as an alternative for “slow cooker”. The generic term comes from the trademark “Crock-Pot”, which is now owned by Sunbeam products.

30 Place to purchase Pixel phones : GOOGLE STORE

“Pixel” is a brand of electronic devices for consumers supplied by Google. The main Pixel devices are smartphones, but the brand name is also used for laptops, tablet computers and smartwatches. I’m a fan …

36 People of Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County : AMISH

The Amish are members of a group of Christian churches, and a subgroup of the Mennonite churches. The Amish church originated in Switzerland and Alsace in 1693 when it was founded by Jakob Ammann. It was Ammann who gave the name to the Amish people. Many Amish people came to Pennsylvania in the 18th century.

Lancaster County in Pennsylvania is often referred to as the “Garden Spot of America”, or “Pennsylvania Dutch Country” due to the many Amish people living there.

41 Coastal inlet : RIA

A drowned valley might be called a ria or a fjord, and both are formed as sea levels rise. A ria is a drowned valley created by river erosion, and a fjord is a drowned valley created by glaciation.

42 Curly-tailed watchdog : AKITA

The Akita breed of dog is named for its point of origin, Akita Prefecture in Japan. When Helen Keller visited Japan in 1937, she asked for and was given an Akita breed of dog, with the name of Kamikaze-go. Sadly, the dog died within a year from distemper. The following year the Japanese government officially presented Keller with a replacement dog. Supposedly Keller’s dogs were the first members of the breed to be introduced into the US.

43 Venison : DEER

Venison is the meat of a deer. In days of yore, the term “venison” applied not just to deer, but to any large game. The word ultimately derives from the Latin “venare” meaning “to hunt”.

44 Chums : PALS

A chum is a friend. The term “chum” originated in the late 1600s as an alternative spelling for “cham”. In turn, “cham” was a shortened form of “chambermate”, a roommate at university.

46 Make drowsy with a lullaby : SING TO SLEEP

A lullaby is a soothing song, one usually used to quiet children. The term “lullaby” has its roots in Middle English and is related to our contemporary word verb “to lull”, as in “to lull to sleep”.

50 Many a techie : GEEK

Originally, a geek was a sideshow performer, perhaps one at a circus. Sometimes the term “geek” is used today for someone regarded as foolish or clumsy, and also for someone who is technically driven and expert, but often socially inept.

51 Karaoke aid : MIC

“Karate” is a Japanese word meaning “empty hand”, and the related word “karaoke” translates as “empty orchestra”.

55 First track on Prince’s “Purple Rain,” and a hint to each set of circled letters : LET’S GO CRAZY

“Let’s Go Crazy” is a 1984 song written and recorded by Prince and the Revolution. The song served as the opening number in the rock musical drama “Purple Rain” that was released the same year.

65 Flute’s orchestral neighbor : OBOE

Woodwind instruments are a subcategory of wind instruments that were traditionally made of wood, although some are now made from metal. There are two main classes of woodwind: flutes and reed instruments. Flutes produce sound by blowing air across the edge of a hole in a cylindrical tube. Reed instruments produce sounds by blowing into a mouthpiece, which then directs the air over a reed or reeds, causing them to vibrate.

67 Church area with pews : NAVE

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

69 Feast with bitter herbs : SEDER

The Passover Seder is a ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish Passover holiday, celebrating the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. One of the traditions at the meal is that the youngest child at the table asks “The Four Questions”, all relating to why this night is different from all other nights in the year:

• Why is it that on all other nights during the year we eat either bread or matzoh, but on this night we eat only matzoh?
• Why is it that on all other nights we eat all kinds of herbs, but on this night we eat only bitter herbs?
• Why is it that on all other nights we do not dip our herbs even once, but on this night we dip them twice?
• Why is it that on all other nights we eat either sitting or reclining, but on this night we eat in a reclining position?

71 Cargo hauler : SEMI

A “semi” is a “semi-trailer truck”. The vehicle is so called because it consists of a tractor and a half-trailer. The half-trailer is so called because it only has wheels on the back end, with the front supported by the tractor.

Down

1 Home of the Bonneville Salt Flats : UTAH

The largest salt pan located near the Great Salt Lake is the famous Bonneville Salt Flats. There is an area in the Flats called the Bonneville Speedway that is devoted to motor sports and is noted as a venue for numerous land speed records.

2 Civil rights icon Parks : ROSA

Rosa Parks was one of a cadre of brave women in days gone by who refused to give up their seats on a bus to white women. It was the stand taken by Rosa Parks on December 1, 1955 that sparked the Montgomery, Alabama Bus Boycott. President Clinton presented Ms. Parks with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996. When she died in 2005, Rosa Parks became the first ever woman to have her body lie in honor in the US Capitol Rotunda.

3 Pinot __ : NOIR

The pinot noir wine grape variety takes its name from the French for “pine” and “black”. The grapes grow in tight clusters shaped like pine cones, and are very dark in color. The pinot noir grape is most closely associated with Burgundy wines in France, although in recent years the popularity (and price) of California pinot noir wine has soared after it featured so prominently in the wonderful 2004 movie “Sideways”. Grab a bottle of pinot, and go rent the movie …

4 Some Balkans : SLAVS

The Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe is usually referred to as “the Balkans”. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains located in present-day Bulgaria and Serbia. “Balkan” is Bulgarian for “mountain”.

5 World Heritage Site gp. : UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is better known by the acronym “UNESCO”. UNESCO’s mission is to help build peace in the world using programs focused on education, the sciences, culture, communication and information. The organization’s work is aimed in particular at Africa, and gender equalization. UNESCO also administers a World Heritage Site program that designates and helps conserve sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to humanity across the world.

8 “Homeland” actress Miranda : OTTO

Miranda Otto is an actress from Brisbane, Australia. Perhaps most notably, she played Éowyn in “The Lord of the Rings” series of films. I remember her playing the wife of the Tom Cruise character in the 2005 film “War of the Worlds”. She also played a pivotal role in several episodes of the excellent espionage thriller TV series “Homeland”, portraying the chief of the CIA’s Berlin Station (and double agent … spoiler!).

9 Stuffed critters given to some medal winners at the Beijing Olympics : PANDAS

There were five mascots for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. They were called the “Fuwa”, a word meaning “good-luck dolls” in Chinese. One of the Fuwa was a panda named Jingjing. Jingjing was assigned to the sports of strength, like weightlifting and judo.

10 Writer Umberto : ECO

Umberto Eco was an Italian writer who is probably best known for his novel “The Name of the Rose”, published in 1980. In 1986, “The Name of the Rose” was adapted into a movie with the same title starring Sean Connery.

11 Floe, e.g. : SHEET OF ICE

An ice floe is a sheet of ice that has separated from an ice field and is floating freely on the surface of the ocean.

12 Pup shelter? : TENT

A pup tent is a small ridge tent, one meant for use by 2-3 people. The term “pup tent” has been around since the mid-1800s. A pup tent was sometimes called a dog tent.

22 Potato and __ soup : LEEK

The leek is a vegetable closely related to the onion and the garlic. It is also a national emblem of Wales (along with the daffodil), although I don’t think we know for sure how this came to be. One story is that the Welsh were ordered to wear leeks in their helmets to identify themselves in a battle against the Saxons. Apparently, the battle took place in a field of leeks.

26 Anti-vampire weapon : STAKE

Legends about vampires were particularly common in Eastern Europe and in the Balkans in particular. The superstition was that vampires could be killed using a wooden stake, with the preferred type of wood varying from place to place. Superstition also defines where the body should be pierced. Most often, the stake was driven through the heart, but Russians and northern Germans went for the mouth, and northeastern Serbs for the stomach.

28 Louvre Pyramid architect : IM PEI

Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei was raised in Shanghai. He moved to the US to study architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. Although he transferred soon after to MIT. The list of his designs includes the John F. Kennedy Library in Massachusetts, the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong, and the celebrated glass-and-steel pyramid in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

37 Twilled fabric : SERGE

Serge is a type of twill fabric with diagonal ridges on both sides. The name “serge” comes from the Greek word for “silken”.

42 Gelatinous tomato dish : ASPIC

Aspic is a dish in which the main ingredients are served in a gelatin made from meat stock. “Aspic” is a French word meaning “jelly”.

44 Hawaiian dish of diced raw fish : POKE

Poke is a Native-Hawaiian dish featuring diced raw fish. “Poke” is a Hawaiian word meaning “to slice”.

47 Penn’s silent partner : TELLER

The illusionist Teller, of Penn & Teller, was born Raymond Teller in Philadelphia, although he legally changed his name to simply “Teller”. Teller decided not to speak during his performances way back in his youth. He was doing magic at college fraternity parties and discovered that by remaining silent, the potentially rowdy audience focused on his act and refrained from throwing beer at him!

Penn Jillette is one half of the duo of magicians known as Penn & Teller (Penn is the one who talks). Penn teamed up with Teller on stage in 1981, having met him through a friend back in 1974. As well as being talkative onstage, Penn is very vocal offstage when it comes to his causes and beliefs. He is a devout atheist, a libertarian and a supporter of free-market capitalism.

53 Rainbow shapes : ARCS

Sunlight reflected by airborne water droplets can produce rainbows. The water droplets act as little prisms, dispersing the white light into its constituent colors. Sometimes we see double rainbows. If we look carefully, we can see that the order of the colors in the first and second arcs is reversed.

56 Traditional fish in 44-Down : TUNA

[44D Hawaiian dish of diced raw fish : POKE]
There are 15 species of tuna, the size of which varies greatly. The smallest is the bullet tuna, which can grow to about 4 pounds in weight and just over 1½ feet in length. The Atlantic bluefin tuna can weigh over 1,500 pounds, and reach about 15 feet in length. That’s a lot of tuna …

57 Cardigan problem : SNAG

The article of clothing known as a cardigan is named after the British Army Major General James Brudenell, the 7th Earl of Cardigan. Apparently, the cardigan’s design is similar to the knitted wool waistcoat that was worn by officers during the Crimean War in which the Earl of Cardigan played a major role.

59 Start of a classic palindrome : ABLE …

The three most famous palindromes in English have to be:

• Able was I ere I saw Elba
• A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!
• Madam, I’m Adam

One of my favorite terms is “Aibohphobia”, although it doesn’t appear in the dictionary and is a joke term. “Aibohphobia” is a great way to describe a fear of palindromes, by creating a palindrome out of the suffix “-phobia”.

61 Creature of Sherpa folklore : YETI

In the Tibetan language, “Sherpa” means “eastern people” (sher = east, pa = people). Sherpas are an ethnic group from Nepal, but the name is also used for the local guides who assist mountaineers in the Himalayas, and particularly on Mount Everest.

63 Donkey Kong, e.g. : APE

The first video game featuring the ape named Donkey Kong was created in 1981. That same game introduced the world to the character known as Mario, four years before the game Super Mario Bros became such a big hit.