Category: Lee Taylor

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Constructed by: Lee Taylor
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Theme: Workplace Superstitions

Themed answers are common superstitions that might be appropriate in a workplace specified in the clue:

• 22A Weather forecaster’s “Don’t”? : … OPEN AN UMBRELLA INDOORS
• 29A Beautician’s “Don’t”? : … BREAK A MIRROR
• 67A Carpenter’s “Do”? : … KNOCK ON WOOD
• 99A Ice skater’s “Don’t”? : … STEP ON A CRACK
• 109A Banker’s “Do”? : … FIND A PENNY AND PICK IT UP
• 15D Pianist’s “Do”? : … CROSS YOUR FINGERS
• 38D Construction worker’s “Don’t”? : … WALK UNDER A LADDER

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

Bill’s time: 14m 46s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

13 Diacritic for a long vowel sound : MACRON

A macron is a diacritical mark placed above a vowel. It is a horizontal line and is used to indicate that the vowel is long.

19 Caltech city : PASADENA

Pasadena, California is famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game, as well as the related Tournament of Roses Parade. The name “Pasadena” was chosen somewhat arbitrarily. A missionary in Michigan supplied a list of translations of the names “Crown of the Valley”, “Key of the Valley” etc, in the Chippewa language when the locals were choosing a name. All of the translations ended in “pasadena” meaning “of the valley”. The word was liked, so it was picked.

Caltech is more properly known as the California Institute of Technology, and is a private research-oriented school in Pasadena. One of Caltech’s responsibilities is the management and operation of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. If you watch “The Big Bang Theory” on television like me, you might know that the four lead characters all work at Caltech.

20 Low-pH material : ACID

As we all recall from chemistry class, a pH of 7 is considered neutral. Anything less than 7 is an acid, and anything above 7 is a base.

26 Batter’s stat : RBI

Run batted in (RBI)

27 Caesar’s rebuke : ET TU!

It was Shakespeare who popularized the words “Et tu, Brute?” (meaning “And you, Brutus?”). They appear in his play “Julius Caesar”, although the phrase had been around long before he penned his drama. It’s not known what Julius Caesar actually said in real life (if anything at all) as he was assassinated on the steps of the Senate in Rome.

28 Manuscript marking : STET

“Stet” is a Latin word meaning “let it stand”. In editorial work, the typesetter is instructed to disregard any change previously marked by writing the word “stet” and then underscoring that change with a line of dots or dashes.

29 Beautician’s “Don’t”? : … BREAK A MIRROR

There is a superstition that breaking a mirror causes an individual to have seven years of bad luck, which originates from the belief that a mirror reflects the soul. So, breaking a mirror reflects breaking part of the soul. As the soul was believed to regenerate itself every seven years then one would have to endure seven years of bad luck before the soul could repair itself.

34 Pink Floyd’s Barrett : SYD

Syd Barrett was the lead singer and a founding member of the English rock band Pink Floyd. Barrett was only active as a musician for just over ten years. He retired from the music scene in 1975 and spent the next 30 years living off Pink Floyd royalties until he passed away in 2006.

39 “American Idol” fixture until 2010 : SIMON

Simon Cowell was invited to be a judge on “Pop Idol”, a British show that spawned “American Idol”. Cowell was then asked to take part in the US spin-off, and we haven’t stopped seeing him since …

46 Major artery : AORTA

The aorta originates in the heart and extends down into the abdomen. It is the largest artery in the body.

51 Kimono ties : OBIS

The sash worn as part of traditional Japanese dress is known as an obi. The obi can be tied at the back in what is called a butterfly knot. The term “obi” is also used for the thick cotton belts that are an essential part of the outfits worn by practitioners of many martial arts. The color of the martial arts obi signifies the wearer’s skill level.

The lovely Japanese kimono is a garment worn by men, women and children. The word “kimono” translates simply as “thing to wear”, with “ki” meaning “wear” and “mono” meaning “thing”.

53 Tolkien talking plant : ENT

Ents are tree-like creatures that live in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth in his series of books “The Lord of the Rings”. “Ent” is an Old English word for “giant”.

54 17th/18th-century British ruling house : STUART

The Royal House of Stewart (also “Stuart”) came to power in Scotland in the late 14th century, starting with Robert II of Scotland. The Stewarts extended their power to England and Ireland when the Tudor line became extinct as Queen Elizabeth I died without issue. James VI of Scotland became James I of England at that time. The last Stuart monarch was Anne, Queen of Great Britain who also died without issue, despite going through seventeen pregnancies. Assuming Prince William, Duke of Cambridge becomes the British Monarch one day, then there will be a Stewart descendant on the throne again. William is the son of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Diana was descended from the Stewart monarchs.

55 Little guy : TYKE

“Tyke” has been used playfully to describe a young child since at least 1902, but for centuries before that a tyke was a cur or mongrel, or perhaps a lazy or lower-class man.

56 “__ Misérables” : LES

Victor Hugo’s famous 1862 novel “Les Misérables” has been translated into English several times. However, the title is usually left in the original French as a successful translation of “les misérables” seems to be elusive. Some suggestions for an English title are “The Wretched”, “The Victims” and “The Dispossessed”. The novel follows the lives of several characters including an ex-convict Jean Valjean, a fanatic police inspector Javert, a beautiful prostitute Fantine, and Fantine’s illegitimate daughter Cosette.

57 Home security co. : ADT

ADT is a home and small-business security company based in Boca Raton, Florida. The company was founded back in 1874 by Edward Calahan. Calahan invented the stock ticker several years earlier, and ran the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company. Calahan was awoken one morning by the sound of a burglar in his house, and so he decided to develop a telegraph-based security alarm system. The success of the system led to the founding of American District Telegraph, later known as ADT.

58 Indigenous Nepal mountain people : SHERPAS

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.

59 Bear genus : URSUS

Something described as ursine is related to a bear. The term “ursine” comes from “ursus” (plural “ursi”), Latin for “bear”.

61 “Narc” co-star Ray : LIOTTA

Actor Ray Liotta is best known for playing Shoeless Joe Jackson in the movie “Field of Dreams” and Henry Hill in “Goodfellas”.

“Narc” is a 2002 crime thriller starring Jason Patric and Ray Liotta as two police detectives on the trail of the murderer of an undercover police officer. I haven’t seen this one …

63 Bona __ : FIDE

“Bona fide(s)” translates from the Latin as “in good faith”, and is used to indicate honest intentions. It can also mean that something is authentic, like a piece of art that is represented in good faith as being genuine.

64 Big name in romance fiction : AVON

Avon was a noted publisher of comic books and paperbacks. The company was founded in 1941 and focused on lowbrow literature designed for popular appeal, especially romance novels.

67 Carpenter’s “Do”? : … KNOCK ON WOOD

A carpenter is a woodworker. “Carpenter” came into English via French from the Latin “carpentarius” meaning “wagon maker”. The earlier “carpentum” is Latin for “wagon”.

71 Vulcan mind __ : MELD

Mr. Spock was the first to show us the Vulcan mind meld, in the original “Star Trek” series. Vulcans have the ability to meld with the minds of other Vulcans, and indeed humans, in order to see what’s “going on” in the other individual’s mind.

73 Versatile game piece : QUEEN

I guess the queen in chess might be considered versatile because of the vast scope that it has in moves. It can move forwards and backwards, any number of squares. It can also move sideways, and diagonally.

79 Corp. leaders : MGMT

Management (mgmt.)

82 After-dinner party : SOIREE

“Soir” is the French word for “evening” and a soirée is an evening party. The French word “soirée” has an acute accent over the first “e”, but we tend to drop this when using the word in English.

84 Christmas tune : NOEL

“Noël” is the French word for the Christmas season, and ultimately comes from the Latin word for “birth” (natalis). “Noel” has come to be used as an alternative for “Christmas carol”.

94 Spring bulb : TULIP

We usually associate the cultivation of tulips with the Netherlands, but they were first grown commercially in the Ottoman Empire. The name “tulip” ultimately derives from the Ottoman Turkish word “tulbend” that means “muslin, gauze”.

97 Doo-wop group __ Na Na : SHA

Do you remember the band “Johnny Casino & The Gamblers” in the movie “Grease”? That was actually the real-world group named Sha Na Na. Johnny Casino & the Gamblers sang “Those Magic Changes” at the high school dance, in between “Rock’N Roll Is Here to Stay” and “Hound Dog”. Sha Na Na got together in the sixties, hosted the variety show “Sha Na Na” from 1977 to 1981, and are still performing today.

103 Henry __ : VIII

Famously, King Henry VIII had six queens consort. There is a rhyme that is commonly used to help remember the fates of each of his wives, which goes:

King Henry the Eighth, to six wives he was wedded. One died, one survived, two divorced, two beheaded.

The use of the term “divorce” isn’t quite accurate though, as in fact Henry had two of his marriages annulled. His wives (and their fates) were:

1. Catherine of Aragon (Annulled),
2. Anne Boleyn (Beheaded),
3. Jane Seymour (Died)
4. Anne of Cleves (Annulled),
5. Catherine Howard (Beheaded),
6. Catherine Parr (Survived).

105 “An Essay on Criticism” poet : POPE

Alexander Pope’s 1709 poem “An Essay on Criticism” is the source of at least three well-known quotations:

• A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.
• To err is human, to forgive divine.
• For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

116 Russia, vis-à-vis Crimea, in 2014 : ANNEXER

Crimea is a peninsula jutting out into the Black Sea that is almost completely surrounded by water. It is connected to the Ukrainian mainland to the north by the Isthmus of Perekop, and is separated from the nearby Russian region of Kuban by the narrow (less than 10 miles) Kerch Strait. Crimea has been occupied by foreign powers many times over the centuries, and now control of the region is disputed by Ukraine and Russia.

Down

2 Guitar gadget : CAPO

A capo is a clamp-like device that is placed around the neck of a guitar or other stringed instrument to shorten the strings, and hence raise the pitch. The full name, rarely used these days, is “capo tasto”, which is Italian for “head tie”.

5 Big Pharma watchdog: Abbr. : 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.

“Big Pharma” is a nickname for the pharmaceutical industry. The monker comes from the acronym for the lobbying group for the industry, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).

6 Sportscaster Berman : LEN

Len Berman is a former sports journalist on WNBC, NBC’s flagship station located in New York City.

8 South American dances : SAMBAS

The samba is a Brazilian dance that is very much symbolic of the festival of Carnival. Like so much culture around the world, the samba has its roots in Africa, as the dance is derived from dances performed by former slaves who migrated into urban Rio de Janeiro in the late 1800s. The exact roots of the name “samba” seem to have been lost in the mists of time. However, my favorite explanation is that it comes from an African Kikongo word “semba” which means “a blow struck with the belly button”. We don’t seem to have a need for such a word in English …

13 Fertilizer ingredient : MANURE

Back in the 1400s, to “manure” was to cultivate using “manual” labor. Over time, “manuring” came to specifically mean “treating the soil with fertilizer, dung and compost”. Today, “manure” is used mainly as a noun describing animal waste collected from stables and barnyards that is often used as a fertilizer.

17 When rights may be restricted : ON RED

If you’re sitting behind a car that doesn’t make a right on red, it may just be a rental car driven by someone from Europe. Speaking as someone who learned to drive over there, I must admit I held up a few people at red lights when I first visited this country. That’s because in Europe we aren’t allowed to make any move past a red light, unless there is an accompanying green arrow. So, if you’re driving overseas, take care …

21 Climbing equipment : PITONS

A piton is a piece of mountaineering equipment, an anchor designed to protect a climber if he or she falls. It is a metal spike driven into a crack in the rock face with a hammer. Pitons have eye holes through which a rope is attached using carabiners. “Piton” is a French word for a “hook”.

23 Two-piece suits : BIKINIS

The origin of the word “bikini”, describing a type of bathing suit, seems very uncertain. My favorite story is that it is named after the Bikini Atoll, site of American A-bomb tests in the forties and fifties. The name “bikini” was chosen for the swim-wear because of the “explosive” effect it had on men who saw a woman wearing the garment!

24 Words in Newton’s first law : AT REST

Newton’s first law of motion states that a body that is moving maintains the same velocity unless it is acted upon by an external force. That resistance to changing velocity is known as “inertia”.

29 Son of Odin and Frigg : BALDER

In Norse mythology, the god Baldr (also “Balder”) is a son of Odin and Frigg, and a brother of Thor. In some accounts, Baldr was immune from harm. As a result, other gods entertained themselves by throwing objects and shooting arrows at him, knowing that they would have no effect. Loki the mischief-maker deceived the blind god Höd into hurling a spear made from mistletoe. Mistletoe was the only thing that could harm Baldr, and so he died.

31 “Famous” cookie maker : AMOS

Wally Amos was a talent agent, one who was in the habit of taking home-baked cookies with him as an enticement to get celebrities to see him. He was urged by friends to open a cookie store (the cookies were that delicious, I guess) and this he did in Los Angeles in 1975 using the name “Famous Amos”. The store was a smash hit and he was able to build on the success by introducing his cookies into supermarkets. The brand was eventually purchased, making Wally a rich man, and Famous Amos cookies are still flying off the shelf. Wally Amos also became an energetic literacy advocate. He hosted 30 TV programs in 1987 entitled “Learn to Read” that provided reading instruction targeted at adults.

35 Bar mitzvah celebrant : JEW

A Jewish girl becomes a bat mitzvah at 12 years of age, the age at which she becomes responsible for her actions. Boys become bar mitzvahs at 13. The terms translate into English as daughter and son of the commandments.

41 Deckhand : MATE

On a merchant ship, the first mate (sometimes “first officer, chief mate”) is the highest-ranking deck officer, and reports directly to the captain.

43 Grab a bite together : DO LUNCH

“Lunch” is an abbreviated form of “luncheon”, but the exact etymology of “luncheon” seems unclear. That said, back in the 1650s, a luncheon was a light snack eaten between regular mealtimes, as opposed to a regular midday repast.

52 Utterly infatuate : BESOT

Our word “sot” comes from the Old English “sott”, meaning “fool”. The word “sot” started to be associated with alcohol and not just foolery in the late 1500s. The derivative term “besotted” means “muddled with drunkenness”, or more figuratively “infatuated”.

57 Lotion ingredients : ALOES

Aloe vera is a succulent plant that grows in relatively dry climates. The plant’s leaves are full of biologically-active compounds that have been studied extensively. Aloe vera has been used for centuries in herbal medicine, mainly for topical treatment of wounds.

62 Chef’s hat : TOQUE

A toque was a brimless style of hat that was very fashionable in Europe in the 13th to 16th centuries. Nowadays we associate toques with chefs, as it is the name given to a chef’s hat (called a “toque blanche” in French, a “white hat”). A chef’s toque is quite interesting. Many toques have exactly 100 pleats, often said to signify the number of ways that an egg can be cooked.

68 Early programming acronym : COBOL

COBOL is one of the oldest computer programming languages, with the name an acronym standing for COmmon Business-Oriented Language. COBOL was developed in 1959 by “the mother of the COBOL language”, programmer Grace Hopper.

74 Confine with a dike, say : EMBANK

A dike is an embankment that is used to prevent floods. It is usually made of earth and rock.

76 Northern neighbor of Chile : PERU

Peru’s name comes from the word “Biru”. Back in the early 1500s, Biru was a ruler living near the Bay of San Miguel in Panama. The territory over which Biru ruled was the furthest land south in the Americas known to Europeans at that time. The Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro was the first European to move south of Biru’s empire and the land that he found was designated “Peru”, a derivative of “Biru”.

The nation of Chile has a very distinctive shape. It is a narrow strip that runs up the west coast of South America. The average width of the country is only a little over 100 miles, and yet its length is about 2,700 miles. Chile is touted as the longest country in the world, although I am not so sure what that means exactly. I mean, Russia extends about 4,800 miles from east-to west, so maybe “longest” implies long in the north-south direction?

84 “The Lion King” lioness : NALA

In “The Lion King”, Nala is a lioness and the childhood friend of Simba. By the end of the story, Nala and Simba become wedded. “The Lion King” is inspired by William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, with Simba representing the title character, and Nala representing Hamlet’s love interest Ophelia.

86 ’60s radical gp. : SDS

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was an activist group in the sixties. The SDS organized the largest student strike in the history of the United States on 26 April 1968, with about a million students staying away from class that day. The “Students for a Democratic Society” name was revived in 2006 with the foundation of a new US-based student organization with left wing beliefs. Today’s SDS was founded by a pair of high school students from Greenwich Village, New York.

88 Area of expertise : METIER

“Métier” is French for “trade, profession”.

91 Common Market initials : EEC

The European Economic Community (EEC) was also known as the Common Market. The EEC was a NAFTA-like structure that was eventually absorbed into today’s European Union (EU).

93 Promised to attend, perhaps : RSVPED

“RSVP” stands for “répondez s’il vous plaît”, which is French for “answer, please”.

97 Title holder : SPINE

In the US, the convention is to write the title on the spine of a book from top-to-bottom. In most of Europe, the convention is to write the title from bottom-to-top. We have a lot of books in the “library” in our house from both sides of the Atlantic, and so there is much moving of the head from left to right as we glance along our bookshelves.

98 Temporary tattoo dye : HENNA

Henna has been used for centuries as a dye, for leather and wool as well as hair and skin. In modern days, henna is often used for temporary tattoos.

100 Sonar sounds : PINGS

The British developed the first underwater detection system that used sound waves. Research was driven by defence demands during WWI, leading to production of working units in 1922. This new sound detection system was described as using “supersonics”, but for the purpose of secrecy the term was dropped in favor of an acronym. The work was done under the auspices of the Royal Navy’s Anti-Submarine Division, so ASD was combined with the “IC” from “superson-ic-s” to create the name ASDIC. The navy even went as far as renaming the quartz material at the heart of the technology “ASDivite”. By the time WWII came along, the Americans were producing their own systems and coined the term SONAR, playing off the related application, RADAR. And so, the name ASDIC was deep-sixed …

101 Jungian archetype : ANIMA

The concepts of anima and animus are found in the Carl Jung school of analytical psychology. The idea is that within each male there resides a feminine inner personality called the anima, and within each female there is a male inner personality known as the animus.

106 Chicago Bulls forward __ Porter, Jr. : OTTO

Otto Porter is a professional basketball player who was drafted by the Washington Wizards in 2013, after playing college basketball with the Georgetown Hoyas.

108 Sport in which the entire body is a valid target : EPEE

The French word for sword is “épée”. In competitive fencing the épée is connected to a system that records an electrical signal when legal contact is made on an opponent’s body.

112 Michigan in Chicago: Abbr. : AVE

Chicago’s Michigan Avenue is home to many of the city’s landmarks, including the Chicago Water Tower, the Art Institute of Chicago, Millenium Park and the Magnificent Mile shopping district.

114 “60 Minutes” airer : CBS

The marvelous news magazine program “60 Minutes” has been on the air since 1968. The show is unique among all other regularly-scheduled shows in that it has never used theme music. There is just the ticking of that Aristo stopwatch.

115 Dennings of “2 Broke Girls” : KAT

Kat Dennings is the stage name of actress Katherine Litwack, who is noted today for her co-starring role on CBS’s sitcom “2 Broke Girls”. Dennings is an avid blogger, and you can check out her video blog on YouTube.