Category: Lynn K. Watson

Advertisement

Constructed by: Lynn K. Watson
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: DnD

Themed answers are common phrases in the format D– AND D–:

• 37A Role-playing game with a 20-sided die, familiarly, and a feature of this puzzle’s four longest answers : DND

• 17A Move with a mouse, say : DRAG AND DROP
• 27A Farrelly brothers buddy comedy : DUMB AND DUMBER
• 43A Small, irregular amounts : DRIBS AND DRABS
• 58A Eat without paying the bill : DINE AND DASH

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

Bill’s time: 4m 47s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Former Iranian rulers : SHAHS

The last Shah of Iran was Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who was overthrown in the revolution led by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979. The post-revolution government sought the extradition of the Shah back to Iran while he was in the United States seeking medical care (he had cancer). His prolonged stay in the United States, recovering from surgery, caused some unrest back in Iran and resentment towards the United States. Some say that this resentment precipitated the storming of the US Embassy in Tehran and the resulting hostage crisis.

11 Midwest winter hrs. : CST

Central Standard Time (CST)

17 Move with a mouse, say : DRAG AND DROP

The computer mouse was invented at the Stanford Research Institute in 1963, by one Douglas Engelbart. Sadly for him, his patent ran out before mice became standard equipment on computers, so he never made any money from his amazing invention.

20 Karaoke selection : SONG

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

21 Overhead trains : ELS

Elevated railroad (El)

22 Like bibs and aprons, usually : TIED ON

The word “bib” comes from the Latin “bibere” meaning “to drink”, as does our word “imbibe”. So, maybe a bib is less about spilling the food, and more about soaking up the booze …

In Old French, a “naperon” was a “small table-cloth”. The term was absorbed into English as “napron”, describing a cloth used to cover the front of a person at work. Over time, “a napron” was heard as “an apron”, giving us our contemporary noun “apron”.

26 Sign of spiders : COBWEBS

The silk that makes up a web is a protein fiber that is “spun” by a spider. Spider silk is about one sixth of the density of steel, yet has a comparable tensile strength.

27 Farrelly brothers buddy comedy : DUMB AND DUMBER

“Dumb and Dumber” is a 1994 comedy starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels as two pretty dumb guys, Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne. There was a prequel released in 2003 titled “Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd”, and a sequel in 2011 called “Dumb and Dumber To”.

The Farrelly Brothers are Peter and Bobby, two Hollywood screenwriters and directors. Included in their list of movies are “There’s Something About Mary”, “Dumb and Dumber”, “Me, Myself and Ireland”, “Shallow Hal” and “The Three Stooges”. The brothers started out writing for television, most notably for “Seinfeld”.

36 Uses an all-in-one printer feature : FAXES

A facsimile is a copy. The term comes from the Latin phrase “fac simile” meaning “make similar”, with “fac” being the imperative form of “facere”, to make. The term “fax” (as in “fax machine”) is an abbreviated form of “facsimile”.

37 Role-playing game with a 20-sided die, familiarly, and a feature of this puzzle’s four longest answers : DND

Dungeons & Dragons (D&D, DnD) is a complex role-playing game (RPG) introduced in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules Incorporated (TSR). Dungeons & Dragons was probably the first of the modern role-playing games to be developed, and the most successful. It is still played by lots of people today, including my youngest son …

38 Pixar title robot : WALL-E

“WALL-E” is a very cute Pixar movie that was released in 2008. The hero of the piece is a robot named WALL-E, who loves his “Hello Dolly”, and who also falls in love with a robot named EVE.

40 BTW part : … THE …

By the way (BTW)

41 Shark feature : FIN

Shark finning is a cruel fishing practice driven by the demand for Chinese shark fin soup. Millions of sharks every year are captured, have their fins sliced off at sea and are then thrown back into the ocean still alive. The mutilated sharks don’t last very long and are usually eaten because they cannot maneuver very easily without their dorsal fins.

43 Small, irregular amounts : DRIBS AND DRABS

A drib is a negligible amount, as in “dribs and drabs”. The term “drib” arose in Scotland in the 18th century, and might possibly come from the verb “to dribble”.

48 Wandering from place to place : NOMADIC

A nomad is someone who roams about. The term “nomad” comes from the Latin “nomas” meaning “wandering shepherd”. In turn, “nomas” comes from the Greek “nomas” meaning “roaming (especially when looking for pasture)”.

62 Trojan War saga : ILIAD

“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”.

64 RR stop : STA

A station (“stn.” or “sta.”) is a railroad (RR) stop.

Down

2 “Big Hero 6” hero : HIRO

“Big Hero 6” is a team of superheroes in the Marvel Comics universe. They are a relatively new creation, introduced in 1998. “Big Hero 6” appeared in their own Disney animated film in 2014.

3 Actor Alda : ALAN

Alan Alda is the only person to win acting, directing, and writing Emmys for the same comedy program. He won five Emmys for his work on “M*A*S*H”, three for acting, one for writing and one for directing.

9 __ and Príncipe: island country in the Gulf of Guinea : SAO TOME

The Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe is an island nation off the west coast of Africa comprising mainly two islands: São Tomé and Príncipe. São Tomé and Príncipe is located in the Gulf of Guinea, off the coast of Gabon. It was colonized by Portugal after POrtuguese explorers discovered the islands in the 15th century. After gaining independence in 1975, São Tomé and Príncipe became the smallest Portuguese-speaking country in the world.

The Gulf of Guinea is a large gulf that forms part of the Atlantic Ocean on the west coast of Africa. One of the gulf’s claims to fame is that it is home to the intersecting point between zero degrees of latitude and zero degrees of longitude, i.e. where the Equator and Prime Meridian cross.

10 Onetime Dr Pepper rival : MR PIBB

The soft drink on the market today called Pibb Xtra used to be known as Mr Pibb, and before that was called Peppo. Peppo was introduced in 1972 as a direct competitor to Dr Pepper.

11 Glass slipper wearer in a fairy tale : CINDERELLA

The folktale usually known as “Cinderella” was first published by French author Charles Perrault in 1697, although it was later included by the Brothers Grimm in their famous 1812 collection. The storyline of the tale may date back as far as the days of ancient Greece. A common alternative title to the story is “The Little Glass Slipper”.

12 Shaggy’s pal, to Shaggy : SCOOB

“Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!” is a series of cartoons produced for Hanna-Barbera Productions, first broadcast in 1969. The title character is a great Dane dog owned by a young male called Shaggy Rogers. The character’s name was inspired by the famous “doo-be-doo-be-doo” refrain in the Frank Sinatra hit “Strangers in the Night”. Shaggy was voiced by famed disk jockey Casey Kasem. Shaggy and Scooby’s friends are Velma, Fred and Daphne.

18 Bright light in the big city : NEON

The basic design of neon lighting was first demonstrated at the Paris Motor Show in 1910. Such lighting is made up of glass tubes containing a vacuum into which has been introduced a small amount of neon gas. When a voltage is applied between two electrodes inside the tube, the neon gas “glows” and gives off the familiar light.

26 Morsel Miss Muffet ate with whey : CURD

“Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet eating her curds and whey”, in the popular nursery rhyme. A tuffet is a low seat or a footstool, another word for a pouf or a hassock. When milk curdles it separates into two parts, solid curds and liquid whey. Then “along came a spider and sat down beside her”.

27 Electronic music duo __ Punk : DAFT

Daft Punk was an electronic music duo from Paris, France that formed in 1993, with members Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter. The pair split up in 2021.

28 Home of the Mighty Five national parks : UTAH

The highest number of National Parks (NPs) in any one state is nine, in California. Alaska comes in second with eight, and Utah comes in third with five. The five NPs in Utah are:

• Arches NP
• Bryce Canyon NP
• Canyonlands NP
• Capitol Reef NP
• Zion NP

30 Fashion designer Karan : DONNA

Donna Karan is an American fashion designer, creator of the Donna Karan New York (DKNY) clothing label. Karan was very much raised in the fashion industry, as her mother was a model and her stepfather a tailor.

38 Bunches of bucks : WADS

“Buck” is a slang word meaning “dollar”. The term has been around at least since 1856, and is thought to derive from the tradition of using buckskin as a unit of trade with Native Americans during the frontier days.

41 Record that may be accessed in the electronic FOIA Library : FBI FILE

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

48 Small salamanders : NEWTS

Salamanders are lizard-like amphibians found all across the northern hemisphere. They are the only vertebrate animals that can regenerate lost limbs.

55 Capri, for one : ISLE

The island of Capri off the coast of Southern Italy has been a tourist resort since the days of ancient Rome. Capri is home to the famous Blue Grotto, a sea cave that is illuminated with sunlight that’s colored blue as it passes through the seawater into the cave.

56 Pop diva who was the 2017 Billboard Icon Award honoree : CHER

The Billboard Icon Award has been presented annually during the Billboard Music Awards ceremony since 2011. The first recipient was Neil Diamond.

/p>