Category: Lynn Lempel

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Constructed by: Lynn Lempel
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Sounds Different

Themed answers all sound like common phrases:

• 17A Odd remedy for an overhead crack? : CEILING WAX (from “sealing wax”)
• 25A Pennies that are a dime a dozen? : COMMON CENTS (from “common sense”)
• 37A Percussion instrument for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir? : RELIGIOUS CYMBAL (from “religious symbol”)
• 52A Sacrifice of some data storage space? : CLOUD CEDING (from “cloud seeding”)
• 61A Jewelry in the shape of a swan? : CYGNET RING (from “signet ring”)

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

Bill’s time: 11m 00s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

14 Shade in a neutral palette : ECRU

The color ecru is a grayish, yellowish brown. The word “ecru” comes from French and means “raw, unbleached”. “Ecru” has the same roots as our word “crude”.

15 Nebraska rail hub : OMAHA

Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska. It is located on the Missouri River, about 10 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River. When Nebraska was still a territory Omaha was its capital, but when Nebraska achieved statehood the capital was moved to the city of Lincoln.

16 Actor Guinness : ALEC

Sir Alec Guinness played many great roles over a long and distinguished career, but nowadays is best remembered (sadly, I think) for playing the original Obi-Wan Kenobi in “Star Wars”. He won his only Best Actor Oscar for playing Colonel Nicholson in the marvelous 1957 WWII movie “The Bridge on the River Kwai”. Guinness did himself serve during the Second World War, in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve. He commanded a landing craft during the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943.

25 Pennies that are a dime a dozen? : COMMON CENTS (from “common sense”)

The official name of our smallest denomination coin is “cent”, and our use of the word “penny” is just a colloquialism derived from the British coin of the same name. In the UK, the plural of penny is “pence”, whereas we have “pennies” in our pockets.

30 Super __ : PAC

A political action committee (PAC) is a private group that works to influence the outcome of a particular election or group of elections. Any group becomes a PAC by law when it receives or spends more than $1,000 for the purpose of influencing the outcome of an election. In 2010 the Supreme Court ruled that PACS that did not make direct contributions to candidates or parties could accept unlimited contributions. These “independent, expenditure-only committees” are commonly referred to as “super PACs”.

31 Met favorites : ARIAS

The Metropolitan Opera (often simply “the Met”) of New York City is the largest classical music organization in the country, presenting about 220 performances each and every year. Founded in 1880, the Met is renowned for using technology to expand its audiences. Performances have been broadcast live on radio since 1931, and on television since 1977. And since 2006 you can go see a live performance from New York in high definition on the big screen, at a movie theater near you …

32 Truism : AXIOM

In the world of mathematics, an axiom is a proposition, one that is taken as basic and self-evident. The term “axiom” extends beyond mathematics with a similar meaning, an established or self-evident truth.

33 Sundance Film Festival state : UTAH

The Sundance Film Festival is the largest independent film event in the country, and takes place every year around the Sundance Resort near Provo, Utah. The festival has its roots in the Utah/US Film Festival which started in Salt Lake City in 1978. Management of the festival was taken over by Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute in 1985. The festival has become a bit of a media feeding frenzy in recent years, as a lot of A-list celebrities attend. The Festival organizers introduced a “Focus on Film” campaign in 2007 in an attempt to offset some of the madness.

37 Percussion instrument for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir? : RELIGIOUS CYMBAL (from “religious symbol”)

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is a self-funded entity that is part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Known within the church as simply “MoTab”, the choir was founded back in 1847, just a few weeks after the original Mormon pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley.

46 CX-5 and CX-50 automaker : MAZDA

The CX-5 is a very successful compact crossover SUV that Mazda started producing in 2012. It was destined to become the company’s best-selling vehicle worldwide, starting in 2014.

Mazda’s CX-50 is a compact crossover that is slightly larger than the very successful CX-5. The CX-50 was introduced in 2022.

49 Olympian and actress Sonja : HENIE

Sonja Henie was a World and Olympic Champion figure skater from Oslo, Norway who competed in the days when “amateur” sports stars were not paid. Henie made up for her lack of income from competing by developing a career in Hollywood. She was one of the highest-paid film stars at the height of her movie career.

52 Sacrifice of some data storage space? : CLOUD CEDING (from “cloud seeding”)

In the world of computing, when one operates “in the cloud”, one’s files and key applications are not stored on one’s own computer, but rather are residing “in the cloud”, on a computer somewhere out on the Internet. I do 90% of my computing in the cloud. That way I don’t have to worry about backing up files, and I can operate from any computer if I have to …

Bernard Vonnegut was an atmospheric scientist who discovered that silver iodide could be used in cloud seeding to cause rainfall. Bernard’s brother was celebrated writer and humorist Kurt Vonnegut.

55 Tanqueray product : GIN

Tanqueray is a popular brand of gin here in the US, although it is less popular over in the UK, where it originated. It was first produced in the 1830s by Charles Tanqueray, hence the name. The list of added botanicals in Tanqueray includes juniper (necessary to be called “gin”), coriander, angelica root and liquorice.

56 Tofu, basically : SOY

“Tofu” is a name for bean curd, and is a Japanese word meaning just that … bean that has curdled. Tofu is produced by coagulating soy milk, using either salt or something acidic. Once the protein has coagulated, the curds are pressed into the familiar blocks. Personally I love tofu, but my wife absolutely hates it …

57 Munch Museum city : OSLO

Edvard Munch was a Norwegian expressionist, and most famous for his painting “The Scream”, painted in 1893. What a wonderful work that is, a true representation of expressionism. The Munch Museum in Oslo is dedicated to his work and life. In 2004, two of Munch’s paintings, “The Scream” and “Madonna”, were stolen from the Munch Museum by armed robbers who subdued the museum guards. The paintings were missing for two years, but recovered in 2006.

61 Jewelry in the shape of a swan? : CYGNET RING (from “signet ring”)

An adult male swan is a cob and an adult female is a pen. Young swans are swanlings or cygnets.

A signet is a seal, in particular one used by an official to mark a document. A signet can be incorporated into a “signet ring”.

66 Committed perjury : LIED

An act of perjury is the willful giving of false testimony under oath. The term “perjury” ultimately comes from the Latin “per” meaning “away” and “iurare” meaning “to swear”.

67 Gochujang origin : KOREA

Gochujang is a red, fermented chili paste used in Korean cuisine. The traditional way of preparing the condiment is by allowing it to ferment for years in an earthenware pot on a stone platform in the back garden.

68 Red’s friend in “The Shawshank Redemption” : ANDY

Stephen King’s novella “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” was adapted into a 2009 stage play and a 1994 film, both of which were titled “The Shawshank Redemption”. The Ohio State Reformatory was used for exterior shots of the fictional Shawshank Prison. That same facility was used for the prison scenes in the 1997 film “Air Force One”.

71 Baseball gripping point : SEAM

A baseball is made by wrapping string around a rubber or cork center, and then covering the resulting sphere with leather. The string inside a baseball can measure up to a mile in length.

Down

1 Delt neighbor : PEC

“Pecs” is the familiar name for the chest muscle, which is more correctly known as the pectoralis major muscle. “Pectus” is the Latin word for “breast, chest”.

4 Chekov colleague : SULU

Mr. Hikaru Sulu was played by George Takei in the original “Star Trek” series. Takei has played lots of roles over the years, and is still very active in television. Did you know that he appeared in the 1963 film, “Pt-109”? He played the helmsman steering the Japanese destroyer that ran down John F. Kennedy’s motor torpedo boat. From destroyer helmsman to starship helmsman …

Walter Koenig played Pavel Chekov in the original “Star Trek” series. Mr Chekov was a Russian character although Koenig himself was born in Chicago, the son of Jewish immigrants from Lithuania.

5 Garfield’s human : JON

Jon Arbuckle is a fictional character, and the owner of Odie from Jim Davis’s comic strip “Garfield”. Garfield is Arbuckle’s orange tabby cat. Odie is his less-than-smart beagle.

7 Kim Wexler’s field on “Better Call Saul” : LAW

Rhea Seehorn is an actress best known for playing lawyer Kim Wexler in the TV crime drama “Better Call Saul”. Seehorn’s birth name is Deborah Rhea, but she opted to use her middle name at a young age (which she pronounces as “Ray”).

8 Marvel villain who collected the Infinity Stones : THANOS

Thanos is a supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe. He was portrayed by Damion Poitier in the 2012 movie “The Avengers”, and by Josh Brolin in several subsequent movies including 2014’s “Guardians of the Galaxy”.

9 Early invader of Great Britain : SAXON

Germanic tribes invaded Great Britain from the early 5th century and created the nation that we now call England. The Anglo-Saxons (sometimes simply “Saxons”), as these tribes came to be called, held sway in the country until the Norman Conquest in 1066. The Anglo-Saxons were descendants of three Germanic tribes:

• The Angles, from Angeln in Northern Germany (and the tribe that gave the name “England”).
• The Saxons, from Lower Saxony and Holland.
• The Jutes, from the Jutland peninsula in Denmark.

10 Jokester : WAG

A very amusing person might be referred to as a card, stitch, wag or riot.

12 Bygone Chrysler : DESOTO

The DeSoto brand of car was built by Chrysler from 1928 to 1961. The line was named after the Spanish explorer and conquistador, Hernando de Soto, widely reported as the first European to have crossed the Mississippi River (although Cabeza de Vaca had at least discovered one of the mouths of the Mississippi twenty years earlier).

18 Native of Peru’s Urubamba Valley : INCA

The Urubamba Valley in Peru is also known as the Sacred Valley of the Incas. It is a fertile valley located just north of the city of Cusco, which was once the capital of the Inca Empire. The valley is named for the Urubamba River that runs through it.

22 Like a bass or a boa : SCALY

The freshwater and marine species of fish called bass resemble perch. The word “bass” comes from the Middle English “bars” meaning “perch”.

Boa constrictors are members of the Boidae family of snakes, all of which are non-venomous. Interestingly, the female boa is always larger than the male.

27 Ventimiglia of “This Is Us” : MILO

Actor Milo Ventimiglia got his break on TV playing Jess Mariano on the show “Gilmore Girls”. He then played Peter Petrelli on “Heroes”, and Jack Pearson on “This Is Us”.

34 Holi celebrant : HINDU

Holi is a Hindu festival, one celebrated in spring, that is also known as the Festival of Colours.

39 Olympic gymnast Lee : SUNI

Suni Lee is an American gymnast who won the women’s artistic individual all-around event at the 2020 Olympics. A few weeks after her victory in Tokyo, Lee competed in the 30th season of “Dancing with the Stars”, finishing in 5th place.

41 World’s heaviest snake : ANACONDA

Anacondas are native to the tropical regions of South America. The green anaconda is one of the world’s largest snakes, growing to 17 feet long and weighing up to 550 pounds! Anacondas are not venomous, and prefer to kill their prey by coiling around it and then squeeeeeezing …

42 Component of some small castles : LEGO

Lego is manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company headquartered in Billund, Denmark. The company was founded by a carpenter called Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1934 and the now-famous plastic interlocking blocks were introduced in 1949. The blocks were originally sold under the name “Automatic Binding Bricks” but I think “Lego” is easier to remember! The name “Lego” comes from the Danish term “leg godt” meaning “play well”.

46 Montreal university : MCGILL

McGill University is a school in Montreal that was founded in 1821. The university was formed from the preexisting McGill College that had been established using a grant from Montreal merchant James McGill.

47 Garza who co-founded the Black Lives Matter movement : ALICIA

The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement started in 2013 after George Zimmerman was acquitted in the shooting death of African-American youth Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida. Three civil rights activists, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi, originated the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter.

50 Versatile celeb’s achievement : EGOT

The acronym “EGOT” stands for “Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony”, and is a reference to performers who have won all four awards. Also known as the “Showbiz Award Grand Slam”, there are relatively few individuals who have been so honored. The first five to do so were:

1. Richard Rodgers in 1962
2. Helen Hayes in 1977
3. Rita Moreno in 1977
4. John Gielgud in 1991
5. Audrey Hepburn in 1994 (posthumously)

53 Roosters : COCKS

The term “rooster” dates back to the late 1700s, and is used to describe an adult male chicken, primarily here in the US. “Rooster” originated as an alternative to “cock”, as puritans objected to the association with the slang usage of the latter term.

64 Otoscope target : EAR

An ear, nose and throat specialist (ENT) uses an otoscope to look into the interior of one’s ears.