Category: Natasha Erickson

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Constructed by: Natasha Erickson
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Dude!

Themed answers are all common “dude” phrases that have been reinterpreted:

• 18A *Dude who knows his ABCs? : ALPHA MALE
• 24A *Dude whose favorite season is autumn? : FALL GUY
• 38A *Dude who always pipes up to support a proposed motion? : SECOND GENTLEMAN
• 51A *Dude who attends every formal dance? : BALLBOY
• 59A *Dude who refuses to use even numbers? : ODD FELLOW

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

Bill’s time: 4m 56s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

10 Answer an invite, briefly : RSVP

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

14 Lake boat : CANOE

The boat known as a canoe takes its name from the Carib word “kenu” meaning “dugout”. It was Christopher Columbus who brought “kenu” into Spanish as “canoa”, which evolved into our English “canoe”.

15 Red Muppet : ELMO

In 2002, The Muppet Elmo got to testify before a US House subcommittee. Elmo’s goal was to get an increase in funding for music education. In the transcript of the hearing, his statements are ascribed to “Elmo Monster” and “Mr. Monster”.

16 October birthstone : OPAL

Here is the “official” list of birthstones, by month, that we tend to use today:

• January: Garnet
• February: Amethyst
• March: Bloodstone or Aquamarine
• April: Diamond
• May: Emerald
• June: Pearl or Moonstone
• July: Ruby
• August: Sardonyx or Peridot
• September: Sapphire or Lapis Lazuli
• October: Opal or Pink Tourmaline
• November: Topaz or Citrine
• December: Turquoise or Zircon (also now, Tanzanite)

23 Tied, as sneakers : LACED

“Sneaker” is a common name for an athletic shoe, one that is now used as everyday casual wear. The term “sneaker” is used widely across the US. Back in my homeland of Ireland, the terms “trainer” and “tennis shoe” are more common.

24 *Dude whose favorite season is autumn? : FALL GUY

Here in the US, we tend to refer to the season following summer as “fall”. This name is short for “fall of the leaf”, referring to the loss of leaves by deciduous trees. The term “autumn” is a more common name used in Britain and Ireland instead of “fall”. However, back before the mid-1600s the term “fall” was in common use on the other side of the pond.

28 Goal for many community college students : AA DEGREE

Associate of Arts (AA)

30 Businesses: Abbr. : COS

Company (co.)

33 Cover story : ALIBI

“Alibi” is the Latin word for “elsewhere” as in, “I claim that I was ‘elsewhere’ when the crime was committed, I have an ‘alibi’”.

37 Dark blue shade : NAVY

Navy blue is a dark blue shade that was named for the color of uniforms worn by officers in the British Royal Navy as early as 1748. When the color’s name first took on the association with uniforms in the early 1800s, it was known as “marine blue”, but soon changed to “navy blue”.

38 *Dude who always pipes up to support a proposed motion? : SECOND GENTLEMAN

Doug Elmhoff became the first Second Gentleman of the US when his spouse Kamala Harris became US Vice President in 2021. Elmhoff successed Second Lady Karen Pence, whose spouse is former Vice President Mike Pence.

44 Waldorf salad fruit : APPLE

As one might expect, the Waldorf salad was created at the Waldorf Hotel in New York City (now the Waldorf=Astoria), back in the 1890s. The classic version of the Waldorf salad is made from apples, celery and walnuts dressed in mayonnaise and served on a bed of lettuce. Anyone who is a fan of the BBC sitcom “Fawlty Towers” will remember how much trouble Basil Fawlty had coming up with a Waldorf salad for an American guest, as the kitchen was “out of Waldorfs” …

46 HBO teen drama starring Zendaya : EUPHORIA

“Euphoria” is an HBO teen drama show that is loosely based on a miniseries of the same name from Israel. Lead actress in the show is Zendaya, who plays a recovering teenage drug addict.

Zendaya Coleman, known simply as “Zendaya” on stage, is an actress and singer. Her big break as an actress came with the role of Rocky Blue on the Disney sitcom “Shake It Up”. Zendaya gained further attention from TV audiences when in 2013, at 16 years of age, she became the youngest contestant up to that time on “Dancing with the Stars”. She did well, coming in second in the competition.

49 Many Omanis : ARABS

Oman lies on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula and is neighbored by the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Oman is a monarchy, and the official name of the state is the Sultanate of Oman. All of the country’s legislative, executive and judiciary power resides with the hereditary sultan.

55 North African capital : TUNIS

Tunis is the capital of Tunisia, and gives the country her name. Tunis is on the Mediterranean coast, and is located just a few miles from the site of ancient Carthage.

57 “Levitating” singer Dua __ : LIPA

“Levitating” is a 2020 song co-written and released by English-Albanian singer Dua Lipa. Apparently, the writing team composed the song while imagining themselves in an “Austin Powers” movie with Mike Myers dancing to the tune. Yeah, baby!

68 “Frozen” reindeer : SVEN

In the 2013 animated film “Frozen”, Kristoff is a 21-year old iceman who is accompanied by Sven, his reindeer. Kristoff is voiced by Jonathan Groff.

Down

2 “__ luego” : HASTA

“Hasta luego” translates literally from Spanish as “until later”, and is used to say “see you later”.

3 Photographer Adams : ANSEL

As an avid amateur photographer, I have been a big fan of the work of Ansel Adams for many years and must have read all of his books. Adams was famous for clarity and depth in his black and white images. Central to his technique was the use of the zone system, his own invention. The zone system is a way of controlling exposure in an image, particularly when there is a high contrast in the subject. Although the technique was developed primarily for black & white film, it can even apply to digital color images. In the digital world, the main technique is to expose an image for the highlights, and one or more images for the shadows. These images can then be combined digitally giving a final photograph with a full and satisfying range of exposures.

7 Fashion magazine with a French name : ELLE

“Elle” magazine was founded in 1945 in France and today has the highest circulation of any fashion magazine in the world. “Elle” is the French word for “she”. “Elle” is published monthly worldwide, although you can pick up a weekly edition if you live in France.

9 Play-__: kids’ clay : DOH

Back in the 1930s, a manufacturer in Cincinnati produced a doughy compound that was used to clean wallpaper. Twenty years later, school-kids started using the cleaning material as a modeling compound, so the manufacturer reworked the formula, and sold it to local schools. It was given the name “Play-Doh”.

10 Tomatoes in marinara sauce : ROMAS

The Roma tomato isn’t considered an heirloom variety but it is very popular with home gardeners, especially those gardeners that don’t have a lot of space. It is a bush type (as opposed to vine type) and needs very little room to provide a lot of tomatoes.

Italians use the term “marinara” not for a sauce, but in the name of a recipe that includes a tomato-based sauce. For example, “spaghetti alla marinara” would be a spaghetti dish, served “mariner’s style”. The tomato sauce that we call “marinara” is called “salsa di pomodoro” in Italy.

11 Out-of-this-world summer program? : SPACE CAMP

The US Space Camp was founded in 1982 largely at the suggestion of Wernher von Braun. The original Space Camp was opened in Huntsville, Alabama and it still operates today. There followed Space Camp Florida and Space Camp California, but they’ve since closed their doors.

12 “Shining __”: comedy horror series starring Courteney Cox : VALE

“Shining Vale” is a comedy-horror TV show that has quite the cast, including Couteney Cox, Greg KInner and Mira Sorvino. “Horror”, so I haven’t seen it …

Courteney Cox played Monica Geller on the incredibly successful sitcom “Friends”. Before “Friends” she played the girlfriend of Michael J. Fox’s character on “Family Ties” for a couple of years in the late eighties. Her role in “Friends” was her biggest success, no question, when she and her fellow female co-stars became the highest paid TV actresses ever, earning a million dollars per episode.

19 Spiky succulent : ALOE

Succulent plants are those with thickened stems and/or leaves that have evolved to retain water. As such, succulents are often found where the climate is particularly dry. The term “succulent” comes from the Latin “sucus” meaning “juice, sap”.

22 Cow’s mouthful : CUD

Animals that chew the cud are called ruminants. Ruminants eat vegetable matter but cannot extract any nutritional value from cellulose without the help of microbes in the gut. Ruminants collect roughage in the first part of the alimentary canal, allowing microbes to work on it. The partially digested material (the cud) is regurgitated into the mouth so that the ruminant can chew the food more completely, exposing more surface area for microbes to do their work.

26 Jumbo suffix : -TRON

A Jumbotron is a big-screen television system that is often seen in sports stadiums. The brand name “JumboTron” was introduced by Sony in 1985. “Jumbotron” is used pretty generically now for any big-screen system in such venues as Sony exited the business in 2001.

27 Weight : HEFT

The heft of something is its weight, its heaviness. The term “heft” is derivative of the verb “to heave” meaning “to lift, raise”.

29 “Pride __ before … ” : GOETH

The phrase “pride comes before a fall” has its roots in the Bible’s Book of Proverbs: “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

32 “Auld Lang __” : SYNE

The song “Auld Lang Syne” is a staple at New Year’s Eve (well, actually in the opening minutes of New Year’s Day). The words were written by Scottish poet Robbie Burns. The literal translation of “Auld Lang Syne” is “old long since”, but is better translated as “old times”. The sentiment of the song is “for old time’s sake”.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And days of auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear
For auld lang syne
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet
For days of auld lang syne

33 Nile snakes : ASPS

The asp is a venomous snake found in the Nile region of Africa. It is so venomous that the asp was used in ancient Egypt and Greece as a means of execution. Cleopatra observed such executions noting that the venom brought on sleepiness without any painful spasms. When the great queen opted to commit suicide, the asp was therefore her chosen method.

34 Princess “in a galaxy far, far away” : LEIA

Every “Star Wars” film starts out with an opening crawl announcing “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away….”

35 Reykjavík language : ICELANDIC

Reykjavik is the capital city, and indeed the only city, of Iceland. It is also the most northerly capital city of any country. It isn’t very large, relatively speaking, with a population of only 200,000 in the Greater Reykjavik Area.

37 Kathmandu’s country : NEPAL

Although Kathmandu (sometimes “Katmandu”) is the capital city of the lofty nation of Nepal, it sits in a bowl-shaped valley at an elevation of only 4,600 ft. Air pollution is a huge problem in the city. Industry and residents launch a lot of smog into the air, and given the surrounding geography and climate, any pollution blown away during the day tends to fall back into the valley at night.

41 Retired boxer who wrote the cookbook “Food for Life” : LAILA ALI

Laila Ali is the daughter of the great Muhammad Ali and is a very capable boxer in her own right. Laila’s professional record is an impressive 24 wins, including 21 knockouts. Now retired, she never lost a fight, and nor did she ever draw. One of those victories was against Jackie Frazier-Lyde, daughter of her father’s nemesis Joe Frazier. Laila is not a bad dancer either, coming in third place in the fourth season of “Dancing with the Stars”.

47 Jedi Kenobi : OBI-WAN

Obi-Wan Kenobi is one of the more beloved of the “Star Wars” characters. He was portrayed by two fabulous actors in the series of films. As a young man Kenobi was played by Scottish actor Ewan McGregor, and as an older man by Alec Guinness.

48 Latto’s music genre : RAP

“Latto” (also “Big Latto”, and formerly “Mulatto”) is the stage name of rap singer Alyssa Stephens. She was the winner of the first season of the LIfetime reality show “”The Rap Game”, in 2016.

50 Rummage (through) : RIFLE

The verb “to rummage”, meaning “to search thoroughly”, has an interesting history. Back in the 16th century, a “rummage” was the act of arranging cargo in a ship. In the early 17th century, the verb “to rummage” was introduced, originally meaning to search thoroughly (the hold of a ship). It should be noted that rummaging usually involves moving things around. The first “rummage sales” were used to sell off unclaimed goods at docks. Over time, rummage sales became opportunities to dispose of unwanted items, usually in aid of a charity.

53 Iron __: rust : OXIDE

Rust is iron oxide. Rust forms when iron oxidizes, reacts with oxygen.

54 Leavening agent : YEAST

Yeasts are unicellular microorganisms in the kingdom Fungi. The species of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been used for centuries in the making of wine and beer, and in breadmaking. Saccharomyces cerevisiae converts carbohydrates into carbon dioxide and alcohol in the process of fermentation. When making beer and wine, the carbon dioxide and alcohol may be captured by the liquid. When making bread, the carbon dioxide and alcohol is driven off by heat.

55 “The Wizard of Oz” dog : TOTO

Toto is Dorothy’s dog in the film “The Wizard of Oz”, and in the original book “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum. Toto was played in the movie by a dog called Terry, but Terry’s name was soon changed to Toto in real life due to the success of the film.

56 Japanese noodle : UDON

Udon noodles are made from wheat-flour and are very popular in Japanese cuisines such as tempura.

60 __ Vegas Aces : LAS

The Las Vegas Aces women’s basketball team was formed in Salt Lake City in 1997 as the Utah Starzz. The team became the San Antonio (Silver) Stars in 2002, before moving to Las Vegas as the Aces in 2018.

61 Candy heart word : LUV

The forerunner to Sweethearts candy was introduced in 1866, with the famous sayings written on the candy tailored for use at weddings. One of the original expressions was, “Married in pink, he will take a drink”. The original candy was a lot bigger, to fit all those words! The smaller, heart-shaped candy hit the shelves in 1901. We’ve been able to buy Sweethearts with the words “Text me” since 2010.

63 President pro __ : TEM

“Pro tempore” can be abbreviated to “pro tem” or “p.t.” “Pro tempore” is a Latin phrase that best translates as “for the time being”. It is used to describe a person who is acting for another, usually a superior. The President pro tempore of the US Senate is the person who presides over the Senate in the absence of the Vice President of the US. It has been tradition since 1890 that the president pro tem is the most senior senator in the majority party. The president pro tem ranks highly in the line of succession to the presidency, falling third in line after the Vice President and the Speaker of the House.