Category: Pam Amick Klawitter

108 Stark patriarch : EDDARD

Eddard “Ned” Stark is the protagonist in George R. R. Martin’s fantasy novel “A Game of Thrones”, although his character doesn’t exactly come out on top by the end of the story. Stark is played by actor Sean Bean in the HBO television adaptation of the novel.

110 “All of Me” singer Legend : JOHN

“All of Me” is a 2013 song released by John Legend that was to become his first number-one single. The song had the honor of ousting Pharrell Williams’ hit “Happy” from the top of the charts. The inspiration for “All of Me” was model Chrissy Teigen, whom Legend married later in 2013.

112 Rapper Snoop __ : DOGG

Rap star Snoop Dogg’s real name is Cordozar Calvin Broadus. He is the most famous protege of the notorious rapper Dr. Dre. Sadly, Snoop Dogg has had numerous run-ins with police all round the world, even after he started to live the good life that came with his fame. Snoop Dogg has also been known as “Snoop Doggy Dogg”, and more recently as “Snoop Lion”.

118 Colorful marble : AGATE

A playing marble made from agate is called just that, an agate. Steelies on the other hand, are made from solid steel.

119 Coll. hotshot : BMOC

Big Man On Campus (BMOC)

120 Hart of wrestling : BRET

Retired professional wrestler Bret Hart is the son of wrestler Stu Hart, who founded and handled the Calgarary-based promotion company Stampede Wrestling. Bret was known in the ring as “Hitman Hart”, which led to the name of the Calgary Hitmen junior hockey team.

121 Tequila plant : AGAVE

Tequila is a spirit made from the blue agave. The drink takes its name from the city of Tequila, located about 40 miles northwest of Guadalajara.

Tequila comes in four categories, depending on how long it has been aged:

• “Blanco” (white) or “plata” (silver) is unaged
• “Reposado” (rested) is aged 2 months to a year
• “Añejo” (aged, vintage) is aged 1-3 years
• “Extra añejo” (extra aged, ultra aged) is aged 3 years or more

122 Bouquet bit : PETAL

“Bouquet” comes from the French word for “bunch” in the sense of “bunch of flowers”. In French, the term is derived from an older word describing a little wood or small grove of trees. We started using “bouquet” to mean “perfume from a wine” in the early 1800s.

123 Large primate : APE

The tailless primates known as apes (also “hominoids”) are divided into two main branches: gibbons (lesser apes) and hominids (great apes). The hominids are the great apes, and belong to the family of primates called Hominidae. Extant genera that make up the family Hominidae are:

• chimpanzees
• gorillas
• humans
• orangutans

124 Pentagon VIP : GEN

The incredible building known as the Pentagon was built during WWII, and dedicated on January 15, 1943. It is the largest office building in the world (by floor space) covering an area of about 6.5 million square feet. As it was built during the war years, a major requirement was that it use a minimum amount of steel. That steel shortage dictated that the building be no more than four stories in height, and hence cover an awful lot of real estate.

125 “Twilight” author Stephenie : MEYER

Author Stephenie Meyer is best-known for her “Twilight” series of vampire romance novels. The “Twilight” books are aimed at young adults. Meyer also wrote a 2008 adult sci-fi novel called “The Host”, which went straight to the top of the New York Times Best Seller list. Obsessive fans of the “Twilight” series of books can be referred to as “Twihards”, a portmanteau of “Twilight” and “die-hard”.

Down

1 Artist M.C. whose work inspired the art of the game Monument Valley : ESCHER

M. C. Escher was a graphic artist from the Netherlands. Escher was noted for creating works inspired by mathematics, often works that were physical impossibilities. One such work is “Drawing Hands” (1948) in which a pair of hands emerge from a piece of paper and actually draw themselves. He also created a drawing in which a group of red ants are crawling around a Möbius strip, never reaching the end.

Monument Valley is a computer game that was released in 2014. It was very successful, and was named the best game for the iPad that first year. It is a little unusual in the pantheon of computer game hits in that it was developed not by the big gaming companies, but rather by the relatively small London-based studio called Ustwo.

3 Apt county for Tangerine, Florida : ORANGE

Orange County, Florida used to be known as Mosquito County. It was renamed Orange County in honor of the county’s main product. The county seat is Orlando.

4 Williams of “Grey’s Anatomy” : JESSE

Actor Jesse Williams was a regular on the medical drama TV show “Grey’s Anatomy” for more than a decade, playing surgical resident Jackson Avery.

5 Passports, e.g. : IDS

As a result of a League of Nations conference in 1920, passports are usually written in French and one other language. French was specified back then as it was deemed the language of diplomacy. US passports use French and English, given that English is the nation’s de facto national language. Spanish was added as a language for US passports in the late nineties, in recognition of Spanish-speaking Puerto Rico.

7 R&B singer __ Mai : ELLA

Ella Mai is an R&B singer from England. Mai went to high school in New York City before returning to Britain.

10 Ready-made digital graphics : CLIP ART

Clip art is a collection of ready-made images that can be cut and pasted as perhaps an illustration. The original clip art was “clipped”, i.e. cut, from existing printed works for use in some other published works.

13 First name in stunts : EVEL

Daredevil Evel Knievel contracted hepatitis C from the many blood transfusions that he needed after injuries incurred during stunts. He had to have a liver transplant as a result, but his health declined after that. Knievel eventually passed away in 2007.

15 Sitcom friend of Jerry and George : ELAINE

The character Elaine Benes, unlike the other lead characters (Jerry, Kramer and George), did not appear in the pilot episode of “Seinfeld”. NBC executives specified the addition of a female lead when they picked up the show citing that the situation was too “male-centric”.

16 Ohio home of the Wright Brothers : DAYTON

Dayton is a city in the southwest of Ohio that is famously home to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The city is also referred to as the “Birthplace of Aviation”, as it was in Dayton that Orville and Wilbur Wright built and improved the Wright Flyer. The Wright Flyer made the first controlled and sustained flight of a powered, heavier-than-air aircraft in 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

19 Song of worship : PSALM

The Greek word “psalmoi” originally meant “songs sung to a harp”, and gave us the word “psalms”. In the Jewish and Western Christian traditions, the Book of Psalms contains 150 individual psalms, divided into five sections.

22 Civil War battle site in Western Maryland : ANTIETAM

The first major battle to take place on northern soil during the Civil War was at Antietam Creek in Maryland. It was also the most-bloody, one-day battle in American history, with about 23,000 casualties.

28 Bagel spread : SCHMEAR

The word “schmear” comes from the Yiddish word “shmir” meaning “spread”. The phrase “the whole schmear” is a relatively recent one, dating back to around 1969 and coming from the world of business.

33 MD-to-be’s exam : MCAT

Medical College Admission Test (MCAT)

36 NYC subway org. : MTA

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has public transportation responsibility in the state of New York (as well as part of Connecticut).

39 New law student : ONE L

“One L” is a name used in general for first-year law students, especially those attending Harvard.

40 Actress Woodard : ALFRE

Alfre Woodard is an actress from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Woodard was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in the 1983 film “Cross Creek”. Off the stage and screen, she is very active in the Democratic Party.

43 Fjord, e.g. : INLET

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.

44 “Insecure” creator/star : ISSA RAE

“Insecure” is a comedy-drama TV show that premiered in 2016. It is co-written by and stars Issa Rae, who also created the comedy web series “Awkward Black Girl” on which “Insecure” is based.

45 Much-loved member of a D.C. squad? : MOST FAVORED NAT (from “most favored nation”)

The Washington Nationals (“Nats”) started out life as the Montreal Expos in 1969, and were the first Major League Baseball team in Canada. The Expos moved to Washington in 2005 becoming the Nats.

48 “Out of Africa” writer Isak : DINESEN

“Isak Dinesen” was the pen name of the Danish author Baroness Karen Blixen. Blixen’s most famous title by far is “Out of Africa”, her account of the time she spent living in Kenya.

49 Aussie flock : EMUS

The large flightless birds called emus make sounds by manipulating inflatable neck-sacs. The sac is about a foot long, has a thin wall and allows the bird to emit a booming sound. The type of sound emitted is the easiest way to differentiate between male and female emus.

61 Rhys who plays Perry Mason : MATTHEW

Welsh actor Matthew Rhys got his break playing Kevin Walker on the TV drama “Brothers & Sisters” from 2006 to 2011. He gained even further recognition playing the co-lead role of Philip Jennings in the excellent spy drama series “The Americans” that ran from 2013 to 2018. Rhys started a relationship with his co-star in “The Americans”, Keri Russell, in 2014. The couple had a child together in 2016, and refer to each other as husband and wife.

“Perry Mason” is a TV series based on the character created by author Erle Stanley Gardner. Premiering in 2020, the show stars Matthew Rhys in the title role. It is set in the 1930s, and presents the backstory to the celebrated lawyer depicted in the books and the original TV show from the fifties and sixties starring Raymond Burr.

66 Frosty accessory : SCARF

“Frosty the Snowman” is a song that was first recorded by Gene Autry, in 1950. The song was specifically written in the hope that it would become a follow-up hit to Autry’s “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” that topped the charts the previous year.

73 Stetson decor : HATBAND

Stetson is a brand of hat manufactured by John B. Stetson Company of St. Joseph, Missouri. The so-called “cowboy hat” that Stetson pioneered was such a success that the company became the largest hat maker in the world, producing over 3.3 million hats per year.

75 Equestrian event : DRESSAGE

The equestrian sport of dressage involves demonstration of how well a horse responds to training. “Dressage” is a French word meaning “training”.

86 Law firm abbr. : ESQ

The title “esquire” is of British origin and is used differently today depending on whether one is in the US or the UK. Here in America the term is usually reserved for those practicing the law (both male and female). In the UK, “esquire” is a term of gentle respect reserved for a male who has no other title that one can use. So, a mere commoner like me might receive a letter from the bank, say, addressed to W. E. Butler Esq.

90 Winter Olympics ramp : SKI JUMP

The winter sport of ski jumping originated in Norway. The first recorded, measured ski jump was by Norwegian-Danish military officer Olaf Rye. He launched himself a distance of 9.5 meters in front of fellow soldiers in 1809. There is now an offshoot of ski jumping known as ski flying, which involves the use of larger hills. Ski flyers have made jumps in excess of 250 meters.

92 Start carving, as a watermelon : CUT OPEN

The watermelon that we find in the grocery store is actually a berry produced by the flowering, vine-like watermelon plant. Seedless watermelons were developed by Japanese scientists in 1939, and now seedless varieties account for over 80% of watermelon sales in the US.

95 Gerontology focus : OLD AGE

Gerontology is the study of all aspects of aging, including its biology, psychology and sociology. Geriatrics is the study of diseases encountered in older adults.

97 Specialized, committee-wise : AD HOC

The Latin phrase “ad hoc” means “for this purpose”. An ad hoc committee, for example, is formed for a specific purpose and disbanded after making its final report.

104 Winter of “Modern Family” : ARIEL

Alex Dunphy is the youngest daughter of Claire and Phil on the sitcom “Modern Family”. Alex is played by the talented young actress Ariel Winter.

107 Long-lasting battle : SIEGE

Our word “siege” comes from a 13th-century word for a “seat”. The military usage derives from the concept of a besieging force “sitting down” outside a fortress until it falls.

109 Flour for naan and chapati : ATTA

Atta is a whole-wheat flour used to make flatbreads in South Asian cuisine, such as chapati and naan. “Atta” is the Hindi or Urdu word for “dough”.

116 SCOTUS member from 1993 to 2020 : RBG

Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) served on the US Supreme Court. Justice Ginsburg was the second woman to join the Court, and was nominated by President Bill Clinton. She was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1999 and underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. During that time she did not miss one day on the bench. In 2009 Justice Ginsburg had surgery for pancreatic cancer, and was back to work 12 days later. She had left-lung lobectomy to remove cancerous nodules in 2018, which forced Justice Ginsburg to miss oral argument in January 2019, for the first time since joining the court 25 years earlier. She finally succumbed to pancreatic cancer in 2020. Much of Ginsburg’s life is recounted in the excellent 2018 movie “On the Basis of Sex”.

117 Lake Mead creator : DAM

When the magnificent Hoover Dam was completed in 1936 it was the largest hydroelectric plant in the world, as well as being the world’s largest concrete structure. The edifice was originally known as Boulder Dam, due to its location near Boulder City, Nevada. The dam was eventually named after Herbert Hoover for his role in having the dam built when he was Secretary of Commerce, and his later support as US President. There was a formal dedication ceremony held in September 1935 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt was in the area, when only work on the powerhouse was incomplete. President Roosevelt managed to make his dedication speech without once referring to the name of his former opponent President Hoover. When the dam was finally put into service in 1936, the project was two years ahead of schedule. Those were the days …

The reservoir on the Colorado River known as Lake Mead, created by the Hoover Dam, used to be the largest reservoir in the US. Located outside Las Vegas, drought and increasing demand for water has shrunk Lake Mead so that now Lake Sakakawea on the Missouri in North Dakota has a larger surface area and volume of water.