Category: Rich Norris

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Constructed by: Rich Norris
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Hook, Line and Sinker

Themed clues are HOOK, LINE AND SINKER, individually or collectively:

• 17A Hook : PETER PAN NEMESIS
• 24A Line : SCRIPT COMPONENT
• 42A Sinker : TOUGH PITCH TO HIT
• 56A Hook, line, and sinker : WITHOUT QUESTION
• 60A Hook, line, and sinker, e.g. : NOUNS

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

Bill’s time: 9m 51s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Mishandle, as a grounder : BOOT

I think the reference is to a baseball term “to boot one”, to misplay a ground ball.

5 Accelerated sci. class : AP BIO

Advanced Placement (AP)

10 __ Eats : UBER

Uber Eats is a food-delivery platform offered by ride-sharing service Uber. For a delivery fee of a few bucks, users can order food from local restaurants using an app. That food might be delivered by car, bike or foot depending on the city and courier.

14 Colorful deepwater fish : OPAH

“Opah” is the more correct name for the fish also known as the sunfish, moonfish or Jerusalem haddock. I’ve seen one in the Monterey Aquarium. It is one huge fish …

17 Hook : PETER PAN NEMESIS

Nemesis was a Greek goddess, the goddess of retribution. Her role was to make pay those individuals who were either haughty or arrogant. In modern parlance, one’s nemesis (plural “nemeses”) is one’s sworn enemy, often someone who is the exact opposite in character but someone who still shares some important characteristics. A nemesis is often someone one cannot seem to beat in competition.

Captain Hook is the bad guy in “Peter Pan”, the famous play by J. M. Barrie. Hook is Peter Pan’s sworn enemy, as Pan had cut off Hook’s hand causing it to be replaced by a “hook”. It is implied in the play that Hook attended Eton College, just outside London. Hook’s last words are “Floreat Etona”, which is Eton College’s motto. Barrie openly acknowledged that the Hook character is based on Herman Melville’s Captain Ahab from the novel “Moby Dick”.

20 Sentimentality : SCHMALTZ

“Schmaltz” is an informal term used to describe things that are excessively sentimental. The word comes from the Yiddish “shmalts”, which means “melted fat”. Indeed, the modern German word for fat or grease is Schmaltz, and it can be used in the same figurative way in that language.

21 IMO relative : I’D SAY

In my opinion (IMO)

22 Orangutan, e.g. : APE

Orangutans (also “orangs”) are arboreal creatures, the largest arboreal animals known to man. They are native to Indonesia and Malaysia, and live in rainforests. Like most species in rainforests these days, orangutans are endangered, with only two species surviving. The word “orangutan” is Malay, meaning “man of the forest”.

33 Basic decision-maker : COIN

The two sides of a coin are known as the “obverse” and the “reverse”. The obverse is commonly referred to as “heads”, as it often depicts someone’s head. The reverse is commonly called “tails”, as it is the opposite of “heads”.

35 Actress Zadora : PIA

Pia Zadora is an American actress and singer. Zadora’s most famous role was in the 1982 film “Butterfly” in which she worked with Orson Welles and Stacey Keach. The film was based on the novel “The Butterfly” by James M. Cain and deals with the difficult subject of father-daughter incest.

38 Fantasy franchise letters : LOTR

“Lord of the Rings” (LOTR)

39 Amanda Gorman’s “An __ We Owe” : ODE

In September of 2022, poet Amanda Gorman was invited to launch a session of the UN General Assembly. She chose to address the group with a new poem that she composed for the occasion, titled “An Ode We Owe”. The first lines are:
How can I ask you to do good,
When we’ve barely withstood
Our greatest threats yet:
The depths of death, despair and disparity,
Atrocities across cities, towns & countries,
Lives lost, climactic costs.

40 __ dish : PETRI

Julius Richard Petri was a German bacteriologist and was the man after whom the Petri dish is named. The petri dish can have an agar gel on the bottom which acts as a nutrient source for the specimen being grown and studied, in which case the dish plus agar is referred to as an “agar plate”.

41 Prefix with -genarian : OCTO-

An octogenarian is a person in his or her eighties.

42 Sinker : TOUGH PITCH TO HIT

A pitch called a sinker ball, drops as it leaves the pitcher’s hand and heads for home plate.

47 “A spider!” : EEK!

Arachnophobia is the fear of spiders, scorpions and other arachnids. The term “arachnophobia“ comes from the Greek “arachne” meaning “spider” and “phobos” meaning “fear”.

48 Take by force : WREST

The verb “to wrest” can mean to obtain by violent twisting and pulling. The term comes from the Middle English “wresten” meaning “to twist”. Our word “wrestling” has the same etymology.

59 New Rochelle campus : IONA

Iona College is a Roman Catholic school run by Christian Brothers in New Rochelle, New York. The Brothers named the college for the island of Iona off the west coast of Scotland on which is located Iona Abbey, which was founded by St. Columba. The school’s sports teams are called the Iona Gaels, and the team mascot goes by the name “Killian”.

61 One on a seal : UNUM

From 1776, “E pluribus unum” was the unofficial motto of the United States. The phrase translates from Latin as “Out of many, one”. It was pushed aside in 1956 when an Act of Congress designated “In God We Trust” as the country’s official motto. “In God We Trust” had appeared on US coins since 1864, but was only introduced on paper currency in 1957.

64 John or Paul, but not Ringo or George : POPE

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome and the leader of the Roman Catholic Church. The term “pope” comes from the Latin “papa”, and ultimately from the Greek “pappas”, with both terms being a child’s word for “father”.

Down

2 Gp. whose most populous member is Nigeria : OPEC

Nigeria is in West Africa, and it takes its name from the Niger River that flows through the country. Nigeria is the most populous country on the continent, with over 180 million inhabitants. It is also the most populous member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

3 Citizenship recitation : OATH

The current text of the Oath of Allegiance reads:

I hereby declare, “on oath”(or “and solemnly affirm”), that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.

The last four words are optional.

4 Ship in a late 19th century tragedy : THE MAINE

The USS Maine was a pre-dreadnought battleship launched in 1890. The Maine sunk in Havana Harbor in 1898 due to a massive explosion. A Naval Court of Inquiry found that the explosion was caused by a mine, a finding that helped precipitate the start of the Spanish-American War that began one month later. Those advocating the war were often heard crying, “Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain!”

5 Simple program : APPLET

“Applet” is the name given to a small application that runs within a larger computer program.

6 Lead-in to fall : PRAT-

“Prat” is a slang term for the buttocks. A “prat-fall” is when someone falls and lands on the buttocks. The term “prat” is also British slang for “contemptible person”.

7 Julie who played Rita on “Dexter” : BENZ

Actor Julie Benz is perhaps best known for two television roles: playing Darla on both “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel”, and Rita Bennett on “Dexter”.

“Dexter” is a crime show that airs on Showtime. The title character works for the Miami Police Department as an expert in blood spatter patterns by day, but is a serial killer by night. The original series was based on the “Dexter” novels written by Jeff Lindsay. I haven’t seen this show myself, but my eldest son really enjoys it …

8 Lithium-__ battery : ION

Lithium-ion and nickel-cadmium are types of rechargeable batteries.

12 Director Kazan : ELIA

Elia Kazan won Oscars for best director in 1948 for “Gentleman’s Agreement” and in 1955 for “On The Waterfront”. He was recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences when he was given the 1998 Academy Honorary Award citing his lifetime achievement in the industry. Kazan also directed “East of Eden”, which introduced James Dean to movie audiences, and “Splendor in the Grass” that included Warren Beatty in his debut role.

18 “Snow Angel” singer Reneé : RAPP

“Snow Angel” is a 2023 album released by singer-songwriter and actress Reneé Rapp. It was her debut album.

Singer and actress Reneé Rapp’s big break came with a starring role in the musical “Mean Girls” on Broadway. She played “mean girl” Regina George on stage from 2019 to 2020, and also in the big-screen adaptation released with the same title in 2024.

19 Key type : MINOR

Experts, unlike me, can wax lyrical on the technical differences between major and minor keys and scales. To me, music written in major keys is very strident, often very joyful and “honest”. Music written in minor keys (usually my favorite) is more feminine, more delicate and often quite sad.

25 Vrbo listing : CONDO

VRBO is an online marketplace for vacation rentals. The initialism stands for Vacation Rentals by Owner. VRBO was founded in 1995, and is headquartered in Austin.

26 The Owls of the NCAA : RICE U

The sports teams of Rice University in Houston are known as the Rice Owls. The “Owl” name comes from the three owls in the university’s crest.

27 Jumping chollas, e.g. : CACTI

The jumping cholla is a cactus that is native to the Mexican state of Senora and the US Southwest. The plant gets its name from the ease at which stems detach when an animal or human brushes past. The detached stems attach themselves to fur or clothing and in this manner are dispersed short distances. Young plants can grow from these stems, under the right conditions. It is this dispersal behavior that gives the “jumping” cholla its name.

28 Victor Vasarely’s movement : OP ART

Victor Vasarely was a Hungarian-French artist who produced works in the op art genre. Vasarely’s painting from the 1930s titled “Zebras” is often cited as one of the first examples of op art.

30 Holocene, for one : EPOCH

The Pleistocene epoch lasted from about 2,588,000 to 11,700 years ago, and is associated with the most recent period of repeated glaciations. The name “Pleistocene” translates as “newest”. This name was chosen as the name of the preceding Pliocene epoch translates as “newer”. The name of the subsequent Holocene epoch (which extends right up to today) translates as “entirely new”.

31 Tucci’s “Road to Perdition” role : NITTI

Frank Nitti was one of the top henchmen working for Al Capone. Unlike American-born Capone, Nitti was actually from Italy and was born near the city of Salerno. When Capone was eventually put away for 11 years for tax evasion, Nitti was convicted of the same crime. Nitti was only imprisoned for 18 months, and when released he was labeled as the new head of Capone’s Chicago Outfit. However the truth seems to be that he was just a frontman, with others making the decisions.

“Road to Perdition” is a 2002 film based on a 1998 graphic novel of the same name by Max Allan Collins. The movie was directed by Sam Mendes and stars a great cast headed by Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law and Daniel Craig. It’s all about a mob war in Chicago during the Great Depression.

32 Deck with kings and queens : TAROT

Tarot cards have been around since the mid-1400s, and for centuries were simply used for entertainment as a game. It has only been since the late 1800s that the cards have been used by fortune tellers to predict the future. The list of tarot cards includes the Wheel of Fortune, the Hanged Man and the Lovers.

37 Equinox mo. : SEPT

An equinox is a phenomenon dictated by the tilt of the earth’s axis. Twice every year, that tilt “evens out” and the sun is equidistant from points at the same latitude both north and south of the equator. It is as if the earth has no tilt relative to the sun. The term “equinox” comes from the Latin for “equal night”, inferring that night and day are equally long, as the effect of the earth’s “tilt” is nullified. Equinoxes occur each year around March 21st (the vernal equinox) and September 23rd (the autumnal equinox).

43 “Pygmalion” playwright, for short : GB SHAW

George Bernard Shaw’s play “Pygmalion” was adapted by Lerner and Loewe to become the Broadway musical “My Fair Lady”. The musical spun off the wonderful 1964 film of the same name starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. To cockney Eliza Doolittle, Professor Henry Higgins was “‘Enry ‘Iggins”.

48 “Captain America: The First Avenger” backdrop, briefly : WWII

“Captain America: The First Avenger” is a superhero film released in 2011 based on the Marvel Comics character. Chris Evans appears in the title role. This one is set in WWII, so I might take a look one day …

49 Spanish flowers : RIOS

Those would be “flowing” rivers.

50 Italian volcano that’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site : ETNA

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is better known by the acronym “UNESCO”. UNESCO’s mission is to help build peace in the world using programs focused on education, the sciences, culture, communication and information. The organization’s work is aimed in particular at Africa, and gender equalization. UNESCO also administers a World Heritage Site program that designates and helps conserve sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to humanity across the world.

51 Turquoise hue : AQUA

“Turquoise” is the Old French word for “Turkish”. The name was given to the blue mineral because much of it was brought into Europe from Turkey, although most of the turquoise mines were located in the Khorasan Province of Iran.

52 Low state : FUNK

The phrase “in a blue funk” has two different meanings, depending on what side of the Atlantic you are. Here in North America, to be in a blue funk is to be in a state of gloom. Over in Britain and Ireland, it is to be in a state of anxiety.

53 Shape of some chicken nuggets, briefly : DINO

There is a suggestion that dinosaur-shaped nuggets owe their popularity to the very successful “Jurassic Park” series of films. That said, “dino” chicken nuggets were introduced by Perdue Farms in 1991, two years before the release of the first film.

58 Long or short measure : TON

Here in the US, a ton is equivalent to 2,000 pounds. In the UK, a ton is 2,240 pounds. The UK unit is sometimes referred to as an Imperial ton, long ton or gross ton. Folks over there refer to the US ton then as a short ton. To further complicate matters, there is also a metric ton or tonne, which is equivalent to 2,204 pounds. Personally, I wish we’d just stick to kilograms …