Category: Robin Stears

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Constructed by: Robin Stears
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Cross-References

Themed answers each comprise two parts, both of which can REFERENCE a CROSS:

• 54A Things to “see” in a dictionary, and what both parts of the answers to the starred clues are? : CROSS-REFERENCES

• 17A *Hurdles for would-be attorneys : BAR EXAMINATIONS (crossbar & cross-examinations)
• 25A *Rural byway : COUNTRY ROAD (cross-country & crossroad)
• 41A *Clarinet, bassoon, etc., in an orchestra : WIND SECTION (crosswind & cross section)

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

Bill’s time: 5m 43s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Starfleet Academy student : CADET

In the “Star Trek” universe, Starfleet is a military service maintained by the United Federation of Planets. Famously, Starfleet is also tasked with deep-space exploration, “to boldly go where no man has gone before …”

16 Opera house level : LOGE

In most theaters and stadiums today, “loge” is the name given to the front rows of a mezzanine level. Loge can also be used for box seating.

17 *Hurdles for would-be attorneys : BAR EXAMINATIONS (crossbar & cross-examinations)

The legal profession is referred to as “the bar”. The term arose in medieval times when European courtrooms were divided into two with “barring” furniture, basically a wooden rail that separated the public from the participants in the trial.

21 Toothpaste dispensers : TUBES

The first toothpaste in a tube was introduced by Johnson & Johnson, in 1889. Back then, toothpaste tubes were made from tin, zinc or lead.

29 Beyoncé’s “Best __ I Never Had” : THING

“Best Thing I Never Had” is a 2011 song released by Beyoncé. The lyrics refer to a woman who professes satisfaction at having left her lover, someone who didn’t realize that they could have been happy together.

31 Pampering place : SPA

Back in the late 1500s. The verb “to pamper” meant “to cram with food”. Over time, the usage evolved to mean “to overindulge”.

35 TGIF part : THANK

“Thank God It’s Friday” (TGIF)

41 *Clarinet, bassoon, etc., in an orchestra : WIND SECTION (crosswind & cross section)

Wind instruments all feature a column of air that is set into vibration by the player blowing into, or over, a mouthpiece. Broadly speaking, there are two families of wind instruments:

• Brass instruments, e.g. horns, trumpets, tubas
• Woodwind instruments, e.g. flutes, clarinets, saxophones

44 Arcade coins : TOKENS

Our word “arcade” comes from the Latin “arcus” meaning “arc”. The first arcades were passages made from a series of arches. This could be an avenue of trees, and eventually any covered avenue. I remember arcades lined with shops and stores when I was growing up on the other side of the Atlantic. Arcades came to be lined with lots of amusements, resulting in amusement arcades and video game arcades.

48 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kofi : ANNAN

Kofi Annan was a diplomat from Ghana who served as secretary-general of the UN for ten years until the beginning of 2007. Annan was born into an aristocratic family, and had a twin sister named Efua Atta. Efua and Kofi shared the middle name “Atta”, which means “twin” in the Akan language of Ghana. Annan attended the MIT Sloan School of Management from 1971-72, and graduated with a Master of Science degree. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, winning jointly with the United Nations organization itself.

49 Spud, informally : TATER

The word “spud”, used as a slang term for “potato”, was first recorded in the mid-1800s, in New Zealand would you believe?

51 __ Dhabi : ABU

Abu Dhabi is one of the seven Emirates that make up the federation known as the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The two largest members of the UAE (geographically) are Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the only two of the seven members that have veto power over UAE policy. Before 1971, the UAE was a British Protectorate, a collection of sheikdoms. The sheikdoms entered into a maritime truce with Britain in 1835, after which they became known as the Trucial States, derived from the word “truce”.

57 “Bloodline” actor Chandler : KYLE

I know Kyle Chandler best from playing the lead in the excellent TV show “Friday Night Lights”. Chandler started playing the lead in another show in 2015: “Bloodline”, a Netflix original. Off the screen, Chandler serves his community as a volunteer firefighter.

“Bloodline” is a Netflix-original thriller television series. It’s a cleverly constructed program about a well-off family in the Florida Keys. As the show progresses, more and more dark secrets are revealed about each of the family members. I enjoyed this one …

59 Windy City airport : O’HARE

O’Hare International was the world’s busiest airport from 1963 to 1998. The original airport was constructed on the site between 1942 and 1943, and was used by the Douglas Aircraft Company for the manufacture of planes during WWII. Before the factory and airport were built, there was a community in the area called Orchard Place, so the airport was called Orchard Place Airport/Douglas Field. This name is the derivation of the airport’s current location identifier: ORD (OR-chard D-ouglas). Orchard Place Airport was renamed to O’Hare International in 1949 in honor of Lieutenant Commander Butch O’Hare who grew up in Chicago. O’Hare was the US Navy’s first flying ace and a Medal of Honor recipient in WWII.

It seems that the derivation of Chicago’s nickname “Windy City” isn’t as obvious as I would have thought. There are two viable theories. Firstly, that the weather can be breezy with wind blowing in off Lake Michigan. The effect of the wind is exaggerated by the grid-layout adopted by city planners after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The second theory is that “windy” means “being full of bluster”. Sportswriters from the rival city of Cincinnati were fond of calling Chicago supporters “windy” in the 1860s and 1870s, meaning that they were full of hot air in their claims that the Chicago White Stockings were superior to the Cincinnati Red Stockings.

Down

2 Jai __: Basque game : ALAI

Jai alai is a game that derives from Basque pelota, and is known as “cesta-punta” in the Basque language. The name “jai alai” translates from the original Basque as “merry festival”.

12 Youngest “Despicable Me” daughter : AGNES

“Despicable Me” is a 2010 animated comedy film. The main voice actor in the movie is the very funny Steve Carell. “Despicable Me” is a Universal Pictures production, although all of the animation was done in France. The 2010 film was followed by a sequel “Despicable Me 2” released in 2013, with a prequel/spin-off film called “Minions” released in 2015.

13 Peevish : TESTY

Somebody described as testy is touchy, irritably impatient. The term “testy” comes into English from Old French, ultimately deriving from “testu” meaning “stubborn, headstrong”, literally “heady”. So, our word “testy” comes from the same root as the French word “tête” meaning “head”.

19 Bar mitzvah scroll : TORAH

B’nai Mitzvah is a Jewish coming-of-age ritual that is typically celebrated when a child turns 12 or 13 years old. “B’nai Mitzvah” literally means “children of the commandment” in Hebrew. The ritual is a way of marking a child’s transition into adulthood and their acceptance of responsibility for following the commandments of Jewish law.

23 Two-part sci-fi epic starring Timothée Chalamet : DUNE

2021’s epic film “Dune” is the first of a two-part adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel of the same name. The version of “Dune” did a lot better than the 1984 big-screen adaptation of the same novel, which really flopped at the box office.

Actor Timothée Chalamet played two notable roles in the early 2020s. He portrays Paul Atreides in the two-part film adaption of the sci-fi novel “Dune”. He also plays the title character in the musical fantasy film “Wonka”. Chalamet is bilingual, in English and French. Born in New York City to an American mother and French father, he spent many summers as a youth with his grandparents just outside Lyon.

25 Novelty “pet” that’s really a plant : CHIA

Chia is a flowering plant in the mint family. Chia seeds are an excellent food source and are often added to breakfast cereals and energy bars. There is also the famous Chia Pet, an invention of a San Francisco company. Chia Pets are terra-cotta figurines to which moistened chia seeds are applied. The seeds sprout and the seedlings become the “fur” of the Chia Pet.

31 Guitar Hero challenge : SOLO

Guitar Hero is an amazingly successful series of video games, first published in 2005. It is the third best selling franchise of video games, after Mario and Madden NFL. Sales have dropped in recent years though, and there are no plans for further releases.

35 Change for a 50, maybe : TENS

President Ulysses S. Grant appears on the obverse of the US fifty-dollar bill. There have been two unsuccessful attempts in recent years in Congress to have President Grant’s image replaced with that of President Ronald Reagan.

37 Rosie on “The Jetsons,” for one : MAID

On “The Jetsons” animated TV show, the character Rosie the Robot was voiced by Jean Vander Pyl. Vander Pyl was also the voice actress behind Wilma Flintstone in “The Flintstones”

39 Helsinki inhabitants : FINNS

Helsinki is the capital city of Finland, and is by far the country’s biggest urban area. In English we tend to stress the “-sink-” in “Helsinki”, whereas the Finns stress the “Hel-”.

40 Sound systems : STEREOS

Monophonic sound (“mono”) is sound reproduced using just one audio channel, which is usually played out of just one speaker. Stereophonic sound is reproduced using two audio channels, with the sound from each channel played out of two different speakers. The pair of stereo speakers are usually positioned apart from each other so that sound appears to come from between the two. Quadraphonic sound (4.0 surround sound) uses four audio channels with the sound played back through four speakers that are often positioned at the corners of the room in which one is listening.

41 Ferret kin : WEASEL

Weasels are small mammals with long, thin bodies. That body shape is an advantage when weasels chase their prey into narrow burrows.

43 “Believe” Grammy winner : CHER

When Cher recorded the 1998 song “Believe”, the audio engineers routinely corrected the sound of Cher’s voice to ensure that all notes were sung with perfect pitch (all singers “cheat”, it seems!). The software that does this pitch correction is called “Auto-Tune”. Then, for a bit of fun, the same engineers played with the Auto-Tune software and created a special effect in her voice that she liked so much, it was left in the final release. You can easily detect the strange effect if you listen to the song. The process is now called the “Cher Effect” and is used by other artists in their recordings.

44 Bulletin board pins : TACKS

What we know as a thumb tack here in North America is called a drawing pin in British English. Thumb tacks made from brass might be referred to as “brass tacks”, giving us the expression “getting down to brass tacks” meaning “getting down to the finer details”.

51 Blueberrylike berry : ACAI

Açaí (pronounced “ass-aye-ee”) is a palm tree native to Central and South America. The fruit has become very popular in recent years and its juice is a very fashionable addition to juice mixes and smoothies.

52 Ernie’s “Sesame Street” pal : BERT

For many years, I believed that the “Sesame Street” characters Bert and Ernie were named after two roles played in the Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life”. In the movie, the policeman’s name is Bert and his taxi-driving buddy is named Ernie. However, the “Sesame Street” folks have stated that the use of the same names is just a coincidence. Aww, I don’t wanna believe that’s a coincidence …

56 Stanley Cup org. : NHL

The Stanley Cup is named for Lord Stanley of Preston, the Governor General of Canada from 1888 to 1893. Lord Stanley’s sons became avid fans of ice hockey while in Canada, and so he donated the trophy in 1909, originally as a challenge cup for the country’s best amateur club.