Category: Will Nediger

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Constructed by: Lisa Senzel & Will Nediger
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Feature Article

Themed answers are common terms reinterpreted as the title of a FEATURE film followed by a synonym of “ARTICLE”:

• 51A In-depth news story, or any of the reviews mentioned in this puzzle? : FEATURE ARTICLE

• 20A Review that says, “Hitchcock serves up a twist that you won’t see coming”? : “PSYCHO” ANALYSIS
• 31A Review that says, “Bit of a downer, but Soderbergh delivers”? : “TRAFFIC” REPORT
• 37A Review that says, “Idina Menzel shines as Elsa”? : “FROZEN” ACCOUNT

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

Bill’s time: 6m 11s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Less risqué : TAMER

“Risqué” is a French word, the past participle of the verb meaning “to risk”. So in English we use “risqué” to mean “racy”, but in French it means “risky”.

14 Name said to activate an Amazon gadget : ALEXA

Alexa is a personal assistant application that is most associated with Amazon Echo smart speakers. Apparently, one reason the name “Alexa” was chosen is because it might remind one of the Library of Alexandria, the “keeper of all knowledge”.

16 Satellite whose day is almost 30 Earth days : MOON

A lunar day is the length of time it takes for the Sun to move all the way across the sky and return to its original position. That takes about 29½ Earth days.

18 Word with bar or Bell : TACO …

Taco Bell was founded by a former US Marine, 25-year-old Glen Bell. His first restaurant was Bell’s Drive-In, located in Southern California. After opening that first establishment, Bell bought up some more restaurants including four named El Taco. He sold off the El Taco restaurants but used the name in part when he opened his first Taco Bell in 1962. Bell then sold franchises, with the 100th Taco Bell opening in 1967. The ex-Marine sold off the whole chain to PepsiCo in 1978, and I am guessing he made a pretty penny. Taco Bell has been using the “Live Más” slogan since 2012, with “más” being the Spanish word for “more”.

19 Oodles : A LOT

It’s thought that the term “oodles”, meaning “a lot”, comes from “kit and caboodle”.

20 Review that says, “Hitchcock serves up a twist that you won’t see coming”? : “PSYCHO” ANALYSIS

The classic Alfred Hitchcock suspense film “Psycho” released in 1960 is based on a 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch. The Bloch novel in turn is loosely based on actual crimes committed by murderer and grave robber Ed Gein. When “Psycho” was making its initial run in theaters, latecomers were not granted admission, abiding by a policy instigated by Hitchcock himself. He felt that anyone missing the opening scenes would not enjoy the film.

23 The Thrashers, on sports crawls : ATL

Winnipeg’s professional hockey team is the Winnipeg Jets. The team was founded as the Atlanta Thrashers in 1999 and relocated to Winnipeg in 2011. The new team name was chosen in honor of Manitoba’s former professional hockey team called the Jets, a franchise that was founded in 1972 but relocated to become the Phoenix Coyotes in 1996.

25 __ and Herzegovina : BOSNIA

Bosnia and Herzegovina was one of six federal units in former Yugoslavia that gained independence after the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. There are three main ethnic groups in Bosnia. The largest group are the Bosniaks, the second the Bosnian Serbs, and the third the Bosnian Croats.

27 Cuddling on the bus, e.g. : PDA

Public display of affection (PDA)

28 Silk Sonic musician Anderson .__ : PAAK

“Anderson .Paak” is the stage name of rapper Brandon Paak Anderson. He is a member of the superduo Silk Sonic, along with Bruno Mars.

31 Review that says, “Bit of a downer, but Soderbergh delivers”? : “TRAFFIC” REPORT

The 2000 film “Traffic” explores the illegal drug trade. The movie is adapted from a 1989 British TV miniseries called “Traffik”. There was also 2004 American TV miniseries produced called “Traffic”, which was based on both the prior TV show and the movie.

Steven Soderbergh first came to international attention as a director at only 26 years old, for his 1989 indie film “Sex, Lies, and Videotape”. Since then, he has directed many box-office hits, such as “Erin Brockovich”, “Traffic” and all of the “Ocean’s 11” films.

34 __ the line : TOE

The idiomatic expression “to toe the line” means “to obey”. The etymology of the phrase is disputed, although it is likely to come from the Royal Navy. Barefooted sailors were required to stand to attention for inspection lined up along the seams for the wooden deck, hence “toeing the line”.

37 Review that says, “Idina Menzel shines as Elsa”? : “FROZEN” ACCOUNT

Actress and singer Idina Menzel came to public attention when she was a member of the original Broadway cast of “Rent”. She is known on the small screen for playing Shelby Corcoran on the musical TV show “Glee”. On the big screen, her most noted performance was as the voice actor behind Queen Elsa in the Disney hit “Frozen”. It is Menzel who sings the Oscar-winning song “Let It Go” in “Frozen”.

44 Private chats, briefly : DMS

Direct message (DM)

59 Palo __, California : ALTO

The city of Palo Alto, California takes its name from a specific redwood tree called El Palo Alto (Spanish for “the tall stick”) that is located within the bounds of the city. The tree is 110 feet tall and over a thousand years old.

60 Harriet Tubman portrayer Cynthia : ERIVO

British actress Cynthia Erivo’s big break came on the stage, when starred in the Broadway revival of “The Color Purple” from 2015 to 2017. Her Hollywood film breakthrough came with the title role in the 2019 biopic “Harriet”, portraying Harriet Tubman and earning herself a Best Actress nomination.

63 Iberian infants : NENES

The Iberian Peninsula in Europe is largely made up of Spain and Portugal. However, also included is the Principality of Andorra in the Pyrénées, a small part of the south of France, and the British Territory of Gibraltar. Iberia takes its name from the Ebro, the longest river in Spain, which the Romans named the “Iber”.

Down

1 St. Petersburg neighbor : TAMPA

The Florida city of Tampa has been known as “the Big Guava” since the seventies. The term is imitative of New York’s “Big Apple”, and refers to the unsuccessful search for the reported wild guava trees that were once hoped to be the basis of a new industry for the area. Tampa has also been called “Cigar City”, a reference to the cigar industry that fueled the area’s growth starting in the 1880s.

St. Petersburg, Florida is often referred to as “St. Pete” by locals and visitors alike. Located on a peninsula lying between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, St. Pete was founded in 1888 and named for Saint Petersburg in Russia. The co-founders were Russian immigrant Peter Demens and Detroit native John C. Williams. The pair tossed a coin for the privilege of naming the new city, and Demens won. Williams lost, but did get to name the city’s first hostelry “The Detroit Hotel”.

3 Actress Streep : MERYL

Actress Meryl Streep won three Academy Awards over the course of her career:

1. Best Actress for “Kramer vs. Kramer” (1979)
2. Best Actress for “Sophie’s Choice” (1982)
3. Best Actress for “The Iron Lady” (2011)

5 Jones of “Parks and Rec” : RASHIDA

Rashida Tlaib started serving as US representative for the 12 congressional district in Michigan in 2019. That made her one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, along with Representative Ilhan Omas, who was elected in the same cycle.

6 Skewered Thai dish : SATAY

The dish known as “satay” originated in Java, Indonesia and is marinated pieces of meat served on a skewer in a sauce, often a spicy peanut sauce. “Satay” is the Indonesian spelling, and “sate” is the Malay spelling.

8 __-Cola : COCA

The exact formula for Coca-Cola is a trade secret. The secret recipe is locked in a vault. That vault is on public display in the World of Coca-Cola museum in Atlanta, Georgia.

11 “SNL” regular who wrote the memoir “A Very Punchable Face” : COLIN JOST

Comedian Colin Jost is perhaps best known as co-host of “Weekend Update” on “Saturday Night Live” (SNL), along with Michael Che (and how great are they together?). Offscreen, Jost shared a dorm with 2020 US presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, and ended up portraying him on “SNL”. While on the “SNL” cast, Jost met actress Scarlett Johansson on one of the occasions she hosted the show. They married in 2020.

Scarlett Johansson is a film actress from New York City. Johansson had an acclaimed lead performance in the 1996 movie “Manny & Lo”, when she was just 12 years old. The earliest films I remember her in, two favorites of mine, are “Girl in a Pearl Earring” and “Lost in Translation”, both from 2013. She has become quite the sex symbol, and is the only woman to have been named “Sexiest Woman Alive” twice by “Esquire” magazine. The media sometimes refer to her as “ScarJo”, a moniker that she apparently dislikes intensely.

12 Indiana residents : HOOSIERS

The exact origin of the word “hoosier” is unknown, but has been around since at least 1830. The term had no direct linkage with Indiana until John Finley of Richmond, Indiana wrote a poem called “The Hoosier’s Nest” in 1833. A few years later, by 1840, “hoosiers” was generally accepted as a term describing Indiana residents.

13 Sinus specialist, for short : ENT

In anatomical terms, a sinus is a cavity in tissue. Sinuses are found all over the body, in the kidney and heart for example, but we most commonly think of the paranasal sinuses that surround the nose.

21 Norwegian saint : OLAF

Of the many kings of Norway named Olaf/Olav (and there have been five), Olaf II is perhaps the most celebrated, as he was canonized and made the patron saint of the country. Olaf II was king from 1015 to 1028 and was known as “Olaf the Big” (or “Olaf the Fat”) during his reign. Today he is more commonly referred to as “Olaf the Holy”. After Olaf died he was given the title of “Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae”, which is Latin for “Norway’s Eternal King”.

22 Oxen connector : YOKE

A yoke is a wooden beam used between a pair of animals so that they are forced to work together.

29 Outlet letters : AC/DC

Anyone with a laptop with an external power supply has an AC/DC converter, that big “block” in the power cord. It converts the AC current from a wall socket into the DC current that is used by the laptop.

34 Eater of 26-Downs on a log? : TREE FROG
[26D Strong insect : ANT]

The name “tree frog” applies to a number of frog species. As the name implies, these are frogs that spend very little time on the ground, and rather live in trees and high-growing vegetation. Tree frogs are usually very small in size, so that their weight can be borne by twigs and branches.

37 Tina of “Mean Girls” : FEY

“Mean Girls” is a teen comedy movie released in 2004 starring Lindsay Lohan. Tina Fey also puts in an appearance, which really isn’t surprising as Fey wrote the screenplay.

38 Part of Q.E.D. : ERAT

The initialism “QED” is used at the end of a mathematical proof or a philosophical argument. QED stands for the Latin “quod erat demonstrandum” meaning “that which was to be demonstrated”.

41 Countless : UMPTEEN

The word “umpty” was introduced as slang for a Morse code dash. In the early 1900’s, the same term came to mean “of an indefinite number”, and was associated with the numerals divisible by ten, i.e. twenty, thirty, forty, etc. The extended adjective “umpteen” began to appear during WWI as army slang.

49 Excedrin alternative : ALEVE

“Aleve” is a brand name used for the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug Naproxen sodium.

Excedrin is a brand of over-the-counter pain reliever introduced in 1962 by Bristol-Myers Squibb. It contains a combination of aspirin, acetaminophen, and caffeine.

53 Jazz great James : ETTA

“Etta James” was the stage name of celebrated R&B and jazz singer Jamesetta Hawkins. James was an acquaintance of civil rights activist Malcom X. For ten years, she was a member of the Nation of Islam, and used the name “Jamesetta X”.

54 Memo starter : IN RE

The term “in re” is Latin, and is derived from “in” (in) and “res” (thing, matter). “In re” literally means “in the matter”, and is used to mean “in regard to” or “in the matter of”.

55 Product of Bali : BRA

The Bali brand of lingerie started out as Fay-Miss in 1927, before becoming the Bali Brassiere Company in 1969.