Category: Zhouqin Burnikel

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Constructed by: Zhouqin Burnikel
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Roots Up

Themed answers each contain a ROOT vegetable as a hidden word, in the UP-direction:

• 25D Digs out, or what can be found in four long Down answers? : ROOTS UP

• 3D Spiritual path of action : KARMA YOGA (“YAM” up)
• 10D Event for minor leaguers? : TEE-BALL GAME (“BEET” up)
• 24D Sport with pit stops, in Britain : MOTOR RACING (“CARROT” up)
• 35D Lab animal with white fur : ALBINO RAT (“TARO” up)

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

Bill’s time: 7m 58s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

6 Geocaching device : GPS

Geocaching is a game rather like hide and seek that is played outdoors using hi-tech equipment. The idea is that someone places a waterproof container in a specific location with known GPS coordinates. The container has a logbook inside, so that players who find the “cache” can record their discovery along with any notes of interest. The location of the container is listed on special sites on the Internet for anyone to access. You can check out caches near you at www.geocaching.com. You will probably be surprised at how many there are! I know I was …

16 First name in country : MERLE

Merle Haggard was a country singer and songwriter whose most famous recording has to be “Okie from Muskogee” released in 1969. Haggard would tell you that the song was actually meant as a spoof, but it has become a country “anthem”.

19 Genre that includes dubstep : EDM

Electronic dance music (EDM)

“Dubstep” is a type of electronic dance music that first surfaced in London, England in the nineties. I doubt there’s any in my music collection …

20 Dudes : MEN

Our term “dude” arose as slang in New York City in the 1880s, when it was used to describe a fastidious man. In the early 1900s, the term was extended to mean “city slickers”, easterners who vacationed in the West. The first use of the term “dude ranch” was recorded in 1921.

21 Vegetable in a yellow pod : WAX BEAN

Wax beans are a type of kidney bean. They are picked as snap beans when the pods turn yellow.

25 Color of rambutan skin : RED

The rambutan is the edible fruit of the rambutan tree. Each fruit contains one seed covered with red, leathery skin that is covered with soft and fleshy spines. The name “rambutan” comes from “rambut”, a Malay word meaning “hair”, referring to the spines on the fruits.

27 Deli jarful : MAYO

Mayonnaise originated in the town of Mahon in Menorca, a Mediterranean island belonging to Spain. The Spanish called the sauce “salsa mahonesa” after the town, and this morphed into the French word “mayonnaise” that we use in English today.

29 “The Chimpanzees I Love” author Jane : GOODALL

Jane Goodall is a British anthropologist famous for studying wild chimpanzees in Africa for 45 years. Working at Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania, Goodall made many discoveries. She was the first to see chimps constructing and using tools, an activity thought to be limited to the human species. She also found out that chimpanzees are vegetarians.

32 Showbiz “grand slam” : EGOT

Emmy, Grammy, Oscar & Tony Awards (EGOT)

33 “Xanadu” band : ELO

The title song of the 1980 movie “Xanadu” was performed by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) and Olivia Newton-John (who starred in the film). Despite the popularity of ELO around the world, the song “Xanadu” was the band’s only number-one hit back in their homeland of the UK.

34 Classic Chevy : BEL AIR

The Bel Air is a full-size automobile produced by Chevrolet from 1950 to 1981. It has been described as Chevy’s “workhorse family car”.

38 Gas in some lasers : ARGON

The chemical element argon has the symbol Ar. It is a noble gas, and so by definition is relatively nonreactive. The name “argon” comes from the Greek word for “lazy, inactive”. There’s a lot of argon around, as it is the third-most abundant gas in our atmosphere.

42 Shelter made of compressed snow : IGLOO

The Inuit word for “house” is “iglu”, which we usually write as “igloo”. The Greenlandic (yes, that’s a language) word for “house” is very similar, namely “igdlo”. The walls of igloos are tremendous insulators, due to the air pockets in the blocks of snow.

43 Pacific Palisades location : LA AREA

Pacific Palisades is a neighborhood located about 20 miles west of Downtown Los Angeles. The area’s name reflects the line of bold cliffs (called “palisades”) that meet the Pacific Ocean.

51 Branch of Islam : SHIA

The Islamic sects of Sunni and Shia Muslims differ in the belief of who should have taken over leadership of the Muslim faithful after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. Followers of the Sunni tradition agree with the decision that the Prophet Muhammad’s confidante Abu Bakr was the right choice to become the first Caliph of the Islamic nation. Followers of the Shia tradition believe that leadership should have stayed within the Prophet Muhammad’s own family, and favored the Prophet’s son-in-law Ali.

59 Kung __ tofu : PAO

Kung Pao chicken (or sometimes shrimp or tofu) is a Sichuan stir-fry dish that includes peanuts, vegetables and chili peppers. The name “Kung Pao” is thought to come from a governor of the Sichuan province whose title was “Gongbao”, meaning “Palace Guardian”.

64 Tipping point : LAST STRAW

The phrase “last straw” is a metaphor that means a small additional burden or annoyance that causes someone to reach a breaking point or a limit. The expression comes from an old proverb “the last straw breaks the camel’s back” that refers to the idea that a camel can carry heavy loads, but if one more straw is added, the weight becomes too much, and the camel collapses.

68 Bankrupt company’s transaction : ASSET SALE

Our word “bankruptcy” comes from the Italian “banca rotta”, which translates as “broken bench”. This etymology may stem from the practice of breaking the bench or counter of a moneychanger’s place of business in order to signify insolvency.

Down

1 Like a yellow papaya : RIPE

The papaya (also “papaw”) tropical fruit is native to Mexico and South America. When cultivating papaya trees, only female plants are used. Female plants produce just one, high-quality fruit per tree. Male plants produce several fruit per tree, but they are very poor quality.

3 Spiritual path of action : KARMA YOGA (“YAM” up)

In the Hindu tradition, there are three classical spiritual paths:

1. Karma Yoga: the Path of Action
2. Bhakti Yoga: the Path of Devotion
3. Jnana Yoga: the Path of Knowledge

A fourth path is sometimes added, to create the “Four Paths to Realization”:
    4. Raja Yoga: the Path of Meditation

9 “Don’t live life without it” card co. : AMEX

“Amex” is short for “American Express”, the name of the financial services company that is best known for its credit card, charge card and traveler’s check businesses. The company name is indicative of its original business. American Express was founded in 1850 in Buffalo, New York as an express mail service.

12 Poem that inspired Pat Barker’s “The Women of Troy” : ILIAD

Pat Barker is an English author who is perhaps best known for her “Regeneration” series of novels set in World War One. Barker’s works usually focus on memory, trauma and recovery.

27 Dim sum, e.g. : MEAL

Dim sum is a Chinese cuisine made up of small portions of various dishes. The tradition of serving dim sum is associated with the serving of tea, when small delicacies were offered to travelers and guests along with tea as a refreshment. The name “dim sum” translates as “touch the heart” implying that dim sum is not a main meal, just a snack “that touches the heart”.

28 City southeast of New Delhi : AGRA

New Delhi is the capital city of India. New Delhi resides within the National Capital Territory of Delhi (otherwise known as the metropolis of Delhi). New Delhi and Delhi, therefore, are two different things.

35 Lab animal with white fur : ALBINO RAT (“TARO” up)

An albino is an organism lacking normal pigmentation. The term “albino” comes from “albus”, Latin for “white”.

41 Billiards stick : CUE

The name of the game billiards comes from the French word “billiard” that originally described the wooden cue stick. The Old French “bille” translates as “stick of wood”.

44 “The Prisoner’s Wife” author Bandele : ASHA

“The Prisoner’s Wife” is a 1999 memoir by Asha Bandele. Bandele met an inmate when volunteering at a prison to read for a Black History Month program. The book tells the story of how the two fell in love, and eventually married and had a daughter together.

51 Reef explorer’s gear : SCUBA

As a scuba diver descends into the water, the water pressure on the outside of the eardrum increases, whereas the pressure on the inside of the ear remains constant. This difference in pressure can cause the eardrum to distend, creating pain. A diver avoids the problem by holding the nose and gently blowing air through his or her eustachian tubes, equalizing the pressure inside and outside the eardrum. A similar process operates as the diver ascends, although it is the higher pressure in the middle ear that expels excess air through the eustachian tube into the mouth cavity. If the eustachian tube is blocked, perhaps because of an ear infection, then the persistent pressure difference can result in an excruciating earache after a dive.

53 28-Down’s country : INDIA
[28D City southeast of New Delhi : AGRA]

The Indus river rises in Tibet and flows through the length of Pakistan before emptying into the Arabian Sea, a part of the Indian Ocean lying to the west of the Indian subcontinent. The Indus gives its name to the country of India, as “India” used to be the name of the region along the eastern banks of the river. Paradoxically, the Indus lies entirely within the borders of what is now Pakistan.

56 Podcast moderators : HOSTS

A podcast is basically an audio or video media file that is made available for download. The name comes from the acronym “POD” meaning “playable on demand”, and “cast” from “broadcasting”. So, basically a podcast is a broadcast that one can play on demand, simply by downloading and opening the podcast file.

62 Clive of “Monsieur Spade” : OWEN

English actor Clive Owen first grabbed the public’s attention in his native land in the early nineties, when he played the lead in a popular TV show called “Chancer” about a likable conman. More recently, Owen has been playing Dr. John W. Thackery on the Cinemax medical drama series “The Knick”.

“Monsieur Spade” TV series starring English actor Clive Owen as Sam Spade, the protagonist in several stories penned by Dashiell Hammett. In the show, Spade has retired after his career as a private detective in San Francisco, and now lives in the South of France. And then, six nuns are brutally murdered in the local convent …

65 Sun Devils sch. : ASU

Arizona State University (ASU) has a long history, and was founded as the Tempe Normal School for the Arizona Territory in 1885. The athletic teams of ASU used to be known as the Normals, then the Bulldogs, and since 1946 they’ve been called the Sun Devils.

66 Airport org. that approves some locks : TSA

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) approves locks for luggage that provide some security, but can be opened and relocked by TSA inspectors when necessary. Locks that are TSA approved carry a “Red Diamond” logo.