Constructed by: Ed Sessa
Edited by: Rich Norris
Quicklink to a complete list of today’s clues and answers
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Theme: Me Eat Cookie
Today’s themed clues start with “OREO”, and we EAT away at this COOKIE until we are just left with the clue “O”.
- 62A…Muppet’s explanation of the four all-caps clues..ME EAT COOKIE
- 17A…OREO..CHILD’S SNACK
- 24A…ORE..MINED DEPOSIT
- 38A…OR..SURGERY
- 52A…O..ANTHEM’S START
Bill’s time: 8m 49s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
11…Sellout letters..SRO
Standing room only (SRO)
14…Apple app mostly replaced by Messages..ICHAT
iChat was introduced in 2002, and was Apple’s “instant messaging” application that integrated with the Mac Operating System. iChat was replaced by Messages.
15…Connoisseur..MAVEN
I’ve always loved the word “maven”, another word for an expert. Maven comes into English from the Yiddish “meyvn” meaning someone who appreciates and is a connoisseur.
17…OREO..CHILD’S SNACK
The Oreo was the best-selling cookie in the 20th century, and almost 500 billion of them have been sold since they were introduced in 1912 by Nabisco. In those early days the creme filling was made with pork fat, but today vegetable oils are used instead. If you take a bite out of an Oreo sold outside of America you might notice a difference from the homegrown cookie, as coconut oil is added in the overseas version to give a different taste.
19…TSA requests..IDS
The TSA is the Transportation Security Administration, the agency that employs the good folks that check passengers and baggage at airports.
22…Bovine icon..ELSIE
Elsie the Cow is the mascot of the Borden Company. Elsie first appeared at the New York World’s Fair in 1939, introduced to symbolize the perfect dairy product. Elsie was also given a husband named Elmer the Bull. Elmer eventually moved over to the chemical division of Borden where he gave his name to Elmer’s Glue.
28…Crème brûlée topping..CARAMEL
Crème brûlée is a classic French dessert consisting of a rich custard topped with a crusty layer of caramelized sugar. The name “crème brûlée” translates from French as “burnt cream”.
32…Little pill..TWERP
“Twerp” and “pipsqueak” are both terms used for someone who is insignificant and contemptible.
The term “pill” can be used to describe a boring and disagreeable person, a “bitter pill to swallow”.
33…When workers may be dressed down?: Abbr…FRI
That would be casual Friday.
37…Nicki Minaj genre..RAP
Nicki Minaj is a rapper from Queens, New York who was born in Trinidad.
38…OR..SURGERY
Surgery (surg.) is usually performed in an operating room (OR).
42…Langley org…CIA
The CIA headquarters is located in Langley, Virginia in a complex called the George Bush Center for Intelligence, named for former Director of the CIA and US President George H. W. Bush.
43…City on the Rhône..LYON
The city of Lyon in France, is also known as “Lyons” in English. Lyon is the second-largest metropolitan area in the country, after Paris.
The Rhône river rises in Switzerland and flows through the southeast of France.
46…Medina native..SAUDI
Medina is a city in western Saudi Arabia. Medina is the second holiest city in the Islamic tradition after Mecca, as it is the burial place of the Prophet Muhammad.
50…Reduced to pure metal..SMELTED
Metals are found in ore in the form of oxides. In order to get pure metal from the ore, the ore is heated and the metal oxides within are reduced (i.e. the oxygen is removed) in the chemical process known as smelting. The oxygen is extracted by adding a source of carbon or carbon monoxide which uses up the excess oxygen atoms to make carbon dioxide, a waste product of smelting (and, a greenhouse gas).
52…O..ANTHEM’S START
“O say can you see by the dawn’s early light” is the opening line of “The Star-Spangled Banner” by Francis Scott Key. The song was adopted as the US national anthem in 1931, although it had been used officially by the US Navy since 1889, played when raising the flag.
55…Saint __: Caribbean island..LUCIA
The Caribbean island nation of Saint Lucia has a population of less than 200,000. Remarkably, Saint Lucia has produced two Nobel Laureates: economist Arthur Lewis and poet Derek Walcott.
56…Card game using the entire deck..WAR
War is a card game, mainly played by young children.
61…Mont. neighbor..IDA
Idaho has the nickname the Gem State, mainly because almost every known type of gemstone has been found there. Idaho is also sometimes called the Potato State as potatoes are such a popular crop in the state. I’d go for the potatoes over the gems, but that’s probably just me …
62…Muppet’s explanation of the four all-caps clues..ME EAT COOKIE
Cookie Monster is a beloved Muppet on the TV show “Sesame Street”. He is a big eater, and is especially fond of cookies, which he eats while grunting out “Om nom nom nom”.
66…Title for Anthony Hopkins..SIR
The marvelous actor Anthony Hopkins got his big break in movies playing Richard the Lionheart in the 1968 historical drama “The Lion in Winter”. Hopkins hails from the south coast of Wales, and was encouraged in his early career by fellow Welshman Richard Burton, whom he met when he was a teenager. I’d say that Hopkins’ best-known film role was Hannibal Lecter in “The Silence of the Lambs”.
69…”The Splendid Splinter” Williams..TED
As well as playing in left field for the Boston Red Sox, Ted Williams served as a pilot in the Marine Corps in World War II and the Korean War. Williams earned a few colorful nicknames during his baseball career, including “The Splendid Splinter”, “Teddy Ballgame”, “The Thumper” and “The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived”.
Down
3…Dad of Haley, Alex and Luke on “Modern Family”..PHIL
The character Phil Dunphy on the sitcom “Modern Family” is played by actor Ty Burrell. Phil is a real estate agent and refers to his role in his family as “cool Dad”.
4…California observatory site..PALOMAR
The Hale Telescope in the Palomar Observatory in California is a massive reflecting telescope, the largest aperture optical telescope in the world from 1948 until 1976. The telescope is named after the astronomer George Ellery Hale who was behind the building of the Palomar Observatory. Sadly, Hale didn’t live long enough to see the observatory commissioned.
5…Annual rpt. column..YTD
Year-to-date (YTD)
6…Dutch beer brand..AMSTEL
Amstel is a Dutch beer and brewery, founded in 1870 in Amsterdam. The brewery takes its name from the Amstel river that runs through the city.
8…Actress Longoria..EVA
Eva Longoria is a fashion model and an actress who had a regular role on TV’s “Desperate Housewives”, playing Gabrielle Solis.
9…Japanese tech company..NEC
NEC is the name that the Nippon Electric Company chose for itself outside of Japan after a rebranding exercise in 1983.
12…Two of three sides of a typical pie slice..RADII
“Radius” (plural “radii”) is a Latin word, as one might expect, meaning “spoke of a wheel”. Makes sense, huh …?
18…__ wave..SINE
A sine wave is a mathematical function that describes a simple, smooth, repetitive oscillation. The sine wave is found right throughout the natural world. Ocean waves, light waves and sound waves all have a sine wave pattern.
27…Mideast dignitary..EMIR
An emir is a prince or chieftain, most notably in the Middle East. In English, emir can also be written as emeer, amir and ameer (watch out for those spellings in crosswords!).
28…PC key..CTRL
The Control (CTRL) key on a PC keyboard is used to modify the function of other keys. For example, pressing CTRL+C copies a selection to the clipboard, and CTRL+V pastes the contents of the clipboard to a location defined by the cursor. Control keys were introduced on teletypewriters to generate “control characters”, which are non-printing characters that instruct a computer to do something like print a page, ring a bell etc.
33…NFL scores..FGS
Field goal (FG)
35…Guy Friday, for one..AIDE
In Daniel Defoe’s 1719 novel “Robinson Crusoe”, the castaway encounters a companion that Crusoe calls “Friday”, because the two first met on that day. Friday soon becomes his willing servant. This character is the source of our terms “Man Friday”, “Guy Friday” and “Girl Friday”, which are used to describe a particularly competent and loyal assistant.
39…E pluribus __..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.
41…1914 battle river..YSER
The Yser is a river that originates in northern France and flows through Belgium into the North Sea. The Yser is often associated with WWI as it figured in a major battle early in the conflict. In the first three months of the war, the German Army pushed almost completely through Belgium, inflicting heavy losses on the Belgian Army as the defenders were forced to fight a fast-moving rearguard action. The Germans were intent on pushing right through Belgium and across France in a “race to the sea”. But the Belgians, with the help of their Allies, decided to make a final stand at the Yser Canal in an effort to prevent the Germans reaching the French ports of Calais and Dunkirk. The 22-mile long defensive line was chosen at the Yser because the river and canal system could be flooded to create a barrier that might be defended. The plan was successful and the front was “stabilized”. As we now know, millions of lives were lost over the coming years with very little movement of that battle line.
44…Radar O’Reilly’s pop brand..NEHI
The brand of Nehi cola has a name that sounds like “knee-high”, a measure of a small stature. Back in the mid-1900’s the Chero-Cola company, which owned the brand, went for a slightly different twist on “knee-high” in advertising. The logo for Nehi was an image of a seated woman’s stockinged legs, with her skirt pulled up to her knees, to hint at “knee-high”.
Corporal Radar O’Reilly is a character in the “M*A*S*H” television series and film. The role was played by Gary Burghoff in both the film and on television.
47…City with a Penn State campus..ALTOONA
Altoona is in central Pennsylvania, and is home to the Ivyside Park Campus of Pennsylvania State University.
49…Admit to the Enterprise, in a way..BEAM UP
The USS Enterprise is a starship in the “Star Trek” universe (pun!). There have been several generations of starship with the name Enterprise, starting with the vessel numbered NCC-1701, which appeared in the original TV series. My favorite “Star Trek” series is “Next Generation”, which features USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D.
51…Singer Anthony..MARC
Marc Anthony is the stage name of Marco Antonio Muñiz, a Puerto Rican-American singer. Anthony’s first wife was Dayanara Torres, a former Miss Universe from Puerto Rico. His second wife was quite famous too … singer and actress Jennifer Lopez. He divorced from the latter in 2014.
54…Marshy lowland..SWALE
A swale is a narrow tract of low-lying land that is usually wet or marshy. A swale can be naturally occurring or man-made. One might create a swale to help manage drainage of adjacent land.
63…It may be delayed by rain: Abbr…ETA
Expected time of arrival (ETA)
64…German article..EIN
The definite article in German is der, die or das, for masculine, feminine and neuter nouns. The indefinite article is ein, eine or ein, again depending on the gender of the noun. A further complication, relative to English, is that the masculine form (and only the masculine form) of the article changes when used in the accusative case, when used with the object of a sentence. The accusative forms are “den” and “einen”.
Complete List of Clues and Answers
Across
1…Full of beans..PEPPY
6…”I don’t need __”: regular patron’s comment..A MENU
11…Sellout letters..SRO
14…Apple app mostly replaced by Messages..ICHAT
15…Connoisseur..MAVEN
16…Recyclable item..CAN
17…OREO..CHILD’S SNACK
19…TSA requests..IDS
20…Aria, usually..SOLO
21…Suffix with social..-ITE
22…Bovine icon..ELSIE
24…ORE..MINED DEPOSIT
28…Crème brûlée topping..CARAMEL
31…Defensive comeback..AM TOO!
32…Little pill..TWERP
33…When workers may be dressed down?: Abbr…FRI
34…Terminal conveyance..TRAM
37…Nicki Minaj genre..RAP
38…OR..SURGERY
42…Langley org…CIA
43…City on the Rhône..LYON
45…Apartment bldg. info..NOS
46…Medina native..SAUDI
48…Offer a contrary opinion..REBUT
50…Reduced to pure metal..SMELTED
52…O..ANTHEM’S START
55…Saint __: Caribbean island..LUCIA
56…Card game using the entire deck..WAR
57…Goof reaction..OOPS!
61…Mont. neighbor..IDA
62…Muppet’s explanation of the four all-caps clues..ME EAT COOKIE
66…Title for Anthony Hopkins..SIR
67…Serviceable..UTILE
68…Pointless..INANE
69…”The Splendid Splinter” Williams..TED
70…Having glass sections..PANED
71…Hen, for one..LAYER
Down
1…Short shots?..PICS
2…Off-the-wall answer?..ECHO
3…Dad of Haley, Alex and Luke on “Modern Family”..PHIL
4…California observatory site..PALOMAR
5…Annual rpt. column..YTD
6…Dutch beer brand..AMSTEL
7…Like lions, but not tigers..MANED
8…Actress Longoria..EVA
9…Japanese tech company..NEC
10…Broken, as promises..UNKEPT
11…Hair salon technique..SCISSOR CUT
12…Two of three sides of a typical pie slice..RADII
13…First stage..ONSET
18…__ wave..SINE
23…Crook’s haul..LOOT
25…Little devils..IMPS
26…Take a chance..DARE
27…Mideast dignitary..EMIR
28…PC key..CTRL
29…Like the visiting team..AWAY
30…Course record?..REPORT CARD
33…NFL scores..FGS
35…Guy Friday, for one..AIDE
36…Servant for the inn crowd..MAID
39…E pluribus __..UNUM
40…Spoils..ROTS
41…1914 battle river..YSER
44…Radar O’Reilly’s pop brand..NEHI
47…City with a Penn State campus..ALTOONA
49…Admit to the Enterprise, in a way..BEAM UP
50…Pronounced..STATED
51…Singer Anthony..MARC
52…Top-tier invitees..A-LIST
53…Show that shows too much?..NUDIE
54…Marshy lowland..SWALE
58…Acceptable..OKAY
59…Fragrant wood..PINE
60…Reader of tea leaves..SEER
63…It may be delayed by rain: Abbr…ETA
64…German article..EIN
65…Black gold..OIL