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Constructed by: Gary Larson & Amy Ensz
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Heroic Reinterpretation

Themed answers are common phrases that start with a prefix often used in the name of a superhero:

• 17A Window treatment for Tony Stark’s house? : IRON CURTAIN (from “Iron Man”)
• 29A Factory owned by Peter Parker? : SPIDER PLANT (from “Spider-Man”)
• 48A Salary for Diana Prince? : WONDER BREAD (from “Wonder Woman”)
• 64A Vivid mental image for Clark Kent? : SUPER VISION (from “Superman”)

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

Bill’s time: 7m 17s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

7 Greeting on deck : AHOY!

“Ahoy!” is a nautical term used to signal a vessel. When the telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell, he suggested that “ahoy” be used as a standard greeting when answering a call. However, Thomas Edison came up with “hello”, and we’ve been using that ever since.

11 “Bright Dead Things” poet Limón : ADA

Ada Limón was named US Poet Laureate in 2022, making her the first Latina to be so honored. One of her more notable works is the poem “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa”, which was commissioned by NASA. It is engraved, in her own handwriting, on a metal plate attached to the Europa Clipper spacecraft that will fly by Jupiter’s Galilean moon Europa in 2030.

14 Goddess challenged by Arachne to a weaving contest : ATHENA

In Greek and Roman mythology, Arachne was a mortal woman who was a great weaver. Arachne boasted that her weaving was greater than that of the goddess Athena (or Minerva in Roman myth), and this was proven true in a contest. As a result, Arachne was turned into a spider by Athena. “Arachne” is the Greek word for spider.

17 Window treatment for Tony Stark’s house? : IRON CURTAIN (from “Iron Man”)

Iron Man is another comic book superhero, this one created by Stan Lee for Marvel Comics. The character is the alter ego of Tony Stark, and has become very famous in recent years since the appearance of the 2008 action movie “Iron Man” starring Robert Downey, Jr. in the title role. Iron Man’s love interest, Pepper Potts, is routinely played by Gwyneth Paltrow in the same series of films.

The term “Iron Curtain” was first used in the context of Soviet influence over Eastern Europe in a speech made by Winston Churchill in 1946. He made that address in the US, at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri.

19 ISP option : DSL

The initialism “DSL” originally stood for Digital Subscriber Loop, but is now accepted to mean (Asymmetric) Digital Subscriber Line. It is a technology that allows Internet service to be delivered down the same telephone line as voice service, by separating the two into different frequency signals.

20 “Bleeding Love” singer Lewis : LEONA

“Bleeding Love” is a 2007 song released by British singer Leona Lewis. The song had remarkable success around the world, and became only the second record to reach number-one in the charts in 35 countries. The first song to achieve that record was “Candle in the Wind 1997” by Elton John.

25 Nautical equilibrium : SEA LEGS

On a ship, one is said to have found one’s sea legs when the body has adjusted to the motion of the vessel. One can walk steadily, and is free from seasickness. An alternative use of “sea legs” is to describe the feeling one might have when stepping on land spending a few hours on a small boat sailing through relatively rough seas. In this case, the body can feel as though it is still rising and falling, as if one is still on the boat.

27 Shade of blonde : ASH

In today’s world, the usage of masculine and feminine forms of English words is largely frowned upon. The one word that seems to have retained its gender specificity is “blond”, the feminine version of which is “blonde”.

29 Factory owned by Peter Parker? : SPIDER PLANT (from “Spider-Man”)

Spider-Man is a creation of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, and first appeared in comics in 1962. He was a somewhat groundbreaking character in that his alter ego was a teenage high school student (Peter Parker), which marked the first time that a young person featured front and center as the superhero.

The spider plant species of perennial flowering plant is more formally known as Chlorophytum comosum. It has long, narrow leaves, and greenish-white flowers that form in clusters. Spider plants are common houseplants, and have been shown to reduce indoor air pollution by neutralizing formaldehyde emitted by cooking oils.

31 Singer Celine : DION

French-Canadian singer Céline Dion first came to international attention when she won the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest, in which she represented Switzerland in the competition that was hosted in Dublin, Ireland. She is now the best-selling Canadian artist of all time.

33 Merch item : TEE

Merchandise (“mdse.” or “merch”)

35 Prepared to sing the national anthem : STOOD

The word “anthem” used to describe a sacred song, especially one with words taken from the Scriptures. The British national anthem (“God Save the Queen/King”) technically is a hymn, and so it came to be described as “the national hymn” and later “the national anthem”. The use of the word “anthem” extended from there to describe any patriotic song.

37 Broadcast-monitoring org. : FCC

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been around since 1934, when it replaced the Federal Radio Commission.

39 Merch item : DECAL

A decal is a decorative sticker. “Decal” is a shortening of “decalcomania”. The latter term is derived from the French “décalquer”, the practice of tracing a pattern from paper onto glass or perhaps porcelain.

43 Alley-__ : OOP

An alley-oop is a play in basketball in which one player lobs the ball close to the basket for a teammate who usually scores with a slam dunk.

47 Qdoba bite : TACO

Qdoba is a chain of casual restaurants specializing in Mexican cuisine. The chain started out in 1995 with the name Zuma Fresh Mexican Grill, then Z-Teca Mexican Grill in 1997. Both “Zuma” and “Z-Teca” were challenged by establishments that already had similar names, and so the company settled on Qdoba Mexican Grill in 1999, a completely invented moniker.

48 Salary for Diana Prince? : WONDER BREAD (from “Wonder Woman”)

Superhero Wonder Woman first appeared in print in 1941, in a publication from DC Comics. As she was created during WWII, Wonder Woman’s first foes were the axis powers. In the less realistic world her biggest foe was and still is Ares, a “baddie” named after the Greek mythological figure. Wonder Woman had several signature expressions, including “Merciful Minerva!”, “Suffering Sappho!” and “Great Hera!”. She also has several devices that she uses in her quest for justice, e.g. the Lasso of Truth, a pair of indestructible bracelets and a tiara that can be used as a deadly projectile. Wonder Woman uses the name “Diana Prince” when “out of uniform”.

Wonder Bread was introduced in 1921 by the Taggart Baking Company of Indianapolis. Wonder Bread was introduced as “the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped”. The loaves were unsliced back then, with the sliced version being introduced nationally in the 1930s. It was the “wonder” of this sliced bread that eventually led to the idiom “the best thing since sliced bread”.

54 Asylum seeker, perhaps : EMIGREE

An émigré (fem. “émigrée”) is an emigrant. The term is French in origin, and particularly applies to someone who is a political refugee from his or her native land.

Asylum (plural “asyla”) is a Latin word meaning “sanctuary”.

55 NPR weekend host __ Simon : SCOTT

Scott Simon is a broadcast journalist who started hosting NPR’s “Weekend Edition Saturday” way back in 1985. He joined NPR as Chicago bureau chief in 1977.

57 Croupier’s tool : RAKE

A croupier is someone who conducts a game at a gambling table. In the world of gaming, the original croupier was someone who stood behind a gambler, holding reserves of cash for the person in a game. Before that, “croupier” was someone who rode behind the main rider on a horse. “Croup” was a Germanic word for “rump”. So, a croupier used to be a “second”, as it were.

58 Video game giant : SEGA

Sega is a Japanese video game company headquartered in Tokyo. Sega actually started out in 1940 as Standard Games and was located in Honolulu, which at that time was a city in the US Territory of Hawaii. The owners moved the operation to Tokyo in 1951 and renamed the company to Service Games. The name “Sega” is a combination of the first two letters of the words “Se-rvice” and “Ga-mes”.

60 __ cotta : TERRA

The tem “terra cotta” comes to us from Latin via Italian and means “baked earth”. Terra-cotta is a ceramic made from clay which is left unglazed. Maybe the most famous work in terra-cotta is the Terracotta Army, the enormous collection of life-size figures that was buried with Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of China around 210 BC. I had the privilege of seeing some of this collection when it toured the US a few years ago, and even the few pieces on display were very impressive.

63 Ambient music pioneer Brian : ENO

“Discreet Music” is a 1975 studio album released by British musician Brian Eno. The album features music that approaches the “ambient” style for which he later became famous. Eno was inspired to make the album while bedridden in hospital after an automobile accident. He found himself listening to 18th-century harp music repeatedly on a turntable, but could not reach the volume control so that he was forced to listen to it playing very quietly. From this experience, Eno started writing music that was meant to blend in with the background, become part of the ambience.

64 Vivid mental image for Clark Kent? : SUPER VISION (from “Superman”)

Superman’s comic book creators gave their title character’s alter-ego the name “Clark Kent” by melding the names of Clark Gable and Kent Taylor, two leading men of the cinema at the time Superman was created. However, they modeled Clark’s character more on the silent film actor Harold Lloyd.

A supervisor is someone in charge, one who oversees. The verb “to supervise” comes from the Latin “super” (over) and “videre” (to see).

69 Secretive group, initially : NSA

National Security Agency (NSA)

70 Pointy-headed Muppet : BERT

The muppet character named Bert usually plays the straight man to his partner character Ernie. Bert has a unibrow, while Ernie has no brows at all.

71 Tennis great who won four Australian Opens between 1995 and 2003 : AGASSI

Retired tennis professional Andre Agassi has been married to fellow player Steffi Graf since 2001. Agassi wrote an autobiography called “Open”, published in 2009. An amazing revelation in the book is that Agassi’s famous head of hair was actually a wig for much of his playing career. Can you imagine how hard it must have been to play tennis at his level with a rug stuck on?

Down

2 Raison d’__ : ETRE

“Raison d’être” is a French phrase meaning “reason for existence”.

4 Medium for the body art of mehndi : HENNA

Henna has been used for centuries as a dye, for leather and wool as well as hair and skin. In modern days, henna is often used for temporary tattoos.

In the Indian subcontinent, mehndi is a form of temporary body art in which designs are drawn on the hands or legs.

5 People who domesticated potatoes : INCANS

In Inca mythology, Pachamama was the earth mother. Her daughter Axomamma was the goddess of potatoes.

6 __ de parfum : EAU

In the world of perfumery, eau de parfum (EdP) is generally more concentrated than eau de toilette (EdT), which in turn is generally more concentrated than eau de cologne (EdC).

7 Wasatch Mountains ski resort : ALTA

The Wasatch Range is at the western edge of the Rocky Mountains and runs through Utah. “Wasatch” is a Ute word meaning “mountain pass”.

11 “We Need To Talk” co-host Kremer : ANDREA

Andrea Kremer is a TV sports journalist. She teamed up with Hannah Storm to call “Thursday Night Football” games for Amazon Prime starting in 2018, marking the first time that an all-woman booth called NFL games.

13 Classic song with the line “My love has come along” : AT LAST

The 1942 song “At Last” was written for the 1941 musical film “Sun Valley Serenade” in which it is performed by Glenn Miller and his orchestra. Etta James recorded a version of “At Last” in 1960, after which it became her signature song.

22 Full of beans : ALL WET

To be all wet is to be completely wrong.

To be full of beans is to be lively, in high spirits. An alternative meaning of “full of beans” is “not correct, untruthful”.

27 Revenue sources for freemium apps : ADS

The “freemium” pricing strategy is common for applications available online. In such cases, a basic product is provided free of charge, and a premium is charged for proprietary features.

32 Pest : NOODGE

“To noodge” is a slang verb meaning “to nag”. It comes into English from the Yiddish word “nudyen” meaning “to bore, be tedious”.

38 Salad often made with anchovies : CAESAR

The caesar salad was created by restaurateur Caesar Cardini at the Hotel Caesar’s in Tijuana, Mexico. The original recipe called for whole lettuce leaves that were to be lifted up by the stem and eaten with the fingers.

Anchovies are saltwater fish that are quite small, although their adult size can vary from under an inch to over 15 inches depending on the species. Vegans should beware, as they are an ingredient in several common foods including Worcestershire sauce and Caesar salad dressing.

46 Washington’s Sea-__ Airport : TAC

Sea-Tac Airport (SEA) is more fully known as Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. It is the main hub for Alaska Airlines.

49 Muscat residents : OMANIS

Muscat is the capital city of Oman. It lies on the northeast coast of the state on the Gulf of Oman, a branch of the Persian Gulf.

50 Inventor Tesla : NIKOLA

Nikola Tesla was born in the Austrian Empire in a village located in modern-day Croatia, and later moved to the US. Tesla’s work on mechanical and electrical engineering was crucial to the development of alternating current technology, the same technology that is used by equipment at the backbone of modern power generation and distribution systems.

56 Thompson of “Westworld” : TESSA

Tessa Thompson is an actress from Los Angeles who is known for playing the supporting role of Jackie Cook on the TV show “Veronica Mars”, and for playing student leader Diane Nash in the 2014 film “Selma”. She also portrays superheroine Valkyrie in movies based on Marvel Comics characters.

“Westworld” is an HBO series that is based on a 1973 movie of the same name, which was written and directed by novelist Michael Crichton. Westworld is a high-tech theme park populated by androids that interact with the guests.

61 Outback hoppers : ROOS

In Australia, the land outside of urban areas is referred to as the outback or the bush. That said, I think that the term “outback” is sometimes reserved for the more remote parts of the bush.