Tag: Advanced univ. pursuit crossword clue

Advertisement

Constructed by: Mark McClain
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: Two-Way Switch

Themed answers are common phrases in which a W OR D has been switched to a D OR W:

• 28A Fashion accessory found in an ancient tomb? : ARCHAEOLOGICAL WIG (from “archaeological dig”)
• 41A Awkward sorts who are into classic novels? : LITERARY DORKS (from “literary works”)
• 61A Historic roads such as Route 66? : GOOD OLD WAYS (from “good old days”)
• 68A Penalty against the Bills? : BUFFALO DING (from “Buffalo wing”)
• 86A Irrational urge to go to the moon? : SATELLITE WISH (from “satellite dish”)
• 100A Comment about a sweetheart who has to work incessantly? : NO REST FOR THE DEARY (from “no rest for the weary”)

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

Bill’s time: 18m 02s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Revue segments : ACTS

“Revue” is the French word for “review”.

5 ID-checking org. : TSA

Transportation Security Administration (TSA)

8 Italian tower city : PISA

The city of Pisa sits right on the Italian coast, at the mouth of the River Arno. The city is perhaps most famous for its Leaning Tower. The tower is the campanile (bell tower) of the city’s cathedral, and it has been leaning since it was completed in 1173. Just shows you how important good foundations are …

12 Actresses Cheryl and Diane : LADDS

Cheryl Ladd’s most famous role was Kris Munroe in television’s “Charlie’s Angels”. Ladd replaced Farrah Fawcett-Majors when the latter opted out of the show. Cheryl was the daughter-in-law of famed Hollywood actor Alan Ladd, as she was married to Ladd’s son, David. After the couple divorced, Cheryl retained the Ladd name.

Diane Ladd is an American actress who was nominated for a Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in the 1990 film “Wild at Heart”. The lead roles in the movie were played by Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern. Laura Dern is Diane Ladd’s daughter in real life, as Ladd was once married to actor Bruce Dern.

17 “Sweet Surrender” artist McLachlan : SARAH

Sarah McLachlan is a singer/songwriter from Halifax, Nova Scotia who lives in Vancouver. In 1997, McLachlan married Ashwin Sood, the drummer in her band. The 1998 hit song “Adia”, which she co-wrote and recorded, was intended as an apology to her best friend … for stealing her ex-boyfriend and then marrying him!

19 Data, for Spiner : ROLE

Actor Brent Spiner plays the android named Lieutenant Commander Data on television’s “Star Trek: The Next Generation”. Spiner also played the eccentric Dr. Brackish Okun in the 1996 movie “Independence Day”.

21 Deity for whom Wednesday is named : ODIN

The days of the week are named for celestial bodies and gods

• Sunday — Sun’s Day
• Monday — Moon’s Day
• Tuesday — Tiu’s day
• Wednesday — Woden’s day
• Thursday — Thor’s day
• Friday — Freya’s day
• Saturday — Saturn’s day

23 ___-bouche : AMUSE

Amuse-bouche is a small, bite-sized hors d’oeuvre served at the start of a restaurant meal. The item is served free, and is not found on the menu. Rather, it is an item selected by the chef, perhaps to show off his or her cooking style, or to prepare the guests for the meal. The term “amuse-bouche” is French, and translates literally as “mouth amuser”.

25 Go blonder, perhaps : TINT

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”.

26 Puck’s eatery in Beverly Hills : SPAGO

Wolfgang Puck is a celebrity chef from Austria. Puck is the man behind the famous pair of restaurants in Southern California called “Spago”.

27 Fluffy lapdog, familiarly : POM

The Pomeranian is a small breed of dog named for the Pomerania region of Europe (part of eastern Germany and northern Poland). The breed was much loved by the royalty of Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. In the 19th century, Queen Victoria owned a particularly small Pomeranian. Due to the notoriety of the monarch’s pet, the Pomeranian was bred for small size, so that during the Queen’s admittedly long reign, the size of the average “pom” was reduced by 50% …

28 Fashion accessory found in an ancient tomb? : ARCHAEOLOGICAL WIG (from “archaeological dig”)

“Archaeology” is a word that looks like it’s British English, and one might be forgiven for using the spelling “archeology” in American English. Even though the latter spelling has been around for a couple of hundred years, the former is the standard spelling on both sides of the Atlantic.

32 Anatomical roofs : PALATES

The roof of the mouth is known as the palate. The anterior part of the palate is very bony, and is called the hard palate. The posterior part is very fleshy and is called the soft palate. The soft palate is muscular and moves to close off the nasal passages while swallowing. We often use the term “palate” figuratively, to describe the sense of taste.

35 “Men in Black” characters : AGENTS

“Men in black” (MIB) are said to have appeared in the past whenever there have been reports of UFO sightings. Supposedly, these men are government agents whose job it is to suppress reports of alien landings. The conspiracy theorists got their day in the movies with the release of a pretty good sci-fi comedy in 1997 called “Men in Black”, starring Will Smith (as Agent J) and Tommy Lee Jones (as Agent K).

41 Awkward sorts who are into classic novels? : LITERARY DORKS (from “literary works”)

I consider “dork” and “adorkable” to be pretty offensive slang. “Dork” originated in the sixties among American students, and has its roots in another slang term, a term for male genitalia.

45 Glass on NPR : IRA

Ira Glass is a well-respected presenter on American Public Radio who is perhaps best known for his show “This American Life”. I was interested to learn that one of my favorite composers, Philip Glass, is Ira’s first cousin.

46 Tree “blood” : SAP

There are two types of sap in a plant. Xylem sap is a watery solution that moves from the roots to the leaves. Phloem sap is a sugary solution that moves from the leaves (where sugars are produced) to the parts of the plant where sugars are used.

50 With 40-Down, “Honest” prez : ABE …
40 See 50-Across : … LINCOLN

Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth President of the US. There are several stories told about how he earned the nickname “Honest Abe”. One story dates back to early in his career as a lawyer. Lincoln accidentally overcharged a client and then walked miles in order to right the wrong as soon as possible.

51 “Deal __ Deal” : OR NO

The TV game show that is called “Deal or No Deal” in the US is shown all around the world in local versions. The original version of the show was developed in the Netherlands as “Miljoenenjacht” (Hunt for Millions).

56 Actor Guinness : ALEC

Sir Alec Guinness played many great roles over a long and distinguished career, but nowadays is best remembered (sadly, I think) for playing the original Obi-Wan Kenobi in “Star Wars”. He won his only Best Actor Oscar for playing Colonel Nicholson in the marvelous 1957 WWII movie “The Bridge on the River Kwai”. Guinness did himself serve during the Second World War, in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve. He commanded a landing craft during the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943.

61 Historic roads such as Route 66? : GOOD OLD WAYS (from “good old days”)

The famous old highway called Route 66 has largely been replaced by modern interstates. It ran from Chicago to Los Angeles, right through the heart of America, and so it was often called the “Main Street of America”. The road’s name really came into the public consciousness because of Nat King Cole’s song “(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66”, and also because of the sixties TV show called “Route 66”.

66 Cowboys quarterback Prescott : DAK

Dak Prescott was picked up by the Dallas Cowboys in the 2016 draft as a backup quarterback for starting QB Tony Romo. The Cowboys needed Prescott as backup immediately, when Romo got injured before the first game of the season.

68 Penalty against the Bills? : BUFFALO DING (from “Buffalo wing”)

The Buffalo Bills NFL team, founded in 1959, was named after an earlier team with the same name that had merged with the Cleveland Browns back in 1950. The “Bills” name was obviously popular with fans, as the name was chosen in a public contest. The older team had been named for “Buffalo Bill” Cody. The team mascot is Billy Buffalo, and the cheerleaders are known as the Buffalo Jills.

There are a few stories about how Buffalo wings were first developed, most of them related to the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York. If you’re looking for Buffalo wings on a menu in Buffalo, you’ll note that in and around the city they’re just referred to as “wings”.

71 Record again : RELOG

The word “logbook” dates back to the days when the captain of a ship kept a daily record of the vessel’s speed, progress etc. using a “log”. A log was a wooden float on a knotted line that was dropped overboard to measure speed through the water.

72 Cold-smoked salmon : NOVA

Nova lox is salmon that has been cured with a mild brine and then cold-smoked. The term “nova” originally applied to salmon from Nova Scotia.

74 Popadam dip : RAITA

Raita is a condiment served in Indian restaurants that is made from yogurt flavored with coriander, cumin, mint and cayenne pepper.

Papadam, also commonly spelled as “poppadom”, is a thin, crispy Indian flatbread. It is usually made from lentil flour, chickpea flour, or a combination of the two.

79 Spacewalks, briefly : EVAS

Extravehicular activity (EVA) is the name given to any work done by an astronaut outside of his or her spacecraft. The term would encompass walking on the moon, as well as making a space walk i.e. floating around in space tethered to spacecraft.

82 Advanced univ. pursuit : POSTDOC

A postdoc is someone carrying out research or study after receipt of a doctorate.

84 “i” requirement : DOT

A tittle is a small diacritical mark used in writing. Examples are the cedilla and tilde used in some languages, and the dot over the lowercase letters i and j in English.

86 Irrational urge to go to the moon? : SATELLITE WISH (from “satellite dish”)

The Earth’s moon is the largest satellite in the Solar System, relative to the size of the planet it orbits. The Moon is believed to have formed after a huge collision between Gaia (the early Earth) and a planet-size object referred to as Theia.

90 “___ Sam”: Seussian declaration : I AM

Dr. Seuss’s famous children’s book “Green Eggs and Ham” was first published in 1960. “Green Eggs and Ham” now ranks twelfth in the list of top selling children’s books. By the way, “Harry Potter” books hold the top four slots in that list. The text of “Green Eggs and Ham” has a lot of “I am” going on. It starts with:

I am Sam
I am Sam
Sam I am

and ends with:

I do so like
green eggs and ham!
Thank you!
Thank you,
Sam-I-am

96 Targets of some PETA protests : FURS

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is a large animal rights organization, with about 300 employees and two million members and supporters worldwide. Although the group campaigns for animal rights across a broad spectrum of issues, it has a stated focus in opposition of four practices:

• Factory farming
• Fur farming
• Animal testing
• Use of animals in entertainment

98 Acura compact : INTEGRA

The Honda Integra was sold in the US under the Acura badge. The Integra was produced from 1985 until 2006.

103 LAL rivals : GSW

The Golden State Warriors are an NBA franchise based in San Francisco, California. The team was founded in 1946 as the Philadelphia Warriors, becoming the San Francisco Warriors when they moved to City by the Bay in 1962. They changed names again (to Golden State) when they relocated to Oakland in 1971. The statewide name reflected the fact that the team played some of their 1971-72 season games in San Diego, and as such were “California’s” team. The team kept the Golden State name even though they returned to San Francisco in 2019.

108 H.G. Wells race : ELOI

In the 1895 novella by H. G. Wells called “The Time Machine”, there are two races that the hero encounters in his travels into the future. The Eloi are the “beautiful people” who live on the planet’s surface. The Morlocks are a domineering race living underground who use the Eloi as food.

109 Explorer Polo : MARCO

Marco Polo was a merchant from Venice and a famous traveler throughout Asia. Polo journeyed with his father and uncle on an epic tour of Central Asia and China that lasted 24 years. Marco tends to be the member of the party we remember today though, because it was he who documented their travels in a book called “Il Milione” (usually “The Travels of Marco Polo” in English).

113 __ Ration: pet food brand : KEN-L

Ken-L Ration was a brand of dog food introduced by Quaker Oats. The brand sponsored the pet kennel at Disneyland back in the sixties, and so visitors used to be able to board their dogs at “Ken-L Land”.

115 Poe works : TALES

Edgar Allan Poe (EAP) lived a life of many firsts. Poe is considered to be the inventor of the detective-fiction genre. He was also the first notable American author to make his living through his writing, something that didn’t really go too well for him as he was always financially strapped. In 1849 he was found on the streets of Baltimore, delirious and in dire need of medical help. Poe died a few days later in hospital at 40 years of age.

117 __ Plaines, Illinois : DES

Des Plaines is a suburb of Chicago that is located next to O’Hare International Airport. The city is named for the Des Plaines river that runs through the area.

Down

2 Mil. print : CAMO

Our word “camouflage” (often abbreviated to “camo”) evolved directly from a Parisian slang term “camoufler” meaning “to disguise”. The term was first used in WWI, although the British navy at that time preferred the expression “dazzle-painting” as it applied to the pattern painted on the hulls of ships.

3 Dizzy Gillespie, for one : TRUMPETER

Dizzy Gillespie was a musician from Cheraw, South Carolina who was best known as a jazz trumpeter. Gillespie was also known for playing a “bent” trumpet, one with the bell projecting upwards at a 45-degree angle. The unusual configuration of the instrument came about accidentally, when a pair of dancers fell on it during a birthday party. The damage to the instrument caused a change in the tone which Gillespie liked, so he left it as is.

4 Flier to Oslo : SAS

SAS was formerly known as Scandinavian Airlines System and is the flag carrier of three countries: Denmark, Norway and Sweden. SAS is based at Stockholm Arlanda Airport located just north of the Swedish capital.

5 Deere products : TRACTORS

John Deere invented the first commercially successful steel plow in 1837. Prior to Deere’s invention, farmers used an iron or wooden plow that constantly had to be cleaned as rich soil stuck to its surfaces. The cast-steel plow was revolutionary as its smooth sides solved the problem of “stickiness”. The Deere company that John founded uses the slogan “Nothing Runs Like a Deere”, and has a leaping deer as its logo.

6 Big name in high-end auctions : SOTHEBY

Sotheby’s is one of the world’s oldest auction houses, having opened its doors for business in 1744 in London. However, the company is now headquartered in New York City. The ticker symbol for Sotheby’s on the New York Stock Exchange is quite apt, i.e. “BID”.

11 Start to trust? : ANTI-

Antitrust laws are those that protect market competition and regulate against anti-competitive activities by individuals and companies.

12 Layered pasta dish : LASAGNA

“Lasagna” was originally the name of a cooking pot, but the term came to mean a dish that was cooked in it. “Lasagna” also became the name of the flat noodle used in the dish. If you order lasagna on the other side of the Atlantic, you’ll notice the “lasagne” spelling, the plural of “lasagna”. The plural is used as there is more than one layer of pasta in the dish.

13 Small program : APPLET

“Applet” is the name given to a small application that runs within a larger computer program.

14 Depicted with a crayon : DRAWN

We use the word “crayon” for a stick of colored wax used for drawing. The term was imported in the 16th century from French, in which language it means “pencil”.

20 Summer on the Loire : ETE

The Loire is the longest river in France. It is so long that it drains one-fifth of the nation’s land mass. The Loire rises in the southeast, in the Cevennes mountain range, then heads north then due west, emptying into the Bay of Biscay at the city of Nantes. The Loire Valley is home to some of France’s most famous wine production, and includes the wine regions of Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé and Muscadet. It is also home to some of the nation’s most spectacular châteaux. There are over 300 castles along the river, built by French kings and their courtiers.

29 Classical sitar compositions : RAGAS

Raga isn’t really a genre of music, but has been described as the “tonal framework” in which Indian classical music is composed. Ravi Shankar was perhaps the most famous raga virtuoso (to us Westerners). Western rock music with a heavy Indian influence might be called raga rock.

30 Airport on the L : O’HARE

The Chicago “L” is the second largest rapid transit system in the US, with the New York City Subway being the largest. The “L” is also the second oldest, again with the New York City Subway system having the honor of being around the longest. Note that the official nickname for the system is the “L” (originally short for “elevated railroad”), although the term “El” is also in common use (especially in crosswords as “ELS”). The L is managed by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA).

31 North African capital : CAIRO

Cairo is the capital city of Egypt. It is nicknamed “The City of a Thousand Minarets” because of its impressive skyline replete with Islamic architecture. The name “Cairo” is a European corruption of the city’s original name in Arabic, “Al-Qahira”.

33 “30” vocalist : ADELE

“Adele” is the stage name of English singer Adele Adkins. Adele’s debut album is “19”, named after the age she was during the album’s production. Her second album was even more successful than the first. Called “21”, the second album was released three years after the first, when Adele was three years older. Her third studio album “25”, released in 2015, broke the first-week sales records in both the UK and the US. “30” followed in 2021.

37 Maggie Simpson’s sister : LISA

Maggie Simpson is the youngest child of Marge and Homer Simpson on the animated tv show “The Simpsons”. Maggie is voiced by Nancy Cartwright, who also voices Bart Simpson.

39 “__-Dick”: Melville novel : MOBY

The full title of Herman Melville’s novel is “Moby-Dick; or, The Whale”. Note that the convention is to hyphenate “Moby-Dick” in the title, as that was how the book was first published, in 1851. However, there is no hyphen in the name of the whale “Moby Dick” as reproduced throughout the text.

44 Audition piece, often : SOLO

A trial performance to appraise the merits of an entertainer is known as an audition. When a group of entertainers is involved, the informal term “cattle call” might be used instead of “audition”. The idea is that those auditioning are often corralled into a single, large room (like “cattle”) prior to performing.

46 Kitchen wrap brand : SARAN

What’s known as plastic wrap in America, we call cling-film in Ireland. The brand name “Saran” is often used generically in the US, while “Glad” wrap is common down under. Plastic wrap was one of those unintended inventions, a byproduct of a development program to create a hard plastic cover for cars.

47 Firm partners, briefly : ATTYS

A business is sometimes called a firm. “Firm” comes into English from Latin via the Italian “firma” meaning “signature”. The concept is that business transactions are confirmed, made firm, by applying a signature.

52 Exchange, as a coupon : REDEEM

The original coupon, back in the early 1800s, was a certificate of interest due on a bond. The bond included coupons that could be cut from the paper periodically and redeemed for that interest payment. The term “coupon” comes from the French “couper” meaning “to cut”.

53 Gordie in the Hockey Hall of Fame : HOWE

Gordie Howe was a Canadian hockey player. Regarded as one of the game’s greatest players, Howe was sometimes referred to as “Mr Hockey”. He was the only hockey player to have competed in the NHL for five decades (from the forties through the eighties), and held the NHL record for most games and most seasons played.

62 “You’re what the French call __ incompétents”: “Home Alone” line : LES

“Home Alone” is a 1990 film starring Macaulay Culkin that has become a Christmas classic. Culkin was nominated for a Best Actor Golden Globe for his performance, becoming the youngest actor ever to be so honored. And, there are four “Home Alone” sequels.

69 St. __: Cornwall town : IVES

You might remember the nursery rhyme “As I was going to St. Ives” from the third “Die Hard” movie, “Die Hard With a Vengeance” as it is used as a riddle in the film’s storyline. The rhyme goes like this:

As I was going to St Ives
I met a man with seven wives
Each wife had seven sacks
Each sack had seven cats
Each cat had seven kits
Kits, cats, sacks, wives
How many were going to St Ives?

There is more than one place called St. Ives in England, but most think the reference is to the seaside town of St. Ives in Cornwall. By the way, the answer to the riddle is “one”, because just the narrator was going to St. Ives, and the rest were characters he met along the way.

70 Texter’s sign-off : TTYL

Talk to you later (TTYL)

80 Everest or Etna : MOUNT

Mount Everest was named by the Royal Geographical Society in 1865 for Welsh surveyor George Everest, who had served as Surveyor General of India from 1830 through 1843. Everest actually objected initially to the use of his name, given that he had nothing to do with the peak’s discovery, and given that he believed “Everest” was difficult to write and to pronounce in Hindi.

Mount Etna on the island of Sicily is the largest of three active volcanoes in Italy, and indeed the largest of all active volcanoes in Europe. Etna is about 2 1/2 times the height of its equally famous sister, Mt. Vesuvius. Mt. Etna is home to a 110-km long narrow-gauge railway, and two ski resorts. It is sometimes referred to as “Mongibello” in Italian, and as “Mungibeddu” (sometimes “Muncibeddu”) in Sicilian. The English name “Etna” comes from the Greek “aitho” meaning “I eat”.

82 Mallard cousins with distinctive rear feathers : PINTAILS

The pintail is a large duck, the male of which has a conspicuous set of long tail feathers. Those tail feathers give the species its name.

The mallard is perhaps the most recognizable of all ducks and is also known as the wild duck. The name “mallard” has the same Latin root as our word “male”, probably reflecting how flamboyant the coloring is of the male of the species relative to the female.

85 Tasty bits : MORSELS

A morsel is a small bite, a mouthful of food. The term “morsel” comes from the Latin “morsus” meaning “bite”.

89 Pine tree feature : NEEDLE

There are many species of pine tree (well over 100). The smallest is probably the Siberian dwarf pine, which usually grows to less than 10-feet tall. The tallest is the ponderosa pine, which regularly grows to over 200-feet tall.

104 Read a barcode : SCAN

There are two types of barcode widely used today:

1. Linear, or one-dimensional, barcodes usually comprise vertical black and white lines (“bars”) of varying thickness.
2. Matrix, or two-dimensional, evolved from linear barcodes. They are often square in shape, and are usually made up of an array of rectangles, dots, hexagons and other shapes. A common example is a QR code.