Tag: Appealing to one’s baser nature crossword clue

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Constructed by: Patti Varol

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): V-ery Sound Logic

Themed answers are all common phrases, but with a W-sound changed to a V-sound at the start of one word:

• 17A Encouragement to a writer who shows an early penchant for rhyme? : YOU COULD DO VERSE (from “you could do worse”)
• 24A Carefully evaluate pasta? : VET NOODLES (from “wet noodles”)
• 31A Gardener who only plants the most exquisite ivy? : VINE SNOB (from “wine snob”)
• 41A Anthem for a Colorado ski resort? : VAIL SONG (from “whale song”)
• 47A Weapon wielded by a particularly dangerous snake? : VIPER BLADE (from “wiper blade”)
• 54A Safes made in the Volunteer State? : TENNESSEE VAULTS (from “Tennessee Waltz”)

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

Bill’s time: 8m 36s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

4A Six-time WNBA All-Star Thomas : ALYSSA

Alyssa Thomas is a dominant power forward who was drafted by the New York Liberty in the 2014 WNBA draft, and then traded on draft day to the Connecticut Sun. She is known for a very unique shooting style. She shoots with one hand, almost like an underhand toss, which is pretty rare in basketball.

10A Textspeak qualifier : IMHO

In my humble opinion (IMHO)

20A Singer Jason with the album “Love Is a Four Letter Word” : MRAZ

“Love Is a Four Letter Word” is a 2012 album by singer-songwriter and guitarist Jason Mraz. When it was released in the UK, it lost out to the number-one spot in the UK Albums Chart to Adele’s “21”, by a mere 44 copies!

22A Ga. capital : ATL

The city of Atlanta, Georgia (A-Town) had its beginnings in the late 1830s when the location was chosen as the terminus for a new railroad to be built connecting Georgia with the Midwestern United States. The city’s name was chosen by the Chief Engineer of the Georgia Railroad, apparently after the middle name of the daughter of Governor Wilson Lumpkin: “Atalanta”.

24A Carefully evaluate pasta? : VET NOODLES (from “wet noodles”)

The verb “to vet” comes from the term “veterinarian”. The idea is that to vet something is to subject it to careful examination, like a veterinarian checking out an animal.

28A Quartz suffix : -ITE

Quartzite is a metamorphic rock that forms from sandstone, when it is subject to intense heat and pressure. The resulting rock is harder than a steel blade. Prehistoric hunters often used quartzite to craft projectile points and heavy-duty scrapers whenever traditional flint was unavailable in the local landscape.

29A Much sitar music : 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.

30A Actress Russo : RENE

Actress Rene Russo is a native of Burbank, California. Russo went to high school (with actor/director Ron Howard), but dropped out in tenth grade. At seventeen, she was given the opportunity to train as a model and within a very short time appeared on the cover of “Vogue”. As her modeling jobs slowed down in her early thirties, Russo made a career change and studied theater and acting. Her breakout role was in the 1989 film “Major League.”

33A Pop duo __ & Him : SHE

She & Him is a musical duo comprising guitarist M. Ward and vocalist Zooey Deschanel, the noted actress. Ward and Deschanel met on the film set for “The Go-Getter” in 2007, and got together to sing over the film’s end credits.

35A Scale intervals : OCTAVES

I find that terminology in music can be confusing. My way of looking at an octave (my way … don’t shout at me!) is thinking of a piano keyboard. In the key of C, the seven notes of the octave are C, D, E, F, G, A, B (or “do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti”). These are all white keys. Most of these “white notes” are separated by whole tones, so there is room to add a “semitone” in between most of them, and these are the black keys (C-sharp for example). There is room for five black keys in an octave, and 7 + 5 adds up to 12. I assume we use the term “octave” because we often add an eighth note on the end “to bring us back to do” as the song says (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do … or … C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C). That eighth note is really the first note in the next octave up.

40A Waze tech : GPS

Waze is a navigation app that is similar to Google Maps and Apple Maps. Waze was developed in Israel, and was acquired by Google in 2013.

42A Taylor, to Swifties : IDOL

A swiftie is a fan of singer Taylor Swift. In 2017, the singer trademarked the term “Swifties”. She has also trademarked the term “Swiftmas”.

45A Actor Vaughn : VINCE

Just like me and my brothers, Vince Vaughn was born to parents who had a thing about giving names to their kids all starting with the same letter. Vince has two siblings, older sisters called Victoria and Valeri.

47A Weapon wielded by a particularly dangerous snake? : VIPER BLADE (from “wiper blade”)

You may have seen the 2008 movie “Flash of Genius”, which outlined the troubles Robert Kearns (played by Greg Kinnear) had in making money from his invention of the intermittent windshield wiper. Well, Mary Anderson developed the original wiper and received a patent in 1903. She didn’t make any money either …

50A Punxsutawney figure : PHIL

Punxsutawney is a borough in Pennsylvania that is located about 80 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. Punxsutawney Phil is the famous groundhog that lives in the area. Phil comes out of his hole on February 2 each year and if he sees his shadow he goes back into his hole predicting six more weeks of winter weather. February 2 is known as “Groundhog Day”.

54A Safes made in the Volunteer State? : TENNESSEE VAULTS (from “Tennessee Waltz”)

During the War of 1812, volunteer soldiers from Tennessee fought with valor, especially during the Battle of New Orleans, hence the state’s nickname “Volunteer State”.

The wonderful “Tennessee Waltz” was written by Redd Stewart and Pee Wee King in 1948. The song became a huge hit for Patti Page in 1950.

60A Lake into which the Cuyahoga empties : ERIE

The Cuyahoga River in northeastern Ohio has a sad history. Deemed to be one of the most polluted US rivers in the 20th century, the river actually caught fire at least 13 times. A 1952 blaze caused over a million dollars worth of damage. Things have improved over the past few decades, with fish now inhabiting stretches of the river that were once practically devoid of life.

61A “A Real Pain” Oscar winner Culkin : KIERAN

Kieran Culkin began his acting career alongside his older brother Macaulay in the 1990 film “Home Alone”. Kieran’s most lauded performance was the title role in 2002’s “Igby Goes Down”, which earned him a Golden Globe nomination.

The 2024 comedy-drama film “A Real Pain” is directed by, written by and co-stars Jesse Eisenberg. It is about two cousins, one neurotic (Eisenberg) and the other free-spirited, played by Kieran Culkin. The duo get together for a Jewish heritage tour in Poland in the hope of connecting with their family history. There is an autobiographical element in the film, when the cousins visit a small apartment in Krasnystaw. That apartment used was the actual home Eisenberg’s family occupied until they fled Poland in 1939.

65A 1975 TV debut, familiarly : SNL

NBC first aired a form of “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) in 1975 under the title “NBC’s Saturday Night”. The show was actually created to give Johnny Carson some time off from “The Tonight Show”. Back then “The Tonight Show” had a weekend episode, and Carson convinced NBC to pull the Saturday or Sunday recordings off the air and hold them for subsequent weeknights in which Carson needed a break. NBC turned to Lorne Michaels and asked him to put together a variety show to fill the vacant slot, and he came up with what we now call “Saturday Night Live”.

Down

1D Writer/editor Roxane who co-owns the online literary magazine The Rumpus : GAY

Roxane Gay is an author and contributing opinion writer for “The New York Times”. The list of her best-selling works includes the 2014 novel “An Untamed State”, the 2017 collection of short stories “Difficult Women”, and the 2017 memoir “Hunger”.

2D Like basmati rice : AROMATIC

Basmati is a long grain rice that is commonly used in Indian and Pakistani cuisine. The name “basmati” comes from the Sanskrit word “vasmati” meaning “fragrant”. I am a big fan …

3D Appealing to one’s baser nature : PRURIENT

Someone described as prurient has an extreme interest in sexual matters. Back in the 1600s, “prurient” meant “to have an itch”. Today the meaning is limited to “to have an itching desire”.

4D Encyclopedic in range : A TO Z

An encyclopedia is a compendium reference work containing summary information about a branch of knowledge, or about all knowledge. The word “encyclopedia” comes from the Greek “enkyklios paideia” meaning “general education”, or literally “general rearing of a child”.

5D Reed of the Velvet Underground : LOU

Lou Reed was best known as a rock musician and songwriter, and was especially associated with the fabulous 1973 hit “Walk on the Wild Side”. Reed is less well known as a photographer, but he published two collections of his work. The first was released in 2003 under the title “Emotions in Action”, and the second in 2006 called “Lou Reed’s New York”. Reed passed away in 2013.

The Velvet Underground was an influential New York City rock band active in the late sixties and early seventies. The group was formed by Lou Reed and John Cale, and was managed by pop artist Andy Warhol.

6D Actor Brynner : YUL

Yul Brynner was a Russian-born actor. He was well known for his great performances, but also for his shaved head and his deep rich voice. Brynner first adopted the “hairstyle” while playing the King of Siam in the stage version of “The King and I”, and he stuck with it.

7D Time zone wd. : STD

Local solar time was replaced with standard time zones due to the increasing use of rail travel and telecommunications as the variations in local solar times became somewhat inconvenient. Time zones in the US vary in hourly increments, but in some parts of the world a 30-minute or even 15-minute difference can apply.

8D Some cars : SEDANS

The American sedan car is the equivalent of the British and Irish saloon car. By definition, a sedan car has two rows of seating and a separate trunk (boot in Britain and Ireland), although in some models the engine can be at the rear of the car.

9D Vinegary marinade : ADOBO

In Spanish and Mexican cuisine, a dish prepared adobo-style has been marinated in a mixture containing paprika, oregano, salt, garlic and vinegar. “Adobo” is Spanish for “marinade, seasoning”.

18D Berkeley, familiarly : CAL

The University of California, Berkeley (Cal) is the most difficult public university to get into in the world. It opened in 1869, and is named for Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkeley.

19D Brandy letters : VSO

Brandy is a spirit distilled from wine. The term “brandy” ultimately comes from the Dutch “gebrande wijn” meaning “burnt wine”. The length of this aging of the spirit defines the various grades of brandy:

• VS: Very Special … at least 2 years storage
• VSOP: Very Special (or Superior) Old Pale … at least 4 years storage
• XO: Extra Old … at least 10 years

26D Word often seen under a tilde? : TAB

The tab key is positioned directly beneath the tilde on standard QWERTY keyboards.

29D Say “I’ll be there,” say : RSVP

RSVP is an initialism derived from the French phrase “Répondez s’il vous plaît”, meaning “Please respond”. It’s a polite way to ask your invited guests to let you know if they will be attending your event.

32D Old quarter back : EAGLE

State quarters were introduced in 1999. Prior to that, the quarter had an eagle on its reverse.

34D In fine fettle : HALE

The phrase “in fine fettle” is used to describe a person in peak physical or mental condition. In a foundry, “fettling” is the process of grinding away the excess jagged metal left on a casting after it is removed from its mold. A finished piece is only considered to be “in fine fettle” once it is perfectly smoothed, polished, and ready for sale.

36D Kansas or Alabama : BAND

Kansas is a rock band that formed in the 1970s in Topeka, Kansas. The group’s biggest hits were “Carry on Wayward Son” and “Dust in the Wind”, both of which charted in the mid-seventies.

Alabama is a band from Fort Payne, Alabama that performs a blend of country music and southern rock.

42D November sticker : I VOTED

Election Day was chosen by Congress back in 1845. The month of November was selected as it suited an agricultural society, following the fall harvest and yet not too far into winter, which could make travel difficult. Tuesday was chosen so that people had time to travel to polling stations. Monday elections might have meant that some would have to start out on Sunday, and that could interfere with Christian services.

43D Bread : DINERO

“Dinero” is a Spanish word meaning “money”, as well as a slang term for money here in the US.

45D Pickle brand : VLASIC

Apparently, Vlasic invented the glass-packed, shelf-stable pickle. The company adopted the stork mascot in the late sixties, with the stork originally carrying a baby. The mascot was a play on the perception that pregnant women have a higher than average appetite for pickles.

48D “Hair Love” voice actress Issa : RAE

“Hair Love” is a 2019 animated short about a man who has to style his daughter’s hair for the first time. It is a poignant piece, as the father and daughter must use a tutorial video made by the girl’s mother. At the end of the film, the father and daughter visit the mother in hospital, and the latter removes her scarf to reveal that she has lost her hair due to chemotherapy.

49D Soaks up the sun : BASKS

Our verb “to bask”, meaning “to expose one to pleasant warmth”, is derived from the gruesome, 14th-century term “basken”, meaning “to wallow in blood”. The contemporary usage apparently originated with Shakespeare, who employed “bask” with reference to sunshine in “As You Like It”.

50D Newark-based insurer, on stock tickers : PRU

The Prudential Insurance company was started in 1875 as The Widows and Orphans Friendly Society. The company’s first product was simply burial insurance. Prudential has been using the very memorable Rock of Gibraltar logo since the 1890s.

56D Job listing letters : EEO

“Equal Employment Opportunity” (EEO) is a term that has been around since 1964 when the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was set up by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII of the Act prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin or religion.