Tag: Category of noun crossword clue

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Constructed by: Brian Callahan & Amie Walker

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: It’s All in the Hips

Themed answers are all bookended by the letters “HIPS”:

• 61A Advice for adding power to a golf swing, or what can be said about 17-, 27-, and 50-Across : IT’S ALL IN THE HIPS

• 17A “Let me give you a few pointers … ” : HERE ARE SOME TIPS…
• 27A Some track-and-field attempts : HIGH JUMPS
• 50A VW adorned with decals from the flower power era, e.g. : HIPPIE BUS

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

Bill’s time: 5m 35s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

7A Reddit tell-all sesh : AMA

Reddit.com is a networking and news website that started up in 2005. It is essentially a bulletin board system with posts that are voted up and down by users, which determines the ranking of posts. The name “Reddit” is a play on “read it”, as in “I read it on Reddit”. One popular feature of the Reddit site is an online forum that is similar to a press conference. Known as an AMA (for “ask me anything”), participants have included the likes of President Barack Obama, Madonna, Bill Gates, Stephen Colbert and Gordon Ramsay. President Obama’s AMA was so popular that the high level of traffic brought down many parts of the Reddit site.

14A Fiction influenced by net culture : ALT-LIT

Alternative literature (alt-lit) is a literary movement that exists primarily online. In contemporary terms, it is seen as outside the mainstream of literature. Whether or not that will always be the case, that is yet to be seen …

21A Galápagos lizard : IGUANA

An iguana is a lizard, and as such is cold-blooded. There are times when pet iguanas need heat from an IR lamp to maintain body temperature. They can also be very large lizards, sometimes growing to a length of six feet.

The Galápagos Islands lie over 500 miles west of Ecuador. They owe their celebrity to the voyage of HMS Beagle which landed there in 1835, with Charles Darwin on board. It was Darwin’s study of various species on the islands that inspired him to postulate his Theory of Evolution.

24A Yoga poses : ASANAS

The word “asana” comes from the Sanskrit root “as”, which means “to sit” or “to be present”. In ancient yogic texts, “asana” primarily referred to a stable and comfortable seated position for meditation, rather than the array of physical postures that we associate with modern yoga practice today.

30A First step of a home reno : DEMO

The first step of a home renovation (“reno”) is demolition (“demo”).

33A Beatty/Hoffman film flop : ISHTAR

“Ishtar” is a 1987 film that really bombed at the box office. It stars Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman, as lounge singers working in Morocco! There’s a Cold War plot and, thank goodness, it’s a comedy.

Actor Warren Beatty spends a lot of time in other roles in the film industry. He is the only person to have been nominated twice for an Academy Award for acting in, directing, writing and producing the same film. He was so honored for 1978’s “Heaven Can Wait” and for 1981’s “Reds”. Beatty is the younger brother of actress Shirley MacLaine, and has been married to fellow actor Annette Bening since 1992.

Prolific actor Dustin Hoffman was named by his parents after silent film actor Dustin Farnum, who came to be known as “the Clark Gable of the silent screen”. Early in his career, he was a struggling actor in New York City, sharing an apartment with Gene Hackman and Robert Duvall. Hoffman’s breakthrough role was the male lead in the 1967 movie “The Graduate”, which earned him an Oscar nomination. He did win two Academy Awards, for his roles in “Kramer vs. Kramer” (1979) and “Rain Man” (1988). In 1999, he was presented with the American Film Institute’s 27th Life Achievement Award by Jack Nicholson.

36A Phoenix NBA team : SUNS

The Phoenix Suns NBA team are in the Pacific Division, and are the only team in that division not based in California.

38A Pickleball barrier : NET

Pickleball is a sport invented in the 1960s that combines elements of tennis, table tennis and badminton. Originally marketed as a game for children to play in backyards, pickleball is now played on purpose-built courts by many, many adults, but mainly in North and South America.

39A Overt : BLATANT

Something blatant is flagrant, brazenly obvious. The term “blatant” was coined by Edmund Spenser in his 1596 poem “The Faerie Queene”. Spenser used it to describe a “thousand-tongued monster”, a metaphor for slander. It has been suggested that Spenser’s term was derived from the Latin verb “blatire” meaning “to babble”.

42A Fuel additive brand : STP

STP is a brand name of automotive lubricants and additives. The name “STP” is an initialism standing for “Scientifically Treated Petroleum”.

43A Avocado dip, for short : GUAC

Guacamole is one of my favorite dishes. It is prepared by mashing avocados and perhaps adding the likes of tomato, onion and lime juice. The guacamole recipe dates back as early as the 16th century, to the time of the Aztecs. “Guacamole” translates as “avocado sauce”.

48A College Board exam for sophs : PSAT

Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT)

50A VW adorned with decals from the flower power era, e.g. : HIPPIE BUS

The Type 2 is a range of light commercial vehicles that was introduced in 1950 by Volkswagen (the Type 1 was the Beetle/Bug car). It was destined to become an icon of counterculture in the 1960s, when it was chosen by many as a flower-adorned hippy bus.

52A Capital of Kansas : TOPEKA

Topeka is the capital of Kansas, and is located on the Kansas River in the northeast of the state. The name “Topeka” was chosen in 1855 and translates from the Kansa and the Ioway languages as “to dig good potatoes”. The reference isn’t to the common potato but rather to the herb known as the prairie potato (also “prairie turnip”), which was an important food for many Native Americans.

54A Richard of “Chicago” : GERE

Richard Gere is an American actor who is a practicing Buddhist and has been a student of the Dalai Lama for many years. He has been married three times, including his first marriage to supermodel Cindy Crawford. They were married from 1991 to 1995.

The 2002 musical film “Chicago” is based on the 1975 stage musical of the same name, which in turn is based on a 1926 play, also of the same name. 2002’s “Chicago” was a big hit, and was the first musical to win the Best Picture Oscar since “Oliver!” in 1968.

58A “Gavel-to-gavel” coverage provider : C-SPAN

C-SPAN is a privately-funded, nonprofit cable channel that broadcasts continuous coverage of government proceedings. The acronym stands for “Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network”.

67A Pop singer Rita : ORA

Rita Ora is a British singer who was born Rita Sahatçiu in Pristina, Yugoslavia to Albanian parents. The family name “Sahatçiu” comes from a Turkish word meaning “watchmaker”. Rita’s parents changed their name to make it easier to pronounce. So, the family name morphed from “watchmaker” to “time”, which is “ora” in Albanian.

69A Car loan figs. : APRS

Annual percentage rate (APR)

Down

3D Likely feature of a valedictorian’s report card : STRAIGHT A’S

A valediction is an act of taking one’s leave, from the Latin “vale dicere”, to say farewell. An example of a valediction would be the words “yours truly” at the end of a letter. And, the valedictorian (here in the US anyway) is the student in a graduating class that is chosen to say the final words at the graduation ceremony, a farewell to the classmates.

4D __ of hand: magician’s knack : SLEIGHT

“Legerdemain” is a term used for “sleight of hand”, the set of techniques used by magicians to manipulate objects such as cards or coins. The term comes from the Middle French “léger de main” that translates as “light of hand”.

5D Actor Neeson : LIAM

Irish actor Liam Neeson’s big break came with the role of Oskar Schindler in the Spielberg epic, “Schindler’s List”. Neeson was in the news some years later when he lost his wife, actress Natasha Richardson, in a tragic skiing accident in 2009. Earlier in his life, in the 1980s, Neeson lived for several years with Oscar-winning actress Helen Mirren.

10D Pink blooms sacred to Buddhists : LOTUSES

The roots of the lotus plant penetrate into the bed of a lake or river, while the leaves float on the water’s surface. This behavior led to the use of the lotus as a symbol in the Buddhist tradition, as a symbol of purity of the body, speech and mind. The idea is that the lotus flower represents the pure body, speech and mind floating above the muddy waters of attachment and desire.

12D Breakfast mascot’s rank : CAP’N

The first Cap’n Crunch commercials aired in 1963, at the time the product line was launched. The Cap’n’s full name is Captain Horatio Magellan Crunch, would you believe? Crunch’s voice was provided for many years by Daws Butler, the same voice actor who gave us Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound. Cap’n Crunch is commander of the S.S. Guppy.

13D “Frozen” ice queen : ELSA

“Frozen” is a 2013 animated feature from Walt Disney Studios that is based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale “The Snow Queen”. The film is all about the exploits of Princess Anna, the younger sister of Elsa, Snow Queen of Arendelle. Elsa was originally intended to be a villain, a malicious and power-hungry character. By the final version of the film, Elsa had transformed from a one-dimensional villain into a fully fleshed-out protagonist.

25D Soviet satellite launched in 1957 : SPUTNIK

The Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite towards the end of 1957. The first in a series of space missions, the satellite was just a 23-inch diameter “ball” trailing four antennas. Sputnik 2 was launched just a month later, and carried the first living passenger into orbit, namely a dog named Laika. The word “sputnik” means “co-traveler” in Russian.

26D “Wish” heroine voiced by Ariana DeBose : ASHA

Actress Ariana DeBose’s breakthrough role was the lead in the jukebox musical “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical”, which opened on Broadway in 2018. She reached a wider audience playing Anita in the 2021 film adaptation of the musical “West Side Story”. That performance won her the season’s Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

The 2023 Disney animated musical feature film “Wish” was released against the backdrop of the 100th anniversary of the Disney Studio. As a result, the movie “reveals” the origin story of the iconic “Wishing Star” seen in the studio’s logo. A further nod to Disney history is the use of modern 3D technology with the hand-drawn watercolor aesthetic of films like 1937’s “Snow White”.

32D Moving from gig to gig : ON TOUR

Musicians use “gig” to describe a job, a performance. The term originated in the early 1900s in the world of jazz. The derivative phrase “gig economy” applies to a relatively recent phenomenon where workers find themselves jumping from temporary job to temporary job, from gig to gig.

40D Arthur in the International Tennis Hall of Fame : ASHE

The International Tennis Hall of Fame was established in 1954 in Newport, Rhode Island. It is located in the Newport Casino, which was an exclusive resort built in the late 1800s. The Tennis Hall of Fame complex is quite well equipped, and includes several indoor and outdoor tennis courts as well as a museum and theater.

41D __ chi: martial art : TAI

More correctly called “t‘ai chi ch‘uan”, which translates to “supreme ultimate fist”, tai chi is a martial art that is mostly practiced to improve overall health and increase longevity.

44D Part of a “Gabby’s Dollhouse” costume : CAT EARS

“Gabby’s Dollhouse” is a TV show aimed at preschool children that debuted on Netflix in 2021. Each episode has a live-action and animation phase section, with the title character is played by (and, in the animated sections, voiced by) actress Laila Lockhart Kraner. She debuted as Gabby when she was just 12 years old. The TV show spun off a film, “Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie”, released in 2025.

55D Money of Italy, once : LIRA

The word “lira” is used in a number of countries for currency. “Lira” comes from the Latin for “pound” and is derived from the British pound sterling, the value of a Troy pound of silver. For example, the lira (plural “lire”) was the official currency of Italy before the country changed over to the euro in 2002.

57D Former Russian ruler : TSAR

The term “czar” (also “tsar”) is a Slavic word that was first used as a title by Simeon I of Bulgaria in 913 AD. “Czar” is derived from the word “caesar”, which was synonymous with “emperor” at that time. We tend to use the “czar” spelling, as opposed to “tsar”, when we describe a person today with great power or authority, e.g. “Drug Czar”.

59D __ butter: skin care ingredient : SHEA

Shea butter is a common moisturizer and lotion used as a cosmetic. It is a fat that is extracted from the nut of the African shea tree. There is evidence that shea butter was used back in Cleopatra’s Egypt.

64D Brooch : PIN

A brooch is an ornamental accessory held by a pin or clasp, and worn near the neck. The term “brooch” comes from the Old French “broche” meaning “long needle”.