Tag: Chemistry test subject? crossword clue

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Constructed by: Lynn K. Watson & Katie Hale

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Si! Si!

Themed answers comprise two words, each starting with the letter C:

• 73A “Oui! Oui!” in Oaxaca, and a phonetic description of the answers to the starred clues : SI! SI!

• 17A *Grinning creature in Wonderland : CHESHIRE CAT
• 29A *Only “Friends” star never nominated for an Emmy during the show’s run : COURTENEY COX
• 48A *Gingerbread shaper : COOKIE CUTTER
• 65A *”A Chorus Line” event : CASTING CALL

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

Bill’s time: 6m 16s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Life line location : PALM

In the practice called palmistry, someone might tell your fortune by interpreting the lines and other features seen on the palm of your hand. The lines in the palm have names such as life line, head line, heart line and fate line. The life line is the curve that sweeps around in an arc centered at the base of the thumb.

10A Outfit for a lazy day at home, for short : PJS

Our word “pajamas” (sometimes “PJs” or “jammies”) comes to us from the Indian subcontinent, where “pai jamahs” were loose fitting pants tied at the waist and worn at night by locals and ultimately by the Europeans living there. And “pajamas” is another of those words that I had to learn to spell differently when I came to America. On the other side of the Atlantic, the spelling is “pyjamas”.

13A Chemistry test subject? : ACID

Litmus is a mixture of naturally-occurring dyes that responds to acidity by changing color. It was probably first used around 1300 by the Spanish alchemist Arnaldus de Villa Nova, who extracted the blue dye from lichens. One suggestion is that the term “litmus” comes from the Old Norse “litmose” meaning “lichen for dyeing”. Litmus is often absorbed onto filter paper, creating “litmus paper” or “pH paper”. We also use the phrase “litmus test” figuratively to describe any test in which a single factor decides the outcome.

14A Tropical verandas : LANAIS

A lanai is a type of veranda, and a design that originated in Hawaii. A kind blog reader tells me that the etymology of “lanai” seems unclear, but that the island name of “Lana’i” is not related.

17A *Grinning creature in Wonderland : CHESHIRE CAT

The Cheshire Cat is a character in Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”. The Cheshire Cat has an expansive grin, and at one point magically disappears in front of Alice, leaving just the grin visible.

Well! I’ve often seen a cat without a grin,’ thought Alice; `but a grin without a cat! It’s the most curious thing I ever saw in my life!

19A Monogram on a Libre perfume bottle : YSL

Libre perfume from the Yves Saint Laurent fashion house is marketed as “a celebration of freedom”. “Libre” is a French word meaning “free”.

20A Japanese pond fish : KOI

Koi are fish that are also known as Japanese carp. Koi have been bred for decorative purposes and there are now some very brightly colored examples found in Japanese water gardens.

21A James of jazz : ETTA

Etta James had a tough upbringing and faced many challenges. She was born to an unmarried teenage mother and never knew her father. She experienced abuse and hardship, and even dealt with heroin addiction. Despite all this, she rose to become one of the most iconic and influential singers of all time, known for her powerful voice and soulful performances.

22A Tiny bit : MORSEL

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

24A Whale locator : SONAR

The British developed the first underwater detection system that used sound waves. Research was driven by defense demands during WWI, leading to production of working units in 1922. This new sound detection system was described as using “supersonics”, but for the purpose of secrecy the term was dropped in favor of an acronym. The work was done under the auspices of the Royal Navy’s Anti-Submarine Division, so ASD was combined with the “IC” from “superson-ic-s” to create the name ASDIC. The navy even went as far as renaming the quartz material at the heart of the technology “ASDivite”. By the time WWII came along, the Americans were producing their own systems and coined the term SONAR (Sound Navigation and Ranging), playing off the related application, RADAR. And so, the name ASDIC was deep-sixed …

29A *Only “Friends” star never nominated for an Emmy during the show’s run : COURTENEY COX

Courteney Cox played Monica Geller on the incredibly successful sitcom “Friends”. Before “Friends” she played the girlfriend of Michael J. Fox’s character on “Family Ties” for a couple of years in the late eighties. Her role in “Friends” was her biggest success, no question, when she and her fellow female co-stars became the highest paid TV actresses ever, earning a million dollars per episode.

38A “Big Blue” tech co. : IBM

The origin of the IBM nickname “Big Blue” seems to have been lost in the mists of time. That said, maybe it has something to do with the fact that the IBM logo is blue, and almost every mainframe they produced was painted blue. I remember visiting IBM on business a few times in my career, and back then we were encouraged to wear white shirts and blue suits “to fit in” with our client’s culture.

39A Classic Battleship game piece : CRUISER

Battleship is a surprisingly fun guessing game that I used to play as a child. Back then, we would play it just using pencil and paper. These days, kids are more likely to play an electronic version of the game.

44A Dah’s partner : DIT

Samuel Morse came up with the forerunner to modern Morse code for use on the electric telegraph, of which he was the co-inventor. Morse code uses a series of dots and dashes to represent letters and numbers. The most common letters are assigned the simplest code elements e.g. E is represented by one dot, and T is represented by one dash. When words are spelled aloud in Morse code, a dot is pronounced as “dit”, and a dash is pronounced as “dah”.

45A Queen guitarist Brian : MAY

Brian May is the lead guitarist of the English rock band Queen. As well as performing with the group, May composed some of Queen’s biggest hits, including “We Will Rock You” and “I Want It All”. May is also a qualified astrophysicist. He has a bachelor’s degree in physics and worked several years towards a PhD at Imperial College London before abandoning his studies to pursue his career in music. May went back to his PhD studies some 32 years later, and graduated in 2008.

47A Strong blackjack hand : ACE-TEN

Blackjack is one of the few casino games where the player has a decent chance to beat the house. This is because the house edge in blackjack is relatively low, around 1%. That edge can be reduced or overcome by “counting cards”, something that casinos really don’t like …

48A *Gingerbread shaper : COOKIE CUTTER

The first documented use of gingerbread shaped in the form of human figures was in the court of Queen Elizabeth I of England. She used to have figures made to represent her important guests.

54A Monopoly surface : BOARD

The commercial game of Monopoly is supposedly a remake of “The Landlord’s Game” created in 1903 by a Quaker woman named Lizzie Phillips. Phillips used her game as a tool to explain the single tax theory of American economist Henry George. The Landlord’s Game was first produced commercially in 1924. The incredibly successful derivative game called Monopoly was introduced in 1933 by Charles Darrow, who became a very rich man when Parker Brothers bought the rights to the game just two years later in 1935.

58A Zigzag on skis : SLALOM

“Slalom” is an anglicized version of the Norwegian word “slalam” that translates as “skiing race”. There is a longer version of the traditional slalom that is called giant slalom

61A “Lonely Boy” singer Paul : ANKA

Paul Anka’s hit song “Lonely Boy” topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks in 1959. It later inspired a 1962 Canadian documentary of the same name, produced by the National Film Board of Canada, capturing intimate backstage moments of the former teen idol.

63A Member of a slapstick trio : MOE

If you’ve seen a few of the films starring “The Three Stooges” you might have noticed that the line-up changed over the years. The original trio was made up of Moe and Shemp Howard (two brothers) and Larry Fine (a good friend of the Howards). This line up was usually known as “Moe, Larry and Shemp”. Then Curly Howard replaced his brother when Shemp quit the act, creating the most famous trio, “Moe, Larry And Curly”. Shemp returned when Curly had a debilitating stroke in 1946. Shemp stayed with the troupe until he himself died in 1955. Shemp was replaced by Joe Besser, and then “Curly-Joe” DeRita. When Larry Fine suffered a stroke in 1970, it effectively marked the end of the act.

Slapstick is a physical form of comedy or horseplay. Back in the late 19th century, the term “slapstick” described a device made from two sticks loosely fastened together, which could be “slapped” together to create a sound effect offstage. The sound effect augmented the audience reaction when a clown or actor was given a slap on stage.

64A Part of mpg : PER

Miles per gallon (mpg)

65A *”A Chorus Line” event : CASTING CALL

“A Chorus Line” is a phenomenal hit musical first staged in 1975, with music by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Edward Kleban. The original Broadway production ran for well over 6,000 performances, making it the longest running production in Broadway history up to that time, a record held for over 20 years (until “Cats” came along).

66A __ Lanka : SRI

The island nation of Sri Lanka lies off the southeast coast of India. The name “Sri Lanka” translates from Sanskrit into English as “venerable island”. Before 1970, Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon, a name given to the country during British rule.

68A Have breakfast : EAT

“Breakfast” comes from Middle English “brekfast”, which originated from the phrase “breken fast”. This literally means “to break one’s fast” or “end abstinence from food”. The word refers to the first meal of the day, eaten after the period of fasting that occurs during sleep. It’s essentially the meal that “breaks” the “fast” of the night.

69A Hand-to-hand combat style : KARATE

Karate is a martial art that originated in the Ryukyu Kingdom, which is now part of Japan. A practitioner of karate is known as a karateka. The sport of karate was included as an Olympic sport starting with the 2020 Games.

70A Texter’s “Or … ” : OTOH …

On the other hand (OTOH)

71A Items in jewel cases : CDS

It seems that the derivation of the term “jewel case” (CD box) is unclear. One suggestion is that initial prototypes weren’t very successful, so when a workable design was found it was dubbed the “jewel” case.

72A Muscle-bone connector : SINEW

“Sinew” is another name for “tendon”. Tendons are bands of collagen that connect muscle to bone. Tendons are similar to ligaments and fasciae, which are also connective tissue made out of collagen, but ligaments join bone to bone, and fasciae connect muscle to muscle. We also use the term “sinew” to mean “muscular power”.

73A “Oui! Oui!” in Oaxaca, and a phonetic description of the answers to the starred clues : SI! SI!

Oaxaca is a state in the southern part of Mexico on the Pacific coast. The state takes the name of Oaxaca, its largest city.

Down

8D Tic __: mint brand : TAC

Tic Tacs aren’t American candies (as I’d always mistakenly believed). Tic Tacs are made by the Italian company Ferrero, and were introduced in 1969.

9D “The King and I” kingdom : SIAM

“The King and I” is a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical based on a book by Margaret Landon called “Anna and the King of Siam” first published in 1944. Landon’s book is based on a true story, told in the memoirs of Anna Leonowens. Leonowens was the governess of the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the 1860s, and she also taught the king’s wives.

10D Stephen Hawking, for one : PHYSICIST

Stephen Hawking was a theoretical physicist from Oxford, England. Hawking owed much of his fame in the world of popular science to his incredibly successful book called “A Brief History of Time”. “A Brief History of Time” has sold over 10 million copies and was on London’s “Sunday Times” bestseller list for over four years. Hawking does a wonderful job of explaining many aspects of cosmology without losing the average reader. There is only one equation in the whole book, and that equation is “E = mc²”. Hawking’s life story is recounted in the excellent 2014 film “The Theory of Everything”.

11D “Feliz Navidad” singer Feliciano : JOSE

Jose Feliciano is a celebrated Puerto Rican singer who is perhaps most famous for his rendition of “Feliz Navidad” heard every Christmas season. Feliciano has been blind from birth, suffering from congenital glaucoma.

Despite being a Christmas classic since its 1970 release, José Feliciano’s “Feliz Navidad” didn’t enter the Billboard charts until 2017, nearly five decades after it was recorded. It finally cracked the Top 10 for the first time in 2020.

15D Winter wrap : STOLE

A stole is a narrow shawl. It can be made of quite light decorative material, but also can be heavier if made of fur.

23D “Video Games” singer Lana Del __ : REY

“Video Games” is a 2011 song recorded by Lana Del Rey that served as her debut single. According to Del Rey, the title refers to the “World of Warcraft” video game.

32D Theater award : OBIE

The Obies are the Off-Broadway (“OB”) Theater Awards. They have been presented annually since 1956. The recipients used to be chosen by “The Village Voice” newspaper, but now are jointly administered with the American Theatre Wing.

33D Marvel Comics mutants : X-MEN

In the Marvel Comics universe, mutants are beings with an X-gene. Such mutants are humans who naturally develop superhuman powers. The most celebrated of these mutants are known as the X-Men.

34D Band with a thunderbolt in its logo : AC/DC

The Heavy Metal band known as AC/DC was formed by two brothers Malcolm and Angus Young in Australia. Malcolm and Angus chose the name “AC/DC” after their sister Margaret noticed them on a sewing machine (the abbreviation for alternating current/direct current). The group is usually called “Acca Dacca” down under.

35D Pizzazz : BRIO

“Brio” is borrowed from Italian, in which language the term means “vigor and vivacity”. “Con brio” is a musical direction often found on a score, instructing the musicians to play “with energy, vigor”.

Pizazz (also “pizzazz”) is energy, vitality. There’s a kind of cool thing about the “pizzazz” spelling, namely that it is the only 7-letter word in English that cannot be played in Scrabble. You can get close by using the Z-tile with the two blank tiles to get to three of the required four Zs, but there’s no way to get to the fourth Z.

36D Spark plugs, wiper blades, etc. : AUTO PARTS

The spark plug, a crucial component in internal combustion engines, was invented in 1860 by Belgian-French engineer Étienne Lenoir. He developed it for his internal combustion engine, which burned a mixture of coal gas and air.

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 …

40D The Indy 500, e.g. : RACE

The Indianapolis 500, often referred to simply as “the Indy 500”, is an iconic automobile race held annually at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. It’s one of the oldest and most prestigious auto races in the world, famous for its 500-mile distance.

43D Wolfe of detective fiction : NERO

Nero Wolfe is a fictional detective and the hero of many stories published by author Rex Stout. There are 33 Nero Wolfe novels for us to read, and 39 short stories. There are also movie adaptations of two of the novels: “Meet Nero Wolfe” (1936) which features a young Rita Hayworth, and “The League of Frightened Men” (1937). One of Wolfe’s endearing traits is his love of good food and beer, so he is a pretty rotund character.

46D Mexican peninsula : YUCATAN

The Yucatán Peninsula is located in southeastern Mexico, where it separates the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest from the Caribbean Sea to the southeast.

49D “House” actor Penn : KAL

Indian American actor Kal Penn made a name for himself in the “Harold & Kumar” series of comedy films. These so-called “stoner comedies” are not my cup of tea, but I enjoyed him playing his more mainstream roles on TV’s “House” and “24”. He left the world of acting when President Obama won the 2008 election to work as an Associate Director in the White House Office of Public Engagement (although he did leave the White House briefly to film the “Harold & Kumar” sequel).

55D Valued violin : AMATI

The first of the Amati family to make violins was Andrea Amati, who lived in the 14th century. He was succeeded by his sons Antonio and Girolamo. In turn, the two brothers were succeeded by Girolamo’s son Nicolo. Nicolo had a few students who achieved fame making musical instruments as well. One was his own son, Girolamo, and another was the famed Antonio Stradivari.

56D Candies that resemble lampshades : ROLOS

Rolo was a hugely popular chocolate candy in Ireland when I was growing up. It was introduced in the thirties in the UK, and is produced under license in the US by Hershey. I was a little disappointed when I had my first taste of the American version as the center is very hard and chewy. The recipe used on the other side of the Atlantic calls for a soft gooey center.

57D Indian metropolis : DELHI

New Delhi is the capital city of India. The city resides within the National Capital Territory of Delhi (otherwise known as the metropolis of Delhi). New Delhi and Delhi, therefore, are two different things.

58D On __: without a contract : SPEC

Something that is created on spec is done so without having a specific buyer or consumer in mind. Many crosswords are constructed on spec, and then submitted to the likes of “The New York Times” or the “Los Angeles Times” in the hope of publication.

66D __ Lanka : SRI

The island nation of Sri Lanka lies off the southeast coast of India. The name “Sri Lanka” translates from Sanskrit into English as “venerable island”. Before 1970, Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon, a name given to the country during British rule.