Tag: Cloyingly sentimental crossword clue

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Constructed by: Patti Varol

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Liberated First

Themed answers each start with a synonym of “liberated”:

• 17A Get-up-and-go that never goes : BOUNDLESS ENERGY
• 25A Therapy technique that encourages a thoughtful flow of ideas : FREE ASSOCIATION
• 42A School organizer with three rings : LOOSE-LEAF BINDER
• 55A Righteous Brothers hit in the film “Ghost” : UNCHAINED MELODY

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

Bill’s time: 5m 49s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Table where Holy Communion is consecrated : ALTAR

The Communion rite is part of the Mass in the Roman Catholic tradition. The rite involves distribution of the Communion bread (the host, a wafer) to the faithful.

14A Yankees manager Aaron : BOONE

Aaron Boone is a former MLB infielder who retired as a player in 2009, a few months after undergoing open-heart surgery to have a heart valve replaced. He then pursued a successful career in sports broadcasting, primarily with ESPN. In late 2017, Boone was hired as manager of the New York Yankees.

21A Toffee bar brand : HEATH

The HEATH bar is a Hershey product that was introduced in the 1920s by brothers Bayard and Everett Heath. The candy was promoted back then with the line “Heath for better health!”, a reference to the “healthy” ingredients of the best milk chocolate and almonds, creamery butter and pure sugarcane. Different times …

22A Great Plains Natives : OTOES

The Otoe (also “Oto”) Native American tribe originated in the Great Lakes region as part of the Winnebago or Siouan tribes. The group that would become the Otoe broke away from the Winnebago and migrated southwestward, ending up in the Great Plains. In the plains the Otoe adopted a semi-nomadic lifestyle dependent on the horse, with the American bison becoming central to their diet.

34A Forensic sci. specialty : CSI

Crime scene investigator (CSI)

Something described as forensic is connected with a court of law, or with public discussion or debate. The term comes from the Latin “forensis” meaning “of a forum, of a place of assembly”. We mainly use the word today to mean “pertaining to legal trials” as in “forensic medicine” and “forensic science”.

36A Tusked hogs : BOARS

The wild boar might be described as a matriarchal beast. Fully-grown males live a solitary life, except during mating season. Fully-grown females live together in groups called sounders, along with their offspring.

39A “Hamilton” creator __-Manuel Miranda : LIN

Lin-Manuel Miranda is a composer and playwright from New York City, and the creator and star of the hit Broadway musicals “Hamilton” and “In the Heights”. Miranda also co-wrote the songs for the 2016 Disney animated feature “Moana”. He started composing early, and wrote jingles as a child.

40A Corporal or private : RANK

A corporal is an army officer ranking above a private, and below a sergeant. The term “corporal” comes into English via French and Italian from the Latin “caput” meaning “head, leader”, as in “leader of troops”.

The lowest military rank of soldier is often private (pvt.). The term “private” comes from the Middle Ages when “private soldiers” were hired or conscripted by noblemen to form a “private army”. The more generic usage of “private” started in the 1700s.

41A Feudal lord : LIEGE

A liege was a feudal lord, one to whom service or allegiance was owed under feudal law. “Liege” was also the term used for one who owed allegiance or service to a lord. Apparently the term is influenced by the Latin verb “ligare” meaning “to tie, bind”. So, I guess both lord and servant were “bound” to each other.

48A App replaced by Microsoft Teams : SKYPE

The main feature of the Skype application, when introduced, was that it allowed voice communication to take place over the Internet (aka VoIP). Skype had other features such as video conferencing and instant messaging, but the application made its name from voice communication. The app was created by two Scandinavian entrepreneurs and the software necessary was developed by a team of engineers in Estonia. The development project was originally called “Sky peer-to-peer” so the first commercial name for the application was “Skyper”. This had to be shortened to “Skype” because the skyper.com domain name was already in use. Skype was retired as an app in 2025, and replaced by Microsoft Teams.

55A Righteous Brothers hit in the film “Ghost” : UNCHAINED MELODY

Two of the biggest hits for the musical due billed as the Righteous Brothers were “Unchained Melody” and “Ebb Tide”. The vocals on both songs were performed solo, by the duo’s tenor Bobby Hatfield. Baritone Bill Medley performed lead vocals on the hit “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'”.

61A Cello’s sect. : STR

The word “cello” (plural “celli” or “cellos”) is an abbreviation for “violoncello”, an Italian word for “little violone”, referring to a group of stringed instruments that were popular up to the end of the 17th century. The name violoncello persisted for the instrument that we know today, although the abbreviation “‘cello” was often used. Nowadays, we just drop the apostrophe.

62A Cloyingly sentimental : SAPPY

“Sap” is slang for “fool, someone easily scammed”. The term arose in the early 1800s in Britain when it was used in “saphead” and “sapskull”. All these words are derived from “sapwood”, which is the softwood found in tree trunks between the bark and the heartwood at the center.

63A Coins that can be screwdrivers in a pinch : DIMES

The term “dime”, used for a 10-cent coin, comes from the Old French word “disme” meaning “tenth part”.

Down

1D “Dancing Queen” pop quartet : ABBA

“Dancing Queen” is a great, great song from 1976 that was released by the Swedish group ABBA. ABBA’s music has never been as popular in the US as it is in other countries, but “Dancing Queen” did make it to the number-one spot in the charts here. It was in fact, ABBA’s only #1 hit in the US.

2D Canadian lake bird with a unique call : LOON

The bird known as a loon here in North America is called a diver in Britain and Ireland. The name “diver” comes from the bird’s habit of swimming calmly and then suddenly diving below the surface to catch a fish. The name “loon” comes from an Old English word meaning “clumsy” and reflects the awkward gait of the bird when walking on land.

4D __ Arbor, Michigan : ANN

Ann Arbor, Michigan was founded in 1824 by John Allen and Elisha Rumsey. Supposedly, Allen and Rumsey originally used the name “Annsarbour” in recognition of stands of bur oak that were on the land they had purchased and in recognition of their wives, both of whom were called “Ann” (i.e. Anns’ Arbor)

5D One with hair like Little Orphan Annie : REDHEAD

“Little Orphan Annie” is a comic strip created in 1924 by Harold Gray. The title was taken from a poem written in 1885 by James Whitcomb Riley called “Little Orphant Annie” (and yes, that spelling “orphant” is correct). Strangely enough, the original name of the poem was “Little Orphant Allie”, changed forever at its third printing, purely because of a typesetter’s error!

10D Hanukkah centerpiece : MENORAH

There is a seven-branched menorah used symbolically in ancient temples. However, the Hanukkah menorah is a nine-branched lampstand that is lit during the eight-day holiday called Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights. “Menorah” is the Hebrew word for “lamp”.

13D Actor Matthew of Netflix’s “The Beast in Me” : RHYS

Welsh actor Matthew Rhys got his break playing Kevin Walker on the TV drama “Brothers & Sisters” from 2006 to 2011. He gained even further recognition playing the co-lead role of Philip Jennings in the excellent spy drama series “The Americans” that ran from 2013 to 2018. Rhys started a relationship with his co-star in “The Americans”, Keri Russell, in 2014. The couple had a child together in 2016, and refer to each other as husband and wife.

“The Beast in Me” is an engaging crime thriller TV show starring Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys. Danes plays a successful author who is struggling to write her next book, while grieving over the death of her 8-year-old son. Rhys plays her mysterious new neighbor (in wealthy Oyster Bay, New York), who allegedly killed his first wife.

18D Wine sediment : LEES

The dregs in wine, the sediment that settles during fermentation (and sometimes in the bottle), are also called “lees”.

19D Coup d’__ : ETAT

A coup d’état (often just “coup”) is the sudden overthrow of a government, and comes from the French for “stroke of state”. The Swiss-German word “putsch” is sometimes used instead of “coup”, with “Putsch” translating literally as “sudden blow”. We also use the abbreviated “coup” to mean “sudden, brilliant and successful act”.

24D Jobs for a band : GIGS

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.

26D “All Things Considered” medium : RADIO

“All Things Considered” is a news broadcast by NPR that airs for two hours every evening.

28D Japanese port city : OSAKA

The Japanese city of Osaka used to be called Naniwa, with the name changing to Osaka sometime before 1500. “Osaka” can be translated either as “large hill” or “large slope”. Osaka is sometimes referred to as “the Chicago of Japan” as it is a major center of commerce and industry. The city has also been named the “nation’s kitchen”, and was a center for Japan’s rice trade for centuries.

30D Missouri River tributary : OSAGE

Much of the Osage River in Missouri is now taken up by two large reservoirs created behind two dams that provide power for St. Louis and the surrounding area. The two reservoirs are the Truman Reservoir and the Lake of the Ozarks.

31D Bay Area NFLer : NINER

The 49ers football team in San Francisco takes its name from the gold prospectors who flooded into Northern California around 1849 during the California gold rush. These “1849 prospectors” became known as the “49ers”.

41D Type of oil extracted from flax : LINSEED

Linseed oil is also known as flaxseed oil, as the oil is extracted from the dried seeds of the flax plant.

Flax is mainly grown for its seeds (to make oil) and for its fibers. Flax fibers have been used to make linen for centuries, certainly back as far as the days of the ancient Egyptians. Flax fibers are soft and shiny, resembling blond hair, hence the term “flaxen hair”.

43D Former frosh : SOPH

The term “sophomore” has been used since the 1680s for a student in the second year of university. The original meaning of the word was “arguer”. The term has Greek roots, from two Greek words that have been artificially combined in English. The Greek “sophos” means “wise”, and “moros” means “foolish”.

“Frosh” is a slang term for a college freshperson. We call such an individual a “fresher” back in Ireland …

44D Start of many long weekends : FRIDAY

The name “Friday” comes from an Old English word meaning “day of Frigg”. Frigg was a goddess from Norse mythology who was usually depicted as the wife of Odin.

45D Natural sandbank : BERM

A berm is a narrow ledge, one usually at the top or bottom of a slope. The term “berm” is also used as the shoulder of a road in some parts of the United States. It can also describe a physical barrier of some kind. For example, berms can be constructed along a highway to protect those living and working nearby from noise pollution.

49D Nautical speed unit : KNOT

A knot (kt.) is a unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour. Traditionally a vessel’s speed was determined by using a “chip log”. A chip log is made up of a wooden board attached to a line wrapped around a reel. The line (called a “log-line”) had knots tied in it at uniform spacings. To determine the vessel’s speed the board was thrown overboard and the line allowed to unroll. The speed was then the “number of knots” paid out in a fixed time interval.

53D Emmy winner Falco : EDIE

Edie Falco is the first actress to have won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (which she won three times for playing Carmela Soprano in “The Sopranos”) as well as the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (which she won in 2010 for her title role in “Nurse Jackie”). As of 2025, she was the only actress to have achieved this feat.

56D 401(k) rollover target : IRA

A 401(k) account resembles an IRA in that contributions can be made from a paycheck prior to the deduction of income taxes. It differs from an IRA in that it is an employer-sponsored plan, with payments taken by the employer directly from an employee’s paycheck. Additionally, contributions can be fully or partially matched by an employer.

57D Tropical garland : LEI

“Lei” is a Hawaiian word meaning “garland, wreath”, although in more general terms a lei is any series of objects strung together as an adornment for the body.