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Constructed by: Dylan Schiff
Edited by: Patti Varol
Today’s Reveal Answer: Stuffed Peppers
Themed answers each include a type of PEPPER as a STUFFING, as a hidden word:
- 54A Tex-Mex fare found with increasing spiciness in this puzzle’s circled letters? : STUFFED PEPPERS
- 20A Annual honorees in chemistry, physics, economics, etc. : NOBEL LAUREATES (giving “bell pepper”)
- 33A Military division : BRANCH OF SERVICE (giving “ancho pepper”)
- 41A WordPress, for one : BLOG HOSTING SITE (giving “ghost pepper”)
Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers
Want to discuss the puzzle? Then …
… leave a comment
Bill’s time: 5m 26s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
1 Camel feature : HUMP
Perhaps the most distinctive feature of a camel is the large deposit of fatty tissue on its back. The dromedary is the most common camel, and has one hump of fatty tissue on its back. The Bactrian camel has two humps, and makes up just 6% of the world’s camel population. Those fatty humps are useful if no food or water is available, as fat can be broken down into water and energy.
5 “Saving Mr. Banks” actress Thompson : EMMA
Emma Thompson is one of my favorite English actresses, and someone who has appeared in many of my favorite films. She probably first came to attention in the US when she won an Oscar for her role in “Howards End”, which she followed up with “Remains of the Day” and “In the Name of the Father”. Perhaps my favorite production of hers is her own adaptation of “Sense and Sensibility”, which won her Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actress. Emma Thompson went to Cambridge University and was good friends with a host of successful British actors and entertainers, including her ex-boyfriend Hugh Laurie who is famous in the US for playing the title role in television’s “House”.
“Saving Mr. Banks” is a fascinating 2013 biographical film about the development of the 1964 film “Mary Poppins”. The movie centers on the relationship between P. L. Travers, author of the “Mary Poppins” series of books, and film producer Walt Disney. The great cast is led by Emma Thompson as Travers, and Tom Hanks as Disney. The title is a reference to the father of the family for whom the character Mary Poppins works as a nanny.
14 Birthstone after sapphire : OPAL
Here is the “official” list of birthstones, by month, that we tend to use today:
- January: Garnet
- February: Amethyst
- March: Bloodstone or Aquamarine
- April: Diamond
- May: Emerald
- June: Pearl or Moonstone
- July: Ruby
- August: Sardonyx or Peridot
- September: Sapphire or Lapis Lazuli
- October: Opal or Pink Tourmaline
- November: Topaz or Citrine
- December: Turquoise or Zircon (also now, Tanzanite)
17 Texas Hold ’em, e.g. : POKER GAME
The official birthplace of the incredibly popular poker game of Texas hold ’em is Robstown, Texas where the game dates back to the early 1900s. The game was introduced into Las Vegas in 1967 by a group of Texan enthusiasts including Doyle Brunson, a champion often seen playing on TV today. Doyle Brunson published a poker strategy guide in 1978, and this really helped increase the popularity of the game. But it was the inclusion of Texas hold ‘em in the television lineup that really gave the game its explosive surge in popularity, with the size of the prize money just skyrocketing.
19 “__ Meenie”: Kingston/Bieber song : EENIE
“Eenie Meenie” is a 2010 song by Sean Kingston and Justin Bieber. Nope, never heard it …
20 Annual honorees in chemistry, physics, economics, etc. : NOBEL LAUREATES (giving “bell pepper”)
The Peace Prize is the most famous of the five prizes bequeathed by Alfred Nobel. The others are for Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Literature. There is also a Nobel Prize in Economics that is awarded along with the original five, but it is funded separately and is awarded “in memory of Alfred Nobel”. Four of the prizes are awarded by Swedish organizations (Alfred Nobel was a Swede) and so the award ceremonies take place in Stockholm. The Peace Prize is awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, and is presented in Oslo.
To be “laureate” is to be “crowned with laurels”. In ancient Greece, poets and heroes were honored with a crown or wreath made from laurels.
Bell peppers are pepper cultivars that are relatively mild in taste, and so are sometimes referred to as “sweet” peppers. Bell pepper cultivars originated in Hungary, in the 1920s.
22 “One Night in Miami” actor Goree : ELI
Actor Eli Goree is from Halifax, Nova Scotia. He started his acting career at only six years of age, when he appeared in “Sesame Park”, the Canadian version of the children’s show “Sesame Street”.
“One Night in Miami…” is a 2020 movie written by Kemp Powers that is based on his own 2013 stage play of the same name. The “Night” referred to in the title is a reference to a real meeting that took place in February of 1964 to celebrate the victory of Muhammad Ali (then “Cassius Clay”) over Sonny Liston. The attendees were Muhammad Ali (played by Eli Goree), Malcolm X (played by Kingsley Ben-Adir), Jim Brown (played by Aldis Hodge) and Sam Cooke (played by Leslie Odom Jr.). I haven’t seen this one yet, but I hear really good things about it …
27 Doctrine suffix : -ISM
A doctrine is a body of principles in a particular religion or field of knowledge. The term “doctrine” comes from the medieval Latin “doctor” meaning “teacher”.
33 Military division : BRANCH OF SERVICE (giving “ancho pepper”)
An ancho is a dried poblano pepper used in Mexican cuisine. The poblano is a mild chili.
39 Bowler’s target : PIN
In ten-pin bowling, the pins are arranged in a triangular arrangement. The pin at the front is the 1-pin. The pins at the back are number 7 through 10, from left to right.
40 Online auction giant : EBAY
There have been some notable things sold on eBay over the years. For example:
- Ad space on a guy’s forehead, in the form of a temporary tattoo – $37,375
- William Shatner’s kidney stone – $25,000
- A cornflake shaped like Illinois – $1,350
- A single corn flake – $1.63
- A box of 10 Twinkies – $59.99
- The original Hollywood sign – $450,400
- The meaning of life – $3.26
41 WordPress, for one : BLOG HOSTING SITE (giving “ghost pepper”)
At its heart, WordPress is a blog-publishing system. And, that’s what I use to manage the content for this blog …
48 Animal in some fables : ASS
Aesop used an ass in at least four of his fables:
- The Ass and his Masters
- The Ass and the Pig
- The Ass Carrying an Image
- The Ass in the Lion’s Skin
49 Fibs : LIES
To fib is to tell a lie. The verb “to fib” likely comes from “fibble-fable” meaning “nonsense”, with “fibble-fable” coming from “fable”.
52 Dot on a domino : PIP
A pip is a dot on a die or a domino, or a mark on a playing card.
White masks with black spots were commonly seen in the old Venetian Carnival. The masks were known as “domini”. The domini loaned their name to the game of dominoes, due to the similarity in appearance between the mask and a domino tile.White masks with black spots were commonly seen in the old Venetian Carnival. The masks were known as “domini”. The domini loaned their name to the game of dominoes, due to the similarity in appearance between the mask and a domino tile.
61 Tim who was the first sophomore to win a Heisman : TEBOW
Tim Tebow is a former quarterback who played mainly for the Denver Broncos and New York Jets. His relatively short professional career followed a very successful college career during which he became the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy. Tebow often gets down on one knee on the field to make a short prayer, a practice that has been dubbed “tebowing”.
The Heisman Trophy is awarded to the most outstanding college football player each season. The trophy was first awarded in 1935, and the following year was given the name Heisman after the death of John Heisman, a noted college football player and football director.
64 NBA venue : ARENA
Our term “arena” comes from the Latin “harena”, a place of combat. Originally “harena” was used to describe sand or a sandy place. Those Ancient Roman places of combat were covered with sand to soak up blood.
65 Southernmost Great Lake : ERIE
Lake Erie is the fourth-largest of the five Great Lakes by area (Lake Ontario is the smallest). The lake takes its name from the Erie tribe of Native Americans that used to live along its southern shore. Erie is the smallest of the Great Lakes by volume and the shallowest, something for which nearby residents must be quite grateful. Being relatively shallow, much of Erie freezes over part way through most winters putting an end to most of the lake-effect snow that falls in the snow belt extending from the lake’s edge.
66 Music genre of the boy band BTS : K-POP
K-pop (Korean pop) is a genre of music from South Korea that emerged in the early nineties.
BTS is a boy band from South Korea with seven members. The initialism “BTS” stands for the phrase “Bangtan Sonyeondan”, which translates literally as “Bulletproof Boy Scouts”. BTS is the best-selling musical act in the history of South Korea.
69 Conifers with pliable wood : YEWS
Yew is the wood of choice for the longbow, a valued weapon in the history of England. The longbow is constructed with a core of yew heartwood (as the heartwood resists compression) that has a sheath of yew sapwood (as the sapwood resists stretching). The yew was in such demand for longbows that for centuries yew trees were in short supply in Britain and the wood had to be imported from all over Europe.
Down
3 Powerful shark : MAKO
The shortfin mako shark can appear on restaurant menus, and as a result the species is dying out in some parts of the world. The mako gets its own back sometimes though, as attacks on humans are not unknown. It is the fastest-swimming shark, and has been clocked at speeds of over 40 miles/hour. And the shark in Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea”, that’s a mako. “Mako” is the Maori word for “shark” or “shark tooth”.
4 West Point cadet : PLEBE
A plebe is a freshman in the US military and naval academies. The term “plebe” is probably short for “plebeian”, the name given to someone of the common class in ancient Rome (as opposed to a Patrician). “Pleb” is a shortened version of “plebeian”, and is a term used outside of the military schools.
West Point is a military reservation in New York State, located north of New York City. West Point was first occupied by the Continental Army way back in 1778, making it the longest, continually-occupied military post in the country. Cadet training has taken place at the garrison since 1794, although Congress funding for a US Military Academy (USMA) didn’t start until 1802. The first female cadets were admitted to West Point in 1976, and as of 2018, about 15% of all new cadets were women.
6 Lunch or brunch : MEAL
“Lunch” is an abbreviated form of “luncheon”, but the exact etymology of “luncheon” seems unclear. That said, back in the 1650s, a luncheon was a light snack eaten between regular mealtimes, as opposed to a regular midday repast.
Our word “brunch” is a portmanteau of “breakfast” and “lunch”. The term was coined as student slang in Oxford, England in the late 1890s. However, “brunch” described a combined meal closer to the breakfast hour, and the term “blunch” was used for a meal closer to lunchtime.
7 Two of the “California Dreamin'” quartet : MAMAS
The folk group called the Magic Circle renamed itself to the Mamas and the Papas in the early sixties. Sadly, the Mamas and the Papas weren’t a happy bunch, always fighting over who was getting credit for songs and whose voice was getting mixed out of recordings, so they split up, twice. While they were together though, they wrote and recorded some great songs, songs which really do epitomize the sound of the sixties. “Monday, Monday” was written by John Phillips, one of “the Papas”, and it was to become the only number one hit for the group. Here’s a shocker … when it hit number one in 1966, it was the first time that a group made up of both sexes topped the American charts!
“California Dreamin’” was first recorded by singer Barry McGuire, with backing vocals sung by a folk group called the New Journeymen. The New Journeymen evolved into the Mamas and the Papas, who then recorded their own hit version of “California Dreamin’” in 1965, using the original vocal backing track.
9 Woofer’s counterpart : TWEETER
In a sound system, a speaker that is designed to produce high frequencies is known as a “tweeter”. A speaker made for low frequencies is called a “woofer”. The aforementioned terms come from the fact that birds migh high-pitched “tweets”, and dogs make low-pitched “woofs”.
10 “Better Call Saul” Emmy nominee Seehorn : RHEA
Rhea Seehorn is an actress best known for playing lawyer Kim Wexler in the TV crime drama “Better Call Saul”.
“Better Call Saul” is a spin-off drama series from the hit show “Breaking Bad”. The main character is small-time lawyer Saul Goodman, played by Bob Odenkirk, who featured in the original series. “Better Call Saul” is set six years before Goodman makes an appearance in the “Breaking Bad” storyline. The lawyer’s real name is James Morgan McGill, and his pseudonym is a play on the words “S’all good, man!”
12 Ballet bend : PLIE
The French word for “bent” is “plié”. In the ballet move known as a plié, the knees are bent. A “demi-plié” is a similar move, but with less bending of the knees. A fondu is similar to a plié, except that only one leg remains on the ground.
18 Archaeological artifact : RELIC
A relic is something that has survived from the past, reminding us of that past.
24 Bygone NYC punk club : CBGB
The music club known as CBGB opened in 1973 intending to feature country, bluegrass and blues music (hence the name “CBGB”, Country, BlueGrass and Blues). The club developed an association in the eighties with New York’s underground hardcore punk music.
25 Exams for Ph.D. candidates : ORALS
“Ph.D.” is an abbreviation for “philosophiae doctor”, Latin for “teacher of philosophy”. Often, candidates for a PhD already hold a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, so a PhD might be considered a “third degree”.
26 “The Jungle Book” bear : BALOO
“The Jungle Book” by Rudyard Kipling was originally published in 1894, and is a collection of adventure stories or fables featuring the animals of the jungle and a young boy named Mowgli. Baloo is a sloth bear that teaches the cubs of a wolf pack the Law of the Jungle. Baloo’s most challenging pupil however is no lupine, but rather the man-cub Mowgli.
31 Fibula neighbor : TIBIA
The tibia is the shinbone, and is the larger of the two bones right below the knee. It is the strongest weight-bearing bone in the human body. “Tibia” is the Roman name for a Greek flute and it is thought that the shinbone was given the same name because flutes were often fashioned out of the shinbones of animals.
The fibula is the calf bone. The fibula lies beside the tibia, with both bones sitting under the femur.
32 Improvises vocally : SCATS
Scat singing is a vocal improvisation found in the world of jazz. There aren’t any words as such in scat singing, just random nonsense syllables made up on the spot.
34 Badgers constantly : NAGS
To badger is to harass. The verb “to badger” comes from the cruel practice of badger-baiting, which dates back to medieval times. Badger-baiting is a blood sport in which a dog is used as bait for a badger in its den, to draw it out into the open. The den is an artificial structure built to resemble a natural badgers’ den, complete with a tunnel entrance. The dog is sent down the tunnel causing the badger and dog to lock their jaws on each other. The badger and dog are then removed from the den by pulling on the dog’s tail. Horrible …
43 “Garfield” dog : ODIE
Jon Arbuckle is a fictional character, and the owner of Odie from Jim Davis’s comic strip “Garfield”. Garfield is Arbuckle’s orange tabby cat. Odie is his less-than-smart beagle.
44 Diapers, in Britain : NAPPIES
“Diaper” is another word that I had to learn when I moved to America. What are called “diapers” over here, we call “nappies” back in Ireland. The term “diaper” is actually the original term that was used in England for the garment, where “diaper” referred to the cloth that was used. The term “diaper” was brought to the New World where it stuck. Back in Britain, “diaper” was displaced by the word “nappy”, a diminutive of “napkin”.
51 Fern seed : SPORE
Ferns are unlike mosses in that they have xylem and phloem, making them vascular plants. They also have stems, leaves and roots, but they do not have seeds and flowers, and reproduce using spores. Spores differ from seeds in that they have very little stored food.
54 Bit of sports trivia, for short : STAT
Trivia are things of little consequence. “Trivia” is the plural of the Latin word “trivium” which means “a place where three roads meet”. Now that’s what I call a trivial fact …
55 Hard drive capacity prefix : TERA-
The prefix “tera-” signifies a trillion, and comes from the Greek word “teras” meaning “monster”.
56 Ridesharing rival of Lyft : UBER
The rideshare service Uber takes its name from the English colloquial word “uber” meaning “super, topmost”, which in turn comes from the German “über” meaning “above”.
63 Navigation tech : GPS
A global positioning system (GPS) is known as a satellite navigation system (Sat Nav) in Britain and Ireland.
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Camel feature : HUMP
5 “Saving Mr. Banks” actress Thompson : EMMA
9 Snares : TRAPS
14 Birthstone after sapphire : OPAL
15 Without rocks, in a bar : NEAT
16 During : WHILE
17 Texas Hold ’em, e.g. : POKER GAME
19 “__ Meenie”: Kingston/Bieber song : EENIE
20 Annual honorees in chemistry, physics, economics, etc. : NOBEL LAUREATES (giving “bell pepper”)
22 “One Night in Miami” actor Goree : ELI
23 Notice : SPOT
24 Corn discard : COB
27 Doctrine suffix : -ISM
29 Red root vegetables : BEETS
33 Military division : BRANCH OF SERVICE (giving “ancho pepper”)
38 Lavish party : GALA
39 Bowler’s target : PIN
40 Online auction giant : EBAY
41 WordPress, for one : BLOG HOSTING SITE (giving “ghost pepper”)
46 “That’s unfortunate” : SO SAD
47 __ for the course : PAR
48 Animal in some fables : ASS
49 Fibs : LIES
52 Dot on a domino : PIP
54 Tex-Mex fare found with increasing spiciness in this puzzle’s circled letters? : STUFFED PEPPERS
61 Tim who was the first sophomore to win a Heisman : TEBOW
62 Vanish : GO MISSING
64 NBA venue : ARENA
65 Southernmost Great Lake : ERIE
66 Music genre of the boy band BTS : K-POP
67 Late : TARDY
68 Adjusts, as a clock : SETS
69 Conifers with pliable wood : YEWS
Down
1 Jump on one foot : HOP
2 “__ further reflection … ” : UPON
3 Powerful shark : MAKO
4 West Point cadet : PLEBE
5 School subject with lots of reading : ENGLISH
6 Lunch or brunch : MEAL
7 Two of the “California Dreamin'” quartet : MAMAS
8 Totally believed : ATE UP
9 Woofer’s counterpart : TWEETER
10 “Better Call Saul” Emmy nominee Seehorn : RHEA
11 “You __ seen nothin’ yet” : AIN’T
12 Ballet bend : PLIE
13 Recognizes : SEES
18 Archaeological artifact : RELIC
21 Post-shower wrap : ROBE
24 Bygone NYC punk club : CBGB
25 Exams for Ph.D. candidates : ORALS
26 “The Jungle Book” bear : BALOO
28 Deck-swabbing tools : MOPS
30 Nights before special days : EVES
31 Fibula neighbor : TIBIA
32 Improvises vocally : SCATS
34 Badgers constantly : NAGS
35 In shape : FIT
36 Small cut : SNIP
37 Peepers : EYES
42 In the middle : HALFWAY
43 “Garfield” dog : ODIE
44 Diapers, in Britain : NAPPIES
45 Holds tight : GRIPS
50 Barely beats (out) : EDGES
51 Fern seed : SPORE
53 Hard to get rid of : PESKY
54 Bit of sports trivia, for short : STAT
55 Hard drive capacity prefix : TERA-
56 Ridesharing rival of Lyft : UBER
57 Sweet on, with “of” : FOND …
58 Give off : EMIT
59 Ready to eat : RIPE
60 Winter forecast : SNOW
63 Navigation tech : GPS
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