Tag: Dorky one crossword clue

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Constructed by: Michael Hobin

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: The Right Stuff

Themed answers end with (have on the RIGHT) a synonym of the verb “STUFF”:

• 35A Tom Wolfe book about Project Mercury, or an apt description of the ends of 16-, 24-, 47-, and 56-Across : THE RIGHT STUFF

• 16A Citrus garnish for many a cocktail : LEMON WEDGE
• 24A Driver’s rush-hour headache : TRAFFIC JAM
• 47A Budget chain owned by Choice Hotels : ECONO LODGE
• 56A Average guy : JOE SIX-PACK

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

Bill’s time: 4m 52s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5A Blue-green hue used in color printing : CYAN

“Cyan” is short for “cyan blue”. The term comes from the Greek word “kyanos” meaning “dark blue, the color of lapis lazuli”.

Four-color printing uses four different color inks: cyan, magenta, yellow and black. The black ink is also known as the “key”. The first letters of the colors (with black being ‘key’) give the more common name for four-color printing, namely CMYK.

12A __ committee : AD HOC

The Latin phrase “ad hoc” means “for this purpose”. An ad hoc committee, for example, is formed for a specific purpose and disbanded after making its final report.

14A Volcano’s output : LAVA

Lava is a phenomenon that results from the eruption of magma from a volcano. Depending on the type of lava and the volcano it comes from, lava can reach temperatures of up to 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit (1,200 degrees Celsius).

21A “SportsCenter” network : ESPN

“SportsCenter” is the flagship program of the ESPN television network, and has been on the air since 1979. Original versions of “SportsCenter” appear multiple times during the day, so that there have been over 50,000 episodes broadcast to date, more than any other show on US television.

35A Tom Wolfe book about Project Mercury, or an apt description of the ends of 16-, 24-, 47-, and 56-Across : THE RIGHT STUFF

The 1983 movie “The Right Stuff” was adapted from a 1979 book of the same name by Tom Wolfe. It tells the story of the group of test pilots who were selected as the first astronauts, those who flew in space in the Project Mercury program.

American author Tom Wolfe started his career as a journalist, and was very much at the center of the New Journalism literary movement of the sixties and seventies. His first book of note was “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test” that tells the story of Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters. Wolfe also wrote “The Right Stuff” about the post-war test pilots and the Project Mercury astronauts.

39A Moves like a crab : SIDLES

Crabs really do range in size from species to species. At the smaller end of the spectrum, there are pea crabs, some of which are only a few millimeters across, and often living symbiotically within the shells of mollusks. On the other hand, the Japanese spider crab is the largest species, with a leg span that can exceed 12 feet.

45A Scooby-__ : DOO

“Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!” is a series of cartoons produced for Hanna-Barbera Productions, first broadcast in 1969. The title character is a Great Dane dog befriended by a young male called Shaggy Rogers. The character’s name was inspired by the famous “doo-be-doo-be-doo” refrain in the Frank Sinatra hit “Strangers in the Night”. Shaggy was voiced by famed disk jockey Casey Kasem. Shaggy and Scooby’s friends are Velma, Fred and Daphne.

46A Fast-casual bakery franchise : PANERA

Panera Bread is a chain of bakery/coffeehouses. A Panera restaurant is a good place to get online while having a cup of coffee. Back in 2006 and 2007, Panera was the largest provider of free Wi-Fi access in the whole of the US.

47A Budget chain owned by Choice Hotels : ECONO LODGE

Econo Lodge is a low-cost hotel chain in the Choice Hotels portfolio of brands. The chain started in 1969 as Econo-Travel, and demonstrated pretty quickly that budget-hotels were a good idea. The first hotel was built in Norfolk, Virginia and it started making money three weeks after welcoming its first guests.

52A West Point student : CADET

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.

56A Average guy : JOE SIX-PACK

“Joe Six-Pack” has been a term used to describe “the average Joe”, the man in the street, since the mid-seventies. The idea is that the ordinary Joe supposedly loves his six-pack of beer.

62A Fencing sword : EPEE

Among the three Olympic fencing disciplines, épée is generally considered the slowest. This is primarily because it lacks “right-of-way” rules, meaning both fencers can score if they hit simultaneously, which encourages a more cautious and defensive style. Additionally, the entire body is a valid target area in épée, requiring fencers to be more strategic and wait for clear openings rather than engaging in rapid, aggressive exchanges.

63A Familiar theme : TROPE

A trope is a figure of speech. The term “trope” comes from the Greek word “tropos” that has the same meaning. The term has evolved in meaning to also describe a common or overused device or theme.

64A Oft-redacted ID : SSN

Social Security Number (SSN)

65A Pen points : NIBS

The fountain pen is the successor to the dip pen. Both pens have a nib, but the fountain pen has its own internal reservoir of ink that flows to the nib as required.

66A Moisturizer brand : OLAY

Oil of Olay was developed in South Africa in 1952. When Oil of Olay was introduced internationally, it was given slightly different brand names designed to appeal in the different geographies. In Ireland we know it as Oil of Ulay, for example, and in France it is Oil of Olaz.

Down

1D Actor Holbrook : HAL

Hal Holbrook was an actor from Cleveland, Ohio. Although Holbrook was well known for many roles on the big and small screens, he is best known for a series of plays that he developed called “Mark Twain Tonight!”. Holbrook depicted Twain on stage giving recitations from several of Twain’s writings, varying the script for each performance. “Mark Twain Tonight!” was first performed in 1959, and Holbrook last portrayed Twain in the work in 2017, just before he retired at the age of 92. With well over 2,000 appearances in 58 years, Holbrook portrayed Twain longer than Samuel Langhorne Clemens himself.

3D Unit of resistance : OHM

The unit of electrical resistance is the ohm (with the symbol omega) named after German physicist Georg Simon Ohm. Ohm was the guy who established experimentally that the amount of current flowing through a circuit is directly proportional to the voltage applied (V=IR), a relationship that every school kid knows as Ohm’s Law.

7D The “A” of GPA: Abbr. : AVG

Grade point average (GPA)

9D Crumbly Mexican cheese : COTIJA

Cotija is a salty and milky cheese named for the Mexican town of Cotija from where it originated.

10D Nike rival : ADIDAS

The Adidas brand dates back to when Adolf “Adi” Dassler started making his own sports shoes in his mother’s laundry room in Bavaria after returning from WWI. With his brother, Adi founded Dassler shoes. The company’s big break came in 1936 at the Berlin Olympics, when Adi persuaded American sprinter Jesse Owens to use his shoes, and with the success of Jesse Owens came success for the fledgling shoe company. After WWII the brothers split, acrimoniously. Adi’s brother, Ru-dolf Da-ssler, formed “Ruda” shoes (later to become Puma), and Adi Das-sler formed “Adidas”.

11D Sacred tribal carvings : TOTEMS

“Totem” is a word used to describe any entity that watches over a group of people. As such, totems are usually the subjects of worship. Totem poles are really misnamed, as they are not intended to represent figures to be worshiped, but rather are heraldic in nature, and often celebrating the legends or notable events in the history of a tribe.

13D “Erin Burnett OutFront” channel : CNN

News anchor Erin Burnett began her professional career working as an analyst with Goldman Sachs. She transitioned into financial journalism by joining CNBC, where she co-hosted “Squawk on the Street” and anchored “Street Signs”. She moved into mainstream cable news in 2011, headlining her own prime-time news program on CNN: “Erin Burnett OutFront”.

20D Enjoys gossip without adding to it, in slang : SIPS TEA

To spill the tea is to divulge a secret, to share scandalous news. On the other hand, sipping the tea is to quietly absorb the drama without actively participating or contributing to the mess.

21D “C’__ la vie!” : EST

“C’est la vie” is French for “that’s life”.

28D August birthstone : PERIDOT

Olivine is a relatively common mineral, but is rarely found with purity that is sufficient for use as a gemstone. When the olivine is pure enough to be used as a gem, it is called “peridot”. Peridot is always olive green in color, with its color intensity a function of how much iron is in the stone.

32D Shelter made of compressed snow : IGLOO

The Inuit word for “house” is “iglu”, which we usually write as “igloo”. The Greenlandic (yes, that’s a language) word for “house” is very similar, namely “igdlo”. The walls of igloos are tremendous insulators, due to the air pockets in the blocks of snow.

33D “Weekend Update” comic Michael : CHE

Michael Che is a standup comedian from New York City. Che had worked as a writer for “Saturday Night Live” (SNL), and then started to appear in front of SNL cameras in September 2014. He became co-anchor for the “Weekend Update” segment of the show, alongside Colin Jost. They make such a great team …

37D Mister Rogers : FRED

Fred Rogers, host of the pre-school TV show “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”, was an ordained Presbyterian minister. He viewed the program as a broadcast ministry rather than mere entertainment. Rogers’ story is told in the 2019 film “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”, with Tom Hanks portraying the broadcaster. Coincidentally, Hanks and Rogers were sixth cousins.

38D Golfer’s warning shout : FORE!

No one seems to know for sure where the golfing term “fore!” comes from. It has been used at least as far back as 1881, and since then has been called out to warn other golfers that a wayward ball might be heading their way. My favorite possibility for its origin is that it is a contraction of the Gaelic warning cry “Faugh a Ballagh!” (clear the way!) which is still called out in the sport of road bowling. Road bowling is an Irish game where players bowl balls along roads between villages, trying to reach the end of the course in as few bowls as possible, just like in golf!

43D Son of Daedalus : ICARUS

Daedalus was a master craftsman of Greek mythology who was tasked with creating the Labyrinth on the island of Crete that was to house the Minotaur. After the Labyrinth was completed, King Minos imprisoned Daedalus and his son Icarus in a tower, so that he could not spread word of his work. Daedalus fabricated wings so that he and Icarus could escape by flying off the island. Despite being warned by his father, Icarus flew too close to the sun so that the wax holding the wings’ feathers in place melted. Icarus drowned in the sea, and Daedalus escaped.

49D Dorky one : DWEEB

“Dweeb” is relatively recent American slang that came out of college life in the late sixties. Dweeb, squarepants, nerd; they’re all not-nice terms that mean the same thing, i.e. someone excessively studious and socially inept.

56D MS NOW’s “The Briefing With __ Psaki” : JEN

The very able Jen Psaki served as the first White House press secretary for the Biden administration. During the Obama administration, she held several positions including White House deputy secretary and spokesperson for the Department of State. After leaving the White House, Psaki started to carve out a new career as TV pundit and began hosting her own MSNBC talk show in 2023.

57D Nail polish brand : OPI

OPI (originally “Odontorium Products Inc.”) is a manufacturer of nail polish based in North Hollywood, California. One of OPI’s marketing coups was the introduction of a line of Legally Blonde 2 polishes, which featured in the film. OPI also launched a collection of nail lacquers inspired by the hit Broadway musical “Wicked” in celebration of its 10th anniversary on Broadway.

59D Fig. figuring figures : CPA

Certified public accountant (CPA)

60D __ lime pie : KEY

The species of citrus fruit called Key lime is so named due to its association with the Florida Keys.