Tag: Down for drama crossword clue

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Constructed by: Kyle Dolan

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: None

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… a complete list of answers

Bill’s time: 13m 46s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

10A NYC venue whose final show featured Patti Smith : 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.

Patti Smith is a singer-songwriter who was a big player in the seventies punk rock movement in New York City. Smith’s most successful song is “Because the Night”, a song co-written with Bruce Springsteen and recorded by Smith in 1978. Her influence in the punk rock scene earned Smith the nickname “Godmother of Punk”.

16A Willie who broke the NHL’s color barrier : O’REE

Former hockey player Willie O’Ree broke the NHL’s color barrier in 1958, while playing for the Boston Bruins. As a result, he is sometimes referred to as the “Jackie Robinson of hockey”. He played 45 games in the NHL and had a professional career spanning over two decades despite being blind in one eye, a secret he kept from the league to avoid being disqualified.

17A Forest formations with mythological associations : FAIRY RINGS

Fairy rings are naturally occurring circles of mushrooms that emerge from a single, expanding underground fungal colony called a mycelium. As this colony consumes nutrients and grows outward, it pushes the visible fruiting bodies (the stems and caps) into an ever-widening perimeter. One massive fairy ring is located near Belfort in France, and it spans nearly 2,000 feet in diameter and has been continuously expanding for an estimated 700 years.

20A Group in Mercury’s orbit? : QUEEN

Queen is an English rock band that formed back in 1970. With the help of lead singer Freddie Mercury (now deceased), Queen has a long list of great hits, including “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions”. “Bohemian Rhapsody” spent a total of nine weeks at number one in the UK. “Bohemian Rhapsody” is also the title of an outstanding 2018 biographical film about the band.

28A Down for drama? : FOURTH

That would be football.

30A Chrysler that won the 1978 Motor Trend Car of the Year Award : DODGE OMNI

The Dodge Omni is basically the same car as the Plymouth Horizon, and was produced by Chrysler from 1978-90. The Omni is a front-wheel drive hatchback, the first in a long line of front-wheel drive cars that were very successful for Chrysler. The Omni was actually developed in France, by Chrysler’s Simca division.

34A Offline : IRL

In real life (IRL)

36A Feature of HAL 9000 in “2001: A Space Odyssey” : SENTIENCE

In Arthur C. Clarke’s “Space Odyssey” (famously adapted for the big screen as “2001: A Space Odyssey”) the computer system that went rogue was called HAL 9000, or simply “HAL”. HAL stands for “Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer”. Even though Clarke denied it, there’s a good argument that can be made that the acronym HAL is a veiled reference to IBM, the big player in the world of computing at the time of the novel’s publication (1968). The acronym HAL is just a one-letter shift from the initials “IBM”.

38A Nephric : RENAL

The kidneys have several functions in the body, including the removal of toxins from the blood. This function is carried out by nephrons, the main structural units in the kidneys. Each human kidney comprises about a million nephrons.

39A Coin bearing a bear : TOONIE

“Toonie” is the familiar name for a two-dollar coin in Canada. It was introduced in 1996, and gets its familiar name from the one-dollar coin known as a “loonie”.

40A Bear claw, e.g. : PASTRY

A bear claw is a sweet, almond-filled pastry with a shape that is said to resemble the outstretched toes of a grizzly bear.

46A Mercury, for one : GOD

Mercury was a Roman god called “the messenger”, and the god of trade. Mercury’s name comes from the Latin word “merx” meaning merchandise (and therefore has the same roots as “merchant” and “commerce”).

52A Some Indigenous Canadians : INNU

The Innu are a First Nations people who are the original inhabitants of Labrador, in northeastern Canada. They are historically nomadic hunters and gatherers, with a deep cultural connection to the land and its resources.

53A Clue in evolutionary history : MARKER GENE

A marker gene is a specific, identifiable DNA sequence with a known physical location on a chromosome that researchers use to trace lineage and evolutionary relationships. By observing how these genetic reference points mutate or remain conserved across millions of years, scientists can accurately map the evolution of life on Earth.

56A Maker of the One SL speaker : SONOS

Sonos is a manufacturer of audio products, mainly of speakers and amplifiers. Founded in 2002, Sonos differentiates itself from other suppliers of similar items by focusing on multi-room applications and compatibility with voice assistants, i.e. Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri.

Down

1D __ Romeo : ALFA

The “Alfa” in “Alfa Romeo” is actually an acronym, one standing for Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili (“Lombard Automobile Factory, Public Company”). ALFA was an enterprise founded in 1910 and which was taken over by Nicola Romeo in 1915. In 1920 the company name was changed to Alfa Romeo.

2D Filmmaker Johnson : RIAN

Filmmaker Rian Johnson wrote and directed quite a few major films, including “Looper” (2012), “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” (2017), as well as the highly successful “Knives Out” franchise that he wrote and directed.

3D Poet frequently referenced in “Don Quixote” : OVID

For some reason, the Roman poet Ovid fell into disfavor with Emperor Augustus. As a result, Ovid was banished to the island of Tomis in the Black Sea, where he spent the last years of his life. While in exile, Ovid wrote a large collection of poetic letters known as the “Tristia” (also “Sorrows” or “Lamentations”). In the work, Ovid is basically lamenting his situation in exile.

The full name of Cervantes’s novel is “The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha”. In the story, Don Quixote is a retired country gentleman who heads out as a knight-errant and who renames himself Don Quixote of La Mancha. In his mind he designates a neighboring farm girl called Aldonza Lorenzo as his lady love, and renames her Dulcinea del Toboso.

4D Bygone orbiter : MIR

Russia’s Mir space station was a remarkably successful project. It held the record for the longest continuous human presence in space at just under 10 years, until the International Space Station eclipsed that record in 2010. Towards the end of the space station’s life however, the years began to take their toll. There was a dangerous fire, multiple system failures, and a collision with a resupply ship. The Russian commitment to the International Space Station drained funds for repairs, so Mir was allowed to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere and burn up in 2001. “Mir” is a Russian word meaning “peace” or “world”.

7D Curse : BANE

Today, we tend to use the word “bane” to mean “anathema, source of persistent annoyance”. A few centuries ago, a bane was a cause of harm or death, perhaps a deadly poison.

8D Spaetzle, e.g. : EGG NOODLE

Spätzle is a very tasty egg pasta from German cuisine that is particularly prevalent in the Swabian region of southwestern Germany.

13D Kalshi actions : BETS

Kalshi is a New York-based financial exchange dedicated entirely to event contracts, allowing users to trade directly on the outcomes of future real-world events. The platform was founded by two MIT graduates in 2018, and mainly caters to individuals betting on sports. The name “Kalshi” translates to “Everything” in Arabic, reflecting the original vision that users could buy “Yes” or “No” contracts on everything from daily climate data and moon landings to the passage of congressional legislation.

15D Some bait : GRUBS

The larvae of stag beetles are commonly known as grubs. “Grub” is also slang for “food”. The word “grub” has been used in this sense since way back in the 1600s, and is possibly derived from birds eating grubs.

21D Party poppers : FIRECRACKERS

A firecracker is a noisemaker usually comprising a small amount of explosive in a paper tube with a fuse. Prior to the invention of fireworks in China, the equivalent of firecrackers were made by exposing bamboo to continuous heat, until it exploded with a loud crack. Indeed, the Chinese name for gunpowder firecrackers translates literally as “exploding bamboo”, a reference to the older devices.

26D Peut-__: French “perhaps” : ETRE

“Peut-être” is French for “maybe, perhaps”. A literal translation into English might be “it is able to be”.

27D Animated superhero series featuring the voice of Tara Strong : TEEN TITANS

“Teen Titans” is an animated superhero television series that aired on Cartoon Network from 2003 to 2006. It follows the adventures of a team of young superheroes, Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy, as they protect Jump City from various villains.

Actress Tara Strong is perhaps best known for her voice work. The list of her voice roles includes Dil Pickles on the TV series “Rugrats”.

28D Word in Beaufort readings : FORCE

The Beaufort wind scale is named after Irishman Sir Francis Beaufort, a Rear-Admiral in the Royal Navy. Beaufort was a hydrographer as well as a career navy man.

37D Producer on seven U2 albums : ENO

Brian Eno is a musician, composer and record producer from England who first achieved fame as the synthesizer player with Roxy Music. As a producer, Eno has worked with David Bowie, Devo, Talking Heads and U2.

41D Italian home of the world’s oldest bank : SIENA

The world’s oldest surviving bank is Italy’s Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena. It was founded in Siena in 1472 as a mount of piety, a charitable institution that gave small loans to people in need. The loans were secured by pawned items, and the interest charged was either very low or nonexistent. I wonder if those norms still apply …?

42D Coat put on in the kitchen? : PANKO

Panko is a breadcrumb used in some Japanese cuisine, primarily as a crunchy coating for fried foods.

43D Verb in a polenta recipe : STIR

Polenta is a porridge made from finely ground corn. The term “polenta” is Italian in origin.

46D Longtime “PBS News Hour” anchor Ifill : GWEN

Gwen Ifill was a television journalist who was regularly seen on PBS’s “Newshour”. Ifill was also the moderator on the weekly PBS show “Washington Week”, and was also selected to moderate the US Vice Presidential debates in 2004 and 2008.

50D Letters expressing personal thoughts : IMO

In my opinion (IMO)