Tag: Egg in diner slang crossword clue

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Constructed by: Robin Stears
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Chucklehead

The HEAD of each themed answer is a synonym of “CHUCKLE”:

• 59A Bozo, and a feature of 17-, 28-, and 46-Across : CHUCKLEHEAD

• 17A Canned responses featured on many classic sitcoms : LAUGH TRACKS
• 28A Alcohol, in 1920s speakeasy slang : GIGGLE WATER
• 46A Egg, in diner slang : CACKLE BERRY

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

Bill’s time: 6m 18s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

14 Actress Petty : LORI

Lori Petty is the actress who played the character Kit Keller in the fabulous movie “A League of Their Own”. Petty also played the title role in a 1995 science fiction film called “Tank Girl”.

15 Saint of Ávila : TERESA

St. Teresa of Ávila (also known as St. Teresa of Jesus) was a Carmelite nun living in Spain in the 1500s. She is particularly noted for her writings on Christian meditation and mental prayer.

17 Canned responses featured on many classic sitcoms : LAUGH TRACKS

A laugh track is a separate soundtrack containing audience laughter that is added to a recorded comedy performance. Personally, I can’t stand hearing an “obvious” laugh track, but tests consistently demonstrate that shows broadcast with a laugh track fare better than shows filmed without any audience reaction at all. Fortunately, comedy shows are now being recorded more and more without an audience, and without a laugh track. Great examples are “The Middle”, “Modern Family”, “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation”.

20 Fix a sloppy cartographer’s work : REMAP

Cartography is the art of producing maps.

21 Generic painkiller : ASPIRIN

“Aspirin” used to be a brand name for the drug acetylsalicylic acid, which was introduced by the German drug company Bayer AG in the late 1800s. As part of the war reparations paid by Germany after WWI, Bayer AG lost the use of the trademark “Aspirin” (as well as the trademark “Heroin”!) and it became a generic term.

23 Fictional lion whose name is Turkish for “lion” : ASLAN

In the C. S. Lewis series of books known as “The Chronicles of Narnia”, Aslan is the lion character (as in the title “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”). “Aslan” is the Turkish word for “lion”. Anyone who has read the books will recognize the remarkable similarity between the story of Aslan and the story of Christ, including a sacrifice and resurrection.

24 Course for intl. students : ESL

English as a Second Language (ESL) is sometimes referred to as English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL).

26 Shape of a tornado : CONE

Funnel clouds are funnel-shaped clouds that drop down from the base of larger clouds, marking rotating columns of winds. When a funnel cloud touches the ground, it is referred to as a tornado.

27 Cowboys, on scoreboards : DAL

The Dallas Cowboys play in the National Football Conference (NFC) of the NFL. The Cowboys are famous for a lengthy streak of 20 consecutive winning seasons, from 1966 to 1985. They are the highest-valued sports franchise in the country. The only team in the world that’s worth more money is the UK’s Manchester United soccer team.

28 Alcohol, in 1920s speakeasy slang : GIGGLE WATER

A speakeasy is an establishment that sells alcoholic drinks illegally. Speakeasies were very big in the US in the days of Prohibition. The obvious etymology, of a speakeasy owner asking his or her customers to “speak easy” so as not to attract the attention of the authorities, is thought to have originated in 1888 in McKeesport just outside Pittsburgh.

39 Jackrabbits, e.g. : HARES

A jackrabbit is a large hare that is native to North America. The animal was given its name because of its relatively long ears, with the term being a melding of “jackass” and “rabbit”.

42 Milky gemstone : OPAL

An opal is often described as having a milky iridescence known as opalescence.

46 Egg, in diner slang : CACKLE BERRY

Diner lingo, the verbal slang used by the staff, can be very colorful. Here are a few examples:

• Adam & Eve on a raft: two poached eggs on toast
• Adam & Eve on a raft and wreck ’em: two scrambled eggs on toast
• Burn one: put a hamburger on the grill
• Burn one, take it through the garden and pin a rose on it: hamburger with lettuce, tomato and onion
• Down: on toast
• Whiskey down: on rye toast
• Cluck and grunt: ham and eggs

51 Stat that may increase with a homer : ERA

Earned run average (ERA)

52 Love, in Torino : AMORE

Turin (“Torino” in Italian) is a major city in the north of Italy that sits on the Po River. Back in 1861, when the Kingdom of Italy was formed, Turin was chosen as the first capital of the country.

57 Striped African antelope : ELAND

The eland (plural “eland, elands”) is a large African antelope, in fact the largest antelope on the planet. Both male and female eland have horns, and those horns have a steady spiral ridge along their length.

59 Bozo, and a feature of 17-, 28-, and 46-Across : CHUCKLEHEAD

The unsavory word “bozo” describes a person with a low IQ, and someone who is usually quite muscular. The term has been used since the early 1900s, and possibly comes from the Spanish “bozal” that was used to describe someone who spoke Spanish poorly.

67 __ rasa: blank slate : TABULA

Tabula rasa (plural “tabulae rasae”) is the idea that people are born with a “blank, clean slate”, and that knowledge comes from experience and perception. “Tabula rasa” translates literally from Latin as “scraped tablet”.

68 “Stay” singer Lisa : LOEB

“Stay (I Missed You)” is a 1994 song by singer-songwriter Lisa Loeb. It gained significant popularity after being featured in the 1994 film “Reality Bites,” starring Winona Ryder and Ethan Hawke.

Down

3 Villain de Vil of “101 Dalmatians” : CRUELLA

Cruella de Vil is the villain in the 1956 novel “The Hundred and One Dalmatians” written by Dodie Smith. Most famously perhaps, Cruella was played so ably by Glenn Close in the Disney movie adaption “101 Dalmatians”, released in 1996.

4 Greek letter on the AutoSum button in Excel : SIGMA

Sigma (Σ) is the eighteenth letter of the Greek alphabet, and is the one used for an “ess” sound, equivalent to our letter S. Sigma is used in mathematics to represent a summation, the adding together of a sequence of numbers.

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program included in the Microsoft Office suite of applications. Microsoft’s first spreadsheet program was introduced back in 1982 and called Multiplan. Multiplan’s popularity waned due to the success of the competing product Lotus 1-2-3. Microsoft then introduced Excel, initially just for the Macintosh. When Excel was extended to Windows, Lotus was slow to respond and Microsoft took over the market.

7 Pop star Rita : ORA

Rita Ora is a British singer who was born Rita Sahatçiu in Pristina, Yugoslavia to Albanian parents. The family name “Sahatçiu” comes from a Turkish word meaning “watchmaker”. Rita’s parents changed their name to make it easier to pronounce. So, the family name morphed from “watchmaker” to “time”, which is “ora” in Albanian.

9 Gives a proper “Jeopardy!” response : ASKS

The TV show “Jeopardy!” first went on the air in 1964, and is another successful Merv Griffin creation. But, it took the introduction of Alex Trebek as host in order to bring the show into the big times. Trebek was host from 1984 until his sad passing in 2020.

11 Colorful, chatty birds : PARROTS

Scientists tell us that parrots are some of the most intelligent species of birds. Many of those species are able to imitate the human voice. Such characteristics have led to parrots becoming popular house pets, and a resulting drop in populations of parrots living in the wild.

12 Company noob : TRAINEE

“Noob” (sometimes “newb” or “n00b”) is a not-so-nice, slang term for a “newbie”, and often refers to someone who is new to an online community.

23 Some Super Bowl highlights : ADS

The Super Bowl is used for high-profile advertising because of the high viewership numbers. For example, Super Bowl XLIX (2015) had an average audience of 114 million viewers, making it the most-watched American TV program in history.

24 Awards “quadruple crown” : EGOT

Emmy, Grammy, Oscar & Tony Awards (EGOT)

25 PD rank : SGT

One might encounter a sergeant (sgt.) in a police department (PD).

33 Spoke in a husky voice? : BARKED

The Siberian Husky is one of the oldest breeds of dog, and originated in northern Asia. Siberian Huskies were imported into Alaska in great numbers in the early 1900s for use as sled dogs during the gold rush.

37 “The Fresh Prince of __-Air” : BEL

“The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” sitcom originally ran from 1990 to 1996. It starred Will Smith as a teenager from Philadelphia who arrives in Bel Air to live in a mansion with his wealthy aunt and uncle.

39 Scrunchie, for one : HAIR TIE

When Rommy Wevson patented the Scrunchie hair tie in 1987, she called it a “Scunci”, after her pet poodle.

45 Gymnast Suni : LEE

Suni Lee is an American gymnast who won the women’s artistic individual all-around event at the 2020 Olympics. A few weeks after her victory in Tokyo, Lee competed in the 30th season of “Dancing with the Stars”, finishing in 5th place.

46 Tangy buds in chicken piccata : CAPERS

The seasoning we know as “capers” are the edible flower buds of the caper bush, also known as Flinders rose. By the time we get them in a jar, the buds have been pickled and salted. I’m not a huge fan of capers …

The dish named “piccata” originated in Italy, with the traditional meat used being veal. Whatever meat used is sliced and flattened with a tenderizer, seasoned, dredged in flour and browned in a pan. The juices from the pan are the base for the sauce, to which are added lemon juice, white wine, shallots, capers and butter.

48 Ivy university featured on “Gilmore Girls” : YALE

“Gilmore Girls” is a comedy show that originally aired from 2000 to 2007 on the WB. The title characters are mother and daughter Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, played by Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. All the action takes place in the fictional Connecticut town of Stars Hollow. The theme song was written by Carole King, and is a version of her 1971 recording “Where You Lead”. King sing’s the show’s theme with her own daughter, Louise Goffin.

53 Taj __: Indian tourist site : MAHAL

“Mahal” is the Urdu word for “palace”, as in “Taj Mahal” meaning “crown of palaces”. The Taj Mahal is a mausoleum holding the body of Mumtaz Mahal, the third wife of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. The name “Mumtaz Mahal” translates as “the chosen one of the palace”.

57 Purnell of “Yellowjackets” : ELLA

Ella Purnell is an actress from London, now living in the US, whom I perhaps know best for playing Winston Churchill’s secretary in the 2017 film “Churchill”.

“Yellowjackets” sounds like an interesting TV show. It is about four teenage girls who survive a plane crash, and have to live for nineteenth months alone in the Canadian wilderness. While this story unfolds in the show, we also track their lives as adults, 25 years later.

60 PC core : CPU

The central processing unit (CPU) is the main component on the motherboard of a computer. The CPU is the part of the computer that carries out most of the functions required by a program. Nowadays you can get CPUs in everything from cars to telephones.

61 Kenan’s former comedy partner : KEL

Kel Mitchell is an actor and comedian who appeared in the first five seasons of the hit sketch comedy show “All That”. He then co-starred with Kenan Thompson in the sitcom “Kenan & Kel” in the late 1990s.

62 “Smitten Kitchen Every Day” cookbook writer Perelman : DEB

“Smitten Kitchen” is a cooking blog that Deb Perelman has been publishing since 2006. She parlayed her successful blog into a cookbook, also called “Smitten Kitchen”, which was published in 2012. The fourth person to comment on Deb’s blog was a gentleman named Alex Perelman. After that first meeting, Alex and Deb became friends, and years later got married.