Tag: Fancy-schmancy crossword clue

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Constructed by: Janice Luttrell
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Take It to the Bank

Themed answers each start with something one might TAKE TO THE BANK:

• 55A “You can count on that!,” and a hint to the starts of 16-, 25-, and 43-Across : TAKE IT TO THE BANK

• 16A Form submitted to the post office before moving : CHANGE OF ADDRESS
• 25A Actor who played the U.S. president in “Independence Day” : BILL PULLMAN
• 43A Part of a hotel lobby : CHECK-IN DESK

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

Bill’s time: 4m 50s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Fancy-schmancy : POSH

No one really knows the etymology of the word “posh”. The popular myth that “posh” is actually an acronym standing for “port out, starboard home” is completely untrue, and is a story that can actually be traced back to the 1968 movie “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”. The myth is that wealthy British passengers traveling to and from India would book cabins on the port side for the outward journey and the starboard side for the home journey. This trick was supposedly designed to keep their cabins out of the direct sunlight.

13 Capri, for one : ISLE

The island of Capri off the coast of Southern Italy has been a tourist resort since the days of ancient Rome. Capri is home to the famous Blue Grotto, a sea cave that is illuminated with sunlight that’s colored blue as it passes through the seawater into the cave.

14 Krispy __ : KREME

The Krispy Kreme chain of doughnut stores was founded in 1937 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The company introduced the Whole Wheat Glazed doughnut in 2007, which is great news for folks looking to eat a healthy diet, I am sure …

15 Golden State sch. : UCLA

“Golden State” has been the official nickname of California since 1968. The nickname reflects the expansion of the state’s economy that followed the discovery of gold in 1848, and also the fields of golden poppies seen growing wild across California in the spring.

21 “How Do I Live” singer LeAnn : RIMES

“How Do I Live” is a power ballad recorded by LeAnn Rimes in 1997, when she was just 14 years old. Rimes’ version became a massive hit, spending a record-breaking 69 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Interestingly, Trisha Yearwood also recorded a version of the song which was released on the very same day as the Rimes version, creating a brief pop culture rivalry. The Yearwood version was recorded for the movie “Con Air”.

22 Source of harm : BANE

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

23 Carne __ tacos: steak dish : ASADA

The name of the dish called “carne asada” translates from Spanish as “roasted meat”.

25 Actor who played the U.S. president in “Independence Day” : BILL PULLMAN

Bill Pullman is an American who is perhaps most recognized for his portrayal of President Thomas J. Whitmore in the blockbuster film “Independence Day”. That’s a favorite movie of mine, as is “While You Were Sleeping”, in which Pullman stars alongside Sandra Bullock.

The 1996 sci-fi action movie “Independence Day” is must-see-TV at our house on or around the 4th of July every year. The film was supposed to come out in 1996 on July 3rd but there was so much anticipation that many theaters started screening the day before. At one point after release, “Independence Day” was the second-highest grossing movie in history (“Jurassic Park” was number one at the time).

33 “Othello” villain : IAGO

In William Shakespeare’s “Othello”, Iago is the villain of the piece. At one point he readily admits this, saying “Thus do I ever make my fool my purse”. Here he is claiming to make money out of making fools of others. In this case, he takes money from Roderigo, who believes that Iago will help him bed Othello’s wife Desdemona.

34 “Ben-__” : HUR

The celebrated 1959 Charlton Heston movie “Ben-Hur” is a dramatization of a book published in 1880 by Lew Wallace titled “Ben-Hur: A Tale of Christ”. The 1959 epic film won a record 11 Academy Awards, a feat that has been equaled since then but never beaten. The other winners of 11 Oscars are “Titanic” (1997) and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003).

41 __ Barbara, California : SANTA

The city of Santa Barbara on the California coast was indirectly named by Spanish explorer Sebastián Vizcaíno in 1602. He named the channel between the mainland and the Channel Islands “Santa Barbara Channel”, while naming one of the islands “Santa Barbara”. Some time later, the Spanish established the Santa Barbara Mission on the Feast of Saint Barbara in 1786.

42 “Lust for Life” singer Lana __ Rey : DEL

“Lust for Life” is the title track from Lana Del Rey’s fifth studio album, released in 2017. It is a collaboration with The Weeknd, and the song’s music video features Del Rey and The Weeknd dancing on the Hollywood sign.

48 Rough figs. from the cockpit : ETAS

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the original “cockpit” was a “pit” used for fighting “cocks”. The term was then applied nautically, as the name for the compartment below decks used as living quarters by midshipmen. The cockpit of a boat today, usually on a smaller vessel, is a sunken area towards the stern in which sits the helmsman and others (who can fit!). The usage extended to aircraft in the 1910s and to cars in the 1930s.

52 Greyhound vehicle : BUS

Speaking as someone who lived much of my life outside of the US, I have to say that the Greyhound bus is a real symbol of America. I grew up seeing Greyhound buses in so many old movies. In Ireland the official provincial bus service “stole” the famous logo that gracefully adorns the sides of these buses, but uses a running Irish Setter in place of the iconic greyhound.

61 No-frills grocery chain : ALDI

Aldi is an extremely large discount supermarket chain based in Germany with outlets in many countries, including the main European nations and Australia. Here in the US, Aldi owns the Trader Joe’s chain of stores. The chain was founded in 1946 by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht. The name “Aldi” is an abbreviation of “Albrecht Diskont”, “Albrecht Discount” in English.

62 Filmmaker Ephron : NORA

Nora Ephron had many talents, including writing film scripts and novels. Many of the movies that she wrote, she also directed. These would include some of my favorite movies of all time like “Sleepless in Seattle”, “You’ve Got Mail” and most recently, the wonderful “Julie & Julia”. And, did you know that Nora Ephron’s second marriage was to journalist Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame? She wrote an autobiographical novel based on her life with Bernstein, which deals in particular with Bernstein’s affair with the daughter of British Prime Minister James Callaghan.

63 Deadpool player Reynolds : RYAN

Ryan Reynolds is an actor from Vancouver who is best known these days for playing the title character in the “Deadpool” superhero films. Named “People” magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive in 2010, Ryan has had some high-profile relationships. He was engaged to singer Alanis Morissette for a couple of years, married to actress Scarlett Johansson (again for a couple of years), and is now married to actress Blake Lively whom he met on the set of “Green Lantern”.

“Deadpool” is a 2016 superhero film, the eighth of the “X-Men” series of movies. The title character is played by Ryan Reynolds. Deadpool constantly breaks the fourth wall in the movie, often to crack a joke. That characteristic is a carry-over from the comics, in which Deadpool often addresses asides to the reader.

Down

2 Workplace standards org. : OSHA

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

3 Cabbage side often made with mayo : SLAW

The term “coleslaw” is an Anglicized version of the Dutch term “koolsla”, which in itself is a shortened form of “Koolsalade” meaning “cabbage salad”.

4 Cornish game __ : HEN

The Cornish game hen is a broiler chicken, and not a game bird. And, despite the designation “hen”, a Cornish game hen can be either male or female.

7 Doctors org. : AMA

American Medical Association (AMA)

8 Actor Beatty : NED

Actor Ned Beatty is possibly best remembered for the rather disturbing “squeal like a pig” scene in the movie “Deliverance”. Beatty also earned an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the 1976 movie “Network”.

14 Actor Reeves : KEANU

Keanu Reeves is a Canadian actor whose most celebrated roles were a metalhead in “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” (1989), a cop in “Speed” (1994) and the protagonist Neo in “The Matrix” series of films. Although Reeves is a Canadian national, he was born in Beirut, Lebanon. Reeves has some Hawaiian descent, and the name “Keanu” is Hawaiian for “the coolness” or “cool breeze”.

18 Clog-busting brand : DRANO

To clean out drains we might buy Crystal Drano, which is sodium hydroxide (lye) mixed with sodium nitrate, sodium chloride (table salt) and aluminum. The contents of Drano work in concert to clear the clog. The lye reacts with any fats creating soap which may be enough to break up the clog. Also, the finely-divided aluminum reacts with the lye generating hydrogen gas that churns the mixture. Any hair or fibers are cut by the sharp edges of the nitrate and chloride crystals. Having said all that, I find that boiling water poured down the drain quite often does the job …

23 Amo, amas, __ : AMAT

“Amo, amas, amat” translates from Latin as “I love, you love, he/she/it loves”.

26 “Uncle!” : I GIVE!

To say uncle is to submit or yield. This peculiarly American use of “uncle” dates back to the early 1900s, but nobody seems to know how “uncle!” came to mean “stop!”

28 Fragrant shrub : LILAC

The ornamental flowering plant known as lilac is native to the Balkans, and is a member of the olive family. The name “lilac” comes from the Persian word “lilaq,” which means “flower.”

36 “Grease” star Travolta : JOHN

Actor, dancer and singer John Travolta got his big break playing student Vinnie Barbarino in the sitcom “Welcome Back, Kotter” in the seventies. While still on the TV show, Travolta showed off his dancing skills on two fabulous musical films: “Saturday Night Fever” (1977) and “Grease” (1978). His career then took a bit of a dip, before resurging again with his role in the 1994 Quentin Tarantino blockbuster “Pulp Fiction”.

“Grease” is a very successful stage musical with a blockbuster film version released in 1978. The movie stars John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. Travolta wasn’t the first choice for the lead role. It was first offered to Henry Winkler of “Happy Days” fame in which he played “the Fonz”. Winkler turned down the role for fear of being typecast as a leather-clad fifties “hood”.

41 Slithering reptile in the Chinese zodiac : SNAKE

The 12-year cycle in the Chinese calendar uses the following animals in order:

• Rat
• Ox
• Tiger
• Rabbit
• Dragon
• Snake
• Horse
• Goat
• Monkey
• Rooster
• Dog
• Pig

44 Diane of “Book Club” : KEATON

Diane Keaton’s first major film role was Kay Admas-Corleone, wife of Michael Corleone, in “The Godfather”. Famously, she then appeared as a comic actress in a series of Woody Allen movies in the seventies. Keaton never married, although she was romantically involved with some famous Hollywood names over the years, including Woody Allen, Warren Beatty and Al Pacino.

“Book Club” is a 2018 romantic comedy that follows four lifelong friends, played by Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, and Mary Steenburgen (what a cast!). The group’s lives are turned upside down after they choose “Fifty Shades of Grey” for their monthly book club pick. Inspired by the novel, they each begin to re-evaluate their love lives and embrace new romantic adventures. “Book Club” was a box-office success and spawned a sequel, “Book Club: The Next Chapter” that was released in 2023.

45 Like a mosquito bite : ITCHY

“Mosquito” is Spanish for “little fly”. The female mosquito actually has to have a “blood meal” before she is able to lay her eggs. Mosquitoes are sometimes referred to as “skeeters”.

49 Lee of Marvel Comics : STAN

Stan Lee did just about everything at Marvel Comics over the years, from writing to being president and chairman of the board. If you like superhero movies based on the characters from Marvel Comics, then you could spend a few hours trying to spot Stan Lee in those films as he had a penchant for making cameo appearances. Lee can be spotted in “X-Men” (2000), “Spider-Man” (2002), “Hulk” (2003), “Fantastic Four” (2005), “Iron Man” (2008) and many other films.

50 Covert ops garb, for short : CAMO

Our word “camouflage” (often abbreviated to “camo”) evolved directly from a Parisian slang term “camoufler” meaning “to disguise”. The term was first used in WWI, although the British navy at that time preferred the expression “dazzle-painting” as it applied to the pattern painted on the hulls of ships.

51 Japanese noodle : SOBA

Soba is a thin Japanese noodle made from buckwheat flour. In Japan, the word “soba” tends to describe any thin noodle, in contrast with the thicker noodle called “udon”.

52 Indonesian island in the Coral Triangle : BALI

Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. It is known as the “Island of the Gods” due to its rich and unique culture, which is steeped in religious and spiritual beliefs.

The geographic term “Coral Triangle” refers to a large marine area in the western Pacific Ocean. Included in the region are the waters of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and the Solomon Islands.

56 The Blue Jays, on ESPN crawls : TOR

The Toronto Blue Jays baseball franchise was founded in 1977. They are the only team based outside the US to have won a World Series, doing so in 1992 and 1993. And since the Montreal Expos relocated to Washington, the Blue Jays are the only Major League Baseball team now headquartered outside of the US.

57 Quaker possessive : THY

Members of the Religious Society of Friends are known as Friends or Quakers. The Christian sect started in England in the 1640s, led by George Fox. The principal tenet at that point was that Christians could have direct experience of Jesus Christ without the mediation of clergy, a reflection of the increasing dissatisfaction with the established church at that time. The term “Quaker” is thought to have been used earlier in reference to foreign religious sects whose followers were given to fits of shaking during religious fervor. Somehow that term became used for members of the Religious Society of Friends.