Tag: Fish dinner? crossword clue

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Constructed by: Darryl Gonzalez
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Mars

Themed answers all fit the same clue, namely “MARS”:

• 20A MARS : ROMAN GOD OF WAR
• 34A MARS : CANDY COMPANY
• 41A MARS : DOES DAMAGE TO
• 56A MARS : MUSICIAN BRUNO

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

Bill’s time: 9m 23s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

9 “Yellowstone” actor Hauser : COLE

Cole Hauser is an actor with a long career in Hollywood. He first gained recognition in movies like “School Ties” and “Dazed and Confused”, and later took on tougher roles in action films like “2 Fast 2 Furious” and “Tears of the Sun.” These days, Hauser is most recognized for his role as Rip Wheeler in the popular TV show “Yellowstone.” Interestingly, he has a family connection to Hollywood history: his great-grandfather was Harry Warner, one of the founders of Warner Bros.

13 Egress : EXIT

Barnum’s American Museum opened in New York City in 1841, and sadly burned to the ground in 1865. The attractions in the museum included zoo animals, waxworks as well as theater shows and “freak shows”. Famously, a sign pointing to the exit of the museum read “This Way to the Egress”. Many visitors followed the sign, anxious to see the “egress” exhibit, only to find themselves out on the street!

17 Pietà spot : APSE

The Pietà is a representation of the Virgin Mary holding in her arms the dead body of her son Jesus. The most famous Pietà is undoubtedly the sculpted rendition by Michelangelo that is located in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. That particular sculpture is thought to be the only work that Michelangelo signed. In some depictions of the Pietà, Mary and her son are surrounded by other figures from the New Testament. Such depictions are known as Lamentations.

18 Gloria’s “Sunset Boulevard” role : NORMA

Gloria Swanson was the highest-paid movie actor of the Silent Era. Famously, Swanson made a comeback in movies when she played a reclusive silent film star in the 1950 film “Sunset Boulevard”. Off the screen, the actress was notorious for her affair with Joe Kennedy, Sr., father of President John F. Kennedy.

“Sunset Boulevard” is a classic film noir co-written and directed by the great Billy Wilder, and released in 1950. It’s a story about a faded film star (played by Gloria Swanson) who dreams about making a return to the screen. Andrew Lloyd Webber made a reasonably successful musical adaptation of the film using the same title, which opened in London in 1993.

20 MARS : ROMAN GOD OF WAR

Mars was the god of war in ancient Rome. He was also viewed as the father of the Roman people and the father of Romulus and Remus, the twin brothers who founded Rome according to Roman mythology.

23 Many prime time offerings : DRAMAS

In the world of television, prime time is that part of the day when networks and advertisers maximize revenues due to the high number of viewers. Prime time is often defined as 7-10 p.m. Mountain and Central Time, and 8-11 p.m. Pacific and Eastern Time.

25 Banana Boat letters : SPF

Banana Boat is a brand of sunscreen.

29 Mary Oliver work : POEM

Mary Oliver is a writer, mainly of poetry, who has been described as America’s best-selling poet. Oliver won a Pulitzer for poetry in 1984 for her collection of poems called “American Primitive”.

34 MARS : CANDY COMPANY

The Mars confectionery and food company started in 1911 with Frank C. Mars making and selling buttercreams from his kitchen in Tacoma, Washington. He moved to Minnesota and had his first hit with the Milky Way bar in the 1920s. The company relocated to Chicago in 1929, and really took off after introducing iconic candies like Snickers and 3 Musketeers. Frank’s son, Forrest, joined the business and played a key role in expanding the company internationally and developing M&M’s.

40 “Auld Lang __” : SYNE

According to the “Guinness Book of World Records”, “Happy Birthday to You” is the most popular song in the English language. “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” and “Auld Lang Syne” come in second and third.

46 Gamer’s virtual persona : AVATAR

The Sanskrit word “avatar” describes the concept of a deity descending into earthly life and taking on a persona. It’s easy to see how in the world of online presences one might use the word avatar to describe one’s online identity.

48 Merit badge org. : BSA

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) organization was founded in 1910 by American businessman and philanthropist, William D. Boyce. Legend has it that Boyce was moved to do so after he was helped by a young British boy scout while lost in the fog in London. Inspired by the boy scout’s preparedness and helpfulness, Boyce brought the idea of scouting back to the United States and worked to establish the BSA.

52 Part of FWIW : IT’S

For what it’s worth (FWIW)

56 MARS : MUSICIAN BRUNO

Bruno Mars is a singer-songwriter from Honolulu who has been active in the music business since 2006. “Bruno Mars” is a stage name, as Mars was born “Peter Hernandez”.

62 Corleone brother : SONNY

Sonny Corleone was the eldest son of Don Vito Corleone in Mario Puzo’s great novel “The Godfather”. In the movie, Sonny was played by James Caan. Sonny appears as a boy in the movie “The Godfather: Part II”, and is played by director Francis Ford Coppola’s own son, Roman Coppola.

63 Caspian Sea country : IRAN

The Caspian Sea is a landlocked body of water lying between Asia and Europe. By some definitions, the Caspian is the largest lake on the planet. The name “Caspian” comes from the Caspi people who lived to the southwest of the sea in the South Caucasus.

64 Suffix for a scandal : -GATE

The Watergate scandal is so named because it involved a break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters in the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. The Watergate complex is made up of five units, three of which are apartment buildings, one an office building, and one a hotel-office building (which housed the DNC headquarters). Watergate led to the “-gate” suffix being used for many subsequent scandals, such as “Irangate”, “Bridgegate” and “Deflategate”.

65 Incan carving : TOTEM

“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.

66 Actress Blanchett : CATE

Cate Blanchett is a great actress from Australia, and a winner of an Academy Award for playing Katharine Hepburn in “The Aviator”. Winning for that role made Blanchett the first person to win an Academy Award for playing an actor (Hepburn) who had also won an Oscar. Now that is trivial information …

Down

1 Consequences of lengthening shadows : BEARDS

A male might shave to remove his five o’clock shadow, a short growth of beard evident late in the day.

6 __ gobi: vegetarian dish : ALOO

Aloo gobi is a very tasty vegetarian dish in Indian cuisine made from potatoes and cauliflower, flavored with traditional Indian spices. “Aloo” translates to “potato” and “gobi” to “cauliflower”.

7 “Oh __, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?” : LORD

Janis Joplin recorded the a cappella song “Mercedes Benz” on October 1, 1970. Sadly, it was to be her last recording, as she died just three days later at only 27 years of age.

8 Piccata need : LEMON

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.

9 2021 Marlee Matlin film that won Best Picture : CODA

“CODA” is a 2021 movie, a remake of the 2014 French-Belgian film “La Famille Bélier”. The English-language version stars Emilia Jones as the only hearing member of a deaf family struggling with a fishing business in Gloucester, Massachusetts. “CODA” was the first film distributed by a streaming service (Apple TV+) to win a Best Picture Oscar. The title “CODA” is an acronym standing for “child of deaf adults”.

Marlee Matlin won her well-deserved Oscar for the role she played in “Children of a Lesser God”. Matlin played opposite William Hurt in the movie, and won her Academy Award in 1986 when she was just 21 years old. My favorite performance of hers, though, is the recurring role she had in “The West Wing”.

11 Fond du __, Wisconsin : LAC

“Fond du lac” is French and translates as “bottom of the lake”. It is an apt name for the Wisconsin city of Fond du Lac, located at the foot of Lake Winnebago. If you like to play the lottery, you might want to stop off in Fond du Lac as there is a stretch of South Main Street called “Miracle Mile”. Back in 1993, someone bought a ticket there and won $100 million. Then in 2006, another store sold a ticket that won $209 million. These things always come in threes, so buy your tickets now …

12 Yellowstone buglers : ELK

Male elks are called bulls, and females are known as cows. Bull elks are known for their very loud screaming, which is called bugling. Cow elks are attracted to bulls that bugle more often and most loudly.

15 Seattle-based insurance giant : SAFECO

Safeco Insurance is a Seattle-based insurance company that held the naming rights to Safeco Field, the Seattle Mariners’ baseball stadium, from 1999 through 2018.

21 Auto parts chain that’s also a NASCAR sponsor : NAPA

The National Automotive Parts Association (NAPA) is a retailers’ cooperative that supplies replacement parts for cars and trucks.

26 The Quakers of the Ivies : PENN

The University of Pennsylvania (also “Penn” and “UPenn”) was founded in 1740 by Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia. Penn was the first school in the country to offer both graduate and undergraduate courses. Penn’s sports teams are known as the Quakers, and sometimes the Red & Blue.

27 Leather boot brand : FRYE

The Frye Company is a manufacturer of leather goods, primarily shoes and boots. Founded in 1863 by John A. Frye, it claims to be the oldest continuously operating shoe company in the US.

30 Answer to the riddle “What cheese is made backward?” : EDAM

Edam cheese takes its name from the Dutch town of Edam in North Holland. The cheese is famous for its coating of red paraffin wax, a layer of protection that helps Edam travel well and prevents spoiling. You might occasionally come across an Edam cheese that is coated in black wax. The black color indicates that the underlying cheese has been aged for a minimum of 17 weeks.

31 Shiny balloon material : MYLAR

Mylar is a brand of polyester film with many uses, one of which is to make reflective surfaces. Mylar can be used to make reflective solar sails, which are a fascinating form of spacecraft propulsion. Believe it or not, reflecting photons of light each provide a small amount of thrust, and enough of them can propel an object in the vacuum of space.

33 Lhasa __ : APSO

The Lhasa apso breed of dog originated in Tibet and is named after “Lhasa” (the capital city) and “apso” (a Tibetan word meaning “bearded”). The Lhasa apso has been around since 800 BC and is one of the oldest breeds in the world, one very closely related to the ancestral wolf.

34 “__ magnifique!” : C’EST

“C’est magnifique!” is French for “It is magnificent!”

36 Robert Newton Peck’s “__ No Pigs Would Die” : A DAY

“A Day No Pigs Would Die” is a 1972 novel by American author Robert Newton Peck. It is a semi-autobiographical work in the young adult genre about a boy coming of age on a farm in Vermont. Peck wrote a 1994 sequel titled “A Part of the Sky”.

37 __ Scotia : NOVA

The Canadian province of Nova Scotia (NS) lies on the east coast of the country and is a peninsula surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. The area was settled by Scots starting in 1621, and Nova Scotia is Latin for “New Scotland”.

38 Dugout sharer : TEAMMATE

A dugout is an underground shelter. The term was carried over to baseball because the dugout is slightly depressed below the level of the field. This allows spectators behind the dugout to get a good view of home plate, where a lot of the action takes place.

42 Speaker’s platform : DAIS

A dais is a raised platform for a speaker. The term “dais” comes from the Latin “discus” meaning a “disk-shaped object”. I guess that the original daises had such a shape.

44 Watt and Ohm, e.g. : EPONYMS

An eponym is a name for something derived from the name of a person, as in the food item we call a “sandwich”, named after the Earl of Sandwich.

James Watt was a Scottish inventor. He figured prominently in the Industrial Revolution in Britain, largely due to the improvements he made to the fledgling steam engine. The SI unit of power is called the watt, and was named in his honor.

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.

45 Valley of the Kings find : TOMB

The Valley of the Kings in Egypt is located on the west bank of the Nile opposite the modern city of Luxor, the site of ancient Thebes. There are about 60 individual burial chambers in the area that housed the bodies of notable royals and nobles of Ancient Egypt.

48 Video format : BLU-RAY

A CD player reads the information on the disc using a laser beam. The beam is produced by what’s called a laser diode, a device similar to a light-emitting diode (LED) except that a laser beam is emitted. That laser beam is usually red in CD and DVD players. Blu-ray players are so called as they use blue lasers.

55 Writer Jong : ERICA

Author Erica Jong’s most famous work is her first: “Fear of Flying”, a novel published in 1973. Over twenty years later, Jong wrote “Fear of Fifty: a midlife memoir”, published in 1994.

61 Like carpaccio : RAW

Carpaccio can be meat or fish. It is sliced very thinly, or may be pounded until it is thin, and then served raw. Carpaccio is a relatively contemporary dish, first served in 1950 to a countess in Venice, Italy. The lady informed the restaurant owner that her doctor had advised her to eat only raw meat, so she was served thin slices of uncooked beef in a mustard sauce. The owner of the restaurant thought that the colors of the dish reminded him of paintings by Vittore Carpaccio, so he gave it the name “Carpaccio”. Well, so the story goes …