Tag: Game of chance also known as “Mexican bingo” crossword clue

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Constructed by: Hoang-Kim Vu & May Huang
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Starting Salaries

Themed answers each START with a synonym of “SALARY”:

64A Entry-level wages, and a hint to the first words of 18-, 28-, and 49-Across : STARTING SALARIES

• 18A Review site used by students : RATE MY PROFESSORS
• 28A Honor, with “to” : … PAY TRIBUTE
• 49A Alliterative chant from “Jack and the Beanstalk” : FEE-FI-FO-FUM

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

Bill’s time: 6m 40s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 NYC nabe with the Museum of Ice Cream : SOHO

From what I read, the Museum of Ice Cream isn’t a museum, and nor is it an outlet focused on selling ice cream. Founded in 2026 in San Francisco, it is a chain of facilities that people visit, mainly to take selfies in front of ice-cream themed exhibits. One of the company founders has stated that she now prefers the term “experium” over “museum”.

5 Keith Haring genre : POP ART

Keith Haring was an artist who started out making chalk drawings on the New York City subway system in the late seventies and early eighties. As his work gained some recognition, he became friends with Andy Warhol, who helped Haring achieve his success.

11 First piece moved in chess, often : PAWN

In the game of chess, the pawns are the weakest pieces on the board. A pawn that can make it to the opposite side of the board can be promoted to a piece of choice, usually a queen. Using promotion of pawns, it is possible for a player to have two or more queens on the board at one time. However, standard chess sets come with only one queen per side, so a captured rook is often used as the second queen by placing it on the board upside down.

16 Dealership perk : LOANER

A loaner car is often available at a dealership when one’s car is in for repair for a day or two.

17 __ vera gel : ALOE

Aloe vera is a succulent plant that grows in relatively dry climates. The plant’s leaves are full of biologically-active compounds that have been studied extensively. Aloe vera has been used for centuries in herbal medicine, mainly for topical treatment of wounds.

18 Review site used by students : RATE MY PROFESSORS

RateMyProfessors.com is a review website established in 1999 as TeacherRatings.com. Users of the site get to list their professors and give them ratings in several categories.

22 Après-__ : SKI

“Après-ski” is a French term meaning “after skiing”. It refers to the good times to be had after coming off the slopes.

23 White House rejections : VETOES

The verb “veto” comes directly from Latin and means “I forbid”. The term was used by tribunes of ancient Rome to indicate that they opposed measures passed by the Senate.

24 Bronx-born member of Congress, familiarly : AOC

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a politician who is often referred to by her initials “AOC”. A Democrat, she was first elected to the US House of Representatives in 2018, representing part of the Bronx, Queens and Rikers Island in New York City. When she took office in 2019 at the age of 29, AOC became the youngest woman ever to serve in Congress.

26 Using Wi-Fi : ONLINE

“Wi-Fi” is nothing more than a trademark, a trademark registered by an association of manufacturers of equipment that use wireless LAN (Local Area Network) technology. A device labeled with “Wi-Fi” has to meet certain defined technical standards, basically meaning that the devices can talk to each other. The name “Wi-Fi” suggests “Wireless Fidelity”, although apparently the term was never intended to mean anything at all.

32 Ye __ Shoppe : OLDE

The word “olde” wasn’t actually used much earlier than the 1920s. “Olde” was introduced to give a quaint antique feel to brand names, shop names etc. as in “Ye Olde Shoppe”.

35 Sheltered, at sea : ALEE

Alee is the direction away from the wind. If a sailor points into the wind, he or she is pointing aweather. The sheltered side of an island, for example, might be referred to as the “lee” side.

36 German article : DER

The definite article in German is der, die or das, for masculine, feminine and neuter nouns. The indefinite article is ein, eine or ein, again depending on the gender of the noun. A further complication, relative to English, is that the masculine form (and only the masculine form) of the article changes when used in the accusative case, when used with the object of a sentence. The accusative forms are “den” and “einen”.

41 French article : LES

The definite article in French can be “le” (with masculine nouns), “la” (with feminine nouns), and “les” (with plural nouns of either gender).

42 Lisbon greeting : OLA!

Lisbon is the capital of Portugal. It is the westernmost capital city in Europe, and indeed is the westernmost large city on the continent. Lisbon is also the oldest city in Western Europe, and was founded hundreds of years before London, Paris and Rome.

43 EMT skill : CPR

An emergency medical technician (EMT) might administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

44 Makeup for lashes : MASCARA

Variants of mascara have been around a long time, and certainly there was a similar substance in use in ancient Egypt. “Mascara” is a Spanish word meaning “stain, mask”.

46 Ride-or-die pal, briefly : BFF

Best friend forever (BFF)

47 Singer Del Rey : LANA

“Lana Del Rey” is the stage name of singer/songwriter Elizabeth Grant. Del Rey calls herself a “self-styled gangsta Nancy Sinatra”. Nice …

49 Alliterative chant from “Jack and the Beanstalk” : FEE-FI-FO-FUM

The line “fee-fi-fo-fum” (with various spellings) comes from the famous English fairy tale “Jack and the Beanstalk”. Within the story, the giant at the top of the beanstalk utters a little poem when he detects the presence of Jack:

Fee-fi-fo-fum,
I smell the blood of an Englishman,
Be he alive, or be he dead
I’ll grind his bones to make my bread.

“Jack and the Beanstalk” is a fairy tale from England. In the story, young Jack sells the family cow for some magic beans. He plants the beans and a massive beanstalk grows up into the sky. At the top of the beanstalk there lives an ogre. Jack climbs the beanstalk and adventures ensue …

52 Montana’s capital : HELENA

Helena is the capital of the state of Montana, and is known as the Queen City of the Rockies. Helena’s main street has a very colorful name, i.e. Last Chance Gulch.

60 __ cotta : TERRA

The tem “terra cotta” comes to us from Latin via Italian and means “baked earth”. Terra-cotta is a ceramic made from clay which is left unglazed. Maybe the most famous work in terra-cotta is the Terracotta Army, the enormous collection of life-size figures that was buried with Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of China around 210 BC. I had the privilege of seeing some of this collection when it toured the US a few years ago, and even the few pieces on display were very impressive.

68 Sign after Taurus : GEMINI

Gemini is the third sign of the Zodiac. “Gemini” is the Latin word for “twins”.

69 Colorful eye part : IRIS

The iris is the colored part of the eye. It has an aperture in the center that can open or close depending on the level of light hitting the eye.

70 Avoided a tag, perhaps : SLID

That could be baseball.

72 “__ No Sunshine”: Bill Withers hit : AIN’T

Bill Withers was working as an assembly operator while he was trying to make a name for himself in the music industry. Even as he found success with his glorious 1971 single “Ain’t No Sunshine”, he held onto his day job, worried that the music industry was unpredictable.

Down

1 Apple’s virtual assistant : SIRI

Siri is a software application that works with Apple’s iOS operating system. “Siri” is an acronym standing for Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface. Voice-over artist Susan Bennett revealed herself as the female American voice of Siri a few years ago. The British version of Siri is called Daniel, and the Australian version is called Karen. Also, “Siri” is a Norwegian name meaning “beautiful woman who leads you to victory”, and was the name the developer had chosen for his first child.

2 Mideast sultanate : OMAN

Oman lies on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula and is neighbored by the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Oman is a monarchy, and the official name of the state is the Sultanate of Oman. All of the country’s legislative, executive and judiciary power resides with the hereditary sultan.

3 Sluglike species of “Star Wars” : HUTT

Jabba the Hutt is the big blob of an alien that appears in the “Star Wars” movie “The Return of the Jedi”. Jabba’s claim to fame is that he enslaved Princess Leia and kitted her out in that celebrated metal bikini.

5 Kleenex layer : PLY

Even though “Kleenex” is sometimes used today as a generic term for a tissue, “Kleenex” is a brand name owned by Kimberly-Clark. Kleenex facial tissues came about after WW1. The material used in the tissue had been developed as a replacement for cotton that was in high demand as surgical tissue during the war. The material developed was called “Cellucotton” and was used in gas mask filters. It was first sold as a facial tissue under the name “Kleenex” in 1924.

7 Sport that turns everyday objects into an obstacle course : PARKOUR

Parkour (also “freerunning”) is a physical discipline that involves moving from one point to another in an urban environment using only the human body. Parkour practitioners (“traceurs”) use a variety of techniques, including running, jumping, climbing, and vaulting, to move quickly and efficiently through their environment. The discipline originated in France, and the name “parkour” comes from the French “parcours du combattant”, which can be translated as “obstacle course”.

9 Whistle blower? : REF

Back in the early 17th century, a referee was someone who examined patent applications. We started using the same term for a person presiding over a sporting event in the 1820s. “Referee” is a derivative of the verb “to refer”, and literally describes someone who has the authority to make a decision by “referring” to a book, archive etc.

10 Rome’s __ Fountain : TREVI

The Trevi Fountain (“Fontana di Trevi”) is a huge fountain in Rome, one that is the largest constructed in the Baroque style. The tradition is that if one throws a coin in the fountain then one is guaranteed a return visit to the city. Tourists throw in an amazing 3,000 euros (over $4,000) every day. The money is collected and is used to stock a supermarket for the needy of the city.

11 Muted shades : PASTELS

A “pastel” is a crayon made from a “paste” containing a powdered pigment in a binder. The term “pastel” can also be used to describe a work created using pastels.

12 __ gobi: vegetarian curry 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”.

14 Loch in tabloid photos : NESS

Scotland’s Loch Ness is famous for its fabled “monster”, referred to affectionately as “Nessie”. The loch is the second-largest lake in the country (Loch Lomond is the largest). Loch Ness takes its name from the River Ness that flows from the loch’s northern end.

20 Madame’s Spanish counterpart : SENORA

The equivalent of “Mrs.” in French is “Mme.” (Madame), in Spanish is “Sra.” (Señora) and in Portuguese is also “Sra.” (Senhora).

25 Angry Orchard beverage : CIDER

Angry Orchard is a brand of hard cider that’s made in Walden, New York.

28 Tropical tree : PALM

Palms are perennial flowering plants that take many forms, some as shrubs and some as vines, for example. Some take on a tree-like shape, with a woody stem topped by a crown of leaves. Such palms are usually referred to as “palm trees”. The coco de mer palm tree has the largest seeds of any plant on the planet. We are more familiar with the coconut palm tree, which has the second-largest plant seeds known.

33 Late-afternoon coffee choice : DECAF

The first successful process for removing caffeine from coffee involved steaming the beans in salt water, and then extracting the caffeine using benzene (a potent carcinogen) as a solvent. Coffee processed this way was sold as Sanka here in the US. There are other processes used these days, and let’s hope they are safer …

34 Broadcaster of some NCAA games : ESPNU

ESPNU (short for “ESPN Universities”) is a sports channel focused on college athletics.

39 Shuttle on rails : TRAM

A tram is a means of public transportation that runs on rails laid along the length of streets in cities and towns. Trams might also be referred to as trolleys or streetcars.

41 Not yet visible : LATENT

Something is said to be latent if it is present, but not active.

47 Game of chance also known as “Mexican bingo” : LOTERIA

Lotería (Spanish for “lottery”) is a traditional Mexican game of chance, similar to bingo, but using images on a deck of cards instead of numbered ping pong balls. The game originated in Italy in the 15th century and was brought to Mexico (then “New Spain”) in the 18th century.

50 Mystery : ENIGMA

Our term “enigma” meaning “puzzle, riddle” comes from the Greek “ainigma”, which means the same thing.

51 Greek cheese : FETA

Feta is a Greek cheese made from sheep’s milk, or a mixture of sheep and goat’s milk. The cheese is salted and cured in a brine solution for several months before it is eaten.

53 “Psycho” actress Janet : LEIGH

My guess is that the actress Janet Leigh’s most remembered performance is as the woman who gets killed in the shower in the Hitchcock classic “Psycho”. Leigh’s third husband was the actor Tony Curtis, and their daughter is the lovely Jamie Lee Curtis.

The classic Alfred Hitchcock suspense film “Psycho”, released in 1960, is based on a 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch. The Bloch novel in turn is loosely based on actual crimes committed by murderer and grave robber Ed Gein. The female protagonist is named Mary Crane in the novel, but that name was changed to Marion Crane in the movie. Marion Crane, portrayed by Janet Leigh, died in a celebrated and terrifying shower scene

55 Taxpayer IDs : SSNS

Social Security number (SSN)

57 Actor Malek : RAMI

Actor Rami Malek’s big break came with the leading role in the television series “Mr. Robot”. In 2018, Malik gave an Oscar-winning performance playing Freddie Mercury in the hit biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody”. That marked the first time that an actor of Egyptian descent won an Academy Award for Best Actor.

61 2023 Super Bowl performer, to fans : RIRI

Singer Rihanna was born and grew up on the island of Barbados and moved to the US when she was 16-years-old to pursue a singing career. The name “Rihanna” is derived from the Welsh name “Rhiannon”. And, Rihanna sometimes goes by the nickname “RiRi”, which is also the name of her line of beauty products.