Tag: Gulp from a bottle crossword clue

Advertisement

Constructed by: Janice Luttrell
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Lobster Tail

Themed answers each start with a word that can “TAIL” the word “LOBSTER”:

• 64A The “surf” of surf and turf, often, or what the first word of the answer to each starred clue can be : LOBSTER TAIL

• 17A *Vintage spot for a bubble bath : CLAWFOOT TUB (lobster claw)
• 27A *Undertaking that could have a good or bad outcome : ROLL OF THE DICE (lobster roll)
• 48A *House pet that oinks, familiarly : POTBELLIED PIG (lobster pot)

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

Bill’s time: 4m 42s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Prohibited by social custom : TABOO

The word “taboo” was introduced into English by Captain Cook in his book “A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean”. Cook described “tabu” (likely imitative of a Tongan word that he had heard) as something that was both consecrated and forbidden.

11 “WandaVision” actress Dennings : KAT

Kat Dennings is the stage name of actress Katherine Litwack, who is noted today for her co-starring role on CBS’s sitcom “2 Broke Girls”. On the big screen, she plays the somewhat humorous character Dr. Darcy Lewis in the “Thor” series of films. Dennings is an avid blogger, and you can check out her video blog on YouTube.

“WandaVision” is a TV miniseries featuring characters from Marvel Comics. The title characters are Wanda Maximoff (aka Scarlet Witch) played by Elizabeth Olsen and Vision played by Paul Bettany. I am by no means a fan of screen adaptations of comic characters, but I might take a look at “WandaVision”. Wanda and Vision are living in suburbia, trying to conceal their superhero identities. Each episode progresses the storyline through several decades, using situations encountered in sitcoms of the day. Episodes use the format of shows such as:

• The Dick Van Dyke Show
• I Love Lucy
• Bewitched
• I Dream of Jeannie
• The Brady Bunch
• Good Times
• The Mary Tyler Moore Show
• Full House
• Malcolm in the Middle
• Modern Family
• Out of this World
• The Twilight Zone

Sounds very intriguing …

14 Hawaiian greeting : ALOHA

The Hawaiian word “aloha” has many meanings in English: affection, love, peace, compassion and mercy. More recently, “aloha” has come to mean “hello” and “goodbye”, but only since the mid-1800s.

16 Oral health org. : ADA

American Dental Association (ADA)

19 Director Howard : RON

Ron Howard sure has come a long way since playing Opie Taylor on “The Andy Griffith Show”. He has directed some fabulous movies including favorites of mine like “Apollo 13”, “The Da Vinci Code” and “A Beautiful Mind”, the latter earning Howard a Best Director Oscar.

20 London art gallery : TATE

The museum known as “the Tate” comprises four separate galleries in England. The original Tate gallery was founded by Sir Henry Tate as the National Gallery of British Art. It is located on Millbank in London, on the site of the old Millbank Prison, and is now called Tate Britain. There is also the Tate Liverpool in the north of England that is located in an old warehouse, and the Tate St. Ives in the west country located in an old gas works. My favorite of the Tate galleries is the Tate Modern which lies on the banks of the Thames in London. It’s a beautiful building, a converted power station that you have to see to believe. As of 2018, the Tate Modern was the most visited art museum in the UK.

21 Delta rival renamed in 1997 : USAIR

From 1953, what we recently referred to as US Airways was called Allegheny Airlines. In the seventies, customers became very dissatisfied with the company’s service levels as it struggled to manage a rapid expansion in its number of flights. These problems earned the airline the nickname “Agony Air”. Allegheny tried to leave the “agony” behind in 1979 and changed its name to USAir, but commuters then just used the nickname “Unfortunately Still Allegheny”. The name was changed again, in 1997, to US Airways. US Airways merged with American Airlines in 2013, and the “US Airways” brand name was gradually replaced with “American Airlines”.

22 Picnic spot : PARK

Our term “picnic” comes from the French word that now has the same meaning, namely “pique-nique”. The original “pique-nique” was a fashionable potluck affair, and not necessarily held outdoors.

25 Channel changers : REMOTES

The first television remote control was introduced by Zenith Radio Corporation, in 1950. That remote was hard-wired to the TV, and was marketed as “Lazy Bones”. Personally, my first “remote” was a broomstick that I used by pushing in large mechanical buttons that selected either of the three channels that were available back then on the east coast of Ireland …

33 Big name in sneakers : NIKE

Nike was founded in 1964 in Eugene, Oregon by entrepreneur Phil Knight and track-and-field coach Bill Bowerman as Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS). BRS started out by distributing athletic shoes made in Japan. The company started making its own shoes in 1971 and changed its name to Nike, after the Greek goddess of victory.

37 Three __ salad: picnic staple with legumes : BEAN

Plants called legumes are notable in that they work symbiotically with nitrogen-fixing bacteria, microorganisms found in the root nodules that convert atmospheric nitrogen into ammonium ions. As nitrogen is an essential component of proteins, legumes are exceptionally rich sources of plant protein. Examples of legumes are peas, beans, lentils and peanuts.

42 “Pygmalion” playwright George Bernard __ : SHAW

George Bernard Shaw (GBS) was a very successful Irish playwright. Shaw is the only person to have been awarded both a Nobel Prize for Literature, and an Oscar. He won his Oscar for adapting his own play “Pygmalion” for the 1938 film of the same name starring Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller. Most people are more likely to have seen the musical adaptation of “Pygmalion” that goes by the title “My Fair Lady”.

“Pygmalion” is a witty and thought-provoking play by George Bernard Shaw that explores social class and transformation in early 20th-century England. Paradoxically perhaps, it premiered in Vienna in 1913, with the first stage production performed in German. The play centers on Professor Henry Higgins, a pompous phonetics expert, who wagers that he can transform Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl, into a refined lady simply by changing her speech. Most of us are more likely to have seen the musical adaptation of “Pygmalion” that goes by the title “My Fair Lady”.

43 “Star Wars” prequel series starring Diego Luna : ANDOR

The TV show “Star Wars: Andor” serves as a prequel to the 2016 film “Rogue One”, which itself is a prequel to the first “Stars Wars” movie, released in 1977. The title character is Cassian Andor, played by Diego Luna.

45 Many a black-clad teen : GOTH

The goth subculture developed from the gothic rock scene in the early eighties, and is a derivative of the punk music movement. It started in England and spread to many countries around the globe. The term “goth” comes from the Eastern Germanic tribe called the Goths.

47 __Clean: laundry brand : OXI

OxiClean is a bleaching agent and cleaner that was famously marketed using infomercials that featured the late Billy Mays.

48 *House pet that oinks, familiarly : POTBELLIED PIG

It seems that potbellied pigs are becoming increasingly popular as pets. Originally from Vietnam, these pigs are smaller than farm pigs. They can be house-trained, and form strong bonds with their owners.

54 Pt. of TGIF : FRI

“Thank God It’s Friday” (TGIF)

59 Stately shade trees : ELMS

The Ulmus laevis deciduous tree that is native to Europe is commonly referred to as the European white elm, spreading elm and stately elm.

64 The “surf” of surf and turf, often, or what the first word of the answer to each starred clue can be : LOBSTER TAIL

The phrase “surf and turf” hasn’t been around that long, with first known use dating back to 1961 in the “Los Angeles Times”.

66 Outdoor gear co-op : REI

REI is a sporting goods store, with the initialism standing for Recreational Equipment Inc. REI was founded in Seattle by Lloyd and Mary Anderson in 1938 as a cooperative that supplies quality climbing gear to outdoor enthusiasts. The first full-time employee hired by the Andersons was Jim Whittaker, who was the first American to climb Mount Everest.

68 Actress Davis with two Oscars : BETTE

I must confess that I have a problem watching movies starring Bette Davis. I think I must have seen her play one of her more sinister roles when I was a kid and it gave me nightmares or something. So, I have never seen the 1950 classic “All About Eve”, given that Bette Davis gets top billing. But, the title role of Eve Harrington was played by Anne Baxter, and Ms Baxter’s movies I do enjoy. Coincidentally, on the epic television series “Hotel”, when Bette Davis became ill, it was Anne Baxter who was chosen to take on her role.

70 Passover meal : SEDER

The Passover Seder is a ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish Passover holiday celebrating the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.

Down

2 Penne __ vodka : ALLA

Penne alla vodka is a pasta dish with a sauce made of vodka, cream, tomatoes, onions and sausage or bacon.

6 Singer-songwriter Tori : AMOS

Tori Amos is an American pianist and singer. She started playing the piano at two years old, and was composing piano pieces by age five. Amos was playing in piano bars (chaperoned by her father) when she was 14. I’m going to have to find some of her music …

7 Self-referential : META

In recent decades the prefix “meta-” has been used as a standalone adjective. In this sense “meta” means “self-referential”, describing something that refers to itself. For example, “This sentence starts with the word ‘this’ and ends with the word ‘this’” might be called a meta sentence. A movie that is about the making of the very same movie could also be described as meta.

9 Turned bad, as milk : SOURED

Milk naturally contains harmless lactobacillus bacteria. This bacteria feed on the lactose in the milk for energy, and creates lactic acid as a byproduct. It is this lactic acid that gives sour milk its acidic taste and odor. Pasteurization reduces the amount of lactobacillus in the milk, hence slowing the production of lactic acid.

11 Board-breaking move in a dojo : KARATE CHOP

Karate is a martial art that originated in the Ryukyu Kingdom, which is now part of Japan. A practitioner of karate is known as a karateka. The sport of karate was included as an Olympic sport starting with the 2020 Games.

The Japanese word “dojo” translates literally as “place of the way”. Originally the term applied to training halls that were found in or beside temples. The teaching in a dojo was not limited to the martial arts, but in the Western world we use the dojo as the name for a training facility for judo, karate and the like.

13 Sleeveless tops : TANKS

“Tank top” is another one of those terms that always catches me out, as it has a different meaning on each side of the Atlantic. In the US, a tank top is a sleeveless shirt, something we would call a “vest” back in Ireland (and the US “vest” is what we call a “waistcoat”). A tank top in Ireland is a sleeveless sweater, which further adds to the confusion. The name “tank top” is derived from “tank suit”, an old name for a woman’s one-piece bathing suit. The use of “tank” for the bathing suit came from “swimming tank”, an obsolete term used in the 1920s for a swimming pool.

22 “Hocus __”: 1993 film featuring a trio of witches : POCUS

“Hocus Pocus” is a 1993 comedy film about a teenage boy who resurrects a trio of witches, played by Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy. Although the movie bombed at the box office, it has legs, and has regular showings around Halloween every year. Despite failing at the box office, Disney made “Hocus Pocus 2”, and with the same leading cast.

26 So-so, informally : MID

“Mid” is a slang term used to describe something that’s average, mediocre, or simply boring. It’s a shortened version of “middling”.

27 Country star McEntire : REBA

Reba McEntire is a country music singer and television actress. McEntire starred in her own sitcom “Reba” that aired on the WB and the CW cable channels from 2001 to 2007. She is sometimes referred to as “The Queen of Country”.

29 Writing instrument with an inapt name : LEAD PENCIL

I grew up with the HB method of grading pencils, from “hardness” to “blackness”. Here in the US we sometimes use a numerical grading system, with #2 being the equivalent of HB. The numerical system was introduced in the US by one John Thoreau, father of famed author and hero of mine Henry David Thoreau.

30 Boxing ref’s ruling : TKO

Technical knockout (TKO)

31 “Firefly Lane” actress Katherine : HEIGL

Katherine Heigl is most associated with the television show “Grey’s Anatomy”, in which she plays Dr. Izzie Stevens. That’s not a show I ever watched, but I did enjoy the espionage show “State of Affairs” in which Heigl played the lead. I guess I was in the minority though, as NBC canceled “State of Affairs” after only one season …

“Firefly Lane” is a drama TV series that follows Tully and Kate, two women who meet as young girls in the 1970s and remain close over three decades. The show is based on the 2008 novel of the same name by Kristin Hannah. Tully (Katherine Heigl) is outgoing and ambitious, and pursues fame and fortune in the television industry. Kate (Sarah Chalke) is more introverted and family-oriented, and seeks love and stability. The pair met when they were 14 years old, and neighbors on a street named Firefly Lane, hence the title.

44 Some NFL blockers: Abbr. : RTS

Right Tackle (RT)

52 Verdi composition : OPERA

Giuseppe Verdi was an Italian composer, mainly of operas, who was active during the Romantic era. Equally as famous as Verdi’s operas, are arias and choruses from those operas such as “La donna è mobile” from “Rigoletto”, “The Drinking Song” from “La Traviata” and “The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves” from “Nabucco”. Verdi was a big fan of William Shakespeare and wrote three operas based on the Bard’s plays: “Macbeth”, “Otello” and “Falstaff”.

53 “Lion” Oscar nominee Dev : PATEL

Dev Patel is an actor from Harrow in England who is perhaps best known for playing the lead in the hit movie “Slumdog Millionaire”. He also stars in a lovely 2012 film called “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” alongside an incredible cast that included Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith and Tom Wilkinson. Patel also had a regular role in the marvelous HBO drama series called “The Newsroom”.

“Lion” is a 2016 film based on the autobiographical book “A Long Way Home” by Saroo Brierley. Brierley is an Indian-born Australian who was accidentally separated from his mother when he was 5 years old, ending up stranded on a train that took the young boy nearly 1,500 km from his home. The excellent film adaptation stars Dev Patel as the older Brierley, who searches for his birth-family. Excellent movie …

57 __ of Wight : ISLE

The Isle of Wight is the largest island in England, and lies about five miles off the south coast of the country. For many centuries, the island was a kingdom in its own right. One popular tourist attraction on the Isle of Wight is Osborne House, a former royal residence that was built as a summer home for Queen Victoria, and that was designed by the queen’s consort Prince Albert. Queen Victoria died in Osborne House, in 1901.

58 Space travel meas. : LT-YR

A light-year (lt-yr) is a measure of distance, not time. It is the distance that light travels in a vacuum in one year, which is almost six trillion miles. The accepted abbreviation for a light-year is “ly”. A light-second is a much shorter distance: about 186,000 miles.

60 After curfew : LATE

Our word “curfew” comes from an Old French word meaning “cover fire”. In medieval days a bell would ring in the evenings as a signal to bank the hearths in preparation for sleeping. The intent was to prevent uncontrolled fires starting from fireplaces that were not tended during the night.

61 Tiny arachnid : MITE

Arachnids are creatures with eight jointed legs. The name of the class Arachnida comes from the Greek “aráchnē” meaning “spider”.

62 Iditarod vehicle : SLED

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race covers an incredible 1,161 miles, from Anchorage to Nome in Alaska. The race starts every year on the first Saturday in March, with the first race having been held in 1973. Finishing times range from over 8 days to 15 days or more. The first few races only used a northern route, but then a southern route was added to the roster every second year. It’s kind of a good thing, because when the racers take the northern route they don’t even pass through the town of Iditarod!

65 Biopic about a Supreme Court justice : RBG

“RBG” is a 2018 documentary about the amazing life and career of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The film was released two years before Ginsberg died. After her passing, it was re-released, with box office profits going to the American Civil Liberty Union (ACLU).