Tag: Like a cloud forest crossword clue

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Constructed by: Lynn Lempel
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: It’s a First

Themed answers are common phrases, but with a letter A placed FIRST:

• 57A “Haven’t seen that before,” and an apt title for this puzzle : IT’S A FIRST

• 16A Reason for copyright suits filed by Atari? : APING PONG (A + ping-pong)
• 24A Where squirrels stash treats? : ACORN HOLE (A + cornhole)
• 34A Shenanigans in the physics lab? : ATOM FOOLERY (A + tomfoolery)
• 47A Rueful remark after losing on the Strip? : ALAS, VEGAS (A + Las Vegas)

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

Bill’s time: 6m 38s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 Falafel bread : PITA

Falafel is a ball of ground chickpeas or fava beans that has been deep fried and served in pita bread. I love chickpeas, but falafel is often too dry for me …

14 Japanese noodle : UDON

Udon noodles are made from wheat-flour and are very popular in Japanese cuisines such as tempura.

15 Wassail spice : CLOVE

Cloves are the flower buds of the tree Syzygium aromaticum. Until a couple of centuries ago, clove trees were only found in the Maluku Islands in Indonesia. Because they were a rich source of cloves, mace and nutmeg, the Moluccas were referred to historically as the Spice Islands.

Wassail is ale or mulled wine used for toasting at festivals, especially Christmas. The term “wassail” comes from Old Norse “ves heill” meaning “be healthy”.

16 Reason for copyright suits filed by Atari? : APING PONG (A + ping-pong)

Do you remember the arcade video game that is like a game of tennis, with paddles moving up and down to hit what looks like a ball, over what looks like a net? Well, that is Pong. The arcade version of Pong was introduced in 1972, with Atari selling a home version through Sears for the Christmas market in 1975.

Ping-Pong is called table tennis in the UK, where the sport originated in the 1880s. Table tennis started as an after-dinner activity among the elite, and was called “wiff-waff”. To play the game, books were stacked in the center of a table as a “net”, two more books served as “”rackets” and the ball used was actually a golf ball. The game evolved over time with the rackets being upgraded to the lids of cigar boxes and the ball becoming a champagne cork (how snooty is that?). Eventually the game was produced commercially, and the sound of the ball hitting the racket was deemed to be a “ping” and a “pong”, giving the sport its alternative name. The name “Ping-Pong” was trademarked in Britain in 1901, and eventually sold to Parker Brothers in the US.

18 “The Right Kind of Wrong” singer LeAnn : RIMES

“The Right Kind of Wrong” is a song written for the 2000 movie “Coyote Ugly” that was performed by Leann Rimes.

19 Prehistoric tools : STONES

Ancient societies can be classified by the “three-age system”, which depends on the prevalence of materials used to make tools. The three ages are:

• The Stone Age
• The Bronze Age
• The Iron Age

The actual dates defined by each age depend on the society, as the timing of the transition from the use of one material to another varied around the globe.

20 Pelvic bones : ILIA

The ilium (plural “ilia”) is the upper portion of the hipbone.

22 Dash of flavor? : MRS

Mrs. Dash is a brand name of seasoning mixes. Just before the product first went to market in 1981, brand owner B&G Foods also considered the name “Mrs. Pinch”.

23 “Impression, Sunrise” artist : MONET

French artist Claude Monet was one of the founders of the Impressionist movement, and indeed the term “Impressionism” comes from the title of his 1872 painting “Impression, Sunrise”. That work depicts the port of Le Havre, which was Monet’s hometown. Later in his life, Monet purchased a house in Giverny, and famously installed lily ponds and a Japanese bridge in the property’s extensive gardens. He spent two decades painting the water lily ponds, producing his most famous works. I was fortunate enough to visit Monet’s house and gardens in Giverny a few years ago. A beautiful place …

24 Where squirrels stash treats? : ACORN HOLE (A + cornhole)

The nest of a tree squirrel or flying squirrel is known as a “drey” (sometimes “dray”). Squirrels usually build dreys where branches fork in large trees. Dreys can be hard to spot, until the leaves fall late in the year. They are roughly circular structures made from twigs, dry leaves and grass.

Cornhole is a game in which contestants throw bean bags towards a tilted-up platform with a hole in it. Bags that land in the hole score 3 points, and bags that land on the board score 1 point.

27 Kid-lit girl with a blueberry pail : SAL

“Blueberries for Sal” is a children’s storybook by Robert McCloskey that was published in 1948. It won the Caldecott Medal in 1949, recognizing “Blueberries for Sal” as the most distinguished picture for children released in the preceding year.

29 Allen who was the 2017 NFL Comeback Player of the Year : KEENAN

Keenan Allen is an NFL wide receiver who was selected in the third round of the 2013 draft by the San Diego Chargers. He is one of the few players in the professional league with a Native-American background, being a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina.

33 “The Sound of Music” range : ALPS

“The Sound of Music” is a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that was made into a celebrated movie in 1965 starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The musical is based on “The Story of the Trapp Family Singers”, a memoir by Maria von Trapp. The von Trapp family ended up in Stowe, Vermont after the war. One family descended from the Vermont von Trapps lives in the same town in which I used to live in California.

34 Shenanigans in the physics lab? : ATOM FOOLERY (A + tomfoolery)

I suppose one might be forgiven for thinking that “shenanigan” is an Irish term, as it certainly sounds Irish. Usually written in the plural, shenanigans are acts of mischief, pranks. Apparently the word is of uncertain derivation, but was coined in San Francisco or Sacramento, California in the mid-1800s.

37 “12 Monkeys” network : SYFY

Syfy is a cable television channel that used to be known as the “Sci-Fi Channel”, which of course specializes in broadcasting science fiction shows. The brand name “Syfy” was chosen because “Syfy” could be trademarked whereas the generic term “sci-fi” could not.

“12 Monkeys” is a 1995 sci-fi movie starring Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe and Brad Pitt. It is a remake of 1962 French short film “La Jetée”. “12 Monkeys” was directed by Terry Gilliam, who was a key member of the “Monty Python” team.

39 Aboriginal emblems : TOTEMS

“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.

40 Liquefies : PUREES

A purée is a food that has been made smooth by straining or blending. “Purée” is a French term, which I believe is now used to mean “pea soup” (more completely written as “purée de pois”). The French verb “purer” means “to strain, clean”, from the Latin “purare” meaning “to purify, clean”.

44 “1883” actor Elliott : SAM

Sam Elliot has to be one of the most distinctive and well-known character actors. He has graced the screen, with his deep and sonorous voice, in many hit movies, including “We Were Soldiers”, “Thank You for Smoking”, “Up in the Air” and “A Star Is Born”. More recently, he took on a starring role in the Western TV miniseries “1883”. Elliott married fellow actor Katharine Ross in 1984.

“Yellowstone” is a pretty successful drama series starring Kevin Costner that premiered in 2018. Costner plays a rich and powerful rancher in Montana. Such is the success of the show that two spin-off shows were commissioned, with other spin-offs planned:

1. “1883” (premiered in 2021, starring Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill)
2. “1923” (starring Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford)

47 Rueful remark after losing on the Strip? : ALAS, VEGAS (A + Las Vegas)

The stretch of South Las Vegas Boulevard on which most of the big casinos are concentrated is referred to as the “Las Vegas Strip”. The Strip was named for LA’s Sunset Strip by former Los Angeles law enforcement officer Guy McAfee. McAfee was a notoriously corrupt head of the LAPD vice squad in the 1920s and 1930s who ran several brothels and gambling saloons. McAfee moved to Las Vegas in 1939 where he opened several casinos, including the Golden Nugget.

50 Scale mark : OUNCE

Our term “ounce” (abbreviated to “oz.”) comes from the Latin “uncia”, which was 1/12 of a “libra”, the Roman “pound”. “Uncia” is also the derivation of our word “inch”, 1/12 of a foot.

52 Retailer with an “Uncommon Path” blog : 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.

59 Like a cloud forest : MOSSY

A cloud forest is a tropical forest that has a particularly persistent cloud cover that maintains a moist atmosphere. That moist atmosphere often produces an abundance of moss on and near the ground, leading to the alternative moniker of “mossy forest”.

62 Versatile celeb’s feat : EGOT

Emmy, Grammy, Oscar & Tony Awards (EGOT)

64 Irish Gaelic : ERSE

There are three Erse languages: Irish, Manx (spoken on the Isle of Man) and Scots Gaelic. In their own tongues, these would be “Gaeilge” (in Ireland), “Gaelg” (on the Isle of Man) and “Gaidhlig” (in Scotland).

Down

1 Resource stored in some banks : PLASMA

Prior to 1915, blood transfusions were carried out directly, from a vein of the donor into a vein of the recipient. All that changed pretty quickly when it was discovered that sodium citrate could be added to blood to stop it coagulating. Soon, it was clear that refrigerated blood treated with an anticoagulant could be stored, and blood “depots” were created in Britain during WWI. The term “blood bank” was first used in 1937, to describe the store of blood kept in the Cook County Hospital in Chicago.

2 Tazo alternative : LIPTON

Sir Thomas Lipton was a grocer in Glasgow, Scotland. He founded a tea packing company in North America in 1893, in Hoboken, New Jersey. He was very successful as his blends of tea became popular in the US. Despite the Lipton roots in the UK, Lipton black tea isn’t available there, so I’ve always thought of it as an American brand.

3 Like a classic French soup : ONIONY

To cook “au gratin” is to prepare something in a shallow dish with a crust of bread or cheese on top. In America we tend to think mainly of potatoes prepared this way, but the technique can be used for many different dishes. What we call French onion soup, a soup with some bread and cheese baked on top, is called “gratinée” in France.

4 Pasta with lisce and rigate versions : PENNE

The pasta known as penne comes in two main types, i.e. penne lisce (which is smooth) and penne rigate (which is furrowed).

5 Young seals : PUPS

Male seals are called bulls, females are cows, and babies are pups. A group of seals comprising one or two males, with several females and their offspring, is known as a harem.

7 Fizzy mixer : TONIC

The original tonic water was a fairly strong solution of the drug quinine dissolved in carbonated water. It was used in tropical areas in South Asia and Africa where malaria is rampant. The quinine has a prophylactic effect against the disease, and was formulated as “tonic water” so that it could be easily distributed. In British colonial India, the colonial types got into the habit of mixing gin with the tonic water to make it more palatable by hiding the bitter taste of quinine. Nowadays, the level of quinine in tonic water has dropped, and sugar has been added.

8 __-Frisian: West Germanic language group : ANGLO

The Anglo-Frisian languages are a branch of the West Germanic languages that include English, Scots, and Frisian. These languages are closely related and share a common ancestor, Proto-Anglo-Frisian, which was spoken in coastal areas of the North Sea in the first millennium AD.

9 Country quartet __ Young Band : ELI

The Eli Young Band is a country group from Texas founded by Mike Eli and James Young when they were roommates in the University of North Texas.

15 Marsh bird : CRANE

The magnificent birds known as cranes have long legs and long necks. The species called the Sarus Crane is the world’s tallest flying bird.

25 Learns via the grapevine : HEARS

There are competing stories about the etymology of the phrase “heard it through the grapevine”, meaning “heard it by means of gossip or rumor”. One is that it is a reference to the Grapevine Tavern in Greenwich Village in New York City. The Grapevine was a popular meeting place for Union officers and Confederate spies during the Civil War, and so was a great spot for picking up and spreading vital gossip.

30 Eye sores : STYES

A stye is a bacterial infection of the sebaceous glands at the base of the eyelashes, and is also known as a hordeolum.

31 Bath bathroom : LOO

It has been suggested that the British term “loo”, meaning “toilet”, comes from “Waterloo” (water closet … water-loo), but no one seems to know for sure. Another suggestion is that the term comes from the card game of “lanterloo”, in which the pot was called the loo!

32 Seated yoga pose : LOTUS

“Asana” is a Sanskrit word that translates literally as “sitting down”. The asanas are the poses that a practitioner of yoga assumes. The most famous is the lotus position, the cross-legged pose called “padmasana”.

35 Part of a right triangle : LEG

An acute triangle is a triangle in which all three angles are less than 90 degrees (i.e. acute angles). An obtuse triangle is one which has one angle that is greater than 90 degrees (i.e. obtuse). Acute and obtuse triangles are collectively referred to as oblique triangles, meaning they are not right triangles. A right triangle is one that includes a 90-degree angle.

36 Second Gentleman Doug : EMHOFF

The first person to hold the title of “second gentleman” of the US is Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris.

38 Cake also called bûche de Noël : YULE LOG

A Yule log is a large log made from a very hard wood that is burned as part of the Christmas celebration. There is also a cake called a Yule log that is served at Christmas, especially in French-speaking parts of the world. The cake is made from a sponge that is rolled up to resemble a wooden Yule log.

49 Writer Chekhov : ANTON

Anton Chekhov was a Russian writer of short stories and a playwright, as well as a physician. He wrote four classic plays that are often performed all around the world, namely “The Seagull”, “Uncle Vanya”, “Three Sisters” and “The Cherry Orchard”. All the time Chekhov was writing, he continued to practice medicine. He is quoted as saying “Medicine is my lawful wife, and literature is my mistress.”

54 Lummoxes : OAFS

The word “lummox” comes from Britain, from East Anglian slang, and describes an ungainly and often clueless person. The term is probably a contraction of “lumbering ox”.