Tag: Like a comfortable flight crossword clue

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Constructed by: Joe Marangell

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): It’s So ‘Oly!

Themed answers all start with a “SOL” sound:

• 17A Olympic National Park attraction : SOL DUC FALLS
• 27A Owner without a partner : SOLE PROPRIETOR
• 45A Benson Lee coming-of-age film set in South Korea : SEOUL SEARCHING
• 61A Goatee alternatives : SOUL PATCHES

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

Bill’s time: 7m 47s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Initials associated with the pride flag : LGBT

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)

The best-known rainbow flag is the one representing gay pride. Such usage of the rainbow flag was popularized in 1978 by artist Gilbert Baker. The varying colors of the flag represent the diversity of the gay community.

5A Apple download : IOS APP

iOS is what Apple now calls its mobile operating system. For the first three years of its existence, the operating system was known as “iPhone OS”. Apple was only able to rebrand it as “iOS” in 2010 after licensing the name from Cisco, which had been using the “IOS” trademark for the operating system on its routers since the 1980s.

11A Round vegetable in a pastizz : PEA

Pastizzi are savory snacks from Malta consisting of flaky pastry stuffed with either ricotta or mushy peas. The name translates literally from Maltese to “small pastries”.

15A National flower of Mexico : DAHLIA

The dahlia is a flowering plant native to Mexico and Central America. It was named the national flower of Mexico relatively recently, in 1963. The plant was given the name “dahlia” in 1791, in honor of Swedish botanist Anders Dahl.

17A Olympic National Park attraction : SOL DUC FALLS

Sol Duc Falls Olympic National Park is a spot on the Sol Duc River, where the river splits into four channels. Amazingly, coho salmon swim up the 50-foot waterfall every year to reach their upstream spawning grounds. The boulders in the falls create a natural staircase that the salmon can use to make their ascent.

Olympic National Park in Washington State was designated a national monument by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1909. It was later expanded to a national park in 1938, and is the largest wilderness area in the whole state.

19A L.A.’s Melrose, e.g. : AVE

Melrose Avenue is a thoroughfare in Los Angeles that was first paved in 1909. The street was named for the Massachusetts city of Melrose, which is located in the Greater Boston metropolitan area. One of the more famous addresses in Hollywood is 5555 Melrose Avenue, the home of Paramount Pictures.

23A Writing tip? : NIB

“Nib” is a Scottish variant of the Old English word “neb”, with both meaning “beak of a bird”. This usage of “nib” as a beak dates back to the 14th century, with “nib” describing the tip of a pen or quill coming a little later, in the early 1600s.

25A Financing figs. : APRS

Annual percentage rate (APR)

39A D.C. MLBer : NAT

If you attend a Washington Nationals baseball game, held in Nationals Park, you’ll see the Presidents Race in the middle of the fourth innings. Individuals dressed like six former US presidents, each sporting a large and cartoonish head, have participated in the races over the years. Those runners are:

• George (Washington)
• Abe (Lincoln)
• Tom (Jefferson)
• Teddy (Roosevelt)
• Big Dan (Taft)
• Herbie (Hoover)

40A City on the Nile River : ASWAN

The Egyptian city of Aswan lies in the south of the country, on the River Nile. It is famous for its stone quarries, going back to ancient times. The most celebrated granite rock from the area is called syenite. Stone from Aswan was shipped northwards along the Nile and used in the construction of the pyramids. From ancient times right up to 1970, the annual flooding of the Nile was a significant event in Egypt. The flooding allowed the deposition of fertile silt far beyond the banks of the river, helping the region’s agriculture. However, the flooding was unpredictable. So the Aswan Dam was built in the sixties and from 1970 the flooding was brought under control.

42A “Queer as Folk” actress Gill : THEA

Thea Gill is an actress from Canada whose big break came with a leading role in the American version of the TV show “Queer as Folk”, which ran for five years.

“Queer as Folk” is a British and later American television series that explored the lives of a group of gay men and their friends in urban settings. The show tackled a range of issues relevant to the LGBTQ+ community, including relationships, sexuality, family dynamics, and social discrimination.

45A Benson Lee coming-of-age film set in South Korea : SEOUL SEARCHING

“Seoul Searching” (clever title!) is 2016 American-made, comedy-drama film set in 1986 Seoul. The movie is inspired by the real-life “cultural immersion” summer camps established by the South Korean government in the 1980s to reconnect foreign-born Korean teenagers with their heritage. So, the film follows a group of teens from the US, Mexico, the UK and Germany as they participate in a summer program in the South Korean capital.

49A Fox Sports soccer analyst Holden : STU

Before becoming a well-known soccer analyst, Stu Holden was a professional midfielder who played for clubs like Houston Dynamo and Bolton Wanderers (in England). Having grown up in Sugar land, Texas, he also represented the US in the men’s national team, notably playing in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

52A “SNL” broadcaster : NBC

NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) was named “NBC’s Saturday Night” during its first season. This was to differentiate it from the ABC show airing at that time, called “Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell”. Chevy Chase uttered the famous line “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night” in the very first SNL episode on October 11, 1975. That careful wording has persisted, even though the NBC show’s name was changed to “Saturday Night Live” after Cosell’s show went off the air in 1976.

55A “The Creation of Adam,” for one : FRESCO

A fresco is a painting created on a moist plaster, usually on a wall or ceiling. The plaster is “freshly” laid when the image is created, and “fresco” is the Italian for “fresh”.

“The Creation of Adam” is a fresco by Michelangelo that is part of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Famously, it features Adam and God reaching towards each other, with hands very nearly touching.

61A Goatee alternatives : SOUL PATCHES

A soul patch is a small patch of facial hair worn especially by jazz musicians, located just below the lower lip and above the chin. The actor and comedian Howie Mandel has been sporting a soul patch for many years, I believe.

A goatee is a beard formed by hair on a man’s chin. The name probably comes from the tuft of hair seen on an adult goat.

66A Thrilling pair? : ELS

There is a pair of letters L in the word “thrilling”.

Down

2D With 68-Across, grab and not let go of : GLOM …
[68A See 2-Down : … ONTO]

“Glom” is a slang term meaning “steal”, although it can also be used to mean “latch onto” when used as “glom onto”. The term probably comes from the Scots word “glam” meaning “to snatch at”.

3D Tie with a slide clip : BOLO

I’ve never worn a bolo tie, and was surprised to discover that it is a relatively recent invention. The first bolo tie was apparently produced in Wickenburg, Arizona in the late 1940s by a silversmith. The bolo takes its name from the boleadora, an Argentine lariat.

7D Fluffy rug : SHAG

Shag carpet is one with a deep pile, one with a “shaggy” appearance.

8D Word in some trattoria dish names : ALLA

A trattoria is an Italian restaurant. In Italian, a “trattore” is the keeper of said eating house.

9D One of 36 surrounding the Lincoln Memorial : PILLAR

The Lincoln Memorial is my favorite place to visit in the whole of Washington D.C. The memorial itself was designed by Henry Bacon, and the sculptor of the magnificent statue of President Lincoln was Daniel Chester French. I spent a wonderful afternoon a few years ago touring the workshop and home of French, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The workshop is stunning, with miniature studies for his magnum opus, the Lincoln Statue, as well as many other beautiful works.

10D Faux __ : PAS

The term “faux pas” is French in origin, and translates literally as “false step” (or “false steps”, as the plural has the same spelling in French).

18D Eclectic online digest : UTNE

The “Utne Reader” is known for aggregation and republishing of articles on politics, culture and the environment from other sources in the media. It was founded in 1984 by Eric Utne, with management taken over by Eric’s wife Nina Rothschild Utne in 1990.

24D “Wuthering Heights” novelist : BRONTE

“Wuthering Heights” is the only novel written by Emily Brontë, and one that she published using the pen name Ellis Bell. It was published in December of 1847, a date chosen to take advantage of the wave of success enjoyed by Charlotte Brontë’s “Jane Eyre” that had been published just two months earlier.

26D Tuscan city : PISA

The city of Pisa sits right on the Italian coast, at the mouth of the River Arno. The city is perhaps most famous for its Leaning Tower. The tower is the campanile (bell tower) of the city’s cathedral, and it has been leaning since 1178, during construction of the second floor. Just shows you how important good foundations are …

27D Sink of “Stranger Things” : SADIE

Sadie Sink gained widespread recognition for her role as Max Mayfield in the TV show “Stranger Things”. Before her breakout TV role, she was known by Broadway audiences, starring as the title character in the musical “Annie” at just 11 years old. She also played a young Elizabeth II on stage in “The Audience”, alongside Helen Mirren.

“Stranger Things” is a sci-fi horror TV show made for Netflix that aired its first season in 2016. I don’t do horror, and so haven’t seen it …

30D Nebraska city with North America’s largest indoor swamp : OMAHA

Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium is an evolution of the Riverview Park Zoo that opened in 1894. Today, the facility is renowned for its record-breaking immersive habitats, including the world’s largest indoor desert housed within a 13-story geodesic dome. Directly beneath that desert lies the Kingdoms of the Night, the largest indoor swamp in the world, which features a rare colony of white alligators. The zoo is also home to the Lied Jungle, a massive eight-story indoor rainforest complete with a 50-foot waterfall.

31D Broadway star Bernadette : PETERS

Bernadette Peters is perhaps best known as a Broadway actress, and in particular for her performances in works by Stephen Sondheim. Off the stage and screen, Peters was noted for her 4-year relationship with Steve Martin in the seventies.

32D Red-haired primate : ORANG

Orangutans (also “orangs”) are arboreal creatures, the largest arboreal animals known to man. They are native to Indonesia and Malaysia, and live in rainforests. Like most species in rainforests these days, orangutans are endangered, with only three species surviving. The word “orangutan” is Malay, meaning “man of the forest”.

33D Rock & Roll Hall of Fame rapper MC __ : REN

“MC Ren” is the stage name of rapper Lorenzo Patterson. The “Ren” in his stage name comes from the middle letters in his given name “Lorenzo”.

37D Part of TGIF : IT’S

“Thank God It’s Friday” (TGIF) is a relatively new expression that apparently originated in Akron, Ohio. It was a catchphrase used first by disk jockey Jerry Healy of WAKR in the early seventies. That said, one blog reader wrote to me to say that he had been using the phrase in the fifties.

46D Church councils : SYNODS

The word “synod” comes from the Greek word for “assembly, meeting”. A synod is a church council, usually one in the Christian faith.

51D Eurasian range : URAL

The eastern side of the Ural Mountains in Russia and Kazakhstan is generally regarded as the natural divide between the continents of Europe and Asia.

54D Muse of history : CLIO

Clio, the muse of history, held a prominent place among the nine muses of Greek mythology. Often depicted with a scroll or tablet in hand, she presided over the recording and interpretation of past events. It was Clio who inspired historians, poets, and other writers to document and recount the deeds of mortals and the stories of gods. Her name comes from the Greek word “kleio” meaning “to celebrate, make famous”, reflecting her role in immortalizing achievements and preserving the memory of the past for future generations.

58D Gaul or Breton : CELT

The Gauls were a Celtic race, with Gaul covering what is now known as France and Belgium. We use the term “Gallic” today, when we refer to something pertaining to France or the French.

The Celtic Britons were the Celtic people who inhabited the island of Great Britain until the Middle Ages. They were the ancestors of the Welsh, Cornish and Breton peoples.

59D Nobel Peace Prize city : OSLO

The Peace Prize is the most famous of the five prizes bequeathed by Alfred Nobel. The others are for Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Literature. There is also a Nobel Prize in Economics that is awarded along with the original five, but it is funded separately and is awarded “in memory of Alfred Nobel”. Four of the prizes are awarded by Swedish organizations (Alfred Nobel was a Swede) and so the award ceremonies take place in Stockholm. The Peace Prize is awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, and is presented in Oslo.

61D Lighthouse view : SEA

The oldest lighthouse still in use is the Tower of Hercules located on the coast of Galicia in northwest Spain. Renovated in 1791, this magnificent lighthouse was built by the Romans in 2nd century CE and has been in constant use since that time. It is believed that the structure’s design is based on the famous Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of Ancient World.

62D Pay-__-click : PER

“Pay-per-click” is an advertising model commonly used on the Internet. The scheme allows advertisers to place ads for free, only paying every time that a reader clicks on an ad.