Tag: Loft-y group? crossword clue

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Constructed by: Patti Varol

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Placement Exam

Themed answers are well-known phrases, with words PLACED LITERALLY in the grid:

• 36A Requirement for many a private school, and an apt title for this puzzle? : PLACEMENT EXAM

• 17A “Don’t be impulsive,” literally : “LOOK” YOU LEAP (“look” before “you leap”)
• 29A Find hidden meaning, literally : THE “READ” LINES (“read” between “the lines”)
• 44A Risks missing a deadline, literally : SCHEDULE “RUNS” (“runs” behind “schedule”)
• 60A Nearly identical pair, literally : A “TWO PEAS” POD (“two peas” in “a pod”)

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

Bill’s time: 13m 22s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

6A Piccata need : CAPER

The seasoning we know as “capers” are the edible flower buds of the caper bush, also known as Flinders rose. By the time we get them in a jar, the buds have been pickled and salted. I’m not a huge fan of capers …

The dish named “piccata” originated in Italy, with the traditional meat used being veal. Whatever meat is 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.

14A Now, in Spanish : AHORA

“Ahora” is the Spanish for “now”, although that “now” really means “pretty soon, in the near future”. The phrase “ahora mismo” is used to mean “right now”.

16A Piglet pal : ROO

Like most of the characters in A. A. Milne’s “Winnie-the-Pooh”, the kangaroo named “Roo” was inspired by a stuffed toy belonging to Milne’s son Christopher Robin.

24A Designer Jacobs : MARC

Marc Jacobs is an American fashion designer from New York City with his own line of clothing. He is also the creative director for the French design house, Louis Vuitton.

27A Covers for, maybe : ABETS

The word “abet” comes into English from the Old French “abeter” meaning “to bait” or “to harass with dogs” (literally “to make bite”). This sense of encouraging something bad to happen morphed into our modern usage of “abet” meaning to aid or encourage someone in a crime.

32A Garment worn with a choli : SARI

A choli is a blouse worn by women in the Indian subcontinent. It is a relatively short garment, and is usually worn along with a sari.

50A Baking soda target : ODOR

“Baking soda” is a common name for the compound sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3).

51A Comedian Samantha : BEE

Samantha Bee is a comedian from Toronto who found fame as a correspondent on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” starting way back in 2003. Bee left “The Daily Show” in 2015 to host her own late-night talk show “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” on TBS.

54A Radio-active truckers? : CBERS

A CB’er is someone who operates a Citizens Band (CB) radio. In 1945, the FCC set aside certain radio frequencies for the personal use of citizens. The use of the Citizens Band increased throughout the seventies as advances in electronics brought down the size of transceivers and their cost. There aren’t many CB radios sold these days though, as they have largely been replaced by cell phones.

59A Drink brand with Simbu Strawberry and Molokai Coconut flavors : BAI

Bai Brands is a beverage company that specializes in low-cal soft drinks that include antioxidants.

63A Receipt fig. : AMT

Amount (amt.)

64A One-named K-pop singer : IRENE

South Korean actress and singer Bae Joo-hyun is best known by her stage name “Irene”, and as a member of the K-pop girl group Red Velvet. She is also known for her many endorsement deals, and so is referred to as a “CF Queen” in her homeland. “CF” stands for “commercial film”, the term used in South Korea for TV advertisement.

65A Party-planning site : EVITE

Evite.com is a website launched in 1998 that is used to create, send and manage “evites”, online invitations.

Down

1D Actress Hayek Pinault : SALMA

Salma Hayek is a Mexican actress. Hayek was the first Mexican national to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, earning that nomination with her portrayal of artist Frida Kahlo in the 2002 movie “Frida”.

3D Dove bar? : ROOST

Taxonomically, doves and pigeons are the only members of the order Columbidae. The terms “dove” and “pigeon” are often used interchangeably. Scientifically speaking, dove species tend to be smaller than pigeon species. Colloquially though, many refer to doves as the white or nearly white species in the family.

4D Holy chests : ARKS

The Torah ark is found in a synagogue, and is the ornamental container in which the Torah scrolls are stored. The word “Torah” best translates as “teaching” or “law”. The Torah ark is referred to as the “Aron Kodesh” in Hebrew, meaning “Holy Ark”.

6D Mountain predator : COUGAR

The mountain lion is found in much of the Americas from the Yukon in Canada right down to the southern Andes in South America. Because the mountain lion is found over such a vast area, it has many different names applied by local peoples, such as “cougar” and “puma”. In fact, the mountain lion holds the Guinness record for the animal with the most number of different names, with over 40 in English alone.

8D Epitome of ease : PIE

The idiom “as easy as pie” is used to describe something that is simple to do. It appears that the reference here is to the simplicity of eating pie, rather than making a pie.

9D “Dear __ Hansen” : EVAN

“Dear Evan Hansen” is a 2015 stage musical about a young man with awkward social skills and his efforts to make friends. The show was inspired by real-life events: The show’s writer, Steven Levenson, was inspired to write the musical after the suicide of a high school student in his hometown.

11D Like bouillabaisse : PROVENCAL

Provence is a geographical region in France, in the south of the country. The region was once a Roman province called Provincia Romana, and was the first Roman province beyond the Alps. It is this Roman name “Provincia Romana” that gives Provence its name. Something related to Provence is referred to as “Provençal” (note the use of the cedilla, even in English).

Bouillabaisse is a traditional seafood stew that originated in the port city of Marseille on the Mediterranean coast of France. The term “bouillabaisse” comes from Provençal dialect meaning “boil and simmer”, or more literally “boil and lower (heat)”.

22D Softball stat : RBI

Run batted in (RBI)

26D “Double Indemnity” novelist : CAIN

Novelist James M. Cain had a string of hit novels in the 1930s and 1940s, several of which were adapted into successful films. That list includes “The Postman Always Rings Twice” (1934), “Double Indemnity” (1936) and “Mildred Pierce” (1941). Even though Cain also worked as a screenwriter, he never had a successful film script, despite the success of his novels that others adapted.

“Double Indemnity” is a classic film noir released in 1944 and starring Fred MacMurray, Edward G. Robinson and Barbara Stanwyck. Based on the James M. Cain novella of the same name, it’s all about a woman who kills her husband for insurance money. The title “Double Indemnity” refers to the double payout clause in the life insurance policy in the event of an accidental death. And that’s what the wife tried to show investigators, that the death was accidental.

28D Fed. ID fig. : SSN

The main purpose of a Social Security Number (SSN) is to track individuals for the purposes of taxation, although given its ubiquitous use, it is looking more and more like an identity number to me. The social security number system was introduced in 1936. Prior to 1986, an SSN was required only for persons with substantial income, so many children under 14 had no number assigned. For some years the IRS had a concern that a lot of people were claiming children on their tax returns who did not actually exist. So starting in 1986, the IRS made it a requirement to get an SSN for any dependents over the age of 5. Sure enough, seven million dependents “disappeared” in 1987. Today, a SSN is required for a child of any age in order to receive a tax exemption.

30D Juice box brand : HI-C

Hi-C orange drink was created in 1946 and introduced to the market in 1948, initially in the south of the country. The name “Hi-C” was chosen to emphasize the high vitamin C content in the drink, as it contained added ascorbic acid (vitamin C).

31D Lions or Tigers, in recaps : DET

The Detroit Lions are the NFL team that play home games at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. The team was founded way back in 1929 as the Portsmouth Spartans from Portsmouth, Ohio. The Spartans joined the NFL during the Great Depression as other franchises collapsed. However, the Spartans couldn’t command a large enough gate in Portsmouth so the team was sold and relocated to Detroit in 1934.

The origins of the Detroit Tigers baseball team’s name seems a little unclear. One story is that it was taken from the Detroit Light Guard military unit who were known as “The Tigers”. The Light Guard fought with distinction during the Civil War and in the Spanish-American War. Sure enough, when the Detroit baseball team went into the Majors they were formally given permission to use “The Tigers” name by the Detroit Light Guard.

32D Destination for aspiring astronauts : SPACE CAMP

The US Space Camp was founded in 1982 largely at the suggestion of Wernher von Braun. The original Space Camp was opened in Huntsville, Alabama and it still operates today. There followed Space Camp Florida and Space Camp California, but they’ve since closed their doors.

33D “They’re A, B, C, D-licious” cereal : ALPHA-BITS

Alpha-Bits is a Post breakfast cereal that was introduced in 1958, and taken off the shelves in 2006. The cereal was relaunched in 2008 with “0% Sugar!” tagline, but I guess that didn’t sell too well. The original Alpha-Bits formulation was reintroduced in 2008. Sugar, sugar, sugar …

37D Lac contents : EAU

In French, a “lac” (lake) is a body of “eau” (water).

38D Actor Ventimiglia : MILO

Actor Milo Ventimiglia got his break on TV playing Jess Mariano on the show “Gilmore Girls”. He then played Peter Petrelli on “Heroes”, and Jack Pearson on “This Is Us”.

40D Letters before omicrons : XIS

The Greek letter “xi”, despite the name, is not the precursor of our letter X. Our X comes from the Greek letter “chi”.

The name of the Greek letter omicron means “little O” (O-micron) in Greek. This is in contrast to omega, which literally means “great O” (O-mega).

41D Couture monogram : YSL

Yves Saint Laurent (YSL)

47D Former “At the Movies” co-host : ROEPER

Richard Roeper is columnist and film critic for “The Chicago Sun-Times”, and came to national attention when he replaced Gene Siskel as co-host with Roger Ebert on the famous film review TV show. Roeper started work with Ebert in 2000, after Siskel died in 1999. Roeper stayed with the show right through 2008, even though Ebert had to bow out in 2006 as he recovered from cancer surgery.

51D Hasbro toy that requires twisting and pulling : BOP IT!

Bop It! is a line of toys with a speaker that issues commands to activate input devices on the toy, devices such as handles, cranks, wheels and switches. The commands come in a series of increasing length, and at increasing speed. So, I guess Bop It! is a test of memory and dexterity.

52D Mexican street corn : ELOTE

Corn in a cup (“elote en vaso”) is a Mexican street food. It is made with fresh corn kernels mixed with mayonnaise, cheese, lime and chile.

55D H-town pro : ‘STRO

The Houston baseball team changed its name to the Astros (sometimes “’Stros”) from the Colt .45s in 1965 when they started playing in the Astrodome. The Astrodome was so called in recognition of the city’s long association with the US space program. The Astros moved from the National League to the American League starting in the 2013 season.

The city of Houston (sometimes “H-Town”) was named for General Sam Houston, who served as President of the Republic of Texas and then as Governor after Texas was annexed as a US state in 1845. As the city is home to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston was officially given the nickname “Space City” in 1967.

57D Mother of the Titans : GAEA

The Greek goddess personifying the Earth was Gaea (also “Gaia”, and meaning “land” or “earth” in Greek). The Roman equivalent goddess was Terra Mater, “Mother Earth”.

58D “Kindly let us know” letters : RSVP

“RSVP” stands for “répondez s’il vous plaît”, which is French for “answer, please”.

59D Stuffed bun : BAO

A baozi (also “bou, bao”) is a steamed, filled bun in Chinese cuisine.

61D “The Phoenician Scheme” director Anderson : WES

“The Phoenician Scheme” is a 2025 black comedy film written and directed by Wes Anderson. I don’t really “do” Wes Anderson movies, so I won’t be seeing this one.

62D Number worn by Ozzie Smith : ONE

Ozzie Smith is a former professional shortstop. Smith played for the San Diego Padres and the St. Louis Cardinals. After retiring in 1996, Smith served as the host of TV’s “This Week in Baseball” for about a year.