Tag: London coppers crossword clue

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Constructed by: Mark McClain
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Just the Opposite

Themed answers are common phrases, but with the starting adjective changed to its antonym:

• 17A People less likely to appear in a police lineup? : UNUSUAL SUSPECTS (from “usual suspects”)
• 26A Institute of weird learning? : ABNORMAL SCHOOL (from “normal school”)
• 42A Salad dressing ingredient that has to be special ordered? : NONSTANDARD OIL (from “Standard Oil”)
• 55A Group of TV episodes shown out of order? : IRREGULAR SEASON (from “regular season”)

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

Bill’s time: 6m 11s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Lots and lots : SCADS

The origin of the word “scads”, meaning “lots and lots”, is unclear. That said, “scads” was used to mean “dollars” back in the mid-1800s.

14 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.

17 People less likely to appear in a police lineup? : UNUSUAL SUSPECTS (from “usual suspects”)

The film “Casablanca” bequeathed us some of the most memorable lines in film history. For example, the Claude Rains character (Major Renault) pronounces, “Major Strasser has been shot. Round up the usual suspects.”

20 Trifecta, for one : BET

In horse racing, a trifecta is a bet in which the first, second and third place finishers are predicted in the correct order. The same bet can be made in jai alai competitions, predicting the top three finishers.

23 Four-time winners of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, for short : USA

The FIFA Women’s World Cup is a soccer tournament that has been held every four years since 1991. The US national team has won the tournament more times than any other nation.

26 Institute of weird learning? : ABNORMAL SCHOOL (from “normal school”)

Normal schools in the US were established in the 1800s to train teachers for public school. The term “normal school” arose from “école normale”, a term describing teacher-training schools in France starting in the 1700s. In the early 1900s, American normal schools all became state colleges.

34 Deliver a stemwinder : ORATE

A stem-winder is a type of watch, one that was very desirable in days gone by. The term became associated with “excellence” over the years, and especially with a rousing speech.

35 The Horned Frogs of the Big 12, familiarly : TCU

The sports teams of Texas Christian University (TCU) are known as the Horned Frogs. The name is a reference to the Texas horned lizard, which is also known as the “horned frog”. The school mascot used to be called “Addy the All-American Frog, but in 1979 was renamed to “SuperFrog”.

40 Open-weave fabric : SCRIM

“Scrim” is the name given to that transparent fabric that hangs down onto a theater’s stage. It is often used with special lighting for various effects.

41 Media mogul with a book club : OPRAH

“Oprah’s Book Club” was a segment that started in 1996 on “The Oprah Winfrey Show”. Each book reviewed was a personal recommendation by Winfrey herself. The first book reviewed was “The Deep End of the Ocean” by Jacquelyn Mitchard. The original book club ended in 2011, but there’s now a reboot known as “Oprah’s Book Club 2.0” that focuses on digital media now that “The Oprah Winfrey Show” is no more.

42 Salad dressing ingredient that has to be special ordered? : NONSTANDARD OIL (from “Standard Oil”)

John D. Rockefeller was an American industrialist whose biggest success came with the Standard Oil Company that he founded and ran for over 25 years. Rockefeller became the richest man in the world, and America’s first billionaire.

45 Aunts of Andalusia : TIAS

Andalusia (“Andalucía” in Spanish) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities in the Kingdom of Spain, and is the most southerly. The capital of Andalusia is the old city of Seville. The name Andalusia comes from its Arabic name, Al-Andalus, reflecting the region’s history as the center of Muslim power in Iberia during medieval times.

52 Glass of NPR : IRA

Ira Glass is a well-respected presenter on American Public Radio who is perhaps best known for his show “This American Life”. I was interested to learn that one of my favorite composers, Philip Glass, is Ira’s first cousin.

59 First name in civil rights history : ROSA

Rosa Parks was one of a cadre of brave women in days gone by who refused to give up their seats on a bus to white women. It was the stand taken by Rosa Parks on December 1, 1955 that sparked the Montgomery, Alabama Bus Boycott. President Clinton presented Ms. Parks with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996. When she died in 2005, Rosa Parks became the first ever woman to have her body lie in honor in the US Capitol Rotunda.

63 “Les Misérables” author : HUGO

Victor Hugo was a French writer who is known in his native country mainly for his poetry. Outside of France, Hugo is perhaps more closely associated with his novels such as “Les Misérables” and “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame”.

Victor Hugo’s famous 1862 novel “Les Misérables” has been translated into English several times. However, the title is usually left in the original French as a successful translation of “les misérables” seems to be elusive. Some suggestions for an English title are “The Wretched”, “The Victims” and “The Dispossessed”. The novel follows the lives of several characters including an ex-convict Jean Valjean, a fanatic police inspector Javert, a beautiful prostitute Fantine, and Fantine’s illegitimate daughter Cosette.

Down

1 Scant Wikipedia article : STUB

The Wikipedia community uses the term “stub” to denote an article considered too short. A stub is deemed inadequate in that it provides information about a subject that is insufficient for inclusion in an encyclopedia.

4 __ Equis beer : DOS

Dos Equis lager was originally brewed in 1897, and back then was called “Siglo XX” (20th century) to celebrate the arrival of the new century. The name was changed later to simply “Dos Equis” (two exes).

8 HVAC meas. : BTU

In the world of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), the power of a heating or cooling unit can be measured using the British Thermal Unit (BTU). This dated unit is the amount of energy required to heat a pound of water so that the water’s temperature increases by one degree Fahrenheit.

9 “Mamma Mia!” number : SOS

The ABBA 1975 song “SOS” was originally titled “Turn Me On”. In the movie “Mamma Mia!”, “SOS” is performed by Meryl Streep (brilliantly) and by Pierce Brosnan (terribly).

The hit musical “Mamma Mia!” was written to showcase the songs of ABBA. I’m a big fan of ABBA’s music, so I’ve seen this show several times and just love it. “Mamma Mia!” is such a big hit on the stage that on any given day there are at least seven performances going on somewhere in the world. There is a really interesting film version of the show that was released in 2008. I think the female lead Meryl Streep is wonderful in the movie, but the male leads … not so much! By the way, one can tell the difference between “Mamma Mia” the ABBA song and “Mamma Mia!” the musical, by noting the difference in the punctuation in the titles.

12 “Call My Name” singer James : ETTA

“Call My Name” is a 1967 album released by Etta James. The full name of the title track is “842-3089 (Call My Name)”.

19 London coppers : PENCE

I remember the days when there were 240 “pence” (pennies) in an Irish/British pound. Life became so much easier when that was changed to 100 “new pence” in 1971.

24 Obsolete display type : PLASMA

Plasma televisions are so called because the screen is made up of tiny cells containing electrically charged ionized gases (plasmas). Each of the cells is effectively a tiny fluorescent lamp. Plasma displays are now obsolete.

26 San Antonio landmark : ALAMO

The San Antonio mission known as the Alamo may have been named for a grove of nearby cottonwood trees. “Álamo” is the Spanish name for the cottonwood.

29 Ban rival : ARRID

Arrid is an antiperspirant deodorant brand introduced in the thirties. Slogans associated with Arrid have been “Don’t be half-safe – use Arrid to be sure”, “Stress stinks! Arrid works!” and “Get a little closer”.

30 Comic actor Cheri : OTERI

Cheri Oteri is an actress and comedian who is best known for her work on “Saturday Night Live” (SNL). Before she became a famous comedian, she worked as a cocktail waitress at the comedy club The Improv, where she was inspired to pursue a career in comedy.

32 Cosmetics retailer known for vegetarian and vegan products : LUSH

Lush is a retailer of cosmetics that was founded in Dorset, England in 1995. A defining feature of Lush is that the company does not engage in animal testing, and only uses vegan and vegetarian recipes for its products.

37 Frozen Four org. : NCAA

The semi-finals and finals of the NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Championship tournaments are collectively referred to as the “Frozen Four”. This term is a play on “Final Four”, which is the name given to the final round of the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship tournament.

40 Beekeeping hazard : STING

A queen bee has a stinger, just like worker bees. When a worker bee stings, it leaves its stinger in its victim. The worker bee dies after losing its stinger as the loss rips out part of its insides. However, a queen bee can sting with impunity as her stinger’s anatomy is different.

47 House of Lords titles : SIRS

The UK Parliament is divided into two houses, with the upper house known as the House of Lords and the lower house as the House of Commons. The members of the House of Commons (MPs) are elected, but most new members of the House of Lords are appointed. Historically, a large proportion of the membership of the upper house were hereditary peers, but recent legislative changes are reducing the numbers who can sit in the House of Lords by virtue of birthright.

48 Stagehand concern : PROP

We use the word “props” for objects that are used by actors on stage during a play. The term is a shortening of the older term “properties”, which was used with the same meaning up through the 19th century.

49 Bear in the night : URSA

The constellation Ursa Major (Latin for “Larger Bear”) is often just called “the Big Dipper” because of the resemblance of its main stars to a ladle or dipper. Those stars also resemble a plow, and that’s what we usually call the same constellation back in Ireland the “Plough”.

53 Chess piece : ROOK

The corner piece in the game of chess is called a “rook”, a word coming from the Persian “rokh” meaning a “chariot”. The rook has also been called, perhaps incorrectly, the castle, tower, marquess and rector.

57 Brock in the Baseball Hall of Fame : LOU

Lou Brock was a professional baseball player who played most of his career with the St. Louis Cardinals. Brock broke Ty Cobb’s all-time stolen base record (938) in 1977, and held that record until 1982.