Tag: Mirror pic letters on social media crossword clue

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Constructed by: Kim Alswager & Zhou Zhang

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Music Notes

Themed answers are all common phrases reinterpreted as NOTES one might give to a MUSICIAN:

• 61A Score symbols, or a description of 17-, 24-, 39-, and 49-Across : MUSIC NOTES

• 17A “Step one: make sure everything is in tune”? : FIRST: PITCH
• 24A “Learn to recognize the pattern of sharps and flats”? : MASTER KEYS
• 39A “Don’t wait for anyone else, go ahead and write a song”? : COMPOSE YOURSELF
• 49A “Now play C major and C minor descending”? : SCALES DOWN

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

Bill’s time: 9m 01s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

4A __ farming: asking for upvotes on Reddit : KARMA

Contributors to the Reddit social news website have their standing within the community ranked. Users accrue positive or negative digital currency, called “karma”, based on community upvotes and downvotes applied to their posts. The practice of “karma farming” describes the manipulative tactic of accumulating these points by reposting viral content, stealing artwork, or pandering to popular opinions.

9A Catches forty winks : NAPS

Back in the early 1800s, folks took “nine winks” when getting a few minutes of sleep during the day. Dr. William Kitchiner extended this concept in his 1821 self-help book “The Art of Invigorating and Prolonging Life”. He suggested “A Forty Winks Nap”, which we seem to have been taking ever since. Mind you, I’m up to about eighty winks most days …

13A Hazy brew, briefly : IPA

Hazy IPAs tend to be unfiltered, and so retain some yeast sediment. These days, I am almost forced to drink IPAs (what else is available?!), and usually opt for a hazy IPA. Please, please, brewers, bring back hefeweizens …

16A On-the-job protection org. : OSHA

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

20A Party game with forbidden words : TABOO

Taboo is a guessing game that was introduced by Parker Brothers in 1989. Players must encourage their teammates to guess a word on a card, without using that word or related words defined on the card. It’s a fun game that’s played regularly around here …

22A Green Gables girl : ANNE

“Anne of Green Gables” is a 1908 novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery that she set in the fictional Prince Edward Island community of Avonlea. Montgomery wrote several sequels to “Anne”, with most of them being set on Prince Edward Island (PEI), from where the author hailed.

23A One with elitist tastes : SNOB

Back in the 1780s, a snob was a shoemaker or a shoemaker’s apprentice. By the end of the 18th century the word “snob” was being used by students at Cambridge University in England to refer to all local merchants and people of the town. The term evolved to mean one who copies those who are his or her social superior (and not in a good way). From there it wasn’t a big leap for “snob” to include anyone who emphasized their superior social standing and not just those who aspired to rank. Nowadays a snob is anyone who looks down on those considered to be of inferior standing.

30A Perpignan pal : AMI

Perpignan is a French city sitting at the foot of the Pyrenees and just a few kilometers from the Mediterranean coast. Back in the 13th and 14th centuries, it served as the continental capital of the Kingdom of Majorca, along with the insular capital of Palma on the island of Majorca.

42A Beer with the largest single-site brewery in the world : COORS

Coors operates the largest single-site brewery in the world, at its headquarters in Golden, Colorado. To survive the thirteen years of Prohibition, the brewery used the massive industrial footprint to manufacture specialized ceramics and malted milk for Mars candy bars. Today, the capacity of the plant exceeds twenty million barrels of beer.

43A Olympic judo medalist Rousey : RONDA

Ronda Rousey is a mixed martial artist, and the first US woman to win an Olympic medal in judo. Rousey is a popular person online, with hers being the third-most searched name on Google in 2015 (after Lamar Odom and Caitlyn Jenner).

45A Opportunity org. : NASA

NASA launched “Oppy”, the Opportunity rover, in 2003 as part of its Mars Exploration Rover program. It was designed for a brief, 90-day mission to search for signs of past water activity, but it roamed the Martian surface for nearly 15 years, traveling over 28 miles. Eventually, a severe, planet-wide dust storm severed its communications with Earth in 2018. There is a fabulous 2022 documentary “Good Night Oppy” that tells the story of the Opportunity rover. I highly, highly recommend it …

47A Mirror pic letters on social media : OOTD

The initialism “OOTD” stands for “Outfit of the Day”. It’s used online by fashion bloggers and everyday users alike to showcase their daily clothing choices. Don’t bother looking for my choices …

57A Onigiri wrapper : NORI

Onigiri is an item from Japanese cuisine, one often served in a bento box. It comprises white rice, usually formed into the shape of a pyramid or cylinder. The rice is wrapped in nori, dried edible seaweed.

58A Tonewood used to make ukuleles : KOA

The flowering tree known as koa grows in the wild only on the Hawaiian Islands. Koa wood is prized for the construction of dugout canoes, surfboards and guitars.

59A Parting mot : ADIEU

“Adieu” is French for “goodbye, farewell”, from “à Dieu” meaning “to God”. The plural of “adieu” is “adieux”.

Down

2D Hive-minded? : APIAN

Something described as apian is related to bees. “Apis” is Latin for “bee”.

3D Greta known as the “Swedish Sphinx” : GARBO

Actress Greta Garbo was born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson in Stockholm, and earned the moniker the “Swedish Sphinx” due to her intensely guarded private life and absolute refusal to grant interviews, sign autographs, or attend award ceremonies. She retired from the silver screen in 1941, when only 35 years old. She spent the next fifty years living in relative seclusion in New York City.

Famously, Greta Garbo lived a life of seclusion in New York City after she retired from the entertainment business. Commentators often associated her need for privacy with a line she uttered in the great 1932 movie “Grand Hotel”. Her character Grusinskaya the Russian ballerina said, “I want to be alone (…) I just want to be alone”.

4D Diet with fat bombs : KETO

A ketogenic (also “keto”) diet is a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet. When a body consumes insufficient carbohydrates to meet the need for energy, then the liver converts fat into fatty acids and ketone bodies in order to make up the energy deficit. An elevated level of ketone bodies in the bloodstream is known as “ketosis”, a term that gives rise to the name “ketogenic diet”. Medical professionals sometimes prescribe a ketogenic diet in order to control epilepsy in children. A condition of ketosis can reduce the frequency of epileptic seizures.

5D Feedback provider, maybe : AMP

We’ve all heard the howl of audio feedback when someone places a microphone near a loudspeaker. What happens is that a sound picked up by the microphone is amplified on the way to the speaker, and then the microphone picks up the amplified sound, which gets further amplified and passed out of the speaker, and a loop occurs. Ouch …!

6D Triple Crown stat : RBI

In Major League baseball, a player can earn the Triple Crown when he is the leader in three specific statistics. The pitching Triple Crown includes wins, strikeouts and earned run average (ERA). The batting Triple Crown includes home runs, runs batted in (RBI) and batting average.

7D Fliers who are often light-headed? : MOTHS

It isn’t really understood why moths are attracted to artificial lights. There is one theory that sounds plausible to me though. It is suggested that moths navigate at night by maintaining the moon (the brightest celestial object) at a fixed angle. When a moth finds a brighter light source, like an artificial light, it gets confused.

8D Tie at a racetrack? : ASCOT

An ascot is a wide tie that narrows at the neck, which these days is only really worn at weddings or part of a dress uniform. The tie takes its name from the Royal Ascot horse race at which punters still turn up in formal wear at Ascot Racecourse in England.

Ascot Racecourse is used for thoroughbred horse racing, and is located in the town of Ascot, Berkshire in England. The course is located just six miles from Windsor Castle, and is often visited by members of the royal family. Royal Ascot is the name given to the most famous race meeting in the year, at which members of the royal family attend each day, arriving in horse-drawn carriages amidst great ceremony.

11D Baloney descriptor : PHONY

“Baloney” is an American English variant of “Bologna” as in the sausage. The term came to be used to mean “nonsense” in the 1920s. “Baloney” was popularized in the 1930s by New York Governor Alfred E. Smith as he used the term quite often.

15D Like tulle : SHEER

Tulle is a lightweight net fabric that is often used in veils, wedding gowns and ballet tutus.

18D Drink brand with lizards in its logo : SOBE

The brand name “SoBe” can be found on teas, juices and bottled waters. “SoBe” is an abbreviation for “South Beach”, the neighborhood in Miami Beach, Florida.

24D Springfield watering hole : MOE’S

The regulars on “The Simpsons” hang out at Moe’s Tavern, which is named for and run by Moe Szyslak. The most popular beer at Moe’s is Duff Beer. The name “Duff” is a reference to the real-life Duffy’s Tavern that used to be on East 13th Street in Eugene, Oregon. “The Simpsons” creator Matt Groening used to frequent Duffy’s regularly, and Moe’s looks very much like Duffy’s in terms of decor and floor plan.

“The Simpsons” television show is meant to be set in “Anytown, USA”. The creators chose the name “Springfield”, as it is one of most common town and city names in the country.

25D Sunflower kin : ASTER

Apparently, most aster species and cultivars bloom relatively late in the year, usually in the fall. The name “aster” comes into English via Latin from the Greek word “astéri” meaning “star”, a reference to the arrangement of the petals of the flower.

The common sunflower is so called because it has a flower head that looks like the Sun. Famously, young sunflowers exhibit heliotropism, tilting during the day to face the sun. As the sunflowers mature and bloom, they generally face east and no longer track the movement of the Sun across the sky.

26D Tommy Pickles, for one : RUGRAT

Tommy Pickles is the protagonist on the Nickelodeon cartoon show “Rugrats”. Dil Pickles is Tommy’s younger brother, and Tommy and Dil’s parents are Didi and Stu.

28D “__ Pointe Blank” : GROSSE

“Grosse Pointe Blank” is an excellent 1997 comedy-crime movie starring John Cusack and Minnie Driver. The film has a fresh storyline and great acting, with a 1980s-themed soundtrack as an added bonus. The title refers to Grosse Pointe, a suburb of Detroit where the movie is set.

30D Syracuse’s gp. : ACC

Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)

Syracuse University (SU) is a private school that was established in 1870 in Syracuse, New York. One of the darkest days in SU’s history came with the terrorist bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988. 35 SU students were on that flight, returning from a study-abroad program in Europe. The school recalls that tragic event annually by awarding 35 students Remembrance Scholarships for their final year.

34D Edebiri of “The Bear” : AYO

Actor, comedian and television writer Ayo Edebiri gained prominence for her role as Sydney Adamu, the young sous-chef in the very successful Hulu series “The Bear”.

“The Bear” is a comedy-drama TV show that started airing in 2022. It stars Jeremy Allen White (of “Shameless” fame) as a chef from a Michelin-star restaurant who heads home to Chicago to run his family’s sandwich shop after his brother dies. I really enjoyed this one …

38D Theater director’s deg. : MFA

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

40D Nutty confections : PRALINES

A praline is a candy made out of nuts and sugar syrup. The first pralines were made in France in the 17th century for an industrialist named Marshal du Plessis-Praslin, who gave his name to the confection.

41D Sukiyaki noodle, maybe : UDON

Sukiyaki is a Japanese soup/stew prepared and served in a “nabe”, a Japanese hot pot.

46D Words on a docent’s badge : ASK ME

“Docent” is a term used for a university lecturer. There are also museum docents, people who serve as guides for visitors to their institutions and who usually provide their services for free. The term comes from the Latin “docere” meaning “to teach”.

48D Bird that was once endemic to Mauritius : DODO

The island of Mauritius lies in the Indian Ocean, about 700 miles east of Madagascar. One of Mauritius’ claims to fame is that it was the only place where one could find the renowned flightless bird called a dodo. The dodo became extinct less than a century after it was discovered, due to human settlement on the island.

49D __ mail : SNAIL

Snail mail is regular mail delivered by the postal service. The term “snail mail” arose as email gained in popularity, and is a reference to the difference in speed between email and paper mail.

50D Airbnb option : CONDO

Airbnb is a website-based service that matches people wanting to rent out short-term living quarters to people seeking accommodation. The company was founded in 2008 as AirBed & Breakfast. The original concept was renting out an “air bed” and providing “breakfast” to someone looking for cheap, temporary accommodation. That’s right; the “Air” in “Airbnb” has nothing to do with “air” travel …

51D Birth day party? : DOULA

A doula is a person who provides non-medical support for women and their families during childbirth as well as in the period immediately following the arrival. The term “doula” comes from the Ancient Greek word “doule” which means “female slave”. Given such a negative association, “doula” is often dropped in favor of “labor companion” or “birthworker”.

52D Caravan’s rest spot : OASIS

A camel train carrying passengers or goods across a desert can be referred to as a caravan. “Caravan” derives from the Persian “karwan”, which has the same meaning. Over in Britain, “caravan” is the name given to travel trailers.

54D Cold brew style : NITRO

Most beers are carbonated due to the production (or introduction) of carbon dioxide. Some beers are made “sparkling” by introducing nitrogen gas into the liquid. Nitrogen bubbles are much smaller than CO2 bubbles. As a result, nitro beers are said to have a smoother mouthfeel than carbonated beers.

62D Here, in Le Havre : ICI

Le Havre is a city on the mouth of the river Seine on the northwest coast of France. The city’s name translates as “The Haven”.

63D Spain’s El __ : CID

Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar was known as El Cid Campeador, which translates as “The Champion” or perhaps “The Lord, Master of Military Arts”. El Cid was a soldier who fought under the rule of King Alfonso VI of Spain (among others). However, he was sent into exile by the King in 1080, after acting beyond his authorization in battle. El Cid then offered his services to his former foes, the Moorish kings. After a number of years building a reputation with the Moors, he was recalled from exile by Alfonso. By this time El Cid was very much his own man. Nominally under the orders of Alfonso, he led a combined army of Spanish and Moorish troops and took the city of Valencia on the Mediterranean coast in 1094, making it his headquarters and home. He died in Valencia, quite peacefully, in 1099.