Tag: Not on the dot crossword clue

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Constructed by: Prasanna Keshava
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Back Talk

Themed answers each include a synonym of “TALK” as a hidden word, but written “BACKWARDS”:

• 56A Sass, and what can be found in this puzzle’s circled letters? : BACK TALK

• 18A Recommendation called to lovebirds : GET A ROOM! (back “ORATE”)
• 22A Fast spotted kitties : CHEETAH CUBS (back “CHAT”)
• 35A Routes taken in some great escapes : SECRET TUNNELS (back “UTTER”)
• 51A Super simple : AS EASY AS PIE (back “SAY”)

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

Bill’s time: 7m 40s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Canada’s capital city : OTTAWA

Ottawa is the second-largest city in the Province of Ontario (after Toronto) and is the capital city of Canada. The name “Ottawa” comes from an Algonquin word “adawe”, which means “to trade”.

7 “History of the World, Part II” writer/producer/narrator Brooks : MEL

“History of the World, Part II” is a sketch comedy series created by Mel Brooks. It is positioned as a sequel to the 1981 film “History of the World, Part I”, also written by Brooks. The TV show features a variety of sketches that parody events from different periods of human history and legend. It stars a number of well-known actors, including Mel Brooks himself and co-writer Wanda Sykes.

10 Utah ski resort : ALTA

Alta ski resort actually lies within the Salt Lake City Metropolitan Area. The first ski lift in the resort was opened way back in 1939. Today, Alta is one of only three ski resorts in the country that prohibits snowboarding (along with Deer Valley, Utah and Mad River Glen, Vermont). The ski resort of Snowbird, located next to Alta, has been in operation since 1971.

14 Driver’s lic. with added security : REAL ID

What we know today as “Real IDs” are the result of the Real ID Act of 2005. One of the most visible results of the law are state-issued drivers’ licenses that meet new minimum security standards set by the federal government.

15 “__ Maria” : AVE

“Ave Maria” (“Hail Mary” in English) is the prayer at the core of the Roman Catholic Rosary, which itself is a set of prayers asking for the assistance of the Virgin Mary. Much of the text of the “”Hail Mary”” comes from the Gospel of Luke. The words in Latin are:

AVE MARIA, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.

The prayer has been adapted as a hymn. The two most famous musical versions of “Ave Maria” are by Charles Gounod (based on a piece by Bach) and by Franz Schubert.”

20 Perform penance : ATONE

To atone is to make “reparations”, to “repair” a wrong.

21 Muse’s bestowal, casually : INSPO

The informal term “inspo” is used to describe something inspirational or motivational.

22 Fast spotted kitties : CHEETAH CUBS

The cheetah can run faster than any other land animal, achieving speeds of 70-75 mph. The name “cheetah” comes into English from Sanskrit via Hindi, from the word for “variegated”. Something that is variegated has different colored zones, like the mottled hide of the cheetah.

29 Ergonomic kitchen gadget brand : OXO

The OXO line of kitchen utensils and housewares is designed to be ergonomically superior to the average household tools. The intended user of OXO products is someone who doesn’t have the normal range of motion or strength in the hands e.g. someone suffering from arthritis.

32 Tutu fabric : TULLE

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

The word “tutu”, used for a ballet dancer’s skirt, is actually a somewhat “naughty” term. It came into English from French in the early 20th century. The French “tutu” is an alteration of the word “cucu”, a childish word meaning “bottom, backside”.

34 Baby-voiced red Muppet : ELMO

In 2002, The Muppet Elmo got to testify before a US House subcommittee. Elmo’s goal was to get an increase in funding for music education. In the transcript of the hearing, his statements are ascribed to “Elmo Monster” and “Mr. Monster”.

41 Brownstone porch : STOOP

A stoop is a raised platform at the door of a house. “Stoop” came into American and Canadian English in the mid-1700s from the Dutch “stoep” meaning “flight of steps”.

Brownstone is a reddish-brown form of sandstone that is a popular building material, especially in the Northeastern United States. The term “brownstone” is often used to describe a townhouse constructed from such a stone, or a similar material.

42 Car part that helps prevent rollovers : SWAY BAR

An anti-roll bar (also “anti-sway bar”) is part of a car’s suspension that reduces body roll as the vehicle takes a turn.

50 Novelist Patchett : ANN

Ann Patchett is an author who lives in Nashville, Tennessee. Her most famous work is probably her novel “Bel Canto”, published in 2001. In 2012, “Time” included Patchett in the magazine’s list of 100 most influential people in the world.

51 Super simple : AS EASY AS 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.

54 Zodiac ram : ARIES

Aries the Ram is the first astrological sign in the Zodiac, and is named after the constellation. Your birth sign is Aries if you were born between March 21 and April 20, but if you are an Aries you would know that! “Aries” is the Latin word for “ram”.

59 Large juicy fruits : MELONS

Melons are plants with edible, fleshy fruits that are usually sweet. The fruit of a melon is actually a berry.

Down

1 Briscoe player on “Law & Order” : ORBACH

Jerry Orbach was an American actor, noted for playing one of the lead detectives in “Law & Order” on television. Orbach also provided the voice for the character Lumière in the Disney feature “Beauty and the Beast”, and had an important role in the great movie “Dirty Dancing” playing Dr. Jake Houseman, Baby’s father.

3 Chevrolet SUVs : TAHOES

The Chevrolet Tahoe SUV was introduced in 1994. It is based on the same platform as the Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck, and it shares many of its components. The Tahoe is sold under the Silverado badge in Mexico.

4 Dress with flare? : A-LINE

An A-line skirt is one that fits snugly at the hips and flares towards the hem. The term “A-line” was first used in fashion by French designer Christian Dior in his 1955 spring collection.

5 Sonoma Valley excursion : WINE TOUR

Did you know that there are far more wine grapes produced in Sonoma than Napa? Within Sonoma County some of the more well-known appellations are Chalk Hill, Anderson Valley and Russian River Valley. Personally, when I want to visit the wine country, I head for the Russian River Valley as it’s far less crowded and much more fun than Napa Valley.

7 Orlando NBA team : MAGIC

The Orlando Magic were formed in 1989 as an NBA expansion team. A local paper was asked to run a competition to suggest names for the new team and the community came up with its four top picks of “Heat”, “Tropics”, “Juice” and “Magic”. A committee then opted for “Orlando Magic”. A good choice I think …

11 Sign of summer : LEO

Leo is the fifth astrological sign of the Zodiac. People born from July 23 to August 22 are Leos.

12 “__ Te Ching”: philosophical text : TAO

Lao Tse (also “Lao-Tzu”, “Laozi”) was a central figure in the development of the religion/philosophy of Taoism. Tradition holds that Lao-Tzu wrote the “Tao Te Ching”, a classical Chinese text that is fundamental to the philosophy of Taoism.

13 Radius locale : ARM

The radius and ulna are bones in the forearm. If you hold the palm of your hand up in front of you, the radius is the bone on the “thumb-side” of the arm, and the ulna is the bone on the “pinky-side”.

24 Victoria __: pen name in gothic romance : HOLT

Eleanor Alice Burford was an English author who wrote over 200 novels using several pen names, most notably:

• Jean Plaidy (historical fiction featuring European royalty)
• Victoria Holt (gothic romances)
• Philippa Carr (family sagas)

27 Soup eaten with a large spoon and chopsticks : PHO

Pho (pronounced “fuh”) is a noodle soup from Vietnam that is a popular street food. It is often ordered with a side of hanh dam, pickled white onions.

31 Political satire starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus : VEEP

“Veep” is a political satire sitcom on HBO that is a remake of the British show “The Thick of It” (Warning: strong, strong language!). “Veep” is set in the office of fictional US Vice President Selina Meyer, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Actress and comedian Julia Louis-Dreyfus is an alum of the sketch show “Saturday Night Live”, in which she appeared from 1982 to 1985. Her really big break came when she was chosen to play Elaine Benes on “Seinfeld”. More recently, Louis-Dreyfus can be seen playing Vice President Selina Meyer on the HBO comedy show “Veep”.

32 16 Handles rival : TCBY

TCBY is a chain of stores selling frozen yogurt that was founded in 1981 in Little Rock, Arkansas. The initialism TCBY originally stood for “This Can’t Be Yogurt”, but this had to be changed due to a lawsuit being pressed by a competitor called “I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt”. These days TCBY stands for “The Country’s Best Yogurt”.

16 Handles is a franchise serving frozen yogurt that was founded in 2008 in New York City. The name “16 Handles” is a reference to the number of “handles” available to patrons to serve themselves varying flavors of froyo. The chain’s name is also a nod to “Sixteen Candles”, one of the founder’s favorite movies.

36 Actor McGregor : EWAN

Ewan McGregor is a very talented Scottish actor, one who got his break in the 1996 film “Trainspotting”. McGregor’s first big Hollywood role was playing the young Obi-Wan-Kenobi in the “Star Wars” prequels. Less known is his televised marathon motorcycle journey from London to New York via central Europe, Ukraine, Siberia, Mongolia and Canada. The 2004 trip was shown as “Long Way Round” on TV. McGregor did a similar trip in 2007 called “Long Way Down”, which took him and the same traveling companion from the north of Scotland to Cape Town in South Africa.

37 Great Basin Natives : UTES

The Great Basin is a large region of the US covering most of Nevada, much of Utah and some parts of Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon and California. The 200,000 square mile area drains internally, with all precipitation sinking underground or flowing into lakes. Most of the lakes in the Great Basin are saline, including the Great Salt Lake, Pyramid Lake and the Humboldt Sink.

39 Latin phrase that means “mark well” : NOTA BENE

“Nota bene” is Latin for “note well”, and is abbreviated to “NB”.

40 Intelligence org. : NSA

The National Security Agency (NSA) was set up in 1952 by President Truman, a replacement for the Armed Forces Security Agency that had existed in the Department of Defense (DoD) since 1949. The NSA has always been clouded in secrecy and even the 1952 letter from President Truman that established the agency was kept under wraps from the public for over a generation. I really like the organization’s nickname … “No Such Agency”.

43 Fourth grader voiced by Nancy Cartwright : BART

Bart Simpson is the main character in television’s “The Simpsons”. His name was chosen by the writers as it is an anagram of “brat”. Bart is voiced by actress and comedian Nancy Cartwright.

Actress Nancy Cartwright is perhaps best known for her voice work. Most famously, she provides the voice for Bart Simpson on “The Simpsons”, as well as the voices for Maggie Simpson, Todd Flanders and others on the same show. For the show “Rugrats”, she provides the voice for Chuckie Finster. Cartwright was raised Roman Catholic, but became a Scientologist in 1991.

44 Italian cheese : ASIAGO

Asiago is a cheese that is named for the region in northeastern Italy from where it originates. It comes in varying textures depending on its age. Fresh Asiago is very smooth, while aged Asiago can be very crumbly.

48 Warwick who sang “Do You Know the Way to San Jose” : DIONNE

Dionne Warwick is a very, very successful singer, one with more Top 100 hits than any female vocalist other than Aretha Franklin. Warwick had a pretty successful cousin who was a singer as well … named Whitney Houston.

“Do You Know the Way to San Jose?” is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. They wrote the song specially for singer Dionne Warwick who released it in 1968. I was lucky enough to hear Burt Bacharach perform the number himself in concert years ago. What a great show he gave …

58 T’ai __ ch’uan : CHI

More correctly called “t‘ai chi ch‘uan”, tai chi is a martial art that is mostly practiced to improve overall health and increase longevity.

59 Cambridge sch. : MIT

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was founded in 1861 and first offered classes in 1865, in the Mercantile building in Boston. Today’s magnificent campus on the banks of the Charles River in Cambridge opened in 1916.