Tag: Offender’s defiant challenge crossword clue

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Constructed by: Michael Hobin

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: A Cut Above

Themed answers are all in the down-direction. The “ABOVE” part of each is a synonym of “CUT”:

• 34D On the next level, or what 3-, 9-, 20-, and 23-Down literally have : A CUT ABOVE

• 3D Yahtzee, craps, et al. : DICE GAMES
• 9D Mysterious designs in fields : CROP CIRCLES
• 20D Portable writing surface : CLIPBOARD
• 23D Fruit-filled breakfast treat : PRUNE DANISH

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

Bill’s time: 5m 49s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

15A Estrogen, e.g. : HORMONE

The primary female sex hormone is estrogen (also “oestrogen”). The term “estrogen” comes from the Greek “oistros” meaning “verve, inspiration” and the suffix “-gen” meaning “producer of”.

16A Noisy insects that emerge in summer : CICADAS

Cicadas are insects that are found all over the world. Although they resemble locusts, cicadas are an unrelated family. The name “cicada” is Latin and translated as “tree cricket”. However, the name is imitative of the clicking sound the insect makes using parts of its exoskeleton known as “tymbals”.

17A Small crustaceans : ISOPODS

Isopods are small crustaceans with seven pairs of legs. Examples would be woodlice and pill bugs. The name “isopod” comes from the Greek “iso” (same) and “pod” (foot). All isopods have seven pairs of jointed limbs.

18A Luge, for one : SLED

“Luge” is a French word meaning “sled”. It describes a small sled used by one or two people, on which one lies face up and feet first. The luge can be compared to the skeleton, a sled for only one person and on which the rider lies face down and goes down the hill head-first. Yikes!

28A “Bohemian Rhapsody” Oscar winner Malek : RAMI

Actor Rami Malek’s big break came with the leading role in the television series “Mr. Robot”. In 2018, Malek gave an Oscar-winning performance playing Freddie Mercury in the hit biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody”. That marked the first time that an actor of Egyptian descent won an Academy Award for Best Actor.

“Bohemian Rhapsody” is an outstanding 2018 film about the life of Freddie Mercury, lead singer with the British rock band Queen. Rami Malek portrayed Mercury, in an Oscar-winning performance. The original choice to play Mercury was Sacha Baron Cohen, the title character in the “Borat” mockumentary films.

30A “O Sole __” : MIO

“‘O sole mio” is a famous Italian song from Naples, written in 1898. The song’s lyrics are usually sung in the original Neapolitan, as opposed to Italian. The title translates from Neapolitan into “The Sun of Mine” (and not into “’O, My Sun” as one might expect). It’s a love song, sung by a young man declaring that there is a sun brighter than that in the sky, the sun that is his lover’s face. Awww …

32A Sch. that hosts the Sun Bowl : UTEP

The football stadium on the campus of the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is known as the Sun Bowl. The stadium opened in 1963, and was named for the Sun Bowl game that it hosts annually every December.

39A “Euphoria” cable network : HBO

“Euphoria” is an HBO teen drama show that is loosely based on a miniseries of the same name from Israel. The lead actress in the show is Zendaya, who plays a recovering teenage drug addict.

41A Chocolate source : CACAO

Chocolate is made from the seeds of the Theobroma cacao tree. The seeds are very bitter and the traditional drink made with the seed was called “xocolatl” by the Aztecs, meaning “bitter water”. Our word “chocolate” comes from “xocolatl”.

49A Driver’s seat? : TEE

In the game of golf, a “tee” is a wooden or plastic peg on which one can place a ball when “teeing off”. Also, the “teeing ground” (sometimes “tee” or “tee box”) is the area at the beginning of the hole from which the first stroke is taken, from where one tees off.

50A Snack brand named for a Roman moon goddess : LUNA BAR

The LUNA Bar is a nutrition bar introduced in 1999 that is aimed at women. Apparently, the bar was created by a group of female employees at the Clif Bar company to address nutritional needs specific to women.

“Luna” is the Latin word for “moon”, and is the name given to the Roman moon goddess. The Greek equivalent of Luna was Selene. Luna had a temple on the Aventine Hill in Rome but it was destroyed during the Great Fire that raged during the reign of Nero. She also had a temple on the Palatine Hill in which a lamp remained lit, illuminating the night.

53A Dept. of Labor div. : OSHA

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

55A Equinox mo. : SEP

An equinox is a phenomenon dictated by the tilt of the earth’s axis. Twice every year, that tilt “evens out” and the sun is equidistant from points at the same latitude both north and south of the equator. It is as if the earth has no tilt relative to the sun. The term “equinox” comes from the Latin for “equal night”, implying that night and day are equally long, as the effect of the earth’s “tilt” is nullified. Equinoxes occur each year around March 21st (the vernal equinox) and September 23rd (the autumnal equinox).

58A Kimono sashes : OBIS

The sash worn as part of traditional Japanese dress is known as an obi. It can be tied at the back in what is called a butterfly knot. The term “obi” is also used for the thick cotton belts that are an essential part of the outfits worn by practitioners of many martial arts. The color of the martial arts obi signifies the wearer’s skill level.

67A Electronic keyboards, informally : SYNTHS

One of the first commercial music synthesizers was invented by Robert Moog, and it was brought to mainstream popularity by Wendy Carlos’s 1968 album “Switched-On Bach”. The album reinterpreted the works of Johann Sebastian Bach using the synthesizer, and became an unlikely hit. It won three Grammy Awards, and is credited by many with launching the electronic music genre.

68A Appetizer-size burgers : SLIDERS

Sliders are small hamburgers. One suggestion is that the “slider” originated in the US Navy, with the name being a reference to greasy hamburgers sliding back and forth across the grill as a ship pitches and rolls. More recently, the slider became associated with the White Castle fast food chain of restaurants. White Castle introduced the “Slyder” in 1985.

Down

3D Yahtzee, craps, et al. : DICE GAMES

The dice game Yahtzee was introduced in 1956 and is a variant of earlier dice games, especially the game “Yacht” (which even has a similar name). Yahtzee is required entertainment in our house during holidays. The game involves the rolling of five dice, with the intent of getting certain combinations. A lot of those combinations resemble poker hands, such as a straight, three of a kind, four of a kind and a full house.

If one considers earlier versions of craps, then the game has been around for a very long time and probably dates back to the Crusades. It may have been derived from an old English game called “hazard” also played with two dice, which was mentioned in Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” from the 1300s. The American version of the game came here courtesy of the French and first set root in New Orleans where it was given the name “crapaud”, a French word meaning “toad”.

4D Carne __ tacos: steak dish : ASADA

The name of the dish called “carne asada” translates from Spanish as “roasted meat”.

5D Tupperware top : LID

Back in the 1930s, Earl Tupper was working at the DuPont Chemical Company, and from DuPont obtained inflexible pieces of polyethylene slag. Tupper purified the slag and shaped it into unbreakable containers. He added airtight lids with a “burping seal” that provided tight seals similar to that provided by the lids on paint cans. He called his new product Tupperware.

7D Mount of Greek myth : OSSA

Mount Ossa in Greece is located between Mount Pelion in the south, and the famed Mount Olympus in the north. Mount Ossa is also known as Kissavos.

9D Mysterious designs in fields : CROP CIRCLES

Don’t believe what you hear. Crop circles are hoaxes …

23D Fruit-filled breakfast treat : PRUNE DANISH

The Danish pastry that we know so well over here in the US is indeed a Danish specialty, although the recipe was brought to Denmark by Austrian bakers. A “Danish” is called “Viennese bread” in Denmark.

A prune is a dried plum. The name “prune” comes from the Latin “prunum”, the word for “plum”.

26D Crunch’s rank in the cereal aisle : CAP’N

The first Cap’n Crunch commercials aired in 1963, at the time the product line was launched. The Cap’n’s full name is Captain Horatio Magellan Crunch, would you believe? Crunch’s voice was provided for many years by Daws Butler, the same voice actor who gave us Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound. Cap’n Crunch is commander of the S.S. Guppy.

34D On the next level, or what 3-, 9-, 20-, and 23-Down literally have : A CUT ABOVE

The idiom “a cut above”, meaning “better than others”, likely traces its origins to the 19th-century English tailoring trade, where the quality of a garment was defined by the precision of the “cut” of the cloth.

36D Suss (out), informally : DOPE

Apparently, “to dope out” is a slang term meaning “to figure out, infer from available information”. Our use of the word “dope” to mean “inside information” probably comes from horse racing. The idea is that a bettor might have information about which horse has been drugged (doped) to influence its performance.

38D School attended by many English statesmen : ETON

The world-famous Eton College is just a brisk walk from Windsor Castle, which itself is just outside London. Eton is noted for producing many British leaders, including prime ministers David Cameron and Boris Johnson. The list of Old Etonians also includes Princes William and Harry, the Duke of Wellington and George Orwell. Author Ian Fleming was also an Eton alumnus, as was Fleming’s iconic character James Bond, although 007 was expelled from the school.

43D Fillets, as a flounder : DEBONES

A fillet is a boneless cut of meat or fish. The term “fillet” comes from the Old French “filet” meaning “small thread, filament”. Apparently, we applied the term to food because the piece of fish or meat was tied up with string after it was deboned. Here in the US, we tend to use the French spelling “filet”.

Flounder are flatfish that are typically found lying on the bottom of estuaries and coastal lagoons. Just after it hatches, a young flounder has eyes on either side of its brain. As the fish matures, one of these eyes migrates to the other side of its body. The adult flounder then has two eyes which face up as the fish lies camouflaged on the ocean floor.

51D “The Jungle” writer Sinclair : UPTON

The 1905 novel “The Jungle”, by Upton Sinclair, is a realistic depiction of the harsh conditions and exploitation of immigrant laborers in Chicago’s Meatpacking District in the early 1900s. Sinclair’s intention was to incite an outcry about working conditions, but instead, the overwhelming response was public dismay at the health issues emanating from food produced by the meat-packing industry. The author expressed his dismay at the outcome, stating “”I aimed at the public’s heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach”.

59D Disney CEO before D’Amaro : IGER

Robert Iger took over from Michael Eisner as CEO in 2005. Iger worked for ABC when it was taken over by Disney in 1996, and in 1999 he was named president of Walt Disney International. Iger is doing okay for himself; he earned more than $29 million in 2009.