Tag: One with a supporting role crossword clue

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Constructed by: Mark Axel

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Gangbusters

Three rows in the grid include synonyms for “GANG” spelled out in circled letters, but those synonyms have each been BUSTED by a black square:

• 56A Wildly successful, or what three black squares in this puzzle literally are : GANGBUSTERS

• 17A “I want all the juicy details!” : SPILL THE TEA!
• 19A Was introduced to : MET [TEA/M]

• 27A Features of some old socks : HOLES
• 29A Figure skating jump that has only been landed in competition by Ilia Malinin : QUAD AXEL [S/QUAD]

• 43A Makes a clutch putt, perhaps : SAVES PAR
• 46A Key mistakes? : TYPOS [PAR/TY]

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

Bill’s time: 5m 57s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

15A Nutty 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.

17A “I want all the juicy details!” : SPILL THE TEA!

To spill the beans is to divulge a secret. The expression first appeared in American English, in the early 1900s. The phrase arose as an alternative to “spoil the beans” or “upset the applecart”. The phrase “spill the tea” has a similar meaning..

23A “Use your umbrella!” : STAY DRY!

Our term “umbrella” ultimately derives from the Latin “umbra” meaning “shade, shadow”.

26A “Aladdin” figure : GENIE

The “genie” in the bottle (or lamp) takes his or her name from “djinn”. “Djinns” were various spirits considered lesser than angels, with people exhibiting unsavory characteristics said to be possessed by djinn. When the book “The Thousand and One Nights” was translated into French, the word “djinn” was transformed into the existing word “génie”, because of the similarity in sound and the related spiritual meaning. This “génie” from the Arabian tale became confused with the Latin-derived “genius”, a guardian spirit thought to be assigned to each person at birth. Purely as a result of that mistranslation the word genie has come to mean the “djinn” that pops out of the bottle. A little hard to follow, I know, but still quite interesting …

“Aladdin” is a famous tale in “Arabian Nights”, also called “The Book of One Thousand and One Nights”. However, there is no evidence at all that the story was in the original collection. It is generally believed that one Antoine Galland introduced the tale when he translated “Arabian Nights” into French in the early 1700s.

29A Figure skating jump that has only been landed in competition by Ilia Malinin : QUAD AXEL

American figure skater Ilia Malinin has skating in his blood, as both of his parents are former skaters who represented Uzbekistan in several Olympic Games. When only 17 years of age, he became the first person to land a fully rotated quadruple Axel jump. Two years later, he landed an unprecedented six quadruple jumps in a single free skate, in the 2024 World Championships. No wonder he is known as the “Quad God”.

47A Heart chambers : ATRIA

The heart has four chambers. The two upper chambers are the atria. The right atrium accepts deoxygenated blood, while the left atrium accepts oxygenated blood from the lungs. The atria squeeze those blood supplies into the two lower chambers of the heart (the ventricles), “priming” the pump, as it were. One ventricle pumps deoxygenated blood to the lungs, and the other pumps oxygenated blood to the rest of the body.

50A Global spirits giant that began as a rum maker in Cuba : BACARDI

The Bacardi company was founded in Cuba in 1862 by a Spanish wine merchant named Facundo Bacardi. He purchased a building that housed a copper and cast iron still. Living in the rafters of the structure were fruit bats, which led to the Bacardi brand of rum using a bat as a logo.

56A Wildly successful, or what three black squares in this puzzle literally are : GANGBUSTERS

The American true-crime radio series “Gang Busters” premiered in 1936, originally titled “G-Men”. Each episode opened with blaring police sirens, screeching tires, and rapid machine-gun fire. The loud and energetic introduction spawned the idiom “coming on like gangbusters”, which is used today to describe anything that begins with spectacular speed, force, or excitement. Very interesting …

61A Pulitzer-winning novelist Jennifer : EGAN

Jennifer Egan is an author who grew up in San Francisco. Egan’s 2010 work “A Visit from the Goon Squad” won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Usually termed a novel, “A Visit from the Goon Squad” is structured in such a way that it is sometimes described as a collection of linked short stories.

Down

1D Direction that plays first in mahjong : EAST

Mahjong (also “mahjongg” and “mah-jongg”) is the Chinese word for “sparrow”. Mahjong is a game that originated in China, and is usually played by four players. There is a myth that the game was developed by the Chinese philosopher, Confucius. The myth also suggests that Confucius was fond of birds, and hence chose the name “sparrow”.

2D Mont Blanc, par exemple : ALPE

Mont Blanc is the highest peak in the Alps. The name “Mont Blanc” translates from French into “white mountain”. The mountain lies on the border between France and Italy, and it has been generally accepted for decades that the summit lies within French territory. However, there have been official claims that the summit does in fact fall within the borders of Italy.

5D Easy mark : PATSY

The etymology of the word “patsy” meaning “fall guy” isn’t really understood. One colorful theory suggests that the term comes from an 1890s vaudeville character named Patsy Bolivar. Patsy always got the blame when something went wrong.

8D “Stay the Night” singer Jackson : LA TOYA

La Toya Jackson had a hit with the song “Stay the Night” in 1981. A big hit for Jackson, it was actually a cover version of a single released the year before by British soul singer Billy Ocean, who also co-wrote the song.

12D Celebrity chef with a flagship restaurant in New Orleans : EMERIL

Emeril Lagasse is an American chef who was born in Massachusetts. Lagasse first achieved celebrity as executive chef in Commander’s Palace in New Orleans. Now famous for his television shows, his cuisine still showcases New Orleans ingredients and influences. Lagasse started using his famous “Bam!” catchphrase in order to keep his crew awake during repeated tapings of his show.

13D Cosmetician Lauder : ESTEE

Estée Lauder was a very successful businesswoman, and someone with a great reputation as a salesperson. Lauder introduced her own line of fragrances in 1953, a bath oil called “Youth Dew”. “Youth Dew” was marketed as a perfume, but it was added to bathwater. All of a sudden women were pouring whole bottles of Ms. Lauder’s “perfume” into their baths while using only a drop or two of French perfumes behind their ears. That’s quite a difference in sales “volume” …

22D Message one may wish to open in private : SEXT

Sexting (a portmanteau of “sex” and “texting”) is the sending of explicit dialog and images between cell phones. The term “sexting” was coined by the UK’s “Sunday Telegraph Magazine” in a 2005 article.

24D Kicked out of a competition, briefly : DQED

“DQ” is short for “disqualify”.

27D Word with bell or bar : … HOP

A bellhop is a hotel employee who escorts guests to their rooms, assists with luggage, and runs errands. The term “bellhop” comes from the fact that the front desk clerk used to ring a “bell” to summon a porter, who then “hopped” to attention and received his or her instructions.

35D Free diver’s weapon : SPEARGUN

Freediving is a form of diving in which there is no breathing apparatus, so the diver just holds their breath.

37D Id counterpart : SUPEREGO

Sigmund Freud created a structural model of the human psyche, breaking it into three parts: the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is that part of the psyche containing the basic instinctual drives. The ego seeks to please the id by causing realistic behavior that benefits the individual. The superego almost has a parental role, contradicting the id by introducing critical thinking and morals to behavioral choices.

38D Vacation hrs. : PTO

Paid time off (PTO)

40D Nike rival : AVIA

The Avia brand name for athletic shoes was chosen as “avis” is the Latin word for “bird”, and suggests the concept of aviation. Avia was founded in Oregon in 1979.

49D Apatow of “Euphoria” : MAUDE

Actress Maude Apatow gained recognition for her role as Lexi Howard in the teen drama series “Euphoria”. She’s also known for appearing in films like “Knocked Up”, “Funny People” and “This Is 40”, all of which were written and directed by her father, Judd Apatow.

“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.

51D Copenhagen native : DANE

Copenhagen is the largest city and the capital of Denmark. I haven’t had the privilege of visiting Copenhagen, but I hear it is a wonderful metropolis with a marvelous quality of life. The city is also very environmentally friendly, with over a third of its population commuting to work by bicycle.

53D Lacking pizzazz : DRAB

Pizazz (also “pizzazz”) is energy, vitality. There’s a kind of cool thing about the “pizzazz” spelling, namely that it is the only 7-letter word in English that cannot be played in Scrabble. You can get close by using the Z-tile with the two blank tiles to get to three of the required four Zs, but there’s no way to get to the fourth Z.

54D Form W-2 digits : SSNS

Form W-2 is provided by US employers to their employees by January 31 each year. The form reports wages paid to the employees, as well as taxes withheld.

58D __ canto : BEL

“Bel canto” is a term used in Italian opera, the literal translation of which is “beautiful singing”. The term specifically describes a style of singing that emphasizes beauty of tone over dramatic power.