Constructed by: Grant Boroughs
Edited by: Rich Norris
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Theme: TLAP Day
Today’s themed answers are common phrases, but with a pirate-like “ARR” sound included, in honor of TLAP (Talk Like a Pirate) Day. International Talk Like a Pirate (TALP) Day is September 19th every year, a “holiday” that was created in 1995. The event started out as an inside joke between John Baur and Mark Summers of Albany, Oregon, but when they shared the notion with the columnist Dave Barry, he promoted the idea and it took off:
- 17A…Ship-fouling organisms, on Talk Like a Pirate Day?..BARRNACLES (barnacles)
- 32A…What kids ask on a long trip, on TLAP Day?..ARR WE THERE YET? (are we there yet?)
- 38A…Ship’s right-front section, on TLAP Day?..STARRBOARD BOW (starboard bow)
- 57A…Cold northern region, on TLAP Day?..THE ARRCTIC (the Arctic)
- 3D…Food storage area, on TLAP Day?..LARRDER (larder)
- 40D…Bill for drinks, on TLAP Day?..BARR TAB (bar tab)
Bill’s time: 4m 59s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
5…”You’re gonna need a bigger boat” movie..JAWS
The famous line “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” from 1975’s “Jaws” was ranked no. 3 in a list of top movie quotes compiled by “The Hollywood Reporter”. The top of the list makes interesting reading, with the following comprising the top five:
- “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” from “Gone With the Wind” (1939)
- “Here’s looking at you, kid.” from “Casablanca” (1942)
- “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” from “Jaws” (1975)
- “May the Force be with you.” from “Star Wars” (1977)
- “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” from “The Wizard of Oz” (1939)
13…Actor Sharif..OMAR
Omar Sharif was a great Hollywood actor from Egypt, someone who played major roles in memorable movies such as “Doctor Zhivago” and “Lawrence of Arabia”. But to me, he was my bridge hero (the card game). In his heyday, Sharif was one of the best bridge players in the world.
16…Actress Lollobrigida..GINA
Gina Lollobrigida is an Italian actress, and also a photojournalist and sculptor. After her career in movies started to slow down in the seventies, she turned to photojournalism. She has photographed many of the greats, including Paul Newman, Salvador Dali, Audrey Hepburn and even the German national soccer team. In fact, she was also able to arrange an exclusive interview with Fidel Castro, much to the chagrin of the world’s professional journalists.
17…Ship-fouling organisms, on Talk Like a Pirate Day?..BARRNACLES (barnacles)
The barnacle is a marine arthropod related to the crab and the lobster. Barnacles are classified as “encrusters”, meaning that they attach themselves permanently to some solid substrate. It is thought that the name “barnacle” was applied to the marine create from the name of the barnacle goose. According to folklore, the barnacle goose “hatched” underwater, emerging from what we know today as “barnacles”.
19…Lights-out tune..TAPS
Taps is played nightly by the US military, indicating “lights out”. It’s also known as “Butterfield’s Lullaby” as it is a variation of an older bugle call named the “Scott Tattoo”, arranged during the Civil War by the Union Army’s Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield. The tune is called “taps”, from the notion of drum taps, as it was originally played on a drum, and only later on a bugle. The whole tune comprises just 24 notes, with there only being four different notes within the 24, i.e. “low G”, C, E and “high G”. Minimalism at its best …
20…Horse hue..ROAN
A roan horse has an even mixture of white and colored hairs on the body with the head, lower legs, mane and tail having a more solid color.
29…Key lime __..PIE
The species of citrus fruit called a key lime is so named due to its association with the Florida Keys.
36…What George Washington could not tell, according to folklore..A LIE
The famous story about George Washington cutting down a cherry tree as a child has been shown to be fiction. He supposedly was confronted by his father after taking an axe to a tree and confessed with the words, “I’m sorry father, I cannot tell a lie”. Not true …
37…Oregon Trail wagon pullers..OXEN
The Oregon Trail was established by fur trappers and traders as early as 1811. The first migrant wagon train traveled the route in 1836, starting off in Independence, Idaho and going as far as Fort Hall, Idaho. In the coming years, the trail was extended for wagons as far as the Willamette Valley in Oregon.
38…Ship’s right-front section, on TLAP Day?..STARRBOARD BOW (starboard bow)
The “starboard” side of a ship is her right side, a term that comes from the Old English “steobord” meaning “side on which a vessel was steered”. Apparently, old Germanic peoples constructed boats that were habitually propelled and steered by a paddle on the right side.
43…Sends to the Hill..ELECTS
Washington D.C.’s designer Pierre L’Enfant chose the crest of hill as the site for the future “Congress House”. He called the location “Jenkins Hill” and “Jenkins Heights”. Earlier records show the name as “New Troy”. Today we call it “Capitol Hill”.
48…Urgent distress signal..SOS
The combination of three dots – three dashes – three dots, is a Morse signal first introduced by the German government as a standard distress call in 1905. The sequence is remembered as the letters SOS (three dots – pause – three dashes – pause – three dots), although in the emergency signal there is no pause between the dots and dashes, so SOS is in effect only a mnemonic. Similarly, the phrases “Save Our Souls” and “Save Our Ship” are also mnemonics, introduced after the “SOS” signal was adopted.
49…When right turns are sometimes permitted..ON RED
If you’re sitting behind a car that doesn’t make a right on red, it may just be a rental car driven by someone from Europe. Speaking as someone who learned to drive over there, I must admit I held up a few people at red lights when I first visited this country. That’s because in Europe we aren’t allowed to make any move past a red light, unless there is an accompanying green arrow. So, if you’re driving overseas, take care …
51…Tax agcy…IRS
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was set up during the Civil War to raise money to cover war expenses. Prior to the introduction of income tax in 1862, the government was funded by levies on trade and property.
55…The color of tropical seas..TEAL
The beautiful color of teal takes it name from the duck called a “teal”, which has dark greenish-blue (teal) markings on its head and wings.
57…Cold northern region, on TLAP Day?..THE ARRCTIC (the Arctic)
Our word “Arctic” ultimately derives from the Greek “arktikos” meaning “of the bear”, a reference to the northerly constellation Ursa Major (the Bear).
61…”The Sopranos” actress Falco..EDIE
The actress Edie Falco won three Emmy Awards for playing Carmela Soprano on HBO’s outstanding drama series called “The Sopranos”. Falco also won an Emmy in 2010 for playing the title role in “Nurse Jackie”, an excellent black comedy.
62…Human trunk..TORSO
“Torso” (plural “torsi”) is an Italian word meaning the “trunk of a statue”, and is a term that we imported into English.
63…Ring of light..HALO
The Greek word “halos” is the name given to the ring of light around the sun or moon, which gives us our word “halo”, used for a radiant light depicted above the head of a saintly person.
64…Flatfish sometimes served stuffed..SOLE
The group of flatfish known as soles take their name from “solea”, the Latin word for “sandal”. And, they kind of have that shape.
65…Recipe amts…TSPS
Teaspoon (tsp.)
66…Online auction site..EBAY
eBay was founded in 1995 as AuctionWeb as part of a computer programmer’s personal website. One of the first items purchased was a broken laser pointer, for $14.83. The buyer collected broken laser pointers …
Down
2…Doctors’ org…AMA
American Medical Association (AMA)
3…Food storage area, on TLAP Day?..LARRDER (larder)
The Latin word for bacon or lard, is “lardum”, from which developed a Middle Latin word “lardarium” meaning a “room for meats”. This came into English as “larder” to describe a meat storeroom. Over time, our larders stored all types of foods and our fresh meats went into refrigerators.
4…Swashbuckler Flynn..ERROL
Errol Flynn was born 1909 in Tasmania, Australia where he was raised. In his twenties, Flynn lived in the UK where he pursued his acting career. Around the same time he starred in an Australian film “In the Wake of the Bounty” and then appeared in a British film “Murder at Monte Carlo”. It was in the latter film that he was noticed by Warner Brothers who brought him to America. Flynn’s non-American heritage shone through even while he was living the American dream in California. He regularly played cricket, along with his friend David Niven, in the Hollywood Cricket Club.
A “swashbuckler” is a flashy swordsman. The term probably derives somehow from “swash” meaning “fall of a blow” and “buckler”, the name of a small round shield.
5…__ of 6-Down: French heroine..JOAN
6…5-Down of __: French heroine..ARC
Joan of Arc (also “Jeanne d’Arc”, her birth name) led the French Army successfully into battle a number of times during the Hundred Years War with England. When she was eventually captured, Joan was tried in Rouen, the seat of the occupying English government in France at that time. There she was burned at the stake having been found guilty of heresy. Joan of Arc was canonized some 600 years later, in 1920, and is now one of the patron saints of France.
7…Minnesota’s state fish..WALLEYE
Walleye is a freshwater fish native to Canada and the northern US. The walleye takes its name from its distinctive eyes. The eyes reflect light, rather like those of a cat, creating a phenomenon of “eyeshine”. The walleye’s eyes are well adapted for hunting for food in turbid waters, but makes them a more visible prey to anglers that hunt for them at nighttime. The walleye has been the state fish of Minnesota since 1965.
8…Like a smooth-sailing clipper ship..SLEEK
A clipper was a sailing ship, commonly crossing the seas in the 19th century. Clippers were built for speed, so were narrow and had less room for carrying freight than many vessels used in trade. They were developed largely due to the demand for speedy delivery of fresh tea from China to Europe. The name comes from the term “to clip” meaning to move swiftly (as in “at a clip”). Perhaps the most famous clipper ship is the Cutty Sark built in 1869, the last clipper to be built as a merchant vessel. The Cutty Sark owes her fame to the fact that she is on display as a museum ship in a dry dock in Greenwich in London.
9…Rank above cpl…SGT
Sergeant (sgt.) is a rank above corporal (cpl.).
10…One tickling the ivories..PIANIST
The traditional materials used for the manufacture of piano keys were ebony (black) and ivory (white). Ebony is still used, but this is now covered with plastic instead of ivory to make the white keys.
11…Sitting at the dock of the bay..IN PORT
Nice misdirection here …
“(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” is song that Otis Redding started composing in 1967 while sitting on a houseboat in Sausalito, on San Francisco Bay. Redding finished the song soon after, with the help of co-writer Steve Cooper. “The Dock of the Bay” was released in January of 1968, just one month after Redding was killed in a plane crash. The song became the first posthumous single to reach number in the US charts. As an aside, Janis Joplin’s recording of “Me and Bobby McGee” achieved the same feat in 1971.
15…Taxpayer ID..SSN
The main purpose of a Social Security Number (SSN) is to track individuals for the purposes of taxation, although given its ubiquitous use, it is looking more and more like an “identity number” to me. The social security number system was introduced in 1936. Prior to 1986, an SSN was required only for persons with substantial income so many children under 14 had no number assigned. For some years the IRS had a concern that a lot of people were claiming children on their tax returns who did not actually exist. So, from 1986 onward, it is a requirement to get an SSN for any dependents over the age of 5. Sure enough, in 1987 seven million dependents “disappeared”.
22…Fictional Tom or real-life Diane..SAWYER
Tom Sawyer is a favorite character created by Mark Twain. He turns up in four of Twain’s books:
- “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”
- “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”
- “Tom Sawyer Abroad”
- “Tom Sawyer, Detective”
But that’s not all, as he appears in at least three works that Twain left unfinished:
- “Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer Among the Indians” (a sequel to “Huckleberry Finn”)
- “Schoolhouse Hill”
- “Tom Sawyer’s Conspiracy” (a sequel to “Tom Sawyer, Detective”)
Diane Sawyer was the anchor of the news program “ABC World News” from 2009 until 2014. Sawyer started her career in the Nixon White House where she was hired by the Press Secretary at the time, Ron Ziegler. She worked with Nixon to help him write his memoirs after he left office and helped prepare the ex-president for his famous series of television interviews with David Frost in 1977. Sawyer was married to Mike Nichols, the noted film director, until his passing in 2014.
26…Old anesthetic..ETHER
Ethers are a whole class of organic compounds, but in the vernacular “ether” is specifically diethyl ether. Diethyl ether was once very popular as a general anesthetic.
31…__ Hold ’em..TEXAS
The official birthplace of the incredibly popular poker game of Texas hold ‘em is Robstown, Texas where the game dates back to the early 1900s. The game was introduced into Las Vegas in 1967 by a group of Texan enthusiasts including Doyle Brunson, a champion often seen playing on TV today. Doyle Brunson published a poker strategy guide in 1978, and this really helped increase the popularity of the game. But it was the inclusion of Texas hold ‘em in the television lineup that really gave the game its explosive surge in popularity, with the size of the prize money just skyrocketing.
35…Chess castles..ROOKS
The corner piece in the game of chess is a called a rook, a word coming from the Persian word “rokh” meaning a “chariot”. The rook has also been called, perhaps incorrectly, the castle, tower, marquess and rector.
39…Post-WWII babies..BOOMERS
A baby boomer is someone who was born in the post-WWII baby boom. The rate of births had been falling fairly steadily in the US at least since 1900, but this trend was sharply reversed in 1946 after WWII. The higher birth rate continued until 1964, when it returned to pre-war levels. Since then the birth rate has continued to decline, although at a slower pace. The period between 1946 and 1964 is defined as the “baby boom”.
40…Bill for drinks, on TLAP Day?..BARR TAB (bar tab)
When we “run a tab” at a bar say, we are “running a tabulation”, a listing of what we owe. Such a use of “tab” is American slang that originated in the 1880s.
44…Rio Grande city..LAREDO
Laredo is a border city in Texas, situated on the banks of the Rio Grande across the border from Nuevo Laredo in Mexico.
The Rio Grande (Spanish for “big river”) is a river forming part of the border between Mexico and the United States. Although we call the river the Rio Grande on this side of the border, in Mexico it is called the Río Bravo or Río Bravo del Norte (Spanish for “furious river of the north”).
53…Giants slugger Mel..OTT
At 5′ 9″, Mel Ott weighed just 170 lb (I don’t think he took steroids!) and yet he was the first National League player to hit over 500 home runs. Sadly, Ott died in a car accident in New Orleans in 1958 when he was only 49 years old.
56…Director Ang __..LEE
Taiwanese director Ang Lee sure has directed a mixed bag of films, mixed in terms of genre but not in terms of quality. He was at the helm for such classics as “Sense & Sensibility” (my personal favorite), “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, “Hulk”, “Brokeback Mountain” and “Life of Pi”.
58…Deadly snake..ASP
The asp is a venomous snake found in the Nile region of Africa. It is so venomous that the asp was used in ancient Egypt and Greece as a means of execution. Cleopatra observed such executions noting that the venom brought on sleepiness without any painful spasms. When the great queen opted to commit suicide, the asp was therefore her chosen method.
59…Dockworkers’ org…ILA
International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA)
A stevedore, or longshoreman, is someone employed in the loading and unloading of ships at a port. The word “stevedore” comes from the Spanish “estibador”, meaning “one who loads cargo”, with the verb “to steeve” meaning to load cargo in a hold. The word “longshoreman”, is simply from a man who works “alongshore”.
Complete List of Clues and Answers
Across
1…Dangerous wind for small boats..GALE
5…”You’re gonna need a bigger boat” movie..JAWS
9…Barbecue rod..SPIT
13…Actor Sharif..OMAR
14…Verbal exams..ORALS
16…Actress Lollobrigida..GINA
17…Ship-fouling organisms, on Talk Like a Pirate Day?..BARRNACLES (barnacles)
19…Lights-out tune..TAPS
20…Horse hue..ROAN
21…Spyglass component..LENS
23…With 48-Down, mediocre..NOT …
24…”Alas … “..SADLY …
26…Cry of fright..EEK!
27…Burning..AFIRE
29…Key lime __..PIE
30…Pigpen..STY
31…Story surprises..TWISTS
32…What kids ask on a long trip, on TLAP Day?..ARR WE THERE YET? (are we there yet?)
36…What George Washington could not tell, according to folklore..A LIE
37…Oregon Trail wagon pullers..OXEN
38…Ship’s right-front section, on TLAP Day?..STARRBOARD BOW (starboard bow)
43…Sends to the Hill..ELECTS
45…Agrees to..OKS
46…Wonderment..AWE
47…Wood-shaping tool..LATHE
48…Urgent distress signal..SOS
49…When right turns are sometimes permitted..ON RED
51…Tax agcy…IRS
52…Dire fate..DOOM
54…Two of a kind..PAIR
55…The color of tropical seas..TEAL
57…Cold northern region, on TLAP Day?..THE ARRCTIC (the Arctic)
61…”The Sopranos” actress Falco..EDIE
62…Human trunk..TORSO
63…Ring of light..HALO
64…Flatfish sometimes served stuffed..SOLE
65…Recipe amts…TSPS
66…Online auction site..EBAY
Down
1…Dollop..GOB
2…Doctors’ org…AMA
3…Food storage area, on TLAP Day?..LARRDER (larder)
4…Swashbuckler Flynn..ERROL
5…__ of 6-Down: French heroine..JOAN
6…5-Down of __: French heroine..ARC
7…Minnesota’s state fish..WALLEYE
8…Like a smooth-sailing clipper ship..SLEEK
9…Rank above cpl…SGT
10…One tickling the ivories..PIANIST
11…Sitting at the dock of the bay..IN PORT
12…Tries a bite of..TASTES
15…Taxpayer ID..SSN
18…Dissenting vote..NAY
22…Fictional Tom or real-life Diane..SAWYER
24…Massage facility..SPA
25…Balloon filler..AIR
26…Old anesthetic..ETHER
28…Wicked one..FIEND
30…Mixes..STIRS
31…__ Hold ’em..TEXAS
33…Enjoy, as television..WATCH
34…Overjoyed..ELATED
35…Chess castles..ROOKS
38…Shove off..SET SAIL
39…Post-WWII babies..BOOMERS
40…Bill for drinks, on TLAP Day?..BARR TAB (bar tab)
41…Be indebted to..OWE
42…Married..WED
43…Upper crust groups..ELITES
44…Rio Grande city..LAREDO
48…See 23-Across.. … SO HOT
49…Rowboat propeller..OAR
50…Specialized market segment..NICHE
53…Giants slugger Mel..OTT
54…All in favor..PROS
56…Director Ang __..LEE
58…Deadly snake..ASP
59…Dockworkers’ org…ILA
60…Playfully shy..COY