Tag: Panda car driver crossword clue

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Constructed by: Christina Iverson
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Umbrella Term

Themed answers each end with part of an UMBRELLA:

• 64A Expression that covers a broad category, or what is found at the end of the answer to each starred clue? : UMBRELLA TERM

• 18A *Is treated unfairly : GETS THE SHAFT
• 29A *Biodiverse ecological layer : RAINFOREST CANOPY
• 49A *Lost control of one’s emotions : FLEW OFF THE HANDLE

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

Bill’s time: 7m 23s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Coastal country with approximately a quarter of Africa’s gorillas : GABON

The nation of Gabon lies on the west coast of Central Africa. Since it became independent from France in 1960, Gabon has become one of the most prosperous countries on the continent, by making use of the abundant natural resources and willing foreign investment.

12 Panda car driver : COP

In the UK, a panda car is a relatively small police patrol vehicle. The term “panda car” arose in the 1960s, when the cars were painted black and white, the coloring of the animal. Even though color schemes have changed over the decades, small police cars in Britain are still sometimes referred to as panda cars.

15 The “A” of the ABC islands : ARUBA

Aruba is one of the so-called ABC islands located off the northern coast of Venezuela. “ABC Islands” is a name given to the three westernmost islands of the Leeward Antilles in the Caribbean. The nickname comes from the first letters of the island names: Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. All three of the ABC islands are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

17 Singer DiFranco : ANI

Ani DiFranco is a folk-rock singer and songwriter. DiFranco has also been labeled a feminist icon, and in 2006 won the Woman of Courage Award from the National Organization for Women.

21 Skedaddles : SCOOTS

“Skedaddle” is a slang term meaning “run away”, one that dates back to the Civil War.

28 Monogram pt. : INIT

A monogram is a design with two or more letters intertwined or combined in some way to make a single symbol. The term “monogram” comes from the Greek “mono” meaning “single” and “gramma” meaning “letter”.

29 *Biodiverse ecological layer : RAINFOREST CANOPY

Strictly speaking, the terms “rainforest” and “jungle” are related, but different. A healthy rainforest has a thick canopy of leaves so that the ground below is relatively clear of vegetation due to a lack of sunlight. When the canopy thins, the increase in sunlight promotes growth of tangled vegetation at ground level producing the habitat that we refer to as “jungle”.

34 Irene who matched wits with Holmes : ADLER

The character Irene Adler only appears in one of the many Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In the story “A Scandal in Bohemia”, Holmes expresses remarkable admiration for Adler as a woman and as a foe. As a result, derivative works in the Holmes genre often feature Adler as something of a romantic interest for Sherlock.

36 Actress Gadot : GAL

Gal Gadot is an actress and former Miss Israel. She played Gisele Yashar in the “Fast & Furious” film franchise, and then began portraying Wonder Woman in superhero movies.

41 Arthur of “The Golden Girls” : BEA

Bea Arthur is an American actress and comedian who rose to fame in the 1970s with her iconic roles in the hit TV shows “Maude” and “The Golden Girls”. Prior to launching her acting career, Arthur served in the US military. In 1943, at the age of 21, she joined the US Marine Corps Women’s Reserve, where she worked as a typist and truck driver.

“The Golden Girls” is a sitcom that originally aired in the eighties and nineties. The show features Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty as four older women who share a house in Miami.

47 Sacred song : PSALM

The Greek word “psalmoi” originally meant “songs sung to a harp”, and gave us the word “psalms”. In the Jewish and Western Christian traditions, the Book of Psalms contains 150 individual psalms, divided into five sections.

49 *Lost control of one’s emotions : FLEW OFF THE HANDLE

The phrase “to fly off the handle” means “to become suddenly enraged”. The imagery evoked here is of an axehead flying off the handle and causing some damage or injury.

54 Actress Chaplin : OONA

Oona Chaplin is an actress from Madrid in Spain. Chaplin is getting a lot of airtime these days as she plays Talisa Maegyr on HBO’s hit fantasy series “Game of Thrones”. Oona is the granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin, and is named for her maternal grandmother Oona O’Neill, the daughter of playwright Eugene O’Neill.

61 Gutter ball preventer : BUMPER

In ten-pin bowling, a gutter ball is one that ends up in one of the gutters (channels) on either side of each lane.

70 Loads (of) : SCADS

The origin of the word “scads”, meaning “lots and lots”, is unclear. That said, “scads” was used to mean “dollars” back in the mid-1800s.

72 Real estate and the like : ASSETS

The terms “realty” and “real estate” actually date back to the late 1600s. Back then, the terms meant “real possessions, things owned that are tangible and real”.

Down

5 Brussels-based gp. : NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is an international military alliance that was established in 1949. NATO headquarters was initially set up in London, moved to Paris in 1952, and then to Brussels 1967.

8 Volcanic residue : ASH

Our word “volcano” comes from “Vulcano”, the name of a volcanic island off the coast of Italy. The island’s name comes from Vulcan, the Roman god of fire. The Romans believed that the island of Vulcano was the chimney of the forge belonging to the god Vulcan. The Romans also believed that the eruptions on Mount Etna in Sicily were caused by Vulcan getting angry and working his forge so hard that sparks and smoke flew out of the top of the volcano.

10 Certain Muslim : SUFI

A sufi is a Muslim mystic, an ascetic. Apparently, the term “sufi” can be translated as “man of wool”. This might be a reference to the practice of donning holy garments made from wool, as opposed to silk.

19 Hostess brand : HO HO

Ho Hos snack cakes were first produced in San Francisco in 1967. The “Happy Ho Ho” mascot was created for the brand in the 1970s, and was a cartoon character in a Robin Hood outfit. Ho Hos weren’t the best thing to come out of the sixties I’d say …

23 Snorkeler’s footwear : FINS

Our word “snorkel” comes from German navy slang “Schnorchel” meaning “nose, snout”. The German slang was applied to an air-shaft used for submarines, due to its resemblance to a nose, in that air passed through it and it made a “snoring” sound. “Schnorchel” comes from “Schnarchen”, the German for “snore”.

30 __ pie: dish with corn chips : FRITO

The oldest known printed recipe for frito pie dates back to 1949, in a Texas publication. Most recipes include chile, cheese and corn chips (usually Fritos), but can also include salsa, refried beans, sour cream, onion, rice and/or jalapeños.

33 Colombian street snack : AREPA

An arepa is a cornmeal cake or bread that is popular in Colombian and Venezuelan cuisines in particular. Each arepa has a flat, round shape and is often split to make a sandwich.

39 UV-filtering measurement : SPF

Sun protection factor (SPF)

42 Fanning of “Super 8” : ELLE

Actress Elle Fanning first appeared on film in the 2001 movie “I Am Sam”, in which she played a younger version of her sister and fellow actor Dakota Fanning (a 2-year-old version of the character). One of her first major roles was Aurora/Sleeping Beauty alongside Angelina Jolie in the 2014 movie “Maleficent”. Fannin reprised the role in the 2019 sequel “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil”.

“Super 8” is a 2011 sci-fi monster movie. Set in the summer of 1979, a group of young teenagers who are filming their own Super 8 movie witness a catastrophic train crash. Soon, unexplained events and disappearances begin to occur in their small Ohio town, leading them to investigate the truth behind the crash and the mysterious creature that was unleashed. I haven’t seen this one, but put it on the list …

44 Branded totes and pens, e.g. : SWAG

Swag is loot, stolen property, and a term that started out as criminal slang in England in the 1830s. “Swag” is also the name given to the promotional freebies available at some events. That said, there’s an urban myth that the promotional version of “swag” is an acronym standing for “stuff we all get”.

45 Hairy Addams cousin : ITT

In the television sitcom “The Addams Family”, the family has a frequent visitor named Cousin Itt. He is a short man with long hair that runs from his head to the floor. Itt was played by Italian actor Felix Silla.

46 Tina Turner’s signature song : THE BEST

Tina Turner released “The Best“ in 1989 to great acclaim, and it has since been described as her signature song. It was originally recorded by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler a year earlier.

48 Star-bellied Dr. Seuss creature : SNEETCH

Dr. Seuss’s “The Sneetches and Other Stories” was first published in 1961. The collection comprises four stories in all: “The Sneetches”, “The Zax”, “Too Many Daves” and “What Was I Scared Of?”

49 Practiced origami : FOLDED

Origami is the traditional Japanese art form of paper folding. The best-known example of the craft is the paper crane (“orizuru“). The word “origami” is derived from “ori“ (folding) and “kami” (paper).

53 Web design code : HTML

The initialism “HTML” stands for HyperText Markup Language. HTML is the language used to write most Internet web pages (including this one).

59 Engineered foods, for short : GMOS

A genetically modified organism (GMO) is one with genetic material that has been altered by genetic engineering. One might argue that the oldest form of genetic engineering is selective breeding, the use of animals or plants with desired traits for the creation of the next generation.

62 El __, Texas : PASO

Although there have been human settlements in the El Paso area for thousands of years, the first European settlement was founded in 1659 by the Spanish. That first community was on the south bank of the Rio Grande, and was called El Paso del Norte (the North Pass). Most of the urban development under Spanish rule took place on the south side of the river, with El Paso del Norte acting as the center of governance for the Spanish for the territory of New Mexico. The Rio Grande was chosen as the border between Mexico and the US in 1848, so most of the city of El Paso del Norte became part of the Mexican state of Chihuahua (and is now called Ciudad Juárez ). The area north of the river developed as a US military post, eventually becoming the modern city of El Paso, Texas.