Tag: Pitch that moves unpredictably crossword clue

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Constructed by: Doug Peterson

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Pool Party

Themed answers each end with something one might use in a “POOL” PARTY:

• 64A Summertime backyard bash, and a hint to the ends of 17-, 25-, 40-, and 50-Across : POOL PARTY

• 17A Nonverbal signal during a conversation : SOCIAL CUE
• 25A Falafel cart breads : PITA POCKETS
• 40A Whoppers, e.g. : MALTED MILK BALLS
• 50A Driver’s two-wheeler carrier : BICYCLE RACK

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

Bill’s time:5m 37s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A “Oppenheimer” actor Damon : MATT

Actor Matt Damon was a Harvard University student before he dropped out to pursue his acting career. He was just 12 credits shy of graduating when he left to star in the movie “Geronimo: An American Legend”. Despite not having completed his degree, Harvard later awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2013 for his humanitarian work through his co-founding of Water.org, an organization that provides clean water and sanitation to people in developing countries.

“Oppenheimer” is an epic 2023 film starring Cillian Murphy in the title role. The movie follows J. Robert Oppenheimer, “the father of the atomic bomb”, from his student days right through World War II and beyond. Directed by Christopher Nolan, the film has an amazing ensemble cast that includes:

• Matt Damon (General Leslie Groves)
• Robert Downey Jr. (Lewis Strauss)
• Josh Hartnett (Ernest Lawrence)
• Kenneth Branagh (Niels Bohr)
• Tom Conti (Albert Einstein)
• Gary Oldman (Harry S. Truman)

9A Hall of Fame Yankees shortstop Derek : JETER

Derek Jeter played his entire professional baseball career with the New York Yankees, and was the team’s captain. Jeter is the all-time career leader for the Yankees in hits, games played, stolen bases and at bats. He is also the all-time leader in hits by a shortstop in the whole of professional baseball. Jeter’s performances in the postseason earned him the nicknames “Captain Clutch” and “Mr. November”. Jeter retired from the game in 2014.

14A __ Eats: DoorDash rival : UBER

Uber Eats is a food-delivery platform offered by ride-sharing service Uber. For a delivery fee of a few bucks, users can order food from local restaurants using an app. That food might be delivered by car, bike or foot depending on the city and courier.

DoorDash is the largest food delivery company in the country. Customers can order food from many different restaurants using the DoorDash app, and a DoorDash driver delivers it to a home or office. DoorDash also operates ghost kitchens, facilities that prepare meals for delivery customers of a group of restaurants.

15A Scottish water : LOCH

“Loch” is the Scottish-Gaelic word for “lake”. The Irish-Gaelic word is “lough”, and the Welsh word is “llyn”.

16A Suspect’s story : ALIBI

“Alibi” is the Latin word for “elsewhere” as in, “I claim that I was ‘elsewhere’ when the crime was committed, I have an ‘alibi’”.

20A Steve Harvey, for one : TV HOST

Steve Harvey is a comedian and TV personality who really started his successful career in 1990 when he landed the job of hosting “It’s Showtime at the Apollo” in 1990. He has hosted “The Steve Harvey Morning Show” on the radio since 2000, and “Family Feud” on television since 2010.

23A Test taken by some college srs. : GRE

Passing the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is usually a requirement for entry into graduate school here in the US.

25A Falafel cart breads : PITA POCKETS

Falafel is a ball of ground chickpeas or fava beans that has been deep fried and served in pita bread. I love chickpeas, but falafel is often too dry for me …

28A “A Series of Unfortunate Events” villain __ Squalor : ESME

Esmé Squalor is a fictional character from Lemony Snicket’s “A Series of Unfortunate Events” book series. Her name is reminiscent of the JD Salinger short story “For Esmé—with Love and Squalor”, which has a title familiar to crossword solvers everywhere …

29A Commercial suffix with Cray or Motor : -OLA

In the year 2000, the Crayola company held the “Crayola Color Census 2000”, in which people were polled and asked for their favorite Crayola colors. President George W. Bush chose “Blue Bell” and Tiger Woods chose “Wild Strawberry”.

The original Motorola is now two independent companies called Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions. Motorola started in 1928 as the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation in Chicago. Founder Paula V. Galvin created the brand name “Motorola” for a car radio the company developed in 1930. He linked “motor” (meaning “car”) with “-ola” (meaning “sound”), implying “sound in motion”.

33A British noble : EARL

In the ranking of nobles, an earl comes above a viscount and below a marquis. The rank of earl is used in the British peerage system and is equivalent to the rank of count in other countries. Other British ranks have female forms (e.g. marquis and marchioness, viscount and viscountess), but there isn’t a female word for the rank of earl. A female given the same rank as an earl is known as a countess.

40A Whoppers, e.g. : MALTED MILK BALLS

Whoppers candies are chocolate-flavored balls with a malted milk center. They were introduced in 1949 by the Leaf Candy Company, and are now produced by Hershey’s. I’m a fan …

45A Commuter’s expense : TOLL

Our verb “to commute”, meaning “to go back and forth to work”, ultimately derives from the Latin “commutare”, meaning “to often change”. Back in the late 1800s, a “commutation ticket” was a season pass, so named because it allowed one to “change” one kind of payment into another. Quite interesting …

46A Narrow inlet : RIA

A drowned valley might be called a ria or a fjord, and both are formed as sea levels rise. A ria is a drowned valley created by river erosion, and a fjord is a drowned valley created by glaciation.

58A Lille chum : AMI

Lille is a large city in the very north of France that sits right on the border with Belgium. The name “Lille” is a derivation of the term “l’isle” meaning “the island”. The former name “L’Isle” dates back to 1066, and is a reference to a castle that once stood on an island in the Deûle river that runs through the city. The city grew around the island and the castle.

59A Prix __ menu : FIXE

On a restaurant menu, items that are “à la carte” are priced and ordered separately. A menu marked “table d’hôte” (also called “prix fixe”) is a fixed-price menu with limited choice. “Table d’hôte” translates from French as “table of the host”.

60A Snappable chocolate bar : KIT KAT

I grew up eating Kit Kat bars as a kid. The Kit Kat hit the shelves on the other side of the pond in the 1930s, but didn’t make it into US stores until the 1970s. I’ve seen new varieties of Kit Kat bars over in Britain and Ireland, such as an orange-flavored version. I’ve been told that there are even more varieties available in Japan.

62A __ Rae: Sally Field Oscar role : NORMA

“Norma Rae” is a 1979 movie starring Sally Field as Norma Rae Webster in a tale of union activities in a textile factory in Alabama. The film is based on the true story of Crystal Lee Sutton told in a 1975 book called “Crystal Lee, a Woman of Inheritance”.

Actress Sally Field first came to the public’s attention in the sixties with title roles in the TV shows “Gidget” and “The Flying Nun”. She has two Best Actress Oscars; one for “Norma Rae” (1979) and one for “Places in the Heart” (1984).

66A Luxury Italian handbag brand : GUCCI

Gucci was founded in Rome, in 1921, by Guccio Gucci. Guccio’s son Aldo took over the company after his father’s death in 1953. It was Aldo who established the international presence for the brand and opened the company’s first overseas store, in New York City.

68A Sickle or saw : TOOL

Sickles and scythes are similar tools that are used for reaping crops. A sickle has a short handle, forcing the user to stoop down. A scythe has a long handle, allowing it to be used while standing erect.

69A One of 1,406 for Rickey Henderson : STEAL

Rickey Henderson is a former professional baseball player believed by many to have been the sport’s greatest baserunner. Henderson holds the major league record for career stolen bases, at 1,406. This compares with the second highest number of career stolen bases of “only” 938, by Lou Brock.

70A Letters before a summary : TL;DR

Too long, didn’t read (TL;DR)

71A Novelist Rice : ANNE

“Anne Rice” is the pen name of American author of erotic and Gothic novels Howard Allen O’Brien. Her famous series of novels “The Vampire Chronicles” centers on her character Lestat de Lioncourt, a French nobleman who was turned into a vampire in the 18th century. One of the stories, “Interview with the Vampire”, was adapted for the big screen in 1994 and features Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and others in a star-studded cast. Not my kind of movie though, as I don’t do vampires …

Down

1D Damp-smelling : MUSTY

Something described as “musty” has a stale or moldy odor. The term derives from an obsolete word “moisty”, as in “moist”.

6D Soft shoe, briefly : MOC

“Moc” is short for “moccasin”, a type of shoe. The moccasin is a traditional form of footwear worn by members of many Native American tribes.

7D Integra automaker : ACURA

The Acura Legend was a mid-size luxury car introduced by Honda into the North American market in the 1986 model year. It was the first model produced by Honda with a V6 engine.

10D Yale grad : ELI

“Eli” is the nickname for a graduate of Yale University, and a term used in honor of the Yale benefactor Elihu Yale.

12D Only movie critic with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame : EBERT

Roger Ebert co-hosted a succession of film review television programs for over 23 years, most famously with Gene Siskel until Siskel passed away in 1999. Siskel and Ebert famously gave their thumbs up or thumbs down to the movies they reviewed. Ebert died in 2013.

22D Menagerie : ZOO

A menagerie is a varied group, and particularly refers to a collection of wild or unusual animals. The term “menagerie“ comes from the French “ménagerie”, which described housing for domestic animals.

26D Blue Jays and Blue Jackets : TEAMS

The Toronto Blue Jays baseball franchise was founded in 1977. They are the only team based outside the US to have won a World Series, doing so in 1992 and 1993. And since the Montreal Expos relocated to Washington, the Blue Jays are the only Major League Baseball team now headquartered outside of the US.

The Blue Jackets are a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Ohio. The name “Blue Jacket” is a reference to the uniforms worn by Ohio and Columbus soldiers during the Civil War.

27D Martial art featured in “Cobra Kai” : KARATE

“Cobra Kai” is a TV show that premiered in 2018 as a sequel to “The Karate Kid” series of films, the first of which was released in 1984. Actor Ralph Macchio reprises his role from the movies, playing protagonist Daniel LaRusso. William Zabka also reprises his role from the big screen, playing Johnny Lawrence, LaRusso’s rival in karate competitions. The title of the show “Cobra Kai” is the name of the karate dojo in which Johnny Lawrence trained as a youth, and which he decides to reopen 34 years later.

30D “Mayfair Witches” cable network : AMC

“Mayfair Witches” is a supernatural drama TV show based on the Anne Rice novel “Lives of the Mayfair Witches”. Not really my cup of tea …

35D Woolly animal of Peru : LLAMA

The wool from a llama is much softer than that from a sheep, and it is also free from lanolin.

37D Mop & __ : GLO

Mop & Glo is a brand of floor cleaner and polish.

39D Broadband inits. : DSL

The initialism “DSL” originally stood for Digital Subscriber Loop, but is now accepted to mean (Asymmetric) Digital Subscriber Line. It is a technology that allows Internet service to be delivered down the same telephone line as voice service, by separating the two into different frequency signals.

42D Pitch that moves unpredictably : KNUCKLER

A knuckleball is a baseball pitch that has minimal spin, and as such has a relatively erratic path towards the plate.

47D Boxer Muhammad : ALI

Boxer Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. was born in 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky. Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali when he converted to Islam in 1964. Who can forget Muhammad Ali lighting the Olympic flame for the 1996 games in Atlanta?

50D Across-the-forehead hairstyle : BANGS

“Bangs” is another word that caught me out when I arrived in the US. “Bangs” back in Ireland are called “a fringe”. Apparently the US term is somehow derived from the name given to the hair on a horse’s head.

52D “Odyssey” sorceress : CIRCE

In Greek mythology, Circe was a sorceress who had the ability to transform people into animals. In Homer’s “Odyssey”, she turns Odysseus’s men into swine after they feast in her halls, a literal interpretation of the idea that men can be “pigs”!

53D One living overseas, for short : EXPAT

An expatriate (often “expat”) is someone who has chosen to live outside of their homeland, away from their “fatherland”.

55D Ohio’s “Rubber City” : AKRON

For much of the 1800s, the Ohio city of Akron was the fastest-growing city in the country, feeding off the industrial boom of that era. The city was founded in 1825 and its location, along the Ohio and Erie canal connecting Lake Erie with the Ohio River, helped to fuel Akron’s growth. Akron sits at the highest point of the canal and the name “Akron” comes from the Greek word meaning “summit”. Indeed, Akron is the county seat of Summit County. The city earned the moniker “Rubber Capital of the World” for most of the 20th century, as it was home to four major tire companies: Goodrich, Goodyear, Firestone and General Tire.

56D __ Rouge : BATON

Baton Rouge is the capital city of the state of Louisiana. The name “Baton Rouge” is French for “red stick” or “red staff”. The exact reason why such a name was given to the city isn’t really clear.

63D Old record label : MCA

MCA Records was a record label that was founded in 1934 as Decca Records.