Tag: Progressive decline crossword clue

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Constructed by: Roland Huget
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Theme: Extra Bedrooms

Themed answers are common phrases with a BR added:

• 23A Toaster oven user? : BROWNER OPERATOR (BR + owner-operator)
• 34A Barbecue guests? : BROIL COMPANY (BR + oil company)
• 52A Fraternity news contacts? : BROTHER SOURCES (BR + other sources”)
• 76A Really dangerous edge? : INVISIBLE BRINK (BR + invisible ink)
• 93A Structural pieces for a tiny Christmas village? : POCKET BRACES (BR + pocket aces)
• 110A Ship’s rope? : NAVIGATION BRAID (BR + navigation aid)
• 16D Dirt at the stable? : BRIDLE GOSSIP (BR + idle gossip)
• 58D Fight among poor pool players? : SCRATCH BRAWL (BR + scratch awl)

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

Bill’s time: 15m 25s

Bill’s errors: 2

• EGGS (Eggo!!!)
• SMILEY (O’Miley!!!)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Bleak genre : NOIR

The expression “film noir” has French origins, but only in that it was coined by a French critic in describing a style of Hollywood film. The term, meaning “black film” in French, was first used by Nino Frank in 1946. Film noir often applies to a movie with a melodramatic plot and a private eye or detective at its center. Good examples would be “The Big Sleep” and “D.O.A”.

19 Locale of the Tomb of Akbar the Great : AGRA

Akbar the Great was Mughal Emperor from 1556 until his death in 1605. Akbar’s reign was a successful one for the empire, as he consolidated the Mughal influence in the whole of the Indian subcontinent. Akbar made significant social reforms that improved the lives of women, legalizing the remarriage of widows and raising the legal age of marriage. He also banned “sati”, the practice whereby a widow immolated herself on the funeral pyre of her husband.

21 Tanning target : HIDE

Leather is made from animal skins. When the flesh, fat and hair is removed from the skin and it is dried, the resulting product is rawhide. Further treatment of the skin with chemicals that permanently alter the protein structure of the skin is known as tanning, and the resulting product is leather.

22 “The Sound of Music” matriarch : MARIA

“The Sound of Music” is a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that was made into a celebrated movie in 1965 starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The musical is based on “The Story of the Trapp Family Singers”, a memoir by Maria von Trapp. The von Trapp family ended up in Stowe, Vermont after the war. One family descended from the Vermont von Trapps lives in the same town in which I used to live in California.

26 Steinbeck migrants : OKIES

John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” is set during the Great Depression. The novel tells the story of the Joad family from Oklahoma, farmers who had to leave their home and head for California due to economic hardship.

28 Dr. Al Robbins on “CSI,” e.g. : CORONER

The term “coroner” is derived from the Latin “custos placitorum coronae”, which was once the title of the officer responsible for protecting the property of the royal family (“corona” is Latin for “crown”). Over time, the responsibilities of the office narrowed and changed until by the 17th century, the main task was to determine the cause of death in cases not obviously natural.

32 Pearly coating : NACRE

Nacre, also known as mother-of-pearl, is the strong iridescent material laid down by some mollusks on the inside of their shells, and it’s also what makes up pearls. The creature lays down nacre as a defensive mechanism, protecting the soft tissue of its body from the rough surface of the outer shell. Similarly, it uses nacre to encapsulate harmful debris or a parasite that penetrates the shell, and that’s how a pearl is formed. Cultured pearls are made by inserting a tissue graft from a donor oyster, around which the nacre is laid down.

33 “1984” working class : PROLES

Back in the days of the Roman Republic, citizens with some material wealth were required to list in the census the property that they owned. Citizens with little or no property instead listed their “proles”, which is the Latin word for “offspring, children”. As a result, the class of people without property were referred to as the “proletarii”. Centuries later, Karl Marx popularized the term “proletariat” to describe the working class. Still later, author George Orwell used the term “prole” to describe a member of the working class in his novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four”.

38 Milwaukee MLBer through 1965 : BRAVE

The Atlanta Braves are the only team to have won baseball’s World Series in three different home cities. They won as the Boston Braves in 1914, the Milwaukee Braves in 1957 and the Atlanta Braves in 1995.

41 Certain hip-hop dancer : B-BOY

A b-boy is a male devotee of rap-music and breakdancing. Apparently the term “b-boy” comes from either “Bronx boy” or “break boy”.

47 Section that doesn’t include the sax, surprisingly : BRASS

Not all brass instruments are made from brass, but all produce sound with the vibration of the lips. Alphorns and didgeridoos are classified as brass instruments, but are made from wood. On the other hand, saxophones are classified as woodwinds, and are made from brass.

55 Hindu title : SRI

“Sri” is a title of respect for a male in India.

56 Fred Flintstone’s boss : MR SLATE

In “The Flintstone” animated TV show, Fred Flintstone operates a bronto-crane at the Slate Rock and Gravel Company, which is owned by Fred’s boss Mr. Slate.

60 Rachel Brosnahan’s “Marvelous Mrs.” : MAISEL

“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” is a comedy drama TV show set in the late fifties and early sixties. The title character, played by Rachel Brosnahan, is a New York housewife who opts for a career as a standup comedian.

Actress Rachel Brosnahan is best known for playing the title character in the comedy drama “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”. Prior to that success, she had a recurring role playing sex worker Rachel Posner in the political thriller “House of Cards”.

62 First name in design : COCO

Coco Chanel was a French fashion designer. I’m no fashionista, but if I had to pick a designer whose clothes I really liked, it would be Chanel. She had a way of creating simpler designs that look so elegant on a woman.

63 Winter Palace rulers : TSARS

The Winter Palace is a magnificent building in St. Petersburg in Russia that was home to the Russian tsars (and tsarinas). Today, the Winter Palace houses the famous Hermitage Museum. I was lucky enough to visit the Palace and museum some years ago, and I have to say that I have rarely been more impressed by a historical building.

68 Little bit : MITE

A mite is a small amount, as in “The Widow’s Mite”, a story from the Bible.

69 Use Listerine, say : GARGLE

Listerine is an antiseptic mouthwash. The brand takes its name from Joseph Lister, the British surgeon and promoter of antiseptic surgery.

71 Deep sleep : SOPOR

“Sopor” is a Latin word that we’ve absorbed into English. “Sopor” translates as “deep sleep” or “lethargy”.

75 It shares a small border with BC : IDA

Idaho borders six states, and one Canadian province:

• Montana
• Wyoming
• Nevada
• Utah
• Washington
• Oregon
• British Columbia, Canada

83 Drake production : RAP CD

Drake is the stage name of rapper Aubrey Graham from Toronto.

89 iPad assistant : SIRI

Siri is a software application that works with Apple’s iOS operating system. “Siri” is an acronym standing for Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface. Voice-over artist Susan Bennett revealed herself as the female American voice of Siri a few years ago. The British version of Siri is called Daniel, and the Australian version is called Karen. Also, “Siri” is a Norwegian name meaning “beautiful woman who leads you to victory”, and was the name the developer had chosen for his first child.

90 Red or Card : NLER

When the Cincinnati Reds were a dominating force in the National League in the seventies, the team was given the nickname “the Big Red Machine”.

The St. Louis Cardinals were originally called the “Brown Stockings”, changing their name to the “Perfectos” in 1899. That obviously didn’t go down well with the locals, as the owners changed it one year later to the Cardinals.

91 Tribe also called the Wyandot : HURON

The Native Americans known as the Wyandot people are also called the Huron. The Wyandot people mainly inhabit a reservation in Quebec.

93 Structural pieces for a tiny Christmas village? : POCKET BRACES (BR + pocket aces)

A starting poker hand including two aces can be referred to as “pocket aces”. It might also be called “American Airlines”.

99 Writer __ Rogers St. Johns : ADELA

Adela Rogers St. Johns was a journalist, novelist and screenwriter from Los Angeles. St. Johns’ father was a good friend of William Randolph Hearst, and she secured her first job working for Hearst as a reporter on the “San Francisco Examiner”. St. Johns was most famous as what was then called a “girl reporter”, in the twenties and thirties. Much later in her life, she was a regular guest on the “Tonight Show” hosted by Jack Paar.

101 Slow-moving tree dweller : SLOTH

“Sloth”, meaning “indolence, sluggishness”, comes from the Middle English word “slowe”, the same root for our contemporary word “slow”. The animal, the sloth, is so named as it exhibits slow-moving behavior.

102 Words on some Québec road signs : ARRETS

“Arrêt” is the French word for “stop”.

106 Tía’s mom : ABUELA

In Spanish, mother of your “tia” (aunt) is your “abuela” (grandmother).

109 Author Calvino : ITALO

As well as being an author, Italo Calvino was a famous Italian journalist. He was a supporter of communism and so wasn’t very popular in the US nor in Britain.

112 Pisa landmark : TOWER

The city of Pisa sits right on the Italian coast, at the mouth of the River Arno. The city is perhaps most famous for its Leaning Tower. The tower is actually the campanile (bell tower) of the city’s cathedral, and it has been leaning since it was completed in 1173. Just shows you how important good foundations are …

116 “The Planets” composer : HOLST

Despite the Scandinavian-sounding name, Gustav Holst was born in Britain and was the most English of classical composers. His most famous work is the orchestral suite known as ‘The Planets”. The suite has seven movements, one for each of the planets known at the time (1914-1916) except Earth. Pluto was discovered during Holst’s lifetime, but decades after he had completed his masterpiece. Anyway, Pluto was relegated from the league of planets …

119 Red ink : LOSS

To be in the red is to be in debt, to owe money. The expression “in the red” is a reference to the accounting practice of recording debts and losses in red ink in ledgers. The related phrase “in the black” means “solvent, making a profit”.

Down

6 Half of a vacation rental app : AIR-
(34D The other half of 6-Down : -BNB)

Airbnb is a website-based service that matches people wanting to rent out short-term living quarters to people seeking accommodation. The company was founded in 2008 as AirBed & Breakfast. The original concept was renting out an “air bed” and providing “breakfast” to someone looking for cheap, temporary accommodation.

7 Admired coll. guy : BMOC

Big Man On Campus (BMOC)

8 Slimming surg. procedure : LIPO

Liposuction (lipo) dates back to the 1920s when it was developed by a surgeon in France. However, the procedure quickly lost favor when a French model developed gangrene after surgery. As a result, it wasn’t until the mid-seventies that modern liposuction took off, after being popularized by two Italian-American surgeons in Rome.

14 Supreme Egyptian god : AMON-RA

Amun-Ra (also “Amon, Amen”) was a god in Egyptian mythology. Amun lends his name to our word “ammonia”. This is because the Romans called the ammonium chloride that they collected near the Temple of Jupiter Amun, “sal ammoniacus” (salt of Amun).

17 Feudal subject : LIEGE

A liege was a feudal lord, one to whom service or allegiance was owed under feudal law. “Liege” was also the term used for one who owed allegiance or service to a lord. Apparently the term is influenced by the Latin verb “ligare” meaning “to tie, bind”. So, I guess both lord and servant were “bound” to each other.

24 Yule tune : NOEL

“Noël” is the French word for the Christmas season, and ultimately comes from the Latin word for “birth” (natalis). “Noel” has come to be used as an alternative for “Christmas carol”.

25 Color at the stable : 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 Nashville attraction : OPRY

The Grand Ole Opry started out as a radio show in 1925 originally called the WSM “Barn Dance”. In 1927, the “Barn Dance” radio show was broadcast in a slot after an NBC production called “Musical Appreciation Hour”, a collection of classical works including Grand Opera. In a December show, the host of “Barn Dance” announced, “For the past hour, we have been listening to music taken largely from Grand Opera. From now on we will present the ‘Grand Ole Opry'”. That name was used for the radio show from then on.

36 Dance in a pit : MOSH

Moshing (also “slam dancing”) is the pushing and shoving that takes place in the audience at a concert (usually a punk or heavy metal concert). The area directly in front of the stage is known as the mosh pit. When a performer does a “stage dive”, it is into (or I suppose “onto”) the mosh pit. It doesn’t sound like fun to me. Injuries are commonplace in the mosh pit, and deaths are not unknown.

37 Mug for a selfie : POSE

The verb “to mug” means “to make an exaggerated facial expression”. The term comes from mugs used to drink beer (called Toby mugs) that are made in the shape of heads with grotesque expressions. “Mug” can also be a noun meaning “face”.

38 Winter pear : BOSC

Bosc is a cultivar of the European pear that is grown mainly in the northwest of the United States. It is named for French horticulturist Louis Bosc. The cultivar originated in Belgium or France in the early 19th century. The Bosc is that pear with a skin the color of a potato, with a long neck.

42 Immortal catcher with “-ism” associated with his first name : BERRA

Yogi Berra is regarded by many as the greatest catcher ever to play in Major League Baseball, and has to be America’s most celebrated “author” of malapropisms. Here are some greats:

• It ain’t over till it’s over.
• 90% of the game is half mental.
• Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.
• When you come to a fork in the road, take it.
• It’s déjà vu all over again.
• Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t go to yours.
• A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.

44 Nephew of King Arthur : GARETH

Sir Gareth is a Knight of the Round Table in the legend of King Arthur. Gareth is actually Arthur’s nephew.

45 The __ Company: Walmart foe in 2000s lawsuits : SMILEY

The Smiley Company is a brand licencing enterprise that was founded in France, and is now based in London. The company was founded largely to manage licencing of the smiley ideogram that was trademarked by French journalist Franklin Loufrani in 1971. That “smiley face” has been licenced to countless companies around the world. Famously, Walmart opposed the registration of the Smiley Company’s design in the US, claiming that it might be confused with a design already used by Walmart. Walmart and the Smiley Company settled out of court in 2011.

47 Maidenform purchase : BRA

Maidenform is a manufacturer of underwear for women that was founded in 1922. The three co-founders were driven to defy the norms of the day that dictated a flat-chested look for women. They produced items that fit the female body, hence the name “Maidenform”.

49 Mexican mama bear : OSA

In Spanish, “osa” is a female bear, and “oso” is a male. An “oso” might be found in “un zoológico” (a zoo).

51 Free TV spot : PSA

Public service announcement (PSA)

52 Place for a post : BLOG

Many folks who visit this website regard it as just that, a website. That is true, but more specifically it is referred to as a blog, as I make regular posts (actually daily posts) that then occupy the “front page” of the site. The blog entries are in reverse chronological order, and one can just look back day-by-day, reading older and older posts. “Blog” is a contraction of the term “web log”.

53 “Wheel of Fortune” action : RESPIN

Contestants have been spinning the “Wheel of Fortune” since the game show first aired in 1975.

54 Ipecac, for one : EMETIC

Syrup of ipecac is a preparation made from the dried roots and rhizomes of the ipecacuanha plant. The syrup is used as an emetic, a substance that induces vomiting. Ipecac accomplishes this by irritating the lining of the stomach.

56 Jimmy __, Saul’s real name on “Better Call Saul” : MCGILL

“Better Call Saul” is a spin-off drama series from the hit show “Breaking Bad”. The main character is small-time lawyer Saul Goodman, played by Bob Odenkirk, who featured in the original series. “Better Call Saul” is set six years before Goodman makes an appearance in the “Breaking Bad” storyline. The lawyer’s real name is James Morgan McGill, and his pseudonym is a play on the words “S’all good, man!”

57 Truckers’ competition : ROADEO

A roadeo is a competition held between drivers of buses or trucks. The competition’s name is a play on the words “road” and “rodeo”.

58 Fight among poor pool players? : SCRATCH BRAWL (BR + scratch awl)

A scratch awl is a hand tool, basically a steel spike with a sharp point that is used for marking wood. A common usage of a scratch awl is to scribe a line that can then be followed when chiseling or sawing.

65 Gift to a Valentine : ROSES

Saint Valentine’s Day was introduced by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD to honor various martyrs with the name Valentine. However, the saint’s day was dropped by the Roman Catholic church in 1969, by Pope Paul VI. Try telling that to Hallmark though …

67 La Brea formations : TAR PITS

The La Brea Tar Pits are located right in the heart of the city of Los Angeles. At the site there is a constant flow of tar that seeps up to the surface from underground, a phenomenon that has been around for tens of thousands of years. What is significant is that much of the seeping tar is covered by water. Over many, many centuries animals came to the water to drink and became trapped in the tar as they entered the water to quench their thirst. The tar then preserved the bones of the dead animals. Today a museum is located right by the Tar Pits, recovering bones and displaying specimens of the animals found there. It’s well worth a visit if you are in town …

72 Delivery room docs : OBS

In Latin, the word for midwife is “obstetrix”. “Obstetrix” translates more literally as “one who stands opposite” i.e. the one opposite the woman giving birth. The Latin term gives rise to our modern word “obstetrics” used for the branch of medical science concerned with childbirth.

78 Composer Satie : ERIK

Erik Satie was a French composer best known for his beautiful composition, the three “Gymnopédies”. I have tried so hard to appreciate other works by Satie but I find them so very different from the minimalist simplicity of the lyrical “Gymnopédies”.

81 Luau instruments : UKULELES

The ukulele (uke) originated in the 1800s and mimicked a small guitar brought to the Hawaiian Islands by Portuguese immigrants.

89 Hieroglyphic beetles : SCARABS

Scarabs were amulets in ancient Egypt. Scarabs were modelled on the dung beetle, as it was viewed as a symbol of the cycle of life.

The prefix “hiero-” comes from the Greek word “hieros” meaning sacred or holy. The classic use of the prefix is in the term “hieroglyphics” (meaning “sacred carving”), the writing system that uses symbols and pictures.

93 Small dress size : PETITE

“Petite” is the French word for “small”, when applied to a feminine noun.

94 Couturier Cassini : OLEG

French-born American fashion designer Oleg Cassini had two big names particularly associated with his designs. In the sixties he produced the state wardrobe for First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, and he was also the exclusive designer for Hollywood’s Gene Tierney, who was Cassini’s second wife.

96 Stark heir on “Game of Thrones” : ROBB

Robb Stark is a prominent character in the George R. R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” novels, and in the TV adaption of the books “Game of Thrones”. He is portrayed by Scotticsh actor Richard Madden in the show.

98 Threepio’s pal : ARTOO

Artoo’s proper name is R2-D2 (also “Artoo-Detoo”). R2-D2 is the smaller of the two famous droids from the “Star Wars” movies. British actor Kenny Baker, who stood just 3 ft 8 ins tall, was the man inside the R2-D2 droid for the first six of the “Star Wars” movies.

C-3PO (or “Threepio”) is the protocol droid that appears in the “Star Wars” movie franchise.

99 Enterprise competitor : ALAMO

The third-largest car rental company in recent years is Alamo, which was founded in 1974. Alamo made inroads (pun!) into the market by popularizing the idea of “unlimited mileage”.

100 Lifeboat crane : DAVIT

A davit is a crane-like structure used to raise and lower things on and off a ship, like perhaps a lifeboat. The crane was originally known as a “david”, and was so called as it was customary to apply given names to useful devices. Other examples would be jack, jenny and jimmy.

104 Bell town in a Longfellow poem : ATRI

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote “The Sicilian’s Tale; The Bell of Atri”, a narrative poem set in the small town of Atri in the Abruzzo region of Italy.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was famous for his own work, like “Paul Revere’s Ride” and “The Song of Hiawatha”, but he was also the first American to translate Dante’s epic poem called the “Divine Comedy”.

105 Property claim : LIEN

A lien is a right that one has to retain or secure someone’s property until a debt is paid. When an individual takes out a car loan, for example, the lending bank is usually a lien holder. The bank releases the lien on the car when the loan is paid in full.