Tag: Revolutionary murdered in a tub crossword clue

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Constructed by: David Poole
Edited by: Rich Norris

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Today’s Theme: Undersea Lab

Each of the themed answers includes the name of a SEA. The letters LAB appear UNDER the names of those seas in the grid:

• 17A. First U.S. national park : YELLOWSTONE (giving “Yellow Sea”)
• 20A. Calvin Klein or Perry Ellis : LABEL (hiding “lab”)

• 35A. Co-star of the 1955 comedy “How to Be Very, Very Popular” : SHEREE NORTH (giving “North Sea”)
• 41A. Generous slices : SLABS (hiding “lab”)

• 42A. Subject of a 19th-century famine : IRISH POTATO (giving “Irish Sea”)
• 46A. Tar pits site : LA BREA (hiding “lab”)

• 60A. The good dishes : CHINA (giving “China Seas”)
• 62A. Aquanaut’s workplace … or a hint to what’s graphically represented four times in this puzzle : UNDERSEA LAB (hiding “lab”)

Bill’s time: 6m 19s

Bill’s errors: 0

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

15. Online marketplace : 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 was a collector of broken laser pointers …

17. First U.S. national park : YELLOWSTONE (giving “Yellow Sea”)

Yellowstone was the first National Park to be established in the world, when it was designated as such by President Grant in 1872. What a great tradition it started! The American National Parks truly are a treasure.

The Yellow Sea is the northern part of the East China Sea, and is located between the Korean peninsula and China. The water surface does indeed take on a golden yellow hue at times when it picks up sand particles from sand storms in the Gobi Desert, which lies to the west of the Yellow Sea.

19. Syncopated piece : RAG

In the world of music, syncopation is the expected emphasis away from the normally accented beat, producing an unexpected rhythm, an “off-beat” rhythm. Syncopation is a characteristic of many genres of music, notably ragtime and jazz.

Ragtime music was at the height of it popularity in the early 1900s. It takes its name from its characteristic “ragged” rhythms. The most famous ragtime composer was Scott Joplin, who had a big hit with his “Maple Leaf Rag” when it was published in 1899. He followed that up with a string of hits, including the “Pine Apple Rag” (sic). Ragtime fell out of favor about 1917 when the public turned to jazz. It had a resurgence in the forties when jazz musicians started to include ragtime tunes in their repertoires. But it was the 1973 movie “The Sting” that brought the true revival, as the hit soundtrack included numerous ragtime tunes by Scott Joplin, including the celebrated “The Entertainer” originally published in 1902.

20. Calvin Klein or Perry Ellis : LABEL (hiding “lab”)

Calvin Klein is an American fashion designer who was born in the Bronx in New York City. Klein’s biography, entitled “Obsession”, is named for one the most famous brands in his line of fragrances.

Perry Ellis was a fashion designer from Portsmouth, Virginia. Ellis was noted for his sportswear creations.

22. Spilled the beans : SANG

“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”.

23. Love personified : AMOR

Eros, the Greek god of love, gives rise to our word “erotic”, meaning “arousing sexual desire”. Also known as Amor, the Roman counterpart to Eros was Cupid.

26. Oenophile’s concern : YEAR

In Greek mythology, Oeno was the goddess of wine, giving us “oen-” as a prefix meaning “wine”. For example, oenology is the study of wine and an oenophile is a wine-lover.

28. Bear with a purple bow tie : BOO BOO

Yogi Bear made his debut for Hanna-Barbera in 1958, on the Huckleberry Hound Show before he was given his own series. Do you remember that collar that Yogi wore around his neck? That was a little trick from the animators. By using the collar, for many frames all they had to do was redraw everything from the collar up, saving them lots and lots of time. Yogi and Boo Boo lived in Jellystone Park, and made Ranger Smith’s life a misery.

32. “Yada yada yada” letters : ETC

The Yada Yada Yada is the title of the 153rd episode of “Seinfeld”. Before “Seinfeld” made “yada yada yada” famous, we were more likely to hear the phrase “yadda yadda” that was often used by comedian Lenny Bruce, for example.

35. Co-star of the 1955 comedy “How to Be Very, Very Popular” : SHEREE NORTH (giving “North Sea”)

Sheree North was a singer, dancer and actress associated with the 20th Century Fox studio in Hollywood. North started her performance career during WWII with the USO, when she was just ten years old. On the big screen, her most famous role was probably the female lead opposite Tom Ewell in the 1955 romantic comedy “The Lieutenant Wore Skirts”.

“How to Be Very, Very Popular” is a 1955 comedy starring Betty Grable in her final movie appearance, and co-starring Sheree North in her first major role. Grable and North play two showgirls who witness a murder and so go on the run. They disguise themselves as boys and hide out in an all-male school. Hilarity ensues …

The North Sea is an offshoot of the Atlantic Ocean that is located between Britain and Scandinavia.

38. Revolutionary murdered in a tub : MARAT

Jean-Paul Marat was a prominent figure in the French Revolution. Marat was famously murdered in his bath by a young woman named Charlotte Corday, who was a Royalist. The gruesome event was immortalized in a celebrated painting by Jacques-Louis David called “The Death of Marat”.

40. Groom’s garb : TUX

The style of men’s evening dress called a “tuxedo” was apparently first worn to a country club event in 1886 in New York. The use of a dark dinner jacket without tails became fashionable at the club with the members, and the tradition spread from there. The country club was located in Tuxedo Park, New York, giving the style of dress its name.

42. Subject of a 19th-century famine : IRISH POTATO (giving “Irish Sea”)

A “blight” is a disease caused by some infective organism that results in the rapid browning of the plant due to the death of tissues such a leaves, branches and flowers. One of the most famous such disease is the potato blight caused by the fungus-like microorganism Phytophthora infestans. It was potato blight that caused the Great Famine in Ireland, which led to the death of about a million people and the mass emigration of about a million more between the 1845 and 1852.

The Irish Sea is the stretch of water separating the island of Ireland from the island of Great Britain. More than 12 million ferry passengers cross the Irish Sea annually between Ireland and Great Britain. I’ve been one such passenger on more occasions than I can remember …

45. Menu general : TSO

General Tso’s chicken is an American creation, and a dish often found on the menu of a Chinese restaurant. The name General Tso may be a reference to General Zuo Zongtang of the Qing Dynasty, but there is no clear link.

46. Tar pits site : LA BREA (hiding “lab”)

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 thirsts. 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 …

49. Che’s given name : ERNESTO

Ernesto “Che” Guevara was born in Argentina, and in 1948 he started to study medicine at the University of Buenos Aires. While at school he satisfied his need to “see the world” by taking two long journeys around South America, the story of which are told in Guevara’s memoir later published as “The Motorcycle Diaries”. While travelling, Guevara was moved by the plight of the people he saw and their working conditions and what he viewed as capitalistic exploitation. In Mexico City he met brothers Raul and Fidel Castro and was persuaded to join their cause, the overthrow of the US-backed government in Cuba. He rose to second-in-command among the Cuban insurgents, and when Castro came to power Guevara was influential in repelling the Bay of Pigs Invasion and bringing Soviet nuclear missiles to the island. Guevara left Cuba in 1965 to continue his work as a revolutionary. He was captured by Bolivian forces in 1967, and was executed. Fidel Castro led the public mourning of Guevara’s death, and soon the revolutionary was an icon for many left-wing movements around the world.

52. State-spanning rds. : TPKS

Back in the 15th century, a turnpike (tpk.) was a defensive barrier across a road. By the 17th century the term was used for a barrier that stopped travelers until a toll was paid. By the 18th century a turnpike was the name given to a road with a toll.

60. The good dishes : CHINA (giving “China Seas”)

The ceramic known as “porcelain” can be referred to as “china” or “fine china”, as porcelain was developed in China.

Although there is no “China Sea” per se, the term “China Seas” is used collectively to describe several marginal seas in the Western Pacific that touch on China. The four principal China Seas are:

• The Bohai Sea
• The Huanghai Sea
• The East China Sea
• The South China Sea

61. “The Mikado” band? : OBI

The sash worn as part of traditional Japanese dress is known as an obi. The obi can be tied at the back in what is called a butterfly knot. The term “obi” is also used for the thick cotton belts that are an essential part of the outfits worn by practitioners of many martial arts. The color of the martial arts obi signifies the wearer’s skill level.

“The Mikado” is a wonderful comic opera by Gilbert and Sullivan that is set in the exotic location of Japan. “Mikado” is a word formerly used for the “Emperor of Japan”. In the story, Nanki-Poo is the Mikado’s son, who falls in love with Yum-Yum.

62. Aquanaut’s workplace … or a hint to what’s graphically represented four times in this puzzle : UNDERSEA LAB (hiding “lab”)

SEALAB I, II and II were man-made habitats built by the US Navy designed to advance the technology needed for humans to live and work underwater for extended periods. SEALAB I was lowered to a depth of just under 200 feet off the coast of Bermuda in 1964. Four divers (“aquanauts”) stayed in SEALAB for 11 days, before the experiment was halted due to the approach of a tropical storm.

64. Dram : NIP

The dram is a confusing unit of measurement, I think. It has one value as an ancient unit of mass, and two different values as a modern unit of mass, another value as a unit of fluid volume, and yet another varying value as a measure of Scotch whisky!

65. Thailand, once : SIAM

Siam was the official name of Thailand up to 1939 (and again from 1945 to 1949).

67. Fictional vigilante’s mark : ZEE

The character Zorro was created by Johnston McCulley in 1919 for a series of stories and pulp fiction, the first title being “The Curse of Capistrano”. The name “Zorro” is the secret identity of a Spanish colonial nobleman called Don Diego de la Vega.

“Vigilante” is a Spanish word that translates literally as “watchman”. The first formally defined vigilantes were appointed in the early American colonies. These members of a vigilance committee were volunteers who manned frontiers, protecting against attack while maintaining order.

68. Ballpark figs. : ESTS

The phrase “in the ballpark” means “within an acceptable range of approximation”. The term was coined in the mid-fifties as jargon used by scientists developing atomic weapons. The first “ballpark” in this sense was the broad area within which a missile was forecast to return to earth.

69. Christian of “Mr. Robot” : SLATER

Christian Slater is an actor from New York City. My favorite roles that he has played are in “Broken Arrow” with John Travolta, and on the TV series “The West Wing”.

“Mr. Robot” is an engaging drama series about an anxious and clinically depressed computer hacker. Said hacker joins an anarchic group of hackers known as “Mr. Robot” who are intent on taking down the largest conglomerate in the world. I binge-watched the first two series, and really enjoyed the experience …

Down

1. Sanctuaries : ASYLA

Asylum (plural “asyla”) is a Latin word meaning “sanctuary”.

3. Frodo inherited his ring : BILBO

In J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy novel “The Hobbit”, the title character is Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit who stumbles across a magical ring and then embarks on a series of adventures.

Frodo Baggins is a principal character in J. R. R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings”. Frodo is a Hobbit, and is charged with the quest of destroying Sauron’s Ring in the fires of Mount Doom.

4. Queen of mystery : ELLERY

The Ellery Queen series of detective novels was somewhat unique in that Ellery Queen was the hero of the tales, and was also the pen name of the author. Actually, the “author” was a pair of writers; two cousins from Brooklyn, New York.

5. Small-runway aircraft acronym : STOL

STOL is an abbreviation standing for “short take-off and landing”.

6. Spokane-to-Walla Walla dir. : SSW

Spokane, Washington is named for the Spokan people who lived in the eastern portion of Washington and northern Idaho. Back in 1974, Spokane was the smallest city ever to host a World’s Fair. The theme of the fare was “the environment”, which I suppose was ahead of its time. Notably, Expo ’74 was the first American-hosted World’s Fair attended by the Soviet Union after WWII.

The Washington city of Walla Walla used to be called Steptoeville. It was named for Edward Steptoe, an officer in the US Army who served in the Indian Wars. Walla Walla is a Native American phrase meaning “place of many waters”.

7. Software to debug : BETAS

In the world of software development, the first tested issue of a new program is usually called the alpha version. Expected to have a lot of bugs that need to be fixed, the alpha release is usually distributed to a small number of testers. After reported bugs have been eliminated, the refined version is called a beta and is released to a wider audience, but with the program clearly labeled as “beta”. The users generally check functionality and report further bugs that are encountered. The beta version feeds into a release candidate, the version that is tested just prior to the software being sold into the market, hopefully bug-free.

10. Drano compound : LYE

To clean out drains we might buy Crystal Drano which is sodium hydroxide (lye) mixed with sodium nitrate, sodium chloride (table salt) and aluminum. The contents of Drano work in concert to clear the clog. The lye reacts with any fats creating soap which may be enough to break up the clog. Also, the finely-divided aluminum reacts with water creating tremendous heat so that that mixture boils and churns, then any hair or fibers are cut by the sharp edges of the nitrate and chloride crystals. Having said all that, I find that boiling water poured down the drain quite often does the job …

11. Biblical reformer : EZRA

Ezra the Scribe, also called “Ezra the Priest”, is the central character in the Book of Ezra in the Hebrew Bible.

13. “Around the World … ” hero : FOGG

“Around the World in 80 Days” is just a wonderful adventure story written by French author Jules Verne and first published in 1873. There have been some great screen adaptations of the story, including the 1956 movie starring David Niven as Phileas Fogg. In almost all adaptations, a balloon is used for part of the journey, and is perhaps the most memorable means of transportation on Fogg’s trip around the world. However, if you read the book, Fogg never used a balloon at all.

22. Happy hour perch : STOOL

I personally think that Happy Hour is best enjoyed shaken, not stirred; and with a good crossword …

25. Lighter brand : RONSON

The Ronson lighter business was founded in 1897 as The Art Metal Works in Newark, New Jersey. The company became successful making hood ornaments for the automotive industry. One of the co-founders was Louis Vincent Aronson. Aronson won an award in 1893 from the Belgian government to develop the world’s first non-toxic match. It was this initial work that led to Aronson getting his first patent for a pocket lighter in 1910. The “Ronson” brand of lighters were introduced in the 1920s.

27. Bible book read during Purim : ESTHER

Purim is a festival commemorating the deliverance of the Jewish people from a plot to wipe them out by Haman the Agagite, as recorded in the Book of Esther.

29. Frank’s cousin : BRAT

A bratwurst (sometimes “brat” in the US) is a German sausage. The name comes from “brät-” meaning “finely chopped meat”, and “Wurst” meaning “sausage”.

What we call a wiener in this country is known as a Vienna sausage in Germany. It was first produced by a butcher from Frankfurt who was living in Vienna, hence the name “Wiener”, which is German for “of Vienna”. Paradoxically, the same sausage is called a Frankfurter in Vienna, as it was created by someone from Frankfurt. It’s all very confusing …

30. Gambling parlors, for short : OTBS

Off-track betting (OTB) is the legal gambling that takes place on horse races outside of a race track. A betting parlor can be referred to as an OTB.

32. Expressionist painter Nolde : EMIL

Emil Nolde was a German Expressionist painter. He was actually born Emil Hansen, near the village of Nolde in the Prussian Duchy of Schleswig in 1867. Hansen officially changed his name to Nolde on the occasion of his marriage in 1902.

33. Plantation near Twelve Oaks : TARA

Scarlett O’Hara’s home is the Tara plantation, in Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone with the Wind”. Tara was founded not far from the Georgia city of Jonesboro by Scarlett’s father, Irish immigrant Gerald O’Hara. Gerald won the square mile of land on which Tara was built in an all-night poker game. He named his new abode after the Hill of Tara back in his home country, the ancient seat of the High King of Ireland. Rhett’s rival for the affections of Scarlet is Ashley Wilkes who lives at the nearby Twelve Oaks plantation.

43. Pressed sandwiches : PANINIS

In Italy, a sandwich made from sliced bread is called a “tramezzino”, while sandwiches made from non-sliced breads are called “panini” (singular “panino”). We’ve imported the term “panini” into English to mean a pressed and toasted sandwich.

44. Confucian ideal : TAO

The sayings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius (anglicized from “K’ung Fu-Tse”) are collected in a work called “The Analects” or “Linyu”. It wasn’t Confucius who wrote down his thoughts though, but rather his pupils, some 40 or so years after his death in 479 BC.

48. Cornell’s city : ITHACA

Ezra Cornell was an associate of Samuel Morse and made his money in the telegraph business. After he retired he co-founded Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He provided a generous endowment and donated his farm as a site for the school, and was then rewarded by having the institute named after him.

51. Parts of some flutes : STEMS

The narrow bowl of a champagne flute is preferred over the wide bowl of a champagne coupe as the smaller surface area of the wine helps retain its carbonation.

54. __ of Hearts, accused tarts thief : KNAVE

In the Lewis Carroll novel “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, Alice attends a trial in which the Knave of Hearts is accused of stealing tarts belonging to the Queen of Hearts.

55. Cavalry sword : SABER

A saber (sometimes “sabre”) is a sword with a curved blade and a relatively large hand guard. It is thought that the term originated with the Hungarian verb “szabni” meaning “to cut”.

56. With “the,” TV character who first jumped the shark–literally : FONZ

The phrase “jumping the shark” has been used since 1977 to describe the moment in the life of a TV show when it starts to decline in popularity. The expression comes from a scene in the hit sitcom “Happy Days” when the character Fonzie gets on water skis and is seen literally jumping over a shark. “Happy Days” never recovered.

57. Village Voice award : OBIE

The Obies are the “Off-Broadway Theater Awards”. The Obies are presented annually and the recipients are chosen by “The Village Voice” newspaper.

63. KLM rival : SAS

SAS was formerly known as Scandinavian Airlines System and is the flag carrier of three countries: Denmark, Norway and Sweden. SAS is based at Stockholm Arlanda Airport located just north of the Swedish capital.

The initialism KLM stands for “Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij”, which translates from Dutch as “Royal Aviation Company”. KLM is the flag carrier for the Netherlands, and is the oldest airline in the world still operating with its original name. It was founded in 1919. KLM merged with Air France in 2004.