Tag: Rollers that might get stuck in the mud crossword clue

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Constructed by: Matthew Stock
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: McDouble

Themed answers each include a DOUBLE pairing of the letter couple “MC”:

• 59A Golden Arches order with two patties, and an apt title for this puzzle : MCDOUBLE

• 20A “Wait for meeeee!” : I’M COMING! I’M COMING!
• 25A Harry and Sally from “When Harry Met Sally …,” e.g. : ROMCOM COUPLE
• 49A Oscar-winning song from “Mary Poppins” : CHIM CHIM CHER-EE

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

Bill’s time: 9m 49s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Brand with a four-ring logo : AUDI

The predecessor to today’s Audi company was called Auto Union. Auto Union was formed with the merger of four individual entities: Audi, Horch, DKW and Wanderer. The Audi logo comprises four intersecting rings, each representing one of the four companies that merged.

9 D.C. ballplayers : NATS

If you attend a Washington Nationals baseball game, held in Nationals Park, you’ll see the Presidents Race in the middle of the fourth innings. Individuals dressed like seven former US presidents, each sporting a large and cartoonish head, have participated in the races over the years. Those runners are:

• George (Washington)
• Abe (Lincoln)
• Tom (Jefferson)
• Teddy (Roosevelt)
• Bill (Taft)
• Calvin (Coolidge)
• Herbie (Hoover)

14 __ Bock: dark beer from Texas : SHINER

Shiner Bock is a dark lager produced by the Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner, Texas. First brewed in 1913, it has become a staple beer in Texas and is now distributed throughout the US.

16 Dieciséis dividido por dos : OCHO

In Spanish, “ocho” (eight) is “dieciséis dividido por dos” (sixteen divided by two).

17 Behind : TUSH

“Tush”, a word meaning “backside”, is an abbreviation of “tochus” that comes from the Yiddish “tokhes”.

18 Hindu practice : TANTRA

Tantrism (sometimes “Tantra”) is a relatively recent class of religious ritual and meditation that has its roots in 5th century India. The tantras are sometimes considered as advanced teachings that extend the basic tenets of several Indian religions including Buddhism and Hinduism.

23 Kindergartener : TOT

“Kindergarten” is a German word, one translated as “children’s garden”. The term was coined by the German education authority Friedrich Fröbel in 1837, when he used it as the name for his play and activity institute that he created for young children to use before they headed off to school. His thought was that children should be nourished educationally, like plants in a garden.

24 RV park chain : KOA

Kampgrounds of America (KOA) was founded in 1962 by Montana businessman Dave Drum, who opened up his first property along the Yellowstone River. His strategy was to offer a rich package of services including hot showers, restrooms and a store, which he hoped would attract people used to camping in the rough. The original campground was an immediate hit and Drum took on two partners and sold franchises all over the country. There are about 500 KOA sites today.

25 Harry and Sally from “When Harry Met Sally …,” e.g. : ROMCOM COUPLE

“When Harry Met Sally… “ is a 1989 romantic comedy starring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan in the title roles. This marvelous film was written by the late Nora Ephron and directed by Rob Reiner. There’s a famous scene in the movie, filmed in Katz’s Deli in Manhattan, in which the character Sally (fully clothed, while eating) fakes an orgasm at the table in front of Harry. A woman at a nearby table places her order saying, “I’ll have what she’s having”. That woman was Estelle Reiner, director Carl Reiner’s mother. To this day, there is a sign in Katz’s, pointing to Harry and Sally’s table, that reads “Where Harry met Sally… hope you have what she had! Enjoy!”

37 Perjurer : LIAR

An act of perjury is the willful giving of false testimony under oath. The term “perjury” ultimately comes from the Latin “per” meaning “away” and “iurare” meaning “to swear”.

44 Bread flour : ATTA

Atta is a whole-wheat flour used to make flatbreads in South Asian cuisine, such as chapati and naan. “Atta” is the Hindi or Urdu word for “dough”.

47 Some field journalists : EMBEDS

Although journalists have been directly reporting from the front lines in military conflicts for some time, the term “embedded journalism” only came into fashion during the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. A formal arrangement was made between the US Military and hundreds of reporters allowing journalists to travel with military units and, under pre-ordained conditions, report directly from those units. Some say that the arrangement was mutually beneficial. On the one hand the journalists had relatively little to worry about in terms of transportation and travel through combat zones. On the other hand, the military had better control over what did and did not get reported.

49 Oscar-winning song from “Mary Poppins” : CHIM CHIM CHER-EE

“Chim Chim Cher-ee” is a song from the 1964 Disney musical film “Mary Poppins”. Sung by Dick Van Dyke as the chimney sweep Bert, the song won that season’s Best Original Song Oscar.

54 African cackler : HYENA

The spotted hyena of Sub-Saharan Africa is also known as the laughing hyena because of the sound it often makes, which resembles maniacal laughter.

58 “Helpful hardware folks” company : ACE

The Ace Hardware chain of stores was founded in 1924 in Chicago, Illinois. The name “Ace” comes from “ace” fighter pilots from World War I.

59 Golden Arches order with two patties, and an apt title for this puzzle : MCDOUBLE

The McDouble is a sandwich that was introduced by McDonald’s in 1997. It includes just one slice of cheese between two beef patties, and so is essentially a Double Cheeseburger with one slice of cheese missing. Ordering a McDouble, or a McDouble meal, is sometimes cited as a life hack because removing that one slice of cheese results in a substantial reduction in price.

62 Higher ed hurdle : GRE

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

65 Put a spell on : HEX

“Hexen” is a German word meaning “to practice witchcraft”. The use of the word “hex” in English started with the Pennsylvania Dutch in the early 1800s.

66 In medias __ : RES

“In medias res” is a Latin phrase that translates as “into the middle of things”. We use “in medias res” to describe a literary technique in which a story starts at some point other than the beginning of the plot.

68 Vietnamese holiday whose full name translates to “festival of the first day” : TET

The full name for the New Year holiday in Vietnam is “Tet Nguyen Dan” meaning “Feast of the First Morning”, with the reference being to the arrival of the season of spring. Tet usually falls on the same day as Chinese New Year.

Down

1 Italian wine town : ASTI

Asti is in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy. It is perhaps most famous for its Asti Spumante sparkling white wine. Moscato d’Asti is produced from the same grape (Moscato Bianco). Moscato is a much sweeter wine with a lower alcohol content, and is usually served as a dessert wine.

2 E pluribus __ : UNUM

From 1776, “E pluribus unum” was the unofficial motto of the United States. The phrase translates from Latin as “Out of many, one”. It was pushed aside in 1956 when an Act of Congress designated “In God We Trust” as the country’s official motto. “In God We Trust” had appeared on US coins since 1864, but was only introduced on paper currency in 1957.

3 Shuffleboard piece : DISC

The game of shuffleboard has been around for a long time. King Henry VIII was fond of playing, and in fact he prohibited commoners from playing the game. Shuffleboard is also known as shovelboard, a reference perhaps to the shovel-like paddles used to propel the pucks.

4 Onetime Apple media app : IPHOTO

iPhoto is a digital photo manipulation application that Apple no longer supports, having replaced it with the Photos app.

8 Long-lasting do : PERM

“Perm” is the common name given to a permanent wave, a chemical or thermal treatment of hair to produce waves or curls.

10 __ na tigela: Brazilian dish with berries : ACAI

Açaí na tigela is a dish made from the frozen, mashed fruit of the açaí palm and served as a smoothie. Often topped with granola, banana, other berries and syrup, the dish is a specialty in much of Brazil. There’s even a savory version of açaí na tigela (“açaí in the bowl”) that includes shrimp or dried fish and tapioca. Açaí bowls are becoming very popular in North America, especially as a health food.

14 Disney character initially called Experiment 626 : STITCH

“Lilo & Stitch” was released by Disney in 2002. Compared to other Disney feature-length cartoons, “Lilo & Stitch” was relatively cheaply produced, using the voices of lesser-known actors. One interesting change had to take place in the storyline during production, when Lilo was meant to fly a Jumbo Jet through downtown Honolulu in one sequence. This was replaced with a sequence using a spaceship instead, as the producers were sensitive to public sentiment after the September 11 attacks.

21 May honorees : MOMS

Note the official punctuation in “Mother’s Day”, even though one might think it should be “Mothers’ Day”. President Wilson and Anna Jarvis, who created the tradition, specifically wanted Mother’s Day to honor the mothers within each family and not just “mothers” in general, so they went with the “Mother’s Day” punctuation.

25 Rollers that might get stuck in the mud : REAR WHEELS

Rear-wheel drive (RWD) and front-wheel drive (FWD) are two different ways of powering a car. Historically, RWD was more common, offering better weight distribution for performance driving and towing. FWD is generally more fuel-efficient and provides better traction in slippery conditions like rain or snow, making it popular for everyday passenger cars.

27 “Uh-huh … ” : MKAY …

“Mkay” is an informal variant of the word “okay”. The former is typically used at the end of a sentence, inviting agreement or confirmation. Mkay?

28 Gaelic speaker : CELT

The Celts are a very broad group of people across Europe who are linked by common languages. The original Celts were largely absorbed by other cultures, although a relatively modern revival of the “Celtic identity” is alive and well in Britain and Ireland. Such Celtic peoples today are mainly found in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Brittany in France.

30 Rare spot for a No. 12 seed : ELITE EIGHT

In the NCAA Division I Basketball Championship, the teams remaining at various stages of the tournament are known as:

• The “Sweet Sixteen” (the regional semi-finalists)
• The “Elite Eight” (the regional finalists)
• The “Final Four” (the national semi-finalists)

31 Astronaut Shepard : ALAN

Alan Shepard was the first American in space. Shepard’s flight was originally scheduled for October 1960 but a series of delays pushed it out till May 5, 1961. Yuri Gagarin made his celebrated flight on April 12, 1961, just one month earlier, winning that part of the Space Race for the Soviets. A decade later, Shepard went into space again at the age of 47, as commander of Apollo 14. He was the fifth man to walk on the moon, and indeed the oldest. Shepard was also the only one of the Mercury Seven team to make it to the moon. Famously, he drove two golf balls while on the lunar surface.

36 Matar paneer vegetables : PEAS

Mattar paneer is a dish from North Indian cuisine. It consists mainly of paneer (a freshly-made cheese) combined with peas in a tomato-based sauce.

38 Songbird with an orange belly : ROBIN

The American robin has a reddish-orange breast. This coloring gave the bird its name, due to the similarity to the European robin. The two species are not in fact related, with the American robin being a thrush, and its European cousin an Old World flycatcher. It is the American robin that famously lays light-blue eggs.

40 Buffalo NHLer : SABRE

The Buffalo Sabres joined the National Hockey League in the 1970-71 season. The team took the name “Sabres” as the result of a fan contest.

46 Prayer leader : IMAM

An imam is a Muslim leader, and often the person in charge of a mosque and/or perhaps a Muslim community.

52 “Euphoria” actress Apatow : MAUDE

Actress Maude Apatow gained recognition for her role as Lexi Howard in the teen drama series “Euphoria”. She’s also known for appearing in films like “Knocked Up”, “Funny People” and “This Is 40”, all of which were written and directed by her father, Judd Apatow.

“Euphoria” is an HBO teen drama show that is loosely based on a miniseries of the same name from Israel. Lead actress in the show is Zendaya, who plays a recovering teenage drug addict.

60 “Wicked” director Jon M. __ : CHU

Jon M. Chu is a movie and television director who is perhaps known for directing 2018’s highly-acclaimed film “Crazy Rich Asians”. Chu’s firstborn child is named “Willow”, after the 1998 film “Willow”. His second-born child is named “Jonathan Heights”, after the 2021 movie “In the Heights”.

“Wicked” (2024) is the first installment of a two-part film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical of the same name. It stars Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda, and shows the events that lead them to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good. I skipped this one, because I am scared of flying monkeys …

61 Mormon church inits. : LDS

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) is known colloquially as the Mormon Church.