Tag: Shorebirds related to stilts crossword clue

Advertisement

Constructed by: Jeffrey Wechsler
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Sound Advice

Themed answers are sound pieces of advice expressing roughly the same sentiment:

• 17A “Take my advice: no use crying over spilled milk … ” : WHAT’S DONE IS DONE …

• 34A With 36-Across, “There’s no going back … ” : … YOU CAN’T …
• 36A See 34-Across : … CHANGE THE PAST …

• 48A “Put everything behind you … ” : … FORGET ABOUT IT …

• 61A “And look ahead.” : … IT’S TIME TO MOVE ON

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

Bill’s time: 9m 33s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Honshu drama : NOH

Noh is a form of musical drama in Japan that has been around since the 14th century. Many of the Noh performers are masked, allowing all the roles to be played by men, including the female parts.

Honshu is the largest island in Japan, and the seventh largest island in the world. The name “Honshu” translates as “Main Island”.

11 Audi rival : BMW

The initialism “BMW” stands for Bayerische Motoren Werke, which translates into Bavarian Motor Works. BMW was making aircraft engines during WWI, but had to cease that activity according to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The company then started making motorcycles, and moved into automobile production starting in 1928. BMW moved back into aircraft engine manufacturing during the build-up of the Luftwaffe prior to WWII.

14 Boise-to-Billings dir. : ENE

Boise, Idaho is the capital and the largest metropolitan area in the state by far. There are a number of stories pertaining to the etymology of the name “Boise”. One is that French trappers called the tree-lined river that ran through the area “la rivière boisée”, meaning “the wooded river”.

Billings is the only city in Montana with a population greater than 100,000 people. It was founded as a railroad town in 1882 and experienced such rapid growth that it was nicknamed the Magic City. The town’s name was chosen in honor of a former president of the Northern Pacific Railroad, Frederick H. Billings.

15 “Raging Bull” boxer : LAMOTTA

Jake LaMotta is a retired Italian-American boxer and former world champion. Famously. LaMotta was played by Robert De Niro in the 1980 movie “Raging Bull”. LaMotta’s nickname is “The Bronx Bull” as well as “The Raging Bull”.

I just do not like boxing, nor movies about boxing, but I certainly accept that “Raging Bull” is true cinema classic. It is a biopic released in 1980, with Robert De Niro starring as Jake LaMotta, and ably directed by Martin Scorsese. Famously, De Niro gained about 70 pounds in weight to lay LaMotta in his early years, showing true dedication to his craft.

16 Infamous Vietnam War site, My __ : LAI

The My Lai Massacre took place in the Vietnamese village of that name in March, 1968. After an investigation it was determined that at least 347 unarmed civilians, mostly women, children and elderly people, were murdered by a unit of US soldiers. It was also revealed that gang rapes and torture took place during the massacre. At least three servicemen tried to halt the killing, but they were vastly outnumbered by those participating. About two years after the massacre, 26 men were charged with crimes, but only one man was convicted. William Calley was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment and hard labor. President Nixon stepped in the day after Calley was sentenced and ordered him transferred from Leavenworth prison and placed under house arrest pending appeal. On appeal the life sentence was reduced to 20 years, and this was further cut to 10 years as an act of clemency by the Secretary of the Army. Calley was released after serving three years in total.

20 Compact part : MIRROR

The make-up case known as a “compact” is so called because it contains make-up powder that has been “compacted”.

22 Spumante source : ASTI

Asti is a sparkling white wine from the Piedmont region of Italy, and is named for the town of Asti around which the wine is produced. The wine used to be called Asti Spumante, and it had a very bad reputation as a “poor man’s champagne”. The “Spumante” was dropped in a marketing attempt at rebranding associated with a reduction in the amount of residual sugar in the wine.

23 PC core : CPU

The central processing unit (CPU) is the main component on the motherboard of a computer. The CPU is the part of the computer that carries out most of the functions required by a program. Nowadays you can get CPUs in everything from cars to telephones.

27 Rockets’ org. : NBA

The Houston Rockets NBA team was founded as a league expansion team in 1967 in San Diego. The Rockets relocated to Houston in 1971. Surprisingly (to me), the Rockets were not named for Houston’s connection to NASA. The “Rockets” moniker was partly due to San Diego’s more tenuous NASA connection. General Dynamics’ San Diego operation developed and built the first Atlas rockets, including those used in Project Mercury.

28 Low cloud : STRATUS

Stratus (plural “strati”) clouds are very common, and as they are wider than they are tall and flat along the bottom, we might just see them as haze in a featureless sky above us. Stratus clouds are basically the same as fog, but some distance above the ground. Indeed, many stratus clouds are formed when morning fog lifts into the air as the ground heats up.

35 Ship letters : USS

The abbreviation “USS” stands for “United States Ship”. The practice of naming US Navy vessels in a standard format didn’t start until 1907, when President Theodore Roosevelt issued an executive order that addressed the issue.

40 Celestial feline : LEO

The constellation named Leo can be said to resemble a lion. Others say that it resembles a bent coat hanger. “Leo” is the Latin for “lion”, but I’m not sure how to translate “coat hanger” into Latin …

41 Snoots put them on : AIRS

“Snoot” is a variant of “snout”, and is a word that originated in Scotland. The idea is that someone who is snooty, or “snouty”, tends to look down his or her nose at the rest of the world.

45 Other, in Oaxaca : OTRO

Oaxaca (officially “Oaxaca de Juárez”) is the capital city of the Mexican state of Oaxaca, which is located in the south of the country.

53 Sigma follower : TAU

Tau is the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet, and the letter that gave rise to our Roman “T”. Both the letters tau (T) and chi (X) have long been symbolically associated with the cross.

54 Shorebirds related to stilts : AVOCETS

The avocet is found in warm climates, usually in saline wetlands where it uses its upcurved bill to sweep from side-to-side in water searching for aquatic insects on which it feeds. Avocets, and other similar species, may go by the common name of “stilts”, a moniker applied to them because of their long legs.

57 Cards : WITS

A very amusing person might be referred to as a card, stitch, wag or riot.

60 Sax type : ALTO

The saxophone was invented by Belgian musician Adolphe Sax, hence the name. Sax developed lip cancer at one point in his life, and one has to wonder if his affliction was related to his saxophone playing (I am sure not!). I had the privilege of visiting Sax’s grave in the Cemetery of Montmartre in Paris a few years ago.

64 Force featured on “Bosch,” for short : THE LAPD

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is the third-largest local law enforcement agency in the country, after New York PD and Chicago PD. Among other things, LAPD is famous for creating the first Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team in the US, in 1965.

“Bosch” is a well-written police drama series produced by Amazon Studios. The title character, detective Harry Bosch, is portrayed by Titus Welliver. Harry Bosch features in a series of novels by Michael Connelly, who is also the TV show’s creator.

Down

1 __ Own Organics : NEWMAN’S

Paul Newman was an actor from Shaker Heights, Ohio. Newman won his only Best Actor Oscar for his role in “The Color of Money”, a Martin Scorsese film. Off screen Newman was a very successful racing driver and won several national championships. He also founded a food company called Newman’s Own which donates its profits to charity, an amount that now exceeds $500 million.

2 Where “The Man With the Hoe” carried the world, in an Edwin Markham poem : ON HIS BACK

“The Man With the Hoe” is a poem by Edwin Markham that was inspired by the painting of the same name by Jean-Francois Millet (“L’homme a la houe”).

Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans
Upon his hoe and gazes on the ground,
The emptiness of ages in his face,
And on his back the burden of the world.

5 Iraq’s __ City : SADR

Sadr City is a suburb of Baghdad that has oft been in the news in recent years. Sadr City is named after the deceased Shia leader Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr.

6 Brief “I think” : IMO

In my opinion (IMO)

7 Oceanus, to Gaia : SON

Oceanus was a mythical figure and the personification of the enormous river that the ancient Greeks and Romans believed encircled the world. It is from the name “Oceanus” that we get out modern term “Ocean”.

In ancient Greek religion, Gaia was the Earth goddess, the mother of everything. The Roman equivalent was the goddess Terra.

9 “How sweet __!” : IT IS

“How sweet it is!” was perhaps Jackie Gleason’s most famous catchphrase. Gleason grew up in Brooklyn, and drivers entering the borough today via the Brooklyn Bridge are greeted by a road sign announcing “How Sweet It Is!”

13 Cookout fare : WIENERS

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 …

19 OB or ENT : DOC

Obstetrics and gynecology (Ob-Gyn)

Ear, nose and throat specialist (ENT)

23 Rock’s Mötley __ : CRUE

Mötley Crüe is an American rock band from Los Angeles. They’ve been around since 1981, co-founded by the famous drummer Tommy Lee. Tommy Lee is also known for his two celebrated marriages, the first with Heather Locklear and the second with Pamela Anderson. The name “Mötley Crüe” was chosen as someone once described the band members as a “motley looking crew”. The spelling was made to look a little more exotic, with the umlauts added over the “o” and “u” one day, as the band were drinking bottles of “Löwenbräu” beer!

25 Four Corners state : UTAH

The Four Corners region of the US surrounds the meeting point of the four states of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. The Four Corners is the only point in the US that is shared by four states.

28 Roget entry: Abbr. : SYN

Synonym (syn.)

Peter Mark Roget was an English lexicographer. Roget was an avid maker of lists, apparently using the routine of list-making to combat depression, a condition he endured for most of his life. He published his famous thesaurus in 1852, with revisions and expansions being made years later by his son, and then in turn by his grandson.

29 Dress, with “up” : TOG …

The verb “to tog up”, meaning “to dress up”, comes from the Latin “toga” describing the garment worn in ancient Rome. “Tog” can also be used as an informal word for a coat or a cloak. Back in Ireland, togs are what we call swimming shorts.

30 Le Monde article : UNE

“Le Monde” is a newspaper published each evening in France. “Le Monde” is one of the two most famous French papers, along with “Le Figaro”.

31 Auto additive with a red oval logo : STP

STP is a brand name of automotive lubricants and additives. The name “STP” is an initialism standing for “Scientifically Treated Petroleum”.

37 Seaweed product : AGAR

Agar (also “agar-agar”) is a jelly extracted from seaweed that has many uses. Agar is found in Japanese desserts, and can also be used as a food thickener or even as a laxative. In the world of science, it is the most common medium used for growing bacteria in Petri dishes.

42 Supermarket chain with a red oval logo : IGA

The initialism “IGA” stands for “Independent Grocers Alliance”, and is a chain of supermarkets that extends right around the world. IGA’s headquarters is in Chicago. The company uses the slogan “Hometown Proud Supermarkets”.

43 Overhauls : REVAMPS

The vamp is that part of a shoe upper that extends from behind the toe to the back of the heel. Prior to the 1650s, the verb “new-vamp” was used to describe the replacement of the vamp, in order to extend the life of a show. After 1650, the verb evolved into “revamp”. We now use “revamp” figuratively, to mean “remake, renovate”.

45 Titania’s husband : OBERON

Oberon and Titania are the King and Queen of the fairies in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.

46 Serving as a symbol : TOTEMIC

“Totem” is a word used to describe any entity that watches over a group of people. As such, totems are usually the subjects of worship. Totem poles are really misnamed, as they are not intended to represent figures to be worshiped, but rather are heraldic in nature often celebrating the legends or notable events in the history of a tribe.

47 Fin. neighbor : RUS

The international border between Finland and Russia runs about 830 miles in a north-south direction. Largely as a consequence of the length of this border, Finland issues more visas to Russians than any other EU nation.

50 “Human beings … may hide their feelings, but __ does not”: Hemingway : A CAT

According to author Ernest Hemingway:

A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.

51 Fjords, e.g. : INLETS

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.

53 Foolish sort : TWIT

“Twit” is a word not used very often here in America. It’s a slang term that used to be quite common in England where it was used for “someone foolish and idiotic”.

58 Battle of Normandy town : ST-LO

Saint-Lô is a town in Normandy that was occupied by Germany in 1940. Saint-Lo stood at a strategic crossroads and so there was intense fighting there during the Normandy invasion of 1944. After a prolonged bombardment, very little of the town was left standing.

62 Actor McKellen : IAN

Sir Ian McKellen is a marvelous English actor, one who is comfortable playing anything from Macbeth on stage to Magneto in an “X-Men” movie. On the big screen, McKellen is very famous for playing Gandalf in “The Lord of Rings”. In the UK, Sir Ian is noted for being at the forefront of the campaign for equal rights for gay people, a role he has enthusiastically embraced since the eighties.

63 Andean root vegetable : OCA

The plant called an oca is also known as the New Zealand yam, even though it isn’t a true yam. The tubers of the oca are used as a root vegetable.