Tag: Short-term offerings from an auto shop crossword clue

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Constructed by: Richard Liu & Katherine Xiong

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Open Notes

Themed answers each OPEN with a repeated pair of NOTES from the solfa scale:

• 38A Type of exam that allows crib sheets, or a hint to 17-, 25-, 56-, and 66-Across : OPEN NOTES

• 17A Actress who plays Honey Chandler on “Bosch” and “Bosch: Legacy” : MIMI ROGERS
• 25A Flightless species last seen in the 1660s : DODO BIRD
• 56A Musical film starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling : LA LA LAND
• 66A Lukewarm critique : SO-SO REVIEW

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

Bill’s time: 5m 50s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

15A Two-time Nobel Prize winner Curie : MARIE

Marie Curie lived a life of firsts. She was the first female professor at the University of Paris, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and indeed was the first person to win two Nobel prizes (in Physics in 1903, and in Chemistry in 1911). Most of Curie’s work was in the field of radioactivity, and was carried out in the days when the impact of excessive radiation on the human body was not understood. She died from aplastic anemia, caused by high exposure to radiation. To this day, Curie’s personal papers are kept preserved in lead-lined boxes as they are highly radioactive, even her personal cookbook.

16A “Your turn,” on a walkie-talkie : OVER

The more formal name for a walkie-talkie is “handheld transceiver”. It is a handheld, two-way radio, and a device first developed for military use during WWII by Motorola (although others developed similar designs soon after). The first walkie-talkie was portable, but large. It was back-mounted and was carried around the battlefield by a radio officer.

17A Actress who plays Honey Chandler on “Bosch” and “Bosch: Legacy” : MIMI ROGERS

Mimi Rogers is a favorite actress of mine, although she hasn’t really had the starring roles in big movies. Off screen, she is famous for her association with her second husband, Tom Cruise. It was Rogers who introduced Cruise to Scientology. Mimi Rogers can also be seen playing a lot of so-called “celebrity poker”, and she served on the board of directors of the World Poker Tour.

20A City near Dallas : PLANO

Plano, Texas is located in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. Settlers chose the name “Plano” in the 1840s. “Plano” is Spanish for “flat”, a reference to the terrain in the area.

21A Heritage gp. with roots in China, India, and Samoa : AAPI

Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI)

25A Flightless species last seen in the 1660s : DODO BIRD

The dodo was a direct relative of the pigeon and the dove, although the fully-grown dodo was usually three feet tall. One of the reasons the dodo comes to mind when we think of extinction of a species, is that it disappeared not too long ago (last recorded alive in 1662) and humans were the reason for its demise. The dodo lived exclusively on the island of Mauritius and when humans arrived, we cut back the forests that were its home. We also introduced domestic animals, such as dogs and pigs, that ransacked the dodo’s nests. The dodo was deemed to be an awkward flightless bird and so the term “dodo” has come to mean a dull-witted person.

27A Subj. for some immigrants : ESL

English as a Second Language (ESL) is sometimes referred to as English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL).

30A Ctrl-Alt-__: PC reboot combo : DEL

Ctrl-Alt-Delete is a keyboard command on IBM PC compatible systems used for a soft reboot, or more recently to bring up the task manager in the Windows operating system. Bill Gates tells us that the command was originally just a device to be used during development and was never meant to “go live”. He once said that “Ctrl+Alt+Delete” was a mistake, and that he would have preferred a dedicated key on the keyboard that carried out the same function.

32A Eyelid malady : STYE

A stye is a bacterial infection of the sebaceous glands at the base of the eyelashes, and is also known as a hordeolum.

38A Type of exam that allows crib sheets, or a hint to 17-, 25-, 56-, and 66-Across : OPEN NOTES

A crib is plagiarism. It is most commonly the copying of an answer in an examination.

44A Tailless primate : APE

Apes and monkeys both belong to the order of primates. The most obvious way to distinguish apes from monkeys is by the presence or lack of a tail. Almost all apes have no tail, and almost all monkeys have tails.

49A Ultrasound goop : GEL

“Ultrasound” is the name given to sound energy that has frequencies above the audible range.

53A Smidgen : TAD

Our word “smidgen” (sometimes shortened to “smidge”) is used to describe a small amount. The term might come from the Scots word “smitch” that means the same thing or “a small insignificant person”.

55A Casual shoe, casually : MOC

“Moccasin” is a common name used for several varieties of snake in the genus Agkistrodon. All are pit vipers, and are venomous. Some moccasins also go by the names copperhead and cottonmouth.

56A Musical film starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling : LA LA LAND

“La La Land” is a 2016 romantic musical film starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a musician and actress who fall in love in “La La Land” (Los Angeles, i.e. “LA”). The film was written and directed by Damien Chazelle, who had found success two years earlier with the musical drama “Whiplash”. “La La Land” won a record-breaking seven Golden Globes and tied the record number of Oscar nominations at fourteen, winning six.

Actress Emma Stone is from Scottsdale, Arizona. She really came to prominence with her performance in the 2010 high school movie called “Easy A”, and won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance in the 2016 movie “La La Land”. Now one of the most sought-after actresses in Hollywood, Stone values her privacy and works hard to maintain a low profile. Good for her, I say …

Ryan Gosling is a Canadian actor who is one of a string of entertainers to graduate from the Mickey Mouse Club on the Disney Channel. His career really took off when he played the male lead in the 2004 movie “The Notebook” (the best ever “weepie”, according to my wife). Gosling is quite the musician, and is one half of a rock duo called Dead Man’s Bones.

59A Like some algebra : LINEAR

We usually use “regular” algebra to solve for one unknown (often “x”). In linear algebra, numbers are arranged in grids called matrices, so that solutions can be found for many unknowns, all at the same time. Heavy stuff …

61A X __ xylophone : AS IN

The glockenspiel and xylophone are similar instruments, the main difference being the material from which the keys are made. Xylophone keys are made from wood, and glockenspiel keys are made from metal.

64A Science fiction author Jules : VERNE

Jules Verne really was a groundbreaking author. Verne pioneered the science-fiction genre, writing about space, air and underwater travel, long before they were practical and proved feasible. Verne is the second-most translated author of all time, with only Agatha Christie beating him out.

66A Lukewarm critique : SO-SO REVIEW

The obsolete adjective “luke” meant “tepid, moderately warm”. Said adjective used to exist in words like “luke-hot” and “luke-hearted”, but now only survives in the word “luke-warm” (usually “lukewarm”). So, I guess “lukewarm” means “tepidly tepid” …

70A Light brown shade : ECRU

The word “ecru” comes from the French word “écru”, meaning “unbleached” or “raw.” It refers to the color of unbleached linen or silk, a pale, yellowish-gray or light grayish-brown hue that is natural and earthy.

72A Inventor Nikola : TESLA

Nikola Tesla was born in the Austrian Empire in a village located in modern-day Croatia, and later moved to the US. Tesla’s work on mechanical and electrical engineering was crucial to the development of alternating current technology, the same technology that is used by equipment at the backbone of modern power generation and distribution systems.

Down

7D Tire pattern : TREAD

One way to test the depth of tread on a tire is to use “the penny test”. Insert a penny into the tire’s tread, with Lincoln’s head upside down. If you can see all of the president’s head, then it’s time to replace that tire (tread depth is less than 2/32 inch). Of course, we’d need pennies to still be around for the test to work …

8D Apple gadget in an ear : AIRPOD

AirPods are Apple’s line of bluetooth earbuds. When AirPods were introduced in 2016, the market reacted with some skepticism. The left and right AirPods are not connected by any wire, so there was concern that individual earbuds could fall out of the ear, and possibly get lost. Another concern was Apple’s stated intent to abandon the wired headphone socket on new iPhone models. That was then, and this is now …

11D Tax crime : EVASION

Tax evasion is illegal, and tax avoidance is legal. Evading taxes involves dishonest tax reporting, whereas avoiding taxes uses the tax laws as written to reduce the amount of tax owed. Both evasion and avoidance might be regarded as noncompliance, because tax avoidance often involves legal manipulation of the system (using “loopholes”) in a manner that subverts the intent of the tax code.

13D Rye and sourdough : BREADS

The active ingredient used to make sourdough bread is found in a pre-ferment (also “starter”). This pre-ferment is a mixture of flour and water that has been allowed to ferment for some time (maybe days) to grow a colony of wild yeast and lactobacilli. The starter is added to the dough used to make the final bread, with the starter accounting for about 20% of the weight of the final mixture. During baking, the wild yeast causes the bread to rise and the lactobacilli produce lactic acid, which gives sourdough its characteristic sour taste.

46D Song that begins “My country, ’tis of thee” : AMERICA

The patriotic song “America” is also known by its first line, “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee”. The song was written by Samuel Francis Smith in 1831, and was the de facto national anthem of the country until “The Star-Spangled Banner” was declared the official anthem in 1931. The melody of “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” is identical with the British national anthem, “God Save the King/Queen”.

My country, ’tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims’ pride,
From ev’ry mountainside
Let freedom ring!

63D Christmas : 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”.

67D Vitamin fig. : RDA

Recommended Daily Allowances (RDAs) were introduced during WWII, The primary goal wasn’t public health in general, but specifically to ensure that American soldiers and the general population supporting the war effort were getting enough nutrients to be effective.