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Constructed by: John Lieb
Edited by: Patti Varol
Today’s Reveal Answer: GOAT
Themed answers start with the letters GOAT, an acronym standing for “greatest of all time”:
- 69A Superlative acronym spelled out by the starts of the answers to the starred clues : GOAT
- 20A *Title of many compilation albums : GREATEST HITS
- 34A *Not at all talkative : OF FEW WORDS
- 42A *Taylor Swift song with the lyrics “You can’t get rid of it / ‘Cause you remember it … ” : … ALL TOO WELL
- 54A *”There’s no way to know yet” : TIME WILL TELL
Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers
Want to discuss the puzzle? Then …
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Bill’s time: 5m 35s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
1 Mustang automaker : FORD
The Ford Mustang car was introduced in 1964. Back then the Mustang wasn’t a brand new design, but was based on the Ford Falcon. The Mustang was the first of the “pony cars”, American models that are compact and affordable, as well as sporty in image and performance.
5 Honey liquor : MEAD
Mead is a lovely drink that’s made from fermented honey and water.
9 “__ Mia!”: ABBA musical : MAMMA
The hit musical “Mamma Mia!” was written to showcase the songs of ABBA. I’m a big fan of ABBA’s music, so I’ve seen this show a couple of times and just love it. “Mamma Mia!” is such a big hit on the stage that on any given day there are at least seven performances going on somewhere in the world. There is a really interesting film version of the show that was released in 2008. I think the female lead Meryl Streep is wonderful in the movie, but the male leads … not so much! By the way, one can tell the difference between “Mamma Mia” the ABBA song and “Mamma Mia!” the musical, by noting the difference in the punctuation in the titles.
14 Nike rival : AVIA
The “Avia” brand name for athletic shoes was chosen as “avia” is the Latin word for “to fly”, and suggests the concept of aviation. Avia was founded in Oregon in 1979.
15 Convention center event : EXPO
The first World’s Fair was held in 1851, known back then as the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations. The fair was the idea of Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria. It was held in a magnificent glass and cast-iron structure called the Crystal Palace that was purpose-built for the occasion. The Great Exhibition spawned a tradition of what became known as World’s Fairs, expositions that feature national pavilions created by participating countries. The term “Expo” was coined for Expo 67, a 1967 World’s Fair held in Montreal. Since then, we’ve been using “expo” to describe any large exposition or trade show.
16 Noble gas in some lasers : ARGON
The chemical element argon has the symbol Ar. It is a noble gas, and so by definition is relatively nonreactive. The name “argon” comes from the Greek word for “lazy, inactive”. There’s a lot of argon around, as it is the third-most abundant gas in our atmosphere.
18 Softball glove : MITT
The sport we know today as softball was created as an indoor version of baseball. The first game was played on Thanksgiving Day in Chicago. Back then, a “soft” ball was indeed used, but the name “softball” wasn’t adopted until 1926.
23 Old 1-Across named for a horse : PINTO
(1A Mustang automaker : FORD)
The Pinto is a small car that was made by the Ford company from 1971 to 1980. The Pinto was named for the type of horse. Allegations were made in 1997 that the neck of the car’s fuel tank could easily break off in a collision leading to a deadly fire. However, the allegations were never really shown to be valid.
27 Costello partner : ABBOTT
Bud Abbott was the straight man in the comedy duo Abbott and Costello, alongside Lou Costello. The pair met on the burlesque circuit in the early 1930s, and formally teamed up in 1936. The initial arrangement for splitting earnings was to give Abbott 60% of the income, as the straight man was traditionally viewed as the more valuable member of a comedy double act. Costello became disgruntled with the split, and eventually renegotiated 50/50 terms. When Abbott and Costello made it to Hollywood in the early 1940s, Costello insisted on taking a 60% share, an arrangement that caused a permanent chill between the partners. Money problems and differences plagued them for the rest of their careers, with the pair eventually having to sell off their assets to pay off back taxes. They parted company in 1957.
Lou Costello was half of the Abbott & Costello double act. One tragic and terrible event in Lou Costello’s life was the death of his baby son, Lou Costello, Jr. Lou was at NBC studios one night for his regular broadcast when he received word that the 11-month-old baby had somehow drowned in the family swimming pool. With the words “Wherever he is tonight, I want him to hear me”, he made the scheduled broadcast in front of a live and unsuspecting audience.
30 Sweetie : BAE
“Bae” is a contemporary term of endearment. It is a pet name that is an abbreviation of “babe, baby”, although I’ve also read that it is an acronym standing for “before anyone else”.
33 Actress Polo : TERI
Teri Polo’s most prominent role on the big screen was Pam Focker in “Meet the Fockers” and its sequels. Pam is the wife of the character played by Ben Stiller. Polo also played the wife of Presidential candidate Matt Santos in “The West Wing”.
40 ISP pioneer : AOL
AOL was a leading Internet Service Provider (ISP) in the 1980s and 1990s. The company does still provide dial-up access to the Internet for some subscribers, but most users now access AOL using faster, non-AOL ISPs.
42 *Taylor Swift song with the lyrics “You can’t get rid of it / ‘Cause you remember it … ” : ALL TOO WELL
“All Too Well” is a 2012 song co-written and recorded by Taylor Swift. Swift’s fans love this song, and many regard it as her finest song. It deals with a relationship that’s over. There’s a scarf mentioned in the song a couple of times. At the beginning of the lyrics:
and I left my scarf there at your sister’s house
Towards the end of the song:
But you keep my old scarf from that very first week
Well, the scarf has become a “thing”. The assumption is the relationship is between Swift and her one-time boyfriend Jake Gyllenhall. Multiple hours of airtime have been devoted to answering the question, “Where is the scarf now?”
50 White __ machine: sleep aid : NOISE
The background sound produced by an untuned radio can be referred to as white noise. It is also called “static”, because it is caused by the discharge of “static electricity”, with those discharges mainly taking place in the upper atmosphere.
52 Sight-singing teaching method : SOL-FA
Solfège (also “sol-fa”) is a teaching method used in the world of music. The technique involves the use of the sol-fa syllables for each note, and associating each syllable with a specific pitch.
The sol-fa syllables are: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la & ti.
62 Dancer Falana : LOLA
Lola Falana is a singer, dancer and actress who grew up in Philadelphia. In the sixties Falana had an affair with, and later became good friends with, Sammy Davis Jr. Davis helped get her act into Las Vegas where she was very successful, eventually earning Falana the nickname “Queen of Las Vegas”. With her success came money, and so she became the highest-paid female performer in Vegas at that time. Sadly, Falana fell ill with multiple sclerosis, a disease that forced her to cut short her career as an entertainer.
63 Drink whose logo has frosted letters : ICEE
Icee and Slurpee are brand names of slushy drinks. Ugh …
64 LEGO brand for tots : DUPLO
Duplo is a range of Lego bricks and accessories designed for children under the age of five. The bricks are twice the size of regular Lego bricks, so that they aren’t likely to be swallowed by a child, and are also more easily handled by smaller hands.
65 “Stay” singer Lisa : LOEB
Singer Lisa Loeb was discovered by actor Ethan Hawke, who lived just across the street from her in New York City. Hawke took a demo of her song “Stay (I Missed You)” and gave it to director Ben Stiller, who in turn used it over the ending credits of his 1994 movie “Reality Bites”. The movie was a hit, the song went to number one, and Loeb became the first artist ever to hit that number one spot without having signed up with a record label. Good for her!
66 CBS military drama : NCIS
NCIS is the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which investigates crimes in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. The service gives its name to the CBS TV show “NCIS”, a spin-off drama from “JAG” in which the main “NCIS” characters were first introduced. The big star in “NCIS” is the actor Mark Harmon. “NCIS” is now a franchise, with spin-off shows “NCIS: Los Angeles” and “NCIS: New Orleans”.
67 Reproductive health pro : OB/GYN
Obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN)
68 Pop artist Warhol : ANDY
American artist Andy Warhol was a leader in the pop art movement that emerged in the mid-1950s. Many of his works became the most expensive paintings ever sold. A 1963 Warhol canvas titled “Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster)” fetched over 100 million dollars in 2013.
69 Superlative acronym spelled out by the starts of the answers to the starred clues : GOAT
Greatest of all time (GOAT)
Down
2 “Evvie Drake Starts __”: novel by Linda Holmes : OVER
Linda Holmes is an author and podcaster. She hosts the “Pop Culture Happy Hour” podcast for NPR, and published her first novel, “Evvie Drake Starts Over”, in 2019.
8 Biblical verb : DOTH
“Doth” is an archaic way of saying “do”, in the third-person singular.
9 “Crash Into Me” rock group Dave __ Band : MATTHEWS
The Dave Matthews Band (sometimes just “DMB”) is a rock band from Charlottesville, Virginia that formed in 1991. DMB hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons in 2004 when their driver decided to dump about 800 pounds of liquid waste from the tour bus into the Chicago River. He pumped the waste through a grate on a bridge, and onto the passengers on a sightseeing boat that was passing below.
11 Old RKO rival : MGM
The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) film studio was founded in 1924 by Marcus Loew. Loew was already a successful movie theater owner when he purchased Metro Pictures Corporation in 1919, and then Goldwyn Pictures in 1924. Later in 1924, Loew also purchased Louis B. Mayer Pictures, mainly so that Louis B. Mayer could merge all three studios and run them himself as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
21 __ for tat : TIT
The phrase “tit for tat”, meaning some sort of retaliation, has been around for an awfully long time, since the mid-1500s. It might be derived from “tip for tap”, meaning “blow for blow”.
25 Mineral that resembles gold : PYRITE
Pyrite is a mineral also known as iron pyrite. Famously, it has an appearance very similar to gold, so has the nickname “fool’s gold”. Pyrite does find its way into some baubles, which go by the name of marcasite jewelry.
26 Passover meals : SEDERS
The Passover Seder is a ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish Passover holiday celebrating the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.
28 German capital : BERLIN
Berlin is the capital of Germany. It is the nation’s largest city, and is the second-most populous city in the European Union (after London).
29 S.O.S alternative : BRILLO
Brillo is a soapy, steel wool pad patented in 1913. The company claims that the name “Brillo” is derived from the Latin word for “bright”.
S.O.S is a brand of scouring pads made from steel wool impregnated with soap. The product was invented as a giveaway by an aluminum pot salesman in San Francisco called Ed Cox. His wife gave it the name “S.O.S” as an initialism standing for “Save Our Saucepans”. Note the punctuation! There is no period after the last S, and that is deliberate. When Cox went to register the trademark, he found that “S.O.S.” could not be a trademark because it was used as an international distress signal. So he dropped the period after the last S, and I hope made a lot of money for himself and his wife.
30 Kristen of “The Good Place” : BELL
Actress Kristen Bell’s first major role was playing the title character in the TV show “Veronica Mars”. Her first major film role was also playing a title character, in the 2008 film “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”. Perhaps Bell’s most famous role is as a voice actor, playing Princess Anna in the 2013 Disney hit “Frozen”.
“The Good Place” is a fantasy-comedy TV show about a woman who wakes up in the afterlife. The woman is played by Kristen Bell, and the afterlife is a heaven-like utopia designed by Michael, an immortal architect portrayed by Ted Danson. I haven’t seen this one …
35 Young deer : FAWN
A fawn is a young deer, usually one less than a year old.
37 The “O” of iOS : OPERATING
iOS is what Apple now calls its mobile operating system. Previously, it was known as iPhone OS.
43 Utah city near Provo : OREM
Orem, Utah was originally known as “Sharon” (a Biblical name), then “Provo Bench”, and in 1914 it was given the family name of a local railroad operator called “Orem”. Orem gave itself the nickname “Family City USA” and sure enough in 2010, “Forbes” rated Orem the 5th best place in the country to raise a family.
44 Soothing song : LULLABY
A lullaby is a soothing song, one usually used to quiet children. The term “lullaby” has its roots in Middle English and is related to our contemporary word verb “to lull”, as in “to lull to sleep”.
49 Super Bowl org. : NFL
Super Bowl I was played in January 1967 between the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs. The Packers emerged victorious in a game with a score of 35-10. That game was officially known as the AFL-NFL Championship Game, as the name “Super Bowl” wasn’t applied until two seasons later. That “first” Super Bowl is now known as Super Bowl III and was played between the New York Jets and the Baltimore Colts. The Jets came out on top.
51 Setting of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels : ITALY
Elena Ferrante is an Italian author, best known for her 4-part series known as the “Neapolitan Novels”. What is very interesting about “Ferrante” is that the moniker is a pseudonym, and no one seems to know the author’s real name. There is some speculation that “Elena” is in fact a man.
55 “Boo’d Up” singer __ Mai : ELLA
Ella Mai is an R&B singer from England. Mai went to high school in New York City before returning to Britain.
56 Danish shoe brand : ECCO
I have to say, after owning several pairs, that ECCO shoes are the most comfortable in the world …
57 A Skywalker twin : LEIA
The full name of the character played by Carrie Fisher in the “Star Wars” series of films is Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, and later Leia Organa Solo. Leia is the twin sister of Luke Skywalker, and the daughter of Anakin Skywalker (aka “Darth Vader”) and Padmé Amidala. Leia is raised by her adoptive parents Bail and Breha Organa. She eventually marries Han Solo.
59 Hullabaloo : ADO
Our word “hullabaloo”, meaning “commotion”, is a derivative of an older term “hollo-ballo”. “Hollo-ballo” was a word used for an uproar in the north of England and Scotland.
60 Name : DUB
Kneel, and a monarch might “dub thee a knight” if you’re lucky. “Dub” is a specific term derived from Old English that was used to mean “make a knight”. As the knight was also given a knightly name at the same time, “dub” came to mean “give someone a name”.
61 Fuel efficiency stat : MPG
Miles per gallon (mpg)
Read on, or …
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Mustang automaker : FORD
5 Honey liquor : MEAD
9 “__ Mia!”: ABBA musical : MAMMA
14 Nike rival : AVIA
15 Convention center event : EXPO
16 Noble gas in some lasers : ARGON
17 Prepare for a newborn’s arrival : NEST
18 Softball glove : MITT
19 Entice : TEMPT
20 *Title of many compilation albums : GREATEST HITS
23 Old 1-Across named for a horse : PINTO
24 Stores : SHOPS
27 Costello partner : ABBOTT
30 Sweetie : BAE
31 Vote in favor : YEA
33 Actress Polo : TERI
34 *Not at all talkative : OF FEW WORDS
38 Take along : BRING
40 ISP pioneer : AOL
41 Covert agents : SPIES
42 *Taylor Swift song with the lyrics “You can’t get rid of it / ‘Cause you remember it … ” : … ALL TOO WELL
45 “To be,” in French : ETRE
46 Up to, briefly : ‘TIL
47 Directional suffix : -ERN
48 Agitation : UNREST
50 White __ machine: sleep aid : NOISE
52 Sight-singing teaching method : SOL-FA
54 *”There’s no way to know yet” : TIME WILL TELL
59 Infomercial dude : ADMAN
62 Dancer Falana : LOLA
63 Drink whose logo has frosted letters : ICEE
64 LEGO brand for tots : DUPLO
65 “Stay” singer Lisa : LOEB
66 CBS military drama : NCIS
67 Reproductive health pro : OB/GYN
68 Pop artist Warhol : ANDY
69 Superlative acronym spelled out by the starts of the answers to the starred clues : GOAT
Down
1 Long, pointed tooth : FANG
2 “Evvie Drake Starts __”: novel by Linda Holmes : OVER
3 Counterpart of run in calculating the slope of a line : RISE
4 Unit of information : DATA POINT
5 Foul ball caught at a game, e.g. : MEMENTO
6 Have life : EXIST
7 Likely will, after “is” : … APT TO
8 Biblical verb : DOTH
9 “Crash Into Me” rock group Dave __ Band : MATTHEWS
10 Childish retort : ARE SO!
11 Old RKO rival : MGM
12 Messy hairdo : MOP
13 Industrious insect : ANT
21 __ for tat : TIT
22 “No need to tell me what happened there” : I SAW
25 Mineral that resembles gold : PYRITE
26 Passover meals : SEDERS
27 Facing the pitcher : AT BAT
28 German capital : BERLIN
29 S.O.S alternative : BRILLO
30 Kristen of “The Good Place” : BELL
32 Strong point : ASSET
35 Young deer : FAWN
36 Adversary : FOE
37 The “O” of iOS : OPERATING
39 Contributes to, as a group gift : GOES IN ON
43 Utah city near Provo : OREM
44 Soothing song : LULLABY
49 Super Bowl org. : NFL
51 Setting of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels : ITALY
52 Faint : SWOON
53 Lubricated : OILED
55 “Boo’d Up” singer __ Mai : ELLA
56 Danish shoe brand : ECCO
57 A Skywalker twin : LEIA
58 For fear that : LEST
59 Hullabaloo : ADO
60 Name : DUB
61 Fuel efficiency stat : MPG
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