Tag: Singingly in music crossword clue

Advertisement

Constructed by: Stella Zawistowski
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Theme: None

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

Bill’s time: 15m 28s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

16 Italian music festival city that inspired Eurovision : SANREMO

The Italian city of San Remo sits on the Mediterranean, right on the border with France. In Italian, the city is named “Sanremo”, just one word. That said, the spelling “San Remo” dates back to ancient times.

The Sanremo Music Festival is a song contest held annually in the Italian city since 1951. The songs that compete are previously unreleased compositions. The festival was the inspiration for the Eurovision Song Contest, which was inaugurated in 1956. Since then, the Sanremo Music Festival has been used to choose the Italian entry for Eurovision.

We have a big event across Europe every year called the Eurovision Song Contest. Each nation enters one song in competition with each other, and then voters across the whole continent decide on the winner. That’s how ABBA got their big break when they won in 1974 with “Waterloo”. In 1973, Spain’s entry was “Eres tú” (“It’s You”, literally “You Are”) sung by the band Mocedades. “Eres tú” came second in the competition, but should have won in my humble opinion.

22 Votre et ma : NOTRE

In French, “votre et ma maison” (your and my house) is “notre maison” (our house).

23 She’s Frankie on “Grace and Frankie” : LILY

Lily Tomlin is a comedian and actress who got her big break as a regular member of the cast of “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” in the late sixties and early seventies. Tomlin created several great characters on the show. My personal favorite is Ernestine, the condescending telephone operator with the marvelous nasal voice and snorting laugh. Ernestine was fond of saying “One ringy dingy …” I really enjoy Tomlin’s performances as an actress, notably in the movies “9 to 5” and “All of Me”, and on the TV shows “The West Wing” and “Grace and Frankie”. I went to her stage show many years ago in San Francisco, and just did not enjoy it. I was devastated …

“Grace and Frankie” is a Netflix original comedy series starring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin in the title roles, alongside Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston. Grace & Frankie are two ex-wives who decide to live together after their longtime husbands announce that they are in love and intend to get married.

24 Shepard and Bean : ALANS

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 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.

Alan Bean is a former astronaut. He was the fourth man to walk on the moon, roaming the moon’s surface with Pete Conrad as part of the Apollo 12 mission. Bean resigned from NASA in 1981 and turned to painting. He is the only artist in the world to have incorporated real moon dust into his works.

27 Jargon suffix : -ESE

The noun “jargon” can describe nonsensical and meaningless talk, or the specialized language of a particular group, trade or profession. The term “jargon” is Old French, with the more usual meaning of “chattering”. How apt …

30 QB effort : ATT

In football, one statistic (stat) used to track the performance of a quarterback (QB) is attempts (ATT).

31 Weight training exercise : DEADLIFT

A deadlift is a weight-training exercise in which a barbell is lifted to the level of the hips, and then placed back on the ground.

33 Oil-rich peninsula : ARABIA

The Arabian Peninsula (also “Arabia”) is part of Western Asia that is located just north-east of Africa. The peninsula is bordered to the west by the Red Sea, to the northeast by the Persian Gulf, and to the southeast by the Indian Ocean. Most of the Arabian Peninsula is taken up by Saudi Arabia, but also included are Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen. And, it’s the largest peninsula in the world, covering about 1¼ million square miles.

35 Hardly symbiotic : DOG-EAT-DOG

The term “symbiosis” describes a close relationship between members of two different species that benefits at least one member. There are three types of symbiotic relationship. In mutualism, the relationship is mutually beneficial. In parasitism, only one member benefits, and the other is harmed. In commensalism, one species benefits without any significant impact on the other.

37 Financier Edward Francis __ : HUTTON

Edward Francis Hutton founded the financial firm E. F. Hutton in 1904 along with his brother Franklyn Laws Hutton. That firm merged with Shearson Lehman/American Express in 1988. Edward Francis built the Mar-a-Lago mansion in Palm Beach, Florida along with his second wife, cereal-company heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post. Mar-a-Lago became President Donald Trump’s primary residence in 2019.

40 Culinary knife cut producing tiny cubes : BRUNOISE

The culinary knife cut known by the French term “julienne” reduces food items into long thin strips similar to matchsticks. The addition of a horizontal cut produces diced cubes, and is known as a brunoise.

50 Julie of the “Before” film trilogy : DELPY

Richard Linklater wrote and directed a series of romantic drama film starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy as a couple who have periodic romantic encounters around the world:

• “Before Sunrise” is an encounter in Paris (1995)
• “Before Sunset” is an encounter in Vienna (2004)
• “Before Midnight” is an encounter in Greece (2013)

51 Half up front? : HEMI-

Ever wonder what the difference is between the prefixes “hemi-”, “demi-” and “semi-”, all of which mean “half”? Well, the general observation is that words using the “demi-” prefix date back to the days of Norman influence over the English language. As a result, “demi-” turns up in the world of period costume and coats of arms. Words using “hemi-” tend to have Greek roots, and are prevalent in the world of the sciences and the medical field. Words with “semi-” tend to have Latin roots, and are most often found in music and the arts, and mathematics.

55 Material for “Suits” : CASES

“Suits” is an entertaining, albeit formulaic, legal drama that is set in New York City. One of the main characters in the show is Mike Ross, a brilliant law school dropout who poses as a law associate. Mike Ross’ love interest is paralegal Rachel Zane. Zane is played by actress Meghan Markle, who married the UK’s Prince Harry in 2018.

56 Current with the wind : LEE TIDE

A leeward tide (sometimes “lee tide”) is one that runs in the same direction that the wind is blowing. A windward tide, on the other hand, runs in the opposite direction to the wind. I think that the main danger with a lee tide is when a boat is at anchor. If the tide and wind are acting in concert, then the anchor is more likely to slip.

60 Magazine that annually runs the Black Women in Hollywood Awards : ESSENCE

“Essence” is a women’s magazine aimed at the African-American female, covering fashion and beauty. First published in 1970, the magazine’s slogan is “Fierce, Fun and Fabulous”.

61 Last of eight : NEPTUNE

Neptune is the farthest planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The existence of Neptune was predicted as early as the 1820s by mathematics based on observations of the orbit of Uranus. The planet was actually first observed in 1846.

63 Unceremoniously dropped nowadays : GHOSTED

A rather insensitive person might break off a relationship simply by cutting off all communication with his or her partner, without any warning. Such a move is referred to as “ghosting” in modern parlance, particularly when the relationship relies heavily on online interaction.

Down

3 Fictional Prince Edward Island community : AVONLEA

“Anne of Green Gables” is a 1908 novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery that she set in the fictional Prince Edward Island community of Avonlea. Montgomery wrote several sequels to “Anne”, with them all being set on Prince Edward Island (PEI), from where the author hailed.

5 Ritual for some eight-day-olds : BRIS

A mohel is a man who has been trained in the practice of brit milah (circumcision). Brit milah is known as “bris” in Yiddish. The brit milah ceremony is performed on male infants when they are 8 days old.

6 Buridan’s __: philosophical paradox : ASS

Buridan’s ass is a philosophical paradox that refers to an ass that is both hungry and thirsty. It is placed between a pail of water and a stack of hay. The paradox assumes that the ass will choose whichever of the water and hay is closer. As they are equally placed, the ass cannot choose and dies both of hunger and thirst.

9 Code word : DAH

Samuel Morse came up with the forerunner to modern Morse code for use on the electric telegraph, of which he was the co-inventor. Morse code uses a series of dots and dashes to represent letters and numbers. The most common letters are assigned the simplest code elements e.g. E is represented by one dot, and T is represented by one dash. When words are spelled aloud in Morse code, a dot is pronounced as “dit”, and a dash is pronounced as “dah”.

10 Sans attribution, for short : ANON

Anonymous (anon.)

13 Honored retirees : EMERITI

“Emeritus” (female form “emerita”, and plural “emeriti”) is a term in the title of some retired professionals, particularly those from academia. Originally an emeritus was a veteran soldier who had served his time. The term comes from the Latin verb “emerere” meaning to complete one’s service.

14 Stone home : ROSETTA

Rosetta is a coastal city and port on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt. The Rosetta Stone is an ancient Egyptian artifact of tremendous importance in deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics. Carvings on the stone are actually three translations of the same passage of prose, one in Egyptian hieroglyphics, one in Egyptian Demotic language, and one in classical Greek. The stone was discovered by the French military during Napoleon’s 1798-99 campaign in Egypt. Before the French could get it back to France, the stone somehow ended up in enemy hands (the British), so it is now on display in the British Museum. Ownership of the stone is very much in dispute. The French want it and, understandably, the Egyptians would like it back.

21 Singingly, in music : CANTABILE

Something described as cantabile is songlike, flows like a song. “Cantabile” is an Italian word that we’ve absorbed into English. In the world of instrumental music, the term describes a style of playing that aims to imitate the human voice.

28 Vein flower : BLOOD

Arteries are vessels that carry blood away from the heart, and veins are vessels carrying blood to the heart.

32 EPA-banned insecticide : DDT

DDT is dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (don’t forget now!). DDT was used with great success to control disease-carrying insects during WWII, and when made available for use after the war it became by far the most popular pesticide. And then Rachel Carson published her famous book “Silent Spring”, suggesting there was a link between DDT and diminishing populations of certain wildlife. It was the public outcry sparked by the book, and reports of links between DDT and cancer, that led to the ban on the use of the chemical in 1972. That ban is touted as the main reason that the bald eagle was rescued from near extinction.

37 “Side” jobs : HUSTLES

A side hustle is a side job, additional employment taken by a person to supplement his or her primary income.

39 “Long Island Medium” star __ Caputo : THERESA

“Long Island Medium” is a reality TV show starring Theresa Caputo, someone who claims to be able to communicate with the dead. “Reality” show …?

46 “Pippin” Tony winner : VEREEN

Ben Vereen is an American actor and dancer who is probably best known for playing Chicken George in the magnificent television miniseries “Roots”. When he was applying for a passport in the sixties, Vereen discovered that he was adopted. He then went looking for his birth parents and identified his birth mother (who had passed away by this time). She went away on a trip when Ben was very young, only to return and find that her child and the person minding him had disappeared. She never saw her son again.

“Pippin” is a stage musical by Stephen Schwartz that was first produced in 1972, on Broadway. The original Broadway production was directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse, for which work Fosse won two Tony Awards in 1973. The title character’s father in “Pippin” is named Charlemagne. The father-son characters are inspired by the Holy Roman Emperors Charlemagne and Pepin.

51 Sword handles : HAFTS

The haft of a weapon is its handle or hilt.

53 Force : DINT

A dint is an effort or power, as in “he made it by dint of hard work”. “By dint of” is a new expression to me, but it has been around since the early 1300s. I must have been out that day …

55 The “C” in the musical instruction “D.C. al fine” : CAPO

The musical term “da capo” (abbreviated to “DC”) is an instruction to repeat from the beginning. The term translates literally from Italian as “from the head”. There are some variants:

• Da Capo al Fine (repeat from the beginning to the end)
• Da Capo al Coda (repeat from the beginning to the coda)
• Da Capo al Segno (repeat from the beginning to the sign)

57 601, to Virgil : DCI

Publius Vergilius Maro (better known as “Virgil”) was a poet from ancient Rome. His best known works are:

• The “Eclogues” (or “Bucolics”)
• The “Georgics”
• The “Aeneid”