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Constructed by: Gary Larson
Edited by: Rich Norris
Today’s Reveal Answer: House-Broken
Themed answers each include letters circled in the grid that spell out a synonym of “HOUSE”. Those letters are “BROKEN” into two parts, one at the beginning and the other at the end of the answer:
- 38A Like a well-trained pet, and a hint to each set of circles : HOUSE-BROKEN
- 18A Kooks : DING-A-LINGS (“DI-GS” broken)
- 20A Where fingerprints may be analyzed : CRIME LAB (“CRI-B” broken)
- 59A Cheerleading team : PEP SQUAD (“P-AD” broken)
- 61A Contest with a puck : HOCKEY GAME (“HO-ME” broken)
Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers
Want to discuss the puzzle? Then …
… leave a comment
Bill’s time: 5m 20s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
5 Mary’s was little : LAMB
“Mary Had a Little Lamb” is a nursery rhyme that originated in the US, first published in Boston in 1830. The rhyme was written by Sarah Josepha Hale, and was based on a real-life Mary who had a pet lamb that followed her around. “Mary Had a Little Lamb” has the distinction of being the first words recorded by Thomas Edison on his phonograph invention in 1877.
9 Hip-hop headgear : DO-RAG
Hip-hoppers might wear do-rags (also “durags”) today, but they have been around for centuries. The etymology of “do-rag” is pretty evident, i.e. a piece of cloth (rag) to hold a hairstyle (do) in place.
14 Armory supply : AMMO
The word “munitions” describes materials and equipment used in war. The term derives from the Latin “munitionem” meaning “fortification, defensive wall”. Back in the 17th century, French soldiers referred to such materials as “la munition”, a Middle French term. This was misheard as “l’ammunition”, and as a result we ended up importing the word “ammunition” (often shortened to “ammo”), a term that we now use mainly to describe the material fired from a weapon.
17 Singer McEntire : REBA
Reba McEntire is a country music singer and television actress. McEntire starred in her own sitcom called “Reba” that aired on the WB and the CW cable channels from 2001 to 2007. She is sometimes referred to as “The Queen of Country”.
18 Kooks : DING-A-LINGS
Someone with eccentric ideas or taking fantastic actions might be described as a ding-a-ling. The idea behind the term “ding-a-ling” is that such a person might be said to hear bells inside his or her head.
20 Where fingerprints may be analyzed : CRIME LAB
In the world of criminology, there are three classes of fingerprints:
- Patent prints are those which are obvious, easily spotted by the naked eye.
- Impressed prints are those made when the fingertips apply pressure to a soft material or surface, such as the skin.
- Latent prints are those that are invisible to the naked eye, but which can be detected using special equipment and materials.
22 2020 Super Bowl number : LIV
Super Bowl LIV was played at the end of the 2019 season between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers. The Chiefs emerged victorious, winning their first Super Bowl since 1970. The halftime show featured singer Jennifer Lopez and Shakira.
23 Beehive State native : UTE
The Utah Utes are the athletic teams of the University of Utah.
When Mormon pioneers were settling what is today the state of Utah, they referred to the area as Deseret, a word that means “beehive” according to the Book of Mormon. Today Utah is known as the Beehive State and there is a beehive symbol on the Utah state flag. In 1959, “Industry” was even chosen as the state motto, for the term’s association with the beehive.
24 Another name for the peyote cactus : MESCAL
The peyote is a small, spineless cactus that is native to southwestern Texas and Mexico. When ingested, the peyote is known to have a psychoactive effect. One of the psychoactive alkaloids in peyote is mescaline, a recreational drug of choice for the likes of Aldous Huxley and Pablo Picasso.
30 Yemen’s capital : SANA’A
Sana (also “Sana’a”) is the capital city of Yemen. Sitting at an elevation of 7,380 feet, Sana is one of the highest capital cities in the world. Within the bounds of today’s metropolis is the old fortified city of Sana, where people have lived for over 2,500 years. The Old City is now a World Heritage Site. According to legend, Sana was founded by Shem, the son of Noah.
34 Ancestry.com concern : DNA
Ancestry.com is the largest commercial genealogy company in the world. It operates out of Provo, Utah.
36 Michael of “Arrested Development” : CERA
Michael Cera is a Canadian actor who played great characters on the TV show “Arrested Development”, and in the 2007 comedy-drama “Juno”. Cera is also quite the musician. He released an indie folk album titled “True That” in 2014.
“Arrested Development” is a sitcom that originally aired on Fox from 2003 to 2006. Ron Howard was heavily involved in the show behind the camera, serving as executive producer and also as the show’s narrator. Fifteen new episodes of “Arrested Development” were filmed specifically for release on Netflix in 2013, and there may even be a movie on the way.
41 Pub order : ALE
The many, many different styles of beer can generally be sorted into two groups: ales and lagers. Ales are fermented at relatively warm temperatures for relatively short periods of time, and use top-fermenting yeasts, i.e. yeasts that float on top of the beer as it ferments. Lagers ferment at relatively low temperatures and for relatively long periods of time. Lagers use bottom-fermenting yeasts, i.e. yeasts that fall to the bottom of the beer as it ferments.
45 Knights __: “The Da Vinci Code” group : TEMPLAR
“Knights Templar” is a familiar name used for the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, an organization that existed for centuries during the Middle Ages. During the Crusades, the Templar knights were very visible, both in their actions and in their dress. They wore distinctive white mantles with a red cross on the chest. The Knights Templar often get a mention in novels and movies, e.g. “Ivanhoe”, “The Da Vinci Code”, “National Treasure” and “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”.
47 White house? : IGLOO
The Inuit word for “house” is “iglu”, which we usually write as “igloo”. The Greenlandic (yes, that’s a language) word for “house” is very similar, namely “igdlo”. The walls of igloos are tremendous insulators, due to the air pockets in the blocks of snow.
51 Canadian gas : ESSO
The Esso brand has its roots in the old Standard Oil company as it uses the initial letters of “Standard” and “Oil” (ESS-O). The Esso brand was replaced by Exxon in the US, but ESSO is still used in many other countries.
56 Spanish Main treasure : ORO
When one thinks of the word “main”, in the context of the sea, the Spanish Main usually comes to mind. Indeed, the use of the more general term “main” to mean “sea”, originates from the more specific “Spanish Main”. “Spanish Main” originally referred to land and not water, as it was the name given to the mainland coast around the Caribbean Sea in the days of Spanish domination of the region.
57 Tax preparer, for short : CPA
Certified public accountant (CPA)
61 Contest with a puck : HOCKEY GAME
Before wooden and rubber pucks were introduced in the late 1800s, ice hockey was played with balls. The first rubber pucks were made by cutting down rubber balls into the shape of discs.
67 Diaper rash cream additive : ALOE
“Diaper” is another word that I had to learn when I moved to America. What are called “diapers” over here, we call “nappies” back in Ireland. The term “diaper” is actually the original term that was used in England for the garment, where “diaper” referred to the cloth that was used. The term “diaper” was brought to the New World where it stuck. Back in Britain, “diaper” was displaced by the word “nappy”, a diminutive of “napkin”.
69 Green sauce : PESTO
Pesto sauce is more completely called “pesto alla genovese”, i.e. pesto from Genoa. A traditional recipe calls for crushed garlic, pine nuts, salt, basil leaves, parmesan cheese and olive oil. Yum …
70 Phishing targets: Abbr. : SSNS
Phishing is the online practice of stealing usernames, passwords and credit card details by creating a site that deceptively looks reliable and trustworthy. Phishers often send out safe-looking emails or instant messages that direct someone to an equally safe-looking website where the person might inadvertently enter sensitive information. “Phishing” is a play on the word “fishing”, as in “fishing for passwords, PINs, etc.”
Down
1 Neiman’s business partner : MARCUS
Herbert Marcus, his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman, and her husband A. L. Neiman, were partners with a tidy profit of $25,000 from a business they had founded. This was 1907 Atlanta, and they were offered the chance to invest in a new company that was just starting to make “sugary soda drinks”, a company called Coca-Cola. The partners declined, instead returning to their home of Dallas and founding a department store they called “Neiman-Marcus”.
2 Mafioso code of honor : OMERTA
“Omertà” is a code of honor in southern Italian society. The term has been adopted by the Mafia to mean a code of silence designed to prevent a Mafioso from becoming an informer. For example, the famous Joe Valachi was someone who broke the code of silence in 1963, informing on the New York Mafia. Valachi’s story was told in the movie “The Valachi Papers”, with Charles Bronson playing the lead.
3 Sleep aid brand : AMBIEN
Ambien is a brand name for the prescription drug zolpidem. I have a friend who used to swear by Ambien for helping cope with jet lag. I once had to deal with jet lag almost monthly and swear by the diet supplement melatonin, which you can buy over the counter here in the US. But, I am no doctor so don’t listen to anything I say …
4 Linguist Chomsky : NOAM
Noam Chomsky is a professor of linguistics at MIT. Chomsky is known as one of the fathers of modern linguistics.
6 Butch Cassidy or the Sundance Kid : ALIAS
The Old West train and bank robber Robert Parker was better known by the name Butch Cassidy. His partner in crime Harry Longabaugh was known as the Sundance Kid. Famously, the exploits of Butch and Sundance were reenacted in the marvelous 1969 film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”.
MSNBC was founded in 1996 as a partnership between Microsoft (“MS”) and GE’s “NBC” broadcasting operation. Microsoft only owns a minority share in MSNBC today, but is still an equal partner in the separate company that runs msnbc.com.
9 Surrealist Salvador : DALI
The famous surrealist painter Salvador Dalí was born in Figueres, Spain. I had the privilege of visiting the Dalí Museum in Figueres some years ago, just north of Barcelona. If you ever get the chance, it’s a “must see” as it really is a quite magnificent building with a fascinating collection.
10 Twist who asked for some more : OLIVER
“Please, sir. I want some more” are words spoken by the title character in the novel “Oliver Twist” by Charles Dickens. . Oliver is addressing Mr. Bumble, asking for an extra helping of gruel in the workhouse.
11 Harry’s pal Weasley : RON
Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger are the principal characters in the “Harry Potter” series of fantasy novels by J. K. Rowling. The three are the best of friends. As the stories progress, the friendship between Ron and Hermione developed to the point that they became husband and wife and had two children together.
12 Director Lee : ANG
Taiwanese director Ang Lee sure has directed a mixed bag of films, mixed in terms of genre but not in terms of quality. He was at the helm for such classics as “Sense & Sensibility” (my personal favorite), “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, “Hulk”, “Brokeback Mountain” and “Life of Pi”.
13 Some fridges : GES
The General Electric Company is usually referred to simply as “GE”. One of the precursor companies to GE was Edison General Electric, founded in 1890 by the inventor Thomas Edison. What we know today as GE was formed two years later when Edison merged his company with Charles Coffin’s Thomson-Houston Electric Company. In 1896, GE was selected as one of the 12 companies listed on the newly formed Dow Jones Industrial Average. GE was the last of the original 12 to survive on that list, being replaced by Walgreens in 2018. I spent over ten years with GE at the beginning of my working career, and in fact it was GE that asked me to transfer to the US from Ireland back in the 1980s …
25 Violinist Leopold : AUER
Leopold Auer was a Hungarian violinist, as well as a conductor and composer. Auer wrote a small number of works for the violin, the most famous of which is the “Rhapsodie Hongroise” written for violin and piano.
27 Stable color : ROAN
A roan horse has an even mixture of white and colored hairs on the body with the head, lower legs, mane and tail having a more solid color.
28 Raggedy doll : ANN
Raggedy Ann is a rag doll that was created by Johnny Gruelle in 1915 for his daughter, Marcella. He decided to name the doll by combining the titles of two poems by James Whitcomb Riley, “The Raggedy Man” and “Little Orphan Annie”. Gruelle introduced Raggedy Ann in a series of books three years later. Sadly, Marcella died at 13 years of age with her father blaming a smallpox vaccination she was given at school. Gruelle became very active in the movement against mass vaccination, for which Raggedy Ann became a symbol.
31 Brouhaha : ADO
“Brouhaha”, meaning “ado, stir”, was a French word that back in the 1550s meant “the cry of the devil disguised as clergy” . Wow!
36 Letterman’s last network : CBS
The “Late Show” with David Letterman ran on CBS from 1993 until Letterman’s retirement in 2015. Letterman had produced a similar show called “Late Night with David Letterman” on NBC from 1982 to 1993. The current iteration of the show is the “Late Show” with Stephen Colbert, which first aired in September 2015.
39 Architect Saarinen : EERO
Eero Saarinen was a Finnish-American architect who was renowned in this country for his unique designs for public buildings such as the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Dulles International Airport Terminal, and the TWA building at JFK. The list of his lesser-known, but still impressive, works includes several buildings erected on academic campuses. For example, the Chapel and Kresge Auditorium on the MIT campus, the Emma Hartman Noyes House at Vassar College, the Law School building at the University of Chicago, and Yale’s David S. Ingalls Rink.
40 Neurologist’s readout: Abbr. : EEG
An electroencephalogram (EEG) is a record of electrical activity caused by the firing of neurons within the brain. The EEG might be used to diagnose epilepsy, or perhaps to determine if a patient is “brain dead”.
42 “__ Misérables” : LES
Victor Hugo’s famous 1862 novel “Les Misérables” has been translated into English several times. However, the title is usually left in the original French as a successful translation of “les misérables” seems to be elusive. Some suggestions for an English title are “The Wretched”, “The Victims” and “The Dispossessed”. The novel follows the lives of several characters including an ex-convict Jean Valjean, a fanatic police inspector Javert, a beautiful prostitute Fantine, and Fantine’s illegitimate daughter Cosette.
48 “Little Women” author __ May Alcott : LOUISA
“Little Women” is a novel written by American author Louisa May Alcott. The quartet of “little women” comprises Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy March. Jo is a tomboy, the main character in the story, and is based on Alcott herself.
50 Loads : OODLES
It’s thought that the term “oodles”, meaning “a lot”, comes from “kit and caboodle”.
53 Milky gems : OPALS
An opal is often described as having a milky iridescence known as opalescence.
55 Sporting blades : EPEES
The French word for sword is “épée”. In competitive fencing the épée is connected to a system that records an electrical signal when legal contact is made on an opponent’s body.
58 Mexican money : PESO
The peso is used in many Spanish-speaking countries around the world. The coin originated in Spain where the word “peso” means “weight”. The original peso was what we know in English as a “piece of eight”, a silver coin of a specific weight that had a nominal value of eight “reales”.
60 Medicine cabinet swab : Q-TIP
Cotton swabs were originally marketed under the name “Baby Gays”. This was changed in 1926 to “Q-Tips”, with the Q standing for “quality”.
63 Prefix with gender : CIS-
The term “cisgender” is now used as the opposite of “transgender”. Cisgender people have a gender identity that matches the sex they were assigned at birth.
Read on, or …
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Reaction to a bad joke : MOAN
5 Mary’s was little : LAMB
9 Hip-hop headgear : DO-RAG
14 Armory supply : AMMO
15 Plus : ALSO
16 How many single people live : ALONE
17 Singer McEntire : REBA
18 Kooks : DING-A-LINGS
20 Where fingerprints may be analyzed : CRIME LAB
22 2020 Super Bowl number : LIV
23 Beehive State native : UTE
24 Another name for the peyote cactus : MESCAL
26 Significant times : ERAS
30 Yemen’s capital : SANA’A
32 Paid in advance, as costs : UP-FRONT
34 Ancestry.com concern : DNA
36 Michael of “Arrested Development” : CERA
37 “Got __ ideas?” : ANY
38 Like a well-trained pet, and a hint to each set of circles : HOUSE-BROKEN
41 Pub order : ALE
43 Gets with effort, with “out” : EKES …
44 Witness : SEE
45 Knights __: “The Da Vinci Code” group : TEMPLAR
47 White house? : IGLOO
51 Canadian gas : ESSO
52 Populated with trees : WOODED
56 Spanish Main treasure : ORO
57 Tax preparer, for short : CPA
59 Cheerleading team : PEP SQUAD
61 Contest with a puck : HOCKEY GAME
65 Money drawer : TILL
66 Boo-boos : OWIES
67 Diaper rash cream additive : ALOE
68 Vacation spot : ISLE
69 Green sauce : PESTO
70 Phishing targets: Abbr. : SSNS
71 Is worth it : PAYS
Down
1 Neiman’s business partner : MARCUS
2 Mafioso code of honor : OMERTA
3 Sleep aid brand : AMBIEN
4 Linguist Chomsky : NOAM
5 Soup scoop : LADLE
6 Butch Cassidy or the Sundance Kid : ALIAS
7 24-hour news service : MSNBC
8 Marshy region : BOG
9 Surrealist Salvador : DALI
10 Twist who asked for some more : OLIVER
11 Harry’s pal Weasley : RON
12 Director Lee : ANG
13 Some fridges : GES
19 Top NFL players : ALL-PROS
21 Common temple name : EMANUEL
25 Violinist Leopold : AUER
27 Stable color : ROAN
28 Raggedy doll : ANN
29 Snorters’ quarters : STY
31 Brouhaha : ADO
33 Docs with doctored birth dates, say : FAKE IDS
35 “Shoot” : ASK AWAY!
36 Letterman’s last network : CBS
38 Skirt lines : HEMS
39 Architect Saarinen : EERO
40 Neurologist’s readout: Abbr. : EEG
41 Had a bite : ATE
42 “__ Misérables” : LES
46 Pool player’s target : POCKET
48 “Little Women” author __ May Alcott : LOUISA
49 How much medication is taken : ORALLY
50 Loads : OODLES
53 Milky gems : OPALS
54 Possessed person’s possessor : DEMON
55 Sporting blades : EPEES
58 Mexican money : PESO
60 Medicine cabinet swab : Q-TIP
61 Jump on one leg : HOP
62 Have bills to pay : OWE
63 Prefix with gender : CIS-
64 Tank filler : GAS
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