Tag: Slow-moving tree-dweller crossword clue

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Constructed by: Amie Walker
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: Ten Minutes to Win It

Themed answers each include a DOUBLE occurrence of the letter pairing “OT”:

• 122A High-stakes gridiron situation, and a feature of eight long puzzle answers : DOUBLE OT

• 22A Cheap digs : POTSHOTS
• 23A Rip-roarin’ : ROOTIN’-TOOTIN’
• 41A Kiosk at some wedding receptions : PHOTO BOOTH
• 52A “Changing the subject … ” : LET’S NOT GO THERE …
• 67A More than a little mentally fatigued : TOO TIRED TO THINK
• 87A Staley Da Bear, for one : FOOTBALL MASCOT
• 95A Blank expression? : I GOT NOTHIN”
• 120A Slow-moving tree-dweller : TWO-TOED SLOTH

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

Bill’s time: 12m 02s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Printer supply : INK

Four-color printing uses four different color inks: cyan, magenta, yellow and black. The black ink is also known as the “key”. The first letter of the colors (with black being ”key”) give the more common name for four-color printing, namely CMYK.

7 __ Fresh: fast-casual Tex-Mex chain : BAJA

Baja Fresh is a chain of Tex Mex restaurants based in Irvine, California. The first Baja Fresh outlet was opened in Newbury Park, California in 1990. There are now well over 200 franchises nationwide.

22 Cheap digs : POTSHOTS

When firing a gun, a “potshot” is a “shot” taken purely to get the prey into the “pot” for cooking. The term “potshot” was coined in the 1830s, hence distinguishing between a shot taken for sport or marksmanship and a shot taken while hunting for game.

25 Selected during Duck, Duck, Goose, say : TAPPED ON

“Duck, Duck, Goose” is a kid’s game, and not one that I’ve heard of outside of crosswords, to be honest …

29 Lacking : SANS

In French, “avec” (with) and “sans” (without) are opposites.

32 Actor Carell : STEVE

Actor Steve Carell has achieved great success on both television and in movies. On the small screen, Carell came to prominence on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and then as the lead in the US version of “The Office”. On the big screen, he starred in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin”, “Evan Almighty”. My personal favorite Carell movie is 2007’s ”Dan in Real Life”, in which he stars opposite the wonderful Juliette Binoche.

36 Designer initials : DKNY

Donna Karan is an American fashion designer, creator of the Donna Karan New York (DKNY) clothing label. Karan was very much raised in the fashion industry, as her mother was a model and her stepfather a tailor.

39 PBS painter Bob : ROSS

Bob Ross was an artist and art instructor. Ross created and appeared in the long-running PBS show “The Joy of Painting”, a show which provided instructions for budding artists. He was known for some colorful phrases that he tended to repeat on screen, one of the most famous being “let’s add some happy little trees”.

41 Kiosk at some wedding receptions : PHOTO BOOTH

Our word “kiosk” came to us via French and Turkish from the Persian “kushk” meaning “palace, portico”.

47 Vellani who plays Kamala Khan on “Ms. Marvel” : IMAN

Iman Vellani is a Pakistani-born Canadian actress who is best known for playing the title character (aka Kamala Khan) in the superhero miniseries “Ms. Marvel”.

49 Great Plains people : OTOE

The Otoe (also “Oto”) Native American tribe originated in the Great Lakes region as part of the Winnebago or Siouan tribes. The group that would become the Otoe broke away from the Winnebago and migrated southwestward, ending up in the Great Plains. In the plains the Otoe adopted a semi-nomadic lifestyle dependent on the horse, with the American bison becoming central to their diet.

The Great Plains lie between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains in North America. This vast grassland is known as “the Prairies” in Canada.

57 March family creator : ALCOTT

“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.

58 Theater backdrop : SCRIM

“Scrim” is the name given to that transparent fabric that hangs down onto a theater’s stage. It is often used with special lighting for various effects.

59 Forum admin : MOD

Moderator (mod)

61 River near the Great Pyramid : NILE

Depending on definition, the Nile is regarded generally as the longest river on the planet. The Nile forms from two major tributaries, the White Nile and the Blue Nile, which join together near Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. From Khartoum the Nile flows north, traveling almost entirely through desert making it central to life for those living along its length.

The Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and yet it is the only one of the Wonders that is basically intact today. Egyptologists believe that the structure took ten to twenty years to complete, and that it dates back to around 2560 BC. The Great Pyramid of Giza was the tallest man-made structure in the world for nearly 3,900 years, until it was surpassed by Lincoln Cathedral in England in 1311 AD.

64 “Ben-__” : HUR

The celebrated 1959 Charlton Heston movie “Ben-Hur” is a dramatization of a book published in 1880 by Lew Wallace titled “Ben-Hur: A Tale of Christ”. The 1959 epic film won a record 11 Academy Awards, a feat that has been equaled since then but never beaten. The other winners of 11 Oscars are “Titanic” (1997) and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003).

66 Kenan Thompson’s show, for short : SNL

Kenan Thompson is an actor and comedian who is perhaps best known as a “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) cast member, joining the show in 2003. Thompson holds the record for the most celebrity impressions on SNL, at over one hundred. He also is the longest-tenured member of the cast in the history of the show.

72 Tuba sound : PAH!

The tuba is the lowest-pitched of all brass instruments, and one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra (usually there is just one tuba included in an orchestral line-up). “Tuba” is the Latin word for “trumpet, horn”. Oom-pah-pah …

80 Painter Magritte : RENE

Belgian artist René Magritte was a surrealist. His most recognized work may be “The Son of Man”, a painting he created as a self-portrait. It is the work that shows a man in a bowler hat with his face covered by an apple. The image features prominently in a great movie, the 1999 remake of “The Thomas Crown Affair”.

81 “Barry” network : HBO

“Barry” is a dark comedy TV series starring Bill Hader as an Ohio hitman who questions his life of crime. Veteran actor Henry Winkler plays an award-winning supporting role as the teacher of an acting class that the hitman joins.

82 “The Naked Chef” chef Oliver : JAMIE

Jamie Oliver is a celebrity chef from England who has authored a string of successful cookbooks, such as “Jamie’s Kitchen”, “Jamie’s Dinners” and “Jamie’s America”. Oliver has also been known as the Naked Chef since he filmed his first television show in the late nineties. The show’s title “The Naked Chef” is a reference to the simplicity of Oliver’s recipes, and not to a lifestyle choice …

84 Pop singer Britney : SPEARS

Britney Spears was the best-selling female artist in the first decade of the 21st century. In recent years, Spears has attracted public attention for more than just her performances as a musician. Against her will, she was placed under the conservatorship of her father and an attorney in 2008, due to concerns about her mental wellbeing. Originally meant to last days, the conservatorship was extended to months, and was then made permanent. A social movement to “free” Britney from the conservatorship took off in 2019, and a court granted a termination of the arrangement in 2021.

87 Staley Da Bear, for one : FOOTBALL MASCOT

Staley Da Bear is the mascot of the Chicago Bears NFL team. He takes his name from A. E. Staley, the man who founded the team in 1919.

90 Mosaic piece : TESSERA

A tessera is an individual tile used in making a mosaic. Tesserae are usually formed in the shape of cubes.

In the Middle Ages, mosaics were often dedicated to the Muses. The term “mosaic” translates as “of the Muses”.

92 Writer Silverstein : SHEL

Author Shel Silverstein had a varied career and did a lot more than write books. He was a poet, composer, cartoonist and screenwriter among other things. One of his successful children’s books is “A Light in the Attic”, a collection of poems that was first published in 1981. Some parents have tried to get the book banned from libraries. The collection includes the poem “How Not to Have to Dry the Dishes”, which encourages disobedience and making a mess. Scandalous …

93 Banana skin : PEEL

The banana is actually a berry, botanically speaking. And, bananas don’t really grow on trees. The “trunk” of the banana plant is in fact a pseudostem. The pseudostem is a false stem comprising rolled bases of leaves, and it can grow to 2 or 3 meters tall.

99 Tolkien series, to fans : LOTR

J. R. R. Tolkien’s novel “The Lord of the Rings” (LOTR) consists of the three volumes:

• “The Fellowship of the Ring”
• “The Two Towers”
• “The Return of the King”

100 Lauder of cosmetics : ESTEE

Estée Lauder was a very successful businesswoman, and someone with a great reputation as a salesperson. Lauder introduced her own line of fragrances in 1953, a bath oil called “Youth Dew”. “Youth Dew” was marketed as a perfume, but it was added to bathwater. All of a sudden women were pouring whole bottles of Ms. Lauder’s “perfume” into their baths while using only a drop or two of French perfumes behind their ears. That’s quite a difference in sales volume …

101 Standing Rock people : LAKOTA

The Standing Rock Reservation straddles the border between South and North Dakota and is home to many Native Americans from the Lakota people.

112 Gilda who won an Emmy for 66-Across : RADNER

Gene Wilder was an actor noted for his comedic roles. Wilder had a successful collaboration with Mel Brooks on three great films: “The Producers”, “Blazing Saddles” and my favorite, “Young Frankenstein”. For a while, Wilder dated his “Young Frankenstein” co-star Teri Garr, but he was married most famously to “Saturday Night Live” star Gilda Radner.

116 Documentary photographer Lange : DOROTHEA

Dorothea Lange was a marvelous photographer famous for images that she created during the Great Depression. Lange’s most famous photograph is the beautiful “Migrant Mother”, taken in 1936.

120 Slow-moving tree-dweller : TWO-TOED SLOTH

All four of the extant species of three-toed sloths are native to South and Central America. Cousins of the three-toed sloths are the two-toed sloths, of which there are two species still living.

122 High-stakes gridiron situation, and a feature of eight long puzzle answers : DOUBLE OT

We never used the word “gridiron” when I was growing up in Ireland (meaning a grill used for cooking food over an open fire). So, maybe I am excused for taking two decades living in the US to work out that a football field gridiron is so called because the layout of yard lines over the field looks like a gridiron used in cooking.

126 Fitbit unit : STEP

Fitbits are wearable activity trackers that are mainly used to track the number of steps walked, although more and more features have been added over time. A Fitbit was even used as evidence in at least one murder case. A Connecticut man claimed that a home intruder had shot and killed his wife. Police used data from the wife’s Fitbit to disprove the husband’s story, and ended up charging him with the murder.

Down

1 Memo phrase : IN RE

The term “in re” is Latin, and is derived from “in” (in) and “res” (thing, matter). “In re” literally means “in the matter”, and is used to mean “in regard to” or “in the matter of”.

2 Meal- and exercise-tracking app : NOOM

Noom is an app used to aid in weight loss by tracking food intake and by providing guidance on changing behavior associated with food and exercise.

4 Renée __ Goldsberry of “Girls5eva” : ELISE

Renée Elise Goldsberry is an actress and singer who is best known to me for playing the attorney Geneva Pine on the TV show “The Good Wife”. Goldsberry also originated the role of Angelica Schuyler Church in the hit Broadway musical “Hamilton”.

7 Ecological communities : BIOMES

I tend to think of “biome” as another word for “ecosystem”.

10 __ Domini : ANNO

The designations Anno Domini (AD, “year of Our Lord”) and Before Christ (BC) are found in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The dividing point between AD and BC is the year of the conception of Jesus, with AD 1 following 1 BC without a year “0” in between. The AD/BC scheme dates back to AD 525, and gained wide acceptance soon after AD 800. Nowadays a modified version has become popular, with CE (Common/Christian Era) used to replace AD, and BCE (Before the Common/Christian Era) used to replace BC.

13 Longtime NASCAR sponsor : STP

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

14 Super vision? : ESP

The so-called sixth sense is extrasensory perception (ESP). It is also referred to as second sight.

17 School near Windsor : ETON

The world-famous Eton College is just a brisk walk from Windsor Castle, which itself is just outside London. Eton is noted for producing many British leaders, including prime ministers David Cameron and Boris Johnson. The list of Old Etonians also includes Princes William and Harry, the Duke of Wellington and George Orwell. Author Ian Fleming was also an Eton alumnus, as was Fleming’s iconic character James Bond, although 007 was expelled by the school.

18 Fed. IDs : SSNS

The main purpose of a Social Security Number (SSN) is to track individuals for the purposes of taxation, although given its ubiquitous use, it is looking more and more like an identity number to me. The social security number system was introduced in 1936. Prior to 1986, an SSN was required only for persons with substantial income, so many children under 14 had no number assigned. For some years the IRS had a concern that a lot of people were claiming children on their tax returns who did not actually exist. So starting in 1986, the IRS made it a requirement to get an SSN for any dependents over the age of 5. Sure enough, seven million dependents “disappeared” in 1987. Today, a SSN is required for a child of any age in order to receive a tax exemption.

24 Semi-oxidized teas : OOLONGS

The name for the Chinese tea called “oolong” translates into English as “black dragon” or “dark dragon”.

33 “Arrival” arrivals : ETS

2016’s “Arrival” is a very entertaining sci-fi film that is based on a short story by Ted Chiang called “Story of Your Life”. Amy Adams plays a linguist who is called upon to communicate with aliens who have arrived on Earth.

34 Cast a ballot : VOTED

Today, a ballot is a piece of paper or equivalent used to cast a vote. Back in the 1500s, a “ballot” was a small “ball” used in the process of voting.

35 Member of a TikTok subculture : E-BOY

E-girls and e-boys (maybe “e-kids”) may spend a lot of time on social media, especially TikTok, hence the use of the prefix “e-”.

36 __ Lama : DALAI

The Dalai Lama is a religious leader in the Gelug branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The current Dalai Lama is the 14th to hold the office. He has indicated that the next Dalai Lama might be found outside of Tibet for the first time, and may even be female.

37 Genuflected : KNELT

Our verb “to genuflect” means “to bend the knee, in worship”. The term comes to us via French from the Latin “genu” meaning “knee” and “flectere” meaning “to bend”.

41 Audre Lorde creation : POEM

Audre Lorde was an American feminist author and civil rights activist who spent many years in Germany. She held a visiting professorship at the Free University of Berlin, and while holding that position became a leading light in the Afro-German movement.

43 K.T. of country music : OSLIN

Singer K. T. Oslin is best known for her string of country hits in the eighties.

44 Govt. security : T-BILL

A Treasury note (T-note) is a government debt that matures in 1-10 years. A T-note has a coupon (interest) payment made every six months. The T-note is purchased at a discount to face value, and at the date of maturity can be redeemed at that face value. A Treasury bill (T-bill) is a similar financial vehicle, but it matures in one year or less, and a T-bond matures in 20-30 years.

45 Jekyll’s counterpart : HYDE

Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” was published in 1886. There are many tales surrounding the writing of the story, including that the author wrote the basic tale in just three to six days, and spent a few weeks simply refining it. Allegedly, Stevenson’s use of cocaine stimulated his creative juices during those few days of writing.

54 Earthy colour : OCHRE

Ocher is a light, yellowish-brown color, although variations of the pigment are possible such as red ocher and purple ocher. “Ocher” is usually spelled “ochre” on the other side of the pond.

60 Dept. of Labor div. : OSHA

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

65 Justice Sotomayor : SONIA

Sonia Sotomayor was the first Hispanic justice appointed to the US Supreme Court, and the third female justice. Sotomayor was nominated by President Barack Obama to replace the retiring Justice David Souter.

69 Short-form blog platform : TUMBLR

Tumblr.com is a website that mainly hosts private blogs. The name “Tumblr” comes from “tumblelog”, a word coined in 2005 to describe micro-blogs. I guess a micro-blog might be considered a quick and dirty blog on which words “tumble” onto the screen in a stream of consciousness.

71 Mountainous Asian republic : NEPAL

Nepal lies to the northeast of India. Today, the state is known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. In 2008, the Communist Party of Nepal won the country’s general election. Soon after, the Assembly voted to change the form of government, moving away from a monarchy and creating a secular republic.

72 Co-owner of the Pequod : PELEG

The Pequod is the whaling ship that figures in Herman Melville’s classic novel “Moby Dick”. The ship is owned by a consortium of the citizens of Nantucket Island, including Captains Ahab, Bildad and Peleg.

77 Chip to dip : NACHO

The dish known as “nachos” was supposedly created by the maître d’ at a restaurant called the Victory Club in the city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico. The name of the maître d’ was Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya.

78 Brook swimmer : TROUT

Trout are freshwater fish that are closely related to char and salmon. Most trout live exclusively in freshwater lakes and rivers, but a few species live at sea and return to freshwater to spawn.

79 Blender brand : OSTER

The Oster brand of small appliances was introduced in 1924 by John Oster. He started out by making manually-powered hair clippers designed for cutting women’s hair, and followed up with a motorized version in 1928. The clippers kept the company in business until 1946 when Oster diversified, buying a manufacturer of liquefying blenders in 1946. The blender was renamed to “Osterizer” and was a big hit. Oster was bought by Sunbeam, which has owned the brand since 1960.

80 Flatbread made with atta flour : ROTI

Atta is a whole-wheat flour used to make flatbreads in South Asian cuisine, such as chapati and naan. “Atta” is the Hindi or Urdu word for “dough”.

81 Deli subs : HEROS

A hero is a submarine sandwich. It originated in New York City in the 1800s among Italian immigrants who wanted an Italian sandwich that reminded them of home. The name “hero” was coined in the 1930s, supposedly by a food critic in the “New York Herald Tribune” when he wrote that “one had to be a hero” to finish the gigantic sandwich. Hero is a prevalent term to this day in New York City, reserved for a submarine sandwich with an Italian flavor.

82 Civil rights leader Lewis : JOHN

John Lewis was a civil rights leader, and a prominent leader in the 1963 March on Washington in which Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. Lewis also suffered a fractured skull as he walked at the head of the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma on Bloody Sunday. Lewis was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1987, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011 by President Obama. Lewis passed away in 2020.

83 Madrid museum : EL PRADO

The Museo del Prado is in Madrid, the capital of Spain, and has one of the finest art collections in the world. The gallery’s most famous work is “Las Meninas” By Velazquez.

Madrid is the most populous city in Spain, and is the nation’s capital. It is located very close to the geographical center of the country. Madrid is the second-largest city in the European Union by population, after Berlin. People from Madrid called themselves Madrileños.

86 __ pool : GENE

The set of all genes in a particular population is known as the “gene pool”, a term coined in Russian by geneticist Aleksandr Sergeevich Serebrovskii in the 1920s. In general, the larger the gene pool, the more diverse and robust the population.

88 Willow variety : OSIER

Most willows (trees and shrubs of the genus Salix) are called just that, “willows”. Some of the broad-leaved shrub varieties are called “sallow”, and the narrow-leaved shrubs are called “osier”. Osier is commonly used in basketry, as osier twigs are very flexible. The strong and flexible willow stems are sometimes referred to as withies.

89 Onion kin : LEEK

The leek is a vegetable closely related to the onion and the garlic. It is also a national emblem of Wales (along with the daffodil), although I don’t think we know for sure how this came to be. One story is that the Welsh were ordered to wear leeks in their helmets to identify themselves in a battle against the Saxons. Apparently, the battle took place in a field of leeks.

91 NFL passing stat : ATT

In football, a quarterback’s (QB’s) performance can be measured by attempts (ATT), a statistic (stat).

96 Three-faced Greek goddess : HECATE

Hecate (sometimes “Hekate”) was a three-faced goddess in the Greek and Roman traditions. She was associated with many phenomena, including magic and witchcraft.

102 Surgeon, informally : OR DOC

An operating room (OR) is used for performing surgery (surg.).

104 Classic Icelandic saga : EDDA

“Poetic Edda” and “Prose Edda” are two ancient works that are the source for much of Norse mythology. Both Eddas were written in 13th-century Iceland.

106 Champagne choice : BRUT

Sparkling wines can be classified according to sweetness. These classifications are, from driest to sweetest:

• Brut Nature
• Extra Brut
• Brut
• Extra Dry
• Dry
• Semi-Dry
• Sweet

111 Browser button : HOME

A web browser is a piece of software used to access the World Wide Web. The first web browser was called “WorldWideWeb” and was invented in 1990 by Tim Berners-Lee, the man who created the World Wide Web. The browser known as Mosaic came out in 1993, and it was this browser that drove so much interest in the World Wide Web, and indeed in the Internet in general. Marc Andreessen led the team that created Mosaic, and he then set up his own company called Netscape. Netscape created the Netscape Navigator browser that further popularized the use of the Web starting in 1994. Microsoft responded by introducing Internet Explorer in 1995, which sparked the so-called “browser war”, a war that Microsoft clearly won. As Netscape floundered, the company launched the open-source Mozilla project which eventually led to the Firefox browser. Apple then came out with its own Safari browser in 2003. Google’s Chrome browser, introduced in 2008, is by far the most popular way to view the Web today.

113 “Strega __”: Tomie dePaola Caldecott Honor book : NONA

“Strega Nona” is an illustrated children’s book by Tomie dePaola that was first published in 1975. The title character is a kind of witch doctor who lives in southern Italy. “Strega Nona” translates from broken Italian as “Grandma Witch”.

The Randolph Caldecott Medal is awarded annually to the prior year’s “most distinguished American picture book for children”. The inaugural year for the award was 1938. The medal is named for British artist and illustrator Randolph Caldecott. In 2009, the structure of the awards was tweaked so that selected runners-up for the Medal were given the status of “Caldecott Honor Books”.

115 Matthew of “The Americans” : RHYS

Welsh actor Matthew Rhys got his break playing Kevin Walker on the TV drama “Brothers & Sisters” from 2006 to 2011. He gained even further recognition playing the co-lead role of Philip Jennings in the excellent spy drama series “The Americans” that ran from 2013 to 2018. Rhys started a relationship with his co-star in “The Americans”, Keri Russell, in 2014. The couple had a child together in 2016, and refer to each other as husband and wife.

“The Americans” is a very engaging drama series set during the Cold War that features two KGB spies living as a married couple just outside Washington, D.C. The show was created by Joe Weisberg, who is a novelist and former CIA officer. The lead roles in “The Americans” are played by real-life couple Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys.

117 Coddling, for short : TLC

Tender loving care (TLC)

The verb “to coddle”, meaning “to treat tenderly”, was actually coined in 1815 by Jane Austen in her novel “Emma”. At least, that is the first written record we have of the verb’s usage. John Knightley (younger brother of George Knightley) addresses his wife Isabella (elder sister of Emma Woodhouse) with the following words:

“My dear Isabella,” exclaimed he, hastily, “pray do not concern yourself about my looks. Be satisfied with doctoring and coddling yourself and the children, and let me look as I chuse.”

121 Clean Air Act org. : EPA

The Clean Air Act of 1963 is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).