Tag: Some sweater necks crossword clue

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Constructed by: Shannon Rapp & Will Eisenberg
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Wrap Parties

Starting and ending letters WRAP each themed answer, and spell out a kind of PARTY:

• 61A Postshow cast celebrations, and what can be found in the answers to the starred clues : WRAP PARTIES

• 17A *Swimmer that can expand to three times its normal size : BALLOONFISH (wrapped by “BA-SH”)
• 26A *Dreamhouse occupant : BARBIE DOLL (wrapped by “BA-LL”)
• 38A *Employee responsible for minimizing negative outcomes : RISK MANAGER (wrapped by “R-AGER”)
• 51A *Greek salad component : FETA CHEESE (wrapped by “FET-E”)

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

Bill’s time: 7m 10s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

13 Star-nosed diggers : MOLES

One of the more commonly known facts about my native Ireland is that there are no snakes in the country (outside of politics, that is). A lesser known fact is that there are no moles either. There are plenty of snakes and moles in Britain, just a few miles away. Over a pint, we tend to give the credit to Saint Patrick, but the last ice age is more likely the responsible party …

15 Skin care brand : NIVEA

Nivea is a brand name of skin-care products from Germany. The Latin word “nivea” means “snow-white”.

17 *Swimmer that can expand to three times its normal size : BALLOONFISH (wrapped by “BA-SH”)

“Fugu” is the Japanese name for pufferfish, also known as blowfish and balloonfish. It is a notorious dish on a Japanese menu as it can be extremely poisonous. The liver, ovaries and eyes of the pufferfish contain lethal amounts of the poison tetrodotoxin, which paralyzes muscles causing death by asphyxiation.

20 Not needing an MD’s script : OTC

Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs don’t need a prescription (Rx).

21 “Black-ish” father : DRE

“Black-ish” is a sitcom starring Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross that premiered in 2014. The lead actors play Dre and Rainbow Johnson, a married couple leading an upper-middle class black family. The show is noted for tackling tough issues such as racism, police brutality, attitudes toward the LGBT community, and the 2016 US presidential election.

26 *Dreamhouse occupant : BARBIE DOLL (wrapped by “BA-LL”)

Mattel, the supplier of Barbie dolls, purchased a 3,500 square-foot house in Malibu, and had it redecorated to resemble the company’s Barbie Dreamhouse dollhouse. The creation of a life-size Barbie Dreamhouse was part of a promotion on the occasion of Barbie’s 50th birthday.

30 Bath bathroom : LOO

Bath is a beautiful city in South West England of which I have very fond memories. It is an old Roman spa town, and the city’s name comes from the Roman baths that have been excavated and restored.

32 Put in a little oil, say : SAUTE

“Sauté” is a French word. The literal translation from the French is “jumped” or “bounced”, a reference to the tossing of food while cooking it in a frying pan.

35 Back tooth : MOLAR

Molars are grinding teeth. The term “molar” comes from the Latin “mola” meaning “millstone”.

41 Front-end alignment : TOE-IN

In the world of car maintenance, “toe” is also known as “tracking”, the angle a wheel makes relative to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle.

42 “Veep” role for Louis-Dreyfus : MEYER

“Veep” is a political satire sitcom on HBO that is a remake of the British show “The Thick of It” (Warning: strong, strong language!). “Veep” is set in the office of fictional US Vice President Selina Meyer, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Actress and comedian Julia Louis-Dreyfus is an alum of the sketch show “Saturday Night Live”, in which she appeared from 1982 to 1985. Her really big break came when she was chosen to play Elaine Benes on “Seinfeld”. More recently, Louis-Dreyfus can be seen playing Vice President Selina Meyer on the HBO comedy show “Veep”.

44 Many a Jordanian : ARAB

The nation that we know as Jordan takes its name from the River Jordan that forms part of the country’s border with Israel and Palestine to the west. Jordan achieved independence in 1946 after the UN approved the end of the British Transjordan Mandate. The Kingdom of Transjordan changed its name to Jordan in 1948.

47 CGI-heavy superhero franchise : MCU

Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)

Marvel Comics was founded in 1939 as Timely Comics, before becoming Atlas Comics in 1951 and eventually Marvel Comics in 1961. The “Marvel” brand had existed from day one, and Timely Comics’ first publication was “Marvel Comics #1” in October 1939. That first comic featured the superhero the Human Torch.

49 Intl. oil cartel : OPEC

The OPEC cartel was formally established in 1960 and has been headquartered in Vienna since 1965. The US is actually the third largest oil producer in the world (after Russia and Saudi Arabia). One reason America isn’t in OPEC, even though we are a big producer, is that we import a lot more than we export. But we all probably knew that already …

51 *Greek salad component : FETA CHEESE (wrapped by “FET-E”)

Feta is a Greek cheese made from sheep’s milk, or a mixture of sheep and goat’s milk. The cheese is salted and cured in a brine solution for several months before it is eaten.

What we know as a Greek salad here in North America evolved from the horiatiki salad from Greek cuisine. The name “horiatiki” translates as “peasant, village salad”. A typical horiatiki salad consists of tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, olives with a slice of feta cheese on top. It also includes a dressing made from Greek oregano and salt in olive oil. Notably, the original dish does not include lettuce.

55 “The Possibilities Are Beautiful” retailer : ULTA

Ulta Beauty is an American chain of beauty stores that was founded in 1990 and headquartered in Bolingbrook, Illinois. I am not part of the company’s target demographic …

57 Catan resource : ORE

The Settlers of Catan (now just “Catan”) is a board game that was introduced in 1995, in Germany as “Die Siedler von Catan”. The game is very popular in the US and was called “the board game of our time” by the “Washington Post”. My son plays it a lot, and as a lover of board games, I am going to have to check it out …

61 Postshow cast celebrations, and what can be found in the answers to the starred clues : WRAP PARTIES

When shooting of a film is concluded the movie is said to wrap, and everyone heads to the wrap party. There is one story that “wrap” is actually an acronym for “wind, reel and print”, a reference to the transition of the filming process into post-production. But, this explanation is disputed.

65 Trig function : COS

Cosine (cos)

66 One holding things back? : LEVEE

A levee is an artificial bank, usually made of earth, that runs along the length of a river. It is designed to hold back river water at a time of potential flooding. “Levée” is the French word for “raised” and is an American term that originated in French-speaking New Orleans around 1720.

67 Gulf of Suez peninsula : SINAI

The Sinai Peninsula is in the eastern part of Egypt, and is a triangular landform bounded by the Mediterranean to the north and the Red Sea to the south. It is the only part of Egypt that lies in Asia as opposed to Africa. The eastern land border of the peninsula is shared with Israel, and Israel occupied the Sinai during the 1956 Suez Crisis and the Six-Day War of 1967.

The Gulf of Suez lies at the northern end of the Red Sea to the west of the Sinai Peninsula. The northern end of the gulf is the entrance to the Suez Canal, and the gulf’s midline is the boundary between the continents of Africa and Asia.

69 Reproduce like salmon : SPAWN

“Salmon run” is the name given to the “run” that salmon make annually from the ocean, upstream to spawn in freshwater. Even though the mature salmon have wandered huge distances throughout the ocean, they return to the very same spawning ground where they themselves were hatched. Remarkable …

70 Boot camp figs. : SGTS

“Boot camp” is US Marine slang that dates back to WWII. “Boot” was a slang term for a recruit that dates back further, to the Spanish-American War. “Boots” were the leggings worn by American sailors.

Down

2 Small beards : GOATEES

A goatee is a beard formed by hair on a man’s chin. The name probably comes from the tuft of hair seen on an adult goat.

4 “Doin’ Time” singer Lana __ Rey : DEL

“Doin’ Time” is a 1997 song recorded by rock band Sublime. It is based on the song “Summertime” written by George and Ira Gershwin for their 1935 musical “Porgy & Bess”. In 2019, Lana Del Rey released a very successful cover version of “Doin’ Time”, along with a music video that referenced the 1958 film “Attack of the 50 Foot Woman”.

5 Strengthen, in metallurgy : ANNEAL

One anneals glass or metal by exposing to a very specific temperature profile, resulting in a tougher or less brittle product.

7 Pic above a username : AVI

“Avi” is a slang term meaning “avatar”.

8 Joe of “Casino” : PESCI

Joe Pesci got his big break in movies with a supporting role in “Raging Bull” starring Robert De Niro, earning Pesci an Oscar nomination early in his career. There followed a string of gangster roles played alongside De Niro, namely “Once Upon a Time in America”, “Goodfellas” and “Casino”. But I like Pesci’s comedic acting best of all. He was marvelous in the “Home Alone” films, the “Lethal Weapon” series, and my personal favorite, “My Cousin Vinny”. Pesci gets a mention in the stage musical “Jersey Boys”, which isn’t too surprising as he is one of the show’s producers.

“Casino” is a 1995 Martin Scorsese film. One of the movie’s stars is Robert De Niro, someone who collaborated with Scorsese in eight films in all, “Casino” being the last. The Tangiers Hotel in the movie was actually the Stardust Resort and Casino, which operated in Las Vegas from 1958 until 2006.

9 Largest North American alpine lake : TAHOE

Lake Tahoe (often referred to simply as “Tahoe”) is up in the Sierra Nevada mountains, and is located right on the border between California and Nevada. It is the largest alpine lake in the country, and the largest lake in general behind the five Great Lakes. Tahoe is also the second deepest lake, with only the beautiful Crater Lake in Oregon being deeper. Given its location, there are tall casinos that sit right on the shore on the Nevada side of the state line where gambling is legal.

Lakes found above an elevation of 10,000 feet above sea level are classified as alpine lakes. Because such a lake usually has colder water, they are often clearer than lakes at lower altitudes, having less growth of moss and algae.

10 Mingle (with) : HOBNOB

“To hobnob with” means “to rub elbows with, associate with”. The phrase dates back to the mid 1700s and is derived from “hob and nob”, an expression meaning to toast each other in turn, or to buy alternate rounds of drinks.

23 Goading words : I DARE YOU

A goad is a pointed rod that is used to push on an animal. It is from the noun that we get the verb “to goad” meaning “to incite, rouse”.

25 Frugivorous flying mammal : FRUIT BAT

The genus of bats known as fruit bats are also commonly referred to as flying foxes. Their natural habits are found mainly in South Asia, Australia and East Africa.

27 Colleen Hoover’s genre : ROMANCE

Colleen Hoover is an author of romance and fiction for young adults. Her best-known work is probably the 2016 romance novel “It Ends with Us”.

33 General on American Chinese menus : TSO

General Tso’s chicken is an American creation, and a dish often found on the menu of a Chinese restaurant. The name General Tso may be a reference to General Zuo Zongtang of the Qing Dynasty, but there is no clear link.

36 Quick getaway : LAM

To be on the lam is to be in flight, to have escaped from prison. “On the lam” is American slang that originated at the end of the 19th century. The word “lam” also means “beat” or “thrash”, as in “lambaste”. So “on the lam” might derive from the phrase “to beat it, scram”.

48 Tournament won by Coco Gauff in 2023 : US OPEN

Coco Gauff is a professional tennis player from Atlanta whose career really got a boost when she beat Venus Williams in the opening round of Wimbledon in 2019. Ironically, Venus, and her sister Serena, were the players who inspired Gauff to take up tennis as a girl.

50 Black currant liqueur : CASSIS

A “cream liqueur” is one that includes dairy cream. The most famous example is probably Baileys Irish Cream, which is made from cream and Irish whiskey. A “crème liqueur”, on the other hand, is one that includes a lot of added sugar, but no dairy cream. Examples are crème de cacao (chocolate-flavored), crème de menthe (mint-flavored) and crème de cassis (blackcurrant-flavored).

52 Some sweater necks : COWLS

A cowl neck on a garment is a neckline formed from loose draped fabric.

54 Cy Young stat : ERA

Cy Young was a pitcher in the major leagues from 1890-1911. Young is remembered for pitching the first perfect game of baseball’s modern era. Soon after he died in 1955, the Cy Young Award was created and is presented to the best pitcher in each baseball season.

58 Triage ctrs. : ERS

Triage is the process of prioritizing patients for treatment, especially on the battlefield. The term “triage” is French and means “sorting”.

62 Filmmaker DuVernay : AVA

Ava DuVernay is a filmmaker who became the first African-American woman to win the Best Director Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, a feat she achieved in 2012 for her feature film “Middle of Nowhere”. “Middle of Nowhere” tells the story of a woman who drops out of medical school to focus on her husband when he is sentenced to 8 years in prison. DuVernay also directed the 2014 film “Selma” about the 1965 voting rights marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.