Tag: Texas attraction with lions and tigers crossword clue

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Constructed by: Dan Kammann & Zhouqin Burnikel
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Nose Around

Themed answers each start with B- and end with -EAK, have a B-EAK AROUND:

• 18A Fast talker’s torrent : BLUE STREAK
• 24A Short mental rest : BRAIN BREAK
• 38A British dish named for frying sounds : BUBBLE AND SQUEAK
• 54A Lean red meat choice : BISON STEAK

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

Bill’s time: 6m 01s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

9 Shade-tolerant plant with broad leaves : HOSTA

The Hosta genus of plant was once classified as a lily, but is now in a family of its own and is described as “lily-like”. The plant was given the name “Hosta” in honor of the Austrian botanist Nicholas Thomas Host.

14 Great __ : big dog : DANE

The Great Dane breed of dog isn’t actually from Denmark, and rather is from Germany. Great danes were originally bred to hunt wild boar, and were also used for protection and as guard dogs.

15 Amazon berry enjoyed by toucans : ACAI

The toucan is a brightly-marked bird with a large, colorful bill. The name “toucan” comes into English via Portuguese from the Tupi name “tukana”. The Tupi were an indigenous people of Brazil.

16 Yarns : TALES

The phrase “to spin a yarn”, meaning “to tell a tall tale”, originated in the early 1800s with seamen. The idea was that sailors would tell stories to each other while engaged in mindless work such as twisting yarn.

17 The “S” of GPS: Abbr. : SYST

Global positioning system (GPS)

18 Fast talker’s torrent : BLUE STREAK

Someone talking a blue streak is speaking rapidly and continuously. The use of the term “blue streak” to mean “rapidly” dates back to 1803s America, and is a reference to a bolt of lightning.

20 Raison d’__ : ETRE

“Raison d’être” is a French phrase meaning “reason for existence”.

23 Earthbound Australian bird : EMU

The emu has had a tough time in Australia since man settled there. There was even an “Emu War” in Western Australia in 1932 when migrating emus competed with livestock for water and food. Soldiers were sent in and used machine guns in an unsuccessful attempt to drive off the “invading force”. The emus were clever, breaking their usual formations and adopting guerrilla tactics, operating as smaller units. After 50 days of “war”, the military withdrew. Subsequent requests for military help for the farmers were ignored. The emus had emerged victorious …

28 Actor Cariou : LEN

Len Cariou is a Canadian actor who is famous for his Broadway portrayal of “Sweeney Todd”. I most recognize Cariou from supporting roles in “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Thirteen Days”, two great movies.

30 Dorky sort : NERD

I consider “dork” and “adorkable” to be pretty offensive slang. “Dork” originated in the sixties among American students, and has its roots in another slang term, a term for male genitalia.

33 Activist/filmmaker Newsome : BREE

Bree Newsome is an activist and filmmaker who gained national attention in 2015 for her protest against the Confederate flag flying on the South Carolina State House grounds. In an act of civil disobedience, she scaled the flagpole and removed the flag, highlighting the ongoing symbolism of racial injustice. Newsome was immediately arrested for defacing a monument. While the flag was briefly raised again, Newsome’s protest intensified the pressure on state officials. Less than three weeks later, South Carolina lawmakers voted to permanently remove the Confederate flag from the State House grounds. The charges against Newsome were eventually dropped.

35 Founded: Abbr. : ESTD

Established (“est.” or “estd.”)

38 British dish named for frying sounds : BUBBLE AND SQUEAK

Bubble and squeak is a dish that originated in the UK. The basic dish is made from leftover mashed potato and cabbage, which are mixed together and pan-fried. The dish is so named because the cabbage can make bubbling and squeaking noises as it cooks. We have a similar dish in Ireland called colcannon. I love colcannon, absolutely love it …

44 God, in Notre-Dame : DIEU

Notre-Dame de Paris is the spectacular Gothic cathedral that sits on the Île de la Cité, one of the islands in the middle of the River Seine in Paris. Notre-Dame is home to many beautiful and significant artifacts, the most famous of which is the Crown of Thorns supposedly worn by Jesus Christ at his execution, placed in the cathedral in 1239. It’s also home to some magnificent gargoyles on the roof, and you can climb up to the roof and take a very close look at them. Well, you used to be able to, until the tragic fire of 2019. The cathedral re-opened at the end of 2014, but I’m not sure about the tour of the roof …

45 “Single Lady” comic Wong : ALI

Ali Wong is a stand-up comedian from San Francisco who is a protégé of Chris Rock. She made two very successful Netflix stand-up specials “Baby Cobra” and “Hard Knock Wife”, and also worked as a writer for the hit sitcom “Fresh Off the Boat”.

46 Sale caveat : AS IS

A caveat is a warning or a qualification. “Caveat” is the Latin for “let him beware”.

50 Utah’s cap. : SLC

Salt Lake City (SLC) was founded by Brigham Young, in 1847. The city takes its name from the Great Salt Lake on which it sits, and indeed was known as “Great Salt Lake City” up until 1868.

51 Beer ingredient : MALT

Malt is germinated cereal grains that have been dried. The cereal is germinated by soaking it in water, and then germination is halted by drying the grains with hot air.

54 Lean red meat choice : BISON STEAK

There are two species of bison left (four species are extinct). We are most familiar with the American bison (commonly called the American buffalo), but there is also a European bison, which is sometimes called a “wisent”.

57 Org. on tubes of toothpaste : ADA

American Dental Association (ADA)

58 Bonnet-sporting Berenstain Bear : MAMA

Stan and Jan Berenstain were a married couple from Philadelphia famous for creating the series of books for children called “Berenstain Bears”. The first in the series was published in 1962 and now over 250 million copies have been sold with over 300 titles.

64 Completely destroy : RAZE

To raze (“rase”, in British English) is to level to the ground. I’ve always thought it a little quirky that “raise”, a homophone of “raze”, means “build up”.

67 Campus sports gp. : NCAA

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) dates back to the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. When his son broke his nose playing football at Harvard, President Roosevelt turned his attention to the number of serious injuries and even deaths occurring in college sports. He instigated meetings between the major educational institutions, leading to the formation of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS) in 1906, which was given the remit of regulating college sports. The IAAUS became the NCAA in 1910. The NCAA has been headquartered in Indianapolis since 1999.

69 Lower leg joint : ANKLE

The ankle joint proper is the hinge joint connecting the ends of the tibia and fibula in the leg with the top of the talus in the foot.

71 General __ chicken : TSO’S

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.

Down

1 LP successors : CDS

The compact disc (CD) was developed jointly by Philips and Sony as a medium for storing and playing sound recordings. When the first commercial CD was introduced back in 1982, a CD’s storage capacity was far greater than the amount of data that could be stored on the hard drive of personal computers available at that time.

4 __ dish: shallow lab container : PETRI

Julius Richard Petri was a German bacteriologist and was the man after whom the Petri dish is named. The petri dish can have an agar gel on the bottom which acts as a nutrient source for the specimen being grown and studied, in which case the dish plus agar is referred to as an “agar plate”.

5 Soda can opener : TAB

The term “pop top” refers to a whole family of designs for opening the top of a soda can. The oldest method is the “pull tab” or “ring pull”, invented in Canada in 1956. The design was long-lived, but it had its problems, so the world heaved a sigh of relief with the invention of the stay-on-tab in 1975. The new design led to less injuries and eliminated all those used pull tabs that littered the streets.

6 Oft-torn knee pt. : ACL

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of four major ligaments that support the knee. It is located in the center of the knee and connects the femur (thigh bone) to the tibia (shin bone).

7 Fry in a pan : 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.

8 “A Real Pain” Oscar winner Culkin : KIERAN

Kieran Culkin began his acting career alongside his older brother Macaulay in the 1990 film “Home Alone”. Kieran’s most lauded performance was the title role in 2002’s “Igby Goes Down”, which earned him a Golden Globe nomination.

9 URL starter : HTTP

An Internet address (like NYXCrossword.com and LAXCrossword.com) is more correctly called a uniform resource locator (URL).

19 “For Pete’s __!” : SAKE

“For Pete’s sake” is a minced oath, meaning it’s a milder version of a less pleasant expression. “For Pete’s sake” probably came from “for God’s sake”, and maybe even refers to St. Peter.

24 Spill the beans : BLAB

To spill the beans is to divulge a secret. The expression first appeared in American English, in the early 1900s. The phrase arose as an alternative to “spoil the beans” or “upset the applecart”. The similarly meaning phrase “spill the tea” is more prevalent on the other side of the Atlantic.

26 Actress Perlman : RHEA

Rhea Perlman’s most famous role has to be Carla Tortelli, the irascible waitress in the long-running sitcom “Cheers”. Perlman is also a successful children’s author, and has published a series of six books called “Otto Undercover”. She married Hollywood actor Danny DeVito in 1982.

27 SoCal home of the Aztecs : SDSU

San Diego State University (SDSU) was founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School. Back then, the main purpose of the school was to educate women who wanted to be elementary school teachers. It changed its name to San Diego State Teachers College in 1923. The curriculum expanded beyond teacher education in 1935, and became San Diego State College. In 1960, the college joined what is now known as the California State University.

34 Put the kibosh on : END

A kibosh is something that constrains or checks. “Kibosh” looks like a Yiddish word but it isn’t, and is more likely English slang from the early 1800s.

37 Texas attraction with lions and tigers : DALLAS ZOO

The Dallas Zoo, established way back in 1888, is the oldest and largest zoological park in Texas, spanning 106 acres just south of downtown Dallas. It is home to over 2,000 animals representing more than 400 species, and draws over a million visitors annually.

40 Purple pet on “The Flintstones” : DINO

In the Hanna-Barbera cartoon “The Flintstones”, Dino the pet dinosaur was voiced by the famous Mel Blanc, until Blanc passed away in 1989.

48 Gymnastics great Biles : SIMONE

Simone Biles holds the record for the most gold medals won by an American gymnast in a single Olympic Games. She achieved the feat at the 2016 games held in Rio. Biles has also won more World medals than any other gymnast in history. She was presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022, by President Joe Biden.

51 “Tokyo Ghoul” genre : MANGA

“Tokyo Ghoul” is a popular Japanese manga series that has also been adapted into a successful anime. It is set in a dark, alternate version of Tokyo where ghouls, beings who look like humans but survive by eating human flesh, secretly live among the human population.

53 Vision-improving surgery : LASIK

LASIK surgery uses a laser to reshape the cornea of the eye to improve vision. The LASIK acronym stands for “laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis”.

56 Deck with a Lovers card : TAROT

Tarot cards have been around since the mid-1400s, and for centuries were simply used for entertainment as a game. It has only been since the late 1800s that the cards have been used by fortune tellers to predict the future. The list of tarot cards includes the Wheel of Fortune, the Hanged Man and the Lovers.

65 Hosp. triage areas : ERS

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