Tag: The 411 crossword clue

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Constructed by: Dylan Schiff
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Changes One’s Tune

Themed answers each start with a synonym of “TUNE”:

• 50A Starts looking at things differently, as demonstrated by the first words of the answers to the starred clues? : CHANGES ONE’S TUNE

• 17A *Rainforest Cafe, for one : THEME RESTAURANT
• 23A *Depiction of integers at regular intervals : NUMBER LINE
• 34A *Imperial reign of China ended by Kublai Khan : SONG DYNASTY
• 44A *Florence Henderson sitcom role : CAROL BRADY

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

Bill’s time: 7m 36s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Greenlights : OKS

The first traffic lights date back to 1868 when they were installed outside the Houses of Parliament in London. They resembled the signals already in use for trains, with semaphore arms and red and green gas lamps for nighttime use. That first system was operated manually, by a policeman at the base. Sadly, one police officer was killed just one year after the light’s installation, when the gas system exploded.

4 Dish that may or may not contain beans : CHILI

The full name of the dish that is often called simply “chili” is “chili con carne”, Spanish for “peppers with meat”. The dish was created by immigrants from the Spanish Canary Islands in the city of San Antonio, Texas (a city which the islanders founded). The San Antonio Chili Stand was a popular attraction at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, and that stand introduced the dish to the rest of America and to the world.

15 Brief mission? : RECON

A reconnaissance (recon) is a preliminary survey carried out to gather information. The term “reconnaissance” came into English in the early 19th century from French, from which language it translates literally as “recognition”.

16 Wobbly craft : CANOE

The boat known as a canoe takes its name from the Carib word “kenu” meaning “dugout”. It was Christopher Columbus who brought “kenu” into Spanish as “canoa”, which evolved into our English “canoe”.

17 *Rainforest Cafe, for one : THEME RESTAURANT

Rainforest Cafe is a chain of themed restaurants that provide the atmosphere of a tropical rainforest. The menu diverges somewhat from the rainforest theme, offering typical fare found at American restaurants, i.e. burgers, pastas and seafood. The first restaurant in the chain opened in 1994, in the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.

21 Deciduous tree with oblong leaves : ELM

Deciduous trees and shrubs shed their leaves annually, usually in the fall. In contrast, evergreen plants retain their foliage, which remains green and functional year round.

22 God, to Rastafarians : JAH

“Jah” is a shortened form of “Jehovah”, and is a name often associated with the Rastafari movement.

23 *Depiction of integers at regular intervals : NUMBER LINE

An integer is a number that does not include a fraction. The word “integer” is Latin for “whole”.

27 Guacamole fruit : LIME

Guacamole is one of my favorite dishes. It is prepared by mashing avocados and perhaps adding the likes of tomato, onion and lime juice. The guacamole recipe dates back as early as the 16th century, to the time of the Aztecs. “Guacamole” translates as “avocado sauce”.

28 “__ Te Ching”: Laotzu text : TAO

Lao Tse (also “Lao-Tzu”, “Laozi”) was a central figure in the development of the religion/philosophy of Taoism. Tradition holds that Lao-Tzu wrote the “Tao Te Ching”, a classical Chinese text that is fundamental to the philosophy of Taoism.

31 Like a zebra : MANED

The term “zebra” comes from an old Portuguese word “zevra” meaning “wild ass”. Studies of zebra embryos show that zebras are basically black in color, with white stripes that develop with growth. Before this finding, it was believed they were white, with black stripes.

33 Big fans : BUFFS

Back in the early 1900s, a buff was someone (usually a male) who admired firefighting. The term “buff” was a reference to the buff-colored uniforms that had been sported by volunteer firefighters in New York City since the 1820s. The use of the word “buff” spread over time to describe a person who was enthusiastic about any particular subject, e.g. film buff, WWII buff.

34 *Imperial reign of China ended by Kublai Khan : SONG DYNASTY

The Song dynasty ruled in China from 960 to 1279 CE. There were several significant developments during this period of rule. For example, the Song dynasty issued the world’s first true banknotes, and established the first permanent standing navy in China’s history.

36 “Summer of My German Soldier” novelist Greene : BETTE

Bette Greene was an author of books for children and young adults. She grew up as a Jewish girl in a town of Christian Fundamentalists in Arkansas, in the 1930s and 1940s. She was treated as somewhat of an outsider, and experienced discrimination. As a result, her books reflect themes of alienation and injustice.

39 Wax counterpart : WANE

The verbs “to wax” and “to wane” come from Old English. To wax is to increase gradually in size, strength, intensity or number. To wane is to decrease gradually.

43 The 411 : INFO

Several large US cities started using the telephone number “411” in the 1930s for local directory assistance. “411” was used in markets where the Bell System of telephone companies was prevalent. The number “113” served the same purpose on markets dominated by GTE and other telephone companies, with the last such usage of “113” disappearing in the 1980s. The term “4-1-1” is now used in North America as slang for “information”.

44 *Florence Henderson sitcom role : CAROL BRADY

In the TV show “The Brady Bunch”, the mom is Carol Brady, formerly Carol Martin, played by Florence Henderson. The dad is Mike Brady, played by Robert Reed.

47 Situation Room gp. : NSC

The National Security Council (NSC) was created by President Harry S. Truman in 1947. It is chaired by the sitting president and meets in the White House Situation Room.

The official name of the Situation Room in the White House is the John F. Kennedy Conference Room. The facility was built in the basement of the West Wing on the orders of President Kennedy in 1961 after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion. Analysis showed that the invasion failed largely due to a lack of real-time information, and so the Situation Room was built to prevent that from happening in the future.

57 Single-stranded genetic molecule : RNA

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a single-stranded molecule that is made up of nucleotides. The four nucleotides that make up RNA are adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and uracil (U). RNA is transcribed from DNA, which means that the information stored in DNA is used to create RNA. RNA then carries this information to the ribosomes, which are the cellular structures responsible for protein synthesis.

58 Specs dished in a gossip sesh : DEETS

“Deets” is slang for “details”.

59 Zipper alternative : SNAPS

What we know today as a “zipper” was invented by mechanical engineer Whitcomb Judson in 1890, when it was called a “clasp locker”. The device was introduced at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, but was not successful. Several people made improvements to the basic design over the coming decades. By the 1920s, the B. F. Goodrich Company was using the device on a line of rubber boots. It was Goodrich who introduced us to the name “zipper”.

60 Noggin : NOB

Slang terms for “head” include “bean”, “coconut”, “gourd”, “noodle” and “noggin”.

Down

2 Ingredient in a white or black Russian : KAHLUA

Kahlúa is a rum-based liqueur from Mexico that has a coffee flavor. It was first produced in 1936, in Veracruz, Mexico. The name “Kahlúa” means “House of the Acolhua people” in the Veracruz Nahuatl language.

A White Russian is a cocktail made from vodka, Kahlua or Tia Maria, and cream, served in an old-fashioned glass with ice. The White Russian is similar to a Black Russian, which is the same drink without the cream. Both cocktails are called “Russian” as they are based on vodka, and both have been around since the late forties, with no one seeming to know which drink came first.

3 Sailor’s patron : ST ELMO

Saint Elmo is the patron saint of sailors. More formally referred to as Erasmus of Formia, St. Elmo is perhaps venerated by sailors as tradition tells us that he continued preaching despite the ground beside him being struck by a thunderbolt. Sailors started to pray to him when in danger of storms and lightning. He lends his name to the electrostatic weather phenomenon (often seen at sea) known as St. Elmo’s fire. The “fire” is actually a plasma discharge caused by air ionizing at the end of a pointed object (like the mast of a ship), something often observed during electrical storms.

4 “Zorba the Greek” island : CRETE

Crete is the largest of the Greek Islands, and figures heavily in Greek mythology. Zeus was born in a cave at Mount Ida, the highest peak on the island. Crete was also home to the Labyrinth where the Minotaur was slain by Theseus. Icarus and Daedalus, after having crafted the Labyrinth, escaped from the island using wings that they crafted.

The film “Zorba the Greek” and the musical “Zorba” are adaptations of the 1952 novel “Zorba the Greek” by Nikos Kazantzakis. The 1964 film version stars Anthony Quinn in the title role, and Alan Bates. The movie is set and was filmed on location on the island of Crete, the home of author Kazantzakis.

6 Curling surface : ICE

I think curling is such a cool (pun!) game. It’s somewhat like bowls, but played on a sheet of ice. The sport was supposedly invented in medieval Scotland, and is called curling because of the action of the granite stone as it moves across the ice. A player can make the stone take a curved path (“curl”) by causing it to slowly rotate as it slides.

7 __ Angeles Sparks : LOS

The Los Angeles Sparks (LAS) women’s basketball team was founded just before the WNBA opened its doors for business in 1997.

11 Right away : IN A JIFFY

“Jiff”, or “jiffy”, meaning “short time, instant” is thought originally to be thieves’ slang for “lightning”.

12 Total randos : NO-NAMES

“Rando” is a slang term describing a “random person”. The term tends not to be used flatteringly.

18 Horde : MOB

A horde is a large crowd. “Horde” ultimately derives from the Turkish “ordu” meaning “camp, army”.

19 Bass beer : ALE

The red triangle on the label of a bottle of Bass Ale was registered in 1875 and is UK Registered Trade Mark (TM) No: 00001, the first trademark issued in the world.

24 Gamut : RANGE

In medieval times, the musical scale was denoted by the notes “ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la”. The term “gamma ut”, shortened to “gamut”, was used to describe the whole scale. By the 1620s, “gamut” was being used to mean the entire range of anything, the whole gamut.

26 Race-sanctioning body since 1994 : INDYCAR

IndyCar sanctions Indy car racing (i.e. American open-wheel car racing). The organization governs five racing series, most notably the IndyCar series that includes the Indianapolis 500.

27 Southpaw : LEFTY

A southpaw is someone who is left-handed. The term “southpaw” arose as baseball slang in the mid-1880s to describe a left-handed pitcher. Back then, baseball diamonds were often laid out with home plate to the west. So, a pitcher’s left hand would be on his “south” side as he faced the batter.

31 Words on a family banner : MOTTO

“Motto” came into English directly from Italian, and is ultimately derived from the Latin word “muttire”, meaning “to mutter, mumble”.

32 Animated film with talking bugs : ANTZ

“Antz” was the first feature movie released by Dreamworks SKG, the studio founded by Steven Spielberg and two partners in 1994. “Antz” came out in 1998, and has a stellar cast that includes Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Sylvester Stallone, Gene Hackman and many, many other big names. The cartoon is quite unique in that the facial features of the voice actors are reflected in the animated characters.

33 Bialy kin : BAGEL

“Bialy” is a Yiddish name for a small onion roll that takes its name from Bialystok, a city in Poland.

35 Prefix with tech : NANO-

Nanotechnology is the study of the manipulation of matter at the atomic and molecular level. Nanotechnology is essential to the electronic and biomaterials industries.

36 Wailing spirit of Irish folklore : BANSHEE

A banshee is a female spirit in Irish mythology, from the Irish “bean sí” meaning “woman of the fairy mounds”. The banshee is supposedly heard wailing in the night, especially when someone is about to die.

38 Showed vicarious embarrassment, in a way : WINCED

Our word “vicarious” means “experienced through another”. The term comes from the Latin “vicarius”, meaning “substitute, deputy”.

40 Body with notable rings : SATURN

Saturn is easily visible from Earth with the unaided eye, but we need some help to see the planet’s famous rings. Galileo was the first person to see Saturn’s rings, when he turned his primitive telescope towards the night sky in 1610. However, he misinterpreted what he was observing and assumed that the rings were in fact two smaller planets located at either side of the larger Saturn.

42 Universal blood recipient’s designation : TYPE AB

In general, a person with type O-negative blood is a universal donor, meaning that his or her blood can be used for transfusion into persons with any other blood type: A, B, AB or O, negative or positive (although there are other considerations). Also in general, a person with type AB-positive blood is a universal recipient, meaning that he or she can receive a transfusion of blood of any type: A, B, AB or O, negative or positive.

44 Jost’s “Weekend Update” co-host : CHE

Michael Che is a standup comedian from New York City. Che had worked as a writer for “Saturday Night Live” (SNL), and then started to appear in front of SNL cameras in September 2014. He became co-anchor for the “Weekend Update” segment of the show, alongside Colin Jost. They make a great team …

Comedian Colin Jost is perhaps best known as co-host of “Weekend Update” on “Saturday Night Live” (SNL), along with Michael Che (and how great are they together?). Offscreen, Jost shared a dorm with 2020 US presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, and ended up portraying him on “SNL”. While on the “SNL” cast, Jost met actress Scarlett Johansson on one of the occasions she hosted the show. They married in 2020.

53 Actress/director Vardalos : NIA

Nia Vardalos is an actress and screenwriter whose biggest break came with the 2002 film “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”, which she wrote and in which she starred. The film tells the story of a Greek-American woman marrying a non-Greek Caucasian American who converts to the Greek Orthodox Church to facilitate the marriage. The storyline reflects the actual experiences of Vardalos and her husband, actor Ian Gomez. Vardalos and Gomez appeared together as hosts for two seasons of the reality competition “The Great American Baking Show”.