Tag: Tightening device crossword clue

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Constructed by: Paul Coulter
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Theme: Success Stories

Themed answers are common phrases reinterpreted as “SUCCESS STORIES”:

• 23A Triumph in the schoolroom? : CHALK UP A VICTORY
• 38A Triumph at a hockey arena? : SAVE THE DAY
• 60A Triumph in a bakery? : TAKE THE CAKE
• 84A Triumph on drums? : BEAT THE ODDS
• 102A Triumph at the mountain summit? : END UP ON TOP
• 122A Triumph at a comedy club? : GET THE LAST LAUGH
• 16D Triumph at a salon? : MAKE THE CUT
• 76D Triumph at the winery? : WIN BY A NOSE

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

Bill’s time: 16m 06s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Nutty 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 …

14 Brazilian music genre : SAMBA

The samba is a Brazilian dance that is very much symbolic of the festival of Carnival. Like so much culture around the world, the samba has its roots in Africa, as the dance is derived from dances performed by former slaves who migrated into urban Rio de Janeiro in the late 1800s. The exact roots of the name “samba” seem to have been lost in the mists of time. However, my favorite explanation is that it comes from an African Kikongo word “semba” which means “a blow struck with the belly button”. We don’t seem to have a need for such a word in English …

20 Create a diversion for, maybe : ABET

The word “abet” comes into English from the Old French “abeter” meaning “to bait” or “to harass with dogs” (literally “to make bite”). This sense of encouraging something bad to happen morphed into our modern usage of “abet” meaning to aid or encourage someone in a crime.

21 Connive : PLOT

To connive is to conspire with, to cooperate in secret. The term comes from the Latin verb “connivere” meaning “to wink”, the idea being that connivers might give each other a sly wink.

22 Egg producer : OVARY

The ovaries are the female reproductive organs. Most female vertebrates have two ovaries. However, only the left ovary develops in female birds, with the right remaining vestigial.

23 Triumph in the schoolroom? : CHALK UP A VICTORY

Back in the 1500s, a person who purchased an item in a store might have that debt “chalked up”, written in chalk on a board on the wall. It is from this practice that we get our verb “to chalk up” meaning “to ascribe, credit”. An extension of this usage is found in the phrase “to chalk up a victory”.

26 Black tea variety : PEKOE

A pekoe (or more commonly “orange pekoe”) is a medium-grade black tea. There is no orange flavor in an orange pekoe tea. The “orange” name most likely derived from the name of the trading company that brought the tea to Europe from Asia.

28 Herbal tea : TISANE

“Tisane” is another word for herbal tea. “Tisane” comes into English via French from the Greek “ptisane”, the word for crushed barley.

29 Spill the beans : TELL

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.

31 British stables : MEWS

Back in the late 14th century, the king’s hawks were housed at a specific location in London known as the King’s Mews, with a “mew” being a cage for hawks. That location was converted to the Royal Stables in 1534, with the name “Royal Mews” persisting even when the stables were relocated to the grounds of Buckingham Palace. The use of the term “mews” to describe stable blocks spread to outside of London, and indeed internationally. Early in the 20th century, stables/mews became obsolete with the growth of motorized transportation, and so many were converted into housing.

32 She, in Siena : ESSA

Siena is a beautiful city in the Tuscany region of Italy. In the center of Siena is the magnificent medieval square called Piazza del Campo, a paved sloping open area made up of nine triangular sections. The square has to be seen to be believed. Twice a year, the famous bareback horse-race called the Palio di Siena is held in the Piazza.

36 Crusty ocean growth : SEA MAT

Sea mats are patchy, mesh-like growths found on seaweeds. Those patches are made up of individual creatures (zooids) living together in a colony.

41 Dr.’s order? : AMA

American Medical Association (AMA)

46 “Aladdin” prince : ALI

In Disney’s version of the “Aladdin” story, released in 1992, the street urchin Aladdin uses one of three wishes to become a prince so that he can get near Princess Jasmine, with whom he has become besotted. With the genie’s help, Aladdin takes on the persona of “Prince Ali of Ababwa”.

47 Commercial suffix with wheat : -ENA

Wheatena is a toasted wheat cereal that has been on the shelves since about 1879. Back in the golden days of radio, Wheatena sponsored the “Popeye the Sailor” show, which resulted in the jingle:

Wheatena is his diet,
He asks you to try it,
With Popeye the sailor man.

50 Legal encumbrances : LIENS

A lien is a right that one has to retain or secure someone’s property until a debt is paid. When an individual takes out a car loan, for example, the lending bank is usually a lien holder. The bank releases the lien on the car when the loan is paid in full.

51 Edison rival : TESLA

Nikola Tesla was born in Serbia, but later moved to the US. Tesla’s work on mechanical and electrical engineering was crucial to the development of alternating current technology, the same technology that is used by equipment at the backbone of modern power generation and distribution systems.

George Westinghouse was an American engineer and businessman, and a rival to Thomas Edison in developing the first robust electrical grid for the country. Edison’s approach was to distribute electrical power using DC current, but Westinghouse opted to partner with Nikola Tesla and worked with AC current. AC technology won the day!

53 Like some relations : SPATIAL

A spatial relation defines how an object is related in space to another object, i.e. where the two objects are positioned relative to each other.

57 Order including whales and dolphins : CETACEA

Cetaceans (aka “the dolphin family”) are mammals that have adapted to life in water. Examples of cetaceans are whales, dolphins and porpoises. The cetaceans’ nearest relative still living on land is the hippopotamus, with divergence having taken place about sixty million years ago.

63 Alliance acronym : NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was founded not long after WWII in 1949 and is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. The first NATO Secretary General was Lord Ismay, Winston Churchill’s chief military assistant during WWII. Famously, Lord Ismay said the goal of NATO was “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.”

65 GPS suggestions : RTES

A global positioning system (GPS) might point out a route (rte.).

66 “American Dad!” channel : TBS

“American Dad!” is an adult-oriented animated sitcom. Famously, one of the show’s creators is Seth MacFarlane, who also created “Family Guy”. Personally, I cannot stand either show …

77 Drummer Ulrich : LARS

Ulrich

83 Prefix for the birds : AVI-

“Avis” is the Latin word for “bird”, giving rise to our adjective “avian” meaning “relating to birds”.

92 “Ragged Dick” author : ALGER

Horatio Alger was an American writer of the late nineteenth century. He was a prolific writer of novels for young people and created tales of poor children making it in the world, achieving the American dream.

93 Truman veep Barkley : ALBEN

Alben Barkley served as Vice President of the US under President Truman. Truman and Barkley fought the famously close presidential race against Thomas Dewey and Earl Warren in 1948. As President Truman finished his second term, Vice President Barkley announced his candidacy for the highest office, but was pressured to pull out of the race as he was considered too old at 74 years.

96 Youngest woman to serve in the U.S. Congress, familiarly : AOC

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a politician who is often referred to by her initials “AOC”. A Democrat, she was first elected to the US House of Representatives in 2018, representing part of the Bronx, Queens and Rikers Island in New York City. When she took office in 2019 at the age of 29, AOC became the youngest woman ever to serve in Congress.

98 Eur. realm until 1806 : HRE

The Holy Roman Empire (HRE) existed from 962 to 1806 AD and was a territory of varying size over the centuries that centered on the Kingdom of Germany. The HRE was a successor to the western half of the Ancient Roman Empire.

99 Orville Wright’s birth city : DAYTON

Wilbur was the older of the two Wright brothers, and he was born in 1867 in Millville, Indiana. By the time that Orville was born in 1871, the family was living in Dayton, Ohio. The Wrights spent a few years of their youth back in Richmond, Indiana, before settling in Dayton for the rest of their lives. The brothers both died in Dayton; Wilbur in 1912 and Orville in 1948.

101 Author Beattie : ANN

Ann Beattie is a short story writer and novelist. Beattie’s first novel was “Chilly Scenes of Winter” published in 1976. It was adapted for the big screen in 1979 and released under the same title and also under the name “Head Over Heels”.

108 Black cattle breed : ANGUS

The full name of the cattle breed is Aberdeen Angus, which is also the name used around the world outside of North America. The breed was developed by crossbreeding cattle from the counties of Aberdeenshire and Angus in Scotland. The breed stands out in the US as Angus cattle don’t have horns.

111 It follows copper on the periodic table : ZINC

Zinc is the chemical element with the atomic number 30 and the element symbol “Zn”. Zinc is a metal that can form pointed crystals after smelting. It is probably these crystals that gave the element its name, which comes from the Old High German “zint” meaning “point”.

113 Astronaut’s insignia : NASA

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

115 Sagittarius, e.g. : ARCHER

Sagittarius is a constellation of the zodiac, with “sagittarius” being the Latin for “archer”. The constellation is usually represented by a centaur (half-bull, half-man) with a bow.

120 Love, in Rome : AMORE

According to tradition, Rome was founded by the twin brothers Romulus and Remus. The pair had a heated argument about who should be allowed to name the city and Romulus hit Remus with a shovel, killing him. And so, “Rome” was born, perhaps instead of “Reme”!

126 Brontë heroine : EYRE

Charlotte Brontë was the eldest of the three Brontë sister authors. Charlotte’s most famous work is the novel “Jane Eyre”, which she published under the pen name Currer Bell. The pen name veiled her gender, but preserved the initials of her real name. After “Jane Eyre” was published, Brontë started to move in the same circles as other successful novelists of the day, including William Makepeace Thackeray and Elizabeth Gaskell. Just two years after Bronte died in her late thirties, it was Gaskell who published the first biography of Charlotte Brontë.

127 Rockefeller Center muralist : SERT

Catalan artist Josep Maria Sert was commissioned to paint a large mural for the west wall of the Grand Lobby of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. The work is titled “American Progress”, and features likenesses of Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

130 Campus bigwig : DEAN

A bigwig is someone important. The use of the term “bigwig” harks back to the days when men of authority and rank wore … big wigs.

Down

4 “Honor Thy Father” author : TALESE

Gay Talese is an American author, one famous as a journalist in the sixties at “The New York Times”. His 1971 book “Honor Thy Father” is a tale about the Bonanno crime family.

5 Mork’s planet : ORK

The sitcom “Mork & Mindy” was broadcast from 1978 to 1982. We were first introduced to Mork (played by Robin Williams) in a special episode of “Happy Days”. The particular episode in question has a bizarre storyline culminating in Fonzie and Mork having a thumb-to-finger duel. Eventually Richie wakes up in bed, and alien Mork was just part of a dream! Oh, and “Nanu Nanu” means both “hello” and “goodbye” back on the planet Ork. “I am Mork from Ork, Nanu Nanu”. Great stuff …

6 Red Sox star Big __ : PAPI

The Dominican-American baseball player David Ortiz has the nickname “Big Papi”. After each home run that Ortiz scores, he looks upwards and points to the sky in a tribute to his mother who died in a car crash in 2002 when she was only 46 years old.

8 Locally, its first “a” is pronounced as in “trap” : NEVADA

One of the nicknames for Nevada is “the Sage State”, a reference to the wild sagebrush found all over the state. Nevada is also called “the Sage-Hen State”, for the sage hen (also “sage grouse”) that once was plentiful there.

9 Scroogean : STINGY

The classic 1843 novella “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens has left us with a few famous phrases and words. Firstly, it led to popular use of the phrase “Merry Christmas”, and secondly it gave us the word “scrooge” to describe a miserly person. And thirdly, everyone knows that Ebenezer Scrooge uttered the words “Bah! Humbug!”.

15 Prayer set to music by Schubert and Gounod : AVE MARIA

“Ave Maria” (“Hail Mary” in English) is the prayer at the core of the Roman Catholic Rosary, which itself is a set of prayers asking for the assistance of the Virgin Mary. Much of the text of the “Hail Mary” comes from the Gospel of Luke. The words in Latin are:

AVE MARIA, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.

The prayer has been adapted as a hymn. The two most famous musical versions of “Ave Maria” are by Charles Gounod (based on a piece by Bach) and by Franz Schubert.

24 Many a Mormon : UTAHN

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) is known colloquially as the Mormon Church.

30 Chocolate __ : LAB

The Labrador (Lab) breed of dog has been around at least since 1814, and the chocolate Labrador appeared over a century later in the 1930s. The name “Labrador Retriever” is simply a reference to the breed’s origin and behavior. Labs originally “retrieved” from the “Labrador Sea”.

35 Connor of “Terminator” films : SARAH

I sometimes forget that “the terminator” wasn’t the main character in the first “The Terminator” film. The story revolves around Kyle Reese (played by Michael Biehn). Reese is sent back from the future to protect Sarah Connor (played by Linda Hamilton) from the Terminator (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger).

37 White lap dog : MALTESE

The Maltese breed of dog falls into the toy group, as adults weigh just 3-10 pounds. The breed is an old one. Indeed, ancient Greek geographer Strabo suggested in the first century CE that the breed originated on the Mediterranean island of Malta. He also noted that Maltese dogs were favored by noble women.

38 “Paradise Lost” figure : SATAN

“Paradise Lost” is an epic poem written by Englishman John Milton. It is indeed an epic work, published originally in ten volumes with over ten thousand lines of verse. The “paradise” that is “lost” is the Garden of Eden, from which Adam and Eve were expelled by God in the “Fall of Man”.

39 Singer/songwriter __ Ray Joel : ALEXA

Singer-songwriter Alexa Ray Joel is the oldest daughter of Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley.

40 How Phileas Fogg traveled : EAST

“Around the World in 80 Days” is a wonderful adventure story written by French author Jules Verne and first published in 1873. There have been some great screen adaptations of the story, including the 1956 movie starring David Niven as the protagonist Phileas Fogg. In almost all adaptations, a balloon is used for part of the journey, and is perhaps the most memorable means of transportation on Fogg’s trip around the world. However, if you read the book, Fogg never uses a balloon at all.

44 Deli counter qty. : ONE LB

Our term “ounce” comes from the Latin “uncia”, which was 1/12 of a “libra”, the Roman “pound”. “Uncia” is also the derivation of our word “inch”, 1/12 of a foot.

45 HS exams : PSATS

Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT)

48 “Moneyball” co-star : PITT

Brad Pitt’s first major role was the cowboy hitchhiker in the 1991’s “Thelma and Louise”. Pitt’s life offscreen garners as much attention as his work onscreen, it seems. The tabloids revel in the series of high-profile relationships in which he has been involved. He was engaged to Gwyneth Paltrow for a while, married to Jennifer Aniston and then to Angelina Jolie.

Michael Lewis wrote his book “Moneyball” about the way Billy Beane built up the Oakland Athletics baseball team by bringing on board players who were “undervalued”, getting the maximum benefit from his limited payroll budget. I must admit I know nothing about baseball, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading “Moneyball”, as well as the film adaptation with Brad Pitt playing Beane.

61 Doctrines to live by : CREEDS

A creed or credo is a profession of faith, or a system of belief or principles. “Credo” is Latin for “I believe”.

68 Some rats : ALBINOS

An albino is an organism lacking normal pigmentation. The term “albino” comes from “albus”, Latin for “white”.

71 London lockup : GAOL

Both “jail” and “gaol” are pronounced the same way, mean the same thing, and are rooted in the same Latin word for “cave”. The spelling “gaol” is seen quite often in the UK, although it is gradually being replaced with “jail”. The “gaol” spelling has Norman roots and tends to be used in Britain in more formal documentation.

72 Language of Lahore : URDU

Urdu is one of the two official languages of Pakistan (the other being English), and is one of the 22 scheduled languages in India. Urdu partly developed from Persian and is written from right to left.

Lahore is a large city in Pakistan that is second in size only to Karachi. It is known as the Garden of the Mughals (or in English, Moguls) because of its association with the Mughal Empire. The Mughals ruled much of India from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries.

74 River nymph : NAIAD

The Naiads of Greek mythology were water nymphs associated with fountains, wells, springs and streams. The saltwater equivalents of the freshwater Naiads were the Oceanids.

75 Hometown of St. Teresa : AVILA

St. Teresa of Ávila (also known as St. Teresa of Jesus) was a Carmelite nun living in Spain in the 1500s. She is particularly noted for her writings on Christian meditation and mental prayer.

78 Like New York’s Chrysler Building : DECO

The Chrysler Building in Manhattan is a magnificent Art Deco structure that was opened in 1930. Standing at over 1,000 feet tall, it was the tallest building in the world for almost a year, until the Empire State Building was completed in 1931. The building was constructed for use of the Chrysler Corporation, but the company never owned it. The car manufacturer’s founder decided to pay for the Chrysler Building out of his personal wealth, so that he could pass it on to his children.

80 ’80s-’90s Harry Anderson sitcom : NIGHT COURT

“Night Court” is an entertaining sitcom that first ran from 1984 until 1992. It is set in a Manhattan municipal court during the night shift, with comedian/magician Harry Anderson playing presiding judge Harry Stone.

81 Año starter : ENERO

In Spanish, the years start off with “enero, febrero, marzo” (January, February, March).

82 Throat condition : STREP

Streptococcus bacteria multiply and divide along a single axis so that they form linked chains. That behavior gives the genus of bacteria its name, as “streptos” is Greek for “easily twisted, like a chain”. I had to battle with streptococcal pharyngitis (strep throat) twice in the past few years and it was not at all pleasant, I must say. Another species of streptococcus is responsible for that terrible “flesh-eating” infection that makes the news from time to time.

85 2010 sci-fi sequel subtitled “Legacy” : TRON

Released in 1982, Disney’s “Tron” was one of the first mainstream films to make extensive use of computer graphics. The main role in the movie is played by Jeff Bridges. The original spawned a 2010 sequel called “Tron: Legacy”, as well as a 2012 TV show called “Tron: Uprising”.

86 Salon coloring : HENNA

Henna has been used for centuries as a dye, for leather and wool as well as hair and skin. In modern days, henna is often used for temporary tattoos.

87 12-time NFL Pro Bowler Junior : SEAU

Junior Seau was an NFL linebacker, first playing for the San Diego Chargers and then the Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots. Sadly, Seau was found dead in his home in 2011, having committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest.

88 Tuesday dish? : TACOS

Taco Tuesday is a promotion run by many American restaurants, especially in Southern California. Participating establishments offer deals on tacos, and perhaps other Mexican dishes served in tortillas. Apparently, “Taco Tuesday” is a trademark owned by Wyoming-based fast-food restaurant Taco John’s.

95 Colorful marble : CAT’S EYE

A “cat’s eye” is a type of marble, one sometimes used as a shooter in the game. A cat’s eye marble is made from glass, with a colored insert that resembles a real cat’s eye.

97 Eyeball-bending display : OP ART

Op art is also known as optical art, and puts optical illusions to great effect.

100 Nice turndown? : NON

The French city of Nice is on the Mediterranean coast in the southeast of the country. Although Nice is only the fifth most populous city in France, it is home to the busiest airport outside of Paris. That’s because of all the tourists flocking to the French Riviera. Something described as “à la niçoise” is “of Nice”.

102 Barnum “attraction” : EGRESS

Barnum’s American Museum opened in New York City in 1841, and sadly burned to the ground in 1865. The attractions in the museum included zoo animals, waxworks as well as theater shows and “freak shows”. Famously, a sign pointing to the exit of the museum read “This Way to the Egress”. Many visitors followed the sign, anxious to see the “egress” exhibit, only to find themselves out on the street!

114 Trac II cousin : ATRA

Fortunately for crossword constructors, the Atra was introduced by Gillette in 1977, as the first razor with a pivoting head. The Atra was sold as the Contour in some markets and its derivative products are still around today.

119 “__ Gotta Have It”: Spike Lee film : SHE’S

Film director Spike Lee was born in Atlanta, Georgia but has very much made New York City his home and place of work. Most of Lee’s films are set in New York City, including his first feature film, 1986’s “She’s Gotta Have It”. That film was shot over two weeks with a budget of $175,000. “She’s Gotta Have It” grossed over $7 million at the US box office.

121 Masthead contents, briefly : EDS

The masthead is a list often found on the editorial page of a newspaper that gives the members of a newspaper’s editorial board.

124 Speedy escape : 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 to “beat” or “thrash”, as in “lambaste”. So “on the lam” might derive from the phrase “to beat it, to scram”.