Tag: Treat on a stick crossword clue

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Constructed by: Emma Oxford

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: Sound Check

Themed answers all look like common phrases, but we must CHECK the SOUND of the last word to get a meaning that matches the corresponding clues:

• 23A “In the name of that rice wine we drank ages ago”? : FOR OLD TIMES’ SAKE
• 38A Bird that makes its home in trash receptacles? : DUMPSTER DOVE
• 63A Business run by a bunch of hens? : CHICKEN CO-OP
• 73A Swiped refills for a mechanical pencil? : TOOK THE LEAD
• 96A One who is always pointing at shooting stars? : METEOR SHOWER
• 115A Anesthetic for a noted Italian chemist? : AVOGADRO’S NUMBER

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

Bill’s time: 18m 23s

Bill’s errors: 2

• AVOGADRO’S NUMBER (Avigadro’s number)
• MOTE (mite)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

8A Imposing construction : EDIFICE

To edify is to provide instruction in order to improve spiritually, morally or intellectually. The intent is to “build up” someone’s faith or morality, and so “edify” comes from the Latin “aedificare” meaning “to build, construct”. This Latin root also gives us our word “edifice”, meaning “massive building”.

21A Brunch cocktails : MIMOSAS

Where I come from, the cocktail known in North America as a mimosa is called a buck’s fizz, with the latter named for Buck’s Club in London where it was introduced in 1921. The mimosa came along a few years later, apparently first being served in the Paris Ritz. If you want to make a mimosa, it’s a 50-50 mix of champagne and orange juice, and it is very tasty …

23A “In the name of that rice wine we drank ages ago”? : FOR OLD TIMES’ SAKE

We refer to the Japanese alcoholic beverage made from rice as “sake”. We’ve gotten things a bit mixed up in the West. “Sake” is actually the word that the Japanese use for all alcoholic drinks. What we know as sake, we sometimes refer to as rice wine. Also, the starch in the rice is first converted to sugars that are then fermented into alcohol. This is more akin to a beer-brewing process than wine production, so the end product is really a rice “beer” rather than a rice “wine”.

25A “Goosebumps” series writer : STINE

“Goosebumps” is a series of children’s horror novels written by author R. L. Stine. The novels have been adapted into a television series shown on Canadian TV.

27A PlayStation maker : SONY

Sony introduced the PlayStation line of video game consoles in 1994.

28A __ Reader : UTNE

The “Utne Reader” is known for aggregation and republishing of articles on politics, culture and the environment from other sources in the media. It was founded in 1984 by Eric Utne, with management taken over by Eric’s wife Nina Rothschild Utne in 1990.

29A Actress Swinton : TILDA

Tilda Swinton is an English actress who is quite famous in her native land. She made a big name for herself outside the UK when she played the “baddie” in the 2007 movie “Michael Clayton”, opposite the “goodie” played by George Clooney. That performance earned Swinton a Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

30A Inventor Handler played by Rhea Perlman in “Barbie” : RUTH

The famous Barbie doll was created by businesswoman Ruth Handler and first appeared on store shelves in 1959. Barbie was based on a German fashion doll called Bild Lilli that was introduced in 1955. Lilli had been a German cartoon character before taking on a three-dimensional form. Prior to the introduction of Bild Lilli and Barbie, children’s dolls were primarily representations of infants.

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.

38A Bird that makes its home in trash receptacles? : DUMPSTER DOVE

“Dumpster” is one of those words that we use generically, even though it is actually a brand name. The original “Dumpster” was patented by the Dempster Brothers of Knoxville, Tennessee. “Dumpster” is derived from “dump” and “Dempster”.

Freeganism is an ideology promoting alternative living strategies that incur little or no cost by using resources that are generally discarded in the conventional economy. Notable tactics are “dumpster diving” (searching for discarded food) and “guerrilla gardening” (growing food in city parks).

43A Male turkey : TOM

A male turkey is called a tom, taking its name from “tomcat”. The inference is that, like a tomcat, the male turkey is relatively wild and undomesticated, sexually promiscuous and frequently gets into fights. A female turkey is called a hen.

44A One of Paul’s letters to the Ephesians? : EPSILON

Epsilon is the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet. The uppercase epsilon looks very similar to our Latin E.

It seems that the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians (Eph.) is now regarded by scholars as written “in the style of Paul”, by someone who was influenced by Paul’s thought.

46A Herbal infusion from Peru : COCA TEA

Coca tea is made by steeping the leaves of the coca plant, either raw or dried, in hot water. It is a mild stimulant, as the leaves do contain a small quantity of the alkaloids that are extracted to produce cocaine. Coca tea is illegal in the US, unless you can get hold of some from which the alkaloids have been removed.

50A Rationalist’s belief : DEISM

Deism (from the Latin “deus” meaning god) is the belief that a supreme being created the universe, a belief based on observation and reason, and without the need for faith. Further, a deist does not accept divine intervention and rather believes that the supreme being, having created the universe, leaves the world to its own devices.

57A Sgt., e.g. : NCO

An NCO or “noncom” is a non-commissioned officer in the armed forces. Usually, such an officer is one who has earned their rank by promotion through the enlisted ranks. A good example would be a sergeant major (sgt. maj.).

59A Shoe designer Jimmy : CHOO

Jimmy Choo is a designer of handmade women’s shoes who was born in Malaysia but grew up and was educated in London. Choo sold the 50% stake that he had in his shoe manufacturing company in 2001, for 10 million pounds.

67A Top card in a Broadway straight : ACE

In poker, an ace-high straight can be referred to as a broadway straight. A five-high straight is also known as a baby straight.

68A Chinese brew : CHA

“Cha” is a Chinese word meaning “tea”.

71A U.K. network : BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the world’s oldest national broadcasting organization and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees. It was founded in 1922 and initially broadcast radio only, with television broadcasting beginning in 1932.

72A Mattel game : UNO

A standard game of Mattel’s UNO can be used to play several variations of the game, such as Elimination UNO, Speed UNO and Pirate UNO. There is also a spin-off game called “DOS” that is published by Mattel.

76A Julia of “The Addams Family” : RAUL

Raúl Juliá was a Hollywood actor from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Julia had a very distinguished career, but is perhaps best known for portraying Gomez Addams in the two film adaptations of “The Addams Family”.

78A Simplified language : PIDGIN

A pidgin is a grammatically simplified language that develops between two or more groups that do not share a common language. It’s a “contact language” created out of necessity, often for situations like trade. The word “pidgin” is believed to be a Chinese corruption of the English word “business”, originating from the language used for trade in 19th-century China.

83A Competed in the Figawi, say : SAILED

The Figawi is an annual sailing regatta held over Memorial Day weekend with a route across Nantucket Sound from Hyannis to Nantucket, Massachusetts. It was established in 1972 by a small group of friends, but has grown into one of the premier maritime events on the East Coast, attracting hundreds of boats each year. The name “Figawi” originated from a legendary local joke, reportedly coined by the founders when they became lost in thick fog during their inaugural run. They posed each other, in a thick New England accent, the questions “Where the f— are we?”

96A One who is always pointing at shooting stars? : METEOR SHOWER

A meteoroid is a small rocky or metallic body traveling through space. Once in the atmosphere, the meteoroid is referred to as a “meteor”, or “shooting star”. Almost all meteoroids burn up, but if one is large enough to survive and reach the ground then we call it a meteorite. The word “meteor” comes from the Greek “meteōros” meaning “high in the air”.

The two most famous meteor showers are the Perseids and Leonids. The Perseid meteor shower is most visible around August 12th each year, and the Leonid meteor shower is most notable around November 17th. The Perseids appear to emanate from the constellation Perseus, and the Leonids from the constellation Leo (hence the names “Perseids” and “Leonids”).

100A Take advantage of a bear market, perhaps : BUY

The terms “bull market” and “bear market” come from the way in which each animal attacks. A bull thrusts his horns upwards (an “up” market), whereas a bear swipes with his paws downward (a “down” market).

104A “What You Need” band : INXS

“What You Need” is a song recorded by the Australian band INXS, and released in their homeland in 1985. It was released the following year in the US, after which it became the group’s breakthrough single in North America.

105A Kanga’s kid : ROO

Like most of the characters in A. A. Milne’s “Winnie-the-Pooh”, the kangaroo named “Roo” was inspired by a stuffed toy belonging to Milne’s son Christopher Robin. Most of the original stuffed animals belonging to Christopher Robin are currently on display at the New York Public Library. Roo is the only major character in the stories whose original is missing from the famous collection, as the real Roo was lost in an apple orchard in the 1920s.

106A Badger : NAG

To badger is to harass. The verb “to badger” comes from the cruel practice of badger-baiting, which dates back to medieval times. Badger-baiting is a blood sport in which dogs are set upon a captive badger in its den to draw it out into the open. The den is an artificial structure built to resemble a natural badger’s den, complete with a tunnel entrance. The dog is sent down the tunnel, causing the badger and dog to lock their jaws on each other. The badger and dog are then removed from the den by pulling on the dog’s tail. Horrible …

107A Figure in Norse mythology? : RUNE

A rune is a character in an alphabet that is believed to have mysterious powers. In Norse mythology, the runic alphabet was said to have a divine origin.

112A Supermodel Banks : TYRA

Tyra Banks is a tremendously successful model and businesswoman. Banks created and hosted the hit show “America’s Next Top Model “, and also had her own talk show. She was also the first African-American woman to make the cover of the “Sports Illustrated” swimsuit issue.

113A Incantation syllables : ABRA

The incantation “abracadabra” has a long history. It was used as far back as the 2nd century AD in ancient Rome when the word was prescribed by a physician to be worn on an amulet to help his emperor recover from disease. “Abracadabra” is Aramaic, and roughly translates as “I will create as I speak”.

114A Fish with a big net : TRAWL

The method of fishing known as trawling involves the pulling of a net through the water behind a boat (or boats). The trawling net is known as a trawl.

115A Anesthetic for a noted Italian chemist? : AVOGADRO’S NUMBER

The Italian scientist Amedeo Avogadro postulated that if two different gases have the same volume (at the same temperature and pressure), then each of the gases contains the same number of atoms or molecules. Related to this theory is a constant number that later became known as Avogadro’s number.

119A Wright of “Black Panther” : LETITIA

Letitia Wright is a British actress who was born in Guyana. She really hit the big time when she landed the title role in the 2022 superhero film “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”. Wright had played the original Black Panther’s sister, Shuri, in the 2018 film “Black Panther”. After actor Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther) died, producers opted not to replace him in the role, and rewrote the planned sequel, promoting the character Shuri. Wright was recognized by her birth nation in 2023 when she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Guyana.

120A Italian football powerhouse : AC MILAN

The famous Italian soccer club Associazione Calcio Milan is better known as AC Milan. AC Milan has won four world club titles, more than any club in the game anywhere. The team’s home ground is San Siro, which has a capacity of just over 80,000, the highest in the country. AC Milan used to be owned by the late Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

123A Sneaks : WEASELS

To weasel out of something is to back away from a prior commitment. The association of weasels with the concept of not being trusted might have arisen from the behavior in which a weasel sucks out the contents of an egg while leaving the shell virtually intact.

Down

2D Book that tells the story of Moses : EXODUS

The Book of Exodus is the second book in the Bible, and deals with Moses leading the Hebrews out of Egypt. The name “Exodus” comes from the Greek “exodos” meaning “departure”.

3D Soft drink with a seasonal Winter Spiced Cranberry flavor : SPRITE

Sprite is Coca-Cola’s answer to the very successful soft drink 7UP. Sprite was introduced in 1961, and Coca-Cola used its muscle to topple 7UP from its dominant position in the market. Sprite has been the number-one selling lemon-lime soda since 1989.

4D Quaint truth : SOOTH

A soothsayer is someone who claims to have the ability to predict the future. The term “soothsayer” comes from “sooth”, an archaic word for “truth”. So a soothsayer was supposedly one who told the “truth” (about the future).

5D Subj. for a non-native speaker : ESL

English as a Second Language (ESL)

6D Manicotti topping : RED SAUCE

Similar to Italian cannelloni, manicotti are relatively large pasta tubes used in Italian-American cuisine. The tubes are large as they are generally stuffed with a cheesy filling and baked. The name of the pasta comes from the Italian word “manica” meaning “sleeve”, with “manicotti” translating as “little sleeves”.

8D Posthumous award for Chadwick Boseman : EMMY

Actor Chadwick Boseman’s big break came with the lead role in the excellent 2013 biopic “42”, in which he played baseball legend Jackie Robinson. He followed that by playing singer James Brown in 2014’s “Get on Up” and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in 2017’s “Marshall”. Boseman’s career really took off when he started playing superhero Black Panther in 2016. Tragically, Boseman developed colon cancer in 2016, and he passed away in 2020.

11D Jodie with two Best Actress Oscars : FOSTER

The wonderful actress and director Jodie Foster got her big break in movies early in her life, playing a very young prostitute in Martin Scorsese’s 1976 film “Taxi Driver”. Sadly, her appearance in “Taxi Driver” led to her being stalked by an obsessed John Hinckley, Jr. Hinckley called Foster on the phone, sent her love letters, and followed her on campus while she was attending Yale. In 1981, Hinckley famously shot and wounded President Reagan, claiming that he believed an assassination of the President would impress Foster.

12D “Love __ Open Door”: “Frozen” song : IS AN

“Love Is an Open Door” is a romantic duet from the 2013 animated feature film “Frozen”. It is performed by Kristen Bell as Anna, and by Santino Fontana as Prince Hans.

15D Hits 22, perhaps : BUSTS

The card game known as “twenty-one” was first referred to in print in a book by Cervantes, the author famous for writing “Don Quixote”. He called the game “veintiuna” (Spanish for “twenty-one”). Cervantes wrote his story just after the year 1600, so the game has been around at least since then. Twenty-one came to the US but it wasn’t all that popular so bonus payments were introduced to create more interest. One of the more attractive bonuses was a ten-to-one payout to a player who was dealt an ace of spades and a black jack. This bonus led to the game adopting the moniker “Blackjack”.

17D Musical instrument made off the coast of South America? : CHILEAN SEA BASS

The double bass (often just “bass”) is usually referred to as the bass fiddle or bass violin in the world of folk and bluegrass music.

What we know from restaurant menus as “Chilean sea bass” is really Patagonian toothfish. The “Chilean sea bass” moniker was invented by a fish wholesaler named Lee Lantz in 1977 as a name that would be more easily accepted by American consumers. Smart cookie …

34D Chargeable cars, briefly : EVS

Electric vehicle (EV)

38D Morse clicks : DITS

The first telegraph message in the US was sent by Samuel Morse from the US Capitol in 1844. The message was received by a B&O railroad depot in Baltimore, Maryland. The message content was the words “WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT”, a quotation from the Book of Numbers in the Bible.

40D “KPop __ Hunters” : DEMON

“KPop Demon Hunters” is a 2025 animated musical film. The plot centers on a chart-topping K-pop girl group named HUNTR/X who lead a secret double life. By day, they are global superstars, but by night, they are elite demon slayers. Their main antagonists are a rival K-pop boy band, the Saja Boys, whose members are secretly demons trying to weaken the barrier between the human and demon worlds. Yikes …

41D Italy’s shape : BOOT

In the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, the “boot” is the mainland of Italy, and the “ball” being kicked by the boot is the island of Sicily.

42D Bel __ cheese : PAESE

Bel Paese is a mild Italian cheese that was developed in 1906. The name “bel paese” means beautiful country in Italian, and is taken from the title of a book written by Antonio Stoppani.

46D Ore. neighbor : CAL

The border between California and Oregon is defined by the 42nd parallel north. That line was originally established in 1819 as part of Adams-Onís Treaty, negotiated by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams and Spanish envoy Luis de Onís. The treaty defined the western boundary between the U.S. and New Spain, from the Gulf of Mexico in the southeast to the Pacific Ocean in the northwest.

47D Micronesia’s region : OCEANIA

The part of the Pacific Ocean known as “Oceania” is roughly equivalent to the area that includes the tropical islands of the South Pacific. Oceania can be divided into the regions of Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia.

Micronesia is one of the three island regions of Oceania, along with Polynesia and Melanesia. The sovereign nations included in the region are the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Nauru and Palau. Also in Micronesia are the US territories of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and Wake Island.

48D Rips caused by large reptiles? : CROCODILE TEARS

To cry crocodile tears is to express hypocritical sorrow. The phrase “crocodile tears” comes from an ancient anecdote claiming that the reptiles shed tears of false remorse while consuming their prey. Crocodiles do actually secrete fluid to lubricate their eyes. It is a physiological response that is sometimes triggered by the physical mechanics of eating.

49D Dried poblano : ANCHO

An ancho is a dried poblano pepper used in Mexican cuisine. The poblano is a mild chili.

52D Seashore souvenir : SHELL

A souvenir is a memento, a token of remembrance. We imported “souvenir” from French, in which language it has the same meaning. The term comes from the Latin “subvenire” meaning “to come to mind”, or literally “to come up”.

55D 1975 TV debut, familiarly : SNL

NBC first aired a form of “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) in 1975 under the title “NBC’s Saturday Night”. The show was actually created to give Johnny Carson some time off from “The Tonight Show”. Back then “The Tonight Show” had a weekend episode, and Carson convinced NBC to pull the Saturday or Sunday recordings off the air and hold them for subsequent weeknights in which Carson needed a break. NBC turned to Lorne Michaels and asked him to put together a variety show to fill the vacant slot, and he came up with what we now call “Saturday Night Live”.

58D “Queen of Funk” Khan : CHAKA

Chaka Khan is the stage name of singer Yvette Stevens from Chicago. She was the front woman for the band Rufus before she launched her very successful solo career.

64D “Hallelujah” songwriter Leonard : COHEN

I’ve never been a big fan of the music of Canadian singer Leonard Cohen (don’t all yell at me at the same time!). That said, his 1984 song “Hallelujah” is superb, and I particularly like the version recorded by Jeff Buckley in 1994. Then again, “Suzanne” is pretty special too. Just ignore me …

71D Challah feature : BRAID

Challah is a special braided bread that is eaten by Ashkenazi Jews on the Sabbath. The bread is served to commemorate the manna that fell from the heavens as the Israelites wandered around the desert after the Exodus from Egypt.

74D Strong string : TWINE

Our word “twine”, meaning “light string”, has the same root as our word “twin”. The original Old English “twin” was a double thread.

77D Soap ingredient : LYE

Soap is basically made by adding a strong alkali (like lye) to a fat (like olive oil or palm oil). The fats break down in the basic solution in a process called saponification. The crude soap is extracted from the mixture, washed, purified and finished in molds.

79D In the doldrums : GLUM

The doldrums are a band of generally light winds and calms that span the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans near the equator. More formally known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone, the phenomenon occurs at the interface between the northeast and southeast trade winds. We have come to use the term “doldrums” colloquially, to describe a state of listlessness, inactivity or stagnation.

89D “On the Basis of __”: Ginsburg biopic : SEX

Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) served on the US Supreme Court. Justice Ginsburg was the second woman to join the Court, and was nominated by President Bill Clinton. She was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1999 and underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. During that time she did not miss one day on the bench. In 2009 Justice Ginsburg had surgery for pancreatic cancer, and was back to work 12 days later. She had a left-lung lobectomy to remove cancerous nodules in 2018, which forced Justice Ginsburg to miss oral argument in January 2019, for the first time since joining the court 25 years earlier. She finally succumbed to pancreatic cancer in 2020. Much of Ginsburg’s life is recounted in the excellent 2018 movie “On the Basis of Sex”.

92D Miyazaki film about a goldfish who longs to be human : PONYO

“Ponyo” is a 2008 Japanese animated fantasy film. The title character is a goldfish with a human face who escapes from the ocean and befriends a five-year-old human boy named Sōsuke. Ponyo wants to become a human girl, and inadvertently uses magic acquired from Sōsuke’s blood to make the transformation, causing a dangerous imbalance in nature leading to a massive tsunami. An English-language version of “Ponyo” was released in 2009, marking the widest opening for a Studio Ghibli film in the US at that time.

94D Kathryn’s “WandaVision” role : AGATHA

“Agatha All Along” is a dark comedy miniseries set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). It is a spin-off from “WandaVision” (about Scarlet Witch and Vision), delving deeper into the backstory of the witch Agatha Harkness, played by Kathryn Hahn. Following the events of “WandaVision,” Agatha finds herself stripped of her powers and trapped in a New Jersey town under a magical spell.

Kathryn Hahn is an actress and comedian who is perhaps best known for playing grief counselor Lily Lebowski on the crime drama show “Crossing Jordan”. In 2002, Hahn married fellow actor Ethan Sandler who is known for playing Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey Brandau on the same show.

95D Fatal flaw in classic myths : HUBRIS

Hubris is arrogance or overbearing pride.

99D Polish capital : WARSAW

Warsaw is the capital of Poland. The city’s name translates into English as “belonging to Warsz”. Legend has it that Warsz was a fisherman who fell in love with a mermaid called Sawa. It’s a nice story, but Warsz was actually a nobleman from the 12th or 13th century who owned a local village.

104D Archipelago unit : ISLET

“Archipelago” is our spelling of the Italian “arcipelago”, a word that has Greek roots. The Aegean Sea was once known as the Archipelago. The usage of “Archipelago” migrated over time, eventually applying only to the Aegean Islands. As a result, we use the term “archipelago” today not for a sea, but for a group or chain of islands.

107D “Groundhog Day” director Harold : RAMIS

Harold Ramis was a real all-rounder; a very successful actor, director and writer. Indeed, in both “Ghostbusters” and “Stripes” he was a co-writer as well as playing a lead character. Ramis worked as writer-director on “Caddyshack”, “National Lampoon’s Vacation”, “Groundhog Day” and “Analyze This”.

“Groundhog Day” is a 1993 comedy film that has already become a classic. The star of the movie is Bill Murray, with Andie MacDowell putting in a great supporting performance. It is set in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania although it was actually filmed in the town of Woodstock, Illinois.

115D Fuzzy 1980s sitcom character : ALF

“ALF” is a sitcom that first aired in the late eighties. The title character is a hand-puppet, and supposedly an alien named Gordon Shumway from the planet Melmac. The alien crash-landed into the house of amateur radio enthusiast Willie Tanner. Tanner renamed the intruder “ALF”, standing for “alien life form”.

117D Actress Thurman : UMA

Uma Thurman started her working career as a fashion model, at the age of 15. She appeared in her first movies at 17, with her most acclaimed early role being Cécile de Volanges in 1988’s “Dangerous Liaisons”. Thurman’s career really took off when she played the gangster’s moll Mia in Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” in 1994. My favorite of all Thurman’s movies is “The Truth About Cats & Dogs”, a less acclaimed romcom released in 1996.