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Constructed by: Gary Larson & Amy Ensz
Edited by: Patti Varol
Today’s Theme: Tool Boxes
Themed answers are names of items found in a TOOL BOX, but those names have been reinterpreted:
- 23A Perfect some boxing techniques? : NAIL PUNCHES
- 25A Put off repeating some old sayings? : TABLE SAWS
- 46A Broadcast episodes of a Stacy Keach detective series? : AIR HAMMERS
- 67A Clock the Kentucky Colonel? : BELT SANDERS
- 90A Sample Rice Krispies treats? : TRY SQUARES
- 112A Rehearse some comedy routines? : DRILL BITS
- 115A Establish no-fly zones? : BLOCK PLANES
- 34D Record portions of some musical compositions? : TAPE MEASURES
- 39D Humming completely out of tune? : WRECKING BARS
Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers
Want to discuss the puzzle? Then …
… leave a comment
Bill’s time: 14m 00s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
1 Old Milwaukee brewer : PABST
Frederick Pabst was a brewer from the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area who had immigrated to the US from Prussia with his parents. Pabst bought himself into his father-in-law’s small brewery and over the years grew the enterprise into a public company. The most famous beer from Pabst is Pabst Blue Ribbon.
11 Bank founded in 1865 : HSBC
HSBC is a UK-based financial services company that was the largest bank in Europe in 2018. It can trace its history back to 1865, when it was founded in British Hong Kong as the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank. The initialism “HSBC” stood for the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.
15 Actor Rhames : VING
Ving Rhames is a Hollywood actor from New York City. I first noted him in the 1994 film “Pulp Fiction”, in which he played gangster Marsellus Wallace. Rhames also appears alongside Tom Cruise in the “Mission: Impossible” series of films. In fact, only Cruise and Rhames appear in all of the “Mission: Impossible” movies.
20 Sukiyaki mushroom : ENOKI
Enokitake (also known as “enoki”) are long and thin white mushrooms often added to soups or salads.
Sukiyaki is a Japanese soup/stew prepared and served in a “nabe”, a Japanese hot pot.
21 Soap Box Derby state : OHIO
The Soap Box Derby is a soapbox car racing competition. The first All-American race was held in Dayton, Ohio in 1934. The annual race was moved to Akron, Ohio the following year. Soon after, a purpose built track was built called Derby Downs, as part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) program of the late thirties.
22 Nevada’s __ 51 : AREA
The famed Area 51 is a remote base in the USAF Nevada Test and Training Range. There’s no question that Area 51 is an unusual base in that frontline operational units are not deployed there. It seems that it is used for developing and testing new and classified weapons facilities for the US Military and other US agencies like the CIA. The government did not even acknowledge that Area 51 existed until 1995, and this official position fueled a theory that the base is home to UFOs that landed on Earth.
25 Put off repeating some old sayings? : TABLE SAWS
A saw is an old saying, one that is often repeated and is very familiar. The term “old saw” is actually a tautology, as by definition a “saw” is “old”.
28 Provides lodging for : BILLETS
A billet is a lodging for troops. The related French word “billet” translates as “ticket”. The original English “billet” was a ticket given to a soldier directing him to a home where he was to be provided with lodging.
29 Actress Falco : EDIE
Actress Edie Falco won three Emmy Awards for playing Carmela Soprano on HBO’s outstanding drama series called “The Sopranos”. Falco also won an Emmy in 2010 for playing the title role in “Nurse Jackie”, an excellent black comedy.
30 Role for Sally Struthers on “Gilmore Girls” : BABETTE
“Gilmore Girls” is a comedy show that originally aired from 2000 to 2007 on the WB. The title characters are mother and daughter Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, played by Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. All the action takes place in the fictional Connecticut town of Stars Hollow.
Actress Sally Struthers is best known for playing Archie and Edith Bunker’s daughter Gloria on “All in the Family”. She also appeared regularly on “Gilmore Girls”, playing the eccentric neighbor and friend Babette Dell.
33 Glossy fabric : SATIN
The material known as “satin” takes its name from “Zayton”, the medieval Arabic name for the Chinese port city of Quanzhou. Quanzhou was used for the export of large amounts of silk to Europe.
37 Underground org.? : UMW
The United Mine Workers (UMW) is a labor union that represents mine workers (and now other disciplines) in the US and Canada. The UMW was founded in Columbus, Ohio in 1890.
46 Broadcast episodes of a Stacy Keach detective series? : AIR HAMMERS
Mike Hammer is the protagonist in a series of private detective novels by Mickey Spillane. The novels have been adapted for radio, television and the big screen. The actor most associated with Mike Hammer is Stacy Keach, who played the role in the TV series “Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer” from 1984 to 1987.
Actor Stacy Keach is perhaps as well known for his work as a narrator as he is for his work in front of the camera. Keach hit a low in his life in the mid-1980s when he was arrested for possession of cocaine at Heathrow Airport in London. For that transgression, Keach served six months in a British jail.
49 Duffer’s goal : PAR
A duffer is a golfer, and not a very good one at that.
51 “Washington Journal” channel : C-SPAN
“Washington Journal” is a C-SPAN call-in and interview program that has been airing since 1995. It is broadcast every morning of the week, unless C-SPAN preempts with a special event or coverage of Congress.
52 Michelle of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” : YEOH
Michelle Yeoh is an actress from Malaysia who appeared in several Hong Kong action films in which she did her own stunts and martial arts scenes. Her most famous action performance was in the 2000 movie “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, although I best know her for playing opposite Pierce Brosnan in the Bond film “Tomorrow Never Dies”.
“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” is a martial arts movie released in 2000. Despite the film’s Mandarin dialogue, it still became a huge international hit. “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” grossed well over $100 million in the US alone, and is still the highest-grossing foreign-language film in American history.
53 Will Ferrell holiday film : ELF
“Elf” is a comedy movie that was released for the 2003 Christmas season. It was directed by Jon Favreau and stars Will Ferrell in the title role, with James Caan supporting and Ed Asner playing Santa Claus. It’s all about one of Santa’s elves who finds out he is human and goes to meet his father in New York City. The film was adapted into a stage musical that premiered on Broadway during the Christmas season of 2010.
Will Ferrell is a comedian and comic actor from Irvine, California who got his big break as a cast member on “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) in the mid-nineties. While appearing on SNL, Ferrell was noted for several impersonations, including President George W. Bush, Neil Diamond, James Lipton, Ted Kennedy and Janet Reno.
54 Glacial epochs : ICE AGES
Ice ages are periods in the Earth’s history when there are extensive ice sheets present in the northern and southern hemispheres. One might argue that we are still in an ice age that began 2.6 million years ago, as evidenced by the presence of ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica.
63 Song of praise : PAEAN
A paean is a poem or song that expresses triumph or thanksgiving. “Paean” comes from the ancient Greek “paian” meaning “song of triumph”.
67 Clock the Kentucky Colonel? : BELT SANDERS
The famous “Colonel” of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) fame was Harland Sanders, an entrepreneur from Henryville, Indiana. Although not really a “Colonel”, Sanders did indeed serve in the military. He enlisted in the Army as a private in 1906 at the age of 16, lying about his age. He spent the whole of his time in the Army as a soldier in Cuba. It was much later, in the 1930s, that Sanders went into the restaurant business making his specialty deep-fried chicken. By 1935 his reputation as a “character” had grown, so much so that Governor Ruby Laffoon of Kentucky gave Sanders the honorary title of “Kentucky Colonel”. Later in the fifties, Sanders developed his trademark look with the white suit, string tie, mustache and goatee. When Sanders was 65 however, his business failed and in stepped Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s. Thomas simplified the Sanders menu, cutting it back from over a hundred items to just fried chicken and salads. That was enough to launch KFC into the fast food business. Sanders sold the US franchise in 1964 for just $2 million and moved to Canada to grow KFC north of the border. He died in 1980 and is buried in Louisville, Kentucky. The Colonel’s secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices is indeed a trade secret. Apparently there is only one copy of the recipe, a handwritten piece of paper, written in pencil and signed by Colonel Sanders. Since 2009, the piece of paper has been locked in a computerized vault surrounded with motion detectors and security cameras.
75 Landmass divided by the Urals : EURASIA
Eurasia is the combined continental landmass of Europe and Asia. It accounts for 36% of the total landmass on the planet, and is home to 71% of the Earth’s population.
The eastern side of the Ural Mountains in Russia and Kazakhstan is generally regarded as the natural divide between the continents of Europe and Asia.
77 Less alert : GROGGIER
Edward Vernon was a naval officer with the nickname “Old Grog”. In 1740, Vernon ordered that the daily ration of rum for his sailors should be watered down, in order to reduce discipline problems caused by drunkenness. The diluted rum was sweetened with sugar, and lemon or lime added to help preserve it on long voyages. This recipe, found to reduce scurvy among sailors (because of the citrus) spread throughout the Royal Navy, and “grog” was born. As an aside, George Washington’s older half-brother named the famous Washington Mount Vernon Plantation in honor of Edward Vernon. We use the derivative term “groggy” to mean “unsteady on the feet”, as if under the influence of “grog”.
80 Pesto ingredient : PINE NUT
The Italian term “pesto” applies to anything made by pounding. What we tend to know as pesto sauce is more properly called “pesto alla genovese”, i.e. pesto from Genoa in northern Italy. I love, love pesto sauce …
81 Hailed car : CAB
A hansom cab is a very specific design of horse and buggy that was patented by Joseph Hansom in 1834 in England. The “cab” in the name is short for “cabriolet”, an earlier design of carriage on which the hansom was based. It’s from “hansom cab” that we get our modern term “cab”.
90 Sample Rice Krispies treats? : TRY SQUARES
A try square is an L-shaped woodworking tool that is used for marking 90-degree angles on pieces of wood.
94 “Wheel of Fortune” category : PHRASE
Contestants have been spinning the “Wheel of Fortune” since the game show first aired in 1975.
119 __ dixit : IPSE
“Ipse dixit” is Latin, a phrase meaning “he himself said it”. The term is used in contemporary English to describe an unsupported assertion, one usually by someone in authority.
120 Wonderland cake words : EAT ME
In Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, Alice follows the white rabbit down a rabbit hole and finds a bottle labeled “DRINK ME”. When she drinks the contents, it causes her to shrink. She also sees a cake adorned with the words “EAT ME” written using currants, and when she eats the cake she grows so big she finds it hard to stand up. After eating the cake, she utters the words, “Curiouser and curiouser”.
121 Peruvian of old : INCAN
The Inca people emerged as a tribe around the 12th century, in what today is southern Peru. The Incas developed a vast empire over the next 300 years, extending along most of the western side of South America. The Empire fell to the Spanish, finally dissolving in 1572 with the execution of Túpac Amaru, the last Incan Emperor.
124 Roofs on some Corvettes : T-TOPS
A T-top is a car roof that has removable panels on either side of a rigid bar that runs down the center of the vehicle above the driver.
The Chevrolet Corvette was introduced to the world in 1953, and was named after the small maneuverable warship called a corvette. The “Vette” has legs. It is the only American sports car that has been around for over 50 years.
Down
2 Asian lake depleted by irrigation projects : ARAL
The Aral Sea is a great example of how humankind can have a devastating effect on the environment. In the early sixties the Aral Sea covered 68,000 square miles of Central Asia. Soviet irrigation projects drained the lake to such an extent that today the total area is less than 7,000 square miles, with 90% of the lake now completely dry. Sad …
3 “Captain Marvel” star Larson : BRIE
I mainly recognize actress Brie Larson from playing the daughter of Toni Collete’’s character on the excellent TV show “United States of Tara”. Larson is from Sacramento, and trained at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, where she was the youngest person ever admitted.
“Captain Marvel” is a superhero movie released in 2019. It was the first film in the Marvel franchise of films to feature a female lead. The title character, Carol Danvers (aka “Captain Marvel”), is played by Brie Larson.
6 Protégé : MENTEE
A mentor is a trusted teacher or counselor. The term “mentor” comes from Homer’s “Odyssey” in which there is a character named Mentor. He is a friend of Odysseus, although he is a relatively ineffective old man. The goddess Athena takes on Mentor’s appearance in order to guide Odysseus’s young son Telemachus through difficult times.
We use the term “protégé” for someone whose career is helped along and guided by a more experienced person, a mentor. “Protégé” is French for “protected”.
8 Dramatic form similar to Kabuki : NOH
Noh is a form of musical drama in Japan that has been around since the 14th century. Many of the Noh performers are masked, allowing all the roles to be played by men, including the female parts.
Kabuki is a Japanese form of theater involving dance and drama. In the original Kabuki theater, both male and female parts were played by women. In contrast, the Noh dramas have the male and female parts played by men.
9 Hawaiian strings, for short : UKE
The ukulele (uke) originated in the 1800s and mimicked a small guitar brought to the Hawaiian Islands by Portuguese immigrants.
10 “__-boom-bah!” : SIS
Apparently, “Sis boom bah” is a popular cheer in American high schools and colleges (I didn’t know that!). The term was also used by Johnny Carson when he was playing the character Carnac the Magnificent.
13 Barbara Kingsolver’s “The Poisonwood __” : BIBLE
“The Poisonwood Bible” is a 1998 novel by Barbara Kingsolver about a family from Georgia who move to a small village in the Belgian Congo in the late 1950s. The book’s title refers to an expression used by the missionary father of the family, who intends to say “Jesus is most precious” in the local language. His mispronunciation leads him to say “Jesus is poisonwood”.
Barbara Kingsolver is a writer who now lives in rural Virginia. She wrote a book that is a favorite of mine called “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” which tells of her family’s efforts to eat locally for a year. It is a very inspirational and educational tale that I highly recommend …
14 Pitcher Gerrit who was the 2019 MLB leader in strikeouts : COLE
Gerrit Cole is an MLB pitcher who joined the New York Yankees in 2019. In doing so, he signed a 9-year contract worth $324 million dollars, which was a record for a Major League pitcher.
15 Poughkeepsie campus : VASSAR
Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York is now a coeducational school, after over a century of operating as a women’s college since its founding in 1861. The school was officially declared co-ed in 1969, although it had accepted a handful of male students on the GI Bill after WWII.
The City of Poughkeepsie is located in the Hudson River Valley in New York State. The city’s name comes from a Wappinger word that can be translated as “the reed-covered lodge by the little-water place”.
16 Nest egg initials : IRA
A nest egg is an amount of money laid down as a reserve. This is the figurative use of “nest egg” that originally described an artificial egg left in a nest to encourage a hen to lay real eggs in that spot. So our financial nest egg is set aside in anticipation of continued growth, more eggs being laid.
26 Virtual crafts store : ETSY SHOP
Etsy.com is an e-commerce website where you can buy and sell the kind of items that you might find at a craft fair.
28 Grammy-winning banjoist Fleck : BELA
Béla Fleck is a banjo player who performed with the bands New Grass Revival and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones. He was born in New York City and was given the name Béla Anton Leoš Fleck. He was named after Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, Austrian composer Anton Webern, and Czech composer Leoš Janáček. That’s quite a name to live up to, but by all accounts Fleck is one of the most technically proficient banjo players the world has ever known.
31 Razor brand : 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.
32 German road : BAHN
The federal highway system in Germany is known as the Autobahn (plural “Autobahnen” in German). Famously, there are no federally mandated speed limits on the autobahn, although many, many stretches of the highway do indeed have posted and enforced limits. Where there is no speed limit posted, there is an advisory speed limit of 130 km/hr (81 mph). It is not illegal to travel over this speed limit, but legal liability may increase at higher speeds if that speed contributes to an accident.
34 Record portions of some musical compositions? : TAPE MEASURES
39 Humming completely out of tune? : WRECKING BARS
Musical scores are divided into measures, although on the other side of the Atlantic the term “bar” is used instead of “measure”.
35 Underscore alternative: Abbr. : ITAL
Italic type leans to the right, and is often used to provide emphasis in text. The style is known as “italic” because the stylized calligraphic form of writing originated in Italy, probably in the Vatican.
36 Soft ball : NERF
Nerf is a soft material used in a whole series of toys designed for “safe” play indoors. The Nerf product is used to make darts, balls and ammunition for toy guns. “NERF” is an acronym, standing for Non-Expanding Recreational Foam.
37 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. She took a few years off from acting from 1998 until 2002 following the birth of her first child. It was Tarantino who relaunched her career, giving her the lead in the “Kill Bill” films.
38 __ Trench: Pacific chasm : MARIANA
“The Marianas” is a familiar name for the Mariana Islands that lie in the Pacific Ocean south of Japan and north of New Guinea. The Mariana Trench (note there is no letter “S” at the end of “Mariana”, the trench) is the lowest elevation on the surface of the Earth’s crust. The Mariana Trench takes its name from the Islands, as it lies just to the east of the Marianas.
44 Stereo component : TWEETER
In a sound system, a speaker that is designed to produce high frequencies is known as a “tweeter”. A speaker made for low frequencies is called a “woofer”. The aforementioned terms come from the fact that birds migh high-pitched “tweets”, and dogs make low-pitched “woofs”.
47 Nearsighted person : MYOPE
A myope is someone suffering from myopia, short-sightedness. Far-sightedness or long-sightedness is known as hypermetropia or hyperopia .
56 Nota __ : BENE
“Nota bene” is Latin for “note well”, and is abbreviated to “NB”.
57 Sharon who won the 2013 Pulitzer in Poetry : OLDS
Poet Sharon Olds won a Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 2013. She was also the first American woman to win the T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry.
58 Easter Island : RAPA NUI
“Rapa Nui” is the Polynesian name for what we are more likely to call “Easter Island”. The European name was coined by the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, who came across the island on Easter Sunday in the year 1722. Chilean-owned Easter Island is inhabited and is a location that is remarkably distant from neighboring civilization. The nearest inhabited island is Pitcairn Island, which is almost 1300 miles away.
61 Bygone autocrat : TSAR
The last ruler of Imperial Russia was Tsar Nicholas II (of the House of Romanov). Famously, the Tsar and his family were murdered in 1918 in the basement of a house in Yekaterinburg, Russia by members of the Bolshevik secret police. The Tsar’s youngest daughter was 16-year-old Anastasia and rumors of her escape have persisted for years. The rumors grew with the help of numerous women who claimed to be Anastasia. In 2009, DNA testing finally proved that the remains of all of the Tsar’s immediate family, including Anastasia, have been found and identified.
65 Cultural org. : NEA
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an agency funded by the federal government that offers support and financing for artistic projects. The NEA was created by an Act of Congress in 1965. Between 1965 and 2008, the NEA awarded over $4 billion to the arts, with Congress authorizing around $170 million annually through the eighties and much of the nineties. That funding was cut to less than $100 million in the late nineties due to pressure from conservatives concerned about the use of funds, but it is now back over the $150 million mark.
70 Phoenix NBAer : SUN
The Phoenix Suns NBA team are in the Pacific Division, and are the only team in that division not based in California.
78 “An Inconvenient Truth” narrator Al : GORE
Former Vice President Al Gore was a joint recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 in recognition for his work in climate change activism. He also won a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for his book on climate change called “An Inconvenient Truth”. The documentary of the same name that was spawned by the book won an Academy Award. In addition, Gore won an Emmy as co-owner of Current TV, an independent news network.
79 The “G” of LGBTQ+ : GAY
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning (LGBTQ)
82 Stadium in Queens : ASHE
Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, New York opened in 1997, and is the largest outdoor, tennis-only venue in the world. The stadium was often criticized for not having a retractable dome to protect the playing surface from inclement weather. Well, that changed in 2016 when the stadium debuted its new retractable roof, a $150 million investment in the facility.
85 Sportscaster Andrews : ERIN
Erin Andrews is a sports reporter. I don’t watch much in the line of sports but I do know Ms. Andrews for her appearances on “Dancing with the Stars” in 2010. She did quite well and made it to the final of the show. And then she was hired as the show’s co-host alongside Tom Bergeron. And then they were both let go …
88 Lutefisk-making chemical : LYE
Lutefisk is a Norwegian dish made from air-dried cod that is soaked in water for several days, and then in water and lye for a couple of more days. The resulting gelatinous mass is extremely caustic, with a dangerous pH of 11-12. So there needs to be another soaking and rinsing in cold water for six days to make the fish suitable for cooking. The name “lutefisk” translates from Norwegian as “lye fish”.
91 __ hut : QUONSET
Quonset huts are prefabricated galvanized steel structures, semicircular in cross section. The Quonset hut design is based on the British Nissen hut that was used during WWI. The hut takes its name from Quonset Point near Davisville, Rhode Island. It was there that the first Quonset huts were manufactured in 1941.
92 Fleece-lined slippers : UGGS
Uggs are sheepskin boots that were first produced in Australia and New Zealand. The original Uggs have sheepskin fleece on the inside for comfort and insulation, with a tanned leather surface on the outside for durability. “Ugg” is a generic term Down Under, although it’s a brand name here in the US.
95 Deer horn : ANTLER
The antlers on a deer come to points. The higher the number of points, the more prized the head of the deer as a trophy, so I am told …
101 Take potshots (at) : SNIPE
To snipe is to attack with snide criticism, especially from a safe distance. This usage of the term is an extension of the older meaning, to take a shot from a hidden position (as in “sniper”). Such a shot was originally taken when hunting the game birds called “snipes”.
When firing a gun, a “potshot” is a “shot” taken purely to get the prey into the “pot” for cooking. The term “potshot” was coined in the 1830s, hence distinguishing between a shot taken for sport or marksmanship and a shot taken while hunting for game.
104 Wing it : AD-LIB
“Ad libitum” is a Latin phrase meaning “at one’s pleasure”. In common usage, the phrase is usually shortened to “ad-lib”. On the stage, the concept of an ad lib is very familiar.
105 2020 Cy Young pitcher Bieber : SHANE
Shane Bieber is a Major League Baseball pitcher who was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in 2016. He won the Cy Young Award in 2020. A Topps baseball card was printed in 2019, mistakenly naming the player “Justin” Bieber.
107 Grand slam quartet, briefly : RBIS
In baseball, a grand slam is a home run hit with runners on all three bases, leading to a score of four runs.
108 Ottawa-based law gp. : RCMP
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (the Mounties, RCMP) is an unusual police force in that it provides policing for the whole country on the national level, and in many cases right down to the municipal level. The force’s distinctive uniform of red serge tunic, blue pants with a yellow stripe, stetson hat, etc. is known internally as “Review Order”. The red uniform dates back to the days of the North-West Mounted Police, which was one of the existing forces that were merged in 1920 to form the RCMP.
109 Start of many fairy tales : ONCE …
The stock phrase “Once upon a time …” has been used in various forms as the start of a narrative at least since 1380. The stock phrase at the end of stories such as folktales is often “and they all lived happily ever after”. The earlier version of this ending was “happily until their deaths”.
111 Digits with dashes : SSNS
A Social Security number (SSN) is divided into three parts, i.e AAA-GG-SSSS. Originally, the Area Number (AAA) was the code for the office that issued the card. Starting in 1973, the Area Number reflected the ZIP code from which the application was made. The GG in the SSN was the Group Number, and the SSSS number the Serial Number. This is all moot today. Since 2011, SSNs have been assigned randomly. Some random numbers, however, have been excluded from use, i.e. Area Numbers 000, 666 (!) and 900-999.
112 Three Gorges structure : DAM
The Three Gorges region along the Yangtze River in China is known for its spectacular scenery. The area is attracting a lot of attention in recent years because of a recently completed hydroelectric dam that is changing the ecology and appearance of the land both upriver and downriver. The dam itself is the biggest electricity-generating plant in the world, with a total capacity of 22.5 GW.
113 Ipanema’s city : RIO
Ipanema is a beach community in the south of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. The name Ipanema is a local word meaning “bad water”, signifying that the shore is bad for fishing. The beach became famous worldwide following the release of the song “The Girl from Ipanema” in 1962.
116 Delt neighbor : LAT
The muscles known as the “lats” are the latissimi dorsi, and are the broadest muscles in the back. “Latissimus” is Latin for “broadest”, and “dorsum” is Latin for “back”.
117 Nebraska native : OTO
The Otoe (also “Oto”) Native American tribe originated in the Great Lakes region as part of the Winnebago or Siouan tribes. The group that would become the Otoe broke away from the Winnebago and migrated southwestward, ending up in the Great Plains. In the plains the Otoe adopted a semi-nomadic lifestyle dependent on the horse, with the American bison becoming central to their diet.
Read on, or …
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Old Milwaukee brewer : PABST
6 Word in a very cold forecast : MINUS
11 Bank founded in 1865 : HSBC
15 Actor Rhames : VING
19 Impressive display : ARRAY
20 Sukiyaki mushroom : ENOKI
21 Soap Box Derby state : OHIO
22 Nevada’s __ 51 : AREA
23 Perfect some boxing techniques? : NAIL PUNCHES
25 Put off repeating some old sayings? : TABLE SAWS
27 __ hour : ELEVENTH
28 Provides lodging for : BILLETS
29 Actress Falco : EDIE
30 Role for Sally Struthers on “Gilmore Girls” : BABETTE
33 Glossy fabric : SATIN
37 Underground org.? : UMW
40 Particularly revealing : TELLTALE
42 Whirl : GYRATE
43 Exchanges : MARTS
46 Broadcast episodes of a Stacy Keach detective series? : AIR HAMMERS
49 Duffer’s goal : PAR
50 “__ there yet?” : ARE WE
51 “Washington Journal” channel : C-SPAN
52 Michelle of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” : YEOH
53 Will Ferrell holiday film : ELF
54 Glacial epochs : ICE AGES
56 Avid reader : BOOKWORM
59 Anger : MAKE MAD
60 Advice from PC pros : IT HELP
63 Song of praise : PAEAN
66 Currently handling the matter : ON IT
67 Clock the Kentucky Colonel? : BELT SANDERS
71 Sheet of paper : PAGE
72 Discussion group : PANEL
74 Cuts down to size : ABASES
75 Landmass divided by the Urals : EURASIA
77 Less alert : GROGGIER
80 Pesto ingredient : PINE NUT
81 Hailed car : CAB
83 Fly like an eagle : SOAR
84 Board : GET ON
87 Hearing-related : AURAL
89 Female bear, in Spanish : OSA
90 Sample Rice Krispies treats? : TRY SQUARES
93 Devotion : PIETY
94 “Wheel of Fortune” category : PHRASE
96 Unpleasantry : UGLINESS
99 “Get it?” : SEE?
100 __ question : YES/NO
101 Product lines? : SLOGANS
103 Poetic contraction : ‘TWAS
106 Dating profile category : TURN-ONS
108 Problem drivers : ROAD HOGS
112 Rehearse some comedy routines? : DRILL BITS
115 Establish no-fly zones? : BLOCK PLANES
118 Auxiliary : AIDE
119 __ dixit : IPSE
120 Wonderland cake words : EAT ME
121 Peruvian of old : INCAN
122 Tie up to a pier : MOOR
123 Airplane assignment : SEAT
124 Roofs on some Corvettes : T-TOPS
125 Round at the tavern : BEERS
Down
1 Window section : PANE
2 Asian lake depleted by irrigation projects : ARAL
3 “Captain Marvel” star Larson : BRIE
4 Balm : SALVE
5 Used a keyboard : TYPED
6 Protégé : MENTEE
7 Yardstick division : INCH
8 Dramatic form similar to Kabuki : NOH
9 Hawaiian strings, for short : UKE
10 “__-boom-bah!” : SIS
11 Top seller : HOT ITEM
12 Biblical “will” : SHALT
13 Barbara Kingsolver’s “The Poisonwood __” : BIBLE
14 Pitcher Gerrit who was the 2019 MLB leader in strikeouts : COLE
15 Poughkeepsie campus : VASSAR
16 Nest egg initials : IRA
17 Mint : NEW
18 Fuel for some furnaces : GAS
24 Textbook chapter : UNIT
26 Virtual crafts store : ETSY SHOP
28 Grammy-winning banjoist Fleck : BELA
30 Insignificant disruption : BLIP
31 Razor brand : ATRA
32 German road : BAHN
34 Record portions of some musical compositions? : TAPE MEASURES
35 Underscore alternative: Abbr. : ITAL
36 Soft ball : NERF
37 Actress Thurman : UMA
38 __ Trench: Pacific chasm : MARIANA
39 Humming completely out of tune? : WRECKING BARS
41 Young lady : LASS
42 Develop : GROW
44 Stereo component : TWEETER
45 Clothes line : SEAM
47 Nearsighted person : MYOPE
48 Startled cry : EEK!
51 Formally surrender : CEDE
55 Chitchat : GAB
56 Nota __ : BENE
57 Sharon who won the 2013 Pulitzer in Poetry : OLDS
58 Easter Island : RAPA NUI
59 Messy locks : MOP
60 “How hard can __?” : IT BE
61 Bygone autocrat : TSAR
62 Contains : HAS
64 Perturb : AGITATE
65 Cultural org. : NEA
68 Dens : LAIRS
69 Bridle part : REIN
70 Phoenix NBAer : SUN
73 One beyond hope : LOST SOUL
76 Gather : REAP
78 “An Inconvenient Truth” narrator Al : GORE
79 The “G” of LGBTQ+ : GAY
80 False front : POSE
81 Duplicate : COPY
82 Stadium in Queens : ASHE
84 Big party : GALA
85 Sportscaster Andrews : ERIN
86 Addition column : TENS
88 Lutefisk-making chemical : LYE
91 __ hut : QUONSET
92 Fleece-lined slippers : UGGS
95 Deer horn : ANTLER
97 Adds fuel to : STOKES
98 Cashless deal : SWAP
101 Take potshots (at) : SNIPE
102 Tons o’ : LOTSA
104 Wing it : AD-LIB
105 2020 Cy Young pitcher Bieber : SHANE
107 Grand slam quartet, briefly : RBIS
108 Ottawa-based law gp. : RCMP
109 Start of many fairy tales : ONCE …
110 Equipment : GEAR
111 Digits with dashes : SSNS
112 Three Gorges structure : DAM
113 Ipanema’s city : RIO
114 A vow avowal : I DO
115 Get in a pool : BET
116 Delt neighbor : LAT
117 Nebraska native : OTO
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