Constructed by: Mark McClain
Edited by: Rich Norris
Quicklink to a complete list of today’s clues and answers
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Theme: Toot to To
Today’s themed answers are common phrases in which one word has an “oot” sound. The “oot” sound has been changed to an “oo” sound to suit the clue:
- 20A…Number on some beer bottles?..BREW STRENGTH (from “brute strength”)
- 35A…Washateria wear?..LAUNDRY SHOE (from “laundry chute”)
- 42A…Musical work played where Brits go?..LOO CONCERTO (from “lute concerto”)
- 59A…Smokeless chimney duct?..THE MAGIC FLUE (from “The Magic Flute”)
Bill’s time: 9m 24s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
15…River originating in Manchuria..AMUR
The Amur is a river that serves as the border between Russia and China in Manchuria. On one side of the border is Outer Manchuria (in Russia) and on the other is Inner Manchuria (in China).
Manchuria is a region in Northeast China, home to the Manchu people after whom the area gets its name.
17…Woodstock performer before Joan..ARLO
Arlo Guthrie is the son of Woody Guthrie. Both father and son are renowned for their singing of protest songs about social injustice. Arlo is most famous for his epic “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree”, a song that lasts a full 18m 34s. In the song Guthrie tells how, after being drafted, he was rejected for service in the Vietnam War based on his criminal record. He had only one incident on his public record, a Thanksgiving Day arrest for littering and being a public nuisance when he was 18-years-old.
Joan Baez is an American folk singer and a prominent activist in the fields of non-violence, civil rights, human rights and environmental protection. Baez has dated some high-profile figures in her life including Bob Dylan, Steve Jobs (of Apple) and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead.
18…Sci-fi guru..YODA
Yoda is one of the most beloved characters of the “Star Wars” series of films. Yoda’s voice was provided by the great modern-day puppeteer Frank Oz of “Muppets” fame.
“Guru” is a Hindi word meaning “teacher” or “priest”.
19…Rodeo maker..ISUZU
The Rodeo is a compact SUV that was produced by Isuzu for the North American market. At the same time, the Isuzu Rodeo name was used on compact pickup trucks sold in Japan.
24…Hall of Famer Musial..STAN
Stan Musial is a retired baseball player who went by the nickname “Stan the Man”, a moniker he was awarded by the Brooklyn Dodgers fans in 1946. Apparently, off the field Stan is quite the harmonica player.
25…Some suits, briefly..VPS
Vice president (VP)
In the world of business, “suit” is a slang term describing an executive or manager, often one who is a faceless decision maker.
28…Egg foo __..YUNG
Egg foo yung is a dish served in Chinese restaurants, and is basically an omelet. It probably takes its name from a flower called the Fu Yung.
30…Depot worker..REDCAP
“Redcap” is a term used for a railroad station porter here in North America. That term comes from the fact that redcaps wear red caps!
Our term “depot”, meaning a station or warehouse, derives from the word “dépôt”, French for “deposit” or “place of deposit”.
32…Flight regulatory org…FAA
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was set up in 1958 (as the Federal Aviation Agency). The agency was established at that particular time largely in response to an increasing number of midair collisions. The worst of these disasters had taken place two years earlier over the Grand Canyon, a crash between two commercial passenger airplanes that resulted in 128 fatalities.
38…”__ turca: allegretto”: Mozart rondo..ALLA
The third movement of Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major is known as the “Rondo alla turca” (Turkish March), and is one of the composer’s most recognizable works.
42…Musical work played where Brits go?..LOO CONCERTO (from “lute concerto”)
It has been suggested that the British term “loo” comes from Waterloo (water-closet … water-loo), but no one seems to know for sure. Another suggestion is that the term comes from the card game of “lanterloo” in which the pot was called the loo!
The lute is a stringed instrument with a long neck and usually a pear-shaped body. It is held and played like a guitar, and was popular from the Middle Ages right through to the late Baroque era. A person who plays the lute can be referred to as a “lutenist”.
48…Exotic journey..SAFARI
“Safari” is a Swahili word, meaning “journey” or “expedition”.
51…Terrestrial wiggler..EFT
Newts wouldn’t be my favorite animals. They are found all over the world living on land or in water depending on the species, but always associated with water even if it is only for breeding. Newts metamorphose through three distinct developmental stages during their lives. They start off as larvae in water, fertilized eggs that often cling to aquatic plants. The eggs hatch into tadpoles, the first developmental form of the newt. After living some months as tadpoles swimming around in the water, they undergo another metamorphosis, sprouting legs and replacing their external gills with lungs. At this juvenile stage they are known as efts, and leave the water to live on land. A more gradual transition takes place then, as the eft takes on the lizard-like appearance of the adult newt.
52…Storm sound..CLAP
That would be a clap of thunder.
55…Jefferson bills, slangily..DEUCES
The US two-dollar bill features a portrait of Thomas Jefferson. The bill was introduced in 1862, and withdrawn in 1966. It was reintroduced in 1976, and is still legal tender. That said, there are relatively few two-dollar bills in circulation. Some people even hold that possession of a two-dollar bill is bad luck.
59…Smokeless chimney duct?..THE MAGIC FLUE (from “The Magic Flute”)
The flue in a chimney is a duct that conveys exhaust gases from a fire to the outdoors. An important feature of a flue is that it is adjustable. When starting a fire, the flue should be wide open, maximizing airflow to get help ignition.
Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute” today is performed more often than any other opera in the repertoire worldwide.
61…Courts in some hotels..ATRIA
In modern architecture an atrium (plural “atria” or “atriums”) is a large open space usually in the center of a building and extending upwards to the roof. The original atrium was an open court in the center of an Ancient Roman house. One could access most of the enclosed rooms of the house from the atrium.
64…Bend for a swan, maybe..PLIE
The French word for “bent” is “plié”. In the ballet move known as a plié, the knees are bent.
I am sure the reference here is to ballerinas performing in Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake”.
“Swan Lake” is such a delightfully light and enjoyable ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. “Swan Lake” tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by a sorcerer. The ballet also features Odile, Odette’s “evil twin”. Odile is disguised to look like Odette with the goal of tricking the prince to fall in love with her. In the ballet, the roles of Odette and Odile are played by the same ballerina.
66…Contemporary of Beethoven..WEBER
Carl Maria von Weber was a composer from Germany who was active in the early Romantic period. Related to Mozart, through Wolfgang’s marriage to Constanze Weber, Carl was an accomplished pianist and wrote many works for the instrument. However, he had very large hands and wrote pieces that suited his anatomy, and not performers with the average size of hands. As a result, Weber’s piano music is not performed very often.
67…Trouser parts..LEGS
“Trousers” are pants, the garment covering the lower body and each leg separately. Ultimately, the word “trousers” evolved from the Erse word “triubhas” that described close-fitting shorts. Back in the 1600s there was a colorful saying:
A jellous wife was like an Irish trouze, alwayes close to a mans tayle
68…Chatted with online..IMED
Even though instant messaging (sending IMs) has been around since the 1960s, it was AOL who popularized the term “instant message” in the eighties and nineties.
70…2015 World Series-winning manager Ned..YOST
Ned Yost is the manager of the Kansas City Royals, and a former Major League Baseball catcher. Yost played baseball at high school in Dublin, California, just a few miles from where I am now right now.
71…Much of the MTV generation..XERS
The term Generation X originated in the UK where it was the name of a book by Jane Deverson. Her book detailed the results of a study of British youths in 1964, contrasting their lifestyle to those of previous generations. It was Canadian author Douglas Coupland who was responsible for popularizing the term, with his more successful publication “Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture”. By the latest accepted definition, Gen-Xers were born between 1961 and 1981.
Down
2…__ firma..TERRA
“Terra firma” is Latin for “solid ground”.
5…Prestigious NASCAR venue..DAYTONA
The coastal city of Daytona Beach in Florida is known for hard-packed sand on the beach. This makes a good surface for driving motorized vehicles, and resulted in Daytona Beach becoming a center for motorsports. The Daytona 500 is the event with the largest purse on the NASCAR calendar.
6…Lima love..AMOR
“Amor” is the Spanish word for “love”.
Lima is the capital city of Peru. Lima was founded in 1535 by the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, who named it “la Ciudad de los Reyes” (the City of Kings). He chose this name because the decision to found the city was made on January 6th, the feast of the Epiphany that commemorates the visit of the three kings to Jesus in Bethlehem.
7…Many Renoirs..NUDES
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a French painter, very much at the forefront of the Impressionist Movement. Renoir was a prolific artist, with several thousand works attributed to him. The largest collection of Renoirs is actually in the United States. You can see 181 of his paintings at the Barnes Foundation just outside Philadelphia.
8…Foster __: sunglasses brand..GRANT
The Foster Grant brand of eyewear is most famous as a line of sunglasses. Founded in 1929 by Sam Foster, the company’s heyday was in the sixties and seventies. Through that period, the brand was popularized by an ad campaign using the line “Who’s that behind those Foster Grants?”. The question was answered in TV spots featuring celebrities like Peter Sellers, Anthony Quinn, Mia Farrow, Woody Allen, Raquel Welch and OJ Simpson.
9…Self-titled 1987 pop album..WHITNEY
Whitney Houston is the only singer to have a run of seven consecutive Billboard number-one hits. Houston’s recording of the wonderful Dolly Parton song “I Will Always Love You”, from the soundtrack of 1992’s “The Bodyguard”, is the best-selling single for a female artist in the history of recorded music. Houston died at the age of 48 in 2012, drowning in her bathtub.
10…Diner concoction..HASH
Hash, meaning a dish of beef and vegetables mashed together, is a very American dish and one that really surprised me when I first came across it. “Hash” just seems like such an unappetizing item, but I soon found out how delicious it was. The name “hash” in this context comes from the French “hacher” meaning “to chop”. Back in the early 1900s the dish called “hashed browned potatoes” was developed, which quickly morphed into “hash browns”. From there the likes of corned beef hash was introduced.
11…Phil Mickelson’s alma mater: Abbr…ASU
Arizona State University (ASU) has a long history, founded as the Tempe Normal School for the Arizona Territory in 1885. The athletic teams of ASU used to be known as the Normals, then the Bulldogs, and since 1946 they’ve been called the Sun Devils.
Phil Mickelson is one of the most famous left-handed golfers currently playing on the PGA Tour. Less well know is the fact that outside of golf, he is right-handed. Despite his great success as a golfer, the US Open championship has always eluded him. He has finished runner-up six times, more times than any other player.
12…Toon devil..TAZ
The “Looney Tunes” character known as the Tasmanian Devil, or “Taz”, first appeared in a cartoon short with Bugs Bunny called “Devil May Care” in 1954.
13…”The Simpsons” disco guy..STU
On “The Simpsons”, the character of Disco Stu is voiced by Hank Azaria, although he was voiced for a while by Phil Hartman. Disco Stu is described as “a black, wrinkly John Travolta”.
21…Subject of an evil negotiation..SOUL
That would be a deal with the devil, as in the classic German legend of “Faust”.
Faust is a character from a classic German legend who makes a pact with the devil. He agrees to exchange his soul for worldly gratification and unlimited knowledge.
22…”Dumb and Dumber” actress..GARR
The lovely Teri Garr had a whole host of minor roles in her youth, including appearances in nine Elvis movies. Garr’s big break came with the role of Inga in “Young Frankenstein”, and her supporting role in “Tootsie” earned Garr an Academy Award nomination. Sadly, Teri Garr suffers from multiple sclerosis. She is a National Ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
“Dumb and Dumber” is a 1994 comedy starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels as two pretty dumb guys, Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne. There was a prequel released in 2003 titled “Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd”, and a sequel in 2011 called “Dumb and Dumber To”.
25…Parental control device..V-CHIP
All television sets produced for the US market since the year 2000 have to include a component called a V-chip. A V-chip allows a TV to be configured so that programming of specific “ratings” can be blocked from viewing. The “V” in V-chip stands for “viewer control”. It sounds like a great idea, but a lot of kids these days quickly do a search online and work out how to reset the password.
26…Italian soccer great Rossi..PAOLO
Paolo Rossi is a retired Italian soccer player. Rossi captained the Italian team that won the 1982 FIFA World Cup, and was the tournament’s top goalscorer for that year.
27…Dash datum..SPEED
Back in the 1800s, “dashboard” was the name given to a board placed at the front of a carriage to stop mud from “dashing” against the passengers in the carriage, mud that was kicked up by the hoofs of the horses. Quite interesting …
29…Tortilla chip topper, informally..GUAC
Guacamole is one of my favorite dishes, and is made 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”.
31…It’s not observed in P.R…DST
On the other side of the Atlantic, Daylight Saving Time (DST) is known as “summer time”. The idea behind summer/daylight-savings is to move clocks forward an hour in spring (i.e. “spring forward”) and backwards in the fall (i.e. “fall back”) so that afternoons have more daylight.
Puerto Rico (PR) is located in the northeastern Caribbean (in the Atlantic Ocean), east of the Dominican Republic. The name “Puerto Rico” is Spanish for “rich port”. The locals often call their island Borinquen, the Spanish form of “Boriken”, the original name used by the natives.
33…”Half __ is … “..A LOAF
Half a loaf is better than none …
37…Small craft..DORY
A dory is a small boat, around 20 feet long with a shallow draft, a flat bottom and a sharp bow. Dories are commonly used for fishing.
39…Picasso’s here..ACA
“Aca” is Spanish for “here”.
The artist Pablo Picasso’s full name was Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso, a name he was given right from birth. Got that?
44…Giza’s river..NILE
Giza is located on the west bank of the Nile, about 20 km southwest of Cairo. The nearby Giza Plateau is home to some of the most amazing ancient monuments on the planet, including the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Great Sphinx.
45…Like the maximum sum..TIDIEST
A tidy sum, a pretty penny, a considerable amount of money.
46…Multinational energy gp…OPEC
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was founded in 1960 at a conference held in Baghdad, Iraq that was attended by Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Nine more countries joined the alliance soon after, and OPEC set up headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland and then Vienna, Austria in 1965. The basic aim of OPEC was to wrench control of oil prices from the oil companies and to put it in the hands of the sovereign states that own the natural resource.
50…Less, when added?..SUFFIX
Clueless …
54…__ diet..PALEO
The paleolithic or caveman diet is a fad diet that became popular in the 2000s. The idea is to eat wild plants and animals that would have been available to humans during the Paleolithic era (roughly the Stone Age). This period precedes the introduction of agriculture and domestication of animals. As a result, someone on the diet avoids consuming grains, legumes, dairy and processed foods. The diet consists mainly of lean meat (about 45-65% of the total calorie intake), non-starchy vegetables, fruits, berries and nuts.
56…Versifier’s weather..CLIME
“Clime” is just another word for climate, as in the expression “in search of warmer climes”.
A “versifier” is a poet, a writer of verses.
57…Calculus pioneer..EULER
Leonhard Euler was a brilliant Swiss mathematician and physicist, a pioneer in the fields of logarithms and graph theory.
59…Echelon..TIER
We use the word “echelon” (ech.) to describe a rank or level, particularly in the military. The term comes from French, in which language it has the same meaning, although the original meaning in Old French is “rung of a ladder”.
60…Touring jobs..GIGS
Musicians use “gig” to describe a job, a performance. The term originated in the early 1900s in the world of jazz.
63…Cred for bringing someone home..RBI
Run batted in (RBI)
Complete List of Clues and Answers
Across
1…Shot in the dark..STAB
5…Mild expletive..DANG!
9…Contraction used with “up”..WHAT’S …
14…Confining room..CELL
15…River originating in Manchuria..AMUR
16…Assails..HAS AT
17…Woodstock performer before Joan..ARLO
18…Sci-fi guru..YODA
19…Rodeo maker..ISUZU
20…Number on some beer bottles?..BREW STRENGTH (from “brute strength”)
23…Make even the slightest comment..SAY BOO
24…Hall of Famer Musial..STAN
25…Some suits, briefly..VPS
28…Egg foo __..YUNG
30…Depot worker..REDCAP
32…Flight regulatory org…FAA
35…Washateria wear?..LAUNDRY SHOE (from “laundry chute”)
38…”__ turca: allegretto”: Mozart rondo..ALLA
40…”Is that __?”..A NO
41…Floor option..TILE
42…Musical work played where Brits go?..LOO CONCERTO (from “lute concerto”)
47…Sci-fi craft..POD
48…Exotic journey..SAFARI
49…Kennel calls..YIPS
51…Terrestrial wiggler..EFT
52…Storm sound..CLAP
55…Jefferson bills, slangily..DEUCES
59…Smokeless chimney duct?..THE MAGIC FLUE (from “The Magic Flute”)
61…Courts in some hotels..ATRIA
64…Bend for a swan, maybe..PLIE
65…Woodworking tool..FILE
66…Contemporary of Beethoven..WEBER
67…Trouser parts..LEGS
68…Chatted with online..IMED
69…Quirky..WEIRD
70…2015 World Series-winning manager Ned..YOST
71…Much of the MTV generation..XERS
Down
1…Natural skin protection..SCABS
2…__ firma..TERRA
3…Way in the back, often..ALLEY
4…Pass easily..BLOW BY
5…Prestigious NASCAR venue..DAYTONA
6…Lima love..AMOR
7…Many Renoirs..NUDES
8…Foster __: sunglasses brand..GRANT
9…Self-titled 1987 pop album..WHITNEY
10…Diner concoction..HASH
11…Phil Mickelson’s alma mater: Abbr…ASU
12…Toon devil..TAZ
13…”The Simpsons” disco guy..STU
21…Subject of an evil negotiation..SOUL
22…”Dumb and Dumber” actress..GARR
25…Parental control device..V-CHIP
26…Italian soccer great Rossi..PAOLO
27…Dash datum..SPEED
29…Tortilla chip topper, informally..GUAC
31…It’s not observed in P.R…DST
32…Pseudo..FALSE
33…”Half __ is … “..A LOAF
34…On high..ALOFT
36…San Antonio-to-Dallas dir…NNE
37…Small craft..DORY
39…Picasso’s here..ACA
43…Picking site..ORCHARD
44…Giza’s river..NILE
45…Like the maximum sum..TIDIEST
46…Multinational energy gp…OPEC
50…Less, when added?..SUFFIX
53…To an adequate degree..AMPLY
54…__ diet..PALEO
56…Versifier’s weather..CLIME
57…Calculus pioneer..EULER
58…Origins..SEEDS
59…Echelon..TIER
60…Touring jobs..GIGS
61…”What a darling baby!”..AWW!
62…Golfer’s support..TEE
63…Cred for bringing someone home..RBI