Tag: Warning often accompanied by flashing lights crossword clue

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Constructed by: Ariana Borut

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Put on a Show

Themed answers are common, two-word phrases to which we PUT ON A TV SHOW at the end:

• 59A Go over the top, or a hint to 17-, 23-, 37-, and 48-Across : PUT ON A SHOW

• 17A Extremely popular puddle jumper? : HOT AIR TAXI (hot air + “Taxi”)
• 23A Soon-to-be buds? : NEXT BEST FRIENDS (next best + “Friends”)
• 37A Beach race outcome? : QUICK SANDCASTLE (quicksand + “Castle”)
• 48A Four-bed, three-bath digs in the backyard? : FAMILY TREEHOUSE (family tree + “House”)

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

Bill’s time: 8m 02s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

14A 2009 Nobel Peace Prize winner : OBAMA

President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, becoming the fourth US president to be so honored. He is the only one of the four to have been awarded the prize during his first year of office. The Nobel committee gave the award citing President Obama’s work towards a new climate in international relations, particularly in reaching out to the Muslim world.

16A Seth’s first son : ENOS

Enos was the son of Seth, and therefore the grandson of Adam and Eve, and nephew of Cain and Abel. According to the ancient Jewish work called the Book of Jubilees, Enos married his own sister Noam.

17A Extremely popular puddle jumper? : HOT AIR TAXI (hot air + “Taxi”)

“Taxi” is a sitcom that aired in the late seventies and early eighties. “Taxi” was the big break for a host of great comic actors including Judd Hirsch, Jeff Conaway, Danny DeVito, Marilu Henner, Tony Danza, Christopher Lloyd and Andy Kaufman.

19A Soul singer James : ETTA

“Etta James” was the stage name of celebrated blues and soul singer Jamesetta Hawkins. James’ most famous recording was her 1960 hit “At Last”, which made it into the pop charts. James performed “At Last” at the age of 71 in 2009 on the reality show “Dancing with the Stars”, which was to be her final television appearance. She passed away in 2012.

21A “Despacito” singer Fonsi : LUIS

“Despacito” is a 2017 song released by Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi, featuring Puerto Rican rapper Daddy Yankee. The song’s accompanying music video was the most-viewed video of all time on YouTube from 2017 to 2020.

23A Soon-to-be buds? : NEXT BEST FRIENDS (next best + “Friends”)

The remarkably successful sitcom “Friends” was created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman. For the first season, the six lead characters were each paid $22,500 per episode. That salary had increased to $1 million per episode by the show’s last season.

28A Batman and Robin, e.g. : ROLES

The television show “Batman” aired from 1966-1968. Burt Ward played Robin opposite Adam West’s Batman. Supposedly, Burt Ward was offered the part taken by Dustin Hoffman in “The Graduate”, but Ward couldn’t get out of his contract for the “Batman” television series. Holy xxxx, Batman!

29A Coyote call : HOWL

The coyote is a canine found in most of Central and North America. The name “coyote” is Mexican Spanish, in which language it means “trickster”. In Native-American folklore, the coyote is an important character, one often playing tricks and defying conventional behavior. Coyotes can sometimes mate with domestic dogs, creating hybrid animals known as “coydogs”. Coyotes can also mate with wolves, creating a “coywolf”. South Dakota named the coyote its state animal in 1949.

32A Hispaniola nation : HAITI

The island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean, shared between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, is known in Spanish as “La Española”.

37A Beach race outcome? : QUICK SANDCASTLE (quicksand + “Castle”)

“Castle” is a crime-drama series starring Nathan Fillion as the title character, mystery novelist Richard Castle. Castle works alongside NYPD homicide detective Kate Beckett, played by Stana Katic. There’s romance in the air between those two lead characters.

41A “Un Verano __ Ti”: Bad Bunny album whose title translates to “A Summer Without You” : SIN

Bad Bunny’s 2022 album “Un Verano Sin Ti” (Spanish for “A Summer without You”) was a huge success. It was the first Spanish language album to be designated best-performing album in the Billboard 200 year-end chart. It also reached 10 billion streams on Spotify, the first album by a Latin artist to do so.

43A Jekyll’s alter ego : HYDE

Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” was published in 1886. There are many tales surrounding the writing of the story, including that the author wrote the basic tale in just three to six days, and spent a few weeks simply refining it. Allegedly, Stevenson’s use of cocaine stimulated his creative juices during those few days of writing.

44A Actor Hawke : ETHAN

Ethan Hawke is a Hollywood actor who made his breakthrough in a supporting role in “Dead Poet’s Society”, playing opposite Robin Williams. Hawke used to be married to Uma Thurman, with whom he has two children.

48A Four-bed, three-bath digs in the backyard? : FAMILY TREEHOUSE (family tree + “House”)

I think that “House” is one of the better shows made by Fox television. It is fun for me, coming from the other side of the Atlantic, to see English actor Hugh Laurie in the dramatic title role. I have been watching him in various comedic roles for decades. Famously, he played Bertie Wooster opposite Stephen Fry in P.G. Wodehouse’s “Jeeves & Wooster”, as well as one of the bumbling “bad guys” in the film “101 Dalmatians” (the version starring Glenn Close).

55A National alternative : ALAMO

Alamo is a car rental brand owned by Enterprise Holdings, the largest car rental company in North America. Alamo was founded in 1974 in Florida, and made inroads (pun!) into the market by popularizing the idea of “unlimited mileage”.

56A Vegan-friendly gelling agent : AGAR

Agar (also “agar-agar”) is a jelly extracted from seaweed that has many uses. Agar is found in Japanese desserts, and can also be used as a food thickener or even as a laxative. In the world of science, it is the most common medium used for growing bacteria in Petri dishes.

57A Cello’s sect. : STR

The cello is the second-largest instrument in the violin family, after the double bass. It is said that the cello produces a sound nearer the human voice than any other instrument in an orchestra. I can see/hear that …

58A Durham university : DUKE

Duke University was founded in 1838 as Brown’s Schoolhouse. The school was renamed to Trinity College in 1859, and to this day the town where the college was located back then is known as Trinity, in honor of the school. The school was moved in 1892 to Durham, North Carolina in part due to generous donations from the wealthy tobacco industrialist Washington Duke. Duke’s donation required that the school open its doors to women, placing them on an equal footing with men. Trinity’s name was changed to Duke in 1924 in recognition of the generosity of the Duke family. Duke’s athletic teams are known as the Blue Devils.

The North Carolina city of Durham started out as a rail depot between the already-settled towns of Raleigh and Hillsborough. As such, the community was initially called “Durham Station”, with the name referring to Dr. Bartlett Durham, on whose land the rail depot was built.

62A Pt. of EMS : EMER

Emergency medical services (EMS)

63A Curriculum segment : UNIT

A curriculum (plural “curricula”) is a set of courses offered by a teaching establishment. “Curriculum” is Latin for “running, course”, and comes from “currere” meaning “to run”.

64A Italian fountain at the junction of three roads : TREVI

The Trevi Fountain (“Fontana di Trevi”) is a huge fountain in Rome, one that is the largest constructed in the Baroque style. The name “Trevi” is a perfect fit, as it derives from the Italian words “tre vie”, which translate literally to “three streets”. The fountain was built at the junction of three roads, marking the terminal point of the Acqua Vergine, one of the ancient Roman aqueducts that supplied water to the city.

65A Bygone pol. divisions : SSRS

The former Soviet Union (officially “Union of Soviet Socialist Republics” or “USSR”) was created in 1922, not long after the Russian Revolution of 1917 that overthrew the tsar. Geographically, the new Soviet Union was roughly equivalent to the old Russian Empire, and comprised fifteen Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs).

Down

1D Andy of “The Real Housewives” franchise : COHEN

TV personality Andy Cohen had a decade-long career in broadcast journalism before he became a fixture of pop culture and reality television. He started as an intern at CBS News and spent ten years there, eventually becoming a senior producer for “The Early Show” and also worked as a producer for “48 Hours” and “CBS This Morning”. Those of us who see in the New Year with CNN know that Cohen has a decades-long friendship with broadcast journalist Anderson Cooper. They met in the 1990s when friends set them up on a (failed) blind date.

3D Swim cap material : LATEX

Latex is a naturally occurring polymer made by some plants that can also be made synthetically. About one in ten of the flowering plants in the world make the milky fluid called latex. It serves as a defense against insects and is exuded when a plant is injured or attacked by insects. Latex is collected commercially and is the source of natural rubber, which can be used to make things such as gloves, condoms and balloons.

4D Combat sport, for short : MMA

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact combat sport in which competitors use a variety of techniques from a variety of traditional combat sports and martial arts.

6D Flatbreads cooked on a tawa : ROTIS

In an Indian restaurant, naan bread is very popular. Roti is an unleavened cousin of naan.

7D Nautical shout : AVAST!

“Avast” is a nautical term used to tell someone to stop or desist from what they are doing. The word comes from the Dutch “hou vast” meaning “hold fast”.

9D “Lux et Veritas” collegian : ELI

“Eli” is the nickname for a graduate of Yale University, and a term used in honor of the Yale benefactor Elihu Yale.

“Lux et veritas” translates from Latin as “Light and Truth”. “Lux et veritas” is used as a motto of several universities including Indiana University, the University of Montana and Yale University. However, Yale’s motto is often given in Hebrew, as “Urim and Thummim”.

13D Pre-1917 rulers : TSARS

The year 1917 saw two revolutions in Russia, with the pair collectively called “the Russian Revolution”. As a result of the February Revolution that centered on Petrograd, the last Emperor of Russia (Tsar Nicholas II) abdicated and members of the Imperial parliament took control of the country, forming the Russian Provisional Government. The Provisional Government was itself overthrown in the October Revolution, which was led by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolshevik party.

22D Paramecium hairs : CILIA

A “paramecium” is a single-celled organism that moves around in water using the tightly-spaced cilia that surround its body.

24D Makeup powder : TALC

Talc is a mineral, hydrated magnesium silicate. Talcum powder is composed of loose talc, although these days “baby powder” is mainly made from cornstarch.

25D With 38-Down, Mexican artist known for self-portraits : FRIDA …
38D See 25-Down : … KAHLO

Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter famous for her self-portraits. She was married to the equally famous artist Diego Rivera. Kahlo was portrayed by actress Salma Hayek in a film about her colorful life called “Frida” released in 2002.

26D Univ. scholarship program : ROTC

The Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) is a training program for officers based in colleges all around the US. The program was established in 1862 when as a condition of receiving a land-grant to create colleges, the federal government required that military tactics be part of a new school’s curriculum.

30D “Certainement!” : OUI!

In French, “oui” (yes) might be stated more emphatically as “certainement!” (certainly!).

33D Hydrocarbon suffix : -ANE

The “smaller” alkanes are gases and are quite combustible. Methane (CH4) is the main component of natural gas, with ethane (C2H6) being the second largest component. Propane (C3H8) is also found in natural gas and is heavy enough to be readily turned into a liquid by compression, for ease of transportation and storage. Butane (C4H10) is also easily liquefied under pressure and can be used as the fuel in cigarette lighters or as the propellant in aerosol sprays. The heavier alkanes are liquids and solids at room temperature.

36D Maiden name intro : NEE

“Née” is the French word for “born” when referring to a female. The male equivalent is “né”. The term “née” is mainly used in English when referring to a married woman’s birth name, assuming that she has adopted her husband’s name, e.g. Michelle Obama née Robinson, Melania Trump née Knavs, and Jill Biden née Jacobs.

39D Lab request? : STAY!

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”.

51D “Grand slam” awards, for short : EGOTS

The acronym “EGOT” stands for “Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony”, and is a reference to performers who have won all four awards. Also known as the “Showbiz Award Grand Slam”, there are relatively few individuals who have been so honored. The first five to do so were:

1. Richard Rodgers in 1962
2. Helen Hayes in 1977
3. Rita Moreno in 1977
4. John Gielgud in 1991
5. Audrey Hepburn in 1994 (posthumously)

54D Theoretical physicist Schrödinger : ERWIN

Erwin Schrödinger was an Austrian theoretical physicist, one of the so-called “fathers of Quantum Mechanics”. He won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1933 for developing the Schrödinger Equation, the “Newton’s Law” of Quantum Mechanics. Famously, Schrödinger devised a thought experiment that illustrates the concept of a paradox. The scenario, known as “Schrödinger’s Cat”, presents us with a cat that can be both alive and dead at the same time. I used to think that I understood Schrödinger’s Cat, and then I became old and wise, and recognized my weaknesses …

59D Crawl stop : PUB

A pub crawl (also “bar-hopping”) is a tour of a selection of local public houses. One usually takes one drink at each stop, which might perhaps explain the use of the word “crawl” …

60D Game based on Crazy Eights : UNO

The card game called Crazy Eights is named for the former military designation “Section 8”. Section 8 referred to a category of discharge from the US military, reserved for personnel deemed mentally unfit for duty.

61D Sanskrit title of respect : SRI

Sanskrit is an Indo-Aryan language and one of the 22 scheduled languages of India. It has a rich tradition and is the language in which many historical and religious texts are written. There aren’t many speakers of the language today although efforts are underway to revive spoken Sanskrit.