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Constructed by: Brian Callahan

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: P.S. I Love You

Themed answers are all much-LOVED singer/songwriters whose names start with “PS”:

• 59A Beatles hit on “Please Please Me,” which could be dedicated to 16-, 24-, 35-, and 50-Across : PS I LOVE YOU

• 16A “Because the Night” singer-songwriter : PATTI SMITH
• 24A “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” singer-songwriter : PETE SEEGER
• 35A “You Can Call Me Al” singer-songwriter : PAUL SIMON
• 50A “Poetry Man” singer-songwriter : PHOEBE SNOW

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

Bill’s time: 6m 22s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Campbell’s container : CAN

The Campbell’s Soup company is named for one of the enterprise’s two founders, Joseph A. Campbell. He and Abraham Anderson started the business in 1869. The iconic design of the Campbell’s can was introduced in 1898 and has hardly changed since then. The gold seal in the design comes from the 1900 Paris Exhibition.

4A Sports complex : ARENA

Our term “arena” comes from the Latin “harena”, describing a place of combat. Originally “harena” was used for sand or a sandy place. Those Ancient Roman places of combat were covered with sand to soak up blood.

9A Air quality factor : SMOG

“Smog” is a portmanteau formed by melding “smoke” and “fog”. The term was first used to describe the air around London in the early 1900s. Several cities around the world have a reputation of being particularly smoggy. For example, the most smog-plagued city in Latin America is Mexico City, which is located in a highland “bowl” that traps industrial and vehicle pollution.

13A The Jazz, on scoreboards : UTA

The Utah Jazz professional basketball team moved to Salt Lake City in 1979. As one might guess from the name, the team originated in New Orleans, but only played there for five seasons. New Orleans was a tough place to be based because venues were hard to come by, and Mardi Gras forced the team to play on the road for a whole month.

15A University of New Mexico athlete : LOBO

The University of New Mexico (UNM) is a school in Albuquerque that was founded in 1889. The UNM sports teams are called the Lobos, and there are two mascots who work the crowds named Lobo Louie and Lobo Lucy.

16A “Because the Night” singer-songwriter : PATTI SMITH

Patti Smith is a singer-songwriter who was a big player in the seventies punk rock movement in New York City. Smith’s most successful song is “Because the Night”, a song co-written with Bruce Springsteen and recorded by Smith in 1978. Her influence in the punk rock scene earned Smith the nickname “Godmother of Punk”.

18A Siberian city : OMSK

Omsk is a city in southwest Siberia. It is located over 1400 miles from Moscow and was chosen as the destination for many internal exiles in the mid-1900s. Perhaps the most famous of these exiles was the author Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

20A Grumpy person : CRAB

We’ve been describing grouchy people as crabby since the 1700s, mainly in North America. The term “crabby” possibly arose from the perceived combative nature of “crabs”.

22A Fed. health law : ACA

The correct name for what has been dubbed “Obamacare” is the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (ACA).

23A Dialect in some Black communities, for short : AAVE

African American Vernacular English (AAVE)

24A “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” singer-songwriter : PETE SEEGER

Pete Seeger’s 1955 anti-war song “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” was inspired by a snippet of a traditional Cossack folk song that has the lyrics:

Where are the flowers, the girls have plucked them.
Where are the girls, they’ve all taken husbands.
Where are the men, they’re all in the army.

Seeger added his plea for peace in his lyric “Oh, when will they ever learn?”

27A Tear sheet? : KLEENEX

Even though “Kleenex” is sometimes used today as a generic term for a tissue, it is a brand name owned by Kimberly-Clark. Kleenex facial tissues came about after WW1. The material used in the tissue had been developed as a replacement for cotton that was in high demand as surgical tissue during the war. The material developed was called “Cellucotton” and was used in gas mask filters. It was first sold as a facial tissue under the name “Kleenex” in 1924.

30A “Mars Attacks!” creatures, in brief : ETS

The 1996 science fiction-comedy movie “Mars Attacks!”, directed by Tim Burton, was inspired by a series of Mars Attacks trading cards. Apparently, Topps released the cards under a fake company name (“Bubbles, Inc”) because of the graphic nature of the images. One card, #36, “Destroying a Dog”, depicted an alien vaporizing a family pet as a boy looked on in horror. Parents were so outraged that Topps stopped production. The limited run of the card resulted in collectors paying over $500 for a bubble gum pack that originally sold for 5 cents.

31A Celtic priest of old : DRUID

Druids were priests of Celtic Europe during the Iron Age. Historians rely on accounts of the beliefs and practices of druids recorded by the likes of ancient Romans and Greeks, as it is believed that druids themselves were prevented from recording their knowledge by their belief system.

34A Son of Zeus : ARES

The Greek god Ares is often referred to as the Olympian god of warfare, but originally he was regarded as the god of bloodlust and slaughter. He united with Aphrodite to create several gods, including Phobos (Fear), Deimos (Terror) and Eros (Desire). Ares was the son of Zeus and Hera, and the Roman equivalent to Ares was Mars.

35A “You Can Call Me Al” singer-songwriter : PAUL SIMON

“You Can Call Me Al” is a song by Paul Simon that leads off side-two of his 1986 “Graceland” album. The song’s title came from a case of mistaken identity at a party hosted by French conductor Pierre Boulez. Boulez accidentally referred to Simon as “Al” and his then-wife Peggy Harper as “Betty”. I guess “Al” Simon enjoyed the social gaffe … 🙂

38A Ralph Lauren brand : POLO

Ralph Lauren is an American fashion designer, born Ralph Liftshitz in the Bronx, New York. Lauren started off working as a salesman for Brooks Brothers after spending two years in the US Army. He then opened a necktie store, featuring his own tie designs. The ties were sold under the name “Polo”, which became Lauren’s most famous brand. Other Lauren brands are Purple Label and Black Label.

42A Sked abbr. : TBD

Something not yet on the schedule (“sked” or “sched.”) is to be advised/announced (TBA) or determined (TBD).

45A Device for smoking shisha : HOOKAH

A hookah is a water pipe, a device for smoking tobacco in which the smoke is passed through a water basin before it is inhaled.

Shisha (also “Mu’assel”, “honeyed” in Arabic) is a flavored tobacco containing molasses, sugar alcohol and other flavorings. It is a relatively recent concoction, even though it is smoked in a hookah, a centuries-old invention.

48A On an elite level, informally : GOD-TIER

“God tier” is a term from the world of gaming, and applies to the highest level of power or skill.

50A “Poetry Man” singer-songwriter : PHOEBE SNOW

Phoebe Snow was a singer-songwriter from New York City whose best known work is her 1974 hit “Poetry Man”. She was born “Phoebe Laub”, and chose her stage name from a character used in advertisements for the Lackawanna Railroad. The character was a young socialite who traveled in a white dress to prove how clean the company’s trains were after adopting the use of anthracite coal in its steam locomotives.

54A Jungfrau, for one : ALP

The Jungfrau is a peak in the Bernese Alps in Switzerland. “Jungfrau” translates from German as “maiden” or “virgin”.

55A Balm-yielding succulent : ALOE

Succulent plants are those with thickened stems and/or leaves that have evolved to retain water. As such, succulents are often found where the climate is particularly dry. The term “succulent” comes from the Latin “sucus” meaning “juice, sap”.

56A Small but powerful group : CADRE

A cadre is, most commonly, a group of experienced personnel at the core of a larger organization that the small group trains or heavily influences. “Cadre” is a French word meaning “frame”. We use it in the sense that a cadre is a group that provides a “framework” for the larger organization.

59A Beatles hit on “Please Please Me,” which could be dedicated to 16-, 24-, 35-, and 50-Across : PS I LOVE YOU

“P.S. I Love You” was recorded by the Beatles way back in 1962. On the recording, Ringo Starr is playing the maracas, not the drums. A session musician played the drums, replacing Pete Best who had just been fired by Brian Epstein. Ringo had not yet been “anointed” as Best’s replacement.

63A “Praying” insect : MANTIS

The term “praying mantis” is often used for species of insects more correctly called simply “mantis”. The familiar term refers to the prayer-like posture adopted by the insect with their forelimbs folded. Strangely, the praying mantis is the only animal that we know with only one ear. That ear is located deep in the thorax or chest.

64A Dawn goddess : EOS

In Greek mythology, Eos is the goddess of the dawn who lives at the edge of the ocean. Eos wakes each morning to welcome her brother Helios the Sun. The Roman equivalent of Eos is Aurora. Rather delightfully, Homer referred to Eos as “rosy-fingered dawn” in both “Iliad” and “Odyssey”.

65A __ and file : RANK

At the end of the 16th century, a group of soldiers marching in formation were divided into ranks and files. The ranks in the formation were the “horizontal” lines, and the files the “vertical” lines. The phrase “rank and file” was then used for “common soldiers”, and eventually “common people”.

66A Short-lived Ford model : EDSEL

The Edsel brand of automobile was named for Edsel, son of Henry Ford. Sadly, the name “Edsel” has become synonymous with “failure”, which was no fault of Edsel himself who had died several years before the Edsel line was introduced. When the Ford Motor Company introduced the Edsel on 4 September 1957, Ford proclaimed the day to be “E Day”.

67A Private chats on soc. media : DMS

Direct message (DM)

Down

4D Some Energizers : AAS

We are all fairly familiar with the Energizer Bunny, I am guessing. It was introduced in 1989 to promote Energizer batteries, by parodying the Duracell Bunny that made its debut in 1973.

7D __-Dame de Paris : NOTRE

Notre-Dame de Paris is the spectacular Gothic cathedral that sits on the Île de la Cité, one of the islands in the middle of the River Seine in Paris. Notre-Dame is home to many beautiful and significant artifacts, the most famous of which is the Crown of Thorns supposedly worn by Jesus Christ at his execution, placed in the cathedral in 1239. It’s also home to some magnificent gargoyles on the roof, and you can climb up to the roof and take a very close look at them. Well, you used to be able to, until the tragic fire of 2019. The cathedral re-opened at the end of 2024, but I’m not sure about the tour of the roof …

10D Certain representative for a child actor, casually : MOMAGER

A “dad” who “manages” a famous son or daughter might be called a “dadager”. A “mom” performing the same role might be called a “momager”.

21D Arthur in the Television Hall of Fame : BEA

Bea Arthur was an American actress and comedian who rose to fame in the 1970s with her iconic roles in the hit TV shows “Maude” and “The Golden Girls”. Prior to launching her acting career, Arthur served in the US military. In 1943, at the age of 21, she joined the US Marine Corps Women’s Reserve, where she worked as a typist and truck driver.

The Television Hall of Fame was formed in 1984. There were seven inductees in that first year, including Lucille Ball, Milton Berle, Norman Lear and Edward R. Murrow.

24D Lima’s country : PERU

Lima is the capital city of Peru. It 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. Lima is home to the oldest university in all of the Americas, as San Marcos University was founded in 1551 during the days of Spanish colonial rule.

28D Secret-protecting doc : NDA

Non-disclosure agreement (NDA)

33D Down Under canine : DINGO

The dingo is a wild dog of Australia. It is thought to have originated from domesticated dogs that were brought to Australia with humans that settled the land centuries ago.

36D __ Mix cat food : MEOW

We might know Meow Mix cat food because of its advertising jingle that was meowed out by a cat, with subtitles below.

38D Element of a basic reading test? : PH PAPER

Litmus is a mixture of naturally-occurring dyes that responds to acidity by changing color. It was probably first used around 1300 by the Spanish alchemist Arnaldus de Villa Nova, who extracted the blue dye from lichens. One suggestion is that the term “litmus” comes from the Old Norse “litmose” meaning “lichen for dyeing”. Litmus is often absorbed onto filter paper, creating “litmus paper” or “pH paper”. We also use the phrase “litmus test” figuratively to describe any test in which a single factor decides the outcome.

42D Like much Grateful Dead merch : TIE-DYED

The Grateful Dead were a rock band from the San Francisco Bay Area that was founded in 1965. “The Dead” disbanded in 1995 following the death of lead guitarist Jerry Garcia. Grateful Dead fans (the ranks of whom include my wife) refer to themselves as “Deadheads”.

44D “The Lorax” creator : DR SEUSS

“The Lorax” is a 1971 children’s book written by Dr. Seuss. It is an allegorical work questioning the problems created by industrialization, and in particular its impact on the environment. At one point in the story, the Lorax “speaks for the trees, for the trees have no tongues”. “The Lorax” was adapted into an animated film that was released in 2012, with Danny DeVito voicing the title character.

He was shortish, and oldish, and brownish and mossy. And he spoke with a voice that was sharpish and bossy.

46D Legal org. : ABA

American Bar Association (ABA)

49D Four-time NBA All-Star Young : TRAE

Professional basketball player Trae Young was picked up by the Dallas Mavericks in the 2018 NBA draft, and then traded the same day to the Atlanta Hawks. He played with the Hawks until 2026, when he was traded to the Washington Wizards. Young is sometimes known by his nickname “Ice Trae”.

52D Düsseldorf denials : NEINS

The German city of Düsseldorf takes its name from the Düssel, a small river that meets the Rhine in the city. Düsseldorf is often called the “longest bar in the world”because the half-square-kilometer “Altstadt” (Old Town) contains over 260 bars, restaurants, and breweries packed tightly together. Next time I’m in Germany …

56D Walgreens rival : CVS

The name of the drugstore chain CVS once stood for “Consumer Value Stores”, although these days the company uses the initialism to denote “Convenience, Value and Service”.

60D Cell service letters : LTE

In the world of telecommunications, the initialism LTE stands for Long-Term Evolution, and is wireless broadband communication standard. In general terms, LTE improves broadband speeds. As I understand it, LTE technology allows a 3G network to perform almost as well as a true 4G network, and so LTE is sometimes marketed as 4G LTE, even though it’s really “3G plus”.

61D Part of EVOO : OIL

Virgin olive oil is oil produced from olives with no chemical treatment involved in the production process at all. To be labeled “virgin”, the oil must have an acidity level of less than 2% and must be judged to have “a good taste”. Extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) comes from virgin oil production, and is the portion with acidity levels of less than 0.8% acidity that is judged to have “superior taste”.