Category: Susan Gelfand

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Constructed by: Susan Gelfand & Katie Hale
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: Change the Subject

Themed answers are common phrases reinterpreted as tips that might be given by a teacher cited in the corresponding clue:

• 23A Tip from a history teacher about how to study WWII? : CHOOSE ONE’S BATTLES
• 38A Tip from an English teacher about the editing process? : MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT
• 60A Tip from a gym teacher about how to win at tug-of-war? : PULL IT TOGETHER
• 81A Tip from an astronomy teacher about how to set up telescopes? : AIM FOR THE STARS
• 102A Tip from an accounting teacher about calculating profits and losses? : FIND THE RIGHT BALANCE
• 121A Tip from a math teacher about working with squares and cubes? : REMEMBER YOUR ROOTS

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

Bill’s time: 12m 26s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Word with corn or matzo : … MEAL

Matzo is an unleavened bread that is very brittle. The bread is crushed, creating a Matzo meal that is then formed into balls using eggs and oil as a binder. The balls are usually served in a chicken stock.

15 Org. with badges : BSA

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) organization was founded in 1910 by American businessman and philanthropist, William D. Boyce. Legend has it that Boyce was moved to do so after he was helped by a young British boy scout while lost in the fog in London. Inspired by the boy scout’s preparedness and helpfulness, Boyce brought the idea of scouting back to the United States and worked to establish the BSA.

18 Director Preminger : OTTO

Otto Preminger was noted for directing films that pushed the envelope in terms of subject matter, at least in the fifties and sixties. Great examples would be 1955’s “The Man with the Golden Arm” that dealt with drug addiction, 1959’s “Anatomy of a Murder” that dealt with rape, and 1962’s “Advise and Consent” that dealt with homosexuality. If you’ve seen these films, you’ll have noticed that the references are somewhat indirect and disguised, in order to get past the censors.

21 “Clever you” : TOUCHE

“Touché” is a term from fencing, one acknowledging a successful “touch” in a duel. The usage has been extended to mean that a successful criticism or riposte has hit home in a conversation.

23 Tip from a history teacher about how to study WWII? : CHOOSE ONE’S BATTLES

World War II started in 1 September 1939 with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany. V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day) was celebrated on 8 May 1945, when the German military surrendered in Berlin. V-J Day (Victory over Japan Day) was celebrated on 2 September 1945 when the Japanese signed the surrender document aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

26 __ card: smartphone need : SIM

Most cell phones have SIM cards these days. SIM cards hold the personal information of the subscriber, with the acronym being short for “Subscriber Identity Module”.

29 Radio City Music Hall style : ART DECO

New York City’s Radio City Music Hall in Rockefeller Center opened for business in 1932. Originally to be named International Music Hall, the current name was chosen in honor of the Radio Corporation of America, which was one of Rockefeller Center’s first tenants.

32 Grover’s predecessor : CHESTER

President Chester Alan Arthur (CAA) came to power after the assassination of James Garfield in 1881. After Arthur was promoted to president, the office of vice president was left unfilled. The need to replace the vice president was not called out in the US Constitution until the adoption of the 25th Amendment in 1967. Arthur was the last US president to serve without a vice president.

44 Rapper Dr. __ : DRE

“Dr. Dre” is the stage name of rapper Andre Romelle Young. He is known for his own singing career as well as for producing records and starting the careers of others such as Snoop Dogg, Eminem and 50 Cent.

46 3-Down novelist McEwan : IAN
[3D Booker Prize-shortlisted novel made into a film starring Keira Knightley : ATONEMENT]

English author Ian McEwan’s most famous work is probably the 2001 novel “Atonement”, which was adapted into an Oscar winning 2007 film. His earlier novel “Amsterdam” was awarded the 1998 Booker Prize. Earlier still, his first two novels were Gothic short stories, the publication of which earned him the nickname “Ian Macabre”.

47 Desilu co-founder : ARNAZ

As one might imagine, “Desilu” is a contraction of the names of the production company’s owners, Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. The name “Desilu” was first given to the couple’s ranch in Chatsworth, California. Desilu produced some great shows, including the original “Star Trek” and “Mission: Impossible”.

49 Actress Ward : SELA

Actress Sela Ward turns up in crosswords a lot. She played Teddy Reed in the TV show “Sisters” in the nineties, and was in “Once and Again” from 1999-2002. I don’t know either show, but I do know Ward from the medical drama “House” in which she played the hospital’s lawyer and Greg House’s ex-partner. That was a fun role, I thought. More recently, Ward played a lead role on “CSI: NY” and was a very welcome and much-needed addition to the cast. And, Ward played Dr. Richard Kimble’s murdered wife in the 1993 film version of “The Fugitive”.

52 Observed Ramadan, say : FASTED

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. Fasting during Ramadan is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. The fast begins at dawn and ends at sunset each day. The end of Ramadan is marked by a three-day festival called Eid al-Fitr, which means “festival of breaking the fast.”

60 Tip from a gym teacher about how to win at tug-of-war? : PULL IT TOGETHER

Tug-of-war is a strength competition between two teams who pull on opposite ends of a rope, vying to pull the opponents over a marked line. The sport was an event in the Summer Olympic Games from 1900 until 1920. The USA teams won all three medals for the tug-of-war at the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis.

71 Atlanta pitcher Kirby : YATES

Kirby Yates is a baseball pitcher who made his MLB debut in 2014 for the Tampa Bay Rays. Yates is one of many pitchers who lost a couple of seasons recovering after Tommy John surgery, a procedure to restore throwing ability after injury caused by repetitive elbow movements.

79 Charlie Parker’s instrument : ALTO SAX

Charlie Parker was a jazz saxophonist who was often just called “Bird” or “Yardbird”. He was a leader in the development of the style of jazz called “bebop”, which gained popularity in the forties. Parker had a rough life outside of music. He was a heroin addict, and a heavy drinker. When he died, the coroner who performed his autopsy estimated his age as between 50 and 60 years old based on the appearance of his body and condition of his organs. Charlie Parker was actually 34-years-old when he died in a New York City hotel room in 1955.

81 Tip from an astronomy teacher about how to set up telescopes? : AIM FOR THE STARS

The first patent application for a telescope was filed in 1608 in the Netherlands, to eyeglass maker Hans Lippershey. However, research has shown that there is some evidence that telescopes were built before 1608, perhaps as early as the mid-1500s. But it is clear that reports of Lippershey’s design spread quickly around Europe. By 1609, Galileo had built his own telescope and started to explore the night sky.

90 “Stay With Me” singer Smith : SAM

2014’s “Stay with Me” was a huge hit, his biggest, for English singer Sam Smith. Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne received a co-writing credit in 2015 after it was agreed that there was a similarity between the melodies of “Stay With Me” and Petty’s 1989 hit “I Won’t Back Down”. Petty has said that he believed the plagiarism was accidental, but the similarity still exists.

Sam Smith is a singer from London. Their biggest hit was probably 2014’s “Stay with Me”, but they also co-wrote and recorded “Writing’s on the Wall”, the theme song for the 2015 James Bond film “Spectre”.

92 Great flood protagonist : NOAH

According to the Bible’s Book of Genesis, rain fell for forty days and forty nights, resulting in the Great Flood. All creatures on the land perished, except Noah, his family, and the animals that he brought into the ark.

95 Western treaty gp. : OAS

The Organization of American States (OAS) was founded in 1948, and has its headquarters in Washington, D.C. Not all of the independent states in the Americas are members. Cuba was barred from participation in the organization after a vote in 1962. Honduras had her membership suspended after the country’s 2009 coup.

99 MMA calls : KOS

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.

101 Big-screen format : IMAX

The IMAX Corporation, which is behind the IMAX film format, is a Canadian company. The impetus for developing the system came after Expo ’67 in Montreal. Back then large format screenings were accomplished using multiple projectors with multiple screens, with images basically stitched together. The team behind the IMAX technology set out to simplify things, and developed a single-camera, single-projector system.

102 Tip from an accounting teacher about calculating profits and losses? : FIND THE RIGHT BALANCE

The balance sheet of a company is a snapshot (single-point-in-time) view of a company’s financial position. The balance sheet lists all the company’s liabilities, all of its assets, and all of its ownership equity. The assets of a company, less its liabilities equals the ownership equity. The term “balance” is used because assets always balance out with the sum of liabilities and shareholder equity.

109 Pie crust ingredient : LARD

Fat, when extracted from the carcass of an animal, is called suet. Untreated suet decomposes at room temperature quite easily so it has to be rendered, purified to make it stable. Rendered fat from pigs is what we call lard. Rendered beef or mutton fat is known as tallow.

118 Caged copycat : PARROT

Scientists tell us that parrots are some of the most intelligent species of birds. Many of those species are able to imitate the human voice. Such characteristics have led to parrots becoming popular house pets, and a resulting drop in populations of parrots living in the wild.

120 Successful show letters : SRO

Standing room only (SRO)

127 Venezia’s land : ITALIA

In Italian, the city of “Venezia” (Venice) is in “Italia” (Italy).

129 Sheltered from the wind : ALEE

Alee is the direction away from the wind. If a sailor points into the wind, he or she is pointing aweather. The sheltered side of an island, for example, might be referred to as the “lee” side.

131 Former Seattle team, familiarly : SONICS

The Seattle SuperSonics were the professional basketball team based in Seattle from 1967 to 2008, at which time the franchise moved to Oklahoma City (and became the Oklahoma City Thunder).

132 Tide type : NEAP

Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon on the oceans. At neap tide, the smaller gravitational effect of the sun cancels out some of the moon’s effect. At spring tide, the sun and the moon’s gravitational forces act in concert causing more extreme movement of the oceans.

133 Colorado’s __ Verde National Park : MESA

Mesa Verde National Park is in Colorado. Mesa Verde is home to ancient cliff dwellings built by the Puebloan people, also known as the Anasazi. The most spectacular of these dwellings is Cliff Palace, which is the largest cliff dwelling in North America.

Down

1 Chocolaty coffee : MOCHA

A caffè mocha is a caffè latte that has been flavored with chocolate. One might also regard a caffè mocha as hot chocolate with the addition of a shot of espresso.

3 Booker Prize-shortlisted novel made into a film starring Keira Knightley : ATONEMENT

“Atonement” is an excellent 2007 big-screen adaptation of Ian McEwan’s 2001 novel of the same name. The cast is outstanding, including James McEvoy, Keira Knightley and Vanessa Redgrave. I was most impressed by the performance of young Saiorse Ronan, a performance that launched her Hollywood career.

English actress Keira Knightley had her big break in the movies when she co-starred in 2002’s “Bend It Like Beckham”. Knightley played one of my favorite movie roles, Elizabeth Bennett in 2005’s “Pride and Prejudice”. Knightley won a Golden Globe for that performance, although that 2005 film isn’t the best adaptation of Austen’s novel in my humble opinion …

4 Booty : LOOT

“Booty”, meaning “plunder, profit”, is derived from the Old French word “butin” that has the same meaning.

5 Grew molars, say : TEETHED

Molars are grinding teeth. The term “molar” comes from the Latin “mola” meaning “millstone”.

6 Prefix with thermic : EXO-

In the world of chemistry, a reaction that is endothermal or endothermic is one that absorbs heat. An exothermic reaction gives off heat.

7 Any of the Rockies: Abbr. : MTN

North America’s Rocky Mountains stretch from the very north of British Columbia in Canada to New Mexico in the US. The length of the range is over 3,000 miles. The highest point is Mount Elbert in Colorado, which has an elevation of 14,440 feet.

8 Magic word : PRESTO

On a musical score, the instruction “presto” is used to indicate a fast tempo. The term is also used as an interjection, often indicating that something appeared or occurred as if by magic. “Presto” is the Italian word for “quick”.

10 Droid : BOT

“Droid” is short for “android” and is used to describe a robot that resembles a human. The Latin word “androides” was used in English in the 18th century to mean “like a man”. Science fiction writers introduced us to “android” in the early 1950s.

12 Log-shaped pastry : ECLAIR

The name for the pastry known as an “éclair” is clearly French in origin. The French word for lightning is “éclair”, but no one seems to be too sure how it came to be used for the rather delicious bakery item.

13 Shirley Temple garnish : CHERRY

The original drink called a Shirley Temple was made with two parts ginger ale, one part orange juice and a dash of grenadine. The contemporary drink is much simpler, and comprises 7up (or equivalent) with a little grenadine. A variant of the non-alcoholic original that includes some form of booze is often called a “Dirty Shirley”.

14 Acid __ : TEST

Gold is a metallic chemical element with the symbol “Au”. It is extremely unreactive. Silver and other base metals dissolve in nitric acid, and so testing an unknown sample with nitric acid can confirm the presence of gold. This assaying practice gave rise to the figurative use of the term “acid test” to describe any definitive test.

20 Colorado ski spot : ASPEN

Aspen, Colorado used to be known as Ute City, with the name change taking place in 1880. Like many communities in the area, Aspen was a mining town, and in 1891 and 1892 it was at the center of the highest production of silver in the US. Nowadays, it’s all about skiing and movie stars.

24 Burlap bag : SACK

Burlap, also called “hessian”, is a coarse woven fabric made from fibers taken from jute, sisal or hemp plants.

25 Arctic hazards : BERGS

An iceberg is a large piece of freshwater ice that is floating freely after having broken away from a glacier or ice shelf. Our use of “iceberg” comes from the Dutch word for the same phenomenon “ijsberg”, which translates literally as “ice mountain”.

30 Qatar’s capital : DOHA

Doha is the capital city of the Persian Gulf state of Qatar. The name “Doha” translates from Arabic as “the big tree”.

40 Islamic mystic : SUFI

A sufi is a Muslim mystic, an ascetic. Apparently, the term “sufi” can be translated as “man of wool”. This might be a reference to the practice of donning holy garments made from wool, as opposed to silk.

48 Zip : ZERO

The use of the words “zip” and “zippo” to mean “nothing” dates back to the early 1900s, when it was student slang for being graded zero on a test.

50 Girl who cannot be trusted to hold the football for Charlie Brown : LUCY

In Charles Schulz’s fabulous comic strip “Peanuts”, Charlie Brown is friends with at least three members of the van Pelt family. Most famously there is Lucy van Pelt, who bosses everyone around, and who operates a psychiatric booth that looks like a lemonade stand. Then there is Linus, Lucy’s younger brother, the character who always has his security blanket at hand. Lastly there is an even younger brother, Rerun van Pelt. Rerun is constantly hiding under his bed, trying to avoid going to school.

51 Pasta __ Norma : ALLA

Pasta alla Norma is an Italian dish from Sicily. It comprises pasta in a tomato sauce covered with slices of fried eggplant. The dish is named for the opera “Norma” by Sicilian composer Vincenzo Bellini.

53 Pamplona bulls : TOROS

Pamplona, Spain is famous for its San Fermin festival held in July every year, the highlight of which is the Running of the Bulls. Every year, 200-300 people are injured in the bull run, and 15 people have been killed since 1910. If you get to Pamplona two days before the Running of the Bulls, you can see the animal-rights protest event known as the Running of the Nudes. The protesters are as naked as the bulls …

56 Supersized sandwich : HERO

A hero is a submarine sandwich. It originated in New York City in the 1800s among Italian immigrants who wanted an Italian sandwich that reminded them of home. The name “hero” was coined in the 1930s, supposedly by a food critic in the “New York Herald Tribune” when he wrote that “one had to be a hero” to finish the gigantic sandwich. Hero is a prevalent term to this day in New York City, reserved for a submarine sandwich with an Italian flavor.

57 Normandy river : ORNE

Orne is a department and river in the northwest of France. Perhaps one of the most famous locations in Orne is the village of Camembert, the home of the famous (and delicious!) cheese.

62 Number of Grammy Awards won by Dolly Parton : TEN

Dolly Parton is a country music singer-songwriter, as well as an actress. Parton has written over 3,000 songs, my favorite of which is “I Will Always Love You” that was a huge hit for herself and for Whitney Houston.

64 Classic mint brand : CERTS

Certs were the first breath mints to be marketed nationally in the US, hitting the shelves in 1956. A Cert is called a mint, but it isn’t really as it contains no mint oil and instead has its famous ingredient named “Retsyn”. Retsyn is a mixture of copper gluconate (giving the green flecks), partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil (not healthy!) and flavoring (maybe mint?).

67 Bleating sounds : MAAS

“Maa” is the call of a goat.

68 Pelvic bones : ILIA

The ilium (plural “ilia”) is the upper portion of the hipbone.

73 H-Town pro : ‘STRO

The Houston baseball team changed its name to the Astros (sometimes “’Stros”) from the Colt .45s in 1965 when they started playing in the Astrodome. The Astrodome was so called in recognition of the city’s long association with the US space program. The Astros moved from the National League to the American League starting in the 2013 season.

The city of Houston (sometimes “H-Town”) was named for General Sam Houston, who served as President of the Republic of Texas and then as Governor after Texas was annexed as a US state in 1845. As the city is home to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston was officially given the nickname “Space City” in 1967.

75 Parkway sign : EXIT

The original parkways were scenic highways or roadways in or connecting parks. Sadly, many parkways are a lot less scenic these days, as buildings have sprouted up along the highway’s edges.

80 Resident of Japan’s third largest city : OSAKAN

The Japanese city of Osaka used to be called Naniwa, with the name changing to Osaka sometime before 1500. “Osaka” can be translated either as “large hill” or “large slope”. Osaka is sometimes referred to as “the Chicago of Japan” as it is a major center of commerce and industry. The city has also been named the “nation’s kitchen”, and was a center for Japan’s rice trade for centuries.

86 Prince in “The Little Mermaid” : ERIC

“The Little Mermaid” is a 1989 animated feature from Disney that is based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of the same name. It tells the story of a mermaid princess named Ariel who falls in love with the human Prince Eric. Ariel’s father is chief merman King Triton. Her best friend is Flounder, who despite his name is not a flounder at all and is actually a tropical fish. Ariel is also friends with Sebastian, a red Jamaican crab whose full name is Horatio Thelonious Ignacious Crustaceous Sebastian.

87 Small part for a big name, often : CAMEO ROLE

Even in my day, a cameo role was more than just a short appearance in a movie (or other artistic piece). For the appearance to be a cameo, the actor had to play himself or herself, and was instantly recognizable. With this meaning it’s easy to see the etymology of the term, as a cameo brooch is one with the recognizable carving of the silhouette of a person. Nowadays, a cameo is any minor role played by a celebrity or famous actor, regardless of the character played.

88 Writer LeShan : EDA

Eda LeShan wrote several nonfiction books including “When Your Child Drives You Crazy” and “The Conspiracy Against Childhood”. LeShan was also host of the PBS television show “How Do Your Children Grow?”

89 Census datum : SEX

The original census was taken during the days of the Roman Republic, and was a reckoning of all adult males who were fit for military service. The first US Census was taken in 1790, and was conducted by federal marshals.

93 Hindu spring festival : HOLI

Holi is a Hindu festival, one celebrated in spring, that is also known as the Festival of Colours.

98 Number of Powerpuff Girls : THREE

“The Powerpuff Girls” is a children’s animated television show that airs on the Cartoon Network.

104 Contract adverb : HERETO

The word “hereto” is legalese for “to here”, as in “attached hereto” meaning “attached to here”.

105 “The Nightmare Before Christmas” composer Danny : ELFMAN

Danny Elfman is a singer and songwriter from Los Angeles. Elfman is well known for compositions used for television and films. For example, he wrote the themes for “The Simpsons” and “Desperate Housewives”.

“The Nightmare Before Christmas” is a 1993 animated feature film by Tim Burton. The inspiration for the movie was a 1982 poem written by Burton himself. I’m not a fan …

107 Legendary Paul : BUNYAN

Paul Bunyan is a character of American myth. He is a skilled lumberjack, and has a sidekick called Babe the Blue Ox. Both Bunyan and Babe are gigantic in size.

113 Casts a ballot : VOTES

Today, a ballot is a piece of paper or equivalent used to cast a vote. Back in the 1500s, a “ballot” was a small “ball” used in the process of voting.

116 “Exodus” novelist Leon : URIS

“Exodus” is a wonderful novel written by American writer Leon Uris that was first published in 1947. The hero of the piece is Ari Ben Canaan, a character played by Paul Newman in the 1960 film adaptation directed by Otto Preminger.

122 Pharmaceutical giant __ Lilly : ELI

Eli Lilly is the largest corporation in the state of Indiana. Founder Eli Lilly was a veteran of the Union Army in the Civil War, and a failed Mississippi plantation owner. Later in life he returned to his first profession and opened a pharmaceutical operation to manufacture drugs and sell them wholesale. Under Lilly’s early guidance, the company was the first to create gelatin capsules to hold medicines and the first to use fruit flavoring in liquid medicines.

125 Cavaliers sch. : UVA

The University of Virginia (UVA) sports teams are known officially as “the Cavaliers”. The unofficial nickname is “the Wahoos”.

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