Music for those who listen. 20 Les Bon Bons Des Raisons Demo 3:23 Buy. Les Bon Bons Des Raisons Demo WAV (24-bit) $2.19. Poker Flat Recordings Catalogue Number pfrcd18d Release Date.
Demo
And Texts For Reading
With
Proportional Reading
Audio Files (white) Linked Below
Free Phonics
Build Vocabulary
PR Book Videos and PR Lesson Videos
Overview
1A. Fairy Tale: Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp
Audio Files
By Word
By Phrase
By Punctuation Interval
By Sentence (separated)
By Sentence & “;” in Paragraph
By Paragraph F30
By No Special Format
Demo
(Middle School level books are #1B-1M. High School and up level books start with #2. All files can be read with Apple’s VoiceOver.)
1B. Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland by Louis Carroll
Audio Files
By Sentence (separated)
1C. The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
Audio Files
By Sentence (separated)
1D. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Audio Files
By Sentence (separated)
1E. The Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Audio Files
By Sentence (separated)
1F. Aesop’s Fables by an unknown Slave
Audio Files
By Sentence (separated)
1G. Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Anderson V1
Audio Files
By Sentence (separated)
1H. Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Anderson V2
Audio Files
By Sentence (separated)
1I. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Audio Files
By Sentence (separated)
1J. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Audio Files
By Sentence (separated)
1K. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Audio Files
By Sentence (separated)
1L. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Audio Files
By Sentence (separated)
1M. A Christmas Carroll by Charles Dickens
Audio Files
By Sentence (separated)
2. College Textbook: Maternity Nursing (by Sentence and by Punctuation Interval)
3. Novel: The Red Badge of Courage (by Sentence)
4. Historical Speech: Lincoln’s Second Inaugural (by Sentence)
Immediate Help for Falling Asleep, Reading Anxiety, Poor Comprehension, Poor Memory, Slow Speed, Dyslexia, ADHD, Low Vision, and ESL
(All Ages and All Levels)
Ideal Setup: iPod Touch 6, or iPhone, With or Without a Monitor, on Compact Device Holder
Getting Started with Voice and Text and Proportional Reading
It's important to have your Apple devices up to date with the latest software. , , This means that at the minimum you should have High Sierra, Mac OS 10.13 or higher, installed on your laptops or desktops; on your iOS devices you need to have iOS 11 or higher installed.
The big picture of operation is important to understand. , , You can do this program on an iOS device by itself; or better yet with a wireless, Bluetooth, Apple Magic Keyboard with Number Pad. , , In addition, you can use an adapter and HDMI cable and run the signal from your iOS device to a monitor screen. , , In addition, you can run the signal from your iOS device to your Apple TV and from there to a monitor or regular TV. , , These are the options for using iOS devices. , , You can also use an Apple laptop or desktop, which is better, but much more expensive.
Note: On an Apple laptop or desktop the font size of the text can be immediately enlarged or collapsed by pressing command+ or command-.
The rest of this paper will assume that you are working on an iOS device because it is much cheaper for the same functionality, and most people already have iPhones or iPads, etc., or access to them.
Also, the rest of this paper will assume you are using your iOS devise to read articles on the Internet, using Safaris as your default browser. Note: Reading articles as attachments on E-mail from your teacher or someone else has a few important variations.
Any existing HDMI monitor can be used. , , Almost every classroom and home already has one or more of these. , , Three or four iPod Touches and Magic Keyboards can easily be rotated each day between 6 or 7 classes for simultaneous small group use in each classroom. , , In each group the Bluetooth Magic Keyboard passes from one student to the next. , , No one moves their seat.
If you enlarge the text on your iOS screen, be sure to shrink it down by pinching the text with your two fingers before you go into VoiceOver; otherwise all the text won't appear on the screen.
Poker Flat Recordings Demo
Also, be sure to close the bookmarks window, if it is open; this will make more room for the text you want to read.
VoiceOver is the official name of Apple’s text to voice program.
The basic way to turn VoiceOver on or off is by triple clicking the home key. , , You need to set this up in settings. , , In actual practice, you only triple click the home key to close VoiceOver; to open VoiceOver it's much better to use Siri. , , Why is this? Asking Siri to 'Turn VoiceOver On' and then pressing the home button, allows you to immediately touch the text at the spot you were last at, and VoiceOver will commence at that point. , , Otherwise, VoiceOver will automatically begin at the beginning of the article, which is a nightmare if you're reading a long work.
You must practice with the Siri voice and “Turn VoiceOver On” in order to get the knack of beginning to read where you left off. , , Of course, if you just want to start at the beginning of the text, you can press the home button three times.
Before you start VoiceOver, you want to make sure that the header and footer panels are off the screen, and all you see is text. , , To do this just move the panel of text up slightly with your finger before turning VoiceOver on.
Also, you want to use the “find text” feature to locate your last words read, before you turn on VoiceOver. , , To do this click on the “share box” that is the box with the up arrow in the top middle of it, then go to the second row of icons and almost all the way to the far right. , , There you will see a magnifying glass. , , Click on this magnifying glass and the “find window” will open up. , , You can type in the text you wish, or even use Siri. , , Be sure to click “done” before you turn VoiceOver on, or the “find window” will stay up.
The best way to read a book or article, or chapter is to write down the last three words that you have read. , , This can be on an electronic message or note on your iOS device, or on a separate piece of paper. , , Then, when you come back to your iOS device to continue reading, you just type in those words in the “find window”, and you will go right to where you left off, even in a thousand page novel.
The best way to look up words is on a secondary device, like your smart phone. , , Otherwise, you have to interact with VoiceOver as you switch in and out of the dictionary application, and this is cumbersome.
The best way to raise and lower the voice speed on an iOS device, is to get into VoiceOver and then touch the screen with two fingers and rotate your two fingers, which brings up the rotor. , , Keep rotating the rotor until you see “speaking rate” show up at the top of the Rotor. , , Then flick one finger on the screen up or down to adjust the speed about 5% at a time; you will hear sample text out loud so you can check the speed. , , Before leaving, rotate the rotor to “words”, so you won't accidentally change the speed by a stray finger stroke.
When you plug an HDMI cable and the adapter into your lightning port, a fixed volume sound is produced, for TVs with built-in speakers. , , If you want to have an adjustable sound, plug in earphones or use a wireless Bluetooth set of earphones. , , After you turn VoiceOver on, you may have to reinsert the earphone plug to get controllable sound. , , You could also use an audio cable to go to a power speaker. , , Using a Bluetooth speaker is another option.
Always remember that you can get out of VoiceOver anytime you wish by pressing the home button three times. , , This of course assumes that you have set up the home button action to do this, which you do in settings.
It is not necessary to use VoiceOver to do this program. , , A close friend on the phone at home, or a rotating person in a small group in the classroom can act as the computer voice. , , This way any person with an existing smartphone, regardless of make, can do this program.
The best way to read most articles with Voice and Text is on the Internet, rather than with specialized apps. This way, you will have a fully functional Voice and Text program, and you will usually be able to read in landscape mode. You can also easily remove the adds, create a magazine format and enlarge the text. Perhaps most importantly, the page up and page down keys on your keyboard will work.
Understanding The Use of Voice and Text In Reading Improvement
In our program, called Proportional Reading, there are three main ways you interact voice with text. , , To begin with, you try to read the text out loud on your own and then hear the text read out loud with computer voice, and repeat the voice if you have made a mistake, or need to read the section of text fluently. , , After you get very good at this, you start to read the text silently, hearing the computer voice, at the same speed and at the same time. , , Thirdly, you start to read the text silently ahead of the computer voice, thinking about what you are reading as the voice catches up to where you have just paused. , , Using this last technique you can read any text at 350-500 words per minute with excellent comprehension. , , This is a lifelong skill.
Initially reading a phrase at a time, or reading a punctuation interval at a time, or reading a full sentence at a time is done by you first reading out loud, and then pressing a button to hear the text read with a computer voice. , , In order to do this, you want to be able to see all of the text you are supposed to read out loud before you start.
You always want to read from the top of a screen of text down to the bottom of the screen of text, and then bring up a new screen of text. , , Otherwise, the only way to proceed is to add a line of text at the bottom of the screen, over and over again as you proceed. , , This causes a great deal of jumping around on the screen, which will quickly put you to sleep. , , You also won’t be able to see the text for as long as you want before hearing it read out loud, which starts immediately.
Just like in reading an actual book, when you get to the bottom of one page, you “turn the page” and start to read at the top of the next page. , , This is how you do it with an iOS device or computer:
The proper way to read text in Proportional Reading is to stop at the bottom of the page. , , If the text has already stopped because you have heard the end of the section, just press the “page down” key and you will move to the top of the next page. , , You can do this even if you have one or two lines still showing at the bottom of the page. , , You will have all the time you need to locate and then read the next line of text. , , When ready you can press the “Forward Arrow” key to have that line of text read.
Note: If you are reading a whole paragraph at a time, you can just press the “Forward Arrow” key, and the next paragraph will center on the screen. , , As soon as the text appears, optionally press the “control” key to pause the reading out loud, until you are ready for it; then press “control” again to hear the sound. , , You can easily proceed through a paragraph this way, reading a punctuation interval or sentence out loud at a time, before hearing it read with computer voice.
If the text continues on past the bottom of the page, without stopping, use the following approach. , , Press the “control key” to pause the sound when you get to the last word on the page. , , Then press the “page down” key to bring up the next screen of text. , , Now locate where the last word is. , , Usually this will be at the right margin of the page, two or three lines down. , , Once you have located the last word, press the “control key” again to continue with sound to the end of the paragraph. , , It is very easy to read long paragraphs of text with this approach.
Note: As mentioned earlier, if you just press the forward arrow key at the bottom of the screen, the next section of text will jump onto the screen and will start reading before you've had a chance to locate your place or read it yourself.
You can use your fingers on the screen of an iOS device to touch any particular section of text and have it read. , , You can use your fingers, without needing to use a keyboard. , , To repeat the line of text, just press it again. , , This is OK for very short lines of text, but not for long sentences and paragraphs which continue past the bottom of the screen.
In Proportional Reading when we talk about presenting a sentence at a time within the paragraph, we mean that there is a single hard return at the end of each sentence. , , Also each “;” may be treated as a period at the end of the sentence. , , This means that there may be a single hard return at the end of each semicolon as well. , , This is done as a step in getting ready for long sentences and paragraphs, to keep from being overwhelmed by too much text at a time.
Anytime you are reading a long section of text, you can pause the computer reading out loud instantly and for as long as you want by pressing the “control” key. , , Just press the “control key” again to resume sound.
Using the keyboard is at least twice as fast as using your fingers on the screen of an iOS device. , , Furthermore, almost no attention has to be paid to what you are doing, especially when reading a phrase or punctuation interval at a time, which are almost always less than the width of a line on the screen. , , Being able to read a long paragraph with continuity of sight and sound is now finally possible with the “page down” key of the Magic Wireless Apple Keyboard with Numeric Pad.
This keyboard can be bought at any Apple store for $129.00 plus tax. , , The iPod Touch 6 costs $199.00 plus tax. , , You can use your existing HDMI monitor or TV. , , The Apple HDMI to Lightening Adaptor costs $49 at the Apple Store. , , The iPod Touch comes with a set of earphones and a Lightening Cable. , , A Charging block is necessary and costs $19. , , With this dirt-cheap set up all students can get hundreds of hours of independent, interactive, voice and text practice with customized settings at home and/or at school.
Our Course has 12 Classes of Instruction; each class is 40 min long. , , We teach a progression of skills and concepts for a lifetime of reading empowerment. , , Any book or Internet article can be read with this approach.
Learn How to Setup Your iOS Devise for VoiceOver and Proportional Reading.
Learn the iOS Operational Controls for VoiceOver and Proportional Reading.
Learn How to Setup Your Mac Laptop or Desktop for VoiceOver and Proportional Reading.
Learn the Mac (Laptop and Desktop) Operational Controls for VoiceOver and Proportional Reading.
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Constructed by: Gary Larson Edited by: Rich Norris
Today’s Theme: Driver’s Ed
Themed answers are common phrases with -ED added to the first word, and the second word reinterpreted as a model of car:
23A Wrecked Mitsubishi SUVs? : TOTALED ECLIPSES
36A Followed Chevy SUVs? : TRAILED BLAZERS
66A Found spots for Ford pickups? : PARKED RANGERS
97A Selected classic VWs at an online auction? : CLICKED BEETLES
112A Pointed the way for Subaru SUVs? : DIRECTED ASCENTS
15D Took Honda SUVs for demo drives? : TESTED PILOTS
61D Cleaned the interiors of Geo compacts? : DUSTED STORMS
Read on, or jump to … … a complete list of answers
Want to discuss the puzzle? Then … … leave a comment
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
1 Rush job notation : ASAP
As soon as possible (ASAP)
5 Lose one’s way at the podium : RAMBLE
“Podium” (plural “podia”) is the Latin word for “raised platform”.
15 Eastern “way” : TAO
The name of the Chinese character “tao” translates as “path”, but the concept of Taoism signifies the true nature of the world.
18 Valley with vines : NAPA
The first commercial winery in Napa Valley, California was established way back in 1858. However, premium wine production only dates back to the 1960s, with the region really hitting the big time after its success at the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976. The story of that famous blind wine tasting is told in the entertaining 2008 film “Bottle Shock”.
19 Court : ATRIUM
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.
21 “__ Luna”: Allende novel : EVA
Isabel Allende is a Chilean writer, apparently the world’s most widely-read, Spanish-language author. Isabel is related to Salvador Allende, the ex-President of Chile.
22 “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” singer Leo : SAYER
Leo Sayer is a British singer who was big in the seventies with hits such as “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” and “When I Need You”. Sayer now lives in Australia.
23 Wrecked Mitsubishi SUVs? : TOTALED ECLIPSES
The Mitsubishi Eclipse is a sports car that has been in production since 1989. It is a right-hand-drive vehicle built mainly for Japan and the UK (although I think there are left-hand-drive versions available now). The Eclipse was named after an 18th century English racehorse.
26 End-of-page abbr. : PTO
Please turn over (PTO)
27 1998 animated bug film : ANTZ
“Antz” was the first feature movie released by Dreamworks SKG, the studio founded by Steven Spielberg and two partners in 1994. “Antz” came out in 1998, and has a stellar cast that includes Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Sylvester Stallone, Gene Hackman and many, many other big names. The cartoon is quite unique in that the facial features of the voice actors are reflected in the animated characters.
30 Eponymous lab dish inventor : PETRI
Julius Richard Petri was a German bacteriologist and was the man after whom the Petri dish is named. The petri dish can have an agar gel on the bottom which acts as a nutrient source for the specimen being grown and studied, in which case the dish plus agar is referred to as an “agar plate”.
31 Iconic ’60s-’70s TV caretaker : AUNT BEE
Aunt Bee is a character in “The Andy Griffith Show”. The character’s full name is Beatrice Taylor but everyone in Mayberry calls her “Aunt Bee”. In the storyline, she is the aunt of protagonist Sheriff Andy Taylor, and great-aunt to Andy’s son Opie. Aunt Bee was played by actress Frances Bavier.
33 Skein formers : GEESE
A collection of geese is referred to as a “gaggle” when on the ground. When geese are in V-formation in flight, they are referred to collectively as a “skein”.
36 Followed Chevy SUVs? : TRAILED BLAZERS
The Chevrolet Blazer SUV was renamed as the Tahoe. And, the GMC Yukon is basically the same car. All very confusing …
45 Indian term of respect : SRI
“Sri” is a title of respect for a male in India.
46 Modern office staples : PCS
The original IBM Personal Computer is model number 5150, which was introduced to the world on August 12, 1981. The term “personal computer” was already in use, but the success of the IBM 5150 led to the term “PC” being used for all computer products compatible with the IBM platform.
49 Foundry waste : SLAG
The better ores are processed in a blast furnace, to extract the metal. The waste from this process is called “slag”. Slag does contain some residual metal and it can be processed further in a slag furnace to extract the balance. Slag furnaces also accept lower-quality ores as a raw material.
50 Kept adding to, as a tab : RAN UP
When we run a “tab” at a bar, we are running a “tabulation”, a listing of what we owe. Such a use of “tab” is American slang that originated in the 1880s.
58 Greenwich who co-wrote songs for the Ronettes and Crystals : ELLIE
Ellie Greenwich was a singer/songwriter whose main songwriting partner was her husband Jeff Barry. The list of songs that Greenwich co-wrote is impressive, including:
“Be My Baby”, a 1963 hit for the Ronettes
“Da Doo Ron Ron”, a 1963 hit for the Crystals
“Leader of the Pack”, a 1964 hit for the Shangri-Las
“Do Wah Diddy Diddy”, a 1964 hit for Manfred Mann
“River Deep – Mountain High”, a 1966 hit for Ike and Tina Turner
59 Tar : OLD SALT
A jack tar, or just “tar”, was a seaman in the days of the British Empire. The term probably arose due to a sailor’s various uses of tar back then, including waterproofing his clothes and using tar in his hair to slick down his ponytail.
62 Head cases? : CRANIA
The human skull is made up of two parts: the cranium (which encloses the brain) and the mandible (or “jawbone”).
65 Fraternity letter : TAU
Tau is the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet, and the letter that gave rise to our Roman “T”. Both the letters tau (T) and chi (X) have long been symbolically associated with the cross.
66 Found spots for Ford pickups? : PARKED RANGERS
Although the “Ranger” badge has been used on several models of Ford vehicles, the current Ford Ranger is a midsize pickup truck. This latest design is a creation of Ford of Australia, and is sold all around the world.
71 Tiny songbird : TIT
The birds known as chickadees or titmice in North America, are usually called simply “tits” in the rest of the English-speaking world.
74 Simple to manage : WIELDY
Something that is unwieldy is not handled or managed easily, is cumbersome. Something that can be wielded easily is said to be wieldy.
75 Pepper named for a state : TABASCO
The tabasco pepper is a relatively unusual chili pepper in that it is not dry on the inside, and so is a “juicy” pepper. The plant is quite colorful when it bears fruit, as the peppers start out green, turn orange and are then bright red when ripe. The tabasco pepper is named for the Mexican state of Tabasco, and is best known for its use in the Tabasco brand of pepper sauce made by McIlhenny.
77 “What the Butler Saw” playwright : ORTON
Joe Orton was an English playwright who was active in the 1960s and who was noted for penning outrageous black comedies. Orton’s career was cut short as he was bludgeoned to death by his lover, when Orton was only 24 years old.
79 The “E” in Q.E.D. : ERAT
The initialism “QED” is used at the end of a mathematical proof or a philosophical argument. QED stands for the Latin “quod erat demonstrandum” meaning “that which was to be demonstrated”.
80 Indian spice mixtures : MASALAS
Masala is the Hindi word for “mixture”, and describes a mixture of spices. A dish named “masala” uses the spices incorporated into a sauce that includes garlic, ginger, onions and chili paste. Who doesn’t love Indian food? Yum …
83 “The Dirty Dozen” star : LEE MARVIN
I’ve always thought that Lee Marvin was a very talented actor. Marvin had an amazing voice, and the appearance of a man who was hard and villainous. Yet he was able to break free from the villain roles in which he was typecast and played some characters with more depth. He won an Academy Award for his dual-role performance in 1965’s “Cat Ballou”. His totally unique rendition of the song “Wand’rin Star” from the 1969 musical film “Paint Your Wagon” made it to number one in the UK charts, keeping the Beatles hit “Let it Be” in the number two spot. I’ll bet that surprised even Marvin himself!
“The Dirty Dozen” is a very entertaining 1967 WWII movie that is based on a 1965 novel of the same name by E. M. Nathanson. In turn, the novel was inspired by a real-life military unit nicknamed “the Filthy Thirteen”. The latter were a demolition unit in the 101st Airborne Division whose mission was to destroy targets behind enemy lines. The movie had quite the cast, led by Lee Marvin and supported by Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Telly Savalas and Donald Sutherland, as well as football player Jim Brown and singer Trini Lopez.
90 Put the kibosh on : END
A kibosh is something that constrains or checks. “Kibosh” looks like a Yiddish word but it isn’t, and is more likely English slang from the early 1800s.
92 Poker Flat creator : HARTE
“The Outcasts of Poker Flat” is a short story by Bret Harte that was first published in 1869. Harte was a storyteller noted for his tales of the American West, even though he himself was from back East, born in Albany, New York.
93 Seals’ singing partner : CROFTS
Seals and Crofts was a soft rock duo made up of Jim Seals and Dash Crofts, two musicians from Texas. Seals and Crofts were most active in the 1970s.
97 Selected classic VWs at an online auction? : CLICKED BEETLES
“VW” stands for “Volkswagen”, which translates from German into “people’s car”. The original Volkswagen design was the Beetle and was built under a directive from Adolf Hitler, who wanted a cheap car built that ordinary people could afford to purchase. Hitler awarded the contract to engineer Ferdinand Porsche, whose name (paradoxically) would forever be associated with high performance, expensive cars. The Beetle was the official name of the VW model released in North America, but it was usually referred to as a “Bug” here in the US, and a “Beetle” elsewhere in the world.
The click beetle belongs to the family Elateridae, and is also called an elater. The click beetle is so called because it can snap a spine on its back into a notch creating a “click” that launches the beetle into the air. This click serves as a means of escape from predators, and also allows the beetle to right itself should it end up on its back.
100 Partnership for Peace gp. : NATO
The Partnership for Peace (PfP) program is a NATO initiative that dates back to 1994. The intent of the PfP is to foster trust between NATO and the former Soviet Union.
102 Leftovers wrap : SARAN
What’s known as plastic wrap in America, we call cling-film in Ireland. The brand name “Saran” is often used generically in the US, while “Glad” wrap is common down under. Plastic wrap was one of those unintended inventions, a byproduct of a development program to create a hard plastic cover for cars.
104 Crossword solver’s smudge : ERASURE
Arthur Wynne is generally credited with the invention of what we now known as a crossword puzzle. Wynne was born in Liverpool, England and emigrated to the US when he was 19-years-old. He worked as a journalist and was living in Cedar Grove, New Jersey in 1913 when he introduced a “Word-Cross Puzzle” in his page of puzzles written for the “New York World”. The first book of crossword puzzles was published by Shuster & Shuster, in 1924. The collection of puzzles was a huge hit, and crosswords were elevated to the level of “a craze” in 1924 and 1925.
112 Pointed the way for Subaru SUVs? : DIRECTED ASCENTS
Subaru introduced the Ascent crossover SUV in 2018. It is the largest model that Subaru produces.
117 Dr. Seuss’ Sam-__ : I-AM
Dr. Seuss’s famous children’s book “Green Eggs and Ham” was first published in 1960. “Green Eggs and Ham” now ranks twelfth in the list of top selling children’s books. By the way, “Harry Potter” books hold the top four slots in that list. The text of “Green Eggs and Ham” has a lot of “I am” going on. It starts with:
I am Sam I am Sam Sam I am
and ends with:
I do so like green eggs and ham! Thank you! Thank you, Sam-I-am
118 Former slugger Martinez : TINO
First baseman Tino Martinez has retired from Major League Baseball. Martinez played with a number of teams including the Mariners, Yankees, Cardinals and Devil Rays. Martinez was born and raised in Tampa, Florida and as a boy he worked in his father’s cigar factory.
123 Fannies : TUSHES
“Tush”, a word meaning “backside”, is an abbreviation of “tochus” that comes from the Yiddish “tokhes”.
“Fanny” is a slang term for the buttocks, rump. You have to be careful using the slang term “fanny” if traveling in Britain and Ireland, because over there it has a much ruder meaning …
Down
2 Parting word : SAYONARA
“Sayonara” means “farewell” in Japanese.
4 Good Samaritan story, say : PARABLE
A parable is a story told to illustrate a lesson or principle. It is similar to a fable, differing in that a fable uses mainly animals as characters, and a parable uses humans.
“The Good Samaritan” is a parable told by Jesus that can be read in the Gospel of Luke. According to the story, a Jewish traveler is robbed and beaten and left for dead at the side of the road. A priest happens by and sees the poor man, but does not stop to help. A fellow Jewish traveler also passes and refuses to help. A third man stops and gives aid. This kind person is a Samaritan, a native of Samaria. Back then, Jewish and Samarian people were said to generally despise each other, and yet here a detested creature gives aid. Jesus told the story to a self-righteous lawyer, the intent being (I assume) to shake up his self-righteousness.
6 Familiar gamut : A TO Z
In medieval times, the musical scale was denoted by the notes “ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la”. The term “gamma ut”, shortened to “gamut”, was used to describe the whole scale. By the 1620s, “gamut” was being used to mean the entire range of anything, the whole gamut.
7 1980s Peppard co-star : MR T
Mr. T’s real name is Laurence Tero Tureaud. Mr. T is famous for many things, including the wearing of excessive amounts of jewelry. He started this habit when he was working as a bouncer, wearing jewelry items that had been left behind by customers at a nightclub so that the items might be recognized and claimed. It was also as a bouncer that he adopted the name Mr. T. His catch phrase comes from the movie “Rocky III”. In the film, before he goes up against Rocky Balboa, Mr. T says, “No, I don’t hate Balboa, but I pity the fool”. He parlayed that line into quite a bit of success. He had a reality TV show called “I Pity the Fool”, and produced a motivational video called “Be Somebody … or Be Somebody’s Fool!”.
“The A-Team” is an action television series that originally ran in the eighties. The A-Team was a group of ex-US special forces personnel who became mercenaries. Star of the show was Hollywood actor George Peppard (as “Hannibal” Smith), ably assisted by Mr. T (as “B.A.” Baracus) and Robert Vaughn (as Hunt Stockwell).
9 Whopper : LULU
We call a remarkable thing or a person a lulu. The term “lulu” was coined in honor of Lulu Hurst, the Georgia Wonder, who was a stage magician active in the 1880s.
11 Borg and Bergman : SWEDES
Björn Borg is a retired tennis player from Sweden, and a former World No. 1. Borg won 41% of the 27 Grand Slam singles tournaments that he entered, which is a record that stands to the day. He was known for reacting very calmly under pressure on the tennis court and hence earned the nicknames “Ice Man” and “Ice Borg”, the latter being my personal favorite.
The wonderful actress Ingrid Bergman was born in Stockholm and named for Princess Ingrid of Sweden. The three Bergman performances that stand out for me are in 1942’s “Casablanca” opposite Humphrey Bogart, in 1944’s “Gaslight” opposite Charles Boyer and in 1946’s “Notorious” opposite Cary Grant. What a stunningly beautiful woman she was …
15 Took Honda SUVs for demo drives? : TESTED PILOTS
The Honda Pilot is a mid-size crossover SUV that was introduced in 2002. The luxury version of the vehicle is sold as the Acura MDX.
17 Spring locale : OASIS
An isolated area of vegetation in a desert is called an oasis (plural “oases”). As water is needed for plant growth, an oasis might also include a spring, pond or small lake. We often use the term “oasis” more generally to describe a haven, a place of rest.
24 Bucks in the woods : DEER
A male deer is usually called a buck, and a female is a doe. However, the male red deer is usually referred to as a stag. The males of even larger species of deer are often called bulls, and females cows. In older English, male deer of over 5 years were called harts, and females of over 3 years were called hinds. The young of small species are known as fawns, and of larger species are called calves. All very confusing …
25 Soccer immortal : PELE
“Pelé” is the nickname of Edson de Nascimento, a soccer player who has used the name “Pelé” for most of his life. Pelé is now retired, and for my money was the world’s greatest ever player of the game. He is the only person to have been a member of three World Cup winning squads (1958, 1962 and 1970), and is a national treasure in his native Brazil. One of Pele’s nicknames is “O Rei do Futebol” (the King of Football).
34 Multinational money : EURO
Euro coins are issued by all the participating European states. The reverse side is a common design used by all countries, whereas the obverse is a design specific to each nation. For example, the one euro coin issued by Malta features the Maltese Cross. That Maltese euro is legal tender right across the eurozone. The Irish euro features a harp.
38 “The Mod Squad” cop with an Afro : LINC
The 1999 movie “The Mod Squad” was an adaptation of the seventies television show of the same name. The part of Lincoln “Linc” Hayes was played by Omar Epps, Claire Danes played Julie Barnes and Giovanni Ribisi played Peter Cochran.
39 Feverish feeling : AGUE
An ague is a fever, one usually associated with malaria.
50 Work with a hunter, perhaps : RETRIEVE
The retriever is one of the three major types of gun dog, along with flushing spaniels and pointers.
51 Spanish dessert : FLAN
Flan (also “crème caramel”) is a delicious dessert comprising a molded custard topped with a clear caramel sauce. The related crème brûlée is a dessert made from molded custard with a hard, burnt caramel layer on top.
53 Coddling for a comrade, briefly : TLC
Tender loving care (TLC)
The verb “to coddle”, meaning “to treat tenderly”, was actually coined in 1815 by Jane Austen in her novel “Emma”. At least, that is the first written record we have of the verb’s usage. John Knightley (younger brother of George Knightley) addresses his wife Isabella (elder sister of Emma Woodhouse) with the following words:
“My dear Isabella,” exclaimed he, hastily, “pray do not concern yourself about my looks. Be satisfied with doctoring and coddling yourself and the children, and let me look as I chuse.”
56 Picnic staple : SLAW
The term “coleslaw” is an Anglicized version of the Dutch name “koolsla”, which in itself is a shortened form of “Koolsalade” meaning “cabbage salad”.
Our term “picnic” comes from the French word that now has the same meaning, namely “pique-nique”. The original “pique-nique” was a fashionable potluck affair, and not necessarily held outdoors.
57 Product of Bali : BRA
The Bali brand of lingerie started out as Fay-Miss in 1927, before becoming the Bali Brassiere Company in 1969.
59 “Lawrence of Arabia” star Peter : O’TOOLE
Irish actor Peter O’Toole got his big break in the movies when he played the title role in the 1962 epic film “Lawrence of Arabia”. My favorite of O’Toole’s movies is much lighter fare, namely “How to Steal a Million” in which he stars opposite Audrey Hepburn. O’Toole never won an Oscar, but holds the record for the greatest number of Best Actor nominations without a win (8).
“Lawrence of Arabia” is a 1962 movie that recounts the real life story of T. E. Lawrence, a British army officer who was famous for his role in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I. The title role in the film is played by Irish actor Peter O’Toole. The role of Sherif Ali ibn el Kharish is played by Omar Sharif.
61 Cleaned the interiors of Geo compacts? : DUSTED STORMS
Geos were small vehicles manufactured by General Motors mainly in the nineties. They were designed to compete head-to-head with the small imports that were gaining market share at the time in the US. Some Geo models that you might remember are the Metro, the Prizm and the Storm. The cars were actually built as joint-ventures with Japanese manufacturers. The Prizm was a GM/Toyota project, the Metro was GM/Suzuki, and the Storm was GM/Isuzu.
63 Decimated Asian sea : ARAL
The Aral Sea is a great example of how man can have a devastating effect on his 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 …
To decimate is to wipe out a large proportion of a population. The term arose from the ancient practice of punishing military units found guilty of mutiny. One in ten soldiers in the rebellious group would be executed, with the choice made in a lottery. The term comes from the Latin “decimare” meaning “to remove one-tenth”.
67 “The Americans” co-star Russell : KERI
Actress Keri Russell’s big break in television came with the title role in the drama show “Felicity” that ran from 1998 from 2002. The lead character in the show is Felicity Porter, a young lady introduced to the audience with a head of long curly blonde hair. Famously, Russell cut her hair extremely short at the start of the second season, an action that was associated with a significant drop in the show’s viewership. Russell had to grow out her hair over the season. I haven’t seen “Felicity”, but I really do enjoy Russell playing one of the leads in the entertaining Cold War drama called “The Americans” that is aired by FX.
“The Americans” is a very engaging drama series set during the Cold War that features two KGB spies living as a married couple just outside Washington, D.C. The show was created by Joe Weisberg, who is a novelist and former CIA officer. The lead roles in “The Americans” are played by real-life couple Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys.
68 Pizzazz : ELAN
Our word “élan” was imported from French, in which language the word has a similar meaning to ours, i.e “style, flair”.
Pizazz (also “pizzazz”) is energy, vitality. There’s a kind of cool thing about the “pizzazz” spelling, namely that it is the only 7-letter word in English that cannot be played in Scrabble. You can get close by using the Z-tile with the two blank tiles to get to three of the required four Zs, but there’s no way to get to the fourth Z.
69 Banned pesticide : DDT
DDT is dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (don’t forget now!). DDT was used with great success to control disease-carrying insects during WWII, and when made available for use after the war it became by far the most popular pesticide. And then Rachel Carson published her famous book “Silent Spring”, suggesting there was a link between DDT and diminishing populations of certain wildlife. It was the public outcry sparked by the book, and reports of links between DDT and cancer, that led to the ban on the use of the chemical in 1972. That ban is touted as the main reason that the bald eagle was rescued from near extinction.
70 Govt. org. that aids entrepreneurs : SBA
The Small Business Administration (SBA) is a government agency with the mission of assisting small businesses. The SBA doesn’t give loans itself, but it does act as a guarantor under the right circumstances. The SBA was set up in 1953, and isn’t a favorite with fiscal conservatives.
An entrepreneur is someone who takes on most aspects of a business venture, from the original idea to the execution. The term is imported from French, with “entreprendre” meaning “to undertake”. The original usage in English dates back to the early 1800s, when it applied to a manager and promoter of a theatrical production.
73 Barnyard male : TOM
A male turkey is called a “tom”, taking its name from a “tomcat”. The inference is that like a tomcat, the male turkey is relatively wild and undomesticated, sexually promiscuous and frequently gets into fights. A female turkey is called a “hen”.
76 Fancy ties : ASCOTS
An ascot is a wide tie that narrows at the neck, which these days is only really worn at weddings or part of a dress uniform. The tie takes its name from the Royal Ascot horse race at which punters still turn up in formal wear at Ascot Racecourse in England.
78 Rapper cousin of Snoop : NATE
Nate Dogg was the stage name of rapper Nathaniel Hale from Clarksdale, Mississippi. Nate Dogg is no longer with us, as he died at the age of 41 after suffering multiple strokes.
85 Super __ : PAC
A political action committee (PAC) is a private group that works to influence the outcome of a particular election or group of elections. Any group becomes a PAC by law when it receives or spends more than $1,000 for the purpose of influencing the outcome of an election. In 2010 the Supreme Court ruled that PACS that did not make direct contributions to candidates or parties could accept unlimited contributions. These “independent, expenditure-only committees” are commonly referred to as “super PACs”.
88 Focus of a 1990s-2000s baseball “era” : STEROIDS
Steroids are found commonly in nature, with familiar examples being cholesterol and testosterone. The controversial class of drugs called anabolic steroids (known informally as “roids” or simply “steroids”) are artificially produced chemicals designed to mimic the effect of the male sex hormone, testosterone. They are termed “anabolic” as they build up cellular tissue (particularly muscle) in a process called anabolism. Taking anabolic steroids can be termed “juicing”, and the aggressive behavior that can be a side-effect is known as “roid rage”.
93 Michael of “Arrested Development” : CERA
Michael Cera is a Canadian actor who played great characters on the TV show “Arrested Development”, and in the 2007 comedy-drama “Juno”. Cera is also quite the musician. High roller slot machine big wins. He released an indie folk album titled “True That” in 2014.
“Arrested Development” is a sitcom that originally aired on Fox from 2003 to 2006. Ron Howard was heavily involved in the show behind the camera, serving as executive producer and also as the show’s narrator. Fifteen new episodes of “Arrested Development” were filmed specifically for release on Netflix in 2013, and there may even be a movie on the way.
94 Naturally carbonated brew : REAL ALE
“Real ale” is a relatively contemporary term. It has been used in the UK since 1973 to refer to beer that has been brewed traditionally, and that does not use extraneous carbonation. I am a huge, huge fan of real ale …
97 Doctrines : CREDOS
A creed or credo is a confession of faith, or a system of belief or principles. “Credo” is Latin for “I believe”.
98 Young Clark’s love : LANA
Lana Lang is a character in the DC Comics universe. She grew up in Smallville, and was a friend of the young Clark Kent. As an adult, Lana became a rival to Lois Lane for the adult Kent’s affections. Lang has been portrayed by several actresses on the big and small screens. A unique portrayer of Lang is Annette O’Toole in the 1983 film “Superman III”. O’Toole went on to play Martha Kent, Clark Kent’s adoptive mother on the TV show “Smallville”. Apparently, the producers of “Smallville” cast O’Toole as Clark’s mother without realizing that she had once played Clark’s girlfriend.
99 Ross and DeVos : BETSYS
Legend has it that Betsy Ross made the first American flag for General George Washington. However, this story only surfaced during the centennial celebrations of 1876, and although Betsy Ross was indeed one of several flag makers in Philadelphia in the days of George Washington, sadly there’s no definitive evidence that Ross provided that first Stars and Stripes.
Betsy DeVos was appointed as Secretary of Education in 2017 by President Donald Trump. Devos’ brother is Erik Prince, founder of the private military company Blackwater that had an extensive and somewhat controversial role in the Iraq War.
100 Gymnast Comaneci : NADIA
Nadia Comaneci won three golds in the 1976 Summer Olympics and was the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of ten in the gymnastics competition. Comaneci published a book called “Letters to a Young Gymnast” in 2003, and now lives in the United States.
108 Linen hue : ECRU
The color ecru is a grayish, yellowish brown. The word “ecru” comes from French and means “raw, unbleached”. “Ecru” has the same roots as our word “crude”.
109 Radiation measures : REMS
The contemporary standard radiation dosage unit is the “roentgen equivalent in man”, abbreviated to “rem”.
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110 To be, in Tours : ETRE
Tours is the largest city in the Centre region of France. Sitting on the Loire river, it is said that the people of Tours speak the “purest” form of French in the whole country. The French spoken by a local is also said to be free of any accent.
114 Japanese drama : 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.
116 Long of “Empire” : NIA
Nia Long is an American actress who is probably best known for playing Will Smith’s sometime girlfriend and fiancee Lisa Wilkes on the TV show “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”.
“Empire” is a musical drama TV series about the hip hop music business. Star of the show is Terrence Howard, who plays drug-dealer turned hip hop mogul Lucious Lyon. Lyon is CEO of Empire Entertainment.
Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Rush job notation : ASAP 5 Lose one’s way at the podium : RAMBLE 11 Wild guess : STAB 15 Eastern “way” : TAO 18 Valley with vines : NAPA 19 Court : ATRIUM 20 Cry out loud : WAIL 21 “__ Luna”: Allende novel : EVA 22 “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” singer Leo : SAYER 23 Wrecked Mitsubishi SUVs? : TOTALED ECLIPSES 26 End-of-page abbr. : PTO 27 1998 animated bug film : ANTZ 29 “And how!” : SURE DO! 30 Eponymous lab dish inventor : PETRI 31 Iconic ’60s-’70s TV caretaker : AUNT BEE 33 Skein formers : GEESE 35 Response to “Shall we?” : LET’S 36 Followed Chevy SUVs? : TRAILED BLAZERS 41 Worn : USED 43 Made : EARNED 44 Inflexible : RIGID 45 Indian term of respect : SRI 46 Modern office staples : PCS 49 Foundry waste : SLAG 50 Kept adding to, as a tab : RAN UP 51 Choice for the kitchen : FLOOR TILE 54 Thrust : ESSENCE 57 Like-minded group : BLOC 58 Greenwich who co-wrote songs for the Ronettes and Crystals : ELLIE 59 Tar : OLD SALT 62 Head cases? : CRANIA 64 Tricks : CONS 65 Fraternity letter : TAU 66 Found spots for Ford pickups? : PARKED RANGERS 71 Tiny songbird : TIT 72 Eject : OUST 74 Simple to manage : WIELDY 75 Pepper named for a state : TABASCO 77 “What the Butler Saw” playwright : ORTON 79 The “E” in Q.E.D. : ERAT 80 Indian spice mixtures : MASALAS 83 “The Dirty Dozen” star : LEE MARVIN 85 Comic strip frame : PANEL 86 José’s home : CASA 90 Put the kibosh on : END 91 Sock part : TOE 92 Poker Flat creator : HARTE 93 Seals’ singing partner : CROFTS 95 Building for tools : SHED 97 Selected classic VWs at an online auction? : CLICKED BEETLES 100 Partnership for Peace gp. : NATO 102 Leftovers wrap : SARAN 104 Crossword solver’s smudge : ERASURE 105 Something in the air : AROMA 107 Tenant : RENTER 110 Series finale: Abbr. : ET AL 111 Youngster : TOT 112 Pointed the way for Subaru SUVs? : DIRECTED ASCENTS 115 They cast no votes : ANTIS 117 Dr. Seuss’ Sam-__ : I-AM 118 Former slugger Martinez : TINO 119 Weapons cache : ARMORY 120 Wasn’t straight : LIED 121 Pack critter : ASS 122 Getaway spots : SPAS 123 Fannies : TUSHES 124 Listening devices : EARS
Down
1 Note in an E scale : A-NATURAL 2 Parting word : SAYONARA 3 Wild way to go : APE 4 Good Samaritan story, say : PARABLE 5 Betrayed, with “on” : RATTED … 6 Familiar gamut : A TO Z 7 1980s Peppard co-star : MR T 8 Partiality : BIAS 9 Whopper : LULU 10 Broke the surface : EMERGED 11 Borg and Bergman : SWEDES 12 Snacks in shells : TACOS 13 Afflict : AIL 14 Minor disruption : BLIP 15 Took Honda SUVs for demo drives? : TESTED PILOTS 16 Ward off : AVERT 17 Spring locale : OASIS 22 Sudden outbursts : SPATES 24 Bucks in the woods : DEER 25 Soccer immortal : PELE 28 Obligation : NEED 32 Slight touches : TINGES 34 Multinational money : EURO 37 White rice’s lack : BRAN 38 “The Mod Squad” cop with an Afro : LINC 39 Feverish feeling : AGUE 40 Energy : ZIP 42 Bring into being : SIRE 45 Like some norms or ills : SOCIETAL 47 Medical center : CLINIC 48 Takes care of : SEES TO 50 Work with a hunter, perhaps : RETRIEVE 51 Spanish dessert : FLAN 52 Yearn : LONG 53 Coddling for a comrade, briefly : TLC 55 Weaken : SAP 56 Picnic staple : SLAW 57 Product of Bali : BRA 59 “Lawrence of Arabia” star Peter : O’TOOLE 60 MLB Network sportscaster __ Shehadi : LAUREN 61 Cleaned the interiors of Geo compacts? : DUSTED STORMS 62 Weep : CRY 63 Decimated Asian sea : ARAL 67 “The Americans” co-star Russell : KERI 68 Pizzazz : ELAN 69 Banned pesticide : DDT 70 Govt. org. that aids entrepreneurs : SBA 73 Barnyard male : TOM 76 Fancy ties : ASCOTS 78 Rapper cousin of Snoop : NATE 80 Target : MARK 81 Required pot contribution : ANTE 82 Start of an idea : SEED 84 Fishing gear : RODS 85 Super __ : PAC 87 Quivering : AFLUTTER 88 Focus of a 1990s-2000s baseball “era” : STEROIDS 89 Stocks and such : ASSETS 92 Implies : HINTS AT 93 Michael of “Arrested Development” : CERA 94 Naturally carbonated brew : REAL ALE 96 Main Web page : HOME 97 Doctrines : CREDOS 98 Young Clark’s love : LANA 99 Ross and DeVos : BETSYS 100 Gymnast Comaneci : NADIA 101 Opera solos : ARIAS 103 __ football : ARENA 106 Takes steps : ACTS 108 Linen hue : ECRU 109 Radiation measures : REMS 110 To be, in Tours : ETRE 113 “Let me give you a __ … ” : TIP 114 Japanese drama : NOH 116 Long of “Empire” : NIA
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