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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

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1 “The Winner Takes It All” group : ABBA

“The Winner Takes It All” is a 1980 song recorded by ABBA. The song was co-written by Björn Ulvaeus, and his wife Agnetha Fältskog sang lead vocals. The song is all about the experience of divorce, and Ulvaeus and Fältskog were going through a divorce at the time of the recording. However, the couple have denied that the song is about their own marriage, and Fältskog has repeatedly stated that “The Winner Takes It All” is her favorite song.

5 Singer Diana : ROSS

Diana Ross is one of the most prolific recording artists in history. She sang with the Supremes from 1959 to 1970 and then launched an incredibly successful solo career. Ross was listed in the 1993 edition of “The Guinness Book of World Records” as the most successful music artist ever, with eighteen #1 records.

13 Hardly a jaunt : SLOG

A jaunt is a short pleasure trip, although back in the 1500s, the word “jaunt” described a tiresome journey. Back then, one would jaunt a horse, meaning that one tired it out by riding it back and forth.

16 Central points : LOCI

In mathematics, a locus (plural “loci”) is the set of all points that satisfy a given requirement. For example, the locus called a circle is the set of all points equidistant from a single point.

20 You’ve got to know when to hold ’em : WRESTLING MATCH
31 Know when to fold ’em : ORIGAMI CLASS
41 Know when to walk away : LOWBALL OFFER
57 And know when to run : ELECTION SEASON

“The Gambler” is a song written by Don Schlitz in 1976, and most famously recorded by Kenny Rogers in 1978. Backing vocals on the recording were provided by the Jordanaires, a vocal quartet who most famously accompanied Elvis Presley in most of his recordings from the 1950s to the 1970s.

You’ve got to know when to hold ’em
Know when to fold ’em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run
You never count your money
When you’re sittin’ at the table
There’ll be time enough for countin’
When the dealin’s done

24 Former queen of Jordan : NOOR

Queen Noor is the widow of King Hussein of Jordan. She was born Lisa Halaby in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Najeeb Halaby. Her father was appointed by President Kennedy as the head of the Federal Aviation Administration, and later became the CEO of Pan Am. Lisa Halaby met King Hussein in 1977, while working on the design of Jordan’s Queen Alia Airport. The airport was named after King Hussein’s third wife who had been killed that year in a helicopter crash. Halaby and the King were married the next year, in 1978.

29 Often-changed item of wear : DIAPER

“Diaper” is another word that I had to learn when I moved to America. What are called “diapers” over here, we call “nappies” back in Ireland. The term “diaper” is actually the original term that was used in England for the garment, where “diaper” referred to the cloth that was used. The term “diaper” was brought to the New World where it stuck. Back in Britain, “diaper” was displaced by the word “nappy”, a diminutive of “napkin”.

31 Know when to fold ’em : ORIGAMI CLASS

Origami is the traditional Japanese art form of paper folding. The best-known example of the craft is the paper crane (“orizuru“). The word “origami” is derived from “ori“ (folding) and “kami” (paper).

35 ___ Mode, animated film character who says “Words are useless! Gobble-gobble-gobble-gobble-gobble-gobble!” : EDNA

“Incredibles 2” is a 2018 movie that is a sequel to 2004’s “The Incredibles”. Both films were written and directed by Brad Bird. Bird was also a cast member for “Incredibles 2” as he voiced Edna Mode, a fashion designer for superheroes.

37 “The Music Man” locale : IOWA

“The Music Man” is a musical by Meredith Willson. The show was a big hit on Broadway in 1957. “The Music Man” won the first ever Grammy Award for the “Best Original Cast Album”. The show is set in the fictional River City, Iowa.

46 Famed designer whose career was boosted by “American Gigolo” : ARMANI

Giorgio Armani is an Italian fashion designer and founder of the company that has borne his name since 1975. Although Armani is famous for his menswear, the company makes everything from jewelry to perfume.

52 ___ facto : IPSO

“Ipso facto” is Latin, meaning “by the fact itself”. Ipso facto describes something that is a direct consequence of a particular act, as opposed to something that is the result of some subsequent event. For example, my father was born in Dublin and was an Irish citizen, ipso facto. My son was born in California and is an Irish citizen by virtue of being the son of an Irish citizen (i.e. “not” ipso facto).

61 Water nymph : NAIAD

The Naiads of Greek mythology were water nymphs associated with fountains, wells, springs and streams. The saltwater equivalents of the freshwater Naiads were the Oceanids.

64 Pueblo people : ZUNI

The Zuni are a Pueblo people. They live on the Zuni River in western New Mexico, a tributary of the Little Colorado River.

65 “The Child,” also known as Baby Yoda : GROGU

Grogu is a character in “The Mandalorian”, a TV series that’s part of the “Star Wars” franchise. Grogu is a very young member of the same alien species to which the celebrated character Yoda belongs. As Grogu has a strong resemblance to the Jedi Grandmaster, fans of the franchise often refer to him as “Baby Yoda”.

66 Snack, as on a knish : NOSH

Our word “nosh” has been around since the late fifties, when it was imported from the Yiddish word “nashn” meaning “to nibble”. We use “nosh” as a noun that means “snack”, or as a verb meaning “to eat between meals”.

A knish is a snack food from Germany and Eastern Europe that was made popular in the US by Jewish immigrants. A knish has a filling, often made of mashed potato and ground meat, covered by a dough that is baked or fried.

68 Exclamation after a witty comeback : SNAP!

“Oh snap!” might be described as street talk. The phrase is used as a retort to someone who makes a verbal dig at you. It was apparently popularized by Tracy Morgan on “Saturday Night Live”.

69 ___ Major : URSA

The constellation Ursa Major (Latin for “Larger Bear”) is often just called “the Big Dipper” because of its resemblance to a ladle or dipper. Ursa Major also resembles a plow, and that’s what we usually call the same constellation back in Ireland, “the Plough”.

Down

3 Anthony of “Parts Unknown” : BOURDAIN

Anthony Bourdain was a chef, author and television personality from New York City. Bourdain’s celebrity came with the publication of his book “Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly” in 2000. He moved on to host the television shows “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations” and “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown”. Bourdain was working on an episode of “Parts Unknown” when he committed suicide in 2018 in his Paris hotel room. Sad …

5 Speaker’s platform : ROSTRUM

A rostrum (plural “rostra”) is an elevated platform, particularly one for public speaking. The original rostrum was the platform used by public speakers in the Forum of ancient Rome.

6 Scott Turow memoir : ONE L

Scott Turow is an author and lawyer from Chicago. Turow has had several bestselling novels including “Presumed Innocent”, “The Burden of Proof” and “Reversible Errors”, all three of which were made into films. He also wrote the autobiographical book “One L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School”.

7 Gertrude who wrote “We are always the same age inside” : STEIN

Gertrude Stein was a great American writer who spent most of her life in France. Gertrude Stein met Alice B. Toklas in Paris in 1907, and the two were life partners until Stein died in 1946. Cleverly, Stein published her own memoir in 1933 but called the book “The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas”. It was to become Stein’s best selling title.

8 “___ to This” (song from “Hamilton”) : SAY NO

“Hamilton” is a 2015 musical based on the life of US Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, as described in the 2004 biography by Ron Chernow. The show opened off-Broadway in February 2015, and transferred to Broadway in August of the same year. Advance ticket sales for the Broadway production were unprecedented, and reportedly amounted to $30 million. The representations of the main characters are decidedly ground-breaking. The show is rooted in hip-hop and the main roles such as Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington are all played by African-American and Hispanic actors.

9 Jewelry designer Peretti : ELSA

Elsa Peretti is a native of Florence, Italy who has been designing jewelry and related items for the top fashion houses in New York since the sixties.

10 Mod do : MOP TOP

The classic Beatles haircut is called a mop top. Apparently John Lennon and Paul McCartney saw someone wearing the style in Hamburg, and they liked it. The pair hitchhiked from Hamburg to Paris, and when they arrived at their destination, they had their hair cut that way for the first time.

“Mod” is short for “modernist”, and describes a subculture that originated in London in the late fifties. Young men who called themselves mods tended to wear tailored suits, listen to pop music and drive around on Italian motor scooters. Mods came into conflict with another subculture that emerged at the same time in the UK called the rockers. Rockers were into rock and roll music, and drove motorcycles I remember as a young kid in school having to declare myself as either a mod or a rocker. I don’t think our “gangs” back then were quite the same as they are today though …

12 One who gives one-tenth : TITHER

Traditionally, a tithe is a payment of one tenth of a person’s annual income and is usually given to a church. Tithing is a practice taught in many traditions, and according to a 2002 survey, about 3% of American adults donate 10% or more of their income to a church.

15 Tiered temple : PAGODA

Pagodas are tiered (“storied”) towers, found in various parts of Asia, that are usually built for religious purposes.

21 Actress Gilbert : SARA

Actress Sara Gilbert grew up playing Darlene on the sitcom “Roseanne” from 1988 to 1997. Today Gilbert appears fairly often on another hit sitcom, namely “The Big Bang Theory”. You can also see her on the daytime talk show called “The Talk”, a show that she herself created. And, she made a comeback as Darlene in 2018 in the “Roseanne” reboot(s).

22 Hosp. scans : MRIS

An MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) machine uses powerful magnetic fields to generate images that can be used by medical professionals to diagnose injury and disease.

28 Lettuce wrap lettuce : BIBB

Bibb is a variety of lettuce in the cultivar known as butterhead. All butterhead varieties have loose-leafed heads and a buttery texture.

33 Snoopy grp. : CIA

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is the successor to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) formed during WWII. The CIA was chartered by the National Security Act of 1947. The organization is often referred to familiarly as “the Company”.

38 Risqué : OFF COLOR

“Risqué” is a French word, the past participle of the verb meaning “to risk”. So in English we use “risqué” to mean “racy”, but in French it means “risky”.

39 “What is your greatest ___?” (interview question) : WEAKNESS

Thursday puzzles …

42 “Wilco!” : ON IT!

In the world of radiotelephony, “wilco” is short for “I understand and will comply”.

45 Org. with thousands of inspectors : OSHA

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

46 Forty winks : A FEW ZS

Back in the early 1800s, folks took “nine winks” when getting a few minutes of sleep during the day. Dr. William Kitchiner extended this concept in his 1821 self-help book “The Art of Invigorating and Prolonging Life”. He suggested “A Forty Winks Nap”, which we seem to have been taking ever since. Mind you, I’m up to about eighty winks most days …

48 View from Catania, in brief : MT ETNA

The Metropolitan City of Catania (“Province of Catania” prior to 2015) is not only home to the city of Catania, but is also home to Mount Etna, Europe’s largest volcano. It is the second largest city on the island of Sicily (after Palermo), and has a long and rich cultural history. Today, Catania is known as a center for technology industries, earning it the nickname “European Silicon Valley”.

54 Whopper ingredient : ONION

If you were in Japan at the end of 2009 and went to Burger King, you might have ordered a Windows 7 Whopper, a promotion for the Windows 7 Operating System. The sandwich was 5 inches in height, and contained seven beef patties!

56 College sports channel : ESPNU

ESPNU (short for “ESPN Universities”) is a sports channel focused on college athletics.

58 Print collectors, for short : CSIS

In the world of criminology, there are three classes of fingerprints:

• Patent prints are those which are obvious, easily spotted by the naked eye.
• Impressed prints are those made when the fingertips apply pressure to a soft material or surface, such as the skin.
• Latent prints are those that are invisible to the naked eye, but which can be detected using special equipment and materials.

59 “A Song of Ice and Fire,” e.g. : SAGA

“A Game of Thrones” is the first novel in the series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin titled “A Song of Ice and Fire”. That first novel’s title gives its name to “Game of Thrones”, the incredibly popular HBO television series that uses the storyline from the whole series of books.