NYXCrossword.com

Bill’s time: 10m 01s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

12A “Local Equals Fresh” sloganeer : IGA

The initialism “IGA” stands for “Independent Grocers Alliance”, and is a chain of supermarkets that extends right around the world. IGA’s headquarters is in Chicago. The company uses the slogan “Hometown Proud Supermarkets”.

16A E, in a code : DIT

The word “Morse” is written as “–/—/.-./…/.” in Morse code.

18A 3,600 secondi : ORA

In Italian, an “ora” (hour) is 1/24 of “un giorno” (a day).

20A Company acquired by Panasonic in 2009 : SANYO

Sanyo was a Japanese electronics manufacturer based near Osaka and founded in 1947. The company name means “three oceans” reflecting the company’s original aim to sell its products all around the world (across three oceans: the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Indian).

21A Malarkey : BULL

It’s not really known how the word “malarkey” came to mean “lies and exaggeration”. What is known is that “Malarkey” is also used as a family name.

25A Epithet for Bill Clinton : BUBBA

President Bill Clinton was born not as a Clinton, but as William Jefferson Blythe. Bill’s father was killed in a car accident just three months before he was born. His mother remarried a few years later, to Roger Clinton. Bill didn’t formally adopt the Clinton name until he was fourteen years old, although he used it as he was growing up.

28A Hackman’s “The Royal Tenenbaums” co-star : HUSTON

“The Royal Tenenbaums” is a 2001 comedy-drama film with a very impressive cast, including Danny Glover, Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Bill Murray, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. The latter co-wrote the screenplay with the movie’s director Wes Anderson. Lots of people love this film, but not me …

33A “You should keep those details to yourself” : TMI

Too much information (TMI)

37A Org. that releases an annual list of the year’s most interesting contraband : TSA

Transportation Security Administration (TSA)

38A Some brunch dishes : HAM OMELETTES

Our word “brunch” is a portmanteau of “breakfast” and “lunch”. The term was coined as student slang in Oxford, England in the late 1890s. However, “brunch” described a combined meal closer to the breakfast hour, and the term “blunch” was used for a meal closer to lunchtime.

41A Restraining maneuver in judo : ARM BAR

Judo is a martial art from Japan that developed relatively recently, in 1882. The name “judo” translates as “gentle way”. Practitioners of judo proceed through a series of proficiency grades known as the kyu-dan system. At each progression, a different colored belt is awarded.

50A Treat that occasionally catches fire : S’MORE

S’mores are treats peculiar to North America that are usually eaten around a campfire. A s’more consists of a roasted marshmallow and a layer of chocolate sandwiched between two graham crackers. The earliest written reference to the recipe is in a 1927 publication called “Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts”. Girl Scouts always did corner the market on cookies and the like!

61A Totally missing the big picture : NEARSIGHTED

A myope is someone suffering from myopia, short-sightedness. Far-sightedness or long-sightedness is known as hypermetropia or hyperopia.

Down

3D Like noble gases, chemically : STABLE

The noble gases (also “rare gases”) are those elements on the extreme right of the Periodic Table. Because of their “full” complement of electrons, noble gases are very unreactive. The six noble gases that occur naturally are helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon and radon.

5D Land consisting predominantly of sedges : FEN

Sedges are a family of plants that resemble grasses and rushes. They are more properly called Cyperaceae.

8D Old hand at shorthand : STENO

Stenography is the process of writing in shorthand. The term comes from the Greek “steno” (narrow) and “graphe” (writing).

9D Some choppers : HUEYS

The military helicopter known as the Bell UH-1 Iroquois is usually referred to as the “Huey”. It was first used by the US Army for medevac and utility operations in the mid-fifties. About 7,000 Hueys saw service in the Vietnam War. The US military phased out the Huey relatively recently, mainly replacing it with the UH-60 Black Hawk.

10D Dish whose name means “barley” in Italian : ORZO

Orzo is pasta that has been formed into granular shapes, much like barley. And indeed, “orzo” is the Italian word for “barley”. Orzo is also called “risoni”, meaning “large rice”.

11D Lilliputian : WEE

The word “lilliputian” meaning “wee” or “very small”, comes from Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels”. In Swift’s tale, Lilliput and Blefuscu are two island nations that are inhabited by tiny people who are under six inches tall.

13D Reductive neologism for a strong female lead : GIRLBOSS

A neologism is a new word or phrase, or a new meaning or usage for an existing word.

14D Figure in Greek mythology who was brought up by a bear : ATALANTA

In Greek mythology, Atalanta was a virgin huntress who had no interest in getting married, despite the urging of her father. Atalanta had several suitors, and eventually agreed to a foot race with them. The terms were that if she won the race, she need not marry. If she lost the race, she would marry the winner. Atalanta managed to outrun the field, except for Hippomenes. Hippomenes emerged victorious due to cunning rather than speed.

21D Hit 22, say : BUST

The card game known as “twenty-one” was first referred to in print in a book by Cervantes, the author famous for writing “Don Quixote”. He called the game “veintiuna” (Spanish for “twenty-one”). Cervantes wrote his story just after the year 1600, so the game has been around at least since then. Twenty-one came to the US but it wasn’t all that popular so bonus payments were introduced to create more interest. One of the more attractive bonuses was a ten-to-one payout to a player who was dealt an ace of spades and a black jack. This bonus led to the game adopting the moniker “Blackjack”.

23D “Squid Game” and “The Red Sleeve,” for two : K-DRAMAS

TV dramas made in South Korea in the Korean language are known these days as K-dramas. They have become extremely popular around the world in recent years, with one notable example being the hit show “Squid Game” distributed by Netflix.

33D Direction in many a spaghetti western : THATAWAY

Spaghetti westerns are cowboy movies that were produced and directed by Italians in the 1960s. A pioneer in the field was filmmaker Sergio Leone. Leone directed the best-known and most successful movies in the genre: “A Fistful of Dollars” (1964), “For a Few Dollars More” (1965) and “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (1966), all of which star Clint Eastwood.

34D Zsa Zsa Gabor entered into it nine times : MARRIAGE

Zsa Zsa Gabor was a Hungarian-American actress, born in Budapest as Sári Gábor (the older sister of the actress Eva). Zsa Zsa Gabor was married a whopping nine times, including a 5-year stint with Conrad Hilton and another 5 years with the actor George Sanders. One of Gabor’s famous quips was that she was always a good housekeeper, as after every divorce she kept the house!

47D Comics often printed in black and white : MANGA

Manga, Japanese graphic novels, can be grouped into five genres based on the target readership:

• Shonen: Manga targeted at tween and teen boys.
• Shojo: Manga targeted at tween and teen girls.
• Seinen: Manga targeted at adult men (18+).
• Josei: Manga targeted at adult women (18+).
• Kodomomuke: Manga targeted at young children.

48D Pianist Rubinstein : ARTUR

The great Arthur (sometimes “Artur”) Rubinstein was a classical pianist from Poland who became a naturalized American citizen in 1946. Rubinstein was particularly respected as a performer of Chopin’s repertoire.

49D Dwarf planet in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter : CERES

Ceres is the smallest dwarf planet in our solar system. It was discovered in 1801 and is the largest body in the asteroid belt, and is the only asteroid that is classified as a dwarf planet. For fifty years, Ceres was classified as the eighth planet circling our sun. The Dawn space probe launched by NASA entered Ceres orbit in March 2015, and became the first mission to study a dwarf planet at close range.

53D George’s computer friend on “The Jetsons” : RUDI

“The Jetsons” is an animated show from Hanna-Barbera that had its first run in 1962-1963, and then was recreated in 1985-1987. When it debuted in 1962 on ABC, “The Jetsons” was the network’s first ever color broadcast. “The Jetsons” is like a space-age version of “The Flintstones”. The four Jetson family members are George and Jane, the parents, and children Judy and Elroy. Residing with the family in Orbit City are their household robot Rosie and pet dog Astro.