Day: May 22, 2020

Today’s Theme: None

… a complete list of answers

Bill’s time: 11m 39s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

15 The U.S.S.R., to Reagan : EVIL EMPIRE

President Ronald Reagan famously used the phrase “evil empire” to describe the Soviet Union, first doing so during the Cold War in 1983. Just over five years later, Reagan was developing a working relationship with Soviet Union General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. As a result, he declared that he no longer felt that the use of “evil empire” applied, saying that it had been “another time, another era”.

18 What Zeus trapped Typhon under, in myth : ETNA

Typhon was known as the “father of all monsters” in Greek mythology, and he was married to the “mother of all monsters”, Echidna. Typhon had a huge human torso with a hundred dragon heads. His lower body was made up of gigantic viper coils. Although all the gods feared Typhon, Zeus finally defeated him and trapped him underneath Mount Etna.

19 Ena in “Bambi,” e.g. : DOE

Ena is Bambi’s aunt in the 1942 Disney film “Bambi”. The movie is based on the novel “Bambi, A Life in the Woods” written by Austrian author Felix Salten and first published in 1923. There is a documented phenomenon known as the Bambi Effect, whereby people become more interested in animal rights after having watched the scene where Bambi’s mother is shot by hunters.

25 Cause to recall? : E COLI

Escherichia coli (E. coli) are usually harmless bacteria found in the human gut, working away quite happily. However, there are some strains that can produce lethal toxins. These strains can make their way into the food chain from animal fecal matter that comes into contact with food designated for human consumption.

26 Instrumental that might accompany a blooper reel : YAKETY SAX

I bet a lot of us know this tune, but may not recognize the title. “Yakety Sax” is often used to accompany funny chase scenes, most famously on the British television series “The Benny Hill Show“.

30 Natural flavorer of Scotch : PEAT

Many whiskies are noted for a peaty, smoky flavor. That taste is introduced when the malted grain is dried over a peat-heated fire.

32 Cure-all : ELIXIR

An elixir is a solution of alcohol and water that is used to deliver a medicine. The term “elixir” can also be used to mean a medicine that has the power to cure all ills.

38 Internet user’s aid : SITEMAP

A sitemap is a hierarchical list of pages on a web site. A well-designed sitemap can be useful to site visitors, but is more commonly used by search engines to get a complete and accurate picture of a site so that it is correctly represented in search results.

41 Calculating sort, in brief : CPA

Certified public accountant (CPA)

44 Middle of Q3 on co. reports : AUG

As the first Emperor of Rome, Octavian was given the name Caesar Augustus. The month of August, originally called “Sextilis” in Latin, was renamed in honor of Augustus.

45 Noted surname among 1973 Yale Law graduates : RODHAM

Hillary Rodham was born in Chicago, Illinois to Hugh Rodham (a businessman in the textile industry) and Dorothy Howell (a homemaker). Hillary was raised in a conservative home, and she campaigned for Republican candidate Barry Goldwater in the 1964 US presidential election. The following year, she served as president of the Young Republicans at Wellesley College. Our former First Lady left the Republican Party expressing disappointment at what she witnessed at the 1968 Republican National Convention in Miami, citing “veiled” racist messages prevalent at that time.

47 Where Warren Buffett sells an annual lunch date for charity : EBAY

Warren Buffett is often referred to with nicknames “Wizard of Omaha” and “Oracle of Omaha”. Despite being one of the wealthiest men in the world, Buffet lives a relatively frugal and modest life. Buffett also has a very Jeffersonian attitude towards the role his wealth plays within his family. He has set up his estate so that his children will inherit enough money to be independent, but the vast majority of his assets are going to charity, both before and after he dies. My hero …

49 Soul group that did the soundtrack for “Car Wash” : ROSE ROYCE

Rose Royce chose the band’s name to sound like the Rolls Royce car. Rose Royce’s big break came when the group was asked to provide the musical score to the 1976 movie “Car Wash”. The theme song “Car Wash” made it to number one in the charts and was a huge disco era hit.

57 Shakespeare’s “poor venomous fool” : ASP

In William Shakespeare’s play “Antony and Cleopatra”, the heroine of the piece addresses the asp as she uses the snake to commit suicide:

Come, thou mortal wretch,
With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate
Of life at once untie: poor venomous fool,
Be angry, and dispatch.

Later she says:

Peace, peace!
Dost thou not see my baby at my breast,
That sucks the nurse asleep?

61 Dogmatic sorts : IDEOLOGUES

A dogma is a set of beliefs. The plural of “dogma” is “dogmata” (or “dogmas”, if you’re not a pedant like me!)

68 High light? : NOONDAY SUN

Our word “noon”, meaning “midday”, comes from the Latin “nona hora” that translates as “ninth hour”. Back in ancient Rome, the “ninth hour” was three in the afternoon. Over the centuries, traditions such as church prayers and “midday” meals shifted from 3 p.m. to 12 p.m., and so “noon” became understood as 12 noon.

Down

2 Who wrote “Poetry comes fine-spun from a mind at peace” : OVID

The Roman poet Publius Ovidius Naso is known today simply as Ovid. Ovid is usually listed alongside the two other great Roman poets: Horace and Virgil. Although he was immensely popular during his own lifetime, Ovid spent the last ten years of his life in exile. He fell foul of Emperor Augustus, although what led to this disfavor isn’t truly understood.

3 Venice Film Festival locale : LIDO

The Lido de Venezia is a famous sandbar in Venice, Italy. About 11 km in length, it is home to about 20,000 residents, as well as the Venice Film Festival that takes place there every September. The Lido is also the setting for Thomas Mann’s famous novel “Death in Venice”. The name “lido” has become a term for any fashionable beach resort. In the UK, the term “lido” is often used for a recreation facility with a pool. This usage has been adopted on cruise ships, where the lido deck is home to the outdoor swimming pool(s) and related facilities.

4 Sheet by a bed, perhaps : KLEENEX

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

5 Basketball Hall-of-Famer Unseld : WES

Wes Unseld is a former professional basketball player who spent his entire career playing with the Baltimore/Capital/Washington Bullets.

13 Ena in “Bambi,” e.g. : AUNT

The 1942 Disney classic “Bambi” is based on a book written by Felix Salten called “Bambi, A Life in the Woods”. There is a documented phenomenon known as the Bambi Effect, whereby people become more interested in animal rights after having watched the scene where Bambi’s mother is shot by hunters.

23 Singer Williams of the Temptations : OTIS

The Temptations singing group used to be known as the Elgins, and was formed in 1960 in Detroit. The group is still performing today, although only the second tenor, Otis Williams, was part of the original quintet. The Temptations were very much associated with their “sister group”, the Supremes.

24 Classic source of damask : SYRIA

Damask was originally a weaving technique associated with the Byzantine and Islamic weaving centers of the Middle Ages. “Damask” comes from the name of Damascus, which was a major trading city at that time.

26 Appropriately named brand of coolers : YETI

YETI is a manufacturer of coolers and related products that is based in Austin, Texas. There was a kerfuffle between YETI and the National Rifle Association in 2018, when YETI removed the NRA from its membership discount program. That kerfuffle got quite public when some NRA members published videos of themselves destroying their own YETI products in protest.

27 Title literary character who exclaims “How puzzling all these changes are!” : ALICE

Lewis Carroll wrote “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” in 1865, and the sequel called “Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There” in 1871. Because in the second adventure Alice went through a looking glass, the themes were deliberately chosen to be mirror images of the themes in “Wonderland”. Whereas “Wonderland” begins indoors, is set in summer, and uses playing card imagery, “Looking Glass” begins out of doors, is set in winter and uses images from the game of chess.

31 “Me Against the World” rapper : TUPAC

Rapper Tupac Amaru Shakur adopted the inventive stage name “2Pac”. He was a hard man, spending eleven months in prison for sexual assault. He was killed in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas at only 25 years of age.

34 ___ pants : HAREM

Harem pants are an item of female clothing that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. They are loose fitting pants that gather at the ankle. For example, the pants worn by belly dancers would be called harem pants.

46 Jack ___, Alec Baldwin’s “30 Rock” role : DONAGHY

Alec Baldwin is the oldest of the acting Baldwin brothers. I think Alec’s big break was playing Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan in “The Hunt for Red October”, but thank goodness that role was taken over by Harrison Ford for the subsequent Jack Ryan movies. Baldwin also made a name for himself playing Jack Donaghy on “30 Rock”, opposite Tina Fey. More recently, he is known for impersonating President Donald Trump on “Saturday Night Live”.

52 Like some kites : AVIAN

Kites are birds of prey that feed mainly on carrion.

54 A lot to read : TOME

“Tome” first came into English from the Latin “tomus” which means “section of a book”. The original usage in English was for a single volume in a multi-volume work. By the late 16th century, “tome” had come to mean “large book”.

59 Country where Quechua and Aymara are spoken : PERU

Quechua was the Native American language adopted by the Incan Empire and favored over other dialects. Today, Quechua is one of the official languages in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, alongside Spanish.

62 Tab that’s paid for illegally? : LSD

The drug LSD is often sold impregnated into blotting paper. The paper blotter is usually divided into squares with ¼-inch sides, with each square referred to as a “tab”.

63 German grandparent : OPA

In Germany, a grandfather might be called “Opa”, and grandma would be known as “Oma”.