Day: June 23, 2023

Bill’s time: 9m 47s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

12 Playbills? : MONOPOLY MONEY

The commercial game of Monopoly is supposedly a remake of “The Landlord’s Game” created in 1903 by a Quaker woman named Lizzie Phillips. Phillips used her game as a tool to explain the single tax theory of American economist Henry George. The Landlord’s Game was first produced commercially in 1924. The incredibly successful derivative game called Monopoly was introduced in 1933 by Charles Darrow, who became a very rich man when Parker Brothers bought the rights to the game just two years later in 1935.

14 Refresher course? : PALATE CLEANSER

The roof of the mouth is known as the palate. The anterior part of the palate is very bony, and is called the hard palate. The posterior part is very fleshy and is called the soft palate. The soft palate is muscular and moves to close off the nasal passages while swallowing. We often use the term “palate” figuratively, to describe the sense of taste.

15 State flower of Utah : SEGO

The sego lily is the state flower of Utah. It is a perennial plant found throughout the Western United States.

16 Singer/songwriter Paul : ANKA

Canadian-born Paul Anka’s big hit was in 1957, the song entitled “Diana”. Another oft-heard Anka composition started out life as his 1959 composition “Toot Sweet”. He rearranged “Toot Sweet” and renamed it as “Johnny’s Theme”, the jazz instrumental played as the opening theme of “The Tonight Show Starry Johnny Carson”.

18 “Je suis à ___” (“I’m all yours”) : TOI

That would be French.

19 Big name in family music : OSMOND

The Osmond Brothers were performing at Disneyland in the early sixties when they were spotted by Andy Williams’ father. He was so impressed by their performance that he told Andy to book them on his TV show, after which they became regulars from 1962-69.

21 Political convention attendees: Abbr. : DELS

Delegate (del.)

22 Theme park originally conceived as a planned community : EPCOT

EPCOT Center (now just called “Epcot”) is the theme park beside Walt Disney World in Florida. EPCOT is an acronym standing for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, and is a representation of the future as envisioned by Walt Disney. Walt Disney actually wanted to build a living community for 20,000 residents at EPCOT, but he passed away without that vision being realized.

32 Features of some Japanese gardens : KOI PONDS

Koi are fish that are also known as Japanese carp. Koi have been bred for decorative purposes and there are now some very brightly colored examples found in Japanese water gardens.

38 Roughly one-third of the earth’s surface : DESERT

On average, Antarctica is the coldest, driest and windiest of all seven continents. Although Antarctica is very cold, it is essentially a desert, receiving only 8 inches of precipitation annually at the coasts and even less inland.

39 It might be sold by the yard : ALE

A yard (of ale) is a very tall glass, one that is just under a yard (three feet) long. It holds about 60 fluid ounces of beer. I’ve tried drinking out of one, and it is extremely difficult. There is a bulb at the bottom of the glass. When you get towards the end of the drink, that bulb causes a kind of airlock and the remainder of the beer rushes to the top of the glass, splashing you in the face.

42 Michelle ___ West of the L.P.G.A. : WIE

Michelle Wie is an American golfer on the LPGA Tour. Wie began playing golf at the age of four and was the youngest player ever to qualify for an LPGA tour event. She turned pro just before her 16th birthday.

47 Drones, e.g. : MALES

Drone bees (and ants) are fertile males of the species, whose sole role in life seems to be to mate with a queen. Given that drone bees make no honey, we sometimes use the term “drone” figuratively, to describe a lazy worker, or someone who lives on the labors of others.

50 Betamaxes, e.g. : VCRS

The VHS video standard is more fully referred to as the Video Home System. VHS was one of many standards touted by various manufacturers in the seventies. The biggest rival to VHS was Betamax, but we all knew which of the two standards won the final round in that fight.

53 Narrative device used in “Groundhog Day” : TIME LOOP

“Groundhog Day” is a 1993 comedy film that has already become a classic. The star of the movie is Bill Murray, with Andie MacDowell putting in a great supporting performance. “Groundhog Day” is set in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania although it was actually filmed in the town of Woodstock, Illinois.

56 Frankincense and myrrh, but not gold : RESINS

Frankincense and myrrh are both tree resins that are exuded when certain species of tree are damaged. The harvested resins are used to make essential oils for perfumes, and are also burned to give off a pleasant fragrance.

57 Overly slick : UNCTUOUS

A person described as “unctuous” is oily and insincere. “Unctum” is the Latin for “ointment”.

58 Galleon’s company : ARMADA

“Armada” is a Spanish (and Portuguese) word meaning “naval fleet”.

Galleons were large sailing ships found in major fleets in Europe from the 16th to 18th centuries. They were huge vessels with multiple decks and at least three masks.

60 Letters seen all around New York City : MTA

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has public transportation responsibility in the state of New York (as well as part of Connecticut).

Down

1 Game played on yaks in Mongolia and Pakistan : POLO

The sport of polo originated in Iran, possibly before the 5th century BC. Polo was used back then primarily as a training exercise for cavalry units.

2 Coded material : RNA

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a single-stranded molecule that is made up of nucleotides. The four nucleotides that make up RNA are adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and uracil (U). RNA is transcribed from DNA, which means that the information stored in DNA is used to create RNA. RNA then carries this information to the ribosomes, which are the cellular structures responsible for protein synthesis.

3 Scintillas : IOTAS

Iota is the ninth letter in the Greek alphabet, and one that gave rise to our letters I and J. We use the word “iota” to portray something very small, as it is the smallest of all Greek letters.

A scintilla is a small amount. The term “scintilla” can also be used to describe a spark or a flash (as in “to scintillate”). The term came into English from Latin, in which language it means “spark, particle of fire, atom”.

6 “___, by that kiss, I vow an endless bliss”: Keats : AYE

English poet John Keats died in Rome in 1821, and is buried there in the Protestant Cemetery. His last wish was that his grave be marked with a tombstone bearing just the words “”Here lies One whose Name was writ in Water”, and no name nor a date. Keats’ friends honored his request to some extent, as the words were included on the stone and no name is given. The full epitaph reads:

This Grave
contains all that was Mortal
of a
Young English Poet
Who
on his Death Bed, in the Bitterness of his Heart
at the Malicious Power of his Enemies
Desired
these Words to be
engraven on his Tomb Stone:
Here lies One
Whose Name was writ in Water.
24 February 1821

7 Mulder on “The X-Files,” e.g., informally : G-MAN

“The X-Files” is a very successful science fiction show that originally aired on the Fox network from 1993 to 2002. The stars of the show are David Duchovny (playing Fox Mulder) and the very talented Gillian Anderson (playing Dana Scully). By the time the series ended, “The X-Files” was the longest running sci-fi show in US broadcast history. An “X-Files” reboot started airing in 2016 with Duchovny and Anderson reprising their starring roles.

11 Actor Gibson of the “Fast & Furious” franchise : TYRESE

Tyrese Gibson is singer-songwriter and actor who is known simply as “Tyrese”. Tyrese is best known for playing the character Roman Pearce in the “Fast And Furious” series of movies.

13 Spanish American cowboy : LLANERO

A llanero is a herdsman from Venezuela or Colombia. “Llanero” comes from “Llanos”, the South American grasslands. “Llano” is the Spanish word for “plain”.

19 Parliament : owls :: raft : ___ : OTTERS

Male and female otters are known as dogs and bitches, with the offspring called pups. Males and females are sometimes referred to as boars and sows. A collection of otters is a bevy, family, lodge or perhaps a romp. When in water, a collection of otters can be called a raft.

Here are some colorful collective nouns:

• A pride of lions
• A shrewdness of apes
• A cloud of bats
• A bench of bishops
• A parliament of owls
• A clowder of cats
• A waddling of ducks
• An army of frogs
• A knot of toads

20 Top present during the holiday season? : DREIDEL

A dreidel is a spinning top with four sides that is often associated with the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. Each of the four sides on a dreidel bears a letter from the Hebrew alphabet (nun, gimel, hei and shin). The four letters are the initials of the Hebrew phrase “Nes Gadol Hayah Sham” meaning “a great miracle happened there”. According to tradition, children would be taught Torah while hiding in caves away from the Greeks. When Greek soldiers approached, the children would hide their torah scrolls and play with their dreidels instead.

23 City formerly known as Christiania : OSLO

Oslo, the capital of Norway, is an ancient city that was founded around 1048. The medieval city was destroyed by fire in 1624 and was rebuilt by the Danish-Norwegian king Christian IV and renamed to Christiania. In 1877 there was an official change of the spelling of the city’s name to “Kristiana”, and then more recently in 1925 the name was restored to the original Oslo. Things have almost gone full circle and now the center of Oslo, the area that would have been contained by the original medieval walls, has apparently been renamed to Christiania.

28 Many a Zoroastrian : IRANI

Zoroastrianism is a religion founded by the prophet Zoroaster around 600 BCE, making it one of the oldest religions in the world. There are two main Zoroastrian communities today, both of whom migrated to the Indian subcontinent from Greater Iran. The Parsis migrated in the 8th to 10th centuries, and the Irani migrated in the 19th century.

35 Editorial overruling : STET

“Stet” is a Latin word meaning “let it stand”. In editorial work, the typesetter is instructed to disregard any change previously marked by writing the word “stet” and then underscoring that change with a line of dots or dashes.

37 100 is a high one, informally : TEMP

The medical symptom of elevated body temperature is called fever, febrile response or pyrexia.

39 Capital of Eritrea : ASMARA

Asmara is the capital and largest city in Eritrea. The same city is known locally as “Asmera”.

41 Target of a biometric scanner : RETINA

An iris scan is a method of biometric identification. It relies on the fact that the complex patterns in the irises are unique to an individual. Note that an iris scan differs from a retinal scan. The latter uses technology that scans the unique pattern of blood vessels in an individual’s retina.

46 Grp. defending trans rights : ACLU

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has its roots in the First World War. It grew out of the National Civil Liberties Bureau (CLB) that was founded to provide legal advice and support to conscientious objectors. The ACLU’s motto is “Because Freedom Can’t Protect Itself”. The ACLU also hosts a blog on the ACLU.org website called “Speak Freely”.

50 Participants in a November parade, informally : VETS

Veterans Day used to be known as Armistice Day, and is observed on November 11th each year. This particular date was chosen as the Armistice that ended WWI was signed on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.

52 Govt. org. since 1946 : SSA

The Social Security Administration (SSA) was set up as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. The first person to receive a monthly retirement benefit was Ida May Fuller of Vermont who received her first check for the sum of $22.54 after having contributed for three years through payroll taxes. The New Deal turned out to be a good deal for Ms. Fuller, as she lived to be 100 years of age and received a total benefit of almost $23,000, whereas her three years of contributions added up to just $24.75.

54 Roast figures : MCS

The term “emcee” comes from “MC”, an initialism used for a Master or Mistress of Ceremonies.

55 Pro bono promo : PSA

Public service announcement (PSA)

The Latin term “pro bono publico” means “for the public good”, and is usually shortened to “pro bono”. The term applies to professional work that is done for free or at a reduced fee as a service to the public.