Day: September 30, 2023

Bill’s time: 20m 30s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 One who’s left holding the bag? : CADDIE

“Caddie” is a Scottish word, as one might expect given the history of the game of golf. It is a local word derived from the French “cadet” that describes a younger son or brother, or a student officer in the military. The variant spelling “caddy” is quite common.

7 Dessert with layers : SPUMONI

Spumone (plural “spumoni”) is an Italian dessert, one made with a mixture of three ice cream flavors and containing candied fruit and nuts.

18 Took a hit : TOKED

“Toke” is a slang term describing a puff on a marijuana cigarette, or on a pipe containing the drug.

22 Esther of “Good Times” : ROLLE

Esther Rolle was an actress best known for playing the character Florida Evans on the sitcom “Maude” and on the show’s spinoff “Good Times”.

“Good Times” is a sitcom that is a spinoff of “Maude”, with “Maude” being a spinoff of “All in the Family”. “Good Times” had its original run in the seventies.

23 A word before we forget? : LEST

“Lest we forget” is an oft-quoted phrase, one that comes from a poem by Rudyard Kipling called “Recessional”. Kipling wrote the piece on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897 and used it to express sadness at the waning of the British Empire. The phrase “lest we forget” is used in this context, a warning that the empire will decline. Ever since WWI we’ve been using the words on memorials as a plea not to forget the sacrifices made by others in the past.

24 Detective story? : ALIBI

“Alibi” is the Latin word for “elsewhere” as in, “I claim that I was ‘elsewhere’ when the crime was committed, I have an ‘alibi’”.

26 James Clavell best seller “___-Pan” : TAI

“Tai-Pan” is a novel by James Clavell, and the second in his famous “Asian Saga” suite of six titles. The six books are:

• “King Rat”
• “Tai-Pan”
• “Shōgun”
• “Noble House”
• “Whirlwind”
• “Gai-Jin”

28 Tabbies, e.g. : HOUSECAT

Tabbies aren’t a breed of cat, but rather are cats with particular markings regardless of breed. Tabbies have coats with stripes, dots and swirling patterns, and usually an “M” mark on the forehead.

39 Rock band with the 2023 album “This Stupid World” : YO LA TENGO

Yo La Tengo is an indie rock band from Hoboken, New Jersey that formed in 1984 as the husband/wife duo Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley. The band’s name translates from Spanish as “I have it”, and was chosen with reference to a baseball anecdote. Elio Chacon was a baseball player from Venezuela, the seventh person to play in the Majors from that country. There’s a story that Mets center fielder Richie Ashburn was always running into Elio Chacon in the outfield, because he would call for the ball in English, and Chacon only understood Spanish. Ashburn started to call for the ball in Spanish “Yo la tengo!” (I’ve got it!), at which point he’d be run down by left fielder Frank Thomas who only understood English!

40 Org. associated with interceptions : NSA

National Security Agency (NSA)

43 Wordle and others : FADS

Wordle is a web-based word game that a Welsh software engineer developed to play with his partner during the COVID pandemic. The name “Wordle” is a play on the engineer’s own name: Josh Wardle. Wardle published the game on its own website in 2021, primarily for the use of Wardle’s family. One month later, the game had 90 players, and a month later 300,000 players. A week later, the number of daily players had grown to two million! The New York Times purchased Wordle in 2022 “for an undisclosed price in the low-seven figures”.

46 Basketball legend Thomas : ISIAH

Isiah Thomas played his whole professional career with the Detroit Pistons. He retired from playing the game in 1994, and took up coaching in 2000, initially with the Indiana Pacers. When you’re out shopping for popcorn, keep an eye out for the Dale & Thomas brand, as it’s co-owned by Isiah Thomas.

48 French word in vineyards : CRU

“Cru” is a term used in the French wine industry that means “growth place”. So, “cru” is the name of the location where the grapes are grown, as opposed to the name of a specific vineyard. The terms “premier cru” and “grand cru” are also used, but the usage depends on the specific wine region. Generally it is a classification awarded to specific vineyards denoting their potential for producing great wines. “Grand cru” is reserved for the very best vineyards, with “premier cru” the level just below.

52 Music score abbr. : CRESC

Crescendo (cresc.) is an Italian word meaning “gradually becoming louder”, and is often seen on a musical score. The term with the opposite meaning is “diminuendo” (dim.).

53 Word on either side of “to” : ASHES

“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust” is a phrase used in the Anglican tradition during a burial service.

55 Key to understanding ancient history? : THE ROSETTA STONE

Rosetta is a coastal city and port on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt. The Rosetta Stone is an ancient Egyptian artifact of tremendous importance in deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics. Carvings on the stone are actually three translations of the same passage of prose, one in Egyptian hieroglyphics, one in Egyptian Demotic language, and one in classical Greek. The stone was discovered by the French military during Napoleon’s 1798-99 campaign in Egypt. Before the French could get it back to France, the stone somehow ended up in enemy hands (the British), so it is now on display in the British Museum. Ownership of the stone is very much in dispute. The French want it and, understandably, the Egyptians would like it back.

Down

1 ___ system : CASTE

Although caste systems exist in several societies around the world, we tend to associate the concept with the social stratification that is still found in many parts of India. The term “caste” comes from the Portuguese word “casta” meaning “race, breed”. The Portuguese used the term to describe the hereditary social groups that they found in India when they arrived in the subcontinent in 1498.

3 Rapper Aubrey Graham, who’s known professionally by his middle name : DRAKE

Drake is the stage name of rapper Aubrey Graham from Toronto.

6 Hammer home? : EAR

The middle ear is the portion of the ear immediately behind the eardrum. The middle ear contains three small bones called the ossicles, the three smallest bones in the human body. The ossicles’ job is to transmit sound from the outer ear to the inner ear. The shape of the bones gives rise to their names: the hammer (malleus), anvil (incus) and stirrup (stapes).

10 Find ___ (Nintendo minigame) : MII

Nintendo introduced customizable avatars for the company’s video game consoles starting in 1997. The first customizable avatars for the Wii system were introduced in 2006, and were given the inventive name “Miis”.

11 Christmas carol title starter : O COME …

The lovely Christmas hymn “Adeste Fideles” (entitled “O Come, All Ye Faithful” in English) was written by one John Francis Wade in the 13th century. Well, he wrote the original four verses, with four more verses being added over time. A kind blog reader pointed out to me that the English translation is in fact a little “off”. The term “adeste” best translates from Latin as “be present, attend”, rather than “come”. The verb “come” appears later in the lyrics in “venite adoremus”, meaning “come, let us worship”.

15 Modern coinage for someone turned successful through their celebrity parents : NEPO BABY

Nepotism is the practice of giving relatives preferential treatment. The term originated during the Middle Ages with favoritism shown by Roman Catholic bishops and popes. The ministers of the church had taken vows of chastity, and some gave preferred positions to their nephews, as they didn’t have sons of their own to favor. The term “nepotism” derives from the Latin “nepos” meaning “nephew”.

23 Feudal superiors : LIEGES

A liege was a feudal lord, one to whom service or allegiance was owed under feudal law. “Liege” was also the term used for one who owed allegiance or service to a lord. Apparently the term is influenced by the Latin verb “ligare” meaning “to tie, bind”. So, I guess both lord and servant were “bound” to each other.

24 Sherpas, e.g. : ASIANS

In the Tibetan language, “Sherpa” means “eastern people” (sher = east, pa = people). Sherpas are an ethnic group from Nepal, but the name is also used for the local guides who assist mountaineers in the Himalayas, and particularly on Mount Everest.

28 Inits. before Queen Elizabeth : HMS

The prefix “HMS” is used by the warships of the Royal Navy, and stands for “Her/His Majesty’s Ship/Submarine”. The prefix “RMS” is used by ships of the merchant navy, and stands for “Royal Mail Ship/Steamer”.

34 Umami enhancer : MSG

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is the sodium salt of a naturally-occurring,non-essential amino acid called glutamic acid. It is used widely as a flavor enhancer, particularly in many Asian cuisines. Whether or not it is harmful seems to be still under debate. I say that something produced in a test tube shouldn’t be in our food …

Umami is one of the five basic tastes, along with sweet, sour, bitter and salty. “Umami” is a Japanese word used to describe “a pleasant savory taste”. Umami was proposed as a basic taste in 1908, but it wasn’t until the mid-1990s that the scientific community finally accepted it as such.

35 W.W. II combat inits. : ETO

European Theater of Operations (ETO)

43 Certain religious ruling : FATWA

In the Muslim tradition, a fatwā is a religious opinion issued by an Islamic scholar (a “mufti”) on a matter of Islamic law. There is a common misconception that a fatwā is a death sentence imposed on a person, and although such a drastic directive is a possible component of the opinion, it is a very rare occurrence.

45 Inventor of the steel plow : DEERE

John Deere invented the first commercially successful steel plow in 1837. Prior to Deere’s invention, farmers used an iron or wooden plow that constantly had to be cleaned as rich soil stuck to its surfaces. The cast-steel plow was revolutionary as its smooth sides solved the problem of “stickiness”. The Deere company that John founded uses the slogan “Nothing Runs Like a Deere”, and has a leaping deer as its logo.

47 “This is dear mercy, and thou ___ it not”: “Romeo and Juliet” : SEEST

William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” doesn’t end well for the title characters. Juliet takes a potion as a ruse to fool her parents, to trick them into thinking she is dead. The potion puts her in a death-like coma for 24 hours, after which Juliet plans to awaken and run off with Romeo. Juliet sends a message to Romeo apprising him of the plan, but the message fails to arrive. Romeo hears of Juliet’s “death”, and grief-stricken he takes his own life by drinking poison. Juliet awakens from the coma, only to find her lover dead beside her. She picks up a dagger and commits suicide. Nobody lives happily ever after …

52 Relative of a filly : COLT

There are lots of terms to describe horses of different ages and sexes, it seems:

• Foal: horse of either sex that is less than one year old
• Yearling: horse of either sex that is one to two years old
• Filly: female horse under the age of four
• Colt: male horse under the age of four
• Gelding: castrated male horse of any age
• Stallion: non-castrated male horse four years or older
• Mare: female horse four years or older

53 In the Red, say : ASEA

The Red Sea (sometimes “Arabian Gulf”) is a stretch of water lying between Africa and Asia. The Gulf of Suez (and the Suez Canal) lies to the north, and the Gulf of Aden to the south. According to the Book of Exodus in the Bible, God parted the Red Sea to allow Moses lead the Israelites from Egypt.