Day: June 6, 2024

Bill’s time: 9m 50s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Apparatus used in CPR training, informally : DEFIB

An automated external defibrillator (AED) is a portable electronic device that automatically analyzes the heart rhythm of a person who is experiencing sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) and, if necessary, delivers an electrical shock to the heart to restore a normal heart rhythm. AEDs are becoming more common sights, especially as most can now be used to help a patient, even if the operator has no training. On a recent trip to Britain and Ireland, I noticed that the iconic telephone boxes are being used to house AEDs rather than remove them as public phones become unnecessary.

13 Kind of acid : AMINO

There are 20 different types of amino acids that make up proteins. However, only 11 of them can be synthesized by the human body, while the remaining nine essential amino acids must be obtained from food sources.

18 Dept. of Labor division : OSHA

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

19 Services at a megachurch? : MASSIVE MASSES

The principal act of worship in the Roman Catholic tradition is the Mass. The term “Mass” comes from the Late Latin word “missa” meaning “dismissal”. This word is used at the end of the Latin Mass in “Ite, missa est” which translates literally as “Go, it is the dismissal”.

22 ___ Valley, “the garden of France” : LOIRE

The Loire is the longest river in France. It is so long that it drains one-fifth of the nation’s land mass. The Loire rises in the southeast, in the Cevennes mountain range, then heads north then due west, emptying into the Bay of Biscay at the city of Nantes. The Loire Valley is home to some of France’s most famous wine production, and includes the wine regions of Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé and Muscadet. It is also home to some of the nation’s most spectacular châteaux. There are over 300 castles along the river, built by French kings and their courtiers.

23 Bug specialist, briefly : IT PRO

Back in 1947, famed computer programmer Grace Hopper noticed some colleagues fixing a piece of equipment by removing a dead moth from a relay. She remarked that they were “debugging” the system, and so Hopper has been given credit for popularizing the term “bug” in the context of computing.

26 Resells on game day, say : SCALPS

Scalping of tickets, selling them above retail price for an excessive profit, originated in the mid-1800s with scalpers making money off theater tickets. There was also quite a bit of money made by people scalping railway tickets. Railroads gave discounts on tickets for longer journeys, so someone trying to get from San Francisco to Chicago might buy a ticket to New York. Once in Chicago the passenger would scalp the remainder of his/her ticket to someone wanting to get to New York, and make his or her invested money back with a bonus. The exact etymology of the term “scalper” seems unclear.

28 List in a fancy witchcraft guide? : CURSIVE CURSES

Cursive handwriting is often referred to as “longhand” or “script”, although when I was learning it at school we knew it as “joined-up writing”. The term “cursive” ultimately comes from the Latin verb “currere” meaning “to run”. The idea is that the letters of words are written with a “running” hand.

32 Lead-in to sphere : EXO-

The exosphere is the outermost layer of the atmosphere, the layer where the atmosphere thins out and merges with interplanetary space. The exosphere lies just above the thermosphere layer below.

33 Liqueur whose name translates as “bitter” in Italian : AMARO

Amaretto is an Italian liqueur with a sweet almond flavor. Even though the drink is sweet, it has a bitterness lent to it by the bitter almonds that are often used as a flavoring. The name “amaretto” is a diminutive of the Italian word “amaro” meaning “bitter”.

42 Historical setting sought in “Everything Is Illuminated” : SHTETL

The Yiddish word for “town” is “shtot”, and so “shtetl” is the diminutive form meaning “small town”.

43 “The most important architect of our age,” according to Vanity Fair : GEHRY

Frank Gehry is an architect from Toronto who is based in Los Angeles. Listed among Gehry’s famous creations are the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao in Spain, The Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and his own private residence in Santa Monica, California. More recently, he designed the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial located in Washington, D.C.

44 Fall in winter : SLEET

Apparently, “sleet” is a term used to describe two different weather conditions. One is a shower of ice pellets that are smaller than hail, and the second is a mixture of rain and snow, with the snow melting as it falls.

45 One managing moguls : SKIER

Moguls are the series of bumps in the surface of snow that arise naturally as a succession of skiers make turns on a slope.

48 Long letters sent to the wrong person? : MISSIVE MISSES

Our word “missive”, which is used for a written message or letter, comes from the Latin “mittere” meaning “to send”.

56 Wine dregs : LEES

The dregs in wine, the sediment that settles during fermentation (and sometimes in the bottle), are also called “lees”.

57 Cardinal point? : BEAK

Cardinals are a family of birds that inhabit the Americas. The northern cardinal is the species from which the family gets the cardinal name. It was named by early settlers from Europe for the red crest on the male, the color of which resembled the color of a Roman Catholic cardinal’s biretta (a square cap).

61 Name on a poster for 1942’s “The Magnificent Ambersons” : ORSON

Orson Welles is perhaps best-remembered in the world of film for his role in 1941’s “Citizen Kane”. In the world of radio, Welles is known for directing and narrating 1938’s famous broadcast of “The War of the Worlds”, a broadcast that convinced many listeners that the Earth was indeed being invaded by aliens.

“The Magnificent Ambersons” is a 1942 film that is based on a 1918 novel by Booth Tarkington. The film is a little controversial in that RKO, the studio that made the film, cut a substantial amount of footage and reshot a happier ending, against the wishes of producer and director Orson Welles. The film tells the story of a wealthy Indianapolis family whose fortune changes with the arrival of the automobile age.

Down

1 Fist bump : DAP

The dap is a form of handshake, and often a complicated and showy routine of fist bumps, slaps and shakes. Some say that “dap” is an acronym standing for “Dignity And Pride”.

5 Ballet company that premiered “Swan Lake” : BOLSHOI

The Bolshoi Ballet company is based in Moscow, Russia. The Bolshoi company has over 200 dancers, making it by far the biggest ballet company in the world. I have very fond memories of attending a performance in the beautiful Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, Russia in the late nineties …

“Swan Lake” is such a delightfully light and enjoyable ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by a sorcerer. The ballet also features Odile, Odette’s “evil twin”. Odile is disguised to look like Odette with the goal of tricking the prince to fall in love with her. In the ballet, the roles of Odette and Odile are played by the same ballerina. Odette’s love interest is Prince Siegfried, the only character in the ballet to appear in all four acts.

6 Makeshift money : SCRIP

Scrip isn’t legal tender, but operates just like currency in specific applications. It is in effect a form of credit. Originally the word “scrip” was used for a certificate giving one the right to receive something, often shares of a stock. “Scrip” is probably short for (sub)script(ion) receipt.

7 Art style associated with Henri Rousseau : NAIVE

Henri Rousseau was a French Post-Impressionist painter. He was self-taught, only starting to paint seriously in his forties. He worked as a tax collector until he was 49 years old, when he retired to focus on his art. Rousseau’s most famous painting is “The Sleeping Gypsy”, a celebrated work that depicts a lion standing beside a sleeping woman in the moonlight. You can take a look at it in New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

24 Gala garb : TUX

Apparently, the style of men’s evening dress called a “tuxedo” was first worn to a country club event in 1886 in New York. The use of a dark dinner jacket without tails became fashionable at the club with the members, and the tradition spread from there. The country club was located in Tuxedo Park, New York, giving the style of dress its name.

30 Expressionist painter Nolde : EMIL

Emil Nolde was a German expressionist painter. He was actually born Emil Hansen, near the village of Nolde in the Prussian Duchy of Schleswig in 1867. Hansen officially changed his name to Nolde on the occasion of his marriage in 1902.

31 Cleveland hoopster, familiarly : CAV

The Cavaliers are a professional basketball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. The Cavs joined the NBA as an expansion team in 1970.

35 Spanish 101 verb : SER

The verb “to be” is “ser” in Spanish and “être” in French.

38 Experiments seen in “Oppenheimer” : A-TESTS

“Oppenheimer” is an epic 2023 film starring Cillian Murphy in the title role. The movie follows J. Robert Oppenheimer, “the father of the atomic bomb”, from his student days right through World War II and beyond. Directed by Christopher Nolan, the film has an amazing ensemble cast that includes:

• Matt Damon (General Leslie Groves)
• Robert Downey Jr. (Lewis Strauss)
• Josh Hartnett (Ernest Lawrence)
• Kenneth Branagh (Niels Bohr)
• Tom Conti (Albert Einstein)
• Gary Oldman (Harry S. Truman)

39 Org. seeking alien life : SETI

“SETI” is the name given to a number of projects searching for extraterrestrial life. The acronym stands for “search for extraterrestrial intelligence”. One of the main SETI activities is the monitoring of electromagnetic radiation (such as radio waves) reaching the Earth in the hope of finding a transmission from a civilization in another world.

41 Like a Zen garden vis-à-vis a zoo : SERENER

Japanese Zen gardens are inspired by the meditation gardens of Zen Buddhist temples. Zen gardens have no water in them, but often there is gravel and sand that is raked in patterns designed to create the impression of water in waves and ripples.

42 Some sandals : SLIDES

Slides (also “sliders”) are shoes that are similar to flip-flops in that they have open heels. Also akin to a flip-flop, a slide holds onto the foot at the front. The difference is that the front strap does not separate the big toe from the rest of the toes.

55 Oxford figure : DON

The University of Oxford is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. The exact date of the school’s founding is uncertain, although teaching was recorded there as early as 1096. Back in the early 1200s, the authorities from the town of Oxford hanged two Oxford University scholars following the death of a woman. There followed a dispute between the townsfolk and the university that resulted in many academics leaving Oxford. Many ended up in Cambridge, leading to the founding of the University of Cambridge in 1209. The two universities have a similar status today, and are often referred to jointly as “Oxbridge”.