Day: June 13, 2024

Bill’s time: 25m 04s!

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

7 Like Saint Nick : OLD

Saint Nicholas of Myra is the inspiration for Santa Claus. Nicholas was the Bishop of Myra (now in modern-day Turkey) during the 4th century AD, and was known for being generous to the poor. Centuries after he died, his remains were desecrated by Italian sailors and moved to Bari in Italy. One legend has it that the relics were moved again centuries later and reburied in the grounds of Jerpoint Abbey in Co. Kilkenny in Ireland, where you can visit the grave today. I choose to believe that Santa Claus’s relics are indeed buried in Ireland …

22 King in Disney’s “The Jungle Book” : LOUIE

“The Jungle Book” is a 2016, live-action Disney film based on Rudyard Kipling’s collection of stories with the same title. The impressive voice cast includes Bill Murray as Baloo, Ben Kingsley as Bagheera, Idris Elba as Shere Khan, Scarlett Johnsson as Kaa, and Christopher Walkenb as King Louis. The film was a big success, and for a while held the record for the most successful remake of all time (it was a remake of the 1967 animated feature “The Jungle Book”).

29 Line on a doodle, perhaps? : LEASH

Poodle hybrids are sometimes described as “designer dogs”. Examples are the Labradoodle (Labrador retriever and poodle cross), cockapoo (cocker-spaniel and poodle cross), maltipoo (Maltese and poodle cross) and Jack-A-Poo (Jack Russell and poodle cross).

30 J&J or AT&T: Abbr. : CORP

The medical company Johnson & Johnson (J&J) was founded in 1886, not by two brothers as the name would suggest, but by three. Robert Wood Johnson, James Wood Johnson and Edward Mead Johnson formed the company initially to manufacture ready-to-use surgical dressings.

The American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T, Ma Bell) was a subsidiary of the original Bell Telephone Company that was founded by Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone. AT&T was forced to divest several subsidiaries in 1982 when the company lost an antitrust lawsuit. Those subsidiaries were known as Regional Bell Operating Systems, or “Baby Bells”.

32 Souvenir from an art museum : PRINT

A souvenir is a memento, a token of remembrance. We imported “souvenir” from French, in which language it has the same meaning. The term comes from the Latin “subvenire” meaning “to come to mind”, or literally “to come up”.

39 TROP(I)CAL STORM : I OF THE HURRICANE (eye of “the hurricane”)

A severe tropical storm is called a hurricane when it occurs in the Atlantic and Northeast Pacific, a typhoon in the Northwest Pacific, and a cyclone in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean. Tropical storms form over warm water, picking up energy from the evaporation from the ocean surface.

44 Shortened location of the world’s tallest building : UAE

Burj Khalifa is a spectacular skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is the tallest man-made structure in the world, and has been so since the completion of its exterior in 2009. The space in the building came onto the market at a really bad time, during the global financial crisis. The building was part of a US$20 billion development of downtown Dubai that was backed by the city government which had to go looking for a bailout from the neighboring city of Abu Dhabi. The tower was given the name Burj Khalifa at the last minute, apparently as a nod to UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan who helped to broker the bailout.

46 ___ of Forfar, title for Prince Edward : EARL

Prince Edward is British Queen Elizabeth II’s youngest child. When Prince Edward married Sophie Rhys-Jones in 1999, Buckingham Palace announced the intention that the prince would one day inherit his father’s title as Duke of Edinburgh. He did so in 2023.

48 Frontier figure : PILOT

Frontier Airlines is a passenger service based in Denver, Colorado that was founded in 1994 after Continental shut down its hub at Denver’s Stapleton Airport. The name “Frontier Airlines” had been associated with Denver since 1950. A separate company called Frontier Airlines operated out of Denver from 1950 until 1986.

50 BET’s parent company : CBS

Black Entertainment Television (BET) is a TV network with programming primarily aimed at the African-American community. BET was launched in 1980.

57 Work of Matsuo Basho or Masaoka Shiki : HAIKU

A haiku is a very elegant form of Japanese verse. When writing a haiku in English we tend to impose the rule that the verse must contain 17 syllables. This restriction comes from the rule in Japanese that the verse must contain 17 sound units called “moras”, but moras and syllables aren’t the same thing. Sadly, the difference is not so clear to me. Here’s an example of a Haiku:

Haikus are easy
But sometimes they don’t make sense
Refrigerator

68 Padded piece of paper, perhaps? : RESUME

A résumé is a summary of a person’s job experience and education and is used as a tool by a job seeker. In many countries, a résumé is equivalent to a curriculum vitae. “Résumé” is the French word for “summary”.

Down

2 Mushroom with a long, thin stem : ENOKI

Enokitake (also known as “enoki”) are long and thin white mushrooms often added to soups or salads.

5 Benz follower : -ENE

Benzene is a remarkable chemical compound, from a molecular standpoint anyway. It is made up of six carbon atoms arranged in a ring, with one hydrogen atom attached to each carbon. Benzene is a significant component of gasoline, and is also very carcinogenic.

7 Delivery worker, familiarly : OB/GYN

A medical doctor (MD) might be an expert in obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN).

9 Subject of the world’s largest collaborative biological project : DNA

The genome is all the hereditary information needed to reproduce an organism, in other words, all of its chromosomes. When scientists unravel the human genome, it takes up an awful lot of computer storage space, and yet all of this information is in almost every cell in our bodies. Each and every cell “knows” how to make a whole human being.

10 Feeling intensified by social media, for short : FOMO

Fear of missing out (FOMO)

11 Events with pigs and poke : LUAUS

The Hawaiian party or feast known as a “luau” really dates back to 1819, when King Kamehameha II removed religious laws that governed the eating of meals. These laws called for women and men to eat separately. At the same time as he changed the laws, the king initiated the luau tradition by symbolically eating with the women who moved in his circle.

Poke is a Native-Hawaiian dish featuring diced raw fish. “Poke” is a Hawaiian word meaning “to slice”.

16 President who signed a bill to annex Texas on his third-to-last day in office : TYLER

President John Tyler was one of two US presidents who lost their wives and remarried while in office (the other was Woodrow Wilson). President Tyler’s first wife was Letitia Christian Tyler, who died of a stroke in the White House in 1842. Two years later, Virginia-born Tyler married 22-year-old Julia Gardiner, a native New Yorker who was thirty years his junior. Tyler already had eight children from his first marriage, and eventually had seven more with his second wife. That total of fifteen means that John Tyler fathered more children than any other US president.

Tyler, Texas is nicknamed “Rose Capital of the World” as it plays a major role in the US’s rose-growing industry and is home to the country’s largest rose garden. The city is named for President John Tyler in recognition of the support he gave to the admission of Texas into the United States.

37 Non-avian nest builder : ANT

Anthills are actually underground nests. The ants in the colony excavate below ground, resulting in a pile of sand or soil above ground.

40 Drachma replacement : EURO

The Greek drachma was in use until it was replaced by the euro in 2002. As well as being Greece’s currency in modern times, the drachma was also used in ancient Greece.

42 ___ Nublar, setting for “Jurassic Park” : ISLA

“Jurassic Park” is a 1993 Steven Spielberg movie that is based on Michael Crichton’s novel of the same name. According to Spielberg, the terrifying Tyrannosaurus Rex is “the star of the movie”. That may be true, but what’s not true is that the creature existed during the Jurassic period. The T. rex roamed the Earth much later, in the late Cretaceous period.

47 Lexus competitor : ACURA

Acura is the luxury brand of the Honda Motor Company. As an aside, Infiniti is the equivalent luxury brand for the Nissan Motor Company, and Lexus is the more luxurious version of Toyota’s models.

50 Piece of cowboy attire : CHAPS

Chaps are leather leggings that are worn when riding a horse. The purpose of the garment is to provide protection for the legs when riding through bushy terrain, perhaps a heavy thicket. The name “chaps” comes from the Spanish name for the leggings, which is “chaparejos” or “chaparreras”. The Spanish term comes from chaparro, a Spanish word that can be used for a low-growing thicket.

51 Light craft material : BALSA

Balsa is a very fast-growing tree that is native to parts of South America. Even though balsa wood is very soft, it is actually classified as a hardwood, the softest of all the hardwoods (go figure!). Balsa is light and strong, so is commonly used in making model airplanes. In WWII, a full-size British plane, the de Havilland Mosquito, was built largely from balsa and plywood. No wonder they called it “The Wooden Wonder” and “The Timber Terror”.

52 Gandhian form of protest : SIT-IN

Mohandas Gandhi was a political and spiritual leader in India in the first part of the 20th century, as the country sought independence from Britain. He was also referred to as “Mahatma”, meaning “great soul”. His remarkable philosophy of nonviolence and living a modest lifestyle was a great inspiration to the Indian people. India (and Pakistan) was granted independence in 1947. Tragically, Gandhi was assassinated the very next year.

54 Features of both cobras and Dodge Vipers : HOODS

“Cobra” is the name given to a group of snakes, some of which are in different families. The term is reserved for those snakes that can expand their neck ribs to create a hood. The name “cobra” is an abbreviated form of “cobra de capello” which translates from Portuguese as “snake with hood”.

55 Crooner Mel : TORME

The Dodge Viper is an American sports car with a V10 engine. The Viper was introduced in 1991, and finally discontinued in 2017.

56 Strong as an ox, in slang : YOKED

A yoke is a wooden beam used between a pair of animals so that they are forced to work together.

58 Several male roles in “Barbie” : KENS

The 2023 fantasy comedy movie “Barbie” stars Margo Robbie in the title role and Ryan Gosling as Ken. It was directed by Greta Gerwig, who also co-wrote the script with her partner Noah Baumbach. I highly recommend this one …

65 The Dutch, on soccer scoreboards : NED

Some Dutch people can get a little annoyed if one refers to their country as “Holland”, as the correct name is “the Netherlands”. North and South Holland are two of the country’s twelve provinces. The use of “Holland” instead of “the Netherlands” is analogous to the former Soviet Union being referred to as “Russia” and the United Kingdom being called “England”. That said, sometimes even the Dutch people themselves refer to the country as Holland, especially at a soccer match!

66 ___ effect, unrealistic juror expectation of forensic evidence : CSI

Something described as forensic is connected with a court of law, or with public discussion or debate. The term comes from the Latin “forensis” meaning “of a forum, of a place of assembly”. We mainly use the word today to mean “pertaining to legal trials” as in “forensic medicine” and “forensic science”.