Day: July 5, 2024

Bill’s time: 13m 46s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Activity at a company retreat : TRUST FALL

In a team-building workshop, one exercise might have someone falling backwards into the arms of others. The idea is for the “faller” to trust the “catchers”. And so, it is called a “trust fall”. I dunno …

10 Inspiration for Old Major in Orwell’s “Animal Farm” : LENIN

In George Orwell’s novella “Animal Farm”, Old Major is an old boar on the farm. It is Old Major who incites rebellion by the animals, just before he dies.

16 Like Superman in his Fortress of Solitude : ALONE

Superman’s origins can be traced back to an illustrated short story titled “The Reign of the Superman” created by high school classmates Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in 1933. That first “Superman” wasn’t a very glamorous character. He was a vagrant who gained psychic powers and used them for nefarious purposes. By the time that Siegel and Shuster put together a comic strip called “The Superman”, the title character had evolved into a superhero. The pair sold all rights to “The Superman” character to Detective Comics in 1938 for the princely sum of $130.

18 Dark shade of brown : UMBER

Umber is an earthy, brown shade. The word “umber” originally described a pigment made from earth found in Umbria, a region in central Italy. In its natural form, the pigment is referred to as “raw umber”. The heated form of the pigment has a more intense color and is known as “burnt umber”.

19 Mens ___ : REA

“Mens rea” is Latin for “guilty mind” and is a central concept in criminal law. The concept is expanded to “actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea” meaning “the act does not make a person guilty unless the mind be also guilty”. In other words, someone should not be deemed guilty of an act, unless he or she had a “guilty mind”, intended to do wrong.

20 Historical region of France that lent its name to a food : BRIE

Brie is a soft cheese that is named for the French region in which it originated. Brie is similar to the equally famous (and delicious) Camembert. Brie is often served baked in puff pastry with fig jam.

22 “My Love Is Like … Wo” singer, 2003 : MYA

Mya is an R&B singer-songwriter. I don’t know her music, but I did see her get to the runner-up spot on the ninth series of “Dancing with the Stars”. On the show, Mya was beaten out of first place by Donny Osmond (don’t ask!).

23 Ocasek of the Cars : RIC

Ric Ocasek was an American musician of Czech heritage. He was the lead vocalist of the Cars rock band.

25 Savory jelly : ASPIC

Aspic is a dish in which the main ingredients are served in a gelatin made from meat stock. “Aspic” is a French word meaning “jelly”.

31 It connects to one of the heart’s four valves : AORTA

The aortic valve is one of the heart’s four valves. It is located between the left ventricle and the aorta, and allows blood to flow out from the left ventricle into the aorta, and not the other way.

33 Character in Genesis and “The Dukes of Hazzard” : ENOS

Enos was the son of Seth, and therefore the grandson of Adam and Eve, and nephew of Cain and Abel. According to the ancient Jewish work called the Book of Jubilees, Enos married his own sister Noam.

Enos Strate (played by Sonny Shroyer) was the small-town deputy in the television sitcom “The Dukes of Hazzard”, and the success of his character merited a follow-on show. The spin-off “Enos” only ran for 18 episodes.

38 Nigerian-born pop singer : SADE

Singer Sade’s real name is Helen Folasade Adu. Although born in Nigeria, Sade grew up and lives in the UK. She was the lead vocalist for the English group Sade, and adopted the name of the band. The band’s biggest hits were “Smooth Operator” (1984) and “The Sweetest Taboo” (1985).

41 Festival with a throwback theme, briefly : REN FAIRE

A Renaissance faire (Ren faire) is an outdoor public event in which many participants recreate historical settings by dressing in costume. Usually held in North America, many such fairs are set during the English Renaissance, and more particularly during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The definition of “Renaissance” is often stretched quite a bit, with fairs also set during the reign of Henry VIII, and maybe even during medieval times.

44 Burn letters? : SPF

Sun protection factor (SPF)

46 Beethoven’s cry : ACH!

Ludwig van Beethoven is my favorite composer from the Classical period. There are two excellent films that showcase his music and give fictionalized yet entertaining accounts of different aspects of his life: “Immortal Beloved” (1994) that speculates on the identity of one of Beethoven’s lovers, and “Copying Beethoven” (2006) that explores the events leading up to the triumphant premiere of his 9th Symphony.

49 Will Hunting’s expertise in “Good Will Hunting” : MATH

“Good Will Hunting” was the movie that gave both Matt Damon and Ben Affleck their big break in films, and deservedly so. Affleck and Damon are actually distant cousins who lived two blocks from each other in Cambridge, Massachusetts where the pair spent their teen years. The two friends wrote the film’s screenplay and of course took starring roles, alongside Robin Williams and Minnie Driver. Affleck and Damon won an Academy Award for the screenplay. What a great success story, eh?

58 To an annoying degree : AD NAUSEAM

To do something “ad nauseam” is to do so to a ridiculous degree, to the point of nausea. “Ad nauseam” is the Latin for “to sickness”.

59 Texter’s “For real?” : SRSLY?

“Srsly?” is text-speak for “seriously?”

Down

4 Australian-born pop singer : SIA

“Sia” is the stage name of Australian singer Sia Furler from Adelaide. She is a cousin of Australian Christian Rock musician Peter Furler. Sia is a very private person, and even covers her face with a blond wig while performing.

5 Tom sporting a striped coat, say : TABBY CAT

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.

6 Biota component : FLORA

The biota of a region is the total collection of flora and fauna found there.

7 ___ bowl : ACAI

Açaí na tigela is a dish made from the frozen, mashed fruit of the açaí palm and served as a smoothie. Often topped with granola, banana, other berries and syrup, the dish is a specialty in much of Brazil. There’s even a savory version of açaí na tigela (“açaí in the bowl”) that includes shrimp or dried fish and tapioca. Açaí bowls are becoming very popular in North America, especially as a health food.

11 Protector of sailors, by tradition : ELMO

Saint Elmo is the patron saint of sailors. More formally referred to as Erasmus of Formia, St. Elmo is perhaps venerated by sailors as tradition tells us that he continued preaching despite the ground beside him being struck by a thunderbolt. Sailors started to pray to him when in danger of storms and lightning. He lends his name to the electrostatic weather phenomenon (often seen at sea) known as St. Elmo’s fire. The “fire” is actually a plasma discharge caused by air ionizing at the end of a pointed object (like the mast of a ship), something often observed during electrical storms.

21 Rope fiber : SISAL

The sisal plant is an agave, the flesh of which is not generally used in making tequila. Sisal is grown instead for the fibers that run the length of its leaves. The fiber is used extensively for twine, rope, carpeting, wall coverings etc. My favorite application though, is in the construction of dartboards. Sisal takes its name from the port of Sisal in Yucatan, Mexico that was a major shipping point for sisal plants.

26 Green juice? : SOLAR POWER

Solar panels are arrays of solar cells that make use of what’s known as the photovoltaic effect. We are more likely to have learned about the photoelectric effect in school, in which electrons were ejected from the surface of some materials when it was exposed to light or other forms of radiation. The photovoltaic effect is related but different. Instead of being electrons ejected from the surface, in the photovoltaic effect electrons move around in the material creating a difference in voltage.

27 Certain symbols of solidarity : PRIDE FLAGS

The pride flag representing bisexuality and the bisexual community was introduced in 1998. It comprises blue and pink stripes that overlap to create a purple stripe in the middle. The flag’s designer, Michael Page, explained that the pink color represents sexual attraction to the same sex only, and the blue stripe attraction to the opposite sex only. The overlapping purple stripe represents sexual attraction to both sexes.

28 “Family Guy” baby : STEWIE

“Family Guy” is a very successful animated television show. It was created by Seth MacFarlane, the same guy who came up with “American Dad!”. My kids love them both. Me? I can’t stand ‘em …

29 Bill with the 2024 book “What This Comedian Said Will Shock You” : MAHER

Bill Maher is a stand-up comedian and political commentator. Maher has an HBO television show called “Real Time with Bill Maher” which is essentially a follow-on from the very successful “Politically Incorrect” program that started out on Comedy Central.

34 Bell-shaped lily : SEGO

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

46 Road ___ : ATLAS

Rand McNally is a company long associated with the city of Chicago. Its roots go back to 1856 when William Rand opened a printing shop in the city. Two years later he hired an Irish immigrant named Andrew McNally and the pair turned to printing tickets and timetables for the railroad industry. They diversified into “railroad guides” in 1870, including the first Rand McNally map in the December 1872 edition. When automobile travel started to become significant, Rand and McNally turned their attention to roads and they published their first road map in 1904, a map of New York City. Rand and McNally popularized the use of highway numbers, and indeed erected many roadside highway signs themselves, long before the state and federal authorities adopted the idea.

49 Officially inducted, in mob lingo : MADE

In the Mafia, a made man is a fully initiated member. A made man might also be called a goodfella or a wiseguy.

50 Dylan’s “It ___ Me Babe” : AIN’T

The birth name of singer Bob Dylan was Robert Zimmerman. Zimmerman changed his name to “Dylan” partly because he was influenced by the poetry of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. Famously, in 2016 Dylan became the first musician to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. In presenting the award, the Nobel Prize committee said that Dylan “created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”.

52 Part of Q.E.D. : ERAT

The initialism “QED” is used at the end of a mathematical proof or a philosophical argument. QED stands for the Latin “quod erat demonstrandum” meaning “that which was to be demonstrated”.

53 Part of EGOT : EMMY

Emmy, Grammy, Oscar & Tony Awards (EGOT)

56 Air force? : TSA

Transportation Security Administration (TSA)