Day: August 17, 2024

Bill’s time: 17m 27s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Ireland’s second-best-selling musical act after U2 : ENYA

Enya’s real name is Eithne Ní Bhraonáin, which can translate from Irish into Enya Brennan. Her Donegal family (in the northwest of Ireland) formed a band called Clannad, which included Enya. In 1980 Enya launched her very successful solo career, eventually becoming Ireland’s best-selling solo musician. And, she sure does turn up a lot in crosswords!

16 One might clean up lots of toys : DOG GROOMER

The toy group of dogs is made up of the smallest breeds. The smallest of the small breeds are sometimes called teacup breeds.

22 One might be “slippery” : ELM

The slippery elm is a species of elm native to North America that is also known as the Red Elm. The inner bark of the slippery elm can be used in a medicinal tea. Elm bark tea is said to ease a sore throat or irritated stomach.

28 Josh who voices Olaf in “Frozen” : GAD

Josh Gad is an actor and comedian who was born in Hollywood, although that would be Hollywood, Florida. Gads big break came on the stage, when he originated the role of Elder Cunningham in “The Book of Mormon”. On the big screen Gad played Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak in “Jobs” and Hector McQueen in the 2017 adaptation of “Murder on the Orient Express”. Gad also voiced Olaf in the “Frozen” films.

31 Nonstop flight? : STAIRMASTER

The StairMaster is perhaps the most famous stair-climbing fitness machine. The StairMaster company was founded in 1983.

35 Jamie Lee Curtis or Neve Campbell, notably : SCREAM QUEEN

I really, really don’t do horror films. The one exception is the original “Halloween” movie, starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasance. To me, this first movie in the “Halloween” series is more in the style of Hitchcock’s “Psycho”, whereas the sequels were chock full of gore and graphic violence.

Neve Campbell is a Canadian actress whose big break in the movies came with the “Scream” horror film series, in which she had a leading role. I don’t do horror films, so I haven’t seen any of the “Scream” movies. Nor have I seen the TV series “Party of Five” that launched the acting careers of both Campbell and Jennifer Love Hewitt in the nineties.

39 Planned Parenthood doc : OB/GYN

In Latin, the word for midwife is “obstetrix”. “Obstetrix” translates more literally as “one who stands opposite” i.e. the one opposite the woman giving birth. The Latin term gives rise to our modern word “obstetrics” used for the branch of medical science concerned with childbirth.

42 Often-bracketed bit of Latin : [SIC]

[Sic] indicates that a quotation is written as originally found, perhaps including a typo. “Sic” is Latin for “thus, like this”. The term is more completely written as “sic erat scriptum”, which translates as “thus was it written”.

48 Lunes, e.g. : DIA

In Spanish (Span.), the days of the week are masculine (masc.) nouns. Unlike in English, the days of the week in Spanish are not capitalized when used in the middle of a sentence:

• lunes – Monday
• martes – Tuesday
• miércoles – Wednesday
• jueves – Thursday
• viernes – Friday
• sábado – Saturday
• domingo – Sunday

53 River through Glasgow : CLYDE

The Clyde is the second-longest river in Scotland, after the River Tay. The River Clyde passes through Glasgow, the country’s largest city.

58 ThinkPads, originally : IBMS

IBM introduced the ThinkPad notebook in 1992 and the brand is still sold today, although no longer manufactured by IBM. IBM sold off its personal computer division in 2005 to Lenovo. A ThinkPad was used aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor in 1993 on a mission focused on repairing the Hubble Telescope. The ThinkPad was being tested to see how it performed in space, given the high levels of radiation found in that environment. Now, there are about 100 (!) ThinkPads on board the International Space Station.

61 Cry for help : SOS

The combination of three dots – three dashes – three dots, is a Morse signal first introduced by the German government as a standard distress call in 1905. The sequence is remembered as the letters SOS (three dots – pause – three dashes – pause – three dots). That said, in the emergency signal there is no pause between the dots and dashes, so “SOS” is really only a mnemonic. Similarly, the phrases “Save Our Souls” and “Save Our Ship” are back-formations that were introduced after the SOS signal was adopted.

62 Toaster’s opening : HERE’S …

The tradition of toasting someone probably dates back to the reign of Charles II, when the practice was to drink a glass of wine to the health of a beautiful or favored woman. In those days, spiced toast was added to beverages to add flavor, so the use of the word “toast” was an indicator that the lady’s beauty would enhance the wine. Very charming, I must say …

63 Randall’s elder daughter on “This Is Us” : TESS

“This Is Us” is a television drama that debuted in 2016. The storyline centers on three siblings Kevin, Kate and Randall Pearson and their parents Jack and Rebecca Pearson. Kevin and Kate are the surviving members of a triplet pregnancy. Jack and Rebecca decide to adopt Randall, a child born on the same day as the surviving siblings. The adopting family is white, and the adopted child is black.

Down

6 “True Detective” and “The Wire,” for two : HBO DRAMAS

“True Detective” is a crime drama made by HBO that has an interesting format. Each series has its own narrative and cast. The show seems to be attracting some great actors. The first season was led by Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, and the second by Colin Farrell and Rachel McAdams.

I didn’t watch the HBO series called “The Wire” when it first aired. We ended up buying all five series on DVD and we watched the whole thing several years ago. It is a great drama series, and I thoroughly recommend it.

7 One-named poet from the 13th century : RUMI

Rumi was a poet, theologian and mystic who lived and worked in the 13th century, towards the end of the Islamic Golden Age. HIs best known work is a six-volume poem titled “Spiritual Couplets” in English, which is sometimes referred to as “the Quran in Persian”.

10 Like Medina, Saudi Arabia, vis-à-vis Medina, Ohio : HOLIER

Medina is a city in western Saudi Arabia. It is the second holiest city in the Islamic tradition after Mecca, as it is the burial place of the Prophet Muhammad.

11 So-called “king of the Egyptian gods” : AMON-RA

Amun-Ra (also “Amon, Amen”) was a god in Egyptian mythology. Amun lends his name to our word “ammonia”. This is because the Romans called the ammonium chloride that they collected near the Temple of Jupiter Amun, “sal ammoniacus” (salt of Amun).

15 Scouting gatherings : CAMPOREES

A jamboree is a very large gathering of scouts from around the country, and sometimes from around the world. The exact etymology of “jamboree” is much debated, but it is likely to be a term coined by Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of the scouting movement. Baden-Powell lived in Africa for many years and so many think that the term is based on “jambo”, the Swahili word for “hello”. A smaller, more local gathering is referred to as a “camporee”.

27 Fashions out of whatever’s lying around : MACGYVERS

“MacGyver” is an action-adventure TV show that started airing in 2016. It is described as a reboot of the successful show of the same name from the late eighties and early nineties. The title character is an agent with a unique ability to solve problems and jury-rig technical fixes when he is in a bind. Actor Lucas Till plays MacGyver this time round, whereas Richard Dean Anderson played him 25 years ago.

33 Hit Netflix show whose pilot episode is titled “Red Light, Green Light” : SQUID GAME

“Squid Game” is a brutal survival drama TV series made in South Korea for Netflix. The title refers to a Korean children’s game, and the show itself features a series of children’s games. The players are adults, all of whom are in debt. They play a deadly series of games in the hope of surviving, and winning a multimillion-dollar prize. As I said, brutal …

34 Stanley of “Julie & Julia” : TUCCI

Stanley Tucci is a UK-based American actor. Of his many fine performances, my favorite is in 2009’s “Julie & Julia”, a film in which he plays the husband of celebrity chef Julia Child. Tucci is quite the cook himself in real life and released “The Tucci Cookbook” in 2012. He was also a co-owner of the Finch Tavern restaurant in Croton Falls, New York.

36 Low-cost lager from Anheuser-Busch, familiarly : NATTY ICE

Adolphus Busch was born in Mainz in Germany. He emigrated with three of his brothers from Germany, to St. Louis in 1857. Still a young man, he met a married Lilly Anheuser, whose father owned a local brewery. When Busch’s own father died, he received a sizable inheritance, which he used to buy a substantial share in his father-in-law’s brewery. When Lilly’s father died, the brewery was renamed to Anheuser Busch.

38 Eleven in Las Vegas : RAIDERS

The Las Vegas Raiders football team was founded in 1960, and was originally intended to play in Minnesota. Instead, the team played in Oakland from 1960 to 1981 and then spent 12 years in Los Angeles before returning to Oakland in 1995. In 2017, the Raiders announced their plan to relocate to Las Vegas starting in 2020.

39 God slain by his brother, then resurrected by his wife : OSIRIS

Osiris was the Egyptian god of the underworld. He was the son of Geb the Earth god, and Nut the sky goddess. His wife Isis was also his sister. Osiris was killed and mutilated by Set, his own brother. Isis reassembled Osiris and revived him, just long enough that they could conceive their son Horus.

40 Animal also known as a pygmy chimpanzee : BONOBO

The bonobo used to be called the pygmy chimpanzee, and is a cousin of the common chimpanzee. The bonobo is an endangered species that is now found in the wild only in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa. Along with the common chimpanzee, the bonobo is the closest species to humans genetically.

44 ___ Puffs : REESE’S

Reese’s Puffs is a breakfast cereal made from corn puffs that are flavored with Reese’s peanut butter and Hershey’s chocolate.

46 In Buffalo, it’s a faux pas to order this with Buffalo wings : RANCH

There are a few stories about how Buffalo wings were first developed, most of them related to the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York. If you’re looking for Buffalo wings on a menu in Buffalo, you’ll note that in and around the city they’re just referred to as “wings”.

The term “faux pas” is French in origin, and translates literally as “false step” (or “false steps”, as the plural has the same spelling in French).

52 Eschew the subway, say : UBER

“To eschew”, meaning “to avoid, shun”, comes from the Old French word “eschiver” that means the same thing.

54 Something that’s good to do a 180 on? : LSAT

Law School Admission Test (LSAT)