Day: December 19, 2024

Bill’s time: 10m 27s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Some mustangs : ROANS

A mustang is a free-roaming horse, and a descendent of a once-domesticated animal. The English term comes from the Spanish “mesteño“ meaning “stray livestock animal”.

6 Comedian Ken of “The Masked Singer” : JEONG

Ken Jeong is an actor from Detroit who is perhaps best known for playing the gangster Leslie Chow in the “The Hangover” series of films. Jeong isn’t only an actor; he has an M.D. degree and is a licensed physician in California.

“The Masked Singer” is a reality TV show in which masked celebrities compete anonymously in a singing competition. Contestants reveal their identities when they are voted off the show by the audience and a panel of judges. The American version of the show is part of an international “Masked Singer” franchise that originated in South Korea.

17 Stopping point for a cruise … or Crusoe : ISLE

When Daniel Defoe wrote his marvelous 1719 novel called “Robinson Crusoe”, he was likely thinking of real-life Scottish castaway Alexander Selkirk. Selkirk was marooned and lived alone on the Pacific Island called “Mas a Tierra” off the coast of Chile, for four years. The island was officially renamed in 1966, and is now called Robinson Crusoe Island.

18 Commoner : PLEB

In ancient Rome, the patricians were the members of the families in the ruling classes. Those Romans who were not patricians by birth were known as plebs.

21 Nowhere to be found, informally : MIA

Missing in action (MIA)

25 Cellular data? : DNA

The two most common nucleic acids are deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), both of which play crucial roles in genetics. The DNA contains the genetic instructions used to keep living organisms functioning, and RNA is used to transcribe that information from the DNA to protein “generators” called ribosomes.

26 Disparate : MOTLEY

Something described as motley is mottled, marked with different-colored spots. The term probably comes from the Old English word “mot” meaning “speck”. We can use the term “motley” figuratively to mean “diverse, heterogeneous”.

28 Its home is on the range : SAUTE PAN

“Sauté” is a French word. The literal translation from the French is “jumped” or “bounced”, a reference to the tossing of food while cooking it in a frying pan.

35 Sticky treats, in more ways than one? : POPSICLES

The term “ice pop” has largely been supplanted in the US by “popsicle”, as the Popsicle brand of ice pop became so popular. We still use “ice pop” in Ireland, and in the UK the same thing is called an “ice lolly”, and in Australia it’s an “ice block”.

39 Fictional queen of Arendelle : ELSA

“Frozen” is a 2013 animated feature from Walt Disney Studios that is based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale “The Snow Queen”. The film is all about the exploits of Princess Anna, the younger sister of Elsa, Snow Queen of Arendelle. Elsa was originally intended to be a villain, a malicious and power-hungry character. By the final version of the film, Elsa had transformed from a one-dimensional villain into a fully fleshed-out protagonist.

43 Greek consonant : RHO

Rho is the Greek letter that looks just like our Roman letter “p”, although it is equivalent to the Roman letter R. It is the 17th letter in the Greek alphabet.

55 Attention-grabbing appearance, maybe : PR STUNT

Public relations (PR)

60 Baby bear? : GESTATE

The normal gestation period for humans is 280 days, a little over 9 months. The gestation period can be a little shorter, or longer. Back in 1945, a pregnancy was confirmed at 375 days, which is just over 12 months.

61 Chums : PALS

A chum is a friend. The term “chum” originated in the late 1600s as an alternative spelling for “cham”. In turn, “cham” was a shortened form of “chambermate”, a roommate at university.

62 Mount Vernon or Monticello : ESTATE

Mount Vernon was the plantation home of President George Washington and his family, located along the banks of the Potomac River near Alexandria, Virginia. The estate was purchased by Washington’s ancestors when it was known as Little Hunting Creek Plantation. It was George Washington’s older half-brother who changed the name to Mount Vernon, in honor of Vice Admiral Edward Vernon, an English naval officer.

Down

7 Theodore Roosevelt ushered in a “Progressive” one : ERA

The Progressive movement had the goal of eliminating corruption in government in the US. The movement gave its name to the Progressive Era that lasted from the 1890s to the 1920s. Journalists who investigated and exposed corruption were given the name “muckrakers”. The term “muckraker” was popularized by President Theodore Roosevelt when he referred to “the Man with the Muck-rake”, a character in John Bunyan’s allegory “The Pilgrim’s Progress”.

9 Burning man? : NERO

The Great Fire of Rome raged for five and a half days in 64 AD. Of the fourteen districts of Rome, three were completely destroyed and seven more suffered serious damage. The emperor at the time was Nero, although reports that he fiddled, played his lyre or sang while the city burned; those accounts are probably not true. In fact, Nero was staying outside of Rome when the fire started and rushed home upon hearing the news. He organized a massive relief effort, throwing open his own home to give shelter to many of the citizens who were left living on the street.

10 Charlie brought his to the chocolate factory : GRANDPA

“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” is a 1964 novel for children penned by British author Roald Dahl. The two main character’s in the story are young schoolboy Charlie Bucket, and chocolate manufacturer Willy Wonka. Dahl was inspired to write the novel by his exposure to the rivalry between Britain’s two major chocolatiers: Cadbury and Rowntree.

14 Nantz’s longtime N.F.L. commentating partner : SIMMS

Phil Simms is a former American football quarterback who spent his entire 14-year career with the New York Giants. He led the Giants to victory in Super Bowl XXI, for which he was named the MVP. After retiring, he became a successful television sportscaster.

16 Devoted fan, informally : STAN

“Stan” is a song by rapper Eminem (featuring Dido) that was recorded in 2000. The title refers to a fictional Eminem fan named “Stan” who becomes obsessed with the rapper, and who grows irate when his letters to his idol go unanswered. Stan’s final act is to make a voice recording as he drives into a river, with his pregnant girlfriend locked in the trunk. One of the legacies of the song is that “stan” is now used as a slang term for an obsessed and maniacal fan.

23 13th-century poet who wrote the “Masnavi” : 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”.

24 Kerfuffle : STIR

“Kerfuffle” comes from the Scottish “curfuffle”, with both words meaning “disruption”.

27 Neckwear sometimes made with kukui nuts : LEIS

“Lei” is a Hawaiian word meaning “garland, wreath”, although in more general terms a lei is any series of objects strung together as an adornment for the body.

33 Hedgehog lookalikes : ECHIDNAS

The echidna is also called the spiny anteater. Just like the platypus, the echidna is a mammal that lays eggs.

51 Sicilian landmark : ETNA

Mount Etna on the island of Sicily is the largest of three active volcanoes in Italy, and indeed the largest of all active volcanoes in Europe. Etna is about 2 1/2 times the height of its equally famous sister, Mt. Vesuvius. Mt. Etna is home to a 110-km long narrow-gauge railway, and two ski resorts. It is sometimes referred to as “Mongibello” in Italian, and as “Mungibeddu” (sometimes “Muncibeddu”) in Sicilian. The English name “Etna” comes from the Greek “aitho” meaning “I eat”.

56 Something connected to a QR code : URL

A QR Code (for “Quick Response Code”) is a two-dimensional barcode that is favored over UPC barcodes as it can read more quickly and can store much more information. The QR Code comprises black squares within a square grid on a white background.

58 Org. for Coco Gauff : WTA

Women’s Tennis Association (WTA).

Coco Gauff is a professional tennis player from Atlanta whose career really got a boost when she beat Venus Williams in the opening round of Wimbledon in 2019. Ironically, Venus, and her sister Serena, were the players who inspired Gauff to take up tennis as a girl.