Day: January 25, 2025

Bill’s time: 16m 18s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

18 “Combats ___ tes défenseurs!” (“La Marseillaise” line) : AVEC

“La Marseillaise” is the very stirring national anthem of France. The song was composed in 1792 by a French Army officer. It was adopted as a rallying call for volunteers during the French Revolution and was first sung out in Marseille. As a result, the anthem is called “The Marseillaise”, or “The Song of Marseille”. I think that the most moving rendition that I’ve personally heard is in the magnificent movie “Casablanca”.

19 Poet Bradstreet : ANNE

Anne Bradstreet was a poet who was the wife of Simon Bradstreet, a governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. She was the first poet in the British North American colonies to have her works published.

21 Coward of the theater world : NOEL

Noël Coward was the most flamboyant of personalities. A playwright, composer and actor, Coward worked in a remarkable range of genres. He wrote the wonderfully airy play “Blithe Spirit”, as well as the Oscar-winning WWII naval drama “In Which We Serve”. A couple of his more famous songs, many of which he performed himself in cabaret, are “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” and “London Pride”.

22 Largest U.S. union, with about three million members, in brief : NEA

Founded in 1857, the National Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in the country, and mainly represents public school teachers.

23 Funding source for the Great Wall of China : SALT TAX

The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications that was built and rebuilt over the centuries to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire. Most of the existing wall was reconstructed during the Ming Dynasty. This Ming wall is about 5,000 miles long. There is an urban myth that the Great Wall is visible from the Moon, or from space. NASA has shown that the Great Wall can only be discerned from low Earth orbit (about 100 miles), and that is no more or less visible than any other man-made structure.

26 Org. in 2015’s “Bridge of Spies” : CIA

“Bridge of Spies” is a 2015 historical thriller directed by Steven Spielberg and starring his friend Tom Hanks. The story is all about the arrest and trial of U-2 pilot Gary Powers, who was shot down over the Soviet Union while on a spying mission for the CIA. Hanks plays lawyer James B. Donovan, the lawyer who negotiates Powers’ release. Powers was actually exchanged for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel, with the exchange taking place at the bridge connecting Potsdam with Berlin, the “Bridge of Spies”.

30 “The Way,” in Islam : SHARIA

Sharia law is the Islamic legal system that governs many things like crime, politics and economics as well as many aspects of personal behavior. Sharia law is based on the Quran as well as the Hadith, the latter being a set of opinions and life examples from the prophet Muhammad.

33 A, B, and C, but not T and V : VITAMINS

Vitamin A is actually a group of chemicals, including retinol, retinal and beta-carotene.

The B vitamins were originally thought to be just one vitamin, which was labeled vitamin B. It was then discovered vitamin B was in fact made up of eight distinct vitamins, which today are given distinct numbers (B1, B6, B12 etc). Supplements often contain a mixture of all eight, a combination known as vitamin B complex.

The essential nutrient referred to as vitamin C is also known as L-ascorbic acid or ascorbate. A lack of vitamin C causes the disease scurvy.

35 One working on a column? : CPA

Certified public accountant (CPA)

36 Sight in Monet’s “Boating on the River Epte” : CANOE

The boat known as a canoe takes its name from the Carib word “kenu” meaning “dugout”. It was Christopher Columbus who brought “kenu” into Spanish as “canoa”, which evolved into our English “canoe”.

French artist Claude Monet was one of the founders of the Impressionist movement, and indeed the term “Impressionism” comes from the title of his 1872 painting “Impression, Sunrise”. That work depicts the port of Le Havre, which was Monet’s hometown. Later in his life, Monet purchased a house in Giverny, and famously installed lily ponds and a Japanese bridge in the property’s extensive gardens. He spent two decades painting the water lily ponds, producing his most famous works. I was fortunate enough to visit Monet’s house and gardens in Giverny a few years ago. A beautiful place …

37 Current events : RIPTIDES

Riptides are stretches of turbulent water caused by the meeting of different currents in the ocean.

42 Old atlas inits. : SSR

The former Soviet Union (officially “Union of Soviet Socialist Republics” or “USSR”) was created in 1922, not long after the Russian Revolution of 1917 that overthrew the tsar. Geographically, the new Soviet Union was roughly equivalent to the old Russian Empire, and comprised fifteen Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs).

50 Classic novel of the South Seas : OMOO

Herman Melville mined his own experiences when writing his novels. Melville sailed from New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1841 on a whaler heading into the Pacific Ocean (a source for “Moby-Dick”). Melville ended up deserting his ship 18 months later and lived with natives on a South Pacific Island for three weeks (a source for “Typee”). He picked up another whaler and headed for Hawaii, where he joined the crew of a US navy frigate that was bound for Boston (a source for “Omoo”).

The term “South Sea” was coined in Spanish (“Mar del Sur”) by Spanish conquistador Vasco Núñez de Balboa when describing what we know today as the Pacific Ocean. We tend to use the term “South Seas” in modern times to refer to that part of the Pacific that lies below the equator.

51 Some photomontage art : DADA

Dadaism thrived during and just after WWI, and was an anti-war, anti-bourgeois and anti-art culture. The movement was launched in Zurich, Switzerland by a group of artists and writers who met to discuss art and put on performances in the Cabaret Voltaire. The same group frequently expressed disgust at the war that was raging across Europe.

52 ___ Mountains, Kyrgyz/Tajik border range : ALAI

The Alay (also “Alai”) Mountains are located in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The highest peak in the range is Pik Tandykul, which lies on the international border between the two countries.

58 Segments of curling matches : ENDS

I think curling is such a cool (pun!) game. It’s somewhat like bowls, but played on a sheet of ice. The sport was supposedly invented in medieval Scotland, and is called curling because of the action of the granite stone as it moves across the ice. A player can make the stone take a curved path (“curl”) by causing it to slowly rotate as it slides.

Down

2 It passes through many Swiss banks : RHONE

The Rhône river rises in Switzerland, passes through Lake Geneva, flows through the southeast of France, and empties into the Mediterranean Sea near Arles.

3 Loy of filmdom : MYRNA

The talented Myrna Loy was one of my favorite actresses. Her career took off when she was paired up with William Powell in the fabulous “The Thin Man” series of films. Loy also appeared opposite Cary Grant in a couple of films that I like to watch every so often, namely “The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer” (1947) and “Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House” (1948).

5 Foe in a 1932 Australian “war” : EMU

The emu has had a tough time in Australia since man settled there. There was even an “Emu War” in Western Australia in 1932 when migrating emus competed with livestock for water and food. Soldiers were sent in and used machine guns in an unsuccessful attempt to drive off the “invading force”. The emus were clever, breaking their usual formations and adopting guerrilla tactics, operating as smaller units. After 50 days of “war”, the military withdrew. Subsequent requests for military help for the farmers were ignored. The emus had emerged victorious …

6 “Cheap Thrills” pop star : SIA

“Cheap Thrills” is a 2015 song that was the first number-one hit in the US for Australian singer/songwriter Sia.

7 Clutches : THRALL

Thrall is servitude or bondage, or a person in servitude. A thrall was a serf or servant in slavery in Scandinavia during the days of the Vikings.

8 Job that might require a fence : HEIST

To fence something is to deal in stolen goods, and is a slang term. The use of “fence” in this sense dates back to about 1700, the idea being that such transactions take place under “defense of secrecy”.

9 Aeschylus trilogy of tragedies : ORESTEIA

The “Oresteia” is a trilogy of Greek plays by Aeschylus. The three titles are:

• “Agamemnon”
• “The Libation Bearers”
• “The Eumenides”

Aeschylus was one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived. The first of these was Aeschylus, the second Sophocles, and the third Euripides. Aeschylus is sometimes referred to as the father of tragedy, as his work is the earliest known representation of the style.

10 The forest, in a metaphor : GESTALT

“Gestalt” is a German word meaning “shape”. The principles of gestaltism were developed in Germany in the early 1900s. One of the main tenets is that “the whole is greater than the sum of the parts”.

12 Number at filling stations? : NOVOCAINE

“Novocain” (also “Novocaine”) is actually a brand name, one for the local anesthetic procaine.

27 “Barbie” director Gerwig : GRETA

Greta Gerwig is an actress, screenwriter and director from Sacramento whose best-known acting role is probably opposite Russell Brand in the remake of the film “Arthur”. Gerwig has turned to directing, and was at the helm for the 2019 movie “Little Women”. And then, she co-wrote and directed the hit 2023 film “Barbie”.

29 Asian grocery chain : H MART

H Mart is a chain of Asian supermarkets found mainly in North America. The company was founded in 1982 as a corner grocery store in New York City. That first store operated under the Korean name “Han Ah Reum”, which is the inspiration for the H in “H Mart”.

32 S&P 500 part : AMPERSAND

Back in the day, when reciting the alphabet, it was common to emphasize that some letters could be used as a word in itself. One would say “A per se A, B, C, D … I per se I, J, K, L … denoting that the letters A and I are also their own words. It was common to add the & symbol at the end of the recitation, as if it were a 27th letter. So the alphabet ended with “X, Y, Z, & (and) per se and”. This “and per se and” statement was slurred to “ampersand”, giving the name that we use today for the &-symbol.

35 Confirmation, e.g. : CEREMONY

In some Christian traditions, Confirmation is a rite of initiation.

41 Reproductive cells : SPORES

Spores are produced by many bacteria, fungi and non-flowering plants. A spore is a reproductive body encased in a protective shell that is highly resistant to damage, and resistant to heat in particular.

45 ___ Smith, “The Autograph Man” novelist : ZADIE

Zadie Smith is an author from the UK whose first novel, “White Teeth”, became an immediate best-seller in 2000. Apparently, a partial manuscript of “White Teeth” was so well-received by insiders that a bidding war developed for the rights to publish.

46 Namely : ID EST

“Id est” is Latin for “that is”, and is often abbreviated to “i.e.” when used in English.

51 Long-bladed thrusting dagger : DIRK

“Dirk” is a Scots word meaning “dagger”, and is the name given to a knife that is worn hanging from a belt in traditional dress that includes a kilt. The dagger worn in a Scotsman’s sock isn’t a dirk (a popular misconception) but rather is called a “sgian dubh”, which translates as “a black or hidden knife”.

54 Miracle-___ : GRO

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company was founded in 1868 by one Orlando Scott, and initially sold seed to the agricultural industry. In the early 1900s, Scotts started to sell to homeowners, and mainly supplied lawn seed. The company merged with the gardening company Miracle-Gro in 1955, and then with TruGreen in 2016.

55 Lines at a grocery store : UPC

The initialism “UPC” stands for Universal Price Code or Universal Product Code. The first ever UPC-marked item to get scanned in a store was on June 26, 1974 at 08:01 a.m. at Marsh’s supermarket in Troy, Ohio. It was a 10-pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit chewing gum.