Day: March 26, 2025

Bill’s time: 7m 56s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 “Mama” of the Mamas & the Papas : CASS

Cass Elliot (born “Ellen Cohen”) was one of the four singers in the Mamas and the Papas, a sensational group from the sixties. “Mama Cass” was performing sold-out concerts in London in 1974 when she was found dead one morning, having had a heart attack. She was only 32 years old. Eerily, Elliot died in the same flat (on loan from Harry Nilsson) in which the Who’s drummer Keith Moon would die just four years later.

The folk group called the Magic Circle renamed itself to the Mamas and the Papas in the early sixties. Sadly, the Mamas and the Papas weren’t a happy bunch, always fighting over who was getting credit for songs and whose voice was getting mixed out of recordings, so they split up, twice. While they were together though, they wrote and recorded some great songs, songs which really do epitomize the sound of the sixties. “Monday, Monday” was written by John Phillips, one of “the Papas”, and it was to become the only number one hit for the group. Here’s a shocker … when it hit number one in 1966, it was the first time that a group made up of both sexes topped the American charts!

10 Motown song played at many a wedding : SHOUT

“Shout” is a hit song that was written and released by the Isley Brothers in 1959. A huge hit it was indeed, but not at first. In fact, it was destined to become the first record to “go gold” based on its longevity rather than its initial sales. “Shout” has been covered many times. My personal favorite cover versions are by Otis Day and the Knights in the film “Animal House” in 1978, and by Scottish singer Lulu in 1964.

You know you make me wanna (Shout!)
Kick my heels up and (Shout!)
Throw my hands up and (Shout!)
Throw my head back and (Shout!)
Come on now (Shout!)

15 “That’s hysterical!,” online : LMAO!

Laughing my a** off (LMAO)

16 Paragon : IDEAL

A paragon is a model of excellence, a peerless example. Ultimately the term “paragon” derives from the Greek “para-” meaning “on the side” and “akone” meaning “whetstone”. This derivation comes from the ancient practice of using a touchstone to test gold for its level of purity by drawing a line on the stone with the gold and comparing the resulting mark with samples of known purity.

17 Keats and Yeats : POETS

English poet John Keats died in Rome in 1821, and is buried there in the Protestant Cemetery. His last wish was that his grave be marked with a tombstone bearing just the words “”Here lies One whose Name was writ in Water”, and no name nor a date. Keats’ friends honored his request to some extent, as the words were included on the stone and no name is given. The full epitaph reads:

This Grave
contains all that was Mortal
of a
Young English Poet
Who
on his Death Bed, in the Bitterness of his Heart
at the Malicious Power of his Enemies
Desired
these Words to be
engraven on his Tomb Stone:
Here lies One
Whose Name was writ in Water.
24 February 1821

Irish poet and dramatist William Butler Yeats won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923 for “inspired poetry” that gave “expression to a whole nation”. Yeats was Ireland’s first Nobel laureate.

19 “I’ve done this before” : NOT MY FIRST RODEO

“Not my first rodeo” means “not the first time I’ve done this”. The phrase started to be used after country singer Vern Gosdin released the song “This Ain’t My First Rodeo” in 1990. Gosdin said that he’d first heard the idiom from a workman who added an extra room over his garage.

24 Lighter giant : BIC

Société Bic is a company based in Clichy in France. The first product the company produced, more than fifty years ago, was the Bic Cristal ballpoint pen that is still produced today. Bic also makes other disposable products such as lighters and razors.

31 She, in São Paulo : ELA

São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil. It is also the city with the highest number of helicopters in the world. This is partly driven by the horrendous traffic jams in São Paulo, but also by the wealthy having a very real fear of being kidnapped on the city’s streets.

34 Some privately held businesses: Abbr. : LLCS

A limited liability company (LLC) has a structure that limits the liability of the owner or owners. It is a hybrid structure in the sense that it can be taxed as would an individual or partnership, while also maintaining the liability protection afforded to a corporation.

37 Yearned (for) : JONESED

Back in the late 60s, “Jones” was a slang term for an intense desire or an addiction. This usage probably came from an earlier meaning for “Jones” as a synonym for “heroin”. The etymology of the heroin definition is very unclear.

45 Hand or foot : UNIT

A hand is a 4-inch unit of measure used primarily for giving the height of a horse. The original “hand” was the width of the hand, held without splaying the thumb or fingers. The height of a horse is measured from the ground to the withers, the ridge between the shoulder blades.

46 Faces : VISAGES

“Visage” is the French word for “face”, and is a term we’ve imported into English to mean “face” or “facial expression”.

48 Image format, familiarly : JPEG

The JPEG image file format (also “.jpg”) was created by the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), hence the name.

50 Road repair goo : TAR

The terms “tarmac” and “macadam” are short for “tarmacadam”. In the 1800s, Scotsman John Loudon McAdam developed a style of road known as “macadam”. Macadam had a top-layer of crushed stone and gravel laid over larger stones. The macadam also had a convex cross-section so that water tended to drain to the sides. In 1901, a significant improvement was made by English engineer Edgar Purnell Hooley who introduced tar into the macadam, improving the resistance to water damage and practically eliminating dust. The “tar-penetration macadam” is the basis of what we now call “tarmac”.

51 Alternative to a Stella or Sam Adams : PBR

Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR) is the most recognizable brand of beer from the Pabst Brewing Company. There appears to be some dispute over whether or not Pabst beer ever won a “blue ribbon” prize, but the company claims that it did so at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. The beer was originally called Pabst Best Select, and then just Pabst Select. With the renaming to Blue Ribbon, the beer was sold with an actual blue ribbon tied around the neck of the bottle until it was dropped in 1916 and incorporated into the label.

The Belgian beer Stella Artois is named for the brewer Sebastianus Artois. Artois was the master brewer at the Den Hoorn Brewery in Leuven, Belgium in the early 1700s. The Den Hoorn Brewery has been around at least since 1366 … yes, 1366!

Samuel Adams beers (sometimes ordered as “Sam Adams”) are named in honor of the American patriot who played a role in the American Revolution and the Boston Tea Party. Samuel Adams came from a family associated with the brewing industry, mainly involved in the production of malt.

54 Thoroughly interrogates : GIVES THE THE THIRD DEGREE

The phrase “third degree” is used to describe a particularly rough interrogation. We seem to be unsure where the expression originates, but there are theories. One is that it refers the third degree level of Freemasonry, which requires rigor and dedication to attain. Another theory is that it comes from Richard Sylvester who was Chief of Police for Washington, D.C. in the early 1900s. Sylvester saw the first degree of police procedure as arrest, the second degree as transportation to jail, and the third degree as interrogation.

59 Portfolio holding, for short : IRA

Our word “portfolio” comes from the Italian “portafoglio” meaning “case for carrying loose papers”. The Italian term comes from “porta” meaning “carry” and “foglio” meaning “sheet, leaf”.

60 Popular R&B group composed of T-Boz, Left Eye and Chilli : TLC

The girl band called TLC is from Atlanta, Georgia. The band’s name comes from the trio’s original members:

• Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins
• Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes
• Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas

62 Kind of pole : TOTEM

“Totem” is a word used to describe any entity that watches over a group of people. As such, totems are usually the subjects of worship. Totem poles are really misnamed, as they are not intended to represent figures to be worshiped, but rather are heraldic in nature, and often celebrating the legends or notable events in the history of a tribe.

68 Polo of “Meet the Parents” : TERI

Teri Polo’s most prominent role on the big screen was Pam Focker in “Meet the Fockers” and its sequels. Pam is the wife of the character played by Ben Stiller. Polo also played the wife of Presidential candidate Matt Santos in “The West Wing”.

“Meet the Parents” is a funny comedy released in 2000, starring Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller. “Meet the Parents” is actually a remake of a 1992 independent comedy film of the same name that enjoyed much less success.

69 Pre-covenant name for a biblical father : ABRAM

According to the Book of Genesis, God said to Abram:

Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.

71 West African staple crop : YAMS

Although in the US we sometimes refer to sweet potatoes as “yams”, the yam is actually a completely different family of plants. True yams are more common in other parts of the world than they are in this country, and are especially common in Africa.

74 Campus site for 30,000+ Iowa students : AMES

Iowa State University of Science and Technology (ISU) is located in Ames, Iowa. Among many other notable milestones, ISU created the country’s first school of veterinary medicine, in 1879. The sports teams of ISU are known as the Cyclones.

Down

1 Hackneyed : CLICHE

“Cliché” is a word that comes from the world of printing. In the days when type was added as individual letters into a printing plate, for efficiency some oft-used phrases and words were created as one single slug of metal. The word “cliché” was used for such a grouping of letters. It’s easy to see how the same word would become a term to describe any overused phrase. Supposedly, “cliché” comes from French, from the verb “clicher” meaning “to click”. The idea is that when a matrix of letters was dropped in molten metal to make a cliché, it made a clicking sound.

Hackney is a location in London, and it probably gave its name to a “hackney”, an ordinary type of horse around 1300. By 1700 a “hackney” was a person hired to do routine work, and “hackneyed” meant “kept for hire”, and then “stale, uninteresting”. This morphed into a hackney carriage, a carriage or car for hire, and into “hack”, a slang term for a taxi driver or cab.

2 Lacking all scruples : AMORAL

A scruple is a moral consideration that inhibits certain actions. The term “scruple” comes from the Latin “scrupulus”, which has the same meaning, but is also the word for a small stone. The Latin word was first used in the figurative sense by Cicero to describe a source of uneasiness, most likely drawing on the notion of a pebble in one’s shoe.

3 Cannabis variety : SATIVA

Hemp, also known as “cannabis”, is a hardy, fast-growing plant that has many uses mainly due to the strength of the fibers in the plant’s stalks. Hemp is used to make rope, paper and textiles. The term “hemp” is sometimes reserved for varieties of the plant grown for non-drug use.

5 Juniper-flavored spirit : GIN

The spirit known as gin gets its unique flavor mainly from juniper berries. The name “gin” comes into English from the translation of “juniper” from either French (“genièvre”), Dutch (“jenever”) or Italian (“ginepro”).

6 Noodle variety : UDON

Udon noodles are made from wheat-flour and are very popular in Japanese cuisines such as tempura.

8 Handouts from street preachers : PAMPHLETS

The original pamphlet was an unbound treatise, back in the late 1500s. The term “pamphlet” came from “Pamphilus, seu de Amore” (“Pamphilus, or about Love”), which was a Latin love poem that was very popular and widely copied in the Middle Ages. The term “pamphilus” comes from the Greek for “loved by all”.

10 Portions of parsley : SPRIGS

In Britain and Ireland, parsley is listed as one of the four essential herbs. And those would be “parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme”.

11 Bootleg booze : HOOCH

In the Klondike gold rush, a favorite tipple of the miners was “Hoochinoo”, a liquor made by the native Alaskans. Soon after “hooch” (also “hootch”) was adopted as a word for cheap whiskey.

To bootleg is to make or smuggle alcoholic drinks illegally. The term arose in the late 1800s as slang for the practice of concealing a flask of liquor down the leg of a high boot. The term has been extended to mean the illegal production and sale of just about anything.

12 Ref. work that’s been available electronically since 1988 : OED

Work started on what was to become the first “Oxford English Dictionary” (OED) in 1857. Several interim versions of the dictionary were published in the coming years with the first full version appearing, in ten bound volumes, in 1928. The second edition of the OED appeared in 1989 and is made up of twenty volumes. The OED was first published in electronic form in 1988 and went online in 2000. Given the modern use of computers, the publishing house responsible feels that there will never be a third print version of the famous dictionary.

13 Great Basin tribe : UTE

The Great Basin is a large region of the US covering most of Nevada, much of Utah and some parts of Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon and California. The 200,000 square mile area drains internally, with all precipitation sinking underground or flowing into lakes. Most of the lakes in the Great Basin are saline, including the Great Salt Lake, Pyramid Lake and the Humboldt Sink.

14 Historic Chinese general : TSO

“The Search for General Tso” is a 2014 documentary about the history of Chinese food in the US. Much of the film explores the life of Zuo Zontang, the Chinese military leader who gave his name to the very American dish known as General Tso’s chicken.

22 Forested moon in “Return of the Jedi” : ENDOR

The fictional forested moon of Endor features prominently in the “Star Wars” movie “Return of the Jedi”. The moon is home to the race of furry aliens known as Ewoks. Filming for the forest scenes actually took place in Humboldt Redwoods State Park in Northern California.

24 Tampa Bay N.F.L.er : BUC

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (the Bucs) joined the NFL in 1976, along with the Seattle Seahawks, as an expansion team. The Bucs had a tough start in the NFL, losing their first 26 games. Things went better in the early eighties, but then the team went through 14 consecutive losing seasons. Their luck changed again though, and they won the Super Bowl at the end of the 2002 season.

26 Actress Rodriguez of “Jane the Virgin” : GINA

Actress Gina Rodriguez is perhaps best known for playing the title role in the comedy-drama TV show “Jane the Virgin”. She also voices the title character in the animated series “Carmen Sandiego”.

28 Timeworn : OLD HAT

The use of “old hat” to mean something “out of date, stale” started about 1911. Before that, the term “old hat” meant something very different, and very vulgar. “Old hat” was the name given to a very private part of the female anatomy, the idea being that it was “often felt” (as in a “felt hat”). I just don’t know what to say …

33 Fabric that George Costanza said he’d drape himself in if it were socially acceptable : VELVET

In “Seinfeld”, Jerry’s friend George is the son of Frank and Estelle Costanza. He is portrayed by Jason Alexander, and the character is loosely based on the show’s co-creator Larry David. The character’s name came from Jerry Seinfeld’s real-life friend Mike Costanza. George’s parents are played by Jerry Stiller and Estelle Harris.

37 747 or A380 : JET

The first jet to be called a “Jumbo” was Boeing’s 747, as it was the first wide-body airliner. A wide-body passenger aircraft has seating laid out with two aisles running the length of the plane. The 747 also has three decks for part of its length, with the lower deck being used for cargo and galley space, and the upper deck for extra passenger seating. The Airbus A380 is called a “Superjumbo” as it has two full decks of passengers.

39 ___-relief : BAS

In bas-relief, an image projects just a little above the background, as in perhaps a head depicted on a coin.

41 Downward force on earth, informally : ONE-G

The force of gravity (g-force) that we all feel is referred to as “one G”. As gravity is an accelerating force, acceleration is measured relative to that force of gravity. So, if we are sitting in a vehicle that accelerates at 3G, then we are experiencing a force that is three times that which we feel from the gravitational pull of the earth. Zero G is weightlessness that is experienced when in space, and outside the influence of the earth’s gravity.

42 “I saw,” to Caesar : VIDI

The oft-quoted statement “Veni, vidi, vici” (“I came, I saw, I conquered”) is believed by many to have been written by Julius Caesar. The words date back to 47 BCE and refer to the short war between Rome and Pharnaces II of Pontus.

44 Headwear for Emily in Paris : BERET

“Emily in Paris” is a romantic comedy TV series starring Lily Collins as Emily Cooper, an ambitious American marketing executive from Chicago. When she unexpectedly lands a job in Paris, Emily embraces the challenge, and propels herself into the French lifestyle. Believe it or not, there is a video game adaption of “Emily in Paris” that was released in 2024.

49 Ad Council production, in brief : PSA

The Ad Council is a nonprofit that produces public service announcements (PSAs) for various groups, including agencies of the US government. Conceived in 1942, the council operated under the name “War Advertising Council” from 1943 to 1946. It was this organization that produced the famous wartime ads promoting military enlistment, conservation of war materials, and the purchase of war bonds. President Franklin D. Roosevelt made it clear that he wanted the Ad Council to continue its work after the war, and he got his wish.

55 Like some signs : VITAL

There are four primary vital signs that are measured by health professionals:

1. Body temperature
2. Blood pressure
3. Pulse
4. Breathing rate

65 Not online, online : IRL

In real life (IRL)

67 Blouse, e.g. : TOP

A blouse is a loose-fitting shirt, particularly one worn by women or children. The term “blouse” is French, and originally described a peasant’s smock.