Day: April 4, 2025

Bill’s time: 15m 31s

Bill’s errors:

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

14 Its flag was solid red with a white elephant : SIAM

“Siam” was the official name of Thailand up to 1939 (and again from 1945 to 1949).

15 Home health risk : RADON

The element radon (Rn) is a radioactive gas, and a byproduct produced when uranium decays naturally in the earth. Radon gas can collect and accumulate in buildings and rooms that are particularly well insulated with very little air exchange. The danger is very real, as radon is listed as the second most frequent cause of lung cancer after cigarette smoke.

16 Athlete posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom : ASHE

Arthur Ashe was a professional tennis player from Richmond, Virginia. In his youth, Ashe found himself having to travel great distances to play against Caucasian opponents due to the segregation that still existed in his home state. He was rewarded for his dedication by being selected for the 1963 US Davis Cup team, the first African-American player to be so honored. Ashe continued to run into trouble because of his ethnicity though, and in 1968 was denied entry into South Africa to play in the South African Open. In 1979, Ashe suffered a heart attack and had bypass surgery, with follow-up surgery four years later during which he contracted HIV from blood transfusions. Ashe passed away in 1993 due to complications from AIDS. Shortly afterwards, Ashe was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton.

The highest civilian awards in the US are the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. The former is bestowed by the US president, and the latter by Acts of Congress. That said, Congress has the option of authorizing the President to present the Congressional Gold Medal to the chosen recipient.

29 Duke Ellington’s “___ Doll” : SATIN

“Satin Doll” is a jazz standard that was co-written and recorded by Duke Ellington. Johnny Mercer wrote lyrics to the song, but after it had already become an instrumental hit in 1953. Ellington usually closed his concerts with a rendition of “Satin Doll”.

Duke Ellington was a bandleader and composer believed by many to have elevated jazz to the same level as other respected genres of music. Ellington tended not to use the word “jazz” to describe his compositions, preferring the term “American Music”.

33 Grad. student fellowship funder : NSF

The National Science Foundation (NSF) supports research and education in all scientific fields outside of medicine. The NSF was founded in 1950 during the Truman administration. Today it has a budget of almost 7 billion dollars.

34 Pioneering agriculturist Tull : JETHRO

Jethro Tull was an Englishman who was a pioneer in the use of efficient techniques in farming. Tull’s contributions helped bring about the British Agricultural Revolution that dramatically increased the productivity of land between 1690 and 1700. And yes, the British rock band from the sixties named themselves after Jethro Tull.

39 Turndown? : DOG-EAR

The folded-down corner of the page of a book, a temporary placeholder, is known as a “dog-ear”. I suppose that’s because it looks like the ear of a dog …

40 Many a short-term rental : VAN

The vehicle we call a “van” takes its name from “caravan”, and so “van” is a shortened version of the older term. Back in the 1600s, a caravan was a covered cart. We still use the word “caravan” in Ireland to describe what we call a “mobile home” or “recreational vehicle” here in the US.

43 The Clintons’ White House cat, so named because of its white feet : SOCKS

Buddy was a chocolate Labrador owned by the Clinton family while they were living in the White House. The Clintons also had a cat named Socks, but the two pets did not get along. So, the pair lived in separate quarters in the White House. After the First Family moved to less vast quarters at the end of the presidency, they chose to keep Buddy as the family pet, leaving Socks with President Clinton’s secretary Betty Currie.

50 “Map of China” artist : AI WEIWEI

Ai Weiwei is a Chinese artist who has been vocal in his criticism of his country’s position on human rights and democracy. Weiwei was an artistic consultant largely responsible for the look and feel of the Beijing National Stadium, commonly referred to as the “Bird’s Nest”, that was showcased during the 2008 Summer Olympics.

52 Blue-blooded : NOBLE

The idiomatic phrase “blue blood” applies to someone of noble descent. It is a translation of the Spanish “sangre azul”, which was applied to the royal family in Spain. The notion is that someone of noble birth does not have to work outdoors in the fields, and so has untanned skin. The veins showing in the skin had “blue blood”, whereas those veins were masked by the darker skin of the peasant classes.

55 Anti-jaywalking directive : CROSS AT THE GREEN

“Jaywalking” is mainly an American term. The original version of the word was “jay-driving”, which applied to people driving horse-drawn carriages on the wrong side of the road.

60 Onetime iPod model : NANO

The iPod Nano was the successor to the iPod Mini and was introduced to the market at the end of 2005. There were seven versions of the Nano, until it was discontinued in 2017.

Down

2 Place : LIEU

As one might imagine perhaps, “in lieu” came into English from the Old French word “lieu” meaning “place”, which in turn is derived from the Latin “locum” that also means “place”. So, “in lieu” translates as “in place of”.

4 Hair color blending technique : OMBRE

The adjective “ombré” describes a color or tone that is a blend of one into another. “Ombré” is French for “shaded”. A softer and more gradual shading of one color into the other is referred to as “sombré”.

8 Pinched pasta shape : BOW TIE

Farfalle is commonly referred to as bow-tie pasta because of its shape. The name comes from the Italian “farfalla” meaning “butterfly”.

10 Step before “bake” in certain recipes : MARINATE

Our verb “to marinate” comes from the French “mariner” meaning “to pickle in sea brine”, which in turn comes from the Latin “marinus” meaning “of the sea”. So, “marinade” is related to “marine”.

12 Puma or pump : SHOE

Puma is a German company that sells athletic shoes worldwide. The company is most famous for its line of soccer boots.

A pump is a woman’s shoe that doesn’t have a strap. Such shoes are probably called “pumps” because of the sound they make while walking in them.

13 Alpaca group : HERD

Alpacas are like small llamas, but unlike llamas were never beasts of burden. They were bred specifically for the fleece. As such, there are no known wild alpacas these days, even in their native Peru.

30 Greek goddess who is the equivalent of the Roman Pax : IRENE

Eirene (also “Irene”) was the Greek goddess of peace, with “eirene” being the Greek word for “peace”. The Roman equivalent to Eirene was the goddess Pax.

31 Itinerant one : NOMAD

A nomad is someone who roams about. The term “nomad” comes from the Latin “nomas” meaning “wandering shepherd”. In turn, “nomas” comes from the Greek “nomas” meaning “roaming (especially when looking for pasture)”.

34 High ___ : JINKS

Our expression “high jinks”, meaning “prank, frolic”, was once the name of an 18th-century Scottish drinking game, would you believe? A bad score on a dice and you had to take a drink, or do something undignified.

36 Ottomans, e.g. : LEG RESTS

The piece of furniture known as an ottoman can be a couch, usually one with a head but no back or sides. Here in the US, the term more commonly applies to a padded and upholstered seat or bench that can also be used as a footrest. The original ottoman couch came from the Ottoman Empire, hence the name.

37 Hawaiian party settings : LANAIS

A lanai is a type of veranda, and a design that originated in Hawaii. A kind blog reader tells me that the etymology of “lanai” seems unclear, but that the island name of “Lana’i” is not related.

44 “Every bad situation is a blues ___ waiting to happen”: Amy Winehouse : SONG

Amy Winehouse was a much ridiculed singer from the UK, and whose life was fraught with very public bouts of drug and alcohol abuse. Winehouse’s lifestyle caught up with her in 2011 when she was found dead from alcohol poisoning. The unfortunate singer was only 27 years old when she died, which means she is now viewed as a member of the “27 Club”. This “club” is made up of famous musicians who all died at the age of 27, including Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison of the Doors, and Kurt Cobain of Nirvana.

47 “Life on the Mississippi” memoirist : TWAIN

“Samuel Langhorne Clemens” was the real name of the author Mark Twain. Twain wasn’t the only pen name used by Clemens. Early in his career he signed some sketches as “Josh”, and signed some humorous letters that he wrote under the name “Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass”. The name of Mark Twain came from the days when Clemens was working on riverboats on the Mississippi. A riverboatman would call out “by the mark twain” when measuring the depth of water. This meant that on the sounding line, according to the “mark” on the line, the depth was two (“twain”) fathoms, and so it was safe for the riverboat to proceed.

49 “___ Doone,” R.D. Blackmore romance : LORNA

The novel “Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor” was written by Richard Doddridge Blackmore. R. D. Blackmore was an English novelist, very celebrated and in demand in his day (the late 1800s). His romantic story “Lorna Doone” was by no means a personal favorite of his, and yet it is the only one of his works still in print.

53 When Holy Week falls : LENT

In the Christian tradition, the week running up to Easter Sunday is known as Holy Week. Holy Week includes Palm Sunday, Holy/Spy/Ash Wednesday, Holy/Maundy Thursday, Holy/Good Friday and Holy Saturday.

54 1960s chimp in space : ENOS

Enos was a chimpanzee that was launched into Earth orbit in 1961 by NASA on a Mercury Atlas 4 rocket. Enos’s flight was a rehearsal for the first orbital flight made by an American, astronaut John Glenn. Enos returned from his mission safely, but died the following year from dysentery.