Day: July 27, 2025

Bill’s time: 18m 03s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

9A Subject of the 2017 musical film “The Greatest Showman” : BARNUM

Phineas Taylor “PT” Barnum was one of the great American showmen, and was famous for founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus. By some measures, Barnum was the first ever “show business” millionaire. Beyond the world of entertainment, Barnum was also a politician for a while and served two terms in the Connecticut legislature, and was mayor of the city of Bridgeport. Barnum was a very successful author as well. One of his most famous books was “The Humbugs of the World”, an exposé of deceptions in the world of entertainment. He was a believer in illusions, providing they gave value for money in terms of entertainment. However, Barnum had an intense dislike of fraudulent deception and came down hard on spiritualist mediums in particular.

“The Greatest Showman” is a 2017 musical film about the life of PT Barnum, co-creator of the Barnum & Bailey Circus. Hugh Jackman plays the title character. Barnum & Bailey ceased operations just seven months before the movie premiered. The circus resumed operations five years later, but without any animal acts.

22A Ralph Ellison novel about a nameless protagonist’s journey in racist America : INVISIBLE MAN

Author Ralph Ellison’s most famous book is the novel “Invisible Man”, which won the National Book Award in 1953. Ellison’s full name is Ralph Waldo Ellison, as he was named for Ralph Waldo Emerson.

24A Forgiving middle-aged dads for their dad jokes, say? : EXONERATING GENERATION X

The term “Generation X” originated in the UK where it was the name of a book by Jane Deverson. Her book detailed the results of a study of British youths in 1964, contrasting their lifestyle to those of previous generations. It was Canadian author Douglas Coupland who was responsible for popularizing the term, with his more successful publication “Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture”. By one definition, Gen-Xers were born between 1961 and 1981.

26A Picket line? : FENCE

Back in the late 17th century, a picket was a pointed stake used militarily to defend against attacking forces, and charging cavalry in particular. Ultimately, the term “picket” comes from the French verb “piquer” meaning “to pierce”. The term “pickets” then became the name for troops posted in the front lines, watching for the enemy. A picket line is a unit of soldiers lined up as a team of lookouts. The first use of “picket line” in the sense of labor disputes appeared just after the end of WWII. Our use of “picket fence” evolved from the original lines of pointed stakes used to defend positions held by early colonists.

27A Bud in Cooperstown : SELIG

Bud Selig was the Commissioner of Baseball for Major League Baseball from 1998 to 2015. Selig became acting commissioner in 1992 after the resignation of Fay Vincent. The team owners searched for a new commissioner for six years, and finally gave the permanent job to Selig in 1998.

Cooperstown is a village in New York that is famous as the home to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The village was named for Judge William Cooper, the founder of Cooperstown and the father of the noted writer James Fenimore Cooper.

28A Dorm room staple food : RAMEN

Ramen is a noodle dish composed of Chinese-style wheat noodles in a meat or fish broth flavored with soy or miso sauce. Ramen is usually topped with sliced pork and dried seaweed. The term “ramen” is also used for precooked, instant noodles that come in single-serving, solid blocks.

30A Darth Vader’s childhood nickname : ANI

Darth Vader is (to me) the most colorful antagonist in the “Star Wars” universe. Born as Anakin “Ani” Skywalker, he was corrupted by the Emperor Palpatine and turned to “the Dark Side”. In the original films, Darth Vader was portrayed by English bodybuilder David Prowse, and voiced by actor James Earl Jones. Jones asked that he go uncredited for the first two “Star Wars” films, feeling that his contributions were insufficient to warrant recognition. I disagree …

36A Muppet of Mexican descent : ROSITA

On the children’s television show “Sesame Street”, Rosita is a character who is fluent in both English and Spanish. Rosita is operated by Puppeteer Carmen Osbahr. Osbahr originally worked on “Plaza Sésamo”, which is the version of Sesame Street that is broadcast in Mexico.

47A Attire for Larry Page and Sergey Brin when visiting Google incognito? : TECHNOCRATS’ TRENCH COATS

Sergey Brin co-founded Google along with Larry Page. Brin was born in Moscow and immigrated to the US with his family when he was 6 years old. Brin and Page met in Stanford as first-year students, and there created their first Internet search engine.

51A Columbus sch. : OSU

Ohio State University (OSU) in Columbus was founded back in 1870 as the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College. The athletic teams of OSU are called the Buckeyes, named after the state tree of Ohio. In turn the buckeye tree gets its name from the appearance of its fruit, a dark nut with a light patch thought to resemble a “buck’s eye”. The school’s athletic mascot was introduced in 1965, and is an anthropomorphic buckeye nut named Brutus Buckeye.

53A Down Easter : MAINER

The coast of Maine is often referred to as “Down East” by the people of New England. There is even a monthly magazine aimed at the people of Maine called “Down East”, which is published in Camden, Maine.

54A One with a set of pipes : ORGAN

The organ that we often see in churches, synagogues and concert halls is a pipe organ. Sound is produced by pressurized air driven through particular pipes selected by keys on a keyboard.

57A Sherlock’s sister on TV : ENOLA

“The Enola Holmes Mysteries” is a series of detective novels for young adults by American author Nancy Springer. The title character is the 14-year-old sister of 34-year-old Sherlock Holmes, the detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Springer’s novels were adapted into a 2020 film “Enola Holmes” that Netflix picked up at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. I saw this one, and the sequel, and enjoyed both …

60A ___ bag : SWAG

Swag is loot, stolen property, and a term that started out as criminal slang in England in the 1830s. “Swag” is also the name given to the promotional freebies available at some events. That said, there’s an urban myth that the promotional version of “swag” is an acronym standing for “stuff we all get”.

62A Much-maligned 2019 movie about which one review said “It’s ‘Battlefield Earth’ with whiskers” : CATS

The 2019 movie “Cats” is a much-panned big screen adaptation of the 1981 Andrew Lloyd Webber stage musical of the same name. Great musical, horrible film …

“Battlefield Earth” is a 2000 sci-fi film based on a 1982 novel of the same name by L. Ron Hubbard. A lot of controversy accompanied the release of the film. It stars John Travolta, who had been trying to get the film made since the mid-1990s. Travolta is a noted Scientologist, and the book’s author L. Ron Hubbard was the founder of Scientology. Critics of Scientology labeled the movie as a recruitment tool for the church.

63A One of classical music’s Three B’s : BRAHMS

Johannes Brahms was a leading German composer during the Romantic period. Brahms is one of the “Three Bs”, often grouped with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven.

66A Landscaper’s supply : MULCH

Mulch is a layer of material applied by gardeners over the top of soil. The intent can be to retain moisture, to add nutrients, to reduce weed growth, or just to improve the look of the garden.

69A Tundra or taiga : BIOME

I tend to think of “biome” as another word for “ecosystem”.

Tundra is an ecosystem that is treeless, or very nearly so. There are three types of tundra. Arctic and Antarctic tundra can’t support the growth of trees as the ground is pretty much frozen. Alpine tundra cannot support tree-growth due to high altitude.

The word “taiga” is used for an ecosystem largely covered in coniferous forests that exists in northern regions around the world. “Taiga” is Mongolian in origin, and is sometimes used interchangeably with “boreal forest”.

78A Trademarked refrigerant : FREON

Freon is a DuPont trade name for a group of compounds used as a refrigerant and as a propellant in aerosols. Freon is used in the compressors of air conditioners as a vital component in the air-cooling mechanism. Freon used to contain chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which had a devastating effect on the Earth’s ozone layer. Use of CFCs is now banned, or at least severely restricted.

79A Uncle Sam’s land, informally : US OF A

The Uncle Sam personification of the United States was first used during the War of 1812. The term was so widely accepted that even the Germans used it during WWII, choosing the code word “Samland” for “America” in intelligence communiques.

80A Lithe : SVELTE

“Svelte” comes into English from Latin, via the Italian “svelto” meaning “stretched out”. Something or someone described as svelte would be slender and graceful.

89A Avatar of Vishnu : RAMA

In the Hindu tradition, the god Vishnu has several different avatars i.e. incarnations or manifestations. Rama is the seventh of these avatars.

92A Try to hit in laser tag : FIRE AT

The name “Laser Tag” is really a misnomer, as lasers are rarely used in the game. The “guns” actually send out infrared light, and not laser light, that is picked up by infrared detectors worn by the players.

95A Older sister of Rachel, in Genesis : LEAH

According to the Bible, Leah was one of the two wives of Jacob, the other being Leah’s sister Rachel. Jacob’s intention had been to marry Rachel, but Leah and Rachel’s father “switched” his daughters and provided Leah as the veiled bride. Jacob married Rachel a week later, and lived with the two wives concurrently.

98A Basic BASIC statements : IFS

BASIC is a family of computer programming languages. The original version in the series was released in 1964 at Dartmouth College. The program was designed to enable students in fields outside the sciences to program computers. The acronym BASIC stands for “Beginners’ All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code”.

104A Contemporary of Gauss and Faraday : AMPERE

The unit of electric current is the ampere, which is abbreviated correctly to “A” rather than “amp”. It is named after French physicist André-Marie Ampère, one of the main scientists responsible for the discovery of electromagnetism.

Carl Friedrich Gauss was a German mathematician and scientist, by all accounts a child prodigy and one of the greatest mathematicians of all time. He did a lot of work in the field of magnetism in his latter years, and for this the metric system’s unit of magnetic induction was given the name “gauss”.

Michael Faraday was a scientist from England who discovered electromagnetic induction among other things. It was Faraday who first observed that a conductor carrying an electric current has an associated magnetic field. Amazingly, the sum total of Faraday’s formal education was little more than a seven-year apprenticeship as a bookbinder and bookseller.

105A James who played Scotty on “Star Trek” : DOOHAN

In the “Star Trek” series on television and in the movies, the colorful character named Scotty was played by Canadian actor James Doohan. Doohan joined the Royal Canadian Artillery at the start of WWII, and participated in the D-Day Invasion of Normandy. After surviving the landing, that same day Doohan was shot by one of his own men in a tragic mishap. Doohan was hit six times, with a bullet to his chest stopped by a silver cigarette case he was carrying. One of Doohan’s fingers was shot off in the incident. He managed to conceal that injury during his acting career.

107A Part of une pièce de théâtre : ACTE

In French, an “acte” (act) is part of “une pièce de théâtre” (a play).

110A Plunderers of Rome : GAULS

The Gauls were a Celtic race, with Gaul covering what is now known as France and Belgium. We use the term “Gallic” today, when we refer to something pertaining to France or the French.

120A Hogwarts’s “Half-Blood Prince” : SNAPE

Severus Snape is a character in the “Harry Potter” novels by J. K. Rowling. He is the Potions Professor at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Snape was played by the wonderful Alan Rickman on the big screen.

The titles of the seven “Harry Potter” books are:

1. “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” (“… Sorcerer’s Stone” in the U.S)
2. “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”
3. “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”
4. “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”
5. “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”
6. “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”
7. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”

I tried reading the first one, and gave up three-quarters of the way through …

122A Burnt pigment : UMBER

Umber is an earthy, brown shade. The word “umber” originally described a pigment made from earth found in Umbria, a region in central Italy. In its natural form, the pigment is referred to as “raw umber”. The heated form of the pigment has a more intense color and is known as “burnt umber”.

126A Greeting from a famous Italian character to a famous Italian American actress? : MARISA TOMEI! IT’S A ME, MARIO!

Marisa Tomei’s first screen role was in the daytime soap “As the World Turns”, but her break came with a recurring role in “The Cosby Show” spin-off “A Different World”. Tomei won an Oscar for her delightful performance in “My Cousin Vinny” in 1992.

Mario Bros. started out as an arcade game back in 1983, developed by Nintendo. The more famous of the two brothers, Mario, had already appeared in an earlier arcade game “Donkey Kong”. Mario was given a brother called Luigi, and the pair have been around ever since. In the game, Mario and Luigi are Italian American plumbers from New York City.

130A DC power player in the late 1800s? : THOMAS EDISON

George Westinghouse was an American engineer and businessman, and a rival to Thomas Edison in developing the first robust electrical grid for the country. Edison’s approach was to distribute electrical power using DC current, but Westinghouse opted to partner with Nikola Tesla and worked with AC current. AC technology won the day!

132A Magical symbol : SIGIL

A sigil is a seal or signet. The term “sigil” comes from the Latin “sigillum” meaning “little sign”. In the world of astrology, a sigil is a symbol that is supposed to have great power.

134A Art lovers : ESTHETES

An aesthete (also “esthete”) is someone who appreciates beauty in art or in nature. Often someone described as an aesthete might show excessive or affected admiration of beauty.

Down

1D One always cooking up new ideas? : CHEF

“Chef” is a French word meaning “chief, head”. Our use of the term “chef” is a shortened version of “chef de cuisine” meaning “head of the kitchen”.

4D ___ compensation (stock options, for instance) : NON-CASH

In the world of commerce, an option is an exclusive right to purchase something within a specified time at a specified price. One often hears about stock options, which employees can have. Such employees have the right to purchase company stock at a certain pre-determined price, within a certain time frame.

6D Canon option, in brief : SLR

The Japanese company Canon is largely known in the US for producing quality cameras. The company started out as Precision Optical Industry Laboratory in 1937 making camera bodies. The name was changed in 1947 to Canon.

8D Cuisinart competitor : OSTER

The Oster brand of small appliances was introduced in 1924 by John Oster. He started out by making manually-powered hair clippers designed for cutting women’s hair, and followed up with a motorized version in 1928. The clippers kept the company in business until 1946 when Oster diversified, buying a manufacturer of liquefying blenders in 1946. The blender was renamed to “Osterizer” and was a big hit. Oster was bought by Sunbeam, which has owned the brand since 1960.

The Cuisinart line of home appliances was introduced by Carl and Shirley Sontheimer in 1973. The debut product in the line was America’s first food processor. Sales of the machine were very slow for a couple of years, until celebrity chefs like Julia Child and Jacques Pepin started to endorse the product.

9D Noted rapper with an oxymoronic name : BIGGIE SMALLS

“The Notorious B.I.G.” was the stage name of rap star Christopher Wallace, who also went by the names Big Poppa, Biggie Smalls and Biggie. While at the height of his fame, Wallace was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles, a murder case that has never been solved. The 2009 movie “Notorious” is about Wallace’s life and stars fellow rap artist Jamal Woolard (aka Gravy) in the title role.

10D Director Lee : ANG

Ang Lee made history at the 74th Academy Awards in 2002 when he won the Best Director award for “Brokeback Mountain.” He became the first Asian person to win the award and the first non-white person to win in the category.

11D Traveler in no need of hotels, for short : RVER

One using a recreational vehicle (RV) might be called an RVer.

12D Columbian caravel : NINA

A caravel was a ship of Portuguese origin that was small and very maneuverable. They had triangular lateen-rigged sails which allowed them to sail quite close to the wind. Caravels were indeed quite small, only accommodating a crew of twenty or so sailors. Christopher Columbus’ Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria were all caravels.

15D ___-right (political category) : ALT

The concept of left-right politics started in France during the French Revolution. When members of France’s National Assembly convened in 1789, supporters of the King sat to the President’s right, and supporters of the revolution to the President’s left. The political terms “left” and “right” were then coined in the local media, and have been used ever since.

16D Twice tres : SEIS

In Spanish, “tres y tres” (three plus three) is “seis” (six).

17D Out of control : AMOK

The phrase “to run amok” (sometimes “to run amuck”) has been around since the 1670s and is derived from the Malay word for “attacking furiously”, “amuk”. The word “amok” was also used as a noun to describe Malay natives who were “frenzied”. Given Malaya’s troubled history, the natives probably had a good reason for that frenzy …

19D 1980s band among Australia’s all-time best-selling groups : INXS

INXS (pronounced “in excess”) was a rock band from Australia. The band formed in 1977 in Sydney as the Farriss Brothers, as three of the original lineups were indeed brothers. The biggest INXS hits in the US were “The One Thing” (1982), “Devil Inside” (1988) and “Suicide Blonde” (1990).

21D Quartz compound : SILICA

Quartz is a form of silicon oxide and is the second most abundant mineral found in the Earth’s crust, after feldspar. The name “quartz” comes into English via German, and probably ultimately derives from a Slavic word meaning “hard”.

31D Langston Hughes poem that begins “, sing America” : I, TOO

Langston Hughes was a poet active in the Harlem Renaissance, and someone who helped develop the literary form known as “jazz poetry”. His poem “I, Too, Sing America” was published in 1925.

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.

Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed–

I, too, am America.

41D D.C. 100: Abbr. : SENS

Our word “senate” comes from the Latin name for such a body, namely “senatus”. In turn, “senatus” is derived from “senex” meaning “old man”, reflecting the original Roman Senate’s makeup as a council of “elders”. Ain’t that true …?

43D Mickey Mouse’s boss in “Fantasia” : SORCERER

“The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” is a poem penned by Goethe in 1797. Paul Dukas wrote a symphonic poem based on the Goethe work, 10 years later. Famously, the Dukas music was used in the 1940 Disney movie called “Fantasia”.

“Fantasia” was Disney’s third feature length movie, and was released in 1940. The film had a disappointing critical reception and pushed the Disney company into financial difficulties. RKO took over the film’s distribution in 1946. The folks at RKO cut a full hour off the running time and relaunched the movie into a successful run. If you haven’t seen “Fantasia”, I urge you to do so. It’s a real delight …

45D Géorgie, par exemple : ETAT

In French, “Géorgie” (Georgia) is an “état” (state).

48D Stimpy’s TV pal : REN

“The Ren & Stimpy Show” is an animated television serial created by Canadian animator John Kricfalusi, and which ran on Nickelodeon from 1991 to 1996. The title characters are Marland “Ren” Höek, a scrawny Chihuahua, and Stimpson J. Cat, a rotund Manx cat. Not my cup of tea …

49D Rookies : NEWBS

The term “rookie”, used for a raw recruit, first appeared in Rudyard Kipling’s collection of songs and poems called the “Barrack-Room Ballads”, which was originally published in 1892.

50D Bond’s man? : CRAIG

English actor Daniel Craig rocketed to fame in 2005 when he was chosen to replace Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in the series of films based on Ian Fleming’s character. One of Craig’s most famous appearances as Bond was alongside Queen Elizabeth II in the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics. Craig married actress Rachel Weisz in 2011.

56D Skill taught to Luke Skywalker : THE FORCE

The Force is a metaphysical power much cited in all of the “Star Wars” movies. We may even hear someone in real life say “May the Force be with you”. Fans of the movie franchise even celebrate May 4th every year as Star Wars Day, using the pun “May the 4th be with you”!

59D Feast with kalua pig : LUAU

An imu is a type of underground oven that is used in the traditional Hawaiian cooking method known as “kālua”. The word “kālua” actually means “to cook in an underground oven”. The imu is a sand or dirt pit usually about three feet deep. A fire is built in the pit using koa wood and then rocks are placed on the fire. Once the rocks are sufficiently hot, the pit is lined with banana leaves. The seasoned meat to be cooked is also wrapped in banana leaves, as well as wet burlap. The meat “package” is surrounded by hot rocks in the pit and then covered with sand or soil. Cooking time is usually 6 or 7 hours.

61D Skedaddles : GOES

“Skedaddle” is a slang term meaning “run away”, one that dates back to the Civil War.

64D ___ de Glace (glacier in the French Alps) : MER

A glacier is a body of ice that persists throughout the seasons, and which moves under its own weight. The term “glacier” ultimately derives from the Latin “glacies” meaning “ice”.

68D Weight : HEFT

The heft of something is its weight, its heaviness. The term “heft” is derivative of the verb “to heave” meaning “to lift, raise”.

72D Shower scrubber : LOOFA

The loofah (also “loofa”, “lufah” and “luffa”, all Arabic words) is a vine, with fruit that’s very popular in Asia and Africa. If the fruit is allowed to mature, it can be processed to remove everything but the more rigid xylem structure (remember your high school botany class?) leaving a soft, sponge-like mass that is used as a skin polisher.

74D Mai ___ : TAI

The mai tai cocktail is strongly associated with the Polynesian islands, but the drink was supposedly invented in 1944 in Trader Vic’s restaurant in Oakland, California. One recipe is 6 parts white rum, 3 parts orange curaçao, 3 parts orgeat syrup, 1 part rock candy syrup, 2 parts fresh lime juice, all mixed with ice and then a float added of 6 parts dark rum. “Maita’i” is the Tahitian word for “good”.

75D TV friend of Jerry, George and Kramer : ELAINE

The character Elaine Benes, unlike the other lead characters (Jerry, Kramer and George), did not appear in the pilot episode of “Seinfeld”. NBC executives specified the addition of a female lead when they picked up the show citing that the situation was too “male-centric”.

82D Longtime NPR host Diane : REHM

Diane Rehm is host of the NPR-syndicated radio show called “The Diane Rehm Show”. The show used to be called “Kaleidoscope”, when Rehm took over as host in 1979. It was rebranded in 1984.

87D Business entity inits. : LLC

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.

96D Chums, in Chamonix : AMIS

Chamonix-Mont-Blanc is on the eastern border of France, in the Alps. Famously it was the site of the 1924 Winter Olympics, the first ever Winter Games.

108D Sacred object : 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.

111D Slash on a scoresheet : SPARE

In bowling, a spare is recorded on a score sheet with a forward slash mark. A strike is recorded with a large letter X.

114D When repeated, a tropical fish : MAHI

“Mahi-mahi” (meaning “very strong”) is the Hawaiian name for the dolphinfish, which is also known as the dorado. The mahi-mahi is an ugly looking creature if ever I saw one …

116D Apt name for a narcissist? : MIMI

Narcissus was a proud and vain hunter in Greek mythology. He earned himself a fatal punishment, falling in love with his own reflection in a pool. So, taken was he by his own image that he could not leave it, and wasted away and died by the pool. Narcissus gives us our term “narcissism” meaning “excessive love of oneself”.

119D He loved Lucy : DESI

Desi Arnaz was famous for his turbulent marriage to Lucille Ball. Arnaz was a native of Cuba, and was from a privileged family. His father was Mayor of Santiago and served in the Cuban House of Representatives. However, the family had to flee to Miami after the 1933 revolt led by Batista.

121D Nesting pair in the Outback : EMUS

In Australia, the land outside of urban areas is referred to as the outback or the bush. That said, I think that the term “outback” is sometimes reserved for the more remote parts of the bush.

124D The Emerald Isle : EIRE

Ireland is often referred to as “the Emerald Isle” (and described as “green”). There is a common misconception that the association with the color green is because of all that green grass that grows due to the seemingly non-stop rain. However, the use of green has more political overtones, as it is associated with many of the rebellions against British colonial rule over the centuries.

125D Photosensitive cells : RODS

The retina is the tissue that lines the inside of the eye, and is the tissue that is light-sensitive. There are (mainly) two types of cells in the retina that are sensitive to light, namely rods and cones. Rods are cells that best function in very dim light and only provide black-and-white vision. Cones on the other hand function in brighter light and can perceive color.

127D Seasoning for una margarita : SAL

No one seems to know for sure who first created the margarita cocktail. The most plausible and oft-quoted is that it was invented in 1941 in Ensenada, Mexico. The barman mixed the drink for an important visitor, the daughter of the German ambassador. The daughter’s name was Margarita Henkel, and she lent her name to the new drink. The basic recipe for a margarita is a mixture of tequila, orange-flavored liqueur (like Cointreau) and lime juice.

128D Bit of plasma : ION

When I was a schoolkid, I was taught that there were three fundamental states of matter: solid, liquid and gas. I think it is now generally accepted that there is a fourth fundamental state matter, namely plasma. Plasma is a state without a definite shape or volume, and in that sense is similar to a gas. In a plasma, electrons have been ripped away from their nuclei, forming a conductive electron “sea”. Plasmas are created from gases by applying a massive voltage difference or an extremely high temperature.

129D One whose uniform bears the Star of Life, for short : EMT

The Star of Life is a symbol used in many regions of the world to identify emergency medical services. The emblem was designed in 1963 by the American Medical Association (AMA). It comprises a blue, six-pointed star with a Rod of Asclepius in the middle. The six branches of the star are used to represent the six principal tasks executed by rescuers in an emergency:

1. Detection
2. Reporting
3. Response
4. On-scene care
5. Care in transit
6. Transfer to definitive care