Category: Adam Wagner

Bill’s time: 5m 42s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

10 Six years, for a U.S. senator : TERM

The six-year terms enjoyed by US senators are staggered, so that every two years about one third of the 100 US Senate seats come up for reelection.

14 Birds that go “HONK!” : GEESE

A male goose is called a gander, with the female simply being referred to as a goose. Young geese are called goslings.

16 Major work of art : OPUS

The Latin for “work” is “opus”, with the plural being “opera”. We sometimes use the plural “opuses” in English, but that’s just to annoy me …

20 Baking soda meas. : TSP

“Baking soda” is a common name for the compound sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3).

21 Word repeated before “Pants on fire!” : LIAR

The full rhyme used by children to deride someone not telling the truth is:

Liar, liar, pants on fire,
Hang them up on the telephone wire.

22 Network behind the streaming service Peacock : NBC

The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) has had a number of different logos in its history, including the famous peacock with which we are familiar today. The first peacock logo was introduced in the early days of color television and was designed to illustrate how wonderful color television would be, so go buy one! (NBC was owned by RCA, and so had a vested interest in sales of color television sets).

34 Traitorous Corleone brother in “The Godfather Part II” : FREDO

Fredo Corleone is a middle son in the Corleone family that features in Mario Puzo’s “The Godfather”. He was considered the weak son, and was reduced to the role of “gopher”. Fredo was with his father when Don Corleone was shot, and although he tried to retaliate as the shooting took place, he dropped his gun. On the screen, Fredo was played by Italian-American actor John Cazale.

35 Calf-length pants : CAPRIS

Capri pants first became popular on the island of Capri, apparently. They were invented in Europe in 1948, but only became stylish in the US in the sixties. Mary Tyler Moore often wore Capri pants on “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and to some extent she sparked a fashion trend. After a lull in the seventies and eighties there was a resurgence in sales after Uma Thurman wore them (and danced in them) in “Pulp Fiction”.

39 Keebler mascot : ELF

The famous Keebler Elves have been appearing in ads for Keebler since 1968. The original head of the elves was J. J. Keebler, but he was toppled from power by Ernest J. Keebler in 1970. The Keebler Elves bake their cookies in the Hollow Tree Factory.

45 E-cigarette smoker : VAPER

An electronic cigarette (also called an “e-cigarette”) is a battery-powered device that resembles a real cigarette. The e-cigarette vaporizes a solution that contains nicotine, forming a vapor that resembles smoke. The vapor is inhaled in a process called “vaping”, delivering nicotine into the body. The assumption is that an e-cigarette is healthier than a regular cigarette as the inhaled vapor is less harmful than inhaled smoke. But, that may not be so …

48 *Like a space measured by length, width, depth and time : FOUR-DIMENSIONAL

In the world of physics, spacetime is a 4-dimensional model that melds the three dimensions of space with time as a fourth dimension. I’ve tried to understand spacetime so many times, but have never gotten very far. What I hear all the “time” is that the curvature of spacetime is … gravity.

56 Where baby food might wind up, if not in the baby’s mouth : BIB

The word “bib” comes from the Latin “bibere” meaning “to drink”, as does our word “imbibe”. So, maybe a bib is less about spilling the food, and more about soaking up the booze …

60 Aries animal : RAM

According to the ancient Greeks, the constellation Aries the Ram represents the mythological winged ram with the Golden Fleece. The Greeks “hijacked” the constellation though, because it also represented a ram in late Babylonian times, long before the Golden Fleece came along.

64 Exaggerated kind of journalism : GONZO

Something gonzo is bizarre or unconventional. The term might perhaps come from the Italian “gonzo” meaning “rude, sottish”.

66 Place of Achilles’ vulnerability, in myth : HEEL

Achilles is the protagonist in Homer’s “Iliad”. When Achilles was born, his mother attempted to make him immortal by dipping him into the River Styx. As he was held by the heel while under the water, this became the only vulnerable point on his body (his Achilles’ heel”). Years later he was killed when a poisoned arrow struck him in the heel. That arrow was shot by Paris.

67 Philosopher Descartes : RENE

Anything pertaining to the philosophy of the great Rene Descartes can be described by the adjective “Cartesian”.

68 Astronomical belt wearer : ORION

A subset of three particularly bright stars in the constellation of Orion is named “Orion’s Belt”. The three bright stars sit almost in a straight line and are about equidistant. They’re usually the easiest way to spot the constellation of Orion in the night sky.

Down

2 Good-hearted sort, from Yiddish : MENSCH

“Mensch” is a word that comes to us via Yiddish, and is ultimately derived from the German “mensch” meaning “human being”. We use the term to describe someone of integrity and honor.

4 Sch. in Baton Rouge : LSU

LSU’s full name is Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, and is located in Baton Rouge. LSU was founded in 1860 as a military academy, with then-Colonel William Tecumseh Sherman as superintendent.

8 Jacket with a name derived from Inuit : ANORAK

Anoraks really aren’t very popular over here in America. Everyone has one in Ireland! An anorak is a heavy jacket with a hood, often lined with fur (or fake fur), and is an invention of the Inuit people.

10 Cleopatra’s is still undiscovered : TOMB

Cleopatra was the last pharaoh to rule Egypt. After she died, Egypt became a province in the Roman Empire.

11 Achilles or Aeneas : EPIC HERO

Aeneas was a Trojan hero of myth who traveled to Italy and became the ancestor of all Romans. Aeneas’s story is told in Virgil’s epic poem “The Aeneid”.

13 Flavor enhancer imparting umami, for short : MSG

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is the sodium salt of a naturally-occurring,non-essential amino acid called glutamic acid. It is used widely as a flavor enhancer, particularly in many Asian cuisines. Whether or not it is harmful seems to be still under debate. I say that something produced in a test tube shouldn’t be in our food …

19 Popular photo app, familiarly : INSTA

Instagram (often abbreviated to “Insta”, or “IG”) is a photo-sharing application, one that is extremely popular. Instagram started in San Francisco in 2010. Facebook purchased Instagram two years later, paying $1 billion. The billion-dollar Instagram company had just 13 employees at the time of the sale …

21 Shiny fabric : LAME

Lamé is a fabric that has metallic yarns included in the weave. It is a popular fabric for stylish evening wear, and also in the sport of fencing. The metallic threads are conductive and so help register a touch by an épée.

25 “___ the ramparts we watched …” : O’ER

The words “o’er the ramparts we watched” come from “The Star Spangled Banner” written by Francis Scott Key.

A rampart is a raised embankment, mound of earth, or length of wall that is used as a fortification. Ramparts often surround castles and forts.

27 Mo. when winter officially starts : DEC

December is the twelfth month in our calendar but was the tenth month in the old Roman calendar, hence the name (“decem” is Latin for “ten”). Back then there were only ten months in the year. “Ianuarius” (January) and “Februarius” (February) were then added as the eleventh and twelfth months of the year. Soon after, the year was reset and January and February became the first and second months.

29 Colorful part of the eye : IRIS

The iris is the colored part of the eye. It has an aperture in the center that can open or close depending on the level of light hitting the eye.

33 Nora who wrote “When Harry Met Sally …” : EPHRON

Nora Ephron had many talents, including writing film scripts and novels. Many of the movies that she wrote, she also directed. These would include some of my favorite movies of all time like “Sleepless in Seattle”, “You’ve Got Mail” and most recently, the wonderful “Julie & Julia”. And, did you know that Nora Ephron’s second marriage was to journalist Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame? She wrote an autobiographical novel based on her life with Bernstein, which deals in particular with Bernstein’s affair with the daughter of British Prime Minister James Callaghan.

“When Harry Met Sally… “ is a 1989 romantic comedy starring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan in the title roles. This marvelous film was written by the late Nora Ephron and directed by Rob Reiner. There’s a famous scene in the movie, filmed in Katz’s Deli in Manhattan, in which the character Sally (fully clothed, while eating) fakes an orgasm at the table in front of Harry. A woman at a nearby table places her order saying, “I’ll have what she’s having”. That woman was Estelle Reiner, director Carl Reiner’s mother. To this day, there is a sign in Katz’s, pointing to Harry and Sally’s table, that reads “Where Harry met Sally… hope you have what she had! Enjoy!”

36 Place for an Americano in Paris? : CAFE

An Americano is a rather tasty cocktail made from Campari, sweet vermouth and club soda. The cocktail used to be known as the “Milano-Torino”, as Campari comes from Milano (Milan) and Cinzano vermouth comes from Torino (Turin). The origin of the “Americano” name is disputed. Some say that ‘Americano” is in honor of the drink’s popularity with Americans visiting Italy in the early 1900s. Others say that the name comes from the Italian “amaro” meaning “bitter”. Even though Ian Fleming’s spy is very much associated with a “vodka martini, shaken not stirred”, the first drink he ordered in the series of books was an Americano.

38 Like feta cheese in a Greek salad : CRUMBLED

What we know as a Greek salad here in North America evolved from the horiatiki salad from Greek cuisine. The name “horiatiki” translates as “peasant, village salad”. A typical horiatiki salad consists of tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, olives with a slice of feta cheese on top. It also includes a dressing made from Greek oregano and salt in olive oil. Notably, the original dish does not include lettuce.

43 Uzo ___ of “Orange Is the New Black” : ADUBA

Uzo Aduba is an actress best known for playing prison inmate Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren on the Netflix TV show “Orange Is the New Black”.

“Orange Is the New Black” is a very entertaining comedy-drama series made by Netflix about an upper middle-class woman who goes to jail for a drug-related offense committed ten years earlier, in her youth. The series is based on a memoir by Piper Kerman called “Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison”.

44 Writer Anaïs : NIN

Anaïs Nin was a French author who was famous for the journals that she wrote for over sixty years from the age of 11 right up to her death. Nin also wrote highly regarded erotica and cited D. H. Lawrence as someone from whom she drew inspiration. Nin was married to banker and artist Hugh Parker Guiler in 1923. Decades later in 1955, Nin married former actor Rupert Pole, even though she was still married to Guiler. Nin and Pole had their marriage annulled in 1966, but just for legal reasons, and they continued to live together as husband and wife until Nin passed away in 1977.

46 H.S. sophomore’s exam : PSAT

Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT)

The term “sophomore” has been used for a student in the second year of university since the 1680’s. The original meaning of the word was “arguer”. The term has Greek roots, from two Greek words that have been artificially combined in English. The Greek “sophos” means “wise”, and “moros” means “foolish”.

47 Festival following Ramadan, informally : EID

Eid al-Fitr is a religious holiday in the Muslim tradition that is known in English as the “Festival of Breaking the Fast”. It marks the end of Ramadan, a period of dawn-to-sunset fasting.

50 Fantasy land in “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” : NARNIA

Apparently, it’s not certain how C. S. Lewis came to choose Narnia as the name of the fantasy world featured in his series of children’s books, including “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”. There was an ancient city in Umbria that the Romans called Narnia, but there is no evidence of a link.

51 Its basin covers roughly 40% of South America : AMAZON

The Amazon River of South America is the world’s largest in terms of volume, and accounts for an amazing one-fifth of the world’s total river flow. Perhaps even more amazing is that there are no bridges across the Amazon! There isn’t even one, mainly because the river flows through tropical rainforest where there are few roads and cities.

62 Currency with the symbol ¥ : YEN

The Japanese yen (JPY) is the third-most traded currency in the world, after the US dollar and the euro.