Category: Dan Caprera

Bill’s time: 13m 00s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 2022 Jordan Peele horror/sci-fi film : NOPE

“Nope” is a 2022 sci-fi, horror film. Nope, I don’t do horror …

Jordan Peele is a former cast member of the sketch comedy show “Mad TV”. Peele created his own sketch comedy show “Key & Peele” with fellow-Mad TV alum Keegan-Michael Key. Peele started hosting and producing the revival of “The Twilight Zone” in 2019.

5 San ___ Bay (estuary near San Francisco) : PABLO

San Pablo, California is a city in Northern California that is almost completely surrounded by the city of Richmond in the San Francisco Bay Area.

10 Noted silver-tongued Olympic gold medalist : ALI

Boxer Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. was born in 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky. Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali when he converted to Islam in 1964. Who can forget Muhammad Ali lighting the Olympic flame for the 1996 games in Atlanta?

13 Coin toss call : TAILS

The two sides of a coin are known as the “obverse” and the “reverse”. The obverse is commonly referred to as “heads”, as it often depicts someone’s head. The reverse is commonly called “tails”, as it is the opposite of “heads”.

17 Tres + tres + tres : NUEVE

In Spanish, “tres” (three) is the square root of “nueve” (nine).

18 Single ___ (tourney type) : ELIM

“Tourney” is another word for “tournament”. “Tourney” comes from the Old French word “tornei” meaning “contest of armed men”, from “tornoier” meaning “to joust, jilt”.

20 Kierkegaard, for one : DANE

Soren Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher and theologian, and I’ve never really understood anything that he wrote!

26 Section of a curriculum : UNIT

A curriculum (plural “curricula”) is a set of courses offered by a teaching establishment. “Curriculum” is Latin for “running, course”, and comes from “currere” meaning “to run”.

28 Broadway star Hagen : UTA

Uta Hagen was a German-born American actress. Hagen married Jose Ferrer in 1938, but they were divorced ten years later after it was revealed that she was having a long-running affair with Paul Robeson. Her association with Robeson, a prominent civil rights activist, earned her a spot on the Hollywood Blacklist during the McCarthy Era. This forced her away from film, but towards a successful stage career in New York City.

34 Mayo to mayo, say : ANO

In Spanish, “mayo” (May) is one of the months of the “año” (year).

35 Writer honored by Oz Park in Chicago : BAUM

L. Frank Baum (the “L” is for Lyman) is famous for writing “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”. Writing early in the 20th century, Baum actually described in his books things that had yet to be invented, like television, laptop computers and wireless telephones.

37 “My Neighbor ___,” 1988 Hayao Miyazaki film : TOTORO

“My Neighbor Totoro” is a 1988 Japanese animated film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten. The film tells the story of two sisters, Satsuki and Mei, who move to the countryside with their father to be closer to their hospitalized mother. The sisters befriend Totoro, a large, furry creature who lives in the nearby forest.

38 One not getting enough sleep in Apr., perhaps : CPA

April 15th wasn’t always Tax Day in the US. The deadline for returns was March 1st from 1913-18, when it was moved to March 15th. Tax Day has been April 15th since 1955.

41 Prefix with meter : ODO-

An odometer measures distance traveled. “Odometer comes from the Greek “hodos” meaning “path” and “metron” meaning “measure”.

44 Prefix with phobia : ACRO-

Our prefix “acro-” comes from the Greek “akros” meaning “at the top”. Examples are “acrophobia” (fear of heights) and “Acropolis” (“city at the top”).

45 “I’m Just ___” (2023 Oscar-nominated song) : KEN

“I’m Just Ken” is a song from the soundtrack of the hit 2023 movie “Barbie”. It is sung by actor Ryan Gosling, who played Ken in the film. Also playing on the track are guitarists Slash (from Guns N’ Roses) and Wolfgang Van Halen, as well as drummer Josh Feese from Foo Fighters.

48 “Inside Politics” airer : CNN

“Inside Politics” is a CNN news program that had an original run of over 20 years. It was hosted by Judy Woodruff from 1993 to 2005, and was resurrected in 2014 with John King as host.

57 Main ingredient in the Japanese liqueur umeshu : PLUM

The Japanese plum, also known as “ume”, is tart and tangy, even when ripe. They are typically not eaten fresh, but are instead pickled or used to make a plum wine called “umeshu”.

64 Kind of arch that resembles the shape of a Hershey’s Kiss : OGEE

An ogee is a type of S-curve. Specifically, it is a figure consisting of two arcs that curve in opposite directions (like an S) but both ends of the curve end up parallel to each other (which is not necessarily true for an S). An ogee arch is composed of two ogees, with one being the mirror of the other and meeting at the arch’s apex.

65 Qualifying races : HEATS

The term “heat”, meaning “qualifying race”, dates back to the 1660s. Originally, a heat was a run given to a horse to prepare it for a race, to “heat” it up.

66 This might come in a saucer : ALIEN

Disc-shaped flying objects have been reported in the sky since the Middle Ages. In the modern era, the event that launched the term “flying saucer” was a UFO sighting in 1947, which was covered widely in the media. Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine unidentified flying objects in formation near Mount Rainier in Washington. In describing the objects, he repeatedly used the words “saucer”, “disc” and “pie-plate”. Newspapers latched onto the terminology, and we’ve been seeing flying “saucers” ever since.

70 Mustang feature, once : T-TOP

A T-top is a car roof that has removable panels on either side of a rigid bar that runs down the center of the vehicle above the driver.

The Ford Mustang car was introduced in 1964. Back then the Mustang wasn’t a brand new design, but was based on the Ford Falcon. The Mustang was the first of the “pony cars”, American models that are compact and affordable, as well as sporty in image and performance.

Down

4 Channel for watching college games : ESPNU

ESPNU (short for “ESPN Universities”) is a sports channel focused on college athletics.

6 One doing some deep-sea exploration : AQUANAUT

An aquanaut (also “oceanaut”) is a diver who occupies an underwater habitat, only returning to the surface after an unusually long period of time.

7 “Muy ___!” : BUENO

“Muy bueno” is Spanish for “very good”.

10 Singer Guthrie : ARLO

Singer Arlo Guthrie is known for his protest songs, just like his father Woody Guthrie. The younger Guthrie only ever had one song in the top 40: a cover version of “City of New Orleans”. He has lived for years in the town of Washington, just outside Pittsfield, Massachusetts. His 1976 song “Massachusetts” has been the official folk song of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts since 1981.

11 Crisscross pattern : PLAID

“Tartan” is sometimes called “plaid” over here in the US, and is a word not used in the same sense outside of this country. In Scotland, a plaid is a blanket or a tartan cloth slung over the shoulder.

12 Credos : ISMS

A creed or credo is a profession of faith, or a system of belief or principles. “Credo” is Latin for “I believe”.

21 Bike and Bike+, e.g. : PELOTONS

Peloton is a New York-based company that manufactures exercise equipment, and also provides fitness classes. Those classes are streamed to touchscreens incorporated into the equipment itself. Participation in the classes requires a subscription.

25 God honored by gladiatorial fights : SATURN

Saturn was a Roman deity, the god of agriculture and the harvest. Both the planet Saturn and day “Saturday” are named after Saturn the god.

26 Mother-of-pearl : NACRE

Nacre, also known as mother-of-pearl, is the strong iridescent material laid down by some mollusks on the inside of their shells, and it’s also what makes up pearls. The creature lays down nacre as a defensive mechanism, protecting the soft tissue of its body from the rough surface of the outer shell. Similarly, it uses nacre to encapsulate harmful debris or a parasite that penetrates the shell, and that’s how a pearl is formed. Cultured pearls are made by inserting a tissue graft from a donor oyster, around which the nacre is laid down.

27 How to sign a check : IN PEN

Checks and checking accounts caused me some language trouble when I first came to the US. Back in Ireland (and the UK) we write “cheques” using funds from our “current” accounts.

32 Primate, for humans : ORDER

Primates are mammals, many of whom are omnivorous and make good use of their hands. They also have larger brains relative to their body size, compared to other animals. The order Primates includes apes, lemurs, baboons, and humans.

33 Who “can get in the way of what I’m feelin’,” in an Alicia Keys hit : NO ONE

“Alicia Keys” is the stage name of Alicia Cook, an R&B and soul singer from Hell’s Kitchen in New York City.

36 Letters on an N.Y.C. fare card : MTA

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has public transportation responsibility in the state of New York (as well as part of Connecticut).

43 God who begat the Titans : URANUS

The Titans were a group of twelve older deities in Greek mythology, the twelve children of the primordial Gaia and Uranus, Mother Earth and Father Sky. In the celebrated Battle of the Titans, they were overthrown by the Olympians, who were twelve younger gods. We use the term “titan” figuratively to describe a powerful person, someone with great influence.

47 Lissome : SUPPLE

“Lissome” is such a lovely word, I think. It applies to something that is easily bent and supple. The term is a variation of “lithesome”.

51 Author ___-René Lesage : ALAIN

Alain-René Lesage was a novelist and playwright from France. He is best known for his novels “The Devil upon Two Sticks” (1707) and “Gil Blas” (1715-1735).

56 I, to Socrates : IOTA

In ancient Greece, Socrates was a respected thinker of his day. One of Socrates’ most clever students was Plato, who spent much of life espousing the work and thinking of his mentor and teacher. In later life, Plato himself had a student who built on the work of both Socrates and Plato. That second-generation student was Aristotle. Socrates fell out of favor with the political leaders in Athens who put him on trial on trumped-up charges. He was found guilty of corrupting the youth of the city-state and of not believing in the gods of the state. The sentence levied was death by drinking hemlock.

58 Sharp set? : MENSA

Mensa is a high-IQ society that was founded in Oxford, England in 1946. The founders were two lawyers: Australian Roland Berrill and Englishman Lancelot Ware. Apparently, the elitist founders were unhappy with the development of Mensa, given that most members came from the working and lower classes.