Category: Daniel Grinberg

Bill’s time: 18m 27s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

18 Lively Bohemian dances : POLKAS

The polka is a dance from central Europe, one that originated in Bohemia in the mid-1800s. It’s thought that “polka” comes from a Czech word meaning “little half”, reflecting the little half-steps included in the basic dance.

20 Alternative to a tissue, informally : HANKY

A kerchief is a triangular or square piece of cloth used as a covering for the head. So, a handkerchief (“hand-kerchief”) is a square piece of cloth held in the hand and used for personal hygiene.

29 Brian ___, songwriter who popularized the term “generative music” : ENO

Brian Eno is a musician, composer and record producer from England who first achieved fame as the synthesizer player with Roxy Music. As a producer, Eno has worked with David Bowie, Devo, Talking Heads and U2.

31 😂😂😂 : ROFL

Rolling on floor laughing (ROFL)

32 Broadband inits. : DSL

In Internet terms, the word “broadband” is used to describe Internet access that is faster than dialup. In more broad (pun!) telecommunication terms, “broadband” is used to describe “bandwidth” data transmission that is “broad” enough to carry several signals and several different types of traffic at the same time.

34 Michelle Obama, to Princeton : ALUM

Michelle Obama née Robinson grew up on the South Side of Chicago. Her brother is Craig Robinson, former coach of men’s basketball at Oregon State University. After graduating from Harvard Law School, Michelle Robinson worked as an associate at the Chicago office of the Sidley Austin law firm. Barack Obama joined the firm as a summer associate and Michelle Robinson was assigned to mentor him, and as they say, one thing led to another …

Princeton University was founded by New Light Presbyterians in 1746 as the College of New Jersey in the city of Elizabeth. Ten years later, the college moved to Nassau Hall in Princeton. That same building hosted the Continental Congress during the summer of 1783. As a result, Princeton was the US capital for four months.

43 Place to hang at home? : CLOSET

In Old French a “clos” was an enclosure, with the diminutive form “closet” describing a small enclosure or private room. Over time this evolved into our modern usage of “closet”, describing a cabinet or cupboard.

52 Giant Middle-earth creature : ENT

Ents are tree-like creatures that live in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth in his series of books “The Lord of the Rings”. “Ent” is an Old English word for “giant”.

61 Org. that confiscates liquids : TSA

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) loosened the ban on liquids, aerosols and gels in carry-on baggage in 2006, From that date onwards, passengers had to abide by the 3-1-1 rule, i.e. 3.4-ounce or less containers (3), in a one-quart ziploc bag (1), one bag per person (1).

65 Pop culture hit about dystopian technology : MR ROBOTO & MR ROBOT

“Mr. Roboto” is a song on the 1983 album “Kilroy Was Here” by the Chicago band Styx. The first lines of the song are:

Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto,
Mata ah-oo hima de
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto,
Himitsu wo shiri tai

which translates as:

Thank you very much, Mr. Robot
Until the day (we) meet again
Thank you very much, Mr. Robot
I want to know your secret

“Mr. Robot” is an engaging drama series about an anxious and clinically depressed computer hacker. Said hacker joins an anarchic group of hackers known as “Mr. Robot” who are intent on taking down the largest conglomerate in the world. I binge-watched the first two seasons, and really enjoyed the experience …

67 Former parent of NBC : RCA

RCA was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America, and as a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Electric (GE). GE divested RCA in 1932, and then reacquired the company in 1986. Today, RCA is just a brand name owned by Sony Music.

81 Hawaiian shindig : LUAU

“Shindig” is such a lovely word, I think. It describes a party that usually includes some dancing. Although its origin isn’t really clear, the term perhaps comes from “shinty”, a Scottish game that’s similar to field hockey.

85 Native of the Delaware Valley : LENAPE

The Lenape Native American people lived along the Delaware River when Europeans first landed in the Americas. As a result of the enforcement of the Indian Removal Act 1830, most Lenape now live in Oklahoma, with significant numbers also in Wisconsin and Ontario.

87 Pursuers of utopian goals : IDEALISTS

The word “Utopia” was coined by Sir Thomas More in his book “Utopia” published in 1516 to describe an idyllic fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. More’s use of the name Utopia comes from the Greek “ou” meaning “not” and “topos” meaning “place”. By calling his perfect island “Not Place”, More was apparently making the point that he didn’t think that the ideal could actually exist.

94 Major Ukrainian seaport : ODESA

The city of Odessa (also “Odesa”) in Ukraine was founded relatively recently, in 1794 by Catherine the Great. The city was originally meant to be called Odessos after an ancient Greek city believed to have been located nearby. Catherine liked the way the locals pronounced the name as “Odessa” and so went with the less Greek-sounding name.

98 Pilgrims in Saudi Arabia : HAJIS

“Haji” (also “Hajji” and “Hadji”) is the term used for someone who has made a pilgrimage to Mecca, and it is sometimes also used as a form of address for such a person. The journey itself goes by the name “haj”, “hajj” or “hadj”.

104 Hybrid pastry : CRONUT

A cronut is a pastry that resembles a doughnut but is made using a croissant-like dough. It is filled with cream and deep-fried in grapeseed oil. It is a relatively new pastry, having been invented by New York bakery owner Dominique Ansel in 2013. The term “cronut” is a portmanteau of “croissant” and “doughnut”.

106 P, to Pericles : RHO

Cleon and Pericles were both statesmen in ancient Greece, specifically in the city-state of Athens. Pericles and Cleon were political opponents, with Pericles falling foul to the maneuvers of Cleon, and eventually dying of the plague.

109 Injection associated with a certain toxin : ANTIVENOM & ANT VENOM

Antivenom (also “antivenin”) is made by extracting venom from say a snake (so called “milking”) and then diluting it and injecting it into a host animal (like a cat, horse or sheep). The animal undergoes an immune response and produces antibodies to neutralize the poison. The antibodies are harvested from the animal’s blood and are stored for use with victims who are bitten by the same snake, or by some other creature that injects the same or a similar venom. I guess antivenom might also be called antiserum …

Fire ants are stinging ants, and many species are known as red ants. Most stinging ants bite their prey and then spray acid on the wound. The fire ant, however, bites to hold on and then injects an alkaloid venom from its abdomen, creating a burning sensation in humans who have been nipped.

114 Palm Springs or Puerto Vallarta, notably : GAY MECCA

The desert resort city of Palm Springs is located about 100 miles east of Los Angeles. The name “Palm Springs” dates back at least to 1853, and probably is a reference to the abundant California fan palms that are native to the area. However, earlier Spanish explorers used the place name “La Palma de la Mano de Dios” (The Palm of God’s Hand), giving an alternative derivation for the “Palm Springs” moniker.

Puerto Vallarta is a resort city in Mexico on the Pacific Ocean. The name “Vallarta” comes from a former governor of the state, Ignacio Vallarta. Puerto Vallarta partly got on the map as a resort after the filming of the 1963 John Huston film “The Night of the Iguana”. There was a lot of publicity surrounding the making of the movie as Richard Burton brought Elizabeth Taylor to the shoot, with whom he was having an extramarital affair at the time.

115 Brown songbirds : WRENS

The wren is a small songbird belonging to the family troglodytidae and the genus troglodytes. Wrens are known for making dome-shaped nests. Despite their small size, they are known for their loud and complex songs. Male wrens often sing to attract mates and to establish territory, They have been known to attack much larger birds that get too close to their nests.

116 Tale-telling brothers : GRIMMS

The Brothers Grimm (Jacob and Wilhelm) were two German academics noted for collecting and publishing folk tales. Among the tales in their marvelous collection are “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, “Sleeping Beauty” and “Cinderella”.

119 Neighbor of a Saudi : YEMENI

Yemen is a country located in the southwestern part of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, Oman to the east, the Red Sea to the west, and the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea to the south. Yemen has a population of over 30 million people and its capital and largest city is Sana’a.

Down

2 Hardly a genius : MORON

The unsavory word “moron” was used formerly by the medical community to describe someone with a degree of mental retardation. The term comes from the Greek “moros” meaning “foolish, dull”. Back in the early 1900s, IQ tests were used to classify those suffering from mental retardation into categories:

• “idiot” … IQ of 0-20
• “imbecile” … IQ of 21-50
• “moron” …IQ of 51-70

3 Home to a chapel with the Texas flag flying beside it : ALAMO

The San Antonio mission known as the Alamo may have been named for a grove of nearby cottonwood trees. “Álamo” is the Spanish name for the cottonwood.

4 Spotify button : SKIP

Spotify is a popular music-streaming service that was launched in Sweden in 2008.

7 Feature of a Hawaiian house : LANAI

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.

11 Chilly : ALOOF

I suppose one might guess from the feel of the word “aloof” that it has nautical roots. Originally “aloof” meant “to windward” and was the opposite of “alee”. A helmsman might be instructed to stay aloof, to steer the boat into the weather to keep a distance from a lee-shore. It is from this sense of maintaining a distance that aloof came to mean “distant” in terms of personality. Interesting, huh …?

15 Remove hair from : DEPILATE

A depilatory agent is something capable of removing hair. The root of the term is “pilus”, the Latin for “hair”, and the same word that gives us “pile” (as in a carpet).

16 Main antagonist on HBO’s “Euphoria” : NATE

“Euphoria” is an HBO teen drama show that is loosely based on a miniseries of the same name from Israel. The lead actress in the show is Zendaya, who plays a recovering teenage drug addict.

19 Mexicali mister : SENOR

Mexicali is a Mexican city in the state of Baja that lies on the US border, adjacent to Calexico, California. Mexicali is the most northerly city in Latin America.

28 Openly reveal one’s sexuality : COME OUT

Back in the 1950s, to come “out of the closet” was to admit to being an alcoholic. By the seventies, the phrase mainly referred to gay people shrugging off secrecy about their sexual orientation.

31 Process for would-be Greeks : RUSH

A rush is a drive by a fraternity or sorority to recruit new members on campus.

33 It’s over a quarter of a quarter : DIME

The term “dime”, used for a 10-cent coin, comes from the Old French word “disme” meaning “tenth part”.

35 Features of the names of many Apple products : LOWER CASE I’S

When Apple chose the letter “I” prefix for the iMac in 1998, that letter “I” stood for “Internet”. Steve Jobs and his marketing team followed up with the message that I also stood for “individual, instruct, inform and inspire”.

37 N.Y.C. stadium eponym : ASHE

Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, New York opened in 1997, and is the largest outdoor, tennis-only venue in the world. The stadium was often criticized for not having a retractable dome to protect the playing surface from inclement weather. Well, that changed in 2016 when the stadium debuted its new retractable roof, a $150 million investment in the facility.

38 Doll of a guy? : KEN

Barbie’s male counterpart doll is Ken, and Ken’s family name is Carson. Barbie’s full name is Barbie Millicent Roberts. When Ken was introduced in 1959, it was as Barbie’s boyfriend. In 2004 it was announced that Ken and Barbie were splitting up, and needed to spend quality time apart. Soon after the split, Barbie “met” Blaine, a boogie boarder from Australia. Happily, Barbie and Ken reconciled and reunited on Valentine’s Day 2011.

39 Vitals checker, in brief : EMT

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

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

41 Genre for Keith Haring : POP ART

Keith Haring was an artist who started out making chalk drawings on the New York City subway system in the late seventies and early eighties. As his work gained some recognition, he became friends with Andy Warhol, who helped Haring achieve his success.

42 Political platforms? : ROSTRA

A rostrum (plural “rostra”) is an elevated platform, particularly one for public speaking. The original rostrum was the platform used by public speakers in the Forum of ancient Rome.

43 Saxon’s foe : CELT

The Celts are a very broad group of people across Europe who are linked by common languages. The original Celts were largely absorbed by other cultures, although a relatively modern revival of the “Celtic identity” is alive and well in Britain and Ireland. Such Celtic peoples today are mainly found in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Brittany in France.

Germanic tribes invaded Great Britain from the early 5th century and created the nation that we now call England. The Anglo-Saxons (sometimes simply “Saxons”), as these tribes came to be called, held sway in the country until the Norman Conquest in 1066. The Anglo-Saxons were descendants of three Germanic tribes:

• The Angles, from Angeln in Northern Germany (and the tribe that gave the name “England”).
• The Saxons, from Lower Saxony and Holland.
• The Jutes, from the Jutland peninsula in Denmark.

47 Guthrie who sang “Alice’s Restaurant” : ARLO

Arlo Guthrie is the son of Woody Guthrie. Both father and son are renowned for singing protest songs about social injustice. Arlo is most famous for his epic “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree”, a song that lasts a full 18m 34s. In the song Guthrie tells how, after being drafted, he was rejected for service in the Vietnam War based on his criminal record. He had only one incident on his public record, a Thanksgiving Day arrest for littering and being a public nuisance when he was 18-years-old.

48 Bureaucratic barriers : RED TAPE

Back in the days of yore in England, official documents were bound in bundles with red ribbon. So, getting through all the paperwork required “cutting through the red tape”.

55 Sea, to Seurat : MER

Georges Seurat was a French Post-Impressionist. His most famous work is “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte – 1884”, a work in the pointillist style that can be viewed in the Art Institute of Chicago. If you’ve seen the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, it features quite prominently in a wonderful, wonderful scene shot at the gallery. The painting features ordinary people enjoying a day at a park, and is the inspiration for the 1984 musical by Stephen Sondheim called “Sunday in the Park with George”.

60 Tribute in the Tribune, say : OBIT

Our word “obituary” comes from the Latin “obituaris”. The Latin term was used for “record of the death of a person”, although the literal meaning is “pertaining to death”.

70 Alan with six Emmys : ALDA

Even though actor Alan Alda is the son of fellow actor Robert Alda, both were born with the family name “D’Abruzzo”. Alan is a vocal advocate for science education. He is a founder of the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University, where he became a visiting professor. He also hosted the TV show “Scientific American Frontiers” for 14 years.

71 Composer who led the U.S. Marine Band : SOUSA

John Philip Sousa was a composer and conductor from Washington, D.C. Sousa was well known for his patriotic marches and earned himself the nickname “The American March King”. He served as a member of the US Marine Band from 1868 to 1875, and after leaving the Marines learned to conduct and compose. One of the Sousa compositions that is well-known around the world is called “The Liberty Bell”, a tune used as the musical theme for BBC Television’s “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”. Sousa also wrote “Semper Fidelis”, which is the official march of the US Marine Corps.

74 Canniest, for instance : ANAGRAM

Here are some of my favorite anagrams:

• “Dormitory” and “dirty room”
• “Elvis” and “lives”
• “The eyes” and “they see”
• “Eleven plus two” and “twelve plus one”
• “William Shakespeare” and “I’ll make a wise phrase”
• “Schoolmaster” and “the classroom”

79 Olaf’s creator in “Frozen” : ELSA

In the 2013 animated film “Frozen”, Olaf is a happy-go-lucky snowman who provides a lot of comic relief in the movie. He is voiced by actor and comedian Josh Gad.

82 Channel supported by pledge drives : PBS

The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) was founded in 1970, and is my favorite of the broadcast networks. I love PBS’s drama and science shows in particular, and always watch election results coming in with the NewsHour team.

83 “Jenny From the Block” singer, to fans : J.LO

“J.Lo” is the nickname of singer and actress Jennifer Lopez. “J.Lo” is also the title of her second studio album, which was released in 2001.

96 Surgical instrument : LANCET

“Lancet” is another name for a scalpel. There’s a publication called “The Lancet”, which is possibly the world’s most respected medical journal. It is certainly the oldest, first published in 1823.

99 “Dear ___” (greeting in an old advice column) : ANN

“Ask Ann Landers” was an advice column written by Eppie Lederer from 1955 to 2002. Eppie was the twin sister to Pauline Phillips, the person behind “Dear Abby”. Eppie took over the “Ask Ann Landers” column from Ruth Crowley who started it in 1943.

103 “The Grapes of Wrath” family : JOADS

John Steinbeck’s 1939 novel “The Grapes of Wrath” is set during the Great Depression. It tells the story of the Joad family from Oklahoma, farmers who had to leave their home and head for California due to economic hardship.

106 Food traditionally eaten with chopsticks : 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.

108 Actor Davis who delivered Malcolm X’s eulogy : OSSIE

Ossie Davis was a prominent actor and civil rights activist. He married his wife, fellow actor Ruby Dee, in 1948. They remained together until his death in 2005, making their marriage one of the longest-lasting in Hollywood history. Davis was a prominent voice in the civil rights movement, and a close friend of both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Davis delivered a powerful eulogy at the latter’s funeral in 1965.

109 Gelatinous thickener : AGAR

Agar (also “agar-agar”) is a jelly extracted from seaweed that has many uses. Agar is found in Japanese desserts, and can also be used as a food thickener or even as a laxative. In the world of science, it is the most common medium used for growing bacteria in Petri dishes.

110 ___ Valley : NAPA

Napa Valley in California is home to over 400 wineries, the first being established in 1858. Napa is also home to over 100 different grape varieties, the most popular being cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, and pinot noir.

111 Shade lighter than cappuccino : ECRU

The color ecru is a grayish, yellowish brown. The word “ecru” comes from French and means “raw, unbleached”, and has the same roots as our word “crude”.

The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin is an order of Roman Catholic friars, an offshoot of the Franciscans. The order split from the Franciscans back in 1520, and were forced to go into hiding from church authorities. The new order was helped by the Camaldolese monks, and in recognition of their assistance, the breakaway monks adopted the Camaldolese hood, known as a capuccio. It is this “capuccio” that gave the order its name, and indeed ultimately gave the name to the Capuchin monkey. The cappuccino coffee is named for the coffee-and-white colored habits worn by Capuchin friars.

113 Mojito garnish : LIME

A mojito is a Cuban cocktail, although the exact origins appear to be unclear, as does the derivation of the name. Want one? Put 4 mint leaves in a glass, and add the juice of half a lime and a teaspoon of powdered sugar. Muddle the ingredients, smashing them together with a muddler or a spoon. Add some crushed ice, two ounces of white rum and stir. Top with a couple of ounces of club soda, and garnish with a sprig of mint and/or a slice of lime. Cheers!