Category: Joe DiPietro

Bill’s time: 20m 01s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 Citi Field mascot : MR MET

Mr. Met is the mascot of the New York Mets. He is a guy with a large baseball as a head. There’s also a Mrs. Met, a mascot who was previously known as Lady Met.

10 Ray in warm waters : MANTA

The manta ray is the largest species of ray, with the biggest one recorded at over 25 feet across and weighing 5,100 pounds. It is sometimes referred to as the sea devil.

15 Scotland’s ___ of Arran : ISLE

The Isle of Arran is in Scotland, and is the largest island in the Firth of Clyde. The Isle of Arran is often confused with the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland, because of the similarity in names.

22 Its capital is Ndjamena : CHAD

The landlocked African country called Chad takes its name from the second largest wetland on the continent, which is known as Lake Chad.

25 “Hares and rabbits are really the same animal, some say” : GAME THEORY

Rabbits and hares belong to the taxonomic order Lagomorpha, and specifically in the family Leporidae.

27 Rick’s last name in “Casablanca” : BLAINE

Rick Blaine and Ilsa Lund were played by Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in the 1942 movie “Casablanca”. I love the words of one critic describing the chemistry between Bogart and Bergman in this film: “She paints his face with her eyes”. Wow …

30 Natives of the Negev : SABRAS

Jewish people born in the State of Israel, or the historical region of Israel, are known as Sabras. “Sabra” is actually the name of the prickly pear, the thorny desert cactus. Apparently the name “Sabra” is used because someone born in the region is said to be tough on the outside and sweet on the inside, just like a prickly pear.

The Negev is a desert region in southern Israel. The largest city in the Negev is Beersheba. The Negev covers about 4,700 square miles, which is about 55% of Israel’s landmass.

31 Total kvetch : MOANER

The word “kvetch” comes to us from Yiddish, with “kvetshn” meaning “to complain” or “squeeze”.

32 Actor Ray : LIOTTA

Actor Ray Liotta was best known for playing Shoeless Joe Jackson in the movie “Field of Dreams” and Henry Hill in “Goodfellas”.

35 Sound effect when the Stooges whapped each other : BONK!

If you’ve seen a few of the films starring “The Three Stooges” you might have noticed that the line-up changed over the years. The original trio was made up of Moe and Shemp Howard (two brothers) and Larry Fine (a good friend of the Howards). This line up was usually known as “Moe, Larry and Shemp”. Then Curly Howard replaced his brother when Shemp quit the act, creating the most famous trio, “Moe, Larry And Curly”. Shemp returned when Curly had a debilitating stroke in 1946. Shemp stayed with the troupe until he himself died in 1955. Shemp was replaced by Joe Besser, and then “Curly-Joe” DeRita. When Larry Fine suffered a stroke in 1970, it effectively marked the end of the act.

40 “Y,” as in Yucatán : AND

The Yucatán Peninsula is located in southeastern Mexico, where it separates the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest from the Caribbean Sea to the southeast.

42 Overture follower : ACT I

In musical terms, an overture is the introductory part of an orchestral work. The term “overture” is Old French for “opening, proposal”, and is related to our contemporary “overt” meaning “open to view”.

53 11th-century founder of Scholasticism : ANSELM

Anselm was one of the Archbishops of Canterbury (in England) during Medieval times, from 1093 to 1109. As well as holding the important office within the Church, Anselm was an active and respected philosopher. He is often referred to as the founder of scholasticism, a method of learning that reigned in Medieval universities right across Europe for about 400 years.

54 Shares on Twitter, for short : RTS

Retweet (RT)

55 Musk’s position at 57-Across, in brief : CEO
57 See 55-Across : TESLA

Elon Musk is a successful businessman who has founded or led some very high-profile companies, namely PayPal, Tesla Motors and SpaceX. Musk received a lot of publicity in early 2018 during a test launch by SpaceX of the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle. A Tesla Roadster belonging to Musk was carried into space as a dummy payload.

59 Simu who starred in “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” : LIU

Simu Liu is a Chinese-born Canadian actor. One of his more famous roles was playing the title character in the Marvel Comics 2021 superhero movie “Shang-Chi and the legend of the Ten Rings”.

75 “___ beaucoup!” : MERCI

“Merci beaucoup” is French for “thank you very much”.

78 Sports org. in a 1976 merger : ABA

The American Basketball Association (ABA) merged with the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 1976. The ABA used a ball with the colors red, white and blue. The NBA uses a more traditional orange ball.

80 Religion with circled pentagrams : WICCA

Wicca is a relatively new phenomenon. It is a Neopagan religion that developed in the twentieth century. Typically, followers of Wicca worship one goddess and one god, namely the Moon Goddess and the Horned God. A follower of Wicca is called a Wiccan or a Witch.

A pentagram is a star-shape with five points that has been drawn using five straight lines. The name “pentagram” comes from the Greek for “five line”. The shape is sometimes also called a “pentacle”, “pentalpha” or “pentangle”. The pentagram is used as a prominent symbol in several religions and movements, notably in modern occultism.

84 Famed Giant slugger : OTT

I wonder if Mel Ott had any idea that he would turn in crosswords so very often?

87 It has human potential : OVUM

A gamete is a reproductive cell that has half the full complement of genes needed to make a normal cell. In sexual reproduction, it takes two gametes, one from each parent, to fuse into one cell which then develops into a new organism. The female gamete is the ovum, and the male the sperm.

98 Artist who was part of Der Blaue Reiter : ARP

Jean Arp was a prominent artist and sculptor who played a crucial role in the development of the Dada and Surrealist movements at the beginning of the 20th century. In the early years of his career, Arp experimented with a range of styles, including Expressionism, Cubism, and Futurism. In 1916, he co-founded the Zurich Dada movement with artists such as Tristan Tzara and Hugo Ball. After the Dada movement began to decline in the 1920s, Arp became associated with the Surrealist movement and continued to explore the possibilities of abstraction in his art.

99 Art ___ : DECO

The 1925 World’s Fair, officially known as the “Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes”, was held in Paris. The fair was intended to showcase the latest trends in modern decorative arts and industrial design. The term “art deco” comes from the name of the fair, and is a shortening of the words “Arts Décoratifs”.

100 “Hi and Lois” creator Browne : DIK

“Hi and Lois” is a comic strip that first appeared in 1954 and is still running today. The strip was created by Mort Walker (also known for “Beetle Bailey”) and was originally illustrated by Dik Browne (also known for “Hägar the Horrible”). The title characters Hi and Lois Flagstone first appeared in “Beetle Bailey”. Lois is Beetle’s sister, and the characters occasionally show up in each other’s strip.

101 Joan who wrote “Slouching Towards Bethlehem” : DIDION

Joan Didion is a journalist and author who was profiled in the Netflix documentary “The Center Will Not Hold”. She won a Pulitzer for her autobiographical work “The Year of Magical Thinking”, which book she used as the basis for a stage play of the same name. The book focuses on the year following the death of her husband, while the play also encompasses the subsequent death of her daughter.

102 Site that reviews tech products : C|NET

c|net is an excellent technology website. It started out in 1994 as a television network specializing in technology news. The host of “American Idol”, Ryan Seacrest, started off his career as host of a c|net show.

103 Fess (up) : OWN

The term “fess” is most often seen as part of the phrasal verb “to fess up” meaning “to admit to something”. “Fess” is simply a shortened form of “confess”.

105 One moving left to right : NEOCON

By definition, a neoconservative (neocon) is a formerly left-aligned politician who has moved to the right, and who now supports the use of American power and military might to bring democracy, liberty, equality and human rights to other countries.

113 Banjo sounds : TWANGS

The instrument that we know today as the banjo is a derivative of instruments that were used in Africa.

118 “Use it for Thanksgiving stuffing and saltimbocca” : SAGE ADVICE

Saltimbocca is a dish from southern Europe made of veal topped with prosciutto and sage, and then marinated in perhaps wine. The name “saltimbocca” is Italian for “jump in the mouth”.

121 First name in “Casablanca” : ILSA

“Everybody Comes to Rick’s” is a play by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison that they wrote in 1940. Before it could be staged, Warner Brother bought the play and adapted it into the hit 1942 movie “Casablanca”. There was to be no stage production of the play until 1991, when it ran for six weeks in London.

122 TV producer Michaels : LORNE

Lorne Michaels is a television producer who is best known as the creator of “Saturday Night Live” (SNL). We can get some insight into Michaels’ character and demeanor by watching the show “30 Rock”. The character Jack Donaghy, played by Alec Baldwin, is inspired by Michaels.

123 Senescence : AGING

Something or someone described as senescent is aging, growing old. The term comes from the Latin “senex” meaning “old”.

125 Does in the forest : DEER

A male deer is usually called a buck, and a female is a doe. However, the male red deer is usually referred to as a stag. The males of even larger species of deer are often called bulls, and the females called cows. In older English, male deer of over 5 years were called harts, and females of over 3 years were called hinds. The young of small species are known as fawns, and of larger species are called calves. All very confusing …

126 Windblown soil : LOESS

Loess is a wind-blown accumulation of silt. The word “loess” is German in origin and was first used to describe silt along the Rhine Valley.

128 Square : DORK

I consider “dork” and “adorkable” to be pretty offensive slang. “Dork” originated in the sixties among American students, and has its roots in another slang term, a term for male genitalia.

Down

3 Crooner in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame : PAUL ANKA

Canadian-born Paul Anka’s big hit was in 1957, the song entitled “Diana”. Another oft-heard Anka composition started out life as his 1959 composition “Toot Sweet”. He rearranged “Toot Sweet” and renamed it as “Johnny’s Theme”, the jazz instrumental played as the opening theme of “The Tonight Show Starry Johnny Carson”.

4 Financial institution that lends its name to a Boston arena : TD BANK

TD Garden is a sports arena that was built in the 1990s to replace the aging Boston Garden as home for the Boston Celtics basketball team and the Boston Bruins hockey team.

5 Court figure with a renowned temper : MCENROE

Former tennis pro John McEnroe is known for his prowess on the court, as well his fiery temper. He was one of the great characters of his day, and had many grudge matches against the likes of Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl. In 1984, McEnroe won 82 out of 85 matches, a winning record that still stands to this day.

7 Big Apple subway inits. : MTA

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

8 Clothing designer Marc : ECKO

Marc Ecko is a fashion designer from New Jersey. Marc was born Marc Milecofsky. In college, he became a fan of graffiti and used the name “Ecko” to tag his drawings.

10 Cartoon Mr. who squints : MAGOO

Mr. Quincy Magoo is a wonderful cartoon character voiced by Jim Backus. Backus is probably equally well-known for playing Mr. Magoo as well as Thurston Howell, III on “Gilligan’s Island”. Mr. Magoo first appeared on the screen in a short called “The Ragtime Bear” in 1949. His persona was at least in part based on the antics of W. C. Fields. Backus originally used a fake rubber nose that pinched his nostrils in order to create the distinctive voice, although in time he learned to do the voice without the prop. My absolute favorite appearance by Mr. Magoo is in “Mr Magoo’s Christmas Carol”, a true classic from the sixties. There was a movie adaptation of “Mr Magoo” released in 1997, with Leslie Nielsen playing the title role.

11 “Stop!,” nautically : AVAST!

“Avast” is a nautical term used to tell someone to stop or desist from what they are doing. The word comes from the Dutch “hou vast” meaning “hold fast”.

18 “Scooping since 1928” sloganeer : EDY’S

Edy’s is a brand of premium ice cream that was founded in 1928 in Oakland, California. The company’s two signature brands, Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream and Edy’s Grand Ice Cream, are named after its founders, William Dreyer and Joseph Edy.

26 Journey to Mecca : HAJ

“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”.

29 Internet speed-test signal : PING

Pinging is also known as “engine knocking”. It is a metallic sound, created when not all of the fuel-air mixture is detonated by the spark plug, with some of it detonated late in the cycle. The late detonation causes the knocking/pinging sound. Additives (anti-knock agents) in gasoline can help reduce the chances of pinging.

31 M.I.T. Sloan degrees : MBAS

MIT’s School of Management is named for MIT graduate Alfred P. Sloan, a former chairman of General Motors.

33 Resident of Westwood, Brentwood or Hollywood : ANGELENO

An Angeleno is someone who lives in Los Angeles.

37 Controversial org. that filed for bankruptcy in 2021 : NRA

National Rifle Association (NRA)

38 Part of G.P.A.: Abbr. : AVG

Grade point average (GPA)

41 Place to talk turkey, maybe : DELI

The word “delicatessen” (or “deli” for short) came into English from the German “Delikatessen”. The Germans borrowed the word from French, in which language “délicatesse” means “delicious things (to eat)”. The term’s ultimate root is “delicatus”, the Latin for “giving pleasure, delightful”.

43 Glinda’s reassurance to Dorothy on whether her dog can also return to Kansas : TOTO TOO

Toto is Dorothy’s dog in the film “The Wizard of Oz”, and in the original book “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum. Toto was played in the movie by a dog called Terry, but Terry’s name was soon changed to Toto in real life due to the success of the film.

In the 1939 movie “The Wizard of Oz”, Glinda is the Good Witch of the North, played by actress Billie Burke. As an aside, Burke was the wife of Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. who produced the “Ziegfeld Follies” on Broadway. As another aside, Glinda wasn’t the Good Witch of the North in the original L. Frank Baum book, but was the Good Witch of the South.

47 Capital on the Willamette River : SALEM

Salem is the state capital of Oregon. It is thought that the city takes its name from the older city of Salem, Massachusetts.

The Willamette River in northwestern Oregon is a major tributary of the Columbia River. The Willamette flows through the state capital of Salem, as well as through Portland, Oregon’s largest city. Today, the Willamette Valley is home to over 500 wineries and is often called “Oregon Wine Country”.

49 Sch. in Dallas : SMU

Southern Methodist University (SMU) is located in University Park, Texas (part of Dallas) and was founded in 1911. The school’s athletic teams are known as the Mustangs. Also, SMU is home to the George W. Bush Presidential Library.

58 Impassive : STOIC

Zeno of Citium was a Greek philosopher famous for teaching at the Stoa Poikile, the “Painted Porch”, located on the north side of the Ancient Agora of Athens. Because of the location of his classes, his philosophy became known as stoicism (from “stoa”, the word for “porch”). We get our adjective “stoic”, meaning “indifferent to pleasure or pain”, from the same root.

64 One of the Leewards : ST MARTIN

The island of Saint Martin is in the Caribbean. Part of Saint Martin is owned by France, and part by the Netherlands. In fact, it is the smallest inhabited sea island in the world that is divided between two nations.

The Leeward Islands are a group of islands in the eastern Caribbean. They form the northern part of the island chain known as the Lesser Antilles. The list of Leeward Islands includes the US and British Virgin Islands.

65 Resource mined in Minecraft : ORE

Minecraft is a video game that was released in 2011. It is the most popular video game of all time, with well over 200 million units sold.

68 Ring-shaped reef : ATOLL

An atoll is a coral island that is shaped in a ring that encloses a lagoon. There is still some debate as to how an atoll forms, but a theory proposed by Charles Darwin while on his famous voyage aboard HMS Beagle still holds sway. Basically, an atoll was once a volcanic island that had subsided and fallen into the sea. The coastline of the island is home to coral growth which persists even as the island continues to subside inside the circling coral reef.

70 Physicist Schrödinger : ERWIN

Erwin Schrödinger was an Austrian theoretical physicist, one of the so-called “fathers of Quantum Mechanics”. He won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1933 for developing the Schrödinger Equation, the “Newton’s Law” of Quantum Mechanics. Famously, Schrödinger devised a thought experiment that illustrates the concept of a paradox. The scenario, known as “Schrödinger’s Cat”, presents us with a cat that can be both alive and dead at the same time. I used to think that I understood Schrödinger’s Cat, and then I became old and wise, and recognized my weaknesses …

71 Including on an email thread : CC’ING

I wonder if the kids of today know that “cc” stands for carbon copy, and do they have any idea what a carbon copy was? Do you remember how messy carbon paper was to handle? A kind blog reader pointed out to me a while back that the abbreviation has evolved and taken on the meaning “courtesy copy” in our modern world.

72 Dennis’s sister on “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” : DEE

Deandra “Sweet Dee” Reynolds is a character played by Kaitlin Olson on the sitcom “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”.

“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” is a long-running sitcom that premiered in 2005 and that is set in an Irish bar in South Philly. The show has a talented lineup of actors, but the big name in the cast is Danny DeVito.

81 Curve cutter for carpenters : COPING SAW

A coping saw is one that is used to cut small curves in wood. It has a thin blade that is held in a U-shaped frame. In woodworking, a coped joint is one in which one element is shaped to fit neatly into the other member. On the other hand, a mitered joint is one in which the two elements are beveled at 45 degrees to fit together.

88 Prefix with cycle : UNI-

In 2007, a student rode a unicycle for 24 hours around the athletic track at Aberystwyth University. In so doing, the young man broke the record for the longest ride on a unicycle without feet touching the ground, a distance of 105.57 miles. He also covered a total distance of 282 miles over the full 24-hour period.

91 Prominent figure in the O. J. Simpson murder trial : LANCE ITO

Judge Lance Ito came in for a lot of criticism for his handling of the 1995 O.J. Simpson murder trial. The lead prosecutor in that trial was Marcia Clark, you might recall. I read the book that Clark wrote about the trial called “Without a Doubt”, and she pointed out one trait of Judge Ito that I think is quite telling. Ito would almost always refer to the prosecutor as “Marcia”, while addressing the men on both sides of the case with the honorific “Mister”.

95 What you can’t make a silk purse out of, proverbially : SOW’S EAR

The old proverb “you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear” was apparently coined by English clergyman Stephen Gross in his 1579 story “Ephemerides”. Gosson wrote therein “Seekinge too make a silke purse of a Sowes eare.”

96 More than binge-watch, maybe : OD ON

Overdose (OD)

97 In the limelight, say : ON STAGE

Limelight was an early form of stage lighting that was also known as Drummond Light. The illumination came from the burning of quicklime (calcium hydroxide), hence the name. Although limelights are a thing of the past, the term “in the limelight” is still used when describing someone in the public eye.

104 Corn Belt state: Abbr. : NEB

The Corn Belt (sometimes “Grain Belt”) is a region in the Midwest where, since the mid-1800s, corn has been the major crop. Geographically, the Corn Belt covers Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and parts of Michigan, Ohio, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota and Missouri. About 40% of the world’s corn production comes from the region, and most of that production is used for the feeding of livestock.

106 Four-time gold medalist in the 1936 Olympics : OWENS

Jesse Owens is famous for winning four gold medals at the Berlin Olympic Games in 1936, much to the chagrin of Adolf Hitler. Jesse’s real name was James Cleveland Owens, and he went by “JC” as a child. However, his Alabama accent was misconstrued at school when his family moved to Cleveland, so teachers and classmates called him “Jesse” instead of “JC”, and the name stuck.

110 ___ rock : ACID

The musical genre known as acid rock is a subset of psychedelic rock. The term comes from the influence of the drug LSD (acid) on some compositions in the early days.

114 Stretched-out yarn? : SAGA

The phrase “to spin a yarn”, meaning “to tell a tall tale”, originated in the early 1800s with seamen. The idea was that sailors would tell stories to each other while engaged in mindless work such as twisting yarn.

117 John for Cleese : LOO

It has been suggested that the British term “loo”, meaning “toilet”, comes from “Waterloo” (water closet … water-loo), but no one seems to know for sure. Another suggestion is that the term comes from the card game of “lanterloo”, in which the pot was called the loo!

The magnificent actor and comedian John Cleese came to the public’s attention as a cast member in the BBC’s comedy sketch show “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”. Cleese then co-wrote and starred in the outstanding comedy “Fawlty Towers”. He even had a role in two “James Bond” films.

119 PX clientele : GIS

A PX is a Post Exchange, a retail store operating on a US Army Base. The equivalent store on an Air Force Base is called a Base Exchange (BX).