Category: Julia Hoepner

Bill’s time: 7m 03s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Campy rock subgenre of the early 1970s : GLAM

I remember the days of glam rock so well, as it was a hugely popular genre of music in Britain and Ireland during the early seventies. Artistes wore the wildest of clothes, big hair, shiny outfits and really high platform boots. Names associated with glam rock are T. Rex, David Bowie, Roxy Music and the infamous Gary Glitter.

5 Dance in single file : CONGA

The conga line is a dance that originated as a Cuban carnival march. It became popular in the US starting in the thirties. The dance is apparently named after the Congo region of Africa, and it was originated by slaves who were brought from there to Cuba.

17 Mathematician Benoit ___, coiner of the word “fractal” : MANDELBROT

A fractal is a fascinating geometric shape, one that can be split into parts, each of which is a smaller version (almost identical to) of the larger shape. The name “fractal” comes from the Latin “fractus” meaning “broken” or “fragmented”. Fractals are found all over nature, most notably the shapes created by ice crystals. It can be hard to tell the difference between the shapes of ice as it freezes on glass, viewed with the eye or viewed under a microscope. Fractals can also be seen in clouds, snowflakes, and even in cauliflower and broccoli!

22 “You’re the One That I Want,” for one : DUET

“Grease” is a very successful stage musical with a blockbuster film version released in 1978. “You’re the One That I Want” is a song that was written especially for the movie, and it made it to number one in the charts, followed soon after by the “Grease” theme song.

25 Rank above viscount : EARL

In the British peerage system, a viscount ranks below an earl and above a baron. The term “viscount” basically means “deputy of a count”, i.e. “vice-count”.

30 Former capital of Japan : KYOTO

The city of Kyoto was once the capital of Japan. Indeed, the name “Kyoto” means “capital city” in Japanese. Kyoto is sometimes referred to as the City of Ten Thousand Shrines.

33 Lead-in to algebra or calculus : PRE-

Algebra (alg.) is a branch of mathematics in which arithmetical operations are performed on variables rather than specific numbers (x,y etc). The term “algebra” comes from the Arabic “al jebr” meaning “reunion of broken parts”.

The Latin word “calculus” was originally used for a reckoning or an account, and originally applied to a pebble that was used to maintain a count. The Latin word came from the Greek for a pebble, “khalix”.

36 Cornmeal cake in Colombian cuisine : AREPA

An arepa is a cornmeal cake or bread that is popular in Colombian and Venezuelan cuisines in particular. Each arepa has a flat, round shape and is often split to make a sandwich.

38 Epigram or elegy : POEM

An epigram is a short and clever statement, poem or discourse.

An elegy is a mournful poem or funeral song, and is also known as a dirge.

45 Incorporate, as a hyperlink : EMBED

In essence, the World Wide Web (WWW) is a vast collection of documents that is accessible using the Internet, with each document containing hyperlinks that point to other documents in the collection. So the “Web” is different from the Internet, although the terms are often used interchangeably. The Web is a collection of documents, and the Internet is a global network of computers on which the documents reside. The Web was effectively the invention of British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee. The key to Berner-Lee’s invention was bringing together two technologies that already existed: hypertext and the Internet. I, for one, am very grateful …

47 Sitcom narrator Mosby : TED

“How I Met Your Mother” is a sitcom that CBS has been airing since 2005. The main character is Ted Mosby, played by Josh Radnor. Mosby is also the narrator for the show looking back from the year 2030 (the live action is set in the present). As narrator, the older Mosby character is voiced by Bob Saget.

50 Fashion designer in “The Incredibles” : EDNA MODE

“Incredibles 2” is a 2018 movie that is a sequel to 2004’s “The Incredibles”. Both films were written and directed by Brad Bird. Bird was also a cast member for “Incredibles 2” as he voiced Edna Mode, a fashion designer for superheroes.

52 Start of a texter’s two cents : IMHO

In my humble opinion (IMHO)

54 Storm relief org. : FEMA

Federal emergency management has been structured for over 200 years, but what we know today as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was created in 1979 in an Executive Order issued by President Jimmy Carter.

55 Give one’s two cents : CHIME IN

To put in one’s two cents is to add one’s opinion. The American expression derives from the older English version, which is “to put in one’s two pennies’ worth”.

58 Nobel Peace Prize winner Sadat : ANWAR

Anwar Sadat was the third President of Egypt right up to the time of his assassination in 1981. Sadat won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978, along with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, for the role played in crafting the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty of 1978 at Camp David. It was this agreement that largely led to Sadat’s assassination three years later.

70 ___ salts : EPSOM

The Surrey town of Epsom in England is most famous for its racecourse (Epsom Downs), at which the Epsom Derby is run every year, one of the three races that make up the English Triple Crown. We also come across “Epsom salts” from time to time. Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate, originally prepared by boiling down mineral waters. Epsom was indeed a spa town at one time. The town is also home to Epsom College, an English “public school” (which actually means “private, and expensive”). One of Epsom’s “old boys” was the Hollywood actor Stewart Granger.

71 “Slander!” : LIES!

The word “libel” describes a published or written statement likely to harm a person’s reputation. It comes into English from the Latin “libellus”, the word for a small book. Back in the 1500s, libel was just a formal written statement, with the more damaging association arising in the 1600s. The related concept of slander is defamation in a transient form, such as speech, sign language or gestures.

Down

2 Future J.D.’s exam : LSAT

Law School Admission Test (LSAT)

The law degree that is abbreviated to “J.D.” stands for “Juris Doctor” or “Doctor of Jurisprudence”.

5 Animation frame : CEL

Animation cels are transparent sheets made of celluloid acetate that were used in traditional hand-drawn animation to create animated films. They were first introduced in the 1930s and were widely used in animation production until the late 1990s, when digital animation techniques began to dominate the industry.

7 “Water, water, every where, / ___ any drop to drink”: “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” : NOR

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is an epic poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge that was first published in 1798. The publication of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is said to mark the beginning of the Romantic period of British literature. Perhaps the lines most often quoted from the poem are:
Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where
Nor any drop to drink

8 Johnny B. of song : GOODE

“Johnny B. Goode” is a rock and roll number that was made famous by Chuck Berry in the late fifties. “Johnny B. Goode” even made it into outer space as it was chosen as one of four American songs that were included on the Voyager Golden Record, which was attached to the Voyager spacecraft that left our solar system in 2012.

9 The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, familiarly : AMTRAK

“Amtrak” is the name used commercially by the National Railroad Passenger Corporation. It comes from a melding of the words “America” and “track”.

10 Micro-organisms in the digestive tract : GUT FLORA

The gut microbiome, also “gut flora”, is the collection of microorganisms found in an animal’s digestive tract. That microbiome comprises billions of bacteria, but also fungi and viruses. The gut’s microorganisms are found in the stomach, and small intestine, but in relatively small amounts. Most of the microbiome found in the human intestinal tract is in the colon. There are so many bacteria in the colon that bacteria make up as much as 60% of the dry mass of human feces.

13 Commedia dell’___ : ARTE

“Commedia dell’arte” translates literally from Italian as “comedy of craft”. It is a style of theater that started out in Italy in the mid-1500s. The commedia featured a cast of stock characters such as devious servants and foolish old men, most of whom wore distinctive and recognizable masks. Some of the better known characters are Harlequin (a foolish but acrobatic servant), and Pantalone (a lascivious old merchant).

21 Stark daughter on “Game of Thrones” : ARYA

Maisie Williams is the English actress who plays the tomboyish young girl Arya Stark on the hit HBO series “Game of Thrones”.

23 Europe’s tallest active volcano : ETNA

Italy is home to three active volcanoes:

• Stromboli (in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the north coast of Sicily)
• Vesuvius (overlooking Naples)
• Etna (on the island of Sicily)

Sometimes the list can include Vulcano, a volcanic island located a few miles north of Sicily, which last erupted in the late 1880s.

24 Museum placard info : TITLE

The term “museum” comes from the ancient Greek word “mouseion” that denoted a temple dedicated to the “Muses”. The Muses were the patrons of the arts in Greek mythology.

29 True ___ (podcast genre) : CRIME

A podcast is an audio or video media file that is made available for download. The name comes from the acronym “POD” meaning “playable on demand”, and “cast” from “broadcasting”. So, basically a podcast is a broadcast that one can play on demand, simply by downloading and opening the podcast file.

35 Musical staff letters : EGBDF

In the world of music, EGBDF are the notes on the lines of the treble clef. The notes are often remembered with a mnemonic such as “Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge”.

37 Capitol Hill staffer : AIDE

The designer of Washington D.C., Pierre L’Enfant, chose the crest of a hill as the site for the future Congress House. He called the location “Jenkins Hill” and “Jenkins Heights”. Earlier records show the name as “New Troy”. Today, we call it “Capitol Hill”.

39 Hawaiian fish : MAHI-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 …

41 Hawaiian goose : NENE

The nene is a bird that is native to Hawaii, and is also known as the Hawaiian goose. The name “nene” is an imitation of its call. When Captain Cook landed on the islands in 1778, there were 25,000 nene living there. By 1950, the number was reduced by hunting to just 30 birds. Conservation efforts in recent years have been somewhat successful. The nene was named State Bird of Hawaii in 1957.

56 Ice planet in “The Empire Strikes Back” : HOTH

The fictional planet known as Hoth is featured in the “Star Wars” movie “The Empire Strikes Back”. Hoth is an ice planet, and home to a secret base belonging to the Rebel Alliance.

57 Largest empire in pre-Columbian America : INCA

The Inca people emerged as a tribe around the 12th century, in what today is southern Peru. The Incas developed a vast empire over the next 300 years, extending along most of the western side of South America. The Empire fell to the Spanish, finally dissolving in 1572 with the execution of Túpac Amaru, the last Incan Emperor.

59 Reference site, familiarly : WIKI

A wiki is a website on which users are allowed to create and edit content themselves. The term “wiki” comes from the name of the first such site, introduced in 1994 and called WikiWikiWeb. “Wiki” is a Hawaiian word for “quick”, and is used because comprehensive content is created very quickly, as there are so many collaborators contributing to the site.

60 Together, in music : A DUE

“A due” is a musical term meaning “together” that translates literally from Italian as “by two”.

64 Gridiron gains: Abbr. : YDS

We never used the word “gridiron” when I was growing up in Ireland (meaning a grill used for cooking food over an open fire). So, maybe I am excused for taking two decades living in the US to work out that a football field gridiron is so called because the layout of yard lines over the field looks like a gridiron used in cooking.

65 Wall St. acquisition : LBO

A leveraged buyout (LBO) is a transaction in which an investor acquires a controlling volume of stock in a company, but buys that stock with borrowed funds (hence “leveraged”). Often the assets of the acquired company are used as collateral for the borrowed money. There is a special form of LBO known as a management buyout (MBO) in which the company’s own management team purchases the controlling interest.