Category: Larry Snyder

Bill’s time: 11m 58s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Hogwash : SWILL

“Hogwash” means “rubbish, of little value”. “Hogwash” was originally the name of swill fed to pigs.

6A Smart : CHIC

“Chic” is a French word meaning “stylish”.

10A Dip that can be made in a molcajete, for short : GUAC

In Spanish, guacamole can be made with a “molcajete y tejolote” (mortar and pestle).

14A Start of a count-off : EENIE

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,
Catch the tiger/monkey/baby by the toe.
If it hollers/screams let him go,
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, you are it!

15A Stream with a lot of shade? : HATE-WATCH

“To hate-watch” a particular TV show is to watch it, even though you actually hate its content.

21A Some wraps : STOLES

A stole is a narrow shawl. It can be made of quite light decorative material, but also can be heavier if made of fur.

22A Flock : geese :: business : ___ : FERRETS

A group of ferrets is called a “business”. An older collective noun for ferrets is a “fesnyng”.

24A “Alea iacta ___” (“The die is cast”) : EST

Supposedly, when Julius Caesar marched back to Rome from Gaul, he defiantly “crossed the Rubicon” with his army while uttering the words “Alea iacta est” (“The die is cast”).

25A Politician who organized the first congressional hearing on global warming (1981) : AL GORE

Former Vice President Al Gore was a joint recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 in recognition for his work in climate change activism. He also won a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for his book on climate change called “An Inconvenient Truth”. The documentary of the same name that was spawned by the book won an Academy Award. In addition, Gore won an Emmy as co-owner of Current TV, an independent news network.

39A Pet food brand whose name reflects its founding in Allentown, Pa. : ALPO

Alpo is a brand of dog food introduced by Allen Products in 1936, with “Alpo” being an abbreviation for “Allen Products”. Lorne Greene used to push Alpo dog food in television spots, as did Ed McMahon and Garfield the Cat, would you believe?

45A “The Walking Dead” network : AMC

“The Walking Dead” is a horror television show made by AMC that is based on a comic book series of the same name. There are lots of flesh-eating zombies featured, so I won’t be caught “dead” watching it …

59A Icelandic saga : EDDA

“Poetic Edda” and “Prose Edda” are two ancient works that are the source for much of Norse mythology. Both Eddas were written in 13th-century Iceland.

61A Novelist Ferrante : ELENA

Elena Ferrante is an Italian author, best known for her 4-part series known as the “Neapolitan Novels”. What is very interesting about “Ferrante” is that the moniker is a pseudonym, and no one seems to know the author’s real name. There is some speculation that “Elena” is in fact a man.

Down

2D Talked one’s way (out of) : WEASELED

To weasel out of something is to back away from a prior commitment. The association of weasels with the concept of not being trusted might have arisen from the behavior in which a weasel sucks out the contents of an egg while leaving the shell virtually intact.

3D It might be on display at Comic-Con : INNER GEEK

Originally, a geek was a sideshow performer, perhaps one at a circus. Sometimes the term “geek” is used today for someone regarded as foolish or clumsy, and also for someone who is technically driven and expert, but often socially inept.

San Diego’s Comic-Con was founded in 1970 as the Golden State Comic Book Convention. Held over four days each summer, I hear it is the largest show in North America.

6D Drinks made with cardamom : CHAIS

Masala chai is an Indian drink made with black tea (the “chai) and mixed spices (the “masala”, a mixture known as “khara”).

The spice known as cardamom comes from the seeds of several plants that are native to India. Those plants were introduced to Guatemala in the early 20th century, and now Guatemala produces and exports more cardamom than any other country in the world, even India. Cardamom is the third-priciest spice on the market today by weight, after vanilla and saffron.

9D Bowdlerize, maybe : CENSOR

To bowdlerize is to expurgate or censor, to remove material from a work that is deemed to be offensive. The term comes from Thomas Bowdler, an English editor who published works of William Shakespeare in 1818 that had “offensive” words and expressions removed, so that they would be appropriate for “women and children”.

10D Enemigo de un ratón : GATO

In Spanish, a “gato” (cat) might chase a “ratón” (mouse).

16D Diaper bag item : WET WIPE

“Diaper” is another word that I had to learn when I moved to America. What are called “diapers” over here, we call “nappies” back in Ireland. The term “diaper” is actually the original term that was used in England for the garment, where “diaper” referred to the cloth that was used. The term “diaper” was brought to the New World where it stuck. Back in Britain, “diaper” was displaced by the word “nappy”, a diminutive of “napkin”.

22D Repeated word in the “Star Wars” prologue : FAR

Every “Star Wars” film starts out with an opening crawl announcing “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away….”

23D Variety of violet : PANSY

The pansy is a garden flower that takes its name from the French word “pensée” meaning “thought”. This name was chosen as the flower was often used as a symbol of remembrance. The petals of pansies have dark blotches that often appear to form the outline of a face.

26D Closing bars : CODAS

In music, a coda is primarily a passage that brings a movement to a conclusion. “Coda” is Italian for “tail”.

30D City east of Phoenix : TEMPE

Tempe is a city in the metropolitan area of Phoenix. It is named for the Vale of Tempe in Greece.

35D Antibiotic used to treat anthrax : CIPRO

Ciprofloxacin (aka “cipro”) is an antibiotic used to treat a whole host of bacterial infections including anthrax.

Anthrax is a potentially lethal disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. The bacterium can form dormant spores that can be stored, and potentially weaponized. When the spores are inhaled or ingested, or even touched, they can activate and infect the victim.

36D Problem for someone who’s pushing 90, say : SPEED GUN

Radar speed guns were first used to monitor traffic by Connecticut State Police in the town of Glastonbury, way back in 1947!

40D Chicago airport code : ORD

The IATA airport code for O’Hare International in Chicago is ORD, which comes from Orchard Place Airport/Douglas Field (OR-D).

42D Duchess of Sussex beginning in 2018 : MEGHAN

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex is a former actress, and an American-born member of the British royal family. As an actress, Meghan Markle (her birth name) is best known for playing Rachel Zane on the legal drama “Suits”. Markle met her future husband, Prince Harry, on a blind date set up by a mutual friend in 2016.

44D The works? : OEUVRE

The sum of an artist’s work in his or her lifetime is known as his or her “oeuvre”.

46D Cincinnati sports mascot : MR. RED

The Red Scare (i.e. anti-communist sentiment) following WWII had such an effect on the populace that it even caused the Cincinnati baseball team to change its name from the Reds. The team was called the Cincinnati Redlegs from 1953-1958, as the management was fearful of losing money due to public distrust of any association with “Reds”.

47D Made some Java, say : CODED

Java is a programming language that was developed by Sun Microsystems. It was originally designed for interactive television, but it didn’t fit the needs at the time. Back then, the language was called Oak, named after an oak tree that stood outside the designer’s office. Later it was called Green, and finally named Java, which was simply picked out of a list of random words.

49D Cockatoo feature : CREST

Cockatoos are birds closely related to the true parrots. The name “cockatoo” probably comes from the Malay “kaka” (parrot) and “tuwah” (older sibling).

51D Purifying filter acronym : HEPA

Air filters can be specified as “HEPA”, with the acronym standing for “high-efficiency particulate absorption”. To be given the name “HEPA”, the filter must remove 99.7% of particles with a size of 0.3 microns or larger.

52D Waxed, in a way : GREW

The verb “to wax”, in phrases like “wax lyrical” and “wax poetic”, means “to grow”. “To wax” is the opposite of “to wane”, which means “to decrease”. We are probably most familiar with the “waxing and waning” of the moon.

56D Org. that measures A.Q.I. : EPA

The air quality index (AQI) is monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).