Category: Michael Lieberman

Bill’s time: 15m 51s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Swanky : POSH

No one really knows the etymology of the word “posh”. The popular myth that “posh” is actually an acronym standing for “port out, starboard home” is completely untrue, and is a story that can actually be traced back to the 1968 movie “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”. The myth is that wealthy British passengers traveling to and from India would book cabins on the port side for the outward journey and the starboard side for the home journey. This trick was supposedly designed to keep their cabins out of the direct sunlight.

11A Educational advertisement, for short : PSA

Public service announcement (PSA)

18A Ding-dong ditch, e.g. : ANTIC

Ding dong ditch is a game played by kids that involves the ringing of doorbells and then running away to hide nearby. The game originated in the UK, where it is usually called knock, knock, ginger.

20A Bitter Italian digestif : FERNET

An apéritif is an alcoholic drink served before a meal, to stimulate the palate. A digestif is an alcoholic drink served after a meal, to aid digestion.

22A Spanish province WSW of Bilbao : LEON

León is a province in the autonomous community of Castile and León in the northwest of Spain. The province’s capital is the city of León, which was founded as a Roman military encampment around 29 BC.

Bilbao is a city in the Basque region of northern Spain. One of the most famous buildings in the city is the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, a spectacular structure standing on the banks of the Nervión river in the downtown area.

23A If HOSTESS & PETCO merged and became a medical supply company, they would sell ___ : STETHOSCOPES

The word “stethoscope” comes from the Greek word for “chest examination”. The stethoscope was invented back in 1816 in France by René Laennec, although back then it looked just like an ear trumpet, a wooden tube with flared ends.

25A Small fry? : TATER TOT

Ore-Ida’s founders came up with the idea for Tater Tots when they were deciding what to do with residual cuts of potato. They chopped up the leftovers, added flour and seasoning, and extruded the mix through a large hole making a sausage that they cut into small cylinders. We eat 70 million pounds of this extruded potato every year!

27A It can be a pain in the neck : TONSIL

The palatine tonsils are located at the back of the human throat. The exact role that tonsils play isn’t completely understood, but it is known that they are in the first line of defense in the body’s immune system. They provide some level of protection against pathogens that are ingested and inhaled.

28A ___ Lingus : AER

Aer Lingus is the flag carrier airline of Ireland. It was founded in 1936 by the Irish government to provide air service between Ireland and the United Kingdom. The airline’s name means “air fleet” in Irish. In the 1950s, Aer Lingus became the first airline in the world to introduce a duty-free shopping service on board its flights.

29A One of 200+ stations for NBC, e.g. : AFFILIATE

The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) has had a number of different logos in its history, including the famous peacock with which we are familiar today. The first peacock logo was introduced in the early days of color television and was designed to illustrate how wonderful color television would be, so go buy one! (NBC was owned by RCA, and so had a vested interest in sales of color television sets).

31A If NEUTROGENA, BIC & VANS merged and opened a winery, they would sell ___ : CABERNET SAUVIGNON

The cabernet sauvignon (often just “cab”) grape has been around since the 17th century, and is the result of a chance crossing in southwestern France of the cabernet franc and sauvignon blanc grapes.

36A Author Roald : DAHL

Roald Dahl’s name is Norwegian. Dahl’s parents were from Norway, although Dahl himself was Welsh. Dahl became one of the most successful authors of the twentieth century. Two of his most famous titles are “James and the Giant Peach” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”.

37A Cursor icon for clickable links : HAND

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 …

38A Snack with a Mega Stuf variety : OREO

Double Stuf Oreos were introduced in 1975, and have twice the normal amount of white cream filling as the original cookie. Nabisco really went big in 2013, introducing the Mega Stuf Oreo that has even more white cream filling.

52A Sallie ___ (student loan program) : MAE

“Sallie Mae” is a nickname for SLM Corporation that was created in 1972 by the US government as the Student Loan Marketing Association. By 2004, the government had severed all its ties with Sallie Mae. Today, SLM is basically a profit-focused lender.

53A King in a 1978 novelty hit : TUT

Comedian Steve Martin wrote and recorded the comic song “King Tut”, and it appeared on his 1978 album “Wild and Crazy Guy”. The song was later released as a single, and made it as high as number 17 in the charts. Some of the song’s success might have been due to the fervor surrounding the exhibition of the real king’s tomb artifacts that were touring the country that year.

61A Las Vegas’s W.N.B.A. team : ACES

The Las Vegas Aces women’s basketball team was formed in Salt Lake City in 1997 as the Utah Starzz. The team became the San Antonio (Silver) Stars in 2002, before moving to Las Vegas as the Aces in 2018.

62A October birthstone : OPAL

Here is the “official” list of birthstones, by month, that we tend to use today:

• January: Garnet
• February: Amethyst
• March: Bloodstone or Aquamarine
• April: Diamond
• May: Emerald
• June: Pearl or Moonstone
• July: Ruby
• August: Sardonyx or Peridot
• September: Sapphire or Lapis Lazuli
• October: Opal or Pink Tourmaline
• November: Topaz or Citrine
• December: Turquoise or Zircon (also now, Tanzanite)

63A Org. for Nelly Korda and Lydia Ko : LPGA

Nelly Korda is an LPGA golfer from Florida. She has professional sports in her blood. Her parents are retired professional tennis players from the Czech Republic Petr Korda and Regina Rajchrtová.

Lydia Ko is a professional golfer from New Zealand. In 2015, she reached number-one in the Women’s World Golf Rankings, when she was only 17 years old. That made her the youngest player, male or female, to make the number-one ranking in professional golf.

69A French filmmaker Jacques : TATI

Jacques Tati was a very famous filmmaker and comic actor in his homeland of France. Even though he only directed six feature-length movies, Tati is often cited by insiders as one of the greatest movie directors of all time.

70A Some train depot figs. : ETDS

Our term “depot”, meaning “station, warehouse”, comes from the French word “dépôt”. The French term translates into English as “deposit” or “place of deposit”.

71A Gent from Kent : BRIT

Kent is a county in the southeast of England. Kent is a little unusual in that it shares a “land” border with France. That border nominally exists halfway through the Channel Tunnel, one end of which comes to the surface in the Kent port of Folkestone.

73A Debater’s skill : RHETORIC

Rhetoric is the art of speaking or writing effectively, primarily with the intent to persuade. Aristotle defined three persuasive techniques that can be used to persuade an audience:

• Ethos is an ethical appeal, an attempt to convince the audience of the good moral character and credibility of the speaker.
• Logos is an appeal to logic, an attempt to convince an audience by using logic and reason.
• Pathos is an emotional appeal, an attempt to convince an audience by appealing to their emotions.

75A Golden arrow-shooting deity : EROS

Eros was the Greek god of love, desire and attraction, and usually depicted as a winged youth wielding a bow and arrows. The arrows had the power to ignite feelings of love or passionate longing in whomever they struck. Eros (Cupid or Amor in Roman mythology) was the son of Aphrodite (Venus) and Ares (Mars).

79A “___ Meninas” (Velázquez masterpiece) : LAS

“Las Meninas” is a painting by Diego Velázquez, the name of which translates to “The Maids of Honor”. “Las Meninas” is the most famous painting owned by the Museo del Prado in Madrid.

80A Big name in the ice cream aisle : BEN

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield did a correspondence course on making ice-cream in 1977 that was given by Pennsylvania State University’s creamery. The following year they opened an ice cream parlor in an old gas station in Burlington, Vermont. Today Ben & Jerry’s has locations in over 20 countries around the world, and theirs was the first brand of ice-cream to go into space.

85A Movie princess who wields a blaster pistol : LEIA

The full name of the character played by Carrie Fisher in the “Star Wars” series of films is Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, and later Leia Organa Solo. Leia is the twin sister of Luke Skywalker, and the daughter of Anakin Skywalker (aka “Darth Vader”) and Padmé Amidala. Leia is raised by her adoptive parents Bail and Breha Organa. She eventually marries Han Solo.

87A Actress Skye : IONE

Ione Skye is an American actress born in London, England. She is best known for portraying the character Diane Court in the 1989 high school romance movie “Say Anything…”, starring opposite John Cusack. Skye is the daughter of the Scottish folk singer Donovan.

92A Atomic number of neodymium : SIXTY

The chemical element neodymium has the atomic number 60 and the atomic symbol “Nd”. Classified as a rare-earth element, it is a silvery metal that oxidizes and tarnishes very easily in air. One use of neodymium is to make powerful permanent magnets, when combined in an alloy with iron and boron. Neodymium magnets are used in microphones, loudspeakers, in-ear headphones and computer hard disks, where strong magnets with low mass and small volume are required.

95A If GMC, PETSMART & LENOVO merged and became an auto parts company, they would sell ___ : GLOVE COMPARTMENTS

Glove boxes were more useful as containers for gloves in earlier times. When cars lacked a hard top, driving gloves were essential on cold days.

101A West Coast airport code : SFO

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) served as the main base of operations for Virgin America (sold to Alaska Airlines), and is also the maintenance hub for United Airlines. Even though SFO is owned and operated by the City and County of San Francisco, the airport is located to the south in San Mateo County.

104A Like a column starting a row, perhaps : LIBELLOUS

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.

106A Buckwheat, for one : RASCAL

The marvelous series of “Our Gang” comedy short films was also known as “The Little Rascals”. The series was produced by Hal Roach starting in 1922, and running up until 1944. There were 220 “Our Gang” film shorts made in all, and one feature film title “General Spanky” released in 1936.

Buckwheat was one of moviedom’s “Little Rascals”, also known as “Our Gang”. He was played by Billie Thomas, a child actor from Los Angeles.

109A If MERCK, MARS & AIG merged and became an art supplies company, they would sell ___ : MAGIC MARKERS

The felt-tip marking pen was patented in 1910. The marking pen was popularized when the Magic Marker brand was introduced in 1953.

112A Most Vermeer works : OILS

Johannes (also “Jan”) Vermeer was born in the city of Delft in 1632, and died there some 43 years later. The name “Vermeer” is a contraction of “van der meer”, which translates as “from the sea/lake”. I just love Vermeer’s paintings, and his wonderful use of light. A great example of such a work is his “Girl with a Pearl Earring”. If you haven’t seen it, I thoroughly recommend the 2003 movie “Girl with a Pearl Earring” starring Scarlett Johansson as the girl in the painting, and Colin Firth as Vermeer. The movie is based on a novel of the same name by Tracy Chevalier, so it’s all just a great story as opposed to a documentary. The way the movie is shot really reflects the qualities of a Vermeer work of art.

114A Verdi opera that becomes the name of a board game when an “H” is inserted : OTELLO

Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Otello” was first performed in 1887 at La Scala Theater in Milan. The opera is based on Shakespeare’s play “Othello” and is considered by many to be Verdi’s greatest work.

The game of Reversi is also sold as Othello. The name “Othello” was chosen as a nod to the play by William Shakespeare.

116A Old-fashioned invitation enclosure, in brief : SASE

An SAE is a “stamped, addressed envelope”. An SASE is a “self-addressed, stamped envelope”.

117A Ayo Edebiri’s character on “The Bear,” familiarly : SYD

Actor, comedian and television writer Ayo Edebiri gained prominence for her role as Sydney Adamu, the young sous-chef in the very successful Hulu series “The Bear”.

119A Element of many signs : NEON

The basic design of neon lighting was first demonstrated at the Paris Motor Show in 1910. Such lighting is made up of glass tubes containing a vacuum into which has been introduced a small amount of neon gas. When a voltage is applied between two electrodes inside the tube, the neon gas “glows” and gives off the familiar light.

Down

1D Corkscrews and such : PASTA

Fusilli is a corkscrew-shaped pasta. The term “fusilli” comes from the Italian word “fuso” meaning “spindle”.

Rotini is a corkscrew-shaped pasta that is often used in pasta salads. Even though “rotini” sounds like it comes from a word meaning “twist, rotate”, the word “rotini” doesn’t exist in Italian other than as the name for the pasta.

3D Inner tube? : STENT

In the world of surgical medicine, a stent is an artificial tube inserted inside a vessel in the body, say an artery, in order to reduce the effects of a local restriction in the body’s conduit.

12D Hot mess : SNAFU

“SNAFU” is an acronym standing for “situation normal: all fouled up” (well, that’s the polite version!). As one might perhaps imagine, the term developed in the US Army, during WWII.

13D When Ophelia dies in “Hamlet” : ACT IV

In William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, Ophelia is courted by Hamlet, the man himself. She is the daughter of nobleman Polonius. Ophelia dies …

14D 2015 Kendrick Lamar anthem that won two Grammys : ALRIGHT

Kendrick Lamar is a hip-hop singer from Compton, California. Lamar’s full name is Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, with the singer’s given name honoring Motown artist Eddie Kendricks. Notably, his 2017 album “Damn” won a Pulitzer Prize for Music, becoming the first non-classical or non-jazz album to do so.

24D Skin-care brand with the slogan “Face Anything” : OLAY

Oil of Olay was developed in South Africa in 1952. When Oil of Olay was introduced internationally, it was given slightly different brand names designed to appeal in the different geographies. In Ireland we know it as Oil of Ulay, for example, and in France it is Oil of Olaz.

26D ___ Lilly and Company : ELI

Eli Lilly is the largest corporation in the state of Indiana. Founder Eli Lilly was a veteran of the Union Army in the Civil War, and a failed Mississippi plantation owner. Later in life he returned to his first profession and opened a pharmaceutical operation to manufacture drugs and sell them wholesale. Under Lilly’s early guidance, the company was the first to create gelatin capsules to hold medicines and the first to use fruit flavoring in liquid medicines.

32D Jazz style : BEBOP

“Bop” is a shortened form of “bebop”, the name of a jazz style that dates back to the early 1940s. “Bebop” probably came from “Arriba! Arriba!”, which were words of encouragement uttered by Latin-American bandleaders to their musicians.

33D “___, Oh ___” (Thomas Moore poem) : ERIN

Thomas Moore was an Irish poet and songwriter, best known for writing the lyrics of “The Minstrel Boy” and “The Last Rose of Summer”.

38D South American tuber : OCA

The plant called an oca is also known as the New Zealand yam, even though it isn’t a true yam. The tubers of the oca are used as a root vegetable.

42D Rival of the Dodgers and Rockies, informally : D-BACKS

The Arizona Diamondbacks (also “D-backs”) joined Major League Baseball’s National League in 1998. By winning the World Series in 2001, they became the fastest expansion team to do so in Major League history.

43D Great Lakes natives : ERIES

The Erie people lived on lands south of Lake Erie, in parts of the modern-day US states of New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. The Erie were sometimes referred to as the Cat Nation, a reference to the mountain lions that were ever-present in the area that they lived. The name “Erie” is a shortened form of “Erielhonan” meaning “long tail”, possibly a further reference to the mountain lion or cat, which was possibly used as a totem. The Erie people gave their name to the Great Lake.

47D Playboy’s founder, in brief : HEF

Hugh Hefner (often called “Hef”) was from Chicago. His first publishing job was in the military, where he worked as a writer for a US Army newspaper from 1944-46. He went to college after his military service and then worked as a copywriter for “Esquire” magazine. He left “Esquire” to found his own publication that he called “Playboy”, which first hit the newsstands in 1953. “Playboy” has been around ever since.

61D “Highway to Hell” band : AC/DC

The Heavy Metal band known as AC/DC was formed by two brothers Malcolm and Angus Young in Australia. Malcolm and Angus chose the name “AC/DC” after their sister Margaret noticed them on a sewing machine (the abbreviation for alternating current/direct current). The group is usually called “Acca Dacca” down under.

64D Key near Fn : CTRL

The Control (CTRL) key on a PC keyboard is used to modify the function of other keys. For example, pressing CTRL+C copies a selection to the clipboard, and CTRL+V pastes the contents of the clipboard to a location defined by the cursor. Control keys were introduced on teletypewriters to generate “control characters”, which are non-printing characters that instruct a computer to do something like print a page, ring a bell etc.

66D 1986 rock autobiography : I, TINA

“I, Tina” is a 1986 autobiography by Tina Turner. The book was so successful it was adapted into a movie called “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” The film version was released in 1993 and stars Angela Bassett as Tina Turner. The first chapter of the biography is called “Nut Bush”, a reference to the small farming community of Nutbush, Tennessee where Turner was born (as Anna Mae Bullock).

74D Kimono sash : OBI

The lovely Japanese kimono is a garment worn by men, women and children. The word “kimono” translates simply as “thing to wear”, with “ki” meaning “wear” and “mono” meaning “thing”.

75D 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.

77D Sea urchin, on a sushi menu : UNI

Sea urchins are globular, spiny creatures found just about everywhere in the ocean. The “roe” of a sea urchin is eaten as a delicacy in several cuisines around the world. In a sushi restaurant, the sea urchin roe is called “uni”. The term “roe” normally means “fish eggs”, but in the case of the sea urchin it refers to the gonads of both the male and female.

78D Govt. agency whose busiest days usually precede major holidays : TSA

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is the agency that employs the good folks who check passengers and baggage at airports.

83D “R” in a car : REVERSE

PRNDL … that would be Park, Reverse, Neutral, Drive and Low. The gear shift for an automatic transmission is sometimes known familiarly as the “prindle” stick, from the abbreviation PRNDL.

87D Cool places to live? : IGLOOS

The Inuit word for “house” is “iglu”, which we usually write as “igloo”. The Greenlandic (yes, that’s a language) word for “house” is very similar, namely “igdlo”. The walls of igloos are tremendous insulators, due to the air pockets in the blocks of snow.

88D Singer Rodrigo : OLIVIA

Olivia Rodrigo is a singer-songwriter who rose to prominence with her 2021 song “Drivers License”, which she also co-wrote. In 2021, Rodrigo played her part in a White House program promoting COVID-19 vaccinations among young people.

89D Awards partially bestowed by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences : NOBELS

The Peace Prize is the most famous of the five prizes bequeathed by Alfred Nobel. The others are for Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Literature. There is also a Nobel Prize in Economics that is awarded along with the original five, but it is funded separately and is awarded “in memory of Alfred Nobel”. Four of the prizes are awarded by Swedish organizations (Alfred Nobel was a Swede) and so the award ceremonies take place in Stockholm. The Peace Prize is awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, and is presented in Oslo.

91D List of mistakes : ERRATA

“Errata” is the past participle of the Latin word “errare” meaning “to err”. We use “errata” (singular “erratum”) to describe a list of errors that have been noted in some publication.

93D Pibb ___ (soft drink) : XTRA

The soft drink on the market today called Pibb Xtra used to be known as Mr Pibb, and before that was called Peppo. Peppo was introduced in 1972 as a direct competitor to Dr Pepper.

94D Ruling Romanovs, e.g. : TSARS

The House of Romanov was the second and last imperial dynasty to rule over Russia, after the Rurik dynasty. The reign of the Romanovs ended when Emperor Nicholas II abdicated following the February Revolution of 1917. Famously, Nicholas II and his immediate family were murdered soon after he stepped down, and other members of the Romanov Dynasty were sent into exile by the Bolsheviks.

97D Santa ___ : CLAUS

The name “Santa Claus” is American English, and came into the language as a phonetic variant of “Sinterklaas”, the Dutch for “Saint Nicholas”.

102D Hit 1996 movie billed as a “homespun murder story” : FARGO

“Fargo” is one of my favorite films of all time, and stars one of my favorite actors: Frances McDormand. The movie was directed by the Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan. Frances McDormand is Joel’s wife.

103D “Love & Death” actress Elizabeth : OLSEN

Elizabeth Olsen is an actress and singer, and the younger sister of the famed Olsen twins Mary-Kate and Ashley.

“Love & Death” is a crime drama miniseries inspired by the true story of Candy Montgomery, a Texas housewife who was accused, and then acquitted, of murdering her lover’s wife. In the TV show, actress Elizabeth Olsen plays Montgomery.

107D Pelt : SKIN

A pelt is the skin of a furry animal.

109D Janitorial implement : MOP

A janitor is someone who takes care of the maintenance or cleaning of a building. An older definition of the term “janitor” is “doorman”. Our word comes from the Latin “ianitor” meaning “doorkeeper”.

110D The Guardians, on sports tickers : CLE

The Cleveland baseball franchise started out in 1869 as the Forest Citys, named after Forest City, the nickname for Cleveland. After a number of transitions, in 1914 the team took on the name “Indians”. The media came up with the name “Indians” after being asked for suggestions by the team owners. “Indians” was inspired by the successful Boston team of the day, the Boston Braves. In 2021, the team dropped the insensitive “Indians” moniker and renamed itself to the Guardians. The “Guardians” name is a reference to four pairs of Art Deco statues on the city’s Hope Memorial Bridge known as the Guardians of Traffic.