Category: Parker Higgins

Bill’s time: 9m 20s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

9 Inits. in Congress beginning in 2019 : AOC

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a politician who is often referred to by her initials “AOC”. A Democrat, she was first elected to the US House of Representatives in 2018, representing part of the Bronx, Queens and Rikers Island in New York City. When she took office in 2019 at the age of 29, AOC became the youngest woman ever to serve in Congress.

12 Body of water between Sicily and Greece : IONIAN SEA

The Ionian Sea is that part of the Mediterranean lying between Greece and the southern part of Italy (under the sole of the “boot”). The Ionian Sea is one of the most seismically active regions on the planet.

16 Brings to a tie : MAKES EVEN
17 High low voice : TENOR (SEVEN-TEN split)

In ten-pin bowling, a split takes place when the number-one pin (headpin) is knocked down with the first ball and two or more non-adjacent pins are left standing. The most difficult split to deal with is the infamous 7-10 split, where just the rear pins at the extreme right and left remain standing.

20 Display in a shoebox, maybe : DIORAMA

A diorama is a full-scale or small-scale replica of a scene. We mostly see full-size dioramas in museums, whereas our kids might create small-scale dioramas as homework projects. The original diorama was a picture-viewing device that was invented in 1822 by Louis Daguerre and Charles Marie Bouton. These historic dioramas were quite large, and featured scenes that appeared to change as the lighting was manipulated.

22 Clod : CRETIN

“Cretin” is a slang term meaning “idiot”, and a term that I do not like at all. “Cretin” was a medical term in the 1900s that came from Alpine-French dialect. Congenital hypothyroidism was particularly associated with an area in the French Alps and manifested itself as impaired physical and mental development, a condition known as “cretinism”.

25 Makeshift umbrella holder : URN

Our term “umbrella” ultimately derives from the Latin “umbra” meaning “shade, shadow”. Famously, British folks are likely to refer to the device as a “brolly”, a term that is just a shortening of “umbrella”.

27 Grilled ham-and-cheese sandwich : CUBAN
28 Amazon swimmers : ANACONDAS (BAN-ANA split)

A Cuban sandwich almost always includes Cuban bread filled with roast pork, glazed ham, Swiss cheese and sliced dill pickles. The Cuban was designated the city of Tampa’s signature sandwich in 2012.

Anacondas are native to the tropical regions of South America. The green anaconda is one of the world’s largest snakes, growing to 17 feet long and weighing up to 550 pounds! Anacondas are not venomous, and prefer to kill their prey by coiling around it and then squeeeeeezing …

The banana split was created in Latrobe, Pennsylvania in 1904. This particular sundae was the idea of David Stickler, a young apprentice pharmacist at the Tassel Pharmacy’s soda fountain.

30 To be, in Havana : SER

Havana is the capital of Cuba. The city was founded by the Spanish in the early 1500s after which it became a strategic location for Spain’s exploration and conquest of the Americas. In particular, Havana was used as a stopping-off point for treasure-laden ships on the return journey to Spain.

32 ___ al-Fitr (feast occasion) : EID

Eid al-Fitr is a religious holiday in the Muslim tradition that is known in English as the “Festival of Breaking the Fast”. It marks the end of Ramadan, a period of dawn-to-sunset fasting.

39 Say rude things about : DIS

“Dis” (also “diss”) is a slang term meaning “insult” that originated in the eighties. It is a shortened form of “disrespect” or “dismiss”.

43 Aims for : ASPIRES TO
47 Unisex fragrance launched in 1994 : CK ONE (STO-CK split)

CK One is a fragrance that was developed for Calvin Klein and launched in 1994. It was to become the first really successful unisex fragrance.

The face value (also “par value”) of a stock changes with a stock split. For example, a 2-for-1 split results in twice as much stock outstanding, so the price is halved. In a reverse stock split, less stock is outstanding.

50 Astronaut Grissom : GUS

Gus Grissom was the second American to fly in space, and the first astronaut at NASA to make two space flights. Sadly, Grissom was one of the three astronauts who died in that terrible launch pad fire in 1967.

52 One checking the books : AUDITOR

An audit is a formal examination of the accounts or financial situation of an individual or organization. Such a process was originally an oral affair, and indeed, the term “audit” comes from the Latin “audire” meaning “to hear”.

55 Certain ocean pollution : SLICK
56 Old English, for better or worse? : ETYMOLOGY (LICK-ETY split)

“Lickety-split” is the latest in a line of terms that come from the word “lick”, which was used in the sense of a “fast sprint in a race” back in the early 1800s. From “lick” there evolved “licketie”, “lickety-click”, “lickety-cut” and finally “lickety-split”, all just colorful ways to say “fast”.

61 Makeup of many birdfeed cakes : SUET

Fat, when extracted from the carcass of an animal, is called suet. Untreated suet decomposes at room temperature quite easily so it has to be rendered, purified to make it stable. Rendered fat from pigs is what we call lard. Rendered beef or mutton fat is known as tallow.

63 Authors’ submissions: Abbr. : MSS

Manuscript (ms)

Down

1 Playable character in an “artificial life” game franchise : SIM

SimCity is a very clever computer game. Players build and grow cities and societies by creating the conditions necessary for people (the Sims) to move in and thrive. SimCity was launched in 1989, and to this day it is consistently ranked as one of the greatest computer games of all time.

2 Hawaiian wood used to build the earliest surfboards : KOA

The flowering tree known as koa grows in the wild only on the Hawaiian Islands. Koa wood is prized for the construction of dugout canoes, surfboards and guitars.

4 Rest of the day? : SIESTA

We use the word “siesta” to describe a short nap in the early afternoon, and imported the word into English from Spanish. In turn, the Spanish word is derived from the Latin “hora sexta” meaning “the sixth hour”. The idea is that the nap is taken at the sixth hour after dawn.

6 Host’s request : RSVP

“RSVP” stands for “répondez s’il vous plaît”, which is French for “answer, please”.

7 Stinger : BEE

A queen bee has a stinger, just like worker bees. When a worker bee stings, it leaves its stinger in its victim. The worker bee dies after losing its stinger as the loss rips out part of its insides. However, a queen bee can sting with impunity as her stinger’s anatomy is different.

8 Actress Bullock : SANDRA

The actress Sandra Bullock is the daughter of a part-time voice coach (her father) and an opera singer and voice coach (her mother). Her father was an American soldier stationed in Nuremberg in Germany when he met his German wife. Sandra Bullock’s maternal grandfather was a rocket scientist working in Nuremberg.

10 The “O” of M.O. : OPERANDI

“Modus operandi” (plural “modi operandi”) is the Latin for “mode of operating”, a term we’ve been using since the mid-1600s. It’s often used by the police when referring to the methods typically employed by a particular perpetrator of a crime, and is usually abbreviated to “M.O.”

11 Unfounded rumor : CANARD

“Canard” is the French word for “duck”. We use the term to describe a hoax or a misleading rumor. This usage comes from a phrase used in French that translates as “to half-sell a duck”, meaning “to cheat”.

13 Actor John or Sean : ASTIN

Actor John Astin is best known for playing Gomez, the head of the household on “The Addams Family” TV series.

Sean Astin is best known for playing the title role in the 1993 film “Rudy” and the character Samwise Gamgee in “The Lord of the Rings” movies. You might also have seen him playing Lynn McGill in the 5th season of “24”. Astin is the son of actress Patty Duke, and the adopted son of actor John Astin (of “The Addams Family” fame).

24 Longest river entirely within Spain : EBRO

The Ebro is the longest river in Spain. It was known by the Romans as the Iber, and it is “Iber” that gives the “Iberian” Peninsula its name.

29 Many a Rembrandt : OIL

The celebrated Dutch painter’s full name was Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (sometimes “Ryn”). Rembrandt is perhaps most appreciated for his portraits, and left the world a remarkable collection of self-portraits.

31 New York lake that’s the source of the Susquehanna River : OTSEGO

Otsego Lake is located in Upstate New York. It is geologically related to the Finger Lakes, although it is not regarded as one of them. The village of Cooperstown, home to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, sits at the southern end of Otsego Lake.

34 Buildings : EDIFICES

To edify is to provide instruction in order to improve spiritually, morally or intellectually. The intent is to “build up” someone’s faith or morality, and so “edify” comes from the Latin “aedificare” meaning “to build, construct”. This Latin root also gives us our word “edifice”, meaning “massive building”.

35 Bwana : Swahili :: ___ : English : SIR

Swahili is one of the many Bantu languages spoken in Africa. There are hundreds of Bantu languages, with most being spoken in central, east and southern Africa. The most commonly spoken Bantu language is Swahili, with Zulu coming in second.

36 Holy title with a tilde : SAO

In Portuguese, the word “são” can mean “saint”, as in São Paulo (Saint Paul) and São José (Saint Joseph). If the saint’s name starts with a letter H or with a vowel, then the word “santo” is used instead, as in Santo Agostinho (Saint Augustine) and Santo Antônio (Saint Anthony).

The tilde diacritical mark (~) is very much associated with the Spanish language. We use the name “tilde” in English, taking that name from Spanish. Confusingly, the word “tilde” in Spanish is used more generally to mean “accent mark, diacritic”, of which a “~” is just one. What we call a “tilde” in English is usually referred to as a “virgulilla” or “tilde de la eñe” in Spanish.

37 1982 sci-fi classic with a 2010 sequel : TRON

Released in 1982, Disney’s “Tron” was one of the first mainstream films to make extensive use of computer graphics. The main role in the movie is played by Jeff Bridges. The original spawned a 2010 sequel called “Tron: Legacy”, as well as a 2012 TV show called “Tron: Uprising”.

38 Kind of wave : SINE

A sine wave is a mathematical function that describes a simple, smooth, repetitive oscillation. The sine wave is found right throughout the natural world. Ocean waves, light waves and sound waves all have a sine wave pattern.

44 All ___ Day : SOULS’

All Souls’ Day is a religious holiday mainly in the Roman Catholic tradition. All Souls’ Day is observed on November 2nd annually, and is a commemoration of the “faithful departed”.

45 Stand that a speaker might take : PODIUM

“Podium” (plural “podia”) is the Latin word for “raised platform”.

47 Go a-wassailing : CAROL

Wassail is ale or mulled wine used for toasting at festivals, especially Christmas. The term “wassail” comes from Old Norse “ves heill” meaning “be healthy”.

51 Mountain lions : PUMAS

The mountain lion is found in much of the Americas from the Yukon in Canada right down to the southern Andes in South America. Because the mountain lion is found over such a vast area, it has many different names applied by local peoples, such as “cougar” and “puma”. In fact, the mountain lion holds the Guinness record for the animal with the most number of different names, with over 40 in English alone.

53 Popular booth in New York’s Times Square : TKTS

The TKTS booths sell discount theater tickets, notably in Times Square in New York and in the West End of London.

58 “Double Fantasy” singer : ONO

“Double Fantasy” is an album released by John Lennon and Yoko Ono on 17 November 1980. Three weeks later, John Lennon was gunned down by Mark Chapman outside Lennon’s apartment building in New York City.

59 Econ. indicator : GDP

A country’s Gross National Product (GNP) is the value of all services and products produced by its residents in a particular year. GNP includes all production wherever it is in the world, as long as the business is owned by residents of the country concerned. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is different, although related, and is the value of all services and goods produced within the borders of the country for that year.

60 “___ queen!” (enthusiastic cry) : YAS

“Yas” is a slang term used in place of the interjection “yes!”, when it expresses pleasure and excitement. The exclamation often takes the form “Yas, queen!”