Category: Rebecca Goldstein

Bill’s time: 11m 35s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Along with Big Bird, role for puppeteer Caroll Spinney on “Sesame Street” : OSCAR

Oscar the Grouch is the Muppet who lives in a garbage can. Oscar’s persona comes from various sources. He is named after Oscar Brand who was one of the board members of the Children’s Television Workshop, the backers for “Sesame Street” as the Muppets were being developed in the sixties. Oscar’s personality was inspired by an angry waiter that once served Jim Henson (father of the Muppets). The voice was modeled on a grumpy New York cab driver encountered one day by Caroll Spinney, the puppeteer who brings Oscar to life.

The man “inside” Big Bird on “Sesame Street” is Caroll Spinney, who has been playing the character since 1969. That’s a long time, so Spinney has had an understudy named Matt Vogel since 1998.

10 ___ piece : PUFF

A fluff piece (also “puff piece”) is a news story that is considered unimportant in the grand scheme of things. Fluff pieces tend to be chosen for their cuteness, rather than their import.

15 Actress Fanning of “The Great” : ELLE

Actress Elle Fanning first appeared on film in the 2001 movie “I Am Sam”, in which she played a younger version of her sister and fellow actor Dakota Fanning (a 2-year-old version of the character). One of her first major roles was Aurora/Sleeping Beauty alongside Angelina Jolie in the 2014 movie “Maleficent”. Fannin reprised the role in the 2019 sequel “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil”.

16 Where Henrik Ibsen is buried : OSLO

Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen is the second-most frequently performed dramatist in the world, with only the works of William Shakespeare staged more often. As he was a pioneer in the genre, he is often referred to as “the father of realism”.

17 E.M.T.’s apparatus, informally : DEFIB

An emergency medical technician (EMT) might use an automated external defibrillator (AED).

18 Alfresco drinking establishment : ROOFTOP BAR

Our word “alfresco” means outdoors, in the fresh air. The term came into English from Italian.

22 Actress Fisher of “Eighth Grade” : ELSIE

Elsie Fisher is an actress whose best-known roles are possibly her voice acting. For example, she voiced Agnes in “Despicable Me” (2010) and “Despicable Me 2” (2013), and Parker Needle in “The Addams Family” (2019).

“Eighth Grade” is a 2018 comedy drama movie starring Elsie Fisher as a middle-schooler struggling with anxiety. Comedian Bo Burnham wrote and directed the film, and the storyline reflects his own anxiety as a performer, and his frequent panic attacks. I haven’t seen this one, but I hear really good things …

23 Certain freestyle competition : RAP BATTLE

Battle rapping (also “rap battling”) is a contest in which two or more rappers “fight it out” using opposing, improvised lyrics. I’d be annihilated …

27 Ride that might have a hot tub : LIMO

The word “limousine” derives from the name of the French city of Limoges. The area around Limoges is called the Limousin, and it gave its name to a cloak hood worn by local shepherds. In early motor cars, a driver would sit outside in the weather while the passengers would sit in the covered compartment. The driver would often wear a limousin-style protective hood, giving rise to that type of transportation being called a “limousine”. Well, that’s how the story goes …

31 Org. that is often referred to by just its first letter : YMCA

The YMCA (the Y) is a worldwide movement that has its roots in London, England. There, in 1844, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) was founded with the intent of promoting Christian principles through the development of “a healthy spirit, mind and body”. The founder, George Williams, saw the need to create YMCA facilities for young men who were flocking to the cities as the Industrial Revolution flourished. He saw that these men were frequenting taverns and brothels, and wanted to offer a more wholesome alternative.

35 Designer Anna : SUI

Anna Sui is a fashion designer from Detroit, Michigan.

36 Pseudoscientific process hinted at by four squares in this puzzle : ALCHEMY

One of the main goals of the ancient practice of alchemy was to change base metals into gold, a process known as transmutation.

39 Poke bowl protein : AHI

Poke is a Native-Hawaiian dish featuring diced raw fish. “Poke” is a Hawaiian word meaning “to slice”.

40 URL opening : HTTP

“http” are the first letters in many Internet links. “http” stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol. More secure and “safer” websites (like this one!) use links starting with “https”, which stands for “http secure”).

42 Illumination unit : LUX

The “lux” is the SI unit of illuminance, and is equal to one lumen per square meter.

43 Made out : NECKED

The term “necking” applies to kissing and caressing. I like what Groucho Marx had to say on the subject:

Whoever named it necking was a poor judge of anatomy.

47 “If ___ Street Could Talk” (James Baldwin novel) : BEALE

“If Beale Street Could Talk” is a 2018 film based on a 1974 novel of the same name by Barry Jenkins. Both novel and movie tell the story of a young woman working to clear the name of her lover, who was wrongfully charged with rape.

50 Undergarment providing a lift : PUSH-UP BRA

The world’s first push-up bra was the Wonderbra. The Wonderbra became very popular in the 1990s, although the brand name has been around since 1935.

53 Blueprint bits : SPECS

Blueprints are reproductions of technical or architectural drawings that are contact prints made on light-sensitive sheets. They were introduced in the 1800s and the technology available dictated that the drawings were reproduced with white lines on a blue background, hence the name “blue-print”.

55 Persian suffix meaning “land” : -STAN

The suffix “-stan” in many place names is Persian for “place of”. One example is “Pakistan”, the Place of the Pure. “Pakistan” is a relatively recent name, coined in 1933. It comes from the abbreviation PAKSTAN, standing for Punjab – Afghan Province – Kashmir – Sindh – BaluchisTAN, all regions in the north of India. The “I” was added to Pakistan to make it easier to pronounce, and to fit the translation “Land of the Pure”.

59 Vegetable sometimes called “ladies’ fingers” : OKRA

The plant known as okra is mainly grown for its edible green pods. The pods are said to resemble “ladies’ fingers”, which is an alternative name for the plant. Okra is known as “ngombo” in Bantu, a name that might give us the word “gumbo”, the name for the name of the southern Louisiana stew that includes okra as a key ingredient.

60 Loomed? : WOVE

There are many types of loom used to weave cloth, but they all hold parallel threads in tension in one direction, while allowing the interweaving of threads in the perpendicular direction. The threads held under tension are the warp threads, and the “woven” threads are the “weft” threads.

61 Giraffe gatherings : HERDS

The giraffe is the tallest terrestrial animal on the planet. Its main source of food is acacia leaves that they eat from high, high up in trees, where other herbivores cannot reach.

Down

3 Alternative to a latte or flat white : CAFE AU LAIT

“Café au lait” (French for “coffee with milk”) is usually strong drip coffee to which one adds steamed milk. Well, that’s the way we tend to make it here in the US.

5 Talmudic honorific : REB

The Talmud is a collection of writings by thousands of rabbis and is a central text in Rabbinic Judaism, second only to the Torah.

27 Harper who wrote “Go Set a Watchman” : LEE

Nelle Harper Lee was an author from Monroeville, Alabama. For many years, Lee had only one published novel to her name, i.e. “To Kill a Mockingbird”. That contribution to the world of literature was enough to earn her the Presidential Medal of Freedom and a Pulitzer Prize. Harper Lee was a close friend of fellow author Truman Capote who was the inspiration for the character named “Dill” in her novel. Lee was all over the news in 2015 as she had published a second novel, titled “Go Set a Watchman”. The experts seem to be agreeing that “Go Set a Watchman” is actually the first draft of “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Lee passed away less than a year after “Go Set a Watchman” hit the stores.

29 “Survivor” dwelling : HUT

The reality show “Survivor” is based on a Swedish television series created in 1997 called “Expedition Robinson”.

30 Code for Sky Harbor Airport : PHX

Phoenix is the capital of the state of Arizona. The city started out as a farming community founded by a Civil War veteran. Key to the success of the community was the construction of canals that were really contemporary improvements to canals that had previously been built by the local Hohokam people.

33 Subject of the classic photo “Guerrillero Heroico” : CHE

“Guerrillero Heroico” is the name of an iconic photograph taken by Alberto Korda of the revolutionary Che Guevara. With the title translating into English as “Heroic Guerrilla Fighter”, the image shows Guevara in a dark beret, with an “implacable” stare. Versions of this photo have been used so many times in tattoos, posters, paintings, etc. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has determined that “Guerrillero Heroico” has been reproduced more than any other image in the history of photography.

41 Wool wear for winter : PEACOAT

A peacoat (also “pea jacket”) is a heavy woolen outer jacket originally associated with sailors. Nowadays anyone wears them (they’re very comfortable and warm). The female equivalent of a peacoat is often called a Jackie O jacket, after Jackie Onassis.

47 Dr. ___ Honeydew, Muppet partner of Beaker : BUNSEN

The Muppet character named Dr. Bunsen Honeydew is a scientist in a lab coat. His given name comes from the Bunsen burner piece of lab equipment, and the family name is a reference to the character’s head, which is shaped like a honeydew melon. Dr. Bunsen Honeydew’s assistant is Beaker, who is also named for a piece of lab equipment.

50 Pet problem? : PEEVE

The phrase “pet peeve”, meaning “thing that provokes one most”, seems to be somewhat ironic. A “peeve” is a source of irritation, and the adjective “pet” means “especially cherished”.

51 Complete stranger, in slang : RANDO

“Rando” is a slang term describing a “random person”. The term tends not to be used flatteringly.

57 First prime : TWO

The first three prime numbers are 2,3 and 5.

58 “Yellowjackets” network, for short : SHO

“Yellowjackets” sounds like an interesting TV show. It is about four teenage girls who survive a plane crash, and have to live for nineteenth months alone in the Canadian wilderness. While this story unfolds in the show, we also track their lives as adults, 25 years later.