Category: Rich Katz

Bill’s time: 6m 46s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A K-pop supergroup : BTS

BTS is a boy band from South Korea with seven members. The initialism “BTS” stands for the phrase “Bangtan Sonyeondan”, which translates literally as “Bulletproof Boy Scouts”. It is the best-selling musical act in the history of South Korea.

9A Vast Mongolian desert : GOBI

The Gobi Desert is known for its extreme temperatures, from freezing winters to scorching summers. Its most remarkable resident might be the Gobi bear, known locally as the Mazaalai. It is an endangered subspecies of brown bear that is found only in the Gobi Desert. It is considered the rarest bear in the world, with a population estimated to be fewer than 40 individuals.

The East Asian nation of Mongolia lies between Russia to the north and China to the south. With an area of over 600,000 square miles and a population of about 3 million people, Mongolia is the most sparsely populated sovereign nation on the planet. Almost half of the Mongolian populace lives in the capital city of Ulan Bator.

13A Google.com, e.g. : URL

The Google search engine was originally called “BackRub” would you believe? The name was eventually changed to “Google”, an intentional misspelling of the word “googol”. A googol is a pretty big number, 10 to the power of 100. That would be the digit 1 followed by 100 zeros.

19A Heinie : TUSH

“Tush”, a word meaning “backside”, is an abbreviation of “tochus” that comes from the Yiddish “tokhes”.

The slang term “heinie”, meaning “rear end”, is probably a contraction of “hind end”.

20A Côte d’___ (French Riviera) : AZUR

The Côte d’Azur is on the Mediterranean coast of France and stretches from Saint-Tropez in the west and to the Italian border in the east. In English, we often refer to the area as “the French Riviera”. It’s a little crowded for me (okay, “expensive”), especially in the summer.

“Riviera” is an Italian word meaning “coastline”. The term is often applied to a coastline that is sunny and popular with tourists. The term “the Riviera” is usually reserved for the French Riviera (the Mediterranean coastline in southeastern France), and the Italian Riviera (the Mediterranean coastline centered on Genoa).

31A Big TV network in the U.K. : BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the world’s oldest national broadcasting organization and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees. It was founded in 1922 and initially broadcast radio only, with television broadcasting beginning in 1932.

42A Sports org. at the center of a 2021 antitrust ruling : NCAA

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)

43A Ones crossing picket lines : SCABS

Back in the late 17th century, a picket was a pointed stake used militarily to defend against attacking forces, and charging cavalry in particular. Ultimately, the term “picket” comes from the French verb “piquer” meaning “to pierce”. The term “pickets” then became the name for troops posted in the front lines, watching for the enemy. A picket line is a unit of soldiers lined up as a team of lookouts. The first use of “picket line” in the sense of labor disputes appeared just after the end of WWII. Our use of “picket fence” evolved from the original lines of pointed stakes used to defend positions held by early colonists.

58A Slogan for the Pokémon franchise … also appropriate for 16-, 21-, 38- and 50-Across? : GOTTA CATCH ‘EM ALL

“Pokémon” is the second-biggest video game franchise in the world, second only to the “Mario” franchise. “Pokémon” is a contraction of “Pocket Monsters”.

65A Actress Amy or President John Quincy : ADAMS

Amy Adams is an American actress, although she was actually born in Vicenza, Italy while her father was a US serviceman stationed on an Italian base. My favorite Amy Adams film so far is the outstanding “Julie & Julia” in which she acted alongside Meryl Streep. I highly recommend this truly delightful movie.

John Quincy Adams (JQA), the son of John Adams, was the 6th US president. Like his father, John Quincy worked for many years as a diplomat representing the young United States. After leaving office, Adams served in Congress as Representative from Massachusetts, becoming the only president ever to enter the House after leaving the office of president.

66A Like the boonies : RURAL

“Boondocks” (often shortened to “boonies”) is a term used in North America for a remote, usually rural area. Often the term is used derogatively, implying that a remote location is unsophisticated. “Boondocks” was first used by American soldiers stationed in the Philippines in the early 1900s. The word evolved from the Tagalog “bundok” meaning “mountain”.

67A Abbreviation for an Army absence : MIA

Missing in action (MIA)

68A Mercedes-___ : BENZ

German engineers Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz worked independently of each other, although just sixty miles apart, to develop the first gasoline-powered vehicle. Most historians credit Benz the win in that race in 1885/86, as he came up with a three-wheel vehicle that used a four-stroke gasoline engine for power. Daimler showed off his four-wheel vehicle in 1886, that was also powered by a four-stroke gasoline engine. Daimler died in 1900, and the company bearing his name merged with Benz’s company in 1926 to form Daimler-Benz. Benz passed away three years later, in 1929.

69A Pluckiness : SPUNK

We’ve been using the word “spunk” to mean “pluck, courage” since the late 1700s. Prior to that, it was a Scottish word meaning “spark” that we had absorbed into English.

Down

2D Word after rainbow or steelhead : TROUT

The steelhead and rainbow trout are actually the same species. The difference is that rainbow trout spend almost their whole lives in freshwater. Steelheads spend much of their lives in estuaries or open ocean, returning to freshwater to spawn.

3D Watery snow : SLUSH

Slush is a mixture of partially melted solid, a mixture of liquid and solid. The classic example is partly melted snow.

5D Anxiety-related condition, for short : OCD

Apparently, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is the fourth most commonly diagnosed mental disorder, making it about as prevalent as asthma.

7D Des Moines denizen : IOWAN

The city of Des Moines is the capital of Iowa, and takes its name from the Des Moines River. The river in turn takes its name from the French “Riviere des Moines” meaning “River of the Monks”. It looks like there isn’t any “monkish” connection to the city’s name per se. “Des Moines” was just the name given by French traders who corrupted “Moingona”, the name of a group of Illinois Native Americans who lived by the river. However, others contend that French Trappist monks, who lived a full 200 miles from the river, somehow influenced the name.

8D ___ scheme (financial fraud) : PONZI

Charles Ponzi was born in Luigi, Italy in 1882 and arrived in the US in 1903, flat broke having gambled away all his money on the voyage to Boston. Ponzi devised a scheme to buy what were known as “international reply coupons” through friends in Italy, which he had sent to him in the US so that he could redeem them on this side of the Atlantic. As the value in the US was greater than that in Italy, he could make a handsome profit. This was in itself an “illegal” transaction, buying an asset in one market at a low price, then immediately selling it in another market at a higher price. But it’s what he did next that became known as a Ponzi Scheme. He couldn’t redeem his coupons quickly enough due to red tape so he approached other investors, initially friends, and had them give him cash so that he could buy more coupons in Italy. He promised the investors he would double their money, which they did initially. Many people wanted to get in on the scheme seeing that Ponzi was able to make the new investors a profit and double the money of the original investors. Eventually, somebody did the math and word started to get out that the investment was risky, so the number of new investors started to fall. Without sufficient new investors Ponzi couldn’t double the money of his latest investors, and the whole scheme unraveled.

9D Purchase at a pump : GAS

The gas pump was actually around before there were cars on the road. The first gas pump was the invention of one Sylvanus Bowser from Fort Wayne, Indiana. His first pump was designed to pump kerosene for lamps and stoves, and was introduced in 1885. As automobiles became popular, he modified the design to pump gasoline. He introduced the Self-Measuring Gasoline Storage Pump in 1905. He marketed his devices all around the world, and in some parts the name “bowser” is still used sometimes to refer to fuel pumps, and indeed some fuel tankers.

11D “Busy” buzzer : BEE

Bumblebees aren’t very aggressive, but they can sting if they deem it necessary. Unlike honey bees, bumblebees survive the stinging action as their stinger has no barb. There are a few misconceptions about bumblebees. One is that a bumblebee should be incapable of flight based on the laws of aerodynamics, but this isn’t true. Another misconception is that the bee’s buzzing sound is caused by the beating of its wings. In fact, the sound comes from the vibration of its flight muscles. The bee can decouple those muscles from its wings, and so can make a buzzing sound without the wings moving at all.

12D Org. that orders audits : IRS

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was set up during the Civil War to raise money to cover war expenses. Prior to the introduction of income tax in 1862, the government was funded by levies on trade and property.

17D One-named singer of “If I Could Turn Back Time” : CHER

“If I Could Turn Back Time” is a 1989 song released by Cher as the lead track on the album “Heart of Stone”. The US Navy gave permission for Cher to shoot the song’s music video on the USS Missouri battleship while it was stationed in Long Beach. Cher wore a revealing outfit while performing for the video, resulting in some claims that the event desecrated a national monument.

22D Currency in Lyon but not London : EURO

The city of Lyon in France is sometimes known as “Lyons” in English. It is the second-largest metropolitan area in the country, after Paris, and is located just to the north of the confluence of the Rhône and Saône Rivers.

London, England has been a major settlement for over 2,000 years and was founded as a town by the Romans who named it Londinium. The name “Londinium” may have existed prior to the arrival of the Romans, and no one seems too sure of its origins. Famously, the City of London is a one-square-mile area at the center of the metropolis, the area that marked old medieval London. “The City”, as it is commonly called, has its own Mayor of the City of London (the Mayor of London is someone else), and its own City of London Police Force (the London Metropolitan Police are the police usually seen on the streets, a different force).

26D ___ Holmes (Sherlock’s sister, on Netflix) : ENOLA

“The Enola Holmes Mysteries” is a series of detective novels for young adults by American author Nancy Springer. The title character is the 14-year-old sister of 34-year-old Sherlock Holmes, the detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Springer’s novels were adapted into a 2020 film “Enola Holmes” that Netflix picked up at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. I saw this one, and the sequel, and enjoyed both …

27D Overcaffeinated, colloquially : WIRED

Caffeine is a naturally occurring stimulant that is found in several plants. The chemical serves as a natural pesticide by paralyzing and killing certain insects that would otherwise feed on the plant. Caffeine is the most widely consumed psychoactive drug that is consumed by humans across the world.

31D Lineup at Woodstock or Coachella : BANDS

The 1969 Woodstock Music & Art Fair was held on Max Yasgur’s dairy farm located 43 miles southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York. 400,000 young people attended, and saw 32 bands and singers perform over three days.

The first Coachella Valley Music Festival was held in 1999, and then annually from 2001 until the present day. Coachella Valley is located in the Colorado Desert that, despite the name, is found in Southern California.

32D Muscle used in pull-ups, informally : BICEP

The biceps muscle is made up of two bundles of muscle, both of which terminate at the same point near the elbow. The heads of the bundles terminate at different points on the scapula or shoulder blade. “Biceps” is Latin for “two-headed”.

33D Basic bird made in origami : CRANE

Origami is the traditional Japanese art form of paper folding. The best-known example of the craft is the paper crane (“orizuru“). The word “origami” is derived from “ori“ (folding) and “kami” (paper).

35D Situation Room grp. : NSC

The official name of the Situation Room in the White House is the John F. Kennedy Conference Room. The facility was built in the basement of the West Wing on the orders of President Kennedy in 1961 after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion. Analysis showed that the invasion failed largely due to a lack of real-time information, and so the Situation Room was built to prevent that from happening in the future.

47D Kind of golf that uses baskets instead of holes : DISC

Disc golf is also known as Frisbee golf, and sometimes even Frolf. Believe it or not, disc golf predates the introduction of the Frisbee. The first game was played at a school in Bladworth, Saskatchewan in 1926. The participating schoolkids threw tin lids into circles drawn on a course they created in the school grounds. They named the game “Tin Lid Golf”. By the way, I try to play disc golf at least three times a week. Lots of fun …

53D Quantities of paper : REAMS

A ream is 500 sheets of paper. As there were 24 sheets in a quire, and 20 quires made up a ream, there used to be 480 sheets in a ream. Ever since the standard was changed to 500, a 480-sheet packet of paper has been called a “short ream”. We also use the term “reams” to mean a great amount, evolving from the idea of a lot of printed material.

54D Treat with bananas and ice cream : SPLIT

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.

61D Celebrity gossip website : TMZ

TMZ.com is a celebrity gossip website launched in 2005 by producer Harvey Levin. “TMZ” stands for “thirty-mile zone”, a reference to the “studio zone” in Los Angeles. The studio zone is circular in shape with a 30-mile radius centered on the intersection of West Beverly Boulevard and North La Cienega Boulevard.

62D Word on a French wine label : CRU

“Cru” is a term used in the French wine industry that means “growth place”. So, “cru” is the name of the location where the grapes are grown, as opposed to the name of a specific vineyard. The terms “premier cru” and “grand cru” are also used, but the usage depends on the specific wine region. Generally it is a classification awarded to specific vineyards denoting their potential for producing great wines. “Grand cru” is reserved for the very best vineyards, with “premier cru” the level just below.

63D ___ Solo of “Star Wars” : HAN

Han Solo is the space smuggler in “Star Wars” played by Harrison Ford. Ford was originally hired by George Lucas just to read lines for actors during auditions for “Star Wars”, but over time Lucas became convinced that Ford was right for the pivotal role of Han Solo.

64D Animal with a fraternal order named after it : ELK

The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE) was founded in 1868, and is a social club that has about a million members today. It started out as a group of men getting together in a “club” in order to get around the legal opening hours of taverns in New York City. The club took on a new role as it started to look out for poor families of members who passed away. The club now accepts African Americans as members (since the seventies) and women (since the nineties), but atheists still aren’t welcome. The list of US presidents that have been members of the BPOE includes Presidents Eisenhower, Harding, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy and Ford.