Category: Royce Ferguson

Bill’s time: 16m 18s

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Like the Galactic Empire and Rebel Alliance, in science fiction : AT WAR

In the “Star Wars” universe, the Rebel Alliance is at war with the Galactic Empire.

6 Dutch Golden Age painter : HALS

Frans Hals was a painter in the Dutch Golden Age who was born in Antwerp but who lived and worked in Haarlem. Hals is best known for his portraits, the most famous of which is probably “The Laughing Cavalier”.

16 Fruit whose name is three-quarters vowels : ACAI

Açaí (pronounced “ass-aye-ee”) is a palm tree native to Central and South America. The fruit has become very popular in recent years and its juice is a very fashionable addition to juice mixes and smoothies.

17 Annual New Year’s Day event : ROSE PARADE

The first Rose Parade was staged in 1890 on New Year’s Day in Pasadena, California. The initial parades were organized by the Pasadena Valley Hunt Club, whose members wanted to highlight the mild winter weather in the area. The initial parades did not feature flowers, but these were added to underscore the favorable climate. It was the inclusion of the flowers that gave rise to the name “Tournament of Roses”. The first Rose Bowl football game was played in 1902.

18 “Freak on a Leash” band : KORN

Korn is an alternative-metal band from Bakersfield, California. The band’s name is derived from a fan suggestion of “Corn”. The suggested name was considered too bland and so was prettied up to Korn, with the letter “r” capitalized and written backwards.

23 Loudly lachrymates : SOBS

“Lachrymose” means “teary”, from the Latin “lacrima”, the word for “tear”.

28 Statement that is, in fact, not part of the Hippocratic oath : DO NO HARM

“First, do no harm” is a translation of the Latin phrase “Primum non nocere”. The phrase is a principle used in the world of medicine that reminds a provider of healthcare that to do nothing might be better than intervening in some situations. It is often said that “First, do no harm” is found in the text of the Hippocratic Oath, but that’s just not true. What is true is that the line “I will use those dietary regimens which will benefit my patients according to my greatest ability and judgment, and I will do no harm or injustice to them” is included.

30 High-protein paste : MISO

Miso is the name of the seasoning that makes miso soup. Basic miso seasoning is made by fermenting rice, barley and soybeans with salt and a fungus to produce a paste. The paste can be added to stock to make miso soup, or perhaps to flavor tofu.

37 Air pollution portmanteau : SMAZE

“Smaze” is a weather phenomenon, a smoky haze that is like a fog but less damp. The term is a portmanteau of “smoke” and “haze”.

40 What’s spread all over southern France? : TAPENADE

The dish known as tapenade is traditionally made from olives, capers, anchovies and olive oil. The name comes from the Provençal word for capers, i.e. “tapenas”.

47 Less than hardly : NARY

The adjective “nary” means “not one”, as in “nary a soul” or even “nary a one”.

48 ___ punk (genre for No Doubt) : SKA

No Doubt is a rock band that formed in 1986 in Anaheim, California. No Doubt’s lead singer is Gwen Stefani.

57 Rice and Curry : TIMS

Tim Rice is famous as a lyricist, with his most celebrated collaborations being with Andrew Lloyd Webber. Lloyd Webber and Rice together wrote the hit musicals “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”, “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Evita”.

Tim Curry is a marvelous actor from England who is perhaps best known on this side of the Atlantic for playing Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the 1975 movie “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”. Curry also played the title role in the original Broadway play “Amadeus”.

Down

5 Boastful Eminem title with the Guinness world record for “most words in a hit single” (1,560) : RAP GOD

“Rap God” is a song by American rapper Eminem, released in 2013. “Rap God” holds the Guinness World Record for the most words in a hit single. The song contains a total of 1,560 words in just over six minutes, which translates to an average of 4.28 words per second.

8 Stuff in microdots : LSD

LSD was sold in tablet form, with the tablets having varied shapes and sizes. The most famous were small pills that were commonly called “microdots”.

15 “The Little Prince” trees : BAOBABS

“Baobab” is the common name for an Adansonia tree, most species of which are native to Madagascar. The name Adansonia was given in honor of the French naturalist and explorer Michel Adanson.

“Le Petit Prince” is a celebrated French novella written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and first published in 1943. “Le Petit Prince” (The Little Prince) is the most read book in France, and the book most translated from French. The philosophical tale recounts the story of a stranded pilot meeting a young prince who falls to Earth from an asteroid. Saint-Exupéry was himself a pioneering aviator. He wrote “Le Petit France” while living in exile in the US due to the German occupation of France during WWII.

26 Two-ingredient cocktail usually served with an olive or lemon twist : GIN MARTINI

The term “martini” probably takes its name from the “Martini & Rossi” brand of dry vermouth, although no one seems to be completely sure. What is clear is that despite the Martini name originating in Italy, the martini drink originated in the US. The original martini was made with gin and sweet vermouth, but someone specifying a “dry” martini was given gin and dry vermouth. Nowadays we use dry vermouth for all martinis, and the term “dry” has become a reference to how little vermouth is included in the drink. Famously, Noël Coward liked his drink very dry and said that a perfect martini is made by “filling a glass with gin then waving it in the general direction of Italy”. The German-American journalist and satirist H. L. Mencken referred to the martini as “the only American invention as perfect as a sonnet”.

28 Tackling group, for short : D-LINE

Defensive line (D-line)

29 Second-most frequently mentioned individual in the Quran, after Jesus : MOSES

Moses is an important prophet in Christianity and Islam, and the most important prophet in Judaism. It fell to Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt across the Red Sea. He was given the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, and then wandered the desert with his people for forty years. Moses then died within sight of the Promised Land.

32 One side of a chemistry scale : ACIDS

The “opposite” of an acid is a base. Acids turn litmus paper red, and bases turn it blue. Acids and bases react with each other to form salts. An important subset of the chemicals called bases are alkalis, hydroxides of the alkali metals and of ammonium. The term “alkali” is sometimes used interchangeably with “base”, especially if that base is readily soluble in water.

35 Spanish little ones : NENES

“Nene” is the Spanish word for a male baby or young child.

45 Daughter of Catherine of Aragon : MARY I

Mary I was Queen of England and Ireland from 1553 to 1558. Mary was the only surviving child from the marriage of King Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Unlike her father, Mary adhered to her Roman Catholic faith and was noted for her brutal persecution of Protestants during her reign. She had almost three hundred religious dissenters burned at the stake, resulting in her gaining the nickname “Bloody Mary”. Roman Catholic rule was reversed after she died, when her half-sister Elizabeth I succeeded to the throne.

50 Some Hollywood workers: Abbr. : AGTS

Agent (agt.)