Category: Ryan McCarty

Bill’s time: 15m 28s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

7 Product whose main ingredient is canola oil : PAM

PAM cooking spray was introduced in 1961 by Leon Rubin and Arthur Meyerhoff. The name “PAM” is an acronym … standing for “Product of Arthur Meyerhoff”. Who’d a thunk it …?

Canola is a type of rapeseed, and Canola oil is made from the seeds. The particular cultivar used in oil production was developed in Canada, and the name Canola in fact comes from “CANadian Oil, Low Acid”.

10 Scan in neuroscience research, in brief : FMRI

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a technique that measures brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow in response to neural activity. The idea is that when an area of the brain becomes more active it consumes more oxygen, and so blood supply increases to supply that oxygen.

14 Oratorio highlight in A-B-A form : ARIA DA CAPO

An aria da capo is an operatic aria which has three sections, with the final section being very similar to the first, a recap. The form was very popular during the Baroque era. The composer quite often wrote out the first and second sections in full, and then simply specified “da capo” for the third section (literally “from the head”) indicating that the first section should be played and sung again in full.

16 Word like “cafe” or “bazaar” : LOAN

Our word “bazaar”, meaning “market”, comes from the Persian “bazar” that means the same thing.

19 Confit ingredient : DUCK FAT

A confit is a meat that has been cooked and preserved in its own fat. “Confit” is a French word meaning “preserved”.

25 “___-Raq” (2015 Spike Lee film) : CHI

Film director Spike Lee was born in Atlanta, Georgia but has very much made New York City his home and place of work. Most of Lee’s films are set in New York City, including his first feature film, 1986’s “She’s Gotta Have It”. That film was shot over two weeks with a budget of $175,000. “She’s Gotta Have It” grossed over $7 million at the US box office.

26 Paddington Bear’s place of origin, before arriving in England : PERU

Paddington Bear is a character from a series of books written by Michael Bond. Paddington is an immigrant from Peru who is found sitting on his suitcase in Paddington Railway Station in London. He is a beloved character in the UK. When the two sides of the Channel Tunnel were linked in 1994 during construction, the first item passed by the British to the French was a Paddington Bear soft toy.

27 Head covering? : TOILET SEAT

In old sailing ships, the toilet area for the regular sailors was located in the forward part (the head) of the ship. As a result, the term “head” has been used since then for any toilet on board a boat.

34 Philosopher and activist who wrote “Race Matters” : CORNEL WEST

Cornel West is a philosopher, academic and activist who was the first African American to graduate from Princeton with a Ph.D. in philosophy.

42 -saur subjects? : T-REXES

The Tyrannosaurus rex (usually written “T-rex”) was a spectacular looking dinosaur. “Tyrannosaurus” comes from the Greek words “tyrannos” (tyrant) and “sauros” (lizard) and “rex” the Latin for “king”. They were big beasts, measuring 42 feet long and 13 feet tall at the hips, and weighing 7.5 tons.

44 Passed off as genuine : FOISTED

The word “foist”, meaning “to pass off fraudulently as genuine”, comes from the Dutch word meaning “take in hand”. The original concept came from playing dice, in which one die was held surreptitiously in one hand.

47 Galaxy, e.g. : SMARTPHONE

The Galaxy is a series of mobile computing devices made by Samsung that was introduced in 2009. Almost all of the Galaxy devices have used Google’s Android operating system, until a Windows 10 Galaxy device was introduced by Samsung in 2016.

52 Nonsensical movement : DADA

Dadaism thrived during and just after WWI, and was an anti-war, anti-bourgeois and anti-art culture. The movement was launched in Zurich, Switzerland by a group of artists and writers who met to discuss art and put on performances in the Cabaret Voltaire. The same group frequently expressed disgust at the war that was raging across Europe.

Down

5 Instruct : EDIFY

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”.

7 Opposite of guerra : PAZ

In Spanish, the opposite of “guerra” (war) is “paz” (peace).

8 Subject for conservationist Dian Fossey : APE

Dian Fossey carried out her famous study of gorilla populations in the mountain forests of Rwanda. She wrote a 1983 autobiographical account of her work titled “Gorillas in the Mist”, which served as a basis for a 1988 film of the same name starring Sigourney Weaver as Fossey. Sadly, Fossey was found dead in her cabin in Rwanda in 1986, murdered in her bedroom, her skull split open by a machete. The crime was never solved.

11 Complete pandemonium : MOB SCENE

The word “pandemonium” was coined in 1667 by John Milton in his epic poem “Paradise Lost”. It is the name he invented for the capital of Hell, “the High Capital, of Satan and his Peers”.

15 Loc. ___ (footnote abbr.) : CIT

“Loc. cit”. is short for “loco citato” meaning “in the place cited”. Loc. cit. is used in a footnote instead of op. cit. as it refers not only to a prior work, but also to the same page in that work.

21 M.L.B. team with a mascot named Orbit : ASTROS

Orbit is the mascot of the Houston Astros baseball team. He is an alien creature with two antennae tipped by baseballs. Orbit was introduced by the Astros in 1990, and then retired in 1999 to make way for Junction Jack, the team mascot when the Astros moved to Enron Field. Orbit was resurrected in 2013 when the Astros moved from the National to the American League.

23 Cut corners, perhaps? : MITERED

A miter joint is one in which two pieces of wood are joined at ninety degrees, with the ends of each individual piece of wood cut at 45 degrees. The four joints in the corners of a picture frame are often miter joints.

28 Home of a parliament on Parliament Hill : OTTAWA

Parliament Hill is on the banks of the Ottawa River in Ottawa, Canada’s capital city. The Parliament buildings were constructed in a Gothic Revival style, so there is a passing resemblance to the Houses of Parliament in London. There’s a Parliament Hill in London too, but it has no real connection to the Parliament buildings at the Palace of Westminster, which is miles away.

29 Singer on the 1960s hits “Wooly Bully” and “Li’l Red Riding Hood” : SAM THE SHAM

“Wooly Bully” was a hit in 1965 for the outrageous rock-and-roll band Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs. The song was written by the band’s lead singer, Sam Samudio. “Wooly Bully” was the first million-selling, American single after the onset of the British Invasion.

33 Bull session? : CORRIDA

Spanish bullfighting is known locally as “corrida de toros”, literally “race of bulls”.

34 Himalayan resting place : CAT BED

The Himalayan breed of cat has long hair and is identical to the Persian, but with blue eyes and different colors at the extreme points of its coat.

36 Name on a Belgian brew : ARTOIS

The Belgian beer Stella Artois is named for the brewer Sebastianus Artois. Artois was the master brewer at the Den Hoorn Brewery in Leuven, Belgium in the early 1700s. The Den Hoorn Brewery has been around at least since 1366 … yes, 1366!

37 Where the composers Schubert, Berg, Schönberg and Webern were all born : VIENNA

Vienna is the capital of Austria. The city has a long musical tradition and was home to Franz Schubert, Johann Strauss (I and II), Josef Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms and Gustav Mahler. As such, Vienna is sometimes called the “City of Music”. It is also called the “City of Dreams” as it was home to the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud.

Franz Schubert (1797-1828) was an Austrian composer who was particularly noted for his large portfolio of lieder (songs). Schubert is also famous for his “Unfinished Symphony”. Schubert’s “Symphony No. 7” was left as a draft after he passed away, and as such was “unfinished”. However, it was more complete than his “Symphony No. 8”, which is the one we know as “The Unfinished”.

Alban Berg was a composer from Austria. He was one of the members of what is called the Second Viennese School, along with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Weber. This group embraced the concept of atonality, something which frankly is beyond me …

Anton Webern was a composer and conductor from Austria. In his compositions, Webern used the twelve-tone technique devised by Arnold Schoenberg, which means that I find his music a tad difficult to appreciate …

41 Superstrong redhead of kid-lit : PIPPI

Pippi Longstocking appears as the heroine in a series of books written by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. Lindgren was quite the activist, very well known in the circles working for children’s and animal rights, In particular, Lindgren campaigned heavily against corporal punishment.

43 Princess with an L.G.B.T.Q. cult following : XENA

The Xena character, played by New Zealander Lucy Lawless, was introduced in a made-for-TV movie called “Hercules and the Amazon Women”. Lawless reprised the role in a series called “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys”. Xena became so popular that a series was built around her character, with Lawless retained for the title role. The fictional Xena supposedly came from the “non-fictional” Greek city of Amphipolis.

48 Jemison in the National Women’s Hall of Fame : MAE

Mae Jemison was a crew member on the Space Shuttle Endeavour on a 1992 mission, and as such became the first African-American woman to travel in space. She is also a big fan of “Star Trek” and appeared on an episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation”. That made Jemison the first real astronaut to appear on any of the “Star Trek” shows.

The National Women’s Hall of Fame is located in Seneca Falls, New York, which was home to the nation’s first women’s rights convention, in 1848. The Hall was established in 1969, when it was hosted by Eisenhower College, which is also in Seneca Falls. The current facility opened for visitors in 1979. I was lucky enough to spend a very uplifting afternoon there several years ago ….