Category: Simeon Seigel

Bill’s time: 12m 24s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

4A Hoppy brew, for short : IPA

The foodstuff that we call “hops” are actually the female flowers of the hop plant. The main use of hops is to add flavor to beer. The town in which I used to live here in California was once home to the largest hop farm in the world. Most of the harvested hops were exported all the way to the breweries of London, where they could fetch the best price.

13A 757 or 767 : JETLINER

The Boeing 757 was originally designated the 7N7, and was designed as a twinjet successor to the trijet 727. The first company to use it was Eastern Air Lines, in 1983. Production of the 757 ended in 2004 after 1,050 units were built, and many remain in service.

The Boeing 767 was launched in 1978 as the 7X7 program, with the first plane entering service with United Airlines in 1982. It was Boeing’s first wide-body twinjet, and it received a boost in popularity with airlines in 1985 when it was allowed to operate transatlantic flights.

16A Bell for the telephone, for one : PATENTEE

Alexander Graham Bell was an inventor and scientist from Edinburgh, Scotland who later lived in Canada and the US. Both his wife and his mother were deaf, a fact that led to Bell spending much of life researching hearing and speech. Bell’s work on hearing devices led to the invention of the telephone. Paradoxically, Bell hated the telephone and refused to have one in the study of his home where he worked. I am with him on this one, as I hate the “phone” …

18A John Lennon’s middle name after 1969 : ONO

After John Lennon married Yoko Ono in 1969, he changed his name by deed poll, adding “Ono” as a middle name. His official name became John Winston Ono Lennon, as he wasn’t allowed to drop the name “Winston” that was given to him at birth.

19A Hurricane / Nor’easter : H- OR N-BLOWER

Hurricanes are given names primarily to help the public keep track of dangerous systems. The names are decided ahead of the hurricane season, with the first system given a name beginning with A, the second, B etc. The names are alternated between male and female names throughout the season. Also, if the first storm of the season is male, then the following year a female name is chosen. For hurricanes in the North Atlantic, names are assigned for every letter, except Q, U, X, Y and Z. The most frequently used name is Arlene, which was used for ten different storms from 1959 to 2011.

A nor’easter is a storm that blows from the northeast.

21A “The ability to be ill-at-ease inconspicuously,” per Earl Wilson : POISE

Earl Wilson was a prominent journalist and syndicated gossip columnist, probably best known for his column “It Happened Last Night”, which ran for over 40 years. Despite covering the often sensational world of Broadway and Hollywood, Wilson maintained a reputation for fairness and honesty. This made celebrities trust him enough to willingly share their stories.

24A Eponymous Belgian town : SPA

The word “spa” migrated into English from Belgium, as “Spa” is the name of a municipality in the east of the country that is famous for its healing hot springs. The name “Spa” comes from the Walloon word “espa” meaning “spring, fountain”.

26A ___ chic : TRES

“Très chic” is a French term meaning “very stylish”.

29A Bell location, often : STEEPLE

In general terms, a steeple is a tall tower on a building, often a church. More specifically, a steeple can be made up of several distinct parts:

1. Tower: the base of the steeple, which can often house a clock.
2. Belfry: the part that holds bells, often part of church steeples
3. Lantern: a decorative, windowed structure that admits light into the steeple
4. Spire: the tall, slender top

39A Author who predicted electric submarines 15 years before they were invented : VERNE

Jules Verne really was a groundbreaking author. Verne pioneered the science-fiction genre, writing about space, air and underwater travel, long before they were practical and proved feasible. Verne is the second-most translated author of all time, with only Agatha Christie beating him out.

The Jules Verne sci-fi novel “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” was first published in 1869-1870 as a serial in a French magazine. Star of the novel (to me) is Captain Nemo’s magnificent submarine called the Nautilus. The “20,000 leagues” in the title is the distance traveled by the Nautilus underwater, and not a depth. 20,000 leagues is about three times the circumference of the Earth.

41A Forces offshore : ARMADAS

The most famous armada was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England in order to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I in 1588. It failed in its mission, partly due to bad weather encountered en route. Ironically, the English mounted a similar naval attack against Spain the following year, and it failed as well.

44A Word with six or sea : DEEP …

To deep-six something is to toss it, possibly overboard, or to completely destroy it. The derivation of this slang term is from “six feet deep”, not the length of a fathom but rather the traditional depth of a grave.

57A Onetime Japanese P.M. Shinzo ___ : ABE

Shinzo Abe first became Prime Minister of Japan in 2006, at which time he was the youngest person to hold the post since WWII and was the first PM born after the war. Abe was in office for less than a year, but was voted in again in 2012. At the end of 2019, Abe became the longest-serving Prime Minister in the history of Japan. He resigned from office in 2020, citing medical issues. In 2022, Abe was assassinated by a killer using a homemade firearm.

58A Cocktail of tequila, lime juice and grapefruit soda : PALOMA

The paloma is a cocktail made from tequila, lime juice and grapefruit soda. The name “paloma” translates from Spanish as “dove”.

59A They try to admit the worst first, informally : ER NURSES

Triage is the process of prioritizing patients for treatment, especially on the battlefield. The term “triage” is French and means “sorting”.

63A Marquis name? : DE SADE

The Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat with a reputation for a libertine lifestyle. De Sade was also a writer, well known for his works of erotica. He fell foul of the law for some of his more extreme practices and for blaspheming the Catholic church. On and off, de Sade spent 32 years of his life in prison and in insane asylums.

64A Brillo competitor : SOS

S.O.S is a brand of scouring pads made from steel wool impregnated with soap. The product was invented as a giveaway by an aluminum pot salesman in San Francisco called Ed Cox. His wife gave it the name “S.O.S” as an initialism standing for “Save Our Saucepans”. Note the punctuation! There is no period after the last S, and that is deliberate. When Cox went to register the trademark, he found that “S.O.S.” could not be a trademark because it was used as an international distress signal. So he dropped the period after the last S, and I hope made a lot of money for himself and his wife.

Brillo is a soapy, steel wool pad patented in 1913. The company claims that the name “Brillo” is derived from the Latin word for “bright”.

Down

1D Original name for “bingo,” after the bits used to cover the playing cards : BEANO

The game called beano is a precursor to bingo. Beano was so called as dried beans were used to cover the called numbers on a card.

2D First Holy Roman emperor to be called “the Great” : OTTO I

Otto I the Great ruled the Holy Roman Empire (HRE) in the 10th century, from 962 until his death in 973.

7D Baby fish with pink, coho and sockeye varieties : SAMLET

That would be a young salmon.

9D Boat with broad, square ends : SCOW

A scow is a flat-bottomed boat with squared-off ends that’s often used for transportation, usually pushed or pulled by a barge. Often, a scow can be seen carrying junk or garbage.

12D Governor Lamont of Connecticut : NED

Ned Lamont became Governor of Connecticut in 2019. Back in 2006, Lamont defeated incumbent US Senator Joe Lieberman in the Democratic primary for the senate seat. Lieberman didn’t give up though, and ran in the election as an independent. Despite defeating Lieberman in the primary, Lamont lost to him in the election.

13D Music export from Tokyo, informally : J-POP

“J-pop” is an abbreviation for “Japanese pop”, a genre of music that emerged in the nineties. Although J-pop is rooted in traditional Japanese music, it is heavily influenced by western bands from the sixties such as the Beatles and the Beach Boys.

20D Music export from Seoul : 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.

22D Breast plates? : STERNA

“Sternum” (plural “sterna”) is the Latin name for the breastbone. “Sternon” is a Greek word for “chest, breastbone”.

28D Apt nickname for a gumbo chef : STU

Gumbo is a type of stew or soup that originated in Louisiana. The primary ingredient can be meat or fish, but to be true gumbo it must include the “holy trinity” of vegetables, namely celery, bell peppers and onion. Okra used to be a requirement but this is no longer the case. Okra gave the dish its name as the vernacular word for the African vegetable is “okingumbo”, from the Bantu language spoken by many of the slaves brought to America.

31D City up the coast from Cleveland, OH : ERIE, PA

Erie is a port city in the very north of Pennsylvania, sitting on the southern shore of Lake Erie. The city takes its name from the Erie Native American tribe that resided in the area. Erie is nicknamed the Gem City, a reference to the “sparkling” water of Lake Erie.

32D Accessory for Broadway’s Phantom : OPERA CAPE

I’m a bit jaded with big stage musicals I must admit, but I will always have time for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s masterpiece “The Phantom of the Opera”. “Phantom …” is the longest running musical in the history of Broadway, and deservedly so. There is a sequel, titled “Love Never Dies”, that opened in London’s West End in March 2010. But, it hasn’t been well received.

34D Certain rehab docs : OTS

Occupational therapy (OT)

42D Centipede setting : ARCADE

Centipede is an arcade game from Atari (it is my favorite!). The game was designed by Ed Logg and Dona Bailey, with Bailey being one of the few female game designers back then (it was released in 1980). Perhaps due to her influence, Centipede was the first arcade game to garner a significant female following.

43D Long-running police procedural filmed in N.Y.C. : SVU

“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” is a spin-off from the TV crime drama “Law & Order”. “SVU” has been on the air since 1999, and is set in New York City. Interestingly (to me), there is a very successful Russian adaptation of the show that is set in Moscow.

49D Police weapon : TASER

Victor Appleton wrote a novel for young adults called “Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle”. The company that developed the TASER electroshock weapon partly named its product as a homage to the novel. The acronym “TASER” stands for “Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle”.

55D The “Amigos” of film, e.g. : TRIO

“Three Amigos” is a 1986 comedy film starring Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short as three silent movie stars who are mistaken for real western heroes by a Mexican village, a parody on the storylines in “Seven Samurai” and “The Magnificent Seven”.

56D Grandson of Adam and Eve : ENOS

Enos was the son of Seth, and therefore the grandson of Adam and Eve, and nephew of Cain and Abel. According to the ancient Jewish work called the Book of Jubilees, Enos married his own sister Noam.