Category: Tom Pepper

Bill’s time: 12m 33s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Squirts : TYKES

“Tyke” has been used playfully to describe a young child since at least 1902 For centuries before that, a tyke was a cur or mongrel, or perhaps a lazy or lower-class man.

10 Form of attachment? : PDF

Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format introduced by Adobe Systems in 1993. PDF documents can be shared between users and read using many different applications and platforms, making them more universally accessible than documents saved by one particular program.

13 Take a big, daring leap : BUNGEE JUMP

The first bungee jump using the modern latex cord was from the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, England. It was an illegal jump, with all five jumpers getting arrested soon after “hitting” the ground.

16 Notices that trouble is in the air? : SMOG ALERTS

“Smog” is a portmanteau formed by melding “smoke” and “fog”. The term was first used to describe the air around London in the early 1900s. Several cities around the world have a reputation of being particularly smoggy. For example, the most smog-plagued city in Latin America is Mexico City, which is located in a highland “bowl” that traps industrial and vehicle pollution.

17 City where the conquistador Pizarro was assassinated : LIMA

Lima is the capital city of Peru. It was founded in 1535 by the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, who named it “la Ciudad de los Reyes” (the City of Kings). He chose this name because the decision to found the city was made on January 6th, the feast of the Epiphany that commemorates the visit of the three kings to Jesus in Bethlehem. Lima is home to the oldest university in all of the Americas, as San Marco University was founded in 1551 during the days of Spanish colonial rule.

Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro discovered the Incas in 1526, marking the beginning of the end for an ancient civilization that was to be ravaged by brutal Spanish colonists and by imported smallpox. The last leader of the Inca was Atahualpa. Pizarro staged a mock trial and then condemned Atahualpa to execution by burning. A Spanish friar intervened on behalf of the condemned man, as Atahualpa believed that if he was burned his soul would not move on to the afterlife. Pizarro was kind enough to have Atahualpa garroted instead.

21 Boba ___ (“Star Wars” bounty hunter) : FETT

Boba Fett is one of the principal bad guys in the “Star Wars” universe. He appears in Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back” and in “Episode VI: Return of the Jedi”. A young version of Boba Fett also appears in “Episode II: Attack of the Clones”.

24 Simpson who was caught lip-syncing “Pieces of Me” on “Saturday Night Live” : ASHLEE

Ashlee Simpson is the younger sister of Jessica Simpson. They are both reality show stars. I know no more …

27 The States, to Mexicans : EL NORTE

“El Norte” is the term many people in Central America use for the United States and Canada. It translates from Spanish as “the North”.

32 Parish priests, in Paris : CURES

In French, a priest is known as a “curé” or “prêtre”.

37 “Curiouser and curiouser!” speaker : ALICE

In Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, Alice follows the white rabbit down a rabbit hole and finds a bottle labeled “DRINK ME”. When she drinks the contents, it causes her to shrink. She also sees a cake adorned with the words “EAT ME” written using currants, and when she eats the cake she grows so big she finds it hard to stand up. After eating the cake, she utters the words, “Curiouser and curiouser”.

39 Fabric made from wood pulp : RAYON

Rayon is a little unusual in the textile industry in that it is not truly a synthetic fiber, but nor can it be called a natural fiber. Rayon is produced from naturally occurring cellulose that is dissolved and then reformed into fibers.

42 Stir up : FOMENT

To foment is to promote the growth of.

51 Noted example of oligopoly, in brief : OPEC

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) controls a significant portion of the world’s oil supply. OPEC member countries account for around 44% of global oil production and 73% of the world’s oil reserves.

52 Expert with tips : ADVICE GURU

“Guru” is a Hindi word meaning “teacher” or “priest”.

55 Experiment subjects, so to speak : GUINEA PIGS

The guinea pig species of rodent is also known as a cavy. Guinea pigs aren’t related to pigs, and they are not from Guinea (in West Africa). They actually come from the Andes. Guinea pigs were used widely for research in the 1800s and 1900s, and as a result we use the term “guinea pig” for a test subject to this day.

56 U.S. agcy. tracking the most popular baby names : SSA

The Social Security Administration (SSA) publishes a list of the 1,000 most common baby names for the prior year annually, just before Mother’s Day. The list is compiled using applications for Social Security cards.

58 Perennial with yellow flower clusters : TANSY

The tansy is a flowering plant of the aster family, native to Europe and Asia. It is found in other parts of the world, but there it is often considered to be invasive.

Down

1 Recipe abbr. : TBSP

Tablespoon (tbsp.)

2 World’s sunniest city, per the World Meteorological Organization (more than 4,000 hours of sunshine per year) : YUMA

The city and county of Yuma, Arizona take their name from the Quechan (aka “Yuma”) Native American tribe that inhabited the area.

3 Saint Paul, Minn., radio station whose format really should be all news : KNOW

Saint Paul is the state capital of Minnesota, and is one half of the “Twin Cities” , also known as Minneapolis-Saint Paul. Saint Paul used to be called Pig’s Eye, named after a popular tavern in the original settlement in the area. In 1841, Father Lucien Galtier established a log chapel nearby that he dedicated to St. Paul the Apostle, giving the city its current name. The magnificent Cathedral of St. Paul now sits on the site where the log chapel was built.

9 Some debut music projects, for short : EPS

An extended-play (EP) record, CD or download contains more music than a single, but less than an LP.

10 Spade, for one : PRIVATE EYE

Private detective Sam Spade is the main character in Dashiell Hammett’s novel “The Maltese Falcon”. Spade was played by Humphrey Bogart in the 1941 film adaptation directed by John Huston.

25 Poor sport’s reaction : SOUR GRAPES

Our expression “sour grapes” is used to describe a negative attitude adopted by somebody towards something just because that person can’t have the thing himself or herself. The phrase alludes to one of Aesop’s fables, the story of “The Fox and the Grapes”. In the fable, a squirrel could climb up to grapes high in a tree that a fox was unsuccessful in getting to. On seeing this, the fox said, “It’s okay, the grapes were sour anyway”.

26 Movie with saloon fights, colloquially : HORSE OPERA

“Horse opera” is a slang term for a Western movie or show.

31 Minor change : CENT

The US one-cent coin has borne the profile of President Abraham Lincoln since 1909, the centennial of Lincoln’s birth. Fifty years later, a representation of the Lincoln Memorial was added to the reverse side.

44 Its state symbols include the white pine and the chickadee : MAINE

Maine’s state flag features the state coat of arms on a blue background. The center of the shield depicts a moose resting under a pine tree, and the shield is supported by a farmer and seaman. The North Star sits atop the shield.

48 Archaeological site : RUIN

“Archaeology” is a word that looks like it’s British English, and one might be forgiven for using the spelling “archeology” in American English. Even though the latter spelling has been around for a couple of hundred years, the former is the standard spelling on both sides of the Atlantic.

49 A.A.A., B.B.B., etc., informally : ORGS

The American Automobile Association (AAA) is a not-for-profit organization focused on lobbying, provision of automobile servicing, and selling of automobile insurance. The AAA was founded in 1902 in Chicago and published the first of its celebrated hotel guides back in 1917.

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is a private concern (nope, it is not a government agency) that was founded in 1912. It operates like a franchise, with local BBB’s managed independently while operating to a “corporate” set of guidelines.