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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Thin underlayer : SLIP

A slip is an undergarment worn that is primarily worn under a dress. It is designed to be hidden away to help a dress hang smoothly and prevent it from being see-through.

9A African capital whose name translates to “ants” : ACCRA

Accra sits on Ghana’s coast and is a major seaport as well as the country’s capital city. The name “Accra” comes from a local word “Nkran” meaning “ants”, a name chosen because of the large number of anthills found in the area when the city was founded.

14A Derby, e.g. : HORSE RACE

Our use of the word “derby” to mean a race started in 1780 with the English Derby horse race, which was founded then by the 12th Earl of Derby. Ultimately, the term “derby” derives from the old English shire of “Deorby”, a word meaning “deer village”.

16A Commit a library taboo : SHOUT

The word “taboo” was introduced into English by Captain Cook in his book “A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean”. Cook described “tabu” (likely imitative of a Tongan word that he had heard) as something that was both consecrated and forbidden.

17A Ship-to-ship communication : AHOY, MATEY!

“Ahoy!” is a nautical term used to signal a vessel. When the telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell, he suggested that “ahoy” be used as a standard greeting when answering a call. However, Thomas Edison came up with “hello”, and we’ve been using that ever since.

20A Backbiter? : FLEA

Fleas can jump incredibly high relative to their size, up to 150 times their own height. This is due to a specialized protein in their legs called resilin, which stores and releases energy like a spring.

25A Components of some brick buildings : LEGO SETS

Lego House is a huge visitor center in Billund, Denmark that is located near the Lego Group headquarters. It is home to several experience zones and exhibitions, as well as the Lego Museum. Inside the building, there are about 25 million Lego bricks!

32A Mash at a luau : POI

Nowadays, the word “luau” denotes almost any kind of party on the Hawaiian Islands. To the purist, a luau is a feast that always includes a serving of poi, the bulbous underground stems of taro.

37A Certain drug classification, in brief : OTC

Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs don’t need a prescription (Rx).

38A Ally of Athens during the Peloponnesian War : ARGOS

The Peloponnesian War was fought from 431 to 404 BC between the Athenian Empire and the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. Prior to the war, Athens was the strongest city-state in Greece. After the victory by the Peloponnesian League, Sparta emerged as the leading power.

Argos is one of the oldest cities in Greece, and indeed in Europe, having been continuously inhabited for over 7,000 years. In ancient times, Argos was a rival city-state to the powerful Sparta.

41A Two-humper : BACTRIAN

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of a camel is the large deposit of fatty tissue on its back. The dromedary is the most common camel, and has one hump of fatty tissue on its back. The Bactrian camel has two humps, and makes up just 6% of the world’s camel population. Those fatty humps are useful if no food or water is available, as fat can be broken down into water and energy.

50A Brown alternative : PENN

The University of Pennsylvania (also “Penn” and “UPenn”) was founded in 1740 by Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia. Penn was the first school in the country to offer both graduate and undergraduate courses. Penn’s sports teams are known as the Quakers, and sometimes the Red & Blue.

Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island is one of the eight Ivy League schools. Brown has been around a long time, founded in 1764, years before America declared independence from England. The university took the name of Brown in 1804 after one Nicholas Brown, Jr. gave a substantial gift to the school. The school’s athletic teams are known as the Brown Bears, and their mascot is Bruno.

51A Enterprise enterprise : RENT-A-CAR

Enterprise Rent-A-Car was established in 1957 by Jack. C. Taylor in St. Louis, Missouri, where the company is still headquartered today. The company was originally called Executive Leasing Company. The name was changed in 1962 in honor of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, on which Taylor served during WWII.

52A WWE star Randy ___ : ORTON

Randy Orton is a pro wrestler on the WWE circuit. He has wrestling in his blood, as his grandfather Bob Orton, his father Bob Orton Jr., and his uncle Barry Orton were all professional wrestlers.

55A “Lift ___ Voice and Sing” (protest anthem) : EVERY

“Lift Every Voice and Sing” is a hymn originally written as a poem by James Weldon Johnson and set to his music by his brother John Rosamond Johnson. It was first performed in 1900 for the holiday honoring Lincoln’s Birthday. The song is often called the “The African-American National Anthem”.

56A They go from season to season : STORY ARCS

A story arc is a continuing storyline in say a television show that runs through a number of episodes. Story arcs are also found in comics, books, video games, and other forms of media.

58A Hibernation stations : DENS

When animals hibernate, they are minimally active, have low body temperatures, relatively slow breathing and a low metabolic rate overall. HIbernation can last days and even months, and is most closely associated with the winter season. The term “hibernation” comes from the Latin “hibernare” meaning “to pass the winter, occupy winter quarters”.

59A Seven ___ : SEAS

The phrase “the seven seas” has been used for centuries by many different peoples. The actual definition of what constitutes the collection of seven has varied depending on the period and the culture. Nowadays we consider the seven largest bodies of water as the seven seas, namely:

• The North Pacific Ocean
• The South Pacific Ocean
• The North Atlantic Ocean
• The South Atlantic Ocean
• The Indian Ocean
• The Southern Ocean
• The Arctic Ocean

Down

1D Contempt, in slang : SHADE

To throw shade is to show disrespect to someone publicly using insults or criticisms.

2D Actress with a dual role in 1998’s “The Parent Trap” : LOHAN

I think that actress Lindsay Lohan’s big break came with the Disney remake of “The Parent Trap” in 1998. I’ve really only enjoyed one of Lohan’s films though, “Freaky Friday” from 2003 in which she stars alongside the fabulous Jamie Lee Curtis.

“The Parent Trap” is a very cute 1961 romantic comedy based on a 1949 novel “Lottie and Lisa” by German author Erich Kästner. The film stars English actress Hayley Mills in a dual role, playing identical twins who were separated at birth. The film was such a success for Disney, that three television sequels were made, as well as a 1998 film remake starring Lindsay Lohan. None are as good as the original though, in my humble opinion …

5D The first Musketeer, alphabetically : ARAMIS

Alexandre Dumas’ “Three Musketeers” are Athos, Porthos and Aramis, although the hero of the novel is the trio’s young protégé D’Artagnan. A musketeer was an infantry soldier who was equipped with a musket. Funnily enough, the three “musketeers” really don’t use their muskets, and are better known for prowess with their swords.

7D Product for winter sidewalk safety : ICE MELT

Halite is the mineral form of sodium chloride, and is also known as “rock salt”. It is used to melt ice, as salt water has a lower freezing point than pure water. Adding salt to icy sidewalks can therefore cause any ice to melt (as long as the ambient temperature isn’t too low). A mixture of halite and ice can also be used to cool things below the freezing point of water, perhaps to make ice cream.

8D “Mean Girls” writer : FEY

Comic actress Tina Fey has a scar on her face a few inches long on her left cheek, which I was shocked to learn was caused by a childhood “slashing” incident. When she was just five years old and playing in the alley behind her house, someone just came up to her and slashed her with a knife. How despicable!

“Mean Girls” is a teen comedy movie released in 2004 starring Lindsay Lohan. Tina Fey also puts in an appearance, which really isn’t surprising as Fey wrote the screenplay.

9D Firewood choice, or its destiny : ASH

The wood of the ash tree is hardwood, although it is relatively elastic. Famously, ash is the wood of choice for baseball bats. It is also the wood of choice for hurleys, the wooden sticks used in the Irish sport of hurling.

11D Alternative to a crib : CO-SLEEPER

A co-sleeper is a bassinet with a drop-down side that can be positioned next to an adult bed. The term “co-sleeper” is perhaps a little misleading, as it suggests an adult and baby sleeping in the same bed. That’s not recommended.

13D Paratha flour : ATTA

Paratha is an unleavened flatbread from the Indian subcontinent that is made using a whole wheat dough. It is a thick, layered bread in which the individual folds of dough have been coated with ghee or oil.

15D Digital file? : EMERY BOARD

Emery is a very hard type of rock that is crushed for use as an abrasive. Emery paper is made by gluing small particles of emery to paper. Emery boards are just emery paper with a cardboard backing. And emery boards are primarily used for filing nails.

31D “Love Story” author Erich : SEGAL

Erich Segal wrote two hit screenplays, namely “Yellow Submarine” (the Beatles’ animated movie) and “Love Story” (starring Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw). He wrote the novel “Love Story” after the screenplay. As the novel was published before the film was released, there is a popular misconception that the movie is based on the book.

36D Natural history museum collection : DIORAMAS

A diorama is a full-scale or small-scale replica of a scene. We mostly see full-size dioramas in museums, whereas our kids might create small-scale dioramas as homework projects. The original diorama was a picture-viewing device that was invented in 1822 by Louis Daguerre and Charles Marie Bouton. These historic dioramas were quite large, and featured scenes that appeared to change as the lighting was manipulated.

42D Sam Cooke and Marvin Gaye, among others : TENORS

Sam Cooke was a soul singer from Clarksdale, Mississippi. Cooke is considered by many to have been one of the founders of the soul genre. Cooke’s impressive list of hits includes “You Send Me”, “Chain Gang” and “Twistin’ the Night Away”. Cooke was only 33 years old when he died. He was shot after a drunken brawl by a motel manager in what was deemed by the courts to be a justifiable homicide.

Marvin Gaye was a singer-songwriter from Washington, D.C. who came to be known as “Prince of Soul” and “Prince of Motown”. Some of Gaye’s biggest hits are “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” (1968), “What’s Going On?” (1971), “Let’s Get It On” (1973) and “Sexual Healing” (1982). Famously, Gaye was shot dead by his father while Marvin was sitting on his mother’s bed just talking to her. Marvin had given the gun to his father as a Christmas gift.

46D Particle accelerator byproduct : MESON

A meson is an unstable subatomic particle, one made up of a quark and an antiquark.

In a particle accelerator, the particles that are accelerated have to have a charge, and so are ions. The charged ions are subjected to high magnetic fields that propel them around a circular “racetrack”, before being smashed into something, just to see what happens!

48D ___ Lines (ancient Peruvian geoglyphs) : NAZCA

The Nazca civilization thrived in southern Peru between 100 BCE and 800 CE. Their most famous legacy is the Nazca Lines, a vast collection of geoglyphs etched into the desert floor. The Nazca people also developed sophisticated irrigation systems and underground aqueducts to sustain life in the arid environment.

50D Burns, e.g. : POET

Robert Burns is a cultural icon in Scotland and for Scots around the world. As a poet, Burns was a pioneer in the Romantic movement in the second half of the 18th century. One of his most famous works is the poem “Auld Lang Syne”, which has been set to the tune of a traditional Scottish folk song and is used to celebrate the New Year in the English-speaking world.

53D What comes before 1/1 : NYE

New Year’s Eve (NYE)

54D Drug discussed in Aldous Huxley’s “Heaven and Hell” : LSD

Aldous Huxley was a writer from England whose best-known work is the novel “Brave New World”. Huxley was noted for his interest in parapsychology and mysticism, as well as for his promotion of the idea of taking psychedelic drugs “in a search for enlightenment”. Famously, Huxley died on November 22nd, 1963, the same day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.