NYXCrossword.com

Bill’s time: 9m 20s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Ticketmaster alternative : STUBHUB

StubHub is an online ticket exchange business that is owned by eBay. StubHub acts as the middleman between buyers and sellers of event tickets, whether those buyers and sellers are individuals or large organizations.

8 Some experts on viruses : TECHIES

A computer virus has characteristics very similar to a virus found in nature. It is a small computer program that can copy itself and can infect another host (computer).

15 Longtime home decor chain with a name that anagrams to PIONEER : PIER ONE

Here are some of my favorite anagrams:

• “Dormitory” and “dirty room”
• “Elvis” and “lives”
• “The eyes” and “they see”
• “Eleven plus two” and “twelve plus one”
• “William Shakespeare” and “I’ll make a wise phrase”
• “Schoolmaster” and “the classroom”

17 Plant with edible sprouts : ALFALFA

The forage crop known as alfalfa may take its name from the Arabic “al-fisfisa” meaning “fresh fodder”.

22 Alfred for whom a coffee chain is named : PEET

Peet’s is a chain of coffee houses based in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was founded in 1966 by Dutch immigrant Alfred Peet. Peet served as a mentor to Jerry Baldwin, who co-founded Starbucks in 1971.

26 Like Brendan Fraser’s character in “The Whale” : OBESE

Brendan Fraser is a Canadian-American actor (both parents are Canadian), who was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. Fraser was inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame in 2006, making him the first American-born actor to be so honored.

30 ___ Jackson a.k.a. Ice Cube : O’SHEA

Rapper Ice Cube’s real name is O’Shea Jackson. Since the year 2000, Ice Cube has gradually moved away from rap music and focuses more on acting. The 2015 movie “Straight Outta Compton” tells the story of the gangsta rap group N.W.A, of which Ice Cube was a member. Ice Cube co-produced the film, and O’Shea Jackson Jr. played his real-life Dad on screen.

34 3/14 : PI DAY

The first three digits of the mathematical constant pi are 3.14. Pi Day has been celebrated on March 14th (3/14) every year since 1988, when it was inaugurated at the San Francisco Exploratorium. In countries where the day is usually written before the month, Pi Day is July 22nd, reflecting the more accurate approximation of pi as 22/7. Interestingly, March 14th is also Albert Einstein’s birthday.

35 Joystick-controlled contraption depicted in this puzzle : CLAW MACHINE GAME

In an airplane, a joystick is the control device that operates the elevators and the ailerons. The word “joystick” also describes any control stick capable of moving in two or more directions. The term originated as aviator slang in the early 1900s.

41 Radio station that produces “Radiolab” : WNYC

There are two WNYC radio stations, both of which are based in New York City. Both stations (one AM, and one FM) are in the National Public Radio family.

“Radiolab” is a very entertaining National Public Radio program broadcast weekly from New York City. The show tackles some profound scientific and philosophical topics, but does so in a very lighthearted way. Recommended …

51 Neck artery : CAROTID

The common carotid artery is in effect two arteries that run up either side of the body. By the time the carotids reach the neck, they are virtually identical, with one on either side.

54 Setting for a 35-Across : AMUSEMENT ARCADE
[35A Joystick-controlled contraption depicted in this puzzle : CLAW MACHINE GAME]

Our word “arcade” comes from the Latin “arcus” meaning “arc”. The first arcades were passages made from a series of arches. This could be an avenue of trees, and eventually any covered avenue. I remember arcades lined with shops and stores when I was growing up on the other side of the Atlantic. Arcades came to be lined with lots of amusements, resulting in amusement arcades and video game arcades.

58 N.F.L. reporter Andrews : ERIN

Erin Andrews is a sports reporter. I don’t watch much in the line of sports but I do know Ms. Andrews for her appearances on “Dancing with the Stars” in 2010. She did quite well and made it to the final of the show. And then she was hired as the show’s co-host alongside Tom Bergeron. And then they were both let go …

Down

1 Purveyors of wellness packages : SPAS

Our words “provide” and “purvey” have similar meanings, and both derive from the Latin verb “providere” meaning “to supply”.

2 Pinball infraction : TILT

In a game of pinball, some players get an irresistible urge to “nudge” the machine . Such a nudge, a movement of the machine designed to influence the path taken by the ball, is called a “tilt”. Most pinball machines have sensors designed to detect a tilt, and when activated a “tilt” warning light comes on and the player’s controls are temporarily disabled.

Our modern game of pinball evolved from an earlier table game called bagatelle that used balls, pins and holes (and I remember playing bagatelle as a boy in a pub in Ireland). The first pinball machine was made by a British inventor who settled in Cincinnati, Ohio. He modified the game of bagatelle, adding a coiled spring and a plunger to introduce balls at the end of the table, a device that is still in use today. From there, manufacturers developed coin-operated versions of pinball, which became popular during the depression as they provided a little entertainment for a few pennies. One distributor of the coin-operated pinball machines started manufacturing them himself as he couldn’t source new games fast enough. He called his pinball game Ballyhoo, and eventually named his company Bally, a brand name well known in the gambling industry to this day.

3 Soccer org. that runs the Champions League : UEFA

Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)

Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)

9 Start of a counting rhyme : EENIE …

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,
Catch the tiger/monkey/baby by the toe.
If it hollers/screams let him go,
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, you are it!

13 Genesis brother : ESAU

Esau was the grandson of Abraham and the twin brother of Jacob, the founder of the Israelites. When Esau was born to Isaac and Rebekah, the event was described with “Now the first came forth, red all over like a hairy garment”. Esau is portrayed later in life as being very different from his brother Jacob, as a hunter and someone who loves the outdoor life.

14 N.B.A. star Nikola Jokic, for one : SERB

Nikola Jokić is a professional basketball player who was born in former-Yugoslavia. He was playing in the Serbian League before being drafted in 2014 by the Denver Nuggets of the NBA. Jokić won a silver medal with the Serbian national team when they lost to the USA in the 2016 Summer Olympics.

23 Athletic type : JOCK

The term “jockstrap” supposedly arose in the late 1800s, as a contraction of the term “jockey strap”. A jockey strap was an undergarment designed for messengers and delivery men who rode bicycles for many hours a day. The original American “jockstrap” was the “Bike Jockey Strap” that was introduced to the market in 1874. It is from the term “jockstrap” that we get “jock”, a word describing a stereotypical athletic type.

24 Capital of Norway : OSLO

The Norwegian capital of Oslo is located at the northern end of a fjord known as Oslofjord. The fjord is home to 40 islands that lie within the city’s limits. Oslo also has 343 lakes.

27 Cheese from North Holland : EDAM

Edam cheese takes its name from the Dutch town of Edam in North Holland. The cheese is famous for its coating of red paraffin wax, a layer of protection that helps Edam travel well and prevents spoiling. You might occasionally come across an Edam cheese that is coated in black wax. The black color indicates that the underlying cheese has been aged for a minimum of 17 weeks.

31 Kind of inverter in an electric vehicle : AC/DC

There are two types of electric current. The 120V supply that is distributed throughout our homes provides us with alternating current (AC). The AC current moves back and forth every 1/60 second, in two different directions. AC is great for transmission around the country, and that’s the main reason that AC is piped into our homes. However, all of our electronic devices need direct current (DC), current that flows in one direction. That’s why those devices have adapters at the end of a power cable. The 120V AC supply is converted by the adapter into the DC supply used by the device.

33 Flaky rock : MICA

Mica is a silicate mineral. Thin sheets of mica are transparent and are used in place of glass in certain applications. This form of mica is called isinglass, and as it has a better thermal performance than glass it is a great choice for “peepholes” in boilers and lanterns. Mica is also used in the electronics industry, making use of its unique electrical and thermal insulating properties.

43 Simpleton : DUNCE

John Duns Scotus was a theologian and scholar in the Middle Ages, responsible for many writings that were used as textbooks in British universities of the day. New ideas developed during the English Renaissance, but Duns Scotus and his followers resisted the changes. The word “dunse” came into use as a way of ridiculing those refusing to learn anything new. “Dunse”was a precursor to our modern usage of “dunce”.

45 Tops that often have spaghetti straps, for short : CAMIS

A camisole (also “cami”) is a sleeveless undershirt worn by women that extends down to the waist. “Camisole” is a French word that we imported into English that ultimately derives from the Latin “camisia” meaning “shirt, nightgown”.

49 Fashion designer Cohn with an eponymous rhinestone-encrusted suit : NUDIE

A rhinestone is a colorless, artificial gem made from paste or glass. The original rhinestones were rock crystals that were gathered from the river Rhine in Germany.

50 Blood vessel insert : STENT

In the world of surgical medicine, a stent is an artificial tube inserted inside a vessel in the body, say an artery, in order to reduce the effects of a local restriction in the body’s conduit.