Tag: Anonymous online handle at times crossword clue

Bill’s time: 18m 15s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 First name in mysteries : AGATHA

Agatha Christie (née Miller) is the best-selling novelist of all time, having sold about 4 billion copies worldwide in total. The only books to have sold in higher volume are the works of William Shakespeare and the Bible.

16 Military leader who helped capture Detroit in 1812 : TECUMSEH

Tecumseh was a leader of the Shawnee nation who pulled together a large tribal confederacy that opposed the US in what became known as Tecumseh’s War. Tecumseh’s War spilled over into the War of 1812 when Tecumseh’s confederacy became an ally of the British. Tecumseh was killed in 1813 by American forces at the Battle of the Thames, after which his confederacy disintegrated.

18 Vital carriers : AORTAE

The aorta originates in the heart and extends down into the abdomen. It is the largest artery in the body.

19 Author of “A Hard Road to Glory: A History of the African-American Athlete” : ASHE

“A Hard Road to Glory: A History of the African-American Athlete” is a 1988 book by tennis star Arthur Ashe. Published in three volumes, Ashe researched for almost six years with a team to put the book together. Ashe stated publicly that he valued “A Hard Road to Glory” more than any of his tennis titles.

24 Variable in Euler’s polyhedron formula (V − E + F = 2) : EDGES

Leonhard Euler was a brilliant Swiss mathematician and physicist, and a pioneer in the fields of logarithms and graph theory. Euler’s eyesight deteriorated during his working life, and he eventually became almost totally blind.

26 Drink made with rice milk and cinnamon : HORCHATA

Horchata is a plant-based drink that possibly originated in North Africa, but now is very much associated with the Spanish-speaking world. There are many versions of horchata. The original, still found in some African countries, is made from soaked, ground and sweetened tiger nuts.

30 Like the Danube, to Germans : BLAU

In German, the Danube is “blau” (blue).

Of the many classical composers with the Strauss name, “The Waltz King” was Johann Strauss II from Austria. Among the many beautiful waltzes that Strauss penned are “The Blue Danube” and “Tales from the Vienna Woods”. He also composed the famous operetta “Die Fledermaus”.

The Danube is the second-longest river in Europe (after the Volga). It flows through four European capitals (Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade and Bratislava).

32 Manufacturing giant originally known as the Pittsburgh Reduction Company : ALCOA

The Aluminum Corporation of America (ALCOA) is the largest producer of aluminum in the United States. The company was founded in 1888 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where its headquarters are to this day.

33 Tucker who played drums for the Velvet Underground : MOE

The Velvet Underground was an influential New York City rock band active in the late sixties and early seventies. The group was formed by Lou Reed and John Cale, and was managed by pop artist Andy Warhol.

34 Bay Area-based coffee roaster : PEET’S

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.

36 Speckled steeds : ROANS

A roan horse has an even mixture of white and colored hairs on the body with the head, lower legs, mane and tail having a more solid color.

39 Lopez of “The Dirty Dozen” : TRINI

Trini Lopez is a noted singer and guitarist from Dallas, Texas. He is perhaps best known for his international hit “If I Had a Hammer” from 1963, as well as “Lemon Tree” from 1965. Lopez had a bit of an acting career as well, most famously appearing as one of “The Dirty Dozen” in the 1967 hit movie.

“The Dirty Dozen” is a very entertaining 1967 WWII movie that is based on a 1965 novel of the same name by E. M. Nathanson. In turn, the novel was inspired by a real-life military unit nicknamed “the Filthy Thirteen”. The latter were a demolition unit in the 101st Airborne Division whose mission was to destroy targets behind enemy lines. The movie had quite the cast, led by Lee Marvin and supported by Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Telly Savalas and Donald Sutherland, as well as football player Jim Brown and singer Trini Lopez.

47 Breakout portmanteau : BACNE

Back acne (“bacne”)

48 “I Love Lucy” airer : CBS

In the hit television show “I Love Lucy”, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz play Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. The Ricardos’ best friends are also their landlords, Fred and Ethel Mertz. The Mertzes are played by William Frawley and Vivian Vance.

51 Spill the beans : BLAB

To spill the beans is to divulge a secret. The expression first appeared in American English, in the early 1900s. The phrase arose as an alternative to “spoil the beans” or “upset the applecart”. The similarly meaning phrase “spill the tea” is more prevalent on the other side of the Atlantic.

52 Poster sites? : BLOGS

Many folks who visit this website regard it as just that, a website. That is true, but more specifically it is referred to as a blog, as I make regular posts (actually daily posts) that then occupy the “front page” of the site. The blog entries are in reverse chronological order, and one can just look back day-by-day, reading older and older posts. “Blog” is a contraction of the term “web log”.

55 Current influencer : EL NINO

When the surface temperature of much of the Pacific Ocean rises more than half a degree celsius, then there is said to be an El Niño episode. That small temperature change in the Pacific has been associated with climatic changes that can stretch right across the globe. El Niño is Spanish for “the boy” and is a reference to the Christ child. The phenomenon was given this particular Spanish name because the warming is usually noticed near South America and around Christmas-time.

57 Flower in Japanese heraldry : WISTERIA

Wisteria is a genus of flowering plants in the bean family. As such, wisterias climb up any available support by twining their stems around that support. They have been known to climb as high as 65 feet off the ground, and can spread over very large areas. The largest known single wisteria plant has spread over an acre of ground, and is estimated to weigh about 250 tons.

Down

1 Shaving brand : AFTA

Afta is a brand of shaving products in the Mennen range, which is owned by Colgate-Palmolive.

3 Dried poblano chili : ANCHO

An ancho is a dried poblano pepper used in Mexican cuisine. The poblano is a mild chili.

8 Skeletal prefix : EXO-

An animal with an endoskeleton has a supporting skeleton inside its body. So, we humans have an endoskeleton. A turtle, on the other hand, has both an endoskeleton and an exoskeleton, its outer shell.

9 Suriname native : CARIB

The Island Caribs are an American Indian people who are native to the Lesser Antilles islands, part of the West Indies. It is thought that the Island Caribs are possibly descended from the Kalina (also “Mainland Carib”) people who are native to the northern coastal areas of South America. The Caribbean Sea takes its name from the Island Carib people.

The Republic of Suriname is located on the northeast coast of South America, and is the continent’s smallest country. What is now Suriname fell under Dutch rule in the late 1600s, gaining independence in 1975.

14 Angel’s contribution : SEED CAPITAL

An angel investor is one who provides capital very early in a business’s life cycle. The term “angel” is borrowed from Broadway, where angels are wealthy people who provide funds to stage theatrical productions.

21 Animated response? : REACTION GIF

A bitmap is an image file format used to store digital images. Basically, each pixel in a bitmap file is stored as a “bit” of information, hence the name “bitmap”. In 1987, CompuServe introduced a new type of image file called the Graphics Interchange Format (GIF). A GIF image takes the same information as a bitmap and then compresses it, resulting in a smaller file size. However, during compression the image may lose some resolution. The GIF format also handles short video clips, usually animations.

28 First name for the third second-in-command : AARON

Aaron Burr was the third vice-president of the US, and served under Thomas Jefferson from 1801 to 1805. In the final year of his term in office, Burr fought an illegal duel and killed his political rival Alexander Hamilton. Burr was charged with several crimes as a result, but those charges were eventually dropped. The Democratic-Republican Party had already decided not to nominate Burr as candidate for vice president to run alongside Jefferson in the 1804 election, largely because the relationship between Vice President Burr and President Jefferson was so poor. The subsequent fallout resulting from the killing of Alexander Hamilton effectively ended Burr’s political career.

34 Their work might be draining : PLUMBERS

“Plumbum” is Latin for “lead”, explaining why the symbol of the element in the Periodic Table is “Pb”. It also explains why the original lead weight on the end of a line used to check vertical was called a “plumb line”. And, as pipes were originally made of lead, it also explains why we would call in a “plumber” if one of those pipes were leaking.

44 Brand of vegetable oil : WESSON

Wesson cooking oil was named for David Wesson, a food chemist who came up with a process to deodorize cottonseed oil in 1899. Wesson used to be pure cottonseed oil, but is now a mixture of cheaper vegetable oils. Actress Florence was the longtime spokesperson for the product, appearing in Wesson TV commercials from 1976 until 1996.

46 Many a DoorDasher’s transport : E-BIKE

DoorDash is the largest food delivery company in the country. Customers can order food from many different restaurants using the DoorDash app, and a DoorDash driver delivers it to a home or office. DoorDash also operates ghost kitchens, facilities that prepare meals for delivery customers of a group of restaurants.

50 One of the Seven Sisters : SMITH

The Seven Sisters are a group of (traditionally women’s) colleges in the northeast of the country that were founded to parallel the all-male (as they were then) Ivy League colleges. The seven are:

• Mount Holyoke
• Vassar
• Wellesley
• Smith
• Radcliffe
• Bryn Mawr
• Barnard

58 Arm muscle, informally : TRI

The triceps brachii muscle is found at the back of the upper arm. The muscle’s name translates from Latin to “three-headed arm muscle”, fitting as it is actually made up of three bundles of muscles.