Tag: Biggest restaurant size that nevertheless is often topped crossword clue

Bill’s time: 14m 26s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Hectic time for JFK : XMAS

The abbreviation “Xmas” that is used for “Christmas” comes from the Greek letter chi (X), which is the first letter of the Greek word for “Christ” (“Χριστός”).

The Idlewild Golf Course was taken over by the city of New York in 1943 and construction started on a new airport to serve the metropolis and relieve congestion at LaGuardia. The Idlewild name still persists, even though the airport was named after Major General Alexander E. Anderson from the first days of the project. When the facility started operating in 1948 it was known as New York International Airport, Anderson Field. It was renamed to John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in 1963, one month after the President was assassinated.

5A Bar of note? : FRET

A fret is a metal strip embedded in the neck of a stringed instrument, a guitar perhaps. The fingers press on the frets, shortening a string and hence changing the note played. The note increases by one semitone as a finger shortens a string by one fret.

9A Texter’s “Hang on a sec” : BRB

Be right back (brb)

15A Top banana : CZAR

The expression “top banana” is used to mean “the main man” or “the main woman”. The first person to use “top banana” was supposedly Vaudeville performer Harry Steppe in 1927, who applied the term to the top comic on the bill. The phrase comes from a comedy routine in which three comics struggle to share two bananas.

19A Logic gate that is only on when neither input is : NOR

Digital systems are made up from a series of logic gates, electronic circuits with one or more inputs but only one output. Logic gates are named for the relationship between the input and output, and can be AND gates, OR gates or perhaps NOT gates.

20A Like many films in teaser trailers : NOT YET RATED

The term “trailer” is used in the film industry to describe advertisements for upcoming features. These trailers were originally shown at the end of a movie being screened, hence the name. This practice quickly fell out of favor as theater patrons usually left at the end of the movie without paying much attention to the trailers. So, the trailers were moved to the beginning of the show, but the term “trailer” persisted.

24A Ocean-mapping instruments : SONARS

The British developed the first underwater detection system that used sound waves. Research was driven by defense demands during WWI, leading to production of working units in 1922. This new sound detection system was described as using “supersonics”, but for the purpose of secrecy the term was dropped in favor of an acronym. The work was done under the auspices of the Royal Navy’s Anti-Submarine Division, so ASD was combined with the “IC” from “superson-ic-s” to create the name ASDIC. The navy even went as far as renaming the quartz material at the heart of the technology “ASDivite”. By the time WWII came along, the Americans were producing their own systems and coined the term SONAR (Sound Navigation and Ranging), playing off the related application, RADAR. And so, the name ASDIC was deep-sixed …

30A Symbol in the Kentucky Derby logo : ROSE

The first Kentucky Derby took place in 1875, and was a race modeled on the Epsom Derby in England. As such, the Kentucky Derby was run over 1½ miles, although in 1896 this was shortened to 1¼ miles. The winning horse is presented with a very elaborate blanket made of red roses, and so the Derby is nicknamed “Run for the Roses”. The race is held on the first Saturday in May each year, and is limited to 3-year-old horses.

31A Jazz singer Anita : O’DAY

“Anita O’Day” was the stage name of jazz singer Anita Colton. She chose the name as “O’Day” is Pig Latin for “dough”, a slang term for “money”. O’Day had problems with heroin and alcohol addiction leading to erratic behavior, earning her the nickname “The Jezebel of Jazz”.

34A Schlepped : TOTED

Our word “schlep” (sometimes “schlepp”) means “carry, drag”. “Schlep” comes from Yiddish, with “shlepen” having the same meaning.

35A SCOTUS head count : NINE

The US Constitution doesn’t specify the size of the Supreme Court, but authorizes the Congress to determine the number of justices. The court started with six justices in 1789, and the size of the bench grew with the size of the country and the number of judicial circuits. There were as many as ten justices, from 1863 to 1866. There have been nine justices since 1869.

38A Sing like Sinatra : CROON

Frank Sinatra was the only child of Italian immigrants living in Hoboken, New Jersey. Like so many of our heroes, Sinatra had a rough upbringing. His mother was arrested several times and convicted of running an illegal abortion business in the family home. Sinatra never finished high school, as he was expelled for rowdy conduct. He was later arrested as a youth on a morals charge for “carrying on” with a married woman, which was an offense back then. But Sinatra straightened himself out by the time he was twenty and started singing professionally.

44A Onetime rap group whose initials spell out a synonym for “Jump Around,” appropriately : HOUSE OF PAIN

House of Pain was a hip hop trio that formed in the early 1990s. The group’s name is a direct reference to the H.G. Wells novel “The Island of Dr. Moreau”. “House of Pain” is the laboratory in which Dr. Moreau performs his vivisection experiments on animals to turn them into the Beast Folk. Yikes …

49A Unresponsive, maybe, for short : MIA

Missing in action (MIA)

54A Public transport option : TRAM

A tram is a means of public transportation that runs on rails laid along the length of streets in cities and towns. Trams might also be referred to as trolleys or streetcars.

55A Popular toys, in a plural form officially discouraged by their maker : LEGOS

Lego is manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company headquartered in Billund, Denmark. The company was founded by a carpenter called Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1934 and the now-famous plastic interlocking blocks were introduced in 1949. The blocks were originally sold under the name “Automatic Binding Bricks” but I think “Lego” is easier to remember! The name “Lego” comes from the Danish term “leg godt” meaning “play well”.

Down

1D Group of mutants : X-MEN

The X-Men are a team of superheroes created by Stan Lee for Marvel Comics. Nowadays, they are perhaps best known as the subject of a series of movies, with Hugh Jackman playing Wolverine and Patrick Stewart playing Professor Xavier (or simply “Professor X”). Some very respected actors have also played the villains whom the X-Men have to battle. For example, the enemy called Magneto is portrayed by veteran Shakespearean actor Sir Ian McKellen.

2D Expert on cosmos? : MIXOLOGIST

A mixologist is someone who is well versed in the mixing of cocktails, said he, reaching for the shaker …

Like so many famous cocktails, the actual origins of the cosmopolitan are disputed. It is a very nice drink, in my humble opinion. One of the standard recipes is 4 parts citrus vodka, 1.5 parts Cointreau, 1.5 parts lime juice and 3 parts cranberry cocktail.

4D “To be,” in Tijuana : SER

Tijuana is the largest city in the Mexican state of Baja California, and lies just across the US-Mexico border from San Diego. Tijuana is also the most westerly of all Mexican cities. A lot of Tijuana’s growth took place in the twenties as tourists flocked south of the border during the days of prohibition in the US. One of the many casinos and hotels that flourished at that time was Hotel Caesar’s in the Avenida Revolución area. Hotel Caesar’s claims to be the birthplace of the now ubiquitous Caesar Salad.

5D Goals for those in a rush, informally : FRATS

A rush is a drive by a fraternity or sorority to recruit new members on campus.

6D Golf great McIlroy : RORY

Rory McIlroy is a very successful golfer from Northern Ireland. He became a world number one at a relatively young age, so folks can’t help but compare him to Tiger Woods. He was the first European to win three different majors. Along with Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and Jordan Spieth, McIlroy is one of only four people to win three majors by the age of 25.

8D Vacillated : TEETERED

To vacillate is to be indecisive, to waver. The verb “to vacillate” comes from the Latin “vacillare” meaning “to sway to and fro”.

11D Two-pronged fastener : BRAD

A brad is a slender wire nail with a relatively small head that is typically used to tack pieces of wood together, i.e. to fasten either temporarily or with minimal damage to the wood. Nowadays, brads are commonly applied using a nail gun.

15D Stan’s workplace on “American Dad!,” for short : CIA

“American Dad!” is an adult-oriented animated sitcom. Famously, one of the show’s creators is Seth MacFarlane, who also created “Family Guy”. Personally, I cannot stand either show …

22D Third-generation Japanese American : SANSEI

There are some very specific terms used to describe the children born to Japanese immigrants in their new country. The immigrants themselves are known as “Issei”. “Nisei” are second generation Japanese, “Sansei” the third generation (grandchildren of the immigrant), and “Yonsei” are fourth generation.

26D Pulitzer-winning poet Aiken : CONRAD

Conrad Aiken was a novelist and poet. Aiken won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1930 for his “Selected Poems”, and was named Poet Laureate of the United States in 1950.

43D Self-driving car company started by Google : WAYMO

Waymo is an autonomous driving company owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet. It operates Waymo One, a self-driving “robotaxi” service in cities like Phoenix and San Francisco. Apparently, Waymo’s technology has roots in a self-driving Toyota Prius named “Pribot”, which was built in 2008 specifically to deliver pizza for the Discovery Channel show “Prototype This!”. That Prius successfully navigated a trip across the Bay Bridge, albeit with a police escort.

45D Big name in skin care : OLAY

Oil of Olay was developed in South Africa in 1952. When Oil of Olay was introduced internationally, it was given slightly different brand names designed to appeal in the different geographies. In Ireland we know it as Oil of Ulay, for example, and in France it is Oil of Olaz.

48D Smartphone predecessors, for short : PDAS

Personal digital assistant (PDA)