Tag: Bungles crossword clue

Bill’s time: 8m 23s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A The 1987 film “Spaceballs,” e.g. : FARCE

A farce is a comedy play that features an exaggerated and improbable storyline, with lots of physical humor. I love a good farce …

“Spaceballs” is a 1987 spoof of sci-fi films that mainly pokes fun at the “Star Wars” franchise. It was co-written, directed by, and indeed stars, Mel Brooks.

9A Brazen : BRASH

Someone described as brazen might also be described as shameless. The term “brazen” comes from the Middle English “brasen” meaning “made of brass”. The suggestion is that a shameless person has a hardened, brass-like face. And so, the similar-meaning word “brassy” has the same etymology.

17A Prancing horse and golden bull, in the auto industry : LOGOS

The Italian sports car company Ferrari was founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1939. Ferrari built the most expensive car ever sold: a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO that exchanged hands for over $38 million in 2012.

Ferruccio Lamborghini was in the business of manufacturing tractors back in the late forties. Almost two decades later, he founded Automobili Lamborghini to produce high-end sports cars. That’s quite a target market shift …

18A Super Bowl LVI winner : RAM

Super Bowl LVI was played at the end of the 2021 season between the Cincinnati Bengals and the LA Rams. The Rams had home team advantage as the game was played at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. The Rams emerged victorious, winning 23-20. Apparently, the Super Bowl LVI broadcast was the second-most watched in the history of the NFL.

20A Kind of butter in beauty products : SHEA

Shea butter is a common moisturizer and lotion used as a cosmetic. It is a fat that is extracted from the nut of the African shea tree. There is evidence that shea butter was used back in Cleopatra’s Egypt.

24A SoCal area with the Latino Walk of Fame : EAST LA

The Latino Walk of Fame is located on Whittier Boulevard in East Los Angeles. Modeled on Hollywood’s famous Walk of Fame, it was inaugurated in 1997 with the mission of honoring Latino celebrities. Each name is engraved in a “Sun Plaque”.

26A Annual February/March event, with “the” : … OSCARS

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) is the organization that gives the annual Academy Awards, also known as the “Oscars”. The root of the name “Oscar” is hotly debated, but what is agreed is that the award was officially named “Oscar” in 1939. The first Academy Awards were presented at a brunch in 1929 with an audience of just 29 people. The Awards ceremony is a slightly bigger event these days …

30A Daredevil’s mantra, in brief : YOLO

You only live once (YOLO)

31A Dressing choice : RANCH

Ranch dressing has been the best-selling salad dressing in the country since 1992. The recipe was developed by Steve Henson who introduced it in the fifties to guests on his dude ranch, the Hidden Valley Ranch in Northern California. His Hidden Valley ranch dressing became so popular that he opened a factory to produce packets of ranch seasoning that could be mixed with mayonnaise and buttermilk. Henson sold the brand for $8 million in 1972.

32A Vegetables in Cajun cuisine : OKRAS

Cajun cuisine is named for the French-speaking Acadian people who were deported from Acadia in Canada to Louisiana in the 18th century.

47A Language in which “zichzelf” is 49-Across : FLEMISH
49A See 47-Across : HIMSELF

The term “Flemish” describes the language spoken, the culture and the people of northern Belgium, and Flanders in particular.

51A Non-Rx : OTC

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

53A Language in which “drosmigs” is 57-Across : LATVIAN
57A See 53-Across : VALIANT

The nation of Latvia in Northern Europe is one of the three Baltic States, along with Estonia and Lithuania. Latvia is known for its vast forested areas, which cover more than half of the country’s territory.

62A Resistance to change? : INERTIA

Newton’s first law of motion states that a body that is moving maintains the same velocity unless it is acted upon by an external force. That resistance to changing velocity is known as inertia. Johann Kepler introduced the Latin word “inertia” to describe the physical phenomenon in the 17th century. The Latin term translates as “apathy, inactiveness”. We started using the Latin “inertia” in English to mean the same thing only in the 19th century, after the term had bopped around in science texts for a couple of centuries.

63A Woman’s name invented by Jonathan Swift : VANESSA

Jonathan Swift was an Irish author and cleric. Swift is most famous perhaps for his 1726 novel “Gulliver’s Travels”, but we Irishmen also remember him as the Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. Swift was renowned for his wit and satire.

64A One accepted into the family? : MADE MAN

In the Mafia, a made man is a fully initiated member. A made man might also be called a goodfella or a wiseguy.

Down

2D Greeting found scrambled in part of “mahalo,” appropriately : ALOHA

The Hawaiian word “aloha” has many meanings in English: affection, love, peace, compassion and mercy. More recently, “aloha” has come to mean “hello” and “goodbye”, but only since the mid-1800s.

In Hawaiian, “mahalo” means “thank you” and “mahalo nui loa” translates as “thank you very much”.

4D Language in which “kabanica” is 10-Down : CROATIAN
10D See 4-Down : RAINCOAT

The language known as Serbo-Croatian is the primary language spoken in Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro.

5D Museum’s entrance and exit? : EMS

The term “museum” comes from the ancient Greek word “mouseion” that denoted a temple dedicated to the “Muses”. The Muses were the patrons of the arts in Greek mythology.

8D Trailer opening? : SEMI-

An 18-wheeler semi-trailer truck has eight wheels under the trailer, i.e. four on each of the two rear axles. There are 10 wheels under the tractor unit. Two of the ten wheels are on the front axle, and eight are on the rear two axles that sit under the front of the trailer.

9D Maker of the i4 and i5 : BMW

The initialism “BMW” stands for “Bayerische Motoren Werke”, which translates into Bavarian Motor Works. BMW was making aircraft engines during WWI, but had to cease that activity according to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The company then started making motorcycles, and moved into automobile production starting in 1928. BMW moved back into aircraft engine manufacturing during the build-up of the Luftwaffe prior to WWII.

12D Animal in many a roundup : STEER

A steer is a male bovine that was castrated when young and is then raised for beef. The term “steer” comes from the Old English “steor” meaning “bullock”.

21D Get together for a party : CAUCUS

A caucus is a meeting of supporters of a particular political group. It is believed that the term was first used in the original North American colonies.

27D Canon collection, in brief : SLRS

The Japanese company Canon is largely known in the US for producing quality cameras. The company started out as Precision Optical Industry Laboratory in 1937 making camera bodies. The name was changed in 1947 to Canon.

31D “A braggart, a ___, a villain …”: “Romeo and Juliet” : ROGUE

In William Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet”, the main antagonist of the piece is Tybalt, who is a very combative cousin of Juliet and a sworn enemy of Romeo.

37D Closest pal, in brief : BFF

Best friend forever (BFF)

40D Source of a printout, often : 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.

48D Skedaddles : SCATS

“Skedaddle” is a slang term meaning “run away”, one that dates back to the Civil War.

53D John : LAV

Our word “lavatory” (sometimes “lav”) originally referred to a washbasin, and comes from the Latin “lavatorium”, a place for washing. In the 1600s, “lavatory” came to mean a washroom, and in the 1920s a toilet.

54D Actress de Armas : ANA

Ana de Armas is an actress from Cuba. Having attended the National Theater School of Cuba, she moved to Spain at the age of 18. There, she made a name for herself in a Spanish TV series called “El Internado”. De Armas moved to Los Angeles in 2014, after which her performance opposite Ryan Gosling in 2017’s “Blade Runner 2049” earned her critical acclaim.

56D Cryptology grp. : NSA

National Security Agency (NSA)

57D Zip : VIM

“Vim”, “zip“ and “pep” are each words that mean “energy, power”.

58D Put a PIN in it! : ATM

ATMs are Automated Teller Machines, and are called “cashpoints” back in Britain and Ireland. Well, as students we also called them “drink links”, for obvious reasons …

59D Actress Long of “Love Jones” : NIA

Nia Long is an actress who is probably best known for playing Will Smith’s sometime girlfriend and fiancee Lisa Wilkes on the TV show “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”.

“Love Jones” is a 1997 romantic drama starring Larenz Tate and Nia Long as a poet and photographer who meet and fall in love. I haven’t seen this one, but I hear good things about it …