Tag: Burrowing rodent crossword clue

Bill’s time: 33m 01s

Bill’s errors: 2

• UMM (urm)
• IOMMI (Iormi)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Spanish nibbles : TAPAS

“Tapa” is the Spanish word for “lid”. There is no clear rationale for why this word came to be used for an appetizer. There are lots of explanations cited, all of which seem to involve the temporary covering of one’s glass of wine with a plate or item of food to either preserve the wine or give one extra space at the table.

20A Letter in the Hebrew spelling of “Adonai” : ALEPH

Aleph is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and bet is the second.

23A Depiction of : FLASH DANCES WITH WOLVES (“Flashdance” & “Dances with Wolves”)

The Flash is a DC Comics superhero who is nicknamed “the Scarlet Speedster” or “the Crimson Comet”. The Flash’s superpower is his ability to move extremely quickly, with speed that defies the laws of physics.

“Flashdance” is a 1983 romantic drama film about a young welder at a steel plant who aspires to become a professional dancer. The movie’s soundtrack was also a big hit and features songs like “Maniac” and “Flashdance…What a Feeling”. The latter was performed by Irene Cara, and won the Best Original Song Oscar for that season.

“Dances with Wolves” is a Western movie released in 1990 that was produced by, directed by and stars Kevin Costner. The film is based on a novel of the same name by Michael Blake. Costner had been involved in the “Dances with Wolves” project when Blake only had the bare bones of a script, and it was Costner who suggested the script be turned into a novel. Costner then bought the rights to the book, and ended up investing three million dollars of his own money to finish shooting the film.

27A Director Lee : ANG

Taiwanese director Ang Lee sure has directed a mixed bag of films, mixed in terms of genre but not in terms of quality. He was at the helm for such classics as “Sense & Sensibility” (my personal favorite), “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, “Hulk”, “Brokeback Mountain” and “Life of Pi”.

28A Taylor-Joy of “Dune: Part Three” : ANYA

Actress Anya Taylor-Joy had quite the international upbringing. She was born in Miami, and raised in Buenos Aires and then London. She is perhaps best known for playing the title character in the 2020 film adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Emma”, and the lead role in the Netflix miniseries “The Queen’s Gambit”.

Frank Herbert’s 1965 “Dune” series of sci-fi novels has been adapted as a big-screen trilogy, at least in part. “Dune: Part One” (2021) covers the first part of the original “Dune” novel, “Dune: Part Two” (2024) covers the second part. “Dune: Part Three” (2026) covers “Dune Messiah”, the second book in the series.

29A Word after B or bucket : LIST

A bucket list is a list of things one wants to achieve before dying, before “kicking the bucket”. The expression hasn’t been used in this context for very long, and was popularized by the 2007 film “The Bucket List” starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman.

30A “Rock of Ages” or “Stand by Me” : HYMN

“Rock of Ages” is a Christian hymn that dates back to 1763 when it was written by the Reverend Augustus Montague Toplady (what a great name!). Tradition has it that Toplady was caught in a storm while travelling along a gorge near his parish in the Mendip Hills in England. He took shelter in a gap in the gorge, and the fissure that protected him inspired him to write the title and first few lines of the hymn on a playing card that he was carrying. If you travel through the Mendip Hills today, there is indeed a fissure that is marked “Rock of Ages”.

36A White of the eye : SCLERA

The sclera is the white part of the human eye. The sclera is white in most mammals, but in horses it is black. Really! Go check …

39A Depiction of : THE LIGHTHOUSE OF GUCCI (“The Lighthouse” & “House of Gucci”)

“House of Gucci” is an engrossing 2021 film based on a 2001 book “The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed” by Sara Gay Forden. The central characters are Maurizio Gucci, heir to a 50% interest in the Gucci fashion house, and Patrizia Reggiani, who eventually married and divorced Maurizio, before hiring a hitman to kill her ex-husband. The leads are played by Adam Driver and Lady Gaga.

46A Burrowing rodent : MOLE-RAT

The naked mole-rat is an ugly-looking creature, I must say. Native to parts of East Africa, the naked mole-rat has very little hair and lives much of its life underground, hence its name. One reason that scientists are very interested in naked mole-rats is that they are exceedingly resistant to cancer. Discoveries made while studying the species led to the journal “Science” declaring the naked mole-rat “Vertebrate of the Year” for 2013.

49A “Mr. Blue Sky” band, for short : ELO

“Mr. Blue Sky” is a 1977 song by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) from Britain. It’s a song that has been described as “Beatlesque”, and I must say that I agree with that assertion …

51A “Fortnight” singer, to fans : TAY

“Fortnight” was the lead single from Taylor Swift’s 2024 album “The Tortured Poets Department”. It held the number-one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for exactly two weeks, a “fortnight”. When “Fortnight” hit the charts, it led to Taylor Swift holding all of the Top 14 spots on the Hot 100 chart simultaneously. A fortnight is 14 days, so, spooky …!

55A “Fifty Shades of Grey” author : E L JAMES

“Fifty Shades of Grey” is an incredibly popular erotic novel by British writer E. L. James. “Fifty Shades of Grey” is the fastest-selling paperback of all time. There are two other titles to complete the trilogy: “Fifty Shades Darker” and “Fifty Shades Freed”.

58A Dog hybrid with thick, low-shedding fur : SHIH-POO

The designer dog known as a Shih-poo is a cross between a poodle and Shih Tzu.

60A Mr. Knightley’s love interest, in classic literature : EMMA

Jane Austen’s novel “Emma” is the tale of Emma Woodhouse and the wonderful George Knightley. At the end of the story, Emma marries Knightley and her young friend Harriet marries Robert Martin, who had been trying to get Harriet’s attention practically from page one of the novel. Emma interfered in that troubled courtship.

62A Depiction of : THE LION KINGPIN (“The Lion King” & “Kingpin”)

The word “kingpin” is mainly used figuratively these days, to describe the most prominent member of a group. Back at the start of the 19th century, a kingpin was the largest pin in a bowling game called “kayles”. As a result, the term “kingpin” is also used sometimes in ten-pin bowling to describe the 5-pin, the pin in the center of the triangular array.

The highly successful stage musical “The Lion King” started out life as a 1994 animated feature film of the same name from the Disney studio. The film is the highest earning traditionally-animated feature of all time. The animated film “Finding Nemo” has made more money, but it was created using computer animation.

“Kingpin” is a 1996 comedy starring Woody Harrelson as an alcoholic ex-bowler who manages an Amish bowling talent played by Randy Quaid. Not my kind of film …

65A Operatic pop group formed by Simon Cowell : IL DIVO

Simon Cowell was invited to be a judge on “Pop Idol”, a British show that spawned “American Idol”. Cowell was then asked to take part in the US spin-off, and we haven’t stopped seeing him since …

68A Depiction of : BAD BOYS DON’T CRY (“Bad Boys” & “Boys Don’t Cry”)

“Bad Boys” is a comedy drama movie released in 1995 starring Martin Lawrence and Will Smith as two narcotics detectives in Miami.

“Boys Don’t Cry” is a 1999 biographical film about a real-life trans man who is the victim of gang rape and then murder in what was classified as a hate crime. The victim was Brandon Teena, who is portrayed in the movie by female actress Hilary Swank.

74A Arab chiefs : SHEIKS

“Sheikh” (also “sheik”) is an Arabic title used by the head of a family or by the head of a Muslim religious order. The term arose in the 16th century and came from the Arabic word “shaykh”, meaning “chief, old man”.

86A Onetime British Olympian/politician Sebastian : COE

Sebastian Coe is a retired middle-distance runner from the UK who won four Olympic medals including golds in the 1500m in 1980 and 1984. After retiring from athletics, Coe went into politics and served as a Member of Parliament from 1992 to 1997. In the year 2000, he was made a Life Peer, and so Coe now sits in the House of Lords. Lord Coe headed up London’s successful bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

89A ___ Finch, lawyer in “To Kill a Mockingbird” : ATTICUS

Atticus Finch is the protagonist in Harper Lee’s great novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Atticus is the father of Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, the narrator of the piece, and of Scout’s older brother Jeremy Atticus “Jem” Finch.

93A Depiction of : A SHOT IN THE DARK KNIGHT (“A Shot in the Dark” & “The Dark Knight Rises”)

An injection using a hypodermic needle might be termed a “shot” in North America, and a “jab” in Britain and Ireland.

Originally referred to as “Bat-Man” when introduced in comics in 1939, Batman is also referred to as the Caped Crusader, the Dark Knight, the World’s Greatest Detective and, along with sidekick Robin, the Dynamic Duo.

“A Shot in the Dark” is the second of “The Pink Panther” series of films, and was released in 1964. The main character is Inspector Jacques Clouseau, played brilliantly by Peter Sellers. This one is a lot of fun …

“The Dark Knight Rises” is a 2012 movie in the “Batman” franchise that stars Christian Bale as the superhero. The bad guys that Batman battles are cat burglar Selina Kyle played by Anne Hathaway, and mercenary Bane played by Tom Hardy.

97A ChatGPT’s company : OPENAI

OpenAI is the American artificial intelligence company, now backed by Microsoft, that created the popular chatbot ChatGPT. OpenAI was originally founded as a non-profit in 2015, but has since transitioned to a “capped-profit” model, whatever that means …

ChatGPT is an advanced AI language model developed by OpenAI. It uses a vast amount of text data to understand and generate human-like text responses to a wide range of prompts and questions. You can ask it to write stories, explain complex topics, translate languages, or even help you with coding.

98A They never start with 9: Abbr. : SSNS

A Social Security Number (SSN) is divided into three parts, i.e AAA-GG-SSSS. Originally, the Area Number (AAA) was the code for the office that issued the card. Starting in 1973, the Area Number reflected the ZIP code from which the application was made. The GG in the SSN was the Group Number, and the SSSS number the Serial Number. This is all moot today. Since 2011, SSNs have been assigned randomly. Some random numbers, however, have been excluded from use, i.e. Area Numbers 000, 666 (!) and 900-999.

105A Quite the head-turner? : OWL

Owls have 14 vertebrae in their necks (compared to our 7). The extra bones in the neck, along with other adaptations, allow owls to rotate the head and neck about 270 degrees.

110A Depiction of : TWELVE ANGRY MEN IN BLACK (“Twelve Angry Men” & “Men in Black”)

The powerful 1957 movie “12 Angry Men” was directed by Sidney Lumet, and has a stellar cast of “jury members” including Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Jack Klugman and Ed Begley. If ever there is a movie that clearly was based on a play, it’s this one. Practically the whole film takes place on one set, the jury room.

“Men in black” (MIB) are said to have appeared in the past whenever there have been reports of UFO sightings. Supposedly, these men are government agents whose job it is to suppress reports of alien landings. The conspiracy theorists got their day in the movies with the release of a pretty good sci-fi comedy in 1997 called “Men in Black”, starring Will Smith (as Agent J) and Tommy Lee Jones (as Agent K).

122A Obdurate : STONY

Something or someone described as obdurate is persistently unbending and stubborn, usually in a bad way.

Down

1D Chief justice who remarked “I don’t remember that I ever was president” : TAFT

William Howard Taft may have been the 27th President of the United States, but his lifelong ambition was to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The future president had served as dean and professor at the Cincinnati Law School. President Taft was able to realize that dream in 1921, eight years after losing his bid for re-election as president. As Chief Justice, this former US President swore in two new presidents: Calvin Coolidge (in 1925) and Herbert Hoover (in 1929). William Howard Taft is also remembered as the most obese president. In the last year of his presidency, he weighed about 340 pounds (he was 5 feet 11 inches tall). Twelve months after leaving the White House, President Taft had dropped 80 pounds and substantially lowered his blood pressure.

2D Mozart’s “Rondo ___ Turca” : ALLA

The third movement of Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major is known as the “Rondo alla turca” (Turkish March), and is one of the composer’s most recognizable works.

9D Sault ___ Marie, Mich. : STE

“Sault Ste. Marie” is the name of two cities on either side of the Canada-US border, one in Ontario and the other in Michigan. The two cities were originally one settlement in the 17th century, established by Jesuit Missionaries. The missionaries gave the settlement the name “Sault Sainte Marie”, which can be translated as “Saint Mary’s Falls”. The city was one community until 1817, when a US-UK Joint Boundary Commission set the border along the St. Mary’s River.

11D State that’s the setting for “American Gothic” : IOWA

The iconic Grant Wood work titled “American Gothic” was painted in 1930. It depicts a farmer holding a pitchfork standing beside his spinster daughter. Grant used his sister as a model for the daughter, and his dentist as a model for the farmer. You can see “American Gothic” on display at the Art Institute of Chicago. You can also visit the house depicted in the painting, in the city of Eldon, Iowa. Perhaps predictably, the house is located on what is now called American Gothic Street.

15D Latin 101 verb : AMO

“Amo, amas, amat” translates from Latin as “I love, you love, he/she/it loves”.

25D Toymaker behind Tickle Me Elmo : TYCO

The Tickle Me Elmo toy was a sensational fad in the late nineties, with stores raising prices dramatically above the recommended retail price to take advantage of demand. Reportedly, prices as high as $1500 were paid at the height of the craze. The toy’s manufacturer, Tyco, originally planned to market the “tickle” toy as Tickle Me Tasmanian Devil (after the “Looney Tunes” character), but then went with “Elmo” after they bought the rights to use “Sesame Street” names.

33D Co. with red-and-yellow trucks : DHL

Back in the sixties, Larry Hillblom was making pocket money as a Berkeley law student by doing courier runs between San Francisco and Los Angeles. After law school, Hillblom decided to parlay his experience into his own business and set up a courier service flying bills of lading ahead of freight from San Francisco to Honolulu. He brought in two buddies, Adrian Dalsey and Robert Lynn, as partners and the three were soon hopping on and off commercial flights and gradually making more and more money. And DHL was born … D (for Dalsey) H (for Hillblom) L (for Lynn). DHL was acquired by Germany’s Deutsche Post in 2002.

34D One of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s six “Representative Men” : GOETHE

Ralph Waldo Emerson was an essayist and poet who was active in the mid-1800s. Most of the essays that Emerson wrote were composed originally as lectures and then revised for print. He is often referred to as “The Sage of Concord”, as Emerson spent much of his life in Concord, Massachusetts.

35D Offerer of a 33-country train pass : EURAIL

In my days as a student, the way to backpack around Europe was using a Europass. Nowadays that is known as a Eurail pass. The Eurail pass gives you access to most trains (and some shipping lines) right across the continent.

41D Kaiser Permanente and others, in brief : HMOS

Kaiser Permanente is a health maintenance organization (HMO) based in Oakland, California. “Kaiser” is the largest provider of managed care in the whole country.

43D ___ change : CHUMP

We’ve been using the word “chump” to mean “blockhead” since the 1880s. Prior to that, a chump was a short and thick lump of wood.

44D Black Sabbath guitarist Tony : IOMMI

Black Sabbath is an English heavy metal band set up in 1969 in Birmingham in the north of the country. Black Sabbath’s most famous band member was the lead singer, Ozzy Osbourne. Ozzy was kicked out of the group in 1979 as his drug usage was becoming overly disruptive.

57D ___ Minderbinder from “Catch-22” : MILO

Milo Minderbinder is the mess officer in Joseph Heller’s 1961 novel “Catch-22”. In the 1970 film adaptation of the book, the Minderbinder character is played by Jon Voight.

60D Long-feathered flier : EGRET

Egrets are a group of several species of white herons. Many egret species were faced with extinction in the 1800s and early 1900s due to plume hunting, a practice driven by the demand for egret plumes that could be incorporated into hats.

62D Jason Seaver or Ward Cleaver, notably : TV DAD

The sitcom “Growing Pains” originally aired from 1985 to 1992, and starred Alan Thicke as Jason Seaver, a psychiatrist who moved his practice home so his wife could resume her reporting career. The series also added a 15-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio to the cast in its final season as a homeless teen taken in by the Seavers.

Ward Cleaver and his wife June were the parents of Wally Cleaver and his younger brother “The Beaver”. The four family members appeared in the fifties sitcom “Leave It to Beaver”.

64D Classic drink brand sold in tall bottles : NEHI

The Nehi cola brand has a name that sounds like “knee-high”, a measure of a small stature. Back in the mid-1900’s the Chero-Cola company, which owned the brand, went for a slightly different twist on “knee-high” in advertising. The logo for Nehi was an image of a seated woman’s stockinged legs, with her skirt pulled up to her knees to hint at “knee-high”.

68D En ___ (legal phrase) : BANC

“En banc” is a French term, translating as “on a bench”. It refers to the cases in which all the judges of a court hear a case, as opposed to a case heard just by a panel, a subset of the full complement. The phrase is sometimes written as “in banc” in the US.

72D Govt. instruments : T-NOTES

A Treasury note (T-note) is a government debt that matures in 1-10 years. A T-note has a coupon (interest) payment made every six months. The T-note is purchased at a discount to face value, and at the date of maturity can be redeemed at that face value. A Treasury bill (T-bill) is a similar financial vehicle, but it matures in one year or less, and a T-bond matures in 20-30 years.

73D Coyotes, foxes et al. : CANIDS

A canid is a carnivorous mammal of the family Canidae, which includes foxes, wolves, dogs, jackals and coyotes.

82D Sign of the cross? : STOP

The first stop sign appeared in Detroit in 1915, though it looked quite different than today. It was a simple square with black letters on a white background. In 1923, the Mississippi Valley Association of State Highway Departments recommended the octagonal shape we know today. This helped drivers recognize it from a distance or even from behind. Reflective materials were added in 1935 for better nighttime visibility, and the red color with white lettering was standardized in 1954 to make it even more noticeable.

90D John : CAN

The use of “john” as a slang term for a toilet is peculiar to North America. “John” probably comes from the older slang term of “jack” or “jakes” that had been around since the 16th century. In Ireland, in less polite moments, we still refer to a toilet as “the jacks”.

92D Be perfectly supine, say : LIE FLAT

When lying on one’s back, one is said to be in a supine position. When lying on one’s stomach, one is said to be prone.

94D Like Cinderella, initially : IN RAGS

The folktale usually known as “Cinderella” was published by French author Charles Perrault in 1697, although it was later included by the Brothers Grimm in their famous 1812 collection. The storyline of the tale may date back as far as the days of ancient Greece. A common alternative title to the story is “The Little Glass Slipper”.

95D Aloo gobi go-with : NAAN

Aloo gobi is a very tasty vegetarian dish in Indian cuisine made from potatoes and cauliflower, flavored with traditional Indian spices. “Aloo” translates to “potato” and “gobi” to “cauliflower”.

102D Hamiltons : TENS

The obverse of the US ten-dollar bill features the image of Alexander Hamilton, the first US Secretary of the Treasury. As such, ten-dollar bills are sometimes called “Hamiltons”. By the way, the $10 bill is the only US currency in circulation in which the portrait faces to the left. The reverse of the ten-dollar bill features the US Treasury Building.

104D Ending with Jumbo or beta : -TRON

A Jumbotron is a big-screen television system that is often seen in sports stadiums. The brand name “JumboTron” was introduced by Sony in 1985. “Jumbotron” is used pretty generically now for any big-screen system in such venues as Sony exited the business in 2001.

A betatron is a machine that’s used to produce electrons. The name betatron comes from “beta particles”, electrons emitted by some radioactive nuclei.

108D Milton Friedman’s field, familiarly : ECON

Milton Friedman was a noted American economist and winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1976. Friedman was an advisor to President Ronald Reagan and was very much an advocate of a free market system with limited intervention by governments.

109D Big Apple fashion house : DKNY

Donna Karan is an American fashion designer, creator of the Donna Karan New York (DKNY) clothing label. Karan was very much raised in the fashion industry, as her mother was a model and her stepfather a tailor.

111D Info on auto documents, for short : VIN

Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) were introduced by the automotive industry in 1954.

116D Cheap shot? : BBS

A BB gun is an air pistol or rifle that shoots birdshot known as BBs. Birdshot comes in a number of different sizes, from size 9 (0.070″ in diameter) to size FF (.230″). Birdshot that is size BB (0.180″ in diameter) gives the airgun its name.