Tag: Classic warning to a knight crossword clue

Bill’s time: 11m 05s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

6A Storied stargazers : MAGI

“Magi” is the plural of the Latin word “magus”, a term applied to someone who was able to read the stars. Hence, “magi” is commonly used with reference to the “wise men from the East” who followed the star and visited Jesus soon after he was born. In Western Christianity, the three Biblical Magi are:

• Melchior: a scholar from Persia
• Caspar (also “Gaspar”): a scholar from India
• Balthazar: a scholar from Arabia

15A ___ the Holy, canonized Norwegian king : OLAF

Of the many kings of Norway named Olaf/Olav (and there have been five), Olaf II is perhaps the most celebrated, as he was canonized and made the patron saint of the country. Olaf II was king from 1015 to 1028 and was known as “Olaf the Big” (or “Olaf the Fat”) during his reign. Today he is more commonly referred to as “Olaf the Holy”. After Olaf died he was given the title of “Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae”, which is Latin for “Norway’s Eternal King”.

19A Targets for bark beetles : ELMS

Bark beetles are so named because some species reproduce in the bark of trees. This can be a problem for the elm tree, as bark beetles are known to transmit the devastating Dutch elm disease. There is another species of bark beetle that is known as the coffee berry borer, and it is the major pest attacking coffee plants around the world.

20A A&W or L&M : BRAND NAME

A&W is a brand of root beer that has been around since 1920, when Roy Allen partnered with Frank Wright to create the A&W moniker from their family names.

23A Cell service inits. : LTE

In the world of telecommunications, the initialism LTE stands for Long-Term Evolution, and is wireless broadband communication standard. In general terms, LTE improves broadband speeds. As I understand it, LTE technology allows a 3G network to perform almost as well as a true 4G network, and so LTE is sometimes marketed as 4G LTE, even though it’s really “3G plus”.

24A Neighbor of Baja California : SONORA

Sonora is the state in Mexico lying just south of the borders with Arizona and New Mexico. The Sonoran Desert actually straddles the US-Mexico border, covering 120,000 square miles in parts of the states of Sonora, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Arizona and California.

Baja California is both the most northern and the most western of the Mexican states. The name translates from Spanish as “Lower California”.

27A Heat setting, perhaps : MEET

The term “heat”, meaning “qualifying race”, dates back to the 1660s. Originally, a heat was a run given to a horse to prepare it for a race, to “heat” it up.

29A “The Santa Clause” or “Legally Blonde” : PUN

“The Santa Clause” is a 1994 film starring Tim Allen as a reluctant replacement for Santa Claus, who accidentally fell from a roof. The film was directed by John Pasquin, who had previously worked with Allen as producer for his hit sitcom “Home Improvement”. The “Santa Clause” was to be the first in a trilogy of movies, followed by “The Santa Clause 2: The Mrs. Clause” (2002) and” The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause”.

“LEGALLY blonde” is a 2001 comedy film starring Reese Witherspoon as a girlish sorority president who heads to Harvard to earn a law degree. “LEGALLY blonde” was successful enough to warrant two sequels as well as a spin-off musical that played most successfully in London’s West End (for 974 performances).

34A Kick-starter program? : KARATE LESSONS

Karate is a martial art that originated in the Ryukyu Kingdom, which is now part of Japan. A practitioner of karate is known as a karateka. The sport of karate was included as an Olympic sport starting with the 2020 Games.

35A “To All the Boys ___ Loved Before” (best-selling young adult novel) : I’VE

Author Jenny Han wrote a trilogy of young adult romance novels based on her own habit of writing love letters as a teenager to boys on whom she had a crush. Known as the “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” series, the trilogy comprises:

1. “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” (2014)
2. “P.S. I Still Love You” (2015)
3. “Always and Forever, Lara Jean” (2017)

40A “Toy Story” bully : SID

In the 1995 Pixar hit “Toy Story”, the toys are owned by a boy named Andy Davis. Andy’s neighbor is a not-so-nice boy named Sid Phillips. Sid gets a big kick out of destroying and torturing his own toys, and those owned by others.

45A Noted resident of “Little Lhasa” in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh : DALAI LAMA

The Dalai Lama is a religious leader in the Gelug branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The current Dalai Lama is the 14th to hold the office. He has indicated that the next Dalai Lama might be found outside of Tibet for the first time, and may even be female.

48A Library catalog ID : ISBN

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) was invented by one Gordon Foster who was a professor at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. The code was originally developed for booksellers, so that they had a unique number (and now a barcode) for each publication. ISBNs are ten digits long if assigned before 2007. Since the start of 2007, ISBNs have been thirteen digits long.

49A What dilapidated buildings and rampant graffiti may be a sign of : URBAN DECAY

Graffiti is the plural of “graffito”, the Italian for “scribbling”. The word was first used to describe ancient inscriptions on the walls in the ruins of Pompeii.

50A Director Johnson : RIAN

Filmmaker Rian Johnson wrote and directed quite a few major films, including “Looper” (2012), “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” (2017) and “Knives Out” (2019).

Down

1D Swahili for “lion” : SIMBA

Among the group of lions at the center of “The Lion King” story, young Simba is the heir apparent and the lion cub destined to take over as leader of the pride. His uncle is jealous of Simba, and plots with a trio of hyenas to kill Simba, so that he can take his position. The uncle was originally named Taka (according to books) but he was given the name Scar after being injured by a buffalo. The trio of hyenas are called Shenzi, Banzai and Ed.

2D Heads of state in Qatar and Kuwait : EMIRS

Qatar is a sovereign state in the Middle East occupying the Qatar Peninsula, itself located in the Arabian Peninsula. Qatar lies on the Persian Gulf and shares one land border, with Saudi Arabia to the south. The emirate has more oil and gas reserves per capita of population than any other country in the world. In 2010, Qatar had the fastest growing economy in the world, driven by the petrochemical industry.

The State of Kuwait sits at the northern tip of the Persian Gulf, sharing a border to the north with Iraq. After WWI, Kuwait was a Protectorate within the British Empire and then gained independence from the UK in 1961. Iraq annexed Kuwait in 1990, which led to the Gulf War of 1990-1991.

5D Lead-in to a puzzling question : RIDDLE ME THIS

Here’s a light bulb riddle:

Question: How many mystery authors does it take to change a light bulb?Answer: Two! One to screw it almost all the way in, and the other to give it a surprising twist at the end.

6D Janelle of “Hidden Figures” : MONAE

Janelle Monáe is a singer and actress. I’m not familiar with her as a singer, but did see Monáe play NASA engineer Mary Jackson in the excellent 2016 film “Hidden Figures”.

10D Classical theater : ODEON

The term “odeon” originally referred to a building used for ancient Greek and Roman musical performances, poetry readings, and contests. These structures were often smaller and more roofed than traditional open-air theaters. The most famous is the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, still used today on the slopes of the Acropolis in Athens.

11D Sketches that end with “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!” : COLD OPENS

A cold open of a TV show or movie is a scene that is shown before the title sequence or opening credits. Cold opens became quite the rage on television starting in the mid-sixties.

18D Patrolling a neighborhood : ON THE BEAT

In the context of policing, a beat is territory that is patrolled regularly. Back in the 1700s, a beat was a regular route traveled by a person or an animal, from the sense of the “beat” of the feet on the ground while walking.

24D Viola’s twin brother in “Twelfth Night” : SEBASTIAN

At the start of William Shakespeare’s play “Twelfth Night”, Viola is shipwrecked and separated from her twin brother Sebastian, whom she believes has drowned. Viola disguises herself as a young man named Cesario. Later in the play, Sebastian turns up alive, and the identical looking “Cesario” and Sebastian appear together in the same scene. Viola reveals her true identity, and several plot lines resolve themselves very happily.

26D Wedding reception highlight, maybe : HORA

The hora is a circle dance that originated in the Balkans. It was brought to Israel by Romanian settlers, and is often performed to traditional, Israeli folk songs. The hora (also “horah”) is a regular sight at Jewish weddings. Sometimes the honoree at an event is raised on a chair during the dance.

27D Fashion plate, maybe : MODEL

A fashion plate is a fashionable person, someone who dresses in the latest fashions. The term “fashion plate” originally applied to illustrations (plates) that were used to disseminate fashionable styles in the 1800s and early 1900s.

28D Old-fashioned TV antenna, jocularly : EARS

Remember rabbit ears television antennas? I don’t recall being told this when I was younger, but to get the best reception the length of the “ears” needs to be set at about one half of the wavelength of the signal of the target channel. If only I had known …

34D Family name of three BTS members : KIM

BTS is a boy band from South Korea with seven members. The initialism “BTS” stands for the phrase “Bangtan Sonyeondan”, which translates literally as “Bulletproof Boy Scouts”. It is the best-selling musical act in the history of South Korea.

42D Like the Mideast’s Bahla Fort : OMANI

The town of Bahla in Oman is famous for its old fort, pottery and a surrounding oasis.

49D Host nation of the 2028 Olympics : USA

The 2028 Summer Olympic Games was awarded to Los Angeles in 2017. LA previously hosted in 1932 and 1984. The only other three-time host cities are London and Paris.