Tag: Command that initiates a chase crossword clue

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Eating plan that attempts to mimic Stone Age conditions : PALEO DIET

The paleolithic (or “paleo, caveman”) diet is a fad diet that became popular in the 2000s. The idea is to eat wild plants and animals that would have been available to humans during the Paleolithic era (roughly the Stone Age). This period precedes the introduction of agriculture and the domestication of animals. As a result, someone on the diet avoids consuming grains, legumes, dairy and processed foods. The diet consists mainly of lean meat (about 45-65% of the total calorie intake), non-starchy vegetables, fruits, berries and nuts.

10A It’s different from randomness, mathematically : CHAOS

Chaos theory has been called the science of surprises, and directs us to expect the unexpected. A lot of science that we learn at school deals with predictable phenomena such as electricity, magnetism, gravity and chemical reactions. Chaos theory covers phenomena that are relatively impossible to predict such as weather, turbulence and the movement of the stock market.

16A Pasta shape similar to ziti : PENNE

Cylindrical pasta is known in general as “penne”, and there are many variants. For example, ziti is a particularly large and long tube with square-cut ends. “Penne” is the plural of “penna”, the Italian for “feather, quill”.

17A Despite its name, it’s not alcoholic : GINGER ALE

The brand most closely associated with ginger ale is Canada Dry. “Canada Dry Pale Ginger Ale” was first formulated in 1904 by a Canadian chemist called John McLoughlin from Ontario. Prohibition in the United States helped sales of the drink as it was particularly effective in masking the taste of illegally-produced, homemade liquor.

23A Shape of a charm that Simone Biles wears on a necklace : GOAT

Greatest of all time (GOAT)

25A “Toy Story” antagonist : 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.

31A “Avengers: ___” (film in Marvel’s Infinity Saga) : ENDGAME

“Avengers: Endgame” is a 2019 superhero movie. It is the 22nd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that features several superheroes made famous in Marvel Comics. “Avengers: Endgame” closes out the story arcs for several superheroes from prior films in the series.

34A ___ paneer (classic vegetarian Indian dish) : SAAG

Palak paneer is a dish from Indian cuisine. It consists mainly of paneer (a freshly-made cheese) in a puréed spinach paste. Saag paneer is a more generic form of the dish, one in which other leafy vegetables can be used to make the paste, e.g. mustard greens, collard greens or broccoli.

41A Board game that begins with players choosing college versus career : LIFE

The board game we call “The Game of Life” (also just “Life”) was created quite a few years ago, in 1869 by Milton Bradley. Back then it was called “The Checkered Game of Life” and was the first parlor game to become a popular hit. The modern version of the game was first released in 1960.

47A They form when snow melts and refreezes : ICE DAMS

Ice dams are build-ups of ice along the edge of a roof. The term “dam” is used because the ice can trap water on the roof as snow melts or rain falls. That “dammed” water might get under the shingles and inside the house.

49A Created unpleasant driving conditions, in a way : SLEETED

Apparently, “sleet” is a term used to describe two different weather conditions. One is a shower of ice pellets that are smaller than hail, and the second is a mixture of rain and snow, with the snow melting as it falls.

54A Roman Empire invader : GOTH

The East Germanic tribe called the Goths had two main branches, called the Ostrogoths and the Visigoths. The Visigothic capital was the city of Toulouse in France, whereas the Ostrogoth capital was the Italian city of Ravenna just inland of the Adriatic coast. It was the Visigoths who sacked Rome in 410 CE, heralding the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

56A Verb in each of the first three sentences of the Gettysburg Address : ARE

I admit to having profound respect and admiration for great speeches delivered by great men and women. Forgive me as I reproduce here the full text of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address:

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that “all men are created equal.”

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it, as a final resting place for those who died here, that the nation might live. This we may, in all propriety do. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow, this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have hallowed it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here; while it can never forget what they did here.

It is rather for us the living, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.

58A British natural historian Attenborough : DAVID

The fascinating Sir David Attenborough is a British broadcaster and naturalist, and the younger brother of actor Richard Attenborough. I’ve known him from British television for almost all of my life, but he has become recognizable over here in the US more recently due to his appearance and narration in the television series’ “Life On Earth”, “The Living Planet”, “The Blue Planet”, “Life” and “Planet Earth”. However, US versions of David Attenborough shows tend to be voiced-over by American personalities, so some recordings of “Planet Earth” feature the voice of Sigourney Weaver”, and “Life” features the voice of Oprah Winfrey.

66A Iranian money : RIALS

The rial is the currency of Iran (as well as Yemen, Oman and Tunisia). Generally, there are 1,000 baisa in one rial.

67A Video game in which users build tools from raw resources : MINECRAFT

Minecraft is a video game that was released in 2011. Apparently, it is the most popular video game of all time, with well over 200 million units sold.

69A Liner notes? : SEA SHANTY

A sea shanty (also “chantey”) is a song sung by sailors, often when they are working away on some repetitive task.

The use of the word “line” with reference to transportation started in the 1780s, in the context of stagecoaches. Such transportation operated a string of stagecoaches between towns and cities along regular “lines”. The concept shifted to shipping “lines” operating ocean-going “liners” between ports. And then came “airliners”.

Down

3D Fast time? : LENT

In Latin, the Christian season that is now called “Lent” was termed “quadragesima” (meaning “fortieth”), a reference to the forty days that Jesus spent in the desert before beginning his public ministry. When the church began its move in the Middle Ages towards using the vernacular, the term “Lent” was introduced. “Lent” comes from “lenz”, the German word for “spring”.

5D Wild cats whose name comes from Nahuatl : OCELOTS

The ocelot is a wild cat found mainly in South and Central America, although there have been sightings as far north as Arkansas. An ocelot doesn’t look too different from a domestic cat, and some have been kept as pets. Perhaps most famously, Salvador Dali had one that he carried around everywhere with him.

Nahuatl is a group of languages spoken mainly in Central Mexico. Historically, Nahuatl was known as “Aztec”.

7D “God ___ Woman” (hit by Ariana Grande) : IS A

“God Is a Woman” is a 2018 song co-written and released by Ariana Grande.

9D Fly that causes sleeping sickness : TSETSE

The tsetse fly is responsible for the transmission of sleeping sickness, a disease that is more correctly called African trypanosomiasis. The disease is only observed in humans who have been bitten by a tsetse fly that is infected with the trypanosome parasitic protozoan.

12D “How to Be an ___” (book by Ibram X. Kendi) : ANTIRACIST

Author Ibram X. Kendi wrote 2020’s “How to Be an Antiracist”, which made it to the top spot of the New Times Best Seller list. Kendi also founded and serves as director of the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University.

21D Beyoncé song subtitled “(Put a Ring on It)” : SINGLE LADIES

“Single Ladies” (Put a Ring on It)” is a 2008 hit by singer Beyoncé. The song is all about men in a relationship who are unwilling to commit, unwilling to propose.

26D Inits. for the old East Germany : DDR

The former East Germany was known officially as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), or Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR).

28D Teen drama that revolves around “the scandalous lives of Manhattan’s elite” : GOSSIP GIRL

“Gossip Girl” is a teen drama TV show that originally aired from 2007 to 2012. It is based on the series of young adult novels of the same name by Cecily von Ziegesar. Both the show and novels are about a group of privileged high schoolers in New York City. The exploits of the teens are chronicled by an unknown gossip blogger, hence the title.

29D Ingredient that resembles soil in “dirt pudding” : OREO COOKIE

Dirt cake (sometimes “dirt pie, dirt pudding”) is a dessert usually made by breaking up Oreo cookies and scattering the pieces over chocolate pudding, and then adding gummy worms on top. Sounds delicious …

50D Horror character known as the Mistress of the Dark : ELVIRA

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark was a character originally used to introduce a local Los Angeles weekend horror show back in the early eighties. Elvira was a comic sexy persona played by actress Cassandra Peterson. She wore a tight black gown with a famous low-cut neckline. The weekend horror show is long gone, but the Elvira character is still going strong.

55D Ring in many Renaissance paintings : HALO

The Greek word “halos” is the name given to the ring of light around the sun or moon, which gives us our word “halo” that is used for a radiant light depicted above the head of a saintly person.

The Renaissance is the period in European history that bridges the Dark Ages and the Modern Era. “Renaissance” is French for “rebirth”, and is a term reflecting the rebirth of interest in the learnings from ancient Greece and ancient Rome.

57D Actress Falco of “The Sopranos” : EDIE

Edie Falco is the first actress to have won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (which she won three times for playing Carmela Soprano in “The Sopranos”) as well as the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (which she won in 2010 for her title role in “Nurse Jackie”). As of 2025, she is the only actress to have achieved this feat.

60D Adroit : DEFT

The French for “to the right” is “à droit”, from which we get our word “adroit”. The original meaning of “adroit” was “rightly, properly”, but it has come to mean dexterous and skillful. Someone described as “maladroit” is unskilled and awkward.