Tag: Courtroom entry crossword clue

Bill’s time: 6m 55s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

17A Sub category : FOOTLONG

The SUBWAY chain of fast food restaurants is the largest single-brand restaurant in the world. I’m a big fan of SUBWAY sandwiches, especially the toasted ones …

19A Investment firm T. ___ Price : ROWE

T. Rowe Price is an investment company based in Baltimore that was founded in 1937 by Thomas Rowe Price, Jr.

28A Like Detroit vis-à-vis 29-Across : EAST
29A Home of the Wolverines in college sports : ANN ARBOR

The city of Detroit was founded in 1701 by Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, a French explorer. The original settlement was named for the Detroit River, which in turn takes its name from the French word “détroit” meaning “strait”. Detroit became inextricably linked with the automotive business from the very early 20th century when Henry Ford and others set up manufacturing in the area. This link to transportation led to Detroit’s nicknames “Motor City” and “Motown”. The city’s economic strength declined at the beginning of the 21st century, resulting in a 25% drop in population between 2000 and 2010. Detroit filed for the country’s largest municipal bankruptcy in history in 2013, facing a debt of $18.8 billion. The city exited bankruptcy at the end of 2014.

Ann Arbor, Michigan was founded in 1824 by John Allen and Elisha Rumsey. Supposedly, Allen and Rumsey originally used the name “Annsarbour” in recognition of stands of bur oak that were on the land they had purchased and in recognition of their wives, both of whom were called “Ann” (i.e. Anns’ Arbor)

The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor is the oldest university in the state, having been founded in 1817 in Detroit. The move to Ann Arbor from Detroit was made in 1837. Michigan’s athletic teams are known as the Wolverines.

33A Actress Longoria : EVA

Eva Longoria is a fashion model and actress who had a regular role on TV’s “Desperate Housewives”, playing Gabrielle Solis. Her travel and food show “Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico” premiered on CNN in 2023.

37A Reddit Q&A : AMA

Reddit.com is a networking and news website that started up in 2005. It is essentially a bulletin board system with posts that are voted up and down by users, which determines the ranking of posts. The name “Reddit” is a play on “read it”, as in “I read it on Reddit”. One popular feature of the Reddit site is an online forum that is similar to a press conference. Known as an AMA (for “ask me anything”), participants have included the likes of President Barack Obama, Madonna, Bill Gates, Stephen Colbert and Gordon Ramsay. President Obama’s AMA was so popular that the high level of traffic brought down many parts of the Reddit site.

38A Festival with jousts, informally : REN FAIRE

A Renaissance faire (Ren faire) is an outdoor public event in which many participants recreate historical settings by dressing in costume. Usually held in North America, many such fairs are set during the English Renaissance, and more particularly during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The definition of “Renaissance” is often stretched quite a bit, with fairs also set during the reign of Henry VIII, and maybe even during medieval times.

“Jousting” and “tilting” are synonyms describing the medieval competition in which two horsemen yielding blunted lances attempt to unseat each other. Such an event has been referred to as “jousting” since the 1300s. At some point, the path of the two charging horsemen was separated by a cloth barrier known as a tilt (“tilt” meant “cloth covering”). The term “tilting” was applied to the sport in the 1500s, although by then the cloth barrier had been upgraded to a wooden fence.

40A Caramel-topped dessert : FLAN

Flan (also “crème caramel”) is a delicious dessert comprising a molded custard topped with a clear caramel sauce. The related crème brûlée is a dessert made from molded custard with a hard, burnt caramel layer on top.

44A 2003 period film starring Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe : THE LAST SAMURAI

“The Last Samurai” is an entertaining film released in 2003 starring Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe. The film tells the story of an American army officer (Cruise) and his relationship with samurai warriors in 19th century Japan.

48A Snake eyes and boxcars, e.g. : ROLLS

“Snake eyes” is a slang term describing a roll of two dice in which one pip turns up on each die.

“Boxcars” is a slang term for two sixes rolled on a pair of dice, particularly in the game of craps. The idea is that the twelve pips on the dice resemble a pair of boxcars on a freight train.

49A Rapper Lil Uzi ___ : VERT

“Lil Uzi Vert” is the stage name of rapper Symere Woods from Philadelphia.

50A Div. for the Astros and Angels : AL WEST

The Houston baseball team changed its name to the Astros (sometimes “’Stros”) from the Colt .45s in 1965 when they started playing in the Astrodome. The Astrodome was so called in recognition of the city’s long association with the US space program. The Astros moved from the National League to the American League starting in the 2013 season.

The Anaheim Angels baseball team is today more correctly called the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (LAA). The “Angels” name dates back to 1961 when the team was founded in the “City of Angels”, Los Angeles. When the franchise moved to Anaheim in 1965 they were known as the California Angels, then the Anaheim Angels, and most recently the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The Angels are also known as “the Halos”.

52A Worker’s timeout in Westminster … or something tucked between this puzzle’s shaded squares? : TEA BREAK

The City of Westminster in England’s London Region is home to the bulk of Britain’s government buildings, including the the Houses of Parliament and 10 Downing Street. The city’s name comes from the fact that the prominent “minster” (Westminster Abbey) is located “west” of the City of London. There used to be Estminster as well, located near the Tower of London, east of the City.

56A Tectonic drifters : PLATES

The outermost shell of our planet comprises eight major tectonic plates, and numerous small plates. The heat from within the Earth causes the plates to move, albeit very slowly, creating earthquakes and volcanic eruptions where the plates meet each other.

57A Camper’s recreation : CANOEING

The boat known as a canoe takes its name from the Carib word “kenu” meaning “dugout”. It was Christopher Columbus who brought “kenu” into Spanish as “canoa”, which evolved into our English “canoe”.

59A Denver setting: Abbr. : MST

Denver, Colorado is nicknamed “Mile-High City” because its official elevation is listed as exactly one mile. Denver City was founded in 1858 as a mining town. The name was chosen in honor of the Kansas Territorial Governor at the time, James W. Denver.

Down

1D Many an email attachment : 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.

2D W.C. : LOO

When I was growing up in Ireland, a bathroom was a room that had a bath and no toilet. The separate room with the commode was called the toilet or sometimes the W.C. (the water closet). Apparently the term “closet” was used because in the 1800s when homeowners started installing toilets indoors they often displaced clothes and linens in a closet, as a closet was the right size to take the commode.

3D Brian who composed four pioneering albums of ambient music : ENO

Brian Eno was one of the pioneers of the genre of ambient music. He composed an album in 1978 called “Ambient 1: Music for Airports”, which was the first in a series of four albums with an ambient theme. Eno named the tracks, somewhat inventively, 1/1, 1/2, 2/1 and 2/2.

6D Core principles : TENETS

A tenet is an article of faith, something that is “held” to be true. “Tenet” is Latin for “he/she/it holds”.

7D Part of E.S.L.: Abbr. : ENG

English as a Second Language (ESL)

8D Delivery docs : OBS

In Latin, the word for midwife is “obstetrix”. “Obstetrix” translates more literally as “one who stands opposite” i.e. the one opposite the woman giving birth. The Latin term gives rise to our modern word “obstetrics” used for the branch of medical science concerned with childbirth.

12D Cuatro + tres : SIETE

In Spanish, “tres plus cuatro” (three plus four) is “siete” (seven).

13D 404 Not Found, e.g. : ERROR

An HTTP 404 error is one of the common errors encountered when browsing the World Wide Web. The error is returned when a user accesses a site successfully, but cannot find the page that is requested. Usually, this 404 Not Found error is encountered when clicking on a broken or dead link. As an aside, I’d appreciate it if any reader could contact me or leave a comment if a broken link is encountered on this web site. Thank you!

15D Chargrilled corn-on-the-cob dish in Mexico : ELOTE

Corn in a cup (“elote en vaso”) is a Mexican street food. It is made with fresh corn kernels mixed with mayonnaise, cheese, lime and chile.

24D “The Simpsons” teacher Krabappel : EDNA

In “The Simpsons” television show, Bart Simpson’s teacher was one Edna Krabappel. Edna married Ned Flanders, who is the next-door neighbor to the Simpson family. Sadly, Edna passed away in 2013. Edna was voiced by actress Marcia Wallace, who passed away the same year.

30D Wood for a kite : BALSA

Balsa is a very fast-growing tree that is native to parts of South America. Even though balsa wood is very soft, it is actually classified as a hardwood, the softest of all the hardwoods (go figure!). Balsa is light and strong, so is commonly used in making model airplanes. In WWII, a full-size British plane, the de Havilland Mosquito, was built largely from balsa and plywood. No wonder they called it “The Wooden Wonder” and “The Timber Terror”.

31D Native of Muscat : OMANI

Muscat is the capital city of Oman. It lies on the northeast coast of the state on the Gulf of Oman, a branch of the Persian Gulf.

32D Many a one-star Yelp review : RANT

yelp.com is a website that provides a local business directory and reviews of services. The site is sort of like Yellow Pages on steroids, and the term “yelp” is derived from “yel-low p-ages”.

35D Olive and palm products : OILS

Palm oil and coconut oil are two vegetable oils that aren’t very good for our health. Both are high in saturated fat.

36D ___ Easton Ellis, author of “American Psycho” : BRET

Bret Easton Ellis wrote a trio of novels that were made into very successful movies:

1. “Less Than Zero” (1987, starring Andrew McCarthy)
2. “American Psycho” (2000, starring Christian Bale)
3. “The Rules of Attraction” (2002, starring James van der Beek).

“American Psycho” is a comedy horror film released in 2000 that is based on a 1991 novel of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis. I don’t do horror, comedic or not …

39D Cuts of fish : FILLETS

A fillet is a boneless cut of meat or fish. The term “fillet” comes from the Old French “filet” meaning “small thread, filament”. Apparently, we applied the term to food because the piece of fish or meat was tied up with string after it was boned. Here in the US, we tend to use the French spelling “filet”.

40D It might get decorated at Christmas : FIR TREE

The custom of decorating trees at Christmas seems to have originated in Renaissance Germany. Those first trees were placed in guildhalls and were decorated with sweets and candy for the apprentices and children. After the Protestant Reformation, the Christmas tree became an alternative in Protestant homes for the Roman Catholic Christmas cribs. The Christmas tree tradition was imported into Britain by the royal family because of its German heritage. That tradition spread from Britain into North America.

43D Extra-powerful, as an engine : TURBO

A turbocharger is a device that is designed to extract more power out of an internal combustion engine. It does so by increasing the pressure of the air entering the intake. The pressure increase comes from the use of a compressor that is powered, cleverly enough, by the engine’s own exhaust gases.

46D Broncos QB who won back-to-back Super Bowls : ELWAY

Former quarterback John Elway played his entire professional football career with the Denver Broncos. Elway was the oldest player ever to be named MVP in a Super Bowl game, being so honored in Super Bowl XXXIII in the 1998 season after the Broncos’ victory over the Atlanta Falcons.

51D General on a menu : TSO

General Tso’s chicken is an American creation, and a dish often found on the menu of a Chinese restaurant. The name General Tso may be a reference to General Zuo Zongtang of the Qing Dynasty, but there is no clear link.

52D Channel showing vintage films : TCM

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is one of my favorite television channels as it delivers just what its name promises, i.e. classic movies.

55D Metric wts. : KGS

Today, the gram is defined as one thousandth of a kilogram, with the kilogram being equal to the mass of a physical sample preserved by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (well, up until 2019, when it became more hi-tech than I can explain!). Prior to 1960, the gram was defined as the weight of a cubic centimeter of pure water (at the temperature of melting ice).