Tag: Details insignificant contests crossword clue

Bill’s time: 12m 18s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5A Game of observation for travel : SAFARI

“Safari” is a Swahili word meaning “journey” or “expedition”.

11A Ad free : PSA

Public service announcement (PSA)

14A Brief in pants : TROU

Trousers are pants, the garment covering the lower body and each leg separately. Ultimately, the word “trousers” evolved from the Erse word “triubhas” that described close-fitting shorts. Back in the 1600s there was a colorful saying:

A jellous wife was like an Irish trouze, alwayes close to a mans tayle

17A Try to place connoisseurs? : TASTING ROOM

A connoisseur is an expert, or someone who appreciates something with discrimination. The term “connoisseur” is French in origin, and stems from the Latin “com” (with) and “gnoscere” (to recognize).

19A Cells in compound : RNA

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is an essential catalyst in the manufacture of proteins in the body. The genetic code in DNA determines the sequence of amino acids that make up each protein. That sequence is read in DNA by messenger RNA, and amino acids are delivered for protein manufacture in the correct sequence by transfer RNA. The amino acids are then formed into proteins by ribosomal RNA. An added complication is that small changes in the sequence of amino acids specified by DNA sometimes take place in a process known as RNA editing. This RNA editing occurs after the nucleotide sequence has been transcribed from DNA, but before it is translated into protein.

24A York ___ : NUEVA

In Spanish, an example of an “estado” (state) is “Nueva York” (New York).

31A Crows to relatives : RAVENS

Ravens and crows are very similar species, and it can be difficult to tell them apart. Ravens are a little larger and often travel in pairs, whereas crows are a little smaller and are usually seen in larger groups. Crows make a cawing sound, while the raven’s call is more like a croak.

33A Confidentiality of letters? : NDAS

Non-disclosure agreement (NDA)

37A “Done well” : BRAVO

To express appreciation for a male performer at an operatic performance, traditionally one calls out “bravo!”. Appreciation for a female performer is shown by using “brava!”, and for more than one performer of either sex by using “bravi!”

39A Sponge bath : LOOFA

The loofah (also “loofa”, “lufah” and “luffa”, all Arabic words) is a vine, with fruit that’s very popular in Asia and Africa. If the fruit is allowed to mature, it can be processed to remove everything but the more rigid xylem structure (remember your high school botany class?) leaving a soft, sponge-like mass that is used as a skin polisher.

43A Practice Japanese : REIKI

The Japanese practice of hands-on healing called “reiki” was developed by Mikao Usui in 1922. “Reiki” is a Japanese term meaning “universal energy”. Practitioners of reiki believe that they are transferring this universal energy through the palms of the hand into the patient’s body.

58A Details insignificant contests : SPLITS HAIRS

We’ve been using the phrase “to split hairs” to mean “to make over-fine distinctions” for a long time, at least since 1650.

62A Forum discussion, popular once : USENET

Remember the good old days, when you read messages online in “newsgroups”? Well, that system of aggregating public messages is known as Usenet, and it’s still around today. Usenet started operating in 1980, some ten years before the World Wide Web was introduced (which system has displaced Usenet in terms of popularity). Usenet definitely played a significant part in the history of the Internet. For instance, the terms “FAQ” and “spam” were both born on Usenet.

Down

1D URL starter : HTTP

“http” are the first letters in many Internet links. “http” stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol. More secure and “safer” websites (like this one!) use links starting with “https”, which stands for “http secure”.

2D Asian sea currently undergoing replenishment efforts : ARAL

The Aral Sea is a great example of how humankind can have a devastating effect on the environment. In the early sixties the Aral Sea covered 26,000 square miles of Central Asia. Soviet irrigation projects drained the lake to such an extent that today the total area is less than 7,000 square miles, with 90% of the lake now completely dry. Sad …

3D Civil rights icon Parks : ROSA

Rosa Parks was one of a cadre of brave women in days gone by who refused to give up their seats on a bus to white people. It was the stand taken by Rosa Parks on December 1, 1955 that sparked the Montgomery, Alabama Bus Boycott. President Clinton presented Ms. Parks with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996. When she died in 2005, Rosa Parks became the first ever woman to have her body lie in honor in the US Capitol Rotunda.

9D Babe in the Hundred Acre Wood : ROO

Like most of the characters in A. A. Milne’s “Winnie-the-Pooh”, the kangaroo named “Roo” was inspired by a stuffed toy belonging to Milne’s son Christopher Robin. Most of the original stuffed animals belonging to Christopher Robin are currently on display at the New York Public Library. Roo is the only major character in the stories whose original is missing from the famous collection, as the real Roo was lost in an apple orchard in the 1930s.

12D Biblical mount : SINAI

According to the Bible, Mount Sinai is the mountain on which Moses was given the Ten Commandments. The Biblical Mount Sinai is probably not the mountain in Egypt that today has the same name, although this is the subject of much debate. The Egyptian Mount Sinai has two developed routes that one can take to reach the summit. The longer gentler climb takes about 2 1/2 hours, but there is also the steeper climb up the 3,750 “steps of penitence”.

13D It’s worth remembering! : ALAMO

The famous Alamo in San Antonio, Texas was originally known as Mission San Antonio de Valero. It was founded in 1718 and was the first mission established in the city. The Battle of the Alamo took place in 1836, a thirteen-day siege by the Mexican Army led by President General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Only two people defending the Alamo Mission survived the onslaught, along with 15 to 20 non-combatants. One month later, the Texian army got its revenge by attacking and defeating the Mexican Army in the Battle of San Jacinto. During the surprise attack on Santa Anna’s camp, many of the Texian soldiers were heard to cry “Remember the Alamo!”.

25D Feature of San Francisco’s Lombard Street : ESS

Lombard Street in San Francisco is noted worldwide for a one-block section on Russian Hill that has eight incredibly tight, hairpin turns. That one-block section has a whopping 27% grade. The San Francisco Street is named for Lombard Street in Philadelphia.

28D Like many cricket fields : OVAL

The laws of cricket do not call for fixed dimensions for the playing field, requiring only that it form a continuous, generally oval shape. That shape led to the naming of one of the world’s most historic grounds, “The Oval” in London, which hosted the first-ever international Test match in England in 1880.

31D One of 1,909 for Willie Mays, for short : RBI

Willie Mays’ nickname was “Say Hey Kid”, although his friends and teammates were more likely to refer to him as “Buck”. When Mays was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, he was asked who was the best player he’d ever seen in the game. He replied, “I don’t mean to be bashful, but I was.”

34D “___ the Explorer” : DORA

“Dora the Explorer” is a cartoon series shown on Nickelodeon. Part of Dora’s remit is to introduce the show’s young viewers to some Spanish words and phrases. Her constant companion is an anthropomorphic monkey named “Boots”, because he always wears red boots. Dora, full name “Dora Márquez”, also hangs out with Isa, an iguana.

41D Univ. with an annual Mystery Hunt : MIT

The MIT Mystery Hunt is an annual event involving teams of students competing to solve extremely complex puzzles. The puzzles are arranged in a series, all pointing to the location of a coin hidden on the MIT campus. The team winning in one year sets the puzzles in the following year.

46D Around : CIRCA

“Circa” is a Latin word meaning “around, near, about the time of”. We use “circa” directly in English to mean “about the time of”, as well as in derivative words such as “circle” and “circus”.

47D Garden-variety : USUAL

On the other side of the pond, something quite ordinary can be described as “common or garden”, a phrase that has been in use since the 17th century. It is likely that the original “common or garden” was a variety of plant so ubiquitous that it was found both on the “commons” (community land) and in “gardens”. On this side of the Atlantic, we use the sister term “garden-variety”, which might be derivative of its English relative.

50D Lauder of cosmetics : ESTEE

Estée Lauder was a very successful businesswoman, and someone with a great reputation as a salesperson. Lauder introduced her own line of fragrances in 1953, a bath oil called “Youth Dew”. “Youth Dew” was marketed as a perfume, but it was added to bathwater. All of a sudden women were pouring whole bottles of Ms. Lauder’s “perfume” into their baths while using only a drop or two of French perfumes behind their ears. That’s quite a difference in sales “volume” …

52D Designer Cassini : OLEG

French-born American fashion designer Oleg Cassini developed a reputation for designing costumes for films, and dressing numerous film stars. He had two big names particularly associated with his designs. In the sixties he produced the state wardrobe for First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. He was also the exclusive designer for Hollywood’s Gene Tierney, who was Cassini’s second wife.

54D “I don’t really care / If ya think I’m strange / I ___ gonna change”: Joan Jett : AIN’T

“Joan Jett” is the stage name of rock guitarist and singer Joan Marie Larkin. She is best known as a member of the band Joan Jett & the Blackhearts that formed in 1979.

55D N.F.L. commentator Collinsworth : CRIS

Cris Collinsworth is a sportscaster for several broadcasting organizations. Collinsworth played as a wide receiver in the NFL for eight seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals.

56D Arthur Ashe Courage Award, e.g. : ESPY

The Arthur Ashe Courage Award has been presented annually since 1993 as part of the ESPY Awards. Named for tennis great Arthur Ashe, the Courage Award is presented to individuals whose contributions “transcend sports”. The list of recipients includes Howard Cosell (1995), Muhammad Ali (1997), Billie Jean King (1999), Nelson Mandela (2009), Caitlyn Jenner (2015) and Eunice Kennedy Shriver (2017).

59D Letter after chi : PSI

Psi is the 23rd and penultimate letter of the Greek alphabet, and the one that looks a bit like a trident or a pitchfork.