Tag: Drives for money crossword clue

Bill’s time: 11m 12s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

9A Motion on a screen : SWIPE

Many apps on phones are now using “swipe right” and “swipe left” actions to indicate “like” and “dislike”. I suppose that the Tinder dating app is the most famous “swipe right/swipe left” app in use today.

17A People who worshiped the rain god Illapa : INCA

The Inca people emerged as a tribe around the 12th century, in what today is southern Peru. They developed a vast empire over the next 300 years, extending along most of the western side of South America. The Empire fell to the Spanish, finally dissolving in 1572 with the execution of Túpac Amaru, the last Incan Emperor.

19A Singer/actress Carrere : TIA

Tia Carrere is an actress from Honolulu who got her break in the soap opera “General Hospital”. Carrere is perhaps best known for playing Cassandra Wong in the “Wayne’s World” movies.

20A U.S. senators Warnock and Duckworth, for two : PHDS

Raphael Warnock is the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, a position previously held by Martin Luther King Sr. and Martin Luther King Jr. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in a special election in 2021, becoming the first Black senator from Georgia.

Tammy Duckworth has been a US Senator for Illinois since 2017. Duckworth is a veteran of the Iraq War, in which she served as a helicopter pilot and suffered severe combat wounds, including the loss of both her legs. She continued to serve in the Illinois National Guard after her recovery, and retired in 2014 at the rank of lieutenant colonel. Duckworth has racked up quite a few firsts while in Congress. For example, she was the first woman with a disability elected to Congress, and the first Senator to give birth while in office. Senate rules were changed following the birth of her daughter, which allowed Duckworth to bring her baby onto the Senate floor and breastfeed her during votes.

21A How often blue moons occur : RARELY

As there is a full moon once every four weeks, approximately monthly, there are usually twelve full moons in any given year. However, every 2-3 years, depending on the phase of the moon at the beginning of the calendar year, there may be a thirteenth full moon. The “extra” full moon is called a “blue” moon, although no one seems to really know why the term “blue” is used, as far as I can tell. Which of the thirteen full moons that is designated as the blue moon varies depending on tradition. My favorite definition is from the Farmer’s Almanac. It states that as each of the seasons normally has three full moons (one for each calendar month), then the season with four full moons is designated as “special”, then the third (and not the fourth) full moon in that “special” season is the blue moon. Complicated, huh?

26A Big name in 23-Down : LEVI
[23D Fabric related to chambray : DENIM]

Levi Strauss was granted a patent in the 1870s for the use of copper rivets to reinforce points of strain on clothes made from denim. Patent protection expired in 1890, and at that point the company designated its rivet-reinforced overalls as “lot no. 501”. That number is still being used over a century later.

27A Lentils prepared with ghee, perhaps : DAL

Ghee is clarified butter used in South Asian cuisines. “Ghee” comes from Sanskrit, and translates as “sprinkled”.

30A Jazz Age Disney princess : TIANA

“The Princess and the Frog” is an animated feature released in 2009 by Walt Disney Studios. The film is set in New Orleans in the twenties. A waitress named Tiana kisses a prince who had been turned into a frog, and then she herself turns into a frog.

31A Drives for money? : TELETHONS

The world’s first telethon took place in 1949. It was a 16-hour fundraiser hosted by Milton Berle that raised over a million dollars for the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. The term “telethon”, a portmanteau of “television” and “marathon”, was coined in the news media the day after the event. One of the most famous annual telethons was the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon, which raised funds for the Muscular Dystrophy Association for over twenty years, from 1966 until 2010.

33A Actor Elba : IDRIS

Idris Elba is a British actor and DJ. He was born in London to a Sierra Leonean father and a Ghanaian mother. Elba’s breakthrough role came in 2002, when he was cast as Stringer Bell in the HBO series “The Wire”.

38A Attire for a high-pressure job? : G SUIT

A G suit is needed when astronauts and aviators are subject to high accelerations. Such acceleration can cause blood to pool in the lower part of the body, reducing the supply to the brain and possibly leading to a blackout. A G suit is basically a special pair of tight-fitting pants that are fitted with inflatable bladders. The bladders inflate during high accelerations (high g forces), tightening around the legs and abdomen, reducing the amount of blood pooling. So, a “G suit” is more correctly referred to as an “anti-G suit”.

41A Ramadan, e.g. : MONTH

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, and is traditionally a period of fasting. The faithful who observe Ramadan refrain from eating, drinking and sexual relations from dawn to dusk every day: a lesson in patience, humility and spirituality.

42A Particles in a particle accelerator : IONS

In a particle accelerator, the particles that are accelerated have to have a charge, and so are ions. The charged ions are subjected to high magnetic fields that propel them around a circular “racetrack”, before being smashed into something, just to see what happens!

49A Guard at the gates of Mordor : ORC

Mordor is a fictional land in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth. It is a place of great danger, but also home to the volcano Mount Doom. Mount Doom is the only place where the One Ring can be destroyed, and so it is the destination of the Fellowship of the Ring in their quest to save Middle-earth.

Down

1D ___ Ann (classic Lily Tomlin character) : EDITH

Lily Tomlin is a comedian and actress who got her big break as a regular member of the cast of “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” in the late sixties and early seventies. Tomlin created several great characters on the show. My personal favorite is Ernestine, the condescending telephone operator with the marvelous nasal voice and snorting laugh. Ernestine was fond of saying “One ringy dingy …” I really enjoy Tomlin’s performances as an actress, notably in the movies “9 to 5” and “All of Me”, and on the TV shows “The West Wing” and “Grace and Frankie”. I went to her stage show many years ago in San Francisco, and just did not enjoy it. I was devastated …

4D Export from Jamaica : SKA

Ska originated in Jamaica in the late fifties and was the precursor to reggae music. No one has a really definitive etymology of the term “ska”, but it is likely to be imitative of a sound.

8D Network debut of 1981 : MTV

The first video played at the launch of MTV was the Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star” (I love that song), followed by Pat Benatar singing “You Better Run”.

12D Prop in “The Matrix” : PILL

Neo is the character played by Keanu Reeves in “The Matrix” series of films. One of Neo’s actions is to choose a red pill over a blue pill. The blue pill would have allowed him to remain in the Matrix, a fabricated reality. The red pill led to his escape into the real world, and a much more difficult life.

23D Fabric related to chambray : DENIM

Denim fabric originated in Nîmes in France. The French phrase “de Nîmes” (meaning “from Nîmes”) gives us the word “denim”. Also, the French phrase “bleu de Genes” (meaning “blue of Genoa”) gives us our word “jeans”.

27D Timbits from Tim Hortons, e.g. : DONUT HOLES

Tim Hortons is a Canadian chain of fast food restaurants that is known especially for its coffee and doughnuts. The chain is named for one of the founders, hockey player Tim Horton.

28D Flawed protagonists : ANTIHEROES

An “antihero” is a character perhaps in a movie or novel. They are the “hero” of the piece, but are also someone who doesn’t exhibit the qualities associated traditionally with a hero, such as bravery or moral fortitude.

29D Trial that an attorney may not remember fondly? : LSAT

Law School Admission Test (LSAT)

30D Cash register part : TILL

What we usually call a cash register here in North America, we mostly call a “till” in Ireland and the UK. I haven’t heard the word “till” used much here in that sense …

31D Blue ___ (coral reef swimmers like Pixar’s Dory) : TANGS

Pixar’s 2016 animated feature “Finding Dory” is a sequel to the megahit film “Finding Nemo”. “Finding Dory” seems to have built on the success of its predecessor and had the highest-grossing opening weekend ever in North America for an animated movie. The title character is a surgeonfish (blue tang) named Dory, voiced by Ellen DeGeneres.

41D Candy bar in the jingle that begins “Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t” : MOUNDS

I think my favorite candy growing up was an Almond Joy, although in my part of the world it was a little different formulation (more like a Mounds bar) and was called a Bounty Bar . The Almond Joy bar has been around since 1946. Hershey’s used a famous jingle in a seventies ad campaign for the Mounds and Almond Joy:

Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t
Almond Joy’s got nuts
Mounds don’t

42D Ptolemy III? : IOTAS

Iota is the ninth letter in the Greek alphabet, and one that gave rise to our letters I and J. We use the word “iota” to portray something very small, as it is the smallest of all Greek letters.

The Ptolemaic dynasty was a Greek royal family that ruled in Egypt from 305 BC to 30 BC. The dynasty started when Ptolemy, one of Alexander the Great’s bodyguards, was given charge of Egypt after Alexander’s death in 323 BC. Ptolemy and his descendants then became the successors to the pharaohs of independent Egypt, and ruled the country until the Romans took over in 30 BC.

44D Lavender or lilac : SCENT

“Lavender” is the common name for the plant genus Lavandula. It is used as an ornamental plant, as a culinary herb and for the production of essential oils. The plant’s name might ultimately be derived from the Latin word “lavare” meaning “to wash”, a reference to the use of essential oils in bathing.

The ornamental flowering plant known as lilac is native to the Balkans, and is a member of the olive family.

45D City where Shah Jahan built a monument to his wife, Mumtaz Mahal : AGRA

The most famous mausoleum in the world has to be the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. It was built after the death of the third wife of Shah Jahan, Mumtaz Mahal (hence the name of the mausoleum). The poor woman died in childbirth delivering the couple’s 14th child. When Shah Jahan himself passed away 35 years later, he was buried beside his wife Mumtaz, in the Taj Mahal.

47D Pickle : BIND

To be in a pickle is to be in a fix, in trouble. One of the first uses of “pickle” in such a context was William Shakespeare (who else?), in his play “The Tempest”. Here is part of the conversation between Alonso, King of Naples, and his jester Trinculo:

ALONSO:
And Trinculo is reeling ripe: where should they
Find this grand liquor that hath gilded ’em?
How camest thou in this pickle?

TRINCULO:
I have been in such a pickle since I
saw you last that, I fear me, will never out of
my bones: I shall not fear fly-blowing.

52D “The pretty worm of Nilus,” per Shakespeare’s Cleopatra : ASP

In William Shakespeare’s play “Antony and Cleopatra”, the heroine of the piece addresses the asp as she uses the snake to commit suicide:

Come, thou mortal wretch,
With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate
Of life at once untie: poor venomous fool,
Be angry, and dispatch.

Later she says:

Peace, peace!
Dost thou not see my baby at my breast,
That sucks the nurse asleep?