Tag: Functional crossword clue

Bill’s time: 7m 46s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 U.S.’s oldest continuous women’s professional sports org. : LPGA

The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) was founded in 1950 by a group of 13 lady golfers, and today it is the oldest ongoing women’s sports professional organization in the US.

8 ___ salmon : SMOKED

Salt is used to “cure” meats, which is a preservation process. The salt kills and inhibits the growth of microorganisms by sucking the water out of the microbe’s cells in the process of osmosis. Smoking is also cited as a curing process, although smoking alone is insufficient for preserving food as the antimicrobial smoke compounds only adhere to the outside of the meat or fish. Smoking is usually combined with salt-curing or drying.

15 Kissing on a park bench, e.g., for short : PDA

Public display of affection (PDA)

21 Pollen producer : STAMEN

The stamen is the male reproductive organ of a flower. The part of the stamen known as the anther sits on a stalk called the filament that carries the pollen. The pollen is picked up by insects, especially bees, who then transfer pollen from flower to flower. The pistil is the female reproductive organ, and it accepts the pollen.

23 Texter’s “I can’t believe this” : SMH

Shaking my head (SMH)

26 “I cannot ___ anybody anything; I can only make them think”: Socrates : TEACH

In ancient Greece, Socrates was a respected thinker of his day. One of Socrates’ most clever students was Plato, who spent much of life espousing the work and thinking of his mentor and teacher. In later life, Plato himself had a student who built on the work of both Socrates and Plato. That second-generation student was Aristotle. Socrates fell out of favor with the political leaders in Athens who put him on trial on trumped-up charges. He was found guilty of corrupting the youth of the city-state and of not believing in the gods of the state. The sentence levied was death by drinking hemlock.

30 “Hijack” actor Idris : ELBA

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”.

“H/JACK” is a thriller TV miniseries starring Idris Elba. He plays a passenger on a hijacked plane who takes on the task of negotiating a peaceful end to the incident. Great stuff …

41 Finger foods served on a toothpick, maybe : CANAPES

A canapé is a finger food, something small enough to eat in just one bite. In French, “canapé” is actually the word for a couch or a sofa. The name was given to the snack as the original canapés were savories served on toasted or stale bread that supposedly resembled a tiny couch.

42 “Taste the rainbow” candy : SKITTLES

Skittles are a brand of fruit-flavored candy that are produced by the Wrigley Company. They are small, round, and chewy, and come in a variety of colors, including red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Apparently, there is quite a vigorous debate about whether or not the various colors of Skittle have different flavors, or all taste the same. They look different, and smell different, but do they taste different from each other? That is the question …

45 Sunbather’s goal : TAN

Melanin is a natural pigment found in most organisms. In humans, melanin is the pigment in the skin, the production of which accelerates in response to UV radiation causing a “tan”. Melanin is also what is released as cephalopod ink, a defensive cloud squirted into the water by squids and octopodes.

46 First-person shooter video game franchise : HALO

Halo is a series of video games that was introduced in 2001. Apparently, there’s a lot of shooting, and a lot of aliens …

48 Jazz legend Shaw : ARTIE

Artie Shaw was a composer, bandleader and jazz clarinetist. His real name was Arthur Jacob Arshawsky, born in New York City in 1910. One of Shaw’s many claims to fame is that he (a white bandleader) hired Billie Holiday (a black vocalist) and toured the segregated South in the late thirties. Holiday chose to leave the band though, due to hostility from Southern audiences back then. Artie Shaw was married eight times in all. The list of his wives includes the actresses Lana Turner and Ava Gardner, as well as Betty Kern, daughter of songwriter Jerome Kern.

64 The Blenheim in England, for one : PALACE

Blenheim Palace is a magnificent country house in Oxfordshire, England that was constructed by the Crown for John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. The grant was a reward for the duke’s military victories in the War of Spanish Succession, and in particular in the 1704 Battle of Blenheim. The 1st Duke of Marlborough’s most famous descendent was Sir Winston Churchill, who was born in the palace in 1874.

Down

5 Ian Fleming figure : SPY

The character James Bond was the creation of writer Ian Fleming. Fleming “stole” the James Bond name from an American ornithologist. The number “007” was “stolen” from the real-life, 16th-century English spy named John Dee. Dee would sign his reports to Queen Elizabeth I with a stylized “007” to indicate that the reports were for “her eyes only”. There’s an entertaining miniseries that aired on BBC America called “Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond” that details Ian Fleming’s military career, and draws some nice parallels between Fleming’s experiences and aspirations and those of his hero James Bond. Recommended …

6 “I.e.,” spelled out : ID EST

“Id est” is Latin for “that is”, and is often abbreviated to “i.e.” when used in English.

7 Frenchman who developed an anthrax vaccine : PASTEUR

Anthrax is a potentially lethal disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. The bacterium can form dormant spores that can be stored, and potentially weaponized. When the spores are inhaled or ingested, or even touched, they can activate and infect the victim.

8 Decorative pillowcase : SHAM

A sham is something that is imitation, fake. In the world of bed linens, a sham is also an imitation or fake, in the sense that it is a decorative cover designed to cover up a regular pillow used for sleeping.

11 Hawaii’s Mauna ___ : KEA

Mauna Kea is a dormant volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii, the peak of which is the highest point in the whole state. Mauna Kea is in effect the tip of a gigantic volcano rising up from the seabed.

22 Like some temporary committees : AD HOC

The Latin phrase “ad hoc” means “for this purpose”. An ad hoc committee, for example, is formed for a specific purpose and disbanded after making its final report.

25 Common cooking oil : CANOLA

Canola is a type of rapeseed, and Canola oil is made from the seeds. The particular cultivar used in oil production was developed in Canada, and the name Canola in fact comes from “CANadian Oil, Low Acid”.

27 Traditional Chinese medicine component … in which a practitioner might 3-, 9- and 18-Down? : ACUPUNCTURE

Acupressure and acupuncture are related alternative medical techniques. Both aim to clear blockages in the flow of life energy through the body’s meridians. The treatment is given by stimulating “acupoints” in the body, by applying pressure in the case of acupressure, and by applying needles in the case of acupuncture.

29 Hermann who wrote “Siddhartha” : HESSE

The 1922 novel “Siddhartha” by Hermann Hesse focuses on the spiritual journey of a man called Siddhartha. Even though the Buddha’s name was Siddhartha Gautama before he renounced his former life, Hesse’s Siddhartha is a different character, but one who lived around the time of the Buddha.

31 One side of the political aisle, with “the” : … LEFT

The concept of left-right politics started in France during the French Revolution. When members of France’s National Assembly convened in 1789, supporters of the King sat to the President’s right, and supporters of the revolution to the President’s left. The political terms “left” and “right” were then coined in the local media, and have been used ever since.

35 Believer in Jah, familiarly : RASTA

“Jah” is a shortened form of “Jehovah”, and is a name often associated with the Rastafari movement.

36 Herr Schindler in “Schindler’s List” : OSKAR

Oskar Schindler is the protagonist in the Steven Spielberg movie “Schindler’s List”. Schindler was a real person who survived WWII. During the Holocaust, Schindler managed to save almost 1,200 Jews from perishing by employing them in his factories. After the war, Schindler and his wife were left penniless having used his assets to protect and feed his workers. For years the couple survived on the charity of Jewish groups. Schindler tried to make a go of it in business again but never had any real success. He died a pauper in 1974 in Hildesheim, not far from Hanover. His last wish was to be buried in Jerusalem. Schindler was the only former member of the Nazi Party to be buried on Mount Zion.

40 Eudora ___, Pulitzer-winning author for “The Optimist’s Daughter” : WELTY

Eudora Welty was an author from Jackson, Mississippi who wrote short stories and novels about the American South. Welty won a Pulitzer in 1973 for her novel “The Optimist’s Daughter”. She was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 1980. The Eudora email system, once used by Mac and Windows operating systems, was named for Eudora Welty.

43 Kia S.U.V. : SORENTO

The Sorento is an SUV made by Kia since 2002. I’ve always assumed that the car is named for the Italian city, although the spelling is different (“Sorrento”).

49 Sioux City native : IOWAN

Sioux City, Iowa has a history that is inextricably linked with the Missouri River. The city grew from a camp established by the Lewis and Clark expedition that traveled up the river in 1804. Today, Sioux City is the navigational head of the Missouri, the furthest point upstream that is accessible by general cargo ships.

53 Actor Sean of “Stranger Things” : ASTIN

Sean Astin is best known for playing the title role in the 1993 film “Rudy” and the character Samwise Gamgee in “The Lord of the Rings” movies. You might also have seen him playing Lynn McGill in the 5th season of “24”. Astin is the son of actress Patty Duke, and the adopted son of actor John Astin (of “The Addams Family” fame).

“Stranger Things” is a sci-fi horror TV show made for Netflix that aired its first season in 2016. I don’t do horror, and so haven’t seen it …

58 Take in the paper? : OP-ED

“Op-ed” is an abbreviation for “opposite the editorial page”. Op-eds started in “The New York Evening World” in 1921 when the page opposite the editorials was used for articles written by a named guest writer, someone independent of the editorial board.

60 Revolutionary Turner : NAT

Nat Turner was a slave in Virginia who led a slave rebellion in 1831 that led to the deaths of over a hundred people. Half of the casualties were white,and half were black. The 55 white deaths took place on the day of the rebellion as a growing mob of slaves traveled from house-to-house freeing fellow slaves but also killing any white people they came across; men, women and children. The rebellion was suppressed within two days by a white militia. Slaves involved in the rebellion were tried for insurrection and related crimes, and a total of 56 blacks were executed on suspicion of involvement in the uprising. In the aftermath, life for slaves became even more difficult as any freedoms that they had earned were largely curtailed.

61 Horror director Roth : ELI

Eli Roth is one of a group of directors of horror movies known quite graphically as “The Splat Pack”. I can’t stand “splat” movies and avoid them as best I can. Roth is also famous for playing Donny Donowitz in the Quentin Tarantino movie “Inglourious Basterds”.