Tag: It may be big or bright crossword clue

Bill’s time: 9m 42s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Landon who ran against F.D.R. in 1936 : ALF

Alf Landon was the Governor of Kansas from 1933-37, and was the Republican Party’s nominee against Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1936 Presidential election. Landon is remembered as the candidate who “disappeared” after winning the nomination. He rarely traveled during the campaign, and made no appearances at all in its first two months. FDR famously won by a landslide, with Landon only winning the states of Maine and Vermont. Landon wasn’t even able to carry his home state of Kansas.

9A “All That ___” : JAZZ

“All That Jazz” is a song from the 1975 musical “Chicago”, which was choreographed by the great Bob Fosse. “All That Jazz” was later used as the title for a 1979 film directed by Fosse that features a main character who is a theater director and choreographer, and who greatly resembles Fosse himself.

13A Broadway actress Phillipa : SOO

Phillipa Soo is an actress and singer who is perhaps best known for portraying Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, the title character’s wife in the original Broadway production of “Hamilton”.

19A Tam-tam, e.g. : GONG

The tam-tam is a gong that also goes by the names “chau gong” or “bullseye gong”. It is the kind of gong that has become part of a symphony orchestra, having been introduced by French composer François-Joseph Gossec in 1790.

20A Kind of dish for culturing micro-organisms : PETRI

Julius Richard Petri was a German bacteriologist and was the man after whom the Petri dish is named. The petri dish can have an agar gel on the bottom which acts as a nutrient source for the specimen being grown and studied, in which case the dish plus agar is referred to as an “agar plate”.

24A Mars, notably (1978, 1986, 2022) : WAR GOD (Argentina)

Mars was the god of war in ancient Rome. He was also viewed as the father of the Roman people and the father of Romulus and Remus, the twin brothers who founded Rome according to Roman mythology.

33A Abbr. at the bottom of a business letter : ENC

Enclosure (enc.)

35A Michelin product : TIRE

Michelin is a manufacturer of tires that is based in France. The company was founded by brothers Édouard and André Michelin in 1889. The brothers were running a rubber factory at the time, and invented the world’s first removable pneumatic tire, an invention that they used to launch their new company. Michelin is also noted for rating restaurants and accommodation in its famous Michelin Travel Guides, awarding coveted Michelin stars.

36A Cinco de Mayo birth, e.g. (1930, 1950) : TAURUS (Uruguay)

Taurus is the birth sign for those born between April 20 to May 20. “Taurus” is Latin for “bull”.

The celebration known as Cinco de Mayo is observed all over the US and in parts of Mexico. Cinco de Mayo is not, as some believe, Mexico’s Independence Day. Independence is celebrated on September 16, whereas Cinco de Mayo is celebrated on May 5th. Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.

38A Basketball position for a team’s tallest player, usually: Abbr. : CTR

Center (ctr.)

40A How you might feel after a marathon : WIPED

The marathon commemorates the legendary messenger-run by Pheidippides from the site of the Battle of Marathon back to Athens, and is run over 26 miles and 385 yards. The first modern Olympic marathon races were run over a distance that approximated the length of the modern-day Marathon-Athens highway, although the actual length of the race varied from games to games. For the 1908 Olympics in London, a course starting at Windsor Castle and ending in front of the Royal Box at White City Stadium was defined. That course was 26 miles and 385 yards, the standard length now used at all Olympic Games. Organizers of subsequent games continued to vary the length of the race, until a decision was made in 1921 to adopt the distance used in London in 1908.

41A Three-player card game : SKAT

Skat is a trick-taking card game for three players that is traditionally played with a 32-card deck. The game is played in rounds, with each player bidding for the right to declare the trump suit. The declarer then tries to win at least 61 card points, while the other players try to prevent them from doing so.. I used to play a lot of skat in my teens …

42A “Born” in Haiti : NEE

The Republic of Haiti occupies the smaller, western portion of the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean. The rest of the island is taken up by the Dominican Republic. Haiti is one of only two nations in the Americas to have French as an official language, the other being Canada.

43A “Lady Bird” director Greta (1954, 1974, 1990, 2014) : GERWIG (Germany)

Greta Gerwig is an actress, screenwriter and director from Sacramento whose best-known acting role is probably opposite Russell Brand in the remake of the film “Arthur”. Gerwig has turned to directing, and was at the helm for the 2019 movie “Little Women”. And then, she co-wrote and directed the hit 2023 film “Barbie”.

“Lady Bird” is a 2017 coming-of-age movie starring Saoirse Ronan in the title role, a high school senior who has a strained relationship with her mother (played by Laurie Metcalf). Ronan and Metcalf earned themselves Oscar nominations for their performances.

44A Dog in “The Thin Man” : ASTA

Asta is the wonderful little dog in the superb “The Thin Man” series of films starring William Powell and Myrna Loy (as Nick and Nora Charles). In the original story by Dashiell Hammett, Asta was a female Schnauzer, but on screen Asta was played by a wire-haired fox terrier called “Skippy”. Skippy was also the dog in “Bringing Up Baby” with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn, the one who kept stealing the dinosaur bone. Skippy retired in 1939, so Asta was played by other dogs in the remainder of “The Thin Man” films.

“The Thin Man” is a detective novel written by Dashiell Hammett that was first published in the magazine “Redbook” in 1934. Hammett never wrote a sequel to his story, but it spawned a wonderful, wonderful series of “The Thin Man” films starring William Powell and Myrna Loy (as Nick and Nora Charles). “The Thin Man” was the last novel that Hammett wrote.

45A Cousin of a flugelhorn : CORNET

The cornet is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet, although it is quite a bit shorter. Despite the difference in length, the cornet and the trumpet have about the same length of tubing. The trumpet’s tube is coiled once, and the cornet is coiled twice.

A flügelhorn is a brass instrument that is similar to a trumpet and cornet, but with a wider bore. As the name suggests, the flügelhorn was developed in Germany, in the early 1800s from the English bugle. The German word “Flügel” means “wing, flank”. The instrument was first used by the leaders of hunts (Flügelmeisters) to direct the hunters on the flanks of the hunting party.

48A Tribe of the Colorado Plateau : UTES

The Colorado Plateau is a geographical feature in the southwest, covering parts of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona, roughly equivalent to what is known as the Four Corners region. It is home to the greatest concentration of national parks in the country. Included in the area are Grand Canyon NP, Zion NP, Bryce Canyon NP, Arches NP and Mesa Verde NP, to name but a few.

50A Japan Airlines hub (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006) : NARITA (Italy)

Plans were put together for the construction of Narita International back in 1966. However, the airport was not a popular addition to the metropolis in some quarters and demonstrations, often violent, delayed the project. Originally planned for completion in 1971, the airport didn’t open until 1978. The opening ceremony was attended by about 6,000 protesters and 14,000 security police.

55A Univ. of Maryland athletes : TERPS

The sports teams of the University of Maryland (UMD) are called the Maryland Terrapins, or “Terps” for short. The name dates back to 1932 when it was coined by the university’s president at the time, Curley Byrd. He took the name from the diamondback terrapins that are native to the Chesapeake Bay.

66A First name of TV’s Mrs. Maisel : MIRIAM

“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” is a comedy drama TV show set in the late fifties and early sixties. The title character, played by Rachel Brosnahan, is a New York housewife who opts for a career as a standup comedian.

67A Seat of White Pine County, Nev. : ELY

Ely is a city in eastern Nevada. The city was founded as a Pony Express stagecoach station, and then experienced a mining boom after copper was discovered locally in 1906. One of Ely’s former residents was First Lady Pat Nixon, who was born there in 1912.

69A Awards for Shohei Ohtani and Caitlin Clark (2010) : ESPYS (Spain)

Shohei Ohtani is a baseball pitcher from Japan who started his professional career in 2013 playing for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. He was signed by the Los Angeles Angels in 2017, and in 2018 was named the American League’s Rookie of the Year.

Basketball great Caitlin Clark was the first selection in the 2024 WNBA draft, and signed up with the Indiana Fever. Her quality of play and success on the court has helped popularize women’s basketball. That boost in popularity has been dubbed “the Caitlin Clark effect”.

Down

2D Balcony section : LOGE

In most theaters and stadiums today, “loge” is the name given to the front rows of a mezzanine level. “Loge” can also be used for box seating.

4D ___ House, residence for visiting dignitaries in Washington : BLAIR

Blair House is the official residence for guests of the US President. It is primarily used for foreign heads of government. When such a guest is in residence, the house flies the leader’s national flag and in effect becomes foreign soil for the duration of the stay.

6D Antismuggling grp. : ATF

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) today is part of the Department of Justice (DOJ). The ATF has its roots in the Department of Treasury dating back to 1886, and at one time was known as the Bureau of Prohibition. “Explosives” was added to the ATF’s name when the bureau was moved under the Department of Justice (DOJ) as part of the reorganization called for in the Homeland Security Act of 2002.

7D Global “club” with only eight members, each of which appears in circled letters with its country code : WORLD CUP WINNERS

The FIFA World Cup is the most prestigious tournament in the sport of soccer. The competition has been held every four years (excluding the WWII years) since the inaugural event held in Uruguay in 1930. The men’s World Cup is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, even outranking the Olympic Games. And, the women’s World Cup is fast catching up …

8D Feast offering lomi salmon : LUAU

Lomi-lomi salmon is a salad dish in Hawaiian cuisine that is made using raw salted salmon.

10D Hullabaloo : ADO

Our word “hullabaloo”, meaning “commotion”, is a derivative of an older term “hollo-ballo”. “Hollo-ballo” was a word used for an uproar in the north of England and Scotland.

11D In a ___ state (fully present) : ZEN

Zen is a Buddhist school that developed from Chan Buddhism, a tradition that was established in China back in the 7th century AD. “Zen” is a Japanese spelling of the Chinese word “chan”, which in turn derives from the Sanskrit word “dhyana” meaning “meditation”.

15D Notes of appreciation, in online parlance : TYS

Thank you (TY)

23D Deuces : TWOS

A two in a deck of playing cards might be called a “deuce”, from the Middle French “deus” (or Modern French “deux”) meaning “two”.

28D Online crowdfunding platform : KICKSTARTER

Kickstarter.com is an increasingly popular crowdfunding website. Kickstarter is a contemporary version of the traditional model in which artists sought out patrons from among their audiences to fund their work. The website brings together individuals willing to fund projects, usually in exchange for some reward from the artist.

Crowdsourcing is mainly an online phenomenon, and is the solicitation of perhaps services, ideas or content from a large group of people. “Crowdsourcing” is a portmanteau of “crowd” and “outsourcing”. An example of crowdsourcing is crowdfunding, where an individual solicits many small contributions from a large number of people to fund a project.

29D Biltmore ___, America’s largest privately owned home : ESTATE

Biltmore House is a magnificent mansion located near Asheville, North Carolina. It was built by George Washington Vanderbilt II in the late 1800s. Biltmore is still privately owned, and is the largest privately owned residence in the whole country. The house is now open to the public. My wife and I wanted to visit the estate many years ago but, to be honest, we decided against it as we found the entrance fee a little steep ($69 per person back then, for a self-guided tour).

30D Some mattresses : SERTAS

Serta was founded in 1931 when a group of 13 mattress manufacturers came together, essentially forming a cooperative. Today, the Serta company is owned by eight independent licensees in a similar arrangement. Serta advertisements feature the Serta Counting Sheep. Each numbered sheep has a different personality, such as:

• #1 The Leader of the Flock
• #½ The Tweener
• #13 Mr. Bad Luck
• #53 The Pessimist
• #86 Benedict Arnold

41D Prepare, in a way, as zucchini : SAUTE

“Sauté” is a French word. The literal translation from the French is “jumped” or “bounced”, a reference to the tossing of food while cooking it in a frying pan.

51D Total count in an online shopping cart : ITEMS

I say avoid any express checkout lane in a market that is labeled “10 items or less”. It should be “10 items or fewer”. I know, I know … I should calm down … and get a life …

53D Sandwich meat option : HAM

Meats placed between slices of bread was first called a sandwich in the 18th century, named after the Fourth Earl of Sandwich. The earl was fond of eating “sandwiches” while playing cards at his club.

54D “Howards End” daughter : EVIE

“Howards End” is a 1910 novel written by E. M. Forster. Emma Thompson won an Oscar for playing Margaret Schlegel in the excellent 1992 film adaptation.

56D Only player on three victorious teams in this puzzle : PELE

“Pelé” was the nickname of Edson Arantes do Nascimento, a soccer player who used the name “Pelé” for most of his life. For my money, Pelé was the world’s greatest ever player of the game. He was the only person to have been a member of three World Cup winning squads (1958, 1962 and 1970), and was a national treasure in his native Brazil. One of Pelé’s nicknames was “O Rei do Futebol” (the King of Football).

57D “Dread river of oath,” per Homer : STYX

The River Styx of Greek mythology was the river that formed the boundary between the Earth and the Underworld (or “Hades”). The souls of the newly dead had to cross the River Styx in a ferry boat piloted by Charon. Traditionally, a coin would be placed in the mouths of the dead “to pay the ferryman”.

Homer was a famous poet of ancient Greece who is believed to be the author of the two classic epic poems “Iliad” and “Odyssey”. However, some scholars believe that Homer did not actually exist, but rather he is the personification of oral tradition that was passed down through the ages.

60D Hump day: Abbr. : WED

The phrase “hump day” is very North American. It refers to Wednesday, which is the middle day (the hump) of a typical work week.