Tag: Knighted one-named rock star crossword clue

Bill’s time: 7m 33s

Bill’s errors:

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Instrument depicted in Manet’s “Young Flautist” : FIFE

A fife is a small flute that is often used in military and marching bands. The name “fife” comes from the German “Pfeife” meaning “pipe”.

Édouard Manet was a French painter whose works are mainly classified as Realist and Impressionist. Manet was friends with Impressionists masters like Edgar Degas, Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir and greatly influenced the Impressionist movement. The list of Manet’s marvelous paintings includes “Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe”, “Le Repose” and “A Bar at the Folies-Bergère”.

5 Threat to a king, maybe : PAWN

In the game of chess, the pawns are the weakest pieces on the board. A pawn that can make it to the opposite side of the board can be promoted to a piece of choice, usually a queen. Using promotion of pawns, it is possible for a player to have two or more queens on the board at one time. However, standard chess sets come with only one queen per side, so a captured rook is often used as the second queen by placing it on the board upside down.

13 Scout camp craft : CANOE

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”.

14 Kerchak or Kala in Disney’s “Tarzan” : APE

Kala is the fictional ape that rescues the infant Tarzan from the dangerous leader of the apes. In the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel, Kala is killed a few years later by a hunter, for which Tarzan exacts the ultimate revenge. In the 1999 Disney adaptation of the story, Kala doesn’t die.

18 Maker of the world’s largest quantum computer : IBM

I don’t understand quantum computing at all. What I do know is that semiconductor computing operates at the atomic level, and quantum computing at the subatomic level. That means faster computers occupying even smaller spaces.

20 ___ Gabbard, the first Hindu member of Congress : TULSI

Tulsi Gabbard was elected to the US House of Representatives in 2012, and so became the first Hindo member of Congress. She was born in American Samoa, and relocated with her family at a very young age to Hawaii. Gabbard enlisted in the Hawaii Army National Guard in 2003, served a tour of duty in Iraq, and continues in the service at the rank of major. She campaigned as a Democrat to become the party’s nominee for US president in the 2020 election. She moved over to the Republican Party in 2024, and in 2025 became the director of national intelligence in the Trump administration in 2025.

21 Like some photos of yesteryear : SEPIA-TONED

Sepia is that rich, brown-gray color so common in old photographs. “Sepia” is the Latinized version of the Greek word for cuttlefish, as sepia pigment is derived from the ink sac of the cuttlefish. Sepia ink was commonly used for writing and drawing as far back as ancient Rome and ancient Greece. The “sepia tone” of old photographs is not the result of deterioration over time. Rather, it is the result of a deliberate preservation process which converts the metallic silver in the photographic image to a more stable silver sulfide. Prints that have been sepia-toned can last in excess of 150 years.

25 Trick-taking card game : HEARTS

Hearts is a fun card game that is in the Whist family of trick-taking games, as are bridge (my favorite) and spades.

26 Clairvoyant : ORACLE

In ancient Greece and Rome, an oracle was someone believed to be inspired by the gods to give wise counsel. The word “oracle” derives from the Latin “orare” meaning “to speak”, which is the same root for our word “orator”. One of the most important oracles of ancient Greece was Pythia, the high priestess to Apollo at Delphi.

We’ve been using the term “clairvoyant” to describe a psychic since the nineteenth century. Prior to that, a clairvoyant was a clear-sighted person. The term comes from French, with “clair” meaning “clear” and “voyant” meaning “seeing”.

29 Collected hot wheels? : CARJACKED

Carjacking (sometimes “carnapping”) is a crime that differs from car theft in that the vehicle’s owner is present when theft occurs.

32 Rocket ___, character in “Guardians of the Galaxy” : RACCOON

“Rocky Raccoon” is a song by the Beatles that they released in 1968. The song’s title inspired the creation of Marvel Comics superhero Rocket Raccoon, who features prominently in the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies.

“Guardians of the Galaxy” is a 2014 film based on a team of superheroes from the Marvel Comics universe. The movie’s cast is very impressive, including Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Glenn Close and Benicio del Toro. I don’t normally “do” superhero films, but I found this one very entertaining, and loved the soundtrack …

34 Means of fiscal savings : BUDGET CUT

We started using the word “budget” in a financial sense in the mid-1700s. The term comes from the Latin “bulga” meaning “leather bag”. The idea was that a minister of the treasury would keep fiscal plans (budgets) in a wallet or leather bag.

41 Parmesan shelfmate : ASIAGO

Asiago is a cheese that is named for the region in northeastern Italy from where it originates. It comes in varying textures depending on its age. Fresh Asiago is very smooth, while aged Asiago can be very crumbly.

45 Absolutely chew (out) : REAM

I must admit that I find the slang term “to ream out”, with its meaning “to scold harshly”, to be quite distasteful. The usage of the word as a reprimand dates back to about 1950.

46 What the glass slipper was on Cinderella’s foot : PERFECT FIT

The folktale usually known as “Cinderella” was first published by French author Charles Perrault in 1697, although it was later included by the Brothers Grimm in their famous 1812 collection. The storyline of the tale may date back as far as the days of ancient Greece. A common alternative title to the story is “The Little Glass Slipper”.

53 Groovy, with “out” : FAR …

The term “groovy” meaning “neat, cool” comes from the jazz slang phrase “in the groove”.

54 Armchair athlete, e.g. : SPORTS BUFF

Back in the early 1900s, a buff was someone (usually a male) who admired firefighting. The term “buff” was a reference to the buff-colored uniforms that had been sported by volunteer firefighters in New York City since the 1820s. The use of the word “buff” spread over time to describe a person who was enthusiastic about any particular subject, e.g. film buff, WWII buff.

56 Knighted, one-named rock star : BONO

Well, technically, it’s an honorary knighthood. Bone is a citizen of Ireland, and not of the UK.

Irish singer Bono is a Dubliner who was born Paul David Hewson. As a youth, Hewson was given the nickname “Bono Vox” by a friend, a Latin expression meaning “good voice”, and so the singer has been known as Bono since the late seventies. His band’s first name was “Feedback”, later changed to “The Hype”. The band members searched for yet another name and chose U2 from a list of six names suggested by a friend. They picked U2 because it was the name they disliked least …

57 Approximate weight of the Liberty Bell : TON

The Liberty Bell was commissioned in 1752 and installed in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The bell bears the inscription “Proclaim LIBERTY throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof”, a quotation from the Book of Leviticus in the Bible. Famously, the bell cracked when it was first rung in Philadelphia after arriving from the foundry where it was made in London, England. The bell’s fame originated with a short story by George Lippard published in 1847 that gave a fictional account of an old bell-ringer ringing it on July 4, 1776 upon hearing that the Second Continental Congress had voted for independence. That ringing of the bell never actually happened, even though the account was constantly presented as fact in school texts around the country for generations.

59 Beethoven’s birthplace : BONN

After WWII, Bonn was chosen as the capital of West Germany. That choice was promoted by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer who was from the area. After German reunification, the nation’s capital was moved to Berlin.

Ludwig van Beethoven is my favorite composer from the Classical period. There are two excellent films that showcase his music and give fictionalized yet entertaining accounts of different aspects of his life: “Immortal Beloved” (1994) that speculates on the identity of one of Beethoven’s lovers, and “Copying Beethoven” (2006) that explores the events leading up to the triumphant premiere of his 9th Symphony.

61 Newsman Chuck : TODD

Chuck Todd is a television journalist. Todd was the Chief White House Correspondent for NBC, before taking over as moderator of “Meet the Press” in 2014, staying at the helm until 2023.

Down

2 Brew that generally has a higher-than-usual alcohol content : ICE BEER

Ice beer is a type of lager that has undergone a process called fractional freezing. This means that the beer has been chilled to the point that ice crystals form. The ice is frozen water, and can be filtered off. This lowers the water content in the beer, hence raising the concentration of alcohol.

4 Fangorn Forest denizen : ENT

Fangorn Forest is a location in the fictional world of Middle-earth created by J.R.R. Tolkien. Notably, it is the home of the Ents, a race of beings who closely resemble trees.

6 Tennis’s Agassi : ANDRE

Retired tennis professional Andre Agassi has been married to fellow player Steffi Graf since 2001. Agassi wrote an autobiography called “Open”, published in 2009. An amazing revelation in the book is that Agassi’s famous head of hair was actually a wig for much of his playing career. Can you imagine how hard it must have been to play tennis at his level with a rug stuck on?

9 Dark wizard : WARLOCK

A male practitioner of black magic can be referred to as a witch, but also as a warlock. The term “witch” is used predominantly for female sorcerers.

10 Romans, e.g. : EPISTLE

St. Paul the Apostle wrote thirteen epistles, all of which are found in the New Testament of the Bible (although authorship of some is disputed).

13 Word that means both “hello” and “goodbye” : CIAO

“Ciao” is Italian for “‘bye”. “Arrivederci” is more formal, and translates as “goodbye”.

17 Rap star who called himself “Makaveli” : TUPAC

Rapper Tupac Amaru Shakur adopted the inventive stage name “2Pac”. He was a hard man, spending eleven months in prison for sexual assault. He was killed in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas at only 25 years of age.

22 ___ Flatow, longtime host of public radio’s “Science Friday” : IRA

Ira Flatow is a science journalist and broadcaster who is perhaps best known as the host of the popular public radio program “Science Friday”. Before “Science Friday”, Flatow hosted the Emmy Award-winning PBS show “Newton’s Apple”.

23 Sensei’s school : DOJO

The Japanese word “dojo” translates literally as “place of the way”. Originally the term applied to training halls that were found in or beside temples. The teaching in a dojo was not limited to the martial arts, but in the Western world we use the dojo as the name for a training facility for judo, karate and the like.

“Sensei” is a Japanese form of address used for figures of authority, from lawyers to martial arts instructors.

29 New Deal program in which workers planted more than 3.5 billion trees, in brief : CCC

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a work relief program that was part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal. The idea behind the program was to provide employment for young men who could not find work elsewhere. These young men provided manual labor for the conservation and development of natural resources owned by various levels of government.

30 Prefix with pressure : ACU-

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.

31 Bunk : ROT

The word “bunk” is short for “bunkum”, the phonetic spelling of “Buncombe”, which is a county in North Carolina. Supposedly, a state representative made a dull and irrelevant speech that was directed to his home county of Buncombe, bringing the term “bunkum” into the language with the meaning of “nonsense”. The derivative word “debunk” first appeared in a novel by William Woodward in 1923, when he used it to describe “taking the bunk out of things”.

34 Grounds keeper? : BARISTA

A barista is a person who serves coffee in a coffee shop. “Barista” is Italian for “bartender”.

35 Took a hit, say : USED POT

“Potiguaya” is the Mexican-Spanish word for “marijuana leaves”. The slang name “pot” comes from “potiguaya”.

39 Goofball : BUFFOON

A buffoon is a clown or jester, although the word “buffoon” tends to be used more figuratively to describe someone foolish and ridiculous. The term comes from the Italian “buffa” meaning “joke”.

40 Huffington of The Huffington Post : ARIANNA

“The Huffington Post” (now “HuffPost”) is a news website founded in 2005 by Arianna Huffington. It is a very active site, with 3,000 people contributing blog posts (including many celebrities and politicians), and readers leaving over one million comments every month. “The Huffington Post” was sold to AOL in 2011 for $315 million, with Arianna Huffington staying on as editor-in-chief.

42 Condé Nast women’s magazine : SELF

“Self” is a women’s magazine that has been published since 1979. It is a publication that focuses on health, beauty, wellness and style.

49 Org. that oversees the World Cup : FIFA

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 …

51 “Pronto!” : STAT!

The Spanish and Italian (and now English) word “pronto” is derived from the Latin “promptus” meaning “ready, quick”.

55 Packed house letters : SRO

Standing room only (SRO)

56 Airsoft gun ammo : BBS

A BB gun is an air pistol or rifle that shoots birdshot known as BBs. Birdshot comes in a number of different sizes, from size 9 (0.070″ in diameter) to size FF (.230″). Birdshot that is size BB (0.180″ in diameter) gives the airgun its name.