Tag: Martial art with rhyming syllables crossword clue

Today’s Theme: None

… a complete list of answers

Bill’s time: 20m 59s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Bookmaking frame that produces paper with rough edges : DECKLE

Deckle edge paper is paper with a feathered edge as opposed to a cut edge. Deckle edge paper is used nowadays when producing a book to create a retro feel. Deckle edges were unavoidable in the early days of bookbinding when individual pages were made by hand from a paper pulp slurry in a deckle frame, hence the name.

21 First line in a newspaper story : LEDE

The opening paragraph in any work of literature is often just called “the lead”. In the world of journalism, this is usually referred to as “the lede”.

22 Destination off N.Y.C.’s Belt Parkway : JFK

The Idlewild Golf Course was taken over by the city of New York in 1943 and construction started on a new airport to serve the metropolis and relieve congestion at LaGuardia. The Idlewild name still persists, even though the airport was named after Major General Alexander E. Anderson from the first days of the project. When the facility started operating in 1948 it was known as New York International Airport, Anderson Field. It was renamed to John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in 1963, one month after the President was assassinated.

23 Like fireflies : AGLOW

Some living organisms are able to produce light, a phenomenon known as “bioluminescence”. A famous example on land is the firefly, with its glowing tail. There are many marine animals, such as jellyfish, that emit light. The frequently observed bioluminescence on the surface of the sea is usually caused by plankton. This phenomenon may be referred to as “sea fire”.

25 Reason to grant extra testing time, for short : ADHD

The “official” name for the condition we sometimes still refer to as “attention deficit disorder” (ADD) is “attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder” (ADHD).

29 Like the haka dance, in origin : MAORI

The haka is a war dance used by the Maori people of New Zealand. Famously, the New Zealand rugby team performs a haka before each of their matches.

31 Business checks? : BOYCOTTS

“Boycott” is another word given to the world by the Irish! Englishman Captain Charles Boycott found himself on the wrong side of a local community in County Mayo in the west of Ireland, and in a concerted campaign he was refused service by all around him. His name lives on …

39 Like Gouda or Gruyère : SEMIHARD

Gouda is a cheese that originated in the Dutch city of the same name, although today Gouda is produced all over the world and very little of it comes from the Netherlands. Gouda is often smoke-cured, which gives it a yellowish-brown outer skin and that characteristic smoky taste.

Gruyère is a hard cheese that is named for the medieval Swiss town of Gruyères. I had the pleasure of visiting Gruyères many years ago, and have very fond memories of stuffing myself with the most delicious fondue made from the local cheese mixed with wine …

43 Commercial prefix with -pedic since the 1950s : SERTA-

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

47 ___ mail : SNAIL

Snail mail is regular mail delivered by the postal service. The term “snail mail” arose as email gained in popularity, and is a reference to the difference in speed between email and paper mail.

51 Martial art with rhyming syllables : WUSHU

“Wushu” is a Mandarin term describing Chinese martial arts. An equivalent term is “kung fu”, a term that we might recognise more readily.

55 Small hunting companion : RAT TERRIER

The rat terrier is known as a farm dog, and was especially common on farms in the twenties and thirties. The breed has a great reputation as a hunting companion and for controlling vermin.

57 Call overseas? : AHOY, MATE!

“Ahoy!” is a nautical term used to signal a vessel. When the telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell, he suggested that “ahoy” be used as a standard greeting when answering a call. However, Thomas Edison came up with “hello”, and we’ve been using that ever since.

60 1969 U.S. Open champ : ROD LAVER

Rod Laver is a former professional tennis champion, from Australia. Laver won all four Grand Slam singles titles in 1962, and at that time he wasn’t even a professional player. He won all four titles again in 1969, no longer an amateur, becoming the only tennis player to have achieved the feat twice. Not surprisingly, Laver was the world’s number one for seven consecutive years, from 1964 to 1970. After he retired, Laver suffered a stroke during an interview with ESPN in 1998, but by all accounts he has made an excellent recovery.

Down

1 Part of a frame : DOORJAMB

A door or window jamb is the vertical portion of the frame. The term “jamb” comes from the French word “jambe” meaning “leg”.

2 Judgment setting : END OF DAYS

According to the Bible’s Book of Revelation, there will be a gathering of armies and a great battle during the “end of days”, and that battle between good and evil will take place at Armageddon.

3 Satirical website once owned by The Onion : CLICKHOLE

“The Onion” is a satirical news network, with a print newspaper and a heavy online presence. “The Onion” newspaper was founded by two college students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1988. The founders sold the operation a year later for about $20,000. The paper grew steadily until 1996 when it began to publish online and really took off. I think it’s worth a tad more than $20,000 today …

5 Actress Prepon of “That ’70s Show” : LAURA

“That ‘70s Show” is a sitcom that originally aired from 1998 to 2006. As the title suggests, it is set in the 1970s and explores the issues of the time. Two actors from the show that made it particularly big are Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher.

6 Typical graduate of Starfleet Academy : ENSIGN

In the “Star Trek” universe, Starfleet is a military service maintained by the United Federation of Planets. Famously, Starfleet is also tasked with deep-space exploration, “to boldly go where no man has gone before …”

7 Free : PRO BONO

The Latin term “pro bono publico” means “for the public good”, and is usually shortened to “pro bono”. The term applies to professional work that is done for free or at a reduced fee as a service to the public.

9 Included, in a way : CCED

I wonder do the kids of today know that “cc” stands for carbon copy, and do they have any idea what a carbon copy was? Do you remember how messy carbon paper was to handle? A kind blog reader pointed out to me a while back that the abbreviation has evolved and taken on the meaning “courtesy copy” in our modern world.

12 Sitcom husband (and then ex-husband) of Maris Crane : NILES

In the sitcom called “Frasier”, Niles Crane is the brother of the title character Frasier Crane. Frasier is played by Kelsey Grammer and Niles is played by David Hyde Pierce. Frasier was originally intended to be an only child in the show’s storyline, but the producers decided to add a brother when they noted the remarkable similarity in appearance between David Hyde Pierce and Kelsey Grammer.

14 Shaggier alternatives to 55-Acrosses : SKYES
(55A Small hunting companion : RAT TERRIER)

The Skye terrier is a breed of dog that is actually under threat of extinction. A few years ago, there were only 30 Skye terriers born in the breed’s native land of the UK. The breed was named for the Isle of Skye in Scotland.

26 Small order of whiskey : DRAM

I think that the dram is a confusing unit of measurement. It has one value as an ancient unit of mass, and two different values as a modern unit of mass, another value as a unit of fluid volume, and yet another varying value as a measure of Scotch whisky!

28 Runs the show, for short : MCS

The term “emcee” comes from “MC”, an initialism used for a Master or Mistress of Ceremonies.

38 Fellini’s first Oscar-winning film : LA STRADA

“La Strada” is a 1954 drama movie from Italy directed by Federico Fellini and starring Anthony Quinn. Quinn plays a strongman who makes a living as an itinerant strongman, performing “on the road”. “La Strada” translates into English as “the road”.

40 Bush campaign manager of 1988 : ATWATER

Lee Atwater was a Republican strategist, an advisor to Presidents Reagan and George H. W. Bush, and also a Chairman of the Republican National Committee. Atwater collapsed at a fundraiser for Senator Phil Gramm in 1990, and soon after was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He died a year later, at just 40 years of age.

41 Aids in networking : ROUTERS

In the world of computing, a router is a device that helps direct traffic, as it were. A router in a house is often found in combination with a modem, and directs traffic between the Internet and the computers in the home.

45 Subject of a 1927 royal charter : THE BBC

The marvelous British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is mainly funded by the UK government through a television licence fee that is levied annually on all households watching TV transmissions.

49 What a current flows into : ANODE

A battery is a device that converts chemical energy into electric energy. A simple battery is made up of three parts: a cathode, an anode and a liquid electrolyte. Ions from the electrolyte react chemically with the material in the anode producing a compound and releasing electrons. At the same time, the electrolyte reacts with the material in the cathode, absorbing electrons and producing a different chemical compound. In this way, there is a buildup of electrons at the anode and a deficit of electrons at the cathode. When a connection (wire, say) is made between the cathode and anode, electrons flow through the resulting circuit from the anode to cathode in an attempt to rectify the electron imbalance.

50 Bucolic work : IDYLL

An idyll (also “idyl”) is a short poem with a pastoral theme, usually depicting the scene in romantic and idealized terms. The word “idyl” comes from the Greek “eidyllion”, which literally translates to “little picture” but was a word describing a short poem with a rustic theme.

The word “bucolic”, meaning “rustic, rural”, comes to us from the Greek word “boukolos” meaning “cowherd”.

52 Archangel of the Apocrypha : URIEL

Uriel is one of the archangels in the Jewish and Christian traditions. Uriel makes a few notable appearances in literature: in John Milton’s epic poem “Paradise Lost” and in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem “Uriel”.

56 Bit of Eastern music : RAGA

Raga isn’t really a genre of music, but has been described as the “tonal framework” in which Indian classical music is composed. Ravi Shankar was perhaps the most famous raga virtuoso (to us Westerners). Western rock music with a heavy Indian influence might be called raga rock.