Tag: Model organization? crossword clue

Bill’s time: 18m 11s

Bill’s errors:

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Between 75 and 140, for an adult cheetah: Abbr. : LBS

The cheetah can run faster than any other land animal, achieving speeds of 70-75 mph. The name “cheetah” comes into English from Sanskrit via Hindi, from the word for “variegated”. Something that is variegated has different colored zones, like the mottled hide of the cheetah.

8 Like some who take testosterone : TRANS

Testosterone is a primary sex hormone. It is a steroid that is secreted by the testicles in males and the ovaries in females. The levels of testosterone are 7-8 times higher in adult males than in females, and so it is often referred to as “the male sex hormone”.

17 Old story coming straight from the horse’s mouth? : TROJAN WAR

The ancient city of Troy was located on the west coast of modern-day Turkey. The Trojan War of Greek mythology was precipitated by the elopement of Helen, the wife of the king of Sparta, with Paris of Troy. The war itself largely consisted of a nine-year siege of Troy by the Greeks. We know most about the final year of that siege, as it is described extensively in Homer’s “Iliad”. The city eventually fell when the Greeks hid soldiers inside the Trojan Horse, which the Trojans brought inside the city’s walls. Beware of Greeks bearing gifts …

18 Like the gods Inti and Viracocha : INCAN

Inti was the sun god worshiped by the Incas. Images depicting Inti are featured on the national flags of several nations, including Argentina and Uruguay.

Viracocha was an important deity in the Inca civilization, the creator of all things.

23 Human Geography and Calculus BC, for short : APS

Advanced Placement (AP)

28 House in Milan : ARMANI

Giorgio “Gio” Armani is an Italian fashion designer and founder of the company that has borne his name since 1975. Although Armani is famous for his menswear, the company makes everything from jewelry to perfume.

35 Time to give up? : LENT

In Latin, the Christian season that is now called “Lent” was termed “quadragesima” (meaning “fortieth”), a reference to the forty days that Jesus spent in the desert before beginning his public ministry. When the church began its move in the Middle Ages towards using the vernacular, the term “Lent” was introduced. “Lent” comes from “lenz”, the German word for “spring”.

45 Film character with obsessive fans called “brogres” : SHREK

Before “Shrek” was a successful movie franchise and Broadway musical, it was a children’s picture book called “Shrek!” that was authored and illustrated by William Steig. The title “Shrek!” came from the German/Yiddish word Schreck, meaning “fear” or “terror”.

48 Juicy news to share, so to speak : TEA

To spill the beans is to divulge a secret. The expression first appeared in American English, in the early 1900s. The phrase arose as an alternative to “spoil the beans” or “upset the applecart”. The similarly meaning phrase “spill the tea” is more prevalent on the other side of the Atlantic.

52 Best Picture between “Nomadland” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” : CODA

“CODA” is a 2021 movie, a remake of the 2014 French-Belgian film “La Famille Bélier”. The English-language version stars Emilia Jones as the only hearing member of a deaf family struggling with a fishing business in Gloucester, Massachusetts. “CODA” was the first film distributed by a streaming service (Apple TV+) to win a Best Picture Oscar. The title “CODA” is an acronym standing for “child of deaf adults”.

“Nomadland” is a 2020 American drama film based on the non-fiction book “Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century” by Jessica Bruder. Both the movie and book explore the experiences of older Americans who have lost their homes and jobs and now live on the road as “nomads.” The film stars Frances McDormand as Fern, a widow who becomes a nomad after losing her job and home in a Nevada mining town. Great movie …

“Everything Everywhere All at Once” is a 2022 comedy-drama movie starring Michelle Yeoh as a woman undergoing an IRS audit. That mundane storyline gets lost completely in a film full of science-fiction, fantasy, animation and martial arts. The screenplay was originally written for Jackie Chan, but it was reworked intentionally so that a female lead carried the plot.

58 Do a lazy, lousy job : PHONE IT IN

A person who does a job while expending minimal effort is said to “phone it in” or “mail it in”.

59 Katniss’s ally in “The Hunger Games” : PEETA

“The Hunger Games” is a 2008 novel by Suzanne Collins, and the first in a series of titles that also includes “Catching Fire” (2009) and “Mockingjay” (2010). “The Hunger Games” was adapted into a very successful movie released in 2012, with the sequels following soon after. Amazon.com reports more sales of “The Hunger Games” series books than even the “Harry Potter” series.

60 Bit of wishful thinking : PIPE DREAM

In common parlance, a pipe dream is a vain hope for something that is unlikely to take place. The original pipe dreams were visions that were experienced after smoking a pipe filled with opium.

61 Annual awards decided in part through global online fan balloting : ESPYS

The ESPY Awards, also known as the Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards, were first presented in a ceremony in 1993. They were created by ESPN as a response to the lack of sports coverage during the summer months. ESPN decided to create an awards show to help fill that gap.

63 ___ Poke (candy) : SLO

Slo Poke is a brand of candy, one described as caramel on a stick. It is produced by the Gilliam Candy Company.

Down

2 Animal that lends its name to a Tex-Mex order : BURRO

A burrito is a common dish served in Mexican cuisine. It is a flour tortilla filled with all sorts of good stuff. The term “burrito” is Spanish for “little donkey”, the diminutive of “burro” meaning “donkey”. It’s thought that the name was applied as a burrito looks like a bedroll or pack that might be carried by a donkey.

3 Creature with a white winter coat : STOAT

The stoat has dark brown fur in the summer, and white fur in the winter. Sometimes the term “ermine” is used for the animal during the winter when the fur is white. Ermine skins have long been prized by royalty and are often used for white trim on ceremonial robes.

8 Gag order? : TMI

Too much information! (TMI!)

10 Expression of surprise … or dismay : AY CARAMBA!

“Caramba” is an oath uttered in Spanish. Apparently, it’s a softer version of a more vulgar word.

11 Event whose winner is awarded the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy : NBA FINALS

The NBA’s Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy is named for a former commissioner of the NBA. Prior to working with the NBA, O’Brien had been Postmaster General in President Lyndon Johnson’s cabinet.

15 Hawaiian “thanks” : MAHALO

In Hawaiian, “mahalo” means “thank you” and “mahalo nui loa” translates as “thank you very much”.

27 Audio system brand : SONOS

Sonos is a manufacturer of audio products, mainly of speakers and amplifiers. Founded in 2002, Sonos differentiates itself from other suppliers of similar items by focusing on multi-room applications and compatibility with voice assistants, i.e. Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri.

29 Protofeminist poet Juana ___ de la Cruz : INES

Juana Inés de la Cruz was a poet in the Baroque period, She was also a nun, and lived in Mexico City.

30 ___ the Stout, sainted Norwegian king : OLAF

Of the many kings of Norway named Olaf/Olav (and there have been five), Olaf II is perhaps the most celebrated, as he was canonized and made the patron saint of the country. Olaf II was king from 1015 to 1028 and was known as “Olaf the Big” (or “Olaf the Fat”) during his reign. Today he is more commonly referred to as “Olaf the Holy”. After Olaf died he was given the title of “Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae”, which is Latin for “Norway’s Eternal King”.

37 Hurtled : CAREENED

The term “careen” dates back to 1590 when it meant “to turn a ship on its side, exposing the keel”. The word evolved from the Middle French word “carene” meaning “keel”. Our modern usage, meaning to lean or tilt, only dates back as far as the 1880s. Careen should not be confused with “career”, a verb meaning to move rapidly. One has to “career” from side-to-side in order to “careen”.

40 Bygone car manufactured in Lansing, Mich. : REO

The REO Motor Company was founded by Ransom Eli Olds (hence the name REO). The company made cars, trucks and buses, and was in business from 1905 to 1975 in Lansing, Michigan. Among the company’s most famous models were the REO Royale 8 and the REO Flying Cloud.

Lansing, Michigan is unique among US state capitals in that it is not a county seat, even though it is located in Ingham County. Ingham County’s seat is Mason, Michigan.

47 Big company in trading cards : TOPPS

Topps was a relaunch of an older company called American Leaf Tobacco, with the Topps name used from 1938. The earlier company was in trouble because it could not get supplies of its Turkish tobacco, so it moved into another chewy industry, making bubblegum. Nowadays, Topps is known for including (mainly) sports-themed trading cards in the packs of gum.

51 Cash App alternative : VENMO

Venmo is a smartphone payment app that is now owned by PayPal. The first version of the product was introduced in 2009 by two entrepreneurs who had met as freshman students at the University of Pennsylvania. They sold the company in 2012 for over $26 million, and then PayPal acquired it the following year for a whopping $800 million. I wonder if PayPal ever buys blogs …

54 Uncle ___, character on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” : PHIL

On the nineties sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”, patriarch Philip Banks was played by James Avery.

57 Some univ. figures : TAS

Teaching assistant (TA)