Tag: Organizer of events for swingers? crossword clue

Bill’s time: 7m 57s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Motown legend Lionel : RICHIE

Singer-songwriter Lionel Richie got his big break as a singer and saxophonist with the Commodores starting in 1968. Richie launched a very successful solo career in 1982. Richie is the father of socialite Nicole Richie, childhood friend of Paris Hilton and co-star on the Fox show “The Simple Life”.

7A Canadian gas brand : ESSO

The Esso brand has its roots in the old Standard Oil company as it uses the initial letters of “Standard” and “Oil” (ESS-O). The Esso brand was replaced by Exxon in the US, but ESSO is still used in many other countries.

11A Follower of Mac or Go in commercial names : PRO

The Mac Pro is the most powerful line of computers made by Apple. The level below the Mac Pro is the iMac, Apple’s all-in-one line of desktops that is most popular. The Mac Mini is Apple’s least powerful desktop, and the smallest. The Mini uses mainly laptop components.

GoPro is a company that makes high-definition video cameras that have a rugged design. Famously, GoPro cameras are used in extreme conditions. For example, they are often mounted on moving vehicles or used by people playing sports. Two astronauts on the International Space Station inserted a GoPro camera inside a floating ball of water, and then showed the view from inside the ball of water. Amazing footage …

15A Classic ingredient in baby powder : TALC

Talc is a mineral, hydrated magnesium silicate. Talcum powder is composed of loose talc, although these days “baby powder” is mainly made from cornstarch.

16A Ingredient in a Tom Collins : GIN

The cocktail known as a Tom Collins is a mixture of gin, lemon juice, sugar and club soda. The original recipe was supposedly invented by a head waiter called John Collins, in a London hotel in the early 1800s. Called a John Collins back then, the drink’s name was changed around 1869 when a popular recipe specifically called for Old Tom gin.

17A Sorcery commonly associated with Haiti and New Orleans : VOODOO MAGIC

If you visit the New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum, which opened in 1872, you can get a reading from the onsite voodoo priest.

20A U.K. : H.M.R.C. :: U.S.A. : ___ : IRS

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was set up during the Civil War to raise money to cover war expenses. Prior to the introduction of income tax in 1862, the government was funded by levies on trade and property.

21A Molecule containing adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine : DNA

Nucleobases are molecules that form the backbone of DNA and RNA chains. It is the sequence of these bases in the DNA chain that makes up the so-called “genetic code”. In DNA, the four bases are adenine (A), guanine (G), thymine (T) and cytosine (C). The same bases are found in RNA, except that thymine is replaced by uracil (U). In DNA, the nucleobases exist in “base pairs”.

24A Actor Buddy of “The Beverly Hillbillies” : EBSEN

Actor Buddy Ebsen was best known for playing Jed Clampett in television’s “The Beverly Hillbillies”. Ebsen had been cast in the role of the Tin Man in the 1939 movie “The Wizard of Oz”, but he developed an allergy to the aluminum dust that was used in the makeup. He ended up in hospital and had to walk away from the part. Ebsen blamed “The Wizard of Oz” on persistent problems that he had with his lungs in subsequent years. But Ebsen lived 16 years longer than any of the other major cast members of the film, so maybe he got the last laugh!

“The Beverly Hillbillies” sitcom originally aired from 1962 to 1971. The show had consistently respectable ratings, but was canceled as part of “the Rural Purge” at CBS. Advertisers at the time were applying pressure on the network to move to more urban-themed shows. CBS responded by canceling shows such as “Petticoat Junction”, “Green Acres”, “Lassie” as well as “The Beverly Hillbillies”.

29A Flintstone with a red updo : WILMA

Wilma is the wife of cartoon character Fred Flintstone. On the TV show, Wilma was voiced by Jean Vander Pyl. Vander Pyl also provided the voice for Rosie the Robot on “The Jetsons”.

30A #2s in classrooms, for short : TAS

Teaching assistant (TA)

31A Certain something : AURA

An aura (plural “aurae”) is an intangible quality that surrounds a person or thing, a “je ne sais quoi”. “Je ne sais quoi” is French for “I don’t know what”.

34A Part of a hammer or a hawk : CLAW

Hawks are birds of prey known for their sharp talons, keen eyesight, and powerful flight. They represent a remarkably diverse group of raptors, a wide array of species that have adapted to nearly every terrestrial habitat. Several birds commonly referred to as hawks are actually kites, buzzards, or even eagles.

37A Computer’s storage space, for short : RAM

Random-access memory (RAM) is a form of computer storage.

38A Traditional folk song that became a #1 hit for the Kingston Trio : TOM DOOLEY

The Kingston Trio is a folk and pop music group from San Francisco that formed in 1957. The original lineup disbanded in 1967, although there is a derivative lineup still performing today. The Kingston Trio’s biggest is 1958’s “Tom Dooley”, which was also their first hit.

41A K-pop band that went on hiatus in 2022 when their members went into military service : BTS

BTS is a boy band from South Korea with seven members. The initialism “BTS” stands for the phrase “Bangtan Sonyeondan”, which translates literally as “Bulletproof Boy Scouts”. It is the best-selling musical act in the history of South Korea.

45A The masses, to Caesar : PLEBS

In ancient Rome, the patricians were the members of the families in the ruling classes. Those Romans who were not patricians by birth were known as plebs.

50A Actress Vardalos : NIA

Nia Vardalos is an actress and screenwriter whose biggest break came with the 2002 film “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”, which she wrote and in which she starred. The film tells the story of a Greek-American woman marrying a non-Greek Caucasian American who converts to the Greek Orthodox Church to facilitate the marriage. The storyline reflects the actual experiences of Vardalos and her husband, actor Ian Gomez. Vardalos and Gomez appeared together as hosts for two seasons of the reality competition “The Great American Baking Show”.

57A Hindu deity known as the “Destroyer” : SHIVA

Shiva (also “Siva”) is one of the major deities of the Hindu tradition, and is known as the destroyer of evil and the transformer. Shiva is also part of the Hindu trinity known as the Trimurti, along with Brahma and Vishnu.

59A “As I see it,” online : IMO

In my opinion (IMO)

62A “Notorious” Supreme Court justice : RBG

The 2015 book “Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg” was co-written by Shana Knizhnik and Iris Carmon. Knizhnik had previously authored a “Notorious R.B.G” blog. The moniker “Notorious RBG” is reminiscent of the name of rap star the Notorious B.I.G.

69A Hun leader who invaded Italy in A.D. 452 : ATTILA

In his day, Attila the Hun was the most feared enemy of the Roman Empire, until he died in 453 AD. He was the leader of the Hunnic Empire of central Europe and was famous for invading much of the continent. However, he never directly attacked Rome.

71A Fraternal order since 1868 : ELKS

The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE) was founded in 1868, and is a social club that has about a million members today. It started out as a group of men getting together in a “club” in order to get around the legal opening hours of taverns in New York City. The club took on a new role as it started to look out for poor families of members who passed away. The club now accepts African Americans as members (since the seventies) and women (since the nineties), but atheists still aren’t welcome. The list of US presidents that have been members of the BPOE includes Presidents Eisenhower, Harding, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy and Ford.

Down

5D Music players discontinued in 2017 : IPOD NANOS

The iPod Nano was the successor to the iPod Mini and was introduced to the market at the end of 2005. There were seven versions of the Nano, until it was discontinued in 2017.

6D English school at which teachers are known as “beaks” : ETON

Eton College near Windsor in the south of England was founded way back in 1440 by King Henry VI. Originally known as “The King’s College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor”, the school was intended to provide free education to poor boys. Free education today at Eton? Not so much …

10D Philosopher known for his “razor” : OCCAM

Occam’s Razor, properly attributed to William of Ockham, has roots in earlier philosophical thought. The principle, which states that among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected, can be traced back to Aristotle’s “Physics”, in which he writes “Nature operates in the shortest way possible”.

12D “How We Do (Party)” pop singer : RITA ORA

“How We Do (Party)” is a 2012 song released by English singer Rita Ora as the lead single from her debut studio album “Ora”, which was released the same year. The song samples the refrain from a 1993 song by the Notorious B.I.G. As a result, when the Notorious B.I.G. was sued for an alleged copyright infringement related to the original song, Rita Ora was also dragged into court. But, the court ruled against the plaintiff, and life moved on.

28D City where you can see Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” : OSLO

Edvard Munch’s iconic painting “The Scream” actually has multiple versions. There are two painted versions, two pastel versions, and a lithograph stone, with the most famous being the 1893 tempera on cardboard, which can be viewed at the National Museum of Norway, in Oslo.

33D Prime meridian hrs. : GMT

A meridian is a line of longitude, and the Prime Meridian is that line of longitude defined as 0 degrees. The Prime Meridian is also called the Greenwich Meridian as it passes through the Royal Observatory in Greenwich in southeast London. Of course the line of longitude that is used to represent 0 degrees is an arbitrary decision. 25 nations formally decided in 1884 to use the Greenwich Meridian as 0 degrees as it was already a popular choice. That is all except the French, who abstained from the vote and used the Paris Meridian as 0 degrees on French charts for several decades.

35D Mont Blanc, e.g. : ALP

Mont Blanc is the highest peak in the Alps. The name “Mont Blanc” translates from French into “white mountain”. The mountain lies on the border between France and Italy, and it has been generally accepted for decades that the summit lies within French territory. However, there have been official claims that the summit does in fact fall within the borders of Italy.

40D Michelle of “Crazy Rich Asians” : YEOH

Michelle Yeoh is an actress from Malaysia who appeared in several Hong Kong action films in which she did her own stunts and martial arts scenes. Her most famous action performance was in the 2000 movie “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, although I best know her for playing opposite Pierce Brosnan in the Bond film “Tomorrow Never Dies”.

“Crazy Rich Asians” is a 2018 rom-com based on a 2013 novel of the same name by Kevin Kwan. The film garnered a lot of attention and accolades, not only for the quality of the script and performances. It was the first major Hollywood movie to feature a principal cast of Asian descent since 1993’s “The Joy Luck Club”.

41D ___ World, DC Comics planet of opposites : BIZARRO

Bizarro World is a planet in the DC Comics universe. It is a world of opposites, and is inhabited by its own versions (mirror images) of other characters. For example, Bizarro is a supervillain, and someone with the opposite characteristics of Superman. There is also a Bizarro Lois Lane and a Bizarro Jimmy Olsen. The Bizarro version of Batman is Batzarro, who is billed as the “World’s Worst Detective”.

43D Iggy Pop’s backup group, with “the” : … STOOGES

Iggy Pop is a punk rock performer from Muskegon, Michigan. When he was in high school, he was a drummer for a local band called the Iguanas, and so was given the nickname “Iggy”. He was the vocalist for a band called the Stooges, and is often referred to as the Godfather of Punk.

46D Course that may cover Jane Austen and Emily Brontë, for short : BRIT LIT

English novelist Jane Austen is best known today for her six major novels, only four of which were published before she died in 1817, at the age of 41:

1. “Sense and Sensibility” (1811)
2. “Pride and Prejudice” (1813)
3. “Mansfield Park” (1814)
4. “Emma” (1816)
5. “Northanger Abbey” (1818)
6. “Persuasion” (1818)

In terms of age, Emily Brontë was the middle of the three Brontë sisters, younger than Charlotte and older than Anne. Emily was a poet and a novelist, and is best remembered for her only novel, “Wuthering Heights”. Emily died very young, at 30 years old. She never recovered from a severe cold that she caught at the funeral service of Branwell Brontë, her only brother. The cold developed into tuberculosis, for which she eschewed medical attention. She passed away after three months of illness.

47D Spanish city famous for its oranges : SEVILLE

The city of Seville (“Sevilla” in Spanish) is the capital of Andalusia in southern Spain. Seville is a favored setting for many operas including “The Barber of Seville” by Rossini, “Fidelio” by Beethoven and Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” and “The Marriage of Figaro”.

49D Invoice fig. : AMT

An invoice is an itemized bill. The term “invoice” comes from the Middle French “envois” meaning “dispatch (of goods)”. The root verb is “envoyer”, which translates as “to send”.

53D Engages in an energetic Latin dance : SALSAS

The genre of music called salsa is a modern interpretation of various Cuban traditional music styles.

60D Exam for future docs : MCAT

Medical College Admission Test (MCAT)

64D Acorn-producing tree : OAK

These days, we don’t usually consider acorns (the fruit of the oak tree) as a foodstuff. But in days past, many cultures around the world have used acorns as food. Usually, bitter tannins that occur in acorns need to be leached out in water. Acorn meal can be a substitute for grain flour, which can then be used to make bread. Acorns have also been used as a substitute for coffee, especially when coffee was rationed. Notably, acorn coffee was brewed up by Confederates during the American Civil War, and by Germans during World War II.