Tag: Paramount ancestor in brief crossword clue

Bill’s time: 8m 57s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

15A With 16-Across, beverage sold in pastel-colored cans : ARIZONA … 16A – : … ICED TEA

The Arizona Beverage Company has been making flavored iced tea drinks since 1992. Paradoxically, the company is based in New York State.

17A With 18-Across, measures of search engine optimization : PAGE … 18A – : … RANKS

PageRank is a famous algorithm in Internet search circles. Google uses PageRank to determine in which order websites are ranked in the results page after a search is done by a user. The algorithm is named after Google co-founder Larry Page.

43A With 46-Across, Starbuck vis-à-vis Captain Ahab : FIRST … 46A – : … MATE

The most famous whale-hunting ship in fiction has to be Herman Melville’s Pequod, which is featured in his novel “Moby-Dick”. It is skippered by the maniacal Captain Ahab, and the young chief mate is the thoughtful and intellectual Starbuck. Starbuck’s name was lifted and used by the Seattle-based coffee company.

50A With 54-Across, math that underpins computer logic : BOOLEAN … 54A – : … ALGEBRA

In elementary algebra, the variable used can represent any number. In Boolean algebra, the variables can only have the values of 1 or 0, i.e. true or false.

57A With 58-Across, member of the last undefeated N.C.A.A. Division I men’s basketball team (1976) : INDIANA … 58A – : … HOOSIER

The exact origin of the word “hoosier” is unknown, but it has been around since at least 1830. The term had no direct linkage with Indiana until John Finley of Richmond, Indiana, wrote a poem called “The Hoosier’s Nest” in 1833. A few years later, by 1840, “hoosiers” was generally accepted as a term describing Indiana residents.

Down

1D Michael of “Barbie” : CERA

Michael Cera is a Canadian actor who played great characters on the TV show “Arrested Development”, and in the 2007 comedy-drama “Juno”. Cera is also quite the musician. He released an indie folk album titled “True That” in 2014.

In the 2023 blockbuster film “Barbie”, there are a whole host of Barbie characters and Ken characters living in Barbieland, and only one Allan. Played by Michael Cera, Allan is the ultimate outsider, and really the voice of reason in the perfectly uniform society of Barbieland. In the real world, Mattel introduced the Allan doll in 1964, marketing him as Ken’s buddy who could conveniently fit into all of Ken’s clothes. Allan wasn’t a hit, and had a very short production run.

2D Alexander who served under Reagan, Nixon and Ford : HAIG

Alexander Haig was secretary of state under President Reagan, and White House chief of staff under Presidents Nixon and Ford. Famously, Haig took over temporary control of the country immediately after President Reagan was shot in 1981. To do so was a pragmatic move, while waiting on Vice President Bush to arrive in Washington. There was much debate at the time about the legality of the steps taken, as the presidential line of succession called out in the US Constitution is vice president, speaker of the House, president pro tempore of the US Senate, and then secretary of state.

3D Axlike tool depicted in hieroglyphs : ADZE

An adze (also “adz”) is similar to an ax, but is different in that the blade of an adze is set at right angles to the tool’s shaft. An ax blade is set in line with the shaft.

4D City on Guanabara Bay, familiarly : RIO

Rio de Janeiro is the second largest city in Brazil (after São Paulo). “Rio de Janeiro” translates as “January River”. The name reflects the discovery of the bay on which Rio sits, on New Year’s Day in 1502.

5D Paramount ancestor, in brief : TNN

Paramount Network is a pay TV channel that was founded back in 1983 as the Nashville Network (TNN). The channel went through some name and programming changes over the years:

• The Nashville Network (1983-2000)
• The National Network/the New TNN/WWE (2000-2003)
• Spike TV (2003-2018)
• Paramount Network (2018- )

8D High degree : PHD

“Ph.D.” is an abbreviation for “philosophiae doctor”, Latin for “teacher of philosophy”. Often, candidates for a PhD already hold a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, so a PhD might be considered a “third degree”.

11D Stephen of “V for Vendetta” : REA

Stephen Rea is an actor from Belfast, Northern Ireland. His most successful role was Fergus in 1992’s “The Crying Game”, for which performance he was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar. In “The Crying Game”, Fergus was a member of the IRA. In real life, Rea was married to IRA bomber and hunger striker Dolours Price at the time he made the movie.

“V for Vendetta” is a 2006 movie based on the political thriller graphic novel of the same name by Alan Moore and David Lloyd. The film stars Hugo Weaving, Natalie Portman and Stephen Rea. Two other Moore novels made it to the big screen: “From Hell” and “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen”.

13D Actress Teri : GARR

Actress Teri Garr had a whole host of minor roles in her youth, including appearances in nine Elvis movies. Garr’s big break came with the role of Inga in “Young Frankenstein”, and her supporting role in “Tootsie” earned Garr an Academy Award nomination. Sadly, Teri Garr suffered from multiple sclerosis, and was a National Ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

14D Writer Anaïs whose name is hidden in this clue : NIN

Anaïs Nin was a French author who was famous for the journals that she wrote for over sixty years from the age of 11 right up to her death. Nin also wrote highly regarded erotica and cited D. H. Lawrence as someone from whom she drew inspiration. Nin was married to banker and artist Hugh Parker Guiler in 1923. Decades later in 1955, Nin married former actor Rupert Pole, even though she was still married to Guiler. Nin and Pole had their marriage annulled in 1966, but just for legal reasons, and they continued to live together as husband and wife until Nin passed away in 1977.

19D Capt.’s superior : ADM

Admiral (adm.)

20D Pole tossed in a Scottish game : CABER

The caber toss must be the most recognizable event in the Scottish Highland Games. The tall pole is 19’ 6” long and weighs a whopping 175 pounds. The event may have originated with the practice of tossing large logs across chasms in order to cross them.

22D Stone figure? : CARAT

The carat is a unit of mass equal to 200 mg (0.2 grams). It is used in sizing gemstones.

23D Petri dish gels : AGARS

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”.

24D Company that debuted Sonic the Hedgehog : SEGA

Sonic the Hedgehog is a title character in a videogame and the mascot of Sega, the computer game developer. Sonic was set up as a rival to Nintendo’s mascot Mario.

27D Some Deco works : ERTES

“Erté” was the pseudonym of French (Russian-born) artist and designer Romain de Tirtoff. “Erté” is the French pronunciation of his initials “R.T.” Erté’s diverse portfolio of work included costumes and sets for the “Ziegfeld Follies” of 1923, productions of the Parisian cabaret show “Folies Bergère”, as well as the 1925 epic movie “Ben-Hur”. Erté’s most famous work by far is an image titled “Symphony in Black”. It depicts a tall and slender woman dressed in black, holding a black dog on a leash.

29D “Well, I have to save my ___” (Shrek line) : ASS

Cartoonist William Steig chose the name “Shrek” for the protagonist of his 1990 children’s picture book, as he wanted a moniker that reflected the character’s appearance and behavior: a repulsive, fire-breathing monster who revels in his own hideousness. “Shrek” comes from the German “Schreck” and Yiddish “shrek,” both of which translate to “fright, terror”. When DreamWorks adapted the story into the celebrated 2001 animated film, they softened the character into a misunderstood, swamp-dwelling grump.

32D Our “-zoic” : CENO-

The Cenozoic Era (with “Cenozoic” meaning “new life”) is the most recent geologic era, and covers the period from 65.5 million years ago to the present day. The start of the Cenozoic Era is defined as the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event, the cataclysm that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. The mass extinction allowed mammals to diversify and dominate the planet, and so the Cenozoic is also known as the “Age of Mammals”.

38D Cable channel with many reruns : TBS

The tbs cable television station started out in 1967 as a local broadcast TV station in Atlanta. The station’s first call letters were WJRJ-TV, and this was changed to WTCG in 1970 when it was acquired by Ted Turner (the TCG stood for Turner Communications Group). In 1976, Turner started distributing WTCG via satellite making its programming available in other parts of the country. WTCG was only the second channel to transmit via satellite, following HBO. The difference was that WTCG was broadcast without requiring a premium subscription. The station’s call sign was changed again in 1979 to WTBS, with “TBS” standing for Turner Broadcasting System. In 1981, the channel adopted the moniker “Superstation WTBS”.

42D Site of the 2002 and 2034 Winter Olympics : UTAH

The last Olympic Games held in the US was in Salt Lake City in 2002, a winter games. That made Utah the fifth US state to host the Olympics.

44D Actors McKellen and McShane : IANS

Sir Ian McKellen is a marvelous English actor, one who is comfortable playing anything from Macbeth on stage to Magneto in an “X-Men” movie. On the big screen, McKellen is very famous for playing Gandalf in “The Lord of the Rings”. In the UK, Sir Ian is noted for being at the forefront of the campaign for equal rights for gay people, a role he has enthusiastically embraced since the eighties.

Ian McShane is an English actor who is famous in his homeland, and to PBS viewers in the US, for playing the title role in “Lovejoy”. In this country, he is perhaps better known for playing the conniving saloon owner on the HBO western drama “Deadwood”.

45D Messenger ___ : RNA

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is an essential catalyst in the manufacture of proteins in the body. The genetic code in DNA determines the sequence of amino acids that make up each protein. That sequence is read in DNA by messenger RNA, and amino acids are delivered for protein manufacture in the correct sequence by transfer RNA. The amino acids are then formed into proteins by ribosomal RNA. An added complication is that small changes in the sequence of amino acids specified by DNA sometimes take place in a process known as RNA editing. This RNA editing occurs after the nucleotide sequence has been transcribed from DNA, but before it is translated into protein.

46D Imbroglio : MESS

An imbroglio is a difficult or tangled situation. As one might expect, “imbroglio” comes to us from Italian. The Old Italian word “imbrogliare” means to tangle or confuse.

47D Rose’s lover of 1920s Broadway : ABIE

“Abie’s Irish Rose” is a comedy play by Anne Nichols that opened in 1922 on Broadway and ran for over five years. Back then, that made it the longest run for any show in New York. The show then went on tour, and stayed on tour for an amazing 40 years. The play tells of a young Jewish man called Abie Levy who marries an Irish Catholic girl called Rosemary Murphy. Abie lies to his family and pretends that his “Irish Rose” is Jewish.

48D Número de Caballeros in a 1944 film : TRES

“The Three Caballeros” is a 1944 Disney film, the seventh animated feature released by the studio. Star of the movie is Donald Duck.

50D Pen letters? : BIC

Société Bic is a company based in Clichy in France. The first product the company produced, more than fifty years ago, was the Bic Cristal ballpoint pen that is still produced today. Bic also makes other disposable products such as lighters and razors.

51D Musical Yoko : ONO

Yoko Ono was born in 1933 in Tokyo into a prosperous Japanese family, and is actually a descendant of one of the emperors of Japan. Yoko’s father moved around the world for work, and she lived the first few years of her life in San Francisco. The family returned to Japan, before moving on to New York, Hanoi and back to Japan just before WWII, in time to live through the great firebombing of Tokyo in 1945. Immediately after the war the family was far from prosperous. While Yoko’s father was being held in a prison camp in Vietnam, her mother had to resort to begging and bartering to feed her children. When her father was repatriated, life started to return to normal and Yoko was able to attend university. She was the first woman to be accepted into the philosophy program of Gakushuin University.

52D Sch. in Norfolk, Va. : ODU

Old Dominion University (ODU) is a public school in Norfolk, Virginia. ODU was established in 1930 as a two-year branch division of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg. The school was granted independence in 1962 as Old Dominion College, and became Old Dominion University in 1969. “The Old Dominion” is a nickname given to Virginia by King Charles II in recognition of the loyalty shown by the colony during the English Civil War.

53D “Hamilton” star ___-Manuel Miranda : LIN

Lin-Manuel Miranda is a composer and playwright from New York City, and the creator and star of the hit Broadway musicals “Hamilton” and “In the Heights”. Miranda also co-wrote the songs for the Disney animated features “Moana” and “Encanto”. He started composing early, and wrote jingles as a child.

55D Apt name for a groundskeeper? : LON

“Lon” sounds like “lawn”, kind of …