Tag: Really really cool crossword clue

Bill’s time: 7m 10s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

13A Textile city NNE of Paris : LILLE

Lille is a large city in the very north of France that sits right on the border with Belgium. The name “Lille” is a derivation of the term “l’isle” meaning “the island”. The former name “L’Isle” dates back to 1066, and is a reference to a castle that once stood on an island in the Deûle river that runs through the city. The city grew around the island and the castle.

14A New wave band with the hit “Whip It” : DEVO

Devo is a band from Akron, Ohio formed back in 1973. The band’s biggest hit is “Whip It” released in 1980. Devo have a gimmick: the wearing of red, terraced plastic hats that are referred to as “energy domes”. Why? I have no idea …

15A Improvise, in jazz : VAMP

To vamp is to improvise musically, usually on a piano. A vamp is often an accompaniment to a solo.

19A Longtime comic strip set in a medieval kingdom : THE WIZARD OF ID

“The Wizard of Id” is one of my favorite comic strips. The strip was created by Brant Parker and Johnny Hart back in 1964. The storyline centers on a wizard in the medieval kingdom of Id. The king of Id refers to his subjects as “Idiots”.

23A Teen wearing heavy eyeliner, maybe : GOTH

The goth subculture developed from the gothic rock scene in the early eighties, and is a derivative of the punk music movement. It started in England and spread to many countries around the globe. The term “goth” comes from the Eastern Germanic tribe called the Goths.

27A “My dude!” : BRO!

Our term “dude” arose as slang in New York City in the 1880s, when it was used to describe a fastidious man. In the early 1900s, the term was extended to mean “city slickers”, easterners who vacationed in the West. The first use of the term “dude ranch” was recorded in 1921.

28A Computer operating system developed by Bell Labs : UNIX

Unix is a computer operating system that was developed at Bell Labs in 1969. The initial name for the project was Uniplexed Information and Computing Service (Unics), and this evolved over time into “Unix”.

Bell Labs dates back to the days of Alexander Graham Bell. The first Bell Labs building was in the carriage house of Bell’s father’s house in Washington, D.C.

30A ___-Hulk : SHE

“She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” is a TV miniseries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that originally aired in 2022. The title character is a superhero related to the Hulk. She-Hulk’s alter ego is a lawyer named Jennifer Walters, a cousin to Bruce Banner, alter ego of the Hulk. Walters accidentally gets cross-contaminated with Banner’s blood, resulting in her gaining the superpowers of She-Hulk.

34A Fictional lab assistant with a hunchback : IGOR

The character Igor, the hunchbacked assistant to Dr. Frankenstein, is perhaps as well known as the “good” doctor himself. However, in Mary Shelley’s original 1818 novel “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus”, Dr. Frankenstein works alone. There is no assistant named Igor, nor any hunchbacked lab helper.

36A Capital of the Gem State, in a mailing address : BOISE, ID

Boise, Idaho is the capital and the largest metropolitan area in the state by far. There are a number of stories pertaining to the etymology of the name “Boise”. One is that French trappers called the tree-lined river that ran through the area “la rivière boisée”, meaning “the wooded river”. Boise is known today as “The City of Trees”.

Idaho has the nickname “Gem State”, mainly because almost every known type of gemstone has been found there. Idaho is also sometimes called the Potato State, as potatoes are such a popular crop in the state. I’d go for the potatoes over the gems, but that’s probably just me. Oh, and Idaho license plates have borne the slogan “Famous Potatoes” for decades …

40A M.I.T. Mystery ___ (annual puzzle competition) : HUNT

The MIT Mystery Hunt is an annual event involving teams of students competing to solve extremely complex puzzles. The puzzles are arranged in a series, all pointing to the location of a coin hidden on the MIT campus. The team winning in one year sets the puzzles in the following year.

43A Corrosion signs : RUSTS

Rust is iron oxide. It forms when iron oxidizes, reacts with oxygen.

46A Reader’s Digest or Golf Digest, in brief : MAG

Lila Wallace founded the “Reader’s Digest” along with her husband in 1922, and initially operated out of a basement office in New York City. The initial print runs were limited to about 5,000 copies. At its peak, “Reader’s Digest” had over 100 million readers in 163 countries.

“Golf Digest” is a monthly golf magazine that was founded in 1950. The magazine is noted for its regular listings of “bests” and “greatest”, such as “America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses” and “America’s Top 50 Golf Courses for Women”.

47A Where clams are served : RAW BAR

Almost all of the shellfish consumed at a raw bar is not only uncooked, it is also still alive.

51A Rep.’s counterpart : DEM

The modern-day Democratic Party was founded in 1828, when supporters of Andrew Jackson broke away from the former Democratic-Republican Party during the presidency of John Quincy Adams. That date makes the Democratic Party the oldest voter-based political party in the world. Andrew Jackson became the first Democratic US president, in 1829.

57A Actress Kendrick : ANNA

Anna Kendrick is a marvelous actress whose big break came when she played the sidekick to George Clooney’s character in the very interesting 2009 film “Up in the Air”. Kendrick can sing as well as act, and played a student a cappella singer in the 2012 movie “Pitch Perfect”.

62A Conga, for one : DRUM

The type of drum called a conga is more properly known as a tumbadora. It is regarded as a Cuban instrument today, but it probably evolved from older African drums made from hollowed logs.

63A Chicago’s ___ Planetarium : ADLER

Chicago’s Adler Planetarium opened in 1930, making it the first and oldest planetarium in the Western Hemisphere. The facility is named for Max Adler, a former Sears executive and philanthropist who provided the funds for construction.

Down

7D Roman poet who wrote “Metamorphoses” : OVID

“Metamorphoses” is a narrative poem by Roman poet Ovid that deals with a lofty subject. It describes the history of the world from creation until the “present day”, that is Ovid’s “present day”, the era of Julius Caesar. A lot of the storyline makes use of Greek mythology (rather than Roman).

8D Dull-witted sort : DODO BIRD

The dodo was a direct relative of the pigeon and the dove, although the fully-grown dodo was usually three feet tall. One of the reasons the dodo comes to mind when we think of extinction of a species, is that it disappeared not too long ago (last recorded alive in 1662) and humans were the reason for its demise. The dodo lived exclusively on the island of Mauritius and when humans arrived, we cut back the forests that were its home. We also introduced domestic animals, such as dogs and pigs, that ransacked the dodo’s nests. The dodo was deemed to be an awkward flightless bird and so the term “dodo” has come to mean a dull-witted person.

9D Eschew : AVOID

“To eschew”, meaning “to avoid, shun”, comes from the Old French word “eschiver” that means the same thing.

12D “All Things Considered” airer : NPR

“All Things Considered” is a news broadcast by NPR that airs for two hours every evening.

14D “Fiddlesticks!” : DRAT!

We’ve been using “fiddlesticks” to mean “nonsense” since the early 17th century. Prior to that time, “fiddlestick” just referred to the bow of a fiddle.

21D Kind of number on an old business card : FAX

A facsimile is a copy. The term comes from the Latin phrase “fac simile” meaning “make similar”, with “fac” being the imperative form of “facere”, to make. The term “fax” (as in “fax machine”) is an abbreviated form of “facsimile”.

29D Pinot ___ : NOIR

The pinot noir wine grape variety takes its name from the French for “pine” and “black”. The grapes grow in tight clusters shaped like pine cones, and are very dark in color. The pinot noir grape is most closely associated with Burgundy wines in France, although in recent years the popularity (and price) of California pinot noir wine has soared after it featured so prominently in the wonderful 2004 movie “Sideways”. Grab a bottle of pinot, and go rent the movie …

32D One giving support during childbirth : DOULA

A doula is a person who provides non-medical support for women and their families during childbirth as well as in the period immediately following the arrival. The term “doula” comes from the Ancient Greek word “doule” which means “female slave”. Given such a negative association, “doula” is often dropped in favor of “labor companion” or “birthworker”.

37D Glitterati : IN-CROWDS

“Glitterati” is a melding of the words “glitter” and “literati”. “Literati” refers to the well-educated, literary elite, and “glitterati” was coined in the 1940s to describe their glamorous, celebrity-focused counterparts, the fashionable jet set.

39D Shortfall of exports vis-à-vis imports : TRADE GAP

We can use the French phrase “vis-à-vis” as a preposition meaning “compared with”. When used as an adverb or adjective, it means “face-to-face”, which is a more literal translation from French.

42D One of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean : ANTIGUA

Antigua is an island in the West Indies, and is the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. These twin islands take their names from the Spanish for “ancient” and “bearded”.

The Leeward Islands are a group of islands in the eastern Caribbean. They form the northern part of the island chain known as the Lesser Antilles. The list of Leeward Islands includes the US and British Virgin Islands.

50D Agenda bullet point : ITEM

“Agenda” is a Latin word that translates as “things to be done”, coming from the verb “agere” meaning “to do”.

52D Art supporter : EASEL

The term “easel” comes from an old Dutch word meaning “donkey”, would you believe? The idea is that an easel carries its load (an oil painting, say) just as a donkey would be made to carry a load.

53D Mike who voiced Shrek in “Shrek” : MYERS

Mike Myers does a great British accent, witness his performance in the madcap “Austin Powers” movies. He has an advantage though, as both his parents were British, and lived in Ontario, Canada.

55D Wyatt at the O.K. Corral : EARP

Wyatt Earp is famous as one of the participants in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Earp was a city policeman in Wichita, Kansas and also in Dodge City, Kansas. Earp was also deputy sheriff in Tombstone, Arizona where the O.K. Corral gunfight took place. Years later, Earp joined the Alaska Gold Rush and with a partner built and operated the Dexter Saloon in Nome.

The most famous gunfight in the history of the Old West has to be the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, which took place in Tombstone, Arizona. Strangely enough, the fight didn’t happen at the O.K. Corral, but played out six doors down the street in a vacant lot next to a photography studio.

58D Org. for the Raptors, but not the Blue Jays : NBA

The Raptors are an NBA basketball team based in Toronto, Ontario. The franchise was founded, along with the Vancouver Grizzlies, when the NBA expanded into Canada in 1995. However, the Grizzlies moved to Memphis in 2001, leaving the Raptors as the only Canadian member of the league. The selection of the name “Raptors” in 1995 was strongly influenced by the popularity of the movie “Jurassic Park” in the mid-nineties.

The Toronto Blue Jays baseball franchise was founded in 1977. They are the only team based outside the US to have won a World Series, doing so in 1992 and 1993. And since the Montreal Expos relocated to Washington, the Blue Jays are the only Major League Baseball team now headquartered outside of the US.