Tag: Ruler’s length crossword clue

Bill’s time: 8m 39s

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Indian megacity of 16+ million : DELHI

New Delhi is the capital city of India. The city resides within the National Capital Territory of Delhi (otherwise known as the metropolis of Delhi). New Delhi and Delhi, therefore, are two different things.

11A Text initialism that’s the name of a 2010 Usher hit : OMG

“OMG” is text-speak for “Oh My Gosh!” “Oh My Goodness!” or any other G-words you might care to use …

“Usher” is the stage name of R&B singer Usher Terry Raymond IV.

14A Like some walls at Harvard and Dartmouth : IVIED

The term “Ivy League” originally defined an athletic conference, but now it is used to describe a group of schools of higher education that are associated with both a long tradition and academic excellence. The eight Ivy League Schools are: Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale.

Harvard University was founded in 1636 as New College, the college at New Towne. The school was renamed three years later after John Harvard, a deceased clergyman and who donated books and money.

Dartmouth College is an Ivy League school in Hanover, New Hampshire. It was established in 1769 as a school designed to educate Native Americans in the English way of life and in Christian theology.

15A “Casablanca” actor’s nickname : BOGIE

Humphrey “Bogie” Bogart’s breakthrough movie was “The Petrified Forest” from 1936, but for me nothing beats “Casablanca”. That said, check out the original “Sabrina” from 1954. It’s a real delight. Bogie was nominated three times for a Best Actor Oscar, but only won once: for “The African Queen”.

The movie “Casablanca” was released in January of 1943, timed to coincide with the Casablanca Conference, the high-level meeting between Roosevelt and Churchill. The film wasn’t a box-office hit, but gained critical acclaim, winning three Oscars including Best Picture. The signature song “As Time Goes By” was written many years earlier for a 1931 Broadway musical called “Everybody’s Welcome”, and was a hit in 1931 for Rudy Vallee. But today we all remember the Casablanca version, sung by Dooley Wilson (who played “Sam” in the film). Poor Dooley didn’t get to record it as a single, due to a musician’s strike in 1943. The 1931 Rudy Vallee version was re-released that year and became an even bigger hit second time round.

16A Actress Long or Peeples : NIA

Nia Long is an actress who is probably best known for playing Will Smith’s sometime girlfriend and fiancee Lisa Wilkes on the TV show “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”.

Actress Nia Peeples played the character Nicole Chapman in the TV series “Fame”. Peeples is also a successful singer, having released the 1988 song “Trouble” that made it to #35 in the Billboard charts.

17A Native American rite of passage : VISION QUEST

A vision quest is a sacred rite of passage in many Native American cultures in which a young person spends several days alone in nature to seek spiritual guidance. The ceremony usually involves several days alone in nature at a sacred site, while fasting completely. The participant is seeking a vision, something to help them perhaps find their life purpose, or maybe their role in the community.

19A Explosive item for Wile E. Coyote : TNT

Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner are two much-loved cartoon characters from Warner Bros. Wile E. Coyote was created first, and Road Runner was invented as someone for Wile E. to play off. I love this cartoon; it’s definitely one of the best …

22A Clarified butter : GHEE

Ghee is clarified butter used in South Asian cuisines. “Ghee” comes from Sanskrit, and translates as “sprinkled”.

23A Roof type with removable panels : T-TOP

A T-top is a car roof that has removable panels on either side of a rigid bar that runs down the center of the vehicle above the driver.

25A Girl encouraged to wake up, in a 1957 #1 Everly Brothers hit : SUSIE

“Wake Up Little Susie” is a song most famously associated with the Everly Brothers, as it was a hit for the duo in 1957. “Wake Up Little Susie” is, or at least used to be, the favorite song of President George W. Bush.

27A Heartbeat tests, in brief : EKGS

An EKG measures the electrical activity in the heart. Back in my homeland of Ireland, an EKG is known as an ECG (for electrocardiogram). We use the German name in the US, Elektrokardiogramm, giving us EKG. Apparently the abbreviation EKG is preferred, as ECG might be confused (if poorly handwritten, I guess) with EEG, the abbreviation for an electroencephalogram.

30A Jewish rite of passage : BAR MITZVAH

A Jewish girl becomes a bat mitzvah at 12 years of age, the age at which she becomes responsible for her actions. Boys become bar mitzvahs at 13. The terms translate into English as daughter and son of the commandments.

34A L.L.Bean competitor : REI

REI is a sporting goods store, with the initialism standing for Recreational Equipment Inc. REI was founded in Seattle by Lloyd and Mary Anderson in 1938 as a cooperative that supplies quality climbing gear to outdoor enthusiasts. The first full-time employee hired by the Andersons was Jim Whittaker, who was the first American to climb Mount Everest.

L.L.Bean (note the lack of spaces in the company name) was founded back in 1912 in Freeport, Maine as a company selling its own line of waterproof boots. The founder, Leon Leonwood Bean, gave his name to the enterprise. Right from the start, L.L.Bean focused on mail-order and sold from a circular he distributed and then from a catalog. Defects in the initial design led to 90% of the first boots sold being returned, and the company made good on its guarantee to replace them or give back the money paid.

35A “___ of Dogs” (2018 film) : ISLE

“Isle of Dogs” is a 2018 animated and stop-action film by Wes Anderson. The movie has a science-fiction storyline, and is set in near-future Japan. All dogs are banished to Trash Island after an outbreak of dog flu threatens to cross into the human population. The voice cast of “Isle of Dogs” is very impressive, and includes Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Frances McDormand, Scarlett Johansson, Yoko Ono and many other A-list names.

37A N.F.L. player in a purple uniform : RAVEN

The name of the Baltimore Ravens football team has a literary derivation. Baltimore was the home of the writer Edgar Allan Poe, and so the team took its moniker from his most famous poem, “The Raven”. The name was selected in a fan contest. Baltimore’s mascot is a raven named Poe. Prior to the 2008 season, the Ravens had a trio of avian mascots: Edgar, Allan and Poe.

41A Strong point : FORTE

A person’s forte is their strength. The term “forte” came into English via French from the Latin “fortis” meaning strong. “Forte” (F) is also a musical direction meaning “loud”.

46A Lead-in to X, Y or Z : GEN-

The term “Generation X” originated in the UK where it was the name of a book by Jane Deverson. Her book detailed the results of a study of British youths in 1964, contrasting their lifestyle to those of previous generations. It was Canadian author Douglas Coupland who was responsible for popularizing the term, with his more successful publication “Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture”. By one definition, Gen Xers were born between 1961 and 1981.

The Millennial Generation are sometimes referred to as “Generation Y” (Gen-Y). Millennials were born after the “Gen-Xers”, from the early 1980s to the early 2000s.

Definitions vary, but it seems that the term “Generation Z” is reserved for the children of “Generation X”, and for the generation that follows the “Millennials” (Generation Y). Gen Zers are also known as “Zoomers”, a portmanteau of “Z” and “boomer” (as in “baby boomer”).

47A Amish rite of passage : RUMSPRINGA

“Rumspringa”, from Pennsylvania German meaning “running around,” is a period during adolescence for some Amish youth, typically starting around age 16. It’s a time when they experience greater freedom and may explore aspects of the non-Amish world before deciding whether to be baptized into the Amish church or leave the community.

49A More than giga-, less than peta- : TERA-

The prefix “tera-” signifies a trillion, and comes from the Greek word “teras” meaning “monster”.

51A Each “point” of Taurus’s horns, e.g. : STAR

Taurus (Latin for “bull”) is a large constellation seen in the winter sky in the northern hemisphere. The brightest star in Taurus is the red giant Aldebaran. NASA space probe Pioneer 10, launched in 1972, is heading towards Aldebaran after having completed its primary mission close to Jupiter. The probe should get to Aldebaran about two million years from now. Watch this space …

57A Beethoven work originally titled “Bonaparte,” after Napoleon : EROICA

Beethoven originally dedicated his “Symphony No. 3” to Napoleon Bonaparte. Beethoven admired the principles of the French Revolution and as such respected Bonaparte who was “born” out of the uprising. When Napoleon declared himself Emperor, Beethoven (and much of Europe) saw this as a betrayal to the ideals of the revolution so he changed the name of his new symphony from “Bonaparte” to “Eroica”, meaning “heroic, valiant”.

61A Kimono sash : OBI

The lovely Japanese kimono is a garment worn by men, women and children. The word “kimono” translates simply as “thing to wear”, with “ki” meaning “wear” and “mono” meaning “thing”.

62A “Seinfeld” catchphrase … or, when parsed as three words, how a participant of 17-, 30- or 47-Across might be greeted? : HELLO, NEWMAN

Wayne Knight’s most famous role is Newman in the sitcom “Seinfeld”. Knight also had a small role in a very famous movie scene, playing one of the police officers interrogating Sharon Stone’s character in “Basic Instinct”.

64A Dallas baller : MAV

The Mavericks (also “Mavs”) are an NBA franchise in Dallas, Texas. The team was founded in 1980, and the Mavericks name was chosen by fan votes. The choice of “Mavericks” was prompted by the fact that the actor James Garner was a part-owner of the team, and Garner of course played the title role in the “Maverick” television series.

65A Kind of pipe or patch : BRIAR

The wood of the plant known as tree heath is called briar root and is extremely heat-resistant. As a result, briar root is used to make smoking pipes.

“Briar” (sometimes “brier”) is a generic name describing several plants that have thorns or prickles, including the rose. Famously, Br’er Rabbit lives in a briar patch.

66A Like an Islay single malt, to Scotch enthusiasts : PEATY

Peat is partially decayed vegetation found in bogs, and its smoke is used in the malting process of barley to impart a distinctive smoky flavor to certain whiskies, particularly Scotch whiskies from Islay.

Islay is the most southerly of the islands in the Inner Hebrides on the west coast of Scotland. There are about 30,000 people living on Islay, with about a quarter of that population speaking Scottish Gaelic.

68A Great Plains nation : OSAGE

The Osage Nation originated in the Ohio River valley in what we now call Kentucky. The name “Osage” was first used by French traders for the people who called themselves “Ni-U-Ko’n-Ska”, meaning “Children of the Middle Water”.

69A Pittsburgh-based industrial giant : ALCOA

The Aluminum Corporation of America (ALCOA) is the largest producer of aluminum in the United States. The company was founded in 1888 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where its headquarters are to this day.

Down

1D Melodramatic sort : DIVA

The term “diva” comes to us from Latin via Italian. It is the feminine form of “divus” meaning “divine one”. The word is used in Italy to mean “goddess” or “fine lady”, and especially is applied to the prima donna in an opera. We often use the term to describe a singer with a big ego.

A melodrama is a play or film that usually pits good against evil, with an obvious hero or heroine vying against an obvious villain. Melodrama has evolved over time, originating in the 18th century as a drama for which there was a musical accompaniment. The term is derived from the Greek “melos” meaning “music” and the French “drame” meaning “drama”.

2D Like Cinderella’s stepmother : EVIL

The folktale usually known as “Cinderella” was first published by French author Charles Perrault in 1697, although it was later included by the Brothers Grimm in their famous 1812 collection. The storyline of the tale may date back as far as the days of ancient Greece. A common alternative title to the story is “The Little Glass Slipper”.

3D Rapper in K-pop’s Blackpink : LISA

Blackpink is a girl group from South Korea that was formed in 2016. By all accounts, Blackpink has gained more international success than any other female Korean act.

4D Jobs in “Heat” and “Ocean’s Eleven” : HEISTS

“Heat” is a 1995 action movie starring Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Val Kilmer. Pacino plays an LAPD detective on the trail of a big-time thief played by De Niro. The storyline is based on the real-world interactions between Chicago cop Chuck Adamson and ex-Alcatraz inmate Neil McCauley.

“Ocean’s 11” is a great film from 1960, starring Frank Sinatra as Danny Ocean. The original storyline is updated for the excellent 2001 remake, with George Clooney playing the lead. In the 1960 movie, the love interest is a character called Beatrice Ocean, played by Angie Dickinson. In the 2001 version, the love interest gets a new name, Tess Ocean, and is played by Julia Roberts. The 2001 remake (titled “Ocean’s Eleven”, note the spelling) spawned two sequels: “Ocean’s Twelve” in 2004 and “Ocean’s Thirteen” in 2007.

9D British cookie : BISCUIT

Our word “biscuit” comes from the Medieval Latin “biscotum” meaning “twice-baked”. This etymology reflects the original two-step process used to make biscuits. After initially baking at a relatively high temperature, biscuits were then dried out in an oven set at a lower temperature.

18D Rookies, to gamers : NOOBS

“Noob” (sometimes “newb” or “n00b”) is a not-so-nice, slang term for a “newbie”, and often refers to someone who is new to an online community.

The term “rookie”, used for a raw recruit, first appeared in Rudyard Kipling’s collection of songs and poems called the “Barrack-Room Ballads”, which was originally published in 1892.

22D Doohickey : GIZMO

The word “gizmo” (also “gismo”), meaning something the name of which is unknown or forgotten, was originally slang used by both the US Navy and the Marine Corps. The exact origin seems unknown.

24D Sources of lines for a reading, maybe : PALM

In the practice called palmistry, someone might tell your fortune by interpreting the lines and other features seen on the palm of your hand. The lines in the palm have names such as life line, head line, heart line and fate line. The life line is the curve that sweeps around in an arc centered at the base of the thumb.

26D Like some upper lips and drinks : STIFF

The phrase “stiff upper lip” is a common metaphor for stoicism, reflecting a “keep calm and carry on” attitude. It is a term usually associated with the British, even though the expression is said to have originated in American newspapers in the early 19th century. There is a popular, 1963 novel P.G. Wodehouse novel that uses it in the title: “Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves”.

28D Reeves of “Hardball” : KEANU

Keanu Reeves is a Canadian actor whose most celebrated roles were a metalhead in “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” (1989), a cop in “Speed” (1994) and the protagonist Neo in “The Matrix” series of films. Although Reeves is a Canadian national, he was born in Beirut, Lebanon. Reeves has some Hawaiian descent, and the name “Keanu” is Hawaiian for “the coolness” or “cool breeze”.

“Hardball” is a 2001 film in which Keanu Reeves plays an indebted gambler who is forced to coach a baseball team of troubled fifth-graders. The film is inspired by a true story, and a book by Daniel Coyle titled “Hardball: A Season in the Projects”. However, the real-life coach Bob Muzikowski attempted to get the film’s release blocked as he claimed that it misrepresented him and the kids on the team.

33D Any of Scar’s underlings in “The Lion King” : HYENA

The highly successful stage musical “The Lion King” started out life as a 1994 animated feature film of the same name from the Disney studio. The film is the highest earning traditionally-animated feature of all time. The animated film “Finding Nemo” has made more money, but it was created using computer animation.

35D Unfit for the job : INEPT

If one is capable, one might jokingly be described as “ept”, the ostensible opposite of “inept”.

38D Bar exam component : ESSAY

The legal profession is referred to as “the bar”. The term arose in medieval times when European courtrooms were divided into two with “barring” furniture, basically a wooden rail that separated the public from the participants in the trial.

45D Like some Quaker products : OATEN

The Quaker Oats Company was founded in 1901 when four oat mills merged, including the Quaker Mill Company of Ravenna, Ohio. Quaker Mill’s owner Henry Parsons Crowell played the key role in creating the new company and remained at the helm until 1943.

49D Cement spreader : TROWEL

The terms “cement”, “mortar” and ”concrete” are related, and tend to get confused at times. Cement is a binder that hardens over time and binds other materials together. Cement mixed with a fine aggregate forms mortar, a workable paste used to bind building blocks together. Cement mixed with sand and gravel forms concrete, a pourable slurry that hardens into an extremely robust building material.

52D Snack similar to a gordita : AREPA

An arepa is a cornmeal cake or bread that is popular in Colombian and Venezuelan cuisines in particular. Each arepa has a flat, round shape and is often split to make a sandwich.

A gordita is a thick tortilla pocket in Mexican cuisine made from masa dough and stuffed with savory fillings like cheese, beans, or chicharrón (fried pork skins). The name “gordita” literally translates to “little fat one” or “chubby”, referring to the pastry’s plump shape (and not me, after eating too many of them).

56D Foundry waste : SLAG

The better ores are processed in a blast furnace, to extract the metal. The waste from this process is called “slag”. Slag does contain some residual metal and it can be processed further in a slag furnace to extract the balance. Slag furnaces also accept lower-quality ores as a raw material.

59D Adversary of Julius Caesar : CATO

Cato the Younger was a politician in the late Roman Republic. He was noted for his moral integrity, and his ability as an orator. He is also remembered for an extended conflict that he had with Julius Caesar.

60D Actress Taylor-Joy of “The Gorge” : ANYA

Actress Anya Taylor-Joy had quite the international upbringing. She was born in Miami, and raised in Buenos Aires and then London. She is perhaps best known for playing the title character in the 2020 film adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Emma”, and the lead role in the Netflix miniseries “The Queen’s Gambit”.

62D “The Penguin” airer : HBO

“The Penguin” is a TV miniseries that serves as a sequel spinoff from the 2022 movie “The Batman”. Irish actor Colin Farrell plays the title character in the TV show, as he did in the film.