Tag: Satchel for a guy crossword clue

Bill’s time: 25m 29s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1. Like a bull in a china shop : CLUMSY

The idiom “like a bull in a china shop” has been around since the early 1800s.

11. Band whose songs are featured in a hit 2001 musical and 2018 movie : ABBA

I am an unapologetic fan of ABBA’s music. ABBA was the Swedish group who topped the charts in the seventies and eighties. The name ABBA is an acronym formed from the first letters of the given names of each of the band members: Agnetha, Benny, Bjorn and Anni-Frid. Early in their careers, the four fell in love and formed two married couples: Agnetha and Bjorn, and Benny and Anni-Frid. However, at the height of their success, the relationships became strained and both couples divorced.

19. Where Hemingway wrote “The Old Man and the Sea” : HAVANA

Ernest Hemingway moved around a lot. He was born in Illinois, and after leaving school headed to the Italian front during WWI. There he served as an ambulance driver, an experience he used as inspiration for “A Farewell to Arms”. He returned to the US after being seriously wounded, but a few years later moved to Paris where he worked as a foreign correspondent. He covered the Spanish War as a journalist, from Spain, using this experience for “For Whom the Bell Tolls”. During the thirties and forties he had two permanent residences, one in Key West, Florida and one in Cuba. In the late fifties he moved to Ketchum, Idaho, where he committed suicide in 1961.

If you’ve read Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man And The Sea” (maybe first at school, like me!) you’ll likely remember it as a quick read as it is a novella, although it might be better described as a “long short story”. It was first published in 1952, the last major work that Hemingway had published in his lifetime. That first publication was as a story in “Life Magazine”, and it was such a hit that the magazine sold 5 million copies in the first two days. “The Old Man and the Sea” won a Pulitzer in 1952 and two years later the title was cited when Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

20. Instrument whose name sounds like a rebuke of Obama’s dog : OBOE

Sunny and Bo are Portuguese water dogs owned by the Obama family. The former First Family chose the Portuguese water dog largely because it is a hypoallergenic breed, and Malia Obama suffers from an allergy to most dogs.

22. River that formed an extension of the Mason-Dixon line : OHIO

The original Mason-Dixon line was surveyed by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in the 1760s. The line was used to resolve a border dispute between some of the original British colonies. The Mason-Dixon now forms part of the state lines of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and West Virginia. The line has come to symbolize the cultural boundary between the Northern and Southern United States.

23. One who’s just moved from Portland? : OREGON TRANSPLANT (from “organ transplant”)

Portland is the largest city in Oregon. The city was founded by two claimholders from back East, one from Boston, Massachusetts and one from Portland, Maine. Both of the founders wanted to name the new city after their hometowns, and settled the dilemma with a coin toss. Portland won …

31. Tennis great who wrote the 2009 tell-all “Open” : AGASSI

Retired tennis professional Andre Agassi has been married to fellow player Steffi Graf since 2001. Agassi wrote an autobiography called “Open”, published in 2009. An amazing revelation in the book is that Agassi’s famous head of hair was actually a wig for much of his playing career. Can you imagine how hard it must have been to play tennis at his level with a rug stuck on?

33. Satchel for a guy : MURSE

A “murse” is a “man purse”. What’s wrong with pockets …?

35. Convert a morgue worker into a spy? : TURN THE CORONER (from “turn the corner”)

The term “coroner” is derived from the Latin “custos placitorum coronae”, which was once the title of the officer responsible for protecting the property of the royal family (“corona” is Latin for “crown”). Over time, the responsibilities of the office narrowed and changed until by the 17th century, the main task was to determine the cause of death in cases not obviously natural.

37. Google ____ : MAPS

Google Maps was developed as a web mapping service for desktops. The (wonderful!) Google Maps mobile app was released in 2008, and is now the most popular smartphone app in the world.

38. Pre-euro currency : LIRA

The word “lira” is used in a number of countries for currency. “Lira” comes from the Latin for “pound” and is derived from a British pound sterling, the value of a Troy pound of silver. For example, the lira (plural “lire”) was the official currency of Italy before the country changed over to the euro in 2002.

39. Smooch : BUSS

To buss is to kiss.

40. Leave gobsmacked : AWE

“Gobsmack” is slang from the British Isles. “Gob” is also slang, for a mouth. So someone who is gobsmacked has received a “smack in the mouth”, is stunned.

44. One of the Leewards : ST MARTIN

The island of Saint Martin is in the Caribbean. Part of Saint Martin is owned by France, and part by the Netherlands. In fact, it is the smallest inhabited sea island in the world that is divided between two nations.

48. LeBron basketball sneaker, e.g.? : KING JAMES BUYABLE (from “King James Bible”)

Basketball player LeBron James (nicknamed “King James”) seems to be in demand for the covers of magazines. James became the first African American man to adorn the front cover of “Vogue” in March 2008. That made him only the third male to make the “Vogue” cover, following Richard Gere and George Clooney.

In 1604, King James I of England convened a conference at Hampton Court in order produce a new translation of the Bible, as the Puritan sect within the church had problems with prior versions. 47 scholars made new translations for the New Testament from Greek and from the Old Testament from Hebrew. The result is the King James Authorized Version.

51. Foe in “Wonder Woman” : ARES

The superhero Wonder Woman first appeared in print in 1941, in a publication from DC Comics. As she was created during WWII, Wonder Woman’s first foes were the axis powers. In the less realistic world her biggest foe was and still is Ares, a “baddie” named for the Greek mythological figure. Wonder Woman had several signature expressions, including “Merciful Minerva!”, “Suffering Sappho!” and “Great Hera!”. She also has several devices that she uses in her quest for justice, e.g. the Lasso of Truth, a pair of indestructible bracelets and a tiara that can be used as a deadly projectile. Wonder Woman uses the name “Diana Prince” when “out of uniform”.

55. – – – : EN DASHES

In typography, there are em dashes and en dashes. The em dash is about the width of an “m” character, and an en dash about half that, the width of an “n’ character. An en dash is used, for example, to separate numbers designating a range, as in 5-10 years. The em dash seems to be going out of style, and indeed the application I am using to write this paragraph won’t let me show you one!

57. Field trip chaperone : PARENT

Traditionally, a chaperone (often “chaperon” in the British Isles) was a woman accompanying a younger unmarried lady in public, with the term “chaperone” originating in France. The French word was used to mean “hood, cowl” going back to the 12th century, a diminutive of “chape” meaning “cape”. So, out word “chaperone” has the same roots as our word “cape” and indeed “cap”. The idea is that a chaperone is “covering” someone who is vulnerable socially.

60. Celebrity chef Oliver : JAMIE

Jamie Oliver is a celebrity chef from England who has authored a string of successful cookbooks, such as “Jamie’s Kitchen”, “Jamie’s Dinners” and “Jamie’s America”. Oliver has also been known as the Naked Chef since he filmed his first television show in the late nineties. The show’s title “The Naked Chef” is a reference to the simplicity of Oliver’s recipes, and not to a lifestyle choice …

62. Will of “Arrested Development” : ARNETT

Will Arnett is a Canadian actor who got his big break in the Fox show “Arrested Development”. Arnett’s father was the president and CEO of Molson Breweries, and Will was married to actress Penelope Ann Miller and actress/comedian Amy Poehler.

“Arrested Development” is a sitcom that originally aired on Fox from 2003 to 2006. Ron Howard was heavily involved in the show behind the camera, serving as executive producer and also as the show’s narrator. Fifteen new episodes of “Arrested Development” were filmed specifically for release on Netflix in 2013, and there may even be a movie on the way.

65. Flower said to cover the plains of Hades : ASPHODEL

Hades was the god of the underworld to the ancient Greeks. Over time, Hades gave his name to the underworld itself, the place where the dead reside. The term “Hades” was also adopted into the Christian tradition, as an alternative name for hell. But, the concept of hell in Christianity is more akin to the Greek “Tartarus”, which is a dark and gloomy dungeon located in Hades, a place of suffering and torment.

68. Brand of 33-Down : RAGU
(33D. Dip for mozzarella sticks : MARINARA)

The Ragú brand of pasta sauce is owned by Unilever. The name ” Ragù” is the Italian word for a sauce used to dress pasta, however the spelling is off a little. In Italian the word is “Ragù” with a grave accent over the “u”, but if you look at a jar of the sauce on the supermarket shelf it is spelled “Ragú” on the label, with an acute accent. Sometimes I think we just don’t try …

69. Intense blowback against a signature Trump policy proposal? : RIOTING ON THE WALL (from “writing on the wall”)

There has been a lot of talk about a particular border wall in recent times, but one such barrier that doesn’t get a lot of news coverage in the US is the one being built by the Iranians along the Iran-Pakistan border. The so-called Iran-Pakistan Barrier will extend across 700 kilometers of the desert, and is ten-foot high and three-foot thick concrete wall.

72. Large mobile devices, to use a modern portmanteau : PHABLETS

A phablet is a mobile device with that’s a little larger than the average smartphone, but a little smaller than the average tablet. “Phablet” is a portmanteau of “phone” and “tablet”. The first really successful phablet is the Galaxy Note, which was introduced by Samsung in 2011.

74. Hair net : SNOOD

A “snood” is a net or a bag worn over the hair. “Snood” comes from the Old English word “snod” meaning a ribbon for the hair.

75. Amazon threat : BOA

Boa constrictors are members of the Boidae family of snakes, all of which are non-venomous. Interestingly, the female boa is always larger than the male.

76. Muppet eagle : SAM

The most overtly patriotic Muppet by far is Sam Eagle.

79. Highest draft category : ONE-A

The US government maintains information on all males who are potentially subject to military conscription, using what is called the Selective Service System (SSS). In the event that a draft was held, men registered would be classified into groups to determine eligibility for service. Class 1-A registrants are those available for unrestricted military service. Other classes are 1-A-O (conscientious objector available for noncombatant service), 4-A (registrant who has completed military service) and 4-D (Minister of religion).

80. Garbage barge : SCOW

A scow is a flat-bottomed boat with squared-off ends that’s often used for transportation, usually pushed or pulled by a barge. Often a scow can be seen carrying junk or garbage.

81. Tour de France setting : ALPS

Back in the late 1800s, long-distance cycle races were used as promotional events, traditionally to help boost sales of newspapers. These races usually took place around tracks, but in 1902 the backers of the struggling sports publication “L’Auto” decided to stage a race that would take the competitors all around France. That first Tour de France took place in 1903, starting in Paris and passing through Lyon, Marseilles, Bordeaux, Nantes and then back to Paris.

82. Bad person to get paired with for a class assignment? : PROJECT RUNAWAY (from “Project Runway”)

“Project Runway” is a reality show that is hosted by model Heidi Klum. On the show, contestants compete by presenting clothes designs having been given limited time and materials. “Project Runway” is now a worldwide franchise. North of the border, the show is called “Project Runway Canada” and is hosted by supermodel Iman. The show in the UK is known as “Project Catwalk” and has had several hosts, including Elizabeth Hurley and Kelly Osbourne.

87. Bender : SPREE

The terms “jag” and “bender” describe periods of unrestrained activity, particularly those involving alcohol. Both words have been in use since the 1800s.

91. Gulf mogul : EMIR

A mogul is a person with power. The term comes from the Mughal emperors of India and South Asia.

98. Triple-A requests : TOWS

The American Automobile Association (AAA) is a not-for-profit organization focused on lobbying, provision of automobile servicing, and selling of automobile insurance. The AAA was founded in 1902 in Chicago and published the first of its celebrated hotel guides back in 1917.

101. Trainer of Rey in “The Last Jedi” : LUKE

When the character Luke Skywalker was created for “Star Wars”, he was named “Annikin Starkiller”. Conceptually, he was a 60-year-old war veteran for a while, and also a female at one point. Luke is played by actor Mark Hamill in the “Star Wars” films.

Rey is a central character in the “Star Wars” universe. She first appeared in 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”. Rey is played by British actress Daisy Ridley.

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” is a 2017 movie from the “Star Wars” film franchise, and the second installment of the “Star Wars” sequel trilogy. The title character is Luke Skywalker, played by Mark Hamill. Ah, but is Luke in fact the “last Jedi”?

104. Ontario city across the river from Buffalo, for short : FT ERIE

The original Fort Erie was built by the British in 1764. The current structure can be visited today and is located in the province of Ontario, just across the Niagara River from the city of Buffalo, New York.

105. Craftsy online store : ETSY

Etsy.com is an e-commerce website where you can buy and sell the kind of items that you might find at a craft fair.

106. Cay : ISLE

A “key” (also “cay”) is a low offshore island, as in the Florida Keys. Our term in English comes from the Spanish “cayo” meaning “shoal, reef”.

108. Exemplar of cruelty : SADIST

A sadist is someone who derives pleasure from inflicting pain, with that pleasure often being sexual in nature. The term “sadist” comes from the Marquis de Sade, who was known to exhibit such tendencies.

Down

3. Colored layer : UVEA

The uvea is the middle of the three layers that make up the eyeball. The outer layer is called the fibrous tunic, and the inner layer is the retina.

4. Hungarians, by another name : MAGYARS

Hungary is a country in Central Europe that has become a popular tourist destination since the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in 1989. Hungarians refer to themselves as “Magyars”.

6. Northerner : YANKEE

The term “Yankee” originated back in the 1600s when Dutch settlers used to call English colonists “Jankes”, a disparaging term meaning “Little Johns”.

7. One of the Gilmore Girls : RORY

“Gilmore Girls” is a comedy show that originally aired from 2000 to 2007 on the WB. The title characters are mother and daughter Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, played by Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel.

8. Old sports org. with the Kentucky Colonels : ABA

The Kentucky Colonels were an American Basketball Association team who played for the nine-year life of the American Basketball Association (ABA). Based in Louisville, the team folded when the ABA and NBA merged in 1976.

9. U.S. food giant : CONAGRA

ConAgra foods is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Even the name of the company defines it as the antithesis of the local “farmers market”. ConAgra is derived from the words “consolidated” and “agriculture”.

12. Fad toy of the 1990s : BEANIE BABY

There were originally just nine Beanie Babies when Ty Warner introduced the stuffed animal in 1993. In the late nineties the toy became a real fad, largely due to innovative marketing techniques. For example, there was no mass marketing with constant TV ads, and the production volume was limited pushing the line into the realm of collectibles. Beanie Baby models were also “retired” on a regular basis, fueling a “must have” behavior in the market.

16. Yellowfin : AHI TUNA

Yellowfin and bigeye tuna are usually marketed as “ahi”, the Hawaiian name. They are both big fish, with yellowfish tuna often weighing over 300 pounds, and bigeye tuna getting up to 400 pounds.

29. Language of Omar Khayyam’s “Rubáiyát” : FARSI

“Farsi” is one of the local names for the Persian language.

Omar Khayyam was a Persian with many talents. He was a poet as well as an important mathematician, astronomer and physician. A selection of his poems were translated by one Edward Fitzgerald in a collection called “Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam”. Here are some famous lines from that collection:

Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse — and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness —
And Wilderness is Paradise enow.

33. Dip for mozzarella sticks : MARINARA

Italians use the term “marinara” not for a sauce, but in the name of a recipe that includes a tomato-based sauce. For example, “spaghetti alla marinara” would be a spaghetti dish, served “mariner’s style”. The tomato sauce that we call “marinara” is called “salsa di pomodoro” in Italy.

36. Biceps exercise : CURL

The biceps muscle is made up of two bundles of muscle, both of which terminate at the same point near the elbow. The heads of the bundles terminate at different points on the scapula or shoulder blade. “Biceps” is Latin for “two-headed”.

42. Gig for an aspiring electronic musician : DJ SET

Musicians use “gig” to describe a job, a performance. The term originated in the early 1900s in the world of jazz. The derivative phrase “gig economy” applies to a relatively recent phenomenon where workers find themselves jumping from temporary job to temporary job, from gig to gig.

46. What “#” means in chess notation : MATE

In the game of chess, when the king is under immediate threat of capture it is said to be “in check”. If the king cannot escape from check, then the game ends in “checkmate” and the player in check loses. In the original Sanskrit game of chess, the king could actually be captured. Then a rule was introduced requiring that a warning be given if capture was imminent (today we announce “check!”) so that an accidental and early ending to the game doesn’t occur.

54. Popular Belgian brews, informally : STELLAS

The Belgian beer Stella Artois is named for the brewer Sebastianus Artois. Artois was the master brewer at the Den Hoorn Brewery in Leuven, Belgium in the early 1700s. The Den Hoorn Brewery has been around at least since 1366 … yes, 1366!

60. Ballet jump : JETE

A jeté is a leap in ballet, with the term “jeté” coming from the French word “jeter” meaning “to throw”. A “jeté en avant” is a “leap to the front”, towards the audience. A “grand jeté” is a long horizontal jump, a split in the air, leaping from one foot to the other.

64. Provider of green juice? : SOLAR PANEL

Solar panels are arrays of solar cells that make use of what’s known as the photovoltaic effect. We are more likely to have learned about the photoelectric effect in school, in which electrons were ejected from the surface of some materials when it was exposed to light or other forms of radiation. The photovoltaic effect is related but different. Instead of being electrons ejected from the surface, in the photovoltaic effect electrons move around in the material creating a difference in voltage.

67. Vietnamese broth-and-noodles soup : PHO

Pho is a noodle soup from Vietnam that is a popular street food.

71. Academy Awards prop : OSCAR

Legend has it that actor Emilio Fernández was the model for the Oscar statuette. Cedric Gibbons, art director at MGM, created the design and supposedly convinced a reluctant Fernández to pose nude for “Oscar”.

77. Words from a T.S.A. agent before a pat-down : ARMS OUT

Transportation Security Administration (TSA)

78. Punk rock hairstyles : MOHAWKS

Here is another example of a difference in terminology on either side of the Atlantic. What we call the Mohawk hairstyle in the US is known as a Mohican in the British Isles. The Mohawk hairstyle is named after the Mohawk nation, who wore their hair in the same fashion. The Mohawk style has been around for a long time elsewhere in the world. There was a well-preserved male body found in a bog near Dublin in Ireland in 2003. The body is about 2,000 years old, and has the Mohawk haircut.

81. U.S.P.S. package status : ARRIVED

The US Postal Service (USPS) is a remarkable agency in many ways. For starters, the government’s right and responsibility to establish the Post Office is specifically called out in Article One of the US constitution. Also, the first postmaster general was none other than Benjamin Franklin. And, the USPS operates over 200,000 vehicles, which is the largest vehicle fleet in the world.

83. Purchase at a sports stadium : JERSEY

We use the word “jersey” for a sports shirt worn by a particular team member, one that usually bears the player’s name and team number. Back in the mid-1800s, the term was used for a knitted shirt or close-fitting tunic. The item of clothing was named for Jersey in the Channel Islands off the coast of France. The island was famous for its knitting trade during the Middle Ages.

84. Sophisticated : URBANE

We use “urbane” today to mean something courteous or refined. Back in the 1500s, the term was used in the same way that we now use “urban”. Those townsfolk thought they were more sophisticated than the country folk, and so the usage evolved.

87. Blue man group? : SMURFS

The Smurfs are little blue people created in 1958 by the Belgian cartoonist who went by the pen name Peyo. The Smurfs became famous in the US when Hanna-Barbera used them in a children’s cartoon series. The characters are largely a group of males. The original lineup included just one “Smurfette”, who is wooed by almost all of the boy Smurfs. Later, another female was introduced into the mix called Sassette, and still later along came Granny Smurf.

88. Something made to be destroyed : PINATA

Piñatas originated in Mexico, probably among the Aztecs or Mayans. Today piñatas are usually made from cardboard that is brightly decorated with papier-mâché. Traditionally a piñata was made out of a clay pot, adorned with feathers and ribbons and filled with small treasures. During religious ceremonies the clay pots would be suspended and broken open so that the contents would spill out onto the ground at the feet of a god as an offering.

91. Where soccer was invented: Abbr. : ENG

Soccer (also known as “association football”) is the most popular sport in the world. The term “association football” was introduced in 1863 in England, with the name chosen to distinguish the sport from rugby football. The term “soccer” started to appear about 20 years later in Oxford, as an abbreviation for “association”.

93. Hitchcock triple feature? : CEES

There are three letters C (cees) in the word “Hitchcock”.

95. “Hey ____” (start of a phone voice command) : SIRI

Siri is a software application that works with Apple’s iOS operating system. “Siri” is an acronym standing for Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface. Voice-over artist Susan Bennett revealed herself as the female American voice of Siri a few years ago. The British version of Siri is called Daniel, and the Australian version is called Karen. Also, “Siri” is a Norwegian name meaning “beautiful woman who leads you to victory”, and was the name the developer had chosen for his first child.

96. R&B great Redding : OTIS

Otis Redding is often referred to as the “King of Soul”, and what a voice he had. Like so many of the greats in the world of popular music it seems, Redding was killed in a plane crash, in 1967 when he was just 26 years old. Just three days earlier he had recorded what was to be his biggest hit, “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay”.

97. A bit of disputin’ from Putin? : NYET

“Nyet” is Russian for “no”, and “da” is Russian for “yes”.

Vladimir Putin became acting President of Russia at the very end of 1999 when Boris Yeltsin resigned. Putin was elected in his own right in 2000, re-elected in 2004, and then ran up against a term limit in 2008. In 2008 Putin was appointed by his successor, President Dmitry Medvedev, to the position of Prime Minister. Putin is a controversial figure, inside and outside Russia. On the one hand he led the country out of an economic crisis into a period of stability and relative prosperity. On the other hand he has been associated with government corruption and accused of allowing private concerns to have undue influence on government actions. And then, along came the 2016 US presidential election …

100. Clickable tag on BuzzFeed beside “LOL” and “WTF” : OMG

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

BuzzFeed is an Internet media company that was founded in 2006 in New York City.