Tag: Steeping container crossword clue

Bill’s time: 7m 27s

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

11A Form of poetry Pablo Neruda used to praise socks, onions and salt : ODE

“Odes to Common Things” is a collection of poems by Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. Included in the list of 25 odes are “Ode to the Table”, “Ode to the Dog”, “Ode to the Artichoke”, “Ode to French Fries” and “Ode to Things”.

14A Realm of the Aztecs or Incas : EMPIRE

The Aztec people of Central America dominated the region in the 14th – 16th centuries. Two traits of the Aztec people are oft cited today. They built some magnificent pyramids, and they also engaged in human sacrifice. The two traits were linked in a way … for the consecration of the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan, 84,400 prisoners were sacrificed over a period of four days.

The Inca Empire was known as the Tawantinsuyu, which translates as “land of the four quarters”. It was a federal organization with a central government that sat above four “suyu” or “quarters”, four administrative regions.

16A ___ de plume : NOM

“Nom de plume” translates from French simply as “pen name”.

17A Mentor from the beyond : SPIRIT GUIDE

Spirit Airlines is a low-cost carrier based in Miramar, Florida that was founded as Charter One in 1980. That said, the 1980 airline service was established as a branch of Clipper Trucking Company that dated back to 1964. Spirit started its ultra-low-fare service in 2007.

19A Whitney who invented the cotton gin : ELI

The term “cotton gin” is a contraction of “cotton eng-ine”. The gin is a machine that mechanically separates cotton fibers from the cotton seed. The modern version of the cotton gin was invented by Eli Whitney in 1793.

22A Grifters’ schemes : CONS

Grift is money made dishonestly, especially as the result of a swindle. The term is perhaps an alteration of the word “graft”, which can have a similar meaning.

25A Major charity whose recipients include the Red Cross and Salvation Army : UNITED WAY

United Airlines (UAL) has a complicated history, but can trace its roots back to Aviation Enterprises, founded in 1944 and later called Texas International. The first use of the “United” name in the company’s history was when airplane pioneer William Boeing merged his Boeing Air Transport with Pratt & Whitney to form the United Aircraft and Transport Corporation (UATC) in 1929. The Air Mail Act of 1934 required that UATC be broken up into United Aircraft (which became United Technologies), the Boeing Aircraft Company and United Air Lines.

28A Lexington or Madison in N.Y.C.: Abbr. : AVE

Lexington Avenue in New York City is famous for many things, but my favorite fact is that it was the site of the first ever arrest for speeding in the city. In 1899 a police officer on a bicycle caught up with a cab driver who was tearing down Lexington Avenue, at the breakneck speed of 12mph …

Madison Avenue became the center of advertising in the US in the twenties, and serves as the backdrop to the great TV drama “Mad Men”. There aren’t many advertising agencies left on Madison Avenue these days though, as most have moved to other parts of New York City. The street takes its name from Madison Square, which is bounded on one side by Madison Avenue. The square in turn takes its name from James Madison, the fourth President of the United States.

29A Mo. with Aries and Taurus signs : APR

Aries the Ram is the first astrological sign in the Zodiac, and is named after the constellation. Your birth sign is Aries if you were born between March 21 and April 20, but if you are an Aries you would know that! “Aries” is the Latin word for “ram”.

Taurus is the birth sign for those born between April 20 to May 20. “Taurus” is Latin for “bull”.

32A Offering from an entrepreneurial child’s stand : LEMONADE

An entrepreneur is someone who takes on most aspects of a business venture, from the original idea to the execution. The term is imported from French, with “entreprendre” meaning “to undertake”. The original usage in English dates back to the early 1800s, when it applied to a manager and promoter of a theatrical production.

36A Wild West way of settling disputes : FRONTIER JUSTICE

Frontier Airlines is a passenger service based in Denver, Colorado that was founded in 1994 after Continental shut down its hub at Denver’s Stapleton Airport. The name “Frontier Airlines” had been associated with Denver since 1950. A separate company called Frontier Airlines operated out of Denver from 1950 until 1986.

41A Broadway’s ___-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 2016 Disney animated feature “Moana”. He started composing early, and wrote jingles as a child.

43A Starbucks alternatives from the Golden Arches : MCCAFES

McCafé is a chain of coffeehouses owned by McDonald’s. The first McCafé was opened by a McDonald’s franchisee in Australia, after which the company took the concept worldwide. McCafé is the most successful coffee shop brand in Australia and New Zealand.

47A B&B : INN

In the US, an intimate inn is a bed & breakfast (B&B). When I lived there, a bed & breakfast back in Ireland was more basic accommodation, and used to be much cheaper than a comparable hotel room.

48A Bambi’s mother, for one : DOE

The 1942 Disney classic “Bambi” is based on a book written by Felix Salten called “Bambi, A Life in the Woods”. There is a documented phenomenon known as the Bambi Effect, whereby people become more interested in animal rights after having watched the scene where Bambi’s mother is shot by hunters.

49A 1972 country hit for Tanya Tucker : DELTA DAWN

The country song “Delta Dawn” uses the melody of the traditional Scottish song “The Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond”. “Delta Dawn” was a hit for Tanya Tucker in 1972, when she was just 13 years old. The following year, Helen Reddy’s recording of “Delta Dawn” hit number-one in the charts.

51A Reptiles on papyrus : ASPS

The papyrus plant was commonly found in the Nile Delta of North Africa. The pith of the plant was used to make a thick paper-like material on which one could write. This writing material, which became known as papyrus (plural “papyri”), became a competitor for the most popular writing surface of the day known as parchment, which was made from animal skins.

62A “Blueprint” for life : DNA

Blueprints are reproductions of technical or architectural drawings that are contact prints made on light-sensitive sheets. They were introduced in the 1800s and the technology available dictated that the drawings were reproduced with white lines on a blue background, hence the name “blue-print”.

64A Chemical “twin” : ISOMER

In the world of chemistry, isomers are two compounds with the same chemical formula (i.e. the same atomic constituents), but with a slightly different arrangement of the atoms relative to each other. The differing arrangement of atoms often leads to different chemical properties.

65A “On the Basis of ___” (Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic) : SEX

Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) served on the US Supreme Court. Justice Ginsburg was the second woman to join the Court, and was nominated by President Bill Clinton. She was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1999 and underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. During that time she did not miss one day on the bench. In 2009 Justice Ginsburg had surgery for pancreatic cancer, and was back to work 12 days later. She had left-lung lobectomy to remove cancerous nodules in 2018, which forced Justice Ginsburg to miss oral argument in January 2019, for the first time since joining the court 25 years earlier. She finally succumbed to pancreatic cancer in 2020. Much of Ginsburg’s life is recounted in the excellent 2018 movie “On the Basis of Sex”.

66A Circular tent : YURT

A yurt is a wood-framed dwelling that is used by nomads in the steppes of Central Asia. Although a yurt is a substantial structure, it is also extremely portable.

Down

3D Prefix with center : EPI-

The epicenter is the point on the surface of the Earth that is directly above the focus of an earthquake.

4D Coins spent in Turkey : LIRAS

The currency of Turkey is the Turkish lira, which is divided into 100 kuruş. In 1927, the Turkish lira replaced the Ottoman lira, which had been in use since 1844.

9D Zeus or Odin : GOD

In Greek mythology, Zeus served as the king of the Olympic gods, and the god of the sky and thunder. He was the child of Titans Cronus and Rhea, and was married to Hera. Zeus was the equivalent of the Roman god Jupiter, who had similar realms of influence.

In Norse mythology, Odin was the chief of the gods. He is usually depicted as having one eye, reflecting the story of how he gave one of his eyes in exchange for wisdom.

10D Female form of the animal that outnumbers humans in Iceland : EWE

Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in the whole of Europe, with two-thirds of the nation’s population residing in and around the capital city of Reykjavik. Iceland was settled by the Norse people in AD 874, and was ruled for centuries by Norway and then Denmark. Iceland became independent in 1918, and has been a republic since 1944. Iceland is not a member of the EU but is a member of NATO, having joined in 1949 despite not having a standing army.

12D Big name in rental cars : DOLLAR

Dollar Rent A Car was founded in 1965 as “Dollar A Day Rent A Car”, a name that reflected its actual rental rate of $1.00 per day plus mileage. The company achieved this price point by utilizing a fleet consisting entirely of Volkswagen Beetles without air conditioning.

13D ___ List (PAC for Democratic female candidates) : EMILY’S

EMILY’s List is a political action committee (PAC) that contributes to the campaigns of pro-choice, Democratic female candidates running for office. The PAC’s name is an acronym standing for “Early Money Is Like Yeast”, meaning that early contributions to a campaign really help to “raise dough”.

18D Haitian currency unit : GOURDE

The gourde is the currency of Haiti, and is divided into 100 centimes. The gourde was pegged to the US dollar from 1912 to 1989, at a value of 5 gourdes to the dollar. As a result, five gourdes are sometimes referred to as a Haitian dollar, and 5 centimes as a Haitian penny.

21D Not the brightest bulbs, so to speak : IDIOTS

The unsavory term “idiot” was formerly used by the medical community to describe someone with moderate to severe mental retardation. The term comes from the Greek “idiotes” meaning “person lacking professional skill, layman”. Back in the early 1900s, IQ tests were used to classify those suffering from mental retardation into categories:

• “idiot” … IQ of 0-20
• “imbecile” … IQ of 21-50
• “moron” …IQ of 51-70

24D Captain in “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” : NEMO

The Jules Verne sci-fi novel “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” was first published in 1869-1870 as a serial in a French magazine. The star of the novel (to me) is Captain Nemo’s magnificent submarine called the Nautilus. The “20,000 leagues” in the title is the distance traveled by the Nautilus underwater, and not a depth. 20,000 leagues is about three times the circumference of the Earth.

29D Left-wing protest group : ANTIFA

The term “antifa” is a contraction of the German words “Antifaschistische Aktion”, the name of a militant anti-fascist group that operated in Germany in the 1930s. In the modern-day US, Antifa is not a single organization, but a highly decentralized, loosely-affiliated political movement.

33D Like “The Tonight Show” and “Saturday Night Live” : ON LATE

“The Tonight Show” has had six permanent hosts so far:

• Steve Allen (1954-57)
• Jack Paar (1957-62)
• Johnny Carson (1962–92)
• Jay Leno (1992–2009, 2010–14)
• Conan O’Brien (2009–10)
• Jimmy Fallon (2014–present)

NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) was named “NBC’s Saturday Night” during its first season. This was to differentiate it from the ABC show airing at that time, called “Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell”. Chevy Chase uttered the famous line “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night” in the very first SNL episode on October 11, 1975. That careful wording has persisted, even though the NBC show’s name was changed to “Saturday Night Live” after Cosell’s show went off the air in 1976.

38D Some military hazards, for short : IEDS

Improvised explosive device (IED)

43D Dual degrees for physicians : MD-PHDS

Physician-scientists can earn a double doctoral degree known as a Doctorate of Medicine and of Philosophy (MD-PhD).

44D ___ Dion, the “Queen of Power Ballads” : CELINE

French-Canadian singer Céline Dion first came to international attention when she won the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest, in which she represented Switzerland in the competition that was hosted in Dublin, Ireland. She is now the best-selling Canadian artist of all time.

46D Literary friend of Finn : SAWYER

Tom Sawyer is a favorite character created by Mark Twain. He turns up in four of Twain’s books:

• “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”
• “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”
• “Tom Sawyer Abroad”
• “Tom Sawyer, Detective”

But that’s not all, as he appears in at least three works that Twain left unfinished:

• “Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer Among the Indians” (a sequel to “Huckleberry Finn”)
• “Schoolhouse Hill”
• “Tom Sawyer’s Conspiracy” (a sequel to “Tom Sawyer, Detective”)

51D Businessman John Jacob ___ : ASTOR

John Jacob Astor was the patriarch of the famous American Astor dynasty. He was the country’s first multi-millionaire, making his fortune in the trade of fur, real estate and opium. In today’s terms, it has been calculated that by the time of his death he has accumulated a fortune big enough to make him the fourth wealthiest man in American history (in the company of the likes of Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Bill Gates, Henry Ford and John D. Rockefeller).

54D “Almost time for the weekend!” : TGIF!

“Thank God It’s Friday” (TGIF)

55D 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.

59D Funny Schumer or Poehler : AMY

Amy Schumer is a stand-up comedian, and an alumna of the reality TV show “Last Comic Standing”, in which she placed fourth. Schumer now has her own comedy series “Inside Amy Schumer”. Amy is a first cousin once removed of Chuck Schumer, the US Senator from New York.

60D ___ Speedwagon : REO

REO Speedwagon is an American rock band that formed in 1967, and is still going strong. The band’s biggest hits are “Keep On Loving You” (1980) and “Can’t Fight This Feeling” (1985). The founding members chose the name for the REO Speed Wagon flatbed truck. Note that the band’s name is one word “Speedwagon”, whereas the vehicle’s name uses two words “Speed Wagon”.