Tag: use of amusement to a vet maybe crossword clue

Bill’s time: 12m 38s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A “The Jeffersons” or “The Simpsons,” notably : SPIN-OFF

The very popular sitcom called “The Jeffersons” ran from 1975 until it came to an abrupt end in 1985. CBS canceled the show without even allowing a series finale that “wrapped things up”. In fact, lead actor Sherman Hemsley learned of the show’s cancellation in the newspaper.

Tracey Ullman is an outrageous comic actress from the UK. She moved to the US and brought out her own series in the late eighties called “The Tracey Ullman Show”. Famously, it was from “The Tracey Ullman Show” that “The Simpsons” was spun off in 1989.

8A Team with the mascot Big Al, familiarly : BAMA

The athletic teams of the University of Alabama (“Bama”) are nicknamed the Crimson Tide, which is a reference to the team colors of crimson and white. Bama’s mascot is Big Al, an anthropomorphic elephant.

14A Dish purportedly invented in Los Angeles’s Little Tokyo neighborhood : CALIFORNIA ROLL

A California roll is a kind of sushi roll that is made inside-out, with the seaweed inside and the rice on the outside. A California roll often includes rice, seaweed, cucumber and avocado. The dish originated in Los Angeles where a chef at the Tokyo Kaikan restaurant substituted avocado for fatty tuna (“toro”) in a traditional sushi recipe. The chef also put the seaweed on the inside, as his American customers preferred not to look directly at seaweed while they were eating it!

15A New York’s ___ Valley : HUDSON

The Hudson River flows through eastern New York State from Henderson Lake in the Adirondacks to the Port of New York and New Jersey. The river is named for the English explorer Henry Hudson, who navigated the waterway in 1609.

16A Thawing : DETENTE

“Détente” is a French word meaning “loosening, reduction in tension” and in general it is used to describe the easing of strained relations in a political situation. In particular, the policy of détente came to be associated with the improved relations between the US and the Soviet Union in the seventies.

20A Non-eco-friendly refrigerant : FREON

Freon is a DuPont trade name for a group of compounds used as a refrigerant and as a propellant in aerosols. Freon is used in the compressors of air conditioners as a vital component in the air-cooling mechanism. Freon used to contain chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which had a devastating effect on the Earth’s ozone layer. Use of CFCs is now banned, or at least severely restricted.

26A Metros in the 1990s : GEOS

Geos were small vehicles manufactured by General Motors, mainly in the nineties. They were designed to compete head-to-head with the small imports that were gaining market share at the time in the US. Some Geo models that you might remember are the Metro, the Prizm and the Storm. The cars were actually built as joint-ventures with Japanese manufacturers. The Prizm was a GM/Toyota project, the Metro was GM/Suzuki, and the Storm was GM/Isuzu.

30A Name that spiked in popularity following a 2013 Disney movie : ELSA

“Frozen” is a 2013 animated feature from Walt Disney Studios that is based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale “The Snow Queen”. The film is all about the exploits of Princess Anna, the younger sister of Elsa, Snow Queen of Arendelle. Spoiler alert: Prince Hans of the Southern Isles seems to be a good guy for most of the film, but turns out to be a baddie in the end. And, a snowman named Olaf provides some comic relief.

36A All-time scoring leader for the Miami Heat, familiarly : D-WADE

Dwyane Wade is a basketball player who started his NBA career with the Miami Heat in 2003. “D-Wade” was chosen as the “Sports Illustrated” Sportsman of the Year in 2006.

39A Browns, on a scoreboard : CLE

The Cleveland Browns football team was a charter member of the All-America Football Conference, formed in 1946. Cleveland is the only NFL city that has never hosted nor sent a team to the Super Bowl. And, the Browns are the only NFL team without a logo on their helmets.

46A Cause of amusement to a vet, maybe : ROOKIE MISTAKE

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.

48A Some fairy tale characters : DAMSELS

A damsel is a young woman, and often a lady of noble birth. The term “damsel” came into English from the Old French “dameisele”, which had the same meaning. The modern French term is “demoiselle”, which in turn is related to the term of address “mademoiselle”.

Down

4D Fifth-most abundant element in the universe : NEON

Neon (Ne) was discovered in 1898 by two British chemists, Sir William Ramsay and Morris Travers. They chilled a sample of air, turning it into a liquid. They then warmed that liquid and separated out the gases that boiled off. Along with nitrogen, oxygen and argon (already known), the pair of scientists discovered two new gases. The first they called “krypton” and the second “neon”. “Krypton” is Greek for “the hidden one” and “neon” is Greek for “new”.

5D Lieutenant in “Catch-22” : ORR

The bomber pilot in Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22” is named Orr. He has no other name, just “Orr”.

“Catch-22” is a novel by Joseph Heller set during WWII. The title refers to absurd bureaucratic constraints that soldiers had to suffer. Heller’s “Catch-22” was invoked by a flight surgeon to explain that any pilot requesting to be evaluated for insanity, to avoid flying dangerous missions, had to be sane as only a sane man would try to get out of such missions. The term “catch-22” has entered the language and describes a paradoxical situation from which one can’t escape due to contradictory rules; one loses, no matter what choice one makes.

9D Yom Kippur observers : ATONERS

Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year for the Jewish people. It is also known as the Day of Atonement.

10D Like the cheese in fondue : MELTED

Fondue is a traditional Swiss dish composed of melted cheese served in a pot over a tabletop stove, into which diners dip bread. The term “fondue”, which is French for “melted”, is now applied more widely to similar dishes served in a communal pot into which a food is dipped. Traditional fondue is delicious, so very delicious …

11D Backdrop for many van Gogh paintings : ARLES

Quite a few years ago now, I had the privilege of living just a short car-ride from the beautiful city of Arles in the South of France. Although Arles has a long and colorful history, the Romans had a prevailing influence over the city’s design. Arles has a spectacular Roman amphitheater, arch, circus as well as old walls that surround the center of the city. In more modern times, it was a place Vincent van Gogh often visited, and was where he painted many of his most famous works, including “Cafe Terrace at Night” and “Bedroom in Arles”.

12D Blitzed : SAUCED

“Blitzed” and “lit” are slang terms for “drunk”.

13D ___ pull-downs (exercise) : LAT

The muscles known as the “lats” are the “latissimi dorsi”, and are the broadest muscles in the back. “Latissimus” is Latin for “broadest”, and “dorsum” is Latin for “back”.

17D Texas air hub, for short : DFW

Dallas/Fort Worth Airport (DFW) is the largest hub for American Airlines, and is often ranked among the busiest airports in the world in terms of aircraft landings and takeoffs. At 27 square miles in area, DFW is the second-largest airport in the US, second only to Denver. That makes Dallas/Fort Worth larger than the island of Manhattan!

18D Silky-haired toy : MALTESE

The Maltese breed of dog falls into the toy group, as adults weigh just 3-10 pounds. The breed is an old one. Indeed, ancient Greek geographer Strabo suggested in the first century CE that the breed originated on the Mediterranean island of Malta. He also noted that Maltese dogs were favored by noble women.

27D Relatives of ottomans : HASSOCKS

A hassock is an item of furniture that is covered in cloth and used as a low seat or footstool. The term “hassock” comes from the Old English “hassuc” meaning “clump of grass”. “Hassock” was first used to describe a kneeling cushion, a usage that persists in churches to this day.

The piece of furniture known as an ottoman can be a couch, usually one with a head but no back or sides. Here in the US, the term more commonly applies to a padded and upholstered seat or bench that can also be used as a footrest. The original ottoman couch came from the Ottoman Empire, hence the name.

28D Texter’s affectionate sign-off : ILY

I love you (ILY)

34D Musketeer’s tool : RAMROD

A ramrod is a stick that is inserted into the barrel of an older firearm in order to pack the bullet or ball tightly against the charge of gunpowder. A ramrod can also be used to push a cleaning rag through the barrel of a gun. We use the verb “to ramrod” figuratively, to mean “to force acceptance”.

A musketeer was an infantry soldier who was equipped with a musket.

35D Nissan model : ALTIMA

Nissan has been making the Altima since 1993. In 2007, the company started to produce a hybrid version, Nissan’s first foray into the hybrid market and a successful one by all accounts. Altima hybrids are even used as police cruisers by the New York Police Department.

37D Brings about, as havoc : WREAKS

Havoc is great damage or destruction. The term “havoc” comes from the Anglo-French phrase “crier havok”, which was an order given in the late 1500s to soldiers, instructing them to seize plunder.

42D Metric for a venture capitalist, in brief : ROI

Return on investment (ROI) measures the gains made from investing, relative to the amount invested.

45D Calc. calculation : LIM

Limit (lim.)