Tag: Warner Bros. cartoon series presented by Steven Spielberg crossword clue

Bill’s time: 11m 49s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1. Airer of “Orphan Black” and “Almost Royal” : BBC AMERICA

BBC America is one of my favorite television networks. It is owned by the BBC, although it shows more that just BBC shows, and includes shows bought from other British networks and a little American programming as well. Some of my favorites on BBC America over the years are: “Law and Order UK”, “The Graham Norton Show”, “Doctor Who” and “The Tudors”.

11. Foreign dishes? : UFOS

Unidentified flying object (UFO)

18. ___ Reville, Alfred Hitchcock’s wife and collaborator : ALMA

Alma Reville was a film director and screenwriter, and the wife of famed director Alfred Hitchcock. Reville appeared as a major character in the 2012 movie “Hitchcock”, in which she was played by the very capable Helen Mirren.

19. Jocular response to “How did you know?!” : ESP

Extrasensory perception (ESP)

20. Baby rabbit : KIT

An adult male rabbit is called a “buck”, and an adult female is a “doe”. A young rabbit is a “kitten” or “kit”.

23. Home of Colbert and Corden : CBS TV

CBS used to be known as the Columbia Broadcasting System. CBS introduced its “eye” logo in 1951. That logo is based on a Pennsylvania Dutch hex sign.

26. Craft for J.F.K. in W.W. II : PT BOAT

PT boats were motor torpedo boats, small speedy vessels that used torpedoes as their primary weapon against large surface ships. The “PT” stands for “Patrol Torpedo”. The most famous PT boats that served during WWII were probably PT-41 that carried General Douglas MacArthur and his family from Corregidor to Mindanao in his escape from the Philippines, and PT-109 that was commanded by Lieutenant John F. Kennedy, future President of the United States.

Future US president John F. Kennedy served with the US Navy during WWII. Famously, Lieutenant Kennedy was assigned to a Motor Torpedo Squadron. Kennedy’s most noted command was Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109. PT-109 was sunk in an engagement with a Japanese destroyer in the Solomon Islands. The story of the crew’s evasion of the Japanese and subsequent rescue is told in the 1963 film “PT 109”.

31. Org. behind the magazine America’s 1st Freedom : NRA

The National Rifle Association (NRA) publishes several periodicals, including “American Rifleman”, “American Hunter” and “America’s 1st Freedom”.

32. Fuel holder : OILER

An oiler is an oil tanker, an ocean-going vessel used to transport crude oil.

33. Science class for ambitious H.S. students : AP BIO

The Advanced Placement (AP) program offers college-level courses to kids who are still in high school. After being tested at the end of the courses, successful students receive credits that count towards a college degree.

34. Lead role on TV’s “30 Rock” : LIZ

“30 Rock” is a sitcom on NBC that was created by the show’s star Tina Fey. Fey plays an ex-performer and writer from “Saturday Night Live” and uses her experiences on that show as a basis for the “30 Rock” storyline. Fey plays Liz Lemon, the head writer for the fictional sketch comedy series “TGS with Tracy Jordan”.

36. It covers the floor : C-SPAN

C-SPAN is a privately-funded, nonprofit cable channel that broadcasts continuous coverage of government proceedings.

37. One to swear by? : JOVE

“By Jove” is a mild oath that calls on the Roman god Jove, who was also known as Jupiter.

38. ___ Gardens : KEW

Kew Gardens is a beautiful location in southwest London that was formerly known as the Royal Botanic Gardens. Kew Gardens has the world’s largest collection of living plants.

39. Patch growth : BRIAR

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

40. Tennis’s only two-time Grand Slam winner : LAVER

Rod Laver is a former professional tennis champion, from Australia. Laver won all four Grand Slam singles titles in 1962, and at that time he wasn’t even a professional player. He won all four titles again in 1969, no longer an amateur, becoming the only tennis player to have achieved the feat twice. Not surprisingly, Laver was the world’s number one for seven consecutive years, from 1964 to 1970. After he retired, Laver suffered a stroke during an interview with ESPN in 1998, but by all accounts he has made an excellent recovery.

43. Things drawn during the Napoleonic Era : SABERS

By most definitions, the Napoleonic Era started with Napoleon Bonaparte’s coup d’état that effectively ended the French Revolution. The era itself ended with Napoleon’s defeat at the Battle of Waterloo.

48. Site on the National Mall : CAPITOL

The National Mall is a park in downtown Washington, D.C. The National Mall is home to several museums that are part of the Smithsonian, as well as the National Gallery of Art.

50. 1970 title lyric after “Simple as do re mi” : ABC

“ABC” topped the charts for the Jackson 5 in 1970, and might perhaps be called the Jackson 5’s signature tune.

55. Number 2, for one : LEAD PENCIL

I grew up with the HB method of grading pencils, from “hardness” to “blackness”. Here in the US we sometimes use a numerical grading system, with #2 being the equivalent of HB. The numerical system was introduced in the US by one John Thoreau, father of famed author and hero of mine Henry David Thoreau.

58. Old World blackbird : MERL

A merl (also “merle”) is often called a blackbird over in Europe. The male merl is completely black, with just a yellow beak.

59. Warner Bros. cartoon series presented by Steven Spielberg : ANIMANIACS

“Animaniacs” is a cartoon series that aired on Fox Kids and then the WB in the nineties. The show was a collaboration between Steven Spielberg and Warner Bros. Animation. One aspect of the show was the occasional humor aimed at an adult audience. Example were episodes that parodied Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Pirates of Penzance” and “H.M.S. Pinafore”, the Beatles movie “A Hard Day’s Night”, and an episode poking fun at the Three Tenors.

The director Steven Spielberg has had so many hit movies. Spielberg won two Best Director Oscars, one being “Schindler’s List” from 1993 and “Saving Private Ryan” from 1998. Three Spielberg films broke box office records: “Jaws” (1975), “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” (1982) and “Jurassic Park” (1993). That’s quite a portfolio of movies …

60. Short orders to a short-order cook? : BLTS

The BLT (bacon, lettuce and tomato) is the second most popular sandwich in the US, after the plain old ham sandwich.

Down

2. Some cookouts, informally : BBQS

It is believed that our word “barbecue” (BBQ) comes from the Taíno people of the Caribbean in whose language “barbacoa” means “sacred fire pit”.

7. Bonnie with five 1990s Top 40 hits : RAITT

Bonnie Raitt is a blues singer who is originally from Burbank, California. Raitt has won nine Grammys for her work, but she is perhaps as well known for her political activism as she is for her music. She was no fan of President George W. Bush while he was in office, and she sure did show it.

8. Four-time Japanese premier : ITO

In the 1880s, Japanese leaders were concerned that their system of government was not defined well enough, leading to ambiguity about areas of responsibility and authority. One of the leaders at the time was Ito Hirobumi, and he took himself and his staff over to Europe to examine the systems of government across that continent, especially those of the British and German Empires. On returning to Japan he lobbied for and was successful in the adoption of a constitution for the country and a modern system of government. Ito became the country’s first Prime Minister in 1885.

9. Word before sign or after red : CENT

Something that is “not worth a red cent” has very little value. The “red” reference is to the color of a copper penny.

11. Many a trailer : U-HAUL

The U-Haul company was started by married couple Leonard Shoen and Anna Mary Carty in Ridgefield, Washington in 1945. The Shoens used $5,000 of seed money to build trailers in their garage, and then cleverly recruited gas station owners as franchisees with whom they would split the rental revenue. There are now about 15,000 U-Haul dealers across the country.

12. Get hit by one of Cupid’s arrows : FALL IN LOVE

Cupid was the god of love in Roman mythology. Cupid’s name comes from the Latin verb “cupere” meaning “to desire”. Cupid’s Latin name was Amor, and his Greek counterpart was Eros.

13. Musical standard from “Show Boat” : OL’ MAN RIVER

“Ol’ Man River” is a wonderful song by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein from the musical “Show Boat”. The most famous performances of the song were by Paul Robeson, starting in 1938 when he appeared in a movie version of the stage show. Over the years Robeson changed the lyrics as he sang it at various recitals. The original words used a lot of racial epithets and stereotypical African American slang that he decided to change or omit.

23. Family name of Hollywood brothers : COEN

I think it’s great to see two brothers working together and being so successful. Joel and Ethan Coen are two movie producers and directors who both live in New York City. The Coen brothers do love the movie-making business and they even married industry “insiders”. Ethan’s wife is film editor Tricia Cooke, and Joel is married to one of my favorite actresses, the lovely Frances McDormand.

26. Important item for a ’50s greaser : POCKET COMB

The greaser subculture developed in the US in the late 1940s, and held quite a bit of sway until the mid-1960s. A typical greaser was an Italian- or Hispanic-American youth living in an urban area. Although the term “greaser” was already in the language, it had been used derogatively to describe poor laborers of Italian and Mexican descent. In its new usage, “greaser” referred to the greased-back hair styles worn by male members of the subculture. Examples of greasers in the media are Marlon Brando’s character in 1953’s “The Wild One”, members of the Jets and Sharks gangs in 1957’s “West Side Story”, and the cool kids in 1971’s “Grease”.

30. Way up a ski mountain : T-BAR

A T-bar is a ski lift on which the skiers are pulled up the hill in pairs, with each pair standing (not sitting!) either side of a T-shaped metal bar. The bar is placed behind the thighs, pulling along the skiers as they remain standing on their skis (hopefully!). There’s also a J-bar, which is a similar device but with each J-shaped bar used by one skier at a time.

33. Where the Olympics were held for the first time in 1964 : ASIA

The 1964 Summer Olympic Games were held in Tokyo, and were the first Olympics held in Asia. The 1940 games had been scheduled for Tokyo, but they were moved to Helsinki after Japan invaded China, and eventually were cancelled completely due to WWII. The 1964 Olympics were also the first games in which South Africa was barred due to the apartheid system in sports.

36. Box of 64, maybe : CRAYOLAS

In the year 2000, the Crayola company held the “Crayola Color Census 2000”, in which people were polled and asked for their favorite Crayola colors. President George W. Bush chose “Blue Bell” and Tiger Woods chose “Wild Strawberry”.

39. Thai currency : BAHT

The baht is the currency of Thailand, and is subdivided into 100 satang.

45. Places for small herb gardens : SILLS

“Sill plate”, or simply “sill”, is an architectural term for a bottom horizontal member to which vertical members are attached. Windowsills and doorsills are specific sill plates found at the bottoms of a window and door openings.

47. Lakshmi of “Top Chef” : PADMA

Padma Lakshmi is a model from India. She is very much into cooking and has published an award-winning cookbook. She is now the host of the American TV show “Top Chef”.

49. Largest river to the Laptev Sea : LENA

The Lena is in Siberia, and is the third-longest river in Asia. It rises in the Baikal Mountains in the south, and runs almost 2,800 miles to empty into the Laptev Sea in the Arctic Ocean.

The Laptev sea is a division of the Arctic Ocean located off the coast of Siberia. It is named for Dmitry and Khariton Laptev, two cousins who were Arctic explorers, and who were the first to map the shores of the sea from 1735 t0 1740.

51. ___ bowl (dish for the health-conscious) : ACAI

Açaí (pronounced “ass-aye-ee”) is a palm tree native to Central and South America. The fruit has become very popular in recent years and its juice is a very fashionable addition to juice mixes and smoothies.

57. Medical research org. : NIH

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) organization is made up of 27 different institutes that coordinate their research and services. Examples of member institutes are the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute on Aging.