Tag: Warning to a troublemaker crossword clue

Bill’s time: 11m 14s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

15A Madame’s family member : FRERE

In French, a “frère” (brother) is a member of the “famille” (family).

18A The leaders of Thailand and Malaysia, e.g., for short : PMS

Prime Minister (PM)

20A What has an eye on the TV : CBS

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.

35A Canine breed named after an English river valley : AIREDALE TERRIER

The Airedale terrier breed of dog originated in a geographic area of Yorkshire in the North of England … called Airedale. The breed was developed to hunt otters in and around the River Aire that runs through the area.

38A Case study org.? : TSA

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is the agency that employs the good folks who check passengers and baggage at airports.

39A Fist bumps : DAPS

The dap is a form of handshake, and often a complicated and showy routine of fist bumps, slaps and shakes. Some say that “dap” is an acronym standing for “Dignity And Pride”.

40A Surname shared by a Hollywood father and daughter : DERN

Bruce Dern is a Hollywood actor with quite a pedigree. Dern is the grandchild of former Utah governor and Secretary of War, George Henry Dern. Bruce’s godparents were Adlai Stevenson and Eleanor Roosevelt!

Actress Laura Dern is the daughter of actors Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd. Among her many notable roles, Laura Dern played the Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris in the 2008 movie “Recount”, and Dr. Ellie Sattler in the 1993 blockbuster “Jurassic Park”.

41A ___ Jayawardenepura Kotte (capital city in South Asia) : SRI

Colombo is the largest city in Sri Lanka. It is also the commercial capital of the island nation, whereas the administrative capital is Kotte (or more formally “Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte). Kotte is in fact a suburb of Colombo.

43A Shell liquid : GAS

Royal Dutch Shell is the fourth largest company in the world in terms of revenue (Walmart is the largest) and is headquartered in the Hague, in the Netherlands. The company was formed in 1907 with the merger of the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company and Shell Transport and Trading company of the UK. The two companies merged in order to compete globally with the biggest US oil company of the day, John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil. Shell Oil Company is a US-based subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell that is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

56A Pantheon part : DEITY

A pantheon is the set of all gods in a particular religion or mythology. The term comes from the Greek “pan” (all) “theon” (of gods). “Pantheon” is also the name given to a temple dedicated to all deities.

Down

2D Masjid leader : IMAM

“Masjid” is an Arabic word meaning “temple, place of worship”. It is from “masjid” that we get the English word “mosque”.

4D Addams Family member : ITT

Charles Addams was a cartoonist who signed his work “Chas Addams”. He didn’t draw a cartoon strip but rather individual cartoons, although many of his cartoons did feature regular characters. The most famous of these were the members of the Addams Family, who were published in single-panel cartoons between 1938 and 1988 in “The New Yorker”. The Addams Family moved onto the small and big screens starting in 1964.

They’re creepy and they’re kooky,
Mysterious and spooky,
They’re altogether ooky,
The Addams Family.

5D Apt letters for the blanks in _ _ B _ L : LIE

The word “libel” describes a published or written statement likely to harm a person’s reputation. It comes into English from the Latin “libellus”, the word for a small book. Back in the 1500s, libel was just a formal written statement, with the more damaging association arising in the 1600s. The related concept of slander is defamation in a transient form, such as speech, sign language or gestures.

6D Large-eyed primate : LORIS

The slow lorises are a group of nocturnal primates found in the forests of southeast Asia. They are unique among primates in that they have a toxic bite. The slow loris licks a sweat gland on its arm that secretes a chemical, a chemical that becomes actively toxic when mixed with saliva.

8D President whose middle name was Howard : TAFT

William Howard Taft may have been the 27th President of the United States, but his lifelong ambition was to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The future president had served as dean and professor at the Cincinnati Law School. President Taft was able to realize that dream in 1921, eight years after losing his bid for re-election as president. As Chief Justice, this former US President swore in two new presidents: Calvin Coolidge (in 1925) and Herbert Hoover (in 1929). William Howard Taft is also remembered as the most obese president. In the last year of his presidency, he weighed about 340 pounds (he was 5 feet 11 inches tall). Twelve months after leaving the White House, President Taft had dropped 80 pounds and substantially lowered his blood pressure.

10D Actions that, despite being legal, resulted in hundreds of arrests in 1961 : FREEDOM RIDES

The Freedom Riders were a group of civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated Southern US in the sixties to challenge the non-enforcement of the Supreme Court decisions Morgan v. Virginia (1946) and Boynton v. Virginia (1960), which ruled that segregated public buses were unconstitutional. The Southern states had ignored the rulings and the federal government did nothing to enforce them. The Freedom Riders were met with violence and arrests throughout their journey. In Anniston, Alabama, a mob of white supremacists firebombed a bus carrying Freedom Riders. In Birmingham, Alabama, police arrested Freedom Riders who refused to give up their seats to white passengers. In Jackson, Mississippi, Freedom Riders were held in jail for weeks without bail.

11D Observance that ends on Holy Thursday : LENT

In Latin, the Christian season that is now called “Lent” was termed “quadragesima” (meaning “fortieth”), a reference to the forty days that Jesus spent in the desert before beginning his public ministry. When the church began its move in the Middle Ages towards using the vernacular, the term “Lent” was introduced. “Lent” comes from “lenz”, the German word for “spring”.

Maundy Thursday (also “Holy Thursday”) is the Christian holy day falling on the Thursday before Easter. The celebration commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles. The exact origins of the name “Maundy” are unclear. The Washing of Feet is a traditional rite performed on the day, with the washing of feet intended to be a sign of humility.

12D Sea creature with a saddle patch : ORCA

Killer whales are mammals, and they have to sleep while in seawater. They can shut down half of their brain to rest, while the other half stays awake to control breathing. This is necessary because, unlike humans, orcas have to make an active decision about when to breathe, when their blowholes are at the surface of the water. While one half of the brain stays awake, and controls breathing, the eye on the same side of the body stays open, looking out for danger.

13D Ingredient in some brownies : WEED

We’ve been using the term “weed” to mean “marijuana” since the 1920s. Centuries prior to that, we started using “weed” for “tobacco”.

Apparently, the first brownies were created for the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. The recipe was developed by a pastry chef at the city’s Palmer House Hotel. The idea was to produce a cake-like dessert that was small enough and dainty enough to be eaten by ladies as part of a boxed lunch.

15D Suomi speaker : FINN

The Nordic country of Finland is the most sparsely populated nation in the European Union. The relatively modest population of 5.5 million people lives in the eighth largest country on the continent.

20D Leader before the King? : CORETTA SCOTT

Coretta Scott King was the wife of Martin Luther King, Jr. Coretta was a civil rights leader herself, and maintained a prominent role in the movement following her husband’s 1968 assassination. She is sometimes referred to as the First Lady of the Civil Rights Movement.

23D Tap : SPIGOT

Back in the 15th century, a spigot was specifically a plug to stop a hole in a cask. Somewhere along the way, a spigot had a valve added for variable control of flow.

24D People for whom a Great Lake is named : HURONS

The Native Americans known as the Wyandot people are also called the Huron. The Wyandot people mainly inhabit a reservation in Quebec.

Lake Huron takes its name from the Huron Native-American people that lived by its shores. Early French explorers often called the lake “La Mer Douce”, which translates as “the freshwater sea”.

27D Range of the Rockies : TETONS

The Teton Range is located just to the south of Yellowstone National Park, and is part of the Rocky Mountains. The origins of the name “Teton” is not very clear, although one story is that it was named by French trappers, as the word “tetons” in French is a slang term meaning “breasts”.

29D Surname shared by a Hollywood father and son : REINER

The multi-talented Carl Reiner was from the Bronx, New York. Reiner was married to singer Estelle Roberts. You might remember Roberts from the film “When Harry Met Sally …” that was directed by Carl’s son, Rob Reiner. Estelle was the woman in the deli who said the famous line “ I’ll have what she’s having”, on seeing how excited Meg Ryan apparently was with her sandwich.

The great director and actor Rob Reiner first came to prominence playing “Meathead”, Archie and Edith Bunker’s son-in-law in “All in the Family”. Since then, Reiner has directed a long string of hit movies including, “The Princess Bride”, “Stand by Me”, “This Is Spinal Tap”, “When Harry Met Sally …”, “Misery” and “A Few Good Men”.

33D Crispy Crinkles brand : ORE-IDA

Ore-Ida frozen foods are all made using potatoes. The company is located in Oregon, just across the border from Idaho. “Ore-Ida” is a melding of the two state names.

34D “___ chic!” : TRES

“Très chic” is a French term meaning “very stylish”.

43D Davis who played Thelma in “Thelma & Louise” : GEENA

As well as being a successful Hollywood actress, Geena Davis is an accomplished archer and came close to qualifying for the US archery team for the 2000 Summer Olympics. Davis is also a member of American Mensa. She is quite the lady …

“Thelma & Louise” is a thought-provoking movie, and one that is very entertaining. It was directed by Ridley Scott in 1991, and stars two fabulous leads in Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon. You’ll also spot Brad Pitt onscreen in his first significant movie role.

45D Iowa State’s city : AMES

Iowa State University of Science and Technology (ISU) is located in Ames, Iowa. Among many other notable milestones, ISU created the country’s first school of veterinary medicine, in 1879. The sports teams of ISU are known as the Cyclones.

49D Chowder ingredient : CLAM

The type of soup known as “chowder” is possibly named for the pot in which it used to be cooked called a “chaudière”, a French term.

54D Winter setting in K.C. : CST

The Kansas City (KC) metropolitan area straddles the stateline between Kansas and Missouri. The metropolitan area includes several cities, with the largest being (in order):

• Kansas City, Missouri
• Overland Park, Kansas
• Kansas City, Kansas
• Independence, Missouri