Tag: What fan fiction is not crossword clue

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Coaster, usually : DISC

A coaster is a small mat or plate that goes under a glass or cup. Back in the late 1800s, the original coaster was a small drink-stand that sat on a table. As the drink-stand “coasted” around from guest-to-guest, it earned the name “coaster”.

5A Start of some temple names : B’NAI

“B’nai” is a Hebrew word meaning “sons of” or “children of” (in the masculine plural). In the context of temple names, particularly within Reform and Conservative Judaism, it is often used to connect the congregation to a significant figure or concept in Jewish tradition. For example, “B’nai Israel” translates to “Children of Israel,” linking the community to the Jewish people as a whole.

9A Bug spray ingredient : DEET

“DEET” is short for “N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide”, an active ingredient in insect repellents. DEET is most often used to repel mosquitoes by applying it to the skin and/or clothing. It is also used to protect against tick bites.

13A Kind of rover : LUNAR

Three countries have sent lunar rovers to the Moon. Famously, the Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle (aka “moon buggy”) carried American astronauts across the Moon’s surface on the last three missions of the Apollo program in the early seventies. Before the landing of the Apollo vehicles, the Soviet Union sent two unmanned, remote-controlled rovers to the Moon called Lunokhod 1 & 2. Years later, in 2013, the Chinese landed a lunar rover called Yutu (or “Jade Rabbit”). They followed up with Yutu-2 in 2019.

14A Figure with two tails : BELL CURVE

A bell curve graph is more correctly known as a Gaussian function. The frequency with which many phenomena occur in nature results in a bell curve shape.

17A Queen’s guard? : KILLER BEE

Killer bees are descended from European and African bees that were deliberately interbred by a Brazilian geneticist in 1957. The resulting hybrid was intended to be isolated from local populations, but 28 swarms were accidentally released into the wild. Over the coming decades, the Africanized bees have been remarkably successful in ecological terms and have spread right through South and Central America. The first to be found in the US were discovered in California in 1985.

18A Language whose name consists of four consecutive U.S. state postal abbreviations : MANDARIN

Mandarin Chinese is a group of dialects that are spoken across northern and southwestern China. If Mandarin is considered as one language, then it has more native speakers than any other language on the planet.

21A Certain graph shape : PIE

A pie chart can also be referred to as a circle graph. It is often stated that Florence Nightingale invented the pie chart. While this is not in fact true, she is due credit for popularizing it, and for developing the pie chart variation known as the polar area diagram. The earliest known pie chart appears in a book published in 1801 by Scottish engineer William Playfair.

22A Word with Man or can : TIN …

In the Land of Oz, created by author L. Frank Baum, the character we know as the Tin Man from the movies is named Nick Chopper or the Tin Woodman.

We tend to call tin cans “cans” here in the US, but they’re usually called “tins” in Britain and Ireland.

23A Per ___ : DIEM

“Per diem” is the Latin for “by the day”. We tend to use the term for a daily allowance for expenses when traveling for work.

30A Christmas story villain : HEROD

Herod Antipas was a ruler of Galilee and Perea in the 1st century CE. Even though he never held the title of “king”, he is referred to in the New Testament of the Christian Bible as “King Herod”. So, it was Herod Anitipas who was so instrumental in the executions of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth.

31A Plot device in many a rom-com : MEET-CUTE

“Meet-cute” is a term used since the 1930s or 1940s for a scene in a film or TV show in which a future couple have an amusing first encounter.

33A Samurai with no master : RONIN

In feudal Japan, a samurai who lost his master, perhaps through death or loss of favor, was known as a ronin. The term “ronin” is also used in contemporary Japan for a salaried worker between jobs.

38A What fan fiction is not : CANON

Back in the 15th century, the word “canon” was used to describe the whole collection of the books of the Bible accepted by the Christian church, the so-called “Scriptures”. In the 1930s, the term was adopted by fans of the “Sherlock Holmes” stories to describe all such works by Arthur Conan Doyle. Since then, the usage of “canon” has extended to cover an accepted body of related works by a particular author.

43A Start to do? : DEE

The word “do” starts with a letter D (dee).

44A Some Slack convos : IMS

Slack is a messaging app aimed at businesses. At its core, Slack is an instant messaging system. Slack also provides tools designed to increase collaboration within teams.

51A Spitting contest? : RAP BATTLE

Battle rapping (also “rap battling”) is a contest in which two or more rappers “fight it out” using opposing, improvised lyrics. I’d be annihilated …

55A “Seriously!,” in slang : NO CAP!

The phrase “no cap” means “no lie” or “for real”. It gained popularity in the late 2010s, particularly in hip-hop culture. The “cap” refers to “capping”, which is slang for “bragging, exaggerating, lying”.

56A Fighters on the beach in 2023’s “Barbie” : KENS

In the hit 2023 movie “Barbie”, there are many variations of Barbie and of Ken. Margot Robbie plays “Stereotypical Barbie”, and Ryan Gosling plays “Beach Ken”.

57A Old car concern : RUST

Rust is iron oxide. It forms when iron oxidizes, reacts with oxygen.

Down

1D Home to the torus-shaped Museum of the Future : DUBAI

The Museum of the Future is a remarkable facility in Dubai, one with a very futuristic (!) torus-shaped structure. The windows are arranged in such a way that, from the outside, they spell out three quotes about the future of the emirate. In English, one of the quotes is (translated into English):

We won’t live for hundreds of years, but the products of our creativity can leave a legacy long after we are gone.

3D Safety org. for young people : SADD

Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) was founded in Massachusetts in 1981. SADD’s aim is to prevent road traffic accidents by urging students to avoid potentially destructive decisions (such as driving under the influence of alcohol).

4D Painting on the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling, with “The” : … CREATION OF ADAM

“The Creation of Adam” is a fresco by Michelangelo that is part of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Famously, it features Adam and God reaching towards each other, with hands very nearly touching.

The Sistine Chapel is located in the Pope’s residence in Rome. The chapel takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who was responsible for restoring the old Capella Magna in the 15th century. It was about a century later (1508-1512) that Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel under the patronage of Pope Julius II.

5D “The Thrill Is Gone” musician, 1970 : B.B. KING

Riley B. King is better known worldwide as B.B. King, the “King of the Blues”. His stage name “B.B.” stood for “Blues Boy”, coming from his early days as a radio disc jockey in Memphis, where he was known as “Beale Street Blues Boy”.

6D Kant’s “no” : NEIN

Immanuel Kant was an 18th-century German philosopher. Kant published “Perpetual Peace” in 1795, laying out what he believed were conditions for ending all wars and creating a lasting peace. The good news for us is that one of these conditions was to have a world full of constitutional republics, so it seems we are on the right track here in the US!

9D Macaroni wheat : DURUM

Durum wheat, also called “macaroni wheat”, is a species with a high protein content that is commonly used as an ingredient in bread and pasta.

10D Kathryn of “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” : ERBE

Actress Kathryn Erbe is best known for playing Det. Alexandra Eames on the TV show “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”. Paradoxically perhaps, Erbe’s other noted role is Shirley Bellinger in the HBO series “Oz”, in which she plays a death row inmate.

15D Eclipse, for one : CELESTIAL EVENT

A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes into the shadow cast by the Earth from the light of the Sun, in other words when the Earth is positioned directly between the Sun and the Moon. The more spectacular solar eclipse takes place when the Moon passes in front of the Sun, so that the Earth falls into the shadow cast by the Moon.

25D Order in the court : WRIT

A writ is an order issued by some formal body (these days, usually a court) with the order being in “written” form. Warrants and subpoenas are examples of writs.

26D 1980s cartoon foe of Gargamel : SMURF

Gargamel is the evil wizard who is the sworn enemy of the Smurfs, the little blue people created by the Belgian cartoonist Peyo. Gargamel is on a quest to capture enough Smurfs so that he could use them as an ingredient in a potion that would turn base metal into gold.

27D Library regular, perhaps : AUTODIDACT

An autodidact is someone who is self-taught. The term “autodidact” comes from the Greek “autos” meaning “self” and “didaktos” meaning “taught”.

28D Eminem song that samples Dido : STAN

“Stan” is a song by rapper Eminem (featuring Dido) that was recorded in 2000. The title refers to a fictional Eminem fan named “Stan” who becomes obsessed with the rapper, and who grows irate when his letters to his idol go unanswered. Stan’s final act is to make a voice recording as he drives into a river, with his pregnant girlfriend locked in the trunk. One of the legacies of the song is that “stan” is now used as a slang term for an obsessed and maniacal fan.

29D “___ a real nowhere man …” : HE’S

“Nowhere Man” is an early song by the Beatles, one released in 1966. “Nowhere Man” was one of the first songs that John Lennon wrote that was more philosophical than romantic in nature, indicative of songs to come. Apparently, Lennon himself was the inspiration for the “Nowhere Man” persona.

32D Dog’s post-op wear : CONE

A vet may fit a cone-like device around an animal’s head to prevent it from biting or licking a wound. That device is known as an Elizabethan collar or pet cone, although it has more frivolously been referred to as a cone of shame, pet lampshade or pet radar dish.

33D Label that sold the first 33 1/3 r.p.m. records : RCA

The first vinyl records designed to play at 33⅓ rpm were introduced by RCA Victor in 1931, but were discontinued due to quality problems. The first long play (LP) 33⅓ rpm disc was introduced by Columbia Records many years later in 1948, with RCA Victor following up with a 45 rpm “single” the following year, in 1949.

37D Member of a 1960s TV family : MUNSTER

“The Munsters” is a sitcom about a family of harmless monsters that ran at the same time as “The Addams Family”, a show with a similar storyline. “The Munsters” was produced by the same team that created “Leave It to Beaver”.

38D Geppetto’s pet goldfish in Disney’s “Pinocchio” : CLEO

In the 1940 Disney animated feature “Pinocchio”, the woodcarver Geppetto has two pets. He has a tuxedo cat named Figaro and a goldfish named Cleo.

45D Big name in mufflers : MIDAS

The chain of auto service centers called Midas was established in 1956 as the Muffler Installation Dealers’ Associated Service (MIDAS).

50D High-quality flavoring for salad dressings, in brief : EVOO

Virgin olive oil is oil produced from olives with no chemical treatment involved in the production process at all. To be labeled “virgin”, the oil must have an acidity level of less than 2% and must be judged to have “a good taste”. Extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) comes from virgin oil production, and is the portion with acidity levels of less than 0.8% acidity that is judged to have “superior taste”.

51D Inits. of the statesman who said “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly” : RFK

Robert “Bobby” Francis Kennedy (RFK) was the US Attorney General (AG) in the administration of his brother President John F. Kennedy and President Lyndon B. Johnson from 1961 to 1964. He then served as a US Senator for the State of New York from 1965 until 1968, when he was assassinated. Bobby was killed during his own run for the Democratic nomination for the presidency.