Tag: When repeated “You get the gist” crossword clue

Bill’s time: 7m 29s

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

11A Music genre with offbeat rhythms : SKA

Ska originated in Jamaica in the late fifties and was the precursor to reggae music. No one has a really definitive etymology of the term “ska”, but it is likely to be imitative of a sound.

20A Some marksmen : SNIPERS

Snipes are wading birds with very long and thin bills that they use to search for small invertebrates in mud. In bygone days, a shot taken by a hunter at one of these wading birds became known as a “snipe”. This usage evolved into the word “sniper” applying to anyone shooting from a hidden position.

21A Stringed instruments of old : LYRES

The lyre is a stringed instrument that is most closely associated with ancient Greece, and with the gods Hermes and Apollo in particular. According to myth, Hermes slaughtered a cow from a sacred herd belonging to Apollo and offered it to the gods but kept the entrails. Hermes used the entrails to make strings that he stretched across the shell of a tortoise, creating the first lyre. Apollo liked the sound from the lyre and agreed to accept it as a trade for his herd of cattle.

23A Inc. alternative : LLC

A limited liability company (LLC) has a structure that limits the liability of the owner or owners. It is a hybrid structure in the sense that it can be taxed as would an individual or partnership, while also maintaining the liability protection afforded to a corporation.

24A Kind of whale : BALEEN

A baleen whale feeds by taking in massive amounts of water through its open mouth. It then expels that water with the mouth almost closed. There are two plates of bristles hanging down from the upper jaw that filter out small animals, such as krill, that serve as food for the whale. The filtering bristles are made of a substance similar to keratin (found in human hair and nails), and are referred to as “baleen”.

36A Writer Rand : AYN

Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist born “Alisa Rosenbaum”. Her two best known works are her novels “The Fountainhead” published in 1943 and “Atlas Shrugged” from 1957. Back in 1951, Rand moved from Los Angeles to New York City. Soon after, she gathered a group of admirers around her with whom she discussed philosophy and shared drafts of her magnum opus, “Atlas Shrugged”. This group called itself “The Collective”, and one of the founding members was none other than future Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan. While both she and her novel “Atlas Shrugged” have become inspirations for American conservatives and the Tea Party in particular, Rand rejected the “right-wing” and “conservative” labels, describing herself instead as a “radical for capitalism”.

38A Great Leap Forward leader : MAO

The Great Leap Forward was a government-led campaign to transition China from an agrarian society to a modern communist society in the late fifties and early sixties. Started by Mao Zedong in 1958, the movement was an economic and social disaster. Mao replaced the Great Leap Forward with the Cultural Revolution in 1966.

39A Longoria with three Screen Actors Guild awards : EVA

Eva Longoria is a fashion model and actress who had a regular role on TV’s “Desperate Housewives”, playing Gabrielle Solis. Her travel and food show “Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico” premiered on CNN in 2023.

44A Tying the knot during a colorful Hindu festival? : HOLI MATRIMONY (sounds like “holy matrimony”)

Holi is a Hindu festival, one celebrated in spring, that is also known as the Festival of Colours.

49A Part of NATO: Abbr. : ORG

“NATO” is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (or “OTAN” in French, “l’Organisation du Traité de l’Atlantique Nord”).

56A Mysterious sight at night : UFO

In 1952, the USAF revived its studies of reported sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) in a program called Project Blue Book. Project Blue Book ran from 1952 until it was shut down in 1969 with the conclusion that there was no threat to national security and that there were no sightings that could not be explained within the bounds of modern scientific knowledge.

62A Like the physicist Niels Bohr and the astronomer Tycho Brahe : DANISH

Niels Bohr was a Danish physicist who won his 1922 Nobel Prize for his work on quantum mechanics and atomic structure. Later in his life, Bohr was part of the team working on the Manhattan Project that developed the first atomic bomb. Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein had a series of public debates and disputes in the twenties and thirties. Although the two respected each other very highly, they held very different views on quantum theory, different views on the laws of physics at the atomic level. The passage of time has shown that Bohr was on the right side of those debates.

Tycho Brahe was a Danish astronomer, and a contemporary of Galileo. Brahe lost his nose in a duel, and wore a replacement made from either silver or gold that was pasted onto his face!

63A Stock market unveilings, for short : IPOS

Initial public offering (IPO)

Down

1D The “m” in many a physics equation : MASS

The mass of an object differs from its weight. Mass measures the amount of matter present in the object, while its weight is the force exerted on the object by gravity. So, the mass of an object is the same on Earth as it is on the Moon. On the Moon, the same object weighs 16.5% of what it does on Earth.

3D Actress Polo : TERI

Teri Polo’s most prominent role on the big screen was Pam Focker in “Meet the Fockers” and its sequels. Pam is the wife of the character played by Ben Stiller. Polo also played the wife of Presidential candidate Matt Santos in “The West Wing”.

4D Toughest hits to get when hitting for the cycle in baseball : TRIPLES

In baseball, a player is said to “hit for the cycle” by hitting a single, double, triple and home run in the same game. The cycle is rare enough, and even rarer is the “natural cycle”, collecting the hits in the order from single to home run.

7D Quick communications, in brief : IMS

Instant message (IM)

8D Postgraduate deg. with management courses : MBA

Master of Business Administration (MBA)

10D Stylish shoe feature : STILETTO

The stiletto knife was developed in Italy, and is a knife intended for thrusting and stabbing as opposed to slashing and cutting. The term “stiletto” comes from the Latin “stilus”, which was a thin pointed writing instrument used in ancient Rome to engrave wax or clay tablets. And, there are also stiletto heels on some women’s shoes, heels that are long and thin.

12D Green smoothie staple : KALE

The vegetable we know as kale gets its name from the Latin “caulis” meaning “cabbage”. Taxonomically, kales are more closely related to wild cabbage than the domesticated forms of cabbage that we see in the grocery store.

18D “Little” Dickens girl : NELL

“The Old Curiosity Shop” by Charles Dickens tells the story of 14-year-old “Little Nell” Trent and her grandfather who live in the Old Curiosity Shop in London. If you visit London, there actually is an “Old Curiosity Shop”, in Westminster. It is an establishment selling odds and ends, old curiosities, and is believed to have been the inspiration for the shop in the Dickens story. The building has been around since the 1500s, but the name “The Old Curiosity Shop” was added after the book was published.

24D ___-free (plastics label) : BPA

Bisphenol A (BPA) is an organic chemical that is used extensively in the manufacture of plastics. The main source of the controversy surrounding the use of the chemical is that BPA has hormone-like properties and has been classified as an endocrine disruptor, meaning that it can interfere with human hormone systems. BPA is “everywhere”, given the amount of plastic that we use in society. The debate seems to be whether or not the levels that we are exposed to are sufficient to create a health risk.

25D Tina Fey and Amy Poehler vis-à-vis “Saturday Night Live” : ALUMNI

Comedian and actress Tina Fey was born Elizabeth Stamatina Fey in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. She is perhaps best known to television viewers as a cast member on “Saturday Night Live” (1997-2006), and as the creator and star of the sitcom “30 Rock” (2006-2013).

Amy Poehler was a cast member on “Saturday Night Live” from 2001 to 2008, notable for appearing in many great sketches, including those where she played Hillary Clinton opposite Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin. Poehler also starred with Fey in the 2008 movie “Baby Mama”. Poehler also led the cast of the sitcom “Parks and Recreation” for its seven-season run.

26D Singer ___ Del Rey : LANA

“Lana Del Rey” is the stage name of singer/songwriter Elizabeth Grant. Del Rey calls herself a “self-styled gangsta Nancy Sinatra”. Nice …

27D Longtime Hogwarts headmaster : DUMBLEDORE

Professor Albus Dumbledore is the headmaster of the school for wizards called Hogwarts, in the Harry Potter universe. Dumbledore’s specialties are nonverbal spells and alchemy. Author J. K. Rowling chose the name Dumbledore as it is an Early English word for a bumblebee. Apparently she pictured him wandering around, humming to himself.

30D Graceful bird : SWAN

An adult male swan is a cob and an adult female is a pen. Young swans are swanlings or cygnets.

32D Infamous Roman ruler : NERO

The Great Fire of Rome raged for five and a half days in 64 AD. Of the fourteen districts of Rome, three were completely destroyed and seven more suffered serious damage. The emperor at the time was Nero, although reports that he fiddled, played his lyre or sang while the city burned; those accounts are probably not true. In fact, Nero was staying outside of Rome when the fire started and rushed home upon hearing the news. He organized a massive relief effort, throwing open his own home to give shelter to many of the citizens who were left living on the street.

43D Like a cherub : ANGELIC

A cherub (plural “cherubim”) is an angel. The term “cherub” ultimately comes from the Hebrew “kerubh” (plural “kerubhim”) meaning “winged angel”. In the Jewish tradition, cherubim play a key role in protecting the Garden of Eden, and in particular the Tree of Life.

50D Arizona city or county : YUMA

The city and county of Yuma, Arizona take their name from the Quechan (aka “Yuma”) Native American tribe that inhabited the area.

52D Film information on IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes : CAST

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) website was launched in 1990, and is now owned by Amazon.com. It’s a great site for answering questions one has about movies and actors.

Rotten Tomatoes is a website that mainly provides reviews and ratings of movies, although it now covers TV shows as well. The site was launched in 1998 and takes its name from the practice of audience members throwing rotten tomatoes at an unappreciated performer on stage.

53D Cops, in slang : PO-PO

“Po-po” is a slang term meaning “police”.

54D Iconic lab assistant of film : IGOR

In the world of movies, Igor has been the assistant to Dracula, Frankenstein and Young Frankenstein among others. Igor is almost invariably portrayed as a hunchback.

55D Where Anheuser-Busch is “BUD” : NYSE

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) can give some quite descriptive ticker symbols to companies, for example:

• Anheuser-Busch (BUD, for “Budweiser”)
• Molson Coors Brewing Company (TAP, as in “beer tap”)
• Steinway Musical Instruments (LVB, for “Ludwig van Beethoven”)
• Sotheby’s (BID, for the auction house)

59D Anti-apartheid org. : ANC

The African National Congress (ANC) started out as the South African Native National Congress in 1912 with the goal of improving the lot of black South Africans. After years of turmoil, the ANC came to power in the first open election in 1994. Today, the ANC remains the ruling political party in South Africa.

60D U.S. medical research agcy. : 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.