Tag: Winged figure in Raphael’s “Sistine Madonna” crossword clue

Bill’s time: 5m 28s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

17A Classic flowering locale adjacent to the White House [baseball star] : ROSE GARDEN (giving “Pete Rose”)

The White House Rose Garden was the 1913 creation of Ellen Axson Wilson, the first wife of President Woodrow Wilson. Prior to the planting of the famous roses, the area was taken up by a colonial garden designed by First Lady Edith Roosevelt in 1902.

28A Purple yam used to flavor desserts : UBE

Ube is a species of yam that is purple in color. I’m a big fan of ube ice cream. Potato-flavored ice cream; what’s not to like?!

29A Grammy Award that’s good for laughs? [1960s rock musician] : BEST COMEDY ALBUM (giving “Pete Best”)

Musician Pete Best is most famous as the first drummer with the Beatles. Famously, Best was sacked from the band by manager Brian Epstein. However, Epstein took this step reluctantly, and at the request of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison. Several stories have emerged about why the decision was made, but it seems that record producers at Parlophone were insisting that a session drummer be used in the band’s first recordings, and things snowballed from there. And of course, Best was soon replaced by Ringo Starr.

33A Truffle pigs’ assets : SNOUTS

Truffles are rooted out by pigs, or by specially trained dogs. The reason why pigs, especially sows, are so attracted to truffles is that there is a chemical compound found within the truffle that is very similar to androstenol, a sex pheromone found in the saliva of boars.

34A Connection between topics : SEGUE

A segue is a transition from one topic to the next. “Segue” is an Italian word that literally means “now follows”. It was first used in musical scores directing the performer to play into the next movement without a break. The oft-used term “segway” is given the same meaning, although the word “segway” doesn’t really exist. It is a misspelling of “segue” that has been popularized by its use as the name of the personal transporter known as a Segway.

36A ___ Vicious : SID

Sid Vicious was a famous English musician and the best-known member of the seventies punk rock group called the Sex Pistols. In 1978, Vicious woke up out of a drugged stupor in his hotel room in New York, to find his girlfriend stabbed to death in the bathroom. Vicious was charged with the murder, and ten days later sliced his wrist in a suicide attempt. Vicious made bail a few months later and at a celebratory party his own mother supplied him with heroin on which Vicious overdosed and died, at the age of 21.

41A “Do the Right ___” (Spike Lee film) : THING

“Do the Right Thing” is a Spike Lee movie that was released in 1989. Much of the action in the film is centered on a local pizzeria called “Sal’s” owned by Italian-American Salvatore Frangione (played by Danny Aiello).

44A Food court pizza chain : SBARRO

The Sbarro chain of pizza restaurants was founded by Italian immigrants, Gennaro and Carmela Sbarro.

46A North Carolina educational institution [former “S.N.L.” cast member] : DAVIDSON COLLEGE (giving “Pete Davidson”)

Davidson College is a private institution of higher learning that was established in 1837 in Davidson, North Carolina. The school was named for Brigadier General William Lee Davidson who fought during the Revolutionary War.

Comedian Pete Davidson joined the cast of “Saturday Night Live” in 2014, and stayed with the troupe for eight years. Off-screen, his name has been associated with several high-profile women, including Kate Beckinsale, Kim Kardashian and Ariana Grande. He was briefly engaged to Grande in 2018, and she co-wrote and recorded the song “Pete Davidson” that same year.

50A Allhallows ___ : EVE

All Saints’ Day is November 1st each year. The day before All Saints’ Day is All Hallows’ Eve, better known by the Scottish term “Halloween”.

59A “Do ___ others …” : UNTO

The Golden Rule is also known as the ethic of reciprocity, and is a basis for the concept of human rights. A version of the rule used in the Christian tradition is attributed to Jesus:

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

A derivative phrase often heard today is “Love thy neighbor (as thyself)”.

60A Athletic trifectas … or a phonetic hint to the starts of 17-, 29- and 46-Across : THREE-PEATS

A three-peat is the winning of a sports championship three seasons in a row. The term “three-peat” was coined in 1988 by LA Lakers’ player Byron Scott, and then trademarked by Lakers’ head coach Pat Riley. The Lakers were attempting in 1988 to clinch their third championship title in a row at that time, and eventually lost to the Detroit Pistons. The Lakers had to wait until the 2002 season to claim that three-peat.

66A Jadedness : ENNUI

“Ennui” is the French word for “boredom”, and is a term that we now use in English. It’s one of the few French words we’ve imported and haven’t anglicized, and actually pronounce “correctly”.

67A Send an eggplant or taco emoji, say : SEXT

Sexting (a portmanteau of “sex” and “texting”) is the sending of explicit dialog and images between cell phones. The term “sexting” was coined by the UK’s “Sunday Telegraph Magazine” in a 2005 article.

Down

2D Music genre influenced by the Smiths and the Cure : EMO

The Smiths were an alternative rock band from Manchester in the north of England. Active from 1982 to 1987, the band’s lead singer was the vocalist Morrissey. Morrissey chose the band’s name, and later revealed that “it was the most ordinary name and I thought it was time that the ordinary folk of the world showed their faces”.

The Cure is an English rock band founded in 1976 that is still going strong today, although not with the original line up. The only top-ten hit the Cure had in the US was “Lovesong”, released in 1989.

3D Modern lead-in to play : COS-

Cosplay (costume play)

9D Lead-in to X, Y, Z or Alpha : GEN …

The term “Generation X” originated in the UK where it was the name of a book by Jane Deverson. Her book detailed the results of a study of British youths in 1964, contrasting their lifestyle to those of previous generations. It was Canadian author Douglas Coupland who was responsible for popularizing the term, with his more successful publication “Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture”. By one definition, Gen Xers were born between 1961 and 1981.

The Millennial Generation are sometimes referred to as “Generation Y” (Gen-Y). Millennials were born after the “Gen-Xers”, from the early 1980s to the early 2000s.

Definitions vary, but it seems that the term “Generation Z” is reserved for the children of “Generation X”, and for the generation that follows the “Millennials” (Generation Y). Gen Zers are also known as “Zoomers”, a portmanteau of “Z” and “boomer” (as in “baby boomer”).

“Generation Alpha” is a term used to describe those born in the years between the mid-2010s and mid-2020s.

11D Winged figure in Raphael’s “Sistine Madonna” : CHERUB

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.

The “Sistine Madonna” is a painting created by the Italian artist Raphael in 1513-1514. The work was commissioned by the Benedictine monks of the Monastery of San Sisto in northern Italy, hence the painting’s name.

12D Beach city west of Los Angeles : MALIBU

Malibu is a beach city in Southern California that is known as home to many Hollywood movie stars. It is also home to several beaches including Malibu Surfrider Beach, which was dedicated in 2010 as the first World Surfing Reserve.

18D Stevie Nicks and Karen Carpenter, vocally : ALTOS

Singer Stevie Nicks came to fame as the lead singer of Fleetwood Mac. She has a very distinctive voice, heard at its best (I think) on the famous 1977 album “Rumours”.

Karen Carpenter was an accomplished drummer, although she only started playing drums in high school, as a member of the school band. After she graduated she started playing jazz with her brother, Richard, and a college friend. Later, she and Richard played with a group called Spectrum, and submitted many demo tapes to recording companies, but all were unsuccessful. Finally, Karen and Richard got a recording contract with A&M Records, and when they had Karen take the lead on their songs, they hit the big time and toured as the Carpenters. Sadly, Karen passed away at only 32-years-old, dying from heart failure brought on by anorexia.

27D N.F.L. team at MetLife Stadium, as shown on scoreboards : NYG

The Meadowlands Sports Complex, located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, has three venues: the MetLife Stadium (home to the New York Giants and the New York Jets football teams), the Meadowlands Racetrack (for horse racing), and the Izod Center (former home to the New Jersey Nets basketball team).

30D ___-frutti : TUTTI

The adjective “tutti-frutti” describes a prepared confection that has a combination of fruit flavors. “Tutti frutti” is Italian for “all fruits”.

39D Egg (on) : URGE

The verb “to edge” has been used to mean to incite, to urge on, from the 16th century. Somewhere along the way “edge” was mistakenly replaced with “egg”, giving us our term “to egg on” meaning “to goad”.

40D T.S. Eliot or W.H. Auden : POET

T. S. Eliot (TSE) was born in New England but grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. Much of Eliot’s college education was at Oxford, and clearly he became comfortable with life in England. In 1927 he became a British citizen and lived the rest of life in the UK.

Noted poet W. H. Auden was born and raised in England, but eventually became a US citizen. As well as hundreds of poems, Auden also wrote librettos for operas, including Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress”.

42D Kind of port in A/V : HDMI

High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI)

43D Prefix with -metric or -morphic : ISO-

The word “isometric” comes from Greek, and means “having equal measurement”. Isometric exercise is a resistance exercise in which the muscle does not change in length (and the joint angle stays the same). The alternative would be dynamic exercises, ones using the joint’s full range of motion.

46D Takes exception : DEMURS

To demur is to voice opposition, to object. It can also mean to delay and has its roots in the Latin word “demorare”, meaning “to delay”.

47D Fifth or Madison, in Manhattan : AVENUE

Fifth Avenue in New York City is sometimes referred to as the “most expensive street in the world”. The section that runs through Midtown Manhattan is home to upscale stores, such as Saks Fifth Avenue.

Madison Avenue became the center of advertising in the US in the twenties, and serves as the backdrop to the great TV drama “Mad Men”. There aren’t many advertising agencies left on Madison Avenue these days though, as most have moved to other parts of New York City. The street takes its name from Madison Square, which is bounded on one side by Madison Avenue. The square in turn takes its name from James Madison, the fourth President of the United States.

48D Point of a polygon : VERTEX

The word “vertex” comes from the Latin “vertere” meaning “to turn”. The idea of a turning point, or a peak, aligns with how we use “vertex” to describe the corner of a geometric shape, where lines “turn” or meet.

The suffix -gon comes from the Greek “gonia” meaning “angle, knee”. An octagon, for example, has eight angles, and a polygon has many angles.

58D Nevada city near Lake Tahoe : RENO

Reno, Nevada was named in honor of Major General Jesse Lee Reno, a Union officer killed in the Civil War. The city has a famous “Reno Arch”, a structure that stands over the main street. The arch was erected in 1926 to promote an exposition planned for the following year. After the expo, the city council decided to keep the arch and held a competition to decide what wording should be displayed, and the winner was “The Biggest Little City in the World”.

60D Extra attention, in brief : TLC

Tender loving care (TLC)

61D Journalist Curry : ANN

Television journalist Ann Curry is perhaps best known for the time she spent as co-host on NBC’s “Today” show. NBC executives asked Curry to resign from the “Today” show because ratings were low. I just read online that Curry was also pushed out because of the way she insisted on dressing and because she refused to dye her gray hair. I hope that isn’t true …

62D Famed Egyptian king, for short : TUT

“King Tut” is a name commonly used for the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun. Tutankhamun may not have been the most significant of the pharaohs historically, but he is the most famous today largely because of the discovery of his nearly intact tomb in 1922 by Howard Carter. Prior to this find, any Egyptian tombs uncovered by archaeologists had been ravaged by grave robbers. Tutankhamun’s magnificent burial mask is one of the most recognizable of all Egyptian artifacts.