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Constructed by: Kareem Ayas & Brian Callahan

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: None

Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers

Bill’s time: 11m 24s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Imitation game? : SIMON SAYS

“Simon Says” is a kids’ game. The idea is for the players of the game to obey the “controller” who gives instructions. But the players should only obey when the controller uses the words, “Simon says …”. The game has very old roots, with a Latin version that uses the words “Cicero dicit fac hoc” (Cicero says do this).

10A Razzie Award adjective : WORST

“Razzie” is the familiar name for the Golden Raspberry Award, an award presented annually for the worst in the world of film. The Razzies have been presented on the day before the Oscars since 1981.

15A The masses : HOI POLLOI

“Hoi polloi” is a Greek term that translates literally as “the majority, the many”. In English, “hoi polloi” has come to mean “the masses” and is often used in a derogatory sense. Oddly, the term has also come to describe “the elite”.

16A Japanese breed : AKITA

The Akita breed of dog is named for its point of origin, Akita Prefecture in Japan. When Helen Keller visited Japan in 1937, she asked for and was given an Akita breed of dog, with the name of Kamikaze-go. Sadly, the dog died within a year from distemper. The following year the Japanese government officially presented Keller with a replacement dog. Supposedly Keller’s dogs were the first members of the breed to be introduced into the US.

20A Surface Pro rival : IPAD

Microsoft Surface is a series of portable computing devices that includes a line of 2-in-1 detachables, which are crosses between tablets and laptops.

25A Queen of the “Star Wars” prequel trilogy : PADME

In the “Star Wars” universe, Padmé Amidala is the Queen of the planet Naboo. Played very ably by Natalie Portman, Padmé becomes the secret wife of Anakin “Ani” Skywalker, later revealed to be Darth Vader. As such, Padmé is also the mother of Luke Skywalker and his sister, Princess Leia Organa.

28A Chinese coin : YUAN

Even though we generally refer to the currency of China as the “yuan”, the yuan is actually the basic unit of the “renminbi”. This is analogous to “sterling” being the official currency of the UK, with the “pound” being the basic unit of sterling.

30A Tarboosh, e.g. : HAT

“Tarboosh” is the Arabic name for the hat called a “fez” in Turkish.

32A __ voce : SOTTO

“Sotto voce” literally means “under the voice” in Italian, and describes the deliberate lowering of one’s voice for emphasis.

34A Part of many a Shaggy dog story, casually : SCOOB

“Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!” is a series of cartoons produced for Hanna-Barbera Productions, first broadcast in 1969. The title character is a Great Dane dog befriended by a young male called Shaggy Rogers. The character’s name was inspired by the famous “doo-be-doo-be-doo” refrain in the Frank Sinatra hit “Strangers in the Night”. Shaggy was voiced by famed disk jockey Casey Kasem. Shaggy and Scooby’s friends are Velma, Fred and Daphne.

A shaggy dog story is one that rambles, hints at a punchline, and then fails to deliver.

35A Calendar col. : TUE

The name “Tuesday” comes from an Old English word that translates as “Tiw’s Day”. In turn, “Tiw” was the Old English name for the Norse god “Týr”. Týr was the Norse god of single combat, victory and heroic glory.

36A Hankook products : TIRES

Hankook is a tire manufacturer based in Seoul, South Korea that is the seventh largest producer of tires in the world. Apparently, the name “Hankook” can be translated simply as “Korea”.

38A Sailor : TAR

A jack tar, or just “tar”, was a seaman in the service of the British Empire. The term probably arose due to a sailor’s various uses of tar back then, including waterproofing his clothes and using tar in his hair to slick down his ponytail.

42A Big name in payroll processing : ADP

Automatic Data Processing (ADP) is an enterprise based in Roseland, New Jersey that provides business services to companies. The company was founded back in 1949 by Henry Taub as Automatic Payrolls, Inc.

47A Brimless topper : PILLBOX

A pillbox hat is so called because it looks somewhat like a larger version of a small, cylindrical box used to carry pills. It has a flat crown, upright sides and no brim. Famously, First Lady Jackie Kennedy was wearing a pink pillbox hat as she rode in the car beside her husband when he was assassinated.

52A __ ex machina : DEUS

“Deus ex machina” is a Latin phrase that translates as “god out of the machine”. It describes a plot device used in some works whereby some apparently inextricable problem is suddenly resolved by an unexpected intervention. The term was first used in Horace’s “Ars Poetica”.

53A Inflation no. : PSI

Pounds per square inch (PSI) is a measure of pressure.

61A Like osmium : DENSE

Osmium is a metallic element in the platinum family. It is the densest naturally occurring element, and is about twice as dense as lead.

Down

1D Root for romantically, in slang : SHIP

“Shipping” is a slang term describing the desire of fans for characters to get together in a romantic relationship. The term originated with fans of the TV series “The X-Files”, who wanted the leads Mulder and Scully to fall for each other. That group of fans were “relationshippers”, and eventually just “shippers”.

2D Character in “Antigone”? : IOTA

“Antigone” is a tragedy written by Greek playwright Sophocles and first performed in 442 BC. The title character is the daughter of King Oedipus of Thebes, and was born out of the incestuous relationship of the king with his mother Jocasta.

4D Vater of Vater, informally : OPA

In German, the “Vater” (father) of one’s “Vater” (father), might be addressed informally as “Opa” (Grandpa).

10D East Coast market chain : WAWA

Wawa is an East Coast chain of gas stations and convenience stores. Back in the late 1800s, Wawa was the name of a dairy farm operation that delivered milk to homes. When consumers started buying milk in grocery stores in the 1960s, the owners of Wawa shifted their focus and opened up the Wawa Food Market as an outlet for the milk from the dairy operation. Those early food markets developed into the chain of Wawa convenience stores.

11D Endangered mammal in Congolese rainforests : OKAPI

The okapi is closely related to the giraffe, although it does have markings on its legs and haunches that resemble those of a zebra. The okapi’s tongue is long enough to reach back and wash its eyeballs, and can go back even further to clean its ears inside and out.

The African nation once called Zaire is a neighbor of Rwanda. The genocide and war in Rwanda spilled over into Zaire in 1996, with the conflict escalating into what is now called the First Congo War. As part of the war’s fallout there was a regime change, and in 1997 Zaire became the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Republic of the Congo is an African nation located on the western coast of the continent, straddling the equator. The Congo made up most of the French Congo starting in 1882, and became fully independent from France in 1960.

21D Exam for a future financier, for short : GMAT

If you want to get into a business school’s graduate program then you might have to take the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), which will cost you $275-300, I believe …

25D Bow ties that are not out of place at a picnic : PASTA SALAD

Farfalle is commonly referred to as bow-tie pasta because of its shape. The name comes from the Italian “farfalla” meaning “butterfly”.

26D Asteroids, for one : ARCADE GAME

I remember being quite addicted to the Atari video arcade game called Asteroids back in the early eighties. Apparently I wasn’t the only one, as Asteroids was Atari’s best-selling arcade game of all time.

32D Skyy alternative : STOLI

Stolichnaya vodka originated in Russia, but now it’s made in Latvia. Latvia is of course a completely different country, so you won’t see the word “Russian” on the label anymore. But, the “Stoli” label still bears a drawing of the famous Hotel Moskva, which is located near Red Square in Moscow.

Skyy Vodka is produced in the US, although the operation is owned by the Campari Group headquartered in Italy. Skyy first hit the shelves in 1992 when it was created by an entrepreneur from San Francisco, California.

37D “Oppenheimer” format : IMAX

The IMAX Corporation, which is behind the IMAX film format, is a Canadian company. The impetus for developing the system came after Expo ’67 in Montreal. Back then large format screenings were accomplished using multiple projectors with multiple screens, with images basically stitched together. The team behind the IMAX technology set out to simplify things, and developed a single-camera, single-projector system.

“Oppenheimer” is an epic 2023 film starring Cillian Murphy in the title role. The movie follows J. Robert Oppenheimer, “the father of the atomic bomb”, from his student days right through World War II and beyond. Directed by Christopher Nolan, the film has an amazing ensemble cast that includes:

• Matt Damon (General Leslie Groves)
• Robert Downey Jr. (Lewis Strauss)
• Josh Hartnett (Ernest Lawrence)
• Kenneth Branagh (Niels Bohr)
• Tom Conti (Albert Einstein)
• Gary Oldman (Harry S. Truman)

46D Some rugged water shoes : KEENS

Keen is an American shoe company that was founded by a sailor named Martin Keen, who was inspired to create a new type of sandal that would protect his toes while sailing.

48D “Trivial Pursuit” host Burton : LEVAR

Actor LeVar Burton is very much associated with two iconic roles on television, i.e. young Kunta Kinte in “Roots” and Geordi La Forge in “Star Trek: The Next Generation”. Burton also hosted the children’s PBS show “Reading Rainbow” for many years. His portrayal of Kunta Kinte in 1977 was Burton’s first acting job. Indeed, Burton’s audition for the part was the first in his professional career!

49D Play with Lincoln Logs, say : BUILD

The toy known as “Lincoln Logs” was invented by John Lloyd Wright, son of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The toy was named after President Abraham Lincoln, who was born in a log cabin.

57D Web portal with a butterfly logo : MSN

MSN was originally called The Microsoft Network, and was introduced in 1995 as an integral part of Microsoft’s Windows 95 operating system. MSN is a whole bundle of services including email, instant messaging as well as the MSN.com portal.

58D Office building div. : STE

Suite (ste.)