Day: June 4, 2019

Bill’s time: 6m 53s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

9 Texas A&M student : AGGIE

Texas A&M is the seventh largest university in the country, and was the first public higher education institute in the state when it accepted its first students in 1876. The full name of the school was the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas and its primary mission used to be the education of males in the techniques of farming and military warfare. That’s quite a combination! Because of the agricultural connection, the college’s sports teams use the moniker “Aggies”. Texas A&M is also home to the George Bush Presidential Library.

15 Actress Gilbert of “The Conners” : SARA

The actress Sara Gilbert grew up playing Darlene on the sitcom “Roseanne” from 1988 to 1997. Today Gilbert appears fairly often on another hit sitcom, namely “The Big Bang Theory”. You can also see her on the daytime talk show called “The Talk”, a show that she herself created. And, she made a comeback as Darlene in 2018 in the “Roseanne” reboot(s).

“The Conners” is a spin-off sitcom of the hit TV show “Roseanne”. The spin-off came about after the cancellation of the “Roseanne” reboot in 2018, following a tweet by Roseanne Barr that was viewed as racist. The spin-off show features the main cast from “Roseanne”, but drops the title character Roseanne Conner.

17 Suspected 1930s-’40s spy : ALGER HISS

Alger Hiss was a US government official involved in the establishment of the United Nations. Hiss was accused of being a spy in testimony to the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) in 1948. Hiss vigorously denied and fought the accusation but eventually served over three years in jail on related charges. The consensus seems to be that Hiss was indeed a spy, but there may be new evidence available when the HUAC’s papers are unsealed in 2026.

21 Bandleader Arnaz : DESI

Desi Arnaz has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. One was placed to mark his contribution motion pictures, and the other for his work in television.

23 Baking soda amts. : TSPS

“Bicarb” is a familiar term for sodium bicarbonate. Another name for the same compound is “baking soda”. When sodium carbonate is added to a batter, it reacts with acids and releases carbon dioxide which gives baked goods texture, all those “holes”.

28 Sports gp. with a tour : PGA

The Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) was founded in 1916 and today has its headquarters (unsurprisingly) in Florida, where so many golfers live. Back in 1916, the PGA was based in New York City.

30 Jamaican resort : MONTEGO BAY

Montego Bay is the second largest city on the island of Jamaica, after the capital Kingston. Montego Bay is a popular tourist destination, with many cruise ships stopping there.

34 TV host Meredith : VIEIRA

Meredith Vieira is journalist and television personality. Vieira had a regular gig on “The View” and NBC’s “Today” show. She also took over from Regis Philbin as host of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”.

36 Blues singer James : ETTA

Etta James was best known for her beautiful rendition of the song “At Last”. Sadly, as she disclosed in her autobiography, James lived a life that was ravaged by drug addiction leading to numerous legal and health problems. Ms. James passed away in January 2012 having suffered from leukemia.

37 Brian of Roxy Music : ENO

Roxy Music is a British band formed by Bryan Ferry, who also served as the lead singer. One of the group’s more famous former band members was Brian Eno, someone who turns up in crosswords far too often …

38 Prefix with mural : INTRA-

Intramural sports are conducted within a certain geographic area, as opposed to varsity sports which are played with teams outside that area. The term “intramural” comes from the Latin for “within walls” and first applied to events held between teams based within the walls of a city.

40 New England fish : SCROD

Scrod is the name given to fish that has been “scrawed” i.e. split open, dried and then broiled.

42 Sci-fi figures : ETS

Extraterrestrial (ET)

45 Enemy of ancient Athens : SPARTA

Sparta was a city-state in ancient Greece that was famous for her military might. Spartan children had a tough upbringing, and newborn babies were bathed in wine to see if the child was strong enough to survive. Every child was presented to a council of elders that decided if the baby was suitable for rearing. Those children deemed too puny were executed by tossing them into a chasm. We’ve been using the term “spartan” to describe something self-disciplined or austere since the 1600s.

46 “Humboldt’s Gift” Pulitzer-winning novelist : SAUL BELLOW

Saul Bellow was the only writer to have won the National Book Award three times. He also won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1976. Bellow was a Canadian-born American writer, and among his most famous works were “Herzog” and “Humboldt’s Gift”.

“Humboldt’s Gift” is a Pulitzer-winning 1975 novel by Saul Bellow. The novel is somewhat autobiographical in that it describes Bellow real-life friendship with poet Delmore Schwartz, through the fictional relationship of the two writers in the story.

49 “Science Guy” Bill : NYE

That would be “Bill Nye the Science Guy”. Bill’s show ran on PBS for four years, from 1993-97.

51 Teller’s comedy partner : PENN

Penn Jillette is one half of the duo of magicians known as Penn & Teller (Penn is the one who talks). Penn teamed up with Teller on stage in 1981, having met him through a friend back in 1974. As well as being talkative onstage, Penn is very vocal offstage when it comes his causes and beliefs. He is a devout atheist, a libertarian and a supporter of free-market capitalism.

53 Norway’s most populous city : OSLO

Oslo, the capital of Norway, is an ancient city that was founded around 1048. The medieval city was destroyed by fire in 1624 and was rebuilt by the Danish-Norwegian king Christian IV and renamed to Christiana. In 1877 there was an official change of the spelling of the city’s name to “Kristiana”, and then more recently in 1925 the name was restored to the original Oslo. Things have almost gone full circle and now the center of Oslo, the area that would have been contained by the original medieval walls, has apparently been renamed to Christiana.

55 Not out : SAFE

That would be baseball.

62 Canoe material : BIRCH BARK

The bark of birch trees (known as “birchbark”) is a useful material that has been used since prehistoric times as a building, crafting and writing material. Birchbark is readily cut, bent and sewn and resembles cardboard, although unlike cardboard, it is also water-resistant. Birchbark was a popular material with Native Americans, used for making canoes, wigwams, scrolls and maps.

68 Pages with viewpoints : OP-EDS

“Op-ed” is an abbreviation for “opposite the editorial page”. Op-eds started in “The New York Evening World” in 1921 when the page opposite the editorials was used for articles written by a named guest writer, someone independent of the editorial board.

Down

1 Org. for Naomi Osaka : WTA

The former World No. 1 tennis player Billie Jean King founded the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) in 1973.

Naomi Osaka is a Japanese-born tennis professional who became the first Asian player to be ranked number-one in singles.

2 Some Picassos : OILS

The artist Pablo Picasso’s full name was Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso, a name he was given right from birth. Got that?

3 Building toy with theme parks : LEGO

Lego is manufactured by Lego Group, a privately held company headquartered in Billund, Denmark. The company was founded by a carpenter called Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1934 and the now-famous plastic interlocking blocks were introduced in 1949. The blocks were originally sold under the name “Automatic Binding Bricks” but I think “Lego” is easier to remember! The name “Lego” comes from the Danish term “leg godt” meaning “play well”.

7 Highlands language : ERSE

There are actually three Erse languages: Irish, Manx (spoken on the Isle of Man) and Scots Gaelic. In their own tongues, these would be Gaeilge (in Ireland), Gaelg (on the Isle of Man) and Gaidhlig (in Scotland).

The Scottish Highlands are that part of the country not classified as the Lowlands(!). The Highlands make up the north and west of Scotland.

8 Walkman insert, once : CASSETTE

Walkman is a brand of portable audio and video products manufactured by Sony. The first Walkman was introduced in 1979 and popularized the practice of carrying music around and listening through lightweight headphones.

10 Cave : GROTTO

A grotto is a cave or cavern. “Grotto” is a word that we have imported from Italian, in which language it has the same meaning, or can describe a vault.

11 Jam fruit : GOOSEBERRY

You don’t see gooseberries very much over here in the US, but they grew wild in Britain and Ireland when I was growing up. Gooseberry pies and jams were very popular.

12 Brit. police rank : INSP

Inspector (Insp.)

13 Places for contacts : EYES

The concepts that underpin the technology of contact lenses date back to Leonardo Da Vinci. Although Da Vinci didn’t propose the development of the contact lens, he did write about correcting vision by submerging the eye in a bowl of water. Over a hundred years later, René Descartes made a somewhat impractical suggestion, but along the right lines, of using a glass tube filled with liquid that could be placed in contact with the eye to correct vision. The first real contact lenses were developed by German ophthalmologist Adolf Gaston Eugen Fick in 1887.

18 Piglet’s little buddy : ROO

Like most of the characters in A. A. Milne’s “Winnie the Pooh”, the kangaroo named “Roo” was inspired by a stuffed toy belonging to Milne’s son Christopher Robin.

25 “Today” rival, for short : GMA

“Good Morning America” (GMA) is ABC’s morning show, and has been since 1975. There was even a spin-off show called “Good Afternoon America”, although that only lasted for a few months in 2012.

28 Sailing companion of the Niña : PINTA

Famously, Christopher Columbus used three ships in his first voyage across the Atlantic: the Santa Maria, the Niña and the Pinta. The Pinta was the fastest of the three, and it was from the Pinta that the New World was first spotted, by a sailor named Rodrigo de Triana who was a lookout on the fateful day. Pinta was a nickname for the ship that translated as “the painted one”. The Pinta’s real name has been lost in mists of time.

31 Sam of “Jurassic Park” : NEILL

Sam Neill is a very talented actor from New Zealand, although he spent the first few years of his life in Northern Ireland. I really enjoyed Neill in a 1983 television miniseries called “Reilly, Ace of Spies”, about a British spy operation during WWI. He is perhaps better-known for his roles in the movies “Omen III”, “Dead Calm”, “Jurassic Park” and “The Hunt for Red October”.

“Jurassic Park” is a 1990 novel by Michael Crichton that was adapted into a hugely successful movie by Steven Spielberg in 1993. One of the main premises of the novel is that dinosaur DNA could be harvested from mosquitoes trapped in amber (fossilized tree resin), the DNA coming from the dinosaur blood consumed by the mosquitoes. The dinosaur DNA is then sequenced and used to create clones of the original beasts. Apparently, that’s a clever idea, but not very practical …

33 Pointy-eared Jedi master : YODA

The Jedi are the good guys in the “Star Wars” series of movies. The most famous Jedi knights from the films are Obi-Wan Kenobi (played by Alec Guinness, and later Ewan McGregor) and Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz). Well, they’re my favorites anyway …

35 “First Blood” tough guy : RAMBO

“First Blood” was the original of the four “Rambo” films starring Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo, a troubled Vietnam War veteran. I thought “First Blood” was a pretty good film actually, but the sequels were terrible, and way too violent for me. But, action all the way …

39 Mexican buffet offering : SALSA BAR

“Salsa” is simply Spanish for “sauce”.

41 Marijuana : CANNABIS

Hemp, also known as “cannabis”, is a hardy, fast-growing plant that has many uses mainly due to the strength of the fibers in the plant’s stalks. Hemp is used to make rope, paper and textiles. The term “hemp” is sometimes reserved for varieties of the plant grown for non-drug use.

45 Fin. neighbor : SWE

The country of Sweden emerged during the Middle Ages, and became one of the great powers of Europe in the days of the Swedish Empire in 17th and early 18th century. Since then Sweden’s influence has waned. What was the eastern part of Sweden was lost to Russia in the early 1800s, and is now modern-day Finland. In the 20th century Sweden has adopted a very non-aggressive stance and was neutral in both World Wars. Sweden is not a member of NATO, but is a member of the European Union, although the country does not use the euro as its currency.

48 Some Lincoln Center productions : OPERAS

The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts takes its name from the neighborhood in which it is situated, i.e. Lincoln Square in the Upper West Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan.

53 __ buco: veal dish : OSSO

“Osso” is the Italian word for bone, as in the name of the dish “osso buco” (bone with a hole), which features braised veal shanks.

56 Marcher’s flute : FIFE

A fife is a small flute that is often used in military and marching bands. The name “fife” comes from the German “Pfeife” meaning “pipe”.

58 Florida’s Miami-__ County : DADE

The residents of Florida’s Dade County voted to change its name to Miami-Dade County in 1997, in recognition of its most populous and recognized city.

61 Mag workers : EDS

Editors (eds.) might work on a magazine (mag).

63 Dated PC monitor : CRT

Cathode ray tube (CRT)

64 __ Kan pet food : KAL

Kal Kan is a brand of pet food that has been marketed since 1936, but is now sold exclusively in Walmart stores.