Day: July 15, 2023

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Constructed by: Rachel Fabi & Rebecca Goldstein
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: None

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

Bill’s time: 8m 27s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Poor, unfortunate souls : WAIFS

A waif is a street urchin, or perhaps a stray animal.

10 Small songbird : WREN

The wren is a small songbird belonging to the family troglodytidae and the genus troglodytes. Wrens are known for making dome-shaped nests.

15 Chiwere speaker : OTOE

Chiwere is a Siouan language spoken by the Otoe people, as well as by the Missouria and Iowa.

16 Spot that generates a lot of buzz : HIVE

A beehive is a structure specially built to house a colony of bees. A bee colony that houses itself naturally is found in a nest.

18 Commercial pest control? : BODEGA CAT

A bodega cat is one that lives in a bodega, or equivalent establishment, and has the “job” of keeping down the rodent population. In New York, for example, bodega cats are very common, even though they are frowned upon by the city’s health department.

“Bodega” is a Spanish term describing a winery, or these days a grocery store.

20 Aegean spot called the “Island of the Poets” : LESBOS

Lesbos is a Greek island in the northeast of the Aegean Sea. The Greek poet Sappho came from Lesbos, and she was a woman noted for her powerful emotional poems directed towards other females. It is because of the writings of Sappho from Lesbos that we have our word “lesbian”.

22 Tour de France crowds : PELOTONS

In military terms, a platoon is a subdivision of a company-sized unit, and is usually divided into squads or sections. The term “platoon” arose in the 1630s from the French “peloton”. “Peloton” translates literally as “little ball”, and is used to this day to mean “agglomeration”. “Peloton” gives rise to our word “pellet”. Also, we use the Modern French “peloton” in English now to refer to the main body (agglomeration) of riders in a bicycle race.

Back in the late 1800s, long-distance cycle races were used as promotional events, traditionally to help boost sales of newspapers. These races usually took place around tracks, but in 1902 the backers of the struggling sports publication “L’Auto” decided to stage a race that would take the competitors all around France. That first Tour de France took place in 1903, starting in Paris and passing through Lyon, Marseilles, Bordeaux, Nantes and then back to Paris.

30 Eur. kingdom : NOR

Norway has been ranked as the country in the world with the highest standard of living almost every year since 2001. It is rich in natural resources and has a relatively low population. The people benefit from a comprehensive social security system, subsidized higher education for all citizens and universal health care. And Norway is famous for her success at the Winter Olympic Games, having won more gold medals than any other nation in the world.

31 Explorer Bancroft who was the first woman to complete an expedition to the North Pole : ANN

Ann Bancroft is an explorer and adventurer who, in 1986, was the first woman to reach the North Pole on foot and by sled. Since then, she has attained several more firsts related to the polar regions. For example, in 1992-1993, she led the first all-female team to cross the ice on skis to the South Pole.

32 Stevenson villain : MR HYDE

Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” was published in 1886. There are many tales surrounding the writing of the story, including that the author wrote the basic tale in just three to six days, and spent a few weeks simply refining it. Allegedly, Stevenson’s use of cocaine stimulated his creative juices during those few days of writing.

33 Analog reminders : POST-ITS

The Post-it note was invented at 3M following the accidental discovery of a low-tack, reusable adhesive. The actual intent of the development program was to produce a super-strong adhesive.

36 Iroquois Confederacy nation known as the “People of the Standing Stone” : ONEIDA

The Oneida people originally lived in the area that is now Central New York. The Oneida were one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, also known as the Five Nations (the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca).

38 __ milk : PEA

Pea milk is one of the many plant milks that are alternatives to milk from cows. The pea protein used to make the milk comes from yellow peas.

39 Mule sound : LONG U

The letter U in the word “mule” is long U.

44 Feature of pugs and Pekingese : SNUB NOSE

The pug is a dog breed of Chinese origin. Our current family pet is a boxer/pug cross, and is a good-looking mutt!

The pekingese (“peke”) breed originated in China, as one might suspect from the name. Breeding practices have resulted in the dog having many health problems, including breathing issues related to the “desirable” flat face. Standards have been changed in recent years, demanding an “evident muzzle” in an attempt to breed healthier “pekes”.

47 “Gracias” reply : DE NADA

In Spanish, one can respond to “Gracias” (Thank you) with “De nada” (It’s nothing).

51 Element of environmental economics : CARBON TAX

A carbon tax is a fee imposed on the burning of carbon-based fuels, such as coal, oil, and gas. The tax is designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by making it more expensive to use these fuels.

53 Open-source operating system : LINUX

The Linux operating system uses as its mascot a penguin named “Tux”.

55 Apt rhyme for crocodile : NILE

Depending on definition, the Nile is regarded generally as the longest river on the planet. The Nile forms from two major tributaries, the White Nile and the Blue Nile, which join together near Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. From Khartoum the Nile flows north, traveling almost entirely through desert making it central to life for those living along its length.

Crocodiles and alligators do indeed bear a resemblance to each other, although they belong to distinct biological families. One of the main ways used to distinguish them is by their teeth and jaws. Both the upper and lower sets of teeth of a crocodile are visible when its mouth is closed, whereas only the upper teeth of an alligator are visible with the mouth shut.

57 Bubbly spec : BRUT

Sparkling wines can be classified according to sweetness. These classifications are, from driest to sweetest:

• Brut Nature
• Extra Brut
• Brut
• Extra Dry
• Dry
• Semi-Dry
• Sweet

Down

2 Parisian pal : AMIE

The French capital Paris is nicknamed “La Ville Lumière” (The City of Light). There are two justifications cited for the moniker. Firstly, the city played a leading role during Europe’s Age of Enlightenment, in the 18th century. In fact, the French refer to the era as “the Century of Lights”. Secondly, and more literally, Paris was one of the first cities in Europe to adopt widespread gas street lighting. There were about 56,000 gas lights illuminating the streets of Paris in the 1860s.

3 “Think” PCs : IBMS

“THINK” is a slogan that longtime IBM head Thomas J. Watson first used in 1911 while he was employed by the National Cash Register Company. Watcon brought the slogan with him to the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (later known as “IBM”) in 1914. “THINK” is now an IBM trademark, and it was used for IBM’s ThinkPad line of laptops. Many say that Apple’s 1997 slogan “Think different” was a response to IBM’s “THINK”.

4 Twit : FLIBBERTIGIBBET

A flibbertigibbet is a silly, scatterbrained person. Back in the 16th century, a flibbertigibbet was a gossip or a flighty woman.

7 Perfect : UTOPIAN

The word “Utopia” was coined by Sir Thomas More in his book “Utopia” published in 1516 to describe an idyllic fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. More’s use of the name Utopia comes from the Greek “ou” meaning “not” and “topos” meaning “place”. By calling his perfect island “Not Place”, More was apparently making the point that he didn’t think that the ideal could actually exist.

8 Gopher, e.g. : RODENT

Gophers are burrowing rodents that are more fully referred to as “pocket gophers”. While it’s not clear how the name “goper” arose, the “pocket” reference is to the animal’s large cheek pouches.

11 Part of P.R. : RICO

Puerto Rico (PR) is located in the northeastern Caribbean (in the Atlantic Ocean), east of the Dominican Republic. The name “Puerto Rico” is Spanish for “rich port”. The locals often call their island Borinquen, the Spanish form of “Boriken”, the original name used by the natives.

12 Emmy nominee __ Rachel Wood : EVAN

Actress Evan Rachel Wood’s most famous role to date is playing one of the leads in the 2003 movie “Thirteen”. Wood’s private life draws a lot of attention, especially as she was romantically linked for some time with the “outrageous” musician Marilyn Manson.

21 Layers on layers : STRATA

Stratigraphy is a discipline in the field of geology. It is the study of rock strata, i.e. the distribution and age of sedimentary rock, which is found in layers.

24 Hamilton bills : TENS

The obverse of the US ten-dollar bill features the image of Alexander Hamilton, the first US Secretary of the Treasury. As such, ten-dollar bills are sometimes called “Hamiltons”. By the way, the $10 bill is the only US currency in circulation in which the portrait faces to the left. The reverse of the ten-dollar bill features the US Treasury Building.

25 Nevada senator Jacky : ROSEN

Jacky Rosen took her seat as the junior US senator from Nevada in 2019. She had previously served in the US House of Representatives from 2017 to 2019. Rosen was the only Democratic candidate to beat a Republican incumbent senator in the 2018 election, defeating Senator Dean Heller.

29 Cab, for one : RED

The cabernet sauvignon (often just “cab”) grape has been around since the 17th century, and is the result of a chance crossing in southwestern France of the cabernet franc and sauvignon blanc grapes.

32 Sounded pitiful : MEWLED

To mewl is to cry weakly like a baby, with “mewl” being somewhat imitative.

33 D.C. insider : POL

Politician (pol)

37 Light beer? : PALE ALE

What’s known as “bitter ale” in the UK corresponds to “pale ale” in the US. I’m a fan …

40 __ chic : RUSTIC

Rustic modern (also “rustic chic”) is a style used in interior design that combines historical and modern elements. Not a huge fan, to be honest …

41 Joni Mitchell song with the lyrics “A ghost of aviation / She was swallowed by the sky” : AMELIA

“Amelia” is a song about pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart that Joni Mitchell released in 1976 on her studio album “Hejira”.

“Hejira” is a 1976 album released by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. Mitchell wrote the bulk of the songs on the album on a road trip from Maine to Los Angeles. The album’s title comes from the Arabic word “hijra” meaning “journey”.

Amelia Earhart is as famous today as she was during her lifetime. When she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic she was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by Congress, and the Cross of Knight of the Legion of Honor by the French government. She made two attempts to circumnavigate the globe by air (not solo). Her first attempt in March 1937 had to be abandoned when her aircraft was damaged during takeoff. The second attempt in June/July of the same year ended when Earhart and her navigator disappeared flying from Lae, New Guinea to Howland Island in the Central Pacific.

43 “The Secret History” novelist Tartt : DONNA

“The Secret History” is a 1992 novel, her first, by author Donna Tartt. It is described as an inverted detective story, meaning that a murder happens in the opening pages, with the rest of the novel describing events that led to the crime.

45 “Monsoon Wedding” director Mira __ : NAIR

Indian-American director Mira Nair has an impressive list of movies on her résumé, most notably perhaps “Mississippi Masala”, “Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love” and “Monsoon Wedding”.

46 Language from which “cummerbund” is derived : URDU

A cummerbund is a sash worn around the waist by some men, usually with a dinner jacket or tuxedo. Cummerbands came to us from Afghanistan in the early 1600s.

50 Escape shaft? : AXLE

The Ford Escape is an SUV that was developed jointly with Mazda and introduced in the 2001 model year. The Mazda version of the same vehicle is known as the Tribute.