Day: April 27, 2024

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Constructed by: Evans Clinchy
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: None

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

Bill’s time: 12m 15s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 One of the oldest neighborhoods in New Orleans : TREME

Tremé is a New Orleans neighborhood that is more formally known as Faubourg Tremé. It is one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods, founded in 1810 primarily providing homes for free people of color. Today, it is home to Louis Armstrong Park, Congo Square, the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park and the New Orleans African American Museum.

16 Barcelona’s Fundació Joan __ : MIRO

The Fundació Joan Miró is a museum of modern art in Barcelona. It is dedicated to the promotion of works by young, experimental artists, and also houses many of the works of Joan Miró, who co-founded the facility.

19 Like a kumquat : OVAL

The kumquat tree bears fruit that looks like a small orange, about the size of an olive. The rind of a kumquat is sweet, and the center sour, so often it is only the rind that is eaten.

21 Carrot family plant : ANISE

The essential oil in the anise plant is anethole. Anethole has a licorice-like flavor, and is used extensively in cooking and to flavor several distilled alcoholic drinks.

30 Young egg cells : OVULES

As we all remember from botany class (don’t we?), an ovule is a small structure in many plants that develops into the seed after fertilization.

32 Web-footed divers : AUKS

Auks are penguin-like sea birds that live in colder northern waters including the Arctic. Like penguins, auks are great swimmers, but unlike penguins, auks can fly.

35 Struggles with sigmatism : LISPS

A sigmatism is a lisp, a difficulty in pronouncing the letter S. The term comes from “sigma” (S) and “ism”.

39 State on the Arabian Sea known for beautiful beaches : GOA

Goa is the smallest state in India, and is located in the southwest of the country. The Portuguese landed in Goa in the early 1500s, at first peacefully carrying out trade, but then took the area by force creating Portuguese India. Portugal held onto Portuguese India even after the British pulled out of India in 1947, until the Indian Army marched into the area in 1961.

40 Vandyke kin : GOATEE

A goatee is a beard formed by hair on a man’s chin. The name probably comes from the tuft of hair seen on an adult goat.

The style of facial hair known as a Van Dyke is made up of a mustache and a goatee, with the cheeks fully shaven. The style takes its name from the 17th century Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck who wore such a beard, as did many of the men whose portrait he painted.

41 World Chess Champion from 2013 to 2023 : MAGNUS CARLSEN

Magnus Carlsen is a chess grandmaster from Norway who first became World Chess Champion in 2013. Carlsen achieved world no. 1 ranking for the first time in 2010 when he was just 19 years of age, making him the youngest player ever to be so honored.

44 “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” star : SEYMOUR

English actress Jane Seymour was born “Joyce Frankenberg”. And yes, she chose her stage name from the English queen, third wife of King Henry VIII.

“Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” is a TV series starring Jane Seymour as a Boston physician who settles in Colorado springs in the days of the Old West.

46 Waze suggestion: Abbr. : RTE

Waze is a navigation app that is similar to Google Maps and Apple Maps. Waze was developed in Israel, and was acquired by Google in 2013.

47 Facility for tech-savvy HS kids : AV LAB

Audio-visual (AV)

48 Election map figure : BLUE STATE

On political maps, red states are usually Republican and blue states usually Democrat. The designation of red and blue states is a very recent concept, only introduced in the 2000 presidential election by TV journalist, the late Tim Russert. In retrospect, the choice of colors is surprising, as in other democracies around the world red is usually used to describe left-leaning socialist parties (the reds under the bed!), and blue is used for conservative right-wing parties. In election cycles, swing/battleground states are often depicted in purple.

54 Long-handled hammer : MAUL

A maul is a large, heavy hammer, one often used for driving stakes into the ground. The term comes from the Old French “mail” and ultimately from the Latin “malleus”, with both meaning “hammer”.

56 Part of YOLO : ONCE

You only live once (YOLO)

57 Belgrade native : SERB

Belgrade is the capital city of Serbia. The name “Belgrade” translates into “White City”.

Down

1 Genre of Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings” : TRAP

Trap is a genre of hip hop music that originated in the early 21st century in the southern US. The name “trap” is a slang word used in Atlanta for a house used to sell drugs.

“7 Rings” is a 2019 megahit for Ariana Grande. Upon release, it went straight to number-one of the Billboard Hot 100. The song starts out using the melody of “My Favorite Things” from “The Sound of Music”.

4 Barra of General Motors : MARY

Mary Barra started working at General Motors as a co-op student, back in 1980. In 2014, she took over as GM’s chief executive officer, making her the first female head of a global automotive manufacturing company.

18 Touchy one? : MIDAS

King Midas of Greek mythology might be termed an alchemist as he had the power to turn everything he touched into gold i.e. the Midas touch. That power became a curse, as everything he touched turned to gold, including his food and drink, and even his children.

25 Game that may be played on horses, bicycles, or elephants : POLO

The sport of polo originated in Iran, possibly before the 5th century BC. Polo was used back then primarily as a training exercise for cavalry units.

26 Brand of slip resistant shoes : AVIA

The Avia brand name for athletic shoes was chosen as “avia” is the Latin word for “to fly”, and suggests the concept of aviation. Avia was founded in Oregon in 1979.

36 Gose or lambic : SOUR BEER

Gose is a style of beer that dates back to the early 1200s, and the town of Goslar, Germany from which the name is derived. It is a sour wheat beer. That is now brewed outside of Germany, especially in the US and New Zealand.

Lambic is a style of Belgian beer that dates back to the 13th century. What’s distinctive about lambic is the use of wild yeast as opposed to cultivated brewer’s yeast.

39 Masai Mara mammal : GNU

The gnu is also known as the wildebeest, and is an antelope native to Africa. “Wildebeest” is a Dutch word meaning “wild beast”.

The Maasai Mara (sometimes “Masai Mara”) National Reserve in Kenya sits right beside the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.

43 Remnants : CRUMBS

A remnant is a small part that’s left over from something larger. The term comes from the Latin “remanour” meaning “to remain”. So, a “remnant” is something “remaining”.

44 American __ : SAMOA

American Samoa is a US territory in the South Pacific located southeast of the nation of Samoa. Home to about 55,000 people, it is the southernmost American territory. American Samoa’s capital is the busy port city Pago Pago.

45 “Captain America” star : EVANS

Captain America is a fictional superhero in comics published by Marvel Comics. He is the alter ego of a weak man called Steve Rogers who was given an experimental serum by the US Government during WWII.

Chris Evans’ Hollywood career really took off when he was cast as the Human Torch in the “Fantastic Four” movies starting in 2005. He portrayed another superhero in 2011, playing the title role in “Captain America: The First Avenger”.

49 Willa Cather’s “The Song of the __” : LARK

American author Willa Cather wrote what’s referred to as the “Prairie Trilogy”, novels that tell the story of Swedish immigrants living in Nebraska. The titles in the trilogy are “O Pioneers!”, “The Song of the Lark” and “My Ántonia”. Cather won the Pulitzer Prize for another novel “One of Ours”, which is set in Nebraska and the French battlefields of WWI.

50 Life partner? : TIME

“TIME” was the first weekly news magazine in the US. It was founded in 1923 by Briton Hadden and Henry Luce. Hadden and Luce had previously worked together as chairman and managing editor of the “Yale Daily News”.

51 Mars counterpart : ARES

The Greek god Ares is often referred to as the Olympian god of warfare, but originally he was regarded as the god of bloodlust and slaughter. He united with Aphrodite to create several gods, including Phobos (Fear), Deimos (Terror) and Eros (Desire). Ares was the son of Zeus and Hera, and the Roman equivalent to Ares was Mars.

52 Windshield treatment : TINT

What we know as a windshield here in North America, is referred to as a windscreen on the other side of the Atlantic. In America, we use the term “windscreen” for a mesh or foam device placed around a microphone to limit noise caused by wind.