Day: August 31, 2024

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Constructed by: Samuel A. Donaldson & Doug Peterson
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: None

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

Bill’s time: 17m 37s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

11 March 1 : lion :: March 31 : __ : LAMB

“March comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb” is a proverb suggesting that the month of March starts off with cold and unpleasant weather, but finishes mildly and quite pleasantly.

15 Manga heroine romantically linked to Tuxedo Mask : SAILOR MOON

“Sailor Moon” is a manga series from Japan. The title character is a soldier who is destined to save the Earth from evil. She is also the alter ego of a schoolgirl named Usagi Tsukino. Sailor Moon’s companion is a talking black cat named Luna who has magical powers.

16 “Queen Sugar” actor Dorsey : OMAR

Omar Dorsey is an actor from Decatur, Georgia. He played James Orange in the 2014 movie “Selma”, and started playing Hollingsworth “Hollywood” Desonier in the drama series “Queen Sugar”.

“Queen Sugar” is a TV drama created by Ava DuVernay that is based on a 2014 novel of the same name by Natalie Baszile. It’s all about three estranged siblings who reunite to save their family’s failing sugarcane farm in Louisiana.

17 Element of the Pythagorean theorem : HYPOTENUSE

The hypotenuse is the longest side of a right-angled triangle, i.e. the side opposite the right angle.

Pythagoras of Samos is remembered by most these days for his work in mathematics, and for his famous Pythagorean theorem that states that in any right triangle, the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. Although there is very little of Pythagoras’s own work that survives, much has been written by his successors that shows how great his influence was above and beyond mathematics, in the fields of philosophy and religion in particular. In fact, it is believed that Pythagoras coined the word “philosophy”, coming from the Greek for “loving wisdom or knowledge”. On a “timeline” of famous Greek philosophers, Pythagoras was doing his work over a hundred years before Socrates, who was followed by Plato and then Aristotle.

20 Actress Mireille : ENOS

Mireille Enos is an actress from Kansas City. She is perhaps best known for her TV work, playing Sarah Linden on “The Killing” and for playing twins Kathy and JoDean Marquart on “Big Love”. Enos is married to actor Alan Ruck, who I mainly remember playing Cameron Frye in the great movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”.

21 Gabor sister whose given name was Sári : ZSA ZSA

Zsa Zsa Gabor was a Hungarian-American actress, born in Budapest as Sári Gábor (the older sister of the actress Eva). Zsa Zsa Gabor was married a whopping nine times, including a 5-year stint with Conrad Hilton and another 5 years with the actor George Sanders. One of Gabor’s famous quips was that she was always a good housekeeper, as after every divorce she kept the house!

23 Wheat protein : GLUTEN

Gluten is a protein mixture found in foods processed mainly from wheat. The sticky properties of gluten are used in making bread, giving dough its elasticity and making the final product chewy. “Gluten” is the Latin word for “glue”.

29 Performer in a cloud swing : ACROBAT

A cloud swing, also known as an aerial cradle or aerial hammock, is an acrobatic apparatus consisting of a fabric sling suspended from a single point. Cloud swing performers execute an array of movements, combining elements of dance and acrobatics.

32 Small pile of leaves : QUIRE

A quire is a measure of paper quantity. There are usually 25 sheets in a quire, and 20 quires (500 sheets) in a ream. To complicate things, a quire sometimes only contains 15, 18, 20 or 24 sheets, depending on the type of paper.

34 Wall St. whiz : ARB

An arbitrageur (arb.) is someone who profits from the purchase of securities in one market and the subsequent sale in another, by taking advantage of price discrepancies across markets.

37 Northern Nevada county : ELKO

Elko County in the northeastern corner of Nevada is the fourth-largest county (by area) in the contiguous US (after California’s San Bernardino County, Arizona’s Coconino County and Nevada’s Nye County).

38 Ryssdal who hosts NPR’s “Marketplace” : KAI

Kai Ryssdal is a radio journalist who is famous as the host of the weekday business program “Marketplace”. He has been doing the job since 2005.

39 Clan title : THANE

Thanes were Scottish aristocrats. The most famous thanes have to be the Shakespearean characters Macbeth (Thane of Glamis, later “Thane of Cawdor”, and still later “King of Scotland”) and MacDuff (Thane of Fife). Other thanes in “Macbeth” are Ross, Lennox and Angus, as well as Menteith and Caithness.

40 “The Bear” Emmy winner Jeremy __ White : ALLEN

“The Bear” is a comedy-drama TV show that started airing in 2022. It stars Jeremy Allen White (of “Shameless” fame) as a chef from a Michelin-star restaurant who heads home to Chicago to run his family’s sandwich shop after his brother dies. I really enjoyed this one …

43 Most dot matrix printers and flip phones, now : E-WASTE

A dot matrix printer works somewhat like an old typewriter. The printer head runs back and forth across the stage striking the paper through an inked ribbon, creating the printed characters from small dots.

45 Emmy-winning show about Clio-winning execs : MAD MEN

“Mad Men” was the flagship show on the AMC television channel for several seasons. Set in the sixties, it’s all about an advertising agency located on Madison Avenue in New York (hence the title). “Mad Men” became the first show created by a basic cable channel to win an Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series.

The Clio Awards are the Oscars of the advertising world and are named after Clio, the Greek Muse of History. Clio was also the recorder of great deeds, the proclaimer and celebrator of great accomplishments and a source of inspiration and genius. The Clio Awards were first presented in 1959.

48 Strands in the winter? : TINSEL

Back in the mid-1400s, the word “tinsel” applied to cloth into which was woven gold or silver thread. The term came from the Middle French word “estincelle” meaning “spark, spangle”, which ultimately derived from the Latin “scintilla” meaning “spark”. By the end of the 1500s, “tinsel” described thin strips of shiny metal. The word “Tinseltown” wasn’t applied to Hollywood until 1972.

54 Deets : INFO

“Deets” is slang for “details”.

55 Big fan : AFICIONADO

An aficionado is an enthusiast. Imported from Spanish, “aficionado” was originally used in English to describe a devotee of bullfighting.

59 Bob Seger hit about “trying to lose the awkward teenage blues” : NIGHT MOVES

“Night Moves” is a 1976 recording written and performed by Bob Seger. It is a largely autobiographical song that Seger wrote based on his experiences during adolescence. Those experiences included a relationship with a 20-year-old Italian-American girl while her boyfriend was serving in the military. That boyfriend returned, and married the young lady.

61 Booker prize? : SENATE SEAT

Cory Booker has been a US Senator for New Jersey since 2013, having previously served as the Mayor of Newark. Booker is one of the few vegetarians in the US Congress.

Down

2 “Atlanta Millionaires Club” singer Webster : FAYE

Singer-songwriter Faye Webster is from Atlanta, and grew up in a musical family. By the age of 24, she was writing her own music, and at 16 self-published her first album.

3 Word in Box 1 of a Form W-2 : TIPS

Form W-2 is provided by US employers to their employees by January 31 each year. The form reports wages paid to the employees, as well as taxes withheld.

4 Jeff Lynne’s gp. : ELO

Jeff Lynne is a singer-songwriter who is best known as the leader of the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). Lynne went on to form the Traveling Wilburys supergroup, along with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty.

5 Pasta similar to fiori : ROTELLE

Rotelle is a type of pasta with a shape resembling spoked wheels. The term “rotelle” comes from the Italian for “small wheel”.

Fiori is a flower-shaped pasta. “Fiori” is Italian for “flowers”.

6 Union contract : PRENUP

Prenuptial agreement (prenup)

Our word “nuptial” is an adjective meaning “of marriage, of the wedding ceremony”. The term derives from “nuptiae”, the Latin for “wedding, marriage”.

9 Game breaks, for short : TOS

Time-out (TO)

10 California’s Santa __ Valley : YNEZ

The Santa Ynez Valley is a winegrowing region in Santa Barbara County in California. The Santa Ynez Valley was the setting and location for the wonderful 2004 film “Sideways”.

11 “Sorry Not Sorry” singer : LOVATO

Pop and R&B singer Demi Lovato started her performing career as a child actress, playing Angela on the kids TV show “Barney & Friends” from 2002 to 2004. When she was all grown up, Levato served as a judge on “The X Factor” from 2012 to 2013, and soon after had the recurring role of Dani on “Glee”.

14 Body part that includes the xiphoid process : BREASTBONE

The xiphoid process is a small extension at the bottom of the sternum or breastbone. It is made from cartilage, although it usually becomes ossified in adults. The process resembles the tip of a straight sword, and “xiphos” is Greek for “sword”.

23 Two-time Roberts co-star : GERE

“Pretty Woman” is a great movie; a 1990 romantic comedy starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts. The film was originally written as a very dark story, with the female lead not only a prostitute, but also a drug addict. The Disney studio took up the project and demanded that it be rewritten as a modern-day fairy tale, and what a good decision that was …

“Runaway Bride” is a 1999 film starring Julia Roberts in the title role, and Richard Gere as the male romantic lead. I regard this one as a very watchable romantic comedy, although the critics hated it …

27 Vacation venue with cabins : OCEAN LINER

The use of the word “line” with reference to transportation started in the 1780s, in the context of stagecoaches. Such transportation operated a string of stagecoaches between towns and cities along regular “lines”. The concept shifted to shipping “lines” operating ocean-going “liners” between ports. And then came “airliners”.

39 Semi circle? : TIRE

An 18-wheeler semi-trailer truck has eight wheels under the trailer, i.e. four on each of the two rear axles. There are 10 wheels under the tractor unit. Two of the ten wheels are on the front axle, and eight are on the rear two axles that sit under the front of the trailer.

43 Cowboy legend Smith : EMMITT

Emmitt Smith is a retired football player who turned out for the Dallas Cowboys and the Arizona Cardinals. Smith was on three Super Bowl-winning teams with the Cowboys. Smith is also quite a dancer and won the “Dancing with the Stars” mirror ball trophy in 2006.

47 Georgia retreat : DACHA

Dachas are usually second homes in Russia and the former Soviet Union that are located outside the city limits in rural areas. Residents/tenants of dachas are often called “dachniks”.

The former Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) of Georgia is now an independent country. Supposedly, the Georgian people were given their name because they especially revered St. George. The flag of Georgia does indeed feature five St. George’s crosses.

49 Brief hookups at the office? : LANS

You may have a Local Area Network (LAN) in your house. If you’ve got a PC and a router or switch, likely attached to some modem, then you have a LAN.

53 Denver daily : POST

“The Denver Post” was founded in 1892 as “The Evening Post”. It was launched by a group of supporters of Grover Cleveland, who was seeking the office of the presidency for the second time.

56 “King Lear” curse : FIE

William Shakespeare’s play “King Lear” is one of his tragedies. Lear demands homage from his three daughters as he divides up his kingdom between them. The two older daughters, Goneril and Regan, pretend to be devoted to their father, but the youngest, Cordela, refuses to be insincere. Goneril and Regan assume power, but turn on their father, who chooses to become destitute and goes insane.

57 Sudoku figs. : NOS

Number puzzles similar to our modern-day Sudoku first appeared in French newspapers in the late 1800s. The format that we use today was created by Howard Garns, a 74-year-old freelance puzzle constructor from Connersville, Indiana and first published in 1979. The format was introduced in Japan in 1984 and given the title of “Sūji wa dokushin ni kagiru”, which translates to “the digits are limited to one occurrence”. The rather elaborate Japanese title was eventually shortened to Sudoku. No doubt many of you are fans of Sudoku puzzles. I know I am …