Day: November 30, 2024

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Constructed by: Kyle Dolan
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: None

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

Bill’s time: 11m 45s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 With 46-Across, noncarbonated drink with bubbles : BOBA …
46 See 1-Across : … TEA

Bubble tea, sometimes called “boba tea”, is a tea-based drink from Taiwan. The “bubbles” are chewy tapioca balls that are usually added to the drink.

5 K-pop group that visited the White House in 2022 : BTS

BTS is a boy band from South Korea with seven members. The initialism “BTS” stands for the phrase “Bangtan Sonyeondan”, which translates literally as “Bulletproof Boy Scouts”. It is the best-selling musical act in the history of South Korea.

15 Market investment opportunities, for short : IPOS

An initial public offering (IPO) is a significant event for a company as it marks the first time it becomes a publicly traded company. IPOs are often accompanied by a so-called “lock-up period.” This is a period of time, typically 90 to 180 days after the IPO, during which company insiders, such as executives and early investors, are not allowed to sell their shares on the open market. The purpose of the lock-up period is to prevent a flood of shares from hitting the market and potentially driving down the price of the stock.

19 One- or two-star flag officer : REAR ADMIRAL

The rank of rear admiral is usually the lowest of the admiral ranks. The term originated with the Royal Navy. In days gone by, an admiral would head up the activities of a naval squadron from the central vessel. He (and they were always male back then) would be assisted by a vice admiral who acted from the lead vessel. There would also be a lower-ranking admiral to command the ships at the rear of the squadron, and this was the “rear” admiral.

24 Poke tuna : AHI

Poke is a Native-Hawaiian dish featuring diced raw fish. “Poke” is a Hawaiian word meaning “to slice”.

28 Fruit infused in spirits : SLOES

The sloe is the fruit of the blackthorn bush, and the main flavoring ingredient in sloe gin. A sloe looks like a small plum, but is usually much more tart in taste.

33 “Filthy” stuff : LUCRE

Our word “lucre” meaning “money, profits” comes from the Latin “lucrum” that means the same thing.

35 __ Romeo : ALFA

The “Alfa” in “Alfa Romeo” is actually an acronym, one standing for Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili (“Lombard Automobile Factory, Public Company”). ALFA was an enterprise founded in 1909 and which was taken over by Nicola Romeo in 1915. In 1920 the company name was changed to Alfa Romeo.

39 Places with customs : PORTS

Excise taxes differ from customs duties. Excise taxes are imposed on goods within a nation’s borders, whereas customs duties are imposed at the border on importation.

41 Marriage bureau? : HOPE CHEST

A hope chest is (or perhaps “was”) used by young unmarried women to collect items for their new household in anticipation of marriage. The term used for the same thing in the UK and Ireland is “bottom drawer”, and in Australia is “glory box”.

43 “If __ Street Could Talk” : BEALE

“If Beale Street Could Talk” is a 2018 film based on a 1974 novel of the same name by James Baldwin. Both novel and movie tell the story of a young woman working to clear the name of her lover, who was wrongfully charged with rape.

45 Show whose first host was George Carlin, familiarly : SNL

George Carlin was a groundbreaking, stand-up comic from Manhattan, New York. Carlin’s best-known routine was his “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” that featured a list of words that would be considered offensive in some circles. Carlin was arrested and charged with obscenity after performing the routine in 1972 in Milwaukee. The judge hearing the case upheld Carlin’s right to perform the routine, but the controversy didn’t stop there. Someone complained about hearing the routine in a radio broadcast, which led to the US Supreme Court upholding the right of the FCC to prohibit broadcasts that might be deemed obscene when children were likely to be in the audience.

47 Children’s tune interpreted in Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 : FRERE JACQUES

“Frère Jacques” is a children’s song from France. The French lyrics are:

Frère Jacques, frère Jacques,
Dormez-vous ? Dormez-vous ?
Sonnez les matines ! Sonnez les matines !
Ding, daing, dong. Ding, daing, dong.

The lyrics are usually translated into English as:

Are you sleeping, are you sleeping,
Brother John? Brother John?
Morning bells are ringing! Morning bells are ringing!
Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong.

Gustav Mahler’s “Symphony No. 1” premiered in Budapest in 1889. Perhaps because it wasn’t well received, Mahler made major revisions to the work over the cooking years, prior to publication in 1898. Sometimes, the symphony is given the nickname “Titan”.

51 Galoot : OAF

“Galoot” is an insulting term describing an awkward or boorish man, an ape. “Galoot” comes from the nautical world, where it was originally what a sailor might call a soldier or marine.

58 Event for seniors : CAREER EXPO

The first World’s Fair was held in 1851, known back then as the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations. The fair was the idea of Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria. It was held in a magnificent glass and cast-iron structure called the Crystal Palace that was purpose-built for the occasion. The Great Exhibition spawned a tradition of what became known as World’s Fairs, expositions that feature national pavilions created by participating countries. The term “Expo” was coined for Expo 67, a 1967 World’s Fair held in Montreal. Since then, we’ve been using “expo” to describe any large exposition or trade show.

59 South Asian rice cake : IDLI

Idli (also “idly”) are savory rice cakes in the cuisine from the Indian subcontinent. The cakes are made from de-husked, fermented black lentils incorporated into a batter and then steamed.

61 Bag that may be stolen : BASE

“Bag” is an informal term describing a base in baseball.

62 Capital city with a Viking Ship Museum : OSLO

The most famous exhibit in Oslo’s Viking Ship Museum is the completely intact Oseberg ship. Named for the farm where it was discovered, the Oseberg ship was excavated from a large burial mound that dates back to 834 AD. The interment is an example of a “ship burial”, in which a ship was used as a container for a dead body and associated grave goods. The Oseberg ship included the bodies of two elderly females, one of which may have been included as a human sacrifice.

64 Home of the Big 12’s Cyclones : AMES

Iowa State University of Science and Technology (ISU) is located in Ames, Iowa. Among many other notable milestones, ISU created the country’s first school of veterinary medicine, in 1879. The sports teams of ISU are known as the Cyclones.

Down

1 Einstein contemporary : BOHR

Niels Bohr was a Danish physicist who won his 1922 Nobel Prize for his work on quantum mechanics and atomic structure. Later in his life, Bohr was part of the team working on the Manhattan Project that developed the first atomic bomb. Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein had a series of public debates and disputes in the twenties and thirties. Although the two respected each other very highly, they held very different views on quantum theory, different views on the laws of physics at the atomic level. The passage of time has shown that Bohr was on the right side of those debates.

3 Alpha follower : BETA

The Greek alphabet starts off with the letters alpha, beta, gamma …

4 Jetson family member : ASTRO

“The Jetsons” is an animated show from Hanna-Barbera that had its first run in 1962-1963, and then was recreated in 1985-1987. When it debuted in 1963 on ABC, “The Jetsons” was the network’s first ever color broadcast. “The Jetsons” is like a space-age version of “The Flintstones”. The four Jetson family members are George and Jane, the parents, and children Judy and Elroy. Residing with the family in Orbit City are their household robot Rosie and pet dog Astro.

5 Arabic invocation heard in Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” : BISMILLAH

The “Bismillah” (also “Basmala”) is an Arabic phrase that translates to “In the name of God.” Muslims typically say it before any significant action, from eating a meal to starting a journey, as a way to seek God’s blessings and guidance. It’s also the opening phrase of the Quran, appearing at the beginning of every chapter (except one).

10 Comic strip about the Gumbo family whose title was inspired by Gertrude Stein : ROSE IS ROSE

“Rose is Rose” is a cheerful and positive comic strip focused on the simple joys of everyday family life. Created by Pat Brady and launched in 1984, it features Rose and Jimbo Gumbo, their son Pasquale, and the family cat Peekaboo. The strip often explores Rose’s “inner child” through whimsical fantasies and daydreams.

“Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose” is a line from a poem called “Sacred Emily” that was written by Gertrude Stein. In the poem, Rose is actually a person. In later writings Stein used the phrase “a rose is a rose is a rose” to mean “things are what they are”.

11 Legally bar : ESTOP

The term “estop” means to block or stop by using some legal device. “Estop” comes from Old French, in which “estopper” means “to stop up” or “to impede”.

13 Drum or snapper : REDFISH

Here in the US, “redfish” is a common name sometimes used for several species of fish including “red snapper” and “red drum”.

23 __ Beach : SOUTH

South Beach is a neighborhood in Miami Beach, Florida that is often referred to by the nickname “SoBe”. SoBe is known for its active and vibrant LGBT community. The title of the marvelous 1996 film “The Birdcage” refers to a fictional Birdcage drag nightclub located in South Beach.

25 Wraparound hairstyle : HALO BRAIDS

The Gretchen frisur is a women’s hairstyle that also goes by the names crown braid and halo braid. Once popular with German women, the style is named for Gretchen, the title character’s love interest in Goethe’s play “Faust”.

26 Plummeting : IN FREEFALL

To plummet is to plunge downwards. The verb comes from the noun “plummet”, which is an alternative name for a plumb bob. A plumb bob is a weight that is suspended from a string so as to provide a vertical reference line.

30 Language spoken along the Volga : TATAR

Tatars (sometimes “Tartars”) are an ethnic group of people who mainly reside in Russia (a population of about 5 1/2 million). One of the more famous people with a Tatar heritage was Hollywood actor Charles Bronson. Bronson’s real name was Charles Buchinsky.

The Volga is the longest river in Europe. It is also considered the national river of Russia.

31 Hoopla : ADO

The word “hoopla” means “boisterous excitement”. The term probably comes from “houp-là”, something the French say instead of “upsy-daisy”. Then again, “upsy-daisy” probably isn’t something said very often here in the US …

32 Squirt : PIP-SQUEAK

“Twerp” and “pip-squeak” are both terms used for someone who is insignificant and contemptible.

34 First name in jazz : ETTA

“Etta James” was the stage name of celebrated blues and soul singer Jamesetta Hawkins. James’ most famous recording was her 1960 hit “At Last”, which made it into the pop charts. James performed “At Last” at the age of 71 in 2009 on the reality show “Dancing with the Stars”, which was to be her final television appearance. She passed away in 2012.

37 Hard to dismiss, in a way : TENURED

A job in a university that is described as “tenure-track” is one that can lead to a tenured position. A tenured position is a “job for life”. A person with tenure can only be dismissed for cause.

44 Disappearing mode of releasing an album? : EJECT

We don’t eject many music CDs from CD players these days …

47 Large book : FOLIO

Some common book formats/sizes are folio, octavo and quarto. For an octavo book for example, sixteen pages of text are printed, eight pages on each side of a “full-size” piece of paper. The pages are formed by folding the sheet of paper three times in half, giving a group of sixteen pages printed on eight leaves (after separation). The size of the resulting pages of course depends on the size of the original sheet, but each page is one eighth the size of that original (hence the name octavo). Nowadays the octavo size refers to books that are between eight and ten inches tall. If you do the math, folio books are twice the size of quarto, and quarto twice the size of octavo.

48 Game company co-founded by Nolan Bushnell : ATARI

Nolan Bushnell achieved success as the founder of two very different companies. He co-founded Atari, the video game and home computer manufacturer, in 1972. He started Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theatres in 1977, a restaurant aimed at children that served pizza but also provided entertainment and games. The link between Bushnell’s two enterprises was that he saw Chuck E. Cheese as an outlet for Atari video game consoles.

50 Biblical queendom : SHEBA

Sheba is referenced in the Bible several times. The Queen of Sheba is mentioned as someone who traveled to Jerusalem to behold the fame of King Solomon. No one knows for sure where the kingdom of Sheba was located, although there is evidence that it was actually the ancient Semitic civilization of Saba. The Sabeans lived in what today is Yemen, on the Arabian Peninsula.

57 Drag queen Bianca Del __ : RIO

“Bianca Del Rio” is the stage name of drag queen and comedian Roy Haylock. Del Rio won the sixth season of the reality competition “RuPaul’s Drag Race”.