Category: Amie Walker

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Constructed by: Amie Walker
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Time in a Bottle

Themed answers each end with something that might spend a stretch of TIME IN A BOTTLE:

• 55A Classic Jim Croce song, or a stretch for the ends of 19-, 25-, and 49-Across? : TIME IN A BOTTLE

• 19A Romantic involvement without defined parameters : SITUATIONSHIP (ship in a bottle)
• 25A Brand in a nursery : DIAPER GENIE (genie in a bottle)
• 49A Email alternative : TEXT MESSAGE (message in a bottle)

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

Bill’s time: 6m 11s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Atlas page : MAP

The first modern atlas was published in 1570 by Abraham Ortelius, a Flemish cartographer. It was called “Theatrum Orbis Terrarum” (Theater of the World).

4 Detective agency often outsmarted by Carmen Sandiego : ACME

The “Carmen Sandiego” franchise is a remarkably clever and helpful series of computer games and other media that is designed to educate users (primarily children). The applications were originally designed to use an exciting espionage motif in order to expose young people to geography and history, and even math, English and other subjects.

15 Cornmeal cake : PONE

“Pone” is another name for corn bread, and comes from the Powhatan term “apan” meaning “something baked”.

16 “Right Here Waiting” singer Richard : MARX

Richard Marx is a singer and songwriter who had a string of hits in the eighties and nineties. He was the first singer in history to have his first seven singles all break into the Billboard Top 5.

17 Godiva rival : LINDT

The delicious Swiss chocolate sold under the Lindt brand name has its origins in a small confectionery store in Zurich in the 1840s. Lindt purchased the San Francisco-based chocolate company Ghirardelli back in 1998.

Godiva is a brand of chocolates that was founded in Brussels, Belgium in 1926. The founder chose the brand name in honor of the legend of Lady Godiva.

19 Romantic involvement without defined parameters : SITUATIONSHIP

The slang term “situationship” has been coined to describe a midpoint in a romantic relationship between dating and not dating. The couple have mutual feelings for each other, but those feelings are not clearly defined.

22 Wi-Fi device : ROUTER

In the world of computing, a router is a device that helps direct traffic, as it were. A router in a house is often found in combination with a modem, and directs traffic between the Internet and the computers in the home.

25 Brand in a nursery : DIAPER GENIE

A Diaper Genie is a container that accepts used diapers, seals them using a scented film, and holds them for disposal when the container is full. When the diapers are removed, they are enclosed in a string of film that some folks call a “diaper sausage”.

28 __ Talks: lecture series : TED

The acronym “TED” stands for “Technology, Entertainment and Design”. TED is a set of conferences held around the world by a non-profit group called the Sapling Foundation. The conference subjects are varied, and the meetings are often led by big names such as Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Bill Gates and Jane Goodall. The Sapling Foundation then makes recordings of the conferences available for free online with the intent of disseminating the ideas globally. These conferences are known as “TED Talks”. There are also TEDx events, which are locally-run talks presented under license from TED.

29 Designer Gucci : ALDO

Gucci was founded in Rome, in 1921, by Guccio Gucci. Guccio’s son Aldo took over the company after his father’s death in 1953. It was Aldo who established the international presence for the brand and opened the company’s first overseas store, in New York City.

30 Japanese currency : YEN

The Japanese yen (JPY) is the third-most traded currency in the world, after the US dollar and the euro.

31 The “A” of LGBTQIA+, informally : ACE

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, asexual and others (LGBTQIA+)

42 Fish and chips fish, often : COD

In Britain and Ireland, the most common fish that is used in traditional “fish and chips” is Atlantic cod. Cod has been overfished all over the world, and is now considered to be an endangered species by many international bodies. Confrontations over fishing rights in the North Atlantic led to conflicts called “the Cod Wars” between Iceland and the UK in the 1950s and the 1970s, with fishing fleets being protected by naval vessels and even shots being fired.

46 Tony-winning singer/actress Salonga : LEA

Lea Salonga is a singer and actress from the Philippines who is known for originating the lead role in the musical “Miss Saigon” in both the West End and on Broadway. She also provided the singing voice for the Disney princesses Jasmine (in “Aladdin”) and Fa Mulan (in “Mulan”, both 1998 and 2004 versions). Salonga was the first Asian woman to win a Tony Award, for her performance in “Miss Saigon”.

55 Classic Jim Croce song, or a stretch for the ends of 19-, 25-, and 49-Across? : TIME IN A BOTTLE

“Time in a Bottle” is a song written by Jim Croce in 1970 and recorded by him in 1972. The song was released as a single in 1973, soon after Croce died in a plane crash. It was to be Croce’s last number-one hit.

59 Red wine grape : SYRAH

The Iranian city of Shiraz has long been associated with wine, but there is no proven link between the city and the wine/grape we know today as “Shiraz” (also called “Syrah”). Having said that, some clay jars were found just outside of the city of Shiraz that contained wine; wine that was 7,000 years old!

60 Figure skating leap : AXEL

An axel is a forward take-off jump in figure skating. The maneuver was first performed by Norwegian Axel Paulsen at the 1882 World Figure Skating championships.

63 Hawaiian goose : NENE

The nene is a bird that is native to Hawaii, and is also known as the Hawaiian goose. The name “nene” is an imitation of its call. When Captain Cook landed on the islands in 1778, there were 25,000 nene living there. By 1950, the number was reduced by hunting to just 30 birds. Conservation efforts in recent years have been somewhat successful. The nene was named State Bird of Hawaii in 1957.

65 Title for Emma Thompson : DAME

Emma Thompson is one of my favorite English actresses, and someone who has appeared in many of my favorite films. She probably first came to attention in the US when she won an Oscar for her role in “Howards End”, which she followed up with “Remains of the Day” and “In the Name of the Father”. Perhaps my favorite production of hers is her own adaptation of “Sense and Sensibility”, which won her Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actress. Emma Thompson went to Cambridge University and was good friends with a host of successful British actors and entertainers, including her ex-boyfriend Hugh Laurie who is famous in the US for playing the title role in television’s “House”.

Down

1 Film studio founded in 1924 : MGM

The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) film studio was founded in 1924 by Marcus Loew. Loew was already a successful movie theater owner when he purchased Metro Pictures Corporation in 1919, and then Goldwyn Pictures in 1924. Later in 1924, Loew also purchased Louis B. Mayer Pictures, mainly so that Louis B. Mayer could merge all three studios and run them himself as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

4 Vegas casino with a musical name : ARIA

The Aria hotel on the Las Vegas Strip opened at the end of 2009. Architecturally, it is noted for a design that minimizes energy consumption. In fact, it is the largest hotel in the world to have earned a LEED Gold certification.

5 Penny : CENT

The official name of our smallest denomination coin is “cent”, and our use of the word “penny” is just a colloquialism derived from the British coin of the same name. In the UK, the plural of penny is “pence”, whereas we have “pennies” in our pockets.

6 Middle of the road : MEDIAN

In a set of numbers, the mean is the average value of those numbers. The median is the numeric value at which half the numbers have a lower value, and half the numbers a higher value. The mode is the value that appears most often in the whole set of numbers.

7 Tallinn’s country : ESTONIA

Tallinn is the largest city in the former Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) of Estonia, and is now the nation’s capital. Tallinn is sometimes referred to as the Silicon Valley of Europe, and indeed it was in Tallinn that the video chat service Skype was developed. It is also home to NATO’s Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence that is sponsored by several NATO members, including the US.

9 Part of a Willy Wonka costume : TOP HAT

Willy Wonka is the lead character in the 1964 novel by Roald Dahl called “Charlie & the Chocolate Factory”. Wonka has been portrayed on the big screen twice. Gene Wilder was a fabulous Wonka in the 1971 version titled “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory”, and Johnny Depp played him in the Tim Burton movie from 2005 called “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. I’m not too fond of Tim Burton movies, so I haven’t seen that one …

13 Election Day survey of voters : EXIT POLL

An exit poll is considered the most accurate poll taken in an election cycle, as the questions relate to the actual vote that has been registered, and not to an intended vote.

21 Sabrina, to Hilda and Zelda : NIECE

The hit TV show “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” is based on a comic book series of the same name. The title character is played by actress Melissa Joan Hart. Sabrina lives with her two aunts, Hilda and Zelda, who are both 600 years of age. There’s also a cat called Salem, who has magical powers.

34 “Godmother of Soul” LaBelle : PATTI

“Patti LaBelle” is the stage name of singer Patricia Holt-Edwards from Philadelphia. She started her career in the sixties as the lead singer of the vocal group Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles, later changing its name to simply “LaBelle”. When the group disbanded in 1976, Patti launched a remarkably successful solo career.

36 Shiv’s partner on “Succession” : TOM

In the comedy-drama show “Succession”, patriarch Logan Roy has one daughter. Her name is Siobhan (my favorite Irish name!), and goes by the nickname “Shiv”. Shiv is played by Australian actress Sarah Snook.

In the TV show “Succession”, the character Tom Wambsgans (what a name!) is played by English actor Matthew Macfadyen. Wambsgans is the fiancé and eventual husband of Shiv, the daughter of Logan Roy, the patriarch of the family.

46 “Gran Cocina __”: Maricel E. Presilla cookbook : LATINA

Maricel Presilla is a chef and author. Her 2013 cookbook “Gran Cocina Latina: The Food of Latin America” was picked by the James Beard Foundation as the Cookbook of the Year.

48 Energy bar nut : ALMOND

“Almond” is the name of a deciduous tree, and of the edible seed of that tree. The fruit of the almond tree is a drupe, and not a nut. The drupe comprises an outer hull surrounding a woody endocarp. The edible seed is found inside the woody shell, and that’s the almond “nut”.

50 Saw right through, in a way : X-RAYED

X-rays were first studied comprehensively by the German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen (also “Roentgen”), and it was he who gave the name “X-rays” to this particular type of radiation. Paradoxically, in Röntgen’s native language of German, X-rays are routinely referred to as “Röntgen rays”. In 1901, Röntgen’s work on X-rays won him the first Nobel Prize in Physics that was ever awarded.

53 1990s tennis great Monica : SELES

Monica Seles has a Hungarian name as she was born to Hungarian parents in former Yugoslavia. Seles was the World No. 1 professional tennis player in 1991 and 1992 before being forced from the sport when she was stabbed by a spectator at a match in 1993. She did return to the game two years later, but never achieved the same level of success.

56 Small fastener : BRAD

A brad is a slender wire nail with a relatively small head that is typically used to tack pieces of wood together, i.e. to fasten either temporarily or with minimal damage to the wood. Nowadays, brads are commonly applied using a nail gun.

61 Taking Back Sunday genre : EMO

Taking Back Sunday is a rock band that formed in 1999 in Amityville, New York.