Category: Andrew J. Ries

Bill’s time: 11m 33s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

18. “Ben-Hur” Oscar winner : HESTON

As well as having a fine career as an actor, Charlton Heston was a noted political activist. In the fifties he was very much a progressive and left-leaning in his political views. He was one of few in Hollywood to speak out against racism and support the Civil Rights Movement. Later in his life Heston became more associated with the conservative right, and was president of the National Rifle Association.

The celebrated 1959 Charlton Heston movie “Ben-Hur” is a dramatization of a book published in 1880 by Lew Wallace titled “Ben-Hur: A Tale of Christ”. The 1959 epic film won a record 11 Academy Awards, a feat that has been equaled since then but has never been beaten. The other winners of 11 Oscars are “Titanic” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the Rings”.

19. “Webspace” was added to it in Jun. 2017 : OED

Oxford English Dictionary (OED)

The term “webspace” can have several meanings depending on context. At the most basic level, webspace is disk space allocated on a server for a person or an entity to store web pages that can be accessed using the Internet. For example, I pay a web hosting service to allocate web space for me that I use to publish my two crossword blogs (LAXCrossword.com and NYXCrossword.com).

20. Hot BuzzFeed feature? : SEX QUIZ

BuzzFeed is an Internet media company that was founded in 2006 in New York City. Buzzfeed’s original focus was the publication of online quizzes and pop culture articles. The company branched into serious journalism in 2011 with the launch of the “Buzzfeed News” website.

22. “When we know, you’ll know”: Abbr. : TBA

Something not yet on the schedule (“sked” or “sched.”) is to be advised/announced (TBA).

23. Substitute : PROXY

Our word “proxy”, meaning “the agency of one who acts instead of another”, comes from the Latin “procurare” meaning “to manage”. So, “proxy” has the same root as our word “procure”.

25. “Tequila mockingbird” and “absinthe of malice,” for two : PUNS

Here are some of my favorite puns:

• A man died today when a pile of books fell on him. He only had his shelf to blame.
• I hate negative numbers and will stop at nothing to avoid them.
• I wasn’t going to get a brain transplant, but then I changed my mind.
• I should have been sad when my flashlight batteries died, but I was delighted.

26. Maverick on TV : BRET

“Maverick” is a TV series set in the Wild West and starring James Garner as Bret Maverick. Midway through the first series, Bret was given a brother called Bart, who was played by Jack Kelly. Once the brother’s character was introduced, Bart and Bret alternated as the lead character in each weekly episode. Both Mavericks were expert poker players who got themselves in and out of all sorts of trouble. After the third season, James Garner left the show and was replaced by actor Roger Moore who played a Maverick cousin called Beau. Still later, actor Robert Colbert was introduced as a third brother called Brent Maverick.

27. Big __ : SUR

Big Sur is a lovely part of the California Coast located south of Monterey and Carmel. The name “Big Sur” comes from the original Spanish description of the area as “el sur grande” meaning “the big south”.

30. “The History of the Standard Oil Company” author : TARBELL

Ida Tarbell was a teacher and what we would call today an “investigative journalist”, although back in her day she was known as a “muckraker”. Her most famous work is her 1904 book “The History of the Standard Oil Company”. It is an exposé that is credited with hastening the breakup of John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil in 1911.

32. Dunked discs : OREOS

There is an “official” competition involving Oreo cookies, in case anyone is interested in participating. A competitor has to take several steps to finish an OREO Lick Race:

1. Twist open the cookie.
2. Lick each half clean of creme.
3. Show the clean cookie halves to the fellow competitors.
4. Dunk the cookie halves in a glass of milk.
5. Eat the cookie halves.
6. Drink the milk.
7. Ready, set, go …

38. Creamy sauce : ALFREDO

Alfredo sauce is usually associated with the Italian dish called fettuccine Alfredo. The sauce is made from Parmesan cheese and butter, and is named for the Italian restaurant owner Alfredo Di Lelio. Di Lelio’s nephews still own and run a restaurant in Rome called “Il Vero Alfredo”. Here in the US, we often add other ingredients to the basic cheese and butter recipe. The name “fettuccine Alfredo” won’t be found on a menu in Italy today, and instead one can order “fettuccine al burro”.

42. NOW center: Abbr. : ORG

The National Organization for Women (NOW) was founded in 1966. The NOW bylaws include a Statement of Purpose:

NOW’s purpose is to take action through intersectional grassroots activism to promote feminist ideals, lead societal change, eliminate discrimination, and achieve and protect the equal rights of all women and girls in all aspects of social, political, and economic life.

44. Many a Baghdad dad : ARAB

According to the University of Baghdad, the name “Baghdad” dates way back, to the 18th-century BCE (yes, BCE!). The name can be translated into English from the language of ancient Babylon as “old garden” (bagh-) and “beloved” (-dad).

46. Part of some salesmen’s deliveries : SMARM

The term “smarm”, meaning insincere flattery, comes from a colloquial word “smalm” meaning to smear the hair with some sort of styling product.

48. Dietitian’s calc. : BMI

The body mass index (BMI) is the ratio of a person’s height to his or her mass.

49. ’70s Robert Blake cop show : BARETTA

“Baretta” is a detective show that originally aired from 1975 to 1978. Robert Blake played the title role of Tony Baretta, a New Jersey cop who lived in an apartment with his pet cockatoo named Fred. Famously, Blake ended up on the wrong side of the law in his real life. He was tried and acquitted of the 2001 murder of his wife, but found liable for her wrongful death in a 2005 civil suit.

57. Come out of the bullpen : RELIEVE

That would be baseball.

58. Like a date without a heart? : PITTED

Date palms can be either male or female. Only the female tree bears fruit (dates).

Down

4. 1994 Olympics host: Abbr. : NOR

Lillehammer, Norway hosted the Winter Olympic Games in 1994. The ‘94 Winter Games were the first to be held two years after the Summer Olympics, and so took place only two years after the ‘92 Games, held in Albertville, France.

5. Dress (up) : GUSSY

To gussy up is to dress showily. The term “gussy” was a slang term that was used for an overly-dressed person.

6. Bygone blade : SNEE

“Snick or snee” is the name given to cut and thrust while fighting with a knife. The phrase is rooted in a pair of Dutch words. The expression gave its name to “snickersnee” (sometimes just “snee”), a term describing a light sword-like knife.

7. Crystalline rock : SCHIST

Schists are a family of metamorphic rocks. The name “schist” comes from the Greek word “schízein” meaning “to split”, and is a reference to the ease at which schists can be cleaved. Back in the mid-1700s, miners tended to use the terms “slate”, “shale” and “schist” interchangeably.

8. “In the home of,” literally : CHEZ

“Chez” is a French term meaning “at the house of”, which comes from the Latin word “casa” meaning “cottage” or “hut”.

9. Dawn goddess : EOS

In Greek mythology, Eos was the goddess of the dawn who lived at the edge of the ocean. Eos would wake each morning to welcome her brother Helios the sun. The Roman equivalent of Eos was Aurora. Rather delightfully, Homer referred to Eos as “rosy-fingered dawn” in both “Iliad” and “Odyssey”.

11. 1962 hit with the line “the samba’s the quickest way to make amor” : ESO BESO

“Eso Beso” is Spanish for “That Kiss”, and is the title of a 1962 hit song recorded by Canadian-born singer Paul Anka.

12. Legal bodies : SENATES

Our word “senate” comes from the Latin for such a body, namely “senatus”. In turn, “senatus” is derived from “senex” meaning “old man”, reflecting the original Roman senate’s makeup as a council of “elders”.

17. Fronts of cold fronts : SQUALL LINES

A squall line is a line of thunderstorms that sometimes precedes a cold front.

“Cold front” is the name given to the leading edge of a relatively cold mass of air that is replacing a warmer mass of air at ground level. In the presence of sufficient moisture in the air, a cold front can bring rain and perhaps thunderstorms.

21. Addams who can generate electricity : UNCLE FESTER

In the original television version of “The Addams Family”, the character called Uncle Fester was played by Jackie Coogan. In the first two adaptations for the big screen, Uncle Fester was portrayed by the talented Christopher Lloyd.

24. Where doctors may catch a break? : X-RAY LAB

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.

28. “Angie Tribeca” airer : TBS

“Angie Tribeca” is a sitcom created by Steve Carell and his wife Nancy Walls Carell. The title character is an LAPD police detective played by actress Rashida Jones. I hear that the show is pretty goofy, but well worth watching

34. Sound from a purse, possibly : ARF!

The toy group of dogs is made up of the smallest breeds. The smallest of the small breeds are sometimes called teacup breeds.

39. Wall Street whizzes, say : ORACLES

In Ancient Greece and Rome, an oracle was someone believed inspired by the gods to give wise counsel. The word “oracle” derives from the Latin “orare” meaning “to speak”, which is the same root for our word “orator”. One of the most important oracles of Ancient Greece was the priestess to Apollo at Delphi.

46. Pricey fur : SABLE

Sables are small mammals, about two feet long, that are found right across northern Europe and northern Asia. The sable’s black pelt is highly prized in the fur trade. Sable is unique among furs in that it feels smooth no matter which direction it is stroked.

50. Drivers’ elevators : TEES

That would be golf.