Category: Damon Gulczynski

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Constructed by: Damon Gulczynski
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: None

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

Bill’s time: 10m 06s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

4 Sweetener option : AGAVE

Agave nectar (also “agave syrup”) is sweeter than honey, but is much more fluid. The nectar’s sweetness comes from its high fructose content. A lot of agave nectar comes from the blue agave, the same species that is used to make tequila.

17 Geographic feature of nine states : PANHANDLE

Panhandles feature in nine US states:

1. Alaska
2. Connecticut
3. Florida
4. Idaho
5. Maryland
6. Nebraska
7. Oklahoma
8. Texas
9. West Virginia

20 Sparks st. : NEV

Sparks is a city in Nevada that lies on the eastern side of Reno. The city was called Harriman originally, after a Southern Pacific Railroad president, and then renamed Sparks after a Nevada State Governor. The first non-Native American settlement in the area developed mainly from cattle trading. Cattle that were driven from Missouri and bound for California would stop in the area now known as Sparks, resting up before the arduous trek across the Sierra Nevada mountains. A business grew that involved trading cattle weary from the first part of the journey, swapping them for fresh animals. The tired beasts were then rested and fattened up to be traded again the following year for the journey on to California.

21 Writer whose first novel was adapted as a film by Wayne Wang : AMY TAN

Amy Tan lives not too far from here, in Sausalito just north of San Francisco. Tan is an American writer of Chinese descent whose most successful work is “The Joy Luck Club”. “The Joy Luck Club” was made into a movie produced by Oliver Stone in 1993. The novel and movie tell of four Chinese-American immigrant families in San Francisco who start the Joy Luck Club, a group playing Mahjong for money and eating delicious food.

American film director Wayne Wang was born and raised in Hong Kong. His most famous movies are probably “The Joy Luck Club” (1993) and “Maid in Manhattan” (2002). Wang was given the name “Wayne” as his father’s favorite movie actor was John Wayne.

22 Turkey bacon? : LIRA

The currency of Turkey is the Turkish lira, which is divided into 100 kuruş. In 1927, the Turkish lira replaced the Ottoman lira, which had been in use since 1844.

Back in the day, a wealthy person would “bring home the bacon”, and sit around with guests “chewing the fat”.

23 First name in soul : ARETHA

I think that Aretha Franklin, the “Queen of Soul”, had a tough life. Franklin had her first son when she was just 13-years-old, and her second at 15. In 2008, “Rolling Stone” magazine ranked Franklin as number one on its list of the greatest singers of all time.

25 “Some things are best left unsaid” : TMI

Too much information (TMI)

26 Creamy cold beverage : LASSI

Lassi is a yogurt-based drink from India. Popular variants are namkeen lassi (which is salty), sweet lassi and mango lassi. There is even a bhang lassi, which is infused with a liquid derivative of cannabis.

29 “__ bien!” : TRES

“Very good” is written as “sehr gut” in German, and as “très bien” in French.

35 Spoilsports : WET BLANKETS

A wet blanket might be used to extinguish a fire. We use the phrase “wet blanket” figuratively to describe someone who tends to dampen enthusiasm or enjoyment.

36 Moccasin sound : HISS

“Moccasin” is a common name used for several varieties of snake in the genus Agkistrodon. All are pit vipers, and are venomous. Some moccasins also go by the names copperhead and cottonmouth.

37 Lack of space? : AIR

There’s no air in outer space.

42 Med. specialty : ENT

Ear, nose and throat specialist (ENT)

43 David Rakoff compositions : ESSAYS

David Rakoff was a Canadian-born American writer best known as an essayist. He was a regular contributor to the Public Radio show “This American Life” hosted by Ira Glass.

49 Dude : BRO

Our term “dude” arose as slang in New York City in the 1880s, when it was used to describe a fastidious man. In the early 1900s, the term was extended to mean “city slickers”, easterners who vacationed in the West. The first use of the term “dude ranch” was recorded in 1921.

50 Easy to maneuver, at sea : YARE

I always think that the word “yare” is such a romantic one. In the nautical world, the term applies to a vessel that responds easily to the helm.

51 Looks out for, in a way : ABETS

The word “abet” comes into English from the Old French “abeter” meaning “to bait” or “to harass with dogs” (literally “to make bite”). This sense of encouraging something bad to happen morphed into our modern usage of “abet” meaning to aid or encourage someone in a crime.

52 Ones fluent both in JavaScript and Klingon, perhaps : UBERNERDS

JavaScript is a computer programming language that is mainly used as an integral part of web browsers. The language was developed at Netscape in the days of the Browser Wars with Microsoft. It was developed under the codename Mocha and the first official release was called LiveScript. The name was changed to JavaScript in a blatant attempt by Netscape to cash in on the reputation of Sun Microsystem’s Java language.

Klingons are a warrior race often featured in the “Star Trek” franchise of shows. Back in the first “Star Trek” movie, the actor James Doohan (who played “Scottie”) put together some Klingon dialogue that was used in the film. For subsequent movies, the American linguist Marc Okrand was commissioned to develop a working Klingon language, which he duly did, using the original words from Doohan as its basis.

54 Creamy hot beverage : LATTE

The term “latte” is an abbreviation of the Italian “caffelatte” meaning “coffee (and) milk”. Note that in the correct spelling of “latte”, the Italian word for milk; there is no accent over the “e”. An accent is often added by mistake when we use the word in English, perhaps meaning to suggest that the word is French.

55 Youngest MLB player to record 100 career home runs and 100 career stolen bases : MIKE TROUT

Mike Trout debuted as a professional baseball player for the Los Angeles Angels in 2011. Trout’s nickname is “the Millville Meteor”, as he grew up in Millville, New Jersey.

Down

2 Teaching aids that illustrate everyday life : REALIA

My librarian wife tells me that she used the term “realia” for items that she couldn’t file away in the normal sense of operating a library. In other words they weren’t books, films or tapes, but were rather other objects that the library owned such as coins, badges, and various scientific samples.

3 Barbershop fixtures : TENORS

Barbershop music is played in the a cappella style, meaning that it is unaccompanied vocal music. Barbershop music originated in African-American communities in the South, as gospel quartets often gathered in neighborhood barber shops to sing together.

6 Tree whose roots contain nitrogen-fixing organisms : ALDER

Alders are deciduous (i.e. not evergreen) trees with fruit called catkins. The tree carries both male and female catkins that look very similar to each other, but the male catkin is longer than the female. Alders are pollinated by wind usually, although bees can play a role.

7 Plush toy in a Margery Williams classic : VELVETEEN RABBIT

“The Velveteen Rabbit” is a children’s book written by English-American author Margery Williams and illustrated by William Nicholson. The story was first published in “Harper’s Bazaar” in 1921, and illustrated by the author’s daughter Pamela Bianco. When published in book form in 1922, the illustrations were provided by William Nicholson. The title character of the story is a stuffed rabbit who wants to become a real rabbit.

9 “The Audacity of Hope” memoirist : OBAMA

Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign focused on the themes of hope and change. The future-president also wrote a book called “The Audacity of Hope” that was first published in 2006.

10 Longtime “Last Call” host : DALY

“Last Call with Carson Daly” is a late-night TV show that originally aired from 2002 to 2019. When Daly left the show, it was replaced by “A Little Late with Lilly Singh”.

13 Court activity : TENNIS

Our modern sport of tennis evolved from the much older racquet sport known as real tennis. Originally just called “tennis”, the older game was labeled “real tennis” when the modern version began to hold sway. Real tennis is played in a closed court, with the ball frequently bounced off the walls.

15 Long-tailed birds : PHEASANTS

The common pheasant is native to Asia and parts of Europe. The same bird is usually referred to as the ring-necked pheasant in North America. The ring-necked pheasant is the state bird of South Dakota, even though it is not native to the state, and not native to the whole continent.

27 Film site : IMDB

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) website was launched in 1990, and is now owned by Amazon.com. It’s a great site for answering questions one has about movies and actors.

29 Twain lad : TOM SAWYER

Tom Sawyer is a favorite character created by Mark Twain. He turns up in four of Twain’s books:

• “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”
• “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”
• “Tom Sawyer Abroad”
• “Tom Sawyer, Detective”

But that’s not all, as he appears in at least three works that Twain left unfinished:

• “Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer Among the Indians” (a sequel to “Huckleberry Finn”)
• “Schoolhouse Hill”
• “Tom Sawyer’s Conspiracy” (a sequel to “Tom Sawyer, Detective”)

31 Jazz classic with the line “My lonely days are over” : AT LAST
48D 31-Down singer James : ETTA

The 1942 song “At Last” was written for the 1941 musical film “Sun Valley Serenade” in which it is performed by Glenn Miller and his orchestra. Etta James recorded a version of “At Last” in 1960, after which it became her signature song.

32 Many Bangkok Post readers : THAIS

Bangkok is the capital city of Thailand. The exact etymology of the name “Bangkok” seems unclear, although “bang” is a Thai word for “a village situated on a stream”.

33 Ice planet with tauntauns and wampas : HOTH

The fictional planet known as Hoth is featured in the “Star Wars” movie “The Empire Strikes Back”. Hoth is an ice planet, and home to a secret base belonging to the Rebel Alliance.

34 Gallery visitor, perhaps : AESTHETE

An aesthete (also “esthete”) is someone who appreciates beauty in art or in nature. Often someone described as an aesthete might show excessive or affected admiration of beauty.

39 Leal of “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin” : SHARON

Actress Sharon Leal began her acting career with a regular appearance on the daytime soap “Guiding Light”. She then landed the role of Mimi in a touring production of the rock musical “Rent”. In 2006, she co-starred as one of the title characters in the 2006 movie “Dreamgirls”.

“Pretty Little Liars” is a mystery drama TV series aimed at teens. It is based on a series of novels penned by Sara Shepard. The original show spawned a whole franchise of TV series, including “Pretty Dirty Secrets”, “Ravenswood”, “Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists” and “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin”.

40 Tyson rival : PERDUE

The meat-processing company Perdue Farms was founded in 1920 by husband and wife Arthur and Pearl Perdue in 1920. The business started out as a supplier of eggs from chickens in the couple’s backyard in Maryland.

Tyson Foods is the largest producer of meat in the world. Even though we tend to associate Tyson with chicken here in North America, the company is also the largest exporter of beef out of the US.

44 California town near the Oregon border : YREKA

The California city of Yreka developed from a miners’ camp called Thompson’s Dry Diggings. “Yreka” derives from the name for Mount Shasta (wáik’a) in the Shasta language, which translates as “North Mountain” or “White Mountain”. There is, however, a story related by Mark Twain that the name “Yreka” comes from the word “bakery”. Back when the area was a mining boomtown, a baker was preparing a canvas sign with the word “BAKERY”. Leaving it out to dry, all but the B could be seen through the canvas. This reversed “-AKERY” was read by a stranger, and he presumed that the sign gave the name of the camp, and read it as “YREKA”. The name stuck. Well, that’s Mark Twain’s story …