Category: Enrique Henestroza Anguiano

Advertisement

Constructed by: Enrique Henestroza Anguiano
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: None

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

Bill’s time: 12m 57s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Way to play music that’s a hit? : SLAP BASS

Slap bass is a playing technique commonly used in funk, jazz, and rock music that involves hitting the strings with the thumb and popping or slapping them with the fingers to produce a percussive sound.

16 The __ Brothers: “Black Water” band : DOOBIE

“Black Water” is a 1974 song that was destined to become the first No. 1 hit for the Doobie Brothers.

19 Mulligans : REDOS

There doesn’t seem to be a definitive account for the origin of the term “mulligan”, which is most often used for a shot do-over in golf. There are lots of stories about golfers named Mulligan though, and I suspect that one of them may be true …

20 Lavender brew : HERBAL TEA

“Lavender” is the common name for the plant genus Lavandula. It is used as an ornamental plant, as a culinary herb and for the production of essential oils. The plant’s name might ultimately be derived from the Latin word “lavare” meaning “to wash”, a reference to the use of essential oils in bathing.

23 Unagi roll fish : EELS

“Unagi” is the Japanese term for” freshwater eel”, and “anago” is the term for “saltwater eel”.

27 “The Namesake” actor Penn : KAL

Indian-American actor Kal Penn made a name for himself in the “Harold & Kumar” series of comedy films. These so-called “stoner comedies” are not my cup of tea, but I enjoyed him playing his more mainstream roles on TV’s “House” and “24”. He left the world of acting when President Obama won the 2008 election to work as an Associate Director in the White House Office of Public Engagement (although he did leave the White House briefly to film the “Harold & Kumar” sequel).

28 Big Mac rivals? : PCS

The “Get a Mac” ad television campaign that ran from 2006 to 2009 featured just two men standing against a white background. The guy on the left called himself a PC, and was played by author and actor John Hodgman. The guy on the right called himself a Mac, and was played by actor Justin Long.

31 Four-part cooking series starring Samin Nosrat : SALT FAT ACID HEAT

“Salt Fat Acid Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking” is a 2017 cookbook penned by chef and TV host Samin Nosrat. A best seller, it has been described as more of a reference book than a collection of recipes. Nosrat explains how to master flavor and texture using salt, fat, acid and heat, four elements that she calls the “cardinal directions” of cooking.

41 Shortish releases : EPS

An extended-play (EP) record, CD or download contains more music than a single, but less than a long-play (LP) record.

42 Instrument once plucked with a quill : LUTE

Medieval lutes were routinely played using quills as plectrums. After the Middle Ages, it became more common for players to pluck the strings using their fingers.

48 Hot pockets? : EMPANADAS

An empanada is a dish made by folding pastry around cooked meat and vegetables. To me an empanada looks very similar to a dish I grew up with called a Cornish pasty.

53 Sunny? : SOLAR

Sol was the Roman god personifying the Sun. For centuries, English astronomers have used the name “Sol” for our sun, to distinguish it from suns in other planetary systems.

55 Ulaanbaatar’s country : MONGOLIA

The name of Mongolia’s capital city Ulaanbaatar (formerly anglicized as “Ulan Bator”) translates as “the Red Hero”. The “Red Hero” name was chosen in honor of the country’s national hero Damdin Sükhbaatar. Sükhbaatar fought alongside the Soviet Red Army in the fight for liberation from Chinese occupation.

58 Oktoberfest snacks : PRETZELS

Pretzels originated in Europe and are especially popular in Southern Germany where a pretzel is known as “Brezel”. Pretzels were introduced into the US in the 1800s by immigrants from Germany and Switzerland who came to be known over here as the Pennsylvania Dutch.

Oktoberfest is a 16-day beer festival in Munich that actually starts in September. About six million people attend every year, making it the largest fair in the world. I’ve attended twice, and it really is a remarkable party …

Down

1 Food contraction that omits “ome” : S’MORE

S’mores are treats peculiar to North America that are usually eaten around a campfire. A s’more consists of a roasted marshmallow and a layer of chocolate sandwiched between two graham crackers. The earliest written reference to the recipe is in a 1927 publication called “Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts”. Girl Scouts always did corner the market on cookies and the like!

3 Estée Lauder subsidiary : AVEDA

Horst Rechelbacher was traveling in India in 1970 when he was introduced to the Hindu science of longevity called Ayurveda, which inspired him to set up his own company of skin and hair care products that he called Aveda. The company opened its doors in 1978 and is based in Blaine, Minnesota.

4 Spin on a classic ballet performance? : PIROUETTE

We took our word “pirouette” directly from French, in which language it has the same meaning, i.e. a rotation in dancing. “Pirouette” is also the French word for “spinning top”.

5 Some queens : BEES

A queen bee has a stinger, just like worker bees. When a worker bee stings, it leaves its stinger in its victim. The worker bee dies after losing its stinger as the loss rips out part of its insides. However, a queen bee can sting with impunity as her stinger’s anatomy is different.

6 “Hugo” actor Butterfield : ASA

Asa Butterfield is an actor from London whose breakthrough came with the title role in the 2008 Holocaust movie “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas”. More recently, he starred in the excellent Netflix comedy-drama series “Sex Education”, alongside Gillian Anderson.

“Hugo” is a 2011 film adaptation of the novel by Brian Selznick called “The Invention of Hugo Cabret”. It’s all about a young boy who lives in the Paris Montparnasse train station, with young Asa Butterfield playing the lead role. The film was shot in 3D, and was the first 3D film directed by Martin Scorsese. “Hugo” was well received by the critics, but I must admit that it didn’t wow me …

7 Brief meeting? : SESH

Session (abbreviated to “sess.” formally, and “sesh” informally)

8 Eye annoyance : STYE

A stye is a bacterial infection of the sebaceous glands at the base of the eyelashes, and is also known as a hordeolum.

9 “We Shall Overcome” phrase : I DO BELIEVE

The exact origins of the protest song titled “We Shall Overcome” is a little unclear. Some say that it is based on an early gospel song “I’ll Overcome Someday”, but there doesn’t seem to be much similarity between the two works beyond the titles. Early performers of the song who helped to popularize its use were Pete Seeger and Joan Baez.

11 Tesla stock? : COILS

A Tesla coil is used to create the high voltages needed to ionize air in those pyrotechnic shows where sparks jump from globe to globe. The same technology was used up to the twenties in spark-gap radio transmitters, which were central to wireless telegraphy back then.

14 Threads owner : META

Threads is a social networking platform that Meta launched in 2023. It is similar to Twitter (now “X”) in look and feel, and is closely linked to Meta’s photo and video-sharing platform Instagram.

21 Posts a GIF, perhaps : REACTS

The Graphic Interchange Format (GIF) is an image format developed in the 1980s by CompuServe (remember CompuServe?). GIF images are compressed, reducing the file size, but without losing information. So, the original image can be reconstructed perfectly from the compressed GIF version. But, and it’s a big but, GIF images use only 256 individual colors. This means that GIF is a relatively poor choice of compression for color photographs, while it is usually fine for logos with large blocks of single colors.

26 Some Apple Design Award winners : TABLET APPS

Apple launched the Apple Design Awards (ADAs) in 1997, back then under the name “Human Interface Design Awards (HIDE Awards).

27 Breaded cutlet dish : KATSU

“Katsuretsu” (also just “katsu”) is a dish from Japanese cuisine that resembles a Wiener schnitzel from Viennese cuisine. Katsu is a breaded meat cutlet.

29 William the Conqueror’s burial place : CAEN

Caen, on the River Orne, lies in the Calvados department of France in the northwest of the country. Caen is famous for the WWII Battle of Caen that left the town practically destroyed. Caen is also the burial place of Norman King William I of England, also known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

30 Single party election? : STAG

Back where I come from, bachelor parties are called stag parties, and bachelorette parties are known as hen parties.

32 Vegan gelatin substitute : AGAR

Agar (also “agar-agar”) is a jelly extracted from seaweed that has many uses. Agar is found in Japanese desserts, and can also be used as a food thickener or even as a laxative. In the world of science, it is the most common medium used for growing bacteria in Petri dishes.

Gelatin is a foodstuff that is used as a gelling agent in cooking, and for the shells of pharmaceutical capsules. Over 800 million pounds of gelatin are produced every year worldwide. It is produced from by-products of the meat and leather industries. Gelatin is basically modified collagen derived from pork skins and the bones of cattle, pigs and horses. So, vegans usually avoid things like gummy bears and marshmallows.

45 “It’s Not Me, It’s You” singer Lily : ALLEN

Lily Allen is a singer and actress from London. Her career began when recordings she made on MySpace were aired on the BBC’s Radio 1. Her debut single, 2006’s “Smile”, made it to the top spot in the UK charts. Two years later, she was given her own TV talk show by the BBC: “Lily Allen and Friends”. In 2011, she launched her own record label called “In the Name Of”. In 2021, she was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for playing a lead in the stage play “2:22 A Ghost Story”.

48 Site with step-by-step guides : EHOW

eHow is a how-to website that was founded in 1999. eHow has an awful lot of content but doesn’t do a great job of assessing the value of that content. I wouldn’t recommend it …

49 Fish tacos choice, on menus : MAHI

“Mahi-mahi” (meaning “very strong”) is the Hawaiian name for the dolphinfish, which is also known as the dorado. The mahi-mahi is an ugly looking creature if ever I saw one …

50 Condition that may respond to CBT or LSD : PTSD

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a form of psychotherapy that has been found to be helpful in treating a wide range of mental health issues, including anxiety disorders, depression, eating disorders, and substance abuse.

Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)

56 Jennifer Affleck, __ Lopez : NEE

“Bennifer” is a portmanteau used for the super-couple pairing of actors Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. Other supercouples are/were:

• Tomkat – Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes
• Grant ‘n’ Hurley – Hugh Grant and Elizabeth Hurley
• Posh and Becks – Victoria and David Beckham
• Brangelina – Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie