Category: John Andrew Agpalo

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Constructed by: John Andrew Agpalo
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: None

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

Bill’s time: 9m 08s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Running tally? : VOTES

Back in the mid-1600s, a tally was a stick marked with notches that tracked how much one owed or paid. The term “tally” came from the Latin “talea” meaning “stick, rod”. The act of “scoring” the stick with notches gave rise to our word “score” for the number in a tally.

6 City on the River Clyde : GLASGOW

Glasgow sits on the River Clyde, and is the largest city in Scotland and. Back in the Victorian Era, Glasgow earned a reputation for excellence in shipbuilding and was known as “Second City of the British Empire”. Glasgow shipyards were the birthplaces of such famous vessels as the Lusitania, the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth. People from Glasgow are known as Glaswegians.

13 Fast train between Union Station and Back Bay Station : ACELA

The Acela Express is the fastest train running routinely in the US, as it gets up to 150 mph at times. The service runs between Boston and Washington D.C. via Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. Introduced in 2000, the brand name “Acela” was created to evoke “acceleration” and “excellence”.

There are quite a few stations called “Union Station” in the US. This is because the generic “union station” is one built by two or more railroad companies acting in concert, or “union”, sharing tracks and facilities.

Back Bay is an expensive residential neighborhood in Boston that is home to rows of Victorian brownstones as well as the Boston Public Library. Before the area was reclaimed in the 19th century, Back Bay was a tidal bay, hence the name.

15 German city : STADT

“Stadt” is the German word for “city, town”.

16 Outline in a plaster of paris keepsake : HANDPRINT

Plaster made using gypsum is commonly referred to as plaster of paris. The original plaster of paris came from a large deposit of gypsum mined at Montmartre in Paris, hence the name.

19 Mike Trout’s team, familiarly : HALOS

The Anaheim Angels baseball team is today more correctly called the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (LAA). The “Angels” name dates back to 1961 when the team was founded in the “City of Angels”, Los Angeles. When the franchise moved to Anaheim in 1965 they were known as the California Angels, then the Anaheim Angels, and most recently the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The Angels are also known as “the Halos”.

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.

20 Vulcan salute, e.g. : GESTURE

The Vulcan salute is the hand gesture devised and introduced by Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock on the original “Star Trek” TV series. The salute is made by raising the hand with the palm forward and with the fingers parted between the middle and ring finger. The gesture is often accompanied with the words “live long and prosper”.

21 “Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe” painter : MANET

Édouard Manet was a French painter whose works are mainly classified as Realist and Impressionist. Manet was friends with Impressionists masters like Edgar Degas, Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir and greatly influenced the Impressionist movement. The list of Manet’s marvelous paintings includes “Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe”, “Le Repose” and “A Bar at the Folies-Bergère”.

“Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe” (The Luncheon on the Grass) is a famous painting that Édouard Manet created between 1862 and 1863. The work features a naked woman sitting with two fully-clothed men, with a partially clothed woman in the background. Many find the image jarring, as the female nude stares at the viewer, while the two men converse, apparently ignoring the naked females in their midst. The original painting can be seen in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.

22 Hall of Famer Ronnie who won four Super Bowls with the 49ers : LOTT

Ronnie Lott is a former NFL footballer who played most of his professional career with the San Francisco 49ers. After Lott retired, he co-founded the investment firm HRJ Capital with Harris Barton and Joe Montana (the H and J in “HRJ”). HRJ was in business for nine years, but collapsed in 2009.

36 Veto : NIX

The use of “to nix” as a verb, meaning “to shoot down”, dates back to the early 1900s. Before that, “nix” was just a noun meaning “nothing”. “Nix” comes from the German “nichts”, which also means “nothing”.

The verb “veto” comes directly from Latin and means “I forbid”. The term was used by tribunes of ancient Rome to indicate that they opposed measures passed by the Senate.

37 Pioneer in “New New Orleans” cuisine : LAGASSE

Emeril Lagasse is an American chef who was born in Massachusetts. Lagasse first achieved celebrity as executive chef in Commander’s Palace in New Orleans. Now famous for his television shows, his cuisine still showcases New Orleans ingredients and influences. Lagasse started using his famous “Bam!” catchphrase in order to keep his crew awake during repeated tapings of his show.

39 Tax : LEVY

A levy is a tax. The term “levy” comes from Old French in which “levée” means “raising”. So a levy is a tax that has been “raised” (in the sense of “collected”, and not “increased”).

40 Quite buff, casually : SWOLE

“Swole” is an informal term meaning “very muscular”. Yeah, I hear that word all the time …

44 Airport featured in “Home Alone” : O’HARE

Lieutenant Commander Edward “Butch” O’Hare was the US Navy’s first flying ace and a Medal of Honor recipient in WWII. He received that medal for intercepting single-handedly nine heavy bombers that were approaching his aircraft carrier. He had limited ammunition at the time, but used what was left to shoot down five bombers and damage a sixth. The following year, in 1943, his aircraft was shot down while he led the first ever nighttime fighter attack from a carrier. His body was never found. The USS O’Hare destroyer was named in his honor, as was Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.

“Home Alone” is a 1990 film starring Macaulay Culkin that has become a Christmas classic. Culkin was nominated for a Best Actor Golden Globe for his performance, becoming the youngest actor ever to be so honored. And, there are four “Home Alone” sequels.

45 Notable name on a case : SAMSONITE

The luggage company called Samsonite started out as the Shwayder Trunk Manufacturing Company in Denver, Colorado in 1910. For quite a few years, Samsonite manufactured and distributed Lego toy building blocks for the North American market.

50 Supersuit designer who insists, “No capes!” : EDNA MODE

“Incredibles 2” is a 2018 movie that is a sequel to 2004’s “The Incredibles”. Both films were written and directed by Brad Bird. Bird was also a cast member for “Incredibles 2” as he voiced Edna Mode, a fashion designer for superheroes.

51 “They Called Us __”: graphic novel co-written by George Takei : ENEMY

“They Called Us Enemy” is an award-winning, 2019 graphic novel co-written by actor and activist George Takei. The storyline is based on Takei’s experiences as a child in internment camps in Arkansas and California during WWII.

53 Levels a theatre, say : RASES

To raze (“rase”, in UK English) is to level to the ground. I’ve always thought it a little quirky that “raise”, a homophone of “raze”, means “build up”.

Down

2 Like many gazebos : OCTAGONAL

A gazebo is a roofed structure, often octagonal in shape, that is found mainly in public spaces. Gazebos can be quite small, or can be large enough to perhaps serve as a bandstand. The actual etymology of the term “gazebo” seems to be a bit of a mystery, and there are some misconceptions out there.

4 Like Meg, among the March sisters : ELDEST

“Little Women” is a novel written by American author Louisa May Alcott. The quartet of “little women” comprises Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy March. Jo is a tomboy, the main character in the story, and is based on Alcott herself.

8 Lot surface : ASPHALT

The asphalt surface on roads (or basketball courts) is more properly called asphaltic concrete because asphalt itself (also known as “bitumen”) is just a sticky black liquid that comes from crude petroleum. Asphalt is used as a binder with aggregate to form asphaltic concrete.

16 Some characters in Japanese writing : HIRAGANA

Japanese writing comes in a number of forms, including romaji (which uses the Latin alphabet), kanji (which uses Chinese characters) and hiragana (which has a cursive and flowing appearance).

18 “Ben-__” : HUR

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 never beaten. The other winners of 11 Oscars are “Titanic” (1997) and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003).

21 Wire diameter measures : MILS

The thickness unit known as a “mil” here in the US is usually referred to as a “thou” on the other side of the Atlantic. A “mil” is actually one “thousandth” of an inch. So, I vote for “thou” …

22 Spots for many STEM classes : LABS

The acronym “STEM” stands for the disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. An alternative acronym with a similar meaning is MINT, standing for mathematics, information sciences, natural sciences and technology.

27 Cat treat? : NINE LIVES

In the English-speaking world, the myth is that cats have nine lives. In Spanish-speaking cultures, cats are said to have seven lives. They are less fortunate in Turkish and Arabic cultures, as the number of lives is limited to six.

31 Vehicle with gull-wing doors : DELOREAN

John DeLorean was an American engineer and executive who worked at General Motors for many years, and who was responsible for the design of the Pontiac GTO in particular. His career in the automotive industry really took off, and he began to lead the jet-setter lifestyle. DeLorean left GM in 1973 and formed his own company, eventually manufacturing the famous “DeLorean” car in Northern Ireland. The DeLorean was a V6 with a distinctive stainless steel body and two gull wings (and was chosen as the car for the “Back to the Future” movies). But the DeLorean was a flop, and the company went into receivership. In a bid to save his company, DeLorean spent three months trying to set up a deal that involved smuggling cocaine. He fell foul of an FBI sting operation and was arrested. He was found not guilty though, due to entrapment.

32 Shiba Inu meme that inspired a cryptocurrency : DOGE

The Doge meme features a Shiba Inu dog accompanied by text in broken English, often expressing excitement or wonder. Originating in 2010, the meme gained viral popularity that unexpectedly led to the creation of Dogecoin in 2013, a cryptocurrency initially intended as a joke. Dogecoin gained a loyal community and achieved substantial market value, fueled by social media trends and celebrity endorsements.

35 Capital on the Tyrrhenian Sea : PALERMO

Palermo is the capital of the Italian autonomous region of Sicily. Palermo was founded by the Phoenicians over 2,700 years ago.

The Tyrrhenian Sea is that part of the Mediterranean that lies off the west coast of Italy. It is bounded on the north and east by the Italian mainland, on the west by the large islands of Corsica and Sardinia, and on the south by Sicily.

38 What opens and closes safes? : ESS

The opening and closing letter in the word “safes” is a letter S (ess).

39 Pacific weather phenomenon : LA NINA

The ocean-atmosphere phenomenon known as “La Niña” (Spanish for “the girl”) is the opposite of the more familiar “El Niño”. During a period of La Niña, the surface temperature across the equatorial Eastern Central Pacific Ocean is lower than usual by 3-5 degrees celsius. During a period of El Niño, that same temperature is higher than normal.

40 Veiled criticism : SHADE

To throw shade is to show disrespect to someone publicly using insults or criticisms.

41 Hockey great Gretzky : WAYNE

Wayne Gretzky is regarded by many as the greatest ever player of ice hockey, and indeed he has the nickname “The Great One”.

44 LaLiga chants : OLES

The premier division of Spanish club soccer is the “Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División”, or more usually “La Liga” (The League).

45 “Smooth Operator” singer : SADE

“Smooth Operator” is a 1984 song written and performed by English band Sade. The song’s lyrics tell the story of a smooth-talking, charming man who is able to charm women effortlessly.

48 Private place to sleep? : COT

The lowest military rank of soldier is often a private (pvt.). The term “private” comes from the Middle Ages when “private soldiers” were hired or conscripted by noblemen to form a “private army”. The more generic usage of “private” started in the 1700s.