Tag: Apollo’s birth island crossword clue

Bill’s time: 6m 35s

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

11 Ronda Rousey’s sport, initially : MMA

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact combat sport in which competitors use a variety of techniques from a variety of traditional combat sports and martial arts.

Ronda Rousey is a mixed martial artist, and the first US woman to win an Olympic medal in judo. Rousey is a popular person online, with hers being the third-most searched name on Google in 2015 (after Lamar Odom and Caitlyn Jenner).

16 McShane of “Deadwood” : IAN

Ian McShane is an English actor, who is famous in his homeland (and to PBS viewers in the US) for playing the title role in “Lovejoy”. In this country he is perhaps better known for playing the conniving saloon owner on the HBO western drama “Deadwood”.

“Deadwood” is a very enjoyable western series that aired on HBO from 2004 to 2006. The show is set in Deadwood, South Dakota in the 1870s. At that time, Deadwood was transitioning from an illegal settlement on Native American land thriving on the discovery of gold, into a fully-fledged frontier town. Some famous and colorful characters appear in the storyline, including Seth Bullock, Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. Recommended viewing …

17 Short-order bear? : FRYING PANDA (from “frying pan”)

Taxonomic classification of the giant panda has been a subject of great debate for years, the main question being whether it belongs to the bear or raccoon family. The accepted opinion these days, based on molecular studies, seems to be that the panda is in fact a true bear.

19 Label for some Usher releases : RCA

Usher is the stage name of R&B singer Usher Terry Raymond IV.

22 Continental border river : URAL

The Ural River rises in the Ural Mountains in Russia and flows for half its length through Russian territory until it crosses the border into Kazakhstan, finally emptying into the Caspian Sea. It is the third-longest river in Europe, after the Volga and Danube. The Ural is often cited as defining a long stretch of the border between Europe and Asia, although the exact position of that border is open to debate.

23 Coolidge who wasn’t president : RITA

Rita Coolidge is a singer from Lafayette, Tennessee. Coolidge’s second marriage was to fellow singer Kris Kristofferson. Apparently, Coolidge and Kristofferson met on a flight from LA to Memphis. Kristofferson was meant to stay on the plane, and continue on to Knoxville. Instead, he alighted with Ms. Coolidge in Memphis, and they married three years later. Seven years after that, they got divorced.

President Calvin Coolidge, the only US President to have been born on July 4th, was known as a man of few words. It was while he was serving as Vice-President to in the administration of Warren G. Harding, that Coolidge earned the nickname “Silent Cal”. There are a couple of anecdotes about Coolidge that illustrate his renowned reticence. The first involves a lady sitting beside the president at dinner one evening who remarked to him, “Mr. Coolidge, I’ve made a bet against a fellow who said it was impossible to get more than two words out of you.” His famous reply was, “You lose.” A second tale recalls the comment made by poet Dorothy Parker in 1933 when she heard that Coolidge had just died. She inquired archly, and perhaps a little coldly, “How could they tell?”

24 News item from Hoda Kotb? : TODAY STORY (from “Toy Story”)

Hoda Kotb is an Egyptian-American television journalist who is perhaps best known as co-host of the NBC morning show “Today”. She is also the author of a bestselling autobiography “Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee”.

1995’s “Toy Story” was the world’s first feature-length computer-animated movie. “Toy Story” was also the studio Pixar’s first production. The main roles in the film are Woody and Buzz Lightyear, who are voiced by Tom Hanks and Tim Allen respectively. Hanks was the first choice to voice Woody, but Allen was asked to voice Buzz after Billy Crystal turned down the role.

27 L’Oréal’s Voluminous Carbon Black, e.g. : MASCARA

L’Oréal is a French cosmetics company, and indeed the largest cosmetics and beauty company in the world. Here in the US, L’Oréal runs a “Women of Worth” program that honors women who volunteer in their communities.

29 Longtime preceder of Johnny? : HERE’S …

Ed McMahon was Johnny Carson’s sidekick on “The Tonight Show” (Here’s Johnny!). McMahon was trained as a fighter pilot in WWII, but did not see action. However he saw a lot of action in the following conflict as he did fly 85 combat missions in Korea.

30 Maurice Sendak/Carole King musical “Really __” : ROSIE

“Really Rosie” is a musical aimed at children by Carole King and Maurice Sendak that is based on a series of books by Sendak. Now a mainstay of children’s theater groups, “Really Rosie” debuted as an animated TV special in 1975.

Maurice Sendak is an American writer and illustrator of children’s books. Sendak’s best known work is “Where the Wild Things Are”, published in 1963. The “Wild Things” of the tale are beasts conjured up in the imagination of a young boy named Max, after he is sent to bed without supper.

Carole King is a marvelous singer-songwriter from Manhattan, New York. King started her career writing a string of hit songs with her partner and eventual husband Gerry Goffin (although they later divorced). King’s first composition to get to number one was “Will You Love Me Tomorrow”, which she wrote at 18 years of age for the Shirelles. Not so long ago, my wife and I saw the stage musical “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical”, which tells the story of King’s music and life. I highly recommend “Beautiful” …

38 Apollo’s birth island : DELOS

Delos is a Greek island in the Cyclades archipelago. Delos played an important part in Greek mythology as the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis.

39 Nautical pole : SPRIT

A sprit is a pole that extends out from a mast, one often supporting a special sail called a spritsail.

46 Element of avant-garde music? : DARING TONE (from “ringtone”)

Someone or something described as avant-garde is especially innovative. “Avant-garde” is French for “advance guard”.

51 Bill distributors : ATMS

Automatic Teller Machine (ATM)

52 Detroit labor gp. : UAW

The United Auto Workers (UAW) was founded to represent workers in auto plants in the Detroit area in 1935. Nowadays the UAW’s membership extends into the aerospace, agriculture and other industries.

55 Prosecutor … or what four long puzzle answers have received? : ASSISTANT DA

District Attorney (DA)

58 Luke, to Anakin : SON

Anakin “Ani” Skywalker is the principal character in the first six of the “Star Wars” movies. His progress chronologically through the series of films is:

• Episode I: Anakin is a 9-year-old slave boy who earns the promise of Jedi training by young Obi-Wan Kenobi.
• Episode II: Anakin is 18-years-old and goes on a murdering rampage to avenge the killing of his mother.
• Episode III: Anakin is 21-years-old and a Jedi knight, but he turns to the Dark Side and becomes Darth Vader. His wife Padme gives birth to twins, Luke and Leia Skywalker.
• Episode IV: Darth Vader, comes into conflict with his children, Luke Skywalker and the Princess Leia.
• Episode V: Darth Vader attempts to coax his son Luke over to the dark side, and reveals to Luke that he is his father.
• Episode VI: Luke learns that Leia is his sister, and takes on the task of bringing Darth Vader back from the Dark Side in order to save the Galaxy. Vader saves his son from the Emperor’s evil grip, dying in the process, but his spirit ends up alongside the spirits of Yoda and Obi-Wan. They all live happily ever after …

59 Sign maker’s aid : STENCIL

A stencil is a sheet of impervious material with perforations in the shape of letters or a design. The stencil is placed over a surface to be printed and then the printing medium is applied, so that the medium only attaches to the surface beneath the perforations.

60 Court fig. : ATT

Attorney (att.)

61 “Star Trek” spin-off, briefly : TNG

When Gene Roddenberry first proposed the science fiction series that became “Star Trek”, he marketed it as “Wagon Train to the Stars”, a pioneer-style Western in outer space. In fact his idea was to produce something more like “Gulliver’s Travels”, as he intended to write episodes that were adventure stories on one level, but morality tales on another. Personally I think that he best achieved this model with the spin-off series “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (TNG). If you watch individual episodes you will see thinly disguised treatments of moral issues such as racism, homosexuality, genocide etc. For my money, “The Next Generation” is the best of the whole franchise …

62 Fish also called sea breams : PORGIES

Fish belonging to the family Sparidae are called bream or porgies.

Down

2 “The quality of mercy is not strain’d” speaker : PORTIA

In William Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice”, Portia is the formidable heroine who takes on the guise of a male lawyer and calls herself “Balthasar”. Portia does this to save the life of Antonio, the play’s title character. Portia makes a famous speech that gives us the oft-quoted phrase, “the quality of mercy” …

The quality of mercy is not strain’d,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes…

3 Secret meetings : TRYSTS

In its most general sense, a tryst is a meeting at an agreed time and place. More usually we consider a tryst to be a prearranged meeting between lovers. The term comes from the Old French “triste”, a waiting place designated when hunting. Further, a tryst taking place at lunchtime is sometimes referred to as a nooner.

4 Order the Beef Wellington, say : DINE

Beef Wellington is an extremely rich dish comprising filet mignon coated with pâté and duxelles (a mixture of sauteed mushrooms and herbs), which is then baked in puff pastry. Despite the claims that the “Wellington” in the name is a reference to the Duke of Wellington, there’s no real evidence that is the case.

5 Bit of texting shock : OMG

“OMG” is text-speak for “Oh My Gosh!” “Oh My Goodness!” or any other G-words you might care to use …

7 Endocrine __ : GLAND

An endocrine gland is one that secretes hormones directly into the bloodstream. Examples of endocrine glands are the hypothalamus, the thyroid and the adrenal glands. An exocrine gland is one that secretes its essential product by way of a duct. Example of exocrine glands are sweat glands, salivary glands and mammary glands.

8 Ancient region of present-day Turkey : IONIA

The geographic region called Ionia is located in present day Turkey. Ionia was prominent in the days of Ancient Greece although it wasn’t a unified state, but rather a collection of tribes. The tribal confederacy was more based on religious and cultural similarities than a political or military alliance. Nowadays we often refer to this arrangement as the Ionian League.

10 Ahab’s milieu : SEA

Captain Ahab is the obsessed and far from friendly captain of the Pequod in Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick”. The role of Captain Ahab was played by Gregory Peck in the 1956 John Huston film adaptation. Patrick Stewart played Ahab in a 1998 miniseries in which Peck made another appearance, as Father Mapple.

12 Popular ’90s dance : MACARENA

“Macarena” is a dance song in Spanish that was a huge hit worldwide for Los Del Río in 1995-1996.

18 Apple product : IMAC

The iMac is a desktop computer platform that Apple introduced in 1998. One of the main features of the iMac is an “all-in-one” design, with the computer console and monitor integrated. The iMac also came in a range of colors, that Apple marketed as “flavors”, such strawberry, blueberry and lime.

22 Unborn, after “in” : … UTERO

“In utero” is a Latin term meaning “in the uterus”. The Latin “uterus” (plural “uteri”) translates as both “womb” and “belly”. The Latin word comes from the Greek “hystera” that also means “womb”, which gives us the words “hysterectomy”, and “hysterical”.

25 Refreshing place : OASIS

An isolated area of vegetation in a desert is called an oasis (plural “oases”). As water is needed for plant growth, an oasis might also include a spring, pond or small lake. We often use the term “oasis” more generally to describe a haven, a place of rest.

26 Siskiyou County peak : SHASTA

Siskiyou County is in the very north of California, the county seat of which is the city of Yreka. A famous spot in Siskiyou County is the potentially active volcano, Mount Shasta.

31 Many a cable co. : ISP

An Internet service provider (ISP) is just what the name indicates, a company that provides its customers with access to the Internet. One way that ISPs differentiate themselves from each other is in the way in which end users are connected to the ISP’s network. So, there are cable ISPs, DSL ISPs, dial-up ISPs and satellite ISPs.

32 2001 scandal subject : ENRON

After all the trials following the exposure of fraud at Enron, several of the key players ended up in jail. Andrew Fastow was the Chief Financial Officer. He plea-bargained and received ten years without parole, and became the key witness in the trials of others. Even Fastow’s wife was involved and she was sentenced to one year for helping her husband hide money. Jeffrey Skilling (ex-CEO) was sentenced to 24 years and 4 months. Kenneth Lay (CEO) died in 2006 after he had been found guilty but before he could be sentenced. The accounting firm Arthur Andersen was found guilty of obstruction of justice for shredding thousands of pertinent documents and deleting emails and files (a decision that the Supreme Court later overturned on a technicality). But still, Arthur Andersen collapsed under the weight of the scandal and 85,000 people lost their jobs (despite only a handful being directly involved with Enron).

36 Ones using asanas : YOGIS

A yogi is a practitioner of yoga.

“Asana” is a Sanskrit word literally meaning “sitting down”. The asanas are the poses that a practitioner of yoga assumes. The most famous is the lotus position, the cross-legged pose called “padmasana”.

38 Arp, for one : DADAIST

Dadaism thrived during and just after WWI, and was an anti-war, anti-bourgeois and anti-art culture. The movement began in Zurich, Switzerland started by a group of artists and writers who met to discuss art and put on performances in the Cabaret Voltaire, frequently expressing disgust at the war that was raging across Europe.

Jean Arp was a French artist renowned for his work with torn and pasted paper, although that wasn’t the only medium he used. Arp was the son of a French mother and German father and spoke both languages fluently. When he was speaking German he gave his name as Hans Arp, but when speaking French he called himself Jean Arp. Both “Hans” and “Jean” translate into English as “John”. In WWI Arp moved to Switzerland to avoid being called up to fight, taking advantage of Swiss neutrality. Eventually he was told to report to the German Consulate and fill out paperwork for the draft. In order to get out of fighting, Arp messed up the paperwork by writing the date in every blank space on the forms. Then he took off all of his clothes and walked with his papers over to the officials in charge. Arp was sent home …

43 Video game figure : AVATAR

The Sanskrit word “avatar” describes the concept of a deity descending into earthly life and taking on a persona. It’s easy to see how in the world of “online presences” one might use the word avatar to describe one’s online identity.

45 Wayne Manor and environs, e.g. : ESTATE

Wayne Manor is the home of Bruce Wayne, the alter-ego of Batman. It is a huge manor that lies just outside Gotham City. Looking after the house is the Wayne family servant, Alfred. Beneath the grounds of the manor is an extensive cave system where Bruce Wayne put together his Batcave. Access is to the cave is via a staircase behind a hidden door. The door is opened by moving the hands of a non-functioning grandfather clock to 10:47, the time at which Wayne’s parents were murdered. It is the murder of his parents that sets Bruce off on his journey of crime fighting.

“Environ” is the French word for “round” or “round about”. We use “environ” as a verb in English, meaning to surround, form a circle around. The related plural noun “environs” is used to mean “surroundings, environment”.

47 Relish : GUSTO

“Gusto” is an Italian word meaning “taste”. We use it in English in the phrase “with gusto” meaning “with great enjoyment”.

48 Law enforcement tool : TASER

Victor Appleton wrote a novel for young adults called “Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle”. The company that developed the TASER electroshock weapon partly named its product as a homage to the novel. The acronym “TASER” stands for “Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle”.

55 Cleopatra’s “poor venomous fool” : ASP

In William Shakespeare’s play “Antony and Cleopatra”, the heroine of the piece addresses the asp as she uses the snake to commit suicide:

Come, thou mortal wretch,
With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate
Of life at once untie: poor venomous fool,
Be angry, and dispatch.

Later she says:

Peace, peace!
Dost thou not see my baby at my breast,
That sucks the nurse asleep?