Tag: Expert in Islamic law crossword clue

Bill’s time: 9m 55s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Expert in Islamic law : MUFTI

A mufti is jurist who interprets Islamic law. A nonbinding opinion issued by a mufti is a fatwa.

12 Nation partly in the Arctic Circle : FINLAND

The Nordic country of Finland is the most sparsely populated nation in the European Union. The relatively modest population of 5.5 million people live in the eighth largest country on the continent.

17 Classic 1818 novel : FRANKENSTEIN

Mary Shelley’s Gothic novel has the full title of “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus”. The subtitle underscores one of the themes of the book, i.e. a warning about the expansion into the Industrial Revolution.

19 Otoscope target : EAR

An otoscope is that instrument that an ear, nose and throat specialist (ENT) uses to look into the interior of one’s ears.

27 Antipoverty agcy. : OEO

The Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) was created during the Lyndon Johnson administration. The agency was responsible for administering the War on Poverty programs that were part of the President Johnson’s Great Society agenda. The OEO was shut down by President Nixon, although some of the office’s programs were transferred to other agencies. A few of the OEO’s programs are still around today, e.g. Head Start.

28 Actor Stephen : REA

Stephen Rea is an Irish actor from Belfast. Rea’s most successful role was Fergus in 1992’s “The Crying Game”, for which performance he was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar. In “The Crying Game”, Fergus was a member of the IRA. In real life, Rea was married to IRA bomber and hunger striker Dolours Price at the time he made the movie.

35 Author of 17-Across : MARY SHELLEY
(17A Classic 1818 novel : FRANKENSTEIN)

Not only did Mary Shelley pen the famous novel “Frankenstein”, she also edited the works of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, who was her husband.

37 Slapstick reaction : SPIT TAKE

The comic maneuver in which someone spits out a drink in response to a joke or a surprising statement, that’s called a “spit take”.

43 Namely : TO WIT

The verb “to wit” means “to know”. The verb really isn’t used anymore except in the phrase “to wit” meaning “that is to say, namely”.

47 1974 portrayer of 17-Across : GENE WILDER

Gene Wilder was an actor noted for his comedic roles. Wilder had a successful collaboration with Mel Brooks on three great films: “The Producers”, “Blazing Saddles” and my favorite, “Young Frankenstein”. For a while, Wilder dated his “Young Frankenstein” co-star Teri Garr, but he was married most famously to “Saturday Night Live” star Gilda Radner.

I am not really a big fan of movies by Mel Brooks, but 1974’s “Young Frankenstein” is the exception. I think the cast has a lot to do with me liking the film, as it includes Gene Wilder (Dr. Frankenstein), Teri Garr (Inga), Marty Feldman (Igor) and Gene Hackman (Harold, the blind man).

53 1931 portrayer of 20-Across : BORIS KARLOFF

The classic 1931 film “Frankenstein” is based on the Mary Shelley novel of the same name, and stars Colin Clive as Henry Frankenstein and Boris Karloff as the Monster. Bela Lugosi was offered the role of Henry Frankenstein first, and then was recast as the Monster. Lugosi tried working with the Monster role but eventually bowed out. Many say that the decision to leave was one of the worst of Lugosi’s career.

56 King in 1 Kings : SOLOMON

According to the Bible, Solomon was the son of David and a king of Israel. Notably, Solomon is described as being very wise. In the story known as “the Judgment of Solomon”, Solomon was asked to decide who of two quarreling women was the mother of a baby. He suggested that they cut the baby in two with a sword, forcing one of the women to surrender the child rather than see it die. Solomon gave the child to the woman who showed compassion.

59 Shoulder piece : EPAULET

An epaulet (also “epaulette”) is an ornamental shoulder pad, particularly one worn with a military uniform. The term “epaulet”comes from French, and translates literally as “little shoulder”.

61 July 4, 1776, notables : SIGNERS

On 11 June 1776, the Continental Congress appointed a committee of five people to draft a declaration of independence. Included in the five were John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Adams persuaded the other committee members to give Jefferson the task of writing the first draft. A resolution of independence was passed by the Congress on 2 July 1776. The final draft of the declaration was approved by the Congress two days later, on July 4th. John Adams wrote a letter to his wife that included an assertion that July 2nd (the date of the resolution of independence) would become a great American holiday. Of course Adams was wrong, and it was actually the date the Declaration of Independence was finalized that came to be celebrated annually.

Down

1 Kind of heart valve : MITRAL

The mitral valve lies between the left atrium and left ventricle in the heart.

6 “Did my heart love till now?” speaker : ROMEO

Here are some passionate lines from William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” that are spoken by Romeo:

Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.

11 Mo. town : STL

The city of St. Louis, Missouri was settled by French explorers in 1763. Sitting on the Mississippi River, it grew into a very busy port. By the 1850s, it was the second busiest port in the country, with only New York moving more freight. St. Louis was named for Louis IX of France. Louis was canonized in 1297 by Pope Boniface VIII, and was the only French king to be declared a saint.

12 High winds : FIFES

A fife is a small flute that is often used in military and marching bands. The name “fife” comes from the German “Pfeife” meaning “pipe”.

13 Honolulu-born singer : DON HO

The singer and entertainer Don Ho apparently had a pretty liberal arrangement with his wife. When Ho was touring with his two backing singers, Patti Swallie and Elizabeth Guevara, all three of them shared a room together. He had two children with each of his roommates, giving a total of ten kids including the six he had with his wife. The arrangement was quite open, it seems, with all ten kids visiting each other regularly. To each his own …

18 A dandelion’s are called blowballs : SEED HEADS

The name “dandelion” comes from the French “dent de lion” meaning “lion’s tooth”. The name is a reference to the coarse, tooth-like edges of dandelion leaves.

21 Fox NFL analyst Aikman : TROY

Troy Aikman is a former quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. Now that he is retired from football, Aikman works as a sportscaster on the Fox network.

25 Future JD’s exam : LSAT

Law School Admission Test (LSAT)

The law degree that is abbreviated to J.D. stands for “Juris Doctor” or “Doctor of Jurisprudence”.

26 Mongolian tent : YURT

A yurt is a wood-framed dwelling that is used by nomads in the steppes of Central Asia. Although a yurt is a substantial structure, it is also extremely portable.

30 Shaggy rug from 12-Across : RYA
(12A Nation partly in the Arctic Circle : FINLAND)

A rya is a traditional Scandinavian rug that was originally used as heavy covers by mariners as an alternative to furs. The name “rya” comes from a village in southwest Sweden.

32 Kosovo neighbor: Abbr. : ALB

The Republic of Albania is a country in the Balkans in southeastern Europe. Albania was made a communist state after WWII but became independent again with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990. Albania has been a member of NATO since 2009, and was accepted as an official candidate to join the European Union in 2014. The nation’s capital and largest city is Tirana.

The country name “Kosovo” is an adjectival form of the Serbian word “kos” meaning “blackbird”. The name commemorates the “field of the blackbirds” the site of a 1389 battle between Serbia and the Ottoman Empire. The dispute over Kosovo technically dates back to the implosion of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. The capital of Kosovo is Pristina.

35 Bearing : MIEN

One’s mien is one’s bearing or manner. “Mien” shares the same etymological root as our word “demeanor”.

42 Short dogs, for short : PEKES

The pekingese (“peke”) breed originated in China, as one might suspect from the name. Breeding practices have resulted in the the dog having many health problems, including breathing issues related to the “desirable” flat face. Standards have been changed in recent years, demanding an “evident muzzle” in an attempt to breed healthier “pekes”.

46 Last family to keep a White House cow : TAFTS

A house cow is a cow that is kept by a household primarily to provide milk for the home kitchen, but also manure for the garden. President William Taft kept a house cow at the White House, a Holstein Friesian named “Pauline Wayne” that was gifted to him by a US senator from Wisconsin.

48 Dangerous virus : EBOLA

The Ebola virus causes a very nasty form of hemorrhagic fever. The name of the virus comes from the site of the first known outbreak, in a mission hospital in the Ebola River Valley in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then known as Zaire). The disease is transmitted from human to human by exposure to bodily fluids. In nature, the main carrier of Ebola is the fruit bat.

49 Lennon love song : WOMAN

“Woman” is a lovely song written by John Lennon that he recorded in 1980. The song was released in 1981, just a month or so after Lennon was murdered outside his New York apartment building. Lennon wrote the song as an ode to his wife Yoko Ono, and to women in general. He also stated that “Woman” was a grown-up version of “Girl”, a song that he wrote for the Beatles in 1965.

55 Large green moth : LUNA

The lime-green luna moth is one of the largest moths found in North America, growing to a wingspan of up to 4½ inches.

57 Dedicatee of 49-Down : ONO
(49D Lennon love song : WOMAN)

Yoko Ono is an avant-garde artist. Ono actually met her future husband John Lennon for the first time while she was preparing her conceptual art exhibit called “Hammer a Nail”. Visitors were encouraged to hammer in a nail into a wooden board, creating the artwork. Lennon wanted to hammer in the first nail, but Ono stopped him as the exhibition had not yet opened. Apparently Ono relented when Lennon paid her an imaginary five shillings to hammer an imaginary nail into the wood.