Tag: Low-tech iCloud precursor crossword clue

Bill’s time: 16m 34s

Bill’s errors: 2

• HEELER (reeler)
• HBO GO (Rbogo!!!)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

18 Metric weights : KILOS

Today, the gram is defined as one thousandth of a kilogram, with the kilogram being equal to the mass of a physical sample preserved by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures. Prior to 1960, the gram was defined as the weight of a cubic centimeter of pure water (at the temperature of melting ice).

19 Baba ghanoush bread : PITA

Baba ghanoush (also “baba ghanouj”) is an Arab dish with the main ingredient of mashed eggplant. It is sometimes served as a (delicious) dip.

20 Pals : PAISANOS

“Paisano” translates literally from Spanish as “fellow countryman”, but is also used to mean “pal, chum”.

21 Low-tech iCloud precursor : FILE CABINET

What we call “file cabinets” here in the US are usually referred to as “filing cabinets” on the other side of the Atlantic. Also, standard dimensions differ on the two continents, as “filing cabinets” are optimized for A4 size paper.

iCloud is an Apple service that features cloud storage and cloud computing.

24 Like some wells : ARTESIAN

An artesian well is one that is drilled into an artesian aquifer. As the groundwater in the aquifer is under positive pressure, the water in the well rises without having to be pumped.

25 Kind of case or law : FEDERAL

Federalism is a form of government in which a central (“federal”) government shares power with regional governments. Examples of federal nations are the United States of America and Canada.

26 Batman and Robin, e.g. : DUO

Batman and Robin are somewhat unique among their superhero compatriots in that they have no special powers, just a whole load of cool gadgets. Batman is sometimes referred to as the Caped Crusader, Robin as the Boy Wonder, and the pair as the Dynamic Duo.

42 Historic trail terminus: Abbr. : ORE

The Oregon Trail was established by fur trappers and traders as early as 1811. The first migrant wagon train traveled the route in 1836, starting off in Independence, Missouri and going as far as Fort Hall, Idaho. In the coming years, the trail was extended for wagons as far as the Willamette Valley in Oregon.

46 Game whose “Discover the Secrets” version includes a baseball bat and a dumbbell : CLUE

Clue is a board game that we knew under a different name growing up in Ireland. Outside of North America, Clue is marketed as “Cluedo”. Cluedo was the original name of the game, introduced in 1949 by the famous British board game manufacturer Waddingtons. There are cute differences between the US and UK versions. For example, the man who is murdered is called Dr. Black (Mr. Boddy in the US), one of the suspects is the Reverend Green (Mr. Green in the US), and the suspect weapons include a dagger (a knife in the US), and a spanner (a wrench in the US). I think it’s a fabulous game, a must during the holidays …

47 Half of ASAP : AS SOON …

As soon as possible (ASAP)

53 Literally, Latin for “it follows” : SEQUITUR

We use the Latin term “non sequitur” to describe an illogical statement, usually irrelevant to what has immediately preceded. The literal translation of “non sequitur” is “it does not follow”.

55 Org. concerned with alleys : PBA

Professional Bowlers Association (PBA)

57 Late bloomers : ASTERS

Apparently, most aster species and cultivars bloom relatively late in the year, usually in the fall. The name “aster” comes into English via Latin from the Greek word “astéri” meaning “star”, a reference to the arrangement of the petals of the flower.

58 Shell for a crew : SCULL

A scull is a boat used for competitive rowing. The main hull of the boat is often referred to as a shell. Crew members who row the boat can be referred to as “oars”. And, a scull is also an oar mounted on the stern of a small boat. It’s all very confusing …

59 Mount once called Tacoma : RAINIER

Mount Rainier is an active volcano in the state of Washington in the Cascade Mountain Range. Native Americans first called the peak “Tacoma” and “Tahoma” meaning “mother of waters”. When Captain George Vancouver discovered Puget Sound in 1792, he named the peak in honor of his friend Rear Admiral Peter Rainier. There have been movements to change the name back to Tacoma, but these seem to have “petered” out (pun!).

64 Org. with a lot of baggage? : TSA

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) loosened the ban on liquids, aerosols and gels in carry-on baggage in 2006, From that date onwards, passengers had to abide by the 3-1-1 rule, i.e. 3.4-ounce or less containers (3), in a one-quart ziploc bag (1), one bag per person (1) .

65 Billowy attire named for an early rapper : HAMMER PANTS

Hammer pants are baggy pants that taper at the ankles. They are designed to facilitate hip-hop dancing, and are named for rap performer MC Hammer.

67 Friend of TV’s Sheldon : RAJ

Raj Koothrappali is a character on the sitcom “The Big Bang Theory” who is played by British-Indian actor Kunal Nayyar. Nayyar is married to Neha Kapur, a former Miss India.

On “The Big Bang Theory” sitcom, the character Sheldon Cooper is played by Jim Parsons. The original casting called for Johnny Galecki to play Cooper, but Galecki thought that he was more suited to play Leonard Hofstadter. Sheldon is played by child actor Iain Armitage in the spinoff “Young Sheldon”.

70 Entangle … or disentangle, oddly : RAVEL

While “to ravel” can mean “to get tangled up”, the term is usually used to mean “to unravel, disentangle”. Yep, “ravel” and “unravel” mean the same thing!

74 VP before Gerald : SPIRO

Spiro Agnew served as Vice-President under Richard Nixon, before becoming the only VP in American history to resign because of criminal charges (there was a bribery scandal). Agnew was also the first Greek-American to serve as US Vice President as he was the son of a Greek immigrant who had shortened the family name from Anagnostopoulos.

Gerald Ford was the only person to have served as both Vice President and President of the US, without having been elected to those positions. Ford was nominated by President Richard Nixon to replace Vice President Spiro Agnew after he resigned in 1973. Vice President Ford assumed the presidency the following year after President Nixon resigned.

76 “Blue” or “Red” cattle dog : HEELER

Some herding dogs are referred to as “heelers”, meaning that they typically nip at the heels of the animals they are herding. Australian cattle dogs are named red heelers and blue heelers, based on the predominant color of their coats.

83 Crunchy salad bit : BACO

Betty Crocker Bac-Os aren’t real “bacon bits”. Rather, they are “bacon-flavor” morsels made out of, well, probably nothing too healthy. But still, vegans should be happy to hear that there are no animal products included.

87 Novel of the South Seas : OMOO

Herman Melville mined his own experiences when writing his novels. Melville sailed from New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1841 on a whaler heading into the Pacific Ocean (a source for “Moby-Dick”). Melville ended up deserting his ship 18 months later and lived with natives on a South Pacific Island for three weeks (a source for “Typee”). He picked up another whaler and headed for Hawaii, where he joined the crew of a US navy frigate that was bound for Boston (a source for “Omoo”).

88 ’60s-’70s NBC News White House correspondent : SANDER VANOCUR

Sander Vanocur was a broadcast journalist who worked most notably with NBC in the sixties and seventies. Vanocur was one of the questioners in the first of the Kennedy-Nixon television debates in 1960. He also interviewed presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy on the day before he was assassinated.

102 Like original Matchbox cars : DIE-CAST

A metal toy is often die-cast, meaning that it is manufactured by forcing molten metal into the cavity of a mold. The mold is then cooled, the metal solidifies and takes on the shape defined by the mold.

The Matchbox brand of toy cars were introduced in 1953, and how I loved them growing up. They were called Matchbox cars because they were packed in boxes that looked like regular matchboxes. The brand was English, but the name spread around the world. The brand was so popular that the term “matchbox car” came to mean any small, die-cast toy car, regardless of who made it.

104 Dorm VIPs : RAS

A resident assistant/adviser (RA) is a peer leader found in a residence hall, particularly on a college campus.

105 Cause __: icon : CELEBRE

“Cause célèbre” is a French phrase that we imported into English to describe an issue that arouses widespread controversy. The expression translates from French as “famous case”. The term originated with a large collection of court decisions published in 1762 called “Nouvelles Causes Célèbres”.

108 Material used to make cans : TINPLATE

Tinplate is made from sheets of steel that are coated with a thin layer of tin. Nowadays, tinplate is mainly used in the manufacture of tin cans.

119 Green Gables girl : ANNE

“Anne of Green Gables” is a 1908 novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery that she set in the fictional Prince Edward Island community of Avonlea. Montgomery wrote several sequels to “Anne”, with them all being set on Prince Edward Island (PEI), from where the author hailed.

122 Big name in little trains : TYCO

The Tyco brand of toys was founded in 1926 as Mantua Metal Products by John Tyler. The first products made were scale model trains using die-cast metal. The company introduced the Tyco brand in the fifties, with “Tyco” standing for “Tyler Company”.

Down

2 Big name in hotels : HILTON

Conrad Hilton was a native of New Mexico, but he bought his first hotel in Cisco, Texas, in 1919. He did well on the deal and opened up hotels all over Texas in the following years, and built the first high-rise Hilton Hotel in Dallas. Hilton went on to build the world’s first international hotel chain. Hilton was married three times, most famously to actress Zsa Zsa Gabor from 1942 to 1946.

3 Toward the sheltered side : ALEE

Alee is the direction away from the wind. If a sailor points into the wind, he or she is pointing aweather.

4 Hang-around-the-house footwear : MOCS

“Moc” is short for “moccasin”, a type of shoe. The moccasin is a traditional form of footwear worn by members of many Native American tribes.

5 Morales of “NYPD Blue” : ESAI

Actor Esai Morales is best known in the world of film for the 1987 movie “La Bamba”, which depicted the life of Ritchie Valens and his half-brother Bob Morales (played by Esai). On the small screen, Morales plays Lt. Tony Rodriguez on “NYPD Blue” and Joseph Adama on “Caprica”.

“NYPD Blue” is a police drama that was originally aired from 1993 until 2005. Stars of the show are Dennis Franz, David Caruso, Jimmy Smits and Rick Schroder. The show created a bit of a fuss back in the nineties, as it featured a relatively large amount of nudity for broadcast television.

13 Muhammad’s religion : ISLAM

Muhammad was the founder of Islam, and is considered the final prophet of God by most Muslims. He was born in about 570 CE in Mecca, which is now the holiest city in Islam.

14 Drum with a sitar : TABLA

A tabla is a percussion instrument used mainly in the Indian subcontinent. The tabla consists of a pair of hand drums and is similar to bongos.

15 Parisian article : UNE

In French, feminine nouns take the indefinite article “une”, and the definite article “la”.

22 Deli bread : BAGEL

The bagel was invented in the Polish city of Kraków in the 16th century. Bagels were brought to this country by Jewish immigrants from Poland who mainly established homes in and around New York City.

29 Popeye’s __’Pea : SWEE

Originally Popeye used the nickname “Swee’Pea” to address his girlfriend Olive Oyl. Then along comes a baby, found on Popeye’s doorstep.

34 Ranked tournament players : SEEDS

The word “bye”, as used in sport, originated in cricket. A bye is a run scored due to an error by the wicketkeeper (similar to a catcher in baseball) when he fails to stop a ball bowled by the bowler (like a pitcher in baseball). Later the word “bye” in sport came to mean the position of a player in a tournament who is left without a competitor when the rest have drawn pairs. In these commercial times, those byes tend to be awarded to the best (seeded) players, so that the most popular players always advance past the first round of competition.

36 Two-time N.L. batting champ Lefty : O’DOUL

Lefty O’Doul was a baseball player and manager from San Francisco. O’Doul was instrumental in spreading the popularity of the sport in Japan both before and after WWII. In fact, the Tokyo Giants were named by O’Doul, a reference to the New York Giants franchise with whom he spent the last years of his playing career. O’Doul also owned a restaurant in San Francisco that bears his name and which still operates today (near Union Square). There’s a bridge near AT&T Park, the Giant’s relatively new ballpark, that’s called Lefty O’Doul Bridge.

38 Buildup in a trap : LINT

“Lint”, meaning “fluff”, is one of those terms that I had to learn when I moved to the US. We call the same thing “fuzz” on the other side of the Atlantic.

44 QB Jared Goff, e.g. : LA RAM

Jared Goff is a quarterback who was selected by the Los Angeles Rams as the first overall pick in the NFL’s 2016 draft. Jared is the son of former Major League Baseball catcher Jerry Goff.

52 Venomous snake : ASP

The asp is a venomous snake found in the Nile region of Africa. It is so venomous that the asp was used in ancient Egypt and Greece as a means of execution. Cleopatra observed such executions noting that the venom brought on sleepiness without any painful spasms. When the great queen opted to commit suicide, the asp was therefore her chosen method.

54 River through Kazakhstan : 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.

55 Le Pew of toons : PEPE

Pepé Le Pew is a very likeable cartoon character from the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series. Pepé is a French skunk, first introduced way back in 1945. He is always thinking of “l’amour” and chases the lady skunks, or a black cat with a white stripe accidentally painted down her back.

56 Bit of finishing hardware : BRAD

A brad is a slender wire nail with a relatively small head that is typically used to tack pieces of wood together, i.e. to fasten either temporarily or with minimal damage to the wood. Nowadays, brads are commonly applied using a nail gun.

60 Mosque leader : IMAM

An imam is a Muslim leader, and often the person in charge of a mosque and/or perhaps a Muslim community.

61 Urquhart Castle’s loch : NESS

Urquhart Castle is a ruin that sits right on the edge of Loch Ness in the Highlands of Scotland. What’s left of the old castle today dates from the 13th to 16th centuries.

63 Eric who founded a reader : UTNE

The “Utne Reader” is known for aggregation and republishing of articles on politics, culture and the environment from other sources in the media. It was founded in 1984 by Eric Utne, with management taken over by Eric’s wife Nina Rothschild Utne in 1990.

65 Subs : HEROS

A hero is a submarine sandwich. The hero originated in New York City in the 1800s among Italian immigrants who wanted an Italian sandwich that reminded them of home. The name “hero” was coined in the 1930s, supposedly by a food critic in the “New York Herald Tribune” when he wrote that “one had to be a hero” to finish the gigantic sandwich. Hero is a prevalent term to this day in New York City, reserved for a submarine sandwich with an Italian flavor.

66 F-series camera maker : NIKON

The Japanese company Nikon was founded in 1917 with the merger of three manufacturers of various optical devices. After the merger, Nikon’s main output was lenses (including the first lenses for Canon cameras, before Canon made its own). During the war, Nikon sales grew rapidly as the company focused on (pun!) equipment for the military including periscopes and bomb sights.

68 West Coast gas brand : ARCO

The company name “ARCO” is an acronym standing for “Atlantic Richfield Company”. One of ARCO’s claims to fame is that it is responsible for the nation’s largest Superfund site. Mining and smelting in the area around Butte, Montana polluted the region’s water and soil, and ARCO has agreed to pay $187 million to help clean up the area.

69 Doe in many films : JOHN

Though the English court system does not use the term today, “John Doe” first appeared as the “name of a person unknown” in England in 1659, along with the similar “Richard Roe”. An unknown female is referred to as “JaneDoe ”, and the equivalent to Richard Roe is Jane Roe (as in Roe v. Wade, for example). Variants of “John Doe” used outside of the courts are “Joe Blow” and “John Q. Public”.

72 Review for accuracy : VET

The verb “to vet” comes from the term “veterinarian”. The idea is that to vet something is to subject it to careful examination, like a veterinarian checking out an animal.

74 Word heard twice in “I’m a Little Teapot” : SPOUT

The children’s song “I’m a Little Teapot” was written and published in 1939, composed by a married couple who ran a dance school for children. They needed a simple tune that young ones could use to learn a simple tap routine, and came up with this:

I’m a little teapot,
Short and stout,
Here is my handle,
Here is my spout,
When I get all steamed up,
Hear me shout,
Tip me over and pour me out!

76 WarnerMedia streaming service recently retired in the U.S. : HBO GO

The HBO Go offering was a “TV Everywhere” service, meaning that paid subscribers could stream content on a choice of platforms just by entering a username and password. HBO Go was superseded by the HBO Max service.

77 Former Irish leader de Valera : EAMON

Éamon de Valera was a very influential statesman in Ireland. He served three separate terms as head of government between 1937 and 1959, and was then President of Ireland from 1959 until 1973. De Valera was actually born in New York City, but was sent back to Ireland by his mother at the age of two when his father died. Éamon participated in the 1916 Easter Rising against the British in Ireland, after which he was the only battalion commander who was not executed. Several factors saved de Valera, including the fact that he was born in the US.

78 Forearm bone : ULNA

The radius and ulna are bones in the forearm. If you hold the palm of your hand up in front of you, the radius is the bone on the “thumb-side” of the arm, and the ulna is the bone on the “pinky-side”.

80 Org. with an annual Week Without Violence : YWCA

The Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) was founded in the mid-1800s about 50 years after the YMCA, although the two organizations have always been independent of each other. Having said that, some YWCA and YMCA organizations have amalgamated at the local level and often share facilities. The YWCA is quite the organization, and is the largest women’s group in the whole world.

82 Muesli morsel : OAT

“Muesli” is a Swiss-German term describing a breakfast serving of oats, nuts, fruit and milk. “Muesli” is a diminutive of the German word “Mues” meaning “puree”. Delicious …

83 Cheese on crackers : BRIE

Brie is a soft cheese that is named for the French region in which it originated. Brie is similar to the equally famous (and delicious) Camembert. Brie is often served baked in puff pastry.

84 With, on la carte : AVEC

“Carte” is a word sometimes used in French for a menu. Menu items that are “à la carte” are priced and ordered separately, as opposed to “table d’hôte” which is a fixed price menu with limited choice.

85 Hombre’s home : CASA

In Spanish, a “niño” (boy) turns into a “hombre” (man).

89 Death Row Records co-founder : DR DRE

“Dr. Dre” is the stage name of rapper Andre Romelle Young. Dr. Dre is known for his own singing career as well as for producing records and starting the careers of others such as Snoop Dogg, Eminem and 50 Cent.

90 Southernmost Great Lake : ERIE

Lake Erie is the fourth-largest of the five Great Lakes by area (Lake Ontario is the smallest). The lake takes its name from the Erie tribe of Native Americans that used to live along its southern shore. Erie is the smallest of the Great Lakes by volume and the shallowest, something for which nearby residents must be quite grateful. Being relatively shallow, much of Erie freezes over part way through most winters putting an end to most of the lake-effect snow that falls in the snow belt extending from the lake’s edge.

95 Don or Betty on “Mad Men” : DRAPER

Jon Hamm lived the life of a struggling actor for quite some time before he hit gold with a starring role in the AMC drama “Mad Men”. He plays the main character, advertising executive and man about town Don Draper.

January Jones is a model and actress from Brookings, South Dakota. Most famously, Jones plays Betty, the wife of Don Draper, on the TV show “Mad Men”. My favorite movie featuring Jones is 2011’s “Unknown” in which she starred opposite Liam Neeson.

97 WWI battle river : YSER

The Yser is a river that originates in northern France and flows through Belgium into the North Sea. The Yser is often associated with WWI as it figured in a major battle early in the conflict. In the first three months of the war, the German Army pushed almost completely through Belgium, inflicting heavy losses on the Belgian Army as the defenders were forced to fight a fast-moving rearguard action. The Germans were intent on pushing right through Belgium and across France in a “race to the sea”. But the Belgians, with the help of their Allies, decided to make a final stand at the Yser Canal in an effort to prevent the Germans reaching the French ports of Calais and Dunkirk. The 22-mile long defensive line was chosen at the Yser because the river and canal system could be flooded to create a barrier that might be defended. The plan was successful and the front was “stabilized”. As we now know, millions of lives were lost over the coming years with very little movement of that battle line.

103 Fifth cen. pope called “The Great” : ST LEO

The first pope named Leo is now known as Pope Saint Leo the Great. Leo I is famous for meeting with the feared Attila the Hun and persuading him to turn back his invading force that was threatening to overrun Western Europe.

109 Cartographer’s abbr. : N LAT

North Latitude (N LAT)

110 Chris who plays Kirk in three “Star Trek” films : PINE

Actor Chris Pine played a very young Captain James T. Kirk in the 2009 “Star Trek” film. Pine was also the fourth actor to play the role of Jack Ryan in the film series from the Tom Clancy novels (after Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck).

111 Babe Zaharias is a charter member of its HOF : LPGA

Babe Didrikson Zaharias was one of the greatest all-round athletes to compete in US sports. Most famous as a champion golfer and Olympic track-and-field athlete, Didrikson also played at the highest levels in basketball and baseball. She even competed in sewing, and recorded several records as a singer and harmonica player!

The World Golf Hall of Fame is located near St. Augustine, Florida. Two other halls of fame were merged into the World Golf Hall of Fame over the years. The PGA of America’s Hall of fame was incorporated in the 1980s, and the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame in 1998.

114 City council rep. : ALD

The term “alderman” comes from English law, and is used for a member of a municipal assembly or council. Some cities in the US have a Board of Aldermen instead of a city council.

115 __ Geo : NAT

The National Geographic Channel (Nat Geo) is jointly owned by Fox and the National Geographic Society, and was launched in 2001.

117 Business mag : INC

“Inc.” is a business magazine that specializes in articles about growing companies. “Inc.” publishes a list of the 500 fastest-growing private companies in the country each year, calling it the “Inc. 500”. The “Inc. 5000” is an expanded list also published by the magazine.