Tag: Peruvian capital? crossword clue

Bill’s time: 6m 32s

Bill’s errors: 0

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1. Recurring theme : MOTIF

A motif is a recurring element in an artistic work or design.

6. Contemporary of Dashiell : ERLE

I must have read all of the “Perry Mason” books when I was in college. I think they kept me sane when I was facing the pressure of exams. Author Erle Stanley Gardner was himself a lawyer, although he didn’t get into the profession the easy way. Gardner went to law school, but got himself suspended after a month. So, he became a self-taught attorney and opened his own law office in Merced, California. Understandably, he gave up the law once his novels became successful.

Dashiell Hammett was an American author known for his detective fiction. Hammett was the creator of such enduring characters as Sam Spade from “The Maltese Falcon” as well as Nick and Nora Charles from “The Thin Man”. Outside of writing, Hammett was also politically active and serves as the president of a group the Civil Rights Congress (CRC) after WWII. The CRC was deemed to be a Communist front group and was listed as a subversive organization by the US government. At one point, he even served time in jail for contempt of court, after refusing to answer some questions in a trial in which the CRC was involved.

10. Apple debut of 1998 : IMAC

The iMac is a desktop computer platform from 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.

15. Group of two : DUAD

A duad is a pair, with “duad” coming from the Greek “duo” meaning “two”.

16. Santa __: Sonoma County seat : ROSA

Santa Rosa is the largest city in California’s Wine Country, and the county seat of Sonoma County. The epicenter of the so-called 1906 San Francisco Earthquake was located near Santa Rosa. There was actually more damage in Santa Rosa, for the size of the city, than there was in San Francisco.

Did you know that there are far more wine grapes produced in Sonoma than Napa? Within Sonoma County some of the more well-known appellations are Chalk Hill, Anderson Valley and Russian River Valley. Personally, when I want to visit the wine country, I head for the Russian River Valley as it’s far less crowded and much more fun than Napa Valley.

17. 2005 reality show featuring Whitney Houston : BEING BOBBY BROWN (giving “Brown University”)

“Being Bobby Brown” was a reality TV show about the life of R&B singer Bobby Brown. It first aired in 2005, when Brown’s wife was singer Whitney Houston. The show was extremely popular, but only ran for one season as Houston wouldn’t agree to continue filming.

Whitney Houston was the only singer to have a run of seven consecutive Billboard number-one hits. Houston’s recording of the wonderful Dolly Parton song “I Will Always Love You”, from the soundtrack of 1992’s “The Bodyguard”, is the best-selling single for a female artist in the history of recorded music. Houston died at the age of 48 in 2012, drowning in her bathtub.

Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island is one of the eight Ivy League schools. Brown has been around a long time, founded in 1764, years before America declared independence from England. The university took the name of Brown in 1804 after one Nicholas Brown, Jr. gave a substantial gift to the school. The school’s athletic teams are known as the Brown Bears, and their mascot is Bruno.

20. War on Poverty org. : 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.

22. Kipling python : KAA

Kaa is the python character in Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book”.

Rudyard Kipling was a British poet and writer famous for his tales of the British Raj, the rule of the British Empire in India. Kipling was actually born in Bombay, but returned with his family to England when he was very young. After being educated in England, he returned to India and from there traveled the world. Kipling’s most famous works are the stories “The Jungle Book”, “Just So Stories”, “The Man Who Would Be King”, and the poems “Mandalay”, “Gunga Din” and “If-”.

23. ’60s sitcom portrayer of Cathy Lane and her “identical cousin” : PATTY DUKE (giving “Duke University”)

“The Patty Duke Show” is a sitcom from the sixties that starred actress Patty Duke. Duke plays two roles in the show. The first is an outgoing teenager names Patty Lane, and the second is Patty’s “identical cousin”, the quiet and brainy Cathy Lane. In one episode, Duke even plays another identical cousin, one Betsy Lane.

29. “The Simpsons” storekeeper : APU

The fictional Kwik-E-Mart store is operated by Apu Nahasapeemapetilon on “The Simpsons” TV show. Apu is married to Manjula, and the couple have eight children. The convenience store owner doesn’t seem to be making much use of his Ph.D in computer science that he earned in the US. Apu’s undergraduate degree is from Caltech (the Calcutta Technical Institute), where he graduated top of his class of seven million students …

30. Leb. neighbor : SYR

The modern state that we know as Syria was established after WWI as a French mandate. Syria was granted independence from France in 1946.

35. Army NCO : SGT

A non-commissioned officer (NCO) might be a sergeant (sgt.) or a corporal (cpl.).

37. Little piggy : TOE

This little piggy went to market,
This little piggy stayed home,
This little piggy had roast beef,
This little piggy had none,
And this little piggy went wee wee wee all the way home.

38. Ginger-ale-and-grenadine “cocktail” : SHIRLEY TEMPLE (giving “Temple University”)

The original drink called a Shirley Temple was made with two parts ginger ale, one part orange juice and a dash of grenadine. The contemporary drink is much simpler, and comprises 7up (or equivalent) with a little grenadine. A variant of the non-alcoholic original that includes some form of booze is often called a “Dirty Shirley”.

Temple University was founded in 1888, and started out as a night school offering classes to people of limited means who had to hold down jobs during the day. These students earned themselves the nickname of “night owls”, leading to the use of “Owls” for Temple’s athletic teams.

43. 1988 noir remake : DOA

Both the original 1950 film “D.O.A.” starring Edmond O’Brien and Pamela Britton, and its 1988 remake starring Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan, are excellent movies in my opinion. The basic storyline is that the lead character discovers he has been poisoned, and uses the limited time he has to live in order to discover who “murdered” him.

45. Website with business reviews : YELP

yelp.com is a website that provides a local business directory and reviews of services. The site is sort of like Yellow Pages on steroids, and the term “yelp” is derived from “yel-low p-ages”.

47. Supple : LISSOME

“Lissome” is such a lovely word, I think. It applies to something that is easily bent and supple. The term is a variation of “lithesome”.

53. One in the middle of Knoxville? : VEE

There is a letter V (vee) in the middle of the word “Knoxville”.

54. FDR and JFK : INITS

Initial (init.)

55. Chinese menu standard : FRIED RICE (giving “Rice University”)

Rice University is a private school in Houston, Texas. William Marsh Rice had made a will endowing the funds for the establishment of the school at the time of his death. When he was found dead one morning in his bed, his lawyer announced that his will had been changed, with the bulk of Rice’s estate actually going to the lawyer making the announcement. Upon investigation, it was discovered that the lawyer had paid Rice’s valet to murder his employer using chloroform and a fake will was written. Eventually, the original will was deemed valid and the funds were disbursed so that the school could be built.

58. Announcer Hall : EDD

Edd Hall is most famous as the former announcer for Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show”. Hall replaced Ed McMahon when Johnny Carson retired from the show.

59. Protein-rich food : TOFU

“Tofu” is a name for bean curd, and is a Japanese word meaning just that … bean that has curdled. Tofu is produced by coagulating soy milk, using either salt or something acidic. Once the protein has coagulated, the curds are pressed into the familiar blocks. Personally I love tofu, but my wife, she absolutely hates it …

68. McFlurry cookie : OREO

A McFlurry is an ice cream dessert served McDonald’s restaurants. A McFlurry is made from soft-serve ice cream to which are added crushed candy bars or cookies. Cleverly, a McFlurry is mixed on a machine with the mixing blade then doubling as a spoon with which one eats it.

71. Arms of a starfish : RAYS

Starfish (sometimes known as “sea stars”) come in many shapes and sizes, but commonly have “pentaradial symmetry”, meaning they have symmetrical body-shapes with five points. Most starfish are predators that mainly living on a diet of mollusks such as clams and oysters.

72. Over and above: Abbr. : SYNS

Synonym (syn.)

73. Silvery little fish : SMELT

Smelt is the name given to several types of small silvery fish, with examples being Great Lake smelts and whitebait smelts.

Down

1. Will Smith sci-fi series : MIB

“Men in black” (MIB) are said to have appeared in the past whenever there have been reports of UFO sightings. Supposedly, these men are government agents whose job it is to suppress reports of alien landings. The conspiracy theorists got their day in the movies with the release of a pretty good sci-fi comedy in 1997 called “Men in Black”, starring Will Smith (as Agent J) and Tommy Lee Jones (as Agent K).

The multi-talented Will Smith started his performing career as a rap artist in the late 1980s using the stage name “the Fresh Prince”. He then landed the lead role in the hit sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”, and parlayed that into an extremely successful movie career. Smith has two children with his second wife, actress Jada Koren Pinkett. His son Jaden Smith co-starred with his dad in the movies “The Pursuit of Happyness” and “After Earth”. His daughter Willow Smith appeared with Will in the movie “I am Legend”.

3. French pronoun : TOI

In French, the pronouns “toi” and “vous” both mean “you”, with the former being used with family and friends, and children. “Vous” is more formal, and is also the plural form of “toi”.

5. “Old” old-fashioned sorts : FOGEYS

An old fogey is someone with old-fashioned ideas, and is usually more advanced in years. The term “fogey” comes to us from the Scottish “foggie”, which back in the late 1700s described an army pensioner or veteran.

6. Old name for Tokyo : EDO

“Edo” is the former name of the Japanese city of Tokyo. Edo was the seat of the Tokugawa shogunate, a feudal regime that ruled from 1603 until 1868. The shogun lived in the magnificent Edo Castle. Some parts of the original castle remain and today’s Tokyo Imperial Palace, the residence of the Emperor of Japan, was built on its grounds.

7. Cube creator : RUBIK

What was originally called the “Magic Cube” became better known as “Rubik’s Cube”, and was named for its inventor Ernő Rubik. Rubik’s Cube is the world’s biggest selling puzzle game, with over 350 million sold in just over 30 years.

9. Slow Churned ice cream brand : EDY’S

Dreyers’ ice cream sells its products under the name Dreyers in the Western United States, and Edy’s in the Eastern states. The company’s founders were William Dreyer and Joseph Edy.

10. Like the vb. “be” : IRR

“To be” is an irregular (irr.) verb (vb.)

11. Red Sox star Betts : MOOKIE

Mookie Betts is a professional baseball outfielder from Nashville who was drafted by the Red Sox in 2011. Betts is also a professional bowler, and has competed in the PBA’s World Series of Bowling. He has bowled several perfect (300) games.

23. Shell out : PAY

One is said to shell out money when disbursing funds. The use of “shell out” is figurative, from the notion of extracting nuts from a shell.

24. Jungle swingers : APES

Apes and monkeys both belong to the order of primates. The most obvious way to distinguish apes from monkeys is by the presence or lack of a tail. Almost all apes have no tail, and almost all monkeys have tails.

25. Rear : TUSH

“Tush”, a word meaning “backside”, is an abbreviation of “tochus” that comes from the Yiddish “tokhes”.

32. Team with the most Super Bowl victories : STEELERS

The Pittsburgh Steelers football team were founded in 1933, making them the oldest franchise in the AFC. Back in 1933, the team was known as the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates name was chosen as the Pittsburgh baseball team was the Pirates. The name was changed to the Steelers in 1940, and then the Steagles in 1943 when the team merged with the Philadelphia Eagles. There was a further merger in 1944, with the Chicago Cardinal to form Card-Pitt. The Steelers name was resurrected in 1945.

36. TV host Pennington and Hall of Famer Cobb : TYS

Ty Pennington is a TV personality and carpenter, the host of the reality show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”. Pennington’s break came when he was cast as the carpenter on the earlier makeover show called “Trading Spaces”.

Baseball player Ty Cobb was born in Narrows, Georgia and died 74 years later in Atlanta, Georgia. He was nicknamed “The Georgia Peach”. Cobb was one of the richest baseball players of all times. When he retired, Cobb was a major stockholder of the Coca-Cola Corporation. By the time he passed away in 1961, Cobb had an even bigger investment in General Electric. He left an estate after his death worth about $86m (in 2008 dollars). The most common nickname associated with Cobb during his career was “the Georgia Peach”.

40. Bangkok native : THAI

Bangkok is the capital city of Thailand. The exact etymology of the name “Bangkok” seems unclear, although “bang” is a Thai word for “a village situated on a stream”.

41. Big name in denim : LEVI

Levi Strauss was the founder of the first company in the world to manufacture blue jeans. Levi Strauss & Co. opened in 1853 in San Francisco. Strauss and his business partner were awarded a patent in 1873 for the use of copper rivets to strengthen points of strain on working pants.

46. Peruvian capital? : PEE

The word “Peruvian” starts with a capital letter P (pee).

47. Commit perjury to protect : LIE FOR

An act of perjury is the wilful giving of false testimony under oath. The term “perjury” ultimately comes from the Latin “per” meaning “away” and “iurare” meaning “to swear”.

48. Former Indian prime minister Gandhi : INDIRA

Indira Gandhi’s father was Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India. Indira herself became prime minister in 1966. She was assassinated in 1984 by two of her own bodyguards, as she was walking to meet Peter Ustinov who was about to interview her for Irish television.

49. “Dog Day Afternoon” director Lumet : SIDNEY

As a movie director, Sidney Lumet had a great string of celebrated films to his name including “12 Angry Men”, “Dog Day Afternoon”, “Network” and “The Verdict”. Although nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for each of these films, he never won an individual Oscar. However, the Academy gave Lumet the recognition he deserved in 2004 by presenting him with an Honorary Award.

“Dog Day Afternoon” is a crime film released in 1975. The movie was inspired by a real life incident, a robbery at a bank in Brooklyn, New York by John Wojtowicz and Salvatore Naturile. Al Pacino and John Cazale played the robbers in the film, with the names changed to Sonny Wortzik and Sal Naturile.

56. Long sentence : RUN-ON

A “run-on sentence” is one in which two separate clauses are linked without appropriate conjugation. Two examples would be:

Today’s crossword is really tough I can’t finish.
Today’s crossword is really tough, I can’t finish.

More acceptable sentences would be:

Today’s crossword is really tough. I can’t finish.
Today’s crossword is really tough; I can’t finish.
Today’s crossword is really tough, so I can’t finish.

63. Platform for Siri : IOS

Siri is a software application that works with Apple’s iOS operating system. “Siri” is an acronym standing for Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface. Voice-over artist Susan Bennett revealed herself as the female American voice of Siri a few years ago. The British version of Siri is called Daniel, and the Australian version is called Karen. Also, “Siri” is a Norwegian name meaning “beautiful woman who leads you to victory”, and was the name the developer had chosen for his first child.

64. Mdse. : GDS

A warehouse (whse.) is usually filled with goods (gds.).

Merchandise (mdse.)

65. Malachite, e.g. : ORE

Malachite is a mineral composed of copper carbonate hydroxide. Samples of the mineral contain opaque green bands. The name “malachite” ultimately derives from the Greek “molochitis lithos” meaning “mallow-green stone”. This is a reference to green leaves of the mallow plant, also known as “malva”. Paradoxically, it is the French name of the malva plant that gives our word “mauve”, referring to the color of the flowers.

66. Many a Monet : OIL

French artist Claude Monet was one of the founders of the Impressionist movement, and indeed the term “Impressionism” comes from the title of his 1872 painting “Impression, Sunrise”. That work depicts the port of Le Havre, which was Monet’s hometown. Later in his life, Monet purchased a house in Giverny, and famously installed lily ponds and a Japanese bridge in the property’s extensive gardens. He spent two decades painting the water lily ponds, producing his most famous works.