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Constructed by: Angela Olson Halsted
Edited by: Patti Varol
Today’s Theme: None
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Bill’s time: 10m 32s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
1 Acknowledged mistakes : ERRATA
“Errata” is the past participle of the Latin word “errare” meaning “to err”. We use “errata” (singular “erratum”) to describe a list of errors that have been noted in some publication.
15 One cog in the Big Red Machine : GRIFFEY
Ken Griffey Sr. is a former professional baseball player who played for the Cincinnati Reds in the 1970s, when the Reds were viewed as a Major League Baseball powerhouse. Ken Sr. is the father of Hall of Fame baseball player Ken Griffey Jr.
When the Cincinnati Reds were a dominating force in the National League in the seventies, the team was given the nickname “the Big Red Machine”.
16 Bach work : CANTATA
A cantata is a piece of music that is sung, as opposed to a sonata, which is a piece that is played on some instrument, often a piano. A sonatina is in effect a sonata that has been labeled as something lighter and shorter.
Johann Sebastian Bach died when he was 65-years-old, in 1750. He was buried in Old St. John’s Cemetery in Leipzig, and his grave went unmarked until 1894. At that time his coffin was located, removed and buried in a vault within the church. The church was destroyed in an Allied bombing raid during WWII, and so after the war the remains had to be recovered and taken to the Church of St. Thomas in Leipzig.
17 Birthplace of Kamala Harris : OAKLAND
The city of Oakland, located in the San Francisco Bay Area, was settled by the Spanish in 1772. The area now known as Oakland was called “Encinal” by those early settlers, which translates as “oak grove”, giving the city its name.
Kamala Harris was a US Senator for California starting in 2017, after serving for six years as the Attorney General of California. In early 2019, Harris announced her run for the Democratic nomination for US president in the 2020 election. Although she dropped out of the race, she was chosen by eventual nominee Joe Biden as his vice-presidential running mate. When the Biden-Harris ticket won the election, Harris became the highest-ranking female politician in the history of the US.
18 Ron Rifkin spy series : ALIAS
“Alias” is an action show that was aired by ABC from 2001 to 2006. Star of the show is Jennifer Garner. Garner plays a CIA agent named Sydney Bristow who must adopt multiple aliases over the series for her missions, while concealing her real career from family and friends. Sydney’s mother is a former Russian spy played by the marvelous Lena Olin.
Actor Ron Rifkin is perhaps best known for playing Arvin Sloane on the spy drama series “Alias”.
19 Shortsighted one : MYOPE
A myope is someone suffering from myopia, short-sightedness. Far-sightedness or long-sightedness is known as hypermetropia or hyperopia .
21 Number of Olympic medals won by Katie Ledecky : TEN
Katie Ledecky is a swimmer who won her first Olympic gold medal at just 15 years of age, in the 800-meter freestyle. In 2016, Ledecky also became the youngest person to make “Time” magazine’s “Time 100” annual list of most influential people in the American world. Katie’s uncle is Jon Ledecky, an owner of the New York Islanders hockey team.
23 Many chords : TRIADS
A triad is a group of three and, specifically in music, a chord made up of three notes.
25 Saltimbocca flavor : SAGE
In Britain and Ireland, sage is listed as one of the four essential herbs. And those would be “parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme”.
Saltimbocca is a dish from southern Europe made of veal topped with prosciutto and sage, and then marinated in perhaps wine. The name “saltimbocca” is Italian for “jump in the mouth”.
29 Chase with a slide rule : UTLEY
Chase Utley is a second baseman who played for the Phillies from 2003 until 2015, and for the Dodgers from 2015 to 2017.
30 Age of enlightenment? : TODAY YEARS OLD
The term “today years old” refers to one’s age, to the day. It is usually used in the phrase “I was today years old when I discovered that …” Personally speaking, I was today years old when I first came across the phrase “I was today years old” …
33 Brody of “The O.C.” : ADAM
Actor Adam Brody’s big break came with a recurring role (Seth Cohen) on the drama TV show “The O.C.” Brody married actress and model Leighton Meester in 2014.
“The O.C.” is a teen drama that aired for four seasons on Fox finishing up in 2007. I never watched it, but I understand that it is set in Newport Beach in Southern California. And, “O.C.” stands for “Orange County”.
34 Like one due for an inheritance? : MEEK
The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of teachings of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. One famous section of the discourse is known as the Beatitudes. The eight Beatitudes are:
- … Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
- … Blessed are those who mourn: for they will be comforted
- … Blessed are the meek: for they will inherit the earth
- … Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness: for they will be filled
- … Blessed are the merciful: for they will be shown mercy
- … Blessed are the pure in heart: for they will see God
- … Blessed are the peacemakers: for they will be called children of God
- … Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
35 Oscar nominee who voiced Michelle Obama on “The Simpsons” : ANGELA BASSETT
Angela Bassett is an actress from New York who is perhaps best known for playing Tina Turner in the film about her life “What’s Love Got to Do with It”.
41 Polo who played Rebecca on “Sports Night” : TERI
Teri Polo’s most prominent role on the big screen was Pam Focker in “Meet the Fockers” and its sequels. Pam is the wife of the character played by Ben Stiller. Polo also played the wife of Presidential candidate Matt Santos in “The West Wing”.
“Sports Night” is a TV series about a fictional sports show called “Sports Night”. I haven’t seen this one, but as it was a creation of the great Aaron Sorkin, it’s going on the list …
42 Emulate Kelly Slater : SURF
Professional surfer Kelly Slater ranked first in the World Surf League a record 11 times from 1992 to 2011. Slater has done some acting too, playing the character Jimmy Slade on 27 episodes of the nineties TV show “Baywatch”.
44 __ buco : OSSO
“Osso” is the Italian word for bone, as in the name of the dish “osso buco” (bone with a hole), which features braised veal shanks.
45 Beer mugs : STEINS
A stein is a type of beer glass. The term “stein” is German in origin, and is short for “Steinkrug” meaning “stone jug”. “Stein” is German for “stone”.
47 Drag queen Bianca Del __ : RIO
“Bianca Del Rio” is the stage name of drag queen and comedian Roy Haylock. Del Rio won the sixth season of the reality competition “RuPaul’s Drag Race”.
48 Present mo. : DEC
December is the twelfth month in our calendar but was the tenth month in the old Roman calendar, hence the name (“decem” is Latin for “ten”). Back then there were only ten months in the year. “Ianuarius” (January) and “Februarius” (February) were then added as the eleventh and twelfth months of the year. Soon after, the year was reset and January and February became the first and second months.
54 Like Romeo and Juliet : AMOROUS
William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” is all about the love between the two title characters, which is forbidden as the pair come from two families who are sworn enemies. Early in the play, Romeo (a Montague) sneaks into a masquerade ball being held by the Capulets in the hope of meeting a Capulet girl named Rosaline. Instead, he meets and falls for Juliet, also a Capulet. Tragedy ensues …
57 Carriage return creation : NEW LINE
The term “carriage return” applied originally to typewriters. Back then, the type elements (which produced the letters) were stationary, and the paper moved from letter to letter on a carriage. The carriage return lever was used after a line of text was completed, aligning with the type element at the start of a new line.
58 Nats division : NL EAST
The Washington Nationals (“Nats”) started out life as the Montreal Expos in 1969, and were the first Major League Baseball team in Canada. The Expos moved to Washington in 2005 becoming the Nats.
59 Theologian for whom a Connecticut university is named : WESLEY
John Wesley was an English cleric who founded the Methodist movement within the Church of England in the 18th century. Methodism eventually separated from the Church of England, after Wesley’s death.
Wesleyan University is a private school in Middletown, Connecticut that was founded in 1831 and named for Methodism founder John Wesley. Originally a men’s college, the first female applicants were accepted in 1872, and the school became fully co-educational in 1970. Wesleyan is known as one of the Little Three (also “Little Ivies”) along with Williams and Amherst colleges.
Down
1 “__ at Dannemora”: Arquette miniseries : ESCAPE
“Escape at Dannemora” is a 7-episode TV series that first aired in 2018. The show is based on the true story of a jailbreak in 2015 from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York. Patricia Arquette plays a prison worker who becomes romantically involved with two inmates and helps them to break out of the jail. Benicio del Toro and Paul Dano play the two escaped murderers.
Patricia Arquette is the sister of fellow-actors Rosanna, Alexis and David Arquette. Patricia earned many acting awards, including a Best Supporting Oscar for her role in the 2014 movie “Boyhood”. She was briefly married to actor Nicolas Cage in the mid-nineties.
4 Resort near Deer Valley : ALTA
Alta ski resort actually lies within the Salt Lake City Metropolitan Area. The first ski lift in the resort was opened way back in 1939. Today, Alta is one of only three ski resorts in the country that prohibits snowboarding (along with Deer Valley, Utah and Mad River Glen, Vermont). The ski resort of Snowbird, located next to Alta, has been in operation since 1971.
Deer Valley is a ski resort in Park City, Utah, and was one of the sites used in the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics held in 2002. Deer Park is one of only three ski resorts in the country that prohibits snowboarding (along with Alta, Utah and Mad River Glen, Vermont).
7 Casino game : CRAPS
If one considers earlier versions of craps, then the game has been around for a very long time and probably dates back to the Crusades. It may have been derived from an old English game called “hazard” also played with two dice, which was mentioned in Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” from the 1300s. The American version of the game came here courtesy of the French and first set root in New Orleans where it was given the name “crapaud”, a French word meaning “toad”.
9 Samuel Gompers’ org. : AFL
Samuel Gompers was an influential labor union leader who founded and served as president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL).
11 Went back (on) : RENEGED
To renege on something is to back out of it. It’s a verb commonly used in card games like bridge and whist. A renege is when a player doesn’t follow suit, even though there may be a card of the suit led in his/her hand.
12 World’s largest natural harbor : SYDNEY
Sydney Harbour in Australia is the largest natural harbor in the world. The first Europeans to see the harbor were led by James Cook in 1770. Cook gave it the name “Port Jackson”, in honor of Sir George Jackson, who was the Royal navy’s Judge Advocate of the Fleet at the time. Famously, Sydney Harbour is home to the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. It is also the starting point of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.
14 Jaleel White’s show : FAMILY MATTERS
“Family Matters” is a sitcom that originally aired in the late eighties and nineties, and was a spinoff of the sitcom “Perfect Strangers”. The main character in the show was Steve Urkel, played by Jaleel White. Oddly enough, Urkel did not show up at all in the first half of the first season.
15 Roadside assistant? : GOOD SAMARITAN
“The Good Samaritan” is a parable told by Jesus that can be read in the Gospel of Luke. According to the story, a Jewish traveler is robbed and beaten and left for dead at the side of the road. A priest happens by and sees the poor man, but does not stop to help. A fellow Jewish traveler also passes and refuses to help. A third man stops and gives aid. This kind person is a Samaritan, a native of Samaria. Back then, Jewish and Samarian people were said to generally despise each other, and yet here a detested creature gives aid. Jesus told the story to a self-righteous lawyer, the intent being (I assume) to shake up his self-righteousness.
20 Lupita Nyong’o’s alma mater : YALE
Lupita Nyong’o is a Kenyan-Mexican actress who was born in Mexico, raised in Kenya, and educated in the US. Nyong’o got her big break in movies with an Oscar-winning supporting role in the 2013 film “12 Years a Slave”. She was named “People” magazine’s “ Most Beautiful Woman” in 2014.
24 Saudi capital : RIYAL
The Saudi riyal is the currency of Saudi Arabia, and the Qatari riyal is the currency of Qatar.
27 Not quite lento : ADAGIO
An adagio is a piece of music with a slow tempo. The “adagio” marking on the score is an instruction to play the piece slowly and in a stately manner. The word “adagio” is Latin for “at ease”.
A lento passage is a piece of music that has a slow tempo. “Lento” is “slow” in Italian.
31 Arabian port : ADEN
Aden is a seaport in Yemen that is located on the Gulf of Aden by the eastern approach to the Red Sea. Aden has a long history of British rule, from 1838 until a very messy withdrawal in 1967. A native of Aden is known as an Adeni. Some believe that Cain and Abel are buried in the city.
32 Frankincense or myrrh : RESIN
Frankincense and myrrh are both tree resins that are exuded when certain species of tree are damaged. The harvested resins are used to make essential oils for perfumes, and are also burned to give off a pleasant fragrance.
35 Football club founded in 1886 : ARSENAL
Arsenal Football Club (nicknamed “the Gunners”) is an English soccer team based in the Holloway district of London. The club was founded in 1886 as Dial Square by workers at the Royal Arsenal munitions factory. Dial Square was the name given to the workshops at the center of the Royal Arsenal complex. After just a few weeks in existence, the club changed its name to Royal Arsenal, which was eventually shortened to just Arsenal.
36 Love all? : NO SCORE
In tennis the score of zero is designated as “love”. Some people believe that this usage originates from the French “l’oeuf” (meaning “the egg”). The idea is that the written character “0” looks like an egg.
39 Chicago daily : TRIBUNE
“The Chicago Tribune” was first published in 1847. The most famous edition of “The Trib” was probably in 1948 when the headline was “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN”, on the occasion of that year’s presidential election. When it turned out that Truman had actually won, the victor picked up the paper with the erroneous headline and posed for photographs with it … a famous, famous photo, that must have stuck in the craw of the editor at the time.
43 “Woman in the Mists” subject : FOSSEY
“Woman in the Mists” is a 1987 biography of Dian Fossey, the celebrated zoologist who lived with and studied mountain gorillas over a period of 18 years.
45 Comics dog in a Viking helmet : SNERT
“Hägar the Horrible” is a comic strip that was created by the late Dik Browne and is now drawn by his son, Chris Browne. “Hägar the Terrible” (not “Horrible”) was the nickname given to Dik by his sons. The strip’s title character is a red-bearded Viking living on the Norwegian coast during the Middle Ages. Hägar lives with his overbearing wife Helga, his sensitive son Hamlet, his pretty daughter Honi, and his clever dog Snert.
46 Olympia from Maine : SNOWE
Olympia Snowe was believed by many pundits to be the most moderate Republican Senator in the US Congress towards the end of her tenure. Snowe retired as US Senator from Maine in January 2013. I think that she is sorely missed by those who like to see moderate politicians in Washington, on either side of the aisle.
49 Time to beware : IDES
In Act I of William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”, a soothsayer warns the doomed leader to “beware the ides of March”. Caesar ignores the prophecy and is subsequently killed on the steps of the Capitol by a group of conspirators on that fateful day.
51 Bing returns : URLS
An Internet address (like NYXCrossword.com and LAXCrossword.com) is more correctly called a uniform resource locator (URL).
Bing is the search engine from Microsoft. Bing is the latest name for an engine that Microsoft used to call Live Search, Windows Live Search and MSN Search.
53 Messenger __ : RNA
Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is an essential catalyst in the manufacture of proteins in the body. The genetic code in DNA determines the sequence of amino acids that make up each protein. That sequence is read in DNA by messenger RNA, and amino acids are delivered for protein manufacture in the correct sequence by transfer RNA. The amino acids are then formed into proteins by ribosomal RNA.
55 Catlike Pokémon : MEW
“Pokémon” is the second-biggest video game franchise in the world, second only to the “Mario” franchise. “Pokémon” is a contraction of “Pocket Monsters”.
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Acknowledged mistakes : ERRATA
7 Leads : CHAIRS
13 Secure, in a way : SEAL OFF
15 One cog in the Big Red Machine : GRIFFEY
16 Bach work : CANTATA
17 Birthplace of Kamala Harris : OAKLAND
18 Ron Rifkin spy series : ALIAS
19 Shortsighted one : MYOPE
21 Number of Olympic medals won by Katie Ledecky : TEN
22 Map marker : PIN
23 Many chords : TRIADS
25 Saltimbocca flavor : SAGE
26 Spanish 101 word : ESTA
28 Troubles : ILLS
29 Chase with a slide rule : UTLEY
30 Age of enlightenment? : TODAY YEARS OLD
33 Brody of “The O.C.” : ADAM
34 Like one due for an inheritance? : MEEK
35 Oscar nominee who voiced Michelle Obama on “The Simpsons” : ANGELA BASSETT
40 It may be pulled by an athlete : GROIN
41 Polo who played Rebecca on “Sports Night” : TERI
42 Emulate Kelly Slater : SURF
44 __ buco : OSSO
45 Beer mugs : STEINS
47 Drag queen Bianca Del __ : RIO
48 Present mo. : DEC
49 All thumbs : INEPT
50 Freezes, say : NUMBS
52 Unavailable, in a way : ON ORDER
54 Like Romeo and Juliet : AMOROUS
56 “All You Need” intimates brand : WARNERS
57 Carriage return creation : NEW LINE
58 Nats division : NL EAST
59 Theologian for whom a Connecticut university is named : WESLEY
Down
1 “__ at Dannemora”: Arquette miniseries : ESCAPE
2 Pragmatic sort : REALIST
3 Met : RAN INTO
4 Resort near Deer Valley : ALTA
5 Done for : TOAST
6 Back on board : AFT
7 Casino game : CRAPS
8 Sharp increase : HIKE
9 Samuel Gompers’ org. : AFL
10 “… maybe not even that” : IF AT ALL
11 Went back (on) : RENEGED
12 World’s largest natural harbor : SYDNEY
14 Jaleel White’s show : FAMILY MATTERS
15 Roadside assistant? : GOOD SAMARITAN
20 Lupita Nyong’o’s alma mater : YALE
24 Saudi capital : RIYAL
25 Stirs up : STOKES
27 Not quite lento : ADAGIO
29 Presses into service : USES
31 Arabian port : ADEN
32 Frankincense or myrrh : RESIN
35 Football club founded in 1886 : ARSENAL
36 Love all? : NO SCORE
37 Honk : BEEP
38 Unrest : TURMOIL
39 Chicago daily : TRIBUNE
40 Happen : GO DOWN
43 “Woman in the Mists” subject : FOSSEY
45 Comics dog in a Viking helmet : SNERT
46 Olympia from Maine : SNOWE
49 Time to beware : IDES
51 Bing returns : URLS
53 Messenger __ : RNA
55 Catlike Pokémon : MEW
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