Tag: “Star Wars” SFX crossword clue

Bill’s time: 7m 56s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Transcript figs. : GPAS

Grade point average (GPA)

5 Letters for the princess? : HRH

His/Her Royal Highness (HRH)

15 Perrier, par exemple : EAU

In French, Perrier “par exemple” (for example) is a bottled “eau” (water).

Perrier is bottled from spring water that is naturally carbonated. The natural carbonation is lost during the purification process, and so has to be restored artificially before bottling. The spring used by Perrier is in the South of France, and has been used since Roman times as a spa.

19 Telescope parts : LENSES

The first patent application for a telescope was filed in 1608 in the Netherlands to eyeglass maker Hans Lippershey. However, research has shown that there is some evidence that telescopes were built before 1608, perhaps as early as the mid-1500s. But it is clear that reports of Lippershey’s design spread quickly around Europe. By 1609, Galileo had built his own telescope and started to explore the night sky.

20 “Star Wars” SFX : CGI

Computer-generated imagery (CGI)

The abbreviation “FX” stands for “effects” as in “special effects”. “Special effects” can also be shortened to “SFX”.

21 Dada co-founder : ARP

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 …

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

22 Firewood measure : CORD

A cord of firewood has a volume of 128 cubic feet. More commonly it’s a neat stack measuring 4 feet high, 8 feet long and 4 feet deep.

23 Masters home : AUGUSTA NATIONAL

The Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia was founded in 1933 by Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts. Famously, Augusta hosts the Masters Tournament each year. Augusta is very much a private club, and some of its policies have drawn criticism over the years. Prior to 1959, the club had a bylaw requiring that all caddies be African American. There were no African-American club members admitted until 1990, and no women until 2012.

Golf’s Masters Tournament is the first of the four major championships in the annual calendar, taking place in the first week of April each year. It is played at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, and has a number of traditions. One is that the winner is awarded the famous “green jacket”, but he only gets to keep it for a year and must return it to the club after twelve months.

30 Lay an egg : FLOP

Apparently the expression “to lay an egg”, meaning “to perform or play really badly” comes from the resemblance of the number 0 to an egg. One laying an egg scores zero.

31 Soup with tofu and seaweed : MISO

Miso is the name of the seasoning that makes miso soup. Basic miso seasoning is made by fermenting rice, barley and soybeans with salt and a fungus to produce a paste. The paste can be added to stock to make miso soup, or perhaps to flavor tofu.

32 Vancouver-to-Calgary dir. : ENE

Vancouver in British Columbia is a major port in western Canada. It is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the nation (after Toronto and Montreal), and the country’s most densely populated city. Vancouver grew out of a settlement called Gastown named for “Gassy” Jack Deighton, a steamboat captain from Yorkshire, England who opened a saloon in the area in 1867. Gastown became the town of Granville, named for the British Colonial Secretary at the time, Lord Granville. Granville incorporated as a city in 1886, and was named “Vancouver” in honor of Royal Navy officer George Vancouver who explored and charted the northwestern Pacific Coast of North America.

37 51-Down’s state: Abbr. : NSW
(51D 2000 Olympics city : SYDNEY)

New South Wales (NSW) is the most populous state in Australia and is home to Sydney, the most populous city in the country. New South Wales was founded in 1788. When the British took over New Zealand in 1840, New Zealand was actually governed for a while as part of New South Wales.

38 Southern nickname involving a brown bird : THE PELICAN STATE

The official nickname of Louisiana is the Pelican State, but it is also known as the Bayou State, the Child of Mississippi, the Creole State, the Sportsman’s Paradise and the Sugar State.

44 “Then again,” on Twitter : OTOH

On the other hand (OTOH)

45 Country N. of Kenya : ETH

Ethiopia is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation on the continent (after Nigeria) and, with 90 million inhabitants, the most populous landlocked country in the world. Most anthropologists believe that our Homo sapiens species evolved in the region now called Ethiopia, and from there set out to populate the planet.

48 New Age musician John : TESH

John Tesh is a pianist and composer, as well as a radio and television presenter. For many years Tesh presented the show “Entertainment Tonight”. For “ET” he once covered the filming of an episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation”. As part of the piece, he volunteered to act as a Klingon warrior. If you see the “Star Trek: TNG” episode called “The Icarus Factor” in reruns, watch out for John Tesh engaging in ritual torture with Mr. Worf as his victim.

New-Age music is created to provide a relaxing and stress-free atmosphere. The New Age movement is often said to have begun with the release of an album called “Spectrum Suite” by Steven Halpern in 1975.

50 Tag sale caveat : AS IS

A caveat is a warning or a qualification. “Caveat” is the Latin for “let him beware”.

A tag sale is a sale of household belongings, so called because the prices are usually marked on tags attached to the items for sale.

54 “Double Indemnity” (1944) Oscar nominee : BARBARA STANWYCK

Actress Barbara Stanwyck started her showbiz career as a chorus girl in the “Ziegfeld Follies” when she was just 16 years of age. Her distinguished movie career included lead roles in such classics as “The Lady Eve” (1940), “Meet John Doe” (1941) and “Double Indemnity” (1944). In later years, Stanwyck was a regular on hit television shows, such as “The Big Valley” and “The Thorn Birds”.

“Double Indemnity” is a classic film noir released in 1944 and starring Fred MacMurray, Edward G. Robinson and Barbara Stanwyck. Based on the James M. Cain novella of the same name, it’s all about a woman who kills her husband for the insurance money. The title “Double Indemnity” refers to the double payout clause in the life insurance policy in the event of an accidental death. And that’s what the wife tried to show investigators, that the death was accidental.

58 Mani-pedi spots : SPAS

Manicure & pedicure (mani-pedi)

59 Game with 108 cards : UNO

In my youth I remember being taught a great card game by a German acquaintance of mine, a game called Mau Mau. Years later I discovered that UNO is basically the same game, but played with a purpose-printed deck instead of the regular deck of playing cards that’s used for Mau Mau. I hear that Mau Mau is derived from the game called Crazy Eights.

60 “Gloria in Excelsis __” : DEO

“Gloria in excelsis Deo” is a Latin hymn, the title of which translates as “Glory to God in the Highest”.

61 Brusque : ABRUPT

Someone described as “brusque” is “gruff, abrupt and curt in manner”. The term comes into English from French, in which language it means “lively, fierce”.

64 2003 Billy Bob Thornton title role … and a hint to each set of puzzle circles : BAD SANTA

“Bad Santa” is a black comedy, not one I really enjoyed, starring Billy Bob Thornton as the not-so-nice Santa Claus. There is an unrated version of the film available on DVD that is titled “Bad(der) Santa”.

I’ve always thought that the actor Billy Bob Thornton really knows how to give an understated performance, and he does it really well. Thornton came to the public eye as actor and screenwriter for the 1996 movie “Slingblade”. He won an Academy Award for screenwriting for that film. Thornton has been married five times in all, most famously to the actress Angelina Jolie.

66 NutraSweet developer : SEARLE

NutraSweet is a brand name for the artificial sweetener aspartame. Aspartame was discovered by a chemist working for Searle in 1965, but it took 15 years for the company to be granted approval for its sale. I wonder why …???

67 Modern art? : ARE

“Thou art” would be rephrased to “you are” in contemporary English.

68 Cocktail garnish : PEEL

Our word “cocktail” first appeared in the early 1800s. The exact origin of the term is not clear, but it is thought to be a corruption of the French word “coquetier” meaning “egg cup”, a container that was used at that time for serving mixed drinks.

70 Since Jan. 1 : YTD

Year-to-date (YTD)

71 Shaggy Scandinavian rugs : RYAS

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.

Down

1 Easy-to-swallow dosage : GELCAP

Gelatin capsules (gelcaps) might be an issue for those on a strict vegan diet. The gelatin used in the capsule is made from collagen extracted from animal skin and bone.

2 One of 10 in Exodus : PLAGUE

According to the biblical Book of Exodus, God inflicted ten plagues on Egypt to persuade the Pharaoh to release the Israelites from bondage. For example, the first was the changing of water in the Nile to blood, the eighth was a plague of locusts that consumed all the Egyptian crops, and the tenth was the death of firstborn sons.

6 Flutist Jean-Pierre : RAMPAL

Jean-Pierre Rampal was a French flautist, the son of Joseph Rampal who was a distinguished flutist in his own right. Outside of his native France, Jean-Pierre was especially popular in the US and Japan.

9 “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” host : FIERI

Guy Fieri is a restaurant owner and television personality. Fieri is known as “the face of the Food Network” as several of his television series on that channel are very popular.

“Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” is a reality show that has been airing on the Food Network since 2007. Hosted by Guy Fieri, each episode of the show features restaurant visits in a particular city. As the show’s title partially converys, the focus is on establishments that produce food that might be appreciated by a gourmet, but would not normally be classified as gourmet cuisine.

10 Like dice rolls : RANDOM

When rolling two dice, there are 36 possible outcomes. There are six outcomes that add up to seven (1-6, 2-5, 3-4, 4-3, 5-2, 6-1), making seven the most probable total thrown. The least probable totals are two (1,1) and twelve (6,6).

11 Bodybuilder’s pride : ABS

The abdominal muscles (abs) are more correctly referred to as the rectus abdominis muscles. They might be referred to as a “six-pack”, or even a “ten-pack”, in a person who has developed the muscles and who has low body fat. In my case, more like a keg …

12 Paris’ __ de la Cité : ILE

There are two famous “îles” (islands) in the middle of the River Seine in Paris, one being the Île de la Cité, and the other Île Saint-Louis. Île de la Cité is the most renowned of the two, as it is home to the cathedral of Notre Dame.

13 __ Plaines : DES

Des Plaines is a suburb of Chicago that is located next to O’Hare International Airport. The city is named for the Des Plaines river that runs through the area.

18 “One Mic” rapper : NAS

“One Mic” is a 2002 song recorded by rap singer Nas. Nas is a big fan of singer Phil Collins, and sampled the Collins song “In the Air Tonight” for “One Mic”.

22 “Meet John Doe” director : CAPRA

I can’t tell you how many of Frank Capra’s movies are on my list of all-time favorites. He directed such classics as “It Happened One Night”, “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town”, “Lost Horizon”, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”, “Meet John Doe”, “Arsenic and Old Lace” and the holiday favorite “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Capra was the first person to win three directorial Oscars: for “It Happened One Night”, “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” and “You Can’t Take It With You”. Capra also did his bit during WWII, enlisting just a few days after Pearl Harbor was attacked. Given his great talent, and the fact that he enlisted at the relatively advanced age of 44, the US Army put him to work directing 11 documentary war films in the “Why We Fight” series, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal.

Frank Capra’s delightful comedy-drama “Meet John Doe” stars Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. Gary Cooper agreed to the role without even reading the script, as he had such respect for Capra after working with him on “Mr Deeds Goes to Town”.

24 U.S. sch. near the Mexico border : UTEP

The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) was founded in 1914 as the Texas State School of Mines and Metallurgy. To this day, there is a mine shaft on the campus. The mascot of the school’s sports teams is Paydirt Pete, a prospector from the mining industry. The teams are also known as the UTEP Miners and Lady Miners.

The Rio Grande (Spanish for “big river”) is a waterway that forms part of the border between Mexico and the United States. Although we call the river the Rio Grande on this side of the border, in Mexico it is called the Río Bravo or Río Bravo del Norte (Spanish for “furious river of the north”).

25 Tally symbols : NOTCHES

Back in the mid-1600s, a tally was a stick marked with notches that tracked how much one owed or had paid. The term “tally” came from the Latin “talea” meaning “stick, rod”. The act of “scoring” the stick with notches gave rise to our word “score” for the number in a tally.

26 Ricci of fashion : NINA

The Nina Ricci fashion house was founded by Italian-born Maria “Nina” Ricci, in Paris in 1932.

27 CEO aide : ASST

Chief executive officer (CEO)

28 Actor Rob : LOWE

Actor Rob Lowe is one of the “founding members” of the so-called Brat Pack, having appeared in the movie “St. Elmo’s Fire”. More recently, he played a regular character on the TV show “Parks and Recreation”. My favorite of his roles though, was playing Sam Seaborn on Aaron Sorkin’s great drama series “The West Wing”. When “The West Wing” first aired, Seaborn was billed as the show’s main character, but outstanding performances from the rest of the cast and some great writing meant that Lowe’s role became “one of many”. This led to some dissatisfaction on Lowe’s part, and eventually he quit the show.

33 Opposite of paleo- : NEO-

The prefix “paleo-” means “prehistoric, primitive”. It comes from the Greek word “palaios” which means “old, ancient”. The prefix “neo-” would be the opposite, meaning “new, recent”.

36 Summer hrs. : DST

On the other side of the Atlantic, daylight saving time (DST) is known as “summer time”. The idea behind summer/daylight-savings is to move clocks forward an hour in spring (“spring forward”), and backwards in the fall (“fall back”) so that afternoons have more daylight. Here in the US, DST starts on the second Sunday of March, and ends on the first Sunday of November.

38 Windy City daily, familiarly : TRIB

“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.

It seems that the derivation of Chicago’s nickname “Windy City” isn’t as obvious as I would have thought. There are two viable theories. Firstly, that the weather can be breezy with wind blowing in off Lake Michigan. The effect of the wind is exaggerated by the grid-layout adopted by city planners after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The second theory is that “windy” means “being full of bluster”. Sportswriters from the rival city of Cincinnati were fond of calling Chicago supporters “windy” in the 1860s and 1870s, meaning that they were full of hot air in their claims that the Chicago White Stockings were superior to the Cincinnati Red Stockings.

39 “Today” co-anchor Kotb : HODA

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 the bestselling autobiography “Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee”.

41 Specks : IOTAS

Iota is the ninth letter in the Greek alphabet, and one that gave rise to our letters I and J. We use the word “iota” to portray something very small, as it is the smallest of all Greek letters.

47 Inane : ABSURD

Our word “inane” meaning silly or lacking substance comes from the Latin “inanitis” meaning “empty space”.

49 Comic-book store owner on “The Big Bang Theory” : STUART

On “The Big Bang Theory” sitcom, Stuart Bloom owns the comic store that the main group of characters frequent. Bloom is played by actor and comedian Kevin Sussman.

51 2000 Olympics city : SYDNEY

When the Summer Olympic Games were held in Sydney, Australia in 2000, it marked the second time that the event was hosted in the Southern Hemisphere, the first occasion being the 1956 games in Melbourne. Although the Sydney Games were a public relations success, the financial result was a major disappointment. The Australian government built several new venues in the Sydney Olympic Park and were planning on recouping the cost by renting out the facilities in the following years. Sadly, the required level of bookings failed to materialize and so the government’s bank balance took a hit.

53 Danish toasts : SKOALS

“Skoal” is a Scandinavian toast that has roots in the old Norse word “skaal” meaning “cup”.

55 Fuji, for one : APPLE

The Fuji apple is a cross between two American varieties of apple that was developed in Japan, i.e. a cross is between Red Delicious and old Virginia Ralls Genet.

56 Yelp contributor : RATER

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”.

61 Silent speech syst. : ASL

American Sign Language (ASL)

62 Quilting party : BEE

Back in 18th-century America, when neighbors would gather to work for the benefit of one of their group, such a meeting was called a bee. The name “bee” was an allusion to the social nature of the insect. In modern parlance, a further element of entertainment and pleasure has been introduced, for example in a quilting bee, or even a spelling bee.

64 Reddish-brown horse : BAY

Bay is a reddish-brown color. The term “bay” usually describes the coat of a horse, or a horse with a coat of such a color.

65 Busy mo. for a CPA : APR

April 15th wasn’t always Tax Day in the US. The deadline for returns was March 1st from 1913-18, when it was moved to March 15th. Tax Day has been April 15th since 1955.