Tag: Violet in a bed crossword clue

Bill’s time: 7m 49s

Bill’s errors: 0

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

14. __ panel : SOLAR

Solar panels are arrays of solar cells that make use of what’s known as the photovoltaic effect. We are more likely to have learned about the photoelectric effect in school, in which electrons were ejected from the surface of some materials when it was exposed to light or other forms of radiation. The photovoltaic effect is related but different. Instead of being electrons ejected from the surface, in the photovoltaic effect electrons move around in the material creating a difference in voltage.

15. Violet in a bed : PANSY

The garden flower called a “pansy” takes its name from the French word “pensée” meaning “thought”. This name was chosen as the flower was often used as a symbol of remembrance.

17. Bronzed My Little Pony figurines? : HOOFED ORNAMENTS (from “hood ornaments”)

My Little Pony is a toy aimed at girls that was introduced in 1981 by Hasbro. The toy became a big winner for Hasbro, as they were able to use the basic concept in the development of a whole media franchise.

20. Sport with electric weapons : EPEE

The French word for sword is “épée”. In competitive fencing the épée is connected to a system that records an electrical signal when legal contact is made on an opponent’s body.

21. Auto pioneer : OLDS

Ransom Eli Olds was a pioneer in the automotive industry, and the founder of the Oldsmobile and REO brands. Olds introduced the first modern “stationary” assembly line (Henry Ford’s famous innovation was the “moving” assembly line). As a result, it can be argued that the Oldsmobile Curved Dash was the first mass-produced, low-priced automobile, rather than the Ford’s Model T.

22. Nota __ : BENE

“Nota bene” is Latin for “note well”.

23. Golden Age TV star : BERLE

Comedian Milton Berle was known as “Uncle Miltie” and “Mr. Television”, and was arguably the first real star of American television. Berle was hosting “Texaco Star Theater” back in 1948.

27. Hawkers of thin cookies? : WAFER MONGERS (from “warmongers”)

The suffix “-monger” indicates a dealer or trader. For example. A fishmonger sells fish, an ironmonger sells hardware, and an ideamonger deals in ideas..

The verb “to hawk” has a Germanic origin, and comes from the Low German word “hoken” meaning “to peddle”. A hawker is actually slightly different from a peddler by definition, as a hawker is a peddler that uses a horse and cart, or a van nowadays perhaps, to sell his or her wares.

39. Renaissance immortal known as the “Father of the Scientific Method” : GALILEO

Galileo Galilei may be the most famous son of the city of Pisa in Italy and was considered by many to have been the father of modern science. In the world of physics, Galileo postulated that objects of different masses would fall at the same rate provided they did so in a vacuum (so there was no air resistance). There is a story that he dropped two balls of different masses from the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa to demonstrate this, but this probably never happened. Centuries later, Astronaut David Scott performed Galileo’s proposed experiment when he dropped a hammer and feather on the moon during the Apollo 15 mission and we all saw the objects hit the moon surface, at exactly the same time.

41. It might go for a buck : DOE

A male deer is usually called a buck, and a female is a doe. However, the male red deer is usually referred to as a stag. The males of even larger species of deer are often called bulls, and females cows. In older English, male deer of over 5 years were called harts, and females of over 3 years were called hinds. The young of small species are known as fawns, and of larger species are called calves. All very confusing …

48. Celebrity socialite : IT GIRL

Clara Bow was a fabulous star of silent film, with her most famous movie being “It” from 1927. Clara Bow’s performance was so celebrated in the movie that she was forever to be known as the “It girl”. The term “it” was a euphemism for “sex appeal”, and that is what Clara Bow was known to “exude”. Bow applied her red lipstick in the shape of a heart, and women who copied this style were said to put on a “Clara Bow”.

52. Noble gas : NEON

Neon was discovered in 1898 by two British chemists Sir William Ramsay and Morris Travers. They chilled a sample of air, turning it into a liquid, and then warmed the liquid and separated out the gases that boiled off. Along with nitrogen, oxygen and argon (already known), the pair of scientists discovered two new gases. The first they called “krypton” and the second “neon”. “Krypton” is Greek for “the hidden one” and “neon” is Greek for “new”.

The noble gases (also “rare gases”) are those elements over on the extreme right of the Periodic Table. Because of their “full” complement of electrons, noble gases are very unreactive. The six noble gases that occur naturally are helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon and radon.

58. GNC offering, and a chemical hint to three long puzzle answers : IRON SUPPLEMENTS

General Nutrition Centers (GNC) is a retailer of health and nutrition supplements based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded in 1935 as a small health food store in downtown Pittsburgh. There are now about 5,000 stores in the US. The GNC slogan is “Live Well”.

The Latin word for “iron” is “ferrum”, which gives us “Fe” as the metal’s chemical symbol.

62. Letters on a returned check : NSF

Not sufficient funds (NSF)

64. Hall partner : OATES

Daryl Hall & John Oates are a pop music duo who were most successful in the late seventies and early eighties. They had six number one hits, including the 1982 release “Maneater”.

65. Composer’s choice : KEY

Experts, unlike me, can wax lyrical on the technical differences between major and minor keys and scales. To me, music written in major keys is very strident, often very joyful and “honest”. Music written in minor keys (usually my favorite) is more feminine, more delicate and often quite sad.

66. 2018 awards event hosted by Danica Patrick : ESPYS

The ESPY Awards are a creation of the ESPN sports television network. One difference with similarly named awards in the entertainment industry is that ESPY winners are chosen solely based on viewer votes.

Danica Patrick is a very successful, retired auto racing driver. She won the 2008 Indy Japan 300, making her the only woman to win an IndyCar Series race. Patrick also finished third in the 2009 Indy 500, the highest finish for a woman in that race.

Down

1. Tennis great with three Grand Slam titles : ASHE

The great American tennis player Arthur Ashe spent the last years of his life writing his memoir called “Days of Grace”. He finished the manuscript just a few days before he passed away, dying from AIDS caused by a tainted blood transfusion.

2. Jazz Age toon : BOOP

Betty Boop made her first appearance on the screen in 1930, in a cartoon called “Dizzy Dishes”. Her character was modeled on the the It-girl, the sexy Clara Bow of movie fame. Back then Betty Boop was a sexy poodle and it wasn’t until 1932 that she morphed into completely human form. Betty was quite the risqué figure, but her vampish ways only lasted a few years. When the Production Code of 1934 came into force, Betty started to dress more modestly and toned down her behavior.

5. “… __ the set of sun”: “Macbeth” : ERE

“That will be ere the set of sun” is a line from William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”, a line that is spoken by one of the three witches.

6. Landmark Manhattan theater : APOLLO

The Apollo Theater in the Harlem district of Manhattan, New York opened in 1914 as Hurtig and Seamon’s New Burlesque Theater. The original facility was a whites-only venue. When it was opened to African Americans in 1934, the name was changed to the Apollo.

7. Marvin __ : GARDENS

Marven Gardens is a residential area located a few miles south of Atlantic City. It is a famous property on the original version of the Monopoly game board. As a Monopoly property is somewhat unique, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it is the only Monopoly property that lies outside Atlantic City. Secondly, the name of the property was spelled incorrectly, as “Marvin” Gardens.

8. Holiday and Days : INNS

The first Holiday Inn hotel was opened in 1952. The name for the hotel chain was inspired by the 1942 movie “Holiday Inn” starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire.

The Days Inn hotel chain was founded in 1970 by a real estate developer called Cecil B. Day. One of the features of a Days Inn hotel in those early days was an on-site gas pump, which dispensed gasoline at discount prices.

9. Surveillance org. : NSA

National Security Agency (NSA)

10. Floor hockey venue : GYM

Floor hockey is an indoor hockey game that mimics ice hockey. Floor hockey players use roller skates instead of ice skates.

12. Blue Cross rival : AETNA

When the healthcare management and insurance company known as Aetna was founded, the name was chosen to evoke images of Mount Etna, the Italian volcano.

Blue Cross Blue Shield Association formed in 1982 with the merger of Blue Shield and Blue Cross Association in 1982. Blue Cross health insurance plans were established in 1929 based on a plan used at Baylor University in Dallas. Blue Shield plans were first developed by employers in lumber and mining camps in the Pacific Northwest in 1910.

13. Trip odometer control : RESET

An odometer measures distance traveled. “Odometer comes from the Greek “hodos” meaning “path” and “metron” meaning “measure”.

18. Colgate feature : DORM

The Colgate company, of toothpaste fame, was started by Englishman William Colgate in 1806 as a soap and candle factory in New York City. As the Colgate family prospered, they spent decades providing financial support to Madison University in Hamilton, New York. In recognition of this support, the school was renamed in 1890 to “Colgate University”.

25. Luke’s sister : LEIA

Princess Leia is Luke Skywalker’s twin sister in the original “Star Wars” trilogy and was played by Carrie Fisher. Carrie Fisher has stated that she hated the famous “cinnamon bun hairstyle” that she had to wear in the films, as she felt it made her face look too round. She also had to to sit for two hours every day just to get her hair styled. Two hours to get your hair done? It takes me just two seconds …

27. Misnomer for a modern golf driver : WOOD

There are two classes of club used to play golf. Irons have relatively short shafts and relatively small clubheads. Woods have longer shafts and larger heads, and are used to propel the ball over longer distances. Traditionally, the heads of woods were made from wood, often persimmon. Modern woods are have heads made from metal of carbon fiber.

28. Name on the “Alice’s Restaurant” album : ARLO

Arlo Guthrie is the son of Woody Guthrie. Both father and son are renowned for their singing of protest songs about social injustice. Arlo is most famous for his epic “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree”, a song that lasts a full 18m 34s. In the song Guthrie tells how, after being drafted, he was rejected for service in the Vietnam War based on his criminal record. He had only one incident on his public record, a Thanksgiving Day arrest for littering and being a public nuisance when he was 18-years-old.

30. Paris Agreement subj. : GHG

A greenhouse gas (GHG) is one found in the atmosphere that contributes to the greenhouse effect, the warming of the planet’s surface to higher temperatures than normal. The main GHGs are water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and ozone.

The Paris Agreement outlines steps to be taken around the world starting in 2020 to deal the emission of greenhouse gases. The agreement was negotiated in Paris in 2015 by 196 nations. Steps taken to meet the emission targets have been announced by several parties. For example, France will stop the use of coal to produce electricity after 2022, and Norway will ban the sale of gasoline- and diesel-powered cars by 2025. The US announced its intention to withdraw from the agreement when it is eligible to do so in 2019.

33. Baldwin brother : ALEC

The four acting Baldwin brothers are:

• Alec Baldwin (b. 1958)
• Daniel Baldwin (b. 1960)
• William “Billy” Baldwin (b. 1963)
• Stephen Baldwin (b. 1966)

34. Artist Magritte : RENE

Belgian artist René Magritte was a surrealist. His most recognized work maybe is “The Son of Man”, a painting he created as a self-portrait. It is the work that shows a man in a bowler hat with his face covered by an apple. The image features prominently in a great movie, the 1999 remake of “The Thomas Crown Affair”.

35. Some UPS deliveries : CODS

Cash on delivery (COD)

United Parcel Service (UPS) is based in Sandy Springs, Georgia and has its own airline that operates out of Louisville, Kentucky. UPS often goes by the nickname “Brown”, because of its brown delivery trucks and brown uniforms.

38. “More than I wanted to know” : TMI

Too much information! (TMI)

40. Cochlear transplant site : INNER EAR

The cochlea is a spiral structure in the inner ear. Included in the cochlea are hair cells that receive sound vibrations, causing them to move. The movement of the hairs is converted into nerve impulses that are interpreted in the brain.

45. Sawyer’s pal : FINN

“The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain was first published in 1884, not here in the US but rather in England. The original launch planned for the US had to be delayed until the following year because some rascal had defaced the plate for one of the illustrations, making an obscene joke. Once the problem was spotted a new plate had to be made, and 30,000 copies already printed had to be reworked to cover up the obscenity.

Tom Sawyer is a favorite character created by Mark Twain. He turns up in four of Twain’s books:

• “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”
• “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”
• “Tom Sawyer Abroad”
• “Tom Sawyer, Detective”

But that’s not all, as he appears in at least three works that Twain left unfinished:

• “Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer Among the Indians” (a sequel to “Huckleberry Finn”)
• “Schoolhouse Hill”
• “Tom Sawyer’s Conspiracy” (a sequel to “Tom Sawyer, Detective”)

47. Surfer’s greeting : DUDE

Our term “dude” arose as slang in New York City in the 1880s, when it was used to describe a fastidious man. In the early 1900s, the term was extended to mean “city slickers”, easterners who vacationed in the West. The first use of the term “dude ranch” was recorded in 1921.

50. Mickey’s pal : GOOFY

The Disney character Goofy first appeared as Dippy Dawg in 1932. Goofy became famous for his “How to …” series of cartoons in the 1940s which dealt with everything from snow skiing to sleeping, and from football to riding a horse. Goofy’s last theatrical appearance was in a 2007 work called “How to Hook Up Your Home Theater”.

Walt Disney’s iconic cartoon character Mickey Mouse, was introduced to the public in 1928 in the cartoon “Steamboat Willie”. Mickey was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1978, making him the first cartoon character to be so honored. Walt Disney had some nice words to say in Disneyland in 1954:

I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse.

57. ExxonMobil trading name : ESSO

The brand name Esso has its roots in the old Standard Oil company as it uses the initial letters of “Standard” and “Oil” (ESS-O). The Esso brand was replaced by Exxon in the US, but ESSO is still used in many other countries.

The Exxon Corporation was a descendant of John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company. Exxon merged with Mobil (yet another descendant of Standard Oil) in 1999 to form ExxonMobil.