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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Dating around? : CIRCA

“Circa” is a Latin word meaning “around, near, about the time of”. We use “circa” directly in English to mean “about the time of”, as well as in derivative words such as “circle” and “circus”.

6A Noodles often served with tsuyu sauce : SOBA

Soba is a thin Japanese noodle made from buckwheat flour. In Japan, the word “soba” tends to describe any thin noodle, in contrast with the thicker noodle called “udon”.

10A ___ Spalding, 1984 Oscar-winning role for Sally Field : EDNA

Actress Sally Field first came to the public’s attention in the sixties with title roles in the TV shows “Gidget” and “The Flying Nun”. She has two Best Actress Oscars; one for “Norma Rae” (1979) and one for “Places in the Heart” (1984).

17A Soda once advertised as “Shockingly refreshing” : SIERRA MIST

Sierra Mist was a brand of lemon-lime soft drink introduced by PepsiCo in 1999. The drink’s name was changed to Mist Twst in 2016.

18A City west of Cedar Rapids : AMES

The Iowa city of Ames was founded as a stop on the Cedar Rapids and Missouri Railroad in 1864. It was named for US Congressman Oakes Ames from the state of Massachusetts in honor of the role that Ames played in the building of the transcontinental railroad.

Cedar Rapids is the second largest city in the state of Iowa. It is named for rapids on the Cedar River on which the city is located. The river itself was named for the red cedars growing along the river’s banks.

20A Blue Ribbon brewer : PABST

Frederick Pabst was a brewer from the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area who had immigrated to the US from Prussia with his parents. Pabst bought himself into his father-in-law’s small brewery and over the years grew the enterprise into a public company. The most famous beer from Pabst is Pabst Blue Ribbon.

21A Italian city that lent its name to a color : SIENA

Siena is a beautiful city in the Tuscany region of Italy. In the center of Siena is the magnificent medieval square called Piazza del Campo, a paved sloping open area made up of nine triangular sections. The square has to be seen to be believed. Twice a year, the famous bareback horse-race called the Palio di Siena is held in the Piazza.

The shade known as “sienna” or “burnt sienna” was originally a pigment made from earth found around Siena in Tuscany.

22A Drink served with an extra-wide straw : BOBA

Bubble tea, sometimes called “boba tea”, is a tea-based drink from Taiwan. The “bubbles” are chewy tapioca balls that are usually added to the drink.

23A Woman who prefers tabbies over terriers : CAT LADY

Tabbies aren’t a breed of cat, but rather are cats with particular markings regardless of breed. They have coats with stripes, dots and swirling patterns, and usually an “M” mark on the forehead.

Most terrier breeds of dog originated in Britain and Ireland. They were developed as working dogs, with the job of controlling populations of rats, rabbits and foxes by rooting them out above and below the ground. The name “terrier” comes via Middle French from the Latin “terra” meaning “earth”, a reflection of the breed’s habit of burrowing into the earth looking for its prey.

28A Scrolls that may be read from a bimah : TORAHS

A Torah scroll (also “Sefer Torah”) is a handwritten copy of the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures.

29A Billboard list : CHART

“Billboard” was founded way back in 1894 as a trade magazine for the advertising and bill posting industry. The editorial focus gradually moved towards music as phonographs, radios and the recorded music business took off in the early part of the 20th century. “Billboard” published its first “music hit parade” in 1936, and is now famous for its collection of lists that track music sales.

33A Video game character with a spiky head : SONIC

Sonic the Hedgehog is a title character in a videogame and the mascot of Sega, the computer game developer. Sonic was set up as a rival to Nintendo’s mascot Mario.

35A Hollywood’s Shire or Balsam : TALIA

Actress Talia Shire is best-known for playing Rocky’s wife Adrian in the “Rocky” series of movies. She also played Connie, the daughter of Don Corleone, in “The Godfather” films. Shire is the sister of movie director Francis Ford Coppola and the aunt of actor Nicolas Cage. Her son is the actor Jason Schwartzman.

Talia Balsam is an American actress with a long list of relatively minor roles in famous television shows. I know her from the great AMC series “Mad Men” in which she plays Mona Sterling, the wife of one of the lead characters, Roger Sterling. Roger Sterling is played by John Slattery, Balsam’s husband in real life. She used to be married to George Clooney, from 1989-93, after which marriage Clooney said that he would never marry again!

40A People believe in them : CREDOS

A creed or credo is a profession of faith, or a system of belief or principles. “Credo” is Latin for “I believe”.

44A Ones shopping at a souk, say : ARABS

Souks are traditional marketplaces (bazaars) located outside the city walls of ancient Middle Eastern and North African urban centers. The term “souk” jumped into English via French from the Arabic “suq” meaning “marketplace”.

45A Main role in “The Nutcracker” : CLARA

“The Nutcracker” ballet, with its iconic score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, tells the story of young Clara Stahlbaum who receives a magical nutcracker doll as a Christmas gift. On Christmas Eve, the nutcracker comes to life as a prince and battles the evil Mouse King, before whisking Clara away to a wondrous land. In the Land of Sweets, Clara encounters the Sugar Plum Fairy and is treated to enchanting dances and celebrations.

50A City north of Chandler : MESA

The city of Mesa, Arizona is in effect a suburb of Phoenix. The original settlement of non-Native Americans was founded by Daniel Webster Jones who led a Mormon group from St. George, Utah. The settlement was first called Jonesville, then Fort Utah and eventually Lehi. A second group of Mormons arrived and formed a settlement on top of a nearby mesa. It was this use of a mesa that eventually gave the city its current name.

The Arizona city of Chandler was founded as Chandler Ranch by Canadian Alexander John Chandler, who was the first veterinary surgeon to do business in the Arizona Territory.

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53A Well-funded group? : OPEC

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

54A Reuben sandwich topping : SAUERKRAUT

“Sauerkraut” translates from German as “sour herb” or “sour cabbage”. During WWI, sauerkraut producers changed its name in order to distance their product from the “enemy”. They called it “Liberty cabbage”.

57A Service replaced by Teams : SKYPE

The main feature of the Skype application, when introduced, was that it allowed voice communication to take place over the Internet (aka VoIP). Skype had other features such as video conferencing and instant messaging, but the application made its name from voice communication. The app was created by two Scandinavian entrepreneurs and the software necessary was developed by a team of engineers in Estonia. The development project was originally called “Sky peer-to-peer” so the first commercial name for the application was “Skyper”. This had to be shortened to “Skype” because the skyper.com domain name was already in use.

Microsoft Teams is a videoconferencing application that competes directly with the likes of Google Meet and Zoom. One feature of Teams that I quite like is “Together Mode”, which places meeting participants together in a shared virtual space like a 3-D meeting room, or an auditorium if there are numerous participants. To me, this is a more “normal” interface, and preferable to a grid of boxes.

Down

1D Something often signed by friends : CAST

Plaster made using gypsum is commonly referred to as plaster of Paris. The original plaster of Paris came from a large deposit of gypsum mined at Montmartre in Paris, hence the name.

2D Sacred bird of ancient Egypt : IBIS

The ibis is a wading bird that was revered in ancient Egypt. “Ibis” is an interesting word grammatically speaking. You can have one “ibis” or two “ibises”, and then again one has a flock of “ibis”. And if you want to go with the classical plural, instead of two “ibises” you would have two “ibides”!

4D Football snapper: Abbr. : CTR

The quarterback (QB) starts each play in football with a snap (also called a “hike”). He announces to his teammates the exact moment of the snap by calling out signals, usually including the word “hut” one or more times in a prearranged sequence. On hearing the signal, the center (CTR) snaps the ball.

5D JFK and others : AIRPORT CODES

The Idlewild Golf Course was taken over by the city of New York in 1943 and construction started on a new airport to serve the metropolis and relieve congestion at LaGuardia. The Idlewild name still persists, even though the airport was named after Major General Alexander E. Anderson from the first days of the project. When the facility started operating in 1948 it was known as New York International Airport, Anderson Field. It was renamed to John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in 1963, one month after the President was assassinated.

6D Carnival dance : SAMBA

The samba is a Brazilian dance that is very much symbolic of the festival of Carnival. Like so much culture around the world, the samba has its roots in Africa, as the dance is derived from dances performed by former slaves who migrated into urban Rio de Janeiro in the late 1800s. The exact roots of the name “samba” seem to have been lost in the mists of time. However, my favorite explanation is that it comes from an African Kikongo word “semba” which means “a blow struck with the belly button”. We don’t seem to have a need for such a word in English …

7D Kimono closers : OBIS

The lovely Japanese kimono is a garment worn by men, women and children. The word “kimono” translates simply as “thing to wear”, with “ki” meaning “wear” and “mono” meaning “thing”.

8D California’s locale, according to natives’ lingo : BEST COAST

Well, here’s a controversial phrase, if ever I’ve seen one: “West Coast, best coast; East Coast, least coast”. I believe that it mainly comes up in conversation about sports …

13D Certain chemistry test : ASSAY

One might assay an ore to determine its composition, its makeup.

15D Onetime major Scandinavian exports : SAABS

“SAAB” stands for Svenska Aeroplan AB, which translates into English as Swedish Aeroplane Limited. Although we usually think of SAAB as an auto manufacturer, it is mainly an aircraft manufacturer. If you take small hops in Europe you might find yourself on a SAAB passenger plane. The SAAB automotive division was acquired by General Motors in the year 2000, who then sold it to a Dutch concern in 2010. However, SAAB (automotive) finally went bankrupt in 2011. The assets were acquired in 2012 by NEVS (National Electric Vehicle Sweden), a new company that used the SAAB name on its vehicles for several years.

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24D It’s “what you make others see,” per Degas : ART

Edgar Degas was a French artist who was famous for both his paintings and his sculptures. Some of Degas’ most beautiful works feature female ballet dancers, and others depict women bathing.

25D Scripps Institution of Oceanography sch. : UCSD

The University of California, San Diego (UCSD) is located in La Jolla. The school was founded in 1960 as the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Appropriately enough, UCSD’s athletic teams are known as the Tritons, and the school mascot is King Triton.

30D Greenish black rock? : CLEAN COAL

“Clean coal” is the term preferred by the coal industry and its supporters for what is more accurately referred to as “coal pollution mitigation”. In environmental terms, coal is one of the dirtiest of fuels, and causes a lot of pollution. Technologies can reduce that level of pollution, making coal “less dirty”. But “clean”, I’m not so sure …

41D Paintball outfits, informally : CAMOS

Our word “camouflage” (often abbreviated to “camo”) evolved directly from a Parisian slang term “camoufler” meaning “to disguise”. The term was first used in WWI, although the British navy at that time preferred the expression “dazzle-painting” as it applied to the pattern painted on the hulls of ships.

The “paint” in paintball isn’t actually paint, but rather a mix of gelatin and food coloring.

42D Flatbread that might be served with cuajada : AREPA

An arepa is a cornmeal cake or bread that is popular in Colombian and Venezuelan cuisines in particular. Each arepa has a flat, round shape and is often split to make a sandwich.

43D University of Miami athletes, informally : CANES

The Hurricanes (also “Canes”) are the athletics teams of the University of Miami. The school’s mascot is Sebastian the Ibis. “The Ibis” was chosen as the name of the school’s yearbook in 1926, and was adopted as the mascot decades later in the eighties. The ibis was selected by the Hurricanes as the bird is known for its bravery when a hurricane approaches.

46D Uncouth sort : LOUT

The word “couth” existed in Middle English with the meaning “well-known, customary”. The term died out, but was resurrected in the late 19th century as a back-formation of the word “uncouth” meaning “rude, lacking in polish”.

49D Ciudad del ___, Paraguay’s second-largest city : ESTE

Ciudad del Este is the second largest city in Paraguay (after the capital, Asunción). As the name suggests (“City of the East” in Spanish), Ciudad del Este is on the Eastern border of the country. It is connected to the city of Foz do Iguaçu in Brazil by what is called the Friendship Bridge over the Paraná River. The bridge is extremely busy, as the majority of Paraguay’s imports and exports pass over it.

51D Largest employer of mathematicians in the U.S., for short : NSA

The NSA traces its roots to the Cipher Bureau, the nation’s first peacetime code-breaking unit. It was established in 1917 and also known as the “Black Chamber”. Secretary of State Henry Stimson famously shuttered the bureau in 1929, asserting that “Gentlemen do not read each other’s mail”, which is a tad ironic given the agency’s massive modern scale. Today, the NSA is the largest employer of mathematicians in the United States.

52D Noted animal shelter : ARK

Genesis 6:19-20 states that Noah was instructed to take two animals of every kind into the ark. Later, in Genesis 7:2-3 Noah was instructed to take on board “every clean animal by sevens … male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth”. Apparently, “extras” (7 rather than 2) were needed for ritual sacrifice.