Tag: Brother of Lucrezia Borgia crossword clue

Bill’s time: 18m 08s

Bill’s errors: 2

• CESARE (Cesar I)
• -EAN (-ian)

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1. Abacus unit : BEAD

The abacus (plural “abaci”) was used as a counting frame long before man had invented a numbering system. It is a remarkable invention, particularly when one notes that abaci are still widely used today across Africa and Asia.

5. Brother of Lucrezia Borgia : CESARE

The Borgias were a papal family that was very prominent during the Renaissance in Europe. Two of the Borgias became popes, namely Pope Calixtus III and Pope Alexander VI. Pope Alexander VI had several children, including Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia. Cesare became a cardinal, and was the first cardinal to resign from the post. Lucrezia earned a reputation as a femme fatale, and as such turns up in many artworks, novels and movies.

11. Lipstick shade : RUBY

Lipsticks have a remarkably long list of ingredients. Die-hard vegans have to be careful in their choice of lipstick, as most contain beeswax. and the “shimmering” types often contain fish scales. Yuk …

19. Drivetrain component : AXLE

The drivetrain of a car is made up of the components that deliver power to the driving wheels. The drivetrain excludes the engine, which produces that power. The combination of the engine and the drivetrain is known as the powertrain.

20. Rhododendron variety : AZALEA

Azaleas are very toxic to horses, sheep and goats, but strangely enough cause no problem for cats or dogs. And if you go to Korea you might come across “Tug Yonju”, which is azalea wine made from the plant’s blossoms. Azaleas are usually grown as shrubs, but are also seen as small trees, and often indoors.

21. Sport with masks : 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.

22. “Cake Boss” competitor, at times : ICER

“Cake Boss” is a reality show set in Carlo’s Bake Shop in Hoboken, New Jersey. Apparently the show is very popular, and Carlo’s Bake Shop has become quite the tourist attraction.

28. Ingenuous one : NAIF

A naïf is someone who is naive, as “naïf” is the French word for “naive”.

Here are a couple of words, the spelling of which I find easy to confound. Someone who is “ingenious” is clever and inventive, exhibits “ingenuity”. Someone who is “ingenuous” is innocent and unsuspecting, like an “ingenue”.

29. Kemper who plays Kimmy Schmidt : ELLIE

The actress Ellie Kemper’s big break came with the role of Erin Hannon, a receptionist on the sitcom “The Office”. More recently, Kemper has been playing the title role on the Netflix comedy series “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”.

35. Brazen crime time : BROAD DAYLIGHT

Someone described as brazen might also be described as shameless. The term “brazen” comes from the Middle English “brasen” meaning “made of brass”. The suggestion is that a shameless person has a hardened, brass-like face.

40. Palate-cleansing serving : SHERBET

Sherbet, the frozen dessert, is a very similar to sorbet, the difference being that sherbet contains a small amount of milkfat.

44. Cathedral section : APSE

The apse of a church or cathedral is a semicircular recess in an outer wall, usually with a half-dome as a roof and often where there resides an altar. Originally, apses were used as burial places for the clergy and also for storage of important relics.

54. Zebra mom : MARE

The term “zebra” comes from an old Portuguese word “zevra” meaning “wild ass”. Studies of zebra embryos show that zebras are basically black in color, with white stripes that develop with growth. Before this finding, it was believed they were white, with black stripes.

57. First Nations tribe : CREE

The Cree are one of the largest groups of Native Americans on the continent. In the US most of the Cree nation live in Montana on a reservation shared with the Ojibwe people. In Canada most of the Cree live in Manitoba.

“First Nations” is a term used in Canada describing the ethnicity of Native Americans who are neither Inuit nor Métis people.

59. California county or its seat : NAPA

The first commercial winery in Napa Valley, California was established way back in 1858. However, premium wine production only dates back to the 1960s, with the region really hitting the big time after its success at the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976. The story of that famous blind wine tasting is told in the entertaining 2008 film “Bottle Shock”.

60. Pub orders : STEINS

A stein is a type of beer glass. The term is German in origin, and is short for “Steinkrug” meaning “stone jug”. “Stein” is German for “stone”.

62. Kilt features : PLEATS

The lovely Scottish garment called a kilt is pleated, but only at the rear.

65. South Beach, say : FAD DIET

The fad diet known as the South Beach Diet was developed in the mid-nineties by Dr. Arthur Agatston as the Modified Carbohydrate Diet. Agatston later named it for the South Beach neighborhood in Miami Beach, which was close to his practice. The diet really took off after Agatston published his “The South Beach Diet” book in 2003.

72. Barcelona-born muralist : SERT

José Maria Sert was a painter of murals from Catalan. He was a good friend of fellow-artist Salvador Dali.

79. Tire measurement that can be checked by the “penny test” : TREAD DEPTH

One way to test the depth of tread on a tire is the Penny Test. Insert a penny into the tire’s tread, with Lincoln’s head upside down. If you can see all of the president’s head, then it’s time to replace that tire (tread depth is less than 2/32 inch).

82. “I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie” author : EBERT

“I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie” is a collection consisting of a couple of hundred of Roger Ebert’s most acerbic and negative film reviews. Included are reviews of “Armageddon” (1998), “The Beverly Hillbillies” (1993) and “Police Academy” (1984).

84. “Arbitrage” actor : GERE

Richard Gere has played such great roles on the screen, and I find him to be a very interesting character off the screen. Gere has been studying Buddhism since 1978 and is a very visible supporter of the Dalai Lama and the people of Tibet. Gere has been married twice; to supermodel Cindy Crawford from 1991 to 1995, and to model/actress Carey Lowell from 2002 until 2016. Gere’s breakthrough role was as the male lead in the 1980 film “American Gigolo”.

“Arbitrage” is an entertaining drama released in 2012 that stars Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon, two favorite actors of mine. Gere plays a none-too-honest hedge fund manager who gets himself into a lot of trouble.

85. Apples run on it : IOS

iOS is what Apple now call their mobile operating system. Previously, it was known as iPhone OS.

87. Where van Gogh painted “Sunflowers” : ARLES

“Sunflowers” is the name of two series of paintings by Vincent van Gogh. In the first series, the flowers are lying on the ground and in the second, more famous series painted in Arles, the flowers are in a vase. Famously, a Japanese insurance magnate purchased “Still Life: Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers” in 1987 in an auction, paying just under $40 million. This price outstripped the previous record price paid for a work of art by a wide, wide margin, one that stood at $12 million.

92. Place to buy a train ticket : RAILROAD DEPOT

Our term “depot”, meaning “station, warehouse”, comes from the French word “dépôt”. The French term translates into English as “deposit” or “place of deposit”.

95. Fifth-century conqueror : ATTILA

In his day, Attila the Hun was the most feared enemy of the Roman Empire, until he died in 453 AD. Attila was the leader of the Hunnic Empire of central Europe and was famous for invading much of the continent. However, he never directly attacked Rome.

96. Washington airport : SEA-TAC

Sea-Tac Airport (SEA) is more fully known as Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Sea-Tac is the main hub for Alaska Airlines.

106. Buffet stack item : SALAD DISH

Our word “buffet” comes from the French “bufet” meaning “bench, sideboard”. So, a buffet is a meal served from a “bufet”.

111. Letters before a viewpoint : IMHO

In my humble opinion (IMHO)

113. Actress Watson : EMMA

Emma Watson is the English actress famous for playing Hermione Granger in the “Harry Potter” series of movies. Watson continued her education while pursuing her acting career and studied at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

114. Pollster’s enc. : SASE

An SAE is a “stamped, addressed envelope”. An SASE is a “self-addressed, stamped envelope”.

115. Ravioli filling : MEAT

Ravioli (singular “raviolo”) are filled dumplings served in Italian cuisine.

117. Resale caveat : AS IS

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

Down

1. Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You __” : BABE

“I Got You Babe” is a duet that was released in 1965 by Sonny & Cher. The lyrics and music for the song were written by Sonny Bono himself. In 1993, Sonny and Cher did a version of the song with the animated characters Beavis and Butt-head. One has to ask, “Why …?”

Singing duo Sonny & Cher started out in the mid-1960s as backing singers working with Phil Spector. The couple married in 1964, and the next year released their breakthrough numbers “Baby Don’t Go” and “I Got You Babe”. Sonny and Cher divorced in 1975, and dissolved their act that same year. Cher moved onto a successful solo career that continues to this day. Sonny Bono was elected as a US Congressman for California in 1995. Sadly, he didn’t finish his term in the House as he died from injuries sustained in a skiing accident in 1998.

3. “Same Time, Next Year” actor : ALDA

“Same Time, Next Year” is a 1975 play written by Bernard Slade. It is romantic comedy about a man and woman who meet for a tryst once a year for over two decades. The play was adapted into a fabulous film of the same name that was released in 1978, starring Ellen Burstyn and Alan Alda. It’s one of my favorite movies of all time, and I would love to see the play one day …

5. Hidden : CACHED

A cache is a secret supply. We imported the term into English from French Canadian trappers in the 17th century. Back then, “cache” was a slang term for a “hiding place for stores”, derived from the French verb “cacher” meaning “to hide”.

6. Basso Pinza : EZIO

Ezio Pinza was an opera singer from Italy. Pinza performed for many years with the Metropolitan Opera in New York before retiring from the Met in 1948. He then launched a career on Broadway and in Hollywood.

8. Carrier with a hub in Fiumicino : ALITALIA

Alitalia is the national airline of Italy. The name “Alitalia” is a melding of the Italian words “ali” (wings) and “Italia” (Italy).

Fiumicino is a town that falls within the bounds of the Metropolitan City of Rome. It is home to Rome-Fiumicino Airport (aka Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport), which is the busiest airport in Italy.

9. 1906 Runabout, e.g. : REO

The REO Motor Company was founded by Ransom Eli Olds (hence the name REO). The company made cars, trucks and buses, and was in business from 1905 to 1975 in Lansing, Michigan. Among the company’s most famous models were the REO Royale and the REO Flying Cloud.

10. Suffix with Jacob : -EAN

The Jacobean era is that period in England and Scotland when the thrones were occupied by King James VI of Scotland, also known as King James I of England. “Jacobus” is the Latin for “James”.

11. Meal : REPAST

Our word “repast”, meaning “meal”. came to us via French (in which language “repas” is “meal”). Ultimately the term comes from the Latin “repascere” meaning “to repeatedly graze”.

13. Complaint : BEEF

A beef is a complaint or a grievance. It’s not quite clear how “beef” came to have this meaning, but one suggestion is that derives from the habit of soldiers at the end of the 1800s complaining about the quality or availability of beef in their rations.

15. “The Rose” singer : MIDLER

I am a huge, huge fan of Bette Midler. I love her bawdy humor, her expansive personality, and her amazing voice. Midler will forever be associated with the 1979 film “The Rose”, which is loosely based on the life of the self-destructive singer Janis Joplin, with Bette playing the lead. Midler shows that she can act in this movie, and boy does she show that she can sing. The title song was written by Amanda McBroom and became a huge hit for Midler in 1979.

16. Big name in food safety : ECOLAB

Ecolab is a company that provides mainly cleaning products to the hospitality and foodservice markets. Ecolab was founded in 1923 as Economics Laboratory with the company’s first product being a cleaning solution for carpets in hotels.

18. Gallo family brother : ERNEST

E & J Gallo Winery was founded by Ernest and Julio Gallo in Modesto, California in 1933. Gallo is the largest exporter of wine from the State of California.

33. Some HDTVs : LGS

LG is a very large South Korean manufacturer of electronics, chemicals and telecom products. The company used to be known as Lucky-Goldstar, whence the initialism “LG”.

34. Place for a rototiller : SHED

The rototiller (or rotary tiller) was invented by Arthur Clifford Howard in 1912, in Australia.

39. Time long past : YORE

We use the word “yore” to mean “time long past” as in “the days of yore”. “Yore” comes from the Old English words for “of years”.

46. __ B’rith : B’NAI

B’nai B’rith is a Jewish service organization founded in New York City in 1843. “B’nai B’rith” is Hebrew for “Sons of the Covenant”.

48. Nouveau-Mexique, par exemple : ETAT

In French, “le Nouveau-Mexique” (New Mexico) is a US “état” (state).

50. “Topaz” novelist : URIS

The 1967 Leon Uris novel “Topaz” was adapted into a 1969 movie of the same name directed by Alfred Hitchcock. “Topaz” is a little unusual for a Hitchcock work as it doesn’t feature a big Hollywood name, and it wasn’t particularly well received at the box office.

52. Company with toy trucks : HESS

The Hess Corporation is an oil company based in New York City. In 1964, the company started selling toy trucks with the Hess logo on them, in Hess gas stations. The company has been selling them every since, bringing out new models just before Christmas. Hess toy trucks have become quite collectible and the old ones can fetch a pretty penny.

54. Sunbeam floater : MOTE

A “mote” is a speck of dust.

56. Watts at a keyboard : ANDRE

André Watts is a classical pianist who was born in Germany to a Hungarian mother and an American father who was serving with the US military. Watts is a professor at the Jacobs School of Music in Indiana University.

58. 1990s trade acronym : NAFTA

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is between Canada, Mexico and the United States. When NAFTA came into force in 1994, it set up the largest free trade zone in the world.

60. Annual parade VIP : ST PAT

The first Saint Patrick’s Day celebration in the US was held in 1600, in St. Augustine, Florida. There is some evidence that the first St. Paddy’s Day parade was held the following year, in the same locale. The annual parade in Boston dates back to 1737, in New York City dates back to 1762, and in Chicago dates back to 1843.

64. Raison d’__ : ETRE

“Raison d’être” is a French phrase meaning “reason for existence”.

65. Wig out : FLIP

The idea behind the expression “to wig out”, meaning “to go crazy”, is that there is so much going on in your brain that it might “lift your hair/wig”.

66. “It __ Necessarily So”: Gershwin song : AIN’T

“It Ain’t Necessarily So” is a song from the opera “Porgy and Bess” by George and Ira Gershwin. It is sung by the character Sportin’ Life, who is a drug dealer. The song’s lyrics make reference to several statements in the Bible that Sportin’ Life asserts “ain’t necessarily so” in real life.

67. Smidgen : DASH

In cooking, the terms “dash”, “pinch” and “smidgen” can all be used for a very small measure, one that is often undefined. However, you can in fact buy some measuring spoons that define these amounts as follows:

• a dash is 1/8 teaspoon
• a pinch is 1/16 teaspoon
• a smidgen is 1/32 teaspoon

74. “Don’t You Know?” singer Reese : DELLA

Della Reese is the stage name of the actress, singer and all-round entertainer Deloreese Patricia Early. Her career that started as a singer in the fifties and was revived in the nineties when she played the lead character in the TV show “Touched by an Angel”.

“Don’t You Know?” is a 1959 song that was the biggest hit for singer Della Reese. Interestingly, it is an adaptation of the Puccini aria “Musetta’s Waltz” from “La bohème”.

75. City near the California-Nevada border : RENO

Reno, Nevada was named in honor of Major General Jesse Lee Reno, a Union officer killed in the Civil War. The city has a famous “Reno Arch”, a structure that stands over the main street. The arch was erected in 1926 to promote an exposition planned for the following year. After the expo, the city council decided to keep the arch and held a competition to decide what wording should be displayed, and the winner was “The Biggest Little City in the World”.

81. Kid-vid explorer : DORA

“Dora the Explorer” is a cartoon series shown on Nickelodeon. Part of Dora’s remit is to introduce the show’s young viewers to some Spanish words and phrases.

83. Lines at the grocery : BARCODES

UPC stands for Universal Price Code or Universal Product Code. The first ever UPC-marked item to get scanned in a store was on June 26, 1974 at 08:01 a.m. at Marsh’s supermarket in Troy, Ohio. It was a 10-pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit chewing gum.

84. Beverage with antioxidants : GREEN TEA

The process for making most teas involves oxidation. During oxidation, the leaves become darker in color as chlorophyll breaks down and tannins are released. The oxidation step is skipped when producing green teas.

88. Catchers on the range : LASSOS

Our English word “lasso” comes from the Spanish “lazo”, and ultimately from the Latin “laqueum” meaning “noose, snare”.

89. North American capital, or its river : OTTAWA

The Ottawa River takes its name from the Odawa people, an Algonquin nation. The city of Ottawa changed its name to that of the river, from Bytown, in 1855. The original townsite was called Bytown after Captain John By who completed the Rideau Canal that runs from Kingston on Lake Ontario to present-day Ottawa.

90. Some wraps : STOLES

A stole is a narrow shawl. It can be made of quite light decorative material, but also can be heavier if made of fur.

91. Vehement speech : TIRADE

The term “tirade” describes a long and vehement speech, and is a word that came into English from French. “Tirade” can have the same meaning in French, but is also the word for “volley”. So, a tirade is a “volley” of words.

94. Jackie Paper’s imaginary friend is one : DRAGON

“Puff the Magic Dragon” is a song released in 1963 by Peter, Paul and Mary. It was written by Leonard Lipton and Peter Yarrow (the “Peter” of the singing trio). The lyrics tell the story of a dragon named Puff, and a little boy named Jackie Paper. There is an urban myth that the lyrics refer to the use of drugs. In fact, the words are based on a poem that Lipton wrote when he was 19-years-old in 1959, and which was inspired by an Ogden Nash poem called “Custard the Dragon”.

96. Recent White House daughter : SASHA

Sasha is the younger of the two Obama children, having been born in 2001. She was the youngest child to reside in the White House since John F. Kennedy, Jr. moved in with his parents as a small infant. Sasha’s Secret Service codename is “Rosebud”, and her older sister Malia has the codename “Radiance”.

101. Newsroom cancellation : STET

“Stet” is a Latin word meaning “let it stand”. In editorial work, the typesetter is instructed to disregard any change previously marked by writing the word “stet” and then underscoring that change with a line of dots or dashes.

103. Electrical units : OHMS

The unit of electrical resistance is the ohm (with the symbol omega) named after German physicist Georg Simon Ohm. Ohm was the guy who established experimentally that the amount of current flowing through a circuit is directly proportional to the voltage applied, (V=IR) a relationship that every school kid knows as Ohm’s Law.

104. Patrick’s “Ghost” co-star : DEMI

Demi Moore was born Demetria Guynes and took the name Demi Moore when she married her first husband, Freddy Moore. Moore’s second husband was Bruce Willis. She changed her name to Demi Guynes Kutcher a few years after marrying her third husband, Ashton Kutcher. But, Kutcher and Moore split in 2013.

I think Patrick Swayze’s greatest role was the dance instructor in the 1987 movie “Dirty Dancing”. Swayze (and Jennifer Grey who played opposite Swayze) were chosen for the starring roles because of their dancing ability. He had a fair amount of acting experience, and his dancing experience was with the Joffrey Ballet. Sadly, Swayze passed away at age 57 in 2009, from pancreatic cancer.

The fabulous film “Ghost” was the highest-grossing movie at the box office in 1990, bringing in over $500 million, despite only costing $21 million to make. Stars of the film are Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg. You might want to check out the stage musical adaptation “Ghost The Musical”, which debuted in 2011 and is touring the UK and US.

105. Ladies of Sp. : SRAS

The equivalent of “Mrs.” in French is “Mme.” (Madame), in Spanish is “Sra.” (Señora) and in Portuguese is also “Sra.” (Senhora).

108. Knee injury initials : ACL

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of four major ligaments that support the knee.

109. Nike’s __-FIT fabric : DRI

“Dri-FIT” is the brand name used by Nike for the company’s line of microfiber, polyester clothing. Designed for exercise, Dri-FIT garments supposedly move sweat away from the body so that it readily evaporates, and hence cools the body while keeping it relatively dry.