Day: May 18, 2011

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
4. 58-/46-Across movie (1973) : SERPICO
The movie “Serpico”, directed by Sudney Lumet, is a based on a book by Peter Maas, which in turn is based on the true story of undercover police officer Frank Serpico. Serpico went undercover to investigate corruption within the New York Police Department.

14. Blood type letters : ABO
The most important grouping of blood types is the ABO system. Blood is classified as either A, B, AB or O, depending on the type of antigens on the surface of the red blood cells. A secondary designation of blood is the Rh factor, in which other antigens are labelled as either positive or negative. When a patient receives a blood transfusion, ideally the donor blood should be the same type as that of the recipient, as incompatible blood cells can be rejected. However, blood type O-Neg can be accepted by recipients with all blood types, AB or O, positive or negative. Hence someone with O-neg blood type is called a “universal donor”.

19. Strike force?: Abbr. : PBA
PBA: the Professional Bowlers Association.

Bowling has been around for an awfully long time. The oldest known reference to the game is in Egypt, where pins and balls were found in an ancient tomb that is over 5,000 years old. The first form of the game to come to America was nine-pin bowling, which had been very popular in Europe for centuries. In 1841 in Connecticut, nine-pin bowling was banned due to its association with gambling. Supposedly, an additional pin was added to get around the ban, and ten-pin bowling was born.

20. “Murder on the ___ Express,” 58-/46-Across movie (1974) : ORIENT
“Murder on the Orient Express” is a 1974 movie directed by Sidney Lumet, based on the great novel of the same name by Agatha Christie. The story is a Hercule Poirot mystery, and it’s the only whodunit I can think of where the “unveiling” reveals that everyone did it!

23. With 55-Across, 58-/46-Across movie (1964) : FAIL
55. See 23-Across : SAFE
“Fail-Safe” has to be my favorite Cold War movie, released in 1964 and directed by Sidney Lumet. The film is based on a novel of the same name written by Eugene Birdick and Harvey Wheeler. It’s all about US planes heading to drop nuclear bombs on Moscow due to a technical flaw in the alert system. Heavy, heavy stuff …

24. Lisbon lady : DONA
In Portugal a title of respect for men is “Dom”. The equivalent female title is “Dona”.

25. Pinball paths : ARCS
Our modern game of pinball evolved from an earlier table game called bagatelle which used balls, pins and holes (and I remember playing bagatelle as boy in a pub in Ireland). The first “pinball” machine was made by a British inventor who settled in Cincinnati, Ohio. He modified the game of bagatelle, adding a coiled spring and a plunger to introduce balls at the end of the table, a device that is still in use today. From there manufacturers developed coin-operated versions of pinball, which became popular during the depression as they provided a little entertainment for a few pennies. One distributor of the coin-operated pinball machines started manufacturing them himself as he couldn’t source new games fast enough. He called his pinball game Ballyhoo, and eventually named his company Bally, a brand name well known in the gambling industry to this day.

27. Lighter brand : BIC
Société Bic is a French company, based in Clichy in France. The first product the company produced, more than fifty years ago, was the Bic Cristal ballpoint pen, still produced today. Bic also makes other disposable products such as lighters and razors.

28. “12 ___ Men,” 58-/46-Across movie (1957) : ANGRY
The powerful 1957 movie “12 Angry Men” was directed by Sidney Lumet, and has a stellar cast of “jury members” including Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Jack Klugman and Ed Begley. If ever there is a movie that clearly was based on a play, it’s this one. Practically the whole film takes place on one set, the jury room.

31. Like some symmetry : AXIAL
Axial symmetry is symmetry around an axis. If you spin a object around an axis, and the appearance of the object is unchanged, then the object has axial symmetry around that axis. Examples would be a sphere and a cylinder.

34. Cubic Rubik : ERNO
What was originally called the “Magic Cube” became better known as the Rubik’s Cube, named for its inventor Ernő Rubik. It is the world’s biggest selling puzzle game, with over 350 million sold in just over 30 years.

37. 58-/46-Across movie (1975) : DOG DAY AFTERNOON
“Dog Day Afternoon” is a bank heist movie released in 1975 directed by Sidney Lumet. The film is based on an actual robbery that took place in Brooklyn, New York just before the film was made. Star of the movie was of course, Al Pacino.

44. Fishing net : SEINE
A seine is a type of fishing net. It is long, and thin, with floats along one long edge (the top) and weights along the bottom edge so that it hangs down in the water. A seine is usually let out into the water from a boat, as the vessel moves slowly in a circle driving fish into the center of the net.

45. Upsilon’s follower : PHI
Phi is the 21st letter of the Greek alphabet.

51. Start to cry? : FAR
As in the phrase “far cry …”

52. Musical McEntire : REBA
Reba McEntire is country music singer and television actress. She starred in her own sitcom called “Reba” that aired on the WB and the CW cable channels from 2001 to 2007.

54. Defendant’s plea, briefly : NOLO
“Nolo contendere” is a legal term that translates from the Latin as “I do not wish to contend”. It’s the plea of “no contest”, an alternative to “guilty” or “not guilty”, meaning that one doesn’t admit guilt but nor does not dispute the charge.

58. With 46-Across, late, legendary director : SIDNEY
(46. See 58-Across : LUMET)
Sidney Lumet passed away in April 2011. As a movie director he has a great string of celebrated films to his name including “12 Angry Men”, “Dog Day Afternoon”, “Network” and “The Verdict”. Although nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for each of these films, he never won an individual Oscar. However, the Academy gave him the recognition he deserved in 2004 by presenting him with an Honorary Award.

60. Butterfly wrapping? : OBI
The sash worn as part of traditional Japanese dress is known as an obi. The obi can be tied in what is called a butterfly knot.

61. Actress Mills and others : JULIETS
The English actress Juliet Mills comes from a famous acting family. Her father was the distinguished actor John Mills, her mother the playwright Mary Hayley Bell, and her sister is the very talented actress Hayley Mills. Given her pedigree, it’s no surprise that her godmother was Vivien Leigh, and her godfather Noel Coward.

65. With 66-Across, “Aida” aria : O PATRIA
66. See 65-Across : MIA
“O patra mia” is an aria from Verdi’s “Aida”. It is sung by the title character, with “O patra mia” translating as “O, my homeland”.

68. Frequent location of 58-/46-Across movies : NEW YORK
Sidney Lumet was noted for his preference to working in New York City, and shunning Hollywood. He said, “New York is filled with realilty; Hollywood is a fantasyland”.

69. Where Oskar Schindler is buried: Abbr. : ISR
Oskar Schindler is of course the subject of the Steven Spielberg opus “Schindler’s List”. During the Holocaust, Schindler managed to save almost 1,200 Jews from perishing by employing them in his factories. After the war Schindler and his wife were left penniless having used his assets to protect and feed his workers. For years the couple survived on the charity of Jewish groups. He tried to make a go of it in business again, but never had any real success. He died a pauper in 1974 in Hildesheim, not far from Hanover. His last wish was to be buried in Jerusalem. Schindler is the only former member of the Nazi Party buried on Mount Zion.

Down
2. Titania’s husband : OBERON
Oberon and Titania are the King and Queen of the fairies in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.

5. Best Musical of 1980 : EVITA
“Evita” was the follow-up musical to “Jesus Christ Superstar” for composer Andrew Lloyd Weber and lyricist Tim Rice. Both of these works were originally released as album musicals, and very successful ones at that. I remember buying them when they first came out in the seventies …

7. 58-/46-Across movie (1981) : PRINCE OF THE CITY
“Prince of the City” is a 1981 film directed by Sidney Lumet, a crime drama based on the true story of a NYPD Narcotics detective who exposed corruption in the department. The movie was considered so realistic that it was used for a while in a DEA training program.

10. It borders Lake Huron: Abbr. : ONT
The Canadian province of Ontario takes its name from the Great Lake. In turn, Lake Ontario’s name is thought to be derived from “Ontari:io”, a Huron word meaning “great lake”. Ontario is home to the nation’s capital, Ottawa, as well as Toronto, Canada’s most populous city (and capital of the province).

11. Star of 4- and 37-Across : AL PACINO
Al Pacino seems to be best known for playing characters on either side of the law. His big break in movies came when he played Michael Corleone in “The Godfather”, a role that grew for him as the series of films progressed. But his Oscar winning role was that of a blind, ex-military officer in “Scent of a Woman”.

12. Dry stretch in Mongolia : GOBI
The large desert in Asia called the Gobi lies in northern China and southern Mongolia. The Gobi desert is growing at an alarming rate, particularly towards the south. This “desertification” is caused by increased human activities, and the Chinese government is actively trying to halt the desert’s progress by planting great swaths of new forests, the so called “Green Wall of China”.

29. Test pilot Chuck : YEAGER
Chuck Yeager enlisted as a private in the US Army Air Forces in 1941, starting out as an aircraft mechanic. With the onset of the war at the end of the year, Yeager was able to enroll in flight school. In 1943 he was posted overseas, and flew P-51 Mustangs out of the south of England. He was shot down over France in 1944, and escaped to Spain with the aid of the French Resistance. His 11.5 accredited victories includes five downed aircraft in one mission (making him an “ace in a day”), and one of the first air-to-air kills of a jet fighter.

32. ___ dye : AZO
Azo compounds have very vivid colors, and so are used to make dyes, especially with the colors, red, orange and yellow.

33. Author Deighton : LEN
I used to walk my dog right past author Len Deighton’s house years ago, as we lived in the same village in Ireland (probably my only claim to fame!). Deighton wrote the excellent espionage thriller “The IPCRESS File”, made into a 1965 movie starring Michael Caine.

37. ___ Plaines : DES
Des Plaines, Illinois is a suburb of Chicago sitting right next to O’Hare International Airport. Sadly, it was the site of a famous airliner disaster when American Airlines Flight 191 crashed just after takeoff from O’Hare in 1979. All 271 people on board perished, as two people on the ground.

39. D. W. ___ Award, honor for 58-/46-Across for lifetime achievement : GRIFFITH
The D. W. Griffith Award was instituted in 1953 by the Directors Guild of America, its highest honor. D. W. Griffith was the director of the 1915 film “The Birth of a Nation”. Given that his most famous movie had a negative depiction of African Americans, the Guild has distanced itself from Griffith and now presents the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award instead.

40. Mother of Perseus : DANAE
In Greek mythology, Danaë was the mother of Perseus, with the father being Zeus.

41. Chi-town read, with “the” : 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 the presidential election. When it turned out 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.

47. “Tristan ___ Isolde” : UND
“Tristan und Isolde” is an epic opera by Richard Wagner (Wagner … not one of my favorites!). Many see it as the first serious move away from the traditional harmony and tonality of the classical and romantic eras.

48. Friendly term, to a Parisian : MON AMI
“Mon ami” is French for “my friend”, when addressing a male.

49. Varnish resins : ELEMIS
Elemi is a tree native to the Philippines. The tree gives its name to the resin that is harvested from it. Elemi resin is used in varnishes and printing inks.

50. Hot Wheels product : TOY CAR
The Hot Wheels brand of toy car was introduced by Mattel in 1968.

55. Slugger Sammy : SOSA
Sammy Sosa was right in the public eye in 1998 when he and Mark McGwire were vying to be the first to surpass the home run record held by Roger Maris. McGwire fell out of public favor due to stories of steroid abuse (stories which he later admitted were true) while Sosa fell of out favor when he was found to be using a corked bat in a 2003 game.

56. Fivers : ABES
“Abe” is slang for a five-dollar bill.

59. Writer Dinesen : ISAK
Isak Dinesen was the pen name of the Danish author Baroness Karen Blixen. Her most famous title by far is “Out of Africa”, her account of her time living in Kenya.

61. Funny Stewart : JON
Jon Stewart is a political satirist and the current host of “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central. Stewart started out as a stand-up comic, and took over “The Daily Show” from Craig Kilborn in 1999. Stewart is a great fan of the New York Times Crossword, and appears in the fabulous movie about the puzzle called “Wordplay” (if you love this crossword, you will love this fantastic film!). Stewart actually proposed to his wife using a personalized crossword that he created with the help of Will Shortz!

62. Ranch add-on : ERO
A ranchero is one employed on a ranch, a word with Spanish roots.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Bean holder : POD
4. 58-/46-Across movie (1973) : SERPICO
11. Actuarial stat : AGE
14. Blood type letters : ABO
15. Provide with too much staffing : OVERMAN
16. Workplace for 58-/46-Across : LOT
17. Figure out : GET
18. Most slippery : WILIEST
19. Strike force?: Abbr. : PBA
20. “Murder on the ___ Express,” 58-/46-Across movie (1974) : ORIENT
22. “Hmm, don’t think so” : NAH
23. With 55-Across, 58-/46-Across movie (1964) : FAIL
24. Lisbon lady : DONA
25. Pinball paths : ARCS
27. Lighter brand : BIC
28. “12 ___ Men,” 58-/46-Across movie (1957) : ANGRY
30. Quick turnaround, slangily : UEY
31. Like some symmetry : AXIAL
34. Cubic Rubik : ERNO
36. Tanned : BRONZE
37. 58-/46-Across movie (1975) : DOG DAY AFTERNOON
42. Annoy, and then some : ENRAGE
43. Kind of surgeon : TREE
44. Fishing net : SEINE
45. Upsilon’s follower : PHI
46. See 58-Across : LUMET
51. Start to cry? : FAR
52. Musical McEntire : REBA
54. Defendant’s plea, briefly : NOLO
55. See 23-Across : SAFE
57. Jiffy : SEC
58. With 46-Across, late, legendary director : SIDNEY
60. Butterfly wrapping? : OBI
61. Actress Mills and others : JULIETS
63. Cable inits. : AMC
64. Workplace for 58-/46-Across : SET
65. With 66-Across, “Aida” aria : O PATRIA
66. See 65-Across : MIA
67. Gray shade : ASH
68. Frequent location of 58-/46-Across movies : NEW YORK
69. Where Oskar Schindler is buried: Abbr. : ISR

Down
1. Tiered tower : PAGODA
2. Titania’s husband : OBERON
3. Being too affectionate : DOTING
4. Planted : SOWN
5. Best Musical of 1980 : EVITA
6. Sunday subj.? : REL
7. 58-/46-Across movie (1981) : PRINCE OF THE CITY
8. “No matter what you choose for me is fine” : I’M EASY
9. Bills and coins : CASH
10. It borders Lake Huron: Abbr. : ONT
11. Star of 4- and 37-Across : AL PACINO
12. Dry stretch in Mongolia : GOBI
13. List space saver : ET AL
21. Listener : EAR
23. Choose definitely : FIX ON
26. ___ temperature : RUN A
27. Gun part : BARREL
29. Test pilot Chuck : YEAGER
32. ___ dye : AZO
33. Author Deighton : LEN
35. Toast type : RYE
36. Spell-off : BEE
37. ___ Plaines : DES
38. Wedded : ONE
39. D. W. ___ Award, honor for 58-/46-Across for lifetime achievement : GRIFFITH
40. Mother of Perseus : DANAE
41. Chi-town read, with “the” : TRIB
45. Future attorney’s field of study : PRELAW
47. “Tristan ___ Isolde” : UND
48. Friendly term, to a Parisian : MON AMI
49. Varnish resins : ELEMIS
50. Hot Wheels product : TOY CAR
53. Moving : ASTIR
55. Slugger Sammy : SOSA
56. Fivers : ABES
57. Caretaker, for short : SUPE
59. Writer Dinesen : ISAK
61. Funny Stewart : JON
62. Ranch add-on : ERO
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