Day: September 22, 2011

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Vitamin C source from Southeast Asia : STARFRUIT
The delicious starfruit comes from the carambola tree that is native to parts of Asia. The fruit gets its name from its shape. When it is sliced, the cross-section is like a star, which can have 3-6 points.

10. Songwriter Jimmy and Senator Jim : WEBBS
The songwriter Jimmy Webb wrote some of the modern classics, including “Up, Up and Away”, “By the Time I Get to Phoenix”, “Wichita Lineman”, “Galveston” and “MacArthur Park”. Webb is the only person to have won Grammy Awards for music, lyrics and orchestration.

15. It has just 16 rules of grammar : ESPERANTO
Esperanto is an international language specially constructed to create some level of harmony between people from different parts of the world. It was created in the late 1800s by an opthamologist from modern-day Poland. Tens of thousands, and maybe even millions of people speak Esperanto, some being taught it as a native language from birth.

16. Western language historically written in the Cyrillic alphabet : ALEUT
The Aleut people primarily speak Russian or English, depending on which part of the Aleutian Island chain they live. Several hundred people still speak the native Aleut language, although it is gradually dying out.

17. London newspaper : DAILY MAIL
“The Daily Mail” is a tabloid newspaper published in the UK. It wouldn’t be my favorite way to get the news mind you, but it’s the second highest-selling paper in the country.

18. Mork’s TV companion : MINDY
Pam Dawber is the actress that teamed up with Robin Williams to play the lead roles in the sitcom “Mork & Mindy”. Dawber is married to the actor Mark Harmon.

19. Sea eagles : ERNS
The ern (also erne) is also called the white-tailed eagle, and the sea-eagle.

20. TV network since 1970 : PBS
The Public Broadcasting System (PBS) was founded in 1970, and has to be my favorite of the broadcast networks. I love PBS’s drama and science shows in particular, and always watch the election results as they come in with the NewsHour team.

21. Bomb, e.g. : PASS
In football, a bomb is a long forward pass.

23. Turkey’s location : DELI COUNTER
The word “delicatessen” came into English from the German “Delikatessen” meaning “delicious (delikat-) to eat (essen)”.

28. Hammer’s partner : ARM
The Arm & Hammer brand, particularly associated with baking soda and washing soda, has been around since the 1860s. The famous Arm & Hammer logo represents the Roman god Vulcan.

29. ___ Street, main thoroughfare in “Peyton Place” : ELM
Grace Metallius’s 1956 novel “Peyton Place” had such an impact that to this day, the expression “Peyton Place” is used to describe a neighborhood where the residents have sordid secrets. The novel has it all, including incest, abortion, adultery, lust and murder. No wonder it stayed on “The New York Times” bestseller list for 59 weeks …

30. J.F.K. watchdog : FAA
The Federal Aviation Administration was set up in 1958 (as the Federal Aviation Agency). The agency was established at that particular time largely in response to an increasing number of midair collisions. The worst of these disasters had taken place two years earlier over the Grand Canyon, a crash between two commercial passenger airplanes that resulted in 128 fatalities.

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 La Guardia. 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 in 1963, one month after the President was assassinated.

32. Jacob who wrote “How the Other Half Lives” : RIIS
Jacob Riis is famous for his photographs and newspaper articles that highlighted the plight of the impoverished in New York City. He wrote “How the Other Half Lives”, originally an extensive article that appeared in “Scribner’s Magazine” at Christmas 1889. The article had such an impact that Riis was commissioned to expand it into a book, published the following year.

37. Daly of “Cagney & Lacey” : TYNE
Tyne Daly really came into the public eye playing Detective Lacey in “Cagney and Lacey”. More recently she played the mother of the title character in “Judging Amy”.

40. Actress Gasteyer : ANA
Ana Gasteyer is an actress best known for being a cast member of “Saturday Night Live” from 1996 to 2002. Gasteyer was famous on SNL for playing Martha Stewart … topless!

41. Barrister’s deg. : LLD
The honorary degree of Legum Doctor (LL.D.) translates from the Latin as Doctor of Laws, a plural. This practice of using the plural originated in Cambridge University in England, as one was awarded an LL.D. after having been taught both Canon Law and Civil Law.

47. Sketch show that launched 40-Across’s career, in short : SNL
NBC first aired a form of “Saturday Night Live” in 1975, under the title “NBC’s Saturday Night”. The show was actually created to give Johnny Carson some time off from “The Tonight Show”. Back then “The Tonight Show” had a weekend episode, and Carson convinced NBC to pull the Saturday or Sunday recordings off the air and hold them for subsequent weeknights in which Carson needed a break. NBC turned to Lorne Michaels and asked him to pull together a variety show to fill the vacant slot, and he came up with what we now call “Saturday Night Live”.

51. It’s located between two Plymouths: Abbr. : ATL
I guess the reference is to Plymouth, Massachusetts and Plymouth in the UK.

Plymouth, Massachusetts is of course located where the Mayflower Pilgrims landed to found their colony in 1620. I visited it for the first time not so long ago …

Plymouth is a port city on the coast of Devon in the UK. It was the point of departure of the Mayflower Pilgrims.

52. Scott of “Joanie Loves Chachi” : BAIO
Scott Baio is the actor who played Chachi Arcola in the great sitcom “Happy Days” and in the not so great spin-off “Joannie Loves Chachi”. He also played the title role in a later sitcom, “Charles in Charge”. Earlier in his career, Baio played another title role, in the 1976 movie “Bugsy Malone”, appearing opposite a young Jodie Foster.

56. Author Calvino : ITALO
As well as being an author, Italo Calvino was a famous Italian journalist. He was a supporter of communism, and wasn’t very popular in the US nor Britain.

59. After U2, highest-grossing concert band of all time, informally : THE STONES
Even though Mick Jagger and Keith Richards have been the driving force behind the Rolling Stones for decades, they didn’t start the group. The band was the idea of guitarist and harmonica player Brian Jones, and it was he who invited Richards and Jagger to join, as well as Ian Stewart, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts to make an original lineup of six. Jones called the band “Rollin’ Stone” back then in 1962, named for the song by Muddy Waters. Jones was the leader, manager and decision maker for the first few years until songs written by Richards and Jagger became hits and he started to lose artistic control. In 1967, Jones was arrested for drug possession, and again in 1968. When his trouble with the law prevented him from getting a US work visa, Jones wasn’t able to accompany the Stones on a 1969 US tour. That was the last straw, it seems, and Jones and the Stones parted company. Famously, one month later, Jones was found dead, at the bottom of his swimming pool.

The Irish band U2’s first name was “Feedback”, later changed to “The Hype”. The band searched for yet another name and chose U2 from a list of six names suggested by a friend. They picked U2 because it was the name on the list that they disliked least …

Down
1. Ritual in which bitter herbs are dipped : SEDER
The Passover Seder is a ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish Passover holiday, celebrating the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. One of the traditions at the meal is that the youngest child at the table asks “The Four Questions”, all relating to why this night is different from all other nights in the year:

– Why is it that on all other nights during the year we eat either bread or matzoh, but on this night we eat only matzoh?
– Why is it that on all other nights we eat all kinds of herbs, but on this night we eat only bitter herbs?
– Why is it that on all other nights we do not dip our herbs even once, but on this night we dip them twice?
– Why is it that on all other nights we eat either sitting or reclining, but on this night we eat in a reclining position?

2. Three Ivans : TSARS
The term czar (also tsar) is a Slavic word, and was first used as a title by Simeon I of Bulgaria in 913 A.D. It is derived from the word Caesar, which was synonymous with emperor at that time.

3. “___ of sweat will save a gallon of blood”: Patton : A PINT
General George Patton was a notorious leader of US forces during WWII. He was given command of the US Third Army in 1944. That army had resounding success, liberating more territory in less time than any other army in the history of the world. Patton barely survived the war. He was killed in a car accident outside Mannheim in Germany in December of 1945.

9. “My mama done ___ me” : TOL’
“My mama done tol’ me” are the first words of the immensely popular standard “Blues in the Night”. The music was written by Harold Arlen and the lyrics by Johnny Mercer, originally for a film of the same name released in 1941.

10. Traded beads : WAMPUM
Wampum are sacred shell beads of North American tribes in the Eastern United States. The early European colonists often used wampum to trade with the native peoples.

11. Cuban name in 2000 news : ELIAN
The immigration status of young Cuban boy Elian González was all over the news in 2000. Elian’s mother drowned while trying to enter the US illegally, whereas Elian and his mother’s boyfriend survived the journey. The INS placed Elian in the care of paternal relatives in the US who then petitioned to have the boy stay with them permanently, against the wishes of Elian’s father back in Cuba. After court proceedings, the federal authorities forcibly removed Elian from his relatives in the US, and he was returned to his father who took him back to Cuba. Back in Cuba, Fidel Castro stepped in and befriended Elian, so he has influential sponsorship now in his homeland as a result of his ordeal. Elian is now attending a Cuban military school.

12. Win whose money, in a bygone game show? : BEN STEIN’S
Many of us know Ben Stein as a very smart and entertaining TV personality. Before focusing on his screen career, Stein was a speechwriter for Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

13. Baseball commissioner starting in 1992 : BUD SELIG
Bud Selig is the current commissioner of Major League Baseball. He became acting commissioner in 1992 after the resignation of Fay Vincent. The team owners searched for new commissioner for six years, and finally gave the job to Selig in 1998.

24. Hall-of-Famer Yastrzemski : CARL
Yaz was the nickname for Carl Yastrzemski who played his whole career with the Boston Red Sox.

33. 1970s sitcom catchword : DYNO-MITE!
“Dyno-MITE!” was the catchphrase of the character J.J. on the seventies sitcom “Good Times”, played by Jimmie Walker.

37. Wee bit : TAD
Back in the 1800s “tad” was used to describe a young child, and this morphed into our current usage meaning a small amount in the early 1900s. The original use of “tad” for a child is very likely a shortened version of “tadpole”.

41. English author Edward Bulwer-___ : LYTTON
Edward Bulwer-Lytton was an English politician and writer. Among his writings, he came up with some phrases that have endured, such as:

– “the great unwashed”
– “pursuit of the almighty dollar”
– “the pen is mightier than the sword”
– “It was a dark and stormy night …”

42. Prime minister before and after Churchill : ATTLEE
Clement Attlee served as leader of Britain’s Labour Party and as Deputy Prime Minister in the coalition government during the war years under the leadership of Winston Churchill, a Conservative. Attlee swept into power right after WWII in a landslide victory over Churchill and was responsible for major changes not only in Britain but around the waning British Empire. It was under Attlee that former British colonies like India, Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka and Jordan became independent. Also, the Palestine Mandate was terminated in 1948, while he was in office, with the state of Israel being declared the very next day.

45. Boxer Ali : LAILA
Laila Ali is the daughter of the great Muhammad Ali, and is a very capable boxer in her own right. She’s not a bad dancer either, coming in third place in the fourth season of “Dancing with the Stars”.

46. Jon ___, at 6’11” the tallest player in Major League Baseball history : RAUCH
Jon Rauch is a relief pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays. He is the tallest player ever to have played in Major League Baseball, standing at an impressive 6 feet 11 inches.

47. Old Scratch : SATAN
“Old Scratch” and “Mr. Scratch” are names used in folklore for the Devil. The terms appear in the writings of Mark Twain, Washington Irving and even Charles Dickens.

52. String tie : BOLO
I’ve never worn a bolo tie, and was surprised to discover that it is a relatively recent invention. The first one was apparently produced in Wickenburg, Arizona in the late 1940s by a silversmith. The bolo takes its name from the boleadora, an Argentine lariat.

54. Dah’s go-with : DIT
Dahs and dits are the sound equivalents of dashes and dots in Morse Code.

55. Member of a D.C. nine : NAT
The Washington Nationals baseball team started out life as the Montreal Expos in 1969. The Expos moved to Washington in 2005, becoming the Nats. There are only two Major Leagues teams that have never played in a World Series; one is the Mariners, and the other the Nats.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Vitamin C source from Southeast Asia : STARFRUIT
10. Songwriter Jimmy and Senator Jim : WEBBS
15. It has just 16 rules of grammar : ESPERANTO
16. Western language historically written in the Cyrillic alphabet : ALEUT
17. London newspaper : DAILY MAIL
18. Mork’s TV companion : MINDY
19. Sea eagles : ERNS
20. TV network since 1970 : PBS
21. Bomb, e.g. : PASS
22. Alphabet trio : RST
23. Turkey’s location : DELI COUNTER
27. It may be turned against you : TIDE
28. Hammer’s partner : ARM
29. ___ Street, main thoroughfare in “Peyton Place” : ELM
30. J.F.K. watchdog : FAA
31. Training ___ : BRA
32. Jacob who wrote “How the Other Half Lives” : RIIS
33. Taking one’s sweet time : DILLY-DALLYING
37. Daly of “Cagney & Lacey” : TYNE
38. It’s beside a sideburn : EAR
39. Muscles covering some 32-Down : ABS
40. Actress Gasteyer : ANA
41. Barrister’s deg. : LLD
42. Credit figs. : APRS
44. Singer with the hit country album “Backwoods Barbie” : DOLLY PARTON
47. Sketch show that launched 40-Across’s career, in short : SNL
50. Gist : MEAT
51. It’s located between two Plymouths: Abbr. : ATL
52. Scott of “Joanie Loves Chachi” : BAIO
53. Mr. ___ : FIX IT
54. “Gotcha,” formally : DULY NOTED
56. Author Calvino : ITALO
57. Skating venue : ICE PALACE
58. Staff up again : REMAN
59. After U2, highest-grossing concert band of all time, informally : THE STONES

Down
1. Ritual in which bitter herbs are dipped : SEDER
2. Three Ivans : TSARS
3. “___ of sweat will save a gallon of blood”: Patton : A PINT
4. Fam. members : RELS
5. Lie in the sun with suntan oil : FRY
6. Wheelchair-accessible : RAMPED
7. No-can-do : UNABLE
8. Formal acknowledgment : IT IS I
9. “My mama done ___ me” : TOL’
10. Traded beads : WAMPUM
11. Cuban name in 2000 news : ELIAN
12. Win whose money, in a bygone game show? : BEN STEIN’S
13. Baseball commissioner starting in 1992 : BUD SELIG
14. Sloppy place : STY
23. Oven part : DIAL
24. Hall-of-Famer Yastrzemski : CARL
25. 30-Down, sometimes : ORAL
26. Apt. parts : RMS
27. Fisherman’s relation? : TALE
30. Course closer : FINAL EXAM
31. It may be sandy or candy : BAR
32. See 39-Across : RIBS
33. 1970s sitcom catchword : DYNO-MITE!
34. Dog sound : YELP
35. Pop for a young person? : DADA
36. Fisherman’s relation? : YARN
37. Wee bit : TAD
41. English author Edward Bulwer-___ : LYTTON
42. Prime minister before and after Churchill : ATTLEE
43. Coral creatures : POLYPS
45. Boxer Ali : LAILA
46. Jon ___, at 6’11” the tallest player in Major League Baseball history : RAUCH
47. Old Scratch : SATAN
48. Family relation : NIECE
49. Mined finds : LODES
52. String tie : BOLO
53. Source of some paper pulp : FIR
54. Dah’s go-with : DIT
55. Member of a D.C. nine : NAT
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