Day: February 1, 2012

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
1. *Peddle : HAWK
The verb “to hawk” has a Germanic origin, 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.

5. Prefix with “mom” in 2009 news : OCTO-
“Octomom” is the name the media gave to Nadya Doud-Suleman Gutierrez. There was a lot of controversy surrounding the birth of her octuplets in 2009, which conceived with the aid of in vitro fertilization. She already had six children and was unemployed and using public assistance programs.

9. Bay State sch. : UMASS
The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) is the largest public university in New England. UMass was founded back in 1863, although it took a while to get the school into service. Construction work was delayed, and the college went through two presidents before William S. Clark took charge. He cracked the whip, completed the construction and enrolled the first students in the same year he took over the reins, in 1867. As a result, although Clark was the third President of UMass, he is regarded by most as the school’s founding father.

14. Tommie of the Miracle Mets : AGEE
Tommie Agee was a Major League Baseball player who played mainly with the Indians, White Sox and Mets. He was one of the “Amazin’ Mets”, and was famous for making two phenomenal catches in game three of the 1969 world series, potentially saving five runs.

15. *Christmas carol starter : HARK
“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” is one of my favorite Christmas carols. It was written in 1739 by Charles Wesley, although he scored it as a very slow and somber tune. A number of musicians modified the music over the years (including Felix Mendelssohn) giving us the more uplifting air that we know today.

19. Manhattan’s ___ Place : ASTOR
Astor Place is a neighborhood around a two-block street in Manhattan, New York City that bears the same name. Astor Place is named for John Jacob Astor who was once the richest person the country.

John Jacob Astor was the father of the famous American Astor dynasty. He was the country’s first multi-millionaire, having made his fortune in the trade of fur, real estate and opium. In today’s terms, it has been calculated that by the time of his death he had accumulated a fortune big enough to make him the fourth wealthiest man in American history (in the company of the likes of Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Bill Gates, Henry Ford and John D. Rockefeller).

22. *Storied also-ran : HARE
“The Tortoise and the Hare” is perhaps the most famous fable attributed to Aesop. The hare takes a nap during a race against the tortoise, and the tortoise sneaks past the finish line first while his speedier friend is sleeping.

23. January 1 sound : POP
There’s a “pop” sound as one opens up a bottle of champagne.

31. Coeur d’___ : ALENE
The city of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho is named for the Coeur d’Alene People, Native Americans who lived in the area when it was first explored by French Canadian fur traders. “Coeur d’Alene” translates from French as “heart of an awl”. The Native American people were given this name as they were perceived as shrewd traders by their Canadian counterparts.

33. Vietnam-era protest org. : SDS
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was an activist group in the sixties. The SDS organized the largest student strike in the history of the United States on 26 April 1968, with about a million students staying away from class that day.

34. Meriting a “Q.E.D.” : PROVABLE
QED is used at the end of a mathematical proof or a philosophical argument. The acronym stands for the Latin “quod erat demonstrandum” meaning “that which was to be demonstrated”.

37. Article in rap titles : THA
I guess “tha” is slang for “the” in the world of rap …

39. Classic novel of 1,000+ pages … or a hint to the word ladder formed by the answers to the starred clues : WAR AND PEACE
I have to confess that I have tried to read Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” twice in my life, and failed both times (it is l-o-n-g). Even though the 1956 movie adaptation runs for 3 1/2 hours, it’s still the easy way out! The film stars Audrey Hepburn and Henry Fonda.

42. Columnist Hentoff : NAT
Nat Hentoff writes regularly on jazz and country music for “The Wall Street Journal”.

46. 45 ___ : RPM
The first vinyl records designed to play at 33 1/3 rpm were introduced by RCA Victor in 1931, but were discontinued due to quality problems. The first Long Play (LP) 33 1/3 rpm disc was introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, with RCA Victor following up with a 45 rpm “single” the following year, in 1949.

52. Brown in the funnies : CHARLIE
The characters in the cartoon series “Peanuts” were largely drawn from Charles Schultz’s own life, with shy and withdrawn Charlie Brown representing Schultz himself.

54. Best Buy buys : PCS
Best Buy is a retailer specializing in the supply of consumer electronics. Best Buy services include the famous “Geek Squad”, a band of technical experts that will help solve your computer and other consumer electronic problems.

62. Oscar winner Tatum : O’NEAL
Tatum O’Neal is the youngest actress to win a “competitive” Oscar. She won the Best Supporting Actress Award in 1974 when she was just 10, for her role as Addie in “Paper Moon”. The youngest person to win an honorary Academy Award was Shirley Temple, who was only 5 years old when she was given an Oscar in 1934.

64. “You’re fired!” speaker, informally : THE DONALD
“The Apprentice” was developed by producer Mark Burnett and first aired in 2004, famously with Donald Trump at the helm on air. Burnett was riding high at the time (and still is) following his successful adaptation of the British show “Survivor” for American audiences. “The Apprentice” is a really successful franchise now, with versions being recorded and aired all over Europe and in Africa, Australia and parts of Asia and the Middle East.

68. Slowly, on a score : LENTO
A lento passage in a piece of music that has a slow tempo.

69. *Valentine sentiment : LOVE
Saint Valentine’s Day was chosen to honor various martyrs with the name Valentine, by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD. However, the saints’ day was dropped by the Catholic church in 1969, by Pope Paul VI. Try telling that to Hallmark though …

70. “___ it my way” : I DID
The song “My Way” has lyrics that were written by Paul Anka in 1969, but the tune itself was composed two years earlier by Claude François and Jacques Revaux. The song had been released with completely different lyrics in France, as “Comme d’habitude” (“As Usual”). When Anka heard the song on television in Paris he sought out and obtained the rights to use it himself, for free. Supposedly, “Comme d’habitude” has been recorded in more languages and by more artists than any other song in the contemporary repertoire.

72. River of Flanders : YSER
The Yser originates in northern France and flows though Belgium into the North Sea. The Yser name is oft associated with WWI as it figured in a major battle early in the conflict. In the first three months of the war the German Army pushed almost completely through Belgium, inflicting heavy losses on the Belgian Army as the defenders were forced to fight a fast-moving rearguard action. The Germans were intent on pushing right through Belgium and across France in a “race to the sea”. But the Belgians, with the help of its Allies, decided to make a final stand at the Yser Canal in an effort to prevent the Germans reaching the French ports of Calais and Dunkirk. The 22-mile long defensive line was chosen at the Yser because the river and canal system could be flooded to create a barrier that might be defended. The plan was successful and the front was “stabilized”. As we now know, millions of lives were lost over the coming years with very little movement of that battle line.

73. *Chocolate brand : DOVE
You know I just found out that the Dove brand of chocolate that we are so fond of over here in the US is a Mars brand that is marketed as Galaxy back in the British Isles. Galaxy was my Dad’s favorite chocolate …

Down
2. Cabinet dept. : AGR
The US Department of Agriculture dates back to 1862 when it was established by then-president Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln referred to the USDA as the “people’s department”, reflecting the agrarian basis of our economy back then.

4. New Zealand parrots : KEAS
The kea is a large parrot that is found on the South Island of New Zealand. Apparently tourists love keas as they are intelligent and curious. Natives tend to regard them as pests, for the same reasons.

5. Midway Airport alternative : O’HARE
O’Hare International is the fourth busiest airport in the world. The original airport was constructed on the site between 1942 an 1943, and was used by the Douglas Aircraft Company for the manufacture of planes during WWII. Before the factory and airport were built, there was a community in the area called Orchard Place, so the airport was called Orchard Place Airport/Douglas Field. This name is the derivation of the airport’s current location identifier: ORD (OR-chard D-ouglas).

Midway Airport started off with just one cinder runway in 1923, and was called Chicago Air Park. By 1927 the airport had expanded and earned the name Chicago Municipal Airport. In 1932 Midway was the world’s busiest airport, a title it held for thirty years. In 1949, in honor of the WWII Battle of Midway, the airport was renamed again to Chicago Midway Airport. Then in 1955, along came Chicago International Airport and all the major airlines started moving their operations over to the newer facility. Today Midway is a major hub for just one airline, Southwest.

6. Napoleonic leader? : CAPITAL N
There’s a capital letter N leading the word “Napoleon”.

7. Palm product : TREO
The Treo is a smartphone that was originally developed by a company called Handspring. Handspring was bought by Palm Inc.

9. Thurman of “In Bloom” : UMA
Uma Thurman’s father, Robert Thurman, was the first westerner to be ordained a Tibetan Buddhist monk. He raised his children in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and called his daughter “Uma” as it is a phonetic spelling of the Buddhist name “Dbuma”.

“In Bloom” is the alternative title for the 2007 thriller movie released as “The Life Before Her Eyes”. The film stars Uma Thurman, was directed by Vadim Perelman and is based on the novel “The Life Before Her Eyes” written by Laura Kasischke.

18. Pro ___ (for now) : TEM
Pro tempore can be abbreviated to “pro tem” or “p.t.” It is a Latin phrase which best translates as “for the time being”. It is used to describe a person who is acting for another, usually a superior.

21. Drink brewed naturally : SUN TEA
Sun tea is tea that is made simply by dropping tea into water and letting is “brew” in the sun for a few hours, then adding ice. A blog reader had kindly pointed out that he was told by a doctor that sun tea has the potential to be dangerous. The sun-warmed brew is warm enough and sits long enough to incubate any bacterial contamination that may be present. I think I’ll stick to my regular iced tea that is speedily brewed at high temperature …

23. Angel dust : PCP
Phencyclidine is a recreational drug usually referred to on the street as PCP or “angel dust”.

24. Item in a thole : OAR
In a boat, a thole is a wooden peg or pin that acts as a fulcrum for an oar that it is used in rowing. The thole is inserted into a hole in the gunwale, the top edge of the side of the boat.

28. Joy of “The View” : BEHAR
Joy Behar is a comedian, and co-host of the hit talk show “The View”.

30. Olympic skating champion Lysacek : EVAN
Evan Lysacek is a US figure skater, the 2009 world champion and the 2010 Olympic champion. You might have seen Lysacek on “Dancing with the Stars”, on which show he placed second.

35. Run out of town on ___ : A RAIL
The practice of “running out of town on a rail” was a mob punishment inflicted on mainly men in the colonial days. The victim was made to sit astride a triangular rail which was then carried by at least two men as a mob escorted the unfortunate from the town. The victims weight bearing down between his legs on the sharp edge caused great pain and injury. The practice was also known as “riding the rail”.

38. “Back in Black” band : AC/DC
The Heavy Metal band known as AC/DC was formed by two brothers in Australia. The group is usually called “Acca Dacca” down under.

41. Bow-toting god : EROS
As always seems to be the case with Greek gods, Eros and Aphrodite have overlapping spheres of influence. Aphrodite was the goddess of love between a man and a woman, but Eros was the god who stirred the passions of the male.

45. Brand of movable collectibles : PEZ
PEZ is an Austrian brand name for a particular candy sold in a mechanical dispenser. The name PEZ comes from the first, middle and last letters of “Pfefferminz”, the German word for “peppermint”.

46. Soda brand since 1905 : RC COLA
“Nehi Corporation” was the nickname for the Chero-Cola/Union Bottle Works that introduced the Nehi drink in 1924. Years later the company developed a new brand, Royal Crown Cola (also known as RC Cola). By 1955, RC Cola was the company’s flagship product, so the “Nehi Corporation” became the “Royal Crown Company”.

48. Whizzes : MAVENS
I’ve always loved the word “maven” meaning an expert. Maven comes into English from the Yiddish “meyvn”, a word for someone who appreciates and is a connoisseur.

53. Ranch in “Giant” : REATA
The 1956 drama “Giant” was a screen adaptation of the novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. In the story, Bick Benedict (played by Rock Hudson) marries Leslie (played by Elizabeth Taylor) and takes his new wife home to the family ranch in Texas called Reata. The ranch’s handyman is Jett Rink (played by James Dean) and he is willed a small plot of land within the bounds of the ranch by Bick’s sister when she dies. Jett develops this property, calling it Little Reata. “Reata” is the Spanish word for “lasso”.

55. Java or C++ whiz : CODER
Java is a programming language developed by Sun Microsystems. Java was originally designed for interactive television, but didn’t fit the needs at the time. Back then it was called Oak, named after an oak tree that stood outside the designer’s office. Later it was called Green, and finally named Java, which was simply picked out of a list of random words.

C++ is a popular programming language (just ask my nerdy son!). It is an enhanced version of another programming language developed at Bell Labs called simply C.

56. Hostess ___ Balls : SNO
The Hostess cakes called Sno Balls are usually pink in color, although in its original form each packet of two cakes contained one white and one pink. Around Halloween you can buy Sno Balls in the form of Scary Cakes and Glo Balls that are colored orange and green. and on St. Paddy’s Day there’s a green one available. Yoo hoo!

60. Units now called siemens : MHOS
Conductance (measured in mhos) is the inverse of resistance (measured in ohms). The mho has been replaced by the SI unit called the siemens.

61. Queen Wheat City of Oklahoma : ENID
Enid, Oklahoma takes its name from the old railroad station around which the city developed. Back in 1889, that train stop was called Skeleton Station. An official who didn’t like the name changed it to Enid Station, using a character from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Idylls of the King”. Maybe if he hadn’t changed the name, the city of Enid would now be called Skeleton!

Enid, Oklahoma has the nickname “Queen Wheat City” because is has a huge capacity for storing grain, the third largest grain storage capacity in the world.

63. Myrna of film : LOY
The beautiful Myrna Loy was one of my favorite actresses. Her career took off when she was paired up with William Powell in the fabulous “The Thin Man” series of films. She also appeared opposite Cary Grant in a couple of films that I like to watch every so often, namely “The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer” (1947) and “Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House” (1948).

66. Tyler of “Jersey Girl” : LIV
Actress and model Liv Tyler is the daughter of Steven Tyler, lead singer with Aerosmith, and Bebe Buell, a celebrated model and singer.

“Jersey Girl” is a 2004 comedy-drama film starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. I haven’t seen this one …

67. Presidential monogram : DDE
President Eisenhower was born David Dwight Eisenhower but, by the time he made it to the White House, he was going by the name Dwight D. Eisenhower. Growing up, his family called him Dwight and when “Ike” enrolled in West Point he himself reversed the order of his given names.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. *Peddle : HAWK
5. Prefix with “mom” in 2009 news : OCTO-
9. Bay State sch. : UMASS
14. Tommie of the Miracle Mets : AGEE
15. *Christmas carol starter : HARK
16. Soil enricher : MULCH
17. Gorillas and others : GREAT APES
19. Manhattan’s ___ Place : ASTOR
20. “No joke!” : SERIOUS
22. *Storied also-ran : HARE
23. January 1 sound : POP
26. Intersected : MET
27. Grapefruit choice : RUBY RED
29. *Managed ___ : CARE
31. Coeur d’___ : ALENE
33. Vietnam-era protest org. : SDS
34. Meriting a “Q.E.D.” : PROVABLE
37. Article in rap titles : THA
39. Classic novel of 1,000+ pages … or a hint to the word ladder formed by the answers to the starred clues : WAR AND PEACE
42. Columnist Hentoff : NAT
43. Earring shape : TEARDROP
46. 45 ___ : RPM
49. Contrarian’s retort : IS NOT
51. *Center : CORE
52. Brown in the funnies : CHARLIE
54. Best Buy buys : PCS
57. “___ who?” : SEZ
58. *Place to moor : COVE
59. “Give me an example!” : NAME ONE
62. Oscar winner Tatum : O’NEAL
64. “You’re fired!” speaker, informally : THE DONALD
68. Slowly, on a score : LENTO
69. *Valentine sentiment : LOVE
70. “___ it my way” : I DID
71. Test for quality : ASSAY
72. River of Flanders : YSER
73. *Chocolate brand : DOVE

Down
1. Broomstick rider : HAG
2. Cabinet dept. : AGR
3. Elfin : WEE
4. New Zealand parrots : KEAS
5. Midway Airport alternative : O’HARE
6. Napoleonic leader? : CAPITAL N
7. Palm product : TREO
8. “Why not?!” : OK, SURE
9. Thurman of “In Bloom” : UMA
10. Overly romantic : MUSHY
11. Places for rites : ALTARS
12. Wrote for an orchestra : SCORED
13. Tatters : SHREDS
18. Pro ___ (for now) : TEM
21. Drink brewed naturally : SUN TEA
23. Angel dust : PCP
24. Item in a thole : OAR
25. Ship’s christening spot : PROW
28. Joy of “The View” : BEHAR
30. Olympic skating champion Lysacek : EVAN
32. Resulted in : LED TO
35. Run out of town on ___ : A RAIL
36. Drives home, as runs : BATS IN
38. “Back in Black” band : AC/DC
40. Personal bugaboo : PET PEEVE
41. Bow-toting god : EROS
44. Prospector’s find : ORE
45. Brand of movable collectibles : PEZ
46. Soda brand since 1905 : RC COLA
47. 7-Down and others : PHONES
48. Whizzes : MAVENS
50. Without muss or fuss : NEATLY
53. Ranch in “Giant” : REATA
55. Java or C++ whiz : CODER
56. Hostess ___ Balls : SNO
60. Units now called siemens : MHOS
61. Queen Wheat City of Oklahoma : ENID
63. Myrna of film : LOY
65. Hubbub : ADO
66. Tyler of “Jersey Girl” : LIV
67. Presidential monogram : DDE

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