Day: July 5, 2012

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Mysterious figure : SASQU(AT)CH
A yeti is a beast of legend, also called an abominable snowman. “Yeti” is a Tibetan term, and the beast is fabled to live in the Himalayan regions of Nepal and Tibet. Our equivalent legend in North America is that of Bigfoot, also known as sasquatch. The study of animals whose existence have not yet been substantiated is called cryptozoology.

18. Maestro Toscanini : ARTURO
Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor of classical music. Toscanini took up the baton for the first time under sensational circumstances in 1886. He was attending a performance of “Aida” in Rio de Janeiro in the role of the assistant chorus master, on a night when a substitute conductor was leading the orchestra. The substitute was in charge because the lead conductor had been forced to step down by striking performers who would not work with him. The disgruntled lead conductor led the audience in booing the unfortunate substitute, forcing him off the stage. Yet another substitute attempted to lead the performance, but he could not overcome the hostility of the crowd. The musicians themselves begged Toscanini to take up the baton, for the first time in his life, simply because he knew the score by heart. After over an hour of mayhem, Toscanini led the company in a remarkable performance to marvelous acclaim. He had just launched his conducting career.

19. Country singer Black : CLINT
Clint Black is a country music singer. Black was born in New Jersey, but grew up in Texas.

22. Potential beach find : SAND (DOLLAR)
A sand dollar is a burrowing sea urchin found just below the low water line of sandy or muddy beaches. Sand dollars have a hard skeleton, which is often found washed up on beaches.

27. Per ___ : DIEM
“Per diem” is the Latin for “by the day”.

30. Kind of bacteria : ANAEROBIC
Anaerobic organisms are those that do not require oxygen to live. A good example would be the bacteria working away in a septic tank. It’s fortunate that these bacteria are anaerobes, otherwise the septic tank would have to be opened up to the air.

35. Vibe magazine subject : RAP MUSIC
“Vibe” is a magazine that focuses on R&B and rap artists. “Vibe” was founded by the great record producer Quincy Jones, in 1993.

38. Option on “Let’s Make a Deal” : DOOR ONE
The game show “Let’s Make a Deal” first aired way back in 1963. For many years of course, it was hosted by Monty Hall. There’s a version airing right now hosted by Wayne Brady.

42. ___-Caps : SNO
Sno-Caps are a brand of candy usually only available in movie theaters. Sno-caps have been around since the twenties, would you believe?

44. 1985 N.L. M.V.P. Willie : MCGEE
Willie McGee is a retired professional league baseball player, who spent most of his career with the St. Louis Cardinals.

47. Court plea : NO CONTEST
“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 one dispute the charge.

48. Elemento número 79 : ORO
Gold is the element with the atomic number of 79, or “oro” in Spanish.

52. Stun, as a suspect : TASE
Victor Appleton wrote a novel for young adults called “Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle”. The company that developed the TASER electroshock weapon named their product as a homage to the novel, as TASER stands for “Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle”. Interesting, eh?

54. Mount Saint ___, fourth-highest peak in North America : ELIAS
The peak of Mount Saint Elias sits about 25 miles from Mount Logan, the highest mountain in Canada. Mount Saint Elias actually straddles the border between the Canadian province of Yukon and the American state of Alaska.

57. “Romanian Rhapsodies” composer : ENESCO
Geroge Enescu (aka Georges Enesco) was a Romanian composer and performer. Enescu’s most popular works are two “Romanian Rhapsodies” (1901-2) and the opera “Oedipe” (1936).

59. Tiramisu flavorer : AMARETTO
Amaretto is an Italian liqueur with a sweet almond flavor. Even though the drink is sweet, it has a bitterness lent to it by the bitter almonds that are often used as a flavoring. The name “amaretto” is a diminutive of the Italian “amaro” meaning “bitter”.

Tiramisu is an Italian cake. The name “tiramisu” translates from Italian as “pull me up”.

Down
1. Identity theft target: Abbr. : SSN
The main purpose of a Social Security Number (SSN) is to track individuals for the purposes of taxation, although given its ubiquitous use, it is looking more and more like an “identity number” to me. The social security number system was introduced in 1936. Prior to 1986, an SSN was required only for persons with substantial income so many children under 14 had no number assigned. For some years the IRS had a concern that a lot of people were claiming children on their tax returns who did not actually exist. So, from 1986 onward, it is a requirement to get an SSN for any dependents over the ago of 5. Sure enough, in 1987 seven million dependents “disappeared”.

4. Proof finish : QED
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”.

5. Western native : UTE
The Ute is a group of Native American tribes that now resides in Utah and Colorado. The Ute were not a unified people as such, but rather a loose association of nomadic groups.

6. Big name in 35-Across : 2PAC
Rapper Tupac Amaru Shakur adopted the inventive stage name “2Pac”. He was a hard man, spending eleven months in prison for sexual assault. At only 25 years of age he was killed in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas.

8. Like some observant Brooklynites : HASIDIC
The Hasidic Jewish movement was founded in the 18th century by Baal Shem Tov, a mystical rabbi from Eastern Europe.

10. Gen ___ : XER
The term Generation X originated in the UK where it was the name of a book by Jane Deverson. Her book detailed the results of a study of British youths in 1964, contrasting their lifestyle to those of previous generations. It was Canadian author Douglas Coupland who was responsible for popularizing the term, with his more successful publication “Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture”. By the latest accepted definition, Gen-Xers were born between 1961 and 1981.

11. Reason to wear glasses at home? : 3DTV
3D televisions are available these days, but almost all of them require the viewer to use special glasses for the effect to work.

12. Galápagos creature : IGUANA
An iguana is a lizard, and as such is cold-blooded. There are times when pet iguanas need heat from a UV lamp to maintain body temperature.

The Galápagos Islands lie over 500 miles west of Ecuador. The Galápagos owe their celebrity to the voyage of HMS Beagle which landed there in 1835, with Charles Darwin on board. It was Darwin’s study of various species on the islands that inspired him to postulate his Theory of Evolution.

14. Hulled grain : GROATS
Groats are the hulled grains of various cereals. For example there are wheat groats, also known as “bulgar”.

20. Cage, informally : NIC
Nic Cage was born Nicolas Coppola. He is the nephew of director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire, both of whom are his father’s siblings.

22. Poet Teasdale : SARA
Sara Teasdale was a poet from St. Louis, Missouri although she spent much of her adult life in New York City. Examples of Teasdale’s most famous poems are “There Will Come Soft Rains” and “I Shall Not Care”. Teasdale committed suicide in 1933 by taking an overdose of sleeping pills.

24. Wine tour area : NAPA
Apparently the name “Napa” comes from the Native American Patwin word “napo” meaning “house”.

26. Toyota model beginning in 1984 : 4RUNNER
The 4Runner is a midsize SUV from Toyota. The 4Runner was sold in Japan as the Toyota Hilux Surf.

28. Band with the 2004 hit “She Will Be Loved” : MAROON 5
Maroon 5 is a rock band from LA. Most of the band members met in high school where they formed a garage band called Kara’s Flowers in 1995. The band reformed as Maroon 5 in 2001 and were a big hit almost straight away. Personally, I’ve never heard of them till now …

31. ___ buco : OSSO
Osso is the Italian word for bone, as in the name of the dish “Osso Bucco”, braised veal shanks.

34. Oscar-nominated Pat : MORITA
Pat Morita was a Japanese-American actor, born in Isleton, California. Morita’s most noted roles were playing “Arnold” on TV’s “Happy Days”, and Mr. Miyagi in “The Karate Kid” movies. Morita was just a child during WWII and spent most of it in the Gila River internment camp in Arizona with this family

36. Any one of five in the Big Apple : BORO
Apparently the first published use of the term “Big Apple” to describe New York City dates back to 1909. Edward Martin wrote the following in his book “The Wayfarer in New York”:

“Kansas is apt to see in New York a greedy city. . . . It inclines to think that the big apple gets a disproportionate share of the national sap.”

39. Universal donor’s blood type, briefly : O-NEG
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, A, B, AB or O, and positive or negative. Hence someone with O-neg blood type is called a “universal donor”.

41. Specialty docs : ENTS
An Ear, Nose and Throat specialist is an ENT.

44. Red Roof Inn competitor : MOTEL 6
The ubiquitous Motel 6 is the largest owned and operated hotel chain in North America. The chain was founded in Santa Barbara, California in 1962 by two building contractors. Their idea was to offer budget accommodation for just $6 per night, hence the name Motel 6.

46. Hide’s partner : GO SEEK
Hide and go seek.

50. Almost an eternity : AEONS
Aeon is a variant spelling of “eon”. In astronomical terms, an aeon is defined as one thousand million years.

53. Latin 101 verb : ESSE
Esse is the Latin for “to be”.

55. Asian nurse : AMAH
“Amah” is an interesting word, one that we associate so much with Asian culture and yet it actually comes from the Portuguese “ama” meaning “nurse”. Ama was imported into English in the days of the British Raj in India when a wet-nurse became known as an “amah”.

56. Asian attire : SARI
The item of clothing called a sari (also saree) is a strip of cloth, as one might imagine, unusual perhaps in that is unstitched along the whole of its length. The strip of cloth can range from four to nine meters long (that’s a lot of material!). The sari is usually wrapped around the waist, then draped over the shoulder leaving the midriff bare. I must say, it can be a beautiful item of clothing.

58. One of two N.T. books : COR
The seventh and eighth books of the New Testament are the First and Second Epistles to the Corinthians.

64. Old jazz great Kid ___ : ORY
Kid Ory was a bandleader and jazz trombonist. At the beginning of the 20th century Ory’s New Orleans band included a young cornet player called … Louis Armstrong.

Return to top of page

For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Mysterious figure : SASQU(AT)CH
9. Stating in detail, with “on” : EX(POUND)ING
15. Flowering vine : SWEET PEA
16. Sight at a hotel check-in, once : LEDGER
17. Do-overs at a card table : NEW DEALS
18. Maestro Toscanini : ARTURO
19. Country singer Black : CLINT
21. “___-voom!” : VAVA
22. Potential beach find : SAND (DOLLAR)
27. Per ___ : DIEM
29. Get in the end : NET
30. Kind of bacteria : ANAEROBIC
33. Stockpile : AMASS
35. Vibe magazine subject : RAP MUSIC
36. Pal : BRO
37. Con : AGAINST
38. Option on “Let’s Make a Deal” : DOOR ONE
42. ___-Caps : SNO
43. Approach : ZERO IN ON
44. 1985 N.L. M.V.P. Willie : MCGEE
47. Court plea : NO CONTEST
48. Elemento número 79 : ORO
49. Surprise attack : RAID
51. Portions : (PERCENT)AGES
52. Stun, as a suspect : TASE
54. Mount Saint ___, fourth-highest peak in North America : ELIAS
57. “Romanian Rhapsodies” composer : ENESCO
59. Tiramisu flavorer : AMARETTO
65. Neighbors, in a way : LIES ON
66. One with a lap cat, maybe : CARESSER
67. Nurses, e.g. : (CARET)AKERS
68. Something that’s pressed, which helps explain this puzzle’s theme : SHIFT KEY

Down
1. Identity theft target: Abbr. : SSN
2. Amaze : AWE
3. Put in stitches : SEW
4. Proof finish : QED
5. Western native : UTE
6. Big name in 35-Across : 2PAC
7. Cooler part : CELL
8. Like some observant Brooklynites : HASIDIC
9. Please greatly : ELATE
10. Gen ___ : XER
11. Reason to wear glasses at home? : 3DTV
12. Galápagos creature : IGUANA
13. Big game day feeling : NERVES
14. Hulled grain : GROATS
20. Cage, informally : NIC
22. Poet Teasdale : SARA
23. “I hate to be ___ …” : A NAG
24. Wine tour area : NAPA
25. Ultimate end : DEMISE
26. Toyota model beginning in 1984 : 4RUNNER
28. Band with the 2004 hit “She Will Be Loved” : MAROON 5
31. ___ buco : OSSO
32. It might come straight from the horse’s mouth : BIT
34. Oscar-nominated Pat : MORITA
36. Any one of five in the Big Apple : BORO
38. Big mo. for vacations : DEC
39. Universal donor’s blood type, briefly : O-NEG
40. It can be hooked or pierced : NOSE
41. Specialty docs : ENTS
43. Sign holders : ZODIACS
44. Red Roof Inn competitor : MOTEL 6
45. Head cases? : CRANIA
46. Hide’s partner : GO SEEK
47. Zip : NIL
50. Almost an eternity : AEONS
53. Latin 101 verb : ESSE
55. Asian nurse : AMAH
56. Asian attire : SARI
58. One of two N.T. books : COR
60. Zebra : REF
61. Winter D.C. hours : EST
62. Critical cluck : TSK
63. Get ready to start, with “up” : TEE
64. Old jazz great Kid ___ : ORY

Return to top of page