Day: September 25, 2012

Announcement
I recently started solving the LA Times crossword, and a week ago I launched an LA Times crossword blog. If you work on the LA Times puzzle, then please check out my new blog at LAXCrossword.com. For that matter, if you know anyone who likes to solve the LA Times crossword, please think about sending them an email pointing them to LAXCrossword.com!

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
13. Opera set in Egypt : AIDA
“Aida” is the famous opera by Giuseppe Verde, actually based on a scenario written by a French Egyptologist called Auguste Mariette, who also designed the costumes and stages for the opening performance. The opera was first performed in 1871 in an opera house in Cairo. In the storyline Aida is an Ethiopian princess brought into Egypt as a slave. Radames is an Egyptian commander that falls in love with her, and then of course complications arise!

16. To be, to Bernadette : ETRE
The French for “to be” is “être”.

18. City where 13-Across debuted : CAIRO
Cairo is the capital city of Egypt. It is the largest city on the continent of Africa and is nicknamed “The City of a Thousand Minarets” because of its impressive skyline replete with Islamic architecture. The name “Cairo” is a European corruption of the city’s original name in Arabic, “Al-Qahira”.

20. Supposed evidence of the 38-Across : SURGEON’S PHOTO
The “Surgeon’s Photograph” is an image that was taken in 1934, supposedly of the Loch Ness monster. It is perhaps the most famous picture of Nessie to this day, the one with a “head” and “neck” sticking up out of the water. The picture’s renown doesn’t seem to have abated, even though in the mid-nineties the photograph was shown to be a hoax. The picture is called the “Surgeon’s Photograph” because it was “taken” by a Dr. Wilson.

23. Year of the ___ (what 2008-09 was) : RAT
The 12-year cycle in the Chinese Calendar uses the following animals in order:

– Rat
– Ox
– Tiger
– Rabbit
– Dragon
– Snake
– Horse
– Goat
– Monkey
– Rooster
– Dog
– Pig

24. Game piece on a Stratego board : SCOUT
The wonderful board game called Stratego derives from a traditional Chinese game called “Jungle” or “Animal Chess”. The major difference between Stratego and Jungle is that in the latter the identity of the pieces is not hidden from one’s opponent.

26. Green figure, briefly : ST PAT
There is a fair amount known about St. Patrick, some of which comes from two letters written in his own hand. St. Patrick lived in the fifth century, but was not born in Ireland. He was first brought to Ireland at about 16 years of age from his native Britain, by Irish raiders who made him a slave for six years. He managed to escape and return home where he studied and entered the Church. He went back to Ireland as a bishop and a missionary and there lived out the rest of his life. There seems to be good evidence that he died on March 17th (now celebrated annually as St. Patrick’s Day), although the year is less clear. The stories about shamrock and snakes, I am afraid they are the stuff of legend.

29. 1999 Frank McCourt memoir : ‘TIS
“‘Tis” was Frank McCourt’s sequel to “Angela’s Ashes”, the story of his life growing up in Ireland. Frank McCourt passed away in 2009.

32. Fungus that affects cereal : ERGOT
Ergot is a fungus, or actually a group of fungi, that cause disease in rye and related plants.

34. 24-hour place to hit the links? : IHOP
The International House of Pancakes (IHOP) was founded back in 1958. IHOP was originally intended to be called IHOE, the International House of Eggs, but that name didn’t do too well in marketing tests …

Link sausages are so called as they can come in chains, with each sausage being a link in that chain.

35. Pre-euro money : PESETA
The peseta is the former currency of Spain, replaced by the euro in 2002.

The European Union today stands at a membership of 27 states. The Euro is the official currency of only 16 of the 27. The list of states not using the Euro includes the UK, Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

37. Medieval Eur. domain : HRE
The Holy Roman Empire (HRE) existed from 962 to 1806 AD and was a territory of varying size over the centuries that centered on the Kingdom of Germany. The HRE was a successor to the western half of the Ancient Roman Empire.


38. Subject of this puzzle : LOCH NESS MONSTER
The Loch Ness monster has been talked about for centuries, but modern interest started in 1933 when a spate of sightings was reported. Those sightings don’t seem to have stopped, with photographs really sparking the imagination.

41. Biblical sanctuary : ARK
Genesis 6:19-20 states that Noah was instructed to take two animals of every kind into the ark. Later, in Genesis 7:2-3 Noah was instructed to take on board “every clean animal by sevens … male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth”. Apparently “extras” (7 rather than 2) were needed for ritual sacrifice.

42. Feel in one’s bones : INTUIT
Intuit is a verb, formed from the noun “intuition”, and means “to know intuitively”.

48. French states : ETATS
In French, a state (état) is a political division (division politique).

50. Marty’s scientist pal in “Back to the Future” : DOC
Michael J. Fox was the first choice to play the lead character, Marty McFly, in 1985’s “Back to the Future”. Unfortunately, the producers of his TV sitcom “Family Ties” would not release him to make the movie, so the crew started filming with a different choice for the lead, actor Eric Stoltz. Weeks into production, it was decided that Stoltz was miscast, and Fox was approached again. Eventually an arrangement was made with the “Family Ties” producers to “share” Fox, which led to an exhausting schedule. Fox worked seven days a week, filming “Family Ties” during the day and working on “Back to the Future” at night, usually till 2:30 in the morning.

51. Field of study that includes the 38-Across : CRYPTOZOOLOGY
The study of animals whose existence have not yet been substantiated is called cryptozoology.

58. Voting alliance : BLOC
“Bloc” is the French word for “block”.

61. Lotion additive : ALOE
Aloe vera has a number of alternate names that are descriptive of its efficacy as a medicine. These include the First Aid plant, Wand of Heaven, Silent Healer and Miracle Plant.

62. In-tray item : MEMO
A memorandum is a “thing to be remembered” in Latin, from the verb “memorare” meaning “to call to mind”.

64. Quaint literary work : IDYL
An idyl is a short poem with a pastoral theme, usually depicting the scene in romantic and idealized terms. The word comes from the Greek “eidyllion”, which literally translates to “little picture” but was a word describing a short, poem with a rustic theme.

65. Some Halloween décor : WEBS
All Saints’ Day is November 1st each year. The day before All Saints’ Day is All Hallows Eve, better known by the Scottish term, “Halloween”.

Down
2. Streisand, familiarly : BABS
Barbara Streisand has recorded 31 top-ten albums since 1963, more than any other female recording artist. In fact, she has had an album in the top ten for the last five decades, a rare achievement in itself.

3. In ___ of : LIEU
As you might imagine, “in lieu” comes into English from the Old French word “lieu” meaning “place”, which in turn is derived from the Latin “locum”, also meaning “place”. So, “in lieu” means “in place of”.

4. Baltic Sea feeder : ODER
The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and forms just over a hundred miles of the border between Germany and Poland, before eventually emptying into the Baltic Sea.

5. Chart in many a PowerPoint presentation : BAR GRAPH
Given that PowerPoint is a Microsoft product, it is perhaps a bit of a paradox that the original application that became PowerPoint was designed for the Macintosh computer. This first release was called “Presenter”. The company that designed Presenter was purchased by Microsoft in 1987.

6. Cousin of a neckerchief : ASCOT
An Ascot tie is that horrible-looking (I think!) wide tie that narrows at the neck, which these days is only really worn at weddings. The tie takes its name from the Royal Ascot horse race at which punters still turn up in formal wear at Ascot Racecourse in England.

7. Reggae artist ___ Paul : SEAN
Sean Paul is the stage name of Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques, a Jamaican reggae artist.

9. Crook, to a cop : PERP
“Perp” is short for perpetrator.

12. Item offering support : BRA
The word “brassière” is of course French in origin, but it isn’t the word the French use for a “bra”. In France what we call a bra is known as a “soutien-gorge”, translating to “held under the neck”. The word “brassière” is indeed used in France but there it describes a baby’s undershirt, a lifebelt or a harness. “Brassière” comes from the Old French word for an “arm protector” in a military uniform (“bras” is the French for “arm”). Later “brassière” came to mean “breast plate” and from there the word was used for a type of woman’s corset. The word jumped into English around 1900.

15. Homer Simpson outbursts : D’OHS
“The Simpsons” is one of the most successful programs produced by the Fox Broadcasting Company. Homer Simpson’s catchphrase is “D’oh”, now such a famous exclamation that it has been included in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) since 2001.

22. The Atlantic, e.g. : OCEAN
The earliest known mention of the name “Atlantic” for the world’s second-largest ocean was in Ancient Greece. The Greeks called the ocean “the Sea of Atlas” or “Atlantis thalassa”.

26. Miserly Marner : SILAS
“Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe” is a novel written by George Eliot and first published in 1861. There’s an excellent BBC TV version of the tale (shown on PBS) starring Ben Kingsley in the title role.

27. 2000 and 2004 swimming gold medalist Ian : THORPE
Ian Thorpe is a retired competitive swimmer from Australia. He won five gold medals , and earned himself the nickname “The Thorpedo”.


29. Peckish : TESTY
I’ve lived in the US since 1983, and I am still discovering words that have different meanings on each side of the Atlantic. “Peckish” means “ill-tempered” or “irritable” over here in North America, while back in the British Isles it means “a little hungry”. No wonder I confuse so many people …

40. Upton who wrote “Oil!” : SINCLAIR
Upton Sinclair was a prolific American author, with almost 100 books to his name. Sinclair’s most famous work is probably “The Jungle”, a 1906 novel about the meat packing industry that contributed to the Meat Inspection Act being passed by Congress a few months after the book was published. He also wrote “Oil”, published in 1927, which was the basis of the 2007 film “There Will Be Blood”, starring Daniel Day-Lewis.

49. Five-star hotel offerings : SPAS
The word “spa” migrated into English from Belgium, as Spa is the name of a municipality in the east of the country that is famous for its healing hot springs. The name “spa” comes from the Walloon word “espa” meaning “spring, fountain”.

52. “Whew! What a long week!” : TGIF
“Thank God It’s Friday” (TGIF) is a relatively new expression that originated in Akron, Ohio. It was a catchphrase used by disk jockey Jerry Healy of WAKR in the early seventies.

53. Korbut on a balance beam : OLGA
Olga Korbut is from modern-day Belarus, but was born during the days of the Soviet Union. Korbut competed for the USSR team in the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games. She was 17 when she appeared in the 1972 Munich Games, and had been training in a sports school since she was 8-years-old. The world fell in love with her as she was a very emotional young lady, readily expressing joy and disappointment, something that we weren’t used to seeing in athletes from behind the Iron Curtain. Korbut immigrated to the US in 1991 and now lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.

55. Adjective for a shoppe : OLDE
The word “olde” wasn’t actually used much earlier than the 1920s. “Olde” was introduced to give a quaint antique feel to brand names, shop names etc.

56. Prado artist : GOYA
Francisco Goya was a Spanish painter, often called the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Two of Goya’s most famous works are “The Nude Maja” and “The Clothed Maja”.

The Museo del Prado is in Madrid, the capital of Spain, and has one of the finest art collections in the world. The galleries most famous work is “Las Meninas” By Velazquez.

58. Maker of the 7 Series : BMW
BMW stands for Bayerische Motoren Werke, which translates into Bavarian Motor Works. BMW was making aircraft engines during WWI, but had to cease that activity according to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The company started making motorcycles, and then moved into automobile production starting in 1928. BMW moved back into aircraft engine manufacturing during the build-up of the Luftwaffe prior to WWII.

59. Spike behind a camera : LEE
Shelton Jackson Lee is the real name of Spike Lee, the film director and producer. Lee’s first feature-length film, released in 1986, was “She’s Gotta Have It”. Lee shot the film in just twelve days, and kept the movie within its relatively small budget of only $175,000. “She’s Gotta Have It” grossed over $7 million …

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
2. Formless lump : BLOB
6. “Chop-chop!” : ASAP
10. Vague sense : VIBE
13. Opera set in Egypt : AIDA
14. H.S. health course : SEX ED
16. To be, to Bernadette : ETRE
17. Fraternity party purchase : BEER
18. City where 13-Across debuted : CAIRO
19. Blacken, in cooking : CHAR
20. Supposed evidence of the 38-Across : SURGEON’S PHOTO
23. Year of the ___ (what 2008-09 was) : RAT
24. Game piece on a Stratego board : SCOUT
26. Green figure, briefly : ST PAT
29. 1999 Frank McCourt memoir : ‘TIS
32. Fungus that affects cereal : ERGOT
34. 24-hour place to hit the links? : IHOP
35. Pre-euro money : PESETA
37. Medieval Eur. domain : HRE
38. Subject of this puzzle : LOCH NESS MONSTER
41. Biblical sanctuary : ARK
42. Feel in one’s bones : INTUIT
43. “Your guess ___ good …” : IS AS
44. Utterly tired : SPENT
46. “You called?” : YES
47. 100 smackers : C-NOTE
48. French states : ETATS
50. Marty’s scientist pal in “Back to the Future” : DOC
51. Field of study that includes the 38-Across : CRYPTOZOOLOGY
58. Voting alliance : BLOC
60. All lit up : AGLOW
61. Lotion additive : ALOE
62. In-tray item : MEMO
63. DEER XING and others : SIGNS
64. Quaint literary work : IDYL
65. Some Halloween décor : WEBS
66. What some consider the 38-Across to be : FAKE
67. What some consider the 38-Across to be : REAL

Down
1. Poetic contraction : NE’ER
2. Streisand, familiarly : BABS
3. In ___ of : LIEU
4. Baltic Sea feeder : ODER
5. Chart in many a PowerPoint presentation : BAR GRAPH
6. Cousin of a neckerchief : ASCOT
7. Reggae artist ___ Paul : SEAN
8. Pivotal line : AXIS
9. Crook, to a cop : PERP
10. Missile heading : VECTOR
11. “My suspicions were right!” : I THOUGHT SO
12. Item offering support : BRA
15. Homer Simpson outbursts : D’OHS
21. “___ your heart out!” : EAT
22. The Atlantic, e.g. : OCEAN
25. Tried to claw open : TORE AT
26. Miserly Marner : SILAS
27. 2000 and 2004 swimming gold medalist Ian : THORPE
28. Grooming item for one on the go : POCKET COMB
29. Peckish : TESTY
30. Debate topic : ISSUE
31. Haulers on the highway : SEMIS
33. Hardly wandering : TERSE
35. Confident solver’s tool : PEN
36. Rug rat : TOT
39. ___-gritty : NITTY
40. Upton who wrote “Oil!” : SINCLAIR
45. Bust figures : NARCOS
47. Whisper sweet nothings : COO
49. Five-star hotel offerings : SPAS
50. Search for water, in a way : DOWSE
52. “Whew! What a long week!” : TGIF
53. Korbut on a balance beam : OLGA
54. Fall dead asleep, with “out” : ZONK
55. Adjective for a shoppe : OLDE
56. Prado artist : GOYA
57. Hoot and holler : YELL
58. Maker of the 7 Series : BMW
59. Spike behind a camera : LEE

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