Day: November 12, 2013

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. 767s, e.g. : JETS
The Boeing 767 was introduced in 1982 and was Boeing’s first wide-bodied, twin-engined jet. It has many similar features to the 757, the narrow-bodied, twin-engined jet that Boeing developed in parallel with the 767. The successor aircraft to the 767 is the 787 Dreamliner.

5. Tame, as movies go : RATED G
The Motion Picture Association of America’s (MPAA) film-rating system (R, PG-17, G etc.) is purely voluntary and is not backed by any law. Movie theaters agree to abide by the rules that come with the MPAA ratings in exchange for access to new movies.

14. Wyatt out West : EARP
Wyatt Earp is famous as one of the participants in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Earp was a city policeman in Wichita, Kansas and also in Dodge City, Kansas. Earp was also deputy sheriff in Tombstone, Arizona where the O.K. Corral gunfight took place. Years later, Earp joined the Alaska Gold Rush and with a partner built and operated the Dexter Saloon in Nome.

15. Farthest point of a 50-Down : APOGEE
(50D. Satellite’s path : ORBIT)
In the celestial world, an apsis is a point in an orbit when the orbiting body is at its greatest, or least, distance from it’s center of orbit. The farthest and closest points of orbit are known as the apogee and perigee, when talking about bodies orbiting the Earth. The farthest and closest points for bodies orbiting the sun are known as the aphelion and perihelion.

17. 1960s dissident : DRAFT DODGER
Surprisingly (to me), 25% of the troops who served in the Vietnam War were draftees. This compares with a drafted percentage of 66% during WWII.

19. ___ de la Plata : RIO
When the Uruguay River and the Paraná River come together on the border between Argentina and Uruguay, they form the Rio de la Plata. “Rio de la Plata” translates as “River of Silver” from Spanish, but in English we sometimes call the waterway the River Plate. The famous WWII action known as the Battle of the River Plate took place out to sea a few miles from the River Plate estuary. The German battleship Admiral Graf Spee took refuge in the River Plate in the neutral port of Montevideo. Forced to return to sea, and to the Royal Naval vessels waiting for her, Berlin gave orders for the Graf Spee to be scuttled in the estuary.

20. Suffix with Tao or Mao : -ISM
The Chinese character “tao” translates as “path”, but the concept of Tao signifies the true nature of the world.

The Maoist philosophy holds that the agrarian worker, as opposed to the more general working class, is the driving force in transforming from a capitalist society into a socialist society.

23. 1987 movie with the hit “Hungry Eyes” : DIRTY DANCING
The celebrated 1987 film “Dirty Dancing” stars Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Gray, who were two relative unknowns at that time of filming. “Dirty Dancing” had a relatively low budget but was destined to earn over $200 million. It became the first movie to sell more than a million copies on home video. There was a prequel made in 2004 called “Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights”, that wasn’t a good film at all. Patrick Swayze was paid $200,000 for his 1987 performance, and received $5 million to make a cameo in the prequel.

34. He’s no gentleman : CAD
Our word “cad”, meaning “a person lacking in finer feelings”, is a shortening of the word “cadet”. “Cad” was first used for a servant, and then students at British universities used “cad” as a term for a boy from the local town. “Cad” took on its current meaning in the 1830s.

42. Tests for many Ph.D. candidates : ORALS
In many countries, including the US, the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) is the highest academic degree awarded by universities. However, in Ireland and the UK “doctorates” can also be awarded, a higher recognition. For example, there is a Doctor of Sciences (DSc) and a Doctor of Letters (DLitt).

44. Boxer Roberto with “hands of stone” : DURAN
Roberto Durán is a retired professional boxer from Panama. He earned the nickname “Manos de Piedra” (Hands of Stone) during his very successful career. Durán retired in 2001 after being involved in a car crash which required life-saving surgery.

48. Fast-food chain with an orange and pink logo : DUNKIN’ DONUTS
Dunkin’ Donuts was founded in 1950 in Quincy, Massachusetts. Now the chain has over 15,000 restaurants in almost 40 different countries. The biggest competitor to Dunkin’ Donuts is actually Starbucks, as over half the company’s revenue comes from coffee and not donuts.

52. “Dies ___” : IRAE
“Dies Irae” is Latin for “Day of Wrath”. It is the name of a famous melody in Gregorian Chant, one that is often used as part of the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass.

53. Series of golf courses that host the British Open : ROTA
There is a rota of nine courses that are used for the British Open Golf Championship each year. Those courses are:

– The Old Course at St. Andrews
– Carnoustie
– Royal St. George’s
– Royal Lytham & St. Annes
– Royal Birkdale
– Turnberry
– Royal Liverpool
– Muirfield
– Royal Troon

54. Carrier to Oslo : SAS
SAS was formerly known as Scandinavian Airlines System and is the flag carrier of three countries: Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

57. Co. whose logo includes Leo the Lion : MGM
There has been a lion in the logo of the MGM studio since 1924. The original was an Irishman (!), a lion named Slats who was born in Dublin Zoo in 1919. However, it wasn’t until Jackie took over from Slats in 1928 that the roar was heard, as the era of silent movies was coming to an end. The current lion is called Leo, and he has been around since 1957.

58. Jump-rope style : DOUBLE DUTCH
Double Dutch is skipping game that uses two jump ropes that are turned in opposite directions.

62. ___ jeans : LEE
The Lee company famous for making jeans was formed in 1889, by one Henry David Lee in Salina, Kansas.

64. Grp. whose members account for more than 50% of the world’s defense spending : NATO
NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO was founded not long after WWII in 1949 and is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. The first NATO Secretary General was Lord Ismay, Winston Churchill’s chief military assistant during WWII. Famously, Lord Ismay said the goal of NATO was “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.”

67. Lacking depth … or like 17-, 23-, 37-, 48- and 58-Across? : IN 2D
The dimension of an object is defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify each point in the object. Therefore a line is one-dimensional, as you only need an x-coordinate to specify a particular point on the line. A plane is two-dimensional, as you need both an x-coordinate and a y-coordinate to locate a point on the plane. The inside of a solid object is then three-dimensional, needing an x-, y- and z-coordinate to specify a point, say within a cube.

Down
1. Darth Vader, once : JEDI
Anakin “Ani” Skywalker is the principal character in all six of the “Star Wars” movies. His progress chronologically through the series of films is:

– Episode I: Anakin is a 9-year-old slave boy who earns the promise of Jedi training by young Obi-Wan Kenobi.
– Episode II: Anakin is 18-years-old and goes on a murdering rampage to avenge the killing of his mother.
– Episode III: Anakin is 21-years-old and a Jedi knight, but he turns to the Dark Side and becomes Darth Vader. His wife Padme gives birth to twins, Luke and Leia Skywalker.
– Episode IV: Darth Vader, comes into conflict with his children, Luke Skywalker and the Princess Leia.
– Episode V: Darth Vader attempts to coax his son Luke over to the dark side, and reveals to Luke that he is his father.
– Episode VI: Luke learns that Leia is his sister, and takes on the task of bringing Darth Vader back from the Dark Side in order to save the Galaxy. Vader saves his son from the Emperor’s evil grip, dying in the process, but his spirit ends up alongside the spirits of Yoda and Obi-Wan. They all live happily ever after …

4. Letters on a beach bottle : SPF
In theory, the sun protection factor (SPF) is a calibrated measure of the effectiveness of a sunscreen in protecting the skin from harmful UV rays. The idea is that if you wear a lotion with say SPF 20, then it takes 20 times as much UV radiation to cause the skin to burn than it would take without protection. I say just stay out of the sun …

5. Some control tower equipment : RADARS
Scientists have been using radio waves to detect the presence of objects since the late 1800s, but it was the demands of WWII that accelerated the practical application of the technology. The British called their system RDF standing for Range and Direction Finding. The system used by the US Navy was called Radio Detection And Ranging, which was shortened to the acronym RADAR.

6. To the left, at sea : APORT
The left side of a ship used to be called the “larboard” side, but this was dropped in favor of “port” as pronunciation of “larboard” was easily confused with “starboard”, the right side of the vessel. The term “port” was chosen as it was customary to dock a ship, for loading in port, with the left side of the vessel against the dock.

7. Winter warmer : TODDY
The word “toddy” has come a long way. Its origins lie in the Hindi word for a palm tree, which is “tar”. The derivative word “tari” was used for palm sap, which came into English as “tarrie”, then “taddy” and “toddy”, all of which described an alcoholic drink made from fermented palm sap. That was back around 1600. Late in the 18th century, the palm sap drink called “toddy” had morphed into meaning any alcoholic drink made with liquor, hot water, sugar and spices.

9. Actor Billy ___ Williams : DEE
The actor Billy Dee Williams is most famous for playing the character Lando Calrissian in two of the “Stars Wars” movies.

10. Neighbor of Lux. : GER
Luxembourg is a relatively small country in the middle of Europe, just 100 square miles in area with a population of over half a million. The country is a representative democracy (just like the United Kingdom) and it has a constitutional monarch, namely Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg. As such, Luxembourg is the only remaining sovereign Grand Duchy in the world.

11. Creature that adopts a seashell : HERMIT CRAB
Hermit crabs are famous for occupying the discarded shells of other animals. Most commonly, hermit crabs can be found in empty shells that once belonged to sea snails.

12. Figure of myth known for his belt : ORION
The very recognizable constellation of Orion is of course named after the Greek God Orion, the Hunter. If you take a look at the star in Orion’s “right shoulder”, the second brightest star in the constellation, you might notice that it is quite red in color. This is the famous star called Betelgeuse (pronounced “beetle juice”), a red supergiant that is a huge star on its way out. Betelgeuse is expected to explode into a supernova within the next thousand years or so. You don’t want to miss that …

18. Minnesota player : TWIN
The Minnesota Twins baseball team started out life as the Kansas City Blues in 1894, before becoming the Washington Senators in 1901. The team arrived in Minneapolis in 1961.

22. IV units : CCS
Cubic centimeters (ccs)

Intravenous (IV) drip

23. “___ arigato, Mr. Roboto” : DOMO
“Domo arigato” translates from Japanese as “thank you very much”.

“Dōmo arigatō, Mr. Roboto” is a line in the chorus of the song “Mr. Roboto”, a song on the 1983 album “Kilroy Was Here” by the Chicago band Styx.

24. T. rex and others : DINOS
The Tyrannosaurus rex (usually written T. rex) was a spectacular looking dinosaur. “Tyrannosaurus” comes from the Greek words “tyrannos” (tyrant) and “sauros” (lizard), and the “rex” is of course Latin for “king”. They were big boys, measuring 42 feet long and 13 feet tall at the hips, and weighing 7.5 tons.

25. Mideast port : ADEN
Aden is a seaport in Yemen, located on the Gulf of Aden by the eastern approach to the Red Sea. Aden has a long history of British rule, from 1838 until a very messy withdrawal in 1967. Someone from the seaport of Aden is known as an Adeni.

26. Mathlete, stereotypically : NERD
A “mathlete” is someone who competes in mathematics competitions.

38. Actress Singer : LORI
Lori Singer is an actress, and also a cellist. Singer’s most famous acting role was the daughter of the Reverend Shaw Moore (played by John Lithgow) in “Footloose”.

39. Hassan Rouhani’s land : IRAN
Hassan Rouhani (also “Rowhani”) is the President of Iran, having won the election held on 15 June 2013. He took over from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Rouhani is in the news a lot recently, having made some public statements that have been viewed as moderate relative to his right-wing predecessor.

45. Lanai strings : UKE
The ukulele originated in the 1800s and mimicked a small guitar brought to the Hawaiian Islands by Portuguese immigrants.

Lanai is the sixth largest of the Hawaiian Islands. Lanai was first spotted by Europeans just a few days after Captain Cook was killed on the Big Island of Hawaii in 1779. In 1922, the Hawaiian Pineapple Company bought the whole island of Lanai and turned most of it into the world’s largest pineapple plantation. Since then, Lanai has been known as “The Pineapple Island”.

47. Slightly : A TAD
A tad is a small boy, with the term possibly coming from the word “tadpole”.

51. Nick of “Cape Fear” : NOLTE
The actor Nick Nolte got his first big break playing opposite Jacqueline Bisset and Robert Shaw in “The Deep”, released in 1976. Prior to that he had worked as a model, and in fact appeared in a magazine advertisement for Clairol in 1972 alongside fellow model, Sigourney Weaver.

The 1991 film called “Cape Fear” is a Martin Scorsese remake of a 1962 movie of the same name. The 1991 version stars Robert De Niro and Nick Nolte, and there are also cameo appearances by Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck who starred in the 1962 original.

54. Persian suffix that ends seven country names : -STAN
The suffix “-stan” that is seen in several country names in Asia is of Persian origin and means “place of” or “country”.

55. When the balcony scene occurs in “Romeo and Juliet” : ACT 2
In the balcony scene in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, Juliet utters the famous line:

O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?

Every school kid must have commented with a giggle “he’s down in the garden!” Of course, “wherefore” isn’t an archaic word for “where”, but rather an old way of saying “why”. So Juliet is asking, “Why art thou Romeo, a Montague, and hence a sworn enemy of the Capulets?”

59. Prov. bordering Manitoba : 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 of Ottawa as well as Toronto, Canada’s most populous city (and the capital of the province).

Manitoba is the Canadian province that borders the US states of North Dakota and Minnesota. Even though Manitoba has an area of over 250,000 square miles, 60% of its population resides in the province’s capital city of Winnipeg.

60. Winner of more than half of all the World Puzzle Championships : USA
The annual World Puzzle Championship was first held in New York and is a creation of Will Shortz, the puzzle editor for the New York Times.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. 767s, e.g. : JETS
5. Tame, as movies go : RATED G
11. Move like a bunny : HOP
14. Wyatt out West : EARP
15. Farthest point of a 50-Down : APOGEE
16. Goof or go off : ERR
17. 1960s dissident : DRAFT DODGER
19. ___ de la Plata : RIO
20. Suffix with Tao or Mao : -ISM
21. Fend (off) : WARD
22. “You’ve gotta be kidding!” : C’MON!
23. 1987 movie with the hit “Hungry Eyes” : DIRTY DANCING
27. Bodies of rules : CANONS
30. In other words, in old Rome : ID EST
31. Checkup : EXAM
32. More together : SANER
34. He’s no gentleman : CAD
37. Smash-hit entertainment? : DEMOLITION DERBY
41. K.C.-to-Nashville direction : ESE
42. Tests for many Ph.D. candidates : ORALS
43. Farm unit : BALE
44. Boxer Roberto with “hands of stone” : DURAN
46. Like some schoolbook folders : TABBED
48. Fast-food chain with an orange and pink logo : DUNKIN’ DONUTS
52. “Dies ___” : IRAE
53. Series of golf courses that host the British Open : ROTA
54. Carrier to Oslo : SAS
57. Co. whose logo includes Leo the Lion : MGM
58. Jump-rope style : DOUBLE DUTCH
62. ___ jeans : LEE
63. Like some job training : ON-SITE
64. Grp. whose members account for more than 50% of the world’s defense spending : NATO
65. Abbr. on a golf scorecard : YDS
66. Solid, liquid and gas : STATES
67. Lacking depth … or like 17-, 23-, 37-, 48- and 58-Across? : IN 2D

Down
1. Darth Vader, once : JEDI
2. Corny things? : EARS
3. Public transport option : TRAM
4. Letters on a beach bottle : SPF
5. Some control tower equipment : RADARS
6. To the left, at sea : APORT
7. Winter warmer : TODDY
8. Flan ingredient : EGG
9. Actor Billy ___ Williams : DEE
10. Neighbor of Lux. : GER
11. Creature that adopts a seashell : HERMIT CRAB
12. Figure of myth known for his belt : ORION
13. Tine : PRONG
18. Minnesota player : TWIN
22. IV units : CCS
23. “___ arigato, Mr. Roboto” : DOMO
24. T. rex and others : DINOS
25. Mideast port : ADEN
26. Mathlete, stereotypically : NERD
27. Surrender : CEDE
28. Lumberjacks’ tools : AXES
29. Acted the fink : NAMED NAMES
32. Lectern, e.g. : STAND
33. Suffer : AIL
35. Skilled : ABLE
36. Like orange hair : DYED
38. Actress Singer : LORI
39. Hassan Rouhani’s land : IRAN
40. Goes back : EBBS
45. Lanai strings : UKE
46. Students taught alone : TUTEES
47. Slightly : A TAD
48. How romantic dinners are lit : DIMLY
49. Encouraged : URGED
50. Satellite’s path : ORBIT
51. Nick of “Cape Fear” : NOLTE
54. Persian suffix that ends seven country names : -STAN
55. When the balcony scene occurs in “Romeo and Juliet” : ACT 2
56. Like racehorses’ feet : SHOD
58. Opposite of no-nos : DOS
59. Prov. bordering Manitoba : ONT
60. Winner of more than half of all the World Puzzle Championships : USA
61. Prefix with lateral : UNI-

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