Day: November 27, 2013

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. One of the Obama girls : MALIA
By tradition, the Secret Service code names used for the US President and family all start with the same letter. For the current First Family, that letter is R:

– Barack Obama: Renegade
– Michelle Obama: Renaissance
– Malia Obama: Radiance
– Sasha Obama: Rosebud

6. Like : A LA
The term “in the style of” can be translated in “alla” in Italian and “à la” in French.

9. Kindergarten stuff : ABCS
“Kindergarten” is of course a German term, literally meaning “children’s garden”. The term was coined by the German education authority Friedrich Fröbel in 1837, when he used it as the name for his play and activity institute that he created for young children to use before they headed off to school. His thought was that children should be nourished educationally, like plants in a garden.

13. Huskies’ sch. : UCONN
The UConn Huskies are the sports teams of the University of Connecticut. I wasn’t able to uncover the derivation of the “Huskies” moniker. Although it is true that “UConn” sounds like “Yukon”, that isn’t the derivation of the “Huskies” nickname as the school didn’t become the University of Connecticut (UConn) until 1939, and the Huskies name has been used since 1933.

14. Heavy work : TOME
“Tome” first came into English from the Latin “tomus” which means “section of a book”. The original usage in English was for a single volume in a multi-volume work. By the late 16th century “tome” had come to mean “a large book”.

17. Source of easy money : GRAVY TRAIN
The original “riders of the gravy train” were railroad men in the 1920s who were assigned a run that had good pay and little work. Since then, the phrase has come to mean any job that is easy and pays well. The term “gravy” had been slang for easy money since about 1900.

19. Cube … or certain cubes : DICE
As we all know, the numbers on dice are arranged so that the opposite faces add up to seven. Given this arrangement, the numbers 1, 2 and 3 all meet at a common vertex. Now, there are two ways of arranging the 1, 2 and 3 around the common vertex, a so called right-handed die (clockwise 1-2-3) or a left-handed die (counterclockwise 1-2-3). Traditionally, dice used in Western cultures are right-handed, whereas Chinese dice are left-handed. Quite interesting …

23. “Evita” character : CHE
“Evita” was the follow up musical to “Jesus Christ Superstar” for Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. Both of these works were originally released as album musicals, and very successful ones at that (I remember buying them when they first came out). For the original album’s cast they chose Irish singer Colm Wilkinson (or C. T. Wilkinson, as we know him back in Ireland) to play Che, the narrator of the piece. “Evita” was made into a film in 1996, with Madonna playing the title role.

24. One of a pair in a court : SQUASH RACKET
Squash is a racquet sport that is similar to the more common racquetball (more common here in the US, I think). The game is derived from the older sport of racquets. It was originally called squash racquets as the ball used is very, very squashable and much softer than that used in the parent game.

30. Plains Indians : OTOS
The Otoe (also Oto) Native American tribe originated in the Great Lakes region as part of the Winnebago or Siouan tribes. The group that would become the Otoe broke away from the Winnebago and migrated southwestwards ending up in the Great Plains. In the plains the Otoe adopted a semi-nomadic lifestyle dependent on the horse, with the American bison becoming central to their diet.

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

39. Setting for the starts of 17-, 24-, 51- and 64-Across : THANKSGIVING DAY
The tradition of the US President “pardoning” a Thanksgiving turkey was only formalized in 1989, during the administration of President George H, W. Bush. The pardoned turkey is taken to a farm where is gets to live out its life. Prior to 1989, the tradition was more focused on the presentation of a turkey to the White House, and less on the fate of the bird. President Eisenhower was presented with a turkey in each year of his two terms, and he ate them all …

43. Brontë title heroine : EYRE
“Jane Eyre” is of course the novel written by Charlotte Brontë, under the pen name Currer Bell. Over the years, I’ve shared here on my blogs that the “Jane Eyre” story line is a little too dark and Gothic for my taste, but a very persuasive blog reader convinced me to look more at the romantic side of the story and give it a second chance. I watched a wonderful 4-hour television adaptation of the novel made by the BBC a while back and I have to say that because I was focused on the relationship between Jane and Rochester, I was able to push past the Gothic influences (that depress me) so I really enjoyed the story. I thoroughly recommend the 2006 BBC adaptation to fans of the novel.

44. Cartoon genre : ANIME
Anime is cartoon animation in the style of Japanese Manga comic books.

The Japanese word “manga” means “whimsical pictures” and is an apt term to describe the Japanese style of comic book. Manga publications are more diverse than American comic books and have a larger audience. Manga cover many subjects including romance, sports, business, horror, and mystery.

46. Lisa with the 1997 hit “I Do” : LOEB
The singer Lisa Loeb was discovered by actor Ethan Hawke, who lived just across the street from her in New York City. Hawke took a demo of her song “Stay (I Missed You)” and gave it to director Ben Stiller, who in turn used it over the ending credits of his 1994 movie “Reality Bites”. The movie was a hit, the song went to number one, and Loeb became the first artist ever to hit that number one spot without having signed up with a record label. Good for her!

49. Short-sheeting and such : PRANKS
I remember the first time I fell victim to the prank of “short-sheeting”, and very perplexing it is too! The idea is to leave the bottom sheet as is, and tuck the top sheet under the mattress at the head of the bed, just as one would do with a bottom sheet. Then fold the foot of the top sheet back up to the head of the bed, and fold it as one would do normally for a top sheet. Don’t tell your Mom it was me who told you how to do it though …

56. Director Anderson : WES
Wes Anderson’s most famous movie is probably “The Royal Tenenbaums”, released in 2001, not my favorite film by any stretch. However, his 2007 release “The Darjeeling Limited”, that I enjoyed.

57. Officers above sarges : LOOIES
A lieutenant (looie) is higher in rank than a sergeant (sarge).

58. Noodles in Japanese cookery : SOBA
Soba is a thin Japanese noodle made from buckwheat flour. In Japan, the word soba tends to be used to describe any thin noodle, in contrast with the thicker noodles that are called udon.

62. Suffix with Rock : -ETTE
The famous Rockettes can be seen in Radio City Music Hall. They have an amazing schedule during the Christmas season when they perform five high-kicking shows every day, seven days a week. The troupe has been doing this every Christmas for 77 years.

64. Old ragtime dance : TURKEY TROT
The Turkey trot was a dance step popular in the early 1900s, often performed to ragtime music. It gained popularity because it was denounced by the Vatican, as some of the positions assumed were deemed suggestive and offensive.

66. God with a quiver : EROS
Eros was the Greek god of love, and the Greek counterpart of the Roman god Cupid.

68. Many an aria singer, informally : MEZZO
A mezzo-soprano is a female singing voice below a soprano but above a contralto. “Mezzo” is Italian for “half”.

69. Fillet : BONE
“To fillet” is to slice or bone, to make into fillets.

70. Short : SHY
To be “shy” is to be short, lacking. The term originated as gambling slang, meaning to owe money to the pot.

Down
2. Onset of phobia? : ACRO-
Our prefix “acro-” comes from the Greek “akros” meaning “at the top”. Examples are “acrophobia” (fear of heights) and “Acropolis” (“city at the top”).

6. Parts of hearts : ATRIA
The heart has four chambers. The two upper chambers (the atria) accept deoxygenated blood from the body and oxygenated blood from the lungs. The atria squeeze the blood into the two lower chambers of the heart (the ventricles), “priming” the pump, as it were. One ventricle pumps deoxygenated blood to the lungs, and the other pumps oxygenated blood to the rest of the body.

8. Plain folk : AMISH
The Amish are a group of Christian churches, a sub-group of the Mennonite churches. The Amish church originated in Switzerland and Alsace in 1693 when it was founded by Jakob Ammann. It was Ammann who gave the name to the Amish people. Many Amish people came to Pennsylvania in the 18th century.

10. LaCrosse, for one : BUICK SEDAN
David Dunbar Buick was an inventor working in Detroit, Michigan who founded the Buick Motor Company in 1903. Buick sold his interest in Buick Motors just three years later. He passed away in 1929, practically penniless. Still, over 30 million vehicles have been built that bore the Buick name.

11. Hidden store : CACHE
A “cache” is a secret supply. We imported the term into English from French Canadian trappers in the 17th century. Back then, “cache” was as slang term for a “hiding place for stores”, derived from the French verb “cacher” meaning “to hide”.

12. Cold fall : SLEET
Apparently “sleet” is a term used to describe two weather conditions. One is a shower of ice pellets, smaller than hail, and the second is a mixture of rain and snow, with the snow melting as it falls. It’s the second definition that I have always used …

15. Warm month in South America : ENERO
In Spanish, a year (año) starts in January (enero) and ends in December (diciembre).

18. They may be blind : TRUSTS
A blind trust is one in which those managing the trust’s funds have full discretion in regard to asset allocation, and the beneficiary of the trust has no knowledge of how the assets are allocated. Many politicians put their personal assets into blind trusts so that they avoid any conflicts of interest.

22. Calendar abbr. : SAT
The term “Saturday” comes from “dies Saturni”, which was the Ancient Roman “day of Saturn”.

25. Old Nestlé brand : QUIK
Nestlé Quik was introduced in 1948, and is a flavored powdered milk drink. It was sold in Europe as “Nesquik”, and that brand name replaced “Quik” here in the US in 1999. The Nesquik mascot is the Quik Bunny. The Quik Bunny had a large “Q” on a collar around his neck, and with the brand name change this “Q” became an “N”, and he is now known as the Nesquik Bunny.

26. Viet ___ : CONG
The Viet Cong was the name of the political and military organization based in South Vietnam that fought the US and South Vietnamese government during the Vietnam War. It was the Viet Cong, as opposed to the North Vietnamese, who launched the famous Tet Offensive in 1968. The American military referred to the Viet Cong as “the VC”. “VC” could be extended to “Victor Charlie” in the phonetic alphabet, and this was shortened to “Charlie”, which became a military slang term for the Viet Cong and other Communists.

29. Dance from which the Lindy Hop developed : CHARLESTON
The Charleston developed as a dance in African-American communities, but is more closely associated with the flappers of the 1920s.

The Lindy Hop is a dance based on the Charleston and dates back to the twenties and thirties. The name Lindy is a homage to the famous 1927 flight across the Atlantic by Charles Lindbergh.

33. Muslim general : AGA
“Aga” (also “agha”) is a title that was used by both civil and military officials in the Ottoman Empire.

34. Jeremy of the N.B.A. : LIN
Jeremy Lin is a professional basketball player with the Houston Rockets. Lin is the first American of Chinese descent to play in the NBA.

37. Pool need : RACK
The more correct name for the game of pool is pocket billiards. The name “pool” arose after pocket billiards became a common feature in “pool halls”, places where gamblers “pooled” their money to bet on horse races.

42. “I, Claudius” role : NERO
“I, Claudius” is a 1934 novel penned by Robert Graves, written in the form of an autobiography of Emperor Claudius of Rome. Graves wrote a sequel in 1935 called “Claudius the God”. Both books were adapted by the BBC into a fabulous television series that went by the name of the first book “I, Claudius”.

47. Subj. for many newcomers : ESL
English as a Second Language (ESL) is sometimes referred to as English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL).

48. Fauna and flora : BIOTA
The biota of a region is the total collection of flora and fauna found there.

50. Brand from Holland : AMSTEL
Amstel is a Dutch beer and brewery, founded in 1870 in Amsterdam. The brewery takes its name from the Amstel river which runs through the city.

52. Like the Deco look, now : RETRO
Art deco is the name given to a style of design and architecture of the 1920s that actually had its roots in Belgium and then spread throughout Europe before arriving in North America. Celebrated examples of art deco architecture are the magnificent Chrysler Building in New York City completed in 1930, and the GE Building that sits in the middle of Rockefeller Center also in New York City, with the address of “30 Rock”.

59. Rice-size pasta : ORZO
Orzo is pasta that has been formed into granular shapes, much like barley. And indeed, “orzo” is the Italian word for “barley”.

60. Lamebrain : BOZO
A “bozo” is a man with a low IQ, and one who is usually quite muscular. We’ve been using the word since the early 1900s and it possibly comes from the Spanish “bozal” that was used to describe someone who speaks Spanish poorly.

65. Sumac native to Peru : YMA
Yma Sumac was a Peruvian soprano. Sumac had a notable vocal range of five octaves.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. One of the Obama girls : MALIA
6. Like : A LA
9. Kindergarten stuff : ABCS
13. Huskies’ sch. : UCONN
14. Heavy work : TOME
16. Word before income or exhaust : DUAL
17. Source of easy money : GRAVY TRAIN
19. Cube … or certain cubes : DICE
20. Certain : SOME
21. Salon supplies : RINSES
23. “Evita” character : CHE
24. One of a pair in a court : SQUASH RACKET
27. Prickly one : CACTUS
30. Plains Indians : OTOS
31. Suffix meaning “approximately” : -ISH
32. Author Calvino : ITALO
36. Hardly Mr. Cool : NERD
39. Setting for the starts of 17-, 24-, 51- and 64-Across : THANKSGIVING DAY
43. Brontë title heroine : EYRE
44. Cartoon genre : ANIME
45. Not miss a thing on : ACE
46. Lisa with the 1997 hit “I Do” : LOEB
49. Short-sheeting and such : PRANKS
51. Locale for a big mirror : DRESSING ROOM
56. Director Anderson : WES
57. Officers above sarges : LOOIES
58. Noodles in Japanese cookery : SOBA
62. Suffix with Rock : -ETTE
64. Old ragtime dance : TURKEY TROT
66. God with a quiver : EROS
67. Stake on a table : ANTE
68. Many an aria singer, informally : MEZZO
69. Fillet : BONE
70. Short : SHY
71. “That threw me for ___” : A LOOP

Down
1. Makes faces : MUGS
2. Onset of phobia? : ACRO-
3. Soil sort : LOAM
4. Stockbroker’s advice : INVEST
5. “___ news?” : ANY
6. Parts of hearts : ATRIA
7. Bank department : LOANS
8. Plain folk : AMISH
9. Make sense, with “up” : ADD
10. LaCrosse, for one : BUICK SEDAN
11. Hidden store : CACHE
12. Cold fall : SLEET
15. Warm month in South America : ENERO
18. They may be blind : TRUSTS
22. Calendar abbr. : SAT
25. Old Nestlé brand : QUIK
26. Viet ___ : CONG
27. Footnote, perhaps : CITE
28. Wan : ASHY
29. Dance from which the Lindy Hop developed : CHARLESTON
33. Muslim general : AGA
34. Jeremy of the N.B.A. : LIN
35. Egg: Prefix : OVI-
37. Pool need : RACK
38. Salon supplies : DYES
40. Modernists, informally : NEOS
41. Obtrude : IMPOSE
42. “I, Claudius” role : NERO
47. Subj. for many newcomers : ESL
48. Fauna and flora : BIOTA
50. Brand from Holland : AMSTEL
51. Hardly Mr. Cool : DWEEB
52. Like the Deco look, now : RETRO
53. Nuts and bolts, e.g. : NOUNS
54. Body measurement : GIRTH
55. Enter again, as text : REKEY
59. Rice-size pasta : ORZO
60. Lamebrain : BOZO
61. Opposite of under : ATOP
63. Charlottesville-to-Richmond dir. : ESE
65. Sumac native to Peru : YMA

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