Day: March 6, 2014

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Side pieces : JAMBS
A door or window jamb is the vertical portion of the frame. The term “jamb” comes from the French word “jambe” meaning “leg”.

6. Tenor in a barbershop quartet, e.g. : PART
Barbershop music is played in the a cappella style, meaning that it is unaccompanied vocal music. Barbershop music originated in the African American communities in the South, as gospel quartets often gathered in neighborhood barber shops to sing together.

15. Singer India.___ : ARIE
India.Arie is an American soul and R&B singer, born India Arie Simpson.

16. Modern yogurt flavor : ACAI
Açaí is a palm tree native to Central and South America. The fruit has become very popular in recent years and its juice is a very fashionable addition to juice mixes and smoothies.

18. Pepsi-owned beverage brand : SOBE
The brand name SoBe can be found on teas, juices and bottled waters. SoBe is an abbreviation for South Beach, the neighborhood in Miami Beach, Florida.

19. Cajun French, e.g. : DIALECT
The great explorer Verrazzano gave the name “Arcadia” to the coastal land that stretched from north of present day Virginia right up the North American continent to Nova Scotia. The name Arcadia was chosen as it was also the name for a part of Greece that had been viewed as idyllic from the days of classical antiquity. The “Arcadia” name quickly evolved into the word “Acadia” that was used locally here in North America. Much of Acadia was settled by the French in the 1600s, and then in 1710 Acadia was conquered by the British. There followed the French and Indian War after which there was a mass migration of French Acadians, often via the French colony of Saint-Dominique (present-day Haiti) to the French colony of Louisiana. The local dialectic pronunciation of the word “Acadian” was “Cajun”, giving the name to the ethnic group for which Louisiana has been home for about 300 years.

22. TLC, e.g. : TRIO
The girl band called TLC is from Atlanta, Georgia. The trio’s original members were:

– Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins
– Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes
– Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas

23. Doesn’t waste an opportunity : SEIZES THE DAY
“Carpe diem” is a quotation from Horace, one of Ancient Rome’s leading lyric poets. “Carpe diem” translates from Latin as “seize the day” or “enjoy the day”.

28. Qatari leader : EMIR
An emir is a prince or chieftain, most notably in the Middle East. In English, “emir” can also be written as “amir” and “ameer” (watch out for those spellings in crosswords!).

Qatar is a sovereign state in the Middle East occupying the Qatar Peninsula, itself located in the Arabian Peninsula. Qatar lies on the Persian Gulf and shares one land border, with Saudi Arabia to the south. Qatar has more oil and gas reserves per capita of population than any other country in the world. In 2010, Qatar had the fastest growing economy in the world, driven by the petrochemical industry.

30. Ingredient in many Asian desserts : AGAR
Agar (also “agar-agar”) is a jelly extracted from seaweed that has many uses. Agar is found in Japanese desserts, and can also be used as a food thickener or even as a laxative. In the world of science it is the most common medium used for growing bacteria in Petri dishes.

43. Royal son of the comics : ARN
“Prince Valiant” is a comic strip that first appeared in 1937 when it was created by Hal Foster. Edward, Duke of Windsor called the “Prince Valiant” comic strip the “greatest contribution to English Literature in the past one hundred years”. I’m not so sure …

45. Seoul soldiers : ROKS
A South Korean soldier is known as an ROK, named after the acronym for the Republic of (South) Korea.

47. Assumed : USURPED
“To usurp” is to seize and hold by force, say the power or authority of a ruler. The term “usurp” comes to us from Latin via French, from “usus” (a use) and “rapere” (to seize).

49. 24-___ : KARAT
A karat (also “carat”, the spelling outside of North America) is a measure of the purity of gold alloys, with 24-karat representing pure gold.

52. Device that converts pressure into a rotating motion : PISTON ENGINE
In most internal combustion engines the pistons that move up and down are arranged in a line, and connected to a crankshaft that runs along the bottom of the engine. The up and down motion of the pistons turns the crankshaft, which turning motion is “transmitted” (via the transmission) to the wheels.

54. “Some Kind of ___” (Dick Van Dyke comedy) : A NUT
“Some Kind of a Nut” is a 1969 comedy movie starring Dick Van Dyke, Angie Dickinson and Rosemary Forsyth. Van Dyke plays a bank teller who grows a beard that is symbolic of him taking control of his own life, and hilarity ensues (I am told …).

The marvelous iconic comedian, actor, singer and dancer Dick Van Dyke has been in the world of entertainment since the 1940s when he was a radio announcer with the US military. He really made a name for himself on television in his iconic sitcom “The Dick Van Dyke Show”. On the big screen, Van Dyke’s most famous roles were in “Bye Bye Birdie” (1963), “Mary Poppins” (1964) and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” (1968).

56. Actress Andersson : BIBI
Bibi Andersson is an actress from Sweden. Andersson starred in ten movies directed by the great Ingmar Bergman.

58. Japanese watch : SEIKO
Seiko Epson is a Japanese company, one of the largest manufacturers of printers in the world. The company has its roots in the watch business, roots that go back to 1942. Seiko was chosen as the official timekeeper for the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and was asked to supply a timer that produced a printed record. This request brought Seiko into the business of printer production. The company developed the world’s first mini-printer for the 1964 Games and called it EP-101 (EP standing for Electronic Printer). In 1975 Seiko introduced the next generation of EP printers which was called EPSON, from “SON of EP”. Cute, huh?

62. Redding of R&B : OTIS
Otis Redding is often referred to as the “King of Soul”, and what a voice he had. Like so many of the greats in the world of popular music it seems, Redding was killed in a plane crash, in 1967 when he was just 26 years old. Just three days earlier he had recorded what was to be his biggest hit, “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay”.

63. Blue hue : ANIL
Anil is another name for the indigo plant, as well as the name for the blue indigo dye that is obtained from it. The color of anil is relatively close to navy blue.

64. British poet laureate ___ Day-Lewis : CECIL
Cecil Day-Lewis was an Irish poet from County Laois who was appointed Poet Laureate of the UK in 1968. Cecil had a famous son, the actor Daniel Day-Lewis.

65. Honey-soaked dessert : BAKLAVA
Baklava is a very sweet and rich (and delicious) dessert pastry made from layers of filo dough filled with nuts and sweetened with honey or syrup. The name “baklava” comes from the Ottoman Turkish name for the pastry.

66. Some fund-raising grps. : PTAS
Parent-Teacher Association (PTA)

Down
2. Athlete with the autobiography “The Soul of a Butterfly” : ALI
“The Soul of a Butterfly” is a 2004 autobiography of former heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali.

Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. was born in 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky. Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali when he converted to Islam in 1964. Who can forget Muhammad Ali lighting the Olympic flame for the 1996 games in Atlanta? Ali was presented with a gold medal during those ’96 Games, a replacement for the medal he won at the 1960 Olympics. He had thrown the original into the Ohio River as a gesture of disgust after being refused service at a “whites only” restaurant.

3. Computer storage unit, informally : MEG
In the world of computing, one kilobyte (1k) is one thousandth of a megabyte (“1 meg”).

4. Military decoration : BRONZE STAR
The Bronze Star Medal is a decoration awarded by the US Military to individuals for heroism or meritorious service. The Bronze Star was established in 1944. A 1962 executive order made it possible for the Bronze Star to be awarded to foreign soldiers while serving alongside US forces.

5. German beer now owned by the Pabst Brewing Company : STROH’S
Bernard Stroh was the son of a German brewer. Stroh immigrated to the US in 1848 and set up his own brewery in 1850 in Detroit. Years later, the Stroh Brewing Company introduced a European process called fire-brewing. This results in higher temperatures at a crucial stage in the brewing process, supposedly bringing out flavor. Stroh’s is the only American beer that still uses this process.

6. Annual parade locale : PASADENA
The first Rose Parade was staged in 1890, on New Years Day in Pasadena, California. The initial parades were organized by the Pasadena Valley Hunt Club, whose members wanted to highlight the mild winter weather in the area. The initial parades did not feature flowers, but these were added to underscore the favorable climate. It was the inclusion of the flowers that gave rise to the name “Tournament of Roses”. The first Rose Bowl football game was played in 1902.

8. Kind of steak : RIB EYE
If you’re ever in Australia or New Zealand and looking for a rib eye steak, you need to order a “Scotch fillet”.

10. Traction provider : RADIAL TIRE
Radial tires (actually “radial-ply tires) are so called because the cord plies embedded in the rubber are arranged radially from the centre of the tire. This means that the plies are at right angles to the direction of travel. In older tires the plies were criss-crossed over each other, at angles of 60 and -60 degrees from the direction of travel. Such tires are called “cross-ply” or “bias” tires.

11. Sharp : ACERB
“Acerb” is a variant of “acerbic”, meaning sour or bitter-tasting, acidic.

12. Prima ___ : FACIE
“Prima facie” is Latin for “first encounter” or “at first sight”. In the world of the law, a prima facie case is one in which the evidence is deemed to be sufficient for a judgment to be made unless the evidence is contested.

13. Fuentes and Puente : TITOS
Tito Fuentes is retired Major League Baseball player from Havana who played most of his career with the San Francisco Giants. After he retired, Fuentes worked with the Giants as a radio announcer for over ten years, and now works with the team as an analyst.

After serving in the navy in WWII for three years, the musician Tito Puente studied at Juilliard, where he got a great grounding in conducting, orchestration and theory. Puente parlayed this education into a career in Latin Jazz and Mambo. He was known as “El Rey” as well as “The King of Latin Music”.

23. Land name before 1939 : SIAM
Siam was the official name of Thailand up to 1939 (and from 1945 to 1949).

24. Heavenly figure, in Hesse : ENGEL
“Engel” is German for “angel”.

Hesse is a German state. The capital of Hesse is Wiesbaden, although the largest city in the state is Frankfurt.

26. Curse : JINX
A jinx is a charm or a spell, and the word “jinx” comes from an older word “jyng” from the 17th-century. A “jyng” was another word for the wryneck, a type of bird much used in witchcraft.

29. Opalescent gems : MOONSTONES
Moonstone is a gemstone. The gem gets its name from a sheen that can be evident due to diffraction of light. The Ancient Romans believed that the stone was born from rays of the moon that had solidified, hence the name.

32. New Deal inits. : WPA
The Work Progress Administration (WPA) was the largest of the New Deal agencies. The WPA employed millions of people during the Depression, putting them to work on various public works projects. The total spending through the WPA from 1936 to 1939 was nearly $7 billion. We have to give the federal government credit for taking an enlightened view of what types of project qualified for financial support, so artists who could not get commissions privately were hired by the government itself. The result is a collection of “New Deal Art”, including a series of murals that can be found in post offices around the country to this day.

34. Relative of a giraffe : OKAPI
The okapi is closely related to the giraffe, although it does have markings on its legs and haunches that resemble those of a zebra. The okapi’s tongue is long enough to reach back and wash its eyeballs (eek!), and can go back even further to clean its ears inside and out.

35. “Tullius” in Marcus Tullius Cicero : NOMEN
In an Ancient Roman naming convention, the higher-class male citizens were had three names. First came the “praenomen”, which was the given name. Second was the “nomen”, the person’s clan or “gens”. Lastly came the “cognomen”, the family line with the clan.

Cicero was a very influential senator in Ancient Rome, in part due to his renowned ability to deliver a persuasive speech. His full name was Marcus Tullius Cicero.

38. European city whose airport is the world’s largest chocolate-selling point : BRUSSELS
The Belgian capital of Brussels is famous for its food and drink. The list includes the city’s special waffles, chocolate, French fries and beer.

40. Singer with the 1986 #1 album “Promise” : SADE
Sade’s real name is Helen Folasade Adu. Although she was born in Nigeria, Sade grew up and lives in the UK. She was the lead vocalist for the English group Sade, and adopted the name of the band. The band’s biggest hits were “Smooth Operator” (1984) and “The Sweetest Taboo” (1985).

42. Capital on the Danube : BRATISLAVA
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia.

The Danube is the second largest river in Europe (after the Volga), and actually flows through four European capitals (Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade and Bratislava).

44. Character in Clue : MR GREEN
Clue is another board game that we knew under a different name growing up in Ireland. Outside of North America, Clue is marketed as “Cluedo”. Cluedo was the original name of the game, introduced in 1949 by the famous British board game manufacturer Waddingtons. There are cute differences between the US and UK versions. For example, the man who is murdered is called Dr. Black (Mr. Boddy in the US), one of the suspects is the Reverend Green (Mr. Green in the US), and the suspect weapons include a dagger (a knife in the US), a lead pipe (lead piping in the US) and a spanner (a wrench in the US). I think it’s a fabulous game, a must during the holidays …

46. Nascar’s ___ Cup Series : SPRINT
In the world of NASCAR, what was called the Nextel Cup in 2004-2007, is now known as the Sprint Cup (as Sprint took over Nextel). Prior to 2004, the prize was called the Winston Cup.

48. Paris-based grp. since 1945 : UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is better known by the acronym “UNESCO”. UNESCO’s mission is help build peace in the world using programs focused on education, the sciences, culture, communication and information. The organization’s work is aimed in particular at Africa, and gender equalization.

49. Item purchased at many a food cart : KABOB
The name “kebab” (also “kabob”) covers a wide variety of meat dishes that originated in Persia. In the West, we usually use “kebab” when talking about shish kebab, which is meat (often lamb) served on a skewer. “Shish” comes from the Turkish word for “skewer”.

50. “West Side Story” woman : ANITA
The Puerto Rican singer, dancer and actress Rita Moreno is one of the few performers to have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony. Moreno got her big break, and won her Oscar, for playing Anita in the 1961 screen adaption of “West Side Story”.

Leonard Bernstein’s musical “West Side Story” is of course based on William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”. The musical is set in New York City and features two rival gangs: the Sharks from Puerto Rico and the Jets with working-class, Caucasian roots. Tony from the Jets falls in love with Maria from the Sharks. All this parallels Romeo from the House of Montague falling for Juliet from the House of Capulet in the Italian city of Verona.

51. Cube creator : RUBIK
What was originally called the “Magic Cube” became better known as Rubik’s Cube, named for its inventor Ernő Rubik. Rubik’s Cube is the world’s biggest selling puzzle game, with over 350 million sold in just over 30 years.

53. Aegean region : IONIA
Lydia and Ionia were ancient territories in a part of the world now covered by modern-day Turkey. Both territories eventually fell under Greek and then Roman rule.

The Aegean Sea is that part of the Mediterranean that lies between Greece and Turkey. Within the Aegean Sea are found the Aegean Islands, a group that includes Crete and Rhodes.

55. Pat-a-cake element : CLAP
Pat-a-cake is a nursery rhyme that is often accompanied by a hand-clapping game played by two people.

Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker’s man.
Bake me a cake as fast as you can;
Roll it, Pat it and mark it with B,
Put it in the oven for baby and me.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Side pieces : JAMBS
6. Tenor in a barbershop quartet, e.g. : PART
10. Lot : RAFT
14. Quick : ALERT
15. Singer India.___ : ARIE
16. Modern yogurt flavor : ACAI
17. Strictness : RIGOR
18. Pepsi-owned beverage brand : SOBE
19. Cajun French, e.g. : DIALECT
20. Ones little-known in their fields : NO-NAMES
22. TLC, e.g. : TRIO
23. Doesn’t waste an opportunity : SEIZES THE DAY
26. Agrees : JIBES
27. Quickly : IN HASTE
28. Qatari leader : EMIR
30. Ingredient in many Asian desserts : AGAR
31. Dallas-to-Amarillo dir. : WNW
33. Common situation near the start of an inning : ONE ON
36. Many a shot in the arm, for short? : MED
37. Platform … or something that appears four times in this puzzle? : SOAPBOX
39. Decks, in brief : KOS
41. Management’s counterpart : LABOR
43. Royal son of the comics : ARN
44. First word, maybe : MAMA
45. Seoul soldiers : ROKS
47. Assumed : USURPED
49. 24-___ : KARAT
52. Device that converts pressure into a rotating motion : PISTON ENGINE
54. “Some Kind of ___” (Dick Van Dyke comedy) : A NUT
55. Double-___ : CROSSER
56. Actress Andersson : BIBI
57. “Come here often?,” e.g. : LINE
58. Japanese watch : SEIKO
62. Redding of R&B : OTIS
63. Blue hue : ANIL
64. British poet laureate ___ Day-Lewis : CECIL
65. Honey-soaked dessert : BAKLAVA
66. Some fund-raising grps. : PTAS
67. Upright : ON END

Down
1. Rattle : JAR
2. Athlete with the autobiography “The Soul of a Butterfly” : ALI
3. Computer storage unit, informally : MEG
4. Military decoration : BRONZE STAR
5. German beer now owned by the Pabst Brewing Company : STROH’S
6. Annual parade locale : PASADENA
7. Wine feature : AROMA
8. Kind of steak : RIB EYE
9. Casual wear : TEES
10. Traction provider : RADIAL TIRE
11. Sharp : ACERB
12. Prima ___ : FACIE
13. Fuentes and Puente : TITOS
21. Socialize professionally : NETWORK
23. Land name before 1939 : SIAM
24. Heavenly figure, in Hesse : ENGEL
25. “___ lovely time” : I HAD A
26. Curse : JINX
29. Opalescent gems : MOONSTONES
32. New Deal inits. : WPA
34. Relative of a giraffe : OKAPI
35. “Tullius” in Marcus Tullius Cicero : NOMEN
37. Pipe buildup : SOOT
38. European city whose airport is the world’s largest chocolate-selling point : BRUSSELS
40. Singer with the 1986 #1 album “Promise” : SADE
42. Capital on the Danube : BRATISLAVA
44. Character in Clue : MR GREEN
46. Nascar’s ___ Cup Series : SPRINT
48. Paris-based grp. since 1945 : UNESCO
49. Item purchased at many a food cart : KABOB
50. “West Side Story” woman : ANITA
51. Cube creator : RUBIK
53. Aegean region : IONIA
55. Pat-a-cake element : CLAP
59. Cube makeup : ICE
60. It’s all relatives : KIN
61. Familiar : OLD

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