Day: June 2, 2014

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
10. ___ law (physics formulation) : OHM’S
The unit of electrical resistance is the ohm (with the symbol omega) named after German physicist Georg Simon Ohm. Ohm was the guy who established experimentally that the amount of current flowing through a circuit is directly proportional to the voltage applied, (V=IR) a relationship that every school kid knows as Ohm’s Law.

14. One who Googles, e.g. : USER
The search engine “Google” was originally called “BackRub” would you believe? The name was eventually changed to Google, an intentional misspelling of the word “googol”. A googol is a pretty big number, 10 to the power of 100. That would be the digit 1 followed by 100 zeros.

19. Capital of Norway : OSLO
Oslo is the capital of Norway. The city of Oslo burns trash to fuel half of its buildings, including all of its schools. The problem faced by the city is that it doesn’t generate enough trash. So, Oslo imports trash from Sweden, England and Ireland, and is now looking to import some American trash too.

32. Cubs slugger Sammy : SOSA
Sammy Sosa was firmly in the public eye in 1998 when he and Mark McGwire were vying to be the first to surpass the home run record held by Roger Maris. McGwire fell out of public favor due to stories of steroid abuse (stories which he later admitted were true) while Sosa fell out of favor when he was found to be using a corked bat in a 2003 game.

33. Long-distance inits. : ATT
The original AT&T Corporation was known as the American Telephone and Telegraph Company.

36. 2000 Olympics site : SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
When the Summer Olympic Games were held in Sydney, Australia in 2000, it marked the second time that the event was hosted in the Southern Hemisphere, the first occasion being the 1956 games in Melbourne. Although the Sydney Games were a public relations success, the financial result was a major disappointment. The Australian government built several new venues in the Sydney Olympic Park and were planning on recouping the cost by renting out the facilities in the following years. Sadly, the required level of bookings failed to materialize and so the government’s bank balance took a hit.

42. Hair job at a salon : PERM
“Perm” is the name given to a permanent wave, a chemical or thermal treatment of hair to produce waves or curls. I don’t worry about such things, as it’s a number-one all over for me …

47. Founding father who had a beer named after him : SAMUEL ADAMS
Samuel Adams was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, from Boston Massachusetts. Adams followed his father into the family’s malthouse business a few years after young Samuel graduated from Harvard. There were generations of Adams family members who were “maltsters” i.e. those producing malt needed for making beer. Samuel Adams is often described as a brewer, but he was actually a malster. The Samuel Adams brand of beer isn’t directly associated with the Adams family, but it is named in honor of the patriot.

54. Piano exercise : ETUDE
An étude is a small instrumental composition that is usually quite hard to play and is intended to help the performer master a particular technique. “Étude” is the French word for “study”. Études are commonly performed on the piano.

56. ___ mater : ALMA
The literal translation for the Latin term “alma mater” is “nourishing mother”. “Alma mater” was used in Ancient Rome to refer to mother goddesses, and in Medieval Christianity the term was used to refer to the Virgin Mary. Nowadays, one’s alma mater is the school one attended, either high school or college, usually one’s last place of education.

57. Wisenheimer : SMART ALECK
Apparently the original “smart Alec” (sometimes “Aleck”) was Alec Hoag, a pimp, thief and confidence trickster who plied his trade in New York City in the 1840s.

A smart Alec or wise guy might be called “Wisenheimer”. The term is mock German or Yiddish and dates back to the very early 1900s.

62. Bar mitzvah boy, barely : TEEN
A Jewish girl becomes a Bat Mitzvah at 12 years of age, the age at which she becomes responsible for her actions. Boys become Bar Mitzvahs at 13. The terms translate into English as daughter and son of the commandments.

65. Concordes, in brief : SSTS
The most famous supersonic transport (SST) is the retired Concorde. Concorde was developed and produced under an Anglo-French treaty by France’s Aérospatiale and the UK’s British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Concordes were mainly operated by Air France and British Airways, with both companies buying the planes with substantial subsidies from the French and British governments.

67. Like carols at Christmas : SUNG
The word “carol” came into English via the Old French word “carole”, which was a “dance in a ring”. When “carol” made it into English, about 1300 AD, the term was used to describe a dance as well as a joyful song. Around 1500 AD, carols that were sung came to be associated with Christmas.

Down
1. Roast beef au ___ : JUS
The French term “au jus” is usually translated as “with it’s own juice”.

4. Wilma’s hubby on “The Flintstones” : FRED
I once had the privilege of spending an afternoon in the room (Bill Hanna’s den) where Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera came up with the idea of “The Flintstones” …

5. “All ___ Do” (Sheryl Crow hit) : I WANNA
“All I Wanna Do” is Sheryl Crow’s biggest hit, released in 1994.

Sheryl Crow famously dated cyclist Lance Armstrong from 2003-2006. Armstrong has stated publicly more than once that Crow’s music cured his cancer.

6. Nearsighted Mr. of cartoons : MAGOO
Mr. Quincy Magoo is a wonderful cartoon character voiced by Jim Backus. Backus is probably equally well-known for playing Mr. Magoo as well as Thurston Howell, III on “Gilligan’s Island”. Mr. Magoo first appeared on the screen in a short called “The Ragtime Bear” in 1949. His persona was at least in part based on the antics of W. C. Fields. Backus originally used a fake rubber nose that pinched his nostrils in order to create the distinctive voice, although in time he learned to do the voice without the prop. My absolute favorite appearance by Mr. Magoo is in “Mr Magoo’s Christmas Carol”, a true classic from the sixties. There was a movie adaptation of “Mr Magoo” released in 1997, with Leslie Nielsen playing the title role.

9. Myrna of “The Thin Man” : LOY
The beautiful Myrna Loy was one of my favorite actresses. Her career took off when she was paired up with William Powell in the fabulous “The Thin Man” series of films. Loy also appeared opposite Cary Grant in a couple of films that I like to watch every so often, namely “The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer” (1947) and “Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House” (1948).

10. Nonalcoholic beer brand : O’DOULS
I did a blind taste test on all the big-selling non-alcoholic beers with a friend of mine. O’Douls Amber won the day pretty decisively, which surprised us, as it was the cheapest!

11. Book between Daniel and Joel : HOSEA
Hosea was one of the Twelve Prophets of the Hebrew Bible, also called the Minor Prophets of the Old Testament in the Christian Bible.

18. Valentine’s Day flower : ROSE
Saint Valentine’s Day was chosen by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD to honor various martyrs with the name Valentine. However, the saints’ day was dropped by the Catholic church in 1969, by Pope Paul VI. Try telling that to Hallmark though …

21. Persian Gulf emirate : QATAR
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.

22. Absinthe flavor : ANISE
Absinthe is an alcoholic spirit that is distilled from various plants and herbs, including “wormwood”. Absinthe was banned in the US in 1915 as it was deemed to be an addictive psychoactive drug. However, the accepted opinion today seems to be that absinthe is no more addictive or dangerous than any other spirit.

23. Stage statuettes : TONYS
The full name for the Tony Award is the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre. Antoinette Perry was an American actress and co-founder of the American Theatre Wing, one of the organizations that selects the award recipients.

29. ___ Juan (ladies’ man) : DON
Don Juan is a flighty character who has been featured by a number of authors, poets and composers, including Moliere, Byron, and Mozart. In the underlying legend, Don Juan ends up talking to the statue of the dead father of one of his conquests. Don Juan dines with the ghost of the dead man and when shaking the hand of the ghost he is dragged away to hell.

35. Striped cat : TABBY
Tabbies aren’t a breed of cat, but rather are cats with particular markings regardless of breed. Tabbies have coats with stripes, dots and swirling patterns, and usually an “M” mark on the forehead.

39. Prima donna’s delivery : ARIA
The Italian operatic term “prima donna” is used for the lead female singer in an opera company. “Prima donna” translates from Italian as “first lady”. The lead male singer is known as the “primo uomo”. The term “prima donna assoluta” is reserved for a prima donna who is generally accepted as being an outstanding performer. We tend to use “prima donna” for a female performer who has an inflated ego.

40. Cleopatra’s killer : ASP
The asp is a venomous snake found in the Nile region of Africa. It is so venomous that the asp was used in ancient Egypt and Greece as a means of execution. Cleopatra observed such executions noting that the venom brought on sleepiness without any painful spasms. When the great queen opted to commit suicide, the asp was therefore her chosen method.

45. Raunchy : SMUTTY
“Smut” means “dirt, smudge” and more recently “pornographic material”. The term comes from the Yiddish “schmutz”, which is a slang word used in English for dirt, as in “dirt on one’s face”.

The term “raunchy” was US Army Air Corps slang back in the 1950s, when it meant “dirty, filthy, unclean”. We’ve only been using “raunchy” to mean “coarse, vulgar” since the mid-sixties.

46. Fed. food inspector : USDA
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) actually dates back to 1862 when it was established by then-president Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln referred to the USDA as the “people’s department” as our economy had such a vast agrarian base back then.

49. Playwright David who wrote “Glengarry Glen Ross” : MAMET
David Mamet is best known as a playwright, and indeed won a Pulitzer for his 1984 play “Glengarry Glen Ross”. Mamet is also a successful screenwriter and received Oscar nominations for the films “The Verdict” (1982) and “Wag the Dog” (1997).

51. Skylit courtyards : ATRIA
In modern architecture an atrium (plural “atria” or “atriums”) is a large open space usually in the center of a building and extending upwards to the roof. The original atrium was an open court in the center of an Ancient Roman house. One could access most of the enclosed rooms of the house from the atrium.

55. Street-lining trees : ELMS
The most common street name in the US is “Second Street”. “First Street” comes in only at number three, and this is because many cities and towns forego the use of “First” and instead go with “Main” or something more historical in nature. “Elm Street” appears on the list at number fifteen.

58. Hunters of AWOLs : MPS
The Military Police (MPs) are concerned with personnel who go AWOL (Absent Without Leave).

59. Water, in Waterloo : EAU
Waterloo is a small municipality in Belgium. The name “Waterloo” originated with the Dutch and is probably an anglicization of “wet clearing in a forest”. The town is famous for the Battle of Waterloo that took place nearby in 1815.

The Battle of Waterloo was fought in 1815 between the Imperial French army led by Emperor Napoleon and an Anglo-Allied army led by the Irish-born British Field Marshal, the Duke of Wellington. Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo led to his abdication and the restoration of King Louis XVIII to the throne of France. Bonaparte was exiled to the British-owned island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died in 1821.

60. Wolf Blitzer’s channel : CNN
Wolf Blitzer is the son of Jewish refugees from Poland. He was born in Augsburg in Germany and was given the name “Wolf” in honor of his maternal grandfather. Wolf came with his family to live in the US, and he was raised in Buffalo, New York.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Quick second : JIFF
5. Push : IMPEL
10. ___ law (physics formulation) : OHM’S
14. One who Googles, e.g. : USER
15. “Yippee!” : WAHOO!
16. “Go ahead!” : DO IT!
17. Total misery : SHEER AGONY
19. Capital of Norway : OSLO
20. Forbidding words? : DO NOT
21. Odd : QUEER
22. $20 bill dispenser, briefly : ATM
25. Sleep extender : SNOOZE ALARM
28. “Beats me!” : NO IDEA!
30. Horse feed : OATS
31. ___ uncertain terms : IN NO
32. Cubs slugger Sammy : SOSA
33. Long-distance inits. : ATT
36. 2000 Olympics site : SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
41. Suffix with lion : -ESS
42. Hair job at a salon : PERM
43. Wild guess : STAB
44. Prefix with pad or port : HELI-
45. Top-notch : SUPERB
47. Founding father who had a beer named after him : SAMUEL ADAMS
52. Bit of sunshine : RAY
53. Midterms, e.g. : EXAMS
54. Piano exercise : ETUDE
56. ___ mater : ALMA
57. Wisenheimer : SMART ALECK
62. Bar mitzvah boy, barely : TEEN
63. Divide 50-50 : SPLIT
64. Flowing hair : MANE
65. Concordes, in brief : SSTS
66. Kind of test … or a phonetic hint to 17-, 25-, 36-, 47- and 57-Across : ESSAY
67. Like carols at Christmas : SUNG

Down
1. Roast beef au ___ : JUS
2. Relative of -esque : -ISH
3. Doctor’s charge : FEE
4. Wilma’s hubby on “The Flintstones” : FRED
5. “All ___ Do” (Sheryl Crow hit) : I WANNA
6. Nearsighted Mr. of cartoons : MAGOO
7. Snapshot : PHOTO
8. Long, long time : EON
9. Myrna of “The Thin Man” : LOY
10. Nonalcoholic beer brand : O’DOULS
11. Book between Daniel and Joel : HOSEA
12. Middle-distance runner : MILER
13. Blizzard or hurricane : STORM
18. Valentine’s Day flower : ROSE
21. Persian Gulf emirate : QATAR
22. Absinthe flavor : ANISE
23. Stage statuettes : TONYS
24. Keeps an eye on : MINDS
26. Crazy places : ZOOS
27. 3:00, on a compass : EAST
29. ___ Juan (ladies’ man) : DON
32. 1 + 2 + 3, e.g. : SUM
33. Tweak, say : ALTER
34. Pageant crown : TIARA
35. Striped cat : TABBY
37. Fencing weapons : EPEES
38. Holler : YELL
39. Prima donna’s delivery : ARIA
40. Cleopatra’s killer : ASP
44. Earthlings : HUMANS
45. Raunchy : SMUTTY
46. Fed. food inspector : USDA
47. Goals for musical chairs players : SEATS
48. Ones keeping the wheels turning? : AXLES
49. Playwright David who wrote “Glengarry Glen Ross” : MAMET
50. Mergers and buyouts : DEALS
51. Skylit courtyards : ATRIA
55. Street-lining trees : ELMS
57. U-turn from NNW : SSE
58. Hunters of AWOLs : MPS
59. Water, in Waterloo : EAU
60. Wolf Blitzer’s channel : CNN
61. Big beer order : KEG

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