Day: February 1, 2015

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Filling entrees? : MEAT PIES
“Entrée” means “entry” in French. An entrée can be something that helps one get “a way in”, an interview for example perhaps helped along by a recommendation letter. In Europe, even in English-speaking countries, the entrée is the name for the “entry” to the meal, the first course. I found it very confusing to order meals when I first came to America!

20. Former Diet Pepsi spokesmodel : CAROL ALT
Carol Alt is a model from Queens, New York. Alt’s big break came when was featured on the cover of the 1982 “Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue”.

21. Nymph jilted by Paris : OENONE
According to Greek mythology, Oenone was the wife of Paris, the wife that he abandoned for Helen of Sparta (also known as “Helen of Troy”). The name “Oenone” translates from Greek as “wine woman”. My just wife told me (she said it, not me!) that she might hers to that name …

22. “The Vampire Diaries” protagonist : ELENA
“The Vampire Diaries” is a series of horror novels aimed at teens, with a spinoff television series of the same name. I don’t do vampires …

23. Content of a demand to attend? : SUMMON SUBSTANCE (sounds like “sum and substance”)
The “sum and substance” is the main idea, say of an argument or proposition.

27. Hullabaloo : FUSS
Our word “hullabaloo” meaning a “commotion” is a derivative of an older term “hollo-ballo”. “Hollo-ballo” was a word used for an uproar in the north of England and Scotland.

37. Tornado Alley state: Abbr. : NEB
Nebraska (Neb.) gets its name from the Platte River which flows through the state. “Nebraska” is an anglicized version of Otoe or Omaha words meaning “flat water”.

Tornado Alley has no precisely defined area, but generally lies between the Rockies and the Appalachians. It is of course the area in the US where tornadoes occur most frequently.

38. Smirnoff Ice, e.g. : ALCOPOP
“Alcopops” are flavored alcoholic drinks, with the term being a portmanteau of “alcohol” and “pop”. Examples are Smirnoff Ice, Bacardi Breezer, and Jack Daniel’s Hard Cola.

41. View from Big Ben : THAMES
The River Thames flowing though London is the longest river entirely located in England.

Big Ben is the name commonly used for the large bell in the Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster (aka the Houses of Parliament). Big Ben’s official name is the Great Bell, and there is some debate about the origins of the nickname. It may be named after Sir Benjamin Hall who oversaw the bell’s installation, or perhaps the English heavyweight champion of the day Benjamin Caunt.

43. Patriots’ and Seahawks’ org. : NFL
The New England Patriots football team was founded in 1959 as the Boston Patriots. The “Patriots” name was selected from suggestions made by football fans in Boston. The team played at several different stadiums in the Boston area for just over ten years, before moving to their current home base in Foxborough, Massachusetts. At the time of the move, the “Boston” name was dropped and changed to “New England”.

The Seahawks are Seattle’s NFL franchise, having joined the league as an expansion team in 1976 along with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The team is owned by Paul Allen, the man who founded Microsoft along with Bill Gates. The Seahawks fans are particularly enthusiastic and noisy, earning themselves the nickname “the 12th Man”. These fans twice set the Guinness World record for the loudest crowd noise at a sporting event in 2013.

44. “Castaway” director, 1986 : ROEG
Nicolas Roeg is film director from England with quite the pedigree when it comes to association with great movies. He contributed to 1962’s “Lawrence of Arabia”, and he himself directed noted films like “Walkabout” (1972), “Don’t Look Now” (1973) and “The Man Who Fell to Earth” (1976).

“Castaway” is a 1986 film starring Amanda Donohoe and Oliver Reed that was adapted from a 1984 book of the same name by Lucy Irvine. I haven’t seen this one, but the plot sounds intriguing. It’s about an author who advertises for a “wife” to live with him on the isolated island of Tuin in the South Pacific. The pair had to marry in order to satisfy immigration laws.

48. W.W. II rationing agcy. : OPA
President Franklin D. Roosevelt set up the Office of Price Administration (OPA) during WWII, with the intent of stabilizing prices and rents during the emergency.

53. Al Qaeda stronghold : YEMEN
Osama bin Laden founded his militant Islamist group called al-Qaeda in the late eighties. “Al-Qaeda” translates as “the base”, and can refer to a military base. It was originally the name of a training camp set up for mujahideen fighters opposing the Russians who occupied Afghanistan at the time.

58. Place first, second or third, say : MEDAL
In the Ancient Olympic Games, the winner of an event was awarded an olive wreath. When the games were revived in 1896, the winners were originally given a silver medal and an olive branch, with runners-up receiving a bronze medal and a laurel branch. The tradition of giving gold, silver and bronze medals began at the 1904 Summer Olympic Games held in St. Louis, Missouri.

59. Man of letters? : SAJAK
Pat Sajak took over the hosting of “Wheel of Fortune” from Chuck Woolery back in 1983 and has been doing the job ever since. Sajak had a short run as a talk show host in 1989/1990 and used to sub quite often for Larry King and Regis Philbin.

61. “The Bridge on the River Kwai” director : DAVID LEAN
British movie director Sir David Lean has an impressive list of epic films on his resume including “The Bridge on the River Kwai” (1957), “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962), “Doctor Zhivago” (1965) and “A Passage to India” (1984). My favorite of his films though is the romantic drama from 1945 called “Brief Encounter”.

The river referred to in the movie (and novel) “The Bridge on the River Kwai” is actually called the Khwae Yai River, and is in western Thailand. The original novel by Pierre Boulle was published in French in 1952, and the wonderful movie released in 1957. Both tell the story of construction of part of the Burma Railway and a bridge over the river, using prisoners of war as laborers. The film stars William Holden, Alec Guinness and Jack Hawkins.

63. Certain embedded Internet video : GIF
A bitmap is an image file format used to store digital images. Basically, each pixel in a bitmap file is stored as a “bit” of information, hence the name “bitmap”. In 1987, CompuServe introduced a new type of image file called the Graphics Interchange Format (GIF). A GIF image takes the same information as a bitmap and then compresses it, resulting in a smaller file size. However, during compression the image may lose some resolution. The GIF format also handles short video clips, usually animations.

65. ___ lupus (gray wolf) : CANIS
The timber wolf is also known as the gray wolf, tundra wolf or lobo.

67. Not there yet : EN ROUTE
“En route” is a French term that means “on the way”.

68. Company that introduced Saran Wrap : DOW
Dow Chemical Company was founded back in 1897 by a chemist called Herbert Henry Dow, and initially manufactured and sold bleach and potassium bromide. Dow is now the second-largest chemical manufacturer in the world according to revenue, second only to the German company BASF.

What’s known as plastic wrap in America, we call cling-film in Ireland. Plastic wrap was one of those unintended inventions, a byproduct of a development program to create a hard plastic cover for cars.

71. Venti, vingt or zwanzig? : FOREIGN TWENTY (sounds like “four and twenty”)
“Sing a Song of Sixpence” is an English nursery rhyme that dates back to the 1700s. In the rhyme there are a couple of lines that go :

Four and twenty blackbirds
Baked in a pie

This seems to be a reference to the practice in the 16th century of “baking” live birds into a pie for special occasions. When the crust was cut open the birds would fly away, much to the amusement of the diners.

Our number “twenty” translates as “venti” (Italian), “vingt” (French) and “zwanzig” (German).

75. Missal storage site : PEW
A pew is a bench in a church, usually with a high back. The original pews were raised and sometimes enclosed seats in the church used by women and important men or families. “Pew” comes from the Old French “puie” meaning “balcony, elevation”.

Missals came into being in medieval times and were used primarily by priests and ministers. A missal is a book containing all the texts necessary for the celebration of Mass through the liturgical year. Nowadays missals are used by the congregation and not just by the celebrants. The term “missal” comes from the Latin for “Mass book”.

76. Coffee bean variety : ARABICA
The species Coffea arabica is thought be the first plant cultivated for coffee. Today, 75-80% of the world’s coffee comes from Coffea arabica.

79. 43-Across ball carriers: Abbr. : HBS
HB is short for “halfback” in American football.

81. Lake ___, biggest lake in South America : MARACAIBO
Lake Maracaibo isn’t actually a “lake” as such, but rather a brackish bay or lagoon with a very narrow entrance into the Gulf of Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea. Paradoxically, Maracaibo was a true lake in the past, and at 20-36 million years old can be considered one of the oldest “lakes” on the planet.

90. Workers’ rights org. : NLRB
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) was set up in 1935. The NLRB is an independent government agency with the roles of conducting elections for labor unions as well as investigating and rooting out any labor practices that are deemed to be unfair.

91. Wool source : LLAMA
The wool from a llama is much softer than that from a sheep, and it is also free from lanolin.

93. Woe for a sunburned sea monster? : KRAKEN PEEL (sounds like “crack and peel”)
Kraken are huge sea monsters of legend that were reputed to live off the coasts of Iceland and Norway. It’s possible that the kraken legend was inspired by real-life giant squid.

95. Northern California’s ___ River : EEL
The Eel River in California was named in 1850 by an explorer Josiah Gregg after he made a trade with some Native Americans, swapping a frying pan for a large catch of eels.

100. ___-Magnon : CRO
Remains of early man, dating back to 35,000 years ago, were found in Abri de Cro-Magnon in southwest France, giving the name to those early humans. Cro-Magnon remains are the oldest human relics that have been discovered in Europe.

107. Faux pas : MISSTEP
The term “faux pas” is French in origin, and translates literally as “false step” (or “false steps”, as the plural has the same spelling in French).

109. Symbol on a sarcophagus : ASP
A sarcophagus is a stone or wooden box in which a body is interred. “Sarcophagus” is Greek for “flesh eating stones”. The name was applied as a sarcophagus was often made from a kind of limestone that was believed to cause the flesh of corpses to decompose.

110. Intel products used at a nuclear facility? : FISSION CHIPS (sounds like “fish and chips”)
Intel is the world’s largest manufacturer of semiconductor chips. The company was founded in 1968, and the name “Intel” is a derived from the term “int(egrated) el(ectronics)”. Recognition of the Intel brand has been greatly helped by the success of the “Intel Inside” campaign that started back in 1991.

113. Hit with a charge : TASE
Victor Appleton wrote a novel for young adults called “Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle”. The company that developed the TASER electroshock weapon named its product as a homage to the novel. The acronym TASER stands for “Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle”.

114. Seiji Ozawa, e.g. : MAESTRO
“Maestro” is often used to address a musical conductor. “Maestro” (plural “maestri”) is the Italian word for “master, teacher”. The plural in English is usually “maestros”.

Seiji Ozawa is most famous for his work as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, although he is also the principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera. Ozawa is renowned for wearing a white turtleneck under his dress suit when he conducts, rather than the traditional starched shirt and white tie.

116. “Argo” setting : IRAN
“Argo” is a 2012 movie that is based on the true story of the rescue of six diplomats hiding out during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. The film was directed by and stars Ben Affleck and is produced by Grant Heslov and George Clooney, the same pair who produced the excellent “Good Night, and Good Luck”. I saw “Argo” recently and recommend it highly, although I found the scenes of religious fervor pretty frightening …

117. Roman guardian spirit : LAR
In ancient Rome, the Lares were guardian deities, sometimes described as “household deities” to distinguish them from the major deities. Ancient Romans heading home might described as “ad Larem” i.e. to the Lar.

127. Cause of radioactivity : DECAY
The nucleus of an unstable atom might emit particles of ionizing radiation in the process known as “radioactive decay”. Such a material is termed “radioactive”.

130. Coeur d’___ : ALENE
The city, lake and river in Idaho called Coeur d’Alene are all named for the Coeur d’Alene People, Native Americans who lived in the area when it was first explored by French Canadian fur traders. “Coeur d’Alene” translates from French as “heart of an awl”. The Native American people were given this name as they were perceived as shrewd traders by their Canadian counterparts.

Down
1. Game show V.I.P.’s : MCS
Master or mistress of ceremonies (MC)

2. Three-vowel word that sounds like a fourth vowel : EAU
“Eau” is French for “water”. The word “eau” sounds like the letter O.

6. Golfer Woosnam : IAN
I’ve always thought Ian Woosnam to be the most unlikely-looking of golfers. He is just over 5’ 4” tall and yet is noted as a very powerful hitter of the ball. Woosnam is a Welshman, and was ranked the world’s number one golfer for most of 1991.

7. Chi-town circlers : ELS
The Chicago “L” is the second largest rapid transit system in the US, with the New York City Subway being the largest. The “L” is also the second oldest, again with the New York City Subway system having the honor of being around the longest. Note that the official nickname for the system is the “L” (originally short for “elevated railroad”), although the term “El” is also in common use (especially in crosswords as “ELS”). The L is managed by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA).

11. Santa ___ winds : ANA
The Santa Ana winds are the very dry air currents that sweep offshore late in the year in Southern California. Because these air currents are so dry, they are noted for their influence over forest fires in the area, especially in the heat of the fall. The winds arise from a buildup of air pressure in the Great Basin that lies between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. Under the right conditions, that air spills over the peaks of the Sierra Nevada and basically “falls” down the side of the Sierra range, heading for the ocean. As the air falls it becomes drier and heats up so that relative humidity can fall to below 10% by the time it hits the coast.

13. Envelope abbr. : ENC
Enclosure (enc.)

14. Handle of a plow? : DEERE
John Deere invented the first commercially successful steel plow in 1837. Prior to Deere’s invention, farmers used an iron or wooden plow that constantly had to be cleaned as rich soil stuck to its surfaces. The cast-steel plow was revolutionary as its smooth sides solved the problem of “stickiness”.

16. Half a game name that rhymes : ALAI
Even though jai alai is often said to be the fastest sport in the world because of the speed of the ball, in fact golf balls usually get going at a greater clip. Although, as a blog reader once pointed out to me, you don’t have to catch a golf ball …

18. “Life of Pi” director : ANG LEE
Taiwanese director Ang Lee sure has directed a mixed bag of films, mixed in terms of genre but not in terms of quality. He was at the helm for such classics as “Sense & Sensibility” (my personal favorite), “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, “Hulk”, “Brokeback Mountain” and “Life of Pi”.

The 2012 movie “Life of Pi” is based on a 2001 novel of the same name by Yann Martel. The “Pi” in the title is an Indian boy called Pi Patel who finds himself adrift for 227 days in small boat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.

19. Old colonial masters : SAHIBS
“Sahib” is most recognized as a term of address in India, where it is used in much the same way as we use “mister” in English. The term was also used to address male Europeans in the days of the British Raj. The correct female form of address is “sahiba”, but in the colonial days the address used was “memsahib”, a melding of “ma’am” and “sahib”

24. Aficionado : BUFF
A “buff” or a “nut” is one who is extremely enthusiastic and knowledgeable about a subject.

An “aficionado” is an enthusiast, a word that came to us from Spanish. “Aficionado” was originally used in English to describe a devotee of bullfighting.

29. AIDS-fighting drug : AZT
AZT is the abbreviated name for the drug azidothymidine, much used in the treatment of HIV/AIDS. AZT was originally developed in the seventies as a potential treatment for retroviruses (cancer-causing viruses), although it was never approved for use in treatment. In 1984, it was confirmed that AIDS was caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), so scientists turned to known antiviral drugs in the search for a viable treatment. Burroughs-Wellcome came up with a treatment regime using AZT, and filed a patent in 1985. The patent was challenged in court but the patent expired anyway in 2005 without any decision being made. There are now at least four generic forms of AZT approved for sale in the US.

30. One with a colorful coat? : M AND M
Forrest Mars, Sr. was the founder of the Mars Company. Forrest invented the Mars Bar while living over in England and then developed M&M’s when he returned to the US. Mars came up with the idea for M&M’s when he saw soldiers in the Spanish Civil War eating chocolate pellets. Those pellets had a hard shell of tempered chocolate on the outside to prevent them from melting. Mars got some of the funding to develop the M&M from William Murrie, the son of the president of Hershey’s Chocolate. It is the “M” and “M” from “Mars” and “Murrie” that give the name to the candy.

31. Woodard of “Primal Fear” : ALFRE
Alfre Woodard is an actress from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Woodard was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in the 1983 film “Cross Creek”. Off the stage and screen she is very active in the Democratic Party.

“Primal Fear” is a very enjoyable crime-thriller film released in 1996, starring Richard Gere. The most acclaimed performance in the movie came from Edward Norton in his film debut.

32. Garbage collector, informally? : COON
The raccoon is native to North America. In captivity, raccoons can live to over 20 years of age, but in the wild they only live two or three years. The main causes for the shorter lifespan are hunting and road traffic.

33. Slanted columns : OP-EDS
Op-Ed is an abbreviation for “opposite the editorial page”. Op-Eds started in “The New York Evening World” in 1921 when the page opposite the editorials was used for articles written by a named guest writer, someone independent of the editorial board.

34. Fay of “King Kong” : WRAY
“King Kong” really is a classic movie. It stars Fay Wray as the young woman (Ann Darrow) with whom Kong falls in love. Wray was very interested in the role as she was told that she would be playing opposite the “tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood”. She thought it might be Clark Gable. At least that’s how the story goes …

36. Plant swelling : EDEMA
Both animals and plants can suffer from edema, a swelling cause by excessive accumulation of fluid.

39. Like Isaac Asimov : PROLIFIC
Isaac Asimov was a wonderful science fiction writer, and a professor of biochemistry. He was a favorite author as I was growing up and I must admit that some hero worship on my part led me to study and work as a biochemist for a short while early in my career. My favorite of his works is the collection of short stories called “I, Robot”, although Asimov’s most famous work is probably his “Foundation” trilogy of novels.

42. Speed skater Ohno : APOLO
Speed-skater Apolo Ohno has won more Winter Olympics medals than any other American. Ohno also did a great job winning the 2007 season of television’s “Dancing with the Stars”.

45. Words of thanksgiving : GRACE
A “grace” is a short prayer recited before or after a meal.

47. Common craps roll : SEVEN
If one considers earlier versions of craps, then the game has been around for a very long time and probably dates back to the Crusades. Craps may be derived from an old English game called “hazard”, also played with two dice and which was mentioned in Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” from the 1300s. The American version of the game came here courtesy of the French and first set root in New Orleans where it was given the name “crapaud”, a French word meaning “toad”.

50. Dribble glass, e.g. : GAG
A dribble glass is prop used in a classic prank. The glass has small holes that are disguised by an etched design.

51. California resort town : OJAI
The city of Ojai, California is located just northwest of Los Angeles. One of the city’s claims to fame is that according to the TV shows “The Bionic Woman” and “The Six Million Dollar Man”, Jaime Sommers and Steve Austin grew up in Ojai and were childhood sweethearts!

54. What I will always be, alphabetically : NINTH
I is the ninth letter in the alphabet.

62. Skeletal enemy in Mario games : DRY BONES
In the “Mario Bros” video game universe, Dry Bones are skeletal undead. Not my cup of tea …

69. Kind of contraception : ORAL
“The Pill” is more correctly called “the combined oral contraceptive pill”. The formulation is a combination of an estrogen called estradiol and a progestogen called progestin.

70. Period when rabbits stop fighting? : WARREN PEACE (sounds like “War and Peace”)
We tend to think of a “warren” today as a place where rabbits are bred, or where rabbits are found in abundance in the wild. Back in the 1300s, a warren was a more general term for an enclosed piece of land used for breeding any domestic animals. We also use “warren” figuratively now, to describe a cluster of densely populated living spaces.

I have to confess that I have tried to read Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” twice in my life, and failed both times (it is l-o-n-g). Even though the 1956 movie adaptation runs for 3 1/2 hours, it’s still the easy way out! The film version stars Audrey Hepburn as Natasha Rostova and Henry Fonda as Count Pierre Bezukhov.

74. Mystery prize : EDGAR
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards (the Edgars) are presented annually by the Mystery Writers of America.

77. Naïfs : BABES
A naïf is someone who is naive, as “naïf” is the French word for “naive”.

80. Slangy greeting : SUP?
I think “sup?” is slang for “what’s up?”

82. Salad bar morsels : BAC~OS
Bac~Os are a brand of bacon bits.

83. Like the world’s largest sultanate : OMANI
Qaboos bin Said al Said is the current Sultan of Oman, who came to power in a coup in 1970 by deposing his own father. Qaboos has no children, and no agreed heir. His current instructions are for the royal family to agree on a successor after his death. Qaboos has also specified that should the royal not be able to agree on a successor, then the country’s Defense Council will make the decision, choosing between two names that the Sultan placed in a sealed envelope to be opened after his passing.

87. Juicy fruit : NECTARINE
A nectarine is a cultivar of a peach, notable for its smooth skin (as opposed to the fuzzy skin of the traditional peach).

88. Destination of NASA’s Dawn probe : CERES
Ceres is the smallest dwarf planet in our solar system. Ceres was discovered in 1801 and is the largest body in the asteroid belt. For fifty years Ceres was classified as the eighth planet circling our sun. The Dawn space probe launched by NASA in 2007 is expected to encounter and study Ceres in 2015.

89. What Othello and Desdemona do in “Othello” : ELOPE
Shakespeare’s “Othello” was first performed in 1604. The main characters in the play are:

– Othello, a general in the army of Venice
– Desdemona, Othello’s wife
– Cassio, Othello’s trusted ensign
– Iago, the villain of the piece

92. Prime Cuts brand : ALPO
Alpo is a brand of dog food first produced by Allen Products in 1936, with “Alpo” being an abbreviation for “Allen Products”. Lorne Greene used to push Alpo in television spots, as did Ed McMahon and Garfield the Cat, would you believe?

94. Site of ancient Greek Olympics : ELIS
Elis is a region of Ancient Greece, in the south of the country. It was home to the first Olympic Games, supposedly held in 776 BCE, at Olympia.

96. What the jack of spades lacks : LEFT EYE
There is a poker game that’s popular in home games in which one-eyed jacks are chosen as wild cards. The one-eyed jacks are the Jack of Spades and the Jack of Hearts.

98. Howard Stern rival : DON IMUS
Don Imus’s syndicated radio show “Imus in the Morning” broadcasts from New York City. Imus has been described as a “shock jock”, a disc jockey who deliberately uses provocative language and humor that many would find offensive . I don’t like shock jocks …

Howard Stern is one of the original “shock jocks” who seems now to have found his niche on uncensored satellite radio (Sirius XM). Apparently Stern is quite a chess player, and was invited to play in the 2010 US Chess Championships.

101. Howard Johnson rival : RAMADA
The Ramada Inn hotel chain takes its name from the Spanish word for a shady resting place. A ramada is a shelter with a roof and no walls, mainly found in the American southwest. Nowadays a ramada can be temporary or permanent, but originally ramadas were makeshift shelters constructed by aboriginal Indians from branches or bushes.

The Howard Johnson (sometimes “HoJo”) chain of hotels and restaurants was the largest restaurant chain in the US in the sixties and seventies. There are only two HoJo restaurants left now. One is in Bangor, Maine and the other is in Lake Placid, New York. I am proud to say that I’ve been in both …

102. Chilean author Allende : ISABEL
Isabel Allende is a Chilean writer, apparently the world’s most widely-read, Spanish-language author. Isabel is related to Salvador Allende, the ex-President of Chile.

108. New York’s ___ Island : STATEN
Staten Island is part of New York City and is the least populous of the city’s five boroughs. The island was originally called Staaten Eylandt by Henry Hudson and was named after the Dutch parliament, the Staaten Generaal.

111. Circular opening? : SOFT C
The opening letter in the word “circular” is the letter C.

115. “South Park” boy : STAN
“South Park” is an adult-oriented cartoon series on Comedy Central. I don’t do “South Park” …

117. Some PC screens : LCDS
Liquid crystal display (LCD)

121. Cellular messenger : RNA
Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) is an essential catalyst in the manufacture of proteins in the body. The genetic code in DNA determines the sequence of amino acids that make up each protein. That sequence is read in DNA by messenger RNA, and amino acids are delivered for protein manufacture in the correct sequence by what is called transfer RNA. The amino acids are then formed into proteins by ribosomal RNA.

122. Bit of old French bread : ECU
The ecu is an Old French coin. When introduced in 1640, the ecu was worth three livres (an older coin, called a “pound” in English). The word “ecu” comes from the Latin “scutum” meaning “shield”. The original ecu had a coat of arms on it, a shield.

123. Charlottesville inst. : UVA
The University of Virginia (UVA) was founded by Thomas Jefferson, who sat on the original Board of Visitors alongside former US Presidents James Madison and James Monroe. In fact, the original UVA campus was built on land that was once a farm belonging to President Monroe.

The city of Charlottesville, Virginia was named for Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the wife of King George III. George’s queen consort also lent her name to the city of Charlotte, North Carolina.

124. Picayune quibble : NIT
Something described as “picayune” is of little value or importance. The original picayune was a Spanish coin worth half a real, not a lot of money.

125. Brass producer, briefly : OCS
Officer Candidate School (OCS)

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Filling entrees? : MEAT PIES
9. Imperfect : FLAWED
15. Laugh track content : HA-HAS
20. Former Diet Pepsi spokesmodel : CAROL ALT
21. Nymph jilted by Paris : OENONE
22. “The Vampire Diaries” protagonist : ELENA
23. Content of a demand to attend? : SUMMON SUBSTANCE (sounds like “sum and substance”)
25. Cry of frustration : AARGH!
26. ___ flakes : OAT
27. Hullabaloo : FUSS
28. Square meal? : RAVIOLI
30. Gas station adjunct : MART
32. Freaky funeral noise? : COFFIN WHEEZE (sounds like “cough and wheeze”)
37. Tornado Alley state: Abbr. : NEB
38. Smirnoff Ice, e.g. : ALCOPOP
40. Red-faced : FLORID
41. View from Big Ben : THAMES
43. Patriots’ and Seahawks’ org. : NFL
44. “Castaway” director, 1986 : ROEG
46. Points of view : TAKES
48. W.W. II rationing agcy. : OPA
49. Dive from a fire-breathing creature? : DRAGON DROP (sounds like “drag and drop”)
53. Al Qaeda stronghold : YEMEN
55. Vegetable that’s often fried : OKRA
58. Place first, second or third, say : MEDAL
59. Man of letters? : SAJAK
61. “The Bridge on the River Kwai” director : DAVID LEAN
63. Certain embedded Internet video : GIF
65. ___ lupus (gray wolf) : CANIS
67. Not there yet : EN ROUTE
68. Company that introduced Saran Wrap : DOW
71. Venti, vingt or zwanzig? : FOREIGN TWENTY (sounds like “four and twenty”)
75. Missal storage site : PEW
76. Coffee bean variety : ARABICA
78. Went on a run? : SKIED
79. 43-Across ball carriers: Abbr. : HBS
81. Lake ___, biggest lake in South America : MARACAIBO
84. Holdups : SNAGS
86. Perfumery measure : OUNCE
90. Workers’ rights org. : NLRB
91. Wool source : LLAMA
93. Woe for a sunburned sea monster? : KRAKEN PEEL (sounds like “crack and peel”)
95. Northern California’s ___ River : EEL
97. Burn : SCALD
99. Make hot : RILE
100. ___-Magnon : CRO
101. Uses mouthwash, e.g. : RINSES
104. Like a dutiful sentry : ON POST
107. Faux pas : MISSTEP
109. Symbol on a sarcophagus : ASP
110. Intel products used at a nuclear facility? : FISSION CHIPS (sounds like “fish and chips”)
113. Hit with a charge : TASE
114. Seiji Ozawa, e.g. : MAESTRO
116. “Argo” setting : IRAN
117. Roman guardian spirit : LAR
118. Diminish in strength : ABATE
119. Overseeing a work crew, e.g.? : FOREMAN FUNCTION (sounds like “form and function”)
127. Cause of radioactivity : DECAY
128. Beggar’s receptacle : TIN CUP
129. Attorney’s presentation : EVIDENCE
130. Coeur d’___ : ALENE
131. Part of a contract : CLAUSE
132. Mess : RAT’S NEST

Down
1. Game show V.I.P.’s : MCS
2. Three-vowel word that sounds like a fourth vowel : EAU
3. Like some knights and warships : ARMOR-CLAD
4. Kind of paste : TOMATO
5. What a spoiler might spoil : PLOT
6. Golfer Woosnam : IAN
7. Chi-town circlers : ELS
8. Possessions : STUFF
9. Old fogy : FOSSIL
10. “We’d better skip it” : LET’S NOT
11. Santa ___ winds : ANA
12. Got the gold : WON
13. Envelope abbr. : ENC
14. Handle of a plow? : DEERE
15. Unceremonious removal : HEAVE-HO
16. Half a game name that rhymes : ALAI
17. Feathers, pointy bill, long legs, etc.? : HERON MAKEUP (sounds like “hair and makeup”)
18. “Life of Pi” director : ANG LEE
19. Old colonial masters : SAHIBS
24. Aficionado : BUFF
29. AIDS-fighting drug : AZT
30. One with a colorful coat? : M AND M
31. Woodard of “Primal Fear” : ALFRE
32. Garbage collector, informally? : COON
33. Slanted columns : OP-EDS
34. Fay of “King Kong” : WRAY
35. Upped : HIKED
36. Plant swelling : EDEMA
39. Like Isaac Asimov : PROLIFIC
42. Speed skater Ohno : APOLO
45. Words of thanksgiving : GRACE
47. Common craps roll : SEVEN
50. Dribble glass, e.g. : GAG
51. California resort town : OJAI
52. Feelings of guilt : PANGS
54. What I will always be, alphabetically : NINTH
56. Parking lot figure : RATE
57. From square one : ANEW
60. Problems with hoses : KINKS
62. Skeletal enemy in Mario games : DRY BONES
64. ___ point : FOCAL
66. Perform terribly : STINK
68. “Lookin’ good!” : DAMN!
69. Kind of contraception : ORAL
70. Period when rabbits stop fighting? : WARREN PEACE (sounds like “War and Peace”)
72. Harangues, with “at” : RAILS
73. Sport : WEAR
74. Mystery prize : EDGAR
77. Naïfs : BABES
80. Slangy greeting : SUP?
82. Salad bar morsels : BACOS
83. Like the world’s largest sultanate : OMANI
85. Economize to a fault : SKIMP
87. Juicy fruit : NECTARINE
88. Destination of NASA’s Dawn probe : CERES
89. What Othello and Desdemona do in “Othello” : ELOPE
92. Prime Cuts brand : ALPO
94. Site of ancient Greek Olympics : ELIS
96. What the jack of spades lacks : LEFT EYE
98. Howard Stern rival : DON IMUS
101. Howard Johnson rival : RAMADA
102. Chilean author Allende : ISABEL
103. “My dear man” : SIR
105. Difficult situation : SCRAPE
106. Greater or lesser follower : THAN
108. New York’s ___ Island : STATEN
111. Circular opening? : SOFT C
112. Gather (from) : INFER
115. “South Park” boy : STAN
117. Some PC screens : LCDS
120. Many an art museum piece : OIL
121. Cellular messenger : RNA
122. Bit of old French bread : ECU
123. Charlottesville inst. : UVA
124. Picayune quibble : NIT
125. Brass producer, briefly : OCS
126. Catchy thing? : NET

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