Day: July 10, 2015

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Tycoon with the middle name Socrates : ARI ONASSIS
Aristotle Onassis was born to a successful Greek shipping entrepreneur in Smyrna in modern-day Turkey. However, his family lost its fortune during WWI and so Aristotle worked with his father to build up a new business empire centered on the importation of tobacco. In 1957, Aristotle founded the Greek national airline, what is today called Olympic Air, and he also got into the business of shipping oil around the world. He married Athina Livanos in 1946, the daughter of a wealthy shipping magnate. They couple had two children together, with one being the famous Christina Onassis. Livanos divorced Onassis on discovering him in bed with the opera singer Maria Callas. Onassis ended his affair with Callas in order to marry Jackie Kennedy in 1968.

19. Away from the nose : AFT
One moves away from the nose (front) of a seagoing vessel by moving aft, towards the stern, the rear of the boat.

22. Point of a vampire story? : FANG
“Dracula” is a novel written by the Irish author Bram Stoker, and first published in 1897. Dracula wasn’t the first vampire of literature, but he certainly was the one who spawned the popularity of vampires in theater, film and television, and indeed more novels. Personally, I can’t stand vampire fiction …

23. Bikini blasts, briefly : N-TESTS
The testing of US nuclear weapons by the US at Bikini Atoll in the middle of 1946 went by the codename “Operation Crossroads”. The tests used A-bombs and were designed to measure the effect of blasts on navy vessels. There were three tests planned, but the third had to be cancelled as the Navy couldn’t decontaminate the ships used in the second test.

34. Cousins of husks : ARILS
The casing surrounding many seeds is called the aril, and it may be quite fleshy. This fruit-like characteristic makes it desirable as a food and aids in the dispersion of the seeds.

35. High Rhine feeder : AARE
The Aar (also called the “Aare” in German) is the longest river entirely in Switzerland. A famous spot along the Aar is the Reichenbach Falls in the center of the country, actually a series of waterfalls near the city of Meiringen. These falls are renowned in the world of literature as it was here that Sherlock Holmes fell to his supposed doom with his nemesis Professor Moriarty (in “The Adventure of the Final Problem”).

36. Nickname for Baltimore : CHARM CITY
Baltimore, Maryland adopted the nickname “Charm City” back in 1975. The name was chosen by a group of advertisers whose goal was to improve the city’s image.

38. With 20-Across, scratched the surface for resources? : STRIP
20. See 38-Across : MINED
Strip mining is a process used to mine minerals that are relatively close to the surface. A long strip of overlying soil and rock is first removed, and then the ore beneath is excavated. Once each long strip has been excavated then the overlying soil and rock is redeposited. Strip mining wouldn’t be most environmentally friendly practice …

43. David of “Rhoda” : GROH
David Groh played Joe Gerard on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and on “Rhoda”. Joe is the character married to Rhoda.

The seventies sitcom “Rhoda” was a spinoff of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” that starred Valerie Harper. The eighth episode of the show was an hour-long special in which Rhoda married her fiance Joe (played by David Groh). At the time of airing it was the second-most watched television episode in history, second only to the 1953 birth of Little Ricky on “I Love Lucy”.

44. Frequency unit : HERTZ
The unit of frequency measure is the hertz (Hz) and is the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon.

45. German architect who spent 19 years in Spandau Prison : SPEER
Albert Speer was Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich during WWII. He is remembered as “the Nazi who said sorry”, as he accepted that he was complicit in crimes committed by German government during the war, although he claimed that he had no knowledge of the Holocaust. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison at the Nuremberg trials, and served his full sentence, being released in 1966.

Spandau Prison in western Berlin famously housed high-profile prisoners from the Nazi regime after WWII. The prison was built in 1876, but was torn down in 1987. Demolition took place just a few months after the last inmate (Rudolf Hess) died.

47. Freon letters : CFC
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are the propellants that were once used in aerosols. CFCs make their way up into the ozone layer and trigger a chain reaction that converts ozone (O3) into regular oxygen (O2). That conversion creates “holes” in the ozone layer. Regular O2 is good stuff, but we need O3 to absorb harmful UV radiation raining down on us. CFC is not good stuff …

50. Shankar at Woodstock : RAVI
Ravi Shankar was perhaps the most famous virtuoso (to us Westerners) from the world of Indian classical music, and was noted for his sitar playing. Also, Shankar was the father of the beautiful pop singer Norah Jones.

1969’s Woodstock Music & Art Fair was held on a dairy farm located 43 miles southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York. 400,000 young people attended, and saw 32 bands and singers perform over three days.

51. 1920 birthplace of the N.F.L. : CANTON, OHIO
The Pro Football Hall of Fame opened in 1963 in Canton, Ohio. One reason that Canton was chosen for the Hall of Fame was that the National Football League (NFL) was founded in the city in 1920.

54. Where Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games record : ORIOLE PARK
Oriole Park is home to the Baltimore Orioles baseball team. The full name of the stadium is Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Cal Ripken played his entire, 20-year professional baseball career for the Baltimore Orioles. Ripken was known as the “Iron Man” because he showed up for work every day, come rain or shine. He played 2,632 straight games, blowing past the previous 2,130-game record held by Lou Gehrig.

Down
1. Aron’s girlfriend in “East of Eden” : ABRA
Abra Bacon is a character in John Steinbeck’s novel, “East of Eden”.

John Steinbeck considered “East of Eden” his magnus opus. Most of the storyline takes place near Salinas, just south of where I live here in the Bay Area. Two of the characters in the story are brothers Cal and Aron, representative of the biblical Cain and Abel.

4. Precious thing in Montana’s motto : ORO
“Oro y Plata” means “gold and silver”, and is the state motto of Montana. The motto was written in Spanish, solely because “it had a nice ring to it”.

5. 11th-century conquerors : NORMANS
The Normans were the people from the north of France, from the region that bears the name Normandy. The Normans are descended from Viking stock, so the name “Norman” derives from a translation of “North Men”.

6. Histrionic skill : ACTING
The term “histrionic”, meaning “theatrical”, comes to us via Latin from the word “histrio” that is believed to an Etruscan word for “actor”.

10. Relative of calypso : SKA
Ska originated in Jamaica in the late fifties and was the precursor to reggae music. No one has a really definitive etymology of the term “ska”, but it is likely to be imitative of some sound.

22. Laparoscopy technology : FIBER OPTICS
Laparoscopy is a medical procedure in which surgery is carried out in the abdomen or pelvis through a small incision with the help of a camera. As I understand it, fiber optic cables are used to transmit light along the length of the laparoscope to provide illumination for the camera.

24. Certain W.W. II enlistee : WAAC
The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was formed in 1942, and the unit was converted to full status the following year to become the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). Famously, General Douglas MacArthur referred to the WACs as his “best soldiers”, saying they worked harder, complained less and were better disciplined than men. The WACs were disbanded in 1978 and the serving members were integrated into the rest of the army.

26. Noted Ross Perot impersonator : DANA CARVEY
Dana Carvey, along with the likes of Phil Hartman and Kevin Nealon, was part of the new breed of “Saturday Night Live” comedians credited with resurrecting the show in the late eighties. One of Carvey’s most popular characters was the Church Lady, and he became so associated with her that among fellow cast members Carvey was often referred to simply as “the Lady”. Another favorite Carvey character was Garth Algar who went to feature in the “Wayne’s World” movies. Carvey had open-heart surgery in 1997 to clear a blocked artery, but the surgical team operated on the wrong blood vessel. To recover, he had to have five more procedures. He ended up suing for medical malpractice and donated his $7.5 million compensation payment to charity.

Ross Perot graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1953, as president of his class. Perot served his 4-year commitment but then resigned his commission, apparently having become somewhat disillusioned with the navy. He was ranked number 101 on the Forbes 400 List of Richest Americans in 2012, and at that time was worth about $3.5 billion. Back in 1992, Perot ran as an independent candidate for US president. He founded the Reform Party in 1995, and ran as the Reform Party candidate for president in 1996.

30. ___-a-brac : BRIC
Bric-a-brac is a French phrase (actually “bric-à-brac”) that was used as far back as the 16th century. Back then it was a nonsense term meaning “at random” or “any old way”. Since Victorian times we have used the phrase in English to mean a collection of curios, statues and the like. In modern usage, bric-a-brac tends to be a selection of cheaper items.

31. What surrounds an aperture : IRIS
The iris is the colored part of the eye with an aperture in the center that can open or close depending on the level of light hitting the eye.

34. Top: Prefix : 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”).

37. Capital of Lorraine : METZ
The city of Metz is in the northeast of France, close to the German border. Given the proximity to Germany, Metz has both a strong German tradition and a French tradition. Metz was handed over to the French following WWI, after nearly 50 years of German rule. It quickly fell back into German hands in 1940 during WWII, with many German officers delighted to have back the city of their birth. Perhaps because of this long association with Germany, the US Army under General Patton encountered stiff resistance when liberating Metz in 1944.

38. One delivering raspberries : SCORNER
Not so much here in America, but over in the British Isles “blowing a raspberry” is a way of insulting someone (I think it’s called “a Bronx cheer” in the US). The verb “to razz” comes from a shortened form of “raspberry”.

40. Round bump on a cactus : AREOLE
Areoles are bumps on the side of cacti from which grow clusters of spines. These areoles are one of the features of cacti that distinguish them from other succulent plants.

41. Film title character who says “This is the part where you run away” : SHREK
Before “Shrek” was a successful movie franchise and Broadway musical, it was a children’s picture book called “Shrek!” authored and illustrated by William Steig. The title “Shrek!” came from the German/Yiddish word Schreck, meaning “fear” or “terror”.

42. Hall-of-Fame football coach Greasy : NEALE
Greasy Neale was head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles from 1941-1950.

45. Asian wear with pleats : SARI
The item of clothing called a “sari” (also “saree”) is a strip of cloth, as one might imagine, unusual perhaps in that there are no stitches along the whole of its length. The strip of cloth can range from four to nine meters long (that’s a lot of material!). The sari is usually wrapped around the waist, then draped over the shoulder leaving the midriff bare. I must say, it can be a beautiful item of clothing.

46. Nabokov novel : PNIN
“Pnin” is a novel written in English by Vladimir Nabokov, and published in 1957. The title character is Timofey Pnin, a Russian-born professor living in the US. “Pnin” raised some money for Nabokov, as it was published in installments in “The New Yorker” magazine. He needed the money while he worked hard to find someone to publish his more edgy novel, “Lolita”.

47. Vanilla ___ (hot drink) : CHAI
Chai is a drink made from spiced black tea, honey and milk, with “chai” being the Hindi word for “tea”. We often called tea “a cup of char” growing up in Ireland, with “char” being our slang word for tea, derived from “chai”.

49. Vanilla ___ (cold drink) : COKE
Coca-Cola Vanilla was introduced in 2002, as a competitor to Pepsi Vanilla. The basic Coca-Cola formulation already contains some vanilla. The idea behind a “vanilla coke” has been around at least since the 1940s. Back then customers would often ask for “a shot” of vanilla syrup in the coke they were served from the soda fountain.

51. Trawler’s catch : COD
In the British Isles, the most common fish that is used in traditional “fish and chips” is Atlantic cod. Cod has been overfished all over the world, and is now considered to be an endangered species by many international bodies. Confrontations over fishing rights in the North Atlantic led to conflicts called “the Cod Wars” between Iceland and the UK in the 1950s and the 1970s, with fishing fleets being protected by naval vessels and even shots being fired.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Tycoon with the middle name Socrates : ARI ONASSIS
11. Advantage : PLUS
15. When it’s acceptable to start downing brews : BEER O’CLOCK
16. Pen sound : OINK!
17. Vacation spot : RESORT AREA
18. Dog command : COME
19. Away from the nose : AFT
20. See 38-Across : MINED
21. Response to an unrevealing revelation : I KNEW
22. Point of a vampire story? : FANG
23. Bikini blasts, briefly : N-TESTS
24. Not going swimmingly? : WADING
27. Ice cream purchases : QUARTS
29. Many Israelis : ARABS
30. Carriage driver? : BUGGY WHIP
33. Complexion changer : ACNE
34. Cousins of husks : ARILS
35. High Rhine feeder : AARE
36. Nickname for Baltimore : CHARM CITY
38. With 20-Across, scratched the surface for resources? : STRIP
39. Squeeze : COERCE
40. Get to : ACCESS
41. Become attentive : SNAP TO
43. David of “Rhoda” : GROH
44. Frequency unit : HERTZ
45. German architect who spent 19 years in Spandau Prison : SPEER
47. Freon letters : CFC
50. Shankar at Woodstock : RAVI
51. 1920 birthplace of the N.F.L. : CANTON, OHIO
53. Like some fans and fences: Abbr. : ELEC
54. Where Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games record : ORIOLE PARK
55. Piano pieces : KEYS
56. 6 or 7 p.m., for many : DINNERTIME

Down
1. Aron’s girlfriend in “East of Eden” : ABRA
2. Bikini feature : REEF
3. Superlative ending : -IEST
4. Precious thing in Montana’s motto : ORO
5. 11th-century conquerors : NORMANS
6. Histrionic skill : ACTING
7. It may be thrown around at a party : SLANG
8. Put out : SORE
9. Sewn up : ICED
10. Relative of calypso : SKA
11. Item often with a hinged lid : POCKET WATCH
12. Hog’s portion : LION’S SHARE
13. Not yet realized : UNMET
14. Presents unfairly : SKEWS
21. Humble response to a compliment : I TRY
22. Laparoscopy technology : FIBER OPTICS
23. Rides : NAGS
24. Certain W.W. II enlistee : WAAC
25. One may be built to commemorate triumph : ARCH
26. Noted Ross Perot impersonator : DANA CARVEY
27. Pretty : QUITE
28. Unpretty : UGLY
30. ___-a-brac : BRIC
31. What surrounds an aperture : IRIS
32. Energizes, with “up” : PEPS
34. Top: Prefix : ACRO-
37. Capital of Lorraine : METZ
38. One delivering raspberries : SCORNER
40. Round bump on a cactus : AREOLE
41. Film title character who says “This is the part where you run away” : SHREK
42. Hall-of-Fame football coach Greasy : NEALE
43. Board : GET ON
45. Asian wear with pleats : SARI
46. Nabokov novel : PNIN
47. Vanilla ___ (hot drink) : CHAI
48. Unvarying : FIRM
49. Vanilla ___ (cold drink) : COKE
51. Trawler’s catch : COD
52. Elect : OPT

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