Day: October 12, 2015

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
5. Smart-alecky : SASSY
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.

10. ___ Ben-Hur : JUDAH
Lew Wallace was a general for the Union Army during the Civil War, and was also an author. He wrote a very successful and celebrated book called “Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ”, first published in 1880, which was made into a movie starring Charlton Heston.

16. Give 10% to the church : TITHE
Traditionally, a “tithe” is a payment of one tenth of a person’s annual income and is usually given to a church. Tithing is a practice taught in many traditions, and according to a 2002 survey, about 3% of American adults donate 10% or more of their income to a church.

17. Layer in global warming discussions : OZONE
Ozone gets its name from the Greek word ozein, meaning “to smell”. It was given this name as ozone’s formation during lightning storms was detected by the gas’s distinctive smell. Famously, there is a relatively high concentration of the gas in the “ozone layer” in the Earth’s stratosphere. This ozone layer provides a vital function for animal life on the planet as it absorbs most of the sun’s UV radiation. A molecule of ozone is made up of three oxygen atoms, whereas a “normal” oxygen has just two atoms.

21. Where Picture A might be found : NURSERY RHYME
“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 have al;ways intrigued me:

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.

24. Preceder of Sept. : AUG
Gaius Octavius Thurinus (often called Octavian) was the adopted son of Gaius Julius Caesar. After Julius Caesar was assassinated, Octavian came to power in Rome and teamed up with Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus in what was called the Second Triumvirate. When the triumvirate fell apart, especially after Antony’s defeat at Actium, Octavian became more powerful within the Roman Republic. Several years later he wrested sufficient power from the Roman Senate to end the Republic and begin the Roman Empire. As the first Emperor of Rome, Octavian was given the name Caesar Augustus. The month of August, originally called “Sextilis” in Latin, was renamed in honor of Augustus.

33. Coin of France or Spain : EURO
Euro coins are issued by all the participating European states. The reverse side is a common design used by all countries, whereas the obverse is a design specific to each nation. For example, the one euro coin issued by Malta features the Maltese Cross. That Maltese euro is legal tender right across the eurozone. The Irish euro features a harp.

36. Goodyear craft : BLIMP
There is an important difference between a “blimp” (like “The Goodyear Blimp”) and an airship (like a Zeppelin). An airship is a rigid structure with an internal framework that helps maintain the shape of the airbag, whereas a blimp uses the pressure of the helium gas inside the airbag to give it shape. Also, blimps are usually heavier than air and so will float naturally to the ground. They maintain their lift with forward motion and by raising the nose slightly.

43. Benghazi’s land : LIBYA
Benghazi is the second largest city in Libya, after the capital Tripoli. It is a port city, lying on the Mediterranean Sea.

48. City haze : SMOG
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the cities with the worst air quality on the planet are, starting with the worst:

– Ahwaz, Iran
– Ulan Bator, Mongolia
– Lahore, Pakistan
– New Delhi, India
– Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

52. Due-in info : ETA
Estimated time of arrival (ETA)

60. Madison, Monroe or any of four other presidents : JAMES
We have had more US presidents with the given name “James” than any other. There have been six:

– James Madison
– James Monroe
– James Polk
– James Buchanan
– James Garfield
– James “Jimmy” Carter

64. Put-down from Donald Trump : LOSER
As we have been hearing a lot in the media, Donald Trump is prone to label certain individuals as “losers”.

Donald Trump got into real estate development under the influence of his father, Fred Trump, who was a wealthy New York City developer, and who was also the actual founder of the Trump Organization.

65. Norway’s capital : 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.

67. Kind of leaf on Canada’s flag : MAPLE
The current design of the Canadian National Flag, known as “the Maple Leaf”, has been in place since 1965. The design made its first appearance on February 15th of that year, and so that date is celebrated annually as National Flag of Canada Day.

69. Wrinkle-reducing injection : BOTOX
Botulinum toxin is produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. The toxin is a protein that can cause botulism, an extremely dangerous illness in humans and animals. Botulinum toxin is sold under the trade name Botox. Botox is used therapeutically and in cosmetic applications to weaken muscles, perhaps muscles that are in uncontrollable spasm. The cosmetic application involves the paralyzing of facial muscles in order to eliminate or reduce wrinkles, at least for a few months.

Down
1. Blueprint : PLAN
Blueprints are reproductions of technical or architectural drawings that are contact prints made on light-sensitive sheets. Blueprints were introduced in the 1800s and the technology available dictated that the drawings were reproduced with white lines on a blue background, hence the name “blue-print”.

2. Pasta sauce brand : RAGU
The Ragú brand of pasta sauce is owned by Unilever. The name ” Ragù” is the Italian word for a sauce used to dress pasta, however the spelling is off a little. In Italian the word is “Ragù” with a grave accent over the “u”, but if you look at a jar of the Unilever sauce, it is spelled “Ragú” on the label, with an acute accent. Sometimes I think we just don’t try …

3. “Your turn,” on a walkie-talkie : OVER
The more formal name for a walkie-talkie is a handheld transceiver. A walkie-talkie is a handheld, two-way radio, a device first developed for military use during WWII by Motorola (although others developed similar designs soon after). The first walkie talkie was portable, but large. It was back-mounted and was carried around the battlefield by a radio officer.

4. Poland’s capital : WARSAW
The name “Warsaw” in Polish means “belonging to Warsz”. Legend has it that Warsz, was a fisherman who fell in love with a mermaid called Sawa. It’s a nice story, but actually Warsz was a nobleman from the 12th or 13th century who owned a local village.

5. 1994 sci-fi film turned into a series on Showtime : STARGATE
The “Stargate” movie, released in 1994, was a really fun film I thought. It turned into huge television, book and video game franchise, but nothing really met the standard of the original, in my humble opinion …

8. Former Iranian ruler : SHAH
The last Shah of Iran was Mohammed-Reza Shah Pahlavi, as he was overthrown in the revolution led by the Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979. The post-revolution government sought the extradition of the Shah back to Iran while he was in the United States seeking medical care (he had cancer). His prolonged stay in the United States, recovering from surgery, caused some unrest back in Iran and resentment towards the United States. Some say that this resentment precipitated the storming of the US Embassy in Tehran and the resulting hostage crisis.

11. Gun in many an action flick : UZI
The first Uzi submachine gun was designed in the late 1940s by Major Uziel “Uzi” Gal of the Israel Defense Forces, who gave his name to the gun.

22. Exultant cry of discovery : EUREKA
“Eureka” translates from Greek as “I have found it”. The word is usually associated with Archimedes, uttered as he stepped into his bath one day. His discovery was that the volume of water that was displaced was equal to that of the object (presumably his foot) that had been submerged. He used this fact to determine the volume of a crown, something he needed in order to determine if it was made of pure gold or was a forgery.

23. Page in an atlas : MAP
The famous Flemish geographer Gerardus Mercator published his first collection of maps in 1578. Mercator’s collection contained a frontispiece with an image of Atlas the Titan from Greek mythology holding up the world on his shoulders. That image gave us our term “atlas”.

27. California’s ___ Woods : MUIR
Muir Woods is a National Monument located not too far from here, just north of San Francisco. It is home to enormous old growth Coast Redwood trees. The land was declared a National Monument in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt. The name “Muir Woods” was chosen in honor of the naturalist John Muir.

36. Colombia’s capital : BOGOTA
Bogotá is the capital city of Colombia. Noted for having many libraries and universities, Bogotá is sometimes referred to as “The Athens of South America”.

37. Tour de France mountains : ALPS
Back in the late 1800s, long-distance cycle races were used as promotional events, traditionally to help boost sales of newspapers. These races usually took place around tracks, but in 1902 the backers of the struggling sports publication “L’Auto” decided to stage a race that would take the competitors all around France. That first Tour de France took place in 1903, starting in Paris and passing through Lyon, Marseilles, Bordeaux, Nantes and then back to Paris.

40. Blue used by a printer : CYAN
“Cyan” is short for “cyan blue”. The term comes from the Greek word “kyanos” meaning “dark blue, the color of lapis lazuli”.

Four-color printing uses four different color inks: cyan, magenta, yellow and black. The black ink is also known as the “key”. The first letters of the colors (with black being ”key”) give the more common name for four-color printing, namely CMYK.

41. Abbr. on a gym weight : LBS
The unit of mass that we know today as a “pound” is descended from the old Roman unit of weight known as a “libra”. That “libra” connection is why we abbreviate “pound” to “lb”. The name “pound” though comes from the Latin “pondo” meaning “weight”. Our term “ounce” comes from the Latin “uncia”, which was 1/12 of a Roman “libra”.

47. Biblical book of poems : PSALMS
The Greek word “psalmoi” originally meant “songs sung to a harp”, and gave us the word “psalms”.

49. Florida bigmouths? : GATORS
Crocodiles and alligators do indeed bear a resemblance to each other, although they belong to distinct biological families. One of the main ways used to distinguish them is by their teeth and jaws. Both the upper and lower sets of teeth of a crocodile are visible when its mouth is closed, whereas only the upper teeth of an alligator are visible with the mouth shut.

51. English or New Jersey county : ESSEX
Essex is a county in England, referred to as one of the “home counties”.

The home counties are the counties that surround the city of London, outside of London itself. “Home county” is not an official designation but has been in popular use since the 1800s.

Essex County, New Jersey is actually in the New York Metropolitan Area. The county seat is Newark.

55. Cable sports award : ESPY
The ESPY Awards are a creation of the ESPN sports television network. One difference with similarly named awards in the entertainment industry is that ESPY winners are chosen solely based on viewer votes.

56. Bear market order : SELL
The terms “bull” and “bear” markets come from the way in which each animal attacks. A bull thrusts his horns upwards (an “up” market), whereas a bear swipes with his paws downward (a “down” market).

58. Ye ___ Shoppe : OLDE
The word “olde” wasn’t actually used much earlier than the 1920s. “Olde” was introduced to give a quaint antique feel to brand names, shop names etc.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Front of a ship : PROW
5. Smart-alecky : SASSY
10. ___ Ben-Hur : JUDAH
15. Volcano’s output : LAVA
16. Give 10% to the church : TITHE
17. Layer in global warming discussions : OZONE
18. Antiquing substance : AGER
19. Operatic solos : ARIAS
20. Word repeated when calling a cat : KITTY
21. Where Picture A might be found : NURSERY RHYME
24. Preceder of Sept. : AUG
25. Rower : OARSMAN
30. Rolled sandwich : WRAP
32. Baby dog : PUP
33. Coin of France or Spain : EURO
34. Online commerce : E-TAIL
36. Goodyear craft : BLIMP
37. Picture A … or, after switching the circled letters and reading the result phonetically, Picture B : A POCKET FULL OF RYE (or A ROCKET FULL OF PIE)
43. Benghazi’s land : LIBYA
44. Of equal size : AS BIG
45. “Guilty” or “not guilty” : PLEA
46. Fitting : APT
48. City haze : SMOG
50. Fox’s trait : SLYNESS
52. Due-in info : ETA
53. Where Picture B might be found : SPACE STATION
60. Madison, Monroe or any of four other presidents : JAMES
64. Put-down from Donald Trump : LOSER
65. Norway’s capital : OSLO
66. Wise saying : ADAGE
67. Kind of leaf on Canada’s flag : MAPLE
68. Give a face-lift : REDO
69. Wrinkle-reducing injection : BOTOX
70. Tudor or Art Deco : STYLE
71. Look for : SEEK

Down
1. Blueprint : PLAN
2. Pasta sauce brand : RAGU
3. “Your turn,” on a walkie-talkie : OVER
4. Poland’s capital : WARSAW
5. 1994 sci-fi film turned into a series on Showtime : STARGATE
6. Light and open : AIRY
7. Blend using a spoon : STIR
8. Former Iranian ruler : SHAH
9. “Who, me?” reply : YES YOU
10. Wild card in a deck : JOKER
11. Gun in many an action flick : UZI
12. Part of an “i” or “j” : DOT
13. Kitchen pest : ANT
14. “Psst!” : HEY!
22. Exultant cry of discovery : EUREKA
23. Page in an atlas : MAP
26. ___-portrait : SELF
27. California’s ___ Woods : MUIR
28. Navy’s gridiron rival : ARMY
29. Yep’s opposite : NOPE
31. Small butter portion : PAT
32. + : PLUS
35. “___ first you don’t succeed …” : IF AT
36. Colombia’s capital : BOGOTA
37. Tour de France mountains : ALPS
38. Capsule alternative : PILL
39. Do as one’s told : OBEY
40. Blue used by a printer : CYAN
41. Abbr. on a gym weight : LBS
42. Bearer of green fruit : LIME TREE
46. Dangerous snake : ASP
47. Biblical book of poems : PSALMS
49. Florida bigmouths? : GATORS
51. English or New Jersey county : ESSEX
54. Layer of paint : COAT
55. Cable sports award : ESPY
56. Bear market order : SELL
57. “Ah, that’s what you mean” : I SEE
58. Ye ___ Shoppe : OLDE
59. Cozy corner : NOOK
60. Quick punch : JAB
61. Hubbub : ADO
62. Doorstep “welcomer” : MAT
63. A politician might have a big one : EGO

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