Day: March 14, 2016

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. “Away with you!” : SCAT!
Our word “scat”, meaning “get lost!” comes from a 19th-century expression “quicker than s’cat”, which meant “in a great hurry”. The original phrase probably came from the words “hiss” and “cat”.

10. Skier’s lift : T-BAR
A T-bar is a type of ski lift on which the skiers are pulled up the hill in pairs, with each pair standing (not sitting!) either side of T-shaped metal bar. The bar is placed behind the thighs, pulling along the skiers as they remain standing on their skis (hopefully!). There’s also a J-bar, a similar device, but with each J-shaped bar used by one skier at a time.

15. Hawaiian hi : ALOHA
The Hawaiian word “Aloha” has many meanings in English: affection, love, peace, compassion and mercy. More recently “aloha” has come to mean “hello” and “goodbye”, but only since the mid-1800s.

16. Southwest tribe : HOPI
Many of the Hopi nation live on a reservation that is actually located within the much larger Navajo reservation in Arizona.

17. Cheese in spinach pies : FETA
Feta is a Greek cheese made from sheep’s milk, or a mixture of sheep’s and goat’s milk. The cheese is salted and cured in a brine solution for several months before it is eaten.

18. “Wilbur, get in the game!” : PLAY, WRIGHT! (from “playwright”)
Aviation pioneer Wilbur was the older of the two Wright brothers, and he was born in 1867 in Millville, Indiana. By the time that the younger Orville was born in 1871, the family was living in Dayton, Ohio. The Wrights spent a few years of their youth back in Richmond, Indiana, before settling in Dayton for the rest of their lives. The brothers both died in Dayton; Wilbur in 1912 and Orville in 1948.

20. “Elijah, press your clothes!” : IRON, WOOD! (from “ironwood”)
Elijah Wood is an American actor who is most associated with his role as Frodo Baggins in the “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

“Ironwood” is the name given to the wood from a number of tree species, wood that is noted for its hardness.

22. Woman who lent her name to a business-locating “list” : ANGIE
Angie’s List is a website used by consumers to rate and research local businesses. The “list” was founded in 1995, originally as a call-in service and publication with reviews, by William S. Oesterle and the eponymous Angie Hicks. Angie’s List moved to the Internet in 1996, and by 2013 had 70,000 subscribers.

23. Philosopher Immanuel : KANT
Immanuel Kant was an 18th-century, German philosopher. Kant published “Perpetual Peace” in 1795, laying out what he believed were conditions for ending all wars and creating a lasting peace. The good news for us is that one of these conditions was to have a world full of constitutional republics, so it seems we are on the right track here in the US!

24. 2005-08 position held by Barack Obama: Abbr. : SEN
President Barack Obama served three terms in the Illinois State Senate, from 1997 to 2004. The future President ran unsuccessfully for the US House of Representatives in 2000, and then successfully for the US Senate in 2004. Famously, State Senator Obama delivered the keynote address to the Democratic National Convention in 2004, just a few months before winning that US Senate seat.

26. Employees at the Times or Post, for short : EDS
Editor (ed.)

30. Fought head to head, like bighorns : BUTTED
The bighorn sheep of North America has horns that can weigh up to 30 pounds, about 10% of the animal’s body weight.

32. End of a univ. email address : EDU
The .edu domain was one of the six original generic top-level domains specified. The complete original list is:

– .com (commercial enterprise)
– .net (entity involved in network infrastructure e.g. an ISP)
– .mil (US military)
– .org (not-for-profit organization)
– .gov (US federal government entity)
– .edu (college-level educational institution)

33. “Eric, give some to us!” : SHARE, HOLDER! (from “shareholder”)
Eric Holder was the Attorney General of the United States from 2009 to 2015, the first African American to hold the position. Holder was close to President Obama during the presidential campaign. Holder was the campaign’s legal advisor and was also one of the three members on the Obama vice-presidential selection committee, which of course opted for Vice-President Joe Biden.

38. McEntire at the Grand Ole Opry : REBA
Reba McEntire is a country music singer and television actress. McEntire starred in her own sitcom called “Reba” that aired on the WB and the CW cable channels from 2001 to 2007.

“The Grand Ole Opry” started out as a radio show in 1925 originally called the WSM “Barn Dance”. In 1927, the “Barn Dance” radio show was broadcast in a slot after an NBC production called “Musical Appreciation Hour”, a collection of classical works including Grand Opera. In a December show, the host of “Barn Dance” announced, “For the past hour, we have been listening to music taken largely from Grand Opera. From now on we will present the ‘Grand Ole Opry'”. That name was used for the radio show from then on.

42. “Sally, keep up the fight!” : BATTLE, FIELD! (from “battlefield”)
Actress Sally Field first came to the public’s attention in the sixties with title roles in the TV shows “Gidget” and “The Flying Nun”. She has two Best Actress Oscars: one for “Norma Rae” (1979) and one for “Places in the Heart” (1984).

49. Ginger ___ : ALE
The brand most closely associated with ginger ale is Canada Dry. “Canada Dry Pale Ginger Ale” was first formulated in 1904 by a Canadian chemist called John McLoughlin from Ontario. Prohibition in the United States helped sales of the drink as it was particularly effective in masking the taste of illegally-produced homemade liquor.

52. Clown’s name : BOZO
Bozo the Clown is a character created in 1946 by Alan Livingston. Bozo was introduced in the first ever “record reader”, a children’s illustrated read-along book that came with a vinyl recording of the story. The book/record was so successful that Bozo moved to television, and he has been around ever since.

54. Potato treat for Hanukkah : LATKE
A latke is a delicious potato pancake (I’m Irish … so anything made with potato is delicious!).

The term “Hanukkah” derives from the Hebrew for “to dedicate”. Hanukkah is a holiday lasting eight days that commemorates the rededication of the Holy Temple of Jerusalem after successful Jewish revolt against the Seleucids in the 2nd-century BCE. The story of Hanukkah includes the miracle of the one-day supply of oil that kept the menorah alight for eight days.

56. “Larry, shoot!” : FIRE, BIRD! (from “firebird”)
Larry Bird played basketball for the Boston Celtics from 1978 to 1992. Bird has a lot of very loyal fans, and some might even be described as fanatical. In 2005 an Oklahoma City man was convicted of a crime involving a shooting. On being sentenced to 30 years imprisonment, the guilty man requested that the sentence be changed to 33 years so that it matched the number on Larry Bird’s jersey. The judge obliged …

“Firebird” is the name given to various birds with bright red plumage e.g. the Baltimore oriole.

60. “Emma, do that sexy dance!” : GRIND, STONE! (from “grindstone”)
The actress Emma Stone really came to prominence with her performance in the 2010 high school movie called “Easy A”. My favorite film of mine in which Stone appears is 2011’s “The Help”.

63. The “B” of Roy G. Biv : BLUE
“Roy G. Biv” is a mnemonic for the colors in a rainbow:

– Red
– Orange
– Yellow
– Green
– Blue
– Indigo
– Violet

64. Chevy that’s now called the Sonic : AVEO
The Chevrolet Aveo is a subcompact automobile that has been around since 2002. The Aveo is manufactured by GM Daewoo, the GM subsidiary in South Korea. Although the Aveo name is still used in some markets, here in North America the Aveo has been sold as the Chevrolet Sonic since 2012. By the way, GM Daewoo is the third largest manufacturer of automobiles in South Korea, after Hyundai and Kia.

65. Slow, in music : LARGO
Largo is a instruction to play a piece of music with a very slow tempo. “Largo” is the Italian word for “broadly”.

67. A.L. division for the Yankees : EAST
The New York Yankees baseball team has the nickname “the Bronx Bombers”. The nickname reflects where the team plays (the Bronx) and the team’s reputation for hitting (bombers). The New York Yankees were the first team to retire a uniform number, doing so on July 4, 1939. That day they retired the number 4 in honor of Lou Gehrig.

Down
1. One practicing a mystical form of Islam : SUFI
A Sufi is a Muslim mystic, an ascetic.

2. Sonny’s old singing partner : CHER
Cher’s real name is Cherilyn Sarkisian, born in 1946. In her acting career, Cher was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar of 1984 for her performance in “Silkwood”. She went further in 1988 and won the Best Actress Oscar for playing Loretta Castorini in “Moonstruck”.

Sonny Bono was a recording artist who later moved into the world of politics. As a musical entertainer, Bono was most famous for his recordings as a duo with Cher, who later became his second wife. The couple divorced, but continued to work together. Bono went into politics, first as the mayor of Palm Springs, California and later as a representative for a California district in the US House of Representatives. Sadly, Bono was killed in a skiing accident in 1998. Coincidently, Michael Kennedy (son of Robert F. Kennedy) had died in a similar skiing accident just one week earlier. The epitaph on Bono’s gravestone reads “And the Beat Goes On”, a reference to the 1967 Sonny & Cher hit “The Beat Goes On”, which was written by Sonny.

3. Chevy, e.g. : AUTO
Louis-Joseph Chevrolet was a Swiss race car driver who co-founded the Cevrolet Motor Car Company in 1911. The company logo to this day is a stylized Swiss cross, in honor of Chevrolet’s Swiss roots.

5. Rooster destined for dinner : CAPON
A capon is a castrated cockerel (poor guy!). Castration has a profound effect on the bird (duh!) making the meat more tender to eat when it is slaughtered.

7. Amphibian that doesn’t really cause warts : TOAD
The “warts” on the skin of a toad have no relation to the viral infection that can occur on human skin. A toad’s warts a colored bumps that are believed to help the animal blend more effectively into its environment.

8. “Frailty, ___ name is woman!”: Hamlet : THY
In Act I, Scene II of William Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet”, the title character utters the lines:

Frailty, thy name is woman!
A little month, or ere those shoes were old
With which she follow’d my poor father’s body.

Hamlet is referring to his mother Gertrude who he deems is morally weak. He feels that she betrayed her husband by marrying his brother just one month after Hamlet’s father died.

9. Deviate erratically from a course : YAW
The word “yaw” means to deviate from the line of a course and is used mainly at sea. “Yaw” is derived from the Old Norse word “jaege” which means “to drive, chase”. As such, “yaw” is etymologically related to our word “yacht”.

12. Crop-destroying insect : APHID
Aphids are called “greenfly” back in the British Isles where I come from. The most effective way to control aphids in my experience is to make sure there are plenty of ladybugs in the garden (called ladybirds in Ireland!).

13. Bat mitzvahs and baptisms : RITES
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.

Baptism is a rite in Christian traditions admitting a candidate, often an infant, into the Church. The ceremony usually uses water as a sign of purification. Water may be poured on the head, or the candidate may be totally immersed in water.

21. House Committee on ___ and Means : WAYS
The Committee of Ways and Means is an extremely influential body in the US House of Representatives. The US Constitution requires that all taxation bills must originate in the House, and procedures in the House require that all taxation bills must go through the Ways and Means Committee.

24. Velvety leather : SUEDE
Suede is leather made from the underside of the skin, mainly from a lamb. As such it is very soft, although not as durable as leather made from the exterior skin. The soft leather was, and is still used for making gloves. Back in 1859 these gloves were called “gants de Suede” in France, or “gloves of Sweden”. So, the name “suede” comes from the French word for Sweden.

25. Merman in old musicals : ETHEL
Ethel Merman was an actress and singer, one noted for having a very powerful voice. Merman was married and divorced four times, the last time to the actor Ernest Borgnine albeit for only 32 days in 1964.

27. Novak Djokovic, for one : SERB
Novak Djokovic is a Serbian tennis player, currently the world No. 1. Djokovic is quite the character off the court it seems and he is very popular on the talk-show circuit, all around the world. It also helps that Djokovic is fluent in several languages.

30. Boston pro on ice : BRUIN
The Boston Bruins professional ice hockey team goes way back, and has been in existence since 1924. The National Hockey League back then was a Canadian-only league, but was expanded to include the US in 1923. The Bruins were the first US-team in the expanded league.

31. Victim of a bark beetle barrage : ELM
Dutch elm disease is a fungus devastating to all species of elm trees that is transmitted by the elm bark beetle. The disease is thought to have originated in Asia and is now rampant in Europe and North America. Even though there is a hybrid of elm known as the Dutch elm, the disease isn’t named after the tree. Rather, the disease is called “Dutch” as it was identified in 1921 by a phytopathologist (plant pathologist) in the Netherlands.

35. Title role for Michael Caine or Jude Law : ALFIE
There have been two versions of the movie “Alfie”. The original, and for my money the best, was made in 1966 with Michael Caine. The remake came out in 2004 and stars Jude Law in the title role. The theme song was performed by Cher in the 1966 movie, but it was Dionne Warwick’s cover version from 1967 that was the most successful in the charts.

36. Lake on Ohio’s northern border : ERIE
Lake Erie is the fourth largest of the five Great Lakes by area (Lake Ontario is the smallest). The lake takes its name from the Erie tribe of Native Americans that used to live along its southern shore. Erie is the smallest of the Great Lakes by volume and the shallowest, something for which nearby residents must be quite grateful. Being relatively shallow, much of Erie freezes over part way through most winters putting an end to most of the lake effect snow that falls in the snow belt extending from the lake’s edge.

43. Cut with an intense light : LASED
The term “laser” comes is an acronym, “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation” (LASER). It has been pointed out that a more precise name for laser technology is “Light Oscillation by Stimulated Emission of Radiation”, but the resulting acronym isn’t quite so appealing, namely LOSER …

49. Organisms that cause red tide : ALGAE
An algal bloom that takes on a red or brown color is commonly referred to as “red tide”. The algae causing the bloom are phytoplankton containing photosynthetic pigments that give the red/brown color. Some red tides are extremely harmful to marine life as there can be a depletion of oxygen dissolved in the seawater. The algae can also contain natural toxins that can kill those creatures that eat it.

53. Things to “Twist, Lick, Dunk” in a game app : OREOS
There’s a smartphone app featuring the Oreo cookie. It’s a game in which one twists Oreo cookies apart, “licks” the cream from the center and then dunks the remainder of the cookie in a glass of milk.

57. Largest pelvic bones : ILIA
The sacrum and the two ilia are three bones in the human pelvis.

59. Socialites having a ball : DEBS
Deb is short for “debutante”, which translates from French as “female beginner”.

62. Mai ___ (bar order) : TAI
The Mai Tai cocktail is strongly associated with the Polynesian islands, but the drink was supposedly invented in 1944 in Trader Vic’s restaurant in Oakland, California. One recipe is 6 parts white rum, 3 parts orange curaçao, 3 parts Orgeat syrup, 1 part rock candy syrup, 2 parts fresh lime juice, all mixed with ice and then a float added of 6 parts dark rum.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. “Away with you!” : SCAT!
5. Snide : CATTY
10. Skier’s lift : T-BAR
14. “Nah!” : UH-UH!
15. Hawaiian hi : ALOHA
16. Southwest tribe : HOPI
17. Cheese in spinach pies : FETA
18. “Wilbur, get in the game!” : PLAY, WRIGHT! (from “playwright”)
20. “Elijah, press your clothes!” : IRON, WOOD! (from “ironwood”)
22. Woman who lent her name to a business-locating “list” : ANGIE
23. Philosopher Immanuel : KANT
24. 2005-08 position held by Barack Obama: Abbr. : SEN
26. Employees at the Times or Post, for short : EDS
27. Wuss : SISSY
30. Fought head to head, like bighorns : BUTTED
32. End of a univ. email address : EDU
33. “Eric, give some to us!” : SHARE, HOLDER! (from “shareholder”)
38. McEntire at the Grand Ole Opry : REBA
40. Manage to avoid : ELUDE
41. Glutton’s desire : MORE
42. “Sally, keep up the fight!” : BATTLE, FIELD! (from “battlefield”)
45. Become the champ : WIN
46. Introduction : LEAD-IN
47. Possessed : OWNED
49. Ginger ___ : ALE
51. Reverse of NNW : SSE
52. Clown’s name : BOZO
54. Potato treat for Hanukkah : LATKE
56. “Larry, shoot!” : FIRE, BIRD! (from “firebird”)
60. “Emma, do that sexy dance!” : GRIND, STONE! (from “grindstone”)
63. The “B” of Roy G. Biv : BLUE
64. Chevy that’s now called the Sonic : AVEO
65. Slow, in music : LARGO
66. Arm or leg : LIMB
67. A.L. division for the Yankees : EAST
68. “Omigosh!” : YIKES!
69. Talks one’s head off : YAPS

Down
1. One practicing a mystical form of Islam : SUFI
2. Sonny’s old singing partner : CHER
3. Chevy, e.g. : AUTO
4. “That was so nice of you!” : THANKS!
5. Rooster destined for dinner : CAPON
6. Apportion : ALLOT
7. Amphibian that doesn’t really cause warts : TOAD
8. “Frailty, ___ name is woman!”: Hamlet : THY
9. Deviate erratically from a course : YAW
10. Slender : THIN
11. Mired : BOGGED DOWN
12. Crop-destroying insect : APHID
13. Bat mitzvahs and baptisms : RITES
19. Totaled, as a bill : RAN TO
21. House Committee on ___ and Means : WAYS
24. Velvety leather : SUEDE
25. Merman in old musicals : ETHEL
27. Novak Djokovic, for one : SERB
28. Notion : IDEA
29. Easy-to-overlook details : SUBTLETIES
30. Boston pro on ice : BRUIN
31. Victim of a bark beetle barrage : ELM
34. Considers carefully, as advice : HEEDS
35. Title role for Michael Caine or Jude Law : ALFIE
36. Lake on Ohio’s northern border : ERIE
37. Tear apart : REND
39. Chowed down : ATE
43. Cut with an intense light : LASED
44. Nod off : DOZE
48. Unsteady : WOBBLY
49. Organisms that cause red tide : ALGAE
50. Tadpole or caterpillar : LARVA
52. Spree : BINGE
53. Things to “Twist, Lick, Dunk” in a game app : OREOS
55. Tie that’s hard to untie : KNOT
56. Decision point in a road : FORK
57. Largest pelvic bones : ILIA
58. Posterior : RUMP
59. Socialites having a ball : DEBS
61. Furtive : SLY
62. Mai ___ (bar order) : TAI

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