Day: June 11, 2016

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Ones hanging around a deli? : SALAMIS
Salame (note the “e” at the end) is an Italian sausage that is traditionally associated with the peasant classes. The meat in the sausage is preserved with salt, and it can be hung and stored for as long as ten years. The name “salame” comes from “sale”, the Italian word for salt, and “-ame”, a suffix indicating a collective noun. Our English word “salami” is actually the Italian plural for “salame”.

8. One face in the crowd? : WALDO
The reference is to the series of children’s illustrated books called “Where’s Waldo?”, originally titled “Where’s Wally?” in Britain where the books originated. The book contains page after page of illustrations with crowds of people surrounding famous landmarks from around the world. The challenge is to find Waldo/Wally, who is hidden in the crowd.

13. Poison also called white arsenic : RATSBANE
Ratsbane is rat poison, particularly arsenic trioxide.

14. French siege site of 1597 : AMIENS
The Siege of Amiens of 1597 took place during the Franco-Spanish War.

16. Children’s song about avian anatomy : ALOUETTE
The French-Canadian children’s song starts with, “Alouette, gentille alouette …” “Alouette” is the French word for a bird, the “lark”. The song is actually pretty gruesome, even though it was used to teach children the names of body parts. The origin of the song lies in the French colonists penchant for eating larks, which they considered to be game birds. So in the song, the singer tells the lark that he/she will pluck off one-by-one the lark’s head, nose, eyes, wings and tail.

17. Lot : KISMET
“Kismet” is a Turkish word, meaning fate or fortune, one’s lot.

19. Something held at arm’s length : SELFIE STICK
Selfie sticks, oh how I hate selfie sticks. A walk down the Strip in Vegas is an enlightening exercise in what’s wrong with contemporary photography …

21. Neighbor of Windsor Castle : ETON
The world-famous Eton College is just a brisk walk from Windsor Castle, which itself is just outside London. Eton is noted for producing many British leaders including David Cameron who took power in the last UK general election. The list of Old Etonians also includes Princes William and Harry, the Duke of Wellington, George Orwell, and the creator of James Bond, Ian Fleming (as well as 007 himself as described in the Fleming novels).

23. Priceline possibilities : INNS
Priceline.com is travel website providing discount prices for airline tickets and hotel stays. Priceline’s most famous spokespeople in advertisements are William Shatner and Kaley Cuoco.

39. Grub for a grub : LEAF
The larvae of stag beetles are commonly known as grubs, and the pupa known as the chrysalis. “Grub” is also slang for food. The word “grub” has been used in this sense since way back in the 1600s, possible derived from birds eating grubs.

40. Zebu feature : HUMP
Zebu cattle are most often seen on the Indian subcontinent. They’re the subspecies with the fatty hump on their shoulders, droopy ears and a large dewlap (flap of skin under the neck). In the Hindu tradition, the zebu can represent Nandi, the sacred bull that serves as the mount of the god Shiva.

41. One might start working on Black Friday : MALL SANTA
In the world of retail, “Black Friday” is the day after Thanksgiving in the US. Black Friday is when many stores start the holiday shopping season, and so offer deep discounts to get ahead of the competition.

46. Debatable ability : ESP
Extrasensory perception (ESP)

55. Whacking tool : GAT
“Gat” is slang for “gun”. The term is derived from the Gatling gun, the precursor to the modern machine gun. The Gatling gun was invented by Dr. Richard J. Gatling in 1861. Apparently he was inspired to invent it so that one man could do as much damage as a hundred, thereby reducing the size of armies and diminishing the suffering caused by war. Go figure …

57. Like lingerie : INTIMATE
“Lingerie” is a French term, but as used in France it just means any underwear, worn by either males or females. In English we use “lingerie” to describe alluring underclothing worn by women. The term “lingerie” comes into English via the French word “linge” meaning “washables”, and ultimately from the Latin “linum”, meaning “linen”. We tend not to pronounce the word correctly in English, either here in the US or across the other side of the Atlantic. The French pronunciation is more like “lan-zher-ee”, as opposed to “lon-zher-ay” (American) and “lon-zher-ee” (British).

59. James who edited the O.E.D. : MURRAY
Scotsman James Murray was the first editor of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), filling that role from 1879 until his death in 1915. However, Murray never saw his work completed as the anticipated ten-year project actually took 50 years to complete.

61. Bobby who co-founded the Black Panthers : SEALE
Bobby Seale is the civil rights activist who co-founded the Black Panther Party with Huey Newton.

Down
1. Toast, e.g. : SALUTE
Did you ever wonder why we use the term “toast” to drink someone’s health? The tradition probably dates back to the reign of Charles II, when the practice was to drink a glass of wine to the health of a beautiful or favored woman. In those days, spiced toast was added to beverages to add flavor, so the use of the word “toast” was an indicator that the lady’s beauty would enhance the wine. Very charming, I must say …

Retired basketball player Shaquille O’Neal now appears regularly as an analyst on the NBA TV show “Inside the NBA”. Shaq has quite a career in the entertainment world. His first rap album, called “Shaq Diesel”, went platinum. He also starred in two of his own reality show: “Shaq’s Big Challenge” and “Shaq Vs.”

Adolph Rupp was a very successful college basketball coach. A native of Kentucky, Rupp was a reserve player for the University of Kansas basketball team from 1919 to 1923, and then coached the Kansas men’s basketball team from 1930 to 1972.

4. Two of them are worth a sawbuck : ABES
The US five-dollar bill is often called an “Abe”, as President Lincoln’s portrait is on the front. An Abe is also referred to as a “fin”, a term that has been used for a five-pound note in Britain since 1868.

“Sawbuck” is slang for a ten dollar bill. The term was applied to the bill as the Roman numeral X (which used to appear on the bill) resembles the end of sawhorse.

5. Winning move : MATE
In the game of chess, when the king is under immediate threat of capture it is said to be “in check”. If the king cannot escape from check, then the game ends in “checkmate” and the player in check loses. In the original Sanskrit game of chess, the king could actually be captured. Then a rule was introduced requiring that a warning be given if capture was imminent (today we announce “check!”) so that an accidental and early ending to the game doesn’t occur.

11. Home brewing vessel : DEMIJOHN
A carboy (also “demijohn”) is a large container for liquids, usually with a capacity of 5 to 15 gallons. Glass and plastic carboys are often used at home for the fermentation of beer and wine.

12. About 2% of the Hope Diamond : ONE CARAT
The carat is a unit of mass used in measuring gemstones that is equal to 200 mg.

The Hope Diamond is a very large diamond (45.52 carats) that is a deep blue color due to trace amounts of boron found within the crystal structure. The diamond has quite a history, the legend being that in its original (larger) form it was the eye in a sculpted statue of a Hindu god. It passed through a number of hands, being recut at least twice, and in the 19th century ended up in the collection of an Anglo-Dutch banker called Henry Philip Hope, whose name is currently used for the gem. Eventually it fell into the hands of a New York diamond merchant called Harry Winston who agreed to donate it to the Smithsonian. To deliver the diamond to its new owners, Winston popped the gem into a plain brown paper bag and sent it through the US Mail.

15. One of the Leewards : ST KITTS
Saint Kitts is the more familiar name for Saint Christopher Island, part of the West Indies. Saint Kitts, along with the neighboring island of Nevis, is part of the country known as the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. Saint Kitts has had a troubled history, with the Spanish, British and French all vying for control of the island. Most of the population today is descended from slaves brought onto Saint Kitts to farm tobacco and then sugar cane. Most of the slaves were from Africa, although Irish and Scottish slaves were also used.

22. Tropicana label specification : NO PULP
The Tropicana company is most famous for its orange juice. The company is headquartered in Chicago, where not many oranges are grown …

26. Hardly seen, to Seneca : RARA
Seneca the Younger was a tutor and advisor to the Emperor Nero of Ancient Rome. Although maybe innocent, Seneca was forced to commit suicide by Nero as it was alleged that Seneca participated in a plot to kill the emperor. To kill himself, Seneca cut into a number of veins in order to bleed to death.

28. Certain Internet diagram : SITE MAP
A “site map” is a hierarchical list of pages on a web site. A well-designed site map can be useful to site visitors, but is more commonly used by search engines to get a complete and accurate picture of a site so that it is correctly represented in search results.

29. Fatsis who wrote the best-selling “Word Freak” : STEFAN
“Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive SCRABBLE Players” is a 2001 book by “Wall Street Journal” sports reporter Stefan Fatsis. The book recounts Fatsis’ own education in the game as he progresses from being a decent player at home to being ranked “expert” by the National Scrabble Association.

32. Student taking Civil Procedure, most likely : ONE L
“One L” is a name used in general for first year law students.

33. Some car wash grps. : PTAS
Parent-Teacher Association (PTA)

34. “The vice of a few intelligent people,” per Voltaire : ATHEISM
Voltaire was the pen name of French writer and philosopher François-Marie Arouet. He chose the name “Voltaire” as it is an anagram of “Arovet Li”, the Latinized spelling of his family name “Arouet”.

35. Alternative to quinoa : COUSCOUS
Couscous is dish made from semolina, tiny balls of durum wheat, that is cooked by steaming. Couscous is particularly common in North African cuisines.

Quinoa is a grain crop that is more closely related to beetroots and spinach that it is to cereals and grasses. Quinoa is mainly cultivated for its edible seeds, which are high in protein. The seeds are also gluten free, which seems to be a big deal these days. I do like my quinoa …

36. Sancho Panza, to Don Quixote : COMPADRE
Sancho Panza is Don Quixote’s squire, a character who spouts out humorous comments called “sanchismos”.

42. Third-ever Best Actor Oscar winner : ARLISS
George Arliss was an English actor who won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1930 for his performance in the 1929 film “Disraeli”. That made Arliss the first British actor to win an Oscar, as well as the earliest-born actor from anywhere in the world to win one.

44. Source of resentment in the Colonies in the 1770s : TEA TAX
The famous destruction of tea in Boston Harbor to protest against the Tax Act took place on December 16, 1773. The action was referred to as the “destruction of the tea” for decades, and it wasn’t until 1834 that the term “Boston Tea Party” first appeared in print.

45. Soviet co-op : ARTEL
The Russian cooperative associations known as artels were often pretty informal affairs. Basically any group could get together and form an artel for any specific commercial purpose … anything from gold-mining and fishing, to stealing and begging.

47. Monkshood flower’s “hood” : SEPAL
In a flower, the sepals are those green, leaf-like structures that are “interleaved” with the petals, providing support. Prior to acting as support for the petals, the sepals protect the flower in bud.

51. Dunn formerly of “S.N.L.” : NORA
Nora Dunn is a comedian best known as a cast member on “Saturday Night Live”. Nora is the sister of actor Kevin Dunn, known for many supporting roles including Chief of Staff Ben Cafferty in TV’s “Veep”.

52. “Annette Sings ___” (1960 pop album) : ANKA
Canadian-born Paul Anka’s big hit was in 1957, the song entitled “Diana”. Anka was the subject of a much-lauded documentary film in 1962 called “Lonely Boy”.

Annette Funicello is an actress and singer whose big break came on the original “Mickey Mouse Club”, in which Funicello was one of the most popular of the Mouseketeers. After her time with “Mickey Mouse Club”, she had a very successful few years as a pop singer. Then Funicello transitioned to the big screen and starred alongside Frankie Avalon in the “Beach Party” series of films.

53. Couple : ITEM
An unmarried couple known to be involved with each other might appear in the gossip columns. This appearance as “an item” in the papers, led to the use of “item” to refer to such a couple, but only since the very early seventies.

54. Elephantine Island is in it : NILE
Elephantine is an island in the middle of the River Nile in Aswan, Egypt. It’s possible that the island was named for it’s resemblance to the shape of an elephant task.
58. Mayo, for one : MES
In Spanish, the “mes” (month) of “abril” (April) comes before “mayo” (May).

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Ones hanging around a deli? : SALAMIS
8. One face in the crowd? : WALDO
13. Poison also called white arsenic : RATSBANE
14. French siege site of 1597 : AMIENS
16. Children’s song about avian anatomy : ALOUETTE
17. Lot : KISMET
18. Barrel holder : GUN
19. Something held at arm’s length : SELFIE STICK
21. Neighbor of Windsor Castle : ETON
23. Priceline possibilities : INNS
24. I have, to Henri : J’AI
25. Converts to pastureland, say : DEFORESTS
29. Nature : SORT
30. Equal: Prefix : PARI-
31. Post-stunt provocation : TOP THAT!
34. Ill-fated, old-style : ACCURST
37. Aims : INTENTS
38. After the fact : TOO LATE
39. Grub for a grub : LEAF
40. Zebu feature : HUMP
41. One might start working on Black Friday : MALL SANTA
46. Debatable ability : ESP
47. Really go up : SOAR
49. Aye’s opposite, poetically : NE’ER
50. “Hear me out” : I CAN EXPLAIN
55. Whacking tool : GAT
56. Way cool, in modern lingo : SO DOPE
57. Like lingerie : INTIMATE
59. James who edited the O.E.D. : MURRAY
60. Bare-bones : SKELETAL
61. Bobby who co-founded the Black Panthers : SEALE
62. Like some unions : SAME-SEX

Down
1. Toast, e.g. : SALUTE
2. Untold : A TON OF
3. Where Shaq won the Adolph Rupp Trophy : LSU
4. Two of them are worth a sawbuck : ABES
5. Winning move : MATE
6. Involving multiple states: Abbr. : INTL
7. Deem appropriate : SEE FIT
8. Stir : WAKEN
9. Off : AMISS
10. Tilt : LIST
11. Home brewing vessel : DEMIJOHN
12. About 2% of the Hope Diamond : ONE CARAT
13. Was spitting nails : RAGED
15. One of the Leewards : ST KITTS
20. Establish gradually : INSTILL
22. Tropicana label specification : NO PULP
26. Hardly seen, to Seneca : RARA
27. Way back then, way back when : ERST
28. Certain Internet diagram : SITE MAP
29. Fatsis who wrote the best-selling “Word Freak” : STEFAN
32. Student taking Civil Procedure, most likely : ONE L
33. Some car wash grps. : PTAS
34. “The vice of a few intelligent people,” per Voltaire : ATHEISM
35. Alternative to quinoa : COUSCOUS
36. Sancho Panza, to Don Quixote : COMPADRE
42. Third-ever Best Actor Oscar winner : ARLISS
43. Nix : NEGATE
44. Source of resentment in the Colonies in the 1770s : TEA TAX
45. Soviet co-op : ARTEL
47. Monkshood flower’s “hood” : SEPAL
48. Baroque window : OXEYE
51. Dunn formerly of “S.N.L.” : NORA
52. “Annette Sings ___” (1960 pop album) : ANKA
53. Couple : ITEM
54. Elephantine Island is in it : NILE
58. Mayo, for one : MES

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