Day: June 28, 2016

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. World of Warcraft enthusiast, e.g. : GAMER
“World of Warcraft” is an online role-playing game. My son informs me that itis not that great. Like I would know …

6. Enemy org. in many a spy thriller : KGB
The Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti (KGB) was the national security agency of the Soviet Union until 1991. The KGB was dissolved after the agency’s chairman led a failed attempt at a coup d’état designed to depose President Mikhail Gorbachev.

9. North Carolina fort : BRAGG
Fort Bragg in North Carolina is a very large Army installation that covers over 250 square miles. The base is named for General Braxton Bragg, the native North Carolinian who commanded the Confederate Army forces during the Civil War.

Braxton Bragg was a US Army officer from Warrenton, North Carolina who became a general in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War. After Bragg’s forces were routed at the Battles for Chattanooga, Bragg was recalled in 1864 to Richmond where he served as military adviser to Confederate President Jefferson Davis. After the war, Bragg worked at the New Orleans waterworks, supervised the work at the harbor in Mobile, Alabama and worked on the railroad in Texas.

14. Prefix with transmitter : NEURO-
A neurotransmitter is a chemical substance that transmits signals from one nerve cell to another nerve cell, or to a gland or muscle cell.

16. Mathematician whose name sounds like a ship : EULER
“Euler” sounds like “oiler”.

Leonhard Euler was a brilliant Swiss mathematician and physicist, a pioneer in the fields of logarithms and graph theory.

An “oiler” is an oil tanker, an ocean-going vessel used to transport crude oil.

17. City in SE France : ARLES
Quite a few years ago now, I had the privilege of living just a short car-ride from the beautiful city of Arles in the South of France. Although Arles has a long and colorful history, the Romans had a prevailing influence over the city’s design. Arles has a spectacular Roman amphitheater, arch, circus as well as old walls that surround the center of the city. In more modern times, it was a place Vincent van Gogh often visited, and where he painted his famous “Cafe Terrace at Night”, as well as “Bedroom in Arles”.

19. Airline whose main hub is in Atlanta : DELTA
Delta was the world’s largest airline for a while (after merging with Northwest Airlines in 2008) and is also the oldest airline still operating in the US. Delta’s roots go back to 1924 before it started carrying passengers and was called Huff Daland Dusters, a crop dusting company based in Macon, Georgia. The name Delta Air Service was introduced in 1928.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the world’s busiest airport, as measured by passenger traffic. Atlanta has had that distinction since 1998, and was the world’s busiest in terms of take-offs and landings from 2005 until 2013. Over 50% of Atlanta’s traffic comes from Delta Airlines.

20. “___ ’em!” : SIC
“Sic ’em” is an attack order given to a dog, instructing the animal to growl, bark or even bite. The term dates back to the 1830s, with “sic” being a variation of “seek”.

24. Grp. holding quadrennial competitions : IOC
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was founded in 1894, and has its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

27. Not gendered, as a noun : EPICENE
An epicene noun is one that can be assigned to either gender, or to both. For example, the noun “cousin” is an epicene noun as it can refer to either gender. The nouns “brother” and “sister” are gender specific.

29. Spider’s class : ARACHNIDA
Arachnids are creatures with eight jointed legs. The name of the class Arachnida comes from the Greek “aráchnē” meaning “spider”.

35. Mens ___ (guilty mind) : REA
“Mens rea” is Latin for “guilty mind” and is a central concept in criminal law. The concept is expanded to “actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea” meaning “the act does not make a person guilty unless the mind be also guilty”. In other words, a someone should not be deemed guilty of an act, unless he or she had a “guilty mind”, intended to do wrong.

36. Cloud in space : NEBULA
In astronomical terms, a nebula is a cloud of dust and ionized gases (“nebula” is the Latin for “cloud”). Many nebulae form as gases collapse in on themselves under the influence of enormous gravitational forces. Ultimately these collapses can result in the creation of new stars.

40. Neuter, as a stallion : GELD
We can use the verb “to geld” to mean “to weaken, deprive of strength”. The term comes from the act of gelding an animal, castration of the male. “Geld” comes from the Old Norse word “gelda” meaning “castrate”.

41. Sophia of “Marriage Italian-Style” : LOREN
Sophia Loren certainly has earned her exalted position in the world of movies. In 1962 Loren won an Oscar for Best Actress for her role in the Italian film “Two Women”, the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English speaking performance. She received a second nomination for Best Actress for her role in “Marriage Italian-Style”, another Italian-language movie, released in 1964.

43. Designer Cassini : OLEG
Oleg Cassini, the French-born American fashion designer, had two big names particularly associated with his designs. In the sixties he produced the state wardrobe for First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, and he was also the exclusive designer for Hollywood’s Gene Tierney, who was Cassini’s second wife.

44. Japanese martial art that emphasizes not injuring the attacker : AIKIDO
Aikido is a Japanese martial art that only dates back to the 1920s and 1930s. It was developed by Morihei Ueshiba, who is often referred to as “the Founder” or “Great Teacher”.

47. Melville’s second novel : OMOO
Herman Melville mined his own experiences when writing his novels. Melville sailed from New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1841 on a whaler heading into the Pacific Ocean (a source for “Moby-Dick”). Melville ended up deserting his ship 18 months later and lived with natives on a South Pacific Island for three weeks (a source for “Typee”). He picked up another whaler and headed for Hawaii, where he joined the crew of a US navy frigate that was bound for Boston (a source for “Omoo”).

51. Actress Angela of “American Horror Story” : BASSETT
Angela Bassett is an actress from New York who is best known for playing Tina Turner in the film about her life “What’s Love Got to Do with It”.

“American Horror Story” is a TV series. I saw the word “horror”, so avoided it …

54. Antarctic volcano named for a place in the underworld : EREBUS
Erebus was one of the Primordial deities of Greek mythology, meaning he was one of first beings to come into existence. “Erebus” is also used in ancient Greek literature as a region in the underworld where the dead pass to immediately after dying.

Mount Erebus is a volcano in Antarctica, located on Ross Island. Erebus is the second-highest on the continent, after Mount Sidley. It was discovered in 1841 by Sir James Clark Ross, along with the companion volcano Mount Terror. Ross named the peaks for the ships used on his voyage: HMS Erebus and HMS Terror.

58. Child-care expert LeShan : EDA
Eda LeShan wrote “When Your Child Drives You Crazy”, and was host of the PBS television show “How Do Your Children Grow?”

59. Moniker for German chancellor Konrad Adenauer : DER ALTE
Konrad Adenauer was the first Chancellor of West Germany after WWII, taking office in 1949 at the age of 73. Adenauer was 87 years old when he left office. Understandably perhaps, his nickname was “Der Alte”, German for “the old man”. Adenauer spent much of WWII in prison, courtesy of Herr Hitler.

62. The “e” of i.e. : EST
“Id est” is Latin for “that is”, and is often abbreviated to “i.e.” when used in English.

65. Rumble in the Jungle participant : ALI
The Rumble in the Jungle was the celebrated 1974 fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman that took place in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The fight was set in Zaire because of financial arrangements between promoter Don King and Zaire’s President Mobutu Seko. Ali coined the term “Rope-a-dope” to describe his incredibly successful strategy in the contest. From the second round onwards, Ali adopted a protected stance on the ropes letting Foreman pound him with blows to the body and head, with Ali using his arms to dissipate the power of the punches. He kept this up until the eighth round and then opened up and downed the exhausted Foreman with a left-right combination. I hate boxing but I have to say, that was an fascinating fight.

66. Conductor Georg whose name consists of two musical notes : SOLTI
Sir Georg Solti was a great Hungarian-British conductor, who spent 22 years as music director of the Chicago Symphony, one of many prestigious positions he held in the world of classical music and opera. Solti was awarded 31 Grammy Awards, the most won by any individual in any genre of music. I think it’s kind of cool that Solti’s name comprises two notes in the solfa scale: sol-ti …

68. Niece’s counterpart, in French : NEVEU
“Nièce et neveu” is French for “niece and nephew”.

69. Blue on an electoral map: Abbr. : DEM
On political maps, red states are usually Republican and blue states usually Democrat. The designation of red and blue states is a very recent concept, only introduced in the 2000 presidential election by TV journalist, the late Tim Russert. In retrospect, the choice of colors is surprising, as in other democracies around the world red is usually used to describe left-leaning socialist parties (the reds under the bed!), and blue is used for conservative right-wing parties. In election cycles, swing/battleground states are often depicted in purple.

70. Ancient Greek physician : GALEN
Galen of Pergamum was a physician of Ancient Rome (of Greek ethnicity). He mainly worked on monkeys, dissecting their bodies to learn about physiology as it was not permitted to dissect human bodies in his day.

72. Psyche part : EGO
Sigmund Freud created a structural model of the human psyche, breaking it into three parts: the id, the ego, and the super-ego. The id is that part of the psyche containing the basic instinctual drives. The ego seeks to please the id by causing realistic behavior that benefits the individual. The super-ego almost has a parental role, contradicting the id by introducing critical thinking and morals to behavioral choices.

Down
3. Soil enricher : MULCH
Mulch is a layer of material applied by gardeners over the top of soil. The intent can be to retain moisture, to add nutrients, to reduce weed growth, or just to improve the look of the garden.

6. Swiss-German artist Paul : KLEE
The artist Paul Klee was born in Switzerland, but studied art in Munich in Germany. You can see many of Klee’s works in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. If you get to Bern in Switzerland, even more of them can be seen at the Zentrum Paul Klee that was opened in 2005.

7. Murray ___-Mann, Physics Nobelist who coined the term “quark” : GELL
Quarks are elementary atomic particles that combine to make composite particles called “hadrons”. I’m really only familiar with the really stable hadrons i.e. protons and neutrons. There are six types of quarks (referred to as “flavors”). These flavors are up, down, strange, charm, bottom and top. The term “quark” was borrowed from James Joyce’s book “Finnegans Wake”, by physicist Murray Gell-Mann. However, the word coined by Joyce is pronounced “kwark”, and the particle’s name is pronounced “kwork”.

8. Whalebone : BALEEN
Our word “baleen” meaning “whalebone” comes from the Latin “balleana”, which in turn comes from the Greek “phallaina”, the word for a “whale”. “Phallaina” is apparently related the Greek “phallos” meaning “swollen penis”, a reference to the shape of a whale.

11. 1980s TV’s “Kate & ___” : ALLIE
“Kate & Allie” ran from 1984 to 1989, starring Susan Saint James as Kate, and Jane Curtin as Allie. Jane Curtin won two Emmy awards for her work on the series, while Susan Saint James … did not.

13. Blessing before a meal : GRACE
A “grace” is a short prayer recited before or after a meal.

22. Spider of children’s literature : CHARLOTTE
“Charlotte’s Web” is a children’s novel by author E. B. White. Charlotte is a barn spider, who manages to save the life of a pig named Wilbur. Wilbur is a pet pig, owned by the farmer’s daughter, Fern Arable. The story also includes a gluttonous rat named Templeton who provides some light and comical moments.

23. Spider’s web-producing organ : SPINNERET
The silk that makes up a web is a protein fiber that is spun by a spider. Spider silk is about one sixth of the density of steel, but has a comparable tensile strength.

26. Staked a claim : HAD DIBS
The phrase “to have dibs on” expresses a claim on something. Apparently, the term “dibs” is a contraction of “dibstone”, which was a knucklebone or jack used in a children’s game.

28. Last car : CABOOSE
The word “caboose” originally came from Middle Dutch and was the word for a ship’s galley. When the last car in a train in North America was given a stove for the comfort of the crew, it took on the name “caboose”. The term has also become slang for a person’s backside.

30. One who might have a corner office, for short : CEO
Chief executive officer (CEO)

31. Decidedly nonfeminist women’s group : HAREM
“Harem” is a Turkish word, derived from the Arabic for “forbidden place”. Traditionally a harem was the female quarters in a household in which a man had more than one wife. Not only wives (and concubines) would use the harem, but also young children and other female relatives. The main point was that no men were allowed in the area.

32. Links org. : PGA
The Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) was founded in 1916 and today has its headquarters (unsurprisingly) in Florida, where so many golfers live. Back in 1916, the PGA was based in New York City.

33. Use for flowers in Hawaii : LEI
“Lei” is the Hawaiian word for “garland, wreath”, although in more general terms a “lei” is any series of objects strung together as an adornment for the body.

34. Antlered beast : ELK
The elk (also known as the wapiti) is the one of the largest species of deer in the world, with only the moose being bigger. Early European settlers were familiar with the smaller red deer back in their homelands, so when they saw the “huge” wapiti they assumed it was a moose, and incorrectly gave it the European name for a moose, namely “elk”. The more correct name for the beast is “wapiti”, which means “white rump” in Shawnee. It’s all very confusing …

37. City where Einstein was born : ULM
Ulm is in the south of Germany and sits on the River Danube. Ulm is famous as home to the tallest church in the world, Ulm Minster, a Gothic building with a steeple that is 530 feet tall, with 768 steps to climb. Ulm is also the birthplace of Albert Einstein, and is where the entire Austrian army surrendered to Napoleon after the Battle of Ulm in 1805.

38. Obama, astrologically : LEO
Despite rumors to the contrary, I am pretty sure that Barack Hussein Obama II was indeed born in Hawaii. President Obama was born on August 4, 1961 at Kapi’olani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii.

42. Mrs. Perón : EVA
Eva Perón was the second wife of President Juan Perón who was in office from 1946 to 1955. The Argentine First Lady was known affectionately by the people as “Evita”, the Spanish language diminutive of “Eva”. “Evita” was also the follow-up musical to “Jesus Christ Superstar” for Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, and was based on the life of Eva Perón.

49. Charles Schwab rival : E*TRADE
E*Trade is mainly an online discount brokerage. It was founded in 1982 in Palo Alto, California, and I used to drive by its headquarters almost every day. The company is now run out of New York City. E*Trade produces those famous Super Bowl ads with the talking babies staring into a webcam.

50. Source of the “K” in Kmart : KRESGE
Kmart is the third largest discount store chain in the world, behind Wal-Mart and Target. The company was founded by S. S. Kresge in 1899, with the first outlets known as S. S. Kresge stores. The first “Kmart” stores opened in 1962. Kmart is famous for its promotions known as “blue light specials”, a program first introduced in 1965 and discontinued in 1991. I remember being in a Kmart store soon after coming to live in the US. That evening an employee installed a light stand an aisle away from me, switched on a flashing blue light and there was some unintelligible announcement over the loudspeaker system. I had no idea what was going on …

52. Freud contemporary Alfred : ADLER
Alfred Adler was one of the group of medical professionals that founded the psychoanalytic movement. Today Adler is less famous than his colleague, Sigmund Freud.

55. Casus ___ (cause of war) : BELLI
“Casus belli” is Latin for “a case of war”. The expression refers to an act that provokes or justifies a war. The related phrase “casus foederis” (a case for the alliance) refers to a threat against an ally that triggers a war.

56. Hwy. through Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan : US-TEN
US Route 10 is a highway formed in 1926 that ran from Detroit, Michigan to Seattle, Washington, although much of its length now is taken up by interstate highway. US Route 10 notably is in two distinct sections, with a ferry providing continuity across Lake Michigan from Ludington, Michigan and Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

60. Words after break or shake : A LEG
There are many, many colorful theories for the origins of the expression “break a leg”, used in the world of theater to mean “good luck”. Regardless of the origin, what is clear is that using the phrase “good luck” is considered to be very “bad luck”.

61. Long way to go? : LIMO
The word “limousine” actually derives from the French city of Limoges. The area around Limoges is called the Limousin, and it gave its name to a cloak hood worn by local shepherds. In early motor cars, a driver would sit outside in the weather while the passengers would sit in the covered compartment. The driver would often wear a limousin-style protective hood, giving rise to that type of transportation being called a “limousine”. Well, that’s how the story goes anyway …

Return to top of page

For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. World of Warcraft enthusiast, e.g. : GAMER
6. Enemy org. in many a spy thriller : KGB
9. North Carolina fort : BRAGG
14. Prefix with transmitter : NEURO-
15. Meadow : LEA
16. Mathematician whose name sounds like a ship : EULER
17. City in SE France : ARLES
18. Architectural add-on : ELL
19. Airline whose main hub is in Atlanta : DELTA
20. “___ ’em!” : SIC
21. Not slippery at all, as a winter road : ICELESS
24. Grp. holding quadrennial competitions : IOC
25. Sneaky laugh : HEH HEH
27. Not gendered, as a noun : EPICENE
29. Spider’s class : ARACHNIDA
32. Begged : PLED
35. Mens ___ (guilty mind) : REA
36. Cloud in space : NEBULA
40. Neuter, as a stallion : GELD
41. Sophia of “Marriage Italian-Style” : LOREN
43. Designer Cassini : OLEG
44. Japanese martial art that emphasizes not injuring the attacker : AIKIDO
46. Night before : EVE
47. Melville’s second novel : OMOO
48. Things spiders leave : BITE MARKS
51. Actress Angela of “American Horror Story” : BASSETT
54. Antarctic volcano named for a place in the underworld : EREBUS
58. Child-care expert LeShan : EDA
59. Moniker for German chancellor Konrad Adenauer : DER ALTE
62. The “e” of i.e. : EST
63. Volunteer’s phrase : I’LL GO
65. Rumble in the Jungle participant : ALI
66. Conductor Georg whose name consists of two musical notes : SOLTI
68. Niece’s counterpart, in French : NEVEU
69. Blue on an electoral map: Abbr. : DEM
70. Ancient Greek physician : GALEN
71. Open the door for : GREET
72. Psyche part : EGO
73. Scraping (by) : EKING

Down
1. Grind, as the teeth : GNASH
2. Eagle’s residence : AERIE
3. Soil enricher : MULCH
4. Poet’s “before” : ERE
5. More optimistic : ROSIER
6. Swiss-German artist Paul : KLEE
7. Murray ___-Mann, Physics Nobelist who coined the term “quark” : GELL
8. Whalebone : BALEEN
9. Night stand locale : BEDSIDE
10. ___ the day : RUE
11. 1980s TV’s “Kate & ___” : ALLIE
12. Board, as a plane : GET ON
13. Blessing before a meal : GRACE
22. Spider of children’s literature : CHARLOTTE
23. Spider’s web-producing organ : SPINNERET
26. Staked a claim : HAD DIBS
28. Last car : CABOOSE
30. One who might have a corner office, for short : CEO
31. Decidedly nonfeminist women’s group : HAREM
32. Links org. : PGA
33. Use for flowers in Hawaii : LEI
34. Antlered beast : ELK
37. City where Einstein was born : ULM
38. Obama, astrologically : LEO
39. In days of yore : AGO
42. Mrs. Perón : EVA
45. Went extinct : DIED OUT
49. Charles Schwab rival : E*TRADE
50. Source of the “K” in Kmart : KRESGE
51. Organism : BEING
52. Freud contemporary Alfred : ADLER
53. Healing ointment : SALVE
55. Casus ___ (cause of war) : BELLI
56. Hwy. through Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan : US-TEN
57. Police setup : STING
60. Words after break or shake : A LEG
61. Long way to go? : LIMO
64. “No kidding!” : GEE!
67. Sturdy tree : OAK

Return to top of page