Category: Bruce Sutphin

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Hall-of-Fame rock band or its lead musician : SANTANA
Carlos Santana is a Mexican American rock guitar player, famous for heading the band called Santana who melded rock music with Latin and African themes.

8. It sends out lots of streams : NETFLIX
Netflix was founded in Los Gatos, California in 1997. Although now focused on video streaming, the company delivered it’s billionth DVD in 2007. I presume the renter wasn’t charged for that movie …

15. Very long European link : CHUNNEL
The Channel Tunnel between the UK and France is also known familiarly as “the Chunnel”, and in French as “Le tunnel sous la Manche” (translating as “the tunnel under the English Channel”. The earliest credible proposal for a tunnel under the Channel was made in 1802. The plan was for the 1802 tunnel to be illuminated with oil lamps and for transportation to be provided by horse-drawn carriages. There was even a plan for an artificial island to be placed mid-Channel where horses would be changed.

16. Rust or combust : OXIDATE
Rust is iron oxide, and combustion is another term for oxidation, burning in air.

18. Skunk, at times : SPRAYER
Skunks have anal scent glands that can be used as defensive weapons. The glands produce sulfur-containing chemicals that have a really awful smell and that can irritate the eyes and skin.

19. Some P.D. personnel : LTS
Some police department (P.D.) personnel are lieutenants (lts.).

20. One who may be on your case : GUMSHOE
Gumshoe is a slang term for a private detective or private investigator (P.I.). Apparently the term “gumshoe” dates back to the early 1900s, and refers to the rubber-soled shoes popular with private detectives at that time.

22. The Spanish I love? : AMO
“Amo” is Spanish for “I love”.

26. Chocolate bar with a long biscuit and caramel : TWIX
I remember Twix bars from way back in 1967 when they were introduced in the British Isles. Twix bars made it to the US over a decade later, in 1979.

27. Subject of the 2003 book “Power Failure” : ENRON
After all the trials following the exposure of fraud at Enron, several of the key players ended up in jail. Andrew Fastow was the Chief Financial Officer. He plea-bargained and received ten years without parole, and became the key witness in the trials of others. Even Fastow’s wife was involved and she was sentenced to one year for helping her husband hide money. Jeffrey Skilling (ex-CEO) was sentenced to 24 years and 4 months. Kenneth Lay (CEO) died in 2006 after he had been found guilty but before he could be sentenced. The accounting firm Arthur Andersen was found guilty of obstruction of justice for shredding thousands of pertinent documents and deleting emails and files (a decision that the Supreme Court later overturned on a technicality). But still, Arthur Andersen collapsed under the weight of the scandal and 85,000 people lost their jobs (despite only a handful being directly involved with Enron).

31. Its flowers are very short-lived : DAYLILY
Daylilies are so called because the flowers of most species bloom early in the morning and then wither away during the following night. Sometimes a replacement bloom may appear on the same stalk the following morning.

37. Catered to Windows shoppers? : ETAILED
“Etail” is the term used these days for online shopping. Etail is often compared to regular shopping in the “real world” by juxtaposing it with a “brick and mortar” store.

46. Abbr. after 8-Across : INC
A company that has incorporated uses the abbreviation “Inc.” after its name. By incorporating, a company forms a corporation, which is a legal entity that has legal rights similar to those of an individual. For example, a corporation can sue another corporation or individual. However, a corporation does not have all the rights of citizens. A corporation does not have the Fifth Amendment right of protections against self-incrimination, for example. It is perhaps understandable that the concept of “corporations as persons” is a frequent subject for debate.

48. Last band in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, alphabetically : ZZ TOP
In the blues rock band ZZ Top, the hairy guitar players are Billy F. Gibbons and Dusty Hill. The relatively clean-shaven drummer is … wait for it … Frank Beard …

49. “The Hudsucker Proxy” director, 1994 : COEN
I think it’s great to see two brothers working together and being so successful. Joel and Ethan Coen are two movie producers and directors who both live in New York City. The Coen brothers do love the movie-making business and they even married industry “insiders”. Ethan’s wife is film editor Tricia Cooke, and Joel is married to one of my favorite actresses, the lovely Frances McDormand.

“The Hudsucker Proxy” is a comedy film written, produced and directed by the Coen Brothers, Joel and Ethan, and released in 1994. The movie stars Tim Robbins, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Paul Newman. This one bombed at the box office.

50. Columbia and the like : IVIES
Columbia University is an Ivy League school in New York City. Columbia’s athletic teams are called the Lions, thought to be a reference to the lion on the English coat of arms. Prior to the American Revolution, Columbia was called King’s College as it was chartered by King George II in 1754.

52. French river or department : EURE
The French department of Eure is in the north of France. The most popular spot to visit in the whole department is the commune of Giverny where one can visit Claude Monet’s house and garden, the subject of so many of his paintings.

54. Images on some lab slides : AMOEBAS
An ameba (or “amoeba” as we spell it back in Ireland) is a single-celled microorganism. The name comes from the Greek “amoibe”, meaning change. The name is quite apt, as the cell changes shape readily as the ameba moves, eats and reproduces.

56. Lima-to-Bogotá dir. : NNE
Lima is the capital city of Peru. Lima was founded in 1535 by the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro who named it “la Ciudad de los Reyes” (the City of Kings). Pizarro chose this name because the decision to found the city was made on January 6th, the feast of the Epiphany that commemorates the visit of the three kings to Jesus in Bethlehem.

Bogotá is the capital city of Colombia. Noted for having many libraries and universities, Bogotá is sometimes called “The Athens of South America”.

57. Frankenstein, e.g. : MONSTER
Mary Shelley’s Gothic novel has the full title of “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus”. The subtitle underscores one of the themes of the book, a warning about man’s expansion into the Industrial Revolution.

59. Its passengers were revolting : AMISTAD
La Amistad was a slave ship that operated in the 19th-century. On one voyage in 1839, La Amistad was transporting slaves abducted in West Africa from Havana, Cuba to Puerto Principe, Cuba. The newly captured slaves on board escaped and took over the ship. La Amistad was then captured by a US military vessel and the slaves taken into custody. The captives were eventually freed when their case was decided in the US Supreme Court, with John Quincy Adams pleading for the imprisoned Africans.

61. Theodore Roosevelt Island setting : POTOMAC
Theodore Roosevelt Island is located in the Washington, D.C. in the Potomac River. The island was purchased in 1931 by the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Association for the purpose of erecting a memorial to the president. Funds weren’t allocated by congress for the erection of the monument for three decades, so the memorial wasn’t opened to the public until 1967.

63. Colorful cooler : SNO-CONE
A sno-cone (also “snow cone”) is just a paper cone filled with crushed ice and topped with flavored water. Italian ice is similar, but different. Whereas the flavoring is added on top of the ice to make a sno-cone, Italian ice is made with water that is flavored before it is frozen.

Down
2. Sashimi staple : AHI TUNA
Yellowfin tuna is usually marketed as “ahi”, its Hawaiian name. Yellowfin tuna is one big fish, often weighing over 300 pounds.

Sushi is a Japanese dish that has as its primary ingredient cooked, vinegared rice. The rice is usually topped with something, most often fish, and can be served in seaweed rolls. If you want raw fish by itself, then you have to order “sashimi”.

4. Blockbuster? : TNT
TNT is an abbreviation for trinitrotoluene. Trinitrotoluene was first produced in 1863 by the German chemist Joseph Wilbrand, who developed it for use as a yellow dye. TNT is relatively difficult to detonate so it was on the market as a dye for some years before its more explosive properties were discovered.

5. Mediums for dummies, say: Abbr. : ANAG
“Mediums” is an anagram of “dummies”.

6. Where it all comes together? : NEXUS
A nexus is a means of connection, or a center where many connections come together. “Nexus” is a Latin word meaning “that which ties or binds together”. The Latin “nexus” is the past participle of the verb “nectere” meaning “to bind”.

7. Ex amount? : ALIMONY
The word “alimony” derives from the Latin “alimonia”, meaning “nourishment, food, support”.

9. Nationals, at one time : EXPOS
The Washington Nationals baseball team started out life as the Montreal Expos in 1969. The Expos moved to Washington in 2005 becoming the Nats. There are only two Major Leagues teams that have never played in a World Series, one being the Mariners and the other the Nats.

10. Flag : TIRE
Our verb “to flag” meaning “to tire” was originally used in the sense of something flapping about lazily in the wind. From this it came to mean “to go limp, droop”, and then “to tire”.

11. Tablet banner, say, briefly : FDA
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

What we call “pills” here in North America, we refer to as “tablets” on the other side of the Atlantic. A tablet is a compressed medicinal powder. Originally, a “pill” was soft mass containing medication that was rolled into a ball.

14. Duped : XEROXED
Xerox was founded in 1906 in Rochester, New York and originally made photographic paper and equipment. Real success came for the company in 1959 when it introduced the first plain-paper photocopier. Xerox named Ursula Burns as CEO in 2009, the first African American woman to head up a S&P 100 company. Burn was also the first woman to succeed another female CEO (replacing Anne Mulcahy).

24. Giant in fantasy : TOLKIEN
J. R. R. (John Ronald Reuel) Tolkien was an English author, best known by far for his fantasy novels “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings”. Although Tolkien lived in England and was a professor at Oxford, he served for many years as an external examiner at my old school, University College Dublin, in Ireland.

28. Physicist Bohr : NIELS
Niels Bohr was a Danish physicist, who won his 1922 Nobel Prize for his work on quantum mechanics and atomic structure. Later in his life he was part of the team working on the Manhattan Project, developing the first atomic bomb.

30. Display on a red carpet : GLITZ
Our word “glitz” meaning “showiness” is the Yiddish word for “glitter”.

32. Basic solution : LYE
Today when we purchase what is labelled as “lye”, it is caustic soda (sodium hydroxide).

34. Without hesitation, in brief : PDQ
Pretty darn quick (PDQ)

40. Event occasioning 7-Down : DIVORCE
Our word “divorce” comes into English via French from the Latin verb “divertere” meaning “to divert, leave one’s husband”.

41. Cryotherapy choice : ICE BATH
“Cryotherapy” is the use of low temperatures as medical treatment. The term comes from the Greek “cryo” meaning “cold” and “therapy” meaning “cure”.

44. Truncated trunks? : SPEEDOS
Speedo brand swimwear was first produced in Australia in 1928, by a hosiery company that wanted to diversify. The brand name was chosen after a slogan competition among employees was won by “Speed on in your Speedos”. It was a long time ago, I guess …

47. Zero times, in Zwickau : NIE
In German,  never (nie), not in a million years (eine Million Jahre).

Zwickau is a city in eastern Germany, located close to the Czech Republic.

51. About 7% of it is American : SAMOA
The official name for the South Pacific country formerly known as Western Samoa is the Independent State of Samoa. “Samoa” is the western part of the island group, with American Samoa lying to the southeast. The whole group of islands used to be known as Navigators Island, a name given by European explorers in recognition of the seafaring skills of the native Samoans.

55. Apple assistant : SIRI
Siri is software application that works with Apple’s iOS operating system. “Siri” is an acronym standing for Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface. You’ve probably seen the ads on television, with folks talking to their iPhones asking for information and responding with a voice. I hear that Google is a little scared by Siri, as Siri is non-visual. There’s no need to touch a screen or a keyboard to work with Siri, no opportunity to click on one of Google’s ads!

58. Lib. arts major : SOC
Sociology (soc.)

60. Coral ___ (city near Oakland Pk., Fla.) : SPR
Coral Springs is a city in Florida that lies about 20 miles northwest of Fort Lauderdale. The city is a planned community that was developed by a division of Westinghouse called Coral Ridge Properties. Coral Springs was chartered in 1963, with the name “donated” by the development company.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Hall-of-Fame rock band or its lead musician : SANTANA
8. It sends out lots of streams : NETFLIX
15. Very long European link : CHUNNEL
16. Rust or combust : OXIDATE
17. It flies on demand : AIR TAXI
18. Skunk, at times : SPRAYER
19. Some P.D. personnel : LTS
20. One who may be on your case : GUMSHOE
22. The Spanish I love? : AMO
23. What a couple of people can play : DUET
25. Stand-out performances : SOLOS
26. Chocolate bar with a long biscuit and caramel : TWIX
27. Subject of the 2003 book “Power Failure” : ENRON
29. Without hesitation : NOW
30. Subsist on field rations? : GRAZE
31. Its flowers are very short-lived : DAYLILY
33. Like a sawhorse’s legs : SPLAYED
35. Critical : KEY
36. Party staple : DIP
37. Catered to Windows shoppers? : ETAILED
41. Noodle taxers? : IQ TESTS
45. Observes : NOTES
46. Abbr. after 8-Across : INC
48. Last band in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, alphabetically : ZZ TOP
49. “The Hudsucker Proxy” director, 1994 : COEN
50. Columbia and the like : IVIES
52. French river or department : EURE
53. “___ mentioned …” : AS I
54. Images on some lab slides : AMOEBAS
56. Lima-to-Bogotá dir. : NNE
57. Frankenstein, e.g. : MONSTER
59. Its passengers were revolting : AMISTAD
61. Theodore Roosevelt Island setting : POTOMAC
62. Destroyer destroyer : TORPEDO
63. Colorful cooler : SNO-CONE
64. Makeover options : HAIRDOS

Down
1. Like some milk : SCALDED
2. Sashimi staple : AHI TUNA
3. Changing place : NURSERY
4. Blockbuster? : TNT
5. Mediums for dummies, say: Abbr. : ANAG
6. Where it all comes together? : NEXUS
7. Ex amount? : ALIMONY
8. Appointment disappointments : NO-SHOWS
9. Nationals, at one time : EXPOS
10. Flag : TIRE
11. Tablet banner, say, briefly : FDA
12. Reserve : LAY AWAY
13. Inventory : ITEMIZE
14. Duped : XEROXED
21. Gradual, in some product names : SLO
24. Giant in fantasy : TOLKIEN
26. Bar that’s set very high : TRAPEZE
28. Physicist Bohr : NIELS
30. Display on a red carpet : GLITZ
32. Basic solution : LYE
34. Without hesitation, in brief : PDQ
37. Does some outdoor pitching? : ENCAMPS
38. “Don’t joke about that yet” : TOO SOON
39. Took away bit by bit : ATE INTO
40. Event occasioning 7-Down : DIVORCE
41. Cryotherapy choice : ICE BATH
42. Artificially small : STUNTED
43. What might take up residence? : TORNADO
44. Truncated trunks? : SPEEDOS
47. Zero times, in Zwickau : NIE
50. Back-pedaler’s words : I MEAN
51. About 7% of it is American : SAMOA
54. Vapor: Prefix : ATMO-
55. Apple assistant : SIRI
58. Lib. arts major : SOC
60. Coral ___ (city near Oakland Pk., Fla.) : SPR

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