Category: John-Clark Levin

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

6 “M*A*S*H” co-star Alan : ALDA

Alan Alda is the only person to win acting, directing, and writing Emmys for the same comedy program. He won five Emmys for his work on “M*A*S*H”, three for acting, one for writing and one for directing.

Hawkeye Pierce is the lead character in the “M*A*S*H” novel, movie and TV series. Hawkeye was originally portrayed by Donald Sutherland in the film, and then by Alan Alda in the television show. Pierce is the only character appearing in all 250 episodes of the groundbreaking TV series.

14 “Kate & ___” (1980s sitcom) : ALLIE

The sitcom “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.

15 Tandoori chicken accompaniment : NAAN

A tandoor is a cylindrical clay or metal oven used in cuisines from several Asian locales, including India.

16 “In time we ___ that which we often fear”: Shak. : HATE

“In time we hate that which we often fear” is a line from William Shakespeare’s play “Antony and Cleopatra”.

17 First American to orbit the earth : GLENN

John Glenn was a Marine Corps pilot, astronaut and US Senator. As an astronaut, Glenn was the first American to orbit the earth, in 1962. He later became the oldest person to fly in space, in 1998 at the age of 77.

25 Selma march leader who served 17 terms in Congress : LEWIS

John Lewis was a civil rights leader, and a prominent leader in the 1963 March on Washington in which Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. Lewis also suffered a fractured skull as he walked at the head of the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma on Bloody Sunday. Lewis was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1987, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011 by President Obama. Lewis passed away in 2020.

27 Pageant prize : TIARA

The oldest beauty pageant still operating in the US is the Miss America contest. The Miss America beauty pageant started out as a marketing ploy in the early twenties to attract tourists to the Atlantic City boardwalk after Labor Day. Today, contestants must be between 17 and 24 years of age. Before those limits were introduced, Marian Bergeron won the 1933 title at only 15 years of age.

34 Its HQ is sometimes called “Crypto City” : NSA

Fort George G. Meade (often just “Fort Meade”) is a US Army post located near Odenton, Maryland. It is most famous these days as the location of the headquarters of the National Security Agency (NSA).

35 Winter underwear … or what appear four times in this puzzle : LONG JOHNS

The long underwear known as “long johns” were likely named for the heavyweight boxer John L. Sullivan.

39 “Eureka!” : AHA!

“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 volume (and density) of a crown, something he needed in order to determine if it was made of pure gold or was a forgery.

47 “Gracias!” response : DE NADA!

In Spanish, one can respond to “Gracias” (Thank you) with “De nada” (It’s nothing).

50 With 63-Down, boxer who retired undefeated in 2007 : LAILA …
[63D See 50-Across : … ALI]

Laila Ali is the daughter of the great Muhammad Ali and is a very capable boxer in her own right. Laila’s professional record is an impressive 24 wins, including 21 knockouts. Now retired, she never lost a fight, and nor did she ever draw. One of those victories was against Jackie Frazier-Lyde, daughter of her father’s nemesis Joe Frazier. Laila is not a bad dancer either, coming in third place in the fourth season of “Dancing with the Stars”.

51 Only U.S. president elected under the Federalist Party : ADAMS

John Adams was the second President of the United States. I must admit that I learned much of what I know about President Adams in the excellent, excellent HBO series “John Adams”, which is based on David McCullough’s 2001 biography of the same name. Having said that, I have also visited the Adams home in Quincy, Massachusetts several times. He was clearly a great man with a great intellect …

57 Barber’s razor sharpener : STROP

A strop is a strip of leather used to sharpen a razor.

61 Norse god portrayed in film by Chris Hemsworth : THOR

The 2011 movie “Thor” is yet another film based on a comic book hero. Even though I won’t be seeing it (I don’t do comics), I must admit it does have an impressive cast. Chris Hemsworth plays Thor, supported by Natalie Portman, Rene Russo, Idris Elba and Anthony Hopkins. And to crown it all, Kenneth Branagh is the director.

62 Broncos QB who won back-to-back Super Bowls : ELWAY

Former quarterback John Elway played his entire professional football career with the Denver Broncos. Elway was the oldest player ever to be named MVP in a Super Bowl game, being so honored in Super Bowl XXXIII in the 1998 season after the Broncos’ victory over the Atlanta Falcons.

65 “The Clan of the Cave Bear” heroine : AYLA

Ayla is a little Cro-Magnon girl who is orphaned and then adopted by a Neanderthal tribe, as told in “The Clan of the Cave Bear”, the first of a series of novels written by Jean Auel that set in prehistoric times. I haven’t read any of Auel’s books myself, but they are on my reading to-do list as my wife recommends them. They sound interesting …

Down

1 Refrigerator decorations : MAGNETS

Refrigerator magnets … I can’t stand them! But, there is something interesting about their structure. If we place two fridge magnets back to back, and slide them slowly against each other, then we can feel an alternating attraction and repulsion. This is because they are manufactured with alternating north and south poles on the back side, and do not have two distinct poles. Who knew …?!

2 Largest country in Africa : ALGERIA

Algeria is a huge country, the largest in Africa, and the largest on the Mediterranean. The capital of Algeria is Algiers, and the country takes its name from the city.

3 Bootleg, e.g. : ILLEGAL

To bootleg is to make or smuggle alcoholic drinks illegally. The term arose in the late 1800s as slang for the practice of concealing a flask of liquor down the leg of a high boot. The term has been extended to mean the illegal production and sale of just about anything.

4 Goose egg : NIL

The use of the phrase “goose egg” to mean “zero” is baseball slang that dates back to the 1860s. The etymology is as expected: the numeral zero and a goose egg are both large and round.

5 Oracle : SEER

In ancient Greece and Rome, an oracle was someone believed to be inspired by the gods to give wise counsel. The word “oracle” derives from the Latin “orare” meaning “to speak”, which is the same root for our word “orator”. One of the most important oracles of ancient Greece was Pythia, the high priestess to Apollo at Delphi.

7 Jousting weapon : LANCE

“Jousting” and “tilting” are synonyms describing the medieval competition in which two horsemen yielding blunted lances attempt to unseat each other. Such an event has been referred to as “jousting” since the 1300s. At some point, the path of the two charging horsemen was separated by a cloth barrier known as a tilt (“tilt” meant “cloth covering”). The term “tilting” was applied to the sport in the 1500s, although by then the cloth barrier had been upgraded to a wooden fence.

8 Italian poet who wrote “Nature is the art of God” : DANTE

Dante Alighieri, the Italian poet famous for writing his “Divine Comedy”, is known in his native Italy as “the Supreme Poet” (il Sommo Poeta), or simply “il Poeta”.

9 ___ Taylor : ANN

There was no actual person named “Ann Taylor” associated with the Ann Taylor line of clothes. The name was chosen by the marketing professionals because “Ann” was considered to be “very New England” back in 1954 when the stores first opened, and “Taylor” suggested that clothes were carefully “tailored”.

11 Like some Hmong : LAOTIAN

The Hmong people are an ethnic group from the mountains of China, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand.

13 Its shores have the lowest land-based elevation on Earth : DEAD SEA

The highest and lowest points on Earth (on land) are both in Asia. The highest is the summit of Mount Everest, and the lowest are the shores of the Dead Sea.

36 Sports org. with more than a thousand members : NCAA

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) dates back to the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. When his son broke his nose playing football at Harvard, President Roosevelt turned his attention to the number of serious injuries and even deaths occurring in college sports. He instigated meetings between the major educational institutions, leading to the formation of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS) in 1906, which was given the remit of regulating college sports. The IAAUS became the NCAA in 1910. The NCAA has been headquartered in Indianapolis since 1999.

40 Pagan : HEATHEN

A pagan is someone who holds religious beliefs that are different from the main religions of the world, and especially someone who believes in polytheism. In classical Latin, “paganus” means “villager, rustic”.

46 Siberian sled dog : SAMOYED

The Samoyed is a Eurasian breed of dog that is named for the Samoyedic people of Siberia. Samoyeds were originally used as hunting dogs, for herding reindeer and for pulling sleds.