Category: Vic Fleming

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Displeases one’s buds? : TASTES BAD
There are 2,000 to 8,000 taste buds on the human tongue, and together they detect five different tastes: salty, sour, bitter, sweet and umami. Taste buds have a short lifetime, and are replaced about every ten days.

10. Dart maker … or dart : DODGE
The Dodge Dart was originally produced by Chrysler from 1960 to 1976 in North America. The Dodge Dart name was resurrected in 2013 when Chrysler introduced it as a new compact passenger automobile.

16. When New York’s Central Park closes : ONE AM
The man most associated with the decision to develop Central Park in New York City was William Cullen Bryant, the editor of what today is the “New York Post”. He argued that the growing city needed a large, public open space, along the lines of Hyde Park in London and the Bois de Boulogne in Paris. Most of the park’s construction took place between 1860 and 1873. Much of the clearing work was accomplished using gunpowder, and it is often noted that more gunpowder was used in Central Park than in the Battle of Gettysburg.

19. Phrase cooed en español : TE AMO
In Spanish, one might say “I love you” (te amo) with flowers (con flores).

23. People thank God when it comes : FRIDAY
“Thank God It’s Friday” (TGIF) is a relatively new expression that originated in Akron, Ohio. It was a catchphrase used first by disk jockey Jerry Healy of WAKR in the early seventies.

25. What Kramer often called Seinfeld : JER
“Seinfeld” aired for nine seasons on NBC, and in 2002 was declared by TV Guide as the “greatest television program of all time”. After the show completed its run in 1998, each of the main supporting actors made failed attempts to launch new sitcoms. This phenomenon became known as “the Seinfeld curse”, but Julia Louis-Dreyfus finally managed to break free of it with a successful five-season run in “The New Adventures of Old Christine”.

Cosmo Kramer is the outrageous character played by Michael Richards on “Seinfeld”. “Seinfeld” co-creator, Larry David, introduced Kramer into the story, basing the character on real-life comedian Kenny Kramer who used to live across the hall from him.

26. Joseph of ice cream : EDY
Dreyers’ ice cream sells its products under the name Dreyers in the Western United States, and Edy’s in the Eastern states. The company’s founders were William Dryer and Joseph Edy.

27. Art ___, Steelers owner for 55 years : ROONEY
Art Rooney was the son of Irish immigrants who left the country during the Potato Famine. Rooney founded the football team that was to become the Pittsburgh Steelers.

28. Cops, in slang : POPO
Apparently “popo”, a slang term for the police, originated on the great HBO show “The Wire”.

29. Moon views? : BUTTS
The first recorded mooning incident took place in 66 AD, during the First Roman-Jewish War. Roman soldiers decided to moon Jewish pilgrims as they traveled to the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.

30. “Wiener Frauen” composer : LEHAR
Franz Lehár was a Hungarian composer who had a difficult relationship with the Nazi regime after it took control of his country. His wife was born Jewish, but converted to Catholicism. Fortunately, Hitler enjoyed Lehár’s music and as a result Goebbels intervened and made Sophie Lehar “an honorary Aryan by marriage”.

“Wiener Frauen” is an operetta by Franz Lehár, his first in fact.

36. N.F.L. team that went 0-16 in 2008 : LIONS
The Detroit Lions are the NFL team that plays home games at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. The team was founded way back in 1929 as the Portsmouth Spartans from Portsmouth, Ohio. The Spartans joined the NFL during the Great Depression as other franchises collapsed. However, the Spartans couldn’t command a large enough gate in Portsmouth so the team was sold and relocated to Detroit in 1934.

38. Duncan of Obama’s cabinet : ARNE
Long before Arne Duncan became Secretary of Education he was a professional basketball player, but not in the NBA. He played for the National Basketball League of Australia, for the Eastside Spectres in Melbourne.

41. Jump start? : JAY
The first letter of the word “jump” is a letter J (jay).

44. Gomer Pyle, e.g.: Abbr. : PFC
Private First Class (PFC)

Jim Nabors was discovered by Andy Griffith and brought onto “The Andy Griffith Show” as Gomer Pyle, the gas station attendant. Of course, Nabors then got his own show, “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.” Gomer had a cousin on the “The Andy Griffiths Show” called Goober Pyle. Goober was played by George Lindsay. Lindsay had auditioned for the Gomer part, but that went to Nabors.

46. Enfant bearer : MERE
In French, a mother (mère) bears a child (enfant).

47. Ad mascot in sunglasses : JOE CAMEL
The advertising mascot for Camel cigarettes was officially known as “Old Joe”, but was popularly known as “Joe Camel”. Joe originated in the seventies, in an advertising campaign that ran only in Europe where sometimes he was depicted wearing a French Foreign Legion cap. He was imported to the US in 1988 on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Camel brand. The big controversy surrounding the use of the camel character was that a 1991 study found that 5-6 year old children could recognize Joe Camel more readily than either Mickey Mouse or Fred Flintstone. Also, soon after Old Joe was introduced in the US, the Camel brand’s share of the illegal market to underage smokers went up from 1% to just under 33%.

49. Spanish soccer club, for short : BARCA
“Barça” is the nickname of the soccer club FC Barcelona (Futbol Club Barcelona). Barcelona is the second-richest football club in the world in terms of revenue, after Real Madrid.

51. Outerwear for moguls? : SKI PARKAS
A parka is a hooded, often fur jacket that is worn in cold weather. The original parka was a pullover design, but nowadays it is usually zipped at the front. “Parka” is the Russian name for the garment , absorbed into English in the late 1700s via the Aleut language.

Moguls are the series of bumps in the surface of snow that arise naturally as a succession of skiers make turns on a slope.

55. Like a 1938 Andrew Jackson stamp : SEVEN-CENT
President Andrew Jackson appears on a 1938 7-cent stamp. The president’s image in in profile, and comes from a bronze statue that was made by Belle Kinney and Leopold F. Scholz. That original statue stands in the Rotunda of the US Capitol Building.

56. Writer featured in “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test” : KESEY
Ken Kesey wrote the novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”. Kesey was one of a group of friends who called themselves the “Merry Pranksters”, a bunch of guys who were associated with the likes of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and Timothy Leary, all icons of the Beat Generation.

The American author Tom Wolfe started out his career as a journalist, and was very much at the center of the New Journalism literary movement of the sixties and seventies. His first book of note was “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test” that tells the story of Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters. Wolfe also wrote “The Right Stuff” about the post-war test pilots and the Project Mercury astronauts.

57. 409 and 410, but not 411 : AREA CODES
Area code 409 covers the Beaumont and Galveston areas in Texas. 410 is the main area code for the Baltimore metropolitan area and the eastern half of Maryland.

Area codes were introduced in the 1940s. Back then the “clicks” one heard when dialling a number led to mechanical wear on various pieces of equipment. In order to minimize overall mechanical wear, areas with high call volumes were given the most efficient area codes (lowest number of clicks). That led to New York getting the area code 212, Los Angeles 213 and Chicago 313.

Down
1. Scary little sucker : TSETSE
Tsetse flies live on the blood of vertebrate mammals. The name “tsetse” comes from Tswana, a language of southern Africa, and translates simply as “fly”. Tsetse flies are famous for being carriers of the disease known as “sleeping sickness”. Sleeping sickness is caused by a parasite which is passed onto humans when the tsetse fly bites into human skin tissue. If one considers all the diseases transmitted by the insect, then the tsetse fly is responsible for a staggering quarter of a million deaths each year.

2. 12-book classic : AENEID
“The Aeneid” is Virgil’s epic poem that tells of the journey of Aeneas, a Trojan who traveled to Italy to become the ancestor of all Romans. “The Aeneid” begins with the words “Arma virumque cano …”, which translates as “I sing of arms and of a man …”

5. Accordingly : ERGO
“Ergo” is the Latin word for “hence, therefore”.

7. Restaurant accessory : BIB
The word “bib” comes form the Latin “bibere” meaning “to drink”, as does our word “imbibe”. So, it’s less about spilling the food, and more about soaking up the booze …

8. Knight who fell to the dark side : ANAKIN SKYWALKER
Anakin “Ani” Skywalker is the principal character in all six of the “Star Wars” movies. His progress chronologically through the series of films is:

– Episode I: Anakin is a 9-year-old slave boy who earns the promise of Jedi training by young Obi-Wan Kenobi.
– Episode II: Anakin is 18-years-old and goes on a murdering rampage to avenge the killing of his mother.
– Episode III: Anakin is 21-years-old and a Jedi knight, but he turns to the Dark Side and becomes Darth Vader. His wife Padme gives birth to twins, Luke and Leia Skywalker.
– Episode IV: Darth Vader, comes into conflict with his children, Luke Skywalker and the Princess Leia.
– Episode V: Darth Vader attempts to coax his son Luke over to the dark side, and reveals to Luke that he is his father.
– Episode VI: Luke learns that Leia is his sister, and takes on the task of bringing Darth Vader back from the Dark Side in order to save the Galaxy. Vader saves his son from the Emperor’s evil grip, dying in the process, but his spirit ends up alongside the spirits of Yoda and Obi-Wan. They all live happily ever after …

9. Knock sharply : DERIDE
“To deride” is to treat with contemptuous mirth. The term comes into English via Old French from the Latin “deridere” meaning “to ridicule”. In turn, “deridere” comes from the prefix “de-” (down) and “”ridere” (to laugh). So, to ridicule or deride is “to laugh down at”.

12. Cousin of a carafe : 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.

24. Tiller attachment? : ROTO-
The rototiller (or rotary tiller) was invented by Arthur Clifford Howard in 1912, in Australia.

28. Part for a whack job? : PEEN
The peen of a hammer is on the head, and is the side of the head that is opposite the striking surface. Often the peen is in the shape of a hemisphere (as in a ball-peen hammer), but usually it is shaped like a claw (mainly for removing nails).

29. Well, in Rome : BENE
“Bene” is the Latin word meaning “well”.

30. Old change in the Vatican : LIRE
The word “lira” is used in a number of countries for currency. “Lira” comes from the Latin for “pound” and is derived from a British pound sterling, the value of a Troy pound of silver. For example, the lira (plural “lire”) was the official currency of Italy before the country changed over to the euro in 2002.

Vatican City is a sovereign city-state that is walled off within the city of Rome. Vatican City is about 110 acres in area, and so is the smallest independent state in the world. With about 800 residents, it is also the smallest state in terms of population. Although the Holy See dates back to early Christianity, Vatican City only came into being in 1929. At that time, Prime Minister Benito Mussolini signed a treaty with the Holy See on behalf of the Kingdom of Italy that established the city-state.

33. Cries uncle : CONCEDES
To “say uncle” is an American expression meaning to submit or yield. Its usage dates back to the early 1900s, but nobody seems to know how “uncle!” came to mean “stop!”

39. Pro ___ : TEM
“Pro tempore” can be abbreviated to “pro tem” or “p.t.” “Pro tempore” is a Latin phrase that best translates as “for the time being”. It is used to describe a person who is acting for another, usually a superior.

40. Seat of Ector County, Tex. : ODESSA
The city of Odessa, Texas has as its symbol the jack rabbit. This is because from the thirties through the seventies the city hosted a rodeo for roping rabbits. The Humane Society applied pressure and the city did away with the tradition in 1977.

42. Apprehended by a small group : ARCANE
Something that is “arcane” is something that is understood by only a few, something that might be described as mysterious.

45. Pop singer ___ Rae Jepsen : CARLY
Carly Rae Jepsen is a singer/songwriter from Mission, British Columbia. Jepsen got her start on TV’s “Canadian Idol” when she placed third in the show’s fifth season.

46. Cry in a swimming pool game : MARCO
Marco Polo is a game of tag that is played in a swimming pool.

48. He had a 1948 #1 hit with “Nature Boy” : COLE
Nat King Cole’s real name was Nathaniel Adams Coles. Cole made television history in 1956 when his own show debuted on NBC, a first for an African-American. Cole couldn’t pick up a national sponsor, so in order to save money and possibly save the show, many guest artists worked for no fee at all – the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Harry Belafonte and Peggy Lee. The show survived for a year, but eventually Nat King Cole had to pull the plug on it himself.

“Nature Boy” is a 1947 song that was a hit for Nat King Cole in 1948. The song’s title is a reference to group of proto-hippies called “Nature Boys” that were around in 1940s Los Angeles. The song was written for and used as the main theme for a 1948 comedy movie called “The Boy with the Green Hair”.

49. Judge’s perch : BANC
“Banc” is the French word for bench or seat.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Displeases one’s buds? : TASTES BAD
10. Dart maker … or dart : DODGE
15. R.V. park hookup option : SEWER LINE
16. When New York’s Central Park closes : ONE AM
17. Snack in a gym bag : ENERGY BAR
18. Clog : GUM UP
19. Phrase cooed en español : TE AMO
20. Opposite of miniature : KING-SIZE
22. Uses a 49-Down : SITS
23. People thank God when it comes : FRIDAY
25. What Kramer often called Seinfeld : JER
26. Joseph of ice cream : EDY
27. Art ___, Steelers owner for 55 years : ROONEY
28. Cops, in slang : POPO
29. Moon views? : BUTTS
30. “Wiener Frauen” composer : LEHAR
31. They might like your comments : FACEBOOK FRIENDS
36. N.F.L. team that went 0-16 in 2008 : LIONS
37. Have an itch : YEARN
38. Duncan of Obama’s cabinet : ARNE
39. Impound lot charge : TOWAGE
41. Jump start? : JAY
44. Gomer Pyle, e.g.: Abbr. : PFC
45. Trees used to make shoe trees : CEDARS
46. Enfant bearer : MERE
47. Ad mascot in sunglasses : JOE CAMEL
49. Spanish soccer club, for short : BARCA
50. Spirit : ARDOR
51. Outerwear for moguls? : SKI PARKAS
54. Battery for many a toy : C-CELL
55. Like a 1938 Andrew Jackson stamp : SEVEN-CENT
56. Writer featured in “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test” : KESEY
57. 409 and 410, but not 411 : AREA CODES

Down
1. Scary little sucker : TSETSE
2. 12-book classic : AENEID
3. Like many exercisers : SWEATY
4. The “2x” and “5” in 2x + 5, e.g. : TERMS
5. Accordingly : ERGO
6. Designing : SLY
7. Restaurant accessory : BIB
8. Knight who fell to the dark side : ANAKIN SKYWALKER
9. Knock sharply : DERIDE
10. Spot, to a tot : DOGGY
11. Large charge : ONUS
12. Cousin of a carafe : DEMIJOHN
13. It may cover a tear : GAUZE PAD
14. Power line? : EMPERORS
21. Unfavorable reply : NAY
23. Shot, informally : FOTO
24. Tiller attachment? : ROTO-
27. Coats put on at barbecues : RUBS
28. Part for a whack job? : PEEN
29. Well, in Rome : BENE
30. Old change in the Vatican : LIRE
31. Hotcake : FLAPJACK
32. Jet pack? : AIR FORCE
33. Cries uncle : CONCEDES
34. What chickens have : FEAR
35. Clothing, colloquially : RAGS
39. Pro ___ : TEM
40. Seat of Ector County, Tex. : ODESSA
41. Moved like a whiptail : JERKED
42. Apprehended by a small group : ARCANE
43. Brewers’ supplies : YEASTS
45. Pop singer ___ Rae Jepsen : CARLY
46. Cry in a swimming pool game : MARCO
48. He had a 1948 #1 hit with “Nature Boy” : COLE
49. Judge’s perch : BANC
52. “___ no idea” : I’VE
53. Kind of gravel : PEA

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