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Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
6. ___-kiri : HARA
“Harakiri” translates from Japanese into “cutting the belly”, and is a form of ritual suicide. Harakiri is the term used in speech which is equivalent to “seppuku”, the term used in writing for the same ritual suicide. The act is carried out by plunging a short blade into the belly and moving it from left to right, slicing through the organs within the abdomen.

10. Rubik’s Cube and troll dolls, once : FADS
What was originally called the “Magic Cube” became better known as Rubik’s Cube, named for its inventor Ernő Rubik. Rubik’s Cube is the world’s biggest selling puzzle game, with over 350 million sold in just over 30 years.

Troll dolls were quite the fad when I was a young lad at school in the sixties. Everyone seemed to have a little troll doll that was fixed on the end of a pencil. They were created back in 1959 by a Danish fisherman and woodcutter called Thomas Dam. He made the first as a cheap Christmas gift for his young daughter as his family was very poor. Local children all wanted them, and sales of his “Dam Dolls” took off.

“Troll” is a term that comes from Norse mythology. Trolls are less than helpful creatures that tend to live on isolated mountains, in caves and under bridges.

14. Baghdad resident : IRAQI
It seems to be widely accepted that the name “Baghdad” is derived from the Persian words “bag” (God) and “dad” (given).

15. Designer Saint Laurent : YVES
Yves Saint-Laurent was a French fashion designer, actually born in Algeria. Saint-Laurent started off working as an assistant to Christian Dior at the age of 17. Dior died just four years later, and as a very young man Saint-Laurent was named head of the House of Dior. However, in 1950 Saint-Laurent was conscripted into the French Army and ended up in a military hospital after suffering a mental breakdown from the hazing inflicted on him by his fellow soldiers. His treatment included electroshock therapy and administration of sedatives and psychoactive drugs. He was released from prison, managed to pull his life back together and started his own fashion house. A remarkable story …

16. One-named rapper-turned-actor : ICE-T
Rapper Ice-T must be sick of having his name come up as an answer in crossword puzzles. Maybe he should have stuck to his real name, Tracy Marrow? Then again, maybe not … Ice-T has been interested in acting for decades and made his film debut in the 1984 movie about break-dancing called “Breakin’”. He has also played Detective Fin Tutuola in the TV show “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” since the year 2000.

17. Flu cause : VIRUS
Influenza is an ailment that is caused by a virus. The virus is readily inactivated by the use of soap, so washing hands and surfaces is especially helpful in containing flu outbreaks.

18. Frisbee, checker or tiddlywink : DISC
The Frisbee concept started back in 1938 with a couple who had an upturned cake pan that they were tossing between each other on Santa Monica Beach in California. They were offered 25 cents for the pan on the spot, and as pans could be bought for 5 cents, the pair figured there was a living to be earned.

“Checkers” is yet another word that I had to learn moving across the Atlantic. In Ireland the game is called draughts.

Tiddlywinks is a game played by children, and sometimes competitively by adults. The idea is to propel “winks” into a pot using a “squidger”.

19. Kelly of “Live! With Kelly and Michael” : RIPA
When Kelly Ripa secured the co-host spot on morning television with Regis Philbin, she was still acting in “All My Children” in a role she had been playing for over ten years. After a year of holding down two jobs, she eventually gave up the acting job.

When Regis Philbin retired from his famous morning talk show with Kelly Ripa, he was eventually replaced by former NFL player Michael Strahan. Apparently Strahan’s addition to the show has been extremely well received by audiences.

20. Curved molding : OGEE
An ogee is like an s-curve. Specifically it is a figure consisting of two arcs that curve in opposite directions (like an S) but both ends of the curve end up parallel to each other (which is not necessarily true for an S).

21. Plains animal that tunnels : PRAIRIE DOG
The prairie dog is a type of ground squirrel that is found in the grasslands of North America. Prairie dogs are so named because they inhabit prairies and because they have a warning call that is similar to the bark of a dog.

26. Fast-food rival of Wendy’s : JACK IN THE BOX
One of the distinctive features of the first Jack in the Box fast food restaurants was the use of intercoms at drive up windows. Intercoms at restaurants weren’t new, but Jack in the Box introduced the concept of two-way intercoms.

30. Acapulco gold : ORO
The Mexican city of Acapulco is on the southwest coast of the country, in the state of Guerrero. The name “Acapulco” translates from the local language into “at the big reeds”.

31. Fit for duty, draftwise : ONE-A
The US government maintains information on all males who are potentially subject to military conscription, using what is called the Selective Service System. In the event that a draft was held, men registered would be classified into groups to determine eligibility for service. Class 1-A registrants are those available for unrestricted military service. Other classes are 1-A-O (conscientious objector available for noncombatant service), 4-A (registrant who has completed military service) and 4-D (Minister of religion).

32. Writer Jong and others : ERICAS
The author Erica Jong’s most famous work is her first: “Fear of Flying”, a novel published in 1973. Over twenty years later she wrote “Fear of Fifty: a midlife memoir”, published in 1994.

36. Voting group : BLOC
“Bloc” is the French word for “block”.

38. Madrid Mrs. : SRA
Madrid is the largest city in Spain and the capital. Madrid is located very close to the geographical center of the country.

54. Old geezer : COOT
Geezer and coot are two not-so-nice terms for an old man.

55. Purchase from Google : INTERNET AD
You’ll see a few “Ads by Google” around the edges of this blog. They help to cover the costs of publication. Google collects “ad space” from site owners like me, and then sells that space to advertisers. When someone clicks on an ad, Google collects a small fee from the advertiser (usually fractions of a penny). Whatever is collected, Google splits with the site owner. At fractions of a dollar per click, I won’t be getting too rich from the scheme …

61. Deuce topper, in cards : TREY
A trey of clubs, for example, is a name for the three of clubs in a deck of cards. The name “trey” can also be used for a domino with three pips.

63. New York’s Memorial ___-Kettering hospital : SLOAN
The Sloan-Kettering Institute is the research arm of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. The institute was set up in 1945 with funds from the charitable foundation of Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. Charles F. Kettering was an executive at General Motors at the time, and he organized the application of industrial research techniques to the fight against cancer. Sloan and Kettering jointly announced the founding of the institute in the days following the dropping of the first atom bomb on Hiroshima. The pair pointed out that if a two billion dollar scientific effort could produce an atomic bomb, then surely a similar application of funds and scientific talent could make enormous strides in the fight against cancer.

64. Brontë’s “Jane ___” : EYRE
“Jane Eyre” is of course the novel written by Charlotte Brontë, under the pen name Currer Bell. Over the years, I’ve shared here on my blogs that the “Jane Eyre” story line is a little too dark and Gothic for my taste, but a very persuasive blog reader convinced me to look more at the romantic side of the story and give it a second chance. I watched a wonderful 4-hour television adaptation of the novel made by the BBC a while back and I have to say that because I was focused on the relationship between Jane and Rochester, I was able to push past the Gothic influences (that depress me) so I really enjoyed the story. I thoroughly recommend the 2006 BBC adaptation to fans of the novel.

65. “First, ___ harm” : DO NO
“First, do no harm” is a translation of the Latin phrase “Primum non nocere”. The phrase is a principle used in the world of medicine that reminds a provider of healthcare that to do nothing might be better than intervening in some situations.

66. Warm 59-Down greeting : ALOHA
The Hawaiian word “Aloha” has many meanings in English: affection, love, peace, compassion and mercy. More recently “aloha” has come to mean “hello” and “goodbye”, but only since the mid-1800s.

67. Senate majority leader Harry : REID
Democrat Harry Reid became the Senate Majority leader in 2007. Reid had a big day in the Senate from a Democratic perspective with the successful passage of the so-called ObamaCare Bill. Paradoxically, Harry Reid’s wife was in hospital at the time, having broken her back in a car accident. Reid took over as Senate Majority leader from Bill Frist who retired from politics in 2007.

Down
1. Record for later viewing, in a way : TIVO
TiVo was introduced in 1999 and was the world’s first commercially successful DVR (Digital Video Recorder).

3. Swiss river : AARE
The Aar (also called the “Aare” in German) is the longest river entirely in Switzerland. A famous spot along the Aar is the Reichenbach Falls in the center of the country, actually a series of waterfalls near the city of Meiringen. These falls are renowned in the world of literature as it was here that Sherlock Holmes fell to his supposed doom with his nemesis Professor Moriarty (in “The Adventure of the Final Problem”).

5. “___ the season to be jolly” : ‘TIS
“‘Tis the season to be jolly” is a line from the traditional Yuletide carol “Deck the Halls”. The tune itself is Welsh in origin, dating back to the 16th century. However, the lyrics are American and from the 19th century. Also, Mozart used the tune as a theme for a delightful violin and piano duet.

7. Adidas alternative : AVIA
The Avia brand name for athletic shoes was chosen as “avia” is the Latin word for “to fly”, and suggests the concept of aviation.

11. Tums targets : ACIDS
The main ingredient in Tums antacid, made by GlaxoSmithKline, is calcium carbonate. Tums have been on the market since 1930. If you want to save a few pennies, Target brand antacid is identical to Tums, so I hear …

21. Ivy League school in Philly : PENN
The University of Pennsylvania (Penn) was founded in 1740 by by Benjamin Franklin. Penn was the first school in the country to offer both graduate and undergraduate courses.

22. Stravinsky or Sikorsky : IGOR
The classical composer Igor Stravinsky’s most famous works were completed relatively early in his career, when he was quite young. His three ballets “The Firebird”, “Petrushka” and “The Rite of Spring” were published in 1910-1913, when Stravinsky was in his early thirties.

Igor Sikorsky was a Russian pioneer in the world of aviation. He designed and indeed piloted the world’s first multi-engine, fixed-wing aircraft in 1913. He moved to the US in 1919 and set up his own aircraft manufacturing business. In the thirties he made the magnificent flying boats that were used by Pan Am in their Clipper era. Sikorsky also developed the world’s first mass-produced helicopter, in 1942.

24. ___ de Janeiro : RIO
“Rio de Janeiro” translates as “January River”. The name reflects the discovery of the bay on which Rio sits, on New Years Day in 1502.

26. Steve of Apple : JOBS
Steve Jobs certainly was a business icon in Silicon Valley. I don’t think it is too surprising to learn that the brilliant Jobs didn’t even finish his college education, dropping out of Reed College in Oregon after only one semester. Steve Jobs co-founded Apple in 1976, but in 1985 he was basically fired from his own company during the computer sales slump of the mid-eighties. Jobs then founded NeXT Computer, a company focused on supplying workstations to the higher education and business markets. Apple purchased NeXT in 1996, and that’s how Jobs found himself back with his original company.

27. “Alice’s Restaurant” singer Guthrie : ARLO
Arlo Guthrie is the son of Woody Guthrie. Both father and son are renowned for their singing of protest songs about social injustice. Arlo is most famous for his epic “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree”, a song that lasts a full 18m 34s. In the song Guthrie tells how, after being drafted, he was rejected for service in the Vietnam War based on his criminal record. He had only one incident on his public record, a Thanksgiving Day arrest for littering and being a public nuisance when he was 18-years-old.

29. Brother of Chico and Groucho : HARPO
Harpo Marx was the second oldest of the Marx brothers. Harpo’s real name was Adolph, and he earned his nickname because he played the harp. Famously he didn’t speak on screen, a routine he developed after reading a review that he performed really well when he just didn’t speak!

The five Marx Brothers were born to “Minnie” and “Frenchy” Marx in New York City. The more famous older boys were Chico, Harpo and Groucho. Zeppo was the youngest brother, and he appeared in the early Marx Brothers movies. The fifth son was called Gummo, and he decided to pursue a different career off the stage.

33. Class after trig : CALC
The Latin word “calculus” was originally used for a reckoning or an account, and originally applied to a pebble that was used to maintain a count. The Latin word came from the Greek for a pebble, “khalix”.

34. Run ___ (go wild) : AMOK
The phrase “to run amok” (sometimes “to run amuck”) has been around since the 1670s and is derived from the Malay word for “attacking furiously”, “amuk”. The word “amok” was also used as a noun to describe Malay natives who were “frenzied”. Given Malaya’s troubled history, the natives probably had good reason for that frenzy …

39. Guacamole ingredients : AVOCADOS
Guacamole is one of my favorite dishes, and is made by mashing avocados and perhaps adding the likes of tomato, onion and lime juice. The guacamole recipe dates back as early as the 16th century, to the time of the Aztecs. “Guacamole” translates as “avocado sauce”.

42. Depilatory brand : NAIR
Nair is a hair removal product that has some pretty harsh ingredients. The most important active constituents are calcium hydroxide (“slake lime”) and sodium hydroxide (“caustic soda”). Other Nair components seem to be there to soothe the skin after the harsher chemicals have done their job. The name “Nair” probably comes from combining “no” and “hair”.

43. Lobbed weapon : GRENADE
Our word “grenade”, used for a small explosive missile, came via French from the word for the pomegranate fruit. The name reflects the similarity between the seed-filled fruit and the powder-filled, fragmentation bomb.

50. Verdi opera : OTELLO
Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Otello” was first performed in 1887 at La Scala Theater in Milan. The opera is based on Shakespeare’s play “Othello” and is considered by many to be Verdi’s greatest work.

51. Bad-check passer : KITER
Check kiting is illegal. The idea behind kiting is to write a check, even though there are insufficient funds to cover the amount. The con artist then writes another check, also with insufficient funds, from another bank’s account to cover the original check. I am not sure it would work nowadays, but then I am as honest as the day is long! Oh, and I think the term “kiting” comes from the older phrase “go fly a kite”, the idea being that the bad check is floated on air (non-existent funds).

53. Former “S.N.L.” comic Cheri : OTERI
Cheri Oteri was the SNL cast member who regularly appeared with Will Farrell in the skit featuring a pair of Spartan cheerleaders.

59. Obama’s birthplace : OAHU
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.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Breakfast bread : TOAST
6. ___-kiri : HARA
10. Rubik’s Cube and troll dolls, once : FADS
14. Baghdad resident : IRAQI
15. Designer Saint Laurent : YVES
16. One-named rapper-turned-actor : ICE-T
17. Flu cause : VIRUS
18. Frisbee, checker or tiddlywink : DISC
19. Kelly of “Live! With Kelly and Michael” : RIPA
20. Curved molding : OGEE
21. Plains animal that tunnels : PRAIRIE DOG
23. Region : AREA
25. Condensed books : DIGESTS
26. Fast-food rival of Wendy’s : JACK IN THE BOX
30. Acapulco gold : ORO
31. Fit for duty, draftwise : ONE-A
32. Writer Jong and others : ERICAS
36. Voting group : BLOC
38. Madrid Mrs. : SRA
40. Wild’s opposite : TAME
41. “See ya!” : SO LONG!
44. Ones under sgts., in the Army : PVTS
47. Fan setting of 1, say : LOW
48. Vehicular antitheft devices : CAR DOOR LOCKS
51. More nutty : KOOKIER
54. Old geezer : COOT
55. Purchase from Google : INTERNET AD
57. Swelled heads : EGOS
61. Deuce topper, in cards : TREY
62. Dumbstruck : AWED
63. New York’s Memorial ___-Kettering hospital : SLOAN
64. Brontë’s “Jane ___” : EYRE
65. “First, ___ harm” : DO NO
66. Warm 59-Down greeting : ALOHA
67. Senate majority leader Harry : REID
68. Conclusions : ENDS
69. Easy-to-catch hit … or what 1-, 21-, 26-, 48- and 55-Across all do : POP-UP

Down
1. Record for later viewing, in a way : TIVO
2. Not a copy: Abbr. : ORIG
3. Swiss river : AARE
4. Mouse’s sound : SQUEAK
5. “___ the season to be jolly” : ‘TIS
6. Infuses with water : HYDRATES
7. Adidas alternative : AVIA
8. Dwell : RESIDE
9. Give credit (to) : ASCRIBE
10. Way out in an emergency : FIRE EXIT
11. Tums targets : ACIDS
12. Train station : DEPOT
13. Does’ mates : STAGS
21. Ivy League school in Philly : PENN
22. Stravinsky or Sikorsky : IGOR
24. ___ de Janeiro : RIO
26. Steve of Apple : JOBS
27. “Alice’s Restaurant” singer Guthrie : ARLO
28. Snazzy : COOL
29. Brother of Chico and Groucho : HARPO
33. Class after trig : CALC
34. Run ___ (go wild) : AMOK
35. Puts in stitches : SEWS
37. Nutty : COCKEYED
39. Guacamole ingredients : AVOCADOS
42. Depilatory brand : NAIR
43. Lobbed weapon : GRENADE
45. Trampled (on) : TROD
46. ___-mo (instant replay feature) : SLO
49. Tapped, as experience : DREW ON
50. Verdi opera : OTELLO
51. Bad-check passer : KITER
52. How a ham sandwich may be prepared : ON RYE
53. Former “S.N.L.” comic Cheri : OTERI
56. Take care of, as a garden : TEND
58. Sticky stuff : GOOP
59. Obama’s birthplace : OAHU
60. Jacket fastener : SNAP
63. Tree juice : SAP

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