Day: October 13, 2012

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. It’s mounted at the X Games SKATEBOARD
The X Games are annual events, with a Summer X Games held every year as well as a Winter X Games. It’s very much a commercial venture, with all aspects controlled by the TV station ESPN. The games focus on extreme action sports, like skateboarding and freestyle motocross in the summer and various extreme snowboarding events in the winter.

11. Escutcheon depiction ARMS
An escutcheon is an emblem in the shape of a shield that bears a coat of arms.

17. Hard-hit line drive, in baseball lingo FROZEN ROPE
In baseball, a “frozen rope” is a line drive that is hard hit, or a strong throw from the outfield. I guess a frozen rope is as straight as an arrow, or a well-hit baseball …

18. Creature-feature prefix WERE-
The prefix “were-” as in “werewolf” derives from an old word “wer” meaning “man”. Hence a werewolf is a “man-wolf”.

20. These, to Thierry CES
“Ces” is the French word for “these”.

23. Giant star in three decades OTT
At 5′ 9″, Mel Ott weighed just 170 lb (I don’t think he took steroids!) and yet he was the first National League player to hit over 500 home runs. Sadly, Ott died in a car accident in New Orleans in 1958 when he was only 49 years old.

24. Bake in milk, as potatoes ESCALLOP
“Escallop” is a variant spelling for “scallop”, the marine mollusk that is served as seafood. Scallops are often served baked in milk and this method of preparation has become known as “scalloping”. So, scalloped potatoes are potatoes baked in milk.

30. Prosaic, as prose ARID
Something that is prosaic is “like prose”. We use the term “prosaic” to mean “dry, arid, ordinary”, as in comparing prose to poetry … well, in a way …

31. Legree-like looks SNEERS
Simon Legree is the cruel slave owner in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”.

32. Title for Doyle SIR
The Scottish writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is most closely associated with his wonderful character Sherlock Holmes. Doyle also wrote a series of science fiction stories featuring the character Professor Challenger. The first book in which Challenger appears is the famous “The Lost World”, a story about prehistoric creatures that are found living in the modern age on an isolated plateau in South America.

34. Mr. Rochester’s ward ADELE
In the novel “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Brontë, Adele Varens is Mr. Rochester’s ward, a young French girl.

35. Handle for a razor ATRA
Fortunately for crossword setters, the Atra razor was introduced by Gillette in 1977. The Atra was sold as the Contour in some markets and its derivative products are still around today.

36. Terrestrial wiggler EFT
Newts wouldn’t be my favorite animals. They are found all over the world living on land or in water depending on the species, but always associated with water even if it is only for breeding. Newts metamorphose through three distinct developmental stages during their lives. They start off as larvae in water, fertilized eggs that often cling to aquatic plants. The eggs hatch into tadpoles, the first developmental form of the newt. After living some months as tadpoles swimming around in the water, they undergo another metamorphosis, sprouting legs and replacing their external gills with lungs. At this juvenile stage they are known as efts, and leave the water to live on land. A more gradual transition takes place then, as the eft takes on the lizard-like appearance of the adult newt.

38. Eagles coach Andy REID
Andy Reid has been head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles football team since 1999.

39. Disney’s Maleficent, e.g. SORCERESS
Maleficent is the sorceress and principal antagonist in Disney’s 1959 version of the fairy tale “Sleeping Beauty”. The name “Maleficent” is an adjective meaning “evil in intent”.

43. “Stella by Starlight” lyricist Washington NED
Ned Washington was a lyricist known for his compositions used in Hollywood movies. Washington won eleven Oscars in his career, including two for Best Original Music, for “When You Wish Upon a Star” from “Pinocchio” and “High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin’)” from “High Noon”.

“Stella by Starlight” is a song by Victor Young written for the 1944 movie “The Uninvited”. Actually, “Stella by Starlight” was written as a jazz instrumental for the film, and two years later Ned Washington added lyrics.

44. Red Cloud, notably OGLALA
The Oglala are a sub-tribe of the Lakota Native American people.

Red Cloud was a chief of the Oglala Lakota Native American people. Red Cloud led his tribe in battles with the US Army in the Wyoming and Montana territories between 1866 and 1868, a conflict that the Army came to call Red Cloud’s War.

45. They’re “easy to get but hard to keep”: Mae West MEN
Mae West was always pushing the envelope when it came to the “sexy” side of show business, even in her early days in Vaudeville. One of the first plays in which West starred on Broadway was called “Sex”, a work she penned herself. The show was a sell-out, but city officials had it raided and West found herself spending ten days in jail after being convicted of “corrupting the morals of youth”. She started in movies in 1932, already 38 years old. West used her experience writing plays to rewrite much of the material she was given, and so really she was totally responsible for her own success and on-screen appeal.

46. NYSE watchdog SEC
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

49. Dick Van Patten’s “Mama” role NELS
The actor Dick Van Patten is best known for playing the father in the sitcom “Eight is Enough”.  Off the screen, Van Patten is an animal enthusiast. In 2008 he founded National Guide Dog Month.

50. Extinct cat SABER-TOOTH
The extinct creature that we often refer to as the saber-toothed tiger wasn’t a tiger at all, and is more properly known as the saber-toothed cat.

54. Tests for prospective Ph.D. students GRES
Passing the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is usually a requirement for entry into graduate school here in the US.

56. Instructor of 34-Across EYRE
“Jane Eyre” is of course the novel written by Charlotte Brontë, under the pen name Currer Bell. In my years of blogging I’ve shared 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 this 2006 BBC adaptation to fans of the novel.

57. Four-time LPGA Tour Player of the Year NANCY LOPEZ
Nancy Lopez is an American professional golfer and winner of 48 LPGA Tour events. Lopez turned professional in 1997 and retired in 2003. However, she came out of retirement in 2007 and is still playing today.

Down
1. Protection nos. SPFS
In theory, the sun protection factor (SPF) is a calibrated measure of the effectiveness of a sunscreen in protecting the skin from harmful UV rays. The idea is that if you wear a lotion with say SPF 20, then it will take 20 times as much UV radiation to cause the skin to burn if using lotion, than without it. I say just stay out of the sun …

2. Former “Idol” panelist DioGuardi KARA
Kara DioGuardi is a singer-songwriter from Ossining, New York. DioGuardi served as a judge for two seasons on the show “American Idol” .

“American Idol” is a spin-off show that was created after the amazing success of the British television show “Pop Idol”. I can’t abide either program …

4. Tabloid TV debut of 2007 TMZ
TMZ.com is a celebrity gossip web site launched in 2005. “TMZ” stands for “thirty-mile zone”, a reference to the “studio zone” in Los Angeles. The studio zone is circular in shape with a 30-mile radius centered on the intersection of West Beverly Boulevard and North La Cienega Boulevard.

6. Either of two brothers with a Pulitzer Prize in poetry BENET
Stephen Vincent Benét was an author best known for his lengthy narrative poem “John Brown’s Body” which was first published in 1928 and for which he won a Pulitzer Prize. Benét also wrote the story “The Sobbin’ Women” which was later adapted into the musical “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”.

William Rose Benét was a poet and writer. Benét won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his book of verse called “The Dust Which Is God”, published in 1941. William Rose’s younger brother was Stephen Vincent Benét, who also won a Pulitzer.

7. Dory movers OARS
A dory is a small boat, around 20 feet long with a shallow draft, a flat bottom and a sharp bow. Dories are commonly used for fishing.

8. Kerfuffle ADO
Our word “kerfuffle” comes from the Scottish “curfuffle”, with both words meaning “disruption”.

10. “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” moderator DREW CAREY
Drew Carey always strikes me as a stand-up guy who does stand-up comedy. Before turning to comedy, Carey served six years with the US Marine Corps.

13. Sailboat configuration named for its resemblance to a radio antenna MARCONI RIG
“Marconi rig” is an alternative name for the sailboat configuration more commonly known as “Bermuda rig”. The rig originated in the Caribbean in the 1600s, and the alternative name came much later when Marconi built radio masts that resembled the Bermuda rig.

Guglielmo Marconi was an inventor, famous for development of a radio telegraph design that was used across the world. Marconi did a lot of his early radio work in his native Italy, but moved to England as the British government was very interested in supporting his developments.

22. Dutch Golden Age painter HALS
Frans Hals was a painter from the Dutch Golden Age born in Antwerp but who lived and worked in Haarlem. Hals is best known for his portraits, the most famous of which is probably “The Laughing Cavalier”.

23. Silhouette maker OLDS
The Oldsmobile Silhouette is a minivan. The Silhouette is basically the same vehicle as the Pontiac Trans Sport and the Chevrolet Lumina.

24. Olympian with a mask EPEEIST
The French word for sword is épée. In competitive fencing the épée is connected to a system that records an electrical signal when legal contact is made on an opponent’s body.

29. “War and Peace” prince ANDREI
I have to confess that I have tried to read Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” twice in my life, and failed both times (it is l-o-n-g). Even though the 1956 movie adaptation runs for 3 1/2 hours, it’s still the easy way out! The film version stars Audrey Hepburn and Henry Fonda.

31. Coal-rich area at stake in the Treaty of Versailles SAAR BASIN
The Saar is a river that rises on the border between Alsace and Lorraine in France, flows through western Germany and finally entering the Moselle. Historically the Saar river valley was an important source for coal, iron and steel.

The 1919 Treaty of Versailles ended the war between Germany and the Allied Powers, and was the most significant treaty signed at the close of WWI. The war itself ended in November of 1918, but it took six months of negotiations at a peace conference in Paris to hammer out a peace treaty. The treaty called for reparations to paid by Germany to the Allies, an amount so heavy that it could have taken Germany until the 1980s to settle the debt in full. As it turned out, the agreement was not honored consistently by Germany, and when Adolf Hitler came to power, reparation payments were halted altogether.

35. Yanks’ #13 A-ROD
Poor old Alex Rodriguez earned more nicknames than just A-Rod. He has been called “the Cooler” by some players as there is a perception that teams go cold when he joins them and hot when he leaves. He has also been called “A-Fraud” by teammates because of another perception, that he is over-demanding.

37. “The Need for Roots” author Simone WEIL
Simone Weil was a French philosopher. Weil died in 1943 in England from malnutrition. She had put herself on a very restricted diet asserting that she would only eat what she believed French citizens were eating in German-occupied France.

40. Gliding dance step CHASSE
“Chassé” is a step used in ballroom and other styles of dance. A chassé has a gliding character and is a triple-step movement. The term comes to popular dance from ballet.

45. Soldier of fortune, briefly MERC
Mercenaries are soldiers of fortune.

47. Lay back? -ETTE
A newborn baby’s collection of clothing and accessories is called a layette.

48. Stylish eatery word CHEZ
“Chez” is a French term meaning “at the house of”, which comes from the Latin word “casa” meaning “cottage” or “hut”.

51. 2008 French Open winner Ivanovic ANA
Ana Ivanovic is a Serbian tennis player, and former world number one. As well as playing tennis, she also studied finance at university in her native Belgrade.

52. Nice approval BON
“Bon” is French for “good”, although it can mean many things depending on context.

The city of Nice lies on the Mediterranean coast of France, not far from the Italian border. Although it is only the fifth most populous city, Nice has the second busiest airport in the country (after Paris), thanks to the vast number of jet-setting tourists that flock to the French Riviera.

53. Tokyo-born artist ONO
Yoko Ono was born into a prosperous Japanese family, and is actually a descendant of one of the emperors of Japan. Ono’s father moved around the world for work and Yoko lived the first few years of her life in San Francisco. The family returned to Japan before moving on to New York, Hanoi and back to Japan just before WWII. There Yoko lived through the great fire-bombing of Tokyo in 1945. Immediately after the war the family was far from prosperous. While Yoko’s father was being held in a prison camp in Vietnam, her mother had to resort to begging and bartering to feed her children. When her father was repatriated, life started to return to normal and Yoko was able to attend university. She was the first woman to be accepted into the philosophy program of Gakushuin University.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. It’s mounted at the X Games SKATEBOARD
11. Escutcheon depiction ARMS
15. One studying lines PALM READER
16. Election prize SEAT
17. Hard-hit line drive, in baseball lingo FROZEN ROPE
18. Creature-feature prefix WERE-
19. Pigeon SAP
20. These, to Thierry CES
21. From what source WHENCE
23. Giant star in three decades OTT
24. Bake in milk, as potatoes ESCALLOP
26. River phenomenon FALLS
29. Egregious APPALLING
30. Prosaic, as prose ARID
31. Legree-like looks SNEERS
32. Title for Doyle SIR
33. Pallet units: Abbr. CTNS
34. Mr. Rochester’s ward ADELE
35. Handle for a razor ATRA
36. Terrestrial wiggler EFT
37. With some suspicions WARILY
38. Eagles coach Andy REID
39. Disney’s Maleficent, e.g. SORCERESS
41. Get stuck (in) LODGE
42. Bar PROHIBIT
43. “Stella by Starlight” lyricist Washington NED
44. Red Cloud, notably OGLALA
45. They’re “easy to get but hard to keep”: Mae West MEN
46. NYSE watchdog SEC
49. Dick Van Patten’s “Mama” role NELS
50. Extinct cat SABER-TOOTH
54. Tests for prospective Ph.D. students GRES
55. Excessive INORDINATE
56. Instructor of 34-Across EYRE
57. Four-time LPGA Tour Player of the Year NANCY LOPEZ

Down
1. Protection nos. SPFS
2. Former “Idol” panelist DioGuardi KARA
3. Cockeyed ALOP
4. Tabloid TV debut of 2007 TMZ
5. Puts up ERECTS
6. Either of two brothers with a Pulitzer Prize in poetry BENET
7. Dory movers OARS
8. Kerfuffle ADO
9. Exercise unit REP
10. “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” moderator DREW CAREY
11. To boot AS WELL
12. Said yes to another tour REENLISTED
13. Sailboat configuration named for its resemblance to a radio antenna MARCONI RIG
14. Road sign often including a percent symbol STEEP GRADE
22. Dutch Golden Age painter HALS
23. Silhouette maker OLDS
24. Olympian with a mask EPEEIST
25. Breaks down, in a way SPELLS
26. Makeup kit item FACE SPONGE
27. Bad pictures? ART FORGERY
28. Valuable aid for a cat owner LINT ROLLER
29. “War and Peace” prince ANDREI
31. Coal-rich area at stake in the Treaty of Versailles SAAR BASIN
35. Yanks’ #13 A-ROD
37. “The Need for Roots” author Simone WEIL
40. Gliding dance step CHASSE
41. Soup bean LENTIL
43. Uncool NERDY
45. Soldier of fortune, briefly MERC
46. __ dish SOAP
47. Lay back? -ETTE
48. Stylish eatery word CHEZ
51. 2008 French Open winner Ivanovic ANA
52. Nice approval BON
53. Tokyo-born artist ONO

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