Day: June 25, 2013

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Praline nut PECAN
A praline is a candy made made out of nuts and sugar syrup. The first pralines were made in France in the 17th century for an industrialist named Marshal du Plessis-Praslin, who gave his name to the confection.

11. Nebraska panhandle hrs. MST
The Nebraska Panhandle is the area to the west of the state. Most of Nebraska is in the Central time zone, with the panhandle falling into the Mountain time zone.

15. Jousting weapon LANCE
Tilting is the most recognized form of jousting. Jousting can involve the use of a number of different weapons, but when lances are used the competition is called “tilting”. Jousting took place in a roped-off enclosure that was called the lists, or list field. In later medieval times, some castles and palaces had purpose-built “tiltyards” that were used for jousting.

16. Irish actor Stephen REA
Stephen Rea is an Irish actor, whose most famous role was that of the “retired” IRA man in the brilliant 1992 film “The Crying Game”. He also starred in the chilling movie “Stuck”, a 2007 film that is based on a true story about a woman who commits a hit and run on a homeless man. The woman leaves the scene of the crime with the victim still “stuck” in her windshield. The woman leaves the man to die in her garage. Chilling, eh? But as I said, a true story …

21. It’s often used as a synonym for “thesaurus” ROGET
Peter Mark Roget was an English lexicographer. Roget was an avid maker of lists, apparently using the routine of list-making to combat depression, a condition he endured for most of his life. He published his famous thesaurus in 1852, with revisions and expansions being made years later by his son, and then in turn by his grandson.

22. Desert largely in Mongolia GOBI
The large desert in Asia called the Gobi lies in northern China and southern Mongolia. The Gobi desert is growing at an alarming rate, particularly towards the south. This “desertification” is caused by increased human activity. The Chinese government is trying to halt the desert’s progress by planting great swaths of new forest, the so called “Green Wall of China”.

27. Salinger heroine ESME
J. D. Salinger wrote a short story called “For Esme – with Love and Squalor”, originally published in “The New Yorker” in 1950. It is a story about a young English girl called Esme and an American soldier, and is set in WWII.

J. D. Salinger was a very reclusive author, most famous for his novel “Catcher in the Rye”. Salinger fought in WWII after he was drafted into the US Army. He saw action on Utah Beach on D-Day, and in the Battle of the Bulge. He also spent a lot of time interrogating prisoners due to his knowledge of French and German, and he was one of the first Americans to go into a liberated concentration camp. He later spent time in hospital suffering from what was then called combat stress reaction, as he tried to deal with what he saw in the German camps.

28. Battery terminal ANODE
The two terminals of a battery are called the anode and the cathode. Electrons travel from the anode to the cathode creating an electric current.

32. Rock legend Frank ZAPPA
Frank Zappa was an American composer and guitarist, a solo artist as well as the founding member of the rock band Mothers of Invention. You might like to meet his four children: Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet Emuuka Rodan, and Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen.

35. Revolutionary Franklin BEN
The noted polymath Benjamin Franklin was one of the US’s Founding Fathers. Franklin was born into a working class family in Boston in 1706. He went on to invent the lightning rod and bifocals. He became the first US Ambassador to France, the US’s Postmaster General and the Governor of Pennsylvania. He played the violin, the harp and the guitar and composed a string quartet. He was also an accomplished chess player, the first to be known by name in the American colonies. The list of the Benjamin Franklin’s accomplishments seems to be endless …

38. Birth state of two presidents TEXAS
There were only two US president born in Texas: Dwight D. Eisenhower (born in Denison, TX) and Lyndon B. Johnson (born in Stonewall, TX).

President Eisenhower was born in Denison, Texas and given the name David Dwight Eisenhower, but by the time he made it to the White House he was going by the name Dwight D. Eisenhower. Growing up, his family called him Dwight, and when “Ike” enrolled in West Point he himself reversed the order of his given names.

President Lyndon Johnson is one of only four people to have held all four elected federal offices, namely US Representative, US Senator, US Vice-President and US President. As President, Johnson is perhaps best remembered for escalating involvement in the Vietnam War, and for his “Great Society” legislation.

40. Stout of whodunits REX
Rex Stout was an author who is mainly known for his detective fiction featuring his hero Nero Wolfe. One of Stout’s friends was the British author P. G. Wodehouse who wrote the “Jeeves” series of books.

45. Spork point TINE
“Spork” is the more common name for the utensil that is a hybrid between a spoon and a fork. It is less commonly referred to as a “foon”.

53. Jekyll’s alter ego HYDE
Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” was first published in 1886. There are many tales surrounding the writing of the story including one that the author wrote the basic tale in just three to six days, and spent a few weeks simply refining it. Allegedly, Stevenson’s use of cocaine stimulated his creative juices during those few days of writing.

54. 2010 Super Bowl MVP BREES
Drew Brees is a quarterback for the New Orleans Saints. On top of his success in the NFL, when he was a youth Brees was an excellent tennis player. In one competition he actually beat a young Andy Roddick who later became the world’s number one.

55. Connecticut collegian ELI
Elihu Yale was a wealthy merchant born in Boston in 1649. Yale worked for the British East India Company, and for many years served as governor of a settlement at Madras (now Chennai) in India. After India, Yale took over his father’s estate near Wrexham in Wales. It was while resident in Wrexham that Yale responded to a request for financial support for the Collegiate School of Connecticut in 1701. He sent the school a donation, which was used to erect a new building in New Haven that was named “Yale” in his honor. In 1718, the whole school was renamed to “Yale College”. To this day, students of Yale are nicknamed “Elis”, again honoring Elihu.

56. Press initials UPI
United Press International (UPI) was one of the biggest news agencies in the world, sending out news by wire to the major newspapers. UPI ran into trouble with the change in media formats at the end of the twentieth century and lost many of its clients as the afternoon newspapers shut down due to the advent of television news. UPI, which once employed thousands, still exists but with only a handful of employees.

60. “__ Along, Little Dogies” GIT
“Git Along, Little Dogies” is a cowboy ballad that also goes by the name “Whoopie Ti Yi Yo”.

61. Duma dissents NYETS
“Nyet” is Russian for “no”, and “da” is Russian for “yes”.

A Duma is a representative assembly in Russia. The word “dumat” in Russian means “to think, consider”.

62. Singer Tennessee __ Ford ERNIE
Tennessee Ernie Ford was mainly a country singer, whose most famous recording was “Sixteen Tons”. “Sixteen Tons” is a song about life as a coal miner, with the title being a reference to sixteen tons of coal.

63. Provençal possessive SES
“Ses” is the French word for “his”, “her” or “its”, when referring to a group of items.

Provence is a geographical region in France, in the south of the country. The region was once a Roman province called Provincia Romana, and was the first Roman province beyond the Alps. It is this Roman name “Provincia Romana” that gives Provence its name.

Down
1. __ four: small cake PETIT
A “petit four” is a small confection served at the end of a meal, either as a desert or with coffee. The name “petit four” is French for “small oven”.

2. Susan’s “All My Children” role ERICA
Susan Lucci is perhaps the most famous actor associated with daytime soap operas, and was the highest paid actor in daytime television. Lucci was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series an incredible 21 times, for her portrayal of Erica Kane in “All My Children”.

3. Celestial streaker COMET
Comets and asteroids are similar, both being relatively small celestial bodies orbiting the sun. Comets differ from asteroids in that they have a coma or tail, especially when they are close enough to the sun. The coma and tail are temporary fuzzy atmospheres that develop due to the presence of solar radiation.

6. Eccentric senior, affectionately OLD GEEZER
Geezer and coot are two not-so-nice terms for an old man.

8. Singer Baker ANITA
Anita Baker is an R&B and soul singer.

9. Digital scale display, for short LCD
Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) are the screens that are found in most laptops today, and in flat panel computer screens and some televisions. LCD monitors basically replaced Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) screens, the old television technology.

11. Hershey’s treat in a yellow wrapper MR GOODBAR
The Hershey’s candy bar called Mr. Goodbar has been around since 1925. If you buy one today you’ll read the description “made with chocolate and peanuts”. That wording is very deliberate as when Hershey changed the formula to save money in 2008, the FDA ruled that the cheaper formulation could not be described as “milk chocolate”, hence the single word “chocolate”.

22. Pontiac muscle car GTO
GTO stands for Gran Turismo Omologato.

26. Forensic evidence letters DNA
I’ve always been fascinated by the fact that the DNA of living things is so very similar across different species. Human DNA is almost exactly the same for every individual (to the degree of 99.9%). However, those small differences are sufficient to distinguish one individual from another, and to determine whether or not individuals are close family relations.

30. George Washington’s favorite fruity dessert? CHERRY PIE
The famous story about George Washington cutting down a cherry tree as a child has been shown to be fiction. He supposedly was confronted by his father after taking an axe to a tree and confessed with the words, “I’m sorry father, I cannot tell a lie”. Not true …

33. Tool for the Tin Woodman AXE
Actor Jack Haley played the Tin Man in “The Wizard of Oz”. Haley was the second choice for the role, as it was originally given to Buddy Ebsen (who later played Jed Clampett in “The Beverly Hillbillies”). Ebsen was being “painted up” as the Tin Man when he had an extreme, near-fatal reaction from inhaling the aluminum dust makeup that was being used. When Haley took over, the makeup was changed to a paste, but it was still uncomfortable and caused him to miss the first four days of shooting due to a reaction in his eyes. During filming, Haley must have made good friends with the movie’s star, Judy Garland, as years later Jack’s son married Judy’s daughter, Liza Minnelli.

39. Three, to Angela Merkel DREI
The formidable politician Angela Merkel is the current Chancellor of Germany, the country’s head of state. Merkel is the first female German Chancellor and when she chaired the G8 in 2007 she became only the second woman to do so, after the UK’s Margaret Thatcher. Merkel grew up in East Germany under Communist rule.

41. Cartoonist Browne DIK
The cartoonist Dik Brown is most associated with the comic strip “Hägar the Horrible”, which he drew and wrote. Browne also drew the strip “Hi and Lois”.

44. Dating letters BCE
The designations Anno Domini (AD, “year of Our Lord”) and Before Christ (BC) are found in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The dividing point between AD and BC is the year of the conception of Jesus, with AD 1 following 1 BC without a year “0” in between. The AD/BC scheme dates back to AD 525, and gained wide acceptance soon after AD 800. Nowadays a modified version has become popular, with CE (Common/Christian Era) used to replace AD, and BCE (Before the Common/Christian Era) used to replace BC.

47. Tough guys THUGS
The handheld weapon known as a garrote (or garotte) was in particular used by murders and robbers harassing travelers in India. These felons were known locally as “thuggees” (from the Hindi word for “thief”). This gave us our contemporary word “thug”, meaning a brute.

48. Knick or Celt NBAER
The New York Knickerbockers team is one of only two founding members of the original National Basketball Association that still plays in its original home city. The other is the Boston Celtics.

The Boston Celtics NBA basketball team were founded just after WWII in 1946. The Celtics won eight league championships in a row from 1958 to 1966. That’s the longest consecutive championship winning streak of any professional sports team in North America.

50. Rimes of country LEANN
LeAnn Rimes has been a country music star since she was 13 years old. In 2008 she disclosed publicly that she suffered from the autoimmune disease psoriasis. She has been active since then in raising money to fight the disease and helping fund cancer research as well. So, not only did Rimes win three Grammy Awards in 1997, she also won a 2009 Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Country Music.

51. Borden mascot ELSIE
Elsie the Cow is the mascot of the Borden Company. Elsie first appeared at the New York World’s Fair in 1939, introduced to symbolize the perfect dairy product. Elsie was also given a husband named Elmer the Bull. Elmer eventually moved over to the chemical division of Borden where he gave his name to Elmer’s Glue.

57. Big bang cause, and an informal hint to 17-, 23-, 47- and 57-Across TNT (i.e. T ‘n T)
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.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Praline nut PECAN
6. Grueling grad grillings ORALS
11. Nebraska panhandle hrs. MST
14. Wear down ERODE
15. Jousting weapon LANCE
16. Irish actor Stephen REA
17. Proverbially, they wait for no one TIME AND TIDE
19. Separating space GAP
20. Rocks in a bar ICE
21. It’s often used as a synonym for “thesaurus” ROGET
22. Desert largely in Mongolia GOBI
23. Ragged TATTERED AND TORN
27. Salinger heroine ESME
28. Battery terminal ANODE
29. Two foursomes OCTET
32. Rock legend Frank ZAPPA
35. Revolutionary Franklin BEN
37. “Gotcha!” cries AHAS
38. Birth state of two presidents TEXAS
39. Bowl over DAZE
40. Stout of whodunits REX
41. Takes the risk DARES
42. Sale rack abbr. IRREG
43. Overzealous RABID
45. Spork point TINE
47. Semi TRUCK AND TRAILER
53. Jekyll’s alter ego HYDE
54. 2010 Super Bowl MVP BREES
55. Connecticut collegian ELI
56. Press initials UPI
57. Simple breakfast TEA AND TOAST
60. “__ Along, Little Dogies” GIT
61. Duma dissents NYETS
62. Singer Tennessee __ Ford ERNIE
63. Provençal possessive SES
64. Short and snappy TERSE
65. Red and rosé WINES

Down
1. __ four: small cake PETIT
2. Susan’s “All My Children” role ERICA
3. Celestial streaker COMET
4. Citrus drink ADE
5. Most closely related NEAREST
6. Eccentric senior, affectionately OLD GEEZER
7. Classified RATED
8. Singer Baker ANITA
9. Digital scale display, for short LCD
10. “Understand?” SEE?
11. Hershey’s treat in a yellow wrapper MR GOODBAR
12. Shore cooler SEA BREEZE
13. Putter’s gimme TAP IN
18. Standard NORM
22. Pontiac muscle car GTO
24. Beach shirts TEES
25. Dozes off NAPS
26. Forensic evidence letters DNA
29. Rower’s need OAR
30. George Washington’s favorite fruity dessert? CHERRY PIE
31. Stressful reviews for filers TAX AUDITS
33. Tool for the Tin Woodman AXE
34. Like verbs describing what happened PAST TENSE
36. Reverse pic NEG
38. “Yay, me!” TADA!
39. Three, to Angela Merkel DREI
41. Cartoonist Browne DIK
42. Rather worried IN A STEW
44. Dating letters BCE
46. Hopping mad IRED
47. Tough guys THUGS
48. Knick or Celt NBAER
49. Mild oaths DRATS
50. Rimes of country LEANN
51. Borden mascot ELSIE
52. Religious ceremonies RITES
57. Big bang cause, and an informal hint to 17-, 23-, 47- and 57-Across TNT (i.e. T ‘n T)
58. Needle-threader’s target EYE
59. “… __ quit!” OR I

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