Day: May 1, 2014

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. 2003 NFL rushing leader __ Lewis JAMAL
Jamal Lewis is a retired NFL running back. Lewis played most recently with the Cleveland Browns, and before that with the Baltimore Ravens. He was on the Ravens team that won Super Bowl XXXV. Lewis tarnished his image in 2004 when he served four months in federal prison after reaching a plea agreement over a drug deal.

10. Pro-prohibition org. WCTU
Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)

14. Olds compact ALERO
The Oldsmobile Alero was the last car made under the Oldsmobile brand. The Alero was produced from 1999 to 2004.

15. EKTORP sofa seller IKEA
The furniture chain IKEA was founded by Ingvar Kamprad in 1943, when he was just 17-years-old. IKEA is an acronym that stands for Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd (don’t forget now!). Elmtaryd was the name of the farm where Ingvar Kamprad grew up, and Agunnaryd is his home parish in Sweden.

16. 1800s law-enforcement family name EARP
The famous Earp brothers of the Wild West were Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan. All three brothers participated in what has to be the most celebrated gunfight in the history of the Old West, the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. Strangely enough, the fight didn’t happen at the O.K. Corral, but took place six doors down the street in a vacant lot next to a photography studio.

17. Canadian city named for a historic battle site WATERLOO, ONTARIO
The city of Waterloo in Southern Ontario was named for Waterloo in Belgium, which was the site of the famous battle that ended the Napoleonic Wars in Europe.

The Battle of Waterloo was fought in 1815 between the Imperial French army led by Emperor Napoleon and an Anglo-Allied army led by the Irish-born British Field Marshal, the Duke of Wellington. Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo led to his abdication and the restoration of King Louis XVIII to the throne of France. Bonaparte was exiled to the British-owned island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died in 1821.

22. John who sang “Daniel” ELTON
Elton John’s real name is Reginald Dwight. Sir Elton was knighted in 1998, not for his music but for his charitable work. He founded his own Elton John AIDS Foundation back in 1992.

“Daniel” is a 1973 song performed and composed by Elton John, with lyrics by Bernie Taupin. The Daniel in the song is a man returning from Vietnam to a small town in Texas after the war.

23. “Star Trek” spinoff, briefly TNG
When Gene Roddenberry first proposed the science fiction series that became “Star Trek”, he marketed it as “Wagon Train to the Stars”, a pioneer-style Western in outer space. In fact his idea was to produce something more like “Gulliver’s Travels”, as he intended to write episodes that were adventure stories on one level, but morality tales on another. Personally I think that he best achieved this model with the spin-off series “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (TNG). If you watch individual episodes you will see thinly disguised treatments of moral issues such as racism, homosexuality, genocide etc. For my money, TNG is the best of the whole franchise …

34. Horned beast RHINO
There are five types of rhinoceros that survive today, and the smaller Javan Rhino is the most rare. The rhinoceros is probably the rarest large mammal on the planet, thanks to poaching. Hunters mainly prize the horn of the rhino as it is used in powdered form in traditional Chinese medicine.

36. Statesman Hammarskjöld DAG
Swedish diplomat Dag Hammarskjöld was the second secretary-general of the United Nations, right up until his death in a plane crash in Rhodesia in 1961. The crash was considered suspicious at the time as the bodyguards were found to have bullet wounds when they died, but this was put down to bullets exploding in the fire after the crash.

38. Scrabble squares TILES
The highest score recorded in an official game of Scrabble is 830, by Michael Cresta of Massachusetts in an 830-490 win in 2006.

40. Acting as QUA
“Qua” is a preposition meaning “in the capacity of”. “Qua” is a form of the Latin word for “who”.

41. Canonized fifth-cen. pope ST LEO
The first pope named Leo is now known as Pope Saint Leo the Great. Leo I is famous for meeting with the feared Attila the Hun and persuading him to turn back his invading force that was threatening to overrun Western Europe.

46. Narc’s find PCP
Phencyclidine is a recreational drug usually referred to on the street as PCP or “angel dust”.

51. Orbiting phenomenon ZERO-G
The force of gravity that we all feel is referred to as “one G”. As gravity is a actually an accelerating force, acceleration is measured relative to that force of gravity. So, if we are sitting in a vehicle that accelerates at 3G, then we are experiencing a force that is three times that which we feel from the gravitational pull of the earth. Zero-G is weightlessness that is experienced when in space, outside the influence of the earth’s gravity.

54. Red leader MAO
Mao Zedong (also “Mao Tse-tung”) was born on December 16, 1893 in the Hunan Province of China. As Mao was the son of a peasant farmer, his prospects for education were limited. Indeed he left school at age 13 to work on the family farm but did eventually get to secondary school in Changsha, the provincial capital. In the years following, Mao continued his education in Beijing and actually turned down an opportunity to study in France.

60. “The Time Machine” race ELOI
In the 1895 novel by H. G. Wells called “The Time Machine”, there are two races that the hero encounter in his travels into the future. The Eloi are the “beautiful people” who live on the planet’s surface. The Morlocks are a race of cannibals living underground who use the Eloi as food.

61. Move like a monarch FLIT
The monarch butterfly has very recognizable orange and black wings, and is often seen across North America. The monarch is the state insect of several US states and was even nominated as the national insect in 1990, but the legislation was not enacted.

65. Triatomic gas in a thinning layer … and, symbolically, what appears in this puzzle’s four longest answers OZONE
Ozone gets its name from the Greek word ozein, meaning “to smell”. It was given this name as ozone’s formation during lightning storms was detected by the gas’s distinctive smell. Famously, there is a relatively high concentration of the gas in the “ozone layer” in the Earth’s stratosphere. This ozone layer provides a vital function for animal life on the planet as it absorbs most of the sun’s UV radiation. A molecule of ozone is made up of three oxygen atoms, whereas a “normal” oxygen has just two atoms.

Down
1. Benchley thriller JAWS
Peter Benchley’s book “Jaws” is a great read. It was published in 1974, and the Steven Spielberg movie “Jaws”was released just one year later.

2. Jai __ ALAI
Even though jai alai is often said to be the fastest sport in the world because of the speed of the ball, in fact golf balls usually get going at a greater clip.

3. Team with a skyline in its logo METS
The New York Mets baseball team was founded in 1962, a replacement for two teams that the city had lost, namely the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants. For several years the Mets played very poorly, finishing no better than second-to-last in their division. Then of course along came the “Miracle Mets” who beat the Baltimore Orioles in 1969 to claim the World Series in a huge upset.

5. Medici known as “the Magnificent” LORENZO
Lorenzo de’ Medici in effect ruled the Florentine Republic at the height of the Italian Renaissance. Known as Lorenzo the Magnificent, included in his court were some of the greatest artist of all time including Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.

6. Gucci rival DIOR
Christian Dior was a French fashion designer. As WWII approached, Dior was called up by the French military, imposing a temporary halt to his career in fashion. He left the army in 1942 and for the duration of the war designed clothes for wives of Nazi officers and French collaborators. After the war his designs became so popular that he helped re-establish Paris as the fashion center of the world.

Gucci was founded in Rome in 1921, by Guccio Gucci. Guccio’s son Aldo took over the company after his father’s death in 1953. It was Aldo who established the international presence for the brand and opened the company’s first overseas store, in New York City.

7. Senegalese-American rapper AKON
Akon is a Senegalese American R&B and hip hop singer, who was born in St. Louis but lived much of his early life in Senegal. Akon’s real name is Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Bongo Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam.

8. Popular ’20s cars REOS
The REO Motor Company was founded by Ransom E. Olds (hence the name REO). The company made cars, trucks and buses, and was in business from 1905 to 1975 in Lansing, Michigan. Among the company’s most famous models were the REO Royale and the REO Flying Cloud.

9. Indian bread NAN
Naan (also “nan”) bread is very popular in Indian restaurants, as well as in other West, Central and South Asian cuisines. Indian Naan is traditionally baked in a clay oven known as a tandoor.

18. Vacación destination LAGO
In Spanish, one might go to the lake (lago) for vacation (vacación).

24. Giant Mel et al. OTTS
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.

25. Samarra native IRAQI
Samarra is a city north of Baghdad in Iraq. We are perhaps familiar with the city name from John O’Hara’s 1934 novel “Appointment in Samarra”.

28. Disney’s “Darby __ and the Little People” O’GILL
“Darby O’Gill and the Little People” is a 1959 Disney film about an Irishman up against a whole slew of leprechauns. The film is based on a couple of books written by Herminie Templeton Kavanagh. Not a movie I’d ever watch …

29. Pie-eyed OILED
“Pie-eyed” and “oiled” are slang terms meaning “drunk”.

31. Mrs. Roosevelt EDITH
Edith Carow was the second wife of Theodore Roosevelt and the First Lady of the US when President Roosevelt was in office. Theodore’s first wife was Alice Hathaway Lee who died two days after the birth of their daughter in 1884. Roosevelt proposed to Carow in 1885 and the couple were married in 1886. Carow survived her husband, who died in 1919. The former First Lady briefly came out of retirement during the 1932 presidential election to campaign for President Herbert Hoover, which put Edith in opposition to her cousin-in-law Franklin D. Roosevelt.

32. “Amazing” illusionist RANDI
James Randi is a retired Canadian-American magician who had a stage career using the name “The Amazing Randi”. Now he spends his time investigating the paranormal, or in fact mainly challenging claims of paranormal activity. If you’re interested, the James Randi Educational Foundation is offering one million dollars to anyone who can demonstrate paranormal activity under controlled test conditions.

33. Pop-up frozen fare EGGOS
Eggo is the brand name of a line of frozen waffles made by Kellogg’s. When they were introduced in the 1930s, the name “Eggo” was chosen to promote the “egginess” of the batter. “Eggo” replaced the original name chosen, which was “Froffles”, created by melding “frozen” and “waffles”.

38. Firebird option T-TOP
A T-top is a car roof that has removable panels on either side of a rigid bar that runs down the center of the vehicle above the driver.

1967 was a big year or American muscle cars. The Pontiac Firebird was introduced that year, as was the Chevrolet Camaro that shared the same platform as the Firebird. At the same time, Ford introduced the Mercury Cougar, which was built on the same platform as the Ford Mustang that went into production just three years earlier.

41. Successful, in slang SOCKO
“Socko” is a slang term meaning “impressive”.

42. Pizzeria herb OREGANO
Marjoram is a fragrant herb that is native to the Mediterranean area. The related species of oregano is sometimes known as wild marjoram.

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

49. Healthy HALE
“Hale” is an adjective meaning “healthy”. Both the words “hale” and “healthy” derive from the the Old English “hal” meaning healthy.

50. Those, in Tijuana ESOS
Tijuana is the largest city in the Mexican state of Baja California, and lies just across the US-Mexico border from San Diego. Tijuana is also the most westerly of all Mexican cities. A lot of Tijuana’s growth took place in the twenties as tourists flocked south of the border during the days of prohibition in the US. One of the many casinos and hotels that flourished at that time was Hotel Caesar’s in the Avenida Revolución area. Hotel Caesar’s claims to be the birthplace of the now ubiquitous Caesar Salad.

51. “J’accuse” author ZOLA
The most famous work of French writer Émile Zola is his 1898 open letter “J’Accuse!” written to then French president Félix Faure. The letter was published on the front page of a leading Paris newspaper, and accused the government of anti-Semitism in its handling of the trial of Captain Alfred Dreyfus. Dreyfus was a Jewish military officer in the French army, falsely accused and convicted of spying for Germany. Even after the error was discovered, the government refused to back down and let Dreyfus rot away on Devil’s Island rather than admit to the mistake. It wasn’t until 1906, 12 years after the wrongful conviction, that Dreyfus was freed and reinstated, largely due to the advocacy of Emile Zola.

53. Sch. research papers RPTS
Reports (rpts) are research papers written at school (sch.).

54. Shortfin or longfin predator MAKO
The shortfin mako shark can appear on restaurant menus, and as a result the species is dying out in some parts of the world. The mako gets its own back sometimes though, and attacks on humans are not unknown. And the shark in Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea”, that’s a mako.

55. Architect William Van __ ALEN
William Van Alen was an architect, most famous for leading the design of the Chrysler Building in New York City. When the building was complete, Van Alen sent his bill to Walter Chrysler, a standard fee of 6% of the construction cost. Van Alan hadn’t pre-negotiated his fee for the job, so payment was refused. Van Alen sued and won the case, but his reputation was ruined by the litigation and he never designed another building.

56. Merrie __ England OLDE
The word “olde” wasn’t actually used much earlier than the 1920s. “Olde” was introduced to give a quaint antique feel to brand names, shop names etc.

58. Broadway opening? OFF
Originally, an “Off-Broadway” theater was one on a street that intersected Broadway in the Theater District of Manhattan. Nowadays, the term “off-Broadway” applies to a theater that has a seating capacity of 100 to 499.

59. Toon spinner TAZ
The “Looney Tunes” character known as the Tasmanian Devil, or “Taz”, first appeared on screens in 1964 but gained real popularity in the 1990s.

The carnivorous marsupial known as the Tasmanian devil is aptly named, in the sense that the only place the animal is found in the wild is on the island of Tasmania. The “little devils” are about the size of a small dog, and they have the strongest bite for their size of any known mammal.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. 2003 NFL rushing leader __ Lewis JAMAL
6. “Shoot!” DARN!
10. Pro-prohibition org. WCTU
14. Olds compact ALERO
15. EKTORP sofa seller IKEA
16. 1800s law-enforcement family name EARP
17. Canadian city named for a historic battle site WATERLOO, ONTARIO
20. Mom, to auntie SIS
21. Merits EARNS
22. John who sang “Daniel” ELTON
23. “Star Trek” spinoff, briefly TNG
24. Part of a stable diet? OAT
25. Stressed commuter’s complaint IT’S A ZOO OUT THERE
34. Horned beast RHINO
35. Main points GISTS
36. Statesman Hammarskjöld DAG
37. Fine things? ARTS
38. Scrabble squares TILES
39. Kitchen timer sound DING!
40. Acting as QUA
41. Canonized fifth-cen. pope ST LEO
42. Best OUTDO
43. “Enough kid stuff!” I’M TOO OLD FOR THIS!
46. Narc’s find PCP
47. “Yo!” HEY!
48. Rouge target CHEEK
51. Orbiting phenomenon ZERO-G
54. Red leader MAO
57. Totally lacks pep HAS NO OOMPH AT ALL
60. “The Time Machine” race ELOI
61. Move like a monarch FLIT
62. Bare NAKED
63. Peel ZEST
64. Dieter’s calculation FATS
65. Triatomic gas in a thinning layer … and, symbolically, what appears in this puzzle’s four longest answers OZONE

Down
1. Benchley thriller JAWS
2. Jai __ ALAI
3. Team with a skyline in its logo METS
4. Is for two? ARE
5. Medici known as “the Magnificent” LORENZO
6. Gucci rival DIOR
7. Senegalese-American rapper AKON
8. Popular ’20s cars REOS
9. Indian bread NAN
10. Prosperity WEALTH
11. Market vehicle CART
12. Jazz combo, often TRIO
13. Informed about UPON
18. Vacación destination LAGO
19. Milk sources TEATS
23. Salon goals TANS
24. Giant Mel et al. OTTS
25. Samarra native IRAQI
26. Finger-tapping sound THRUM
27. Pull a chair up to SIT AT
28. Disney’s “Darby __ and the Little People” O’GILL
29. Pie-eyed OILED
30. Make __: employ USE OF
31. Mrs. Roosevelt EDITH
32. “Amazing” illusionist RANDI
33. Pop-up frozen fare EGGOS
38. Firebird option T-TOP
39. Tax DUTY
41. Successful, in slang SOCKO
42. Pizzeria herb OREGANO
44. “Let’s see what you got!” OPEN IT!
45. “Yikes!” OH-OH!
48. Café sign word CHEZ
49. Healthy HALE
50. Those, in Tijuana ESOS
51. “J’accuse” author ZOLA
52. Throw out EMIT
53. Sch. research papers RPTS
54. Shortfin or longfin predator MAKO
55. Architect William Van __ ALEN
56. Merrie __ England OLDE
58. Broadway opening? OFF
59. Toon spinner TAZ

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