Day: May 29, 2014

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Chain named for two oceans A AND P
The supermarket chain commonly known as A&P is more correctly called the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company. The company started out selling tea directly from plantations in China in 1859, and by cutting out the middle man became very successful selling tea at lower prices. A&P moved into groceries, still with the philosophy of undercutting prices, building large stores and even getting into legal trouble for using predatory pricing tactics. The company completely dominated the retail grocery market until competition ate into their share starting in the seventies.

6. Diet guru Jenny CRAIG
The weight control company called Jenny Craig was started in 1983 by Jenny and Sidney Craig in Melbourne, Australia. Jenny Craig came to North American two years later, and is headquartered in Carlsbad, California.

15. Cuban dance RUMBA
The rumba is a Cuban dance, with influences brought by African slaves and Spanish colonists. The name “rumba” comes from “rumbo”, the Spanish word for “party, spree”.

16. “The Lead With Jake Tapper” airer CNN
“The Lead With Jake Tapper” is a CNN news show that started airing in 2013. The show is hosted by CNN’s Chief Washington Correspondent Jake Tapper. The term “Lead” that is used in the show’s title is used in journalism for the opening one or two lines in a story, which usually state the essential facts.

19. __ polloi HOI
“Hoi polloi” is a Greek term, literally meaning “the majority, the many”. In English, “hoi polloi” has come to mean “the masses” and is often used in a derogatory sense.

20. Suffix with Senegal -ESE
The Republic of Senegal is a country on the far western coast of Africa. For many years Senegal was a French colony, gaining independence in 1960. The capital of Senegal is Dakar, a city located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean.

21. First American to orbit Earth GLENN
John Glenn is a retired Marine Corps pilot, astronaut and US Senator. As an astronaut, Glenn was the first American to orbit the earth, in 1962, and later became the oldest person to fly in space, in 1998.

24. *Words said between courses KEEP YOUR FORK
In the game of chess, a fork is a tactic in which a piece attacks two or more opposing pieces at the same time.

29. Pie perch SILL
A “sill plate” or simply “sill” is an architectural term for a bottom horizontal member to which vertical members are attached. A “window sill” is specific sill plate that is found at the bottom of a window opening.

31. Many a preadolescent TWEEN
The term “tween” is now used to describe preadolescence, the years between 10 and 12 years of age.

37. Southernmost Ivy PENN
The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) was founded in 1740 by by Benjamin Franklin. Penn was the first school in the country to offer both graduate and undergraduate courses.

The term “Ivy League” originally defined an athletic conference, but now it is used to describe a group of schools of higher education that are associated with both a long tradition and academic excellence. The eight Ivy League Schools are: Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale.

38. Game where the ends of the answers to starred clues are commonly heard CHESS
It is believed that the game of chess originated in northwest India, evolving from a 6th-century game called “chaturanga”, a Sanskrit word meaning “four divisions”. These four (military) divisions were represented in the game:

– Infantry (now “pawns”)
– Cavalry (now “knights”)
– Elephants (now “bishops”)
– Chariots (now “rooks”)

39. Bean used in falafel FAVA
Fava bean is an alternative name for the broad bean.

Falafel is a fried ball of ground chickpeas or fava beans served in pita bread. I love chickpeas, but falafel just seems too dry to me.

45. Like some partners SILENT
A “silent partner” in a business relationship is one who shares in profit and losses but is uninvolved in management of the business. Usually, a silent partner’s main role is to provide capital.

46. *It can be a painful reminder REALITY CHECK
In the game of chess, when the king is under immediate threat of capture it is said to be “in check”. If the king cannot escape from check, then the game ends in “checkmate” and the player in check loses. In the original Sanskrit game of chess, the king could actually be captured. Then a rule was introduced requiring that a warning be given if capture was imminent (today we announce “check!”) so that an accidental and early ending to the game doesn’t occur.

51. Atelier fixture EASEL
The word “easel” comes from an old Dutch word meaning “donkey” would you believe? The idea is that an easel carries its load (an oil painting, say) just as a donkey would carry its load.

An atelier is an artist’s studio, with “atelier” being the French word for “studio” or “workshop”.

52. Mission where Jim Bowie fell ALAMO
The famous Alamo in San Antonio, Texas was originally known as Mission San Antonio de Valero. The mission was founded in 1718 and was the first mission established in the city. The Battle of the Alamo took place in 1836, a thirteen-day siege by the Mexican Army led by President General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Only two people defending the Alamo Mission survived the onslaught. One month later, the Texian army got its revenge by attacking and defeating the Mexican Army in the Battle of San Jacinto. During the surprise attack on Santa Anna’s camp, many of the Texian soldiers were heard to cry “Remember the Alamo!”.

The frontiersman Jim Bowie first came to public attention as the result of a duel known as the Sandbar Fight, which was fought on a sandbar outside of Natchez, Mississippi. Bowie was serving as a second to one of the duellists, but ended up getting shot in a brawl that developed after the duel had been declared a draw. Bowie was shot twice, had a sword protruding from his chest, and still managed to win the fight using his knife. The story was covered widely in newspapers and Bowie became somewhat of a folk hero. The style of knife that he used became very popular and was soon being called a “Bowie knife”.

53. Hub WNW of LAS SFO
San Francisco International Airport (SFO) serves as the main base of operations for Virgin America, and is also the maintenance hub for United Airlines. SFO was the site of a 2013 crash of an Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 that resulted in three fatalities. My wife and I had flown into SFO 24 hours earlier. That tends to be sobering …

McCarran International Airport (LAS) serves Las Vegas, Nevada. The facility is named for former US Senator for Nevada Pat McCarran. Passengers can do a little gambling while waiting for their flights. The airport is home to over a thousand slot machines.

56. Mohawked muscleman MR T
Mr. T’s real name is Laurence Tero Tureaud. Mr. T is famous for many things, including the wearing of excessive amounts of jewelry. He started this habit when he was working as a bouncer, wearing jewelry items that had been left behind by customers at a nightclub so that the items might be recognized and claimed. It was also as a bouncer that he adopted the name Mr. T. His catch phrase comes from the movie “Rocky III”. In the film, before he goes up against Rocky Balboa, Mr. T says, “No, I don’t hate Balboa, but I pity the fool”. He parlayed that line into quite a bit of success. He had a reality TV show called “I Pity the Fool”, and produced a motivational video called “Be Somebody … or Be Somebody’s Fool!”.

57. *Sister’s symbol SORORITY PIN
In the game of chess, a piece is said to be pinned if it cannot move without exposing a more valuable piece to capture.

62. Maudlin TEARY
To be maudlin is to be excessively sentimental. The term comes into English from the tearful and repentant sinner Mary Magdalene who was forgiven by Jesus. Mary’s surname “Magdalene” became the name “Maudelen” in Middle English, and then “maudlin” meaning “tearful”.

63. Lao-__ TSE
Lao Tse (also Lao-Tzu) was a central figure in the development of the religion/philosophy of Taoism.

Down
1. Seaman descriptor ABLE
An “able seaman” or “able-bodied seaman” (AB) is a member of a vessel’s deck crew who is not licensed to hold a senior position aboard ship. The most senior AB is usually called the boatswain.

2. God with a vulture symbol ARES
The Greek god Ares is often referred to as the Olympian god of warfare, but originally he was regarded as the god of blood-lust and slaughter. Ares united with Aphrodite to create several gods, including Phobos, Deimos and Eros. The Roman equivalent to Ares was Mars.

3. Diamond group NINE
There are nine players on a baseball team.

4. Trial VIPs DAS
District attorney (DA)

5. Scion PROGENY
“Scion” comes from the old French word “sion” or “cion”, meaning “a shoot or a twig”. In botanical terms today, a scion is used in grafting two compatible plants together. In grafting, one plant is selected for its root system (the “rootstock”), and the other plant is selected for its stems, leaves and fruit (the “scion”). The term scion migrated naturally into the world of family history. A scion is simply a descendant, a son or a daughter and therefore a branching point in the family tree.

8. Kind of acid in proteins AMINO
Amino acids are essential to life in many ways, not least of which is their use as the building blocks of proteins.

9. Hebrew : Ben :: Arabic : __ IBN
In Arabic names, “ibn” is a word meaning “son of”. The words “bin” and “ben” are also used for “son of”. The word “bint” means “daughter of”. Similarly, in Hebrew “ben” is used to mean “son of”, and “bat” is used to mean “daughter of”.

10. First Russian to orbit Earth GAGARIN
The Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space when his spacecraft Vostok I made a single orbit of the Earth in 1961. Sadly, Gagarin died only seven years later in a plane crash.

11. *Part of a class act SCHOOLMATE
In the game of chess, when the king is under immediate threat of capture it is said to be “in check”. If the king cannot escape from check, then the game ends in “checkmate” and the player in check loses. In the original Sanskrit game of chess, the king could actually be captured. Then a rule was introduced requiring that a warning be given if capture was imminent (today we announce “check!”) so that an accidental and early ending to the game doesn’t occur.

12. Stock market giant? KNORR
When I was growing up in Ireland, we never saw Campbell’s soup on the shelves. It was basically all Knorr products, and dehydrated soup from a packet at that. How times have changed. Knorr is a German brand, now owned by the Anglo-Dutch Company Unilever.

13. Confident way to solve crosswords IN INK
Not for me …

18. Earnestly appealed PLED
He pleaded, or he “pled”, for his life, maybe …

23. Grey Cup org. CFL
The Canadian Football League was formed back in 1958, and has helped increase the popularity of football in the country. That said, ice hockey is still the main sports attraction north of the border.

The Grey Cup is a trophy awarded annually to the championship team in the Canadian Football League. The trophy is named for the Earl Grey, the ex-governor general of Canada who commissioned the award. Grey had intended that the award be given annually to the country’s senior amateur hockey team, but Sir Montagu Allan beat him to the punch and the Allan Cup has been used for that purpose ever since. And so instead, the Grey Cup went to the sport of football.

24. “Show Boat” composer KERN
“Show Boat” is a musical by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein, first staged in New York in 1927. It is based on a 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The story is about a show boat called the “Cotton Blossom”. Show boats were floating theaters which navigated the rivers of the US from the 1870s to the 1930s, moving from town to town with the performers living on board. “Show Boat” was famously adapted for the big screen in 1936, with stars Irene Dunne, Allan Jones and Paul Robeson.

35. Skin So Soft seller AVON
In 1886, a young man called David McConnell was selling books door-to-door. To enhance his sales numbers he was giving out free perfume to the ladies of the houses that he visited. Seeing as his perfume was more popular than his books, he founded the California Perfume Company in New York City and started manufacturing and selling across the country. The company name was changed to Avon in 1939, and the famous “Avon Calling” marketing campaign was launched in 1954.

36. Barbershop division? PART
Barbershop music is played in the a cappella style, meaning that it is unaccompanied vocal music. Barbershop music originated in the African American communities in the South, as gospel quartets often gathered in neighborhood barber shops to sing together.

42. Cannoli cheese RICOTTA
Ricotta is an Italian cheese made from the milk of a sheep or a cow. Ricotta is actually produced from the whey of the milk, the liquid left after the curds have been separated out (curds are used to make “traditional” cheese). The whey is heated again so that the remaining protein, above and beyond that in the curd already removed, precipitates out making ricotta cheese. The word “ricotta” literally means “recooked”, which makes sense to me now …

Cannoli (singular “connolo”) are Italian sweet pastries that originated in Sicily. Cannoli are made by filling tubes of fried pastry dough with a creamy filling that usually contains ricotta cheese. “Cannolo” is Italian for “little tube”.

44. World Cup cheer OLE!
The next three FIFA World Cup tournaments (soccer) will be hosted by Brazil (2014), Russia (2018) and Qatar (2022).

45. One usually keeping to the right SEMI
A “semi” is a “semi-trailer truck”. The vehicle is so called because it consists of a tractor and a half-trailer. The half-trailer is so called because it only has wheels on the back end, with the front supported by the tractor.

47. British nobles EARLS
In the ranking of nobles, an earl comes above a viscount and below a marquess. The rank of earl is used in the British peerage system and is equivalent to the rank of count in other countries. Other British ranks have female forms (e.g. marquess and marchioness, viscount and viscountess), but there isn’t a female word for the rank of earl. A female given the same rank as an earl is known simply as a countess.

48. Barbecue venues YARDS
It is believed that our word “barbecue” comes from the Taíno people of the Caribbean in whose language “barbacoa” means “sacred fire pit”.

50. Half-woman, half-bird monster HARPY
A harpy is a shrewish woman or a predatory person. The term comes from Greek mythology in which a harpy was a winged spirit noted for stealing food from a king called Phineus. Phineus angered the god Zeus and so was punished by being exiled to an island with a buffet of food that he could never eat. Every time he tried to eat, harpies would arrive and steal the food

55. Jet-black gemstone ONYX
Onyx is a form of quartz that comes in many different shades, but most often it’s the black version that’s used for jewelry. The name “onyx” comes from the Greek word for “fingernail”, as onyx in the flesh color is said to resemble a fingernail.

59. Kyoto currency YEN
The Korean Won, the Chinese Yuan, and the Japanese Yen (all of which are Asian currencies) take their names from the Chinese written character that represents “round shape”.

The city of Kyoto was once the capital of Japan, and in fact the name “Kyoto” means “capital city” in Japanese.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Chain named for two oceans A AND P
6. Diet guru Jenny CRAIG
11. Slender slider SKI
14. Patch plant BRIAR
15. Cuban dance RUMBA
16. “The Lead With Jake Tapper” airer CNN
17. *Aperture LENS OPENING
19. __ polloi HOI
20. Suffix with Senegal -ESE
21. First American to orbit Earth GLENN
22. Oak product … or source ACORN
24. *Words said between courses KEEP YOUR FORK
26. Email again RESEND
29. Pie perch SILL
30. Seed-bearing organ OVARY
31. Many a preadolescent TWEEN
34. Hiker’s reference MAP
37. Southernmost Ivy PENN
38. Game where the ends of the answers to starred clues are commonly heard CHESS
39. Bean used in falafel FAVA
40. Call off END
41. Underground anchors ROOTS
42. Turning part ROTOR
43. Mine find COAL
45. Like some partners SILENT
46. *It can be a painful reminder REALITY CHECK
51. Atelier fixture EASEL
52. Mission where Jim Bowie fell ALAMO
53. Hub WNW of LAS SFO
56. Mohawked muscleman MR T
57. *Sister’s symbol SORORITY PIN
60. In the infirmary ILL
61. Hold water ADD UP
62. Maudlin TEARY
63. Lao-__ TSE
64. Irritable TESTY
65. Fast-growing school’s need, perhaps ANNEX

Down
1. Seaman descriptor ABLE
2. God with a vulture symbol ARES
3. Diamond group NINE
4. Trial VIPs DAS
5. Scion PROGENY
6. Walk on tiptoe CREEP
7. Like noses, at times RUNNY
8. Kind of acid in proteins AMINO
9. Hebrew : Ben :: Arabic : __ IBN
10. First Russian to orbit Earth GAGARIN
11. *Part of a class act SCHOOLMATE
12. Stock market giant? KNORR
13. Confident way to solve crosswords IN INK
18. Earnestly appealed PLED
23. Grey Cup org. CFL
24. “Show Boat” composer KERN
25. Takes advantage of USES
26. It’s often skipped ROPE
27. __ number EVEN
28. *Place to see shell decorations SANDCASTLE
31. Nevertheless, informally THO’
32. Slippery, perhaps WET
33. Pothook shape ESS
35. Skin So Soft seller AVON
36. Barbershop division? PART
38. Future stallion COLT
39. Traditional genre FOLK
41. Gives a tongue-lashing RAILS AT
42. Cannoli cheese RICOTTA
44. World Cup cheer OLE!
45. One usually keeping to the right SEMI
46. Send in REMIT
47. British nobles EARLS
48. Barbecue venues YARDS
49. Influence CLOUT
50. Half-woman, half-bird monster HARPY
53. Bridge SPAN
54. Blaze FIRE
55. Jet-black gemstone ONYX
58. Flowery composition ODE
59. Kyoto currency YEN

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