Day: June 24, 2014

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. “Dracula” author Stoker BRAM
“Dracula” is a novel written by the Irish author Bram Stoker and first published in 1897. Dracula wasn’t the first vampire of literature, but he certainly was the one who spawned the popularity of vampires in theater, film and television, and indeed more novels. Personally, I can’t stand vampire fiction …

9. Ocean movements TIDES
Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon on the oceans. At neap tide, the smaller gravitational effect of the sun cancels out some of the moon’s effect. At spring tide, the sun and the moon’s gravitational forces act in concert causing more extreme movement of the oceans.

14. Wine city near Sacramento LODI
Lodi, California may not be as well known a wine producer as Sonoma and Napa counties, but has been given the moniker “Zinfandel Capital of the World”.

15. “The Bridge on the River __”: 1957 film KWAI
The river referred to in the movie (and novel) “The Bridge on the River Kwai” is actually called the Khwae Yai River, and is in western Thailand. The original novel by Pierre Boulle was published in French in 1952, and the wonderful movie released in 1957. Both tell the story of construction of part of the Burma Railway and a bridge over the river, using prisoners of war as laborers. The film stars William Holden, Alec Guinness and Jack Hawkins.

18. Pizazz ELAN
Our word “élan” was imported from French, in which language the word has a similar meaning to ours i.e “style” or “flair”.

19. Trademarked copy XEROX
Xerox was founded in 1906 in Rochester, New York and originally made photographic paper and equipment. Real success came for the company in 1959 when it introduced the first plain-paper photocopier. Xerox named Ursula Burns as CEO in 2009, the first African American woman to head up a S&P 100 company. Burn was also the first woman to succeed another female CEO (replacing Anne Mulcahy).

25. Public health agcy. CDC
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is based in Atlanta, Georgia. The CDC started out life during WWII as the Office of National Defense Malaria Control Activities. The CDC worries about much more than malaria these days …

28. Brake part DISC
The drum brake was invented in 1902 by Louis Renault (founder of Renault, the automobile company). In a drum brake, there is a set of brake shoes that usually presses on the inner surface of the drum to slow down rotation. Nowadays, the disc brake system is more popular, a design which uses brake pads instead of brake shoes.

31. Actress Loren SOPHIA
Sophia Loren certainly has earned her exalted position in the world of movies. In 1962 Loren won an Oscar for Best Actress for her role in the Italian film “Two Women”, the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English speaking performance. She received a second nomination for Best Actress for her role in “Marriage Italian-Style”, another Italian-language movie, released in 1964.

33. Sunscreen letters SPF
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 takes 20 times as much UV radiation to cause the skin to burn than it would take without protection. I say just stay out of the sun …

39. Multi-vol. references OEDS
The “Oxford English Dictionary” (OED) contains over 300,000 “main” entries and 59 million words in total. It is said it would take a single person 120 years to type it out in full. The longest entry for one word in the second edition of the OED is the verb “set”. When the third edition was published in 2007, the longest entry for a single word became the verb “put”. Perhaps not surprisingly, the most-quoted author in the OED is William Shakespeare, with his most quoted work being “Hamlet”. The most-quoted female author is George Eliot (aka Mary Ann Evans).

40. Runner in a long race MARATHON ENTRANT
The marathon is run over 26 miles and 385 yards, and of course commemorates the legendary messenger-run by Pheidippides from the site of the Battle of Marathon back to Athens. The actual distance run today was decided in 1921, and matches the length of the modern-day Marathon-Athens highway.

44. “__ Fideles”: carol ADESTE
The lovely hymn “Adeste Fideles” (translated from Latin as “O Come, All Ye Faithful”) was written by one John Francis Wade in the 13th century. Well, he wrote the original four verses, with four more verses being added over time.

45. Qt. halves PTS
There are two pints (pts.) in a quart (qt.).

48. Old Russian ruler TSAR
The term czar (also tsar) is a Slavic word that was first used as a title by Simeon I of Bulgaria in 913 AD. “Czar” is derived from the word “Caesar”, which was synonymous with “emperor” at that time.

50. DDE’s predecessor HST
The initial “S” in the middle of the name Harry S. Truman (HST) doesn’t stand for anything. The future-president was named “Harry” in honor of his mother’s brother Harrison “Harry” Young. The initial “S” was chosen in honor of young Harry’s two grandfathers: Anderson S-hipp Truman and S-olomon Young.

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 (DDE). Growing up, his family called him Dwight, and when “Ike” enrolled in West Point he himself reversed the order of his given names.

54. Stiller’s comedy partner MEARA
Anne Meara has been married to fellow comedic actor Jerry Stiller since 1954. Anne and Jerry are the parents of actors Ben and Amy Stiller. Meara co-starred with Carroll O’Connor and Martin Balsam in the eighties sitcom “Archie Bunker’s Place”, a spinoff from “All in the Family”.

62. Sheikdom of song ARABY
“The Sheik of Araby” is a song that dates back to 1921, when it was a Tin Pan Alley hit. It was soon absorbed into the jazz standard repertoire. The inspiration of the song was Rudolph Valentino’s performance in the 1921 movie “The Sheik”.

64. Sunburn soother ALOE
Aloe vera has a number of alternate names that are descriptive of its efficacy as a medicine. These include the First Aid plant, Wand of Heaven, Silent Healer and Miracle Plant.

65. Golden Fleece ship ARGO
Jason is a hero from Greek mythology, most noted for leading the quest for the Golden Fleece. The Golden Fleece is the fleece of the gold-haired winged ram. For his quest, Jason assembles a group of heroes who were given the name Argonauts, as they journeyed on the ship called the “Argo”. The vessel was called the “Argo” in honor of the ship’s builder, a man named Argus.

68. Vitamin __: PABA B-TEN
Vitamin B-10 is also known as para-aminobenzoic acid, shortened to pABA. It is a chemical produced by some plants and bacteria and finds its way into several foods. However, pABA is best known as a sunblock.

71. Satisfy to the hilt SATE
“Sate” is a variant of the older word “satiate”. Both terms can mean either to satisfy an appetite fully, or to eat to excess.

Down
2. ’50s sci-fi monster RODAN
Rodan is a flying pterosaur appearing in a series of Japanese monster movies, created by the same studio that had earlier come up with Godzilla.

5. Swedish furniture chain IKEA
The IKEA furniture stores use the colors blue and yellow for brand recognition. Blue and yellow are the national colors of Sweden, where IKEA was founded and is headquartered.

7. Civil rights org. NAACP
The full name of the NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, is remarkable in that it actually still uses the old offensive term “colored people”. The NAACP was founded in 1909, by a group that included suffragette and journalist Mary White Ovington, wealthy socialist William English Walling, and civil rights activist Henry Moscowitz. Another member of the founding group was W. E. B. Du Bois, the first African American to earn a doctorate at Harvard University.

8. Mount climbed by Moses SINAI
According to the Bible, Mount Sinai is the mountain on which Moses was given the Ten Commandments. The Biblical Mount Sinai is probably not the mountain in Egypt that today has the same name, although this is the subject of much debate. The Egyptian Mount Sinai has two developed routes that one can take to reach the summit. The longer gentler climb takes about 2 1/2 hours, but there is also the steeper climb up the 3,750 “steps of penitence”.

9. Many an H&R Block employee TAX PRO
The tax preparation company called H&R Block was founded in 1955 In Kansas City by two brothers, Henry and Richard Bloch. The Bloch brothers changed the spelling of their family name to “Block” for the company moniker, in order to avoid mispronunciation.

12. Old name for Tokyo EDO
Edo is the former name of the Japanese city of Tokyo. Edo was the seat of the Tokugawa shogunate, a feudal regime that ruled from 1603 until 1868. The shogun lived in the magnificent Edo castle. Some parts of the original castle remain and today’s Tokyo Imperial Palace, the residence of the Emperor of Japan, was built on its grounds.

29. Desertlike SAHARAN
The name “Sahara” means “greatest desert” in Arabic and it is just that, a great desert covering almost 4 million square miles of Northern Africa. That’s almost the size of the United States.

33. Patti of punk rock SMITH
Patti Smith is a singer-songwriter who was a big player in the seventies punk rock movement in New York City. Smith’s most successful song is “Because the Night”, a song co-written with Bruce Springsteen and recorded by Smith in 1978. Her influence in the punk rock scene earned Smith the nickname “Godmother of Punk”.

34. City on the Seine PARIS
The Seine is the river that flows through Paris. The Seine empties into the English Channel to the north, at the port city of Le Havre.

37. A, in Arles UNE
A few years ago I had the privilege of living just a short car-ride from the beautiful city of Arles in the South of France. Although Arles has a long and colorful history, the Romans had a prevailing influence over the city’s design. Arles has a spectacular Roman amphitheater, arch, circus as well as old walls that surround the center of the city. In more modern times, it was a place Vincent van Gogh often visited, and where he painted his famous “Cafe Terrace at Night”, as well as “Bedroom in Arles”.

42. Tigers and Cubs TEAMS
The origins of the Detroit Tigers baseball team’s nickname seems a little unclear. One story is that it was taken from the Detroit Light Guard military unit who were known as “The Tigers”. The Light Guard fought with distinction during the Civil War and in the Spanish-American War. Sure enough, when the Detroit baseball team went into the Majors they were formally given permission to use “The Tigers” name by the Detroit Light Guard.

The Chicago Cubs is one of only two charter members of the baseball’s National League who are still playing, the other being the Atlanta Braves. The Cubs last won the World Series in 1908, which is a long time ago. In fact, the Cubs have the longest championship drought of any professional sports team in North America.

47. Comical Boosler ELAYNE
Elayne Boosler is a stand-up comedian and was one of the first female comedians to have her act aired as a special on cable television. She does have some funny lines, and here’s one that I particularly like:

“When women are depressed they either eat or go shopping. Men invade another country.”

49. Fixes up, as a fixer-upper REHABS
Rehabilitate (rehab)

52. Snail-mail attachment STAMP
“Snail mail” is regular mail delivered by the postal service. The term “snail mail” arose as email gained in popularity, and is a reference to the difference in speed between email and paper mail.

55. Primary artery AORTA
The aorta originates in the heart and extends down into the abdomen. It is the largest artery in the body.

56. Name synonymous with synonyms 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.

59. Debt-laden corp. takeovers LBOS
A leveraged buyout (LBO) is a transaction in which an investor acquires a controlling volume of stock in a company, but buys that stock with borrowed funds (hence “leveraged”). Often the assets of the acquired company are used as collateral for the borrowed money. There is a special form of LBO known as a management buyout (MBO) in which the company’s own management team purchases the controlling interest.

62. Calc. prerequisite ALG
Algebra is a branch of mathematics in which arithmetical operations are performed on variables rather than specific numbers (x,y etc). The term “algebra” comes from the Arabic “al jebr” meaning “reunion of broken parts”.

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”.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. “Dracula” author Stoker BRAM
5. + or – particles IONS
9. Ocean movements TIDES
14. Wine city near Sacramento LODI
15. “The Bridge on the River __”: 1957 film KWAI
16. “Step __!”: “Out of my way!” ASIDE
17. Goes on to say ADDS
18. Pizazz ELAN
19. Trademarked copy XEROX
20. Runner on a corridor floor HALLWAY CARPET
23. Derisive expression SNEER
24. Harbor structure PIER
25. Public health agcy. CDC
28. Brake part DISC
31. Actress Loren SOPHIA
33. Sunscreen letters SPF
36. Twenty-one-gun show of respect SALUTE
39. Multi-vol. references OEDS
40. Runner in a long race MARATHON ENTRANT
43. Steam-emitting appliance IRON
44. “__ Fideles”: carol ADESTE
45. Qt. halves PTS
46. Dry twigs for a fire TINDER
48. Old Russian ruler TSAR
50. DDE’s predecessor HST
51. Eye protector LASH
54. Stiller’s comedy partner MEARA
58. Runner in a nursery PLANT OFFSHOOT
62. Sheikdom of song ARABY
64. Sunburn soother ALOE
65. Golden Fleece ship ARGO
66. Access Facebook, say LOG ON
67. Prefix with bucks MEGA-
68. Vitamin __: PABA B-TEN
69. Noisy migratory birds GEESE
70. Subtle call for attention PSST!
71. Satisfy to the hilt SATE

Down
1. Slight depression, with “the” BLAHS
2. ’50s sci-fi monster RODAN
3. Confuse ADDLE
4. Gave false clues to, e.g. MISLED
5. Swedish furniture chain IKEA
6. Big-eyed OWLY
7. Civil rights org. NAACP
8. Mount climbed by Moses SINAI
9. Many an H&R Block employee TAX PRO
10. “It’s clear now” I SEE
11. Very inexpensive DIRT CHEAP
12. Old name for Tokyo EDO
13. Male or female SEX
21. What a cuff may cover WRIST
22. Is indignant about RESENTS
26. Failed to DIDN’T
27. Lets the lure fly CASTS
29. Desertlike SAHARAN
30. Bumbling sort CLOD
32. __ ejemplo: Juan’s “for example” POR
33. Patti of punk rock SMITH
34. City on the Seine PARIS
35. Where the major headlines are FRONT PAGE
37. A, in Arles UNE
38. Diagnostic aid TEST
41. “What’s more …” AND
42. Tigers and Cubs TEAMS
47. Comical Boosler ELAYNE
49. Fixes up, as a fixer-upper REHABS
52. Snail-mail attachment STAMP
53. Putters’ targets HOLES
55. Primary artery AORTA
56. Name synonymous with synonyms ROGET
57. More than apologize ATONE
59. Debt-laden corp. takeovers LBOS
60. Clouds (up) FOGS
61. Accomplishment FEAT
62. Calc. prerequisite ALG
63. Fish delicacy ROE

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