Day: June 27, 2014

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Bangers side MASH
Bangers and mash is traditional British dish made of sausages and mashed potato served with onion gravy. Sausages are known as “bangers” as they have a tendency to explode with a bang on the frying pan, especially if there is a high water content.

5. DOL division OSHA
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was created in 1970 during the Nixon administration. OSHA regulates workplaces in the private sector and regulates just one government agency, namely the US Postal Service.

The US Department of Labor (DOL) was founded as the Bureau of Labor in 1889 under the Department of the Interior. The Bureau’s status was elevated to Cabinet level by President William Howard Taft in 1913, with a bill he signed on his last day in office. The DOL has headquartered in the Frances Perkins Building in Washington, D.C. since 1975. The building was named for Frances Perkins who served as Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945 and who was the first female cabinet secretary in US history.

14. Potpourri OLIO
Olio is a term meaning a hodgepodge or a mixture, coming from the mixed stew of the same name. The stew in turn takes its name from the Spanish “olla”, the clay pot used for cooking.

The French term “pot pourri” literally translates to “rotten pot”, but in France it used to mean “stew”. Over time, the term “potpourri” evolved in English usage to mean a “medley”, and eventually a mixture of dried flowers and spices.

17. Transport selling wieners? HOT DOG BUS (from “hot dog buns”)
A hot dog is a sausage served in a split roll. The term “hot dog” dates back to the 19th-century and is thought to reflect a commonly-held opinion that the sausages used contained dog meat.

What we call a wiener in this country is known as a Vienna sausage in Germany. It was first produced by a butcher from Frankfurt who was living in Vienna, hence the name “Wiener”, which is German for “of Vienna”. Paradoxically, the same sausage is called a Frankfurter in Vienna, as it was created by someone from Frankfurt. It’s all very confusing …

20. Author among whose pen names was Theo LeSieg SEUSS
Dr. Seuss (as well as Theo LeSieg, Dr. Theophrastus Seuss and Rosetta Stone) was the pen name of Theodor Seuss Geisel. Geisel was commander of the Animation Department of the USAF during WWII. He was behind many propaganda films including one called “Our Job in Japan”. Even though the film was produced specifically as propaganda, this same movie was used after the war as a basis for the short feature “Design for Death”, a study of Japanese culture released in 1947 and winner of an Oscar for best Documentary.

23. Stutz contemporary REO
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.

The Stutz Motor Company was a manufacturer of luxury cars in Indianapolis. Stutz was noted as a producer of fast cars and luxury vehicles for the elite.

31. Racer Fabi TEO
Teo Fabi is a retired racing driving from Italy who competed on the Formula One circuit. Teo often raced against his older brother Corrado Fabi.

32. Countertenor’s range ALTO
In choral music, an alto is the second-highest voice in a four-part chorus made up of soprano, contr(alto), tenor and bass. The word “alto” describes the vocal range, that of the deepest female singing-voice, whereas the term “contralto” describes more than just the alto range, but also its quality and timbre. An adult male’s voice (not a boy’s) with the same range as an alto is called a “countertenor”.

33. Sommer of “The Money Trap” ELKE
Elke Sommer is a German-born actress who was at the height of her success on the silver screen in the sixties. Sommer won a Golden Globe as Most Promising Newcomer Actress for her role opposite Paul Newman in 1964’s “The Prize”. She also sings and has released several albums. Now Sommer focuses on painting, producing artwork that is strongly influenced by the work of Marc Chagall.

“The Money Trap” is a 1965 film starring Glenn Ford, Elke Sommer and Rita Hayworth. It’s a police drama, and somehow I’ve missed seeing this one. I’d watch this just based on the cast …

41. Ma and pa’s retirement dream? LIVING OFF THE LAD (from “living off the land”)
In our case, the dream is living off the lads. We have two of them …

49. Eschews the café EATS IN
“To eschew”, meaning “to avoid, shun” comes from the Old French word “eschiver” that means the same thing.

51. Tabloids? LIE PRINTERS (from “line printers”)
There aren’t many line printers around anymore. They printed one line at a time, hence the name.

“Tabloid” is the trademarked name (owned by Burroughs, Wellcome and Co,) for a “small tablet of medicine”, a name that goes back to 1884. The word “tabloid” had entered into general use to mean a compressed form of anything, and by the early 1900s was used in “tabloid journalism”, applied to newspapers that had short, condensed articles and stories printed on smaller sheets of paper.

57. Growing field?: Abbr. AGR
Agriculture (agr.)

58. “… bombs bursting __” IN AIR
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there
are lines from “The Star-Spangled Banner”.

The lyrics of “The Star-Spangled Banner” were written first as a poem by Francis Scott Key, inspired by the bombarding by the British of the American forces at Fort McHenry that he witnessed during the Battle of Baltimore in September 1814. The words were then set to the tune of a popular British drinking song penned by John Stafford Smith called “The Anacreontic Song”, with the Anacreontic Society being a men’s club in London.

59. Nahuatl speaker AZTEC
Nahuatl is a group of languages mainly spoken in Central Mexico.

69. 21,730-pg. references OEDS
American writer Ammon Shea read the entire Oxford English Dictionary, and wrote about his experience. His “Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages” was published in 2008.

70. Logan of CBS News LARA
Lara Logan is a South African newswoman, and is currently the Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent for CBS News. CBS placed Logan on a forced leave of absence at the end of 2013 for comments that she made about the US Government’s culpability in the Benghazi attack and for inaccuracies in her reporting of the story.

73. Mike Tirico’s network ESPN
Mike Tirico is sports announcer working for ESPN, most notably in the channel’s presentation of “Monday Night Football”.

Down
1. Scratch-resistance scale MOHS
The Mohs scale of mineral hardness was developed in 1812 by Friedrich Mohs. Basically Mohs took minerals and scratched them with other minerals. In this way he was able to determine which minerals were hardest (most scratch resistant) and which softest.

2. Natural balm 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.

3. In __: as originally placed SITU
“In situ” is a Latin phrase meaning “in the place”, and we use the term to mean “in the original position”.

4. Coal scuttles HODS
A coal scuttle, sometimes called a hod, is a container rather like a bucket that is used for carrying coal and pouring it onto the fire. Coal scuttles were important features in every home that I grew up in …

5. Texting gasp OMG
OMG is text-speak for Oh My Gosh! Oh My Goodness! or any other G words you might think of …

6. Ferber novel SO BIG
Edna Ferber was a novelist and playwright from Kalamazoo, Michigan. Ferber won a Pulitzer for her novel “So Big”, which was made into a film a few times, most famously in 1953 starring Jane Wyman.

8. Verdi adverb ASSAI
The musical term “assai” means “very”.

Giuseppe Verdi was an Italian composer mainly of operas who was active during the Romantic era. Equally as famous as Verdi’s operas, are arias from those operas such as “La donna è mobile” from “Rigoletto”, “The Drinking Song” from “La Traviata” and “The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves” from “Nabucco”.

9. Ruby anniversary FORTIETH
Some traditional gifts for wedding anniversaries are:

5th: wooden
10th: tin
15th: crystal
20th: china
25th: silver
30th: pearl
40th: ruby
50th: gold
60th: diamond

11. Big arcade name ATARI
At one point, the electronics and video game manufacturer Atari was the fastest growing company in US history. However, Atari never really recovered from the video game industry crash of 1983.

Our word “arcade” comes from the Latin “arcus” meaning “arc”. The first arcades were passages made from a series of arches. This could be an avenue of trees, and eventually any covered avenue. I remember arcades lined with shops and stores when I was growing up on the other side of the Atlantic. Arcades came to be lined with lots of amusements, resulting in amusement arcades and video game arcades.

12. Sport based on vaquero skills RODEO
“Rodeo” is a Spanish word, which is usually translated as “round up”.

“Vaquero” is the Spanish word for a “cowboy”.

18. Home of the Munch Museum OSLO
Edvard Munch was a Norwegian expressionist, most famous for his painting “The Scream”, painted in 1893. What a wonderful work that is, a true representation of expressionism. The Munch Museum in Oslo is dedicated to his work and life. In 2004, two of Munch’s paintings, “The Scream” and “Madonna”, were stolen from the Munch Museum by armed robbers who subdued the museum guards. The paintings were missing for two years, but recovered in 2006.

22. Cpl.’s subordinate PVT
In the military, a private (pvt.) is subordinate to a corporal (cpl.).

25. Heist unit ONE G
One G, one grand, one thousand dollars …

27. Carson of “The Voice” DALY
Carson Daly is a radio and television personality who is perhaps best known today as host of the reality show “The Voice”. If you stay up late enough on New Year’s Eve, you might also know him from NBC’s “New Year’s Eve with Carson Daly”.

“The Voice” is yet another reality television show. “The Voice” is a singing competition in which the judges hear the contestants without seeing them in the first round. The judges then take on chosen contestants as coaches for the remaining rounds. “The Voice” is a highly successful worldwide franchise that originated in the Netherlands.

28. Writer Wiesel ELIE
Elie Wiesel is a holocaust survivor, best known for his book “Night” that tells of his experiences in Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.

29. Rugged rides, for short ATVS
All-terrain vehicle (ATV)

34. Mauna __ LOA
Mauna Loa on the “big island” of Hawaii is the largest volcano on the planet (in terms of volume). The name “Mauna Loa” is Hawaiian for “Long Mountain”.

35. Popeyes rival KFC
The famous “Colonel” of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame was Harland Sanders, an entrepreneur from Henryville, Indiana. Although not really a “Colonel”, Sanders did indeed serve in the military. He enlisted in the Army as a private in 1906 at the age of 16, lying about his age. He spent the whole of his time in the Army as a soldier in Cuba. It was much later, in the 1930s, that Sanders went into the restaurant business making his specialty deep-fried chicken. By 1935 his reputation as a “character” had grown, so much so that Governor Ruby Laffoon of Kentucky gave Sanders the honorary title of “Kentucky Colonel”. Later in the fifties, Sanders developed his trademark look with the white suit, string tie, mustache and goatee. When Sanders was 65 however, his business failed and in stepped Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s. Thomas simplified the Sanders menu, cutting it back from over a hundred items to just fried chicken and salads. That was enough to launch KFC into the fast food business. Sanders sold the US franchise in 1964 for just $2 million and moved to Canada to grow KFC north of the border. He died in 1980 and is buried in Louisville, Kentucky. The Colonel’s secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices is indeed a trade secret. Apparently there is only one copy of the recipe, a handwritten piece of paper, written in pencil and signed by Colonel Sanders. Since 2009, the piece of paper has been locked in a computerized vault surrounded with motion detectors and security cameras.

Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen is a chain of fast food restaurants that specializes in fried chicken. The first Popeyes restaurant was opened in 1972 in a suburb of New Orleans, and was known as “Chicken on the Run”. The name of the chain was changed to Popeyes, originally a reference to Popeye Doyle, the lead character in the movie “The French Connection”. Since then, the company has purchased the right to use the cartoon character Popeye the Sailor in its marketing efforts. By the way, the correct spelling of the restaurant name is “Popeyes”. The owner claims that he was too poor to afford an apostrophe.

36. Juvenile salamander EFT
Salamanders are lizard-like amphibians found in all across the northern hemisphere. They are the only vertebrate animals that can regenerate lost limbs.

38. “__, I am not coop’d here for defence!”: “Henry VI, Part 3” ALAS
The consensus seems to be that William Shakespeare wrote 38 plays in all. Seven of the plays are about kings called “Henry”:

– Henry IV, Part 1
– Henry IV, Part 2
– Henry V
– Henry VI, Part 1
– Henry VI, Part 2
– Henry VI, Part 3
– Henry VIII

39. Colombian city CALI
In terms of population, Cali is the third largest city in Colombia (after Bogota and Medellin). Santiago de Cali (the full name for the city) lies in the western part of the country. Apparently, Cali is a destination for “medical tourists”. The city’s surgeons have a reputation for being expert in cosmetic surgery and so folks looking for a “cheap” nose job head there.

40. Early cover-up site? EDEN
In the Christian tradition, the “fall of man” took place in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve succumbed to the temptation of eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, against the bidding of God. As a result, Adam and Eve were banished from Eden to prevent them becoming immortal by eating from the tree of life. The first humans had transitioned from a state of innocent obedience to a state of guilty disobedience.

48. London can TIN
Yep, in that part of the world we drink tins of Coke and eat tins of soup, not cans …

52. “__ Kick Out of You” I GET A
“I Get a Kick Out of You” is a Cole Porter song that was written for the 1934 musical “Anything Goes”. Ethel Merman performed the song in the show, and the most famous cover version was recorded by Frank Sinatra. The lyrics caused a few problems over the years. The original has a reference to the Lindberghs, which had to be removed in response to the Lindbergh kidnapping, so:

I shouldn’t care for those nights in the air
That the fair Mrs. Lindbergh goes through

became:

Flying too high with some guy in the sky
Is my idea of nothing to do

The original also has a reference to cocaine, which had to be taken out for the 1936 movie version of the show. The first line below:

Some get a kick from cocaine
I’m sure that if
I took even one sniff
That would bore me terrif-
ically, too

became:

Some like the perfume in Spain

54. Big shot NABOB
A nabob is a person of wealth and prominence. “Nabob” derives from the title of a governor in India.

60. Jewelry entrepreneur Morris ZALE
The first Zales jewelry store was opened by Morris and William Zale and Ben Lipshy in Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1924. Zales became successful largely by offering credit to their customers, a revolutionary concept at the time.

61. “__ the night …” ‘TWAS
The poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” was published anonymously in 1823, and is better known today by its first line “‘Twas the night before Christmas”. Most scholars believe that the poem was written by Clement Clarke Moore, a theologian from New York City. Others say that it was written by Henry Livingston, Jr. a poet from Upstate New York.

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ’kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash …

62. Tombstone lawman EARP
Wyatt Earp is famous as one of the participants in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Earp was a city policeman in Wichita, Kansas and also in Dodge City, Kansas. Earp was also deputy sheriff in Tombstone, Arizona where the O.K. Corral gunfight took place. Years later, Earp joined the Alaska Gold Rush and with a partner built and operated the Dexter Saloon in Nome.

63. Primary printing color CYAN
“Cyan” is short for “cyan blue”. The term comes from the Greek word “kyanos” meaning “dark blue, the color of lapis lazuli”.

Four-color printing uses four different color inks: cyan, magenta, yellow and black. The black ink is also known as the “key”. The first letters of the colors (with black being”key”) give the more common name for four-color printing, namely CMYK.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Bangers side MASH
5. DOL division OSHA
9. Concerns FEARS
14. Potpourri OLIO
15. Stock answers? MOOS
16. First ON TOP
17. Transport selling wieners? HOT DOG BUS (from “hot dog buns”)
19. Willing READY
20. Author among whose pen names was Theo LeSieg SEUSS
21. Not suitable INAPT
23. Stutz contemporary REO
24. Woodsman’s job? LOG DIVISION (from “long division”)
27. Church official DEACON
31. Racer Fabi TEO
32. Countertenor’s range ALTO
33. Sommer of “The Money Trap” ELKE
37. Outline TRACE
41. Ma and pa’s retirement dream? LIVING OFF THE LAD (from “living off the land”)
44. __ question YES/NO
45. Broadway opening ACT I
46. Buyer’s boon SALE
47. Repeatedly, quaintly OFT
49. Eschews the café EATS IN
51. Tabloids? LIE PRINTERS (from “line printers”)
57. Growing field?: Abbr. AGR
58. “… bombs bursting __” IN AIR
59. Nahuatl speaker AZTEC
64. Danger PERIL
66. Totally amazed … or, read another way, a hint to 17-, 24-, 41- and 51-Across BLOWN AWAY (or “blow N away”)
68. Round perch STOOL
69. 21,730-pg. references OEDS
70. Logan of CBS News LARA
71. Pulls in EARNS
72. Pub order BREW
73. Mike Tirico’s network ESPN

Down
1. Scratch-resistance scale MOHS
2. Natural balm ALOE
3. In __: as originally placed SITU
4. Coal scuttles HODS
5. Texting gasp OMG
6. Ferber novel SO BIG
7. Harass HOUND
8. Verdi adverb ASSAI
9. Ruby anniversary FORTIETH
10. Opposite of 67-Down ENE
11. Big arcade name ATARI
12. Sport based on vaquero skills RODEO
13. Keep under surveillance SPY ON
18. Home of the Munch Museum OSLO
22. Cpl.’s subordinate PVT
25. Heist unit ONE G
26. Most likely to groan SOREST
27. Carson of “The Voice” DALY
28. Writer Wiesel ELIE
29. Rugged rides, for short ATVS
30. Needing quarters, perhaps COIN-OP
34. Mauna __ LOA
35. Popeyes rival KFC
36. Juvenile salamander EFT
38. “__, I am not coop’d here for defence!”: “Henry VI, Part 3” ALAS
39. Colombian city CALI
40. Early cover-up site? EDEN
42. Basic NO-FRILLS
43. Bowl level TIER
48. London can TIN
50. Slippery-eel link AS AN
51. Backslide LAPSE
52. “__ Kick Out of You” I GET A
53. Flub ERROR
54. Big shot NABOB
55. Floor worker TILER
56. Undermine ERODE
60. Jewelry entrepreneur Morris ZALE
61. “__ the night …” ‘TWAS
62. Tombstone lawman EARP
63. Primary printing color CYAN
65. It’s always charged ION
67. Opposite of 10-Down WSW

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