Day: July 18, 2014

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. 1980s Vicki Lawrence TV role MAMA
“Mama’s Family” is a sitcom that first ran from 1983 to 1984, and is a spin-off show from “The Family” series of sketches on “The Carol Burnett Show” and “Carol & Company”. Star of “Mama’s Family” is Vicki Lawrence playing Thelma Harper (aka “Mama”).

5. Baylor University site WACO
Remember Ken Starr of Whitewater fame? Starr is now President of Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

9. Cul-__ DE SAC
Even though “cul-de-sac” can indeed mean “bottom of the bag” in French, the term cul-de-sac is of English origin (the use of “cul” in French is actually quite rude). The term was introduced in aristocratic circles at a time when it was considered very fashionable to speak French. Dead-end streets in France are usually signposted with just a symbol and no accompanying words, but if words are included they are “voie sans issue”, meaning “way without exit”.

14. Org. created in Baghdad in 1960 OPEC
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was founded in 1960 at a conference held in Baghdad, Iraq that was attended by Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Nine more countries joined the alliance soon after, and OPEC set up headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland and then Vienna, Austria in 1965. The basic aim of OPEC was to wrench control of oil prices from the oil companies and to put it in the hands of the sovereign states that own the natural resource.

15. Emperor after Galba OTHO
AD 69 was a year of civil war in ancient Rome. The unrest started with the death of emperor Nero in AD 68, after which followed the brief rule of Galba, of Otho, of Vitellius, and of Vespasian all in the same year. As a result, AD 69 became known as the Year of the Four Emperors.

17. Imp who annoys the webmaster? SITE DEVIL (from “She-Devil”)
“She-Devil” is a 1989 comedy film starring Meryl Streep, Ed Begley, Jr. and Roseanne Barr. The film is an adaptation of the 1983 novel “The Life and Loves of a She-Devil” by Fay Weldon. I don’t recommend this film, but do recommend the BBC television miniseries that was released in 1986 using the same title as the novel.

19. Person of influence MOGUL
A “mogul” is a person with power. The term comes from the Mughal emperors of India and South Asia.

20. Steel plow pioneer DEERE
John Deere invented the first commercially successful steel plow in 1837. Prior to Deere’s invention, farmers used an iron or wooden plow that constantly had to be cleaned as rich soil stuck to its surfaces. The cast-steel plow was revolutionary as its smooth sides solved the problem of “stickiness”.

21. Amy Adams’ “Man of Steel” role LOIS LANE
Amy Adams is an American actress. although she was actually born in Vicenza, Italy while her father was a US serviceman stationed on an Italian base. My favorite Amy Adams film so far is the outstanding “Julie & Julia” in which she acted alongside Meryl Streep. I highly recommend this truly delightful movie.

“Man of Steel” is a 2013 reboot of the “Superman” series of films, starring Henry Cavill in the title role and Amy Adams as Lois Lane.

23. “Baudolino” author ECO
Umberto Eco is an Italian writer, probably best known for his novel “The Name of the Rose” published in 1980. In 1986, “The Name of the Rose” was adapted into a movie with the same title starring Sean Connery.

“Baudolino” is a more recent novel by Eco, published in 2000.

27. Mondale’s running mate FERRARO
Geraldine Ferraro came to national attention in 1984 when she became the first woman chosen by a major political party as candidate for Vice President. Democrats Ferraro and Walter Mondale were defeated in a landslide by the incumbent Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.

Walter Mondale served as US Vice president under President Jimmy Carter. Mondale was also the Democratic candidate who lost to President Ronald Reagan in 1984, losing in the biggest landslide in the country’s history. Mondale only won electoral votes in his home state of Minnesota and in the District of Columbia.

29. Cheesecake ingredient? GAM
The American slang term “gams” is used for a woman’s legs. The term goes back to the 18th century “gamb” meaning the leg of an animal on a coat of arms.

It’s not really clear how the “cheesecake” came to be used for a provocative picture of a woman. It is known that the term arose in the 1930s, and originally applied to to the covers of “pulp” magazines that used the images of the attractive young females to attract a largely male audience. One theory is that during the depression years, the luscious cheesecake dessert was unattainable, as were the “luscious” models depicted on the magazine covers.

34. Quote from “Guerrilla Warfare”? CITE GUEVARA (from “Che Guevara”)
Ernesto “Che” Guevara was born in Argentina, and in 1948 he started to study medicine at the University of Buenos Aires. While at school he satisfied his need to “see the world” by taking two long journeys around South America, the story of which are told in Guevara’s memoir later published as “The Motorcycle Diaries”. While travelling, Guevara was moved by the plight of the people he saw and their working conditions and what he viewed as capitalistic exploitation. In Mexico City he met brothers Raul and Fidel Castro and was persuaded to join their cause, the overthrow of the US-backed government in Cuba. He rose to second-in-command among the Cuban insurgents, and when Castro came to power Guevara was influential in repelling the Bay of Pigs Invasion and bringing Soviet nuclear missiles to the island. Guevara left Cuba in 1965 to continue his work as a revolutionary. He was captured by Bolivian forces in 1967, and was executed. Fidel Castro led the public mourning of Guevara’s death, and soon the revolutionary was an icon for many left-wing movements around the world.

“Guerrilla Warfare” is a 1961 book penned by revolutionary Che Guevara. Guevara wrote it as a manual on guerrilla warfare, having just participated in the successful Cuban Revolution alongside Fidel Castro.

40. “On the Record” host Van Susteren GRETA
I remember watching Greta Van Susteren as a legal commentator on CNN during the celebrated O. J. Simpson murder trial. she parlayed those appearances into a permanent slot as co-host of CNN’s “Burden of Proof”, before moving onto her current gig as host of her own show on the Fox News Channel called “On the Record”.

41. Mozart’s “L’__ del Cairo” OCA
“L’oca del Cairo” is an unfinished opera by Mozart, one that he started but apparently gave up on as he didn’t like the farcical ending in the libretto with which he was working. With the title translating as “The Goose of Cairo”, the opera tells of a Spanish Marquess who manages to meet up with his imprisoned beloved by smuggling himself inside a large mechanical goose. Sort of a Trojan Horse with feathers …

45. Oliver Twist, e.g. ADOPTEE
“Oliver Twist” is a novel by Charles Dickens. It is a popular tale for adaptation to the big screen. There were two silent film versions, in 1909 and 1922, and the first talkie version was released in 1933, with many to follow. The latest “Oliver” for the big screen was a 2005 Roman Polanski production.

49. Improved Gemini missile? BETTER TITAN (from “better than”)
Titan was a family of rockets first introduced in 1959. Titan rockets were used to launch the first Americans into space in the Gemini Program in the mid-sixties, and were also part of the American ICBM missile deterrent until the eighties.

President Kennedy famously launched the Apollo space program in 1961. The Mercury program was the project that put Americans into space, and NASA decided that more development work was need to bridge the gap in capabilities needed between what was known from Mercury, and what was need to land a man on the moon, the objective of the Apollo program. So, the Gemini program was born, in which astronauts learned to spend extended periods in orbit, rendezvous and dock spacecraft, walk in space, and improve the re-entry and landing stages of a space flight.

53. Ancient Po Valley dweller ETRUSCAN
Etruria was a region in Central Italy, home to the Etruscans. Etruscan society was at its height about 650 BC.

The Po is the longest river in Italy and runs almost due east across the north of the country, passing through the city of Turin along the way.

54. Classics, e.g. IPODS
The iPod is Apple’s signature line of portable media players. It first hit the market in 2001, with a hard drive-based device that is now known as the iPod Classic. Later models all use flash memory, allowing a smaller form factor.

60. CD alternative T-NOTE
A Treasury note (T-Note) is a government debt that matures in 1-10 years. A T-Note has a coupon (interest) payment made every six months. The T-note is purchased at a discount to face value, and at the date of maturity can be redeemed at that face value. A T-Bill is a similar financial vehicle, but it matures in one year or less, and a T-Bond matures in 20-30 years.

A certificate of deposit (CD) is like a less-flexible and higher-paying savings account. Instead of depositing money into a savings account and earning interest periodically, one can open a CD. With a CD one deposits a minimum amount of money but must leave it there for a specified length of time. In return for committing the funds for a fixed period, one is given a higher interest rate than a savings account and can redeem that interest and the initial deposit when the term has expired. CDs are relatively low-risk investments as they are FDIC insured, just like savings accounts.

61. Fleming and McKellen IANS
Ian Fleming is most famous of course for writing the “James Bond” series of spy novels. You might also know that he wrote the children’s story “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”, which was made into a cute movie released in 1968 and even a stage musical that opened in 2002.

Sir Ian McKellen is a marvelous English actor, someone who is comfortable playing anything from Macbeth on stage to Magneto in an “X-Men” movie. On the big screen, McKellen is very famous for playing Gandalf in “The Lord of Rings”. In the UK Sir Ian is noted for being at the forefront of the campaign for equal rights for gay people, a role he has enthusiastically embraced since the eighties.

62. Hawk’s foe DOVE
The dove is a symbol of peace, and a hawk is a symbol of war.

63. Certain car carriers SEMIS
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.

64. Span. miss SRTA
Señorita (Srta.) is Spanish and mademoiselle (Mlle.) is French for “Miss”.

Down
1. Rapper Yasiin Bey, formerly MOS DEF
Mos Def was the stage name of actor and rapper Dante Terrell Smith-Bay, until in 2012 he decided to adopt the new stage name Yasiin Bey. Bey is one of the few rap stars who is really making a name for himself in the world of movies. He received critical acclaim for roles in 2003’s “The Italian Job” , 2005’s “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, and a featured role in an episode of television’s “House”.

3. Astronomer’s sighting METEOR
A shooting star (aka “meteor”) is what we call the visible path of a meteoroid as is it enters the earth’s atmosphere. Almost all meteoroids burn up, but if one is large enough to survive and reach the ground, we call it a meteorite. The word “meteor” comes from the Greek “meteōros” meaning “high in the air”.

4. Aspire maker ACER
I owned several Acer laptops, which are for my money the most reliable machine at the best price. Acer is a Taiwanese company that I used to visit a lot when I was in the electronics business. I was very impressed with the company’s dedication to quality, and haven’t been let down since.

6. Beach transp. ATV
All-terrain vehicle (ATV)

8. Chinese tea OOLONG
The name for the Chinese tea called “oolong” translates into English as “black dragon”.

9. Chinese dish served on small plates DIM SUM
Dim sum is a Chinese cuisine made up of small portions of various dishes. The tradition of serving dim sum is associated with the serving of tea, when small delicacies were offered to travelers and guests along with tea as a refreshment. The name “dim sum” translates as “touch the heart” implying that dim sum is not a main meal, just a snack “that touches the heart”.

10. __ Gay ENOLA
The Enola Gay was the B-29 that dropped the first atomic bomb, on Hiroshima in August 1945. Enola Gay was the name of the mother of pilot Col. Paul W. Tibbets, Jr.

11. Edible pod SUGAR PEA
Snap peas are also known as sugar peas. Snap peas are eaten before the seeds mature, and the whole pod is consumed.

13. Pizza-For-One maker CELESTE
Celeste frozen pizza was named after a real life Celeste, Celeste Lizio who came from Italy and who lived in Chicago starting in the 1930s. Celeste and her husband closed their restaurant in Chicago and turned to the sale of pizzas.

18. Make potable, as seawater DESALT
Something that is “potable” is fit to drink. The term derives from the Latin verb “potare” meaning “to drink”, which is also the root for our word “potion”.

22. Supermarket letters IGA
IGA stands for Independent Grocers Alliance, a chain of supermarkets that extends right around the world. IGA’s headquarters is in Chicago.

25. Requiem Mass hymn word IRAE
“Dies Irae” is Latin for “Day of Wrath”. It is the name of a famous melody in Gregorian Chant, one that is often used as part of the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass.

26. Half a patio pair TONG
A pair of tongs is a tool with a scissor-like hinge used to pick up things, like meat cooking on a barbecue grill.

34. Place to practice netiquette CHATROOM
“Netiquette” is the term used for “Internet etiquette”, the set of social conventions that govern online interactions.

35. Latin 101 word ERAT
“Esse” is the Latin for “to be”. “Sum” means “I am” and “erat” means “he, she was”.

36. Sacred Hindu text VEDA
The Vedas make up a body of ancient Indian texts, the oldest Hindu scriptures. The word “véda” is Sanskrit, and means “knowledge, wisdom”.

37. Not accented, as syllables ATONIC
In linguistics, an atonic syllable is one that is not stressed.

38. 1955 Fonda role ROBERTS
“Mister Roberts” is a comedy drama from 1955 that stars Henry Fonda in the title role. It’s a light and entertaining WWII movie about a cargo officer who is itching to see action before the war ends, but is thwarted by the reluctance of his captain. All the “action” takes place aboard the navy re-supply ship USS Reluctant.

Actor Henry Fonda had already started his Hollywood career when along came WWII. Fonda enlisted in the Navy, and served for three years on the destroyer USS Satterlee. Then he served as a Lieutenant Junior Grade in Air Combat Intelligence in the Pacific, earning the Bronze Star.

39. Polish remover ingredient ACETONE
Acetone is the active ingredient in nail polish remover and in paint thinner.

43. Hyperbola part ARC
A hyperbola is a curve in a plane, a curve with two parts that are mirror images of each other.

46. One of Goldilocks’ complaints TOO HOT
The story of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” was first recorded in 1837, in England, although the narrative was around before it was actually written down. The original fairy tale was rather gruesome, but successive versions became more family-oriented. The character that eventually became Goldilocks was originally an elderly woman, and the three “nameless” bears became Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear.

47. Vitamin K source ENDIVE
Vitamin K is actually a group of vitamins that are essential to the process of blood coagulation. A form of vitamin K is also involved in photosynthesis in plants, so green leafy vegetables are the best source of the vitamin for humans.

50. __-frutti TUTTI
The adjective “tutti-frutti” describes a prepared confection that has a combination of fruit flavors. “Tutti frutti” is Italian for “all fruits”.

51. “__, truth is the first casualty”: Aeschylus IN WAR
The famous quotation “The first casualty of war is truth”, seems to be a tad self-referential in that the quotation is variously attributed without anyone seeming to be able to cite the original source. The version “The first casualty of when war comes is truth” is attributed to US politician Hiram Warren Johnson, in a speech to the US Senate as the chamber debated a decision to enter WWI. But, the line can’t be found in the Senate records. The version “In war, truth is the first casualty” is usually attributed to the ancient Greek tragedian Aeschylus, but in this case the line can’t be found in any of the playwright’s works.

55. Third degrees? PHDS
PhD is an abbreviation for “philosophiae doctor”, Latin for “teacher of philosophy”.

58. Bank acct. entry INT
One might have interest (int.) posted to one’s bank account (acct.).

59. PC-checking org., at times TSA
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was created in 2001, soon after the 9/11 attacks. It is a TSA agent who carries out the security screening on passengers boarding a plane.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. 1980s Vicki Lawrence TV role MAMA
5. Baylor University site WACO
9. Cul-__ DE SAC
14. Org. created in Baghdad in 1960 OPEC
15. Emperor after Galba OTHO
16. Taken IN USE
17. Imp who annoys the webmaster? SITE DEVIL (from “She-Devil”)
19. Person of influence MOGUL
20. Steel plow pioneer DEERE
21. Amy Adams’ “Man of Steel” role LOIS LANE
23. “Baudolino” author ECO
24. Security group at a protest? SIT-IN GUARDS (from “shin guards”)
27. Mondale’s running mate FERRARO
29. Cheesecake ingredient? GAM
30. Fondle PET
31. Tasteless BLAND
33. “Where __ you?” WERE
34. Quote from “Guerrilla Warfare”? CITE GUEVARA (from “Che Guevara”)
38. Cheers RAHS
40. “On the Record” host Van Susteren GRETA
41. Mozart’s “L’__ del Cairo” OCA
42. Humanities degs. MAS
45. Oliver Twist, e.g. ADOPTEE
49. Improved Gemini missile? BETTER TITAN (from “better than”)
52. __ mission ON A
53. Ancient Po Valley dweller ETRUSCAN
54. Classics, e.g. IPODS
56. Underground network ROOTS
57. Swing both ways, and a literal hint to how four puzzle answers were created SWITCH HIT (or “SWITCH H-IT”)
60. CD alternative T-NOTE
61. Fleming and McKellen IANS
62. Hawk’s foe DOVE
63. Certain car carriers SEMIS
64. Span. miss SRTA
65. Hip follower? -STER

Down
1. Rapper Yasiin Bey, formerly MOS DEF
2. Pricing word APIECE
3. Astronomer’s sighting METEOR
4. Aspire maker ACER
5. Distress WOE
6. Beach transp. ATV
7. It may be seen on a dog CHILI
8. Chinese tea OOLONG
9. Chinese dish served on small plates DIM SUM
10. __ Gay ENOLA
11. Edible pod SUGAR PEA
12. In bits and pieces ASUNDER
13. Pizza-For-One maker CELESTE
18. Make potable, as seawater DESALT
22. Supermarket letters IGA
25. Requiem Mass hymn word IRAE
26. Half a patio pair TONG
28. MLB stats RBIS
32. Grooved on DUG
33. Trendy sandwich WRAP
34. Place to practice netiquette CHATROOM
35. Latin 101 word ERAT
36. Sacred Hindu text VEDA
37. Not accented, as syllables ATONIC
38. 1955 Fonda role ROBERTS
39. Polish remover ingredient ACETONE
42. Diddles (around) MESSES
43. Hyperbola part ARC
44. Equilibrium STASIS
46. One of Goldilocks’ complaints TOO HOT
47. Vitamin K source ENDIVE
48. __ egg EASTER
50. __-frutti TUTTI
51. “__, truth is the first casualty”: Aeschylus IN WAR
55. Third degrees? PHDS
58. Bank acct. entry INT
59. PC-checking org., at times TSA

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