Day: October 6, 2014

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
14. Traditional Pennsylvania barn raisers AMISH
The Amish are a group of Christian churches, a sub-group of the Mennonite churches. The Amish church originated in Switzerland and Alsace in 1693 when it was founded by Jakob Ammann. It was Ammann who gave the name to the Amish people. Many Amish people came to Pennsylvania in the 18th century.

15. Tide type NEAP
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.

17. Letter-routing number POSTAL CODE (giving “post”)
ZIP codes were introduced in 1963. The acronym ZIP stands for Zone Improvement Plan, a name indicating that mail travels more efficiently when the codes are included in the postal address.

20. Poker hand prize POT
The “pot” in a card game has been referred to as the kitty since the 1880s. It’s not certain how the name “kitty” evolved but possibly it came from “kit”, the necessary equipment for the game.

21. Thai language LAO
The Lao people are an ethnic group found mainly in Laos, but who also have a significant presence in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

22. Baker that “nobody doesn’t like” SARA LEE
In 1935, businessman Charles Lubin bought a chain of three bakeries in Chicago called Community Bake Shops, and soon expanded the operation into seven stores. Lubin introduced a cream cheesecake that he named after his daughter who was only 8-years-old at the time, Sara Lee Lubin. The cheesecake was a hit and he renamed the bakeries to Kitchen of Sara Lee. The business was bought out by Consolidated foods in 1956, but the brand name Sara Lee persists to this day, as does Ms. Sara Lee herself who now goes by the name Sara Lee Schupf.

24. __ cum laude SUMMA
When an academic degree is awarded, a level of distinction can be noted depending on the degree of success achieved by the student. There are three types of honor, each with a Latin name:

– cum laude: meaning “with honor” (literally “with praise”)
– magna cum laude: meaning “with great honor”
– summa cum laude: meaning “with highest honor”

27. Can in an Andy Warhol painting CAMPBELL’S SOUP (giving “camp”)
Andy Warhol went through a period of painting iconic American products, including Coca-Cola bottles and Campbell’s tomato soup cans. In 1964 he participated in a gallery show called “The American Supermarket”. Along with other pop artists he contributed works including a painting of a can of Campbell’s tomato soup. He priced the painting at $1,500, and sold autographed cans of soup for $6 a piece.

32. __ New Guinea PAPUA
New Guinea is an island in the southwest Pacific Ocean. It is the second largest island in the world (after Greenland). The western half of the the island is ruled by Indonesia, and is made up of the provinces of Papua and West Papua. The eastern half of the island forms the mainland of the independent country called Papua New Guinea.

33. Hairy Addams cousin ITT
In the television sitcom “The Addams Family”, the family had a frequent visitor called Cousin Itt. Itt is a short man with long hair that runs from his head to the floor. Cousin Itt was played by Italian actor Felix Silla.

34. Norwegian capital OSLO
Oslo is the capital of Norway. The city of Oslo burns trash to fuel half of its buildings, including all of its schools. The problem faced by the city is that it doesn’t generate enough trash. So, Oslo imports trash from Sweden, England and Ireland, and is now looking to import some American trash too.

37. Hat for a Western hero STETSON
Stetson is a brand name of hat, manufactured by the John B. Stetson Company of St. Joseph, Missouri. The so called “cowboy hat” that Stetson pioneered was such a success that the company became the largest hat maker in the world, producing over 3.3 million hats per year.

41. Former Mideast alliance: Abbr. UAR
The United Arab Republic (UAR) was a union between Egypt and Syria made in 1958 and dissolved in 1961 when Syria pulled out of the arrangement.

42. Emily Dickinson, e.g. POET
On a roadtrip around the country a few years ago, my wife and I had a very disappointing stop in Amherst, Massachusetts intending to visit the old home of Emily Dickinson. We hadn’t done our homework and failed to note that the home was only open for tours on certain days of the week, and not the day we were there (so be warned!). Emily Dickinson wrote nearly 1800 poems in her lifetime, with less than a dozen published before she died in 1886. Emily’s younger sister discovered the enormous collection, and it was published in batches over the coming decades.

47. World Series setting BASEBALL FIELD (giving “base”)
The first World Series of baseball in the so-called “modern” era was played in 1903, between the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League and the Boston Americans (now the Red Sox) of the American League. Boston emerged victorious by five games to three.

51. “2001” computer HAL
In Arthur C. Clarke’s “Space Odyssey” (famously adapted for the big screen as “2001: A Space Odyssey”) the computer system that went rogue was called HAL 9000, or simply “HAL”. HAL stands for Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer.

52. Mars neighbor EARTH
The surface of the planet Mars has a very high iron oxide content, so Mars is red because it is rusty!

58. Chicken __ king A LA
A dish prepared “a la king” (usually chicken or turkey), is food prepared in a cream sauce, with mushrooms, pimentos, green peppers and sherry.

62. California Gold Rush figure FORTY-NINER (giving “fort”)
The California gold rush actually started in 1848, and not 1849. The first to exploit the find were those people already in California. By 1849 the word had spread and gold-seekers started to arrive from all over the world. The “out-of-towners” who arrived in 1849 became known as “forty-niners”.

68. Heavy drinkers SOTS
Our word “sot” comes from the Old English “sott”, meaning a fool. The word “sot” started to be associated with alcohol and not just foolery in the late 1500s.

70. Yellowish-brown TAWNY
Something described as “tawny” is yellow-brown or tan in color. The term comes from the Anglo-French “tauné” meaning “the color of tanned leather”.

Down
1. Dogpatch creator Al CAPP
The cartoonist Al Capp set his classic comic strip “Li’l Abner” in the fictional community of “Dogpatch”. According to one of the “Li’l Abner” strips, Dogpatch was located somewhere in the state of Kentucky.

2. Melville novel OMOO
Herman Melville mined his own experiences when writing his novels. Melville sailed from New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1841 on a whaler heading into the Pacific Ocean (a source for “Moby Dick”). Melville ended up deserting his ship 18 months later and lived with natives on a South Pacific Island for three weeks (a source for “Typee”). He picked up another whaler and headed for Hawaii, where he joined the crew of a US navy frigate that was bound for Boston (a source for “Omoo”).

4. Suffix with Marx -IST
Karl Marx was a German philosopher and revolutionary who helped develop the principles of modern communism and socialism. Marx argued that feudal society created internal strife due to class inequalities which led to its destruction and replacement by capitalism. He further argued that the inequalities created in a capitalist society create tensions that will also lead to its self-destruction. His thesis was that the inevitable replacement of capitalism was a classless (and stateless) society, which he called pure communism.

5. Fried Taco Bell offerings CHALUPAS
A chalupa is a Mexican dish consisting of a tostada shaped into a “cup” and filled with various ingredients. “Chalupa” translates from Mexican Spanish as “small boat”.

Taco Bell was founded by a former US Marine, 25-year-old Glen Bell. His first restaurant was Bell’s Drive-In, located in Southern California. After opening that first establishment, Bell bought up some more restaurants including four named El Taco. He sold off the El Taco restaurants but used the name in part when he opened his first Taco Bell in 1962. Bell sold then sold franchises, with the 100th Taco Bell opening in 1967. The ex-Marine sold off the whole chain to PepsiCo in 1978, and I am guessing he made a pretty penny.

7. MGM mascot LEO
There has been a lion in the logo of the MGM studio since 1924. The original was an Irishman (!), a lion named Slats who was born in Dublin Zoo in 1919. However, it wasn’t until Jackie took over from Slats in 1928 that the roar was heard, as the era of silent movies was coming to an end. The current lion is called Leo, and he has been around since 1957.

10. Nearsighted toon MR MAGOO
Mr. Quincy Magoo is a wonderful cartoon character voiced by Jim Backus. Backus is probably equally well-known for playing Mr. Magoo as well as Thurston Howell, III on “Gilligan’s Island”. Mr. Magoo first appeared on the screen in a short called “The Ragtime Bear” in 1949. His persona was at least in part based on the antics of W. C. Fields. Backus originally used a fake rubber nose that pinched his nostrils in order to create the distinctive voice, although in time he learned to do the voice without the prop. My absolute favorite appearance by Mr. Magoo is in “Mr Magoo’s Christmas Carol”, a true classic from the sixties. There was a movie adaptation of “Mr Magoo” released in 1997, with Leslie Nielsen playing the title role.

11. “The Mammoth Hunters” author Jean AUEL
As Jean Auel prepared her first book in the “Earth’s Children” series, she did a lot of research about the Ice Age, the setting for her stories. She went as far as taking a survival course in cold conditions, learning to build an ice cave and how to make fire, tan leather and knap stone.

13. Fake on the ice DEKE
A deke, also known as a dangle, is a technique used to get past an opponent in ice hockey. “Deke” is a colloquial shortening of the word “decoy”.

24. Church-owned Texas sch. SMU
Southern Methodist University (SMU) is located in University Park, Texas (part of Dallas), and was founded in 1911. SMU is home to the George W. Bush Presidential Library.

27. Chocolate substitute CAROB
The carob is a tree or shrub in the pea family, mainly grown for its seed pods. The carob seeds are dried or roasted, and when powdered or chipped make a good substitute for chocolate.

28. Sleep disorder APNEA
Sleep apnea (“apnoea” in British English) can be caused by an obstruction in the airways, possibly due to obesity or enlarged tonsils.

29. Ranks for Columbo and Kojak: Abbr. LTS
“Columbo” is a police drama that aired from 1971-78, with some more episodes made as recently as 2003. Columbo was of course played by Peter Falk, although the character of Columbo was first played by Bert Freed in 1960 in an episode of “The Chevy Mystery Show”. That first appearance was so successful that the episode was adapted for the stage in 1962, with Thomas Mitchell taking on the role. Then the same episode was stretched into a TV movie in 1968, with Peter Falk playing Lt. Columbo for the first time.

“Kojak” is a fun police drama that had an original run on TV from 1973 to 1978. The title character was NYPD Detective Lieutenant Theo Kojak, played by Telly Savalas. Famously, Kojak sucks away on lollipops as he tries to quit cigarettes. Kojak is assisted in his cases by Sergeant “Fatso” Stavros, a character played by George Savalas, Telly’s younger brother.

31. Tartan pattern PLAID
Tartan is sometimes called “plaid” over here in the US, a word not used in the same sense outside of this country. In Scotland a “plaid” is a blanket or a tartan cloth slung over the shoulder.

32. Coyote’s offspring PUP
The coyote is a canine found in most of Central and North America. The name “coyote” is Mexican Spanish, in which language it means “trickster”. Coyotes can sometimes mate with domestic dogs, creating hybrid animals known as “coydogs”. Coyotes can also mate with wolves, creating a “coywolf”.

35. Hockey legend Bobby ORR
Bobby Orr is regarded as one of the greatest hockey players of all time. By the time he retired in 1978 he had undergone over a dozen knee surgeries. At 31 years of age, he concluded that he just couldn’t skate anymore. Reportedly, he was even having trouble walking …

39. Mesozoic or Paleozoic ERA
The Mesozoic Era is also known as the Age of the Dinosaurs, as most dinosaurs developed during that time and the Era ended with the extinction of all dinosaur species (except the avian species, which developed into our modern birds). The Mesozoic Era started with another cataclysmic event, the so called “Great Dying”, the largest mass extinction in the history of our planet. During the “Great Dying” over 90% of all marine species and 70% of all terrestrial vertebrate species died off.

The Paleozoic Era (with “Paleozoic” meaning “ancient life”) was a geologic era from roughly 542 to 251 million years ago. Notably in the Paleozoic Era, fish populations thrived and vast forests of primitive plants covered the land. Those forests were the source material for the coal which we dig out of the ground now in Europe and the eastern parts of North America. At end of the Paleozoic Era was the largest mass extinction in the history of the Earth, killing off 96% of all marine species, and 70% of all terrestrial vertebrates. Causes of the extinction have been suggested, with one hypothesis being gradually accelerating climate change (scary!).

46. Old Testament book before Esth. NEH
In the Hebrew Bible, the Book of Ezra was originally combined with the Book of Nehemiah, with the two being separated in the early days of the Christian Era.

63. Old vitamin bottle no. RDA
Recommended Daily Allowances (RDAs) were introduced during WWII and are a set of recommendations for the standard daily allowances of specific nutrients. RDAs were effectively absorbed into a broader set of dietary guidelines in 1997 called Recommended Daily Intakes (RDIs). RDIs are used to determine the Daily Values (DV) of foods that are printed on nutrition fact labels on most food that we purchase.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Club joke teller COMIC
6. Misfortunes ILLS
10. Motel worker MAID
14. Traditional Pennsylvania barn raisers AMISH
15. Tide type NEAP
16. Ploy RUSE
17. Letter-routing number POSTAL CODE (giving “post”)
19. Overly submissive MEEK
20. Poker hand prize POT
21. Thai language LAO
22. Baker that “nobody doesn’t like” SARA LEE
24. __ cum laude SUMMA
26. Beer barrel KEG
27. Can in an Andy Warhol painting CAMPBELL’S SOUP (giving “camp”)
32. __ New Guinea PAPUA
33. Hairy Addams cousin ITT
34. Norwegian capital OSLO
36. Fancy flower vase URN
37. Hat for a Western hero STETSON
41. Former Mideast alliance: Abbr. UAR
42. Emily Dickinson, e.g. POET
44. Apt name for a painter ART
45. How the elated walk ON AIR
47. World Series setting BASEBALL FIELD (giving “base”)
51. “2001” computer HAL
52. Mars neighbor EARTH
53. Traveled around 52-Across, say ORBITED
57. Mates for mas PAS
58. Chicken __ king A LA
61. Fight-or-flight emotion FEAR
62. California Gold Rush figure FORTY-NINER (giving “fort”)
65. Fly like a butterfly FLIT
66. Reverse UNDO
67. Early morning hr. ONE AM
68. Heavy drinkers SOTS
69. Jump LEAP
70. Yellowish-brown TAWNY

Down
1. Dogpatch creator Al CAPP
2. Melville novel OMOO
3. Light fog MIST
4. Suffix with Marx -IST
5. Fried Taco Bell offerings CHALUPAS
6. It may be gross or net INCOME
7. MGM mascot LEO
8. Boys LADS
9. Has a talk with SPEAKS TO
10. Nearsighted toon MR MAGOO
11. “The Mammoth Hunters” author Jean AUEL
12. “Got it” I SEE
13. Fake on the ice DEKE
18. Ram’s offspring LAMB
23. Hi-__ monitor RES
24. Church-owned Texas sch. SMU
25. Not very much A LITTLE
27. Chocolate substitute CAROB
28. Sleep disorder APNEA
29. Ranks for Columbo and Kojak: Abbr. LTS
30. Customary USUAL
31. Tartan pattern PLAID
32. Coyote’s offspring PUP
35. Hockey legend Bobby ORR
38. Enough food for a feast TABLEFUL
39. Mesozoic or Paleozoic ERA
40. “That’s a fact” rebuttal NO, IT’S NOT
43. Saloon souvenirs T-SHIRTS
46. Old Testament book before Esth. NEH
48. Break bread EAT
49. Computer on an airplane tray table LAPTOP
50. Unravel at the edge, as threads FRAY
53. Switch positions OFFS
54. Move, in real estate lingo RELO
55. Switch partner BAIT
56. Fully cooked DONE
58. All over again ANEW
59. Low in fat LEAN
60. Soldier’s group, a member of which might be stationed at the start of 17-, 27-, 47- or 62-Across ARMY
63. Old vitamin bottle no. RDA
64. Once __ while IN A

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