Day: February 13, 2015

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
7. Pat Nixon’s real first name THELMA
Pat Nixon was the First Lady of the US from 1969 to 1974. Nixon was born in Ely, Nevada and named Thelma Catherine Ryan. The future First Lady’s Irish father gave her the nickname “Pat” because she was born on March 16th, the day before St. Patrick’s Day.

13. Classic sci-fi play RUR
Karel Čapek was a Czech writer noted for his works of science fiction. Čapek’s 1920 play “R.U.R.” is remembered in part for introducing the world to the word “robot”. The words “automaton” and “android” were already in use, but Capek gave us “robot” from the original Czech “robota” meaning “forced labor”. The acronym “R.U.R.”, in the context of the play, stands for “Rossum’s Universal Robots”.

14. Tres equivalent DREI
The German for “one, two, three” is “eins, zwei, drei”.

Uno, dos, tres … (one, two, three in Spanish).

15. Clinton’s birth name RODHAM
Hillary Rodham was born in Chicago, Illinois to Hugh Rodham (a businessman in the textile industry) and Dorothy Howell (a homemaker). Hillary was raised in a conservative home, and she campaigned for Republican candidate Barry Goldwater in the 1964 US presidential election. The following year, she served as president of the Young Republicans at Wellesley College. Our former First Lady left the Republican Party expressing disappointment at what she witnessed at the 1968 Republican National Convention in Miami, citing “veiled” racist messages prevalent at that time.

16. Bush spokesman Fleischer ARI
Ari Fleischer was the White House Press Secretary for President George W. Bush. Fleischer now runs his own media consulting firm that specializes in representing sports players and organizations. Fleischer helped Mark McGwire handle the media when he had to admit to the use of steroids, and was briefly hired by Tiger Woods as he planned his return to the PGA after dropping out of the spotlight to handle the problems in his personal life.

17. Part of DAR: Abbr. AMER
In order to be a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), an applicant has to prove that she is a descendant of someone closely associated with, and supportive of, the American Revolution. The DAR maintains an online database of Revolutionary War patriots. The database is searchable, and is known as the Patriot Index.

18. Busy enterprise? APIARY
An apiary is an area where bees are kept. The Latin word for “bee” is “apis”.

19. *Site of preserved ancient gaucho weapons? LA BOLA TAR PITS (from “La Brea Tar Pits”)
Bolas are heavy balls connected by cords that constitute a throwing weapon. Bolas are often used to capture animals by tripping them as they run. The weapon is usually associated with gauchos, the South American cowboys.

The La Brea Tar Pits are located right in the heart of the city of Los Angeles. At the site there is a constant flow of tar that seeps up to the surface from underground, a phenomenon that has been around for tens of thousands of years. What is significant is that much of the seeping tar is covered by water. Over many, many centuries animals came to the water to drink and became trapped in the tar as they entered the water to quench their thirsts. The tar then preserved the bones of the dead animals. Today a museum is located right by the Tar Pits, recovering bones and displaying specimens of the animals found there. It’s well worth a visit if you are in town …

22. Grouse BEEF
A “beef” is a complaint or a grievance. It’s not quite clear how “beef” came to have this meaning, but one suggestion is that derives from the habit of soldiers at the end of the 1800s complaining about the quality or availability of beef in their rations.

It isn’t really clear where we get our verb “to grouse” from (meaning “to complain”). The term was first used as slang in the British Army in the 1880s.

23. Humana option HMO
Health Maintenance Organization (HMO)

Humana is a health insurance company based in Louisville, and is the largest company in the state of Kentucky.

27. Blitz AIRRAID
The blitzkrieg was a tactic used by Germany running up to and during WWII. In the original German blitzkrieg, the army and air-force threw everything into a rapid penetration of enemy lines without stopping to reinforce its flanks. The word “blitz” means “lightning” and “krieg” means “war”. We use the term “blitz” militarily in English for such a rapid ground-based attack, but also to describe an extended and extensive aerial bombing campaign.

36. Banned chem. pollutant PCB
Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) is a chemical that was used extensively in the manufacture of things as diverse as electrical apparatus and carbon paper. The use of PCBs was outlawed in the US in 1979 when it became clear that is a potent carcinogen.

38. Capital SE of Tallahassee NASSAU
Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, used to be called Charles Town. After having been burnt to the ground by the Spanish in 1684, it was rebuilt and named Nassau in honor of King William III of England, a Dutchman from the House of Orange-Nassau (aka William of Orange). Nassau is a favored location for the James Bond series of movies. The city and surroundings feature in “Thunderball”, “Never Say Never Again”, “Casino Royale” and “For Your Eyes Only”.

47. __ Men: “Who Let the Dogs Out” band BAHA
The Baha Men are so called because they hail from … the Bahamas. Their big hit was “Who Let the Dogs Out?” which has been ranked as third in a list of the world’s most annoying songs!

49. Andalusian aunt TIA
Andalusia (Andalucia in Spanish) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities in the Kingdom of Spain, and is the most southerly. The capital of Andalusia is the old city of Seville. The name Andalusia comes from its Arabic name, Al-Andalus, reflecting the region’s history as the center of Muslim power in Iberia during medieval times.

50. Emerald City princess OZMA
L. Frank Baum wrote a whole series of books about the Land of Oz, and Princess Ozma appears in all of them except the one that’s most famous, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”.

54. *Heroine in a reprised fairy tale? OLD RIDING HOOD (from “Red Riding Hood”)
“Little Red Riding Hood” is a fairy tale that originated in Europe and was first published in France by Charles Perrault in 1697. The title translates into French as “Le Petit Chaperon Rouge”.

59. “Ditto” I DO TOO
“Ditto” was originally used in Italian (from Tuscan dialect) to avoid repetition of the names of months in a series of dates. So “ditto” is just another wonderful import from that lovely land …

62. French handle? NOM
“Nom” is the French word for “name”.

65. One of quarterback Archie’s boys ELI
Eli Manning plays as quarterback for the New York Giants. Eli’s brother Peyton Manning is quarterback for the Denver Broncos. Eli and Peyton’s father is Archie Manning, who was also a successful NFL quarterback.

67. Stylish, once MOD
“Mod” is short for “modernist”, and describes a subculture that originated in London in the late fifties. Young men who called themselves mods tended to wear tailored suits, listen to pop music and drive around on Italian motor scooters. Mods came into conflict with another subculture that emerged at the same time in the UK called the rockers. Rockers were into rock and roll music, and drove motorcycles I remember as a young kid in school having to declare myself as either a mod or a rocker. I don’t think our “gangs” back then were quite the same as they are today though …

68. Symbiont on “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” DAX
Dax is a character on the show “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”. He is a Trill symbiont, meaning that he lives inside a humanoid who acts as “host”. The concept of Trill symbionts first arose in an episode of the sister show “Star Trek: The Next Generation”.

Down
1. Colgate competitor ORAL-B
The Oral-B toothbrush was introduced to the world in 1950, designed by a California periodontist. The first “model” was the Oral-B 60, a name given to reflect the 60 tufts in the brush. In 1969, the Oral-B was the first toothbrush to get to the moon as it was the toothbrush of choice for the crew of the Apollo 11 spacecraft.

The Colgate company, of toothpaste fame, was started by Englishman William Colgate in 1806 as a soap and candle factory in New York City. As the Colgate family prospered, they spent decades providing financial support to Madison University in Hamilton, New York. In recognition of this support, the school was renamed in 1890 to Colgate University.

4. Culinary author Rombauer IRMA
Irma Rombauer was the author of the famous cookbook “The Joy Of Cooking”. Rombauer self-published the book back in 1931 in St. Louis, Missouri. She and her family continued to publish privately as demand was high, and then a commercial printing house picked it up in 1936. “The Joy of Cooking” has been in print continuously ever since.

6. San Diego Marine Corps station whose name means “sea view” MIRAMAR
Marine Corps Air Station Miramar near San Diego, California is nicknamed “Fightertown USA”. The moniker was applied when Miromar was home to the US Navy Fighter Weapons School, which managed the famous TOPGUN training program.

8. Arizona natives HOPI
Many of the Hopi nation live on a reservation that is actually located within the much larger Navajo reservation in Arizona.

9. Archie’s wife EDITH
Archie Bunker’s wife Edith was played by Jean Stapleton on the 1970s sitcom “All in the Family”. By 1980, Stapleton was growing tired of playing the role and appeared in fewer and fewer episodes. When the show’s spin-off series “Archie Bunker’s Place” premiered, the storyline revealed that Archie Bunker had just lost his wife, setting the tone for the new show.

10. Himalayan canine LHASA APSO
The Lhasa apso breed of dog originated in Tibet and is named after “Lhasa” (the capital city) and “apso” (a Tibetan word meaning “bearded”). The Lhasa apso has been around since 800 BC and is one of the oldest breeds in the world, one very closely related to the ancestral wolf.

12. ’70s White House daughter AMY
Amy Carter is the only daughter of President Jimmy Carter. She is the youngest child and has three older brothers. After growing up in the White House, Amy Carter turned to political activism and was very vocal on US policy towards South African apartheid and Central America. She was arrested at a 1986 demonstration protesting CIA recruitment on a university campus, but was later acquitted. Today, Amy she has a close relationship with her father and is on the board of counselors of the Carter Center. In 1995 she provided the illustrations for her father’s book for children titled “The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer”.

14. Indian lentil stew DAL
I love dal dishes, which are prepared from various peas or beans (often lentils) that have been stripped of their outer skins and split. I suppose in Indian terms, split pea soup (another of my favorites) would be called a dal.

21. Versailles rulers of old ROIS
“Roi” is the French word for “king”.

Versailles is a city located just 10 miles from the center of Paris. It is famous of course as home to the magnificent Palace of Versailles. The palace started out as a hunting lodge built in the village of Versailles in 1624, built for Louis XIII. Louis XIII extended the lodge into a full-blown château, but it was Louis XIV who expanded it into one of the largest palaces on the planet. Louis XIV moved the royal court from Paris to Versailles starting in 1678.

25. Evergreen bean CACAO
Chocolate is made from the seeds of the Theobroma cacao tree. The seeds are very bitter and the traditional drink made with the seed was called “xocolatl” by the Aztecs, meaning “bitter water”. That’s how our “chocolate” got its name.

26. Capital where Pashto is spoken KABUL
Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. The city has been the site of major conflict for much of the 3,500 years that it has been in existence. In the past, this conflict was mainly driven by the city’s strategic location on the major trade routes of south and central Asia.

Pashto is the native language of the Pashtun and Afghani peoples.

28. Rhyme $yndicate Records founder ICE-T
Rapper Ice-T must be sick of having his name come up as an answer in crossword puzzles. Maybe he should have stuck to his real name, Tracy Marrow? Then again, maybe not … Ice-T has been interested in acting for decades and made his film debut in the 1984 movie about break-dancing called “Breakin’”. He has also played Detective Fin Tutuola in the TV show “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” since the year 2000.

29. Certain IRAs ROTHS
Roth Individual Retirement Accounts (Roth IRAs) were introduced in 1997 under a bill sponsored by Senator William Roth of Delaware, hence the name.

32. Biblical spy CALEB
According to the Bible, after fleeing Egypt the Hebrews were led by Moses to the promised land of Canaan. Moses sent twelve spies into Canaan (one from each of the Twelve Tribes) to report on what awaited them. Ten spies returned with exaggerated stories of giants who would kill the Hebrew army if it entered Canaan. Two spies, Caleb and Joshua, came back with valid reports, that the Hebrews could inhabit the area. As a result of the false reports from the ten spies, the Hebrews did not enter Canaan but instead wandered the desert for another forty years, before they finally took up residence in the promised land. At the end of the forty years, Caleb and Joshua were the only adults that survived the forty-year journey, a reward from God for their obedience.

33. Home of the Beef, an indoor football team OMAHA
The Beefs are a professional indoor football team based in Omaha, Nebraska. Unusually, the Beef have an all-male dance team called the Rumproasters, as well as the traditional all-female dance team (called the Prime dancers). The Rumproasters are a group of men with varying body types who are very popular, and who get a lot of laughs. They also raise a lot of money for charity.

34. Makes more baskets than OUTSHOOTS
Basketball is truly an American sport. It was created in 1891 by a James Naismith at the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts. His goal was to create something active and interesting for his students in the gym. The first “hoops” were actually peach baskets, with the bottoms of the baskets intact. When a player got the ball into the “net”, someone had to clamber up and get the ball back out again in order to continue the game!

35. Fund drive appeal encl. SASE
A self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) might be an enclosure (encl.) sent with a letter.

39. Eponymous brewer Bernhard STROH
Bernard Stroh was the son of a German brewer. Stroh immigrated to the US in 1848 and set up his own brewery in 1850 in Detroit. Years later, the Stroh Brewing Company introduced a European process called fire-brewing. This results in higher temperatures at a crucial stage in the brewing process, supposedly bringing out flavor. Stroh’s is the only American beer that still uses this process.

42. Roast, in Rouen ROTI
In French, a roast (rôti) is a joint of meat.

Rouen is the major city in Normandy in northern France. During the days of Norman Britain, Rouen was one of the capitals of the Anglo-Norman dynasties. Rouen was also where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in 1431.

43. Atomic number 77 IRIDIUM
The element iridium is represented by the symbol Ir. It is a metal that’s very hard, and is in fact the second densest of all the elements (after osmium). It is also the metal that is most resistant to corrosion. Iridium was discovered and first isolated in 1803 by English chemist Smithson Tennant. He called his discovery “iridium” after Iris, the ancient Greek personification of the rainbow. He did so in recognition of the diverse colors of iridium salts.

52. Scratch MOOLA
Lettuce, cabbage, kale, dough, scratch, simoleons, clams and moola are all slang terms for money.

53. Blend ADMIX
“Admix” is a rarely used term, and it just means “mix”.

58. It can be natural GAS
The main component in natural gas is methane, with the second most voluminous constituent being ethane. Both methane and ethane are combustible, and so traditionally the methane and ethane from natural gas were burned together to generate heat. However, since the sixties, ethane has been used as a valuable starter material for the production of ethylene, itself a raw material for polyethylene and other plastics. So, these days the ethane is extracted at a refinery before the natural gas is bottled as a fuel.

60. Agnus __ DEI
“Agnus” is Latin for “lamb”, as in “Agnus Dei”, which translates as “Lamb of God”.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Word with cake or meal OAT-
4. Doctrinal suffix -ISM
7. Pat Nixon’s real first name THELMA
13. Classic sci-fi play RUR
14. Tres equivalent DREI
15. Clinton’s birth name RODHAM
16. Bush spokesman Fleischer ARI
17. Part of DAR: Abbr. AMER
18. Busy enterprise? APIARY
19. *Site of preserved ancient gaucho weapons? LA BOLA TAR PITS (from “La Brea Tar Pits”)
22. Grouse BEEF
23. Humana option HMO
24. Cut (it) HACK
27. Blitz AIRRAID
31. MLB “minors” AAA
32. *Hip curriculum? COOL COURSES (from “core courses”)
36. Banned chem. pollutant PCB
37. Protective bauble AMULET
38. Capital SE of Tallahassee NASSAU
40. GPS datum LAT
41. *Second-hand seat? THRIFT STOOL (from “thrift store”)
45. Canadian sentence enders? EHS
46. Worse SORRIER
47. __ Men: “Who Let the Dogs Out” band BAHA
49. Andalusian aunt TIA
50. Emerald City princess OZMA
54. *Heroine in a reprised fairy tale? OLD RIDING HOOD (from “Red Riding Hood”)
59. “Ditto” I DO TOO
61. Thought IDEA
62. French handle? NOM
63. Modernize, in a way … and when divided in three parts, a hint to the answers to starred clues RETOOL (or “RE to OL”)
64. Functions USES
65. One of quarterback Archie’s boys ELI
66. Lover’s request KISS ME
67. Stylish, once MOD
68. Symbiont on “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” DAX

Down
1. Colgate competitor ORAL-B
2. Halos AURAE
3. 8-Down, e.g. TRIBE
4. Culinary author Rombauer IRMA
5. Sexy, in some ads SEE-THRU
6. San Diego Marine Corps station whose name means “sea view” MIRAMAR
7. Trick TRAP
8. Arizona natives HOPI
9. Archie’s wife EDITH
10. Himalayan canine LHASA APSO
11. Spoil MAR
12. ’70s White House daughter AMY
14. Indian lentil stew DAL
20. Taking everything into account OF ALL
21. Versailles rulers of old ROIS
25. Evergreen bean CACAO
26. Capital where Pashto is spoken KABUL
28. Rhyme $yndicate Records founder ICE-T
29. Certain IRAs ROTHS
30. Driller’s prefix? DENTI-
32. Biblical spy CALEB
33. Home of the Beef, an indoor football team OMAHA
34. Makes more baskets than OUTSHOOTS
35. Fund drive appeal encl. SASE
39. Eponymous brewer Bernhard STROH
42. Roast, in Rouen ROTI
43. Atomic number 77 IRIDIUM
44. “‘Tis true, sorry to say” ‘FRAID SO
48. Certain choristers ALTOS
51. Subdivided ZONED
52. Scratch MOOLA
53. Blend ADMIX
55. Not a happy fate DOOM
56. Function ROLE
57. Mandatory item NEED
58. It can be natural GAS
59. Vex IRK
60. Agnus __ DEI

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