Day: February 16, 2015

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Ray Charles’ genre R AND B
Ray Charles came up with his stage name by dropping the family name from his real moniker, Ray Charles Robinson. His life was a wild ride, well represented in the excellent biopic called “Ray” released in 2004 and starring Jamie Foxx in the title role. Ray Charles was married twice and fathered 12 children with nine different women. As I said, a wild ride …

6. “Thank God” day: Abbr. FRI
“Thank God It’s Friday” (TGIF) is a relatively new expression that apparently originated in Akron, Ohio. It was a catchphrase used first by disk jockey Jerry Healy of WAKR in the early seventies. That said, one blog reader wrote me to say that he had been using the phrase in the fifties.

9. Swedish autos SAABS
SAAB stands for Svenska Aeroplan AB, which translates into English as Swedish Aeroplane Limited. SAAB was, and still is, mainly an aircraft manufacturer. If you take small hops in Europe you might find yourself on a SAAB passenger plane. The SAAB automotive division was acquired by General Motors in the year 2000, who then sold it to a Dutch concern in 2010. However, SAAB (automotive) finally went bankrupt in 2011. A Chinese consortium purchased the assets of SAAB Automotive in 2012, and so SAAB vehicles are in production again. The new vehicles are using the SAAB name, but cannot use the SAAB griffin logo, the rights to which have been retained by the mother company.

14. Borden mascot ELSIE
Elsie the Cow is the mascot of the Borden Company. Elsie first appeared at the New York World’s Fair in 1939, introduced to symbolize the perfect dairy product. Elsie was also given a husband named Elmer the Bull. Elmer eventually moved over to the chemical division of Borden where he gave his name to Elmer’s Glue.

19. Place for a perm SALON
“Perm” is the name given to a permanent wave, a chemical or thermal treatment of hair to produce waves or curls. I don’t worry about such things, as it’s a number-one all over for me …

20. One of many in a Lipton bag TEA LEAF
Sir Thomas Lipton was a grocer in Glasgow, Scotland. He founded a tea packing company in North America in 1893, in Hoboken, New Jersey. He was very successful as his blends of tea became popular in the US. Despite the Lipton roots in the UK, Lipton black tea isn’t available there, so I’ve always thought of it as an American brand.

22. Home buyer’s debt: Abbr. MTGE
Our word “mortgage” comes from the Old French “mort gaige” which translated as “dead pledge”. The idea was that a pledge to repay a loan dies when the debt is cleared.

26. Sister of Rachel LEAH
According to the Bible, Leah was one of the two wives of Jacob, the other being Leah’s sister Rachel. Jacob’s intention had been to marry Rachel, but the Leah and Rachel’s father “switched” his daughters and provided Leah as the veiled bride. Jacob married Rachel a week later, and lived with the two wives concurrently.

29. Group nickname for Ringwald, Sheedy, Lowe, Estevez et al. BRAT PACK
The Brat Pack moniker is reminiscent of the Rat Pack of the fifties and sixties (Franks Sinatra & co.). To qualify as a “founding” member of the Brat pack the actor had to appear in either “The Breakfast Club” or “St. Elmo’s Fire”, or both. So we have Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy.

34. Name of 18 French kings LOUIS
Louis XVI was king of France prior to the abolition of the monarchy during the French revolution. Louis and his wife Marie Antoinette were victims of the guillotine in 1792. After the execution, Louis’s son became the nominal king of France in the eyes of the royalists, as Louis XVII. Louis XVII was never made the official ruler, and died at the age of 10 in 1795 from as the result of an illness. The uncle of young Louis was then declared titular king in exile in 1795, taking the name Louis XVIII. Louis XVIII took over the throne of France in 1815, soon after Emperor Napoleon I was defeated. Louis XVIII died in 1824, with the crown passing to Charles X.

35. “Toto, __?”: Dorothy TOO
Towards the end of the film “The Wizard of Oz”, Dorothy learns from the Good Witch of the North that she can return to Kansas using her magic slippers. On hearing the news, Dorothy asks excitedly, “Oh! Toto, too?”

36. Caviar, e.g. ROE
“Caviar” is the roe of a large fish that has been salted and seasoned, and especially the roe of a sturgeon. Beluga caviar comes from the beluga sturgeon, found primarily in the Caspian Sea. It is the most expensive type of caviar in the world. 8 ounces of US-farmed beluga caviar can be purchased through Amazon.com for just over $850, in case you’re feeling peckish …

40. Nonprofit URL ending ORG
Internet addresses (like NYTCrossword.com and LAXCrossword.com ) are more correctly called Uniform Resource Locators (URLs).

41. Carpentry bit AUGER
An auger is a drill, a boring tool.

45. Gabor with an echoic name ZSA ZSA
Zsa Zsa Gabor is a Hungarian American actress, born in Budapest as Sári Gábor (the older sister of the actress Eva). Zsa Zsa Gabor has been married a whopping nine times, including a 5-year stint with Conrad Hilton and another 5 years with the actor George Sanders. One of Gabor’s famous quips was that she was always a good housekeeper, as after every divorce she kept the house!

47. Florida State player, for short ‘NOLE
Florida State University (FSU) is located in Tallahassee, the state capital of Florida. The school’s athletic teams are known as the Seminoles (sometimes “the ‘Noles”). The team name was chosen in 1947 by the students in a vote, and alludes to the Seminole people who originally lived in the state. Most of the Seminole now live in Oklahoma, after their forced relocation by the US government in the 1840s.

49. Living room piece SOFA
“Sofa” is a Turkish word meaning “bench”.

61. Tex. clock setting CST
Central Standard Time (CST)

64. Fancy carp KOI
Koi are also called Japanese carp. Koi have been bred for decorative purposes and there are now some very brightly colored examples found in Japanese water gardens.

65. Former Steeler star Lynn __, who ran for governor of Pennsylvania in 2006 SWANN
After his professional football career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Lynn Swann became a sportscaster and has been very active in Republican politics in recent years. Swann ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Pennsylvania in 2006. He also publicly declared his interest in running for the House of Representatives in 2008, but bowed out of the race early.

Down
2. Bass brew ALE
The red triangle on the label of a bottle of Bass Ale was registered in 1875 and is UK Registered Trade Mark (TM) No: 00001, the first trade mark issued in the world.

3. Govt. intel org. NSA
National Security Agency (NSA)

7. Demolish, as a building RAZE
To “raze” (in UK English “rase”) is to level to the ground. How odd is it that “raise”, a homophone of “raze”, means to build up??!!

8. Chichén __ ITZA
Chichén Itzá is a Mayan ruin located in the Mexican state of Yucatán. It is the second most visited archaeological site in the country (after the ancient city of Teotihuacan). Chichén Itzá has seen a surge in the number of visitors since the development of nearby Cancún as a tourist destination.

10. Road travel org. freebie AAA MAP
The American Automobile Association (AAA) is a not-for-profit organization focused on lobbying, provision of automobile servicing, and selling of automobile insurance. The AAA was founded in 1902 in Chicago and published the first of its celebrated hotel guides back in 1917.

11. Semi-autobiographical 1979 Fosse film ALL THAT JAZZ
“All That Jazz” is a 1979 musical film that was directed by choreographer Bob Fosse. The movie is somewhat autobiographical, with the screenplay having been co-written by Fosse. The title “All That Jazz” is the name of a song in the musical “Chicago”, which Fosse choreographed.

12. Opinion website BLOG
Many folks who visit this website regard it as just that, a website. That is true, but more correctly it is referred to as a blog, as I make regular posts (actually daily posts) which then occupy the “front page” of the site. The blog entries are in reverse chronological order, and one can just look back day-by-day, reading older and older posts. Blog is a contraction of the term “web log”.

13. “Auld Lang __” SYNE
The song “Auld Lang Syne” is a staple at New Year’s Eve, the words of which were written by Scottish poet Robbie Burns. The literal translation of “Auld Lang Syne” is “old long since”, but is better translated as “old times”. The sentiment of the song is “for old time’s sake”.

18. Pool legend Minnesota __ FATS
Minnesota Fats was the nickname adopted by professional pool player Rudolf Wanderone. The original Minnesota Fats was a character in the Walter Tevis novel “The Hustler”, played in the 1961 film adaptation by Jackie Gleason. Prior to the release of the film, Wanderone had been using the name “New York Fats”. A story emerged that the character “Fats” in the book and movie had been inspired by Wanderone, and so Wanderone stopped using “New York Fats” to become “Minnesota Fats”.

23. Wrinkle-resistant synthetic DACRON
Dacron is a brand name for the polyester fabric polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The same material is branded as Terylene on the other side of the Atlantic.

24. Author Leonard ELMORE
Elmore Leonard used to write a lot of westerns in the fifties and moved onto crime and suspense novels later in his career. A lot of Leonard’s books have made it to the big screen, including “Get Shorty” and “Mr Majestyk”.

25. Bubbly plum-flavored drink SLOE GIN FIZZ
By definition, a cocktail known as a Fizz includes lemon or lime juice and carbonated water. The most popular of the genre is the Gin Fizz, made from 3 parts gin, 2 parts lemon juice, 1 part sugar syrup and 5 parts soda water. There is also a variant known as a sloe gin fizz.

The sloe is the fruit of the blackthorn bush, and the main flavoring ingredient in sloe gin. The blackthorn is related to the plum.

27. Online market for handmade crafts ETSY
Etsy.com is an e-commerce website where you can buy and sell the kind of items that you might find at a craft fair.

29. Dumb mistake BONER
“Boner” is one of those words that I just don’t like because it can be used offensively. The term can also be used to mean a faux pas, an error.

31. Like a woodworker’s rasp COARSE
A rasp is a like a coarse version of a file. Files have teeth that run from one side of the tool to the other, and are usually used for metalwork. Rasps have coarser teeth that cover the surface of the tool, like jagged bumps. Rasps are usually used in woodworking.

32. Seoul native KOREAN
Seoul is the capital city of South Korea. The Seoul National Capital Area is home to over 25 million people and is the second largest metropolitan area in the world, second only to Tokyo, Japan.

34. Toy block brand LEGO
Lego is manufactured by Lego Group, a privately held company headquartered in Billund, Denmark. The company was founded by a carpenter called Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1934 and the now-famous plastic interlocking blocks were introduced in 1949. The blocks were originally sold under the name “Automatic Binding Bricks” but I think “Lego” is easier to remember! The name “Lego” comes from the Danish term “leg godt” meaning “play well”.

37. Humorist Mort who wrote jokes for Kennedy SAHL
Mort Sahl is a Canadian-born actor and comedian who moved to the US with his family when he was a child. Sahl became friends with John F. Kennedy. When Kennedy became president, Sahl wrote a lot of jokes for the President’s speeches, although he also told a lot of Kennedy jokes in his acts. After the President was assassinated in 1963, Sahl was intensely interested in finding out who was behind the crime and even got himself deputized as a member of one of the investigating teams. He was very outspoken against the results of the Warren Commission report on the assassination, and soon found himself out of favor with the public. It took a few years for him to make his comeback, but come back he did.

38. To the third power CUBED
A number raised to the second power is “squared” (e.g. 5 x 5 = 25), and a number raised to the third power is “cubed” (e.g. 5 x 5 x 5 = 125).

42. Colorful post-cloudburst phenomenon RAINBOW
Sunlight shining through airborne water droplets can produce rainbows. The water droplets act as little prisms, dispersing the white light into its constituent colors. Sometimes we see double rainbows. If we look carefully, the order of the colors in the first and second arcs is reversed.

45. Alcopop brand ZIMA
Zima is a clear alcoholic beverage with about the same strength as beer. Zima is sold in beer bottles but is marketed as “not” a beer. It has a lemon-lime flavor and is referred to as an “alcopop”, a portmanteau word from “alcohol” and “pop”.

49. Gulf War missile SCUD
Scud missiles were developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The Soviets called them R-11 missiles at first, with later versions known as R-17 and R-300 Elbrus. The name “Scud” was actually the name NATO used for the missile, a name created by Western intelligence officers. Ballistic missiles haven’t been used a lot in actual warfare, the exception being the German V-2 rocket attacks on England during WWII. After the V-2, the second most-used ballistic missile in warfare is the Scud, which featured in a number of conflicts:

– used by Egypt against Israel in the Yom Kippur War of 1973
– used by the USSR in Afghanistan
– used by Libya against a US Coast Guard station in the Mediterranean in 1986
– used by Iranians and Iraqis in the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-88
– used by Iraq in the Gulf War of 1990-91

53. Standard Oil brand ESSO
The brand name Esso has its roots in the old Standard Oil company as it uses the initial letters of “Standard” and “Oil” (ESS-O). The Esso brand was replaced by Exxon in the US, but ESSO is still used in many other countries.

55. Hi-fi platters LPS
The first vinyl records designed to play at 33 1/3 rpm were introduced by RCA Victor in 1931, but were discontinued due to quality problems. The first Long Play (LP) 33 1/3 rpm disc was introduced by Columbia Records many years later in 1948, with RCA Victor following up with a 45 rpm “single” the following year, in 1949.

Hi-fi systems were introduced in the late forties, and is audio equipment designed to give a much higher quality reproduction of sound than cheaper systems available up to that point. “Hi-fi” stands for “high fidelity”.

57. Charlottesville sch. UVA
The University of Virginia (UVA) was founded by Thomas Jefferson, who sat on the original Board of Visitors alongside former US Presidents James Madison and James Monroe. In fact, the original UVA campus was built on land that was once a farm belonging to President Monroe.

The beautiful Virginia city of Charlottesville was founded in 1762. It was named for Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who had become the wife of King George III in 1761.

58. Red or blush wine, familiarly ZIN
Zinfandel is one of my favorite red wine varietals. It amazes me that the rich and heavy red Zinfandel comes from the same grape as does the sweet White Zinfandel.

The term “blush” in the world of wine has only been around since the late seventies, and is really only used here in the US. Today we think of a blush as a relatively sweet pink wine, and a rosé as something more dry.

59. Buddhist sect ZEN
Zen is a Buddhist school that developed its own tradition in China back in the 7th century AD. Zen is a Japanese spelling of the Chinese word “chan”, which in turn derives from the Sanskrit word “dhyana” meaning “meditation”.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Ray Charles’ genre R AND B
6. “Thank God” day: Abbr. FRI
9. Swedish autos SAABS
14. Borden mascot ELSIE
15. Cereal grain OAT
16. Come from behind RALLY
17. Teen’s budding facial hair, informally PEACH FUZZ
19. Place for a perm SALON
20. One of many in a Lipton bag TEA LEAF
22. Home buyer’s debt: Abbr. MTGE
23. Ceases DESISTS
26. Sister of Rachel LEAH
28. Distributes by shares ALLOTS
29. Group nickname for Ringwald, Sheedy, Lowe, Estevez et al. BRAT PACK
33. “Let’s go!” C’MON!
34. Name of 18 French kings LOUIS
35. “Toto, __?”: Dorothy TOO
36. Caviar, e.g. ROE
37. Country-drive view SCENERY
39. Jam holder JAR
40. Nonprofit URL ending ORG
41. Carpentry bit AUGER
42. Uncommon RARE
43. Next-door resident NEIGHBOR
45. Gabor with an echoic name ZSA ZSA
47. Florida State player, for short ‘NOLE
48. Native CITIZEN
49. Living room piece SOFA
51. “No chance of that happening!” DREAM ON!
54. Relax, in slang CHILL
56. Speculation leading up to a February 22 awards extravaganza OSCAR BUZZ
60. Open, as a jacket UNZIP
61. Tex. clock setting CST
62. Theater offering MOVIE
63. Takes a nap DOZES
64. Fancy carp KOI
65. Former Steeler star Lynn __, who ran for governor of Pennsylvania in 2006 SWANN

Down
1. Sales agent REP
2. Bass brew ALE
3. Govt. intel org. NSA
4. Style of wording DICTION
5. Command BEHEST
6. Hoops ref’s calls FOULS
7. Demolish, as a building RAZE
8. Chichén __ ITZA
9. Yearbook sect. SRS
10. Road travel org. freebie AAA MAP
11. Semi-autobiographical 1979 Fosse film ALL THAT JAZZ
12. Opinion website BLOG
13. “Auld Lang __” SYNE
18. Pool legend Minnesota __ FATS
21. Natural aptitude FLAIR
23. Wrinkle-resistant synthetic DACRON
24. Author Leonard ELMORE
25. Bubbly plum-flavored drink SLOE GIN FIZZ
27. Online market for handmade crafts ETSY
29. Dumb mistake BONER
30. Penitent sort RUER
31. Like a woodworker’s rasp COARSE
32. Seoul native KOREAN
34. Toy block brand LEGO
37. Humorist Mort who wrote jokes for Kennedy SAHL
38. To the third power CUBED
42. Colorful post-cloudburst phenomenon RAINBOW
44. Hockey mask wearer GOALIE
45. Alcopop brand ZIMA
46. Hurricanes, e.g. STORMS
48. Spiny desert plants CACTI
49. Gulf War missile SCUD
50. “Don’t tell me!” OH NO!
52. Relax on a porch chair, perhaps ROCK
53. Standard Oil brand ESSO
55. Hi-fi platters LPS
57. Charlottesville sch. UVA
58. Red or blush wine, familiarly ZIN
59. Buddhist sect ZEN

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