Category: Roger Wienberg

Bill’s time: 6m 37s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1. It can cause a bad trip : LSD

LSD (known colloquially as “acid”) is short for lysergic acid diethylamide. A Swiss chemist called Albert Hofmann first synthesized LSD in 1938 in a research project looking for medically efficacious ergot alkaloids. It wasn’t until some five years later when Hofmann ingested some of the drug accidentally that its psychedelic properties were discovered. Trippy, man …

8. Late-night host with an orange-blimp running gag : CONAN

The Conan blimp is a bright orange dirigible that TBS has used to promote “Conan”, Conan O’Brien’s late night chat show. The blimp was originally constructed to promote a Rolling Stones tour in 2002. It was rebranded in 2010, with the name “CONAN” emblazoned on the sides. O’Brien incorporated the blimp into several comedy sketches on the show, by using it for trivial purposes such as following actor Gary Busey around Los Angeles.

14. Some Pequod crewmen : HARPOONERS

In Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick” the obsessed Captain Ahab manages with a final effort to lodge his harpoon in the whale’s flesh. He yells out “… to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee.” With that, the injured whale dives, and Captain Ahab is pulled under to his doom with a loop of the harpoon’s rope wrapped around his neck.

The Pequod is the ship that figures in Herman Melville’s classic novel “Moby Dick”. The ship is owned by a consortium of the citizens of Nantucket Island, including Captains Ahab, Bildad and Peleg.

17. Many Bach compositions : ORGAN MUSIC

Johann Sebastian Bach died when he was 65-years-old, in 1750. He was buried in Old St. John’s Cemetery in Leipzig, and his grave went unmarked until 1894. At that time his coffin was located, removed and buried in a vault within the church. The church was destroyed in an Allied bombing raid during WWII, and so after the war the remains had to be recovered and taken to the Church of St. Thomas in Leipzig.

18. Sources of “Family Feud” answers : SURVEYS

“Survey says!” is a phrase oft-heard in the show “Family Feud”.

“Family Feud” is an American game show that has been remade in countries all over the world. We even make a version in Ireland that we call “Family Fortunes”.

20. Soccer officials : REFS

Back in the early 17th century, a referee was someone who examined patent applications. We started using the same term for a person presiding over a sporting event in the 1820s. “Referee” is derivative of the verb “to refer”, and literally describes someone who has the authority to make a decision by “referring to” a book, archive etc.

22. Utah lily : SEGO

The sego lily is the state flower of Utah, and is a perennial plant found throughout the Western United States.

23. Hush-hush org. : NSA

National Security Agency (NSA)

33. Retailer with blue-and-yellow megastores : IKEA

The IKEA furniture stores use the colors blue and yellow for brand recognition. Blue and yellow are the national colors of Sweden, where IKEA was founded and is headquartered.

39. Eye layer : UVEA

The uvea is the middle of the three layers that make up the eyeball. The outer layer is called the fibrous tunic, and the inner layer is the retina.

42. Hops hot spot : OAST

An oast is a kiln used for drying hops as part of the brewing process. Such a structure might also be called an “oast house”. The term can also apply to a kiln used to dry tobacco.

44. “Things Are Fine in Mount __”: Charley Weaver book : IDY

Mount Idy is a fictional town featured in the TV show “Charley Weaver’s Hobby Lobby” starring Cliff Arquette in the title role. The show ran from September 1959 to March 1960.

46. Unborn : IN UTERO

“In utero” is a Latin term meaning “in the uterus”. The Latin “uterus” (plural “uteri”) translates as both “womb” and “belly”. The Latin word comes from the Greek “hystera” that also means “womb”, which gives us the words “hysterectomy”, and “hysterical”.

48. Scale members : RES

The sol-fa syllables are: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la & ti.

54. Switch partner : BAIT

The term “bait-and-switch” describes a kind of fraud engaged in by disingenuous retailers. Customers are drawn in (baited) by advertising products at an extremely attractive price. Once the customer visits the store in search of the deal, he or she discovers that the advertised goods aren’t in fact available. A deceptive salesperson then guides (switches) the customer to a similar and higher-priced item.

57. Electrical generator : ALTERNATOR

An electrical generator that creates direct current is a dynamo. A generator of alternating current is an alternator.

61. “The Matrix” actress Carrie-__ Moss : ANNE

Carrie-Anne Moss is an actress from Canada who is perhaps best known for playing the character Trinity in “The Matrix” trilogy of films.

The 1999 movie sensation “The Matrix” was meant to be set in a nondescript urban environment. It was actually shot in Australia, as one of the co-producers of the film was the Australian company, Village Roadshow Pictures. You can pick up all sorts of clues about the location when watching the film, including a view of Sydney Harbour Bridge in a background shot. Also, traffic drives along on the left and there are signs for the “lift” instead of an “elevator”.

64. Andean shrubs : COCAS

The coca plant is native to South America and is similar in appearance to a blackthorn bush. Coca leaves have been chewed by humans for centuries, perhaps even as far back as 3,000 years ago. Chewing the leaves apparently produces a pleasurable numb sensation in the mouth and a pleasant taste. The most famous alkaloid in the leaf is cocaine, but this wasn’t extracted in its pure form until the mid-1800s. The extracted cocaine was used in a medicines and tonics and other beverages.

66. Nero Wolfe creator Stout : REX

Rex Stout was an author who is mainly known for his detective fiction featuring his hero Nero Wolfe. One of Stout’s friends was the British author P. G. Wodehouse, who wrote the “Jeeves” series of books.

Nero Wolfe is a fictional detective and the hero of many stories published by author Rex Stout. There are 33 Nero Wolfe novels for us to read, and 39 short stories. There are also movie adaptations of two of the novels: “Meet Nero Wolfe” (1936) which features a young Rita Hayworth, and “The League of Frightened Men” (1937). One of Wolfe’s endearing traits is his love of good food and beer, so he is a pretty rotund character.

Down

2. Panels illustrating film scripts : STORYBOARDS

“Storyboarding” is a process in which quickly drawn images are arranged in sequence on say a wall in order to pre-visualize a movie or cartoon. The process was developed in the thirties at the Walt Disney Studio. It’s a great system, and one that I even used in business, for setting plans and preparing presentations.

3. High capital : DENVER

Denver, Colorado is nicknamed the “Mile-High City” because its official elevation is listed as exactly one mile. Denver City was founded in 1858 as a mining town. The name was chosen in honor of the Kansas Territorial Governor at the time, James W. Denver.

4. “Hey, sailor!” : AHOY!

“Ahoy!” is a nautical term used to signal a vessel. When the telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell, he suggested that “ahoy” be used as a standard greeting when answering a call. However, Thomas Edison came up with “hello”, and we’ve been using that ever since.

5. General concerns? : WARS

The military rank of general originated in the 1570s from the rank of “captain general”. A captain general was a captain with broader responsibilities and control.

6. Unit of work : ERG

An erg is a unit of mechanical work or energy. It is a small unit, with one joule comprising 10 million ergs. it has been suggested that an erg is about the amount of energy required for a mosquito to take off. The term comes from “ergon”, the Greek word for work.

10. Wii forerunner, briefly : NES

The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was sold in North America from 1985 to to 1995. The NES was the biggest selling gaming console of the era. Nintendo replaced the NES with Wii, which is also the biggest-selling game console in the world.

11. Onassis nickname : ARI

Aristotle “Ari” Onassis was born to a successful Greek shipping entrepreneur in Smyrna in modern-day Turkey. However, his family lost its fortune during WWI and so Aristotle worked with his father to build up a new business empire centered on the importation of tobacco. In 1957, Aristotle founded the Greek national airline, what is today called Olympic Air, and he also got into the business of shipping oil around the world. He married Athina Livanos in 1946, the daughter of a wealthy shipping magnate. They couple had two children together, with one being the famous Christina Onassis. Livanos divorced Onassis on discovering him in bed with the opera singer Maria Callas. Onassis ended his affair with Callas in order to marry Jackie Kennedy in 1968.

12. Foreign policy advisory gp. : NSC

The National Security Council (NSC) was created by President Harry S. Truman in 1947. The NSC is chaired by the sitting president and meets in the White House Situation Room.

13. Plastic choice : VISA

VISA doesn’t actually issue any credit or debit cards. VISA just sells the electronic systems and infrastructure to banks who then put the VISA logo on their own cards. Seeing the logo, both customer and merchant know to use the VISA system when making a transaction.

15. 100 sawbucks : ONE G

One G, one grand, one thousand dollars.

“Sawbuck” is slang for a ten dollar bill. The term was applied to the bill as the Roman numeral X (which used to appear on the bill) resembles the end of sawhorse.

19. Place for pins and needles : ETUI

An etui is an ornamental case used to hold small items, in particular sewing needles. We imported both the case design and the word “etui” from France. The French also have a modern usage of “etui”, using the term to depict a case for carrying CDs.

22. Salts, say : SEASONS

Our verb “to season”, meaning “to improve flavor by adding spices”, comes from the Old French word “assainoer” meaning “to ripen, season”. The original meaning embraced the idea of a fruit becoming more flavorful when wipe, when in season.

23. King’s philosophy : NONVIOLENCE

Martin Luther King, Jr’s father was born Michael King. On a trip to Germany in 1934, Michael came to admire Protestant leader Martin Luther and changed his name to Martin Luther King on his return the United States. Famously, he passed on his new name to his son, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr (MLK).

24. Jousting mount : STEED

“Jousting” and “tilting” are synonyms describing the medieval competition in which two horsemen yielding blunted lances attempt to unseat each other. Such an event has been referred to as “jousting” since the 1300s. At some point, the path of the two charging horsemen was separated by a cloth barrier known as a tilt (“tilt” meant “cloth covering”). The term “tilting” was applied to the sport in the 1500s, although by then the cloth barrier had been upgraded to a wooden fence.

27. Scottish isle : SKYE

The Isle of Skye is off the northwest coast of Scotland in the Inner Hebrides. It is the second largest island in the country, and has been linked to the mainland by a road bridge since 1995. I’ve never been there, but I hear the views are spectacular.

30. Letters for short people? : IOU

I owe you (IOU)

32. Sparkly stone : GEODE

A geode is a rock in which there is a cavity that is lined or filled with crystal formations.

36. Witty remark : MOT

“Bon mot” translates from French as “good word”. We use “bon mot” (and sometimes just “mot”) to mean “quip, witticism”.

38. __ de toilette : EAU

“Eau de toilette” (toilet water) is a diluted perfume. A French person when dressing is said to be attending to his or her “toilette”.

41. Strict diet restriction : NO CARBS

Perhaps most notably, the eating of relatively few carbohydrates is central to the diet proposed by Robert Atkins. Atkins first laid out the principles behind the Atkins diet in a research paper published in 1958 in the “Journal of the American Medical Association”. He popularized his diet starting in 1972 with his book “Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution”.

50. Japanese aborigine : AINU

The Ainu people are an indigenous race found primarily in Japan and parts of Russia close to Japan. The spoken Ainu language has nearly died out, with only a handful of native speakers alive today.

Even though the term “aborigine” is often associated with the indigenous peoples of Australia, in the widest sense “aboriginal” refers to any indigenous race. The Aborigines were a people in Roman mythology, the oldest inhabitants of central Italy.

53. Belgian river : YSER

The Yser river flows into the North Sea at Nieuwpoort in the Flemish province of West Flanders in Belgium.

54. Phi __ Kappa : BETA

Phi Beta Kappa was the first collegiate Greek fraternity in the US, founded in 1776 at the College of William and Mary. The organization served as a model for future collegiate fraternities and sororities, although in the 19th century Phi Beta Kappa distanced itself from the fraternal focus and transformed into the honor society that it is today, recognizing academic excellence. The initials Phi Beta Kappa stand for “philosophia biou kybernētēs”, which translates into “philosophy is the guide of life”. The symbol of the Phi Beta Kappa Society is a golden key.

56. Son of Zeus and Hera : ARES

The Greek god Ares is often referred to as the Olympian god of warfare, but originally he was regarded as the god of bloodlust and slaughter. Ares united with Aphrodite to create several gods, including Phobos (Fear), Deimos (Terror) and Eros (Desire). Ares was the son of Zeus and Hera, and the Roman equivalent to Ares was Mars.

57. TV network with much Shondaland programming : ABC

The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is the world’s largest broadcaster in terms of revenues. ABC was formed in 1943, when it was created out of the former NBC Blue radio network.

Shonda Rhimes is the creator and head writer of the TV shows “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scandal”. She also serves as executive producer for the crime shows “How to Get Away with Murder” and “The Catch”. Rhimes also runs her own production company called Shondaland.

58. Summer sign : LEO

The constellation named Leo can be said to resemble a lion. Others say that it resembles a bent coat hanger. “Leo” is the Latin for “lion”, but I’m not sure how to translate “coat hanger” into Latin …

59. Solace for a sad BFF : TLC

Tender loving care (TLC)

Best friend forever (BFF)

60. Ref’s ruling : TKO

Technical knockout (TKO)