Day: February 27, 2013

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Not interesting JEJUNE
The adjective “jejune” means “dull in the mind”. The term comes from the Latin “ieiunus” meaning “dry, barren”.

7. Real heel CAD
Our word “cad”, meaning “a person lacking in finer feelings”, is a shortening of the word “cadet”. “Cad” was first used for a servant, and then students at British universities used “cad” as a term for a boy from the local town. “Cad” took on its current meaning in the 1830s.

10. German exports BMWS
BMW stands for Bayerische Motoren Werke, which translates into Bavarian Motor Works. BMW was making aircraft engines during WWI, but had to cease that activity according to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The company started making motorcycles, and then moved into automobile production starting in 1928. BMW moved back into aircraft engine manufacturing during the build-up of the Luftwaffe prior to WWII.

14. Beaucoup A LOT OF
“Beaucoup” is of course a French word that we’ve imported into English, meaning “a lot”. In French, “beaucoup” can be parsed into “beau coup” meaning “handsome stroke”.

15. Eight-time Norris Trophy winner ORR
The James Norris Memorial Trophy is awarded to the top defensive player in the NHL each year, based on votes by members of the professional Hockey Writers’ Association. Bobby Orr won the award every single season from 1967-1975. 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 …

17. *Largest port in NW Africa CASABLANCA
Casablanca is a major city in western Morocco and sits on the Atlantic coast in Northern Africa. Casablanca is the country’s largest city (although the capital is Rabat), and the country’s largest port.

19. “Black Beauty” author Sewell ANNA
English novelist, Anna Sewell, only wrote one book in her life, the immensely popular “Black Beauty” first published in 1877. The book was written at the tail end of Sewell’s life, over a period of six years while her health was declining. “Black Beauty” was an immediate success, and is supposedly the sixth best selling title in the English language. Sewell died just five months after the book was published, but she did get to see its immediate success.

21. Athos, to Porthos AMI
A male friend in France is “un ami”, and a female friend is “une amie”.

The “Three Musketeers” are Athos, Porthos and Aramis, and their young protégé is D’Artagnan. A musketeer was an infantry soldier who was equipped with a musket. Funnily enough, Alexandre Dumas’ “Three Musketeers” really don’t use their muskets, and are better known for their prowess with their swords.

22. Word with dark or gray MATTER
Dark matter is the theoretical material that makes up over 80% of the universe. Astrophysicists use dark matter to explain the discrepancy between the calculated mass of a large object and the mass determined empirically by observing gravitational effects. The term “dark matter” is an apt one as the matter is invisible to telescopes and neither admits nor absorbs light of significance.

Grey matter and white matter are the two component of the central nervous system. Grey matter is mainly made up of neurons, and white matter is largely made of axons, the projections of the neurons that form nerve fibers.

27. Hersey novel setting ADANO
“A Bell for Adano” is a novel written by John Hersey. Hersey’s story is about an Italian-American US Army officer, Major Joppolo, who found a replacement for a town’s bell stolen by fascists. “A Bell for Adano” was made into a film in 1945, the same year the novel won a Pulitzer.

30. Rob Roy’s refusal NAE
Rob Roy’s full name was Robert Roy MacGregor, itself an Anglicization of the Scottish Raibeart Ruadh.

31. Four-time Grammy winner Lovett LYLE
As well as being famous in his own right as a successful country singer, Lyle Lovett is known for his marriage to the actress Julia Roberts in 1993. The pair had a whirlwind romance lasting just three weeks before they eloped and were wed. The marriage was also relatively whirlwind, lasting less than two years.

32. *Picnic side dish PASTA SALAD
Our term “picnic” comes from the French word that now has the same meaning: “pique-nique”. The original “pique-nique” was a fashionable pot-luck affair, not necessarily held outdoors.

37. As found IN SITU
“In situ” is a Latin phrase meaning “in the place”.

38. Pupil surrounder AREOLA
An areola (sometimes “areole”) in anatomy is a small ring of color, as in the areola surrounding the nipple, and the areola surrounding the pupil of the eye. “Areola” comes from Latin, meaning “small open space”, and is a diminutive of the Latin word “area”, meaning “open space”.

41. Ft. Worth campus TCU
Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private school in Fort Worth, Texas. TCU used to be called AddRan Male & Female, named after an AddRan Clark, the son of Addison Clark who died at the age of 3-years-old from diphtheria. Poor young AddRan was named after his father and his brother, Addison and Randolph.

46. Australian six-footers EMUS
Emu eggs are very large, with a thick shell that is dark-green in color. One emu egg weighs about the same as a dozen chicken eggs.

50. “SNL” alum Mike MYERS
Mike Myers does do a great British accent, witness his performance in the madcap “Austin Powers” movies. He has an advantage though, as both his parents are British, and live in Ontario, Canada.

51. *Delighted HAPPY AS A CLAM
Our phrase “happy as a clam” dates back to the mid-1600s. Back then it was a more lengthy expression “happy as a clam in the mud at high tide”. The idea was that a clam would be happy in its muddy home at high tide, because no one from land could get to it and eat it.

54. Animals who like to float on their back OTTERS
The fur of the sea otter is exceptionally thick. It is in fact the densest fur in the whole animal kingdom.

60. *Island nation in the Indian Ocean MADAGASCAR
Madagascar is the large island country lying off the southeast coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean. The main island of Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world (after Greenland, New Guinea and Borneo).

65. Rocker Rose AXL
Axl Rose is the lead vocalist of the American rock band, Guns N’ Roses.

66. Sedative OPIATE
Opiates are the narcotic alkaloids found in the opium poppy plant, although some synthetic versions and derivatives of the same alkaloids are also called opiates. To produce opiates, the latex sap of the opium poppy is collected and processed. The naturally-occurring drugs of morphine and codeine can both be extracted from the sap. Some synthesis is required to make derivative drugs like heroin and oxycodone.

Down
1. With 2-Down, “Rio Lobo” actor JACK
2. See 1-Down ELAM
Jack Elam was a movie actor noted for playing the bad guy in Westerns. When Elam was a boy scout, he was accidentally stabbed in the eye with a pencil. The incident left him blind in that eye, and the iris remained skewed to the outside of his face. This gave him a crazed, wide-eyed look that helped add a sense of menace to the characters Elam played.

“Rio Lobo” is a Western movie that was released in 1970, starring John Wayne. “Rio Lobo” is the third film in a trilogy that was directed by Howard Hawks, the other two films being “Rio Bravo” (1959) and “El Dorado” (1966). “Rio Lobo” was the last film that Hawks directed.

3. __ stick: incense JOSS
A joss stick is a type of incense that is traditionally burned before religious images and shrines in many Asian cultures. The term “joss” comes into English via Portuguese from the Latin “deus” meaning “god”.

4. Hagen often mentioned on “Inside the Actors Studio” UTA
Uta Hagen was a German-born American actress. Hagen married Jose Ferrer in 1938, but they were divorced ten years later after it was revealed that she was having a long-running affair with Paul Robeson. Her association with Robeson, a prominent civil rights activist, earned her a spot on the Hollywood Blacklist during the McCarthy Era. This forced her away from film, but towards a successful stage career in New York City.

“Inside the Actors Studio” is an incredibly successful show on Bravo that is hosted by James Lipton. “Inside the Actors Studio” is broadcast in 125 countries around the world. The show is basically a very comprehensive interview by Lipton of celebrities from the world of film.

5. Head, slangily NOB
The slang term “nob” has been used for “head” for over 300 years, and is a variant of “knob”.

6. Key of Beethoven’s “Emperor” concerto E-FLAT
Beethoven’s “Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73” is better known as the Emperor Concerto”. It was written between 1809 and 1811 and was the last piano concerto composed by Beethoven. The nickname “Emperor” was coined not by the composer himself, but rather by the publisher of the concerto in England.

9. Pulitzer category DRAMA
Pulitzer Prizes are awarded annually for achievements in journalism, literature and musical composition. The prize was established back in 1917 by the Hungarian-American newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer. Pulitzer left money in his will for the prize, and for its administration by Columbia University.

12. Cab storage site WINE CELLAR
The Cabernet Sauvignon grape has been around since the 17th century. It is the result of a chance crossing in southwestern France of the Cabernet franc and Sauvignon blanc grapes.

13. Hunted Carroll creature SNARK
Lewis Carroll was actually a pseudonym, for English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. His most famous novels are of course “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Alice Through the Looking Glass”, and his most famous poems are the two nonsense pieces “Jabberwocky” and “The Hunting of the Snark”.

18. Microwave maker AMANA
The Amana Corporation takes its name from the location of its original headquarters, in Middle Amana, Iowa.

23. Braves, on scoreboards ATL
The Atlanta Braves are the only team to have won baseball’s World Series in three different home cities. They won as the Boston Braves in 1914, the Milwaukee Braves in 1957 and the Atlanta Braves in 1995.

25. Exactly TO A T
The expression “to a T” can also be written as “to a tee”, and has been around at least since 1693.

26. Mauna __ KEA
Mauna Kea is a dormant volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii, the peak of which is the highest point in the whole state. Mauna Kea is in effect the tip of a gigantic volcano rising up from the seabed. So, the “real” height of the volcano is over 33,000 feet, which is significantly “taller” than even Mount Everest, which has an elevation of 29,029 feet above sea level.

27. “Whoso diggeth __ shall fall therein”: Proverbs A PIT
The Book of Proverbs is in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. The original Hebrew title for the book translates as “Proverbs of Solomon”.

33. California’s Big __ SUR
Big Sur is a lovely part of the California Coast, south of Monterrey and Carmel. The name “Big Sur” comes from the original Spanish description of the area as “el sur grande” meaning “the big south”.

36. Chow EATS
“Chow” is an American slang term for food that originated in California in the mid-1800s. “Chow” comes from the Chinese pidgin English “chow-chow” meaning “food”.

39. Avatar of Vishnu RAMA
In the Hindu tradition, the god known as Vishnu has seven different avatars i.e. incarnations or manifestations. Rama is the seventh of these avatars.

45. Foil maker ALCOA
The Aluminum Corporation of America (ALCOA) is the largest producer of aluminum in the United States. The company was founded in 1888 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where its headquarters are to this day.

48. Neighbor of Isr. SYR
The modern state that we know as Syria was established after WWI as a French mandate. Syria was granted independence from France in 1946.

51. __ Minh HO CHI
Ho Chi Minh was a Vietnamese Communist leader who was president of North Korea from 1945 to 1969. Ho Chi Minh traveled widely in his earlier years. From 1912 to 1918 he actually lived in the US, in New York and Boston. While in America, he held down several jobs including working as a baker in the Parker House Hotel in Boston, and as a line manager for General Motors.

52. Comparable to a March hare AS MAD
“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” is often cited as as the origin of the expression “mad as a March hare”, perhaps because of confusion between the March Hare and the Mad Hatter who appear together at the famous “tea party” in the story. However, the expression actually predates the Lewis Carroll tale, and arose as hares were said to behave quite “madly” in the March breeding season.

56. School sports org. NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) dates back to the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. When his son broke his nose playing football at Harvard, President Roosevelt turned his attention to the number of serious injuries and even deaths occurring in college sports. He instigated meetings between the major educational institutions leading to the formation of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS) in 1906, which was given the remit of regulating college sports. The IAAUS became the NCAA in 1910.

57. Like Cheerios OATY
Cheerios breakfast cereal has the distinction of being the first oat-based cereal introduced into the market, hitting the grocery store shelves in 1941. Back then it was called CheeriOats.

58. Half of seis TRES
“Seis” is Spanish for “six”, and “tres” is Spanish for “three”.

62. G.I.’s mail drop APO
Army Post Office (APO).

63. Paul McCartney, for one SIR
Paul McCartney’s real name, including his knightly title, is Sir James Paul McCartney.

Return to top of page

For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Not interesting JEJUNE
7. Real heel CAD
10. German exports BMWS
14. Beaucoup A LOT OF
15. Eight-time Norris Trophy winner ORR
16. Bit attachment REIN
17. *Largest port in NW Africa CASABLANCA
19. “Black Beauty” author Sewell ANNA
20. Metric distances: Abbr. KMS
21. Athos, to Porthos AMI
22. Word with dark or gray MATTER
24. *Warrior’s cry ATTACK! ATTACK!
27. Hersey novel setting ADANO
30. Rob Roy’s refusal NAE
31. Four-time Grammy winner Lovett LYLE
32. *Picnic side dish PASTA SALAD
35. 23-Down’s div. NLE
37. As found IN SITU
38. Pupil surrounder AREOLA
41. Ft. Worth campus TCU
42. *Knocking sound RAT-A-TAT-TAT
46. Australian six-footers EMUS
49. Punching tool AWL
50. “SNL” alum Mike MYERS
51. *Delighted HAPPY AS A CLAM
54. Animals who like to float on their back OTTERS
55. Female hare DOE
56. “Hardly!” NOT
59. Violin holder CHIN
60. *Island nation in the Indian Ocean MADAGASCAR
64. A sweatshirt may have one HOOD
65. Rocker Rose AXL
66. Sedative OPIATE
67. Overnight lodging choices INNS
68. Low grade DEE
69. Incursions … or, phonetically, what the answers to starred clues contain FORAYS

Down
1. With 2-Down, “Rio Lobo” actor JACK
2. See 1-Down ELAM
3. __ stick: incense JOSS
4. Hagen often mentioned on “Inside the Actors Studio” UTA
5. Head, slangily NOB
6. Key of Beethoven’s “Emperor” concerto E-FLAT
7. Funnel-shaped CONICAL
8. Compass-aided curve ARC
9. Pulitzer category DRAMA
10. Like a spoiled kid, often BRATTY
11. Unwritten reminder MENTAL NOTE
12. Cab storage site WINE CELLAR
13. Hunted Carroll creature SNARK
18. Microwave maker AMANA
23. Braves, on scoreboards ATL
24. Against ANTI
25. Exactly TO A T
26. Mauna __ KEA
27. “Whoso diggeth __ shall fall therein”: Proverbs A PIT
28. Fundraiser with steps? DANCE-A-THON
29. Thing taken for granted ASSUMPTION
33. California’s Big __ SUR
34. Not dis? DAT
36. Chow EATS
39. Avatar of Vishnu RAMA
40. Wd. derivation ETYM
43. Some Duracells AAS
44. Silly talk TWADDLE
45. Foil maker ALCOA
47. Capsizes UPENDS
48. Neighbor of Isr. SYR
51. __ Minh HO CHI
52. Comparable to a March hare AS MAD
53. Words with lamb or mutton LEG OF
56. School sports org. NCAA
57. Like Cheerios OATY
58. Half of seis TRES
61. Fire truck item AXE
62. G.I.’s mail drop APO
63. Paul McCartney, for one SIR

Return to top of page