Day: May 1, 2013

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Aveeno’s parent co. J AND J
Aveeno is a manufacturer of skin care and hair care products that was founded in 1945. The name Aveeno comes from the Latin name for the common oat: “Avena sativa”.

6. Hebrides native SCOT
The Hebrides is a group of islands just off the west coast of Scotland that are divided into two main group, the Inner and Outer Hebrides.

10. Madcap ZANY
Something described a zany clownish and bizarre. “Zany” can also be a noun, a term used for a clown or a buffon. The original noun was “Zanni”, a Venetian dialect variant of Gianni, short for Giovanni (John). Zanni was a character who appeared in comedy plays of the day, and was someone who aped the principal actors.

14. Olds’s last compact ALERO
The Oldsmobile Alero was the last car made under the Oldsmobile brand. The Alero was produced from 1999 to 2004.

15. Biblical prophet EZRA
Ezra the Scribe, also called Ezra the Priest, is the central character in the Book of Ezra in the Hebrew Bible.

16. “En garde” weapon EPEE
“En garde” is a French term that has been absorbed into the sport of fencing. Originally a warning “on guard!”, it is spoken at the start of an encounter to warn the fencers to take a defensive position.

17. Louis of MGM MAYER
Lazar Meir was born in Belarus in 1884, but we know him better as Louis B. Mayer, the famous American film producer and boss of MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer).

22. Actor Aykroyd DAN
Dan Aykroyd is a Canadian comedian and actor, born in Ottawa, Ontario, although he is now a naturalized US citizen. He was of course an original cast member on “Saturday Night Live” and, along with John Belushi, fronted the Blues Brothers.

23. SFO hrs. PST
San Francisco International Airport (SFO).

24. They may grade univ. papers TAS
Teaching Assistants (TAs).

37. *16th/17th-century dramatic nickname BARD OF AVON
William Shakespeare is known as the Bard of Avon as he was born and raised in the lovely town of Stratford-upon-Avon in the English midlands.

There are actually four rivers called the Avon in England, but “Shakespeare’s Avon” lies mainly in Warwickshire. The name “Avon” comes from the Old English word for a river, “abona”. Stratford-upon-Avon was of course William Shakespeare’s birthplace.

42. “Shrek” ogress FIONA
Princess Fiona is the love interest in the “Shrek” series of films.

Before “Shrek” was a successful movie franchise and Broadway musical, it was a children’s picture book called “Shrek!” authored and illustrated by William Steig. The title “Shrek!” came from the German/Yiddish word Schreck, meaning “fear” or “terror”.

43. *2009-’10 Lady Gaga hit BAD ROMANCE
Lady Gaga is the stage name of singer Stefani Germanotta from New York City. I’ve seen Lady Gaga interviewed on television a few times, and she sure is “unique”. Her music is of course out of my league, but she does know how to put on a show.

47. 2003 self-titled folk album ODETTA
Odetta Holmes (or just “Odetta”) was a singer and a human rights activist. She has been cited as an influence by such singers as Harry Belafonte, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin and Carly Simon.

48. Lawless TV role XENA
The Xena character, famously played by New Zealander Lucy Lawless, was introduced in a made-for-TV movie called “Hercules and the Amazon Women”. Lawless reprised the role in a series called “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys”. Xena became so popular that a series was built around her character, with Lawless retained for the role.

50. Dr. with Grammys DRE
Dr. Dre is the stage name of rapper Andre Romelle Young. Dr. Dre is known for his own singing career as well as for producing records and starting the careers of others such Snoop Dogg, Eminem and 50 Cent.

51. Composer Rorem NED
American composer Ned Rorem is famous for his musical compositions, but also for his book, “Paris Diary of Ned Rorem” that was published in 1966. Rorem talks openly about his sexuality in the book, and also about the sexuality of others including Noel Coward, Leonard Bernstein and Samuel Barber, much to some people’s chagrin.

52. Windy City rail and bus org. CTA
Chicago Transit Authority (CTA).

It seems that the derivation of Chicago’s nickname as the “Windy City” isn’t as obvious as I would have thought. There are two viable theories. First that the weather can be breezy, with wind blowing in off Lake Michigan. The effect of the wind is exaggerated by the grid-layout adopted by city planners after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The second theory is that “windy” means “being full of bluster”. Sportswriters from the rival city of Cincinnati were fond of calling Chicago supporters “windy” in the 1860s and 1870s, meaning that they were full of hot air in their claims that the Chicago White Stockings were superior to the Cincinnati Red Stockings.

54. “Community” network NBC
“Community” is a comedy show on NBC that first aired on 2009. Haven’t seen this one …

56. Cruise ship game … or how to start each of the answers to starred clues? SHUFFLEBOARD
The game of shuffleboard has been around for a long time. King Henry VIII was fond of playing, and in fact he prohibited commoners from playing the game. Shuffleboard is also known as shovelboard, a reference perhaps to the shovel-like paddles used to propel the pucks.

66. Operating system developed at Bell Labs UNIX
I always think of an operating system as that piece of software that sits between the hardware on my computer and the programs that I choose to run. Developers of application programs don’t really have to worry about being able to “talk to” the countless different types of hardware found in the wide variety of computers that are manufactured, they just need to talk to the handful of operating systems that are out there, like Windows, MAC and Unix. The operating system takes care of the rest.

Bell Labs dates back to the days of Alexander Graham Bell. The first Bell Labs building was in the carriage house of Bell’s father’s house in Washington, D.C.

67. Sandusky’s lake ERIE
Sandusky, Ohio is a city on the shores of Lake Erie. My son is always talking about Sandusky as a place he’d like to visit, as it is home to one the largest collections of roller coasters in the world.

69. Like the Nissan Cube BOXY
The Nissan Cube has a strangely appealing design, I find. The Cube was introduced into North America in 2009, although it had already been on sale in Japan for over a decade, since 1998.

Down
1. Door part JAMB
A door jamb is the vertical portion of a door frame. The term “jamb” comes from the French word “jambe” meaning “leg”.

2. Banned orchard spray ALAR
The chemical name for Alar, a plant growth regulator and color enhancer, is daminozide. Alar was primarily used on apples but was withdrawn from the market when it was linked to cancer.

3. “Miss Independent” R&B singer NE-YO
Ne-Yo is the stage name of R&B singer Shaffer Chimere Smith.

5. “Michael, Row the Boat Ashore” river JORDAN
“Michael, Row the Boat Ashore” is an African American spiritual that dates back at least to the Civil War.

6. Schism group SECT
A schism is a split or a division, especially in a religion.

The Jordan River forms the border between Israel and Jordan, and flows into the Dead Sea. According to the Christian Bible, Jesus was baptised in the Jordan by John the Baptist. The country of Jordan takes its name from the river.

7. Peter or Paul, but not Mary CZAR
The term czar (also tsar) is a Slavic word that was first used as a title by Simeon I of Bulgaria in 913 AD. “Czar” is derived from the word “Caesar”, which was synonymous with “emperor” at that time.

8. Ship’s lowest 70-Across ORLOP
The orlop is the lowest deck on the ship, the place where cables and ropes used to be stored. The name “orlop” comes from the Dutch word “overlopen” meaning “to run over”. The idea is that all these ropes “ran over” each other while in storage.

10. Son of Cronus and Rhea ZEUS
In Greek mythology Rhea was one of the Titans. She was the sister and husband of Cronus, and together they had six children, the last of which was Zeus. Cronus swallowed all of his children as soon as they were born, except for Zeus, who Rhea managed to hide from her husband.

11. “Angry Birds,” e.g. APP
Angry Birds is a video game that was developed for smartphones. Angry Birds is the third most downloaded game, after Tetris and Pac-Man.

13. Japanese dough YEN
The Korean Won, the Chinese Yuan, and the Japanese Yen (all of which are Asian currencies) take their names from the Chinese written character that represents “round shape”.

24. Recorded, nowadays TIVOED
TiVo was introduced in 1999 and was the world’s first commercially successful DVR (Digital Video Recorder).

26. Obama left it in November, 2008 SENATE
President Obama served three terms in the Illinois State Senate, from 1997 to 2004. The future President ran unsuccessfully for the US House of Representatives in 2000, and then successfully for the US Senate in 2004. Famously, State Senator Obama delivered the keynote address to the Democratic National Convention in 2004, just a few months before winning that US Senate seat.

27. Capital WSW of Madrid LISBON
Lisbon is the capital of Portugal. Lisbon is the westernmost capital city in Europe, and indeed is the westernmost large city on the continent. It is also the oldest city in Western Europe and is hundreds of years older than London, Paris and Rome.

32. Place with a cheer named for it BRONX
Not so much here in America, but over in the British Isles “blowing a raspberry” is a way of insulting someone (I think it’s called “a Bronx cheer” here in the US).

34. Inexperienced one NAIF
A naïf is someone who is naive, as “naïf” is the French word for “naive”.

38. Yahtzee need DICE
The dice game of Yahtzee was introduced in 1956, a variant of earlier dice games, especially the game “Yacht” (which even has a similar name). Yahtzee is required playing in our house at holidays.

49. Costello’s partner ABBOTT
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello made up the comedy duo Abbott and Costello who were immensely popular in the forties and fifties. Even when I was growing up in Ireland and knew nothing about baseball, I was rolling around the floor listening to Abbott and Costello’s famous “Who’s on First?” comedy routine. Can you name all the players?

– First Base: Who
– Second Base: What
– Third Base: I Don’t Know
– Left field: Why
– Center field: Because
– Pitcher: Tomorrow
– Catcher: Today
– Shortstop: I Don’t Care/I Don’t Give a Darn

55. Brooklyn’s __ Island CONEY
“Cony” (or “coney”) is an old English word for rabbit or rabbit fur, and Coney Island in New York takes its name from the same root. The Dutch used the name “Conyne Eylandt” (Rabbit Island) after the large population of rabbits that was hunted there.

57. Abbr. in a bank ad FDIC
During the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Banking Act of 1933. The legislation established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), intended to be a temporary government corporation that provided insurance on deposits made by customers of qualified financial institutions. The first accounts to be covered, in 1934, had an insurance limit of $2,500. Since the financial crisis of 2008, that limit is $250,000.

59. “To serve, not to be served” group AARP
AARP is now the official name for the interest group that used to be called the American Association of Retired Persons. The name change reflects the current focus of the group on all Americans aged 50 or over, as opposed to just people who have retired.

61. Stowe antislavery novel DRED
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s first novel ended up being her most famous, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. Stowe followed it up with an 1856 novel called “Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp”.

63. Year in Madrid ANO
In Spanish, there are 100 años (years) in a century (siglo).

Madrid is the largest city in Spain and the capital. Madrid is located very close to the geographical center of the country.

64. Puffed cereal with a Berry Berry variety KIX
Kix cereal has been around since 1937, would you believe? Kix used to be just puffed grains, processed to give the characteristic shape. Then the decision was made to add sugar to get better penetration into the young kid marketplace. Sad really …

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Aveeno’s parent co. J AND J
6. Hebrides native SCOT
10. Madcap ZANY
14. Olds’s last compact ALERO
15. Biblical prophet EZRA
16. “En garde” weapon EPEE
17. Louis of MGM MAYER
18. Taps CALLS UPON
20. *General outline components BROAD STROKES
22. Actor Aykroyd DAN
23. SFO hrs. PST
24. They may grade univ. papers TAS
27. __-di-dah LAH
30. Shell-shocked NUMB
33. Ad time TONITE
35. Steamed IRED
37. *16th/17th-century dramatic nickname BARD OF AVON
39. Scrawny sort SCRAG
41. First person in France? MOI
42. “Shrek” ogress FIONA
43. *2009-’10 Lady Gaga hit BAD ROMANCE
46. Distance measures FEET
47. 2003 self-titled folk album ODETTA
48. Lawless TV role XENA
50. Dr. with Grammys DRE
51. Composer Rorem NED
52. Windy City rail and bus org. CTA
54. “Community” network NBC
56. Cruise ship game … or how to start each of the answers to starred clues? SHUFFLEBOARD
62. Go motoring TAKE A RIDE
65. Studio sign ON AIR
66. Operating system developed at Bell Labs UNIX
67. Sandusky’s lake ERIE
68. Short and probably not sweet TERSE
69. Like the Nissan Cube BOXY
70. Swabbing site DECK
71. Pounded the keyboard TYPED

Down
1. Door part JAMB
2. Banned orchard spray ALAR
3. “Miss Independent” R&B singer NE-YO
4. Can’t contemplate DREAD
5. “Michael, Row the Boat Ashore” river JORDAN
6. Schism group SECT
7. Peter or Paul, but not Mary CZAR
8. Ship’s lowest 70-Across ORLOP
9. Consults TALKS TO
10. Son of Cronus and Rhea ZEUS
11. “Angry Birds,” e.g. APP
12. New beginning? NEO-
13. Japanese dough YEN
19. Hit the road SET OFF
21. Intentionally fail to invite SNUB
24. Recorded, nowadays TIVOED
25. Sorry sort ATONER
26. Obama left it in November, 2008 SENATE
27. Capital WSW of Madrid LISBON
28. Game sanctuary? ARCADE
29. Kept together, as sheep HERDED
31. Doll’s cry MAMA!
32. Place with a cheer named for it BRONX
34. Inexperienced one NAIF
36. Zip DART
38. Yahtzee need DICE
40. “Tricked you!” GOTCHA!
44. Turned from green to red, perhaps MATURED
45. Kin of -trix -ENNE
49. Costello’s partner ABBOTT
53. Blazing AFIRE
55. Brooklyn’s __ Island CONEY
56. Quite the fox SEXY
57. Abbr. in a bank ad FDIC
58. Onionlike veggie LEEK
59. “To serve, not to be served” group AARP
60. Ascent RISE
61. Stowe antislavery novel DRED
62. Place to unwind TUB
63. Year in Madrid ANO
64. Puffed cereal with a Berry Berry variety KIX

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Posted by Bill Butler
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