Day: June 29, 2013

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. “Dad Is Fat” author/comedian Gaffigan JIM
Jim Gaffigan is a standup comedian from Chesterton, Indiana. Gaffigan wrote a book call “Dad is Fat” that was published in 2013. The book is a collection of essays about the raising of children.

17. Tough taskmasters MARTINETS
A martinet is someone who is a hard taskmaster and someone who sticks to the rules. Our use of the term is said to come from Jean Martinet, an Inspector General in the army of Louis XIV of France. Martinet was a noted drill master and disciplinarian.

18. Panache STYLE
Someone exhibiting panache is showing dash and verve, and perhaps has a swagger. “Panache” is a French word used for a plume of feathers, especially in a hat.

19. Powerful military tactic BLITZKRIEG
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”.

21. Basic Latin verb ESSE
“Esse” is the Latin for “to be”. “Sum” means “I am” and “erat” means “he, she was”.

23. Giant Giant OTT
At 5′ 9″, Mel Ott weighed just 170 lb (I don’t think he took steroids!) and yet he was the first National League player to hit over 500 home runs. Sadly, Ott died in a car accident in New Orleans in 1958 when he was only 49 years old.

24. Greenstreet co-star in “The Verdict” (1946) LORRE
The marvelous actor Peter Lorre was born in what is now modern-day Slovakia. Lorre’s real name was Laszlo Lowenstein. He started acting in Vienna when he was quite young, only 17 years old. When Hitler came to power, the Jewish Lowenstein headed to Paris and then London, eventually ending up in Hollywood. Lorre found himself typecast as the wicked foreigner in American movies, but I think he sneered and snarled his way to the bank.

Sydney Greenstreet was an English actor, most noted for his appearances in the movies “The Maltese Falcon” and “Casablanca” alongside Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre. Greenstreet was a portly gentleman and has been cited as partial inspiration for the Jabba the Hutt character in the “Star Wars” movie “Return of the Jedi”.

26. Letters above WXYZ MNO
The letters MNO are found on the 6 key of a telephone keypad.

27. Team Frisbee game ULTIMATE
Ultimate is a team sport, similar to football or rugby in that the goal is to get a flying disc into an endzone or goal area. The sport used to be called “Ultimate Frisbee”, but the “Frisbee” was dropped as it is a registered trademark.

The Frisbee concept started back in 1938 with a couple who had an upturned cake pan that they were tossing between each other on Santa Monica Beach in California. They were offered 25 cents for the pan on the spot, and as pans could be bought for 5 cents, the pair figured there was a living to be earned.

35. Altar attire ALBS
The alb is the white, neck-to-toe vestment worn by priests, usually with a rope cord around the waist. The term alb comes from “albus”, the Latin word for “white”.

36. Dog seen with Kvack the duck SNERT
Snert is the clever dog who belongs to Hägar the Horrible in the classic comic strip.

Kvack is the pet duck belonging to Helga in the comic strip “Hägar the Horrible”.

38. Signs of affection XOXO
In the sequence XOX, I think the X represents a kiss, and the O a hug. Hugs and kisses …

43. Tuba relatives SAXHORNS
The saxhorn is a valved brass instrument that was patented in 1845 by Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the related saxophone. The instrument was actually developed in the 1830s and Sax’s claim to its invention was hotly disputed. The saxhorn was the most common brass instrument used by military bands during the American Civil War.

45. ’60s pop group __ Bravos LOS
Los Bravos was a pop band from Madrid, Spain who were active in the mid to late sixties. The band’s most famous recording is “Black is Black” from 1966. Los Bravos were the first Spanish group to make it into the US charts.

46. Eponymous California museum founder GETTY
Jean Paul Getty was famous as an industrialist, but also as a grandfather who had a grandson kidnapped for ransom. John Paul Getty III was 16 years old when he was taken in Rome in 1973. The ransom demand to his father was for $17 million, a sum that he had to ask from the child’s grandfather, as he was the one with all the money. Jean Paul Getty refused to pay and 4 months later an envelope was delivered to the family containing a lock of hair and an ear. The grandfather then entered into negotiation with the kidnappers, beat them down to $2 million, and the boy was released. Getty’s grandson never really recovered. He got into drugs, and an overdose left him speechless, blind and paralyzed. Sad story …

The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles is one of the most visited museums in the country. Like many museums in developed countries these days, the Getty has been embroiled in disputes about ownership of artifacts. The curators of the Getty have gone so far as to repatriate some items in recent years, especially to Greece and Italy.

47. Brighton beer, briefly BEV
In England a “bevy” is a beverage, especially a beer.

Brighton is a town (now part of the city called Brighton and Hove) on the south coast of England. Brighton developed as a major seaside tourist destination during the Victorian era after the completion of the London and Brighton Railway in 1841. Large hotels were built on the seafront, as well as famous piers that housed concert halls and other places of entertainment.

48. Mo. in which Caesar was born JUL
The story that Julius Caesar was born via a Caesarean section seems be unfounded. Although such procedures were indeed carried out in Ancient Rome there are no reports of the mother surviving (and Julius Caesar’s mother did raise her child).

51. Caspian feeder URAL
The Ural River rises in the Ural Mountains in Russia and flows for half its length through Russian territory until it crosses the border into Kazakhstan, finally emptying into the Caspian Sea.

The Caspian Sea is a landlocked sea lying between Asia and Europe. By some definitions, the Caspian is the largest lake on the planet. The name “Caspian” comes from the Caspi people who lived to the southwest of the sea in South Caucasus.

53. Clownfish host SEA ANEMONE
The name “anemone” means “daughter of the wind” in Greek, and at one time it was believed that the wind was what actually caused the flower to bloom. The sea anemone is named for the terrestrial plant even though it isn’t a plant at all. The sea anemone is a predatory animal found on the ocean floor.

Clownfish are very colorful, attractive-looking fish. They are orange and often have broad strips of white and black on their bodies depending on species. Clownfish spend their lives in a symbiotic relationship with sea anemones.

58. Kakadu National Park site AUSTRALIA
Kakadu National Park is in the north of Australia, just south of the city of Darwin.

61. “The Glass Bead Game” author HESSE
Hermann Hesse was not only a novelist, but also a poet and a painter. Hesse’s best known work is probably his 1927 novel “Steppenwolf”.

63. Couple in “Annie” ENS
There are a couple of letters N (ens) in the word “Annie”.

Down
3. Women’s magazine __ Claire MARIE
“Marie Claire” is a women’s magazine that originated in France in 1937, and is now published all over the world.

4. Cardinals’ home ARIZONA
The Arizona Cardinals were founded in 1898 as the Chicago Cardinals. That makes the Cardinals the oldest continuously-run professional football team in the whole country.

5. Warm-weather wear TANK TOPS
“Tank top” is another one of those terms that always catches me out, as it has a different meaning on each side of the Atlantic. In the US a tank top is a sleeveless shirt, something we would call a “vest” back in Ireland (and the US “vest” is what we call a “waist coat”). A tank top in Ireland is a sleeveless sweater, which further adds to the confusion. The name “tank top” is derived from “tank suit”, an old name for a woman’s one-piece bathing suit. The use of “tank” for the bathing suit came from “swimming tank”, an obsolete term used in the 1920s for a swimming pool.

6. “I would rather eat a golf ball than see this movie again” writer EBERT
Roger Ebert really panned the 2011 movie “Seven Days in Utopia”. The film blends religion with sport in a drama based on the book “Golf’s Sacred Journey: Seven Days at the Links of Utopia”. Ebert wrote “I would rather eat a golf ball than see this movie again”.

7. Voices in il coro ALTI
In Italian, one might sing with altos (alti) in the choir (il coro).

13. Chick follower? -ADEE
The bird called the chickadee is also known as a tit or titmouse. The name chickadee is imitative of the bird’s alarm call “chick-dee dee dee”.

15. Morticia’s cousin ITT
In the television sitcom “The Addams Family”, the family had a frequent visitor called Cousin Itt. Itt is a short man with long hair that runs from his head to the floor. Cousin Itt was played by Italian actor Felix Silla.

Gomez and Morticia (“Tish”) Addams were the parents in “The Addams Family”, a creation of the cartoonist Charles Addams. In the sixties television show, Gomez was played by John Astin and Morticia was played by Carolyn Jones.

26. High point in 1980 news MT ST HELENS
Only two volcanoes in the Cascade Range in the northwest have erupted in the 20th century: Mount St. Helens in 1980 and Mount Lassen in 1915. The last significant eruption of Mount Shasta, a third volcano in the Cascades, was about 200 years ago

28. Droid message TEXT
The Droid is a smartphone from Motorola that is noted for running Google’s Android operating system.

29. “__ Turannos”: E.A. Robinson poem about a complex marriage EROS
Edwin Arlington Robinson was an American poet, the winner of three Pulitzer Prizes.

31. “The Producers” bombshell ULLA
The sex kitten married to Leo Bloom in the Mel Brooks musical “The Producers” is called Ulla, although her full name is Ulla Inga tor Hansen Benson Yansen Tallen Hallen Svaden Swanson Bloom!

“The Producers” is a 1968 satirical movie written and directed by Mel Brooks, the first film he ever directed. Brooks adapted the movie into a hugely successful Broadway musical that won a record 12 Tony Awards. The original leads in the stage show, Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, then appeared in a 2005 movie adaptation of the musical version of the original film!

32. “Halo: Reach” and “Kinect Adventures!” notably XBOX GAMES
Xbox is made by Microsoft (I’m sure the kids have one around here somewhere!) and introduced in 2001. The current version is known as Xbox 360.

40. One on a liquid diet? SOT
Our word “sot” comes from the Old English “sott”, meaning a fool. The word “sot” started to be associated with alcohol and not just foolery in the late 1500s.

44. Some NFL linemen RTS
In American football, linemen specialize in playing in the line of scrimmage. RT stands for Right Tackle. That’s about all I know, and even that I am unsure about …

48. Voight’s actress daughter JOLIE
Angelina Jolie is a remarkably successful Hollywood actress from Los Angeles, California. Jolie has acting in her blood as her father is actor Jon Voight. Her godparents are actors Jacqueline Bisset and Maximilian Schell.

50. Lists in a regatta LEANS
When a boat “lists”, it leans.

The word “regatta” is Venetian dialect and was originally used to describe boat races among the gondoliers of Venice on the Grand Canal back in the mid-1600s.

52. Sheet in a regatta ROPE
A sheet is a rope that is used to control a sail.

54. “The Clan of the Cave Bear” author AUEL
As Jean Auel prepared her first book in the “Earth’s Children” series, she did a lot of research about the Ice Age, the setting for her stories. She went as far as taking a survival course in cold conditions, learning to build an ice cave and how to make fire, tan leather and knap stone.

55. Framing item MAT
A mat is a border placed around a picture in a frame, a contrasting surround to the picture placed inside the frame.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. “Dad Is Fat” author/comedian Gaffigan JIM
4. Wipe away __ A TEAR
9. More popular song, usually SIDE A
14. Not getting by the censors UNAIRABLE
16. How some errors are shown IN RED
17. Tough taskmasters MARTINETS
18. Panache STYLE
19. Powerful military tactic BLITZKRIEG
21. Basic Latin verb ESSE
22. Big cheer OLE!
23. Giant Giant OTT
24. Greenstreet co-star in “The Verdict” (1946) LORRE
26. Letters above WXYZ MNO
27. Team Frisbee game ULTIMATE
30. Place cheek by jowl JUXTAPOSE
34. Pocket protector? MISER
35. Altar attire ALBS
36. Dog seen with Kvack the duck SNERT
38. Signs of affection XOXO
39. Bad marks BLOTS
41. Some auditors IRS AGENTS
43. Tuba relatives SAXHORNS
45. ’60s pop group __ Bravos LOS
46. Eponymous California museum founder GETTY
47. Brighton beer, briefly BEV
48. Mo. in which Caesar was born JUL
51. Caspian feeder URAL
53. Clownfish host SEA ANEMONE
56. Staycation locales HOMES
58. Kakadu National Park site AUSTRALIA
59. Admits customers OPENS
60. What many tests measure RETENTION
61. “The Glass Bead Game” author HESSE
62. Places for runners SLEDS
63. Couple in “Annie” ENS

Down
1. Egg size JUMBO
2. Collectively IN ALL
3. Women’s magazine __ Claire MARIE
4. Cardinals’ home ARIZONA
5. Warm-weather wear TANK TOPS
6. “I would rather eat a golf ball than see this movie again” writer EBERT
7. Voices in il coro ALTI
8. Property flippers, e.g. RESELLERS
9. Family gal SIS
10. Blends INTERMIXES
11. When many grazing animals migrate DRY SEASON
12. Fish without pelvic fins EELS
13. Chick follower? -ADEE
15. Morticia’s cousin ITT
20. Nabbed GOT
25. Glass part RIM
26. High point in 1980 news MT ST HELENS
27. Mouse movers USERS
28. Droid message TEXT
29. “__ Turannos”: E.A. Robinson poem about a complex marriage EROS
30. Ring tactics JABS
31. “The Producers” bombshell ULLA
32. “Halo: Reach” and “Kinect Adventures!” notably XBOX GAMES
33. No spring chicken ON IN YEARS
37. Bearing gifts? TALENTED
40. One on a liquid diet? SOT
42. Controls GOVERNS
44. Some NFL linemen RTS
47. Vigorously denounce BASTE
48. Voight’s actress daughter JOLIE
49. Strike caller UNION
50. Lists in a regatta LEANS
51. “Oops!” UH-OH!
52. Sheet in a regatta ROPE
54. “The Clan of the Cave Bear” author AUEL
55. Framing item MAT
57. Compass dir. SSE

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