Day: October 7, 2013

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. A dromedary has one HUMP
The dromedary, also known as the Arabian Camel or Indian Camel, is the camel that has only one hump. The other species of camel is the Bactrian, which has two humps. The hump of a dromedary contains up to 80 pounds of fat, which can be broken down into water and energy if no food or water is available.

5. Smart guy? ALECK
Apparently the original “smart Alec” was Alec Hoag, a pimp, thief and confidence trickster who plied his trade in New York City in the 1840s.

14. Black-and-white snack OREO
How the Oreo cookie came to get its name seems to have been lost in the mists of time. One theory is that it comes from the French “or” meaning “gold”, a reference to the gold color of the original packing. Another suggestion is that the name is the Greek word “oreo” meaning “beautiful, nice, well-done”.

15. Military training group CADRE
A “cadre” is most commonly a group of experienced personnel at the core of a larger organization that the small group trains or heavily influences. “Cadre” is a French word meaning a “frame”. We use it in the sense that a cadre is a group that provides a “framework” for the larger organization.

16. Actress Hatcher TERI
Teri Hatcher’s most famous role these days is the Susan Mayer character in “Desperate Housewives”. I’ve never seen more than a few minutes of “Housewives” but I do know Teri Hatcher as a Bond girl, as she appeared in “Tomorrow Never Dies”.

22. Fateful March day IDES
There were three important days in each month of the old Roman calendar. These days originally depended on the cycles of the moon but were eventually “fixed” by law. “Kalendae” were the first days of each month, originally the days of the new moon. “Nonae” were originally the days of the half moon. And “idus” (the ides) was originally the day of the full moon, eventually fixed at the 15th day of a month. Well, actually the ides were the 15th day of March, May, July and October. For all other months, the ides fell on the 13th. Go figure …

23. Equipment on a balance sheet, e.g. ASSET
The balance sheet of a company is a snapshot (single point in time) view of a company’s financial position. The balance sheet lists all the company’s liabilities, all of its assets, and all of its ownership equity. The assets of a company, less its liabilities equals the ownership equity. The term “balance” is used because assets always balance out with the sum of liabilities and shareholder equity.

24. Immunity builder SERUM
Blood serum is the clear, yellowish part of blood i.e. that part which is neither a blood cell or a clotting factor. Included in blood serum are antibodies, the proteins that are central to our immune system. Blood serum from animals that have immunity to some disease can be transferred to another individual, hence providing that second individual with some level of immunity. Blood serum used to pass on immunity can be called “antiserum”.

26. Cuban dance RUMBA
The rumba is a Cuban dance, with influences brought by African slaves and Spanish colonists. The name “rumba” comes from “rumbo”, the Spanish word for “party, spree”.

39. Foofaraw ADO
“Foofaraw” is excessive or flashy ornamentation, or a fuss over something that is unimportant.

43. Posh RITZY
The adjective “ritzy” meaning “high quality and luxurious” derives from the opulent Ritz hotels in New York, London, Paris etc.

Cesar Ritz was a Swiss hotelier, who had a reputation for developing the most luxurious of accommodations and attracting the wealthiest clientèle. He opened the Hotel Ritz in Paris in 1898, and the second of his most famous hotels, the Ritz Hotel in London, in 1906. Ritz was lucky in his career, as before starting his own hotel chain, he had been dismissed from the Savoy Hotel in London, implicated in the disappearance of a substantial amount of wine and spirits.

46. Bluish hue CYAN
“Cyan” is short for “cyan blue”. The term comes from the Greek word “kyanos” meaning “dark blue, the color of lapis lazuli”.

53. Zodiac transition points CUSPS
The word “cusp” comes from the Latin “cuspis” meaning “spear, point”. In the world of astrology, a cusp is an imaginary line separating two signs of the zodiac. For example, someone whose birthday is between April 16 and April 26 is said to have been born “on the cusp” between the signs Aries and Taurus.

57. Arizona Indian HOPI
The Hopi nation live on a reservation that is actually located within the much larger Navajo reservation in Arizona.

59. *Title racehorse in a 2003 film SEABISCUIT
Hardtack is an easily preserved biscuit that was used in days gone by on long ocean voyages. As such, is was also called “ship biscuit” and “sea biscuit”. The legendary racehorse called Seabiscuit was named for the very same food item, as Seabiscuit was sired by a horse called Hard Tack.

The 2003 hit movie “Seabiscuit” is best a best-selling book by Laura Hillenbrand called “Seabiscuit: An American Legend”.

63. Mont Blanc, par exemple ALPE
Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in the Alps. The name “Mont Blanc” translates from French into “white mountain”. The mountain lies on the border between France and Italy, and it has been generally accepted for decades that the summit lies within French territory. However, there have been official claims that the summit does in fact fall within the borders of Italy.

65. Foreign Legion cap KEPI
A kepi is that circular cap with a visor that’s worn in particular by the French military.

The French Foreign Legion is a military wing of the French Army that is noted for accepting foreign nationals into its ranks. The Legion is open to French recruits, but they only make up about a quarter of the fighting force. Having said that, the majority of the officers are Frenchman.

67. “Fame” singer Cara IRENE
Irene Cara (as well as acting in “Fame”) sang the theme songs to the hit movies “Fame” and “Flashdance”.

68. First family’s garden site? EDEN
According to the Book of Genesis, Adam and Eve lived in a garden “in” Eden, with Eden being geographically located by reference to four rivers including the Tigris and the Euphrates. Some scholars hypothesize that Eden was located in Mesopotamia, which encompasses much of modern-day Iraq.

69. Oater stronghold FORT
The term “oater” that is used for a western movie comes from the number of horses seen, as horses love oats!

Down
1. Labor leader who vanished in 1975 HOFFA
Jimmy Hoffa headed off to meet with two Mafia leaders at a restaurant in a suburb of Detroit on July 30, 1975. The two men he was supposed to meet denied any appointment was made, and they were seen in public in other locations far from the restaurant. Hoffa was spotted by passers by in the restauranparking lot, the last time he was ever seen. His wife reported him missing later that night, and the resulting police investigation failed to find Hoffa or his body. Hoffa was declared legally dead in 1982, seven years after he disappeared.

2. Range dividing Europe and Asia URALS
The eastern side of the Ural Mountains in Russia is generally regarded as the natural divide between the continents of Europe and Asia.

3. Southwestern tablelands MESAS
“Mesa” is the Spanish for “table” and is of course is how we get the term “mesa” that describes a geographic feature. “What’s the difference between a butte and a mesa?” I hear you cry! Both are hills with flat tops, but a mesa has a top that is wider than it is tall. A butte is a much narrower formation, taller than it is wide.

5. Adaptable, electrically AC/DC
If you have a laptop with an external power supply then that big “block” is an AC/DC converter. It converts the AC current you get from a wall socket into the DC current that is used by the laptop.

10. Some hotel lobbies ATRIUMS
In modern architecture an atrium (plural “atria” or “atriums”) is a large open space usually in the center of a building and extending upwards to the roof. The original atrium was an open court in the center of an Ancient Roman house. One could access most of the enclosed rooms of the house from the atrium.

12. “Rule, Britannia” composer ARNE
Thomas Arne was an English composer from London. Arne wrote some iconic compositions including “Rule, Britannia!” He also wrote a version of “God Save the King” that became the British national anthem.

“Rule Britannia!” was a poem by James Thomson, for which Thomas Arne composed the famous music.

21. Early Beatle Sutcliffe STU
Stu Sutcliffe was one of the original four members of The Silver Beatles (as The Beatles were known in their early days), along with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison. Sutcliffe apparently came up with name “Beatles” along with John Lennon, as a homage to their hero Buddy Holly who was backed by the “Crickets”. By all reports, Sutcliffe wasn’t a very talented musician and was more interested in painting. He went with the group to Hamburg, more than once, but he eventually left the Beatles and went back to art school, actually studying for a while at the Hamburg College of Art. In 1962 in Hamburg, Sutcliffe collapsed with blinding headaches. He died in the ambulance on the way to hospital, his death attributed to cerebral paralysis.

25. Enjoy King and Koontz READ
Stephen King is a remarkably successful author having sold over 350 million copies of his books, many of which have been made into hit movies. I’ve tried reading two or three, but I really don’t do horror …

Dean Koontz is an American author of suspense-thriller and horror novels.

27. Cohort of Curly MOE
If you’ve seen a few of the films starring “The Three Stooges” you’ll have noticed that the line up changed over the years. The original trio was made up of Moe and Shemp Howard (two brothers) and Larry Fine (a good friend of the Howards). This line up was usually known as “Moe, Larry and Shemp”. Then Curly Howard replaced his brother when Shemp quit the act, creating the most famous trio, “Moe, Larry And Curly”. Shemp returned when Curly had a debilitating stroke in 1946, and Shemp stayed with the troupe until he died in 1955. Shemp was replaced by Joe Besser, and then “Curly-Joe” DeRita. When Larry Fine had a stroke in 1970, it effectively marked the end of the act.

31. Director Ephron NORA
Nora Ephron had many talents, including writing film scripts and novels. Many of the movies that she wrote, she also directed. These would include some of my favorite movies of all time like “Sleepless in Seattle”, “You’ve Got Mail” and most recently, the wonderful “Julie & Julia”. And, did you know that Nora Ephron’s second marriage was to journalist Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame? She wrote an autobiographical novel based on her life with Bernstein, dealing in particular with Bernstein’s affair with the daughter of British Prime Minister James Callaghan.

32. Kenton of jazz STAN
Stan Kenton was a pianist, composer and jazz orchestra leader from Wichita, Kansas. Kenton’s style of music was called “the Wall of Sound”, and that was back in the 1940s. Phil Spector used the same phrase decades later, in the early sixties.

34. Falco of “The Sopranos” EDIE
Edie Falco won her three Emmy Awards for playing Carmela Soprano on HBO’s outstanding drama series called “The Sopranos”.

“The Sopranos” is an outstanding television drama that was made by HBO and is a story about Italian-American mobsters in New Jersey. “The Sopranos” has made more money than any other television series in the history of cable television. It’s “must see TV” …

35. *Jalapeño, for one HOT PEPPER
The delicious jalapeño pepper is named for the place where it was first cultivated: the city of Xalapa (also “Jalapa”) in Veracruz, Mexico.

40. Polar explorer Richard BYRD
Rear Admiral Richard Byrd was an officer in the US Navy, famous as an aviator and explorer of the polar regions. Byrd was the first person to cross the South Pole by air, in 1929. Three years earlier, Byrd claimed he had flown over the North Pole, and would have been the first person to have done so if this was true. But whether or not Byrd actually made it over the North Pole continues to be the subject of much debate.

41. Menu words A LA
The term “in the style of” can be translated in “alla” in Italian and “à la” in French.

44. Most off-the-wall ZANIEST
Something described as “zany” is clownish and bizarre. “Zany” can also be a noun, a term used for a clown or a buffoon. 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.

48. Buttocks, informally TUSHIE
“Tush” is a slang term for the backside, an abbreviation of “tochus” that comes from the Yiddish “tokhes”.

50. Loos, for short WCS
When I was growing up in Ireland, a “bathroom” was a room that had a bath and no toilet. The separate room with the commode was called “the toilet” or sometimes the W.C. (the water closet). Apparently the term closet was used because in the 1800s when homeowners started installing toilets indoors they often displaced clothes and linens in a “closet”, as a closet was the right size to take the commode. It has been suggested that the British term “loo” comes from Waterloo (water-closet … water-loo), but no one seems to know for sure. Another suggestion is that the term comes from the card game of “lanterloo” in which the pot was called the loo!

54. Soft leather SUEDE
Suede is leather made from the underside of the skin, mainly from a lamb. As such it is very soft, although not as durable as leather made from the exterior skin. The soft leather was, and is still used for making gloves. Back in 1859 these gloves were called “gants de Suede” in France, or “gloves of Sweden”. So, the name “suede” comes from the French word for Sweden.

55. Plumber’s concerns PIPES
“Plumbum” is the Latin for lead, explaining why the symbol of the element in the Periodic Table is “Pb”. It also explains why the original lead weight on the end of a line used to check vertical was called a “plumb line”. And, as pipes were originally made of lead, it also explains why we would call in a “plumber” if one of them was leaking.

58. Hodgepodge OLIO
“Hochepot” is an Old French word for stew or soup, and this gave rise to an Anglo-French legal term for a collection of property that was gathered prior to being divided up. This became our “hodgepodge” in the early 1400s.

Olio is a term meaning a hodgepodge or a mixture, coming from the mixed stew of the same name. The stew in turn takes its name from the Spanish “olla”, the clay pot used for cooking.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. A dromedary has one HUMP
5. Smart guy? ALECK
10. Exec’s “I need it now!” ASAP!
14. Black-and-white snack OREO
15. Military training group CADRE
16. Actress Hatcher TERI
17. Like a clock reading 5:05 at 5:00 FAST
18. “Eat!” DIG IN!
19. Tenant’s expense RENT
20. *Space-saving computer monitor FLAT-SCREEN
22. Fateful March day IDES
23. Equipment on a balance sheet, e.g. ASSET
24. Immunity builder SERUM
26. Cuban dance RUMBA
30. Defective cars LEMONS
33. Devious laughs HEHS
36. “That stings!” OUCH!
38. Often __: about half the time AS NOT
39. Foofaraw ADO
40. Untidy waking-up hair condition, and what the first word of the answers to starred clues can be BED-HEAD
42. Historical span ERA
43. Posh RITZY
45. Freezer bag feature SEAL
46. Bluish hue CYAN
47. Go away DEPART
49. Southern speech feature DRAWL
51. Turn out to be END UP
53. Zodiac transition points CUSPS
57. Arizona Indian HOPI
59. *Title racehorse in a 2003 film SEABISCUIT
63. Mont Blanc, par exemple ALPE
64. Rabbit relatives HARES
65. Foreign Legion cap KEPI
66. Falsehoods LIES
67. “Fame” singer Cara IRENE
68. First family’s garden site? EDEN
69. Oater stronghold FORT
70. Tickle pink ELATE
71. Cubicle furnishing DESK

Down
1. Labor leader who vanished in 1975 HOFFA
2. Range dividing Europe and Asia URALS
3. Southwestern tablelands MESAS
4. Kiln users POTTERS
5. Adaptable, electrically AC/DC
6. Wilderness home LAIR
7. Rim EDGE
8. Reacts to a tearjerker CRIES
9. Pet’s home away from home KENNEL
10. Some hotel lobbies ATRIUMS
11. *Start-up capital SEED MONEY
12. “Rule, Britannia” composer ARNE
13. Depressing situation, with “the” PITS
21. Early Beatle Sutcliffe STU
25. Enjoy King and Koontz READ
27. Cohort of Curly MOE
28. Future blossoms BUDS
29. Felt pain ACHED
31. Director Ephron NORA
32. Kenton of jazz STAN
33. Difficult HARD
34. Falco of “The Sopranos” EDIE
35. *Jalapeño, for one HOT PEPPER
37. Listen to HEAR
40. Polar explorer Richard BYRD
41. Menu words A LA
44. Most off-the-wall ZANIEST
46. Sounded like a chicken CLUCKED
48. Buttocks, informally TUSHIE
50. Loos, for short WCS
52. Necklace gem PEARL
54. Soft leather SUEDE
55. Plumber’s concerns PIPES
56. Reek STINK
57. Football game division HALF
58. Hodgepodge OLIO
60. Real estate measurement AREA
61. Curved BENT
62. “That makes sense” I SEE

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