Day: February 22, 2014

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Honolulu memorial USS ARIZONA
The USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor sits across the sunken hull of the battleship, the resting place of 1,102 out of 1,117 sailors of the Arizona who were killed during the 1941 attack. After the attack, the superstructure of the Arizona protruded above the surface of the water. This was removed during and after WWII, leaving just a submerged hull. The memorial itself was approved by President Eisenhower in 1958, and the building was opened in 1962. In 1999, the battleship USS Missouri was permanently moored in Pearl Harbor, docked nearby and perpendicular to the Arizona. It was on the Missouri that the Japanese surrendered, marking the end of WWII.

17. What “c” might mean LIGHT SPEED
In Albert Einstein’s famous equation E=mc², “E” stands for energy, “m” stands for mass, and “c” stands for the speed of light.

18. Cold War capital BONN
After WWII, Bonn was chosen as the capital of West Germany, a choice promoted by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer who was from the area. After German reunification, the capital was moved to Berlin.

31. Adopted great-nephew of Claudius NERO
The Roman emperor Nero had quite the family life. When Nero was just 16-years-old he married his stepsister, Claudia Octavia. He also had his mother and step-brother executed.

I find Claudius to be the most fascinating of all the Roman Emperors. Claudius had a lot going against him as he walked with a limp and was slightly deaf. He was put in office by the Praetorian Guard (the emperor’s bodyguards) after Caligula was assassinated. Claudius had very little political experience and yet proved to be very forward-thinking and capable.

33. Self-titled 1991 debut album ALANIS
Alanis Morissette is a Canadian singer-songwriter. After releasing two pop albums in Canada, in 1995 she recorded her first album to be distributed internationally. Called “Jagged Little Pill”, it is a collection of songs with more of a rock influence. The album was a huge success, the highest-selling album of the 1990s, and the highest-selling debut album by any artist at any time (selling over 30 million units).

34. Fashionable ’40s garb ZOOT SUITS
A zoot suit has pants that are fairly loose fitting, except around the cuff at the bottom of the leg. The pants also have a high waist. The jacket of the suit has wide lapels and wide padded shoulders. Zoot-suits were popular in the US in the thirties and forties, and were often associated with the African American, Latino American and Italian American ethnic groups. Over in the UK, the zoot suit was worn by the “Teddy boys” of the fifties and sixties. “Zoot” is probably just a slang iteration of the word “suit”.

37. Jumbles OLIOS
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.

41. 8 for O, e.g. AT NO
The atomic number of an element is also called the proton number, and is the number of protons found in the nucleus of each atom of the element.

44. Apple Store tech support station GENIUS BAR
The technical support desk found in Apple Retail Stores is rather inventively called the Genius Bar. The certified support technicians are known as “Geniuses”. The trainees are called GYOs, Grow-Your-Own-Geniuses”.

46. Cram BONE UP
The phrasal verb “to bone up” means “to study”, and is student slang that dates back to the 1880s. The term probably comes a series of books used by students back then called “Bohn’s Classical Library”.

49. One wearing a “Y” shirt, perhaps ELI
Elihu Yale was a wealthy merchant born in Boston in 1649. Yale worked for the British East India Company, and for many years served as governor of a settlement at Madras (now Chennai) in India. After India, Yale took over his father’s estate near Wrexham in Wales. It was while resident in Wrexham that Yale responded to a request for financial support for the Collegiate School of Connecticut in 1701. He sent the school a donation, which was used to erect a new building in New Haven that was named “Yale” in his honor. In 1718, the whole school was renamed to “Yale College”. To this day, students of Yale are nicknamed “Elis”, again honoring Elihu.

52. Messenger molecules RNAS
Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) is an essential catalyst in the manufacture of proteins in the body. The genetic code in DNA determines the sequence of amino acids that make up each protein. That sequence is read in DNA by messenger RNA, and amino acids are delivered for protein manufacture in the correct sequence by what is called transfer RNA. The amino acids are then formed into proteins by ribosomal RNA.

54. SS supplement IRA
The Social Security Administration (SSA) was of course set up as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. The first person to receive a monthly retirement benefit was Ida May Fuller of Vermont who received her first check for the sum of $22.54 after having contributed for three years through payroll taxes. The New Deal turned out to be a good deal for Ms. Fuller, as she lived to 100 years of age and received a total benefit of almost $23,000, whereas her three years of contributions added up to just $24.75.

55. “Deputy __”: old toon DAWG
Deputy Dawg is a cartoon character in the Terrytoon television series. Deputy Dawg is a deputy sheriff in the State of Mississippi. I remember him well as my parents put curtains on the windows in our bedroom when we were very young, curtains which featured the characters Deputy Dawg and Yogi Bear.

57. “The King and I” group HAREM
“Harem” is a Turkish word, derived from the Arabic for “forbidden place”. Traditionally a harem was the female quarters in a household in which a man had more than one wife. Not only wives (and concubines) would use the harem, but also young children and other female relatives. The main point was that no men were allowed in the area.

“The King and I” is a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical based on a book by Margaret Landon called “Anna and the King of Siam” first published in 1944. Landon’s book is based on a true story, told in the memoirs of Anna Leonowens. Leonowens was the governess of the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the 1860s, and she also taught the king’s wives.

61. Nonsense JIVE
“Jive” is a slang term meaning “nonsensical talk”.

66. 2013 Zipcar acquirer AVIS
Avis has been around since 1946, and is the second largest car rental agency after Hertz. Avis has the distinction of being the first car rental company to locate a branch at an airport.

Zipcar is a carsharing company. Carsharing differs from car rental in that cars are available only to members, but 24 hours a day as opposed to office hours. There are other differences, including the fact that members are usually responsible for leaving cars gassed up and clean for the next user.

67. Pinocchio, for one MARIONETTE
A marionette is a type of puppet, one that is controlled from above by a series of strings or wires. The term “marionette” is French for “little, little Mary” and is probably a reference to one of the first such puppets, which depicted the Virgin Mary.

“The Adventures of Pinocchio” is an 1883 children’s novel by Carlo Collodi, which is all about an animated puppet called Pinocchio and Geppetto, his poor woodcarver father. Pinocchio is prone to telling lies, the stress of which causes his short nose to become longer.

68. Composer Rorem and others NEDS
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.

Down
1. Pauley Pavilion team UCLA
The Pauley Pavillion on the UCLA campus is home to the school’s basketball, volleyball and gymnastics teams. The arena was completed in 1965 and is named for Edwin P. Pauley who contributed the lion’s share of the funds needed for construction. The Pauley Pavilion was also the venue for the gymnastic events in the 1962 Summer Olympic Games.

7. Letter number ZIP
ZIP codes were introduced in 1963. The acronym ZIP stands for Zone Improvement Plan, a name indicating that mail travels more efficiently when the codes are included in the postal address.

8. Spoiler of a perfect semester ONE B
“Semester” is a German word from the Latin “semestris”, an adjective meaning “of six months”. We use the term in a system that divides an academic year into two roughly equal parts. A trimester system has three parts, and a quarter system has four.

10. Tenor Bocelli ANDREA
Andrea Bocelli is a classically-trained tenor who sings popular music, a so-called cross-over artist. Bocelli was born with poor eyesight and then became totally blind at the age of 12 when he had an accident playing soccer.

14. Education innovator MONTESSORI
The Montessori approach to education was developed by the Italian educator Maria Montessori in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The Montessori system arrived in the US in 1911, but most classes were shut down by 1914 due to unfavorable criticism from the established education system. There was a revival in interest in the US starting in 1960 and now there are thousands of schools using the Montessori approach all over the country.

21. __ Accords: 1993 agreement OSLO
The Oslo Accords grew out of secret negotiations between the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel in a residence in Oslo in the early nineties. The delegates shared the same house while they conducted 14 meetings. While eating all their meals together at the same table, the negotiators came to respect one another and apparently friendships developed.

24. Huit follower NEUF
In French, nine (neuf) follows eight (huit).

25. Composer who incorporated Norwegian folk music into his work GRIEG
Edvard Grieg is Norway’s best known composer, active in the Romantic Era. His most famous works are the gorgeous Piano Concerto in A minor, and his incidental music for the play “Peer Gynt” by Henrik Ibsen.

28. Caspian Sea republic AZERBAIJAN
Azerbaijan is a former Soviet Republic lying on the Caspian Sea just northeast of Iran. The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic established in 1918 became the Muslim world’s first democratic and secular state. It didn’t last long though, as two years later it was absorbed into the Soviet Union.

29. Haute couture shopping area RODEO DRIVE
There’s a three-block stretch of Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, California that is known for expensive shopping, mainly in designer clothes stores.

“Haute couture”, literally “high dressmaking” in French, is a name given to the creation of exclusive fashions. A couturier is someone who creates or sells such fashions.

30. Hexagram on the Israeli flag MOGEN DAVID
Magen (also “Mogen”) David is Hebrew for “Shield of David”, and is another name for the Star of David. The use of the distinctive hexagram as a symbol for the Jewish community started in 17th-century Europe.

35. Harrison’s successor TYLER
John Tyler was the tenth President of the US, and the first to take the office on the death of the incumbent. Tyler’s predecessor was President William Henry Harrison, who was in office only 32 days before he died of natural causes. For a while there was a little confusion about the wording in the constitution that covered such an eventuality. There was an argument made that Tyler would continue as Vice-President but would assume the responsibilities of the office of President, in effect as “Acting President”. However, Tyler proceeded as though he was taking over as President and took the oath of office in his hotel room in Washington. Soon afterwards, Congress declared that Tyler was indeed President, although many continued to dispute the fact. Many of President Tyler’s opponents referred to him as “His Accidency”.

President William Henry Harrison was the ninth President of the US. At 68 years of age, he was the oldest person to become president, until Ronald Reagan was elected to the office in 1981. President Harrison was also the first president to die in office, only 32 days after having been sworn in. His presidency was the shortest in history.

36. Toledo title SENOR
Toledo is a city in central Spain.

40. “I Wonder Why” lead singer DION
Dion and the Belmonts were a vocal group from the fifties who had success in the late fifties. The four singers were from the Bronx in New York, with two living on Belmont Avenue, hence the name that was chosen. Perhaps the biggest hits for Dion and the Belmonts were “A Teenager in Love” and “Where or When”.

45. St. George residents UTAHANS
St. George is a city in Utah that lies on the border with Arizona in the southwest of the state. The city was founded in 1861 as a cotton mission and was named for George A. Smith, who was an apostle of the Mormon Church. St. George is home to the LDS Church’s longest continually operating temple, which was completed in 1877.

47. Job follow-up? PSALMS
The Greek word “psalmoi” originally meant “songs sung to a harp”, and gave us the word “psalms”.

The story of “the patience of Job” is told in the Book of Job in the Bible. Job exhibits great patience in refusing to condemn God after Satan was allowed to destroy his family and property.

51. Part of Churchill’s offer SWEAT
Soon after Winston Churchill took over as Prime Minister of the UK in 1940, he delivered some stirring speeches that rallied the country in the face of German victories right across Europe. The first of these was his “Blood, toil, tears, and sweat” speech as he reported to Parliament on the formation of a new coalition government designed to unite the country in time of war. Famous lines from the speech include:

We are in the preliminary stage of one of the greatest battles in history…. That we are in action at many points—in Norway and in Holland—, that we have to be prepared in the Mediterranean. That the air battle is continuous, and that many preparations have to be made here at home.

I would say to the House as I said to those who have joined this government: I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering.

You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory. Victory at all costs—Victory in spite of all terror—Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.

53. Capital on the Willamette SALEM
Salem is the state capital of Oregon. It is thought that the city takes its name from the older city of Salem, Massachusetts.

The Willamette River in northwestern Oregon is a major tributary of the Columbia River. The Willamette flows through the state capital of Salem, as well as through Portland, Oregon’s largest city.

56. “Mr. Mom” actress GARR
The lovely Teri Garr had a whole host of minor roles in her youth, including appearances in nine Elvis movies. Garr’s big break came with the role of Inga in “Young Frankenstein”, and her supporting role in “Tootsie” earned Garr an Academy Award nomination. Sadly, Teri Garr suffers from multiple sclerosis. She is a National Ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

“Mr. Mom” is a 1983 comedy written by John Hughes, starring Michael Keaton and the great Teri Garr. The movie is all about an engineer in the auto industry in Detroit who loses his job and then takes over the running of the household while his wife heads back to work. It’s funny stuff …

58. Personnel list ROTA
“Rota”, meaning a roster of names, isn’t a word I hear much in the US, but we used it all the time back in Ireland.

59. Start of an intermission? ENTR’-
The term entr’acte comes to us from French, and is the interval between two acts (“entre” deux “actes”) of a theatrical performance. It often describes some entertainment provided during that interval.

65. Aurora, to the Greeks EOS
In Greek mythology, Eos is the goddess of the dawn who lived at the edge of the ocean. Eos would wake each morning to welcome her brother Helios the sun. The Roman equivalent of Eos is Aurora.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Honolulu memorial USS ARIZONA
11. Stroked SWUM
15. Approached CLOSED IN ON
16. Quite OH SO
17. What “c” might mean LIGHT SPEED
18. Cold War capital BONN
19. Befogged AT SEA
20. Beginning for metric BARO-
22. Hipster CAT
23. Rat SING
26. Do maintenance on, as a roof RESLATE
28. Inlet ARM
31. Adopted great-nephew of Claudius NERO
33. Self-titled 1991 debut album ALANIS
34. Fashionable ’40s garb ZOOT SUITS
37. Jumbles OLIOS
38. Nervous EDGY
39. Honored, in a way FETED
41. 8 for O, e.g. AT NO
42. Lively dances REELS
44. Apple Store tech support station GENIUS BAR
46. Cram BONE UP
48. Cheer ROOT
49. One wearing a “Y” shirt, perhaps ELI
50. Formal talk ADDRESS
52. Messenger molecules RNAS
54. SS supplement IRA
55. “Deputy __”: old toon DAWG
57. “The King and I” group HAREM
61. Nonsense JIVE
63. Don’t bother LEAVE ALONE
66. 2013 Zipcar acquirer AVIS
67. Pinocchio, for one MARIONETTE
68. Composer Rorem and others NEDS
69. Pronunciation aid STRESS-MARK

Down
1. Pauley Pavilion team UCLA
2. Fine cut SLIT
3. Soaks, in British dialect SOGS
4. Fire proof ASHES
5. Hires to handle the case RETAINS
6. Names IDS
7. Letter number ZIP
8. Spoiler of a perfect semester ONE B
9. Musical deficiency NO EAR
10. Tenor Bocelli ANDREA
11. Sound of distress SOB
12. Response to a knock WHO CAN IT BE?
13. Amer. citizen, e.g. US NATIONAL
14. Education innovator MONTESSORI
21. __ Accords: 1993 agreement OSLO
24. Huit follower NEUF
25. Composer who incorporated Norwegian folk music into his work GRIEG
27. Singing syllables LA LAS
28. Caspian Sea republic AZERBAIJAN
29. Haute couture shopping area RODEO DRIVE
30. Hexagram on the Israeli flag MOGEN DAVID
32. River player OTTER
35. Harrison’s successor TYLER
36. Toledo title SENOR
40. “I Wonder Why” lead singer DION
43. Took to court SUED
45. St. George residents UTAHANS
47. Job follow-up? PSALMS
51. Part of Churchill’s offer SWEAT
53. Capital on the Willamette SALEM
56. “Mr. Mom” actress GARR
58. Personnel list ROTA
59. Start of an intermission? ENTR’-
60. Yielding MEEK
62. Winding path ESS
64. Contend VIE
65. Aurora, to the Greeks EOS

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