Day: April 19, 2014

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Treat that comes in Mint Oreo and M&M’s flavors DQ BLIZZARD
Soft serve ice cream was developed by John McCullough in 1938. McCullough was able to get his new dessert carried by a local ice cream store in Illinois. He and the store owner became so swamped with sales that they opened a store specifically built around the product in Joliet, Illinois, hence creating the first Dairy Queen outlet. There are now over 5,700 Dairy Queen franchises in 19 countries. We’ve even got one in Ireland …

11. Emcee’s prop MIC
Microphone (mic)

“Emcee” come from “MC”, an acronym standing for Master or Mistress of Ceremonies.

15. Ones place TILL
The till or cash register is where to put the ones, fives, tens and twenties.

17. Contemporary of Dashiell ERLE
I must have read all of the Perry Mason books when I was in college. I think they kept me sane when I was facing the pressure of exams. Author Erle Stanley Gardner was himself a lawyer, although he didn’t get into the profession the easy way. Gardner went to law school, but got himself suspended after a month. So, he became a self-taught attorney and opened his own law office in Merced, California. Understandably, he gave up the law once his novels became successful.

Dashiell Hammett was an American author known for his detective fiction. Hammett was the creator of such enduring characters as Sam Spade from “The Maltese Falcon” as well as Nick and Nora Charles from “The Thin Man”. Outside of writing, Hammett was also politically active and serves as the president of a group the Civil Rights Congress (CRC) after WWII. The CRC was deemed to be a Communist front group and was listed as a subversive organization by the US government. At one point, he even served time in jail for contempt of court, after refusing to answer some questions in a trial in which the CRC was involved.

18. Fitness gurus?: Abbr. EDS
Editors (eds.) sometimes judge what is fit to print.

19. His, to Jacques A LUI
The French for “his, belonging to him” is “à lui”, and for “hers, belonging to her” is “à elle”

20. Mandela’s birth town UMTATA
Umtata (now “Mthatha”) is a town in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Mthatha is home to an extensive Nelson Mandela Museum. Mandela was born in the village of Mvezo and was raised in the village of Qunu, which is where he was also buried. Both villages, Mvezo and Qunu, are located close to Mathatha.

As a young man, Nelson Mandela led the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). Mandela was eventually arrested and admitted to charges of sabotage and was sentenced to life in prison in 1964. He remained behind bars for 27 years, mainly in the infamous prison on Robben Island. As the years progressed, Mandela became a symbol of the fight against apartheid. He was released in 1990, and immediately declared his commitment to peace and reconciliation with South Africa’s white minority population. Mandela was elected president of the Republic of South Africa (RSA) in 1994, an office that he held until 1999. Nelson Mandela passed away on December 5, 2013.

22. Follies name FLO
Florenz “Flo” Ziegfeld, Jr. was the man behind the series of theatrical revues called the “Ziegfeld Follies”, as well as the producer of the musical “Show Boat”. The “Follies” shows were structured as imitations of the “Folies Bergère” cabaret shows of Paris.

23. It has a bonnet and a boot MOTORCAR
We don’t often use the word “automobile” on the other side of the Atlantic, and instead use the term “car” almost exclusively. The term “motorcar” is still around, but was more popular in prior decades. And our cars have “bonnets” and “boots” instead of “hoods” and “trunks”.

25. Top ACME
The “acme” is the highest point, coming from the Greek word “akme” which has the same meaning.

31. Farrier’s tool RASP
Traditionally there has been a distinction between a farrier and a blacksmith. A blacksmith is someone who forges and shapes iron, perhaps to make horseshoes. A farrier is someone who fits horseshoes onto the hooves of horses. The term “blacksmith” is sometimes used for one who shoes horses, especially as many blacksmiths make horseshoes and fit them as well.

33. Place known for its lines, briefly DMV
In most states, the government agency responsible for vehicle registration and the issuing of drivers licenses is called the DMV. This acronym usually stands for the Department of Motor Vehicles, but there are “variations on the theme”. For example, in Arizona the responsible agency is called the Motor Vehicle Division (MVD), and in Colorado the familiar acronym DMV stands for “Division” of Motor Vehicles.

34. Poe title stowaway PYM
American author Edgar Allen Poe was noted mainly for his short stories and only wrote one complete novel in his short life, namely “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket”. The novel recounts the adventures of a young man who journeys to the South Seas aboard four different vessels. The book was to become an inspiration for the more famous “Moby Dick” by Herman Melville.

35. Churchill’s “so few”: Abbr. RAF
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the oldest independent air force in the world (i.e. the first air force to become independent of army or navy forces). The RAF was formed during WWI on 1 April 1918, a composite of two earlier forces, the Royal Flying Corps (part of the Army) and the Royal Naval Air Service. The RAF’s “finest hour” has to be the Battle of Britain when the vastly outnumbered British fighters fought off the might of the Luftwaffe causing Hitler to delay his plan to cross the English Channel. This outcome prompted Winston Churchill to utter the memorable words:
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.

37. Jupiter or Mars GOD
Jupiter, also known as Jove, was the king of the gods in the Roman tradition. He was the Roman equivalent to the Greek god Zeus.

Mars was the god of war in Ancient Rome. He was viewed as the father of the Roman people, and the father of Romulus and Remus, the twin brothers who founded Rome according to Roman mythology..

43. “A Room With a View” view ARNO
E.M. Forster’s novel “A Room with a View” was first published in 1908. The novel’s title refers to the view that was promised two Englishwomen who check into a hotel in Florence. The pair expected a view of the River Arno, and instead get a view of the hotel’s courtyard. A fellow guest offers to swap rooms, and from there the plot thickens! There was a fantastic screen adaptation released in 1985 directed by James Ivory and produced by Ismail Merchant. There is a great cast, including Helena Bonham Carter, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench and Daniel Day-Lewis.

44. Time of youthful innocence SALAD DAYS
One’s “salad days” are the days of our youth, days of carefree exuberance and idealism. The expression originated in William Shakespeare’s “Antony and Cleopatra” as Cleopatra refers to her youthful indiscretions saying:

“…My salad days, / When I was green in judgment, cold in blood…”

46. Pope piece POEM
Alexander Pope was an English poet, famous for his own compositions as well as for a translation of Homer’s works. One of Pope’s most notable poems is “Ode on Solitude” that opens with:

Happy the man, whose wish and care
A few paternal acres bound,
Content to breathe his native air,
In his own ground.

Pope wrote that when he was just twelve years old!

47. 1930s home for Capone ALCATRAZ
Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary was a maximum high-security prison operating from 1934 to 1963 on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay. The US Army had opened Fort Alcatraz on the island back in 1859, and constructed the first prison there in 1868. The first buildings that were to become the Federal Penitentiary were erected between 1910 and 1912, and again were used as a military prison. The construction was modernized and became the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in 1934. The Federal prison housed famous inmates like Al Capone, The Birdman of Alcatraz and “Machine Gun” Kelly. The prison was closed in 1963 by Attorney General Robert Kennedy, as the cost of operation was excessively high and major capital improvements were needed.

When Al Capone was a young man, he worked as a bouncer in nightclubs and saloons. He was working the door of a Brooklyn night spot one evening when he apparently insulted a woman, sparking off a fight with her brother. In the tussle, Capone’s face was slashed three times. Capone wasn’t too proud of the incident, nor the “Scarface” moniker that he was given as a result. He always hid the scars as best he could when being photographed, and was also fond of telling people that the scars were from old war wounds.

50. Co-star of Matthew in “The Lincoln Lawyer” MARISA
Marisa Tomei’s first screen role was in “As the World Turns”, but her break came with a recurring role in “The Cosby Show” spinoff, “A Different World”. Tomei won an Oscar for her delightful performance in “My Cousin Vinny” in 1992.

Matthew McConaughey is an actor from Uvalde, Texas. He recently won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance as an AIDS victim in the 2013 film “Dallas Buyers Club”.

“The Lincoln Lawyer” is a novel by author Michael Connelly that was made into a 2011 film of the same name starring Matthew McConaughey in the title role.

51. Beautiful people of futuristic fiction ELOI
In the 1895 novel by H. G. Wells called “The Time Machine”, there are two races that the hero encounter in his travels into the future. The Eloi are the “beautiful people” who live on the planet’s surface. The Morlocks are a race of cannibals living underground who use the Eloi as food.

53. O’s and A’s org. MLB
The Baltimore Orioles was one of the eight charter teams of MLB’s American League, so the franchise dates back to 1901. Prior to 1901, the team has roots in the Minor League Milwaukee Brewers, and indeed entered the American League as the Brewers. In 1902 the Brewers moved to St. Louis and became the Browns. The team didn’t fare well in St. Louis, so when it finally relocated to Baltimore in the early fifties the team changed its name completely, to the Baltimore Orioles. The owners so badly wanted a fresh start that they traded 17 old Browns players with the New York Yankees. The trade didn’t help the team’s performance on the field in those early days, but it did help distance the new team from its past.

The Oakland Athletics (usually “the A’s”) baseball franchise was founded back in 1901 as the Philadelphia Athletics. The team became the Kansas City Athletics in 1955 and moved to Oakland in 1968.

60. Zaire’s Mobutu __ Seko SESE
Mobutu Sese Seko was the longtime President of Zaire (later to be called the Democratic Republic of the Congo). Mobutu was known to be a very corrupt dictator and it is believed that he embezzled over $5 billion from his country. On a lighter note, Mobutu was the money man behind the famous 1974 boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman known as “The Rumble in the Jungle”. Mobutu was anxious to expand the image of Zaire so he used his nation’s funds to entice the fighters to have a go at each other in his homeland.

62. Next yr.’s frosh, perhaps SRS
“Frosh” is a slang term for a college freshman. We call them “freshers” back in Ireland …

Down
1. Carp family member DACE
Dace are small freshwater fish, such as minnow and carp.

3. A/C measure BTUS
In the world of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), the power of a heating or cooling unit can be measured in British Thermal Units (BTUs). This dated unit is the amount of energy required to heat a pound of water so that the water’s temperature increases by one degree Fahrenheit.

4. LAPD part LOS
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is the third largest local law enforcement agency in the country, after New York PD and Chicago PD. Among other things, LAPD is famous for creating the first Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team in the US, in 1965.

7. Pitts of silents ZASU
ZaSu Pitts was a successful actress playing dramatic roles in the era of silent movies. In the age of the “talkies”, she played mainly comic roles. Pitts’ last performance was as a switchboard operator in the 1963 film “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”.

8. Nissan models ALTIMAS
Nissan has been making the Altima since 1993. In 2007 the company started to produce a hybrid version, Nissan’s first foray into the hybrid market and a successful one by all accounts. Altima hybrids are even used as police cruisers by the New York Police Department.

9. Big name in outdoor gear REI
REI is acronym used by the sporting goods store called Recreational Equipment Inc. REI was founded in Seattle by Lloyd and Mary Anderson in 1938 as a cooperative that supplies quality climbing gear to outdoor enthusiasts. The first full-time employee hired by the Andersons was Jim Whittaker, who was the American to climb Mount Everest.

10. Adviser once described as “a cross between Henry Kissinger and Minnie Mouse” DR RUTH
Dr. Ruth Westheimer is a German sex therapist who made a name for herself as a media personality. Westheimer is the daughter of Orthodox Jews and was sent away from Germany by her family just before WWII. She ended up in Palestine and participated in the 1948 Palestine War serving as a scout and sniper. Westheimer was seriously wounded, and spent several months unable to walk. She moved to France in 1950, and soon after arrived in the US. It was in the US where she did her training as a sex therapist.

11. Scotts offering MIRACLE-GRO
Scotts Miracle-Gro Company was founded in 1868 by one Orlando Scott, initially selling seed to the agricultural industry. In the early 1900s, Scotts started to sell to homeowners, mainly supplying lawn seed. The company merged with the gardening company Miracle-Gro in 1955.

15. Brilliant fish TETRAS
The neon tetra is a freshwater fish, native to parts of South America. The tetra is a very popular aquarium fish and millions are imported into the US every year. Almost all of the imported tetras are farm-raised in Asia and very few come from their native continent.

21. Theme MOTIF
A motif is a recurring element in an artistic work or design.

22. Like an executrix: Abbr. FEM
An executrix is a female executor of a will. Nice word …

24. Fish eater OSPREY
The Osprey is also known as the sea hawk or fish eagle.

29. Beach shelter RAMADA
A ramada is a shelter, with a rook and no walls, mainly found in the American southwest. Nowadays, the shelter can be temporary or permanent, but originally ramadas were makeshift shelters constructed by aboriginal Indians from branches or bushes.

34. Bog fuels PEATS
When dead plant matter accumulates in marshy areas, it may not fully decay due to a lack of oxygen or acidic conditions. We are familiar with this in Ireland, because this decaying matter can form peat, and we have lots and lots of peat bogs.

38. Bubbly title DOM
Dom Pérignon is the name given to the prestige label of champagne from Moët et Chandon, the French winery. The label’s name honors the Benedictine monk, Dom Pérignon, who helped to improve the quality and production of champagne in the early 18th century. Although Dom Pérignon made major contributions to champagne production, many of the stories in which he figures are just myths. He did not “invent” champagne, nor sparkling wine in general. Nor did he say the famous words, “Come quickly, I am drinking the stars!”. That lovely line first appeared in a print advertisement in the late 1800s!

40. Tennyson’s “lily maid of Astolat” ELAINE
In Arthurian legend, Elaine of Astolat is a maiden who dies from unrequited love for Sir Lancelot, one of the Knights of the Round Table. You may be familiar with Alfred Lord Tennyson’s famous “The Lady of Shalott”, well, the “Lady” of the poem is based is Elaine of Astolat.

42. Montreal daily GAZETTE
“The Gazette” is an English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal. “The Gazette” was founded in 1778 and is actually the oldest newspaper in the province of Quebec.

43. “Congo” attacker APE
“Congo” is a 1980 novel by Michael Crichton. It’s all about searching for diamonds in the dense rain forest of Congo. The novel was turned into a movie in 1995. I hear that the book is a lot better than the film …

49. Crinkly gauze LISSE
Lisse is a silk gauze that is used in dressmaking.

52. Old Vatican coin LIRA
The word “lira” is used in a number of countries for currency. “Lira” comes from the Latin for “pound” and is derived from a British pound sterling, the value of a Troy pound of silver. For example, the lira (plural “lire”) was the official currency of Italy before the country changed over to the euro in 2002.

53. One of Hawaii’s five counties MAUI
Maui County is pretty unusual. It is made up of four islands: Maui, Kahoolawe, Lanai and Molokai (well, most of Molokai).

54. ICU personnel LPNS
A licensed practical nurse (LPN) might work in an intensive care unit (ICU).

55. “Ecclesiastical History of the English People” author BEDE
The Venerable Bede was a monk in the north of England in the first century AD. Saint Bede is mainly known as an author and scholar, publisher of “The Ecclesiastical History of the English People”.

58. Bulky center? ELL
The center letter in the word “bulky” is “L” (el, or sometimes “ell”).

59. Old TV knob HOR
Remember the “horizontal hold” and “vertical hold” on old TV sets? Our kids have no idea what we had to go through …

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Treat that comes in Mint Oreo and M&M’s flavors DQ BLIZZARD
11. Emcee’s prop MIC
14. One with a lot to be concerned about AUTO DEALER
15. Ones place TILL
16. Attract considerable attention CAUSE A STIR
17. Contemporary of Dashiell ERLE
18. Fitness gurus?: Abbr. EDS
19. His, to Jacques A LUI
20. Mandela’s birth town UMTATA
22. Follies name FLO
23. It has a bonnet and a boot MOTORCAR
25. Top ACME
28. Court tactic TRASH TALK
30. Ruin DOOM
31. Farrier’s tool RASP
32. Words from a follower I SEE
33. Place known for its lines, briefly DMV
34. Poe title stowaway PYM
35. Churchill’s “so few”: Abbr. RAF
37. Jupiter or Mars GOD
39. Shoe spec EEEE
41. Many months AGES
43. “A Room With a View” view ARNO
44. Time of youthful innocence SALAD DAYS
46. Pope piece POEM
47. 1930s home for Capone ALCATRAZ
48. Response to a cape flourish OLE!
50. Co-star of Matthew in “The Lincoln Lawyer” MARISA
51. Beautiful people of futuristic fiction ELOI
53. O’s and A’s org. MLB
56. Copious amounts A TON
57. Work out GET IN SHAPE
60. Zaire’s Mobutu __ Seko SESE
61. Inside look? ULTRASOUND
62. Next yr.’s frosh, perhaps SRS
63. You might hear it before you get up PLEASE RISE

Down
1. Carp family member DACE
2. College hangout QUAD
3. A/C measure BTUS
4. LAPD part LOS
5. Impossible to top IDEAL
6. Fanatical devotion ZEALOTRY
7. Pitts of silents ZASU
8. Nissan models ALTIMAS
9. Big name in outdoor gear REI
10. Adviser once described as “a cross between Henry Kissinger and Minnie Mouse” DR RUTH
11. Scotts offering MIRACLE-GRO
12. “Sure, let me try it” I’LL TAKE ONE
13. Forecast word CLEAR
15. Brilliant fish TETRAS
21. Theme MOTIF
22. Like an executrix: Abbr. FEM
24. Fish eater OSPREY
25. Stick in ADD
26. Follows COMES LATER
27. Traverse MOVE ACROSS
29. Beach shelter RAMADA
34. Bog fuels PEATS
36. The moment after AS SOON AS
38. Bubbly title DOM
40. Tennyson’s “lily maid of Astolat” ELAINE
42. Montreal daily GAZETTE
43. “Congo” attacker APE
45. Revive, as a bad memory DRAG UP
47. Get a load of AMASS
49. Crinkly gauze LISSE
52. Old Vatican coin LIRA
53. One of Hawaii’s five counties MAUI
54. ICU personnel LPNS
55. “Ecclesiastical History of the English People” author BEDE
58. Bulky center? ELL
59. Old TV knob HOR

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