Day: May 19, 2016

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Toddler coddlers MAMAS
The verb “to coddle”, meaning “to treat tenderly”, was actually coined in 1815 by Jane Austen in her novel “Emma”. At least, that is the first written record we have of the verb’s usage. John Knightley (younger brother of George Knightley) addresses his wife Isabella (elder sister of Emma Woodhouse) with the following words:

“My dear Isabella,” exclaimed he, hastily, “pray do not concern yourself about my looks. Be satisfied with doctoring and coddling yourself and the children, and let me look as I chuse.”

10. Port container CASK
The city of Oporto in Portugal gave its name to port wine in the late 1600s, as it was the seaport through which most of the region’s fortified red wine was exported.

16. Eclipse, to some OMEN
A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes into the shadow cast by the earth from the light of the sun, in other words when the earth is positioned directly between the sun and the moon. The more spectacular solar eclipse takes place when moon passes in front of the sun, so that the earth falls into the shadow cast by the moon.

20. “Me too” DITTO
“Ditto” was originally used in Italian (from Tuscan dialect) to avoid repetition of the names of months in a series of dates. So, “ditto” is just another wonderful import from that lovely land …

21. Sleeper’s malady APNEA
Sleep apnea (“apnoea” in British English) can be caused by an obstruction in the airways, possibly due to obesity or enlarged tonsils.

22. Communications feature since the 1870s QWERTY KEYBOARD
There is an alternative to the annoying QWERTY keyboard layout. Dr. August Dvorak came up with a much simpler and more efficient layout in 1936. The Dvorak layout is supposed to allow faster typing rates and to reduce repetitive strain injuries.

28. El __ PASO
Although there have been human settlements in the El Paso area for thousands of years, the first European settlement was founded in 1659 by the Spanish. That first community was on the south bank of the Rio Grande, and was called El Paso del Norte (the North Pass). Most of the urban development under Spanish rule took place on the south side of the river, with El Paso del Norte acting as the center of governance for the Spanish for the territory of New Mexico. The Rio Grande was chosen as the border between Mexico and the US in 1848, so most of the city of El Paso del Norte became part of the Mexican state of Chihuahua (and is now called Ciudad Juarez). The area north of the river developed as a US military post, eventually becoming the modern city of El Paso, Texas.

34. “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” duettist KIKI DEE
Kiki Dee is an English singer, best known for her hit duet with Elton John from 1976 called “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”. Kiki Dee had the honor of being the first Caucasian singer to be signed by Motown.

37. WWII battle site, for short IWO
Iwo Jima is a volcanic island located south of Tokyo that today is uninhabited. The name is Japanese for “Sulfur Island”, referring to the sulfur mining on which Iwo Jima’s economy once depended. There were about a thousand Japanese civilians living on the island prior to WWII. In 1944, there was a massive influx of Japanese military personnel in anticipation of the inevitable US invasion. As the Japanese military moved in, the civilians were forced out and no one has lived there since.

40. Emailed a dupe to CCED
I wonder do the kids of today know that “cc” stands for carbon copy, and do they have any idea what a carbon copy was? Do you remember how messy carbon paper was to handle?

41. Research ctr. INST
Institute (inst.)

42. White of the eye SCLERA
The sclera is the white part of the eye. Usually the sclera is white, but in horses for example, it is black. Really, go check!

49. 1945 meeting site YALTA
The Yalta Conference was a wartime meeting between WWII leaders Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin. Held in February of 1945, the conference is most remembered for decisions made on the post-war organization of Europe. To a large extent, the three leaders made decisions carving up political influence around the world, decisions that have profound implications to this day.

50. Stern with a bow ISAAC
Isaac Stern was Ukrainian-born, but moved with his family to San Francisco at a very young age. He was a wonderful violin virtuoso who passed away in 2001.

52. Psychology subject … and what’s contained in this puzzle’s circles INNER CHILD
The concept of the “wounded inner child” was popularized by the pop psychologist and author John Bradshaw. Bradshaw suggested that many issues in adulthood were due to unresolved childhood experiences.

57. Rapper with the debut album “Trouble” AKON
Akon is a Senegalese American R&B and hip hop singer, who was born in St. Louis but lived much of his early life in Senegal. Akon is a stage name, and his real name is Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Bongo Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam. Got that?

58. Porch torch type TIKI
A tiki torch is a bamboo torch that’s very commonly used in Tiki culture. Tiki culture is a relatively modern invention dating from the 20th century, and is the experience created in Polynesian-style restaurants. The word “Tiki” is borrowed from Polynesia.

59. Sun: Pref. HELIO-
Helios was the god of the Sun in Greek mythology. Helios was the brother of Selene, the goddess of the moon, and Eos, the goddess of the dawn. Helios drove his chariot of the sun across the sky during the day, returning to the East at night be travelling through the ocean.

61. Right on an atlas EAST
The famous Flemish geographer Gerardus Mercator published his first collection of maps in 1578. Mercator’s collection contained a frontispiece with an image of Atlas the Titan from Greek mythology holding up the world on his shoulders. That image gave us our term “atlas”.

Down
3. Hood, for one: Abbr. MTN
Mount Hood is a volcanic peak in northern Oregon. Mount Hood is the highest peak in the state, and is located about 50 miles southeast of Portland. There are six ski areas on the mountain, including a resort called Timberline that has North America’s only lift operating year-round for skiing.

4. Like Radio City Music Hall ART DECO
New York City’s Radio City Music Hall in Rockefeller Center opened for business in 1932. Originally to be named International Music Hall, the current name was chosen in honor of the Radio Corporation of America, which was one of Rockefeller Center’s first tenants.

5. “The Daily Show” device SATIRE
“The Daily Show” is a satirical news program on the Comedy Central that first aired in 1996. The show was presented by Craig Kilborn from 1996 until 1998, and then very successfully by Jon Stewart from 1999 until 2015. Trevor Noah has been hosting the show since Jon Stewart left.

9. Case, for instance: Abbr. SYN
“Case” is a synonym for “instance”.

10. Ranch hand COWPOKE
Cowpoke is a term used nowadays for any cowboy, but it was originally limited to the cowboys who prodded cattle onto railroad cars using long poles.

11. Its website has a range finder AMANA
The Amana Corporation takes its name from the location of its original headquarters, in Middle Amana, Iowa.

13. Prep, at a pizza parlor KNEAD
Pizza was invented in Naples where it has a long tradition that goes back to Ancient Rome. During an 1889 visit to Naples, Queen Margherita of Savoy was served a special pizza that was created with toppings designed to mimic the colors of the Italian flag. The ingredients of tomato (red), mozzarella (white) and basil (green) can still be found together on menus today on a pie usually named Pizza Margherita after the queen. I do love basil on my pizza …

18. Mel and Ed with World Series rings OTTS
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.

Ed Ott is a retired baseball catcher who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and the California Angels of the Major Leagues. Ed Ott is no relation to the more famous Mel Ott.

24. Plains “Queen Wheat City” ENID
Enid, Oklahoma takes its name from the old railroad station around which the city developed. Back in 1889, that train stop was called Skeleton Station. An official who didn’t like the name changed it to Enid Station, using a character from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Idylls of the King”. Maybe if he hadn’t changed the name, the city of Enid would now be called Skeleton, Oklahoma! Enid has the nickname “Queen Wheat City” because is has a huge capacity for storing grain, the third largest grain storage capacity in the world.

25. Days long gone YORE
We use the word “yore” to mean “time long past” as in “the days of yore”. “Yore” comes from the Old English words for “of years”.

26. Photo file format JPEG
The JPEG file format was created by the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), hence the name.

31. Dance provocatively TWERK
Twerking is a dancing move in which a woman (usually) shakes her hips up and down causing a lot of “wobbling”. It’s possible that “twerk” is a portmanteau of “twist” and “jerk”. The term may have been coined back in the early 2000s with the song “Whistle While You Twurk” released by the Ying Yang Twins. Twerking became a real phenomenon in 2013 when Miley Cyrus posted a video of herself twerking in a unicorn suit to the 2011 song “Wop” by J. Dash. That video went viral on YouTube, amassing over 4 million views in no time at all.

36. Pop’s Perry KATY
Katy Perry is an American singer who grew up listening to and singing gospel music, as she was the daughter of two Christian pastors. In fact, her first musical release was a gospel album in 2001. She has branched out since then. Her first successful single was “Ur so Gay”, followed by “I Kissed A Girl”. She was married (only for a year) to the British comedian Russell Brand, until 2012.

39. Things on strings MITTENS
Yep, when I was a toddler my mother used to sew a string to connect each of my mittens so that I wouldn’t lose them. The string went up one sleeve, across the back, and down the other sleeve.

40. Played-out sayings CLICHES
“Cliché” is a word that comes from the world of printing. In the days when type was added as individual letters into a printing plate, for efficiency some oft-used phrases and words were created as one single slug of metal. The word “cliché” was used for such a grouping of letters. It’s easy to see how the same word would become a term to describe any overused phrase. Supposedly, “cliché” comes from French, from the verb “clicher” meaning “to click”. The idea is that when a matrix of letters was dropped in molten metal to make a cliché, it made a clicking sound.

43. Ballroom dance CHA-CHA
The cha-cha-cha (often simplified to “cha-cha”) is a Latin dance with origins in Cuba, where it was introduced by composer Enrique Jorrin in 1953.

44. Longtime Rolling Stones bassist Bill WYMAN
Bill Wyman was one of the first members of the Rolling Stones, joining in 1962 and staying with the band until 1992. Wyman is multi-talented. As well as having played bass guitar with the Stones, he is a very talented photographer whose work has been shown in many galleries around the world. He is also an amateur archaeologist, and markets his own design of metal detector for the amateur relic hunter.

45. 17-syllable work HAIKU
A haiku is a very elegant form of Japanese verse. When writing a haiku in English we tend to impose the rule that the verse must contain 17 syllables. This restriction comes from the rule in Japanese that the verse must contain 17 sound units called “moras”, but moras and syllables aren’t the same thing. What the difference is though, is not so clear to me. Here’s an example of a Haiku:

Haikus are easy
But sometimes they don’t make sense
Refrigerator

53. Actress Peeples NIA
Actress Nia Peeples played the character Nicole Chapman in the TV series “Fame”.

56. Financial measure, with “the” DOW
Dow Jones & Company was founded as a publishing house in 1882 by three newspaper reporters, Charles Dow, Edward Jones and Charles Bergstresser. Today, the company’s most famous publication has to be “The Wall Street Journal”. In 1884, Charles Dow started reporting the average dollar value of the stock of eleven companies, an index which spawned a whole host of metrics that carry the Dow Jones name to this day, including the renowned Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), also known as the “Dow 30”.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Toddler coddlers MAMAS
6. Office stock PENS
10. Port container CASK
14. What’s made “just in case” EXTRA
15. Follow OBEY
16. Eclipse, to some OMEN
17. Overindulged oneself WENT TO TOWN
19. It may sweep you off your feet WAVE
20. “Me too” DITTO
21. Sleeper’s malady APNEA
22. Communications feature since the 1870s QWERTY KEYBOARD
26. Breakfast choices JUICES
27. Spot for breakfast NOOK
28. El __ PASO
29. They’re usually covered by grilles AIR VENTS
33. __ out a living EKE
34. “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” duettist KIKI DEE
37. WWII battle site, for short IWO
38. Just beginning to develop GERMINAL
40. Emailed a dupe to CCED
41. Research ctr. INST
42. White of the eye SCLERA
44. “Looks pretty good, huh?” WHAT DO YOU THINK?
49. 1945 meeting site YALTA
50. Stern with a bow ISAAC
51. __ marker MILE
52. Psychology subject … and what’s contained in this puzzle’s circles INNER CHILD
57. Rapper with the debut album “Trouble” AKON
58. Porch torch type TIKI
59. Sun: Pref. HELIO-
60. Common allergen NUTS
61. Right on an atlas EAST
62. A bit off ASKEW

Down
1. Litter attention-getter MEW
2. Hefted tool AXE
3. Hood, for one: Abbr. MTN
4. Like Radio City Music Hall ART DECO
5. “The Daily Show” device SATIRE
6. Where wee ones go POTTY
7. Waiting room read E-BOOK
8. Just out NEW
9. Case, for instance: Abbr. SYN
10. Ranch hand COWPOKE
11. Its website has a range finder AMANA
12. Divide into parts SEVER
13. Prep, at a pizza parlor KNEAD
18. Mel and Ed with World Series rings OTTS
21. Not subject to, as suspicion ABOVE
22. Fault product QUAKE
23. More learned WISER
24. Plains “Queen Wheat City” ENID
25. Days long gone YORE
26. Photo file format JPEG
29. Feel poorly AIL
30. Tidy (up), facetiously NICEN
31. Dance provocatively TWERK
32. Pop SODA
34. Cousin of “-ish” KINDA
35. __ many words IN SO
36. Pop’s Perry KATY
39. Things on strings MITTENS
40. Played-out sayings CLICHES
42. Ratings unit STAR
43. Ballroom dance CHA-CHA
44. Longtime Rolling Stones bassist Bill WYMAN
45. 17-syllable work HAIKU
46. Divvy up ALLOT
47. Down and dirty noises OINKS
48. “Can you __ in a sentence?” USE IT
52. Relative of “-ian” -ITE
53. Actress Peeples NIA
54. Kind ILK
55. One of a rat’s pack? LIE
56. Financial measure, with “the” DOW

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