Day: April 24, 2013

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Singer Bryant ANITA
Anita Bryant is a singer and former Miss Oklahoma. Bryant is also an outspoken critic of gay rights, a position that caused her to lose popularity and curtailed her singing career.

14. Common java hr. TEN AM
Back in 1850, the name “java” was given to a type of coffee grown on the island of Java, and the usage of the term spread from there.

15. “__ of Two Cities” A TALE
“A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens is the most printed book that was originally written in English. The two cities in the title are of course London and Paris.

17. Michael Jackson memorabilia WHITE GLOVES
Michael Jackson was such a sad figure I always think. Jackson’s apparently unconstrained lifestyle made him an easy target for the tabloids. The less than charitable representatives of the media gave him the nickname “Wacko Jacko”.

20. Met display ART
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (“the Met”) was founded in 1870 by a group of private citizens. The current museum is huge, with 2 million square feet of floor space.

21. Met supporter: Abbr. NEA
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an agency funded by the federal government that offers support and financing for artistic projects. The NEA was created by an Act of Congress in 1965. Between 1965 and 2008, the NEA awarded over $4 billion to the arts, with Congress authorizing around $170 million annually through the eighties and much of the nineties. That funding was cut to less than $100 million in the late nineties due to pressure from conservatives concerned about the use of funds, but it is now back over the $150 million mark. I wonder how long that will last though …

24. Cold War concerns RUSSIANS
The term “Cold War” was first used by the novelist George Orwell in a 1945 essay about the atomic bomb. Orwell described a world under threat of nuclear war as having a “peace that is no peace”, in a permanent state of “cold war”. The specific use of “cold war” to describe the tension between the Eastern bloc and the Western allies is attributed to a 1947 speech by Bernard Baruch.

27. Web address ending ORG
A domain name is basically the address of a website on the Internet. In the Internet world, elements of the domain name are intended to indicate what type of activity goes on at a particular address. So an address with “.com” implies a “company” website, a “.org” implies a non-profit website and “.edu” implies an education website. But in reality anyone can rent whatever address they want, as it just goes to the highest bidder. Most folks remember “.com” addresses, so they are the most popular. “.com” is meant to imply a “business address” as I say, but it can even be used for somewhere to chat about crosswords!

33. Fruity BATTY
Fruity, batty, crazy …

36. Aristotelian pair? TAUS
Aristotle was a Greek, and so would have used the Greek letter tau.

Aristotle was actually a student of Plato in Ancient Greece (and in turn, Plato was a student of Socrates). Aristotle’s most famous student was Alexander the Great.

38. “Exodus” author URIS
“Exodus” is a wonderful novel written by American writer Leon Uris, first published in 1947. The book was incredibly well received by the public and is the second biggest bestseller in the US after “Gone with the Wind”. The hero of the piece is Ari Ben Canaan, played by Paul Newman in the 1960 film adaptation directed by Otto Preminger.

41. Head of a family? CAPO
More properly called a “caporegime”, a “capo” is high-ranking member of the Mafia (Cosa Nostra).

42. Channel for film buffs TCM
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is one of my favorite television channels, delivering just what its name promises: classic movies.

43. Jalapeño rating characteristic HEAT
The delicious jalapeño pepper is named for the place where it was traditionally cultivated: the city of Xalapa (also “Jalapa”) in Veracruz, Mexico.

44. Nemo creator Verne JULES
Jules Verne really was a groundbreaking author. Verne pioneered the science fiction genre, writing about space, air and underwater travel, long before they were practical and proved feasible. Verne is the second most translated author of all time, with only Agatha Christie beating him out.

In the 1954 movie version of “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”, Captain Nemo goes down with his ship. In the novel by Jules Verne the fate of Nemo and his crew isn’t quite so cut and dry, although the inference is perhaps that they did indeed head for Davy Jones’ Locker.

45. Conversational skill THE GIFT OF GAB
Blarney is a town in County Cork in the south of Ireland. Blarney is home to Blarney Castle, and inside the castle is the legendary Blarney Stone. “Kissing the Blarney Stone” is a ritual engaged in by oh so many tourists (indeed, I’ve done it myself!), but it’s not a simple process. The stone is embedded in the wall of the castle, and in order to kiss it you have to sit on the edge of the parapet and lean way backwards so that your head is some two feet below your body. There is a staff member there to help you and make sure you don’t fall. The Blarney Stone has been labelled as the world’s most unhygienic tourist attraction! But once you’ve kissed it, supposedly you are endowed with the “gift of the gab”, the ability to talk eloquently and perhaps deceptively without offending. Sure, I wouldn’t know …

49. Info source, with “the” WEB
The World Wide Web was effectively the invention of English computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee. The key to Berner-Lee’s invention was bringing together two technologies that already existed: hypertext and the Internet. I for one am very grateful …

54. Shakespearean actor Kenneth BRANAGH
Kenneth Branagh is a much-respected Shakespearean actor and film director from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Not only is Branagh familiar with playing Shakespearean characters on stage, he is also noted for many performances in Shakespearean plays adapted for the big screen. Branagh was married to the magnificent actress Emma Thompson, and after their divorce spent years in a relationship with actress Helena Bonham Carter. Recently, I have been enjoying watching Branagh in the crime TV series called “Wallander” that is set in Sweden.

58. SALT subject ABM
An ABM is an anti-ballistic missile, a rocket designed to intercept and destroy a ballistic missile (as one might expect from the name). A ballistic missile, as opposed to a cruise missile, is guided during the initial launch phase but later in flight just relies on thrust and gravity (hence “ballistic”) to arrive at its target. As an aside, an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than 3,500 miles.

There were two rounds of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks between the US and the Soviet Union, and two resulting treaties (SALT I & SALT II). The opening round of SALT I talks were held in Helsinki as far back as 1970.

61. Uno ancestor, and, in a way, what are hidden in 17-, 28- and 45-Across CRAZY EIGHTS
In my youth I remember being taught a great card game, by a German acquaintance of mine, called Mau Mau. Years later I discovered that Uno is basically the same game, but played with a purpose-printed deck instead of the regular deck of playing cards that’s used for Mau Mau. I hear that Mau Mau is derived from the game called Crazy Eights.

67. Sot’s symptoms DTS
The episodes of delirium that can accompany withdrawal from alcohol are called Delirium Tremens (the DTs). The literal translation of this Latin phrase is “trembling madness”.

69. Deep sleep SOPOR
Sopor is an abnormally deep sleep.

Down
2. Beatles jacket style NEHRU
A Nehru jacket is very like a regular suit jacket, except that the collar buttons at the neck. It was originally created in the 1940s in India, and then marketed as the Nehru jacket in the west in the sixties. Famously, the Beatles wore Nehru jackets and helped to popularize the style. The name Nehru was lifted from Jawaharlal Nehru, the prime minister of India from 1947 to 1964.

5. Motel Wi-Fi, for one AMENITY
“Wi-Fi” is nothing more than a trademark, a trademark registered by an association of manufacturers of equipment that use wireless LAN (Local Area Network) technology. A device labeled with “Wi-Fi” has to meet certain defined technical standards, basically meaning that the devices can talk to each other. The name “Wi-Fi” suggests “Wireless Fidelity”, although apparently the term was never intended to mean anything at all.

6. Singer-dancer Lola FALANA
Lola Falana is a singer, dancer and actress who grew up in Philadelphia. In the sixties Falana had an affair with, and later became good friends with, Sammy Davis Jr. Davis helped get her act into Las Vegas where she was very successful, eventually earning Falana the nickname “Queen of Las Vegas”. With her success came money, and so she became the highest paid female performer in Vegas at that time. Sadly, Falana suffers from multiple sclerosis, a disease that forced her to cut short her career as an entertainer.

7. Jurist Lance ITO
Judge Lance Ito came in for a lot of criticism for his handling of the O.J. Simpson murder trial. The lead prosecutor in that trial was Marcia Clark, you might recall. I read the book that’s Clark wrote about the trial called “Without a Doubt”, and she pointed out one trait of Judge Ito that I think is quite telling. Ito would almost always refer to the prosecutor as “Marcia”, while addressing the men on both sides of the case as “Mister”.

23. Uno e due TRE
“One, two, three” in Italian is “uno, due, tre”.

25. Retired fliers SSTS
The most famous Supersonic Transport (SST) was the Concorde, a plane that’s no longer flying. Concorde had that famous “droop nose”. The nose was moved to the horizontal position during flight to create the optimum aerodynamic shape thereby reducing drag. It was lowered during taxi, takeoff and landing, so that the pilot had better visibility. The need for the droop nose was driven largely by the delta-shaped wings. The delta wing necessitates a higher angle of attack at takeoff and landing than conventional wing designs, so the pilot needed the nose lowered so that he or she could see the ground.

29. Spark plug measurement GAP
There are two main types of internal combustion engine. Most cars in the US use spark injection engines (gasoline engines) in which a spark plug sparks in order to ignite the fuel-air mixture. A diesel engine, on the other hand, has no spark plug per se, and uses the heat generated by compressing the air-fuel mixture to cause ignition.

32. Valentine’s Day deity EROS
Saint Valentine’s Day was chosen by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD to honor various martyrs with the name Valentine. However, the saints’ day was dropped by the Catholic church in 1969, by Pope Paul VI. Try telling that to Hallmark though …

34. St. Louis symbol ARCH
The Gateway Arch in St. Louis is the tallest monument in the United States. It was designed by Eero Saarinenen, with the help of structural engineer Hannskarl Bandel. They did their design work back in 1947, but construction wasn’t started until 1963. In 1980, a daredevil took it upon himself to parachute onto the top of the arch intending to further jump from the apex of the arch and parachute to the ground. He hit the arch alright, and slid all the way down one of the arches to his death. No comment …

40. Dirty one in a memorable Cagney line RAT
When Jimmy Cagney accepted the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1974, he made it very clear … he told the audience “I never said ‘Mmmmmm, you dirty rat!”. The closest he ever came to saying that line, so often used by impressionists, was in the 1932 movie “Taxi!” in which he starred opposite Loretta Young. In that film he had the line “You dirty rat, I’m going to get rid of you, just like you gave it to my brother.”

43. Terrace cooker HIBACHI
The traditional hibachi in Japan is a heating device, often a ceramic bowl or box that holds burning charcoal. This native type of hibachi isn’t used for cooking, but rather as a space heater (a brazier). Here in the US we use the term hibachi to refer to a charcoal grill used as a small cooking stove, which in Japanese would be called a “shichirin”.

44. Night-night clothes? JAMMIES
Our word “pajamas” comes to us from the Indian subcontinent, where “pai jamahs” were loose fitting pants tied at the waist and worn at night by locals and ultimately by the Europeans living there. And “pajamas” is another of those words that I had to learn to spell differently when I came to America. In the British Isles the spelling is “pyjamas”.

46. DDE, in WWII GEN
General Dwight D. Eisenhower (DDE) was in command of the European Theater of Operations (ETO) during WWII. If you’re a WWII buff like me, then I recommend you take a look at a great, made-for-TV movie starring Tom Selleck as Eisenhower called “Ike: Countdown to D-Day” that came out in 2004.

51. TV monitoring device V-CHIP
All television sets produced for the US market since the year 2000 have to include a component called a V-chip. A V-chip allows a TV to be configured so that programming of specific “ratings” can be blocked from viewing. The “V” in V-chip stands for “viewer control”. It sounds like a great idea, but a lot of kids these days quickly do a search online and work out how to reset the password.

57. Carol opening HARK
“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” is one of my favorite Christmas carols. It was written in 1739 by Charles Wesley, although he scored it as a very slow and somber tune. A number of musicians modified the music over the years (including Felix Mendelssohn) giving us the more uplifting air that we know today.

62. Zip code start? ZEE
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.

63. Day-__: pigment brand GLO
“Dayglo” is a registered trademark used for an ink or paint that glows when exposed to a black light in a darkened room. When Dayglo paint is viewed in daylight the colors can look particularly vivid because they respond to the UV light that is present in sunlight.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Singer Bryant ANITA
6. Tooted in a Revolutionary band FIFED
11. Jacques, e.g. NOM
14. Common java hr. TEN AM
15. “__ of Two Cities” A TALE
16. Be in the red OWE
17. Michael Jackson memorabilia WHITE GLOVES
19. Coal container BIN
20. Met display ART
21. Met supporter: Abbr. NEA
22. Completely drained EMPTIED
24. Cold War concerns RUSSIANS
27. Web address ending ORG
28. Line-drawing tool STRAIGHT EDGE
33. Fruity BATTY
36. Aristotelian pair? TAUS
37. Cauliflower __: boxing injury EAR
38. “Exodus” author URIS
39. Heavy curtain DRAPE
41. Head of a family? CAPO
42. Channel for film buffs TCM
43. Jalapeño rating characteristic HEAT
44. Nemo creator Verne JULES
45. Conversational skill THE GIFT OF GAB
49. Info source, with “the” WEB
50. Like early life forms PRIMEVAL
54. Shakespearean actor Kenneth BRANAGH
58. SALT subject ABM
59. Worker who handles returns, briefly CPA
60. Tune AIR
61. Uno ancestor, and, in a way, what are hidden in 17-, 28- and 45-Across CRAZY EIGHTS
64. Prune LOP
65. New worker HIREE
66. Pick of the litter ELITE
67. Sot’s symptoms DTS
68. Readied, as the presses INKED
69. Deep sleep SOPOR

Down
1. Engaged in armed conflict AT WAR
2. Beatles jacket style NEHRU
3. Contract change approvals: Abbr. INITS
4. Tit for __ TAT
5. Motel Wi-Fi, for one AMENITY
6. Singer-dancer Lola FALANA
7. Jurist Lance ITO
8. Top choice, slangily FAVE
9. Type of sch. with low grades? ELEM
10. Iron-fisted rulers DESPOTS
11. “Don’t sweat it” NO BIG DEAL!
12. Baby’s boo-boo OWIE
13. Convalesce MEND
18. First in a car, say GEAR
23. Uno e due TRE
25. Retired fliers SSTS
26. Straddle SIT ATOP
29. Spark plug measurement GAP
30. Color HUE
31. Look open-mouthed GAPE
32. Valentine’s Day deity EROS
33. Target of a joke BUTT
34. St. Louis symbol ARCH
35. Sci-fi travel conveniences TIME WARPS
39. Dict. feature DEF
40. Dirty one in a memorable Cagney line RAT
41. Sugar shape CUBE
43. Terrace cooker HIBACHI
44. Night-night clothes? JAMMIES
46. DDE, in WWII GEN
47. Worn at the edges FRAYED
48. Sarcastic remark GIBE
51. TV monitoring device V-CHIP
52. Most likely will, after “is” APT TO
53. Surgery beam LASER
54. Not in need of a barber BALD
55. Mob action RIOT
56. It may run from cheek to cheek GRIN
57. Carol opening HARK
62. Zip code start? ZEE
63. Day-__: pigment brand GLO

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