Day: September 24, 2014

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
10. Future J.D.’s exam LSAT
The Law School Admission Test (LSAT) has been around since 1948.

The law degree abbreviated to J.D. is more fully known as Juris Doctor.

16. Sicilian smoker ETNA
Mt. Etna is the largest of three active volcanoes in Italy. Mt Etna is about 2 1/2 times the height of its equally famous sister, Mt. Vesuvius.

17. *Arm, to an ace pitcher MEAL TICKET (giving “square meal”)
A “square meal” is one that is substantial and nourishing. According to some sources, the phrase originated with the Royal Navy, and the square wooden plates on which meals were served. However, this centuries-old practice is an unlikely origin as the phrase is first seen in print in the US, in 1856. An advertisement for a restaurant posted in a California newspaper offers a “square meal” to patrons, in the sense of an “honest, straightforward meal”. The “honest” meaning of “square” was well-established at the time, as in “fair and square”, “square play” and “square deal”.

19. Turkey or fox follower TROT
The turkey trot was a dance step popular in the early 1900s, often performed to ragtime music. It gained popularity because it was denounced by the Vatican, as some of the positions assumed were deemed suggestive and offensive.

The foxtrot is smooth and flowing like a waltz, but in 4/4 time as opposed to 3/4. The dance is named for the vaudeville dance Harry fox who popularized it in the early 1900s.

20. Opposite of ecto- ENTO-
The prefix “ecto-” is used to mean “outside”, and the opposite “ento-” is used to mean “within”.

21. “Moonstruck” Oscar winner CHER
Cher’s real name is Cherilyn Sarkisian, born in 1946. In her acting career, Cher was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar of 1984 for her performance in “Silkwood”. She went further in 1998 and won the Best Actress Oscar for playing Loretta Castorini in “Moonstruck”.

22. Valerie Harper role RHODA
The seventies sitcom “Rhoda” was a spinoff of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” that starred Valerie Harper. The eighth episode of the show was an hour-long special in which Rhoda married her fiance Joe (played by David Groh). At the time of airing it was the second-most watched television episode in history, second only to the 1953 birth of Little Ricky on “I Love Lucy”.

Valerie Harper is best known for playing Rhoda Morgenstern on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”, and on her own spin-off sitcom “Rhoda”. Harper was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2009, and in 2013 was given just months to live. Despite the prognosis, and her age of 74 years, she decided to appear in the 17th season of “Dancing with the Stars”.

28. What a goldbrick does IDLES
A goldbrick is someone, especially a soldier, who lies down on the job, someone who shirks his or her responsibilities. “Goldbrick” arose as slang during WWII, initially meaning “to swindle, cheat”. This was a play on the old confidence trick of selling fake gold bricks.

30. Cry of surrender UNCLE
To “say uncle” is an American expression meaning to submit or yield. Its usage dates back to the early 1900s, but nobody seems to know how “uncle!” came to mean “stop!”

33. *Monetary love, in Timothy ROOT OF ALL EVIL (giving “square root”)
According to the Book of Timothy in the Christian Bible, the Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the young disciple Timothy:

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

These lines have been paraphrased into the commonly used phrase “money is the root of all evil”.

38. French wine region RHONE
The Rhône wine region of France is home to my favorite appellation, namely Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

40. Deck crew boss BOSUN
A boatswain works on the deck of a boat. A boatswain is unlicensed, and so is not involved in the navigation or handling of the vessel. He or she has charge of the other unlicensed workers on the deck. Boatswain is pronounced “bosun” and this phonetic spelling is often used interchangeably with “boatswain”. The contraction “bos’n” is also very popular.

45. *One in the infantry FOOT SOLDIER (giving “square foot”)
The infantry are foot soldiers. The term migrated into English via French from the Italian and Spanish “infanteria”, a term applied to foot soldiers who were too inexperienced or low in rank to serve in the cavalry. This usage in turn derives from the Latin “infantem” meaning “youth”.

49. __-Aztecan languages UTO
The Uto-Aztecan language family consists of about 30 languages spoken in the Western United States and Mexico. Included in the list of Uto-Aztecan languages is Ute, Comanche and Hopi.

51. Bird along the coast ERNE
The ern (also erne) is also called the white-tailed eagle or sea-eagle.

53. Pinball goof TILT
In a game of pinball, some players get an irresistible urge to “nudge” the machine . Such a nudge, a movement of the machine designed to influence the path taken by the ball, is called a “tilt”. Most pinball machines have sensors designed to detect a tilt, and when activated a “tilt” warning light comes on and the player’s controls are temporarily disabled.

Our modern game of pinball evolved from an earlier table game called bagatelle which used balls, pins and holes (and I remember playing bagatelle as boy in a pub in Ireland). The first “pinball” machine was made by a British inventor who settled in Cincinnati, Ohio. He modified the game of bagatelle, adding a coiled spring and a plunger to introduce balls at the end of the table, a device that is still in use today. From there manufacturers developed coin-operated versions of pinball, which became popular during the depression as they provided a little entertainment for a few pennies. One distributor of the coin-operated pinball machines started manufacturing them himself as he couldn’t source new games fast enough. He called his pinball game Ballyhoo, and eventually named his company Bally, a brand name well known in the gambling industry to this day.

54. Unswerving, and a hint to the starts of the answers to starred clues FOURSQUARE
Something described as “foursquare” has four corners and four right angles, like a square. The term is also used figuratively to describe someone or something that is steady and unswerving, or frank and forthright.

57. “Come Back, Little Sheba” playwright INGE
Playwright William Inge had a run of success on Broadway in the early fifties. Inge’s most celebrated work of that time was the play “Picnic”, for which he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize. The original 1953 cast of “Picnic” included a young male actor making his debut on Broadway. His name was Paul Newman. Many of Inge’s works are set in the American heartland and so he became known as the “Playwright of the Midwest”.

Playwright William Inge’s first play was “Come Back, Little Sheba”, written in 1950. The title character is a dog, one that has been lost before the play opens, and who is still lost at the final curtain.

58. Asian vine leaf BETEL
The betel nut is something that is chewed, especially in parts of Asia. “Betel nut” is a bit of misnomer, as the nut in question is actually an Areca nut from the Areca palm. For chewing, the Areca nut is wrapped in betel leaves and the whole thing is called a “betel nut”.

60. Former OTC watchdog NASD
The National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) no longer exists per se. Since 2007, it’s functions are carried out by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). These functions include regulation of trading in equities, bonds, futures and options. In 1971, the NASD set up a new computerized trading system called the NASD Automated Quotations stock market, a system we know better by the acronym NASDAQ.

The NASDAQ trading system created in 1971 is the successor to the over-the-counter (OTC) trading system that was common at the time. OTC trading is done directly between two parties without being facilitated by an exchange.

61. Bobrun runners SLEDS
“Bobsleds” are so called because competitors in the sport originally would bob in and out of the sled in order to increase its speed.

Down
1. “You’ve got carte blanche” NAME IT
“Carte blanche” was imported from French in the early 1700s when it was used to mean “blank paper” (in French it means “white paper”). Later in the century the term came to mean “full discretionary power”, which is how we use the word today.

3. Mendelssohn’s “Elijah,” for one ORATORIO
An oratorio is a large musical work for orchestra, choir and solo singers, and usually has a religious theme. It is similar to an opera, but without the action, costume and scenery.

“Elijah” is an 1846 oratoria by Felix Mendelssohn that recounts the life of the prophet Elijah from the Bible.

Felix Mendelssohn was a German composer who was active in the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn’s most famous works are probably his overtures “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “The Hebrides”, as well as his “Italian Symphony” and “Scottish Symphony”.

5. Tolkien giant ENT
Ents are those tree-like creatures that live in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth in his series of books “The Lord of the Rings”. “Ent” is an Old English word for “giant”.

6. Russian country home DACHA
Dachas are usually second homes in Russia and the former Soviet Union that are located outside the city limits in rural areas. Residents/tenants of dachas are often called dachniks.

7. “Family Matters” nerd URKEL
Steve Urkel is a character on the TV show “Family Matters” that aired in the late eighties and nineties. The Urkel character was the archetypal “geek”, played by Jaleel White. Urkel was originally written into the show’s storyline for just one episode, but before long Urkel was the show’s most popular recurring character.

8. Biting ACERB
“Acerb” is a variant of “acerbic”, meaning sour or bitter-tasting, acidic.

9. WWII carrier LST
LST stands for Landing Ship, Tank. LSTs were the large vessels used mainly in WWII that had doors at either ends through which tanks and other vehicles could roll off and onto beaches. The design concept persists to this day in the huge fleet of commercial roll-on/roll-off car ferries, all inspired by the LST.

11. Butterfly, e.g. STROKE
The butterfly is the newest swimming stroke used in competition, having been introduced in 1933. It was originally used as a variant of the breaststroke, in an attempt to gain an advantage in speed over swimmers using the traditional breaststroke movement. The butterfly was carved out as a style of its own in 1952, and made its Olympic debut in 1956.

12. Voltaic cell terminals ANODES
The two terminals of a battery are called the anode and the cathode. Electrons travel from the cathode to the anode creating an electric current in a circuit.

A voltaic cell is in effect a simple battery, and is named for its inventor Alessandro Volta.

13. Golden Horde member TATAR
The Golden Horde was a group of Mongols who ruled over what is now Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Moldova and the Caucasus, from the 1240s until 1502. It has been suggested that the name of the group derives from the yellow tents used by the rulers of the Golden Horde. And, the Golden Horde’s influence and rule led to the term “horde” entering English, via many languages spoken in Slavic Eastern Europe.

22. Christ the __: statue in Rio REDEEMER
The iconic statue of Jesus overlooking the city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil is known as Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer). The statue was constructed between 1922 and 1931. It is the largest Art Deco statue in the world, standing at over 30 feet tall.

25. Little stream RILL
Rill, meaning a small brook or rivulet, has German roots, the same roots as “Rhine”, the name of the major European river.

27. Gaza Strip gp. PLO
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was founded in 1964. The PLO’s early stated goal was the liberation of Palestine, with Palestine defined as the geographic entity that existed under the terms of the British Mandate granted by the League of Nations back in 1923. The PLO was granted observer status (i.e. no voting rights) at the United Nations in 1974.

After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the boundaries of the strip of land on the Mediterranean around Gaza were fixed in the Israel-Egypt Armistice Agreement. The boundaries were specifically defined but were not to be recognized as an international border. From 1948, the Gaza Strip was occupied and administered by Egypt, until 1967 when Israel took over occupation following the Six-Day War. In 1993, Israel and the PLO signed the Oslo Accords which handed over administration to the Palestinian Authority, but with Israel retaining control of the Gaza Strip’s airspace, some land borders and its territorial waters. The intent was to further this agreement, but discussions between the parties broke down. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

30. Sci-fi vehicle UFO
Unidentified flying objects (UFO)

31. One of the Bobbsey twins NAN
The “Bobbsey Twins” series of children’s novels was first written by Edward Stratemeyer in 1904. Stratemeyer used the pseudonym Laura Lee Hope, as did subsequent authors who wrote 72 books in the series between 1904 and 1979. The title characters were two sets of fraternal twins, one called Bert and Nan (who were 12) and the other called Flossie and Freddie (who were 6).

32. A.L. Central team, on scoreboards CLE
The Cleveland baseball franchise started out in 1869 as the Forest Citys named after Forest City, the nickname for Cleveland. After a number of transitions, in 1914 the team took on the name “Indians”. The media came up with name “Indians” after being asked for suggestions by the team owners. “Indians” was inspired by the successful Boston team of the day, the Boston Braves.

40. Mackerel relative BONITO
Bonito is the name given to several species of fish, intermediate in size between mackerel and tuna. The name comes directly from the Spanish word for “pretty”. In some parts of Spain, tuna is known as “Bonito del Norte”.

46. Soprano Mitchell LEONA
Leona Mitchell is an operatic soprano from Enid, Oklahoma. Mitchell has performed with each of the Three Tenors in separate productions: in “Emani” with Luciano Pavarotti, in “Turandot” with Placido Domingo, and in “Carmen” with Jose Carreras.

54. Five smackers FIN
The US five-dollar bill is often called an “Abe”, as President Lincoln’s portrait is on the front. An Abe is also referred to as a “fin”, a term that has been used for a five-pound note in Britain since 1868.

“Smacker” is American slang for “money”, with “smackers” often being used to mean ”dollars”. It is suggested that the term might come from “smacking” a banknote into one’s hand.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Loop in old Westerns NOOSE
6. Kind of purpose DUAL
10. Future J.D.’s exam LSAT
14. Putting green border APRON
15. Welding sparks ARCS
16. Sicilian smoker ETNA
17. *Arm, to an ace pitcher MEAL TICKET (giving “square meal”)
19. Turkey or fox follower TROT
20. Opposite of ecto- ENTO-
21. “Moonstruck” Oscar winner CHER
22. Valerie Harper role RHODA
23. Statement of agreement I DO
24. *Issue that halts negotiations DEAL BREAKER (giving “square deal”)
26. Sluggish TORPID
28. What a goldbrick does IDLES
29. Cooking aids OILS
30. Cry of surrender UNCLE
33. *Monetary love, in Timothy ROOT OF ALL EVIL (giving “square root”)
38. French wine region RHONE
39. “Hands off!” MINE!
40. Deck crew boss BOSUN
43. Full of spunk FEISTY
45. *One in the infantry FOOT SOLDIER (giving “square foot”)
49. __-Aztecan languages UTO
50. Finish by END AT
51. Bird along the coast ERNE
52. Beat it FLED
53. Pinball goof TILT
54. Unswerving, and a hint to the starts of the answers to starred clues FOURSQUARE
56. Fit to __ A TEE
57. “Come Back, Little Sheba” playwright INGE
58. Asian vine leaf BETEL
59. Stockholder’s concern LOSS
60. Former OTC watchdog NASD
61. Bobrun runners SLEDS

Down
1. “You’ve got carte blanche” NAME IT
2. Nondiscriminating immigration policy OPEN-DOOR
3. Mendelssohn’s “Elijah,” for one ORATORIO
4. Unaided SOLO
5. Tolkien giant ENT
6. Russian country home DACHA
7. “Family Matters” nerd URKEL
8. Biting ACERB
9. WWII carrier LST
10. Deadly LETHAL
11. Butterfly, e.g. STROKE
12. Voltaic cell terminals ANODES
13. Golden Horde member TATAR
18. Treated, as a sprain ICED
22. Christ the __: statue in Rio REDEEMER
24. Have little faith in DISTRUST
25. Little stream RILL
27. Gaza Strip gp. PLO
30. Sci-fi vehicle UFO
31. One of the Bobbsey twins NAN
32. A.L. Central team, on scoreboards CLE
34. Cry of woe OH NO!
35. Sundial number VII
36. Protect against heat loss, say INSULATE
37. Made it big, as in school athletics LETTERED
40. Mackerel relative BONITO
41. Truckloads OODLES
42. Conditions STATES
43. Charges for services FEES
44. Alpine airs YODELS
45. Like a curled-up position FETAL
46. Soprano Mitchell LEONA
47. Pharmacy inventory DRUGS
48. How a 59-Across is typically shown IN RED
52. Pumped product FUEL
54. Five smackers FIN
55. Ones taking hikes: Abbr. QBS

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