Day: March 20, 2015

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
6. “Say from whence / You __ this strange intelligence?”: Macbeth OWE
In William Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth”, the three witches foretell that the title character will become the father of kings, but not a king himself. Hearing this, Macbeth addressed the witches Say from whence / You owe this strange intelligence …

14. MDX maker ACURA
The Acura MDX is what’s known as a crossover SUV, and SUV built on a car platform.

15. __ Pacis: altar of Peace ARA
The Ara Pacis Augustae, the Altar of Augustan Peace, is often just called the “Ara” or “Ara Pacis”. It is an altar that was commissioned by the Roman Senate to honor the return of Caesar Augustus after his conquests in Hispania and Gaul. It stood at the northern outskirts of Rome, and over the centuries was covered by silt as it was located in the floodplain of the river Tiber. The Ara was excavated and much of the altar recovered over recent centuries, although as usual, parts of the altar have found their way into the major museums around the world. Much of the altar was reconstructed and placed inside a protective building under the orders of dictator Benito Mussolini in 1938. A new building was built to house the altar in 2006.

19. Dish man? PETRI
Julius Richard Petri was a German bacteriologist and was the man after whom the Petri dish is named. The petri dish can have an agar gel on the bottom which acts a nutrient source for the specimen being grown and studied, in which case the dish plus agar is referred to as an “agar plate”.

20. Measurement for Sagan PARSEC
A parsec is a measure of length or distance used in astronomy. One parsec is equal to about 19.2 trillion miles.

Carl Sagan was a brilliant astrophysicist and a great communicator. Sagan was famous for presenting obscure concepts about the cosmos in such a way that we mere mortals could appreciate. He also wrote the novel “Contact” which was adapted into a fascinating 1997 film of the same name starring Jodie Foster.

21. One sending out bills ATM
Automated teller machine (ATM)

23. Field guard TARP
Originally, tarpaulins were made from canvas covered in tar that rendered the material waterproof. The word “tarpaulin” comes from “tar” and “palling”, with “pall” meaning “heavy cloth covering”.

24. Bolivian president Morales EVO
Evo Morales has been President of Bolivia since 2006. Morales has a socialist agenda, and as such his government is a close ally to the regimes in Venezuela and in Cuba.

27. Natl. debt unit BIL
Billion (bil.)

Looking historically at the national debt of the US, expressed as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product, the debt increases really due to only two factors, either war or recession.

28. Mountain __: soft drinks DEWS
If you check the can, you’ll see that “Mountain Dew” is now marketed as “Mtn Dew”.

31. Galileo’s birthplace PISA
Galileo Galilei may be the most famous son of the city of Pisa in Italy and was considered by many to have been the father of modern science. In the world of physics, Galileo postulated that objects of different masses would fall at the same rate provided they did so in a vacuum (so there was no air resistance). There is a story that he dropped two balls of different masses from the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa to demonstrate this, but this probably never happened. Centuries later, Astronaut David Scott performed Galileo’s proposed experiment when he dropped a hammer and feather on the moon during the Apollo 15 mission and we all saw the objects hit the moon surface, at exactly the same time.

32. California Marine Corps base CAMP/PENDLETON
Camp Pendleton is a large Marine Corps base located on the Southern California coast in San Diego County. The base was opened during WWII, in 1942, and was named for Marine Corps Major General Joseph Henry Pendleton, who passed away that same year after 40 years of service.

35. Snowboarding gold medalist White SHAUN
Professional snowboarder Shaun White has won Olympic gold twice, in 2006 and 2010. White is a red-headed Irish American, and is often referred to as “The Flying Tomato”.

46. Idle colleague PALIN
Michael Palin is a marvelously talented comedian and actor, most famous as one of the “Monty Python” team. Palin is well known as a travel writer and has made some outstanding travel documentaries for television. He did one show called “Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days” in which he followed the route called out in the Jules Verne classic, without using airplanes. Palin also made “Pole to Pole”, a journey from the North to South Poles, along the 30 degree line of longitude. Currently, Michael Palin is the President of the Royal Geographical Society.

Eric Idle was one of the founding members of the Monty Python team. Idle was very much the musician of the bunch, and is an accomplished guitarist. If you’ve seen the Monty Python film “The Life of Brian”, you might remember the closing number, “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”. It was sung by Idle, and was indeed written by him. That song made it to number 3 in the UK charts in 1991.

47. Conan Doyle, for one SCOT
The Scottish writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is most closely associated with his wonderful character Sherlock Holmes. Doyle also wrote a series of science fiction stories featuring the character Professor Challenger. The first book in which Challenger appears is the famous “The Lost World”, a story about prehistoric creatures that are found living in the modern age on an isolated plateau in South America.

51. “Love __ Rose”: Neil Young song IS A
Neil Young wrote and recorded “Love is a Rose”, but Linda Ronstadt’s 1975 version is the most famous.

Neil Young is a singer and songwriter from Toronto, Ontario. Young is known for his solo work, as well as his earlier recordings with Buffalo Springfield and as the fourth member of Crosby, Stills & Nash. Young is also a successful movie director, although he uses the pseudonym “Bernard Shakey” for his movie work. Included in his filmography are “Human Highway” and “Greendale”.

54. LAX stat ARR
Los Angeles International Airport is the sixth busiest airport in the world in terms of passenger traffic, and the busiest here on the West Coast of the US. The airport was opened in 1930 as Mines Field and was renamed to Los Angeles Airport in 1941. On the airport property is the iconic white structure that resembles a flying saucer. This is called the Theme Building and I believe it is mainly used as a restaurant and observation deck for the public. The airport used to be identified by the letters “LA”, but when the aviation industry went to a three-letter standard for airport identification, this was changed to “LAX”. Apparently the “X” has no significant meaning.

57. Film with six sequels SAW
The “Saw” franchise of movies is gruesome in the extreme. I’ve only seen a few minutes of “Saw” footage (accidentally). The stories are about imprisoned victims who are faced with having to mutilate themselves to escape. Ugh …

58. Muse for Sagan URANIA
In Greek mythology, the muses are the goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. The number of muses is a subject of debate at times, but the most popular view is that there are nine:

– Calliope (epic poetry)
– Clio (history)
– Erato (lyric poetry)
– Euterpe (music)
– Melpomene (tragedy)
– Polyhymnia (choral poetry)
– Terpsichore (dance)
– Thalia (comedy)
– Urania (astronomy)

64. Kovacs of early TV comedy ERNIE
Ernie Kovacs was an American comedian who was active in the fifties and early sixties. Famously, Kovacs was married to actress, singer and comedienne Edie Adams. Sadly, Kovacs died in a car accident in 1962.

65. Tao follower? -ISM
The Chinese character “tao” translates as “path”, but the concept of Tao signifies the true nature of the world.

66. “JFK” director STONE
Oliver Stone came to prominence as a film director in the 1980s when he came out with a string of war films such as “Salvador”, “Platoon” and “Born on the Fourth of July”. Stone dropped out of Yale University in the sixties and spent six months in South Vietnam teaching English. A few years later he signed up with the US Army and requested combat duty in South Vietnam and completed a 15-month tour. His movie “Platoon” is a semi-autobiographical account of his experiences during the Vietnam War.

“JFK” is a 1991 Oliver Stone movie, a controversial one I’d say. I suppose any work that deals with the terrible assassination of President Kennedy is bound to create a stir these days. By the way, make a note in your diary. According to US law, all documents held by the government that are related to the assassination are supposed to be released to the public by 2017 …

67. Late bloomer? ASTER
Apparently, most aster species and cultivars bloom relatively late in the year, usually in the fall.

68. Skid row woe 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”.

The term “skid row” is used to describe a run-down urban neighborhood. “Skid row” appears to have originated in the Pacific Northwest where a “skid road” was a wooden pathway used for “skidding” logs through forests and over bogs. The terms “skid road” and “skid row” came to be used for logging camps and mills, and then somehow was applied to run-down areas in cities up and down the west coast of North America.

Down
2. Staff span OCTAVE
I find that terminology in music can be confusing. My way of looking at an octave (my way … don’t shout at me!) is thinking of a piano keyboard. In the key of C, the seven notes of the octave are C, D, E, F, G, A, B (or “do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti”). These are all white keys. Most of these “white notes” are separated by whole tones, so there is room to add a “semitone” in between most of them, and these are the black keys (C-sharp for example). There is room for five black keys in an octave, and 7 + 5 adds up to 12. I assume we use the term “octave” because we often add an eighth note on the end “to bring us back to do” as the song says (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do … or … C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C). That eighth note is really the first note in the next octave up. And I know we’ve discussed this before, but I still don’t get it. I think my lack of musical talent is conspiring with a few years of math education to get me totally confused …

4. Camera component IRIS
The iris (also “iris diaphragm”) is the structure in a camera with an aperture in the center. The iris only allows light to pass through the aperture, and in many cameras can vary the size of that aperture.

9. Place for an X, perhaps MAP
X marks the spot on the map.

12. President who signed the Sherman Antitrust Act HARRISON
William Henry Harrison died in 1841, after only one month in office, simply from complications arising from a cold. Harrison was the oldest person to assume the office of US president, until President Reagan in 1981. He was the first president to die in office, and served the shortest tenure.

The Sherman Antitrust Act dates back to 1890. The act makes it illegal for companies to seek a monopoly or to form cartels. It is named for US Senator John Sherman , the principal author of the act.

18. Razor man? OCCAM
Ockham’s Razor (also “Occam’s Razor”) is a principle in philosophy and science that basically states that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. This explanation is a corollary to the more exact statement of the principle, that one shouldn’t needlessly use assumptions in explaining something. The principle was developed by 14th-century logician and Franciscan Friar William of Ockham (or “Occam” in Latin). The principle is dubbed a “razor” as it is used as a philosophical tool used to cut out absurd and spurious reasoning in an argument.

31. 1666 London fire chronicler PEPYS
Samuel Pepys was a British Member of Parliament and naval administrator, more famous these days for his diary than for his contribution to political history. Pepys started to keep a diary on New Year’s Day in 1660 and recorded his daily life for almost ten years. His writings include details of his personal life as well as firsthand accounts of the important events of the 1660s such as the Great Plague of 1665 and the Great Fire of London in 1666.

The Great Fire of London was a devastating blaze that swept through the center of the English capital for four days in 1666. The fire started at a bakery in Pudding Lane and eventually destroyed the homes of over 80% of the city’s inhabitants, 13,200 houses and 87 parish churches, as well as St. Paul’s Cathedral. After the fire died out, there was a rush to place blame and a French watchmaker was tried and hanged for setting the blaze. However, it was later discovered that the Frenchman had only arrived in London two days after the fire started.

35. Soup variety, and a feature of five puzzle answers SPLIT PEA
When peas are dried, the skin can be removed and the seed naturally “splits” into two pieces called cotyledons. These cotyledons would have formed the first two leaves of the pea plant had it been allowed to germinate.

36. Classic 1986 sports movie HOOSIERS
“Hoosiers” is an excellent sports movie about a small-town high school team in Indiana that wins the state basketball championship. The team coach is Norman Dale, played by Gene Hackman. The film is inspired by the true story of Milan High School which won the 1954 championship.

The exact origin of the word “Hoosier” is unknown, but has been around since at least 1830. The term had no direct linkage with Indiana until John Finley of Richmond, Indiana wrote a poem called “The Hoosier’s Nest” in 1833. A few years later, by 1840, “hoosier” was generally accepted as a term for Indiana residents.

40. Makers of many skeds CPAS
A certified public accountant (CPA) prepares a lot of schedules (skeds) when preparing tax returns.

42. Grey area? OLD WEST
Zane Grey certainly did hit on the right niche. He wrote romanticized western novels and stories that really lent themselves to the big screen in the days when westerns were very popular movies. Incredibly, 110 films were made based on his work.

43. Small, made smaller LIL
“Lil” is a “little” word that’s short for “little”.

48. Fixture at Rosh Hashanah services CANTOR
“Canto” is the Latin word for “singer”. In some religious traditions, a “cantor” is the person assigned to lead the singing of ecclesiastical music.

Rosh Hashanah is loosely referred to as “Jewish New Year”. The literal translation from Hebrew is “head of the year”.

53. Metallic waste DROSS
When metals are smelted, there is a scum made up of impurities that floats on the surface of the molten metal. This scum is called “dross” and is drawn off and discarded. The term “dross” then came to mean any waste or impure matter.

56. City on its own lake ERIE
Erie is a city in the very north of Pennsylvania, right on the southern shore of Lake Erie. The city takes its name from the Erie Native American tribe that resided in the area.

61. Sun. delivery SER
A sermon (ser.) might be delivered on a Sunday (Sun.), particularly in a Christian church.

63. Acute care initials EMS
Emergency Medical Services (EMS)

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Shoot the moon GO BIG
6. “Say from whence / You __ this strange intelligence?”: Macbeth OWE
9. Word of possibility MIGHT
14. MDX maker ACURA
15. __ Pacis: altar of Peace ARA
16. Tough test metaphor A BEAR
17. Where shirts may be lost? STRIP/POKER
19. Dish man? PETRI
20. Measurement for Sagan PARSEC
21. One sending out bills ATM
23. Field guard TARP
24. Bolivian president Morales EVO
25. Denounce unmercifully SCATHE
27. Natl. debt unit BIL
28. Mountain __: soft drinks DEWS
30. White ASHEN
31. Galileo’s birthplace PISA
32. California Marine Corps base CAMP/PENDLETON
35. Snowboarding gold medalist White SHAUN
38. Begins OPENS
39. Realm of some self-help books POP/PSYCHOLOGY
45. Easy pace LOPE
46. Idle colleague PALIN
47. Conan Doyle, for one SCOT
51. “Love __ Rose”: Neil Young song IS A
52. At sea ADDLED
54. LAX stat ARR
55. Fade out TIRE
57. Film with six sequels SAW
58. Muse for Sagan URANIA
60. Equals PEERS
62. Update KEEP/POSTED
64. Kovacs of early TV comedy ERNIE
65. Tao follower? -ISM
66. “JFK” director STONE
67. Late bloomer? ASTER
68. Skid row woe DTS
69. Prepares for recycling SORTS

Down
1. Suddenly inspired GASPED
2. Staff span OCTAVE
3. Underground shelter BURROW
4. Camera component IRIS
5. Is visibly thunderstruck GAPES
6. Sturdy tree OAK
7. Encircle WREATHE
8. Like 3-Downs EARTHEN
9. Place for an X, perhaps MAP
10. “That’s dubious” I BET
11. Go for lunch, say GET A BITE
12. President who signed the Sherman Antitrust Act HARRISON
13. Travel agent’s suggestions TRIP/PLANS
18. Razor man? OCCAM
22. Patch MEND
26. Venomous snake ASP
29. Informal pardon? SCUSE
31. 1666 London fire chronicler PEPYS
33. “__ luck?” ANY
34. Two-by-four source LOG
35. Soup variety, and a feature of five puzzle answers SPLIT PEA
36. Classic 1986 sports movie HOOSIERS
37. Obvious APPARENT
40. Makers of many skeds CPAS
41. Started one’s family, casually HAD A KID
42. Grey area? OLD WEST
43. Small, made smaller LIL
44. Get ahead of ONE-UP
48. Fixture at Rosh Hashanah services CANTOR
49. Put on course ORIENT
50. Masonry and such TRADES
53. Metallic waste DROSS
56. City on its own lake ERIE
59. In the matter of AS TO
61. Sun. delivery SER
63. Acute care initials EMS

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