Day: April 20, 2015

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Hackneyed TRITE
Hackney is a location in London that probably gave it’s name to a “hackney”, an ordinary type of horse carriage around 1300. By 1700 a “hackney” was a person hired to do routine work, and “hackneyed” meant “kept for hire”. Around the same time, “hackneyed” came to describe something so overused that it is no longer interesting. Sort of like crossword answers that turn up a little too often …

10. Lily of France garment BRA
Lily of France is a brand of women’s underwear that was launched in 1915 in New York City.

13. Prepared potatoes, as for hash browns RICED
“Hash”, meaning a dish of beef and vegetables mashed together, is a very American term and one that really surprised me when I first came across it. “Hash” just seems like such an unappetizing item, but I soon found out how delicious it was. The name “hash” in this context comes from the French “hacher” meaning “to chop”. Back in the early 1900s the dish called “hashed browned potatoes” was developed, which quickly morphed into “hash browns”. From there the likes of corned beef hash was introduced.

14. Boxcar hopper HOBO
No one seems to know for sure how the term “hobo” originated, although there are lots of colorful theories. My favorite is that “hobo” comes from the first letters in the words “ho-meward bo-und”, but it doesn’t seem very plausible. A kind blog reader tells me that according to Click and Clack from PBS’s “Car Talk” (a great source!), “hobo” comes from “hoe boy”. Hoe boys were young men with hoes looking for work after the Civil War. Hobos differed from “tramps” and “bums”, in that “bums” refused to work, “tramps” worked when they had to, while “hobos” traveled in search of work.

A “boxcar” is a basic railroad car used to carry freight. It’s the one shaped like a big box, with large doors at each side.

16. Unnamed news supplier ANONYMOUS SOURCE (giving “crowdsource”)
“Crowdsourcing” is mainly an online phenomenon, and is the solicitation of perhaps services, ideas or content from a large group of people. “Crowdsourcing” is a portmanteau of “crowd” and “outsourcing”. One example of crowdsourcing is “crowdfunding”, where an individual solicits many small contributions from a large number of people to fund a project.

19. ID theft target SSN
Social Security number (SSN)

21. Injector for severe allergic reactions EPIPEN
EpiPen is a brand name of epinephrine auto-injector. An EpiPen delivers a measured dose of epinephrine, usually for the treatment of an allergic reaction.

26. Actress Aniston, in tabloids JEN
Jennifer Aniston won a 2002 Emmy for playing Rachel on the great sitcom “Friends”. Jennifer’s parents are both actors, and her godfather is the actor Telly Savalas.

27. Automatic setting for highway driving CRUISE CONTROL (giving “crowd control”)

33. Nabokov nymphet LOLITA
Vladimir Nabokov’s novel “Lolita” has a famously controversial storyline, dealing with a middle-aged man’s obsession and sexual relationship with a 12-year-old girl. Although “Lolita” is considered a classic today, after Nabokov finished it in 1953 the edgy subject matter made it impossible for him to find a publisher in the US (where Nabokov lived). In 1955, he resorted to publishing it in English at a printing house in Paris. Publication was followed by bans and seizures all over Europe. A US printing house finally took on the project in 1958, by which time the title had such a reputation that it sold exceptionally quickly. “Lolita” became the first book since “Gone with the Wind” to sell over 100,000 copies in its first three weeks in stores.

41. Rm. coolers ACS
Air conditioning units (ACs) are room (rm.) coolers.

42. Lao Tzu’s “path” TAO
Lao Tse (also Lao-Tzu) was a central figure in the development of the religion/philosophy of Taoism.

48. Country singer McGraw TIM
The country singer Tim McGraw is the son of the late Tug McGraw, the baseball pitcher. McGraw’s wife is fellow country singer Faith Hill.

49. Jamaican music SKA
Ska originated in Jamaica in the late fifties and was the precursor to reggae music. No one has a really definitive etymology of the term “ska”, but it is likely to be imitative of some sound.

50. Annual spelling bee airer ESPN
The Scripps National Spelling Bee is sponsored and managed by the E. W. Scripps Company. ESPN has been televising the latter rounds of the National Spelling Bee since 2006.

53. Understood by only a few ARCANE
Something that is “arcane” is something that is understood by only a few, something that might be described as mysterious.

56. Portfolio part, briefly IRA
Individual Retirement Account (IRA)

65. Actress Zellweger RENEE
Renée Zellweger’s big break came in the 1996 movie “Jerry Maguire”. A few years later she followed that up with a string of successes in “Bridget Jones Diary” (2001), “Chicago” (2002) and “Cold Mountain” (2003). My wife and I love watching her play Bridget Jones, and as someone coming from the British Isles I have to say she does a remarkable job with the accent. She worked hard to perfect that accent, and of course she had a voice coach. She also went “undercover” and worked as a temp in an office for three weeks fine-tuning her skills.

66. “The Fountainhead” author Rand AYN
“The Fountainhead” by Ayn Rand was first published in 1943, her first novel to achieve public success. The story focuses on an idealistic architect, Howard Roark. Roark is uncompromising in his designs, refusing the give the public what it wants, staying doggedly loyal to his own vision.

67. Blue books? SMUT
“Smut” means “dirt, smudge” and more recently “pornographic material”. The term comes from the Yiddish “schmutz”, which is a slang word used in English for dirt, as in “dirt on one’s face”.

Down
1. Dumpster fill TRASH
“Dumpster” is one of those words that we use generically that is actually a brand name. The original “Dumpster” was patented by the Dempster Brothers of Knoxville, Tennessee. “Dumpster” is derived from “dump” and “Dempster”.

2. Classic Unilever laundry soap RINSO
Rinso was a laundry detergent that was first manufactured in England in 1908 by a company called Hudson’s Soap. It was introduced into the US in 1918. In America, Rinso took to radio advertising and sponsorship in the days of “soap operas”. Their most famous program association was with “The Amos ‘n’ Andy Show” in the forties. One of the brand’s slogans was “Solium, the sunlight ingredient”. I have no idea what Solium is, but it certainly did sell a lot of soap!

3. Religious rebel ICONOCLAST
Iconoclasm is the deliberate destruction of society’s icons, either religious or cultural. The term applies more to a rebellious action from within a society, as opposed to an act by external forces invading another culture. As such, the term “iconoclast” has come to have a broader meaning, describing anyone who stands up against established convention.

4. Bowling pin count TEN
Bowling has been around for an awfully long time. The oldest known reference to the game is in Egypt, where pins and balls were found in an ancient tomb that is over 5,000 years old. The first form of the game to come to America was nine-pin bowling, which had been very popular in Europe for centuries. In 1841 in Connecticut, nine-pin bowling was banned due to its association with gambling. Supposedly, an additional pin was added to get around the ban, and ten-pin bowling was born.

5. Frozen custard brand EDY’S
Dreyers’ ice cream sells its products under the name Dreyers in the Western United States, and Edy’s in the Eastern states. The company’s founders were William Dryer and Joseph Edy.

6. Instagram uploads PHOTOS
Instagram is a photo-sharing application, one that is extremely popular. Instagram was started in San Francisco in 2010. Facebook purchased Instagram two years later, paying $1 billion. The billion-dollar Instagram had just 13 employees at the time …

7. Soul singer Rawls LOU
Lou Rawls was an American soul and blues singer known for his smooth vocal style. With his singing career well on the way, Rawls was asked to sing “The Star Spangled Banner” in 1977 at a Muhammad Ali fight in Madison Square Garden. This performance led to him being asked to sing the anthem many, many times in the coming years with his last rendition being at a World Series game in 2005. Rawls passed away in January of the following year.

10. Dinner table faux pas BURP
The term “faux pas” is French in origin, and translates literally as “false step” (or “false steps”, as the plural has the same spelling in French).

11. Kentucky Derby, e.g. RACE
The first Kentucky Derby was run in 1875, and is a race modelled on the Epsom Derby in England and the Grand Prix de Paris (now called the “Prix de l‘Arc de Triomphe”). As such, The Kentucky Derby was run over 1½ miles, although in 1896 this was shortened to 1¼ miles. The winning horse is presented with a very elaborate blanket made of red roses.

12. Yemen’s Gulf of __ ADEN
The Gulf of Aden is the body of water that lies south of the Red Sea, and just north of the Horn of Africa.

15. One of five in a maternity ward delivery QUINT
Quintuplet (quint)

17. Criminal group MAFIA
Apparently “Cosa Nostra” is the real name for the Italian Mafia. “Cosa Nostra” translates as “our thing” or “this thing of ours”. The term first became public in the US when the FBI managed to turn some members of the American Mafia. The Italian authorities established that “Cosa Nostra” was also used in Sicily when they penetrated the Sicilian Mafia in the 1980s. The term “mafia” seems to be just a literary invention that has become popular with the public.

23. Singer Kristofferson KRIS
The singer Kris Kristofferson was born in Brownsville, Texas and was the son of a USAF Major General. Indeed, Kristofferson’s paternal grandfather was also a military officer, but in the Swedish Army. Kristofferson himself went into the US Army and served in West Germany, achieving the rank of Captain.

25. Auto parts chain PEP BOYS
The Pep Boys automotive stores started out in Philadelphia when four friends pooled their money ($800, in 1921) to open an auto parts store. The name “Pep” was taken from a Pep Valve grinding compound that they carried. They changed the name to Pep Boys as at least one local used to refer to the store as “the boys at Pep”. One of the friends cashed out of the business, and the remaining trio eventually rebranded the store as “The Pep Boys – Manny, Moe & Jack”.

28. Sport-__: off-road vehicle UTE
A utility vehicle is often called a “ute” for short. Nowadays one mainly hears about sports utes and crossover utes.

29. Chicago ballplayer CUB
The Chicago Cubs is one of only two charter members of the baseball’s National League who are still playing, the other being the Atlanta Braves. The Cubs last won the World Series in 1908, which is a long time ago. In fact, the Cubs have the longest championship drought of any professional sports team in North America.

30. Fake diamond RHINESTONE
A rhinestone is a colorless artificial gem made from paste or glass. The original rhinestones were rock crystals that were gathered from the river Rhine in Germany.

32. Dregs LEES
The dregs in wine, the sediment that settles during fermentation (and sometimes in the bottle), is also called “lees”.

34. Aquatic predator ORCA
The taxonomic name for the killer whale is Orcinus orca. The use of the name “orca”, rather than “killer whale”, is becoming more and more common. The Latin word “Orcinus” means “belonging to Orcus”, with Orcus being the name for the Kingdom of the Dead.

39. “__ Loves You”: Beatles SHE
The Beatles song “She Loves You” was released in 1963. It was one of five songs that together achieved an amazing feat in the US charts. At one point that year, those five songs were in the top five positions. The top five songs were:

“Can’t Buy Me Love”
“Twist and Shout”
“She Loves You”
“I Want to Hold Your Hand”
“Please Please Me”

Amazingly, further down the charts, still in the top 100, were seven more Beatles songs.

40. One, in Dresden EINE
The German city of Dresden was almost completely destroyed during WWII, especially as a result of the famous firebombing of the city in 1945. Restoration work in the inner city in recent decades led to it being designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site However, in 2006 when the city built a highway bridge close to the city center, UNESCO took Dresden off the list. This marked the only time a European location has lost World Heritage status.

45. Sicily’s country ITALY
In the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, the “boot” is the mainland of Italy, and the “ball” being kicked by the boot is the island of Sicily.

53. Mennen lotion AFTA
Afta is an aftershave in the Mennen range of products that is owned by Colgate-Palmolive.

54. One of the Gilmore girls RORY
“Gilmore Girls” is a comedy show that originally aired from 2000 to 2007 on the WB. The title characters are mother and daughter Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, played by Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel.

61. Capote nickname TRU
The larger than life Truman Capote was a celebrated author and comedian. Capote is perhaps most associated with his novella “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and his true crime novel “In Cold Blood”. Truman Capote grew up in Monroeville, Alabama. There he met, and became lifelong friends with, fellow novelist Harper Lee. Capote was the inspiration for the character “Dill” in Lee’s celebrated work “To Kill a Mockingbird”. In turn, Harper Lee was the inspiration for the character “Idabel” in Capote’s “Other Voices, Other Rooms”.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Hackneyed TRITE
6. Work out ahead of time PLAN
10. Lily of France garment BRA
13. Prepared potatoes, as for hash browns RICED
14. Boxcar hopper HOBO
15. Campus courtyard QUAD
16. Unnamed news supplier ANONYMOUS SOURCE (giving “crowdsource”)
19. ID theft target SSN
20. Used a bench SAT
21. Injector for severe allergic reactions EPIPEN
22. Slice opposite, in golf HOOK
24. Snappy dresser FOP
26. Actress Aniston, in tabloids JEN
27. Automatic setting for highway driving CRUISE CONTROL (giving “crowd control”)
33. Nabokov nymphet LOLITA
35. Cold draft server PUB
36. Weed whacker HOE
37. Wipe off the board ERASE
38. Tidal retreat EBB
39. Take control of SEIZE
41. Rm. coolers ACS
42. Lao Tzu’s “path” TAO
43. Puts a gloss on, as shoes SHINES
44. Christmas display NATIVITY SCENE (giving “crowd scene”)
48. Country singer McGraw TIM
49. Jamaican music SKA
50. Annual spelling bee airer ESPN
53. Understood by only a few ARCANE
56. Portfolio part, briefly IRA
58. Exceedingly TOO
59. Conforms, or what each last word of 16-, 27- and 44-Across literally does FOLLOWS THE CROWD
63. Seatback airline feature TRAY
64. Otherworldly glow AURA
65. Actress Zellweger RENEE
66. “The Fountainhead” author Rand AYN
67. Blue books? SMUT
68. Pretty pitchers EWERS

Down
1. Dumpster fill TRASH
2. Classic Unilever laundry soap RINSO
3. Religious rebel ICONOCLAST
4. Bowling pin count TEN
5. Frozen custard brand EDY’S
6. Instagram uploads PHOTOS
7. Soul singer Rawls LOU
8. Crunched muscles ABS
9. Bit of cosmetic surgery NOSE JOB
10. Dinner table faux pas BURP
11. Kentucky Derby, e.g. RACE
12. Yemen’s Gulf of __ ADEN
15. One of five in a maternity ward delivery QUINT
17. Criminal group MAFIA
18. Ready for business OPEN
23. Singer Kristofferson KRIS
25. Auto parts chain PEP BOYS
28. Sport-__: off-road vehicle UTE
29. Chicago ballplayer CUB
30. Fake diamond RHINESTONE
31. Move like honey OOZE
32. Dregs LEES
33. Low in fat LEAN
34. Aquatic predator ORCA
38. Grab a bite EAT
39. “__ Loves You”: Beatles SHE
40. One, in Dresden EINE
42. “Used to be … ” TIME WAS …
43. Frighten SCARE
45. Sicily’s country ITALY
46. Sicily’s wine VINO
47. Headgear on the slopes SKI HAT
51. Strength POWER
52. Botanical connecting points NODES
53. Mennen lotion AFTA
54. One of the Gilmore girls RORY
55. Kilted family CLAN
57. Land measure ACRE
60. Total amount SUM
61. Capote nickname TRU
62. Opposite of fast fwd. REW

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