Day: November 3, 2015

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Woman who turns up in Rick’s gin joint ILSA
The movie “Casablanca” was released in January of 1943, timed to coincide with the Casablanca Conference, the high-level meeting between Roosevelt and Churchill. The film wasn’t a box-office hit, but gained critical acclaim, winning three Oscars including Best Picture. The signature song “As Time Goes By” was written many years earlier for a 1931 Broadway musical called “Everybody’s Welcome”, and was a hit in 1931 for Rudy Vallee. But today we all remember the Casablanca version, sung by Dooley Wilson (who played “Sam” in the film). Poor Dooley didn’t get to record it as a single, due to a musician’s strike in 1943, so the 1931 Rudy Vallee version was re-released that year and became an even bigger hit second time round.

There is a famous exchange in the movie “Casablanca” that results in the piano player Sam singing “As Time Goes By”.

Ilsa: Play it once, Sam. For old times’ sake.
Sam: I don’t know what you mean, Miss Ilsa.
Ilsa: Play it, Sam. Play “As Time Goes By.”
Sam: Oh, I can’t remember it, Miss Ilsa. I’m a little rusty on it.
Ilsa: I’ll hum it for you. Da-dy-da-dy-da-dum, da-dy-da-dee-da-dum…
Ilsa: Sing it, Sam.

An equally famous exchange takes place a little later in the film, resulting in a reprise of the song:

Rick: You know what I want to hear.
Sam: No, I don’t.
Rick: You played it for her, you can play it for me!
Sam: Well, I don’t think I can remember…
Rick: If she can stand it, I can! Play it!

Great stuff!

5. 41st or 43rd president BUSH
By tradition, the Secret Service code names used for the US President and family all start with the same letter. For the 41st president and family, that letter is T:

George H. W. Bush: Timberwolf
Barbara Bush: Tranquility (also “Snowbank”)
Marvin Bush: Tuner
Neil Bush: Trapline
Jeb Bush: Tripper
Dorothy Bush: Tiller

For the 43rd president and family, the code names also start with the letter T:

– George W. Bush: Tumbler (later “Trailblazer”)
– Laura Bush: Tempo
– Barbara Bush: Turquoise
– Jenna Bush: Twinkle

9. National park in the Canadian Rockies BANFF
Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada is located high in the Canadian Rockies and is a popular tourist destination. The town of Banff and the surrounding park were given their name in 1884 by then president of the Canadian Pacific Railway, George Stephen. He named Banff for his birthplace of Banffshire in Scotland.

14. __-chef SOUS
The “Sous-Chef de Cuisine” is the “under-chef of the kitchen”, the second-in-command.

15. One of Pittsburgh’s three rivers OHIO
The Ohio River is formed in Pittsburgh where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers meet. It empties into the Mississippi near the city of Cairo, Illinois.

17. Just swell HUNKY-DORY
Surprisingly (to me), the term “hunky-dory” has been around a long time, and is documented back in the mid-1800s. Nobody’s really sure of its origin, but some say it is an Anglicization of Honcho dori, that back in the day was a street of ill repute in Yokohama, Japan.

26. Personal ad abbr. SWF
Single white female (SWF)

31. South Seas wrap SARONG
Sarong is the Malay word for “sheath”, and a sarong was originally the garment worn by Malay men and women around their waists. The Malay sarong is actually a tube of fabric, about a yard wide and two-and-a-half yards “long”. Many variations of the sarong are worn all over South Asia and the Pacific Islands. I had occasion to wear one in Hawaii many years ago, and found it very … freeing!

34. Aussie hoppers ROOS
The name “kangaroo” comes from the Australian Aborigine term for the animal. There’s an oft-quoted story that James Cook (later Captain Cook) asked a local native the name of this remarkable looking animal, and the native responded with “kangaroo”. The story is that the native was actually saying “I don’t understand you”, but as cute as that tale is, it’s just an urban myth.

40. Hot under the collar HET UP
Someone who is “het up” is “worked up, angry”. “Het” is an archaic word meaning “heated”.

44. Pal of Huck TOM
Tom Sawyer is a favorite character created by Mark Twain. He turns up in four of Twain’s books:

– “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”
– “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”
– “Tom Sawyer Abroad”
– “Tom Sawyer, Detective”

But that’s not all, as he appears in at least three works that Twain left unfinished:

– “Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer Among the Indians” (a sequel to “Huckleberry Finn”)
– “Schoolhouse Hill”
– “Tom Sawyer’s Conspiracy” (a sequel to “Tom Sawyer, Detective”)

49. Yosemite granite formation HALF DOME
Half Dome is a famous peak in the Yosemite National Park in California. It is a granite crest that rises to almost 5,000 feet above the floor of Yosemite Valley. Coin collectors can see Half Dome in the background of the California State Quarter, along with naturalist John Muir and the California condor.

52. Dues payer: Abbr. MEM
Member (mem.)

53. Chocolate pooch LAB
The Labrador (Lab) breed of dog has been around at least since 1814, and the chocolate Labrador appeared over a century later in the 1930s.

56. Sitcom with Richie and the Fonz HAPPY DAYS
Fonzie is a character in the sitcom “Happy Days” that was originally aired from 1974 to 1984. The Fonz was written as a secondary character, but eventually took over the show. Fonzie is of course played by Henry Winkler.

Richie Cunningham was originally written as the lead character on the sitcom “Happy Days”, but the role became overshadowed by the colorful Fonzie. Richie was played by the great Ron Howard.

60. Hosp. trauma centers ERS
Emergency rooms (ERs)

62. Lowe’s rival HOME DEPOT
The Home Depot is the largest home improvement retail chain in the US, ahead of Lowe’s. Home Depot opened their first two stores in 1979. The average store size if just over 100,000 square feet. The largest Home Depot outlet is in Union, New Jersey, and it is 225,000 square feet in size. That’s a lot of nuts and bolts …

66. Ionian Sea island CORFU
Corfu is an island in the very northwest of Greece, in the Ionian Sea. Corfu is a very, very popular vacation destination for European tourists, particularly those from the UK, Scandinavia and Germany.

The Ionian Sea is that part of the Mediterranean that lies between Greece and the southern part of Italy (under the sole of the “boot”). The Ionian Sea is one of the most seismically active areas on the planet.

68. Mickey and Mighty MICE
Walt Disney’s iconic cartoon character Mickey Mouse, was introduced to the public in 1928 in the cartoon “Steamboat Willie”. Mickey was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1978, the first cartoon character to be so honored. Walt Disney has some nice words to say in Disneyland in 1954:

I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse.

Might Mouse is a cartoon character from the Terrytoons studio who was introduced to the world in 1942. Mighty Mouse is a superhero.

69. Cheez Whiz company KRAFT
The processed cheese spread called Cheez Whiz was introduced by Kraft in 1952. And believe it or not, it’s still around …

70. Shakespearean villain IAGO
Iago is the schemer in Shakespeare’s “Othello”. He is a soldier who fought alongside Othello and feels hard done by, missing out on promotion. Iago hatches a plot designed to discredit his rival Cassio by insinuating that Cassio is having an affair with Desdemona, Othello’s wife. By the end of the play it’s Iago himself who is discredited and Othello (before committing suicide) apologizes to Cassio for having believed Iago’s lies. Heavy stuff …

Down
2. Gehrig who usually batted after Ruth LOU
Baseball legend Lou Gehrig was known as a powerhouse. He was a big hitter and just kept on playing. Gehrig broke the record for the most consecutive number of games played, and he stills holds the record for the most career grand slams. His durability earned him the nickname “The Iron Horse”. Sadly, he died in 1941 at 37-years-old suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), an illness we now call “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”.

Jack Dunn was the owner/manager of the Baltimore Orioles back in 1913, when he signed on George Herman Ruth as a pitcher. The other players called Ruth “Jack’s newest babe”, and the name “Babe” stuck.

5. Gym specimen BOD
Our word “gymnasium” comes from the Greek “gymnasion” meaning “public place where exercise is taken”. The Greek term comes from “gymnos” meaning “naked”, as that physical training was usually done unclothed.

8. Georgetown team HOYAS
The athletic teams of Georgetown University are known as the Hoyas. The name is derived from “Hoya Saxa”, a traditional cheer yelled out at Georgetown games as far back as 1893. The term is a mixture of Greek and Latin, with the Greek word “hoya” meaning “such” or “what”, and “saxa” translating from Latin as “rocks” or “small stones”. The cheer is usually rendered in English as “what rocks!”.

10. Saharan ARID
The name “Sahara” means “greatest desert” in Arabic and it is just that, a great desert covering almost 4 million square miles of Northern Africa. That’s almost the size of the United States.

22. Bugs and Rabbits, e.g. VWS
VW stands for Volkswagen, which translates from German into “people’s car”. The original Volkswagen design was the Beetle and was built under a directive from Adolf Hitler, who wanted a cheap car built that ordinary people could afford to purchase. He awarded the contract to engineer Ferdinand Porsche, whose name (paradoxically) would forever be associated with high performance, expensive cars. The Beetle was the official name of the VW model released in North America, but it was usually referred to as a “Bug” here in the US, and a “Beetle” elsewhere in the world.

The Volkswagen Rabbit is a small front-wheel drive car that is sold as the Volkswagen Golf outside of North America.

23. Your, of yore THY
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”.

24. Where It.’s at EUR
Italy (It.) is in Europe (Eur.)

32. 1921 robot play RUR
Karel Čapek was a Czech writer noted for his works of science fiction. Čapek’s 1920 play “R.U.R.” is remembered in part for introducing the world to the word “robot”. The words “automaton” and “android” were already in use, but Capek gave us “robot” from the original Czech “robota” meaning “forced labor”. The initialism “R.U.R.”, in the context of the play, stands for “Rossum’s Universal Robots”.

35. Span. miss SRTA
Señorita (Srta.) is Spanish and mademoiselle (Mlle.) is French for “Miss”.

37. “Ben-__” HUR
The celebrated Charlton Heston movie “Ben-Hur” is a dramatization of a book published in 1880 by Lew Wallace titled “Ben-Hur: A Tale of Christ”. The 1959 epic film won a record 11 Academy Awards, a feat that has been equaled since then but has never been beaten. The other winners of 11 Oscars are “Titanic” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the Rings”.

39. Business review website YELP
yelp.com is a website that provides a local business directory and reviews of services. The site is sort of like Yellow Pages on steroids, and the term “yelp” is derived from “yel-low p-ages”. I have a young neighbor here who used to work for yelp …

41. Rigby of Beatles fame ELEANOR
When Paul McCartney was writing “Eleanor Rigby”, he started out with the title “Daisy Hawkins”. He also had a “Father McCartney” in the lyrics, but was afraid that folks would assume that was a reference to his Dad. So, he looked through the phone book and changed McCartney to McKenzie. The name Eleanor was borrowed from actress Eleanor Bron (a fine English actress who had a role in the movie “Help!”). The name Rigby came from Rigby & Evans Ltd, Wine & Spirit Shippers. Whatever it takes, I guess!

42. Egg-based paint TEMPERA
Tempera is a painting medium made from a colored pigment mixed with a binder such as egg yolk. Tempera painting dates back at least to Ancient Egypt, and is a medium that is very long-lasting. Tempera was the primary medium for painted works of art for centuries, until the introduction of oil paints between the 5th and 9th centuries.

44. Some English, at Wimbledon TOPSPIN
In my misspent youth, I’d play a little snooker. When deliberately placing side spin on the cue ball, we Irish (and British) players would simply say “I put some ‘side’ on that shot”. The term used over here in the US for the same shot is putting “english” on the ball. Ironically, the term “english” comes from the French “anglé” meaning “angled”. “Anglé” sounds exactly like the word “Anglais”, which is French for “English”. There you have it …

The Wimbledon Championships of tennis are held at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club located in Wimbledon, a district of London. The Wimbledon Championships started in 1877, and are still played on grass.

45. Cockney abode ‘OME
A Cockney is someone who, according to tradition, is born within the sound of Bow Bells in the center of London. The Cockney accent is usually considered “working class”. Cockney speakers often use a wonderful form of speech called rhyming slang. So, Cockney’s drink a lot of Rosie Lea (tea), and climb the apples and pears (stairs) using their plates of meat (feet). Cockneys also tend to “drop their aitches”, so home becomes ‘ome and horse becomes ‘orse.

46. Body of eau MER
“Eau” is the French word for “water”; “mer” is the French word for “sea”.

50. Mister Rogers FRED
The “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” TV show starred Fred Rogers. It was the second longest running series on PBS television after that other celebrated children’s show “Sesame Street”.

51. Scale starters DO, RE, MI
The solfa syllables are: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la & ti.

54. Religion founded in Persia BAHA’I
The Baha’i Faith is relatively new in the grand scheme of things, and was founded in Persia in the 1800s. One of the tenets of the religion is that messengers have come from God over time, including Abraham, the Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, and most recently Bahá’u’lláh who founded the Baha’i Faith.

58. Flexibility-improving discipline YOGA
In the West we tend to think of yoga as a physical discipline, a means of exercise that uses specific poses to stretch and strengthen muscles. While it is true that the ancient Indian practice of yoga does involve such physical discipline, the corporeal aspect of the practice plays a relatively small part in the whole philosophy. Other major components are meditation, ethical behavior, breathing and contemplation.

59. Urban haze SMOG
“Smog” is a portmanteau formed by melding “smoke” and “fog”. The term was first used to describe the air around London in the early 1900s.

65. Actor Knight TED
Ted Knight was the actor best known for playing the slow-witted news anchor Ted Baxter on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”. Knight’s most famous role on the big screen was Judge Elihu Smails in the 1980 comedy “Caddyshack”.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Woman who turns up in Rick’s gin joint ILSA
5. 41st or 43rd president BUSH
9. National park in the Canadian Rockies BANFF
14. __-chef SOUS
15. One of Pittsburgh’s three rivers OHIO
16. Like a loud crowd AROAR
17. Just swell HUNKY-DORY
19. Itsy-__ BITSY
20. Generous __ fault TO A
21. Serious romantic outing HEAVY DATE
23. Hot beverage server TEA URN
26. Personal ad abbr. SWF
27. Sawmill input LOG
28. Pursue and catch HUNT DOWN
31. South Seas wrap SARONG
33. Freshman and sr. YRS
34. Aussie hoppers ROOS
36. Affected coyness, with “the” CUTES
37. Stylist’s appliance HAIRDRYER
40. Hot under the collar HET UP
43. Button pressed for silence MUTE
44. Pal of Huck TOM
47. Cellphone reminders ALERTS
49. Yosemite granite formation HALF DOME
52. Dues payer: Abbr. MEM
53. Chocolate pooch LAB
55. Like Huck and Yosemite, nounwise PROPER
56. Sitcom with Richie and the Fonz HAPPY DAYS
60. Hosp. trauma centers ERS
61. Outwit ONE-UP
62. Lowe’s rival HOME DEPOT
66. Ionian Sea island CORFU
67. Spellbound AGOG
68. Mickey and Mighty MICE
69. Cheez Whiz company KRAFT
70. Shakespearean villain IAGO
71. How many TV shows are shown, and a hint to the seven longest answers’ common feature IN HD

Down
1. “More or less” suffix -ISH
2. Gehrig who usually batted after Ruth LOU
3. Baskers’ acquisitions SUNTANS
4. Invite to the movies, say ASK OUT
5. Gym specimen BOD
6. “Oops!” UH-OH!
7. Father SIRE
8. Georgetown team HOYAS
9. Youthful countenance BABY FACE
10. Saharan ARID
11. Very few NOT A LOT
12. Slick trick that’s “pulled” FAST ONE
13. Prepare a sunny-side-up breakfast FRY EGGS
18. Three feet YARD
22. Bugs and Rabbits, e.g. VWS
23. Your, of yore THY
24. Where It.’s at EUR
25. More formal “Me neither!” NOR I!
29. Wriggly bait WORM
30. “Ya think?” NO DUH
32. 1921 robot play RUR
35. Span. miss SRTA
37. “Ben-__” HUR
38. “Well said” APTLY PUT
39. Business review website YELP
40. Pork knuckle HAM HOCK
41. Rigby of Beatles fame ELEANOR
42. Egg-based paint TEMPERA
44. Some English, at Wimbledon TOPSPIN
45. Cockney abode ‘OME
46. Body of eau MER
48. Unhappy SAD
50. Mister Rogers FRED
51. Scale starters DO, RE, MI
54. Religion founded in Persia BAHA’I
57. Drag on a cigar PUFF
58. Flexibility-improving discipline YOGA
59. Urban haze SMOG
63. Swelled head EGO
64. Scot’s “Oh my!” OCH!
65. Actor Knight TED

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