Day: December 16, 2015

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Pal to text “<3” symbols to BFF
Best friend forever (BFF)

The text symbol “<3” represents a heart (look sideways). It is used to signify love and affection.

4. __ Road: WWII supply route to China BURMA
The Burma Road is 717 mile long route that links Burma/Myanmar to southwest China. It was built in 1937/38 and played a crucial role during WWII. At the beginning of the conflict it was used by the British to supply China who were fighting the Japanese. The road was controlled by the Japanese after they overran Burma.

9. Michael of Monty Python 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.

14. Bud’s partner LOU
Lou Costello was half of the Abbott & Costello double act. One tragic and terrible event in Lou Costello’s life was the death of his baby son, Lou Costello, Jr. Lou was at NBC studios one night for his regular broadcast when he received word that the 11-month-old baby had somehow drowned in the family swimming pool. With the words, “Wherever he is tonight, I want him to hear me”, he made the scheduled broadcast in front of a live, unsuspecting audience.

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello made up the comedy duo Abbott and Costello who were immensely popular in the forties and fifties. Even when I was growing up in Ireland and knew nothing about baseball, I was rolling around the floor listening to Abbott and Costello’s famous “Who’s on First?” comedy routine. Can you name all the players?

– First Base: Who
– Second Base: What
– Third Base: I Don’t Know
– Left field: Why
– Center field: Because
– Pitcher: Tomorrow
– Catcher: Today
– Shortstop: I Don’t Care/I Don’t Give a Darn

16. Stop on Chicago’s Blue Line O’HARE
O’Hare International is the fourth busiest airport in the world. The original airport was constructed on the site between 1942 and 1943, and was used by the Douglas Aircraft Company for the manufacture of planes during WWII. Before the factory and airport were built, there was a community in the area called Orchard Place, so the airport was called Orchard Place Airport/Douglas Field. This name is the derivation of the airport’s current location identifier: ORD (OR-chard D-ouglas). Orchard Place Airport was renamed to O’Hare International in 1949 in honor of Lieutenant Commander Butch O’Hare who grew up in Chicago. O’Hare was the US Navy’s first flying ace and a Medal of Honor recipient in WWII.

Chicago’s Blue Line is a 27-mile long “L” line that connects the Forest Park suburb to O’Hare International Airport, passing through downtown. The Blue Line is one of only two routes in Chicago on which trains operate 24 hours a day.

17. Coastal bird ERN
The ern (also erne) is sometimes called the white-tailed eagle, or the sea-eagle.

18. Olympic event featuring a 16-pound ball HAMMER THROW
There are usually four throwing events in a track and field competition:

– hammer
– discus
– shot put
– javelin

29. Beehive State college squad UTES
The Runnin’ Utes are the basketball team of the University of Utah. The team was given the nickname the Runnin’ Redskins back when Jack Gardner was the head coach from 1953 to 1971. The “Runnin'” part of the name was chosen because Gardner was famous for playing quick offenses. The “Redskins” name was later dropped in favor of the less controversial “Utes”.

When Mormon pioneers were settling what is today the state of Utah, they referred to the area as Deseret, a word that means “beehive” according to the Book of Mormon. Today Utah is known as the Beehive State and there is a beehive symbol on the Utah state flag.

34. Selective way to order A LA CARTE
On a restaurant menu, items that are “à la carte” are priced and ordered separately. A menu marked “table d’hôte” (also called “prix fixe”) is a fixed-price menu with limited choice.

43. Part of JFK: Abbr. INIT
Initial (init.)

President John F. Kennedy was often referred to by his initials JFK, the F standing for Fitzgerald, his mother’s maiden name. The president’s brother Robert F. Kennedy also used his initials, RFK, with the F standing for his middle-name Francis.

50. Particle physics concept STRING THEORY
There has always been a conflict between the theory of relativity and quantum theory. Basically, the theory of relativity works for “big stuff” but breaks down when applied to minute things like subatomic particles. On the other hand, quantum theory was developed to explain behavior at the subatomic level, and just doesn’t work on the larger scale. One of the reasons physicists are so excited about string theory is that it works at the macro and micro levels. According to string theory, all particles in the universe are really little “strings”, as opposed to the points or ball-shaped entities assumed by the other theories.

58. Coleridge work RIME
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was a pioneer for the Romantic Movement in England, along with his friend William Wordsworth. Coleridge’s most famous works are “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and “Kubla Khan”, my wife’s favorite poem.

59. Adjuration PLEA
Our word “adjure” comes from the Latin “adjurare”, meaning “to swear to”. We use to the term “adjuration” to mean an earnest entreaty or plea.

60. Gershwin’s preludes, e.g. … and the starts of 18-, 24-, 39- and 50-Across PIANO PIECES
George Gershwin has plans to compose a group of 24 preludes, which are short piano pieces. In the end, he only produced three, and these are now referred to as Gershwin’s “Three Preludes”. The composer himself premiered the works in 1926, at a recital in the Roosevelt Hotel in New York.

66. When a “Macbeth” witch says, “Something wicked this way comes” ACT IV
“Something wicked this way comes” is a line spoken by one of the witches in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”.

By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.
Open, locks,
Whoever knocks.

68. Spanish pronoun ESO
“Eso” is Spanish for “that”.

69. Moriarty’s creator DOYLE
Professor James Moriarty was the main villain who crossed swords with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s’ “Sherlock Holmes”. Moriarty is always cropping up in Sherlock Holmes television and radio plays and in movies, but if you go back to the original stories he isn’t around very much. He only turns up directly in two of the narratives, and was primarily introduced by Conan Doyle in order to “kill off” Sherlock Holmes in a brawl at the top of the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland. Both Holmes and Moriarty fell to their deaths. Well … public pressure on the author caused Conan Doyle to resurrect Holmes in “The Hound of the Baskervilles”.

70. 2015 World Series player, for short NY MET
The 2015 World Series was played between the New York Mets and the Kansas City Royals. The Royals were the losing team in the 2014 series, but emerged victorious in 2015.

71. Classic car REO
The REO Motor Company was founded by Ransom Eli Olds (hence the name REO). The company made cars, trucks and buses, and was in business from 1905 to 1975 in Lansing, Michigan. Among the company’s most famous models were the REO Royale and the REO Flying Cloud.

Down
2. “Star Wars” power, with “the” FORCE
The Force is a metaphysical power much cited in all of the “Star Wars” movies, and still today we may hear someone in real life say “May the Force be with you”.

4. Scrooge interjection BAH!
The classic 1843 novella “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens has left us with a few famous phrases and words. Firstly, it led to popular use of the phrase “Merry Christmas”, and secondly it gave us the word “scrooge” meaning a miserly person. And thirdly, everyone knows that Ebenezer Scrooge uttered the words “Bah! Humbug!”.

5. “Respect for Acting” author Hagen UTA
Uta Hagen was a German-born American actress. Hagen married Jose Ferrer in 1938, but they were divorced ten years later after it was revealed that she was having a long-running affair with Paul Robeson. Her association with Robeson, a prominent civil rights activist, earned her a spot on the Hollywood Blacklist during the McCarthy Era. This forced her away from film, but towards a successful stage career in New York City.

“Respect for Acting” is a textbook used in acting classes that was written by actress and teacher Uta Hagen and first published in 1973. Hagen published a follow-up textbook in 1991 called “Challenge for the Actor”.

6. Sleep stage REM
REM is an acronym standing for Rapid Eye Movement sleep. REM sleep takes up 20-25% of the sleeping hours and is the period associated with one’s most vivid dreams.

7. Half a pop quartet MAMAS
The folk group called the Magic Circle renamed itself to the Mamas and the Papas in the early sixties. Sadly, the Mamas and the Papas weren’t a happy bunch, always fighting over who was getting credit for songs and whose voice was getting mixed out of recordings, so they split up, twice. While they were together though, they wrote and recorded some great songs, songs which really do epitomize the sound of the sixties. “Monday, Monday” was written by John Phillips, one of “the Papas”, and it was to become the only number one hit for the group. Here’s a shocker … when it hit number one in 1966, it was the first time that a group made up of both sexes topped the American charts!

8. Bedelia of kiddie lit AMELIA
The “Amelia Bedelia” series of children’s books was written by Peggy Parish until she passed away in 1988. Her nephew, Herman Parish took over and has been writing them since 1995. The Amelia character is based on a maid in Cameroon where Parish had lived during her formative years.

11. Croft of video games LARA
Lara Croft was introduced to the world as the main character in a pretty cool video game (I thought) called “Tomb Raider”, back in 1996. Lara Croft moved to the big screen in 2001 and 2003, in two pretty awful movie adaptations of the game’s storyline. Angelina Jolie played Croft, and she did a very energetic job.

12. Word before man or maiden IRON
Iron Man is another one of those comic book superheroes, created by Stan Lee for Marvel Comics. The character has become very famous in recent years since the appearance of the 2008 action movie “Iron Man” starring Robert Downey, Jr. in the title role.

Iron Maiden is a heavy metal band from London that has been around since 1975.

13. Eye source for a dramatic cauldron NEWT
The witches in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” have some lovely lines as they boil up and evil brew and cast a spell:

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg, and howlet’s wing,–
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

25. Short list shortener ET AL
Et alii (et al.) is the equivalent of et cetera (etc.), with et cetera being used in place of a list of objects, and et alii used for a list of names. In fact “et al.” can stand for et alii (for a group of males, or males and females), aliae (for a group of women) and et alia (for a group of neuter nouns, or for a group of people where the intent is to retain gender-neutrality).

31. __-Rooter ROTO
The “Roto-Rooter” is an invention of Samuel Oscar Blanc. Blanc came up with the idea in 1933 after having to deal with a sewer line in his son’s apartment that was blocked with roots from a tree, a common problem. He put together his first version of the device using a washing machine motor, roller skate wheels and a steel cable. The “rotating rooter” snaked down the sewer line, and rotating blades at the tip of the cable cut through the troublesome roots. Blanc sold his machine for decades to people who set up their own drain clearing businesses. In 1980 the Blanc family sold the Roto-Rooter company to a Cincinnati concern that started buying up independent franchises that used the Roto-Rooter and created the national service with which we are familiar today. Oh, and my advice is, save yourself the cost of the service call and just rent a machine. That’s what I do …

32. Old Testament twin ESAU
Esau was the twin brother of Jacob, the founder of the Israelites. When their mother Rebekah gave birth to the twins “the first emerged red and hairy all over (Esau), with his heel grasped by the hand of the second to come out (Jacob)”. As Esau was the first born, he was entitled to inherit his father’s wealth (it was his “birthright”). Instead, Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for the price of a “mess of pottage” (a meal of lentils).

34. Capital of Samoa APIA
Apia is the capital city, and in fact the only city, of the Pacific island-nation of Samoa. The harbor of Apia is famous for a very foolish incident in 1889 involving seven naval vessels from Germany, the US and Britain. A typhoon was approaching so the safest thing to do was to head for open water away from land, but no nation would move its ships for fear of losing face in front of the others. Six of the ships were lost in the typhoon as a result and 200 American and German sailors perished. The British cruiser HMS Calliope barely managed to escape from the harbor and rode out the storm safely.

35. Mardi Gras follower LENT
In Latin, the Christian season that is now called Lent was termed “quadragesima” (meaning “fortieth”), a reference to the forty days that Jesus spent in the desert before beginning his public ministry. When the church began its move in the Middle Ages towards using the vernacular, the term “Lent” was introduced. “Lent” comes from “lenz”, the German word for “spring”.

“Mardi Gras” translates from French as “Fat Tuesday”, and gets its name from the practice of eating rich foods on the eve of the fasting season known as Lent. Lent starts on the next day, called Ash Wednesday.

36. Mine entrance ADIT
An adit is specific type of mine access, a horizontal shaft that extends into the mine. This can be compared with the more traditional vertical shaft that is used for access into most mines. Adits make sense when the ore is located inside a mountain or hill, as opposed to “underground”, as they allow the mine entrances to be on the valley floor.

40. Boss on “The Dukes of Hazzard” HOGG
Boss Hogg was the villain in the white suit and the white cowboy hat who was always puffing away on a cigar in the TV show “The Dukes of Hazzard”. Boss Hogg was played by actor Sorrell Booke.

48. Apelike SIMIAN
“Simian” means “pertaining to monkeys or apes”, from the Latin word “simia” meaning “ape”.

53. Reduce, __, Recycle REUSE
The so called “waste hierarchy” can be restated as the three Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. The preferences are in order:

– reduce consumption
– reuse manufactured products
– recycle raw materials

54. Bumpkin YAHOO
Yahoos were brutish creatures introduced by Irish author Jonathan Swift in “Gulliver’s Travels”. Their savage, slovenly ways gave rise of the use of “yahoo” in English to describe a lout or Neanderthal.

“Bumpkin” is really a not-so-nice term for someone from a rural area. The term has an even less nice derivation. It comes from from the Middle Dutch “bommekijn” meaning “little barrel”. “Bumpkin” was used as a derogatory term for Dutch people, who were regarded as short and plump.

55. Microsoft Surface alternative IPAD
Microsoft Surface is a series of portable computing devices that includes a line of 2-in-1 detachables, which are crosses between tablets and laptops.

56. Puerto __ RICO
Puerto Rico is located in the northeastern Caribbean (in the Atlantic Ocean), east of the Dominican Republic. The name “Puerto Rico” is Spanish for “rich port”. The locals often call their island Borinquen, the Spanish form of “Boriken”, the original name used by the natives.

57. “Teenage Dream” singer Perry KATY
Katy Perry is an American singer who grew up listening to and singing gospel music, as she was the daughter of two Christian pastors. In fact, her first musical release was a gospel album in 2001. She has branched out since then. Her first successful single was “Ur so Gay”, followed by “I Kissed A Girl”. She was married (only for a year) to the British comedian Russell Brand, until 2012.

62. Sit attachment? -COM
Situation comedy (sitcom)

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Pal to text “<3” symbols to BFF
4. __ Road: WWII supply route to China BURMA
9. Michael of Monty Python PALIN
14. Bud’s partner LOU
15. Best of the best A-TEAM
16. Stop on Chicago’s Blue Line O’HARE
17. Coastal bird ERN
18. Olympic event featuring a 16-pound ball HAMMER THROW
20. Skin blemish ACNE
22. Medicinal houseplant ALOE
23. __ farm ANT
24. Major court rulings KEY DECISIONS
29. Beehive State college squad UTES
30. Clad ATTIRED
34. Selective way to order A LA CARTE
38. “Make it happen” DO SO
39. Speedster’s motto PEDAL TO THE METAL
43. Part of JFK: Abbr. INIT
44. Emerges COMES OUT
45. Vouches for ATTESTS
49. Meat GIST
50. Particle physics concept STRING THEORY
55. Irritate IRK
58. Coleridge work RIME
59. Adjuration PLEA
60. Gershwin’s preludes, e.g. … and the starts of 18-, 24-, 39- and 50-Across PIANO PIECES
65. “You don’t say!” DUH!
66. When a “Macbeth” witch says, “Something wicked this way comes” ACT IV
67. Idolize ADORE
68. Spanish pronoun ESO
69. Moriarty’s creator DOYLE
70. 2015 World Series player, for short NY MET
71. Classic car REO

Down
1. Not promising BLEAK
2. “Star Wars” power, with “the” FORCE
3. Comical FUNNY
4. Scrooge interjection BAH!
5. “Respect for Acting” author Hagen UTA
6. Sleep stage REM
7. Half a pop quartet MAMAS
8. Bedelia of kiddie lit AMELIA
9. Strong POTENT
10. Contented sound AHH
11. Croft of video games LARA
12. Word before man or maiden IRON
13. Eye source for a dramatic cauldron NEWT
19. Plant part ROOT
21. Schools EDUCATES
25. Short list shortener ET AL
26. Marriage doc. CERT
27. What a colon means, in analogies IS TO
28. Avoid SIDESTEP
31. __-Rooter ROTO
32. Old Testament twin ESAU
33. Nitwit DOLT
34. Capital of Samoa APIA
35. Mardi Gras follower LENT
36. Mine entrance ADIT
37. Short list shortener ETC
40. Boss on “The Dukes of Hazzard” HOGG
41. Exude EMIT
42. Screen door stuff MESH
46. Tried hard STROVE
47. Vacation plan TRIP
48. Apelike SIMIAN
51. Down-and-out NEEDY
52. More mature OLDER
53. Reduce, __, Recycle REUSE
54. Bumpkin YAHOO
55. Microsoft Surface alternative IPAD
56. Puerto __ RICO
57. “Teenage Dream” singer Perry KATY
61. Nothing NIL
62. Sit attachment? -COM
63. Afore ERE
64. Firmed up, as plans SET

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