Category: Bruce Venzke

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Overseas county SHIRE
The word “shire” comes from the Old English “scir” meaning “administrative district”. The term was replaced with county as far back as the 14th century, but the usage persists to this day, largely because some counties retain the use of -shire as a suffix (Yorkshire, Lancashire etc.).

6. Zurich highlight ALP
Zurich is located in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the largest city in the country.

9. Golden Gate element CABLE
The Golden Gate is the opening of San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. The bridge that spans the Golden Gate is called “the Golden Gate Bridge” and was opened in 1937. At that time ot was the longest suspension bridge in the world. One of the most eerie things about the Golden Gate Bridge is that is the second most popular place in the whole world to commit suicide (after the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge). Steps have been taken to reduce the number of suicides, including suicide hotline telephones placed along the walkway, but still there is one suicide every two weeks on average throughout the year. There are plans to place a purpose-built net below the bridge as a deterrent, at a cost of tens of millions of dollars.

16. Providers of added light ATRIA
In modern architecture an atrium (plural “atria” or “atriums”) is a large open space usually in the center of a building and extending upwards to the roof. The original atrium was an open court in the center of an Ancient Roman house. One could access most of the enclosed rooms of the house from the atrium.

21. NBA great DR J
Julius Erving is a retired professional basketball player who was known as “Dr. J”, a nickname he picked up in high school. Dr. J was a trailblazer in many ways, being the first player associated with slam dunking and other moves above the rim.

22. Bush led it for about a yr. in the ’70s CIA
The CIA headquarters is located in Langley, Virginia in a complex called the George Bush Center for Intelligence, named for former Director of the CIA and US President George H. W. Bush.

23. Post-election governmental meeting, perhaps LAME DUCK SESSION
The original usage of the term “lame duck” was on the London Stock Exchange where it referred to a broker who could not honor his debts. The idea was that a lame duck could not keep up with the rest of the flock and so was a target for predators.

32. March middle IDES
There were three important days in each month of the old Roman calendar. These days originally depended on the cycles of the moon but were eventually “fixed” by law. “Kalendae” were the first days of each month, originally the days of the new moon. “Nonae” were originally the days of the half moon. And “idus” (the ides) was originally the day of the full moon, eventually fixed at the 15th day of a month. Well, actually the ides were the 15th day of March, May, July and October. For all other months, the ides fell on the 13th. Go figure …

34. Many a reference book TOME
“Tome” first came into English from the Latin “tomus” which means “section of a book”. The original usage in English was for a single volume in a multi-volume work. By the late 16th century “tome” had come to mean “a large book”.

36. “Reversal of Fortune” Oscar winner IRONS
Jeremy Irons is much-respected English actor who is noted for his stage, television and film performances. My favorite of these performances is the one that brought him into the limelight, playing Charles Ryder in the 1981 TV adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s “Brideshead Revisited”. Irons won a Best Actor Oscar for playing Claus von Bülow in 1990’s “Reversal of Fortune”. He is married to Irish actress Sinéad Cusack, and the couple own a castle in County Cork in the south of Ireland.

“Reversal of Fortune” is a 1990 film that tells the true story of the attempted murder of Sunny von Bülow (played by Glenn Close) and the murder trial of her husband Claus (played by Jeremy Irons). I haven’t seen this one, but it is on my list …

37. Brimless hat TAM
A tam o’shanter is a man’s cap traditionally worn by Scotsmen. “Tams” were originally all blue (and called “blue bonnets”), but as more dyes became readily available they became more colorful. The name of the cap comes from the title character of Robert Burns’ poem “Tam O’Shanter”.

38. Home of Phillips University ENID
Enid, Oklahoma takes its name from the old railroad station around which the city developed. Back in 1889, that train stop was called Skeleton Station. An official who didn’t like the name changed it to Enid Station, using a character from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Idylls of the King”. Maybe if he hadn’t changed the name, the city of Enid would now be called Skeleton, Oklahoma! Enid has the nickname “Queen Wheat City” because is has a huge capacity for storing grain, the third largest grain storage capacity in the world.

Phillips University was a private school in Enid, Oklahoma that was founded in 1906 as the Oklahoma Christian University. Phillips ran into financial problems in the nineties due to declining student enrollments, and went bankrupt in 1998. The facility is now used as a satellite campus by Northern Oklahoma College.

40. Secretary of State after Colin, familiarly CONDI
Condoleezza “Condi” Rice was the second African American to serve as US Secretary of State (after Colin Powell) and the second woman to hold the office (after Madeleine Albright). Prior to becoming Secretary of State in President George W. Bush’s administration, Rice was the first woman to hold the office of National Security Advisor. In private life, Rice is a remarkably capable pianist. Given her stature in Washington, Rice has had the opportunity to play piano in public with the likes of cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and soul singer Aretha Franklin.

Colin Powell was the first African American to serve as US Secretary of State. Earlier in his career, Powell had been a four-star general in the US Army, as well as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Gulf War. Even though Colin Powell has retired from public service, he is one of the most noted moderate Republicans, often advocating support for centrist and liberal causes.

41. Candy __ CANE
Apparently candy canes were created at the behest of the choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral in Germany in 1672. The sweet sticks were basically used as bribes to keep children quiet during services. The choirmaster specified that the candy sticks should have a crook at the top so that they reminded the children of the three shepherds who visited the infant Jesus just after his birth.

42. Number? LOCAL ANESTHESIA
A “number” is something that numbs, like local anesthesia.

45. Seinfeld specialty WIT
Jerry Seinfeld is a standup comedian and comic actor from Brooklyn, New York. He is most famous of course for playing the lead in the “Seinfeld” sitcom from 1989 to 1998. “Seinfeld” was good for Jerry, earning him $267 million in 1998 alone, making him the highest-paid celebrity that year.

58. Classified abbr. EOE
Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE)

61. High degree PHD
PhD is an abbreviation for “philosophiae doctor”, Latin for “teacher of philosophy”.

Down
2. “__ Nagila” HAVA
“Hava Nagila” is a Hebrew folk song, with the title translating into “Let Us Rejoice”. The melody is from a Ukrainian folk song. The words to “Hava Nagila” were composed in 1918 to celebrate the British victory in Palestine during WWI.

3. Jobs news of 2010 IPAD
Steve Jobs certainly was a business icon in Silicon Valley. I don’t think it is too surprising to learn that the brilliant Jobs didn’t even finish his college education, dropping out of Reed College in Oregon after only one semester. Steve Jobs co-founded Apple in 1976, but in 1985 he was basically fired from his own company during the computer sales slump of the mid-eighties. Jobs then founded NeXT Computer, a company focused on supplying workstations to the higher education and business markets. Apple purchased NeXT in 1996, and that’s how Jobs found himself back with his original company.

5. Former Georgian president Shevardnadze EDUARD
Eduard Shevardnadze served as Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev and played a crucial role as the Cold War wound down. Shevardnadze is given some of the credit for the relatively peaceful transition from Communist control in Eastern Europe. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, he served a President of Georgia, from 1995 to 2003.

6. Freeze beginning ANTI-
The antifreeze that we put into our cars has ethylene glycol as the active ingredient. Ethylene glycol is dangerous stuff, and is very poisonous. Ingestion causes calcium oxalate crystals to form in the kidneys. It sounds like a horrible way to go …

7. Hero in Treece’s “Vinland the Good” LEIF
“Vinland the Good” is a historical novel by British author Henry Treece that features Leif Ericson as the main character in stories of Viking explorations.

Leif Eiriksson was a Norse explorer and was the first European to land in North America, some 500 years before Christopher Columbus’s landing in 1492. Eiriksson built a small settlement called Leifsbudir, which archaeologists believe they have found in modern day Newfoundland, at L’Anse aux Meadows. The settlement discovered in Newfoundland is definitely Norse, but there is some dispute over whether it is actually Eriksson’s Leifsbudir.

9. Mid-calf pants CAPRIS
Capri pants first became popular on the island of Capri, apparently. They were invented in Europe in 1948, but only became stylish in the US in the sixties. Mary Tyler Moore often wore Capri pants on “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and to some extent she sparked a fashion trend. After a lull in the seventies and eighties there was a resurgence in sales after Uma Thurman wore them (and danced in them) in “Pulp Fiction”. Can’t stand the look of them myself …

12. Omar’s role in “The Mod Squad” LINC
The 1999 movie “The Mod Squad” was an adaptation of the seventies television show of the same name. The part of Lincoln “Linc” Hayes was played by Omar Epps, Claire Danes played Julie Barnes and Giovanni Ribisi played Peter Cochran.

Omar Epps is the actor who played Eric Foreman on the excellent television series “House”. Prior to playing Dr. Foreman, Epps had a recurring role playing Dr. Dennis Grant on “ER”. And, in another link to the world of medicine, Epps was born in Savannah, Georgia to single mom, Dr. Bonnie Epps.

23. Suit material LIBEL
The word “libel”, meaning a published or written statement likely to harm a person’s reputation, comes into English from the Latin “libellus”, the word for a small book. Back in the 1500s “libel” was just a formal written statement, with the more damaging meaning arising in the 1600s.

24. Hersey’s bell town ADANO
“A Bell for Adano” is a novel written by John Hersey. Hersey’s story is about an Italian-American US Army officer, Major Joppolo, who found a replacement for a town’s bell stolen by fascists. “A Bell for Adano” was made into a film in 1945, the same year the novel won a Pulitzer.

26. Leslie of “Fanny” CARON
The beautiful and talented French actress and dancer Leslie Caron is best known for her appearances in the classic Hollywood musical films “An American in Paris”, “Lili” and “Gigi”. Although I love the movie “Gigi”, my favorite of her performances is in the comedy war drama “Father Goose” in which she played opposite Cary Grant. Caron has danced with the best, including Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Rudolf Nureyev.

“Fanny” is a 1961 film adaptation of the 1954 stage musical of the same name, which in turn is an adaptation of Marcel Pagnol’s trilogy of plays/films called “Marius”, “Fanny” and “César”. The film has quite the cast, with Leslie Caron playing the title role, alongside Horst Buchholz, Maurice Chevalier and Charles Boyer. “Fanny” is set in Marseilles and tells of a love triangle between young Fanny, a rich man in his sixties, and a young sailor.

27. Danish capital KRONE
“Krone” translates into English as “crown”, and was the name given to coins that bore the image of the monarch. Today, the krone is the name given to the currency of Norway and of Denmark. Some of the Norwegian and Danish kroner have holes in the middle, giving them a “doughnut” or “torus” shape.

28. Enthralls SENDS
“To enthrall” is “to enchant”. An obsolete meaning of the term is “to enslave, to hold as a thrall”. “Thrall” is an old word meaning “serf, slave”. So, to enthrall someone is to hold make them a slave to one’s charm. Quaint …

29. Whits IOTAS
Iota is the ninth letter in the Greek alphabet. We use the word “iota” to portray something very small as it is the smallest of all Greek letters.

A “whit” is a trivial amount, coming from the Old English phrase “nan wiht” meaning “no amount”.

30. Arabian peninsula native OMANI
Oman lies on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula and is neighbored by the OAE, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

31. Mythical lion’s home NEMEA
The Twelve Labors of Hercules is actually a Greek myth, although Hercules is the Roman name for the hero that the Greeks called Heracles. The first of these labors was to slay the Nemean Lion, a monster that lived in a cave near Nemea. Hercules had a tough job as the lion’s golden fur was impenetrable to normal weapons. One version of the story is that Hercules killed the lion by shooting an arrow into its mouth. Another version says that Hercules stunned the monster with a club and then strangled him with his bare hands.

41. 1/100 of a Brazilian real CENTAVO
“Centavo” is a Spanish and Portuguese word, and is used for the coin that represents 1/100 of the basic monetary unit of quite a few countries, including Brazil. “Centavo” comes from the Latin “centum” meaning “one hundred” and “-avo” meaning “portion, fraction”.

43. Hybrid cats LIGERS
A “liger” is a cross between a male lion and a female tiger. A “tigon” is a cross between a male tiger and a female lion.

47. Sticking place CRAW
“Craw” is another name for the “crop”, a portion of the alimentary tract of some animals, including birds. The crop is used for the storage of food prior to digestion. The crop allows the animal to eat large amounts and then digest that food with efficiency over an extended period. The expression “to stick in one’s craw” is used one when one can’t accept (can’t swallow” something.

48. Memorable napper HARE
“The Tortoise and the Hare” is perhaps the most famous fable attributed to Aesop. The hare takes a nap during a race against the tortoise, and the tortoise sneaks past the finish line for the win while his speedier friend is sleeping.

49. Radamès’ love AIDA
“Aida” is a famous opera by Giuseppe Verdi, actually based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette. Mariette also designed the costumes and stages for the opening performance. The opera was first staged in 1871 in an opera house in Cairo. In the storyline, Aida is an Ethiopian princess brought into Egypt as a slave. Radames is an Egyptian commander who falls in love with her, and then of course complications arise!

50. Flight feature STEP
A “landing” is the area at the top and bottom of a staircase. Apparently, we called the steps between the landings a “flight” of stairs, because one flies between landings! Can that be true?

53. They usually have four strings UKES
The ukulele originated in the 1800s and mimicked a small guitar brought to the Hawaiian Islands by Portuguese immigrants.

54. Birds seen by players of 53-Down NENE
The bird called a nene is a native of Hawaii, and is also known as the Hawaiian goose. The name “nene” is imitative of its call. When Captain Cook landed on the islands in 1778, there were 25,000 nene living there. By 1950, the number was reduced by hunting to just 30 birds. Conservation efforts in recent years have been somewhat successful.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Overseas county SHIRE
6. Zurich highlight ALP
9. Golden Gate element CABLE
14. Saved for later, in a way TAPED
15. Architectural prefix NEO-
16. Providers of added light ATRIA
17. Emergency strategies EVACUATION PLANS
20. Mattered MADE A DIFFERENCE
21. NBA great DR J
22. Bush led it for about a yr. in the ’70s CIA
23. Post-election governmental meeting, perhaps LAME DUCK SESSION
32. March middle IDES
33. They may lead to risky moves DARES
34. Many a reference book TOME
35. Like some tempers BAD
36. “Reversal of Fortune” Oscar winner IRONS
37. Brimless hat TAM
38. Home of Phillips University ENID
40. Secretary of State after Colin, familiarly CONDI
41. Candy __ CANE
42. Number? LOCAL ANESTHESIA
45. Seinfeld specialty WIT
46. Electrical particle ION
47. Takes an opposite position CHANGES ONE’S TUNE
56. Alters some game parameters RAISES THE STAKES
57. Great enthusiasm ARDOR
58. Classified abbr. EOE
59. Part of a meet EVENT
60. Disengages, as from a habit WEANS
61. High degree PHD
62. Comes up short LOSES

Down
1. Arise (from) STEM
2. “__ Nagila” HAVA
3. Jobs news of 2010 IPAD
4. Moves back RECEDES
5. Former Georgian president Shevardnadze EDUARD
6. Freeze beginning ANTI-
7. Hero in Treece’s “Vinland the Good” LEIF
8. Magic word POOF
9. Mid-calf pants CAPRIS
10. That much or more AT LEAST
11. Grain layer BRAN
12. Omar’s role in “The Mod Squad” LINC
13. No effort EASE
18. Settles ADJUDICATES
19. Bare things NECESSITIES
23. Suit material LIBEL
24. Hersey’s bell town ADANO
25. Front VIP MEDIC
26. Leslie of “Fanny” CARON
27. Danish capital KRONE
28. Enthralls SENDS
29. Whits IOTAS
30. Arabian peninsula native OMANI
31. Mythical lion’s home NEMEA
39. Suddenly occurs to DAWNS ON
41. 1/100 of a Brazilian real CENTAVO
43. Hybrid cats LIGERS
44. Low-cost stopover HOSTEL
47. Sticking place CRAW
48. Memorable napper HARE
49. Radamès’ love AIDA
50. Flight feature STEP
51. “We’re in trouble!” OH-OH!
52. Call for NEED
53. They usually have four strings UKES
54. Birds seen by players of 53-Down NENE
55. Body shop figs. ESTS

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