Category: Gareth Bain

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1 Scottish 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”.

13 Wharton’s “The __ of Innocence” AGE
“The Age of Innocence” is a novel by Edith Wharton, for which she won a Pulitzer Prize in 1921.

Edith Wharton was a novelist and designer from New York City. Wharton was a wealthy woman and built her own estate in Lenox, Massachusetts called the Mount. My wife and I had the privilege of touring the Mount a few years ago, and there we saw evidence of what design meant to Wharton.

15 Covering for “piggies” BOOTIE
When talking to a little child, one refer to his or her toes as “little piggies”.

16 Big stink BALLYHOO
“Balyhoo”, meaning hype or publicity, was originally circus slang dating back to the early 1900s. No one really knows where the term comes from, but I can tell you there is a village in County Cork in Ireland called Ballyhooly!

19 Rural storage structure SILO
Silo is a Spanish word that we absorbed into English, originally coming from the Greek word “siros” that described a pit in which one kept corn.

26 “The Ballad of John and __” YOKO
John and Yoko married at the height of the Vietnam War in 1969. The couple decided to use the inevitable publicity surrounding their wedding and honeymoon to promote peace in the world. They honeymooned in the Presidential Suite of the Amsterdam Hilton, inviting the world’s press to join them and to witness their “bed-in”. They spent the week talking about peace, and an end to war. The marriage and bed-in is chronicled by the Beatles in their song “The Ballad of John and Yoko”.

32 Barely get, with “out” EKE
To “eke out” means to “make something go further or last longer”. For example, you could eke out your income by cutting back on expenses. I always have a problem with the commonly cited definition of “eke out” as “barely get by”. Close but no cigar, I say …

36 Maine college town ORONO
The town of Orono is home to the University of Maine, founded in 1862. The college is actually located on an island (Marsh Island) lying between the Penobscot and Stillwater rivers. The town of Orono is named after Joseph Orono, a chief of the Penobscot Nation.

37 Bearded fairy tale trio BILLY GOATS GRUFF
“Three Billy Goats Gruff” is a fairy tale from Norway.

40 Cartographer’s book ATLAS
We call a book of maps an “atlas” after a collection of maps published by the famous Flemish geographer Gerhadus Mercator. Mercator’s collection contained a frontispiece with an image of Atlas the Titan from Greek mythology holding up the world on his shoulders. That image gave us our term “atlas”.

45 Neuter, as a horse GELD
We can use the verb “to geld” to mean “to weaken, deprive of strength”. The term comes from the act of gelding an animal, castration of the male. “Geld” comes from the Old Norse word “gelda” meaning “castrate”.

47 Seasonal potable NOG
It’s not really clear where the term “nog” comes from although it might derive from the word “noggin”, which was originally a small wooden cup that was long associated with alcoholic drinks.

50 Mumbai-based film industry BOLLYWOOD
Bollywood is an informal name given to the huge film industry based in Mumbai in India. The term “Bollywood” is a melding of “Bombay”, the old name for Mumbai, and of course “Hollywood”.

Mumbai is the most populous city in India, and the second most populous city in the world (after Shanghai). The name of the city was changed from Bombay to Mumbai in 1995.

57 Camden Yards ballplayer ORIOLE
Oriole Park is home to the Baltimore Orioles baseball team. The full name of the stadium is Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

63 Outlaw Clanton IKE
Ike and Billy Clanton participated in what has to be the most famous gunfight in the history of the Old West, the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral that took place in Tombstone, Arizona. Strangely enough, the fight didn’t happen at the O.K. Corral, but took place six doors down the street in a vacant lot next to a photography studio.

66 Composer Rorem NED
American composer Ned Rorem is famous for his musical compositions, but also for his book “Paris Diary of Ned Rorem”, which was published in 1966. Rorem talks openly about his sexuality in the book, and also about the sexuality of others including Noel Coward, Leonard Bernstein and Samuel Barber, much to some people’s chagrin.

Down
1 Settings for columned documents TABS
Like most features on our computer keyboards, the tab key is a hangover from the days of typewriters. When using a typewriter, making entries into a table was very tedious as it involved lots of tapping on the space bar and backspace key. So, a lever was added to typewriters that allowed the operator to “jump” across the page to positions that could be set by hand. Later this was simplified to a tab key, which could be depressed causing the carriage to jump to the next tab stop in much the same way that the modern tab key works on a computer.

3 Mountain Dew competitor MELLO YELLO
Like so many beverages introduced by the Coca-Cola Company, Mello Yello was launched to compete against a successful drink already on the market. Mello Yello first hit the shelves in 1979, designed to take market share from Pepsico’s “Mountain Dew”.

6 Word with hatch or prize BOOBY
“Booby hatch” is a not-very-nice slang term for a psychiatric hospital.

7 Gin fizz fruit SLOE
The sloe is the fruit of the blackthorn bush, and is the flavoring that gives gin its distinctive taste.

By definition, a cocktail known as a Fizz includes lemon or lime juice and carbonated water. The most popular of the genre is the Gin Fizz, made from 3 parts gin, 2 parts lemon juice, 1 part sugar syrup and 5 parts soda water.

8 Broadway awards TONYS
The full name for the Tony Award is the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre. Antoinette Perry was an American actress and co-founder of the American Theatre Wing, one of the organizations that selects the award recipients.

9 “The Tao of Pooh” author Benjamin HOFF
The author Benjamin Hoff is best known for his 1982 book “The Tao of Pooh”, and a successor title published in 1992 called “The Te of Piglet”. Both books use the “Winnie the Pooh” stories to illustrate Taoist beliefs.

10 Either of two Monopoly sqs. UTIL
The commercial game of Monopoly is supposedly a remake of “The Landlord’s Game” created in 1903 by a Quaker woman called Lizzie Phillips. Phillips used her game as a tool to explain the single tax theory of American economist Henry George. The Landlord’s Game was first produced commercially in 1924. The incredibly successful derivative game called Monopoly was introduced in 1933 by Charles Darrow, who became a very rich man when Parker Brothers bought the rights to the game just two years later in 1935.

11 Venus de __ MILO
The famous “Venus de Milo” is so named as the statue was discovered in the ruins of the ancient city of Milos, on the Aegean island of the same name. I’ve been lucky enough to see the original in the Louvre in Paris, and was surprised at how large it is (6 ft 8 in tall).

17 Western wolf LOBO
The timber wolf is also known as the gray wolf, tundra wolf or lobo.

24 Second of two bell sounds DONG
Ding dong!

28 Outlet store abbr. IRR
Irregular (Irr.).

29 Tournament in which you play everyone else at least once ROUND-ROBIN
The original use of the term “round-robin” was in signing documents. The idea was that multiple signatures were added to a controversial document in an arrangement that disguised the name of the “ring leader” of those endorsing the letters contents.

32 Site for cyberbidders EBAY
eBay is an auction site with a twist. If you don’t want to enter into an auction to purchase an item, there’s a “Buy It Now” price. Agree to pay it, and the item is yours …

35 Trinidad’s partner TOBAGO
Trinidad and Tobago is a republic in the southern Caribbean, largely comprising the two main islands of Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidad and Tobago is the birthplace of calypso music.

38 Murphy’s __ LAW
Murphy’s Law can be stated as, “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong”. The concept behind the “law” has been around for eons, but the first association with the name “Murphy” appeared in print in 1952.

44 Leafy hideaway BOWER
Our word “bower” comes from the Old English “bur” meaning a hut or dwelling. We’ve been using “bower” to mean a “leafy arbor”, a “dwelling” defined by surrounding trees, since way back in the 1500s.

46 Charlie Brown’s tormentor LUCY
In Charles Schulz’s fabulous comic strip “Peanuts”, Charlie Brown is friends with at least three members of the van Pelt family. Most famously there is Lucy van Pelt, who bosses everyone around, particularly Charlie. Then there is Linus, Lucy’s younger brother, the character who always has his security blanket at hand. Lastly there is an even younger brother, Rerun van Pelt. Rerun is constantly hiding under his bed, trying to avoid going to school.

50 Tennis great Bjorn BORG
Bjorn Borg reacted very calmly under pressure on the tennis court, earning him the nicknames “Ice Man” and my personal favorite, “Ice Borg”.

53 “Livin’ La Vida __”: Ricky Martin hit LOCA
“Livin’ La Vida Loca” is a single recorded by Ricky Martin, the title of which translates as “living the crazy life”.

Ricky Martin’s real name is Enrique Martin Morales, a native of Puerto Rico. Martin first achieved fame with the boy band Menudo before going solo in 1991.

54 “In memoriam” write-up OBIT
“Obituary” comes from the Latin “obituaris”, originally the word for the record of a death of a person, although the literal meaning is “pertaining to death”.

59 Superman nemesis Luthor LEX
Lex Luthor is the arch-nemesis of Superman in comics. Luthor has been portrayed in a number of guises in the comic world as well in movies and on the small screen. For example, he appeared as Atom Man in the 1950 film series “Atom Man vs. Superman”, and was played by actor Lyle Talbot, opposite Kirk Alyn’s Superman.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1 Scottish hat TAM
4 Cries out loud SOBS
8 Dull sound THUMP
13 Wharton’s “The __ of Innocence” AGE
14 Summer Olympics event venue POOL
15 Covering for “piggies” BOOTIE
16 Big stink BALLYHOO
18 Stored in a database, say ON FILE
19 Rural storage structure SILO
20 Amateurish dive BELLY FLOP
22 Opposite of a big star NOBODY
25 “__ a trap!” IT’S
26 “The Ballad of John and __” YOKO
27 Men HES
28 Bearded flower IRIS
32 Barely get, with “out” EKE
34 Added a chip to the pot ANTED
36 Maine college town ORONO
37 Bearded fairy tale trio BILLY GOATS GRUFF
40 Cartographer’s book ATLAS
41 Oven setting BROIL
42 Word in most Commandments NOT
43 Finger-on-hot-stove reaction YEOW
44 Sinister BAD
45 Neuter, as a horse GELD
47 Seasonal potable NOG
48 Stand the test of time ENDURE
50 Mumbai-based film industry BOLLYWOOD
55 Protected inlet COVE
57 Camden Yards ballplayer ORIOLE
58 Hired hoodlum BULLYBOY
61 Long-lasting resentment RANCOR
62 Frozen drink brand ICEE
63 Outlaw Clanton IKE
64 Gather a bit at a time GLEAN
65 Student’s book TEXT
66 Composer Rorem NED

Down
1 Settings for columned documents TABS
2 From the top AGAIN
3 Mountain Dew competitor MELLO YELLO
4 Undercover agent SPY
5 “__ la la!” OOH
6 Word with hatch or prize BOOBY
7 Gin fizz fruit SLOE
8 Broadway awards TONYS
9 “The Tao of Pooh” author Benjamin HOFF
10 Either of two Monopoly sqs. UTIL
11 Venus de __ MILO
12 Little chirp PEEP
15 Makes a mad dash BOLTS
17 Western wolf LOBO
21 Wasn’t honest with LIED TO
23 Gives a thumbs-up OKAYS
24 Second of two bell sounds DONG
27 Caught wind of HEARD
28 Outlet store abbr. IRR
29 Tournament in which you play everyone else at least once ROUND-ROBIN
30 Facts, briefly INFO
31 Tender-hearted SOFT
32 Site for cyberbidders EBAY
33 Flier on a string KITE
35 Trinidad’s partner TOBAGO
36 Made goo-goo eyes at OGLED
38 Murphy’s __ LAW
39 Communicate with hand gestures SIGN
44 Leafy hideaway BOWER
46 Charlie Brown’s tormentor LUCY
47 Hosiery material NYLON
48 Draw forth EDUCE
49 Bring to mind EVOKE
50 Tennis great Bjorn BORG
51 Like some doctorate seekers’ exams ORAL
52 Queue LINE
53 “Livin’ La Vida __”: Ricky Martin hit LOCA
54 “In memoriam” write-up OBIT
56 Viewed EYED
59 Superman nemesis Luthor LEX
60 Allow LET

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