Category: Jeffrey Wechsler

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. With 69-Across, filmmaker born 12/1/1935 who directed and wrote five films in this puzzle WOODY
(69A. See 1-Across ALLEN)
Allan Stewart Konigsberg changed his legal name to Heywood Allen when he was 17 years old, and soon after started to call himself Woody Allen, the name with which he achieved celebrity. Allen has been nominated for an Academy Award an incredible 21 times in many different categories, and has won on four occasions. He has more Oscar nominations as a screenwriter than any other writer, but he spurns the Awards ceremony and only attended it once in all his years in the movie business. He broke tradition by turning up at the 2002 ceremony, unannounced, to beg producers to continue filming in his beloved New York City despite the fears created by the 9/11 attacks.

10. Sacramento’s state, briefly CAL
Sacramento, California’s state capital, was named for the Sacramento River. The river was named by a Spanish explorer, who called it “Rio de los Sacramentos”. This translates as “River of the Blessed Sacrament”.

15. Language that gave us “khaki” URDU
Urdu is one of the two official languages of Pakistan (the other being English), and is one of 22 scheduled languages in India. Urdu partly developed from Persian and is written from right to left.

“Khaki” is an Urdu word, translating literally as “dusty”. The word was adopted for its current use as the name of a fabric by the British cavalry in India in the mid-1800s.

18. With 59-Across, 1980 film by 1-/69-Across STARDUST
(59. See 18-Across MEMORIES)
“Stardust Memories” is a 1980 film written and directed by, and starring, Woody Allen. Allen denies that the movie is autobiographical, even though it is about a filmmaker recalling his life and loves. The film is shot in black-and-white, to make it reminiscent of Frederico Fellini’s “8½”, of which it is a parody. It is perhaps worth noting that actress Sharon Stone makes her film debut in “Stardust Memories”.

23. Kosher LEGIT
According to Jewish dietary law, “kosher” food is “fit” to eat, and food that is not kosher is called “treif” (or tref). We also use the term “kosher” informally in a broader sense, to describe anything that is legitimate or proper.

27. 2011 film by 1-/69-Across MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
The 2011 Woody Allen movie called “Midnight in Paris” is a real gem in my opinion. I’ve never liked Woody Allen films, to be honest, mainly because I’m not a fan of Woody Allen as an actor. “Midnight in Paris” is very much a Woody Allen script, with Owen Wilson playing the role that Allen would usually reserve for himself. Wilson plays a much better Woody Allen! Highly recommended …

32. Sardinian six SEI
Sardinia is an autonomous region of Italy, an island in the Mediterranean off the west coast of the country. It lies to the south of the French island of Corsica. Sardinia is the second largest island in the Mediterranean (Sicily is the largest).

33. 1971 film by 1-/69-Across BANANAS
Woody Allen’s 1971 comedy “Bananas” features Allen in the lead role. It’s about an American blue-collar guy who heads to a Cuba-style republic in the midst of a revolution, all to impress a girl (played by Louise Lasser). The “Bananas” is meant to denote the craziness of the Allen character, but it’s also a pun on the term “Banana Republic”.

36. 1973 film by 1-/69-Across SLEEPER
Woody Allen’s 1973 movie “Sleeper” is a sci-fi piece in which Allen plays an average man cryogenically frozen and defrosted 200 years into the future. This is one of those vehicles for Woody Allen playing opposite Diane Keaton. I tried watching it a couple of times, but failed miserably to sit through it. The film’s storyline plays on several works of science-fiction, including “The Sleeper Awakes” by H. G. Wells and “Nineteen Eighty-Four” by George Orwell.

42. Junio, por ejemplo MES
In Spanish, “Junio, por ejemplo” (June, for example) is a “mes” (month).

44. Low voice BASSO
The bass is the lowest male singing voice. A man with such a voice might be called a “basso” (plural “bassi”).

45. 1995 film by 1-/69-Across MIGHTY APHRODITE
“Mighty Aphrodite” is a 1995 Woody Allen romantic comedy starring Mira Sorvino. The film was inspired by George Bernard Shaw’s play “Pygmalion”. I know, the critics loved “Mighty Aphrodite”, but I can’t stand it …

53. Nincompoops MORONS
The rather unsavory term “moron” was formerly used by the medical community to describe someone with a degree of mental retardation. The term comes from the Greek “moros” meaning “foolish, dull”. Back in the early 1900s, IQ tests were used to classify those suffering from mental retardation into categories:

– “idiot” … IQ of 0-20
– “imbecile” … IQ of 21-50
– “moron” …IQ of 51-70

The word “nincompoop”, meaning a fool, seems to have been around for quite a while. It has been used since the 1670s, but no one appears to know its origins.

54. Windy City airport O’HARE
Chicago’s O’Hare International is the busiest airport in the world in terms of takeoffs and landings. 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.

It seems that the derivation of Chicago’s nickname as the “Windy City” isn’t as obvious as I would have thought. There are two viable theories. First that the weather can be breezy, with wind blowing in off Lake Michigan. The effect of the wind is exaggerated by the grid-layout adopted by city planners after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The second theory is that “windy” means “being full of bluster”. Sportswriters from the rival city of Cincinnati were fond of calling Chicago supporters “windy” in the 1860s and 1870s, meaning that they were full of hot air in their claims that the Chicago White Stockings were superior to the Cincinnati Red Stockings.

55. One of the deadly sins LUST
The cardinal sins of Christian ethics are also known as the seven deadly sins. The seven deadly sins are:

– wrath
– greed
– sloth
– pride
– lust
– envy
– gluttony

61. 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.

67. “__ the ramparts … ” O’ER
The words “o’er the ramparts we watched” come from “The Star Spangled Banner” written by Francis Scott Key.

The lyrics of “The Star-Spangled Banner” were written first as a poem by Francis Scott Key, inspired by the bombarding by the British of the American forces at Fort McHenry that he witnessed during the Battle of Baltimore in September 1814. The words were then set to the tune of a popular British drinking song penned by John Stafford Smith called “The Anacreontic Song”, with the Anacreontic Society being a men’s club in London.

68. Figure (out) SUSS
The verb “to suss” means “to figure out”. The term originated in the 1950s as police slang, a shortening of “to suspect”.

Down
1. Genie’s offer WISH
The “genie” in the bottle takes his or her name from “djinn”. “Djinns” were various spirits considered lesser than angels, with people exhibiting unsavory characteristics said to be possessed by djinn. When the book “The Thousand and One Nights” was translated into French, the word “djinn” was transformed into the existing word “génie”, because of the similarity in sound and the related spiritual meaning. This “génie” from the Arabian tale became confused with the Latin-derived “genius”, a guardian spirit thought to be assigned to each person at birth. Purely as a result of that mistranslation the word genie has come to mean the “djinn” that pops out of the bottle. A little hard to follow, I know, but still quite interesting …

2. Most fit for service ONE-A
The US government maintains information on all males who are potentially subject to military conscription, using what is called the Selective Service System(SS). In the event that a draft was held, men registered would be classified into groups to determine eligibility for service. Class 1-A registrants are those available for unrestricted military service. Other classes are 1-A-O (conscientious objector available for noncombatant service), 4-A (registrant who has completed military service) and 4-D (Minister of religion).

3. Keats works ODES
The poet John Keats is famous for writing a whole series of beautiful odes. The most renowned are the so-called “1819 Odes”, a collection from the year 1819 that includes famous poems such as “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, “Ode to a Nightingale” and “Ode to Psyche”.

4. __ Bums: Brooklyn Dodgers nickname DEM
The Brooklyn dodgers were nicknamed “Dem Bums” by the sports cartoonist Willard Mullin.

6. Tailor’s inserts GUSSETS
A gusset is a triangular insert in the seam of a garment, for added expansion.

8. Nutritional meas. RDA
Recommended Daily Allowances (RDAs) were introduced during WWII and are a set of recommendations for the standard daily allowances of specific nutrients. RDAs were effectively absorbed into a broader set of dietary guidelines in 1997 called Recommended Daily Intakes (RDIs). RDIs are used to determine the Daily Values (DV) of foods that are printed on nutrition fact labels on most food that we purchase.

9. Sack material BURLAP
Burlap, also called “hessian”, is a coarse, woven fabric made from fibers taken from jute, sisal or hemp plants.

10. Mountain lion COUGAR
The mountain lion is found in much of the Americas from the Yukon in Canada right down to the southern Andes in South America. Because the mountain lion is found over such a vast area, it has many different names applied by local peoples, such as cougar and puma. In fact, the mountain lion holds the Guinness record for the animal with the most number of different names, with over 40 in English alone. As an aside, we had a mountain lion prowling around our house just three weeks ago, and we live in a city development in the San Francisco Bay Area. Scary …

11. Birthplace of St. Francis ASSISI
The Italian town of Assisi is in Umbria. Assisi is famous as the birthplace of St. Francis and as the home to the Franciscan religious order. It was also the home to Saint Clare and her order of the Poor Sisters (later known as the Poor Clares).

12. Coffee drinks with steamed milk LATTES
The term “latte” is an abbreviation of the Italian “caffelatte” meaning “coffee (and) milk”. Note that in the correct spelling of “latte”, the Italian word for milk, there is no accent over the “e”. An accent is often added by mistake when we use the word in English, perhaps meaning to suggest that the word is French.

14. Hip-hop headgear DO-RAG
Hip-hoppers might wear do-rags today, but they have been around for centuries. If you recall the famous image of Rosie the Riveter, she was wearing a do-rag. The etymology is pretty evident, a piece of cloth (rag) to hold a hairstyle (do) in place.

24. Ancient Peruvian INCA
The Inca Empire was known as the Tawantinsuyu, which translates as “land of the four quarters”. The Inca Empire was a federal organization having a central government that sat above four “suyu” or “quarters”, four administrative regions.

25. Personal bearing MIEN
One’s “mien” is one’s bearing or manner. “Mien” shares the same etymological root as our word “demeanor”.

29. Cacophony DIN
“Cacophony” is such a lovely word, one used to describe a harsh or jarring sound. The term arises from the Greek “kakos” (bad) and “phone” (voice).

34. Novelist Tan AMY
Amy Tan lives not too far from here, in Sausalito just north of San Francisco. Tan is an American writer of Chinese descent whose most successful work is “The Joy Luck Club”. “The Joy Luck Club” was made into a movie produced by Oliver Stone in 1993. The novel and movie tell of four Chinese-American immigrant families in San Francisco who start the Joy Luck Club, a group playing Mahjong for money and eating delicious food.

37. Black, to a bard EBON
Ebony is another word for the color black (often shortened to “ebon” in poetry). Ebony is a dark black wood that is very dense, one of the few types of wood that sinks in water. Ebony has been in high demand so the species of trees yielding the wood are now considered threatened. It is in such short supply that unscrupulous vendors have been known to darken lighter woods with shoe polish to look like ebony, so be warned …

38. “CSI” actor George EADS
George Eads is an actor from Fort Worth, Texas, Eads is best known for playing the investigator Nick Stokes on the CBS show “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”.

39. Tire pressure meas. PSI
Pounds per square inch (PSI) is a measure of pressure.

40. S.C. clock setting EST
Eastern Standard Time (EST)

45. Cow sound in “Old MacDonald” MOO MOO
There was an American version of the English children’s song “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” (E-I-E-I-O), that was around in the days of WWI. The first line of the US version goes “Old MacDougal had a farm, in Ohio-i-o”.

48. Prefix with scope HORO-
A natal horoscope or natal chart is an astrological map that is built around the exact time and location of an individual’s birth. The chart shows the position of the astrologically relevant celestial bodies at that time. The term “horoscope” ultimately comes from Greek, with “hora” meaning “hour, season” and “skopos” meaning “watcher, what is watched”.

50. Info on a store door: Abbr. HRS
Hours (hrs.)

51. Helicopter component ROTOR
Our term “helicopter” was absorbed from the French word “hélicoptère” that was coined by Gustave Ponton d’Amécourt in 1861. d’Amécourt envisioned aircraft that could fly vertically using rotating wings that “screwed” into the air. He combined the Greek terms “helix” meaning “spiral, whirl” and “pteron” meaning “wing” to give us “helicopter”.

56. Slinky shape COIL
The marvelous Slinky toy was invented in the early forties by a naval engineer called Richard James. James was developing springs for the navy that could stabilize sensitive instruments in rough seas. One day he accidentally knocked one of his experimental coils off a shelf and watched it “step” onto a stack of books, then onto a table and from there onto the floor where it recoiled itself very neatly. The Slinky was born …

57. Merrie __ England OLDE
The word “olde” wasn’t actually used much earlier than the 1920s. “Olde” was introduced to give a quaint antique feel to brand names, shop names etc.

60. Letters that promise payback IOU
I owe you (IOU)

62. Stephen of “The Crying Game” REA
Stephen Rea is an Irish actor from Belfast. Rea’s most successful role was Fergus in 1992’s “The Crying Game”, for which performance he was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar. In “The Crying Game”, Fergus was a member of the IRA. In real life, Rea was married to IRA bomber and hunger striker Dolours Price at the time he made the movie.

“The Crying Game” is a fascinating film that made quite a splash when it was released in 1992. Although it was set in Ireland and the UK, it didn’t do well in cinemas in either country yet made a lot of money over here in the US. I think the politics of the movie were a bit raw for Irish and UK audiences back then. It’s an unusual plot, blending Irish political issues with some raw sexuality questions. I won’t tell you about the “surprise scene”, just in case you haven’t seen it and want to do so.

63. Alcatraz, e.g: Abbr. ISL
Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary was a maximum high-security prison operating from 1934 to 1963 on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay. The US Army had opened Fort Alcatraz on the island back in 1859, and constructed the first prison there in 1868. The first buildings that were to become the Federal Penitentiary were erected between 1910 and 1912, and again were used as a military prison. The construction was modernized and became the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in 1934. The Federal prison housed famous inmates like Al Capone, The Birdman of Alcatraz and “Machine Gun” Kelly. The prison was closed in 1963 by Attorney General Robert Kennedy, as the cost of operation was excessively high and major capital improvements were needed.

Return to top of page

For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. With 69-Across, filmmaker born 12/1/1935 who directed and wrote five films in this puzzle WOODY
6. Apparel GARB
10. Sacramento’s state, briefly CAL
13. “Most certainly!” INDEED!
15. Language that gave us “khaki” URDU
16. Spanish she-bear OSA
17. Look that way SEEM TO
18. With 59-Across, 1980 film by 1-/69-Across STARDUST
20. Suffers from HAS
21. Sneaky tactic RUSE
23. Kosher LEGIT
24. Diagnostic machine IMAGER
26. Make __ for: argue in favor of A CASE
27. 2011 film by 1-/69-Across MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
31. Being kept cold ON ICE
32. Sardinian six SEI
33. 1971 film by 1-/69-Across BANANAS
36. 1973 film by 1-/69-Across SLEEPER
42. Junio, por ejemplo MES
44. Low voice BASSO
45. 1995 film by 1-/69-Across MIGHTY APHRODITE
52. Like a softly blowing fan ON LOW
53. Nincompoops MORONS
54. Windy City airport O’HARE
55. One of the deadly sins LUST
56. Camp bed COT
59. See 18-Across MEMORIES
61. Camden Yards ballplayer ORIOLE
64. Spanish gold ORO
65. Sit for an artist POSE
66. Have a place to call home RESIDE
67. “__ the ramparts … ” O’ER
68. Figure (out) SUSS
69. See 1-Across ALLEN

Down
1. Genie’s offer WISH
2. Most fit for service ONE-A
3. Keats works ODES
4. __ Bums: Brooklyn Dodgers nickname DEM
5. “Despite that … ” YET …
6. Tailor’s inserts GUSSETS
7. Major thoroughfares ARTERIES
8. Nutritional meas. RDA
9. Sack material BURLAP
10. Mountain lion COUGAR
11. Birthplace of St. Francis ASSISI
12. Coffee drinks with steamed milk LATTES
14. Hip-hop headgear DO-RAG
19. Prefix meaning “ten” DECA-
22. “That’s awful!” UGH!
24. Ancient Peruvian INCA
25. Personal bearing MIEN
27. Unruly group MOB
28. Words before flash or jiffy IN A …
29. Cacophony DIN
30. Zip, in soccer scores NIL
34. Novelist Tan AMY
35. Smooth, as a transition SEAMLESS
37. Black, to a bard EBON
38. “CSI” actor George EADS
39. Tire pressure meas. PSI
40. S.C. clock setting EST
41. Fish eggs ROE
43. Husbands and wives SPOUSES
45. Cow sound in “Old MacDonald” MOO MOO
46. Response from another room IN HERE
47. Supermodel’s allure: Var. GLAMOR
48. Prefix with scope HORO-
49. Annoying types TWERPS
50. Info on a store door: Abbr. HRS
51. Helicopter component ROTOR
56. Slinky shape COIL
57. Merrie __ England OLDE
58. High schooler, typically TEEN
60. Letters that promise payback IOU
62. Stephen of “The Crying Game” REA
63. Alcatraz, e.g: Abbr. ISL

Return to top of page