Category: Kurt Krauss

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
6. League fraction MILE
A “league” is a unit of distance that dates back to the Middle Ages. No longer used, it was originally defined as the distance that a person could walk in an hour. In the English-speaking world, a league was equal to three miles on land, or three nautical miles at sea.

14. Tin Pan Alley org. ASCAP
ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) collects licence fees for musicians and distributes royalties to composers whose works have been performed. BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated) provides the same service.

Tin Pan Alley was originally a specific location, West 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan. The area was associated with the music publishing business from about 1885 to the start of the Great Depression The name itself is possibly a reference to the tinny sound of cheap pianos that were common at the time.

16. Lead-in for sci POLI
Political science (poli sci)

19. Tiger Woods’ ex ELIN
Elin Nordegren is the ex-wife of Tiger Woods. Nordegren is a native of Sweden, and it was back in Sweden that she was hired as a nanny by the wife of golfer Jesper Parnevik. The job brought her to the US where she became a popular attraction on the professional golfing circuit. Apparently there was a long line of single golfers who wanted to be introduced to her, with Tiger Woods asking for an introduction for a year before he finally got to go out with her. The pair were married in 2004. Tiger and Elin have two children together: Sam Alexis born in 2007, and Charlie Axel born in 2009.

26. Painter who was a leader of the Fauvist movement MATISSE
Henri Matisse was a French artist renowned for his contribution to modern art. In his early career, Matisse was classed as a “fauve”, one of the group of artists known as the “wild beasts” who emphasized strong color over realism in their works. He was a lifelong friend of Pablo Picasso, and the two were considered to be good-natured rivals so their works are often compared. One major difference between their individual portfolios is that Picasso tended to paint from his imagination, whereas Matisse tended to use nature as his inspiration.

29. “__ Ben Adhem” ABOU
Abou Ben Adhem, also known as Ibrahim Bin Adham, was an Arab Muslim saint. He was made famous in the western world with the publication in 1838 of the poem “Abou Ben Adhem” that was composed by the English poet James Henry Leigh Hunt.

30. Shooting star, to some OMEN
“Shooting star” is what we call the visible path of a meteoroid as is it enters the earth’s atmosphere. Almost all meteoroids burn up, but if one is large enough to survive and reach the ground, we call it a meteorite. The word “meteor” comes from the Greek “meteōros” meaning “high in the air”.

31. 1928 Oscar winner Jannings EMIL
Emil Jannings was an actor from Switzerland, who also held German and Austrian citizenship. Jannings was the first person to receive an Oscar, as the star of the 1928 silent movie called “The Last Command”. He also starred opposite Marlene Dietrich in the 1930 classic “The Blue Angel”.

32. Early Beatle Sutcliffe STU
Stu Sutcliffe was one of the original four members of The Silver Beatles (as The Beatles were known in their early days), along with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison. Sutcliffe apparently came up with name “Beatles” along with John Lennon, as a homage to their hero Buddy Holly who was backed by the “Crickets”. By all reports, Sutcliffe wasn’t a very talented musician and was more interested in painting. He went with the group to Hamburg, more than once, but he eventually left the Beatles and went back to art school, actually studying for a while at the Hamburg College of Art. In 1962 in Hamburg, Sutcliffe collapsed with blinding headaches. He died in the ambulance on the way to hospital, his death attributed to cerebral paralysis.

41. Reason for a tow job REPO
Repossession (repo)

42. Literary governess EYRE
In Charlotte Brontë’s novel “Jane Eyre”, the title character becomes the governess of Adele, Mr. Rochester’s ward.

60. Eye rakishly OGLE
A “rake” (short for “rakehell”) is a man who is habituated to immoral conduct (isn’t it always the man??!!). The rake is a character who turns up frequently in novels and films, only interested in wine, women and song and not accepting the responsibilities of life. Good examples would be Wickham in Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” and Daniel Cleaver (the Hugh Grant part) in the movie “Bridget Jones’s Diary”. “Rake” comes from the Old Norse “reikall”, meaning “vagrant or a wanderer”.

62. Rock’s __ Boingo OINGO
Oingo Boingo was a band active from the seventies through the nineties. The group had a reputation for giving pretty wild concerts on Halloween each year.

63. He’s fifth on the career home run list MAYS
Willie Mays’ nickname was the “Say Hey Kid”, although his friends and teammates were more likely to refer to him as “Buck”. When Mays was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, he was asked who was the best player he’d ever seen in the game. He replied, “I don’t mean to be bashful, but I was.”

Down
1. Break-even transaction WASH
Apparently the phrase “it’s a wash”, meaning “there’s no gain either way”, comes from the underworld. Back in the 19th century, a “wash” was a fake transaction between a seller and a buyer for some illegal purpose.

5. Dust motes SPECKS
“Mote” is just another word for a speck of dust.

6. Calder piece MOBILE
Alexander Calder was an American sculptor and artist. Calder is famous for having invented the mobile sculpture, a work made up of several pieces hanging on a string in equilibrium. In effect they are what we might known as “mobiles”, operating on the same principle as mobiles that sit over cribs in a nursery.

8. SFPD ranks LTS
The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) is the 11th largest police department in the country. The SFPD dates back to the days of the Gold Rush, being founded in 1849 as a force of 35 officers. SFPD has featured a lot in movies and on television. The most famous films are probably “Bullitt”, the “Dirty Harry” series and “48 Hrs.” On television there was “Ironside”, “The Streets of San Francisco” and more recently “Monk”.

9. Memorable temptation victim EVE
In the Christian tradition, the “fall of man” took place in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve succumbed to the temptation of eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, against the bidding of God. As a result, Adam and Eve were banished from Eden to prevent them becoming immortal by eating from the tree of life. The first humans had transitioned from a state of innocent obedience to a state of guilty disobedience.

10. Brief outline APERCU
An “apercu” is a first view, a glance. By extension, the term “apercu” can also be used for a detached view, an overview or a short synopsis. “Aperçu” is French for “perceived”.

11. __ cap POLAR
The polar ice cap at the north of our planet is floating pack ice in the Arctic Ocean. The southern polar ice cap is an ice sheet that covers the land mass known as Antarctica. About 70% of all the freshwater on Earth is held in the southern polar ice cap.

12. Beethoven’s “Für __” ELISE
“Fur Elise” is a beautiful piece of music written by Beethoven, and is also known as “Bagatelle in A Minor”. “Fur Elise” means simply “For Elise”, but sadly no one knows for sure the identity of the mysterious dedicatee.

13. Resilient strength SINEW
Sinew is another name for a tendon. Tendons are bands of collagen that connect muscle to bone. Tendons are similar to ligaments and fasciae, which are also connective tissue made out of collagen, but ligaments join bone to bone, and fasciae connect muscle to muscle. We also use the term “sinew” to mean muscular power.

18. Anti votes NOES
Yep, the plural of “no” can either “noes” or “nos”.

22. Name on a historic B-29 ENOLA
The Enola Gay was the B-29 that dropped the first atomic bomb, on Hiroshima in August 1945. Enola Gay was the name of the mother of pilot Col. Paul W. Tibbets, Jr.

23. Cosecant’s reciprocal SINE
The most familiar trigonometric functions are sine (sin), cosine (cos) and tangent (tan). Each of these is a ratio, a ratio of two sides of a right-angled triangle. The reciprocal of these three functions are cosecant, secant, and cotangent. The reciprocal functions are simply the inverted ratios, the inverted sine (cosec = 1/sin), cosine (sec = 1/cos) and tangent (cot = 1/tan).

25. Final notice? OBIT
“Obituary” comes from the Latin “obituaris”, originally the record of the death of a person, although the literal meaning is “pertaining to death”.

27. Valéry’s valentine AMIE
A male friend in France is “un ami”, and a female friend is “une amie”.

Saint Valentine’s Day (February 14th) was chosen by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD to honor various martyrs with the name Valentine. However, the saints’ day was dropped by the Roman Catholic church in 1969, by Pope Paul VI. Try telling that to Hallmark though …

32. Roy Rogers’ birth name SLYE
Cowboy actor and singer Roy Rogers’ real name was Leonard Franklin Slye, and his nickname was “King of the Cowboys”. Roy Rogers married Dale Evans in 1947. Evans’ nickname was “Queen of the West”.

33. Fork-tailed flier TERN
Terns are seabirds that are found all over the world. The Arctic Tern makes a very long-distance migration. One Arctic Tern that was tagged as a chick in Great Britain in the summer of 1982, was spotted in Melbourne, Australia just three months later. The bird had traveled over 14,000 miles in over those three months, an average of about 150 miles a day. Remarkable …

36. Smeltery waste DROSS
When metals are smelted, there is a scum made up of impurities that floats on the surface of the molten metal. This scum is called “dross” and is drawn off and discarded. The term “dross” then came to mean any waste or impure matter.

Metals are found in ore in the form of oxides. In order to get pure metal from the ore, the ore is heated and the metal oxides within are reduced (i.e. the oxygen is removed) in the chemical process known as smelting. The oxygen is extracted by adding a source of carbon or carbon monoxide which uses up the excess oxygen atoms to make carbon dioxide, a waste product of smelting (and of course, a greenhouse gas).

38. Three-sided blade EPEE
The sword known as an épée has a three-sided blade. The épée is similar to a foil and sabre, both of which are also thrusting weapons. However, the foil and saber have rectangular cross-sections.

39. ” … I’ve __ to the mountaintop”: King BEEN
The last speech delivered by Martin Luther King, Jr. is often referred to as “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”. Delivered on April 3rd, 1968 in Memphis, Dr. King was assassinated in that same city the next day. Towards the end of the speech, includes the following words:

Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live – a long life; longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

43. Beaux __: noble deeds GESTES
“Beau geste” is a French term meaning “noble deed”, or literally “beautiful gesture”.

45. Copper CENT
The original one-cent coin was introduced in the US in 1793 and was made of 100% copper. The composition varied over time, and was 100% bronze up to the 1940s. During WWII there was a shortage of copper to make bronze, so the US Mint switched to zinc-coated steel for production of one-cent coins in 1943. The steelie is the only coin ever issued by the US mint that can be picked up by a magnet. Today’s one-cent coin is comprised mainly of zinc.

46. Three-time 21st-century World Series champs RED SOX
The Boston Red Sox is one of the most successful Major League Baseball teams and so commands a large attendance, but only when on the road. The relatively small capacity of Boston’s Fenway Park, the team’s home since 1912, has dictated that every game the Red Sox has played there has been a sell out since May of 2003.

47. Billiards shot CAROM
A carom is a ricochet, the bouncing of some projectile off a surface. Carom has come to mean the banking of a billiard ball, the bouncing of the ball off the side of the table.

48. Greek finale OMEGA
Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet and is the one that looks like a horseshoe. The word “omega” literally means “great O” (O-mega). Compare this with the Greek letter Omicron meaning “little O” (O-micron).

53. Tailless cat MANX
I’ve seen Manx cats by the dozen on their native island. They’re found all over the Isle of Man (hence the name “Manx”) located in the middle of the Irish Sea. Manx cats have just a stub of a tail, and hence are called “stubbins” by the locals.

55. British mil. decorations DSOS
The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a British military award that is usually presented to officers with the rank of Major or higher.

57. Tom Clancy figure SPY
Tom Clancy was an incredibly successful novelist who was noted for his technically-detailed military and espionage thrillers. Clancy’s first novel was “The Hunt for Red October”, published in 1984. Although “Red October” was to be his most successful work, I personally preferred his second book “Red Storm Rising”, published in 1986. Clancy passed away in 2013.

58. Hawaiian dish POI
The corm of some taro plants is used to make poi, the traditional Hawaiian dish (that I think tastes horrible). When a taro plant is grown as an ornamental, it is often called Elephant Ears due to the shape of its large leaves.

59. Org. in Tom Clancy novels CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is the successor to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) formed during WWII. The CIA was chartered by the National Security Act of 1947.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Thin locks, as of hair WISPS
6. League fraction MILE
10. Long-armed beasts APES
14. Tin Pan Alley org. ASCAP
15. “… but I play one __” ON TV
16. Lead-in for sci POLI
17. Diamond heist? STOLEN BASE
19. Tiger Woods’ ex ELIN
20. Fresh from the oven HOT
21. One may be tossed after a wish COIN
22. Rub the wrong away ERASE
23. Bare-bones staff SKELETON CREW
26. Painter who was a leader of the Fauvist movement MATISSE
29. “__ Ben Adhem” ABOU
30. Shooting star, to some OMEN
31. 1928 Oscar winner Jannings EMIL
32. Early Beatle Sutcliffe STU
35. Dinner side, and what can literally be found in this puzzle’s circles MIXED VEGETABLES
40. Firm SET
41. Reason for a tow job REPO
42. Literary governess EYRE
43. Controversial video game feature GORE
44. Does a security job SCREENS
47. Divides, as lovers COMES BETWEEN
51. Squirrel away AMASS
52. Fruit discard RIND
53. __ bath MUD
56. Cost of living? RENT
57. Stereotypical bachelors’ toys SPORTS CARS
60. Eye rakishly OGLE
61. Place to see crawls POOL
62. Rock’s __ Boingo OINGO
63. He’s fifth on the career home run list MAYS
64. Kennel sounds YIPS
65. Graph lines X-AXES

Down
1. Break-even transaction WASH
2. Comparative words … IS TO …
3. Nae sayer SCOT
4. Frequent companion PAL
5. Dust motes SPECKS
6. Calder piece MOBILE
7. Featherbrained INANE
8. SFPD ranks LTS
9. Memorable temptation victim EVE
10. Brief outline APERCU
11. __ cap POLAR
12. Beethoven’s “Für __” ELISE
13. Resilient strength SINEW
18. Anti votes NOES
22. Name on a historic B-29 ENOLA
23. Cosecant’s reciprocal SINE
24. Teach, in a way TAME
25. Final notice? OBIT
26. Kids’ drivers, often MOMS
27. Valéry’s valentine AMIE
28. Printed words TEXT
31. It may need a boost EGO
32. Roy Rogers’ birth name SLYE
33. Fork-tailed flier TERN
34. Exploits USES
36. Smeltery waste DROSS
37. Hit or miss VERB
38. Three-sided blade EPEE
39. ” … I’ve __ to the mountaintop”: King BEEN
43. Beaux __: noble deeds GESTES
44. Ice cream designs SWIRLS
45. Copper CENT
46. Three-time 21st-century World Series champs RED SOX
47. Billiards shot CAROM
48. Greek finale OMEGA
49. Virile MANLY
50. Military unit TROOP
53. Tailless cat MANX
54. Goad URGE
55. British mil. decorations DSOS
57. Tom Clancy figure SPY
58. Hawaiian dish POI
59. Org. in Tom Clancy novels CIA

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