Category: Rich Mausser

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Browns’ org. NFL
The Cleveland Browns football team was a charter member of the All-American Football Conference, formed in 1946. Cleveland is the only NFL city that has never hosted nor sent a team to the Super Bowl.

4. Twine material SISAL
I suppose it is telling that whenever I hear mention of agave plants, I think of tequila. The sisal is an agave, but as far as I can tell its flesh is not used in making the Mexican liquor. The sisal is grown instead for the fibers that run the length of its leaves. The fiber is used extensively for twine, rope, carpeting, wall coverings etc. My favorite application though, is in the construction of dartboards. Sisal takes its name from the port of Sisal in Yucatan, Mexico, once a major shipping point for sisal plants.

15. Golfer who was #1 when she retired in 2010 OCHOA
Lorena Ochoa is a retired professional golfer from Mexico, ranked as the number one female golfer in the world from 2007 to 2010.

16. Missouri’s __ Mountains OZARK
The Ozark Mountains aren’t really mountains geographically speaking, and the Ozarks are better described by the alternate name, the Ozark Plateau. It’s not really certain how the Ozarks got their name, but my favorite theory is that “Ozarks” is the phonetic spelling of “aux Arks”, short for “of Arkansas” in French.

17. TUMS target GAS
The main ingredient in Tums antacid, made by GlaxoSmithKline, is calcium carbonate. Tums have been on the market since 1930. If you want to save a few pennies, Target brand antacid is identical to Tums, so I hear …

20. Modern address starter HTTP
“http” are the first letters in most Internet link addresses. “http” stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol.

24. “Inside the NBA” analyst Barkley, familiarly S(IR CHA)RLES
The former pro-basketball player Charles Barkley was nicknamed “Sir Charles” as well as “The Round Mound of Rebound”. Now that Barkley is retired he spends some of his time commenting on games for Turner Network Television (TNT) on the show “Inside the NBA”. He also has expressed interest in getting into politics and pondered a 2014 run for Governor of Alabama.

39. Heavenly bear URSA
The constellation called Ursa Major (Latin for “Larger Bear”) is often just called the Big Dipper because of its resemblance to a ladle or dipper. Ursa Major also resembles a plow, and that’s what we usually call it back in Ireland, the “plough”.

45. Tuscany city SIENA
Siena is a beautiful city in the Tuscany region of Italy. In the center of Siena is the magnificent medieval square called Piazza del Campo, a paved sloping open area made up of nine triangular sections. The square has to be seen to be believed. Twice a year, the famous bareback horse-race called the Palio di Siena is held in the Piazza.

46. Hum attachment? VEE
“Humvee” is a nickname for the military vehicle developed by AM General. The full name is High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle i.e. HMMWV, or simply “Humvee”.

52. Woolly garment MO(HAIR C)OAT
Angora wool comes from the Angora rabbit. On the other hand, the Angora goat produces the wool known as mohair.

56. He voiced Elmer MEL
Mel Blanc is known as “The Man of a Thousand Voices”. We’ve all heard Mel Blanc at one time or another, I am sure. His was the voice behind such cartoon characters as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, Woody Woodpecker, Elmer Fudd and Barney Rubble. And the words on Blanc’s tombstone are … “That’s All Folks”.

Elmer Fudd is one of the most famous of all the Looney Tunes cartoon characters, the hapless nemesis of Bugs Bunny. If you have never seen it, check out Elmer and Bugs in the marvelous “Rabbit of Seville”, a short cartoon that parodies Rossini’s “Barber of Seville”. Wonderful stuff …

59. Sweethearts maker NECCO
The forerunner to Sweethearts candy was introduced in 1866, with the famous written sayings tailored for use at weddings. One of the original expressions was, “Married in pink, he will take a drink”. The original candy was a lot bigger, to fit all those words! The smaller, heart-shaped candy hit the shelves in 1901. The more contemporary saying of “text me” was added to the line in 2010.

60. Leap in a tutu JETE
A jeté is a leap in ballet, coming from the French word “jeter” meaning “to throw”.

69. New product div. R AND D
Research and Development (R&D).

70. Holiday tuber YAM
Although in the US we sometimes refer to sweet potatoes as “yams”, the yam is actually a completely different family of plants. True yams are more common in other parts of the the world than they are in this country, especially in Africa.

73. “Strange Magic” rock gp. ELO
The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) is a symphonic rock group from the north of England. The band’s manager was Don Arden, father of Sharon Osbourne (wife of Ozzy).

Down
3. Da Vinci masterpiece, with “The” LAST SUPPER
Leonardo da Vinci’s famous mural “The Last Supper” can be seen on an end wall of the dining hall in the monastery of Santa Maris delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. If you want to see it in person, you have to make a reservation ahead of time, and once you get there, you’re only allowed 15 minutes viewing time. The mural is a very, very popular tourist attraction …

5. Einstein’s “I” ICH
“Ich” is the German for “I”, as in “Ich bin ein Berliner” (I am a Berliner), the famous words of support uttered by President John F. Kennedy in 1963 in a speech in West Berlin. The supposed translation of “Ich bin ein Berliner” as “I am a jelly doughnut” … that’s just an urban myth. President Kennedy’s use of German was perfectly correct.

After Albert Einstein moved to the US in 1933, he became quite a celebrity and his face was readily recognizable. Einstein was frequently stopped in the street by people who would naively ask him if he could explain what “that theory” (i.e. the theory of relativity) was all about. Growing tired of this, he finally learned to tell people that he was sorry, but folks were constantly mistaking him for Albert Einstein!

8. One working on a punch, perhaps LACER
We’ve used the word “lace” to mean a net or a string since the 1300s, and in the mid-16th century it started to describe an ornamental net pattern. In the mid-17th century, one used “to lace” one’s coffee or tea with sugar, the idea being that one was “ornamenting or trimming” the beverage. It wasn’t long before “lacing” became reserved for the addition of alcohol to an otherwise “tame” drink.

10. Israeli arms expert __ Gal UZI
The first Uzi submachine gun was designed in the late 1940s by Major Uziel Gal of the Israel Defense Forces  who gave his name to the gun.

11. Diaper woe RASH
Here’s another word that I had to learn when I moved to America: “diaper”. What are called “diapers” over here we call “nappies” back in Ireland. The term “diaper” is actually the original term that was used in England for the garment, with “diaper” referring to the cloth that was used. The term diaper was brought to the New World where it stuck. Back in Britain, diaper was displaced by the word “nappy”, a diminutive of “napkin”.

12. Gardner who invented cases ERLE
I must have read all of the Perry Mason books when I was in college. I think they kept me sane when I was facing the pressure of exams. Author Erle Stanley Gardner was himself a lawyer, although he didn’t get into the profession the easy way. Gardner went to law school, but got himself suspended after only a month. So, he became a self-taught attorney and opened his own law office in Merced, California. Understandably, he gave up the law once his novels became successful.

21. À la mode serving PIE
In French “à la mode” simply means “fashionable”. In America it has come to describe a way of serving pie, usually with ice cream, or as I recall from when I lived in Upstate New York, with cheese.

25. Sitarist Shankar RAVI
The sitar has been around since the Middle Ages. It is a stringed instrument that is played by plucking, and is used most often in Hindustani classical music. In the West we have been exposed to the sitar largely through the performances of Ravi Shankar and some music by George Harrison of the Beatles, a onetime student of Shankar.

26. Woodwind instr. CLAR
The clarinet is a lovely-sounding instrument, isn’t it? The name comes from the Italian word “clarino” meaning “trumpet” with the “-et” suffix indicating “small”.

27. Franklin’s genre SOUL
I think Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, had a tough life. Franklin had her first son when she was just 13-years-old, and her second at 15. In 2008, “Rolling Stone” magazine ranked Franklin as number one in their list of the greatest singers of all time.

28. Rugby tussle SCRUM
If you’ve ever seen a rugby match, you’ll recognize the “scrum”, where the players designated as “forwards” bind together and push against the forwards on the opposing team. It’s a way of restarting the game after various types of stoppages. Scrum is short for “scrummage”, which in itself is a variation of “scrimmage”. And “scrimmage” has its roots in the word “skirmish”. If you get the chance, take a look at the Matt Damon-Morgan Freeman movie called  “Invictus”, directed by Clint Eastwood. It’s all about rugby in South Africa after Nelson Mandela came to power. A powerful film …

29. Mexican cheese QUESO
“Queso” is Spanish for “cheese”.

31. Magnum, for one PRIVATE EYE
“Magnum, P.I.” is a TV series that aired in the eighties starring Tom Selleck in the title role. The show was incredibly successful, especially during its first five years. Many big names made guest appearances including Vic Morrow, Orson Welles and Frank Sinatra.

32. Krupp Works city ESSEN
The Krupp manufacturing interest originated with Friedrich Krupp who inherited an iron forge that the family owned in Essen. Friedrich made some not-so-clever investments designed to get the family into the cast steel business. Friedrich died quite young, and his son Alfred had to take over the struggling steelworks at only 14 years of age. When Alfred took the helm, the company had five workers. At the time of his death there were about 20,000 employees, and Krupp’s was the world’s largest industrial company.

33. Did Ebert’s job RATED
Roger Ebert co-hosted a succession of film review television programs for over 23 years, most famously with Gene Siskel until Siskel passed away in 1999. Ebert was diagnosed and treated for thyroid cancer in 2002, and since then has undergone a number of surgical procedures. Sadly he has lost his voice, but continues work as a film critic, focusing these days on the print medium.

37. Part of PBK PHI
Phi Beta Kappa was the first collegiate Greek fraternity in the US, founded in 1776 at the College of William and Mary. The initials Phi Beta Kappa stand for “philosophia biou kybernētēs”, which translates into “philosophy is the guide of life”.

42. “Mad Money” channel CNBC
The television show “Mad Money” started airing in 2005, and is hosted by the ebullient Jim Cramer. Cramer recommends that essential funds, such as those reserved for retirement, be safely locked away in conservative investment vehicles. Any money left over (still looking for that here!) is classed as “Mad Money” and can be invested in more risky stocks.

49. Poet Silverstein SHEL
Author Shel Silverstein had a varied career and did a lot more than write books. Silverstein was a poet, composer, cartoonist and screenwriter among other things. One of his successful children’s books is “The Giving Tree”, which was first published in 1964. It tells of a young boy who has a special relationship with a tree in a forest. The message of the book seems to be that the tree provides the little boy with everything he needs.

51. Pilgrimage to Mecca HAJ
“Haji” is the term used for someone who has made a pilgrimage to Mecca, and the term is sometimes also used as a form of address for such a person. The journey itself goes by the name “haj” or “hadj”.

53. Ghana’s capital ACCRA
Accra sits on Ghana’s coast and is a major seaport as well as the country’s capital city. The name “Accra” comes from a local word “Nkran” meaning “ants”, a name chosen because of the large number of anthills found in the area when the city was founded.

54. Apple messaging tool ICHAT
iChat was introduced in 2002, and is still in use today. It is Apple’s “instant messaging” application that integrates with the Mac Operating System.

55. Horses with interspersed colored and white hairs ROANS
A roan horse has an even mixture of white and colored hairs on the body with the head, lower legs, mane and tail having a more solid color.

56. Amt. you don’t expect to pay MSRP
The Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP).

58. Slimming choice, briefly LIPO
Liposuction dates back to the 1920s when it was developed by a surgeon in France. However, the procedure quickly lost favor when a French model developed gangrene after surgery. As a result it wasn’t until the mid-seventies that modern liposuction took off, after being popularized by two Italian-American surgeons in Rome.

61. Marsh duck TEAL
The beautiful color of teal takes it name from the duck called a “teal”, which has dark greenish-blue (teal) markings on its head and wings.

62. Sailor’s patron ELMO
St. Elmo is the patron saint of sailors. He lends his name to the electrostatic weather phenomenon (often seen at sea) known as St. Elmo’s fire. The “fire” is actually a plasma discharge caused by air ionizing at the end of a pointed object (like the mast of a ship), something often observed during electrical storms.

65. Ending with fluor- -IDE
Fluoridation is the addition of a fluoride salt to the public drinking water system, a measure taken to reduce tooth decay. What I find interesting is that bottled water usually has no added fluoride, and most domestic water filters remove the fluoride from the water coming out of the faucet. Maybe that explains why my dental hygienist applied a fluoride varnish to my teeth the other day …

66. Nutritional stat RDA
Recommended Daily Allowances (RDAs) were introduced during WWII, and were replaced by Recommended Daily Intakes (RDIs) in 1997.

Return to top of page

For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Browns’ org. NFL
4. Twine material SISAL
9. Come-ons LURES
14. SS supplement, for some IRA
15. Golfer who was #1 when she retired in 2010 OCHOA
16. Missouri’s __ Mountains OZARK
17. TUMS target GAS
18. Congregational divide CHU(RCH AI)SLE
20. Modern address starter HTTP
22. Spirited mount STEED
23. Do a hatchet job HEW
24. “Inside the NBA” analyst Barkley, familiarly S(IR CHA)RLES
28. Burning rubber sound SQUEAL
30. Decorous PROPER
34. Green hole CUP
35. Wings it, musically VAMPS
39. Heavenly bear URSA
40. Fix-it guide REP(AIR CH)ECKLIST
44. Like many eBay items USED
45. Tuscany city SIENA
46. Hum attachment? VEE
47. Fable messages MORALS
50. Manually BY HAND
52. Woolly garment MO(HAIR C)OAT
56. He voiced Elmer MEL
59. Sweethearts maker NECCO
60. Leap in a tutu JETE
63. Office purchase, and in a way, what can be seen in this puzzle’s sequence of circles SWIVEL CHAIR
67. Fish lacking pelvic fins EEL
68. Aptly named bug spray REPEL
69. New product div. R AND D
70. Holiday tuber YAM
71. Surrogate PROXY
72. Out of port AT SEA
73. “Strange Magic” rock gp. ELO

Down
1. Soon to happen NIGH
2. Its name usually has only two or three letters FRAT
3. Da Vinci masterpiece, with “The” LAST SUPPER
4. Humanities maj. SOC
5. Einstein’s “I” ICH
6. Complaint about a library volume? SHUSH
7. Primary artery AORTA
8. One working on a punch, perhaps LACER
9. Dump truck adjunct LOADER
10. Israeli arms expert __ Gal UZI
11. Diaper woe RASH
12. Gardner who invented cases ERLE
13. Depict unfairly SKEW
19. Common menu option HELP
21. À la mode serving PIE
25. Sitarist Shankar RAVI
26. Woodwind instr. CLAR
27. Franklin’s genre SOUL
28. Rugby tussle SCRUM
29. Mexican cheese QUESO
31. Magnum, for one PRIVATE EYE
32. Krupp Works city ESSEN
33. Did Ebert’s job RATED
36. Roast hosts, for short MCS
37. Part of PBK PHI
38. Understand SEE
41. First family member? ADAM
42. “Mad Money” channel CNBC
43. Put on the canvas KAYO
48. Desolate LONELY
49. Poet Silverstein SHEL
51. Pilgrimage to Mecca HAJ
53. Ghana’s capital ACCRA
54. Apple messaging tool ICHAT
55. Horses with interspersed colored and white hairs ROANS
56. Amt. you don’t expect to pay MSRP
57. Wide-mouthed pourer EWER
58. Slimming choice, briefly LIPO
61. Marsh duck TEAL
62. Sailor’s patron ELMO
64. Plague VEX
65. Ending with fluor- -IDE
66. Nutritional stat RDA

Return to top of page