1/19/25 - Word Problems 📚

🏁 Solve –> Word Problems by Emily Sharp and Kunal Nabar

14A| Largest organ in the human body

SKIN

Accounting for approximately 15% of our body weight, the skin is a human's largest organ (followed, in order, by the liver, brain, lungs, and heart).

[On the opposite end of the spectrum, the smallest organ is the pineal gland, a grain of rice-sized component of our endocrine system that sits in the center of the brain and produces melatonin (a sleep-inducing hormone).]

👉 BONUS BIT: As of the most recent printing of Gray's Anatomy (42nd edition; 2020), the number of organs in the human body increased from 78 to 79 with the addition of the mesentery (a membrane that holds our intestines in place and supports various digestive processes).

Still under consideration is a proposed 80th organ: the interstitium – a network of fluid-filled spaces in tissue that extends throughout our entire body. If accepted, it would potentially supplant the skin as our largest organ.

19A | Big name in syrup

KARO

Karo® is a corn syrup first introduced in 1903 by the Corn Products Refining Company of New York and Chicago. According to the company, the brand name is believed to refer to Caroline, the wife of one of its chemists.

⚠️ FYI: For a pecan pie to be considered authentic (at least according to the modern recipe introduced into the American South during the 1930s), it needs to have been made with Karo® syrup.

40A | "Strega ___" (classic children's folk tale)

NONA

Despite being framed in early pressings as the retelling of an old folk tale, Strega Nona ("Grandma Witch" in Italian) is, in fact, a character spawned from the imagination of American children's book author and illustrator Tommy dePaola.

Her debut appearance in 1975's Strega Nona was awarded the Caldecott Honor, a runner-up prize to the coveted Caldecott Medal (which had been bestowed upon Leo and Diane Dillon for their illustrations in Verna Aardema's Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears, a recounting of an actual old (West African) folk tale.)

⚠️ FYI: Technically, in order to mean "grandmother," Nona should be spelled with two "n"s. With only one "n," it translates to "ninth."

43A | Arjuna's skill, in the "Mahabharata"

AIM

In the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata – the longest poem ever written – Arjuna is a character fathered by Indra, the king of all gods in Hindu mythology.

A gifted archer who can shoot with either hand, Arjuna is mentored by the deity Krishna (an avatar of Vishnu) who appears in the guise of his charioteer. A dialogue between the two before a decisive battle forms the Bhagavad Gita ("song of the Lord") – a foundational piece of Hindu scripture that weaves together threads of various Indian religious teachings.

73A | ___ Khan

AGA

Aga Khan is an honorific title for the Imam of the Nizari Isma'ili Muslims, the second-largest branch of Shi'a Islam (comprised of those who trace the lineage of their spiritual leader back to Ali, the prophet Muhammad's cousin/son-in-law).

Beginning in 1817, four individuals have adopted the name, with the most recent – Aga Khan IV (Prince Karim Al-Husseini) – bearing the title since 1957, when he became the 49th overall Imam of Nizari Ismailis at the age of 20.

77A | Like the presidency of Martin Van Buren

ONE TERM

Of the 45 individuals who have served as President of the United States, 13 were in office for exactly one four-year term (including, most recently, Joe Biden).

The breakdown of the rest is as follows:

10 – less than one full term

7 – more than one term, but less than two

14 – two full terms [although two (Cleveland and Trump) were non-consecutive]

1 – more than two full terms [FDR, who died 2 months into his 4th term]

6D | Hugo-winning sci-fi author Bacigalupi

PAOLO

A graduate of Oberlin College, American writer Paolo Bacigalupi won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for his 2009 novel The Windup Girl.

Other works to win both of these prestigous science fiction accolades in the same year include Dune, The Dispossessed, Neuromancer, Ender's Game, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, and The Stone Sky.

42D | Iconic Warhol subject

MAO

Along with Marilyn Monroe and Campbell's soup cans, People's Republic of China founder Mao Zedong is one of American artist Andy Warhol's most iconic subjects.

Inspired by the media coverage surrounding the historic 1972 meeting between Chairman Mao and U.S. President Richard Nixon, Warhol produced a series of 199 silkscreen paintings – ranging in size from 4 feet to nearly 15 feet tall – of the communist leader over the following year.

The basis for these pieces is a picture (No. 4 Standard Photograph of Mao Zedong) Warhol pulled from a copy of Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung (aka "the Little Red Book").

👉 BONUS BIT: The same image also serves as the model for the portrait of Mao that has hung in Tiananmen Square since 1949. (Due to the corrosive effects of weather and pollution, an artist – Ge Xiaoguang for the past four-plus decades – creates a new version of the painting each year to be installed in place of the old one just before "National Day" [October 1].)

66D | Coins made primarily of copper

DIMES

The dime – a unit of US currency worth ten cents (dime -> disme [Old French] -> decima [Latin], meaning "one-tenth") – entered circulation in 1796 following its establishment via the Coinage Act of 1792.

Originally composed of 90% silver and 10% copper, the rising cost of silver prompted Congress to pass the Coinage Act of 1965, a piece of legislation that called for the precious metal's removal from all subsequent dimes (and quarters).

Today, dimes are roughly 92% copper and 8% nickel and cost a little over $0.05 to manufacture – not a bad margin when compared to pennies and nickels, both of which cost the U.S. government more than double their worth to make.

👉 BONUS BIT: The idiomatic phrase "to dime" on someone (meaning to alert the authorities of their illegal activities) traces its origins back to the 1960s when the cost to use a pay phone – to, say, call the police – was ten cents.

100D | "Visions" singer/songwriter Jones

NORAH

American musician Norah Jones has won nine Grammy awards (including five for her 2002 debut album, Come Away with Me) and has a nomination pending for her latest release, 2024's Visions, in the category of Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.

⚠️ FYI: Jones's father is musical legend Ravi Shankar, a renowned sitar player credited with introducing Indian music to western audiences in the 1960s.

101D | Company whose logo is said to resemble Mount Fuji

ATARI

According to graphic designer George Opperman, the Atari logo he created in 1972 is intended to reference the company's flagship arcade game:

I kept trying to stylize the ‘A,’ then I looked at PONG, their big game at the time. PONG had a center line and a force (the ball) that kept hitting its center from either side. I thought that (force) would bend the center outward. And that’s what I designed.

Although the Japanese mountain was not the inspiration for the California-based brand's logo, "Fuji" has nonetheless became its enduring nickname – a shorthand way to refer to the symbol in league with Nike's "swoosh" and McDonald's' "golden arches."