11/24/24 - Shape Up or Ship Out 🚢

Shape Up or Ship Out by Alex Eaton-Salners

17A | Anatomical part from the Latin for "grape"

UVEA

Nestled between the sclera (“white of the eye”) and the retina, the uvea is the eye’s all-important middle layer. In addition to supplying blood to the eye’s tissues, the uvea also contains the iris, the colored part responsible for regulating the amount of light allowed to enter the eye.

18A | Mashhad's country

IRAN

Boasting over 3 million people, Mashhad is Iran’s second most-populated city (behind Tehran, the country’s capital). Roughly translated to “place of martyrdom,” Mashhad is home to a number of important pilgrimage sites for those of the Muslim faith, including the largest holy shrine in Iran – Imam Reza (above).

26A | Sue Bird or Larry Bird

BASKETBALL STAR

No relation.

33A | The Tabard, in "The Canterbury Tales"

INN

The Tabard was a London inn established in 1307 and a favorite meeting place for those making the religious pilgrimage to Thomas Beckett's shrine in Canterbury (about 60 miles to the southeast). Though the building was later destroyed by fire, it is forever immortalized in Geoffrey Chaucer’s 14th century classic work The Canterbury Tales (which, to the chagrin of English majors, is written in arcane Middle English):

Bifel that in that season on a day,


In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay


Redy to wenden on my pilgrymage


To Caunterbury with ful devout corage

43A | Like the main character in "Memento"

AMNESIC

Memento (2001) is the second full-length feature directed by Christopher Nolan, who also wrote the script. Told in alternating sequences that move backward and forward in time, the film presents the story of a man (Guy Pearce) who attempts to solve his wife’s murder despite being hindered by a condition that prevents him from forming new memories. Following the movie’s unexpected success, Nolan has gone on to direct a number of notable titles, including The Dark Knight, Inception, and Oppenheimer, which won the 2023 Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director.

46A | ___ Dingbats (icon-filled font)

ZAPF

Zapf Dingbats is a modern typeface consisting of icons and symbols that was originally conceived as an easy way for early computer users to integrate graphics with text and is considered the precursor to the ubiquitous emoji we all enjoy today. Its name is formed by combining the last name of creator Hermann Zapf (an influential German type designer) with dingbat (a glyph used to create boxes or divide sections in manual typesetting).

Or to put it another way:

✺❁❐❆ ✤❉■❇❂❁▼▲ ❉▲ ❁ ❍❏❄❅❒■ ▼❙❐❅❆❁❃❅ ❃❏■▲❉▲▼❉■❇ ❏❆ ❉❃❏■▲ ❁■❄ ▲❙❍❂❏●▲ ▼❈❁▼ ◗❁▲ ❏❒❉❇❉■❁●●❙ ❃❏■❃❅❉❖❅❄ ❁▲ ❁■ ❅❁▲❙ ◗❁❙ ❆❏❒ ❅❁❒●❙ ❃❏❍❐◆▼❅❒ ◆▲❅❒▲ ▼❏ ❉■▼❅❇❒❁▼❅ ❇❒❁❐❈❉❃▲ ◗❉▼❈ ▼❅❘▼ ❁■❄ ❉▲ ❃❏■▲❉❄❅❒❅❄ ▼❈❅ ❐❒❅❃◆❒▲❏❒ ▼❏ ▼❈❅ ◆❂❉❑◆❉▼❏◆▲ ❅❍❏❊❉ ✍ ◗❅ ❁●● ❅■❊❏❙ ▼❏❄❁❙✎ ✩▼▲ ■❁❍❅ ❉▲ ❆❏❒❍❅❄ ❂❙ ❃❏❍❂❉■❉■❇ ▼❈❅ ●❁▲▼ ■❁❍❅ ❏❆ ❉▼▲ ❃❒❅❁▼❏❒ ✈❉■❆●◆❅■▼❉❁● ✧❅❒❍❁■ ▼❙❐❅ ❄❅▲❉❇■❅❒ ★❅❒❍❁■■ ✺❁❐❆✉ ◗❉▼❈ ❄❉■❇❂❁▼▲ ✈❁ ❇●❙❐❈ ◆▲❅❄ ▼❏ ❃❒❅❁▼❅ ❂❏❘❅▲ ❏❒ ❄❉❖❉❄❅ ▲❅❃▼❉❏■▲ ❉■ ❍❁■◆❁● ▼❙❐❅▲❅▼▼❉■❇✉✎

55A | Queequeg's figurine in "Moby-Dick," e.g.

IDOL

Hailing from a fictional Polynesian island, Queequeg is a heavily tattooed harpooner who worships a small wooden idol named Yojo. As Ishmael, the book’s narrator explains:

…in many things, Queequeg placed great confidence in the excellence of Yojo's judgment and surprising forecast of things; and cherished Yojo with considerable esteem, as a rather good sort of god, who perhaps meant well enough upon the whole, but in all cases did not succeed in his benevolent designs.

Case in point – Yojo is the entity that instructs Queequeg to allow his new friend Ishmael to choose which of the three whaling ships docked at Nantucket they should enlist with. Ishmael, of course, selects the Pequod, an inauspicious decision that ties their fates to the maniacal, revenge-thirsty Captain Ahab. 

75A | Classic candy company

NECCO

Necco – an abbreviation for New England Confectionery Company – resulted from the merging of three Massachusetts-based candy manufacturers at the turn of the 20th century. Among the bunch was Chase and Company, founded in 1847 after Oliver Chase, a Boston-based pharmacist, invented a machine to cut medicine into lozenges, but which was soon repurposed for confectionary purposes.

After securing the patent for this creation (considered to be the first candy making machine in America), Oliver, along with his brother Silas, began producing disc-shaped sugar wafers. Half-a-century later, the company introduced Sweethearts, the distinctive heart-shaped candies embossed with romantic messages such as “Be Mine,” “Luv U,” and, more recently, “Text Me.”

119A | What Kwanzaa's first principle, Umoja, means

UNITY

Combining elements from assorted African harvest festivals, 25-year activist Maulana Karenga conceived of Kwanzaa in the wake of the Watts (Los Angeles) Riots as a way to bring African-Americans together in celebration of their culture.

First observed in 1966, Kwanzaa (which translates to "first fruits" in Swahili) takes place over the course of seven days – December 26 to January 1 – that each have a corresponding principle (also from Swahili):

• Unity (Umoja)
• Self-Determination (Kujichagulia)
• Collective Work and Responsibility (Ujima)
• Cooperative Economics (Ujamaa)
• Purpose (Nia)
• Creativity (Kuumbai)
• Faith (Imani)

122A | Mathematician/historian Neugebauer

OTTO

Otto Neugebauer (1899-1990) was a scholar who through his research helped re-shape our modern understanding of what ancient civilizations knew about astronomy and mathematics. Focusing first on Egypt, then Babylon, Neugebauer taught himself Akkadian in order to translate clay tablets inscribed in cuneiform.

123A | Where Molson Coors is TAP

NYSE

Although the majority of companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) choose a straightforward ticker symbol derived from the name of their business (e.g. JNJ for Johnson & Johnson), some – like Molson Coors, the brewing company that produces Coors Light, Miller High Life, Hamm’s, Keystone, and others – take a more creative approach. 

Here are several notable examples:

HOG / Harley-Davidson

PLAY / Dave and Buster

PZZA / Papa John’s

RACE / Ferrari

WOOF / Petco

125A | Epithet for a G.O.P. moderate, maybe

RINO

An acronym standing for “Republican In Name Only,” RINO is a derogatory term applied to those deemed insufficiently loyal to the party’s political agenda. Although the phrase dates back to the days of Teddy Roosevelt, the abbreviated form can be traced to a 1992 article by journalist John DiStaso. (DiStaso also employed the obvious counterpart “DINO,” but sadly that paleo putdown has failed to entrench itself in the common vernacular.)

11D | Protagonist of the Zelda games

LINK

Created by legendary developer Shigeru Miyamoto (Super Mario, Donkey Kong), the Legend of Zelda is a Ninentdo video game franchise that debuted in 1986. Contrary to popular belief, the protagonist of the game is not Zelda, but Link – an elf-like boy modeled after Peter Pan who is tasked with saving the Kingdom of Hyrule by recovering the eight fragments of the Triforce of Wisdom Princess Zelda hid in various dungeons before she was captured by Ganon’s army of monsters. 

(Bonus fact: Zelda is named after Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of The Great Gatsby author F. Scott Fitzgerald.)

51D | N.B.A. coach Steve

KERR

Steve Kerr was born in Beirut, where his Lebanese-American father Malcolm later served as president of the American University of Beirut until he was shot and killed in 1984 – an act of terrorism that made international news.

After graduating from the University of Arizona, Steve Kerr embarked on a 15-year NBA career, one in which he played a pivotal role as a three point-shooting specialist on the Michael Jordan-lead Chicago Bulls teams that won back-to-back-to-back NBA championships in the mid-90s. More recently, Kerr has served as head coach of the Golden State Warriors, guiding the team to 4 NBA championships since he took the helm in 2014.

87D | "Ad majorem ___ gloriam" (Jesuit motto)

DEI

A Latin phrase meaning “For the greater glory of God” that is attributed to Society of Jesus founder Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556).

88D | Chemistry Nobelist Rutherford

ERNEST

Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937) received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908 for his pioneering work in the burgeoning field of radioactivity. Considered to be the father of nuclear physics, Rutherford discoveries include:

• The different particles of radiation (“alpha” and “beta” – and later, “gamma” rays)
• the laws of radioactive decay (“half-life”)
• the model of the atom (a nucleus surrounded by mostly empty space)
• the element Radon

He also coined the terms “proton” and “neutron,” as well as contributed to the development of the Geiger counter.

Rutherford is represented on the $100 bill of his native New Zealand and element #104 on the periodic table (Rutherfordium) is named in his honor.

104D | Eva of "Green Acres"

GABOR

Eva Gabor (1919-1995) was the youngest of a trio of Hungarian-born sisters and the first of the three to immigrate to the United States, where she performed bit parts in a number of movies before landing a lead role on the television series Green Acres. Though popular, the show was canceled after only six seasons, a casualty of the so-called “rural purge” that occurred when executives at CBS decided to replace titles such as The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction with new content aimed at attracting a more urban-centric audience.

In addition to her acting career, Gabor was famous for her regard (or disregard, depending on your current disposition) for the institution of marriage – though having gone through only five husbands, she ultimately trailed older siblings Magda (6 spouses) and Zsa Zsa (9 spouses) in this department.

(Bonus fact: Twister, the now-iconic party game, was on the verge of being discontinued until sales skyrocketed after a segment on The Tonight Show in which Gabor and host Johnny Carson got knotted up on the colored dots.)