07 Dec 2024 6 min read

12/01/24 - Drive Around the Block 🚗

8A | George Eliot's "___ Marner"

SILAS

Published in 1861, Silas Marner is a work of fiction by English author George Eliot (the pen name of Mary Ann Evans). A much slimmer volume than her masterpiece – the 316,000 word Middlemarch – Eliot's third novel tells the story of a miserly weaver (the eponymous Marner) who, after being cast out of his community then subsequently robbed of his wealth, becomes the adoptive father of an abandoned baby girl and learns there's more to life than hoarding gold.

In 1994, Steven Martin wrote and starred in A Simple Twist of Fate, an adaption of the story transported to modern times. Up to that point, it was the lowest-grossing movie of Martin's career, a distinction it retained until being supplanted by his 2001 dentist-themed thriller Novocaine.

19A | Home of Oberlin College

OHIO

Located just south of Lake Erie, Oberlin – both the private college and town of the same name it calls home – was founded in 1833 by a Presbyterian minister and a missionary. In accordance with its progressive principles, Oberlin has the distinction of being the first U.S. college to grant Bachelor's degrees to female students, as well as one of the first to open its doors to Black students.

Notable alums include:

Alison Bechdel – cartoonist/graphic novelist (Dykes to Watch Out For, Fun Home, namesake of the Bechdel test, which measures the depth to which women are depicted in a work of fiction)
Hsiao Bi-khim – politician/diplomat (current Vice President of Taiwan)
Lena Dunham – writer/director/actor/producer (Girls, Tiny Furniture)
William Goldman – novelist/screenwriter (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Princess Bride)
Jerry Greenfield – ice cream entrepreneur (co-founder of Ben & Jerry's)
Charles Martin Hall – inventor/chemist (got rich after devising a method for mass producing aluminum)
Liz Phair – Grammy-nominated musician (Exile in Guyville)
Julie Taymor – writer and theater/film director (The Lion King, Frida, Across the Universe)
Moses Fleetwood Walker – athlete (credited with being the first Black player in Major League Baseball due to his stint in 1884 with the Toledo Blue Stockings)

29A | Norman Vincent ___, "The Power of Positive Thinking" author

PEALE

Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993) was an ordained Methodist minister who changed his affiliation to the Reformed Church in America and served as the pastor of New York City's Marble Collegiate Church for 52 years.

Having already developed a national following from his weekly NBC radio show (The Art of Living), Peale published his self-help classic The Power of Positive Thinking in 1952 at the age of 54. Although controversial on account of its unsustained claims regarding what can be achieved simply by having a positive attitude, the book spent 186 weeks on the New York Times non-fiction bestseller's list and laid the foundation for the deluge of motivational literature that has followed in its wake.

Bonus fact: Peale officiated the wedding of Julie Nixon (Richard's daughter) and David Eisenhower (Dwight's grandson).

42A | Youth sports level

PEEWEE

Originally a noun referring to a tiny marble (c. 1848), "peewee" eventually became an adjective applied to a small child (c. 1877) and subsequently, the sports leagues those kids participated in.

Famous "Pee Wee"s include:

Pee Wee Reese – baseball player and Hall of Fame inductee notable for befriending new teammate Jackie Robinson when the latter broke the MLB color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.
Pee Wee Ellis – jazz saxophonist who collaborated with James Brown and played a pivotal role in the development of "funk" music in the '60s.
Pee-wee Herman – fictional character created by comedian Paul Reubens

74A | ___ Nationalgalerie, modern art museum in Berlin

NEUE

Once upon a time, the German capital of Berlin was home to a single National Gallery. Now it boasts two: the Alte (Old) Nationalgalerie (est. 1876) on the east side and the Neue (New) Nationalgalerie (est. 1968) to the west.

During World War II, bombs damaged the Alte Nationalgalerie and its collection was spread across other sites. Before the building could be repaired, the city was divided in the years following the war's conclusion. In need of a venue befitting the artwork it possessed, West Berlin commissioned a new building from renowned architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Mies, a German expat living in Chicago, was nearing the end of a career defined by structures bearing his now influential modernist/minimalist style.

Dubbed the "temple of light and glass," Mies's design is considered to be an iconic work of art in its own right. Inside, visitors can find a collection exclusively focused on showcasing 20th century works, including pieces from Picasso, Dalí, Munch, Klee and others.

88A | Either of two wisecracking film critics in "Mystery Science Theater 3000"

ROBOT

Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) is a comedy series whose central conceit involves watching a science fiction movie while cracking jokes ("riffing") about how terrible it is. Utilizing a technique its creator termed "Shadowrama," the film being viewed is displayed as if on a typical movie theater screen while the human host and his two robot companions (Tom and Crow) providing commentary are shown in silhouette along the bottom of the frame.

From its humble origins on an independent Minneapolis, MN-based local access television channel, MST3K has weathered several cancellations en route to airing 230 episode across a variety of networks (Comedy Central, Sci-Fi, Netflix) while becoming a cult classic with an often imitated sensibility.

105A | ___ metabolism

BASAL

Imagine an entire day spent lying in bed doing absolutely nothing. Blissful, right? Except, sadly, it's an impossible scenario. Even when we're at rest, our bodies are still hard at work – our lungs are taking in oxygen and expelling carbon dioxide, our heart is pumping blood, cells are being repaired and regenerated, our body temperature is being maintained. The list goes on.

The minimum amount of energy (measured in calories) required to carry out all of these basic functions is termed the "basal metabolic rate" – "basal," (pronounced with a long "a") from the Latin basis, meaning "foundation."

A person's BMR accounts for 60-70% of the calories burned in a given day.

110A | Midwestern city where Pete Buttigieg was mayor

SOUTH BEND

Before becoming the Biden administration's Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg held the office of mayor in his hometown of South Bend, Indiana from 2012-2020. Only 29 years old when he was sworn in, Buttigieg was the youngest current mayor of a city with 100,000 or more residents.

Buttigieg is a guitarist, pianist, and Rhodes scholar who has been reported to speak 8 languages, including Norwegian, which he taught himself in order to read the works of Erlend Loe in the novelist's native tongue.

Even if you're not a master linguist, you can still learn to pronounce Buttigieg properly. According to Pete, his Maltese surname (meaning "owner of poultry") is said "boot-edge-edge."

1D | Bartlett cousin

BOSC

A pair of pears.

8D | One of 15 boycotting the 1984 Summer Olympics: Abbr.

SSR

In protest over the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, 65 countries – led by the United States – staged a boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics taking place in Moscow.

Four years later, with the Summer Olympics set to be held in Los Angeles, all 15 Soviet Socialist Republics (SSR) refused to participate (citing security concerns for their athletes on U.S. soil) and instead organized an alternative event, dubbed the "Friendship Games."

32D | Emmy winner born Alphonso D'Abruzzo

ALDA

Alan Alda, a six-time Emmy award-winner best known for portraying Hawkeye on M*A*S*H, uses the professional surname coined by his actor father, which derives from combining the first two letters of their shared first and last names.

Alda is far from the first (nor the last) entertainer to adopt a more "Americanized" stage name. Other famous examples include:

Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji)
Kirk Douglas (Issur Danielovitch)
Natalie Portman (Natalie Hershlag)
Rita Hayworth (Margarita Carmen Cansino)
Martin Sheen (Ramon Antonio Gerard Estevez)
Joan Crawford (Lucille LeSueur)
Brie Larson (Brianne Desaulniers)