Tuesday, May 13, 2008 | 10:21 a.m.

Trivia Bits by Stan Newman

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  • Trivia Bits, May 13
    Frank Nieman of Pleasant Hill, Calif., thought he remembered hearing the 1961 Henry Mancini/Johnny Mercer tune "Moon River" on a 1940s radio show in Cincinnati and asked us to check into it. Our research revealed that Cincinnati's WLW had …

  • Trivia Bits, May 12
    Word of the week: "paraph." It is a handwritten flourish made under a person's signature, once popularly used as a forgery deterrent. Some famous Americans whose autograph often included a paraph: John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, Sam …

  • Trivia Bits, May 10
    STAN'S WEEKLY TRIVIA CHALLENGE CONTEST NO. 84 What famous name from 19th-century world history was once the president of three countries simultaneously? HOW TO WIN: Send your answer, with your full name and address, either by e-mail to TriviaBits@…

  • Trivia Bits, May 9
    The word "fiasco," as in "spectacular failure," means "flask" in Italian. Specifically, the flask commonly used for Chianti that is enclosed in a straw basket. The word took on its unpleasant connotation as an Italian …

Trivia Bits, May 2

You probably learned some tongue twisters like "six thick thistle sticks" in elementary school. Did you know virtually every world language has its own tongue twisters? One example: The French "Un chasseur sachant chasser chassait sans son chien de chasse" means "A hunter who knows how to hunt knows how to hunt without his hunting dog." (Thanks to Roger Lucas of Seattle.)

The score for one of the most reverent films ever made, "The Ten Commandments" (1956) and two of the most irreverent films ever made, "National Lampoon's Animal House" and "Airplane!" were all composed by the same person.
The scores of other scores of Elmer Bernstein (no relation to Leonard) include "The Magnificent Seven" and "The Great Escape."

A, HAM, HE, MOPE, POT and TOT are all:
A) Rivers in Great Britain
B) Russian words with different meanings from English
C) People mentioned in the Old Testament
D) Japanese brands of chewing gum

Previous answer: "Sillysider" is a Canadian slang term for a left-hander.

TRIVIA FANS: Send the trivia questions you've always wanted answered, or original TriviaBits ideas of your own, with your full name and hometown, to Stan Newman at StanTrivia@aol.com or on a postcard to P.O. Box 69, Massapequa Park, NY 11762.


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Originally Published on Friday May 02, 2008

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Click on the title to read Stanley Newman's article from Newsday, "Exercise Your Puzzle Muscles", which explores the ways that puzzles can keep you mentally fit as you age.

Also, see the Editors's Note from this edition of Newsday recounting the history of the Newsday crossword puzzle and Stanley Newman's pivotal role in revolutionizing it.
 
Tuesday, May 13, 2008 | 10:21 a.m.
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