0201-10 New York Times Crossword Answers 1 Feb 10

The name’s William Ernest Butler, but please call me Bill. I grew up in Ireland, but now live out here in the San Francisco Bay Area. I’m retired now, from technology businesses that took our family all over the world. I answer all emails, so please feel free to email me at bill@paxient.com

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This is my solution to the crossword published in the New York Times today …

Completion Time: 9m 25s
Theme: ICKY sounds … the theme answers all include the “icky” sounding syllable e.g. PICKY EATERS, RICKI LAKE.
Answers I missed: 0

TODAY’S WIKI-EST, AMAZONIAN GOOGLIES
Across
1 RAMIS: Harold Ramis is a real all-rounder, working as an actor, director and writer. Indeed, in “Stripes” he was one of the three writers, as well as having a major acting role.

11 KAT: “Krazy Kat” was a successful comic strip that ran from 1913-1944, drawn by George Herriman.

27 SST: SuperSonic Transports, like the Concorde, broke Mach 1, the speed of sound.

29 HUR: The celebrated Charlton Heston movie “Ben-Hur” was actually a dramatization of a book published in 1880 by Lew Wallace “Ben-Hur: A Tale of Christ“.

31 OMSK: We came across Omsk the other day, the location of the labor camp where Dostoevsky was imprisoned.

35 RICKI LAKE: Ricki Lake is perhaps as well known for her “Ricki Lake” talk show, as she is for her role in the 1988 movie “Hairspray“.

39 AVILA: Avila is a beautiful city, famous for its walls, in central Spain.

52 MRE: Meal, Ready to Eat …

61 ERA: Ye Americans will know all about the Era of Good Feelings, a period from 1817-1825, when political strife very much abated. Of course the reason was because there was really only one party at the time as the Federalist party had just dissolved. Still, one can’t help but be jealous of our forefathers!

66 OGDEN: Ogden Nash the poet was well known for his light and humorous verse.

67 HER: “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” was the sixth of the James Bond films, and the only one to star George Lazenby in the leading role. Not a great choice for 007 …

Down
11 KWIK-E-MART: The fictional store, Kwik-E-Mart, is operated by Apu on the “The Simpsons” TV show.

32 SKEE: Skee Ball is that arcade game where you roll balls up a ramp trying to “bounce” it into rings for different numbers of points. The game was first introduced in Philadelphia, in 1909.

33 KEDS: Keds is a brand name of athletic show first introduced in 1916 by US Rubber. The shoe was marketed as a rubber soled, canvas topped sneaker.

34 JAWS: Peter Benchley’s book “Jaws” is a great read. It was published in 1974, and the movie “Jaws” was released just one year later.

35 AVIA: The Avia brand name for athletic shoes was chosen as it it is the Latin word for “to fly”, and suggested the concept of aviation.

36 VIKKI CARR: Vikki Carr‘s real name is Florencia Bisenta de Casillas Martinez Cardona, born in El Paso. “It Must Be Him” is an English adaptation of a French song.

38 I AM A: “I Am a Rock” was written by Paul Simon, and appears on the Simon and Garfunkel album “Sounds of Silence“.

43 EMERITA: Emeritus (feminine version “emerita”) is an adjective used in the title of someone who is retired.


52 MAUDE: Bea Arthur played Maude Findlay on the TV’s “All in the Family” and then on the spin-off “Maude“.

55 LEAH: Leah appears in the Book Of Genesis. She is the older sister of Rachel, and the wife of Jacob.