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
If you are working on the New York Times crossword in any other publication, you are working on the syndicated puzzle. Here is a link to my answers to today’s SYNDICATED New York Times crossword. To find any solution other than today’s, enter the crossword number (e.g. 1225, 0107) in the “Search the Blog” box above.
This is my solution to the crossword published in the New York Times today …
Completion Time: N/A (watching “Doc Martin” on TV … fabulous show from the BBC!)
Theme:
Parent … BRUSH YOUR TEETH and DO YOUR HOMEWORK!
Child … BUT WHY?
Parent … BECAUSE I SAID SO!
Answers I missed: 2 … JAY-Z (LAY-Z!!), JEANE (LEANE)
TODAY’S WIKI-EST, AMAZONIAN GOOGLIES
Across
1 BATES: Bate’s Motel was run by Anthony Perkins in Hitchcock’s “Psycho“.
6 ENOS: Enos, as the son of Seth, was the grandson of Adam.
14 OZARK: “Ozark Jubilee” featured some big names as guests, including Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash and an 11-year-old Brenda Lee.
16 ALOU: Felipe Alou played major league baseball, as did his brothers, Matty and Jesus, as well as his son, Moises.
18 IDEE: An idee fixe (a French term) is basically a fixed idea, an obsession.
26 HWY: Route 66 ran across the country from Chicago to Los Angeles.
27 DRE: Dr. Dre won Grammy’s for the single “Let Me Ride” and the album “2001“.
28 BEA: Bea Benaderet, as well as playing Kate Bradley on “Petticoat Junction“, was the voice of Betty Rubble on “The Flintstones“.
45 SEL: One might put salt (sel) on one’s french-fries (pommes frites) in France.
48 JAY-Z: Jay-Z, as well as being a successful, and very rich, rap artist, is married to singer Beyonce.
59 ROWEL: That pointed wheel on a spur, which digs into the side of the poor horse, that’s called a rowel.
60 HAIR: The full name of the musical is “Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical“.
61 TYNE: Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the North of England is home to the famous Newcastle Brown Ale.
65 SAREE: A Ranee (also spelled Rani) is the female equivalent of a Raja in India, and so, she might wear a saree (also spelled sari).
Down
1 BOBBY: Police officers in the UK are sometimes called “bobbies” (and used to be called “peelers”). The name refers back to Sir Robert Peel, who as Home Secretary created the modern police force.
6 ELIOT: “Silas Marner” is a novel written by English writer George Eliot. Eliot was the pen name of Mary Ann Evans, who used the male moniker so that her work would be taken seriously.
12 ROSH: Rosh Hashanah is loosely referred to as “Jewish New Year”. The literal translation from Hebrew is indeed “head of the year”.
21 YALU: A large section of the border between China and Korea runs down the center of the Yalu River.
29 EYCK: Jan an Eyck lived most of his life in Bruges, which has to be the most beautiful city in Belgium. One of his most famous works is “The Arnolfini Portrait” which hangs in the National Gallery in London.
32 ILYA: Ilya Kovalchuk is the Russian-born captain of the Atlanta Thrashers of the NHL.
33 POHL: Frederik Pohl is an American science-fiction writer, and winner of three Hugo awards. He started off his career as a literary agent, and was the only agent ever hired by Isaac Asimov.
34 YAO: Yao Ming is from Shanghai, and plays for the Houston Rockets.
35 TRON: Released in 1982, “Tron” was one of the first mainstream films to make extensive use of computer graphics. The starring role is played by Jeff Bridges.
40 USNA: Rear Admiral Richard Byrd went into the United States Naval Academy in 1912. He is best remembered for his polar explorations.
43 WIZARDS: Hogwarts is of course the boarding school that Harry Potter attends.
48 JEANE: Jeane Dixon was a famous American astrologer who wrote a best-selling autobiography.
51 ISERE: The Isere gives its name to the French Department of Isere, located partly in the French Alps.
52 ROLFE: John Rolfe was one of the early English settlers in American, perhaps most famous for marrying the Native American Pocahontas. For a few months before her death, Pocahontas lived with Rolfe in England. The couple had actually boarded a ship sailing for Virginia when Pocahontas became ill and had to be brought ashore on the south coast of England, where she soon passed away.
54 ERIK: Erik Estrada got his big break in the movie “Airport 1975“, before playing Poncherello on CHiPs from 1977-81.
55 STYX: Charon, of Greek mythology, was the infamous ferryman that carried souls across the River Styx into the Underworld.
56 IOWA: According to the storyline in “Star Trek“, Captain James Tiberius Kirk was born in Riverside, Iowa. The town of Riverside displays a plaque, noting Riverside as the “future birthplace of James T. Kirk.”