0209-10 New York Times Crossword Answers 9 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: 8m 31s
Theme: Triple syllables … i.e  LISBON BONBON, SOBER BERBER, INCAN CANCAN, BOTTOM TOMTOM
Answers I missed: 0

TODAY’S WIKI-EST, AMAZONIAN GOOGLIES
Across
Cracking the PSAT/NMSQT, 2010 Edition (College Test Preparation)1 PSAT: I think the acronym PSAT used to stem from Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test.

5 CAVA: The superior vena cava is a large vein carrying deoxygenated blood from the upper part of the body to the right atrium of the heart. The inferior vena cava does the same thing for the lower part of the body.

15 ODES: A Horatian Ode is an ode with a specific structure, designed to resemble the odes of the Roman poet, Horace.

16 PLAYA: Playa Del Rey is a beach-side community within the city limits of Los Angeles. Apparently there is lot of vacant land there now, as it is one of the flight paths into and out of Los Angeles International.

17 IMAM: An imam is a Muslim leader, often the one in charge of a mosque, or perhaps a Muslim community.

Troy-Bilt TB144 26cc 4-Cycle Gas Powered Cultivator/Tiller With Edger Attachment Kit18 ROTO: The rototiller (or rotary tiller) was invented by Arthur Clifford Howard in 1912, in Australia.

28 ROO: Like most of the characters in A. A. Milne’sWinnie the Pooh“, Roo is based on one of his son’s (Christopher Robin Milne) stuffed toys.

31 ELO: Don’t Bring Me Down” was the biggest hit ELO had in the US, and was dedicated to the NASA’s Skylab which reentered the earth’s orbit in the same year the song was released, 1979.

32 SOBER BERBER: The Berber peoples live in North Africa, west of the Nile. Most of them can now be found in Morocco.

37 THAD: Senator Thad Cochran is the senior senator from Mississippi, and a Republican. While earning his B.A. at the University of Mississippi, he was on the cheer-leading squad, with fellow senator Trent Lott.

45 HOI: Hoi polloi is a Greek term, literally meaning “the majority”. In English it has come to mean “the mashes” and is often used in a derogatory sense.

A Hole in the Head46 CAHN: Sammy Cahn wrote the lyrics for “High Hopes” for the 1959 film “A Hole in the Head“, and the song won an Oscar that year. Frank Sinatra, the star of the Frank Capra movie, recorded the most famous version of the song.

48 LYCEES: In France, kids of about 15-18 years of age attend the lycees, the last part of their secondary school education.

63 BYTE: In the world of computers, a “bit” is the basic unit of information. It has a value of 0 or 1. A “byte” is a small collection of bits (usually 8), the number of bits needed to uniquely identify a character of text.

64 TALE: Robert Louis Stevenson wrote “Treasure Island” originally as a series for a children’s magazine in 1881. I remember it as the first “real” novel I read as a youngster.

65 SATYR: The satyrs of Greek mythology came with a very high sex drive. They are often the “rude” subjects drawn on the side of old Greek vases.

A is for Axel: An Ice Skating Alphabet Edition 1. (Sports)66 AXEL: An Axel is a forward take-off jump in figure skating. It was first performed by Norwegian Axel Paulsen at the 1882 World Figure Skating championships.

67 ERST: Erstwhile means “in the past”, “once upon a time”.

Down
6 ADOBE: Adobe Systems Incorporated was founded in 1982. Adobe Creek ran behind the Los Altos house of one of the co-founders, and they used it as the company name.

8 A SON: Jack London’s “A Son of the Sun” was published in 1912, and is a collection of eight short stories about the adventures of Captain David Grief in the South Seas.

Playlist: The Very Best of Kenny G (Eco-Friendly Packaging)11 SAX: The saxophone was invented by Belgian, Adolphe Sax. Strangely, he developed lip cancer at one point in his life, but recovered. I had the privilege of visiting his grave in the Cemetery of Montmartre in Paris a few years ago. Saxophonist Kenny G’s full name is Kenneth Bruce Gorelick.


25 MEDOC: The Medoc is an infamous wine-growing region of France on the left bank of the Gironde River, just north of Bordeaux. The celebrated wines of Margaux, St. Julien, Pauillac and St. Estephe are found in the Medoc. Note that if you spot Medoc on a wine label, however, this the appelation produced in a smaller region, just north of St. Estephe.

26 ALETA: There she is again, Aleta, the wife of Prince Valiant. Edward, the Duke of Windsor, called the “Prince Valiant” comic strip the “greatest contribution to English Literature in the past one hundred years”. I’m not so sure …

30 EBAN: Abba Eban was an Israeli diplomat and politician, born Aubrey Solomon Meir Eban in Cape Town. While working at the United Nations after WWII, he changed his name to “Abba”, the Hebrew word for “father”, apparently as he could see himself as the father of the nation of Israel.

32 STAHL: Lesley Stahl has worked on “60 Minutes” since 1991. She is married to author “Aaron Latham“. As a journalist Latham wrote the article that inspired the movie “Urban Cowboy“.

The New Yorker (1-year)42 NAST: Conde Nast has a very large portfolio of publications, including “Vogue“, “GQ“, “House and Garden“, “Golf Digest“, “Wired”, “Vanity Fair” and “The New Yorker“.

43 CHATTEL: In the world of the law, a chattel is a piece of personal property that can be moved. In earlier times, a chattel was used to describe a slave.

51 ATTAR: Attar of rose is also known as rose oil, an essential oil extracted from the petals of various types of rose.

53 EMMET: Irish nationalist Robert Emmet led the unsuccessful 1803 rebellion against the British, for which he was hung, drawn and quartered.

56 ONYX: Onyx is form of quartz that comes in many different shades, but most often the black form is used for jewelry. The name “onyx” comes from the Greek word for “fingernail”, as onyx in the flesh color can be said to resemble a fingernail.

20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of the Shangri-Las57 LAS: The Shangri-Las of “Leader of the Pack” fame were four singers, made of of two sets of sisters (including one set of identical twins).

58 TSA: The Transport Security Administration.