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, or leave a comment below.
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This is my solution to the crossword published in the New York Times today …
COMPLETION TIME: 28m 30s
THEME: None
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0
TODAY’S WIKI-EST, AMAZONIAN GOOGLIES
Across
15 BUFFALO BILL CODY: Ned Buntline was the pen name of E. Z. C. Judson, a writer of dime novels in nineteenth century. Judson had run away to sea as a boy, so he was familiar with a “buntline”, the rope that sits at the bottom of a square sail. After he had established himself as a writer, he met up with Buffalo Bill Cody on a lecture tour. Reluctantly at first, Cody agreed to be the subject of a series of dime novels called “Buffalo Bill Cody – King of the Border Men”
18 GEHRIG: Lou Gehrig
was known as a powerhouse. He was a big hitter and just kept on going, breaking the record for the most consecutive number of games played, and he stills holds the record for the most career grand slams. His durability earned him the nickname “The Iron Horse”. Sadly, of course, he died in 1941 at 37-years-old of ALS, which we now call “Lou Gehrig’s Disease
“.
19 LEOS: Leos Janacek was one of the triumvirate of great Czech composers, alongside Antonin Dvorak
and Bedrich Smetana.
20 EEC: The European Economic Community (also called “the Common Market”) was a NAFTA like structure that eventually as absorbed into today’s European Union.
21 CASTRO: The Castro Theater is located on Castro Street in the area of San Francisco known as “The Castro
“. Ever since the sixties and seventies the Castro has been associated with the gay community in the city, and it is now the world’s largest gay neighborhood. Given its location, the Castro Theater is a mecca for gay festivals and events, as well as other San Francisco cinematic exhibitions.
23 OSSO: Osso is the Italian word for bone, as in the name of the dish “Osso Bucco”, braised veal shanks.
24 ODOM: Antwan Odom is a defensive end who now plays for the Cincinnati Bengals.
32 AGNATE: In days gone by (in America anyway) one’s agnatic ancestry was of prime importance. Male ancestry usually dictated the flow of wealth and property through a clan.
36 ILENE: Ilene Beckerman wrote her first book at the age of sixty years. “Love, Loss and What I Wore
” was her memoir that recounted her experiences growing up in Manhattan, telling the story through the clothes that she wore in the 30s through the 50s. Ilene has published four more books since then, and has carved out quite a career for herself. Good for her!
37 PYM: American writer Edgar Allen Poe
only wrote one complete novel. It is called “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket
“. It tells of the nautical adventures of the hero as he travels further and further south on various vessels, ending up at the South Pole. Apparently, both Herman Melville and Jules Verne were greatly influenced by the work.
39 RILEY: James Whitcomb Riley
spent most of his life in Indianapolis, and earned for himself the moniker “The Hoosier Poet”.
50 LANATE: Lanate is a biological term, and is used to describe something that has a wooly or hairy appearance or covering. It is derived from the Latin word “lana” meaning wool.
52 BIO: I get quite a kick out of reading the bios in “Playbill
“. Some of them can be really goofy and entertaining. The magazine “Playbill” started off in 1884 in New York, an in-house publication for just one theater on 21st St. You can’t go into any decent sized production these days anywhere in the United States without being handed a copy of “Playbill”.
62 DENALI STATE PARK: I was surprised to learn that there was a Denali State Park, as well as the Denali National Park
. The two are located adjacent to each other (which makes sense!). The State Park is undeveloped for all practical purposes, with just a few campgrounds and trailheads. Denali means “the high one” in the native Athabaskan language, is the name now used for Mount McKinley.
Down
7 NOM: Just like everywhere else, a Parisian goes by his name, or “nom” in French.
8 LINERS: I’m not sure I understand this one, so maybe someone could help me out. Is this a baseball reference perhaps (fly ball, line drive), or a clothing reference?
9 ALTOONA: Horseshoe Curve
is a sharp, 180-degree bend in a railroad lliine located near Altoona, Pennsylvania. The curve is a necessary inclusion in the line in order to traverse the Allegheny Mountains, and has been in continuous use since 1854. It is considered to be so crucial a section of track, that the Nazis attempted to sabotage it in World War II!
12 IONES: Ione Skye is an American actress, born in Hertfordshire in England. She is best known for portraying the character Diane Court in the movie “Say Anything …
” She is the daughter of the Scottish folk singer Donovan.
14 SYSCO: It’s hard to drive down any highway in the US without coming across a Sysco truck. It really is a huge company, the largest food service enterprise in the country. “Sysco” is an abbreviation for Systems and Services Company.
27 MANETS: Edouard Manet
, the French painter, is responsible for many great works including “Le dejeuner sur l’herbe”, a work much praised by novelist Emile Zola
. Stephane Mallarme
was a French poet and critic, and Emmanuel Chabrier
was a French Romantic composer.
33 ALTO: “Sierra” is the Spanish word for a mountain range, and “alto” the word for high or tall.
45 LAO TSE: Lao Tse
is a central figure in the development of the religion/philosophy of Taoism.
47 ABIDE: To brook and abide both mean to tolerate, to put up with.
51 EL REY: Viva el rey … long live the king … in Spanish.
55 LIPO: Liposuction
dates back to the 1920s, developed by a surgeon in France. However, the procedure quickly lost favor when a French model developed gangrene after surgery. As a result it wasn’t until the mid-seventies that the modern liposuction gained favor, after being popularized by two Italian-American surgeons in Rome.
56 ETAT: There are 31 states in Mexico.
60 TAI: Tai snapper is also known as red sea bream.
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, or leave a comment below.