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. 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: 10m 27s
THEME: TWIST AND SHOUT … which was a hit for THE MAMAS AND THE PAPAS, and THE ISLEY BROTHERS, as well as “the Beatles”
ANSWERS I MISSED: 2 BAST (BATT), HOSEA (HOTEA)
TODAY’S WIKI-EST, AMAZONIAN GOOGLIES
Across
Oman
Despite all Bob Dole’s success in the world of politics, he is remembered by many as the VP candidate who lost to Walter Mondale (and Jimmy Carter) and the presidential candidate who lost to incumbent Bill Clinton. The man is a true war hero
“The Tortoise and the Hare” is one of Aesop’s famous fables
Inga Swenson is an American actress. Her best known role was “Gretchen Kraus”, the German cook and later housekeeper on the the TV show “Benson”. Ms. Swenson also appeared in a couple of episodes of “Bonanza” playing the second wife of Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene), and mother of Hoss Cartwright (Dan Blocker). This was despite the fact that in real life she was actually 4 years younger than Blocker!
18. ___ de vivre : JOIE
Joie de vivre: “joy of living” in French. We use it to mean the happy, carefree enjoyment of life, like when we finish the NYTimes Crossword Puzzle …
Milo O’Shea is a great Irish character actor, who has appeared in everything from “Romeo and Juliet” to “The West Wing”. In the 1968 adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” directed by Franco Zeffirelli, O’Shea plays Friar Laurence, advisor to the tragic lovers.
24. With 41- and 54-Across, group with a 1967 ballad version of 39-/41-/ 42-Across : THE MAMAS AND THE PAPAS
A folk group called the Magic Circle, renamed itself to the Mamas and the Papas in the early sixties. Sadly, the Mamas and the Papas weren’t a happy bunch, always fighting over who was getting credit for songs and whose voice was getting mixed out of recordings, so they split up, twice. While they were together though, they wrote and recorded some great songs, songs which really do epitomize the sound of the sixties. They recorded a ballad-like version of “Twist and Shout” in 1967 for their album “Deliver”.
“Does she…or doesn’t she? Only her hairdresser knows for sure” was the catchphrase for Miss Clairol Hair Color Bath. Clairol had been around since 1931 selling hair coloring products to salons, and then hit the big time with the introduction of a one-step hair coloring product for use at home. As famous as the product was the “does she … doesn’t she” advertising campign. Six years after the launch of the campaign, 70% of women in the US were coloring their hair.
27. Glass on a radio : IRA
Ira Glass is a well respected presenter on American Public Radio, most noted for his show “This American Life”. I was interested to learn that one of my favorite composers, Philip Glass, is Ira’s first cousin.
36. One who can’t keep off the grass? : STONER
Stoner is a slang term for someone who is habitually intoxicated by alcohol or drugs (maybe someone who can’t keep off the grass!).
Even I know that Eli Manning
39. With 41- and 42-Across, 1964 Beatles hit : TWIST AND SHOUT
“Twist and Shout” was famously covered by the Beatles. It was the last track of 11 songs recorded in just one ten-hour session for their first album. It was deliberately left to the end as the producers knew that the song would take a lot out of John Lennon’s voice. “Twist and Shout” was written by Paul Anka and Bert Russell, and first recorded by a group called the Top Notes.
44. “The Star-Spangled Banner” preposition : O’ER
The words “o’er the rampart we watched” come from “The Star Spangled Banner” written by Francis Scott Key. The lyrics were written first as a poem by Key, inspired by his witnessing of the bombarding by the British of the American forces at Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore in September 1814. The words were then set to the tune of a popular British drinking song written by John Stafford Smith called “The Anacreontic Song”, with Anacreontic Society being a men’s club in London.
51. Western defense grp. : OAS
The Organization of American States has its headquarters in Washington, D.C. All the independent states in the Americas are members of the group (except Honduras, suspended after the 2009 coup in that country).
A ship’s bell is used to indicate the time, and regulate the duty watches of the crew. One bell is sounded on the first half-hour of each 4-hour watch, such as 12:30 a.m. or 12:30 p.m.
65. Cord material : BAST
Bast fiber is collected from many different plants, most commonly flax, hemp and ramie. The bast fibers run the length of the stem, supporting the conducting cells of the plant’s phloem. It’s the phloem that moves water and nutrients through the plant’s stem.
67. Et ___ : ALIA
Et alia is the Latin for “and others” is of course always in the plural. The masculine form is at “et alii”, the feminine “et alliae”, and the neuter is “et alia”.
“My One and Only
69. Button between * and # : OPER
The operator button is the zero on the phone, which lies between the * and the # keys.
73. Some jeans : LEES
The Lee company was formed in 1889, by one Henry David Lee, in Salina, Kansas.
Down
John Keats
2. The 6 in 6/8/10, e.g. : MONTH
I still have trouble with this one. Where I come from, the 6 is the day and the 8 the month.
3. Pond buildup : ALGAE
Algae are similar to terrestrial plants in that they use photosynthesis to create sugars from light and carbon dioxide, but they differ in that they have simpler anatomies, and for example lack roots.
6. Parkinsonism drug : L-DOPA
L-3,4-DihydrOxyPhenylAniline, thankfully can be shortened to L-DOPA. Swedish scientist Arvid Carlsson won a Nobel Prize for showing that L-DOPA could be used to reduce the symptoms of Parkinson’s Syndrome.
The first Uzi sub-machine gun was designed in the late 1940s, by Major Uziel Gal, who gave his name to the gun.
12. Thistle or goldenrod : WEED
The thistle may be a weed, but Scots are very proud to have it as the national flower of Scotland. And goldenrods might also be considered a weed, but can be edible if cooked, used for decoration and the making of tea.
13. Ladies of Spain: Abbr. : SRAS
Ladies of Spain are senoras.
The Villa d’Este
30. Job rights agcy. : EEOC
Equal Opportunity Employment is a term that has been around since 1964 when the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was set up by the Civil Rights Act.
31. Grad : ALUM
An alumnus (plural … alumni) is a graduate or former student of a school or college. The female form is alumna (plural … alumnae). The word comes into English from Latin, in which alumnus means foster son or pupil.
The Isley Brothers had the first hit with “Twist and Shout
46. About, on a memo : IN RE
The term “in re” is actually Latin, derived from “in” (in) and “res” (thing, matter). It literally means “in the matter”, and is used as “in regard to”, or “in the matter of”.
52. O’Neill’s “The Hairy ___” : APE
“The Hairy Ape” is a play by Eugene O’Neill, and tells of a laborer on an ocean liner who leaves the ship and tries to make his way in Manhattan. He finds it hard to fit in, and finds most empathy with a gorilla in the zoo who he regards as a kindred spirit. At the end of the play, the hero dies in the arms of the gorilla.
55. Old Testament prophet who married a harlot : HOSEA
Hosea is one of the Twelve Prophets of the Hebrew Bible, or in terms of the Christian Old Testament, one of the Minor Prophets. He was commanded by God to marry Gomer, a prostitute.
Mount Pelee on the Caribbean island of Martinique is still active and is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes on the planet. When it erupted in 1902
57. Dior-designed dress : A-LINE
Christian Dior introduced the term A-Line with his 1955 collection. Prior to this, he described his pencil skirts as “H-Line”.
61. Table salt is composed of them : IONS
Sodium chloride is an ionic compound, a crystal lattice made up of large chloride ions in a cubic structure, with smaller sodium ions in between the chlorides.
Xbox was made by Microsoft (I’m sure the kids have one around here somewhere!) and introduced in 2001. The current version is known as Xbox 360
66. Auto loan inits. : APR
APR: Annual Percentage Rate.