Announcement
I am test driving a new feature at the bottom of each post. There you will find a selection of clips/trailers from movies and TV shows mentioned in today’s crossword. If folks find the feature useful/entertaining, I will continue to include it … Bill.
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: 26m 50s
THEME: MIDDLE SCHOOL … each of the them answers has the name of a school hidden within e.g. san(D RAKE)s, mi(LE HIGH) stadium
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0
TODAY’S WIKI-EST, AMAZONIAN GOOGLIES
Across
The athletic teams of Georgetown University are known as the Hoyas. The name is derived from a traditional “cheer” yelled out at Georgetown games, as far back as 1893: “Hoya Saxa”. The term is a mixture of Greek and Latin, with the Greek word “hoya” meaning “such” or “what”, and “saxa” translating from Latin as “rocks” or “small stones”. The cheer is usually rendered into English as “what rocks!”.
14. Decorative fabric : TOILE
Toile fabric can be used as upholstery, or as a wallpaper, or even us a fabric for clothing.
“Be-Bop-A-Lula
The Ewoks are creatures that live on the moon of Endor, first appearing in “Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi”. They’re the cute and cuddly guys that look like teddy bears.
18. Golf groundskeepers’ tools : SANDRAKES
san(D RAKE)s
Drake University is a private school in Des Moines, Iowa.
22. Broncos’ home, once : MILE HIGH STADIUM
mi(LE HIGH) stadium
Lehigh University is a private school located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
29. Prefix with -nomial : TRI
As we all recall from our algebra classes, a trinomial expression is a specific from of polynomial, one that has three terms e.g 2x + 3y – 4z, and 4a + 7b + c.
30. [Snap snap] : PDQ
Pretty Darn Quick …
31. Unilever soap brand : LUX
The British company Lever Brothers introduced a brand of household soap known as Sunlight in 1884. A flaked version of Sunlight was then introduced first in India, under the brand name “Lux”. The same name was used when the product was launched in the US in 1916. The flaked form of soap meant that much less lye was needed as an ingredient, making a “gentler” product. So, in the US, the original marketing hook was to use Lux for laundering a woman’s “delicates” without fear of lye yellowing the satins and silks.
32. Rural musical instruments : JUGS
The jug is a simple musical instrument. It is just that, an empty jug, played by “blowing” air into the jug’s mouth, with the lips positioned an inch or so away from the “instrument”.
A toque was a brimless style of hat that was very fashionable in Europe, and France in particular, in the 13th to 16th centuries. Nowadays we associate toques with chefs, as it is the name given to a chef’s hat (toque blanch, “white hat”, in French). A chef’s toque is quite interesting. Many of them have exactly 100 pleats, often said to signify the number of ways that an egg can be cooked.
Bob Dylan crashed his Triumph motorcycle in 1966, leaving him badly injured. He had to cancel planned concerts, but continued writing songs. The year after the crash, he moved into a house with two of his band members and some family, and the three started informal recording sessions in the basement. The songs weren’t released as a collection until 1975, when they made up an album called “The Basement Tapes
40. Flying Tiger Line hub, for short : LAX
The Flying Tiger Line was the first scheduled cargo airline in the US, formed in Los Angeles in 1945. The company was set up by a group of pilots from the former 1st American Volunteer Group, the famed fighter unit operating with the Chinese Air Force during WWII and known as the “Flying Tigers”.
Mauna Loa on the “big island” of Hawaii is the largest volcano on the planet (in terms of volume, not height). The name “Mauna Loa” is Hawaiian for “Long Mountain”.
42. Tach measure : RPM
The tachometer takes its name from the Greek word “tachos” meaning “speed”. A tachometer measures Revolutions Per Minute.
43. It came out of Cicero’s mouth : VOX
Vox: the Latin word for “voice”.
47. Place for an N.H.L. logo : CENTER ICE CIRCLE
cente(R ICE) circle
William Marsh Rice University is a private school in Houston, Texas.
51. Roseau is its capital : DOMINICA
Dominica is an island nation in the Caribbean, not to be confused with the Dominican Republic. Christopher Columbus gave the name to the island, spotting it on a Sunday (“dominica” is Latin for “Sunday”).
52. Blue-roofed chain : IHOP
The International House of Pancakes was founded in 1958, with the first restaurant located in Toluca Lake, Los Angeles.
53. “Keep your eyes open!” : STAY ALERT
sta(Y ALE)rt
Yale is the private, Ivy League school located in New Haven, Connecticut.
The Battle of Blue Licks was one of the last engagements in the American Revolutionary War, fought in 1782 some ten months after Cornwallis had surrendered at Yorktown. Although the war in the east was over, the fighting on the western frontier continued. The Battle of Blue Lick was fought between a group of 182 Kentucky militiamen (including Daniel Boone
Umberto Eco is an Italian writer, probably best known for his novel “In the Name of the Rose” published in 1980. “The Name of the Rose” was adapted for the big screen in 1986, in a movie of the same name, starring Sean Connery.
“Baudolino
59. River through Glasgow : CLYDE
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland, and sits on the River Clyde.
60. To be, in Baja : SER
Ser: the Spanish for “to be”.
Baja California is both the most northern, and the most western of the Mexican states.
61. Moves, briefly : RELOS
Relocates (a real estate term).
Down
2. ___ Walsh, N.B.A. executive : DONNIE
Donnie Walsh is a former professional basketball coach, and the current president of basketball operations at the New York Knicks.
3. With 44-Down, educational stage … or a hint to the contents of 18-, 22-, 47- and 53-Across : MIDDLE
44. See 3-Down : SCHOOL
Gerard ter Borch
9. Casino chain founder William F. ___ : HARRAH
Like me, some of you may have visited the William F. Harrah Automobile Museum in Reno, Nevada. When Harrah was just a lad, his father bought him his first car, but it was stolen and stripped down for parts. When that happened he apparently swore to his sister that he would earn enough money to own a duplicate of every car his family ever earned. I think he came through with that one …
Warner Oland was actually a Swedish actor, best remembered for his portrayal of Charlie Chan in a series of 16 highly successful movies
11. Has some laughs : YUKS IT UP
That’s a new one on me …
12. Bath suds? : ALE
Suds (beer) in Bath (a city in England) might be ale.
13. Carrier that had a pioneering transpolar route : SAS
SAS, formerly known as Scandinavian Airlines System, is the flag carrier of three countries: Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
21. Quitting time in Québec, maybe : CINQ
Here in Québec, where I happen to be spending the night, quitting time might be at five (cinq, in French).
31. Titter in a tweet : LOL
LOL is an abbreviation used in Instant Messages and phone text messages, meaning Laughing Out Loud.
32. N.F.L. team with teal jerseys, for short : JAX
The Jacksonville Jaguars have been in the NFL since 1995.
The title of the 1994 American drama film “Mi Vida Loca
42. Like “King Kong” and “Psycho” : REMADE
The original “King Kong” from 1933 was remade in 2005, starring Naomi Watts and Jack Black.
The original “Psycho” from 1960 was remade in 1998, starring Vince Vaughan, Anne Heche and Julianne Moore.
44. See 3-Down : SCHOOL
Alonzo Mourning
49. Sorceress on the island of Aeaea : CIRCE
Circe is a minor goddess in Greek mythology, the goddess of magic. She was fond of transforming those who did not please her into animals by using magical potions.
50. ___ Oro : RIO DE
Rio de Oro is Spanish for Gold River, and was the name of one of the two territories owned by Spain that made up the province of Spanish Sahara. Spain surrendered control of the area in 1975, ownership of the land was disputed, sparking a violent conflict between Mauritania and Morocco. Although there has been a ceasefire in place since 1991, there is still conflict in the region.
53. Kind of fly, for short : SAC
Sacrifice fly, in baseball …
Movies and TV shows from today’s crossword
Just select a title and press the “play” button …
Amazon.com Widgets