0729-10 New York Times Crossword Answers 29 Jul 10

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
Fathead Georgetown Hoyas Logo Wall Decal9. Big East team : HOYAS
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 Lula16. “Be-Bop-___” : A-LULA
Be-Bop-A-Lula” is an early rock and roll song, recorded in 1956 by Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps. The unusual name is probably related to the song “Be-Baba-Leba” recorded just over ten years earlier, in 1945 by Helen Humes. Both these titles derive from a similar sounding phrase common in jazz circles in the forties, which gave the name to the “bebop” style of music. And the original jazz term “bebop” probably came from “Arriba! Arriba!”, words of encouragement from Latin American bandleaders to their musicians.

Star Wars 2009 Legacy Collection BuildADroid Action Figure BD No. 18 Ewoks17. Enchanted world in “Return of the Jedi” : ENDOR
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.

Mile High Stadium Print - 22x28"Mile High Stadium was built for baseball in 1948, and was known originally as Bears Stadium after the minor league team, the Denver Bears. The stadium was also used for football in the fifties, when it became home to the Denver Broncos. The Broncos grew as a team in the Mile High Stadium, and played their last game there in December 2000, before moving to the nearby INVESCO Field at Mile High. The original stadium was demolished in 2002.

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”.

Chef Works TOCP-WHT Chef Toque, White33. Chef’s hat : TOQUE
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.

The Basement Tapes37. “The Basement ___” (1975 Dylan album) : TAPES
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 Volcano Erupting at Night Photographic Poster Print by Bill Curtsinger, 48x6441. Mauna ___ : LOA
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.

Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer (An Owl Book)55. Battle of Blue Licks fighter, 1782 : BOONE
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) and a force of Canadian and American loyalists who stood alongside about 300 American Indians. The Kentucky men were defeated, but Daniel Boone was one of those who escaped. He had to leave behind his son Israel Boone, who was mortally wounded in the neck.

Baudolino57. “Baudolino” novelist : ECO
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” is a more recent novel by Eco, published in 2000.

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 (Studies in the History of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.)5. Dutch painter Gerard ___ Borch : TER
Gerard ter Borch was a Dutch painter active in the 1600s in the period known as the Dutch Golden Age.

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 …

Charlie Chan Collection, Vol. 3 (Charlie Chan's Secret / Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo / Charlie Chan on Broadway / The Black Camel)10. Chan portrayer in film : OLAND
Warner Oland was actually a Swedish actor, best remembered for his portrayal of Charlie Chan in a series of 16 highly successful movies. Before playing Charlie Chan, he had made a name for himself playing another Asian role on screen, that of Dr. Fu Manchu.

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.

Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life)40. “Mi Vida ___,” gritty 1994 drama set in L.A. : LOCA
The title of the 1994 American drama film “Mi Vida Loca” translates as “My Crazy Life”. It’s a tale of rugs and gangs in Los Angeles.

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

Resilience: Faith, Focus, Triumph45. Hoopster Mourning : ALONZO
Alonzo Mourning played most of his career with the Miami Heat, and in 2009 was the first person to have his number retired. In 2003 he had a kidney replacement, a donation from a cousin that he had not seen in 25 years.

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