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The full solution to today’s crossword that appears in the New York Times
The full solution to today’s SYNDICATED New York Times crossword that appears in all other publications
THEME: Sh Sh! All the theme answers can be broken down into two words, each beginning with the letters SH i.e. SHIPSHAPE, SHARPSHOOTER, SHELL SHOCK, SHORT-SHEET, SHEEP SHEARER, SHOESHINE.
COMPLETION TIME: 5m 13s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0
Across
1. Native Louisianan : CAJUN
The great explorer Verrazzano gave the name “Arcadia” to the coastal land that stretched from north of present day Virginia right up the North American continent to Nova Scotia. The name Arcadia was chosen as it was also the name for a part of Greece that had been viewed as “idyllic” from the days of classical antiquity. The “Arcadia” name quickly evolved into the word “Acadia” that was used locally here in North America. Much of Acadia was settled by the French in the 1600s, and then in 1710 Acadia was conquered by the British. There followed the French and Indian War after which there was a mass migration of French Acadians, often via the French colony of Saint-Dominique (present-day Haiti) to the French colony of Louisiana. The local dialectic pronunciation of the word “Acadian” was “Cajun”, giving the name to the ethnic group for which Louisiana has been home for about 300 years.
14. Physician’s org. : AMA
The American Medical Association was founded in 1847, at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. The first female member joined in 1868, but the first African American members weren’t allowed to join until 1968.
15. Pinnacles : ACMES
The “acme” is the highest point coming from the Greek “akme”, which has the same meaning.
18. In good order : SHIPSHAPE
20. Adam and Eve’s first home : EDEN
According to the Book Of Genesis, Adam and Eve lived in a garden “in” Eden, with Eden being geographically located by reference to four rivers, including the Tigris and Euphrates. Some scholars hypothesize that Eden was located in Mesopotamia, which encompasses much of modern-day Iraq.
Stephen Rea is an Irish actor, whose most famous role was that of the “retired” IRA man in the brilliant 1992 film “The Crying Game”. He also starred in the chilling movie “Stuck”, a 2007 film that is based on a true story about a woman who commits a hit and run on a homeless man. The woman leaves the scene of the crime with the victim still “stuck” in her windshield. The woman leaves the man to die in her garage. Chilling, eh? But, true …
Many regard Annie Oakley as the first American female superstar, given her celebrity as a sharpshooter in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. She toured with the show all over Europe, and performed her act for the likes of Queen Victoria of England and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. Supposedly, using a .22 caliber rifle from 90 feet away, Oakley could split a playing card edge-on, and shoot five or six holes in the card before it hit the ground!
26. Bandleader Shaw and others : ARTIES
Artie Shaw was a composer, bandleader a jazz clarinetist. His real name was Arthur Jacob Arshawsky, born in New York City in 1910. Of his many claims to fame is the fact that he (a white bandleader) hired Billie Holiday (a black vocalist) and toured the segregated South in the late thirties. Holiday chose to leave the band though, due to hostility from audiences in the South back then.
30. Combat stress syndrome : SHELL SHOCK
35. Watch chains : FOBS
A fob is attached to another object to make access to it easier. In this case we are talking about a watch fob, a chain attached to a pocket watch so that it can be retrieved easily. There are also key fobs, of course.
38. Disney frame : CEL
In the world of animation, a cel is a transparent sheet on which objects and characters are drawn. In the first half of the 20th century the sheet was actually made of celluloid, giving the “cel” its name.
“The Godfather” series of films is of course based on “The Godfather” novel by Mario Puzo, first published in 1969. Francis Ford Coppola worked with Puzo in partnership to adapt his novel into the screenplay for the first film, and to write the screenplays for the two sequels. Coppola holds that there are really only two films in “The Godfather” series, with “The Godfather Part III” actually being the epilogue.
41. Cultural support org. : NEA
The National Endowment for the Arts is an agency funded by the federal government that offers support and funding for artistic projects. It was created by an Act of Congress in 1965. Between 1965 and 2008, the NEA awarded over $4 billion to the arts, with Congress authorizing around $170m annually through the eighties and much of the nineties. That funding was cut to less than $100m in the late nineties due to pressure from conservatives concerned about the use of funds, but it is now back over the $150m mark
44. Pull a bed prank on : SHORT-SHEET
I remember the first time I fell victim to the prank of “short-sheeting”, and very confusing it is too! The idea is to leave the bottom sheet as is, and tuck the top sheet under the mattress at the head of the bed, just as one would do with a bottom sheet. Then fold the foot of the top sheet back up to the head of the bed, and fold it as one would do normally for a top sheet. Don’t tell your Mom it was me who told you how to do it though …
Elayne Boosler is a stand-up comedian, and was one of the first female comedians to have her act aired as a special on cable television. She does have some funny lines. Here’s one I like:
![Party of One [VHS]](https://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=6301365445&tag=wesneyoticrso-20)
“When women are depressed they either eat or go shopping. Men invade another country.”
49. Wool gatherer : SHEEP SHEARER
55. Thanksgiving side dish : YAM
Although in the US we sometimes refer to sweet potatoes as “yams”, the yam is actually a completely different family of plant. True yams are more common in other parts of the the world, especially Africa, than they are in this country.
61. Bootblack’s service : SHOESHINE
Some people taking to shining shoes as a means to and end. Here are some folks who have “shoeshiner” listed on their resumes:
– James Brown
– Lee Travino
– Malcolm X
– Rod Blagojevich
– Rush Limbaugh
William Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew” was written in the late 1500s, and has to be one of the original romantic comedies. And we still see the storyline today, as Shakespeare’s play has been adapted into more contemporary works like Cole Porter’s “Kiss Me, Kate” and the 1999 movie “10 Things I Hate About You” starring Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger.
64. Ankle bones : TARSI
The tarsals are the ankle bones, equivalent to the carpals in the wrist.
65. Title for Galahad : SIR
Sir Galahad is one of the knights of the Round Table of Arthurian legend. He is the illegitimate son of Sir Lancelot, so appears a little later in the tales. He is very gallant and noble, and some see him as the embodiment of Jesus in the Arthurian tradition. Indeed, legend has it that his soul was brought to heaven by Joseph of Arimathea, the man who donated his own tomb for the burial of Jesus according to the Gospels.
French speakers don’t really use the profanity “sacrebleu”, at least not anymore, but we see it a lot in English literature featuring native French speakers. Most famously it is uttered by Agatha Christie’s delightful Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. There is some dispute about the origins of “sacreblue” (scared blue), but French dictionaries explain that it is a “softening” of the alternative “Sacré Dieu” (Holy God).
68. Tetley product : TEA
Tetley was founded by Joseph Tetley in Yorkshire in 1837. He and his brother used to sell salt door-to-door from a packhorse and started to distribute tea the same way. They became so successful selling tea that they relocated to London. Notably, Tetley’s was the first company introduce tea bags in the UK, back in 1953.
Down
My favorite Cole Porter song has to be “Night and Day”, a song that has been popular with many artists since it was first released in 1932. It was written especially for the stage musical “Gay Divorce”, and sung by Fred Astaire. Two years later there was a film adaption released under the title “The Gay Divorcée”, in which Fred Astaire reprised his stage role, this time opposite the lovely Ginger Rogers. Since the thirties, the song has been recorded by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Shirley Bassey, Ringo Starr, and even U2. As always with me, none is ever as good as the original …
Jake Gyllenhaal’s most famous role has to be as co-star with Heath Ledger in “Brokeback Mountain”, but he has also had lead roles in big movies like “The Day After Tomorrow”, “Jarhead” and “Rendition”.
5. Rorem who composed the opera “Our Town” : NED
American composer Ned Rorem is famous for his musical compositions, but also for his “Paris Diary of Ned Rorem” which was published in 1966. He talks openly about his sexuality in the book, but also about the sexuality of others including Noel Coward, Leonard Bernstein and Samuel Barber.
A zoot suit has pants that are fairly loose fitting, except around the cuff at the bottom of the leg. The pants also have a high waist. The jacket of the suit has wide lapels and wide, padded shoulders. Zoot-suits were popular in the US in the thirties and forties, and often associated with the African American, Latino American and Italian American ethnic groups. Over in the UK, the zoot suit was worn by the “Teddy boys” of the fifties and sixties. “Zoot” is probably just a slang iteration of the word “suit”.
10. German exclamation : ACH
The exclamation “ach!” is usually translated into English as “oh!”
12. Shelter made of buffalo skin, maybe : TEPEE
A tepee (also called a tipi and teepee) is a cone-shaped tent traditionally made from animal hides, and used by the Great Plains Native Americans. A wigwam is a completely different structure, and is often a misnomer for a tepee. A wigwam is a domed structure built by Native Americans in the West and Southwest, intended to be a more permanent structure. The wigwam can also be covered with hides, but more often was covered with grass, reeds, brush or cloth.
Sholem Asch was a Polish-born American novelist and dramatist who published his work in Yiddish. One of his plays was “God of Vengeance”, a highly regarded work performed all over Europe and translated into many languages. It opened on Broadway in 1923, but the adult themes (it was set in a brothel, and featured a lesbian relationship) led to the entire cast being arrested and convicted on obscenity charges.
Rhea Perlman’s most famous role has to be “Carla Tortelli”, the irascible waitress in the long-running sitcom “Cheers”. She is of course married to Hollywood actor Danny DeVito, and has been so since 1982. Perlman is also a successful children’s author, and has published a series of six books called “Otto Undercover”.
31. Prince’s title: Abbr. : HRH
His Royal Highness.
32. Plains Indian : OTO
The Otoe (also Oto) Native American tribe originated in the Great Lakes region as part of the Winnebago or Siouan tribes. The group that would become the Otoe broke away from the Winnebago and migrated southwestwards ending up in the Great Plains. In the plains the Otoe adopted a semi-nomadic lifestyle centered on the horse, with the American bison becoming central to their diet.
33. Round fig. : CIR
A circle is a round figure.
Check kiting is illegal. The idea behind kiting is to write a check, even though there are insufficient funds to cover the amount. Then, the con artist writes another check, also with insufficient funds, from another bank’s account, to cover the original check. I am not sure it would work nowadays, but then again, I am as honest as the day is long! Oh, and I think the term “kiting” comes from the older phrase “go fly a kite”, the idea being that the bad check is floated on air (non-existent funds).
37. Overfill : SATE
“Sate” is a variant of the earlier word “satiate”. Both can mean either to satisfy an appetite fully, or to eat to excess.
40. ___ of Wight : ISLE
The Isle of Wight is the largest island in England, and lies about five miles off the south coast.
The Statue of Liberty was of course a gift from the people of France to the United States. It was designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and was dedicated in 1886. If you take a boat ride down the Seine in Paris you’ll get quite the surprise (unless you are expecting it) as there is a one-third replica of Lady Liberty standing on a small island in the river looking quite magnificent. The copy was given to the people of Paris by the city’s American community in 1889.
49. The “S” in CBS: Abbr. : SYST
CBS used to be called the Columbia Broadcasting System.
Ernie Pyle was a journalist, truly a roving reporter, never happy unless he was reporting at some remote part of the country or some far-flung corner of the globe. He was noted for his intimate style of reporting, emphasizing the human element of the story. His reports written during WWII in Europe, stressing the experiences of the soldiers in the front lines, won him a Pulitzer Prize in 1944. After Germany surrendered he decided to follow the war in the Pacific. One day in 1945 he was traveling in a jeep on the island of le Shima in the Okinawa Islands when he was hit by enemy machine gun fire and killed instantly. Pyle was won of very few civilians killed during WWII who was awarded the Purple Heart.
The Gateway Arch in St. Louis is the tallest monument in the United States. It was designed by Eero Saarinenen, with the help of structural engineer Hannskarl Bandel. They did their design work back in 1947, but construction wasn’t started until 1963. In 1980, a daredevil took it upon himself to parachute onto the top of the arch, intending to further jump from the apex of the arch and parachute to the ground. He hit the arch alright, and slid all the way down one of the arches to his death. No comment …
For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Native Louisianan : CAJUN
6. Sass : LIP
9. Future’s opposite : PAST
13. Make a grand speech : ORATE
14. Physician’s org. : AMA
15. Pinnacles : ACMES
17. Appreciated : LIKED
18. In good order : SHIPSHAPE
20. Adam and Eve’s first home : EDEN
21. Watch intently : PEER AT
22. Actor Stephen of “Michael Collins” : REA
23. Annie Oakley, for one : SHARPSHOOTER
26. Bandleader Shaw and others : ARTIES
29. Mate for 60-Down : RAM
30. Combat stress syndrome : SHELL SHOCK
35. Watch chains : FOBS
38. Disney frame : CEL
39. Last installment of “The Godfather” : PART III
41. Cultural support org. : NEA
42. “Stop right there!” : HALT
44. Pull a bed prank on : SHORT-SHEET
46. Cow sound : MOO
48. Funnywoman Boosler : ELAYNE
49. Wool gatherer : SHEEP SHEARER
55. Thanksgiving side dish : YAM
56. Rosebush hazards : THORNS
57. Make woozy : DAZE
61. Bootblack’s service : SHOESHINE
63. “The Taming of the ___” : SHREW
64. Ankle bones : TARSI
65. Title for Galahad : SIR
66. “___ bleu!” : SACRE
67. Viewed : SEEN
68. Tetley product : TEA
69. Set of cultural values : ETHOS
Down
1. Porter who wrote “Night and Day” : COLE
2. Saharan : ARID
3. Gyllenhaal of “Love & Other Drugs” : JAKE
4. Knife, fork or spoon : UTENSIL
5. Rorem who composed the opera “Our Town” : NED
6. Modern surgical tool : LASER
7. Zoot-suiter’s “Got it!” : I’M HEP
8. Noah’s ark groupings : PAIRS
9. Congregation leader : PASTOR
10. German exclamation : ACH
11. Wagers from those in the know : SMART MONEY
12. Shelter made of buffalo skin, maybe : TEPEE
16. Blacken, as a steak : SEAR
19. Oom-___ : PAH
21. Succeed in appearing to be : PASS AS
24. Lend a hand : HELP
25. Buffoon : OAF
26. Yiddish writer Sholem : ASCH
27. Perlman of “Cheers” : RHEA
28. “Go on …” : TELL ME MORE
31. Prince’s title: Abbr. : HRH
32. Plains Indian : OTO
33. Round fig. : CIR
34. Writers of bad checks : KITERS
36. Has-___ : BEEN
37. Overfill : SATE
40. ___ of Wight : ISLE
43. One on the Statue of Liberty is almost three feet long : TOE
45. Construction worker : HARD-HAT
47. Chooses to participate : OPTS IN
49. The “S” in CBS: Abbr. : SYST
50. Laughs : HA-HAS
51. Library admonition : SHH
52. Lift : HOIST
53. W.W. II correspondent Pyle : ERNIE
54. “It’s the end of ___” : AN ERA
58. St. Louis’s Gateway ___ : ARCH
59. 0 : ZERO
60. Mates for a 29-Across : EWES
62. Language suffix : ESE
63. Opposite of NNW : SSE