Happy St. Paddy’s Day, everyone!
In the grid, there are four squares that contain the names of Greek letters:
1A – ALPHA
2B – BETA
3P – PI
4O – OMEGA
Quicklinks:
Solution to today’s crossword in the New York Times
Solution to today’s SYNDICATED New York Times crossword in all other publications
CROSSWORD SETTER: Anna Shectman
THEME: IT’S ALL GREEK TO ME … this is a rebus puzzle with four squares using the the names of Greek letters:
17A. Educational musical pieces for kindergarteners : (ALPHA)BET SONGS
19A. Annual prize won multiple times by Beyoncé and LeBron James : (BET A)WARD
63A. First name on “The View” : WHOO(PI)
70A. What players don’t have to travel far for : H(OME GA)ME
1D. First part of psychosexual development : OR(AL PHA)SE
9D. Devout Lhasan, say : TI(BETA)N MONK
42D. Color of many nurseries : LIGHT (PI)NK
57D. Difference between the rich and the poor : INC(OME GA)P
COMPLETION TIME: 12m 21s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0
Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Kind of column : ONES
The ones, tens, and hundreds columns for example, are often used in math.
“Big Love” is an absolutely superb HBO drama series about a polygamous man and his three families trying to live a relatively “normal” life in Utah. The lead is played by Bill Paxton, and his first wife by Jeanne Tripplehorne. I recommend it for its entertainment value, but should point out that it has been frowned upon by some churches.
9. ___ steamer : TRAMP
We’ve been using “tramp” to mean a person who wanders about, since the 1660s. We applied the term to a steamship in the late 1800s. A tramp steamer is one that picks up cargo wherever it can and delivers it anywhere it is needed. This is as opposed to a vessel that works for a regular shipping line.
Whatever your politics, you have to give Karl Rove credit for engineering both election victories for President George W. Bush. Rove is a Christmas baby, born on December 25, 1950.
15. The “doll” in Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” : NORA
“A Doll’s House” is probably the most famous play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The play deals with the feminist awakening of the lead character, Nora Helmer, and is sometimes referred to as the “first true feminist play”.
16. Ancient land on the Aegean Sea : IONIA
The ancient region of Ionia was located in present day Turkey. Ionia was prominent in the days of Ancient Greece although it wasn’t a unified state, but rather a collection of tribes. The tribal confederacy was more based on religious and cultural similarities rather than a political or military alliance. Nowadays we often refer to this arrangement as the Ionian League.
19. Annual prize won multiple times by Beyoncé and LeBron James : BET AWARD
The BET Awards are honors given by the Black Entertainment Television network. They were established in 2001 and celebrate the work of African Americans, as well as other minorities, in all aspects of entertainment, including sports.
20. Old Testament peak : SINAI
According to the Bible, Mount Sinai is the mountain on which Moses was given the Ten Commandments. The Biblical Mount Sinai is probably not the mountain in Egypt that today has the same name, although this is the subject of much debate. The Egyptian Mount Sinai has two developed routes that one can take to reach the summit. The longer, gentler climb takes about 2 1/2 hours, but there is also the steeper climb up the 3,750 “steps of penitence”.
Susan Boyle hit the big time when she first appeared on the television show “Britain’s Got Talent”. She came on the stage with a very unassuming manner, not looking at all glamorous and then belted out a song with her powerful and mature voice. She blew away the audience and judges, and within nine days of her debut performance, it had been watched 100 million times on the Internet!
Jacob Riis is famous for his photographs and newspaper articles that highlighted the plight of the impoverished in New York City. He wrote “How the Other Half Lives”, originally an extensive article that appeared in “Scribner’s Magazine” at Christmas 1889. The article had such an impact that Riis was commissioned to expand it into a book, published the following year.
29. Gallivant : GAD
“Gallivant” is such a lovely word, and is probably a derivative of “gallant”. To gallivant is to gad about, to flirt, to wander in search of pleasure or amusement.
To gad about is to move around with little purpose. The word comes from the Middle English “gadden” meaning “to hurry”.
31. Tokyo’s ___ Castle : EDO
Edo is the former name of the Japanese city of Tokyo. Edo was the seat of the Tokugawa shogunate, a feudal regime that ruled from 1603 until 1868. The shogun lived in the magnificent Edo castle. Some parts of the original castle remain, and today’s Tokyo Imperial Palace, the residence of the Emperor of Japan, was built on its grounds.
Georges Seurat was a French Post-Impressionist. His most famous work, in the pointillist style, can be viewed in the Art Institute of Chicago, “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte – 1884”. If you’ve seen the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, it features quite prominently in a wonderful, wonderful scene shot at the gallery.
37. Record : LOG
The word “logbook” dates back to the days when the captain kept a daily record of a ship’s speed, progress etc. using a “log”. A log was a wooden float on a knotted line that was dropped overboard to measure the vessel’s speed.
48. Big inits. in Detroit : GMC
GMC is a division of General Motors (GM) established in 1901 that started out as “GMC Truck”.
52. ___ Digital Short : SNL
Since 2005, the “Saturday Night Live” comedy show has been airing a feature called “SNL Digital Shorts”. These spots break away from the “live” format of the show, and are prerecorded for airing during the Saturday broadcast. The Digital Shorts are filmed on consumer-grade digital cameras, and are edited on personal computers. They can feature members of the regular cast, musical guests, and celebrity cameos.
53. Lion : pride :: ___ : husk : HARE
A group of hares is known collectively as a “drove”, although the terms “husk”, “down” and “mute” can also be used.
“Over the Rainbow” is a classic song written especially for the 1939 movie “The Wizard of Oz”. It was sung by the young Judy Garland in the film, and it was to become her signature song. There is an introductory verse that wasn’t used in the movie, and is very rarely heard:
“When all the world is a hopeless jumble
And the raindrops tumble all around,
Heaven opens a magic lane
When all the clouds darken up the skyway,
There’s a rainbow highway to be found
Leading from your window pane
To a place behind the sun,
Just a step beyond the rain”
There is also a second chorus that was intended to be in the movie, but it ended up on the cutting room floor:
“Someday I’ll wake and rub my eyes
And in that land beyond the skies,
You’ll find me
I’ll be a laughing daffodil
And leave the silly cares that fill
My mind behind me”
The magnificent Whoopi Goldberg’s real name is Caryn Elaine Johnson. Goldberg is multi-talented, and is one of a very short list of entertainers to have won:
– an Oscar (for “Ghost”)
– an Emmy (two, for “The View”)
– a Grammy (for “Thoroughly Modern Millie”, as a producer)
– a Tony (also for producing “Thoroughly Modern Millie”)
68. Whence the line “God sufficeth me: there is no God but He” : KORAN
The Koran is also known as the Qur’an in English, the transliteration of the Arabic name for the holy text of the Muslim faith. The literal translation of “Koran” is “the recitation”.
The Goo Goo Dolls is an American rock band that formed in the late 1980s in Buffalo, NY. “Iris”, mentioned in today’s clue, is a track off their hit 1998 album “Dizzy Up the Girl”. They’re not my cup of tea …
Spork is the more common name for the utensil that is a hybrid between a spoon and a fork. It is less commonly referred to as a “foon”.
Omar Epps is the actor who plays Dr. Eric Foreman on the excellent television series “House”. Prior to playing Dr. Foreman, Epps had a recurring role playing Dr. Dennis Grant on “ER”. And, in another link to the world of medicine, Epps was born in Savannah, Georgia to single mom, Dr. Bonnie Epps.
Down
1. First part of psychosexual development : ORAL PHASE
According to Freudian psychology, we have an instinctive sexual appetite that develops in five phases, named for the erogenous zones that are the source of the drive in each phase. They are:
– the oral stage (~ 0-2 years)
– the anal stage (~ 1-3 years)
– the phallic stage (~ 3-6 years)
– the latency stage (~ 6 years – puberty)
– the genital stage ( ~ puberty – adult life)
I’m not so sure …
2. “Dona ___ pacem” (Catholic Mass phrase) : NOBIS
“Dona nobis pacem” is Latin for, “Grant us peace”.
4. Bristles : SETAE
“Seta” is derived from the Latin word for a “bristle”, and is used to describe bristle-like structures in both plants and animals.
In my youth I remember being taught a great card game, by a German acquaintance of mine, called Mau Mau. Years later I discovered that Uno is basically the same game, but played with a purpose-printed deck instead of the regular deck used for Mau Mau.
Argus Panoptes is a monster of Greek mythology. “Panoptes” means “all-seeing”, so over time Argus has been described as having many, many eyes. Argus was noted for being alert, always keeping some eyes open when sleeping. This characteristic led to Argus being used for a vigilant person, and has been adopted as the name for many newspapers. After Argus died, Hera transferred his eyes to the tail of the peacock.
9. Devout Lhasan, say : TIBETAN MONK
Lhasa is the capital city of Tibet, and the name “Lhasa” translates as “place of the gods”. However, Lhasa used to be called Rasa, a name that translates into the less auspicious “goat’s place”.
11. Carrier to Tokyo : ANA
All Nippon Airways (ANA) is a Japanese airline, second in size only to JAL.
Mir was a very successful project, with the station still holding the record for the longest continuous manned presence in space, at just under ten years. Towards the end of its life however, the years began to take their toll. There was a dangerous fire, multiple system failures, and a collision with a resupply ship. The Russian commitment to the International Space Station drained funds for repairs, so the station was allowed to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere in 2001.
13. Digs : PAD
Back in the 16th century a “pad” was a bundle of straw to lie on, and came to mean a “sleeping place” in the early 1700s. The term was revitalized in the hippie era.
“Digs” is short for “diggings” meaning “lodgings”, but how “diggings” came about, no one seems to know for sure.
The Nazi salute was usually accompanied by the words, “Heil Hitler!” (“Hail Hitler!”), “Heil, mein Führer!” (“Hail, my leader!”) or often “Sieg Heil!” (“Hail victory!”).
Arthur Nielsen founded his Nielsen Media Research company to track brand advertising. He quickly moved into market analysis of radio audiences in the thirties, and today the company is famous for tracking television audiences. I remember watching the last episode of the TV series “Becker”, in which Ted Danson played a doctor. Given that the show had been ordered off the air, there’s a great line in the last episode when Becker asks for the chart of a patient called “Nielsen”. He looks at the lab results and announces “I don’t know what everyone is talking about … these numbers aren’t so bad!” Great stuff …
24. Chocolate-coated treat : MALLOMAR
The first chocolate-coated marshmallow confection was created in Denmark about 200 years ago, and today Denmark produces more of the treats than any other country. The US version is known as a Mallomar, produced by Nabisco generally from October through April. Mallomars melt easily, so aren’t made available in the warmer months.
“Moll Flanders” is a novel written by Daniel Defoe in 1722, three years after he achieved fame with “Robinson Crusoe”. The full title gives a lot of insight into the storyline:
“The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, Etc. Who Was Born In Newgate, and During a Life of Continu’d Variety For Threescore Years, Besides Her Childhood, Was Twelve Year a Whore, Five Times a Wife [Whereof Once To Her Own Brother], Twelve Year a Thief, Eight Year a Transported Felon In Virginia, At Last Grew Rich, Liv’d Honest, and Died a Penitent. Written from her own Memorandums”.
40. Justice Dept. division : ATF
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is today part of the department of Justice. The ATF has its roots in the Department of Treasury dating back to 1886 when it was known as the Bureau of Prohibition. “Explosives” was added to ATF’s name when the bureau was moved under the Department of Justice as part of the government reorganization called for in the Homeland Security Act of 2002.
Dolly is the most famous sheep in the world. She was born in 1996 near Edinburgh in Scotland, grown from a cell taken from the mammary gland of a healthy donor sheep. When asked why she was called Dolly, the scientist responsible said, and I quote:
“Dolly is derived from a mammary gland cell and we couldn’t think of a more impressive pair of glands than Dolly Parton’s”.
Like I said, I am simply quoting. I don’t judge …
54. ___ nous : ENTRE
“Entre nous” is French for “between us”.
Firestone is a tire company founded by Harvey Firestone in 1900. The company took off when it was selected by Henry Ford as the supplier of tires for his Model T.
64. Hip adjoiner? : HOP
Hip-Hop originated in New York City in the seventies, developing in inner-city African-American, Jamaican and Latina-American communities. Some say that the term “hip-hop” was first used by the group Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. I know practically nothing about hip-hop, I must admit …
65. Conquistador’s loot : ORO
Conquistador is the Spanish for “conqueror”.
For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Kind of column : ONES
5. “Big Love” setting : UTAH
9. ___ steamer : TRAMP
14. Politico with the memoir “Courage and Consequence” : ROVE
15. The “doll” in Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” : NORA
16. Ancient land on the Aegean Sea : IONIA
17. Educational musical pieces for kindergarteners : ALPHABET SONGS
19. Annual prize won multiple times by Beyoncé and LeBron James : BET AWARD
20. Old Testament peak : SINAI
21. Singer Boyle and others : SUSANS
23. Prize : ESTEEM
25. Jacob Riis subject : SLUM
26. Smidgen : DAB
29. Gallivant : GAD
31. Tokyo’s ___ Castle : EDO
32. Setting for Seurat’s “Un dimanche après-midi à l’Île de la Grande Jatte” : ETE
33. Extol : LAUD
37. Record : LOG
39. Dazed : IN A FOG
41. Totally confused response : IT’S ALL GREEK TO ME
44. Painter’s base : STUDIO
45. Have : OWN
46. Big celebration : FEST
47. Salad tidbit : PEA
48. Big inits. in Detroit : GMC
50. Green: Prefix : ECO-
52. ___ Digital Short : SNL
53. Lion : pride :: ___ : husk : HARE
55. Beat the draft? : ENLIST
60. Kiting need : STRING
62. Last words of “Over the Rainbow” : CAN’T I
63. First name on “The View” : WHOOPI
66. People might make tracks for this : STREETCAR
68. Whence the line “God sufficeth me: there is no God but He” : KORAN
69. 1998 Goo Goo Dolls hit : IRIS
70. What players don’t have to travel far for : HOME GAME
71. KFC offering : SPORK
72. Directed : SENT
73. Omar of “House” : EPPS
Down
1. First part of psychosexual development : ORAL PHASE
2. “Dona ___ pacem” (Catholic Mass phrase) : NOBIS
3. Affair : EVENT
4. Bristles : SETAE
5. Game with command cards : UNO
6. Truckloads : TONS
7. Hundred-eyed monster of myth : ARGUS
8. Inconvenience : HASSLE
9. Devout Lhasan, say : TIBETAN MONK
10. Melees : ROWS
11. Carrier to Tokyo : ANA
12. Satellite launched in 1986 : MIR
13. Digs : PAD
18. German “victory” : SIEG
22. Nielsen measure : AUDIENCE
24. Chocolate-coated treat : MALLOMAR
26. “Moll Flanders” author, 1722 : DEFOE
27. Smidgens : ATOMS
28. Father : BEGET
30. Closely follow : DOG
33. Problems for orators : LISPS
34. “News ___” : AT TEN
35. Everyday : USUAL
36. Father : DAD
38. Miracle-___ : GRO
40. Justice Dept. division : ATF
42. Color of many nurseries : LIGHT PINK
43. Dolly, e.g. : EWE
49. Major crossroads : CRISIS
51. Long ago : ONCE
54. ___ nous : ENTRE
56. Shop staple : LATHE
57. Difference between the rich and the poor : INCOME GAP
58. Corner piece? : STAMP
59. Firestones, e.g. : TIRES
60. Skyrocket : SOAR
61. Beam : GRIN
63. Calendar units: Abbr. : WKS
64. Hip adjoiner? : HOP
65. Conquistador’s loot : ORO
67. Any fig. ending in “or so” : EST
Outstanding site! Gave up on the "Englishman Solves" website recently because he stopped providing his handy list of compilers: until I read your FAQ's, I didn't know that our local NY Times (syndicated) puzzle ran five weeks behind. Light bulb! Now there's no need to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to find a puzzle that wasn't even included in his groups.
You, on the other hand, have endeared yourself to yet another puzzle fiend. I shall not stray.
Postscript: I just read about your losing your father and I am so very sorry.
Hi there,
Thanks for dropping by, and for the kind words.
I mention my Dad in the blog as crosswords were something we always shared. Now that he's gone, writing the blog everyday I see his photo and he comes to the forefront of my mind. The blog is proving to be a great way to keep his memory alive.
"The Englishman" website is really great, although I believe Ross stopped writing about the NY Times puzzle each day. I found his musings particularly interesting as we come from the same part of the world.
I am glad the design of the blog is to your liking. It has been through a few iterations, largely based on input from readers. I try to make it as user-friendly as possible. If you have any ideas, please feel free to send me an email.
I hope you come back and visit again soon. It's a lot of fun writing up a post each night, and I get a big kick out of knowing there are a few people out there reading my rambles!
We love your comments. You enrich the whole process. Thanks so much!
Thank you, Diane (and the other half of "we"!).
I appreciate the support.