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: Albert R. Picallo
THEME: TWIST OF FATE … the themed answers contain the circled squares, 4-letter runs each an anagram of the word FATE:
18A. *Dining area : C(AFET)ERIA
53A. *Nevertheless : (AFTE)R ALL
56A. *Didn’t disturb : L(EFT A)LONE
4D. *Song from “No, No, Nanette” : (TEA F)OR TWO
21D. *Daredevils’ doings : (FEAT)S
34D. *”It Might as Well Be Spring” musical : ST(ATE F)AIR
36D. *Kind of position : (FETA)L
COMPLETION TIME: 8m 20s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0
Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
6. Suffix with human or planet : -OID
Planetoid is another word for “asteroid”.
9. Colorado skiing mecca : ASPEN
Aspen, Colorado used to be known as Ute City, with the name change taking place in 1880. Like many communities in the area, it was a mining town, and in 1891 and 1892 it was at the center of the highest production of silver in the US. Nowadays of course, it’s all about the skiing and the movie stars.
The National Security Agency was set up in 1952 by President Truman, a replacement for the Armed Forces Security Agency that had existed in the Department of Defense since 1949. The agency has always been clouded in secrecy and even the 1952 letter from President Truman that established the agency was kept under wraps from the public for over a generation. I really like the nickname given to the NSA: “No Such Agency” …
16. Ripped off : STOLE
“Rip” has been prison slang for “steal” since the very early 1900s. “Rip off” began as African American slang in the sixties.
Nerf is the name given to the soft material used in a whole series of toys designed for “safe” play indoors. The Nerf product is used to make darts, balls and ammunition for toy guns. The acronym NERF stands for Non-Expanding Recreational Foam.
23. Former Common Market inits. : EEC
The European Economic Community (also called “the Common Market”) was a NAFTA-like structure that was eventually absorbed into today’s European Union.
“Little Orphan Annie” is a comic strip created in 1924 by Harold Gray. The title was taken from a poem written in 1885 by James Whitcomb Riley called “Little Orphant Annie” (and yes, that spelling “orphant” is correct). Strangely enough, the original name of the poem was “Little Orphant Allie”, changed forever at its third printing, purely because of a typesetter’s error!
“Dharma & Greg” is a sitcom that aired from 1997 to 2002 on ABC. Greg and Dharma are a couple that married on their first date, despite being exact opposites in personality.
30. E’s value, in Scrabble : ONE
The game of Scrabble has been around since 1938, the invention of an architect named Alfred Moshoer Butts. Butts determined the optimum number of tiles of each letter and the appropriate point value of each tile by analyzing letter distributions in publications like … “The New York Times” …
34. Picnic dish : SLAW
The term “coleslaw” is an Anglicized version of the Dutch name “koolsla”, which in itself is a shortened form of “Koolsalade” meaning “cabbage salad”.
40. Considered good by Moody’s : RATED A
Moody’s is a credit rating agency which ranks the credit-worthiness of borrowers, a service also provided by Standard & Poor’s. Moody’s was started in 1909 by John Moody when he published a book containing analysis of railroad securities.
Kid Ory was a bandleader and jazz trombonist. At the beginning of the 20th century Ory’s New Orleans band included a young cornet player called … Louis Armstrong.
44. Tribal emblems : TOTEMS
Totem is the name given to any entity that watches over a group of people. As such, totems are usually the subjects of worship. Totem poles are really misnamed, as they are not intended to represent figures to be worshiped, but rather are heraldic in nature often celebrating the legends or notable events in the history of a tribe.
“The Ramones” were an American punk rock band. The group formed in Forest Hills, New York in the mid-seventies. Arguably, it was the first punk rock group, defining the genre. Something else that’s not my cup of tea …
Nipper is the name of the dog that appeared in the RCA logo. Nipper was a real dog, actually from England. Nipper’s owner, Francis Barraud, made a painting of him listening to a gramophone and he then approached several gramophone manufacturers in the hope they would be interested in using the image for advertising. It was indeed picked up, and around that time it was Barraud himself who came up with the slogan “His Master’s Voice”.
52. Former N.B.A. star Nick Van ___ : EXEL
Nick Van Exel is a retired NBA basketball player, and now assistant coach for the Atlanta Hawks.
55. Artist’s “Done!” : FINI
“Fini” is the French for “done, finished”.
58. Dish prepared with tongs : SALAD
Our word “salad” comes from the Vulgar Latin “herba salata”, the name given to vegetables seasoned with brine.
59. Sign of spring : ARIES
Aries is the first astrological sign in the Zodiac, and is named after the constellation. Your birth sign is Aries if you were born between March 21 and April 20, but if you are an Aries, you would know that!
60. Fish-fowl link : NOR
Something that is “neither fish nor fowl” is something that is not recognizable, is nothing familiar at all.
Caroline Bouvier Kennedy is the only surviving child of President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. Caroline’s elder sister, Arabella, was stillborn; younger brother John Jr. died in a small-plane crash off Martha’s Vineyard in 1999; youngest brother Patrick died at only two days old.
62. Short-sheeting or T.P.’ing : PRANK
I remember the first time I fell victim to the prank of “short-sheeting”, and very perplexing 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 …
TP’ing (toilet papering) is a prank involving the covering of some object or location with rolls and rolls of toilet paper. If you live in Texas or Minnesota, that little “prank” is legal, but if you live here in California it is classed as mischief or vandalism.
Down
Omerta is a code of honor in southern Italian society. It has been adopted by the Mafia to mean a code of silence designed to prevent a Mafioso from informing to the authorities. For example, the famous Joe Valachi was someone who broke the code of silence in 1963, informing on the New York Mafia. His story was told in the movie “The Valachi Papers”, with Charles Bronson playing Valachi.
The 1925 musical “No, No, Nanette” spawned two famous songs, “Tea for Two” and “I Want to Be Happy”.
5. Sunrise direction, in Berlin : OST
Ost is the German for “east”.
6. Jacques Tati’s “Mon ___” : ONCLE
Jacques Tati was a very famous filmmaker in France. “Mon Oncle” was an Oscar-winning film that he released in 1958.
The English theologian Isaac Watts was also a celebrated composer of hymns, and is known as the “Father of English Hymnody”. An example of his work that is probably familiar is the Christmas classic “Joy to the World”, for which he wrote the words.
Even I know that Eli Manning, and his older brother Peyton, are both quarterbacks!
13. Museum-funding org. : NEA
The National Endowment for the Arts is an agency funded by the federal government that offers support and financing 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 $170 million annually through the eighties and much of the nineties. That funding was cut to less than $100 million in the late nineties due to pressure from conservatives concerned about the use of funds, but it is now back over the $150 million mark.
25. Santa ___ winds : ANA
Santa Ana is the county seat of Orange County, California, taking its name from the Santa Ana River that runs through the city. The Santa Ana winds are the very dry air currents that sweep offshore late in the year in Southern California. Because they are so dry, they are noted for their influence over forest fires in the area, especially in the heat of the fall. The winds arise from a buildup of air pressure in the Great Basin that lies between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. Under the right conditions, the air spills over the peaks of the Sierra Nevada, and basically “falls” down the side of the Sierra range, heading for the ocean. As the air falls, it becomes drier and heats up, so that relative humidity can fall to below 10% as it hits the coast.
Moas were flightless birds native to New Zealand that are now extinct. The fate of the Moa is a great example of the detrimental effect that humans can have on animal populations. The Maoris arrived in New Zealand about 1300 AD, upsetting the balance of the ecosystem. The Moa were hunted to extinction within 200 years, which had the knock-on effect of killing off the Haast’s Eagle, the Moa’s only predator prior to the arrival of man.
“State Fair” is a musical film by Rodgers and Hammerstein that was released in 1945. The “fair” in the storyline is the Iowa State Fair, in Des Moines.
“The Sopranos” is an outstanding television drama that was made by HBO, a story Italian-American mobsters in New Jersey. “The Sopranos” has made more money than any other television series in the history of cable television. It’s “must see TV” …
E-file, that’s what I just did with my tax returns (using Turbotax
45. Banished to Siberia, say : EXILED
Siberia is a vast area in Northern Asia. The region’s industrial development started with the construction of the Trans-Siberian railway from 1891 to 1916, linking Siberia to Russia in the west.
47. Small burger : SLIDER
The slider is a relatively new invention, created by the “White Castle” fast food chain in 1993.
51. Bob Cratchit, for one : CLERK
The classic 1843 novella “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens has left us with a few famous phrases and words. Firstly, it led to popular use of the phrase “Merry Christmas”, and secondly it gave us the word “scrooge” meaning a miserly person. And thirdly, everyone knows that Scrooge uttered the words “Bah! Humbug!”.
Rice-a-Roni was introduced in 1958 by the Golden Grain Macaroni Company of San Francisco. The company was run by an Italian immigrant and his four sons. The wife of one of the sons served a pilaf dish at a family diner that was a big hit, so her brother-in-law created a commercial version by blending dry chicken soup mix with rice and macaroni. Sounds like “a San Francisco treat” to me …
58. ___-Cat : SNO
The brand name Sno-Cat is owned by the Tucker company. All “snowcats” are tracked vehicles built to work in snow, famously used in expeditions to the polar regions. The modern Sno-Cat from Tucker differs from its competitors in that it has four, independently-mounted tracks.
For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. ID card feature : PHOTO
6. Suffix with human or planet : -OID
9. Colorado skiing mecca : ASPEN
14. Some bar wedges : LIMES
15. Code-cracking org. : NSA
16. Ripped off : STOLE
17. Bothered no end : ATE AT
18. *Dining area : CAFETERIA
20. Soft ball brand : NERF
21. *Result of collapsed arches : FLAT FEET
22. Outer: Prefix : ECTO-
23. Former Common Market inits. : EEC
24. Annie of the comics, e.g. : ORPHAN
27. Greg’s sitcom mate : DHARMA
29. O.R. workers : DRS
30. E’s value, in Scrabble : ONE
31. Period following homework completion, perhaps : TV TIME
34. Picnic dish : SLAW
35. Unexpected development … or what the answer to each starred clue contains? : TWIST OF FATE
38. Something a yodeler may hear : ECHO
40. Considered good by Moody’s : RATED A
41. Big lug : APE
42. Jazz trombonist Kid ___ : ORY
44. Tribal emblems : TOTEMS
48. Dee Dee, Tommy, Joey or Johnny of punk : RAMONE
50. Nipper’s co. : RCA
52. Former N.B.A. star Nick Van ___ : EXEL
53. *Nevertheless : AFTER ALL
55. Artist’s “Done!” : FINI
56. *Didn’t disturb : LEFT ALONE
58. Dish prepared with tongs : SALAD
59. Sign of spring : ARIES
60. Fish-fowl link : NOR
61. Caroline Kennedy, to Ted : NIECE
62. Short-sheeting or T.P.’ing : PRANK
63. Printer’s supply : INK
64. “And that’s an ___!” : ORDER
Down
1. Made smooth : PLANED
2. Containing state-of-the-art gadgetry : HI-TECH
3. Code of silence for 35-Down : OMERTA
4. *Song from “No, No, Nanette” : TEA FOR TWO
5. Sunrise direction, in Berlin : OST
6. Jacques Tati’s “Mon ___” : ONCLE
7. English theologian Watts : ISAAC
8. Off one’s rocker : DAFT
9. Fall bloomers : ASTERS
10. Sharply inclined : STEEP
11. Window with an ocean view : PORTHOLE
12. QB Manning : ELI
13. Museum-funding org. : NEA
19. Get an ___ effort : E FOR
21. *Daredevils’ doings : FEATS
25. Santa ___ winds : ANA
26. Just out : NEW
28. 1,006, in old Rome : MVI
29. Nimble-fingered : DEFT
32. Modest response to praise : I TRY
33. Emu’s extinct cousin : MOA
34. *”It Might as Well Be Spring” musical : STATE FAIR
35. Tony Soprano’s group : THE MAFIA
36. *Kind of position : FETAL
37. Hubbub : ADO
38. Makeshift pencil holder : EAR
39. E-file preparer : CPA
42. Focused, at work : ON TASK
43. Fiddler’s tune : REEL
45. Banished to Siberia, say : EXILED
46. Threat : MENACE
47. Small burger : SLIDER
49. Quite a lot : OFTEN
50. Yakked away : RAN ON
51. Bob Cratchit, for one : CLERK
54. Rice-A-___ : RONI
56. Swimmer’s workout unit : LAP
57. Blow it : ERR
58. ___-Cat : SNO
This webpage is great. I'm going to check it every evening after I've tried (and most likely failed) to complete the crossword puzzle myself.
Keep up the good work.
Hi there, TM.
Thanks for the kind words. I look forward to seeing you back here again. But I'd be quite happy to see you not turn up too often … a sign that you needed no help at all! 🙂
Thanks again.
OK, I'm stumped—how does 17 across, Bothered no end, turn into ATE AT?
I can't see a pun, I can't get the relationship between ate and bothered, or ate and no end, or at and bothered or anything.
I really love your site, thanks for all the hard work and great explanations.
Hi Jim,
Something that "bothers one no end" is said to "eat away at" them. I think that's it anyway!
Thanks for stopping by, Jim, and I hope that helps.
Boing! Giant light bulb moment here. Thanks. I'll be back tomorrow.
Great, Jim.
Glad I could help. I get those light bulb moments all the time 🙂
Thanks for the kind words about the blog.
See you again soon!