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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: Ian Livengood
THEME: JETS … each of the theme answers uses the clue “Jets”, a word displayed in the circled squares:
17A. [See circles] : JACUZZI FEATURES
24A. [See circles] : ENGINES ON A PLANE
46A. [See circles] : TEAM FROM NEW YORK
60A. [See circles] : SHARKS’ RIVAL GANG
COMPLETION TIME: 12m 45s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0
Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Tea Partiers, in Congress, e.g. : BLOC
The Tea Party Caucus in the US Congress is chaired by Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann. The stated focus for the caucus is fiscal responsibility and limited government, while adhering to the groups interpretation of the US Constitution. Top contributors to the caucus are health professional,s retirees, the real estate industry and oil and gas interests.
Jeri Ryan’s most famous role is that of the de-assimilated Borg known as Seven of Nine, on “Star Trek: Voyager”. I haven’t seen that show, so I know Ryan from a supporting role on the legal drama “Shark”, playing opposite James Woods. She also plays Ronnie Cooke on “Boston Public”.
14. Something that might reduce a tip? : EMERY
Emery is a very hard type of rock that is crushed for use as an abrasive. Emery paper is made by gluing small particles of emery to paper. Emery boards are just emery paper with a cardboard backing. And emery boards are primarily used for filing nails.
William Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew” is about a courting couple. The male is Petruchio, a gentleman of Verona, and the female is Katharina, the so-called “shrew”. As the play progresses, the “shrew” is “tamed” and becomes an “obedient” bride … a controversial storyline in the contemporary world, to say the least. Regardless, modern adaptations have been made, including 1948’s Broadway musical “Kiss Me Kate” and the 1999 romantic comedy “10 Things I Hate About You”.
17. [See circles] : JACUZZI FEATURES
Jacuzzi is one of those brand names that has become so associated with the product, that it is often assumed to be a generic term. The Jacuzzi company was founded in 1915 by the seven (!) Jacuzzi brothers from Italy, in Berkley, California. They pronounced their name “ja-coot-si”, as one might suspect when one realizes the name is of Italian origin. The company started off by making aircraft propellers, and then small aircraft, but suspended aircraft production in 1925 when one the brothers was killed in one of their planes. The family then started making hydraulic pumps, and in 1948 developed a submersible bathtub pump so that a son of one of the brothers could enjoy hydrotherapy for his rheumatoid arthritis. The “hydrotherapy product” took off in the fifties with some astute marketing towards “worn-out housewives” and the use of celebrity spokesman, Jack Benny.
20. Where oils are produced : ATELIERS
An atelier is an artist’s studio, with “atelier” being the French word for “studio” or “workshop”.
There was one US President born on July 4th: Calvin Coolidge in 1872.
Two presidents died on the exact same day, namely John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. If that isn’t remarkable enough, they died on Independence Day, July 4th, 1826. Adams and Jefferson weren’t the only presidents to die on July 4th. Exactly five years later, in 1831, President James Munro passed away. As an addendum, another two presidents died on the same date, on December 26th: Harry Truman in 1872 and Gerald Ford in 2006.
Ida Tarbell was a teacher, and what we would call today an “investigative journalist”, which back in her day was known as a “muckraker”. Her most famous work is her 1904 book “The History of the Standard Oil Company”. This exposé was credited with hastening the breakup of John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil in 1911.
33. Called previously : NEE
“Née” is the French word for “born”, when referring to a female. The male equivalent is “né”
35. Title of respect : SAHIB
Sahib is actually an Arabic word, that translates to “owner” or “proprietor”, or it can also mean “friend”. It is perhaps most recognized as a term of address used in India, where it is used in much the same way as we use “mister” in English.
The 2007 movie “There Will Be Blood”, starring Daniel Day Lewis and the young Paul Dano, is based on the 1927 novel “Oil!” by Upton Sinclair.
40. Art ___ : DECO
Art Deco is the name given to a style of design and architecture of the 1920s, that actually had its roots in Belgium and then spread throughout Europe before arriving in North America. Celebrated examples of art deco architecture are the magnificent Chrysler Building in New York City completed in 1930, and the GE Building that sits in the middle of Rockefeller Center also in New York City, with the address of “30 Rock”.
Roger Maris (whose real name was Roger Maras) was the son of Croatian immigrants. It was Maris’s single-season record of 61 home runs that Mark McGwire broke in in 1998 (hitting 70 that season). Maris’s own record of 61 runs (from 1961) beat the previous record of 60 set in 1927 by Babe Ruth.
45. Classic auto : REO
The REO Motor Company was founded by Ransom E. Olds (hence the name REO). The company made cars, trucks and buses, and was in business from 1905 to 1975 in Lansing, Michigan.
Just like the New York Giants, the New York Jets are based in New Jersey, headquartered in Florham Park. The Jets and the Giants have a unique arrangement in the NFL in that the two teams share the same stadium, the New Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The Jets were an AFL charter team, formed in 1959 as the Titans of New York. They changed their name to the Jets in 1963.
50. Person’s head? : PEE
P (pee) is the first letter of the word “person”.
51. Caribou’s domain : TUNDRA
Tundra is an ecosystem that is treeless, or very nearly so. There are three types of tundra. Arctic and Antarctic tundra can’t support the growth of trees as the ground is pretty much frozen. Alpine tundra cannot support tree-growth due to the high altitude.
Leonard Bernstein’s musical “West Side Story” is of course based on William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”. The musical is set in New York City and features two rival gangs: the Sharks from Puerto Rico and the Jets with working-class, Caucasian roots. Tony from the Jets falls in love with Maria from the Sharks. All this parallels Romeo from the House of Montague falling for Juliet from the House of Capulet in the Italian city of Verona.
Alexander Pope’s 1709 poem “An Essay on Criticism” is the source for at least three well-known quotations:
– A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.
– To err is human, to forgive divine.
– For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
The 1999 romantic comedy “She’s All That” is an adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion” (as is “My Fair Lady”). The critics hated “She’s All That”, but it still made it to number one at the box office.
67. Médoc and Grenache : REDS
Médoc is an appellation for wine in the Bordeaux region of France. The area produces red wines almost exclusively, and no white wine can be labelled as “Médoc”.
Grenache is red wine grape variety, and the major constituent of wines from the Chateauneuf-du-Pape region in France (my favorites). Grenache is also used to make rosé wines in the Cotes du Rhone region (also a favorite of mine).
Down
1. ___ 1000 (annual Mexican race) : BAJA
The Baja 1000 is a series of off-road races held on the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. The series includes events for everything from motorcycles to trucks.
2. Some coll. seniors take it for Harvard and Yale, but not for Princeton : LSAT
Princeton doesn’t have a law school, although once it did. It opened for business in 1847 and closed in 1852, with only seven students graduating with a law degree.
“The Raven” is a narrative poem by Edgar Allen Poe, and tells of a student who has lost the love of his life, Lenore. A raven enters his bedchamber and perches on a bust of Pallas. The raven can talk, to the student’s surprise, but says nothing but the word, “nevermore”. As the student questions all aspects of his life, the raven taunts him with the same comment, “nevermore”. Finally the student decides that his soul is trapped beneath the raven’s shadow and shall be lifted “nevermore” …
![Biography: The Mystery of Edgar Allan Poe [VHS]](https://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=6304340214&tag=wesneyoticrso-20)
5. Wicked women : JEZEBELS
A jezebel is a woman who is regarded as evil and scheming. The term comes from Jezebel, a prophetess in the Bible’s Book of Revelations who was accused of inducing people to commit sexually immoral acts and to eat food that had been sacrificed for holy idols.
6. Doha V.I.P. : EMIR
Doha is the capital city of the state of Qatar located on the Persian Gulf. The name “Doha” translates from Arabic as “the big tree”.
TMZ.com is a celebrity gossip web site launched in 2005. “TMZ” stands for “thirty-mile zone”, a reference to the “studio zone” in Los Angeles. The studio zone is circular in shape with a 30-mile radius centered on the intersection of West Beverly Boulevard and North La Cienega Boulevard.
In the 1830s the Latter Day Saints were driven off land that they held sacred in Missouri. The Church believed that the land was destined to be the city of Zion, so Joseph Smith led an abortive paramilitary expedition designed to enable the Church members to resettle the area.
19. Green surroundings? : TRAPS
The greens of a golf course are surrounded by sand traps.
Zora Neale Hurston was an American author, most famous for her 1937 novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God”. Like the author, the main character in the novel is an African American woman, a part played by Halle Berry in a television movie adaption that first aired in 2005.
26. Salami option : GENOA
Genoa salami is made using preservation techniques that originated in Ancient Rome.
The Kindle is Amazon’s famous reader, a handheld device used for reading books in electronic form. When the Kindle was launched on November 19, 2007, it sold out in five and a half hours! I don’t have one myself (my librarian wife won’t let me buy one) but I have friends that swear by them, especially for travel. If you’re interested, Amazon are pushing them right now, and they even have a version that is selling for $139 with free shipping
37. His law is represented as I = V/R : OHM
The unit of electrical resistance is the ohm (with the symbol omega), named after Georg Simon Ohm, the German physicist. Ohm was the guy who established experimentally that the amount of current flowing through a circuit was directly proportional to the voltage applied, (V=IR) a relationship that every school kid knows as Ohm’s Law.
The Frisbee concept started back in 1938 with a couple who had an upturned cake pan that they were tossing between each other on Santa Monica Beach in California. They were offered 25 cents for the pan on the spot, and as pans could be bought for 5 cents, the pair figured there was a living to be earned.
Chuck Yeager enlisted as a private in the US Army Air Forces in 1941, starting out as an aircraft mechanic. With the onset of the war at the end of the year, Yeager was able to enroll in flight school. In 1943 he was posted overseas, and flew P-51 Mustangs out of the south of England. He was shot down over France in 1944, and escaped to Spain with the aid of the French Resistance. His 11.5 accredited victories include five downed aircraft in one mission (making him an “ace in a day”), and one of the first air-to-air kills of a jet fighter.
The Bell X-1 was the first aircraft to break the sound barrier. The X-1 was shaped like a Browning .50 caliber machine gun bullet, because the bullet was known to be stable during supersonic flight. Chuck Yeager made that first flight, in an X-1 that he had christened “Glamorous Glennis” in honor of his wife.
53. Wine region : NAPA
Apparently the name “Napa” comes from the Native American Patwin word “napo” meaning house.
Tina Weymouth is one of the founding members of the New Wave group, Talking Heads.
In the digital world, resolution of a display, television, image etc. is the number of pixels that can be displayed in a standard area (say a square inch). The emphasis today is on producing larger area displays/televisions, i.e increasing the number of pixels simply by increasing the size of the screen. In the past couple of decades the emphasis was on adding more pixels within the same size screen to increase the resolution, but that would just be wasted effort these days, as further increases in resolution cannot be perceived by the eye. Now that TV’s are capable of displaying such high resolutions, broadcasters are responding by producing a video signal of “higher resolution”, that they call high-definition television, HDTV.
61. Jeff Davis follower : REB
The Confederate States of America set up government in 1861 just before Abraham Lincoln took office. Jefferson Davis was selected as President of the CSA at its formation and retained the post for the life of the government.
For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Tea Partiers, in Congress, e.g. : BLOC
5. Ryan of “Boston Public” : JERI
9. Appreciate : GAIN
13. Come ___ surprise : AS NO
14. Something that might reduce a tip? : EMERY
16. Subject of a lesson for Katharina in “The Taming of the Shrew” : LUTE
17. [See circles] : JACUZZI FEATURES
20. Where oils are produced : ATELIERS
21. Imagined : DREAMT
22. July 4, 1872, for Calvin Coolidge: Abbr. : DOB
23. Muckraker Tarbell : IDA
24. [See circles] : ENGINES ON A PLANE
33. Called previously : NEE
34. Pitch : SLANT
35. Title of respect : SAHIB
36. Paul of “There Will Be Blood” : DANO
38. See 28-Down : SLEEP
40. Art ___ : DECO
41. ___ shirt (colorful short-sleeved attire) : ALOHA
43. Ruth chaser in 1961 : MARIS
45. Classic auto : REO
46. [See circles] : TEAM FROM NEW YORK
49. Suffix with buff : -OON
50. Person’s head? : PEE
51. Caribou’s domain : TUNDRA
55. Prevaricate : TELL A LIE
60. [See circles] : SHARKS’ RIVAL GANG
62. Writer who popularized the saying “To err is human, to forgive divine” : POPE
63. Position : TENET
64. Lingering trace : ECHO
65. The 1999 comedy “She’s All That” is based on his work : SHAW
66. Unveiled : BARE
67. Médoc and Grenache : REDS
Down
1. ___ 1000 (annual Mexican race) : BAJA
2. Some coll. seniors take it for Harvard and Yale, but not for Princeton : LSAT
3. “The Raven” opening : ONCE
4. “Would they let me?” : COULD I
5. Wicked women : JEZEBELS
6. Doha V.I.P. : EMIR
7. Zebras : REFS
8. Cause of shouting : IRE
9. Arts and crafts purchase : GLUE
10. Special glow : AURA
11. TMZ twosome : ITEM
12. “Cheep” accommodations : NEST
15. When tripled, “and so on” : YADDA
18. ___ Camp, historic Mormon expedition led by Joseph Smith : ZION’S
19. Green surroundings? : TRAPS
23. June-August worker, perhaps : INTERN
24. Finish on : END AT
25. Writer Zora ___ Hurston : NEALE
26. Salami option : GENOA
27. Pink shade : SALMON
28. Common time for 38-Across : ONE AM
29. Young ‘un : LAD
30. “Don’t be ___” : A HERO
31. More gentlemanly or ladylike : NICER
32. Kindle download : E-BOOK
37. His law is represented as I = V/R : OHM
39. Makeshift Frisbee : PIE PLATE
42. Stick ___ in (test for doneness) : A FORK
44. Keen : SWELL
47. Often-televised celebrity event : ROAST
48. Flier of the X-1 : YEAGER
51. Recipe amts. : TSPS
52. “This might get ugly!” : UH-OH
53. Wine region : NAPA
54. Took a card : DREW
55. Rock bassist Weymouth : TINA
56. By any chance : EVER
57. Collar material : LACE
58. How many TV shows can be seen nowadays : IN HD
59. Big heads : EGOS
61. Jeff Davis follower : REB