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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: Kevin G. Der
THEME: GET READY TO ROLL … My first impression of the theme today was wrong! I thought the grid represented a pinball machine, whereas it actually represents a lane in a bowling alley, The circled letters running down the left and right sides spell GUTTER, and we need to keep the ball out of there. This is a rebus puzzle, so some squares include more than one letter. The black square in the grid represents the letters PIN, and the black circle represents the letters BALL. If you look carefully the black “ball” is curving its way down the lane trying to make the split and pick up the spare, to “knock down” the four pins remaining at the end of the lane. I think there are some theme answers as well, relating to bowling:
– 3D. P.R. people : SPIN DOCTORS
– 9D. Bit of free time : SPARE MOMENT
– 49D. 5-4 ruling, e.g. : SPLIT DECISION
– 101D. Suited to a person’s strengths : UP ONE’S ALLEY
COMPLETION TIME: 47m 09s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0
Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
12. Old pol. entity : SSR
The former Soviet Union was created in 1922, not long after the Russian Revolution of 1917 that overthrew the Tsar. The new Soviet Union was roughly equivalent geographically to the old Russian Empire, and was made up of fifteen Soviet Socialist Republics.
A starspot is the equivalent of a sunspot, seen on a star outside of our own solar system.
Sunspots are temporary dark spots seen on our sun, the sites of intense magnetic activity accompanying a drop in surface temperature (hence the darkening in color).
As we all know, Christopher Columbus used three ships in his first voyage across the Atlantic: the Santa Maria, the Niña and the Pinta. The Pinta was the fastest of the three, and it was from the Pinta that the New World was first spotted, by a sailor on lookout called Rodrigo de Triana. Pinta was a nickname (as was Niña), meaning “the painted one”. The Pinta’s real name has been lost in mists of time.
21. Yenta’s habit : SNOOPING
Yenta (Yente) is actually a female Yiddish name. In Yiddish theater it came to mean a busybody.
23. River to the North Sea : YSER
The Yser originates in northern France and flows though Belgium into the North Sea. The Yser name is oft associated with WWI as it figured in a major battle early in the conflict. In the first three months of the war, the German Army pushed almost completely through Belgium, inflicting heavy losses on the Belgian Army as the defenders were forced to fight a fast-moving rearguard action. The Germans were intent on pushing right through Belgium, across France in a “race to the sea”. But the Belgians, with the help of its Allies, decided to make a final stand at the Yser Canal in an effort to prevent the Germans reaching the French ports of Calais and Dunkirk. The 22-mile long defensive line was chosen at the Yser because the river and canal system could be flooded to create a barrier that might be defended. The plan was successful, and the front was “stabilized”. As we now know, millions of lives were lost over the coming years with very little movement of that battle line.
Our modern game of pinball evolved from an earlier table game called bagatelle which used balls, pins and holes (and I remember playing bagatelle as boy in a pub in Ireland). The first “pinball” machine was made by a British inventor who settled in Cincinnati, Ohio. He modified the game of bagatelle, adding a coiled spring and a plunger to introduce balls at the end of the table, a device that is still in use today. From there manufacturers developed coin-operated versions of pinball, which became popular during the depression as they provided a little entertainment for a few pennies. One distributor of the coin-operated pinball machines started manufacturing them himself as he couldn’t source new games fast enough. He called his pinball game Ballyhoo, and eventually named his company Bally, a brand name well known in the gambling industry to this day.
29. Land in a stream : AIT
Aits are little islands found in a river. Aits aren’t formed by erosion, but by the deposition of silt over time. As a result, aits often have a long and narrow shape running parallel to the banks as the sediment builds up with the flow of the water. Many of the islands in the River Thames in England, have been given the name Ait, like Raven’s Ait in Kingston-upon-Thames, and Lot’s Ait in Brentford.
To galumph is to prance about, somewhat smugly. The word is an invention of Lewis Carroll and he used it in his famous nonsense poem “Jabberwocky”. Apparently he arrived at “galumph” by blending the words “gallop” and “triumph”.
38. Jazz style : SCAT
Scat singing is a vocal improvisation found in the world of jazz. There aren’t any words as such, just random nonsense syllables made up on the spot.
45. Sun Devils’ sch. : ASU
Arizona State University has a long history, founded as the Tempe Normal School for the Arizona Territory in 1885.
Amstel is a Dutch beer and brewery, founded in 1870 in Amsterdam. The brewery takes its name from the Amstel river which runs through the city.
53. Period of the Cenozoic Era : NEOGENE
The Cenozoic Era is the most recent geologic era, and covers the period from 65.5 million years ago to the present day. The start of the Cenozoic Era is defined as the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event, the cataclysm that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
The Neogene period is the second of the three periods into which the Cenozoic Era is divided. The first part of the Cenozoic Era is the Paleogene Period, when mammals evolved after the extinction of the dinosaurs. In the Neogene period, mammals and birds continued to evolve, at a faster rate than other species. The last of the three periods in the Cenozoic Era is the the Quaternary, which spans about 2.5 million years ago to the present day.
Raga isn’t really a type of music, but has been described as the “tonal framework” in which Indian classical music is composed. Ravi Shankar is perhaps the most famous raga virtuoso (to us Westerners).
62. ___ acid : OLEIC
Oleic Acid is a fatty acid, found in many animal and plants sources but most notably in olives. “Oleic” means “derived from the olive”.
“Cat Ballou” is a 1965 film, a comedy western starring Jane Fonda in the title role and Lee Marvin in dual roles, for which Marvin won his only Oscar. The movie is based on a novel of the same name by Roy Chanslor. The novel was a serious and a quite dark work, but it was lightened up for the big screen.
77. Red-haired film princess : FIONA
Princess Fiona is the love interest in the “Shrek” series of films.
Before “Shrek” was a successful movie franchise and Broadway musical, it was a children’s picture book authored and illustrated by William Steig. The book’s title “Shrek!” came from the German/Yiddish word Schreck, meaning “fear” or “terror”.
79. Olds sedan : ALERO
The Oldsmobile Alero was the last compact car made by Oldsmobile, produced from 1999 to 2004.
A BB gun is an air pistol or rifle that shoots birdshot known as BBs. Birdshot comes in a number of different sizes, from size 9 (0.080″ in diameter) to size FF (.23″). 0.180″ diameter birdshot is size BB, which gives its name to the air gun.
88. Novelist Hoag : TAMI
Tami Hoag is a novelist best known for writing romances and thrillers. She is a prolific writer, and once had five consecutive titles on the New York Times bestsellers list, all in a 20-month period.
89. Cancún, e.g. : RESORT
Cancún is a city of the east coast of Mexico, on the other side of the Yucatan Channel from Cuba. It is a rapidly growing city due to its booming tourist business. It is the center of what’s often called “The Mexican Caribbean” or the “Mayan Riviera”.
Asahi is a beer, and the name of the brewery that produces it. “Asahi” is Japanese for “morning sun”. Asahi introduced a “dry beer” in 1987, igniting a craze that rocketed the brewery to the number one spot in terms of beer production in Japan, with Sapporo close behind.
“Howards End” was written by E. M. Forster. Emma Thompson won an Oscar for her part in the excellent 1992 film adaptation.
98. Centipede maker : ATARI
Centipede is an arcade game from Atari (it was my favorite!). The game was designed by Ed Logg and Dona Bailey, with Bailey being one of the few female game designers back then (it was released in 1980). Perhaps due to her influence, Centipede was the first arcade game to garner a significant female following.
Kaplan Inc. was founded in 1938 by Stanley Kaplan, who started out tutoring students for the New York State Regents Exam in the basement of his parents’ home in Brooklyn. He opened up locations for tuition around the country, and in 1984 sold the company to the Washington Post. Revenue for Kaplan was over 2½ billion dollars in 2009.
110. Rhodes of the Rhodes scholarships : CECIL
Cecil Rhodes, famous in America as the founder of the Rhodes Scholarship, was a very successful English businessman and South African politician. He founded the De Beers diamond mining company, and he also founded the state of Rhodesia which was named after him. The British colony gained its independence over time in the latter half of the 20th century, and is known today as the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe.
115. “make.believe” sloganeer : SONY
Sony was founded by Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka. The two partners met in the Japanese Navy during WWII.
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.
The more correct name for the game of pool is pocket billiards. The name “pool” came after pocket billiards became a common feature in “pool halls”, places where gamblers “pooled” their money to bet on horse races.
129. Sophocles title hero : AJAX
Sophocles was one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived. The first of the trio was Aeschylus, the second Sophocles, and the third Euripides. Sophocles is believed to have written 123 plays, including the most famous, “Antigone” and “Oedipus the King”. He also wrote a pay called “Ajax”.
134. ___ del Carmen, Mexico : PLAYA
Playa del Carmen is a resort city located south of Cancún in Eastern Mexico. The city is named for Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the patron saint of Cancún.
136. Norwegian king called “the 77-Down” : OLAF II
(77. See 136-Across : FAT)
Of the many kings of Norway named Olaf (and there have been five), Olaf II is perhaps the most remembered as he was canonized and made patron saint of the country. Olaf was king from 1015 to 1028, and was known as “Olaf the Big” (or Olaf the Fat) during his reign. Today he is more commonly referred to as “Olaf the Holy”.
“WALL-E” is a very cute, Pixar movie, released in 2008. The hero of the piece is a robot called WALL-E, who loves his “Hello Dolly”, and who fell in love with a robot called EVE.
The Times of London started out life in 1785 as The Daily Universal Register. By 1830, it had established itself as the original “Times” newspaper, a name copied across the world from Dublin, Ireland to New York City. On February 7th of 1830, one Lord Graves was found dead in his rooms, his throat cut from ear-to-ear, and even though there was no suicide note, a jury returned a verdict of death caused by a self-inflicted wound. The Times did not agree, and published an article attacking the inquest, an attack that provoked a lot of reaction. A follow up article in The Times commented on the reaction, and cited the original piece with the words “… we thundered out that article …” Other papers picked up on the phrase, calling The Times “The Thunderer”. That name stuck and to this day The Times of London is often referred to as “The Thunderer”.
147. Letter in 145-Across : ZED
The letter named “zed” has been around since about 1400, and derives from the Greek letter zeta. The spelling and pronunciation of “zee” used in America today first popped up in the 1670s.
148. Cheat : SHYSTER
Shyster is American slang for an unscrupulous lawyer, and is probably an alteration of the German word “Scheisser” meaning an incompetent and worthless person. “Scheisser” derives from an even less complimentary term “Sheisse”, the German for …. well, I won’t say it. But I will say as an aside that one of my son’s school friends told me one time that he didn’t really hold with the “Thank God It’s Friday” philosophy (TGIF), and was more into “So Happy It’s Thursday” … you can work it out …
Down
2. Asian capital name starter : ULAN
The name “Ulan Bator” translates from Mongolian as “the Red Hero”, and is Mongolia’s capital city. Ulan Bator lies north of the Gobi Desert.
“Up” is the tenth movie released by Pixar studios, featuring wonderful animation as one has come to expect from Pixar. It earned itself two Academy Awards. The main voice actor is Ed Asner, whose on screen appearance as Carl Fredricksen was created to resemble Spencer Tracy in his last film, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”.
13. “Go” square in Monopoly, e.g. : START
The commercial game of Monopoly is supposedly a remake of “The Landlord’s Game” created in 1903 by a Quaker woman called Lizzie Phillips who used it as a tool to explain the single tax theory of American economist Henry George. The Landlord’s Game was first produced commercially in 1924. The incredibly successful derivative game called Monopoly was introduced in 1933 by Charles Darrow, making him a very rich man when Parker Brothers bought the rights to the game just two years later in 1935.
27. Month before juin : MAI
In French, mai (MAY) comes before juin (June).
Jonathan Swift wrote “A Tale of a Tub” in the late 1600s, a satire about three brothers who try to travel the world. Each of the brothers is chosen to represent the primary branches of Christianity of the day (namely Roman Catholicism, Dissenting Protestantism and the Church of England).
Jonathan Swift was an Irish author and cleric. He is most famous perhaps for his 1726 novel “Gulliver’s Travels”, but we Irishmen remember him also as the Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. He was renowned for his wit and satire.
30. Soap opera creator Phillips : IRNA
Irna Phillips was the creator (and co-creator) of many radio and television soap operas, including:
– “Guiding Light”
– “As the World Turns”
– “Days of Our Lives”
33. “___ Mio” : O SOLE
“‘O sole mio” is a famous Italian song from Naples, written in 1898. The lyrics are usually sung in the original Neapolitan, as opposed to Italian. The title translates from Neapolitan into “My Sun” (and not into “O, My Sun” as one might expect). It’s a love song of course, sung by a young man declaring that there is a sun brighter than that in the sky, the sun that is his lover’s face. Awww …
39. Schemed together : CABALLED
A cabal is a small group of secret plotters, perhaps scheming against a government or an individual.
41. Alexander, to Aristotle : TUTEE
Aristotle was actually a student of Plato in Ancient Greece (and in turn, Plato was a student of Socrates). Aristotle’s most famous student was Alexander the Great.
44. Sardegna, e.g. : ISOLA
Sardinia is an autonomous region of Italy, an island in the Mediterranean off the west coast of the country. It lies to the south of the French island of Corsica. Sardinia is the second largest island in the Mediterranean (Sicily is the largest).
47. Asia’s ___ Sea : ARAL
The Aral Sea is great example of how man can have a devastating effect on the environment. In the early sixties the Aral Sea covered 68,000 square miles of Central Asia. Soviet Union irrigation projects drained the lake to such an extent that today the total area is less than 7,000 square miles, with 90% of the original lake’s volume gone. Sad …
52. Assembly area : AGORA
In early Greece the agora was a place of assembly. Often the assemblies were quite formal, perhaps for the reading of a proclamation. Later in Greek history, things became less formal as the agora evolved into a market place. Our contemporary word “agoraphobia” comes from agora, in the sense that a sufferer has a fear of open spaces, a fear of “public meeting places”.
Goya Foods is headquartered in Secaucus, New Jersey. It is was founded in 1936 and today is the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the nation.
Cathode Ray Tube: there aren’t may of them around in the stores these days …
56. O.K., in Osaka : HAI
The Japanese city of Osaka used to be called Naniwa, with the name changing to Osaka some time before 1500. “Osaka” can be translated either as “large hill” or “large slope”.
57. Ones with the Christmas spirit? : EGGNOGS
A noggin was the name of a small cup back in the 1600s that later lent its name to a small drink (and eventually to “eggnog”).
Ichiro Suzuki plays baseball for the Seattle Mariners. He holds quite a few batting records including the single-season record for base hits (262). Ichiro Suzuki is a huge celebrity in his native-Japan. His agent says that if you address fan mail to “Ichiro Suzuki, Japan”, he’ll get your letter …
65. Card catalog abbr. : ET AL
Et alii is the equivalent of et cetera, with et cetera being used in place of a list of objects, and et alii used for a list of names.
That athletic teams of the University of Alabama are nicknamed the Crimson Tide, a reference to the team colors, crimson and white.
The red triangle on the label of a bottle of Bass Ale was registered in 1875 and is UK Registered Trade Mark No: 00001.
75. Irish Rose’s beau : ABIE
“Abie’s Irish Rose” was originally a Broadway play by Anne Nichols that opened in 1922 and ran for over five years, at the time the longest run for any show in New York. The show then went on tour, and stayed on tour for an amazing 40 years.
84. Skater Midori : ITO
Midori Ito is a Japanese figure skater. She was the first woman to land a triple/triple jump and a triple axel in competition. In fact, she landed her first triple jump in training, when she was only 8 years old …
90. Slowing, in mus. : RIT
Rit. (or sometimes ritard.) is the abbreviation for ritardando, the musical direction to slow down the tempo.
“Dirk” is the Scots word for dagger, and is the name given to a knife that is worn hanging from a belt in traditional dress that includes a kilt. The dagger worn in the sock isn’t a dirk (as is supposed by many) but rather is called a “sgian dubh”, “a black or hidden knife”.
99. Hosiery color : TAUPE
Taupe is a dark, gray-brown color. The name “taupe” comes from the Latin name of the European Mole, which has skin with the same color.
100. How some shares are sold : AT PAR
Stocks, and other financial vehicles, may be sold “at par”, meaning at the original price, not discounted nor at a premium.
Enokitake (also known as enoki) are long, thin white mushrooms often added to soups or salads.
Jay Leno is a car nut, and owns about 200 vehicles of various types. You can check them out on his website!
120. Engage in a 1920s fad : POLE SIT
Sitting on poles has a long tradition associated with it, with stories of ascetics engaging in the practice centuries ago. More recently it became a fad in the twenties, with times of over fifty days being clocked. The current record is held by a young man from Gdansk in Poland, who won himself nearly $23,000 in 2002 by winning an endurance competition, lasting 196 days and nights on top of an 8-foot pole with a platform atop measuring 16×24 inches. Madness …
“First Blood” was the first of the four “Rambo” films starring Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo, a troubled Vietnam War veteran. I thought “First Blood” was a pretty good film actually, but the sequels were terrible, and way too violent for me. But, action all the way …
134. W. or Bam : PREZ
W and Bam are nicknames for US Presidents. W is a nickname for President George W. Bush, and Bam is a nickname for President Barack Obama.
Ione Skye is an American actress, born in Hertfordshire in England. She is best known for portraying the character Diane Court in the 1989 high school romance movie “Say Anything …”, starring opposite John Cusack. Skye is the daughter of the Scottish folk singer Donovan.
For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Ornate : BUSY
5. Spreads : REPASTS
12. Old pol. entity : SSR
15. Like some skiing : ALPINE
16. Dark patch on a distant sun : STARSPOT
17. Niña accompanier : PINTA
18. Roams : GADS
19. Century in Amer. politics : US SENATE
20. Pony : NAG
21. Yenta’s habit : SNOOPING
23. River to the North Sea : YSER
24. Bally enthusiasts : PINBALLERS
26. Off-white pottery : CREAMWARE
28. Sharp-tongued : TART
29. Land in a stream : AIT
31. Thin as ___ : A RAIL
32. Temper : MOOD
34. Galumph : TROMP
36. They may get people talking : INTROS
38. Jazz style : SCAT
42. General Assembly figure, for short : UN REP
43. Mine, to Marie : A MOI
45. Sun Devils’ sch. : ASU
46. Underlying : BASAL
47. Dutch brews : AMSTELS
50. Ticket presenter : BALLOT
51. Shred : TEAR UP
53. Period of the Cenozoic Era : NEOGENE
55. Meditate (on) : CHEW
58. Like much of New Orleans’s French Quarter : GASLIT
60. Beaver’s home : LODGE
61. Shankar piece : RAGA
62. ___ acid : OLEIC
63. Hoedown seating : HAY
64. Pooh’s pal : TIGGER
66. What you used to be? : THOU
68. Bickering : AT IT
72. “I like your thinking” : NOT A BAD IDEA
76. “Cat ___,” 1965 film : BALLOU
77. Red-haired film princess : FIONA
79. Olds sedan : ALERO
80. Shot source : BB GUN
82. Exchange fig. : AVG
83. Citrusy cocktail mixer : LIME CORDIAL
86. Focus of a class action? : TEST
88. Novelist Hoag : TAMI
89. Cancún, e.g. : RESORT
92. Flap : ADO
94. Drink with tempura, maybe : ASAHI
97. “Howards End” role : EVIE
98. Centipede maker : ATARI
101. Singular : UNIQUE
102. Balancing acts? : BALLETS
103. Kaplan course, briefly : SAT PREP
105. Waited longer than : OUTSAT
107. Drillmaster’s call : HUP
108. Called : KNOWN AS
110. Rhodes of the Rhodes scholarships : CECIL
114. M.P.G. watcher : EPA
115. “make.believe” sloganeer : SONY
116. ___ guisada, Tex-Mex stew : CARNE
117. Kind of gun : NERF
119. Continue : KEEP ON
123. Twin Cities sch. : UMINN
124. Waikiki wear : LEIS
126. Yellow pool items : ONE-BALLS
128. That, in Toledo : ESO
129. Sophocles title hero : AJAX
131. Station line : ALL ABOARD
134. ___ del Carmen, Mexico : PLAYA
135. Told stories : LIED
136. Norwegian king called “the 77-Down” : OLAF II
139. Clear : RID
140. Station identification : CALL SIGN
143. Tie up : MOOR
144. Pixar robot with a female voice : EVE
145. London daily : THE TIMES
146. Rot : BUNK
147. Letter in 145-Across : ZED
148. Cheat : SHYSTER
149. Cheers : OLES
Down
1. Luggage : BAGS
2. Asian capital name starter : ULAN
3. P.R. people : SPIN DOCTORS
4. ___ no : YES OR
5. Some N.F.L.’ers : RTS
6. Runaway : EASY WIN
7. Make ready for a winter storm, as a highway : PRE-SALT
8. Ed heard in “Up” : ASNER
9. Bit of free time : SPARE MOMENT
10. Onesie wearer : TOT
11. Enter : STEP INTO
12. Game piece : SPINNER
13. “Go” square in Monopoly, e.g. : START
14. Cinderella’s wear, at home : RAGS
16. Darling : SUGAR
22. Hawaiian pizza topping : PINEAPPLE
25. Minstrel songs : BALLADS
27. Month before juin : MAI
29. Swift’s “A Tale of ___” : A TUB
30. Soap opera creator Phillips : IRNA
33. “___ Mio” : O SOLE
35. Ambulance, slangily : MEAT WAGON
37. One in a maze : RAT
39. Schemed together : CABALLED
40. For ___ (cheaply) : A SONG
41. Alexander, to Aristotle : TUTEE
44. Sardegna, e.g. : ISOLA
47. Asia’s ___ Sea : ARAL
48. What writer’s block may block : MUSE
49. 5-4 ruling, e.g. : SPLIT DECISION
52. Assembly area : AGORA
54. Spanish food brand : GOYA
55. Old PC part : CRT
56. O.K., in Osaka : HAI
57. Ones with the Christmas spirit? : EGGNOGS
59. Mariner of note : ICHIRO
63. Steel or bronze : HUE
65. Card catalog abbr. : ET AL
67. Tracker’s aid : ODOR
69. Child-sized mitt : T-BALL GLOVE
70. Promise to pay : IOU
71. Large cask : TUN
73. The Crimson Tide, for short : BAMA
74. Bass lover? : ALE MAN
75. Irish Rose’s beau : ABIE
77. See 136-Across : FAT
78. “___ had it!” : I’VE
81. Nine : BASEBALL TEAM
84. Skater Midori : ITO
85. Exsiccates : DRIES
87. Campsite sight : TARP
90. Slowing, in mus. : RIT
91. French possessive : TES
93. Highlands daggers : DIRKS
95. Water color : AQUA
96. “Survivor” homes : HUTS
98. More than pale : ASHEN
99. Hosiery color : TAUPE
100. How some shares are sold : AT PAR
101. Suited to a person’s strengths : UP ONE’S ALLEY
104. Edible mushroom : ENOKI
106. Charge : ACCUSAL
109. Fork : WYE
111. Said “No fair!” : CRIED FOUL
112. They have rates and ratings : INNS
113. Jay who jests : LENO
118. Tongue-lash : FLAY
120. Engage in a 1920s fad : POLE SIT
121. One way to turn : ON A DIME
122. Cornhusker St. : NEB
125. Draws out : EXACTS
127. Clowns’ toys : BALLOONS
129. Still in the game : ALIVE
130. Spent : JADED
132. Merry-go-round music : LILTS
133. Sly type? : RAMBO
134. W. or Bam : PREZ
137. Actress Skye : IONE
138. Nettles : IRKS
141. Sound at a spa : AHH
142. Neth. neighbor : GER