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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: Elizabeth C. Gorski
THEME: OOO … all the theme answers are 3-word terms, with each word starting with the letter O:
14A. “Love the skin you’re in” sloganeer, once : OIL OF OLAY
19A. Undergrads’ Greek leadership society : ORDER OF OMEGA
35A. Warren Buffett’s sobriquet : ORACLE OF OMAHA
54A. You need to raise your hand to receive this : OATH OF OFFICE
60A. Pulitzer-winning novel by Willa Cather : ONE OF OURS
32D. Tic-tac-toe line … and a hint to this puzzle’s theme : O-O-O
COMPLETION TIME: 13m 20s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0
Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
The soprano Marni Nixon’s claim to fame is as a playback singer, someone who provides the singing voice for actresses in starring roles in musicals. Among her list of movie “roles” is the singing voice of Deborah Kerr in “The King and I” (1956) and “An Affair to Remember” (1957), Natalie Wood in “West Side Story” (1961), and Audrey Hepburn in “My Fair Lady” (1964). She did appear on screen as well, acting and singing as Sister Sophia in “The Sound of Music” (1965).
9. Software prototype : BETA
In the world of software development, the first tested issue of a new program is usually called the “alpha” version. Expected to have a lot of bugs that need to be fixed, the alpha release is usually distributed to a small number of testers. After reported bugs have been eliminated, the refined version is called a “beta” and is released to a wider audience, but with the program clearly labeled as “beta”. The users generally check functionality and report further bugs that are encountered. The beta version feeds into a release candidate, the version that is tested just prior to the software being sold into the market, bug-free. Yeah, right …
14. “Love the skin you’re in” sloganeer, once : OIL OF OLAY
Oil of Olay was developed in South Africa in 1949. When it was introduced internationally, it was given slightly different brand names designed to appeal in the different geographies. In Ireland we know it as Oil of Ulay, for example, and in France it is Oil of Olaz.
Donna Karan is an American fashion designer, creator of the DKNY clothing label. She was raised in the fashion industry, as her mother was a model and her stepfather a tailor.
The Order of Omega is an undergraduate fraternity. It was established at the University of Miami in 1959, but now has a presence in colleges all over the country.
21. ___, Straus and Giroux (publisher) : FARRAR
The publishing house Farrar, Straus and Giroux has been around since 1946. Included in the company’s list of authors it has published are T. S. Eliot, William Golding and Elie Wiesel, all Nobel Prize winners.
Teri Hatcher’s most famous role these days is as Susan Meyer in “Desperate Housewives”. I’ve never seen more than a few minutes of that show, but I do know Teri Hatcher as a Bond girl, as she appeared in “Tomorrow Never Dies”.
26. Magical : FEY
“Fey” is such a lovely word, meaning magical or fairylike. It comes from the Middle English word “feie” which has a less pleasant defintion, “fated to die”.
29. Turkish capital : ANKARA
Ankara is the second largest city in Turkey, after Istanbul (formerly Constantinople). After WWI, the Ottoman Empire had been defeated and the Allies occupied the Ottoman capital of Istanbul. The victors planned to break up most of Turkey, leaving native Turks just part of their country for their own. In the inevitable War of Independence that followed, the Turkish Nationalists used Ankara as their base. When they emerged victorious, they declared Ankara the new capital of Turkey.
31. Steering system part : TIE ROD
Tie rods are part of the rack and pinion steering mechanism in a car.
Warren Buffett is one of my heroes. Despite being the third wealthiest man in the world he lives a relatively frugal and modest life. He also has a very Jeffersonian attitude towards the role his wealth plays within his family. He has set up his estate so that his children get enough money to be independent, but the vast majority of his assets are going to charity both before and after he dies.
41. Racy, say : RATED R
The Motion Picture Association of America’s (MPAA) film-rating system is purely voluntary and is not backed by any law. Movie theaters agree to abide by the rules that come with the MPAA ratings in exchange for access to new movies.
44. Line part: Abbr. : SEG
A line can be divided into segments (I guess!).
45. Blood-typing letters : ABO
The most important grouping of blood types is the ABO system. Blood is classified as either A, B, AB or O, depending on the type of antigens on the surface of the red blood cells. A secondary designation of blood is the Rh factor, in which a different set of antigens is labelled as either positive or negative. When a patient receives a blood transfusion, ideally the donor blood should be the same type as that of the recipient, as incompatible blood cells can be rejected. However, blood type O-Neg can be accepted by recipients with all blood types, AB or O, positive or negative. Hence someone with O-neg blood type is called a “universal donor”.
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.
49. Target of many a New Yorker cartoon : WASP
The not-so-nice term “WASP”, standing for White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, is used for Americans with a relatively high position in society, and usually of British descent.
American novelist Willa Cather wrote what’s called the “prairie trilogy”, books that tell the story of Swedish immigrants living in Nebraska. The titles in the trilogy are “O, Pioneers!”, “The Song of the Lark” and “My Antonia”. Cather won the Pulitzer Prize for another novel, “One of Ours”, set in Nebraska and the French battlefields of WWI.
61. Mixed bags : OLIOS
Olio is a term meaning a hodgepodge or a mixture, coming from the mixed stew of the same name. The stew, in turn, takes its name from the Spanish “olla”, the name of the clay pot used to make the stew.
62. ___’ Pea : SWEE
Originally Popeye used the nickname “swee’pea” to address his girlfriend, Olive Oyl. Then along comes a baby, found on Popeye’s doorstep. Popeye adopts the little guy and raises him, calling him “Swee’Pea”.
Down
Bernie Madoff is serving a 150-year sentence for having operated what is described as the largest Ponzi scheme in history. Basically Madoff took investor’s money and instead of investing it in the markets as agreed, he put the money into a bank account. He used some of the money he collected from new investors to pay the older investors the anticipated monthly returns. This worked just fine, until too many investors started looking for the return of the original investment. The money was “gone”, paid to new investors (and Madoff), so the whole scheme collapsed.
2. Old Greek markets : AGORAE
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 these agorae, in the sense that a sufferer has a fear of open spaces, a fear of “public meeting places”.
The very successful National Football League team in San Francisco takes its name from the gold prospectors who flooded into Northern California around 1949 during the California Gold Rush, the “49ers”.
5. How a fatwa might be issued : IN ARABIC
In the Muslim tradition, a fatwā is a religious opinion issued by an Islamic scholar on a matter of Islamic law. There is a common misconception that a fatwā is a death sentence imposed on a person, and although such a drastic directive is a possible component of the opinion, it is a very rare occurrence.
6. Tip politely : DOFF
One doffs one’s hat, usually as a mark of respect. To doff is to take off, with “doff” being a contraction of “do off”.
9. ___ Burger (veggie patty) : BOCA
I love Boca Burgers, the vegan ones anyway, made from soy protein. The Boca Foods company takes its name from Boca Raton, the city where is started doing business, in 1979.
10. “Turn to Stone” grp. : ELO
ELO of course stands for the Electric Light Orchestra, a symphonic rock group from the north of England. Their manager was Don Arden, father of Sharon Osbourne (wife of Ozzy).
Tai Babilonia is a retired figure skater, long time partner of Randy Gardner. The pair started skating together when she was just eight years old, and stayed together until she was 49, retiring in 2008. Babilonia is engaged to the comedian David Brenner.
Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist born Alisa Rosenbaum. Her two best known works are her novels “The Fountainhead” published in 1943 and “Atlas Shrugged” in 1957. Back in 1951, Rand moved from Los Angeles to New York City. Soon after, she gathered a group of admirers around her with whom she discussed philosophy and shared drafts of her magnum opus, “Atlas Shrugged”. This group called itself “The Collective”, and one of the founding members was none other than future Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan.
15. “The Makropulos Affair,” for one : OPERA
“The Makropulos Affair” is an opera by the Czech composer Leoš Janáček, and is based on a play of the same name by author Karel Čapek.
16. “Oliver Twist” creep : FAGIN
“Oliver Twist” is of course a novel by Charles Dickens. It is a popular tale for adaptation to the big screen. There were two silent film versions, in 1909 and 1922, and the first talkie version was released in 1933, with many to follow. The latest “Oliver” for the big screen was the 2005 Roman Polanski production.
20. Bay window : ORIEL
An oriel window is a bay window that projects from a wall, but does not reach all the way to the ground.
Like so many of the great composers, the extent of Bach’s contribution to the repertoire wasn’t fully recognized until long after his passing. Johann Sebastian Bach was undoubtedly the greatest composer of the Baroque period, and is ranked by many as the greatest classical composer of all time.
Johann Sebastian Bach raised a very large family. He had seven children with his first wife, who died suddenly. He had a further thirteen children with his second wife. Of his twenty youngsters, there were four sons who became famous musicians in their own right:
– Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (aka “the Halle Bach”)
– Carl Philipp Bach (aka “the Hamburg Bach”)
– Johann Christoph Bach (aka “the Buckeberg Bach”)
– Johann Christian Bach (aka “the London Bach”)
28. ___ Rabbit : BR’ER
Br’er Rabbit and Br’er Fox are characters in the Uncle Remus stories, written by Joel Chandler Harris. His stories are adaptations of African American folk tales that he collected across the American South. The “Br’er” of course stands for “brother”.
30. 1981 Chrysler debut : K-CAR
Chrysler’s K-cars were designed to carry 6 passengers, on two bench seats. Remember taking a corner a little too fast on those seats, in the days when no one wore seat belts?
The museum known as “the Tate” is actually made up of four separate galleries in England. The original Tate gallery was founded by Sir Henry Tate as the National Gallery of British Art. It is located on Millbank in London, on the site of the old Millbank Prison, and is now called Tate Britain. There is also the Tate Liverpool in the north of England located in an old warehouse, and the Tate St. Ives in the west country located in an old gas works. My favorite of the Tate galleries is the Tate Modern which lies on the banks of the Thames in London. It’s a beautiful building, a converted power station, that you have to see to believe.
32. Tic-tac-toe line … and a hint to this puzzle’s theme : O-O-O
When I was growing up in Ireland, we played “noughts and crosses” … our name for tic-tac-toe.
The DFC is the Distinguished Flying Cross.
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the oldest independent air force in the world (i.e. the first air force to become independent of army or navy forces). The RAF was formed during WWI on April 1, 1918, a composite of two earlier forces, the Royal Flying Corps (part of the Army) and the Royal Naval Air Service. The RAF’s “finest hour” has to be the Battle of Britain, when the vastly outnumbered British fighters fought off the might of the Luftwaffe causing Hitler to delay his plan to cross the English Channel. This outcome prompted Winston Churchill’s memorable words:
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
35. Patron saint of Norway : OLAV
Of the many kings of Norway named Olaf/Olav (and there have been five), Olaf II is perhaps the most remembered as he was canonized and made patron saint of the country. Olaf II 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”.
37. Vermont ski resort : OKEMO
Okemo is a ski resort near Ludlow, Vermont. If you visit Okemo, you’ll see that it’s also home to the Timber Ripper roller coaster, which operates year round. The Timber Ripper became the state of Vermont’s first roller coaster when it opened for business in December, 2010.
42. Tom Thumb, for one : DWARF
The story “Tom Thumb” was originally published in 1621, making it the first fairy tale ever printed in English.
Alicia Keys is the stage name of Alicia Cook, an R&B and soul singer from Hell’s Kitchen in New York City.
47. “Potemkin” port : ODESSA
The Russian battleship Potemkin is perhaps more famous for an on-board rebellion than for any naval action. In 1905, the Potemkin was on firing exercises when the crew refused to eat meat that contained maggots. The second-in-command gathered the crew on the quarterdeck, and lined them up in front of armed marines. Fearing a mass execution, the crew rushed the marines and began the famous mutiny. The event was reconstructed in an equally famous film by Sergei Eisenstein called “The Battleship Potemkin”, a silent film released in 1925 that is considered by many to be the greatest film of all time.
Professional snowboarder Shaun White has won Olympic gold twice, in 2006 and 2010.
51. 2009 U.S. Open winner Juan Martín del ___ : POTRO
Juan Martín del Potro is an Argentine tennis player, winner of the 2009 US Open.
Patsy Cline was a country music singer who managed to cross over into the world of pop music where she enjoyed great success. Cline is one of a long list of musical legends who died in plane crashes. Cline was 30 years old when she was killed in 1963 in a Piper Comanche plane piloted by her manager, Randy Hughes. Hughes and Cline decided to make that last flight despite warnings of inclement weather, and it was a severe storm that brought down the plane in a forest outside Camden, Tennessee.
54. Cousin of an English horn : OBOE
The oboe is perhaps my favorite of the reed instruments. The name “oboe” comes from the French “hautbois” which means “high wood”. When you hear an orchestra tuning before a performance, you’ll note (pun intended!) the oboe starts off the process by playing an “A”. The rest of the musicians in turn tune to that oboe’s “A”. Oh, and if you want to read a fun book (almost an “exposé”) about life playing the oboe, you might try “Mozart in the Jungle
56. Aegean tourist mecca : IOS
The Cyclades are a Greek group of islands in Aegean lying southeast of the Greek mainland. There are about 200 islands in the group, almost all of which are the peaks of a submerged mountain range. Ios is one of the larger islands, 11 miles long and 6 miles wide.
For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Soprano Nixon : MARNI
6. Infielders’ stats, for short : DPS
9. Software prototype : BETA
13. Demanding instructor’s cry : AGAIN
14. “Love the skin you’re in” sloganeer, once : OIL OF OLAY
17. Part of DKNY : DONNA
18. Make heads or tails of something? : FLIP A COIN
19. Undergrads’ Greek leadership society : ORDER OF OMEGA
21. ___, Straus and Giroux (publisher) : FARRAR
22. Actress Hatcher : TERI
23. “… like THAT!” : BAM
26. Magical : FEY
27. Front cover? : BIB
29. Turkish capital : ANKARA
31. Steering system part : TIE ROD
34. Roman 209 : CCIX
35. Warren Buffett’s sobriquet : ORACLE OF OMAHA
39. Gazillions : A LOT
40. Many a nursery chair : ROCKER
41. Racy, say : RATED R
44. Line part: Abbr. : SEG
45. Blood-typing letters : ABO
48. Garden party? : EVE
49. Target of many a New Yorker cartoon : WASP
52. Sent : MAILED
54. You need to raise your hand to receive this : OATH OF OFFICE
56. Drunkard : INEBRIATE
59. Doesn’t include : LACKS
60. Pulitzer-winning novel by Willa Cather : ONE OF OURS
61. Mixed bags : OLIOS
62. ___’ Pea : SWEE
63. What “-” means in a Google search : NOT
64. First course? : PLAN A
Down
1. Financial scammer Bernie : MADOFF
2. Old Greek markets : AGORAE
3. Was used up : RAN DRY
4. S.F. footballer : NINER
5. How a fatwa might be issued : IN ARABIC
6. Tip politely : DOFF
7. Pre-episode : PILOT
8. Dirtball : SLIME
9. ___ Burger (veggie patty) : BOCA
10. “Turn to Stone” grp. : ELO
11. Skater Babilonia : TAI
12. Author Rand : AYN
15. “The Makropulos Affair,” for one : OPERA
16. “Oliver Twist” creep : FAGIN
20. Bay window : ORIEL
23. Composer with 20 children : BACH
24. Song on a stage : ARIA
25. Top (out) : MAX
28. ___ Rabbit : BR’ER
30. 1981 Chrysler debut : K-CAR
31. ___ Gallery : TATE
32. Tic-tac-toe line … and a hint to this puzzle’s theme : O-O-O
33. R.A.F. awards : DFCS
35. Patron saint of Norway : OLAV
36. Repetitive learning : ROTE
37. Vermont ski resort : OKEMO
38. Big bust : MEGAFLOP
39. It might come after you : ARE
42. Tom Thumb, for one : DWARF
43. Five to one, e.g. : RATIO
45. Keys of music : ALICIA
46. Invite : BECKON
47. “Potemkin” port : ODESSA
50. Olympic snowboarding gold medalist White : SHAUN
51. 2009 U.S. Open winner Juan Martín del ___ : POTRO
53. “___ to Pieces” (Patsy Cline hit) : I FALL
54. Cousin of an English horn : OBOE
55. Suffix with song : -FEST
56. Aegean tourist mecca : IOS
57. Fort Myers-to-Tampa dir. : NNW
58. Wide shoe spec : EEE
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