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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: Yaakov Bendavid
THEME: Cagey Answers … all the theme answers are well known expressions with a K replacing a G:
24A. How organized philosophers deal with ideas? : ONE THINK AT A TIME (one thing at a time)
30A. Highway S-curve? : KINK OF THE ROAD (“King of the Road”)
51A. Countess bankrupts St. Louis N.H.L. team? : LADY SINKS THE BLUES (“Lady Sings the Blues”)
67A. Warning before driving past the town dump? : THIS MAY STINK A LITTLE (this may sting a little)
85A. Wayne Gretzky? : THE LORD OF THE RINKS (“The Lord of the Rings”)
103A. Being too large to fail? : BIG BANK THEORY (Big Bang Theory)
116A. Singles bar pickup strategy? : A WINK AND A PRAYER (a wing and a prayer)
COMPLETION TIME: 39m 31s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 4 … LINEAR A (LINEARI), HAAG (HAIG), PAM DAWBER (PAM DAWSER), B’NAI (SNAI)
Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
In the 1954 movie version of “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”, Captain Nemo goes down with his ship. In the novel by Jules Verne, the fate of Nemo and his crew isn’t quite so cut and dry, although the inference is perhaps that they did indeed head for Davy Jones’s Locker.
28. Gillette product : ATRA
Fortunately for crossword setters, the Atra razor was introduced by Gillette in 1977. It was sold as the Contour in some markets and its derivative products are still around today.
Roger Miller wrote and recorded “King of the Road” in 1965. The song tells the story of a hobo who is down and out, but who still celebrates his freedom. There’s a lot of smoking going on in the song:
“I ain’t got no cigarettes …”
“I smoke old stogies I have found, short but not too big around …”
Roger Miller died in 1992 aged 56 … from lung cancer …
Charles Ives was one of the great classical composers, probably the first American to be so recognized. Sadly, his work largely went unsung (pun intended!) during his lifetime, and was really only accepted into the performed repertoire after his death in 1954.
42. Reinforcing bracket : GUSSET
A gusset is a triangular insert in the seam of a garment, for added expansion.
“Lady Sings the Blues” is a song written by Billie Holiday, the jazz singer. The song’s name was used as the title for her autobiography published in 1958, and the movie about her life released in 1972 with Diana Ross playing Holiday.
55. Some 35mm cameras : SLRS
SLR stands for Single Lens Reflex. Usually cameras with changeable lenses are the SLR type. The main feature of an SLR is that a mirror reflects the image seen through the lens out through the viewfinder, so that the photographer sees exactly what the lens sees. The mirror moves out of the way as the picture is taken, and the image coming through the lens falls onto unexposed film, or nowadays onto a digital sensor.
The actor Owen Wilson was nominated for an Oscar, but not for his acting. He was nominated for cowriting the screenplay for “The Royal Tenenbaums” along with Wes Anderson.
58. Digital communication?: Abbr. : ASL
It’s really quite unfortunate that American Sign Language (ASL) and British Sign Language (BSL) are very different, and someone who has learned to sign in one, cannot understand someone signing in the other.
The very funny 1978 movie “Animal House” has the prefix “National Lampoon’s …” because the storyline came out of tales that had already appeared in “National Lampoon” magazine. “Animal House” was to become the first in a long line of successful “National Lampoon” films.
60. Legendary Onondaga chief : HIAWATHA
Hiawatha was leader of the Onondaga or the Mohawk in legend.
63. Alien craft : UFOS
In 1952, the USAF revived its studies of reports of UFO sightings, in a program called Project Blue Book. There were two prior USAF studies of the UFO phenomenon, namely Project Sign and Project Grudge. Project Blue Book ran from 1952 until it was shut down in 1969, concluding that there was no threat to national security, and that there were no sightings that could not be explained within the bounds of modern scientific knowledge.
Windows XP, Windows Vista and now Windows 7; they’re all based on the Windows NT operating system. There is a common perception that Windows NT (WNT) takes its name from VMS, an earlier operating system developed by Digital Equipment Corporation. “WNT” is what’s called a “Caesar cypher” of “VMS”, as you just augment the the letters of VMS alphabetically by one to arrive at WNT. Bill Gates disputes this derivation of the name, and in a 1998 interview stated that the NT originally stood for N-Ten, and the marketing folks at Microsoft revised history changing it to “New Technology”.
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82. Marvel Comics hero : X-MAN
X-Men are a team of superheroes created by Stan Lee and published in Marvel Comics. Nowadays they are perhaps best known as the subject of a series of movies, with Hugh Jackman playing Wolverine, and Patrick Stewart playing Professor Xavier.
Wayne Gretsky is regarded by many as the greatest ever player of ice hockey.
93. French river or department : AIN
Ain is a department on the eastern border of France.
98. Ancient Cretan writing system : LINEAR A
Linear A and Linear B are two scripts that were used in ancient Crete.
103. Being too large to fail? : BIG BANK THEORY (Big Bang Theory)
According to the Big Bang Theory, the universe was born out of a hot and dense mass that expanded rapidly (a “big bang”) almost 14 million years ago. As the universe expanded it cooled, creating the stars and planets that we know of today. The universe continues to expand, but much more slowly than it did just after it was born.
Pam Dawber is the actress that teamed up with Robin Williams to play the lead roles in the sitcom “Mork & Mindy”. Dawber is married to the actor Mark Harmon.
114. So-called Mother of Presidents : OHIO
There are two states that have the nickname “Mother of Presidents” … Ohio and Virginia, although sometimes Ohio is known as “Modern Mother of Presidents”. Eight presidents were born in Virginia, from George Washington to Woodrow Wilson. Ohio was the birthplace of seven presidents, from Ulysses S. Grant to Warren G. Harding. Additionally, eight presidents hailed from Ohio at the time of their elections.
116. Singles bar pickup strategy? : A WINK AND A PRAYER (a wing and a prayer)
The phrase “on a wing and a prayer” comes from the title of a 1943 patriotic song called “Comin’ in on a Wing and a Prayer”. The WWII song was a number one hit for the Song Spinners and tells of a damaged aircraft limping home and barely making it back to base.
Rodan is a flying pterosaur appearing in a series of Japanese monster movies, created by the same studio that had earlier come up with Godzilla.
Gena Lee Nolin is the actress who played Neely Capshaw in the TV series “Baywatch”. Before picking up that part, she was a hostess on “The Price is Right”, one of the so called “Barker’s Beauties”.
121. Rocket from China : YAO
Yao Ming is from Shanghai, and plays for the Houston Rockets. At 7’6″ he is the tallest man playing in the NBA.
125. Kind of card : SIM
More and more cell phones have SIM cards these days. That’s the card that holds the personal information of the subscriber, with the acronym being short for Subscriber Identity Module.
Down
Ehud Barak served as Prime Minister of Israel from 1999 to 2001. He left office after he called a special election for Prime Minister and lost the vote to Ariel Sharon. He resigned from the Knesset and took an advisory job with the US company Electronic Data Systems (EDS), and did some security related work with a private equity company. In 2007, Barak took over leadership of Israel’s Labor Party, and is currently the country’s Minister of Defense.
Michael Dukakis was the Democratic nominee for president in 1988, losing out to President George H. Bush. Dukakis was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, the same town in which President John F. Kennedy came into the world.
5. “Casino Royale,” for one : SPY NOVEL
“Casino Royale” was the first in the long and successful series of James Bond spy novels written by Ian Fleming.
9. Subject of Genghis Khan : TATAR
Genghis Khan was the founder of the Mongol Empire, destined to be the largest contiguous empire in the history of the world. He initially built his empire by uniting nomadic tribes of northeast Asia, but once Genghis Khan had consolidated his position he initiated Mongol invasions throughout Eurasia. At it’s height, the Mongol Empire stretched from the River Danube to the Sea of Japan.
Tatars are an ethnic group of people, mainly residing in Russia (a population of about 5 1/2 million). Actor Charles Bronson had a Tatar heritage. His real name was Charles Buchinsky.
One of the positive outcomes of President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, was that the US posture changed to using missiles to destroy incoming hostile weapons, rather than using missiles to destroy the nation attacking the country. The former doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction went by the apt acronym of MAD …
Auks are birds that look very similar to penguins, although they aren’t very closely related. Auks are expert swimmers and divers, but can also fly somewhat clumsily.
Maurice Chevalier had a few signature songs, like “Mimi” from 1932, and everyone’s favorite “Thank Heavens for Little Girls” that came from the wonderful 1958 movie “Gigi”.
18. Ecuador and Venezuela are in it : OPEC
The OPEC cartel (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) was formally established in 1960 and has been headquartered in Vienna since 1965. The US is actually the third largest oil producer in the world (after Russia and Saudi Arabia), but isn’t part of OPEC. One reason America isn’t a member is that even though we are a big producer we import a lot more than we export. But you probably knew that already …
31. Crumbly cheese : FETA
Feta is a Greek cheese made from sheep’s milk, or a mixture of sheep’s and goat’s milk. The cheese is salted and cured in a brine solution for several months before it is eaten.
“Dilbert” is a comic strip written by Scott Adams, a “neighbor” of mine here in the Bay Area, and owner of a nice restaurant down the end of my street.
37. Safari equipment : NETS
“Safari” is a Swahili word, meaning “journey” or “expedition”.
Roald Dahl’s name is Norwegian. Dahl’s parents were from Norway, although Dahl himself was Welsh. Dahl became one of the most successful authors of the twentieth century, and a couple of his most famous titles are “James and the Giant Peach” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”.
40. As above, in a footnote : IDEM
Idem is usually abbreviated as “id.” and is the Latin word for “the same”. In research papers idem is used in a list of references, in place of citations “already mentioned above”.
41. Not those, in Brooklyn : DESE
The New York dialect of English is sometimes called Brooklynese, I believe.
44. Hebrew matriarch : SARAH
In the Hebrew Bible and the Quaran, Sarah is the wife of Abraham and the mother of Isaac.
The song “My Way” has lyrics that were written by Paul Anka in 1969, but the tune itself was composed two years earlier by Claude François and Jacques Revaux. The song had been released with completely different lyrics in France, as “Comme d’habitude” (“As Usual”). When Anka heard the song on television in Paris he sought out and obtained the rights to use it himself, for free. Supposedly, “Comme d’habitude” has been recorded in more languages, by more artists, than any other song in the contemporary repertoire.
47. Jiffy : MINUTE
“Jiffy”, meaning an “instant”, was originally slang used by thieves to mean “lightning”.
49. Ike or Billy at the O.K. Corral : CLANTON
Ike and Billy Clanton participated in what has to be the most famous gunfight in the history of the Old West, the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, in Tombstone, Arizona. Strangely enough, the fight didn’t happen at the O.K. Corral, but took place six doors down the street in a vacant lot next to a photography studio.
52. Qatar’s capital : DOHA
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”.
53. Prince Albert’s home: Abbr. : SASK
The city of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan once went up against the city of Saskatoon, competing to be the home of either the University of Saskatchewan or the Saskatchewan Federal Penitentiary. Saskatoon got the university, and Prince Albert got the pen …
The Houston baseball team changed its name to the Astros from the Colt .45s in 1965 when they started playing in the Astrodome. The Astrodome was so called in recognition of the city’s long association with the US space program.
65. Biblical breastplate stones : ONYXES
Onyx is a form of quartz that comes in many different shades, but most often it’s the black version that’s used for jewelry. The name “onyx” comes from the Greek word for “fingernail”, as onyx in the flesh color is said to resemble a fingernail.
69. Old ballad “Robin ___” : ADAIR
In the old ballad “Robin Adair”, Robin was supposedly Robert Adair, an Irish MP from the 18th century.
70. Philatelist George, founder of the largest weekly newspaper for stamp collectors : LINN
George Ward Linn was a philatelist from Ohio, and the founder of “Linn’s Weekly Stamp News”.
Frank Lloyd was a film director originally from Scotland, and a winner of two Academy Awards. He didn’t win an Oscar for his most famous film though, the 1935 classic “Mutiny on the Bounty” starring Clark Gable and Charles Laughton.
The brand name Esso has its roots in the old Standard Oil company, as it uses the initial letters of “Standard” and “Oil” (ESS-O). The Esso brand was replaced by Exxon in the US but it is still used in many other countries around the world.
GPS stands for Global Positioning System. The modern GPS system that we use today was built by the military who received the massive funding needed because of fears during the Cold War of the use of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. We civilians, all round the world, owe a lot to President Ronald Reagan because he directed the military to make GPS available to the public for the common good. He was moved to do so after the Soviet Union shot down KAL flight 007 carrying 269 people, when it accidentally strayed into Soviet airspace.
80. Score right before a win, maybe : AD IN
In tennis, if the score reaches “deuce” (i.e. when both players have scored three points), then the first player to win two points in a row wins the game. The player who wins the point immediately after deuce is said to have the “advantage”. It the player with the advantage wins the next point then that’s two in a row and that player wins the game. If the person with the advantage loses the next point, then advantage is lost and the players return to deuce and try again. If the one of the players is calling out the score then if he/she has the advantage then that player announces “ad in” or more formally “advantage in”. If the score announcer’s opponent has the advantage, then the announcement is “ad out” or “advantage out”. Follow all that …?
83. G.I.’s food : MRE
The Meal, Ready-to-Eat comes in a lightweight package, easier to tote around. It replaced the more cumbersome Meal, Combat, Individual (MCI) in 1981, a meal-in-a-can. In turn, the MCI had replaced the C ration in 1958, a less sophisticated meal-in-a-can with a more limited choice.
86. Train systems : RAILWAYS
Back in Ireland we use the term “railway” instead of “railroad”.
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”.
88. Den ___, Nederland : HAAG
Den Haag is the Dutch name for the city in the Netherlands that we know in English as The Hague. Even though The Hague is the seat of the Dutch parliament and is where Queen Beatrix resides, it is not the country’s capital city. That honor goes to Amsterdam.
99. Incantation opener : ABRA
The incantation “abracadabra” has a long history. It was used as far back as the 2nd century AD in Ancient Rome when the word was prescribed by a physician to be worn on an amulet to help his emperor recover from disease. The word is Aramaic, and has the approximate translation of “I will create as I speak”.
102. Actresses Best and Purviance : EDNAS
106. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, to J.F.K. : NIECE
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend was Lieutenant Governor of Maryland for eight years, and an unsuccessful candidate for the state’s governorship in 2002. Townsend is the eldest daughter of Bobby Kennedy, President John F. Kennedy’s brother.
107. City south of Brigham City : OGDEN
Ogden, Utah was the first permanent settlement of people of European descent in what is now the state of Utah.
109. “Fiddler on the Roof” role : YENTE
Yenta (Yente) is actually a female Yiddish name. In Yiddish theater it came to mean a busybody.
110. When doubled, a Samoan port : PAGO
Pago Pago is the capital of American Samoa in the South Pacific. The island was used by the US Navy during WWII but managed to largely escape the conflict, with the only incident being the shelling of the city’s harbor by a Japanese submarine. A more devastating event was the tsunami that hit Pago Pago and surrounding areas in 2009, causing widespread damage and numerous deaths.
112. Start of some congregation names : B’NAI
The Hebrew word “b’nai” means “sons”.
113. Land in Genesis : EDOM
Edom is an ancient Iron Age kingdom located in the south of modern-day Jordan. The area is known for its red-colored sandstone, which gave the kingdom its name. The Hebrew word “Edom” translates as “red”.
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.
For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Chickens, e.g. : BIRDS
6. Workers with hammers : SMITHS
12. Punch relative : ADE
15. Captain of fiction : NEMO
19. Enthusiastically accepted : ATE UP
20. Facing : TOWARD
21. Coffeehouse fixture : URN
22. Take ___ (go swimming) : A DIP
23. Not secure : RISKY
24. How organized philosophers deal with ideas? : ONE THINK AT A TIME (one thing at a time)
27. Like about 20% of the world’s land area : ASIAN
28. Gillette product : ATRA
29. Bronchodilator user : ASTHMATIC
30. Highway S-curve? : KINK OF THE ROAD (“King of the Road”)
34. Vex : RILE
35. Composer Charles : IVES
36. Playbook figures : XS AND OS
39. Pulled off : DID
42. Reinforcing bracket : GUSSET
45. Bygone copy : MIMEO
48. Suffix with Ecuador : -EAN
49. Software basis : CODE
50. Spanish article : UNA
51. Countess bankrupts St. Louis N.H.L. team? : LADY SINKS THE BLUES “Lady Sings the Blues”)
55. Some 35mm cameras : SLRS
57. Actor Wilson : OWEN
58. Digital communication?: Abbr. : ASL
59. Words on an “Animal House” cake float : EAT ME
60. Legendary Onondaga chief : HIAWATHA
63. Alien craft : UFOS
66. Cackler : HEN
67. Warning before driving past the town dump? : THIS MAY STINK A LITTLE (this may sting a little)
73. Some Windows systems : NTS
74. Start of a selection process : EENY
75. Break up : DISSOLVE
77. Down time : R AND R
80. 100% : ALL
82. Marvel Comics hero : X-MAN
84. Denials : NOES
85. Wayne Gretzky? : THE LORD OF THE RINKS (“The Lord of the Rings”)
91. Soph. and jr. : YRS
92. Holder of a runoff? : EAVE
93. French river or department : AIN
94. Reliever : EASER
95. Must : NEED TO
97. Fr. holy title : STE
98. Ancient Cretan writing system : LINEAR A
100. ___ Pictures : SONY
101. Readily recite, with “off” : REEL
103. Being too large to fail? : BIG BANK THEORY (Big Bang Theory)
110. Onetime Robin Williams co-star : PAM DAWBER
114. So-called Mother of Presidents : OHIO
115. “Shucks!” : OH GEE
116. Singles bar pickup strategy? : A WINK AND A PRAYER (a wing and a prayer)
119. Flying monster of film : RODAN
120. “Baywatch” actress ___ Lee Nolin : GENA
121. Rocket from China : YAO
122. Notice : DETECT
123. Bit of Weather Channel news : ALERT
124. By all ___ : ODDS
125. Kind of card : SIM
126. Chucks : TOSSES
127. Pick up : SENSE
Down
1. Israel’s Ehud : BARAK
2. Grammatically proper identification : IT IS I
3. Nail polish ingredient : RESIN
4. Loser of 1988 : DUKAKIS
5. “Casino Royale,” for one : SPY NOVEL
6. Animals with black-tipped tails : STOATS
7. One of a dozen : MONTH
8. “If ___ you …” : I WERE
9. Subject of Genghis Khan : TATAR
10. Princely abbr. : HRH
11. Arms race inits. : SDI
12. Diving seabirds : AUKS
13. “Nuts!” : DRAT
14. Make a queen, e.g. : ENTHRONE
15. Present at birth : NATAL
16. Deleted : EDITED OUT
17. Maurice Chevalier song : MIMI
18. Ecuador and Venezuela are in it : OPEC
25. Zilch : NADA
26. Friends of François : AMIS
31. Crumbly cheese : FETA
32. Symbols of strength : OXEN
33. Dilbert co-worker : ASOK
37. Safari equipment : NETS
38. “Matilda” author, 1988 : DAHL
40. As above, in a footnote : IDEM
41. Not those, in Brooklyn : DESE
42. Ooh and aah : GUSH
43. Dark : UNLIT
44. Hebrew matriarch : SARAH
45. Classic song that begins “And now the end is near” : MY WAY
46. Vapour trail? : -ISE
47. Jiffy : MINUTE
49. Ike or Billy at the O.K. Corral : CLANTON
52. Qatar’s capital : DOHA
53. Prince Albert’s home: Abbr. : SASK
54. Root crop : BEETS
56. Con : SWINDLE
61. N.L. Central player : ASTRO
62. Co. ID’s : TMS
64. Flipper : FIN
65. Biblical breastplate stones : ONYXES
66. Part of 10-Down, maybe : HIS
68. Mirror image? : SELF
69. Old ballad “Robin ___” : ADAIR
70. Philatelist George, founder of the largest weekly newspaper for stamp collectors : LINN
71. Frank ___, two-time Oscar-winning director : LLOYD
72. Turn outward : EVERT
76. Onetime Texaco competitor : ESSO
77. GPS options: Abbr. : RTES
78. Answer to the old riddle “What lies flat when empty, sits up when full?” : A HAT
79. “Forget I said anything” : NEVER MIND
80. Score right before a win, maybe : AD IN
81. Unique : LONE
83. G.I.’s food : MRE
86. Train systems : RAILWAYS
87. Actress Hatcher : TERI
88. Den ___, Nederland : HAAG
89. Cluster : KNOT
90. Wives in São Paulo : SENHORAS
96. Mask feature : EYEHOLE
98. Puddle producer, perhaps : LEAK
99. Incantation opener : ABRA
100. Hybrid clothing for women : SKORTS
102. Actresses Best and Purviance : EDNAS
104. Marina sights : BOATS
105. “Now I see” : AH YES
106. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, to J.F.K. : NIECE
107. City south of Brigham City : OGDEN
108. Raises : REARS
109. “Fiddler on the Roof” role : YENTE
110. When doubled, a Samoan port : PAGO
111. Wowed : AWED
112. Start of some congregation names : B’NAI
113. Land in Genesis : EDOM
117. Summer hours in L.A. : PDT
118. Auto monogram : REO
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