0728-11: New York Times Crossword Answers 28 Jul 11, Thursday

Announcement
I am away on vacation from Sunday, July 17 to Tuesday, August 2. I fully intend to sneak away to do the crossword each day, but probably won’t find time to do many look-ups. Some days I may be a little late posting the solution, and if that should happen, please let me apologize in advance. Email subscribers should check the blog directly at NTYCrossword.com as the solution may be posted by the time they read check their email. Things will be back to normal very shortly! … Bill

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
10. “___ Lake” : SWAN
“Swan Lake” is such a delightfully light and enjoyable ballet. It tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by a sorcerer. The ballet also features Odile, Odette’s “evil twin”. Odile is disguised to look like Odette with the goal of tricking the prince to fall in love with her. In the ballet, the roles of Odette and Odile are played by the same ballerina.

14. Baltic Sea feeder : ODER
The Oder rises in the Czech Republic, and forms just over a hundred miles of the border between Germany and Poland, before eventually emptying into the Baltic Sea.

15. Villainous monk in “The Da Vinci Code” : SILAS
“The Da Vinci Code” is an excellent story, written by Dan Brown. However, Brown’s first book to feature the character Robert Langdon was even better in my opinion, “Angels & Demons”.

23. Anatomical dividers : SEPTA
In the world of anatomy, a septum is a dividing wall within a chamber or other structure. For example, the interatrial septum separates the left and right atria of the heart, and the nasal septum separates the nostrils of the nose.

31. Scottish hillside : BRAE
“Brae” is a lowland Scots word for the slope or brow of a hill.

37. ___ élémentaire : ECOLE
“École élémentaire” is the French for “elementary school”.

38. Director Jacquet of “March of the Penguins” : LUC
“March of the Penguins” is a truly moving, and humorous, nature documentary film by co-writer and director Luc Jacquet. It is a remarkable production, often filmed in temperatures between -58 and -76 degrees Fahrenheit.

41. Actor Johnson of “Plan 9 From Outer Space” : TOR
Tor Johnson was a B-movie actor from Sweden. Before he started acting Johnson was a professional wrestler.

44. This, in Toledo : ESTO
Toledo is a city in central Spain.

45. A.C.C. athlete : TERP
The sports teams of the University of Maryland are called the Maryland Terrapins, or “the Terps” for short. The name dates back to 1932 when it was first coined by the the university’s president at the time, Curly Byrd. He took the name from the diamondback terrapins that are native to the Chesapeake Bay.

46. Films, of a sort : PATINAS
Patina is the oxide film that develops on brass and similar metals over time. It’s patina that make Lady Liberty the lovely green color that she is.

48. “Curb Your Enthusiasm” shower : HBO
Larry David was one of the creators of the sitcom “Seinfeld”, and was a co-writer of many of the episodes. He also stars in the HBO comedy “Curb Your Enthusiasm”.

53. Record store section : OPERA
The Latin for work is “opus”, with the plural being “opera”.

65. Old Olds : ALERO
The Oldsmobile Alero was the last car made under the Oldsmobile brand, produced from 1999 to 2004.

67. Pygmy couple? : WYES
There are a couple of letters Y (wye) in the word “pygmy”.

68. Greek island where Zeus was said to be raised : NAXOS
Naxos is the largest island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. According to Greek mythology, Zeus was raised in a cave on the island.

Down
1. Five-time A.L. batting champ : BOGGS
Wade Boggs is a former Major League Baseball player, a third baseman who was noted for his hitting ability.

3. Prince’s partner : PAUPER
“The Prince and the Pauper” is a novel by Mark Twain, the tale of two identical boys, one a pauper living in London, and the other Edward VI, Prince of Wales and son of Henry VIII. The two switch places, and the plot develops from there.

7. How Rubik’s Cube is best solved : ALONE
What was originally called the “Magic Cube” became better known as the Rubik’s Cube, named for its inventor Ernő Rubik. It is the world’s biggest selling puzzle game, with over 350 million sold in just over 30 years.

8. “Mighty ___ a Rose” : LAK’
“Mighty Lak’ a Rose” is a song first published in 1901.

9. Airborne African menace : TSETSE
Tsetse flies live on the blood of vertebrate mammals. The name “tsetse” comes from Tswana, a language of southern Africa, and translates simply as “fly”. Tsetse flies are famous for being carriers of the disease known as “sleeping sickness”. The disease is caused by a parasite which is passed on to humans when the tsetse fly bites into human skin tissue. If one considers all the diseases transmitted by the tsetse fly, then it is responsible for over a quarter of a million deaths each year.

10. Like the Harvard Lampoon : SATIRIC
“The Harvard Lampoon” is a satiric magazine, first published way back in 1876. It is the world’s longest continually published humor magazine.

11. It may be the only thing in a bar : WHOLE NOTE
A musical measure is what we in Ireland and other places refer to as a “bar”.

12. Crawling African menace : ASP
The asp is a venomous snake found in the Nile region of Africa. It is so venomous that the asp was used in ancient Egypt and Greece as a means of execution. Cleopatra observed such executions noting that the venom brought on sleepiness without any painful spasms. When the great queen opted to commit suicide, the asp’s bite was therefore her chosen method.

29. Thor Heyerdahl craft : RA I
Thor Heyerdahl was a noted Norwegian adventurer, famous for his Kon-Tiki expedition in which he sailed a raft over 4,000 miles from South America to the Tuamotu Archipelago in the South Pacific. He also sailed a boat made from papyrus called Ra II from Morocco, across the Atlantic Ocean, to Barbados.

51. Citizen rival : TIMEX
The Times Group, the manufacturer of watches, evolved from the Waterbury Clock Company that was founded in 1854 in Waterbury, Connecticut. The company achieved tremendous success in the early sixties largely due to an innovative marketing campaign. Advertisements featured the memorable tagline “Timex – Takes a licking and keeps on ticking”, and in 1962, one out of every three watches sold in the US was a Timex.

52. New Mexico county : OTERO
Otero County, New Mexico is home to a large part of the White Sands National Monument.

55. ___ show : RAREE
A raree show (from “rarity show”), was traditionally a display of photographs of in a closed box, with the viewer peeping through a hole. This form of entertainment became known as a peep show, and over the years the genre moved into the world of eroticism.

56. Michael who directed the Bond film “The World Is Not Enough” : APTED
English director Michael Apted’s best known work for the big screen is the Bond movie, “The World is Not Enough”.

63. Pay back? : OLA
Payola is the illegal practice of paying radio stations or disk jockeys to repeatedly play a particular piece of music. The impetus behind the crime is that the more often a song is played, the more likely it is to sell. The term “Payola” comes from the words “pay” and “Victrola”, an RCA brand name for an early phonograph.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Dig : BARB
5. Ten Commandments verb : SHALT
10. “___ Lake” : SWAN
14. Baltic Sea feeder : ODER
15. Villainous monk in “The Da Vinci Code” : SILAS
16. “Now I get it,” facetiously : AH SO
17. Fizzle : GO UP IN SMOKE
19. Refill when you don’t really need to : TOP UP
20. Irks : GRATES ON
21. Hoe and weed, e.g. : TOIL
23. Anatomical dividers : SEPTA
24. Met the qualifications : MEASURED UP
28. Env. enclosure : LTR
30. Shared with, as a secret : LET IN ON
31. Scottish hillside : BRAE
34. Regarding : AS TO
37. ___ élémentaire : ECOLE
38. Director Jacquet of “March of the Penguins” : LUC
39. Pay sudden attention to : SIT UP FOR
41. Actor Johnson of “Plan 9 From Outer Space” : TOR
42. Taken : IN USE
44. This, in Toledo : ESTO
45. A.C.C. athlete : TERP
46. Films, of a sort : PATINAS
48. “Curb Your Enthusiasm” shower : HBO
50. Confronts : STANDS UP TO
53. Record store section : OPERA
57. Amateurish : BUSH
58. Warning often shouted too late : IT’S A TRAP
60. Some hairstyles : UPDOS
62. Prove lacking : COME UP SHORT
64. Suffer from : HAVE
65. Old Olds : ALERO
66. Starting point for un inventeur : IDEE
67. Pygmy couple? : WYES
68. Greek island where Zeus was said to be raised : NAXOS
69. Starting point : SEED

Down
1. Five-time A.L. batting champ : BOGGS
2. Like a great deal : ADORE
3. Prince’s partner : PAUPER
4. Peanutty candy : BRITTLE
5. Indication of deflation : SSSS
6. Message on many a stadium sign : HI, MOM
7. How Rubik’s Cube is best solved : ALONE
8. “Mighty ___ a Rose” : LAK’
9. Airborne African menace : TSETSE
10. Like the Harvard Lampoon : SATIRIC
11. It may be the only thing in a bar : WHOLE NOTE
12. Crawling African menace : ASP
13. Over : UPON
18. Peachy : NEAT
22. Peripheral : OUTER
25. Flying : ALOFT
26. Sadness : DOLOR
27. Union requirement, maybe? : PRENUP
29. Thor Heyerdahl craft : RA I
31. Little things on screens : BLIPS
32. Quickly approach : RUN AT
33. Slightly better than : A CUT ABOVE
35. Bothers : UPSETS
36. Overseer of schools: Abbr. : SUPT
39. Ships : SENDS
40. “Good one!” : OOH
43. They may be cleared with a spray : SINUSES
45. Daredevil’s challenge : TOP THIS
47. Trash receptacle : ASH CAN
49. Fancy wraps : BOAS
51. Citizen rival : TIMEX
52. New Mexico county : OTERO
54. Wear down : ERODE
55. ___ show : RAREE
56. Michael who directed the Bond film “The World Is Not Enough” : APTED
59. Tomato and vegetable : SOUPS
60. Beat and how! : WHUP
61. Time piece? : DAY
63. Pay back? : OLA
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