0908-11: New York Times Crossword Answers 8 Sep 11, Thursday

QuickLinks:
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: Matt Ginsberg, Pete Muller
THEME: ELECTRIC KOOL-AID ACID TEST … all of the theme answers relate to the Tom Wolfe book, the name of which is spelled out by the circled letters around the edge of the grid:

25. Author of the 1968 work named in the circled letters (reading clockwise) : WOLFE
35. Subject of the 1968 work : MERRY PRANKSTERS
44. Leader of the 35-Across : KESEY

COMPLETION TIME: 23m 28s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0


Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
New Alpha Video Trouble Father Vol 1 Dvd Movie Starring Stu Erwin June Erwin Sheila James1. He played Joe Palooka in the 1934 film “Palooka” : STU ERWIN
Stu Erwin played the title role of Joe Palooka in the 1934 movie “Palooka”, but the film’s star was the great Jimmy Durante. In fact, the movie was released in the UK as “The Great Schnozzle”.

15. Like the trades : EASTERLY
The trade winds are the surface winds that tend to blow in an easterly direction in the tropics. In the great days of sail, ships would take advantage of the prevailing westerlies cross the oceans in one direction, and then make a more northerly or southerly crossing to take advantage of the easterly trade winds for the opposite journey.

17. Able to be drawn out : TRACTILE
A material that is tractile is able to be drawn out in length, and is ductile.

Wallmonkeys Peel and Stick Wall Graphic - 36"W x 24"H - Mt. Mckinley in the Denali National Park Alaska United States18. National park whose name means “the high one” : DENALI
I was surprised to learn that there is a Denali State Park, as well as the Denali National Park. The two are located adjacent to each other (which makes sense!). The State Park is undeveloped for all practical purposes, with just a few campgrounds and trail-heads. Denali means “the high one” in the native Athabaskan language, and is now the name used for Mount McKinley.

Mr Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream19. Bunny fancier : HEF
Hugh Hefner is from Chicago. His first publishing job was in the military, where he worked as a writer for an Army newspaper (from 1944-46). He went to college after his military service, and then worked as a copywriter for “Esquire” magazine. He left “Esquire” to found his own publication that he called “Playboy”, which first hit the newsstands in 1953. It has been around ever since.

20. Itch : YEN
The word “yen”, meaning “urge”, has been around in English since the very early 1900s. It comes from the earlier word “yin” imported from Chinese, which was used in English to describe an intense craving for opium!

21. Like Jesus : SEMITIC
The word “Semitic” comes from the Greek for Shem, one of the three sons of Noah. A Semite is a one of a large list of peoples, from the Assyrians and Babylonians to the Hebrews.The term “anti-Semite” however, almost always refer to anti-Jewish sentiment.

22. Hot chocolate time, maybe : APRES SKI
Après-ski is a French term, meaning “after skiing”, and refers to the good times to be had after coming off the slopes.

The Purple Decades25. Author of the 1968 work named in the circled letters (reading clockwise) : WOLFE
“The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test” is described as a “nonfiction novel” by Tom Wolfe, first published in 1968. It tells the story of a group of guys driving across the country in a brightly painted school bus, gaining all kinds of insights with the “benefit” of LSD and other psychedelic drugs. Apparently there is a movie adaptation of the novel in the works. Trippy, man …

28. Cinéma ___ : VERITE
Cinéma vérité is a French term meaning “truthful cinema”, and it describes films made in a documentary style, often deliberately provoking a strong reaction from the audience.

31. 1950s political inits. : AES
Adlai Stevenson ran for president unsuccessfully against Eisenhower in 1952. Some years later he served under President Kennedy as Ambassador to the United Nations. He was always noted for his eloquence, and had a famous exchange in a Security Council meeting during the Cuban missile crisis. He bluntly demanded that the Soviet representative on the council tell the world if the USSR was installing nuclear weapons in Cuba, saying. “Don’t wait for the translation, answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’!” and then followed up with, “I am prepared to wait for my answer until Hell freezes over!”

32. Perfume, in a way : CENSE
To cense is to perfume with incense. Such a lovely word …

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test35. Subject of the 1968 work : MERRY PRANKSTERS
The “Merry Pranksters” were a bunch of guys who were associated with the likes of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and Timothy Leary, icons of the Beat Generation. Famously, the Merry Pranksters travelled across the country in a psychedelic painted school bus, with their adventures recorded in the somewhat biographical 1968 Tom Wolfe “novel” titled “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test”.

39. Source of the saying “The gods help them that help themselves” : AESOP
Aesop lived in Ancient Greece, probably around the sixth century BC. Supposedly he was born a slave, somehow became a free man, but then met with a sorry end. He was sent to the city of Delphi on a diplomatic mission but instead insulted the Delphians. He was tried on a trumped-up charge of stealing from a temple, sentenced to death and was thrown off a cliff.

40. Detectives look for them, briefly : MOS
“Modus operandi” is the Latin for “mode of operating”, a term we’ve been using since the mid-1600s. It’s often used by the police when referring to the methods typically employed by a particular perpetrator, and is usually abbreviated to “M.O.”

Color Photo Poster The Godfather Star Marlon Brando41. Emulate Don Corleone : RASP
Marlon Brando won the Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of Vito Corleone in the 1972 blockbuster “The Godfather”. He turned down the award and didn’t attend the ceremony. Instead he sent a Native American rights activist called Sacheen Littlefeather who made a speech protesting the depiction of Native Americans in Hollywood movies. Brando wasn’t the first person to refuse an Oscar. George C. Scott did the same thing when he won for playing the title role in 1970’s “Patton”. Scott just didn’t like the whole idea of “competing” with other actors.

Acid Christ: Ken Kesey, LSD, and the Politics of Ecstasy44. Leader of the 35-Across : KESEY
Ken Kesey wrote the novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”. He was part of a group of friends that called themselves the “Merry Pranksters”, a bunch of guys that were associated with the likes of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and Timothy Leary, icons of the Beat Generation.

45. Archer’s wife in “The Maltese Falcon” : IVA
The classic detective novel “The Maltese Falcon” was written by Dashiell Hammett, and first published in 1930. The main character if of course Sam Spade, famously played by Humphrey Bogart in the third movie adaptation of the book, released in 1941.

48. Like ruckuses or roadster roofs : RAISABLE
The word “ruckus” is used to mean a commotion, and has been around since the late 1800s and is possibly a melding of the words “ruction” and “rumpus”.

52. ___-ray : BLU
A Blu-ray disc looks just like a standard DVD or CD, but it has a lot more capacity for data storage making it an ideal medium for high-definition movies. The name “Blu-ray” comes from the fact that a Blu-ray player uses a “blue laser” to read the disc, unlike a standard DVD which uses a “red laser”.

56. Secretaries used to make them : DITTOS
“Ditto” was originally used in Italian (from Tuscan dialect) to avoid repetition of the names of months in a series of dates. It’s just another wonderful import from that lovely land …

57. “Ciao!” : TOODLE-OO
The term “toodle-oo” meaning “goodbye” comes from the French “à tout à l’heure” which translates as “see you later”.

“Ciao” is the Italian for “bye”. “Arrivederci” is more formal, and translates better as “goodbye”.

Historic Print (M): [Count Amedeo Avogadro, 1776-1856, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing right]60. Italian scientist who lent his name to a number : AVOGADRO
The Italian scientist Amedeo Avogadro postulated that if two different gases have the same volume (at the same temperature and pressure), then each of the gases contains the same number of atoms or molecules. Related to this theory is a constant number, that later became known as Avogadro’s number.

Down
1. MacFarlane who created TV’s “Family Guy” : SETH
Seth MacFarlane is best known for creating the very successful (although they don’t get my vote!) animated TV shows “Family Guy” and “American Dad”. My kids love ’em …

2. Amount ignored in weighing : TARE
“Tare” is the weight of a container that is deducted from the gross weight to determine the net weight, the weight of the container’s contents.

4. More quickly? : ETC
The abbreviation “etc.” is used at the end of a list, to indicate that there are “more” items that could be listed, but they are not specified.

8. Nevada county containing Yucca Mountain : NYE
Yucca Mountain is located about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. It is famous as the site of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.

9. Seconds : SIDEKICKS
We use the term “sidekick” to mean an associate. Prior to the early 1900s we used the similar terms “side-pal” and “side-partner”.

10. Loners : EREMITES
The Greek word for “uninhabited” is eremos, which is the root for eremia meaning both “desert” and “solitude”. The Greek word eremites then means “a person of the desert”. This was absorbed into Latin as “ermita”, meaning someone who lived in solitude or in an uninhabited area. We use “eremite” to mean the same thing, although the derivative term “hermit” is more common.

Signed Anderson, Loni 4x6 Photo11. Actress Anderson : LONI
Loni Anderson’s most famous role was that of Jennifer Marlowe on the sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati”. Anderson has been married four times, most famously to actor Burt Reynolds from 1988 to 1993.

12. Related on the mother’s side : ENATE
Something that is “enate” is growing outward, and “enate” is used to describe ancestors related on the mother’s side. Something that is agnate comes from a common source, and “agnate” is used to describe relatives on the father’s side of the family tree.

Biography - Whoopi Goldberg13. “The Color Purple” protagonist : CELIE
Whoopi Goldberg played Celie Harris Johnson in Steven Spielberg’s “The Color Purple”, the 1985 screen adaptation of the novel of the same name by Alice Walker.

21. Georgia was one once: Abbr. : SSR
The former Soviet Socialist Republic of Georgia is now an independent country. Supposedly, the Georgian people were given their name because they especially revered St. George. The flag of Georgia does indeed feature five St. George’s crosses.

23. Some bagel toppers : SESAMES
The bagel was invented in the Polish city of Kraków in the 16th century. Bagels were brought to this country by Jewish immigrants from Poland who mainly established homes in and around New York City.

25. Steno’s stat. : WPM
Stenography is the process of writing in shorthand. The term comes from the Greek “steno” (narrow) and “graphe” (writing).

29. Recommendation letter, maybe : ENTREE
Entrée of course means “entry” in French. An entrée can be something that helps one get a “way in”, an interview for example perhaps helped along by a recommendation letter. In Europe, even in English-speaking countries, the entrée is the name for the “entry” to the meal, the first course. I found it very confusing to order meals when I first came to America!

34. Language from which “spunk” is derived : ERSE
We’ve been using the word “spunk” to mean “pluck, courage” since the late 1700s. Prior to that it was a Scottish word meaning “spark”, that we absorbed into English.

43. Slowing down, in music: Abbr. : RIT
Rit. (or sometimes ritard.) is the abbreviation for ritardando, the musical direction to slow down the tempo.

44. Workable if awkward solution to a computer problem : KLUDGE
A kludge is a fix for a problem, but one that isn’t very elegant. It is a slang term introduced into the language by the author Jackson W. Granholm.

45. Like Hindi or Urdu : INDIC
Indic is another term for Indo-Aryan, the name of the group of languages that includes Hindi and Urdu.

46. Last word in a showman’s spiel : VOILA
“Et voilà”, French for, “and there it is!”

Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi53. “Episode VI” returnee : JEDI
The name of the third film in the “Star Wars” series of movies is “Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi”.

54. Meeting places : FORA
The Roman forum was the public space in the middle of a city, taking it’s name from the Latin word “forum” meaning a marketplace.

Kool & The Gang: Emergency (Custom Inner Sleeve With Photo, Recording Data) [VINYL LP] [STEREO]55. Noted gang leader : KOOL
Kool & the Gang have been around since the mid-sixties, and are most famous for their hit “Celebration”.

57. Swabbie : TAR
“Swabbie” (also “swab, swabber”) is a slang term for a sailor, which we’ve been using since the late 1700s. A “swab” was originally a member of the crew assigned to the swabbing of the ship’s decks.

A Jack Tar, or just “tar”, was a seaman in the days of the British Empire. The term probably arose due to a sailor’s various uses of tar in those days, including waterproofing their clothes, and using tar in their hair to slick down their ponytails.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. He played Joe Palooka in the 1934 film “Palooka” : STU ERWIN
9. Elite : SELECT
15. Like the trades : EASTERLY
16. Press agent? : IRONER
17. Able to be drawn out : TRACTILE
18. National park whose name means “the high one” : DENALI
19. Bunny fancier : HEF
20. Itch : YEN
21. Like Jesus : SEMITIC
22. Hot chocolate time, maybe : APRES SKI
24. “Horrors!” : EEK
25. Author of the 1968 work named in the circled letters (reading clockwise) : WOLFE
28. Cinéma ___ : VERITE
30. Cartoon “Yuck!” : PTUI
31. 1950s political inits. : AES
32. Perfume, in a way : CENSE
35. Subject of the 1968 work : MERRY PRANKSTERS
39. Source of the saying “The gods help them that help themselves” : AESOP
40. Detectives look for them, briefly : MOS
41. Emulate Don Corleone : RASP
42. Castle part : TURRET
44. Leader of the 35-Across : KESEY
45. Archer’s wife in “The Maltese Falcon” : IVA
48. Like ruckuses or roadster roofs : RAISABLE
50. Like some poker betting : NO LIMIT
52. ___-ray : BLU
53. 1950s-’60s political inits. : JFK
56. Secretaries used to make them : DITTOS
57. “Ciao!” : TOODLE-OO
59. Will words : I LEAVE
60. Italian scientist who lent his name to a number : AVOGADRO
61. Hauled (off) : CARTED
62. Like summer school classes, often : REMEDIAL

Down
1. MacFarlane who created TV’s “Family Guy” : SETH
2. Amount ignored in weighing : TARE
3. Org. with the ad slogan “It’s not science fiction. It’s what we do every day” : USAF
4. More quickly? : ETC
5. Make more presentable, as a letter : RETYPE
6. More twisted : WRIER
7. “No way!” : I’LL NEVER
8. Nevada county containing Yucca Mountain : NYE
9. Seconds : SIDEKICKS
10. Loners : EREMITES
11. Actress Anderson : LONI
12. Related on the mother’s side : ENATE
13. “The Color Purple” protagonist : CELIE
14. Double-cross, e.g. : TRICK
21. Georgia was one once: Abbr. : SSR
22. Something new : A FIRST
23. Some bagel toppers : SESAMES
25. Steno’s stat. : WPM
26. Cup ___ (hot drink, informally) : O’TEA
27. Neon sign, e.g. : LURE
29. Recommendation letter, maybe : ENTREE
31. Valued : APPRAISED
33. High ___ : SEAS
34. Language from which “spunk” is derived : ERSE
36. “I played already” : YOUR MOVE
37. Willing to consider : NOT ABOVE
38. Writer in cipher, maybe : SPY
43. Slowing down, in music: Abbr. : RIT
44. Workable if awkward solution to a computer problem : KLUDGE
45. Like Hindi or Urdu : INDIC
46. Last word in a showman’s spiel : VOILA
47. Let out, e.g. : ALTER
49. A flower is pretty when it’s in this : BLOOM
51. “Leave ___ that!” : IT AT
53. “Episode VI” returnee : JEDI
54. Meeting places : FORA
55. Noted gang leader : KOOL
57. Swabbie : TAR
58. Man of tomorrow : LAD

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