1001-11: New York Times Crossword Answers 1 Oct 11, Saturday

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: David Quarfoot
THEME: None
COMPLETION TIME: 47m 34s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 2 … SARAN (SAREN!), NAGANO (NEGANO)


Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Subject of search engine optimization : PAGERANK
PageRank is a famous algorithm in Internet search circles. Google uses PageRank to determine in which order websites are ranked in the results page after a search is done by a user. The algorithm is named after Google co-founder Larry Page.

9. Changing place : CABANA
Our word “cabana” comes from the Spanish “cabaña”, the word for a small hut or a cabin.

15. It may involve the colon : EMOTICON
An emoticon is a glyph created using text characters, usually to represent facial features, and usually oriented sideways. The emoticon is designed to indicate emotion or attitude. The classic example is the smiley face 🙂

16. Investment option, informally : T-NOTES
A Treasury note (T-Note) is a government debt that matures in 1-10 years. A T-Note has a coupon (interest) payment made every six months. The note is purchased at a discount to face value, and at the date of maturity can be redeemed at that face value. A T-Bill is a similar financial vehicle, but it matures in one year or less, and a T-Bond matures in 20-30 years.

17. Right part of a map : RED STATE
On political maps, red states are Republican, and blue states Democrat. The designation of red and blue states is a very recent concept, only introduced in the 2000 presidential election by TV journalist, the late Tim Russert. In retrospect, the choice of colors is surprising, as in other democracies around the world red is usually used to describe left-leaning, socialist parties (the reds under the bed!), and blue is used for conservative, right-wing parties.

18. Portmanteau wear : SKORTS
Skorts are a hybrid between shorts and a skirt.

19. Arsenal decommissioned in 2005 : MXS
The correct name for the MX missile is the LGM-118A Peacekeeper. The MX is a land-based Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. There were 50 deployed in total, and all are deactivated now.

20. “The Play About the Baby” playwright : ALBEE
Edward Albee’s most famous play is “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

25. City of the Altiplano : LA PAZ
The capital of Bolivia, La Paz, is officially named Nuestra Senora de La Paz (Our Lady of Peace).

The Altiplano is a part of the Andes mountain range in South America, an area of high plateau (“Altiplano” is Spanish for “high plain”). The highest navigable lake in the world is located in the Altiplano, namely Lake Titicaca.

27. Abandon : JILT
To “jilt” someone with whom you have a relationship is to drop them suddenly or callously. “Jilt” is an obsolete noun that used to mean “harlot” or “loose woman”.

28. Certain adjustments : TARES
“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.

30. Flying Dutchman captain of film : DAVY JONES
In the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series of movies from Disney, the Flying Dutchman is a ghost ship captained by Davy Jones.

32. Fictional character whose first name is Kentaro : MR MOTO
The mysterious Mr. Moto is a Japanese secret agent who appears in six novels by American author, John P. Marquand. Mr. Moto was famously played by Peter Lorre in a series of eight films released in the 1930s.

34. One vertex of the Summer Triangle : DENEB
The Summer Triangle is the name given to a pattern of stars seen in the northern hemisphere. It is so named as, during the summer months, it sits almost directly overhead at midnight in most northern latitudes. The points of the triangle are the bright stars Altair, Deneb and Vega.

Deneb is the brightest star in the constellation Cygnus, the Swan. The name “Deneb” comes from the Arabic word “dhaneb” meaning tail, as it lies at “the tail” of the swan.

38. E-5: Abbr. : SGT
In the US Army, a sergeant has the grade of E-5.

39. My country’s follower? : ‘TIS
The patriotic song “America”, is also known by its first line, “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee”. It was written by Samuel Francis Smith in 1831, and was the de facto national anthem of the country until “The Star-Spangled Banner” was declared the official anthem.

46. Way to see the big picture? : JUMBOTRON
A JumboTron is a big-screen television system from Sony, often seen is sports stadiums. The brand name “JumboTron” is used pretty generically now for any big-screen system in such venues, even though Sony exited the business in 2001.

52. Foil alternative : SARAN
What’s known as plastic wrap in America, we call cling-film in Ireland. Plastic wrap was one of those unintended inventions, a byproduct of a development program to create a hard plastic cover for cars.

54. Spiced quaffs : NOGS
It’s not really clear where the term nog comes from, although it might derive from the word “noggin”, which was originally a small wooden cup long used for alcoholic drinks.

57. ___-Obama Proliferation and Threat Reduction Initiative (2007 law) : LUGAR
Richard “Dick” Lugar is a veteran Republican Senator representing Indiana in the US Congress. He is the ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and is noted for his work to dismantle existing weapons of mass destruction all around the world.

59. Footnote abbr. : LOC
Op. cit. is short for “opus citatum”, Latin for “the work cited”. Op. cit. is used in footnotes to refer the reader to an earlier citation. It is similar to “ibid”, except that ibid refers the reader the last citation, the one immediately above.


Loc. cit. is short for “loco citato” meaning “in the place cited”. Loc. cit. is used in a footnote instead of op. cit. as it refers not only to a prior work, but also the same page in that work.

62. Time for Conan, informally : LATE NITE
The so called “War for Late Night” of 2010 involved Conan O’Brien and Jay Leno. O’Brien had stayed loyal to NBC on the understanding that he would take over “The Tonight Show” after Jay Leno retired. When Leno’s contract expired in 2009, NBC moved Leno aside, with his agreement, and O’Brien took over. But Leno then hosted a new spot in prime time called “The Jay Leno Show”, and apparently the two shows split the traditional late night audience, much to the annoyance of advertisers. NBC reacted by moving Leno back to the late night slot, and mayhem ensued!

64. He played Mandela on TV’s “Mandela” : GLOVER
The actor Danny Glover’s best known role is that of Detective Richard Murtaugh in the very successful “Lethal Weapon” series of cop comedy dramas.

66. Movie genre named for a food staple : OATERS
The term “oater”, used for a western movie, comes from the number of horses seen, and horses love oats!

Down
2. Bit of green in a wallet : AMEX CARD
Amex is short for American Express. There are more transactions conducted in the US using the Amex card than any other (in dollar terms).

3. Side in an epic battle : GOD’S ARMY
God’s Army is an alternative name for the Heavenly host mentioned in the Bible. It is an army that fights in the War in Heaven against Satan’s army.

4. Letters for college-bound students : ETS
The Educational Testing Service (ETS) was founded in 1947, producing standardized tests for students from kindergarten through college. Perhaps most famously, ETS operates the SAT testing process.

5. Annual romance writer’s award : RITA
The RITA Awards are presented by Romance Writers of America (RWA) to authors exhibiting excellence in the genre of romantic fiction. The RITA is named for the RWA’s first president, Rita Clay Estrada.

10. Canadian singer with three #1 Billboard hits : ANKA
Canadian-born Paul Anka’s big hit was in 1957, the song titled “Diana”. He was the subject of a much-lauded documentary film in 1962, called “Lonely Boy”.

12. Transportation to Sugar Hill, in a 1941 song : “A” TRAIN
The A Train in the New York City Subway system, runs from 207th Street, through Manhattan, and over to Far Rockaway in Queens. The service lends its name to a jazz standard “Take the ‘A’ Train”, the signature tune of Duke Ellington and much sung by Ella Fitzgerald. One version of the lyric is:

“You must take the A Train
To go to Sugar Hill way up in Harlem
If you miss the A Train
You’ll find you’ve missed the quickest way to Harlem
Hurry, get on, now, it’s coming
Listen to those rails a-thrumming (All Aboard!)
Get on the A Train
Soon you will be on Sugar Hill in Harlem.”

21. Collection sites, of a sort : EAVES
To “eavesdrop” is to listen in on someone else’s conversation without being invited to do so. The term comes from the practice of spies loitering in the area just outside the walls of a house, particularly in the “eavesdrip”, the ground close to a house that catches the drips of rainwater falling from the eaves of the roof.

26. Company behind the popular social network games FarmVille and CityVille : ZYNGA
Zynga is a game developer based in San Francisco. The company’s most famous product is CityVille, a game similar to SimCity in look and feel, but it is “stand alone” i.e. doesn’t require an installation on one’s hard drive and is played in a browser window. Cityville attracts about 14 million game-players every day!

29. Commercial prefix since the 1950s : STYRO-
Styrofoam is an extruded polystyrene foam made by The Dow Chemical Company. Styrofoam has loads of applications, including home insulation and as a buoyancy aid.

31. “Romeo Must Die” actor, 2000 : JET LI
Jet Li’s real name is Li Jian Jie, a martial artist and international film star from Beijing, China. He played a villain in “Lethal Weapon 4”, and had a leading role in the 2000 movie “Romeo Must Die”.

45. Atlanta’s ___ Center : CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) was launched in 1980, the first television channel in the world to provide news coverage 24 hours a day.

47. Beverage nickname, with “the” : UNCOLA
7 Up was introduced to the world as “Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda”, and was a patent medicine that contained lithium citrate, a mood-stabilizing drug. Paradoxically, it came on the market in 1929 just two weeks before the Wall Street Crash. The “Uncola” campaign dates back to 1967.

48. Product of Bordeaux : MERLOT
Merlot is one of the main grapes used to make Bordeaux wines, along with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.

Bordeaux is perhaps the wine producing capital of the world. Wine has been produced in the area since the eighth century. Bordeaux has an administrative history too. During WWII, the French government relocated from Paris to the port city of Bordeaux when it became clear that Paris was soon to fall to the Germans. After the German’s too France, the capital was famously moved to Vichy.

49. Olympics site that introduced snowboarding : NAGANO
Nagano is a city on Japan’s largest island, Honshu. It was host to the 1998 Winter Olympic Games.

53. Smart : NATTY
A natty dresser is one who dresses smartly and neatly.

63. Kind of card : NRA
The NRA is the National Rifle Association, an organization that has been around since 1871. The group has had some celebrity presidents, including US President Ulysses S. Grant. It’s often said that the NRA is the most powerful lobbying group in Washington.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Subject of search engine optimization : PAGERANK
9. Changing place : CABANA
15. It may involve the colon : EMOTICON
16. Investment option, informally : T-NOTES
17. Right part of a map : RED STATE
18. Portmanteau wear : SKORTS
19. Arsenal decommissioned in 2005 : MXS
20. “The Play About the Baby” playwright : ALBEE
22. Ease : ABATE
23. Volunteer’s offer : I CAN
25. City of the Altiplano : LA PAZ
27. Abandon : JILT
28. Certain adjustments : TARES
30. Flying Dutchman captain of film : DAVY JONES
32. Fictional character whose first name is Kentaro : MR MOTO
34. One vertex of the Summer Triangle : DENEB
35. Big name in confectioneries : EDY
36. “Delightful!” : YUM
38. E-5: Abbr. : SGT
39. My country’s follower? : ‘TIS
42. Ignition trouble : ARSON
44. Library spot : ALCOVE
46. Way to see the big picture? : JUMBOTRON
50. Kind of card : INDEX
51. French singles : UNES
52. Foil alternative : SARAN
54. Spiced quaffs : NOGS
55. North Atlantic catch : SCROD
57. ___-Obama Proliferation and Threat Reduction Initiative (2007 law) : LUGAR
59. Footnote abbr. : LOC
60. Rung : TOLLED
62. Time for Conan, informally : LATE NITE
64. He played Mandela on TV’s “Mandela” : GLOVER
65. Joins, redundantly : ENTERS IN
66. Movie genre named for a food staple : OATERS
67. Starbucks offering : SOY LATTE

Down
1. “Step aside, I’ll help” : PERMIT ME
2. Bit of green in a wallet : AMEX CARD
3. Side in an epic battle : GOD’S ARMY
4. Letters for college-bound students : ETS
5. Annual romance writer’s award : RITA
6. Place ___ : A CALL
7. “I’m impressed!” : NOT BAD
8. Bit of in-line skating gear : KNEE PAD
9. Price abbr. : CTS
10. Canadian singer with three #1 Billboard hits : ANKA
11. Growing concern for a surgeon, informally? : BOOB JOB
12. Transportation to Sugar Hill, in a 1941 song : “A” TRAIN
13. Get to : NETTLE
14. They’re positive : ASSETS
21. Collection sites, of a sort : EAVES
24. Romantic introduction? : NEO-
26. Company behind the popular social network games FarmVille and CityVille : ZYNGA
29. Commercial prefix since the 1950s : STYRO-
31. “Romeo Must Die” actor, 2000 : JET LI
33. Bounces : OUSTS
37. Good : MORAL
39. Where some write checks : TO-DO LIST
40. “Bingo!” : I’VE GOT IT
41. Censor’s target : SEX SCENE
42. Free : ABSOLVE
43. Anarchy : NO RULES
45. Atlanta’s ___ Center : CNN
46. Angry lover’s dismissal : JUST GO
47. Beverage nickname, with “the” : UNCOLA
48. Product of Bordeaux : MERLOT
49. Olympics site that introduced snowboarding : NAGANO
53. Smart : NATTY
56. Bucks and bucks : DEER
58. Casting need : REEL
61. Hospital grp. : DRS
63. Kind of card : NRA

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