0101-12: New York Times Crossword Answers 1 Jan 12, Sunday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
1. Many college profs : PHDS
PhD is an abbreviation for “philosphiae doctor”, Latin for “teacher of philosophy”.

5. Food preserver : 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.

13. Crosswise to the keel : ABEAM
The beam is the widest part of a vessel. Something pointed out as lying “abeam” is something that it is 90 degrees from a line through the bow and the stern, in other words off to the right or the left.

18. Pool ball’s “Watch this!” comment? : SEE IF I CAROM (SEE IF I CARE-UM)
A carom is a ricochet, the bouncing of some projectile off a surface. It has come to mean the banking of a billiard ball, the bouncing of the ball off the side of the table.

21. Arles affirmative : OUI
A few years ago I had the privilege of living just a short car ride from the beautiful city of Arles in the South of France. Although it has a long and colorful history, the Romans had a prevailing influence over the city’s design. It has a spectacular Roman amphitheater, arch, circus as well as old walls that surround the center of the city. In more modern times, it was a place that Vincent van Gogh often visited, and where he painted his famous “Cafe Terrace at Night”, as well as “Bedroom in Arles”.

22. Onetime first name in Israeli politics : GOLDA
Golda Meir was known as the “Iron Lady” when she was Prime Minister of Israel, long before the term came to be associated with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Golda Meir was born Golda Mabovitch in Kiev (in modern-day Ukraine), and when she was a young girl she moved with her family to the United States and settled in Milwaukee. As a teenager she relocated to Denver where she met and married Morris Meyerson, at the age of 19. She and her husband joined a kibbutz in Palestine in 1921 when she was in her twenties. She had been active in politics in the US and continued her political work in Palestine. She was very influential during WWII and played a leading role in negotiations after the war leading to the setting up of the State of Israel. By the time she was called on to lead the country she had already retired, citing exhaustion and ill health. But serve she did, and led Israel during turbulent times (e.g. the massacre at the Munich Olympics, and the Yom Kippur War). She eventually resigned in 1974, saying that was what the people wanted.

26. Steely Dan album featuring “Deacon Blues” : AJA
Steely Dan’s heyday was in the seventies when they toured for a couple of years, although the group mainly focused on studio work. The band was formed in 1972 and broke up in 1981. The core of the band reunited in 1993 and they are still going strong today.

35. End of many a list : ET AL
Et alii (et al.) is the equivalent of et cetera (etc.), with et cetera being used in place of a list of objects, and et alii used for a list of names. In fact “et al.” can stand for et alii (for a group of males, or males and females), aliae (for a group of women) and et alia (for a group of neuter nouns, or for a group of people where the intent is to retain gender-neutrality).

36. Camper’s canful : STERNO
Sterno is a very useful product, a “jellied alcohol” that usually comes in a can. The can is opened and the contents burn very easily and persistently. The brand name “Sterno” comes from the original manufacturer, S. Sternau & Co. of Brooklyn, New York.

56. [I’m so funny!] : LOL
LOL is an abbreviation used in Instant Messages and phone texting, an abbreviation of “Laughing Out Loud”.

59. Pill that relieves computer-related anxiety? : SILICON VALIUM (SILICON VALLEY-UM)
The generic name for Valium is diazepam. It was developed by Dr. Leo Sternbach of Hoffman-La Roche, and approved for use in 1963. This was the second of Dr. Sternbach’s major developments, as he was responsible for the diazepam’s sister drug, Librium, that went to market in 1960.

The Santa Clara Valley, just a few miles from me at the south of San Francisco Bay, is better known as “Silicon Valley”. The term dates back to 1971 when it was apparently first used in a weekly trade newspaper called “Electronic News” in articles written by journalist Don Hoefler.

66. “I think,” to texters : IMO
In my opinion (IMO).

68. Empire State Building climber, for short : KONG
“King Kong” really is a classic movie. It stars Fay Wray as the young woman for whom Kong falls. Apparently Wray was very interested in the role in which she was told she would be playing opposite the “tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood”. She thought it might be Clark Gable. Boy was she wrong …

77. 1988 Summer Olympics site : SEOUL
The largest metropolitan area in the world is centered on Tokyo, Japan. Seoul, South Korea comes in second with a population of over 20 million people.

79. Handbag monogram : YSL
Yves Saint-Laurent was a French fashion designer, actually born in Algeria. He started off working as an assistant to Christian Dior at the age of 17. Dior died just four years later and as a very young man Saint-Laurent was named head of the House of Dior. However, in 1950 Saint-Laurent was conscripted into the French Army and ended up in a military hospital after suffering a mental breakdown from the hazing inflicted on him by his fellow soldiers. His treatment included electroshock therapy and administration of sedatives and psychoactive drugs. He was released from prison, managed to pull his life back together, and started his own fashion house. A remarkable story …

81. Sultan’s wife, perhaps? : HEAD OF HAREM (HEAD OF HAIR-UM)
“Harem” is a Turkish word, derived from the Arabic for “forbidden place”. Traditionally a harem was the female quarters in a household in which a man had more than one wife. Not only wives (and concubines) would use the harem, but also young children and other female relatives. The main point was that no men were allowed in the area.

86. Reed of rock : LOU
Lou Reed is best known as a rock musician and songwriter, and is especially associated with fabulous 1973 hit “Walk on the Wildside”. Reed is less well known as a photographer, but he has published two collections of his work. The first was released in 2003 under the title “Emotions in Action”, and the second in 2006 called “Lou Reed’s New York”.

87. “1984” superstate : EURASIA
The action in George Orwell’s 1949 novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four” takes place in the intercontinental super-state of Oceania. Orwell created two other super-states, Eurasia and Eastasia.

105. Rainy day planner? : NOAH
Genesis 6:19-20 states that Noah was instructed to take two animals of every kind into the ark. Later, in Genesis 7:2-3, Noah was instructed to take on board “every clean animal by sevens … male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth”. One interpretation is that “extras” (7 rather than 2) were needed for ritual sacrifice.

106. Twelve Oaks neighbor : TARA
Rhett Butler hung out with Scarlett O’Hara at the Tara plantation in Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone with the Wind”. In the book, Tara was founded by Scarlett’s father, Irish immigrant Gerald O’Hara. He named his new abode after the Hill of Tara back in his home country, the ancient seat of the High King of Ireland.

108. Pac-12 athlete : UTE
The Runnin’ Utes are the basketball team of the University of Utah. The team was given the nickname the Runnin’ Redskins back when Jack Gardner was the head coach, from 1953 to 1971. The “Runnin'” part of the name was chosen because Gardner was famous for playing quick offenses. The “Redskins” name was later dropped in favor of the less controversial “Utes”.

115. Savings plan, briefly : IRA
I have to tell you, when I first came to the US from Ireland it was pretty confusing seeing big signs along the freeway advocating IRA contributions. Back in Ireland, contributing to the IRA was pretty illegal (where IRA stands for the outlawed Irish Republican Army!).

116. Dessert delivered over the Internet? : PIE A LA MODEM (PIE A LA MODE-UM)
In French “à la mode” simply means “fashionable”. In America it has come to describe a way of serving pie, usually with ice cream, or as I recall from when I lived in Upstate New York, with cheese.

117. Brouhahas : TO-DOS
“Brouhaha” was a French word that back in the 1550s meant “the cry of the devil disguised as clergy” . Wow …

119. Monster of Jewish folklore : GOLEM
Golem is Yiddish slang for a “dimwit”. In Jewish folklore a golem is an anthropomorphic being made out of inanimate matter, somewhat like an unintelligent robot.

120. The Big Board, for short : NYSE
The roots of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) go back to 1792 when a group of 24 stock brokers set up the New York Stock & Exchange Board. They did so in an agreement signed under a buttonwood tree outside 68 Wall Street. That document became known as the Buttonwood Agreement.

Down
2. Jimi Hendrix’s debut single : HEY JOE
Many of his contemporaries regarded Jimi Hendrix as the greatest electric guitarist in the history of rock music. Hendrix was from Seattle and didn’t really have a really stellar start to his working life. He failed to finish high school and fell foul of the law by getting caught in stolen cars, twice. The courts gave him the option of the army or two years in prison. Hendrix chose the former and soon found himself in the famous 101st Airborne. In the army, his less-than-disciplined ways helped him (as he would have seen it) because his superiors successfully petitioned to get him discharged after serving only one year of his two-year requirement, just to get him out of their hair.

6. Low-pH compound : ACID
As we all recall from chemistry class, a pH of 7 is considered neutral. Anything less than 7 is an acid, and anything above 7 is a base.

8. “___ hath an enemy called Ignorance”: Ben Jonson : ART
Ben Jonson was a contemporary of William Shakespeare, and just like Shakespeare, Jonson was a dramatist, poet and actor. Jonson’s work was very well received from 1605 to 1620, but his reputation began to wane in subsequent years. He wrote a play called “The New Inn” that was received so badly the actors were hissed off the stage. Immediately afterwards Jonson wrote about the failure in his poem “Ode to Himself”.

12. Pal of Huck Finn : JIM
“The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain was first published in 1884, not here in the US but rather in England. The original launch planned for the US had to be delayed until the following year because some rascal had defaced the plate for one of the illustrations, making an obscene joke. Once the problem was spotted a new plate had to be made, and 30,000 copies already printed had to be reworked to cover up the obscenity.

13. Swirly marbles : AGATES
A playing marble made from agate is called just that, an agate. Steelies on the other hand, are made from solid steel.

14. “The Big Sleep” co-star, 1946 : BOGART
“The Big Sleep” is a film released in 1946, a great example of the film noir genre. The stars of course are Humphrey Bogart as the detective Philip Marlowe, and Lauren Bacall.

15. Funny Boosler : ELAYNE
Elayne Boosler is a stand-up comedian and was one of the first female comedians to have her act aired as a special on cable television. She does have some funny lines, and here’s one that I particularly like:

“When women are depressed they either eat or go shopping. Men invade another country.”

16. They’re exchanged in France : ADIEUS
“Adieu” is the French for “goodbye, farewell” from “à Dieu” meaning “to God”.

17. Candy eaten in handfuls : M AND MS
Forrest Mars, Sr. was the founder of the Mars Company. He invented the Mars Bar while living over in England and then developed M&M’s when he returned to the US. He came up with the idea for M&M’s when he saw soldiers in the Spanish Civil War eating chocolate pellets. Those pellets had a hard shell of tempered chocolate on the outside to prevent them from melting. Mars got some of the funding to develop the M&M from William Murrie, the son of the president of Hershey’s Chocolate. It is the “M” and “M” from “Mars” and “Murrie” which gives the name to the candy.

20. Master : MAVEN
I’ve always loved the word “maven” meaning an expert. Maven comes into English from the Yiddish “meyvn”, a word for someone who appreciates and is a connoisseur.

24. Pixar title character : NEMO
“Finding Nemo” is a 2003 animated blockbuster from Pixar. It was the winner of the Oscar that year for Best Animated Feature. Believe it or not, “Finding Nemo” is the best-selling DVD of all time and, until 2010’s “Toy Story 3”, it was the highest-grossing G-rated movie at the box office.

29. Best-selling author who wrote “I did not write it. God wrote it. I merely did his dictation” : STOWE
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s first novel ended up being her most famous, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. She followed it up with an 1856 novel, “Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp”.

36. Reception room in a mansion : SALON
“Salon” is the French word for a large room. It is usually the largest room in a house and often the room in which one sits with guests. The word was brought into English with the same meaning in the late 17th century. It wasn’t until early in the 20th century that “salon” came to mean an establishment for hairdressing and beauty care.

37. Rare craps roll : TWELVE
If one considers earlier versions of craps, then the game has been around for a very long time and probably dates back to the Crusades. It may be derived from an old English game called “hazard” also played with two dice, which was mentioned in Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” from the 1300s. The American version of the game came here courtesy of the French and first set root in New Orleans where it was given the name “crapaud”, a French word meaning “toad”.

42. “The Big Bang Theory” network : CBS
“The Big Bang Theory” is a wonderful sitcom that has been airing on CBS since 2007. There are a lot of high-powered equations and math in the show’s dialog and it is all accurate, as it is checked by a professor of physics and astronomy at UCLA.

43. Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Century : ALI
Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. was born in 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky. Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali when he converted to Islam in 1964. Who can forget Muhammad Ali lighting the Olympic flame for the 1996 games in Atlanta? Ali was presented with a gold medal during those ’96 Games, a replacement for the medal he won at the 1960 Olympics. He had thrown the original into the Ohio River as a gesture of disgust after being refused service at a “whites only” restaurant.

46. One taking a bow in Japan : OBI
The sash worn as part of traditional Japanese dress is known as an obi. The obi can be tied in what is called a butterfly knot.

50. ___ Quijano (Don Quixote’s real name) : ALONSO
The full name of the author of “Don Quixote” was Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. As a young man in 1570, Cervantes was a soldier fighting for the Spanish Navy and was stationed in Naples, at that time a possession of Spain. He was injured in battle, receiving three gunshot wounds including two to the chest. His injuries left him without the use of his left arm. After recuperating he returned to active service, and in 1575 he was captured by Algerian corsairs and spent the next five years in slavery in North Africa. His parents found him, bought his freedom and brought him home to his native Madrid.

53. What’s in an Rx : MED
There seems to some uncertainty about the origin of the symbol “Rx”, used for a medical prescription. One explanation is that it comes from the astrological sign for Jupiter, a symbol put on prescriptions in days of old to invoke Jupiter’s blessing to help the patient recover.

60. Words to live by : CREDO
Credo is the Latin word for “I believe”.

62. Lash of old westerns : LARUE
Alfred LaRue was an actor who appeared in a lot of western movies in the forties and fifties. He was very adept with the bull whip, earning him the nickname “Lash”. Years after his onscreen career ended, LaRue was the guy who trained Harrison Ford how to use a bull whip for his role in the “Indiana Jones” series of films.

70. Diamonds, to a yegg : ICE
Yegg is a slang word for a burglar and often for a safe-cracker. The origin of the term appears to be unknown.

72. Einstein’s birthplace : ULM
Ulm is in the south of Germany and sits on the River Danube. It is famous for being home to the tallest church in the world, Ulm Minster, a Gothic building with a steeple that is 530ft tall, with 768 steps to climb. Quite a workout, I’d say …

Ulm is the birthplace of Albert Einstein. It is also the site of the surrender of the entire Austrian army to Napoleon, in the Battle of Ulm in 1805

73. NATO alphabet vowel : OSCAR
The NATO phonetic alphabet is also called the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) phonetic alphabet. It goes Alfa, Bravo, Charlie etc.

74. Hosp. diagnostic aid : MRI
A CT (or “CAT”) scan produces (via computer manipulation) a three dimensional image of the inside of an object, usually the human body. It does so by taking a series of two dimensional x-ray images while rotating the camera around the patient. The issue with CT scans is that they use x-rays, and high doses of radiation can be harmful causing damage that is cumulative over time. An MRI, on the other hand (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), uses powerful magnetic fields to generate its images so there is no exposure to ionizing radiation (such as X-rays). We used MRI equipment in our chemistry labs at school, way back in the days when the technology was still called Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging (NMRI). Apparently the marketing folks didn’t like the term “nuclear” because of its association with atomic bombs, so now it’s just called MRI.

75. Ability to identify Zener cards : ESP
Extra Sensory Perception (ESP).

Zener cards were developed in the early thirties by psychologist Karl Zener, for use in experiments related to extra-sensory perception. These five simple and distinctive cards replaced the standard deck of cards that had been used in trials up to that point.

78. ___ de vie : EAU
Eau de vie is a clear, colorless fruit brandy. “Eau de vie” is French for “water of life”.

83. Big name in Champagne : MUMM
G. H. Mumm is one of the largest Champagne producers in the world. It is located in Reims in northern France and was actually founded by three brothers from Germany, all winemakers from the Rhine Valley.

87. One of the music industry’s Big Four : EMI
EMI is a British music company, with the acronym originally standing for Electric and Musical Industries.

92. Weather Channel newsmaker : EL NINO
When the surface temperature of the Pacific Ocean rises or falls more that half a degree centigrade, then there is said to be an El Niño episode. That small temperature change in the Pacific has been associated with climatic changes that can reach right across the globe. El Niño is Spanish for “the boy” and is a reference to the Christ child. The phenomenon was given this Spanish name because the warming is usually noticed near South America and around Christmas-time.

98. Says no to : VETOES
The word “veto” comes directly from Latin and means “I forbid”. The word was used by tribunes of Ancient Rome to indicate that they opposed measures passed by the Senate.

101. R. J. Reynolds brand : DORAL
Doral is a brand of cigarette made by R. J. Reynolds.

103. “Philadelphia” director : DEMME
Jonathan Demme is best known for directing “The Silence of the Lambs” for which he won an Oscar. His next movie was “Philadelphia”, which won an Oscar for the lead actor, Tom Hanks.

106. Greenish blue : TEAL
The beautiful color of teal takes it name from the duck called a “teal”, which has dark greenish-blue (teal) markings on its head and wings.

Return to top of page

For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Many college profs : PHDS
5. Food preserver : SARAN
10. Sandwich choice, for short : PBJ
13. Crosswise to the keel : ABEAM
18. Pool ball’s “Watch this!” comment? : SEE IF I CAROM (SEE IF I CARE-UM)
21. Arles affirmative : OUI
22. Onetime first name in Israeli politics : GOLDA
23. High-mounted window you can’t stop looking at? : HYPNOTIC TRANSOM (HYPNOTIC TRANCE-UM)
25. “Come ___?” : AGAIN
26. Steely Dan album featuring “Deacon Blues” : AJA
27. Traveled by bus : RODE
28. Thin blue line? : VEIN
29. Resisted a job offer, say : STAYED
30. Go downhill : WORSEN
32. Part of a watch touching the breastbone? : STEM TO STERNUM (STEM TO STERN-UM)
35. End of many a list : ET AL
36. Camper’s canful : STERNO
38. She’s entertaining : HOSTESS
39. Heist planner’s concern : GETAWAY
41. Wedding part : VOW
42. Ceiling : CAP
45. Strong winds : GALES
46. “You don’t have to be busy to look busy,” e.g.? : OFFICE MAXIM (OFFICEMAX-UM)
54. Squished bug, e.g. : BLOB
56. [I’m so funny!] : LOL
57. Go all to pieces : BREAK
58. Antipasto tidbit : OLIVE
59. Pill that relieves computer-related anxiety? : SILICON VALIUM (SILICON VALLEY-UM)
63. High : STONED
64. Bring in : EARN
65. History topic : ERA
66. “I think,” to texters : IMO
68. Empire State Building climber, for short : KONG
69. Holds under the tap : RINSES
71. Inhuman group of golfers? : BRUTE FOURSOME (BRUTE FORCE-UM)
76. Behaved : ACTED
77. 1988 Summer Olympics site : SEOUL
79. Handbag monogram : YSL
80. “A Love Like ___” (Barbra Streisand album) : OURS
81. Sultan’s wife, perhaps? : HEAD OF HAREM (HEAD OF HAIR-UM)
83. Sends up : MOCKS
85. Thank you for waiting : TIP
86. Reed of rock : LOU
87. “1984” superstate : EURASIA
89. Desperately want : ACHE FOR
94. Bad experience : BUMMER
96. Late sixth-century year : DXCV
99. Jungle king’s jeans and overalls? : THE LION’S DENIM (THE LION’S DEN-UM)
102. Looked intently : PEERED
104. Knocked on the noggin : BEANED
105. Rainy day planner? : NOAH
106. Twelve Oaks neighbor : TARA
108. Pac-12 athlete : UTE
109. Restaurant greeter’s option : EAT IN
110. Ennui among quantum physicists? : PARTICLE BOREDOM (PARTICLE BOARD-UM)
114. Go on a shopping spree : SPEND
115. Savings plan, briefly : IRA
116. Dessert delivered over the Internet? : PIE A LA MODEM (PIE A LA MODE-UM)
117. Brouhahas : TO-DOS
118. Cowlick fixer : GEL
119. Monster of Jewish folklore : GOLEM
120. The Big Board, for short : NYSE

Down
1. “What a load of hogwash!” : PSHAW
2. Jimi Hendrix’s debut single : HEY JOE
3. Set out : DEPART
4. Stray from righteousness : SIN
5. Refuse to release : SIT ON
6. Low-pH compound : ACID
7. Go to the tape? : RACE
8. “___ hath an enemy called Ignorance”: Ben Jonson : ART
9. Negative conjunction : NOR
10. Conjecture : POSIT
11. It’s good in Italy : BUONO
12. Pal of Huck Finn : JIM
13. Swirly marbles : AGATES
14. “The Big Sleep” co-star, 1946 : BOGART
15. Funny Boosler : ELAYNE
16. They’re exchanged in France : ADIEUS
17. Candy eaten in handfuls : M AND MS
19. “Praying” part of a praying mantis : FORELEG
20. Master : MAVEN
24. Pixar title character : NEMO
29. Best-selling author who wrote “I did not write it. God wrote it. I merely did his dictation” : STOWE
31. Downswing : SAG
32. They’re heavy during storms : SEAS
33. Sample : TRY
34. Injury symptom : SHOCK
36. Reception room in a mansion : SALON
37. Rare craps roll : TWELVE
40. Sharp nails : TALONS
41. Through : VIA
42. “The Big Bang Theory” network : CBS
43. Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Century : ALI
44. Creamy Italian side dish : POLENTA
46. One taking a bow in Japan : OBI
47. Smoothie ingredient : FRUIT
48. Homme’s partner : FEMME
49. Travel by car : MOTOR
50. ___ Quijano (Don Quixote’s real name) : ALONSO
51. Deleting : XING OUT
52. “___ got a feeling …” : I’VE
53. What’s in an Rx : MED
55. Leaning : BIASED
60. Words to live by : CREDO
61. Garden spot : ARBOR
62. Lash of old westerns : LARUE
63. Hides in the shadows : SKULKS
67. In olden times : OF YORE
69. When doubled, ardent : RAH
70. Diamonds, to a yegg : ICE
72. Einstein’s birthplace : ULM
73. NATO alphabet vowel : OSCAR
74. Hosp. diagnostic aid : MRI
75. Ability to identify Zener cards : ESP
77. Lacking a coat, maybe : SHORN
78. ___ de vie : EAU
82. Fill, and then some : FLOOD
83. Big name in Champagne : MUMM
84. Easily drawn gun : SIDEARM
87. One of the music industry’s Big Four : EMI
88. Kick out : AXE
89. If everything goes your way : AT BEST
90. Cut-rate : CHEAPO
91. Fierce, as an argument : HEATED
92. Weather Channel newsmaker : EL NINO
93. Wicked ones : FIENDS
94. About ready to drop : BEAT
95. Square : UNHIP
97. Badly made : CRUDDY
98. Says no to : VETOES
100. Catch : SNARE
101. R. J. Reynolds brand : DORAL
102. Like three of golf’s four majors : PRO-AM
103. “Philadelphia” director : DEMME
106. Greenish blue : TEAL
107. Having the knack : ABLE
110. Chinese zodiac animal : PIG
111. Smoke : CIG
112. Sort who’s a natural leader, supposedly : LEO
113. Great time : EON

Return to top of page