0108-12: New York Times Crossword Answers 8 Jan 12, Sunday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
6. Hannibal’s foil in “The Silence of the Lambs” : CLARICE
Clarice Starling is the FBI Agent in the Thomas Harris novel “The Silence of the Lambs”. In the movie she was played by Jodie Foster.

Hannibal Lecter is a character created by author Thomas Harris, first appearing in his novel “Red Dragon”. Lecter also features prominently in the famous sequel “The Silence of the Lambs”, and even more so in the third book, “Hannibal Rising”. The latter title is a “prequel” exploring Lecter’s childhood and development into a serial killer. Famously, Lecter was portrayed in the 1991 film version of “The Silence of the Lambs” by Welsh actor Anthony Hopkins.

20. Forum fashions : TOGAE
In Ancient Rome the classical attire known as a toga (plural “togae”) was usually worn over a tunic. The tunic was made from linen, and the toga itself was a piece of cloth about twenty feet long made from wool. The toga could only be worn by men, and only if those men were Roman citizens. The female equivalent of the toga was called a “stola”.

21. Glade, e.g. : AEROSOL
Strictly speaking, the term “aerosol” defines a suspension of either liquid droplets or solid particles in a gas. A good example of an aerosol is smoke. We tend to use the word to describe what comes out of a spray can, even though the liquid droplets usually fall out of the gas and don’t stay suspended.

23. ___-Itami International Airport : OSAKA
The Japanese city of Osaka used to be called Naniwa, with the name changing to Osaka some time before 1500. “Osaka” can be translated either as “large hill” or “large slope”.

Osaka International Airport is the main domestic airport for the Kansai region of Japan, serving the cities of Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe. Although it is still called an international airport, it has only dealt with domestic traffic since the enormous Kansai International Airport was built just over 25 miles away on an artificial island in the middle of Osaka Bay.

37. Comic strip “___ and Janis” : ARLO
The comic strip “Arlo and Janis” is written by Jimmy Johnson. It was first published in 1985. The lead characters are named after the musicians Arlo Guthrie and Janis Joplin.

38. Inflation-fighting W.W. II org. : OPA
President Franklin D. Roosevelt set up the Office of Price Administration (OPA) during WWII, with the intent of stabilizing prices and rents during the emergency.

44. Table saver : COASTER
A “coaster” is a small mat or plate that goes under a glass or cup.  Back in the late 1800s, the original coaster was a small drink stand that sat on a table. As the drink stand “coasted” around from guest-to-guest, it earned the name “coaster”.

47. Don Quixote’s love : DULCINEA
The full name of Cervantes’s novel is “The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha”. In the story, Don Quixote is a retired country gentleman who heads out as a knight-errant and who renames himself Don Quixote of la Mancha. In his mind he designates a neighboring farm girl called Aldonza Lorenzo as his lady love, and renames her Dulcinea del Toboso.

56. Bogart’s “High Sierra” role : EARLE
“High Sierra” is a 1941 movie based on a novel by W.R. Burnett. It’s a gangster piece, starring Humphrey Bogart as “Mad Dog” Roy Earle, a bad guy with a heart. Bogie’s love interest is played by the very talented Ida Lupino.

57. Clive Cussler novel settings : SEAS
Clive Cussler is not only a novelist who specializes in writing stories about the sea, but is also an active marine archaeologist. Cussler founded and chairs the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) that has discovered many sunken ships including the Confederate States Navy submarine H. L Hunley.

59. Weight allowance : 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.

60. “Behold,” to Brutus : ECCE
The most famous man with the name “Brutus” in Ancient Rome was Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger. It was this Brutus that Julius Caesar turned to when he was assassinated on the steps of the Senate. William Shakespeare immortalized Brutus by featuring him in his play, “Julius Caesar”, and giving his victim the line “Et tu, Brute?”

63. Words on a Wonderland cake : EAT ME
In Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, Alice follows the white rabbit down a rabbit hole and finds a bottle labelled “DRINK ME”. When she drinks the contents, it causes her to shrink. She also sees a cake adorned with the words “EAT ME”, and when she does so she grows so big she finds it hard to stand up. After eating the cake, she says the famous words, “Curiouser and curiouser”.

71. Who wrote “A true German can’t stand the French, / Yet willingly he drinks their wines” : GOETHE
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer (among other things!). His most famous work is probably his play “Faust”. This epic work was published in parts, starting in 1808. The work was only published in toto after his death in 1832.

76. One who discriminates? : EPICURE
An epicure is a gourmet, one who appreciates fine food and drink in particular. The term is derived from the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus.

82. Fr. title : MLLE
Mademoiselle (Mlle.)

83. Fen-___ (former weight-loss drug) : -PHEN
“Fen-phen” is the abbreviated name for a treatment that used two drugs, fenfluramine and phentermine. The drug combination was used for weight loss but was withdrawn from the market in 1997 after it was shown to cause cardiac problems.

87. Applied foil at the Hershey’s factory? : SEALED (with) A KISS
The Hershey Company produces over 80 million Kisses each day, and has been making them since 1907.

98. Shoppe modifier : OLDE
The word “olde” wasn’t actually used much earlier than the 1920s. “Olde” was introduced to give a quaint antique feel to brand names, shop names etc.

99. Foreign football score : NIL
“Nil” is another word for “nothing”, and is especially used in the scoring of some games. “Nil” is a contraction of “nihil”, the Latin for “nothing”.

115. Upton Sinclair novel on which “There Will Be Blood” is based : OIL
The 2007 movie “There Will Be Blood”, starring Daniel Day Lewis and the young Paul Dano, is based on Upton Sinclair’s 1927 novel called “Oil!”

124. “Me, Myself & ___” : IRENE
“Me, Myself & Irene” is a 2000 comedy film starring Jim Carrey (“Me” and “Myself”) and Renée Zellweger (Irene). It’s a perfect vehicle for Carrey, as his character is a state trooper who develops a second personality after a psychotic breakdown. You can just imagine how Jim Carrey plays that extra, unrepressed persona!

126. Part of some Tin Pan Alley music : UKULELE
The ukulele originated in the 1800s, and mimicked a small guitar brought to the Hawaiian Islands by Portuguese immigrants.

Tin Pan Alley was originally a specific location, West 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan. The area was associated with the music publishing business from about 1885 to the start of the Great Derpression. The name itself is possibly a reference to the tinny sound of cheap pianos that were common around there at the time.

129. Original : SEMINAL
Something that is seminal is creative and has the power to originate, it is formative. It comes from the Latin word “semen” meaning “seed”.

Down
4. Glen Canyon reservoir : LAKE POWELL
Glen Canyon Dam is the second largest dam on the Colorado River and is located at Page, Arizona. The Dam was built to flood Glen Canyon, creating what we now know as Lake Powell.

8. Prince Valiant’s eldest : ARN
Arn was the eldest son of Prince Valiant, the comic strip hero. Edward, the Duke of Windsor, called the “Prince Valiant” comic strip the “greatest contribution to English Literature in the past one hundred years”. I’m not so sure …

9. Bunkum : ROT
The word “bunk” is short for “bunkum”, the phonetic spelling of “Buncombe”, a county in North Carolina. Supposedly, a state representative made a dull and irrelevant speech that was directed to his home county of Buncombe, bringing the term “bunkum” into the language with the meaning of “nonsense”. The derivative word “debunk” first appeared in a novel by William Woodward in 1923, when he used it to describe “taking the bunk out of things”.

10. EarthLink, e.g., for short : ISP
An Internet Service Provider (ISP) is just what the name indicates, a company that provides its customers with access to the Internet. One way that ISPs differentiate themselves from each other is in the way in which end users are connected to the ISP’s network. So, there are cable ISPs, DSL ISPs, dial-up ISPs and satellite ISPs. I’d go with cable if I were you, if it’s available in your area …

11. Actor Firth : COLIN
Colin Firth is the English actor who came to prominence playing Mr Darcy in the fabulous television adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” that came out in 1995 (I cannot recommend that six-episode drama enough). More recently, Firth won the Best Actor Oscar for playing King George VI in “The King’s Speech”.

14. “Little” singer of the ’60s : EVA
Carole King, and her long-time partner Gerry Goffin, have been writing hit songs since the early sixties. Carole and Gerry had a babysitter, one Eva Narcissus Boyd, who was always bopping around the house in an unusual dance style. They wrote a song about her dance and they called it “The Loco-Motion”. Then they gave it to the babysitter to record. Ms. Boyd chose as a stage name a character in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” called Little Eva …

15. Coll. elective : ROTC
The Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) is a training program for officers based in colleges all around the US. The ROTC program was established in 1862 when as a condition of receiving a land-grant to create colleges, the federal government required that military tactics be a part of the new school’s curriculum.

16. Capital city on the Atlantic : ACCRA
Accra sits on Ghana’s coast and is a major seaport as well as the country’s capital city. The name “Accra” comes from a local word “Nkran” meaning “ants”, a name chosen because of the large number of anthills found in the area when the city was founded.

17. Pundit Bill : MAHER
Bill Maher is a stand-up comedian and political commentator. Maher has an HBO television show called “Real Time with Bill Maher” which is essentially a follow-on from the very successful “Politically Incorrect” which started out on Comedy Central.

19. Vodka drink, informally : COSMO
Like so many famous cocktails, the actual origins of the cosmopolitan are disputed. It is a nice drink though. One of the standard recipes is 4 parts citrus vodka, 1.5 parts Cointreau, 1.5 parts lime juice and 3 parts cranberry juice.

32. 2010 Emma Stone comedy set in high school : EASY A
The 2010 teen comedy called “Easy A” has a screenplay which was in part based on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter”.

41. Loos : WCS
When I was growing up in Ireland, a “bathroom” was a room that had a bath and no toilet. The separate room with the commode was called “the toilet” or sometimes the W.C. (the water closet). Apparently the term closet was used because in the 1800s when homeowners started installing toilets indoors they often displaced clothes in a “closet”, as a closet was the right size to take the commode. It has been suggested that the British term “loo” comes from Waterloo (water-closet … water-loo), but no one seems to know for sure.

42. Animal house, say : FRAT
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.

48. Path of Caesar : ITER
An “iter” is an anatomical passageway, from the Latin word for “journey”.

49. One-named singer for the Velvet Underground : NICO
Nico was a German singer who collaborated with The Velvet Underground on their debut album (“The Velvet Underground & Nico”), which was released in 1967.

52. Some appliances : GES
GE still makes an awful lot of household appliances. The division of GE that is responsible for the business is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky … in Appliance Park. The park covers about 1,000 acres and even has its own ZIP code.

55. ___-shanter : TAM O’
A tam o’shanter is a man’s cap traditionally worn by Scotsmen. “Tams” were originally all blue (and called “blue bonnets”) but as more dyes became readily available, they became more colorful. The name tam o’shanter comes from the title character of Robert Burns poem “Tam O’Shanter”.

58. Tarot user, maybe : SEERESS
Tarot cards have been around since the mid-1400s, and for centuries were simply used for entertainment in games. It has only been since the late 1800s that the cards have been used by fortune tellers to predict the future.

62. New York’s Tappan ___ Bridge : ZEE
The Tappan Zee Bridge is the better-known name for the Governor Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge which crosses the Hudson River in New York. The bridge opened in 1955 and is showing its age. There are plans to replace it with a new bridge due to open in 2017.

64. Flat: Abbr. : APT
“Flat” is a word more commonly used in the British Isles than here. It basically describes an apartment or condominium. The word “flat” is Scottish in origin, in which language it meant a “floor in a house”.

66. “South Pacific” hero : EMILE
The 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “South Pacific” is based on stories from the 1947 book “Tales of the South Pacific” by James A. Michener. “South Pacific” really is a classic show, featuring some classic songs like “Bali Ha’i”, “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair”, “Some Enchanted Evening” and “Happy Talk”.

69. Hindu spring festival : HOLI
Holi is a Hindu festival celebrated in spring, and is also known as the Festival of Colours.

70. French income : RENTE
“Rente” is the French for “rent” … who’d a thunk it?

72. Ready for service : ONE-A
The US government maintains information on all males who are potentially subject to military conscription, using what is called the Selective Service System (SSS). In the event that a draft is held, men registered would be classified into groups to determine eligibility for service. Class 1-A registrants are those available for unrestricted military service. Other classes are 1-A-O (conscientious objectors available for noncombatant service), 4-A (registrants who have completed military service) and 4-D (ministers of religion).

73. Conseil d’___ : ETAT
The Conseil d’État (Council of State) is a body within the French national government. It provides legal advice to the Prime Minister and is also the administrative court of last resort.

74. Sports contest : TILT
Tilting is the most recognized form of jousting. Jousting can involve the use of a number of different weapons, but when lances are used, the competition is called “tilting”.

77. Men of La Mancha : CABALLEROS
“Caballero” is the Spanish for “knight, gentleman”.

La Mancha is a region in Spain, a plateau lying south of Madrid. The area became famous after publication of the novel “Don Quixote de La Mancha” by Miguel de Cervantes.

79. Actress Sofer : RENA
Rena Sofer came to prominence as an actor in daytime television, most notably playing Lois Cerullo on “General Hospital”. Her love interest on the show was played by Wally Kurth, and the online romance led to the pair walking down the aisle in real life in 1995 (although they divorced two years later).

82. Food in Exodus : MANNA
According to the Book of Exodus, manna was a food eaten by the Israelites as they traveled out of Egypt. It “fell” to Earth during the night for six days a week, and was gathered in the morning before it had time to melt.

84. Language from which “bungalow” and “jungle” come : HINDI
In India, a house that was in the Bengali style was called in Hindi a “bangla”, which came into English as “bungalow”. The original bungalows were humble buildings, single-story with thatched roofs (or “rooves” as the Colonials would say!) and a veranda at the front. Later, the British built very elaborate bungalows, and then even later, the term was brought back to the British Isles where it was used to describe a more modest home. Today, a bungalow is simply a single-story family dwelling.

Our word “jungle” comes from the Hindi “jangal”, which is used for a “desert, forest, wasteland, uncultivated ground”.

85. Saxony seaport : EMDEN
The German city of Emden sits on the River Ems, and is a port on the North Sea coast of Germany.

90. Adaptable aircraft : STOL
STOL is an acronym, and stands for Short Take-Off and Landing.

95. Khan man? : ALY
Aly Khan was the familiar name used by the media when referring to Prince Ali Solomone Aga Khan, the Pakistani ambassador to the UN from 1958 to 1960. Khan made it into the papers a lot as he was the third husband of actress Rita Hayworth.

101. Drivers of some slow-moving vehicles : AMISH
The Amish are a group of Christian churches, a sub-group of the Mennonite churches. The Amish church originated in Switzerland and Alsace in 1693 when it was founded by Jakob Ammann. It was Ammann who gave the name to the Amish people. Many Amish people came to Pennsylvania in the 18th century.

103. Kind of nerve : ULNAR
The radius and ulna are bones in the forearm. If you hold the palm of your hand up in front of you, the radius is the bone on the “thumb-side” of the arm, and the ulna is the bone on the “pinkie-side”.

109. What Oliver asked for more of : GRUEL
“Oliver Twist” is of course a novel by Charles Dickens. It is a popular tale for adaptation to the big screen. There were two silent film versions, in 1909 and 1922, and the first talkie version was released in 1933, with many to follow. The latest “Oliver” for the big screen was a 2005 Roman Polanski production.

110. Berlin Olympics star : OWENS
Jesse Owens is of course famous for winning four gold medals at the Berlin Olympic Games in 1936, much to the chagrin of Adolph Hitler. Jesse’s real name was James Cleveland Owens, and he went by “JC” as a child. However, his Alabama accent was misconstrued at school when his family moved to Cleveland, so teachers and classmates called him “Jesse” instead of “JC”, and the name stuck.

112. Malamutes’ burdens : SLEDS
The Alaskan Malamute is a breed of dog that was bred as a working dog, in particular to pull sleds. The breed takes its name from the Mahlemut tibe of Inuit people.

114. “Auld Lang ___” : SYNE
The song “Auld Lang Syne” is a staple at New Year’s Eve, the words of which were written by Scottish poet Robbie Burns.

118. Musician Montgomery : WES
Wes Montgomery was a jazz guitarist from Indianapolis.

120. Cadge : BUM
“To cadge” is to get something by begging.

121. Inventor Whitney : ELI
The inventor Eli Whitney is a best known for inventing the cotton gin. He also came up with the important concept of “interchangeable parts”. Parts that are interchangeable can be swapped out of equipment or perhaps used in related designs.

122. 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!

123. Motor finish? : OLA
The original Motorola is now two independent companies called Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions. Motorola started in 1928 as the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation in Chicago. The founder created the brand name “Motorola” for a car radio the company developed in 1930. He linked “motor” (car) with “-ola” (sound), implying “sound in motion”.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. A person can take big strides with this : STILT
6. Hannibal’s foil in “The Silence of the Lambs” : CLARICE
13. Museum piece : CERAMIC
20. Forum fashions : TOGAE
21. Glade, e.g. : AEROSOL
22. Hue akin to olive : AVOCADO
23. ___-Itami International Airport : OSAKA
24. “Just do drills for now”? : DON’T PLAY (with) MATCHES
26. Undo : REVERSE
28. Back to Brooklyn? : -ITE
29. Slaughter : CREAM
30. Disturb one’s neighbors at night? : KEEP UP (with) THE JONESES
37. Comic strip “___ and Janis” : ARLO
38. Inflation-fighting W.W. II org. : OPA
39. A pop : EACH
40. Former bill : LAW
42. Handful : FEW
44. Table saver : COASTER
47. Don Quixote’s love : DULCINEA
52. Duffer’s feeling toward a putting pro? : GREEN (with) ENVY
54. Meeting one’s soul mate, perhaps? : DATE (with) DESTINY
56. Bogart’s “High Sierra” role : EARLE
57. Clive Cussler novel settings : SEAS
59. Weight allowance : TARE
60. “Behold,” to Brutus : ECCE
61. Represent with a stick figure, say : STYLIZE
63. Words on a Wonderland cake : EAT ME
65. Nonentities : ZEROES
67. Successfully perform a download? : GET (with) THE PROGRAM
71. Who wrote “A true German can’t stand the French, / Yet willingly he drinks their wines” : GOETHE
75. Chamber exit : AORTA
76. One who discriminates? : EPICURE
81. Naysayer : ANTI
82. Fr. title : MLLE
83. Fen-___ (former weight-loss drug) : -PHEN
86. Grow dark : LATEN
87. Applied foil at the Hershey’s factory? : SEALED (with) A KISS
91. One man’s declaration to an upset party planner? : I’M (with) THE BAND
93. Sewing aids : PATTERNS
94. Rider on a crowded bus, maybe : STANDEE
96. “I knew it!” : AHA
97. Relations : KIN
98. Shoppe modifier : OLDE
99. Foreign football score : NIL
101. Blue shade : AQUA
105. Drive by the United Nations? : PASS (with) FLYING COLORS
113. Ponders : MULLS
115. Upton Sinclair novel on which “There Will Be Blood” is based : OIL
116. Slum-clearing project, say : RENEWAL
117. Impostor’s excuse? : I ONLY WANNA BE (with) YOU
124. “Me, Myself & ___” : IRENE
125. Tainted : STAINED
126. Part of some Tin Pan Alley music : UKULELE
127. Went into la-la land, with “out” : ZONED
128. Take control of : HARNESS
129. Original : SEMINAL
130. Twisty curves : ESSES

Down
1. Bundle bearer : STORK
2. “I’ll have ___” : TO SEE
3. Response to a pledge drive request : I GAVE
4. Glen Canyon reservoir : LAKE POWELL
5. Get a bit misty : TEAR UP
6. Academy enrollee : CADET
7. Constellation whose brightest star is Regulus : LEO
8. Prince Valiant’s eldest : ARN
9. Bunkum : ROT
10. EarthLink, e.g., for short : ISP
11. Actor Firth : COLIN
12. Thrill : ELATE
13. One may be overhead : CAM
14. “Little” singer of the ’60s : EVA
15. Coll. elective : ROTC
16. Capital city on the Atlantic : ACCRA
17. Pundit Bill : MAHER
18. Model : IDEAL
19. Vodka drink, informally : COSMO
25. “Definitely!” : YES
27. Go into la-la land, with “out” : SPACE
31. Strong cast : HEAVE
32. 2010 Emma Stone comedy set in high school : EASY A
33. Highway sign abbr. : JCT
34. Was audibly surprised, maybe : OHED
35. Shake : ELUDE
36. Holiday season event : SALE
41. Loos : WCS
42. Animal house, say : FRAT
43. Creepy: Var. : EERY
45. Start : ONSET
46. Hovel : RATTRAP
47. Removal of restrictions, informally : DEREG
48. Path of Caesar : ITER
49. One-named singer for the Velvet Underground : NICO
50. Suffix with depend : -ENCE
51. They might have it : AYES
52. Some appliances : GES
53. Nag’s call : NEIGH
55. ___-shanter : TAM O’
58. Tarot user, maybe : SEERESS
62. New York’s Tappan ___ Bridge : ZEE
64. Flat: Abbr. : APT
65. Kill quickly : ZAP
66. “South Pacific” hero : EMILE
68. Diplomatic efforts : TALKS
69. Hindu spring festival : HOLI
70. French income : RENTE
71. Exclaim breathlessly : GASP
72. Ready for service : ONE-A
73. Conseil d’___ : ETAT
74. Sports contest : TILT
77. Men of La Mancha : CABALLEROS
78. 4-Down locale : UTAH
79. Actress Sofer : RENA
80. Goal : END
82. Food in Exodus : MANNA
84. Language from which “bungalow” and “jungle” come : HINDI
85. Saxony seaport : EMDEN
88. Bad response upon first seeing one’s new haircut? : EEK
89. Insomnia cause : DRIP
90. Adaptable aircraft : STOL
92. From now on : HENCE
95. Khan man? : ALY
100. Take charge? : IONIZE
101. Drivers of some slow-moving vehicles : AMISH
102. Allotment : QUOTA
103. Kind of nerve : ULNAR
104. One way to go, betting-wise : ALL IN
106. Word after an ampersand, maybe : SON
107. Body cavity : SINUS
108. Eccentric : FLAKE
109. What Oliver asked for more of : GRUEL
110. Berlin Olympics star : OWENS
111. Rajah’s partner : RANEE
112. Malamutes’ burdens : SLEDS
114. “Auld Lang ___” : SYNE
118. Musician Montgomery : WES
119. Things that may be 65-Downed : ADS
120. Cadge : BUM
121. Inventor Whitney : ELI
122. Itch : YEN
123. Motor finish? : OLA

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