0205-12: New York Times Crossword Answers 5 Feb 12, Sunday

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: Charles M. Deber
THEME: State Annexation … each theme clue is linked to another answer in the grid which is combined with the two letter abbreviation for the state that is referred to in the clue by its state capitol. Complicated, but clever!

22A. 45-Down near Baton Rouge? : EXCITEMENT
45D. Basketball rim : HOOP(LA for Baton Rouge, Louisiana)

25A. 124-Across near Dover? : GARDEN TOOL
124A. Whirlpool : SPA(DE for Dover, Delaware)

38A. 117-Down near Salem? : OPERA SINGER
117D. Perfect rating : TEN(OR for Salem, Oregon)

58A. 1-Across near Hartford? : CONCENTRATE
1A. Superfluous : EXTRA(CT for Hartford, Connecticut)

78A. 114-Down near Boise? : SPLIT SECOND
114D. Hip-hop : RAP(ID for Boise, Idaho)

95A. 76-Down near Springfield? : PODDED PLANT
76D. Spring time : LENT(IL for Sringfield, Illinois)

111A. 61-Across near Phoenix? : BIRTHSTONE
61A. Blouse, e.g. : TOP(AZ for Phoenix, Arizona)

113A. 9-Across near Boston? : MORAL TENET
9A. Follow persistently : DOG(MA for Boston, Massachusetts)

33D. 6-Across near Indianapolis? : SMOOTH FABRIC
6A. Posed (for) : SAT(IN for Indianapolis, Indiana)

43D. 119-Across near Albany? : EASTER ANIMAL
119A. Cookout item : BUN(NY for Albany, New York)

COMPLETION TIME:24m 01s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0


Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
12. Tiny blob : AMOEBA
An ameba (or “amoeba” as we spell it back in Ireland) is a single-celled microorganism. The name comes from the Greek “amoibe”, meaning change. The name is quite apt, as the cell changes shape readily as the ameba moves, eats and reproduces.

19. The Beatles’ “All ___ Got to Do” : I’VE
“All I’ve Got to Do” is a Beatles song, released in 1963. Apparently it is the first song in the rock and roll genre which features chords played on the bass guitar in the main part of the song rather than as accompaniment.

20. Old White House nickname : IKE
There doesn’t seem to be any good reason why President Eisenhower was called “Ike”. However, it is known that the nickname dates back to his childhood as his parents called him “Ike”.

22. 45-Down near Baton Rouge? : EXCITEMENT
Baton Rouge is the capitol of the state of Louisiana. The name “Baton Rouge” is French for “red stick or staff”. The exact reason why such a name was given to the city isn’t really clear.

27. ___ contendere : NOLO
“Nolo contendere” is a legal term that translates from the Latin as “I do not wish to contend”. It’s the plea of “no contest”, an alternative to “guilty” or “not guilty” meaning that one doesn’t admit guilt but nor does one dispute the charge.

30. New Jersey town bordering Rahway : ISELIN
Iselin is in Middlesex County, New Jersey and as such is part of the New York City Metropolitan Area.

35. Hindu title : SRI
“Sri” is a title of respect for a male in India.

36. ___ Brava : COSTA
The Costa Brava is a section of coast in northeastern Catalonia, Spain stretching from north of Barcelona to the border with France. “Costa Brava” means “rugged coast” and was a term first coined in a local newspaper article in 1908.

37. CD-___ : ROM
CD-ROM stands for “compact disc read only memory”. That means you can read information from the disc (like a standard music CD for example), but you cannot write to it. You can also buy a CD-RW, which stands for “compact disc – rewritable”, with which you can read data and also write over it multiple times using a suitable CD drive.

38. 117-Down near Salem? : OPERA SINGER
Salem is the state capital of Oregon. It is thought that the city takes its name from the older city of Salem, Massachusetts.

42. When sung three times, part of a Beatles refrain : YEAH
The Beatles song “She Loves You” was released in 1963. It was one of five songs that together achieved an amazing feat in the US charts. At one point that year, those five songs were in the top five positions.

48. Seine summers : ETES
On the River Seine in Paris, one might spend the summer (été).

51. Starch-yielding palm : SAGO
When I was growing up in Ireland I was very familiar with pearl sago, which is similar to pearl tapioca. Pearls of sago are simply little balls of sago starch used to make breads, pancakes, biscuits and the steamed puddings that we ate as kids. Sago comes from pith of the sago palm tree. To get at the starch the tree has to be cut down and the trunk split to reveal the pith. The pith is crushed and manipulated to make the starch available, which is then washed out of a fibrous suspension. One sago palm tree yields about 150-300 kg of starch. Personally I love the stuff, but then, I am a bit weird …

54. How Shakespeare’s Rosalind dresses : AS A MAN
“As You Like It” is one of Shakespeare’s comedies, the tale of Rosalind fleeing from her Uncle’s court along with her cousin, Celia and the court jester, Touchstone. Rosalind lives in exile in the Forest of Arden, disguised as a male shepherd called Ganymede. The play is perhaps most memorable for an oft-quoted monologue that starts with:

“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players …”

56. Sign by a theater ticket booth : SRO
Standing Room Only.

57. Smithereens : BITS
“Smithereens” is such a lovely word and I am proud to say that it comes from Irish. The Irish word “smiodar” means fragment. We add the suffix “-in” (anglicized as “-een”) to words to indicate the diminutive form. So, “little fragment” is “smidirin”, anglicized as “smithereens”.

58. 1-Across near Hartford? : CONCENTRATE
Hartford is the capitol of the state of Connecticut. The city is home to the headquarters of many insurance companies. As such Hartford is nicknamed the “Insurance Capital of the World”.

66. “Ancient Mariner” verse : RIME
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is an epic poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge first published in 1798. It’s publication is said to mark the beginning of the Romantic period of British literature.

73. Inter ___ : ALIA
Inter alia means “among other things” in Latin.

74. Dante e Boccaccio : POETI
Dante and Boccaccio are poets (“poeti” in Italian).

Dante Alighieri was an Italian poet of the Middle Ages. His “Divine Comedy” is widely considered to be the greatest literary work ever written in the Italian language.

Giovanni Boccaccio was an Italian author and poet.

78. 114-Down near Boise? : SPLIT SECOND
Boise, Idaho is the largest metropolitan area in the state by far. There are a number of stories pertaining to the etymology of the name “Boise”. One is that French trappers named the tree-lined river that ran through the area “la rivière boisée”, meaning “the wooded river”.

81. Santa ___ (desert winds) : ANAS
Santa Ana is the county seat of Orange County, California and takes its name from the Santa Ana River that runs through the city. The Santa Ana winds are the very dry air currents that sweep offshore late in the year in Southern California. Because they are so dry, they are noted for their influence over forest fires in the area, especially in the heat of the fall. The winds arise from a buildup of air pressure in the Great Basin that lies between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. Under the right conditions, that air spills over the peaks of the Sierra Nevada and basically “falls” down the side of the Sierra range as it heads for the ocean. As the air falls it becomes drier and heats up, so that relative humidity can fall to below 10% by the time it hits the coast.

83. Certain implants : STENTS
In the world of medicine and surgery, a stent is an artificial tube inserted inside a vessel in the body, say an artery, so that it reduces the effects of a local restriction in the body’s conduit.

84. Role in “Nicholas and Alexandra” : RASPUTIN
Grigori Rasputin was a Russian Orthodox mystic who apparently had great influence over the Emperor Nicholas and his family, and over the Empress Alexandra in particular.

87. TV police drama : NCIS
NCIS is the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which investigates crimes in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. The service gives its name to the CBS TV show “NCIS”, a spin-off drama from “JAG” in which the main “NCIS” characters were first introduced. The big star in “NCIS” is the actor Mark Harmon.

89. Comics canine : ODIE
Odie is Garfield’s best friend and is a slobbery beagle.

90. 11 or 12, but not 13 : HOUR
Well, I’ve always thought that there was a 13th hour on my 24-hour clock, but that’s just me. I’ve never really been into the 12-hour clock …

94. “___ teaches you when to be silent”: Disraeli : TACT
Benjamin Disraeli was the Prime Minister of Britain for a few months in 1868 and again from 1874 to 1880. Disraeli enjoyed a particularly warm relationship with Queen Victoria, partly because they both shared an intense dislike for Disraeli’s political rival, William Gladstone.

95. 76-Down near Springfield? : PODDED PLANT
Springfield is the capital of the state of Illinois. The city is the third to have been designated capital. When Illinois became a state in 1818, the capital was Kaskaskia. The following year the capital was moved to Vandalia. 18 years later it was finally moved to Springfield, a move that was championed by Abraham Lincoln.

99. Actor Quinn : AIDAN
Aidan Quinn is an Irish-American actor. He was born in Chicago but spent some years growing up in Ireland.

103. Pioneer in quadraphonic music : RCA
Monophonic sound (“mono”) is sound reproduced using just one audio channel, which is usually played out of just one speaker. Stereophonic sound is reproduced using two audio channels, with the sound from each channel played out of two different speakers. The pair of stereo speakers are usually positioned apart from each other so that sound appears to come from between the two. Quadraphonic sound (4.0 surround sound) uses four audio channels with the sound played back through four speakers often positioned at the corners of the room in which one is listening.

104. Caustic soda : LYE
Today, when we purchase what is labelled as “lye”, it is caustic soda (sodium hydroxide). To clean out drains we might buy Crystal Drano which is sodium hydroxide (lye) mixed with sodium nitrate, sodium chloride (table salt) and aluminum. The contents of Drano work in concert to clear the clog. The lye reacts with any fats creating soap which may be enough to break up the clog. Also, the finely divided aluminum reacts with water creating tremendous heat so that that mixture boils and churns, then any hair or fibers are cut by the sharp edges of the nitrate and chloride crystals. Having said all that, I find that boiling water poured down the drain almost always does the job …

111. 61-Across near Phoenix? : BIRTHSTONE
Phoenix is the capital of the state of Arizona. The city started out as a farming community founded by a Civil War veteran. Key to the success of the community was the construction of canals that were really contemporary improvements to canals that had previously been built by the local Hohokam people.

113. 9-Across near Boston? : MORAL TENET
Boston is the capital of the state of Massachusetts. The city was founded by Puritan colonists from England in 1630. The city takes its name from Boston, England from where hailed several of the early Puritan settlers.

118. Critter whose name comes from Nahuatl : OCELOT
The ocelot is found mainly in South and Central America, although there have been sightings as far north as Arkansas. An ocelot doesn’t look too different from a domestic cat, and some have been kept as pets. Perhaps most famously, Salvador Dali had one that he brought with him everywhere.

Nahuatl is a group of languages mainly spoken in Central Mexico.

Down
2. Women’s suffrage Amendment : XIX
The 19th Amendment to the US Constitution prohibits the denial of voting rights to citizens based on sex, and was ratified by the states in 1920. The amendment was first drafted by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1878, but it wasn’t submitted by the Congress to the states for ratification until 1919.

3. Pampering, for short : TLC
Tender loving care (TLC).

6. Jazzy Nina : SIMONE
Nina Simone was the stage name of Eunice Waymon. Simone was very much associated with jazz music, although she really wanted to be a classical musician early in her career, inspired by a love for the music of Bach.

7. Boston’s Mass ___ : AVE
Massachusetts Avenue in Boston (and beyond) is known to locals simply as Mass Ave. It was along part of Mass Ave (then called the Great Road) that Paul Revere made his famous ride in 1775.

11. E.U. member : GER
Germany is a member of the European Union.

13. “Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe” artist : MANET
Edouard Manet, the French painter, is responsible for many great works including “Le déjeuner sur l’herbe”, a work much praised by novelist Emile Zola.

15. “The Time Machine” people : ELOI
In the 1895 novel by H. G. Wells called “The Time Machine”, there were two races that the hero encountered in his travels into the future. The Eloi are the beautiful people that live on the planet’s surface, while the Morlocks are a race of cannibals living underground who use the Eloi as food.

17. B’nai B’rith grp. : ADL
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is a US organization that fights anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry. It was founded in 1913 as the Independent Order of B’nai B’rith.

23. Romeo or Juliet : ELOPER
In Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, it is explicitly stated that Juliet is 13 years of age, and the assumption is that Romeo is perhaps a little older.

24. French cup : TASSE
In France a cup (“tasse”) may contain tea (thé).

33. 6-Across near Indianapolis? : SMOOTH FABRIC
Indianapolis is the capital of the state of Indiana. The city has the distinction of being the most centrally located of any capital within its state.

41. Prefix with -pod : GASTRO-
Bivalves are mollusks that have two-part shells protecting their bodies. All bivalves live in water, examples being clams, scallops and oysters. Univalves on the other hand, have just one shell, if they have a shell at all. Today, univalves are usually just called gastropods. Some gastropod species are found in the sea (e.g. limpets and sea slugs) although many have adapted to living on land (e.g. slugs and snails).

43. 119-Across near Albany? : EASTER ANIMAL
New York’s state capital of Albany was founded as a Dutch trading post called Fort Nassau in 1614. The English took over the settlement in 1664 and called it Albany, naming it after the future King of England James II, whose title at the time was the Duke of Albany.

45. Basketball rim : HOOP
Basketball truly is an American sport. It was created in 1891 by a James Naismith at the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts. His goal was to create something active and interesting for his students in the gym. The first “hoops” were actually peach baskets, with the bottoms of the baskets intact. When you got the ball into the “net”, you had to clamber up and get it back out again in order to continue the game!

55. Armstrong and Sedaka : NEILS
Neil Armstrong is the most private of individuals. You don’t often see him giving interviews, unlike so many of the more approachable astronauts of the Apollo space program. His famous, “That’s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind” statement, that was something that he came up with himself while Apollo 11 was making its way to the moon.

Neil Sedaka has been performing and composing for well over 50 years. His list of hits includes classics such as “Stupid Cupid”, “Oh! Carol”, “Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen” and “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do”.

67. “Hakuna ___” : MATATA
“Hakuna Matata” is a Swahili phrase, with a literal translation of “there are no worries”, or more colloquially perhaps, “no problem”. It is a hit song from “The Lion King”.

The highly successful stage musical “The Lion King” started out life as a 1994 animated feature film of the same name, from the Disney studio. The film is the highest earning traditionally-animated feature of all time. The animated film “Finding Nemo” has made more money, but it was created using computer animation.

69. In one’s cups : POTTED
“In one’s cups” and “potted” are terms that mean “inebriated”.

74. Bird wing : PINION
It turns out that all feathers aren’t created equal. On a bird’s wing, there are three sets of feathers each connected to different bones of the wing. The innermost set is connected to the humerus, the central set is connected to the ulna, and the outer set is connected to metacarpal bones and the phalanges. Yep, a birds ‘arm’ is pretty much like our own. Of the outer or primary set of feathers, the feathers right at the end connected to the phalanges are called the pinions. Quite interesting …

76. Spring time : LENT
In Latin, the Christian season we now call Lent was termed “quadragesima” (meaning “fortieth”), a reference to the forty days that Jesus spent in the desert before beginning his public ministry. When the church began its move in the Middle Ages towards using the vernacular, the term “Lent” was introduced. “Lent” comes from “lenz”, the German word for “spring”.

77. Large-toothed whale : ORCA
The taxonomic name for the killer whale is Orcinus orca. The use of the name “orca”, rather than “killer whale”, is becoming more and more common. The Latin word “Orcinus” means “belonging to Orcus”, with Orcus being the name for the Kingdom of the Dead.

90. Sub : HERO
“Hero” is another name for a submarine sandwich. The hero originated in New York City in the 1800s among Italian immigrants who wanted an Italian sandwich that reminded them of home. The name “hero” was first coined in the 1930s, supposedly by a food critic in the New York Herald Tribune when he wrote that “one had to be a hero” to finish the gigantic sandwich. Hero is a prevalent term to this day in New York City, reserved for a submarine sandwich with an Italian flavor.

91. Site of a Greek tragedy : ODEUM
In Ancient Greece an odeon (also odeum) was like a small theater, with “odeon” literally meaning a “building for musical competition”. Odea were used in both Greece and Rome for entertainments such as musical shows and poetry readings.

93. Big name in jeans : LEE
The Lee company famous for making jeans was formed in 1889, by one Henry David Lee in Salina, Kansas.

97. Naval force : ARMADA
The most famous Armada was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England in order to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I in 1588. It failed in its mission, partly due to bad weather encountered en route. Ironically, the English mounted a similar naval attack against Spain the following year, and it failed as well.

100. “___ the Sheriff” : I SHOT
Can you believe that Eric Clapton only had one chart-topper in the US? In 1974 he released a cover version of the Bob Marley classic “I Shot the Sheriff”, and ended up selling more copies of the song than Bob Marley did himself.

106. “Tu ___ mi amor” : ERES
“Tu eres mi amor” is Spanish for “you are my love”.

114. Hip-hop : RAP
Hip-hop originated in New York City in the seventies, developing in inner-city African-American, Jamaican and Latina-American communities. Some say that the term “hip-hop” was first used by the group Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. I know practically nothing about hip-hop, I must admit …

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Superfluous : EXTRA
6. Posed (for) : SAT
9. Follow persistently : DOG
12. Tiny blob : AMOEBA
18. Charms : WILES
19. The Beatles’ “All ___ Got to Do” : I’VE
20. Old White House nickname : IKE
21. Badly beaten up : MAULED
22. 45-Down near Baton Rouge? : EXCITEMENT
25. 124-Across near Dover? : GARDEN TOOL
27. ___ contendere : NOLO
28. Flower girl? : DAISY
30. New Jersey town bordering Rahway : ISELIN
31. Photo ___ : OPS
34. Swindle : CON
35. Hindu title : SRI
36. ___ Brava : COSTA
37. CD-___ : ROM
38. 117-Down near Salem? : OPERA SINGER
42. When sung three times, part of a Beatles refrain : YEAH
46. Bellyache : GROUSE
48. Seine summers : ETES
49. First name? : ADAM
51. Starch-yielding palm : SAGO
52. Old TV knob : CONTRAST
54. How Shakespeare’s Rosalind dresses : AS A MAN
56. Sign by a theater ticket booth : SRO
57. Smithereens : BITS
58. 1-Across near Hartford? : CONCENTRATE
61. Blouse, e.g. : TOP
62. Still broken, say : UNHEALED
65. Confirms : AVERS
66. “Ancient Mariner” verse : RIME
68. Bad-mouthed : DEFAMED
69. Bitchin’ : PRIMO
70. Sun spots : SOLARIA
73. Inter ___ : ALIA
74. Dante e Boccaccio : POETI
75. Rack for a rifle : GUN STAND
76. Toss-up? : LOB
78. 114-Down near Boise? : SPLIT SECOND
81. Santa ___ (desert winds) : ANAS
82. Get it wrong : ERR
83. Certain implants : STENTS
84. Role in “Nicholas and Alexandra” : RASPUTIN
87. TV police drama : NCIS
89. Comics canine : ODIE
90. 11 or 12, but not 13 : HOUR
92. Paint choice : ENAMEL
94. “___ teaches you when to be silent”: Disraeli : TACT
95. 76-Down near Springfield? : PODDED PLANT
98. Mugful, maybe : ALE
99. Actor Quinn : AIDAN
102. Before, in verse : ERE
103. Pioneer in quadraphonic music : RCA
104. Caustic soda : LYE
105. Against : VERSUS
107. Badge earner : SCOUT
109. This and that: Abbr. : MISC
111. 61-Across near Phoenix? : BIRTHSTONE
113. 9-Across near Boston? : MORAL TENET
118. Critter whose name comes from Nahuatl : OCELOT
119. Cookout item : BUN
120. Roll of bills : WAD
121. Bring out : EDUCE
122. Assails : BESETS
123. Staff ___: Abbr. : SGT
124. Whirlpool : SPA
125. Exorcism target : DEMON

Down
1. Farm mother : EWE
2. Women’s suffrage Amendment : XIX
3. Pampering, for short : TLC
4. Pull (in) : REIN
5. Regarding the price : AS TO COST
6. Jazzy Nina : SIMONE
7. Boston’s Mass ___ : AVE
8. Lean : TEND
9. Doesn’t budge : DIGS IN
10. “Sure!” : OKAY
11. E.U. member : GER
12. “What ___!” : A MESS
13. “Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe” artist : MANET
14. Expenditures : OUTLAYS
15. “The Time Machine” people : ELOI
16. “___ your toes!” : BE ON
17. B’nai B’rith grp. : ADL
23. Romeo or Juliet : ELOPER
24. French cup : TASSE
26. Many a museum display : DIORAMA
29. It might be blue, green or brown : IRIS
31. Assn. : ORG
32. Like a sty denizen : PORCINE
33. 6-Across near Indianapolis? : SMOOTH FABRIC
36. Some conifers : CEDARS
39. Do over, as a lawn : RESOD
40. Abbr. before a colon : ATTN
41. Prefix with -pod : GASTRO-
43. 119-Across near Albany? : EASTER ANIMAL
44. Prefix with business : AGRO-
45. Basketball rim : HOOP
47. Open : UNSEAL
50. Housemother, e.g. : MATRON
53. Passed easily : ACED
54. Weak : ANEMIC
55. Armstrong and Sedaka : NEILS
57. Pal : BUD
59. Light touch : CARESS
60. Certain online request : EVITE
63. Not quite right : AMISS
64. Arrive at too quickly, in a way : LEAP TO
67. “Hakuna ___” : MATATA
69. In one’s cups : POTTED
70. Brewskis : SUDS
71. How a fool acts : INANELY
72. Spots : ADS
74. Bird wing : PINION
75. Knot : GNARL
76. Spring time : LENT
77. Large-toothed whale : ORCA
79. Paraded by : LED PAST
80. “Is she not down so late, ___ so early?”: “Romeo and Juliet” : OR UP
85. Number 2, e.g. : PENCIL
86. Still to be sampled : UNTASTED
88. Shock : STARTLE
90. Sub : HERO
91. Site of a Greek tragedy : ODEUM
93. Big name in jeans : LEE
96. Respectable : DECENT
97. Naval force : ARMADA
100. “___ the Sheriff” : I SHOT
101. Tidies up a bit : DUSTS
105. Number two : VICE
106. “Tu ___ mi amor” : ERES
107. Cozy : SNUG
108. Drags : TOWS
110. Give up : CEDE
111. Weave’s partner : BOB
112. Maternity ward workers, for short : OBS
114. Hip-hop : RAP
115. Deut.’s preceder : NUM
116. Environmental prefix : ECO-
117. Perfect rating : TEN

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6 thoughts on “0205-12: New York Times Crossword Answers 5 Feb 12, Sunday”

  1. I don't understand "vice" as the answer to 105 Down, "Number two," other than a helper of some sort. Clue me in, please.

  2. @canoiste
    This theme in this one was tricky for sure, and took me ages to work out.

    @Anonymous & Grumpy Greg
    I assumed that "vice" was being used a proposition, similar to the prefix "vice-" as in vice-president. But, I could be wrong. That happens all the time, sadly …

  3. By Bill, I think you've got it! Never thought of that. Sounds reasonable to me. Many well-deserved kowtows (had to look that spelling up). Your humble student.

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