0510-12: New York Times Crossword Answers 10 May 12, Thursday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
9. Breakfast cereal with a propeller-headed alien on the front of the box : QUISP
Quisp is a breakfast cereal from Quaker Oats. It was sold from 1965 until the late ‘70s. Incredibly, Quisp regained its popularity with the rise in the use of the Internet. It was relaunched in 2001 as the “first Internet cereal”.

17. One sharing an apartment : (SUIT)EMATE
Roomate, suitemate, housemate, flatmate and sharemate … words that all mean the same thing. I’d never heard of “sharemate” nor “suitemate”, I must admit …

19. Rhône feeder : ISERE
The Isère river gives its name to the French Department of Isère, located partly in the French Alps. In turn, Isère gave its name to a somewhat famous ship called the Isère, which in 1885 delivered the Statue of Liberty from France to America, in 214 crates.

20. Daddy Warbucks’s henchman : THE ASP
The Asp is a secondary character in the comic strip “Little Orphan Annie”. The Asp is a henchman working for Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks, the antagonist in the storyline.

“Little Orphan Annie” is a comic strip created in 1924 by Harold Gray. The title was taken from a poem written in 1885 by James Whitcomb Riley called “Little Orphant Annie” (and yes, that spelling “orphant” is correct). Strangely enough, the original name of the poem was “Little Orphant Allie”, changed forever at its third printing, purely because of a typesetter’s error!

23. Eastern dance-drama : KABUKI
Kabuki is a Japanese form of theater involving dance and drama. In the original Kabuki theater, both male and female parts were played by women. In contrast, the Noh dramas have the male and female parts played by men.

26. City near Vance Air Force Base : ENID
Enid, Oklahoma takes its name from the old railroad station around which the city developed. Back in 1889, that train stop was called Skeleton Station. An official who didn’t like the name changed it to Enid Station, using a character from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Idylls of the King”. Maybe if he hadn’t changed the name, the city of Enid would now be called Skeleton! Enid, Oklahoma has the nickname “Queen Wheat City” because is has a huge capacity for storing grain, the third largest grain storage capacity in the world.

Vance Air Force Base is located just a few miles south of Enid, Oklahoma. The main mission of the base is to train pilots for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. Vance AFB is named after a Medal of Honor recipient from WWII, Leon Robert Vance, Jr.

35. Online financial services company : E-LOAN
E-Loan used to be based just down the road from me in the San Francisco Bay Area, but after takeover by a Rosemount, Illinois company it was moved to the parent’s headquarters. E-Loan was founded in 1997 to provide customers access to mortgages over the Internet.

40. Actress Parsons : ESTELLE
Estelle Parsons is an actress, an Oscar winner for playing a supporting role in the 1967 film “Bonnie and Clyde”. You might also remember Parsons for playing Roseanne’s mother on the sitcom “Roseanne”.

42. One of the Muses : ERATO
In Greek mythology, the muses are the goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. The number of muses is a subject of debate at times, but the most popular view is that there are nine:

– Calliope (epic poetry)
– Clio (history)
– Erato (lyric poetry)
– Euterpe (music)
– Melpomene (tragedy)
– Polyhymnia (choral poetry)
– Terpsichore (dance)
– Thalia (comedy)
– Urania (astronomy)

43. Film for which Lee Marvin won Best Actor : CAT (BALL)OU
“Cat Ballou” is a 1965 film, a comedy western starring Jane Fonda in the title role and Lee Marvin in dual roles, for which Marvin won his only Oscar. The movie is based on a novel of the same name by Roy Chanslor. The novel was a serious and a quite dark work, but it was lightened up for the big screen.

I’ve always thought that Lee Marvin was a very talented actor. He had an amazing voice, and the appearance of a man who was hard and villainous. Yet he was able to break free from the roles in which he was typecast and played some characters with more depth. He won his academy award for his dual-role performance in 1965’s “Cat Ballou”. His totally unique rendition of the song “Wand’rin Star” from the 1969 musical film “Paint Your Wagon” made it to number one in the UK charts, keeping the Beatles hit “Let it Be” in the number two spot. I’ll bet that surprised even Marvin himself!

45. Pre-C.I.A. org. : OSS
The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was formed during WWII in order to carry out espionage behind enemy lines. A few years after the end of the war the OSS functions were taken up by a new group, the Central Intelligence Agency that was chartered by the National Security Act of 1947.

47. Captain’s log detail : STARDATE
“Stardates” are fictional dates used in the “Star Trek” universe.

51. 1942 Tommy Dorsey hit with Frank Sinatra vocals : TAKE ME
The brothers Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey headed up a studio band in the early thirties and had a lot of success together, including two number one hits. The pair had a very acrimonious relationship though, and split up in 1935, each forming his own band. They did even better after the parting of the ways, with Tommy having seventeen more number one hits, and Jimmy ten.

Frank Sinatra was the only child of Italian immigrants living in Hoboken, New Jersey. Like so many of our heroes, Sinatra had a rough upbringing. His mother was arrested several times and convicted of running an illegal abortion business in the family home. Sinatra never finished high school, being expelled for rowdy conduct, and he was arrested on a morals charge as a youth for carrying on with a married woman, which was an offence back then. But he straightened himself out by the time he was twenty, and started singing professionally.

53. Big Irish cream brand : (BAIL)EYS
Baileys is the original Irish Cream liqueur, introduced to the market quite recently. Baileys Irish Cream first hit the shelves in 1974. The name of the drink was inspired by the Bailey’s Hotel in Kensington, London, a favorite hotel of mine …

60. Coppola subject : MAFIA
“The Godfather” series of films is of course based on “The Godfather” novel by Mario Puzo, first published in 1969. Francis Ford Coppola worked with Puzo in partnership to adapt his novel into the screenplay for the first film, and to write the screenplays for the two sequels. Coppola holds that there are really only two films in “The Godfather” series, with “The Godfather Part III” actually being the epilogue.

65. T.A.E. part : ALVA
Thomas Alva Edison was nicknamed “The Wizard of Menlo Park” by a newspaper reporter, a name that stuck. He was indeed a wizard, in the sense that he was such a prolific inventor. The Menlo Park part of the moniker recognizes the location of his first research lab, in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

67. D’Oyly ___ Opera Company : CARTE
The D’Oyly Carte Opera Company is the name of the group that staged the famous Gilbert and Sullivan Savoy Operas, the series of works that were presented in the Savoy Theatre in London. The Savoy Theater was built specifically for Gilbert and Sullivan by the impresario Richard D’Oylie Carte, who also founded the opera company that took his name.

68. Droids, etc. : PDAS
A device like perhaps an iPhone, Droid, or Treo, can be termed a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA).

Down
1. Bad mark in school? : ZIT
The slang term “zit”, meaning “a pimple”, came into the language in 1966, but no one seems to know its exact derivation.

4. Main : SEA
When one thinks of the word “main” in the context of the sea, the Spanish Main usually comes to mind. Indeed, the use of the more general term “main”, meaning the sea, originates from the more specific “Spanish Main”. “Spanish Main” originally referred to land and not water, as it was the name given to the main-land coast around the Caribbean Sea in the days of Spanish domination of the region.

5. City near Entebbe airport : KAMPALA
Kampala is the capital city of Uganda. The airport that serves Kampala is in the town of Entebbe. Entebbe airport is well known for the daring hostage-rescue carried out by Israeli Defense Forces in 1976 following a highjacking.

6. Sight-seeing grp.? : 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.

8. Marine snail : WHELK
“Whelk” is a name given to various sea snails. The actual usage, and its application to various species depends on where you are in the world.

11. Coast-to-coast route, informally : I-TEN
I-10 is the most southerly of the interstate routes that crosses from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It stretches from Santa Monica, California to Jacksonville, Florida.

12. Phone voice? : SIRI
Siri is software application that works with Apple’s iOS operating system. “Siri” is an acronym standing for Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface. You’ve probably seen the ads on television, with folks talking to their iPhones asking for information and responding with a voice. I hear that Google is a little scared by Siri, as Siri is non-visual. There’s no need to touch a screen or a keyboard to work with Siri, no opportunity to click on one of Google’s ads!

18. Ones on top of the world? : ESKIMOS
Although still used in the US, the term “Eskimo” tends to be avoided in Canada and Greenland as it is considered pejorative.

22. German treat : EIS
“Eis” is the German word for “ice”.

24. Mont ___ : BLANC
Mont Blanc, is the highest mountain in the Alps (or Alpes, in French). The name Mont Blanc translates into “white mountain”. The mountain lies on the border between France and Italy, and it has been accepted for decades that the summit lies within French territory. However, there have been official claims that the summit does in fact fall within the borders of Italy.

28. Violinist Leopold : AUER
Leopold Auer was a Hungarian violinist, as well as a conductor and composer. He wrote a small number of works for the violin, the most famous of which is the “Rhapsodie Hongroise” written for violin and piano.

29. F.D.R. initiative : WPA
The Work Progress Administration (WPA) was the largest of the New Deal agencies. It employed millions of people during the Depression, putting them to work on various public works projects. The total spending through the WPA from 1936 to 1939 was nearly $7 billion.

34. Sorrento seven : SETTE
Sorrento is a small town on the Italian coast, overlooking the Bay of Naples. It is an extremely popular tourist destination.

36. Suffix with plug : -OLA
“Plugola” is the public promotion of something in which the promoter has a financial interest, without disclosing that interest. Plugola is similar to “payola” in that it is a form of promotion, but unlike payola, it’s perfectly legal.

Payola is the illegal practice of paying radio stations or disk jockeys to repeatedly play a particular piece of music. The impetus behind the crime is that the more often a song is played, the more likely it is to sell. The term “Payola” comes from the words “pay” and “Victrola”, an RCA brand name for an early phonograph.

38. ___ Galerie, art museum on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue : NEUE
The Neue Galerie is in New York City in the “Museum Mile”, a section of 5th Avenue noted for its collection of museum and galleries. The Neue Galerie (“New Gallery” in German) is famous for its collection of Austrian and German Expressionist art.

41. Five-time U.S. Open winner : SAMPRAS
Pete Samptras is a retired Greek-American tennis professional. Sampras was rated number one in the word rankings for six years in a row in the nineties.

48. Desktop brand : IMAC
The iMac is a desktop computer platform from Apple introduced in 1998. One of the main features of the iMac is an “all-in-one” design, with the computer console and monitor integrated.

49. Rival of Ole Miss : BAMA
The athletic teams of the University of Alabama are nicknamed the Crimson Tide, a reference to the team colors, crimson and white.

52. Record abbr. : ASCAP
ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) collects licence fees for musicians and distributes royalties to composers whose works have been performed. So does BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated).

56. Eastern rule : RAJ
The period of colonial rule by the British in South Asia from 1858 to 1947 is referred to as the British Raj. Prior to 1858, the area was ruled by a private enterprise, the British East India Company. “Raj” is the Hindi word for “reign”.

57. “The Simpsons” character : APU
The fictional store, Kwik-E-Mart, is operated by Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, on “The Simpsons” TV show. The convenience store owner doesn’t seem to be making much use of his Ph. D. in computer science that he earned in the US. His undergraduate degree is from Caltech (the Calcutta Technical Institute), where he graduated top of his class … of seven million students …

58. Blue, say: Abbr. : DEM
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.

59. The “2” in x^2: Abbr. : EXP
On a scientific calculator there is a key marked “EXP”. This stands for “exponent”, and the key is used for entering the exponent of a number written in scientific notation.

62. Erstwhile : OLD
Erstwhile means “in the past” or “once upon a time”.

63. Institution founded by Thos. Jefferson : UVA
The University of Virginia (UVA) was of course founded by Thomas Jefferson, who sat on the original Board of Visitors with former US Presidents James Madison and James Monroe. In fact, the original UVA campus sat on land that was once a farm belonging to President Monroe.

Return to top of page

For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Veers quickly : ZIGS
5. Be aware of : KNOW
9. Breakfast cereal with a propeller-headed alien on the front of the box : QUISP
14. “Mmm-hmm” : I SEE
15. Part of a foot : ARCH
16. Before : UNTIL
17. One sharing an apartment : (SUIT)EMATE
19. Rhône feeder : ISERE
20. Daddy Warbucks’s henchman : THE ASP
21. “Chow down!” : LET’(S EAT)
23. Eastern dance-drama : KABUKI
26. City near Vance Air Force Base : ENID
27. Facilities housing large planes? : SAWMILLS
31. Title in S. America : SRA
33. Poles, e.g. : EU(ROPE)ANS
35. Online financial services company : E-LOAN
39. Tower, of a sort : REPO MAN
40. Actress Parsons : ESTELLE
42. One of the Muses : ERATO
43. Film for which Lee Marvin won Best Actor : CAT (BALL)OU
45. Pre-C.I.A. org. : OSS
47. Captain’s log detail : STARDATE
48. Flanged structural element : I-BAR
51. 1942 Tommy Dorsey hit with Frank Sinatra vocals : TAKE ME
53. Big Irish cream brand : (BAIL)EYS
55. Event after a bowl game win : PARADE
60. Coppola subject : MAFIA
61. Engagement precursor : COURT(SHIP)
64. Hoard : AMASS
65. T.A.E. part : ALVA
66. Highest point : APEX
67. D’Oyly ___ Opera Company : CARTE
68. Droids, etc. : PDAS
69. Word that can precede each set of circled letters, forming a literal hint for entering certain answers in this puzzle : JUMP

Down
1. Bad mark in school? : ZIT
2. Approximation ending : -ISH
3. “Wow!” : GEE
4. Main : SEA
5. City near Entebbe airport : KAMPALA
6. Sight-seeing grp.? : NRA
7. Calendar mo. : OCT
8. Marine snail : WHELK
9. Give out : QUIT
10. Opened : UNSEALED
11. Coast-to-coast route, informally : I-TEN
12. Phone voice? : SIRI
13. Stated one’s case : PLED
18. Ones on top of the world? : ESKIMOS
22. German treat : EIS
24. Mont ___ : BLANC
25. Mil. branch : USN
27. Saharan : SERE
28. Violinist Leopold : AUER
29. F.D.R. initiative : WPA
30. Driver : MOTORIST
32. Spa, for one : RETREAT
34. Sorrento seven : SETTE
36. Suffix with plug : -OLA
37. Frequently : A LOT
38. ___ Galerie, art museum on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue : NEUE
41. Five-time U.S. Open winner : SAMPRAS
44. Set as a price : ASK
46. Farm pen : STY
48. Desktop brand : IMAC
49. Rival of Ole Miss : BAMA
50. Light years off : AFAR
52. Record abbr. : ASCAP
54. Allay : EASE
56. Eastern rule : RAJ
57. “The Simpsons” character : APU
58. Blue, say: Abbr. : DEM
59. The “2” in x^2: Abbr. : EXP
62. Erstwhile : OLD
63. Institution founded by Thos. Jefferson : UVA

Return to top of page