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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: Patrick Berry
THEME: The Meaning of It … each of the theme answers is a common expression containing the word “it”. Each theme clue points to each theme answer, but literally, by suggesting what “it” might be:
22A. “Talking isn’t going to reseal that wine bottle!” : PUT A CORK IN IT
25A. “Quit trying to make a paper doll by ripping the paper!” : CUT IT OUT
26A. “I can see why shoppers avoid this off-brand white bread!” : IT’S NO WONDER
36A. “I already know my homemade cold cream is useless!” : DON’T RUB IT IN
38A. “So you finally got the gist of that Stephen Hawking book!” : IT’S ABOUT TIME
63A. “Of course this car isn’t voice-controlled!” : IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING
88A. “This tippy Christmas tree is driving me crazy!” : I CAN’T STAND IT
91A. “Stop dillydallying and use your boarding pass!” : GET ON WITH IT
104A. “How dare you climb a barbed-wire fence wearing my sweater!” : THAT TEARS IT
106A. “I’m in a hurry to see that bug squashed!” : STEP ON IT
110A. “Yeah, I’m asking for people’s impression of this inkblot — so?!” : WHAT’S IT TO YOU
COMPLETION TIME: 15m 28s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0
Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
11. “Star Trek: T.N.G.” character Geordi ___ : LA FORGE
LeVar Burton’s has two major television roles on his resume. He played Kunta Kinte in the fabulous miniseries “Roots” shown in 1977. He then had a long run portraying Geordi La Forge on the best of the Star Trek TV shows, “Star Trek: The Next Generation”.
18. Coin of little value : SOU
A sou is an old French coin.
20. Iditarod endpoint : NOME
Nome, Alaska has over 3,500 residents, the majority of whom are Native American. The next largest ethnic group is the white population.
The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race coves a massive 1,161 miles. The race starts every year on the first Saturday in March, with the first race having been held in 1973. The fastest finishing time was set in 2002 at just under 9 days. The first few races only used a northern route, but then a southern route was added to the roster every second year. It’s kind of a good thing, because when the racers take the northern route they don’t even pass through the town of Iditarod!
21. Short, light musical piece : SONATINA
A cantata is a piece of music that is sung, as opposed to a sonata, which is a piece that is played on some instrument, often a piano. A sonatina is in effect a sonata that has been labelled as something lighter and shorter.
26. “I can see why shoppers avoid this off-brand white bread!” : IT’S NO WONDER
Wonder Bread was introduced in 1921, a bread produced by the Taggart Baking company of Indianapolis. Back then Wonder Bread was unsliced, with the sliced version being introduced nationally in the 1930s.
27. One of England’s Cinque Ports : DOVER
The “Cinque Ports” on the southeast coast of England is a Norman concept, so it is a French term (meaning “five ports”). However, “Cinque Ports” is traditionally pronounced not as the French, but rather as “sink ports”. The five-port alliance consists of:
– Hastings
– New Romney
– Hythe
– Dover
– Sandwich
35. “Do the Right Thing” pizzeria : SAL’S
“Do the Right Thing” is a Spike Lee movie, released in 1989. Much of the action in the film is centered on a local pizzeria called “Sal’s” owned by Italian-American Salvatore Frangione (played by Danny Aiello).
38. “So you finally got the gist of that Stephen Hawking book!” : IT’S ABOUT TIME
Stephen Hawking’s brilliant book “A Brief History of Time” has sold over 10 million copies and was on London’s “Sunday Times” best-seller list for over four years. Hawking does a wonderful job of explaining many aspects of cosmology without losing the average reader. There is only one equation in the whole book, and that equation is of course is “E = mc2”.
46. Semitransparent curtain : SCRIM
“Scrim” is the name given to that transparent fabric that hangs down onto a theater’s stage, often used with special lighting for various effects.
49. Carnival dance : SAMBA
Samba is a Brazilian dance, very much symbolic of the festival known as Carnival. Like so much culture around the world, the Samba has its roots in Africa, as the dance is derived from dances performed by former slaves who migrated into urban Rio de Janeiro in the late 1800s. The exact roots of the name “samba” seem to have been lost in the mists of time. However, my favorite explanation is that it comes from an African Kikongo word “Semba” which means “a blow struck with the belly button”. We don’t seem to have a need for such a word in English …
50. Faulkner’s “A Rose for ___” : EMILY
“A Rose for Emily” is a short story by William Faulkner, the first short story that Faulkner had published in a national magazine.
William Faulkner was a writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner had been publishing works for thirty years and was largely unknown before he received the Noble Prize for Literature in 1949. He came to despise the fame that came with the award. Even his 17-year-old daughter wasn’t told about his winning of the Nobel Prize, and she had to learn about it at school.
51. Seat seeker : POL
A politician (pol) usually seeks a seat.
53. Hard workers : SERFS
A serf was a member of the lowest feudal class, someone attached to land owned by a lord. “Serf” comes from the Latin “servus”, meaning “slave”.
57. Actress Russo : RENE
The lovely and very talented actress Rene Russo is a native of Burbank, California. Russo went to high school with actor/director Ron Howard, but dropped out in tenth grade. At seventeen she was given the opportunity to train as a model, and within a very short time appeared on the cover of “Vogue”. As her modelling jobs slowed down in her early thirties, she made a career change and studied theater and acting. I am so glad she did, as Rene Russo is one of my favorite actresses …
69. IHOP order : OMELET
The International House of Pancakes (IHOP) was founded back in 1958. IHOP was originally intended to be called IHOE, the International House of Eggs, but that name didn’t do too well in marketing tests …
70. Hold up one’s end? : MOON
The first recorded mooning incident took place in 66 AD, during the First Roman-Jewish War. Roman soldiers decided to moon Jewish pilgrims as they traveled to the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.
75. Wood nymph : DRYAD
In Greek mythology, dryads are tree nymphs. The term comes from the Greek “drys” meaning an oak tree, but “dryad” tends to be used for the nymphs of all trees and not just the oak variety.
78. Peabody Essex Museum city : SALEM
The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Massachusetts is considered by many to be one of the oldest continually-operating museums in the country. Although the PEM was only founded in 1992, it has its roots in the East India Marine Society founded way back in 1799.
80. Old Testament section : TORAH
The word “Torah” best translates as “teaching”, I am told.
83. Slow and steady : ANDANTE
Andante is the tempo marking in a musical score and means “at a walking pace”.
95. Old school : ETON
The world-famous Eton College is just a brisk walk from Windsor Castle, which itself is just outside London. Eton is noted for producing many British leaders including David Cameron who took power in the last UK general election. The list of Old Etonians also includes Princes William and Harry, the Duke of Wellington, George Orwell, and the creator of James Bond, Ian Fleming (as well as 007 himself as described in the Fleming novels).
96. Mechanical engineer Howe : ELIAS
Elias Howe was an American inventor. Howe wasn’t the first to come up with the idea of a sewing machine, but he was the first to develop one that was functional.
113. U-Haul driver’s place : CAB
U-Haul was started by married couple Leonard Shoen and Anna Mary Carty in Ridgefield, Washington in 1945. The Shoens used $5,000 of seed money to build trailers in their garage, and then cleverly recruited gas station owners as franchisees with whom they would split the rental revenue. There are now about 15,000 U-Hail dealers across the country.
Down
1. Gelatin made from consommé : ASPIC
“Aspic” is a French word for “jelly”.
3. Rwandan people : TUTSI
The Tutsi are the second largest population of people in Rwanda, with the Hutu being the largest group. The bloody conflict that has existed between the Tutsi and Hutu peoples dates back to about 1880 when Catholic missionaries arrived in the region. The missionaries found that they had more success converting the Hutus than the Tutsi, and when the Germans occupied the area during WWI they confiscated Tutsi land and gave it to Hutu tribes in order to reward religious conversion. This injustice fuels fighting to this very day.
4. Truffle coating : COCOA
A chocolate truffle takes its name from its shape. “Truffle” has Latin roots and comes from the word for “lump”.
6. Pilot who makes vertical takeoffs : AERONAUT
An aeronaut is the pilot of a craft that is lighter than air, like a hot air balloon for example.
9. Kuwaiti ruler : EMIR
An emir is a prince or chieftain, most notably in the Middle East. In English, “emir” can also be written as “amir” and “ameer” (watch out for those spellings in crosswords!).
The State of Kuwait sits at the northern tip of the Persian Gulf, famously sharing a border to the north with Iraq. After WWI, Kuwait was a Protectorate within the British Empire and then gained independence from the UK in 1961. Iraq annexed Kuwait in 1990, which led to the Gulf War of 1990-1991.
14. 1951 Baseball Hall of Fame inductee : OTT
At 5′ 9″, Mel Ott weighed just 170 lb (I don’t think he took steroids!) and yet he was the first National League player to hit over 500 home runs. Sadly, Ott died in a car accident in New Orleans in 1958 when he was only 49 years old.
16. Bearded beast : GNU
A gnu is also known as a wildebeest, an antelope native to Africa. Wildebeest is actually the Dutch word for “wild beast”.
21. “Great” guy : SCOTT
No one seems to know for sure who the Scott is in the exclamation “great Scott!”. One theory is that the reference is to the commander-in-chief of the US Army during the Civil War, General Winfield Scott. Scott weighed in at 300 pounds later in his life, and was so obese that he could not ride a horse.
23. “Maisie” star Sothern : ANN
Ann Sothern was a long-time film and television actress from Valley City in North Dakota. Sothern’s most celebrated role was playing the lead in the 1939 film “Maisie” which led to a series of “Maisie” comedy film sequels.
30. It means “farmer” in Afrikaans : BOER
Boer is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for “farmer”, a word that was used to describe the Dutch-speaking people who settled parts of South Africa during the 1700s.
31. Binary star in Cetus : MIRA
Mira is a red giant star in the constellation Cetus. Mira is actually a “binary star”, meaning that it is composed of two individual stars so close together that they cannot be resolved through a telescope.
Red giants are very large stars with a relatively low mass. The atmosphere of a red giant is also very inflated and extends a long way into space so the surface of that atmosphere that we see is relatively cool, which gives it a red color.
Cetus is a constellation named after a sea monster from Greek mythology. Today, Cetus is often called “the Whale”.
33. First circle of hell in Dante’s “Inferno” : LIMBO
In Dante’s account of Hell, the underworld is described as nine circles of suffering located within the Earth. The nine circles are:
– Limbo
– Lust
– Gluttony
– Avarice and Prodigality
– Wrath and Sullenness
– Heresy
– Violence
– Fraud
– Betrayal
35. Castaway’s message : SOS
The combination of three dots – three dashes – three dots, is a Morse signal first introduced by the German government as a standard distress call in 1905. The sequence is remembered as the letters SOS (three dots – pause – three dashes – pause – three dots), although in the emergency signal there is no pause between the dots and dashes, so SOS is in effect only a mnemonic. Similarly, the phrases “Save Our Souls” and “Save Our Ship” are also mnemonics, introduced after the “SOS” signal was adopted.
36. Hip-hop’s Run-___ : DMC
Run-D.M.C. was a hip hop group from Queens, New York. The trio took its name from two of the group’s members: Joseph “Run” Simmons and Daryl “D.M.C.” McDaniels.
37. Shirley who sang “Goldfinger” : BASSEY
Shirley Bassey is a much-respected singer from Wales. Here in the US, Bassey is probably best known as singer of three of the James Bond film theme songs: “Goldfinger”, “Diamonds Are Forever” and “Moonraker”. She is the only artist to have recorded more than one Bond theme song.
38. Eisner’s successor as Disney chief : IGER
Robert Iger is currently the president and CEO of the Walt Disney Company, the successor to Michael Eisner. Iger worked for ABC when it was taken over by Disney in 1996, and in 1999 he was named president of Walt Disney International. He is doing okay for himself. He earned more that $29 million in 2009.
Michael Eisner took over as CEO of the Walt Disney Company in 1984. He has been attributed with turning Disney around, as the company had been floundering since 1966 when Walt Disney died. He had a good run but ran afoul of Walt Disney’s nephew Roy Disney, who led a revolt by board members that resulted in Eisner’s resignation in 2005.
39. Marisa of “The Wrestler” : TOMEI
Marisa Tomei’s first screen role was in “As the World Turns”, but her break came with a recurring role in “The Cosby Show” spin-off, “A Different World”. Tomei won an Oscar for her delightful performance in “My Cousin Vinny” in 1992.
“The Wrestler” is a really hard and gritty movie from 2008, a comeback film for actor Mickey Rourke. Rourke stars as an over-the-hill professional wrestler, with Marisa Tomei playing a faded stripper, the love interest. The film received really strong reviews, but I found it to be a tough movie to sit through.
48. Fighting spirit : METTLE
“Mettle” is such a lovely word. It means courage and fortitude, or spirit. “Mettle” is simply a variant spelling of the word “metal”.
52. Besieged city during the Spanish Civil War : OVIEDO
Oviedo is a city in northern Spain.
58. Symbol on California’s flag : BEAR
The original California flag was simply a lone red star on a white background, and was carried by rebels fighting for freedom from Mexican rule in 1836. Ten years later a new flag was used, the original Grizzly Bear Flag and precursor to today’s state flag. That first use of a bear was in a design by William L. Todd, a nephew of Abraham Lincoln’s wife, Mary Todd.
62. Like Tarzan’s mannerisms : SIMIAN
“Simian” means “pertaining to monkeys or apes”, from the Latin word “simia” meaning “ape”.
“Tarzan” is the title character in the series of books created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The oft-quoted line “Me Tarzan, you Jane” never appeared in the books, and indeed doesn’t even figure in the movies. Apparently Johnny Weissmuller (the original movie “Tarzan”) saw Maureen O’Sullivan (the original movie “Jane”) struggling with a suitcase in the parking lot during filming. He grabbed the bag from her, jokingly saying “Me Tarzan, you Jane”, and people have been quoting those words ever since.
65. D-Day code name : OMAHA
The Normandy landings on D-Day in 1944 took place along a 50-mile stretch of the Normandy coast divided into five sectors: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. The worst fighting by far took place on Omaha Beach, a sector assigned to the US Army that was transported by elements of the US Navy and the Royal Navy.
The most famous D-Day in history was June 6, 1944, the date of the Normandy landings in WWII. The term “D-Day” is used by the military to designate the day on which a combat operation is to be launched, especially when the actual date has yet to be determined. What D stands for seems to have been lost in the mists of time although the tradition is that D just stands for “Day”. In fact, the French have a similar term, “Jour J” (Day J), with a similar meaning. We also use H-Hour to denote the hour the attack is to commence.
67. The Teflon Don : GOTTI
“Teflon Don” was a nickname for American mobster John Gotti.
John Gotti was the boss of the Gambino crime family from 1985, taking over from Paul Castellano was gunned down allegedly on Gotti’s orders. Gotti remained head of the New York family until he was sentenced to life in prison in 1992. Gotti died of throat cancer after ten years behind bars.
71. Opposite of “da” : NYET
“Nyet” is the Russian for “no”, and “da” is Russian for “yes”.
73. “Speed-the-Plow” playwright : MAMET
“Speed-the-Plow” is a play by David Mamet, a satire about the American movie business. Later Mamet was to write a film called “Wag the Dog”, also a satire about Hollywood.
David Mamet is best known as a playwright, and indeed won a Pulitzer for his 1984 play “Glengarry Glen Ross”. Mamet is also a successful screenwriter and received Oscar nominations for “The Verdict” (1982) and “Wag the Dog” (1997).
74. Demotion victim of 2006 : PLUTO
Pluto was discovered in 1930, and was welcomed as the ninth planet in our solar system. Pluto is relatively small in size, just one fifth of the mass of our own moon. In the seventies, astronomers began to discover more large objects in the solar system, including Eris, a “scattered disc object” at the outer reaches. Given that Eris is actually bigger than Pluto, and other objects really aren’t that much smaller, Pluto’s status as a planet was drawn into question. In 2006 there was a scientific definition for a “planet” agreed for the first time, resulting in Pluto being relegated to the status of dwarf planet, along with Eris.
77. Palmtop, e.g., in brief : PDA
A device like perhaps an iPhone, Droid, or Treo can be termed a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA).
79. North Carolina college town : ELON
Elon is a city in the Piedmont region of North Carolina, close to the city of Burlington. Elon University is a private liberal arts school founded in 1889.
81. Muckraker Jacob : RIIS
Jacob Riis is famous for his photographs and newspaper articles that highlighted the plight of the impoverished in New York City. He wrote “How the Other Half Lives”, originally an extensive article that appeared in “Scribner’s Magazine” at Christmas 1889. The article had such an impact that Riis was commissioned to expand it into a book, which was published the following year.
83. Hedonists’ opposites : ASCETICS
A hedonist is someone who seeks to maximise the amount of pleasure in his or her life. “Hedone” is the Greek word for “pleasure”.
97. John who wrote “Appointment in Samarra” : O’HARA
“Appointment in Samarra” was John O’Hara’s first novel, published in 1934. Samarra is a city north of Baghdad in Iraq, although the story itself takes place in a fictional town in Pennsylvania. The novel deals with the last three days in the life of Julian English, describing how he destroys himself with a series compulsive acts leading up to his suicide. This one doesn’t qualify as light reading for the plane …
105. Coup d’___ : ETAT
A coup d’état (often just “coup”) is the sudden overthrow of a government, and comes from the French for “stroke of state”.
106. NBC offering, briefly : SNL
NBC first aired a form of “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) in 1975 under the title “NBC’s Saturday Night”. The show was actually created to give Johnny Carson some time off from “The Tonight Show”. Back then “The Tonight Show” had a weekend episode, and Carson convinced NBC to pull the Saturday or Sunday recordings off the air and hold them for subsequent weeknights in which Carson needed a break. NBC turned to Lorne Michaels and asked him to put together a variety show to fill the vacant slot, and he came up with what we now call “Saturday Night Live”.
108. Alt-rock genre : EMO
The musical genre of “emo” originated in Washington D.C. in the 80s, and takes its name from “emotional hardcore”. Not my cup of tea …
For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Tsp. or tbsp. : AMT
4. Tax expert, briefly : CPA
7. Slow-cooked dish : STEW
11. “Star Trek: T.N.G.” character Geordi ___ : LA FORGE
18. Coin of little value : SOU
19. Mine layer : ORE
20. Iditarod endpoint : NOME
21. Short, light musical piece : SONATINA
22. “Talking isn’t going to reseal that wine bottle!” : PUT A CORK IN IT
25. “Quit trying to make a paper doll by ripping the paper!” : CUT IT OUT
26. “I can see why shoppers avoid this off-brand white bread!” : IT’S NO WONDER
27. One of England’s Cinque Ports : DOVER
28. Dinette set : CHINA
29. Cry for : NEED
30. Zookeeper’s injuries, maybe : BITES
31. Beverage that’s graded : MILK
35. “Do the Right Thing” pizzeria : SAL’S
36. “I already know my homemade cold cream is useless!” : DON’T RUB IT IN
38. “So you finally got the gist of that Stephen Hawking book!” : IT’S ABOUT TIME
44. Response to feeble excuses : SPARE ME
45. Scrammed : GOT LOST
46. Semitransparent curtain : SCRIM
49. Carnival dance : SAMBA
50. Faulkner’s “A Rose for ___” : EMILY
51. Seat seeker : POL
53. Hard workers : SERFS
56. Lawn starter : SOD
57. Actress Russo : RENE
58. Furry feller? : BEAVER
61. Spree stops : STORES
63. “Of course this car isn’t voice-controlled!” : IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING
68. Go by : ELAPSE
69. IHOP order : OMELET
70. Hold up one’s end? : MOON
72. Field authority : UMP
75. Wood nymph : DRYAD
76. Drink name suffix : -ADE
77. Saintly quality : PIETY
78. Peabody Essex Museum city : SALEM
80. Old Testament section : TORAH
83. Slow and steady : ANDANTE
85. Lucky charms : AMULETS
88. “This tippy Christmas tree is driving me crazy!” : I CAN’T STAND IT
91. “Stop dillydallying and use your boarding pass!” : GET ON WITH IT
94. Apiece : EACH
95. Old school : ETON
96. Mechanical engineer Howe : ELIAS
97. Grotesque giant : OGRE
98. Practices wearing gloves : SPARS
103. Underside of a ship : BELLY
104. “How dare you climb a barbed-wire fence wearing my sweater!” : THAT TEARS IT
106. “I’m in a hurry to see that bug squashed!” : STEP ON IT
110. “Yeah, I’m asking for people’s impression of this inkblot — so?!” : WHAT’S IT TO YOU
111. Annual Academy list : NOMINEES
112. “Catch!” : HERE
113. U-Haul driver’s place : CAB
114. Abbr. for an unlimited number? : ETC
115. They take stock during an emergency : LOOTERS
116. Senatorial agreements : YEAS
117. Rooting area : STY
118. [How shameful!] : TSK
Down
1. Gelatin made from consommé : ASPIC
2. Conversation opener? : MOUTH
3. Rwandan people : TUTSI
4. Truffle coating : COCOA
5. Boat tip : PROW
6. Pilot who makes vertical takeoffs : AERONAUT
7. Most snarky : SNIDEST
8. In good shape : TONED
9. Kuwaiti ruler : EMIR
10. Ready to go through the wringer : WET
11. Slatted windows : LOUVERS
12. Kicks in one’s share : ANTES UP
13. Barometer reading : FAIR
14. 1951 Baseball Hall of Fame inductee : OTT
15. Kia subcompact : RIO
16. Bearded beast : GNU
17. Partake of : EAT
21. “Great” guy : SCOTT
23. “Maisie” star Sothern : ANN
24. Honored a king, perhaps : KNELT
27. Peace disrupter : DIN
30. It means “farmer” in Afrikaans : BOER
31. Binary star in Cetus : MIRA
32. Bullet points : ITEMS
33. First circle of hell in Dante’s “Inferno” : LIMBO
34. Work in a bakery : KNEAD
35. Castaway’s message : SOS
36. Hip-hop’s Run-___ : DMC
37. Shirley who sang “Goldfinger” : BASSEY
38. Eisner’s successor as Disney chief : IGER
39. Marisa of “The Wrestler” : TOMEI
40. Really economize : STINT
41. Claim : ALLEGE
42. Approximately one out of every two deliveries : BOY
43. Sea gull nesting site, maybe : ISLET
47. Gave out : ISSUED
48. Fighting spirit : METTLE
51. Handles badly? : PAWS AT
52. Besieged city during the Spanish Civil War : OVIEDO
54. Pinkish red : ROSE
55. Single-sex house, usually : FRAT
58. Symbol on California’s flag : BEAR
59. Spot : ESPY
60. 55-Down letter : RHO
62. Like Tarzan’s mannerisms : SIMIAN
64. Whitebeards : OLD MEN
65. D-Day code name : OMAHA
66. Incessantly : NO END
67. The Teflon Don : GOTTI
71. Opposite of “da” : NYET
72. Employment : USAGE
73. “Speed-the-Plow” playwright : MAMET
74. Demotion victim of 2006 : PLUTO
77. Palmtop, e.g., in brief : PDA
79. North Carolina college town : ELON
81. Muckraker Jacob : RIIS
82. Vegas attraction : ACT
83. Hedonists’ opposites : ASCETICS
84. ___ degree : NTH
86. Kid aged 10-12 : TWEENER
87. Goofballs : SILLIES
89. Renders invalid : NEGATES
90. Dainty desserts : TARTS
92. Inclines : TILTS
93. Stable supply : HAY
97. John who wrote “Appointment in Samarra” : O’HARA
98. Didn’t get involved : SAT BY
99. Skilled hand : PRO
100. Up until now : AS YET
101. Joins the mob : RIOTS
102. Unable to leave : STUCK
103. Paleontological find : BONE
104. Quaker pronoun : THEE
105. Coup d’___ : ETAT
106. NBC offering, briefly : SNL
107. Besides : TOO
108. Alt-rock genre : EMO
109. Animal trap : PIT
110. It’s asked for a reason : WHY