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: Michael Farabaugh
THEME: L + vowel sounds … each of the theme answers starts with word composed on a letter L followed by each of the vowel sounds in order, AEIOU:
17A. Purchasing system with payments made over time : LAYAWAY PLAN
29A. Former Chrysler C.E.O. : LEE IACOCCA
34A. Goldbrick : LIE DOWN ON THE JOB
43A. Healthful food regimen, traditionally : LOW-FAT DIET
56A. He played the Hulk on 1970s-’80s TV : LOU FERRIGNO
COMPLETION TIME: 5m 48s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0
Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
5. Official language of Austria : GERMAN
The name “Austria” is a Latin variant of the German name for the country, “Österreich”. “Österreich” itself means “Eastern borderlands”, a reference to the country’s history as a prefecture of neighboring Bavaria to the west.
11. Tiny ___, singer of 1968’s “Tip-Toe Thru’ the Tulips With Me” : TIM
Tiny Tim was the stage name of American singer and ukulele player Herbert Khaury. Tiny Tim’s most famous recording by far was his novelty version of the 1926 song “Tip-Toe Thru’ the Tulips”.
14. Oxford or loafer : SHOE
An oxford is a type of lace-up shoe that originated not in Oxford, but actually in Scotland and Ireland.
The type of slip-on shoe called a “loafer” dates back to 1939. “Loafer” was originally a brand name introduced by the Fortnum and Mason’s store in London.
16. Singer DiFranco : ANI
Ani DiFranco is a folk-rock singer and songwriter. DiFranco has also been labeled a “feminist icon”, and in 2006 won the “Woman of Courage Award” from National Organization of Women.
20. Golfer’s gouge : DIVOT
A divot is a chunk of grass and earth that is removed by a golf club while striking the ball. “Divot” is derived from a Scottish word for a piece of turf or sod used as a roofing material.
21. “Make ___” (Picard’s command on “Star Trek: T.N.G.”) : IT SO
When Gene Roddenberry was creating the “Star Trek” spin-off series “Star Trek: The New Generation”, I think he chose a quite magnificent name for the new starship captain. The name Jean-Luc Picard is imitative of one or both of the twin-brother Swiss scientists Auguste and Jean Felix Piccard. The role of Picard was of course played by the magnificent Shakespearean actor Patrick Stewart.
25. Frilly place mats : DOILIES
There was a draper in London in the seventeenth century called Doiley who gave his name to the lace fabric that he sold, which in turn gave its name to the ornamental mats we call doilies. I can’t stand them!
28. “Don’t Tread ___” (early flag motto) : ON ME
The phrase “don’t tread on me” appeared on many early American flags. The phrase usually appeared with a rattlesnake. Notably, “Don’t tread on me” was included in the first Navy Jack.
29. Former Chrysler C.E.O. : LEE IACOCCA
Lee Iacocca was a lot more successful at Chrysler than he was earlier in his career at Ford. Iacocca is credited with the turnaround of Chrysler in the eighties, but he is also credited with the failure of the Ford Pinto. He didn’t get on well with Henry Ford II so he was fired from Ford.
34. Goldbrick : LIE DOWN ON THE JOB
A goldbrick is someone, especially a soldier, who lies down on the job, someone who shirks his or her responsibilities. “Goldbrick” arose as slang during WWII, initially meaning “to swindle, cheat”. This was a play on the old confidence trick of selling fake gold bricks.
41. Fidel Castro’s brother : RAUL
Raul Castro is the younger brother of Fidel Castro. Raul has been President of Cuba since 2008 when Fidel stepped aside.
42. Ruth’s mother-in-law : NAOMI
In the Bible, Naomi was the mother-in-law of Ruth. Naomi’s husband and two sons died, making her very bitter. Because of this, Naomi changed her name to “Mara”, which translates as “bitter”.
49. Name that comes from Old Norse for “young man” : SVEN
Sven is a Scandinavian name. “Sven” is derived from the Old Norse word for “young man” or “young warrior”.
50. Devoted follower : ACOLYTE
The word “acolyte” comes from the Greek “akolouthos” meaning “companion, attendant, helper”. In the Christian tradition, an acolyte is an individual who assists some way in a ceremony, by lighting candles for example. In more general terms, an acolyte is a devoted follower or attendant.
53. Actress Ward : SELA
The actress Sela Ward turns up in crosswords a lot. Ward played Teddy Reed in the TV show “Sisters” in the nineties, and was in “Once and Again” from 1999-2002. I don’t know either show, but I do know her from the medical drama “House” in which she played the hospital’s lawyer, and Greg House’s ex-partner. That was a fun role, I thought. More recently Ward turned up on “CSI: NY”, a very welcome and much-needed addition to the cast …
56. He played the Hulk on 1970s-’80s TV : LOU FERRIGNO
Lou Ferrigno is a retired bodybuilder and an actor from Brooklyn, New York. Ferrigno’s speech is a little impaired because he lost 80% of his hearing as a child, probably due to persistent ear infections.
62. ___ v. Wade : ROE
Roe v. Wade was decided in a US District Court in Texas in 1970, and reached the Supreme Court on appeal. The basic decision by the Supreme Court was that a woman’s constitutional right to privacy applied to an abortion, but that this right had to be balanced with a state’s interest in protecting an unborn child and a mother’s health. The Court further defined that the state’s interest became stronger with each trimester of a pregnancy. So, in the first trimester the woman’s right to privacy outweighed any state interest. In the second trimester the state’s interest in maternal health was deemed to be strong enough to allow state regulation of abortion for the sake of the mother. In the third trimester the viability of the fetus dictated that the state’s interest in the unborn child came into play, so states could regulate or prohibit abortions, except in cases where the mother’s life was in danger. I’m no lawyer, but that’s my understanding of the initial Supreme Court decision …
Down
1. Designer monogram : YSL
Yves Saint-Laurent was a French fashion designer, actually born in Algeria. Saint-Laurent 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 he 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. Saint-Laurent was released from prison, managed to pull his life back together, and started his own fashion house. A remarkable story …
2. “Eureka!” : AHA
Eureka translates from Greek as “I have found it”. The word is usually associated with Archimedes, uttered as he stepped into his bath one day. His discovery was that the volume of water that was displaced was equal to that of the object (presumably his foot) that had been submerged. He used this fact to determine the volume of a crown, something he needed in order to determine if it was made of pure gold or was a forgery.
3. Cowboy Rogers : ROY
Cowboy actor and singer Roy Rogers’s real name was Leonard Franklin Slye, and his nickname was “King of the Cowboys”. Roy Rogers married Dale Evans in 1947. Evans’s nickname was “Queen of the West”.
4. Fan of Jerry Garcia’s band : DEADHEAD
A “deadhead” is a fan of the Grateful Dead.
Jerry Garcia was one of the founding members of the rock band, the Grateful Dead. Garcia struggled with cocaine and heroine addiction during most of his life, and died of a heart attack in 1995 in a California drug rehabilitation center.
6. Donkey in “Winnie-the-Pooh” : EEYORE
A. A. Milne’s “Winnie-the-Pooh” has been translated into many languages, and is one of the few modern titles for which there is a Latin version. Alexander Lenard had “Winnie ille Pu” published in 1958, and two years later it made it to the New York Times Best Seller List, the only book in the Latin language ever to get that honor.
13. Brunch cocktail : MIMOSA
Where I come from, the cocktail known in North America as a mimosa is called a Buck’s Fizz, named after the club where it was introduced in 1921. The mimosa came along a few years later, apparently first being served in the Paris Ritz. If you want to make a mimosa, it’s a 50-50 mix of champagne and orange juice, and it is very tasty …
18. Nintendo game console : WII
The Wii is the biggest-selling game console in the world. Two distinguishing features are the impressive wireless remote control and its WiiConnect24 system which allows the console to get messages and updates wirelessly in standby mode. I have my kids unplug the darn thing when they aren’t using it, as even in standby mode it sucks up bandwidth on my wireless network here at the house.
21. U.N. workers’ grp. : ILO
The ILO (International Labour Organization) is an agency now administered by the UN, but it was established by the League of Nations after WWI. The ILO deals with important issues such as health and safety, discrimination, child labor and forced labor. The organization was recognized for its work in 1969 when it was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
24. Captain Hook’s mate : SMEE
In J. M. Barrie’s play and novel about Peter Pan, Smee is one of Captain Hook’s pirates and is Hook’s right-hand man. Smee is described by Barrie as being “Irish” and “a man who stabbed without offence”. Nice guy!
25. Primatologist Fossey : DIAN
Dian Fossey carried out her famous study of gorilla populations in the mountain forests of Rwanda (NB: it was Jane Goodall that worked with chimpanzees). Sadly, Fossey was found dead in her cabin in Rwanda in 1986, murdered in her bedroom, her skull split open by a machete. The crime was never solved.
26. Hops kiln : OAST
An oast is a kiln used for drying hops as part of the brewing process. Such a structure might also be called an “oast house”.
27. Financier Carl : ICAHN
Carl Icahn has many business interests, and is probably best known in recent years for his dealings with Yahoo!
30. Food-poisoning bacteria : E COLI
Escherichia coli (E. coli) are usually harmless bacteria found in the human gut, working away quite happily. However, there are some strains that can produce lethal toxins. These strains can make their way into the food chain from animal fecal matter that comes into contact with food designated for human consumption.
32. Kind of eel : MORAY
Morays are a large group of about 200 species of eels found across the world’s oceans. Morays are carnivorous and look pretty scary but they’re quite shy when confronted and present no threat to humans. One interesting thing about morays is that they will sometimes work in cooperation with the grouper fish found in reefs, the two helping each other hunt for food.
36. Like Michelangelo’s “David” or Rodin’s “The Thinker” : NUDE
When Michelangelo’s famous statue of David was unveiled in 1504, it was at a time when the city-state of the Florentine Republic was threatened by rival states (including Rome). The statue depicts David after he has decided to fight Goliath, and the subject is sporting what is described as a “warning glare”. David was originally placed outside the Palazzo della Signoria, the seat of government in Florence, and that warning glare was directed very deliberately in the direction of its enemy, Rome.
Rodin’s famous sculpture known as “The Thinker” has been reproduced many times. Rodin’s original version of “The Thinker” is actually a detail in a much larger work known as “The Gates of Hell”. The original plaster version of “The Gates of Hell” can be seen at the magnificent Musée d’Orsay in Paris.
37. Where the United Nations is in Manhattan : EAST SIDE
The United Nations building is located on “international territory” in New York City in Manhattan, overlooking the East River. The building is sometimes referred to as “Turtle Bay”, as it is located in the Turtle Bay neighborhood.
38. Jupiter : JOVE
Jupiter, also known as Jove, was the king of the gods in the Roman tradition. He was the Roman equivalent to the Greek god Zeus.
43. Surgical beams : LASERS
The term “laser” comes from an acronym, “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation” (LASER). It has been pointed out that a more precise name for laser technology is “Light Oscillation by Stimulated Emission of Radiation”, but the resulting acronym isn’t quite so appealing, namely LOSER …
44. Spotted wildcat : 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 carried around everywhere with him.
46. Miami’s home: Abbr. : FLA
The city of Miami in Florida takes its name from the nearby Miami River. In turn, the river is named for the Mayaimi Native American people who lived around nearby Lake Okeechobee.
56. Fleur-de-___ : LIS
“Lys” (also “lis”) is the French word for “lily”, as in “fleur-de-lys”, the heraldic symbol often associated with the French monarchy.
57. Singer Yoko : ONO
Yoko Ono was born into a prosperous Japanese family, and is actually a descendant of one of the emperors of Japan. Ono’s father moved around the world for work and Yoko lived the first few years of her life in San Francisco. The family returned to Japan before moving on to New York, Hanoi and back to Japan just before WWII. There Yoko lived through the great fire-bombing of Tokyo in 1945. Immediately after the war the family was far from prosperous. While Yoko’s father was being held in a prison camp in Vietnam, her mother had to resort to begging and bartering to feed her children. When her father was repatriated, life started to return to normal and Yoko was able to attend university. She was the first woman to be accepted into the philosophy program of Gakushuin University.
58. Acapulco article : UNA
The Mexican city of Acapulco is on the southwest coast of the country, in the state of Guerrero. The name “Acapulco” translates from the local language into “at the big reeds”.
60. Annual coll. basketball competition : NIT
The NCAA holds two National Invitation Tournaments (NIT) each season, both being men’s college basketball events.
61. Pepsi ___ : ONE
Pepsi ONE is so called as it has one calorie per eight-ounce serving. The artificial sweetener known as Ace-K was approved by the FDA for use in our food in 1998, and one hour after the approval was given, PepsiCo announced the introduction of Pepsi ONE …
For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. 36″ : YARD
5. Official language of Austria : GERMAN
11. Tiny ___, singer of 1968’s “Tip-Toe Thru’ the Tulips With Me” : TIM
14. Oxford or loafer : SHOE
15. Entertain, as children at a library : READ TO
16. Singer DiFranco : ANI
17. Purchasing system with payments made over time : LAYAWAY PLAN
19. Video shooter, for short : CAM
20. Golfer’s gouge : DIVOT
21. “Make ___” (Picard’s command on “Star Trek: T.N.G.”) : IT SO
22. Store clerk : CASHIER
25. Frilly place mats : DOILIES
28. “Don’t Tread ___” (early flag motto) : ON ME
29. Former Chrysler C.E.O. : LEE IACOCCA
31. Elite group : A TEAM
33. Home, in Honduras : CASA
34. Goldbrick : LIE DOWN ON THE JOB
41. Fidel Castro’s brother : RAUL
42. Ruth’s mother-in-law : NAOMI
43. Healthful food regimen, traditionally : LOW-FAT DIET
49. Name that comes from Old Norse for “young man” : SVEN
50. Devoted follower : ACOLYTE
51. Buckles, as a seat belt : FASTENS
53. Actress Ward : SELA
54. Frizzy dos : AFROS
55. Assistant to Santa : ELF
56. He played the Hulk on 1970s-’80s TV : LOU FERRIGNO
62. ___ v. Wade : ROE
63. Present at birth : INNATE
64. Bump off : DO IN
65. Norm: Abbr. : STD
66. Flew to great heights : SOARED
67. Suffix with cigar : -ETTE
Down
1. Designer monogram : YSL
2. “Eureka!” : AHA
3. Cowboy Rogers : ROY
4. Fan of Jerry Garcia’s band : DEADHEAD
5. Rough road surface : GRAVEL
6. Donkey in “Winnie-the-Pooh” : EEYORE
7. Engrossed : RAPT
8. The year 1550 : MDL
9. One step ___ time : AT A
10. “Smoking or ___?” : NON
11. Ploy : TACTIC
12. Very soon : IN A SEC
13. Brunch cocktail : MIMOSA
18. Nintendo game console : WII
21. U.N. workers’ grp. : ILO
22. Fossil fuel : COAL
23. Opposing : ANTI
24. Captain Hook’s mate : SMEE
25. Primatologist Fossey : DIAN
26. Hops kiln : OAST
27. Financier Carl : ICAHN
30. Food-poisoning bacteria : E COLI
32. Kind of eel : MORAY
35. What “W” stands for on a light bulb : WATT
36. Like Michelangelo’s “David” or Rodin’s “The Thinker” : NUDE
37. Where the United Nations is in Manhattan : EAST SIDE
38. Jupiter : JOVE
39. Warning sign : OMEN
40. Recycling containers : BINS
43. Surgical beams : LASERS
44. Spotted wildcat : OCELOT
45. Devoured, with “down” : WOLFED
46. Miami’s home: Abbr. : FLA
47. Tired or decadent : EFFETE
48. Smeared with pitch : TARRED
52. Frat.’s counterpart : SOR
54. Miles away : AFAR
56. Fleur-de-___ : LIS
57. Singer Yoko : ONO
58. Acapulco article : UNA
59. Understood : GOT
60. Annual coll. basketball competition : NIT
61. Pepsi ___ : ONE
The Best of the New York Times Crossword Collections
Amazon.com Widgets