0923-12: New York Times Crossword Answers 23 Sep 12, Sunday

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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: Matt Ginsberg
THEME: Breath-Taking … each of the theme answers has an alternate meaning if spoken by Eliza Doolittle from “Pygmalion” or “My Fair Lady”, as she “drops her aitches”:

28A. With 78-Down, character commemorated in the answers to this puzzle’s starred clues : ELIZA
78D. See 28-Across : DOOLITTLE

24A. *Male pattern baldness? : AIRLINE TRAVEL (‘airline travel)
32A. *Baying? : NIGHT OWLS (night ‘owls)
51A. *Cardiologist’s concern? : STATE OF THE ART (state of the ‘eart)
67A. *Caries? : ARM TO THE TEETH (‘arm to the teeth)
83A. *Marriage in 2004, divorce in 2011? : SEVEN YEAR ITCH (seven year ‘itch)
102A. *Conduct classes? : OLD SCHOOL (‘old school)
113A. *Petrified wood? : FOREST OF ARDEN (forest of ‘arden)
3D. *Endless bagpipe tune? : LONG ISLAND SOUND (long ‘ighland sound)
14D. *Stable hands? : ALTAR BOYS (‘alter boys)
48D. *Gold-plated forceps? : EYEBROW TWEEZERS (‘ighbrow tweezers)

COMPLETION TIME: 42m 15s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 2 … PAESE (Paesa), HYER (Hyar)

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

8. They have flat tops : MESAS
“Mesa” is the Spanish for “table”, which of course gives us the name for the table-topped geographic feature.

21. Kind of wine : BLUSH
The term “blush” in the world of wine has only been around since the late seventies, and is really only used here in the US. Today we think of a blush as a relatively sweet pink wine, and a rosé as something drier.

22. Heir, usually : ALIENEE
An alienee is one to whom ownership of property is transferred.

23. French farewell : BONSOIR
“Bonsoir” is French for “good evening”, but I think “bonsoir” is used more as a greeting, and not as a farewell …

26. Content of a 2003 decryption : GENOME
The genome is all the hereditary information needed to reproduce an organism, in other words, all of its chromosomes. When scientists unravel the human genome it takes up an awful lot of computer storage space, and yet all of this information is in almost every cell in our bodies. Every cell “knows” how to make a whole human being.

28. With 78-Down, character commemorated in the answers to this puzzle’s starred clues : ELIZA
78D. See 28-Across : DOOLITTLE
Eliza Doolittle is Professor Henry Higgins’s speech student in George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion”. Of course “Pygmalion” was adapted by Lerner and Loewe to become the Broadway musical “My Fair Lady”. The musical spun off the wonderful 1964 film of the same name, starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. To cockney Eliza Doolittle, Professor Henry Higgins was ‘Enry ‘Iggins.

30. Japanese consent : HAI
Hai is the Japanese word for “yes”.

46. French 101 verb : ETRE
The French for “to be” is “être”.

47. Thumbing of the nose : SNOOK
“Cocking a snook” in general means to show disrespect by making an insulting gesture, and in particular in our culture this can be to thumb one’s nose.

56. Sen. Daniel Inouye, for one : NISEI
There are some very specific terms used to describe the children born to Japanese immigrants in their new country. The immigrants themselves are known as “Issei”. “Nisei” are second generation Japanese, “Sansei” the third generation (grandchildren of the immigrant), and “Yonsei” are fourth generation.

Senator Daniel Inoueye is a US Senator for the state of Hawaii. Inouye is the President pro tem of the Senate (Vice President Biden is the President of the Senate). Given this role, Senator Inoueye is the highest-ranking Japanese-American in the country’s history as he is third in the line of succession to the office of US President.

63. The Lion, not the Witch or the Wardrobe : ASLAN
In the C. S. Lewis books, Aslan is the name of the lion character (as in “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”). “Aslan” is actually the Turkish word for lion. Anyone who has read the books will recognize the the remarkable similarity between the story of Aslan and the story of Christ, including a sacrifice and resurrection.

65. Discovery medium : CABLE
The Discovery Channel was launched in 1985, and is a favorite channel of mine …

67. *Caries? : ARM TO THE TEETH (‘arm to the teeth)
Dental caries is a disease that causes progressive destruction of the teeth.

74. Tony’s relatives : OBIES
The Obies are the “Off-Broadway Theater Awards”. The Obies are presented annually, and the recipients are chosen by “The Village Voice” newspaper.

The full name for the Tony Award is the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre. Antoinette Perry was an American actress and co-founder of the American Theatre Wing, one of the organizations that selects the award recipients.

75. Occupants of the lowest circle of Dante’s hell : TRAITORS
In Dante’s “Inferno”, Hell is represented as nine circles of suffering. The nine circles of Hell are:

– Limbo
– Lust
– Gluttony
– Greed
– Anger
– Heresy
– Violence
– Fraud
– Treachery

91. Inventor after whom a Yale residential college is named : MORSE
Samuel Morse was a very accomplished and reputable painter (he was engaged to paint a portrait of President John Adams, for example). In 1825 Morse was in Washington working on a commissioned painting when he received a one-line letter by horse messenger telling him that his wife was ill. He left immediately for his home in New Haven, Connecticut but by the time Morse arrived his wife had already died and had been buried. This single event spurred him to move from painting to the development of a rapid means of long distance communication, leading to the single-wire telegraph and Morse code.

Morse College is one of the twelve residential colleges of Yale University. The college is named for the inventor Samuel Morse, and the residents of the college are called “morsels”.

93. Soviet author Ehrenburg : ILYA
Ilya Ehrenburg was a Soviet novelist and journalist. His novel called “The Thaw” gave its name to the period after the death of Joseph Stalin, a period when a more liberal culture prevailed in the Soviet Union.

95. Sweet drink : JULEP
If you’d like to make yourself a mint julep, one recipe is:

– 3 oz of Bourbon
– 4-6 sprigs of mint
– granulated sugar to taste

98. Bel ___ cheese : PAESE
Bel Paese is a mild Italian cheese that was developed in 1906. The name “bel paese” means beautiful country in Italian, and is taken from the title of a book written by Antonio Stoppani.

99. Twist spinoff : WATUSI
The Watusi was almost as popular as the twist in the early sixties. The dance took its name from the Batutsi tribe in Rwanda.

106. “What ___ thou art, act well thy part” : E’ER
“What e’er thou art, act well thy part” is a quotation usually attributed to William Shakespeare.

108. “God helps ___ …” : THOSE
“The gods help them that help themselves” is a quotation usually attributed to Aesop.

110. Pitcher of coffee? : VALDEZ
Juan Valdez is a fictional Colombian farmer who appears in advertising for Colombian coffee. Valdez has been pushing coffee since 1969.

113. *Petrified wood? : FOREST OF ARDEN (forest of ‘arden)
The Forest of Arden is the setting for Shakespeare’s “As You Like It”. Even though there is a Forest of Arden surrounding Shakespeare’s home town of Stratford-on-Avon, seeing as the play is set in France one has to assume that the “As You Like It” Arden is an Anglicization of the forested “Ardennes” region that stretches from Belgium into France.

The word “petrify” meaning “turn to stone” comes from the Latin word for “stone” … “petra”. We’ve been using “petrify” in a metaphorical sense, “to paralyze with fear”, since the late 1700s.

118. Any of the Brontë sisters : POETESS
The Brontë family lived in the lovely village of Haworth in Yorkshire, England. The three daughters all became recognised authors. The first to achieve success was Charlotte Brontë when she published “Jane Eyre”. Then came Emily with “Wuthering Heights” and Anne with “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall”.

125. Ecclesiastical council : SYNOD
The word synod comes from the Greek word for assembly, or meeting. A synod is a church council, usually in the Christian faith.

126. Vituperates : RAILS AT
Vituperation is sustained, abusive language.

Down
2. Singer whose name sounds like a cry : 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.

6. Heir, often : SCION
Scion comes from the old French word “sion” or “cion”, meaning “a shoot or a twig”. In botanical terms today, a scion is used in grafting two compatible plants together. In grafting, one plant is selected for its root system (the “rootstock”), and the other plant is selected for its stems, leaves and fruit (the “scion”). The term scion migrated naturally into the world of family history. A scion is simply a descendant, a son or a daughter and therefore a branching point in the family tree.

7. St. Benedict, e.g. : HERMIT
Benedict of Nursia is the patron saint of Europe.

8. Kellogg offering, briefly : MBA
The business school at Northwestern University is called the John L. Kellogg School of Management. John L. Kellogg was the son of Will Keith Kellogg of breakfast cereal fame, and John’s foundation made a generous donation in 1979, hence the current name for the business school.

9. Clint : the Good :: ___ : the Ugly : ELI
Eli Wallach has been appearing consistently and making great performances on the big and small screens since the 1950s. Wallach’s most famous role was probably as “the ugly” in “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”. More recently he gave a very strong performance in 2006’s “The Holiday”.

10. South of Mexico : SUR
“Sur” is Spanish for “south”.

12. Con man’s plant : SHILL
A shill is someone planted, perhaps in an audience, with the job of feigning enthusiasm.

13. “We Shall Overcome” singer : BAEZ
Joan Baez is an American folk singer and a prominent activist in the fields of nonviolence, civil rights, human rights and environmental protection. Baez has dated some high-profile figures in her life including Bob Dylan, Steve Jobs (of Apple) and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead.

17. Poetic ending : ENVOI
An envoy (also “envoi”) is a short closing stanza in some works of poetry.

25. Passover month : NISAN
Nisan is the first month in the Hebrew ecclesiastical calendar.

27. Snowy Floridian? : EGRET
The Snowy Egret is a small white heron, native to the Americas. At one time the egret species was in danger of extinction due to hunting driven by the demand for plumes for women’s hats.

35. Fit to serve : 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. In the event that a draft was 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 objector available for noncombatant service), 4-A (registrant who has completed military service) and 4-D (Minister of religion).

37. Actress Sommer : ELKE
Elke Sommer is a German-born actress who was at the height of her success on the silver screen in the sixties. Sommer won a Golden Globe as Most Promising Newcomer Actress for her role opposite Paul Newman in 1964’s “The Prize”. She also sings and has released several albums. Now she focuses on painting, producing artwork that is strongly influenced by Marc Chagall.

39. French composer of “Vexations” : SATIE
Erik Satie was a French composer most famous for his beautiful composition, the three “Gymnopédies”. I have tried so hard to appreciate other works by Satie but I find them so very different from the minimalist simplicity of “Gymnopédies”.

40. 87-Down, e.g., by birth : ODESSAN
The city of Odessa in Ukraine was founded relatively recently, in 1794 by Catherine the Great. The city was originally meant to be called Odessos after an ancient Greek city believed to have been located nearby. Catherine liked the way the locals pronounced the name as “Odessa”, and so went with the less Greek-sounding name.

43. Extinct emu-like birds : MOAS
Moas were flightless birds native to New Zealand that are now extinct. The fate of the Moa is a great example of the detrimental effect that humans can have on animal populations. The Maoris arrived in New Zealand about 1300 AD, upsetting the balance of the ecosystem. The Moa were hunted to extinction within 200 years, which had the knock-on effect of killing off the Haast’s Eagle, the Moa’s only predator prior to the arrival of man.

45. Frère’s sibling : SOEUR
“Soeur” is the French word for “sister.

47. Parade figure, informally : ST PAT
There is a fair amount known about St. Patrick, some of which comes from two letters written in his own hand. He lived in the fifth century, but was not born in Ireland. He was first brought to Ireland at about 16 years of age from his native Britain, by Irish raiders who made him a slave for six years. He managed to escape and return home where he studied and entered the Church. He went back to Ireland as a bishop and a missionary and there lived out the rest of his life. There seems to be good evidence that he died on March 17th (now celebrated annually as St. Patrick’s Day), although the year is less clear. The stories about shamrock and snakes, I am afraid they are the stuff of legend.

55. See 103-Down : ABA
The American Bar Association (ABA) was founded back in 1878 and is a voluntary association for lawyers and law students. The ABA focuses on setting academic standards for law schools and setting ethical codes for the profession.

60. Corrupting atmosphere : MIASMA
The word miasma was first used for the poisonous atmosphere thought to arise from swamps and rotting matter, and which could cause disease. Nowadays, a miasma is just a thick cloud of gas or smoke.

62. Prime Minister David Cameron’s alma mater : 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).

63. “There is ___ in the affairs of men …” : A TIDE
“There is a tide in the affairs of man which taken at the flood leads on to fortune, omitted all their lives…” is a quotation from William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar.

64. 1965 title role for Ursula Andress : SHE
H. Rider Haggard wrote the famous novel “She”, first published in serial form in 1886-87 (I remember seeing the movie version as a kid, starring Ursula Andress … scared the daylights out of me!). Haggard published the sequel to “She” in 1905 called “Ayesha, the return of She”.

69. Language from which “clan” comes : ERSE
There are actually three Erse languages: Irish, Manx (spoken on the Isle of Man) and Scots Gaelic. In their own tongues, these would be Gaeilge (in Ireland), Gaelg (on the Isle of Man) and Gaidhlig (in Scotland).

70. Dweller along the Volga : TATAR
Tatars are an ethnic group of people, mainly residing in Russia (a population of about 5 1/2 million). Actor Charles Bronson had a Tatar heritage. Bronson’s real name was Charles Buchinsky.

The Volga is the longest river in Europe, and is considered the national river of Russia.

76. 2001-02 Nickelodeon sitcom : TAINA
“Taina” is a sitcom for youngsters that is produced and aired by Nickelodeon. It’s all about young Taina Morales, a student attending the Manhattan High School of the Performing Arts.

79. Dictator’s first words? : IN RE
The term “in re” is Latin, derived from “in” (in) and “res” (thing, matter). “In re” literally means “in the matter”, and is used to mean “in regard to”, or “in the matter of”.

82. “Morning” person : IMUS
Don Imus’s syndicated radio show, “Imus in the Morning”, broadcasts from New York City.

87. Comedian Smirnoff : YAKOV
The Ukrainian-born comedian Yakov Pokhis is better known by his stage name, Yakov Smirnoff. Smirnoff was popular on television in the eighties, playing comedic roles with a thick Russian accent. He is a smart cookie, and holds master’s degree in positive psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.

89. Actress Martha who played Sinatra’s love interest in “Some Came Running” : HYER
Martha Hyer is a retired American actress. Hyer’s most noted role was playing the love interest for Frank Sinatra in 1958’s “Some Came Running”. Hitchcock considered casting Hyer for the “Psycho” role that eventually went to Janet Leigh.

92. “S.N.L.” specialty : SPOOF
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”.

95. Gold prospector Joe with a state capital named after him : JUNEAU
Given that it’s the capital of Alaska, it is not surprising to learn that the municipality of Juneau is almost as big as the area of the states of Rhode Island and Delaware combined, ant yet has only a population of about 31,000 people!

97. “Days,” for one : SOAPER
NBC’s “Days of Our Lives” is the second-longest running soap opera on US television, second only to “General Hospital”. “Days …” has been aired since November 1965.

101. They may produce suits : TORTS
The word “tort” is a French word meaning “mischief, injury or wrong”. Tort law is generally about negligence, when the action of one party causes injury to another but that action falls outside of the scope of criminal law.

103. Early hurdles for 55-Down members: Abbr. : LSATS
The Law School Admission Test (LSAT) has been around since 1948.

104. Annual May event : DERBY
The first Kentucky Derby was run in 1875, a race modelled on the Epsom Derby in England and the Grand Prix de Paris (now called the “Prix de l‘Arc de Triomphe”). As such, The Kentucky Derby was run over 1½ miles, although in 1896 this was shortened to 1¼ miles.

105. 2010 Nobelist Mario Vargas ___ : LLOSA
Mario Vargas Llosa is a Peruvian writer of renown, one of the most significant authors from Latin America by all accounts. Llosa is also very active politically, and in 1990 ran unsuccessfully for the Peruvian presidency.

109. “Bonanza” role : HOSS
Dan Blocker was the actor who played Hoss Cartright in the famous TV show “Bonanza”. Hoss was the “slow” character on the show. Paradoxically, Dan Blocker was the most educated member of the cast, having earned a Masters Degree in the dramatic arts. Blocker passed away while “Bonanza” was still running. He was undergoing relatively routine gall bladder surgery and developed a pulmonary embolism which killed him. Bonanza ran for just one more season after Blocker passed away.

112. Name dropper’s notation? : ET AL
Et alii (et al.) is the equivalent of et cetera (etc.), with et cetera being used in place of a list of objects, and et alii used for a list of names. In fact “et al.” can stand for et alii (for a group of males, or males and females), aliae (for a group of women) and et alia (for a group of neuter nouns, or for a group of people where the intent is to retain gender-neutrality).

114. ___ card : SIM
Most cell phones have SIM cards these days. SIM cards hold the personal information of the subscriber, with the acronym being short for Subscriber Identity Module.

116. Musician Brian : ENO
Brian Eno started out his musical career with Roxy Music. However, his most oft-played composition (by far!) is Microsoft’s “start-up jingle”, the 6-second sound you hear when the Windows operating system is booting up.

117. Springfield’s Flanders : NED
Ned Flanders lives next door to Homer on TV’s “The Simpsons”. Ned is voiced by actor Harry Shearer, and has been around since the very first episode aired on Fox in 1989.

119. Steamboat Springs, Colo., for one : SPA
Steamboat Springs is a major winter resort destination in Colorado. The area in which the city is located is home to many hot springs. The chugging sound of the hot springs reminded early settlers of steamboats, so they named their settlement Steamboat Springs.

120. European streaker, once, in brief : SST
The most famous Supersonic Transport (SST) was the Concorde, a plane that’s no longer flying. Concorde had that famous “droop nose”. The nose was moved to the horizontal position during flight to create the optimum aerodynamic shape thereby reducing drag. It was lowered during taxi, takeoff and landing, so that the pilot had better visibility. The need for the droop nose was driven largely by the delta-shaped wings. The delta wing necessitates a higher angle of attack at takeoff and landing than conventional wing designs, so the pilot needed the nose lowered so that he or she could see the ground.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Lascivious : WOLFISH
8. They have flat tops : MESAS
13. Most excellent, in modern slang : BADDEST
20. Set forth : ENOUNCE
21. Kind of wine : BLUSH
22. Heir, usually : ALIENEE
23. French farewell : BONSOIR
24. *Male pattern baldness? : AIRLINE TRAVEL (‘airline travel)
26. Content of a 2003 decryption : GENOME
28. With 78-Down, character commemorated in the answers to this puzzle’s starred clues : ELIZA
29. Muddy : ROIL
30. Japanese consent : HAI
32. *Baying? : NIGHT OWLS (night ‘owls)
36. Transfers, as funds : REMITS
38. Title words before “Easy” for Linda Ronstadt and “Hard” for John Lennon : IT’S SO
41. Coach : TRAIN
42. Walk in the park, say : AMBLE
44. Menu heading : SALADS
46. French 101 verb : ETRE
47. Thumbing of the nose : SNOOK
48. E-mail address ending : EDU
51. *Cardiologist’s concern? : STATE OF THE ART (state of the ‘eart)
54. Bridge responses : AYE-AYES
56. Sen. Daniel Inouye, for one : NISEI
57. Bridge response : I PASS
59. Hit on the noggin : BEAN
60. Saw to it : MADE SURE
63. The Lion, not the Witch or the Wardrobe : ASLAN
65. Discovery medium : CABLE
66. Fingers : IDS
67. *Caries? : ARM TO THE TEETH (‘arm to the teeth)
71. VCR button : REW
72. Pretty up : ADORN
74. Tony’s relatives : OBIES
75. Occupants of the lowest circle of Dante’s hell : TRAITORS
77. Zig or zag : SLUE
78. Had haddock, say : DINED
80. Dispenser item : STRAW
81. Citation : MENTION
83. *Marriage in 2004, divorce in 2011? : SEVEN YEAR ITCH (seven year ‘itch)
90. Mix (in) : ADD
91. Inventor after whom a Yale residential college is named : MORSE
93. Soviet author Ehrenburg : ILYA
94. View from a control tower : RUNWAY
95. Sweet drink : JULEP
96. They have pointed tops : PEAKS
98. Bel ___ cheese : PAESE
99. Twist spinoff : WATUSI
102. *Conduct classes? : OLD SCHOOL (‘old school)
106. “What ___ thou art, act well thy part” : E’ER
107. Heaps : A TON
108. “God helps ___ …” : THOSE
110. Pitcher of coffee? : VALDEZ
113. *Petrified wood? : FOREST OF ARDEN (forest of ‘arden)
118. Any of the Brontë sisters : POETESS
121. Necessitates : ENTAILS
122. Prime cut : T-BONE
123. Steep slopes : ESCARPS
124. Application enclosures, often : RESUMES
125. Ecclesiastical council : SYNOD
126. Vituperates : RAILS AT

Down
1. It’s a trap : WEB
2. Singer whose name sounds like a cry : ONO
3. *Endless bagpipe tune? : LONG ISLAND SOUND (long ‘ighland sound)
4. Item in a box in the basement : FUSE
5. ___ a secret : IN ON
6. Heir, often : SCION
7. St. Benedict, e.g. : HERMIT
8. Kellogg offering, briefly : MBA
9. Clint : the Good :: ___ : the Ugly : ELI
10. South of Mexico : SUR
11. Heaps : A SLEW
12. Con man’s plant : SHILL
13. “We Shall Overcome” singer : BAEZ
14. *Stable hands? : ALTAR BOYS (‘alter boys)
15. Broadway bigwig: Abbr. : DIR
16. “This isn’t going well at all!” : DEAR ME
17. Poetic ending : ENVOI
18. Catch on : SEE IT
19. Squeals : TELLS
25. Passover month : NISAN
27. Snowy Floridian? : EGRET
30. Audible reproof : HISS
31. Rat-___ : A-TAT
33. Owns, in the Bible : HATH
34. It can be balanced and biased simultaneously : TIRE
35. Fit to serve : ONE-A
37. Actress Sommer : ELKE
39. French composer of “Vexations” : SATIE
40. 87-Down, e.g., by birth : ODESSAN
43. Extinct emu-like birds : MOAS
45. Frère’s sibling : SOEUR
47. Parade figure, informally : ST PAT
48. *Gold-plated forceps? : EYEBROW TWEEZERS (‘ighbrow tweezers)
49. Man of the house? : DEALER
50. Onetime Time competitor, briefly : US NEWS
52. Tighten (up) : FIRM
53. Works (up) : RILES
55. See 103-Down : ABA
58. Work without ___ : A NET
60. Corrupting atmosphere : MIASMA
61. Like many a ditz : ADDLED
62. Prime Minister David Cameron’s alma mater : ETON
63. “There is ___ in the affairs of men …” : A TIDE
64. 1965 title role for Ursula Andress : SHE
65. Birdsong : CHIRRUP
68. Supersized : OBESE
69. Language from which “clan” comes : ERSE
70. Dweller along the Volga : TATAR
73. Abbr. after many an officer’s name : RET
76. 2001-02 Nickelodeon sitcom : TAINA
78. See 28-Across : DOOLITTLE
79. Dictator’s first words? : IN RE
82. “Morning” person : IMUS
84. Bigwigs : VIPS
85. A.C. or D.C. : ELEC
86. When repeated, a child’s taunt : NYAH
87. Comedian Smirnoff : YAKOV
88. Job for the Hardy Boys : CASE
89. Actress Martha who played Sinatra’s love interest in “Some Came Running” : HYER
92. “S.N.L.” specialty : SPOOF
95. Gold prospector Joe with a state capital named after him : JUNEAU
97. “Days,” for one : SOAPER
99. Nabisco offering : WAFER
100. Agreeing (with) : AT ONE
101. They may produce suits : TORTS
103. Early hurdles for 55-Down members: Abbr. : LSATS
104. Annual May event : DERBY
105. 2010 Nobelist Mario Vargas ___ : LLOSA
109. “Bonanza” role : HOSS
111. Prefix with bel : DECI-
112. Name dropper’s notation? : ET AL
114. ___ card : SIM
115. Slip on : DON
116. Musician Brian : ENO
117. Springfield’s Flanders : NED
119. Steamboat Springs, Colo., for one : SPA
120. European streaker, once, in brief : SST

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2 thoughts on “0923-12: New York Times Crossword Answers 23 Sep 12, Sunday”

  1. Howdy Bill,

    I see you’re now doing the L.A. Times. I mentioned to you around the time I first found you that I was returning to crossword solving after taking about ten years off. I now try to do the NYT Sunday puzzle every week. I’m able to completely solve them (usually with one or two mistakes) about four out of five times, or better.

    Around the time I started again, I also began doing the L.A. Times Sunday, which I found to be a lot easier, so much so that I stopped doing them. Is there a hierarchy of toughness with crosswords? I’ve always heard that the NYT is the gold standard. Appreciate your thoughts.

    Love, peace and soul…

  2. Hi Greg,

    Like you, I kind of regard the NYTimes puzzle as the "gold standard" of American crosswords. Having said that, I do think the LA Times puzzle is becoming more widely syndicated, and I suspect it is catching up with the NYTimes in terms of popularity.

    I find the LA Times crossword easier to solve, for sure. But, like the NYTimes puzzle, the degree of difficulty increases as the week progresses. The Sunday puzzle isn't nearly as hard as the Friday and Saturday puzzles though, so maybe you want to check them out. I will say that the LA Times puzzle is a fine crossword with a great tradition.

    And don't forget to check out LAXCrossword.com for me!! 🙂

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