1021-12 New York Times Crossword Answers 21 Oct 12, Sunday

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Solution to today’s crossword in the New York Times
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CROSSWORD SETTER: Caleb Madison
THEME: Bypassing Security … I am publishing this write-up after the competition has closed, at the request of the folks at the New York Times.

This competition crossword includes a note with instructions. The note says:

This puzzle’s grid represents a sealed vault and its well-guarded surroundings. After completing the crossword, start in the upper-left corner and find a safe path to an important item. Then determine where to use this item to access the vault and its contents.

To enter the contest, identify the following 10 things: a) the name of the “important item,” b) where to use it, c) seven hazards to avoid, and d) the contents of the vault. Each of these things is named by a single word.

When you have found the 10 words, send them in an e-mail to: crossword@nytimes.com. Twenty-five correct solvers, chosen at random, whose entries are received by 6 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, Oct. 23, will receive copies of “The New York Times Sunday Crossword Puzzles 2013 Weekly Planner Calendar” (Andrews McMeel). Only one entry per person, please. The answer grid will appear next week. The winners’ names will appear in the issue of Nov. 4.

This is a rebus puzzle, so some squares in the grid contain a word and not just a single letter. For clarity I have used letters and numbers in circles to represent these words.

The black squares in the grid are arranged in a maze, with a vault in the middle. We are told to take a safe path through the maze starting at the top-left, noting seven hazards along the way. Each of our rebus squares is a hazard, and I have numbered these in turn in the grid, as defined below.

(1) – MINE
(2) – TRAP
(3) – ASP
(4) – BEAR
(5) – LION
(6) – PIT
(7) – LAVA

Our safe path through the maze brings us to a (K) KEY. Clearly, we need to find a “lock” to get into the vault. Surely the lock is in the walls of the vault at the center of the grid? Sure enough, we can see that the word (L) LOCK fits nicely between the answers ANTIC and WISE, forming the word ANTIC(LOCK)WISE, which happens to fit the second part of the clue for 71-across (“Going the wrong way, in Britain).. With the (K) KEY in the (L) LOCK we find (G) GOLD in the vault!

So, our ten words are: MINE, TRAP, ASP, BEAR, LION, PIT, LAVA, KEY, LOCK and GOLD.
COMPLETION TIME: 37m 57s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

1. Carne ___ (burrito filling) : ASADA
Carne Asada translates from Spanish as “roasted meat”, and is a roast beef dish.

6. Times when the French fry? : ETES
One might spend the summer (été) under the sun (le soleil) in France.

10. Chess champion Mikhail : TAL
Mikhail Tal was truly a chess legend. He holds the record for the longest unbeaten streak in competition chess. And the second longest winning streak, well, that was by Tal as well.

13. Highland fling participants : LASSES
One characteristic of the famed Scottish dance known as the Highland Fling is that it is performed while the dancer stays on the same spot. The dance was originally performed by males, warriors celebrating a victory by dancing on their shields.

22. Inveigle : ENTICE
“To inveigle” is to win over by deceit. Back in the late 1400s, the term meant “to blind someone’s judgment”.

23. Husky relative : AKITA
The Akita breed of dog is named for its point of origin, the Akita Prefecture in Japan. When Helen Keller visited Japan in 1937, she asked for and was given an Akita breed of dog, with the name of Kamikaze-go. Sadly, the dog died within a year from distemper. The following year the Japanese government officially presented Keller with a replacement dog. Supposedly Keller’s dogs were the first members of the breed to be introduced into the US.

25. “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” poet : GOETHE
“The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” is a poem penned by Goethe in 1797. Paul Dukas wrote a symphonic poem based on the Goethe work, 10 years later. The Dukas music was famously used in the 1940 Disney movie called “Fantasia”.

28. Poetic basis for an N.F.L. team name : THE RAVEN
The Baltimore football team’s name, “The Ravens”, has a literary derivation. Baltimore was the home of the writer Edgar Allen Poe, and so the team took its moniker from his most famous poem, “The Raven”. The name was selected in a fan contest.

38. Actress Davis of “The Matrix Reloaded” : ESSIE
Essie Davis is an actress from the island of Tasmania in Australia.

39. Warner who played Charlie Chan : OLAND
Warner Oland was actually a Swedish actor, best remembered for his portrayal of Charlie Chan in a series of 16 highly successful movies. Before playing Charlie Chan, he had made a name for himself playing another Asian role on screen, that of Dr. Fu Manchu.

41. Bands seen at Japanese weddings : OBIS
The sash worn as part of traditional Japanese dress is known as an obi. The obi can be tied in what is called a butterfly knot.

43. Carnivorous plant : FLY(TRAP)
The Venus Flytrap is a fascinating plant. Famously, it is carnivorous as it feeds on insects and spiders that it catches in its leaves. A Flytrap leaf is quite ingenious. The inside of the leaf has an array of sensitive hairs. If one hair is moved (by a potential victim), then nothing happens. When a second hair is moved within about 20 seconds, the leaf snaps shut. This “fail safe” mechanism reduces the chances of the Flytrap catching an inanimate object.

44. Christopher Robin’s last name : MILNE
Alan Alexander (A.A.) Milne was an English author, best known for his delightful “Winnie-the-Pooh” series of books. He had only one son, Christopher Robin Milne, born in 1920. The young Milne was the inspiration for the Christopher Robin character in the Winnie-the-Pooh stories. Winnie-the-Pooh was named after Christopher Robin’s real teddy bear, one he called Winnie, who in turn was named after a Canadian black bear called Winnie that the Milnes would visit in London Zoo. The original Winnie teddy bear is on display at the main branch of the New York Public Library in New York.

45. Ripken with a 17-year consecutive game streak : CAL
Cal Ripken played his entire, 20-year professional baseball career for the Baltimore Orioles. Ripken was known as the “Iron Man” because he showed up for work every day, come rain or shine. He played 2,632 straight games, blowing past the previous 2,130-game record held by Lou Gehrig.

46. Org. with a wing and a globe in its logo : FAA
The Federal Aviation Administration was set up in 1958 (as the Federal Aviation Agency). The agency was established at that particular time largely in response to an increasing number of midair collisions. The worst of these disasters had taken place two years earlier over the Grand Canyon, a crash between two commercial passenger airplanes that resulted in 128 fatalities.

51. BlackBerry features : (KEY)BOARDS
The PDA known as a BlackBerry was given its name because the keyboard on the original device resembled the surface on the fruit of a blackberry.

53. Secretary of labor who became a Supreme Court justice : (GOLD)BERG
Arthur Goldberg was a native of Chicago who served as Secretary of Labor in the Kennedy administration. President Kennedy then appointed Goldberg to the US Supreme Court, a position that he held for only a short time. In 1965, President Johnson persuaded Goldberg to leave the court to become UN Ambassador.

58. He wrote “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” : ORWELL
George Orwell was the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair, the famous British author of the classics “Nineteen Eighty-Four” and “Animal Farm”.

64. Franklin output : ALMANAC
“Poor Richard’s Almanack” was an annual publication authored by none other than Benjamin Franklin. The first edition hit the shelves in 1732, and was very, very successful, selling about 10,000 copies a year. Apparently Napoleon Bonaparte was a big fan.

65. One with a reduced term? : PREEMIE
A “preemie” is a preterm or premature birth.

70. ___ Palace : CAESARS
Caesars Palace is one of my favorite hotels on the Las Vegas strip, even though it is beginning to show its age. Caesars opened in 1966.

71. Caper … or going around the wrong way, in Britain? : ANTIC or ANTIC(LOCK)WISE
An “antic” is some sort of caper.

When I moved across the Atlantic, I had to stop saying “anticlockwise” and start using “counterclockwise”.

73. Do a line of shots? : STRAFE
We’ve been using “strafe” to mean an attack on a ground position from low-flying aircraft since WWII. Prior to that, the word was used by British soldiers to mean any form of attack. It was picked up from the German word for “punish” as it was used in “Gott strafe England” meaning, “May God punish England”.

74. Gabrielle of volleyball and modeling : REECE
Gabrielle Reece is quite the athlete. She was on the team that won the first ever Beach Volleyball World Championship, in 1997. Reece is also a great golfer, and tried hard to make it onto the LPGA circuit. On top of all that, she was a fashion model, named by “Elle” magazine in 1989 as one of the five most beautiful women in the world.

75. Kind of barometer : ANEROID
A barometer is an instrument used to measure atmospheric pressure. There are several types of barometer,each using a different technology to measure pressure. Some use water or mercury in a tube. An aneroid barometer uses the amount of “bulge” in a thin metal disk covering a partially-evacuated chamber. This compact technology is often used in barometers that resemble clocks.

79. Fossil-rich location : TAR(PIT)
A tar pit is an unusual geological feature, leakage of bitumen from below ground to the earth’s surface creating a pool of natural asphalt. One of the most famous of these occurrences is the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles.

The La Brea Tar Pits are located right in the heart of the city of Los Angeles. At the site there is a constant flow of tar that seeps up to the surface from underground, a phenomenon that has been around for tens of thousands of years. What is significant is that much of the seeping tar is covered by water. Over many, many centuries animals came to the water to drink and became trapped in the tar as they entered the water to quench their thirsts. The tar then preserved the bones of the dead animals. Today a museum is located right by the Tar Pits, recovering bones and displaying specimens of the animals found there. It’s well worth a visit if you are in town …

81. ___ Pepper : SGT
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band was the alter-ego of the Beatles and was used in the studio album of the same name released in 1967.

82. Kind of dye : AZO
Azo compounds have very vivid colors and so are used to make dyes, especially dyes with the colors red, orange and yellow.

83. Warren site : BRIER
A couple of people have pointed out to me that rabbits live in a warren, and Br’er Rabbit lived in a briar (sometimes “brier”) patch. So, that’s probably the connection here. Thanks for the help!

86. Jazzman Jones : THAD
Thad Jones was a jazz trumpeter and bandleader from Pontiac, Michigan. Thad came from a very musical family. His older brother was Hank Jones the jazz pianist, and his younger brother was Elvin Jones the jazz drummer.

93. Rooty Tooty Fresh ‘N Fruity establishment : IHOP
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 …

100. Elephantlike walker in “The Empire Strikes Back” : ATAT
You might recall the huge walking vehicles from the 1980 “Star Wars” movie “The Empire Strikes Back”. The proper name for such a walker is an “All Terrain Armored Transport (AT-AT).

101. Former capital of 10+ million : LAGOS
Lagos is a port and the biggest city in Nigeria. Lagos used to be the country’s capital, until it was replaced in that role in 1991 by Abuja, a city built for just for this purpose.

102. Historical figure in Isabel Allende’s novel “Inés of My Soul” : PIZARRO
Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro discovered the Incas in 1526, marking the beginning of the end for the ancient civilization, ravaged by the brutal Spanish colonists and by imported smallpox. The last leader of the Incas was Atahualpa. Pizarro staged a mock trial and then condemned Atahualpa to execution by burning. A Spanish friar intervened on behalf of the condemned man, as Atahualpa believed that if he was burned his soul would not move on to the afterlife. Pizarro, was kind enough to have Atahualpa garroted instead.

Isabel Allende is a Chilean writer, apparently the world’s most widely read Spanish-language author. Isabel is related to Salvador Allende, the ex-President of Chile.

107. Like a winning X Games trick, maybe : INSANEST
The X Games are annual events, with a Summer X Games held every year as well as a Winter X Games. It’s very much a commercial venture, with all aspects controlled by the TV station ESPN. The games focus on extreme action sports, like skateboarding and freestyle motocross in the summer and various extreme snowboarding events in the winter.

115. Island entertainer : DON HO
Don Ho apparently had a pretty liberal arrangement with his wife. When he was touring with his two backing singers Pattie Swallie and Elizabeth Gevara, all three of them shared a room together. He had two children with each of his roommates, giving a total of ten kids including the six he had with his wife. The arrangement was quite open, it seems, with all ten kids visiting each other regularly. To each his own …

116. Persuasive Dr. Seuss character : SAM I AM
You know, I probably should read a Dr. Seuss book some day. They weren’t big where I grew up. I understand that the character called Sam in the book “Green Eggs and Ham” is also known as “Sam-I-Am”.

118. Daughter of King Triton : ARIEL
Ariel was the mermaid daughter of King merman King Triton in the 1989 Disney feature “The Little Mermaid”.

In the 1989 Disney animated film “The Little Mermaid”, the title character is given the name Ariel. In the original fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, which dates back to 1836, the Little Mermaid is given no name at all so “Ariel” is a creation by Disney. There is of course a famous statue of the unnamed Little Mermaid sitting in Copenhagen Harbor in Andersen’s native Denmark.

A merman is a the male equivalent of mermaid. The most famous merman was probably Triton, the son of Poseidon.

119. Retro light sources : (LAVA) LAMPS
The lava lamp was invented in 1960 by a British man, Edward Craven-Walker. The “lava” is a mixture of wax and carbon tetrachloride, floating in a water/glycerol mix. The wax reduces in density as it picks up heat from the incandescent bulb in the lamp’s base. The wax rises, cools, and then sinks to the bottom of the liquid only to be heated again.

121. Predatory insect : ANT(LION)
“Doodlebug” is a name given to the larva of an antlion, a type of flying insect. Antlions tend to live in sandy areas, and their larvae move through the sand leaving winding spirals that look like doodles, inattentive drawings. Hence the name “doodlebug”.

122. Pirate’s moniker : RED(BEAR)D
Hayreddin Barbarossa was a 16th-century Turkish pirate before being appointed Admiral of the Fleet in the Ottoman Empire. He earned the name “Barbarossa” because he sported a “red beard”.

Down
2. Guru’s disciple, maybe : SIKH
Sikhism is a religion that was founded in the 15th century in the Punjab region, which straddles the India-Pakistan border. Even though Sikhism was established relatively recently, it is now the fifth-largest organized religion in the world.

3. Toyota exec ___ Toyoda : AKIO
Akio Toyoda is the president and CEO of Toyota Motors. Toyoda has an MBA from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

6. Orson Scott Card’s “____ Game” : ENDER’S
Orson Scott Card is a science fiction author (mainly). His most famous work is his novel “Ender’s Game” first published in 1985. “Ender’s Game” is destined to be a movie, I hear.

8. F1 neighbor : ESC
The escape key was originally used to control computer peripherals. It was a key that allowed the computer operator to stop what the peripheral was doing (cancel a print job, for example). Nowadays the escape key is used for all sorts of things, especially in gaming programs.

9. Sofas : SETTEES
“Sofa” is a Turkish word meaning “bench”.

11. Diplomat W. ___ Harriman : AVERELL
W. Averell Harriman was Governor of New York in the late fifties, serving after Thomas Dewey and succeeded by Nelson Rockefeller. In the forties, Harriman had been US Ambassador to the UK and to the Soviet Union.

13. There’s one surrounding Atlantis : LEGEND
The legendary city of Atlantis was first referred to in writing by the Greek philosopher Plato. The story is that a navy from Atlantis attempted to invade Athens but failed, and as a result the city of Atlantis sank into the ocean.

15. Jeanne d’Arc, e.g.: Abbr. : STE
Joan of Arc (also Jeanne d’Arc) led the French Army successfully into battle a number of times during the Hundred Years War with England. When she was eventually captured she was tried in Rouen, the seat of the occupying English government in France at that time. There she was burned at the stake having been found guilty of heresy. Joan of Arc was canonized some 600 years later, in 1920, and is now one of the patron saints of France.

21. “Stupid me!” : D’OH!
“The Simpsons” is one of the most successful programs produced by the Fox Broadcasting Company. Homer Simpson’s catchphrase is “D’oh”, now such a famous exclamation that it has been included in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) since 2001.

29. Musical family name : VON (TRAP)P
“The Sound of Music” is a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, made into a celebrated movie in 1965 starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The musical is based on “The Story of the Trapp Family Singers”, a memoir by Maria von Trapp. The von Trapp family ended up in Stowe, Vermont after the war, and one family descended from the Vermont von Trapps lives here in the same town in which I live in California.

32. “Cantar de Mio ___” (Spanish epic) : CID
“Cantar de Mio Cid” is an old epic poem from Spain that recounts the exploits of the Castilian hero El Cid.

Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar was known as El Cid Campeador, which translates as “The Champion” or perhaps “The Lord, Master of Military Arts”. El Cid was a soldier who fought under the rule of King Alfonso VI of Spain (among others). However, he was sent into exile by the King in 1080 after acting beyond his authorization in battle. El Cid then offered his services to his former foes, the Moorish kings, After a number of years building a reputation with the Moors, he was recalled from exile by Alfonso. By this time El Cid was very much his own man. Nominally under the orders of Alfonso, he led a combined army of Spanish and Moorish troops and took the city of Valencia on the Mediterranean coast, making it his headquarters and home. He died there, quite peacefully in 1099.

44. New World monkey : MARMOSET
A marmoset is a small New World monkey. Marmosets are unusual in that they carry two sets of DNA. Marmosets almost always bear fraternal twins, and the reproductive cells of each twin includes DNA from the other twin.

59. Tolkien’s Treebeard, e.g. : ENT
Ents are those tree-like creatures that live in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth, in his series of books “The Lord of the Rings”. “Ent” is an Old English word for “giant”.

60. Port from which Amelia Earhart left on her last flight : LAE
Amelia Earhart is as famous today as she was during her lifetime. When she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, she was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by Congress and the Cross of Knight of the Legion of Honor by the French government. She made two attempts to circumnavigate the globe by air (not solo). Her first attempt in March 1937 had to be abandoned when her aircraft was damaged during takeoff. The second attempt in June/July of the same year ended when Earhart and her navigator disappeared flying from Lae, New Guinea to Howland Island in the Central Pacific. There is an expedition planned for mid-2012 that has the goal of finding Earhart’s plane in a reef near Gardner Island (now Nikamaror). Remains have been found on the island that may be Earhart’s, and a photograph taken in 1937 is believed to show part of a plane’s undercarriage sticking out of the water.

61. TV type : LCD
Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) are the screens that are found in most laptops today, and in flat panel computer screens. They basically replaced Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) screens, the old television technology.

76. Waikiki locale : OAHU
O’ahu has been called “The Gathering Place”, although the word “O’ahu” has no translation in Hawaiian. It seems that O’ahu is simply the name of the island. One story is that it is named after the son of the Polynesian navigator that first found the islands. The island is made up of two volcanoes, Wai’anae and Ko’olau, joined together by a broad valley, the O’ahu Plain.

The name “Waikiki” means “spouting fresh water” in Hawaiian.

77. Brand associated with a crocodile logo : IZOD
Jack Izod was a tailor of some repute over in England, producing shirts for King George V as well as other members of the Royal Family. As Izod was about to retire, he was approached for the use of his name by an American clothing manufacturer based in New York. The brand Izod of London was introduced to America in 1938.

80. Fictional Miss Jane : (PIT)TMAN
“The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” is a novel first published in 1971 by Ernest J. Gaines. The book tells the story of an African American woman from the time she was a slave girl.

83. Central European capital : BRATIS(LAVA)
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia.

85. Rio de Janeiro neighborhood : IPANEMA
Ipanema is a beach community in the south of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. The name Ipanema is a local word meaning “bad water”, signifying that the shore is bad for fishing. The beach became famous on release of the 1965 song “The Girl from Ipanema”.

88. Setting of “Anne of Green Gables” : AVONLEA
When Lucy Maud Montgomery wrote her classic novel “Anne of Green Gables”, she created the fictional community of Avonlea on Prince Edward Island as the setting for her story.

89. University in Center Valley, Pa. : DE SALES
DeSales University is a private Catholic school in Center Valley, Pennsylvania. DeSales is a relatively young school, founded in 1965.

90. The statue of David in Florence, e.g. : REPLICA
The original Michelangelo statue of David can be seen in the Accademia Gallery in Florence, where it has resided since 1873. There is a replica of the statue in its original location in the public square outside of the Palazzo della Signoria, the city’s seat of government.

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.

108. “Idylls of the King” wife : ENID
“Idylls of the King” is a cycle of twelve poems by Alfred, Lord Tennyson that retells the tale of King Arthur. One of the “idylls” is the story of Geraint and Enid. By the way, Tennyson’s Enid gave her name to the city of Enid, Oklahoma.

114. “Bambi” villain : MAN
The 1942 Disney classic “Bambi” is based on a book written by Felix Salten called “Bambi, A Life in the Woods”. There is a documented phenomenon known as the Bambi Effect, whereby people take an interest in animal rights, after having watched the scene where Bambi’s mother is shot by hunters.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Carne ___ (burrito filling) : ASADA
6. Times when the French fry? : ETES
10. Chess champion Mikhail : TAL
13. Highland fling participants : LASSES
19. Gave props on Facebook : LIKED
20. Big drop : NOSEDIVE
22. Inveigle : ENTICE
23. Husky relative : AKITA
24. Not entirely real, as a photo : DOCTORED
25. “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” poet : GOETHE
26. Footwear preserver : SHOE TREE
28. Poetic basis for an N.F.L. team name : THE RAVEN
30. It has a light bark : (ASP)EN
31. Go back over : RETRACE
33. Affix, as a patch : SEW ON
34. Move, in real-estate lingo : RELO
35. Soft scent : JAS(MINE)
38. Actress Davis of “The Matrix Reloaded” : ESSIE
39. Warner who played Charlie Chan : OLAND
40. Oodles : A LOT
41. Bands seen at Japanese weddings : OBIS
42. Football figs. : YDS
43. Carnivorous plant : FLY(TRAP)
44. Christopher Robin’s last name : MILNE
45. Ripken with a 17-year consecutive game streak : CAL
46. Org. with a wing and a globe in its logo : FAA
49. ___ B : PLAN
51. BlackBerry features : (KEY)BOARDS
53. Secretary of labor who became a Supreme Court justice : (GOLD)BERG
58. He wrote “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” : ORWELL
62. Rom-___ (some film fare) : COMS
63. Clearheaded : SOBER
64. Franklin output : ALMANAC
65. One with a reduced term? : PREEMIE
68. Skipping syllables : TRALA
69. Scheduled : SLOTTED
70. ___ Palace : CAESARS
71. Caper … or going around the wrong way, in Britain? : ANTIC or ANTIC(LOCK)WISE
72. Owlish : WISE
73. Do a line of shots? : STRAFE
74. Gabrielle of volleyball and modeling : REECE
75. Kind of barometer : ANEROID
79. Fossil-rich location : TAR(PIT)
81. ___ Pepper : SGT
82. Kind of dye : AZO
83. Warren site : BRIER
86. Jazzman Jones : THAD
90. Fan noise : RAH
93. Rooty Tooty Fresh ‘N Fruity establishment : IHOP
94. Bodybuilder’s count : REPS
95. Get ___ on : A MOVE
96. Skirt : EVADE
99. Presumptuous, say : RUDE
100. Elephantlike walker in “The Empire Strikes Back” : ATAT
101. Former capital of 10+ million : LAGOS
102. Historical figure in Isabel Allende’s novel “Inés of My Soul” : PIZARRO
104. Pet food container : TIN
105. Digital problem : HANGNAIL
107. Like a winning X Games trick, maybe : INSANEST
111. “Harrumph!” : I NEVER!
113. Inopportune : ILL-TIMED
115. Island entertainer : DON HO
116. Persuasive Dr. Seuss character : SAM I AM
117. Pod : SEED CASE
118. Daughter of King Triton : ARIEL
119. Retro light sources : (LAVA) LAMPS
120. Boasts : HAS
121. Predatory insect : ANT(LION)
122. Pirate’s moniker : RED(BEAR)D

Down
1. Sighed line? : ALAS
2. Guru’s disciple, maybe : SIKH
3. Toyota exec ___ Toyoda : AKIO
4. Concludes : DETER(MINE)S
5. “It’s ___!” (“You’re on!”) : A DATE
6. Orson Scott Card’s “____ Game” : ENDER’S
7. Not a challenge at all : TOO EASY
8. F1 neighbor : ESC
9. Sofas : SETTEES
10. Gets bored with : TIRES OF
11. Diplomat W. ___ Harriman : AVERELL
12. What a handcuffed person may be : LED AWAY
13. There’s one surrounding Atlantis : LEGEND
14. Before long : ANON
15. Jeanne d’Arc, e.g.: Abbr. : STE
16. Rest awhile : SIT (A SP)ELL
17. Tier : ECHELON
18. Reader’s direction : SEE NOTE
21. “Stupid me!” : D’OH!
27. Postal abbr. : RTE
29. Musical family name : VON (TRAP)P
32. “Cantar de Mio ___” (Spanish epic) : CID
34. Runoff, perhaps : RAINWATER
35. Crop holder : JOC(KEY)
36. Basic rhyme scheme : ABAB
37. Crop holder : SILO
44. New World monkey : MARMOSET
46. How a rocket launch is usually viewed : FROM AFAR
47. Fan : ADMIRER
48. Stubborn ones : ASSES
50. Lying about : LOLLING
52. Scores 100 : ACES A TEST
53. Reward for one who 52-Down? : (GOLD) STAR
54. Lifted : BORNE
55. Cash back from an online purchase : E-BATE
56. Museum holding : RELIC
57. Beginning of many a meal : GRACE
59. Tolkien’s Treebeard, e.g. : ENT
60. Port from which Amelia Earhart left on her last flight : LAE
61. TV type : LCD
64. ___ expected (predictably) : AS WAS
65. Windows users : PCS
66. Tattler : RAT
67. Always, if the meter requires it : E’ER
76. Waikiki locale : OAHU
77. Brand associated with a crocodile logo : IZOD
78. Dummy : DOPE
80. Fictional Miss Jane : (PIT)TMAN
83. Central European capital : BRATIS(LAVA)
84. ___ detachment : RETINAL
85. Rio de Janeiro neighborhood : IPANEMA
87. Gluttonous : HOGGISH
88. Setting of “Anne of Green Gables” : AVONLEA
89. University in Center Valley, Pa. : DE SALES
90. The statue of David in Florence, e.g. : REPLICA
91. Bird: Prefix : AVI-
92. Least defined : HAZIEST
93. Steel mill input : IRON ORE
95. Some cellphone settings : ALARMS
97. Certain salad green : DANDE(LION)
98. Triage locales, for short : ERS
103. Trooper’s tool : RADAR
105. Great deal : HEAP
106. “___ be a pleasure” : IT’D
108. “Idylls of the King” wife : ENID
109. Mama grizzly : SHE-(BEAR)
110. Ordered : TOLD
112. Pep : VIM
114. “Bambi” villain : MAN

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4 thoughts on “1021-12 New York Times Crossword Answers 21 Oct 12, Sunday”

  1. Here's another solution: suppose the "where to use it" is the 95 Down 'alarms.' Use the key to turn off the alarms to gain access to the vault. The vault is "sealed" not "locked." This solution also does not violate the postulate that their are ten words in the puzzle itself.

  2. Hi Dale,

    I didn't think of that alternative solution myself. Well done!

    My first thought was that the "lock" was a rebus square in the first letter of 12-down as a person might be LOCKED AWAY or LED AWAY, but that didn't fit with the across clue.

    I came up with the ANTIC(LOCK)WISE answer in the end as it was the only way to explain the part of the 71-across clue "going around the wrong way, in Britain".

    The toughest part of the whole puzzle was coming up with the position of that final LOCK.

    Thanks for stopping by to comment, Dale.

  3. A warren is aplace where rabbits live and in Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit lived in a "brier" patch. (although it is usually spelled "briAr"

    Peter Gilchrist

  4. Hi there, Peter.

    I was thinking about the possible rabbit/warren/briar connection, but couldn't really put it all together, especially with that BRIER spelling.

    Thanks so much for jumping in!

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