0301-13 New York Times Crossword Answers 1 Mar 13, Friday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Game with the figures “soldier’s bed” and “fish in a dish” : CAT’S CRADLE
Cat’s Cradle is likely to be one of the oldest games played by man, one that sprung up independently in all parts of the world. The game is played by two people and involves the making of a series of figures with a loop of string held by the fingers.

11. Real-estate mogul Olenicoff : IGOR
Igor Olenicoff is a real estate developer and billionaire who now lives in the US. Olenicoff was born in Russia in 1942, raised in Iran and arrived in the US when he was 15 years old with not a lot of money to his name.

15. Superpower with which Clark Kent shaves himself : HEAT VISION
Apparently Superman has the power to emit solar energy from his eyes, so called Heat Vision.

16. Boulevardier’s accessory : CANE
A boulevardier is a man about town, coming from the French “boulevard” meaning … boulevard!

18. Fangorn Forest denizens : ENTS
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”.

19. Source of the line “Hope springs eternal …” : POPE
Alexander Pope wrote the following lines in “An Essay on Man” in 1734:

Hope springs eternal in the human breast;
Man never Is, but always To be blest:
The soul, uneasy and confin’d from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

20. Larder lineup : JARS
The Latin word for bacon or lard, is “lardum”, from which developed a Middle Latin word “lardarium” meaning a “room for meats”. This came into English as “larder” to describe a meat storeroom. Over time, our larders stored all types of foods and our fresh meats went into refrigerators.

22. Greg Evans comic strip : LUANN
“Luann” is a newspaper comic strip written and drawn by Greg Evans. The strip centers on the suburban adventures of teenager Luann DeGroot.

25. Daughter of Zeus and Leda : HELEN
In Greek mythology, Leda was the beautiful Queen of Sparta who was seduced by Zeus when he took the form of a swan. Leda produced two eggs from the union. One egg hatched into the beautiful Helen, later to be known as Helen of Troy and over whom the Trojan War was fought. The other egg hatched into the twins Castor and Pollux. Castor and Pollux had different fathers according to the myth. Pollux was the son of Zeus and was immortal, while Castor was the son of Leda’s earthly husband, and so he was a mortal. William Butler Yeats wrote a famous sonnet called “Leda and the Swan” in 1924.

28. Drum that might accompany a fife : TABOR
A tabor is a portable snare drum that is played with one hand. The tabor is usually suspended by a strap from one arm, with the other hand free to beat the drum. It is often played as an accompaniment for a fife or other small flutes. The word “tabor” comes from the Welsh name for the drum, “tabwrdd”.

30. First carrier to offer regular in-flight movies, 1961 : TWA
In-flight entertainment has changed quite a bit over the decades. We do get to see in-flight movies these days, but in 1936 we might have enjoyed travel a little more. The “Hindenburg” airship had a bar, lounge, dining room, smoking room and piano available for passengers. Mind you, the trip between Europe and America took 2½ days to complete.

31. Garment made of Gore-Tex, maybe : ANORAK
Anoraks aren’t very popular over here in America. Everyone has one in Ireland! An anorak is a heavy jacket with a hood, often lined with fur (or fake fur), and is an invention of the Inuit people.

Gore-Tex is a waterproof fabric that also “breathes”. This is because the pores in Gore-Tex are small enough to keep out water droplets, but large enough to allow water vapor molecules to pass through.

33. They’re no longer tender in a typical trattoria : LIRE
The word “lira” is used in a number of countries for currency. “Lira” comes from the Latin for “pound” and is derived from a British pound sterling, the value of a Troy pound of silver. For example, the lira (plural “lire”) was the official currency of Italy before the country changed over to the euro.

A trattoria is an Italian restaurant. In Italian, a “trattore” is the keeper of an eating house.

34. Yellowfin, on some menus : AHI
Yellowfin tuna is usually marketed as “ahi”, its Hawaiian name. Yellowfin tuna is one big fish, often weighing over 300 pounds.

37. Classic Chrysler : LEBARON
The Chrysler LeBaron made from 1977 to 1995 was a low-priced mid-sized automobile. However, the original LeBaron made in the 1930s was Chrysler’s luxury model, which competed with other luxury cars such as the Lincoln and the Packard.

39. Lead characters in “Mork & Mindy”? : EMS
The leading letter in both “Mork” and “Mindy” is an M.

“Mork & Mindy” was broadcast from 1978 to 1982. We were first introduced to Mork (played by Robin Williams, of course) in a special episode of “Happy Days”. The particular episode in question has a bizarre storyline culminating in Fonzie and Mork having a thumb-to-finger duel. Eventually Richie wakes up in bed, and alien Mork was just part of a dream! Oh, and “Nanu Nanu” means both “hello” and “goodbye” back on the planet Ork. “I am Mork from Ork, Nanu Nanu”. Great stuff …

43. Tillis or Tormé : MEL
Mel Tillis is a country singer who had most of hits in the seventies. Notably, Tillis has a speech impediment, but this does not affect his singing at all.

Mel Tormé was a jazz singer, with a quality of voice that earned him the nickname “The Velvet Fog”. Tormé also wrote a few books, and did a lot of acting. He was the co-author of the Christmas classic known as “The Christmas Song”, which starts out with the line “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire …”

46. Full of adrenaline, informally : AMPED
The naturally occurring hormone adrenaline is also known as epinephrine. Adrenaline takes its name from the adrenal glands that produce the hormone. The glands themselves take their name from their location in the body, right on the kidneys (“ad-renes” meaning near or at the kidneys in Latin). The alternative name of epinephrine has a similar root (“epi-nephros” meaning upon the kidney, in Greek).

47. West Point newcomers : PLEBES
Plebe is a slang term for a freshman in the US military and naval academies. Plebe is probably short for “plebeian”, the name given to someone of the common class in Ancient Rome (as opposed to a Patrician). “Pleb” is a shortened version of plebeian, and is a term used outside of the military schools.

51. O. Henry is known for one : AWARD
The O. Henry Award has been given annually since 1919 and honors exceptional short stories.

O. Henry was the pen name of writer William Sydney Porter from Greensboro, North Carolina. O. Henry is famous for his witty short stories that have a clever twist in the tail.

52. Baccarat cousin : FARO
Faro is a card game somewhat akin to Baccarat that was popular in England and France in the 18th century. Faro made it to the Old West, where it became a favorite of Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp. The origin of the name “Faro” is unclear. One popular theory is that Faro is a contraction of ‘pharaoh’ given that Egyptian motifs used to be common on playing cards of the period. There’s another theory involving the usual suspects: Irish immigrants and famines …

57. Zip : NADA
“Nada” is the Spanish word for “nothing”.

58. 1971 film with the tagline “You don’t assign him to murder cases. You just turn him loose.” : DIRTY HARRY
“Dirty” Harry Callahan was the protagonist in a series of five movies starring Clint Eastwood:

– “Dirty Harry” (1971)
– “Magnum Force” (1973)
– “The Enforcer” (1976)
– “Sudden Impact” (1983)
– “The Dead Pool” (1988)

60. Like shellfish : TREF
According to Jewish dietary law, “kosher” food is “fit” to eat, and food that is not kosher is called “treif” (or tref).

62. Hard worker : SERF
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”.

63. Site near an outdoor recording session in “Help!” : STONEHENGE
The magnificent Stonehenge monument in the south of England was built from 3000 to 2000 BC. “Stonehenge” has given its name to “henges”, a whole class of earthenwork monuments that are circular in form with an internal ditch surrounded by a bank. Paradoxically, Stonehenge doesn’t qualify as a henge by this contemporary definition, as its earthen bank is surrounded by an external ditch.

Down
2. Prefix with -stat : AERO-
An aerostat is a type of aircraft that doesn’t derive its lift from forward motion like a fixed wing airplane. Instead, the lift comes from buoyancy, as in a balloon or a dirigible.

3. Pool protector : TARP
Originally, tarpaulins were made from canvas covered in tar that rendered the material waterproof. The word “tarpaulin” comes from “tar” and “palling”, with “pall” meaning “heavy cloth covering”.

4. Six-time Lombardi Trophy winners : STEELERS
The Pittsburgh Steelers football team were founded in 1933, making it the oldest franchise in the AFC. Back in 1933, the team was known as the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates name was chosen as the Pittsburgh baseball team was the Pirates. The name was changed to the Steelers in 1940, and then the Steagles in 1943 when the team merged with the Philadelphia Eagles. There was a further merger in 1944, with the Chicago Cardinals to form Card-Pitt. In 1945, the Steelers name was resurrected.

5. Rx chain : CVS
The name of the drugstore chain CVS once stood for Consumer Value Stores, although these days the company uses the acronym to denote Convenience, Value and Service.

6. Spanish wine : RIOJA
Rioja wines come from the province of La Rioja in Northern Spain. In my days living back in Europe, Rioja wines were noted for their heavy oaky flavors and it wasn’t uncommon to order a “rough Rioja” when out for dinner of an evening.

8. Like the snowy owl : DIURNAL
A diurnal animal is active during the day, whereas a nocturnal animal is active at night.

12. Genre that glorifies gunplay : GANGSTA RAP
Gangsta rap is a type of hip hop music with lyrics that reflect the violent lifestyle experienced by some inner-city youth.

21. Emergency oil rig visitor : FIREBOAT
A fireboat is a firefighting vehicle used for fighting fires on board ships and on shoreside. A fireboat has a distinct advantage over other firefighting vehicles in that it has an unlimited supply of water.

24. “Whitman Cantata” composer : ROREM
American composer Ned Rorem is famous for his musical compositions, but also for his book, “Paris Diary of Ned Rorem” that was published in 1966. Rorem talks openly about his sexuality in the book, and also about the sexuality of others including Noel Coward, Leonard Bernstein and Samuel Barber, much to some people’s chagrin.

25. Part of an iconic Eden outfit : HAREM PANTS
Back in 1964, the second most watched show on American television was ABC’s “Bewitched”. Sidney Sheldon was tasked with the job of creating a rival sitcom and he came up with “I Dream of Jeannie”, which first aired in 1965. The censors had a big say in how the story developed. For starters, Jeannie’s skimpy costume was permitted provided Barbara Eden didn’t show off her navel on the screen. Also, Jeannie was only allowed to live with an unmarried man as long as the story made it clear that she slept in a bottle.

29. Cartoonist Keane : BIL
Bil Keane is a cartoonist most associated with his strip “The Family Circus”. Once Bil sketches out the text and idea for the cartoon, he sends it off to his son Jeff Keane who inks and colors the pictures so that the strip is ready for publication. In the storyline itself, the main characters are based on Bil’s own family. In fact, the son “Jeffy” in the story is based on Jeff, Bil’s son and production assistant.

32. Ululates : KEENS
“To keen” is to wail in lamentation. The word “keening” has its roots in Ireland, coming from the Irish word “caoinim” meaning “I weep, wail, lament”.

A ululation is a high-pitched trill, a sound usually practiced by women in ritual situations. I came across the practice not too long ago as an expression of celebration at an Arab-American wedding.

36. TV show that has spawned many movies, briefly : SNL
“Saturday Night Live” (“SNL”).

41. Yvonne of “The Munsters” : DE CARLO
Yvonne De Carlo was a Canadian-American actress with a string of appearances in Hollywood movies in the forties and fifties. In the sixties she turned to television, playing Lily Munster on the comedy show “The Munsters”.

45. Striped identifier : TARTAN
Tartan is sometimes called “plaid” over here in the US, a word not used in the same sense outside of this country. In Scotland a “plaid” is a blanket or a tartan cloth slung over the shoulder.

48. Zach ___, “Garden State” actor/director : BRAFF
The actor Zach Braff’s big break came with the lead role in the TV series “Scrubs”, which ran from 2001 to 2010. Braff made a successful transition from the small to the big screen in 2004’s “Garden State”, in which he starred as well as directed.

50. Early automaker Frederick Henry ___ : ROYCE
Henry Royce founded the Rolls-Royce company in 1904 with his partner, Charles Rolls. Royce died at 70 years of age in 1933. His last words were, reportedly, “I wish I had spent more time in the office …”

52. Direction from on high : FIAT
A “fiat” is an arbitrary rule that is imposed, and is the Latin for “let it be done”.

55. “Hullabaloo” dance : FRUG
The Frug was a sixties dance craze that evolved out of another dance fad called the Chicken. After the Frug came the Swim, the Monkey, the Dog, the Watusi, the Mashed Potato and the Jerk.

58. Fielding feats, for short : DPS
Double plays (DPs).

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Game with the figures “soldier’s bed” and “fish in a dish” : CAT’S CRADLE
11. Real-estate mogul Olenicoff : IGOR
15. Superpower with which Clark Kent shaves himself : HEAT VISION
16. Boulevardier’s accessory : CANE
17. Waffling : IRRESOLUTE
18. Fangorn Forest denizens : ENTS
19. Source of the line “Hope springs eternal …” : POPE
20. Larder lineup : JARS
21. It moves along via a series of belts : FIGHT
22. Greg Evans comic strip : LUANN
24. Dental patient, often : RINSER
25. Daughter of Zeus and Leda : HELEN
28. Drum that might accompany a fife : TABOR
30. First carrier to offer regular in-flight movies, 1961 : TWA
31. Garment made of Gore-Tex, maybe : ANORAK
33. They’re no longer tender in a typical trattoria : LIRE
34. Yellowfin, on some menus : AHI
35. Tangles with, in the country : RASSLES
37. Classic Chrysler : LEBARON
39. Lead characters in “Mork & Mindy”? : EMS
40. Impart : LEND
42. Coaching concern : MORALE
43. Tillis or Tormé : MEL
44. Place to moor : INLET
46. Full of adrenaline, informally : AMPED
47. West Point newcomers : PLEBES
49. Aids in marketing? : CARTS
51. O. Henry is known for one : AWARD
52. Baccarat cousin : FARO
53. Estrangement : RIFT
57. Zip : NADA
58. 1971 film with the tagline “You don’t assign him to murder cases. You just turn him loose.” : DIRTY HARRY
60. Like shellfish : TREF
61. Regime change catalyst : PALACE COUP
62. Hard worker : SERF
63. Site near an outdoor recording session in “Help!” : STONEHENGE

Down
1. Pot item : CHIP
2. Prefix with -stat : AERO-
3. Pool protector : TARP
4. Six-time Lombardi Trophy winners : STEELERS
5. Rx chain : CVS
6. Spanish wine : RIOJA
7. Leaning : ASLANT
8. Like the snowy owl : DIURNAL
9. Very much : LOTS
10. Shanghai-to-Tokyo dir. : ENE
11. Block during a blizzard : ICE IN
12. Genre that glorifies gunplay : GANGSTA RAP
13. Mostly : ON THE WHOLE
14. Checked : RESTRAINED
21. Emergency oil rig visitor : FIREBOAT
23. Out of one’s league? : UNALLIED
24. “Whitman Cantata” composer : ROREM
25. Part of an iconic Eden outfit : HAREM PANTS
26. Durable kitchen items : ENAMELWARE
27. Low-priced item, maybe : LOSS LEADER
29. Cartoonist Keane : BIL
32. Ululates : KEENS
36. TV show that has spawned many movies, briefly : SNL
38. Cold war concern : ARMS RACE
41. Yvonne of “The Munsters” : DE CARLO
45. Striped identifier : TARTAN
48. Zach ___, “Garden State” actor/director : BRAFF
50. Early automaker Frederick Henry ___ : ROYCE
52. Direction from on high : FIAT
54. Weights, colloquially : IRON
55. “Hullabaloo” dance : FRUG
56. Bang out : TYPE
58. Fielding feats, for short : DPS
59. When repeated, a sneaky laugh : HEH

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