0302-13 New York Times Crossword Answers 2 Mar 13, Saturday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. White-whiskered sort : OLD GEEZER
Geezer and coot are two not-so-nice terms for an old man.

10. Symbol of Einstein’s gravitational constant : KAPPA
Einstein’s gravitational constant is denoted by the Greek letter kappa, and is also known simply as Einstein’s constant. Einstein’s constant appears in the Einstein field equation, which relates to the curvature of space and time. I’d give a deeper explanation, but I just don’t have the time … yeah, right!

18. Youngest of five famous brothers : ZEPPO
The five Marx Brothers were born to “Minnie” and “Frenchy” Marx in New York City. The more famous older boys were Chico, Harpo and Groucho. Zeppo was the youngest brother, and he appeared in the early Marx Brothers movies. The fifth son was called Gummo, and he decided to pursue a different career off the stage.

19. Ernst associate : ARP
Hans Arp was a French artist renowned for his work with torn and pasted paper, although that wasn’t the only medium he used. Arp was the son of a French mother and German father and spoke both languages fluently. When he was speaking German he gave his name as Hans Arp, but when speaking French he called himself Jean Arp. Both “Hans” and “Jean” translate into English as “John”. In WWI Arp moved to Switzerland to avoid being called up to fight, taking advantage of Swiss neutrality. Eventually he was told to report to the German Consulate and fill out paperwork for the draft. In order to get out of fighting, Arp messed up the paperwork by writing the date in every blank space on the forms. Then he took off all of his clothes and walked with his papers over to the officials in charge. He was sent home …

22. People pick pockets in it : POOL
The more correct name for the game of pool is pocket billiards. The name “pool” came after pocket billiards became a common feature in “pool halls”, places where gamblers “pooled” their money to bet on horse races.

23. Eddie’s partner in musical comedy : FLO
Flo & Eddie is comedy musical duo made up of Mark Volman (Flo) and Howard Kaylan (Eddie). The Flo & Eddie act started in 1965 when Volman and Kaylan became available after the Turtles dissolved. Voman and Kaylan were the founders of the Turtles, the very successful sixties rock band whose biggest hit was 1967’s “Happy Together”.

28. Intentionally flooded field : PADDY
A paddy field is the flooded piece of land used to grow rice. The water reduces competition from weeds allowing the rice to thrive. The word “paddy” has nothing to do with us Irish folk, and is an anglicized version of the word “padi”, the Malay name for the rice plant.

30. Short order? : BLT
The BLT (bacon, lettuce and tomato) is the second most popular sandwich in the US, after the plain old ham sandwich.

31. One working with magnetite : IRON MINER
Iron ore comes in a number of different forms, like magnetite (the most magnetic of all minerals) and hematite (the most commonly exploited iron ore).

33. Minor, legally : PETIT
In the law, “petit” means “lessor, minor”. The term came into use via Middle Englsh from Old French. “Petit” is still the French word for “small”.

38. Word below a signature on a bill : TREASURER
US banknotes carry the engraved signature of the Treasurer of the US as well as the US Secretary of the Treasury.

41. Mr. T’s real last name : TERO
Mr. T’s real name is Laurence Tero Tureaud. Mr. T is famous for many things, including the wearing of excessive amounts of jewelry. He started this habit when he was working as a bouncer, wearing jewelry items that had been left behind by customers at a nightclub so that the items might be recognized and claimed. It was also as a bouncer that he adopted the name Mr. T. His catch phrase comes from the movie “Rocky III”. In the film, before he goes up against Rocky Balboa, Mr. T says, “No, I don’t hate Balboa, but I pity the fool”. He parlayed that line into quite a bit of success. He had a reality TV show called “I Pity the Fool”, and produced a motivational video called “Be Somebody … or Be Somebody’s Fool!”.

42. Julia Child worked for it during W.W. II: Abbr. : OSS
Julia Child was of course the American chef who is recognized for bringing French cuisine to the American public. During WWII, Julia Child joined the OSS (the Office of Strategic Services), the predecessor to the CIA. She worked for the OSS in Washington, Ceylon and China. While in the OSS, she met her husband Paul Child who was also an OSS employee. Paul joined the Foreign Service after the war, and it was his posting to France that created the opportunity for Julie to learn about French cuisine. If you haven’t seen it, I highly, highly recommend the movie “Julie & Julia”, one of the best films of 2009. Meryl Streep does a fabulous job playing the larger-than-life Julia Child.

44. Escalator pioneer : OTIS
Elevators (simple hoists) have been around for a long time. What Elisha Otis did was come up with the “safety elevator”, a design that he showcased at the 1853 World’s Fair in New York. At the Fair, Otis would stand on an elevated platform in front of onlookers and order his assistant to cut the single rope holding up the platform. His safety system kicked in when the platform had only fallen a few inches, amazing the crowd. After this demonstration, the orders came rolling in.

Escalators have an advantage over elevators in that they can move larger numbers of people in the same time frame. They can also be placed in just about the same physical space that would be needed for a regular staircase. Patents for escalator-type devices were first filed in 1859, but the first working model wasn’t built until 1892 by one Jesse Reno. It was erected alongside a pier in Coney Island, New York, with the second escalator being placed at an entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge. Soon after, Elisha Otis and the Otis elevator company purchased the necessary patents and went into the business.

46. Fox on Fox : MULDER
“The X-Files” is a very successful science fiction show that aired on the Fox network from 1993 to 2002. The stars of the show are David Duchovny (playing Fox Mulder) and the very talented Gillian Anderson (playing Dana Scully). By the time the series ended, it was the longest running sci-fi show in US broadcast history.

49. Traffic court letters : DWI
In some states, there is no longer a legal difference between a DWI (Driving While Intoxicated) and a DUI (Driving Under the Influence). Other states retain that difference, so that by definition a DUI is a lesser offence than a DWI.

52. Facilitators of cultural growth : AGARS
Agar is a jelly extracted from seaweed that has many uses. Agar is found in Japanese desserts, and can also be used as a food thickener or even as a laxative. In the world of science it is the most common medium used for growing bacteria in Petri dishes.

53. Toxicodendron diversilobum : POISON OAK
Two of the plants that are most painful to humans are poison oak and poison ivy. Poison oak is mainly found west of the Rocky Mountains, and poison ivy to the east.

55. Yogi Bear co-creator : HANNA
Yogi Bear made his debut for Hanna-Barbera in 1958 on “The Huckleberry Hound Show” before he was given his own series. Do you remember that collar that Yogi wore around his neck? That was a little trick from the animators. By using the collar, for many frames all they had to do was redraw everything from the collar up, saving them lots and lots of time.

58. Grocery product with green leaves in its logo : SALADA TEA
Salada Tea was founded in 1892 to provide tea packaged in foil to the consumer, as opposed to smaller wooden tea chests. This kept the tea fresher and more consistent in flavor.

Down
1. 400-pound calf, perhaps : ORCA
The taxonomic name for the killer whale is Orcinus orca. The use of the name “orca”, rather than “killer whale”, is becoming more and more common. The Latin word “Orcinus” means “belonging to Orcus”, with Orcus being the name for the Kingdom of the Dead.

2. Player of a big scaredy-cat? : LAHR
Bert Lahr’s most famous role was that of the cowardly lion in “The Wizard of Oz”. Lahr had a long career in burlesque, vaudeville and on Broadway. Remember the catch phrase made famous by the cartoon character Snagglepuss, “Heavens to Murgatroyd!”? Snagglepuss stole that line from a 1944 movie called, “Meet the People” in which it was first uttered by none other than Bert Lahr.

4. Drug czar Kerlikowske : GIL
Gil Kerlikowske is the current US Drug Czar, more officially known as the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Prior to taking office, Kerlikowske served as Chief of Police in four different cities including a nine-year stint in Seattle, Washington. He also served in the US Army in the seventies and was stationed in Washington, D.C. One of Kerlikowske’s Army jobs was to provide the salute to President Nixon as he boarded the presidential helicopter.

6. Where the Blue Nile rises : ETHIOPIA
The Blue Nile, along with the White Nile, is one of the two major tributaries that form the River Nile.

7. Jellyfish and krill : ZOOPLANKTON
Plankton are organisms that float in water and are incapable of swimming against a current. There are three general classifications of plankton:

– Phytoplankton, which live on the surface and use light for photosynthesis.
– Zooplankton, small animals that mainly feed on other plankton.
– Bacterioplankton, the bacterial component of plankton.

10. Buzz generator : KAZOO
The modern instrument we know today as the kazoo was invented by one Alabama Vest of Macon, Georgia in the 1800s. The kazoo first came to the public’s attention at the Georgia State Fair of 1852, when it was known as the “Down-South Submarine” (because of it’s shape, I would imagine).

11. “I’ll Be Around” songwriter Wilder : ALEC
Alec Wilder was an American popular songwriter and composer of classical pieces. One of Wilder’s more famous songs was “I’ll Be There” that was a hit for the Mills Brothers.

12. TV Guide crossword focus : POP CULTURE
The first national “TV Guide” was issued in 1953. The cover of that first issue featured a photo of newborn Desi Arnaz, Jr., son of Lucille Ball.

13. Something that shouldn’t scare you : PAPER TIGER
A paper tiger is something that appears to be threatening like a tiger, but when challenged tends to back down. The term “paper tiger” is a direct translation of the Chinese phrase that has the same meaning.

22. Marker maker : PENTEL
Pentel is Japanese company, noted for manufacture of pens and markers.

23. It features a statue of a Scottie next to his master : FDR MEMORIAL
The very moving Franklin Delano Roosevelt memorial in Washington, D.C. was designed by Lawrence Halprin. It was dedicated in 1997 by President Clinton. Sculptures of President Roosevelt within the 7.5-acre memorial feature FDR alongside his Scottish Terrier called Fala.

25. Title slave of the stage : AIDA
“Aida” is the famous opera by Giuseppe Verdi, actually based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette, who also designed the costumes and stages for the opening performance. The opera was first performed in 1871 in an opera house in Cairo. In the storyline, Aida is an Ethiopian princess brought into Egypt as a slave. Radames is an Egyptian commander who falls in love with her, and then of course complications arise!

26. First cut on the album “Sticky Fingers” : BROWN SUGAR
“Brown Sugar” is a Rolling Stones song attributed to Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, but which was actually written by Jagger. Mick Jagger wrote the song while he was filming the 1970 movie “Ned Kelly”.

27. Home of the Ducks of baseball’s Atlantic League : LONG ISLAND
The Long Island Ducks is a professional baseball team that is not affiliated with major League Baseball. Despite not being an MLB team, the Ducks get a lot of support and hold the non-MLB attendance record of over 440,000 fan appearances in a single season. The team’s nickname is inspired by Long Island’s duck-farming heritage.

29. Handle on farm equipment? : DEERE
John Deere invented the first commercially successful steel plow in 1837. Prior to Deere’s invention, farmers used an iron or wooden plow that constantly had to be cleaned as rich soil stuck to its surfaces. The cast-steel plow was revolutionary as its smooth sides solved the problem of “stickiness”.

30. Humdingers : BEAUTS
A “humdinger” or a “beaut” is someone or something outstanding. “Humdinger” is American slang dating back to the early 1900s, when it was used to describe a particularly attractive woman.

32. Fr. address : MME
Madame (Mme.).

33. Texting counterpart of “TY” : PLS
Please (PLS) and thank you (TY) in textspeak.

34. Sno-___ (winter blower brand) : THRO
The popular Sno-Thro brand of snow blower is made by the Ariens Company based in Brillion, Wisconsin. Ariens is also noted for manufacturing lawn mowers, and claims to be “mower of the White House lawn”.

36. Orwellian superstate : EASTASIA
The action in George Orwell’s 1949 novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four” takes place in the intercontinental super-state of Oceania. Orwell created two other super-states for the novel: Eurasia and Eastasia.

40. One of nine numbers on a card : PAR
A scorecard in golf might have par listed for 9 or 18 holes.

42. Clarkson College locale : OMAHA
Clarkson College is a private school in Omaha, Nebraska that specializes in degrees that qualify students for the healthcare industry. Clarkson was founded in 1888 as a two-year nursing school at the Bishop Clarkson Memorial Hospital.

43. Alpo alternative : CESAR
Cesar is brand of dog food manufactured by Mars.

Alpo is a brand of dog food first produced by Allen Products in 1936, with “Alpo” being an abbreviation for “Allen Products”. Lorne Greene used to push Alpo in television spots, as did Ed McMahon and Garfield the Cat, would you believe?

47. 1958 spy novel set in Jamaica : DR NO
“Dr. No” may have been the first film in the wildly successful James Bond franchise, but it was the sixth novel in the series of books penned by Ian Fleming. Fleming was inspired to write the story after reading the Fu Manchu tales by Sax Rohmer. If you’ve read the Rohmer books or seen the films, you’ll recognize the similarities between the characters Dr. No and Fu Manchu.

48. “Cannery Row” brothel owner : DORA
“Cannery Row” is a novel by John Steinbeck that was first published in 1945. The title refers to the street in Monterey, California known as Cannery Row that is home to now-defunct sardine canning factories. Back in 1945 the street was called Ocean View Avenue, but it was renamed in 1958 in recognition of the Steinbeck novel.

51. Pottery Barn competitor : IKEA
Did you know that IKEA was founded by Ingvar Kamprad in 1943 when he was just 17-years-old??!! IKEA is an acronym that stands for Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd (don’t forget now!). Elmtaryd was the name of the farm where Ingvar Kamprad grew up, and Agunnaryd is his home parish in Sweden.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. White-whiskered sort : OLD GEEZER
10. Symbol of Einstein’s gravitational constant : KAPPA
15. Eager : RARIN’ TO GO
16. Tons : A LOAD
17. Time of one’s life : CHILDHOOD
18. Youngest of five famous brothers : ZEPPO
19. Ernst associate : ARP
20. Things worth waiting for? : TIPS
21. What head shots are used in : SOCCER
22. People pick pockets in it : POOL
23. Eddie’s partner in musical comedy : FLO
24. Burial option : URN
25. Cut out for it : ABLE
28. Intentionally flooded field : PADDY
30. Short order? : BLT
31. One working with magnetite : IRON MINER
33. Minor, legally : PETIT
35. “Ha! Good one!” : DON’T MAKE ME LAUGH!
37. “Bummer” : AW GEE
38. Word below a signature on a bill : TREASURER
39. Zero, in 21-Across : NIL
40. They often have good rhythm : POEMS
41. Mr. T’s real last name : TERO
42. Julia Child worked for it during W.W. II: Abbr. : OSS
43. Lav : CAN
44. Escalator pioneer : OTIS
46. Fox on Fox : MULDER
48. Blast alternative? : DRAT
49. Traffic court letters : DWI
52. Facilitators of cultural growth : AGARS
53. Toxicodendron diversilobum : POISON OAK
55. Yogi Bear co-creator : HANNA
56. Off-roading option : TRAIL BIKE
57. Fire : ARDOR
58. Grocery product with green leaves in its logo : SALADA TEA

Down
1. 400-pound calf, perhaps : ORCA
2. Player of a big scaredy-cat? : LAHR
3. No Mr. Personality : DRIP
4. Drug czar Kerlikowske : GIL
5. Put an ___ : END TO
6. Where the Blue Nile rises : ETHIOPIA
7. Jellyfish and krill : ZOOPLANKTON
8. Some are fragile : EGOS
9. Bygone means of corporal punishment : ROD
10. Buzz generator : KAZOO
11. “I’ll Be Around” songwriter Wilder : ALEC
12. TV Guide crossword focus : POP CULTURE
13. Something that shouldn’t scare you : PAPER TIGER
14. Garnish : ADORN
21. Arch : SLY
22. Marker maker : PENTEL
23. It features a statue of a Scottie next to his master : FDR MEMORIAL
25. Title slave of the stage : AIDA
26. First cut on the album “Sticky Fingers” : BROWN SUGAR
27. Home of the Ducks of baseball’s Atlantic League : LONG ISLAND
29. Handle on farm equipment? : DEERE
30. Humdingers : BEAUTS
32. Fr. address : MME
33. Texting counterpart of “TY” : PLS
34. Sno-___ (winter blower brand) : THRO
36. Orwellian superstate : EASTASIA
40. One of nine numbers on a card : PAR
42. Clarkson College locale : OMAHA
43. Alpo alternative : CESAR
45. “___ you!” : I TOLD
47. 1958 spy novel set in Jamaica : DR NO
48. “Cannery Row” brothel owner : DORA
49. “Get busy!” : DO IT!
50. Boat trailer? : WAKE
51. Pottery Barn competitor : IKEA
53. 54-Down tally: Abbr. : PTS
54. See 53-Down: Abbr. : NBA

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