0421-13 New York Times Crossword Answers 21 Apr 13, Sunday

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: Jonah Kagan
THEME: Front Flips … each of the themed answers is a familiar phrase, but the letters of the word at the FRONT is FLIPPED:

24A. Tammany Hall corruption, e.g.? : EVIL FROM NEW YORK (from “Live from New York!”
34A. Try to see what you’re getting for Christmas? : PEEK UNDER WRAPS (from “keep under wraps”)
45A. Academy for criminals? : PERP SCHOOL (from “prep school”)
51A. Journey from the nest to the kitchen, say? : RAT’S TREK (from “Star Trek”)
64A. Hidden drug habit, maybe? : POT SECRET (from “top secret”)
76A. Drink greedily? : GULP IT IN (from “plug it in”)
81A. Playground apparatus of the Apocalypse? : DOOM SWINGS (from “mood swings”)
91A. Be a lenient judge? : DIAL DOWN THE LAW (from “laid down the law”)
105A. Maligned merchandise? : REVILED THE GOODS (from “deliver the goods”)

COMPLETION TIME: 33m 00s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

6. Coolidge’s vice president : DAWES
During WWI, Charles G. Dawes had served with the American Expeditionary Force in Europe and had risen to the rank of Brigadier General. After the war, the work that Dawes did in an attempt to assure Germany could build a sustainable economy earned him a share of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925. A year earlier, Daws was elected as US Vice President under President Calvin Coolidge. Famously, Dawes and Coolidge did not get along at all well, neither in private nor in public.

19. “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” composer Morricone : ENNIO
Ennio Morricone is an Italian composer best known for writing music for films and television shows. It was Morricone who wrote the fabulous scores for the Spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone, including the theme for “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”.

20. Dramatic response to “Who’s there?” : IT IS I
The much debated statement “It is I” is actually grammatically correct, and should not be “corrected” to “It is me”. Traditionally, pronouns following linking verbs, such as “is”, “appear” and “seem”, are written in the nominative case. Examples are:

– It is I (who called).
– It was he (who did it).
– It is we (who care).

24. Tammany Hall corruption, e.g.? : EVIL FROM NEW YORK (from “Live from New York!”)
The building known as Tammany Hall was home to the Tammany Society, an organization in New York City that came to be the political machine behind the Democratic Party that held sway in New York State from the late-18th century to the mid-20th century. The society was named for Tamanend, a leader of the Native American Lenape people.

28. Sunflower State capital : TOPEKA
The official nickname of Kansas is the Sunflower State. One of Kansas’s major crops is the sunflower. The sunflower is the state symbol, and Mount Sunflower is the highest point in Kansas.

30. Bona fide : TRUE
Bona fide(s), translates from the Latin as “in good faith”, and is used to indicate honest intentions. It can also mean that something is authentic, like a piece of art that is represented in good faith as being genuine.

31. Poetic pause : CAESURA
In poetry, a caesura is an audible pause that breaks up a line of verse. An example would be (from Alexander Pope): “To err is human; to forgive, divine.”

39. Up, as an anchor : ATRIP
When an anchor is “aweigh” or “atrip”, it is just clear of the bottom, having just been lifted.

40. Piazza parts? : ZEES
There are two letters Z (zees) in the word “piazza”.

42. What much can follow : IN AS
… in as much as .
..
51. Journey from the nest to the kitchen, say? : RAT’S TREK (from “Star Trek”)
When Gene Roddenberry first proposed the science fiction series that became “Star Trek”, he marketed it as “Wagon Train to the Stars”, a pioneer-style Western in outer space. In fact his idea was to produce something more like “Gulliver’s Travels”, as he intended to write episodes that were adventure stories on one level, but morality tales on another. Personally I think that he best achieved this model with the spin-off series “Star Trek: The Next Generation”. If you watch individual episodes you will see thinly disguised treatments of moral issues such as racism, homosexuality, genocide etc. For my money, “The Next Generation” is the best of the whole franchise …

53. “Arrested Development” character Fünke : TOBIAS
“Arrested Development” is a sitcom that originally aired on Fox from 2003 to 2006. Ron Howard was heavily involved in the show behind the camera, serving as executive producer and also as the show’s narrator. I hear that fifteen new episodes of “Arrested Development” have been filmed specifically for release on Netflix in 2013.

54. “Harry Potter” librarian Pince : IRMA
In the “Harry Potter” universe, Irma Pince is the librarian at Hogwarts. Ms. Pince is a severe woman, said to look like an “underfed vulture”. Pince was played onthe big screen by English actress Sally Mortemore.

64. Hidden drug habit, maybe? : POT SECRET (from “top secret”)
“Potiguaya” is the Mexican-Spanish word for “marijuana leaves”. The slang name “pot” comes from “potiguaya”.

70. Psychologist Jean known for his theory of cognitive development : PIAGET
Jean Piaget was a psychologist and philosopher from Switzerland. Piaget was a great supporter of children’s education. Back in 1934 he stated that “only education is capable of saving our societies from possible collapse, whether violent, or gradual”. He might have a point …

73. Prefix with -plasm : ECTO-
In the real world, ectoplasm is part of the cytoplasm of a cell. In the paranormal world, ectoplasm is that spiritual energy that some people claim to be able to see, that emanates from ghostly characters. It’s that ethereal shape that is sometimes seen in photographic images, which can be interpreted as the energy of some spirit from “the other side”. Spooky stuff …

83. Game for players with steady hands : JENGA
Jenga is a simple but very entertaining game, one in which one stacks wooden blocks as high as possible until the resulting tower collapses. “Jenga” is the Swahili word for “to build”

85. ___ deck (part of a cruise ship) : LIDO
The Lido de Venezia is a famous sandbar, about 11 km long, in Venice, Italy. It may be a sandbar, but it is home to about 20,000 residents, as well as the Venice Film Festival that takes place there every September. The Lido is also the setting for Thomas Mann’s famous novel “Death in Venice”. The name “lido” has become a term for any fashionable beach resort. In the UK, the term “lido” is often used for a recreation facility with a pool. This usage has been adopted on cruise ships, where the lido deck is home to the outdoor swimming pool(s) and related facilities.

86. Plasma constituents : IONS
A plasma lamp is a light source that generates light by exciting a plasma inside a glass container, using radio waves to create the plasma of ionized particles.

88. Cooler, to LL Cool J : ILLER
Rap star LL Cool J was born James Todd Smith. The stage name stands for “Ladies Love Cool James”.

99. Top Qatari : EMIR
Qatar is a sovereign state in the Middle East occupying the Qatar Peninsula, itself located in the Arabian Peninsula. Qatar lies on the Persian Gulf and shares one land border, with Saudi Arabia to the south. Qatar has more oil and gas reserves per capita of population than any other country in the world. In 2010, Qatar had the fastest growing economy in the world, driven by the petrochemical industry.

109. Cartoon boy with an antenna on his cap : ELROY
On the cartoon show “The Jetsons”, young Elroy wore a cap with an antenna sticking out of it.

110. Lover of Lancelot : GUINEVERE
Sir Lancelot was one of the knights in the legend of King Arthur and the Round Table. Lancelot was the most trusted of Arthur’s knights when it came to battle, but off the field he had a poorer reputation. Famously, Lancelot had an affair with Guinevere, Arthur’s wife.

111. Actor Hirsch of “Speed Racer” : EMILE
American actor Emile Hirsch’s most famous role was playing the lead in the 2007 drama “Into the Wild”.

113. Wolfgang Puck restaurant : SPAGO
Wolfgang Puck is a celebrity chef from Austria. Puck is the man behind the famous pair of restaurants in Southern California called Spago.

115. One of the Ephrons : DELIA
Delia Ephron is the sister of the more famous Nora Ephron, and is a screenwriter and producer in her own right. Among Delia’s writing credits is the 2005 movie “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”.

Down
7. Relatives of dune buggies, for short : ATVS
An all-terrain vehicle (ATV).

8. Something to connect to a TV : WII
The Wii is the biggest-selling game console in the world. Two distinguishing features are the impressive wireless remote control and its WiiConnect24 system which allows the console to get messages and updates wirelessly in standby mode. I have my kids unplug the darn thing when they aren’t using it, as even in standby mode it sucks up bandwidth on my wireless network here at the house.

9. U.S. alien’s subj. : ESL
English as a Second Language (ESL) is sometimes referred to as English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL).

12. Actress Suzanne : SOMERS
Suzanne Somers is the actress whose big break came playing the ditsy Chrissy Snow on the sitcom “Three’s Company”. When contracts came up for renewal for the cast in the fifth season, the relationship between Somers and the producers soured rapidly. Somers went on a strike of sorts and for most of the fifth season made only token appearances in the show in scenes that were filmed without other members of the regular cast. The Chrissy Snow character was replaced in the sixth season.

13. Hasbro brand : TONKA
The toy manufacturer today known as Tonka started out as a manufacturer of garden implements in Mound, Minnesota in 1946. By 1955, toys had become the main product line for the company. At that time the owners decided to change the company name and opted for “Tonka”, a Dakota Sioux word meaning “great, big”.

14. Affiliate of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. : UMW
The United Mine Workers (UMW) is a labor union that represents mine workers (and now other disciplines) in the US and Canada. The UMW was founded in Columbus, Ohio in 1890.

15. 1989 John Cusack romantic comedy : SAY ANYTHING…
“Say Anything…” is a much-respected 1989 film high-school romantic comedy/drama film starring John Cusack and Ione Skye.

17. “___ the Dinosaur” (pioneering cartoon short) : GERTIE
“Gertie the Dinosaur” is an animated short film that dates way back, to 1914. “Gertie …” was made by Winsor McCay, the cartoonist behind the old comic strip “Little Nemo”.

18. Gravelly ridge : ESKER
An esker is a long and winding ridge formed by glaciation, made of sand and gravel. The term “esker” comes from the Irish word “eiscir” that describes the same feature.

22. ___ culpa : MEA
Roman Catholics are very familiar with the Latin phrase “mea culpa” meaning “my fault”, as it is used in the Latin Mass. The additional term “mea maxima culpa” translates as “my most grievous fault”.

25. Sub ___ : ROSA
“Sub rosa” is a Latin term that translates literally as “under the rose”. The term is used to denote confidentiality, as the rose has been a symbol of secrecy since ancient times.

35. Site of Cyclops’ smithy : ETNA
Cyclops was a one-eyed giant in Greek and Roman mythology. Cyclops lived in Mount Etna, the Sicilian volcano.

37. O.T. book : EZEK
The Book of Daniel in the Hebrew Bible tells mainly of the life of Daniel. The Book of Ezekiel is a collection of the preachings of the prophet Ezekiel.

45. Puerto Rican city that shares its name with an explorer : PONCE
Ponce is the second largest city in Puerto Rico. The famous conquistador Juan Ponce de Leon first landed on the island in 1508, with Spanish settlers following soon after. Among the earliest settlers was Juan Ponce de Leon’s great-grandson, Juan Ponce de León y Loayza. The great-grandson was politically savvy and was instrumental in getting a royal permit to establish the settlement that became today’s Ponce. Ponce is named after Juan Ponce de Leon y Loayza rather than his more famous great-grandfather.

46. “Awake in the Dark” writer : EBERT
Roger Ebert co-hosted a succession of film review television programs for over 23 years, most famously with Gene Siskel until Siskel passed away in 1999. Ebert was diagnosed and treated for thyroid cancer in 2002, and finally succumbed to a recurrence of the disease earlier this month.

50. Margaret Thatcher, e.g. : LADY
Margaret Thatcher served as Prime Minister of the UK from 1979 to 1990, making her the longest serving leader of the country in the 20th century. Thatcher’s nickname in the press was the “Iron Lady”, a moniker bestowed on her by a Soviet journalist. The “Iron Lady” was born Margaret Hilda Roberts, the daughter of a grocer.

53. Supermodel Cheryl : TIEGS
Cheryl Tiegs was only 17-years-old when she appeared as a model on the cover of “Glamour” magazine. After that Tiegs became famous for sequential appearances in the “Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue” throughout the seventies.

59. Family name in the Old West : EARP
The famous Earp brothers of the Wild West were Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan. All three brothers participated in what has to be the most celebrated gunfight in the history of the Old West, the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. Strangely enough, the fight didn’t happen at the O.K. Corral, but took place six doors down the street in a vacant lot next to a photography studio.

61. Some ’30s design : DECO
Some say that the term “Art Deco” was coined by Le Corbusier, a Swiss-French architect. Others say that the term comes from a 1925 exhibition in Paris called “L’Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes.

66. Tough : THUG
There used to be a band of of murderers and robbers in India, famous for their use of the weapon called a garrote. These felons were known locally as “thuggees” (from the Hindi word for “thief”). This gave us our contemporary word “thug” meaning a brute.

75. They’re not vets yet : GIS
The initials “G.I.” stand for “Government Issue” and not “General Infantry” as is often believed. GI was first used in the military to denote equipment made from Galvanized Iron and during WWI, incoming German shells were nicknamed “GI cans”. Soon after, the term GI came to be associated with “Government Issue” and eventually became an adjective to describe anything associated with the Army.

80. Land on the Arctic Cir. : NORW
It is believed that the country name of “Norway” is derived from the Old Norse for “the way north” or “north way”.

82. Dipsos : SOTS
Our word “sot” comes from the Old English “sott”, meaning a fool. The word “sot” started to be associated with alcohol and not just foolery in the late 1500s.

“Dipsomania” is a craving for alcohol to the point of damaging one’s health. “Dipsa” is the Greek for “thirst”, hence dipsomania is a “manic thirst”.

83. Title fellow in a Beatles song : JUDE
“Hey Jude” was originally a song called “Hey Jules”, written by Paul McCartney. He wrote the original song for John Lennon’s son Julian, as a way of comforting the child during his parents divorce.

90. Lover of Cesario in “Twelfth Night” : OLIVIA
William Shakespeare wrote his comedy “Twelfth Night” as a Christmas entertainment (Twelfth Night being the end of the Christmas season).

91. Set of software components packaged for release, briefly : DISTRO
A distribution of “distro” of software is a collection of a software components that is packaged for use as is, straight out of the box.

95. “Conan” channel : TBS
Before Conan O’Brien came to fame as a late night talk show host, he was a writer. O’Brien wrote for both “Saturday Night Live” and “The Simpsons”.

97. Annual dinner : SEDER
The Passover Seder is a ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish Passover holiday, celebrating the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. One of the traditions at the meal is that the youngest child at the table asks “The Four Questions”, all relating to why this night is different from all other nights in the year:

– Why is it that on all other nights during the year we eat either bread or matzoh, but on this night we eat only matzoh?
– Why is it that on all other nights we eat all kinds of herbs, but on this night we eat only bitter herbs?
– Why is it that on all other nights we do not dip our herbs even once, but on this night we dip them twice?
– Why is it that on all other nights we eat either sitting or reclining, but on this night we eat in a reclining position?

106. Rex of the jungle : LEO
In Latin, the king (rex) of the jungle is the lion (leo).

107. Kipling’s “Follow Me ___” : ‘OME
“Follow Me ‘ome” is a poem by Rudyard Kipling.

Rudyard Kipling was a British poet and writer famous for his tales of the British Raj, the rule of the British Empire in India. Kipling was actually born in Bombay, but returned with his family to England when he was very young. After being educated in England, he returned to India and from there traveled the world. Kipling’s most famous works are the stories “The Jungle Book”, “Just So Stories”, “The Man Who Would Be King”, and the poems “Mandalay”, “Gunga Din” and “If-”.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Solar panel spots, sometimes : ROOFS
6. Coolidge’s vice president : DAWES
11. Hollywood hrs. : PST
14. Grammar concern : USAGE
19. “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” composer Morricone : ENNIO
20. Dramatic response to “Who’s there?” : IT IS I
21. Neighboring bunkers? : ROOMMATES
23. Biting : ACERB
24. Tammany Hall corruption, e.g.? : EVIL FROM NEW YORK (from “Live from New York!”)
26. Patisserie offerings : DESSERTS
28. Sunflower State capital : TOPEKA
29. Starting stake : ANTE
30. Bona fide : TRUE
31. Poetic pause : CAESURA
33. Sign that means “Do not disturb” : ON AIR
34. Try to see what you’re getting for Christmas? : PEEK UNDER WRAPS (from “keep under wraps”)
38. Something a model should be in : STYLE
39. Up, as an anchor : ATRIP
40. Piazza parts? : ZEES
41. Way to go : GAIT
42. What much can follow : IN AS
43. Is in the works : BREWS
45. Academy for criminals? : PERP SCHOOL (from “prep school”)
51. Journey from the nest to the kitchen, say? : RAT’S TREK (from “Star Trek”)
53. “Arrested Development” character Fünke : TOBIAS
54. “Harry Potter” librarian Pince : IRMA
55. Itty-bitty battery : AAA
56. Cactus features : SPINES
58. Had an appetite : YENNED
60. Take in or take on : ADOPT
64. Hidden drug habit, maybe? : POT SECRET (from “top secret”)
67. Torture : AGONY
68. Accidentally reveal : BETRAY
70. Psychologist Jean known for his theory of cognitive development : PIAGET
71. Laugh syllable : HAR
73. Prefix with -plasm : ECTO-
74. Pitchers to publishers : AGENTS
76. Drink greedily? : GULP IT IN (from “plug it in”)
81. Playground apparatus of the Apocalypse? : DOOM SWINGS (from “mood swings”)
83. Game for players with steady hands : JENGA
85. ___ deck (part of a cruise ship) : LIDO
86. Plasma constituents : IONS
87. Vibe : AURA
88. Cooler, to LL Cool J : ILLER
89. Comes to : COSTS
91. Be a lenient judge? : DIAL DOWN THE LAW (from “laid down the law”)
96. Hayride seats : BALES
97. Some tennis play : SINGLES
98. All that and ___ of chips : A BAG
99. Top Qatari : EMIR
100. Lifeguard’s act : RESCUE
101. It might be right under your nose : MUSTACHE
105. Maligned merchandise? : REVILED THE GOODS (from “deliver the goods”)
109. Cartoon boy with an antenna on his cap : ELROY
110. Lover of Lancelot : GUINEVERE
111. Actor Hirsch of “Speed Racer” : EMILE
112. “Victory is yours” : I LOSE
113. Wolfgang Puck restaurant : SPAGO
114. Part of a reactor : ROD
115. One of the Ephrons : DELIA
116. Like some blood and articles : TYPED

Down
1. Librarian’s urging : READ
2. “When I was young …” : ONCE
3. A lot of binary code : ONES
4. Memorable romantic moment : FIRST KISS
5. Regain clarity, say : SOBER UP
6. Got rid of the waist? : DIETED
7. Relatives of dune buggies, for short : ATVS
8. Something to connect to a TV : WII
9. U.S. alien’s subj. : ESL
10. They’re shaken in kitchens : SIFTERS
11. Support : PROP UP
12. Actress Suzanne : SOMERS
13. Hasbro brand : TONKA
14. Affiliate of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. : UMW
15. 1989 John Cusack romantic comedy : SAY ANYTHING…
16. Like some noise music : ATONAL
17. “___ the Dinosaur” (pioneering cartoon short) : GERTIE
18. Gravelly ridge : ESKER
22. ___ culpa : MEA
25. Sub ___ : ROSA
27. Series : RUN
31. Captain’s command : CREW
32. Stupefies : AWES
33. Ear-related : OTIC
34. Two threes, for one : PAIR
35. Site of Cyclops’ smithy : ETNA
36. “It was,” in Latin : ERAT
37. O.T. book : EZEK
38. Pert : SASSY
41. No. between 0 and 4 : GPA
43. Support provider : BRA
44. Gather : REAP
45. Puerto Rican city that shares its name with an explorer : PONCE
46. “Awake in the Dark” writer : EBERT
47. Increase : RISE
48. Yes ___ : OR NO
49. You might see one in an eclipse : OMEN
50. Margaret Thatcher, e.g. : LADY
52. “Catch ya later!” : TATA
53. Supermodel Cheryl : TIEGS
56. Police setup : STING
57. Exams for would-be Natl. Merit Scholars : PSATS
59. Family name in the Old West : EARP
60. Undercover? : ABED
61. Some ’30s design : DECO
62. Good name for a car mechanic? : OTTO
63. Commitment signifier : PROMISE RING
65. Amenable (to) : OPEN
66. Tough : THUG
69. Reflexes said to be contagious : YAWNS
72. Like : A LA
75. They’re not vets yet : GIS
76. Bother, with “at” : GNAW
77. Under the table, maybe : ILLEGALLY
78. Work the land : TILL
79. “What’s the big ___?” : IDEA
80. Land on the Arctic Cir. : NORW
82. Dipsos : SOTS
83. Title fellow in a Beatles song : JUDE
84. Figure with arrows : EROS
87. Supposed : ALLEGED
88. “Eww, no!” : I HATE IT!
89. Was mentioned : CAME UP
90. Lover of Cesario in “Twelfth Night” : OLIVIA
91. Set of software components packaged for release, briefly : DISTRO
92. Moved like a caterpillar : INCHED
93. Possible flu symptom : AGUE
94. Possible flu symptom : NAUSEA
95. “Conan” channel : TBS
96. Arctic Circle sights : BERGS
97. Annual dinner : SEDER
100. Excite, with “up” : REV
101. Roman 1551 : MDLI
102. Wheat or corn : CROP
103. It might fill a kiddie pool : HOSE
104. Carefully saw? : EYED
106. Rex of the jungle : LEO
107. Kipling’s “Follow Me ___” : ‘OME
108. It can be refined : OIL


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