0611-13 New York Times Crossword Answers 11 Jun 13, Tuesday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
9. ___ lazuli : LAPIS
Lapis lazuli is a blue, semi-precious stone mined mainly in Afghanistan. Lapis Lizuli is Latin for “stone of Lazhward”, referring to the Persian name for the location where the stone was mined. Our word “azure”, a shade of blue, has the same root.

14. Superdome locale, informally : NOLA
The city of New Orleans, Louisiana has the nickname “The Big Easy”. This name might come from the early 1900s when musicians found it relatively “easy” to find work there. The city is also known by the acronym NOLA, standing for New Orleans, LA.

15. ___ Hubbard, Scientology founder : L RON
L. Ron Hubbard wrote a self-improvement book in 1950 called “Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health”. A few years later the concepts were used in the founding of the Church of Scientology.

21. Cheese with red wrapping : EDAM
Edam cheese takes its name from the Dutch town of Edam in North Holland. The cheese is famous for its coating of red paraffin wax, a layer of protection that helps Edam travel well and prevents spoiling. You might occasionally come across an Edam cheese that is coated in black wax. The black color indicates that the underlying cheese has been aged for a minimum of 17 weeks.

23. Six-sided randomizer : DIE
As we all know, the numbers on dice are arranged so that the opposite faces add up to seven. Given this arrangement, the numbers 1, 2 and 3 all meet at a common vertex. Now, there are two ways of arranging the 1, 2 and 3 around the common vertex, a so called right-handed die (clockwise 1-2-3) or a left-handed die (counterclockwise 1-2-3). Traditionally, dice used in Western cultures are right-handed, whereas Chinese dice are left-handed. Quite interesting …

24. Two under par : EAGLE
The use of the word “eagle” to signify a 2-under-par score on a hole in golf, simply builds on the established use of “birdie” for 1-under-par. An eagle is just a “bigger” bird, and 2-under par is “bigger” and better than 1-under.

27. New York theater award : OBIE
The Obies are the “Off-Broadway Theater Awards”. The Obies are presented annually and the recipients are chosen by “The Village Voice” newspaper.

29. Plant fungus : ERGOT
Ergot is a fungus, or actually a group of fungi, that cause disease in rye and related plants.

30. Darts and snooker : PUB GAMES
Darts is a wonderful game often played in British and Irish pubs, even over here in America. The scoring in a traditional game of darts is difficult to describe in a sentence or two, but the game of darts called “Round the Clock” is simply hitting the numbers 1 through 20 in sequence.

Snooker is a fabulous game, played on what looks like a large pool table (12′ x 6′ if full size). Snooker is a derivative of the older game of billiards and is believed to have been developed by British Army officers who were stationed in India in the latter half of the 1800s. “Snooker” was a word used in the British military for a first-year cadet or an inexperienced soldier. Somehow that usage morphed into the name of the game.

37. Braun who married Hitler : EVA
Eva Braun became Adolf Hitler’s companion when she was 19 years old, and he 42. Braun was working as an assistant and model for Hitler’s personal photographer when she met him. Braun was herself a photographer and many of her photographs and films have survived and give us some insight into Hitler’s personal life. Braun attempted suicide twice early on in the relationship with Hitler. She finally took her own life alongside Hitler just 40 hours after marrying him in the Führerbunker just before Berlin fell to the REd Army towards the end of WWII.

40. Ref. work that took 70 years to complete : OED
Work started on what was to become the first “Oxford English Dictionary” (OED) in 1857. Several interim versions of the dictionary were published in the coming years with the first full version appearing, in ten bound volumes, in 1928. The second edition of the OED appeared in 1989 and is made up of twenty volumes. The OED was first published in electronic form in 1988 and went online in 2000. Given the modern use of computers, the publishing house responsible feels that there will never be a third print version of the famous dictionary.

44. Sinatra backers, sometimes : BIG BANDS
Frank Sinatra was the only child of Italian immigrants living in Hoboken, New Jersey. Like so many of our heroes, Sinatra had a rough upbringing. His mother was arrested several times and convicted of running an illegal abortion business in the family home. Sinatra never finished high school, as he was expelled for rowdy conduct. He was later arrested as a youth on a morals charge for carrying on with a married woman, which was an offence back then. But Sinatra straightened himself out by the time he was twenty and started singing professionally.

47. Judgment on a book’s cover? : BLURB
A “blurb” is a brief publicity note, something often found on the jacket of a book.

50. Groundskeeper’s bane : CRABGRASS
Crabgrass may be considered a weed and a scourge of the lawn-loving population, but it has its uses. In Africa, the seeds of some species of crabgrass are toasted and ground into a flour that is used to make porridge, or better still, to make beer.

53. Pong purveyor : ATARI
Do you remember the arcade video game that was like a game of tennis, with paddles moving up and down to hit what looked like a ball, over what looked like a net? Well, that was the game called “Pong”.

58. One-billionth of a gig : BYTE
In the world of computers, a “bit” is the basic unit of information. It has a value of 0 or 1. A “byte” is a small collection of bits (usually 8), the number of bits needed to uniquely identify a character of text. The prefix giga- means 10 to the power of 9, so a gigabyte is 1,000,000,000 bytes.

60. World capital whose name means “victorious” : CAIRO
Cairo is the capital city of Egypt. It is the largest city on the continent of Africa and is nicknamed “The City of a Thousand Minarets” because of its impressive skyline replete with Islamic architecture. The name “Cairo” is a European corruption of the city’s original name in Arabic, “Al-Qahira”, which translates as “the Vanquisher” or “the Conqueror”.

64. Forest vine : LIANA
Liana (also “liane”) is the name give to a vine that generally grows in moist areas such as rain forests. Lianas grow using the trees in the forest as structural support. My bet is that Tarzan swung from tree to tree on liana vines …

66. Cat or clock preceder : ONE O’
One o’cat, or more properly “one old cat”, is an abbreviated form of baseball with a home plate and just one base.

67. Young’s partner in accounting : ERNST
Ernst & Young is one of the Big Four accountancy firms, alongside Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Ernst & Young is headquartered in London.

Down
1. Tennis’s Agassi : ANDRE
Renowned tennis professional Andre Agassi wrote an autobiography called “Open”, published in 2009. An amazing revelation in the book is that Agassi’s famous head of hair was actually a wig for much of his playing career. Can you imagine how hard it must have been to play tennis at his level with a rug stuck on?

2. Jazz’s Chick : COREA
Chick Corea is an American jazz pianist. Corea is noted for his work in the area of jazz fusion, as well as for his promotion of Scientology.

4. Philippine tongue : TAGALOG
Tagalog, officially known as “Filipino”, is one of the two official languages of the Philippines, the other being English. The name “Tagalog” translates as “river dweller”.

5. Czech Republic river : ELBE
The River Elbe rises in the Czech Republic and travels over a thousand kilometers before emptying into the North Sea where it feeds the port of Hamburg.

6. Grand ___ (vineyard designation) : CRU
“Cru” is a term used in the French wine industry that means “growth place”. So, “cru” is the name of the location where the grapes are grown, as opposed to the name of a specific vineyard. The terms “premier cru” and “grand cru” are also used, but the usage depends on the specific wine region. Generally it is a classification awarded to specific vineyards denoting their potential for producing great wines. “Grand cru” is reserved for the very best vineyards, with “premier cru” the level just below.

7. First book of the 12 Minor Prophets : HOSEA
Hosea was one of the Twelve Prophets of the Hebrew Bible, also called the Minor Prophets of the Old Testament in the Christian Bible.

10. N.Y.C.’s Columbus ___ : AVE
Columbus Avenue in New York City was used as the basis for most of the street scenes in the sitcom “Seinfeld”.

11. Hell : PERDITION
“Perdition” used to mean “utter ruin, total loss” but is now used in the sense of the loss of the soul or eternal damnation. The term is derived from the Latin “perdere” meaning “to lose”.

18. Organism that splits : AMEBA
An ameba (or “amoeba” as we spell it back in Ireland) is a single-celled microorganism. The name comes from the Greek “amoibe”, meaning change. The name is quite apt, as the cell changes shape readily as the ameba moves, eats and reproduces.

28. 1960 #1 Brenda Lee hit : I’M SORRY
Brenda Lee is a country and rockabilly singer who had 37 songs that made the charts in the sixties. Lee’s biggest hits are probably “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” from 1958, and “I’m Sorry” from 1960. Lee was only 13 years old when she recorded “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”.

31. Thos. Jefferson founded it : UVA
The University of Virginia (UVA) was of course founded by Thomas Jefferson, who sat on the original Board of Visitors with former US Presidents James Madison and James Monroe. In fact, the original UVA campus was built on land that was once a farm belonging to President Monroe.

32. Conan, for one : BARBARIAN
The character known as Conan the Barbarian first appeared in “Weird Tales” magazine in a fantasy story in 1932.

35. Final section of the 40-Across : ZED
The letter named “zed” has been around since about 1400, and derives from the Greek letter zeta. The spelling and pronunciation of “zee” used in America today first popped up in the 1670s.

36. Actors Harris and Helms : EDS
Ed Harris is a very talented actor, noted for two great performances in movies about the Space Program. He played John Glenn in “The Right Stuff” in 1983, his “breakthrough” role. Twelve years later he made a stellar performance as the flight director Gene Kranz in “Apollo 13”.

The comedic actor Ed Helms got his big break in television on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show”, after which he joined the cast of “The Office”. Helms is now making a name for himself on the big screen. Notably he co-stars in the “The Hangover” series of films.

39. ___, zwei, drei … : EINS
“Eins, zwei, drei, vier” is German for “one, two, three, four”.

48. Repeated role for Christian Bale : BATMAN
Christian Bale is an actor from Wales in the UK, although he is better known for his work on this side of the Atlantic. Bale’s big break in movies came in 1987 when whe on the starring role in Spielberg’s “Empire of the Sun” at only 13 years of age. He has also played Batman three times, in “Batman Begins” (2005), “The Dark Knight” (2008) and “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012).

52. Watch with the old slogan “Modern Masters of Time” : SEIKO
Seiko Epson is a Japanese company, one of the largest manufacturers of printers in the world. The company has its roots in the watch business, roots that go back to 1942. Seiko was chosen as the official timekeeper for the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and was asked to supply a timer that produced a printed record. This request brought Seiko into the business of printer production. The company developed the world’s first mini-printer for the 1964 Games and called it EP-101 (EP standing for Electronic Printer). In 1975 Seiko introduced the next generation of EP printers which was called EPSON, from “SON of EP”. Cute, huh?

54. Singer/songwriter Davis : ALANA
Alana Davis is a singer-songwriter from New York City. Alana is the daughter of pianist Walter Davis, Jr., who played with the likes of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.

55. “Got it,” in radio lingo : ROGER
The term “roger”, meaning “yes” or “acknowledged”, comes from the world of radiotelephony. The British military used a phonetic alphabet in the fifties that included “Roger” to represent the letter “R”. As such, it became customary to say “Roger” when acknowledging a message, with R (Roger) standing for “received”.

59. Paradoxical Greek : ZENO
Zeno of Elea was a Greek philosopher who lived in Elea, a Greek colony in Southern Italy. Zeno is famous for his “paradoxes”, a set of problems that really make you think! In the problem known as Achilles and the Tortoise, Zeno tells us that Achilles races a tortoise, giving the tortoise a head start (of say 100 meters). By the time Achilles reaches the starting point of the tortoise, the tortoise will have moved on, albeit only a small distance. Achilles then sets his sights on the tortoise’s new position and runs to it. Again the tortoise has moved ahead a little. Achilles keeps on moving to the tortoise’s new position but can never actually catch his slower rival. Or can he …?

61. Some pulse takers, for short : RNS
Registered nurses (RNs) might be found in an operating room (OR) or emergency room (ER).

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. It has a balance: Abbr. : ACCT
5. Reverberation : ECHO
9. ___ lazuli : LAPIS
14. Superdome locale, informally : NOLA
15. ___ Hubbard, Scientology founder : L RON
16. Party or parade : EVENT
17. Reason for rehab : DRUG ABUSE
19. Hardly rambling : TERSE
20. Give a new title : RENAME
21. Cheese with red wrapping : EDAM
23. Six-sided randomizer : DIE
24. Two under par : EAGLE
25. Trail : LAG BEHIND
27. New York theater award : OBIE
29. Plant fungus : ERGOT
30. Darts and snooker : PUB GAMES
34. Separate into charged particles : IONIZE
37. Braun who married Hitler : EVA
38. Took to the slopes : SKIED
40. Ref. work that took 70 years to complete : OED
41. Grow fond of : WARM TO
44. Sinatra backers, sometimes : BIG BANDS
47. Judgment on a book’s cover? : BLURB
49. “Super!” : NEAT!
50. Groundskeeper’s bane : CRABGRASS
53. Pong purveyor : ATARI
57. “___ out!” (ump’s cry) : YER
58. One-billionth of a gig : BYTE
59. Wild-eyed sort : ZEALOT
60. World capital whose name means “victorious” : CAIRO
62. Assortments … or what you’ll find in 17-, 25-, 30-, 44- and 50-Across? : MIXED BAGS
64. Forest vine : LIANA
65. Similar : AKIN
66. Cat or clock preceder : ONE O’
67. Young’s partner in accounting : ERNST
68. Something to avoid : NO-NO
69. Story that can’t completely be believed : YARN

Down
1. Tennis’s Agassi : ANDRE
2. Jazz’s Chick : COREA
3. Adhered (to) : CLUNG
4. Philippine tongue : TAGALOG
5. Czech Republic river : ELBE
6. Grand ___ (vineyard designation) : CRU
7. First book of the 12 Minor Prophets : HOSEA
8. Antsy : ON EDGE
9. Prisoner’s plaint : LET ME GO
10. N.Y.C.’s Columbus ___ : AVE
11. Hell : PERDITION
12. Living ___ : IN SIN
13. Fiery horse : STEED
18. Organism that splits : AMEBA
22. Condense : ABRIDGE
25. Onion relative used in soups : LEEK
26. Babydoll : HON
28. 1960 #1 Brenda Lee hit : I’M SORRY
30. Place to congregate? : PEW
31. Thos. Jefferson founded it : UVA
32. Conan, for one : BARBARIAN
33. Close relation, informally : SIB
35. Final section of the 40-Across : ZED
36. Actors Harris and Helms : EDS
39. ___, zwei, drei … : EINS
42. World Series org. : MLB
43. Maritime rescuer : TUGBOAT
45. Bleated : BAAED
46. “Good going!” : ATTABOY!
48. Repeated role for Christian Bale : BATMAN
50. Rinse or spin : CYCLE
51. Show once more : RE-AIR
52. Watch with the old slogan “Modern Masters of Time” : SEIKO
54. Singer/songwriter Davis : ALANA
55. “Got it,” in radio lingo : ROGER
56. “Challenge accepted!” : IT’S ON!
59. Paradoxical Greek : ZENO
61. Some pulse takers, for short : RNS
63. Mark, as a ballot : X IN

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