0828-13 New York Times Crossword Answers 28 Aug 13, Wednesday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. With 67-Across, man whose 1930 salary was $80,000 : BABE
(67A. See 1-Across : RUTH)
Jack Dunn was the owner/manager of the Baltimore Orioles back in 1913, when he signed on George Herman Ruth as a pitcher. The other players called Ruth “Jack’s newest babe”, and the name “Babe” stuck.

10. Seventh anniversary ruiner? : ITCH
The phrase “seven year itch” had been used by psychologists to describe declining interest in staying monogamous after seven years of marriage.

17. Nickname for 1-/67-Across : THE SULTAN OF SWAT
Baseball legend George Herman Ruth, Jr. had several nicknames, the best known being “Babe”. He was also called “the Bambino” and “the Sultan of Swat”.

24. Deerstalker, e.g. : HAT
A deerstalker is a hat that is associated with hunting, and stalking deer in particular, hence the name. The deerstalker is also very much associated with Sherlock Holmes, and by extension with the stereotypical detective.

30. Eleanor : F.D.R. :: Bess : ___ : HST
Eleanor Roosevelt was the daughter of Elliot, brother to President Theodore Roosevelt. Eleanor met Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was her father’s fifth cousin, in 1902, and the two started “walking out together” the following year after they both attended a White House dinner with President Roosevelt.

Harry and Bess Truman met when they were very young children, at Sunday school. They were friends right through high school and became engaged in 1918 just before Harry went off to France during WWI, marrying the next year. Bess Truman never really took to the Washington scene when she became First Lady and stayed out of the limelight as much as she could. Perhaps that contributed to her longevity. Mrs. Truman lived to the age of 97, making her the longest living First Lady in US history.

33. Obama’s birthplace : OAHU
Despite rumors to the contrary, I am pretty sure that Barack Hussein Obama II was indeed born in Hawaii. President Obama was born on August 4, 1961 at Kapi’olani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii.

35. School for James Bond : ETON
The world-famous Eton College is just a brisk walk from Windsor Castle, which itself is just outside London. Eton is noted for producing many British leaders including David Cameron who took power in the last UK general election. The list of Old Etonians also includes Princes William and Harry, the Duke of Wellington, George Orwell, and the creator of James Bond, Ian Fleming (as well as 007 himself as described in the Fleming novels).

38. Man whose 1930 salary was $75,000 : PRESIDENT HOOVER
President Herbert Hoover was born in West Branch, Iowa, the only president to have been born in that state. His birthplace is now a National Landmark, and President Hoover and his wife are buried there, in the grounds of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum. President Hoover died at the age of 90 years old in 1964 outliving his nemesis, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, by almost 20 years.

41. Snowy wader : EGRET
At one time the egret species was in danger of extinction due to excessive hunting driven by the demand for plumes for women’s hats.

42. Writer James : AGEE
James Agee was a noted American film critic and screenwriter. Agee wrote an autobiographical novel “A Death in the Family” that won him his Pulitzer in 1958, albeit posthumously. He was also one of the screenwriters for the 1951 classic movie “The African Queen”.

44. Kenny Rogers’s “___ Believes in Me” : SHE
“She Believes in Me” was a big crossover hit for Kenny Rogers in 1978, a country song that made it big in the pop charts. It appears on his album “The Gambler”.

45. Battlers at sea : ARMADAS
The most famous Armada was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England in order to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I in 1588. It failed in its mission, partly due to bad weather encountered en route. Ironically, the English mounted a similar naval attack against Spain the following year, and it failed as well.

48. Naval rank: Abbr. : ENS
Ensign is (usually) the most junior rank of commissioned officer in the armed forces. The name comes from the tradition that the junior officer would be given the task of carrying the ensign flag.

49. Newcastle Brown and others : ALES
Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the North of England is home to the famous Newcastle Brown Ale.

62. One of the Jackson 5 : TITO
Tito Jackson was the third oldest of the Jackson children, and was known in Motown as the “quiet Jackson”.

63. It lights up when it’s excited : ARGON
A plasma lamp is a light source that generates light by exciting a plasma inside a a glass container, using radio waves to create the plasma of ionized particles. One of the original gases used for such plasmas was argon.

64. Guitarist Clapton : ERIC
Can you believe that Eric Clapton only had one chart-topper in the US? In 1974 he released a cover version of the Bob Marley classic “I Shot the Sheriff”, and ended up selling more copies of that song than Bob Marley did himself.

Down
1. Memory units : BITS
In the world of computers, a “bit” is the basic unit of information. A bit 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.

3. “Beauty is in the eye of the ___ holder”: Kinky Friedman : BEER
Kinky Friedman is a country singer, novelist and humorist from Texas. Friedman actually ran as an independent candidate in the 2006 election for Governor of Texas.

4. Bluegrass duo? : ESSES
There are two letters S at the end of the word “bluegrass”.

6. QB Stafford : MATT
Matt Stafford plays quarterback for the Detroit Lions.

8. Treat, as a hide : TAN
Leather is of course made from animal skins. When the flesh, fat and hair is removed from the skin and it is dried, the resulting product is called “rawhide”. An additional treatment of the skin with chemicals that permanently alter the protein structure of the skin is called “tanning”, and the resulting product is “leather”.

10. Time piece? : ISSUE
“Time” magazine has a readership of about 25 million, making it the largest circulation weekly news magazine in the world.

18. One-piece garments, informally : UNIS
A unitard is like a leotard, except that it has long legs and sometime long sleeves. It wouldn’t be a good look for me …

29. Its capital is Nuku’alofa : TONGA
The Kingdom of Tonga is made up of 176 islands in the South Pacific, 52 of which are inhabited and scattered over an area of 270,000 square miles.

30. Le ___, France : HAVRE
Le Havre is a city on the mouth of the river Seine on the northwest coast of France. The city’s name translates as “the haven”.

31. Rathskeller order : STEIN
A city hall in Germany is called a Rathaus. In days gone by there was often a restaurant located in the basement or cellar of a Rathaus, and this restaurant was given the name Rathskeller. Now any bar located below street level in any building is called a Rathskeller.

32. A.C.C. team, informally : TERPS
The sports teams of the University of Maryland are called the Maryland Terrapins, or “the Terps” for short. The name dates back to 1932 when it was coined by the the university’s president at the time, Curly Byrd. He took the name from the diamondback terrapins that are native to the Chesapeake Bay.

37. Surveyor’s unit : ROD
A “rod” is a unit of length, the same length as a “perch” or a “pole”. A rod is equal to 5½ yards.

39. Vicina della Francia : ITALIA
In Italian, Italy (Italia) is a neighbor of France (vicina della Francia).

51. The “emptor” in “caveat emptor” : BUYER
“Caveat emptor” is a Latin expression meaning “Let the buyer beware”. It is used when someone buys something, emphasizing that after the deal is closed, there’s no going back.

53. Home of the U.S.’s largest cities whose names start with X and Z : OHIO
Xenia, Ohio is in effect a suburb of Dayton. The name “Xenia” is the Greek word for “hospitality”. In terms of population, Xenia is the largest city in the US with a name beginning with the letter X.

The city of Zanesville served as the state capitol of Ohio from 1810 to 1812. The city was named for Ebenezer Zane who was responsible for the construction of Zane’s Trace, a road from West Virginia to Kentucky that ran through Ohio. Zanesville, Ohio is the most populous city in the US with a name beginning with the letter Z

54. Pro ___ : RATA
“Pro rata” is a Latin phrase meaning “in proportion”.

55. Lender’s offering: Abbr. : MTGE
Our word “mortgage” comes from the Old French “mort gaige” which translated as “dead pledge”. The idea was that a pledge to repay a loan dies when the debt is cleared.

58. Mathematical physicist Peter who pioneered in knot theory : TAIT
Peter Tait was a mathematical physicist from Scotland. Tait wrote a famous textbook called “Treatise on Natural Philosophy”, as a co-writer with Lord Kelvin.

61. “Inconstancy falls off ___ it begins”: Shak. : ERE
“Inconstancy falls off ere it begins” is a line from William Shakespeare’s play “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”.

“The Two Gentlemen of Verona” is one of William Shakespeare’s comedies. Some scholars think that “Two Gentlemen” is Shakespeare’s first play, and not his best.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. With 67-Across, man whose 1930 salary was $80,000 : BABE
5. Gives off : EMITS
10. Seventh anniversary ruiner? : ITCH
14. Treats, as a sprain : ICES
15. Like some sprays : NASAL
16. One’s part? : SOLO
17. Nickname for 1-/67-Across : THE SULTAN OF SWAT
20. Peace and quiet : SERENITY
21. Injures : WOUNDS
22. Bro’s sib : SIS
23. Whittle : PARE
24. Deerstalker, e.g. : HAT
27. It’s the law : STATUTE
30. Eleanor : F.D.R. :: Bess : ___ : HST
33. Obama’s birthplace : OAHU
35. School for James Bond : ETON
36. Be really annoying : GRATE
38. Man whose 1930 salary was $75,000 : PRESIDENT HOOVER
41. Snowy wader : EGRET
42. Writer James : AGEE
43. Faucet annoyance : DRIP
44. Kenny Rogers’s “___ Believes in Me” : SHE
45. Battlers at sea : ARMADAS
48. Naval rank: Abbr. : ENS
49. Newcastle Brown and others : ALES
50. Pre-barbecuing mixture : RUB
52. Deplorable : HORRID
55. Repay : MAKE UP TO
60. Quote from 1-/67-Across on why he outearned 38-Across : I HAD A BETTER YEAR
62. One of the Jackson 5 : TITO
63. It lights up when it’s excited : ARGON
64. Guitarist Clapton : ERIC
65. Go into the wild blue yonder : SOAR
66. Runs rampant : TEEMS
67. See 1-Across : RUTH

Down
1. Memory units : BITS
2. Be sore : ACHE
3. “Beauty is in the eye of the ___ holder”: Kinky Friedman : BEER
4. Bluegrass duo? : ESSES
5. Up in arms? : ENLISTED
6. QB Stafford : MATT
7. “What can ___?” : I SAY
8. Treat, as a hide : TAN
9. Not adept in : SLOW AT
10. Time piece? : ISSUE
11. Go to ___ on : TOWN
12. Attired : CLAD
13. Sexual attraction, with “the” : HOTS
18. One-piece garments, informally : UNIS
19. Precede : FOREGO
23. Gave up by giving up control : PUNTED
24. Crosses one’s fingers, perhaps : HOPES
25. “Good grief!” : AARGH!
26. Word repeated when consoling someone : THERE
28. Units of brilliance? : A-TEAMS
29. Its capital is Nuku’alofa : TONGA
30. Le ___, France : HAVRE
31. Rathskeller order : STEIN
32. A.C.C. team, informally : TERPS
34. Purpose : USE
37. Surveyor’s unit : ROD
39. Vicina della Francia : ITALIA
40. Listens up, quaintly : HEARKENS
46. Chestnut-colored flying mammal : RED BAT
47. Litigant : SUER
49. Zeal : ARDOR
51. The “emptor” in “caveat emptor” : BUYER
52. Best sellers : HITS
53. Home of the U.S.’s largest cities whose names start with X and Z : OHIO
54. Pro ___ : RATA
55. Lender’s offering: Abbr. : MTGE
56. It’s elementary : ATOM
57. Big silver exporter : PERU
58. Mathematical physicist Peter who pioneered in knot theory : TAIT
59. Philharmonic grp. : ORCH
61. “Inconstancy falls off ___ it begins”: Shak. : ERE

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