0905-13 New York Times Crossword Answers 5 Sep 13, Thursday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Damon J. Gulczynski
THEME: X or Y … four squares in today’s grid can take either of two letters, and the resulting answers still fit the clues. The letters in the squares are given by three answers elsewhere in the grid:

7A. Dessert wine … also what can fill the square at the crossing of 50-Across and 51-Down : PORT (P or T)
50A. Bumbled verbally : SPUTTERED or STUTTERED
51D. Flowering plant : PANSY or TANSY

68A. Comedian Sahl … also what can fill the square at the crossing of 1-Across and 1-Down : MORT (M or T)
1A. Belief system founded in China : MAOISM or TAOISM
1D. Work hard : MOIL or TOIL

27D. N.Y.S.E. listing … also what can fill the square at the crossing of 24-Across and 25-Down : CORP (C or P)
24A. Shot out diffusely : SCATTERED or SPATTERED
25D. FrDternity letter : CHI or PHI

37D. 1841 rebellion leader … also what can fill the square at the crossing of 56-Across and 56-Down : DORR (D or R)
56A. Kitchen gadgets : DICERS or RICERS
56D. Sign of neglect : DUST or RUST

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 17m 09s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

1. Belief system founded in China : MAOISM or TAOISM
The Maoist philosophy holds that the agrarian worker, as opposed to the more general working class, is the driving force in transforming from a capitalist society into a socialist society.

The Chinese character “tao” translates as “path”, but the concept of Tao signifies the true nature of the world.

7. Dessert wine … also what can fill the square at the crossing of 50-Across and 51-Down : PORT (P or T)
The city of Oporto in Portugal gave its name to port wine in the late 1600s, as it was the seaport through which most of the region’s fortified wine was exported.

11. Baseball Hall-of-Famer Roush : EDD
Edd Roush was a big hitter who played Major League Baseball, starting in 1913 for the Chicago White Sox. He jumped ship to the Federal League in 1914, a league set up to compete with the already well-established National and American Leagues. The upstart league only lasted a couple of seasons. When Edd Roush passed away in 1988 at the age of 94, he was the last surviving player from the short-lived Federal League.

14. G.M. navigation system : ONSTAR
The OnStar system started back in 1995, a joint venture between GM, EDS and Hughes. The product itself was launched in 1996. Today, OnStar is only available on GM cars, although it used to be offered on other makes of car through a licensing agreement. OnStar is a subscription service that packages vehicle security, telephone, satellite navigation and remote diagnostics. You’ve seen the ads, I am sure.

15. Eins und zwei : DREI
In German, one and two (eins und zwei) comes to three (drei).

18. ___ shui : FENG
Feng shui is the ancient Chinese tradition of arranging objects, buildings and other structures in a manner that is said to improve the lives of the individuals living in or using the space. “Feng shui” translates as “wind-water”, a reference to the belief that positive and negative life forces ride the wind and scatter, but are retained when they encounter water.

21. “The Governator” : AHNOLD
“Ahnold” and “the Governator” are slang terms used for Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Governor of California.

Arnold Schwarzenegger was born in Graz in Austria, the son of the local police chief. Schwarzenegger’s family name translates into the more prosaic “black plough man”.

23. Explorer John : RAE
John Rae was a Scottish explorer, who took on the task of searching for the ill-fated Franklin Expedition of 1845. The Franklin Expedition was itself searching for the elusive Northwest Passage through the Arctic Ocean connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific. John Rae stirred up much controversy back in England when he reported evidence of cannibalism among the ill-fated Franklin explorers.

27. Reds, for short : CIN
The Red Scare (i.e. anti-communist sentiment) following WWII had such an effect on the populace that it even caused the Cincinnati baseball team to change its name from the Reds. The team was called the Cincinnati Redlegs from 1953-1958, as the management was fearful of losing money due to public distrust of any association with “Reds”.

31. Bogotá bears : OSOS
In Spanish, “osa” is a female bear, and “oso” is a male.

Bogotá is the capital city of Colombia. Noted for having many libraries and universities, Bogotá is sometimes called “The Athens of South America”.

38. Pie piece? : RADIAN
The radian is a unit of angular measure. The poor radian has been demoted, as the the SI unit of angular measure if the steradian.

42. Gush (over) : FAWN
The verb “to fawn” has a different etymology to the noun “fawn”. The Old English “faegnian” meant “to rejoice, be glad”. In particular, the Old English verb applied to a dog wagging its tail. From there “to fawn” came to mean “to court favor, to grovel”.

45. Critic Richard : EDER
Richard Eder was a foreign correspondent, film reviewer and drama critic for the “New York Times”. More recently, he has been writing book reviews.

46. Game with scouts and miners : STRATEGO
The wonderful board game called Stratego derives from a traditional Chinese game called “Jungle” or “Animal Chess”. The major difference between Stratego and Jungle is that in the latter the identity of the pieces is not hidden from one’s opponent.

49. Three-time Hart Trophy winner : ORR
Bobby Orr is regarded as one of the greatest hockey players of all time. By the time he retired in 1978 he had undergone over a dozen knee surgeries. At 31 years of age, he concluded that he just couldn’t skate anymore. Reportedly, he was even having trouble walking …

The Hart Memorial Trophy is awarded annually to the player judged to be most valuable for his team in the NHL. The award is named for Dr. David Hart, a Canadian who donated the original trophy to the league.

55. Biblical land : CANAAN
According to the Bible, after fleeing Egypt the Hebrews were led by Moses to the promised land of Canaan. Moses sent twelve spies into Canaan (one from each of the Twelve Tribes) to report on what awaited them. Ten spies returned with exaggerated stories of giants who would kill the Hebrew army if it entered Canaan. Two spies, Caleb and Joshua, came back with valid reports, that the Hebrews could inhabit the area. As a result of the false reports from the ten spies, the Hebrews did not enter Canaan but instead wandered the desert for another forty years, before they finally took up residence in the promised land. At the end of the forty years, Caleb and Joshua were the only adults that survived the forty-year journey, a reward from God for their obedience.

60. ‘Vette roof option : T-TOP
A T-top is a car roof that has removable panels on either side of a rigid bar that runs down the center of the vehicle above the driver.

63. Maupassant’s first novel : UNE VIE
Guy de Maupassant’s first novel was “Une Vie”, published in 1883. The title is usually translated into English as “A Woman’s Life”).

The French writer Guy de Maupassant is particularly noted for his short stories. Maupassant wrote six novels, and over three hundred short stories.

64. The Tigers of the N.C.A.A. : LSU
The LSU Tigers are the sports teams of Louisiana State University, officially known as the Fightin’ Tigers, with the school mascot of “Mike the Tiger”. The name comes from the days of the Civil War, when two Louisiana brigades earned the nickname the “Louisiana Tigers”.

65. Western tribe : UTES
The Ute is a group of Native American tribes that now resides in Utah and Colorado. The Ute were not a unified people as such, but rather a loose association of nomadic groups.

66. Gomez of “Ramona and Beezus” : SELENA
Selena Gomez is a young actress from Grand Prairie, Texas. Gomez’s first television role was in the children’s show “Barney & Friends”. She then played the lead in the TV series “Wizards of Waverly Place”. Offscreen, Gomez made a splash as the girlfriend of Canadian singer Justin Bieber for a couple of years.

68. Comedian Sahl … also what can fill the square at the crossing of 1-Across and 1-Down : MORT (M or T)
Mort Sahl is a Canadian-born actor and comedian who moved to the US with his family when he was a child. Sahl became friends with John F. Kennedy. When Kennedy became president, Sahl wrote a lot of jokes for the President’s speeches, although he also told a lot of Kennedy jokes in his acts. After the President was assassinated in 1963, Sahl was intensely interested in finding out who was behind the crime and even got himself deputized as a member of one of the investigating teams. He was very outspoken against the results of the Warren Commission report on the assassination, and soon found himself out of favor with the public. It took a few years for him to make his comeback, but come back he did.

69. Downers, in brief : TRANKS
A tranquilizer (familiarly “tranq, trank”) is a downer, a drug designed to reduce tension or anxiety.

Down
2. Actress Bancroft : ANNE
The lovely actress Anne Bancroft was born Anna Italiano in the the Bronx, New York. Bancroft was probably best known for her performances in the 1962 movie “The Miracle Worker” (for which she won a Best Actress Oscar) and in the 1967 movie “The Graduate”. She was married for 40 years to Mel Brooks, right up till her passing in 2005.

3. Showbiz nominations : OSCAR NODS
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) is the organization that gives the annual Academy Awards also known as the “Oscars”. The root of the name “Oscar” is hotly debated, but what is agreed is that the award was officially named “Oscar” in 1939. The first Academy Awards were presented at a brunch in 1929 with an audience of just 29 people. The Awards ceremony is a slightly bigger event these days …

4. 1986 rock autobiography : I, TINA
“I, Tina” is the 1986 autobiography of Tina Turner. The book was so successful it was adapted into a movie called “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” The film version was released in 1993 and starring Angela Bassett as Tina Turner.

5. Glossy fabric : SATEEN
Sateen is a cotton fabric, with a weave that is “four over, one under” meaning that most of the threads come to the surface giving it a softer feel.

6. TV character who “will never speak unless he has something to say” : MR ED
“Mister Ed” first aired in 1961 and ran for almost five years. It was a very successful show (and even made it to Ireland!). Mister Ed, the talking horse, was a palomino that had the real name of Bamboo Harvester. Mister Ed’s “voice” was that of actor Allan “Rocky” Lane, a star of a lot of B-movie westerns from the forties and fifties. In the show, Mister Ed would only talk to the lead (human) character Wilbur, played by Alan Young, leading to some hilarious situations. Mister Ed had a stunt double and stand-in for the show, another horse called Pumpkin. Pumpkin later played the horse that made frequent appearances on the show “Green Acres”.

7. Sharable PC file : PDF
Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format introduced by Adobe Systems in 1993. PDF documents can be shared between users and read using many different applications, making them more universally accessible than documents saved by one particular program.

8. Resource in the game Settlers of Catan : ORE
The Settlers of Catan is a board game that was introduced in 1995, in Germany as “Die Siedler von Catan”. The game is very popular in the US and was called “the board game of our time” by the “Washington Post”. My son plays it a lot, and as a lover of board games, I am going to have to check it out …

9. Lead role in the film “La Cage aux Folles” : RENATO
The musical “La Cage aux Folles” opened on Broadway in 1985. “La Cage aux Folles” is a musical adaptation of the French play of the same name by Jean Poiret that was first staged in 1973. I’ve never had the pleasure of seeing the stage play nor the musical, but I love the wonderful movie adaptation, “The Birdcage”, released in 1996. The film has a very strong cast that includes Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman and Hank Azaria.

10. Scrooge : TIGHTWAD
The classic 1843 novella “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens has left us with a few famous phrases and words. Firstly, it led to the popular use of “Merry Christmas”, and secondly it gave us the word “scrooge” meaning a miserly person. And thirdly, everyone knows that the character Scrooge was fond of using the now famous line “Bah! Humbug!”.

11. “Return of the Jedi” battle site : ENDOR
The Ewoks are creatures who live on the moon of Endor, first appearing in “Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi”. They’re the cute and cuddly little guys that look like teddy bears.

12. Watson’s creator : DOYLE
In the marvelous Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Holmes’ sidekick Dr. Watson is referred to only by his family name, except for two occasions when it is revealed that his first name is John. However, in a third and final mention, Dr. Watson is called “James” by his wife, apparently a lapse in memory on the part of the author.

13. Titular judge played by Stallone : DREDD
The 1995 movie “Judge Dredd” starring Sylvester Stallone in the title role, was loosely based on the comic book character of the same name. Judge Dredd may be an American hero from the future in an American city, but the comic is written and published in the UK.

If ever there was a movie that defines a career breakthrough for an actor, it would have to be “Rocky” for Sylvester Stallone. Stallone was a struggling actor in 1975 when a Muhammad Ali fight inspired Stallone to write a screenplay for a boxing movie, which he did in just three days. His efforts to sell the script went well but for the fact that the interested studios wanted a big name for the lead role, and Stallone was determined to be the star himself. Stallone persevered and “Rocky” was eventually made with him playing title role of Rocky Balboa. The movie won three Oscars, and “Sly” Stallone had arrived …

22. Nervous one? : NELLIE
A nervous nellie is someone easily upset and hesitant to act. The term comes from “Old Nell”, a name often used for a nag. A nervous nellie then was originally used to describe a highly-strung racehorse.

24. ___ Pepper : SGT
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band was the alter-ego of the Beatles and was the title of a famous studio album released in 1967.

26. Bar fig. : ATT
Attorney (att.)

27. N.Y.S.E. listing … also what can fill the square at the crossing of 24-Across and 25-Down : CORP (C or P)
Corporation (corp.)

The roots of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) go back to 1792 when a group of 24 stock brokers set up the New York Stock & Exchange Board. They did so in an agreement signed under a buttonwood tree outside 68 Wall Street. That document became known as the Buttonwood Agreement.

28. Golfer Aoki : ISAO
Isao Aoki is one of Japan’s greatest golfers, now playing on the senior circuit. Aoki’s best finish in a major tournament was runner-up to Jack Nicklaus in the 1980 US Open.

30. Sir ___ Holm : IAN
English actor Sir Ian Holm is very respected on the stage in the UK, but is better known for his film roles here in the US. Holm played the hobbit Bilbo Baggins in two of the “Lord of the Rings” movies, and he also played the character who turns out be an android in the film “Alien”.

32. Rest of the afternoon : SIESTA
We use the word “siesta” to describe a short nap in the early afternoon, taking the word from the Spanish. In turn, the Spanish word is derived from the Latin “hora sexta” meaning “the sixth hour”. The idea is that the nap is taken at “the sixth hour” after dawn.

35. Roulette choice : ODD OR EVEN
The name “roulette” means “little wheel” in French, and the game as we know it today did in fact originate in Paris, in 1796.

37. 1841 rebellion leader … also what can fill the square at the crossing of 56-Across and 56-Down : DORR (D or R)
Thomas Wilson Dorr led the Dorr Rebellion of 1841-42 in Rhode Island. The issue at that time was the limited right to vote in the state, as only landowners could do so at that time. Soon after the rebellion, suffrage was extended to any free man who could pay a poll tax of $1.

39. Blind jazz piano virtuoso : ART TATUM
Art Tatum was a jazz pianist who overcame the disability of being nearly blind from birth. Many laud Tatum as the greatest jazz pianist of all time.

40. ___ Group (Dutch banking giant) : ING
ING is a huge Dutch banking institution created via a merger in 1991. The company headquarters is in a spectacular building in Amsterdam called simply ING House. ING stands for Internationale Nederlanden Groep.

54. What’s on the fast track? : ACELA
The Acela Express is the fastest train routinely running in the US, getting up to 150 mph at times. The service runs between Boston and Washington D.C. via Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. The brand name “Acela” was created to evoke “acceleration” and “excellence”.

61. The Who’s “Love, Reign ___ Me” : O’ER
The English rock band called the Who was formed in 1964, bringing together famed musicians Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle and Keith Moon. According to “Rolling Stone” magazine, the Who were the third arm of the holy trinity of British rock, alongside the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

62. Sea-Tac setting: Abbr. : PST
Pacific Standard Time (PST)

Sea-Tac Airport is more fully known as Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Sea-Tac is the main hub for Alaska Airlines.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Belief system founded in China : MAOISM or TAOISM
7. Dessert wine … also what can fill the square at the crossing of 50-Across and 51-Down : PORT (P or T)
11. Baseball Hall-of-Famer Roush : EDD
14. G.M. navigation system : ONSTAR
15. Eins und zwei : DREI
16. Negative conjunction : NOR
17. Spark : INCITE
18. ___ shui : FENG
19. Shade provider? : DYE
20. Relied (on) : LEANED
21. “The Governator” : AHNOLD
23. Explorer John : RAE
24. Shot out diffusely : SCATTERED or SPATTERED
27. Reds, for short : CIN
29. One putting off retirement as long as possible? : NIGHTOWL
31. Bogotá bears : OSOS
33. Warring, say : AT IT
34. Not tacitly : ALOUD
38. Pie piece? : RADIAN
40. Emphatic confirmation : I DID SO!
41. Brain tickler : POSER
42. Gush (over) : FAWN
45. Critic Richard : EDER
46. Game with scouts and miners : STRATEGO
49. Three-time Hart Trophy winner : ORR
50. Bumbled verbally : SPUTTERED or STUTTERED
53. Standard : PAR
55. Biblical land : CANAAN
56. Kitchen gadgets : DICERS or RICERS
59. Furthermore : AND
60. ‘Vette roof option : T-TOP
63. Maupassant’s first novel : UNE VIE
64. The Tigers of the N.C.A.A. : LSU
65. Western tribe : UTES
66. Gomez of “Ramona and Beezus” : SELENA
67. Discernment : EYE
68. Comedian Sahl … also what can fill the square at the crossing of 1-Across and 1-Down : MORT (M or T)
69. Downers, in brief : TRANKS

Down
1. Work hard : MOIL or TOIL
2. Actress Bancroft : ANNE
3. Showbiz nominations : OSCAR NODS
4. 1986 rock autobiography : I, TINA
5. Glossy fabric : SATEEN
6. TV character who “will never speak unless he has something to say” : MR ED
7. Sharable PC file : PDF
8. Resource in the game Settlers of Catan : ORE
9. Lead role in the film “La Cage aux Folles” : RENATO
10. Scrooge : TIGHTWAD
11. “Return of the Jedi” battle site : ENDOR
12. Watson’s creator : DOYLE
13. Titular judge played by Stallone : DREDD
22. Nervous one? : NELLIE
24. ___ Pepper : SGT
25. Fraternity letter : CHI or PHI
26. Bar fig. : ATT
27. N.Y.S.E. listing … also what can fill the square at the crossing of 24-Across and 25-Down : CORP (C or P)
28. Golfer Aoki : ISAO
30. Sir ___ Holm : IAN
32. Rest of the afternoon : SIESTA
35. Roulette choice : ODD OR EVEN
36. One at a keyboard : USER
37. 1841 rebellion leader … also what can fill the square at the crossing of 56-Across and 56-Down : DORR (D or R)
39. Blind jazz piano virtuoso : ART TATUM
40. ___ Group (Dutch banking giant) : ING
42. Word repeated before “away” : FAR
43. Put away : ATE
44. Not single : WED
47. Have as a tenant : RENT TO
48. View sharer : OPINER
50. Union wage : SCALE
51. Flowering plant : PANSY or TANSY
52. Excessive : UNDUE
54. What’s on the fast track? : ACELA
56. Sign of neglect : DUST or RUST
57. Milieu of 49-Across : RINK
58. Vast expanses : SEAS
61. The Who’s “Love, Reign ___ Me” : O’ER
62. Sea-Tac setting: Abbr. : PST

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