0922-13 New York Times Crossword Answers 22 Sep 13, Sunday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Mike Selinker
THEME: Letterboxes … we have a competition crossword today. Here is the note that comes with the puzzle:

In this special prize crossword, the completed solution conceals a familiar three‑word phrase related to the puzzle’s theme. 70‑Across provides a hint on how to find it.

When you have the answer, e‑mail it to crossword@nytimes.com. Twenty‑five correct solvers, chosen at random, whose entries are received by 6 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, Sept. 24, will receive copies of The New York Times Crossword Puzzles 2014 Day‑to‑Day Calendar, courtesy of Andrews McMeel. Only one entry per person, please. The answer and explanation will appear next week. The winners’ names will be announced on Friday, Sept. 27, on the Times’s daily crossword blog at nytimes.com/wordplay.

70A. How to get a message out of the boxes READ THIS GRID IN BRAILLE

Now that the competition has closed, I can publish the solution. The blocks in the grid can be viewed as Braille cells. Each cell is equivalent to a Braille letter, with the letters “O” representing the raised dots that distinguish one character from another. Referring to a Braille alphabet chart we see that the cells spell out the message:

FEEL THE LOVE

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 35m 02s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

5. Dojo needs MATS
The Japanese word dojo literally means “place of the way”. Originally the term applied to training halls that were found in or beside temples. The teaching in a dojo was not limited to the martial arts, but in the Western world we use the dojo as the name for a training facility for judo, karate and the like.

9. Classic sci-fi film billed as “a horror horde of crawl-and-crush giants” THEM!
“Them!” is a 1954 science fiction movie about giant ants attacking humans after receiving a dose of nuclear radiation in the New Mexico desert. “Them!” was the first of a whole host of “giant bug” films, of which I think I’ve seen … none …

13. “La-La” lead-in in a 1974 Al Green hit SHA-
“Sha-La-La (Make Me Happy)” is a track on the album “Al Green Explores Your Mind” that was released by Al Green in 1974.

Al Green is a gospel and soul music singer. Green was born in Arkansas, where he started out as a gospel singer and moved into R&B. In 1974, he was assaulted by a girlfriend who burned him badly on much of his body by pouring boiling grits over him (and then she committed suicide). The incident changed Green’s life and he turned to the church, becoming a pastor in Memphis in 1976. He continued to record music, but never really enjoyed the same success that he had in the early seventies with hits like “Let’s Stay Together” and “I’m Still In Love With You”.

16. Iberian wine city OPORTO
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.

18. “Vincent & ___” (film about the van Gogh brothers) THEO
“Vincent & Theo” is a biopic released in 1990 that explores the relationship between post-Impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh and his younger brother Theo. Theo was an art dealer who provided Vincent both financial and emotional support. Theo died at the age of 33 years, just six months after Vincent passed away from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. “Vincent & Theo” was directed by robert Altman.

21. What X-O-X lacks? TAC
When I was growing up in Ireland we played “noughts and crosses” … our name for the game tic-tac-toe.

22. “Macbeth” king DUNCAN
In William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”, one of the more famous soliloquies starts with, “Is this a dagger which I see before me …?” There isn’t an actual dagger in front of Macbeth, but instead he sees the vision of a dagger pointing at King Duncan’s bedchamber, perhaps suggesting that he should go ahead with his plan to murder the King.

27. “Mona Lisa,” e.g. OIL
Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece that we know in English as the “Mona Lisa” is called “La Gioconda” in Italian, the language of the artist. It’s also known as “La Joconde” by the Government of France which owns the painting and displays it in the Louvre Museum in Paris. The title comes from the name of the subject, almost certainly Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo. Giocondo was a wealthy silk merchant in Florence who commissioned the painting for the couple’s new home to celebrate the birth of their second son.

29. Harridan OLD BAT
A “harridan” is a scolding old woman, a hag or a nag.

34. Jiffy SEC
“Jiffy”, meaning an “instant”, was originally slang used by thieves to mean “lightning”.

37. Old piece GAT
“Gat” is a slang term for a gun that is derived from the Gatling gun, the precursor to the modern machine gun. The Gatling gun was invented by Dr. Richard J. Gatling in 1861. Apparently he was inspired to invent it so that one man could do as much damage as a hundred, thereby reducing the size of armies and diminishing the suffering caused by war. Go figure …

38. Little dog, for short POM
The Pomeranian is a breed of small dog, named for the Pomerania region of Europe (part of eastern Germany and northern Poland). The breed was much loved by the royalty of Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. In the 19th century, Queen Victoria owned a particularly small Pomeranian. Due to the notoriety of the monarch’s pet, the Pomeranian was bred for small size, so that during the Queen’s admittedly long reign, the size of the average “pom” was reduced by 50% …

39. ___ Aviv TEL
The full name of Israel’s second largest city is Tel Aviv-Yafo. Tel Aviv translates into “Spring Mound”, a name chosen in 1910.

40. Strawberry blond sister of Barbie STACIE
Stacie and Todd Roberts are twin siblings of Barbie, the doll. Barbie’s full name is Barbie Millicent Roberts, the daughter of George and Margaret Roberts.

44. “Swans Reflecting Elephants” and others DALIS
“Swans Reflecting Elephants” is a painting that Salvador Dali completed in 1937. The title is somewhat self-explanatory. The scene features some swans on a lake, along with their reflections. In the reflection the swans take on the appearance of elephants, with the swans’ necks becoming elephant trunks and wings becoming ears.

46. 1960s-’70s series starring Efrem Zimbalist Jr. THE FBI
“The F.B.I.” is a crime TV series that originally ran from 1965 to 1974. Star of the show is Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. who played Inspector Lewis Erskine. The Ford Motor Company sponsored the show, so the main characters were sure to always drive Ford automobiles. Former Director of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover served as a consultant for the series.

49. Oscar winner Hathaway ANNE
The young actress Anne Hathaway is a favorite of mine, I must say. She starred in “The Devil Wears Prada” in 2006 and in 2007’s “Becoming Jane”, a film I particularly enjoyed. Hathaway won a Nest Supporting Actress Oscar for playing Fantine in the 2012 musical drama “Les Misérables”.

51. Material beyond the terrestrial plane, in medieval science AETHER
The Greek philosopher Empedocles proposed that there are four elements that made up the universe, namely earth, water, air and fire. Aristotle later proposed a fifth element which he called aether (also “ether”). Aether was the divine substance that made up the stars and planets.

61. Cum ___ LAUDE
When an academic degree is awarded, a level of distinction can be noted depending on the degree of success achieved by the student. There are three types of honor, each with a Latin name:

– cum laude: meaning “with honor” (literally “with praise”)
– magna cum laude: meaning “with great honor”
– summa cum laude: meaning “with highest honor”

70. How to get a message out of the boxes READ THIS GRID IN BRAILLE
The Braille system of reading and writing was devised in 1825 by Louis Braille, who was himself afflicted with blindness. Braille characters are composed of six positions or dots, each arranged in two columns of three dots each. Every dot can be raised or not raised, given a total of 64 possible characters.

74. Van Morrison song “___ the Mystic” INTO
Van Morrison is a singer-songwriter from Belfast in Northern Ireland. Back in Ireland we refer to him as “Van the Man”. Some of his more famous songs are “Brown Eyed Girl”, “Moondance”, “Gloria” and “Have I Told You Lately”.

76. “Only the Lonely” singer ORBISON
The marvelous rock ballad “Only the Lonely (Know the Way I Feel)” is a song written and recorded by Roy Orbison. The song was released in 1960 and became Orbison’s first major hit.

Roy Orbison had to be one the sickliest looking performers I’ve ever seen. Orbison had a very sallow complexion, pock-marked from teenage acne. The yellowish skin tone came from a severe bout of jaundice as a child. Perhaps poor nutrition affected him and his siblings, because all of them had very poor eyesight, with Roy almost blind and wearing very thick lenses from a very young age. He was also very ashamed of his head of hair, which was almost a ghostly white, and so he dyed it jet black even when he was young. Despite all this, he was immensely popular in his heyday with teenage girls, particularly in Canada and Ireland for some reason. On a tour of Ireland in 1963, the Irish police had to stop one of his performances in order to pull a bevy of local lasses off poor Mr. Orbison …

80. Understands KENS
“Ken” is a Scottish verb meaning “to know”, as in being able to recognize a person or thing.

83. Gallivants, with “about” GADS
“Gallivant” is such a lovely word, and is probably a derivative of “gallant”. To gallivant is to gad about, to flirt, wander in search of pleasure or amusement.

94. ___ Lingus AER
Aer Lingus is my favorite airline! Well, the service isn’t that great, but when I get on board an Aer Lingus plane I feel like I am back in Ireland. Aer Lingus is the national airline of Ireland, with “Aer Lingus” being a phonetic spelling of the Irish “aer-loingeas” meaning “air fleet”. These days Aer Lingus can only lay claim to the title of Ireland’s oldest airline as it is no longer the biggest. That honor goes to the controversial budget airline called Ryanair.

96. Round Table assignments QUESTS
King Arthur (and his Round Table) probably never really existed, but his legend is very persistent. Arthur was supposedly a leader of the Romano-British as they tried to resist the invasion of the Anglo-Saxons in the late 5th and early 6th centuries.

99. Old PC monitor feature CRT
Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)

102. Ernie’s instrument on “Sesame Street,” informally SAX
The saxophone was invented by Belgian Adolphe Sax. Sax developed lip cancer at one point in his life, and one has to wonder if his affliction was related to his saxophone playing (I am sure not!). I had the privilege of visiting Sax’s grave in the Cemetery of Montmartre in Paris a few years ago.

103. Italy’s main broadcasting co. RAI
Rai 1, 2 & 3 are three television channels owned and operated by the Italian government. Rai stands for “Radiotelevisione Italiana”, Italian public broadcasting.

104. TV channel with lots of bells and whistles GSN
Game Show Network (GSN)

112. Covent Garden performance OPERA
Covent Garden in London’s West End is associated with the Royal Opera House that is located in the area, and with the former fruit and vegetable market that used to sit right at the center of the district. The name “Covent Garden” comes from the fact that there once was a walled garden in the area owned by the Benedictine Monks of the Abbey of St. Peter in Westminster. The abbey rented out the walled garden calling it “Convent Garden”, and this morphed into the area’s current name.

115. Grampa Simpson ABE
In the animated TV show called “The Simpsons”, Grampa Abe Simpson is voiced by Dan Castellaneta, the same actor who provides the voice for Homer.

116. Snockered LIT
“Snockered” and “lit” are terms meaning “drunk”.

117. Anders Celsius and Greta Garbo, for two SWEDES
Anders Celsius was a Swedish astronomer. The temperature scale that Celsius created was the reverse of that used today, with “zero” representing the boiling point of water and “100” representing water’s freezing point. This scale was “upended” (in 1744) just after Celsius died, by the Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus. The resulting temperature scale then became known as the centigrade scale for over 200 years, until in 1948 it was decided to adopt the “degree Celsius”. So, anyone still using “degrees centigrade” is actually way behind the times …

Famously, Greta Garbo lived a life of seclusion in New York City after she retired from the entertainment business. Commentators often associated her need for privacy with a line she uttered in the great 1932 movie “Grand Hotel”. Her character, Grusinskaya the Russian ballerina, said, “I want to be alone (…) I just want to be alone”.

118. DDT and others CONTACT POISONS
DDT is dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (don’t forget now!). DDT was used with great success to control disease-carrying insects during WWII, and when made available for use after the war it became by far the most popular pesticide. And then Rachel Carson published her famous book “Silent Spring”, suggesting there was a link between DDT and diminishing populations of certain wildlife. It was the public outcry sparked by the book, and reports of links between DDT and cancer, that led to the ban on the use of the chemical in 1972. That ban is touted as the main reason that the bald eagle was rescued from near extinction.

121. “Is Anybody Goin’ to San ___” (#1 Charley Pride song) ANTONE
Charley Pride is a country music singer from Sledge, Mississippi whose heyday was in the seventies. Pride was only the second African American made a member of the Grand Ole Opry.

123. Cartoonist Wilson GAHAN
GahanWilson is a cartoonist who is noted for his dark humor. His work has been compared with that of Charles Addams, creator of the “Addams Family”.

124. Help illicitly ABET
The word “abet” comes into English from the Old French “abeter” meaning “to bait” or “to harass with dogs” (it literally means “to make bite”). This sense of encouraging something bad to happen morphed into our modern usage of “abet” meaning to aid or encourage someone in a crime.

125. Alley flanker GUTTER
I guess the reference here could be the gutters that flank the lanes in a bowling alley. Also, gutters at the side of streets and alleys are constructed to drain off rainwater.

128. Chant at a bullfight TORO
I suppose there might be someone in the crowd at a bullfight supporting the poor bull, chanting “toro!” meaning “bull!” in Spanish.

129. Satirical 1974 espionage film SPYS
“S*P*Y*S” is a 1974 comedy starring Elliott Gould and Donald Sutherland as two men mistaken as spies and targeted by the KGB. With all those asterisks in the film’s title, one has to assume the movie was intended to capitalize on the success of the 1970 Gould/Sutherland vehicle called “M*A*S*H”.

Down
4. “The Spiderwick Chronicles” co-author DiTerlizzi TONY
Tony DiTerlizzi is a fantasy artist and creator of children’s books.

5. Antarctic summit between peaks named for faith and charity MT HOPE
Mount Hope is a hill on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. Polar explorer Ernest Shackleton was the first to ascend the hill, doing so in 1908 with his party on the Nimrod Expedition. From the top of the hill, Shackleton could see a great glacier extending towards his goal, the South Pole. He named the hill “Mount Hope” in recognition of the hope it provided his party.

9. Baltimore club, for short THE OS
The Baltimore Orioles were one of the eight charter teams of MLB’s American League, so the franchise dates back to 1901. Prior to 1901, the team has roots in the Minor League Milwaukee Brewers, and indeed entered the American League as the Brewers. In 1902 the Brewers moved to St. Louis and became the Browns. The team didn’t fare well in St. Louis, so when it finally relocated to Baltimore in the early fifties the team changed its name completely, to the Baltimore Orioles. The owners so badly wanted a fresh start that they traded 17 old Browns players with the New York Yankees. The trade didn’t help the team’s performance on the field in those early days, but it did help distance the new team from its past.

10. Ethan of “Before Sunrise” HAWKE
Ethan Hawke is a Hollywood actor who made his breakthrough in a supporting role in “Dead Poet’s Society”, playing opposite Robin Williams. Hawke was married to Uma Thurman, with whom he has two children.

11. Giant Manning ELI
Eli Manning plays as quarterback for the New York Giants. Eli’s brother Peyton Manning is quarterback for the Denver Broncos. Eli and Peyton’s father is Archie Manning, and Archie as also a successful NFL quarterback.

12. Company that pioneered walkie-talkies MOTOROLA
The more formal name for a walkie-talkie is a handheld transceiver. A walkie-talkie is a handheld, two-way radio, a device first developed for military use during WWII by Motorola (although others developed similar designs soon after). The first walkie talkie was portable, but large. It was back-mounted and was carried around the battlefield by a radio officer.

13. “___ Mater” (hymn) STABAT
There are two hymns that can be referred to as “Stabat Mater”, namely “Stabat Mater Dolorosa” and “Stabat Mater Speciosa”. The former translates as “Sorrows of Mary”, and is the most famous of the pair.

14. African capital HARARE
Cecil Rhodes (famous in America as the founder of the Rhodes Scholarship), was a very successful English businessman and South African politician. He founded the De Beers diamond mining company, and also founded the state of Rhodesia which was named after him. The British colony gained its independence over time in the latter half of the 20th century, and is known today as the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Rhodesian capital of Salisbury was renamed in 1982 to Harare, which is the current capital of Zimbabwe.

20. Oaf SHLEMIEL
A “schlemiel“ (also “schlemiel”) is an awkward and clumsy person. “Shlemiel” is the Yiddish for “a bungler”, with the term coming from the German story “The Wonderful History of Peter Schlemihl”, published in 1813.

25. All ChiSox home games are played on it CDT
Central Daylight Times (CDT)

32. ___ Lee SARA
In 1935, businessman Charles Lubin bought a chain of three bakeries in Chicago called Community Bake Shops, and soon expanded the operation into seven stores. Lubin introduced a cream cheesecake that he named after his daughter who was only 8-years-old at the time, Sara Lee Lubin. The cheesecake was a hit and he renamed the bakeries to Kitchen of Sara Lee. The business was bought out by Consolidated foods in 1956, but the brand name Sara Lee persists to this day, as does Ms. Sara Lee herself who now goes by the name Sara Lee Schupf.

33. Pro with books, for short CPA
Certified Public Accountant (CPA)

41. Motocross entry, for short ATV
All-terrain vehicle (ATV)

45. East German secret police STASI
The Ministry for State Security in East Germany was commonly referred to as the Stasi. “Stasi” is an abbreviation for “Staatssicherheit”, which translates as “State Security”.

48. Shapes like squares ISOGONS
An isogon is a polygon with equal angles in the corners.

50. Country that has two oryxes on its coat of arms NAMIBIA
The Republic of Namibia is a country in southern Africa on the Atlantic coast. The Namibian War of Independence fought from 1966 to 1988 eventually resulted in independence for Namibia from South Africa, and a transition from white minority apartheid rule.

53. Roman magistrates EDILES
The aediles (also “ediles”) of Ancient Rome were elected officials who were responsible for public works.

55. Food item named after an Austrian city WIENER
What we call a wiener in this country is known as a Vienna sausage in Germany. It was first produced by a butcher from Frankfurt who was living in Vienna, hence the name “Wiener”, which is German for “of Vienna”. Paradoxically, the same sausage is called a Frankfurter in Vienna, as it was created by someone from Frankfurt. It’s all very confusing …

56. Film set on Pandora AVATAR
When James Cameron made his epic movie “Titanic”, released in 1997, it was the most expensive film ever made, costing about $200 million. It was a good investment for the studio as it became the highest-grossing film of all time, bringing in over $1.8 billion. “Titanic” remained the highest-grossing film until 2010, when Cameron eclipsed the prior record with “Avatar”.

66. Uncle Pedro, e.g. TIO
“Tia” is the Spanish word for “aunt”, and “tio” means “uncle”.

68. Sign of a successful show SRO
Standing Room Only (SRO)

72. Nickname for baseball’s Dwight Gooden DR K
Dwight Gooden is a former professional baseball pitcher, with the nickname “Dr. K”. “Dr. K” is a reference to the standard abbreviation for “strikeout”, a “K”.

73. Rolling Stones #1 hit with the lyric “You’re beautiful, but ain’t it time we said goodbye?” ANGIE
For my money, “Angie” is the greatest ballad ever performed by the Rolling Stones. Despite rumors to the contrary, “Angie” doesn’t refer to a particular woman. If fact, songwriter Keith Richard says that “Angie” is a pseudonym for heroin, and the lyrics tell of his efforts to get off the drug at a detox facility in Switzerland.

79. Hefty thing TRASH BAG
Hefty is a brand name of trash bags and related products.

81. Wrinkly dog SHAR PEI
The Shar Pei breed of dog is that one with the wrinkly face and really dark tongue. The breed originated in China, with “Shar Pei” being the British spelling of the Cantonese name.

84. Ones providing cold comfort, briefly ACS
Air conditioning units (ACs)

90. Dim bulbs have low ones IQS
Although it is correct these days to say that the abbreviation IQ stands for “intelligence quotient”, the term was actually coined by German psychologist William Stern, so it actually is an abbreviation for the German “Intelligenz-Quotient”.

91. Horse hue DUN
A dun horse is one with a gray-gold or tan color. The color is caused the dun gene, a so-called dilution gene that softens the red and black pigments in a horse’s coat.

95. 1970 John Wayne western RIO LOBO
“Rio Lobo” is a Western movie that was released in 1970, starring John Wayne. “Rio Lobo” is the third film in a trilogy that was directed by Howard Hawks, the other two films being “Rio Bravo” (1959) and “El Dorado” (1966). “Rio Lobo” was the last film that Hawks directed.

99. Self-image? CT SCAN
A CT (or “CAT”) scan produces (via computer manipulation) a three dimensional image of the inside of an object, usually the human body. It does so by taking a series of two dimensional x-ray images while rotating the camera around the patient. The issue with CT scans is that they use x-rays, and high doses of radiation can be harmful causing damage that is cumulative over time. An MRI on the other hand (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), uses powerful magnetic fields to generate its images so there is no exposure to ionizing radiation (such as X-rays). We used MRI equipment in our chemistry labs at school, way back in the days when the technology was still called Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging (NMRI). Apparently the marketing folks didn’t like the term “nuclear” because of its association with atomic bombs, so now it’s just called MRI.

100. Like the Palace of Versailles ROCOCO
The Rococo style is also known as “Late Baroque”. Rococo is a very floral and playful style, very ornate.

101. English landscapist famous for “The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons” TURNER
“The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons” is a work by English painter J. M. W. Turner that comprises two oil paintings. The paintings depict the 1834 Burning of Parliament that destroyed the Palace of Westminster. Turner witnessed the conflagration himself and made sketches, from which he produced his oils some months later.

106. Electromagnetic device MASER
A MASER is a device that was around long before LASERs came into the public consciousness. A MASER (Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) is similar to a LASER, but microwaves are emitted rather than light waves. When the storyline for “Star Trek” was being developed, the writers introduced a weapon called a “phaser”, with the name “phaser” derived from PHoton mASER.

108. Op. ___ (footnote phrase) CIT
Op. cit. is short for “opus citatum”, Latin for “the work cited”. Op. cit. is used in footnotes to refer the reader to an earlier citation. It is similar to “ibid”, except that ibid refers the reader to the last citation, the one immediately above.

110. Magazine to which Obama gave his first postelection interview in 2008 EBONY
“Ebony” is a magazine aimed at African Americans that was founded in 1945.

111. N.F.C. West player NINER
The very successful National Football League team in San Francisco takes its name from the gold prospectors who flooded into Northern California around 1849 during the California Gold Rush. These 1849-prospectors became known as the “49ers”.

119. “___ my destiny be Fustian” (Dickinson poem) THO’
On a roadtrip around the country a few years ago, my wife and I had a very disappointing stop in Amherst, Massachusetts intending to visit the old home of Emily Dickinson. We hadn’t done our homework and failed to note that the home was only open for tours on certain days of the week, and not the day we were there (so be warned!). Emily Dickinson wrote nearly 1800 poems in her lifetime, with less than a dozen published before she died in 1886. Emily’s younger sister discovered the enormous collection, and it was published in batches over the coming decades.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Crew’s colleagues CAST
5. Dojo needs MATS
9. Classic sci-fi film billed as “a horror horde of crawl-and-crush giants” THEM!
13. “La-La” lead-in in a 1974 Al Green hit SHA-
16. Iberian wine city OPORTO
18. “Vincent & ___” (film about the van Gogh brothers) THEO
19. Rings of angels HALOS
21. What X-O-X lacks? TAC
22. “Macbeth” king DUNCAN
23. Words on a fragile package HANDLE WITH CARE
26. Irascible ORNERY
27. “Mona Lisa,” e.g. OIL
28. Thumbs-up A-OK
29. Harridan OLD BAT
30. Orchestra section REEDS
31. Mouthpiece for the head? PRESS SECRETARY
34. Jiffy SEC
35. Not post- PRE-
37. Old piece GAT
38. Little dog, for short POM
39. ___ Aviv TEL
40. Strawberry blond sister of Barbie STACIE
43. Hindu “Mr.” SRI
44. “Swans Reflecting Elephants” and others DALIS
46. 1960s-’70s series starring Efrem Zimbalist Jr. THE FBI
49. Oscar winner Hathaway ANNE
51. Material beyond the terrestrial plane, in medieval science AETHER
55. Hello or goodbye, maybe WAVE
57. PC key ESC
59. First word in 104-Across GAME
61. Cum ___ LAUDE
62. ___ engr. CIV
63. Like hit shows, often SOLD OUT
67. Pitchfork-wielding groups MOBS
69. Boo-boo SLIP
70. How to get a message out of the boxes READ THIS GRID IN BRAILLE
74. Van Morrison song “___ the Mystic” INTO
75. Numerical prefix OCTO-
76. “Only the Lonely” singer ORBISON
77. Part of a wriggly field? EEL
78. Foreordained MEANT
80. Understands KENS
82. Maker of the Sorento KIA
83. Gallivants, with “about” GADS
85. Boo-boos ERRORS
87. Pale ASHY
89. Like citrus fruits ACIDIC
92. Like video games, nowadays RATED
94. ___ Lingus AER
96. Round Table assignments QUESTS
99. Old PC monitor feature CRT
102. Ernie’s instrument on “Sesame Street,” informally SAX
103. Italy’s main broadcasting co. RAI
104. TV channel with lots of bells and whistles GSN
105. Take up, as a skirt HEM
107. Rotary alternative TOUCH-TONE PHONE
112. Covent Garden performance OPERA
114. Newspaper columnist, humorously SCRIBE
115. Grampa Simpson ABE
116. Snockered LIT
117. Anders Celsius and Greta Garbo, for two SWEDES
118. DDT and others CONTACT POISONS
121. “Is Anybody Goin’ to San ___” (#1 Charley Pride song) ANTONE
122. Bullet, in poker ACE
123. Cartoonist Wilson GAHAN
124. Help illicitly ABET
125. Alley flanker GUTTER
126. Hide/hair link NOR
127. Looking up ROSY
128. Chant at a bullfight TORO
129. Satirical 1974 espionage film SPYS

Down
1. With 97-Down, classic puzzle type CONNECT
2. Like eyebrows ARCED
3. Ones getting the red-carpet treatment, say STARS
4. “The Spiderwick Chronicles” co-author DiTerlizzi TONY
5. Antarctic summit between peaks named for faith and charity MT HOPE
6. Words after “win by” or “hang by” A HAIR
7. What lobsters and crabs have TEN LEGS
8. Nursery purchase SOD
9. Baltimore club, for short THE OS
10. Ethan of “Before Sunrise” HAWKE
11. Giant Manning ELI
12. Company that pioneered walkie-talkies MOTOROLA
13. “___ Mater” (hymn) STABAT
14. African capital HARARE
15. Organic chemistry group ACETYL
16. Lilac and lavender ODORS
17. Turns into mush PUREES
20. Oaf SHLEMIEL
24. Not ephemeral LASTING
25. All ChiSox home games are played on it CDT
32. ___ Lee SARA
33. Pro with books, for short CPA
35. Slapstick prop PIE
36. Play watcher REF
41. Motocross entry, for short ATV
42. Pirate’s cargo CHEST
44. Frenzied as if possessed DEMONIAC
45. East German secret police STASI
47. Where a mattress goes BEDSTEAD
48. Shapes like squares ISOGONS
50. Country that has two oryxes on its coat of arms NAMIBIA
52. Like much processed wheat HULLED
53. Roman magistrates EDILES
54. Push off REPEL
55. Food item named after an Austrian city WIENER
56. Film set on Pandora AVATAR
58. Snarly dog CUR
60. Recedes EBBS
62. Blackmail, e.g. CRIME
64. “Well, now!” OHO!
65. Beat LICK
66. Uncle Pedro, e.g. TIO
68. Sign of a successful show SRO
71. One with a name on a plaque, maybe DONOR
72. Nickname for baseball’s Dwight Gooden DR K
73. Rolling Stones #1 hit with the lyric “You’re beautiful, but ain’t it time we said goodbye?” ANGIE
79. Hefty thing TRASH BAG
81. Wrinkly dog SHAR PEI
84. Ones providing cold comfort, briefly ACS
86. Big wheel’s wheels STATE CAR
88. “You betcha” YEAH
90. Dim bulbs have low ones IQS
91. Horse hue DUN
93. Prefix with skeleton EXO-
95. 1970 John Wayne western RIO LOBO
97. See 1-Down THE DOTS
98. Placid SERENE
99. Self-image? CT SCAN
100. Like the Palace of Versailles ROCOCO
101. English landscapist famous for “The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons” TURNER
104. Irritates GETS TO
106. Electromagnetic device MASER
108. Op. ___ (footnote phrase) CIT
109. Some West Coast wines NAPAS
110. Magazine to which Obama gave his first postelection interview in 2008 EBONY
111. N.F.C. West player NINER
112. Admit OWN UP
113. Trifling PETTY
117. Wilts SAGS
119. “___ my destiny be Fustian” (Dickinson poem) THO’
120. Was idle SAT

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8 thoughts on “0922-13 New York Times Crossword Answers 22 Sep 13, Sunday”

  1. In a normal puzzle I consider looking things up (google, dictionary) cheating. This Braille puzzle can't be solved unless you know the Braille alphabet or look it up. I solved the theme but only after conceding, and then googling.

  2. Same here. I had to do the lookup for the Braille letters as well. I reckon that was considered "acceptable" as it was a competition puzzle. It required a little extra work.

  3. MEH. I wish they would do away with such impossible themes and just make puzzles that don't require cheating.

  4. Help! I still don't get it. The Braille boxes have 6 squares, right? The NYT boxes vary in size. Where do I go from here?

  5. Braille cells are actually 3×2 boxes (3 rows, 2 columns). The boxes in the crossword grid are 5×3 (unfortunately!). We have to ignore the column in the center and the second and fourth rows in each box. That done, the letters O are the dots that give us the Braille letters.

    Complicated, and poorly explained I know. But, hope it helps!

  6. Hi there, Barbara.

    I agree … we should not have to resort to outside sources to complete a crossword, although we often have no choice! I'm cutting the setter a lilttle slack in this case, as it was originally published as a "competition crossword".

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