1007-13 New York Times Crossword Answers 7 Oct 13, Monday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Amy Johnson
THEME: Singing the Blues … each of today’s themed answers are all song titles ending with a word that is a shade of BLUE:

16A. 1959 hit by the Drifters : THERE GOES MY BABY (baby blue)
27A. 1970 hit by Eric Clapton : AFTER MIDNIGHT (midnight blue)
49A. 1978 hit by Journey : WHEEL IN THE SKY (sky blue)
63A. What the artists of 16-, 27- and 49-Across are doing (in reference to the last words of their hits)? : SINGING THE BLUES

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 05m 32s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

1. Pat down, as pipe tobacco : TAMP
“Tamp” means to pack down tightly by tapping. “Tamp” was originally used to specifically describe the action of packing down sand or dirt around an explosive prior to detonation.

13. Grammy winner McLachlan : SARAH
Sarah McLachlan is singer/songwriter from Halifax, Nova Scotia who lives in Vancouver. In 1997, McLachlan married Ashwin Sood, the drummer in her band. Apparently the song “Adia”, that she co-wrote and recorded, was intended as an apology to her best friend … for stealing her ex-boyfriend and then marrying him!

15. Salt lake state : UTAH
The Great Salt Lake in Utah is extremely shallow, and so the area of the lake fluctuates greatly with the changing volume of water. Back in 1963 the lake shrunk to 950 square miles, whereas in 1988 the area was measured at a whopping 3,300 square miles.

16. 1959 hit by the Drifters : THERE GOES MY BABY
“There Goes My Baby” is a song recorded in 1959 by the Drifters. Donna Summer released a moderately successful cover version in 1984.

The Drifters are doo-wop group that formed in 1953 and are still going strong. That said, the Drifters lineup has changed many, many times. The four-man group has had over 60 vocalists over the decades, including the great lead singer Ben E. King. Among the hits recorded by the Drifters are “There Goes My Baby” (1959), “This Magic Moment” (1960), “Save the Last Dance for Me” (1960), “Up on the Roof” (1962) and “Under the Boardwalk” (1964).

19. Stock market index, with “the” : DOW
Dow Jones & Company was founded as a publishing house in 1882 by three newspaper reporters, Charles Dow, Edward Jones and Charles Bergstresser. Today, the company’s most famous publication has to be “The Wall Street Journal”. In 1884, Charles Dow started reporting the average dollar value of the stock of eleven companies, an index which spawned a whole host of metrics that carry the Dow Jones name to this day, including the renowned Dow Jones Industrials.

20. Collaborative Web project : WIKI
A wiki is a website in which users are allowed to create and edit content themselves. The term “wiki” comes from the name of the first such site, introduced in 1994 and called WikiWikiWeb. “Wiki” is a Hawaiian word for “quick”, and is used because comprehensive content is created very quickly a there are so many collaborators contributing to the site.

27. 1970 hit by Eric Clapton : AFTER MIDNIGHT
“After Midnight” is a song written and recorded by JJ Cale in 1966. It is more famous as an Eric Clapton number, as he released a cover version in 1970.

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.

32. Barbie and others : DOLLS
The famous Barbie doll was created by businesswoman Ruth Handler and first appeared on store shelves in 1959. Barbie was based on a German fashion doll called Bild Lilli that was introduced in 1955. Lilli had been a German cartoon character before taking on a three-dimensional form. Prior to the introduction of Bild Lilli and Barbie, children’s dolls were primarily representations of infants.

36. Letter after pi : RHO
Rho is the Greek letter that looks just like our Roman letter “p”.

40. Magazine with an annual “500” list : INC
“Inc.” is a business magazine that specializes in articles about growing companies. “Inc.” publishes a list of the 500 fastest-growing private companies in the country each year, calling it the “Inc. 500”. The “Inc 5000” is an expanded list also published by the magazine.

47. Nutso : BATTY
The expression “bats in the belfry” meaning “mad, crazy” conjures up images of bats flying around Gothic bell towers, but actually it’s a relatively recent addition to our vernacular. The term is American in origin, and dates back only to the early 1900s. The concept is that someone who is “crazy”, with wild ideas flying around his or her head, can be described as having bats (wild ideas) flying around the belfry (head). The terms “bats” and “batty” originated at the same time, and are clearly derivative.

49. 1978 hit by Journey : WHEEL IN THE SKY
Journey is a rock band from San Francisco who formed in 1973 with the guidance of former Santana manager Herbie Herbert. Journey was most successful in the late seventies and eighties.

60. Therefore : ERGO
“Ergo” is the Latin word for “hence, therefore”.

62. One may be under a blouse : BRA
The word “brassière” is of course French in origin, but it isn’t the word the French use for a “bra”. In France what we call a bra is known as a “soutien-gorge”, translating to “held under the neck”. The word “brassière” is indeed used in France but there it describes a baby’s undershirt, a lifebelt or a harness. “Brassière” comes from the Old French word for an “arm protector” in a military uniform (“bras” is the French for “arm”). Later “brassière” came to mean “breastplate” and from there the word was used for a type of woman’s corset. The word jumped into English around 1900.

67. “___ and the King of Siam” : ANNA
“Anna and the King of Siam” is a semi-biographical novel written by Margaret Landon and first published in 1944. The book tells the largely true story of Anna Leonowens who spent five years in Siam teaching English to the children and wives of King Mongkut. The novel was adapted as a 1946 movie of the same name starring Irene Dunne and Rex Harrison. Then followed a 1951 stage musical titled “The King and I”. The musical was written as a vehicle for Gertrude Lawrence, who played Anna. Rex Harrison was asked to play the King, but he turned it down and Yul Brynner was cast instead. A movie version of the stage musical was released in 1956, famously starring Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr.

68. On the Adriatic, say : ASEA
The Adriatic is the sea separating Italy from the Balkans.

71. Roseanne, before and after Arnold : BARR
The comedienne Roseanne Barr is perhaps best known as the star of her own sitcom called “Roseanne” in which she played the character Roseanne Conner. In 2012 Barr unsuccessfully vied for the Green Party’s nomination for US President. She didn’t give up though, and was successful in winning the nomination of the Peace and Freedom Party. In the 2012 presidential election she earned over 60,000 votes, and placed sixth in the list of candidates.

72. Exercise that may involve sitting cross-legged : YOGA
“Asana” is a Sanskrit word literally meaning “sitting down”. The asanas are the poses that a practitioner of yoga assumes. The most famous is the lotus position, the cross-legged pose called “padmasana”.

Down
1. California/Nevada border lake : TAHOE
Lake Tahoe is up in the Sierra Nevada mountains, right on the border between California and Nevada. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in the country. It’s also the second deepest lake, with only the beautiful Crater Lake in Oregon being deeper. Given its location, there are tall casinos that sit right on the shore on the Nevada side of the state line where gambling is legal.

5. Bram who created Dracula : STOKER
Bram Stoker was an irish author whose real given name was Abraham (shortened to “Bram”). Stoker is most famous for his Gothic novel “Dracula”, first published in 1897.

8. Certain lap dog, informally : 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% …

10. Slightly : A TAD
Back in the 1800s “tad” was used to describe a young child, and this morphed into our usage of “small amount” in the early 1900s. The original use of “tad” for a child is very likely a shortened version of “tadpole”.

11. Kemo ___ (the Lone Ranger) : SABE
“Kemosabe” is a term used by the Tonto character in the iconic radio and television program “The Lone Ranger”. “Kemosabe” doesn’t really mean anything outside of the show, and in fact was written as “ke-mo sah-bee” in the original radio show scripts. The term was created by longtime director of “The Lone Ranger”, Jim Jewell. To come up with the term, Jewell used the name of a boy’s camp that his father-in-law established called Kamp Kee-Mo Sah-Bee.

17. Nobel-winning author André : GIDE
André Gide was an author from Paris who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1947. His works were placed on the Index of Forbidden Books by the Catholic Church in 1952.

23. Org. for the Bears and Bengals : NFL
The Chicago Bears were founded in Decatur, Illinois in 1919 and moved to Chicago in 1921. The Bears are one of only two franchises in the NFL that were around at the time of the NFL’s founding (the other is the Arizona Cardinals, who were also based in Chicago in 1921).

The NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals team was founded in 1966 as a member of the American Football League (AFL). There was an earlier team called the Bengals in the city, which played from 1937 to 1941. The team used the “Bengal” name because Cincinnati Zoo was home to a very rare Bengal tiger.

28. Fed. air marshal’s org. : TSA
Transportation Security Administration (TSA)

The US air marshal program was created by President Kennedy in 1963, with the initial force of only six marshals assigned to flights that were considered at high risk for a hijacking. Just before 9/11, the number of marshals had increased to 33. The exact number of marshals employed today is classified information, but it is thought to be thousands.

29. Locale for an 1863 address : GETTYSBURG
I visited Gettysburg for the first time in 2010, and goodness me what a moving place that is. As I discovered on my visit, there are five known copies of Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, and all of them differ in some way or another, so I suppose the exact words spoken will never be known. Martin Luther King Jr. evoked Abraham Lincoln’s words in another of America’s iconic addresses, his “I Have a Dream” speech. Lincoln’s speech began with “Four score and seven years ago …”, and King’s speech began with “Five score years ago …” a nod to the Gettysburg Address.

30. “B.C.” creator Johnny : HART
“B.C.” is a comic strip that was drawn by Johnny Hart, and now since Hart’s passing, is produced by his grandson. Hart introduced “B.C.” in 1958. One of the non-human characters in the strip is the Anteater, who sucks up ants with his sticky tongue making a “ZOT!” sound. Hart’s Anteater is the inspiration for Peter the Anteater, the team mascot for UC Irvine. Johnny Hart’s other famous comic strip is the brilliant “The Wizard of Id”.

41. Network with an “eye” for entertainment : CBS
CBS introduced its “eye” logo in 1951.

44. Dakar’s land : SENEGAL
The Republic of Senegal is a country on the far western coast of Africa. For many years Senegal was a French colony, gaining independence in 1960. The capital of Senegal is Dakar, a city located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean.

46. Pearly Gates sentinel : ST PETER
In the Christian tradition, Saint Peter is often depicted as the keeper of the gates of heaven. This depiction arises from a passage in the Gospel of Matthew:
I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

48. Alias letters : AKA
Also known as (aka)

50. Anderson of “WKRP in Cincinnati” : LONI
Loni Anderson’s most remembered role was Jennifer Marlowe on the sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati”. Anderson has been married four times, most famously to actor Burt Reynolds from 1988 to 1993.

The sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati” was produced by MTM, the production company established by Mary Tyler Moore and her husband for the “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”. “WKRP” was a successful enough show when it originally aired, but then became a blockbuster in syndication. It became MTM’s most-watched program, even outstripping the original “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”.

57. Bygone Kremlin resident : TSAR
I was lucky enough to visit the Moscow Kremlin as a tourist a few decades ago. The Kremlin of course sits right on Red Square, along with Saint Basil’s Cathedral and the famed GUM department store. “Kremlin” is a Russian word for “fortress”.

58. Cabernet, for one : WINE
The Cabernet Sauvignon grape has been around since the 17th century. It is the result of a chance crossing in southwestern France of the Cabernet franc and Sauvignon blanc grapes.

65. Fed. property manager : GSA
The US Government’s General Services Administration (GSA), as the name suggests, provides general services to other federal agencies. So for example, the GSA manages office space for the other agencies, and transportation.

66. Philosopher ___-tzu : LAO
Lao Tse (also Lao-Tzu) was a central figure in the development of the religion/philosophy of Taoism.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Pat down, as pipe tobacco : TAMP
5. Trade : SWAP
9. Carpenter’s file : RASP
13. Grammy winner McLachlan : SARAH
14. Heading on a list of errands : TO DO
15. Salt lake state : UTAH
16. 1959 hit by the Drifters : THERE GOES MY BABY
19. Stock market index, with “the” : DOW
20. Collaborative Web project : WIKI
21. Helpers : AIDES
22. What children should be, and not heard, they say : SEEN
24. Pudding or pie : DESSERT
27. 1970 hit by Eric Clapton : AFTER MIDNIGHT
32. Barbie and others : DOLLS
34. 180 degrees from WNW : ESE
35. Close by : NEAR
36. Letter after pi : RHO
37. Belly muscles, for short : ABS
40. Magazine with an annual “500” list : INC
42. ___-la-la : TRA
43. Forever and ever : EONS
45. “___ in apple” : A AS
47. Nutso : BATTY
49. 1978 hit by Journey : WHEEL IN THE SKY
53. Something to scribble on : NOTEPAD
54. “Hurry!,” on an order : ASAP
57. 11- or 12-year-old : TWEEN
60. Therefore : ERGO
62. One may be under a blouse : BRA
63. What the artists of 16-, 27- and 49-Across are doing (in reference to the last words of their hits)? : SINGING THE BLUES
67. “___ and the King of Siam” : ANNA
68. On the Adriatic, say : ASEA
69. Brings in, as a salary : EARNS
70. Piece of fly-casting equipment : REEL
71. Roseanne, before and after Arnold : BARR
72. Exercise that may involve sitting cross-legged : YOGA

Down
1. California/Nevada border lake : TAHOE
2. “Can anybody hear us?” : ARE WE ALONE?
3. Feb. follower : MAR
4. “Close call!” : PHEW!
5. Bram who created Dracula : STOKER
6. “Alas!” : WOE IS ME!
7. Billboards, e.g. : ADS
8. Certain lap dog, informally : POM
9. Gloat : RUB IT IN
10. Slightly : A TAD
11. Kemo ___ (the Lone Ranger) : SABE
12. ___ ed. (gym class) : PHYS
13. Norms: Abbr. : STDS
17. Nobel-winning author André : GIDE
18. Fisherman’s tale : YARN
23. Org. for the Bears and Bengals : NFL
25. “But of course, amigo!” : SI! SI!
26. Garden of ___ : EDEN
28. Fed. air marshal’s org. : TSA
29. Locale for an 1863 address : GETTYSBURG
30. “B.C.” creator Johnny : HART
31. A waiter carries plates on it : TRAY
32. Sketched : DREW
33. Cry before “I know!” : OH! OH!
38. Worms, to a fisherman : BAIT
39. Not at all nutso : SANE
41. Network with an “eye” for entertainment : CBS
44. Dakar’s land : SENEGAL
46. Pearly Gates sentinel : ST PETER
48. Alias letters : AKA
50. Anderson of “WKRP in Cincinnati” : LONI
51. “That’s so funny I forgot to laugh” : HAR HAR
52. Rim : EDGE
55. ___ football : ARENA
56. Fail’s opposite : PASS
57. Bygone Kremlin resident : TSAR
58. Cabernet, for one : WINE
59. Feminine suffix : -ENNE
61. Follow, as orders : OBEY
64. Arrest : NAB
65. Fed. property manager : GSA
66. Philosopher ___-tzu : LAO

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