0109-14 New York Times Crossword Answers 9 Jan 14, Thursday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Caleb Emmons
THEME: Slippage … we have the SAN ANDREAS FAULT running vertically through the center of today’s grid. We’ve had some slippage along this fault, so some of the across answers start on one line and finish on the line below. I’ve included a copy below of the grid with the slippage reversed, to better understand what’s going on:

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 18m 11s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

14. Flaming Gorge locale : UTAH
Flaming Gorge in Utah was named in 1869 by explorer John Wesley Powell. He used the term “Flaming” as the walls of the gorge are made from red sandstone. The Green River runs through Flaming Gorge, and was dammed up in 1964 to create the 91 mile long Flaming Gorge Reservoir.

16. Who has scored more than 850 points in an official Scrabble game : NO ONE
The highest score recorded in an official game of Scrabble is 830, by Michael Cresta of Massachusetts in an 830-490 win in 2006.

18. “Beloved” author Morrison : TONI
The writer Toni Morrison won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993. Amongst other things, Morrison is noted for first coining the phrase, “our first black President”, a reference to President Bill Clinton.

“Beloved” the movie is based on the Pulitzer-winning novel by Toni Morrison. Oprah, who produced the film, stars opposite Danny Glover.

19. Bagpipe music, maybe : DIRGE
Bagpipes have been played for centuries all across Europe, in parts of Asia and North Africa, and in the Persian Gulf. However, the most famous versions of the instrument today are the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and the Irish uilleann pipes, my personal favorite (I’m biased). The bag in the Scottish version is inflated by blowing into it, whereas the Irish version uses a bellows under the arm.

20. Delt neighbor : PEC
“Pecs” is the familiar term for the chest muscle, more correctly known as the pectoralis major muscle. “Pectus” is a the Latin word for “breast, chest”.

The deltoid muscle is actually a group of muscles, the ones that cover the shoulder and create the roundness under the skin. The deltoids are triangular in shape resembling the Greek letter delta, hence the name.

22. Fragrant compound : ESTER
Esters are very common chemicals. The smaller, low-molecular weight esters are usually pleasant smelling and are often found in perfumes. At the other end of the scale, the higher-molecular weight nitroglycerin is a nitrate ester and is very explosive, and polyester is a huge molecule and is a type of plastic. Fats and oils found in nature are fatty acid esters of glycerol.

23. Lucy ___, title character in Sir Walter Scott’s “The Bride of Lammermoor” : ASHTON
“The Bride of Lammermoor” is an 1819 novel by Scottish author Sir Walter Scott. The novel deals with a doomed love affair between Lucy Ashton and her family’s enemy Edgar Ravenswood. The story is set in the Lammermuir Hills of southeast Scotland, hence the title. Even though the novel is now attributed to Scott, it was first published anonymously.

25. Security Council veto : NYET
“Nyet” is Russian for “no”, and “da” is Russian for “yes”.

The United Nations Security Council has 15 members, 5 of whom are permanent and who have veto power over any resolution. The 10 non-permanent members are elected into place, and hold their seats for two years. The UN charter requires that authorized representatives of the member nations are always present at UN headquarters so that the Security council can meet at any time. The permanent members are:

– China
– France
– Russia
– United Kingdom
– United States

29. Shellacs : DRUBS
A drubbing is a beating, given either literally or figuratively. The term “drub” dates back in English to the 17th century when it was imported from the Arabic word for a beating, “darb”.

“To shellac” is a slang term meaning “to defeat decisively, to strike severely”.

31. First name in folk : ARLO
Arlo Guthrie is the son of Woody Guthrie. Both father and son are renowned for their singing of protest songs about social injustice. Arlo is most famous for his epic “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree”, a song that lasts a full 18m 34s. In the song Guthrie tells how, after being drafted, he was rejected for service in the Vietnam War based on his criminal record. He had only one incident on his public record, a Thanksgiving Day arrest for littering and being a public nuisance when he was 18-years-old.

32. ___ factor : RHESUS
The Rhesus macaque is also known as the Rhesus monkey. As it is widely available and is close to humans anatomically and physically, the Rhesus macaque has been used in scientific research for decades. The Rhesus monkey was used in the development of rabies, smallpox and polio vaccines, and it also gave its name to the Rhesus factor that is used in blood-typing. It was also Rhesus monkeys that were launched into space by the US and Soviet space programs. Humans and macaques share about 93% of their DNA and had a common ancestor about 25 million years ago.

38. City in southern California : BREA
The city of Brea, California takes its name from “brea”, the Spanish word for “tar”. Back in the 1800s, entrepreneurs were attracted to the area by the “black gold” (crude oil) that was bubbling up from the ground in some instances.

41. Food processor? : ENZYME
Enzymes are basically catalysts, chemicals that act to increase the rate of a particular chemical reaction. For example, starches will break down into sugars over time, especially under the right conditions. However, in the presence of the enzyme amylase (found in saliva) this production of sugar happens very, very quickly.

51. Extemporizes : AD LIBS
“Ad libitum” is a Latin phrase meaning “at one’s pleasure”. In common usage the phrase is usually shortened to “ad lib”. On the stage the concept of an “ad lib” is very familiar. For example, an actor may substitute his or her own words for forgotten lines using an ad lib, or a director may instruct an actor to use his or her own words at a particular point in a performance to promote a sense of spontaneity.

54. Theater’s ___ Siddons Award : SARAH
The Sarah Siddons Award is presented annually to an actor for outstanding performance in Chicago theater. The name of the award was inspired by a reference in the 1950 movie “All About Eve” which references a fictional “Sarah Siddons Award”. That said, the fictional award was named for a real actress. Sarah Siddons was a stage actress from Wales.

61. Western German city : ESSEN
Essen is a large industrial city located on the River Ruhr in western Germany.

64. Big name in tractors : DEERE
John Deere invented the first commercially successful steel plow in 1837. Prior to Deere’s invention, farmers used an iron or wooden plow that constantly had to be cleaned as rich soil stuck to its surfaces. The cast-steel plow was revolutionary as its smooth sides solved the problem of “stickiness”.

65. ___-square : T
A T-square is a technical drawing instrument used for drawing horizontal lines. You can also get a drywall T-square, which is used in measuring and cutting drywall.

Down
1. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee with only one Top 40 hit : ZAPPA
Frank Zappa was an American composer and guitarist, a solo artist as well as the founding member of the rock band Mothers of Invention. You might like to meet his four children: Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet Emuukha Rodan, and Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen.

2. British ___ : ISLES
The British Isles is the name of the group of islands that includes the two main islands of Great Britain (England, Wales, Scotland) and Ireland, as well as thousands of smaller islands.

6. Alma mater for David Cameron : 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).

7. Site of slippage … both geographically and in this puzzle : SAN ANDREAS FAULT
The famous San Andreas Fault in California lies along the boundary between the Pacific and North American tectonic plates. The faultline was named in 1985 after a small lake just south of San Francisco called Laguna de San Andreas.

10. Calorie-heavy dessert : TORTE
A torte is a type of cake made primarily with eggs, sugar and ground nuts (but no flour).

11. Richard ___, “War Zone Diary” journalist : ENGEL
Richard Engel is a television journalist, the chief foreign correspondent for NBC News.

24. Actor Maguire : TOBEY
The actor Tobey Maguire is most associated with the role of Spider-Man these days. I’m not much into comic book hero films, but I do kind of enjoy the understated way that Maguire takes on “Spidey”. Maguire has appeared in other hit films, like “Pleasantville” (1998), “The Cider House Rules” (1999) and “Seabiscuit” (2003). Off the screen, he is big into poker and it’s said that he has won over $10 million playing poker in Hollywood.

29. Forest female : DOE
A male deer is usually called a “buck”, and a female a “doe”.

30. ___ Burgundy, the anchorman in “Anchorman” : RON
Ron Burgundy is the title character in the movie “Anchorman” series of films. Burgundy is a news anchor played by comedian Will Ferrell. Apparently Burgundy loves a glass of scotch, poetry, and his dog Baxter.

33. Splenda competitor : EQUAL
Splenda and Equal are brand names for the artificial sweetener sucralose.

35. OPEC member: Abbr. : UAE
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven emirates (states) in the Middle East. Included in the seven are Abu Dhabi and Dubai, with the city of Abu Dhabi being the UAE capital and cultural center.

36. Barrett of Pink Floyd : SYD
Syd Barrett was the lead singer and a founding member of the English rock band Pink Floyd. Barrett was only active as a musician for just over ten years. He retired from the music scene in 1975 and spent the next 30 years living off Pink Floyd royalties until he passed away in 2006.

Pink Floyd were an English rock band founded in 1965. The band’s most famous albums were probably “The Dark Side of the Moon” and “The Wall”.

38. ___ Israel Medical Center : BETH
Beth Israel Medical Center is a teaching hospital in New York City. The facility was founded in 1890 and initially provided services to Jewish immigrants in the Lower East Side tenements.

42. The speed of sound : MACH ONE
The Mach number of a moving object (like say an airplane) is it’s speed relative to the speed of sound. A plane travelling at Mach 2, for example, is moving at twice the speed of sound. The term “Mach” takes its name from the Austrian physicist Ernst Mach who published a groundbreaking paper in 1877 that even predicted the “sonic boom”.

46. With 44-Down, “key” invention of the 1830s : MORSE
(44D. See 46-Down : CODE)
Samuel Morse didn’t invent Morse code, but it took his name because it was created for use on the electric telegraph, which was invented by him.

47. 500 people? : RACERS
The first Indy 500 race was held on Memorial Day in 1911. The winner that day was one Ray Harroun. Harroun had seen someone using a rear view mirror on a horse-drawn vehicle, and decided to fit one on his Marmon “Wasp” motor car. Supposedly that was the first ever use of a rear view mirror on a motor vehicle.

48. Carefully examine : PARSE
The verb “to parse” means “to state the parts of speech in a sentence”. “Parse” comes from the Latin word “pars” meaning “part”.

50. Something to pare, informally : TATER
Sometimes one pares the skin off a potato (tater). Well, I like to eat my potatoes with the skins on.

52. Genesis locale : BABEL
We use the word “babel” now to describe a scene of confusion, lifting the term from the biblical story of the Tower of Babel. The Tower was built in the city of Babylon, and the construction was cursed with a confusion of languages due to the varied origins of all the builders.

53. Blocked vessel opener : STENT
In the world of medicine and surgery, a stent is an artificial tube inserted inside a vessel in the body, say an artery, so that it reduces the effects of a local restriction in the body’s conduit.

60. One of the Bushes : JEB
I always thought that Jeb was an American nickname for James or Joseph but I must be wrong, because George and Barbara’s son John Ellis Bush is called “Jeb”. A kind blog reader has suggested the the name “Jeb” may have been chosen as JEB are the initials of John Ellis Bush.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Flies (along) : ZIPS
5. Clutter : MESS
8. What spies collect : INTEL
13. Voyaging : ASEA
14. Flaming Gorge locale : UTAH
16. Who has scored more than 850 points in an official Scrabble game : NO ONE
17. Frolic : PLAY
18. “Beloved” author Morrison : TONI
19. Bagpipe music, maybe : DIRGE
20. Delt neighbor : PEC
21. You might slip on it : BANANA PEEL
22. Fragrant compound : ESTER
23. Lucy ___, title character in Sir Walter Scott’s “The Bride of Lammermoor” : ASHTON
25. Security Council veto : NYET
27. Sure-___ : FOOTED
29. Shellacs : DRUBS
31. First name in folk : ARLO
32. ___ factor : RHESUS
37. Drippings, maybe : OOZE
38. City in southern California : BREA
40. Unloading point : QUAY
41. Food processor? : ENZYME
43. Overseas : ABROAD
44. Like some numbers and beef : CUBED
45. Bill producers, for short : ATMS
48. You might slip on it : PATCH OF ICE
51. Extemporizes : AD LIBS
54. Theater’s ___ Siddons Award : SARAH
55. Assign stars to : RATE
57. Distillery sight : VAT
58. Prefix with type : PROTO-
59. Plaintiff : SUER
60. Agree : JIBE
61. Western German city : ESSEN
62. Shade providers : ELMS
63. Genesis locale : EDEN
64. Big name in tractors : DEERE
65. ___-square : T
66. Wallop : BELT

Down
1. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee with only one Top 40 hit : ZAPPA
2. British ___ : ISLES
3. Sign of puberty, maybe : PEACH FUZZ
4. For example : SAY
5. Certain horror film villain : MUTANT
6. Alma mater for David Cameron : ETON
7. Site of slippage … both geographically and in this puzzle : SAN ANDREAS FAULT
8. Thorough : IN DEPTH
9. “Make some ___!” : NOISE
10. Calorie-heavy dessert : TORTE
11. Richard ___, “War Zone Diary” journalist : ENGEL
12. What womanizers do : LEER
15. Glistening, as Christmas ornaments : SHINY
21. Haunted house sounds : BOOS
24. Actor Maguire : TOBEY
26. Lead-in to plane : AERO-
28. Site of a piercing : EAR
29. Forest female : DOE
30. ___ Burgundy, the anchorman in “Anchorman” : RON
33. Splenda competitor : EQUAL
34. Make pieces of pieces? : SUBDIVIDE
35. OPEC member: Abbr. : UAE
36. Barrett of Pink Floyd : SYD
38. ___ Israel Medical Center : BETH
39. Experiment site : LAB
42. The speed of sound : MACH ONE
44. See 46-Down : CODE
46. With 44-Down, “key” invention of the 1830s : MORSE
47. 500 people? : RACERS
48. Carefully examine : PARSE
49. Appeared : AROSE
50. Something to pare, informally : TATER
52. Genesis locale : BABEL
53. Blocked vessel opener : STENT
54. Tore : SPED
56. Agenda part : ITEM
60. One of the Bushes : JEB

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9 thoughts on “0109-14 New York Times Crossword Answers 9 Jan 14, Thursday”

  1. This puzzle left me slightly peeved, for a rather silly reason: I work crosswords on paper in red ink so that, when I detect an error and I'm sure of the correction, I can make it in black ink. Today, when I realized what the gimmick was, it made sense to me to shift the SAN ANDREAS FAULT line itself down by one square and, unfortunately, I did it in black ink. Once the puzzle was done, I realized that there was a better alternative, but my scheme was inadequate to the task. So … I refuse to take a simple "DNF" … I think I'm entitled to no worse than a "DNFATAOI" ("Did Not Finish As The Author Originally Intended") … 🙂

  2. This is not what a crossword puzzle should be. A good crossword should challenge your general knowledge. These riddles and letter displacing games really are a waste of time and have turned me off to tackling NYT crossword puzzles in the latter part of the week.

  3. @Dave Kennison
    You're a braver man than me, working in ink. I think you deserve the DNFATAOI!

    @Gloria Piccioni
    I'm a big fan of Friday and Saturday puzzles myself, just plain vanilla crosswords. However, I recognize that there are a lot of folks out there who appreciate the NYTimesmixing things up a bit, especially on a Thursday, so I just try to hang on for the ride.

  4. Well, I didn't mind the unusual theme, but it's geographically incorrect. The land is sinking to the WEST (or the left) of the San Andreas Fault, not to the EAST (or right). "Too clever by half" are the words that come to mind. 😉

  5. @Lou
    Well, that is an impressive geographical critique there, Lou. Well spotted!

    @Phylis
    Some of these tricks in the puzzles can be a little frustrating. Some folks skip Thursday altogether as that's when most of the flashy themes are rolled out.

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