Day: February 9, 2014

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
13. 13-Down, in Dresden : STRASSE
(13D. Way to go : STREET)
The German city of Dresden was almost completely destroyed during WWII, especially as a result of the famous firebombing of the city in 1945. Restoration work in the inner city in recent decades led to it being designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site However, in 2006 when the city built a highway bridge close to the city center, UNESCO took Dresden off the list. This marked the only time a European location has lost World Heritage status.

21. Jazz count? : BASIE
“Count” Basie’s real given name was “William”. Count Basie perhaps picked up his love for the piano from his mother, who played and gave him his first lessons. Basie’s first paying job as a musician was in a movie theater, where he learned to improvise a suitable accompaniment for the silent movies that were being shown.

24. ___ Vista : BUENA
Buena Vista is a brand name used a lot in the past by the Walt Disney Company. The name was chosen as the main Walt Disney offices are located on Buena Vista Street in Burbank, California.

26. Film terrier : TOTO
Toto is Dorothy’s dog in the film “The Wizard of Oz”. Toto was played by a dog called Terry, but Terry’s name was soon changed to Toto in real life, due to the success of the film.

34. Mine, in Madrid : MIO
Madrid is the largest city in Spain and the capital. Madrid is located very close to the geographical center of the country. It is the third-largest city in the European Union (after London and Paris). People from Madrid called themselves Madrileños.

38. Literary inits. : TSE
The author T. S. Eliot was the son of Henry Ware Eliot and Charlotte Champe Stearns, so his full name was Thomas Stearns Eliot (TSE).

40. It’s below the humerus : ULNA
The humerus is the long bone in the upper arm. The bones in the forearm are the radius and ulna. “Ulna” is the Latin word for “elbow”, and “radius” is Latin for “ray”.

41. Trig. function : COS
The most familiar trigonometric functions are sine, cosine and tangent. Each of these is a ratio, a ratio of two sides of a right-angled triangle. The reciprocal of these three functions are secant, cosecant and cotangent. The reciprocal functions are simply the inverted ratios, the inverted sine, cosine and tangent.

42. “Let ___” : IT BE
“Let It Be” was the last album that the Beatles released as an active group playing together. The title song “Let It Be” was written by Paul McCartney, and it is clearly one of his own favorites. McCartney says that he was inspired to write the song after having had a dream about his mother (who had died some years earlier from cancer). In fact he refers to her (Mary McCartney) in the line “Mother Mary comes to me”. Paul’s first wife, Linda, is singing backing vocals on the song, the only time she is known to have done so in a Beatles recording. 18 years after that 1970 recording was made, Paul, George and Ringo sang “Let It Be” at a memorial service for Linda, who was also lost to cancer. Sad stuff, but a lovely song …

43. ___ deferens : VAS
The vasa deferentia are the ducts that carry sperm into the urethra during ejaculation. In a vasectomy, the vasa deferentia are cut and the ends tied to prevent sperm from reaching the urethra.

46. Dweller on the Red Sea : YEMENI
Yemen is located on the Arabian Peninsula, lying just south of Saudi Arabia and west of Oman. Yemen is the only state on the peninsula that is a republic (its official name is the Republic of Yemen). Everyone over the age of 18 gets to vote, but only Muslims can hold elected office.

48. Less than right : ACUTE
An acute angle is less than 90 degrees, less than a right angle. On obtuse angle is greater than the right angle.

52. 1996-2001 show featuring home videos : REAL TV
“Real TV” is a reality television series that aired originally from 1966 to 2001. The show featured amateur video clips of various dramatic events that could hold the viewer’s attention.

53. Actress Gardner : AVA
Ava Gardner is noted for her association with some big movies, but also for her association with some big names when it came to the men in her life. In the world of film, she appeared in the likes of “Mogambo” (1953), “On the Beach” (1959), “The Night of the Iguana” (1964) and “Earthquake” (1974). The men in her life included husbands Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw and Frank Sinatra. After her marriages had failed (and perhaps before!) she had long term relationships with Howard Hughes and bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguin whom she met through her friend Ernest Hemingway.

54. The People’s Champion : ALI
The boxer Muhammad Ali is recognized on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the greatest sports figures of the 1900s. In 1999, Ali was named “Sportsman of the Century” by “Sports Illustrated” and “Sports Personality of the Century” by the BBC.

56. “The Battleship Potemkin” locale : ODESSA
The Russian battleship Potemkin is perhaps more famous for an on-board rebellion than for any naval action. In 1905, the Potemkin was on firing exercises when the crew refused to eat meat that contained maggots. The second-in-command gathered the crew on the quarterdeck, and lined them up in front of armed marines. Fearing a mass execution, the crew rushed the marines and began the famous mutiny. The event was reconstructed in an equally famous film by Sergei Eisenstein called “The Battleship Potemkin”, a silent film released in 1925 that is considered by many to be greatest film of all time.

57. An O’Neill : OONA
Oona O’Neill dated J. D. Salinger and Orson Welles in her teens, but ended up marrying Charlie Chaplin. Oona was still pretty young when she married Chaplin, much to the dismay of her famous father, the playwright Eugene O’Neill. After the marriage Eugene disowned Oona as he was pretty upset about 54-year-old Chaplin marrying his 18-year-old daughter.

60. Houston sch. : RICE U
Rice University is a private school in Houston, Texas. William Marsh Rice had made a will endowing the funds for the establishment of the school at the time of his death. When he was found dead one morning in his bed, his lawyer announced that his will had been changed, with the bulk of Rice’s estate actually going to the lawyer making the announcement. Upon investigation, it was discovered that the lawyer had paid Rice’s valet to murder his employer using chloroform and a fake will was written. Eventually the original will was deemed valid, and the funds were disbursed so that the school could be built.

62. Followers of exes : WYES
The letter Y (wye) follows the letter X (ex) in the alphabet.

69. Plural French word that spells its singular English form in reverse : ETATS
The French word “états” means “states”, as in “Les États-Unis d’Amérique”, “the United States of America”.

74. “When ___ younger, so much younger …” (“Help!” lyric) : I WAS
The Beatles hit “Help!” was released in 1965, as was the Beatles movie for which it served as the title song. “Help!” was written by John Lennon, and he stated that it was written as his own cry for “help” as he struggled with the band’s sudden rise to fame.

76. More modern, in Munich : NEUER
Munich is the capital of the German state of Bavaria, and is the third largest city in the country (after Berlin and Hamburg). The city is called “München” in German, a term that derives from the Old German word for “by the monks’ place”, which is a reference to the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city in 1158.

77. Relative of a convertible : 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.

89. “Why ___ so shy when …?” (“It’s Only Love” lyric) : AM I
“It’s Only Love” is a 1965 song release on the “Rubber Soul” album. The song was initially composed by John Lennon, using the working title “That’s a Nice Hat”. Paul McCartney helped Lennon finish the song under the new title.

90. Snack chip : NACHO
The dish known as “nachos” were supposedly created by the maître d’ at a restaurant called the Victory Club in the city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico. The maître d’’s name was Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya.

92. Nest on a cliff : AERIE
An aerie is the nest of an eagle.

94. Author Umberto : ECO
Umberto Eco is an Italian writer, probably best known for his novel “The Name of the Rose” published in 1980. In 1986, “The Name of the Rose” was adapted into a movie with the same title starring Sean Connery.

95. Dave Clark ___ : FIVE
The Dave Clark Five came right on the heels of the Beatles in the British Invasion of the sixties. They had a great hit single in 1964 that knocked the Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” off the top of the charts. My favorite tune of theirs, “Bits and Pieces”, followed later that year, and “I Like it Like That” was a hit in 1965. The band’s popularity waned in the late sixties, as they didn’t follow the Beatles and others into the “psychedelic sound”, and they broke up in 1970.

99. Playwright Fugard : ATHOL
Athol Fugard was born in South Africa. Fugard became involved in the theater, writing plays that opposed apartheid, many of which had to be produced outside of South Africa given the political climate at home. Fugard now lives in San Diego, California.

100. General ___ chicken : TSO’S
General Tso’s chicken is an American creation, often found on the menu of a Chinese restaurant. The name General Tso may be a reference to General Zuo Zongtang of the Qing Dynasty, but there is no clear link.

104. Actor Hemsworth of “The Hunger Games” : LIAM
Liam Hemsworth is an Australian actor who is best known these days for playing Gale Hawthorne in “The Hunger Games” series of films. Hemsworth met Miley Cyrus while working on the movie “The Last Song”, and the two actors were engaged for a while. Liam is a younger brother of actor Chris Hemsworth, who plays the superhero “Thor” on the big screen.

107. Queen who fell for Zeus’ swan song? : LEDA
In Greek mythology, Leda was the beautiful Queen of Sparta who was seduced by Zeus when he took the form of a swan. Leda produced two eggs from the union. One egg hatched into the beautiful Helen, later to be known as Helen of Troy and over whom the Trojan War was fought. The other egg hatched into the twins Castor and Pollux. Castor and Pollux had different fathers according to the myth. Pollux was the son of Zeus and was immortal, while Castor was the son of Leda’s earthly husband, and so he was a mortal. William Butler Yeats wrote a famous sonnet called “Leda and the Swan” in 1924.

109. Lone Star State sch. : UTEP
The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) was founded in 1914, originally as the Texas State School of Mines and Metallurgy. To this day there is a mine shaft on the campus, and the mascot of the school’s sports teams is Paydirt Pete, a prospector from the mining industry.

110. 500 letters? : STP
STP motor oil takes its name from “Scientifically Treated Petroleum”.

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.

111. Cause of the witch’s demise in “Hansel and Gretel” : OVEN
“Hansel and Gretel” is a Germanic fairy tale found in the collection of the Brothers Grimm. It tells of two siblings, Hansel and Gretel, the children of a woodcutter. The youngsters are abandoned in a forest at the behest of an evil stepmother. Clever Hansel hears of the plan and leaves a trail of pebbles so that he and his sister can find their way home, which they do. But the children are abandoned again and this time leave a trail of breadcrumbs. Unfortunately, the crumbs are eaten by birds and so the children do indeed become lost. But eventually they do all live happily ever after …

115. Rice-A-___ : RONI
Rice-a-Roni was introduced in 1958 by the Golden Grain Macaroni Company of San Francisco. The company was run by an Italian immigrant and his four sons. The wife of one of the sons served a pilaf dish at a family diner that was a big hit, so her brother-in-law created a commercial version by blending dry chicken soup mix with rice and macaroni. Sounds like “a San Francisco treat” to me …

119. Big to-do : HOOPLA
The term “hoopla” means “boisterous excitement”. It probably comes from the “houp-là”, something the French say instead of “upsy-daisy”. Then again, “upsy-daisy” probably isn’t something said very often here in the US …

124. They’re played at un conservatoire : ETUDES
An étude is a small instrumental composition that is usually quite hard to play and is intended to help the performer master a particular technique. “Étude” is the French word for “study”. Études are commonly performed on the piano.

130. Oxford’s St. ___ College : ANNE’S
St. Anne’s College in Oxford was founded in 1879 as a women’s school, but has been coeducational since 1979.

131. City on the Seine upstream from Paris : TROYES
The city of Troyes is located on the River Seine just under 100 miles southeast of Paris. The popular board game “Troyes” was released in 2010 and is named for the historic city.

Down
3. Craze caused by this puzzle’s subjects : BEATLEMANIA
The phenomenon known as “Beatlemania” originated in the early sixties, with the term describing the frenzy exhibited particularly by female fans of the group. The term is perhaps imitative of the much older “Lisztomania”, a term coined in 1844 for the similar fan frenzy directed towards pianist and composer Franz Liszt during an eight-year tour of Europe starting in 1939. Hysterical fans of Liszt would try to get locks of his hair, fight over his handkerchiefs and even carry glass vials containing the dregs from his coffee cup.

5. Card count in Caesar’s Palace? : LII
There are 52 cards in a deck, and 52 is written as LII in Roman numerals.

6. Host for this puzzle’s subjects on 2/9/64 : ED SULLIVAN
The Beatles were already a huge commercial success by the time they set off on their first US tour in 1964. The band left Heathrow airport outside London, waved off by about 4,000 screaming fans. They landed at New York’s JFK Airport and were greeted by another vociferous mob, this time of about 3,000 people. Two days later they made their first live appearance on American television, on “The Ed Sullivan Show”. About 74 million people watched, which back then was over 40% of the American population!

8. Eban of Israel : ABBA
Abba Eban was an Israeli diplomat and politician, born Aubrey Solomon Meir Eban in Cape Town, South Africa. While working at the United Nations after WWII, Eban changed his given name to “Abba”, the Hebrew word for “father”. He made this change as reportedly as he could see himself as the father of the nation of Israel.

9. With 11-Down, subjects of this puzzle : PAUL MCCARTNEY/JOHN LENNON
When in their teens, Paul McCartney and John Lennon would often head into the center of Liverpool together on the bus. The convenient place for them to meet was at the end of Penny Lane. Years later, Paul McCartney wrote the song “Penny Lane”, which was a big hit in 1967. “Penny Lane” was released as a double A-side record with “Strawberry Fields Forever” penned by John Lennon. Coincidentally, Strawberry Field was also a real location, not far from Penny Lane in Liverpool. Strawberry Field was a Salvation Army Children’s Home in the garden of which Lennon would play as a child. I don’t think Lennon and McCartney ever really forgot their roots …

10. Enzyme suffix : -ASE
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.

11. See 9-Down : RINGO STARR/GEORGE HARRISON
Ringo Starr’s real name is Richard Starkey. Before he joined the Beatles (replacing drummer Pete Best), Starkey played with the Raving Texans. It was with the Raving Texans that he adopted the name “Ringo Starr”, because he wore a lot of rings and he thought it sounded “cowboyish”. Back then his drum solos were billed as “Starr Time”.

George Harrison is often referred to as the “quiet Beatle”, although he did have a profound influence on the direction taken by the Fab Four. It was Harrison who first became an admirer of Indian culture and led the rest of the group into the Indian way of life. Harrison went as far as embracing the Hindu religion.

14. Nickname for this puzzle’s subjects : THE FAB FOUR
The Beatles were described on the sleeve notes of their 1963 album “With the Beatles” as the “fabulous foursome”. The press picked up on the phrase and morphed it into “the Fab Four”.

16. Bikini blast, informally : A-TEST
The testing of US nuclear weapons by the US at Bikini Atoll in the middle of 1946 went by the codename “Operation Crossroads”. The tests used A-bombs and were designed to measure the effect of blasts on navy vessels. There were three tests planned, but the third had to be cancelled as the Navy couldn’t decontaminate the ships used in the second test.

17. Song sung by this puzzle’s subjects on 6-Down’s show on 2/9/64 : SHE LOVES YOU
The Beatles song “She Loves You” was released in 1963. It was one of five songs that together achieved an amazing feat in the US charts. At one point that year, those five songs were in the top five positions.

30. Dictator Amin : IDI
Idi Amin received most of his military training in the British armed forces, eventually achieving the highest rank possible for a Black African in the British Colonial Army in 1959, that of Warrant Officer. On his return to Uganda Amin joined his country’s military and quickly rose to the rank of Deputy Commander of the Army. During that time he was quite the athlete. He was a noted rugby player and swimmer, and for nine years held the Ugandan national light-heavyweight boxing title. By the early seventies, Amin was commander of all the armed forces of Uganda and in 1971 seized power in a military coup, displacing the country’s president Milton Obote. There followed seven years of brutal rule by Amin during which it is estimated that between 100,000 and 500,000 people were murdered. Amin was ousted from power in 1979 after a war with Tanzania, and fled to Libya where he stayed for a year. He then moved to Saudi Arabia, where he was financially supported by the Saudi Royal Family for the remainder of his life. Amin died in 2003.

33. Broadway’s ___-Fontanne Theater : LUNT
The Lunt-Fontanne Theatre is a Broadway theater that originally opened in 1910 as the Globe Theatre, named for the London playhouse used by William Shakespeare. The theater was named in honor of actors Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in 1958.

Lynn Fontanne was a British actress who married actor Alfred Lunt in 1922. The couple moved to America after appearing on the New York stage in a Noel Coward play that was regarded as too risque for London’s West End. The Lunts were very successful in the American theater, almost always acting together, and often playing husband and wife.

37. Frist’s successor as Senate majority leader : REID
Democrat Harry Reid became the Senate Majority leader in 2007. Reid had a big day in the Senate from a Democratic perspective with the successful passage of the so-called ObamaCare Bill. Paradoxically, Harry Reid’s wife was in hospital at the time, having broken her back in a car accident. Reid took over as Senate Majority leader from Bill Frist who retired from politics in 2007.

Bill Frist was Senate Majority Leader for the Republicans from 2003 to 2007. Prior to becoming a politician, Frist was a heart and lung transplant surgeon. He has also been a pilot since he was 16-years-old, and has run seven marathons.

38. One of the six counties of Northern Ireland : TYRONE
County Tyrone is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, that part of the island of Ireland that is included in the United Kingdom. The name “Tyrone” comes from the Irish “Tír Eoghain” meaning “land of Eoghan”. Eoghan (equivalent to the English “Owen”) was the son of one of the Irish kings.

48. Park, e.g., in N.Y.C. : AVE
Park Avenue in New York City used to be known as Fourth Avenue, and for much of its length carried the tracks of the New York and Harland Railroad. When the line was built, some of it was constructed by cutting through the length of the street and then forming underground tunnels by covering over the line with grates and greenery. This greenery formed a parkland between 34th and 40th Streets, and in 1860 the grassy section of Fourth Avenue was renamed Park Avenue, a name that was eventually used for the whole thoroughfare.

49. Wallach of “The Misfits” : ELI
Eli Wallach has been appearing consistently and making great performances on the big and small screens since the 1950s. Wallach’s most famous role was probably as “the Ugly” in “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”. More recently he gave a very strong performance in 2006’s “The Holiday”.

“The Misfits” is a 1961 drama starring Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe, directed by John Huston. It is noted for being the last screen appearances by both Gable and Monroe. Gable suffered a heart attack two days after the end of filming, and died ten days later. When the movie premiered in New York, Monroe attended, but was on a pass from a psychiatric hospital. She took a drug overdose and died a year and a half later. Montgomery Clift also starred in the movie. Six years later, the film was on television and his housekeeper asked him if wanted to watch it. He replied curtly, “Absolutely not”. They were the last words he spoke, as he was found dead in bed the next morning. A movie with a bit of a curse, one might say …

51. Subtitle for “Star Wars Episode IV,” with “A” : NEW HOPE
“Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope” was actually the first film in the “Star Wars” series of films, and so usually is referred to simply as “Star Wars”. “Star Wars” cost just $11 million to produce, and raked in over $450 million at the box office in the US and over $300 million overseas.

64. City on the Nile : ASWAN
The city of Aswan is one of the driest places on earth, so dry in fact that many locals do not bother putting roofs on all the rooms in their dwellings. The last time it rained in Aswan (apparently the latest info, as early April 2010) was a thunderstorm on May 13, 2006. The nearby Aswan Dam is very famous, and is actually two dams. The Low Dam was first built in 1902 (and modified later). The High Dam was completed in 1970.

66. Junior Olympics org. : AAU
The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) sponsors the AAU Junior Olympic Games, an annual competition held in different cities across the United States, starting in Washington D.C. in 1967, and most recently in Des Moines, Iowa in 2009.

75. Composer Khachaturian : ARAM
Aram Khachaturian was a Soviet-Armenian composer who created many works that were influenced by Armenian culture. Khachaturian’s most famous piece of music is the frenetic “Saber Dance” from the ballet “Gayane”. My favorite composition though is the “Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia”. It was used as the theme for a BBC drama called “The Onedin Line” and will always evoke for me images of tall ships and vast oceans.

81. Where this puzzle’s subjects got their start : LIVERPOOL
Liverpool is a port city in the northwest of England. People from Liverpool are known as Liverpudlians, although the familiar terms “Scousers” is also common. “Scouse” is a type of stew that originated in the area. That distinctive Liverpool accent and dialect is also referred to as “Scouse”.

86. Song sung by this puzzle’s subjects on 6-Down’s show on 9/12/65 : YESTERDAY
“Yesterday” is such a beautiful ballad. It was written by Paul McCartney, who also routinely performed the song as a solo piece. “Yesterday” wasn’t originally released as a single and first appeared as a track on the 1965 Beatles album, “Help!” In several polls over in the UK, “Yesterday” has been named the number one pop song of all time.

96. Prey for a dingo : EMU
The emu has had a tough time in Australia since humans arrived on the continent. There was even an “Emu War” in Western Australia in 1932 when migrating emus competed with livestock for water and food. Soldiers were sent in and used machine guns in an unsuccessful attempt to drive off the “invading force”. The emus were clever, breaking their usual formations and adopting guerrilla tactics, operating as smaller units. After 50 days of “war”, the military withdrew. Subsequent requests for military help for the farmers were ignored. The emus had emerged victorious …

The dingo is a wild dog of Australia. The dingo is thought to have originated from domesticated dogs that were brought to Australia with humans that settled the land centuries ago.

98. Molly formerly on “S.N.L.” : SHANNON
The comic actress Molly Shannon is a “Saturday Night Live” alum, appearing on the show from 1995 to 2001.

99. Like some dessert orders : A LA MODE
In French, “à la mode” simply means “fashionable”. In America, the term has come to describe a way of serving pie, usually with ice cream, or as I recall from when I lived in Upstate New York, with cheese.

100. King in 1922 news : TUT
King Tut is a name commonly used for the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen. Tutankhamen may not have been the most significant of the pharaohs historically, but he is the most famous today largely because of the discovery of his nearly intact tomb in 1922 by Howard Carter. Prior to this find, any Egyptian tombs uncovered by archaeologists had been ravaged by grave robbers. Tutankhamen’s magnificent burial mask is one of the most recognizable of all Egyptian artifacts.

110. 1965 and 1966 concert site for this puzzle’s subjects : SHEA
The Beatles concert tour of 1965 was the band’s second, after the phenomenal success of their debut appearances in America the prior year. The opening engagement was at Shea Stadium, a concert at which the Beatles only played for 30 minutes. The audience of over 55,000 people set a new record for concert attendance, as did the gate of $304,000 (seems small now, huh?). The amplifiers in the stadium were completely overpowered by the noise of the crowd, and the Fab Four literally couldn’t hear themselves sing. At one point John Lennon just started goofing around as no one could hear the music, and starting playing keyboards with his elbows!

114. Soon : ANON
“Anon” originally meant “at once” and evolved into today’s meaning of “soon” apparently just because the word was misused over time.

118. Medical suffix : -OSIS
The suffix “-osis” is found in medical terms. “-Osis” indicates a disorder in general, with the prefix providing more specificity.

120. Calendar keeper, for short : PDA
Personal digital assistant (PDA)

122. Medical suffix : -OMA
In the world of medicine, the suffix -oma is used to denote a swelling or a tumor. For example, a lipoma is a benign fatty tumor.

123. The “S” of CBS: Abbr. : SYS
CBS used to be called the Columbia Broadcasting System. CBS is the second largest broadcaster in the world, second only to the BBC in the UK.

Return to top of page

For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Cellphones, in Britain : MOBILES
8. Alone : APART
13. 13-Down, in Dresden : STRASSE
20. A debater takes it : ONE SIDE
21. Jazz count? : BASIE
22. In that direction : THITHER
23. One favoring a strong central government : STATIST
24. ___ Vista : BUENA
25. Turns in : REDEEMS
26. Film terrier : TOTO
27. Bar order, with “the” : USUAL
29. Sadness : GRIEF
31. Narrow cut : SLIT
32. Move in an ungainly way : LOLLOP
34. Mine, in Madrid : MIO
36. Cherished by : DEAR TO
38. Literary inits. : TSE
40. It’s below the humerus : ULNA
41. Trig. function : COS
42. “Let ___” : IT BE
43. ___ deferens : VAS
46. Dweller on the Red Sea : YEMENI
48. Less than right : ACUTE
50. Crème de la crème : FINEST
52. 1996-2001 show featuring home videos : REAL TV
53. Actress Gardner : AVA
54. The People’s Champion : ALI
56. “The Battleship Potemkin” locale : ODESSA
57. An O’Neill : OONA
58. More appropriate : APTER
60. Houston sch. : RICE U
62. Followers of exes : WYES
63. Detour, e.g. : NUISANCE
65. Coal distillate : TAR
67. Announcer’s aid : EARPHONE
69. Plural French word that spells its singular English form in reverse : ETATS
70. Much of the audience for 6-Down’s show on 2/9/64 : TEENAGERS
73. Trounces : ROUTS
74. “When ___ younger, so much younger …” (“Help!” lyric) : I WAS
76. More modern, in Munich : NEUER
77. Relative of a convertible : T-TOP
79. Part of a train from a refinery : OIL CAR
85. Servant, e.g. : OBEYER
89. “Why ___ so shy when …?” (“It’s Only Love” lyric) : AM I
90. Snack chip : NACHO
92. Nest on a cliff : AERIE
94. Author Umberto : ECO
95. Dave Clark ___ : FIVE
97. “___ the time …” : MANY’S
99. Playwright Fugard : ATHOL
100. General ___ chicken : TSO’S
101. Attractive legs, in slang : STEMS
103. “Yuck!” : BLEH!
104. Actor Hemsworth of “The Hunger Games” : LIAM
105. Bold : GUTSY
106. Stuck, after “in” : A RUT
107. Queen who fell for Zeus’ swan song? : LEDA
108. It may be a plot : ACRE
109. Lone Star State sch. : UTEP
110. 500 letters? : STP
111. Cause of the witch’s demise in “Hansel and Gretel” : OVEN
113. ’60s war zone : NAM
115. Rice-A-___ : RONI
117. Fraternity chapter : RHO
119. Big to-do : HOOPLA
124. They’re played at un conservatoire : ETUDES
126. Undermines, as support : ERODES
127. Living in a swing state? : MOODY
128. Kind of jacket with pockets on the chest : SAFARI
129. Tilted : ASLANT
130. Oxford’s St. ___ College : ANNE’S
131. City on the Seine upstream from Paris : TROYES

Down
1. A majority : MOST
2. Aware of : ONTO
3. Craze caused by this puzzle’s subjects : BEATLEMANIA
4. Schoolyard rejoinder : IS TOO!
5. Card count in Caesar’s Palace? : LII
6. Host for this puzzle’s subjects on 2/9/64 : ED SULLIVAN
7. Places atop : SETS ON
8. Eban of Israel : ABBA
9. With 11-Down, subjects of this puzzle : PAUL MCCARTNEY/JOHN LENNON
10. Enzyme suffix : -ASE
11. See 9-Down : RINGO STARR/GEORGE HARRISON
12. Rampage : TEAR
13. Way to go : STREET
14. Nickname for this puzzle’s subjects : THE FAB FOUR
15. Free : RID
16. Bikini blast, informally : A-TEST
17. Song sung by this puzzle’s subjects on 6-Down’s show on 2/9/64 : SHE LOVES YOU
18. Big rig : SEMI
19. Lead-in to while : ERST
28. ___ creek : UP A
30. Dictator Amin : IDI
33. Broadway’s ___-Fontanne Theater : LUNT
35. Promise of payment : IOU
37. Frist’s successor as Senate majority leader : REID
38. One of the six counties of Northern Ireland : TYRONE
39. Escort to the door : SEE OUT
44. Yes : ASSENT
45. Balanced conditions : STASES
47. Band material : ELASTIC
48. Park, e.g., in N.Y.C. : AVE
49. Wallach of “The Misfits” : ELI
51. Subtitle for “Star Wars Episode IV,” with “A” : NEW HOPE
53. Just so, after “to” : A TEE
55. Bakeshop worker : ICER
59. Free throw avgs., e.g. : PCTS
61. One team in the N.B.A. All-Star Game, with “the” : EAST
64. City on the Nile : ASWAN
66. Junior Olympics org. : AAU
68. Certain NASA launch : PROBE
71. Had a ball at : ENJOYED
72. Unpredictable : ERRATIC
75. Composer Khachaturian : ARAM
78. Slave : TOIL
79. Apes : OAFS
80. Apes : IMITATORS
81. Where this puzzle’s subjects got their start : LIVERPOOL
86. Song sung by this puzzle’s subjects on 6-Down’s show on 9/12/65 : YESTERDAY
87. Earth’s habitable parts : ECOSPHERE
88. Dawnlike : ROSY
91. Common monthly expense : CABLE
93. Ladies’ man : ROMEO
96. Prey for a dingo : EMU
98. Molly formerly on “S.N.L.” : SHANNON
99. Like some dessert orders : A LA MODE
100. King in 1922 news : TUT
102. Hot : STOLEN
105. Instrument depicted by the shaded squares in this grid : GUITAR
110. 1965 and 1966 concert site for this puzzle’s subjects : SHEA
112. Sweeping : VAST
114. Soon : ANON
116. Be domestic : NEST
118. Medical suffix : -OSIS
120. Calendar keeper, for short : PDA
122. Medical suffix : -OMA
123. The “S” of CBS: Abbr. : SYS
125. Sci-fi sighting : UFO

Return to top of page

The Best of the New York Times Crossword Collections
Amazon.com Widgets