0311-14 New York Times Crossword Answers 11 Mar 14, Tuesday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
6. “Must be done NOW!” : ASAP!
As soon as possible (ASAP)

15. Latvia’s capital : RIGA
Riga is the capital city of Latvia. The historical center of Riga is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, declared as such because of the city’s magnificent examples of Art Nouveau architecture.

Latvia is one of the former Soviet Socialist Republics. People from Latvia are called Letts.

19. Boxers Muhammad and Laila : ALIS
Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. was born in 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky. Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali when he converted to Islam in 1964. Who can forget Muhammad Ali lighting the Olympic flame for the 1996 games in Atlanta? Ali was presented with a gold medal during those ’96 Games, a replacement for the medal he won at the 1960 Olympics. He had thrown the original into the Ohio River as a gesture of disgust after being refused service at a “whites only” restaurant.

Laila Ali is the daughter of the great Muhammad Ali and is a very capable boxer in her own right. Laila is not a bad dancer either, coming in third place in the fourth season of “Dancing with the Stars”.

22. Fey of “30 Rock” : TINA
Comic actress Tina Fey has a scar on her face a few inches long on her left cheek, which I was shocked to learn was caused by a childhood “slashing” incident. When she was just five years old and playing in the front yard of her house, someone just came up to her and slashed her with a knife. How despicable!

23. Souvenir of Maui, maybe : TAN
Maui is the second largest of the Hawaiian islands. Maui is sometimes called the “Valley Isle” as it is composed of two volcanoes to the northwest and southeast of the island, each with numerous beautiful valleys carved into them.

32. Monday, in Madrid : LUNES
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.

33. Allied supply route to China during W.W. II : BURMA ROAD
The Burma Road is 717 mile long route that links Burma/Myanmar to southwest China. It was built in 1937/38 and played a crucial role during WWII. At the beginning of the conflict it was used by the British to supply China who were fighting the Japanese. The road was controlled by the Japanese after they overran Burma.

38. Olympic skating champ Kulik : ILIA
Ilia Kulik is a Russian figure skater, born in Moscow and now living in Newport Beach. I’ve seen him skate on the “Stars on Ice” tour. The ladies love it when he takes off his shirt …

39. Physics Nobelist of 1903 and Chemistry Nobelist of 1911 : CURIE
Marie Curie lived a life of firsts. She was the first female professor at the University of Paris, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and indeed was the first person to win two Nobel prizes (in 1903 and 1911). Most of Curie’s work was in the field of radioactivity, and was carried out in the days when the impact of excessive radiation on the human body was not understood. She died from aplastic anemia, caused by high exposure to radiation. To this day, Curie’s personal papers are kept preserved in lead-lined boxes as they are highly radioactive, even her personal cookbook.

40. Toasted waffle : EGGO
Eggo is the brand name of a line of frozen waffles made by Kellogg’s. When they were introduced in the 1930s, the name “Eggo” was chosen to promote the “egginess” of the batter. “Eggo” replaced the original name chosen, which was “Froffles”, created by melding “frozen” and “waffles”.

41. Having a rounded end, as pliers : BULL-NOSED
The adjective “bull-nosed” applies mainly to trim used in building construction. Bullnose trim provides a smooth rounded edge. The term can also be applied to bull-nosed pliers, pliers with rounded ends. “Bull-nosed” is imitative of the roundness of a bull’s nose.

43. Tête topper : BERET
“Tête” is French for “head”.

44. Big name in audio speakers : BOSE
Bose Corporation was founded in 1964 by Amar G. Bose, and is a company that specializes in manufacture of audio equipment.

45. Fracases : MELEES
Our word “melee” comes from the French “mêlée”, and in both languages the word means a “confused fight”.

“Fracas” is a French word that we absorbed into English. In turn, the French usage evolved from the Italian “fracasso” meaning “uproar, crash”.

46. Minor improvement in the Dow : UPTICK
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.

51. Thomas who wrote “Death in Venice” : MANN
Thomas Mann was a German novelist whose most famous work is probably his novella “Death in Venice”, originally published in German in 1912 as “Der Tod in Venedig”. The story was famously adapted for the big screen in 1971, in a movie starring Dirk Bogarde.

61. Tolkien’s ring bearer : BILBO
Bilbo Baggins is the main character in J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy novel “The Hobbit”, and a supporting character in Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

62. Caesar’s rebuke to Brutus : ET TU
It was Shakespeare who popularized the words “Et tu, Brute?” (And you, Brutus?), in his play “Julius Caesar”, although the phrase had been around long before he penned his drama. It’s not known what Julius Caesar actually said in real life just before he was assassinated on the steps of the Senate in Rome.

63. Lena of “Chocolat” : OLIN
The lovely Lena Olin is a Swedish actress, clearly someone who had acting in her blood. Her mother was the actress Britta Holmberg and her father the actor and director Stig Olin. Olin had a very successful career in Sweden, often working with the great Ingmar Bergman. Olin’s breakthrough international and English-speaking role was playing opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” released in 1988. Way back in 1974, the lovely Miss Olin was crowned Miss Scandinavia in a beauty pageant for Nordic women held in Helsinki, Finland.

“Chocolat” is big screen adaption of the novel of the same name by Joanne Harris. “Chocolat” tells the story of a young mother with a six-year-old daughter who opens up a chocolate shop in a French village. The mother is played by the lovely Juliette Binoche.

66. “Citizen” of film : KANE
“Citizen Kane” was the first film made by Orson Welles, one considered by many to be the finest film ever made. It’s a remarkable achievement by Welles, as he played the lead, and also produced and directed. Despite all the accolades for “Citizen Kane” over the decades, the movie was far from a commercial success in its early run and actually lost money at the box office.

Down
2. Protein source for vegetarians : TOFU
Tofu is another name for bean curd, and is a Japanese word meaning just that … bean that has “curdled”. Tofu is produced by coagulating soy milk, using either salt or something acidic. Once the protein has coagulated, the curds are pressed into the familiar blocks. Personally I love tofu, but my wife, she absolutely hates it …

4. Some summer babies : LEOS
Leo is the fifth astrological sign of the Zodiac. People born from July 13 to August 23 are Leos.

5. Topics for probate courts : ESTATES
“Probate” is the process of establishing the validity of a will. The term derives from the Latin “probare” meaning “to prove”.

7. In ___ (undisturbed) : SITU
“In situ” is a Latin phrase meaning “in the place”, and we use the term to mean “in the original position”.

8. Opposed to, to Li’l Abner : AGIN
“Li’l Abner” was created and drawn by Al Capp for over 43 years starting in 1934. Al Capp stopped producing the strip in 1977, largely due to illness (he died from emphysema two years later). As the strip finished up, he went so far as to apologize to his long-standing fans, saying that he should have stopped 3-4 years earlier as he felt that the quality of his work had gone down in those latter years.

9. “Scusi” : PARDON ME
“Scusi” is the Italian for “pardon me”.

10. Autodom’s MX-5 : MIATA
I’ve always liked the looks of the Mazda Miata, probably because it reminds me so much of old British sports cars. The Miata is built in Hiroshima, Japan.

11. Wing it : AD LIB
“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.

12. What the Left Bank is a bank of : SEINE
The famous “Left Bank” (“La Rive Gauche”) of the River Seine in Paris is the river’s southern bank. The area south of the river was traditionally quite affluent and was home to artists, students and intellectuals.

25. Three R’s org. : NEA
The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in the country, and mainly represents public school teachers.

27. She’s back in town, in a Fats Waller song : LULU
“Lulu’s Back in Town” is a song that was written for the musical “Broadway Gondolier” in 1935. The song was popularized by Fats Waller in the thirties and by Mel Tormé in the fifties.

Fats Waller was a jazz pianist, singer and composer who best known compositions are “Ain’t Misbehavin’” and “Honeysuckle Rose”.

28. Blue dye source : ANIL
Anil is another name for the indigo plant, as well as the name for the blue indigo dye that is obtained from it. The color of anil is relatively close to navy blue.

33. Smooch : BUSS
“To buss” is “to kiss”. Not a term with which I am familiar …

36. James who wrote “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men” : AGEE
James Agee was a noted American film critic and screenwriter. Agee wrote an autobiographical novel “A Death in the Family” that won him his Pulitzer in 1958, albeit posthumously. He was also one of the screenwriters for the 1951 classic movie “The African Queen”.

“Let Us Now Praise Famous Men” is a book by James Agee, with dramatic photographs by Walker Evans. The book chronicles the plight of sharecropper families in the American South during the Great Depression.

42. “Parks and Recreation” network : NBC
“Parks and Recreation” is a sitcom that started airing on NBC in 2009, and it is a show that has grown on me. It stars the “Saturday Night Live” alum, Amy Poehler. The creators of “Parks and Recreation” are part of the team responsible for the American version of “The Office”, so you’ll notice some similarities in the style of the two shows, and some actors that have appeared in both.

43. Casual type of chair : BEANBAG
The original beanbag chair was designed by an Italian company called Zanotta in 1969. That first model was called “il sacco” and is still made today. The idea came from staff at the Zanotta factory who would take their breaks sitting on bags filled with styrofoam.

45. Unit of electrical conductance : MHO
Conductance (measured in mhos) is the inverse of resistance (measured in ohms). The mho has been replaced by the SI unit called the siemens.

48. Federal security, for short : T-NOTE
A Treasury note (T-Note) is a government debt that matures in 1-10 years. A T-Note has a coupon (interest) payment made every six months. The T-note is purchased at a discount to face value, and at the date of maturity can be redeemed at that face value. A T-Bill is a similar financial vehicle, but it matures in one year or less, and a T-Bond matures in 20-30 years.

50. Observe Yom Kippur : ATONE
Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year for the Jewish people and is also known as the Day of Atonement.

56. Ye ___ Shoppe : OLDE
The word “olde” wasn’t actually used much earlier than the 1920s. “Olde” was introduced to give a quaint antique feel to brand names, shop names etc.

57. Kimono securers : OBIS
The sash worn as part of traditional Japanese dress is known as an obi. The obi can be tied in what is called a butterfly knot.

The lovely Japanese kimono is a garment worn by men, women and children. The word “kimono” translates simply as “thing to wear”, with “ki” meaning “wear” and “mono” meaning “thing”.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Like yesterday’s news : STALE
6. “Must be done NOW!” : ASAP!
10. Reduce to a pulp : MASH
14. Lugs : TOTES
15. Latvia’s capital : RIGA
16. It may be just a hunch : IDEA
17. Underway : AFOOT
18. Blend : STIR
19. Boxers Muhammad and Laila : ALIS
20. Idles : BUMS AROUND
22. Fey of “30 Rock” : TINA
23. Souvenir of Maui, maybe : TAN
24. How money may be won or lost : ON A BET
26. Like windows : GLAZED
30. Window segment : PANE
32. Monday, in Madrid : LUNES
33. Allied supply route to China during W.W. II : BURMA ROAD
38. Olympic skating champ Kulik : ILIA
39. Physics Nobelist of 1903 and Chemistry Nobelist of 1911 : CURIE
40. Toasted waffle : EGGO
41. Having a rounded end, as pliers : BULL-NOSED
43. Tête topper : BERET
44. Big name in audio speakers : BOSE
45. Fracases : MELEES
46. Minor improvement in the Dow : UPTICK
50. Shout of inspiration : AHA!
51. Thomas who wrote “Death in Venice” : MANN
52. Sycamore tree : BUTTONWOOD
59. “No ___” (reassuring words) : PROB
60. Spanish eight : OCHO
61. Tolkien’s ring bearer : BILBO
62. Caesar’s rebuke to Brutus : ET TU
63. Lena of “Chocolat” : OLIN
64. Supply, as a new ingredient : ADD IN
65. Like Easter eggs : DYED
66. “Citizen” of film : KANE
67. They return north in the spring : GEESE

Down
1. Blind guess : STAB
2. Protein source for vegetarians : TOFU
3. Tiny bit : ATOM
4. Some summer babies : LEOS
5. Topics for probate courts : ESTATES
6. Flaming felony : ARSON
7. In ___ (undisturbed) : SITU
8. Opposed to, to Li’l Abner : AGIN
9. “Scusi” : PARDON ME
10. Autodom’s MX-5 : MIATA
11. Wing it : AD LIB
12. What the Left Bank is a bank of : SEINE
13. Attacks with vigor : HAS AT
21. “Far out, man!” : RAD!
25. Three R’s org. : NEA
26. Smooth-talking : GLIB
27. She’s back in town, in a Fats Waller song : LULU
28. Blue dye source : ANIL
29. Fervor : ZEAL
30. Baby food, typically : PUREE
31. Like much of the Southwest : ARID
33. Smooch : BUSS
34. Recite quickly, with “off” : REEL
35. Brute : OGRE
36. James who wrote “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men” : AGEE
37. “i” and “j” tops : DOTS
39. Volume that requires lots of preparations to compile? : COOKBOOK
42. “Parks and Recreation” network : NBC
43. Casual type of chair : BEANBAG
45. Unit of electrical conductance : MHO
46. Made calls, in baseball : UMPED
47. New Year’s Eve staple : PARTY
48. Federal security, for short : T-NOTE
49. About to bloom … or a hint to 20-, 33-, 41- and 52-Across : IN BUD
50. Observe Yom Kippur : ATONE
53. Pac-12 basketball powerhouse : UCLA
54. Slender : THIN
55. Broad : WIDE
56. Ye ___ Shoppe : OLDE
57. Kimono securers : OBIS
58. Puzzle solver’s happy shout : DONE!

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