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Solution to today’s crossword in the New York Times
Solution to today’s SYNDICATED New York Times crossword in all other publications
CROSSWORD SETTER: Zhouqin Burnikel
THEME: Mac vs. PC … today’s themed answers each contain either of the letter strings “MAC” or “PC”. Also, in each case, the MAC string crosses the PC string, sharing the letter C:
16A. Bada Bing!, on “The Sopranos” : STRIP CLUB
5D. Colorful parrots : MACAWS21A. Loud kisses : SMACKS
10D. Movies, TV, hit songs, etc. : POP CULTURE48A. Antiriot spray : MACE
28D. Hairpin, e.g. : SHARP CURVE61A. Winning advantage : TRUMP CARD
44D. Poison ___ : SUMAC37A. Epic battle in technology … or a hint to four crossings in this puzzle : MAC VS PC
BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 7m 18s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0
Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
13. Gate posting, for short : ETA
Estimated time of arrival (ETA)
14. Ketchup is one : SAUCE
The term “ketchup” may be of Chinese origin. One suggestion is that the name comes from “kôe-chiap”, meaning the brine of pickled fish. The name may also come from the Chinese “jyutping”, meaning “tomato sauce”.
15. Aimée of “La Dolce Vita” : ANOUK
Anouk Aimée is a French film actress. Aimée’s most famous film outside of France is probably the internationally successful 1966 French hit “A Man and a Woman”, in which she played the female lead.
The title of the celebrated 1960 Federico Fellini film “La Dolce Vita” translates from Italian as “The Good Life”. There is a character in the film called Paparazzo who is a news photographer. It is this character who gives us our word “Paparazzi”, a term used for photographers who make careers out of taking candid shots of celebrities.
16. Bada Bing!, on “The Sopranos” : STRIP CLUB
The Bada Bing! was a strip club owned by the mob in the HBO show “The Sopranos”. The “real” Bada Bing!, the club used for the location shoots, is the Satin Dolls go-go bar in Lodi, New Jersey.
20. Puzzlers’ direction: Abbr. : ACR
Across (acr.)
22. Sitcom set at a Vermont inn : NEWHART
“Newhart” is a very entertaining sitcom starring Bob Newhart and Mary Frann as innkeepers in rural Vermont. The show is remembered by many for its last episode, which aired in 1990. In that final episode, Bob Newhart wakes up in bed and suggests that the whole of the show’s eight-year run was just a dream. He is lying beside actress Suzanne Pleshette who played his wife in the earlier sitcom “The Bob Newhart Show”. Very, very clever …
29. Like Ogden Nash’s verse : DROLL
The poet Ogden Nash is well known for his light and humorous verse. Try this one for size:
The one-L lama,
He’s a priest.
The two-L llama,
He’s a beast.
And I would bet
A silk pajama
There isn’t any
Three-L lllama.
31. Milo of “Ulysses” : O’SHEA
Milo O’Shea was a great Irish character actor from Dublin who has appeared in everything from “Romeo and Juliet” to “The West Wing”. Sadly, O’Shea passed away in 2013 in New York City.
Regular readers will know that I am unashamedly supportive of my native Irish culture, but I have to tell you that I can’t handle the works of James Joyce. I have spent many a fine day traipsing around Ireland learning about his life, but I have yet to appreciate one of his books. To me, his life is more absorbing than his writing. Having said that, “Ulysses” is an interesting novel in that it chronicles just one ordinary day in the life of a Dubliner named Leopold Bloom. There’s a huge celebration of “Ulysses” in Dublin every year on June 16th, called Bloomsday. The festivities vary from readings and performances of the storyline, to good old pub crawls. “Ulysses” was made into a film of the same name in 1967 starring Milo O’Shea.
32. Player of the hot-tempered Corleone : CAAN
James Caan is an actor from the Bronx in New York City. Caan is noted for his appearances in some very big movies such as “The Godfather”, “Misery”, “A Bridge Too Far”, “Rollerball” and more recently “Elf”. Caan is quite the sportsman. He plays golf with an 8 handicap, and is a 6-Dan Black Belt Master of Gosoku Karate.
Mario Puzo created Corleone Mafia family in his 1969 novel “The Godfather”. The head of the family is Vito Corleone (whose birth name was Vito Andolini), a native of Corleone in Sicily. He was given the name Corleone by immigration officers at Ellis Island.
36. Peeples of “Fame” : NIA
Actress Nia Peeples played the character Nicole Chapman in the TV series “Fame”.
40. G.I. morale booster : USO
The United Service Organization (USO) was founded in 1941 at the request of FDR “to handle the on-leave recreation of the men in the armed forces”. A USO tour is undertaken by a troupe of entertainers, many of whom are big-name celebrities. A USO tour usually includes troop locations in combat zones.
41. Locale for a hammer : EAR
The middle ear is the portion of the ear immediately behind the eardrum. The middle ear contains three small bones called the ossicles, the three smallest bones in the human body. The ossicles’ job is to transmit sound from the outer ear to the inner ear. The shape of the bones gives rise to their common names: the hammer, anvil and stirrup.
45. “Going Rogue” author : PALIN
When John McCain selected Sarah Palin as candidate for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she became the first Alaskan to go on the national ticket for a major party. She also became the first woman nominated for Vice President by the Republicans.
47. Like Muddy Waters’s music : BLUESY
Muddy Waters was a musician from Mississippi who was nicknamed the “father of modern Chicago blues”.
48. Antiriot spray : MACE
“Mace” is actually a brand name, originally introduced by Lake Erie Chemical when they started to manufacture “Chemical Mace”, with the name being a play on the club-like weapon from days of old. Mace was originally a form of tear gas, but Mace today uses a formula that is actually a pepper spray.
53. Online music source : ITUNES
iTunes is a very, very successful software application from Apple. It’s basically a media player that works on platforms like the iPad, iPhone and iPod. Of course it connects seamlessly to the iTunes Store, where you can spend all kinds of money.
55. “The signature of civilizations,” per Beverly Sills : ART
Beverly Sills was an operatic soprano from Brooklyn, New York. Sills retired from singing in 1980 to become the general manager of the New York City Opera. She later became Chairman of the Lincoln Center and the Metropolitan opera.
56. Dark purple fruit : ACAI
Açaí is a palm tree native to Central and South America. The fruit has become very popular in recent years and its juice is a very fashionable addition to juice mixes and smoothies.
60. “Two Women” star, 1960 : LOREN
(64A. Award for 60-Across for her role in “Two Women” : OSCAR)
Sophia Loren certainly has earned her exalted position in the world of movies. In 1962 Loren won an Oscar for Best Actress for her role in the Italian film “Two Women”, the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English speaking performance. She received a second nomination for Best Actress for her role in “Marriage Italian-Style”, another Italian-language movie, released in 1964.
63. Singer who’s the subject of Carl Perkins’s “The Whole World Misses You” : ELVIS
“”The Whole World Misses You (We Miss You Elvis)” is a song about Elvis Presley that was recorded by Carl Perkins.
Carl Perkins was a rockabilly singer who was so influential in the genre that he was known as the King of Rockabilly. Perkins’ most famous recording was “Blue Suede Shoes” in 1955, which was famously covered by Elvis Presley the following year.
65. Flying Cloud of autodom : REO
The REO Motor Company was founded by Ransom E. Olds (hence the name REO). The company made cars, trucks and buses, and was in business from 1905 to 1975 in Lansing, Michigan. Among the company’s most famous models were the REO Royale and the REO Flying Cloud.
Down
2. Palindromic man’s name : OTTO
The three most famous palindromes in English have to be:
– Able was I ere I saw Elba
– A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!
– Madam, I’m Adam
One of my favorite words is “Aibohphobia”, although it doesn’t appear in the dictionary and is a joke term. “Aibohphobia” is a great way to describe a fear of palindromes, by creating a palindrome out of the suffix “-phobia”.
3. “Fierce working-class domestic goddess” of a sitcom : 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.
4. AOL, for many : ISP
Internet service provider (ISP)
5. Colorful parrots : MACAWS
Macaws are beautifully colored birds of native to Central and South America, and are actually a type of parrot. Most species of macaw are now endangered, with several having become extinct in recent decades. The main threats are deforestation and illegal trapping and trafficking of exotic birds.
7. Honda line : ACURA
Acura is a division of the Honda Motor Company, and is Honda’s luxury brand. Infiniti is the equivalent luxury brand for the Nissan Motor Company, and Lexus is the more luxurious version of Toyota’s models.
8. Ball belle : DEB
Deb is short for “debutante”, which translates from French as “female beginner”.
11. Lira spenders : TURKS
The word “lira” is used in a number of countries for currency. “Lira” comes from the Latin for “pound” and is derived from a British pound sterling, the value of a Troy pound of silver. For example, the lira (plural “lire”) was the official currency of Italy before the country changed over to the euro in 2002.
12. Wee bit : SKOSH
“Skosh” is a slang term meaning “a little bit”, originally military slang that came out of the Korean War. “Skosh” derives from the Japanese word “sukoshi” which translates as “few, little, some”.
23. Fabergé coating : ENAMEL
Fabergé eggs are beautiful jeweled eggs made by the House of Fabergé from 1885 to 1917. The tradition of fabricating the eggs started when Tsar Alexander III commissioned Fabergé to create a jeweled egg for his wife in 1885. After this, the House of Fabergé produced more and more elaborate designs, year after year.
24. Nutritional figs. : RDAS
Recommended Daily Allowances (RDAs)
27. Home to most 11-Down : ASIA
Turkey is a country that straddles the border between the continents of Europe and Asia. Even though most of Turkey lies geographically in Asia, in recent decades the country has been strengthening its ties with its European neighbors. Turkey is a member of NATO and is well on the way to becoming a member of the European Union.
32. Rx-dispensing chain : CVS
The name of the drugstore chain CVS once stood for Consumer Value Stores, although these days the company uses the acronym to denote Convenience, Value and Service.
There seems to some uncertainty about the origin of the symbol “Rx” that’s used for a medical prescription. One explanation is that it comes from the astrological sign for Jupiter, a symbol put on prescriptions in days of old to invoke Jupiter’s blessing to help a patient recover.
38. Seed covers : ARILS
The casing surrounding many seeds is called the aril, and it may be quite fleshy. This fruit-like characteristic makes it desirable as a food and aids in the dispersion of the seeds.
44. Poison ___ : SUMAC
Sumacs are a group of flowering shrubs and small trees that includes Poison oak, Poison ivy and Poison sumac. Nasty stuff!
46. Post-Trojan War epic : AENEID
“The Aeneid” is Virgil’s epic poem that tells of the journey of Aeneas, a Trojan who traveled to Italy to become the ancestor of all Romans. “The Aeneid” begins with the words “Arma virumque cano …”, which translates as “I sing of arms and of a man …”
47. Superhero ally of Commissioner Gordon : BATMAN
Batman and Robin are unique among their superhero compatriots in that they have no special powers, just a whole load of cool gadgets.
48. Marathon markers : MILES
The marathon is run over 26 miles and 385 yards, and of course commemorates the legendary messenger-run by Pheidippides from the site of the Battle of Marathon back to Athens. The actual distance run today was decided in 1921, and matches the length of the modern-day Marathon-Athens highway.
49. Coral ring : ATOLL
An atoll is a coral island that is shaped in a ring and enclosing a lagoon. There is still some debate as to how an atoll forms, but a theory proposed by Charles Darwin while on his famous voyage aboard HMS Beagle still holds sway. Basically an atoll was once a volcanic island that had subsided and fallen into the sea. The coastline of the island is home to coral growth which persists even as the island continues to subside internal to the circling coral reef.
51. Break down, in a way : PARSE
The verb “to parse” means “to state the parts of speech in a sentence”. “Parse” comes from the Latin word “pars” meaning “part”.
52. ___ Wayne, a.k.a. 47-Down : BRUCE
Bruce Wayne is the secret identity of Batman in the comic series created by DC Comics. The first name of Bruce was chosen as a homage to the Scottish king and heroic figure, Robert the Bruce. The family name was a nod to “Mad Anthony” Wayne, the US Army general and statesman who rose to prominence in the Revolutionary War.
54. U.S.N.A. grad: Abbr. : ENS
Ensign (ens.)
The United States Naval Academy (USNA) is located in Annapolis, Maryland. The USNA was founded in 1845 and educates officers for both the US Navy and the US Marine Corps. The motto of the USNA is “Ex Scientia Tridens”, which translates as “From Knowledge, Sea Power”.
57. Be a nag : CARP
The word “carp” used to mean simply “talk” back in the 13th century, with its roots in the Old Norwegian “karpa” meaning “to brag”. A century later the Latin word “carpere” meaning “to slander” influenced the use of “carp” so that it came to mean “find fault with”.
59. Heathen’s figurine : IDOL
Our term “heathen” comes from an Old English word meaning “neither Christian nor Jewish”.
For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Unruly bunch : MOB
4. [Grr-r-r] : I’M MAD!
9. Pulls (out) : OPTS
13. Gate posting, for short : ETA
14. Ketchup is one : SAUCE
15. Aimée of “La Dolce Vita” : ANOUK
16. Bada Bing!, on “The Sopranos” : STRIP CLUB
18. Copy, for short : REPRO
19. Part of a car alarm, maybe : HORN
20. Puzzlers’ direction: Abbr. : ACR
21. Loud kisses : SMACKS
22. Sitcom set at a Vermont inn : NEWHART
25. Like a well-kept lawn : LUSH
26. Ewers’ mates : BASINS
29. Like Ogden Nash’s verse : DROLL
31. Milo of “Ulysses” : O’SHEA
32. Player of the hot-tempered Corleone : CAAN
33. Rubber ducky’s spot : TUB
36. Peeples of “Fame” : NIA
37. Epic battle in technology … or a hint to four crossings in this puzzle : MAC VS PC
40. G.I. morale booster : USO
41. Locale for a hammer : EAR
42. “-zoic” periods : ERAS
43. Comparable to a beet? : AS RED
45. “Going Rogue” author : PALIN
47. Like Muddy Waters’s music : BLUESY
48. Antiriot spray : MACE
50. Stick in a purse, maybe : LIP BALM
53. Online music source : ITUNES
55. “The signature of civilizations,” per Beverly Sills : ART
56. Dark purple fruit : ACAI
60. “Two Women” star, 1960 : LOREN
61. Winning advantage : TRUMP CARD
63. Singer who’s the subject of Carl Perkins’s “The Whole World Misses You” : ELVIS
64. Award for 60-Across for her role in “Two Women” : OSCAR
65. Flying Cloud of autodom : REO
66. Large item in Santa’s bag, maybe : SLED
67. Pint-size : TEENY
68. Close one : PAL
Down
1. Fit nicely : MESH
2. Palindromic man’s name : OTTO
3. “Fierce working-class domestic goddess” of a sitcom : BARR
4. AOL, for many : ISP
5. Colorful parrots : MACAWS
6. Garden ground cover : MULCH
7. Honda line : ACURA
8. Ball belle : DEB
9. Early tie score : ONE-ALL
10. Movies, TV, hit songs, etc. : POP CULTURE
11. Lira spenders : TURKS
12. Wee bit : SKOSH
15. Escort’s offer : ARM
17. Belly button type : INNIE
21. Subway handful : STRAP
23. Fabergé coating : ENAMEL
24. Nutritional figs. : RDAS
26. Doggie bag item : BONE
27. Home to most 11-Down : ASIA
28. Hairpin, e.g. : SHARP CURVE
30. At the ready : ON CALL
32. Rx-dispensing chain : CVS
34. Draws upon : USES
35. Soul mate? : BODY
38. Seed covers : ARILS
39. “Ple-e-ease?” : CAN I?
44. Poison ___ : SUMAC
46. Post-Trojan War epic : AENEID
47. Superhero ally of Commissioner Gordon : BATMAN
48. Marathon markers : MILES
49. Coral ring : ATOLL
51. Break down, in a way : PARSE
52. ___ Wayne, a.k.a. 47-Down : BRUCE
54. U.S.N.A. grad: Abbr. : ENS
57. Be a nag : CARP
58. Field : AREA
59. Heathen’s figurine : IDOL
61. Rug rat : TOT
62. Be nosy : PRY
The Best of the New York Times Crossword Collections
Amazon.com Widgets
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