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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: Peter A. Collins
THEME: Hidden Cost … today’s themed answers are comprised of two words, the first ending in -CO and the second starting with ST- giving us a HIDDEN CO-ST:
17A. Informal eateries with Mexican fare : TACO STANDS
23A. Blue-turfed home for Boise State football : BRONCO STADIUM
35A. Beef cuts named for a New York restaurateur : DELMONICO STEAKS
49A. Service site with a star : TEXACO STATION59A. Unexpected expense … or a feature of 17-, 23-, 35- and 49-Across? : HIDDEN COST
BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 6m 21s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0
Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
6. Univ. V.I.P. : BMOC
Big Man On Campus (BMOC)
10. Meat stamp : USDA
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) classifies meat into eight different grades:
– Prime
– Choice
– Select
– Standard
– Commercial
– Utility
– Cutter
– Canner
15. Cassino cash, once : LIRE
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.
Cassino is a township in central Italy that was almost completely destroyed during the Battles of Monte Cassino during WWII. The battles were a series of four assaults by Allied forces against German and Italian forces who fought fiercely to halt the march into Rome. The Axis troops were eventually rooted out of their positions, but at the cost of 55,000 Allied men killed and wounded. The Axis casualties were about 20,000 men killed and wounded.
19. Meat-and-potatoes dish : HASH
“Hash”, meaning a dish of beef and vegetables mashed together, is a very American term and one that really surprised me when I first came across it. “Hash” just seems like such an unappetizing item, but I soon found out how delicious it was. The name “hash” in this context comes from the French “hacher” meaning “to chop”. Back in the early 1900s the dish called “hashed browned potatoes” was developed, which quickly morphed into “hash browns”. From there the likes of corned beef hash was introduced.
21. Corn cake : PONE
Pone is another word for corn bread, from the Powhatan word “apan” meaning “something baked”.
23. Blue-turfed home for Boise State football : BRONCO STADIUM
Bronco Stadium is home to the Boise State Broncos football team. Bronco Stadium has also hosted the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl since 1997. One of the remarkable features of the stadium is the blue color of the playing surface. It was installed in 1986 and was the first non-green playing surface used in the history of American football.
27. Dunces : IDIOTS
John Duns Scotus was a theologian and scholar in the Middle Ages, responsible for many writings that were used as textbooks in British universities of the day. New ideas developed during the English Renaissance, but Duns Scotus and his followers resisted the changes. The word “dunse” came into use as a way of ridiculing those refusing to learn anything new, a precursor to our modern usage of “dunce”.
29. The Rolling Stones’ “Get ___ Ya-Ya’s Out!” : YER
“Get Yer Ya-Yas Out!” is a live album that the Rolling Stones released in 1970. The title “Get Yer Ya-Yas Out!” is a slang phrase exhorting one to live life to the full.
30. King Kong, for one : APE
“King Kong” really is a classic movie. It stars Fay Wray as the young woman (Ann Darrow) with whom Kong falls in love. Wray was very interested in the role as she was told that she would be playing opposite the “tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood”. She thought it might be Clark Gable. At least that’s how the story goes …
31. The Big Easy : NOLA
The city of New Orleans, Louisiana has the nickname “The Big Easy”. This name might come from the early 1900s when musicians found it relatively “easy” to find work there. The city is also known by the acronym NOLA, standing for New Orleans, LA.
32. “MMMBop” band : HANSON
Hanson is a pop rock boy band from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Hanson’s biggest hit is the 1997 song “MMMBop”.
35. Beef cuts named for a New York restaurateur : DELMONICO STEAKS
A Delmonico steak is prepared these days from various cuts of beef, and prepared in a style created originally by Delmonico’s Restaurant in New York City in the mid-1800s.
42. The “A” of N.A. or S.A.: Abbr. : AMER
North America (NA) and South America (SA)
43. Inits. in a military address : APO
Army post office(APO)
46. Percent add-on? : -ILE
Percentile
47. Ontario’s second-largest city : OTTAWA
Ottawa is the second largest city in the Province of Ontario (after Toronto) and is the capital city of Canada. The name “Ottawa” comes from an Algonquin word “adawe” which means “to trade”.
49. Service site with a star : TEXACO STATION
Texaco gets its name from “The TEXA-s CO-mpany”. Today Texaco is just a brand name owned by Chevron, but it used to be its own operation, founded as the Texas Fuel Company in 1901.
53. Peter of “Everybody Loves Raymond” : BOYLE
The actor Peter Boyle’s best-known roles were as Raymond’s father Frank Barone on the sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond”, and as the monster in the Mel Brooks movie “Young Frankenstein”.
55. Alternative to a spinner in a board game : DIE
The numbers on dice are arranged so that the opposite faces add up to seven. Given this arrangement, the numbers 1, 2 and 3 all meet at a common vertex. Now, there are two ways of arranging the 1, 2 and 3 around the common vertex, a so called right-handed die (clockwise 1-2-3) or a left-handed die (counterclockwise 1-2-3). Traditionally, dice used in Western cultures are right-handed, whereas Chinese dice are left-handed. Quite interesting …
58. Ship in the search for the Golden Fleece : ARGO
Jason is a hero from Greek mythology, most noted for leading the quest for the Golden Fleece. The Golden Fleece is the fleece of the gold-haired winged ram. For his quest, Jason assembles a group of heroes who were given the name Argonauts, as they journeyed on the ship called the “Argo”. The vessel was called the “Argo” in honor of the ship’s builder, a man named Argus.
63. “A Death in the Family” novelist : 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”.
64. 1933 Physics Nobelist Schrödinger : ERWIN
Erwin Schrödinger was an Austrian theoretical physicist, one of the so-called “fathers of Quantum Mechanics”. He won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1933 for developing the Schrödinger Equation, the “Newton’s Law” of Quantum Mechanics.
65. Avec’s opposite : SANS
In French, one can be with (avec) or without (sans).
66. Cap’n’s underling : BOS’N
A boatswain works on the deck of a boat. A boatswain is unlicensed, and so is not involved in the navigation or handling of the vessel. He or she has charge of the other unlicensed workers on the deck. Boatswain is pronounced “bosun” and this phonetic spelling is often used interchangeably with “boatswain”. The contraction “bos’n” is also very popular.
67. “Parks and Recreation” woman : DONNA
The character Donna Reagle is an employee of the Parks and Recreation Department in the sitcom “Parks and Recreation”. Reagle is played by the comedian and actress Marietta Sirleaf, better known by the stage name Retta.
“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.
Down
1. Unit often preceded by kilo- : WATT
James Watt was a Scottish inventor, a man who figured prominently in the Industrial Revolution in Britain largely due to the improvements he made to the fledgling steam engine. The SI unit of power is called the watt, named in his honor.
2. Amo, ___, amat … : AMAS
“Amo, amas, amat: … “I love, you love, he/she/it loves”, in Latin.
3. Platypus feature : DUCKBILL
The platypus is one of only five mammalian species that we know of that lay eggs rather than give birth to live young. The platypus is a native of Eastern Australia, and it is a weird creature to say the least. It’s appearance is bizarre enough, with it’s duck-like bill, but it is also poisonous. It has a spur on it hind foot that can inject venom and cause severe pain in humans.
4. That, to Tomás : ESO
“Eso” is Spanish for “that”.
5. Ruler who rules by force : DESPOT
A “despot” is a ruler with absolute power, often one who wields that power oppressively. “Despot” is an old French term from the 14th century, ultimately derived from the Greek “despotes” meaning “master of a household, absolute ruler”.
6. White, as vin : BLANC
“Vin blanc” is French for “white wine”.
7. Sal of “Giant” : MINEO
Sal Mineo’s most famous role was John “Plato” Crawford, the kid who was in awe of the James Dean character in “Rebel Without a Cause”. Sadly, Mineo was murdered in 1976 when he was just 37 years old. He was attacked in the alley behind his Los Angeles apartment and stabbed through the heart. When an arrest was made it was discovered that the murderer had no idea that his victim was a celebrity, and that his plan was just to rob anyone who came along.
“Giant” is a 1952 novel by author Edna Ferber. It was adapted into a successful Hollywood movie released in 1956. In the film, Bick Benedict (played by Rock Hudson) marries Leslie (played by Elizabeth Taylor) and takes his new wife home to the family ranch in Texas called Reata. The ranch’s handyman is Jett Rink, played by James Dean. Dean was killed in a car accident before the film was released. Some of of Dean’s line needed work before the film could be released and so another actor had to do that voice-over work.
8. Former fort on Monterey Bay : ORD
Fort Ord was an army post on Monterey Bay in California named after a General Ord, established in 1917 and closed in 1994. The fort was in a spectacular location with miles of beachfront, and it also had that lovely California weather.
Monterey Bay is a section of the Central Coast of California. The bay is home to the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium, which was opened in 1984 on the equally famous Cannery Row in the city of Monterey.
10. Saw to a seat, informally : USHED
One might usher (“ush”) someone to a seat.
11. Country music’s Twain : SHANIA
Shania Twain is a Country and pop singer from Windsor, Ontario. Her birth name was Eileen Edwards, and this changed to Eilleen Twain when her mother remarried. Twain changed her name to Shania in the early 1990s, around the same time that her musical career started to take off.
12. Minor melee : DUSTUP
Our word “melee” comes from the French “mêlée”, and in both languages the word means “confused fight”.
18. Cargo measures : TONS
Back in the late 1300s, the unit of weight known as a “ton” was the quantity of wine that filled a cask, or “tun”.
“Cargo” is freight carried by some vehicle. The term comes into English via Spanish, ultimately deriving from the Latin “carricare” meaning “to load on a cart”.
22. Medium deck? : TAROT
Tarot cards have been around since the mid-1400s, and for centuries were simply used for entertainment as a game. It has only been since the late 1800s that the cards have been used by fortune tellers to predict the future.
25. Church council : SYNOD
The word synod comes from the Greek word for assembly, or meeting. A synod is a church council, usually in the Christian faith.
26. Hardy heroine : TESS
The full name of Thomas Hardy’s 1891 novel is “Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented”. When it was originally published, “Tess …” received very mixed reviews, largely because it addresses some difficult sexual themes including rape, and sexual double standards (society’s attitude towards men vs women). I suppose the most celebrated screen adaptation is Roman Polanski’s “Tess” released in 1979. Polanski apparently made “Tess” because his wife, Sharon Tate, gave him Hardy’s novel as her last act before she was murdered by the Manson family. There is a dedication at the beginning of the movie that simply reads “To Sharon”.
33. Part of a soft hand in blackjack : ACE
In the card game called Blackjack, an ace has the point value of one or eleven. When one of the two cards dealt to a player is an ace, the hand is called “soft”. This means that the player cannot go bust by taking another card, as the ace can be revalued at “one” if necessary in order to stay under 21.
The game of “twenty-one” was first referred to in a book by Cervantes, the author famous for writing “Don Quixote”. He called the game “ventiuna” (Spanish for “twenty-one”). Cervantes wrote his story just after the year 1600, so the game has been around at least since then. Twenty-one came to the US but it wasn’t all that popular so bonus payments were introduced to create more interest. One of the more attractive bonuses was a ten-to-one payout to a player who was dealt an ace of spades and a black jack. This bonus led to the game adopting the moniker “Blackjack”.
37. ___ contendere : NOLO
“Nolo contendere” is a legal term that translates from Latin as “I do not wish to contend”. It’s the plea of “no contest” and is an alternative to “guilty” or “not guilty”, meaning that one doesn’t admit guilt but nor does one dispute the charge.
39. London’s ___ Gardens : KEW
Kew Gardens is a beautiful location in southwest London that was formerly known as the Royal Botanic Gardens. Kew Gardens has the world’s largest collection of living plants.
40. Sp. lady : SRA
In Spanish, a lady (dama) might be referred to as Señora (Sra.).
44. Illinois home of Caterpillar : PEORIA
Peoria is the oldest European settlement in the state of Illinois, having been settled by the French in 1680. The city is famous for being cited as “the average American city”.
Back in the early 1900s, Benjamin Holt invented a steam tractor that was able to move over soggy land. The new vehicle crawled over the ground using wheels that drove tracks. Someone apparently noted that the tractor moved along like a caterpillar, and so the enterprise that was to be known as the Caterpillar Tractor Company was born.
45. Network co-founded by Oprah Winfrey : OXYGEN
Oxygen is a TV channel that features programming aimed at women. Oxygen was founded in 1998 by a group of media personalities including talk show host Oprah Winfrey.
47. Plains tribe : OTOE
The Native American people known as the Otoe were the first tribe encountered by the Lewis and clark Expedition. The meeting took place at a point on the Missouri River that is now known as Council Bluff.
50. Thrown for ___ : A LOSS
The idiom “to throw someone for a loss” means “to cause someone to be confused”, as in “almost all the clues in the crossword were at a Monday level, but 23-down threw me for a loss”.
51. They rise and fall periodically : TIDES
Tides of course are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon on the oceans. At neap tide, the smaller gravitational effect of the sun cancels out some of the moon’s effect. At spring tide, the sun and the moon’s gravitational forces act in concert causing more extreme movement of the oceans.
52. “As You Like It” forest : ARDEN
The Forest of Arden is the setting for Shakespeare’s “As You Like It”. Even though there is a Forest of Arden surrounding Shakespeare’s home town of Stratford-on-Avon, seeing as the play is set in France one has to assume that the “As You Like It” Arden is an Anglicization of the forested “Ardennes” region that stretches from Belgium into France,and that famously featured in WWII’s Battle of the Bulge.
57. Sicilian rumbler : ETNA
Mt. Etna is the largest of three active volcanoes in Italy. Mt Etna is about 2 1/2 times the height of its equally famous sister, Mt. Vesuvius.
In the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, the “boot” is the mainland of Italy, and the “ball” being kicked by the boot is the island of Sicily.
59. Montreal Canadien, familiarly : HAB
The Montreal Canadiens hockey team is known by the nickname “Habs”, which is short for “Les Habitants”. “Les habitants” were the original French settlers in Quebec.
60. “___ Blind” (Hootie & the Blowfish hit) : I GO
Hootie & the Blowfish is an American rock band, first formed in 1986 at the University of South Carolina. The leading figure in the band was Darius Rucker, and it was he who came up with the band’s very original name. Hootie and Blowfish were the nicknames of two friends of Rucker from the college choir. Hootie had a round face and glasses, and was so-named due to his owl-like appearance. Blowfish had chubby cheeks, which earned him his moniker.
61. ___-Magnon man : CRO
Remains of early man, dating back to 35,000 years ago, were found in Abri de Cro-Magnon in southwest France, giving the name to those early humans. Cro-Magnon remains are the oldest human relics that have been discovered in Europe.
For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Walked into the shallow end of a pool : WADED
6. Univ. V.I.P. : BMOC
10. Meat stamp : USDA
14. Make giggle : AMUSE
15. Cassino cash, once : LIRE
16. Close : SHUT
17. Informal eateries with Mexican fare : TACO STANDS
19. Meat-and-potatoes dish : HASH
20. “Naughty, naughty!” : TSK!
21. Corn cake : PONE
22. 50 minutes past the hour : TEN TO
23. Blue-turfed home for Boise State football : BRONCO STADIUM
27. Dunces : IDIOTS
29. The Rolling Stones’ “Get ___ Ya-Ya’s Out!” : YER
30. King Kong, for one : APE
31. The Big Easy : NOLA
32. “MMMBop” band : HANSON
35. Beef cuts named for a New York restaurateur : DELMONICO STEAKS
41. Napped noisily : SNORED
42. The “A” of N.A. or S.A.: Abbr. : AMER
43. Inits. in a military address : APO
46. Percent add-on? : -ILE
47. Ontario’s second-largest city : OTTAWA
49. Service site with a star : TEXACO STATION
53. Peter of “Everybody Loves Raymond” : BOYLE
54. Unwrinkler : IRON
55. Alternative to a spinner in a board game : DIE
58. Ship in the search for the Golden Fleece : ARGO
59. Unexpected expense … or a feature of 17-, 23-, 35- and 49-Across? : HIDDEN COST
62. Rackful in a closet : TIES
63. “A Death in the Family” novelist : AGEE
64. 1933 Physics Nobelist Schrödinger : ERWIN
65. Avec’s opposite : SANS
66. Cap’n’s underling : BOS’N
67. “Parks and Recreation” woman : DONNA
Down
1. Unit often preceded by kilo- : WATT
2. Amo, ___, amat … : AMAS
3. Platypus feature : DUCKBILL
4. That, to Tomás : ESO
5. Ruler who rules by force : DESPOT
6. White, as vin : BLANC
7. Sal of “Giant” : MINEO
8. Former fort on Monterey Bay : ORD
9. These: Fr. : CES
10. Saw to a seat, informally : USHED
11. Country music’s Twain : SHANIA
12. Minor melee : DUSTUP
13. Opposite of away : AT HOME
18. Cargo measures : TONS
22. Medium deck? : TAROT
24. Wanders : ROAMS
25. Church council : SYNOD
26. Hardy heroine : TESS
27. Oh./Ill. separator : IND
28. Buck’s mate : DOE
32. Puts on the payroll : HIRES
33. Part of a soft hand in blackjack : ACE
34. “Nifty!” : NEATO!
36. Cooling, as champagne : ON ICE
37. ___ contendere : NOLO
38. Short playerwise, as in hockey : A MAN DOWN
39. London’s ___ Gardens : KEW
40. Sp. lady : SRA
43. Times up : AT BATS
44. Illinois home of Caterpillar : PEORIA
45. Network co-founded by Oprah Winfrey : OXYGEN
47. Plains tribe : OTOE
48. Plated, in a way : TINNED
50. Thrown for ___ : A LOSS
51. They rise and fall periodically : TIDES
52. “As You Like It” forest : ARDEN
56. “The devil ___ the details” : IS IN
57. Sicilian rumbler : ETNA
59. Montreal Canadien, familiarly : HAB
60. “___ Blind” (Hootie & the Blowfish hit) : I GO
61. ___-Magnon man : CRO
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Small typo….Hootie and the Blowfish formed in 1986, not 1966.
Thanks for spotting that typo, and taking the time to tell me about it. I appreciate the help. All fixed now!