0515-14 New York Times Crossword Answers 15 May 14, Thursday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: John Lieb
THEME: An I for an Eye … today’s themed answers contain a letter “I” where there should be the word EYE:

18A. What ladies’ men tend to have : WANDERING IS (from “wandering eyes”)
24A. Very alert : ALL IS AND EARS (from “all eyes and ears”)
40A. Espy : LAY IS ON (from “lay eyes on”)
51A. 1981 #1 Kim Carnes hit : BETTE DAVIS IS (from “Bette Davis Eyes”)

62A. Misinterpretation of a biblical code … or the key to answering 18-, 24-, 40- and 51-Across : AN I FOR AN EYE (from “an eye for an eye”)

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 23m 34s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

4. Link : NEXUS
A nexus is a means of connection, or a center where many connections come together. “Nexus” is a Latin word meaning “that which ties or binds together”. The Latin “nexus” is the past participle of the verb “nectere” meaning “to bind”.

14. Tulsa sch. : ORU
Oral Roberts University (ORU) is a private school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. ORU was founded relatively recently, in 1963 by the late televangelist Oral Roberts. The campus includes a Prayer Tower at its center, a spectacular glass and steel structure designed by architect Frank Wallace. The tower includes an observation deck, and is a popular tourist attraction.

16. Soviet spymaster in a John le Carré trilogy : KARLA
Karla is a Soviet Intelligence officer after whom the hero George Smiley is battling in three novels by John le Carré: “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”, “The Honourable Schoolboy” and “Smiley’s People”. These three novels were actually published as a trilogy called “Smiley Versus Karla”. There’s a marvelous series of TV adaptations of le Carré’s novels, in which Karla is played by Patrick Stewart.

John Le Carré is the pen name of David Cornwell, an English author famous for his spy novels. Cornwell worked for British Intelligence during the fifties and sixties, even as he was writing his spy thrillers. He left MI6 soon after his most famous 1963 novel “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold”, became such a great success.

20. U.S. slalom great Phil : MAHRE
Phil Mahre is one of the great alpine ski racers, a native of Yakima, Washington. Phil’s twin brother Steve was also a skier on the World Cup circuit.

23. Actor whose breakout role was on TV’s “21 Jump Street” : DEPP
Johnny Depp had his big break as an actor on television, in the eighties television show “21 Jump Street”. Depp’s first film success came when he played the title role in 1990’s “Edward Scissorhands”. He has twice been named Sexiest Man Alive by “People” magazine. I don’t see it myself …

28. Cell in a network : NEURON
A nerve cell is more correctly called a neuron, and the long nerve fiber that is part of a neuron is called the axon.

32. Receiver Victor of the Giants’ 2011 Super Bowl-winning season : CRUZ
Victor Cruz plays football for the New York Giants as a wide receiver. Before turning pro, Cruz played for UMass.

34. Actress Mara of “House of Cards” : KATE
Kate Mara is an actress played the female lead in the US TV series “House of Cards”. Kate is the sister of fellow actress Rooney Mara who played the lead in the American version of the film “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”.

38. Classic toothpaste featured in “Grease” : IPANA
Ipana toothpaste was introduced in 1915 and was at the height of its popularity in the forties and fifties. Sales declined in the sixties and the product was withdrawn from the US market in the seventies. Bucky the Beaver was the “spokesman” for Ipana. Bucky the Beaver’s slogan was “Brusha… Brusha… Brusha. Get the New Ipana – it’s dandy for your teeth!”

39. Old TV knob: Abbr. : HOR
Remember the “horizontal hold” and “vertical hold” on old TV sets? Our kids have no idea what we had to go through …

42. Geographic indicator, briefly : ZIP
ZIP codes were introduced in 1963. The acronym ZIP stands for Zone Improvement Plan, a name indicating that mail travels more efficiently when the codes are included in the postal address.

43. Out : ALIBI
“Alibi” is the Latin word for “elsewhere” as in, “I claim that I was ‘elsewhere’ when the crime was committed … I have an ‘alibi'”.

46. Some modern viruses and worms : BOTS
A bot is computer program that is designed to imitate human behavior. It might “crawl” around the Web doing searches for example, or it might participate in discussions in chat rooms by giving pre-programmed responses.

49. Mystery author John Dickson ___ : CARR
John Dickson Carr was an American author of crime fiction. Carr’s most famous work is “The Hollow Man” published in 1935, a so-called “locked room mystery” in which two murders are committed in apparently impossible circumstances. “The Hollow Man” was selected in 1981 as the best “locked room mystery” of all time.

51. 1981 #1 Kim Carnes hit : BETTE DAVIS IS (from “Bette Davis Eyes”)
Kim Carneshas an incredible raspy voice. Perhaps her most famous release was “Bette Davis Eyes”, one of my favorite songs. Back in 1966, Carnes was a member of the New Christy Minstrels, performing alongside Kenny Rogers and Karen Black.

61. Prefix with biology : ETHNO-
Ethnobiology is the study of the relationship between plants and animals and the humans of different cultures. The emphasis is on the way animals and plants are treated by different human cultures.

62. Misinterpretation of a biblical code … or the key to answering 18-, 24-, 40- and 51-Across : AN I FOR AN EYE (from “an eye for an eye”)
The saying “an eye for eye, and a tooth for tooth” originally comes from the code laid down by Hammurabi, King of Babylon (1792-1750 BC). It is also quoted in the Bible in the Gospel of Matthew.

65. Going by, for short : AKA
Also known as (aka)

66. Genre featured on MTV’s “Headbangers Ball” : METAL
“Headbangers Ball” was an MTV show aired late at night that featured hard rock and heavy metal music videos.

69. Hummus, e.g. : PASTE
The lovely dip/spread called hummus usually contains mashed chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic. The name “hummus” is an Arabic word for “chickpeas”.

Down
1. ___ Desmond, “Sunset Boulevard” diva : NORMA
Norma Desmond is one of the two lead roles in the Bill Wilder classic film “Sunset Boulevard”, released in 1950. In the movie, Desmond was played by Gloria Swanson.

“Sunset Boulevard” is a classic film noir co-written and directed by the great Billy Wilder, released in 1950. It’s a story about a faded film star (played by Gloria Swanson) who dreams about making a return to the screen. Andrew Lloyd Webber made a reasonable successful musical adaptation of the film, using the same title, that opened in London in 1993.

2. Setting for much of “My Cousin Vinny” : TRIAL
“My Cousin Vinny” is a really fun film from 1992 starring Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei. In 2008, the American Bar Association rated “My Cousin Vinny” as the #3 Greatest Legal Movie of all time, after “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “12 Angry Man”!

3. “House” star : HUGH LAURIE
I think that “House” is one of the best shows made by Fox television. It is fun for me to see English actor Hugh Laurie in the title role as coming from the other side of the Atlantic I have been watching him in various comedic roles for decades. Famously he played Bertie Wooster opposite Stephen Fry in P.G. Wodehouse’s “Jeeves & Wooster”, as well as one of the bumbling “bad guys” in “101 Dalmatians” (the version starring Glenn Close).

5. Actress Green of “300: Rise of an Empire” : EVA
Despite the English sounding name, Eva Green is a French actress. She played Bond girl Vesper Lynd in the 2006 movie “Casino Royale”, opposite Daniel Craig.

“300: Rise of an Empire” is a 2014 movie, a sequel to the 2007 film “300”. Both are fantasy war films, with the original based on the Battle of Thermopylae.

6. Strobe light element : XENON
Xenon gas is used in flash tubes. The gas is ionized into a light emitting plasma by discharging a high voltage through it, using current stored in a capacitor.

8. Inscribed pillar : STELE
Stelae (singular “stele” or “stela”) were used all over the world, sometimes as territorial markers and sometimes to commemorate military victories. In later times stelae were commonly erected as commemorative markers in graveyards or other religious sites.

12. Erratum : SLIP
Errata is the past participle of the Latin word “errare” meaning “to err”. We use “errata” (singular “erratum”) to mean a list of errors that have been noted in some publication.

13. Door securer : HASP
The “hasp” of a lock might refer to more than one thing. The u-shape loop protruding from a padlock is often called a “lock hasp”, for example.

19. Role played by Baldwin, Ford, Affleck and Pine : RYAN
I loved the Tom Clancy series of novels, most of which feature Jack Ryan as the main character, but I felt that with each successive title, my interest faded a little. I was hooked with “The Hunt for Red October” published in 1984, and dutifully worked my through all Clancy’s subsequent novels, before giving up halfway through the 1998 “Rainbow Six”. Tom Clancy passed away quite recently, at the beginning of October 2013. Jack Ryan has been played on the big screen a number of times, by:

– Alec Baldwin in “The Hunt for Red October” (1990)
– Harrison Ford in “Patriot Games” (1992) and “Clear and Present Danger” (1994)
– Ben Affleck in “The Sum of All Fears” (2002)
– Chris Pine in “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit” (2014)

21. Alternative to Premium : RITZ
I’ve always liked Ritz crackers. They’ve been around since 1934 when they were introduced by Nabisco. The name Ritz was chosen because the marketing folks felt that the association with Ritz-Carlton would evoke images of wealth and the high life.

Premium is a brand of saltine crackers owned by Nabisco.

25. “Puppy Love” crooner : ANKA
Canadian-born Paul Anka’s big hit was in 1957, the song entitled “Diana”. Anka was the subject of a much-lauded documentary film in 1962 called “Lonely Boy”.

“Puppy Love” is a song written and recorded by Paul Anka in 1960. He wrote the song for his girlfriend at the time, the actress and singer Annette Funicello. “Puppy Love” was covered by Donny Osmond who had a big hit with it in 1972.

32. Fellow : CHAP
“Chap” is an informal term for “lad, fellow”, especially in England. The term derives from “chapman”, an obsolete word meaning “purchaser” or “trader”.

33. One of three in a Yahtzee turn : ROLL
The dice game of Yahtzee was introduced in 1956, a variant of earlier dice games, especially the game “Yacht” (which even has a similar name). Yahtzee is required playing in our house at holidays.

35. Objectivist Rand : AYN
Ayn Rand was the pen name of Russian-American novelist Alisa Rosenbaum. Rand’s two best known works are her novels “The Fountainhead” published in 1943 and “Atlas Shrugged” in 1957. Back in 1951, Rand moved from Los Angeles to New York City. Soon after, she gathered a group of admirers around her with whom she discussed philosophy and shared drafts of her magnum opus, “Atlas Shrugged”. This group called itself “The Collective”, and one of the founding members was none other than future Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan.

37. That, in Toledo : ESA
Toledo is a city in central Spain.

40. Miller product : LITE
The first light beer was produced by Chicago’s Meister Brau brewery in the sixties. Miller took over Meister Brau, reformulated the light beer using the same process and became the first of the big breweries to come out with a light beer, “Lite Beer from Miller” introduced in 1973. There really wasn’t a serious competitor to Miller Lite until Anheuser-Busch finally came up with a process and a product in 1982 that they called Bud Light.

41. Boat in “Jaws” : ORCA
“Jaws” is a thrilling 1975 movie directed by Steven Spielberg that is based on a novel of the same name by Peter Benchley. The film has a powerful cast, led by Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw. “Jaws” was perhaps the first “summer blockbuster” with the highest box office take in history, a record that stood until “Star Wars” was released two years later.

44. Some lose it in their teens : BABY FAT
Mine has come back …

46. One from London Town, e.g. : BRIT
London is the largest metropolitan area in the whole of the European Union (and one of my favorite cities in the world). London has been a major settlement for over 2,000 years and was founded as a town by the Romans who called it Londinium. The name “Londinium” may have existed prior to the arrival of the Romans, and no one seems too sure of its origins. Famously, the City of London is a one-square-mile area at the center of the metropolis, the area that marked old medieval London. “The City”, as it is commonly called, has its own Mayor of the City of London (the Mayor of London is someone else), and it’s own City of London Police Force (the London Metropolitan Police are the police usually seen on the streets, a different force).

50. Skin-care brand : AVEENO
Aveeno is a manufacturer of skin care and hair care products that was founded in 1945. The name Aveeno comes from the Latin name for the common oat: “Avena sativa”.

53. Children’s character originally voiced by Jim Henson : ERNIE
I’ve always believed that the “Sesame Street” characters Bert and Ernie were named after two roles played in the Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life”. In the movie, the policeman’s name is Bert and his taxi-driving buddy is named Ernie. However, the “Sesame Street” folks have stated that the use of the same names is just a coincidence.

Jim Henson was a puppeteer, and most famously the creator the Muppets characters. Henson produced his first puppets for a local television station in Hyattsville, Maryland while he was still in high school. As well as the famous Muppet characters, Henson created, operated and voiced the character Yoda in most of the “Star Wars” movies. Henson died from a streptococcal infection in 1990, on the same day Sammy Davis, Jr. passed away.

56. Joy-filled? : SOAPY
Joy is a brand of dishwashing liquid that was introduced in 1949. Joy was the first sponsor of the soap opera “Search for Tomorrow”.

57. Like “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” : CAMP
“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” has to have the most devout cult-following of any movie ever made. Famously, fans attending a midnight show of the film will dress up in the outrageous costumes used in the film, and bring props with them. The props bear little relation to the storyline, but a tradition of using certain props in a particular way has been established. For example, at one point a character proposes a toast, and the audience throws toast around the theater. Go figure …

58. Eligible to serve : ONE-A
The US government maintains information on all males who are potentially subject to military conscription, using what is called the Selective Service System(SS). In the event that a draft was held, men registered would be classified into groups to determine eligibility for service. Class 1-A registrants are those available for unrestricted military service. Other classes are 1-A-O (conscientious objector available for noncombatant service), 4-A (registrant who has completed military service) and 4-D (Minister of religion).

59. Some get them in their teens : ZITS
The slang term “zit”, meaning “a pimple”, came into the language in 1966, but no one seems to know its exact derivation.

63. World Cup cry : OLE
The next three FIFA World Cup tournaments (soccer) will be hosted by Brazil (2014), Russia (2018) and Qatar (2022).

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Ultimate : NTH
4. Link : NEXUS
9. Silencer : SHUSH!
14. Tulsa sch. : ORU
15. ___ planner : EVENT
16. Soviet spymaster in a John le Carré trilogy : KARLA
17. Fix : RIG
18. What ladies’ men tend to have : WANDERING IS (from “wandering eyes”)
20. U.S. slalom great Phil : MAHRE
22. Overly flattering : OILY
23. Actor whose breakout role was on TV’s “21 Jump Street” : DEPP
24. Very alert : ALL IS AND EARS (from “all eyes and ears”)
27. Abbr. at the top of a memo : ATTN
28. Cell in a network : NEURON
32. Receiver Victor of the Giants’ 2011 Super Bowl-winning season : CRUZ
34. Actress Mara of “House of Cards” : KATE
38. Classic toothpaste featured in “Grease” : IPANA
39. Old TV knob: Abbr. : HOR
40. Espy : LAY IS ON (from “lay eyes on”)
42. Geographic indicator, briefly : ZIP
43. Out : ALIBI
45. Approaching : NEAR
46. Some modern viruses and worms : BOTS
47. Folds : PLEATS
49. Mystery author John Dickson ___ : CARR
51. 1981 #1 Kim Carnes hit : BETTE DAVIS IS (from “Bette Davis Eyes”)
57. Snug : COZY
60. Prefix with engine : AERO-
61. Prefix with biology : ETHNO-
62. Misinterpretation of a biblical code … or the key to answering 18-, 24-, 40- and 51-Across : AN I FOR AN EYE (from “an eye for an eye”)
65. Going by, for short : AKA
66. Genre featured on MTV’s “Headbangers Ball” : METAL
67. Up : RISEN
68. Gym unit : REP
69. Hummus, e.g. : PASTE
70. Scuffle : SET TO
71. Listen through a door, say : PRY

Down
1. ___ Desmond, “Sunset Boulevard” diva : NORMA
2. Setting for much of “My Cousin Vinny” : TRIAL
3. “House” star : HUGH LAURIE
4. Most fresh : NEWEST
5. Actress Green of “300: Rise of an Empire” : EVA
6. Strobe light element : XENON
7. Reversed : UNDID
8. Inscribed pillar : STELE
9. Take to the hills? : SKI
10. “Surrender!” : HANDS UP!
11. Desire : URGE
12. Erratum : SLIP
13. Door securer : HASP
19. Role played by Baldwin, Ford, Affleck and Pine : RYAN
21. Alternative to Premium : RITZ
25. “Puppy Love” crooner : ANKA
26. Check : REIN
29. High-definition : RAZOR SHARP
30. Not dilly-dallying : ON IT
31. Recharges, in a way : NAPS
32. Fellow : CHAP
33. One of three in a Yahtzee turn : ROLL
35. Objectivist Rand : AYN
36. N.F.L. game rarity : TIE
37. That, in Toledo : ESA
40. Miller product : LITE
41. Boat in “Jaws” : ORCA
44. Some lose it in their teens : BABY FAT
46. One from London Town, e.g. : BRIT
48. Headline : STAR
50. Skin-care brand : AVEENO
52. They make tracks : TEARS
53. Children’s character originally voiced by Jim Henson : ERNIE
54. Accomplish, in the Bible : DOEST
55. Graphic novel artist : INKER
56. Joy-filled? : SOAPY
57. Like “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” : CAMP
58. Eligible to serve : ONE-A
59. Some get them in their teens : ZITS
63. World Cup cry : OLE
64. Notwithstanding : YET

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