0529-14 New York Times Crossword Answers 29 May 14, Thursday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Anna Shechtman
THEME: # # # # … we have the symbol “#” as a clue four times in today’s puzzle, and each answer is something that “#” might represent. And I think I can see something like a “#” symbol drawn with the black squares in the grid:

20A. #1 : TIC-TAC-TOE BOARD
33A. #2 : POUND SIGN
43A. #3 : SPACE MARK
52A. #4 : TWITTER HASHTAG

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 20m 37s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

5. Some Summer Olympics gear : EPEES
The épée that is used in today’s sport fencing is derived from the old French dueling sword. In fact, the the sport of épée fencing is very similar to the dualing of the 19th century. The word “épée” translates from French as “sword”.

10. “Spider-Man” girl : GWEN
Gwen Stacy is one of the two women in the life of Spider-Man/Peter Parker. Gwen was Peter Parker’s first love, until he transferred his affections to Mary Jane Watson.

14. Stone, e.g. : UNIT
We’ve used pounds and stones in Ireland for all my life. However, they no longer have any “official” status in the country, as we’ve made the conversion to the metric system. Having said that, many folks still tend to measure body weight in stones and pounds. One stone is equal to fourteen pounds.

15. “The Alchemist” novelist ___ Coelho : PAULO
Paulo Coelho is a novelist and lyricist from Brazil. He wrote the novel called “The Alchemist” in 1987, one of the biggest selling books in history. It is also the most translated book written by any living author, and is available in 71 languages.

16. Facetious words of understanding : AH SO
The slang term “ah so” is used in American English to mean “I see”. The term derives from the Japanese expression “Ah so desu ka” meaning “Oh, that’s how it is”.

17. Backdrop for the final scene of Antonioni’s “L’Avventura” : ETNA
Michelangelo Antonioni was a film director from Italy. Antonioni’s most famous movies are the trilogy “L’Avventura” (1960), “La Notte” (1961) and “Eclipse” (1962). He died in 2007, coincidentally on the same day that famed director Ingmar Bergman also passed away.

18. How some legal proceedings are conducted : IN REM
“In rem” translates from Latin as “in a thing”. In a lawsuit, an action is described as “in rem” if it is directed against some property. This would be the case if someone disputes ownership of a piece of land, for example. An action “in personam” on the other hand, is directed against a specific individual.

19. Apocryphal beast : YETI
A yeti is a beast of legend, also called an abominable snowman. “Yeti” is a Tibetan term, and the beast is fabled to live in the Himalayan regions of Nepal and Tibet. Our equivalent legend in North America is that of Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch. The study of animals whose existence have not yet been substantiated is called cryptozoology.

20. #1 : TIC-TAC-TOE BOARD
When I was growing up in Ireland we played “noughts and crosses” … our name for the game tic-tac-toe.

23. Comic ___ (typeface) : SANS
Comic Sans MS is a font that looks a bit like that used in old comic books. Comic Sans was released by Microsoft in 1994. If you live in the Netherlands, you are lucky enough to enjoy Comic Sans Day on the first Friday of July each year.

24. Seaside bird : ERNE
The ern (also erne) is also called the white-tailed eagle or sea-eagle.

28. New York City’s ___ Galerie : NEUE
The Neue Galerie is in New York City in the “Museum Mile”, a section of 5th Avenue noted for its collection of museum and galleries. The Neue Galerie (“New Gallery” in German) is famous for its collection of Austrian and German Expressionist art.

33. #2 : POUND SIGN
The “#” symbol is usually referred to as the “number sign”, but here in the US the name “pound sign” is very common as well.

36. Sleep with, in slang : SHTUP
The verb “shtup” is Yiddish meaning “to push, shove”. Back in the fifties, “shtup” was used in English to mean “to annoy”. Its contemporary meaning is more crude, “to have sexual intercourse with”.

37. Simpleton : RUBE
A “rube” is person lacking sophistication, often described as “a country bumpkin”. The term derives from the masculine name “Reuben”, which was considered back in the early 1800s to be a typical name used in rural areas.

38. Afflictions known technically as hordeola : STYES
A stye is a bacterial infection of the sebaceous glands at the base of the eyelashes, and is also known as a hordeolum.

43. #3 : SPACE MARK
A space mark (#) is a symbol used by a proofreader to indicate that a space needs to be inserted, say between two words that have run together.

47. Mode of transportación : TREN
In Spanish, one form of transportation (transportación) is a train (tren).

49. Genesis’ “man of the field” : ESAU
Esau was the twin brother of Jacob, the founder of the Israelites. When their mother Rebekah gave birth to the twins “the first emerged red and hairy all over (Esau), with his heel grasped by the hand of the second to come out (Jacob)”. As Esau was the first born, he was entitled to inherit his father’s wealth (it was his “birthright”). Instead, Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for the price of a “mess of pottage” (a meal of lentils).

52. #4 : TWITTER HASHTAG
A hashtag is word preceded by the symbol #. Hashtags are big these days because of Twitter, a microblogging service that I will never understand …

59. Something that’s on the record? : PRIOR
A prior offense might be listed on a police record.

60. Where Macbeth, Malcolm and Duncan are buried : IONA
Although the small island of Iona lies just off the west coast of Scotland, it was the site of a monastery built in the Middle Ages by a monk from Ireland names Colm Cille (also known as Columba). Colm Cille and his followers were sent into exile from the Irish mainland and settled in Iona, as at that time the island was part of an Irish kingdom. This monastery in Iona expanded its influence over the decades and founded other institutions all over Ireland and Great Britain. It is believed that the famous Book of Kells may have been written, or at least started, at the monastery on Iona. Iona is also the burial site for Macbeth, King of Scotland who was immortalized in Shakespeare’s fictional account of the king’s life.

61. Aoki of the P.G.A. : ISAO
Isao Aoki is one of Japan’s greatest golfers, now playing on the senior circuit. Aoki’s best finish in a major tournament was runner-up to Jack Nicklaus in the 1980 US Open.

62. Things twins share : UTERI
The Latin “uterus” translates as both “womb” and “belly”. The Latin word was derived from the Greek “hystera” also meaning womb, which gives us the words “hysterectomy”, and “hysterical”.

63. TV greaser, with “the” : FONZ
Fonzie is a character in the sitcom “Happy Days” that was originally aired from 1974 to 1984. The Fonz was written as a secondary character, but eventually took over the show. Fonzie is of course played by Henry Winkler.

64. FiveThirtyEight owner : ESPN
FiveThirtyEight is a website that publishes compiled polling date during election cycles. The site takes its name from from the total number of electors in the US electoral college. FiveThirtyEight has been owned by ESPN since 2013. One has to wonder how that fits with the rest of the ESPN portfolio …

65. Complete: Prefix : TELEO-
The prefix “teleo-” is used to mean “end” or “complete”. The term comes from the Greek “télos” meaning “end”, and “téleios” meaning “complete”.

Down
1. 1965’s “I Got You Babe,” e.g. : DUET
“I Got You Babe” is a duet that was released in 1965 by Sonny & Cher. The lyrics and music for the song were written by Sonny Bono himself.

3. Brass section? : ZINC
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. Compare this with bronze, an alloy of copper and tin. Copper and bronze are often mistaken for each other.

4. Solide and liquide : ETATS
In French, two states (états) of matter are solid (solide) and liquid (liquide).

6. Hillary Clinton wardrobe staples : PANTSUITS
When Hillary Rodham Clinton was appointed US Secretary of State, she became the first former First Lady to serve in a president’s cabinet. Hillary met her husband, President Bill Clinton, when the two were studying at Yale law school.

7. Start to pop? : EURO-
Europop is a genre of pop music that is mainly associated with Sweden, but also applies to several other European countries. The most famous group associated with the genre is ABBA.

8. Gen. Robert ___ : E LEE
Robert E. Lee is renowned as a southern officer in the Civil War. Lee was a somewhat reluctant participant in the war in that he opposed the secession of his home state of Virginia from the Union. At the beginning of the war, President Lincoln invited Lee to take command of the whole Union Army but he declined, choosing instead to stay loyal to his home state. During the Civil War, Lee’s men referred to him affectionately as “Marse Robert”, with “marse” being slang for “master”.

10. “It’s Raining Men,” for one : GAY ANTHEM
“It’s Raining Men” has been labeled as a dance anthem, gay anthem and a classic female anthem, but whatever anthem you relate to, it’s a fun song. It sounds very “disco”, and was indeed written in the late disco era. The Disco Divas like Donna Summer passed on it so it was only in the early eighties that it surfaced, recorded by the one-hit wonder act called the Weather Girls. Geri Halliwell came out with a version in 2001, the version that I actually prefer largely because of it’s featured on the soundtrack of the movie “Bridget Jones’s Diary”.

12. Abbr. on a historic building : ESTD
Established (estd.)

21. ___ E (TV channel) : A AND
The A&E television network used to be a favorite of mine, with the “A&E” standing for “arts and entertainment”. A&E started out airing a lot of the old classic dramas, as well as biographies and arts programs. Now there seems to be more reality TV, with one of the flagship programs being “Dog the Bounty Hunter”. A slight change of direction I’d say …

25. Media icon with an eponymous Starbucks beverage : OPRAH
Starbucks are now selling Teavana Oprah Chai Tea, the formulation of which was overseen by Oprah Winfrey. It is a black tea that is infused with cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and cloves.

27. It might pop in the post office : BUBBLE WRAP
Bubble wrap was invented in 1957 in an abortive attempt to make a 3-dimensional wall covering. The result was a material that wasn’t suitable as a “wallpaper” but that did make a great packing material. And don’t forget the last Monday of every January … that’s Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day.

29. Memphis’s home : EGYPT
Memphis was an ancient city on the River Nile. The ruins of Memphis are located just south of Cairo, Egypt. It was a magnificent city that eventually failed due to the economic success of the city of Alexandria, located further down the river and right on the Mediterranean coast.

31. More than quirky : OUTRE
The word “outré” comes to us from French, as you might imagine, derived from the verb “outrer” meaning “to overdo, exaggerate”. “Outrer” is also the ultimate root of our word “outrage”.

34. Writer with the most combined Tony and Oscar nominations : NEIL SIMON
Neil Simon is one of my favorite playwrights. Simon has written over thirty plays and about thirty screenplays. He has received more nominations for Oscars and Tony Awards than any other writer. My favorite play penned by Simon has to be “Brighton Beach Memoirs”, but the list of his great stage works seems endless and includes “Barefoot in the Park”, “The Odd Couple”, “Sweet Charity”, “Plaza Suite”, “California Suite”, “Biloxi Blues” and “The Goodbye Girl”.

35. Littoral : NEARSHORE
The adjective “littoral” means “pertaining to the shore”. The littoral zone of a seashore is the region between the limits of high and low tides.

44. Genesis grandson : ENOS
Enos was the son of Seth and the grandson of Adam and Eve.

53. Romain de Tirtoff’s pseudonym : ERTE
Erté was the pseudonym of French artist (Russian born) Romain de Tirtoff. Erté is the French pronunciation of his initials “R.T.”

54. Cambodian currency : RIEL
The Cambodian riel was first introduced in 1953, and was taken out of circulation by the Khmer Rouge in 1975 when they completely abolished money on taking control of the country. After the Vietnamese invasion of 1978, money was reintroduced and the Cambodian people are still using the “second” riel.

56. ___ Bradstreet, America’s first published poet : ANNE
Anne Bradstreet was a poetess who was the wife of Simon Bradstreet, a governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Anne was the first poet in the British North American colonies to have her works published.

57. The Sphinx’s is “blank and pitiless as the sun,” per Yeats : GAZE
“The Second Coming” is a 1919 poem by Irish poet W. B. Yeats. Here are some lines from the second verse:

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.

Irish poet and dramatist William Butler Yeats won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923 for “inspired poetry” that gave “expression to a whole nation”. Yeats was Ireland’s first Nobel laureate.

58. Outdated cry : FIE!
“Fie!” and “ptui!” are both exclamations of disgust.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Knock silly : DAZE
5. Some Summer Olympics gear : EPEES
10. “Spider-Man” girl : GWEN
14. Stone, e.g. : UNIT
15. “The Alchemist” novelist ___ Coelho : PAULO
16. Facetious words of understanding : AH SO
17. Backdrop for the final scene of Antonioni’s “L’Avventura” : ETNA
18. How some legal proceedings are conducted : IN REM
19. Apocryphal beast : YETI
20. #1 : TIC-TAC-TOE BOARD
23. Comic ___ (typeface) : SANS
24. Seaside bird : ERNE
25. Revolutionary body? : ORB
28. New York City’s ___ Galerie : NEUE
30. Odds, e.g. : RATIOS
33. #2 : POUND SIGN
36. Sleep with, in slang : SHTUP
37. Simpleton : RUBE
38. Afflictions known technically as hordeola : STYES
40. This, to Tomás : ESTO
41. Comparably sized : AS BIG
43. #3 : SPACE MARK
45. “Not in a million years!” : HELL NO!
47. Mode of transportación : TREN
48. Shape of a timeout signal : TEE
49. Genesis’ “man of the field” : ESAU
50. Symbol of softness : SNOW
52. #4 : TWITTER HASHTAG
58. Waiting room distribution : FORM
59. Something that’s on the record? : PRIOR
60. Where Macbeth, Malcolm and Duncan are buried : IONA
61. Aoki of the P.G.A. : ISAO
62. Things twins share : UTERI
63. TV greaser, with “the” : FONZ
64. FiveThirtyEight owner : ESPN
65. Complete: Prefix : TELEO-
66. Get out of town : FLEE

Down
1. 1965’s “I Got You Babe,” e.g. : DUET
2. “No” voter : ANTI
3. Brass section? : ZINC
4. Solide and liquide : ETATS
5. Condition of being awesome, in modern slang : EPICNESS
6. Hillary Clinton wardrobe staples : PANTSUITS
7. Start to pop? : EURO-
8. Gen. Robert ___ : E LEE
9. Like many works in minor keys : SOMBER
10. “It’s Raining Men,” for one : GAY ANTHEM
11. The place to be : WHERE IT’S AT
12. Abbr. on a historic building : ESTD
13. “___ insist!” : NO I
21. ___ E (TV channel) : A AND
22. “___ my dad would say …” : OR AS
25. Media icon with an eponymous Starbucks beverage : OPRAH
26. Shake, maybe : ROUSE
27. It might pop in the post office : BUBBLE WRAP
29. Memphis’s home : EGYPT
31. More than quirky : OUTRE
32. Held forth : SPOKE
34. Writer with the most combined Tony and Oscar nominations : NEIL SIMON
35. Littoral : NEARSHORE
39. Sequence of events : SCENARIO
42. Tiny irritant : GNAT
44. Genesis grandson : ENOS
46. Yield : OUTPUT
51. Swing and miss : WHIFF
52. Chuck : TOSS
53. Romain de Tirtoff’s pseudonym : ERTE
54. Cambodian currency : RIEL
55. One being used : TOOL
56. ___ Bradstreet, America’s first published poet : ANNE
57. The Sphinx’s is “blank and pitiless as the sun,” per Yeats : GAZE
58. Outdated cry : FIE!

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