0601-14 New York Times Crossword Answers 1 Jun 14, Sunday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Tom McCoy
THEME: Aladdin … today’s themed answers are common phrase with the letters AL added in (AL ADD IN)

23A. King’s move? : CHANGE OF PALACE (from “change of pace”)
37A. Principles espoused during Women’s History Month? : IDEALS OF MARCH (from “Ides of March”)
46A. Ability to walk a tightrope or swallow a sword? : CIRCUS TALENT (from “circus tent”)
66A. Dream for late sleepers? : A FAREWELL TO ALARMS (from “A Farewell to Arms”)
89A. Waterway leading to a SW German city? : CANAL OF WORMS (from “can of worms”)
95A. Slinky going down the stairs? : SPRING FALLING (from “Spring fling”)
118A. Dissertation on people’s inherent spitefulness? : OF MALICE AND MEN (from “Of Mice and Men”)

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 29m 27s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 2 … UNIATE (Unaate), LIMINAL (laminal)

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

6. Something Pedro and Pablo might have? : SAN
“San Padro” and “San Pablo” are Spanish for “Saint Peter” and “Saint Paul”.

9. Coll. program : ROTC
The Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) is a training program for officers based in colleges all around the US. The ROTC program was established in 1862 when as a condition of receiving a land-grant to create colleges, the federal government required that military tactics be part of a new school’s curriculum.

19. Watts on a screen : NAOMI
Naomi Watts was born in the UK and moved to Australia when she was 14 years of age. It was in Australia that Watts got her break in television and movies. Probably her most acclaimed role was in the 2003 film “21 Grams” with Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro. Watts is best friends with fellow Australian actress Nicole Kidman.

22. One of a group of Eastern Christians : UNIATE
Prior to the 1960s, the word “Uniate” was commonly used to describe several Eastern Catholic Churches that are autonomous and self-governing, but are part of the Catholic Church as a whole. The term has fallen out of favor and is now considered by many to be offensive.

26. In fine fettle : HALE
“Hale” is an adjective meaning “healthy”. Both the words “hale” and “healthy” derive from the the Old English “hal” meaning healthy.

27. Process of sorting injuries : TRIAGE
“Triage” is the process of prioritizing patients for treatment, especially on a battlefield. The term “triage” is French and means “a sorting”.

34. Brooklyn squad : NETS
The NBA’s Brooklyn Nets until relatively recently were the New Jersey Nets based in Newark. Prior to 1977, the team was known as the New York Nets and played in various locations on Long Island. Ten years earlier, the Nets were called the New Jersey Americans and were headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey.

35. The two sides of Pac-Man’s mouth, say : RADII
The Pac-Man arcade game was first released in Japan in 1980, and is as popular today as it ever was. The game features characters that are maneuvered around the screen to eat up dots and earn points. The name comes from the Japanese folk hero “Paku”, known for his voracious appetite. The spin-off game called Ms. Pac-Man was released in 1981.

37. Principles espoused during Women’s History Month? : IDEALS OF MARCH (from “Ides of March”)
Women’s HIstory Month is March in the US, coinciding with International Women’s Day on March 8th.

Julius Caesar was assassinated on the 15th (the ides) of March, 44 BC. He was attacked by a group of sixty people in the Roman Senate, and was stabbed 23 times. The first to strike a blow was Servilius Casca, who attacked Caesar from behind and stabbed him in the neck.

45. Coward from England : NOEL
Noel Coward was the most flamboyant of personalities, a playwright, composer and actor. Coward worked in a remarkable range of genres. He wrote the wonderfully airy play “Blithe Spirit”, as well as the Oscar-winning WWII naval drama “In Which We Serve”. A couple of his more famous songs, many of which he performed himself in cabaret, were “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” and “London Pride”.

51. Land in the Golden Triangle : LAOS
The official name for the country of Laos is the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. In the Lao language, the country’s name is “Meuang Lao”. The French ruled Laos as part of French Indochina, having united three separate Lao kingdoms. As there was a plural of “Lao” entities united into one, the French added the “S” and so today we tend to use “Laos” instead of “Lao”.

The “Golden Triangle” is the name given to one of the main opium-producing areas in Asia. The triangular area includes part of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand.

57. Soupçon : SMATTERING
Soupçon translates literally from French into English as “suspicion”, and can be used in the sense that a “suspicion” of something is a just a hint, a crumb.

64. Soprano Sumac : YMA
Yma Sumac was a Peruvian soprano. Sumac had a notable vocal range of five octaves.

66. Dream for late sleepers? : A FAREWELL TO ALARMS (from “A Farewell to Arms”)
“A Farewell to Arms” is a somewhat autobiographical novel written by Ernest Hemingway, telling the story of an American ambulance driver serving with the Italian army during WWI. The most famous screen adaptation is probably the 1957 version starring Rock Hudson and Jennifer Jones.

74. Car antitheft aid, for short : VIN
Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) were introduced by the automotive industry in 1954.

86. Start to love? : ELL
The word “love” starts off with the letter L(“el” or “ell”).

89. Waterway leading to a SW German city? : CANAL OF WORMS (from “can of worms”)
Worms is a town on the Rhine River in southwest Germany. It is most famous perhaps for the general assembly (or Diet) that took place there in the 16th century.

A Diet was a general assembly of the estates of the former Holy Roman Empire. The most famous of these assemblies was the Diet of Worms, a 16th-century meeting that took place in the small town of Worms on the Rhine River in Germany. The main item on the agenda was discussion of the 95 theses of Martin Luther. Luther was summoned to the meeting, and there found to be guilty of heresy and so was subsequently excommunicated by the Pope.

92. Way to l’Île de la Cité : PONT
“Pont” is the French word for “bridge”.

There are two famous islands in the middle of the River Seine in Paris, one being the Île de la Cité, and the other Île Saint-Louis. Île de la Cité is the most renowned of the two, as it is home to the cathedral of Notre Dame.

93. Feature of many a Ludacris lyric : PUN
“Ludacris” is the stage name of rapper Christopher Bridges from Champaign, Illinois.

95. Slinky going down the stairs? : SPRING FALLING (from “Spring fling”)
The marvelous Slinky toy was invented in the early forties by a naval engineer called Richard James. James was developing springs for the navy that could stabilize sensitive instruments in rough seas. One day he accidentally knocked one of his experimental coils off a shelf and watched it “step” onto a stack of books, then onto a table and from there onto the floor where it recoiled itself very neatly. The Slinky was born …

106. Postlarval : PUPAL
The larval and pupal are intermediate stages in the development of an insect. All four stages are embryo, larva, pupa and imago.

107. Crimean conference locale : YALTA
The Yalta Conference was a wartime meeting between WWII leaders Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin. Held in February of 1945, the conference is most remembered for decisions made on the post-war organization of Europe. To a large extent, the three leaders made decisions carving up influence around the world that has had implications to this day.

115. Star burst : NOVA
A nova is basically a star that suddenly gets much brighter, gradually returning to its original state weeks or even years later. The increased brightness of a nova is due to increased nuclear activity causing the star to pick up extra hydrogen from a neighboring celestial body. A supernova is very different from a nova. A supernova is a very bright burst of light and energy created when most of the material in a star explodes. The bright burst of a supernova is very short-lived compared to the sustained brightness of a nova.

118. Dissertation on people’s inherent spitefulness? : OF MALICE AND MEN (from “Of Mice and Men”)
“Of Mice and Men” is a novella written by American author John Steinbeck, published in 1937. The title comes from the famous poem by Robert Burns, “To a Mouse”. The inspirational line from the poem is “The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men, gang aft tagley.” Steinbeck actually wrote “Of Mice and Men” as a “novel-play”, intending that the line from the novel used as a script for a play. I actually saw the theatrical version on stage for the first time quite recently, and really enjoyed it.

122. Treasure Stater : MONTANAN
One of the unofficial nicknames for Montana is “the Treasure State”. It is so called because of its rich mineral reserves.

124. Some cheaters have them : TRYSTS
In its most general sense, a tryst is a meeting at an agreed time and place. More usually we consider a tryst to be a prearranged meeting between lovers. The term comes from the Old French “triste”, a waiting place designated when hunting.

126. Drivers brake for it : ESS
I think the idea is that a driver will brake for an S-bend.

Down
2. “The ostrich roams the great ___. / Its mouth is wide, its neck is narra”: Ogden Nash : SAHARA
The poet Ogden Nash is well known for his light and humorous verse. Try this one for size:

The ostrich roams the great Sahara.
Its mouth is wide, its neck is narra.
It has such long and lofty legs,
I’m glad it sits to lay its eggs.

7. 1966 title role reprised by Jude Law in 2004 : ALFIE
There have been two versions of the movie “Alfie”. The original, and for my money the best, was made in 1966 with Michael Caine. The remake came out in 2004 and stars Jude Law in the title role. The theme song was performed by Cher in the 1966 movie, but it was Dionne Warwick’s cover version from 1967 that was the most successful in the charts.

Jude Law is a wonderful English actor, and a big name in Hollywood these days. He makes a great romantic lead, witness his performance in “The Holiday” released in 2006, in which he starred opposite Cameron Diaz. He and Diaz were nominated by MTV for the best onscreen kiss that year!

10. South American tuber : OCA
The plant called an oca is also known as the New Zealand Yam. The tubers of the oca are used as a root vegetable.

14. Commercial version of crazy eights : UNO
In my youth I remember being taught a great card game, by a German acquaintance of mine, called Mau Mau. Years later I discovered that Uno is basically the same game, but played with a purpose-printed deck instead of the regular deck of playing cards that’s used for Mau Mau. I hear that Mau Mau is derived from the game called Crazy Eights.

15. In-between : LIMINAL
A “liminal” state or space is one that is “in-between”. It is like an adolescent: no longer a child but not yet an adult. The term comes from the Latin “limen” meaning “threshold”. The idea is that in a liminal state one is at the threshold, not quite there yet.

16. Cosmetician Estée : LAUDER
Estée Lauder was quite the successful businesswoman, with a reputation as a great salesperson. Lauder introduced her own line of fragrances in 1953, a bath oil called “Youth Dew”. “Youth Dew” was marketed as a perfume, but it was added to bathwater. All of a sudden women were pouring whole bottles of Ms. Lauder’s “perfume” into their baths while using only a drop or two of French perfumes behind their ears. That’s quite a difference in sales volume …

24. Letter between two others that rhyme with it : ETA
In the Greek alphabet, “eta” comes after “zeta” and before “theta”.

36. One who might stick his tongue out at you? : IGUANA
An iguana is a lizard, and as such is cold-blooded. There are times when pet iguanas need heat from an IR lamp to maintain body temperature.

39. Agosto or settembre : MESE
In Italian, the month (mese) might be August (agosto) or September (settembre).

41. Ed of “Up” : ASNER
“Up” is the tenth movie released by Pixar studios, featuring wonderful animation as one has come to expect from Pixar. It earned itself two Academy Awards. The main voice actor is Ed Asner, whose animated persona as Carl Fredricksen was created to resemble Spencer Tracy in his last film, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”.

43. Burns’s refusal : NAE
Robert Burns is a cultural icon in Scotland and for Scots around the world. As a poet, Burns was a pioneer in the Romantic movement in the second half of the 18th century. One of his most famous works is the poem “Auld Lang Syne”, which has been set to the tune of a traditional Scottish folk song and is used to celebrate the New Year in the English-speaking world.

46. It’s widely hailed as a convenient way to get around : CAB
A hansom cab is a very specific design of horse and buggy that was patented by Joseph Hansom in 1834 in England. The “cab” in the name is short for “cabriolet”, a prior design of carriage on which the hansom was based. It’s from “hansom cab” that we get our modern term “cab”.

50. Organic compound : ENOL
An enol is an alkene with a hydroxyl group, sort of part-alkene and part-alcohol. The term “enol” therefore, is a portmanteau of “alkene” and “alcohol”.

51. Monastery resident : LAMA
“Lama” is a Tibetan word meaning “chief” or “high priest”.

52. One parodied on “Portlandia” : HIPSTER
“Portlandia” is a satirical sketch show that is aired on the Independent Film Channel (IFC). The show is set in Portland, Oregon and takes its name from a statue called “Portlandia” which sits above the entrance to a building in downtown Portland. The statue is a copper repoussé work, and is second in size in the US only to the Statue of Liberty.

53. Fangorn Forest denizen : ENT
Ents are those tree-like creatures that live in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth in his series of books “The Lord of the Rings”. “Ent” is an Old English word for “giant”.

58. Reason for glasses : MYOPIA
A myope is someone suffering from myopia, short-sightedness.

59. Captain Morgan and others : RUMS
The Captain Morgan brand of rum comes from Jamaica in the West Indies. It is named after the privateer from Wales, Sir Henry Morgan, who plied his trade in the Caribbean in the 17th century.

77. The ___ City (New Haven) : ELM
The city of New Haven, Connecticut was founded in 1638 by Puritan immigrants from England. New Haven is home to Yale University. The city also initiated the first public tree planting program in the country. The large elms included in the program led to New Haven being called “the Elm City”.

78. Literary inits. : RLS
Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish author, famous for his novels “Treasure Island”, “Kidnapped” and “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”.

80. Nobel Prize subj. : ECON
The Peace Prize is the most famous of the five prizes bequeathed by Alfred Nobel. The others are for Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Literature. There is also a Nobel Prize in Economics that is awarded along with the original five, but it is funded separately and is awarded “in memory of Alfred Nobel”. Four of the prizes are awarded by Swedish organizations (Alfred Nobel was a Swede) and so the award ceremonies take place in Stockholm. The Peace Prize is awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, and that award is presented in Oslo.

82. Racing boat : SCULL
A scull is a boat used for competitive rowing. The main hull of the boat is often referred to as a shell. Crew members who row the boat can be referred to as “oars”.

84. Sandwich order, for short : BLT
The BLT (bacon, lettuce and tomato) is the second most popular sandwich in the US, after the plain old ham sandwich.

90. Young Darth Vader’s nickname : ANI
Anakin “Ani” Skywalker is the principal character in all six of the “Star Wars” movies. His progress chronologically through the series of films is:

– Episode I: Anakin is a 9-year-old slave boy who earns the promise of Jedi training by young Obi-Wan Kenobi.
– Episode II: Anakin is 18-years-old and goes on a murdering rampage to avenge the killing of his mother.
– Episode III: Anakin is 21-years-old and a Jedi knight, but he turns to the Dark Side and becomes Darth Vader. His wife Padme gives birth to twins, Luke and Leia Skywalker.
– Episode IV: Darth Vader, comes into conflict with his children, Luke Skywalker and the Princess Leia.
– Episode V: Darth Vader attempts to coax his son Luke over to the dark side, and reveals to Luke that he is his father.
– Episode VI: Luke learns that Leia is his sister, and takes on the task of bringing Darth Vader back from the Dark Side in order to save the Galaxy. Vader saves his son from the Emperor’s evil grip, dying in the process, but his spirit ends up alongside the spirits of Yoda and Obi-Wan. They all live happily ever after …

91. Evergreen shrub : OLEANDER
The oleander shrub or tree is extremely toxic, especially to humans and dogs. That said, rodents and birds seem to be relatively insensitive to the toxic compounds found in the plant.

92. Thumbs’ opposites : PINKIES
The use of “pinkie” or “pinky” for the little finger comes into English from “pinkje”, the Dutch word for the same digit. Who knew?

96. Like Flatland : PLANAR
“Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions” is an 1884 novella by Edwin Abbott Abbott (yes, “Abbot Abbot”, as Edwin’s parents were both Abbotts, first cousins). “Flatland” is a story about a two-dimensional world in which women are line segments and mean polygons with various numbers of sides. To top it all off, the author published under the pen name “A Square”.

98. Composure : APLOMB
“Aplomb” is such a lovely word, meaning confidence and assurance. It is a French word that literally means “perpendicularity”, or “on the plumb line”. The idea is that someone with aplomb is poised, upright, balanced.

99. Spiral-horned antelope : NYALA
A nyala is an antelope from South Africa with spiral horns. “Nyala” is the Swahili name for the beast.

100. Mischievous girl : GAMINE
“Gamin” is a French word that we’ve imported into English. In both languages it means “street urchin”. The female form is “gamine”.

102. Social breakdown : ANOMIE
“Anomie” is social breakdown caused by the erosion of value and standards. The term comes to us via French from Greek. The root words are “a-” (without) “nomos” (law).

108. “American Graffiti” director : LUCAS
The iconic 1973 film “American Graffiti” was directed and co-written by George Lucas. The film cost $775,000 to make, and grossed over $200 million, making it one of the most profitable movies of all time. About 15% of the film’s cost was devoted to licensing the rights to play the songs chosen for the outstanding soundtrack.

114. Srs.’ worries : SATS
Today the standardized test for admission to colleges is known as the SAT Reasoning Test, but it used to be called the Scholastic Aptitude Test and Scholastic Assessment Test, which led to the acronym SAT.

120. Its logo displays all Roy G. Biv except indigo : NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) has had a number of different logos in its history, including the famous peacock with which we are familiar today. The first peacock logo was introduced in the early days of color television and was designed to illustrate how wonderful color television would be, so go buy one! (NBC was owned by RCA, and they had a vested interest in sales of color television sets).

“Roy G. Biv” is an acronym for the colors in a rainbow:

– Red
– Orange
– Yellow
– Green
– Blue
– Indigo
– Violet

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. To the same extent : AS FAR
6. Something Pedro and Pablo might have? : SAN
9. Coll. program : ROTC
13. Tug-of-war participant : PULLER
19. Watts on a screen : NAOMI
20. Like some desk work : CLERICAL
22. One of a group of Eastern Christians : UNIATE
23. King’s move? : CHANGE OF PALACE (from “change of pace”)
25. Only what a person can take? : SO MUCH
26. In fine fettle : HALE
27. Process of sorting injuries : TRIAGE
28. Gets browner : TANS
30. Start of something big? : IDEA
31. Mineralogists’ study : ORES
32. Anoint, archaically : ANELE
33. Like some French sauces : WINEY
34. Brooklyn squad : NETS
35. The two sides of Pac-Man’s mouth, say : RADII
37. Principles espoused during Women’s History Month? : IDEALS OF MARCH (from “Ides of March”)
40. Cry after a roller coaster ride, maybe : AGAIN!
44. Together : ONE
45. Coward from England : NOEL
46. Ability to walk a tightrope or swallow a sword? : CIRCUS TALENT (from “circus tent”)
51. Land in the Golden Triangle : LAOS
52. Part of a giggle : HEE
55. Pass with flying colors : ACE
56. Like the 10-Down : ANDEAN
57. Soupçon : SMATTERING
60. Olden : BYGONE
62. Finish (up) : MOP
64. Soprano Sumac : YMA
65. At the discretion of : UP TO
66. Dream for late sleepers? : A FAREWELL TO ALARMS (from “A Farewell to Arms”)
72. Identity : SELF
74. Car antitheft aid, for short : VIN
75. Informal way to say 87-Across : YUP
76. Sheen : LUSTER
79. Chooses beforehand : PRESELECTS
83. It’s all tied up with the present : RIBBON
86. Start to love? : ELL
87. “Certainly” : YES
88. Collapse, with “out” : CONK
89. Waterway leading to a SW German city? : CANAL OF WORMS (from “can of worms”)
92. Way to l’Île de la Cité : PONT
93. Feature of many a Ludacris lyric : PUN
94. Add up : TOTAL
95. Slinky going down the stairs? : SPRING FALLING (from “Spring fling”)
101. Dough raiser : YEAST
105. Large family : CLAN
106. Postlarval : PUPAL
107. Crimean conference locale : YALTA
111. Over : ANEW
112. Captain, e.g. : RANK
113. Confederate : ALLY
114. Biblical book in two parts : SAMUEL
115. Star burst : NOVA
116. Neighbor of an 8-Down : INDIAN
118. Dissertation on people’s inherent spitefulness? : OF MALICE AND MEN (from “Of Mice and Men”)
121. Chaperone, often : PARENT
122. Treasure Stater : MONTANAN
123. Human or alien : BEING
124. Some cheaters have them : TRYSTS
125. Frat members : BROS
126. Drivers brake for it : ESS
127. Pungent green : CRESS

Down
1. Hold down : ANCHOR
2. “The ostrich roams the great ___. / Its mouth is wide, its neck is narra”: Ogden Nash : SAHARA
3. Gave birth on a farm, say : FOALED
4. Unlikely memoirist : AMNESIAC
5. Fix : RIG
6. Derision : SCORN
7. 1966 title role reprised by Jude Law in 2004 : ALFIE
8. Neighbor of a 116-Across : NEPALI
9. Inflame, with “up” : RILE
10. South American tuber : OCA
11. Touchy? : TACTILE
12. Tidies up : CLEANS
13. Not be bold : PUSSYFOOT
14. Commercial version of crazy eights : UNO
15. In-between : LIMINAL
16. Cosmetician Estée : LAUDER
17. And so on and so forth : ETC ETC
18. Go over and over : REHASH
21. Lost it : RAGED
24. Letter between two others that rhyme with it : ETA
29. Like some care : NEONATAL
33. Lacks : WANTS
36. One who might stick his tongue out at you? : IGUANA
38. Long time : EON
39. Agosto or settembre : MESE
41. Ed of “Up” : ASNER
42. “___ be my pleasure!” : IT’D
43. Burns’s refusal : NAE
46. It’s widely hailed as a convenient way to get around : CAB
47. Frozen over : ICY
48. Entertains : REGALES
49. Bemoan : LAMENT
50. Organic compound : ENOL
51. Monastery resident : LAMA
52. One parodied on “Portlandia” : HIPSTER
53. Fangorn Forest denizen : ENT
54. Inflatable thing : EGO
58. Reason for glasses : MYOPIA
59. Captain Morgan and others : RUMS
61. Does away with : OFFS
63. Layer : PLY
67. Action-packed : EVENTFUL
68. It has a light at one end : WICK
69. Roll of the dice, say : TURN
70. Up : ALOFT
71. Strip for a fashion show : RUNWAY
72. Secret collector : SPY
73. Before, poetically : ERE
77. The ___ City (New Haven) : ELM
78. Literary inits. : RLS
80. Nobel Prize subj. : ECON
81. Trousers : LONG PANTS
82. Racing boat : SCULL
84. Sandwich order, for short : BLT
85. Scary word : BOO
90. Young Darth Vader’s nickname : ANI
91. Evergreen shrub : OLEANDER
92. Thumbs’ opposites : PINKIES
93. Represent, sportswise : PLAY FOR
95. Lines at a theater? : SCRIPT
96. Like Flatland : PLANAR
97. Became less than a trickle : RAN DRY
98. Composure : APLOMB
99. Spiral-horned antelope : NYALA
100. Mischievous girl : GAMINE
102. Social breakdown : ANOMIE
103. Common dice rolls : SEVENS
104. Elements of some accents : TWANGS
108. “American Graffiti” director : LUCAS
109. Frigid temps : TEENS
110. Like : A LA
114. Srs.’ worries : SATS
117. Colony member : ANT
119. Telephone trio : MNO
120. Its logo displays all Roy G. Biv except indigo : NBC

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