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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: Joel Fagliano
THEME: Crossing, twice … today’s themed answers are words crossing each other in the grid. The twist is that each pair of crossing answers is clued twice, with each pair of answers meaning something completely different when the word-order of is changed:
6A With 8-Down, lime shade : LIGHT (i.e. LIGHT GREEN)
8D. With 6-Across, approve : GREEN (i.e. GREEN LIGHT)16A. With 12-Down, not natural : MAN (i.e. MAN-MADE)
12D. With 16-Across, mob inductee : MADE (i.e MADE MAN)33A. With 23-Down, deli product : HEAD (i.e. HEAD CHEESE)
23D. With 33-Across, fan of the N.F.L.’s Packers : CHEESE (i.e. CHEESEHEAD)38A. With 38-Down, place to drop a coin : WISHING (i.e. WISHING WELL)
38D. With 38-Across, desiring happiness for someone : WELL (i.e WELL-WISHING)40A. With 31-Down, jazz legend : ARM (i.e. ARMSTRONG)
31D. With 40-Across, coerce : STRONG (i.e. STRONG-ARM)58A. With 54-Down, waffle alternative : PAN (i.e. PANCAKE)
54D. With 58-Across, bakery container : CAKE (i.e. CAKE PAN)59A. With 57-Down, part of a morning routine : BREAK (i.e. BREAKFAST)
57D. With 59-Across, basketball tactic : FAST (i.e. FAST BREAK)
BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 7m 11s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0
Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Knee-ankle connector : TIBIA
The tibia is the shin bone, the larger of the two bones right below the knee. The tibia is the strongest weight-bearing bone in the human body. “Tibia” is the Roman name for a Greek flute and it is thought that the shin bone was given the same name because flutes were often fashioned out of the shin bones of animals.
11. Texter’s “Holy cow!” : OMG
OMG is text-speak for Oh My Gosh! Oh My Goodness! or any other G words you might think of …
15. Screenwriter Sorkin : AARON
The wonderful screenwriter Aaron Sorkin got his big break when his stage play “A Few Good Men” was picked up by a Hollywood producer. Since then Sorkin has written great films including “The American President”, “The Social Network”, “Charlie Wilson’s War”, “Moneyball” and the excellent “The West Wing” television series. There is a new television show of his showing on HBO these days that is getting good reviews called “The Newsroom”.
18. Refine, as ore : SMELT
Metals are found in ore in the form of oxides. In order to get pure metal from the ore, the ore is heated and the metal oxides within are reduced (i.e. the oxygen is removed) in the chemical process known as smelting. The oxygen is extracted by adding a source of carbon or carbon monoxide which uses up the excess oxygen atoms to make carbon dioxide, a waste product of smelting (and of course, a greenhouse gas).
19. Nabokov’s longest novel : ADA
The reference here is to the 1969 novel by Vladimir Nabokov called “Ada”. The story takes place in the 1800s on Antiterra, an Earth-like planet that has a history similar to ours but with interesting differences. For example, there is a United States, but the country covers all of North and South America. What we call eastern Canada is a French-speaking province called “Canady”, and western Canada is a Russian-speaking province “Estody”. The plot-line is about a man called Van Veen who, when 14 years old, meets for the first time his cousin, 11-year-old Ada. The two cousins eventually have an affair, only to discover later that they are in fact brother and sister.
Vladimir Nabokov was a Russian American novelist who originally penned his works in Russian before moving to English. Nabokov’s most famous and most respected work in English is his 1955 novel “Lolita”.
20. One in service to the queen? : DRONE BEE
Drone bees and ants are fertile males of the species, whose sole role in life seems to be to mate with a queen.
22. Rapper’s posse : CREW
A rap star’s entourage is usually called his or her “posse”.
Our word “posse” comes from an Anglo-Latin term from the early 15th century “posse comitatus” meaning “the force of the county”.
24. Like Michelangelo’s “David” : NUDE
When Michelangelo’s famous statue of David was unveiled in 1504, it was at a time when the city-state of the Florentine Republic was threatened by rival states (including Rome). The statue depicts David after he has decided to fight Goliath, and the subject is sporting what is described as a “warning glare”. David was originally placed outside the Palazzo della Signoria, the seat of government in Florence, and that warning glare was directed very deliberately in the direction of its enemy, Rome. The original statue of David can be seen in the Accademia Gallery in Florence, where it has resided since 1873. There is a replica of the statue in its original location in the public square outside of the Palazzo della Signoria.
29. “Survivor” host Jeff : PROBST
Jeff Probst is the highly successful host of the US version of the reality show “Survivor”. He is obviously a friendly guy, and ended up in a 3-year relationship with Julie Berry, one of the contestants from “Survivor: Vanuatu”.
33. With 23-Down, deli product : HEAD (i.e. HEAD CHEESE)
“Head cheese” is a cold cut, a sliced meat made from the flesh from the head of a calf or pig that has been set in meat jelly. We used to know this cut as “brawn” when I was growing up in Ireland. I wouldn’t touch it these days …
37. 20-volume ref. : OED
The current available Oxford English Dictionary is only the second edition, and it was first published in 1989, with supplements being published in 1993 and 1997. The second edition comprises twenty volumes. There has been an online version of the OED available since 2000, and there aren’t any plans to publish any future print editions, just electronic versions from hereon out.
40. With 31-Down, jazz legend : ARM (i.e. ARMSTRONG)
Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans in 1900. Armstrong had a poor upbringing, and only stayed in school till he was 11 years old. The exact origin of Louis’s nickname “Satchmo” seems to be a little unclear. One story is that he used to dance for pennies in New Orleans as a youngster and would hide those pennies in his mouth away from the other kids. For this he earned the nickname “satchel mouth”, which was shortened to “Satchmo”.
41. Rhone tributary : ISERE
The Isère river gives its name to the French Department of Isère, located partly in the French Alps. In turn, Isère gave its name to a somewhat famous ship called the Isère, which in 1885 delivered the Statue of Liberty from France to America in 214 shipping crates.
43. Michael of “Arrested Development” : CERA
Michael Cera is a Canadian actor, a very talented young man who is riding high right now. Cera played great characters on the TV show “Arrested Development”, and the 2007 comedy-drama film “Juno”.
“Arrested Development” is a sitcom that originally aired on Fox from 2003 to 2006. Ron Howard was heavily involved in the show behind the camera, serving as executive producer and also as the show’s narrator. Fifteen new episodes of “Arrested Development” were filmed specifically for release on Netflix in 2013, and there may even be a movie on the way.
44. Ancient Greek colonnade : STOA
A stoa was a covered walkway in Ancient Greece. A stoa usually consisted of columns lining the side of a building or buildings, with another row of columns defining the other side of the walkway. The columns supported a roof. Often stoae would surround marketplaces in large cities.
45. Try to improve a Yahtzee turn : REROLL
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.
47. LAX listing : ETD
Expected time of departure (ETD)
Los Angeles International Airport is the sixth busiest airport in the world in terms of passenger traffic, and the busiest here on the West Coast of the US. The airport was opened in 1930 as Mines Field and was renamed to Los Angeles Airport in 1941. On the airport property is the iconic white structure that resembles a flying saucer. This is called the Theme Building and I believe it is mainly used as a restaurant and observation deck for the public. The airport used to be identified by the letters “LA”, but when the aviation industry went to a three-letter standard for airport identification, this was changed to “LAX”. Apparently the “X” has no significant meaning.
49. Oodles : A LOT
It’s thought that the term “oodles”, meaning “a lot”, comes from “kit and caboodle”.
60. Unpopular baby name : ADOLF
The names Adolf (in Germany) and Adolphe (in France) are dying out, with very few babies being given the name since the days of Nazi Germany.
63. ___ out a living : EKE
To “eke out” means to “make something go further or last longer”. For example, you could eke out your income by cutting back on expenses. I always have a problem with the commonly cited definition of “eke out” as “barely get by”. Close but no cigar, I say …
66. Drops on the ground? : DEW
The dew point is a temperature, the temperature to which humid air must be cooled in order for water vapor to condense. We call the condensed water “dew”.
Down
1. “My country” follower : ‘TIS
The patriotic song “America” is also known by its first line, “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee”. The song was written by Samuel Francis Smith in 1831, and was the de facto national anthem of the country until “The Star-Spangled Banner” was declared the official anthem.
3. Count Basie, e.g. : BANDLEADER
“Count” Basie’s real given name was “William”. Count Basie perhaps picked up his love for the piano from his mother, who played and gave him his first lessons. Basie’s first paying job as a musician was in a movie theater, where he learned to improvise a suitable accompaniment for the silent movies that were being shown.
5. One of the Three Musketeers : ATHOS
Alexandre Dumas’ “Three Musketeers” are Athos, Porthos and Aramis, and their young protégé is D’Artagnan. A musketeer was an infantry soldier who was equipped with a musket. Funnily enough, the three “musketeers” really don’t use their muskets, and are better known for their prowess with their swords.
7. Foot used to keep rhythm? : IAMB
An iamb is a metrical foot containing an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Robert Frost’s “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening” consists of lines made up of four sequential iambs e.g. “Whose woods / these are / I think / I know”. With a sequence of four iambs, the poem’s structure is described as iambic tetrameter.
10. “Falling Skies” airer : TNT
“Falling Skies” is a sci-fi television series about life in Boston after an alien invasion.
11. Sharif of “Doctor Zhivago” : OMAR
Omar Sharif is the great Hollywood actor from Egypt, an actor who played major roles in memorable movies such as “Doctor Zhivago” and “Lawrence of Arabia”. But to me he is my bridge hero (the card game). In his heyday Sharif was one of the best bridge players in the world.
“Doctor Zhivago” is an epic novel by Boris Pasternak, first published in 1957. I haven’t tried to read the book, but the 1965 film version is a must-see, directed by David Lean and starring Omar Sharif in the title role. The story centers on Yuri Zhivago, a doctor and poet, and how he is affected by the Russian Revolution and the Russian Civil War.
12. With 16-Across, mob inductee : MADE (i.e MADE MAN)
In the Mafia, a “made man” is a fully initiated member. A made man may also be called a goodfella or a wiseguy.
13. Act like a beaver : GNAW
Beavers build dams so that they can live in and around the slower and deeper water that builds up above the dam. This deeper water provides more protection for the beavers from predators such as bears. Beavers are nocturnal animals and do all their construction work at night.
23. With 33-Across, fan of the N.F.L.’s Packers : CHEESE (i.e. CHEESEHEAD)
When Curly Lambeau founded his small-town football team in Green Bay in 1919, he was working for the Indian Packing Company. Lambeau went to his employers looking for sponsorship and was given $250 provided that the team was named for the company. And so, the team was originally referred to as the Green Bay Indians, but by the time they took to the field for their first game it had changed to the Packers, and Lambeau was $250 richer.
32. Spanish inquisitor ___ de Torquemada : TOMAS
Tomás de Torquemada was a Dominican friar famous as the Inquisitor General of Spain in the 15th century. As head of the Spanish Inquisition, de Torquemada was responsible for burning at the stake about one person every nine days.
39. Winner of the most French Open singles titles : NADAL
Rafael Nadal is a Spanish tennis player who is noted for his expertise on clay courts, earning him the nickname “The King of Clay”.
46. Moore who wrote “Birds of America” : LORRIE
Lorrie Moore is a writer from Glen Falls, New York who is noted for her short stories. Her 1998 publication called “Birds of America” became a New York Times bestseller, something that is very unusual for a collection of short stories.
50. Many Snapchat users : TEENS
Snapchat is a messaging system that allows users to send photos and video clips to a limited list of recipients. The photos and clips, called “snaps”, can be viewed for only a few seconds before they are deleted from the recipient’s device and from the Snapchat servers.
52. Fleeced beast : LLAMA
The wool from a llama is much softer than that from a sheep, and it is also free from lanolin.
61. Fierce, loyal sort, it’s said : LEO
Leo is the fifth astrological sign of the Zodiac. People born from July 13 to August 23 are Leos.
For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Knee-ankle connector : TIBIA
6. With 8-Down, lime shade : LIGHT (i.e. LIGHT GREEN)
11. Texter’s “Holy cow!” : OMG
14. “Sorry, already have plans” : I CAN’T
15. Screenwriter Sorkin : AARON
16. With 12-Down, not natural : MAN (i.e. MAN-MADE)
17. Harmonize : SYNCH
18. Refine, as ore : SMELT
19. Nabokov’s longest novel : ADA
20. One in service to the queen? : DRONE BEE
22. Rapper’s posse : CREW
23. Bottom-of-the-ninth pitcher : CLOSER
24. Like Michelangelo’s “David” : NUDE
26. Ponder, with “on” : CHEW
27. Philadelphia summer hrs. : EDT
29. “Survivor” host Jeff : PROBST
33. With 23-Down, deli product : HEAD (i.e. HEAD CHEESE)
34. Was incredibly embarrassed, in slang : DIED
36. Be of ___ : USE TO
37. 20-volume ref. : OED
38. With 38-Down, place to drop a coin : WISHING (i.e. WISHING WELL)
40. With 31-Down, jazz legend : ARM (i.e. ARMSTRONG)
41. Rhone tributary : ISERE
43. Michael of “Arrested Development” : CERA
44. Ancient Greek colonnade : STOA
45. Try to improve a Yahtzee turn : REROLL
47. LAX listing : ETD
48. Items in pocket protectors : PENS
49. Oodles : A LOT
51. Making a bundle : BALING
53. Get-rich-quick offer, typically : SCAM
56. Like gas tanks and many prescriptions, again and again : REFILLED
58. With 54-Down, waffle alternative : PAN (i.e. PANCAKE)
59. With 57-Down, part of a morning routine : BREAK (i.e. BREAKFAST)
60. Unpopular baby name : ADOLF
63. ___ out a living : EKE
64. Dentist’s directive : RINSE
65. Lawn tool : MOWER
66. Drops on the ground? : DEW
67. Takes a breather : RESTS
68. Bug : ANNOY
Down
1. “My country” follower : ‘TIS
2. Standoffish : ICY
3. Count Basie, e.g. : BANDLEADER
4. Exclusive group : IN CROWD
5. One of the Three Musketeers : ATHOS
6. Bygone video format : LASER DISC
7. Foot used to keep rhythm? : IAMB
8. With 6-Across, approve : GREEN (i.e. GREEN LIGHT)
9. Go into hiding : HOLE UP
10. “Falling Skies” airer : TNT
11. Sharif of “Doctor Zhivago” : OMAR
12. With 16-Across, mob inductee : MADE (i.e MADE MAN)
13. Act like a beaver : GNAW
21. “___ say more?” : NEED I
22. Board hirees : CEOS
23. With 33-Across, fan of the N.F.L.’s Packers : CHEESE (i.e. CHEESEHEAD)
25. Narcotize : DRUG
26. It often functions with the help of an organ : CHOIR
28. Little laugh : TEHEE
30. Demoralized : BEATEN DOWN
31. With 40-Across, coerce : STRONG (i.e. STRONG-ARM)
32. Spanish inquisitor ___ de Torquemada : TOMAS
35. Off-road two-wheelers : DIRT BIKES
38. With 38-Across, desiring happiness for someone : WELL (i.e WELL-WISHING)
39. Winner of the most French Open singles titles : NADAL
42. Drift : ROAM
44. Watched through binoculars, say : SPIED ON
46. Moore who wrote “Birds of America” : LORRIE
50. Many Snapchat users : TEENS
52. Fleeced beast : LLAMA
53. Hightailed it : SPED
54. With 58-Across, bakery container : CAKE (i.e. CAKE PAN)
55. Over again : ANEW
57. With 59-Across, basketball tactic : FAST (i.e. FAST BREAK)
59. “It’s so-o-o cold!” : BRR!
61. Fierce, loyal sort, it’s said : LEO
62. Cook, as bacon : FRY
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