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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: David Phillips
THEME: Paint It Black … in today’s grid there are four instances of the letters IT being “painted black”, so that we can’t see them in black squares:
20A. “Looky here!” : CHECK IT OUT!
29A. Flight setting : STAIRCASE
35A. Greater part of Turkey : ANATOLIA
47A. Interrupts, as a broadcast : CUTS INTO
52A. Chosen people : SELECTEES
59A. Not worry about something annoying : LET IT SLIDE
4D. Hit 2012 Disney film : WRECK-IT RALPH
5D. Went around : ENCIRCLED
6D. Men’s formalwear feature : COATTAIL
23D. 1966 Rolling Stones hit … or an instruction to be followed four times in this puzzle : PAINT IT, BLACK
37D. One of the Wailers of Bob Marley and the Wailers : PETER TOSH
41D. Don Quixote’s love : DULCINEA
BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 33m 00s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0
Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
5. Game similar to euchre : ECARTE
Écarté is a card game that comes to us from France, with a name that translates into ‘discarded”. Écarté is a game like whist but is played with a stripped-down deck and involves only two players.
Euchre is a card game that probably came to the US from Germany, introduced by German farmers who settled in Wisconsin. Euchre is a trick-taking game usually played by four people in two partnerships. Unlike bridge, Euchre is played with a stripped down deck of 24 or 32 cards.
11. “Arsenal of democracy” prez : FDR
About a year before the US entered into WWII, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered a radio broadcast to the American people in which he pledged support for the UK against Nazi Germany, without getting the US involved in actual fighting. The support promised was the arming of the Allies in Europe by using the industrial might of America, what he called “the Arsenal of Democracy”.
16. ___ Highway, classic New York-to-San Francisco route : LEE
The Lee Highway used to connect New York City to San Francisco, passing through the South and Southwest. The route isn’t used much for cross-country travel anymore, not since the interstate system was constructed. Named for Robert E. Lee, parts of the route are still known as the Lee Highway, especially in Virginia and Tennessee.
17. Area in front of a chancel : NAVE
In large Christian churches, the nave is the main approach to the altar, where most of the congregation are seated.
The chancel of a Christian church is the space surrounding the altar. The chancel sometimes includes the choir and the pulpit.
23. Nabokov novel after “Lolita” : PNIN
“Pnin” is a novel written in English by Vladimir Nabokov, and published in 1957. The title character is Timofey Pnin, a Russian-born professor living in the US. “Pnin” raised some money for Nabokov, as it was published in installments in “The New Yorker” magazine. He needed the money while he worked hard to find someone to publish his more edgy novel, “Lolita”.
24. Mario ___ (Nintendo racing series) : KART
“Mario Kart” is a go-kart racing video game series from Nintendo.
27. A series of “insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster,” per Tom Stoppard : THEATRE
Sir Tom Stoppard is a British playwright, his most famous work probably being “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” (which I saw years ago, and slept through!). He also writes screenplays, and was co-writer for the 1998 movie “Shakespeare in Love”.
35. Greater part of Turkey : ANATOLIA
Asia Minor is also known as Anatolia. It is the geographic part of Asia that protrudes out into the west, towards Europe, and is roughly equivalent to modern-day Turkey.
50. South Australian exports : OPALS
97% of the world’s opals come from Australia, so it’s no surprise perhaps that the opal is the national gemstone of the country. The state of South Australia provides the bulk of the world’s production, about 80%.
56. ___ notes : CRIB
A crib is a plagiarism, most commonly the copying of an answer in an examination.
58. Writer Philip : ROTH
Author Philip Roth’s two most famous works are probably his 1959 novella “Goodbye, Columbus” for which he won a National Book Award, and his extremely controversial 1969 novel “Portnoy’s Complaint”. The latter title was banned in some libraries in the US, and was listed as a “prohibited import” in Australia. The controversy surrounded Roth’s treatment of the sexuality of the main character, a young Jewish bachelor undergoing psychoanalysis for his “complaint”.
65. Choler : IRE
“Choler” is “anger, irritability”. Choler (also “cholera”) was one of the body’s four basic substances, the so-called four humors. All diseases were caused by these four substances getting out of balance. The four humors were:
– Black bile (melancolia)
– Yellow bile (cholera)
– Phlegm (phlegma)
– Blood (sanguis)
66. California county between San Francisco and Sacramento : SOLANO
Solano County in California was named for Chief Solano of the Suisun people who inhabited the region between the Petaluma and Sacramento Rivers.
74. Prophet on the Sistine Chapel ceiling : ISAIAH
The Sistine Chapel, in the Pope’s residence in Rome, takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV who was responsible for restoring the old Capella Magna in the 15th century. It was about a century later (1508-1512) that Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel under the patronage of Pope Julius II.
75. Evil “Get Smart” organization : KAOS
The satirical comedy series called “Get Smart” was the creation of Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, and starred Don Adams as Agent 86, Maxwell Smart. Agent 86 worked for the spy agency CONTROL, alongside the lovely Agent 99. CONTROL’s sworn enemy was the criminal organization called KAOS. Smart’s shoe phone was a hilarious prop used in almost every episode. When Smart dialed the number 117, the shoe converted into a gun. Cool stuff …
Down
2. Genesis matriarch : LEAH
According to the Bible, Leah was one of the two wives of Jacob, the other being Leah’s sister Rachel. Jacob’s intention had been to marry Rachel, but the Leah and Rachel’s father “switched” his daughters and provided Leah as the veiled bride. Jacob married Rachel a week later, and lived with the two wives concurrently.
4. Hit 2012 Disney film : WRECK-IT RALPH
“Wreck-It Ralph” is a 2012 animated movie from Disney. The title character is an arcade game villain who dreams of losing his bad guy image and becoming a hero.
11. Pebbles, e.g. : FLINTSTONE
Pebbles is the daughter of Fred and Wilma Flintstone from the cartoon series “The Flintstones”. Pebbles gets her name from her mother, whose maiden name is Pebble.
12. “GoodFellas” co-star : DE NIRO
Robert De Niro is noted for his longtime and highly successful collaboration with the director Martin Scorsese. He is also noted for his commitment as a method actor. Famously he gained a full 60 pounds in order to play Jake Lamotta in the 1980 movie “Raging Bull”.
The Martin Scorsese classic “Goodfellas” is a 1990 adaptation of a non-fiction book by Nicholas Pileggi called “Wiseguy”. The film tells the story of a mob family that succumbs to the FBI after one of their own becomes an informant.
13. Jeremy of “The Avengers” : RENNER
Jeremy Renner is an actor from Modesto, California whose big break came playing the lead role in the 2008 movie “The Hurt Locker”. Since then, Renner has broken into the world of superhero movies, playing Hawkeye in 2012’s “The Avengers”. I liked him best though in the 2012 action film “The Bourne Legacy”.
21. Corn syrup brand : KARO
Karo is a brand of corn syrup, an industrially manufactured sweetener derived from corn.
23. 1966 Rolling Stones hit … or an instruction to be followed four times in this puzzle : PAINT IT, BLACK
A close runner-up to my favorite Rolling Stones song (“Satisfaction”) is “Paint It, Black”, released in 1966. Due to the song’s prominent use in the movie “Full Metal Jacket” and the TV show “Tour of Duty”, “Paint It, Black” has become inextricably linked with the Vietnam War. That linkage gets reinforced even today as the song is often used in television shows and even video games whenever there is a Vietnam reference. It is interesting to note that the correct form of the title includes a comma (“Paint It, Black”) as this was how it was written when originally released. According to Keith Richards, the inclusion of the comma was a mistake made by the company printing the original record label, and it stuck.
28. “Casino Royale” Bond girl ___ Green : 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.
2006’s “Casino Royale” is the 21st film in the “James Bond” series, and the first to star Daniel Craig in the lead role. The film was directed by New Zealander Martin Campbell, someone who my next door neighbor for a couple of years (my claim to fame!). Campbell also directed “GoldenEye” in 1995, which introduced Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. I find it interesting that Campbell was asked back to oversee the introduction of Daniel Craig to the role.
29. KLM competitor : SAS
SAS was formerly known as Scandinavian Airlines System and is the flag carrier of three countries: Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
The acronym KLM stands for “Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij”, which translates from Dutch as “Royal Aviation Company”. KLM is the flag carrier for the Netherlands, and is the oldest airline in the world still operating with its original name. It was founded in 1919. KLM merged with Air France in 2004.
30. Big bang maker : TNT
TNT is an abbreviation for trinitrotoluene. Trinitrotoluene was first produced in 1863 by the German chemist Joseph Wilbrand, who developed it for use as a yellow dye. TNT is relatively difficult to detonate so it was on the market as a dye for some years before its more explosive properties were discovered.
37. One of the Wailers of Bob Marley and the Wailers : PETER TOSH
Peter Tosh was a musician from Jamaica, a member of the Wailers reggae band. Sadly, Tosh was murdered in a home invasion and extortion attempt in 1987.
41. Don Quixote’s love : DULCINEA
The full name of the Cervantes novel is “The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha”. In the story, Don Quixote is a retired country gentleman who heads out as a knight-errant and who renames himself Don Quixote of la Mancha. In his mind he designates a neighboring farm girl called Aldonza Lorenzo as his lady love, and renames her Dulcinea del Toboso.
44. Tango twosome? : DOS
“Dos” is the Spanish for “two”.
The dramatic dance called the tango originated in the late 1800s in the area along the border between Argentina and Uruguay.
46. Org. for which Edward Snowden once worked : NSA
Edward Snowden is a former NSA contractor who leaked several top secret NSA documents to the media beginning in June 2013. After disclosing his name as the source of the leaks, Snowden tried to seek asylum in Ecuador. While travelling to Ecuador he had a layover in Moscow. While in Moscow, the US government revoked his passport, which effectively left him stranded in the transit area of Moscow Airport. The Russian government eventually granted his an annually renewable temporary asylum.
51. Bradley University site : PEORIA
Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois is a private school that was founded in 1897 by philanthropist Lydia Moss Bradley. She built the school in memory of her husband Tobias Bradley, and all of their six children who had died suddenly, leaving Lydia a childless widow.
52. Stanley Kowalski’s woman : STELLA
“Stella! Hey, Stella!” is a famous line cried out by Marlon Brando’s character (Stanley Kowalski) as his wife Stella (played by Kim Hunter) leaves for the last time with her child, in the movie “A Streetcar Named Desire”.
Desire is the name of a neighborhood in New Orleans, a destination for a streetcar line. The name “Desire” appears on the front of streetcars bound for that neighborhood, hence the title, “A Streetcar Named Desire”.
55. Dark-skinned fruit : SLOES
The sloe is the fruit of the blackthorn bush.
60. Rikki-tikki-___ : TAVI
In Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book”, one of the short stories is titled “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi”, the story about a mongoose, the brave pet of an English family that protects them from a succession of snakes.
62. Furniture megastore : IKEA
The furniture chain IKEA was founded by Ingvar Kamprad in 1943, when he was just 17-years-old. IKEA is an acronym that stands for Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd (don’t forget now!). Elmtaryd was the name of the farm where Ingvar Kamprad grew up, and Agunnaryd is his home parish in Sweden.
63. 11-Down pet : DINO
(11D. Pebbles, e.g. : FLINTSTONE)
In the Hanna-Barbera cartoon “The Flintstones”, Dino the pet dinosaur was voiced by the famous Mel Blanc, until Blanc passed away in 1989.
64. Middle-earth creatures : ENTS
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”.
66. Reagan’s Star Wars program: Abbr. : SDI
One of the positive outcomes of President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was a change in US defense strategy. The new approach was to use missiles to destroy incoming hostile weapons, rather than using missiles to destroy the nation attacking the country. The former doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction went by the apt acronym of MAD …
For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Bunch : SLEW
5. Game similar to euchre : ECARTE
11. “Arsenal of democracy” prez : FDR
14. Auto datum : YEAR
15. Credit card lure : NO FEES
16. ___ Highway, classic New York-to-San Francisco route : LEE
17. Area in front of a chancel : NAVE
18. Linoleum alternative : CARPET
19. Place of rest : INN
20. “Looky here!” : CHECK IT OUT!
23. Nabokov novel after “Lolita” : PNIN
24. Mario ___ (Nintendo racing series) : KART
27. A series of “insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster,” per Tom Stoppard : THEATRE
29. Flight setting : STAIRCASE
34. Helmet part : VISOR
35. Greater part of Turkey : ANATOLIA
37. Sound a hot dog makes? : PANT
38. End of a fairy’s wand : STAR
40. Outwit, in a way : ELUDE
42. Goose : gaggle :: ___ : knot : TOAD
45. Wedding feature, in two different senses : BAND
47. Interrupts, as a broadcast : CUTS INTO
50. South Australian exports : OPALS
52. Chosen people : SELECTEES
54. Overlook, as someone’s flaws : GET PAST
56. ___ notes : CRIB
58. Writer Philip : ROTH
59. Not worry about something annoying : LET IT SLIDE
65. Choler : IRE
66. California county between San Francisco and Sacramento : SOLANO
69. Similar : AKIN
70. “No ___!” : SIR
71. Digs deeply : DELVES
72. Small price to pay : CENT
73. Kind of fever : HAY
74. Prophet on the Sistine Chapel ceiling : ISAIAH
75. Evil “Get Smart” organization : KAOS
Down
1. In ___ with : SYNC
2. Genesis matriarch : LEAH
3. Place for a wasp’s nest : EAVE
4. Hit 2012 Disney film : WRECK-IT RALPH
5. Went around : ENCIRCLED
6. Men’s formalwear feature : COATTAIL
7. Picked locks? : AFRO
8. Good or bad name : REPUTE
9. Means of enforcement, metaphorically : TEETH
10. It’s just a guess: Abbr. : EST
11. Pebbles, e.g. : FLINTSTONE
12. “GoodFellas” co-star : DE NIRO
13. Jeremy of “The Avengers” : RENNER
21. Corn syrup brand : KARO
23. 1966 Rolling Stones hit … or an instruction to be followed four times in this puzzle : PAINT IT, BLACK
28. “Casino Royale” Bond girl ___ Green : EVA
29. KLM competitor : SAS
30. Big bang maker : TNT
31. Remote power source, maybe : AAA BATTERY
33. Booze : SAUCE
37. One of the Wailers of Bob Marley and the Wailers : PETER TOSH
41. Don Quixote’s love : DULCINEA
43. Took in : ATE
44. Tango twosome? : DOS
46. Org. for which Edward Snowden once worked : NSA
48. “Hard” or “soft” subjects: Abbr. : SCIS
50. Beastly : OGRISH
51. Bradley University site : PEORIA
52. Stanley Kowalski’s woman : STELLA
55. Dark-skinned fruit : SLOES
60. Rikki-tikki-___ : TAVI
62. Furniture megastore : IKEA
63. 11-Down pet : DINO
64. Middle-earth creatures : ENTS
66. Reagan’s Star Wars program: Abbr. : SDI
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