1017-14 New York Times Crossword Answers 17 Oct 14, Friday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
10. “The Waltons” co-star Ralph WAITE
Ralph Waite played the Dad, John Walton Sr. on “The Waltons”. I was never much of a Waltons fan, but I did like “Roots”. Waite played a very different character on that show: first mate on the slave ship “Slater”.

16. Opera title boy AMAHL
Gian Carlo Menotti’s “Amahl and the Night Visitors” has a special place in the repertoire, in that it is the first opera specifically composed for American television. “Amahl and the Night Visitors” was commissioned by NBC and had its debut at the NBC studios in Rockefeller Center on Christmas Eve, 1951. In today’s world of commercially-driven television, I can’t imagine a network commissioning a classical work …

18. Like Royal Albert Hall DOMED
The beautiful Royal Albert Hall in London is most famous as the home to the BBC Prom concerts that have been performed each summer since 1941. The concert hall was opened in 1871 by Queen Victoria. The Queen ordered that the intended name for the new hall be dropped in favor of the “Royal Albert Hall” in honor of her husband Prince Albert, who had passed away ten years earlier.

20. “Palindromania!” writer Jon AGEE
Jon Agee is a writer who seems to like words. He writes books for children such as “Palindromania!”, which is a celebration of palindromes. He also wrote “Smart Feller Fart Smeller”, which is filled with spoonerisms.

21. Male duck DRAKE
A male duck is called a “drake” and a female duck is called a “duck”, or sometimes a “hen”.

24. Ones hanging around delis? SALAMIS
Salame (note the “e” at the end) is an Italian sausage that is traditionally associated with the peasant classes. The meat in the sausage is preserved with salt, and it can be hung and stored for as long as ten years. The name “salame” comes from “sale”, the Italian word for salt, and “-ame”, a suffix indicating a collective noun. Our English word “salami” is actually the Italian plural for “salame”.

26. Flashers at a rock concert STROBES
A strobe light is a device that produces regular flashes, like the light on top of a police car. The term derives from the Greek “strobos” meaning “twisting, whirling”.

34. Some QB protectors RGS
In football, right guards (RGs) protect the quarterback (QB).

35. Out of service?: Abbr. RETD
Retired (retd.)

37. Dog tag? FIDO
“Fido”, the name for many a dog, is the Latin for “I trust”.

38. Thespian Thurman UMA
Robert Thurman was the first westerner to be ordained a Tibetan Buddhist monk. Robert raised his children in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and called his daughter “Uma” as it is a phonetic spelling of the Buddhist name “Dbuma”. Uma’s big break in movies came with her starring role in Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 hit “Pulp Fiction”. My favorite Uma Thurman film is the wonderful 1996 romantic comedy “The Truth About Cats and Dogs”.

43. Orbiting Galaxy, e.g. COMSAT
Communications satellite (Comsat).

The Galaxy series of communications satellites was launched by Hughes Communications. Galaxy 1 went into orbit way back in 1983, and Galaxy 19 was launched in 2008.

45. Hulu offerings STREAMS
Hulu.com is a website providing streaming video of full television shows. It is a joint venture of NBC and Disney, and so features a lot of their content. The service is free and is supported by advertising, but you can sign up for a premium subscription and get access to more shows. A lot of younger folks seem to use it a lot …

46. Like a cat-o’-nine-tails’ nine tails KNOTTED
The cat o’ nine tails was a vicious instrument of punishment, particularly popular in the Royal Navy. The “cat” was made up on nine cord thongs and at the end of each thong was a knot. The specialty knot was aptly called a blood knot, and was designed to bite into the skin and draw blood. It was these “claws” at the end of the thongs, along with the nine “tails” that gave the name to the whip, the “cat o’ nine tails”.

48. Spitfire org. RAF
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the oldest independent air force in the world (i.e. the first air force to become independent of army or navy forces). The RAF was formed during WWI on 1 April 1918, a composite of two earlier forces, the Royal Flying Corps (part of the Army) and the Royal Naval Air Service. The RAF’s “finest hour” has to be the Battle of Britain when the vastly outnumbered British fighters fought off the might of the Luftwaffe causing Hitler to delay his plan to cross the English Channel. This outcome prompted Winston Churchill to utter the memorable words:
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.

The magnificent Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft is considered by most to have been key to the defeat of Germany’s Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain. The plane was in production from the thirties through the fifties, and there were more Spitfires produced that any other British aircraft.

49. Paul who pioneered in quantum mechanics DIRAC
Paul Dirac was an English theoretical physicist, and a co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1933. It was Dirac who predicted the existence of antimatter. What would the Starship Enterprise have done without anti-matter?

50. Means to deep spiritual insight YOGA
In the West we tend to think of yoga as a physical discipline, a means of exercise that uses specific poses to stretch and strengthen muscles. While it is true that the ancient Indian practice of yoga does involve such physical discipline, the corporeal aspect of the practice plays a relatively small part in the whole philosophy. Other major components are meditation, ethical behavior, breathing and contemplation.

53. Malaria-fighting compound during W.W. II DDT
DDT is dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (don’t forget now!). DDT was used with great success to control disease-carrying insects during WWII, and when made available for use after the war it became by far the most popular pesticide. And then Rachel Carson published her famous book “Silent Spring”, suggesting there was a link between DDT and diminishing populations of certain wildlife. It was the public outcry sparked by the book, and reports of links between DDT and cancer, that led to the ban on the use of the chemical in 1972. That ban is touted as the main reason that the bald eagle was rescued from near extinction.

56. Development sites? UTERI
The Latin “uterus” (plural “uteri”) 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”.

57. “V for Vendetta” writer ALAN MOORE
Alan Moore is an English writer of graphic novels, a term that Moore himself introduced in order to differentiate his work from “comic books”.

60. “Le Bassin aux Nymphéas” painter MONET
“Le Bassin aux Nymphéas” (“Water Lily Pond” in French) is one of a series of paintings of water lilies by the impressionist Claude Monet. Painted in 1919, this is a work that we can’t see because it was purchased by a private collector in 2008, for over 60 million dollars.

61. Tabs, e.g. DIET SODAS
Tab was the first diet cola introduced by the Coca-Cola company, in 1963. It was produced as a competitor to the very successful Diet Rite cola that was made by RC Cola. The name “Tab” was used as the beverage was aimed at people who wanted to keep “tabs” on their weight.

62. Lead character in seasons 1-3 of “Homeland” BRODY
“Homeland” is a psychological drama shown on Showtime about a CIA officer who is convinced that a certain US Marine is a threat to the security of the United States. The show is based on a series from Israeli television called “Hatufim” (Prisoners of War”). I saw the first series of this show and highly recommend it …

Down
2. Prime draft pick 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).

3. Two-time belligerent against the British Empire BOER
“Boer” is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for “farmer”, a word that was used to describe the Dutch-speaking people who settled parts of South Africa during the 1700s.

There were two Boer Wars, the first fought between 1880 and 1881 and the second fought between 1899 and 1902. The Dutch settlers of the Boer republics took on the British Empire in both conflicts.

5. “Magnum, P.I.” wear LEI
“Lei” is the Hawaiian word for “garland, wreath”, although in more general terms a “lei” is any series of objects strung together as an adornment for the body.

“Magnum, P.I.” is a TV series that aired in the eighties starring Tom Selleck in the title role. The show was incredibly successful, especially during its first five years. Many big names made guest appearances including Vic Morrow, Orson Welles and Frank Sinatra.

9. TV’s Goober and others PYLES
Jim Nabors was discovered by Andy Griffith and brought onto “The Andy Griffith Show” as Gomer Pyle, the gas station attendant. Of course, Nabors then got his own show, “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.” Gomer had a cousin on the “The Andy Griffiths Show” called Goober Pyle. Goober was played by George Lindsay. Lindsay had auditioned for the Gomer part, but that went to Nabors.

12. 2007 satirical best seller I AM AMERICA
“I Am America (and So Can You!)” is a satirical work published in 2007 by Stephen Colbert.

Stephen Colbert is a political satirist who hosts his own show on Comedy Central, “The Colbert Report”. Colbert’s first love was theater, and so he studied to become an actor. He then moved into comedy, and ended up on the “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”. He left “The Daily Show” in 2005 to set up his own spin-off, “The Colbert Report”. In his own inimitable way, Colbert likes to use a “French” pronunciation for the name of his show, so “The Colbert Report” comes out as “The Col-bear Rep-oar”. Colbert will be taking over the “Late Show” when David Letterman retires.

13. 2007 Jamie Foxx film set in Saudi Arabia THE KINGDOM
“The Kingdom” is a 2007 action film starring Jamie Foxx. It is about an FBI investigation into the bombing of a housing complex in Saudi Arabia, a storyline that was inspired by real attacks that took place in Riyadh in 2003 and 2006.

23. Oakland Oaks’ org. ABA
The Virginia Squires were a team in the American Basketball Association (ABA), a team that fell through the cracks during the ABA-NBA merger and was shut down. The Squires had been founded as the Oakland Oaks in 1967, and were partly owned by singer Pat Boone.

27. Church-owned newsweekly, for short THE MONITOR
“The Christian Science Monitor” is a weekly newsmagazine that was founded in 1908 as a newspaper by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ Scientist. The magazine’s policy is not to promote the doctrine of its church. The only concessions to its founder is the use of “Christian Science” in the title and publication of a daily religious article (which now appears online).

28. Only Hispanic performer with an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony RITA MORENO
The Puerto Rican singer, dancer and actress Rita Moreno is one of the few performers to have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony. Moreno got her big break, and won her Oscar, for playing Anita in the 1961 screen adaption of “West Side Story”.

29. ___ Club SAM’S
Sam’s Club is owned and operated by Walmart and is named after the company’s founder, Sam Walton.

33. Olympian troublemaker ERIS
In Greek mythology, Eris is the goddess of strife and discord. The name “Eris” is derived from the Greek word for strife, and translates into Latin as “Discordia”. In Greek her counterpart is Harmonia, and in the world of the Roman gods, Concordia. The largest dwarf planet in our solar system is called Eris, named after the goddess.

37. Person’s sphere of operation FIEF
In the days of feudalism, a “fief” was basically a “fee” (the words “fee” and “fief” have the same origins) paid by a Lord in exchange for some benefit to him, perhaps loyalty, or military service. The fief itself was often land granted by the Lord. We use the term “fiefdom” (and sometimes “fief) figuratively, to describe a sphere of operation controlled by one dominant person or entity.

41. Town at the tip of Italy’s “heel” OTRANTO
Otranto is a coastal city in the very southeast of Italy (in the “heel”). There is a lighthouse just a few miles southeast of Otranto that is the most easterly point in the whole country.

42. Carrying people, for short? NRA
National Rifle Association (NRA)

51. Potpourri OLIO
Olio is a term meaning a hodgepodge or a mixture, coming from the mixed stew of the same name. The stew in turn takes its name from the Spanish “olla”, the clay pot used for cooking.

The French term “pot pourri” literally translates to “rotten pot”, but in France it used to mean “stew”. Over time, the term “potpourri” evolved in English usage to mean a “medley”, and eventually a mixture of dried flowers and spices.

52. Fine ___ (Irish political party) GAEL
Fine Gael is one of the main political parties in Ireland. Described as “centre-right”, the party was founded in 1933, and has really only been able to enter into government in a coalition with the Labour Party, which would be described as “centre-left”.

55. Danny Ocean’s ex-wife in “Ocean’s Eleven” TESS
“Ocean’s 11” is a great film from 1960, starring Frank Sinatra as Danny Ocean. The original storyline is updated for the excellent 2001 remake, with George Clooney playing the lead. In the 1960 movie, the love interest is a character called Beatrice Ocean, played by Angie Dickinson. In the 2001 version, the love interest gets a new name, Tess Ocean, and is played by Julia Roberts.

58. Some mail for a mag MSS
Someone might send a manuscript (MS) to a magazine (mag).

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Something running on a cell MOBILE APP
10. “The Waltons” co-star Ralph WAITE
15. Starting to succeed ON ONE’S WAY
16. Opera title boy AMAHL
17. Been exposed to an awful lot SEEN IT ALL
18. Like Royal Albert Hall DOMED
19. Roofing option TAR
20. “Palindromania!” writer Jon AGEE
21. Male duck DRAKE
22. Be up BAT
24. Ones hanging around delis? SALAMIS
26. Flashers at a rock concert STROBES
30. Let up RELENT
31. Superslim THIN AS A REED
34. Some QB protectors RGS
35. Out of service?: Abbr. RETD
36. Gouge, e.g. MAR
37. Dog tag? FIDO
38. Thespian Thurman UMA
39. One who’s often 31-Across FASHION ICON
43. Orbiting Galaxy, e.g. COMSAT
45. Hulu offerings STREAMS
46. Like a cat-o’-nine-tails’ nine tails KNOTTED
48. Spitfire org. RAF
49. Paul who pioneered in quantum mechanics DIRAC
50. Means to deep spiritual insight YOGA
53. Malaria-fighting compound during W.W. II DDT
56. Development sites? UTERI
57. “V for Vendetta” writer ALAN MOORE
60. “Le Bassin aux Nymphéas” painter MONET
61. Tabs, e.g. DIET SODAS
62. Lead character in seasons 1-3 of “Homeland” BRODY
63. One-run homers SOLO SHOTS

Down
1. Start of many records MOST
2. Prime draft pick ONE-A
3. Two-time belligerent against the British Empire BOER
4. Country ___ INN
5. “Magnum, P.I.” wear LEI
6. Things dealt with in passing? ESTATES
7. Like many dogs’ tails AWAG
8. Faint PALE
9. TV’s Goober and others PYLES
10. Was ducky? WADDLED
11. Lacking scruples AMORAL
12. 2007 satirical best seller I AM AMERICA
13. 2007 Jamie Foxx film set in Saudi Arabia THE KINGDOM
14. Many future monarchs ELDEST SONS
22. What atoms may have BOND
23. Oakland Oaks’ org. ABA
25. Consist of ARE
26. Overawed STRUCK DUMB
27. Church-owned newsweekly, for short THE MONITOR
28. Only Hispanic performer with an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony RITA MORENO
29. ___ Club SAM’S
32. Player motivator RAH!
33. Olympian troublemaker ERIS
37. Person’s sphere of operation FIEF
39. Easy street’s location? FAT CITY
40. Had ATE
41. Town at the tip of Italy’s “heel” OTRANTO
42. Carrying people, for short? NRA
44. Didn’t just peek STARED
47. Couples DYADS
51. Potpourri OLIO
52. Fine ___ (Irish political party) GAEL
53. Dummy DODO
54. “Consarn it all!” DRAT!
55. Danny Ocean’s ex-wife in “Ocean’s Eleven” TESS
58. Some mail for a mag MSS
59. “Will ya look at that!” OOH!

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