1028-14 New York Times Crossword Answers 28 Oct 14, Tuesday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Edie of “Nurse Jackie” FALCO
“Nurse Jackie” is a comedy-drama series centered on an emergency room nurse at a hospital in New York City. The lead character is played by Edie Falco, who also played Tony Soprano’s wife on the “The Sopranos”.

11. Prime meridian std. GST
GST is Greenwich Sidereal Time.

Astronomers use sidereal time to know where to locate given stars in the night sky. Sidereal time is a time scale that takes into account the Earth’s rotation relative to stars with a fixed location in the night sky.

A meridian is a line of longitude, and the Prime Meridian is that line of longitude defined as 0 degrees. The Prime Meridian is also called the Greenwich Meridian as it passes through the Royal Observatory in Greenwich in southeast London. Of course the line of longitude that is used to represent 0 degrees is an arbitrary decision. 25 nations formally decided in 1884 to use the Greenwich Meridian as 0 degrees as it was already a popular choice. That is all except the French, who abstained from the vote and used the Paris Meridian as 0 degrees on French charts for several decades.

14. Hipbone-related ILIAC
The sacrum and the two ilia are three bones in the human pelvis.

16. Waikiki 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.

17. Related add-ons, informally ALL THAT JAZZ (giving “the Utah Jazz”)
The Utah Jazz professional basketball team moved to their current home in Salt Lake City in 1979. As one might guess from the name, the team originated in New Orleans, but only played there for five seasons. New Orleans was a tough place to be based because venues were hard to come by, and Mardi Gras forced the team to play on the road for a whole month.

19. “___ long gone daddy in the U.S.A.” (Springsteen lyric) I’M A
“I’m a long gone daddy in the U.S.A.” is a lyric from Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA”.

“Born in the USA” is a 1984 song (and album) written and recorded by Bruce Springsteen. The song was written three years earlier as the title song for a movie, but was never used. That film ultimately was released as “Light of Day” starring Michael j. Fox. The original intention was for Springsteen to star in the film himself.

20. Golden Horde members TATARS
Tatars are an ethnic group of people, mainly residing in Russia (a population of about 5 1/2 million). One of the more famous people with a Tatar heritage was Hollywood actor Charles Bronson. Bronson’s real name was Charles Buchinsky.

The Golden Horde was a group of Mongols who ruled over what is now Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Moldova and the Caucasus, from the 1240s until 1502. It has been suggested that the name of the group derives from the yellow tents used by the rulers of the Golden Horde. And, the Golden Horde’s influence and rule led to the term “horde” entering English, via many languages spoken in Slavic Eastern Europe.

21. Suffix with sucr- and lact- -OSE
The sugar we consume as “table sugar” is mainly sucrose that is extracted from sugar cane and sugar beet. We also consume lactose, naturally occurring in milk, and fructose, naturally occurring in fruit. But most of the sugar we eat or drink tends to be prepared commercially, the most famous being high-fructose corn syrup, which is glucose that is industrially processed into a glucose/fructose mix. Don’t get me started on the politics of food …

22. Brouhaha STIR
“Brouhaha”, meaning “ado, stir”, was a French word that back in the 1550s meant “the cry of the devil disguised as clergy” . Wow!

24. “Straight ___ Compton” (seminal rap album) OUTTA
“Straight Outta Compton” was the first album by N.W.A. N.W.A was a hip hop group from Compton, California. The original five group members included rappers who have made a name for themselves as solo acts, including: Dr. Dre and Ice Cube.

25. Tom Cruise/Nicole Kidman racing film DAYS OF THUNDER (giving “the Oklahoma City Thunder”)
“Days of Thunder” is 1990 movie about NASCAR racing that stars Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman and Robert Duvall. “Days of Thunder” is the first of three films that co-starred Cruise and Kidman, with the other two being “Far And Away” and “Eyes Wide Shut”.

The Oklahoma City Thunder NBA team arrived in the city in 2008 after relocating from Seattle, where they were named the SuperSonics. The “Thunder” name was chosen as a reference to Oklahoma City’s exposure to the storms of Tornado Alley, and to the 45th Infantry Division “Thunderbirds” who were headquartered there until 1968.

33. Dodgers great Campanella ROY
Roy Campanella was a Major League Baseball player considered by many to have been one of the greatest catchers the game has ever seen. Campanella played for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the forties and fifties and was a pioneer in breaking the color barrier as he started out playing in the Negro Leagues. Sadly, he was paralyzed in a car accident when in his late thirties and so his career was tragically cut short.

36. Figure skater Harding TONYA
Tonya Harding won the US Figure Skating Championships in 1991. Harding’s reputation was greatly tarnished in the run up to the 1994 Olympics, when her former husband and her bodyguard contracted someone to attack Harding’s main competitor, Nancy Kerrigan. During a practice session for the US Championship, a hired thug assaulted Kerrigan with police baton, attempting to break her leg. Kerrigan was forced to withdraw, and Harding won the championship. Both Harding and Kerrigan were selected for the Olympic team, and despite attempts to get Harding removed, both skated at the Games in Lillehammer. Harding finished in eighth place, and Kerrigan won the silver medal. Harding admitted that she helped cover up the attack when she found out about it, and was stripped of her US Championship title.

37. Scotch ___ TAPE
Scotch Tape is a brand of adhesive tape made by 3M. “Scotch Tape” is one of those brand names that has become so used widely that it has become a generic term for the product. The equivalent brand name of product that we use over in Ireland is Sellotape. This British brand also has become a generic term, and is our equivalent to “Scotch tape”.

39. Place for a kiddie hawk? AERIE
An aerie is the nest of an eagle, and is also known as an “eyrie”.

40. Elevator innovator OTIS
Elevators (simple hoists) have been around for a long time. What Elisha Otis did was come up with the “safety elevator”, a design that he showcased at the 1853 World’s Fair in New York. At the Fair, Otis would stand on an elevated platform in front of onlookers and order his assistant to cut the single rope holding up the platform. His safety system kicked in when the platform had only fallen a few inches, amazing the crowd. After this demonstration, the orders came rolling in.

41. “That” something in an Arlen/Mercer standard OLD BLACK MAGIC (giving “the Orlando Magic”)
“That Old Black Magic” is a song written by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The song has been recorded by many artists over the decades, but was first released by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra in 1942.

The Orlando Magic were formed in 1989 as an NBA expansion team. A local paper was asked to run a competition to suggest names for the new team and the community came up with its four top picks of “Heat”, “Tropics”, “Juice” and “Magic”. A committee then opted for “Orlando Magic”. A good choice I think …

47. The Beatles’ “___ Love Her” AND I
“And I Love Her” is a lovely ballad recorded by the Beatles in 1964. It is one of my favorite Lennon/McCartney compositions, and there’s a lovely rendition of the song in the Beatles movie “A Hard Day’s Night”.

51. “Fiddler on the Roof” setting SHTETL
The Yiddish word for “town” is “shtot”, and so “shtetl” is the diminutive form meaning “small town”.

The enduring musical “Fiddler on the Roof” is based on a collection of stories by Sholem Aleichem about Tevye, a milkman living in Tsarist Russia. The musical version of the tales first opened on Broadway in 1964. “Fiddler on the Roof” had such a long run that it became the first musical to reach 3,000 performances.

55. Old-time actress Hagen UTA
Uta Hagen was a German-born American actress. Hagen married Jose Ferrer in 1938, but they were divorced ten years later after it was revealed that she was having a long-running affair with Paul Robeson. Her association with Robeson, a prominent civil rights activist, earned her a spot on the Hollywood Blacklist during the McCarthy Era. This forced her away from film, but towards a successful stage career in New York City.

56. Keep cool in summer BEAT THE HEAT (giving “the Miami Heat”)
The Miami Heat basketball team debuted in the NBA in the 1988-89 season. The franchise name was chosen in a competitive survey, with “Miami Heat” beating out “Miami Vice”.

58. Obama or Clinton, informally DEM
By tradition, the Secret Service code names used for the US President and family all start with the same letter. For the current First Family, that letter is R:

– Barack Obama: Renegade
– Michelle Obama: Renaissance
– Malia Obama: Radiance
– Sasha Obama: Rosebud

The codenames for the Clinton First Family start with the letter E:

– Bill Clinton: Eagle
– Hillary Rodham Clinton: Evergreen
– Chelsea Clinton: Energy

61. Gridiron gains: Abbr. YDS
We never used the word “gridiron” when I was growing up in Ireland (meaning a grill used for cooking food over an open fire). So, maybe I am excused for finding out relatively recently that a football field gridiron is so called because the layout of yard lines over the field looks like a gridiron used in cooking!

62. One of the Coen brothers ETHAN
I think it’s great to see two brothers working together and being so successful. Joel and Ethan Coen are two movie producers and directors who both live in New York City. The Coen brothers do love the movie-making business and they even married industry “insiders”. Ethan’s wife is film editor Tricia Cooke, and Joel is married to one of my favorite actresses, the lovely Frances McDormand.

Down
1. Company that owns Ferrari FIAT
Fiat is the largest car manufacturer in Italy, and is headquartered in Turin in the Piedmont region in the north of the country. Fiat was founded in 1899 by Giovanni Agnelli, when the company’s name was “Fabbrica Italiana di Automobili Torino” (FIAT). A few years ago, Fiat became the majority shareholder in Chrysler.

Enzo Ferrari was an Italian race car driver, and founder of the Ferrari car manufacturing company. Ferrari died in 1988, and in 2003 the company named the Enzo Ferrari model after its founder.

2. Milan’s Teatro ___ Scala ALLA
The La Scala Opera House opened in 1778. It was built on the site of the church of Santa Maria della Scala, which gave the theater its name: “Teatro alla Scala” in Italian.

6. First anti-AIDS drug AZT
AZT is the abbreviated name for the drug azidothymidine, much used in the treatment of HIV/AIDS. AZT was originally developed in the seventies as a potential treatment for retroviruses (cancer-causing viruses), although it was never approved for use in treatment. In 1984, it was confirmed that AIDS was caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), so scientists turned to known antiviral drugs in the search for a viable treatment. Burroughs-Wellcome came up with a treatment regime using AZT, and filed a patent in 1985. The patent was challenged in court but the patent expired anyway in 2005 without any decision being made. There are now at least four generic forms of AZT approved for sale in the US.

7. Luck that’s workin’ for ya MOJO
The word “mojo”, meaning magical charm or magnetism, is probably of Creole origin.

8. “___ a Teenage Werewolf” I WAS
“I Was a Teenage Werewolf” is a 1957 horror movie starring Michael Landon in the title role. The film was a breakthrough role for Landon, and two years later he landed the role of Little Joe on TV’s “Bonanza”.

11. Fashionable celebs GLITTERATI
The glitterati are the fashionable celebrities. “Glitterati” is a melding of the words “glitter” and “literati”.

22. South of France SUD
In France, “nord” (north) is opposite to “sud” (south).

26. Famous Yosemite photographer ANSEL ADAMS
As an amateur photographer, I have been a big fan of the work of Ansel Adams for many years and must have read all of his books. Adams was famous for clarity and depth in his black and white images. Central to his technique was the use of the zone system, his own invention. The zone system is a way of controlling exposure in an image, particularly when there is a high contrast in the subject. Although the technique was developed primarily for black & white film, it can even apply to digital color images. In the digital world, the main technique is to expose an image for the highlights, and one or more images for the shadows. These images can then be combined digitally giving a final photograph with a full and satisfying range of exposures.

27. Fauna’s counterpart FLORA
The fauna is the animal life of a particular region, and the flora is that region’s plant life. The term “fauna” comes from the Roman goddess of earth and fertility who was called Fauna. Flora was the Roman goddess of plants, flowers and fertility.

28. Elixir TONIC
An elixir is a solution of alcohol and water that is used to deliver a medicine. The term “elixir” can also be used to mean a medicine that has the power to cure all ills.

29. “Frida” star Salma HAYEK
Salma Hayek is a Mexican actress. Hayek was the first Mexican national to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, for her portrayal of artist Frida Kahlo in the 2002 movie “Frida”.

30. Acapulco article UNA
The Mexican city of Acapulco is on the southwest coast of the country, in the state of Guerrero. The name “Acapulco” translates from the local language into “at the big reeds”.

31. Hot spot? SPA
The word “spa” migrated into English from Belgium, as Spa is the name of a municipality in the east of the country that is famous for its healing hot springs. The name “Spa” comes from the Walloon word “espa” meaning “spring, fountain”.

39. Lawyers’ org. ABA
American Bar Association (ABA)

44. Subject of a massive statue in the ancient Parthenon ATHENA
The Athena Parthenos (“Athena the Virgin” in English) was a massive statue of the goddess Athena made from gold, silver and ivory, which stood in the Parthenon in Athens. It was created by the sculptor Phidias around 447 BC. About 150 years later, the gold was stripped from the statue to pay troops. It was finally removed by the Romans in the 5th century AD. There is a replica of Athena in the city of Nashville, Tennessee that stands over 40 feet tall.

48. Call at a deli counter NEXT
The word “delicatessen” (or “deli” for short) came into English from the German “Delikatessen”. The Germans borrowed the word from French, in which language “délicatesse” means “delicious things (to eat)”. The term’s ultimate root is “delicatus”, the Latin for “giving pleasure, delightful”.

49. “Splish Splash” spot BATH
“Splish Splash” was a hit for Bobby Darin in 1958, and was the result of a bet. The first line (Splish splash, I was taking a bath) was suggested by Jean Kaufman, the mother of disk jockey “Murray the K”. Murray wagered that Darin couldn’t write a song beginning with those words. Darin won the bet …

50. Gillette brand ATRA
Fortunately for crossword setters, the Atra razor was introduced by Gillette in 1977. The Atra was sold as the Contour in some markets and its derivative products are still around today.

52. Architect Saarinen EERO
Eero Saarinen was a Finnish American architect, renowned in this country for his unique designs for public buildings such as Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Dulles International Airport Terminal, and the TWA building at JFK. The list of his lesser-known, but still impressive, works includes several buildings erected on academic campuses. For example, the Chapel and Kresge Auditorium on the MIT campus, the Emma Hartman Noyes House at Vassar College, and Yale’s David S. Ingalls Rink.

54. Astronomical meas. LT YR
A light-year (lt. yr.) is a measure of distance, not time. It is the distance that light travels in a vacuum in one year. The accepted abbreviation for a light-year is “ly”. A light-second is a lot shorter distance: about 186,282 miles.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Edie of “Nurse Jackie” FALCO
6. Not quite right AMISS
11. Prime meridian std. GST
14. Hipbone-related ILIAC
15. “Holy cow!” ZOWIE!
16. Waikiki wear LEI
17. Related add-ons, informally ALL THAT JAZZ (giving “the Utah Jazz”)
19. “___ long gone daddy in the U.S.A.” (Springsteen lyric) I’M A
20. Golden Horde members TATARS
21. Suffix with sucr- and lact- -OSE
22. Brouhaha STIR
23. Tennis umpire’s call LET!
24. “Straight ___ Compton” (seminal rap album) OUTTA
25. Tom Cruise/Nicole Kidman racing film DAYS OF THUNDER (giving “the Oklahoma City Thunder”)
31. Things confessed at confession SINS
32. Bad things from sharks? LOANS
33. Dodgers great Campanella ROY
35. It’s attention-getting PSST!
36. Figure skater Harding TONYA
37. Scotch ___ TAPE
38. Whiz ACE
39. Place for a kiddie hawk? AERIE
40. Elevator innovator OTIS
41. “That” something in an Arlen/Mercer standard OLD BLACK MAGIC (giving “the Orlando Magic”)
45. Exotic jelly fruit GUAVA
46. “No thanks, I already ___” ATE
47. The Beatles’ “___ Love Her” AND I
48. Org. whose only members with nonplural names appear at the ends of 17-, 25-, 41- and 56-Across NBA
51. “Fiddler on the Roof” setting SHTETL
55. Old-time actress Hagen UTA
56. Keep cool in summer BEAT THE HEAT (giving “the Miami Heat”)
58. Obama or Clinton, informally DEM
59. Add-on EXTRA
60. So unhip as to be hip, maybe NERDY
61. Gridiron gains: Abbr. YDS
62. One of the Coen brothers ETHAN
63. Din-making AROAR

Down
1. Company that owns Ferrari FIAT
2. Milan’s Teatro ___ Scala ALLA
3. Gentle rise and fall of the voice LILT
4. It makes things happen CATALYST
5. Earthy tones OCHRES
6. First anti-AIDS drug AZT
7. Luck that’s workin’ for ya MOJO
8. “___ a Teenage Werewolf” I WAS
9. Jumbo, for one SIZE
10. “Oh yeah? ___ who?” SEZ
11. Fashionable celebs GLITTERATI
12. Like the climate of Miami or Rio SEMITROPIC
13. Princess topper TIARA
18. Concerning AS TO
22. South of France SUD
24. Follower of clip or slip -ONS
25. Not full-price DISCOUNTED
26. Famous Yosemite photographer ANSEL ADAMS
27. Fauna’s counterpart FLORA
28. Elixir TONIC
29. “Frida” star Salma HAYEK
30. Acapulco article UNA
31. Hot spot? SPA
34. “You betcha!” YES!
36. Business card abbr. TEL
37. With it TOGETHER
39. Lawyers’ org. ABA
42. Roman 506 DVI
43. Turn to pulp MASH
44. Subject of a massive statue in the ancient Parthenon ATHENA
45. Tastelessly showy GAUDY
48. Call at a deli counter NEXT
49. “Splish Splash” spot BATH
50. Gillette brand ATRA
52. Architect Saarinen EERO
53. Cry made with a curtsy, maybe TADA!
54. Astronomical meas. LT YR
56. Honey Nut Cheerios mascot BEE
57. Catch some rays TAN

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