1104-14 New York Times Crossword Answers 4 Nov 14, Tuesday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Joel Fagliano
THEME: Sounds Like a Review … each of today’s themed answers is a well-known phrase, but clued as though the words are a critic’s positive or negative review:

18A. Critic’s positive review of drummer Keith of the Who? : MOON ROCKS

31A. With 40-Across, critic’s positive review of a Fox medical drama? : “HOUSE”
40A. See 31-Across : RULES

55A. Critic’s negative review of a 1988 Hanks film? : “BIG” STINKS

3D. Critic’s negative review of singer Courtney? : LOVE BITES

32D. Critic’s negative review of a newsmagazine? : “TIME” SUCKS

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 14m 00s!!!
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

10. Genre for N.W.A. or T.I. : RAP
NWA 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.

Rapper Clifford Harris used to use the stage name “Tip” and is now known as “T.I.” “Tip” was Harris’s childhood nickname, which he modified to “T.I.P” for at least one record. He then shortened “T.I.P.” to “T.I.”

13. Honolulu hello : ALOHA
Honolulu is the largest city in Hawaii, and the state capital. Located on the island of Oahu, the name “Honolulu” translates from Hawaiian as “place of shelter, calm port, sheltered bay”.

14. Everglades bird : EGRET
The Everglades are a tropical wetlands that cover much of southern Florida. The area was named “River Glades” by a British surveyor in 1773, and is suggested that poor transcription of the word “river” led to the use of “ever”. The southern 20% of the Everglades is a protected region that we know as Everglades National Park. The park is the third largest National Park in the lower 48 states, after Death Valley NP (the largest) and Yellowstone NP.

18. Critic’s positive review of drummer Keith of the Who? : MOON ROCKS
Keith Moon was the drummer for the Who, the famous rock group from England. Moon was a “bit of a lad” offstage and seemed to have a fixation for destroying televisions and exploding toilets in hotel rooms with cherry bombs. He also was fond of alcohol, with a particular taste for brandy and champagne. Ironically, Moon died due to an overdose of a drug designed to curb alcohol abuse, when he was just 32 years old. He was found dead in a London flat owned by Harry Nilsson. Mama Cass Elliot had been found dead in the same flat four years earlier.

21. Its national animal is the vicuña : PERU
The vicuña is a South American camelid that lives in the Andes. The vicuña produces very little wool, and that wool can only be collected every three years. So, vicuña wool is very expensive due to the shortage of supply. And, the vicuña us the national animal of Peru.

25. Please, quaintly : PRITHEE
“Prithee” is a quaint way of saying “please”, and comes from the phrase “pray thee”.

29. Thick-skinned one : RHINO
There are five types of rhinoceros that survive today, and the smaller Javan Rhino is the most rare. The rhinoceros is probably the rarest large mammal on the planet, thanks to poaching. Hunters mainly prize the horn of the rhino as it is used in powdered form in traditional Chinese medicine.

30. Tribal symbol : TOTEM
Totem is the name given to any entity that watches over a group of people. As such, totems are usually the subjects of worship. Totem poles are really misnamed, as they are not intended to represent figures to be worshiped, but rather are heraldic in nature often celebrating the legends or notable events in the history of a tribe.

31. With 40-Across, critic’s positive review of a Fox medical drama? : “HOUSE”
(40A. See 31-Across : RULES)
I think that “House” is one of the best shows made by Fox television. It is fun for me to see English actor Hugh Laurie in the title role as coming from the other side of the Atlantic I have been watching him in various comedic roles for decades. Famously he played Bertie Wooster opposite Stephen Fry in P.G. Wodehouse’s “Jeeves & Wooster”, as well as one of the bumbling “bad guys” in “101 Dalmatians” (the version starring Glenn Close).

32. Male turkey : TOM
A male turkey is called a “tom”, taking its name from a “tomcat”. The inference is that like a tomcat, the male turkey is relatively wild and undomesticated, sexually promiscuous and frequently getting into fights.

36. Posted an opinion, maybe : BLOGGED
Many folks who visit this website regard it as just that, a website. That is true, but more correctly it is referred to as a blog, as I make regular posts (actually daily posts) which then occupy the “front page” of the site. The blog entries are in reverse chronological order, and one can just look back day-by-day, reading older and older posts. Blog is a contraction of the term “web log”.

41. Chair designer Charles : EAMES
Charles and Ray Eames were a husband-wife team of furniture designers. One of the more famous of their designs is the Eames lounge chair that comes with an ottoman. This trendy piece of furniture featured in a late episode of the television show “Frasier”. In the show, Frasier’s Dad remarks that the Eames chair is so comfortable that he might have gotten rid of his tatty old recliner a long time ago.

43. Mythical man-goat : SATYR
The satyrs of Greek mythology came with a very high sex drive. They are the “rude” male subjects drawn on the side of old Greek vases. The nubile maidens known as nymphs were often an object of attention for the satyrs.

44. First family of the 1840s : TYLERS
John Tyler was the tenth President of the US, and the first to take the office on the death of the incumbent. Tyler’s predecessor was President William Henry Harrison, who was in office only 32 days before he died of natural causes. For a while there was a little confusion about the wording in the constitution that covered such an eventuality. There was an argument made that Tyler would continue as Vice-President but would assume the responsibilities of the office of President, in effect as “Acting President”. However, Tyler proceeded as though he was taking over as President and took the oath of office in his hotel room in Washington. Soon afterwards, Congress declared that Tyler was indeed President, although many continued to dispute the fact. Many of President Tyler’s opponents referred to him as “His Accidency”.

John Tyler was married to Letitia Christian when he became President of the United States in 1841 after the untimely death of President William Henry Harrison. Letitia was to become the first wife of a US president to die in the White House, passing away in 1842 after suffering a stroke. She was also the youngest First Lady to die, at 51 years of age.

Julia Gardiner was the second wife of President John Tyler. The couple met at a White House reception, and started seeing each other only a few months after the death of President Tyler’s first wife. Gardiner was 24 years old when she married the President in a quiet ceremony in New York City in 1844. President Tyler was 30 years her senior at the time of the marriage, and indeed his daughter was five years older than her father’s new wife. Julia Tyler served as First Lady for just under a year, until President Tyler’s voluntarily stepped down after only one term, in 1845.

45. Galaxy competitors : IPHONES
The Galaxy is a series of mobile computing devices made by Samsung that was introduced in 2009.

52. Homer Simpson’s favorite beer : DUFF
Duff Beer is a fictional beer that appears on the “The Simpsons”. Well, if you want to taste a real manifestation of Duff Beer, you buy some at the Springfield area of Universal Studios Florida, and you can even drink it in Moe’s Tavern.

55. Critic’s negative review of a 1988 Hanks film? : “BIG” STINKS
“Big” is a fun movie, released in 1988. It is a romantic comedy with an unusual plot involving a young boy who is aged to adulthood overnight (played by Tom Hanks). Who can forget the scene where Hanks and the owner of a toy store hop around on a giant piano keyboard. Remember what they played? “Heart and Soul” and “Chopsticks” …

57. Word before range or cord : VOCAL
The vocal cords are also known as the vocal folds. The vocal cords are two folds of mucous membrane that project into the larynx. The folds vibrate when air passes through the larynx, allowing sounds to be made.

61. ___ Taco (fast-food chain) : DEL
The Del Taco chain of fast food restaurants opened for business in 1964, with the first restaurant called “Casa Del Taco” located in Yermo, California. Del Taco serves American-style Mexican cuisine as well as the typical collection of hamburgers, fries and shakes.

62. Decisive time : D-DAY
The most famous D-Day in history was June 6, 1944, the date of the Normandy landings in WWII. The term “D-Day” is used by the military to designate the day on which a combat operations are to be launched, especially when the actual date has yet to be determined. What D stands for seems to have been lost in the mists of time although the tradition is that D just stands for “Day”. In fact, the French have a similar term, “Jour J” (Day J), with a similar meaning. We also use H-Hour to denote the hour the attack is to commence.

63. Car introduced by Elon Musk : TESLA
Elon Musk is successful businessman who has founded or led some very high-profile companies, namely PayPal, Tesla Motors and SpaceX.

Down
2. Mathematician Turing : ALAN
Alan Turing was an English mathematician. He was deservedly well-respected for his code-breaking work during WWII at Bletchley Park in England. However, despite his contributions to cracking the German Enigma code and other crucial work, Turing was prosecuted for homosexuality in 1952. He agreed to chemical castration, treatment with female hormones, and two years later he committed suicide by taking cyanide.

3. Critic’s negative review of singer Courtney? : LOVE BITES
Courtney Love is a singer-songwriter who was the co-founder of the alternative rock band Hole. Love was married to Kurt Cobain, the lead singer of Nirvana, until his death in 1994.

6. Macho dudes : HE-MEN
A man described as “macho” shows pride in his masculinity. “Macho” is a Spanish word for “male animal”.

7. Dr. Frankenstein’s helper : IGOR
Igor has been the assistant to Dracula, Frankenstein and Young Frankenstein among others. Igor is almost invariably portrayed as a hunchback.

8. Many “Family Feud” celebrations : GROUP HUGS
“Family Feud” is an American game show that has been remade in countries all over the world. We even make a version in Ireland that we call “Family Fortunes”.

10. Digital camera brand : RICOH
Ricoh is a Japanese company that started out in 1936 and by the year 2000 was the biggest manufacturer of copiers in the world. The company is also well known as a supplier of cameras. The most successful of Ricoh’s lines of cameras is the compact model called a Caplio.

12. Old-hat : PASSE
“Passé” is a French word, meaning “past, faded”.

19. ___ the Orange (Syracuse mascot) : OTTO
The current Syracuse mascot Otto the Orange was introduced unofficially in 1980, and gained official recognition by the University in 1995.

21. Typical “Meet the Press” guest, for short : POL
Politician (pol.)

NBC’s news and interview show “Meet the Press” was first aired in 1947. That’s a long time ago, and so “Meet the Press” is the longest-running television series in US broadcasting history.

24. Band that sang the “Friends” theme song “I’ll Be There for You,” with “the” : REMBRANDTS
The producers of TV’s hit sitcom “Friends”, David Crane and Marta Kauffman, actually co-wrote the show’s theme song. The theme was originally just a minute long, and recorded by the Rembrandts. A Nashville radio announcer looped the one-minute song into a standard 3-minute pop song format and it became really popular over the airwaves. The Rembrandts found themselves “having to” come up with a re-write and recorded a full, 3-minute version of the song in 1995, released it on an album and making a music video. The video features all six of the “Friends” stars, and pieces of the video appear in the opening sequence of the later shows.

29. “___ that” (“Understood”) : ROGER
The term “roger”, meaning “yes” or “acknowledged”, comes from the world of radiotelephony. The British military used a phonetic alphabet in the fifties that included “Roger” to represent the letter “R”. As such, it became customary to say “Roger” when acknowledging a message, with R (Roger) standing for “received”.

31. Eastern Catholic ruling body : HOLY SYNOD
Several Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches have ruling bodies called Holy Synods, comprising a group of bishops who elect the head bishop or patriarch for their church.

The word synod comes from the Greek word for assembly, or meeting. A synod is a church council, usually in the Christian faith.

32. Critic’s negative review of a newsmagazine? : “TIME” SUCKS
“Time” magazine has a readership of about 25 million, making it the largest circulation weekly news magazine in the world.

44. Sen. Cruz : TED
US Senator Ted Cruz served as Solicitor General for the state of Texas before heading to Washington. Cruz was appointed Solicitor General in 2003 at the age of 32, making him the youngest Solicitor General in the country. Famously, Cruz is an opponent of the Affordable Care Act and made a speech in 2013 in the US Senate on the subject that lasted for 21 hours and 19 minutes. It was the fourth longest speech in the history of the Senate.

47. “Science of Logic” philosopher : HEGEL
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German philosopher, one of the founders of the German idealism movement. “Idealism”, in the context of the movement, was the principle that objects did not have properties in themselves, but rather that an object’s properties depended on the person perceiving the object.

48. Iditarod dog : HUSKY
The Siberian Husky is one of the oldest breeds of dog, and originated in northern Asia. Siberian Huskies were imported into Alaska in great numbers in the early 1900s for use as sled dogs during the gold rush.

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race covers a massive 1,161 miles, from Anchorage to Nome in Alaska. The race starts every year on the first Saturday in March, with the first race having been held in 1973. The fastest finishing time was set in 2002 at just under 9 days. The first few races only used a northern route, but then a southern route was added to the roster every second year. It’s kind of a good thing, because when the racers take the northern route they don’t even pass through the town of Iditarod!

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Stops : HALTS
6. Stoned : HIGH
10. Genre for N.W.A. or T.I. : RAP
13. Honolulu hello : ALOHA
14. Everglades bird : EGRET
16. “Yes, there ___ God!” : IS A
17. Gave in : CAVED
18. Critic’s positive review of drummer Keith of the Who? : MOON ROCKS
20. Had down pat : KNEW
21. Its national animal is the vicuña : PERU
22. Small matter? : ATOMS
23. Powerful industrialist : BARON
25. Please, quaintly : PRITHEE
27. Whine tearfully : SNIVEL
29. Thick-skinned one : RHINO
30. Tribal symbol : TOTEM
31. With 40-Across, critic’s positive review of a Fox medical drama? : “HOUSE”
32. Male turkey : TOM
35. Nonhuman sign language learner : APE
36. Posted an opinion, maybe : BLOGGED
38. “___ had it up to here!” : I’VE
39. “Agreed” : YES
40. See 31-Across : RULES
41. Chair designer Charles : EAMES
43. Mythical man-goat : SATYR
44. First family of the 1840s : TYLERS
45. Galaxy competitors : IPHONES
48. They’re hard to run in : HEELS
49. Incessantly : NO END
50. “___ be surprised” : YOU’D
52. Homer Simpson’s favorite beer : DUFF
55. Critic’s negative review of a 1988 Hanks film? : “BIG” STINKS
57. Word before range or cord : VOCAL
58. “___ with caution” : USE
59. Everglades bird : STORK
60. Place for a court-ordered monitor : ANKLE
61. ___ Taco (fast-food chain) : DEL
62. Decisive time : D-DAY
63. Car introduced by Elon Musk : TESLA

Down
1. Unrespected writer : HACK
2. Mathematician Turing : ALAN
3. Critic’s negative review of singer Courtney? : LOVE BITES
4. Stand-up routine? : THE WAVE
5. Down : SAD
6. Macho dudes : HE-MEN
7. Dr. Frankenstein’s helper : IGOR
8. Many “Family Feud” celebrations : GROUP HUGS
9. Mama bird : HEN
10. Digital camera brand : RICOH
11. Help desk sign : ASK ME
12. Old-hat : PASSE
15. Asset for an umpire or editor : TRAINED EYE
19. ___ the Orange (Syracuse mascot) : OTTO
21. Typical “Meet the Press” guest, for short : POL
24. Band that sang the “Friends” theme song “I’ll Be There for You,” with “the” : REMBRANDTS
26. React to yeast : RISE
27. Certain court order : STAY
28. “Uh-uh” : NOPE
29. “___ that” (“Understood”) : ROGER
31. Eastern Catholic ruling body : HOLY SYNOD
32. Critic’s negative review of a newsmagazine? : “TIME” SUCKS
33. More than : OVER
34. Predicament : MESS
37. Minstrel’s instrument : LUTE
42. “Finished!” : ALL DONE!
43. Mamas’ boys : SONS
44. Sen. Cruz : TED
45. About to bloom : IN BUD
46. Asset in a beauty pageant : POISE
47. “Science of Logic” philosopher : HEGEL
48. Iditarod dog : HUSKY
51. Plant also known as ladies’ fingers : OKRA
53. When many network shows debut : FALL
54. Pet pest : FLEA
56. “___ be my pleasure!” : IT’D
57. Winery fixture : VAT

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One thought on “1104-14 New York Times Crossword Answers 4 Nov 14, Tuesday”

  1. Quite a contemporary grid today. Enjoyable. Though I was premature and tossed in Rilke instead of HEGEL, which delayed the SW corner.

    A friend who works at Syracuse tells me Otto is a bit of a joke. Similar to when Dartmouth went to the "Big Green," and the student body adopted Keggy the Keg as their unofficial mascot.

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