1130-14 New York Times Crossword Answers 30 Nov 14, Sunday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
5. Pass off : FOIST
The word “foist”, meaning “to pass off as genuine”, comes from the Dutch word meaning “take in hand”. The original concept came from playing dice, in which one die was held surreptitiously in one hand.

10. Pianist Schumann, early champion of Brahms : CLARA
If you ever get the chance to see it, I highly recommend the movie 1947 “Song of Love”, a biopic about the lives of Robert Schumann and his extraordinary wife, Clara Wieck. Schumann is played by Paul Henreid (of “Casablanca” fame) and Clara is played wonderfully by Katherine Hepburn. Clara was a concert pianist, and as Katherine Hepburn was an accomplished pianist herself, you see Hepburn actually playing some challenging pieces herself at the keyboard (although the soundtrack does feature a professional player).

15. Certain servers : IBMS
In the world of computer science, a computer accessing a service is called a “client”. The service is provided on a computer called a “server”. These days, clients and servers often communicate via the Internet. I am typing up this blog post on my laptop (the client) and am connected via the Internet to the Google Drive service that resides on a computer somewhere (the server).

21. Egyptian war god : HORUS
Horus was one of the oldest gods in Ancient Egyptian religion. Most often, Horus was depicted as a falcon or a man with a falcon head.

26. Pooh’s baby friend : ROO
Like most of the characters in A. A. Milne’s “Winnie the Pooh”, Roo was inspired by on a stuffed toy belonging to Milne’s son Christopher Robin.

27. King Abdullah, e.g. : SAUDI
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has been in power since 2005. Abdullah is a son of Ibn Saud who founded modern Saudi Arabia.

33. Like the Head Start program, for short : PRE-K
The Head Start Program was launched in 1965 as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society initiative and has the goal of providing education, health, nutrition and social services to low-income children. Head Start began as a six-week summer school program designed to prepare poorer kids for kindergarten, but was soon expanded as the six-week program was deemed inadequate.

34. African flier : TSETSE
Tsetse flies live on the blood of vertebrate mammals. The name “tsetse” comes from Tswana, a language of southern Africa, and translates simply as “fly”. Tsetse flies are famous for being carriers of the disease known as “sleeping sickness”. Sleeping sickness is caused by a parasite which is passed onto humans when the tsetse fly bites into human skin tissue. If one considers all the diseases transmitted by the insect, then the tsetse fly is responsible for a staggering quarter of a million deaths each year.

36. What Clark Kent needs to become Superman? : CHANGE OF DRESS (from “change of address”)
Superman’s comic book creators gave their title character’s alter-ego the name “Clark Kent” by melding the names of Clark Gable and Kent Taylor, two leading men of the cinema at the time Superman was created. However, they modeled Clark’s character more on the silent film actor Harold Lloyd.

42. One-named chanteuse : CHARO
Charo is an actress, comedian and flamenco guitarist from Spain. She is quite famous for her comedic catchphrase “cuchi cuchi”. Charo’s real name is … wait for it … María del Rosario Pilar Martínez Molina Gutiérrez de los Perales Santa Ana Romaguera y de la Hinojosa Rasten.

44. Julius Wilbrand invention of 1863, for short : 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.

52. Red alert source? : TASS
TASS is the abbreviation used for the former news agency that had the full name Telegraph Association of the Soviet Union (Telegrafnoe Agentstvo Sovetskovo Soyuza). When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1992, the Moscow-based agency’s scope changed along with its name. It is now known as the Information Telegraph Agency of Russia (ITAR-TASS).

55. Oscar winner who was formerly a regular on TV’s “Laugh-In” : HAWN
I remember watching the ditsy Goldie Hawn character on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In”. Hawn used to give great performances on the show, convincing everyone that she was the stereotypical dumb blonde. Well, what a career she was to carve out for herself!

56. Fine wool sources : MERINOS
The Merino breed of sheep is prized for the soft quality of its wool.

61. Polish capital : ZLOTYS
The zloty is the currency of Poland, with word “zloty” translating into English as “golden”. The zloty has been around since the Middle Ages.

67. Sentence ender, maybe : PAROLE
The term “parole” is a French word that we use in English, with the French “parole” meaning “word, speech”. Of particular interest is the French phrase “parole d’honneur” which translates as “word of honor”. In the early 1600s we started using “parole” to mean a promise by a prisoner of war not to escape, as in the prisoner giving his “word of honor” not to run off. Over time, parole has come to mean conditional release of a prisoner before he or she has served the full term of a sentence.

71. Eggs-to-be : OOCYTES
An oocyte is an immature egg cell involved in reproduction.

75. Subject of a Fox hunt : IDOL
“American Idol” is a spin-off show that was created after the amazing success of the British television show “Pop Idol”. I can’t abide either program(me) …

76. Excel function : SORT
Microsoft Excel is the spreadsheet program included in the Microsoft Office suite of applications. Microsoft’s first spreadsheet program was introduced back in 1982 and called “Multiplan”. Multiplan’s popularity waned due to the success of the competing product Lotus 1-2-3. Microsoft then introduced Excel, initially just for the Macintosh. When Excel was extended to Windows, Lotus was slow to respond and Microsoft took over the market.

79. ___-Locka, Fla. : OPA
Opa-Locka is a rather interesting city in Florida. Opa-Locka is located near Miami, and has a themed city plan that is based on “One Thousand and One Nights”. The city hall has a very Arabian look, and some examples of street names are Ali Baba Avenue and Sesame Street.

88. Carrier to Tokyo : ANA
All Nippon Airways (ANA) is a Japanese airline, second in size only to Japan Airlines (JAL).

89. End of an era? : -ZOIC
The suffix “-zoic” is used in the names of geological eras. The term comes from teh Greek “zoikos” meaning “life”.

91. III : IOTAS
Iota is the ninth letter in the Greek alphabet. Upper case iota looks like our capital letter “I”, and lowercase iota looks like our lowercase “i”, but without the dot. We use the word “iota” to portray something very small as it is the smallest of all Greek letters.

92. Textile patented in 1894 : RAYON
Rayon is a little unusual in the textile industry in that it is not truly a synthetic fiber, but nor can it be called a natural fiber. Rayon is produced from naturally occurring cellulose that is dissolved and then reformed into fibers.

100. Flowering tropical plant : CANNA
The Canna is a genus of flowering plant that is sometimes called the canna lily, even though it isn’t actually a true lily. The name “Canna” comes from the Latin for “cane, reed”.

101. Spartacus, at one time : SLAVE
Spartacus was a gladiator and slave who became a leader in the Third Servile War, the last in a series of unsuccessful slave rebellions against the Roman Republic. The Third Servile War is also called the Gladiator War and the War of Spartacus. Spartacus features in a 1951 historical novel by Howard Fast called “Spartacus”, which inspired the 1960 movie of the same name starring Kirk Douglas.

104. Northern passage : FJORD
A drowned valley might be called a ria or a fjord, both formed as sea level rises. A ria is a drowned valley created by river erosion, and a fjord is a drowned valley created by glaciation.

106. Chain letters? : RNA
Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) is an essential catalyst in the manufacture of proteins in the body. The genetic code in DNA determines the sequence of amino acids that make up each protein. That sequence is read in DNA by messenger RNA, and amino acids are delivered for protein manufacture in the correct sequence by what is called transfer RNA. The amino acids are then formed into proteins by ribosomal RNA.

117. Where Indiana Jones reunites with Marion : NEPAL
Marion Ravenwood (played by Karen Allen) is the old flame of Indiana Jones’ (played by Harrison Ford) in the series of movies.

119. Paul who composed the “Tonight Show” theme : ANKA
Paul Anka wrote the theme tune for “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” in 1962. It was a reworking of a song that Anka had written earlier called “Toot Sweet”. “Toot Sweet” had also been rewritten as a song called “It’s Really Love” and recorded by Annette Funicello in 1959. If you listen to “It’s Really Love”, you can see the similarity with “The Tonight Show” theme.

Down
1. “This guy walks into ___ …” : A BAR
So a man walks into a bar and says to the bartender, “Give me 12 shots of your most expensive Tequila!” The bartender pours the shots and lines them up. The guy starts shooting them back really quickly, one right after another. The bartender says in shock, “Why are you drinking those so fast?!” The guy stops long enough to get out a few words, “You would drink these fast too, if you had what I have” Confused, the bartender asks, “Why? what do you have?” The guy says, “About four dollars” …

2. Fictional villain whose given name is Julius : DR NO
“Dr. No” may have been the first film in the wildly successful James Bond franchise, but it was the sixth novel in the series of books penned by Ian Fleming. Fleming was inspired to write the story after reading the Fu Manchu tales by Sax Rohmer. If you’ve read the Rohmer books or seen the films, you’ll recognize the similarities between the characters Dr. Julius No and Fu Manchu.

8. Golfer ___ Pak : SE-RI
Se-Ri Pak is a South Korean golfer playing on the LPGA tour. Having a Korean name, we really should be calling her Pak Se-Ri as she is known in her homeland. Korean names always start with the family name.

9. Some OT enders : TDS
In football, overtime (OT) might end with a touchdown (TD).

10. Mao adversary : CHIANG
Chiang Kai-Shek was the leader of the Nationalist Movement in China right through to the end of WWII. The Nationalists lost out in a Civil War to the Communists backed by the Soviet Union after war, and Chiang Kai-Shek and his government were forced to flee to Taiwan. Chiang Kai-shek claimed rule over China from Taiwan until his death in 1975.

17. Washington attraction : MALL
The National Mall is a park in downtown Washington, D.C. The National Mall is home to several museums that are part of the Smithsonian, as well as the National Gallery of Art.

18. English glam-rock band with six #1 hits : SLADE
Slade was a favorite band from my youth, a rock band from the north of England who made it big during the seventies. One of Slade’s hallmark marketing techniques was a deliberate misspelling of their song titles. Some of those titles are: “Merry Xmas Everybody”, “Gudbuy T’Jane” and my personal favorite “Cum On Feel the Noize”.

25. Armored, as a horse : BARDED
Barding is defensive armor for horses that was used in the late Middle Ages.

28. Asian capital known as the City of Lakes : HANOI
Hanoi was the capital of North Vietnam, and Saigon the capital of South Vietnam. After the Vietnam War, Hanoi was made capital of the reunified state. Saigon, the larger metropolis, was renamed to Ho Chi Minh City.

31. Astronaut’s woe, perhaps : ITCH
I guess an astronaut in a spacesuit would find an itch somewhat frustrating …

36. Refuse at the polling station : CHADS
We are all familiar with “hanging chads” after the famous Florida election recounts of 2000. A chad is any piece of paper punched out from a larger sheet. So, those round bits of paper we’ve all dropped over the floor when emptying a hole punch, they’re chads.

37. Old Hollywood’s ___ Code : HAYS
The Motion Picture Production Code that was in place from 1930 to 1968 was named for Presbyterian elder Will H. Hays. Hays was hired by the movie studios to help clean up Hollywood’s image after several scandals had hit the industry. The actual list of standards was drawn up by Catholic layman Martin Quigley and Jesuit priest Father Daniel A. Lord in 1929, but the code still came to bear the name of Will Hays.

40. British guns : STENS
The STEN gun is an iconic armament that was used by the British military. The name STEN is an acronym. The S and the T comes from the name of the gun’s designers, Shepherd and Turpin. The EN comes from the Enfield brand name, which in turn comes from the Enfield location where the guns were manufactured for the Royal Small Arms Factory, an enterprise owned by the British government.

47. Pieces in the game Othello : DISCS
The game called Reversi is also sold as Othello. The name Othello was chosen as a nod to the play by William Shakespeare.

48. Certain Endorian : EWOK
The Ewoks are creatures who live on the moon of Endor, first appearing in “Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi”. They’re the cute and cuddly little guys that look like teddy bears.

58. Bubkes : NIL
“Bupkis” (also “bubkes”) is a word that means “absolutely nothing, nothing of value”, and is of Yiddish origin.

59. O’Connor successor : ALITO
Associate Justice Samuel Alito was nominated to the US Supreme Court by President George W. Bush. Alito is the second Italian-American to serve on the Supreme Court (Antonin Scalia was the first). Alito studied law at Yale and while in his final year he left the country for the first time in his life, heading to Italy to work on his thesis about the Italian legal system.

Sandra Day O’Connor is a former Associate justice on the US Supreme Court. O’Connor was the first woman appointed to the court, and was in office from 1981 after being appointed by President Reagan. As the court became more conservative she was viewed as the swing vote in many decisions. As a result, O’Connor was known as one of the most powerful women in the world. She retired in 2006 (replaced by Samuel Alito), and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama in 2009.

60. Bilge : ROT
The bilge is lowest internal part of a ship. The water that collects in there is called bilge water. The term “bilge” is also used as slang for nonsense talk.

61. “Butterfly” actress, 1982 : ZADORA
Pia Zadora is an American actress and singer. Zadora’s most famous role was in the 1982 film “Butterfly” in which she worked with Orson Welles and Stacey Keach. The film was based on the novel “The Butterfly” by James M. Cain and deals with the difficult subject of father-daughter incest.

62. ___ cit. (footnote abbr.) : LOC
Loc. cit. is short for “loco citato” meaning “in the place cited”. Loc. cit. is used in a footnote instead of op. cit. as it refers not only to a prior work, but also to the same page in that work.

64. Mexican bear : OSO
In Spanish, “osa” is a female bear, and “oso” is a male.

67. Rice ___ : PILAF
“Pilaf” is a Persian word, and we use it to describe rice that is browned in oil and then cooked in a seasoned broth.

68. Hersey novel locale : ADANO
“A Bell for Adano” is a novel written by John Hersey. Hersey’s story is about an Italian-American US Army officer, Major Joppolo, who found a replacement for a town’s bell stolen by fascists. “A Bell for Adano” was made into a film in 1945, the same year the novel won a Pulitzer.

72. Singer whose “I Get Ideas” was on the charts for 30 weeks : TONY MARTIN
Tony Martin was an actor and singer from San Francisco. Martin’s second wife was actress and singer Cyd Charisse.

73. Its icon is Spaceship Earth : EPCOT
Spaceship Earth is perhaps the structure that comes to mind when we think of Epcot in the Walt Disney World Resort. It is the large white, 18-story geodesic sphere.

81. Some oxygen molecules : OZONES
Ozone gets its name from the Greek word ozein, meaning “to smell”. It was given this name as ozone’s formation during lightning storms was detected by the gas’s distinctive smell. Famously, there is a relatively high concentration of the gas in the “ozone layer” in the Earth’s stratosphere. This ozone layer provides a vital function for animal life on the planet as it absorbs most of the sun’s UV radiation. A molecule of ozone is made up of three oxygen atoms, whereas a “normal” oxygen has just two atoms.

95. Ancient Macedonian capital : EDESSA
The Greek city of Edessa is in the Central Macedonian region of the country. Edessa was the ancient capital of Macedon, and home to fabled King Midas.

96. Stonehenge feature : LINTEL
A lintel is a structural beam that spans an opening in a wall, usually a door or a window.

The magnificent Stonehenge monument in the south of England was built from 3000 to 2000 BC. “Stonehenge” has given its name to “henges”, a whole class of earthenwork monuments that are circular in form with an internal ditch surrounded by a bank. Paradoxically, Stonehenge doesn’t qualify as a henge by this contemporary definition, as its earthen bank is surrounded by an external ditch.

100. Chewed stimulants : COCAS
The coca plant is native to South America, similar in appearance to a blackthorn bush. Coca leaves have been chewed for centuries, perhaps even as far back as 3,000 years ago. Chewing the leaves apparently produces a pleasurable, numb sensation in the mouth and a pleasant taste. The most famous alkaloid in the leaf is cocaine, but this wasn’t extracted in its pure form until the mid-1800s. The cocaine was used in a medicines and tonics and other beverages, including the original version of Coca-Cola! Before 1903, a glass of Coke would contain about 9 mg of cocaine. Coca-Cola still uses coca leaves, as the flavor is prized, but the cocaine is extracted before it arrives at the bottling plant.

103. With 105-Down, some amphorae : WINE
105. See 103-Down : JUGS
An amphora is a ceramic vase with two handles on either side of a long neck. The name “amphora” is Latin, coming from the Greek meaning “on both sides of the carrier”, referring to the two carrying handles.

111. West ___ (upscale furniture store) : ELM
West Elm is an upscale furniture store that is owned by Williams-Sonoma. The chain was founded in 2002.

112. Actress Gardner : AVA
Ava Gardner is noted for her association with some big movies, but also for her association with some big names when it came to the men in her life. In the world of film, she appeared in the likes of “Mogambo” (1953), “On the Beach” (1959), “The Night of the Iguana” (1964) and “Earthquake” (1974). The men in her life included husbands Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw and Frank Sinatra. After her marriages had failed (and perhaps before!) she had long term relationships with Howard Hughes and bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguin whom she met through her friend Ernest Hemingway.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Interjects : ADDS
5. Pass off : FOIST
10. Pianist Schumann, early champion of Brahms : CLARA
15. Certain servers : IBMS
19. Focused on one’s fellow fraternity members? : BRO-MINDED (from “broad-minded”)
21. Egyptian war god : HORUS
22. Fast break? : MEAL
23. Workers in booths : ANNOUNCERS
24. Dublin dance? : IRISH BALL (from “Irish ballad”)
26. Pooh’s baby friend : ROO
27. King Abdullah, e.g. : SAUDI
28. Like a desert climate : HARSH
29. Like circus tumblers : AGILE
30. What may come with a trophy : TITLE
32. “Shut up!” : CAN IT!
33. Like the Head Start program, for short : PRE-K
34. African flier : TSETSE
36. What Clark Kent needs to become Superman? : CHANGE OF DRESS (from “change of address”)
41. Response to a gotcha : WINCE
42. One-named chanteuse : CHARO
43. Dry : SERE
44. Julius Wilbrand invention of 1863, for short : TNT
45. Somewhat bashful? : ON THE SHY SIDE (from “on the shady side”)
49. Article of papal attire : RED SHOE
51. ___ spot : AGE
52. Red alert source? : TASS
53. Uncommon cry after a lottery drawing : I WIN!
55. Oscar winner who was formerly a regular on TV’s “Laugh-In” : HAWN
56. Fine wool sources : MERINOS
59. Firing offense? : ARSON
61. Polish capital : ZLOTYS
63. Local afternoon newscast? : FIVE O’CLOCK SHOW (from “five o’clock shadow”)
67. Sentence ender, maybe : PAROLE
70. Execs : SUITS
71. Eggs-to-be : OOCYTES
75. Subject of a Fox hunt : IDOL
76. Excel function : SORT
77. “I’m f-f-freezing!” : BRRR!
79. ___-Locka, Fla. : OPA
80. Show, as cards in gin rummy : LAY DOWN
83. Business offering the right to buy and sell securities? : OPTION AGENCY (from “adoption agency”)
88. Carrier to Tokyo : ANA
89. End of an era? : -ZOIC
91. III : IOTAS
92. Textile patented in 1894 : RAYON
93. How to find what a creep is looking at? : FOLLOW THE LEER (from “follow the leader”)
97. Become fond of : WARM TO
98. Ones bowled over? : PINS
99. What Microsoft Word’s Track Changes shows : EDITS
100. Flowering tropical plant : CANNA
101. Spartacus, at one time : SLAVE
103. Itsy-bitsy : WEENY
104. Northern passage : FJORD
106. Chain letters? : RNA
109. Says “I didn’t do it!” before fessing up? : LIES FIRST (from “ladies first”)
111. Clarifies : ELUCIDATES
113. Fibula : leg :: ___ : arm : ULNA
114. Taken : IN USE
115. Cigarettes or booze? : LEGAL VICE (from “legal advice”)
116. Conclude in court : REST
117. Where Indiana Jones reunites with Marion : NEPAL
118. Overly involved : MESSY
119. Paul who composed the “Tonight Show” theme : ANKA

Down
1. “This guy walks into ___ …” : A BAR
2. Fictional villain whose given name is Julius : DR NO
3. “Wrong way” : DO NOT ENTER
4. Prefix with masochistic : SADO-
5. One may be grand : FINALE
6. Perfectly timed : ON CUE
7. Fingered : IDED
8. Golfer ___ Pak : SE-RI
9. Some OT enders : TDS
10. Mao adversary : CHIANG
11. Country singer Morgan : LORRIE
12. Blue bloods, informally : ARISTOS
13. “A.S.A.P.!” : RUSH!
14. Bit of air pollution : ASH
15. Digicam component : IMAGER
16. “Well, fine” : BE LIKE THAT
17. Washington attraction : MALL
18. English glam-rock band with six #1 hits : SLADE
20. Essential, in a way : MUST-SEE
25. Armored, as a horse : BARDED
28. Asian capital known as the City of Lakes : HANOI
31. Astronaut’s woe, perhaps : ITCH
32. Sleeper and others : CARS
33. Father : PADRE
34. When D.S.T. starts or ends : TWO AM
35. Burn a little : SINGE
36. Refuse at the polling station : CHADS
37. Old Hollywood’s ___ Code : HAYS
38. Leaves in a waiting room? : FERN
39. Flaky? : SNOWY
40. British guns : STENS
42. Climax of many an action film : CHASE
46. Hot pot spot : STOVE
47. Pieces in the game Othello : DISCS
48. Certain Endorian : EWOK
50. Flamboyant : SHOWY
54. Connections : INS
57. Poker resignation : I FOLD
58. Bubkes : NIL
59. O’Connor successor : ALITO
60. Bilge : ROT
61. “Butterfly” actress, 1982 : ZADORA
62. ___ cit. (footnote abbr.) : LOC
64. Mexican bear : OSO
65. Band-Aid competitor : CURAD
66. Orchestra section : HORNS
67. Rice ___ : PILAF
68. Hersey novel locale : ADANO
69. Major annoyances : ROYAL PAINS
72. Singer whose “I Get Ideas” was on the charts for 30 weeks : TONY MARTIN
73. Its icon is Spaceship Earth : EPCOT
74. Decline : SAY NO
76. Pique activity? : SNIT
77. Quick snack : BITE
78. Sound of approval : ROAR
81. Some oxygen molecules : OZONES
82. Bowls over : WOWS
84. High fidelity? : PIETY
85. Ugly ones : TOADS
86. Pop’s pop : GRANDDAD
87. Make : EARN
90. “Things aren’t so bad” : CHEER UP
94. Occupy : LIVE AT
95. Ancient Macedonian capital : EDESSA
96. Stonehenge feature : LINTEL
97. With caution : WARILY
100. Chewed stimulants : COCAS
101. Potential libel : SLUR
102. Scoop (out) : LADLE
103. With 105-Down, some amphorae : WINE
104. Scoot : FLEE
105. See 103-Down : JUGS
107. Head turner : NECK
108. Between ports : ASEA
110. Cod piece : FIN
111. West ___ (upscale furniture store) : ELM
112. Actress Gardner : AVA

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