1230-14 New York Times Crossword Answers 30 Dec 14, Tuesday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
5. What bulldogs’ jowls do : SAG
The bulldog breed of dog has been around at least since 1500. Back then, bulldogs were used in the “sport” of bull baiting. Dogs would be set on a tethered bull to see which bulldog could latch onto the bull’s nose and drag it to the ground. Bull baiting was outlawed in England in 1835.

8. Food for Fido, perhaps : SCRAPS
“Fido”, the name for many a dog, is Latin for “I trust”.

14. “Hasta luego!” : ADIOS
The term “adios” is Spanish for “goodbye”. In the Spanish language, “adios” comes from the phrase “a dios vos acomiendo” meaning “I commend you to God”.

“Hasta luego!” translates literally from Spanish as “until later!”, and is used to say “see you later!”.

16. Houlihan : Maj. :: Klinger : ___ : CPL
Loretta Swit started playing “Hot Lips” Houlihan on “M*A*S*H” in 1972. She and Alan Alda were the only actors who appeared in both the pilot and the series finale. Swit has written a book on needlepoint, would you believe? It’s called “A Needlepoint Scrapbook”.

Actor Jamie Farr is best known for playing the cross-dressing Max Klinger in the sitcom ”M*A*S*H”. Although Farr landed a role in the 1955 movie “Blackboard Jungle”, his career didn’t really take off until he started appearing regularly on “The Red Skelton Show”. Years later he managed to get a one-episode appearance in ”M*A*S*H”, and his character and performance were received so well that he became a regular on the show. Farr actually did serve in the US Army in Korea, although it was after hostilities had ended. The dog tags that Farr wore when filming ”M*A*S*H” were the one’s he actually wore while serving in the military.

17. “House” star Hugh : LAURIE
English actor and comedian Hugh Laurie used to be half of a comedy double act with Stephen Fry called simply “Fry and Laurie”. Fry and Laurie met in Cambridge University through their mutual friend, the actress Emma Thompson. Over in North America, Laurie is best known for playing the title role in the medical drama “House”.

18. Xerox competitor : 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.

19. Friend of Pooh : 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.

21. Green who was on four seasons of “The Voice” : CEELO
CeeLo Green is the stage name of rapper Thomas DeCarlo Callaway. Apparently Green is one of the coaches for the contestants on the singing TV show “The Voice”. That’s all I need to know …

“The Voice” is yet another reality television show. “The Voice” is a singing competition in which the judges hear the contestants without seeing them in the first round. The judges then take on chosen contestants as coaches for the remaining rounds. “The Voice” is a highly successful worldwide franchise that originated in the Netherlands.

22. U.N. grp. monitoring workers’ rights : ILO
The ILO (International Labour Organization) is an agency now administered by the UN which was established by the League of Nations after WWI. The ILO deals with important issues such as health and safety, discrimination, child labor and forced labor. The organization was recognized for its work in 1969 when it was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

23. Brown v. Board of Education city : TOPEKA
Brown v. Board of Education was the US Supreme Court Case that established the unconstitutionality of separate public schools for black and white students. Oliver L. Brown was one of thirteen parents who filed a class action suit against the Topeka, Kansas Board of Education on behalf of their twenty children. The suit called for the city to reverse its racial segregation policy. The final decision by the US Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Earl Warren was unanimous in rejecting segregation.

24. Cheerleaders’ handfuls : POMPOMS
The French call a ball made of tufted wool a “pompon”, a word that we imported into English directly as “pompon”. We use “pompon” to describe perhaps bobbles on some hats, or the tufted balls that are shaken by cheerleaders at sports events. Over time, the spelling “pompom” has become common in English, probably due to mishearing. To confuse matters a little, we also use the word “pom-pom”, which is a nickname for a British autocannon used mainly as an anti-aircraft weapon, particularly during WWII.

27. Announcer Johnny famous for crying “Come on down!” : OLSON
Johnny Olson was the announcer on “The Price is Right” from day one in 1972, until he passed away in 1985.

34. North Carolinian : TAR HEEL
Tar Heel is a nickname for anyone living in, or from, the state of North Carolina. As such, it is the nickname also of the athletic teams of the University of North Carolina. No one seems to know for sure where the term “Tar Heel” originated, but it is thought to be related to the historical importance of the tar, pitch and turpentine industries that thrived in the state due to the presence of vast forests of pine trees.

41. Maneuver for slot car racers or stunt pilots, as suggested by this puzzle’s circled letters : LOOP DE LOOP DE LOOP
A loop de loop is a vertical loop. A vehicle executing a loop de loop completes a 360-degree circle.

45. Jonathan Swift, notably : IRONIST
Jonathan Swift was an Irish author and cleric. Swift is most famous perhaps for his 1726 novel “Gulliver’s Travels”, but we Irishmen also remember him as the Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. Swift was renowned for his wit and satire.

46. Food for Fido : ALPO
Alpo is a brand of dog food first produced by Allen Products in 1936, with “Alpo” being an abbreviation for “Allen Products”. Lorne Greene used to push Alpo in television spots, as did Ed McMahon and Garfield the Cat, would you believe?

47. Zairean president Mobutu ___ Seko : SESE
Mobutu Sese Seko was the longtime President of Zaire (later to be called the Democratic Republic of the Congo). Mobutu was known to be a very corrupt dictator and it is believed that he embezzled over $5 billion from his country. On a lighter note, Mobutu was the money man behind the famous 1974 boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman known as “The Rumble in the Jungle”. Mobutu was anxious to expand the image of Zaire so he used his nation’s funds to entice the fighters to have a go at each other in his homeland.

50. Sound in a lamasery : CHANT
A monastery, particularly in the Buddhist tradition might be called a lamasery. The monks in a lamasery are called lamas.

53. Had a good day on the links, say : SHOT PAR
The oldest type of golf course is a links course. The name “links” comes from the Old English word “hlinc” meaning “rising ground”. “Hlinc” was used to describe areas with coastal sand dunes or open parkland. As a result, we use the term “links course” to mean a golf course that is located at or on the coast, often amid sand dunes. The British Open is always played on a links course.

64. Iris ring : AREOLE
An areola (sometimes “areole”) in anatomy is a small ring of color, as in the areola surrounding the nipple, and the areola surrounding the pupil of the eye. “Areola” comes from Latin, meaning “small open space”, and is a diminutive of the Latin word “area”, meaning “open space”.

The iris is the colored part of the eye with an aperture in the center that can open or close depending on the level of light hitting the eye.

65. Toon chihuahua : REN
“The Ren and Stimpy Show” is an animated television show that ran on Nickelodeon from 1991 to 1996. The title characters are Marland “Ren” Höek, a scrawny Chihuahua, and Stimpson J. Cat, a rotund Manx cat. Not my cup of tea …

66. Film producer Carlo : PONTI
The renowned Italian film producer Carlo Ponti was not quite as famous as his celebrity wife Sophia Loren. Ponti met Loren as a contestant in a beauty contest he was judging in 1950. Back then she was a budding young actress still using her real name, Sofia Lazzaro. The two married in 1957 even though divorce was illegal at the time in Italy, so Ponti was still married to his first wife.

67. Like Greece or Serbia : BALKAN
The Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe is usually referred to as “the Balkans”. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains located in present-day Bulgaria and Serbia. “Balkan” is Bulgarian for “mountain”.

68. Oslo Accords grp. : PLO
The Oslo Accords grew out of secret negotiations between the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel in a residence in Oslo in the early nineties. The delegates shared the same house while they conducted 14 meetings. While eating all their meals together at the same table, the negotiators came to respect one another and apparently friendships developed.

69. Ethnic group of Southeast Asia : HMONG
The Hmong people are an ethnic group from the mountains of China, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand.

72. Bird in a Hans Christian Andersen tale : SWAN
Hans Christian Andersen’s tale “The Ugly Duckling” has to be one of the most endearing ever written. Unlike so many “fairy tales”, “The Ugly Duckling” isn’t based on any folklore and simply a product of Andersen’s imagination. It is speculated that Andersen was the illegitimate son of the Crown Prince of Denmark, and that he wrote the story of the ugly duckling that turned into a beautiful swan as a metaphor for the secret royal lineage that was within Andersen himself.

Down
1. Setting for Seurat’s “La Grande Jatte” : PARC
Georges Seurat was a French Post-Impressionist. His most famous work, in the pointillist style, can be viewed in the Art Institute of Chicago, “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte – 1884”. If you’ve seen the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, it features quite prominently in a wonderful, wonderful scene shot at the gallery.

2. Toon beagle : ODIE
Odie is Garfield’s best friend and is a slobbery beagle, a character in Jim Davis’s comic strip.

3. Victims of the farmer’s wife : MICE

Three blind mice. Three blind mice.
See how they run. See how they run.
They all ran after the farmer’s wife,
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,
Did you ever see such a sight in your life,
As three blind mice?

5. Gift vouchers, arcade tickets and such : SCRIP
“Scrip” isn’t legal tender, but operates just like currency in specific applications. It is in effect a form of credit. Originally the word “scrip” was used for a certificate giving one the right to receive something, often shares of a stock. “Scrip” is probably short for (sub)script(ion) receipt.

6. Olympic gold medalist Ohno : APOLO
Speed-skater Apolo Ohno has won more Winter Olympics medals than any other American. Ohno also did a great job winning the 2007 season of television’s “Dancing with the Stars”.

7. Atmosphere of many a Poe story : GLOOM
Edgar Allan Poe lived a life of many firsts. Poe is considered to be the inventor of the detective-fiction genre. He was also the first notable American author to make his living through his writing, something that didn’t really go too well for him as he was always financially strapped. In 1849 he was found on the streets of Baltimore, delirious from either drugs or alcohol. Poe died a few days later in hospital at 39 years of age.

11. Zodiac opener : ARIES
Aries the Ram is the first astrological sign in the Zodiac, and is named after the constellation. Your birth sign is Aries if you were born between March 21 and April 20, but if you are an Aries you would know that! “Aries” is the Latin word for “ram”.

12. Socialist, disparagingly : PINKO
The term “pinko” came to us courtesy of “Time” magazine, in 1925. Back then “pinko” was used to describe those who were politically left of center. Red was the color associated with the left going back to the 1800s (how times have changed!), and “pink” was assigned to people who were not aligned with the left politically, but had left-leaning tendencies.

13. Alternative to an S.U.V. : SEDAN
The American “sedan” car is the equivalent of the British “saloon” car. By definition, a sedan car has two rows of seating and a separate trunk (boot in the UK), although in some models the engine can be at the rear of the car.

28. Penne ___ vodka : ALLA
Penne alla vodka is a pasta dish with a sauce made of vodka, cream , tomatoes, onions and sausage or bacon.

32. Common grass variety named for its color : REDTOP
Redtop grass is also known as Black Bent. The grass is green with a purplish/red flower cluster, giving the variety its name.

36. A Reagan : RON
Ron Reagan’s views couldn’t be any further from his father’s, I think. Before Air America went bust, he had a daily 3-hour spot, and these days he makes frequent appearances on MSNBC. Reagan is also a good dancer, and for a while was a member of the Joffrey Ballet.

37. ___ polloi : HOI
“Hoi polloi” is a Greek term, literally meaning “the majority, the many”. In English, “hoi polloi” has come to mean “the masses” and is often used in a derogatory sense.

38. Arias, usually : SOLI
“Soli” (the plural of “solo”) are pieces of music performed by one artist, whereas “tutti” are pieces performed by all of the artists.

39. Egyptian Christian : COPT
The Copts make up the largest minority religious group in Egypt. Copts are Christians, with most adhered to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, and others practicing Coptic Catholicism or Coptic Protestantism. The term “Copt” ultimately derives from a Greek word for Egyptian.

40. Wall St. debuts : IPOS
An Initial Public Offering (IPO) is the very first offer of stock for sale by a company on the open market. In other words, an IPO marks the first time that a company is traded on a public exchange. Companies have an IPO to raise capital to expand (usually).

47. “Jersey Shore” housemate : SNOOKI
Nicole Polizzi is quite the celebrity, known by her nickname of Snooki on the MTV reality television show “Jersey Shore”. Polizzi gets her nickname from the character Snooki in the film “Save the Last Dance”, a nickname she was given in middle school because she was the first in her group of friends to kiss a boy.

49. “The Honeymooners” husband : RALPH
The classic sitcom “The Honeymooners” only aired for 39 episodes, with the last being broadcast in September of 1956. However, the sitcom itself was based on a recurring sketch that appeared on “Cavalcade of Stars” and then “The Jackie Gleason Show” from 1951-1955.

50. Chesapeake Bay feast : CRABS
Chesapeake Bay is on the Atlantic coast and is surrounded by the states of Maryland and Virginia. Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the whole country, with over 150 rivers and streams draining into it.

51. Western Afghan city : HERAT
Herat is the third largest city in Afghanistan, and is located in the northeast of the country.

52. Amtrak option : ACELA
The Acela Express is the fastest train routinely running in the US, getting up to 150 mph at times. The service runs between Boston and Washington D.C. via Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. The brand name “Acela” was created to evoke “acceleration” and “excellence”.

54. ___ Productions (Oprah Winfrey company) : HARPO
Oprah Winfrey’s multimedia production company is known as Harpo Studios. “Harpo” is “Oprah” spelled backwards, and is also the name of the husband of the character Winfrey played in the movie “The Color Purple”.

55. Big name in kitchen sponges : O-CEL-O
“o-cel-o” is a brand of kitchen sponge made by 3M.

56. :50 : TEN OF
For example, 2:50 is “ten of three”, ten minutes to three.

58. Itches : YENS
The word “yen”, meaning “urge”, has been around in English since the very early 1900s. It comes from the earlier word “yin” imported from Chinese, which was used in English to describe an intense craving for opium!

62. European smoker : ETNA
Mt. Etna is the largest of three active volcanoes in Italy. Mt Etna is about 2 1/2 times the height of its equally famous sister, Mt. Vesuvius.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Feature of a royal event : POMP
5. What bulldogs’ jowls do : SAG
8. Food for Fido, perhaps : SCRAPS
14. “Hasta luego!” : ADIOS
16. Houlihan : Maj. :: Klinger : ___ : CPL
17. “House” star Hugh : LAURIE
18. Xerox competitor : RICOH
19. Friend of Pooh : ROO
20. Not forgotten : IN MIND
21. Green who was on four seasons of “The Voice” : CEELO
22. U.N. grp. monitoring workers’ rights : ILO
23. Brown v. Board of Education city : TOPEKA
24. Cheerleaders’ handfuls : POMPOMS
27. Announcer Johnny famous for crying “Come on down!” : OLSON
28. Point the finger at : ACCUSE
31. Our planet, to Germans : ERDE
33. Be impending : LOOM
34. North Carolinian : TAR HEEL
38. Chem., e.g. : SCI
41. Maneuver for slot car racers or stunt pilots, as suggested by this puzzle’s circled letters : LOOP DE LOOP DE LOOP
44. Yodeler’s locale : ALP
45. Jonathan Swift, notably : IRONIST
46. Food for Fido : ALPO
47. Zairean president Mobutu ___ Seko : SESE
48. Goes around : ORBITS
50. Sound in a lamasery : CHANT
53. Had a good day on the links, say : SHOT PAR
57. Transcribe again : RECOPY
59. Expert : ACE
60. Shakes, as in a car chase : LOSES
64. Iris ring : AREOLE
65. Toon chihuahua : REN
66. Film producer Carlo : PONTI
67. Like Greece or Serbia : BALKAN
68. Oslo Accords grp. : PLO
69. Ethnic group of Southeast Asia : HMONG
70. Dry cleaning targets : STAINS
71. Punch-in-the-stomach sound : OOF!
72. Bird in a Hans Christian Andersen tale : SWAN

Down
1. Setting for Seurat’s “La Grande Jatte” : PARC
2. Toon beagle : ODIE
3. Victims of the farmer’s wife : MICE
4. Certain water circulator : POOL PUMP
5. Gift vouchers, arcade tickets and such : SCRIP
6. Olympic gold medalist Ohno : APOLO
7. Atmosphere of many a Poe story : GLOOM
8. Sexy skirt feature : SLIT
9. Kiss and cuddle : CANOODLE
10. Dishevel, as bed linen : RUMPLE
11. Zodiac opener : ARIES
12. Socialist, disparagingly : PINKO
13. Alternative to an S.U.V. : SEDAN
15. Waves away : SHOOS
25. Olympic lengths : METERS
26. Permeates, with “through” : SEEPS
28. Penne ___ vodka : ALLA
29. Composure : COOL
30. Farm enclosure … or a farmers’ group : COOP or CO-OP
32. Common grass variety named for its color : REDTOP
35. Lily family plants : ALOES
36. A Reagan : RON
37. ___ polloi : HOI
38. Arias, usually : SOLI
39. Egyptian Christian : COPT
40. Wall St. debuts : IPOS
42. Schedule for take-off? : DIET PLAN
43. Parts of chemistry buildings : LAB ROOMS
47. “Jersey Shore” housemate : SNOOKI
49. “The Honeymooners” husband : RALPH
50. Chesapeake Bay feast : CRABS
51. Western Afghan city : HERAT
52. Amtrak option : ACELA
54. ___ Productions (Oprah Winfrey company) : HARPO
55. Big name in kitchen sponges : O-CEL-O
56. :50 : TEN OF
58. Itches : YENS
61. The white of a whiteout : SNOW
62. European smoker : ETNA
63. 11-Down, for one : SIGN

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