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CROSSWORD SETTER: Jason Flinn
THEME: All for Someone … each of today’s themed answers is a phrase meaning “all”, in the format “x to y”, with each clued by referring to a relevant occupation:
17A. All, for a ship’s captain : STEM TO STERN
23A. All, for a life insurance agent : CRADLE TO GRAVE
38A. All, for an anthem writer : SEA TO SHINING SEA
52A. All, for a race organizer : START TO FINISH
63A. All, for a house cleaner : TOP TO BOTTOM
BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 5m 57s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0
Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
14. Artsy New York neighborhood : SOHO
The Manhattan neighborhood known today as SoHo was very fashionable in the early 1900s, but as the well-heeled started to move uptown the area became very run down and poorly maintained. Noted for the number of fires that erupted in derelict buildings, SoHo earned the nickname “Hell’s Hundred Acres”. The area was then zoned for manufacturing and became home to many sweatshops. In the mid-1900s artists started to move into open loft spaces and renovating old buildings as the lofts were ideal locations in which an artist could both live and work. In 1968, artists and others organized themselves so that they could legalize their residential use of an area zoned for manufacturing. The group they formed took its name from the name given to the area by the city’s Planning Commission i.e “South of Houston”. This was shortened from So-uth of Ho-uston to SoHo as in the SoHo Artists Association, and the name stuck.
15. Oakland footballer : RAIDER
The Oakland Raiders football team was founded in 1960, and was originally intended to play in Minnesota. Instead, the team played in Oakland from 1960 to 1981 and then spent 12 years in Los Angeles before returning to Oakland in 1995.
16. Hawaiian souvenir : 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.
19. Links org. : PGA
The Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) was founded in 1916 and today has its headquarters (unsurprisingly) in Florida, where so many golfers live. Back in 1916, the PGA was based in New York City.
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.
20. Gun that delivers a jolt : TASER
Victor Appleton wrote a novel for young adults called “Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle”. The company that developed the TASER electroshock weapon named its product as a homage to the novel. The acronym TASER stands for “Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle”.
21. “2001: A Space Odyssey” villain : HAL
In Arthur C. Clarke’s “Space Odyssey” (famously adapted for the big screen as “2001: A Space Odyssey”) the computer system that went rogue was called HAL 9000, or simply “HAL”. HAL stands for Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer. Even though, Clarke denied it, there’s a good argument that can be made that the acronym HAL is a veiled reference to IBM, the big player in the world of computing at the time of the novel’s publication (1968). The acronym HAL is just a one-letter shift from the initials “IBM”.
29. Who is solving this puzzle : YOU
No, I am …
30. Sundries case : ETUI
An etui is an ornamental case used to hold small items, in particular sewing needles. We imported both the case design and the word “etui” from France. The French also have a modern usage of “etui”, using the term to depict a case for carrying CDs.
33. Govt. management org. : GSA
The US Government’s General Services Administration (GSA), as the name suggests, provides general services to other federal agencies. So for example, the GSA manages office space for the other agencies, and transportation.
38. All, for an anthem writer : SEA TO SHINING SEA
“From sea to shining sea” is a line from the patriotic song “America the Beautiful”.
When she was 33 years old, Katharine Lee Bates took a train ride from Massachusetts to Colorado Springs. She was so inspired by many of the beautiful sights she saw on her journey that she wrote a poem she called “Pikes Peak”. Upon publication the poem became quite a hit, and several musical works were adapted to the words of the poem, the most popular being a hymn tune composed by Samuel Ward. Bates’s poem and Ward’s tune were published together for the first time in 1910, and given the title “America the Beautiful”.
43. Jane Austen novel : EMMA
I listened to one of my favorite Jane Austen novels on Audio Book not so long ago. “Emma” is the tale of Emma Woodhouse and the wonderful George Knightley. At the end of the story, Emma marries Knightley and her young friend Harriet marries Robert Martin, who had been trying to get Harriet’s attention practically from page one of the novel!
46. “Quickly!” : ASAP!
As soon as possible (ASAP)
49. Pop music’s ___ Tuesday : ‘TIL
‘Til Tuesday was a New Wave band from Boston that performed and recorded from 1982 to 1988. Aimee Mann got her start with “Til Tuesday, as bass player and vocalist. The band’s best-known song is the hit “Voices Carry”, released in 1985.
51. Pro who balances books : CPA
Certified public accountant (CPA)
59. Actress Téa of “Fun With Dick and Jane” : LEONI
Téa Leoni is an American actress. One of Leoni’s early parts was in the great film “A League of Their Own” (a minor role, Racine at first base). She also played Sam Malone’s fiancée on “Cheers” and opposite Adam Sandler in “Spanglish”. My favorite of her more prominent movie roles was as Jane in “Fun with Dick and Jane”. Leoni is now playing the title role in the drama series “Madame Secretary”, a show that I really enjoy …
62. Seller of Squishees on “The Simpsons” : APU
The fictional Kwik-E-Mart store is operated by Apu Nahasapeemapetilon on “The Simpsons” TV show. Apu is married to Manjula , and the couple have eight children, actually eight octuplets. The convenience store owner doesn’t seem to be making much use of his Ph.D in computer science that he earned in the US. Apu’s undergraduate degree is from Caltech (the Calcutta Technical Institute), where he graduated top of his class of seven million students …
66. The “p” of r.p.m. : PER
Revolutions per minute (rpm)
67. Actor Don of “Cocoon” : AMECHE
Don Ameche was such a gentleman. He starred in the fun movie “Trading Places” in 1983, and was required to use the “f-word” in the script. According to co-star Jamie Lee Curtis, Ameche went around the set before the scene was shot, and apologized in advance to everyone for having to use bad language.
“Cocoon” is a fun 1985 sci-fi film directed by Ron Howard. The movie is about a group of elderly friends who become rejuvenated due to exposure to alien cocoons. One of the stars of the film is Don Ameche, who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance.
68. Mrs. Addams, to Gomez : TISH
Gomez and Morticia (“Tish”) Addams were the parents in “The Addams Family”, a creation of the cartoonist Charles Addams. In the sixties television show, Gomez was played by John Astin and Morticia was played by Carolyn Jones.
71. Eight, in Acapulco : OCHO
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”.
Down
2. Smidgen : IOTA
Iota is the ninth letter in the Greek alphabet. We use the word “iota” to portray something very small as it is the smallest of all Greek letters.
Our word “smidgen”, meaning a small amount, might come from the Scots word “smitch” that means the same thing or “a small insignificant person”.
3. Edvard Munch masterpiece : THE SCREAM
Edvard Munch was a Norwegian expressionist, most famous for his painting “The Scream”, painted in 1893. What a wonderful work that is, a true representation of expressionism. The Munch Museum in Oslo is dedicated to his work and life. In 2004, two of Munch’s paintings, “The Scream” and “Madonna”, were stolen from the Munch Museum by armed robbers who subdued the museum guards. The paintings were missing for two years, but were recovered in 2006.
4. Buyer of Squishees from 62-Across : HOMER
“The Simpsons” is one of the most successful programs produced by the Fox Broadcasting Company. Homer Simpson’s catchphrase is “D’oh!”, which is such a famous exclamation that it has been included in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) since 2001.
6. “Illmatic” rapper : NAS
Rapper Nas used to go by another stage name, Nasty Nas, and before that by his real name, Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones. Nas released his first album “Illmatic” in 1994, and inventively titled his fifth studio album “Stillmatic”, released in 2001. Not my cup of tea, I would say …
7. 10% for the church : TITHE
A tithe is a traditional payment of one tenth of a person’s annual income and is usually given to a church. Tithing is a practice taught in many traditions, and according to a 2002 survey, about 3% of American adults donate 10% or more of their income to a church.
9. Varietal red wine : MERLOT
Merlot is one of the main grapes used to make Bordeaux wines, along with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.
12. Desert of Israel : NEGEV
The Negev is a desert region in southern Israel. The largest city in the Negev is Beersheba.
13. “Jack & ___” (1982 John Cougar hit) : DIANE
John Mellencamp started to use the stage name Johnny Cougar in 1976, a name that evolved into John Cougar, and then to John Cougar Mellencamp in the eighties. In 1992 the “Cougar” was dropped altogether and Mellencamp has been performing under his own name since then. Mellencamp was married to former supermodel Elaine Irwin for eighteen years, but the two decided to split. Mellencamp’s longtime girlfriend is actress Meg Ryan.
22. Emergency medical procedure : TRIAGE
“Triage” is the process of prioritizing patients for treatment, especially on a battlefield. The term “triage” is French and means “a sorting”.
24. Franks : DOGS
A hot dog is a sausage served in a split roll. The term “hot dog” dates back to the 19th-century and is thought to reflect a commonly-held opinion that the sausages contained dog meat.
What we call a wiener in this country is known as a Vienna sausage in Germany. It was first produced by a butcher from Frankfurt who was living in Vienna, hence the name “Wiener”, which is German for “of Vienna”. Paradoxically, the same sausage is called a Frankfurter in Vienna, as it was created by someone from Frankfurt. It’s all very confusing …
25. Verdant : LUSH
Back in the late 1500s, “verdant” simply meant “green”, but we now tend to use the term to mean green and lush with vegetation. “Viridis” is the Latin for “green”.
26. “Peter ___” (1950s-’60s detective show) : GUNN
“Peter Gunn” is a crime drama about a private eye that ran on NBC and ABC in the late fifties and early sixties. The show was created by Blake Edwards, with many episodes being directed by Robert Altman.
28. James who wrote “A Death in the Family” : AGEE
James Agee was a noted American film critic and screenwriter. Agee wrote an autobiographical novel “A Death in the Family” that won him his Pulitzer in 1958, albeit posthumously. He was also one of the screenwriters for the 1951 classic movie “The African Queen”.
32. Figure in many religious paintings : ST MARY
According to the Bible and the Quran, Mary was the mother of Jesus.
39. It dries hops : OAST
An oast is a kiln used for drying hops as part of the brewing process. Such a structure might also be called an “oast house”.
42. Naked ___ jaybird : AS A
The phrase “naked as a jaybird” dates back at least to 1943. Before that, back into the late 1800s, the equivalent phrase was “naked as a robin”. Going back further in time, the phrase “naked as a needle” was used in the late 1500s.
50. Friend of Stitch in the movies : LILO
“Lilo & Stitch” was released by Disney in 2002. Compared to other Disney feature-length cartoons, “Lilo & Stitch” was relatively cheaply produced, using the voices of lesser-known actors. One interesting change had to take place in the storyline during production, when Lilo was meant to fly a Jumbo Jet through downtown Honolulu in one sequence. This was replaced with a sequence using a spaceship instead, as the producers were sensitive to public sentiment after the September 11 attacks.
54. Sky-blue : AZURE
The word “azure” came into English from Persian via Old French. The French word “l’azur” was taken from the Persian name for a place in northeastern Afghanistan called “Lazhward” which was the main source of the semi-precious stone lapis lazuli. The stone has a vivid blue color, and “azure” has been describing this color since the 14th century.
55. Command to Fido while throwing a ball : FETCH
“Fido”, the name for many a dog, is Latin for “I trust”.
60. Between-meal bite : NOSH
Our word “nosh” has been around since the late fifties, when it was imported from the Yiddish word “nashn” meaning “to nibble”.
61. Disclaimer before some Internet comments : IMHO
In my humble opinion (IMHO)
For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Soft plant tissue : PITH
5. Not delayed, as a plane : ON TIME
11. Plus : AND
14. Artsy New York neighborhood : SOHO
15. Oakland footballer : RAIDER
16. Hawaiian souvenir : LEI
17. All, for a ship’s captain : STEM TO STERN
19. Links org. : PGA
20. Gun that delivers a jolt : TASER
21. “2001: A Space Odyssey” villain : HAL
22. Now and ___ : THEN
23. All, for a life insurance agent : CRADLE TO GRAVE
27. “This means ___!” : WAR
29. Who is solving this puzzle : YOU
30. Sundries case : ETUI
31. Improves, as wine : AGES
33. Govt. management org. : GSA
35. Brief sleeps : NAPS
38. All, for an anthem writer : SEA TO SHINING SEA
43. Jane Austen novel : EMMA
44. ___ and pop : MOM
45. Optometrists’ interest : EYES
46. “Quickly!” : ASAP!
49. Pop music’s ___ Tuesday : ‘TIL
51. Pro who balances books : CPA
52. All, for a race organizer : START TO FINISH
57. Like some memories or summer skies : HAZY
58. Tough row to ___ : HOE
59. Actress Téa of “Fun With Dick and Jane” : LEONI
62. Seller of Squishees on “The Simpsons” : APU
63. All, for a house cleaner : TOP TO BOTTOM
66. The “p” of r.p.m. : PER
67. Actor Don of “Cocoon” : AMECHE
68. Mrs. Addams, to Gomez : TISH
69. Prior to, poetically : ERE
70. Super-popular : RED-HOT
71. Eight, in Acapulco : OCHO
Down
1. “Hey, buddy!” : PSST!
2. Smidgen : IOTA
3. Edvard Munch masterpiece : THE SCREAM
4. Buyer of Squishees from 62-Across : HOMER
5. Spanish gold : ORO
6. “Illmatic” rapper : NAS
7. 10% for the church : TITHE
8. Do some brainstorming : IDEATE
9. Varietal red wine : MERLOT
10. Suffix with north or south : -ERN
11. Beta preceder : ALPHA
12. Desert of Israel : NEGEV
13. “Jack & ___” (1982 John Cougar hit) : DIANE
18. Airplane seat attachment : TRAY
22. Emergency medical procedure : TRIAGE
24. Franks : DOGS
25. Verdant : LUSH
26. “Peter ___” (1950s-’60s detective show) : GUNN
27. Existed : WAS
28. James who wrote “A Death in the Family” : AGEE
32. Figure in many religious paintings : ST MARY
34. Goal : AIM
36. Crazed, in a way : PSYCHOTIC
37. Ooze : SEEP
39. It dries hops : OAST
40. “Don’t count on me” : NOT I
41. “You can count on me” : I’M IN
42. Naked ___ jaybird : AS A
47. Not away : AT HOME
48. Plumb tuckered out : POOPED
50. Friend of Stitch in the movies : LILO
52. Circle or square : SHAPE
53. Gradually decrease to a point : TAPER
54. Sky-blue : AZURE
55. Command to Fido while throwing a ball : FETCH
56. Dustup : SET-TO
60. Between-meal bite : NOSH
61. Disclaimer before some Internet comments : IMHO
63. Roof goo : TAR
64. “Well, look what we have here!” : OHO!
65. Wager : BET
The Best of the New York Times Crossword Collections
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What a pleasure (and a rarity these days): a puzzle with a nice, but totally UNFORCED theme.