0119-15 New York Times Crossword Answers 19 Jan 15, Monday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
4. After-bath powder : TALC
Talc is a mineral, actually hydrated magnesium silicate. Talcum powder is composed of loose talc, although these days “baby powder” is also made from cornstarch.

8. ___-ski : APRES
Après-ski is a French term, meaning “after skiing”, and refers to the good times to be had after coming off the slopes.

15. Gorbachev’s land : USSR
Mikhail Gorbachev was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until the USSR dissolved in 1991. As well being associated with the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev’s name is linked with the policies of “Perestroika” and “Glasnost”. “Perestroika” (meaning “restructuring”) was his political and economic initiative to make socialism work more efficiently to better meet the needs of consumers. “Glasnost” (meaning “publicity, openness”) was Gorbachev’s policy of increased transparency of government in order to reduce levels of corruption in the Communist Party and government.

16. New York hotel in “The Great Gatsby,” with “the” :
The celebrated Plaza Hotel in New York City is named for Grand Army Plaza, which faces the hotel’s main entrance on Fifth Avenue.

“The Great Gatsby” is the 1925 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, that tells of the prosperous life of Jay Gatsby during the Roaring 20s. Gatsby develops an obsessive love for Daisy Fay Buchanan, a girl he met while serving during WWI, and meets again some years later after he has improved his social standing.

18. Arctic seabird : SKUA
Skuas are a group of about seven species of seabird. Some of these species are known as jaegers in the Americas. The skua takes its name from the island of Skúvoy in the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic. The name “jaeger” comes from the German word for “hunter”.

20. Kind of case for a lawyer : ATTACHE
Attaché is a French term which literally means “attached”, and is used for a person who is assigned to the administrative staff of some agency or other service. The term is most recognized as it applies to someone assigned to an Ambassador’s staff at an embassy. The word was extended to “attaché case” at the beginning of the twentieth century, meaning a leather case used for carrying papers, perhaps by an attaché at an embassy.

24. “A League of ___ Own” (1992 film) : THEIR
“A League of Their Own” is a comedy drama film released in 1992 that tells a tale about the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League active during WWII. The lead actors were Tom Hanks and Geena Davis. The film spawned one of the most famous quotes in movie history: “There’s no crying in baseball!”

25. Skype necessity : WEBCAM
The main feature of the Skype application is that it allows voice communication to take place over the Internet (aka VoIP). Skype has other features such as video conferencing and instant messaging, but the application made its name from voice communication. Skype was founded by two Scandinavian entrepreneurs and the software necessary was developed by a team of engineers in Estonia. The development project was originally called “Sky peer-to-peer” so the first commercial name for the application was “Skyper”. This had to be shortened to “Skype” because the skyper.com domain name was already in use.

29. Faux ___ (social slip-up) : PAS
The term “faux pas” is French in origin, and translates literally as “false step” (or “false steps”, as the plural has the same spelling in French).

30. Tennis great Arthur : ASHE
Arthur Ashe was a professional tennis player from Richmond, Virginia. In his youth, Ashe found himself having to travel great distances to play against Caucasian opponents due to the segregation that still existed in his home state. He was rewarded for his dedication by being selected for the 1963 US Davis Cup team, the first African American player to be so honored. Ashe continued to run into trouble because of his ethnicity though, and in 1968 was denied entry into South Africa to play in the South African Open. In 1979 Ashe suffered a heart attack and had bypass surgery, with follow-up surgery four years later during which he contracted HIV from blood transfusions. Ashe passed away in 1993 due to complications from AIDS. Shortly afterwards, Ashe was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton.

36. Youngest “Downton Abbey” daughter : SYBIL
In the incredibly successful period drama “Downton Abbey”, the patriarch of the family living at Downton is Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham or Lord Grantham. The character is played by Hugh Bonneville. Lord Grantham married American Cora Levinson (played by Elizabeth McGovern. Lord and Lady Grantham had three daughters, and no son. The lack of a male heir implied that the Grantham estate would pass to a male cousin, and out of the immediate family. The Grantham daughters are Lady Mary (played by Michelle Dockery), Lady Edith (played by Laura Carmichael) and Lady Sybil (played by Jessica Brown Findlay). Lady Sybil had the audacity to marry the family chauffeur, an Irish nationalist. The shame of it all …

42. Texter’s “Wow!” : OMG
OMG is text-speak for Oh My Gosh! Oh My Goodness! or any other G words you might think of …

43. Basil and bay leaf : HERBS
Traditionally, basil is considered “the king of herbs”. And in fact, the herb’s name comes form the Greek “basileus” meaning “king”.

The seasoning known as bay leaf is the aromatic leaf of the bay laurel tree or shrub. Fresh bay leaves aren’t very flavorful and need to be dried and aged a few weeks before use in the kitchen.

46. Big name in video games : WII
The Wii is the biggest-selling game console in the world.

47. Zilch : NADA
The word “nothing” translates to “nada” in Spanish.

We use the term “zilch” to mean “nothing”. Our current usage evolved in the sixties, before which the term was used to describe “meaningless speech”. There was a comic character called Mr. Zilch in the 1930s in “Ballyhoo” magazine. Mr. Zilch’s name probably came from the American college slang “Joe Zilch” that was used in the early 1900s for “an insignificant person”.

49. Green dip, for short : GUAC
Guacamole is one of my favorite dishes, and is made by mashing avocados and perhaps adding the likes of tomato, onion and lime juice. The guacamole recipe dates back as early as the 16th century, to the time of the Aztecs. “Guacamole” translates as “avocado sauce”.

54. Hurdles for future docs : MCATS
The acronym MCAT stands for the Medical College Admission Test.

60. Kind of barbecue or mine : OPEN PIT
Open-pit mining is the extraction of of rock and minerals from the earth by the removal from an open pit. This is compared with the alternative form of mining that requires tunnelling into the ground. A quarry is an example of an open-pit mine, one that produces common building materials.

62. Mystic’s device with letters and numbers : OUIJA
The Ouija board was introduced to America as a harmless parlor game at the end of the 19th century, although variations of the board date back to 1100 BC in China, where it was apparently used to “contact” the spirit world. The name “Ouija” is relatively recent, and is probably just a combination of the French and German words for “yes” … “oui” and “ja”.

65. Sporting sword : EPEE
The épée that is used in today’s sport fencing is derived from the old French dueling sword. In fact, the the sport of épée fencing is very similar to the dualing of the 19th century. The word “épée” translates from French as “sword”.

66. :50 : TEN OF
For example, 10:50 is “ten of eleven”.

68. Big name in video games : SEGA
Sega is a Japanese video game company headquartered in Tokyo. Sega actually started out 1940 in the US as Standard Games and was located in Honolulu, Hawaii. The owners moved the operation to Tokyo in 1951 and renamed the company to Service Games. The name “Sega” is a combination of the first two letters of the words “Se-rvice” and “Ga-mes”.

71. Broadband letters : DSL
The abbreviation “DSL” originally stood for Digital Subscriber Loop, but is now accepted to mean (Asymmetric) Digital Subscriber Line. DSL is the technology that allows Internet service be delivered down the same telephone line as voice service, by separating the two into different frequency signals.

Down
2. Google ___ (map tool) : EARTH
Google Earth is a program that maps the Earth by superimposing satellite images and aerial photographs. Google acquired the technology when it purchased Keyhole, Inc in 2004. Keyhole had been partially funded by the CIA.

3. Surface for a dry-erase marker : WHITEBOARD (Snow White & snowboard)
“Snow White” is a traditional German fairy tale that was published in 1812 in the collection of the Brothers Grimm. There is also a second, very different Grimms’ Fairy Tale called “Snow White and Red Rose”, not to be confused with its more famous cousin.

4. Derrière : TUSH
“Tush”, a word for the backside, is an abbreviation of “tochus” that comes from the Yiddish “tokhes”.

“Derrière” is a French term meaning “back part, rear”.

6. Baton Rouge sch. : LSU
LSU’s full name is Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College.

Baton Rouge is the capital city of the state of Louisiana. The name “Baton Rouge” is French for “red stick or staff”. The exact reason why such a name was given to the city isn’t really clear.

7. Shellfish hors d’oeuvres : CRAB BALLS (snow crab & snowballs)
Snow crabs are sometimes called queen crabs, especially in Canada.

8. Sleeper’s breathing problem : APNEA
Sleep apnea (“apnoea” in British English) can be caused by an obstruction in the airways, possibly due to obesity or enlarged tonsils.

11. O.T. book before Daniel : EZEK
The Book of Daniel in the Hebrew Bible tells mainly of the life of Daniel. The Book of Ezekiel is a collection of the preachings of the prophet Ezekiel.

12. Dress in Delhi : SARI
The item of clothing called a “sari” (also “saree”) is a strip of cloth, as one might imagine, unusual perhaps in that is unstitched along the whole of its length. The strip of cloth can range from four to nine meters long (that’s a lot of material!). The sari is usually wrapped around the waist, then draped over the shoulder leaving the midriff bare. I must say, it can be a beautiful item of clothing.

New Delhi is the capital city of India. New Delhi resides within the National Capital Territory of Delhi (otherwise known as the metropolis of Delhi). New Delhi and Delhi, therefore, are two different things.

14. Escargot : SNAIL
“Escargot” is the French word for “snail”. In order to eat snails, apparently they have to be “purged” before killing them. That means starving them or feeding them on something “wholesome” for several days before cooking them up. Ugh …

23. Some colas : RCS
“Nehi Corporation” was the nickname for the Chero-Cola/Union Bottle Works that introduced the Nehi drink in 1924. Years later the company developed a new brand, Royal Crown Cola (also known as RC Cola). By 1955, RC Cola was the company’s flagship product, so the “Nehi Corporation” became the “Royal Crown Company”. In 1954, RC Cola became the first company to sell soft drinks in cans.

26. Word in every “Star Wars” title : EPISODE
“Stars Wars” fans will no doubt be aware that George Lucas is making “Star Wars Episode VII”, scheduled for release in 2015.

28. Home of Cheyenne: Abbr. : WYO
Cheyenne is the most populous city in Wyoming, and is the state capital. The city was settled in the 1860s when it was chosen as the point at which the Union Pacific Railroad would cross the Crow Creek river. The name of course was taken from the Native American Cheyenne nation that is indigenous to the Great Plains.

32. Prefix with sphere : HEMI-
Ever wonder what the difference is between the prefixes “hemi-”, “demi-” and “semi-”, all of which mean “half”? Well, the general observation is that words using the “demi-” prefix date back to the days of Norman influence over the English language. As a result, “demi-” turns up in the world of period costume and coats of arms. Words using “hemi-” tend to have Greek roots, and are prevalent in the world of the sciences and the medical field. Words with “semi-” tend to have Latin roots, and are most often found in music and the arts, and mathematics.

33. Vet : EX-GI
The initials “G.I.” stand for “Government Issue” and not “General Infantry” as is often believed. GI was first used in the military to denote equipment made from Galvanized Iron and during WWI, incoming German shells were nicknamed “GI cans”. Soon after, the term GI came to be associated with “Government Issue” and eventually became an adjective to describe anything associated with the Army.

34. Newswoman Paula : ZAHN
Paula Zahn has worked as a journalist and news anchor with ABC, NBC, Fox News and CNN. She is currently the host of a true crime show on the Discovery Channel called “On the Case with Paula Zahn”. Outside of her work on television, Zahn is an accomplished cellist and has even played at Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops Orchestra.

35. Fit for service : ONE-A
The US government maintains information on all males who are potentially subject to military conscription, using what is called the Selective Service System(SS). In the event that a draft was held, men registered would be classified into groups to determine eligibility for service. Class 1-A registrants are those available for unrestricted military service. Other classes are 1-A-O (conscientious objector available for noncombatant service), 4-A (registrant who has completed military service) and 4-D (Minister of religion).

37. Easter costume : BUNNY SUIT (snow bunny & snowsuit)
“Snow bunny” isn’t really a nice term, I think. It refers to a young woman who skis a lot and hangs around the slopes.

41. Brain activity meas. : EEG
An electroencephalogram (EEG) is a record of electrical activity caused by the firing of neurons within the brain. The EEG might be used to diagnose epilepsy, or perhaps to determine if a patient is “brain dead”.

48. Suffix with meteor : -ITE
A shooting star is what we call the visible path of a meteoroid as is it enters the earth’s atmosphere. Almost all meteoroids burn up, but if one is large enough to survive and reach the ground, we call it a meteorite. The word “meteor” comes from the Greek “meteōros” meaning “high in the air”.

52. Five Norse kings : OLAFS
Of the many kings of Norway named Olaf/Olav (and there have been five), Olaf II is perhaps the most celebrated as he was canonized and made patron saint of the country. Olaf II was king from 1015 to 1028 and was known as “Olaf the Big” (or Olaf the Fat) during his reign. Today he is more commonly referred to as “Olaf the Holy”. After Olaf died he was given the title of Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae, which is Latin for “Norway’s Eternal King”.

53. Souse : TOPER
“To tope” is to drink alcohol excessively and habitually.

The word “souse” dates back to the 14th century and means “to pickle, steep in vinegar”. In the early 1600s the usage was applied to someone “pickled” in booze, a drunkard.

55. Supermodel Cheryl :
Cheryl Tiegs was only 17-years-old when she appeared as a model on the cover of “Glamour” magazine. After that Tiegs became famous for sequential appearances in the “Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue” throughout the seventies.

58. Jean who wrote “The Clan of the Cave Bear” : AUEL
As Jean Auel prepared her first book in the “Earth’s Children” series, she did a lot of research about the Ice Age, the setting for her stories. She went as far as taking a survival course in cold conditions, learning to build an ice cave and how to make fire, tan leather and knap stone.

59. Jazzy Simone : NINA
Nina Simone was the stage name of Eunice Waymon. Simone was very much associated with jazz music, although she really wanted to be a classical musician early in her career, inspired by a love for the music of Bach.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Groundbreaking : NEW
4. After-bath powder : TALC
8. ___-ski : APRES
13. Sounds during a massage : AAHS
15. Gorbachev’s land : USSR
16. New York hotel in “The Great Gatsby,” with “the” : PLAZA
17. Smile : GRIN
18. Arctic seabird : SKUA
19. One paying close attention : NOTER
20. Kind of case for a lawyer : ATTACHE
22. Beer, slangily : BREWSKI
24. “A League of ___ Own” (1992 film) : THEIR
25. Skype necessity : WEBCAM
27. Howled, as the wind : BLEW
29. Faux ___ (social slip-up) : PAS
30. Tennis great Arthur : ASHE
34. Where you might see the sign “Do not feed the animals” : ZOO
36. Youngest “Downton Abbey” daughter : SYBIL
38. Building add-on : ANNEX
39. Get ___ on (ace) : AN A
40. Ruffles, as the hair : TOUSLES
42. Texter’s “Wow!” : OMG
43. Basil and bay leaf : HERBS
45. Beaks : NOSES
46. Big name in video games : WII
47. Zilch : NADA
48. Neither Rep. nor Dem. : IND
49. Green dip, for short : GUAC
51. Disappointing response to “Is it ready?” : NOT YET
54. Hurdles for future docs : MCATS
57. Really bothers : RANKLES
60. Kind of barbecue or mine : OPEN PIT
62. Mystic’s device with letters and numbers : OUIJA
63. Home plate figures, informally : UMPS
65. Sporting sword : EPEE
66. :50 : TEN OF
67. Finishes, as a cake : ICES
68. Big name in video games : SEGA
69. Big, thick slices : SLABS
70. Lemonlike : TART
71. Broadband letters : DSL

Down
1. Bother persistently : NAG AT
2. Google ___ (map tool) : EARTH
3. Surface for a dry-erase marker : WHITEBOARD (Snow White & snowboard)
4. Derrière : TUSH
5. Cockeyed : ASKEW
6. Baton Rouge sch. : LSU
7. Shellfish hors d’oeuvres : CRAB BALLS (snow crab & snowballs)
8. Sleeper’s breathing problem : APNEA
9. Farmer with oxen : PLOWMAN (snowplow & snowman)
10. “Gosh darn it!” : RATS!
11. O.T. book before Daniel : EZEK
12. Dress in Delhi : SARI
14. Escargot : SNAIL
21. Tops of waves : CRESTS
23. Some colas : RCS
26. Word in every “Star Wars” title : EPISODE
28. Home of Cheyenne: Abbr. : WYO
31. Like alpine peaks … or what each half of 3-, 7-, 9-, 37- and 44-Down can be? : SNOWCAPPED
32. Prefix with sphere : HEMI-
33. Vet : EX-GI
34. Newswoman Paula : ZAHN
35. Fit for service : ONE-A
37. Easter costume : BUNNY SUIT (snow bunny & snowsuit)
38. Take for granted : ASSUME
41. Brain activity meas. : EEG
44. Heist of a sort : BANK JOB
48. Suffix with meteor : -ITE
50. Teen skin ailments : ACNES
52. Five Norse kings : OLAFS
53. Souse : TOPER
55. Supermodel Cheryl : TIEGS
56. Sneak (in) : STEAL
57. Goes bad : ROTS
58. Jean who wrote “The Clan of the Cave Bear” : AUEL
59. Jazzy Simone : NINA
61. “Hey you!” : PSST!
64. Old record label : MCA

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