0224-15 New York Times Crossword Answers 24 Feb 15, Tuesday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Fashion designer Bill : BLASS
Bill Blass was a fashion designer from Fort Wayne, Indiana. Blass volunteered for the US Army during WWII. He had a very creative role in the military, working for the 603rd Camouflage Battalion. The unit’s job was to fool the Germans into thinking Allied troops were in fake locations. Blass worked with the battalion in support of the Battle of the Bulge, the crossing of the Rhine river and the North African campaign.

6. “Gomer Pyle, ___” : USMC
Jim Nabors was discovered by Andy Griffith and brought onto “The Andy Griffith Show” as Gomer Pyle, the gas station attendant. Of course, Nabors then got his own show, “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.” Gomer had a cousin on the “The Andy Griffiths Show” called Goober Pyle. Goober was played by George Lindsay. Lindsay had auditioned for the Gomer part, but that went to Nabors.

15. March Madness org. : NCAA
March Madness is the name given to (among others) the NCAA Men’s Division 1 Basketball Championship, held in spring each year.

16. Anthony’s former partner in radio : OPIE
“The Opie & Anthony Show” was a talk show broadcast on XM and Sirius satellite radio. Hosts of the show were Opie Hughes and Anthony Cumia. I’ve turned into a bit of grouch in my old age, and I must admit that I find broadcasts like “The Opie & Anthony Show” very puerile and offensive. Past features in the show include “Whip ‘em Out Wednesdays”, “Voyeur Bus” and “T&A with O&A”. Sirius fired Anthony in 2014 after an incident involving racial slurs. The show was then relaunched by Sirius with Cumia being replaced.

17. Provide (with) : ENDUE
To endue is to provide something with a particular quality or a trait.

18. Frontiersman Boone, familiarly : DAN’L
Daniel Boone was a pioneer and folk hero. For frontiersman Boone, the frontier was what we now call the state of Kentucky. He led the building of the Wilderness Road through the famous Cumberland Gap in the Appalachians, a route subsequently taken by hundreds of thousands of migrants into Kentucky. Boone fought in the Revolutionary War with distinction, and after the war returned to Kentucky and got himself into land speculation. He became mired in debt, forcing him to emigrate to Missouri to settle down on land that was at that time owned by the French. It was there that he spent the last decades of his life.

20. Shades of Grey? : EARL’S SUNGLASSES (from “Earl Grey”)
The Earl Grey blend of tea is supposedly named after Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey who was Prime Minister of the UK from 1830 to 1834. Earl Grey tea has a distinctive flavor that is largely due to the addition of oil from the rind of the bergamot orange.

23. Resembling a quiche : PIELIKE
The classic dish called quiche is made with eggs (“oeufs” in French). Even though the quiche is inextricably linked to French cuisine, the name “quiche” comes from the German word for cake, “Kuchen”. The variant called “quiche lorraine” includes bits of smoked bacon as an ingredient.

24. River that flows from the Bernese Alps : AARE
The Aar (also called the “Aare” in German) is the longest river entirely in Switzerland. A famous spot along the Aar is the Reichenbach Falls in the center of the country, actually a series of waterfalls near the city of Meiringen. These falls are renowned in the world of literature as it was here that Sherlock Holmes fell to his supposed doom with his nemesis Professor Moriarty (in “The Adventure of the Final Problem”).

The Bernese Alps are found in Switzerland in the canton of Bern. The list of famous peaks found in the Bernese Alps includes the Jungfrau and the Eiger.

25. Disney deer : ENA
Ena is Bambi’s aunt in the 1942 Disney film “Bambi”. The movie is based on the novel “Bambi, A Life in the Woods” written by Austrian author Felix Salten and first published in 1923. There is a documented phenomenon known as the Bambi Effect, whereby people become more interested in animal rights after having watched the scene where Bambi’s mother is shot by hunters.

26. Cpl., e.g. : NCO
An NCO is a non-commissioned officer in the armed forces. Usually such an officer is one who has earned his or her rank by promotion through the enlisted ranks. A good example would be a corporal (Cpl.).

30. ___ Rabbit : BR’ER
Br’er Rabbit and Br’er Fox are characters in the Uncle Remus stories, written by Joel Chandler Harris. The Uncle Remus stories are adaptations of African American folktales that Harris collected across the Southern States. “Br’er” is an abbreviated form of “brother”.

36. Shades of Grey? : LADY JANE’S BLINDS (from “Lady Jane Grey”)
Lady Jane Grey was known as the “Nine Days’ Queen”. Lady Jane was the cousin of Edward VI and succeeded to the throne when the king named her his successor on his deathbed. Edward VI was the only son of Henry VIII. Henry’s eldest child Mary was the rightful heir to the throne and she deposed Lady Jane Grey in just a few days to become Queen Mary I (aka “Bloody Mary”). Lady Jane was imprisoned in the Tower of London and eventually beheaded.

40. 35, minimally, for a U.S. president : AGE
In order to be President of the US, a candidate have been born in the country and qualify for citizenship. He or she must also be at least 35 years of age when taking office, and have been a permanent residence of the US for at least 14 years.

41. One running the show : EMCEE
The term “emcee” comes from “MC”, an acronym standing for Master or Mistress of Ceremonies.

44. ___ Dhabi : ABU
Abu Dhabi is one of the seven Emirates that make up the federation known as the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The two largest members of the UAE (geographically) are Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the only two of the seven members that have veto power over UAE policy. Before 1971, the UAE was a British Protectorate, a collection of sheikdoms. The sheikdoms entered into a maritime truce with Britain in 1835, after which they became known as the Trucial States, derived from the word “truce”.

48. Singer in prison, maybe : STOOLIE
Stoolies, also called canaries, will sing to the cops given the right incentive. “Stoolie” is short for “stool pigeon”. A stool pigeon was a decoy bird tied to a stool so as to lure other pigeons. “Stoolies” were originally decoys for the police, rather than informers, hence the name.

52. Shades of Grey? : ZANE’S LAMP COVERS (from “Zane Grey”)
Zane Grey certainly did hit on the right niche. He wrote romanticized western novels and stories that really lent themselves to the big screen in the days when westerns were very popular movies. Incredibly, 110 films were made based on his work.

56. Big movie screen format : IMAX
The IMAX Corporation, which is behind the IMAX film format, is a Canadian company. The impetus for developing the system came after Expo ’67 in Montreal. Back then large format screenings were accomplished using multiple projectors with multiple screens, with images basically stitched together. The team behind the IMAX technology set out to simplify things, and developed a single-camera, single-projector system.

58. Copenhageners, e.g. : DANES
Copenhagen is the largest city and the capital of Denmark. I have never visited Copenhagen, but I hear it is a wonderful metropolis with a marvelous quality of life. The city is also very environmentally friendly, with over a third of its population commuting to work by bicycle.

60. ___ bene : NOTA
“Nota bene” is the Latin for “note well”

64. Some R.S.V.P.’s : YESES
RSVP stands for “répondez s’il vous plaît”, which is French for “please, answer”.

Down
2. One of the Hawaiian islands : LANAI
Lanai is the sixth largest of the Hawaiian Islands. Lanai was first spotted by Europeans just a few days after Captain Cook was killed on the Big Island of Hawaii in 1779. In 1922, the Hawaiian Pineapple Company bought the whole island of Lanai and turned most of it into the world’s largest pineapple plantation. Since then, Lanai has been known as “The Pineapple Island”. Today, 98% of the island is owned by Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle, and 2% is owned by the State of Hawaii.

3. Tennis’s Agassi : ANDRE
Renowned tennis professional Andre Agassi wrote an autobiography called “Open”, published in 2009. An amazing revelation in the book is that Agassi’s famous head of hair was actually a wig for much of his playing career. Can you imagine how hard it must have been to play tennis at his level with a rug stuck on?

4. Room where pots and pans are stored : SCULLERY
A scullery is a room in a fairly large house that is set aside for washes dishes and laundering clothes. Here in North America, the nearest thing to a scullery is what we’d call a utility room.

7. Make a PDF of, in a way : SCAN
Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format introduced by Adobe Systems in 1993. PDF documents can be shared between users and read using many different applications, making them more universally accessible than documents saved by one particular program.

8. Element between chromium and iron on the periodic table : MANGANESE
Most of the manganese produced today is used in the steelmaking industry, as it is essential to the manufacture of low-cost stainless steel.

11. Magnum ___ : OPUS
“Magnum opus” is a Latin term meaning “great work”. The magnum opus of a writer or composer perhaps, is his or her greatest work.

12. Madeira or merlot : WINE
Madeira is a Portuguese-owned archipelago that lies to the southwest of mainland Portugal. Madeira is famous for its wine, which is a fortified beverage (as is port, sherry and Marsala wine).

Merlot is one of the main grapes used to make Bordeaux wines, along with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.

21. Some Jamaican music : SKA
Ska originated in Jamaica in the late fifties and was the precursor to reggae music. No one has a really definitive etymology of the term “ska”, but it is likely to be imitative of some sound.

28. Elmer J. of toondom : FUDD
Elmer Fudd is one of the most famous of all the Looney Tunes cartoon characters, the hapless nemesis of Bugs Bunny. If you have never seen it, check out Elmer and Bugs in the marvelous “Rabbit of Seville”, a short cartoon that parodies Rossini’s “Barber of Seville”. Wonderful stuff …

29. Admit, with “up” : FESS
The term “fess” is most often seen as part of the phrasal verb “to fess up” meaning “to admit to something”. “Fess” is simply a shortened form of “confess”.

31. The Incredible Hulk’s feeling when he’s green : RAGE
In the seventies and eighties TV show “The Incredible Hulk”, Lou Ferrigno played Hulk. Hulk’s alter ego in the comics was Bruce Banner, but in the show he was called David Banner, played by Bill Bixby.

32. Biblical garden : EDEN
According to the Book of Genesis, Adam and Eve lived in a garden “in” Eden, with Eden being geographically located by reference to four rivers including the Tigris and the Euphrates. Some scholars hypothesize that Eden was located in Mesopotamia, which encompasses much of modern-day Iraq.

33. Place for a preemie : INCUBATOR
A “preemie” is a preterm or premature birth.

37. Guess attire : JEANS
GUESS? is a company producing a whole line of clothing, although it was originally very much associated with the production of denim jeans.

38. Able to walk : AMBULANT
Our word “ambulance” originated in the French term “hôpital ambulant” meaning field hospital (literally “walking hospital”). In the 1850s, the term started to be used for a vehicle transporting the wounded from the battlefield, leading to our “ambulance”.

45. One way to get meds, for short : OTC
Over the counter drugs don’t need a prescription.

48. What Teller of Penn & Teller won’t do onstage : SPEAK
The illusionist Teller, of Penn & Teller, was born Raymond Teller in Philadelphia, although has legally changed his name so simply “Teller”. Teller decided not to speak during his performances way back in his youth. He was doing magic at college fraternity parties and discovered that by remaining silent the potentially rowdy audience focused on his act and refrained from throwing beer at him!

49. Jay ___ Garage (car enthusiast’s website) : LENO’S
Jay Leno was born James Leno in New Rochelle, New York. Jay’s father was the son of Italian immigrants, and his mother was from Scotland. Leno grew up in Andover, Massachusetts and actually dropped out of school on the advice of a high school guidance counsellor. However, years later he went to Emerson college and earned a Bachelor’s degree in speech therapy. Leno also started a comedy club at Emerson in 1973. Today Jay Leno is a car nut and owns about 200 vehicles of various types. You can check them out on his website: www.jaylenosgarage.com.

50. Destructive 2011 East Coast hurricane : IRENE
Hurricane Irene caused extensive flooding in 2011 as it travelled through the Caribbean, up the East Coast of the United States and into the Atlantic seaboard of Canada. The hurricane was unusual in that it came so far up north. Fifty-five deaths were attributed to Irene.

53. Another name for Cupid : AMOR
Cupid, the Greek god of desire, was also known as Amor. “Cupido” is Latin for “desire” and “amor” is Latin for “love”.

54. Cape Canaveral org. : NASA
The famous headland in Florida called Cape Canaveral was named by Spanish explorers in the early 16th century. As the Cape acts as a launching station for many of NASA’s rockets, when President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 the NASA facility on nearby Merritt Island was renamed the Kennedy Space Center, and President Johnson went as far as renaming the whole of Cape Canaveral to Cape Kennedy. The name change for the cape didn’t go down well in Florida though, as the headland had been called Cape Canaveral for over 400 years. So, the name was restored in 1973, and Cape Kennedy is no more.

55. Tiny bug : MITE
Mites are tiny arthropods in the arachnid (spider) class. Mites are (annoyingly!) very successful creatures that have adapted to all sorts of habitats, and being so small, they generally pass unnoticed. Ick …

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Fashion designer Bill : BLASS
6. “Gomer Pyle, ___” : USMC
10. Laugh loudly : HOWL
14. Knight’s weapon : LANCE
15. March Madness org. : NCAA
16. Anthony’s former partner in radio : OPIE
17. Provide (with) : ENDUE
18. Frontiersman Boone, familiarly : DAN’L
19. Step on a ladder : RUNG
20. Shades of Grey? : EARL’S SUNGLASSES (from “Earl Grey”)
23. Resembling a quiche : PIELIKE
24. River that flows from the Bernese Alps : AARE
25. Disney deer : ENA
26. Cpl., e.g. : NCO
27. On vacation, say : OFF
30. ___ Rabbit : BR’ER
33. Best possible : IDEAL
35. Shade : HUE
36. Shades of Grey? : LADY JANE’S BLINDS (from “Lady Jane Grey”)
40. 35, minimally, for a U.S. president : AGE
41. One running the show : EMCEE
42. Silent approvals : NODS
43. One chasing after chicks? : HEN
44. ___ Dhabi : ABU
45. Admit, with “up” : OWN
47. Overlook for an Oscar nomination, say : SNUB
48. Singer in prison, maybe : STOOLIE
52. Shades of Grey? : ZANE’S LAMP COVERS (from “Zane Grey”)
56. Big movie screen format : IMAX
57. End in ___ : A TIE
58. Copenhageners, e.g. : DANES
59. It smells a lot : NOSE
60. ___ bene : NOTA
61. It may be skipped on a trip to a lake : STONE
62. ’13 or ’14, now : GRAD
63. Long hike : TREK
64. Some R.S.V.P.’s : YESES

Down
1. “@#$!” cover-up : BLEEP
2. One of the Hawaiian islands : LANAI
3. Tennis’s Agassi : ANDRE
4. Room where pots and pans are stored : SCULLERY
5. Welcomes at the door : SEES IN
6. Inappropriate, as influence : UNDUE
7. Make a PDF of, in a way : SCAN
8. Element between chromium and iron on the periodic table : MANGANESE
9. Advice to someone who’s drunk and about to leave : CALL A CAB
10. Thoroughbred, e.g. : HORSE
11. Magnum ___ : OPUS
12. Madeira or merlot : WINE
13. Parts of relays : LEGS
21. Some Jamaican music : SKA
22. On ___ (killing it) : A ROLL
27. “Not that!” : OH NO!
28. Elmer J. of toondom : FUDD
29. Admit, with “up” : FESS
30. Ho-hum : BLAH
31. The Incredible Hulk’s feeling when he’s green : RAGE
32. Biblical garden : EDEN
33. Place for a preemie : INCUBATOR
34. Syllable repeated after “fiddle” : DEE
37. Guess attire : JEANS
38. Able to walk : AMBULANT
39. Be creative : INNOVATE
45. One way to get meds, for short : OTC
46. Smelling of trees and earth, say : WOODSY
47. Health teacher’s topic, informally : SEX-ED
48. What Teller of Penn & Teller won’t do onstage : SPEAK
49. Jay ___ Garage (car enthusiast’s website) : LENO’S
50. Destructive 2011 East Coast hurricane : IRENE
51. Pluralizers : ESSES
52. Cry after a successful insult : ZING!
53. Another name for Cupid : AMOR
54. Cape Canaveral org. : NASA
55. Tiny bug : MITE

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