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CROSSWORD SETTER: Michael Blake & Andrea Carla Michaels
THEME: Addie … each of today’s themed answers is a common phrase, but we ADD the letters IE to the end to suit the clue:
69A. Girl’s name that’s a two-part hint to 1-/20-, 27-, 45- and 53-Across : ADDIE (or “ADD IE”)
1A. With 20-Across, chocolaty Atlanta treat? : SWEET
20A. See 1-Across : GEORGIA BROWN(IE)
27A. One ratting out a group of lawyers? : BAR STOOL(IE)
45A. What the duffer shot on a hole, surprisingly? : RARE BIRD(IE)
53A. Little finger that makes you go “Oh my God!”? : SHOCKING PINK(IE)
BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 8m 03s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0
Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. With 20-Across, chocolaty Atlanta treat? : SWEET
20. See 1-Across : GEORGIA BROWN(IE)
“Sweet Georgia Brown” is a jazz and pop tune that dates back to 1925. Supposedly, the song refers to the daughter of George Brown, a veteran member of the Georgia House of Representatives. The daughter was born in 1911 and the Georgia General Assembly declared that she was to be named after the state. This story makes sense of the lyric “Georgia claimed her – Georgia named her”.
6. Bistro : CAFE
“Bistro” was originally a Parisian slang term for a “little wine shop or restaurant”.
14. Analyze, as syntax : PARSE
The verb “to parse” means “to state the parts of speech in a sentence”. “Parse” comes from the Latin word “pars” meaning “part”.
17. “West Side Story” girl : ANITA
In Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story”, the female lead character is Maria and her older friend, also in the gang called the Sharks, is Anita.
Leonard Bernstein’s musical “West Side Story” is of course based on William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”. The musical is set in New York City and features two rival gangs: the Sharks from Puerto Rico and the Jets with working-class, Caucasian roots. Tony from the Jets falls in love with Maria from the Sharks. All this parallels Romeo from the House of Montague falling for Juliet from the House of Capulet in the Italian city of Verona.
22. Dipsomaniac : SOT
“Dipsomania” is a craving for alcohol to the point of damaging one’s health. “Dipsa” is the Greek for “thirst”, hence dipsomania is a “manic thirst”.
23. U.N. agcy. awarded the 1969 Nobel Peace Prize : 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.
24. AOL alternative : MSN
MSN was originally called The Microsoft Network, and was introduced in 1995 as an integral part of Microsoft’s Windows 95 operating system. MSN is a whole bundle of services including email, instant messaging, and the MSN.com portal (which is the 9th most visited site on the Internet).
Founded as Quantum Computer Services in 1983, the company changed its name in 1989 to America Online. As America Online went international, the acronym AOL was used in order to shake off the “America-centric” sound to the name. During the heady days of AOL’s success the company could not keep up with the growing number of subscribers, so people trying to connect often encountered busy signals. That’s when users referred to AOL as “Always Off-Line”.
27. One ratting out a group of lawyers? : BAR STOOL(IE)
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.
36. Miley Cyrus hit “Party in the ___” : USA
“Part in the USA” is a 2009 song recorded by Miley Cyrus. The lyrics refer to the singer’s real-life relocation from her home in Nashville to Hollywood.
38. Trivia night site : PUB
Trivia are things of little consequence. “Trivia” is the plural of the Latin word “trivium” which means “a place where three roads meet”. Now that’s what I call a trivial fact …
39. Grouch of children’s TV : OSCAR
Oscar the Grouch is the Muppet that lives in a garbage can. Oscar’s persona comes from various sources. He is named after Oscar Brand who was one of the board members of the Children’s Television Workshop, the backers for “Sesame Street” as the Muppets were being developed in the sixties. Oscar’s personality was inspired by an angry waiter that once served Jim Henson (father of the Muppets). And the voice was modeled on a grumpy New York cab driver encountered one day by Caroll Spinney, the puppeteer who brings Oscar to life.
41. 2001 Will Smith title role : ALI
“Ali” is a 2001 biographical movie about Muhammad Ali, with Will Smith in the title role. Among other things, the film is noted for its realistic fight scenes. The scenes were realistic because Smith was really being hit, as hard as his opponents could manage.
45. What the duffer shot on a hole, surprisingly? : RARE BIRD(IE)
The following terms are routinely used in golf for scores relative to par:
– Bogey: one over par
– Par
– Birdie: one under par
– Eagle: two under par
– Albatross (also “double eagle”): three under par
– Condor: four under par
No one has ever recorded a condor during a professional tournament.
A “duffer” is a bad golfer.
49. Wall Street overseer, for short : SEC
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
51. Hosp. test : MRI
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
53. Little finger that makes you go “Oh my God!”? : SHOCKING PINK(IE)
The use of “pinkie” or “pinky” for the little finger comes into English from “pinkje”, the Dutch word for the same digit. Who knew?
61. Unwanted weight : MILLSTONE
As in “a millstone around one’s neck”.
64. Yen : URGE
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!
66. Toy company that once made the Magic 8 Ball : IDEAL
The Magic 8-Ball is a toy, supposedly a fortune-telling device, introduced by Mattel in 1946. There are 20 answers that the Magic 8-Ball can provide, including:
– Without a doubt
– Ask again later
– My sources say no
– Outlook not so good
– Signs point to yes
68. Brat Pack member Rob : LOWE
The actor Rob Lowe is one of the “founding members” of the so-called Brat Pack, having appeared in the movie “St. Elmo’s Fire”. He is currently playing a regular character on the TV show “Parks and Recreation”. My favorite of his roles though, was playing Sam Seaborn on Aaron Sorkin’s great drama series “The West Wing”. When “The West Wing” first aired, Seaborn was billed as the show’s main character, but outstanding performances from the rest of the cast and some great writing meant that Lowe’s role became “one of many”. This led to some dissatisfaction on Lowe’s part, and eventually he quit the show.
The Brat Pack moniker is reminiscent of the Rat Pack of the fifties and sixties (Franks Sinatra & co.). To qualify as a “founding” member of the Brat pack the actor had to appear in either “The Breakfast Club” or “St. Elmo’s Fire”, or both. So we have Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy.
Down
2. Vera of haute couture : WANG
Vera Wang’s first choice for a career was figure skating. Although she a very capable skater, Wang failed to make the 1968 US Olympics team. She switched to the world of fashion, and is now famous for her designs of wedding dresses … but also costumes for figure skaters.
3. Spooky-sounding Pennsylvania city : ERIE
“Erie” sounds … eerie.
4. This, in Tijuana : ESTO
Tijuana is the largest city in the Mexican state of Baja California, and lies just across the US-Mexico border from San Diego. Tijuana is also the most westerly of all Mexican cities. A lot of Tijuana’s growth took place in the twenties as tourists flocked south of the border during the days of prohibition in the US. One of the many casinos and hotels that flourished at that time was Hotel Caesar’s in the Avenida Revolución area. Hotel Caesar’s claims to be the birthplace of the now ubiquitous Caesar Salad.
6. Small house, in Latin America : CASITA
“Casita” is the diminutive form of “casa”, the Spanish word for “house”.
7. Sanyo competitor : AIWA
Aiwa was a Japanese company that produced consumer electronics, mainly audio and video equipment. Sony bought Aiwa in 2002 and eventually discontinued the brand in 2006.
Sanyo is a Japanese electronics manufacturer based near Osaka and founded in 1947. The company name means “three oceans” reflecting the company’s original aim to sell its products all around the world (across three oceans: the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Indian).
9. Vivacious wits : ESPRITS
Our word “esprit”, meaning “liveliness of mind”, comes to us from Latin via French. The Latin “spiritus” means “spirit.
10. Bygone Korean automaker : DAEWOO
Daewoo was a Seoul-based conglomerate that was founded in 1967. The company was dismantled by the South Korean government in 1999 in the aftermath of the 1967 Asian financial crisis. Soon after Daewoo failed, the company Chairman fled to North Korea. On his return to his homeland in 2005 he was convicted of fraud and embezzlement and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
11. Animals in a yoke : OXEN
A yoke is a wooden beam used between a pair of oxen so that they are forced to work together.
12. Baked Italian dish : ZITI
Cylindrical pasta is known in general as “penne”, and there are many variants. For example, ziti is a particularly large and long tube with square-cut ends.
13. Latin 101 verb : ESSE
“Esse” is the Latin for “to be”. “Sum” means “I am” and “erat” means “he, she was”.
19. Kind of cocktail with a kick? : MOLOTOV
Vyacheslav Molotov was a prominent Soviet politician and protégé of Joseph Stalin. During the Winter War of WWII, between the Soviet Union and Finland, Molotov claimed in radio broadcasts that Finland was not being bombed, but rather that the Soviet Union was dropping food to relieve famine. With a sense of irony, the Finns started to call the Soviet bombs “Molotov bread baskets”. The Finns also improvised incendiary bombs using bottles and a gasoline-based fuel, and called these devices “Molotov cocktails”, a name that persists to this day.
24. Actress Gibbs of “The Jeffersons” : MARLA
Marla Gibbs is an actress from Chicago who is best known for playing Florence Johnston, the maid on the sitcom “The Jeffersons” in the seventies and eighties. Gibbs was also a singer who released several albums. She also owned a jazz club for almost 20 years in South Central L.A. called “Maria’s Memory Lane Jazz and Supper Club”.
26. Super Mario Bros. console : NES
The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was sold in North America from 1985 to to 1995. The NES was the biggest selling gaming console of the era.
Mario Bros. started out as an arcade game back in 1983, developed by Nintendo. The more famous of the two brothers, Mario, had already appeared in an earlier arcade game “Donkey Kong”. Mario was given a brother called Luigi, and the pair have been around ever since. In the game, Mario and Luigi are Italian American plumbers from New York City.
30. “Filthy” money : LUCRE
Our word “lucre” meaning “money, profits” comes from the Latin “lucrum” that means the same thing.
31. Writer Asimov : ISAAC
Isaac Asimov was a wonderful science fiction writer, and a professor of biochemistry. He was a favorite author as I was growing up and I must admit that some hero worship on my part led me to study and work as a biochemist for a short while early in my career. My favorite of his works is the collection of short stories called “I, Robot”. Asimov wrote three autobiographies, the last of which was called “I, Asimov”, which was published in 1994, two years after his death.
32. Rank above viscount : EARL
In the ranking of nobles, an earl comes above a viscount and below a marquess. The rank of earl is used in the British peerage system and is equivalent to the rank of count in other countries. Other British ranks have female forms (e.g. marquess and marchioness, viscount and viscountess), but there isn’t a female word for the rank of earl. A female given the same rank as an earl is known simply as a countess.
34. Shoes named for an antelope : REEBOKS
The brand name Reebok was adopted as the new company name for Foster Shoes of the UK in 1960. The name Reebok (more commonly “Rhebok”) is an Afrikaans word for an antelope, and comes from the term “roe buck”.
46. Bible book that inspired the song “Turn! Turn! Turn!”: Abbr. : ECCLES
Ecclesiastes is a book in the Hebrew Bible and in the Old Testament. The term “ecclesiastes” is usually translated as “teacher” or “preacher”, although a more literal translation is “gatherer”.
There aren’t many pop hits that have lyrics taking almost entirely from the Bible. Pete Seeger took some words from the Book of Ecclesiastes, and set them to music in 1959, using the title “To Everything There Is a Season”. He recorded the song in 1962 for one of his albums. It wasn’t until it was recorded by the Byrds as “Turn! Turn! Turn!” that the song climbed the charts. It’s a nice contemplative song, I always think …
48. “___ tu” (Verdi aria) : ERI
The aria “Eri tu” is from Verdi’s opera “Un ballo in maschera” (A Masked Ball). The opera tells the story of the assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden during a masked ball.
53. Porn : SMUT
The word “pornography” comes from the Greek “pornographos” meaning “writing of prostitutes”.
55. Korbut who starred at the 1972 Olympics : OLGA
Olga Korbut is from modern-day Belarus, but was born during the days of the Soviet Union. Korbut competed for the USSR team in the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games. She was 17 when she appeared in the 1972 Munich Games, and had been training in a sports school since she was 8-years-old. The world fell in love with her as she was a very emotional young lady, readily expressing joy and disappointment, something that we weren’t used to seeing in athletes from behind the Iron Curtain. Korbut immigrated to the US in 1991 and now lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.
56. Baseball’s Hideo : NOMO
Hideo Nomo is a former professional baseball pitcher from Osaka, Japan. After achieving success in Japan, Nomo became the first Japanese-born player to appear in Major League Baseball in the US. Nomo threw two no-hitters while playing here in the Majors. He is the only Japanese-born player to have thrown even one no-hitter.
58. Jason of the N.B.A. : KIDD
Jason Kidd was a point guard playing in the NBA. He finished his career with the New York Knicks, and is now the head coach with the Brooklyn Nets.
60. Actor Morales of “La Bamba” : ESAI
Esai Morales is best known for his role in the 1987 movie “La Bamba”, which depicted the life of Ritchie Valens and his half-brother Bob Morales (played by Esai).
63. World Cup cry : OLE!
The next two FIFA World Cup tournaments (soccer) will be hosted by Russia (2018) and Qatar (2022).
For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. With 20-Across, chocolaty Atlanta treat? : SWEET
6. Bistro : CAFE
10. Nod off : DOZE
14. Analyze, as syntax : PARSE
15. Feels sick : AILS
16. Pivot point : AXIS
17. “West Side Story” girl : ANITA
18. Organized bartering occasions : SWAP MEET
20. See 1-Across : GEORGIA BROWN(IE)
22. Dipsomaniac : SOT
23. U.N. agcy. awarded the 1969 Nobel Peace Prize : ILO
24. AOL alternative : MSN
27. One ratting out a group of lawyers? : BAR STOOL(IE)
33. Tend to, in a way, as a garden : WATER
35. Eject : OUST
36. Miley Cyrus hit “Party in the ___” : USA
37. Nullify : ERASE
38. Trivia night site : PUB
39. Grouch of children’s TV : OSCAR
41. 2001 Will Smith title role : ALI
42. Paradise : EDEN
44. Spreading like wildfire : VIRAL
45. What the duffer shot on a hole, surprisingly? : RARE BIRD(IE)
49. Wall Street overseer, for short : SEC
50. Wheel tooth : COG
51. Hosp. test : MRI
53. Little finger that makes you go “Oh my God!”? : SHOCKING PINK(IE)
61. Unwanted weight : MILLSTONE
62. Playground comeback : DID SO!
64. Yen : URGE
65. Make ___ dash for : A MAD
66. Toy company that once made the Magic 8 Ball : IDEAL
67. 4:00 socials : TEAS
68. Brat Pack member Rob : LOWE
69. Girl’s name that’s a two-part hint to 1-/20-, 27-, 45- and 53-Across : ADDIE (or “ADD IE”)
Down
1. Hot springs resort : SPA
2. Vera of haute couture : WANG
3. Spooky-sounding Pennsylvania city : ERIE
4. This, in Tijuana : ESTO
5. Eye droppers? : TEARS
6. Small house, in Latin America : CASITA
7. Sanyo competitor : AIWA
8. Spare tire : FLAB
9. Vivacious wits : ESPRITS
10. Bygone Korean automaker : DAEWOO
11. Animals in a yoke : OXEN
12. Baked Italian dish : ZITI
13. Latin 101 verb : ESSE
19. Kind of cocktail with a kick? : MOLOTOV
21. Whole lot : GOB
24. Actress Gibbs of “The Jeffersons” : MARLA
25. One going from floor to floor : STAIR
26. Super Mario Bros. console : NES
28. Purchase at a 38-Across : ROUND
29. Stand-in : SUB
30. “Filthy” money : LUCRE
31. Writer Asimov : ISAAC
32. Rank above viscount : EARL
33. Clothing : WEAR
34. Shoes named for an antelope : REEBOKS
38. A pop : PER
40. Fam. member : SIS
43. Like many newspaper subscriptions, nowadays : DIGITAL
46. Bible book that inspired the song “Turn! Turn! Turn!”: Abbr. : ECCLES
47. Inhibit : IMPEDE
48. “___ tu” (Verdi aria) : ERI
52. Where many customer care calls are answered : INDIA
53. Porn : SMUT
54. Bring on board : HIRE
55. Korbut who starred at the 1972 Olympics : OLGA
56. Baseball’s Hideo : NOMO
57. Chew (on) : GNAW
58. Jason of the N.B.A. : KIDD
59. Named by an informer, informally : IDED
60. Actor Morales of “La Bamba” : ESAI
63. World Cup cry : OLE!
The Best of the New York Times Crossword Collections
Amazon.com Widgets
Never heard of ADDIE, MARLA, NOMO, KIDD, – last 2 are sports; otherwise, ok.
Hideo NOMO made a big splash when he came over from Japan. But hitters figures him out quickly. Over 12 years, he had a 4.24 ERA and became so unreliable people began calling him "Hideous Nono." MARLA Gibbs was great on The Jeffersons, a great counterpoint to Sherman Helmsley.
Kind of a "forced" theme….
As for Nomo, he had a really odd, only-in-Japan kind of windup and release that really unique. It was very long, "oily" and stuttery, all in one pitch. He was fun to watch!