0619-15 New York Times Crossword Answers 19 Jun 15, Friday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. “___ Serenades” (1952 jazz album) : SATCHMO
Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans in 1900. Armstrong had a poor upbringing, and only stayed in school till he was 11 years old. The exact origin of Louis’s nickname “Satchmo” seems to be a little unclear. One story is that he used to dance for pennies in New Orleans as a youngster and would hide those pennies in his mouth away from the other kids. For this he earned the nickname “satchel mouth”, which was shortened to “Satchmo”.

16. Capital near the Great Rift Valley : NAIROBI
Nairobi is the capital and largest city in the African nation of Kenya. The city is named for the Nairobi River, which in turn takes its name from the Maasai “Enkare Nairobi” meaning “Cool Water”. Nairobi was founded in 1899 as a stop on the Kenya-Uganda railroad, at a time when the country was a British colony.

The Great Rift Valley is an imprecise geographical term that describes a trench that runs from northern Syria to central Mozambique in Africa.

18. 1960 Elvis Presley film : GI BLUES
“GI Blues” is an Elvis Presley movie that was released in 1960, and that was filmed in England although set in Germany. Presley plays a GI stationed in Europe. There’s a nice inside joke in one scene where Presley’s character finds the record “Blue Suede Shoes” on a jukebox, sung by some guy called Elvis Presley.

20. Cosmetician Adrien : ARPEL
The Adrien Arpel cosmetic company was founded in 1962 and sold its products across Europe. The company started selling in the US in 1968.

22. “The Seasons” lithographer : ERTE
Erté was the pseudonym of French artist (Russian born) Romain de Tirtoff. Erté is the French pronunciation of his initials “R.T.”

23. Like newspeak and doublethink : ORWELLIAN
George Orwell was the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair, the famous British author of the classics “Nineteen Eighty-Four” and “Animal Farm”. Orwell had trouble getting his novel “Animal Farm” published in his homeland of the UK during WWII. The book was a satire of life in the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, and anti-Soviet literature wasn’t a good thing to publish while the UK and USSR were on the same side of a World War. In fact, one publisher who was willing to distribute the book changed his mind after being warned off by the British Ministry of Information. Given his experiences with “Animal Farm”, I find it interesting that Orwell should write “Nineteen Eighty-Four” a few years later, which introduced the world to the term “Big Brother”.

“Newspeak” is a language created by the totalitarian state in George Orwell’s novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four”. Newspeak is grammatically identical to English, but there is a limited vocabulary that is designed limit freedom of thought.

“Doublethink” is the acceptance of two conflicting concepts at the same time. The term was coined by author George Orwell in his novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four”.

26. He wrote “In utter loneliness a writer tries to explain the inexplicable” : JOHN STEINBECK
John Steinbeck was born not far from here, in Salinas, California in 1902. His most famous novels are probably “The Grapes of Wrath” from 1939, “East of Eden” from 1952 and the novella “Of Mice and Men” from 1937. For his work, Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962.

31. Out-lying result? : TAN
You can get a “tan” if you “lie out” in the sun.

32. Fictional Sicilian town of literature : ADANO
“A Bell for Adano” is a novel written by John Hersey. Hersey’s story is about an Italian-American US Army officer, Major Joppolo, who found a replacement for a town’s bell stolen by fascists. “A Bell for Adano” was made into a film in 1945, the same year the novel won a Pulitzer.

38. Former Toyota model for 36 years : CELICA
The name “Celica” used by Toyota comes from the Latin “coelica” meaning “heavenly”.

44. Gran Bretagna or Nuova Guinea : ISOLA
In Italian, an example of an island (isola) might be either Great Britain (Gran Bretagne) or New Guinea (Nuova Guinea).

45. Cato’s craft : ARS
“Ars” is Latin for “art”.

Cato the Elder was a Roman statesman, known historically as “the elder” in order to distinguish him from his great-grandson, Cato the Younger. Cato the Elder’s ultimate position within Roman society was that of Censor, making him responsible for maintaining the census, and for supervising public morality.

47. State in which “That ’70s Show” was set: Abbr. : WIS
“That ‘70s Show” is a sitcom that originally aired from 1998 to 2006. As the title suggests, it is set in the 1970s and explores the issues of the time. Two actors that made it particularly big from the show are Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher.

48. Editor ___ A. Talese : NAN
Nan Talese is an editor working at Doubleday. She is married to author Gay Talese, who is apparently in the process of writing a novel based on their life together.

49. Kind of hub or port : USB
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard dealing with how computers and electronic devices connect and communicate, and deal with electrical power through those connections.

52. New mint product of 2000 : SACAGAWEA DOLLAR
Sacagawea was the Shoshone guide who accompanied Lewis and Clark on their famous expedition. She was hired as a guide along with her husband, a French-Canadian trapper named Toussaint Charbonneau. When the expedition set out, Sacagawea was pregnant and had her child on the journey, in early 1805. Three years after the journey ended, Charbonneau and his family settled in St. Louis, Missouri where Sacagawea died in 1812. Sacagawea’s image is found on a US dollar coin that was first minted in 2000. The coin has a copper core clad with manganese brass, so it has a golden color.

56. Sierra Nevada brew : AMERICAN PALE ALE
The Sierra Nevada Brewing Company is powered almost exclusively by solar energy, and even has a charging station for electric vehicles at its brewery. The company also uses the cooking oil from its restaurant as biodiesel for its delivery trucks. Discarded yeast is used to make ethanol fuel, and spent grain is used as food for livestock. For its efforts to preserve the environment, Sierra Nevada won the EPA’s “Green Business of the Year” award for 2010.

Down
1. Wave creator : SINE
A sine wave is a mathematical function that describes a simple, smooth, repetitive oscillation. The sine wave is found right throughout the natural world. Ocean waves, light waves and sound waves all have a sine wave pattern.

3. Jazz saxophonist Buddy : TATE
Buddy Tate was a jazz saxophone and clarinet player from Texas. Tate played with Count Basie’s band from 1939 until 1948.

4. One who might steal a kiss : CHOCOHOLIC
The Hershey Company produces over 80 million Kisses each day, and has been making them since 1907.

6. Colorful talkers : MACAWS
Macaws are beautifully colored birds of native to Central and South America, and are actually a type of parrot. Most species of macaw are now endangered, with several having become extinct in recent decades. The main threats are deforestation and illegal trapping and trafficking of exotic birds.

7. Sousa’s “El Capitan,” e.g. : OPERETTA
“El Capitan” is John Philip Sousa’s most successful operetta. There is also a march called “El Capitan”, which comprises themes from the operetta.

8. Brad’s partner in 2005’s “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” : ANGELINA
“Mr. & Mrs. Smith” is a 2005 film starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in the title roles. It’s a fun film, sort of a melded romantic comedy and action movie. The film is noted as the first time Pitt and Jolie met, after which they fell in love and became the media’s “Brangelina” item.

11. “Journey to the Center of the Earth” actress : ARLENE DAHL
Arlene Dahl is an American movie actress, quite famous during the 1950s. Among her screen credits was playing the female lead in 1959’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth”, alongside James Mason and Pat Boone.

The classic 1959 sci-fi film “Journey to the Center of the Earth” is based on the novel of the same name by Jules Verne. Some of the scenes in the movie were filmed in Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

14. Chantilly’s department : OISE
Chantilly is a town located just 24 miles from the center of Paris. The town gave its name to Chantilly cream and Chantilly lace.

24. MASH figures : RNS
Registered nurse (RN)

The first Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) was deployed in August 1945. MASH units really came into the public consciousness after publication of the 1969 Richard Hooker novel “MASH”, which spawned the hit film and TV series that were both called “M*A*S*H”.

25. Suit-making grp.? : ABA
American Bar Association (ABA)

26. Barre hop? : JETE
A jeté is a leap in ballet, coming from the French word “jeter” meaning “to throw”. A jeté en avant is a “leap to the front”, towards the audience.

A “barre” is a handrail used by ballet dancers for warm-up exercises and to provide support when practicing certain moves.

27. Like moonstones : OPALESCENT
An opal is often described as having a milky iridescence, known as “opalescence”.

Moonstone is a mineral that often has numerous colors, with light reflecting internally within the stone. It’s this unique visual effect that gives the gem the name of moonstone.

29. Bump on a log : KNAR
“Knar” is another word for a knot or burl on a tree or in wood.

39. Dale Evans, e.g. : COWGIRL
Dale Evans was the stage name of actress and singer Lucille Wood Smith, famous as the third wife of Roy Rogers. Evans was from Uvalde, Texas, and had a rough start in life. She eloped with her first husband when she was just 14 years old, and had her first child at 15. That first marriage ended in divorce when she was 17 in 1929, the same year she started on her second marriage. Roy Rogers was Evans’ fourth husband and they married in 1947, a marriage that lasted for 51 years, until Rogers passed away in 1998.

43. Oldman’s “JFK” role : OSWALD
Lee Harvey Oswald was the assassin who killed President John F. Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963. Oswald served with the US Marines from 1956 until 1959. One month after leaving the military, Oswald traveled to the Soviet Union via a circuitous route across the Atlantic and Europe. He entered the Soviet Union on a visa that was only valid for one week, but once in the country he made it clear that he wanted to stay. Oswald settled in Minsk for a few years, working there as a lathe operator and living in government-subsidized housing. In 1961, Oswald married a 19-year-old Russian student and the couple had a baby girl a year later. Oswald grew tired of life in Russia though, so he and his new family moved to the US in 1962, settling in the Dallas area. Oswald’s widow still lives in Texas.

“JFK” is a 1991 Oliver Stone movie, a controversial one I’d say. I suppose any work that deals with the terrible assassination of President Kennedy is bound to create a stir these days. By the way, make a note in your diary. According to US law, all documents held by the government that are related to the assassination are supposed to be released to the public by 2017 …

Gary Oldman is an English stage and screen actor. Like many English actors it seems, Oldman has played a lot of villains in Hollywood movies e.g. in “Air Force One” and “The Fifth Element”. My favorite Oldman performance is as Ludwig van Beethoven in “Immortal Beloved”.

46. “Groundhog Day” director : RAMIS
Harold Ramis was a real all-rounder, working as an actor, director and writer. Indeed, in both “Ghostbusters” and “Stripes” he was a co-writer as well as playing a lead character. Ramis worked as writer-director on “Caddyshack”, “National Lampoon’s Vacation”, “Groundhog Day” and “Analyze This”.

“Groundhog Day” is a 1993 comedy film that has already become a classic. The star of the movie is Bill Murray, with the lovely Andie MacDowell putting in a great supporting performance. “Groundhog Day” is set in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania although it was actually filmed in the town of Woodstock, Illinois.

50. Nixon and Brezhnev signed it in ’72 : SALT I
There were two rounds of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) between the US and the Soviet Union, and two resulting treaties (SALT I & SALT II). The opening round of SALT I talks were held in Helsinki as far back as 1970, with the resulting treaty signed by President Richard Nixon and General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev in 1972.

51. French shipyard city : BREST
Brest is a port city in northwest France, and is the second largest military port in the country. Brest was an important base for German U-boats during WWII when France was occupied by the Nazis. Brest is the most westerly city in the whole country.

53. “Whose woods these ___ think …”: Frost : ARE I
When I was a school-kid back in Ireland, Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” was our first introduction to American poetry, and what a lovely introduction it was:

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

54. Thermal lead-in : ENDO-
In the world of chemistry, a reaction that is endothermal or endothermic is one that absorbs heat. An exothermic reaction gives off heat.

55. Start of treason? : LESE
Lèse majesté is the crime of offending the dignity of the “majesty” or sovereign, or the state. The term is from French Law, and comes from the law of Ancient Rome. In Latin “laesa maiestas” means “injured majesty”. Clearly, the term has no relevance in the United States but in other countries, including many in Europe, the law is occasionally cited.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. “___ Serenades” (1952 jazz album) : SATCHMO
8. Big news medium : AM RADIO
15. Not organized at all : IN A HEAP
16. Capital near the Great Rift Valley : NAIROBI
17. Never : NOT ONCE
18. 1960 Elvis Presley film : GI BLUES
19. Business suit : EXEC
20. Cosmetician Adrien : ARPEL
22. “The Seasons” lithographer : ERTE
23. Like newspeak and doublethink : ORWELLIAN
26. He wrote “In utter loneliness a writer tries to explain the inexplicable” : JOHN STEINBECK
30. They may get carried away : REPOS
31. Out-lying result? : TAN
32. Fictional Sicilian town of literature : ADANO
34. Bibliog. shortener : ET AL
35. What some presidents are called : MADAM
37. Over the hill, say : AFAR
38. Former Toyota model for 36 years : CELICA
40. Entrance line : I’M HERE
42. Cut-rate, commercially : ECONO
44. Gran Bretagna or Nuova Guinea : ISOLA
45. Cato’s craft : ARS
47. State in which “That ’70s Show” was set: Abbr. : WIS
48. Editor ___ A. Talese : NAN
49. Kind of hub or port : USB
52. New mint product of 2000 : SACAGAWEA DOLLAR
56. Sierra Nevada brew : AMERICAN PALE ALE
57. Rock groups? : MINERAL DEPOSITS
58. “Again, but slower” : I STILL DON’T GET IT

Down
1. Wave creator : SINE
2. Dumb as ___ : AN OX
3. Jazz saxophonist Buddy : TATE
4. One who might steal a kiss : CHOCOHOLIC
5. Layer that scratches : HEN
6. Colorful talkers : MACAWS
7. Sousa’s “El Capitan,” e.g. : OPERETTA
8. Brad’s partner in 2005’s “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” : ANGELINA
9. Like many rebates : MAIL-IN
10. Part of a supporting cage : RIB
11. “Journey to the Center of the Earth” actress : ARLENE DAHL
12. Forbidding : DOUR
13. Cynical reply : I BET
14. Chantilly’s department : OISE
21. Answer, in court : PLEAD
24. MASH figures : RNS
25. Suit-making grp.? : ABA
26. Barre hop? : JETE
27. Like moonstones : OPALESCENT
28. Light brown : CAFE AU LAIT
29. Bump on a log : KNAR
30. ___ hall : REC
33. Stuff in many 57-Across : ORE
35. Like lunatics’ laughter : MANIACAL
36. Not acclimate properly : MISADAPT
39. Dale Evans, e.g. : COWGIRL
41. Staple of late-night talk : MONOLOG
43. Oldman’s “JFK” role : OSWALD
44. Corralled : IN A PEN
45. Words of concurrence : AS AM I
46. “Groundhog Day” director : RAMIS
50. Nixon and Brezhnev signed it in ’72 : SALT I
51. French shipyard city : BREST
53. “Whose woods these ___ think …”: Frost : ARE I
54. Thermal lead-in : ENDO-
55. Start of treason? : LESE

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