Day: June 15, 2015

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Groups plotting coups : CABALS
A cabal is a small group of secret plotters, perhaps scheming against a government or an individual.

16. The Devil, informally : OLD NICK
It is Niccolo Machiavelli’s political treatise entitled “The Prince”, and the philosophical opinions expressed therein, that give rise to the term “Machiavellian” meaning cunning and devious, especially at the level of state politics. Indeed, it is said the reception of Machiavelli’s work was such that he lent his name “Niccolo” to the language as the derivation of the term “Old Nick”, meaning “the Devil”,

17. Relative of a wood engraving : LINOCUT
The printmaking technique of “linocut” is similar to woodcut, but with a sheet of linoleum used instead of bare wood for the relief design. Linoleum was introduced as a floor covering in the 1860s, but the of linoleum for printing only dates back to the early 1900s.

Lino, short for linoleum, was originally made by coating canvas with solidified linseed oil. The product’s inventor, Englishman Frederick Walton, give it the name “linoleum” from “linum” and “oleum”, the Latin for “linen” and “oil”.

18. Hockey’s ___ Cup : STANLEY
The Stanley Cup is named for Lord Stanley of Preston, the Governor General of Canada from 1888 to 1893. Lord Stanley’s sons became avid fans of ice hockey while in Canada, and so he donated the trophy in 1909, originally as a challenge cup for the country’s best amateur club.

19. Document issued on June 15, 1215 : MAGNA CARTA
The Magna Carta is a landmark document issued in England in 1215. It represents the first time that an English king had to submit to the will of his subjects, a group of barons who sought to limit the powers of the monarchy. In particular the Magna Carta calls out that no freeman could be punished except through the law of the land. And of course, the Magna Carta was an inspiration for the United States Constitution.

21. Ref. books sometimes sold with magnifying glasses : OEDS
A Compact Edition of the “Oxford English Dictionary” (OED) was first published in 1933, with a revised version issued again in 1991. Both editions used photographically reduced page sizes as the principal method of “compaction”, and as a result both were issued with a magnifying glass to aid in reading the reduced type size.

23. German prelate who was the first person to be canonized, A.D. 993 : ULRIC
Saint Ulrich of Augsburg was the leader of the Roman Catholic in Germany, holding the title of Bishop of Augsburg from 923 CE until his death in 973 CE. In 993 CE, Ulrich was canonized by Pope John XV, becoming the first saint to be officially canonized by the Vatican.

36. Pacific weather phenomenon : EL NINO
When the surface temperature of the Pacific Ocean rises or falls more that half a degree centigrade, then there is said to be an El Niño episode. That small temperature change in the Pacific has been associated with climatic changes that can stretch right across the globe. El Niño is Spanish for “the boy” and is a reference to the Christ child. It was given this Spanish name because the warming is usually noticed near South America and around Christmas-time.

39. Justin Timberlake’s boy band : NSYNC
Justin Timberlake got his break by appearing on TV’s “Star Search” from which he was given a starring role in “The New Mickey Mouse Club”. It was on “The New Mickey Mouse Club” that he met his future girlfriend Britney Spears, as well JC Chasez who would join Timberlake in the lineup of the boy band NSYNC.

41. Prerequisite for calculus, informally : TRIG
Trigonometry is a branch of mathematics involving the study of the lengths and angles of triangles. The term derives from the Greek “trigonon” meaning “triangle” and “metron” meaning “measure”.

46. Smog-fighting govt. group : EPA
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

“Smog” is a portmanteau word formed by melding “smoke” and “fog”. The term was first used to describe the air around London in the early 1900s.

47. Actress Close : GLENN
The marvelous actress Glenn Close has consistently produced great performances on the stage, television and in film. Close’s first film role was in 1982’s “The World According to Garp”, in which she played Jenny Fields, the title character’s mother. Close has been nominated for an Academy Award six times, and ties the record for an actress with the most nominations without ever winning (along with Deborah Kerr and Thelma Ritter).

48. Church seating : PEW
A pew is a bench in a church, usually with a high back. The original pews were raised and sometimes enclosed seats in the church used by women and important men or families. “Pew” comes from the Old French “puie” meaning “balcony, elevation”.

51. Much-photographed figure outside Buckingham Palace : GUARD
Buckingham Palace is a stately home that has been the official residence of the British monarch since the days of Queen Victoria. Buckingham Palace was originally a large townhouse built for the Duke of Buckingham in 1703, hence the name.

53. Ascap alternative : BMI
ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) collects licence fees for musicians and distributes royalties to composers whose works have been performed. BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated) provides the same service.

54. Key of Beethoven’s “Fidelio” Overture: Abbr. : E MAJ
“Fidelio” is Ludwig van Beethoven’s one and only opera, and a work that he really struggled with. “Fidelio” tells of a woman who disguises herself as a prison guard in order get her condemned husband out of prison.

57. Heart of the U.S. legal system, with roots in the 19-Across : DUE PROCESS
“Due process” calls for the state to respect the legal rights of the individual. The concept was first articulated in the historic English charter known as the Magna Carta in 1215. Due process is incorporated into the US Constitution, although the words “law of the land” are used instead of “due process”, but with the same meaning.

62. Biblical wise man : SOLOMON
According to the Bible, Solomon was the son of David and a king of Israel. Notably, Solomon is described as being very wise. In the story known as “the Judgment of Solomon”, Solomon was asked to decide who of two quarreling women was the mother of a baby. He suggested that they cut the baby in two with a sword, forcing one of the women to surrender the child rather than see it die. Solomon gave the child to the woman who showed compassion.

64. Tropical grassland : SAVANNA
A savanna (also savannah) is a grassland. If there are any trees in a savanna, by definition they are small and widely spaced so that light can get to the grasses allowing them to grow unhindered.

67. Contents of a Sunkist crate : ORANGES
Sunkist Growers is a cooperative of citrus growers from California and Arizona that was founded in 1893 as the Southern California Fruit Exchange. The Sunkist name was adopted in 1952, using the highly successful Sunkist brand that the cooperative introduced in 1907.

Down
2. Home of India and Indonesia : ASIA
The vast Asian country called India takes its name from the Indus River. The name “Indus” in turn comes from the Sanskrit “Sindhu” that can be translated as “a body of trembling water”.

Indonesia is an archipelago made up of thousands of islands, the largest being Java, Sumatra, Borneo, New Guinea and Sulawesi. The nation’s capital and largest city is Jakarta, located on Java.

5. John who wrote “A Perfect Spy” : LE CARRE
John Le Carré is the pen name of David Cornwell, an English author famous for his spy novels. Cornwell worked for British Intelligence during the fifties and sixties, even as he was writing his spy thrillers. He left MI6 soon after his most famous 1963 novel “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold”, became such a great success.

“A Perfect Spy” is a 1986 novel by John le Carré, considered by many to be his greatest work. There was a TV adaptation made by the BBC in 1987. I must check that out …

9. Abbr. on old vitamin bottles : RDA
Recommended Daily Allowances (RDAs) were introduced during WWII and are a set of recommendations for the standard daily allowances of specific nutrients. RDAs were effectively absorbed into a broader set of dietary guidelines in 1997 called Recommended Daily Intakes (RDIs). RDIs are used to determine the Daily Values (DV) of foods that are printed on nutrition fact labels on most food that we purchase.

10. Pope who issued an annulment of the 19-Across : INNOCENT
Although King John famously signed the Magna Carta in June of 1215, he worked for the document’s annulment almost immediately. He was successful in getting Pope Innocent III to annul the Magna Carta just two months after the document’s signing, which led to the First Baron’s War that raged for the next two years.

11. World’s longest river : NILE
Depending on definition, the Nile is generally regarded as the longest river on the planet. The Nile forms from two major tributaries, the White Nile and the Blue Nile, which join together near Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. From Khartoum the Nile flows north, traveling almost entirely through desert making it central to life for the peoples living along its length.

15. Kingston Trio hit that inspired the CharlieCard for Boston commuters : MTA
“M.T.A.” was a 1958 hit for the Kingston Trio. The song tells of a man called Charlie who is stuck on board an MTA subway car in Boston. His problem is that “exit fares” had been introduced on the system to supplement “entrance fares” (true story!), and the man didn’t have the extra nickel needed to get off the train. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MTBA) started issuing smart cards for use as tickets in 2006, called them “Charlie Cards” in honor of “Charlie on the MTA”.

The Kingston Trio is a folk and pop music group from San Francisco that formed in 1967. The original lineup disbanded in 1967, although there there is a derivative lineup still performing today (one which I saw not too long ago). The Kingston Trio’s biggest is 1958’s “Tom Dooley”, which was also their first hit.

20. Where the 19-Across was sealed : RUNNYMEDE
Surrey is an English county located just to the southwest of London. Among the many historic locations in Surrey is Runnymede, famous for the signing of Magna Carta by King John in 1215.

26. Disney mermaid : ARIEL
“The Little Mermaid” is a 1989 animated feature from Disney that is based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of the same name. It tells the story of a mermaid princess named Ariel who falls in love with the human Prince Eric. Ariel’s father is chief merman King Triton.

27. Future perfect, for one : TENSE
An example of usage of the future perfect tense is in the sentence:

You will have finished the crossword before checking Bill Butler’s crossword blog.

28. Horace’s “___ Poetica” : ARS
The full name of Horace’s work is “Ars Poetica, Epistula ad Pisones” (The Art of Poetry, Letters to Piso). The work describes the technical aspects of poetry in Ancient Rome, and the term “ars poetica” has come to mean the poetry of that period.

32. Ancient Roman garments : TOGAS
In Ancient Rome the classical attire known as a toga (plural “togae”) was usually worn over a tunic. The tunic was made from linen, and the toga itself was a piece of cloth about twenty feet long made from wool. The toga could only be worn by men, and only if those men were Roman citizens. The female equivalent of the toga was called a “stola”.

35. Beach Boys’ “Barbara ___” : ANN
The Beach Boys 1965 hit “Barbara Ann” was actually a cover version of a song first recorded by the Regents in 1961 (with a different spelling: Barbara “Anne”).

38. He sealed the 19-Across : KING JOHN
England’s King John had been the youngest of five sons of King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and so was considered unlikely to succeed to the throne, but succeed he did in 1199 after the death of his older brother Richard I (aka “Richard the Lionheart”). John’s greatest legacy emanated from his weakness as a king. He signed the Magna Carta as a result of a baronial revolt, a document that evolved into today’s constitution of the United Kingdom.

43. Wildebeest : GNU
A gnu is also known as a wildebeest, and is an antelope native to Africa. “Wildebeest” is actually the Dutch word for “wild beast”.

45. Russian urn : SAMOVAR
The samovar originated in Russia, and is often a very elegant water boiler, usually for making tea. As such, there is often an attachment on top of a samovar to keep a teapot warm.

48. Dried plums : PRUNES
A prune is a dried plum. The name “prune” comes from the Latin “prunum”, the word for “plum”.

50. Google’s image organizer : PICASA
I use Picasa to create the image of the crossword grid each evening. All those images that you see are stored in Picasa Web Albums, Picasa’s online image storage site.

54. Canadian gas station : ESSO
The brand name Esso has its roots in the old Standard Oil company as it uses the initial letters of “Standard” and “Oil” (ESS-O). The Esso brand was replaced by Exxon in the US, but ESSO is still used in many other countries.

56. Ski resort next to Snowbird : ALTA
Alta ski resort actually lies within the Salt Lake City Metropolitan Area. The first ski lift in the resort was opened way back in 1939. Today, Alta is one of only three ski resorts in the country that prohibits snowboarding (along with Deer Valley, Utah and Mad River Glen, Vermont. The ski resort of Snowbird located next to Alta has been in operation since 1971.

58. Trident-shaped Greek letter : PSI
The Greek letter psi is the one that looks a bit like a trident or a pitchfork. It is the 23rd letter of the 24 letters in the Greek alphabet.

61. Exams for coll.-bound kids : SATS
Today the standardized test for admission to colleges is known as the SAT Reasoning Test, but it used to be called the Scholastic Aptitude Test and Scholastic Assessment Test, which led to the abbreviation SAT.

63. Ryan of “Sleepless in Seattle” : MEG
Meg Ryan is the stage name of actress Margaret Hyra from Fairfield, Connecticut. “Meg” uses the name Ryan as it is her maternal grandmother’s maiden name. Although Ryan has tried hard to break away from lead roles in romantic comedies, she is perhaps best-known for playing the romantic lead in such hits as “When Harry Met Sally…”, “Sleepless in Seattle”, “French Kiss”, “Addicted to Love”, “You’ve Got Mail” and “Kate & Leopold”. Ryan used to be married to fellow actor Dennis Quaid, and has been in a longterm relationship with rock singer John Mellencamp.

Return to top of page

For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Groups plotting coups : CABALS
7. Places where yachts are docked : MARINAS
14. Not individually, in sports : AS A TEAM
16. The Devil, informally : OLD NICK
17. Relative of a wood engraving : LINOCUT
18. Hockey’s ___ Cup : STANLEY
19. Document issued on June 15, 1215 : MAGNA CARTA
21. Ref. books sometimes sold with magnifying glasses : OEDS
22. Break into tears : CRY
23. German prelate who was the first person to be canonized, A.D. 993 : ULRIC
25. Movie critic, often : RATER
28. “___ questions?” : ANY
29. Minimum amount : LEAST
33. Before, in poetry : ERE
34. Bring in, as a salary : EARN
36. Pacific weather phenomenon : EL NINO
37. Pig sound : OINK!
39. Justin Timberlake’s boy band : NSYNC
41. Prerequisite for calculus, informally : TRIG
42. Step down from a position : RESIGN
44. Cow sounds : MOOS
46. Smog-fighting govt. group : EPA
47. Actress Close : GLENN
48. Church seating : PEW
49. After: Fr. : APRES
51. Much-photographed figure outside Buckingham Palace : GUARD
53. Ascap alternative : BMI
54. Key of Beethoven’s “Fidelio” Overture: Abbr. : E MAJ
57. Heart of the U.S. legal system, with roots in the 19-Across : DUE PROCESS
62. Biblical wise man : SOLOMON
64. Tropical grassland : SAVANNA
65. “What’d I tell ya?!” : SO THERE!
66. Dressed for the office, say : IN A SUIT
67. Contents of a Sunkist crate : ORANGES
68. Preliminary versions of a paper : DRAFTS

Down
1. Not windy : CALM
2. Home of India and Indonesia : ASIA
3. Word repeated before “You’re dead!” : BANG!
4. Right away : AT ONCE
5. John who wrote “A Perfect Spy” : LE CARRE
6. Cheeky : SAUCY
7. Pretty much : MOSTLY
8. Where couples get hitched : ALTAR
9. Abbr. on old vitamin bottles : RDA
10. Pope who issued an annulment of the 19-Across : INNOCENT
11. World’s longest river : NILE
12. Scored 100 on : ACED
13. “The ___ the limit” : SKY’S
15. Kingston Trio hit that inspired the CharlieCard for Boston commuters : MTA
20. Where the 19-Across was sealed : RUNNYMEDE
24. Unhealthy : ILL
25. Corp. shuffle : REORG
26. Disney mermaid : ARIEL
27. Future perfect, for one : TENSE
28. Horace’s “___ Poetica” : ARS
30. Broadcaster : AIRER
31. Take a potshot : SNIPE
32. Ancient Roman garments : TOGAS
35. Beach Boys’ “Barbara ___” : ANN
36. Environmental prefix : ECO-
38. He sealed the 19-Across : KING JOHN
40. Right away : NOW
43. Wildebeest : GNU
45. Russian urn : SAMOVAR
48. Dried plums : PRUNES
50. Google’s image organizer : PICASA
52. Be wild about : ADORE
53. Mark on a steer’s rear : BRAND
54. Canadian gas station : ESSO
55. Tie up, as a boat : MOOR
56. Ski resort next to Snowbird : ALTA
58. Trident-shaped Greek letter : PSI
59. Ample, informally : ENUF
60. Peeved state : SNIT
61. Exams for coll.-bound kids : SATS
63. Ryan of “Sleepless in Seattle” : MEG

Return to top of page

The Best of the New York Times Crossword Collections
Amazon.com Widgets