0920-15 New York Times Crossword Answers 20 Sep 15, Sunday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Jason Mueller & Jeff Chen
THEME: Put a Lid on It! … today’s themed answers come in pairs, with one being a famous person and the other being the hat with which that person is associated:

19A. 23-Across topper : FEDORA
23A. Fictional archaeologist : INDIANA JONES

25A. 28-Across topper : STETSON
28A. Famed frontierswoman : CALAMITY JANE

34A. 40-Across topper : BERET
40A. Subject of “Guerrillero Heroico” : CHE GUEVARA

54A. 58-Across topper : KEPI
58A. Leader of the Free French : CHARLES DE GAULLE

80A. 83-Across topper : BOWLER
83A. He helped move a piano in “The Music Box” : STAN LAUREL

88A. 95-Across topper : PORK PIE
95A. Star of “Sherlock Jr.” and “Steamboat Bill Jr.” : BUSTER KEATON

97A. 102-Across topper : TOQUE
102A. Italian pitchman of note : CHEF BOYARDEE

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 16m 51s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0 …

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

5. Many lines of code : IFS
In the world of computer programming, an “if-then-else” construct is a type of conditional statement. The idea is that IF a particular condition is met THEN a particular action is executed. The additional ELSE statement can be used to define an alternative action.

18. Portrait overlooking Tiananmen Square : MAO
Tiananmen Square is located in the center of Beijing, China. It is the third largest city square in the world, after Merdeka Square in Jakarta, Indonesia and Praça dos Girassóis in Palmas, Brazil. Tiananmen Square can hold up to 600,000 people, and has been the site of major protests on several occasions over the years. The protests of 1989 are also referred to as the “Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989” as 200-300 (official figures) or perhaps several thousand (unofficial estimates) protesters and soldiers were killed when the military was sent in to restore order.

19. 23-Across topper : FEDORA
A fedora is a lovely hat, I think. It is made of felt, and is similar to a trilby, but has a broader brim. “Fedora” was a play written for Sarah Bernhardt and first performed in 1889. Bernhardt had the title role of Princess Fedora, and on stage she wore a hat similar to a modern-day fedora. The play led to the women’s fashion accessory, the fedora hat, commonly worn by women into the beginning of the twentieth century. Men then started wearing fedoras, but only when women gave up the fashion …

23. Fictional archaeologist : INDIANA JONES
George Lucas created a lead character named Indiana Smith for what was to be his “Indiana Jones” series of films. Lucas asked Steven Spielberg to direct the first film, and Spielberg wasn’t too fond of the name “Smith”. Lucas then suggested Jones as an alternative, and Indiana Jones was born.

25. 28-Across topper : STETSON
Stetson is a brand name of hat, manufactured by the John B. Stetson Company of St. Joseph, Missouri. The so called “cowboy hat” that Stetson pioneered was such a success that the company became the largest hat maker in the world, producing over 3.3 million hats per year.

26. Indigo plants : ANILS
Anil is another name for the indigo plant, as well as the name for the blue indigo dye that is obtained from it. The color of anil is relatively close to navy blue. The main coloring agent in indigo dye is a crystalline powder called indigotin.

27. Kramer’s first name on “Seinfeld” : COSMO
Cosmo Kramer is the outrageous character played by Michael Richards on “Seinfeld”. “Seinfeld” co-creator, Larry David, introduced Kramer into the story, basing the character on real-life comedian Kenny Kramer who used to live across the hall from him.

28. Famed frontierswoman : CALAMITY JANE
Calamity Jane was the nickname of frontierswoman Martha Jane Cannary who had several jobs in the Wild West, including professional scout for the US Army. Jane lived in Deadwood, South Dakota for many years, and there befriended Wild Bill Hickock. In her latter years she appeared in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show as a storyteller, and later participated in the 1901 Pan-American Exposition. She passed away in 1903 in her fifties, pretty much penniless. Some years ago I visited the cemetery in Deadwood, where Jane is buried right alongside Wild Bill Hickock …

30. Hip-hop name modifier : LIL’
Lil’ is a short form of the word “little”. There are a whole slew of rappers named Lil’ something, like Lil’ Wayne, Lil’ J, and Lil’ Kim.

31. Publishing mogul, for short : HEF
Hugh Hefner (often called “Hef”) is from Chicago. His first publishing job was in the military, where he worked as a writer for a US Army newspaper from 1944-46. He went to college after his military service and then worked as a copywriter for “Esquire” magazine. He left “Esquire” to found his own publication that he called “Playboy”, which first hit the newsstands in 1953. “Playboy” has been around ever since.

32. Toughens, as metal : ANNEALS
One anneals glass or metal by exposing to a very specific temperature profile, resulting in a tougher or less brittle product.

39. Post-boomer group : GEN-X
The term Generation X originated in the UK where it was the name of a book by Jane Deverson. Her book detailed the results of a study of British youths in 1964, contrasting their lifestyle to those of previous generations. It was Canadian author Douglas Coupland who was responsible for popularizing the term, with his more successful publication “Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture”. By the latest accepted definition, Gen-Xers were born between 1961 and 1981.

A baby boomer is someone who was born in the post-WWII baby boom. The rate of births had been falling fairly steadily in the US at least since 1900, but this trend was sharply reversed in 1946 after WWII. The higher birth rate continued until 1964, when it returned to pre-war levels. Since then the birth rate has continued to decline, although at a slower pace. The period between 1946 and 1964 is defined as the “baby boom”.

40. Subject of “Guerrillero Heroico” : CHE GUEVARA
Ernesto “Che” Guevara was born in Argentina, and in 1948 he started to study medicine at the University of Buenos Aires. While at school he satisfied his need to “see the world” by taking two long journeys around South America, the story of which are told in Guevara’s memoir later published as “The Motorcycle Diaries”. While travelling, Guevara was moved by the plight of the people he saw and their working conditions and what he viewed as capitalistic exploitation. In Mexico City he met brothers Raul and Fidel Castro and was persuaded to join their cause, the overthrow of the US-backed government in Cuba. He rose to second-in-command among the Cuban insurgents, and when Castro came to power Guevara was influential in repelling the Bay of Pigs Invasion and bringing Soviet nuclear missiles to the island. Guevara left Cuba in 1965 to continue his work as a revolutionary. He was captured by Bolivian forces in 1967, and was executed. Fidel Castro led the public mourning of Guevara’s death, and soon the revolutionary was an icon for many left-wing movements around the world.

“Guerrillero Heroico” is the name of an iconic photograph taken Alberto Korda of the revolutionary Che Guevara. With the title translating into English as “Heroic Guerrilla Fighter”, the image shows Guevara in a dark beret, with an “implacable” stare. It is versions of this photo that have been used so many time in tattoos, poster, paintings, etc. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has determined that “Guerrillero Heroico” has been reproduced more than any other image in the history of photography.

42. Three-time Nobel Prize-winning organization : RED CROSS
Back in 1859, a Swiss businessman called Henri Dunant went to meet French emperor Napoleon III, to discuss making it easier to conduct commerce in French-occupied Algeria. The Emperor was billeted at Solferino, where France and Austria were engaged in a major battle. In one day, Dunant witnessed 40,000 soldiers die in battle and countless wounded suffering on the battlefield without any organized medical care. Dunant abandoned his business agenda and instead spent a week caring for the sick and wounded. Within a few years he had founded the precursor to the Red Cross, and in 1901 he was awarded the first ever Nobel Peace Prize.

47. Al Bundy or Phil Dunphy : TV DAD
Ed O’Neill made it big on television playing Al Bundy on the sitcom “Married … with Children”, not a show I ever cared for. However, O’Neill is in the cast of a great show currently being aired that I do recommend, namely “Modern Family”.

The character Phil Dunphy on the sitcom “Modern Family” is played by actor Ty Burrell. Phil is a real estate agent and refers to his role in his family as “cool Dad”.

50. Arctic jackets : ANORAKS
Anoraks aren’t very popular over here in America. Everyone has one in Ireland! An anorak is a heavy jacket with a hood, often lined with fur (or fake fur), and is an invention of the Inuit people.

52. Site of a miracle in Daniel 3 : FURNACE
According to the Bible’s Book of Daniel, there were three pious youths who refused to bow down to the image of Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon. The Jewish youths were named Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. As a punishment for their defiance, they were thrown in a blazing furnace. However, their faith saved the young men, and a fourth figure appeared in the furnace beside them, a representation of God.

53. They pop up in the morning : EGGOS
Eggo is the brand name of a line of frozen waffles made by Kellogg’s. When they were introduced in the 1930s, the name “Eggo” was chosen to promote the “egginess” of the batter. “Eggo” replaced the original name chosen, which was “Froffles”, created by melding “frozen” and “waffles”.

54. 58-Across topper : KEPI
A kepi is a circular cap with a visor that’s worn in particular by the French military.

55. ___ breve : ALLA
The musical term “alla breve”, meaning “at the breve (i.e. the note)”, denotes a meter equivalent to 2/2. This implies quite a fast tempo, one often found in military marches.

57. Shipmate : TAR
A Jack Tar, or just “tar”, was a seaman in the days of the British Empire. The term probably arose due to a sailor’s various uses of tar back then, including waterproofing his clothes and using tar in his hair to slick down his ponytail.

58. Leader of the Free French : CHARLES DE GAULLE
Charles de Gaulle was a Brigadier General early in WWII and led one of the few successful counter-attacks against invading German forces during the Battle of France in 1940. He escaped to Britain, and from there encouraged the French populace to resist the occupation. By the end of the war he was leading the Free French government in exile, and when France was retaken he was named Prime Minister in the French Provisional Government. He resigned his position in 1946. Over a decade later he was elected as Prime Minister in 1958, and then President in 1959, an office he held until 1969. The main airport of Paris is named in his honor, as is the French navy’s only nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

67. Jack who ran for vice president in 1996 : KEMP
Jack Kemp was a Vice Presidential candidate in the 1996 presidential election, on the Republican ticket with Bob Dole. Prior to politics, Kemp played football in the NFL, serving as quarterback and captain of the San Diego Chargers and the Buffalo Bills. Kemp passed away in 2009, and was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama.

68. Chits : IOUS
A chit is a note or a short letter. The term tends to be used these days in the sense of an amount owed (as in a poker game). The word used to be “chitty”, which is now obsolete but was closer to the original Hindi term. I feel a tad obsolete myself because when we are at school we would be excused class if we had a “chitty”.

69. Modern-day hieroglyph : EMOJI
An emoji is a character found on many cell phones now that is like an emoticon, but more elaborate.

73. South American rodents : AGOUTIS
The term “agouti” is used for some rodents in Central and south America who have fur with bands of light and dark pigmentation.

76. Bugs, e.g. : BUNNY
Bugs Bunny first said “What’s up, Doc?” in the 1940 cartoon short “A Wild Hare”, addressing the hunter Elmer Fudd.

80. 83-Across topper : BOWLER
I think a bowler hat is usually called a derby here in the US. The bowler was first produced in 1849 in London by hatmakers Thomas and William Bowler, hence the name. The alternative name of “derby” comes from the tradition of wearing bowler hats at the Derby horse race (a major race held annually in England).

81. Arctic masses : BERGS
An iceberg is a large piece of freshwater ice that is floating freely after having broken off from a glacier or ice shelf. Out use of “iceberg” comes from the Dutch word for the same phenomenon “ijsberg”, which translates literally as “ice mountain”.

83. He helped move a piano in “The Music Box” : STAN LAUREL
Stan Laurel was an English comic actor (born Arthur Stanley Jefferson), who made a great career for himself in Hollywood. Laurel ended up at the Hal Roach studio directing films, intent on pursuing a career in writing and directing. However, he was a sometime actor and was asked to step in when another comic actor, Oliver Hardy, was injured and couldn’t perform. Laurel and Hardy started to share a stage together during that time and when it was clear they worked so well together, their partnership was born. Oh, and the oft-quoted story that Clint Eastwood is the son of Stan Laurel … that’s just an urban myth.

The Laurel and Hardy short comedy film “The Music Box” was released in 1932. The film was destined to win the first Academy Award for Live Action Short (Comedy). “The Music Box” is all about Laurel and Hardy trying to move a piano up a flight of stairs.

85. Violinist Leopold : AUER
Leopold Auer was a Hungarian violinist, as well as a conductor and composer. Auer wrote a small number of works for the violin, the most famous of which is the “Rhapsodie Hongroise” written for violin and piano.

88. 95-Across topper : PORK PIE
The pork pie hat originated in the mid-1800s. It is round, usually made of felt, and has a flat top. When first introduced it was a woman’s hat, but then men grabbed hold of it …

91. Loan source for a mom-and-pop store: Abbr. : SBA
The Small Business Administration (SBA) is a government agency with the mission of assisting small businesses. The SBA doesn’t give loans itself, but it does act as a guarantor under the right circumstances. The SBA was set up in 1953, and isn’t a favorite with fiscal conservatives.

94. Finish on a canvas? : TKO
In boxing, a knockout (KO) is when one of the fighters can’t get up from the canvas within a specified time, usually 10 seconds. This can be due to fatigue, injury, or the participant may be truly “knocked out”. A referee, fighter or doctor may also decide to stop a fight without a physical knockout, especially if there is concern about a fighter’s safety. In this case the bout is said to end with a technical knockout (TKO).

95. Star of “Sherlock Jr.” and “Steamboat Bill Jr.” : BUSTER KEATON
Buster Keaton was a comic actor, most famous for his work during the silent era. Keaton starred in and co-directed the 1926 silent comedy “The General”, lauded by some as the greatest movie of all time.

97. 102-Across topper : TOQUE
A toque was a brimless style of hat that was very fashionable in Europe in the 13th to 16th centuries. Nowadays we associate toques with chefs, as it is the name given to a chef’s hat (called a “toque blanche” in French, a “white hat”). A chef’s toque is quite interesting. Many toques have exactly 100 pleats, often said to signify the number of ways that an egg can be cooked.

100. Giving goose bumps, say : EERIE
The goose bumps that occur on a person’s skin are the result of exposure to cold or experience of strong emotion. The bumps are the result of tiny muscles attached to hair follicles contracting, causing the hair to stand on end and creating a “bump” in the skin around the hair.

101. City about which Gertrude Stein said “There is no there there” : OAKLAND
Gertrude Stein wrote the phrase “There is no there there” in her 1937 book “Everybody’s Autobiography”. Stein was prompted to write the words when she heard that the neighborhood in which she grew up in Oakland, California had been torn down to make way for an industrial park. Over time, “there is no there there” has come to be used to describe Oakland in general. The city has responded by placing a statue titled “There” in downtown Oakland.

102. Italian pitchman of note : CHEF BOYARDEE
The Chef Boyardee brand of canned food products was named after Ettore Boiardi who introduced the product line in the twenties. Boiardi was an Italian immigrant who owned an Italian restaurant in Cleveland, Ohio. He started the line of canned recipes based on the demand for samples of his dishes from satisfied customers at his restaurant.

105. Something cooks put stock in : CONSOMME
A consommé is a clear soup made from a clarified stock. Egg whites are used in the clarification process, to remove fat and any sediment.

109. Queen of Jordan : NOOR
Queen Noor is the widow of King Hussein of Jordan. Queen Noor was born Lisa Halaby in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Najeeb Halaby. Her father was appointed by President Kennedy as the head of the Federal Aviation Administration, and later became the CEO of Pan Am. Lisa Halaby met King Hussein in 1977, while working on the design of Jordan’s Queen Alia Airport. The airport was named after King Hussein’s third wife who had been killed that year in a helicopter crash. Halaby and the King were married the next year, in 1978.

110. Ancient hieroglyph : IBIS
The ibis is a wading bird that was revered in ancient Egypt. “Ibis” is an interesting word grammatically speaking. You can have one “ibis” or two “ibises”, and then again one has a flock of “ibis”. And if you want to go with the classical plural, instead of two “ibises” you would have two “ibides”!

112. Co. that originated Dungeons & Dragons : TSR
Dungeons & Dragons is a complex role-playing game first published in 1974, by Tactical Studies Rules Incorporated (TSR). Dungeons & Dragons was probably the first of the modern role-playing games to be developed, and the most successful. It is still played by lots of people today, including my nerdy son …

Down
1. Otto who worked on the Manhattan Project : FRISCH
Otto Robert Frisch was an Austrian-born British physicist who was recruited to work on WWII’s Manhattan Project, the development of the first atomic bomb. Frisch’s main task was to determine the exact amount of enriched uranium required sustain a nuclear chain reaction, the critical mass.

2. Powerful bloodlines? : AORTAE
The aorta (plural “aortae”) originates in the heart and extends down into the abdomen. It is the largest artery in the body.

4. Bit of cowboy gear : REATA
“Reata” is the Spanish word for “lasso”. We tend to use the spelling “riata” in English, but sometimes can use the original Spanish word.

7. Swillbelly : SOT
Our word “sot” comes from the Old English “sott”, meaning “fool”. The word “sot” started to be associated with alcohol and not just foolery in the late 1500s.

8. Poison compounds produced by snakes : VENINS
The poisonous compounds in snake venom are referred to collectively as “venins”.

10. Mom on “Family Guy” : LOIS
“Family Guy” is a very successful animated show on television. It was created by Seth MacFarlane, the same guy who came up with “American Dad!”. My kids love them both. Me, I can’t stand ‘em …

11. Journalist Flatow : IRA
“Science Friday” is an excellent talk show broadcast every Friday on NPR, and hosted by Ira Flatow. Flatow is known to television audiences as the host of “Newton’s Apple”, which ran from 1983 to 1998.

13. Leeway : ROOM
Our word “leeway” meaning “spare margin” is nautical in origin. A vessel’s leeway is the amount of drift motion away from her intended course that is caused by the action of the wind.

14. ___ Christi : ANNO
The Latin phrase “Anno Christi” means “in the Year of Christ”.

15. Actress Kravitz of “Mad Max: Fury Road” : ZOE
Zoë Kravitz is an actress and singer. Zoe has a couple of famous parents: musician Lenny Kravitz and actress Lisa Bonet.

16. Triage locales, for short : ERS
“Triage” is the process of prioritizing patients for treatment, especially on a battlefield. The term “triage” is French and means “a sorting”.

19. Like answers on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” : FINAL
“Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” is a worldwide game show franchise that started out in the UK in 1998. The US version of the show debuted in 1999 with Regis Philbin as the host. The Indian version is one of the most famous, having provided the setting for the incredibly successful Danny Boyle film “Slumdog Millionaire” that was released in 2008.

22. West Point inits. : USMA
West Point is a military reservation in New York State, located north of New York City. West Point was first occupied by the Continental Army way back in 1778, making it the longest, continually-occupied military post in the country. Cadet training has taken place at the garrison since 1794, although Congress funding for a US Military Academy (USMA) didn’t start until 1802. The first female cadets were admitted to West Point in 1976, and today about 15% of all new cadets are women.

24. Verizon purchase of 2015 : AOL
GTE was a rival to AT&T, the largest of the independent competitors to the Bell System. GTE merged with Bell Atlantic in 2000 to form the company that we know today as Verizon.

26. Title character in a Sophocles play : AJAX
Sophocles was one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived. The first of these was Aeschylus, the second Sophocles, and the third Euripides. Sophocles is believed to have written 123 plays, the most famous of which are “Antigone” and “Oedipus the King”.

29. Desires : YENS
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!

34. Drink that’s the subject of several rules in the Code of Hammurabi : BEER
The Code of Hammurabi is a code of laws that dates back to 1772 BCE, enacted by the Babylonian king Hammurabi. . Partial copies of the code have been found on stone steles and clay tablets. The most complete copy of the code can be found on a large stele that is on display in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

37. Author Jong : ERICA
The author Erica Jong’s most famous work is her first: “Fear of Flying”, a novel published in 1973. Over twenty years later she wrote “Fear of Fifty: a midlife memoir”, published in 1994.

38. “Long ball” : TATER
Apparently, a baseball has long been referred to as a potato, or a “tater”. In the seventies, a long ball started to be called a “long tater”, and from this a home run became a “tater”.

40. Investment instruments, for short : CDS
A certificate of deposit (CD) is like a less-flexible and higher-paying savings account. Instead of depositing money into a savings account and earning interest periodically, one can open a CD. With a CD one deposits a minimum amount of money but must leave it there for a specified length of time. In return for committing the funds for a fixed period, one is given a higher interest rate than a savings account and can redeem that interest and the initial deposit when the term has expired. CDs are relatively low-risk investments as they are FDIC insured, just like savings accounts.

42. Pioneering Arctic explorer John : RAE
John Rae was a Scottish explorer, who took on the task of searching for the ill-fated Franklin Expedition of 1845. The Franklin Expedition was itself searching for the elusive Northwest Passage through the Arctic Ocean connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific. John Rae stirred up much controversy back in England when he reported evidence of cannibalism among the ill-fated Franklin explorers.

43. Like the 13 Colonies: Abbr. : ENG
The original thirteen colonies collaborated to set up a Continental Congress that led to the declaration of independence in 1776. There was a larger set of colonies in British America at that time, but the remainder opted to stay loyal to the Crown. The loyal colonies were the British West Indies, Newfoundland, the Province of Quebec, Nova Scotia, and East and West Florida.

45. Pursuer of Capt. Hook : CROC
In J. M. Barrie’s play “Peter Pan”, it is not specifically stated how Captain Hook lost his hand, although previous writings by Barrie reveal that Peter Pan cut it off during a swordfight. What is revealed is that Peter fed the severed hand to a crocodile, and that crocodile pursues Captain Hook for the rest of his days, seeking to finish off his meal. The crocodile also swallowed a clock, and the ticking of the clock warns Captain Hook of his pursuer’s approach.

54. Continental carrier : KLM
The abbreviation KLM stands for “Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij”, which translates from Dutch as “Royal Aviation Company”. KLM is the flag carrier for the Netherlands, and is the oldest airline in the world still operating with its original name. It was founded in 1919. KLM merged with Air France in 2004.

56. Velázquez’s “___ Meninas” : LAS
“Las Meninas” is a painting by Diego Velázquez, the name of which translates to “The Maids of Honor”. “Las Meninas” is the most famous painting owned by the Museo del Prado in Madrid.

59. Director Kurosawa : AKIRA
Akira Kurosawa was an Oscar-winning Japanese film director. His most famous movie to us in the West has to be “The Seven Samurai”, the inspiration for “The Magnificent Seven” starring Yul Brynner, and indeed a basis for “Star Wars: The Clone Wars”.

62. Baltic native : LETT
Latvia is one of the former Soviet Socialist Republics. People from Latvia are called Letts.

64. Coors competitor : PABST
Pabst Blue Ribbon is the most recognizable brand of beer from the Pabst Brewing Company. There appears to be some dispute over whether or not Pabst beer ever won a “blue ribbon” prize, but the company claims that it did so at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. The beer was originally called Pabst Best Select, and then just Pabst Select. With the renaming to Blue Ribbon, the beer was sold with an actual blue ribbon tied around the neck of the bottle until it was dropped in 1916 and incorporated into the label.

Adolph Coors founded the Coors brewing company in 1873, in Golden, Colorado. Coors was originally from the Rhine Province in Prussia, and worked in various brewers around what is today Germany before immigrating to the US in 1868. Despite all of his success as a brewer here in America, Coors ended up taking his own life in 1929, by jumping to his death out of a hotel window.

65. Billy Joel’s “___ Extremes” : I GO TO
According to Billy Joel, he wrote the song “I Go to Extremes” as an apology to his wife at that time, supermodel Christie Brinkley. Joel was acknowledging that his up-and-down personality made him a difficult man with whom to live.

71. One of the Bushes : JEB
I always thought that Jeb was an American nickname for James or Joseph but I must be wrong, because George and Barbara’s son John Ellis Bush is called “Jeb”. A kind blog reader has suggested the the name “Jeb” may have been chosen as JEB are the initials of John Ellis Bush.

72. Post-___ : ITS
The Post-it note was invented at 3M following the accidental discovery of a low-tack, reusable adhesive. The actual intent of the development program was the discovery of a super-strong adhesive.

74. It parallels a radius : ULNA
The radius and ulna are bones in the forearm. If you hold the palm of your hand up in front of you, the radius is the bone on the “thumb-side” of the arm, and the ulna is the bone on the “pinkie-side”.

77. Website necessity : URL
Internet addresses (like NYTCrossword.com and LAXCrossword.com) are more correctly called Uniform Resource Locators (URLs).

79. Literature Nobelist J. M. Coetzee, by birth : AFRIKANER
J. M. Coetzee is a novelist from South Africa who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003. Coetzee was the second South African to be so honored, after Nadine Gordimer in 1991.

81. Gusto : BRIO
“Brio” is borrowed from Italian, in which language it means vigor and vivacity. “Con brio” is a musical direction often found on a score, instructing the musicians to play “with energy, vigor”.

“Gusto” is an Italian word meaning “taste”. We use it in the sense of “with gusto”, with great enjoyment.

82. Bo’s cousin on “The Dukes of Hazzard” : LUKE
“The Dukes of Hazzard” is a TV show from the late seventies and early eighties that was in effect a spinoff of a 1975 movie called “Moonrunners”, which had similar storyline. “The Duke Boys” are two cousins, Bo Duke and Luke Duke, played by John Schneider and Tom Wopat. And, who can forget another cousin Daisy, played by Catherine Bach.

85. Museo contents : ARTE
In Spanish, one sees works of art (arte) in a museum (un museo).

88. Mashes into a pulp : PUREES
A “purée” is a food that has been made smooth by straining or blending. “Purée” is a French term, which I believe is now used to mean “pea soup” (more completely written as “purée de pois”). The French verb “purer” means “to strain, clean”, from the Latin “purare” meaning “to purify, clean”.

89. Basketry material : OSIER
Most willows (trees and shrubs of the genus Salix) are called just that, willows. Some of the broad-leaved shrub varieties are called sallow, and the narrow-leaved shrubs are called osier. The variety known as osier is commonly used in basketry, as osier twigs are very flexible.

91. Actor John of “Full House” : STAMOS
Actor John Stamos is best known as the star of the sitcom “Full House”, although he also played Dr. Tony Gates on the medical drama “ER”.

92. Bit of wit : BON MOT
“Bon mot” translates from French as “good word”. We use “bon mot” (and sometimes just “mot”) to mean a quip, a witticism.

93. Angström or Celsius : ANDERS
The angstrom is a very small unit of length, equal to one ten-billionth of a meter. As such a small unit, the angstrom is used to measure the size of atoms and molecules. The unit is named for the Swedish physicist Anders Jonas Ångström.

Anders Celsius was a Swedish astronomer. The temperature scale that Celsius created was the reverse of that used today, with “zero” representing the boiling point of water and “100” representing water’s freezing point. This scale was “upended” (in 1744) just after Celsius died, by the Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus. The resulting temperature scale then became known as the centigrade scale for over 200 years, until in 1948 it was decided to adopt the “degree Celsius”. So, anyone still using “degrees centigrade” is actually way behind the times …

94. Your, in Siena : TUO
Siena is a beautiful city in the Tuscany region of Italy. In the center of Siena is the magnificent medieval square called Piazza del Campo, a paved sloping open area made up of nine triangular sections. The square has to be seen to be believed. Twice a year, the famous bareback horse-race called the Palio di Siena is held in the Piazza.

97. Hatcher who was a Bond girl : TERI
Teri Hatcher’s most famous role these days is the Susan Mayer character in “Desperate Housewives”. I’ve never seen more than a few minutes of “Housewives” but I do know Teri Hatcher as a Bond girl, as she appeared in “Tomorrow Never Dies”.

99. Ones going for hikes, for short? : QBS
The quarterback (QB) starts each play in football with a “snap” (also called a “hike”). He announces to his teammates the exact moment of the snap by calling out signals, usually including the word “hut” one or more times in a prearranged sequence.

100. As a result : ERGO
“Ergo” is the Latin word for “hence, therefore”.

102. CBS show with a 15-year run ending in 2015 : CSI
“CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” is apparently the most-watched television show worldwide.

104. Kerfuffle : ADO
“Kerfuffle” comes from the Scottish “curfuffle”, with both words meaning “disruption”.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Just : FAIR
5. Many lines of code : IFS
8. Legitimate : VALID
13. Demolish : RAZE
17. You can learn something by this : ROTE
18. Portrait overlooking Tiananmen Square : MAO
19. 23-Across topper : FEDORA
20. One getting a tax write-off, maybe : DONOR
21. Filer’s concern : IRS AUDIT
23. Fictional archaeologist : INDIANA JONES
25. 28-Across topper : STETSON
26. Indigo plants : ANILS
27. Kramer’s first name on “Seinfeld” : COSMO
28. Famed frontierswoman : CALAMITY JANE
30. Hip-hop name modifier : LIL’
31. Publishing mogul, for short : HEF
32. Toughens, as metal : ANNEALS
33. Gain : WIN
34. 40-Across topper : BERET
39. Post-boomer group : GEN-X
40. Subject of “Guerrillero Heroico” : CHE GUEVARA
42. Three-time Nobel Prize-winning organization : RED CROSS
47. Al Bundy or Phil Dunphy : TV DAD
49. Nixing phrase on movie night : SEEN IT
50. Arctic jackets : ANORAKS
51. Shoplift, in slang : BOOST
52. Site of a miracle in Daniel 3 : FURNACE
53. They pop up in the morning : EGGOS
54. 58-Across topper : KEPI
55. ___ breve : ALLA
57. Shipmate : TAR
58. Leader of the Free French : CHARLES DE GAULLE
64. Quick shot? : PIC
67. Jack who ran for vice president in 1996 : KEMP
68. Chits : IOUS
69. Modern-day hieroglyph : EMOJI
73. South American rodents : AGOUTIS
76. Bugs, e.g. : BUNNY
78. Contents of a spreadsheet : DATA SET
80. 83-Across topper : BOWLER
81. Arctic masses : BERGS
82. Starts of some one-twos : LEFT JABS
83. He helped move a piano in “The Music Box” : STAN LAUREL
85. Violinist Leopold : AUER
86. Like Mandarin or Cantonese : TONAL
87. Pinch : NIP
88. 95-Across topper : PORK PIE
91. Loan source for a mom-and-pop store: Abbr. : SBA
94. Finish on a canvas? : TKO
95. Star of “Sherlock Jr.” and “Steamboat Bill Jr.” : BUSTER KEATON
97. 102-Across topper : TOQUE
100. Giving goose bumps, say : EERIE
101. City about which Gertrude Stein said “There is no there there” : OAKLAND
102. Italian pitchman of note : CHEF BOYARDEE
105. Something cooks put stock in : CONSOMME
106. Catches a wave : SURFS
107. More indie, say : EDGIER
108. Absorbed : ATE
109. Queen of Jordan : NOOR
110. Ancient hieroglyph : IBIS
111. Sends to oblivion : DOOMS
112. Co. that originated Dungeons & Dragons : TSR
113. Ballpark amts. : ESTS

Down
1. Otto who worked on the Manhattan Project : FRISCH
2. Powerful bloodlines? : AORTAE
3. Word after in and of : ITSELF
4. Bit of cowboy gear : REATA
5. “Been better, been worse” : I’M DOING OK
6. Quality of voices in the distance : FAINTNESS
7. Swillbelly : SOT
8. Poison compounds produced by snakes : VENINS
9. Confuse : ADDLE
10. Mom on “Family Guy” : LOIS
11. Journalist Flatow : IRA
12. Getting down, so to speak : DANCING
13. Leeway : ROOM
14. ___ Christi : ANNO
15. Actress Kravitz of “Mad Max: Fury Road” : ZOE
16. Triage locales, for short : ERS
19. Like answers on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” : FINAL
20. Some club hires : DJS
22. West Point inits. : USMA
24. Verizon purchase of 2015 : AOL
26. Title character in a Sophocles play : AJAX
29. Desires : YENS
30. Perjured oneself : LIED
33. “Isn’t he great!” : WHAT A GUY!
34. Drink that’s the subject of several rules in the Code of Hammurabi : BEER
35. Still : EVEN
36. Approached quickly : RAN AT
37. Author Jong : ERICA
38. “Long ball” : TATER
40. Investment instruments, for short : CDS
41. Routine : USUAL
42. Pioneering Arctic explorer John : RAE
43. Like the 13 Colonies: Abbr. : ENG
44. Barker : DOG
45. Pursuer of Capt. Hook : CROC
46. Spate : RASH
47. Twirlers : TOPS
48. Invalidating : VOIDING
51. “Out of my way!” : BEEP BEEP!
52. ___ bug : FLU
54. Continental carrier : KLM
56. Velázquez’s “___ Meninas” : LAS
59. Director Kurosawa : AKIRA
60. Like some tel. nos. : RES
61. Eternities : EONS
62. Baltic native : LETT
63. Key with four sharps: Abbr. : E MAJ
64. Coors competitor : PABST
65. Billy Joel’s “___ Extremes” : I GO TO
66. Wes of PBS’s “History Detectives” : COWAN
70. Spanish she-bear : OSA
71. One of the Bushes : JEB
72. Post-___ : ITS
74. It parallels a radius : ULNA
75. Opposite of a poker face : TELL
77. Website necessity : URL
78. A long-established history : DEEP ROOTS
79. Literature Nobelist J. M. Coetzee, by birth : AFRIKANER
81. Gusto : BRIO
82. Bo’s cousin on “The Dukes of Hazzard” : LUKE
84. Discordant, to some : UNKEYED
85. Museo contents : ARTE
88. Mashes into a pulp : PUREES
89. Basketry material : OSIER
90. Cartoon cries : EEKS
91. Actor John of “Full House” : STAMOS
92. Bit of wit : BON MOT
93. Angström or Celsius : ANDERS
94. Your, in Siena : TUO
95. Darken : BEDIM
96. Solo : ALONE
97. Hatcher who was a Bond girl : TERI
98. Slays, informally : OFFS
99. Ones going for hikes, for short? : QBS
100. As a result : ERGO
102. CBS show with a 15-year run ending in 2015 : CSI
103. Nucleus : HUB
104. Kerfuffle : ADO
105. Cool dude : CAT

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3 thoughts on “0920-15 New York Times Crossword Answers 20 Sep 15, Sunday”

  1. Nice puzzle, fun.

    Kenny Kramer actually appeared in an episode of "Seinfeld," The Face Painter, as one of the hockey fans sitting behind Patrick Warburton.

  2. I agree with the previous comments: a pleasant puzzle. Unfortunately, I wrote down AORTAS, which then gave me HSF instead of HEF and I stupidly assumed HSF was some successful publisher's initials. Harold Samuel Forbes, maybe? Sounds eminently plausible to me … 🙂

    Oh well, you win some and you lose some … 🙂

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