0924-15 New York Times Crossword Answers 24 Sep 15, Thursday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
14. One of the Nereids in Greek myth : IONE
In Greek mythology, Nereus and Doris had fifty daughters, and these were called the sea nymphs or nereids. The nereids often hung around with Poseidon and were generally very helpful creatures to sailors in distress. Mainly they were to be found in the Aegean, where they lived with their father in a cave in the deep. Some of the more notable names of the nereids were: Agave, Asia, Calypso, Doris, Erato, Eunice and Ione.

15. Garden party? : ADAM
In the Christian tradition, the “fall of man” took place in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve succumbed to the temptation of eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, against the bidding of God. As a result, Adam and Eve were banished from Eden to prevent them becoming immortal by eating from the tree of life. The first humans had transitioned from a state of innocent obedience to a state of guilty disobedience.

16. TV host who said “It’s all been satirized for your protection” : MAHER
Bill Maher is a stand-up comedian and political commentator. Maher has an HBO television show called “Real Time with Bill Maher” which is essentially a follow-on from the very successful “Politically Incorrect” program that started out on Comedy Central.

17. One volume in the Encyclopedia of Movie Pets and Sidekicks? : TONTO TO TOTO TOME
On the television version of “The Lone Ranger”, Tonto was played by the actor Jay Silverheels. In the 2013 movie “The Lone Ranger”, Tonto was played by Johnny Depp.

Toto is Dorothy’s dog in the film “The Wizard of Oz”. Toto was played by a dog called Terry, but Terry’s name was soon changed to Toto in real life, due to the success of the film.

“Tome” first came into English from the Latin “tomus” which means “section of a book”. The original usage in English was for a single volume in a multi-volume work. By the late 16th century “tome” had come to mean “a large book”.

21. Goldfish relative : KOI
Carp are freshwater fish that are used as food around the world, although they aren’t very popular in North American kitchens. The ornamental fish that we know as goldfish and koi are all types of carp.

22. Instant ___ : TEA
Instant tea? I just don’t approve …

27. Let someone’s father borrow this Arp or that Duchamp? : LEND A DAD A DADA
Dadaism thrived during and just after WWI, and was an anti-war, anti-bourgeois and anti-art culture. The movement began in Zurich, Switzerland started by a group of artists and writers who met to discuss art and put on performances in the Cabaret Voltaire, frequently expressing disgust at the war that was raging across Europe.

Hans Arp was a French artist renowned for his work with torn and pasted paper, although that wasn’t the only medium he used. Arp was the son of a French mother and German father and spoke both languages fluently. When he was speaking German he gave his name as Hans Arp, but when speaking French he called himself Jean Arp. Both “Hans” and “Jean” translate into English as “John”. In WWI Arp moved to Switzerland to avoid being called up to fight, taking advantage of Swiss neutrality. Eventually he was told to report to the German Consulate and fill out paperwork for the draft. In order to get out of fighting, Arp messed up the paperwork by writing the date in every blank space on the forms. Then he took off all of his clothes and walked with his papers over to the officials in charge. He was sent home …

Marcel Duchamp was a French artist whose works are associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. One of his most celebrated “works” is simply what he called “readymade” art, a urinal which he titled “Fountain”. Even though this work is considered to be “a major landmark in 20th century art”, the original that was submitted for exhibition was never actually displayed and had been lost forever. Replicas were commissioned by Duchamp, and are on display in many museums around the world. I have no further comment …

31. God with a shield : ARES
The Greek god Ares is often referred to as the Olympian god of warfare, but originally he was regarded as the god of bloodlust and slaughter. Ares united with Aphrodite to create several gods, including Phobos, Deimos and Eros. The Roman equivalent to Ares was Mars.

32. Scott Turow title : ONE L
Scott Turow is an author and lawyer from Chicago. Turow has had several bestselling novels including “Presumed Innocent”, “The Burden of Proof” and “Reversible Errors”, all three of which were made into films. He also wrote the autobiographical book “One L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School”.

“One L” is a name used in general for first year law students.

40. Bucolic sound : BAA
The word “bucolic”, meaning rustic or rural, comes to us from the Greek word “boukolos” meaning “cowherd”.

41. Sellers of many films : PETER
Peter Sellers was British comedian and actor, and a genius (in my humble opinion). In Britain, Sellers was famous on the radio as a star on “The Goon Show”, In the rest of the world, Sellers is perhaps best-known for playing Inspector Clouseau in “The Pink Panther” series of films. Like so many of the greatest comic performers it seems, Sellers struggled with depression in his life off-camera.

46. Statement from the proud snake as its eggs were hatching? : I AM A MAMA MAMBA
The mamba, and most famously the black mamba, is a highly venomous snake that used to be responsible for a great number of fatalities before anti-venoms became available. Mamba venom is a deadly mix of neurotoxins that attack the nervous system, and cardiotoxins that attack the heart so a bite, if left untreated, causes the lungs and the heart to shut down.

51. Sirius : DOG STAR
When you look up at the night sky, the brightest star you can see is Sirius. Sirius appears so bright to us because it is relatively close to the Earth. Sirius is commonly known as the “Dog Star” because it can be seen in the constellation Canis Major, the “Big Dog”. In Greek mythology, Sirius was the faithful hunting dog who stood by Orion the Hunter.

52. Hawks’ home: Abbr. : ATL
The NBA’s Atlanta Hawks started out as the Buffalo Bisons in 1946, although after only a few months the team was moved to Moline, Illinois as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks. The Blackhawks were one of the 17 original teams playing at the founding of the National Basketball Association. There was another move in 1951 and a renaming to the Milwaukee Hawks, and yet again in 1955 when the team became the St. Louis Hawks. The latest move was to Atlanta, in 1968.

54. Lake Victoria locale : UGANDA
Uganda is a landlocked county in East Africa lying just to the west of Kenya. Uganda was ruled by the British as a protectorate from 1894 and gained independence in 1962. Uganda is very much associated with the tyrannical rule of Idi Amin in the 1970s.

Lake Victoria is the largest area lake on the continent of Africa. It was named by English explorer John Hanning Speke in honor of Queen Victoria of the UK. Speke was the first European to set eyes on the lake.

58. Recounting of the time you introduced the Egyptian goddess of fertility? : THIS IS ISIS, I SAID
Isis was the ancient Egyptian goddess of fertility, as well as the protector of the dead and the goddess of children.

62. German article : EINEN
The definite article in German is der, die or das, for masculine, feminine and neuter nouns. The indefinite article is ein, eine or ein, again depending on the gender of the noun. A further complication, relative to English, is that the masculine form (and only the masculine form) of the article changes when used in the accusative case, when used with the object of a sentence. The accusative forms are “den” and “einen”.

64. Piece that can go left or right : OP-ED
“Op-ed” is an abbreviation for “opposite the editorial page”. Op-eds started in “The New York Evening World” in 1921 when the page opposite the editorials was used for articles written by a named guest writer, someone independent of the editorial board.

Down
1. In ___ (as found) : SITU
“In situ” is a Latin phrase meaning “in the place”, and we use the term to mean “in the original position”.

7. Stick in a dugout : BAT
A “dugout” is an underground shelter. The term was carried over to baseball because the dugout is slightly depressed below the level of the field. This allows spectators behind the dugout to get a good view of home plate, where a lot of the action takes place.

9. Mine, in Marseille : A MOI
“À moi” (literally “to me”) is the French for “mine”.

10. Back muscle, to weightlifters : LAT
The muscles known as the “lats” are the latissimi dorsi, the broadest muscles in the back. “Latissimus” is the Latin for “broadest” and “dorsum” is Latin for “back”.

18. Chaplin of “Game of Thrones” : OONA
Oona Chaplin is an actress from Madrid in Spain. Chaplin is getting a lot of airtime these days as she plays Talisa Maegyr on HBO’s hit fantasy series “Game of Thrones”. Oona is the granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin, and is named for her maternal grandmother Oona O’Neill. the daughter of playwright Eugene O’Neill.

19. Chuck of NBC News : TODD
Chuck Todd is a television journalist. Todd is the Chief White House Correspondent for NBC.

24. “Three’s Company” setting : SANTA MONICA
The tremendously successful US sitcom “Three’s Company” ran from 1977 to 1984. The show was actually a remake of an equally successful British sitcom called “Man About the House”. I must, I was a fan of both shows. The American show started its run with three roommates, played by Joyce DeWitt, Suzanne Somers and John Ritter. The trio lived in an apartment building owned by characters Stanley and Helen Roper. The Ropers were eventually replaced by landlord Ralph Furley, played by the marvelous Don Knotts.

25. Palindromic Dutch city : EDE
Ede is a small town in the Netherlands located between the cities of Arnhem and Utrecht.

26. End of a commencement speaker’s address? : EDU
The .edu domain was one of the six original generic top-level domains specified. The complete original list is:

– .com (commercial enterprise)
– .net (entity involved in network infrastructure e.g. an ISP)
– .mil (US military)
– .org (not-for-profit organization)
– .gov (US federal government entity)
– .edu (college-level educational institution)

27. Part of the Pixar logo : LAMP
Pixar Animation Studios started out as part of Lucasfilm in 1979, George Lucas’s production company. Lucas sold what was to become Pixar to Apple CEO Steve Jobs in 1986. Pixar produced its first feature film in 1995, the fabulous “Toy Story”, and followed up with a string of hits. The company was then sold to Walt Disney in 2006, when valued at $7.4 billion. That transaction resulted in Steve Jobs becoming the biggest shareholder in Walt Disney.

28. Sandusky’s lake : ERIE
Sandusky, Ohio is a city on the shores of Lake Erie. My son is always talking about Sandusky as a place he’d like to visit, as it is home to one the largest collections of roller coasters in the world.

29. Like Charles vis-à-vis Elizabeth : NEXT IN LINE
The British laws of royal succession changed in 2013. The centuries old law dictated that males in a family were ranked higher than all females, regardless of age. Under the old law, the line of succession would have been to Queen Elizabeth II:

1. Prince Charles (Elizabeth’s eldest son)
2. Prince William (Charles’ eldest son)
3. Prince George (William’s eldest son),
4. Prince Harry (Charles second-oldest son)
5. Prince Andrew (Elizabeth’s second-oldest son)

Under the new law, starting with Prince William’s family, the sex of any child is no longer a consideration, so Prince William’s daughter Princess Charlotte bumps Prince Harry out of his spot:

1. Prince Charles (Elizabeth’s eldest son)
2. Prince William (Charles’ eldest son)
3. Prince George (William’s eldest child)
4. Princess Charlotte (William’s second-oldest child)
5. Prince Harry (Charles’ second-oldest son)

30. Org. with red, white and blue balls, once : ABA
The American Basketball Association (ABA) merged with the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 1976. The ABA used a ball with the colors red, white and blue. The NBA uses a more traditional orange ball.

35. F.D.R.’s mother : SARA
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was the only child of Sara Delano and James Roosevelt Sr. The Delano family history in America goes back to the pilgrim Philippe de Lannoy, an immigrant of Flemish descent who arrived at Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621. The family name “de Lannoy” was anglicized here in the US, to “Delano”. Franklin was to marry Eleanor Roosevelt, and apparently the relationship between Sara and her daughter-in-law was very “strained”.

39. Breaks : HIATUSES
A “hiatus” is a break or opening in a material object. “Hiatus” is Latin for “opening”.

42. Toilette water? : EAU
“Eau de toilette” (toilet water) is a diluted perfume. A French person when dressing is said to be attending to his or her “toilette”.

44. Shtick bit : GAG
A “shtick” is a routine, a bit, a piece of entertainment. It comes from the Yiddish “shtick”, which has the same meaning and derives from the Middle High German word “stücke”, the word for “piece”.

45. Object seen in Seurat’s “La Grande Jatte” : PARASOL
Georges Seurat was a French Post-Impressionist. His most famous work, in the pointillist style, can be viewed in the Art Institute of Chicago, “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte – 1884”. If you’ve seen the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, it features quite prominently in a wonderful, wonderful scene shot at the gallery.

48. Figures in a crèche : MAGI
“Magi” is the plural of the Latin word “magus”, a term applied to someone who was able to read the stars. Hence, magi is commonly used with reference to the “wise men from the East” who followed the star and visited Jesus soon after he was born.

Crèche is a French word meaning “crib”. The term can be used to describe a nativity scene, a display of objects depicting the birth of Jesus.

49. Start of the Nuevo Testamento : MATEO
In Spanish, the first book in the New Testament (Nuevo Testamento) is Matthew (Mateo).

53. Fictional boy who claimed “All kings is mostly rapscallions” : FINN
“The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain was first published in 1884, not here in the US but rather in England. The original launch planned for the US had to be delayed until the following year because some rascal had defaced the plate for one of the illustrations, making an obscene joke. Once the problem was spotted a new plate had to be made, and 30,000 copies already printed had to be reworked to cover up the obscenity.

We might call a little imp a rapscallion, an evolution from “rascallion”, which in turn comes from “rascal”.

59. Locale for Wynken, Blynken and Nod : SEA
“Wynken, Blynken and Nod” is a children’s poem written by Eugene Field, first published in 1889. The original title of the work was “Dutch Lullaby”.

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night
Sailed off in a wooden shoe —
Sailed on a river of crystal light,
Into a sea of dew.
“Where are you going, and what do you wish?”
The old moon asked the three.
“We have come to fish for the herring fish
That live in this beautiful sea;
Nets of silver and gold have we!”
Said Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.

60. Annual awards org. : SAG
The Screen Actor’s Guild is a labor union with over 200,000 members. The SAG was formed back in 1933, at a time when many Hollywood stars were being exploited by the big movie studios, especially the younger and more inexperienced performers. Early supporters of the Guild included famous names like Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney (imagine Bogart and Cagney in a labor negotiation!). Past presidents of SAG have also been big names, such as Eddie Cantor, James Cagney, Ronald Reagan, Howard Keel, Charlton Heston, Ed Asner and Melissa Gilbert.

61. Old White House nickname : IKE
President Eisenhower was born in Denison, Texas and given the name David Dwight Eisenhower, but by the time he made it to the White House he was going by the name Dwight D. Eisenhower (DDE). Growing up, his family called him Dwight, and when “Ike” enrolled in West Point he himself reversed the order of his given names.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Not much, but better than none : SLIM
5. Cookout fare : RIBS
9. Head dog : ALPHA
14. One of the Nereids in Greek myth : IONE
15. Garden party? : ADAM
16. TV host who said “It’s all been satirized for your protection” : MAHER
17. One volume in the Encyclopedia of Movie Pets and Sidekicks? : TONTO TO TOTO TOME
20. Outcome : UPSHOT
21. Goldfish relative : KOI
22. Instant ___ : TEA
23. Tournament favorite : ONE-SEED
26. Forever : EONS
27. Let someone’s father borrow this Arp or that Duchamp? : LEND A DAD A DADA
31. God with a shield : ARES
32. Scott Turow title : ONE L
33. Some spring plantings : BULBS
36. This and that : MIX
37. Social worker? : ANT
38. “You are so busted!” : AHA!
40. Bucolic sound : BAA
41. Sellers of many films : PETER
43. Farming prefix : AGRI-
45. Engine sound : PURR
46. Statement from the proud snake as its eggs were hatching? : I AM A MAMA MAMBA
49. Remote button : MENU
51. Sirius : DOG STAR
52. Hawks’ home: Abbr. : ATL
53. Bog : FEN
54. Lake Victoria locale : UGANDA
58. Recounting of the time you introduced the Egyptian goddess of fertility? : THIS IS ISIS, I SAID
62. German article : EINEN
63. Staple at a wedding reception : CAKE
64. Piece that can go left or right : OP-ED
65. Much of a world map : OCEAN
66. Forever : AGES
67. “Sure, I’m game” : LET’S

Down
1. In ___ (as found) : SITU
2. Aerial stunt : LOOP
3. Comfort spots? : INNS
4. Section of a science paper : METHODS
5. Sold down the river, in a way : RATTED ON
6. Ringing endorsement? : I DO
7. Stick in a dugout : BAT
8. Signals to leave? : SMOKE ALARMS
9. Mine, in Marseille : A MOI
10. Back muscle, to weightlifters : LAT
11. Where to get in your best shots? : PHOTO ALBUM
12. Weightlifter types : HE-MEN
13. Places : AREAS
18. Chaplin of “Game of Thrones” : OONA
19. Chuck of NBC News : TODD
24. “Three’s Company” setting : SANTA MONICA
25. Palindromic Dutch city : EDE
26. End of a commencement speaker’s address? : EDU
27. Part of the Pixar logo : LAMP
28. Sandusky’s lake : ERIE
29. Like Charles vis-à-vis Elizabeth : NEXT IN LINE
30. Org. with red, white and blue balls, once : ABA
34. Sharp remark : BARB
35. F.D.R.’s mother : SARA
37. Branch : ARM
39. Breaks : HIATUSES
42. Toilette water? : EAU
44. Shtick bit : GAG
45. Object seen in Seurat’s “La Grande Jatte” : PARASOL
47. Citrus drinks : ADES
48. Figures in a crèche : MAGI
49. Start of the Nuevo Testamento : MATEO
50. Work ___ : ETHIC
53. Fictional boy who claimed “All kings is mostly rapscallions” : FINN
55. Scruff : NAPE
56. “Breakthrough” detailed in many a best seller : DIET
57. Tots : ADDS
59. Locale for Wynken, Blynken and Nod : SEA
60. Annual awards org. : SAG
61. Old White House nickname : IKE

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