1010-15 New York Times Crossword Answers 10 Oct 15, Saturday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Roland Huget
THEME: None
BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 35m 23s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 2 … ARA (Awa), RING DINGS (Wing Dings!!!)

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

8. Yo-yo : DINGBAT
The word “dingbat” has been used to mean a “fool” since the early 1900s. It became very popular after it was used repeatedly by Archie Bunker in the seventies TV show “All in the Family”.

15. Jacket attachment : EPAULET
Epaulet (or epaulette) comes from French, and literally means “little shoulder”.

16. Home of a Penn State campus : ALTOONA
Altoona is in central Pennsylvania, and is home to the Ivyside Park Campus of Pennsylvania State University.

17. Alberta city named after a quadruped : RED DEER
Red Deer is the third-most populous city in the province of Alberta, after Calgary and Edmonton. One might argue that the city should be called Wapiti or Elk, as the name is a European translation of the Cree name for the river on which the city stands: Waskasoo Seepee (Wapiti/Elk River). The first British traders thought that the North American Elk or wapiti was a type of European red deer, but in fact they are different species.

20. Eliot’s “___ Vos Prec” : ARA
“Ara Vos Prec” is the title of a 1920 collection of poems by T. S. Eliot. The phrase “Ara vos prec” is a phrase from Dante’s “Inferno”.

22. Rwandan minority : TUTSI
The Tutsi are the second largest population of people in Rwanda, with the Hutu being the largest group. The bloody conflict that has existed between the Tutsi and Hutu peoples dates back to about 1880 when Catholic missionaries arrived in the region. The missionaries found that they had more success converting the Hutus than the Tutsi, and when the Germans occupied the area during WWI they confiscated Tutsi land and gave it to Hutu tribes in order to reward religious conversion. This injustice fuels fighting to this very day.

23. ___ Takahata, Oscar-nominated director of 2013’s “The Tale of Princess Kaguya” : ISAO
Isao Takahata is a Japanese director who is perhaps best known for his anime films. Takahata’s 2013 film “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya” was nominated for the Best Animated Feature Film Oscar, but lost out to “Big Hero 6”.

24. Unpleasant surprise from a worker : STING
A worker bee might give you a sting.

26. Mediterranean restaurant staple : PITA
Pita is a lovely bread in Middle-Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines. Pita is usually round, and has a “pocket” in the center. The pocket is created by steam that puffs up the dough during cooking leaving a void when the bread cools. The pockets were a big hit in the seventies when someone came up with the idea of using them for fillings hence creating pita sandwiches or “pita pockets”.

27. 1950s runner’s inits. : AES
Adlai Stevenson (AES) ran for president unsuccessfully against Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 and in 1956. Some years after his second defeat, Stevenson served under President Kennedy as Ambassador to the United Nations. Stevenson was always noted for his eloquence and he had a famous exchange in a UN Security Council meeting during the Cuban missile crisis. Stevenson bluntly demanded that the Soviet representative on the council tell the world if the USSR was installing nuclear weapons in Cuba. His words were “Don’t wait for the translation, answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’!” followed by “I am prepared to wait for my answer until Hell freezes over!”

30. The Hadean was the earth’s first one : EON
The Hadean isn’t an official geologic eon, but it is noted as the “age” just after the Earth formed, about 4.5 billion years ago. The name “Hadean” comes from the Greek word “Hades” meaning “Underworld”.

31. Four winds are featured in it : MAHJONGG
“Mahjong” (also “mahjongg” and “mah-jongg”) is the Chinese word for “sparrow”. Mahjong is a game that originated in China, and is usually played by four players. There is a myth that the game was developed by the Chinese philosopher, Confucius. The myth also suggests that Confucius was fond of birds, and hence chose the name “sparrow”.

33. Skylane maker : CESSNA
The Cessna Aircraft manufacturing company was founded in 1911 by Clyde Cessna, a farmer from Kansas. Cessna is headquartered in Wichita and today has over 8,000 employees.

37. Distance light travels in 3.26 years : PARSEC
A parsec is a measure of length or distance used in astronomy. One parsec is equal to about 19.2 trillion miles.

40. Very light player : IPOD NANO
The iPod Nano is the successor to the iPod Mini and was introduced to the market at the end of 2005. There have been seven versions of the Nano to date and the current Nano as well as playing tunes is an FM player, records voice memos, has a pedometer and can connect with external devices (like a heart monitor, maybe) using Bluetooth technology.

44. Japan’s largest active volcano : ASO
Mount Aso is the largest active volcano in Japan and is found on the island of Kyushu.

47. “Non sibi ___ patriae” (Navy motto) : SED
The motto of the US Navy is “Non sibi sed patriae”, which translates from Latin as “Not for self but for country”.

48. Cut lightly? : LASE
The term “laser” comes is an acronym, “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation” (LASER). It has been pointed out that a more precise name for laser technology is “Light Oscillation by Stimulated Emission of Radiation”, but the resulting acronym isn’t quite so appealing, namely LOSER …

51. N.Y.C.’s F.D.R. Drive, e.g. : PKWY
The full name of the parkway known as FDR Drive in New York City is the Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive. The FDR is a parkway that runs along the East River for almost ten miles through Manhattan. A large portion of the road is built on rubble that came from Bristol, England during WWII. The rubble from the bombed city was loaded as ballast on ships returning to the US after having delivered war supplies to England.

52. Brand with a Pro-Health product line : ORAL-B
The Oral-B toothbrush was introduced to the world in 1950, designed by a California periodontist. The first “model” was the Oral-B 60, a name given to reflect the 60 tufts in the brush. In 1969, the Oral-B was the first toothbrush to get to the moon as it was the toothbrush of choice for the crew of the Apollo 11 spacecraft.

54. Inflation fig. : PSI
Pounds per square inch (PSI) is a measure of pressure.

56. Retro hairstyles : MULLETS
A mullet haircut is one that is short at the front and sides, and long in the back.

58. New York natives : ONEIDAS
The Oneida people originally lived in the area that is now Central New York. The Oneida were one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, also known as the Five Nations (the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca).

60. Grant recipient : ALIENEE
An alienee is one to whom ownership of property is transferred.

62. Event near the end of a mission : REENTRY
When a spacecraft reenters the earth’s atmosphere, it compresses the air in front of it creating a tremendous amount of heat. This heated air ionizes and surrounds the vehicle. The ionized air interferes with radio signals leading to the famous spacecraft reentry communications blackout. This blackout lasted for about 3 minutes for each of the Apollo missions. Famously, the miraculous Apollo 13 spacecraft entered the atmosphere at a much shallower angle than was routine, and the resulting blackout lasted for a nail-biting 6 minutes.

63. Actress who starred in the “It’s Pat” sketches on “S.N.L.” : SWEENEY
The androgynous character known as “Pat” on “Saturday Night Live” was played by the comedienne Julia Sweeney. Pat appeared in a 1994 movie called “It’s Pat”, which is one of the worst films of all time, I am told …

Down
3. Black Friday event? : MAD DASH
In the world of retail, “Black Friday” is the day after Thanksgiving in the US. Black Friday is when many stores start the holiday shopping season, and so offer deep discounts to get ahead of the competition.

5. Highland lowland? : GLEN
The Scottish Highlands are that part of the country that is not classified as the Lowlands. The Highlands make up the north and west of Scotland.

7. Chess necessity : STRATEGY
It is believed that the game of chess originated in northwest India, evolving from a 6th-century game called “chaturanga”, a Sanskrit word meaning “four divisions”. These four (military) divisions were represented in the game:

– Infantry (now “pawns”)
– Cavalry (now “knights”)
– Elephants (now “bishops”)
– Chariots (now “rooks”)

8. Aquafina alternative : DASANI
Dasani is a Coca-Cola brand of bottled water. Dasani is filtered tap water with some trace minerals added.

Aquafina is a Pepsico brand of bottled water. Aquafina is just plain old municipal water that has been purified.

9. Dockhands’ grp. : ILA
International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA)

10. Wrapper abbr. : NT WT
Net weight (Nt. Wt.)

13. “The Switch” co-star, 2010 : ANISTON
Jennifer Aniston won a 2002 Emmy for playing Rachel on the great sitcom “Friends”. Jennifer’s parents are both actors, and her godfather is the actor Telly Savalas.

“The Switch” is a romantic comedy film released in 2010 starring Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman. The movie’s plot hinges on a “switched” sperm sample.

14. “Eugene Onegin” heroine : TATIANA
“Eugene Onegin” is a novel by the Russian author Alexander Pushkin. The novel is unusual in that it is written in verse form. “Eugene Onegin” was adapted into an opera of the same name by Pyotr Tchaikovsky.

21. Alternative to Ho Hos : RING DINGS
Ring Dings are round, chocolate-coated and creme-filled snack cakes introduced in 1958 by Drake’s Cakes.

Ho Hos snack cakes were first produced in San Francisco in 1967; not the best thing to come out of the sixties I’d say …

24. New York natives : SENECAS
The Seneca nation’s name came from their principal village of Osininka. There is no link at all with Seneca the famous Roman statesman, and the similarity in name is just a coincidence.

25. Creatures that can lick their own eyes : GECKOES
The word “gecko” comes from an Indonesian/Javanese word “tokek”, which is imitative of the reptile’s chirping sound. In making such a sound, geckos are unique in the world of lizards. More interesting to me than a gecko’s chirping is its ability to cling to walls and to other vertical surfaces. Their feet are specially adapted with “toes” that make extremely intimate, close contact to a surface. The toes have millions of hairs called setae that enable the clinging. It isn’t suction that supports them, but rather van der Waals forces (weak “gravitational” attractions). Fascinating stuff …

29. Ones who might be upset : SEEDS
A “seeded” player or team in a tournament is one given a preliminary ranking that is used in the initial draw. The intention is that the better competitors do are less likely to meet each other in the early rounds.

32. Alcott’s “Aunt ___ Scrap-Bag” : JO’S
“Aunt Jo’s Scrap-Bag” is a collection of 66 short stories by Louisa May Alcott.

The author Louisa May Alcott was raised in Massachusetts. She had quite an education and received lessons from Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Margaret Fuller, all of whom were friends of her family. Alcott’s first book was Flower Fables (1849), which he wrote for Ralph Waldo Emerson’s daughter. The Alcott family were part of the Underground Railroad that helped and housed fugitive slaves. During the Civil War, Alcott worked for a while as a nurse in the Union Hospital in Georgetown, D.C. Her most famous novels are unofficially known as the “Little Women” trilogy, namely “Little Women”, “Little Men” and “Jo’s Boys”.

34. Case, for example: Abbr. : SYN
The word “case” is a synonym (syn.) for the word “example”.

37. Hale telescope’s home : PALOMAR
The Hale Telescope in the Palomar Observatory in California is a massive reflecting telescope, the largest aperture optical telescope in the world from 1948 until 1976. The telescope is named after the astronomer George Ellery Hale who was behind the building of the Palomar Observatory. Sadly, Hale didn’t live long enough to see the observatory commissioned.

39. “Twilight” vampire ___ Hale : ROSALIE
The reference is to a character in the “Twilight” series of books by Stephenie Meyer. “The Twilight Saga” is a series of films based on the books. The “Twilight” books feature vampires, and I don’t do vampires …

43. It tells of a trip to Ithaca : ODYSSEY
Ithaca is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. Ithaca featured in Homer’s “Odyssey” as it was the home of the mythological hero Odysseus.

“The Odyssey” is one of two epic poems from ancient Greece that is attributed to Homer. “The Odyssey” is largely a sequel to Homer’s other epic, “The Iliad”. “The Odyssey” centers on the heroic figure Odysseus, and his adventures on his journey home to Greece following the fall of Troy.

46. Russell of comedy : NIPSEY
Nipsey Russell was a comedian who was best known as a panelist on game shows like “Match Game”, Password”, “Hollywood Squares”, :To Tell the Truth” and “Pyramid”. Russell also played the Tin Min in the 1978 musical film “The Wiz”.

49. First name in talk shows : ELLEN
Ellen DeGeneres is a very, very successful TV personality, having parlayed her career in stand-up comedy into lucrative gigs as an actress and talk show host. Back in 1997 DeGeneres chose the “Oprah Winfrey Show” to announce that she was a lesbian. Her character on “The Ellen Show” also came out as a lesbian in a scene with her therapist, who was played by Oprah Winfrey. Nice twist!

55. Rose with many hits : PETE
Pete Rose was a talented baseball player who holds the record for all-time Major League hits. In recent years of course his reputation has been tarnished by admissions that he bet on games in which he played and managed.

57. One more than bis, in prescriptions : TER
“Ter” is the Latin word for “three”, commonly used in the medical world on prescriptions as part of the expression “ter in die”. “Ter in die” is Latin for “three times a day”, abbreviated to “TID”. “Bis in die” (BID) would be twice a day, and “quater in die” (QID) would be four times a day.

59. Oxymoronic lead-in to “then” : NOW
The word “oxymoron” is in itself an oxymoron, as it is derived from the Greek words “Oxys” and “moros” meaning “sharp” and “stupid”.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Tributes : HOMAGES
8. Yo-yo : DINGBAT
15. Jacket attachment : EPAULET
16. Home of a Penn State campus : ALTOONA
17. Alberta city named after a quadruped : RED DEER
18. Made good on a promise : SAW TO IT
19. Finally come to : END IN
20. Eliot’s “___ Vos Prec” : ARA
22. Rwandan minority : TUTSI
23. ___ Takahata, Oscar-nominated director of 2013’s “The Tale of Princess Kaguya” : ISAO
24. Unpleasant surprise from a worker : STING
26. Mediterranean restaurant staple : PITA
27. 1950s runner’s inits. : AES
28. Twerps : WEENIES
30. The Hadean was the earth’s first one : EON
31. Four winds are featured in it : MAHJONGG
33. Skylane maker : CESSNA
35. “No prob” : OKEY DOKEY
37. Distance light travels in 3.26 years : PARSEC
40. Very light player : IPOD NANO
44. Japan’s largest active volcano : ASO
45. Many bottle washers : NANNIES
47. “Non sibi ___ patriae” (Navy motto) : SED
48. Cut lightly? : LASE
50. Protest group? : SIGNS
51. N.Y.C.’s F.D.R. Drive, e.g. : PKWY
52. Brand with a Pro-Health product line : ORAL-B
54. Inflation fig. : PSI
55. Close-call cries : PHEWS
56. Retro hairstyles : MULLETS
58. New York natives : ONEIDAS
60. Grant recipient : ALIENEE
61. Prerecorded : NOT LIVE
62. Event near the end of a mission : REENTRY
63. Actress who starred in the “It’s Pat” sketches on “S.N.L.” : SWEENEY

Down
1. Cry from a hand-waver in a crowd : HERE I AM!
2. Deep : OPEN SEA
3. Black Friday event? : MAD DASH
4. Sound : AUDIO
5. Highland lowland? : GLEN
6. Wide shoe spec : EEE
7. Chess necessity : STRATEGY
8. Aquafina alternative : DASANI
9. Dockhands’ grp. : ILA
10. Wrapper abbr. : NT WT
11. Mustered : GOT UP
12. Common knitting project : BOOTIES
13. “The Switch” co-star, 2010 : ANISTON
14. “Eugene Onegin” heroine : TATIANA
21. Alternative to Ho Hos : RING DINGS
24. New York natives : SENECAS
25. Creatures that can lick their own eyes : GECKOES
28. No longer out? : WOKEN
29. Ones who might be upset : SEEDS
32. Alcott’s “Aunt ___ Scrap-Bag” : JO’S
34. Case, for example: Abbr. : SYN
36. They’re just what you think : OPINIONS
37. Hale telescope’s home : PALOMAR
38. Mostly : AS A RULE
39. “Twilight” vampire ___ Hale : ROSALIE
41. Warmly welcomed, say : ASKED IN
42. Aggressively modern : NEW-WAVE
43. It tells of a trip to Ithaca : ODYSSEY
46. Russell of comedy : NIPSEY
49. First name in talk shows : ELLEN
51. Suffix with 4-Down : -PHILE
53. Like some ears and rules : BENT
55. Rose with many hits : PETE
57. One more than bis, in prescriptions : TER
59. Oxymoronic lead-in to “then” : NOW

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6 thoughts on “1010-15 New York Times Crossword Answers 10 Oct 15, Saturday”

  1. Hey Bill! How is this for Deja Vu all over again? 35:40, 2 errors. AWA and WING DINGS.

    Several times I was ready to give up, but just took one more wild stab at an answer, and eventually it was finished. Very good Saturday challenge.

  2. Fifty minutes. Like others, I also had AWA / WINGDINGS instead of ARA / RINGDINGS, but, in addition, I had TEENIES / TOKEN instead of WEENIES / WOKEN. So, four errors for me (or two, depending on how you look at it). In truth, I was glad to finish: I came as close to giving up as I ever do.

    Oddly, both the King crossword and the NYT crossword in today's Denver Post used the name of that Japanese volcano – ASO – which I had never heard of before.

  3. We missed Ring Dings, using Ding Dongs instead. I am a frequent consumer of Ho Hos, and had never in my life heard of Ring Dings. Ding Dongs are the hockey-puck-like version of the log-like Ho Hos. Ring Dings were a name for a hockey puck product that caused problems with the use of the name Ding Dongs. King Dons was used for a time instead. The whole situation is covered in the Ring Ding/Ding Dong Conflict section of Wikipedia's Ding Dong article. Sheesh!

    I agree with the "obtuse clues" comment. Nevertheless, we got most of it.

  4. I call foul on the clue for 34-Down: "Case, for example." If Bill's explanation is good, and his explanations usually are, the comma is misleading. "Case for example" would be your fair clue, no? — Lela

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