1011-15 New York Times Crossword Answers 11 Oct 15, Sunday

QuickLinks:
Solution to today’s crossword in the New York Times
Solution to today’s SYNDICATED New York Times crossword in all other publications
Solution to today’s New York Times crossword found online at the Seattle Times website
Jump to a complete list of today’s clues and answers

Share today’s solution with a friend:
FacebookTwitterGoogleEmail

CROSSWORD SETTER: David J. Kahn
THEME: For Variety’s Sake … most of today’s themed answers contain letters circled within, and these letters spell out the family names of “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) alumni. The rest of the themed answers refer to that “variety” show:

56A. TV show since 10/11/75, eight of whose former stars appear in the circled squares in this puzzle : SNL

23A. Tents and the like (2001-08) : PORTABLE SHELTERS (hiding “POEHLER”)
37A. 1964 Charlie Chaplin book (1980-84) : MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY (hiding “MURPHY”)
58A. Show-off (1975-80) : GRANDSTANDER (hiding “RADNER”)
68A. Muff, e.g. (2005-13) : HANDWARMER (hiding “HADER”)
71A. Dessert often topped with cream cheese (1990-93) : CARROT CAKE (hiding “ROCK”)
81A. Berlin standard (1990-96) : EASTER PARADE (hiding “SPADE”)
4D. One way to get home (2000-06) : SAFELY (hiding “FEY”)
108D. Dining partner? (2005-12) : WINING (hiding “WIIG”)

102A. With 120-Across, intro heard every week on 56-Across : LIVE, FROM NEW YORK …
120A. See 102-Across : … IT’S SATURDAY NIGHT!

3D. 15-time guest host of 56-Across : STEVE MARTIN
73D. 16-time guest host of 56-Across : ALEC BALDWIN

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 29m 10s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

10. With 101-Across, screen icon : TRASH …
(101. See 10-Across : … BIN)
There is a “Trash Bin” icon on the desktop of many Apple devices, for the temporary storage of deleted files and folders.

15. Co. that invented the floppy disk : IBM
I don’t think my kids really know what a floppy disk is. A floppy disk is made up of a thin and flexible magnetic material that can store data, enclosed in a protective case. I’ve used 8-inch floppies in my time, and many 5.25-inch floppy disks. Until fairly recently, I had a desktop that would take 3.5-inch disks, although I think the last 3.5-inch floppy disappeared from the house several years ago …

18. Utah attraction for skiers : 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.

19. Certain graduate : ALUMNA
An “alumnus” (plural … alumni) is a graduate or former student of a school or college. The female form is “alumna” (plural … alumnae). The term comes into English from Latin, in which alumnus means foster-son or pupil. “Alum” is an informal term used for either an alumna or an alumnus.

20. Headquarters of Royal Dutch Shell, with “The” : HAGUE
Den Haag is the Dutch name for the city in the Netherlands that we know in English as The Hague. Even though The Hague is the seat of the Dutch parliament and is where Queen Beatrix resides, it is not the country’s capital city. That honor goes to Amsterdam.

Royal Dutch Shell is the fourth largest company in the world in terms of revenue (Walmart is the largest) and is headquartered in the Hague, in the Netherlands. The company was formed in 1907 with the merger of the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company and Shell Transport and Trading company of the UK. The two companies merged in order to compete globally with the biggest US oil company of the day, John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil. Shell Oil Company is a US-based subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell that is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

21. Shellac finish? : CEE
The word “shellac” finishes with the letter C (cee).

22. Gladly, old-style : LIEF
Lief means willingly, gladly. A lovely old word …

23. Tents and the like (2001-08) : PORTABLE SHELTERS (hiding “POEHLER”)
Amy Poehler was a cast member on “Saturday Night Live” from 2001 to 2008, notable for appearing in many great sketches, including those where she played Hillary Clinton opposite Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin. Poehler also starred with Fey in the 2008 movie “Baby Mama”. And, Poehler led the cast of the sitcom “Parks and Recreation” for its seven-season run.

31. One of two official Philippine languages, along with English : TAGALOG
Tagalog, officially known as “Filipino”, is one of the two official languages of the Philippines, the other being English. The name “Tagalog” translates as “river dweller”.

36. “Case of the Ex” singer, 2000 : MYA
Mya is an R&B singer-songwriter. I don’t know her music, but I did see her get to the runner-up spot on the ninth series of “Dancing with the Stars”. On the show, Mya was beaten out of first place by Donny Osmond (don’t ask!).

37. 1964 Charlie Chaplin book (1980-84) : MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY (hiding “MURPHY”)
Several famous people have given their autobiographies the inventive title “My Autobiography”. Most notably (to me) are: Charlie Chaplin, Benito Mussolini, Kevin Keegan (English soccer player), and Sir Alex Ferguson (former manager of Manchester United).

41. Actress Green of “Casino Royale” : EVA
Despite the English-sounding name, Eva Green is a French actress. Green played Bond girl Vesper Lynd in the 2006 movie “Casino Royale”, opposite Daniel Craig.

45. All-inclusive, in edspeak : ELHI
“Elhi” is an informal word used to describe anything related to schooling from grades 1 through 12, i.e. elementary through high school.

47. Northeastern university where Carl Sagan taught : CORNELL
Ezra Cornell was an associate of Samuel Morse and made his money in the telegraph business. After Ezra retired he co-founded Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He provided a generous endowment and donated his farm as a site for the school, and was then rewarded by having the institute named after him.

Carl Sagan was a brilliant astrophysicist and a great communicator. Sagan was famous for presenting obscure concepts about the cosmos in such a way that we mere mortals could appreciate. He also wrote the novel “Contact” which was adapted into a fascinating 1997 film of the same name starring Jodie Foster.

49. Egypt’s Port ___ : SAID
Port Said is the Egyptian port city on the Mediterranean coast that is the northern terminus of the Suez Canal. Port Said was established during the construction of the canal, in 1859. The name was chosen in honor of Sa’id of Egypt who was ruling the country at that time.

52. Soft wear, informally : MOC
“Moc” is short for “moccasin”, the type of shoe.

55. Der ___ (Adenauer) : ALTE
Konrad Adenauer was the first Chancellor of West Germany after WWII, taking office in 1949 at the age of 73. Adenauer was 87 years old when he left office. Understandably perhaps, his nickname was “Der Alte”, German for “the old man”. Adenauer spent much of WWII in prison, courtesy of Herr Hitler.

56. TV show since 10/11/75, eight of whose former stars appear in the circled squares in this puzzle : SNL
NBC first aired a form of “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) in 1975 under the title “NBC’s Saturday Night”. The show was actually created to give Johnny Carson some time off from “The Tonight Show”. Back then “The Tonight Show” had a weekend episode, and Carson convinced NBC to pull the Saturday or Sunday recordings off the air and hold them for subsequent weeknights in which Carson needed a break. NBC turned to Lorne Michaels and asked him to put together a variety show to fill the vacant slot, and he came up with what we now call “Saturday Night Live”.

58. Show-off (1975-80) : GRANDSTANDER (hiding “RADNER”)
Gilda Radner was a comedian and actress, one of the original cast members of the hit television show “Saturday Night Live”. Radner left her first husband to marry comedic actor Gene Wilder, whom she met while they were both filming the Sidney Poitier movie “Hanky Panky”.

67. Nashville inst. : TSU
Tennessee State University (TSU) was established in 1912 in Nashville. It was founded as the Agricultural and Industrial State Normal School, and was originally intended as a school for African Americans. There was a court-ordered merger in 1979 with the traditionally white University of Tennessee at Nashville.

68. Muff, e.g. (2005-13) : HANDWARMER (hiding “HADER”)
Bill Hader is an actor and comedian best known as a member of the cast of “Saturday Night Live”. Hader was introduced to Lorne Michaels (producer of “Saturday Night Live”) by Megan Mullally, co-star of the sitcom “Will & Grace”.

71. Dessert often topped with cream cheese (1990-93) : CARROT CAKE (hiding “ROCK”)
Chris Rock is a great stand-up comedian. Interestingly, Rock cites his paternal grandfather as an influence on his performing style. Grandfather Allen Rock was a preacher.

77. TV star who loved oats : MR ED
The sitcom “Mister Ed” first aired in 1961 and ran for almost five years. It was a very successful show (and even made it to Ireland!). Mister Ed, the talking horse, was a palomino that had the real name of Bamboo Harvester. Mister Ed’s “voice” was that of actor Allan “Rocky” Lane, a star of a lot of B-movie westerns from the forties and fifties. In the show, Mister Ed would only talk to the lead (human) character Wilbur, played by Alan Young, leading to some hilarious situations. Mister Ed had a stunt double and stand-in for the show, another horse called Pumpkin. Pumpkin later made frequent appearances on the show “Green Acres”.

81. Berlin standard (1990-96) : EASTER PARADE (hiding “SPADE”)
“Easter Parade” is an Irving Berlin song that was first published in 1993. The 1948 musical film of the same name was constructed around the song, and starred Judy Garland and Fred Astaire.

Irving Berlin’s real name was Israel Baline, a Russian immigrant who came to New York with his family in 1893. In the words of composer Jerome Kern, “Irving Berlin has no place in American Music – he is American music”. That would seem to ring true looking at a selection of his hits: “Alexander’s Ragtime Band”, “White Christmas”, “There’s No Business Like Show Business” and of course, “God Bless America”. Berlin was married twice. His first marriage was in 1912, to Dorothy Goetz. Sadly, Dorothy died just a few months later from typhoid fever that she contracted on their honeymoon in Havana. His second marriage was to a young heiress, Ellin Mackay. That marriage lasted a lot longer, until 1988 when Ellin passed away at the age of 85. Irving himself passed away in 1989, at the ripe old age of 101 years.

David Spade is a comedian and comic actor from Birmingham, Michigan. Spade’s big break came with his stint on “Saturday Night Live” in the 1990s. More recently he has played starring roles in sitcoms like “Just Shoot Me!”, “8 Simple Rules” and “Rules of Engagement”.

89. Pharaoh ___ : ANT
The now-ubiquitous pharaoh ant is a tropical species that thrives indoors all over the world. They are especially troublesome in hospitals where they can even access wounds due to their tiny size.

90. Padre’s hermano : TIO
In Spanish, an uncle (tio) is the brother of the father or the mother (hermano del padre o de la madre).

95. Trucker’s circuit: Abbr. : RTE
Route (rte.)

96. Redhead on kids’ TV : ELMO
The man behind/under the character Elmo on “Sesame Street” is Kevin Clash. If you want to learn more about Elmo and Clash, you can watch the 2011 documentary “Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey”.

99. How “You Make Me Feel” in a Van Morrison song : SO FREE
Van Morrison is a singer-songwriter from Belfast in Northern Ireland. Back in Ireland we refer to him as “Van the Man”. Some of his more famous songs are “Brown Eyed Girl”, “Moondance”, “Gloria” and “Have I Told You Lately”.

107. First American carrier to show movies on flights : TWA
Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a big carrier in the US, but was perhaps even more recognized for its extensive presence in Europe and the Middle East. For many years, especially after the collapse of Pan-Am, TWA was considered the unofficial flag carrier for the US. The company started in 1930, the product of a forced merger of Transcontinental Air Transport and Western Air Express. The Transcontinental and Western Air that resulted (the original meaning of the acronym TWA) was what the Postmaster General wanted, a bigger airline to which the Postal Service could award airmail contracts.

110. CH4 : METHANE
The “smaller” alkanes are gases and are quite combustible. Methane (CH4) is the main component of natural gas with ethane (C2H6) being the second largest component. Propane (C3H8) is also found in natural gas and is heavy enough to be readily turned into a liquid by compression, for ease of transportation and storage. Butane (C4H10) is also easily liquefied under pressure and can be used as the fuel in cigarette lighters or as the propellant in aerosol sprays. The heavier alkanes are liquids and solids at room temperature.

111. Kitchen pad : BRILLO
Brillo Pad is a soapy, steel wool pad, patented in 1913. The company claims that the name “Brillo” is derived from the Latin word for “bright”. The problem with the assertion is that no such word exists in Latin, although the prefix brill- is used for words meaning “bright” in Italian, French and Spanish.

118. Ranger rival : ISLANDER
The New York Islanders are an NHL team, one of three such franchises in the New York City area (along with the New Jersey Devils and the New York Rangers). When the team was founded in 1972 it was designated as a “Long Island franchise”, and it was expected to take the name the Long Island Ducks, but New York “Islanders” it was to be.

126. Taekwondo is its national sport : KOREA
Taekwondo is the national sport of Korea. “Tae” means “to strike or break with foot”; “kwon” means “to strike or break with fist”; “do” means “way” or “art”. Along with judo, taekwondo is one of only two martial arts included in the Olympic Games.

128. El ___ : NINO
When the surface temperature of much of the Pacific Ocean rises 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. The phenomenon was given this particular Spanish name because the warming is usually noticed near South America and around Christmas-time.

129. Frequent target of ID thieves : SSN
Social Security Number (SSN)

130. Destructive 2012 hurricane : SANDY
2012’s Hurricane Sandy was the second-costliest hurricane in US history, with the extent of the damage only exceeded by 2005’s Hurricane Katrina. Sandy claimed 233 live along its path, including 71 in the US, across nine states. Because the storm’s devastation was so great, the World Meteorological Organization retired the name “Sandy” and will not be using again for a North Atlantic hurricane.

Down
3. 15-time guest host of 56-Across : STEVE MARTIN
Comedian, actor and writer Steve Martin is from Waco, Texas. Martin’s entertainment career started to take off with success as a writer for the “Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour”. He then turned to stand-up comedy and often appeared on “The Tonight Show”. He was, and still is, a popular guest host on “Saturday Night Live”. He is so popular on “SNL” that many mistakenly believe that he was a permanent member of the “Saturday NIght Live” cast.

4. One way to get home (2000-06) : SAFELY (hiding “FEY”)
Comic actress Tina Fey has a scar on her face a few inches long on her left cheek, which I was shocked to learn was caused by a childhood “slashing” incident. When she was just five years old and playing in the front yard of her house, someone just came up to her and slashed her with a knife. How despicable!

6. 1974 Best Actress for “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” : BURSTYN
Ellen Burstyn is a wonderful actress from Detroit, Michigan. My favorite Burstyn performance is in the 1978 movie “Same Time, Next Year” opposite Alan Alda. Actually, she had appeared since 1975 in the original stage play that inspired that film. On stage, Burstyn acted opposite Charles Grodin in “Same Time, Next Year”, and won a Tony for her performance.

“Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” is a 1974 film directed by Martin Scorsese about a widow and her son travelling across the American Southwest in search of a better life. Ellen Burstyn plays the mother, and the supporting cast includes a very young Jodie Foster in one of her first big screen roles.

7. 911 respondent, for short : EMT
Emergency medical technician (EMT)

The first use of an emergency phone number nationally was in the UK in 1937, where the number 999 was introduced to call emergency services. If you need emergency services in the UK or Ireland to this day, you have to dial 999. It’s not really clear why 911 became the emergency number in the US. The most credible suggestion (to me) is that when it was introduced by the FCC in 1967, it was a number that “fit” with the numbers already used by AT&T for free services (211-long distance; 411-information; 611-repair service).

8. “Wheel of Fortune” buy : AN A
Contestants have been spinning the “Wheel of Fortune” since the game show first aired in 1975.

10. 1953 biblical movie : THE ROBE
The 1953 Biblical epic “The Robe” is based on a 1942 historical novel of the same name by Lloyd C. Douglas. The book and film revolve around the fate of the Roman soldier called Marcellus who wins Jesus’ robe in a game of dice at the time of the crucifixion. Stars of the movie are Richard Burton, Jean Simmons and Victor Mature. “The Robe” is also notable as the first movie to be released in the widescreen format CinemaScope.

11. Dorm heads, briefly : RAS
RAs are resident assistants or resident advisers, the peer leaders found in residence halls, particularly on a college campus.

12. Ottoman Empire title : AGHA
“Aga” (also “agha”) is a title that was used by both civil and military officials in the Ottoman Empire.

13. Bird feeder fill : SUET
Fat, when extracted from the carcass of an animal, is called “suet”. Untreated suet decomposes at room temperature quite easily so it has to be “rendered” or purified to make it stable. Rendered fat from pigs is what we call “lard”. Rendered beef or mutton fat is known as “tallow”.

15. Like the North Pole : ICE-CAPPED
The polar ice cap at the north of our planet is floating pack ice in the Arctic Ocean. The southern polar ice cap is an ice sheet that covers the land mass known as Antarctica. About 70% of all the freshwater on Earth is held in the southern polar ice cap.

16. English county that’s home to Reading : BERKSHIRE
There are a few locations with the name Reading, but my guess is that the most famous is the Reading that is the county town of Berkshire in England. Reading is a major railroad junction, and the site of a renowned monastery and a prison. Reading Prison was where American actor Stacy Keach spent 6 months in 1984, convicted of smuggling cocaine into the UK.

17. Snafu : MESS
SNAFU is an acronym standing for Situation Normal: All Fouled Up (well, that’s the “polite” version!). As you might imagine, the term developed in the US Army, during WWII.

24. Title girl in a 2002 Disney movie : LILO
“Lilo & Stitch” was released by Disney in 2002. Compared to other Disney feature-length cartoons, “Lilo & Stitch” was relatively cheaply produced, using the voices of lesser-known actors. One interesting change had to take place in the storyline during production, when Lilo was meant to fly a Jumbo Jet through downtown Honolulu in one sequence. This was replaced with a sequence using a spaceship instead, as the producers were sensitive to public sentiment after the September 11 attacks.

25. “Cheerio” : TATA
An Englishman might say “tata” or “cheerio” instead of “goodbye”. Well, supposedly so!

33. Soviet labor camp : GULAG
The Gulag was a government agency in the Soviet Union that administered forced labor camps. The term “gulag” was used for the camps themselves, especially when used for political dissidents. “GULag” is actually an acronym standing for the Russian “Chief Administration of Corrective Labor Camps and Colonies”.

34. Baseball’s Hodges : GIL
Gil Hodges was a professional baseball player and manager. Perhaps Hodges’ most celebrated achievement was managing the New York Mets team (the “Miracle Mets”) that won the 1969 World Series. Hodges died from a heart attack just a few years later in 1972, when he was only 48 years old.

37. John ___, greaser in “American Graffiti” : MILNER
The actor Paul Le Mat is most noted for an early role in his career, playing John Milner in “American Graffiti”. Milner is the character who spends most of the film dealing with an annoying young teenybopper called Carol.

38. ___ law : OHM’S
The unit of electrical resistance is the ohm (with the symbol omega) named after German physicist Georg Simon Ohm. Ohm was the guy who established experimentally that the amount of current flowing through a circuit is directly proportional to the voltage applied, (V=IR) a relationship that every school kid knows as Ohm’s Law.

39. Designer of the Florence Cathedral bell tower : GIOTTO
Giotto di Bondone was an artist and painter from Florence usually known simply as “Giotto” who was active in the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance. Giotti’s most famous work is a fresco cycle depicting the life of the Virgin Mary and Christ that was completed in 1305 and that can still be seen in its original location in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua.

42. Alessandro ___, scientist who discovered 110-Across : VOLTA
Alessandro Volta was the physicist who invented the first battery, way back in 1800. One of Volta’s first applications of his new invention was to use a battery (and a very long run of wire between the Italian cities of Como and Milan) to shoot off a pistol from 30 miles away!

44. Abbr. of politeness : PLS
Please (pls.)

50. Radio host Glass : IRA
Ira Glass is a well-respected presenter on American Public Radio, most noted for his show “This American Life”. I was interested to learn that one of my favorite composers, Philip Glass, is Ira’s first cousin.

51. Jeanne ___ : D’ARC
Joan of Arc (also “Jeanne d’Arc”, her birth name) led the French Army successfully into battle a number of times during the Hundred Years War with England. When she was eventually captured, Joan was tried in Rouen, the seat of the occupying English government in France at that time. There she was burned at the stake having been found guilty of heresy. Joan of Arc was canonized some 600 years later, in 1920, and is now one of the patron saints of France.

53. Class : CASTE
Many creatures organize themselves into a social structure, a phenomenon known as “eusociality”. Examples of such creatures would be ants, bees and wasps, where there are queens, workers and soldiers. The groups within such a hierarchical structure are known as castes. The word “caste” was borrowed from the class divisions in Indian society (although the word “caste” and hierarchical concept was actually introduced by the Portuguese).

57. Subsidiary proposition : LEMMA
A “lemma” is a helping theorem, a subsidiary proposition that helps prove some other proposition.

65. N.B.A. head coach Steve : KERR
Steve Kerr is a retired NBA basketball player who moved into team management. Kerr was born in Beirut, Lebanon, the son of an American academic who specialized in Middle East studies. Kerr’s father was assassinated by militant nationalists in Beirut when Steve was 19 years old.

73. 16-time guest host of 56-Across : ALEC BALDWIN
Alec is the oldest of the acting Baldwin brothers. I think Alec’s big break was playing Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan in “The Hunt for Red October”, but thank goodness that role was taken over by Harrison Ford for the subsequent Jack Ryan movies. Baldwin made a name for himself in recent times playing Jack Donaghy on “30 Rock”, opposite Tina Fey. He has also hosted the sketch show “Saturday Night Live” on more occasions than anyone else (16 times).

74. ___ O’Hara, 2015 Tony winner for “The King and I” : KELLI
Actress and singer Kelli O’Hara was nominated six times for a Tony Award before winning the award for the Best Lead Actress in a Musical for the 2015 revival of “The King and I”.

75. German coal city, once : ESSEN
Essen is a large industrial city located on the River Ruhr in western Germany.

78. Bygone presidential inits. : DDE
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.

83. Democratic presidential nominee before Kennedy : STEVENSON
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!”

84. Shirt style : POLO
René Lacoste was a French tennis player who went into the clothing business, and came up with a more comfortable shirt that players could use. This became known as a “tennis shirt”. When it was adopted for use in the sport of polo, the shirts also became known as “polo shirts”. And then the “golf shirt” is basically the same thing.

92. 11 follower : NOON
Our word “noon”, meaning “midday”, comes from the Latin “nona hora” that translates as “ninth hour”. Back in Ancient Rome, the “ninth hour” was three in the afternoon. Over the centuries, traditions such as church prayers and “midday” meals shifted from 3 p.m. to 12 p.m., and so “noon” became understood as 12 noon.

94. Colorful fish : TETRA
The neon tetra is a freshwater fish, native to parts of South America. The tetra is a very popular aquarium fish and millions are imported into the US every year. Almost all of the imported tetras are farm-raised in Asia and very few come from their native continent.

105. Italian mount : ETNA
Mt. Etna is the largest of three active volcanoes in Italy. Mt Etna is about 2 1/2 times the height of its equally famous sister, Mt. Vesuvius. The third of Italy’s famous volcanoes is Stromboli.

108. Dining partner? (2005-12) : WINING (hiding “WIIG”)
Kristen Wiig is a comic actress who appears on “Saturday Night Live”. She also made an appearance on the first season of Spike TV’s quirky “The Joe Schmo Show”, playing “Dr. Pat”. More recently she co-wrote and starred in the 2011 hit film “Bridesmaids”.

111. Counter orders : BLTS
The BLT (bacon, lettuce and tomato) is the second most popular sandwich in the US, after the plain old ham sandwich.

112. Lewis who sang the theme for “Avatar” : LEONA
Leona Lewis rocketed to fame after winning the British TV show called “The X Factor” (the show that spawned the UK’s “Pop Idol” and America’s “American Idol”).

In the James Cameron epic “Avatar”, the “blue people” are the Na’vi, the indigenous species that lives on the lush moon called Pandora. The main Na’vi character featuring in the film is the female Neytiri. According to Cameron, Neytiri was inspired by the Raquel Welch character in the movie “Fantastic Voyage” and the comic book character Vampirella.

114. Weeds : CIGS
“Weed” and “cig” are informal terms meaning “cigarette”.

115. Old colonnade : STOA
A stoa was a covered walkway in Ancient Greece. A stoa usually consisted of columns lining the side of a building or buildings, with another row of columns defining the other side of the walkway. The columns supported a roof. Often stoae would surround marketplaces in large cities.

119. Does, e.g. : SHES
A male deer is usually called a “buck”, and a female a “doe”.

121. Like the border of Time magazine : RED
“Time” magazine has a readership of about 25 million, making it the largest circulation weekly news magazine in the world.

123. Post-O.R. site : ICU
After being wheeled out of the Operating Room (OR) a patient might spend some time in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Share today’s solution with a friend:
FacebookTwitterGoogleEmail

Return to top of page

For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Get by : PASS
5. Draw ___ on : A BEAD
10. With 101-Across, screen icon : TRASH …
15. Co. that invented the floppy disk : IBM
18. Utah attraction for skiers : ALTA
19. Certain graduate : ALUMNA
20. Headquarters of Royal Dutch Shell, with “The” : HAGUE
21. Shellac finish? : CEE
22. Gladly, old-style : LIEF
23. Tents and the like (2001-08) : PORTABLE SHELTERS (hiding “POEHLER”)
26. Wraps : ENVELOPS
28. See 109-Across : … SIR
29. Goes after : ATTACKS
30. Brought (in) : REELED
31. One of two official Philippine languages, along with English : TAGALOG
35. Flight figures, for short : ETAS
36. “Case of the Ex” singer, 2000 : MYA
37. 1964 Charlie Chaplin book (1980-84) : MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY (hiding “MURPHY”)
41. Actress Green of “Casino Royale” : EVA
43. ___ column : SPINAL
45. All-inclusive, in edspeak : ELHI
46. Epitome of easiness : PIE
47. Northeastern university where Carl Sagan taught : CORNELL
49. Egypt’s Port ___ : SAID
52. Soft wear, informally : MOC
54. Long stretch : ERA
55. Der ___ (Adenauer) : ALTE
56. TV show since 10/11/75, eight of whose former stars appear in the circled squares in this puzzle : SNL
58. Show-off (1975-80) : GRANDSTANDER (hiding “RADNER”)
62. Stockholders? : STIES
64. “Yikes!” : EEK!
66. Quarter : AREA
67. Nashville inst. : TSU
68. Muff, e.g. (2005-13) : HANDWARMER (hiding “HADER”)
71. Dessert often topped with cream cheese (1990-93) : CARROT CAKE (hiding “ROCK”)
76. In the, in Italy : NEI
77. TV star who loved oats : MR ED
79. Shirt style : TEE
80. Those girls, in French : ELLES
81. Berlin standard (1990-96) : EASTER PARADE (hiding “SPADE”)
86. Spring business? : SPA
88. Ambush predators of the sea : EELS
89. Pharaoh ___ : ANT
90. Padre’s hermano : TIO
91. Slim and trim : LEAN
93. Thing : ARTICLE
95. Trucker’s circuit: Abbr. : RTE
96. Redhead on kids’ TV : ELMO
99. How “You Make Me Feel” in a Van Morrison song : SO FREE
101. See 10-Across : … BIN
102. With 120-Across, intro heard every week on 56-Across : LIVE, FROM NEW YORK …
107. First American carrier to show movies on flights : TWA
109. With 28-Across, letter opener : DEAR
110. CH4 : METHANE
111. Kitchen pad : BRILLO
114. Dispute : CONTEST
117. “___ thoughts?” : ANY
118. Ranger rival : ISLANDER
120. See 102-Across : …IT’S SATURDAY NIGHT!
124. Champ’s cry : I WON!
125. Prefix with -centric : GEO-
126. Taekwondo is its national sport : KOREA
127. Makes a good impression? : ETCHES
128. El ___ : NINO
129. Frequent target of ID thieves : SSN
130. Destructive 2012 hurricane : SANDY
131. Latches, say : SHUTS
132. Zapper target : GNAT

Down
1. Not so bright : PALER
2. Coat cut : A-LINE
3. 15-time guest host of 56-Across : STEVE MARTIN
4. One way to get home (2000-06) : SAFELY (hiding “FEY”)
5. Cockeyed : ALOP
6. 1974 Best Actress for “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” : BURSTYN
7. 911 respondent, for short : EMT
8. “Wheel of Fortune” buy : AN A
9. Gently sponges : DABS AT
10. 1953 biblical movie : THE ROBE
11. Dorm heads, briefly : RAS
12. Ottoman Empire title : AGHA
13. Bird feeder fill : SUET
14. ___-skelter : HELTER
15. Like the North Pole : ICE-CAPPED
16. English county that’s home to Reading : BERKSHIRE
17. Snafu : MESS
19. Animal without feet : APOD
24. Title girl in a 2002 Disney movie : LILO
25. “Cheerio” : TATA
27. Focus of urban renewal? : LEASE
32. Some digital camera batteries : AAAS
33. Soviet labor camp : GULAG
34. Baseball’s Hodges : GIL
37. John ___, greaser in “American Graffiti” : MILNER
38. ___ law : OHM’S
39. Designer of the Florence Cathedral bell tower : GIOTTO
40. Class : YEAR
41. Digital money : E-CASH
42. Alessandro ___, scientist who discovered 110-Across : VOLTA
44. Abbr. of politeness : PLS
48. “You ___ worry” : NEEDN’T
50. Radio host Glass : IRA
51. Jeanne ___ : D’ARC
53. Class : CASTE
57. Subsidiary proposition : LEMMA
59. Cool : NEAT
60. Does a high-wire act, e.g. : DARES
61. Centers : NUCLEI
63. Cool : SWEET
65. N.B.A. head coach Steve : KERR
69. More open to the outdoors : AIRIER
70. “Get ___!” : REAL
72. Find another spot, maybe : REPARK
73. 16-time guest host of 56-Across : ALEC BALDWIN
74. ___ O’Hara, 2015 Tony winner for “The King and I” : KELLI
75. German coal city, once : ESSEN
78. Bygone presidential inits. : DDE
81. Peer group member? : EARL
82. Countermeasures : ANTIDOTES
83. Democratic presidential nominee before Kennedy : STEVENSON
84. Shirt style : POLO
85. Piece of cake in school : EASY A
87. “___ we alone?” : ARE
92. 11 follower : NOON
94. Colorful fish : TETRA
97. “Makes me want seconds!” : MMM!
98. Vitamin regimen : ONE-A-DAY
100. Ship’s load : FREIGHT
103. Chomps on : EATS
104. Loses it, with “out” : FREAKS
105. Italian mount : ETNA
106. “Actually, I do” : WHY YES
108. Dining partner? (2005-12) : WINING (hiding “WIIG”)
111. Counter orders : BLTS
112. Lewis who sang the theme for “Avatar” : LEONA
113. “… then again, maybe I’m mistaken” : … OR NOT
114. Weeds : CIGS
115. Old colonnade : STOA
116. Go bad : TURN
119. Does, e.g. : SHES
121. Like the border of Time magazine : RED
122. Ultimate : NTH
123. Post-O.R. site : ICU

Return to top of page