1101-15 New York Times Crossword Answers 1 Nov 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: Zhouqin Burnikel
THEME: Frame Job … today’s grid contains circled letters. These letters “FRAME” the themed answers, i.e. are at either end of those answers. And the circled letters in each answer spell out a type of JOB:

23A. No-hunting zone ANIMAL SANCTUARY (giving “ACTUARY”)
32A. Longtime California senator BARBARA BOXER (giving “BARBER”)
55A. Info on a parking ticket PLATE NUMBER (giving “PLUMBER”)
58A. Something that doesn’t follow the letter of the law? MAIL FRAUD (giving “MAID”)
77A. It contains a lot of balloons COMIC BOOK (giving “COOK”)
80A. Rap sheet entry PRIOR ARREST (giving “PRIEST”)
97A. Weightlifting technique CLEAN AND JERK (giving “CLERK”)
115A. Brazilian tourist destination COPACABANA BEACH (giving “COACH”)

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 23m 03s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

15. 2014 Emmy-winning miniseries based on a 1996 film FARGO
“Fargo” is one of my favorite films of all time, and stars perhaps my favorite actress, Frances McDormand. “Fargo” was directed by the Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan. Frances McDormand is Joel’s wife.

21. Amu Darya outlet, once ARAL SEA
The Aral Sea is a great example of how man can have a devastating effect on his environment. In the early sixties the Aral Sea covered 68,000 square miles of Central Asia. Soviet Union irrigation projects drained the lake to such an extent that today the total area is less than 7,000 square miles, with 90% of the lake now completely dry. Sad …

The Amu Darya is a major river in Central Asia that empties into the Aral Sea. It is also called the Oxus or Amu River.

23. No-hunting zone ANIMAL SANCTUARY (giving “ACTUARY”)
In the world of insurance, an actuary is a person who works out the appropriate premium based on risk.

26. Certifications in some college apps GEDS
The General Educational Development (GED) tests are a battery of five tests designed to demonstrate that a student has the academic skills of someone who has graduated from an American or Canadian high school.

28. Part of the neck? FRET
A fret is a metal strip embedded in the neck of a stringed instrument, like a guitar perhaps. The fingers press on the frets, shortening a string and hence changing the note played. The note increases by one semitone as a finger shortens a string by one fret.

32. Longtime California senator BARBARA BOXER (giving “BARBER”)
Barbara Boxer has been a US Senator representing California since 1993. When elected in 1992, she broke the record for the most popular votes in a US Senate election, receiving almost 7 million votes.

36. Computer data acronym ASCII
ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) lists codes for 32 “control” characters, as well as the 95 printable characters. These binary codes are the way that our computers can understand what we mean when we type say a letter, or a number. Unicode is a more contemporary standard, and is like “Ascii on steroids”, encompassing more characters.

40. Part of the biosphere FAUNA
The fauna is the animal life of a particular region, and the flora is that region’s plant life. The term “fauna” comes from the Roman goddess of earth and fertility who was called Fauna. Flora was the Roman goddess of plants, flowers and fertility.

43. Mt. Olive offerings DILLS
The Mt. Olive Pickle Company’s main product is pickled cucumbers. The company is based in Mount Olive, North Carolina and was founded in 1926.

49. “Helm’s ___!” (nautical cry) ALEE
“Alee” is the direction away from the wind. If a sailor points into the wind, he or she is pointing “aweather”.

50. Marsh birds SORAS
A sora is a waterbird, sometimes called the sora rail or sora crake. Soras can be found in breeding season in marshes across most of North America.

51. World Series of Poker’s Vegas home THE RIO
The Rio casino in Las Vegas was opened in 1990, originally targeting the local population as it is located off the famous Strip where most of the tourists hang out. Famously, the Rio opened up the adults-only Sapphire Pool in 2008, a pay-to-enter (only men paid) topless pool club that featured music and dancers. A year later the Sapphire Pool was closed down after there were eleven arrests for drugs and prostitution offences during an undercover police operation.

53. Order from a sports doc MRI
MRI scans can be daunting for many people as they usually involve the patient lying inside a tube with the imaging magnet surrounding the body. Additionally, the scan can take up to 40 minutes in some cases. There are some open MRI scanners available that help prevent a feeling of claustrophobia. However, the image produced by open scanners are of lower quality as they operate at lower magnetic fields.

55. Info on a parking ticket PLATE NUMBER (giving “PLUMBER”)
“Plumbum” is the Latin for lead, explaining why the symbol of the element in the Periodic Table is “Pb”. It also explains why the original lead weight on the end of a line used to check vertical was called a “plumb line”. And, as pipes were originally made of lead, we call in a “plumber” if one of them is leaking.

60. Mars : Roman :: ___ : Norse TYR
Týr is the Norse god of single combat, victory and heroic glory. According to legend, Týr showed great courage when he and his fellow gods were attempting to shackle the wolf monster called Fenrir. The wolf was tricked into accepting bindings that were actually magical ribbons of great strength. Fenrir submitted to the bonds because Týr agreed to place his hand in the wolf’s mouth, as a gesture of assurance that the ribbon was harmless. When Fenrir recognized the deceit, he bit off Týr’s hand. As a result, the god Týr is almost always depicted with only one hand.

64. L. Frank Baum princess OZMA
L. Frank Baum wrote a whole series of books about the Land of Oz, and Princess Ozma appears in all of them except the one that’s most famous, namely “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”.

67. Bar mitzvahs, e.g. RITES
A Jewish girl becomes a Bat Mitzvah at 12 years of age, the age at which she becomes responsible for her actions. Boys become Bar Mitzvahs at 13. The terms translate into English as daughter and son of the commandments.

68. City from which Vasco da Gama sailed, to locals LISBOA
Lisbon (“Lisboa” in Portuguese) is the capital of Portugal. Lisbon is the westernmost capital city in Europe, and indeed is the westernmost large city on the continent. It is also the oldest city in Western Europe and was founded hundreds of years before London, Paris and Rome.

72. It might be full of baloney HOAGIE
Hoagy is another name for a submarine sandwich. The term “hoagy” (or hoagie) originated in Philadelphia, apparently introduced by Italians working in the shipyards during WWI. The shipyards were located on Hog Island, and the sandwich was first called the Hog Island, which morphed into the hoagy.

The deli meat known as “baloney” is an American invention. It was given the name “baloney” because it resembles Italian mortadella sausage, which originated in the city of Bologna in northern Italy.

80. Rap sheet entry PRIOR ARREST (giving “PRIEST”)
A rap sheet is a criminal record. “Rap” is a slang term dating back to the 1700s that means “blame, responsibility” as in “to take the rap” and “to beat the rap”. This usage morphed into “rap sheet” in the early 1900s.

84. Sun Devils’ sch. ASU
Arizona State University (ASU) has a long history, founded as the Tempe Normal School for the Arizona Territory in 1885. The athletic teams of ASU used to be known as the Normals, then the Bulldogs, and since 1946 they’ve been called the Sun Devils.

87. Indie rock band Yo La ___ TENGO
Yo La Tengo is an indie rock band from Hoboken, New Jersey that formed in 1984 as the husband/wife duo Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley. The band’s name translates from Spanish as “I have it”, and was chosen with reference to baseball anecdote. Elio Chacon was a baseball player from Venezuela, the seventh person to play in the Majors from that country. There’s a story that Mets center fielder Richie Ashburn was always running into Elio Chacon in the outfield, because he would call for the ball in English, and Chacon only understood Spanish. Ashburn started to call for the ball in Spanish “Yo la tengo!” (I’ve got it!), at which point he’d be run down by left fielder Frank Thomas who only understood English …

88. The black ball in el juego de billar OCHO
In Spanish, the black ball in “el juego de billar” (the game of billiards) is numbered “ocho” (eight).

89. Kerry’s 2004 running mate EDWARDS
John Edwards is a former US Senator for the state of North Carolina. Edwards ran for the US vice-presidency with Democrat John Kerry in the 2004 race, and ran for president in 2008. Edwards got himself in a world of hurt trying to cover up an extramarital affair that resulted in him fathering a child with his mistress.

93. Capital of Minorca MAHON
Mahón is the capital city of the Spanish island of Minorca in the Mediterranean Sea. Mahón has the distinction of being the origin of what we called “mayonnaise”. The original recipe was named for the city by Spanish as “salsa mahonesa”, which morphed into the French name “mayonnaise” that we use today.

95. Homes for Gila woodpeckers CACTI
Gila woodpeckers live in desert regions of the US and Mexico. They nest in holes that the “peck” into mesquite trees and saguaro cacti.

97. Weightlifting technique CLEAN AND JERK (giving “CLERK”)
There are two weightlifting events in the Olympics. One is the “snatch” in which the competitor lifts the barbell from the platform over his or head in one continuous movement. The “clean and jerk” is a two-part lift. The “clean” brings the barbell off the platform mainly using the knees. The “jerk” brings the barbell over the head to complete the lift.

106. What a pitching wedge provides LOFT
For the uninitiated, that would be on a golf course …

107. Tip of Italy, once? LIRA
The word “lira” is used in a number of countries for currency. “Lira” comes from the Latin for “pound” and is derived from a British pound sterling, the value of a Troy pound of silver. For example, the lira (plural “lire”) was the official currency of Italy before the country changed over to the euro in 2002.

113. Where Rigel is ORION
Rigel is the sixth brightest star in the night sky, and the brightest star in the constellation of Orion. If you can imagine the stars in Orion laid out, Rigel is at his left foot. The name “Rigel” is an abbreviated version of the Arabic term for “Left Foot of the Central One”.

115. Brazilian tourist destination COPACABANA BEACH (giving “COACH”)
Copacabana is a neighborhood in the city of Rio de Janeiro that is home to a famous (and much-used) beach. The neighborhood is named for a chapel there, dedicated to the Virgen de Copacabana (Our Lady of Copacabana). The virgen de Copacabana is the patron saint of Bolivia, with the original Copacabana being a Bolivian town located on the southeastern shore of Lake Titicaca.

121. Honored academic retiree EMERITA
Emeritus (female form “emerita”, plural “emeriti”) is a term in the title of some retired professionals, particularly those from academia. Originally an emeritus was a veteran soldier who had served his time. The term comes from the Latin verb “emerere” meaning to complete one’s service.

122. First name in Disney villains CRUELLA
Cruella de Vil is the villain in the 1956 novel “The Hundred and One Dalmatians” written by Dodie Smith. Most famously perhaps, Cruella was played so ably by Glenn Close in the Disney movie adaption “101 Dalmatians”, released in 1996.

124. Force under Stalin RED ARMY
Joseph Stalin was Soviet Premier from 1941 to 1953. Stalin’s real name was Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili. Not long after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1903 he adopted the name “Stalin”, which is the Russian word for “steel”.

Down
1. Goodie bag filler SWAG
“Swag” is “loot, stolen property”, a term that started out as criminal slang in England in the 1830s. We now use the term more innocuously to describe the gifts given at a party in a “goodie bag” or “swag bag”.

3. Xeric ARID
A location described as “xeric” is extremely dry, arid. The Greek prefix “xero-” means “dry, withered”. The derivative “xeriscaping” is landscaping that reduces or eliminates the need for irrigation, i.e. drought-tolerant landscaping.

4. Sleep stages REMS
REM is an acronym standing for Rapid Eye Movement sleep. REM sleep takes up 20-25% of the sleeping hours and is the period associated with one’s most vivid dreams.

5. Delta calculation, briefly ETA
Expected time of arrival (ETA)

Delta was the world’s largest airline for a while (after merging with Northwest Airlines in 2008) and is also the oldest airline still operating in the US. Delta’s roots go back to 1924 before it started carrying passengers and was called Huff Daland Dusters, a crop dusting company based in Macon, Georgia. The name Delta Air Service was introduced in 1928.

6. “Damage” director Louis MALLE
Louis Malle was a film director from France who has a had a successful career on both sides of the Atlantic. Malle’s second wife was American actress Candice Bergen.

“Damage” is a 1992 film starring Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche. Directed by Louis Malle, the film is based on a novel of the same name by Josephine Hart. It’s all about a British government minister (Irons) who develops an obsession and has an affair with his son’s girlfriend (Binoche).

7. Big name in printers EPSON
Seiko Epson is a Japanese company, one of the largest manufacturers of printers in the world. The company has its roots in the watch business, roots that go back to 1942. Seiko was chosen as the official timekeeper for the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and was asked to supply a timer that produced a printed record. This request brought Seiko into the business of printer production. The company developed the world’s first mini-printer for the 1964 Games and called it EP-101 (EP standing for Electronic Printer). In 1975 Seiko introduced the next generation of EP printers which was called EPSON, from “SON of EP”. Cute, huh?

8. Primatologist Goodall JANE
Jane Goodall is a British anthropologist, famous for studying wild chimpanzees in Africa for 45 years. Working at Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania, Goodall made many discoveries. She was the first to see chimps constructing and using tools, an activity thought to be limited to the human species. She also found out that chimpanzees are vegetarians.

9. Tolkien beast ORC
Orcs are mythical humanoid creatures that appear in the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien. Since Tolkien’s use of orcs, they have also been featured in other fantasy fiction and in fantasy games.

10. Giant image in the sky over Gotham BAT
Batman is an ally of Police Commissioner Gordon of Gotham City. Gordon orders the shining of a searchlight into the sky, known as the Bat-Signal, to summon Batman when he is needed.

11. Actor Gulager CLU
Clu Gulager is a television and film actor. He is most remembered for playing Billy the Kid in the TV show “The Tall Man” in the early sixties, and then as Emmett Ryker in “The Virginian” in the late sixties.

12. Andrews or Dover: Abbr. US AFB
Joint Base Andrews is located just outside Washington, D.C. It is noted as the home base for the two Boeing VC-25A (Air Force One) aircraft that serve the US President. Joint Base Andrews is so called as it resulted from the merger of Andrews Air Force Base and the US Navy Naval Air Facility Washington.

Dover Air Force Base is located just outside the city of Dover, Delaware. The aircraft operating from Dover AFB are the huge C-5 Galaxy transport planes. Dover is also home to the Department of Defense’s largest mortuary, which has the sad mission of processing the remains of military personnel killed overseas and returned to the US before being transferred to family.

13. Tertius planeta from the sun TERRA
In Latin, “Terra” (Earth) is the “tertius planeta” (third planet) from the sun.

14. Leo with the 1977 #1 hit “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” SAYER
Leo Sayer is a British singer who was big in the seventies with hits such as “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” and “When I Need You”. Sayer now lives in Australia.

15. Evaluator of flight risks, for short FAA
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was set up in 1958 as the Federal Aviation Agency. The agency was established at that particular time largely in response to an increasing number of midair collisions. The worst of these disasters had taken place two years earlier over the Grand Canyon, a crash between two commercial passenger airplanes that resulted in 128 fatalities.

31. Put-down DIS
“Dis” is a slang term meaning “insult” that originated in the eighties, and is a shortened form of “disrespect” or “dismiss”.

32. Fay Vincent’s successor as baseball commissioner BUD SELIG
Bud Selig was the Commissioner of Baseball for Major League Baseball from 1998 to 2015. Selig became acting commissioner in 1992 after the resignation of Fay Vincent. The team owners searched for a new commissioner for six years, and finally gave the permanent job to Selig in 1998.

33. Suffix with hex- -ANE
A hexane is a hydrocarbon, an alkane with six carbon atoms. Hexanes of varying types are major components of gasoline.

36. Follow the advice “When in Rome …” ADAPT
The proverb “when in Rome, do as the Romans do” probably dates back to the days of St. Augustine. St. Augustine wrote a letter around 390 AD in which he states:

When I go to Rome, I fast on Saturday, but here [Milan] I do not. Do you also follow the custom of whatever church you attend, if you do not want to give or receive scandal?

41. Like many OPEC nations ARAB
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was founded in 1960 at a conference held in Baghdad, Iraq that was attended by Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Nine more countries joined the alliance soon after, and OPEC set up headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland and then Vienna, Austria in 1965. The basic aim of OPEC was to wrench control of oil prices from the oil companies and to put it in the hands of the sovereign states that own the natural resource.

45. Junior in the Football Hall of Fame SEAU
Junior Seau was an NFL linebacker, first playing for the San Diego Chargers and then the Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots. Sadly, Seau was found dead in his home in 2011, having committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest.

46. Plain to see WRIT LARGE
Something “writ large” is expressed in a more obvious way.

47. Voice-controlled device from the world’s largest online retailer AMAZON ECHO
Amazon Echo is a voice-controlled hardware device that can be used to provide several services including playing radio programs and music, recording of shopping lists, and managing a calendar. The device just sits say in the home listening, until it hears a “wake up” command.

48. 1998 Jim Carrey comedy/drama, with “The” TRUMAN SHOW
“The Truman Show” is an interesting film starring Jim Carrey as a man who, although unaware of the fact, is living and starring in life-long reality show.

52. Managed care grps. HMOS
Health Maintenance Organization (HMO)

54. Mrs. McKinley IDA
Ida Saxton met Bill McKinley at a picnic in 1867, just before she headed off to Europe on a “grand tour”. So, the two had to wait until 1869 before they started courting. The couple married in 1871 in Canton, Ohio, Ida’s hometown. Ida McKinley developed epilepsy before her husband was elected to President of the US and became very dependent on him to provide physical and moral support. She always sat by his side at public functions, breaking with the tradition of the President hosting some of the guests, and the First Lady others. After her husband was assassinated, Mrs. McKinley could not bring herself to attend her husband’s funeral, and then withdrew from public view to her home in Canton. She passed away six years after her husband, in 1907.

56. Dump site monitor, for short EPA
Environmental Protection Agency(EPA)

63. Lyme disease transmitter DEER TICK
Lyme disease is an infectious disease that is becoming more and more common. The condition takes its name from the town of Lyme, Connecticut where several cases were diagnosed in 1975. Humans catch the disease when bitten by infected ticks. If caught early enough, the disease is usually successfully treated with antibiotics.

66. Outdoor sports store REI
REI is a sporting goods store, the initialism standing for Recreational Equipment Inc. REI was founded in Seattle by Lloyd and Mary Anderson in 1938 as a cooperative that supplies quality climbing gear to outdoor enthusiasts. The first full-time employee hired by the Andersons was Jim Whittaker, who was the first American to summit Mount Everest.

67. Libertine RAKE
A “rake” (short for “rakehell”) is a man who is habituated to immoral conduct (isn’t it always the man??!!). The rake is a character who turns up frequently in novels and films, only interested in wine, women and song and not accepting the responsibilities of life. Good examples would be Wickham in Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” and Daniel Cleaver (the Hugh Grant part) in the movie “Bridget Jones’s Diary”. “Rake” comes from the Old Norse “reikall”, meaning “vagrant or a wanderer”.

Someone who is described as “libertine” is free of restraint, sexually immoral. Back in the 14th century a libertine was an emancipated slave, someone given his or her freedom. The term derives from the Latin “libertinus” describing a freed person who was once a slave.

69. Golfer Aoki ISAO
Isao Aoki is one of Japan’s greatest golfers, now playing on the senior circuit. Aoki’s best finish in a major tournament was runner-up to Jack Nicklaus in the 1980 US Open.

70. What Marcie calls Peppermint Patty in “Peanuts” SIR
Peppermint Patty is a character in the long-running comic strip “Peanuts”, by Charles M. Schulz. Peppermint Patty has a friend named Marcie who famously refers to her as “Sir”, perhaps a reference to Peppermint Patty’s reputation as a tomboy. Tomboy or not, it is revealed in the strip that Peppermint Patty has quite a crush on Charlie Brown.

76. Some collars ETONS
An Eton collar is a wide, stiff, buttoned collar that is still part of the formal school uniform at Eton College near Windsor in England.

78. Macy’s, e.g. CHAIN
The original Macy’s store was opened by Rowland Hussey Macy in Haverhill, Massachusetts in 1851. This store, and several others that Macy opened, all failed. Macy picked himself up though, and started over again in New York City. Those early New York stores all focused on the sale of dry goods, but added departments quickly as the clientele grew. The Macy’s “star” logo has been around since the company was first established. Macy chose the star because it mimicked the star tattoo that he got as a teenager when he was working on a whaling ship out of Nantucket.

82. The tiniest bit ONE IOTA
Iota is the ninth letter in the Greek alphabet. We use the word “iota” to portray something very small, as iota is the smallest of all Greek letters.

86. 88-Across + cuatro DOCE
(88A. The black ball in el juego de billar OCHO)
In Spanish, “ocho” (eight) + “cuatro” (four) = “doce” (twelve).

90. Circuit for Serena and Venus Williams, in brief WTA TOUR
The Williams Sisters appear in the WTA Tour, organized by the Women’s Tennis Association.

93. Ones putting on acts MCS
Master or mistress of ceremonies (MC)

98. Dr. Seuss environmentalist LORAX
“The Lorax” is a children’s book written by Dr. Seuss. It is an allegorical work questioning the problems created by industrialization, and in particular its impact on the environment. At one point in the story, the Lorax “speaks for the trees, for the trees have no tongues”. “The Lorax” was adapted into an animated film that was released in 2012, with Danny DeVito voicing the title character.

99. Paperless I.R.S. option E-FILE
E-file: that’s what I do with my tax return …

101. Suffix with hippo- DROME
A “hippodrome” is an arena used for equestrian events. The word “hippodrome” comes from the Greek “hippos” (horse) and “dromos” (racetrack).

102. Teased JAPED
“To jape” means “to joke or quip”. The exact origins of “jape” are unclear, but it does seem to come from Old French. In the mid-1600’s “to jape” was a slang term meaning “to have sex with”. No joke!

105. Visible S O S FLARE
The combination of three dots – three dashes – three dots, is a Morse signal first introduced by the German government as a standard distress call in 1905. The sequence is remembered as the letters SOS (three dots – pause – three dashes – pause – three dots), although in the emergency signal there is no pause between the dots and dashes, so SOS is in effect only a mnemonic. Similarly, the phrases “Save Our Souls” and “Save Our Ship” are also mnemonics, introduced after the “SOS” signal was adopted.

108. “Buy it. Sell it. Love it” company EBAY
eBay was founded in 1995 as AuctionWeb as part of a computer programmer’s personal website. One of the first items purchased was a broken laser pointer, for $14.83. The buyer collected broken laser pointers …

111. Home of the David Geffen School of Medicine, for short UCLA
The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA was established in 1951. It was renamed in 2001 following a donation of $200 million by business and entertainment magnate David Geffen.

112. “___ she blows!” THAR
“Thar she blows!” is a phrase that originated on whaling ships. A lookout spotting a whale surfacing to breathe might see the spray from the blowhole caused by the expulsion of carbon dioxide. Thar (there) she blows!

116. Parseghian of Notre Dame ARA
Ara Parseghian coached the Notre Dame football team from 1964 to 1974, a period known as “The Era of Ara”.

117. Street sign abbr. CIR
Circle (cir.)

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. “I’ve heard enough” SPARE ME
8. Consequences of downsizing JOB CUTS
15. 2014 Emmy-winning miniseries based on a 1996 film FARGO
20. Relative of a bug WIRETAP
21. Amu Darya outlet, once ARAL SEA
22. Pop-up, sometimes ALERT
23. No-hunting zone ANIMAL SANCTUARY (giving “ACTUARY”)
25. Mete out ALLOT
26. Certifications in some college apps GEDS
27. Singular LONE
28. Part of the neck? FRET
30. Look shocked GAPE
31. What might result from a minor hit DENT
32. Longtime California senator BARBARA BOXER (giving “BARBER”)
36. Computer data acronym ASCII
40. Part of the biosphere FAUNA
42. Flowed RAN
43. Mt. Olive offerings DILLS
44. Get tough HARDEN
45. Cursed SWORE AT
49. “Helm’s ___!” (nautical cry) ALEE
50. Marsh birds SORAS
51. World Series of Poker’s Vegas home THE RIO
53. Order from a sports doc MRI
55. Info on a parking ticket PLATE NUMBER (giving “PLUMBER”)
58. Something that doesn’t follow the letter of the law? MAIL FRAUD (giving “MAID”)
60. Mars : Roman :: ___ : Norse TYR
61. Father figures PAS
62. Expelled politely LED OUT
64. L. Frank Baum princess OZMA
65. Kind of rock GARAGE
67. Bar mitzvahs, e.g. RITES
68. City from which Vasco da Gama sailed, to locals LISBOA
71. Flower girl? ROSE
72. It might be full of baloney HOAGIE
74. “Try ___ might …” AS I
75. Taipei-to-Seoul dir. NNE
77. It contains a lot of balloons COMIC BOOK (giving “COOK”)
80. Rap sheet entry PRIOR ARREST (giving “PRIEST”)
84. Sun Devils’ sch. ASU
85. Cooperated with, e.g. HELPED
87. Indie rock band Yo La ___ TENGO
88. The black ball in el juego de billar OCHO
89. Kerry’s 2004 running mate EDWARDS
91. “Aha!” OH, I SEE!
93. Capital of Minorca MAHON
94. One-to-one, e.g. TIE
95. Homes for Gila woodpeckers CACTI
96. Boasts CROWS
97. Weightlifting technique CLEAN AND JERK (giving “CLERK”)
103. Does in OFFS
106. What a pitching wedge provides LOFT
107. Tip of Italy, once? LIRA
108. Catchall abbr. ET AL
109. Google SafeSearch target SMUT
113. Where Rigel is ORION
115. Brazilian tourist destination COPACABANA BEACH (giving “COACH”)
120. Algebraic input VALUE
121. Honored academic retiree EMERITA
122. First name in Disney villains CRUELLA
123. Apply EXERT
124. Force under Stalin RED ARMY
125. Spousal agreement YES, DEAR

Down
1. Goodie bag filler SWAG
2. Long PINE
3. Xeric ARID
4. Sleep stages REMS
5. Delta calculation, briefly ETA
6. “Damage” director Louis MALLE
7. Big name in printers EPSON
8. Primatologist Goodall JANE
9. Tolkien beast ORC
10. Giant image in the sky over Gotham BAT
11. Actor Gulager CLU
12. Andrews or Dover: Abbr. US AFB
13. Tertius planeta from the sun TERRA
14. Leo with the 1977 #1 hit “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” SAYER
15. Evaluator of flight risks, for short FAA
16. Used up ALL GONE
17. “Chill!” RELAX!
18. Search blindly GROPE
19. Furry frolicker OTTER
24. Elementary school science class item ANT FARM
29. Distilled coal product TAR OIL
31. Put-down DIS
32. Fay Vincent’s successor as baseball commissioner BUD SELIG
33. Suffix with hex- -ANE
34. Hothead’s response RANT
35. ___ soap BAR OF
36. Follow the advice “When in Rome …” ADAPT
37. Foolish sort SILLY GOOSE
38. Opaque CLEAR AS MUD
39. “Before ___ you go …” I LET
41. Like many OPEC nations ARAB
44. Survey unit HOUSEHOLD
45. Junior in the Football Hall of Fame SEAU
46. Plain to see WRIT LARGE
47. Voice-controlled device from the world’s largest online retailer AMAZON ECHO
48. 1998 Jim Carrey comedy/drama, with “The” TRUMAN SHOW
50. Minor setback SNAG
52. Managed care grps. HMOS
54. Mrs. McKinley IDA
56. Dump site monitor, for short EPA
57. Fix, as a pool cue RETIP
59. Stick up ROB
63. Lyme disease transmitter DEER TICK
66. Outdoor sports store REI
67. Libertine RAKE
69. Golfer Aoki ISAO
70. What Marcie calls Peppermint Patty in “Peanuts” SIR
71. Home theater option RCA
73. “My mistake!” OOPS!
76. Some collars ETONS
78. Macy’s, e.g. CHAIN
79. “Stop kidding yourself” BE REAL
81. Hair extension? -IEST
82. The tiniest bit ONE IOTA
83. Crowd sound ROAR
86. 88-Across + cuatro DOCE
90. Circuit for Serena and Venus Williams, in brief WTA TOUR
92. Derisive laugh sound HAR
93. Ones putting on acts MCS
97. Piece of garlic CLOVE
98. Dr. Seuss environmentalist LORAX
99. Paperless I.R.S. option E-FILE
100. More charming NICER
101. Suffix with hippo- DROME
102. Teased JAPED
104. Like black-tie affairs FANCY
105. Visible S O S FLARE
108. “Buy it. Sell it. Love it” company EBAY
109. Nut, basically SEED
110. Like father, like son? MALE
111. Home of the David Geffen School of Medicine, for short UCLA
112. “___ she blows!” THAR
114. After deductions NET
116. Parseghian of Notre Dame ARA
117. Street sign abbr. CIR
118. Casino convenience ATM
119. Staple of a rock band tour BUS

Return to top of page

4 thoughts on “1101-15 New York Times Crossword Answers 1 Nov 15, Sunday”

  1. 48:11, no errors. Had a difficult time with this one, a lot of vague or misdirecting clues. Enjoyed the challenge, though.

    'WRIT LARGE' is one of those expressions you have either heard or haven't heard. I vaguely remember hearing it a long time ago, in the context of a folksy, country expression.

  2. Another visual "theme" that just leaves one saying, "So WHAT???" A waste of time and energy trying to figure it out, and no payoff when you do.

    43:00 on the nose, no errors…. oddly enough.

  3. Well, oddly enough, I figured out the theme almost immediately and found it quite helpful in doing the puzzle. And I don't believe that I said "So WHAT???" at any point in the process … 🙂

Comments are closed.