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CROSSWORD SETTER: Ed Sessa
THEME: Mispelled (!) Clues … Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! We have ten clues that are misspelled today, and I “think” they are as follows:
71A. Number of mispelled words in this puzzle’s clues (oh, by the way, watch out for those tricky circled squares!) : TEN (should be “misspelled”)
37A. Kindergarden song beginning : ABC (should be “Kindergarten”)
43A. Very indignent : IRATE (should be “indignant”)
63A. Secretery, e.g. : AIDE (should be “secretary”)
25D. Accomodations along the Black Sea : DACHA (should be “accommodations”)
32D. Kiester : ASS (should be “keister”)
46D. Claude who painted “Water Lillies” : MONET (should be “lilies”)
48D. Coloseums : STADIA (should be “colosseums”)
55D. Occassion : EVENT (should be “occasion”)
61D. Foriegn traveler’s need : VISA (should be “foreign”)
We also have five answers in the grid that are commonly misspelled, but the circled letters are there to warn us to be careful. We have to be especially careful, as the common misspellings actually work in the grid:
17A. Incident : OCCURRENCE (often OCCURANCE in error)
6D. Set pencil to paper, in a way : DREW (or DRAW)40A. Exodus figure : PHARAOH (often PHAROAH in error)
35D. ___-faced lie : BALD (or BOLD)
41D. Exclamations of surprise : OHS (or AHS)64A. Without a doubt : DEFINITELY (often DEFINATELY in error)
56D. Quick, sharp sound : CLICK (or CLACK)11D. Disconnect : SEPARATE (often SEPERATE in error)
22A. Gently strokes, as a dog : PATS (or PETS)39D. It’s good for 12 months : CALENDAR (often CALENDER in error)
66A. Neutral hue : GRAY (or GREY)
BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 12m 49s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0
Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Health-promoting org. : CDC
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is based in Atlanta, Georgia. The CDC started out life during WWII as the Office of National Defense Malaria Control Activities. The CDC worries about much more than malaria these days …
4. One of a pair of grillers : BAD COP
Two officers grilling a suspect might play “good cop, bad cop”.
10. H.S. exam : PSAT
Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT)
14. Major American Spanish-language newspaper : HOY
“Hoy” is a Spanish-language newspaper published here in the US. “Hoy” is Spanish for “today”.
19. “Odyssey,” for one : EPOS
“Epos” is the Greek word for a story or a poem. We have absorbed it into English as “epic”, a long narrative poetic work describing heroic deeds and ventures.
“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.
23. Musical character who sings “Wouldn’t it be loverly?” : ELIZA
“Wouldn’t It Be Loverly” is song by Lerner and Loewe from the Broadway musical “My Fair Lady”. It is sung by the character Eliza Doolittle in her Cockney accent (hence the “loverly” spelling). “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly” was performed by Julie Andrews in the original stage production, and ostensibly by Audrey Hepburn in the 1964 film. Actually, Marni Nixon dubbed Hepburn’s voice, as Nixon did for Deborah Kerr in “The King and I”, and for Natalie Wood in “West Side Story”.
27. Long March leader : MAO
“The Long March” was a retreat by the Communist Red Army through much of China, falling back from the advances of the army of the Chinese Nationalist Party. Taking place in 1934-1935, the Long March is famous for the ascent to power of Mao Zedong as he led the retreating forces. As a result of the Long March, the Communist Party was able to recover and rebuild in the northern part of the county. The orderly retreat and respect shown for the Chinese peasantry led to the rise of popularity of the Communist Party with the populace.
30. Lead-in to “boom-de-ay” : TA-RA-RA
“Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay” is an old music hall song from the late 1800s. The tune was used in 20th century for the theme song for the children’s TV show “Howdy Doody”, using the title “It’s Howdy Doody Time”.
33. Beer can feature : POP TAB
The oldest method of opening a can with a device included in the can’s design is the pull-tab or ring pull, invented in Canada in 1956. The design was long-lived but it had its problems, so the world heaved a sigh of relief with the invention of the stay-on-tab in 1975. The new design led to less injuries and eliminated all those used pull-tabs that littered the streets.
36. Whale constellation : CETUS
Cetus is a constellation named after a sea monster from Greek mythology. Today, Cetus is often called “the Whale”.
37. Kindergarden song beginning : ABC
“The Alphabet Song” was copyrighted in 1835 in the US. The tune that goes with the words is the French folk song “Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman”, used by Mozart for a set of piano variations. The same tune is used for the nursery rhyme “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”.
“Kindergarten” is a German term, literally meaning “children’s garden”. The term was coined by the German education authority Friedrich Fröbel in 1837, when he used it as the name for his play and activity institute that he created for young children to use before they headed off to school. His thought was that children should be nourished educationally, like plants in a garden.
40. Exodus figure : PHARAOH
The pharaohs were the kings of Ancient Egypt. The term “pharaoh” translates as “great house”, and was originally the name of the king’s palace.
The Book of Exodus is the second book in the Bible, and deals with Moses leading the Hebrews out of Egypt. The name “exodus” comes from the Greek “exodos” meaning “departure”.
42. 911 responder, for short : EMS
Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
45. New York’s ___ Bay Park : PELHAM
Pelham Bay Park is located in the Bronx, and is the largest park in New York City.
47. Meat grinders : MOLARS
Molars are grinding teeth. The term “molar” comes from the Latin “mola” meaning “millstone”.
49. One concerned with 47-Across, for short : DDS
Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS)
50. Trans-Siberian Railway hub : OMSK
Omsk is a city in southwest Siberia. It is located over 1400 miles from Moscow and was chosen as the destination for many internal exiles in the mid-1900s. Perhaps the most famous of these exiles was the author Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
Siberia is a vast area in Northern Asia. The region’s industrial development started with the construction of the Trans-Siberian railway from 1891 to 1916, which linked Siberia to Russia in the west.
56. Benjamin : C-NOTE
Benjamin Franklin is featured on one side of the hundred-dollar bill, and Philadelphia’s Independence Hall on the other side. There is a famous “error” in the image of Independence Hall. If you look closely at the clock face at the top of the building you can see that the “four” is written in Roman numerals as “IV” as perhaps one might expect. However, on the actual clock on Independence Hall, the “four” is denoted by “IIII”.
57. Carom : BANK
A carom is a ricochet, the bouncing of some projectile off a surface. Carom has come to mean the banking of a billiard ball, the bouncing of the ball off the side of the table.
59. Tel ___ : AVIV
The full name of Israel’s second largest city is Tel Aviv-Yafo. Tel Aviv translates into “Spring Mound”, a name chosen in 1910.
62. “Rosemary’s Baby” author : LEVIN
As well as writing novels, Ira Levin was a dramatist and a songwriter. Levin’s first novel was “A Kiss Before Dying”, and his most famous work was “Rosemary’s Baby” which became a Hollywood hit. His best known play is “Deathtrap”, a production that is often seen in local theater (I’ve seen it a couple of times around here). “Deathtrap” was also was a successful movie, starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve. My favorite of Levin’s novels though are “The Boys from Brazil” and “The Stepford Wives”.
“Rosemary’s Baby” is a novel by Ira Levin. It is a horror story, and was made into a very creepy 1968 film of the same name starring Mia Farrow. Levin published a sequel in 1997 titled “Son of Rosemary”. He dedicated the sequel to Mia Farrow.
68. Dockworkers’ grp. : ILA
International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA)
69. Moldova and Belarus, once: Abbr. : SSRS
The Republic of Moldova (usually referred to as “Moldova”) was the Moldavian Socialist Republic before the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
The Republic of Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, located east of Poland and north of Ukraine. Belarus didn’t exist as an entity until the Russian Revolution when it was created as one of the Soviet Socialist Republics (SSR) that made up the USSR. The Republic of Belarus was formed soon after the USSR dissolved in 1990, but unlike many of the former Soviet Republics, Belarus has retained many of the old Soviet policies. Alexander Lukashenko is the country’s president and he believes in state ownership of the economy. Belarus and Russia have formal agreements in place that pledge cooperation.
Down
4. Fluid-filled sac near a joint : BURSA
The synovial fluid that lubricate joints is contained within membrane-lined sacs called bursae. “Bursa” is Latin for “purse”.
5. Showery mo. : APR
The phenomenon of “April Showers” really applies to the UK and Ireland. Increased occurrence of rain during April is largely due to an annual change in the position of the jet stream.
7. Film : CINE
“Cine” is the French for “cinema”.
8. Film award : OSCAR
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) is the organization that gives the annual Academy Awards also known as the “Oscars”. The root of the name “Oscar” is hotly debated, but what is agreed is that the award was officially named “Oscar” in 1939. The first Academy Awards were presented at a brunch in 1929 with an audience of just 29 people. The Awards ceremony is a slightly bigger event these days …
18. Drop, like flies? : UNZIP
The term “fly” is used to describe the flap covering the buttons or zipper in the front of a pair of pants. Before “fly” was used for pants, it was the name given to a tent flap.
25. Accomodations along the Black Sea : DACHA
Dachas are usually second homes in Russia and the former Soviet Union that are located outside the city limits in rural areas. Residents/tenants of dachas are often called dachniks.
27. Speed trap datum: Abbr. : MPH
Miles per hour (mph)
32. Kiester : ASS
Back in the early 1900s a “keister” was a safe or a strongbox. It has been suggested that this term was then used as slang by pickpockets for the rear trouser pocket in which one might keep a wallet. From this usage, keister appeared as a slang term for the buttocks in the early 1930s.
34. “What’s ___, Doc?” (classic Bugs Bunny short) : OPERA
“What’s Opera, Doc?” is one of my favorite cartoons of all time. It’s all about Elmer Fudd chasing Bugs Bunny to musical extracts from Wagnerian operas. The most famous line from the cartoon if “Kill the Wabbit”, which Elmer sings to the main theme from “Ride of the Valkyries”. “What’s Opera, Doc?” cost Warner Bros. about six times as much as any other cartoon the studio had produced up to that time.
35. ___-faced lie : BALD
Our “bald-faced” lies here in the US are “bare-faced” lies on the other side of the Atlantic. The original expression was indeed “bare-faced”, which portrays the concept of lying with an uncovered face, unashamedly.
44. Computer cursor advancers : TAB KEYS
Like most features on our computer keyboards, the tab key is a hangover from the days of typewriters. When using a typewriter, making entries into a table was very tedious, involving lots of tapping on the spacebar and backspace key. So, a lever was added to typewriters that allowed the operator to “jump” across the page to positions that could be set by hand. Later this was simplified to a tab key which could be depressed, causing the carriage to jump to the next tab stop in much the same way that the modern tab key works on a computer.
46. Claude who painted “Water Lillies” : MONET
“Water Lilies” by French Impressionist Claude Monet is actually a whole series of paintings, numbering about 250 in total. The subjects of the works were the water lilies in Monet’s flower garden at Giverny in northern France.
48. Coloseums : STADIA
The Greek word “stadion” was a measure of length, about 600 feet. The name “stadion” then came to be used for a running track of that length. That “running track” meaning became our contemporary word “stadium”.
The Colosseum of Rome was the largest amphitheater in the whole of the Roman Empire in its day, and could seat about 50,000 people. Even today, it is the largest amphitheater in the world. The structure was originally called the “Amphitheatrum Flavium” but the name changed to “Colosseum” when a colossal statue of Emperor Nero was located nearby.
51. Words to a slowpoke : MOVE IT!
Back in the early 1800s, a “poke” was a device attached to domestic animals such as pugs or sheep to keep them from escaping their enclosures. The poke was like a yoke with a pole, and slowed the animal down, hence the term “slowpoke”.
52. “___ Nacht” (German carol) : STILLE
The beautiful Christmas Carol “Silent Night” was first performed in Austria in 1818, with words by a priest, Father Joseph Mohr, and melody by an Austrian headmaster, Franz Xaver Gruber. The carol was in German and called “Stille Nacht”. The English translation that we use today was provided to us by an American bishop in 1859, John Freeman Young from Florida.
53. Many a New York City Marathon winner : KENYAN
The annual New York City Marathon has more competitors than any other marathon run in the world, with over 50,000 racers completing the course in 2013. The race has been held every year since 1970, except for 2012 when it was canceled due to Hurricane Sandy.
61. Foriegn traveler’s need : VISA
A visa is a usually a stamp in one’s passport, an indication that one is authorized to enter a particular country. The word “visa” comes into English, via French, from the Latin expression “charta visa” meaning “paper that has been seen”, or “verified paper”.
65. Japanese tech giant : NEC
NEC is the name that the Nippon Electric Company chose for itself outside of Japan after a rebranding exercise in 1983.
For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Health-promoting org. : CDC
4. One of a pair of grillers : BAD COP
10. H.S. exam : PSAT
14. Major American Spanish-language newspaper : HOY
15. Revolt : UPRISE
16. It might be needed for a new job, informally : RELO
17. Incident : OCCURRENCE
19. “Odyssey,” for one : EPOS
20. Where firings take place : KILNS
21. Watery, say : WEAK
22. Gently strokes, as a dog : PATS
23. Musical character who sings “Wouldn’t it be loverly?” : ELIZA
24. Perception, figuratively : RADAR
26. Numerical prefix : DECI-
27. Long March leader : MAO
30. Lead-in to “boom-de-ay” : TA-RA-RA
33. Beer can feature : POP TAB
36. Whale constellation : CETUS
37. Kindergarden song beginning : ABC
40. Exodus figure : PHARAOH
42. 911 responder, for short : EMS
43. Very indignent : IRATE
45. New York’s ___ Bay Park : PELHAM
47. Meat grinders : MOLARS
49. One concerned with 47-Across, for short : DDS
50. Trans-Siberian Railway hub : OMSK
54. Web discount : E-BATE
56. Benjamin : C-NOTE
57. Carom : BANK
59. Tel ___ : AVIV
62. “Rosemary’s Baby” author : LEVIN
63. Secretery, e.g. : AIDE
64. Without a doubt : DEFINITELY
66. Neutral hue : GRAY
67. “Be there shortly!” : IN A SEC!
68. Dockworkers’ grp. : ILA
69. Moldova and Belarus, once: Abbr. : SSRS
70. Go on the offensive : ATTACK
71. Number of mispelled words in this puzzle’s clues (oh, by the way, watch out for those tricky circled squares!) : TEN
Down
1. Lost an easy win : CHOKED
2. Lamblike : DOCILE
3. Like economic booms and busts : CYCLIC
4. Fluid-filled sac near a joint : BURSA
5. Showery mo. : APR
6. Set pencil to paper, in a way : DREW
7. Film : CINE
8. Film award : OSCAR
9. Eye quickly : PEEK AT
10. Put together : PREPARE
11. Disconnect : SEPARATE
12. Much : A LOT
13. Give the boot : TOSS
18. Drop, like flies? : UNZIP
25. Accomodations along the Black Sea : DACHA
27. Speed trap datum: Abbr. : MPH
28. Give ___ on the shoulder : A TAP
29. Propelled, as a boat : OARED
31. Pirate’s swig : RUM
32. Kiester : ASS
34. “What’s ___, Doc?” (classic Bugs Bunny short) : OPERA
35. ___-faced lie : BALD
37. Charge before firing? : AIM
38. Old buddy, old pal : BRO
39. It’s good for 12 months : CALENDAR
41. Exclamations of surprise : OHS
44. Computer cursor advancers : TAB KEYS
46. Claude who painted “Water Lillies” : MONET
48. Coloseums : STADIA
51. Words to a slowpoke : MOVE IT!
52. “___ Nacht” (German carol) : STILLE
53. Many a New York City Marathon winner : KENYAN
55. Occassion : EVENT
56. Quick, sharp sound : CLICK
57. Luggage : BAGS
58. Broadcasts : AIRS
60. “___ first you don’t succeed …” : IF AT
61. Foriegn traveler’s need : VISA
65. Japanese tech giant : NEC
10:30, but I'm embarrassed to admit that I had PETS / SEPERATE in place of PATS / SEPARATE (because, in response to the clue "Gently strokes, as a dog", I wrote in PETS – which does work better than PATS, I would point out … 🙂 – and neglected to recheck it when I figured out the theme). I also have to admit that I was unable to see the misspelling of "lilies"; instead, I guessed that "loverly" might be counted as one of the ten "errors" (even though it didn't seem right to do that). So, I greatly enjoyed the puzzle, but am forced to slink away with my tail between my legs … 🙂
Re "Stille Nacht": Check out the YouTube video at "https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=52s1tmm51q8", featuring one Heintje (Hein Simons), a Dutch singer who had a wonderful voice as a child. (At sixty, he still has an okay voice, but it doesn't have the same clarity and power.) If you search around a bit, you will find an English version, as well, along with a number of other songs: "Little Drummer Boy" is a favorite of mine.
24:26, no errors (I think). I honestly didn't bother with the theme, putting two letters in the shaded squares, and calling it good. Figured that the setter was looking for both the correct and incorrect spelling of the words. The crossing words work with both letters and, as Dave points out, the misspellings seemed to work out better in some cases.
On 25-Down the clue is plural "accommodations" (albeit misspelled) yet the answer "dacha" is singular. Am I missing something or did the setter and editor make a mistake here?
Utterly annoying. Spell the damned words correctly as a rule!!!! I cannot stand these puzzles where the setters play fast and loose with spelling (or with number of words in a square, for that matter). 15:07, no errors.
Anyone who may have missed some of the ten misspellings should not be penalized. They are not part of the puzzle. The only pertinent word was "TEN". If you got that one then nothing else counts.