1201-15 New York Times Crossword Answers 1 Dec 15, Tuesday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
6. Tech debut of 1998 : IMAC
The iMac is a desktop computer platform from Apple introduced in 1998. One of the main features of the iMac is an “all-in-one” design, with the computer console and monitor integrated. The iMac also came in a range of colors, that Apple marketed as “flavors”, such strawberry, blueberry and lime.

14. One of the Seven Dwarfs : HAPPY
In the original Brothers Grimm fairy tale called “Snow White”, the seven dwarfs were not given any names. The names were added for the 1937 classic Disney film “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. The seven dwarfs are:

– Doc (the leader of the group)
– Grumpy (that would be me, according to my wife …)
– Happy
– Sleepy
– Bashful
– Sneezy
– Dopey

15. Something that might come to light? : MOTH
It isn’t really understood why moths are attracted to artificial lights. There is one theory that sounds plausible to me though. It is suggested that moths navigate at night by maintaining the moon (the brightest celestial object) at a fixed angle. When a moth finds a brighter light source, like an artificial light, it gets confused.

16. 1952 Hope/Crosby “Road” movie destination : BALI
“Road to Bali” is a is the sixth in the seven “Road to …” movies that star Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour. “Road to Bali” is unique among the other films in the series in that it was the only one filmed in color.

17. Doe follower, in song : A DEER

Doe, a deer, a female deer
Ray, a drop of golden sun
Me, a name I call myself
Far, a long, long way to run
Sew, a needle pulling thread
La, a note to follow Sew
Tea, a drink with jam and bread
That will bring us back to Do

18. When doubled, a South Pacific isle : BORA
Bora Bora is one of the Society Islands of French Polynesia. The name “Bora Bora” is imitative of the Tahitian name for the island and should really be pronounced “pora pora”. “Bora bora” translates as “first born”.

19. Cameo material : ONYX
Onyx is a form of banded quartz that comes in many different shades, but most often it’s the black version that’s used for jewelry. The name “onyx” comes from the Greek word for “fingernail”, as onyx in the flesh color is said to resemble a fingernail.

Cameo is a method of carving, often the carving of a gemstone or a piece of jewelry. The resulting image is in relief (sits proud of the background), whereas an engraved image would be produced by the similar carving method known as intaglio. Nowadays, the term cameo is used for any piece of oval-shaped jewelry that contains the image of a head, usually in profile (maybe even a photograph).

31. The Browns, on scoreboards : CLE
The Cleveland Browns football team was a charter member of the All-American Football Conference, formed in 1946. Cleveland is the only NFL city that has never hosted nor sent a team to the Super Bowl.

32. Squeeze (out) : EKE
To “eke out” means to “make something go further or last longer”. For example, you could eke out your income by cutting back on expenses.

37. Radius’s neighbor : ULNA
The humerus is the long bone in the upper arm. The bones in the forearm are the radius and ulna. “Ulna” is the Latin word for “elbow”, and “radius” is Latin for “ray”.

39. ___ port : USB
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard dealing with how computers and electronic devices connect and communicate, and deal with electrical power through those connections.

45. He’s no gentleman : CAD
Our word “cad”, meaning “a person lacking in finer feelings”, is a shortening of the word “cadet”. “Cad” was first used for a servant, and then students at British universities used “cad” as a term for a boy from the local town. “Cad” took on its current meaning in the 1830s.

46. Become hardened : OSSIFY
To ossify is to become rigid or inflexible in attitude. The original and alternative meaning of the verb is to cause to harden like bone, from the Latin “os” meaning “bone”.

55. Beatles song released on 12/3/1965 : NORWEGIAN WOOD
“Norwegian Wood” is a Beatles song from 1965. “Norwegian Wood” is somewhat groundbreaking in that George Harrison is playing a sitar, the first time the sitar was used by a rock band on a record. And, if you like to waltz around the dance floor, this is one of the few Beatles records that is in triple time.

62. Maker of a famous 1969 landing : EAGLE
We always seem to remember the phrase “The Eagle has landed”, historic words spoken by Neil Armstrong when he put down Apollo 11’s Lunar Excursion Module on the surface of the moon. Looking back I have to say that the words preceding “The Eagle has landed” seem to have even more impact. During the descent to the moon’s surface Armstrong used the call sign “Eagle”, indicating that he was communicating from the LEM. After he killed the engines on touching down, Armstrong’s first words home to Earth were “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.” That switch of call sign from “Eagle” to “Tranquility Base” always sends shivers down my spine …

63. Do one-third of a triathlon : BIKE
An Ironman Triathlon is a race involving a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and a marathon run of just over 26 miles. The idea for the race came out of a debate between some runners in the 1977 Oahu Perimeter Relay. They were questioning whether runners, swimmers or bikers were the most fit athletes. The debaters decided to combine three local events to determine the answer, inviting athletes from all three disciplines. The events that were mimicked to come up with the first triathlon were the Waikiki Roughwater swim (2.4 miles), the Around-Oahu Bike Race (115 miles) and the Honolulu Marathon (26.2 miles). The idea was that whoever finished first would be called “the Iron Man”. The first triathlon was run in 1978, with fifteen starters and only twelve finishers. The race format is used all over the world now, but the Hawaiian Ironman is the event that everyone wants to win.

64. Kind of rug : SHAG
Shag carpet is one with a deep pile, one with a “shaggy” appearance.

Down
1. McDonald’s and Burger King : CHAINS
McDonald’s really popularized the concept of “fast food” when they introduced their Speedee Service System in 1948. Soon after, the company introduced its first mascot, a man with a hamburger head called Speedee. Speedee was replaced with Ronald McDonald in 1967.

If you were in Japan at the end of 2009 and went to Burger King, you might have ordered a Windows 7 Whopper, a promotion for the Windows 7 Operating System. The sandwich was 5 inches in height, and contained seven beef patties!

5. Jane who said “I can live alone, if self-respect and circumstances require me so to do” : EYRE
“Jane Eyre” is a celebrated novel written by Charlotte Brontë, under the pen name Currer Bell. Over the years, I’ve shared here on my blogs that the “Jane Eyre” story line is a little too dark and Gothic for my taste, but a very persuasive blog reader convinced me to look more at the romantic side of the story and give it a second chance. I watched a wonderful 4-hour television adaptation of the novel made by the BBC a while back and I have to say that because I was focused on the relationship between Jane and Rochester, I was able to push past the Gothic influences (that depress me) so I really enjoyed the story. I thoroughly recommend the 2006 BBC adaptation to fans of the novel.

6. 1987 declaration from Michael Jackson : I’M BAD
The song “Bad” was written and sung by Michael Jackson, and released in 1987. The song is about being tough on the streets, being “bad”.

8. Mach3 forerunner : ATRA
Fortunately for crossword setters, the Atra razor was introduced by Gillette in 1977. The Atra was sold as the Contour in some markets and its derivative products are still around today.

9. Marc who painted “Russian Village Under the Moon” : CHAGALL
Marc Chagall was a Russian-French artist, one of the most successful of the 20th century. Unlike so many painters, Chagall was able to achieve wealth and notoriety for his work during his own lifetime. It did help that Chagall lived to a ripe old age though. He passed away in 1985, when he was 97 years young. One of Chagall’s most famous works is the ceiling of the Paris Opera. The new ceiling for the beautiful 19th-century building was commissioned in 1963, and took Chagall a year to complete. Chagall was 77 years old when he worked on the Paris Opera project.

“Russian Village Under the Moon” is a 1911 Cubist work by Russian-French artist Marc Chagall. You can go see the real thing on display at the Staatsgalerie Moderner Kunst in Munich, Germany.

11. Exhibiting the most machismo : MANLIEST
“Machismo”, meaning “manliness”, is an American Spanish word. The term comes from the Spanish “macho” (male)

13. Top roll of a die : SIX
The numbers on dice are arranged so that the opposite faces add up to seven. Given this arrangement, the numbers 1, 2 and 3 all meet at a common vertex. There are two ways of arranging the 1, 2 and 3 around the common vertex, a so called right-handed die (clockwise 1-2-3) or a left-handed die (counterclockwise 1-2-3). Traditionally, dice used in Western cultures are right-handed, whereas Chinese dice are left-handed. Quite interesting …

27. Marshal under Napoleon : NEY
Michel Ney was one of the first 18 Marshals of France created by Napoleon. When Bonaparte was eventually defeated for the last time, Ney was arrested and sentenced to death. He was executed in Paris by firing squad. Nay refused to wear a blindfold, and demanded that he himself be allowed to give the order to fire.

29. Pre-stereo format : MONO
Monophonic sound (“mono”) is sound reproduced using just one audio channel, which is usually played out of just one speaker. Stereophonic sound is reproduced using two audio channels, with the sound from each channel played out of two different speakers. The pair of stereo speakers are usually positioned apart from each other so that sound appears to come from between the two. Quadraphonic sound (4.0 surround sound) uses four audio channels with the sound played back through four speakers often positioned at the corners of the room in which one is listening.

30. Partner of Vixen in “A Visit From St. Nicholas” : PRANCER
We get the names for Santa’s reindeer from the famous 1823 poem called “A Visit from St. Nicholas”, although we’ve modified a couple of the names over the years. The full list is:

– Dasher
– Dancer
– Prancer
– Vixen
– Comet
– Cupid
– Donder (originally “Dunder”, and now often “Donner”)
– Blitzen (originally “Blixem”)

Rudolph was added to the list by retailer Montgomery Ward, would you believe? The store commissioned Robert L. May to create a booklet that could be handed out to children around Christmas in 1939, and May introduced us to a new friend for Santa, namely Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

The poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” was published anonymously in 1823, and is better known today by its first line “‘Twas the night before Christmas”. Most scholars believe that the poem was written by Clement Clarke Moore, a theologian from New York City. Others say that it was written by Henry Livingston, Jr. a poet from Upstate New York.

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ’kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash …

31. Guantánamo Bay locale : CUBA
The Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba is often referred to by using abbreviation “GTMO” or simply “Gitmo”. Gitmo is the oldest overseas base operated by the navy and dates back to the Cuban-American Treaty of 1903, at which time the US leased the facility as a fueling station. A perpetual lease was offered by Tomas Estrada Palma, the first President of Cuba, after the US took over control of Cuba from Spain following the Spanish-American War of 1898.

35. ___Kosh B’Gosh : OSH-
OshKosh B’gosh is a company that produces and sells children’s clothes. The trademark OshKosh bib-overalls remind us of the company’s roots, as it was originally a manufacturer of adult work clothes based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

38. The Monica of “Monicagate” : LEWINSKY
After White House intern Monica Lewinsky had an “inappropriate relationship” with President Bill Clinton, Lewinsky spent a few years in the limelight using her celebrity status. She made some serious money helping Andrew Morton as he wrote her biography “Monica’s Story”, and was also paid a million dollars for a televised interview with Barbara Walters. Reportedly, most of the money she earned was gobbled up by legal costs. She then sold a line of handbags using the brand “The Real Monica”, and also turned out as a spokesperson for the Jenny Craig dieting company. In 2005, Lewinsky managed to find some relative privacy by moving to England to pursue a postgraduate degree at the London School of Economics.

41. Soon-to-be grads: Abbr. : SRS
Senior (sr.)

43. Capital of Qatar : DOHA
Doha is the capital city of the state of Qatar located on the Persian Gulf. The name “Doha” translates from Arabic as “the big tree”.

47. Daughter of King Cymbeline in Shakespeare’s “Cymbeline” : IMOGEN
“Cymbeline” is an early play written by William Shakespeare that is classified these days as a romance. The play takes place in Ancient Britain and is inspired by legends of an early Celtic king called Cunobeline. The main character in the work is Cymbeline’s daughter Imogen, who secretly marries Posthumus Leonatus, someone in her father’s court. There is a movie in the works starring Ethan Hawke and Dakota Johnson.

52. Turkish pooh-bahs : AGHAS
“Aga” (also “agha”) is a title that was used by both civil and military officials in the Ottoman Empire.

The term “pooh-bah” (also “poobah”), meaning an ostentatious official, comes from the world of opera. Pooh-Bah is a character in the wonderful Gilbert & Sullivan comic opera “The Mikado”. Famously, Pooh-Bah holds many, many offices, including that of “Lord High Everything Else”.

53. Prolonged attack : SIEGE
Our word “siege” comes from a 13th century word for a “seat”. The military usage derives from the concept of a besieging force “sitting down” outside a fortress until it falls.

57. Kind of tide : NEAP
Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon on the oceans. At neap tide, the smaller gravitational effect of the sun cancels out some of the moon’s effect. At spring tide, the sun and the moon’s gravitational forces act in concert causing more extreme movement of the oceans.

58. Ending with metal or mal- : -WARE
“Malware” is a collective term for software and program code that is created to intentionally disrupt and exploit computer systems. Viruses, worms, trojan horses and spyware are all covered by the term. “Malware” is short for “malicious software”.

60. 1947 Hope/Crosby “Road” movie destination : RIO
“Road to Rio” is the fifth of the “Road” series of films that starred Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour. “Road to Rio” was released in 1947, and was the only movie in which Bing Crosby and the Andrew Sisters appeared on screen together.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Picked : CHOSE
6. Tech debut of 1998 : IMAC
10. Energizes, with “up” : AMPS
14. One of the Seven Dwarfs : HAPPY
15. Something that might come to light? : MOTH
16. 1952 Hope/Crosby “Road” movie destination : BALI
17. Doe follower, in song : A DEER
18. When doubled, a South Pacific isle : BORA
19. Cameo material : ONYX
20. Start of the opening line of 55-Across : I ONCE HAD A GIRL …
23. Wackadoodle : NUT
24. Things bouncers check : IDS
25. Director’s cry : ACTION
28. Defeats soundly : STOMPS
31. The Browns, on scoreboards : CLE
32. Squeeze (out) : EKE
33. Opening line, continued : … OR SHOULD I SAY …
37. Radius’s neighbor : ULNA
39. ___ port : USB
40. Pretentious : ARTY
41. End of the opening line : … SHE ONCE HAD ME
44. Dustup : ROW
45. He’s no gentleman : CAD
46. Become hardened : OSSIFY
50. [Brrrr!] : SHIVER
52. Gray shade : ASH
54. Sound in a roundup : MOO!
55. Beatles song released on 12/3/1965 : NORWEGIAN WOOD
59. Long ago, long ago : ERST
61. Feel it the next day, say : ACHE
62. Maker of a famous 1969 landing : EAGLE
63. Do one-third of a triathlon : BIKE
64. Kind of rug : SHAG
65. Staggering : AREEL
66. Word before and after “will be” : BOYS
67. It might have some kinks in it : HOSE
68. Awaits decision : PENDS

Down
1. McDonald’s and Burger King : CHAINS
2. Borrowed, as a library book : HAD OUT
3. Not rejecting out of hand : OPEN TO
4. Design detail : SPEC
5. Jane who said “I can live alone, if self-respect and circumstances require me so to do” : EYRE
6. 1987 declaration from Michael Jackson : I’M BAD
7. Dispositions : MOODS
8. Mach3 forerunner : ATRA
9. Marc who painted “Russian Village Under the Moon” : CHAGALL
10. Cancel, as a mission : ABORT
11. Exhibiting the most machismo : MANLIEST
12. Wield : PLY
13. Top roll of a die : SIX
21. Radiator sound : HISS
22. They form when water freezes at a roof’s edge : ICE DAMS
26. “Fine by me” : OKAY
27. Marshal under Napoleon : NEY
29. Pre-stereo format : MONO
30. Partner of Vixen in “A Visit From St. Nicholas” : PRANCER
31. Guantánamo Bay locale : CUBA
34. Tinged : HUED
35. ___Kosh B’Gosh : OSH-
36. Angers : IRES
37. “Looks like trouble!” : UH-OH!
38. The Monica of “Monicagate” : LEWINSKY
41. Soon-to-be grads: Abbr. : SRS
42. Something to roll up your windows for : CAR WASH
43. Capital of Qatar : DOHA
47. Daughter of King Cymbeline in Shakespeare’s “Cymbeline” : IMOGEN
48. Pulled a fast one on : FOOLED
49. Alpine shouts : YODELS
51. Yea and nay : VOTES
52. Turkish pooh-bahs : AGHAS
53. Prolonged attack : SIEGE
56. Something perfect acoustics eliminate : ECHO
57. Kind of tide : NEAP
58. Ending with metal or mal- : -WARE
59. Kind of tide : EBB
60. 1947 Hope/Crosby “Road” movie destination : RIO

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