0109-16 New York Times Crossword Answers 9 Jan 16, Saturday

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Solution to today’s crossword in the New York Times
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Solution to today’s New York Times crossword found online at the Seattle Times website
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CROSSWORD SETTER: Jason Flinn
THEME: None
BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME:64m 38s!!!
ANSWERS I MISSED: 4 … KGB (mob), RAD (bad), CREEK (creem!!!), GRATIA (obatia!!!)

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

16. One saying “We can do it!” : ROSIE THE RIVETER
Rosie the Riveter is a cultural icon that represented women working in factories across the country during WWII as part of the war effort. The term “Rosie the Riveter” first appeared as the title of a 1942 song that was a national hit.

17. Bavarian region that the Danube passes through : UPPER PALATINATE
The German federal state of Bavaria comprises seven administrative regions, one of which is the Upper Palatinate.

Bavaria in southeast Germany is the largest state in the country. The capital and largest city in Bavaria is Munich.

The Danube is the second largest river in Europe (after the Volga), and actually flows through four European capitals (Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade and Bratislava).

18. Brunch treat with egg and potatoes : SPANISH OMELETTE
A Spanish Omelette is a Spanish dish, as the name implies. It is known as a Tortilla Española in Spain, and consists of eggs to which are added potatoes and perhaps onions, after which the mixture is fried in olive oil.

19. Girl’s name that becomes a contraction when its first and last letters are switched : TINA
Switching the first and last letters of the girl’s name “Tina” gives us the contraction “ain’t”.

22. Caps preceder : SNO-
Sno-Caps are a brand of candy usually only available in movie theaters. Sno-caps have been around since the 1920s, would you believe?

23. What’s what in Italy? : CHE
“Che” is the Italian word for “what”.

26. Org. that tracks baby name popularity : SSA
The Social Security Administration (SSA) publishes a list of the 1,000 most common baby names for the prior year annually, just before Mother’s Day. The list is compiled using applications for Social Security cards.

28. Briny : SEA
The “briny” is the sea, from “brine” meaning “salty water”. The term “briny” was originally used for “tears”.

32. Menu promise : NO MSG
Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is the sodium salt of a naturally-occurring,non-essential amino acid called glutamic acid. It is used widely as a flavor enhancer, particularly in many Asian cuisines. Whether or not it is harmful seems to be still under debate. I say that something produced in a test tube shouldn’t be in our food …

37. Subject of a museum in Richmond, Va., for short : EA POE
The Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia is housed in an old stone house built around 1740 that is the oldest original building in the city. The museum opened in 1922 and commemorates the years that Edgar Allan Poe spent living in the city.

40. Things a bartender strains to make : MAI TAIS
The Mai Tai cocktail is strongly associated with the Polynesian islands, but the drink was supposedly invented in 1944 in Trader Vic’s restaurant in Oakland, California. One recipe is 6 parts white rum, 3 parts orange curaçao, 3 parts Orgeat syrup, 1 part rock candy syrup, 2 parts fresh lime juice, all mixed with ice and then a float added of 6 parts dark rum.

43. Hush-hush org. : NSA
The National Security Agency (NSA) was set up in 1952 by President Truman, a replacement for the Armed Forces Security Agency that had existed in the Department of Defense since 1949. The NSA has always been clouded in secrecy and even the 1952 letter from President Truman that established the agency was kept under wraps from the public for over a generation. I really like the organization’s nickname … “No Such Agency”.

44. Hush-hush org. : KGB
The Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti (KGB) was the national security agency of the Soviet Union until 1991. The KGB was dissolved after the agency’s chairman led a failed attempt at a coup d’état designed to depose President Mikhail Gorbachev.

48. Actress Benaderet who voiced Betty Rubble : BEA
The actress Bea Benaderet played Kate Bradley on “Petticoat Junction” and Pearl Bodine on “The Beverly Hillbillies”, and voiced Betty Rubble on “The Flintstones”.

50. Take up and hold, chemically : SORB
Adsorption is the accumulation of chemicals on the surface of a solid or liquid. Absorption is the accumulation through pores or interstices. The derivative verb “sorb” can be applied to either process.

52. “Sick” : RAD
In modern lingo, the term “rad” means “super awesome, super cool”.

55. Teddy, e.g. : INTIMATE APPAREL
The item of lingerie known as a teddy can also be called “camiknickers”. The alternative name was used when the one-piece garment was introduced in the twenties, a combination of a camisole and panties (aka “knickers”).

Down
3. Wikipedia option : ESPANOL
Wikipedia is published in almost 300 different languages. Impressive …

4. College near Albany, N.Y. : SIENA
Siena College is a Roman Catholic school, a Franciscan liberal arts college founded in 1937 in Loudonville, New York near Albany. The college is named for Saint Bernardino of Siena, a Franciscan friar who lives in the 15th century.

6. Line of additives : STPS
STP is a brand name for automotive lubricants and additives. The name STP comes from “Scientifically Treated Petroleum”.

7. Ruler’s title from which the word “chess” is derived : SHAH
“Chess” came into English from the Old French “esches” meaning “chessmen”, which is the plural of “eschec”, the Old French name for the game (the modern name is “échecs”). In turn, the Old French “eschec” comes from the name for the king, the principal piece on the board, which is “shah” in Persian.

8. Ultimate object, to Aristotle : TELOS
“Telos” is the Greek word for “purpose, goal”. In the world of philosophy, a telos is an end or a purpose, and is a concept that is central to the philosophical method known as teleology.

Aristotle was actually a student of Plato in Ancient Greece (and in turn, Plato was a student of Socrates). Aristotle’s most famous student was Alexander the Great.

9. Popular cologne that shares its name with a literary character : ARAMIS
Alexandre Dumas’ “Three Musketeers” are Athos, Porthos and Aramis, and their young protégé is D’Artagnan. A musketeer was an infantry soldier who was equipped with a musket. Funnily enough, the three “musketeers” really don’t use their muskets, and are better known for their prowess with their swords.

Aramis is a fragrance produced by Estée Lauder.

10. Chemistry concentrations : TITERS
Remember those titrations we did in the chemistry lab at school? They were to measure the concentration of solutions, also known as the solution’s “titer”.

11. “___ is whatever distracts”: Kafka : EVIL
Franz Kafka was born in 1883 in Prague, then part of Bohemia and today the capital of the Czech Republic. Kafka is known as one of the greatest novelists who worked in the German language, and even has an adjective named after him. Something that is “kafkaesque” is senseless, disorienting and may have menacing complexity. As it was for many great artists, Kafka’s fame came after his death when much of his work was published.

12. Founder of Egypt’s first dynasty : MENES
The ancient Egyptian pharaoh named Menes is said to have founded the first dynasty and to have united Upper and Lower Egypt.

13. Belief in a strong central government : ETATISM
Statism (also “etatism”) is the political philosophy that the state should control economic and social policy. The belief that the state should not be involved in either policy is known as anarchism.

24. Malediction : HEX
“Hexen” is a German word meaning “to practice witchcraft”. The use of the word “hex” in English started with the Pennsylvania Dutch in the early 1800s.

27. Santa ___ : ANITA
Santa Anita Park is a racetrack for horses located in Arcadia, California. The most famous races on the track’s calendar are the Santa Anita Derby and the Santa Anita Handicap.

30. Two semesters abroad, maybe : ANO
In Spanish, “el año” (the year) starts in “enero” (January) and ends in “diciembre” (December).

“Semester” is a German word from the Latin “semestris”, an adjective meaning “of six months”. We use the term in a system that divides an academic year into two roughly equal parts. A trimester system has three parts, and a quarter system has four.

31. Boy’s name repeated in a nursery rhyme : TOM

Tom, Tom, the piper’s son,
Stole a pig, and away did run;

The “pig” mentioned in the rhyme isn’t actually a live animal but is actually a small pastry with an apple filling.

35. Wunderbar : FAB
“Wunderbar” is German for “wonderful”.

36. Cadenza maker : KIA
The Cadenza is a full-size automobile sold in North America, and made by Kia. The same model is sold as the Kia K7 in South Korea.

37. Stores on a farm : ENSILES
“To ensile” is to store in a silo. “Silo” is a Spanish word that we absorbed into English, originally coming from the Greek word “siros” that described a pit in which one kept corn.

38. Not voiced, as the first “d” in “Wednesday” : ASONANT
In phonetics, a letter or syllable that is “sonant” is voiced, whereas an “assonant” (also “asonant”) letter is not voiced.

39. Bach piece : PARTITA
A “partita” can be a suite of music written for one instrument. The Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach wrote two sets of partitas, one set for a solo keyboard and one set for a solo violin.

41. Like Catalonia : IBERIAN
The Ebro is the longest river in Spain. The river was known by the Romans as the Iber, and it is the “Iber” river that gives the “Iberian” Peninsula its name.

Catalonia is an autonomous community in the very northeast of Spain. The capital of Catalonia is the city of Barcelona. Sandwiched between Catalonia and France to the north, is the lovely Principality of Andorra, nestled in the Pyrenees.

42. Relating to the moon : SELENIC
Selene was the Greek goddess of the moon, the equivalent of the Roman deity, Luna. Selene gave her name to the chemical element “selenium”.

49. Alternative form of a gene : ALLELE
A gene is a section of a chromosome that is responsible for a particular characteristic in an organism. For example, one gene may determine eye color and another balding pattern. We have two copies of each gene, one from each of our parents, with each copy known as an allele.

51. European hotel fixture : BIDET
“Bidet” is a French word that we imported into English. In French, the word “bidet” originally described a small horse or a pony. What we know as a bidet was so called because one can straddle it like a horse in order to use it.

54. Conference site : YALTA
The Yalta Conference was a wartime meeting between WWII leaders Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin. Held in February of 1945, the conference is most remembered for decisions made on the post-war organization of Europe. To a large extent, the three leaders made decisions carving up political influence around the world, decisions that have profound implications to this day.

57. What’s yours in Montréal? : A TOI
“À toi” is the French term for “yours”, when talking to someone with whom one is familiar. “À toi” literally means “to you”.

The original name of Montreal was Ville-Marie, meaning the City of Mary. Ville-Marie is now the name of a borough in the city, the borough which includes the downtown area and “Old Montreal”. The present-day city covers most of the Island of Montreal (in French, Île de Montréal) that is located where the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers meet. The name Montreal comes from the three-headed hill that dominates the island and is called Mount Royal.

58. Condoleezza Rice and Martin Luther King Jr., for two : PHDS
Condoleezza “Condi” Rice was the second African American to serve as US Secretary of State (after Colin Powell) and the second woman to hold the office (after Madeleine Albright). Prior to becoming Secretary of State in President George W. Bush’s administration, Rice was the first woman to hold the office of National Security Advisor. In private life, Rice is a remarkably capable pianist. Given her stature in Washington, Rice has had the opportunity to play piano in public with the likes of cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and soul singer Aretha Franklin.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was only 35 years old when he won the Nobel Peace Prize, making him the youngest person to be so honored. King was given the award for his work to end racial segregation and discrimination using non-violent means. The following year he was awarded the American Liberties Medallion by the American Jewish Community.

59. “2012” actress Amanda : PEET
The actress Amanda Peet studied acting with the celebrated Uta Hagen at Columbia University. Peet has appeared in a number of successful films including “The Whole Nine Yards” and “Syriana”. I remember her best from what I thought was a great TV show (but no one seemed to agree!) called “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip”.

“2012” is a disaster movie released in 2009 starring John Cusack. The disaster in the storyline is a series of geological and meteorological events that are purportedly related to the “end of the world” that some said was predicted by the Mayan calendar.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Center of a defense : THESIS STATEMENT
16. One saying “We can do it!” : ROSIE THE RIVETER
17. Bavarian region that the Danube passes through : UPPER PALATINATE
18. Brunch treat with egg and potatoes : SPANISH OMELETTE
19. Girl’s name that becomes a contraction when its first and last letters are switched : TINA
20. “Yes, ___” : SIR
21. It goes with the flow : SILT
22. Caps preceder : SNO-
23. What’s what in Italy? : CHE
26. Org. that tracks baby name popularity : SSA
28. Briny : SEA
29. Give a dirty look : GLARE AT
32. Menu promise : NO MSG
34. Contacts in an emergency : NEXT OF KIN
37. Subject of a museum in Richmond, Va., for short : EA POE
40. Things a bartender strains to make : MAI TAIS
43. Hush-hush org. : NSA
44. Hush-hush org. : KGB
47. Rural call : BAA!
48. Actress Benaderet who voiced Betty Rubble : BEA
50. Take up and hold, chemically : SORB
52. “Sick” : RAD
54. Raise the volume? : YELL
55. Teddy, e.g. : INTIMATE APPAREL
60. Was completely honest : LAID IT ON THE LINE
61. Explain further : ENTER INTO DETAIL
62. Some support for local schools : STATE ASSISTANCE

Down
1. Has faith : TRUSTS
2. Busy : HOPPING
3. Wikipedia option : ESPANOL
4. College near Albany, N.Y. : SIENA
5. Yesterday, in Italy : IERI
6. Line of additives : STPS
7. Ruler’s title from which the word “chess” is derived : SHAH
8. Ultimate object, to Aristotle : TELOS
9. Popular cologne that shares its name with a literary character : ARAMIS
10. Chemistry concentrations : TITERS
11. “___ is whatever distracts”: Kafka : EVIL
12. Founder of Egypt’s first dynasty : MENES
13. Belief in a strong central government : ETATISM
14. Irks : NETTLES
15. Marker in the woods : TREE TAG
23. Run : CREEK
24. Malediction : HEX
25. Opposite of fast : EAT
27. Santa ___ : ANITA
30. Two semesters abroad, maybe : ANO
31. Boy’s name repeated in a nursery rhyme : TOM
33. ___ whim : ON A
35. Wunderbar : FAB
36. Cadenza maker : KIA
37. Stores on a farm : ENSILES
38. Not voiced, as the first “d” in “Wednesday” : ASONANT
39. Bach piece : PARTITA
41. Like Catalonia : IBERIAN
42. Relating to the moon : SELENIC
45. Ex ___ (as a favor, in law) : GRATIA
46. Ones getting passed in a race : BATONS
49. Alternative form of a gene : ALLELE
51. European hotel fixture : BIDET
53. Inroads : DENTS
54. Conference site : YALTA
56. Stick fast : MIRE
57. What’s yours in Montréal? : A TOI
58. Condoleezza Rice and Martin Luther King Jr., for two : PHDS
59. “2012” actress Amanda : PEET

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4 thoughts on “0109-16 New York Times Crossword Answers 9 Jan 16, Saturday”

  1. 35:10, no errors. Got a toehold in the middle with CHE, worked across and down to establish a beachhead in the lower right, fought my way from there back across to the lower left, and finally … oof … "all" I had left was the top three rows, with nothing written in but SHAH. Thought I was done for, but slowly worked it from left to right. I wouldn't have guessed that UPPER PALATINATE was stashed away anywhere in the little gray cells, but it popped out at just the right moment. All in all, some very rough moments with this one …

  2. 55:50, 9 errors. 1A had THE _ _ _ STATEMENT, could not see THESIS STATEMENT in there. 17A had UPPER _ A _ ATINATE, had not heard of UPPER PALATINATE before. 20A was stuck on YES BUT, instead of YES SIR. Can't win them all.

    Nice job Dave.

  3. Today's puzzle seemed impossible, but like all such puzzles, if one persists, one can prevail. It took us a long time, but we got every answer without "peeking".

    Here's a little something on Thursday's puzzle:

    ON CLUES

    Sitting on this ass of mine,
    Pond'ring Thursday's ASININE…
    Its clue was not what clues should be,
    (And others—all BENGALI to me)

    Just yesterday, I sat a horse
    And hummed the Handel HOTDIGGITY Chorus
    (What sort of crazy clue was that?
    I'm starting, here, to smell ARAT.)

    So as another week unfolds,
    I'll switch to cars, and ride THEOLDS
    And think: Nobelist ANDREGIDE—
    Obscurest clue I've ever seed.

    TRUE, DAT!

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