0213-16 New York Times Crossword Answers 13 Feb 16, Saturday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
14. Neocon’s target of derision : IVORY TOWER
In modern usage, an ivory tower is an environment focused on education and intellectual pursuits while isolated from the practicalities of everyday life. The term is often used to describe academia. “Ivory tower” originated in the Song of Solomon in the Bible with the the line “Your neck is like an ivory tower”.

By definition, a neoconservative (neocon) is a former left-aligned politician who has moved to the right and supports the use of American power and military to bring democracy, liberty, equality and human rights to other countries.

16. Prepare for a later showing, maybe : TIVO
TiVo was introduced in 1999 and was the world’s first commercially successful DVR (Digital Video Recorder).

18. Major name in cards : AMEX
Amex is short for American Express. In dollar terms, there are more transactions conducted in the US using the Amex card than any other card.

19. Satisfied : SLAKED
“To slake” is to satisfy a craving, as in slaking one’s thirst.

22. Pumas alternative : AVIAS
The Avia brand name for athletic shoes was chosen as “avia” is the Latin word for “to fly”, and suggests the concept of aviation. Avia was founded in Oregon in 1979.

Puma is a German company that sells athletic shoes worldwide. The company is most famous for its line of soccer boots.

23. Wavy fabric pattern : MOIRE
A moiré pattern is a phenomenon in physics, a so-called interference pattern. If you lay two sheets of mesh over each other for example, slightly offset, then what you see is a moiré pattern. “Moiré” is the French name for a textile that we know simply as “moire”. The rippled pattern of the textile resembles that of the interference pattern.

27. Part of STEM, for short : TECH
The acronym STEM stands for the disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. An alternative acronym with a similar meaning is MINT, standing for mathematics, information sciences, natural sciences and technology.

34. Charm City landmark : CAMDEN YARDS
Oriole Park is home to the Baltimore Orioles baseball team. The full name of the stadium is Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Baltimore, Maryland adopted the nickname “Charm City” back in 1975. The name was chosen by a group of advertisers whose goal was to improve the city’s image.

35. Arbiter of 1980s TV : JUDGE WAPNER
Joseph Wapner is a retired judge who was the first person to star in the reality show “The People’s Court”. With Wapner on the bench, the first manifestation of “The People’s Court” ran for almost 2,500 episodes, from 1981 to 1993. Prior to gracing our TV screens, Judge Wapner served for 18 years on the Los Angeles County Superior Court.

36. Gardens of Babur city : KABUL
The Gardens of Babur in Kabul, Afghanistan is a historic park that dates back to the 16th century. The park was built by the first Mughal emperor Babur, and indeed the Gardens of Babur is his last resting-place.

37. Hectically : AMOK
The phrase “to run amok” (sometimes “to run amuck”) has been around since the 1670s and is derived from the Malay word for “attacking furiously”, “amuk”. The word “amok” was also used as a noun to describe Malay natives who were “frenzied”. Given Malaya’s troubled history, the natives probably had good reason for that frenzy …

38. Mountains have grown over them : EONS
Geological time is divided into a number of units of varying lengths. These are, starting from the largest:

– supereon
– eon (also “aeon”)
– era
– period
– epoch
– age

45. Setting for Ansel Adams : F-STOP
Varying the f-stop in a lens varies how big the lens opening (the aperture) is when a photograph is taken. Smaller apertures (higher f-stop values) admit less light, but result in a greater depth of field (more of the photograph is in focus).

As an avid amateur photographer, I have been a big fan of the work of Ansel Adams for many years and must have read all of his books. Adams was famous for clarity and depth in his black and white images. Central to his technique was the use of the zone system, his own invention. The zone system is a way of controlling exposure in an image, particularly when there is a high contrast in the subject. Although the technique was developed primarily for black & white film, it can even apply to digital color images. In the digital world, the main technique is to expose an image for the highlights, and one or more images for the shadows. These images can then be combined digitally giving a final photograph with a full and satisfying range of exposures.

46. Tony Blair’s period as British P.M., e.g. : DECADE
Tony Blair was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for ten years, from 1997 to 2007. Blair led his Labour Party from the left, more to the center, helped along by the phrase “New Labour”. Under his leadership, Labour won a landslide victory in 1997, and was comfortable elected into power again in 2001 and 2005. Blair stepped down in 2007 and Gordon Blair took over as prime minister. Labour was soundly defeated at the polls in the next general election, in 2010.

50. Quaff at the Three Broomsticks inn : BUTTERBEER
The Three Broomsticks is a pub that is frequented by Hogwarts students and staff in the “Harry Potter” series of novels. The menu of drinks served at the Three Broomsticks includes butterbeer, firewhisky, gillywater and oak-matured mead.

56. Legend of climbing expeditions : YETI
A yeti is a beast of legend, also called an abominable snowman. “Yeti” is a Tibetan term, and the beast is fabled to live in the Himalayan regions of Nepal and Tibet. Our equivalent legend in North America is that of Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch. The study of animals whose existence have not yet been substantiated is called cryptozoology.

57. “The ability to describe others as they see themselves,” per Lincoln : TACT
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the US, elected in 1860 as the first president from the Republican Party. Lincoln’s electoral support came almost exclusively from the north and west of the country, winning only two out of 996 counties in the Southern slave states. Lincoln led the country through Civil War, and then was assassinated in 1865 just a few days after Robert E. Lee surrendered his army of Northern Virginia. President Lincoln was succeeded in office by Vice President Andrew Johnson.

58. Possible “OMG!” follow-up : SRSLY
SRSLY is text-speak for “seriously?”

OMG is text-speak for Oh My Gosh! Oh My Goodness! or any other G words you might think of …

Down
3. “Navicella” at St. Peter’s, for one : MOSAIC
The “Navicella” was a large mosaic on a wall in the Old Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome. With the title translating as “Little Ship”, the Navicella depicted Jesus walking on the water, as described in the Bible’s Gospel of Matthew. The mosaic was virtually destroyed during the construction of the new Saint Peter’s Basilica in the early 1600s, although fragments have been incorporated into a new work that is on display in the new building.

4. “Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip Hop)” Grammy winner : ERYKAH BADU
Erykah Badu is the stage name of Erica Wright, an American “neo-soul” singer. Badu gained some notoriety in March of 2010 when she shot a scene for a music video in Dallas. In the scene, she walks to the spot where President Kennedy was assassinated, removing her clothes until she is nude, and then falls to the ground as if she has been shot in the head. For that stunt she was charged with disorderly conduct.

5. B and O, e.g. : TYPES
The most important grouping of blood types is the ABO system. Blood is classified as either A, B, AB or O, depending on the type of antigens on the surface of the red blood cells. A secondary designation of blood is the Rh factor, in which other antigens are labelled as either positive or negative. When a patient receives a blood transfusion, ideally the donor blood should be the same type as that of the recipient, as incompatible blood cells can be rejected. However, blood type O-neg can be accepted by recipients with all blood types, A, B, AB or O, and positive or negative. Hence someone with O-neg blood type is called a “universal donor”.

7. Aviary cry : AWK!
An aviary is a large cage that houses birds. “Avis” is Latin for bird.

8. One of two slices of pizza? : ZEE
There are two letters Z (zee) in the word “pizza”.

10. Van Gundy of the N.B.A. : STAN
Stan Van Gundy is an NBA basketball coach. Stan’s brother Jeff Van Gundy also coached in the NBA. Stan and Jeff’s father was head basketball coach at Brockport State University in Western New York.

15. Modicum : TAD
Back in the 1800s “tad” was used to describe a young child, and this morphed into our usage of “small amount” in the early 1900s. The original use of “tad” for a child is very likely a shortened version of “tadpole”.

A modicum is a small portion, with “modicum” coming into English from Latin, via Scottish. “Modicum” is Latin for “a little”.

21. Clichéd company slogan : WE CARE
“Cliché” is a word that comes from the world of printing. In the days when type was added as individual letters into a printing plate, for efficiency some oft-used phrases and words were created as one single slug of metal. The word “cliché” was used for such a grouping of letters. It’s easy to see how the same word would become a term to describe any overused phrase. Supposedly, “cliché” comes from French, from the verb “clicher” meaning “to click”. The idea is that when a matrix of letters was dropped in molten metal to make a cliché, it made a clicking sound.

24. Something Rihanna and Madonna each have : ONE NAME
The singer Rihanna was born and grew up on the island of Barbados and moved to the US when she was 16-years-old to pursue a singing career. “Rihanna” is her stage name, as she was born Robyn Rihanna Fenty. The name “Rihanna” is derived from the Welsh name “Rhiannon”.

Madonna’s full name is Madonna Louise Ciccone. Born in Bay City, Michigan, Madonna was destined to become the top-selling female recording artist of all time.

25. “I Wanna Be Your Dog” vocalist : IGGY POP
Iggy Pop is a punk rock performer from Muskegon, Michigan. When he was in high school, he was a drummer for a local band called the Iguanas, and so was given the nickname “Iggy”.

35. Woman of mystery? : JANE DOE
Although the English court system does not use the term today, “John Doe” first appeared as the “name of a person unknown” in England in 1659, along with another unknown, Richard Roe. The female equivalent of John Doe is Jane Doe, with the equivalent to Richard Roe being Jane Roe (as in Roe v. Wade, for example).

36. Noted jazz trombonist’s nickname : KID ORY
Kid Ory was a bandleader and jazz trombonist. At the beginning of the 20th century Ory’s New Orleans band included a young cornet player called … Louis Armstrong.

39. Some pups : OTTERS
The fur of the sea otter is exceptionally thick. It is in fact the densest fur in the whole animal kingdom.

48. Krusty’s sidekick on “The Simpsons” : MEL
Krusty the Clown is a character on the TV show “The Simpsons”, one voiced by Dan Castellaneta. Krusty has a sidekick named sideshow Mel, a character also voiced by Castellaneta.

51. “Royal Pains” network : USA
“Royal Pains” is a medical drama that has aired on the USA network since 2009. The storyline revolves around a “concierge doctor” named Hank Lawson, a doctor who provides medical support to residents of a resort community in the Hamptons.

52. Showtime affiliate : TMC
The Movie Channel is owned by Showtime, which in turn is subsidiary of CBS. The channel’s name is often abbreviated to “TMC”, although this is informal usage.

53. Occasion for gifting red envelopes : TET
The full name for the New Year holiday in Vietnam is “Tet Nguyen Dan” meaning “Feast of the First Morning”, with the reference being to the arrival of the season of spring. Tet usually falls on the same day as Chinese New Year. One of the traditions observed at Tet is the gifting of money in red envelopes from elders to children.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. “Yes, I already know her” : WE MET
6. Put off : FAZE
10. Foundation piece : SLAB
14. Neocon’s target of derision : IVORY TOWER
16. Prepare for a later showing, maybe : TIVO
17. Buttinsky : NOSY PARKER
18. Major name in cards : AMEX
19. Satisfied : SLAKED
20. Pro sports figures : OWNERS
22. Pumas alternative : AVIAS
23. Wavy fabric pattern : MOIRE
26. Got into a stew? : ATE
27. Part of STEM, for short : TECH
28. [All of a sudden!] : BANG!
29. Major in the future, perhaps : CADET
31. Broke down, in a way : BIODEGRADED
34. Charm City landmark : CAMDEN YARDS
35. Arbiter of 1980s TV : JUDGE WAPNER
36. Gardens of Babur city : KABUL
37. Hectically : AMOK
38. Mountains have grown over them : EONS
42. Well-connected people : INS
43. One dealing in space and time : AD REP
45. Setting for Ansel Adams : F-STOP
46. Tony Blair’s period as British P.M., e.g. : DECADE
48. Critical assignment : MUST-DO
49. Gorge oneself with, facetiously : OD ON
50. Quaff at the Three Broomsticks inn : BUTTERBEER
54. Wipe the floor with : ROUT
55. “Something seems off …” : I SMELL A RAT …
56. Legend of climbing expeditions : YETI
57. “The ability to describe others as they see themselves,” per Lincoln : TACT
58. Possible “OMG!” follow-up : SRSLY

Down
1. Beats someone in : WINS AT
2. Develop : EVOLVE
3. “Navicella” at St. Peter’s, for one : MOSAIC
4. “Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip Hop)” Grammy winner : ERYKAH BADU
5. B and O, e.g. : TYPES
6. In the pros? : FOR
7. Aviary cry : AWK!
8. One of two slices of pizza? : ZEE
9. Miss, e.g. : ERROR
10. Van Gundy of the N.B.A. : STAN
11. Sweet, tangy drinks : LIMEADES
12. Directed elsewhere : AVERTED
13. Complete works, maybe : BOX SET
15. Modicum : TAD
21. Clichéd company slogan : WE CARE
23. Attacked : MADE WAR
24. Something Rihanna and Madonna each have : ONE NAME
25. “I Wanna Be Your Dog” vocalist : IGGY POP
28. Warn of : BODE
30. Browser feature : ADDRESS BAR
32. “Good to hear” : I’M GLAD
33. Malodorous : RANK
34. One with the motto “Do Your Best” : CUB SCOUT
35. Woman of mystery? : JANE DOE
36. Noted jazz trombonist’s nickname : KID ORY
39. Some pups : OTTERS
40. Negotiation’s terse conclusion : NO DEAL
41. Like many convertibles : SPORTY
44. Gas pump option : DEBIT
45. Puts away, as a banner : FURLS
47. Set against : ANTI
48. Krusty’s sidekick on “The Simpsons” : MEL
51. “Royal Pains” network : USA
52. Showtime affiliate : TMC
53. Occasion for gifting red envelopes : TET

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