0413-16 New York Times Crossword Answers 13 Apr 16, Wednesday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. “Oh, yeah …,” in a text : BTW …
By the way (BTW)

4. Prefix with musicology : ETHNO-
Ethnomusicology is the comparative study of music from different cultures.

9. Dogie-bagging rope : LASSO
“Dogie” is cowboy slang for a motherless calf in a herd.

15. “Of course!” : NATCH!
“Natch” is a slang term meaning “naturally, of course”. “Natch” is simply a shortening of the word “‘naturally”, and was first recorded at the end of WWII.

16. Sleep clinic concern : APNEA
Sleep apnea (“apnoea” in British English) can be caused by an obstruction in the airways, possibly due to obesity or enlarged tonsils.

17. Oil dispenser on a Food Network show? : TELEVISION CRUET (from “television crew”)
A cruet is a small glass bottle for holding a condiment or perhaps a dressing. The word “cruet” comes from the Old French word for an earthen pot.

20. Egypt’s Mubarak : HOSNI
Hosni Mubarak was the fourth President of Egypt, taking over after Anwar Sadat was assassinated in 1981. Mubarak resigned in 2011 in the early months of the Arab Spring after 18 days of public demonstrations. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2012 and is reported to be extremely sick in detention, and is perhaps even on life support.

21. Brake plate : SHOE
The drum brake was invented in 1902 by Louis Renault (founder of Renault, the automobile company). In a drum brake, there is a set of brake shoes that usually presses on the inner surface of the drum to slow down rotation. Nowadays, the disc brake system is more popular, a design which uses brake pads instead of brake shoes.

23. Lively movement : SCHERZO
A “scherzo” is often the third movement in a larger work such as a sonata or symphony. It is usually a fast, light-hearted composition, with the name “scherzo” translating from Italian as “jest”.

26. Hasbro board game in which armies conquer territories : RISK
Risk is a fabulous board game, first sold in France in 1957. Risk was invented by a very successful French director of short films called Albert Lamorisse. Lamorisse called his new game “La Conquête du Monde”, which translates into English as “The Conquest of the World”. A game of Risk is a must during the holidays in our house …

28. Genre for “Dueling Banjos”? : MOUNTAIN DUET (from “Mountain Dew”)
“Dueling Banjos” is a 1955 instrumental that was made famous by the 1972 movie “Deliverance”. “Dueling Banjos” was released as a single in 1973 and spent weeks at the number-two spot in the charts, held back by Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly with His Song”. A kind blog reader pointed out the interesting fact that in “Deliverance”, “Dueling Banjos” was played by one banjo and one guitar … dueling guitar and banjo.

If you check the can, you’ll see that “Mountain Dew” is now marketed as “Mtn Dew”.

38. Highlands refusal : NAE
The Scottish Highlands are that part of the country that is not classified as the Lowlands. The Highlands make up the north and west of Scotland.

39. Armani with a plaque on the Rodeo Drive Walk of Style : GIORGIO
Giorgio Armani is an Italian fashion designer and founder of the company that has borne his name since 1975. Although Armani is famous for his menswear, the company makes everything from jewelry to perfume.

The Rodeo Drive Walk of Style in Beverly HIlls is similar to its more famous cousin, the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It is a stretch of Rodeo Drive that has bronze plaques set into the sidewalk honoring people who have made important contributions to fashion and design.

41. Vs. : OPP
Versus (Vs.) is the Latin for “turned toward or against”.

44. Actress Drescher : FRAN
Fran Drescher’s real name is Francine Jane Drescher, a comedian and comic actress best known for playing Fran Fine on the sitcom “The Nanny”. Fran was born in Queens, New York (go figure!). Her big break came with a small role, but in a huge movie. You might recall in “Saturday Night Fever” that John Travolta was asked by a pretty dancer, “Are you as good in bed as you are on the dance floor?”, well, that young lady was Fran Drescher.

46. Weasellike animal kept as a fashion accessory? : VANITY FERRET (from “Vanity Fair”)
William Makepeace Thackeray subtitled “Vanity Fair” using the words “A Novel without a Hero”. He meant this as a warning to us that there are no unflawed characters in the story. I very much enjoyed the 2004 “Vanity Fair” movie, starring Reese Witherspoon.

50. How black holes are packed : DENSELY
A black hole in space is a region that is extremely dense and one that has an enormous gravitational field. The force of gravity is so great that not even light can escape, so all that can be observed is “blackness”, which gives the phenomenon the name of “black hole”. It is believed that black holes form when large stars reach the end of their lives and collapse in upon themselves.

54. Massachusetts’ Cape ___ : ANN
Cape Ann is 30 miles north of Boston and is on the northernmost edge of Massachusetts Bay. The Cape was first mapped by the explorer John Smith. Early in his adventurous life Smith had been captured and enslaved by the Ottoman Empire. His “owner” in his days of slavery was a woman called Tragabigzanda, and apparently the slave and owner fell in love. Smith originally called Cape Tragabigzanda in her memory, but King Charles I changed the name to Cape Ann in honor of his own mother, Anne of Denmark.

56. Fleecy boots : UGGS
Uggs are sheepskin boots that originated in Australia and New Zealand. Uggs have sheepskin fleece on the inside for comfort and insulation, with a tanned leather surface on the outside for durability. Ugg is a generic term down under, although it’s a brand name here in the US.

59. Place for a bald-headed baby? : AERIE
An aerie is the nest of an eagle, and is also known as an “eyrie”.

The bald eagle is sometimes referred to as the American eagle. It is both the national bird and the national animal of the USA, and appears on the US Seal.

60. Equipment endorsed by Inside Tennis? : MAGAZINE RACQUET (from “magazine rack”)
“Inside Tennis” is a magazine that has been covering the sport of tennis since 1981. It is published monthly during the tennis “season” (March through October), and bimonthly during the off-season.

64. What someone who is overly verklempt might do : PLOTZ
The verb “to plotz” is slang for “faint, collapse from surprise or exhaustion”.

“Verklempt” is a Yiddish adjective meaning “overcome with emotion”.

66. Certain special FX : CGI
Computer-generated imagery (CGI)

“FX” is an abbreviation for “effects”, as in “special effects”.

68. They may be waved at concerts : WANDS
I guess the reference is to wand readers that are now used to check tickets electronically as patrons enter concert halls.

69. Your, in Paris : TES
“Tes” is the French word for “your”, when referring to a group of items and when talking to someone with whom you are familiar.

Down
2. Former Fox series set in California : THE OC
“The O.C.” is a teen drama that aired for four seasons on Fox finishing up in 2007. I never watched it, but I understand that it is set in Newport Beach in Southern California.

3. Actress Kate of “Grey’s Anatomy” : WALSH
The actress Kate Walsh is probably best known for playing Dr. Addison Montgomery on “Grey’s Anatomy”, and then leading the cast on the spinoff show “Private Practice”.

“Gray’s Anatomy” is a very successful human anatomy textbook that was first published back in 1858 and is still in print today. The original text was written by English anatomist Henry Gray, who gave his name to the work. The TV medical drama “Grey’s Anatomy” is centered on the character Dr. Meredith Grey, but the show’s title is a nod to the title of the famous textbook.

5. “___-Pan” (James Clavell novel that preceded “Shogun”) : TAI
“Tai-Pan” is a novel by James Clavell, the second in his famous “Asian Saga” suite of six titles. The six books are:

– “King Rat”
– “Tai-Pan”
– “Shōgun”
– “Noble House”
– “Whirlwind”
– “Gai-Jin”

6. Brooklyn ___, N.Y. : HTS
The part of the borough of Brooklyn known as Brooklyn Heights was the first commuter town for New York, blossoming when the a steam ferry service started to run between the Heights and Wall Street in the early 19th-century.

7. CBS military drama : NCIS
NCIS is the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which investigates crimes in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. The service gives its name to the CBS TV show “NCIS”, a spin-off drama from “JAG” in which the main “NCIS” characters were first introduced. The big star in “NCIS” is the actor Mark Harmon. “NCIS” is now a franchise, with spinoff shows “NCIS: Los Angeles” and “NCIS: New Orleans”.

9. Give an earful : LACE INTO
To lace into is attack violently, and is similar to the verb “lay into”.

10. Loan letters : APR
Annual percentage rate (APR)

13. Proverbial “wild” things that are sown : OATS
Traditionally, wild oats was a crop that one would regret sowing instead of “good grain”. Young and tempestuous people were rash enough to sow their wild oats, and had yet to comprehend their folly. Over time, to “feel one’s oats” came to mean “be lively and confident”.

19. Seaweed at a sushi bar : NORI
Nori is an edible seaweed that we used to know as “laver” when I was living in Wales. Nori is usually dried into thin sheets. Here in the US, we are most familiar with nori as the seaweed used as a wrap for sushi.

24. Pueblo people of New Mexico : ZUNI
The Zuni are one of the Pueblo peoples. They live on the Zuni River in western New Mexico, a tributary of the Little Colorado River.

27. ’80s missile shield plan : SDI
One of the positive outcomes of President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI, also “Star Wars”) was a change in US defense strategy. The new approach was to use missiles to destroy incoming hostile weapons, rather than using missiles to destroy the nation attacking the country. The former doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction went by the apt acronym of MAD …

29. Former Yankee manager who also served as player-manager of the Mets : TORRE
As a manager, Joe Torre was part of four World Series wins, all of them with the New York Yankees baseball team. Torre is an Italian American who was born in Brooklyn, New York. During the run up (pun intended!) to the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Torre carried the Olympic flame part of the way through Florence in Italy, handing it over to the next runner at the famous Ponte Vecchio. I’d guess that was quite a thrill for him …

30. One of the nine worlds of Norse mythology : ASGARD
In Norse mythology, Valhalla (“hall of the slain”) is a gigantic hall in the “world” of Asgard. Asgard and Valhalla are ruled by the god Odin, the chief Norse god.

31. World Series of Poker channel : ESPN
The World Series of Poker is an annual event held in Las Vegas. The winner of each event is given a much-coveted World Series of Poker bracelet.

33. Silver State sch. : UNLV
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) was established in 1957 as the Southern Division of the University of Nevada, Reno. One of UNLV’s flagship departments is the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration, which is consistently ranked as one of the best hotel and hospitality colleges in the nation. I suppose that’s not surprising given the proximity to the Las Vegas Strip.

The official nickname of Nevada is the “Silver State”, a reference to importance of silver ore in the state’s growth and economy. The unofficial nickname is the “Battle Born State”. “Battle Born” is a reference to Nevada being awarded statehood during the American Civil War.

34. Mother of Cronus and Rhea : GAEA
The Greek goddess personifying the earth was Gaea (meaning “land” or “earth” in Greek). The Roman equivalent goddess was Terra Mater, “Mother Earth”.

In Greek mythology Rhea was one of the Titans. She was the sister and husband of Cronus, and together they had six children, the last of which was Zeus. Cronus swallowed all of his children as soon as they were born, except for Zeus, who Rhea managed to hide from her husband.

39. Comic strip featuring Satchel Pooch and Bucky Katt : GET FUZZY
“Get Fuzzy” is a cartoon strip by Darby Conley that has been running since 1999. The strip’s main characters are an advertising executive called Rob Wilco and his pets Satchel Pooch and Bucky Katt.

43. Car registration fig. : VIN
Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) were introduced by the automotive industry in 1954.

45. Bibliographical abbr. : ET SEQ
The Latin phrase “et sequens” or “et sequentia” is used in English to mean “and following”, and is abbreviated to “et seq”.

47. Eastern mystic : YOGI
A yogi is a practitioner of yoga.

In the West we tend to think of yoga as a physical discipline, a means of exercise that uses specific poses to stretch and strengthen muscles. While it is true that the ancient Indian practice of yoga does involve such physical discipline, the corporeal aspect of the practice plays a relatively small part in the whole philosophy. Other major components are meditation, ethical behavior, breathing and contemplation.

51. Burp : ERUCT
“To eruct” is to belch gas from the stomach, or matter from a volcano!

52. Feudal lord : LIEGE
A liege was a feudal lord, one to whom service or allegiance was owed under feudal law. “Liege” was also the term used for one who owed allegiance or service to a lord. Very confusing …

53. Himalayan cryptids : YETIS
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, and a cryptid is a creature or plant that isn’t recognized by the scientific community, but the existence of which has been suggested.

54. Around-the-clock, in a way : AM/PM
The 12-hour clock has been around a long time, and was even used in sundial format in Ancient Egypt. Our use of AM and PM dates back to Roman times, with AM standing for Ante Meridiem (before noon) and PM standing for Post Meridiem (after noon). However, the Romans originally used the AM concept a little differently, by counting backwards from noon. So, 2AM to the Romans would be two hours before noon, or 10AM as we would call it today.

55. “The Lion King” lion : NALA
In “The Lion King”, Nala is a lioness and the childhood friend of Simba.

58. Its mascot is Sonic the Hedgehog : SEGA
Sonic the Hedgehog is a title character in a videogame and the mascot of Sega, the computer game developer. Sonic was set up as a rival to Nintendo’s mascot “Mario”.

61. N.L. East city, on scoreboards : ATL
The Atlanta Braves are the only team to have won baseball’s World Series in three different home cities. They won as the Boston Braves in 1914, the Milwaukee Braves in 1957 and the Atlanta Braves in 1995.

62. Knights of ___, villainous group in “The Force Awakens” : REN
“Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens” is the seventh episode in the “Star Wars” series of films. Some favorite characters return in “Star Wars VII”, including Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and General Leia Organa (or “Princess Leia” in earlier films, played by Carrie Fisher).

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. “Oh, yeah …,” in a text : BTW …
4. Prefix with musicology : ETHNO-
9. Dogie-bagging rope : LASSO
14. “Of course!” : AHA!
15. “Of course!” : NATCH!
16. Sleep clinic concern : APNEA
17. Oil dispenser on a Food Network show? : TELEVISION CRUET (from “television crew”)
20. Egypt’s Mubarak : HOSNI
21. Brake plate : SHOE
22. Ones put on the rack? : CDS
23. Lively movement : SCHERZO
26. Hasbro board game in which armies conquer territories : RISK
28. Genre for “Dueling Banjos”? : MOUNTAIN DUET (from “Mountain Dew”)
33. Vicious, as a fight : UGLY
36. Modernists, informally : NEOS
37. Slightly pickled : TIPSY
38. Highlands refusal : NAE
39. Armani with a plaque on the Rodeo Drive Walk of Style : GIORGIO
41. Vs. : OPP
42. Hit the bricks : LEAVE
44. Actress Drescher : FRAN
45. Cousin of -trix : -ENNE
46. Weasellike animal kept as a fashion accessory? : VANITY FERRET (from “Vanity Fair”)
49. Dope : INFO
50. How black holes are packed : DENSELY
54. Massachusetts’ Cape ___ : ANN
56. Fleecy boots : UGGS
59. Place for a bald-headed baby? : AERIE
60. Equipment endorsed by Inside Tennis? : MAGAZINE RACQUET (from “magazine rack”)
64. What someone who is overly verklempt might do : PLOTZ
65. Big player on draft day : AGENT
66. Certain special FX : CGI
67. Hairy-chested, say : MANLY
68. They may be waved at concerts : WANDS
69. Your, in Paris : TES

Down
1. Ancient Roman meeting places : BATHS
2. Former Fox series set in California : THE OC
3. Actress Kate of “Grey’s Anatomy” : WALSH
4. Green person, for short : ENVIRO
5. “___-Pan” (James Clavell novel that preceded “Shogun”) : TAI
6. Brooklyn ___, N.Y. : HTS
7. CBS military drama : NCIS
8. “Call on me! I know this!” : OH! OH!
9. Give an earful : LACE INTO
10. Loan letters : APR
11. Caught unawares : SNUCK UP ON
12. Sow : SEED
13. Proverbial “wild” things that are sown : OATS
18. Other side : ENEMY
19. Seaweed at a sushi bar : NORI
24. Pueblo people of New Mexico : ZUNI
25. Something not repeated : ONE-OFF
27. ’80s missile shield plan : SDI
29. Former Yankee manager who also served as player-manager of the Mets : TORRE
30. One of the nine worlds of Norse mythology : ASGARD
31. World Series of Poker channel : ESPN
32. Class : TYPE
33. Silver State sch. : UNLV
34. Mother of Cronus and Rhea : GAEA
35. Pressuring : LEANING ON
39. Comic strip featuring Satchel Pooch and Bucky Katt : GET FUZZY
40. About : IN RE
43. Car registration fig. : VIN
45. Bibliographical abbr. : ET SEQ
47. Eastern mystic : YOGI
48. Puts into effect : ENACTS
51. Burp : ERUCT
52. Feudal lord : LIEGE
53. Himalayan cryptids : YETIS
54. Around-the-clock, in a way : AM/PM
55. “The Lion King” lion : NALA
57. Nibble (on) : GNAW
58. Its mascot is Sonic the Hedgehog : SEGA
61. N.L. East city, on scoreboards : ATL
62. Knights of ___, villainous group in “The Force Awakens” : REN
63. “What next?” : AND?

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