0417-16 New York Times Crossword Answers 17 Apr 16, Sunday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Howard Barkin
THEME: Expanded Worldview … each of our themed answers ends with a feature readily visible on Google Earth. We start with a HOUSE, and gradually zoom out seeing larger and larger features until we finish with NATION:

113A. *Popular app that can view any of the places named at the ends of the answers to the starred clues : GOOGLE EARTH

23A. *1978 movie in which Kevin Bacon made his film debut : ANIMAL HOUSE
32A. *Having it made : ON EASY STREET
48A. *Progress preventer : STUMBLING BLOCK
68A. *1990s-2000s HBO hit : SEX AND THE CITY
84A. *Laos or Vietnam : COMMUNIST STATE
101A. *Sobriquet for ardent Boston fans : RED SOX NATION

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 18m 08s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 2 HOSEA (Nosea), SHAGS (snags)

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

1. Kind of chip : NACHO
The dish known as “nachos” were supposedly created by the maître d’ at a restaurant called the Victory Club in the city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico. The maître d’’s name was Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya.

6. Novelist Tillie who wrote “Tell Me a Riddle” : OLSEN
Tillie Olsen was an author and feminist noted in particular for highlighting the plight of women and the poor in the 1930s in the US.

11. 1950s sci-fi terror, with “the” : BLOB
The 1958 horror film “The Blob” was the first movie in which Steve McQueen had a leading role. “The Blob” wasn’t a success at all, until Steve McQueen became a star that is. Using McQueen’s name, the movie was re-released and gained a cult following and was particularly successful at drive-in theaters.

15. Pro baller-turned-commentator for N.B.A. on TNT : SHAQ
Retired basketball player Shaquille O’Neal now appears regularly as an analyst on the NBA TV show “Inside the NBA”. Shaq has quite a career in the entertainment world. His first rap album, called “Shaq Diesel”, went platinum. He also starred in two of his own reality show: “Shaq’s Big Challenge” and “Shaq Vs.”

20. Last method of death in Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None” : NOOSE
“Ten Little Indians” is a mystery novel by Agatha Christie. The story was adapted for the big screen several times, including a 1989 version that used the same title as the novel. An earlier 1974 version used the title “And Then There Were None”. Actor Herbert Lom appeared in both versions.

22. Modern movement inits. : LGBT
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)

23. *1978 movie in which Kevin Bacon made his film debut : ANIMAL HOUSE
The very funny 1978 movie “Animal House” has the prefix “National Lampoon’s …” because the storyline came out of tales that had already appeared in “National Lampoon” magazine. “Animal House” was to become the first in a long line of successful “National Lampoon” films. The main pledges in the movie are Tom Hulce (Pinto), who later played a magnificent “Amadeus”, and Stephen Furst (Flounder), later played a regular role on television’s “Babylon 5”.

Kevin Bacon is an actor from Philadelphia who appeared first on the big screen in the 1978 comedy “National Lampoon’s Animal House”. That wasn’t to be the big break that Bacon needed though, which came with “Footloose” in 1984. A fun fact about him is that he is the subject of a popular trivia game called “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” in which players have to show that a particular actor can be related to Kevin Bacon in fewer than six links, with each link being a movie in which two actors appear together.

27. Makeup for a “Wizard of Oz” character? : TIN
Actor Jack Haley played the Tin Man in “The Wizard of Oz”. Haley was the second choice for the role, as it was originally given to Buddy Ebsen (who later played Jed Clampett in “The Beverly Hillbillies”). Ebsen was being “painted up” as the Tin Man when he had an extreme, near-fatal reaction from inhaling the aluminum dust makeup that was being used. When Haley took over, the makeup was changed to a paste, but it was still uncomfortable and caused him to miss the first four days of shooting due to a reaction in his eyes. During filming, Haley must have made good friends with the movie’s star, Judy Garland, as years later Jack’s son married Judy’s daughter, Liza Minnelli.

35. Deg. in the boardroom : MBA
Master of Business Administration (MBA)

41. Comments from a crossword kibitzer : ANSWERS
To kibitz (or less commonly “kibbitz”) is to look on and offer unwanted advice. The term comes into English from German via Yiddish. “Kibitz” developed in German from the name of the bird “Kiebitz” which had the reputation as a meddler.

43. It’s sold by the yard : ALE
A yard of ale is a very tall glass, one that is just under a yard (three feet) long. It holds about 60 fluid ounces of beer. I’ve tried drinking out of one, and it is extremely difficult. There is a bulb at the bottom of the glass. When you get towards the end of the drink, that bulb causes a kind of airlock and the remainder of the beer rushes to the top of the glass splashing you in the face.

47. Actor Morales : ESAI
The actor Esai Morales is best known for his role in the 1987 movie “La Bamba”, which depicted the life of Ritchie Valens and his half-brother Bob Morales (played by Esai).

55. Prophet whose name means “deliverance” : HOSEA
Hosea was one of the Twelve Prophets of the Hebrew Bible, also called the Minor Prophets of the Old Testament in the Christian Bible.

56. Southern Italian port : BARI
Bari is a major port city on the Adriatic coast of Italy. Bari has the unfortunate distinction of being the only city in Europe to experience chemical warfare during WWII. Allied stores of mustard gas were released during a German bombing raid on Bari in 1943. Fatalities caused by the chemical agent were reported as 69, although other reports list the number as maybe a thousand military personnel and a thousand civilians.

59. Helmeted deity : ARES
The Greek god Ares is often referred to as the Olympian god of warfare, but originally he was regarded as the god of bloodlust and slaughter. Ares united with Aphrodite to create several gods, including Phobos, Deimos and Eros. The Roman equivalent to Ares was Mars.

67. Non-___ (modern food label) : GMO
A genetically modified organism (GMO) is one with genetic material that has been altered by genetic engineering. One might argue that the oldest form of genetic engineering is selective breeding, the use of animals or plants with desired traits for the creation of the next generation.

68. *1990s-2000s HBO hit : SEX AND THE CITY
The HBO series “Sex and the City” is based on a book of the same name by Candace Bushnell. Apparently there is a spin-off series in the offing called “The Carrie Diaries”.

71. A, in Amiens : UNE
Amiens is a city in the north of France in the region known as Picardy. Amiens lies on the River Somme, and is the capital city of the Somme department.

74. “Chilean” fish : SEA BASS
What we know from restaurant menus as “Chilean sea bass” is really Patagonian toothfish. The “Chilean sea bass” moniker was invented by a fish wholesaler named Lee Lantz in 1977 as a name that would be more easily accepted by American consumers.

75. Typewriter type : PICA
A pica is a unit of measure used in typography. One pica is equivalent to 1/6 of an inch. Each pica unit contains 12 “points”.

79. Mexican sauce : MOLE
Mole sauce comes in various guises, with “mole negro” including everyone’s favorite ingredient, namely chocolate.

80. “Natural” way to serve a roast : AU JUS
The French term “au jus” is usually translated as “with it’s own juice”.

81. “Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette,” e.g. : RENOIR
Renoir’s famous 1876 painting “Bal du Moulin de la Galette” depicts working class Parisians enjoying a Sunday afternoon drinking and dancing at the Montmartre restaurant Moulin de la Galette.

84. *Laos or Vietnam : COMMUNIST STATE
The official name for the country of Laos is the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. In the Lao language, the country’s name is “Meuang Lao”. The French ruled Laos as part of French Indochina, having united three separate Lao kingdoms. As there was a plural of “Lao” entities united into one, the French added the “S” and so today we tend to use “Laos” instead of “Lao”.

Vietnam is the country with the13th-largest population in the word. It covers all of the eastern coast of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia.

90. Sue Grafton’s “___ for Ricochet” : R IS
Sue Grafton writes detective novels, and her “alphabet series” features the private investigator Kinsey Millhone. She started off with “A Is for Alibi” in 1982 and is working her way through the alphabet, most recently publishing “’W’ is for Wasted” in 2009. Apparently Ms. Grafton is working on her “X is for …” novel, and has already decided that “Z is for Zero” will be the final title in the series. What a clever naming system!

94. Where phone nos. might be stored : PDA
Personal digital assistant (PDA)

101. *Sobriquet for ardent Boston fans : RED SOX NATION
The Boston Red Sox is one of the most successful Major League Baseball teams and so commands a large attendance, but only when on the road. The relatively small capacity of Boston’s Fenway Park, the team’s home since 1912, has dictated that every game the Red Sox has played there has been a sell out since May of 2003.

113. *Popular app that can view any of the places named at the ends of the answers to the starred clues : GOOGLE EARTH
Google Earth is a program that maps the Earth by superimposing satellite images and aerial photographs. Google acquired the technology when it purchased Keyhole, Inc in 2004. Keyhole had been partially funded by the CIA.

117. Bach composition : FUGUE
A fugue is similar to a round in that it is a piece written for two or more voices, with themes that are introduced and taken up by different voices at different pitches. The most famous composer of fugues has to be Bach.

120. “___-Team” : THE A
“The A-Team” is an action television series that originally ran in the eighties. The A-Team was a group of ex-US special forces personnel who became mercenaries. Star of the show was Hollywood actor George Peppard (as “Hannibal” Smith).

121. Blackjack option : STAND
In the card game called Blackjack, an ace has the point value of one or eleven. When one of the two cards dealt to a player is an ace, the hand is called “soft”. This means that the player cannot go bust by taking another card, as the ace can be revalued at “one” if necessary in order to stay under 21.

122. “Duck Dynasty” network : A AND E
“Duck Dynasty” is a reality television show on the A&E cable channel. The show is centered on the Robertson family from Monroe, Louisiana who made a lot of money selling products to duck hunters. Phil Robertson was in the news awhile back for views he expressed on homeosexuality and other subjects in an interview with “GQ” magazine.

Down
3. Achebe who wrote “Things Fall Apart” : CHINUA
Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe was born in the Ibo region in the south of the country. His first novel was “Things Fall Apart”, a book that has the distinction of being the most widely read in the whole of African literature.

7. Sarges’ superiors : LOOIES
A lieutenant (looie) is higher in rank than a sergeant (sarge).

8. March composer : SOUSA
John Philip Sousa was a composer and conductor from Washington, D.C. Sousa was well known for his patriotic marches and earned himself the nickname “The American March King”. He served as a member of the US Marine Band from 1868 to 1875, and after leaving the Marines learned to conduct and compose. One of the Sousa compositions that is well-known around the world is called “The Liberty Bell”, a tune used as the musical theme for BBC Television’s “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”. Sousa also wrote “Semper Fidelis”, which is the official march of the US Marine Corps.

10. Formerly : NEE
“Née” is the French word for “born” when referring to a female. The male equivalent is “né”.

13. Lose control at the buffet : OVEREAT
Our word “buffet” comes from the French “bufet” meaning “bench, sideboard”. So, a buffet is a meal served from a “bufet”.

17. Prez on a penny : ABE
The US one-cent coin has borne the profile of President Abraham Lincoln since 1909, the centennial of Lincoln’s birth. Fifty years later, a representation of the Lincoln Memorial was added to the reverse side.

24. Rich Richie : LIONEL
Singer-songwriter Lionel Richie got his big break as a singer and saxophonist with the Commodores starting in 1968. Richie launched a very successful solo career in 1982. Richie is the father of socialite Nicole Richie, childhood friend of Paris Hilton and co-star on the Fox show “The Simple Life”.

26. Tolkien creatures : ENTS
Ents are those tree-like creatures that live in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth in his series of books “The Lord of the Rings”. “Ent” is an Old English word for “giant”.

34. “Vamoose!” : SHOO!
“To vamoose” is to “to leave”, coming from the Spanish “vamos” meaning “let’s go”.

36. Seasoned pork sausage, informally : BRAT
A bratwurst (sometimes “brat” in the US) is a German sausage. The name comes from “brät-” meaning “finely chopped meat”, and “Wurst” meaning “sausage”.

39. Third-largest island in Italy, after Sicily and Sardinia : ELBA
I had a lovely two-week vacation in Tuscany once, including what was supposed to be a two-night stay on the island of Elba. I had envisioned Elba as a place full of history, and maybe it is, but it is also overrun with tourists who use it as a beach getaway. We left after one day and we won’t be going back again …

In the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, the “boot” is the mainland of Italy, and the the ball being kicked by the boot is the island of Sicily.

Sardinia is an autonomous region of Italy, an island in the Mediterranean off the west coast of the country. It lies to the south of the French island of Corsica. Sardinia is the second largest island in the whole of the Mediterranean Sea (Sicily is the largest).

42. “___ the Beat” (1982 Go-Go’s hit) : WE GOT
The Go-Go’s are an all-female rock band that was formed in Los Angeles back in 1978. The band’s biggest hit was “We Got the Beat”, which was released in 1982. The best-known member of the Go-Go’s is probably Belinda Carlisle.

45. Gang in “Grease” with an automotive name : T-BIRDS
In the musical play “Grease” by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, the so-called “greaser” gang of teenage boys were called the Burger Palace Boys. In later productions, and the follow-on movies, the gang’s name was changed to the “T-Birds”. The associated band of teenage girls were called the Pink Ladies.

46. Reggae precursor : SKA
Ska originated in Jamaica in the late fifties and was the precursor to reggae music. No one has a really definitive etymology of the term “ska”, but it is likely to be imitative of some sound.

48. Fetches : SHAGS
To shag (I am reliably informed, never having played a game of baseball in my life!) is to chase and catch a fly ball.

51. Agile mountain climbers : IBEXES
Ibex is a common name for various species of mountain goat. “Ibex” is a Latin name that was used for wild goats found in the Alps and Apennines in Europe.

53. Guitar bars : FRETS
A fret is a metal strip embedded in the neck of a stringed instrument, like a guitar perhaps. The fingers press on the frets, shortening a string and hence changing the note played. The note increases by one semitone as a finger shortens a string by one fret.

58. Storklike waders : IBISES
The ibis is a wading bird that was revered in ancient Egypt. “Ibis” is an interesting word grammatically speaking. You can have one “ibis” or two “ibises”, and then again one has a flock of “ibis”. And if you want to go with the classical plural, instead of two “ibises” you would have two “ibides”!

61. La saison chaude : ETE
In French, “été” (summer) is “la saison chaude” (the warm season).

62. P.I., in old slang : SHAMUS
“Shamus” is a slang term for policeman or a private investigator. The experts don’t seem so sure, but there is no doubt in my mind that the term derives from the Irish name “Séamus” (“James” in English). Sure, aren’t cops always from the Auld Sod?

64. Board displaying the alphabet : OUIJA
The Ouija board was introduced to America as a harmless parlor game at the end of the 19th century, although variations of the board date back to 1100 BC in China, where it was apparently used to “contact” the spirit world. The name “Ouija” is relatively recent, and is probably just a combination of the French and German words for “yes” … “oui” and “ja”.

68. What covers parts of 80-Down? : SARI
(80D. See 68-Down : ASIA)
The item of clothing called a “sari” (also “saree”) is a strip of cloth, as one might imagine, unusual perhaps in that is unstitched along the whole of its length. The strip of cloth can range from four to nine meters long (that’s a lot of material!). The sari is usually wrapped around the waist, then draped over the shoulder leaving the midriff bare. I must say, it can be a beautiful item of clothing.

69. Poetic shades : EBONS
Ebony is another word for the color black (often shortened to “ebon” in poetry). Ebony is a dark black wood that is very dense, one of the few types of wood that sinks in water. Ebony has been in high demand so the species of trees yielding the wood are now considered threatened. It is in such short supply that unscrupulous vendors have been known to darken lighter woods with shoe polish to look like ebony, so be warned …

73. Cartoon Great Dane, informally : SCOOB
“Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!” is a series of cartoons produced for Hanna-Barbera Productions, first broadcast in 1969. The title character is a great Dane dog owned by a young male called Shaggy Rogers. The character’s name was inspired by the famous “doo-be-doo-be-doo” refrain in the Frank Sinatra hit “Strangers in the Night”. Shaggy was voiced by famed disk jockey Casey Kasem.

75. Coup d’état : PUTSCH
A coup d’état (often just “coup”) is the sudden overthrow of a government, and comes from the French for “stroke of state”. The Swiss-German word “putsch” is sometimes used instead of “coup”, with “Putsch” translating literally as “sudden blow”.

77. Cable channel whose first initial stands for its founder : TCM
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is one of my favorite television channels, delivering just what its name promises: classic movies.

Ted Turner’s big initiative in the world of business was the founding of CNN, the first 24-hour cable news channel. Turner never graduated from college as he was expelled from Brown University for having a female student in his dormitory room. Years later, in 1989, Brown awarded him an honorary B.A.

78. Drama that can go on for years : SOAP OPERA
The original soap operas were radio dramas back in the fifties. Given the structure of society back then, the daytime broadcasts were aimed at housewives working in the home. For some reason the sponsors of those radio shows, and the television shows that followed, were soap manufacturers like Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and Lever Brothers. And that’s how the “soap” opera got its name …

82. Cabinet dept. : EDUC
The largest government department in cabinet is the Department of Defense (DOD), with a permanent staff of over 600 thousand. The smallest department, by far, is the Department of Education, with a mere four or five thousand employees.

83. El ___ : NINO
When the surface temperature of much of the Pacific Ocean rises more that half a degree centigrade, then there is said to be an El Niño episode. That small temperature change in the Pacific has been associated with climatic changes that can stretch right across the globe. El Niño is Spanish for “the boy” and is a reference to the Christ child. The phenomenon was given this particular Spanish name because the warming is usually noticed near South America and around Christmas-time.

87. Thirty, en français : TRENTE
“En français” (in French), “trente” means “thirty”.

92. River past Orsk : URAL
The Ural River rises in the Ural Mountains in Russia and flows for half its length through Russian territory until it crosses the border into Kazakhstan, finally emptying into the Caspian Sea.

The city of Orsk is located about 60 miles southeast of the southern tip of the Ural Mountains in Russia. The city lies on the Ural River, which forms the boundary between Europe and Asia. As a result, Orsk can be considered as lying in two continents. Orsk also lies where the Or River joins the Ural, and so the Or gives the city its name.

93. Meal : REPAST
Our word “repast”, meaning “meal”. came to us via French (in which language “repas” is “meal”). Ultimately the term comes from the Latin “repascere” meaning “to repeatedly graze”.

97. Star of Hitchcock’s “The Birds” : HEDREN
Tippi Hedren is an actress from New Ulm, Minnesota who is best known for her starring roles in two Alfred Hitchcock classics: “The Birds” (1963) and “Marnie” (1964). Famously, Hedren claimed that Hitchcock destroyed her movie career because she would not succumb to his sexual advances, a charge that has been denied.

“The Birds” is a 1963 film made by Alfred Hitchcock based on a short story by Daphne du Maurier. I’ve read the story and seen the film and find them both strangely disturbing (it’s probably just me though!). I can’t stand the ending of either, as nothing resolves itself!

99. Nymph turned into a laurel tree, in Greek myth : DAPHNE
Daphne was one of the Naiads of Greek mythology, a female nymph living near freshwater fountains and springs. Daphne was a particularly beautiful Naiad and so was pursued by the god Apollo. Fearing Apollo’s advances, Daphne turned to her mother Haia for help. Gaia transformed her into a laurel tree, and as a result the laurel became sacred to Apollo.

102. “Calvin and Hobbes” girl : SUSIE
In the comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes”, the character Susie Derkins is a classmate of Calvin who lives on the same street.

103. Tennis situation after deuce : AD OUT
In tennis, if the score reaches “deuce” (i.e. when both players have scored three points), then the first player to win two points in a row wins the game. The player who wins the point immediately after deuce is said to have the “advantage”. If the player with the advantage wins the next point then that’s two in a row and that player wins the game. If the person with the advantage loses the next point, then advantage is lost and the players return to deuce and try again. If the one of the players is calling out the score then if he/she has the advantage then that player announces “ad in” or more formally “advantage in”. If the score announcer’s opponent has the advantage, then the announcement is “ad out” or “advantage out”. Follow all of that …?

104. Border county of New York or Pennsylvania : TIOGA
Tioga County, New York is part of the Binghamton Metropolitan Statistical Area. “Tioga” is a Native-American word meaning “at the forks”.

106. “omg” or “lol,” say : TEXT
OMG is text-speak for Oh My Gosh! Oh My Goodness! or any other G words you might think of …

Laugh out loud (LOL, in text-speak)

108. Phantasy Star maker : SEGA
“Phantasy Star” is a series of video games published by Sega. That’s all I know …

110. Indian mausoleum opening? : TAJ
The most famous mausoleum in the world has to be the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. The Taj Mahal was built after the death of the third wife of Shah Jahan, Mumtaz Mahal (hence the name of the mausoleum). The poor woman died in childbirth delivering the couple’s 14th child.

111. N.Y.S.E. debut : IPO
An Initial Public Offering (IPO) is the very first offer of stock for sale by a company on the open market. In other words, an IPO marks the first time that a company is traded on a public exchange. Companies have an IPO to raise capital to expand (usually).

The roots of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) go back to 1792 when a group of 24 stock brokers set up the New York Stock & Exchange Board. They did so in an agreement signed under a buttonwood tree outside 68 Wall Street. That document became known as the Buttonwood Agreement.

112. With 49-Down, singer with the autobiography “It Wasn’t All Velvet” : MEL
(49D. See 112-Down : TORME)
Mel Tormé was a jazz singer, with a quality of voice that earned him the nickname “The Velvet Fog”. Tormé also wrote a few books, and did a lot of acting. He was the co-author of the Christmas classic known as “The Christmas Song”, which starts out with the line “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire …”

113. Guys’ dates, informally : GFS
Girlfriend (GF)

114. ___ Pacis (Roman monument) : ARA
The Ara Pacis Augustae, the Altar of Augustan Peace, is often just called the “Ara” or “Ara Pacis”. It is an altar that was commissioned by the Roman Senate to honor the return of Caesar Augustus after his conquests in Hispania and Gaul. It stood at the northern outskirts of Rome, and over the centuries was covered by silt as it was located in the floodplain of the river Tiber. The Ara was excavated and much of the altar recovered over recent centuries, although as usual, parts of the altar have found their way into the major museums around the world. Much of the altar was reconstructed and placed inside a protective building under the orders of dictator Benito Mussolini in 1938. A new building was built to house the altar in 2006.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Kind of chip : NACHO
6. Novelist Tillie who wrote “Tell Me a Riddle” : OLSEN
11. 1950s sci-fi terror, with “the” : BLOB
15. Pro baller-turned-commentator for N.B.A. on TNT : SHAQ
19. Upper reaches : ETHER
20. Last method of death in Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None” : NOOSE
21. Letter sign-off : LOVE
22. Modern movement inits. : LGBT
23. *1978 movie in which Kevin Bacon made his film debut : ANIMAL HOUSE
25. Minicar, say : ONE-SEATER
27. Makeup for a “Wizard of Oz” character? : TIN
28. Cooperate (with) : LIAISE
29. Didn’t exist : WEREN’T
30. Sufficient, in brief : ENUF
32. *Having it made : ON EASY STREET
35. Deg. in the boardroom : MBA
38. Fails to brake in time for, maybe : REAR-ENDS
40. “I see what you did there!” : OHO!
41. Comments from a crossword kibitzer : ANSWERS
43. It’s sold by the yard : ALE
44. If all else fails : AT WORST
47. Actor Morales : ESAI
48. *Progress preventer : STUMBLING BLOCK
53. Some Vegas attractions : FIGHTS
55. Prophet whose name means “deliverance” : HOSEA
56. Southern Italian port : BARI
57. Lock combination? : HAIRDO
59. Helmeted deity : ARES
60. Cravings : DESIRES
63. Sing loudly : BELT OUT
67. Non-___ (modern food label) : GMO
68. *1990s-2000s HBO hit : SEX AND THE CITY
71. A, in Amiens : UNE
72. Feeling : SENSATE
74. “Chilean” fish : SEA BASS
75. Typewriter type : PICA
76. Family symbols : CRESTS
79. Mexican sauce : MOLE
80. “Natural” way to serve a roast : AU JUS
81. “Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette,” e.g. : RENOIR
84. *Laos or Vietnam : COMMUNIST STATE
88. Start to -matic : IDIO-
89. “Oh jeez, don’t look at me” : I’M A MESS
90. Sue Grafton’s “___ for Ricochet” : R IS
91. Result of overexposure? : SUNBURN
94. Where phone nos. might be stored : PDA
95. Burst through, as a barrier : BREACHED
100. Prefix meaning 118-Across : ECO-
101. *Sobriquet for ardent Boston fans : RED SOX NATION
105. Tetra- plus two : HEXA-
106. Superficially repair : TAPE UP
107. Things always kept on hand? : DIGITS
109. Quick jump in the pool : DIP
110. Like some photography : TIME-LAPSE
113. *Popular app that can view any of the places named at the ends of the answers to the starred clues : GOOGLE EARTH
115. Tippy-top : APEX
116. Disturbance : STIR
117. Bach composition : FUGUE
118. See 100-Across : GREEN
119. Shock to the system : JOLT
120. “___-Team” : THE A
121. Blackjack option : STAND
122. “Duck Dynasty” network : A AND E

Down
1. More likely to win a handwriting award : NEATER
2. When many start the workday : AT NINE
3. Achebe who wrote “Things Fall Apart” : CHINUA
4. Designer line? : HEM
5. Like some medication : ORAL
6. Available : ON HAND
7. Sarges’ superiors : LOOIES
8. March composer : SOUSA
9. Curves seen in sports car ads : ESSES
10. Formerly : NEE
11. Instrument in a metalworker’s union? : BLOWTORCH
12. Soloist? : LONER
13. Lose control at the buffet : OVEREAT
14. Appear : BE SEEN
15. Blind part : SLAT
16. Elev. : HGT
17. Prez on a penny : ABE
18. 15 mins. of an N.F.L. game : QTR
24. Rich Richie : LIONEL
26. Tolkien creatures : ENTS
31. Purchase at an optometrist’s : FRAMES
33. Cry of pain : YOWL
34. “Vamoose!” : SHOO!
35. Work well together : MESH
36. Seasoned pork sausage, informally : BRAT
37. “No warranty” : AS IS
39. Third-largest island in Italy, after Sicily and Sardinia : ELBA
42. “___ the Beat” (1982 Go-Go’s hit) : WE GOT
44. Broadly smiling : AGRIN
45. Gang in “Grease” with an automotive name : T-BIRDS
46. Reggae precursor : SKA
48. Fetches : SHAGS
49. See 112-Down : TORME
50. Deliver to, as a pickup line : USE ON
51. Agile mountain climbers : IBEXES
52. Explorer’s grp. : NASA
53. Guitar bars : FRETS
54. One way to sit by : IDLY
58. Storklike waders : IBISES
60. Dissuade : DETER
61. La saison chaude : ETE
62. P.I., in old slang : SHAMUS
64. Board displaying the alphabet : OUIJA
65. Like some DVD-exclusive releases : UNCUT
66. Mess with, as hair or siblings : TEASE
68. What covers parts of 80-Down? : SARI
69. Poetic shades : EBONS
70. L.A. locale : CALI
73. Cartoon Great Dane, informally : SCOOB
75. Coup d’état : PUTSCH
77. Cable channel whose first initial stands for its founder : TCM
78. Drama that can go on for years : SOAP OPERA
80. See 68-Down : ASIA
81. Order in the court : RISE
82. Cabinet dept. : EDUC
83. El ___ : NINO
85. The year 2510 : MMDX
86. Average : MEAN
87. Thirty, en français : TRENTE
89. Thorough : IN-DEPTH
92. River past Orsk : URAL
93. Meal : REPAST
95. Mogul : BIG GUN
96. Churned : ROILED
97. Star of Hitchcock’s “The Birds” : HEDREN
98. Egressed : EXITED
99. Nymph turned into a laurel tree, in Greek myth : DAPHNE
102. “Calvin and Hobbes” girl : SUSIE
103. Tennis situation after deuce : AD OUT
104. Border county of New York or Pennsylvania : TIOGA
106. “omg” or “lol,” say : TEXT
108. Phantasy Star maker : SEGA
110. Indian mausoleum opening? : TAJ
111. N.Y.S.E. debut : IPO
112. With 49-Down, singer with the autobiography “It Wasn’t All Velvet” : MEL
113. Guys’ dates, informally : GFS
114. ___ Pacis (Roman monument) : ARA

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4 thoughts on “0417-16 New York Times Crossword Answers 17 Apr 16, Sunday”

  1. We get our grid the old-fashioned way… from a printed newspaper. Then we go ultra-modern… I scan it to a PDF, email it to my partner across the country. We work the puzzle jointly via Skype.

  2. 32:31, no errors. I'm just a pencil and paper kind of guy. Still want to enjoy the tactile experience; until printed, home delivered papers become history.

    For me, today's grid started out easy, but got tough in a hurry. Then once I realized that the theme answers were straight forward, the pace picked up again.

  3. I had eleven squares either incorrect or left blank. Actually I thought I had no chance at all after a very slow start. Sunday's are very hard for me but I continue to make progress and learn from my mistakes.

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