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CROSSWORD SETTER: Tom McCoy
THEME: Word Search
Today’s themed clues are asking us where we can often find pairs of word in well-known phrases:
23A. Where you can find … “jacket” or “yourself”? : FOLLOWING SUIT (“suit jacket” & “suit yourself”)
31A. … “go” or “so”? : BEFORE LONG (“go long” & “so long”)
37A. … “anybody” or “cooking”? : CLOSE TO HOME (“anybody home?” & “home cooking”)
65A. … “got” or “tell”? : BETWEEN YOU AND ME (“you got me” & “you tell me”)
93A. … “two” or “face”? : AHEAD OF TIME (“two-time” & “face time””)
95A. … “building” or “hours”? : POST OFFICE (“office building” & “office hours”)
113A. … “that’s” or “special”? : NEXT TO NOTHING (“that’s nothing” & “nothing special”)
BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME:19m 50s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0
Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
20. Ones with good poker faces? : RHINOS
There are five types of rhinoceros that survive today, and the smaller Javan Rhino is the most rare. The rhinoceros is probably the rarest large mammal on the planet, thanks to poaching. Hunters mainly prize the horn of the rhino as it is used in powdered form in traditional Chinese medicine.
21. Charm City ballplayer : ORIOLE
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.
27. Chinese philosophy : TAOISM
The Chinese character “tao” translates as “path”, but the concept of Tao signifies the true nature of the world.
28. Student’s saver : BELL
Saved by the bell.
44. Dog holder : BUN
A hot dog is a sausage served in a split roll. The term “hot dog” dates back to the 19th-century and is thought to reflect a commonly-held opinion that the sausages contained dog meat.
45. A.F.L.-___ : CIO
The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was founded in 1886, making it one of the first federations of unions in the country. Over time the AFL became dominated by craft unions, unions representing skilled workers of particular disciplines. In the early thirties, John L. Lewis led a movement within the AFL to organize workers by industry, believing this would be more effective for the members. But the craft unions refused to budge, so Lewis set up a rival federation of unions in 1932, the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). The two federations became bitter rivals for over two decades until finally merging in 1955 to form the AFL-CIO.
49. Muhammad’s birthplace : MECCA
Mecca is in the Makkah province of Saudi Arabia. It was the birthplace of Muhammad and is the holiest city in Islam. Every year several million Muslims perform the Hajj, a holy pilgrimage to Mecca.
52. Like Fermat’s last theorem, eventually : PROVEN
Pierre de Fermat was a lawyer and mathematician from France. He is famous for what is now called “Fermat’s Last Theorem”, which states that no three positive integers can satisfy the equation an + bn = cn for any value of n greater than 2. Fermat suggested this was true in a note in the margin of an ancient Greek text called “Arithmetica”. The note claimed that he had a proof, but it was too large to fit in the margin, and he did not leave the proof anywhere else. It took 358 years for someone to come up with a proof, in 1995.
55. Oteri of “S.N.L.” : CHERI
Cheri Oteri was the SNL cast member who regularly appeared with Will Ferrell in the skit featuring a pair of Spartan cheerleaders.
56. Material in mitochondria : DNA
Mitochondria are structures found in most living cells. Sometimes called cellular power plants, mitochondria generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the body’s source of chemical energy.
60. Issuer of IDs: Abbr. : SSA
Social Security Administration (SSA)
69. Result of hitting the bar? : SPACE
In early typewriters, the “space bar” was indeed a bar. It was a metal bar that stretched across the full width of the keyboard.
71. “The price we pay for love,” per Queen Elizabeth II : GRIEF
Queen Elizabeth II sent a message to the congregation at a service of remembrance for the 250 British citizens lost in the September 11th terrorist attacks. The service was held one week after the attacks, and the message was read by British Ambassador. Included were these words:
These are dark and harrowing times for families and friends of those who are missing or who suffered in the attack, many of you here today.
My thoughts and prayers are with you all now, and in the difficult days ahead.
But nothing that can be said can begin to take away the anguish and the pain of these moments. Grief is the price we pay for love.
72. Goddess who gained immortality for her lover but forgot to ask for eternal youth (whoops!) : EOS
In Greek mythology, Eos is the goddess of the dawn who lived at the edge of the ocean. Eos would wake each morning to welcome her brother Helios the sun. Eos was cursed with a sexual desire that could not be sated, so she abducted several young men. One of these was the Trojan prince Tithonus. Eos asked Zeus to make Tithonus immortal, and the request was granted. However, she forgot to ask for eternal youth, and so he lived forever as a helpless old man.
73. Flirtatious wife in “Of Mice and Men” : MAE
“Of Mice and Men” is a novella written by American author John Steinbeck, published in 1937. The title comes from the famous poem by Robert Burns, “To a Mouse”. The inspirational line from the poem is “The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men, gang aft tagley.” Steinbeck actually wrote “Of Mice and Men” as a “novel-play”, intending that the line from the novel used as a script for a play. I actually saw the theatrical version on stage for the first time quite recently, and really enjoyed it.
82. Like the installments of “A Tale of Two Cities” : WEEKLY
“A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens is the most printed book that was originally written in English. The novel was first published in 1859 in 31 weekly installments in a literary periodical called “All the Year Round”, which Dickens himself produced. The “two cities” in the title are London and Paris.
85. Abu ___ : DHABI
Abu Dhabi is one of the seven Emirates that make up the federation known as the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The two largest members of the UAE (geographically) are Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the only two of the seven members that have veto power over UAE policy. Before 1971, the UAE was a British Protectorate, a collection of sheikdoms. The sheikdoms entered into a maritime truce with Britain in 1835, after which they became known as the Trucial States, derived from the word “truce”.
90. ___ Finnigan, friend of Harry Potter : SEAMUS
Seamus Finnigan is a character in the “Harry Potter” series of stories by J.K. Rowling. He is a young Irishman in the same year as Harry, and is in the Gryffindor House, along with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.
92. Kind of verb: Abbr. : IRR
Irregular (irr.)
102. Indian spice mix : MASALA
Masala is the Hindi word for “mixture”, and describes a mixture of spices. A dish named “masala” uses the spices incorporated into a sauce that includes garlic, ginger, onions and chili paste. Who doesn’t love Indian food?
119. Back entrance : POSTERN
A “postern” is a back door or gate, or a private entrance used as an alternative to the main gate.
120. Jellyfish relatives named for a mythological monster : HYDRAS
Hydra are small multicellular animals found in freshwater. Hydra have tubular bodies with a mouth at one end surrounded by several tentacles that are used to catch prey.
The Lernaean Hydra was a mythical sea snake that had multiple heads. Heracles had to slay the Hydra of Lerna as the second of his Twelve Labors.
Down
3. River that flows south to north : NILE
Depending on definition, the Nile is generally regarded as the longest river on the planet. The Nile forms from two major tributaries, the White Nile and the Blue Nile, which join together near Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. From Khartoum the Nile flows north, traveling almost entirely through desert making it central to life for the peoples living along its length.
7. “___ Nox” (Mozart title meaning “good night”) : BONA
“Bona nox” is a canon for four voices composed by Mozart around 1788. It’s an obscene little piece quite frankly, and so I won’t be providing the lyrics here …
8. Greek vessel : ARGO
In Greek mythology, Jason and the Argonauts sailed on the Argo in search of the Golden Fleece. The vessel was called the “Argo” in honor of the ship’s builder, a man named Argus.
14. “DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love” singer, 2010 : USHER
Usher is the stage name of R&B singer Usher Terry Raymond IV.
16. Offensive poster : TROLL
In Internet terms, a “troll” is someone who attempts to disrupt online group activities. The fishing term “troll” is used to describe such a person, as he or she throws out off-topic remarks in an attempt to “lure” others into some emotional response.
18. Part of the classic Chinese work “Shih Ching” : ODE
The “Classic of Poetry” (“Shijing” in Chinese) is the oldest extant collection of Chinese poetry. Comprising 305 odes that date from the 11th to 7th centuries BCE, tradition holds that the collection was compiled by Confucius.
30. “___ Lat” (traditional Polish song) : STO
The traditional Polish song “Slo lat” (meaning “One Hundred Years”) is commonly sung to wish someone a happy birthday. A rough English translation of the lyrics is:
100 years, 100 years,
May he/she live, live for us.
100 years, 100 years,
May he/she live, live for us.
Once again, once again,
May he/she live, live for us,
May he/she live for us!
34. Paranormal : OCCULT
The adjective “occult” means “secret, beyond the realm of human comprehension”. The term derives from the Latin “occultus” meaning “hidden, concealed”.
37. Persian Empire founder : CYRUS
Cyrus the Great was the founder of the Persian Empire and ruled from 559 BCE to 530 BCE. Some say that Cyrus’s legacy is that he established the concept of an empire that was ruled centrally, but which operated for the welfare and benefit of its subjects.
39. ___-Loompa (Willy Wonka employee) : OOMPA
The Oompa-Loompas are characters in the Roald Dahl book “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, and indeed in the sequel story “Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator”. Willy Wonka came across the Oompa-Loompas on an isolated island in the Atlantic and invited them to work in his factory in order to escape those hunting them on the island. Right before Dahl’s book was first published, he was intending to call the Oompa-Loompas the “Whipple-Scrumpets”.
40. Fictional braggart : HARE
“The Tortoise and the Hare” is perhaps the most famous fable attributed to Aesop. The cocky hare takes a nap during a race against the tortoise, and the tortoise sneaks past the finish line for the win while his speedier friend is sleeping.
41. The “O” of B.O. : ODOR
Body odor (BO)
43. “We’ll teach you to drink deep ___ you depart”: Hamlet : ERE
“We’ll teach you to drink deep ere you depart.” is a line from William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, spoken by Hamlet to his friend Horatio. Although we don’t know from where Horatio actually hails, he is not a regular at the Danish court. Here, Hamlet is telling his friend that by the time he heads home, Hamlet and his courtiers will have taught him how to hold his booze …
49. Certain racy magazines : MAXIMS
“Maxim” is an international men’s magazine featuring revealing photo spreads (non-nude in the US) of female celebrities and models.
57. Empire State sch. : NYU
The main campus of the private New York University (NYU) is located right in Manhattan, in Washington Square in the heart of Greenwich Village. NYU has over 12,000 resident students, the largest number of residents in a private school in the whole country. NYU’s sports teams are known as the Violets, a reference to the violet and white colors that are worn in competition. Since the 1980s, the school’s mascot has been a bobcat. “Bobcat” had been the familiar name given to NYU’s Bobst Library computerized catalog.
New York earned the nickname “Empire State” when it became an economic powerhouse in the 19th century. That prosperity largely came with the completion of the Erie Canal, which allowed shipping navigate from New York Harbor right through to the Great Lakes.
58. Org. with an emergency number : AAA
The American Automobile Association (AAA) is a not-for-profit organization focused on lobbying, provision of automobile servicing, and selling of automobile insurance. The AAA was founded in 1902 in Chicago and published the first of its celebrated hotel guides back in 1917.
61. Razz, as a speaker : HECKLE
The original use of the verb “to heckle” was to mean questioning severely, and for many years was associated with the public questioning of parliamentary candidates in Scotland. In more recent times, the meaning has evolved into questioning that is less polite and that is directed at standup comics.
65. Hesitates : BALKS
To balk is to stop and refuse to go on. It’s not just a baseball term!
66. Default avatar for a new Twitter user : EGG
The Sanskrit word “avatar” describes the concept of a deity descending into earthly life and taking on a persona. It’s easy to see how in the world of “online presences” one might use the word avatar to describe one’s online identity.
67. Reconstruction, for one : ERA
The Reconstruction Era followed the American Civil War, which ended in 1865. Reconstruction ended in 1877 when President Rutherford B. Hayes removed the last federal troops from the capitals of the Reconstruction states soon after taking office.
70. Songs of praise : PAEANS
A paean is a poem or song that expresses triumph or thanksgiving. “Paean” comes from the ancient Greek “paian” meaning “song of triumph”.
73. City whose name looks like it could mean “my friend” : MIAMI
I guess “mi-ami” might look like a pseudo-French “my friend”.
The city of Miami in Florida takes its name from the nearby Miami River, which is itself named for the Mayaimi Native American people who lived around nearby Lake Okeechobee.
75. A Beethoven piece was für her : ELISE
“Fur Elise” is a beautiful piece of music written by Beethoven, and is also known as “Bagatelle in A Minor”. “Fur Elise” means simply “For Elise”, but sadly no one knows for sure the identity of the mysterious dedicatee.
84. Botanist Gray : ASA
Asa Gray was an important American botanist in the nineteenth century. He was a lifelong friend of Charles Darwin, albeit mainly through correspondence. Darwin’s book “Forms of Flowers”, was dedicated to Gray.
85. “A man can be destroyed but not ___”: Hemingway : DEFEATED
Here are some lines from Ernest Hemingway’s novella “Old Man and the Sea”…
“But man is not made for defeat,” he said. “A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” I am sorry that I killed the fish though, he thought. Now the bad time is coming and I do not even have the harpoon.
If you’ve read Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man And The Sea” (maybe first at school, like me!) you’ll likely remember it as a quick read as it is a novella, although it might be better described as a “long short story”. It was first published in 1952, the last major work that Hemingway had published in his lifetime. That first publication was as a story in “Life Magazine”, and it was such a hit that the magazine sold 5 million copies in the first two days. “The Old Man and the Sea” won a Pulitzer in 1952 and two years later the title was cited when Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
87. Age for a quinceañera : FIFTEEN
Quinceañera is a celebration of a girl’s fifteenth birthday, an event common in many parts of Latin America.
89. “The Silmarillion” creature : ORC
“The Silmarillion” is a book that J.R.R. Tolkien worked on for most of his life. Indeed, he started on the stories that evolved into “The Silmarillion” over twenty years before “The Hobbit” was published. Tolkien submitted “The Silmarillion” as a sequel to “The Hobbit”, but it was rejected. And so instead, he wrote “The Lord of the Rings”. He returned to the original work later in his life, but never finished it to his satisfaction. After Tolkien passed away, his son completed “The Silmarillion” and eventually had it published.
90. Red ___ : SOX
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.
94. Newspaper V.I.P. Baquet : DEAN
The journalist Dean Baquet is the Executive Editor of “The New York Times”, and the first African-American to hold the highest position at the newspaper.
99. Disposable board : EMERY
Emery is a very hard type of rock that is crushed for use as an abrasive. Emery paper is made by gluing small particles of emery to paper. Emery boards are just emery paper with a cardboard backing. And emery boards are primarily used for filing nails.
108. Red giant in Cetus : MIRA
Mira is a red giant star in the constellation Cetus. Red giants are very large stars with a relatively low mass. The atmosphere of a red giant is also very inflated and extends a long way into space so the surface of that atmosphere that we see is relatively cool, which gives it a red color. Stars are classified by their spectral characteristics, basically the color of the light they emit. As such, red giants are classified as M stars. Cool red giants are of a color beyond the usual range, and are classified as S stars.
Cetus is a constellation named after a sea monster from Greek mythology. Today, Cetus is often called “the Whale”.
111. “The Name of the Rose” novelist : ECO
Umberto Eco is an Italian writer who is probably best known for his novel “The Name of the Rose”, published in 1980. In 1986, “The Name of the Rose” was adapted into a movie with the same title starring Sean Connery.
112. “___ Meninas” (Velázquez painting) : LAS
“Las Meninas” is a painting by Diego Velázquez, the name of which translates to “The Maids of Honor”. “Las Meninas” is the most famous painting owned by the Museo del Prado in Madrid.
Diego Velázquez was a Spanish painter during the Baroque period. He was a member of the court of King Philip IV in the first half of the 17th century, and as such was commissioned to paint many portraits and scenes of historical importance.
114. ___-Wan Kenobi : OBI
Obi-Wan Kenobi is one of the more beloved of the “Star Wars” characters. Kenobi was portrayed by two fabulous actors in the series of films. As a young man he is played by Scottish actor Ewan McGregor, and as an older man he is played by Alec Guinness.
For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. “Shucks!” : AW NUTS!
7. They might be covered on your first day of employment : BASICS
13. Only a second ago : JUST NOW
20. Ones with good poker faces? : RHINOS
21. Charm City ballplayer : ORIOLE
22. With a leg on either side of : ASTRIDE
23. Where you can find … “jacket” or “yourself”? : FOLLOWING SUIT (“suit jacket” & “suit yourself”)
25. “Yay!” : WHOOPEE!
26. Lentil or coconut : SEED
27. Chinese philosophy : TAOISM
28. Student’s saver : BELL
29. Plus : ALSO
31. … “go” or “so”? : BEFORE LONG (“go long” & “so long”)
37. … “anybody” or “cooking”? : CLOSE TO HOME (“anybody home?” & “home cooking”)
44. Dog holder : BUN
45. A.F.L.-___ : CIO
46. “Over here!” : YOO-HOO!
47. “Aww”-inspiring : ADORABLE
49. Muhammad’s birthplace : MECCA
51. Lover boy : ROMEO
52. Like Fermat’s last theorem, eventually : PROVEN
53. Much appreciated : VALUED
54. They decide what’s fair : UMPS
55. Oteri of “S.N.L.” : CHERI
56. Material in mitochondria : DNA
59. Acclaims : EXALTS
60. Issuer of IDs: Abbr. : SSA
61. Shade : HUE
62. Its material is not hard : EASY A
64. ___-gritty : NITTY
65. … “got” or “tell”? : BETWEEN YOU AND ME (“you got me” & “you tell me”)
69. Result of hitting the bar? : SPACE
71. “The price we pay for love,” per Queen Elizabeth II : GRIEF
72. Goddess who gained immortality for her lover but forgot to ask for eternal youth (whoops!) : EOS
73. Flirtatious wife in “Of Mice and Men” : MAE
76. They stand up in their bed : STALKS
77. Kind of gift : GAG
78. Sports team bigwig : OWNER
81. Cash register : TILL
82. Like the installments of “A Tale of Two Cities” : WEEKLY
83. “Ver-r-ry funny!” : HAR HAR!
85. Abu ___ : DHABI
86. Obliterate : ERASE
87. Suspenseful sound : FOOTSTEP
90. ___ Finnigan, friend of Harry Potter : SEAMUS
91. Contraction missing a V : E’EN
92. Kind of verb: Abbr. : IRR
93. … “two” or “face”? : AHEAD OF TIME (“two-time” & “face time””)
95. … “building” or “hours”? : POST OFFICE (“office building” & “office hours”)
100. Flames that have gone out? : EXES
101. Assist in crime : ABET
102. Indian spice mix : MASALA
107. Things you may dispense with? : ATMS
110. Take over for : RELIEVE
113. … “that’s” or “special”? : NEXT TO NOTHING (“that’s nothing” & “nothing special”)
116. “That much is clear” : I CAN SEE
117. Pays for the meal : TREATS
118. Stay cheerful despite adversity : BEAR UP
119. Back entrance : POSTERN
120. Jellyfish relatives named for a mythological monster : HYDRAS
121. Private property? : ID TAGS
Down
1. Woof : ARF
2. “___ your daddy?” : WHO’S
3. River that flows south to north : NILE
4. Sets free into the world : UNLEASHES
5. “Ta-ta!” : TOODLE-OO!
6. Directional abbr. : SSW
7. “___ Nox” (Mozart title meaning “good night”) : BONA
8. Greek vessel : ARGO
9. Enthusiastic Spanish assent : SI SI!
10. Debt docs : IOUS
11. Scale : CLIMB
12. Collection : SET
13. Chin former : JAWBONE
14. “DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love” singer, 2010 : USHER
15. Women’s retro accessory : STOLE
16. Offensive poster : TROLL
17. Small bite : NIP
18. Part of the classic Chinese work “Shih Ching” : ODE
19. Puny : WEE
24. “Was ___ hard on them?” : I TOO
30. “___ Lat” (traditional Polish song) : STO
32. Subside : EBB
33. Opposite of -less : -FUL
34. Paranormal : OCCULT
35. Fine point : NICETY
36. Provokes : GOADS
37. Persian Empire founder : CYRUS
38. Impends : LOOMS
39. ___-Loompa (Willy Wonka employee) : OOMPA
40. Fictional braggart : HARE
41. The “O” of B.O. : ODOR
42. Setting for a watch? : MOVIE NIGHT
43. “We’ll teach you to drink deep ___ you depart”: Hamlet : ERE
48. Et cetera : AND SO FORTH
49. Certain racy magazines : MAXIMS
50. Lift : ELATE
52. “Glad that’s done!” : PHEW!
53. Street fair participant : VENDOR
55. “Aww”-inspiring : CUTESY
57. Empire State sch. : NYU
58. Org. with an emergency number : AAA
61. Razz, as a speaker : HECKLE
63. What the pros say : AYE
65. Hesitates : BALKS
66. Default avatar for a new Twitter user : EGG
67. Reconstruction, for one : ERA
68. Contraction missing a V : NE’ER
69. From both sides, in a way : STEREO
70. Songs of praise : PAEANS
73. City whose name looks like it could mean “my friend” : MIAMI
74. Track holder? : ALBUM
75. A Beethoven piece was für her : ELISE
76. Win every game : SWEEP
79. Exhilarated cry : WHEE!
80. ___ cabbage : NAPA
81. “End of discussion” : THAT’S THAT
84. Botanist Gray : ASA
85. “A man can be destroyed but not ___”: Hemingway : DEFEATED
87. Age for a quinceañera : FIFTEEN
88. “… ___ quit!” : OR I
89. “The Silmarillion” creature : ORC
90. Red ___ : SOX
94. Newspaper V.I.P. Baquet : DEAN
96. Pollute : TAINT
97. Too big for one’s britches, say? : OBESE
98. Hotheadedness? : FEVER
99. Disposable board : EMERY
103. Let go : AXED
104. Twinkler : STAR
105. Lead-in to boy : ATTA …
106. Something to mourn : LOSS
108. Red giant in Cetus : MIRA
109. Cozy : SNUG
110. Rend : RIP
111. “The Name of the Rose” novelist : ECO
112. “___ Meninas” (Velázquez painting) : LAS
113. Highest degree : NTH
114. ___-Wan Kenobi : OBI
115. Family docs : GPS