0717-16 New York Times Crossword Answers 17 Jul 16, Sunday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Jerry Miccolis
THEME: Double Features
Today’s themed answers are formed by combining two movie titles, and so are clued as “double features”.

22A. Double feature about the Arctic Ocean? : FROZEN WATERWORLD
38A. … about the search for extraterrestrial life? : ALIEN CONTACT
49A. … about baseball-sized hail? : TITANIC SKYFALL
67A. … about Lee Harvey Oswald not being the lone gunman? : BIG CONSPIRACY THEORY
87A. … about attending a funeral? : SAW THE DEPARTED
96A. … about an insomniac? : ROCKY SLEEPER
116A. … about Pablo Escobar? : NOTORIOUS KINGPIN

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 26m 52s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 4 … MARINO (Narato), AMFAR (ANFAR), MIZE (Maze), INE (ite)

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

19. First N.F.L. QB to pass for 5,000 yards in a season : MARINO
Dan Marino played his whole football career with the Miami Dolphins. Marino is widely regarded as one of the game’s greatest quarterbacks, even though he never played on a team that won the Super Bowl.

21. Best hand value in baccarat : NINE
Baccarat, in all of its three variants, is a relatively simple casino card game. Baccarat is the favored game of chance for James Bond 007, and it looks so cool when he plays it! Banco!

22. Double feature about the Arctic Ocean? : FROZEN WATERWORLD
“Frozen” is a 2013 animated feature from Walt Disney Studios that is based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale “The Snow Queen”.

“Waterworld”, a Kevin Costner vehicle released in 1995, really wasn’t that great a movie despite it’s promising storyline about land submerged by melting polar ice caps. The movie was filmed in Hawaii, a massive production with a huge budget overrun. I went SCUBA diving in one of the locations a few years after the film crews had headed home. All along the reef there were small metal plates embedded in the rock, used as anchor points for various floating sets. I would have thought that kind of thing would have been cleaned up, but no …

24. Kardashian matriarch : KRIS
Kris Kardashian is the matriarch of the Kardashian clan. She was married to the lawyer Robert Kardashian who was one of O. J. Simpson’s lawyers in his 1995 murder trial. The couple divorced in 1990 and Kris then married the celebrated decathlete from the 1976 Olympic Games, Bruce Jenner. That marriage ended in divorce as well, in 2015.

25. “___ sow, so shall …” : AS YE
The commonly quoted line “As ye sow, so shall ye reap” is not actually a direct quote from the Bible, although the sentiment is expressed there at least twice. In the Book of Job is the line “They that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same”. In the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians is the line “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”.

27. Museumgoer, e.g. : AESTHETE
An aesthete (also “esthete”) is someone who appreciates beauty in art or in nature. Often someone described as an aesthete might show excessive or affected admiration of beauty.

30. Sealy rival : SERTA
Serta was founded in 1931 when a group of 13 mattress manufacturers came together, essentially forming a cooperative. Today, the Serta company is owned by eight independent licensees in a similar arrangement. Serta advertisements feature the Serta Counting Sheep. Each numbered sheep has a different personality, such as:

#1 The Leader of the Flock
#½ The Tweener
#13 Mr. Bad Luck
#53 The Pessimist
#86 Benedict Arnold

31. Some Korean-made TVs : LGS
LG is a very large, South Korean manufacturer of electronics, chemicals and telecom products. LG used to be known as Lucky-Goldstar.

34. City hard hit by the Zika virus : RIO
The Zika virus causes the disease known as Zika fever, and is mainly spread by the yellow fever mosquito. While the majority of cases of infection result in minor symptoms or even no symptoms at all, Zika virus infections of pregnant women may be linked to newborn microcephaly. Microcephaly is a birth defect in which a baby’s head is smaller than normal.

36. Actor who was lionized in the 1930s? : LAHR
Bert Lahr’s most famous role was the cowardly lion in “The Wizard of Oz”. Lahr had a long career in burlesque, vaudeville and on Broadway. Lahr also starred in the first US production of Samuel Beckett’s play “Waiting for Godot”, alongside Tom Ewell.

38. … about the search for extraterrestrial life? : ALIEN CONTACT
The 1979 sci-fi horror movie “Alien” was the big break for Sigourney Weaver as it was her first lead role, and her character ended up as central to a whole set of sequels. The movie’s producers made a very conscious decision to cast a female in the lead role so as to have the film stand out in the male-dominated genre of science fiction. Famously, the film was publicized with the tagline “In space no one can hear you scream”.

“Contact” is a sci-fi novel by Carl Sagan that was first published in 1985. Sagan had written “Contact” originally as a screenplay in 1979, but when plans for the film stalled, Sagan decided to go ahead and create the novel. An excellent film did eventually hit the theaters in 1997, and starred Jodie Foster.

45. Mustang rival : CAMARO
The Chevrolet Camaro is a car produced by General Motors from 1966 to 2002, and reintroduced in 2009. The Camaro shared much of its design with the Pontiac Firebird, and was introduced as a potential competitor to the Ford Mustang.

46. Unfair treatment, with “the” : SHAFT
“Shafted” isn’t a nice term at all. It means to give someone a raw deal. The term arose in the fifties, playing on the vulgar slang usage of shaft to represent the male organ (a usage that has been around since the early 1700s). The use of the verb “shaft” therefore is a reference to sodomy.

49. … about baseball-sized hail? : TITANIC SKYFALL
When James Cameron made his epic movie “Titanic”, released in 1997, it was the most expensive film ever made, costing about $200 million. It was a good investment for the studio as it became the highest-grossing film of all time, bringing in over $1.8 billion. “Titanic” remained the highest-grossing film until 2010, when Cameron eclipsed the prior record with “Avatar”.

I have not been a fan of Daniel Craig as James Bond (preferring Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan in the role). However, I saw “Skyfall” when it first came out and have been won over. “Skyfall” is one of the best Bond films so far, in my humble opinion. And, Adele’s rendition of the title song is an added plus …

52. First home? : UTERUS
The Latin “uterus” (plural “uteri”) translates as both “womb” and “belly”. The Latin word was derived from the Greek “hystera” also meaning womb, which gives us the words “hysterectomy”, and “hysterical”.

53. Like a neat freak : ANAL
Our use of the word “anal” is an abbreviated form of “anal-retentive”, a term derived from Freudian psychology.

55. Actress Amanda of “Togetherness” : 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”.

64. Dope : SAP
“Sap” is slang for a fool, someone easily scammed. The term arose in the early 1800s in Britain when it was used in “saphead” and “sapskull”. All these words derive from “sapwood”, which is the soft wood found in tree trunks between the bark and the heartwood at the center.

67. … about Lee Harvey Oswald not being the lone gunman? : BIG CONSPIRACY THEORY
“Big” is a fun movie that was released in 1988. It is a romantic comedy with an unusual plot involving a young boy who is aged to adulthood overnight (played by Tom Hanks). Who can forget the scene where Hanks and the owner of a toy store hop around on a giant piano keyboard. Remember what they played? “Heart and Soul” and “Chopsticks” …

“Conspiracy Theory” is a 1997 thriller movie starring Mel Gibson as an eccentric cab driver who is obsessed with conspiracy theories involving the US government. Julie Roberts co-stars as an attorney with the Justice Department who gets becomes very involved in the cab driver’s life. Not a very memorable film, I thought, but worth seeing …

72. When doubled, something to beat : TOM
The tom-tom is a drum with no snares. The name “tom-tom” came from the Hindi name “tam-tam”, which in turn was likely imitative of the sound made by the instrument.

74. Bandleader who popularized the conga line : DESI ARNAZ
Desi Arnaz was famous for his turbulent marriage to Lucille Ball. Arnaz was a native of Cuba, and was from a privileged family. His father was Mayor of Santiago and served in the Cuban House of Representatives. However, the family had to flee to Miami after the 1933 revolt led by Batista.

The conga line is a dance that originated as a Cuban carnival march. It became popular in the US starting in the thirties. The dance is apparently named after the Congo region of Africa, and it was originated by slaves who were brought from there to Cuba.

75. Like much of Namibia : ARID
The Republic of Namibia is a country in southern Africa on the Atlantic coast. The Namibian War of Independence fought from 1966 to 1988 eventually resulted in independence for Namibia from South Africa, and a transition from white minority apartheid rule.

77. “Within ___ a hell”: Shak. : ME IS
The following lines are from the play “King John” by William Shakespeare:

Within me is a hell; and there the poison
Is as a fiend confined to tyrannize
On unreprievable condemned blood.

William Shakespeare’s play “King John” is a historical drama about the reign of King John, son of Henry II and Eleanor Aquitaine. The play is rarely staged these days, although “King John” was a very popular theater production during the Victorian era.

80. Number on un orologio : TRE
In Italian, one can find the number “tre” (three) on “un orologio” (a clock).

87. … about attending a funeral? : SAW THE DEPARTED
I know just enough about the “Saw” series of films that I won’t be watching them. They fall into the horror genre and there is a lot of blood, gore and cruelty.

Martin Scorsese’s 2006 film “The Departed” is a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong crime-thriller “Infernal Affairs”. The American version is set in Boston, and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson.

93. Watchdog org., in two senses? : ASPCA
Unlike in most developed countries, there is no “umbrella” organization in the US with the goal of preventing cruelty to animals. Instead there are independent organizations set up all over the nation using the name SPCA. Having said that, there is an organization called the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) that was originally intended to operate across the country, but really it now focuses its efforts in New York City.

95. Stein relative : TANKARD
A stein is a type of beer glass. The term is German in origin, and is short for “Steinkrug” meaning “stone jug”. “Stein” is the German for “stone”.

96. … about an insomniac? : ROCKY SLEEPER
If ever there was a movie that defines a career breakthrough for an actor, it would have to be “Rocky” for Sylvester Stallone. Stallone was a struggling actor in 1975 when a Muhammad Ali fight inspired Stallone to write a screenplay for a boxing movie, which he did in just three days. His efforts to sell the script went well but for the fact that the interested studios wanted a big name for the lead role, and Stallone was determined to be the star himself. Stallone persevered and “Rocky” was eventually made with him playing title role of Rocky Balboa. The movie won three Oscars, and “Sly” Stallone had arrived …

Woody Allen’s 1973 movie “Sleeper” is a sci-fi piece in which Allen plays an average man cryogenically frozen and defrosted 200 years into the future. This is one of those vehicles for Woody Allen playing opposite Diane Keaton. I tried watching it a couple of times, but failed miserably to sit through it. The film’s storyline plays on several works of science-fiction, including “The Sleeper Awakes” by H. G. Wells and “Nineteen Eighty-Four” by George Orwell.

104. U.S.N. rank : ENS
Ensign (ens.)

105. Marked, as a ballot : XED IN
Today a “ballot” is a piece of paper used to cast a vote. Back in the 1500s, a “ballot” was a small “ball” used in the process of voting.

107. Cap-and-trade org. : EPA
“Cap and trade” is an emissions trading scheme designed to reduce overall emission of greenhouse gases. The idea is that a government can limit a country’s overall industrial emissions by allowing companies to pollute to a maximum level by issuing each a permit. A company needing to emit more gases can trade permits with a company needing a lower limit, so that the country’s overall emissions target can still be achieved.

116. … about Pablo Escobar? : NOTORIOUS KINGPIN
“Notorious” is an interesting Hitchcock film made in 1946 starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. I find it interesting as it is such a different dramatic role for Cary Grant, and a more gritty role for the lovely Ingrid Bergman, and the great Claude Rains is in there for good measure. It’s a story of espionage, love and intrigue set in Rio de Janeiro where there is a group of German Nazis hiding out after WWII. Definitely worth a rental if you’ve never seen it …

“Kingpin” is a 1996 comedy starring Woody Harrelson as an alcoholic ex-bowler who manages an Amish bowling talent played by Randy Quaid. Not my kind of film …

Pablo Escobar was a Colombian drug lord, often referred to as the “world’s greatest outlaw”. He is reputed to have been the world’s most successful and richest criminal, and even appeared on the 1989 Forbes list of richest people, at number 7. In 1986, Escobar attempted to enter Colombian politics, pledging to pay off the nation’s $10 billion national debt. The law finally caught up with him in 1993, when he was killed in a gunfight with Colombian government forces.

122. Longtime “All My Children” role : ERICA KANE
Susan Lucci is perhaps the most famous actor associated with daytime soap operas, and was the highest paid actor in daytime television. Lucci was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series an incredible 21 times for her portrayal of Erica Kane, the vixen in “All My Children”.

124. ___ Park (Chicago neighborhood once home to Obama) : HYDE
Hyde Park is a Chicago neighborhood located on the shores of Lake Michigan. The area is home to the University of Chicago, and is also home to President Barack Obama when he is away from Washington.

Down
1. H.I.V. research org. : AMFAR
amfAR is an organization that has been supporting AIDS research since 1983. The acronym amFAR stands for American Foundation for AIDS Research.

2. Foot bones : TARSI
The tarsals (also “tarsi”) are the ankle bones, equivalent to the carpals in the wrist.

3. Only U.S. state motto in Spanish : ORO Y PLATA
“Oro y Plata” means “gold and silver”, and is the state motto of Montana. The motto was written in Spanish, solely because “it had a nice ring to it”.

4. Hall-of-Fame slugger Johnny : MIZE
Johnny Mize played professional baseball from 1936 to 1953, apart from three seasons that he missed while serving during WWII.

6. Liszt wrote three for piano : CONCERTI
Franz Liszt (1811-1886) was a Hungarian composer and a fabulous pianist. Particularly towards the end of his life, Liszt gained a tremendous reputation as a teacher. While he was in his sixties, his teaching profession demanded that he commute regularly between the cities of Rome, Weimar and Budapest. It is quite remarkable that a man of such advanced age, and in the 1870s, could do so much annual travel. It is estimated that Liszt journeyed at least 4,000 miles every year!

7. Kind of heart valve : MITRAL
The mitral valve lies between the left atrium and left ventricle in the heart.

9. ___ Lingus : AER
Aer Lingus is my favorite airline! Well, the service isn’t that great, but when I get on board an Aer Lingus plane I feel like I am back in Ireland. Aer Lingus is the national airline of Ireland, with “Aer Lingus” being a phonetic spelling of the Irish “aer-loingeas” meaning “air fleet”. These days Aer Lingus can only lay claim to the title of Ireland’s oldest airline as it is no longer the biggest. That honor goes to the controversial budget airline called Ryanair.

11. ___-Magnon : CRO
Remains of early man, dating back to 35,000 years ago, were found in Abri de Cro-Magnon in southwest France, giving the name to those early humans. Cro-Magnon remains are the oldest human relics that have been discovered in Europe.

12. Tourist destination SSE of Delhi : AGRA
The Indian city of Agra is home to three UNESCO World Heritage Sites:

– The Taj Mahal: the famous mausoleum built in memory of Mumtaz Mahal.
– Agra Fort: the site where the famous Koh-i-Noor diamond was seized.
– Fatehpur Sikri: a historic city that’s home to well-preserved Mughal

13. Amalfi Coast city : SALERNO
Salerno is a port city on the southwest coast of Italy. In WWII, after the Italians negotiated a peace treaty with the Allies in 1943, the King of Italy relocated to Salerno from Rome. The new Italian government was set up in the city, and for a few months Salerno was “capital” of the country.

Amalfi is a coastal town on the Gulf of Salerno located about 30 miles southeast of Naples. The town gives its name to the popular tourist destination known as the Amalfi Coast.

15. Cross with a loop : ANKH
The ankh was the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic character for “eternal life”. The ankh wasn’t just used in inscriptions but was often fashioned into amulets and as surrounds for mirrors (perhaps symbolizing a view into another world). The ankh is also known as “the key of the Nile” and “crux ansata” (Latin for “cross with a handle”).

16. Stephen King novel with a pyrokinetic character : FIRESTARTER
Stephen King’s novel “Firestarter” was adapted into a movie of the same name in 1984 starring Drew Barrymore.

17. Hill in Hill hearings : ANITA
Anita Hill is an attorney who is currently a professor at Brandeis University. Hill garnered a lot of attention in 1991 when she accused US Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment. Judge Thomas was confirmed anyway. Many say that Hill’s testimony during the confirmation hearings launched public awareness of the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace. Within a year, complaints of harassment were up by fifty percent.

31. Canadian flag symbol : LEAF
The current design of the Canadian National Flag, known as “the Maple Leaf”, has been in place since 1965. The design made its first appearance on February 15th of that year, and so that date is celebrated annually as National Flag of Canada Day.

32. Fed. lending agency : GNMA
Ginnie Mae is the familiar nickname for the Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA), a government-owned corporation created in 1968 with the objective of promoting home ownership. The “Ginnie Mae” nickname is derived from the GNMA abbreviation.

40. Heraldic border : ORLE
In heraldry, an orle is a decorative band that lies close to the edge of the front-surface of a shield. With such a design, the orle necessarily takes on the shape of the shield.

41. Cereal used in party mix : CHEX
Chex Mix is a party mix that includes Chex cereal as a major ingredient. The first recipe appeared on boxes of Chex cereal in 1952.

48. Leader issuing a ukase : TSAR
In Imperial Russia, a “ukase” was a proclamation issued by the government or the tsar.

50. Some cameras, for short : SLRS
SLR stands for “single lens reflex”. Usually cameras with changeable lenses are the SLR type. The main feature of an SLR is that a mirror reflects the image seen through the lens out through the viewfinder, so that the photographer sees exactly what the lens sees. The mirror moves out of the way as the picture is taken, and the image that comes through the lens falls onto unexposed film, or nowadays onto a digital sensor.

52. Pioneer Day celebrant : UTAHN
Pioneer Day is a state holiday celebrated on July 24th in Utah. The holiday commemorates the arrival into the Salt Lake Valley of Brigham Young and the first Mormon pioneers on 24 July 1847. Some members of the LDS Church celebrate by walking portions of the Mormon Trail.

56. Address of the Boss’s band : E STREET
The E Street Band is the backing group for Bruce Springsteen. The band came together in 1972 but didn’t take a formal name until two years later. The keyboard player in the original line up was David Sancious, and his mother allowed the group to rehearse at her home. That home was on E Street in Belmar, New Jersey, and that’s where the band got their name.

59. ___ Victor : RCA
The Victrola was a phonograph in which the turntable and horn could be hidden away in a wooden cabinet. The “Victrola” name was used as the phonograph was manufactured by the Victor Talking Machine Company. The Victor Talking Machine Company was sold to RCA, leading to the creation of RCA Victor.

62. High dudgeon : IRE
“Dudgeon” is a noun describing a state of sullen, ill humor.

63. Nasty ___ (rap nickname) : NAS
Rapper Nas used to go by another stage name, Nasty Nas, and before that by his real name, Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones. Nas released his first album “Illmatic” in 1994, and inventively titled his fifth studio album “Stillmatic”, released in 2001. Not my cup of tea, I would say …

67. ___ Johnson, former mayor of London : BORIS
Boris Johnson is a larger than life Conservative politician in the UK, and former Mayor of London. He was the very visible frontman in the campaign for the UK to exit the European Union, the so-called Brexit campaign. As a result of the UK voting to exit the EU, Prime Minister David Cameron resigned, to be replaced by Teresa May. Teresa May then appointed Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary.

71. Range that’s home to the Mark Twain National Forest : OZARKS
The Ozark Mountains aren’t really mountains geographically speaking, and the Ozarks are better described by the alternate name, the Ozark Plateau. It’s not really certain how the Ozarks got their name, but my favorite theory is that “Ozarks” is the phonetic spelling of “aux Arks”, short for “of Arkansas” in French.

83. Thrice, in Rx’s : TER
“Ter” is the Latin word for “three”, commonly used in the medical world on prescriptions as part of the expression “ter in die”. “Ter in die” is Latin for “three times a day”, abbreviated to “TID”. “Bis in die” (BID) would be twice a day, and “quater in die” (QID) would be four times a day.

There seems to some uncertainty about the origin of the symbol “Rx” that’s used for a medical prescription. One explanation is that it comes from the astrological sign for Jupiter, a symbol put on prescriptions in days of old to invoke Jupiter’s blessing to help a patient recover.

89. Sailing ropes : TYES
In the nautical world, a “tye” can be either a chain or a rope and is used to hoist a spar up a mast.

91. Monet or Sartre, by birth : PARISIAN
Claude Monet painted the harbor of Le Havre in the north of France in 1872, giving it the title “Impression, Sunrise”. The painting is not a “realistic” representation of the scene in front of him, hence the name “impression”. It was this very painting that gave rise to the name of the Impressionist movement.

Jean-Paul Sartre was a leading French philosopher, as well as a writer and political activist. He also served with the French army during WWII and spent nine months as a prisoner of war having been captured by German troops. Sartre was one of the few people to have been awarded a Nobel Prize and to have then refused to accept it. He was named winner of the prize for Literature in 1964, for his first novel “Nausea”. Before his win, Sartre knew that his name was on the list of nominees so he wrote to the Nobel Institute and asked to be withdrawn from consideration. The letter somehow went unread, so he found himself having to refuse the award after he had been selected.

97. One of the Wayans brothers : KEENEN
The Wayans family is known as the First Family of Entertainment as it is replete with actors, directors, screenwriters and comedians. I hate to admit it, but I don’t think I know any of them!

98. Old-fashioned stage direction : EXEUNT
“Exeunt omnes” is a stage direction instructing everyone on stage to exit. The term translates from Latin as “they all go out”.

99. Candy man : REESE
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups were invented by Harry Burnett “H.B.” Reese. Peanut Butter Cups were originally called penny cups, reflecting the price at which they were sold. Then inflation took over, and maybe that’s why they were broken into smaller “Pieces”.

101. Electricity-eschewing group : AMISH
The Amish are a group of Christian churches, a subgroup of the Mennonite churches. The Amish church originated in Switzerland and Alsace in 1693 when it was founded by Jakob Ammann. It was Ammann who gave the name to the Amish people. Many Amish people came to Pennsylvania in the 18th century.

106. Nickname for baseball’s Dwight Gooden : DR K
Dwight Gooden is a former professional baseball pitcher, with the nickname “Dr. K”. “Dr. K” is a reference to the standard abbreviation for “strikeout”, a “K”.

109. “Roots” Emmy winner : ASNER
Ed Asner is most famous for playing the irascible but lovable Lou Grant on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and on the spin-off drama “Lou Grant”. Off-screen Asner is noted for his political activism. He served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild, and was very involved in the 1980 SAG strike. When “Lou Grant” was cancelled in in 1982, despite decent ratings, there was a lot of talk that the cancellation was a move by the network against Asner personally. In fact, one of Asner’s activist colleagues, Howard Hesseman (who played Johnny Fever) found that his show “WKRP in Cincinnati” was also cancelled … on the very same day.

Not only did Alex Haley author the magnificent novel “Roots”, but he was also the collaborator with Malcolm X on “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”. His 1976 novel “Roots” is based on Haley’s own family history, and he claimed to be a direct descendant of the real life Kunta Kinte, the slave who was kidnapped in the The Gambia in 1767. If you remember the original television adaptation of “Roots”, you might recall that Kunta Kinte was played by LeVar Burton, who later went on to play another famous role, Geordi La Forge on “Star Trek: the Next Generation”.

113. Drag queen’s collection : BOAS
The etymology of the term “drag”, as used in the transvestite world, seems to be unclear. It perhaps relates to the tendency of a transvestite’s skirts to drag along the ground in days of old (although why they just didn’t hitch up their skirts is beyond me!).

114. “___ Plenty o’ Nuttin'” (“Porgy and Bess” song) : I GOT
“Porgy and Bess” is an opera with music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and libretto by DuBose Heyward. The storyline of the opera is based on the novel “Porgy” written by DuBose Heyward and and wife Dorothy. “Porgy and Bess” was first performed in 1935, in New York City, but really wasn’t accepted as legitimate opera until 1976 after a landmark production by the Houston Grand Opera. The most famous song from the piece is probably the wonderful aria “Summertime”.

117. Condition for a neat freak, in brief : OCD
Apparently obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is the fourth most commonly diagnosed mental disorder, making it about as common as asthma.

118. Thor Heyerdahl craft : RA I
Thor Heyerdahl made voyages on vessels called “Ra” and “Ra II”. There really wasn’t a “Ra I” as such …

Thor Heyerdahl was a noted Norwegian adventurer famous for his Kon-Tiki expedition in which he sailed a raft over 4,000 miles from South America to the Tuamotu Archipelago in the South Pacific. He also sailed a boat made from papyrus called Ra II from Morocco, across the Atlantic Ocean to Barbados.

120. Body with many arms, for short : NRA
National Rifle Association (NRA)

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Really tiny : ATOMIC
7. Deli fixture : MEAT CASE
15. Over yonder : AFAR
19. First N.F.L. QB to pass for 5,000 yards in a season : MARINO
20. Cathedral music maker : PIPE ORGAN
21. Best hand value in baccarat : NINE
22. Double feature about the Arctic Ocean? : FROZEN WATERWORLD
24. Kardashian matriarch : KRIS
25. “___ sow, so shall …” : AS YE
26. French for “square” : CARRE
27. Museumgoer, e.g. : AESTHETE
29. Upholstery problem : RIP
30. Sealy rival : SERTA
31. Some Korean-made TVs : LGS
34. City hard hit by the Zika virus : RIO
35. Didn’t play in the game : SAT
36. Actor who was lionized in the 1930s? : LAHR
38. … about the search for extraterrestrial life? : ALIEN CONTACT
42. Chump change : PEANUTS
45. Mustang rival : CAMARO
46. Unfair treatment, with “the” : SHAFT
49. … about baseball-sized hail? : TITANIC SKYFALL
52. First home? : UTERUS
53. Like a neat freak : ANAL
54. Suffix with project : -ILE
55. Actress Amanda of “Togetherness” : PEET
57. Additional, in adspeak : XTRA
58. Got room service : ORDERED IN
64. Dope : SAP
66. Forget to carry the one, e.g. : ERR
67. … about Lee Harvey Oswald not being the lone gunman? : BIG CONSPIRACY THEORY
72. When doubled, something to beat : TOM
73. Bow : ARC
74. Bandleader who popularized the conga line : DESI ARNAZ
75. Like much of Namibia : ARID
77. “Within ___ a hell”: Shak. : ME IS
80. Number on un orologio : TRE
81. About : AS TO
85. Kitchen counters? : TIMERS
87. … about attending a funeral? : SAW THE DEPARTED
93. Watchdog org., in two senses? : ASPCA
94. Occupant of a 52-Across : EMBRYO
95. Stein relative : TANKARD
96. … about an insomniac? : ROCKY SLEEPER
100. Optimistic : ROSY
101. Floor : AWE
103. Wide shoe spec : EEE
104. U.S.N. rank : ENS
105. Marked, as a ballot : XED IN
107. Cap-and-trade org. : EPA
110. Basis of a political scandal, maybe : MISTRESS
113. They lose their heads over time : BEERS
114. Promising exchange : I DOS
115. Really tiny : ITSY
116. … about Pablo Escobar? : NOTORIOUS KINGPIN
121. Manual component : STEP
122. Longtime “All My Children” role : ERICA KANE
123. Turn on : AROUSE
124. ___ Park (Chicago neighborhood once home to Obama) : HYDE
125. Most geeky : NERDIEST
126. Yak, yak, yak : NATTER

Down
1. H.I.V. research org. : AMFAR
2. Foot bones : TARSI
3. Only U.S. state motto in Spanish : ORO Y PLATA
4. Hall-of-Fame slugger Johnny : MIZE
5. Chemical suffix : -INE
6. Liszt wrote three for piano : CONCERTI
7. Kind of heart valve : MITRAL
8. Tool for a duel : EPEE
9. ___ Lingus : AER
10. What may follow a breakdown : TOW
11. ___-Magnon : CRO
12. Tourist destination SSE of Delhi : AGRA
13. Amalfi Coast city : SALERNO
14. Breaks up : ENDS IT
15. Cross with a loop : ANKH
16. Stephen King novel with a pyrokinetic character : FIRESTARTER
17. Hill in Hill hearings : ANITA
18. Change to all zeros, say : RESET
20. First section : PART A
23. “This means ___!” : WAR
28. Done for : TOAST
30. Avoid : SHUN
31. Canadian flag symbol : LEAF
32. Fed. lending agency : GNMA
33. Where your roots are : SCALP
37. Kind of watch : ANALOG
39. Standoffish : ICY
40. Heraldic border : ORLE
41. Cereal used in party mix : CHEX
42. Open-house org. : PTA
43. A, on the Aare : EIN
44. It “never solves a problem without raising 10 more,” per George Bernard Shaw : SCIENCE
47. Like stuffed animals : FURRY
48. Leader issuing a ukase : TSAR
50. Some cameras, for short : SLRS
51. Castle part : KEEP
52. Pioneer Day celebrant : UTAHN
56. Address of the Boss’s band : E STREET
59. ___ Victor : RCA
60. Sides of a quadrangle, maybe : DORMS
61. “___ not!” : DID
62. High dudgeon : IRE
63. Nasty ___ (rap nickname) : NAS
65. Shade of green : PEA
67. ___ Johnson, former mayor of London : BORIS
68. “Well, you’ve dazzled me!” : I’M IMPRESSED!
69. Commend : CITE
70. It has three feet : YARD
71. Range that’s home to the Mark Twain National Forest : OZARKS
72. “Buh-bye!” : TATA
76. Art ___ : DECO
78. Beliefs : ISMS
79. Black : SABLE
82. Didn’t budge : STAYED PUT
83. Thrice, in Rx’s : TER
84. “Huh”-inducing, say : ODD
86. One going around in circles? : RACER
88. Small songbird : WREN
89. Sailing ropes : TYES
90. Short flight : HOP
91. Monet or Sartre, by birth : PARISIAN
92. In due course : ANON
94. Blight : EYESORE
97. One of the Wayans brothers : KEENEN
98. Old-fashioned stage direction : EXEUNT
99. Candy man : REESE
101. Electricity-eschewing group : AMISH
102. Swift, in a way : WITTY
106. Nickname for baseball’s Dwight Gooden : DR K
108. Cool : POISE
109. “Roots” Emmy winner : ASNER
111. Info for a dating profile : TYPE
112. Ado : STIR
113. Drag queen’s collection : BOAS
114. “___ Plenty o’ Nuttin'” (“Porgy and Bess” song) : I GOT
117. Condition for a neat freak, in brief : OCD
118. Thor Heyerdahl craft : RA I
119. 1950s pol : IKE
120. Body with many arms, for short : NRA

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7 thoughts on “0717-16 New York Times Crossword Answers 17 Jul 16, Sunday”

  1. 36:46, no errors, iPad. Some of the scenes in "Sleeper" were filmed using the building housing the National Center for Atmospheric Research, where I was a computer programmer. So I got to watch Woody Allen at work while I was at work. So could I say that I once worked with a famous movie director? … 🙂

  2. We thought it was a pretty good puzzle. A few obscure names, but we could get them from the crosses. It was a challenging, fun puzzle to do. We got 'em all without looking anything up.

  3. 49 mins 36 sec, and 10 errors or spaces I couldn't fill. The TITANICSKYFALL clue really threw me with "baseball" in it. Overall, I struggled with this one; just not aligned with the setter. But, even Bill had a surprising number of errors (for him). I came here expecting a 22 minute completion and mistake free breeze.

  4. 42:12, no errors. Several initial mis-entries. 7A was looking for some kind of SCALE, rather than MEAT CASE, so 10D was SOS instead of TOW. Eventually straightened everything out. Made a guess on 118D and 125A, whether the words were spelled with an I or Y. 'RA I' did not come to mind.

    Interesting bit of trivia about DESI ARNAZ, I knew he was a Cuban bandleader before becoming an American TV star; but did not know about the conga line.

  5. I got 43d (ein) because of the cross clues. However I do not understand how ein relates to 'A on the Aare'. I enjoy your explanations on some of the clues but this one escaped me.

  6. "Ein" is German for "A," which would ostensibly be spoken in Switzerland, home of the Aare. That's my best guess (after looking up the Aare's locale). -SKC

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