0807-16 New York Times Crossword Answers 7 Aug 16, Sunday

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Solution to today’s New York Times crossword found online at the Seattle Times website
Jump to a complete list of today’s clues and answers

CROSSWORD SETTER: Samuel A. Donaldson
THEME: Anchor Lines
Today’s themed answers are LINES that are often used by a news ANCHOR, but the clues give them a “punny” interpretation:

23A. “What’s in your attic? And do penthouses have better resale value? Find out in today’s ___” : TOP STORIES
29A. “Museum officials report a priceless vase has shattered. Stay tuned for the ___” : BREAKING NEWS
43A. “A courtroom artist has been arrested for fraud. ___” : DETAILS ARE SKETCHY
66A. “Schools are cracking down on their most tardy students. We’ll have ___” : THE LATEST
68A. “Coming up, a pistol dueler tells us his stance. Now ___” : BACK TO YOU
93A. “After the break, people are leaving the city during winter because of crime. Plus ___” : TRAFFIC AND WEATHER
111A. “Our camera crew entered a one-hour photo shop at ten. ___” : FILM AT ELEVEN
118A. “With more about those defending the accused, our reporter is ___” : STANDING BY

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 19m 38s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

1. Fall birthstone : OPAL
Here is the “official” list of birthstones by month, that we tend to use today:

January: Garnet
February: Amethyst
March: Bloodstone or Aquamarine
April: Diamond
May: Emerald
June: Pearl or Moonstone
July: Ruby
August: Sardonyx or Peridot
September: Sapphire or Lapis Lazuli
October: Opal or Pink Tourmaline
November: Topaz or Citrine
December: Turquoise or Zircon (also now, Tanzanite)

5. “___ of the Dead” (2004 horror movie parody) : SHAUN
“Shaun of the Dead” is 2004 horror comedy movie starring English comic actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Written by Pegg and director Edgar Wright, “Shaun of the Dead” is the first in what’s known as their “Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy” of films, along with “”Hot Fuzz” (2007) and “The World’s End” (2013).

15. Black-and-white alerts, briefly : APBS
An All Points Bulletin (APB) is a broadcast from one US law enforcement agency to another.

20. Big brewer : PABST
Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR) is the most recognizable brand of beer from the Pabst Brewing Company. There appears to be some dispute over whether or not Pabst beer ever won a “blue ribbon” prize, but the company claims that it did so at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. The beer was originally called Pabst Best Select, and then just Pabst Select. With the renaming to Blue Ribbon, the beer was sold with an actual blue ribbon tied around the neck of the bottle until it was dropped in 1916 and incorporated into the label.

22. Old Italian bread : LIRA
The word “lira” is used in a number of countries for currency. “Lira” comes from the Latin for “pound” and is derived from a British pound sterling, the value of a Troy pound of silver. For example, the lira (plural “lire”) was the official currency of Italy before the country changed over to the euro in 2002.

26. Parts of décadas : ANOS
In Spanish, “años” (years) are grouped into “décadas” (decades).

27. Duke grp. : ACC
Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)

Duke University was founded in 1838 as Brown’s Schoolhouse. The school was renamed to Trinity College in 1859, and to this day the town where the college was located back then is known as Trinity, in honor of the school. The school was moved in 1892 to Durham, North Carolina in part due to generous donations from the wealthy tobacco industrialist Washington Duke. Duke’s donation required that the school open its doors to women, placing them on an equal footing with men. Trinity’s name was changed to Duke in 1924 in recognition of the generosity of the Duke family.

28. Paul of “Ant-Man” : RUDD
I think Paul Rudd is a very talented actor. Rudd has played a variety of roles in movies but is probably best known on television for playing Phoebe Buffay’s boyfriend and then husband on the sitcom “Friends”.

In the Marvel universe, the original Ant-Man was a scientist who used a drug to change his size, becoming small in scale while increasing his strength. Ant-Man featured in a 2015 superhero film, with Paul Rudd in the title role.

32. Group attacked by John the Baptist : PHARISEES
John the Baptist is regarded by some Christians as the forerunner of Jesus. Early in his life, Jesus was a disciple or follower of John, and is was John who baptized Jesus.

35. Bruin Bobby : ORR
Bobby Orr is regarded as one of the greatest hockey players of all time. By the time he retired in 1978 he had undergone over a dozen knee surgeries. At 31 years of age, he concluded that he just couldn’t skate anymore. Reportedly, he was even having trouble walking …

36. Eighth-century pope with the sixth-longest reign : ADRIAN I
Adrian I was pope for almost 24 years, from 772 to 795, which is one of the longest reigns in papal history.

37. Snapchat co-founder Spiegel : EVAN
Snapchat is a messaging system that allows users to send photos and video clips to a limited list of recipients. The photos and clips, called “snaps”, can be viewed for only a few seconds before they are deleted from the recipient’s device, and from the Snapchat servers.

49. Poet laureate Henry James ___ : PYE
Henry James Pye was an English poet who held the post of Poet Laureate from 1790 until his death in 1813. As Poet Laureate, Pye was the first with the title to receive an annual cash stipend, albeit a modest one. Prior to Pye, England’s Poet Laureates were given a annual stipend of a barrel of wine.

51. Epic poem section : CANTO
A canto is a section of a long poem, and is a term first used by the Italian poet Dante. “Canto” is the Italian for “song”.

52. Wye follower : ZEE
In the (American) English alphabet, the letter Y (wye) is followed by the letter Z (zee).

53. Spots in la Seine : ILES
There are two famous “îles” (islands) in the middle of the River Seine in Paris, one being the Île de la Cité, and the other Île Saint-Louis. Île de la Cité is the most renowned of the two, as it is home to the cathedral of Notre Dame.

54. Obits, basically : BIOS
“Obituary” comes from the Latin “obituaris”, originally the record of the death of a person, although the literal meaning is “pertaining to death”.

55. Mixed martial arts org. : UFC
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is a largest promoter in the world of mixed martial arts competitions. I think the idea is that competitors fight each other in various disciplines to see who is the “best of the best” …

61. Often-injured part of the knee, for short : ACL
The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of four major ligaments that support the knee.

62. Fighting a liar, e.g. : SPOONERISM
“Fighting a liar” is a spoonerism, from “lighting a fire”.

Spoonerisms are errors in speech in which letters or sounds are switched from one word to another. Famous examples are “Three cheers for our queer old dean” (dear old Queen … Victoria) and “Is it kisstomary to cuss the bride?” (customary to kiss …). Spoonerisms are named after an Oxford don William Archibald Spooner, who was notorious for his tendency to pepper his speech with “spoonerisms”.

65. Blarney : ROT
Blarney is a town in County Cork in the south of Ireland. Blarney is home to Blarney Castle, and inside the castle is the legendary Blarney Stone. “Kissing the Blarney Stone” is a ritual engaged in by oh so many tourists (indeed, I’ve done it myself!), but it’s not a simple process. The stone is embedded in the wall of the castle, and in order to kiss it you have to sit on the edge of the parapet and lean way backwards so that your head is some two feet below your body. There is a staff member there to help you and make sure you don’t fall. The Blarney Stone has been labelled as the world’s most unhygienic tourist attraction! But once you’ve kissed it, supposedly you are endowed with the “gift of the gab”, the ability to talk eloquently and perhaps deceptively without offending. The term “blarney” has come to mean flattering and deceptive talk.

74. Ones to keep up with : THE JONESES
The phrase “keep up with the Joneses” was popularized by the comic strip called “Keep up with the Joneses” that first appeared in American newspapers in 1913. The eponymous “Jones” family never appeared in person in the strip, but were referred to constantly,

78. Tennis doubles? : ENS
There is a double occurrence of the letter N (en) in the word “tennis”.

83. Smelting waste : SLAG
The better lead ores are processed in a blast furnace, to extract the metal. The “waste” from this process is called “slag”. Slag does contain some lead and it can be processed further in a “slag furnace” to extract the residual metal. Slag furnaces also accept poorer lead ores as a raw material.

84. Anaïs of “Henry & June” : NIN
100. Thurman of “Henry & June” : UMA
The 1990 movie “Henry & June” is loosely adapted from the book of the same name by Anaïs Nin. The book is based on diaries written by Nin telling of her part in a love triangle with American author Henry Miller and his wife June. June Miller was played by Uma Thurman in the movie.

85. Princess with a twin : LEIA
Princess Leia is Luke Skywalker’s twin sister in the original “Star Wars” trilogy and was played by Carrie Fisher. Carrie Fisher has stated that she hated the famous “cinnamon bun hairstyle” that she had to wear in the films, as she felt it made her face look too round. She also had to to sit for two hours every day just to get her hair styled. Two hours to get your hair done? It takes me just two seconds …

89. Mexican-born golfer Lorena : OCHOA
Lorena Ochoa is a retired professional golfer from Mexico who was ranked as the number one female golfer in the world from 2007 to 2010.

91. Joe of “My Cousin Vinny” : PESCI
“My Cousin Vinny” is a really fun film from 1992 starring Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei. In 2008, the American Bar Association rated “My Cousin Vinny” as the #3 Greatest Legal Movie of all time, after “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “12 Angry Man”!

99. Curator’s deg. : BFA
The degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is primarily designed for students intent on pursuing a career in the visual or performing arts.

The term “curator” is Latin and applies to a manager, guardian or overseer. In English, the original curators were the guardians and overseers of minors and those with mental disease.

104. Clear the tables : BUS
A busboy is a person who assists a waiter, mainly by clearing tables. The verb “to bus” arose in the early 1900s and is probably a reference to the wheeled cart that was used to carry dishes.

117. “With ___ bodkin?”: Hamlet : A BARE
Here are some lines that come towards the end of Hamlet’s famous “To be, or not to be?” soliloquy:

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th’ oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th’ unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin?

A “bodkin” is a small, pointed instrument used for making holes in leather or cloth. The term was also used in days of yore to describe a small dagger.

121. Sotto ___ (quietly) : VOCE
“Sotto voce” literally means “under the voice” in Italian, and describes the deliberate lowering of one’s voice for emphasis.

122. Nation near Fiji : TONGA
The Kingdom of Tonga is made up of 176 islands in the South Pacific, 52 of which are inhabited and scattered over an area of 270,000 square miles. Tonga was given the name Friendly Islands in 1773 when Captain James Cook first landed there, a reference to the warm reception given to the visitors.

123. Corn chip : FRITO
The Frito Corporation was started in 1932 by Elmer Doolin, basically in his mother’s kitchen. Doolin paid $100 for a corn chip recipe from a local restaurant and started producing Fritos at the rate of 10 pounds per day.

126. A comedian called Wanda : SYKES
Wanda Sykes is a very successful American comedienne and comic actress. Interestingly, Sykes spent her first five years out of school working for the NSA. I saw her perform in Reno not that long ago, and she is very, very funny.

128. Tennis’s Steffi : GRAF
Steffi Graf is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player from Germany. Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, more than any other man or woman other than Margaret Court. She is married to another former World No. 1, namely Andre Agassi.

Down
3. Rescue org. : 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.

9. Accident investigator, for short : NTSB
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is responsible for the investigation of major accidents involving transportation. Included in this broad definition is the transportation of fluids in pipelines. The organization is independent in that it has no ties to other government agencies or departments so that its investigations can be viewed as “impartial”. The NTSB also earns a little money for the US as it hires out its investigation teams to countries who don’t have the necessary resources available on their own soil.

10. Court player, in old lingo : CAGER
In the early days of basketball, when a ball went out of bounds possession was awarded to the player who first retrieved the ball. This led to mad scuffles off the court, often involving spectators. As the game became more organized courts were routinely “caged”, largely because of this out of bounds rule, to limit interaction with the crowd. It’s because of these cages that basketball players are sometimes referred to today as “cagers”.

14. Fix, as text : EMEND
The verb “to amend” means “to change for the better, put right, alter by adding”. The related verb “to emend” is used more rarely and mainly in reference to the editing of professional writing. Both terms are derived from the Latin “emendare” meaning “to remove fault”.

15. Singer Morissette : ALANIS
Alanis Morissette is a Canadian singer-songwriter. After releasing two pop albums in Canada, in 1995 she recorded her first album to be distributed internationally. Called “Jagged Little Pill”, it is a collection of songs with more of a rock influence. The album was a huge success, the highest-selling album of the 1990s, and the highest-selling debut album by any artist at any time (selling over 30 million units).

17. About which it was asked “Why are you blue?,” in a classic song : BROWN EYES
“Brown Eyes (Why Are You Blue?) is a 1925 song penned by Alfred Bryan and George W. Meyer.

24. Quiz show fodder : TRIVIA
Trivia are things of little consequence. “Trivia” is the plural of the Latin word “trivium” which means “a place where three roads meet”. Now that’s what I call a trivial fact …

34. Gilbert of “The Talk” : SARA
The actress Sara Gilbert really grew up playing Darlene on the sitcom “Roseanne” from 1988 to 1997. Today Gilbert appears fairly often on another hit sitcom, “The Big Bang Theory”. You can also see her on the daytime talk show called “The Talk”, a show that she actually created herself.

41. Snack brand featured on “Mad Men” : UTZ
Utz is the largest, privately held, producer of snack foods in the US. The company was founded in 1921 and is based in Hanover, Pennsylvania.

44. Actor Bergen of “Jersey Boys” : ERICH
“Jersey Boys” is a very entertaining musical that chronicles the life of the sixties group the Four Seasons. Joe Pesci is one of the characters in the story, which isn’t really surprising. Pesci is one of the show’s producers.

45. Novelist John Kennedy ___ : TOOLE
John Kennedy Toole was an author whose most famous work is his 1980 novel “A Confederacy of Dunces”. Toole had committed suicide eleven years before publication, when he was just 31 years old. The author’s mother found a smudged carbon copy of the book’s manuscript after her son had passed, and she persisted in her efforts to get the novel published. She was finally successful in 1980, and the following year “A Confederacy of Dunces” won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Well done, Mom …

47. Annan of the U.N. : KOFI
Kofi Annan is a diplomat from Ghana who served as General Secretary of the UN for ten years until the beginning of 2007. Annan was born into an aristocratic family, and had a twin sister named Efua Atta. Efua and Kofi shared the middle name “Atta”, which means “twin” in the Akan language of Ghana. Annan attended the MIT Sloan School of Management from 1971-72, and graduated with a Master of Science degree.

58. Fig. for a librarian : ISBN
The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) was invented by one Gordon Foster who is now a professor at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. The code was originally developed for booksellers, so that they had a unique number (and now a barcode) for each publication.

62. Prefix with masochistic : SADO-
A sadist is someone who derives pleasure from inflicting pain, with that pleasure often being sexual in nature. The term “sadist” comes from the Marquis de Sade who was known to exhibit such tendencies.

The Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat with a reputation for a libertine lifestyle. De Sade was also a writer, well known for his works of erotica. He fell foul of the law for some of his more extreme practices and for blaspheming the Catholic church. On an off, de Sade spent 32 years of his life in prison and in insane asylums.

A masochist, in sexual terms, is someone who gets sexual pleasure in being hurt or abused. The term comes from the name of the Austrian novelist Leopold von Sacher-Masoch who wrote “Venus in Furs”, a novel that features female dominance and male subservience.

64. Devotee of Dionysus : MAENAD
The maenads of Greek mythology were part of the female followers of Dionysus, the god of ritual madness. The name “maenads” translates literally as “raving ones”, a reflection perhaps of their penchant for dancing and over-imbibing.

Dionysus was the party animal of Greek mythology. Dionysus was the god of wine, ritual madness and ecstasy! His Roman equivalent was Bacchus.

69. 2000-15 TV drama : CSI
The “CSI” franchise of TV shows has been tremendously successful, but seems to be winding down. “CSI: Miami” (the “worst” of the franchise, I think) was cancelled in 2012 after ten seasons. “CSI: NY” (the “best” of the franchise) was cancelled in 2013 after nine seasons. The original “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”, set in Las Vegas, hung in there until 2015 when it ended with a two-hour TV movie. The youngest show in the series is “CSI: Cyber”, and it’s still on the air.

72. Bygone carrier : USAIR
From 1953, what today is US Airways was called Allegheny Airlines. In the seventies, customers became very dissatisfied with the company’s service levels as it struggled to manage a rapid expansion in its number of flights. These problems earned the airline the nickname “Agony Air”. Allegheny tried to leave the “agony” behind in 1979 and changed its name to USAir. In 1997 the name was changed again, to US Airways. US Airways merged with American Airlines in 2013, and the “US Airways” brand name was gradually replaced with “American Airlines”.

75. Morlocks’ prey, in sci-fi : ELOI
In the 1895 novel by H. G. Wells called “The Time Machine”, there are two races that the hero encounter in his travels into the future. The Eloi are the “beautiful people” who live on the planet’s surface. The Morlocks are a race of cannibals living underground who use the Eloi as food.

76. Historic headline of 1898 : J’ACCUSE!
The most famous work of French writer Émile Zola is his 1898 open letter “J’Accuse!” written to then French president Félix Faure. The letter was published on the front page of a leading Paris newspaper, and accused the government of anti-Semitism in its handling of the trial of Captain Alfred Dreyfus. Dreyfus was a Jewish military officer in the French army, falsely accused and convicted of spying for Germany. Even after the error was discovered, the government refused to back down and let Dreyfus rot away on Devil’s Island rather than admit to the mistake. It wasn’t until 1906, 12 years after the wrongful conviction, that Dreyfus was freed and reinstated, largely due to the advocacy of Emile Zola.

77. Old Irish character : OGHAM
Ogham is an old Irish alphabet that is found on a few hundred surviving monuments located around the country and in parts of western Britain. The oldest of these inscriptions has been dated back to the 4th century.

79. “Up top!” : GIMME FIVE!
The celebratory gesture that we call a “high five” is said to have been invented by former baseball players Dusty Baker and Glenn Burke when they were both playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the later 1970s.

80. Anatolia, familiarly : ASIA MINOR
Asia Minor is also known as Anatolia. It is the geographic part of Asia that protrudes out into the west, towards Europe, and is roughly equivalent to modern-day Turkey.

88. Start to fail? : EFF
The word “fail” starts with a letter F (eff).

91. Grilled sandwich : PANINI
In Italy, a sandwich made from sliced bread is called a “tramezzino”, while sandwiches made from non-sliced breads are called “panini” (singular “panino”). We’ve imported the term “panini” into English to mean a pressed and toasted sandwich.

93. Daughter on the animated “Bob’s Burgers” : TINA
“Bob’s Burgers” is a cartoon sitcom that airs on Fox. Not for me …

94. Egg-spensive jeweler? : FABERGE
Fabergé eggs are beautiful jeweled eggs made by the House of Fabergé from 1885 to 1917. The tradition of fabricating the eggs started when Tsar Alexander III commissioned Fabergé to create a jeweled egg for his wife in 1885. After this, the House of Fabergé produced more and more elaborate designs, year after year.

96. ___ Unidos : ESTADOS
“Los Estados Unidos” is Spanish for “the United States”.

98. Temple of Abu Simbel honoree : RAMSES
Abu Simbel is a location in southern Egypt, the site of two temples carved out of a mountainside. The two rock temples had to be relocated to Abu Simbel in 1968 to save them from being submerged in the water above the Aswan High Dam that was being built across the Nile River.

103. ___-Unis : ETATS
“Les États-Unis” is what French speakers call “the United States”.

105. Eye layers : UVEAS
The uvea is the middle of the three layers that make up the eyeball. The iris is the colored part of the eye with an aperture in the center that can open or close depending on the level of light hitting the eye.

107. ___ Locke, the so-called “Dean of the Harlem Renaissance” : ALAIN
The author and philosopher Alain LeRoy Locke was the first African-American Rhodes Scholar, and studied in Oxford and Berlin. Years later, Locke was the philosophical architect of what became known as the Harlem Renaissance, and indeed is often referred to as the Harlem Renaissance’s “Dean”.

109. Native Israeli : SABRA
Jewish people born in the State of Israel, or the historical region of israel, are known as Sabras. “Sabra” is actually the name of the prickly pear, the thorny desert cactus. Apparently the name “Sabra” is used because someone born in the region is said to be tough on the outside and sweet on the inside, just like a prickly pear.

112. Tall and thin : LANK
The term “lank” can describe something that is straight and flat, particularly hair. The usage was extended in the early 1800s (especially in the form “lanky”) to mean “awkwardly tall and thin”.

113. Warning letters on some graphic videos : NSFW
The abbreviation “NSFW” stands for “not safe/suitable for work”. It’s Internet slang used to describe online content that is best not viewed at work.

119. Part of TNT : TRI-
“TNT” is an abbreviation for trinitrotoluene. Trinitrotoluene was first produced in 1863 by the German chemist Joseph Wilbrand, who developed it for use as a yellow dye. TNT is relatively difficult to detonate so it was on the market as a dye for some years before its more explosive properties were discovered.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Fall birthstone : OPAL
5. “___ of the Dead” (2004 horror movie parody) : SHAUN
10. Give birth on a farm, in a way : CALVE
15. Black-and-white alerts, briefly : APBS
19. Wine bouquet : NOSE
20. Big brewer : PABST
21. Starters : A-TEAM
22. Old Italian bread : LIRA
23. “What’s in your attic? And do penthouses have better resale value? Find out in today’s ___” : TOP STORIES
25. Menacing look : GLARE
26. Parts of décadas : ANOS
27. Duke grp. : ACC
28. Paul of “Ant-Man” : RUDD
29. “Museum officials report a priceless vase has shattered. Stay tuned for the ___” : BREAKING NEWS
32. Group attacked by John the Baptist : PHARISEES
35. Bruin Bobby : ORR
36. Eighth-century pope with the sixth-longest reign : ADRIAN I
37. Snapchat co-founder Spiegel : EVAN
38. Past : AGO
40. Floor (it) : GUN
42. White-barked tree : ASPEN
43. “A courtroom artist has been arrested for fraud. ___” : DETAILS ARE SKETCHY
49. Poet laureate Henry James ___ : PYE
50. Coffee’s draw : AROMA
51. Epic poem section : CANTO
52. Wye follower : ZEE
53. Spots in la Seine : ILES
54. Obits, basically : BIOS
55. Mixed martial arts org. : UFC
57. Many a new loan, for short : REFI
59. Blue state : SADNESS
61. Often-injured part of the knee, for short : ACL
62. Fighting a liar, e.g. : SPOONERISM
65. Blarney : ROT
66. “Schools are cracking down on their most tardy students. We’ll have ___” : THE LATEST
68. “Coming up, a pistol dueler tells us his stance. Now ___” : BACK TO YOU
73. Ringing words? : I DO
74. Ones to keep up with : THE JONESES
78. Tennis doubles? : ENS
79. Paces at races : GALLOPS
83. Smelting waste : SLAG
84. Anaïs of “Henry & June” : NIN
85. Princess with a twin : LEIA
86. “Well, well, old chap” : I SAY
87. Consumed : ATE
89. Mexican-born golfer Lorena : OCHOA
91. Joe of “My Cousin Vinny” : PESCI
92. Start for deal or lead : MIS-
93. “After the break, people are leaving the city during winter because of crime. Plus ___” : TRAFFIC AND WEATHER
97. Mother: Prefix : MATRI-
99. Curator’s deg. : BFA
100. Thurman of “Henry & June” : UMA
101. Come ___ surprise : AS NO
102. Put on a jury : EMPANEL
104. Clear the tables : BUS
106. Savor : TASTINESS
111. “Our camera crew entered a one-hour photo shop at ten. ___” : FILM AT ELEVEN
114. Advance : LOAN
115. Spa sound : AAH!
116. Lead-in to much : IN AS …
117. “With ___ bodkin?”: Hamlet : A BARE
118. “With more about those defending the accused, our reporter is ___” : STANDING BY
121. Sotto ___ (quietly) : VOCE
122. Nation near Fiji : TONGA
123. Corn chip : FRITO
124. Sleek, informally : AERO
125. You are, in Spain : ERES
126. A comedian called Wanda : SYKES
127. Grape nuts? : WINOS
128. Tennis’s Steffi : GRAF

Down
1. Ready : ON TAP
2. Doggy : POOCH
3. Rescue org. : ASPCA
4. ___ Moulins, Québec : LES
5. Like some support payments : SPOUSAL
6. Sets : HARDENS
7. Follow, with “by” : ABIDE
8. Take advantage of : USE
9. Accident investigator, for short : NTSB
10. Court player, in old lingo : CAGER
11. Still on the loose : AT LARGE
12. Not keep a secret : LEAK
13. Special permits : VARIANCES
14. Fix, as text : EMEND
15. Singer Morissette : ALANIS
16. Pizza topping : PINEAPPLE
17. About which it was asked “Why are you blue?,” in a classic song : BROWN EYES
18. Spunk : SASSINESS
24. Quiz show fodder : TRIVIA
30. One giving a wake-up call? : ROOSTER
31. Overcast : GRAY
33. Lots : REAMS
34. Gilbert of “The Talk” : SARA
39. Sci-fi or fantasy : GENRE
41. Snack brand featured on “Mad Men” : UTZ
43. Blot gently : DAB AT
44. Actor Bergen of “Jersey Boys” : ERICH
45. Novelist John Kennedy ___ : TOOLE
46. Grab by the collar, say : ACCOST
47. Annan of the U.N. : KOFI
48. Give heed : HEARKEN
53. Digging : INTO
55. Satisfactory : UP TO PAR
56. Friend’s opposite : FOE
58. Fig. for a librarian : ISBN
60. Points : DOTS
62. Prefix with masochistic : SADO-
63. High degrees : NTHS
64. Devotee of Dionysus : MAENAD
67. Pond sight : LILY
69. 2000-15 TV drama : CSI
70. “Oh jeez!” : YEESH!
71. Chilling : ON ICE
72. Bygone carrier : USAIR
75. Morlocks’ prey, in sci-fi : ELOI
76. Historic headline of 1898 : J’ACCUSE!
77. Old Irish character : OGHAM
79. “Up top!” : GIMME FIVE!
80. Anatolia, familiarly : ASIA MINOR
81. Spot for the booby prize : LAST PLACE
82. Groom : STABLEBOY
85. Divulge : LET ON
88. Start to fail? : EFF
90. Go ___ great length : ON AT
91. Grilled sandwich : PANINI
93. Daughter on the animated “Bob’s Burgers” : TINA
94. Egg-spensive jeweler? : FABERGE
95. Saw through : WAS ONTO
96. ___ Unidos : ESTADOS
98. Temple of Abu Simbel honoree : RAMSES
103. ___-Unis : ETATS
105. Eye layers : UVEAS
107. ___ Locke, the so-called “Dean of the Harlem Renaissance” : ALAIN
108. Champing at the bit : EAGER
109. Native Israeli : SABRA
110. Below, as a goal : SHY OF
112. Tall and thin : LANK
113. Warning letters on some graphic videos : NSFW
119. Part of TNT : TRI-
120. Pester : NAG

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5 thoughts on “0807-16 New York Times Crossword Answers 7 Aug 16, Sunday”

  1. 31:37, no errors, iPad. I visited Blarney Castle on a rainy day in January, 1969, and the guide insisted I kiss the stone. It doesn't seem to have done much for me … 🙂

  2. 38:41, no errors. Clever theme, tough grid for me. The answers weren't obvious until the answers became obvious.

    @Bill: one minor nit. Your description for 64D gave great info on Dionysius, but did not mention what a MAENAD was. So here it is: (in ancient Greece) a female follower of Bacchus, traditionally associated with divine possession and frenzied rites.

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