0808-16 New York Times Crossword Answers 8 Aug 16, Monday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1…Home of the N.F.L.’s Dolphins..MIAMI
The Miami Dolphins football team was founded in 1966, by politician Joe Robbie and the comedian Danny Thomas.

10…Objects of an Easter hunt..EGGS
Tradition states that the first Easter Egg Roll in the nation’s capitol was staged by Dolley Madison, wife of President James Madison. The inaugural event was held in 1814, but not at the White House, where it is held today. That first Egg Roll was held on the grounds of the US Capitol. After a new lawn was planted in 1877, Congress passed a law making it illegal to use the lawn as a children’s playground (boo! hiss!), and so President Rutherford and his wife Lucy brought the Egg Roll to the White House (hurrah!).

17…*1932 Greta Garbo classic..GRAND HOTEL
“Grand Hotel” is a marvelous film released in 1932 based on a book of the same name by William A. Drake. Drake himself had based his book on a novel by Vicki Baum titled “Menschen im Hotel”. The 1932 movie has a stellar cast including Greta Garbo and John Barrymore. It was remade in 1945 as ‘Week-End at the Waldorf”, a film I saw not that long ago starring Ginger Rogers and Walter Pidgeon.

19…___ diagram..VENN
Englishman John Venn was an expert in the field of logic, and introduced the Venn diagram in his book “Symbolic Logic” in 1881. Venn diagrams are used in set theory, to illustrate the logical relationships between sets of variables.

20…It acquired Lucasfilm in 2012..DISNEY
Lucasfilm is a San Francisco production company founded in 1971 by George Lucas. The enterprise’s most famous movies are the “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” franchises. The Walt Disney Company purchased Lucasfilm for over $4 billion in 2012.

22…Garfield’s favorite food, in the comics..LASAGNA
Lasagna was originally the name of a cooking pot, but it came to mean a dish that was cooked in it. Lasagna also became the name of the flat noodle used in the dish. If you order lasagna on the other side of the Atlantic, you’ll notice the “lasagne” spelling, the plural of “lasagna”. The plural is used as there is more than one layer of pasta in the dish.

“Garfield” is a comic strip drawn by Jim Davis since 1978. Garfield is an orange tabby cat. Davis named his cartoon hero Garfield after his own grandfather.

26…Like the accent in “é”..ACUTE
In French, accents over the letter E can be “acute” (é) or “grave” (è).

32…007 creator Fleming..IAN
James Bond was the creation of writer Ian Fleming. Fleming “stole” the James Bond name from an American ornithologist. The number 007 was “stolen” from the real-life, 16th century English spy called John Dee. Dee would sign his reports to Queen Elizabeth I with a stylized “007” to indicate that the reports were for “her eyes only”. There’s an entertaining miniseries that aired on BBC America called “Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond” that details Ian Fleming’s military career, and draws some nice parallels between Fleming’s experiences and aspirations and those of his hero James Bond. Recommended …

37…*Winner of 11 1997 Oscars..TITANIC
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”.

40…Iowa’s ___ College..COE
Coe College is a private school in Cedar Rapids, Iowa that was founded in 1851. Coe is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church.

41…Sister brand of Gillette’s Sensor..ATRA
Fortunately for crossword constructors, the Atra razor was introduced by Gillette in 1977. The Atra was sold as the Contour in some markets and its derivative products are still around today.

43…Sportscaster Berman..LEN
Len Berman is a former sports journalist on WNBC, NBC’s flagship station located in New York City.

50…Ear trouble..OTITIS
Otitis is inflammation of the ear.

52…Like the Burj Khalifa among all the buildings in the world..TALLEST
Burj Khalifa is a spectacular skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is the tallest man-made structure in the world, and has been so since the completion of its exterior in 2009. The space in the building came onto the market at a really bad time, during the global financial crisis. The building was part of a US$20 billion development of downtown Dubai that was backed by the city government which had to go looking for a bailout from the neighboring city of Abu Dhabi. The tower was given the name Burj Khalifa at the last minute, apparently as a nod to the UAE president Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan who helped to broker the bailout.

57…City near Provo Peak..OREM
Orem, Utah was originally known as “Sharon” (a Biblical name), then “Provo Bench”, and in 1914 it was given the family name of a local railroad operator called “Orem”. Orem gave itself the nickname “Family City USA” and sure enough in 2010, “Forbes” rated Orem the 5th best place in the country to raise a family.

63…Amoeba’s shape..BLOB
An ameba (or “amoeba”, as we spell it back in Ireland) is a single-celled microorganism. The name comes from the Greek “amoibe”, meaning change. The name is quite apt, as the cell changes shape readily as the ameba moves, eats and reproduces.

64…”The Tortoise and the Hare” fabulist..AESOP
“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.

65…Editor’s “Let it stay”..STET
“Stet” is a Latin word meaning “let it stand”. In editorial work, the typesetter is instructed to disregard any change previously marked by writing the word “stet” and then underscoring that change with a line of dots or dashes.

66…Leading man Grant..CARY
The wonderful, wonderful actor Cary Grant was born in Bristol in England, and was given the name Archibald Leach. In the 1949 Howard Hawks film “His Girl Friday”, there’s a line where Grant describes the fate suffered by someone who crossed him. He names that person “Archie Leach”, an ad-lib using his real name.

Down
1…Root beer container..MUG
Mug Root Beer is produced in San Francisco. The beverage was introduced in the city in the forties under the name Belfast Root Beer.

2…Like the verb “to be”: Abbr…IRR
Irregular (irr.)

3…Attorneys’ org…ABA
The American Bar Association (ABA)

6…God, in the Torah..ADONAI
“Adonai” is a Hebrew name for God.

The word “Torah” best translates as “teaching”, I am told.

7…Fancy party spread..PATE
Pâté is a rich spreadable paste made up of a mixture of ground meat and fat, to which various vegetables, herbs and spices may be added. The most famous version of the paste is pâté de foie gras, made from the fattened livers of geese (“foie gras” means “fat liver” in French).

9…”Weekend Update” show, for short..SNL
“Weekend Update” is the longest-running of any recurring sketch on “Saturday Night Live” (SNL). In fact, the segment made its debut on the very first show, back in 1975. The first “anchor” at the “Weekend Update” was Chevy Chase.

10…”There you have it!”..ET VOILA!
“Et voilà” is French for, “and there it is!”

11…*1963 Steve McQueen epic, with “The”..GREAT ESCAPE
“The Great Escape” is a 1944 nonfiction book by Paul Brickhill that recounts the story of a mass escape from Stalag Luft III in Germany. Brickhill was actually a participant in the breakout. Famously, the book was adapted into a very successful 1963 movie starring Steve McQueen and Richard Attenborough.

Apparently Steve McQueen wasn’t the easiest actor to work with, at least as far as directors were concerned. He pretty much had a free rein though, as he was so popular with the public in the seventies (he had the nickname “The King of Cool”). McQueen was the highest paid movie star in 1974.

18…QVC alternative..HSN
The Home Shopping Network (HSN) was the first national shopping network, and was launched locally as the Home Shopping Club in Florida in 1982.

The QVC shopping channel was founded in 1986 in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The company now has operations not only in the US but also in the UK, Germany, Japan and Italy. That means QVC is reaching 200 million households. The QVC acronym stands for Quality, Value and Convenience.

22…Immature stage..LARVA
The larva is an intermediate stage in the development of an insect. All four stages are embryo, larva, pupa and imago.

24…*2004 documentary about fast food..SUPER SIZE ME
“Supersize” is a very large portion of fast food. The supersize concept was introduced by McDonald’s, back in 1993 (called “Dino-Size” back then). If you haven’t seen it, there is a marvelous documentary from 2004 called “Super Size Me” which goes into the whole fast food phenomenon. I thoroughly recommend the film, as I found it both fascinating and entertaining …

25…___ boom (what a jet may create)..SONIC
Supersonic transports (SSTs) like the Concorde broke Mach 1, the speed of sound. As a plane flies through air, it creates pressure waves in front (and behind) rather like the bow and stern waves of a boat. These pressure waves travel at the speed of sound, so as an aircraft itself accelerates towards the speed of sound it catches up with the pressure waves until they cannot “get out of the way”. When the aircraft reaches the speed of sound, the compressed waves merge into one single shock wave, creating a sonic boom.

28…*1956 James Dean western..GIANT
“Giant” is a 1952 novel by author Edna Ferber. It was adapted into a successful Hollywood movie released in 1956. In the film, Bick Benedict (played by Rock Hudson) marries Leslie (played by Elizabeth Taylor) and takes his new wife home to the family ranch in Texas called Reata. The ranch’s handyman is Jett Rink, played by James Dean. Dean was killed in a car accident before the film was released. Some of of Dean’s lines needed work before the film could be released and so another actor had to do that voice-over work.

29…Bert’s sister in “The Bobbsey Twins”..NAN
The “Bobbsey Twins” series of children’s novels was first written by Edward Stratemeyer in 1904. Stratemeyer used the pseudonym Laura Lee Hope, as did subsequent authors who wrote 72 books in the series between 1904 and 1979. The title characters were two sets of fraternal twins, one called Bert and Nan (who were 12) and the other called Flossie and Freddie (who were 6).

31…Scrabble rackful..TILES
The game of Scrabble has been produced in many international versions, and each of these editions has its own tile distribution to suit the local language. For example, in English we have two tiles worth ten points: one “Q” and one “Z”. If you play the game in French then there are five tiles worth ten points: one “K”, one “W”, one “X”, one “Y” and one “Z”.

34…What colanders and Swiss cheese both have..HOLES
A colander is a bowl-shaped utensil with holes in it that is used for draining liquid from food. The term “colander” comes from the Latin word “colum” meaning “sieve”.

“Swiss cheese” is a relatively generic term, a type of cheese produced in various countries and not necessarily in Switzerland. What they all have in common though, is a resemblance to the original Swiss Emmental cheese.

35…Brewer’s fermenting agent..YEAST
Yeasts are unicellular microorganisms in the Fungi kingdom. The species of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been used for centuries in the making of wine and beer, and in breadmaking. Saccharomyces cerevisiae converts carbohydrates into carbon dioxide and alcohol in the process of fermentation. When making beer and wine, the carbon dioxide and alcohol may be captured by the liquid. When making bread, the carbon dioxide and alcohol is driven off by heat.

39…Eschew Uber, say..CALL A CAB
Vienna is the capital of Austria. Vienna has a long musical tradition and was home to Franz Schubert, Johann Strauss (I and II), Josef Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms and Gustav Mahler. As such, Vienna is sometimes called the “City of Music”. It is also called the “City of Dreams” as it was home to the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud.

“To eschew”, meaning “to avoid, shun” comes from the Old French word “eschiver” that means the same thing.

51…Deck with 78 cards..TAROT
Tarot cards have been around since the mid-1400s, and for centuries were simply used for entertainment as a game. It has only been since the late 1800s that the cards have been used by fortune tellers to predict the future. The list of tarot cards includes the Wheel of Fortune, the Hanged Man and the Lovers.

53…”___ Baba and the 40 Thieves”..ALI
There is some controversy about the story “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” in that it has been suggested it was not part of the original collection of Arabic tales called “One Thousand and One Nights”. The suggestion is that the Ali Baba tale was added by one of the European translators of the collection.

55…Bob of TV’s “This Old House”..VILA
“This Old House” first aired in 1979, on PBS, with Bob Vila as host. After ten years on the show, Vila was able to make extra income with commercial endorsements. These earnings caused conflict with commercial-free PBS, and so Vila was replaced by Steve Thomas.

56…Hunchbacked assistant of film..IGOR
In the world of movies, Igor has been the assistant to Dracula, Frankenstein and Young Frankenstein among others. Igor is almost invariably portrayed as a hunchback.

58…TV channel established under a royal charter..BBC
The marvelous British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is mainly funded by the UK government through a television licence fee that is levied annually on all households watching TV transmissions. Currently the fee is 145 UK pounds, about 230 US dollars.

59…Springsteen’s “Born in the ___”..USA
“Born in the USA” is a 1984 song (and album) written and recorded by Bruce Springsteen. The song was written three years earlier as the title song for a movie, but was never used. That film ultimately was released as “Light of Day” starring Michael j. Fox. The original intention was for Springsteen to star in the film himself.

61…Short albums, for short..EPS
An extended play record (EP) contains more music than a single, but less than an LP.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1…Home of the N.F.L.’s Dolphins..MIAMI
6…iPhone purchases..APPS
10…Objects of an Easter hunt..EGGS
14…Of the city..URBAN
15…”Shoot!”..DARN!
16…Squirrel’s home..TREE
17…*1932 Greta Garbo classic..GRAND HOTEL
19…___ diagram..VENN
20…It acquired Lucasfilm in 2012..DISNEY
21…Squirrel away..HOARD
22…Garfield’s favorite food, in the comics..LASAGNA
25…Upscale business accommodations..SUITES
26…Like the accent in “é”..ACUTE
27…Dishonorable..IGNOBLE
30…Apologize for one’s sins..REPENT
32…007 creator Fleming..IAN
33…Pale as a ghost..ASHY
36…Contend..VIE
37…*Winner of 11 1997 Oscars..TITANIC
40…Iowa’s ___ College..COE
41…Sister brand of Gillette’s Sensor..ATRA
43…Sportscaster Berman..LEN
44…Jewish mysticism..CABALA
46…Sidewalks line them..STREETS
49…Easy runs..LOPES
50…Ear trouble..OTITIS
52…Like the Burj Khalifa among all the buildings in the world..TALLEST
54…Seeing stars..DAZED
55…Orchestra section next to the cellos..VIOLAS
57…City near Provo Peak..OREM
58…Long view … or what the answer to each starred clue is?..BIG PICTURE
62…Easy win..ROMP
63…Amoeba’s shape..BLOB
64…”The Tortoise and the Hare” fabulist..AESOP
65…Editor’s “Let it stay”..STET
66…Leading man Grant..CARY
67…Temper tantrum throwers..BRATS

Down
1…Root beer container..MUG
2…Like the verb “to be”: Abbr…IRR
3…Attorneys’ org…ABA
4…What a landslide political victory confers..MANDATE
5…Poor..INDIGENT
6…God, in the Torah..ADONAI
7…Fancy party spread..PATE
8…Flies, to spiders..PREY
9…”Weekend Update” show, for short..SNL
10…”There you have it!”..ET VOILA!
11…*1963 Steve McQueen epic, with “The”..GREAT ESCAPE
12…Rom-com or horror..GENRE
13…Drops off at the post office..SENDS
18…QVC alternative..HSN
21…Airline’s base of operations..HUB
22…Immature stage..LARVA
23…Nail the test..ACE IT
24…*2004 documentary about fast food..SUPER SIZE ME
25…___ boom (what a jet may create)..SONIC
28…*1956 James Dean western..GIANT
29…Bert’s sister in “The Bobbsey Twins”..NAN
31…Scrabble rackful..TILES
34…What colanders and Swiss cheese both have..HOLES
35…Brewer’s fermenting agent..YEAST
38…Perch for a golf ball..TEE
39…Eschew Uber, say..CALL A CAB
42…Have a go at..ATTEMPT
45…Strengthen..BOLSTER
47…Get ___ of (throw away)..RID
48…Visit..STOP BY
50…Dump emanations..ODORS
51…Deck with 78 cards..TAROT
53…”___ Baba and the 40 Thieves”..ALI
55…Bob of TV’s “This Old House”..VILA
56…Hunchbacked assistant of film..IGOR
58…TV channel established under a royal charter..BBC
59…Springsteen’s “Born in the ___”..USA
60…Go beyond ripe..ROT
61…Short albums, for short..EPS

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