1119-16 New York Times Crossword Answers 19 Nov 16, Saturday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
17. Title for the leader of Chile or South Korea : MADAME PRESIDENT
Michelle Bachelet became President of Chile in 2014, having previously served in that office from 2006 to 2010. In between terms, Madame Bachelet was the first Executive Director of UN Women, more completely known as the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.

In 2013, Park Geun-hye became the woman to serve as President of South Korea. She is the daughter of Park Chung-hee, who was South Korean president from 1963 to 1979. Even though Park Geun-hye never married, she served as First Lady during her father’s presidency after her mother was assassinated by a North Korean sympathiser in 1974.

19. Blip on a radar screen : PLANE
Scientists have been using radio waves to detect the presence of objects since the late 1800s, but it was the demands of WWII that accelerated the practical application of the technology. The British called their system RDF standing for Range and Direction Finding. The system used by the US Navy was called Radio Detection And Ranging, which was shortened to the acronym RADAR.

20. Miss, abroad: Abbr. : SRTA
“Señorita” (Srta.) is Spanish and “Mademoiselle” (Mlle.) is French for “Miss”.

21. His gravestone says simply “PLAYWRIGHT” : INGE
During his career, dramatist William Inge was known as the “Playwright of the Midwest”, as many of his works were set in the American heartland and explored small town life. When Inge was 60 years old, he committed suicide by poisoning himself with carbon monoxide. He was buried in his hometown of Independence, Missouri. Inge’s grave is marked with a headstone that reads simply “Playwright”.

22. Counterpart to 24-Across : YANG
24. Counterpart to 22-Across : YIN
The yin and the yang can be explained using many different metaphors. In one, as the sun shines on a mountain, the side in the shade is the yin and the side in the light is the yang. The yin is also regarded as the feminine side, and the yang the masculine. The yin can also be associated with the moon, while the yang is associated with the sun.

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

28. Org. featured in 2014’s “Cesar Chavez” : UFW
The UFW is the United Farm Workers of America, a labor union formed by the merger of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), and the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) that was led by Mexican American labor leader Cesar Chavez.

“César Chávez” is a 2014 biographical film about the labor leader who founded the United Farm Workers. Michael Peña played the title role, with John Malkovich co-starring.

César Chávez was a Mexican American farm worker, and co-founder of the union today known as the United Farm Workers. Chávez was born in Yuma, Arizona, but moved to California as a child with his family. He never attended high school, dropping out to become a full-time migrant farm worker. In 1944, at 17 years of age, he joined the US Navy and served for two years. 5-6 years after returning from the military, back working as a farm laborer, Chávez became politically active and rose to national attention as an articulate union leader during some high profile strikes. He is remembered annually here in California on his birthday, March 31, which is a state holiday.

30. Dish made with mayo : SLAW
The term “coleslaw” is an Anglicized version of the Dutch name “koolsla”, which in itself is a shortened form of “Koolsalade” meaning “cabbage salad”.

32. Former minority whip in both the House and Senate : LOTT
Trent Lott was raised Democrat in Mississippi, but served in Congress as a Republican. Lott held several important positions, including Minority Whip in both House and Senate.

42. Hindi for “palace” : MAHAL
“Mahal” is the Urdu word for “palace”, as in “Taj Mahal” meaning “crown of palaces”.

44. Logical connector : ERGO
Ergo is the Latin word for “hence, therefore”.

45. Lady of Camelot : ENID
Enid is a Welsh name, from “einit” an old Welsh word meaning “purity”. Enid was the wife of Geraint, one of King Arthur’s knights. Enid is described as “the personification of spotless purity”.

Camelot is featured in Arthurian legend, as King Arthur’s castle and his court.

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

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was established by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and has primary responsibility for enforcing federal securities law. The first chairman of the SEC was Joe Kennedy, father of future president John F. Kennedy.

48. Cognizance : KEN
“Ken” is a noun meaning “understanding, perception”. One might say, for example, “half the clues in Saturday’s crossword are beyond my ken, beyond my understanding”.

49. Subj. of the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 : PCBS
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were banned with good reason. Apart from their link to cancer and other disorders in humans and animals, they are extremely persistent in the environment once contamination has occurred. Among other things, PCBs were used as coolants and insulating fluids in electrical gear such as transformers and large capacitors, as well as a transfer agent in carbonless copy paper.

51. Arabic patronymic part : IBN
In Arabic names, “ibn” is a word meaning “son of”. The words “bin” and “ben” are also used for “son of”. The word “bint” means “daughter of”. Similarly, in Hebrew “ben” is used to mean “son of”, and “bat” is used to mean “daughter of”.

56. Author whose “Earth’s Children” series has sold more than 45 million copies : AUEL
As Jean Auel prepared her first book in the “Earth’s Children” series, she did a lot of research about the Ice Age, the setting for her stories. She went as far as taking a survival course in cold conditions, learning to build an ice cave and how to make fire, tan leather and knap stone.

57. “Paul Bunyan’s toothpicks” : LOGS
Paul Bunyan is a character of American myth, a skilled lumberjack. Bunyan had a sidekick called Babe the Blue Ox. Both Bunyan and Babe are gigantic in size.

59. Italian sausage ingredient : ANISE
Anis is a Spanish liqueur, equivalent to what’s called anisette in other countries (in France, for example). It has a licorice taste as it is produced by distilling the seeds of the anis plant. Like all anis-type drinks, it is usually mixed with water and turns a milky white color when the water is added.

Down
2. 39-Across, informally : ANAL
(39. Like neat freaks : ULTRA-FASTIDIOUS)
The use of the word “anal” to mean “stiffly conventional” is an abbreviated form of “anal-retentive”, a term derived from Freudian psychology. Regardless, I’m not a big fan of the term …

4. Name on a range : AMANA
The Amana Corporation takes its name from the location of its original headquarters, in Middle Amana, Iowa. Today, the Amana name is very much associated with household appliances. The company was founded in 1934 to manufacture commercial walk-in coolers.

5. Common microwaveable dish : RAMEN
Ramen is a noodle dish composed of Chinese-style wheat noodles in a meat or fish broth flavored with soy or miso sauce. Ramen is usually topped with sliced pork and dried seaweed.

6. Haiti’s ___-à-Vache : ILE
Île-à-Vache is an island off the coast of southwest Haiti. The name translates from French as “Cow Island”.

8. Lead actress on TV’s “Scandal” : KERRY WASHINGTON
“Scandal” is a political drama TV show centered on a former White House Communications Director named Olivia Pope, played by Kerry Washington. Pope has a complicated relationship with her ex-boss, President Fitzgerald Grant, and therefore a complicated relationship with the First Lady. I haven’t seen this one …

11. It sold for a penny at its 1851 launch : THE NEW YORK TIMES
“The New York Times” has been published since 1851. These days a viable alternative to buying the paper is to read the news online. NYTimes.com is the most popular online newspaper website in the country.

15. Program whose prospects are looking up? : SETI
SETI is the name given to a number of projects that are searching for extraterrestrial life. The acronym stands for “search for extraterrestrial intelligence”. One of the main SETI activities is the monitoring of electromagnetic radiation (such as radio waves) reaching the Earth in the hope of finding a transmission from a civilization in another world.

26. Subject of “How the Other Half Lives” : SLUM
Jacob Riis is famous for his photographs and newspaper articles that highlighted the plight of the impoverished in New York City. He wrote “How the Other Half Lives”, originally an extensive article that appeared in “Scribner’s Magazine” at Christmas 1889. The article had such an impact that Riis was commissioned to expand it into a book, which was published the following year.

27. Rain forest nut : KOLA
The nut of the kola tree has a bitter taste, and is loaded with caffeine. Despite the taste, the nut is habitually chewed in some cultures, especially in West Africa where the tree is commonly found in the rainforest. Here in the US we best know the kola nut as a flavoring used in cola drinks.

29. Mrs., abroad : FRAU
In Germany, a “Mr.” (Herr) is married to a “Mrs.” (Frau), and they live together in a house (Haus).

31. Something taken in preparation for a trip : LSD
LSD (colloquially known as “acid”) is short for lysergic acid diethylamide. A Swiss chemist called Albert Hofmann first synthesized LSD in 1938 in a research project looking for medically efficacious ergot alkaloids. It wasn’t until some five years later when Hofmann ingested some of the drug accidentally that its psychedelic properties were discovered. Trippy, man …

35. Old Trans Am feature : T-TOP
A T-top is a car roof that has removable panels on either side of a rigid bar that runs down the center of the vehicle above the driver.

The Trans Am was a specialty version of the Pontiac Firebird produced from 1969 to 2002. My favorite Trans Am is KITT, the artificially intelligent car in the eighties TV show “Knight Rider” …

37. Olympic event with singles, doubles and team relay : LUGE
A luge is a small sled used by one or two people, on which one lies face up and feet first. The luge can be compared to the skeleton, a sled for only one person and on which the rider lies face down and goes down the hill head-first. Yikes!

40. Loser of the Drama in Bahama : ALI
The Drama in Bahama was a 1981 boxing match fought in Nassau, Bahamas between Muhammad Ali and Trevor Berbick. 27-year-old Berbick defeated 39-year-old Ali on points. It was to be Ali’s last fight. Apparently, it was a very sad and pathetic affair …

41. Food chain : IHOP
The International House of Pancakes (IHOP) was founded back in 1958. IHOP was originally intended to be called IHOE, the International House of Eggs, but that name didn’t do too well in marketing tests!

52. J. M. Barrie’s Mr. Smee, e.g. : BO’S’N
A boatswain works on the deck of a boat. A boatswain is unlicensed, and so is not involved in the navigation or handling of the vessel. He or she has charge of the other unlicensed workers on the deck. Boatswain is pronounced “bosun” and this phonetic spelling is often used interchangeably with “boatswain”. The contraction “bo’s’n” is also very popular.

54. Katey of “Sons of Anarchy” : SAGAL
Katey Sagal played Peggy Bundy on “Married … with Children”. Later she took over as star of the show “8 Simple Rules” in the middle of its run, when John Ritter passed away unexpectedly in 2003. More recently, Sagal appeared on the FX drama “Sons of Anarchy”. In 2004, she married Kurt Sutter who created the “Sons of Anarchy” series.

“Sons of Anarchy” is a popular FX crime series about an outlaw motorcycle club in California’s Central Valley. It is the most successful FX show ever.

58. ___ pearls (tapioca lookalike) : SAGO
When I was growing up in Ireland I was very familiar with pearl sago, which is very similar to pearl tapioca. Pearls of sago are simply little balls of sago starch used to make breads, pancakes, biscuits, or the steamed puddings that we ate as kids. Sago comes from pith of the sago palm tree. To get at the starch the tree has to be cut down and the trunk split to reveal the pith. The pith is crushed and manipulated to make the starch available, which is then washed out of a fibrous suspension. One sago palm tree yields about 150-300 kg of starch. Personally I love the stuff, but then, I am a bit weird …

61. North Carolina motto opener : ESSE
The North Carolina motto “Esse quam videri” translates from Latin as “to be, rather than to seem to be”.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Skated on thin ice : RAN A RISK
9. Scrap : SET-TO
14. Blips : ANOMALIES
16. Square : UNHIP
17. Title for the leader of Chile or South Korea : MADAME PRESIDENT
19. Blip on a radar screen : PLANE
20. Miss, abroad: Abbr. : SRTA
21. His gravestone says simply “PLAYWRIGHT” : INGE
22. Counterpart to 24-Across : YANG
24. Counterpart to 22-Across : YIN
25. It’s a must : NEED
26. Precursor of rocksteady : SKA
28. Org. featured in 2014’s “Cesar Chavez” : UFW
30. Dish made with mayo : SLAW
32. Former minority whip in both the House and Senate : LOTT
34. It seeks pledges annually : FRAT
36. App tappers : STYLI
39. Like neat freaks : ULTRA-FASTIDIOUS
42. Hindi for “palace” : MAHAL
43. “A storm’s a-brewin'” : UH-OH
44. Logical connector : ERGO
45. Lady of Camelot : ENID
47. Event requiring an S.E.C. filing : IPO
48. Cognizance : KEN
49. Subj. of the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 : PCBS
51. Arabic patronymic part : IBN
53. Alternative to a tap : PSST!
56. Author whose “Earth’s Children” series has sold more than 45 million copies : AUEL
57. “Paul Bunyan’s toothpicks” : LOGS
59. Italian sausage ingredient : ANISE
62. Where East meets West? : NBA ALL-STAR GAMES
65. Pronouncements : DICTA
66. Military testing grounds and such : NO-GO AREAS
67. Had a bad feeling : ACHED
68. High class : NOBLESSE

Down
1. Inclination : RAMP
2. 39-Across, informally : ANAL
3. Hardly a piece of cake : NO DAY AT THE BEACH
4. Name on a range : AMANA
5. Common microwaveable dish : RAMEN
6. Haiti’s ___-à-Vache : ILE
7. Doesn’t toss back, say : SIPS
8. Lead actress on TV’s “Scandal” : KERRY WASHINGTON
9. ___ juris (of legal age) : SUI
10. Deadlock : END IN A TIE
11. It sold for a penny at its 1851 launch : THE NEW YORK TIMES
12. Shade : TINGE
13. Chose : OPTED
15. Program whose prospects are looking up? : SETI
18. Minus : SANS
23. Lip : GUFF
26. Subject of “How the Other Half Lives” : SLUM
27. Rain forest nut : KOLA
29. Mrs., abroad : FRAU
31. Something taken in preparation for a trip : LSD
33. Decode : TRANSLATE
35. Old Trans Am feature : T-TOP
37. Olympic event with singles, doubles and team relay : LUGE
38. Airs : IS ON
40. Loser of the Drama in Bahama : ALI
41. Food chain : IHOP
46. Salmon seasoning : DILL
49. The Beijing Olympics mascot Jingjing, e.g. : PANDA
50. Like some feet : CUBIC
52. J. M. Barrie’s Mr. Smee, e.g. : BO’S’N
54. Katey of “Sons of Anarchy” : SAGAL
55. Net : SNARE
58. ___ pearls (tapioca lookalike) : SAGO
60. A vast quantity : SEAS
61. North Carolina motto opener : ESSE
63. Bucko : LAD
64. Pirate, e.g. : ROB

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