1129-16 New York Times Crossword Answers 29 Nov 16, Tuesday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Jacob Stulberg
THEME: The Joy of Cooking
Today’s themed answers are foodstuffs used that are COOKED or used in COOKING, with each ending with a synonym of JOY:

40A. Classic kitchen volume … or a hint to 18-, 24-/53- and 62-Across : THE JOY OF COOKING

18A. Marmalade ingredient : ORANGE ZEST
24A. With 53-Across, a sugary treat : TURKISH …
53A. See 24-Across : … DELIGHT
62A. Sweet and tangy picnic side dish : CORN RELISH

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 8m 26s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

1. Croquet needs : PEGS
The very genteel game of croquet is played on lawns all over the world. It’s the game where mallets are used to hit wooden balls through hoops embedded in the grass. The name “croquet” is from French dialect and means “hockey stick”. The game originated in Brittany in France, and was popularized in Ireland in the 1830s.

9. Sorority sisters, e.g., in old lingo : COEDS
Coeducation is a system in which male and female students are educated together. We use the adjective “coed” to describe such a system. The noun “coed” is hangover from the past, and describes only a female in such an institution, and not a male.

16. Muppet who co-hosted “The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland” : ERNIE
“The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland” is a 1999 musical film featuring characters from the children’s TV show “Sesame Street”.

22. Historian’s Muse : CLIO
In Greek mythology, the muses are the goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. The number of muses is a subject of debate at times, but the most popular view is that there are nine:

  • Calliope (epic poetry)
  • Clio (history)
  • Erato (lyric poetry)
  • Euterpe (music)
  • Melpomene (tragedy)
  • Polyhymnia (choral poetry)
  • Terpsichore (dance)
  • Thalia (comedy)
  • Urania (astronomy)

23. Black-and-white swimmer : ORCA
The taxonomic name for the killer whale is Orcinus orca. The use of the name “orca”, rather than “killer whale”, is becoming more and more common. The Latin word “Orcinus” means “belonging to Orcus”, with Orcus being the name for the Kingdom of the Dead.

24. With 53-Across, a sugary treat : TURKISH …
53. See 24-Across : … DELIGHT
Turkish delight is a confection or candy made mainly from a starch gel and sugar. Additional ingredients can include chopped dates and nuts, as well as rosewater, orange or lemon flavoring.

26. Blacktop : TAR
The terms “Tarmac” and “macadam” are short for “tarmacadam”. In the 1800s, Scotsman John Loudon McAdam developed a style of road known as “macadam”. Macadam had a top-layer of crushed stone and gravel laid over larger stones. The macadam also had a convex cross-section so that water tended to drain to the sides. In 1901, a significant improvement was made by English engineer Edgar Purnell Hooley who introduced tar into the macadam, improving the resistance to water damage and practically eliminating dust. The “tar-penetration macadam” is the basis of what we now call Tarmac.

29. Snake for a charmer : ASP
Snake charmers don’t actually hypnotize their cobras, but they do train them. The snake is trained to “follow” the movement of end of the pungi, the instrument that the charmer uses in the act. The snake presents no danger to the charmer or the audience, as it is typically defanged or has it’s mouth partially stitched up so that only the tongue can be moved in and out. Not a very nice practice …

32. “Cherry Wine” rapper : 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 …

35. Purim villain : HAMAN
Purim is a festival commemorating the deliverance of the Jewish people from a plot to wipe them out by Haman the Agagite, as recorded in the Book of Esther.

40. Classic kitchen volume … or a hint to 18-, 24-/53- and 62-Across : THE JOY OF COOKING
Irma Rombauer was the author of the famous cookbook “The Joy Of Cooking”. Rombauer self-published the book back in 1931 in St. Louis, Missouri. She and her family continued to publish privately as demand was high, and then a commercial printing house picked it up in 1936. “The Joy of Cooking” has been in print continuously ever since.

43. World capital that celebrated its 1,000th anniversary in 2010 : HANOI
Hanoi was the capital of North Vietnam, and Saigon the capital of South Vietnam. After the Vietnam War, Hanoi was made capital of the reunified state. Saigon, the larger metropolis, was renamed to Ho Chi Minh City. Hanoi is located in the delta of the Red River, and is just over 50 miles from the Gulf of Tonkin in the South China Sea.

44. Surgeon’s insertion : STENT
In the world of medicine and surgery, a stent is an artificial tube inserted inside a vessel in the body, say an artery, so that it reduces the effects of a local restriction in the body’s conduit.

46. Areas at rivers’ ends : DELTAS
A river delta is a triangular landform at the mouth of a river created by the deposition of sediment. The most famous “delta” in the United States isn’t actually a delta at all. The Mississippi Delta is an alluvial plain that lies 300 miles north of the river’s actual delta, which is known as the Mississippi River Delta. Very confusing …
48. Image of Homer, perhaps : CEL
In the world of animation, a cel is a transparent sheet on which objects and characters are drawn. In the first half of the 20th century the sheet was actually made of celluloid, giving the “cel” its name.

“The Simpsons” is one of the most successful programs produced by the Fox Broadcasting Company. Homer Simpson’s catchphrase is “D’oh!”, which became such a famous exclamation that it has been included in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) since 2001. “D’oh!” can be translated as “I should have thought of that!”

52. ___ Lankan : SRI
The island nation of Sri Lanka lies off the southeast coast of India. The name “Sri Lanka” translates from Sanskrit into English as “venerable island”. Before 1970, Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon, a name given to the country during British rule.

59. Color of raw linen : ECRU
The shade called ecru is a grayish, yellowish brown. The word “ecru” comes from French and means “raw, unbleached”. “Ecru” has the same roots as our word “crude”.

61. Connecticut collegian : YALIE
Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut was founded in 1701, making it the third-oldest university in the US. Originally called the Collegiate School, it was renamed to Yale University in honor of retired merchant from London called Elihu Yale, who made generous contributions to the institution. Yale University’s nickname is “Old Eli”, in a nod to the benefactor.

65. Where Beethoven was born : BONN
After WWII, Bonn was chosen as the capital of West Germany, a choice promoted by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer who was from the area. After German reunification, the capital was moved to Berlin.

Ludwig van Beethoven is one of my favorite composers from the Classical period. There are two excellent films that showcase his music and give fictionalized yet entertaining accounts of different aspects of his life: “Immortal Beloved” (1994) that speculates on the identity of one of Beethoven’s lovers, and “Copying Beethoven” (2006) that explores the events leading up to the triumphant premiere of his 9th Symphony.

67. Voice below soprano : ALTO
In choral music, an alto (plural “alti”) is the second-highest voice in a four-part chorus made up of soprano, contr(alto), tenor and bass. The word “alto” describes the vocal range, that of the deepest female singing-voice, whereas the term “contralto” describes more than just the alto range, but also its quality and timbre. An adult male’s voice (not a boy’s) with the same range as an alto is called a “countertenor”.

68. Mother ___ : LODE
A lode is a metal ore deposit that’s found between two layers of rock or in a fissure. The “mother lode” is the principal deposit in a mine, usually of gold or silver. “Mother lode” is probably a translation of “veta madre”, an expression used in mining in Mexico.

Down
1. Milwaukee 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.

Milwaukee sits on the western shore of Lake Michigan, and is the largest city in the state of Wisconsin. Milwaukee has a long tradition of brewing, a tradition that dates back to the 1850s and that is associated with the large number of German immigrants that started to arrive in the area during the 1840s. Even though the city was once home to four of the world’s largest breweries, namely Schlitz, Blatz, Pabst and Miller, only the latter is a major employer in Milwaukee today.

2. Diplomat Root : ELIHU
Elihu Root was an American statesman, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1912 for his diplomatic work that brought “nations together through arbitration and cooperation”. Root served as Secretary of State under President Theodore Roosevelt.

4. Neil who sang “Laughter in the Rain” : SEDAKA
Neil Sedaka has been performing and composing for well over 50 years. His list of hits includes classics such as “Stupid Cupid”, “Oh! Carol”, “Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen” and “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do”.

7. Like the Kia logo : OVAL
Kia Motors is the second largest manufacturer of cars in South Korea, behind Hyundai (and Hyundai is a part owner in Kia now). Kia was founded in 1944 as a manufacturer of bicycle parts, and did indeed produce Korea’s first domestic bicycle. The company’s original name was Kyungsung Precision Industry, with the Kia name introduced in 1952.

10. Rice-shaped pasta : ORZO
Orzo is pasta that has been formed into granular shapes, much like barley. And indeed, “orzo” is the Italian word for “barley”.

12. “Boogie Oogie Oogie” music genre : DISCO
“Boogie Oogie Oogie” is a 1978 disco song released by the Los Angeles R&B band called A Taste of Honey.

19. Egg on : GOAD
The verb “edge” has been used to mean to incite, to urge on, from the 16th century. Somewhere along the way “edge” was mistakenly replaced with “egg”, giving us our term “to egg on” meaning “to goad”.

21. They’re rich in omega-3 fatty acids : FISH OILS
Fish oils are noted for containing omega-3 fatty acids, which have many health benefits including the reduction of inflammation. Like so many essential nutrients that we get from animals, the only reason the animal has them is that it feeds on plants. In this case, fish cannot manufacture omega-3 fatty acids, and instead absorb them from algae. Omega-3 fatty acids are also readily found in other plant oils such as flaxseed oil.

25. Neuter : SPAY
Our verb “to spay”, meaning “to surgically remove the ovaries of” (an animal) comes from an old Anglo-French word “espeier” meaning “to cut with a sword”.

27. How telecommuters work : REMOTELY
Our verb “to commute”, meaning “to go back and forth to work”, ultimately derives from the Latin “commutare”, meaning “to often change”. Back in the late 1800s, a “commutation ticket” was a season pass, so named because it allowed one to “change” one kind of payment into another. Quite interesting …

31. Himalayan grazer : YAK
The English word “yak” is an Anglicized version of the Tibetan name for the male of the species. Yak milk is much prized in the Tibetan culture. It is made into cheese and butter, and the butter is used to make a tea that is consumed in great volume by Tibetans. The butter is also used as a fuel in lamps, and during festivals the butter is even sculpted into religious icons.

36. Contents of the Torah : MOSAIC LAW
The Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, are traditionally believed to have been written by Moses. As such, they are sometimes referred to as the Law of Moses, or Mosaic Law.

38. Musician Brian : ENO
Brian Eno is a musician, composer and record producer from England who first achieved fame as the synthesizer player with Roxy Music. As a producer, Eno has worked with David Bowie, Devo, Talking Heads and U2.

39. York, for one: Abbr. : SGT
The marvelous 1941 film called “Sergeant York” stars Gary Cooper playing the real-life WWI hero Alvin York. York was the most decorated American soldier in the First World War, and the movie about his life became the highest-grossing film of 1941. For his heroism, York was not only awarded the Medal of Honor by the United States, but also the French “Légion d’honneur” (the highest decoration in France) and the Italian “Croce di Guerra”.

41. Morning beverage, slangily : JOE
It seems that no one really knows why we refer to coffee as “joe”, but we’ve been doing so since early in WWII.

42. Fairy tale starter : ONCE
The stock phrase “Once upon a time” has been used in various forms as the start of a narrative at least since 1380. The stock phrase at the end of stories such as folktales is often “and they all lived happily ever after”. The earlier version of this ending was “happily until their deaths”.

50. Major manufacturer of soda cans : ALCOA
The Aluminum Corporation of America (ALCOA) is the largest producer of aluminum in the United States. The company was founded in 1888 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where its headquarters are to this day.

55. Language in Bollywood films : HINDI
Bollywood is the informal name given to the huge film industry based in Mumbai in India. The term “Bollywood” is a melding of “Bombay”, the old name for Mumbai, and “Hollywood”.

56. Words to live by : TENET
A tenet is an article of faith, something that is held to be true. “Tenet” is Latin for “he holds”.

63. E.R. workers : RNS
One might find a registered nurse (RN) or a medical doctor (MD) in an emergency room (ER).

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Croquet needs : PEGS
5. On : ATOP
9. Sorority sisters, e.g., in old lingo : COEDS
14. Skin cream component : ALOE
15. Bird in a magician’s hat : DOVE
16. Muppet who co-hosted “The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland” : ERNIE
17. Secure : BIND
18. Marmalade ingredient : ORANGE ZEST
20. Stack of sheets : SHEAF
22. Historian’s Muse : CLIO
23. Black-and-white swimmer : ORCA
24. With 53-Across, a sugary treat : TURKISH …
26. Blacktop : TAR
28. Figured out : GOT
29. Snake for a charmer : ASP
30. It might end with an early touchdown : RED-EYE
32. “Cherry Wine” rapper : NAS
35. Purim villain : HAMAN
37. Ones to go pubbing with : MATES
40. Classic kitchen volume … or a hint to 18-, 24-/53- and 62-Across : THE JOY OF COOKING
43. World capital that celebrated its 1,000th anniversary in 2010 : HANOI
44. Surgeon’s insertion : STENT
45. Camp bed : COT
46. Areas at rivers’ ends : DELTAS
48. Image of Homer, perhaps : CEL
50. Bark deeper than a yip : ARF
52. ___ Lankan : SRI
53. See 24-Across : … DELIGHT
57. “___ alive!” : LOOK
59. Color of raw linen : ECRU
61. Connecticut collegian : YALIE
62. Sweet and tangy picnic side dish : CORN RELISH
65. Where Beethoven was born : BONN
66. Frequently : OFTEN
67. Voice below soprano : ALTO
68. Mother ___ : LODE
69. Poker targets? : ASHES
70. Sunset’s direction : WEST
71. Discharge : EMIT

Down
1. Milwaukee brewer : PABST
2. Diplomat Root : ELIHU
3. One with zero chance of success : GONER
4. Neil who sang “Laughter in the Rain” : SEDAKA
5. Stir : ADO
6. Commit arson on : TORCH
7. Like the Kia logo : OVAL
8. Display of remorse : PENITENCE
9. Middling grade : CEE
10. Rice-shaped pasta : ORZO
11. Peppy : ENERGETIC
12. “Boogie Oogie Oogie” music genre : DISCO
13. Attacked : SET AT
19. Egg on : GOAD
21. They’re rich in omega-3 fatty acids : FISH OILS
25. Neuter : SPAY
27. How telecommuters work : REMOTELY
30. Large amounts : RAFTS
31. Himalayan grazer : YAK
32. To the ___ degree : NTH
33. “How brilliant!” : AHA!
34. Discharge : SEND FORTH
36. Contents of the Torah : MOSAIC LAW
38. Musician Brian : ENO
39. York, for one: Abbr. : SGT
41. Morning beverage, slangily : JOE
42. Fairy tale starter : ONCE
47. Shade provider : TREE
49. Apt (to) : LIABLE
50. Major manufacturer of soda cans : ALCOA
51. Landing spots for Santa : ROOFS
53. Cleans, in a way : DUSTS
54. What a rain cloud over a head may represent, in comics : GLOOM
55. Language in Bollywood films : HINDI
56. Words to live by : TENET
58. Spot hit by a reflex hammer : KNEE
60. Upset : RILE
63. E.R. workers : RNS
64. 100° or more, say : HOT

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6 thoughts on “1129-16 New York Times Crossword Answers 29 Nov 16, Tuesday”

  1. Lots of neat things in this crossword: TURKISH DELIGHT and MARMALADE made me want to ruin my diet. Even ORZO, JOE and PABST are food stuff. MOSAIC LAW crosses HAMAN is a nice touch and could point to the cookie Hamentasch, a yummy cookie. (Haman also always reminds me of the Rembrandt painting.)

    Great images for me.

  2. 13:10, no errors. Had not heard of TURKISH DELIGHT. I do recall eating Bonomo's Turkish Taffy as a kid, it would rip your fillings out. CEL for 'Image of Homer' gave me one of those "D'oh" moments, after I figured it out.

  3. No errors. Nice puzzle. I got the theme that the answers for 18-, 24/53-, and 62-Across would be food items. But I did not notice that the ends would be synonyms of JOY until coming here. Bill always amazes me as to how he spots these things.

  4. About 45 min. No errors
    Pegs gave me fits as I was hung up on loner instead of goner. The rest was luck as usual. Chicken or egg. Is orzo derived from the Arabic arozz? Same as rice or French riz. Don't know. Maybe

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