0116-17 New York Times Crossword Answers 16 Jan 17, Monday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. “Penny Dreadful” channel, for short : SHO
“Penny Dreadful” is a horror TV show that started airing on Showtime in 2014. I don’t do horror, so I haven’t seen the show, despite the fact that it is filmed in Dublin. Characters in the show come from 19th-century fiction from Ireland and Britain, including Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray, Bram Stoker’s Abraham Van Helsing and Mary Shelley’s Victor Frankenstein.

4. ___ Longstocking, girl of children’s literature : PIPPI
Pippi Longstocking appears as the heroine in a series of books written by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. Lindgren was quite the activist, very well known in the circles working for children’s and animal rights, In particular, Lindgren campaigned heavily against corporal punishment.

9. Poet Robert who spoke at J.F.K.’s inauguration : FROST
The wonderful poet Robert Frost was a native of San Francisco, but lived most of life in New England. Frost also spent a few years in England, just before WWI. He was well recognized for his work during his lifetime, and received four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry. He was also Vermont’s first Poet Laureate, a position that Frost held from 1961 until his death in 1963.

19. Nut popular in ice cream : PECAN
The pecan is the state nut of which state in the Union? Nope, it’s not Georgia, but rather Alabama …

21. Have a mortgage, e.g. : OWE
Our word “mortgage” comes from the Old French “mort gaige” which translated as “dead pledge”. Such an arrangement was so called because the “pledge” to repay “dies” when the debt is cleared.

27. Play about Capote : TRU
“Tru” was written by Jay Presson Allen and is a play about Truman Capote that premiered in 1989. There is a classic anachronism in the piece. It is set in Capote’s New York City apartment at Christmas 1975. At one point the Capote character talks about suicide, saying that he has enough pills to stage his own Jonestown Massacre. The Jonestown Massacre didn’t happen until three years later, in 1978.

30. Walkie-talkie : TWO-WAY RADIO
The more formal name for a walkie-talkie is a handheld transceiver. A walkie-talkie is a handheld, two-way radio, a device first developed for military use during WWII by Motorola (although others developed similar designs soon after). The first walkie-talkie was portable, but large. It was back-mounted and was carried around the battlefield by a radio officer.

38. Ancient Peruvian : INCA
The Inca people emerged as a tribe around the 12th century, in what today is southern Peru. The Incas developed a vast empire over the next 300 years, extending along most of the western side of South America. The Empire fell to the Spanish, finally dissolving in 1572 with the execution of Tupac Amaru, the last Incan Emperor.

42. Eye part with the iris : UVEA
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.

45. Table tennis : PING-PONG
Ping-Pong is called table tennis in the UK, where the sport originated in the 1880s. Table tennis started as an after-dinner activity among the elite, and was called “wiff-waff”. To play the game, books were stacked in the center of a table as a “net”, two more books served as “”rackets” and the ball used was actually a golf ball. The game evolved over time with the rackets being upgraded to the lids of cigar boxes and the ball becoming a champagne cork (how snooty is that?). Eventually the game was produced commercially, and the sound of the ball hitting the racket was deemed to be a “ping” and a “pong”, giving the sport its alternative name. The name “Ping-Pong” was trademarked in Britain in 1901, and eventually sold to Parker Brothers in the US.

47. Rare occurrence on “Jeopardy!” : THREE-WAY TIE
The TV show “Jeopardy!” first went on the air in 1964, and is another successful Merv Griffin creation. But it took the introduction of Alex Trebek as host in order to bring the show into the big times. Trebek has been host since 1984.

54. Abbr. before an alias : AKA
Also known as (aka)

57. Pizazz : BRIO
“Brio” is borrowed from Italian, in which language it means vigor and vivacity. “Con brio” is a musical direction often found on a score, instructing the musicians to play “with energy, vigor”.

59. Nut-bearing tree : BEECH
The small triangular nuts of the beech tree are edible, but are very bitter. The nuts are called “beechmast” or simply “beechnuts”.

63. Completely … with a summation of 17-, 30- and 47-Across : SIX WAYS TO SUNDAY
The phrase “six ways to/from Sunday” means “every possible way”. I wasn’t able to come up with a definitive etymology for the phrase, but everything seems to point to the six days of the week that precede and succeed Sunday.

67. Larsson who wrote “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” : STIEG
Stieg Larsson was a Swedish journalist and writer, and indeed one of his main characters in his Millennium series of novels is a journalist as well. The first two titles in the series are “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and “The Girl Who Played with Fire”. The last of the three titles in the Millennium series is “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest”, which was the most-sold book in the US in 2010. All of the books in the series were published after Larsson’s death. He passed away from a heart attack while climbing several flights of stairs, when he was just 50 years old.

“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” is a sensational hit novel by the Swedish author Stieg Larsson, originally titled in Swedish as “Men Who Hate Women”. It is the first in a trilogy of successful books, all of which were only published after Larsson’s death.

68. Sign of a beaver’s activity, maybe : TREE STUMP
Beavers build dams so that they can live in and around the slower and deeper water that builds up above the dam. This deeper water provides more protection for the beavers from predators such as bears. Beavers are nocturnal animals and do all their construction work at night.

Down
3. Grp. that includes Iraq and Qatar : OPEC
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was founded in 1960 at a conference held in Baghdad, Iraq that was attended by Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Nine more countries joined the alliance soon after, and OPEC set up headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland and then Vienna, Austria in 1965. The basic aim of OPEC was to wrench control of oil prices from the oil companies and to put it in the hands of the sovereign states that own the natural resource.

4. Alternative to bubble wrap : PEANUTS
Styrofoam is an extruded polystyrene foam made by The Dow Chemical Company. Styrofoam has loads of applications, including home insulation and use as a buoyancy aid. It is also formed into “peanuts” used as a packaging filler.

Bubble wrap was invented in 1957 in an abortive attempt to make a 3-dimensional wall covering. The result was a material that wasn’t suitable as a “wallpaper” but that did make a great packing material. And don’t forget the last Monday of every January … that’s Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day.

7. Arrested suspect, informally : PERP
Perpetrator (perp)

8. Roma’s country : ITALIA
In Italian, “Roma” (Rome) is the “capitale” (capital) of “Italia” (Italy).

9. Daisies and dahlias : FLOWERS
The flowers of the daisy plant close tightly at sunset and then open up again in the morning. It is this behavior that led to the name “daisy”, from the Old English for “day’s eye”. So, the daisy could be called a “well-rested” plant. And, someone who is well-rested attacks the day “fresh as a daisy”. Interesting, huh?

The dahlia is a flowering plant native to Mexico and Central America. It was named the national flower of Mexico relatively recently, in 1963.

11. Eight: Sp. : OCHO
In Spanish, “cuatro y cuatro” (four plus four) is “ocho” (eight).

13. Lebanese city that was once the center of Phoenician civilization : TYRE
Tyre is an ancient Phoenician city, and today is the fourth largest city in Lebanon. The city’s name “Tyre” means “rock”, a reference to the rocky outcrop on which the original city was built.

15. Lavish party favors : SWAG
“Swag” is “loot, stolen property”, a term that started out as criminal slang in England in the 1830s. Swag is also the name given to the promotional freebies available at some events. That said, there’s an urban myth that the promotional “swag” is an acronym standing for “stuff we all get”.

23. “___ the night before Christmas …” : ‘TWAS
The poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” was published anonymously in 1823, and is better known today by its first line “‘Twas the night before Christmas”. Most scholars believe that the poem was written by Clement Clarke Moore, a theologian from New York City. Others say that it was written by Henry Livingston, Jr. a poet from Upstate New York.

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ’kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash …

27. 1960s dance craze : TWIST
The Twist is a dance that was born in the sixties, and was inspired by the Chubby Checker hit of 1960 called “The Twist”. Chubby Checker sang the song live in front of a crowd in Deland, Florida in October 2012. About 40,000 people danced along to the music, setting a new Guinness World Record for the most people “twisting” at the same time.

29. Stomach woe : ULCER
Until fairly recently, a peptic ulcer was believed to be caused by undue amounts of stress in one’s life. It is now known that 70-90% of all peptic ulcers are in fact associated with a particular bacterium.

32. Golfer’s gouge : DIVOT
A divot is a chunk of grass and earth that is removed by a golf club while striking the ball. “Divot” is derived from a Scottish word for a piece of turf or sod used as a roofing material.

33. “Goodnight” girl of song : IRENE
“Goodnight, Irene”, also known as “Irene, Goodnight”, is a lovely American folk song that was first recorded commercially back in 1932 by blues singer Lead Belly. The song made it to number one in the charts for the Weavers in 1950 and for Frank Sinatra in the same year.

34. Missouri river or tribe : OSAGE
Much of the Osage River in Missouri is now taken up by two large reservoirs created behind two dams that provide power for St. Louis and the surrounding area. The two reservoirs are the Truman Reservoir and the Lake of the Ozarks.

The Osage Nation originated in the Ohio River valley in what we now call Kentucky. They were forced to migrate west of the Mississippi by the invading Iroquois tribe. Most of the tribe members now live in Osage County, Oklahoma.

40. Falafel bread : PITA
Pita is a lovely bread in Middle-Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines. Pita is usually round, and has a “pocket” in the center. The pocket is created by steam that puffs up the dough during cooking leaving a void when the bread cools.

Falafel is a ball of ground chickpeas or fava beans that has been deep fried and served in pita bread. I love chickpeas, but falafel is often too dry to me …

44. Lipton products : TEA BAGS
Sir Thomas Lipton was a grocer in Glasgow, Scotland. He founded a tea packing company in North America in 1893, in Hoboken, New Jersey. He was very successful as his blends of tea became popular in the US. Despite the Lipton roots in the UK, Lipton black tea isn’t available there, so I’ve always thought of it as an American brand.

56. W.W. II foe : AXIS
Before WWII, Hungary’s prime minister was lobbying for an alliance between Germany, Hungary and Italy and worked towards such a relationship that he called an “axis”. The main Axis powers during the war were Germany, Italy and Japan. However, also included in the relationship were Romania, Bulgaria and the aforementioned Hungary.

60. Common Core dept. : EDUC
The Common Core State Standards Initiative lays out what K-12 students should know in English and mathematics. The standard is intended to standardize requirements across all states.

61. Duck-hunting attire, informally : CAMO
Our word “camouflage” evolved directly from a Parisian slang term “camoufler” meaning “to disguise”. The term was first used in WWI, although the British navy at that time preferred the expression “dazzle-painting” as it applied to the pattern painted on the hulls of ships.

65. British ref. work : OED
The “Oxford English Dictionary” (OED) contains over 300,000 “main” entries and 59 million words in total. The longest entry for one word in the second edition of the OED is the verb “set”. When the third edition was published in 2007, the longest entry for a single word became the verb “put”. Perhaps not surprisingly, the most-quoted author in the OED is William Shakespeare, with his most quoted work being “Hamlet”. The most-quoted female author is George Eliot (aka Mary Ann Evans).

66. French seasoning : SEL
In French, one might season one’s food with “sel” (salt) and “poivre” (pepper).

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. “Penny Dreadful” channel, for short : SHO
4. ___ Longstocking, girl of children’s literature : PIPPI
9. Poet Robert who spoke at J.F.K.’s inauguration : FROST
14. Highly classified : TOP SECRET
16. Like four-leaf clovers, supposedly : LUCKY
17. Somehow : ONE WAY OR ANOTHER
19. Nut popular in ice cream : PECAN
20. Apparatus pulled by oxen : PLOW
21. Have a mortgage, e.g. : OWE
22. Intestinal fortitude, informally : GUTS
25. “Ah, now it’s clear” : I SEE
27. Play about Capote : TRU
30. Walkie-talkie : TWO-WAY RADIO
35. Something that may be hidden behind a framed picture : WALL SAFE
37. Mixes : STIRS
38. Ancient Peruvian : INCA
39. Stairs : STEPS
42. Eye part with the iris : UVEA
43. Odor : SCENT
45. Table tennis : PING-PONG
47. Rare occurrence on “Jeopardy!” : THREE-WAY TIE
50. Prop for a golf ball : TEE
51. Sheet on a mast : SAIL
52. Co-ops, maybe: Abbr. : APTS
54. Abbr. before an alias : AKA
57. Pizazz : BRIO
59. Nut-bearing tree : BEECH
63. Completely … with a summation of 17-, 30- and 47-Across : SIX WAYS TO SUNDAY
67. Larsson who wrote “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” : STIEG
68. Sign of a beaver’s activity, maybe : TREE STUMP
69. Exams : TESTS
70. “Alas …” : SADLY …
71. Dove’s sound : COO

Down
1. “Halt!” : STOP!
2. Sharpen, as skills : HONE
3. Grp. that includes Iraq and Qatar : OPEC
4. Alternative to bubble wrap : PEANUTS
5. Slippery, as winter roads : ICY
6. One who gives tips (and gets tips?) at a country club : PRO
7. Arrested suspect, informally : PERP
8. Roma’s country : ITALIA
9. Daisies and dahlias : FLOWERS
10. Sign of a well-worn trail : RUT
11. Eight: Sp. : OCHO
12. Polling bias : SKEW
13. Lebanese city that was once the center of Phoenician civilization : TYRE
15. Lavish party favors : SWAG
18. Inquisitive : NOSY
23. “___ the night before Christmas …” : ‘TWAS
24. Cushiony : SOFT
26. Readily accept : EAT UP
27. 1960s dance craze : TWIST
28. Cowboy’s workplace : RANCH
29. Stomach woe : ULCER
31. Given to crying : WEEPY
32. Golfer’s gouge : DIVOT
33. “Goodnight” girl of song : IRENE
34. Missouri river or tribe : OSAGE
36. 10 things in an Olympic swimming pool : LANES
40. Falafel bread : PITA
41. Scissor cut : SNIP
44. Lipton products : TEA BAGS
46. “Hop to it!” : GET BUSY!
48. Thin but strong : WIRY
49. Most-wanted groups for parties : A-LISTS
53. Transmitted : SENT
54. Aide: Abbr. : ASST
55. Toy on a string : KITE
56. W.W. II foe : AXIS
58. Other: Sp. : OTRA
60. Common Core dept. : EDUC
61. Duck-hunting attire, informally : CAMO
62. Syringe, for short : HYPO
64. Freshly painted : WET
65. British ref. work : OED
66. French seasoning : SEL

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