0328-17 New York Times Crossword Answers 28 Mar 17, Tuesday

QuickLinks:
Solution to today’s crossword in the New York Times
Solution to today’s SYNDICATED New York Times crossword in all other publications
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: Ryan Milligan
THEME: Adverbalized Family Names
Today’s themed answers come from the names of celebrities who have family names that our adjectives. Our themed clues make reference to the adverbial form of those adjectives:

20A. “Sorry I’m in your space, it’s an actress thing,” said ___ : GLENN CLOSELY (from “Glenn Close”)
28A. “Don’t interrupt me on my radio show,” said ___ : HOWARD STERNLY (from “Howard Stern”)
46A. “Gotta run, pop concert calls,” said ___ : TAYLOR SWIFTLY (from “Taylor Swift”)
54A. “Right to the point: You’re beautiful, it’s true,” said ___ : JAMES BLUNTLY (from “James Blunt”)

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 5m 40s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

5. Nile predator, briefly : CROC
Crocodiles and alligators do indeed bear a resemblance to each other, although they belong to distinct biological families. One of the main ways used to distinguish them is by their teeth and jaws. Both the upper and lower sets of teeth of a crocodile are visible when its mouth is closed, whereas only the upper teeth of an alligator are visible with the mouth shut.

9. Class with masks? : DRAMA
Unless this is a reference to some types of Japanese drama, I’m not sure that I understand the clue/answer.

16. 18th-century mathematician who introduced the function : EULER
Leonhard Euler was a brilliant Swiss mathematician and physicist, a pioneer in the fields of logarithms and graph theory.

17. Designer Gucci : ALDO
Gucci was founded in Rome in 1921, by Guccio Gucci. Guccio’s son Aldo took over the company after his father’s death in 1953. It was Aldo who established the international presence for the brand and opened the company’s first overseas store, in New York City.

18. Nick at ___ : NITE
“Nick at Nite” is the name given to the late-night programming aired on the Nickelodeon channel space. Nick at Nite started broadcasting in 1985 and was conceived as television’s first “oldies” television network.

19. One-named singer who won the 2016 Album of the Year : ADELE
“Adele” is the stage name of English singer Adele Adkins. Adele’s debut album is “19”, named after the age she was during the album’s production. Her second album was even more successful than the first. Called “21”, the second album was released three years after the first, when Adele was three years older. More recently, her third studio album “25”, released in 2015, broke the first-week sales records in both the UK and the US.

20. “Sorry I’m in your space, it’s an actress thing,” said ___ : GLENN CLOSELY (from “Glenn Close”)
Glenn Close a wonderful actress who has played many varied roles, but is well known for her portrayals of less than wholesome characters. She play the crazy Alex Forrest in “Fatal Attraction”, and Cruella de Vil in “101 Dalmatians”. More recently, Close had a regular role on a TV show called “Damages”. Glenn Close is an avid fan of the New York Mets and regularly sings the national anthem before games.

24. Scottish cap : TAM
A tam o’shanter is a man’s cap traditionally worn by Scotsmen. “Tams” were originally all blue (and called “blue bonnets”) but as more dyes became readily available they became more colorful. The name of the cap comes from the title character of the Robert Burns poem “Tam O’Shanter”.

25. “The Raven” writer’s monogram : EAP
“The Raven” is a narrative poem by Edgar Allan Poe that tells of a student who has lost the love of his life, Lenore. A raven enters the student’s bedchamber and perches on a bust of Pallas. The raven can talk, to the student’s surprise, but says nothing but the word “nevermore” (“quoth the raven, ‘Nevermore’”). As the student questions all aspects of his life, the raven taunts him with the same comment, “nevermore”. Finally the student decides that his soul is trapped beneath the raven’s shadow and shall be lifted “nevermore” …

28. “Don’t interrupt me on my radio show,” said ___ : HOWARD STERNLY (from “Howard Stern”)
Howard Stern is one of the original “shock jocks” who seems now to have found his niche on uncensored satellite radio (SiriusXM).

32. “It gets better” spot, e.g., in brief : PSA
Public service announcement (PSA)

34. DiCaprio, to fans : LEO
Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio is from Los Angeles, California. DiCaprio’s mother was visiting a museum in Italy when she was pregnant and felt the first kick of her unborn child. At the moment of that first kick, Mama DiCaprio was looking at a painting by Leonardo da Vinci, and so named her son Leonardo.

39. Lion’s prey : GNU
A gnu is also known as a wildebeest, and is an antelope native to Africa. Wildebeest is actually the Dutch word for “wild beast”.

43. Lennon’s widow : ONO
John Lennon and Yoko Ono married at the height of the Vietnam War in 1969. The couple decided to use the inevitable publicity surrounding their wedding and honeymoon to promote peace in the world. They honeymooned in the Presidential Suite of the Amsterdam Hilton, inviting the world’s press to join them and to witness their “bed-in”. They spent the week talking about peace, and an end to war. The marriage and bed-in is chronicled by the Beatles in their song “The Ballad of John and Yoko”.

46. “Gotta run, pop concert calls,” said ___ : TAYLOR SWIFTLY (from “Taylor Swift”)
Singer Taylor Swift had one of her first gigs at the US Open tennis tournament when she was in her early teens. There she sang the national anthem and received a lot of favorable attention for the performance.

52. Gravestone letters : RIP
Rest in peace (RIP)

53. Govt. org. with a drone registry program : FAA
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was set up in 1958 (as the Federal Aviation Agency). The agency was established at that particular time largely in response to an increasing number of midair collisions. The worst of these disasters had taken place two years earlier over the Grand Canyon, a crash between two commercial passenger airplanes that resulted in 128 fatalities.

54. “Right to the point: You’re beautiful, it’s true,” said ___ : JAMES BLUNTLY (from “James Blunt”)
James Blunt is the stage name of an English singer whose real family name is “Blount”. Before achieving fame in the world of pop music, Blunt was an officer in a cavalry regiment of the British Army, and served as part of the NATO deployment in Kosovo. Blunt’s biggest hit to date is the 2004 song “You’re Beautiful”.

63. Tea type : CHAI
Chai is a drink made from spiced black tea, honey and milk, with “chai” being the Hindi word for “tea”. We often called tea “a cup of char” growing up in Ireland, with “char” being our slang word for tea, derived from “chai”.

64. Three, in Berlin : DREI
Berlin is the capital and largest city in Germany, and is the second most populous city in the European Union (after London).

65. Mecca resident : SAUDI
Mecca is in the Makkah province of Saudi Arabia. It was the birthplace of Muhammad and is the holiest city in Islam. Every year several million Muslims perform the Hajj, a holy pilgrimage to Mecca.

68. “A man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin,” per H. L. Mencken : CYNIC
H. L. Mencken was a journalist and essayist from Baltimore. Mencken reported on the Scopes trial of 1925 and was the writer who dubbed it the “Monkey Trial”.

69. Rice wine : SAKE
We refer to the Japanese alcoholic beverage made from rice as “sake”. We’ve gotten things a bit mixed up in the West. “Sake” is actually the word that the Japanese use for all alcoholic drinks. What we know as sake, we sometimes refer to as rice wine. Also, the starch in the rice is first converted to sugars that are then fermented into alcohol. This is more akin to a beer-brewing process than wine production, so the end product is really a rice “beer” rather than a rice “wine”.

70. Longings : YENS
The word “yen”, meaning “urge”, has been around in English since the very early 1900s. It comes from the earlier word “yin” imported from Chinese, which was used in English to describe an intense craving for opium!

Down
1. Carpet style : SHAG
Shag carpet is one with a deep pile, one with a “shaggy” appearance.

4. On the double : PRONTO
The Spanish, Italian (and now English) word “pronto” is derived from the Latin “promptus” meaning “ready, quick”.

11. Lager relative : ALE
Lager is so called because of the tradition of cold-storing the beer during fermentation. “Lager” is the German word for “storage”.

12. Comical Brooks : MEL
Mel Brooks’ real name is Melvin Kaminsky. Brooks is one of very few entertainers (there are only ten) who has won the “Showbiz Award Grand Slam” i.e. an Oscar, Tony, Grammy and Emmy. He is in good company, as the list also includes the likes of Richard Rogers, Sir John Gielgud, Marvin Hamlisch and Audrey Hepburn.

13. “All we ___ saying is give peace a chance” : ARE
John Lennon and Yoko Ono had a very public honeymoon in a hotels in Amsterdam and then Montreal, when they staged their famous “bed-in” for peace. In answering questions from reporters Lennon found himself often repeating the words “give peace a chance”. While still in bed, he composed his famous song “Give Peace a Chance” and even made the original recording of the song in the Montreal hotel room, with reporters present, and with a whole bunch of friends. The song was released later in 1969 and became a smash hit. Writing credit was initially given to Lennon-McCartney, as was the agreement between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Later versions of the song were credited just to Lennon, even though Lennon stated that Yoko Ono actually wrote the song with him.

26. Drug whose generic name is naproxen : ALEVE
Aleve is a brand name used for the anti-inflammatory drug Naproxen sodium.

27. Measuring cup material : PYREX
Pyrex is a brand of glassware that was developed by Corning. As well as being used in bakeware and laboratory glassware, Pyrex is often the material of choice for optics in large telescopes used in astronomy. Corning’s PYREX (note the capital letters) is made from borosilicate glass, the main ingredients of which are silica and boron trioxide. Such Corning products are only available now outside of the US. Corning divested its consumer products division in 1998, resulting in the formation of World Kitchen. World Kitchen purchased the rights to the “Pyrex” name in the US, and market it as “pyrex” (all lowercase letters). So “PYREX” glassware is made from borosilicate glass, and “pyrex” products are made from cheaper tempered soda-lime glass.

28. Truman and others : HARRYS
Harry Truman wanted to go to West Point having served with the Missouri Army National Guard on active duty in WWI, but he couldn’t get in because of his poor eyesight. Young Truman didn’t have the money to pay for college anywhere else. He did manage to study for two years towards a law degree at the Kansas City Law School in the twenties, but he never finished his schooling. So, Harry S. Truman was the last US President (out of a list of ten) who did not have a college degree.

31. Material in strands : RNA
Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) is an essential catalyst in the manufacture of proteins in the body. The genetic code in DNA determines the sequence of amino acids that make up each protein. That sequence is read in DNA by messenger RNA, and amino acids are delivered for protein manufacture in the correct sequence by what is called transfer RNA. The amino acids are then formed into proteins by ribosomal RNA.

32. Sauce with pine nuts : PESTO
The term “pesto” applies to anything made by pounding. What we tend to know as “pesto” sauce is more properly called “pesto alla genovese”, pesto from Genoa in northern Italy. I love, love pesto sauce …

47. Pacific ___ : RIM
The phrase “Pacific Rim” describes the countries that surround the Pacific Ocean. The related phrase “Pacific Basin” includes the islands in the Pacific Ocean, in addition to the Pacific Rim nations.

50. Tom who coached the Dallas Cowboys for 29 years : LANDRY
Although Tom Landry was a football player, he is best known as the head coach for the Dallas Cowboys. As coach he had a run of 20 consecutive winning seasons, a record that has yet to be broken. Landry had an impressive record during WWII as well. He completed a tour of 30 missions as co-pilot in a B-17 Flying Fortress in Europe, and survived a crash landing in Belgium. In his days with the Dallas Cowboys, Landry was noted for wearing a fedora hat, and there is even an image of that famous hat on his tombstone in Texas State Cemetery. He passed away in the year 2000.

54. Revered “Star Wars” figure : JEDI
The Jedi are the “good guys” in the “Star Wars” series of movies. The most famous Jedi knights from the films are Obi-Wan Kenobi (played by Alec Guinness, and later Ewan McGregor) and Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz). Well, they’re my favorites anyway …

55. Actor LaBeouf : SHIA
Shia LaBeouf is an actor who started out in the Disney television series “Even Stevens”. Adult audiences might be more familiar with his leading role in the 2003 film “Holes”.

56. Illegal pitching motion : BALK
To balk is to stop and refuse to go on. It’s not just a baseball term!

59. Nervousness that causes a golfer to miss an easy putt, with “the” : YIPS
The informal term “yips” applies to the nervous twitching that can sometimes spoil and sportsman’s performance, especially a golfer’s putting stroke.

60. Golden State sch. : USC
The University of Southern California (USC) is a private school in Los Angeles. Apart from its excellent academic record, USC is known the success of its athletic program. USC athletes have won more Olympic medals than the students of any other university in the world. The USC marching band is very famous as well, and is known as the “Spirit of Troy”. The band has performed with many celebrities, and is the only college band to have two platinum records.

Return to top of page

For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Even trade : SWAP
5. Nile predator, briefly : CROC
9. Class with masks? : DRAMA
14. Next in line : HEIR
15. Promise : OATH
16. 18th-century mathematician who introduced the function : EULER
17. Designer Gucci : ALDO
18. Nick at ___ : NITE
19. One-named singer who won the 2016 Album of the Year : ADELE
20. “Sorry I’m in your space, it’s an actress thing,” said ___ : GLENN CLOSELY (from “Glenn Close”)
23. Shirt that might have a crew neck, informally : TEE
24. Scottish cap : TAM
25. “The Raven” writer’s monogram : EAP
28. “Don’t interrupt me on my radio show,” said ___ : HOWARD STERNLY (from “Howard Stern”)
32. “It gets better” spot, e.g., in brief : PSA
34. DiCaprio, to fans : LEO
35. Prefix with galactic and spatial : INTER-
36. Works to get : EARNS
39. Lion’s prey : GNU
41. Easily fooled : NAIVE
42. Unit of bacon : STRIP
43. Lennon’s widow : ONO
45. ___-Mex : TEX
46. “Gotta run, pop concert calls,” said ___ : TAYLOR SWIFTLY (from “Taylor Swift”)
51. Turn-___ : ONS
52. Gravestone letters : RIP
53. Govt. org. with a drone registry program : FAA
54. “Right to the point: You’re beautiful, it’s true,” said ___ : JAMES BLUNTLY (from “James Blunt”)
60. Advocated : URGED
63. Tea type : CHAI
64. Three, in Berlin : DREI
65. Mecca resident : SAUDI
66. Drying oven : KILN
67. Harvest, as crops : REAP
68. “A man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin,” per H. L. Mencken : CYNIC
69. Rice wine : SAKE
70. Longings : YENS

Down
1. Carpet style : SHAG
2. Word said three times before “What have we here?!” : WELL
3. Assistant : AIDE
4. On the double : PRONTO
5. Hide : CONCEAL
6. Inner part of a racetrack : RAIL
7. Palindromic boy’s name : OTTO
8. Treasure holders : CHESTS
9. Request for a hand : DEAL ME IN
10. Inspiring 1993 movie about a Notre Dame football team walk-on : RUDY
11. Lager relative : ALE
12. Comical Brooks : MEL
13. “All we ___ saying is give peace a chance” : ARE
21. Just-made : NEW
22. Munch on : EAT
25. Thing that exists : ENTITY
26. Drug whose generic name is naproxen : ALEVE
27. Measuring cup material : PYREX
28. Truman and others : HARRYS
29. Rule laid down by a commission: Abbr. : REG
30. “What should I ___?” : DO NOW
31. Material in strands : RNA
32. Sauce with pine nuts : PESTO
33. The Great Tempter : SATAN
37. Zero, in soccer : NIL
38. Occasional : SPORADIC
40. Prefix with -versal : UNI-
44. Not connected to a computer network : OFFLINE
47. Pacific ___ : RIM
48. What stars are in the night sky : SPECKS
49. Letter after sigma : TAU
50. Tom who coached the Dallas Cowboys for 29 years : LANDRY
54. Revered “Star Wars” figure : JEDI
55. Actor LaBeouf : SHIA
56. Illegal pitching motion : BALK
57. Logician’s chart : TREE
58. Not stand completely straight : LEAN
59. Nervousness that causes a golfer to miss an easy putt, with “the” : YIPS
60. Golden State sch. : USC
61. With 62-Down, sci-fi weapon : RAY …
62. See 61-Down : … GUN

Return to top of page

10 thoughts on “0328-17 New York Times Crossword Answers 28 Mar 17, Tuesday”

  1. Won't do this one yet, but interesting in how the themes match up between here and other places a lot of times (the WSJ has the same theme today – "FUL" instead of "LY").

  2. Easier than yesterday. Ok theme, but I had never heard of JAMES BLUNT so I had to get that all via crosses.

    I didn't get the "…mask" DRAMA either.

    Best –

  3. Hi all!
    Hey! When you finish the puzzle online there's a little musical flourish! I forgot that my speakers were on and I about jumped outta my chair!
    Cute theme. Finished in 14:55 with about 3 wrong letters. Still (always) getting used to doing these things on the computer machine…
    Be well~~

  4. 8:05, no errors. Saw the theme fairly early with GLENN CLOSELY, and immediately went looking for HOWARD STERNLY and TAYLOR SWIFTLY. I, too, am not familiar with James Blunt, so that one came a bit later.

  5. No errors. Shared the same reactions as other posters. Never heard of Blunt, "masks" in clue seemed odd. Took a calculated guess at the U in RUDY/EULER. Otherwise, a good, solid Tuesday.

Comments are closed.