0417-17 New York Times Crossword Answers 17 Apr 17, Monday

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: Peter Gordon
THEME: Ooh Ooh, Start!
Today’s themed answers each start with an ooh ooh sound:

17A. Big name in athletic wear : LULULEMON
23A. Jellystone Park toon with a bow tie : BOO BOO BEAR
35A. Assortment of appetizers at a Polynesian or Chinese restaurant : PU-PU PLATTER
49A. Amorous look : GOO-GOO EYES
58A. Noisemakers at the 2010 World Cup : VUVUZELAS

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 6m 12s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

1. Dict. entries : WDS
Word (wd.)

4. Spinner in a PC drive : CD-ROM
CD-ROM stands for “compact disc read only memory”. The name indicates that you can read information from the disc (like a standard music CD for example), but you cannot write to it. You can also buy a CD-RW, which stands for “compact disc – rewritable”, with which you can read data and also write over it multiple times using a suitable CD drive.

9. H.S. class for a future doctor, maybe : AP BIO
The Advanced Placement (AP) program offers college-level courses to kids who are still in high school. After being tested at the end of the courses, successful students receive credits that count towards a college degree.

17. Big name in athletic wear : LULULEMON
Lululemon Athletica is a brand of athletic clothing that was founded by Chip Wilson in 1998 and is headquartered in Vancouver. The company’s name is very much associated with the activity of yoga in particular. Every Lululemon store offers a weekly complimentary yoga class.

19. Underworld, in Greek mythology : HADES
Hades was the god of the underworld to the ancient Greeks. Over time, Hades gave his name to the underworld itself, the place where the dead reside. The term “Hades” was also adopted into the Christian tradition, as an alternative name for hell. But, the concept of hell in Christianity is more akin to the Greek “Tartarus”, which is a dark and gloomy dungeon located in Hades, a place of suffering and torment.

22. Gumbo vegetable : OKRA
The plant known as okra is mainly grown for it edible green pods. The pods are said to resemble “ladies’ fingers”, which is an alternative name for the plant. Okra is known as “ngombo” in Bantu, a name that might give us the word “gumbo”, the name for the name of the southern Louisiana stew that includes okra as a key ingredient.

23. Jellystone Park toon with a bow tie : BOO BOO BEAR
Yogi Bear made his debut for Hanna-Barbera in 1958, on the Huckleberry Hound Show before he was given his own series. Do you remember that collar that Yogi wore around his neck? That was a little trick from the animators. By using the collar, for many frames all they had to do was redraw everything from the collar up, saving them lots and lots of time. Yogi and Boo Boo lived in Jellystone Park, and made Ranger Smith’s life a misery.

27. “Girlfriend” boy band : NSYNC
NSYNC was a boy band from Orlando, Florida that was formed in 1995. The name of the group came from a comment by the mother of band member Justin Timberlake, who said the boys voices sounded “in sync”. But, it’s also true that the letters of the name NSYNC are the last letters of the given names of the five band members:

  • Justin Timberlake
  • Chris Kirkpatrick
  • Joey Fatone
  • Lance “Lansten” Bass
  • JC Chasez

29. ___ personality (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde trait) : DUAL
Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” was first published in 1886. There are many tales surrounding the writing of the story including one that the author wrote the basic tale in just three to six days, and spent a few weeks simply refining it. Allegedly, Stevenson’s use of cocaine stimulated his creative juices during those few days of writing.

30. Bill with Jefferson’s portrait : TWO
The US two-dollar bill features a portrait of Thomas Jefferson. The bill was introduced in 1862, and withdrawn in 1966. It was reintroduced in 1976, and is still legal tender. That said, there are relatively few two-dollar bills in circulation. Some people even hold that possession of a two-dollar bill is bad luck.

31. Siri runs on it : IOS
iOS is what Apple now call their mobile operating system, previously known as iPhone OS.

Siri is a software application that works with Apple’s iOS operating system. “Siri” is an acronym standing for Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface. You’ve probably seen the ads on television, with folks talking to their iPhones asking for information and responding with a voice. I hear that Google is a little scared by Siri, as Siri is non-visual. There’s no need to touch a screen or a keyboard to work with Siri, no opportunity to click on one of Google’s ads! By the way, voice-over artist Susan Bennett revealed herself as the female American voice of Siri not that long ago. The British version of Siri is called Daniel, and the Australian version is called Karen. Also, “Siri” is a Norwegian name meaning “beautiful woman who leads you to victory”, and was the name the developer had chosen for his first child.

33. Sac fly result : RBI
Run batted in (RBI)

That would be a sac(rifice) fly, in baseball.

35. Assortment of appetizers at a Polynesian or Chinese restaurant : PU-PU PLATTER
In Hawaiian, “pu-pu” is a word originally meaning “snail”. Nowadays “pu-pu” denotes many different types of food that are usually served as an hors d’oeuvres. A “pupu platter” then is a selection of such foods served in a Hawaiian restaurant.

40. Stephen of “The Crying Game” : REA
Stephen Rea is an Irish actor from Belfast. Rea’s most successful role was Fergus in 1992’s “The Crying Game”, for which performance he was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar. In “The Crying Game”, Fergus was a member of the IRA. In real life, Rea was married to IRA bomber and hunger striker Dolours Price at the time he made the movie.

“The Crying Game” is a fascinating film that made quite a splash when it was released in 1992. Although it was set in Ireland and the UK, it didn’t do well in cinemas in either country yet made a lot of money over here in the US. I think the politics of the movie were a bit raw for Irish and UK audiences back then. It’s an unusual plot, blending Irish political issues with some raw sexuality questions. I won’t tell you about the “surprise scene”, just in case you haven’t seen it and want to do so.

42. Particle accelerator particle : ION
In a particle accelerator, the particles that are accelerated have to have a charge, so are ions. The charged ions are subjected to high magnetic fields that propel them around a circular “racetrack”, before being smashed into something, just to see what happens!

43. Flight deck guesses about takeoff, for short : ETDS
Estimated time of departure (ETD)

53. Bread dipped in hummus : 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.

The lovely dip/spread called hummus usually contains mashed chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic. The name “hummus” is an Arabic word for “chickpeas”.

58. Noisemakers at the 2010 World Cup : VUVUZELAS
A vuvuzela is a simple horn that produces a loud monotone note. The vuvuzela is a big hit with soccer fans in South Africa, and is now heard in stadiums all around the world after it was introduced to us in the 2010 FIFA World Cup that was held in South Africa. That said, many facilities and organizations are now banning the vuvuzela given that the noise levels produced can actually cause hearing loss.

60. Letter after gamma : DELTA
Delta is the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet. We are most familiar with an upper-case delta and its distinctive triangular shape. The letter’s shape has influenced terms such as “deltoid muscle” and “river delta”. The upper-case delta is also used in mathematics and science to indicate a change in value. The lower-case delta looks a bit like our lower-case D, and indeed the Greek letter delta gave us our Latin letter D.

61. Former “Saturday Night Live” regular Cheri : OTERI
Cheri Oteri was the SNL (“Saturday Night Live”) cast member who regularly appeared with Will Ferrell in the skit featuring a pair of Spartan cheerleaders.

62. Horatian creation : ODE
A Horatian Ode is an ode with a specific structure, designed to resemble the odes of the Roman poet Horace.

64. Some squishy balls : NERFS
Nerf is the name given to the soft material used in a whole series of toys designed for “safe” play indoors. The Nerf product is used to make darts, balls and ammunition for toy guns. “NERF” is an acronym, standing for Non-Expanding Recreational Foam.

Down
1. President during W.W. I : WILSON
President Woodrow Wilson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1919. He was so honored in recognition of his efforts to promote peace around the world, and in particular for the leading role he played in setting up the League of Nations after WWI (despite his failure to gain support for the organization from the US Congress).

3. $400,000/year, for the U.S. president : SALARY
The salary of the US president has been fixed at $400,000 per annum since 2001.

5. Social misfit : DWEEB
“Dweeb” is relatively recent American slang that came out of college life in the late sixties. Dweeb, squarepants, nerd, they’re all not-nice terms that mean the same thing: someone excessively studious and socially inept.

6. Implement for a muzzleloader : RAMROD
A ramrod is a stick that is inserted into the barrel of an older firearm in order to pack the bullet or ball tightly against the charge of gunpowder. A ramrod can also be used to push a cleaning rag through the barrel of a gun.

7. Acapulco gold : ORO
The Mexican city of Acapulco is on the southwest coast of the country, in the state of Guerrero. The name “Acapulco” translates from the local language into “at the big reeds”.

8. Three Wise ___ (Magi) : MEN
“Magi” is the plural of the Latin word “magus”, a term applied to someone who was able to read the stars. Hence, magi is commonly used with reference to the “wise men from the East” who followed the star and visited Jesus soon after he was born.

18. Radioactive element : URANIUM
The isotope of uranium that is mostly found in nature in uranium-238. Natural uranium also contains a small amount (less than 1%) of uranium-235. When uranium is “enriched”, the percentage of uranium-235 is increased. Uranium containing 80% or more uranium-235 is known as “weapons grade”.

21. Novel narrated by Humbert Humbert : LOLITA
Vladimir Nabokov’s novel “Lolita” has a famously controversial storyline, dealing with a middle-aged man’s obsession and sexual relationship with a 12-year-old girl named Dolores Haze. 38-year-old professor Humbert Humbert privately refers to Dolores as “Lolita”. Although “Lolita” is considered a classic today, after Nabokov finished it in 1953 the edgy subject matter made it impossible for him to find a publisher in the US (where Nabokov lived). In 1955, he resorted to publishing it in English at a printing house in Paris. Publication was followed by bans and seizures all over Europe. A US printing house finally took on the project in 1958, by which time the title had such a reputation that it sold exceptionally quickly. “Lolita” became the first book since “Gone with the Wind” to sell over 100,000 copies in its first three weeks in stores.

25. ___ ghanouj : BABA
Baba ghanoush (also baba ghanouj) is an Arab dish with the main ingredient of mashed eggplant. It is sometimes served as a (delicious) dip.

28. Beat patroller : COP
“To cop” was northern British dialect for “to seize, catch”, and is still a slang term meaning “to get hold of, steal”. This verb evolved in the noun “copper”, describing a policeman, someone who catches criminals. “Copper” is often shortened to “cop”.

35. Game played with a 48-card deck : PINOCHLE
Pinochle is a card game that was developed from the 19th-century French game called bezique.

36. Tennis great Sampras : PETE
Pete Sampras is a retired Greek-American tennis professional. Sampras was rated number one in the world rankings for six years in a row in the nineties.

38. Bacon source : PIG
“Bacon” is an Old French word that we imported into English. The term ultimately comes from the Proto-Germanic “bakkon” meaning “back meat”.

44. Pitcher Tom nicknamed “The Franchise” : SEAVER
George Thomas “Tom” Seaver is a former baseball pitcher, noted for his ten-year stint with the New York Mets from 1967 to 1977. Seaver earned the nickname “Tom Terrific”, and is the only Met player to have his jersey number retired. When he quit baseball he moved out here to California and opened up a small winery in Calistoga. Keep an eye out for the vineyard’s name, “Seaver Family Vineyards”, and their cabernets “Nancy’s Fancy” and “GTS”.

47. Investment company whose commercials once had talking babies : E*TRADE
E*Trade is mainly an online discount brokerage. It was founded in 1982 in Palo Alto, California, and I used to drive by its headquarters almost every day. The company is now run out of New York City. E*Trade used to produce those famous Super Bowl ads with the talking babies staring into a webcam.

51. Killer whales : ORCAS
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.

52. Blue toon whose enemy is Gargamel : SMURF
The Smurfs are little blue people created in 1958 by the Belgian cartoonist who went by the pen name Peyo. The Smurfs became famous in the US when Hanna-Barbera used them in a children’s cartoon series. The characters are largely a group of males. The original lineup included just one “Smurfette”, who is wooed by almost all of the boy Smurfs. Later, another female was introduced into the mix called Sassette, and still later along came Granny Smurf.

Gargamel is the evil wizard who is the sworn enemy of the Smurfs, the little blue people created by the Belgian cartoonist Peyo. Gargamel is on a quest to capture enough Smurfs so that he could use them as an ingredient in a potion that would turn base metal into gold.

56. Commando weapons : UZIS
The first Uzi submachine gun was designed in the late 1940s by Major Uziel “Uzi” Gal of the Israel Defense Forces, who gave his name to the gun.

A commando unit is a body of troops specially trained for hit-and-run raids into enemy territory. We imported the term into English from Afrikaans in the early 1800s. We owe the modern usage of “commando” to Winston Churchill, who used it starting in 1940 to describe shock troops whose job it was to disrupt of the planned German invasion of Britain. Churchill was probably familiar with the word from his time as a war correspondent and military officer during the Second Boer War.

57. TV announcer Hall whose credits include “The Tonight Show” : EDD
Edd Hall is most famous as the former announcer for Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show”. Hall replaced Ed McMahon when Johnny Carson retired from the show.

58. Germany’s Otto ___ Bismarck : VON
Germany first became a country of her own in 1871 when the Princes of the various independent German states met at Versailles outside Paris to proclaim Wilhelm of Prussia as the Emperor of the German Empire. The man behind this historic development was Wilhelm’s Ministerpräsident, Otto von Bismarck. Von Bismarck was a powerful figure in Prussia and indeed on the world stage, earning him the nickname of the “Iron Chancellor”.

59. Sport-___ (rugged vehicle) : UTE
A utility vehicle is often called a “ute” for short. Nowadays one mainly hears about sports utes and crossover utes.

Return to top of page

For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Dict. entries : WDS
4. Spinner in a PC drive : CD-ROM
9. H.S. class for a future doctor, maybe : AP BIO
14. Good name for a tax adviser? : IRA
15. In the know : AWARE
16. Sound from a hen : CLUCK
17. Big name in athletic wear : LULULEMON
19. Underworld, in Greek mythology : HADES
20. Mean dog, at times : SNARLER
21. Pines (for) : LONGS
22. Gumbo vegetable : OKRA
23. Jellystone Park toon with a bow tie : BOO BOO BEAR
27. “Girlfriend” boy band : NSYNC
29. ___ personality (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde trait) : DUAL
30. Bill with Jefferson’s portrait : TWO
31. Siri runs on it : IOS
33. Sac fly result : RBI
34. Breather : REST
35. Assortment of appetizers at a Polynesian or Chinese restaurant : PU-PU PLATTER
38. Stiffly formal : PRIM
40. Stephen of “The Crying Game” : REA
41. Be under the weather : AIL
42. Particle accelerator particle : ION
43. Flight deck guesses about takeoff, for short : ETDS
45. Loses color : PALES
49. Amorous look : GOO-GOO EYES
53. Bread dipped in hummus : PITA
54. Winter neckwear : SCARF
55. Court jesters, e.g. : AMUSERS
57. Set of moral principles : ETHIC
58. Noisemakers at the 2010 World Cup : VUVUZELAS
60. Letter after gamma : DELTA
61. Former “Saturday Night Live” regular Cheri : OTERI
62. Horatian creation : ODE
63. Gown : DRESS
64. Some squishy balls : NERFS
65. Marry : WED

Down
1. President during W.W. I : WILSON
2. Boozehounds : DRUNKS
3. $400,000/year, for the U.S. president : SALARY
4. Telephone : CALL
5. Social misfit : DWEEB
6. Implement for a muzzleloader : RAMROD
7. Acapulco gold : ORO
8. Three Wise ___ (Magi) : MEN
9. Sneezing sound : ACHOO!
10. Backup strategy : PLAN B
11. Person in charge of fiscal decisions : BUDGETER
12. Arctic fishing tools : ICE SAWS
13. Approvals : OKS
18. Radioactive element : URANIUM
21. Novel narrated by Humbert Humbert : LOLITA
24. Title for the Virgin Mary : OUR LADY
25. ___ ghanouj : BABA
26. Decompose : ROT
28. Beat patroller : COP
32. Having no doubt about : SURE OF
34. Medical setback : RELAPSE
35. Game played with a 48-card deck : PINOCHLE
36. Tennis great Sampras : PETE
37. Gratuity : TIP
38. Bacon source : PIG
39. One sounding “cock-a-doodle-doo” : ROOSTER
44. Pitcher Tom nicknamed “The Franchise” : SEAVER
46. Keep out of sight : LIE LOW
47. Investment company whose commercials once had talking babies : E*TRADE
48. Mouthed off to : SASSED
50. Manners of walking : GAITS
51. Killer whales : ORCAS
52. Blue toon whose enemy is Gargamel : SMURF
56. Commando weapons : UZIS
57. TV announcer Hall whose credits include “The Tonight Show” : EDD
58. Germany’s Otto ___ Bismarck : VON
59. Sport-___ (rugged vehicle) : UTE

Return to top of page