0521-17 New York Times Crossword Answers 21 May 17, Sunday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Purchase via Charles Schwab: Abbr. : STK
Stock (stk.)

The Charles Schwab investment company was founded in 1971 as First Commander Corporation. Investor and businessman Charles Schwab and four partners purchased First Commander and changed the name to Charles Schwab in 1973.

4. “Unfinished” Symphony composer : SCHUBERT
Franz Schubert (1797-1828) was an Austrian composer, particularly noted for his large portfolio of lieder (songs). Schubert is also famous for his “Unfinished Symphony”. Schubert’s Symphony No. 7 was was left as a draft after he passed away, and as such was “unfinished”. However, it was more complete than his Symphony No. 8 which is the one we know as “The Unfinished”.

19. Its slogan is “Family City U.S.A.” : OREM, UTAH
Orem, Utah was originally known as “Sharon” (a Biblical name), then “Provo Bench”, and in 1914 it was given the family name of a local railroad operator called “Orem”. Orem gave itself the nickname “Family City USA” and sure enough in 2010, “Forbes” rated Orem the 5th best place in the country to raise a family.

24. One of the original Mouseketeers : ANNETTE
Annette Funicello is an actress and singer whose big break came on the original “Mickey Mouse Club”, in which Funicello was one of the most popular of the Mouseketeers. After her time with “Mickey Mouse Club”, she had a very successful few years as a pop singer. Then Funicello transitioned to the big screen and starred alongside Frankie Avalon in the “Beach Party” series of films.

35. 1987 Best Actress winner : CHER
Cher’s real name is Cherilyn Sarkisian, born in 1946. Formerly one half of husband-wife duo Sonny & Cher, she is often referred to as the Goddess of Pop. In her acting career, Cher was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar of 1984 for her performance in “Silkwood”. She went further in 1988 and won the Best Actress Oscar for playing Loretta Castorini in “Moonstruck”.

46. Went on an African hunting expedition : SAFARIED
“Safari” is a Swahili word, meaning “journey” or “expedition”.

52. A hill of beans? : LIMAS
The lima bean is also known as the butter bean. The lima bean was introduced to Europe from the area around Lima, Peru, hence the name.

61. Spacewalk, for short : EVA
Extravehicular activity (EVA) is the name given to any work done by an astronaut outside of his or her spacecraft. The term would encompass walking on the moon, as well as making a space walk i.e. floating around in space tethered to spacecraft.

63. Arafat’s successor as P.L.O. chairman : ABBAS
Mahmoud Abbas took over as Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 2004 after the death of Yasser Arafat. Abbas is also the President of the Palestinian National Authority, a position equivalent to “head of state”.

64. Nursery rhyme boy : GEORGIE
The first verse of the English nursery rhyme is:

Georgie Porgie, Pudding and Pie,
Kissed the girls and made them cry,
When the boys came out to play
Georgie Porgie ran away.

66. Forum farewells : VALES
“Vale” is Latin for “goodbye, farewell”.

68. Number of weeks per annum? : LII
In Roman numerals and Latin, there are LII (52) weeks “per annum” (per year).

77. Buc or Bronco : NFLER
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers joined the NFL in 1976 along with the Seattle Seahawks as expansion teams. The Bucs had a tough start in the NFL, losing their first 26 games. Things went better in the early eighties, but then the team went through 14 consecutive losing seasons. Their luck changed again though, and they won the Super Bowl at the end of the 2002 season.

The Denver Broncos were a charter member of the AFL and so were formed in 1959 and first played in 1960. The Broncos won the Super Bowl twice, in the consecutive seasons of 1997 and 1998.

78. Newport event : REGATTA
The word “regatta” is Venetian dialect and was originally used to describe boat races among the gondoliers of Venice on the Grand Canal back in the mid-1600s.

88. Weasel out of : RENEGE ON
To renege on something is to back out of it. It’s a verb commonly used in card games like bridge and whist. A renege is when a player doesn’t follow suit, even though there may be a card of the suit led in his/her hand.

90. Sportswear brand : AVIA
The Avia brand name for athletic shoes was chosen as “avia” is the Latin word for “to fly”, and suggests the concept of aviation. Avia was founded in Oregon in 1979.

100. Blood work report abbr. : LDL
LDL (low-density lipoprotein) is one of the compounds responsible for transporting fats around the body. When LDL is combined with cholesterol it can be referred to as “bad cholesterol”. This is because LDL actually transports cholesterol into the inner walls of blood vessels leading to atherosclerosis.

101. In la-la land : SPACY
“La-la land” is a euphemism for a state of unconsciousness.

114. Parent vis-à-vis a child’s loan, maybe : COSIGNER
We can use the French phrase “vis-à-vis” as a preposition meaning “compared with”. When used as an adverb or adjective, it means “face-to-face”, which is a more literal translation from French.

116. Conical construction : TEEPEE
A tepee (also written as “tipi” and “teepee”) is a cone-shaped tent traditionally made from animal hides that is used by the Great Plains Native Americans. A wigwam is a completely different structure and is often a misnomer for a tepee. A wigwam is a domed structure built by Native Americans in the West and Southwest, intended to be a more permanent dwelling. The wigwam can also be covered with hides but more often was covered with grass, reeds, brush or cloth.

Down
1. Don Quixote’s squire : SANCHO
Sancho Panza is Don Quixote’s squire, a character who spouts out humorous comments called “sanchismos”.

2. Vestiges : TRACES
We use the term “vestige” for a trace, mark or sign. The term comes from the Latin “vestigium” that also means trace, as well as footprint.

3. Setting for spring in Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” : KEY OF E
Antonio Vivaldi was one of the great composers of the Baroque period. He achieved fame and success within in his own lifetime, notoriety that faded soon after he died. Vivaldi’s music has reemerged in recent decades and I am sure everyone is familiar with at least part of his most famous composition, the violin concerto called “The Four Seasons”. Vivaldi was nicknamed “The Red Priest” because he was indeed a priest, and he had red hair.

6. Film in which Scarlett Johansson is heard but not seen : HER
2003’s “Her” is a rather unusual film. It stars Joaquin Phoenix as a man who develops a relationship with a computer operating system called “Samantha”, which is voiced by Scarlett Johansson.

7. Actress Thurman : UMA
Uma Thurman started her working career as a fashion model, at the age of 15. She appeared in her first movies at 17, with her most acclaimed early role being Cécile de Volanges in 1988’s “Dangerous Liaisons”. Thurman’s career really took off when she played the gangster’s “moll” in Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” in 1994. My favorite of all Thurman’s movies is “The Truth About Cats & Dog’s”, a less acclaimed romcom released in 1996. She took a few years off from 1998 until 2002, doing very little work in favor of motherhood. It was Tarantino who relaunched her career, giving her the lead in the “Kill Bill” films.

8. Rear half? : BUN
“Buns” is a slang term for “buttocks”.

9. LAX listing : ETA
Expected time of arrival (ETA)

Los Angeles International Airport is the sixth busiest airport in the world in terms of passenger traffic, and the busiest here on the West Coast of the US. The airport was opened in 1930 as Mines Field and was renamed to Los Angeles Airport in 1941. On the airport property is the iconic white structure that resembles a flying saucer. This is called the Theme Building and I believe it is mainly used as a restaurant and observation deck for the public. The airport used to be identified by the letters “LA”, but when the aviation industry went to a three-letter standard for airport identification, this was changed to “LAX”. Apparently the “X” has no significant meaning.

11. Symbol in trigonometry : THETA
The Greek letter theta is commonly used in geometry to represent the angle between two lines (say at the corner of a triangle).

13. Perino of Fox News : DANA
Dana Perino served as the White House Press Secretary from 2007 until 2009, working in the administration of President George W. Bush. Perino was the second woman to work as White House Press Secretary, with Dee Dee Myers having paved the way during the Clinton Administration.

15. Sierra Nevada, e.g. : ALE
The Sierra Nevada Brewing Company is powered almost exclusively by solar energy, and even has a charging station for electric vehicles at its brewery. The company also uses the cooking oil from its restaurant as biodiesel for its delivery trucks. Discarded yeast is used to make ethanol fuel, and spent grain is used as food for livestock. For its efforts to preserve the environment, Sierra Nevada won the EPA’s “Green Business of the Year” award for 2010.

18. 62-Down’s political party : BA’ATH
The Ba’ath Party was founded in Syria in 1947. The party promotes the unification of the Arab world into one nation, and has the motto “Unity, Liberty, Socialism”.

23. Night school subj. :
English as a Second Language (ESL) is sometimes referred to as English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL).

27. Japanese relative of a husky : AKITA
The Akita breed of dog is named for its point of origin, the Akita Prefecture in Japan. When Helen Keller visited Japan in 1937, she asked for and was given an Akita breed of dog, with the name of Kamikaze-go. Sadly, the dog died within a year from distemper. The following year the Japanese government officially presented Keller with a replacement dog. Supposedly Keller’s dogs were the first members of the breed to be introduced into the US.

30. Two-time Wimbledon winner Lew : HOAD
Lew Hoad was a former number-one ranked Australian tennis player. Hoad was ranked as the World No. 1 in 1956.

31. Destination from the E.R. : ICU
A patient might be moved from the emergency room (ER) to the intensive care unit (ICU).

32. Cardinal letters : STL
The St. Louis Cardinals were originally called the “Brown Stockings”, changing their name to the “Perfectos” in 1899. That obviously didn’t go down well with the locals, as the owners changed it one year later to the Cardinals.

33. Anti-Prohibitionist : WET
The 18th Amendment to the US Constitution was a great victory for the temperance movement (the “dry” movement), and in 1919 ushered in the Prohibition era. Highly unpopular (with the “wet” movement), Prohibition was repealed in 1933 by the 21st Amendment.

34. W.W. II zone, for short : ETO
General Dwight D. Eisenhower (DDE) was in command of the European Theater of Operations (ETO) during WWII.

40. French assembly : SENAT
The French parliament (Parlement français) is divided into the Senate (Sénat) and the National Assembly (Assemblée nationale).

41. Storms of the 1990s : GEOS
Geos were small vehicles manufactured by General Motors mainly in the nineties. Geos were designed to compete head-to-head with the small imports that were gaining market share at the time in the US. Some Geo models that you might remember are the Metro, the Prizm and the Storm. The cars were actually built as joint-ventures with Japanese manufacturers. The Prizm was a GM/Toyota project, the Metro was GM/Suzuki, and the Storm was GM/Isuzu.

42. Sign of spring : ARIES
Aries the Ram is the first astrological sign in the Zodiac, and is named after the constellation. Your birth sign is Aries if you were born between March 21 and April 20, but if you are an Aries you would know that! “Aries” is the Latin word for “ram”.

43. Ireland’s ___ Fein : SINN
Sinn Féin is a political party in Ireland, largely representing the Catholic community in Northern Ireland, although representation in the Republic of Ireland has increased in recent years. It is led by Gerry Adams, and has the stated aim of uniting Ireland north and south. Sinn Féin is Irish for “we ourselves”. It is currently the second largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

44. Western lily : SEGO
The sego lily is the state flower of Utah, and is a perennial plant found throughout the Western United States.

45. Runners behind O-lines : FBS
In football, fullbacks (FBs) are positioned behind the offensive line (O-line).

46. Erich who wrote “Love Story” : SEGAL
Erich Segal wrote two hit screenplays, “Yellow Submarine” (the Beatles’ animated movie) and “Love Story” (starring Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw). He wrote the novel “Love Story” after the screenplay. As the novel was published before the film was released, there’s a popular misconception that the movie is based on the book.

47. Like our numerals : ARABIC
The numbers that we use in English and most other languages (0, 1, 2, 3 etc.) are Arabic numerals, also called Hindu-Arabic or Indo-Arabic numerals. The concept of positional numbers was developed by the Babylonians, and the first use of “zero” is attributed to mathematicians in the Indian subcontinent.

52. Wrangler alternative : LEE
The Lee company that’s famous for making jeans was formed in 1889 by one Henry David Lee in Salina, Kansas.

59. OT enders, sometimes : FGS
In football, a field goal (FG) might put an end to overtime (OT).

62. Putin ally : ASSAD
Dr. Bashar al-Assad is the current President of the Syrian Arab Republic and the son of the former President Hafez al-Assad whom he replaced in 2001. President Assad is a medical doctor, speaks fluent English and conversational French. Assad was studying ophthalmology in London when he met his wife, who is an Englishwoman.

73. Mortgage deal, for short : REFI
Refinance (refi)

77. Prefix with con : NEO-
By definition, a neoconservative (neocon) is a former left-aligned politician who has moved to the right and supports the use of American power and military to bring democracy, liberty, equality and human rights to other countries.

81. Scale sequence : RE MI
The solfa syllables are: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la & ti.

82. Online mischief-makers : TROLLS
In Internet terms, a troll is someone who attempts to disrupt online group activities. The fishing term “troll” is used to describe such a person, as he or she throws out off-topic remarks in an attempt to “lure” others into some emotional response. Sad, sad people …

84. Falstaffian : FAT
Sir John Falstaff is the lead character in Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” and a supporting character in the two “Henry IV” plays. Falstaff is a self-promoting, obese and cowardly man. In “King Henry IV, part I”, Falstaff refers to his portly size, saying, “thou seest I have more flesh than another man, and therefore more frailty.”

85. Pompeii problem : ASH
The ancient city of Pompeii is situated close to Naples in Italy. Pompeii was destroyed in AD 79 by the eruption of the volcano Vesuvius. The city was completely lost from that time, and was only rediscovered in 1748. Excavations have uncovered the remarkably well-preserved buildings and roads, and Pompeii now attracts over 2 million visitors annually.

90. Motrin alternative : ANACIN
Anacin is a pain reliever, with aspirin and caffeine as active ingredients.

91. Sportscaster Dick : VITALE
The basketball sportscaster Dick Vitale is also known as “Dickie V”. Vitale is famous for coining some colorful and descriptive terms, such as “diaper dandy” for an outstanding freshman player.

96. New York town on the Hudson : NYACK
The village of Nyack is a suburb of New York City located on the western shore of the Hudson River, close to the western side of the Tappan Zee Bridge. Realist painter Edward Hopper used to live in Nyack, and the village is home to the Edward Hopper House Arts Center.

99. “Children of the Albatross” author : NIN
Anaïs Nin was a French author, famous for her journals that she wrote for over sixty years from the age of 11 right up to her death. Nin also wrote highly regarded erotica and cited D. H. Lawrence as someone from whom she drew inspiration. Nin was married to banker and artist Hugh Parker Guiler in 1923. Decades later in 1955, Nin married former actor Rupert Pole, even though she was still married to Guiler. Nin and Pole had their marriage annulled in 1966, but just for legal reasons, and they continued to live together as husband and wife until Nin passed away in 1977.

“Children of the Albatross” is one in a series of five books written as one volume by Anaïs Nin. The author first published the books herself, in 1959.

103. Quiet place to pray : APSE
The apse of a church or cathedral is a semicircular recess in an outer wall, usually with a half-dome as a roof and often where there resides an altar. Originally, apses were used as burial places for the clergy and also for storage of important relics.

106. ___-Foy, Que. : STE
Sainte-Foy used to be a city in its own right, but as of 2002 it is a neighborhood in Quebec City. Sainte-Foy is an important part of the larger city, partly because it is home to the area’s main airport, Jean Lesage International.

108. Stooge with a bowl cut : MOE
Moe Howard was the stage name of Moses Harry Horwitz. Howard was one of the Three Stooges. In 1925, he married Helen Schonberger, who was a cousin of Harry Houdini.

109. “Peer Gynt” character : ASE
Henrik Ibsen’s play “Peer Gynt” is based on a Scandinavian fairy tale “Per Gynt”. The incidental music to the play, written by Edvard Grieg, is some of the most approachable classical music ever written, at least in my humble opinion …

111. Org. in a le Carré novel : KGB
The Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti (KGB) was the national security agency of the Soviet Union until 1991. The KGB was dissolved after the agency’s chairman led a failed attempt at a coup d’état designed to depose President Mikhail Gorbachev.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Purchase via Charles Schwab: Abbr. : STK
4. “Unfinished” Symphony composer : SCHUBERT
12. Commercial success? : AD SALE
18. Expose : BARE
19. Its slogan is “Family City U.S.A.” : OREM, UTAH
20. Final bit : TAIL END
22. The Bible on political horse trading? : AN AYE FOR AN AYE (from “any eye for an eye”)
24. One of the original Mouseketeers : ANNETTE
25. Approaches aggressively : ACCOSTS
26. Cries at unveilings : TADAS
28. Part of a chorus line? : TRA-
29. The Bible on camera problems? : THE FLASH IS WEAK (from “the flesh is weak”)
35. 1987 Best Actress winner : CHER
36. Water carrier : HOSE
37. Square dance group, e.g. : OCTET
38. Rave review : IT’S GREAT
42. The Bible on an alien invasion? : ASSAULT OF THE EARTH (from “a salt of the earth”)
46. Went on an African hunting expedition : SAFARIED
50. Without exception : BAR NONE
51. Losing ground? : ERODING
52. A hill of beans? : LIMAS
56. Pass carefully : EASE BY
58. The Bible on where Prince Harry learned horticulture? : GARDEN OF ETON (from “Garden of Eden”)
60. Perceive : GET
61. Spacewalk, for short : EVA
63. Arafat’s successor as P.L.O. chairman : ABBAS
64. Nursery rhyme boy : GEORGIE
66. Forum farewells : VALES
68. Number of weeks per annum? : LII
69. Those with clout : INS
71. The Bible on bad business practices? : FALSE PROFITS (from “false prophets”)
74. Item near a stereo : CD CASE
77. Buc or Bronco : NFLER
78. Newport event : REGATTA
79. Long, long time : DOG’S AGE
81. Like all official football games : REFEREED
82. The Bible on directions to hell? : THE ROUTE OF ALL EVIL (from “the root of all evil”)
88. Weasel out of : RENEGE ON
89. “Take me ___” : AS I AM
90. Sportswear brand : AVIA
94. Bozos : OAFS
95. The Bible on a climactic part of a baseball game? : IN THE BIG INNING (from “in the beginning”)
100. Blood work report abbr. : LDL
101. In la-la land : SPACY
104. Skilled banker? : AVIATOR
105. Bungle : LOUSE UP
107. The Bible on ruined sugar crops? : A MARK UPON CANE (from “a mark upon Cain”)
113. ___ Mill (California gold rush site) : SUTTER’S
114. Parent vis-à-vis a child’s loan, maybe : COSIGNER
115. “Would ___?” : I LIE
116. Conical construction : TEEPEE
117. Avoid boredom, say : KEEP BUSY
118. Safety device : NET

Down
1. Don Quixote’s squire : SANCHO
2. Vestiges : TRACES
3. Setting for spring in Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” : KEY OF E
4. Vowel sound in “hard” and “start” : SOFT A
5. Betray : CROSS
6. Film in which Scarlett Johansson is heard but not seen : HER
7. Actress Thurman : UMA
8. Rear half? : BUN
9. LAX listing : ETA
10. Something poking through the clouds : RAY
11. Symbol in trigonometry : THETA
12. Just slightly : A TAD
13. Perino of Fox News : DANA
14. Confessor’s confessions : SINS
15. Sierra Nevada, e.g. : ALE
16. The Bible on diet food? : LET THERE BE LITE (from “let there be light”)
17. Beseech : ENTREAT
18. 62-Down’s political party : BA’ATH
21. Scarcity : DEARTH
23. Night school subj. : ESL
27. Japanese relative of a husky : AKITA
30. Two-time Wimbledon winner Lew : HOAD
31. Destination from the E.R. : ICU
32. Cardinal letters : STL
33. Anti-Prohibitionist : WET
34. W.W. II zone, for short : ETO
35. One doing heavy lifting : CRANE
39. A wee hour : THREE
40. French assembly : SENAT
41. Storms of the 1990s : GEOS
42. Sign of spring : ARIES
43. Ireland’s ___ Fein : SINN
44. Western lily : SEGO
45. Runners behind O-lines : FBS
46. Erich who wrote “Love Story” : SEGAL
47. Like our numerals : ARABIC
48. The Bible on a taboo musical instrument? : FORBIDDEN FLUTE (from “forbidden fruit”)
49. Start of many recipe steps : ADD A …
52. Wrangler alternative : LEE
53. Words after hit or knock : IT OFF
54. Fable finale : MORAL
55. Perspective : ANGLE
57. Mrs. Michael Jordan : YVETTE
59. OT enders, sometimes : FGS
60. “Oh wow!” : GEE!
62. Putin ally : ASSAD
65. United Nations entrant of 1949: Abbr. : ISR
66. Political writer Kenneth : VOGEL
67. A long way off : AFAR
69. Matter of debate : ISSUE
70. “Keen!” : NEATO!
72. Before: Abbr. : PREV
73. Mortgage deal, for short : REFI
75. Essential parts : CORES
76. Bug-eyed : AGOG
77. Prefix with con : NEO-
80. Photo finish? : -GENIC
81. Scale sequence : RE MI
82. Online mischief-makers : TROLLS
83. Get going : HEAD OUT
84. Falstaffian : FAT
85. Pompeii problem : ASH
86. Golfer’s concern : LIE
87. Test site : LAB
90. Motrin alternative : ANACIN
91. Sportscaster Dick : VITALE
92. Being part of a secret : IN ON IT
93. Match : AGREE
96. New York town on the Hudson : NYACK
97. Reacts to an awesome sight : GAPES
98. Shade of white : IVORY
99. “Children of the Albatross” author : NIN
101. Escape slowly : SEEP
102. 100% : PURE
103. Quiet place to pray : APSE
106. ___-Foy, Que. : STE
108. Stooge with a bowl cut : MOE
109. “Peer Gynt” character : ASE
110. Upholstery problem : RIP
111. Org. in a le Carré novel : KGB
112. Burma’s first P.M. : UNU

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