0529-17 New York Times Crossword Answers 29 May 17, Monday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. TV network whose logo is an eye : CBS
CBS used to be known as the Columbia Broadcasting System. It is the second-largest broadcaster in the world, second only to the BBC in the UK. CBS introduced its “eye” logo in 1951. That logo is based on a Pennsylvania Dutch hex sign.

4. Singer Mitchell who wrote “Woodstock” (but didn’t attend) : JONI
“Woodstock” is a song that was written and recorded by Joni Mitchell about the the 1969 Woodstock Festival. Joni Mitchell opted not to attend the festival, and instead wrote the song in a New York City hotel room while watching coverage of the event on television. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young recorded a cover version of “Woodstock” in 1970 that has proved to be even more successful that Mitchell’s original.

14. The “A” of I.P.A. : ALE
India Pale Ale (IPA) is a style of beer that originated in England. The beer was originally intended for transportation from England to India, hence the name.

15. Former Israeli P.M. Ehud : BARAK
Ehud Barak served as Prime Minister of Israel from 1999 to 2001, taking over from Benjamin Netanyahu. Barak left office after he called a special election for Prime Minister and lost the vote to Ariel Sharon. Barak resigned from the Knesset and took an advisory job with the US company Electronic Data Systems (EDS), and did some security-related work with a private equity company. In 2007, Barak took over leadership of Israel’s Labor Party.

16. ___ Tunes (Warner Bros. cartoons) : LOONEY
“Looney Tunes” and “Merrie Melodies” are two series of animated short films produced by Warner Bros. from 1930 until 1969. The list of famous “Looney Tunes” characters includes Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Tweety Bird, and my favorites Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.

19. Tool for the Grim Reaper : SCYTHE
The Grim Reaper is one of the personifications of death, along with the Hooded One and the Angel of Death. Death has been depicted since the 1400s as a skeleton in a hooded, black cloak and carrying a scythe. The name “Grim Reaper” only dates back to the mid-1800s.

20. Opposites of true believers : INFIDELS
“Infidel” is an English word that was created by the Roman Catholic Church to describe someone who did not believe in the Catholic dogma. The word comes from Latin “infidelis” meaning “unfaithful”. During the time of the Crusades, the word “infidel” was used for any non-Christian, and particular the Saracens of North Africa.

23. Archie’s wife on “All in the Family” : EDITH
“All in the Family” is an American sitcom, a remake of the incredibly successful BBC show called “Till Death Us Do Part”. Both the UK and US versions of the sitcom were groundbreaking in that the storyline brought into focus topics previously considered unsuitable for a television comedy, including racism, homosexuality, women’s liberation, menopause and impotence. “All in the Family” is one of only three TV shows that has topped the Nielsen ratings for five consecutive seasons (the other two are “The Cosby Show” and “American Idol”). Stars of the show are:

• Carroll O’Connor as Archie Bunker
• Jean Stapleton as Edith Bunker
• Sally Struthers as Gloria Stivic née Bunker
• Rob Reiner as Michael Stivic

27. ___ Pieces : REESE’S
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups were invented by Harry Burnett “H.B.” Reese. Peanut Butter Cups were originally called penny cups, reflecting the price at which they were sold. Then inflation took over, and maybe that’s why they were broken into smaller “Pieces” …

29. Celestial Seasonings product : TEA
Celestial Seasonings is a company that supplies teas. especially herbal teas and infusions. The company was founded in 1969 in Boulder, Colorado, where it is still based today.

31. Jul. follower : AUG
Gaius Octavius Thurinus (often called Octavian) was the adopted son of Gaius Julius Caesar. After Julius Caesar was assassinated, Octavian came to power in Rome and teamed up with Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus in what was called the Second Triumvirate. When the triumvirate fell apart, especially after Antony’s defeat at Actium, Octavian became more powerful within the Roman Republic. Several years later he wrested sufficient power from the Roman Senate to end the Republic and begin the Roman Empire. As the first Emperor of Rome, Octavian was given the name Caesar Augustus. The month of August, originally called “Sextilis” in Latin, was renamed in honor of Augustus.

33. Dow Jones stat. : AVG
Dow Jones & Company was founded as a publishing house in 1882 by three newspaper reporters, Charles Dow, Edward Jones and Charles Bergstresser. Today, the company’s most famous publication has to be “The Wall Street Journal”. In 1884, Charles Dow started reporting the average dollar value of the stock of eleven companies, an index which spawned a whole host of metrics that carry the Dow Jones name to this day, including the renowned Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), also known as the “Dow 30”.

36. Something circled on a calendar : RED-LETTER DAY
A red-letter day is a day that is special for some reason. The term comes from the illuminated manuscripts of Medieval times. In such documents, initial letters were often written in red ink, so-called “red letters”.

40. Second-largest Hawaiian island : MAUI
Maui is the second largest of the Hawaiian islands. Maui is sometimes called the “Valley Isle” as it is composed of two volcanoes to the northwest and southeast of the island, each with numerous beautiful valleys carved into them.

42. Aperitif with black currant liqueur : KIR
Kir is a French cocktail made by adding a teaspoon or so of creme de cassis (blackcurrant liqueur) to a glass, and then topping it off with white wine. The drink is named after Felix Kir, the Mayor of Dijon in Burgundy, who used to offer the drink to his guests. My wife is particularly fond of a variant called a Kir Royale, in which the white wine is replaced with champagne.

43. ___ Paulo, Brazil : SAO
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil. São Paulo is also the city with the highest number of helicopters in the world. This is partly driven by the horrendous traffic jams in São Paulo, but also by the wealthy having a very real fear of being kidnapped on the city’s streets.

44. Darkest part of a shadow : UMBRA
A shadow usually has three distinct parts called the umbra, penumbra and antumbra, with the terms most often used with reference to the shadows cast by celestial bodies. The terms can also be used to describe the levels of darkness in sunspots. The umbra (Latin for “shadow”) is the innermost, darkest part of a shadow. The penumbra (“almost shadow”, from Latin) is a lighter part of a shadow, where part of the light source “leaks” around the body casting the shadow. The antumbra phenomenon is experienced when the object casting the shadow is sufficiently far away from the viewer so that it appears smaller than the light source, with an annular ring around it. When the eye is in the shadow cast by an object that has light passing around it, the eye is in the antumbra.

48. Concepts not meant to be questioned : DOGMAS
A dogma is a set of beliefs, with the plural being “dogmata” (or “dogmas”, if you’re not a pedant like me!)

53. Period of supreme courage and achievement : FINEST HOUR
Soon after Winston Churchill took over as Prime Minister of the UK in 1940, he delivered some stirring speeches that rallied the country in the face of German victories right across Europe. The first of these was his “Blood, toil, tears, and sweat” speech as he reported the formation of a new coalition government designed to unite the country in time of war. The second was his “We shall fight on the beaches” speech, as he reported the successful evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk. The third speech concluded with, “This was their finest hour”, words delivered to Parliament just as France fell, and Churchill pledged that the British Commonwealth would fight on, alone if necessary. The last lines of this third speech, from this magnificent orator, were:

… But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour’.

56. One-named rap star : DRAKE
Drake is the stage name of rapper Aubrey Graham from Toronto.

58. Fact-gathering org. : CIA
“The World Factbook” is a publication produced by the CIA. It is intended primarily for use by government employees but, as it is in the public domain, it is now used by just about anyone. The first edition of “Factbook” came out in 1962 and, as it was classified, it had limited distribution. It was decided to make “Factbook” public in 1975, and it has been freely available on the World Wide Web since 1994.

63. When TV viewership peaks … or a hint to 17-, 24-, 36- and 53-Across : PRIME TIME
In the world of television, “prime time” is that part of the day when networks and advertisers bring maximize revenues due to the high number of viewers. Prime time is often defined as 7-10 p.m. Mountain and Central Time, and 8-11 p.m. Pacific and Eastern Time.

65. Houses in Havana : CASAS
Havana is the capital city of Cuba. The city was founded by the Spanish in the early 1500s after which it became a strategic location for Spain’s exploration and conquest of the Americas. In particular, Havana was used as a stopping-off point for treasure-laden ships on the return journey to Spain.

66. TV network whose logo is a peacock : NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) has had a number of different logos in its history, including the famous peacock with which we are familiar today. The first peacock logo was introduced in the early days of color television and was designed to illustrate how wonderful color television would be, so go buy one! (NBC was owned by RCA, and so had a vested interest in sales of color television sets).

69. “We all ___ little mad sometimes”: Norman Bates : GO A
The top 5 movie villains in the American Film Institute’s list “100 Years … 100 Heroes & Villains” are:

1. Dr. Hannibal Lecter in “The Silence of the Lambs”
2. Norman Bates in “Psycho”
3. Darth Vader in “The Empire Strikes Back”
4. The Wicked Witch of the West in “The Wizard of Oz”
5. Nurse Ratched in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”

Down
2. Marilyn Monroe, notably : BLONDE
Marilyn Monroe was born in 1926 in LA County Hospital, the child of Gladys Pearl Baker. The young girl was given the name of Norma Jeane Mortenson on her birth certificate, but her mother changed this to Norma Jeane Baker almost immediately. She and her estranged husband, Martin Edward Mortensen, had separated before Baker became pregnant so it is suggested that the Mortensen name was used just to give Norma Jeane “legitimacy”. Norma Jeane married a Jim Dougherty when she 16 years old, and took his name to become Norma Jeane Dougherty in 1932. During WWII she was discovered by a photographer and became quite a successful model. The modelling earned her a screen test, at which time it was suggested that Norma Jean change her name yet again. The first name chosen for her by studio executives was Carole Lind (after Carole Lombard and Jenny Lind), but then Norma Jeane chose “Jeane Monroe” for herself, using her mother’s maiden name. It didn’t take long before the studio intervened again, suggesting that they had too many “Jeans” already. The name Marilyn Monroe was floated as it had a nice ring to it. Along with the new name, Marilyn changed from a brunette to a blonde, and a star was born …

3. Something you reach out and take? : SELFIE
A selfie is a self-portrait, usually one taken with a digital camera or cell phone. A group “selfie” is sometimes referred to as a “groufie” or “wefie”.

5. Toothbrush brand : ORAL-B
The Oral-B toothbrush was introduced to the world in 1950, designed by a California periodontist. The first “model” was the Oral-B 60, a name given to reflect the 60 tufts in the brush. In 1969, the Oral-B was the first toothbrush to get to the moon as it was the toothbrush of choice for the crew of the Apollo 11 spacecraft.

7. Eisenhower, informally : IKE
When the future president was growing up, the Eisenhowers used the nickname “Ike” for all seven boys in the family, as “Ike” was seen as an abbreviation for the family name. “Big Ike” was Edgar, the second oldest boy. “Little/Young Ike” was Dwight, who was the third son born. Dwight had no sisters.

8. Borden milk mascot : ELSIE
Elsie the Cow is the mascot of the Borden Company. Elsie first appeared at the New York World’s Fair in 1939, introduced to symbolize the perfect dairy product. She is so famous and respected that she has been awarded the degrees of Doctor of Bovinity, Doctor fo Human Kindness and Doctor of Ecownomics. Elsie was also given a husband named Elmer the Bull. Elmer eventually moved over to the chemical division of Borden where he gave his name to Elmer’s Glue.

10. Etch A Sketch or yo-yo : TOY
Etch A Sketch was introduced in 1960. The toy was developed in France by inventor André Cassagnes.

The first yo-yos date back to at least 500 BC. There is even an ancient Greek vase painting that shows a young man playing with a yo-yo. Centuries later Filipinos were using yo-yos as hunting tools in the 1500s. “Yo-yo” is a Tagalog (Filipino) word meaning “come-come” or simply “return”.

13. Visine application : EYE DROP
Visine is a brand of eye drops made by Johnson & Johnson, advertised to “get the red out”. The red in the eye is reduced because Visine contains tetrahydrozoline hydrochloride, a vasoconstrictor. The blood vessels creating the redness constrict when Visine is applied, and you “get the red out” as the blood is “squeezed” away from the surface of the eye.

18. Counterparts of dahs in Morse code : DITS
Samuel Morse came up with the forerunner to modern Morse code for use on the electric telegraph, of which he was the co-inventor. Morse code uses a series of dots and dashes to represent letters and numbers. The most common letters are assigned the simplest code elements e.g. E is represented by one dot, and T is represented by one dash. When words are spelled aloud in Morse code, a dot is pronounced as “dit”, and a dash is pronounced as “dah”.

32. Performer with a fan : GEISHA
The Japanese term “geisha” best translates as “artist” or “performing artist”.

36. Kiss like an Eskimo : RUB NOSES
Although still used in the US, the term “Eskimo” tends to be avoided in Canada and Greenland as there it is considered pejorative.

37. Land of Blarney : EIRE
Blarney is a town in County Cork in the south of Ireland. Blarney is home to Blarney Castle, and inside the castle is the legendary Blarney Stone. “Kissing the Blarney Stone” is a ritual engaged in by oh so many tourists (indeed, I’ve done it myself!), but it’s not a simple process. The stone is embedded in the wall of the castle, and in order to kiss it you have to sit on the edge of the parapet and lean way backwards so that your head is some two feet below your body. There is a staff member there to help you and make sure you don’t fall. The Blarney Stone has been labelled as the world’s most unhygienic tourist attraction! But once you’ve kissed it, supposedly you are endowed with the “gift of the gab”, the ability to talk eloquently and perhaps deceptively without offending. The term “blarney” has come to mean flattering and deceptive talk.

40. Part of a car’s exhaust system : MUFFLER
A muffler is a device attached to an internal combustion engine that is designed to reduce noise from the exhaust. We don’t use the term “muffler” on the other side of the Atlantic, opting instead for “silencer”.

50. Beating at chess : MATING
In the game of chess, when the king is under immediate threat of capture it is said to be “in check”. If the king cannot escape from check, then the game ends in “checkmate” and the player in check loses. In the original Sanskrit game of chess, the king could actually be captured. Then a rule was introduced requiring that a warning be given if capture was imminent (today we announce “check!”) so that an accidental and early ending to the game doesn’t occur.

51. With hands on hips : AKIMBO
“Akimbo” is such a lovely word, I think (as in “arms akimbo”). I failed to dig up anything too exciting about the term’s etymology. It seems to stem from Middle English, “in kekbowe” or “on kenbow” meaning “bend in a curve”. When the arms are held akimbo, the hands are on the hops and the elbows are pointed outward.

54. Neap and ebb : TIDES
Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon on the oceans. At neap tide, the smaller gravitational effect of the sun cancels out some of the moon’s effect. At spring tide, the sun and the moon’s gravitational forces act in concert causing more extreme movement of the oceans.

60. Big movie format : IMAX
The IMAX Corporation, which is behind the IMAX film format, is a Canadian company. The impetus for developing the system came after Expo ’67 in Montreal. Back then large format screenings were accomplished using multiple projectors with multiple screens, with images basically stitched together. The team behind the IMAX technology set out to simplify things, and developed a single-camera, single-projector system.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. TV network whose logo is an eye : CBS
4. Singer Mitchell who wrote “Woodstock” (but didn’t attend) : JONI
8. Whole : ENTIRE
14. The “A” of I.P.A. : ALE
15. Former Israeli P.M. Ehud : BARAK
16. ___ Tunes (Warner Bros. cartoons) : LOONEY
17. Epoch of rare distinction : GOLDEN AGE
19. Tool for the Grim Reaper : SCYTHE
20. Opposites of true believers : INFIDELS
21. Optima and Cadenza car company : KIA
22. “If only ___ listened …” : HE’D
23. Archie’s wife on “All in the Family” : EDITH
24. Topic of a happy annual report : BANNER YEAR
27. ___ Pieces : REESE’S
29. Celestial Seasonings product : TEA
30. Greet with humility : BOW TO
31. Jul. follower : AUG
33. Dow Jones stat. : AVG
35. Shocked response : GASP!
36. Something circled on a calendar : RED-LETTER DAY
40. Second-largest Hawaiian island : MAUI
42. Aperitif with black currant liqueur : KIR
43. ___ Paulo, Brazil : SAO
44. Darkest part of a shadow : UMBRA
46. Bro, e.g. : SIB
48. Concepts not meant to be questioned : DOGMAS
53. Period of supreme courage and achievement : FINEST HOUR
56. One-named rap star : DRAKE
57. To and ___ : FRO
58. Fact-gathering org. : CIA
59. Do a perfunctory performance : MAIL IT IN
61. Substituted “math” for “mass,” say : LISPED
63. When TV viewership peaks … or a hint to 17-, 24-, 36- and 53-Across : PRIME TIME
64. Timeless, to Shakespeare : ETERNE
65. Houses in Havana : CASAS
66. TV network whose logo is a peacock : NBC
67. Puts back to 0, say : RESETS
68. X-ray ___ (gag gift) : SPEX
69. “We all ___ little mad sometimes”: Norman Bates : GO A

Down
1. More evasive with the truth : CAGIER
2. Marilyn Monroe, notably : BLONDE
3. Something you reach out and take? : SELFIE
4. Author Austen : JANE
5. Toothbrush brand : ORAL-B
6. Bothers the conscience of : NAGS AT
7. Eisenhower, informally : IKE
8. Borden milk mascot : ELSIE
9. Like a diet lacking bread or pasta, for short : NO-CARB
10. Etch A Sketch or yo-yo : TOY
11. Blocking someone’s path : IN THE WAY
12. Puts back in the oven : REHEATS
13. Visine application : EYE DROP
15. Tousled look of the recently woken : BEDHEAD
18. Counterparts of dahs in Morse code : DITS
21. Scoundrels : KNAVES
25. In apple-pie order : NEAT
26. Mind-body exercise : YOGA
28. Sit and mope : SULK
32. Performer with a fan : GEISHA
34. One finally done with finals? : GRAD
36. Kiss like an Eskimo : RUB NOSES
37. Land of Blarney : EIRE
38. Duo plus one : TRIO
39. Idle drawings : DOODLES
40. Part of a car’s exhaust system : MUFFLER
41. “You agree with me?,” informally : AM I RITE?
45. Goal for a mountaineer : ASCENT
47. Trumped-up charge : BUM RAP
49. Fortitude : GRIT
50. Beating at chess : MATING
51. With hands on hips : AKIMBO
52. ___ Falls, N.Y. : SENECA
54. Neap and ebb : TIDES
55. Uplift : RAISE
60. Big movie format : IMAX
62. ___-K (early schooling) : PRE
63. Mac alternatives : PCS

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