0530-17 New York Times Crossword Answers 30 May 17, Tuesday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Peruvian of long ago : 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.

5. The end : FINIS
“Finis” is “the end, the finish” imported into English via French, as “finis” the French word for … “finished”. Ultimately the term derives from the Latin verb “finire” meaning “to finish, limit” (also giving us “finite”).

10. Simoleon : BUCK
“Buck” is a slang term for “dollar”. The term has been around at least since 1856, and is thought to derive from the tradition of using buckskin as a unit of trade with Native Americans during the frontier days.

15. “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” musical : EVITA
“Evita” was the followup musical to “Jesus Christ Superstar” for Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. Both of these works were originally released as album musicals, and very successful ones at that (I remember buying them when they first came out).

16. Where Nepal is : ASIA
Nepal lies to the northeast of India. Today, the state is known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. In 2008, the Communist Party of Nepal won the country’s general election. Soon after, the Assembly voted to change the form of government, moving away from a monarchy and creating a secular republic.

17. Horse breed known for dressage [western writer] : LIPIZZANER (giving “Zane Grey”)
The Lipizzan (also “Lipizanner”) is a breed of horse that was developed for nobles in the Habsburg Empire in the 16th century. The breed is named for an old stud farm located near the village of Lipica (“Lipizza” in Italian) in the Karst region of Slovenia. Today, the Lipizzan is very much associated with the Spanish Riding School of Vienna and its world-famous dressage team.

Zane Grey certainly did hit on the right niche. He wrote romanticized western novels and stories that really lent themselves to the big screen in the days when westerns were very popular movies. Incredibly, 110 films were made based on his work.

19. Rogen of “Neighbors” : SETH
Seth Rogen is a Canadian comedian who got a lot of credit for his supporting role in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin”. That led to him being cast as the lead in the 1970 film “Knocked Up”. More recently, Rogen co-directed and and co-starred in the movie “The Interview”, which created a huge ruckus in North Korea.

“Neighbors” is a 2014 comedy film starring Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne as a young couple with a newborn child. Zac Efron and Dave Franco play the leaders of a fraternity that moves into the house next door. I am told that hilarity ensues …

21. “Finding Dory” fish : NEMO
Pixar’s 2016 animated feature “Finding Dory” is a sequel to the megahit film “Finding Nemo”. “Finding Dory” seems to have built on the success of its predecessor and had the highest-grossing opening weekend ever in North America for an animated movie.

22. Genesis garden : EDEN
According to the Book of Genesis, Adam and Eve lived in a garden “in” Eden, with Eden being geographically located by reference to four rivers including the Tigris and the Euphrates. Some scholars hypothesize that Eden was located in Mesopotamia, which encompasses much of modern-day Iraq.

23. Raggedy ___ : ANN
Raggedy Ann is a rag doll, created by Johnny Gruelle in 1915 for his daughter, Marcella. He decided to name the doll by combining the titles of two poems by James Whitcomb Riley, “The Raggedy Man” and “Little Orphan Annie”. Gruelle introduced Raggedy Ann in a series of books three years later. Sadly, Marcella died at 13 years of age with her father blaming a smallpox vaccination she was given at school. Gruelle became very active in the movement against mass vaccination, for which Raggedy Ann became a symbol.

27. Upset stomach remedy [Brontë governess] : MILK OF MAGNESIA (giving “Agnes Grey”)
Magnesia is an alternative name for magnesium oxide. Magnesia is used in many cement formulations, and is also used as an antacid. “Milk of magnesia” is a suspension of magnesium hydroxide that was introduced in 1872 by English pharmacist Charles Henry Phillips under the brandname Phillip’s Milk of Magnesia.

Anne was the youngest of the three sisters in the literary Brontë family. Her older sisters wrote novels that are more recognized, but Anne’s two novels do have a following. “Agnes Grey” is based on her own experiences working as a governess. Her other novel, “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall” is written as a long letter from a young man describing the events leading up to his first meeting with his wife-to-be. Anne Brontë’s writing career was cut short in 1849, when she died of pulmonary tuberculosis, at only 29 years of age.

35. Catholic service : MASS
The principal act of worship in the Roman Catholic tradition is the Mass. The term “Mass” comes from the Late Latin word “missa” meaning “dismissal”. This word is used at the end of the Latin Mass in “Ite, missa est” which translates literally as “Go, it is the dismissal”.

38. Modern bookmark : URL
Internet addresses (like NYTCrossword.com and LAXCrossword.com) are more correctly called Uniform Resource Locators (URLs).

39. Like a silhouette [19th-century U.K. prime minister] : REAR-LIT (giving “Earl Grey”)
A silhouette is an outline, usually of a person’s profile, which has been filled in with a solid color. One theory is that the term comes from the name of the French Minister of Finance in 1759, Étienne de Silhouette. Said minister made major cutbacks in spending to finance the Seven Years War, cutbacks that were not popular with the citizenry. His name came to be used for a cheap way of making someone’s likeness, a “silhouette”.

Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey was British Prime Minister from 1830 to 1834. Beyond his political achievements, Grey lent his name to the Earl Grey blend of tea.

41. Chrysler truck : RAM
Chrysler put ram hood ornaments on all of its Dodge branded vehicles starting in 1933. When the first line of Dodge trucks and vans were introduced in 1981, they were named “Rams” in honor of that hood ornament.

46. Really made the point [TV surgeon played by Ellen Pompeo] : HAMMERED IT HOME (giving “Meredith Grey”)
“Gray’s Anatomy” is a very successful human anatomy textbook that was first published back in 1858 and is still in print today. The original text was written by English anatomist Henry Gray, who gave his name to the work. The TV medical drama “Grey’s Anatomy” (note “Grey” vs. Gray”) is centered on the character Dr. Meredith Grey, but the show’s title is a nod to the title of the famous textbook.

62. Its logo consists of four interlocking circles : AUDI
The predecessor to today’s Audi company was called Auto Union. Auto Union was formed with the merger of four individual entities: Audi, Horch, DKW and Wanderer. The Audi logo comprises four intersecting rings, each representing one of the four companies that merged.

63. Brains … or this puzzle’s four shaded names? : GREY MATTER
Grey matter and white matter are the two component of the central nervous system. Grey matter is mainly made up of neurons, and white matter is largely made of axons, the projections of the neurons that form nerve fibers.

66. “Storage Wars” network : A AND E
The A&E television network used to be a favorite of mine, with the “A&E” standing for “arts and entertainment”. A&E started out airing a lot of the old classic dramas, as well as biographies and arts programs. Now there seems to be more reality TV, with one of the flagship programs being “Dog the Bounty Hunter”. A slight change of direction I’d say …

“Storage Wars” is a reality TV show about buyers looking for great deals when storage lockers are opened due to non-payment of rent.

70. ___ 360 (game console) : XBOX
The XBox line of video game consoles is made by Microsoft. The original XBox platform was followed by XBox 360 and most recently by XBox One. Microsoft’s XBox competes directly with Sony’s PlayStation and Nintendo’s Wii.

Down
2. Justice Gorsuch : NEIL
Neil Gorsuch was nominated to the Supreme court by the Trump administration, and assumed office in 2017. Gorsuch took the seat on the court that was left vacant with the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016.

3. Guitarist’s key-changing aid : CAPO
A capo is a clamp-like device that is placed around the neck of a guitar to shorten the strings, and hence raise the pitch. The full name, rarely used these days, is “capo tasto”, which is Italian for “head tie”.

5. Tasseled Turkish topper : FEZ
A fez is a red cylindrical hat worn mainly in North Africa, and by Shriners here in the US. The fez used to be a very popular hat across the Ottoman Empire. The etymology of “fez” is unclear, although it might have something to do with the Moroccan city named Fez.

6. Boxer Drago of “Rocky IV” : IVAN
Dolph Lundgren is an actor and martial artist from Sweden. Lundgren’s debut role was a small one, acting as a KGB henchman in the James Bond movie “A View to a Kill”. His big break was starring opposite Sylvester Stallone in “Rocky IV”, playing a scary Russian boxer named Ivan Drago.

7. Highest figure in sudoku : NINE
Number puzzles similar to our modern-day Sudoku first appeared in French newspapers in the late 1800s. The format that we use today was created by Howard Garns, a 74-year-old freelance puzzle constructor from Connersville, Indiana and first published in 1979. The format was introduced in Japan in 1984 and given the title of “Sūji wa dokushin ni kagiru”, which translates to “the digits are limited to one occurrence”. The rather elaborate Japanese title was eventually shortened to Sudoku. No doubt many of you are fans of Sudoku puzzles. I know I am …

9. Island wrap : SARONG
Sarong is the Malay word for “sheath”, and a sarong was originally the garment worn by Malay men and women around their waists. The Malay sarong is actually a tube of fabric, about a yard wide and two-and-a-half yards “long”. Many variations of the sarong are worn all over South Asia and the Pacific Islands. I had occasion to wear one in Hawaii many years ago, and found it very … freeing!

10. The decimal system : BASE TEN
We use a base-ten numbering system, with ten digits (0 – 9).

13. Madeline of “Blazing Saddles” : KAHN
Madeline Kahn was an American actress best known for her comedic roles, especially those directed by Mel Brooks. Kahn also had her own TV sitcom, called “Oh Madeline”. But, it only lasted the one season, in 1983.

18. Prize you don’t want on “Let’s Make a Deal” : ZONK
The game show “Let’s Make a Deal” first aired way back in 1963. For many years the show was hosted by Monty Hall, from 1963 until 1986, and again briefly in 1991. In more recent years, Wayne Brady took over as host in 2009.

27. An ex of Donald Trump : MARLA
Marla Maples was the second wife of Donald Trump. Maples and Trump dated secretly for a couple of years while Trump was still married to his first wife Ivana. When Ivana discovered the affair, she filed for divorce, and eventually Donald and Marla married. It was Trump’s turn to file for divorce several years later after the National Enquirer outed Marla for having an affair with a Florida bodyguard.

28. Religion with the Five Pillars : ISLAM
Followers of the Muslim tradition believe in the Five Pillars of Islam, five obligatory acts that underpin Muslim life. The Five Pillars are:

1. The Islamic creed
2. Daily prayer
3. Almsgiving
4. Fasting during the month of Ramadan
5. The pilgrimage to Mecca (haj) once during a lifetime

29. Olympic symbol : FLAME
A flame is used as the symbol for the Olympic Games in commemoration of the theft of fire for humanity by Prometheus from Zeus in Greek mythology. The symbolic flame was introduced to the Modern Olympics in the 1928 Summer Games in Amsterdam. The tradition of the Olympic torch relay started out as political theater devised and funded by Nazi Germany for the 1936 Summer Games in Berlin.

31. Dwight’s opponent in 1952 and ’56 : ADLAI
Adlai Stevenson (AES) ran for president unsuccessfully against Dwight D. Eisenhower (DDE) in 1952 and in 1956. Some years after his second defeat, Stevenson served under President Kennedy (JFK) as Ambassador to the United Nations. Stevenson was always noted for his eloquence and he had a famous exchange in a UN Security Council meeting during the Cuban missile crisis. Stevenson bluntly demanded that the Soviet representative on the council tell the world if the USSR was installing nuclear weapons in Cuba. His words were “Don’t wait for the translation, answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’!” followed by “I am prepared to wait for my answer until Hell freezes over!”

35. “Let’s go!” to sled dogs : MUSH!
“Mushing” is the use of one or more dogs to pull a sled. “Mush” is thought to come from the French “marche” meaning “go, run”.

39. Clarinet piece : REED
The clarinet is a lovely-sounding instrument, isn’t it? The name comes from the Italian word “clarino” meaning “trumpet” with the “-et” suffix indicating “small”.

40. Sondheim’s “___ the Woods” : INTO
“Into the Woods” is Stephen Sondheim musical that premiered in 1986. The storyline uses characters from several fairy tales, including “Little Red Riding Hood”, “Jack and the Beanstalk”, “Rapunzel” and “Cinderella”. The borrowed characters are held together with an underlying original tale about a baker and his wife who long to have a child, but cannot due to a curse placed on them by a witch.

43. Sprint competitor : T-MOBILE
T-Mobile is a German telecommunications company, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom. Deutsche Telekom has used the “T” prefix for a number of its services, including T-Com, T-Online and T-Home.

The company that we know today as Sprint has a history that is linked with the Southern Pacific railroad company. Southern Pacific developed a microwave communication system for its internal use across its network using rights-of-way associated with the company’s extensive railway lines. In the early seventies, the company laid huge lengths of fiber optic cable in those rights-of-way, alongside the tracks, primarily for internal use. The railroad sold excess fiber capacity to private companies, allowing those companies to operate long distance telephone service outside of AT&T, which at that time had a long-distance monopoly. Southern Pacific took advantage of changing FCC regulations and started offering voice service directly to consumers. That service was offered under the name SPRINT, an acronym that stood for Southern Pacific Railroad Internal Networking Telephony. Very interesting …

45. Waterproof fabric : GORE-TEX
Gore-Tex is a waterproof fabric that also “breathes”. This is because the pores in Gore-Tex are small enough to keep out water droplets, but large enough to allow water vapor molecules to pass through.

47. Ska relative : REGGAE
Reggae is a genre of music that developed in the late sixties, evolving out of the genres of ska and rocksteady.

48. Dance at a 52-Down : HULA
(52D. Event with 48-Down dancing : LUAU)
The hula is a native dance of Hawaii that uses arm movements to relate a story. The hula can be performed while sitting (a noho dance) or while standing (a luna dance).

51. Shakespeare, for one : BARD
The original bards were storytellers, poets and composers of music in medieval Britain and Ireland, with the term coming from the Old Celtic word “bardos” that described a poet or singer. I guess the most famous bard was William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon.

53. Pre-service announcement? : AD IN
In tennis, if the score reaches “deuce” (i.e. when both players have scored three points), then the first player to win two points in a row wins the game. The player who wins the point immediately after deuce is said to have the “advantage”. If the player with the advantage wins the next point then that’s two in a row and that player wins the game. If the person with the advantage loses the next point, then advantage is lost and the players return to deuce and try again. If the one of the players is calling out the score then if he/she has the advantage then that player announces “ad in” or more formally “advantage in”. If the score announcer’s opponent has the advantage, then the announcement is “ad out” or “advantage out”. Follow all of that …?

57. One side of a Stevenson character : HYDE
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.

59. Open ___ (start at the bar, maybe) : A TAB
When we “run a tab” at a bar say, we are “running a tabulation”, a listing of what we owe. Such a use of “tab” is American slang that originated in the 1880s.

60. Mexican moolah : PESO
The coin called a “peso” is used in many Spanish-speaking countries around the world. The coin originated in Spain where the word “peso” means “weight”. The original peso was what we know in English as a “piece of eight”, a silver coin of a specific weight that had a nominal value of eight “reales”.

61. Fearsome dino : T REX
The Tyrannosaurus rex (usually written “T. rex”) was a spectacular looking dinosaur. “Tyrannosaurus” comes from the Greek words “tyrannos” (tyrant) and “sauros” (lizard) and “rex” the Latin for “king”. They were big beasts, measuring 42 feet long and 13 feet tall at the hips, and weighing 7.5 tons.

64. Debussy’s sea : MER
“La Mer” is a lovely group of three symphonic sketches for orchestra by the French composer Claude Debussy. Listen to it, and you can feel yourself at the ocean. “La Mer” is French for “The Sea”.

Claude Debussy is one of my favorite composers, one who epitomises the Romantic Era and Impressionist Movement in music. One of my favorite CDs is a collection of some “lighter” Debussy pieces called “Debussy for Daydreaming”, and what an evocative collection it is. Included are “Syrinx”, “Maid with the Flaxen Hair”, “Rêverie” and everyone’s favorite, “Clair de Lune”.

Return to top of page

For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Peruvian of long ago : INCA
5. The end : FINIS
10. Simoleon : BUCK
14. Bend to one side : LEAN
15. “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” musical : EVITA
16. Where Nepal is : ASIA
17. Horse breed known for dressage [western writer] : LIPIZZANER (giving “Zane Grey”)
19. Rogen of “Neighbors” : SETH
20. It helps you see plays in replays : SLO-MO
21. “Finding Dory” fish : NEMO
22. Genesis garden : EDEN
23. Raggedy ___ : ANN
25. Bolt go-with : NUT
27. Upset stomach remedy [Brontë governess] : MILK OF MAGNESIA (giving “Agnes Grey”)
35. Catholic service : MASS
36. Dropped a bit : SLID
37. Sluggish : INERT
38. Modern bookmark : URL
39. Like a silhouette [19th-century U.K. prime minister] : REAR-LIT (giving “Earl Grey”)
41. Chrysler truck : RAM
42. Surface for chalk writing : SLATE
44. Intend : MEAN
45. Fortitude : GUTS
46. Really made the point [TV surgeon played by Ellen Pompeo] : HAMMERED IT HOME (giving “Meredith Grey”)
49. Praising poem : ODE
50. Pronoun for two or more : OUR
51. Tell all : BLAB
54. “My goodness!” : GOSH!
58. Sprang : LEAPT
62. Its logo consists of four interlocking circles : AUDI
63. Brains … or this puzzle’s four shaded names? : GREY MATTER
65. Public transit option : RAIL
66. “Storage Wars” network : A AND E
67. Abate : EASE
68. Beach hill : DUNE
69. One starting a story “Back in my day …,” say : ELDER
70. ___ 360 (game console) : XBOX

Down
1. Pains : ILLS
2. Justice Gorsuch : NEIL
3. Guitarist’s key-changing aid : CAPO
4. Zoo collection : ANIMALS
5. Tasseled Turkish topper : FEZ
6. Boxer Drago of “Rocky IV” : IVAN
7. Highest figure in sudoku : NINE
8. List component : ITEM
9. Island wrap : SARONG
10. The decimal system : BASE TEN
11. Took advantage of : USED
12. Reference : CITE
13. Madeline of “Blazing Saddles” : KAHN
18. Prize you don’t want on “Let’s Make a Deal” : ZONK
24. Wine quality : NOSE
26. Collection of textbook chapters : UNIT
27. An ex of Donald Trump : MARLA
28. Religion with the Five Pillars : ISLAM
29. Olympic symbol : FLAME
30. Bogged down : MIRED
31. Dwight’s opponent in 1952 and ’56 : ADLAI
32. Liquid hospital supply : SERUM
33. Furious : IRATE
34. 20 dispensers : ATMS
35. “Let’s go!” to sled dogs : MUSH!
39. Clarinet piece : REED
40. Sondheim’s “___ the Woods” : INTO
43. Sprint competitor : T-MOBILE
45. Waterproof fabric : GORE-TEX
47. Ska relative : REGGAE
48. Dance at a 52-Down : HULA
51. Shakespeare, for one : BARD
52. Event with 48-Down dancing : LUAU
53. Pre-service announcement? : AD IN
55. ___ exam : ORAL
56. Text message button : SEND
57. One side of a Stevenson character : HYDE
59. Open ___ (start at the bar, maybe) : A TAB
60. Mexican moolah : PESO
61. Fearsome dino : T REX
64. Debussy’s sea : MER

Return to top of page