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Solution to today’s crossword in the New York Times
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CROSSWORD CONSTRUCTOR: Tom McCoy
THEME: Advice to Writers
Today’s themed answers are nuggets of ADVICE TO WRITERS. However, those answers ignore that very same advice:
23A. Writing tip #1 : NEVER GENERALIZE!
33A. Writing tip #2 : POOFREAD CARFULY!
49A. Writing tip #3 : NO SENTENCE FRAGMENTS!
68A. Writing tip #4 : PASSIVES MUST BE SHUNNED!
85A. Writing tip #5 : DON’T USE CONTRACTIONS!
104A. Writing tip #6 : AVOID REDUNDANCY
116A. Writing tip #7 : AVOID REDUNDANCY!
BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 18m 52s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0
Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
14. Literally, “great O” : OMEGA
Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet and is the one that looks like a horseshoe when in uppercase. The lowercase omega looks like a Latin W. The word “omega” literally means “great O” (O-mega). Compare this with the Greek letter Omicron, meaning “little O” (O-micron).
20. Relating to an eye layer : RETINAL
The retina is the tissue that lines the inside of the eye, and is the tissue that is light-sensitive. There are (mainly) two types of cell in the retina that are sensitive to light, one called rods and the other cones. Rods are cells that best function in very dim light and only provide black-and-white vision. Cones on the other hand function in brighter light and can perceive color.
22. What fan fiction is not : CANON
Fan fiction (also “fanfic”) is fiction created by fans of an original work that uses characters from that original work.
27. Lo ___ : MEIN
“Chow mein” has two slightly different meanings on the East and West Coasts of the US. On the East Coast, “basic” chow mein is a crispy dish, whereas on the West Coast it is a steamed dish that is relatively soft. On the East Coast the steamed dish is available, but under the name “lo mein”. On the West Coast, the crispy dish is also on the menu, as Hong Kong style chow mein.
42. Balneotherapy site : SPA
Balneotherapy is similar to hydrotherapy and is the treatment of a disease by sitting a patient in baths. Mineral baths and water massages would be considered part of balneotherapy.
54. Relating to a major vessel : AORTAL
The aorta originates in the heart and extends down into the abdomen. It is the largest artery in the body.
55. Hexagonal state : UTAH
When viewed on a map of the US, the state of Utah has six sides. It’s almost shaped like a rectangle, but there is a “bite” out of that rectangle in the northeast corner of the state.
59. Restaurant chain with a flag in its logo : SBARRO
The Sbarro chain of pizza restaurants was founded by Italian immigrants, Gennaro and Carmela Sbarro.
62. Band aids : AMPS
An electric guitar, for example, needs an amplifier (amp) to take the weak signal created by the vibration of the strings and turn it into a signal powerful enough for a loudspeaker.
75. That, in Tijuana : ESO
Tijuana is the largest city in the Mexican state of Baja California, and lies just across the US-Mexico border from San Diego. Tijuana is also the most westerly of all Mexican cities. A lot of Tijuana’s growth took place in the twenties as tourists flocked south of the border during the days of prohibition in the US. One of the many casinos and hotels that flourished at that time was Hotel Caesar’s in the Avenida Revolución area. Hotel Caesar’s claims to be the birthplace of the now ubiquitous Caesar Salad.
76. Ed.’s request : SASE
An SAE is a “stamped, addressed envelope”. An SASE is a “self-addressed, stamped envelope”.
77. Cell parts : ANODES
A battery is a device that converts chemical energy into electric energy. A simple battery is made up of three parts: a cathode, an anode and a liquid electrolyte. Ions from the electrolyte react chemically with the material in the anode producing a compound and releasing electrons. At the same time, the electrolyte reacts with the material in the cathode, absorbing electrons and producing a different chemical compound. In this way, there is a buildup of electrons at the anode and a deficit of electrons at the cathode. When a connection (wire, say) is made between the cathode and anode, electrons flow through the resulting circuit from the anode to cathode in an attempt to rectify the electron imbalance.
80. German auto co. : 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.
93. Bill Clinton or Barack Obama : LEO
Leo is the fifth astrological sign of the Zodiac. People born from July 23 to August 22 are Leos.
94. ___ group (structure found in proteins) : AMINO
Amino acids are essential to life in many ways, not least of which is their use as the building blocks of proteins.
95. Old English letter : ETH
Eth (also “edh”) is a letter that was used in Old English and several other languages, such as Icelandic and Faroese (native language on the Faroe Islands). Other languages that used eth replaced it with the letter D over time.
103. Cylinder-shaped pasta : PENNE
Cylindrical pasta is known in general as “penne”, and there are many variants. For example, ziti is a particularly large and long tube with square-cut ends. “Penne” is the plural of “penna”, the Italian for “feather, quill”.
110. Large Hadron Collider org. : CERN
CERN is an acronym standing for “Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire” (European Council for Nuclear Research. CERN’s mission is to provide the largest particle physics lab in the world, and it does just that, having built several enormous particle accelerators. The CERN particle accelerator most in the news these days is the Large Hadron Collider located near Geneva.
The Large Hadron Collider is the world’s largest particle accelerator. It is located on the French-Swiss border near Geneva, in a circular tunnel that is a whopping 17 miles in circumference.
111. Hoity-toity sort : SNOB
Believe it or not, the term “hoity-toity” has been in the English language since the 1660s, but back then it meant “riotous behavior”. It began to mean “haughty” in the late 1800s, simply because the “haughty” sounds similar to “hoity”.
114. 1983 Michael Keaton title role : MR MOM
“Mr. Mom” is a 1983 comedy written by John Hughes, starring Michael Keaton and the great Teri Garr. The movie is all about an engineer in the auto industry in Detroit who loses his job and then takes over the running of the household while his wife heads back to work. It’s funny stuff …
125. Energetic pooch : TERRIER
Most terrier breeds of dog originated in the British Isles. Terriers were developed as working dogs, with the job of controlling populations of rats, rabbits and foxes by rooting them out above and below the ground. The name “terrier” comes via Middle French from the the Latin “terra” meaning “earth”, a reflection of the breeds habit of burrowing into the earth looking for its prey.
Down
3. 2005, to Cato : MMV
Cato the Elder was a Roman statesman, known historically as “the elder” in order to distinguish him from his great-grandson, Cato the Younger. Cato the Elder’s ultimate position within Roman society was that of Censor, making him responsible for maintaining the census, and for supervising public morality.
7. It “knits up the ravell’d sleave of care,” per Macbeth : SLEEP
There is a superstition in the theatrical world that uttering the name “Macbeth” in a theater will bring disaster of some sort. To avoid this, the euphemism “the Scottish Play” is used instead.
8. Doctrines : CREDOS
A creed or credo is a confession of faith, or a system of belief or principles. “Credo” is Latin for “I believe”.
12. Jungian inner self : ANIMA
The concepts of anima and animus are found in the Carl Jung school of analytical psychology. The idea is that within each male there resides a feminine inner personality called the anima, and within each female there is a male inner personality known as the animus.
14. Andean tuber : OCA
The plant called an oca is also known as the New Zealand Yam. The tubers of the oca are used as a root vegetable.
17. It uses the PageRank algorithm : GOOGLE
PageRank is a famous algorithm in Internet search circles. Google uses PageRank to determine in which order websites are ranked in the results page after a search is done by a user. The algorithm is named after Google co-founder Larry Page.
21. Classic camera brand : LEICA
Leica is a German optics company, famous for production of lenses and cameras. The 1913 Leica was the first practical camera that could use 35mm film, a size chosen because it was already the standard for film used in motion pictures.
28. Vice President John ___ Garner : NANCE
John Nance Garner was Speaker of the House when he ran against New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt for the Democratic nomination for the presidential race in 1932. When it was clear that Roosevelt was to win the nomination, Garner cut a deal with FDR and joined the ticket as candidate for Vice President. When the two Democrats won, they were sworn into office on March 4, 1933. As he was still Speaker of the House at the time, Garner is the only person to have held the office of both Speaker and Vice President on the same day.
31. Bounce along, in a way : POGO
What we know today as a pogo stick was invented in Germany by Max Pohlig and Ernst Gottschall. The name “pogo” comes from the first two letters in each of the inventors’ family names: Po-hlig and Go-ttschall.
35. Where to find some very wet sponges : REEF
Sponges are multicellular organisms that live underwater. They are animals with bodies that are full of holes and channels through which seawater freely circulates. Sponges have no digestive or circulatory system as such and instead rely on the movement of water to supply food and oxygen, and to remove waste material.
37. Gosling of “La La Land” : RYAN
Ryan Gosling is a Canadian actor who really seems to be riding high right now. He is one of a string of entertainers to graduate from the Mickey Mouse Club on the Disney Channel. I saw him not too long ago in the fun romantic comedy “Crazy, Stupid, Love” starring alongside Steve Carell.
“La La Land” is a 2016 romantic musical film starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a musician and actress who fall in love in “La La Land” (Los Angeles, i.e. “LA”). The film was written and directed by Damien Chazelle, who had found success two years earlier with the musical drama “Whiplash”. “La La Land” won a record-breaking seven Golden Globes and tied for the record number of Oscar nominations at fourteen, winning six.
44. Santa ___, Calif. : ANA
Santa Ana is the county seat of Orange County, California and takes its name from the Santa Ana River that runs through the city.
46. Templeton from “Charlotte’s Web,” e.g. : RAT
“Charlotte’s Web” is a children’s novel by author E. B. White. Charlotte is a barn spider, who manages to save the life of a pig named Wilbur. Wilbur is a pet pig, owned by the farmer’s daughter, Fern Arable. The story also includes a gluttonous rat named Templeton who provides some light and comical moments.
52. Conductance quantities : MHOS
Conductance (measured in mhos) is the inverse of resistance (measured in ohms). The mho has been replaced by the SI unit called the siemens.
58. ___ Day (June event, informally) : DAD’S
Father’s Day was added as an official holiday in 1972, although bills to create the holiday had been with Congress since 1913. By rights, the holiday should be called “Fathers’ Day” (note the punctuation), but the bill that was introduced in 1913 used the “Father’s Day” spelling, and that’s the one that has stuck.
61. Syria’s Bashar al-___ : 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.
64. Fee-free spot, briefly : PSA
Public service announcement (PSA)
69. Jacob’s twin : ESAU
Esau was the twin brother of Jacob, the founder of the Israelites. When their mother Rebekah gave birth to the twins “the first emerged red and hairy all over (Esau), with his heel grasped by the hand of the second to come out (Jacob)”. As Esau was the first born, he was entitled to inherit his father’s wealth (it was his “birthright”). Instead, Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for the price of a “mess of pottage” (a meal of lentils).
70. Composer of many patriotic tunes : SOUSA
John Philip Sousa was a composer and conductor from Washington, D.C. Sousa was well known for his patriotic marches and earned himself the nickname “The American March King”. He served as a member of the US Marine Band from 1868 to 1875, and after leaving the Marines learned to conduct and compose. One of the Sousa compositions that is well-known around the world is called “The Liberty Bell”, a tune used as the musical theme for BBC Television’s “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”. Sousa also wrote “Semper Fidelis”, which is the official march of the US Marine Corps.
79. Stroke of luck? : HOLE IN ONE
One well-documented hole-in-one (ace) was during a round of the British Open in 1973. American golfer Gene Sarazen achieved the feat that day, at the age of 71. A less well-documented series of holes-in-one was reported by the North Korean press in a story about the Korean leader Kim Jong-il. The report was that Kim Jong-il scored 11 holes-in-one in his one and only round of golf.
89. Romance writer Roberts : NORA
Nora Roberts is a very successful author who has written over 165 romance novels. Roberts is published under a number of pen names: J.D. Robb, Jill March and Sarah Hardesty.
91. When repeated, an old sitcom catchphrase : NANU
The sitcom “Mork & Mindy” was broadcast from 1978 to 1982. We were first introduced to Mork (played by Robin Williams) in a special episode of “Happy Days”. The particular episode in question has a bizarre storyline culminating in Fonzie and Mork having a thumb-to-finger duel. Eventually Richie wakes up in bed, and alien Mork was just part of a dream! Oh, and “Nanu Nanu” means both “hello” and “goodbye” back on the planet Ork. “I am Mork from Ork, Nanu Nanu”. Great stuff …
92. Leave in : STET
“Stet” is a Latin word meaning “let it stand”. In editorial work, the typesetter is instructed to disregard any change previously marked by writing the word “stet” and then underscoring that change with a line of dots or dashes.
97. Character that goes “waka, waka, waka …” : PAC-MAN
The Pac-Man arcade game was first released in Japan in 1980, and is as popular today as it ever was. The game features characters that are maneuvered around the screen to eat up dots and earn points. The name comes from the Japanese folk hero “Paku”, known for his voracious appetite. The spin-off game called Ms. Pac-Man was released in 1981.
106. W.W. II danger : U-BOAT
“U-boat” stands for the German “Unterseeboot” (undersea boat). Notably, a U-boat sank the RMS Lusitania in 1915, an event that helped propel the US into WWI.
107. Cape ___ : COD
Cape Cod is indeed named after the fish. It was first called Cape Cod by English navigator Bartholomew Gosnold in 1602 as his men caught so many fish there.
113. Patella site : KNEE
The patella is the kneecap. “Patella” is the Latin term for the bone, and is a diminutive form of “patina”, the word for “pan”. The idea is that the kneecap is pan-shaped.
117. Mike’s confectionery partner : IKE
Mike and Ike is a brandname of fruit-flavored candy made by Just Born starting in 1940. Just Born launched quite a clever marketing campaign in 2012 asserting that Mike and Ike had “split up due to creative differences”. The campaign involved production of two different boxes for the candy showing one or the other name scratched out. Clever …
118. Dungeons & Dragons piece : DIE
Dungeons & Dragons is a complex role-playing game (RPG) introduced in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules Incorporated (TSR). Dungeons & Dragons was probably the first of the modern role-playing games to be developed, and the most successful. It is still played by lots of people today, including my youngest son …
119. Like William Carlos Williams’s wheelbarrow : RED
“The Red Wheelbarrow” is a 1923 poem by American poet William Carlos Williams. Here is the poem, in its entirety:
so much depends
upona red wheel
barrowglazed with rain
waterbeside the white
chickens.
120. Actress Peeples : NIA
Actress Nia Peeples played the character Nicole Chapman in the TV series “Fame”. Peeples is also a successful singer, releasing the 1988 song “Trouble” that made it to #35 in the Billboard charts.
121. Ron of the Dodgers : CEY
Ron Cey played third base for the Dodgers, the Cubs and the As.
For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Drawing tool : COMPASS
8. One not acting alone : COSTAR
14. Literally, “great O” : OMEGA
19. Ackbar’s rank, in “Star Wars” films : ADMIRAL
20. Relating to an eye layer : RETINAL
22. What fan fiction is not : CANON
23. Writing tip #1 : NEVER GENERALIZE!
25. Accessory : ADD-ON
26. Plant anew : RESEED
27. Lo ___ : MEIN
29. So : ERGO
30. Contractor’s guidelines : SPECS
33. Writing tip #2 : POOFREAD CARFULY!
38. Yearn for : COVET
39. Unlike the wind : SEEN
40. Lead-in to guess or game : ANYONE’S …
41. Got up there : AGED
42. Balneotherapy site : SPA
45. Bi- and bi-? : TETRA-
48. Train part : CAR
49. Writing tip #3 : NO SENTENCE FRAGMENTS!
54. Relating to a major vessel : AORTAL
55. Hexagonal state : UTAH
56. Invalidate : VOID
59. Restaurant chain with a flag in its logo : SBARRO
62. Band aids : AMPS
65. Make suitable for indoors, as a plant : POT
67. Home of Ithaca, Athens and Olympia : USA
68. Writing tip #4 : PASSIVES MUST BE SHUNNED!
74. They go from town to town: Abbr. : RDS
75. That, in Tijuana : ESO
76. Ed.’s request : SASE
77. Cell parts : ANODES
78. “Uh-huh” : YEAH
80. German auto co. : AUDI
82. Flew off the handle : LOST IT
85. Writing tip #5 : DON’T USE CONTRACTIONS!
93. Bill Clinton or Barack Obama : LEO
94. ___ group (structure found in proteins) : AMINO
95. Old English letter : ETH
96. Shoot the breeze : CHAT
97. Turn on : POWER UP
101. 4,840 square yards : ACRE
103. Cylinder-shaped pasta : PENNE
104. Writing tip #6 : AVOID REDUNDANCY
109. Regarding : ABOUT
110. Large Hadron Collider org. : CERN
111. Hoity-toity sort : SNOB
112. Became adept in : TOOK TO
114. 1983 Michael Keaton title role : MR MOM
116. Writing tip #7 : AVOID REDUNDANCY!
123. Operative : AGENT
124. Less watertight : LEAKIER
125. Energetic pooch : TERRIER
126. Graph parts : NODES
127. Knights’ needs : STEEDS
128. Primes : HEYDAYS
Down
1. Give the ax : CAN
2. Poem of homage : ODE
3. 2005, to Cato : MMV
4. Ring bearers, maybe : PIERCED EARS
5. Bring in : ARREST
6. Droops : SAGS
7. It “knits up the ravell’d sleave of care,” per Macbeth : SLEEP
8. Doctrines : CREDOS
9. Atop, poetically : O’ER
10. RR stop : STA
11. Up to : TIL
12. Jungian inner self : ANIMA
13. Knocked to the ground : RAZED
14. Andean tuber : OCA
15. Like the movies “Brian’s Song” and “Sharknado” : MADE FOR TV
16. Circumvention : END RUN
17. It uses the PageRank algorithm : GOOGLE
18. Irritates : ANNOYS
21. Classic camera brand : LEICA
24. Prefix with liberal : NEO-
28. Vice President John ___ Garner : NANCE
30. Digitize, in a way : SCAN
31. Bounce along, in a way : POGO
32. Anticipatory days : EVES
34. Gala : FETE
35. Where to find some very wet sponges : REEF
36. Gives in confidence : ENTRUSTS
37. Gosling of “La La Land” : RYAN
42. Tried : STROVE
43. Favorite : PET
44. Santa ___, Calif. : ANA
46. Templeton from “Charlotte’s Web,” e.g. : RAT
47. Visibly awed : AGAPE
50. “Me neither,” formally : NOR I
51. Refuse to talk, with “up” : CLAM
52. Conductance quantities : MHOS
53. Like a good proof : SOUND
57. “Makes sense” : I SEE
58. ___ Day (June event, informally) : DAD’S
59. Not needing a cane, say : SPRY
60. Commanded : BADE
61. Syria’s Bashar al-___ : ASSAD
63. Person of note? : MUSICIAN
64. Fee-free spot, briefly : PSA
66. Unruly hair, metaphorically : THATCH
69. Jacob’s twin : ESAU
70. Composer of many patriotic tunes : SOUSA
71. Conveyor part : BELT
72. Course part : UNIT
73. Something tacky to hang on the wall? : NOTICE BOARD
79. Stroke of luck? : HOLE IN ONE
81. Bill Clinton or Barack Obama, informally : DEM
83. It’s mined, all mined! : ORE
84. Stayed on the shelf : SAT
86. Homework lover, maybe : NERD
87. Military stints : TOURS
88. Like some audiobooks : ON CD
89. Romance writer Roberts : NORA
90. “Yikes!” : OH NO!
91. When repeated, an old sitcom catchphrase : NANU
92. Leave in : STET
97. Character that goes “waka, waka, waka …” : PACMAN
98. Exceed : OVERGO
99. Wriggled : WORMED
100. Punitive : PENAL
102. Goes in : ENTERS
103. Gently towel : PAT DRY
105. Peace signs : DOVES
106. W.W. II danger : U-BOAT
107. Cape ___ : COD
108. Early days : YOUTH
113. Patella site : KNEE
115. Much of W.Va. : MTS
117. Mike’s confectionery partner : IKE
118. Dungeons & Dragons piece : DIE
119. Like William Carlos Williams’s wheelbarrow : RED
120. Actress Peeples : NIA
121. Ron of the Dodgers : CEY
122. ’17 and ’18 : YRS
25:51, no errors. O-micron and O-mega. All these years and I never noticed the obvious meanings. Duh …
I really got a kick out of this one. Clever theme. The hardest part was trying to figure out where the misspelling of "proofread…" was. Doubling up on AVOID REDUDANCY also violated a crossword rule – no repeats.
A few false starts like "nuclei" for "Cell parts" at first. Overall a very enjoyable Sunday.
Best –
AVIODREDUNDANCY in there twice might have violated somebody's petty little rule, but for my money, it deserves the PULITZER PRIZE prize for crossword construction. VERY enjoyable theme. (If their are errers in this comment, it was because I didn't poofread it.)
52:59 with puzzle checking and assistance from the bf. I also very much enjoyed this one, particularly the theme. Found "MHOS" to be a bit silly, and learned what "SASE" was.
This was fun. And I usually can't get do the Sun. NYT. Hope next weeks doesn't kill me off, like most Sundays.
46:32. I had a hard time polishing this one off, even though I persevered with no errors.
Finding the proofreading error really complicated things, as did the center half area, where somehow, VOID wouldn't come to me, and I struggled mightily with the crossfills. SBARRO was a pretty evil fill, too: aren't they regional?
The repeating of AVOID REDUNDANCY was right clever, I must say. I'll give this a grudging thumbs up for making me WORK on a Sunday.
34:08, no errors. Enjoyable Sunday challenge.
@Chrissy: Inverting the word OHM (unit of resistance) to MHO (unit of conductivity, which is the inverse of resistance) is an example that scientists do have a sense of humor.
Sunday puzzles are inherently slogs because of their size and the extra time they take. This one is no exception. YEAH, I know, nobody says I have to do them. Thinking about skipping them more often.
Got a chuckle on seeing the redundant REDUNDANCY.
DNF, 91 minutes, 2 errors. Incredible slog, got bored with trying to figure it out so I quit. Mainly had trouble in the center from 52D to the right, all either stuff I've never heard of or didn't make any sense whatsoever – and 53D being wrong because I couldn't tell enough from the rest of whether it was SOUND or SOLID.
Sunday's definitely been the kind of day that makes me want to quit doing these when I see the puzzles that were offered (both here and LAT).
Does anyone have any idea Vape Escape vaporizer store located in 2144 Hendersonville Rd #B sells e-juice manufactured by Mojito Island E-Liquid? I have emailed them at vaporway@yahoo.com