0613-17 New York Times Crossword Answers 13 Jun 17, Tuesday

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CROSSWORD CONSTRUCTOR: Lynn Lempel
THEME: Sounds Like a Letter
Each of today’s themed answers is a homophone of a well-known term that starts with a letter. Here, that letter is spelled out:

18A. Apiarist? : BEE STUDENT (sounds like “B student”)
29A. Invoice from a souvenir shop? : TEE BILL (sounds like “T-bill”)
31A. Terse put-down of Sandra’s “Gidget” performance? : DEE FLAT (sounds like “D-flat”)
45A. Where to keep divorce papers? : EX FILES (sounds like “X-Files”)
47A. Signal Ernie’s buddy to step onstage? : CUE BERT (sounds like “Q*bert”)
59A. “Wow, you have violins!”? : GEE STRINGS! (sounds like “G-strings”)

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 5m 54s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

9. Newswoman Van Susteren : GRETA
I remember watching Greta Van Susteren as a legal commentator on CNN during the celebrated O. J. Simpson murder trial. She parlayed those appearances into a permanent slot as co-host of CNN’s “Burden of Proof”, before becoming host of her own show on the Fox News Channel called “On the Record”. Van Susteren parted company with Fox in 2016, and apparently that parting wasn’t a happy one. She was immediately replaced on air, without giving her a chance to bid adieu to her TV audience.

15. Rx dosages, e.g.: Abbr. : AMTS
There seems to some uncertainty about the origin of the symbol “Rx” that’s used for a medical prescription. One explanation is that it comes from the astrological sign for Jupiter, a symbol put on prescriptions in days of old to invoke Jupiter’s blessing to help a patient recover.

16. City across the Nile from the Valley of the Kings : LUXOR
The modern city of Luxor grew up around the ruins of the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes. Thebes was the city of the god Amon-Ra and was the religious capital of the country until the Greeks took control. Luxor is often called “the world’s greatest open-air museum”. Tourists flock there to see the Luxor and Karnak Temple ruins, as well as the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens immediately opposite Luxor on the other side of the River Nile.

18. Apiarist? : BEE STUDENT (sounds like “B student”)
An apiary is an area where bees are kept. The Latin word for “bee” is “apis”.

22. ___ smasher : ATOM
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!

23. Trains to Chicago’s Loop : ELS
The historic commercial center of Chicago is known as the Loop. One theory is that the “loop” got its name from the cable loops in the city’s old cable car system.

26. Org. for some sportswomen : LPGA
The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) was founded in 1950 by a group of 13 lady golfers, and today it is the oldest ongoing women’s sports professional organization in the US.

29. Invoice from a souvenir shop? : TEE BILL (sounds like “T-bill”)
A Treasury note (T-Note) is a government debt that matures in 1-10 years. A T-Note has a coupon (interest) payment made every six months. The T-note is purchased at a discount to face value, and at the date of maturity can be redeemed at that face value. A T-Bill is a similar financial vehicle, but it matures in one year or less, and a T-Bond matures in 20-30 years.

31. Terse put-down of Sandra’s “Gidget” performance? : DEE FLAT (sounds like “D-flat”)
The actress Sandra Dee started out as a model before moving into film. After a promising start to her career it seemed to peter out, and the public became more interested in her 7-year marriage to Bobby Darin. And of course she will forever be remembered from the song in the movie and stage-show “Grease” called “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee”.

“Gidget” is an early “beach party film” that was released in 1959. The movie stars Sandra Dee as a teenage girl who falls in love with a young surfer. The surfer’s gang gives the young lass the nickname “Gidget”, a portmanteau of “girl” and “midget”.

35. King Kong, for one : APE
When RKO released the 1933 movie “King Kong”, the promotional material listed the ape’s height as 50 feet. During filming, a bust was created for a 40-foot ape, as well as a full-size hand that went with a 70-foot Kong.

39. Unsullied : PURE
To sully is to stain, tarnish. The term is often used in the context of sullying or tarnishing a reputation.

41. ___ Leppard : DEF
Def Leppard is a hard rock band from Sheffield in England. Drummer Rick Allen lost his arm in a car crash, severed by an incorrectly-worn seat belt. With the encouragement of the band, he returned to the lineup by using a specially designed electronic drum set. Amazing indeed …

42. “Paradise Lost” setting : EDEN
“Paradise Lost” is an epic poem written by Englishman John Milton. It is indeed an epic work, published originally in ten volumes with over ten thousand lines of verse. The “paradise” that is “lost” is the Garden of Eden, from which Adam and Eve were expelled by God in the “Fall of Man”.

44. Many SAT takers: Abbr. : JRS
Today the standardized test for admission to colleges is known as the SAT Reasoning Test, but it used to be called the Scholastic Aptitude Test and Scholastic Assessment Test, which led to the abbreviation SAT.

45. Where to keep divorce papers? : EX FILES (sounds like “X-Files”)
“The X-Files” is a very successful science fiction show that aired on the Fox network from 1993 to 2002. The stars of the show are David Duchovny (playing Fox Mulder) and the very talented Gillian Anderson (playing Dana Scully). By the time the series ended, “The X-Files” was the longest running sci-fi show in US broadcast history. An “X-Files” reboot started airing in 2016 with Duchovny and Anderson reprising their starring roles.

47. Signal Ernie’s buddy to step onstage? : CUE BERT (sounds like “Q*bert”)
For many years, I believed that the “Sesame Street” characters Bert and Ernie were named after two roles played in the Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life”. In the movie, the policeman’s name is Bert and his taxi-driving buddy is named Ernie. However, the “Sesame Street” folks have stated that the use of the same names is just a coincidence. Aww, I don’t wanna believe that’s a coincidence …

Q*bert is an arcade game that dates back to 1982. In the game, Q*bert is a character who starts at the top of a pyramid of cubes, and who is then moved around the pyramid by the player.

52. Stogies : CIGARS
A “stogie” (also “stogy”) is both a “rough, heavy shoe” and a “long, cheap cigar”. Both items were favored by the drivers of the covered wagons called “Conestogas” that wended their way across the Midwest in days gone by. The term “stogie” is derived from the name of the wagon, which itself is named after the area in which the wagons were built: Conestoga, near Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

54. Maiden name preceder : NEE
“Née” is the French word for “born” when referring to a female. The male equivalent is “né”.

55. Firenze farewell : CIAO
“Ciao” is the Italian for “‘bye”. “Arrivederci” is more formal, and translates as “goodbye”.

Florence is the capital city of the Tuscany region in Italy. Something from or related to Florence is described as “Florentine”. The city is known as “Firenze” in Italian.

59. “Wow, you have violins!”? : GEE STRINGS! (sounds like “G-strings”)
The origins of “G-string”, the type of revealing underwear, is unclear. However, the term “gee string” has been used since the 1800s and originally referred to the string that held the loincloths worn by Native Americans.

63. Long-necked wader : EGRET
Egrets are a group of several species of white herons. Many egret species were faced with extinction in the 1800s and early 1900s due to plume hunting, a practice driven by the demand for egret plumes that could be incorporated into hats.

66. Unlike the proverbial rolling stone : MOSSY
Publilius Syrus was a writer of adages and proverbs in Ancient Roman times. He was a freed slave, originally a Syrian, who was freed by his master in Italy. Publilius wrote the adage “People who are always moving, with no roots in one place, avoid responsibilities and cares”. We are more familiar with the contemporary “A rolling stone gathers no moss”.

67. ___-serif : SANS
Serifs are details on the ends of characters in some typefaces. Typefaces without serifs are known as sans-serif, using the French word “sans” meaning “without” and “serif” from the Dutch “schreef” meaning “line”. Some people say that serif fonts are easier to read on paper, whereas sans-serif fonts work better on a computer screen. I’m not so sure though …

Down
2. Pro baseball player with an orange-and-black uniform : ORIOLE
The Baltimore Orioles are one of the eight charter teams of MLB’s American League, so the franchise dates back to 1901. Prior to 1901, the team has roots in the Minor League Milwaukee Brewers, and indeed entered the American League as the Brewers. In 1902 the Brewers moved to St. Louis and became the Browns. The team didn’t fare well in St. Louis, so when it finally relocated to Baltimore in the early fifties the team changed its name completely, to the Baltimore Orioles. The owners so badly wanted a fresh start that they traded 17 old Browns players with the New York Yankees. The trade didn’t help the team’s performance on the field in those early days, but it did help distance the new team from its past.

4. Lone Ranger accessory : MASK
“The Lone Ranger” was both a radio and television show, dating back to its first radio performance in 1933 on a Detroit station. The line “Hi-yo, Silver! Away!” was a device used in the storyline to signal that a riding sequence was starting, so cue the music!

5. Patti in the Grammy Hall of Fame : LABELLE
Patti LaBelle is the stage name of singer Patricia Holt-Edwards from Philadelphia. She started her career in the sixties as the lead singer of the vocal group Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles, later changing its name to simply “LaBelle”. When the group disbanded in 1976, Patti launched a remarkably successful solo career.

6. Chef known for “New New Orleans” cuisine : EMERIL
Emeril Lagasse is an American chef, born in Massachusetts. Lagasse first achieved notoriety as executive chef in Commander’s Palace in New Orleans. Now famous for his television shows, his cuisine still showcases New Orleans ingredients and influences. Lagasse started using his famous “Bam!” catchphrase in order to keep his crew awake during repeated tapings of his show.

7. 17th-century Dutch painter Jan : STEEN
Jan Steen was a painter from the Netherlands who was active in the Dutch Golden Age, the 17th century. Steen’s most famous work is probably “The Feast of Saint Nicholas”, which you can see at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

8. Worrisome org. for a draft dodger : SSS
The US government maintains information on all males who are potentially subject to military conscription, using what is called the Selective Service System (SSS). In the event that a draft was held, men registered would be classified into groups to determine eligibility for service. Class 1-A registrants are those available for unrestricted military service. Other classes are 1-A-O (conscientious objector available for noncombatant service), 4-A (registrant who has completed military service) and 4-D (Minister of religion).

10. Dancer Nureyev : RUDOLF
Ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev’s most famous partnership was with Dame Margot Fonteyn. Nureyev and Fonteyn had their last professional performance together when Nureyev was 50-years-old, and Fonteyn an impressive 69.

13. 17,000-year-old find in France’s Lascaux cave : ART
The cave paintings in a cave complex near the village of Lascaux in southwestern France are perhaps the best-known examples of Upper Paleolithic art in the world. The paintings are about 17,300 years old, are about 2,000 in number and mainly depict large animals and human figures. The cave complex was discovered in 1940 by an 18-year-old man, and was opened to the public in 1948. However, public access has created many problems with damage to the paintings caused by carbon dioxide and by fungus and mold. Right now, human access to the caves is extremely limited.

25. Dutch cheese : EDAM
Edam cheese takes its name from the Dutch town of Edam in North Holland. The cheese is famous for its coating of red paraffin wax, a layer of protection that helps Edam travel well and prevents spoiling. You might occasionally come across an Edam cheese that is coated in black wax. The black color indicates that the underlying cheese has been aged for a minimum of 17 weeks.

32. Title for Maria Theresa of Austria : EMPRESS
Maria Theresa was the last ruler of the House of Habsburg, also known as the House of Austria. She was also the House’s only female ruler. Maria Theresa was married to Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor. The couple had sixteen children together, including Queen Marie Antoinette of France.

36. Quick, suggestive message : SEXT
“Sexting” (a portmanteau of “sex” and “texting”) is the sending of explicit dialog and images between cell phones. The term “sexting” was first coined by the UK’s “Sunday Telegraph Magazine” in a 2005 article. Apparently the practice is “rampant” among teens and young adults. Whatever happened to dinner and a movie …?

38. Arnaz of “I Love Lucy” : DESI
Desi Arnaz was famous for his turbulent marriage to Lucille Ball. Arnaz was a native of Cuba, and was from a privileged family. His father was Mayor of Santiago and served in the Cuban House of Representatives. However, the family had to flee to Miami after the 1933 revolt led by Batista.

40. Many a PC cable : USB
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard dealing with how computers and electronic devices connect and communicate, and deal with electrical power through those connections.

41. ___ Plaines, Ill. : DES
Des Plaines, Illinois is a suburb of Chicago that is located next to O’Hare International Airport. The city is named for the Des Plaines river that runs through the suburb.

46. Purple things in several van Gogh paintings : IRISES
Van Gogh painted his “Irises” while he was in an asylum in the south of France the year before he committed suicide. The original owner was a French art critic and supporter of Van Gogh who paid 300 francs to purchase the painting. “Irises” was bought for $53.9 million in 1987 making it the most expensive painting sold up to that point. But, the buyer didn’t actually have the necessary funds, so it had to be resold in 1990. It was picked up by the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, where you can see it today.

47. Pop-producing toy weapon : CAP GUN
Cap guns are toy guns that use as ammunition a small quantity of explosive that is shock-sensitive. The small disks of ammunition come as individual pellets or perhaps in plastic rings. The cap guns that I used as a child came with about 50 pellets of ammunition on a roll of paper. As a kid, I used to think that cap guns were so cool. Now, not so much …

50. Electric cars named for an inventor : TESLAS
Tesla Motors is a manufacturer of electric vehicles based in Palo Alto, California. Tesla is noted for producing the first electric sports car, called the Tesla Roadster. The company followed the sports car with a luxury sedan, the Model S. The Model S was the world’s best selling plug-in electric vehicle of 2015.

Nikola Tesla was born in Serbia, but later moved to the US. Tesla’s work on mechanical and electrical engineering was crucial to the development of alternating current technology, the same technology that is used by equipment at the backbone of modern power generation and distribution systems.

53. Kind of salami : GENOA
“Salame” (note the letter E at the end) is an Italian sausage that is traditionally associated with the peasant classes. The meat in the sausage is preserved with salt, and it can be hung and stored for as long as ten years. The name “salame” comes from “sale”, the Italian word for salt, and “-ame”, a suffix indicating a collective noun. Our English word “salami” is actually the Italian plural for “salame”.

58. Girl’s name that’s also a 59-Down : OPAL
59. See 58-Down : GEM
97% of the world’s opals come from Australia, so it’s no surprise perhaps that the opal is the national gemstone of the country. The state of South Australia provides the bulk of the world’s production, about 80%.

61. Org. of concern to H&R Block : IRS
The tax preparation company called H&R Block was founded in 1955 In Kansas City by two brothers, Henry and Richard Bloch. The Bloch brothers changed the spelling of their family name to “Block” for the company moniker, in order to avoid mispronunciation.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Wriggly temptation for a fish : WORM
5. To a smaller degree : LESS
9. Newswoman Van Susteren : GRETA
14. Length x width, for a rectangle : AREA
15. Rx dosages, e.g.: Abbr. : AMTS
16. City across the Nile from the Valley of the Kings : LUXOR
17. They might be sealed : LIPS
18. Apiarist? : BEE STUDENT (sounds like “B student”)
20. “Now listen …” : LOOK HERE …
22. ___ smasher : ATOM
23. Trains to Chicago’s Loop : ELS
24. Flared skirts : A-LINES
26. Org. for some sportswomen : LPGA
29. Invoice from a souvenir shop? : TEE BILL (sounds like “T-bill”)
31. Terse put-down of Sandra’s “Gidget” performance? : DEE FLAT (sounds like “D-flat”)
33. Outrage : IRE
34. Toasty : WARM
35. King Kong, for one : APE
36. Playlist listing : SONG
38. Poorly lit : DIM
39. Unsullied : PURE
41. ___ Leppard : DEF
42. “Paradise Lost” setting : EDEN
44. Many SAT takers: Abbr. : JRS
45. Where to keep divorce papers? : EX FILES (sounds like “X-Files”)
47. Signal Ernie’s buddy to step onstage? : CUE BERT (sounds like “Q*bert”)
51. Blend, as batter : STIR
52. Stogies : CIGARS
54. Maiden name preceder : NEE
55. Firenze farewell : CIAO
57. Sitcom segments : EPISODES
59. “Wow, you have violins!”? : GEE STRINGS! (sounds like “G-strings”)
62. Influence with higher-ups : PULL
63. Long-necked wader : EGRET
64. Decisive defeat : ROUT
65. Opera highlight : ARIA
66. Unlike the proverbial rolling stone : MOSSY
67. ___-serif : SANS
68. Microscope part : LENS

Down
1. Holder for cash and IDs : WALLET
2. Pro baseball player with an orange-and-black uniform : ORIOLE
3. State of rest : REPOSE
4. Lone Ranger accessory : MASK
5. Patti in the Grammy Hall of Fame : LABELLE
6. Chef known for “New New Orleans” cuisine : EMERIL
7. 17th-century Dutch painter Jan : STEEN
8. Worrisome org. for a draft dodger : SSS
9. Market oversupply : GLUT
10. Dancer Nureyev : RUDOLF
11. Typical specimen : EXEMPLAR
12. Unit of capacity for a bridge : TON
13. 17,000-year-old find in France’s Lascaux cave : ART
19. Cop’s stunner : TASER
21. Salon product for a spiky do : HAIR GEL
25. Dutch cheese : EDAM
27. Stare open-mouthed : GAPE
28. Made disappear, in a way : ATE
30. Recycling receptacle : BIN
32. Title for Maria Theresa of Austria : EMPRESS
34. Triumph : WIN
36. Quick, suggestive message : SEXT
37. Badge holders : OFFICERS
38. Arnaz of “I Love Lucy” : DESI
40. Many a PC cable : USB
41. ___ Plaines, Ill. : DES
43. Look of a room : DECOR
44. Legal authorities : JURISTS
46. Purple things in several van Gogh paintings : IRISES
47. Pop-producing toy weapon : CAP GUN
48. Continue through time : ENDURE
49. Land, as a fish : REEL IN
50. Electric cars named for an inventor : TESLAS
53. Kind of salami : GENOA
56. Court fig. : ATTY
58. Girl’s name that’s also a 59-Down : OPAL
59. See 58-Down : GEM
60. Maniacal leader? : EGO-
61. Org. of concern to H&R Block : IRS

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12 thoughts on “0613-17 New York Times Crossword Answers 13 Jun 17, Tuesday”

  1. Easy one today. Couple of the theme answers were funny. Nice respite from tough later week puzzles.

    Best –

  2. I had a real struggle with the upper right corner: GRETA, LUXOR, RUDOLF (I knew who Nureyev was but couldn't remember his first name!), and EXEMPLAR eluded me for a long time, and I had to try to comb through letter by letter to figure it out…but I eventually got it!

  3. Downtown Chicago is the "loop" because the (original) lines entered a rectangular loop at a corner, traversed the four sides of loop and exited heading back to the suburbs.
    The northwest corner of the loop is Lake & Wells. The southeast corner is Wabash & Van Buren.

  4. No errors. The only entry I still do not understand is 29-Across, TEE BILL. Is a shop at a golf course possibly called a "souvenir" shop? To me a souvenir shop is something else. I just don't get the TEE part.

  5. 12 mins 18 sec, no errors, but several writerovers, particulary in the top right. In fact, the first fill was overwritten to fit WORM in (I was thinking EELS initially)…. Don't know what it is, but I'm working harder than I should for Monday and Tuesday puzzles….

  6. You went to great lengths to explain what a "T-BILL" (or TEEBILL) is, but failed to explain why it is "from a souvenir shop." I don't get it.

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