0618-17 New York Times Crossword Answers 18 Jun 17, Sunday

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CROSSWORD CONSTRUCTOR: Sam Trabucco
THEME: Silent Treatment
Each of today’s themed answers is a common phrase that includes a silent letter. That silent letter is circled in the grid, and must be completely dropped to make sense of the clue:

23A. Reversals of reversals in sentences? : DOUBLE (K)NOTS
41A. Donates shelter to some beavers? : GIVES A DAM(N)
57A. Soup, black bread and, for the wealthy, meat? : RENAISSANCE FA(I)RE
81A. Kings and queens bringing their steeds to a halt? : REI(G)NING MONARCHS
98A. “Excuse me, but my partner’s and my kids go first!” : AFTER (H)OURS
119A. Feast consisting entirely of Hawaiian foodstuffs? : TARO(T) SPREAD

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 26m 58s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

1. Chimp relatives : ORANGS
Orangutans (also “orangs”) are arboreal creatures, in fact the largest arboreal animals known to man. They are native to Indonesia and Malaysia, living in the rain forests. Like most species in rain forests these days, orangutans are endangered, with only two species surviving. The word “orangutan” is Malay, meaning “man of the forest”.

The Common Chimpanzee is a species of ape, a member of the Hominidae family (along with gorillas, humans and orangutans). The human and chimpanzee branches of the Hominidae family tree diverged 4-6 million years ago, making the chimp our closest living relatives in the animal kingdom.

7. Free spot, for short : PSA
Public service announcement (PSA)

14. Pac-12 team : UTES
The Utah Utes are the athletic teams of the University of Utah.

19. Rihanna’s 2016 ___ World Tour : ANTI
The singer Rihanna was born and grew up on the island of Barbados and moved to the US when she was 16-years-old to pursue a singing career. “Rihanna” is her stage name, as she was born Robyn Rihanna Fenty. The name “Rihanna” is derived from the Welsh name “Rhiannon”.

21. Puma alternative : 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.

22. QB Tony : ROMO
Tony Romo is a quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. Romo is also an avid amateur golfer and has even tried (albeit unsuccessfully) to qualify for the US Open golf championship.

27. Org. involved in an annual open house : PTA
Parent-Teacher Association (PTA)

29. Shell containers : OIL TANKS
Royal Dutch Shell is the fourth largest company in the world in terms of revenue (Walmart is the largest) and is headquartered in the Hague, in the Netherlands. The company was formed in 1907 with the merger of the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company and Shell Transport and Trading company of the UK. The two companies merged in order to compete globally with the biggest US oil company of the day, John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil. Shell Oil Company is a US-based subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell that is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

31. Railroad name starting in 1832 : ERIE
The Erie Railroad operated from 1832 to 1960, and connected New York City with Lake Erie. The Erie Railroad was largely built as compensation for the towns in the Southern Tier of New York who lost business when the Erie Canal was completed in 1825.

40. Small egg : OVULE
As we all remember from botany class (don’t we?), an “ovule” is a small structure in many plants that develops into the seed after fertilization.

41. Donates shelter to some beavers? : GIVES A DAM(N)
Beavers build dams so that they can live in and around the slower and deeper water that builds up above the dam. This deeper water provides more protection for the beavers from predators such as bears. Beavers are nocturnal animals and do all their construction work at night.

48. Crop-damaging rodent : VOLE
Vole populations can really increase rapidly. Mama vole is pregnant for just three weeks before giving birth to litters of 5-10 baby voles. Then the young voles become sexually mature in just one month! If you have one pregnant vole in your yard, within a year you could have over a hundred of the little critters.

51. New pony : FOAL
There are lots of terms to describe horses of different ages and sexes, it seems:

  • Foal: horse of either sex that is less that one year old
  • Yearling: horse of either sex that is one to two years old
  • Filly: female horse under the age of four
  • Colt: male horse under the age of four
  • Gelding: castrated male horse of any age
  • Stallion: non-castrated male horse four years or older
  • Mare: female horse four years or older

53. One following the dotted lines? : 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.

66. John or James : APOSTLE
In the Christian tradition, John the Apostle was one of the twelve followers of Jesus who were called the Apostles. John lived longer than all of the other Apostles and was the only one who did not die a martyr. John wrote the Gospel of John in the New Testament, as well as three Epistles of John and the Book of Revelation.

James, son of Zebedee was one the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. James was the brother of fellow Apostle John. James was the only Apostle whose martyrdom was recorded in the New Testament, so it is generally believed that he was the first Apostle to die a martyr to his faith.

68. ___ Raton, Fla. : BOCA
The name of the city of Boca Raton in Florida translates from Spanish as “Mouse Mouth”. There doesn’t seem to be a definitive etymology of the name but one plausible explanation is a nautical one. “Boca”, as well as meaning “mouth” can mean “inlet”. “Ratón”, as well as meaning “mouse” was also used to describe rocks that chewed away at a ship’s anchor cable. So possibly Boca Raton was named for a rocky inlet.

70. Part of E = mc^2 : MASS
In Albert Einstein’s famous equation E=mc^2, “E” stands for energy, “m” stands for mass, and “c” stands for the speed of light.

76. Based on theoretical deduction : A PRIORI
In the world of philosophy, one can have “a priori” knowledge or “a posteriori” knowledge. A priori (“from the earlier) knowledge is independent of experience, it is just known or assumed. For example, one might say that “all boys are males” is a priori knowledge. A posteriori knowledge relies on experience or some empirical evidence. For example, one might say that “boys are more likely to diagnosed with ADD” is a posteriori knowledge.

80. Road sign silhouette : DEER
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”.

84. Nelson who wrote “The Man With the Golden Arm” : ALGREN
Nelson Algren was an author from Detroit who is best known today for his 1949 novel “The Man with the Golden Arm”. The famous novel won the National Book Award and was made into a celebrated 1955 film of the same name starring Frank Sinatra. Algren also wrote a novel called “A Walk on the Wild Side”, the title of which was used in a great 1972 Lou Reed song.

86. James who wrote “A Death in the Family” : AGEE
James Agee was a noted American film critic and screenwriter. Agee wrote an autobiographical novel “A Death in the Family” that won him his Pulitzer in 1958, albeit posthumously. He was also one of the screenwriters for the 1951 classic movie “The African Queen”.

87. Freddy once hailed as “the next Pelé” : ADU
Freddy Adu is an American soccer player who grew up in Ghana. Adu signed for D.C. United in 2004 when he was only 14 years old. That made him the youngest athlete ever to sign a professional contract in the US.

88. Husband to Emilia in “Othello” : IAGO
Emilia and Iago are characters in William Shakespeare’s play “Othello”. Emilia and Iago are a married couple, although Iago kills Emilia late in the play.

90. Golfer Ernie : ELS
Ernie Els is a South African golfer. Els a big guy but he has an easy fluid golf swing that has earned him the nickname “The Big Easy”. He is a former World No. 1 and has won four majors: the US Open (1994 & 1997) and the British Open (2002 & 2012).

94. Popeye creator E. C. ___ : SEGAR
Elzie Segar was a cartoonist who went by the name E. C. Segar. Segar was the man who created the strip “Thimble Theater”, home of the character Popeye.

102. “___, Escher, Bach” (Pulitzer-winning book) : GODEL
Douglas Hofstadter is an American academic, and a winner of a Pulitzer Prize for his book “Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid”, first published in 1979.

110. Gchat notes, e.g. : IMS
Even though instant messaging (sending IMs) has been around since the 1960s, it was AOL who popularized the term “instant message” in the eighties and nineties. The “AOL Instant Message” service was known as AIM.

“Gchat” is a common name for the Google Talk instant messaging service. Google Talk offers both text and voice communication as well as a plugin that allows video chat. All of this works seamlessly with Gmail, my personal favorite email client. That said, much of this functionality seems to have been replaced with the Google Hangouts service.

111. Medical professional on TV : DR OZ
Mehmet Oz is a cardiothoracic surgeon, and a TV personality known simply as “Dr. Oz”. Oz appeared as a health expert for several seasons on “The Oprah Winfrey Show”. Now he has his own “The Dr. Oz Show” on radio and television that is backed by Winfrey’s Harpo Productions.

113. Part of a classic diner sign : NEON TUBE
The basic design of neon lighting was first demonstrated at the Paris Motor Show in 1910. Such lighting is made up of glass tubes containing a vacuum into which has been introduced a small amount of neon gas. When a voltage is applied between two electrodes inside the tube, the neon gas “glows” and gives off the familiar light.

116. WSJ competitor : NYT
“The New York Times” (NYT) has been published since 1851. These days a viable alternative to buying the paper is to read the news online. NYTimes.com is the most popular online newspaper website in the country.

“The Wall Street Journal” (WSJ) is a daily newspaper with a business bent that is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company. The WSJ has a larger US circulation than any other newspaper, with “USA Today” coming in a close second place.

118. Icelandic saga : EDDA
The Poetic Edda and Prose Edda are two ancient works that are the source for much of Norse mythology. Both Eddas were written in the 13th century, in Iceland.

119. Feast consisting entirely of Hawaiian foodstuffs? : TARO(T) SPREAD
The corm of some taro plants is used to make poi, the traditional Hawaiian dish (that I think tastes horrible). When a taro plant is grown as an ornamental, it is often called Elephant Ears due to the shape of its large leaves.

Tarot cards have been around since the mid-1400s, and for centuries were simply used for entertainment as a game. It has only been since the late 1800s that the cards have been used by fortune tellers to predict the future. The list of tarot cards includes the Wheel of Fortune, the Hanged Man and the Lovers.

125. Illinois college town : URBANA
Urbana is an Illinois city that is home to most of the campus of the University of Illinois. The city was named in 1833 after Urbana, Ohio, the hometown of State Senator John Vance who provided the names for both the surrounding county of Champaign and the county’s seat of justice, Urbana.

126. James of R&B : ETTA
Etta James was best known for her beautiful rendition of the song “At Last”. Sadly, as she disclosed in her autobiography, James lived a life that was ravaged by drug addiction leading to numerous legal and health problems. Ms. James passed away in January 2012 having suffered from leukemia.

128. Sot’s woe : DTS
The episodes of delirium that can accompany withdrawal from alcohol are called Delirium Tremens (the DTs). The literal translation of this Latin phrase is “trembling madness”.

Down
1. Cronies : OLD PALS
A crony is a friend or companion. The term originated as slang in Cambridge University in England in the 1600s. “Crony” is probably derived from the Greek “khronios” meaning “long-lasting”.

6. Lead-in to phonic : STEREO-
Monophonic sound (“mono”) is sound reproduced using just one audio channel, which is usually played out of just one speaker. Stereophonic sound is reproduced using two audio channels, with the sound from each channel played out of two different speakers. The pair of stereo speakers are usually positioned apart from each other so that sound appears to come from between the two. Quadraphonic sound (4.0 surround sound) uses four audio channels with the sound played back through four speakers often positioned at the corners of the room in which one is listening.

7. Greek god depicted on the cover of “The Wind in the Willows” : PAN
In Greek mythology, Pan was a lecherous god, one who fell in love with Echo the mountain nymph. Echo refused Pan’s advances so that he became very angry. Pan’s anger created a “panic” (a word derived from the name “Pan”) and a group of shepherds were driven to kill Echo.

“The Wind in the Willows” is a classic children’s novel first published in 1908. Featured in the story are characters such as Mole, Ratty, Mr. Toad and Mr. Badger. The story’s author was Kenneth Grahame, a man who held the exalted position of Secretary of the Bank of England.

8. Onetime rap moniker : SNOOP LION
The rap star Snoop Dogg’s real name is Cordozar Calvin Broadus. He is the most famous protege of the notorious rapper Dr. Dre. Sadly, Snoop Dogg has had numerous run-ins with police all round the world, even after he started to live the good life that came with his fame. Snoop Dogg has also been known as “Snoop Doggy Dogg”, and more recently as “Snoop Lion”.

10. Tomb raider ___ Croft : LARA
Lara Croft was introduced to the world as the main character in a pretty cool video game (I thought, back then) called “Tomb Raider” in 1996. Lara Croft moved to the big screen in 2001 and 2003, in two pretty awful movie adaptations of the game’s storyline. Angelina Jolie played Croft, and she did a very energetic job.

11. “The Terrible” czar : IVAN IV
The Grand Prince of Moscow Ivan IV became known as Ivan the Terrible. The name “terrible” is a translation from Russian, and perhaps creates the wrong impression about the man. The Russian word is “Grozny”, which is more akin to “strict” and “powerful” rather than “cruel” or “abominable”.

20. Part of las Filipinas : ISLA
When the Spanish explorer Ruy Lopez de Villalobos discovered the islands of Leyte and Samar, he called them Felipinas, after King Philip II of Spain. Eventually, the name was used for the whole archipelago, becoming what we now call in English, the Philippines.

34. Bacteria-battling drug : SULFA
“Sulfa drug” is a common term for sulphonamides. Many sulfa drugs have antibacterial properties, and were the first antimicrobial drugs developed. The first sulphonamide introduced to treat bacterial infections was named Prontosil, and was developed by Bayer AG in Germany.

36. Intoxicating Polynesian drink : KAVA
Kava is a plant found in the western Pacific. Its roots are used to make an intoxicating drink also called kava, which acts as a sedative.

39. Cloud’s purpose : DATA STORAGE
In the world of computing, when one operates “in the cloud”, one’s files and key applications are not stored on one’s own computer, but rather are residing “in the cloud”, on a computer somewhere out on the Internet. I do 90% of my computing in the cloud. That way I don’t have to worry about backing up files, and I can operate from any computer if I have to …

43. #1 Presley hit : DON’T BE CRUEL
“Don’t Be Cruel” was recorded by Elvis Presley in 1956. “Don’t Be Cruel” was released as an A-side, but the B-side turned out to be more successful; a tune called “Hound Dog” …

45. Court orders : WRITS
A writ is an order issued by some formal body (these days, usually a court) with the order being in “written” form. Warrants and subpoenas are examples of writs.

50. Big fashion inits. : YSL
Yves Saint-Laurent (YSL) was a French fashion designer, actually born in Algeria. Saint-Laurent started off working as an assistant to Christian Dior at the age of 17. Dior died just four years later, and as a very young man Saint-Laurent was named head of the House of Dior. However, in 1950 Saint-Laurent was conscripted into the French Army and ended up in a military hospital after suffering a mental breakdown from the hazing inflicted on him by his fellow soldiers. His treatment included electroshock therapy and administration of sedatives and psychoactive drugs. He was released from hospital, managed to pull his life back together and started his own fashion house. A remarkable story …

56. ___ culpa : MEA
Many Roman Catholics are very familiar with the Latin phrase “mea culpa” meaning “my fault”, as it is used in the Latin Mass. The additional term “mea maxima culpa” translates as “my most grievous fault”.

57. Frothing at the mouth : RABID
“Rabies” is actually the Latin word for “madness”. The name is a good choice for the viral disease, as once the virus spreads to the brain the infected person or animal exhibits very tortured and bizarre behavior including hydrophobia, a fear of water. The virus is passed on to humans most often through a bite from an infected dog. It is curable if it is caught in time, basically before symptoms develop. Once the virus passes up the peripheral nervous system to the spine and the brain, there isn’t much that can be done. We can also use the derivative term “rabid” figuratively, to mean extremely violent, to have extreme views.

58. Lyric poem : EPODE
An epode is a lyric poem made up of couplets in which the first line is long, and the second line much shorter. The form was invented by the Greek poet Archilochus, and was most famously used by the Roman poet Horace.

60. Start of the Marines’ motto : SEMPER
“Semper Fidelis” (often abbreviated to “semper fi”) is the motto of the United States Marine Corps (USMC). The phrase is Latin and means “Always Faithful”. The US Marine Corps isn’t the only military unit using “Semper Fidelis” as a motto. It’s also used by the Portuguese Marine Corps, the Republic of China Marine Corps and the Swiss Grenadiers.

71. Singer India.___ : ARIE
India.Arie is an American soul and R&B singer who was born India Arie Simpson in Denver, Colorado.

74. Some Mardi Gras wear : BEADS
“Mardi Gras” translates from French as “Fat Tuesday”, and gets its name from the practice of eating rich foods on the eve of the fasting season known as Lent. Lent starts on the next day, called Ash Wednesday.

76. S. Amer. land : ARG
Argentina is the second largest country in South America (after Brazil), and geographically is the world’s largest Spanish-speaking nation. The name “Argentina” comes from the Latin “argentum”, the word for “silver”. It is thought that the name was given by the early Spanish and Portuguese conquerors who also named the Rio de la Plata (the “Silver River”). Those early explorers got hold of lots of silver objects that they found among the native population.

77. Inlets : RIAS
A drowned valley might be called a ria or a fjord, with both formed as sea level rises. A ria is a drowned valley created by river erosion, and a fjord is a drowned valley created by glaciation.

79. Genetic material : RNA
The two most common nucleic acids are deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), both of which play crucial roles in genetics. The DNA contains the genetic instructions used to keep living organisms functioning, and RNA is used to transcribe that information from the DNA to protein “generators” called ribosomes.

83. Gettysburg general : MEADE
George Meade was a career army officer with a depth of experience in civil and military operations even before the onset of the Civil War. During the war he rose to the level of commander of the Army of the Potomac, and is best remembered for leading the Union forces that defeated General Robert E. Lee at Gettysburg in 1863.

91. Exam for future attys. : LSAT
Law School Admission Test (LSAT)

93. Warehouse : DEPOT
Our term “depot”, meaning a station or warehouse, derives from the word “dépôt”, French for “deposit” or “place of deposit”.

95. Native of Conakry : GUINEAN
Guinea lies north of Liberia on the west African coast. Like much of Africa, it was for many years a French Colony (as “French Guinea”). Guinea declared independence in 1958, but has suffered from autocratic rule since then, and is now of the poorest countries in Africa.

96. Little raider : ARMY ANT
Army ants are a collection of over two hundred different species of ants. Each species is known for aggressively raiding a certain area en masse, foraging for food. Army ants also stay on the move, never building permanent nests.

112. It follows epsilon : ZETA
Zeta is the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet, and is a precursor of our Roman letter Z. The word “zeta” is also the ancestor of the name “zed”, which became “zee”, the pronunciation that we use here in the US.

121. Stat for Lou Gehrig or Manny Ramirez : RBI
Run batted in (RBI)

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Chimp relatives : ORANGS
7. Free spot, for short : PSA
10. Mouth pieces : LIPS
14. Pac-12 team : UTES
18. Asian plumlike fruit : LOQUAT
19. Rihanna’s 2016 ___ World Tour : ANTI
21. Puma alternative : AVIA
22. QB Tony : ROMO
23. Reversals of reversals in sentences? : DOUBLE (K)NOTS
25. Ribald : RACY
26. Making the honor roll, e.g. : GOAL
27. Org. involved in an annual open house : PTA
28. Directional suffix : -ERN
29. Shell containers : OIL TANKS
31. Railroad name starting in 1832 : ERIE
32. Golf ball’s path : ARC
33. Result of waves hitting rocks : SEA SPRAY
35. “Don’t worry about me!” : I’M OK!
37. With 73-Across, a symbol of Massachusetts : ELM …
38. Laundry unit : LOAD
40. Small egg : OVULE
41. Donates shelter to some beavers? : GIVES A DAM(N)
44. Bedding in a horse’s stall : STRAW
46. Name that’s Hebrew for “my God” : ELI
47. Relative of “POW!” : BAM!
48. Crop-damaging rodent : VOLE
49. “Don’t give up!” : TRY!
51. New pony : FOAL
53. One following the dotted lines? : PAC-MAN
57. Soup, black bread and, for the wealthy, meat? : RENAISSANCE FA(I)RE
62. Neutrogena dandruff shampoo : T/GEL
66. John or James : APOSTLE
67. “What nerve!” : THE IDEA!
68. ___ Raton, Fla. : BOCA
69. Gear for a hike : BOOTS
70. Part of E = mc^2 : MASS
73. See 37-Across : … TREE
74. Not quite leaders of the pack : BETAS
75. Social Security fig. : ID NO
76. Based on theoretical deduction : A PRIORI
78. Like concrete that’s shaped in advance : PRECAST
80. Road sign silhouette : DEER
81. Kings and queens bringing their steeds to a halt? : REI(G)NING MONARCHS
84. Nelson who wrote “The Man With the Golden Arm” : ALGREN
86. James who wrote “A Death in the Family” : AGEE
87. Freddy once hailed as “the next Pelé” : ADU
88. Husband to Emilia in “Othello” : IAGO
90. Golfer Ernie : ELS
92. Tiny bit : TAD
94. Popeye creator E. C. ___ : SEGAR
98. “Excuse me, but my partner’s and my kids go first!” : AFTER (H)OURS
102. “___, Escher, Bach” (Pulitzer-winning book) : GODEL
104. Tackle box item : LURE
105. When repeated, “All right, that’s enough!” : NOW
106. Up (for), paradoxically : DOWN
107. Better than normal : ABOVE PAR
110. Gchat notes, e.g. : IMS
111. Medical professional on TV : DR OZ
113. Part of a classic diner sign : NEON TUBE
115. “Listen up, Luis!” : OYE!
116. WSJ competitor : NYT
117. Fantasy game role : OGRE
118. Icelandic saga : EDDA
119. Feast consisting entirely of Hawaiian foodstuffs? : TARO(T) SPREAD
122. Flight destination? : NEST
123. “Enough!” : STOP!
124. Word with pink or cow : -SLIP
125. Illinois college town : URBANA
126. James of R&B : ETTA
127. Ring ___ : TOSS
128. Sot’s woe : DTS
129. Like elves’ ears : POINTY

Down
1. Cronies : OLD PALS
2. Plant disease whose two words differ by only one letter : ROOT ROT
3. Amphibious auto : AQUA-CAR
4. Essence of an idea : NUB
5. Powerful winds : GALES
6. Lead-in to phonic : STEREO-
7. Greek god depicted on the cover of “The Wind in the Willows” : PAN
8. Onetime rap moniker : SNOOP LION
9. Clothe : ATTIRE
10. Tomb raider ___ Croft : LARA
11. “The Terrible” czar : IVAN IV
12. When repeated, plea to a stage magician : PICK ME!
13. Powers to decide : SAY-SOS
14. Goad : URGE
15. “Ugh, that hits close to home!” : TOO REAL!
16. “Shoot over your response” : EMAIL ME
17. Very serious : SOLEMN
20. Part of las Filipinas : ISLA
24. Scoundrel : KNAVE
30. Popular rapper with a feline-sounding name : TYGA
34. Bacteria-battling drug : SULFA
36. Intoxicating Polynesian drink : KAVA
39. Cloud’s purpose : DATA STORAGE
42. Hurt : IMPAIR
43. #1 Presley hit : DON’T BE CRUEL
45. Court orders : WRITS
47. “Ugh!” : BLEH!
50. Big fashion inits. : YSL
52. Follows, as advice : ACTS ON
54. One might represent a representative : AIDE
55. Sleazeball : CREEPO
56. ___ culpa : MEA
57. Frothing at the mouth : RABID
58. Lyric poem : EPODE
59. Who has ever won a debate over the internet? : NO ONE
60. Start of the Marines’ motto : SEMPER
61. Honoring grandly : FETING
63. Did so-so at school : GOT A C
64. Digital currency : ECASH
65. Hangs in there : LASTS
71. Singer India.___ : ARIE
72. One of 56 in 1776 : SIGNER
74. Some Mardi Gras wear : BEADS
76. S. Amer. land : ARG
77. Inlets : RIAS
79. Genetic material : RNA
82. “Oh, boohoo!” : GET OVER IT!
83. Gettysburg general : MEADE
85. Head of an estate : LORD
88. “Hmm … it’s escaping me” : I FORGET
89. “If all else fails …” : AT WORST …
91. Exam for future attys. : LSAT
93. Warehouse : DEPOT
95. Native of Conakry : GUINEAN
96. Little raider : ARMY ANT
97. Athlete’s time off : REST DAY
98. Single shot awarded for being fouled while scoring, in basketball lingo : AND ONE
99. Straight : HONEST
100. Had because of : OWED TO
101. Start of a Spanish count : UNO DOS …
102. Clear one’s head? : GO BALD
103. Confines due to injury : LAYS UP
108. Qualifying words : BUTS
109. Facsimile, for short : REPRO
112. It follows epsilon : ZETA
114. Fuzzes : NAPS
120. Photo ___ : OPS
121. Stat for Lou Gehrig or Manny Ramirez : RBI

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9 thoughts on “0618-17 New York Times Crossword Answers 18 Jun 17, Sunday”

  1. 25:00, no errors. Can't help but wonder why the silent letters spell out the word KNIGHT, which doesn't seem likely to have been just a random accident ,,,

  2. @Dave – The NYT blurb says it was intentional. So the theme of the grid is the holiday song "Silent (K)Night"….as you point out the silent letters from top to bottom spell out a silent "Knight" with a silent K – Night. I hope Bill is enjoying his road trip too much to have bothered with that.

    71 minutes. One error. I had mOLE/KAmA instead of VOLE/KAVA. Frustratingly close. Have to admit I laughed at GIVES A DAMN….

    Best –

  3. The downs also obeyed the silent-letter rule. They weren't tied into the clues, but the circled letters in each of SOLEM(N), (K)NAVE, A(I)DE, SI(G)NER, DEPO(T), and (H)ONEST are all unvoiced. I figured that out before I fully understood the across clue patterns, actually.

  4. Just couldn't finish this after close to an hour. I got the theme (at least part of it), but a few clues were just worded in such a way that I couldn't even hazard a guess. And, if Unknown's comments are accurate, once again, we have a level of "cleverness" at work here that is all but undetectable, and hence, a waste of effort at the end of the day.

    This wasn't how I wanted to start out my week, I can tell you that.

  5. 42:19, 4 errors. 8D SNOOPLSON; 46A ELS; 71D ARIA; 84A ALGRAN. Had the clue for 90A in my head ''Golfer Ernie', and just instinctively entered ELS in 46A. Not at all familiar with rap genre, but SNOOP LION should have rung a bell. The ARIE/ALGREN cross, in my case, was a one in five guess (any vowel), and guessed wrong.

    Drank a cup of KAVA, during one of my YOLO moments on the north shore of Oahu. The resemblance to dirty dishwater (in both taste and appearance) is uncanny. It's an acquired taste, I guess.

  6. @Sandra: just my two cents worth regarding the pronunciation of MIC. It is a truncation of the word MICROPHONE. Pronounce the word MICROPHONE; then say it again without the ROPHONE and viola!

  7. Didn't get the "silent knight" part of the theme, and for unrelated reasons did not finish. So, guess it was a "double not" for me. (Hah)

  8. 84 minutes, no errors. Pretty stiff and thought I might DNF this, but somehow it ended up falling into place.

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