1025-17 NY Times Crossword Answers 25 Oct 2017, Wednesday

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Constructed by: Jules P. Markey
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme: Break Up the Banks

Each of today’s themed answers includes a hidden word, a type of BANK. Those BANKS straddle two or more words so that a space(s) BREAKS UP THE BANKS:

  • 62A. Wall Street reformer’s urging … or a hint to this puzzle’s shaded squares : BREAK UP THE BANKS
  • 17A. Weave or tailgate, say : DRIVE RECKLESSLY (hiding “river”)
  • 25A. “I’m not at all surprised” : IT’S NO WONDER (hiding “snow”)
  • 41A. Allows : GIVES PERMISSION (hiding “sperm”)
  • 52A. Bailed out on some stock, say : SOLD AT A LOSS (hiding “data”)

Bill’s time: 6m 33s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1. Scotland’s ___ Lomond : LOCH

Loch Lomond is one of the two most famous lakes in Scotland. Loch Ness is famous for its “monster”, and Loch Lomond is famous for the lovely song “The Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond”. Oh, ye’ll tak’ the high road, and I’ll tak’ the low road …

8. Eggs on : GOADS

The verb “edge” has been used to mean to incite, to urge on, from the 16th century. Somewhere along the way “edge” was mistakenly replaced with “egg”, giving us our term “to egg on” meaning “to goad”.

13. Bollywood attire : SARIS

“Bollywood” is the informal name given to the huge film industry based in Mumbai in India. The term “Bollywood” is a melding of “Bombay”, the old name for Mumbai, and “Hollywood”.

15. MGM roarer : LEO

There has been a lion in the logo of the MGM studio since 1924. The original was an Irishman (!), a lion named Slats who was born in Dublin Zoo in 1919. However, it wasn’t until Jackie took over from Slats in 1928 that the roar was heard, as the era of silent movies was coming to an end. The current lion is called Leo, and he has been around since 1957.

16. Canvas supporter : EASEL

The word “easel” comes from an old Dutch word meaning “donkey” would you believe? The idea is that an easel carries its load (an oil painting, say) just as a donkey would be made to carry a load.

20. Old TV’s ___ Griffin Productions : MERV

Merv Griffin was quite the entertainer, truly a mogul in the business. He started his career as a singer on the radio during the big band era. In the sixties he hosted his own talk show, and then famously developed such great game shows as “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune”.

22. Constitution, in D.C. : AVE

Famously, the layout of the streets in Washington was designed by French-born American architect Pierre Charles L’Enfant. The L’Enfant Plan called for a grid of east-west and north-south streets. This grid was crisscrossed with diagonal avenues. The avenues and streets met at circles and rectangular plazas. The east-west streets are generally named for letters, while the north-south streets are numbered. Later, many of the diagonal avenues were named for states of the union.

23. Grammy-winning “Dr.” : DRE

“Dr. Dre” is the stage name of rapper Andre Romelle Young. Dr. Dre is known for his own singing career as well as for producing records and starting the careers of others such Snoop Dogg, Eminem and 50 Cent.

30. Jimi Hendrix do, for short : FRO

Many of his contemporaries regarded Jimi Hendrix as the greatest electric guitarist in the history of rock music. Hendrix was from Seattle and didn’t really have a really stellar start to his working life. He failed to finish high school and fell foul of the law by getting caught in stolen cars, twice. The courts gave him the option of the army or two years in prison. Hendrix chose the former and soon found himself in the famous 101st Airborne. In the army, his less-than-disciplined ways helped him (as he would have seen it) because his superiors successfully petitioned to get him discharged after serving only one year of his two-year requirement, just to get him out of their hair.

31. The Eurythmics were one : DUO

Eurythmics is the name used by British pop duo Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart. The pair had previously performed together in the band called the Tourists. Eurythmics had their big break in 1983 with the release of the single “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)”, a lovely song.

34. Pelvic bones : ILIA

The sacrum and the two ilia are three bones in the human pelvis.

37. Biathlete’s need : RIFLE

A biathlon is an event requiring expertise in two sporting disciplines. The most common biathlon is the winter sport that combines cross-country skiing with rifle shooting. This traditional biathlon was born out of an exercise for Norwegian soldiers.

47. Organ on a crustacean’s stalk : EYE

Crustaceans are a subphylum of animals that are quite closely related to insects. Crustaceans all have exoskeletons, and most live in aquatic environments.

49. Org. concerned with Common Core : NEA

The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in the country, and mainly represents public school teachers.

The Common Core State Standards Initiative lays out what K-12 students should know in English and mathematics. The standard is intended to standardize requirements across all states.

57. Batiking need : DYE

Genuine batik cloth is produced by applying wax to the parts of the cloth that are not to be dyed. After the cloth has been dyed, it is dried and then dipped in solvent that dissolves the wax.

58. Actuarial table datum : AGE

In the world of insurance, an actuary is a person who works out the appropriate premium based on risk.

59. Air marshal’s org. : TSA

The US air marshal program was created by President Kennedy in 1963, with the initial force of only six marshals assigned to flights that were considered at high risk for a hijacking. Just before 9/11, the number of marshals had increased to 33. The exact number of marshals employed today is classified information, but it is thought to be thousands.

60. Most Iranian Muslims : SHIA

The Islamic sects of Sunni and Shia Muslims differ in the belief of who should have taken over leadership of the Muslim faithful after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. Followers of the Sunni tradition agree with the decision that the Prophet Muhammad’s confidante Abu Bakr was the right choice to become the first Caliph of the Islamic nation. Followers of the Shia tradition believe that leadership should have stayed within the Prophet Muhammad’s own family, and favoured the Prophet’s son-in-law Ali.

70. Some rec centers : YMCAS

The YMCA is a worldwide movement that has its roots in London, England. There, in 1844, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) was founded with the intent of promoting Christian principles through the development of “a healthy spirit, mind and body”. The founder, George Williams, saw the need to create YMCA facilities for young men who were flocking to the cities as the Industrial Revolution flourished. He saw that these men were frequenting taverns and brothels, and wanted to offer a more wholesome alternative.

71. Many a Slate article : ESSAY

“Slate” is an online magazine founded in 1996. “Slate” was originally owned by Microsoft and was part of the MSN online offering. The magazine has been available for free since 1999 (it is ad-supported) and has been owned by the Washington Post Company since 2004.

72. Still learning the ropes : NEW

As one might expect perhaps, the phrase “learning the ropes” is nautical in origin. A new recruit on a sailing vessel would have to learn how to tie the appropriate knots and learn which rope controlled which sail or spar.

73. Like a pole-vaulter’s pole mid-vault : BENT

The pole vault has been an Olympic event for men since the 1896 games. However, women’s pole vaulting was only introduced at the 2000 games.

Down

1. Drug referenced in “The Joyous Cosmology” : LSD

“The Joyous Cosmology” is a 1962 essay exploring human consciousness that was written by Alan Watts.

LSD (known colloquially as “acid”) is short for lysergic acid diethylamide. A Swiss chemist called Albert Hofmann first synthesized LSD in 1938 in a research project looking for medically efficacious ergot alkaloids. It wasn’t until some five years later when Hofmann ingested some of the drug accidentally that its psychedelic properties were discovered. Trippy, man …

3. Reason to summon Batman : CRIME WAVE

Originally referred to as “Bat-Man” when introduced in comics in 1939, Batman is also referred to as the Caped Crusader, the Dark Knight, the World’s Greatest Detective, and along with sidekick Robin, the Dynamic Duo.

9. Western Hemisphere grp. : OAS

The Organization of American States (OAS) has its headquarters in Washington, D.C. Not all of the independent states in the Americas are members. Cuba was barred from participation in the organization after a vote in 196. Honduras had her membership suspended after the country’s 2009 coup.

10. 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.

14. Feature of a letter in the Times Roman typeface : SERIF

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 …

Times Roman is a font based on Times New Roman, which was designed for and introduced by the “The Times” newspaper of London in 1931.

18. Vacation in a Winnebago, say : RV TRIP

Winnebago Industries is a company that has been manufacturing travel trailers in Forest City, Iowa since 1958. The company made its first motor home in 1966. Winnebago motor homes were very successful because they were priced so reasonably. The line was so successful that “Winnebago” entered the language as a generic term for a motor home.

23. Bottom of the barrel : DREGS

The dregs in wine, the sediment that settles during fermentation (and sometimes in the bottle), is also called “lees”.

24. “Chicago” murderess : ROXIE

The wonderful 1975 musical “Chicago” is based on a 1926 play of the same name written by a news reporter called Maurine Dallas Watkins. Watkins had been assigned to cover the murder trials of Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner for the “Chicago Tribune”, and used the story that unfolded as the basis for her play. Annan became the character Roxie Hart, and Gaertner became Velma Kelly. I’ve only ever seen the movie version of “Chicago” and never a live performance …

36. Essential ___ acids : AMINO

Amino acids are essential to life in many ways, not least of which is their use as the building blocks of proteins.

38. Burning Man performance : FIRE DANCE

Burning Man is an annual festival held today in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, although the first such gathering was held in 1986 on Baker Beach near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The name of the festival comes from the burning of a wooden effigy of “the man”.

Burning Man is an annual festival held today in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, although the first such gathering was held in 1986 on Baker Beach near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The name of the festival comes from the burning of a wooden effigy of “the man”.

39. Like good farm soil : LOAMY

Loam is soil made up of sand, silt and clay in the ratio of about 40-40-20. Relative to other soil types, loam is is usually rich in nutrients and moisture, drains well and is easy to till.

42. Source of protein in veggie burgers : SOYA

What are known as soybeans here in the US are called “soya beans” in most other English-speaking countries. So, I drink soy milk here in America, but when I am over in Ireland I drink “soya milk”.

43. Existing, to a lawyer : IN ESSE

The Latin term “in esse” is used to mean “actually existing”, and translates as “in being”.

48. Ides of March rebuke : ET TU

It was Shakespeare who popularized the words “Et tu, Brute?” (And you, Brutus?). They appear in his play “Julius Caesar”, although the phrase had been around long before he penned his drama. It’s not known what Julius Caesar actually said in real life (if anything at all) as he was assassinated on on the steps of the Senate in Rome.

In Act I of William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” a soothsayer warns the doomed emperor to “beware the Ides of March”. Caesar ignores the prophecy and is subsequently killed on the steps of the Capitol by a group of conspirators on that fateful day.

50. Hal who directed “Shampoo” : ASHBY

Hal Ashby was a movie director from Ogden, Utah. Ashby’s most famous films are from the seventies: “Harold and Maude” and “Shampoo”.

“Shampoo” is a 1975 satirical movie directed by Hal Ashby and starring Warren Beatty, Julie Christie and Goldie Hawn. The whole film plays out over a 24-hour period, the day before Richard Nixon is elected president.

52. Dark brown fur : SABLE

Sables are small mammals about two feet long that are found right across northern Europe and northern Asia. The sable’s pelt is highly prized in the fur trade. Sable is unique among furs in that it feels smooth no matter which direction it is stroked.

54. City of Yorkshire : LEEDS

I went to school for a while not far from Leeds in West Yorkshire in the north of England. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, Leeds was a major center for the production and trading of wool, and then with the onset of mechanization it became a natural hub for manufacture of textiles. These days Leeds is noted as a shopping destination and so has been dubbed “the Knightsbridge of the North”.

56. Something eaten during Hanukkah : LATKE

A latke is a delicious potato pancake (I’m Irish … so anything made with potato is delicious!).

61. Two-syllable poetic foot : IAMB

An iamb is a metrical foot containing an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Robert Frost’s “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening” consists of lines made up of four sequential iambs e.g. “Whose woods / these are / I think / I know”. With a sequence of four iambs, the poem’s structure is described as iambic tetrameter.

63. Ottoman honorific : AGA

Osman I was the man who established the Ottoman Dynasty, with “Ottoman” coming from the name “Osman”. This is despite the fact that the “Ottoman Empire” came about with the conquest of Constantinople, and that didn’t happen until almost 130 years after Osman I died.

66. “The Wizard of Oz” state: Abbr. : KAN

The classic 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz” didn’t do very well at the box office when it was released for its first run. It was the most expensive film ever made at that time, and disappointed the studios by only returning about a million dollars in profit for them. It also failed to win the Best Picture Oscar (losing out to “Gone with the Wind”), but “Over the Rainbow” did win the Academy Award for Best Original Song. But “The Wizard of Oz” gained a lot of ground in subsequent years through re-releases. It is now the most watched movie in history.

67. Air travel option until ’03 : SST

The most famous supersonic transport (SST) is the retired Concorde. Concorde was developed and produced under an Anglo-French treaty by France’s Aérospatiale and the UK’s British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Concordes were mainly operated by Air France and British Airways, with both companies buying the planes with substantial subsidies from the French and British governments. The final Concorde flight was a British Airways plane that landed in the UK on 26 November 2003.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Scotland’s ___ Lomond : LOCH
5. Well-put : APT
8. Eggs on : GOADS
13. Bollywood attire : SARIS
15. MGM roarer : LEO
16. Canvas supporter : EASEL
17. Weave or tailgate, say : DRIVE RECKLESSLY (hiding “river”)
20. Old TV’s ___ Griffin Productions : MERV
21. Response to “All in favor” : AYE
22. Constitution, in D.C. : AVE
23. Grammy-winning “Dr.” : DRE
25. “I’m not at all surprised” : IT’S NO WONDER (hiding “snow”)
29. Big to-do : ROW
30. Jimi Hendrix do, for short : FRO
31. The Eurythmics were one : DUO
32. Annual checkup, e.g. : EXAM
34. Pelvic bones : ILIA
37. Biathlete’s need : RIFLE
41. Allows : GIVES PERMISSION (hiding “sperm”)
44. Take care of : SEE TO
45. Tattooist’s canvas : SKIN
46. Baroque and Romantic, for classical music : ERAS
47. Organ on a crustacean’s stalk : EYE
49. Org. concerned with Common Core : NEA
51. Bird raised on a ranch, perhaps : EMU
52. Bailed out on some stock, say : SOLD AT A LOSS (hiding “data”)
57. Batiking need : DYE
58. Actuarial table datum : AGE
59. Air marshal’s org. : TSA
60. Most Iranian Muslims : SHIA
62. Wall Street reformer’s urging … or a hint to this puzzle’s shaded squares : BREAK UP THE BANKS
68. Urban pigeon’s perch : LEDGE
69. Barely manage, with “out” : EKE
70. Some rec centers : YMCAS
71. Many a Slate article : ESSAY
72. Still learning the ropes : NEW
73. Like a pole-vaulter’s pole mid-vault : BENT

Down

1. Drug referenced in “The Joyous Cosmology” : LSD
2. Crew implement : OAR
3. Reason to summon Batman : CRIME WAVE
4. Bustling place : HIVE
5. Many a draft selection : ALE
6. Nut on a sticky bun : PECAN
7. 2020 Olympics host : TOKYO
8. “I didn’t know that!” : GEE!
9. Western Hemisphere grp. : OAS
10. Syria’s Bashar al-___ : ASSAD
11. Dig deeply : DELVE
12. More artful : SLYER
14. Feature of a letter in the Times Roman typeface : SERIF
18. Vacation in a Winnebago, say : RV TRIP
19. Like the lyrics to Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop” or 50 Cent’s “Candy Shop” : LEWD
23. Bottom of the barrel : DREGS
24. “Chicago” murderess : ROXIE
26. Cobbler’s supply : SOLES
27. What we share : OURS
28. Some urban pollution : NOISE
33. Apportioned, with “out” : METED
35. Bug : IRK
36. Essential ___ acids : AMINO
38. Burning Man performance : FIRE DANCE
39. Like good farm soil : LOAMY
40. Follow as a result : ENSUE
42. Source of protein in veggie burgers : SOYA
43. Existing, to a lawyer : IN ESSE
48. Ides of March rebuke : ET TU
50. Hal who directed “Shampoo” : ASHBY
52. Dark brown fur : SABLE
53. Meanies : OGRES
54. City of Yorkshire : LEEDS
55. ___ Institute (nonpartisan D.C. think tank) : ASPEN
56. Something eaten during Hanukkah : LATKE
61. Two-syllable poetic foot : IAMB
63. Ottoman honorific : AGA
64. Hotel desk handout : KEY
65. Take an ax to : HEW
66. “The Wizard of Oz” state: Abbr. : KAN
67. Air travel option until ’03 : SST

9 thoughts on “1025-17 NY Times Crossword Answers 25 Oct 2017, Wednesday”

  1. So what does River, snow, sperm and data have to do with the theme? Why are they “special”? Makes no sense to me.

  2. So what does River, snow, sperm and data have to do with the theme? Why are they “special”? Makes no sense to me.

  3. 12:14, no errors. I recognized the shaded boxes contained types of ‘banks’, but did not recognize how the banks were broken up, until after reading Bill’s explanation, 2 or 3 times.

  4. No errors. I wouldn’t call this one “easy”. It was rather tedious for me to get to the end. Once there, however, I looked back over it and did not see anything that was particularly difficult. I guess all crosswords look easier after you know the answers.

  5. Easy, except for figuring out how the BANKS were broken up, and then saw Bill’s explanation. Okay, but maybe a little too subtley?

  6. 10:21, no errors. I have to chuckle a bit at Tom M.’s comment…. this wasn’t even a “stretch” compared to some of the recent “themes”. Dale’s comment also has the ring of truth. A bit of a slog, but once it’s done, you don’t think it was all *that* tough…. and that’s par for the course on a Wednesday.

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