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Constructed by: Timothy Polin
Edited by: Will Shortz
Not your puzzle? Try today’s …
… syndicated NY Times crossword
Today’s Theme: Puzzling Map
Today’s grid might be said to resemble a map of the Earth, with the hidden words CANCER, CAPRICORN and EQUATOR representing major lines of latitude appropriately placed. Also, answers along the edges of the grid require NORTH, SOUTH, EAST and WEST as prefixes to make sense:
- 1A. Home to Santa’s workshop : NORTH POLE
- 5A. Popular outdoor clothing brand, with “The” : NORTH FACE
- 9A. Minnesota N.H.L. team from 1967 to 1993 : NORTH STARS
- 67A. Country hosting the 2018 Winter Olympics : SOUTH KOREA
- 68A. Lefties : SOUTHPAWS
- 69A. Notre Dame setting : SOUTH BEND
- 1D. Affluent Connecticut town : WESTPORT
- 13D. U.N.’s location in Manhattan : EAST SIDE
- 27D. Interstate 5’s locale : WEST COAST
- 32D. Resident of China or Japan, but not India or Iran : EAST ASIAN
- 53D. Area of longtime contention : WEST BANK
- 60D. Eurus, in Greek mythology : EAST WIND
Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers
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Bill’s time: 8m 02s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Home to Santa’s workshop : NORTH POLE
If you want to send a note to Santa in Canada, he has his own special postal code: “North Pole, HOH OHO”. The US Postal Service suggests that we send mail for Santa to zip code 99705, which directs it to the city of North Pole, Alaska.
9. Minnesota N.H.L. team from 1967 to 1993 : NORTH STARS
The Dallas Stars hockey team was founded in 1967, based in Bloomington, Minnesota, and was back then called the Minnesota North Stars. The team moved to Dallas in 1993.
14. Ruler over Valhalla : ODIN
In Norse mythology, Valhalla (“hall of the slain”) is a gigantic hall in the “world” of Asgard. Asgard and Valhalla are ruled by the god Odin, the chief Norse god.
16. American of Japanese origin : NISEI
There are some very specific terms used to describe the children born to Japanese immigrants in their new country. The immigrants themselves are known as “Issei”. “Nisei” are second generation Japanese, “Sansei” the third generation (grandchildren of the immigrant), and “Yonsei” are fourth generation.
18. Gusto : ZEST
“Gusto” is an Italian word meaning “taste”. We use it in English in the phrase “with gusto” meaning “with great enjoyment”.
19. Change for the better : AMEND
The verb “to amend” means “to change for the better, put right, alter by adding”. The related verb “to emend” is used more rarely and mainly in reference to the editing of professional writing. Both terms are derived from the Latin “emendare” meaning “to remove fault”.
20. Fraternity “T” : TAU
Tau is the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet, and the letter which gave rise to our Roman “T”. Both the letters tau (T) and chi (X) have long been symbolically associated with the cross.
22. Novelist Charles with an appropriate surname : READE
Charles Reade was an English author who came to public attention with a two-act comedy play called “Masks and Faces”. Reade turned the play into a prose story in 1852 that he called “Peg Woffington”. Reade also wrote a historical novel called “The Cloister and the Hearth” about a married man who becomes a Dominican friar on hearing that his wife has died. Years later he discovers that his wife is in fact still living and a struggle develops between the man’s obligation to family and his obligation to the Roman Catholic Church.
25. Largest known asteroid : CERES
Ceres is the smallest dwarf planet in our solar system. Ceres was discovered in 1801 and is the largest body in the asteroid belt, and is the only asteroid that is classified as a dwarf planet. For fifty years, Ceres was classified as the eighth planet circling our sun. The Dawn space probe launched by NASA entered Ceres orbit in March 2015, becoming the first mission to study a dwarf planet at close range.
38. Dividing line : EQUATOR
Lines of latitude are the imaginary horizontal lines surrounding the planet. The most “important” lines of latitude are, from north to south:
- Arctic Circle
- Tropic of Cancer
- Equator
- Tropic of Capricorn
- Antarctic Circle
41. Subj. for Bill Nye : SCI
That would be “Bill Nye the Science Guy”. Bill’s show ran on PBS for four years, from 1993-97.
42. Candlemaking supply : SUET
Fat, when extracted from the carcass of an animal, is called suet. Untreated suet decomposes at room temperature quite easily so it has to be rendered or purified to make it stable. Rendered fat from pigs is what we call lard. Rendered beef or mutton fat is known as tallow.
44. Like Christmas sweaters, stereotypically : UGLY
Until the early 1880s, the word “sweater” applied to clothing worn specifically for weight reduction by “sweating”.
47. Queen in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” : TITANIA
Oberon and Titania are the King and Queen of the fairies in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.
49. ___ Way (Roman road) : APPIAN
The Appian Way has to be the most famous of the amazing roads of Ancient Rome. It stretched from Rome right into the south of Italy, terminating in the city of Brindisi in the southeast. The first section of the military road was completed in 312 BC, by the Roman censor called Appius Claudius Caecus, who gave the road its name “Via Appia”, or “Appian Way”.
50. Calf-length pants style : CAPRI
Capri pants first became popular on the island of Capri, apparently. They were invented in Europe in 1948, but only became stylish in the US in the sixties. Mary Tyler Moore often wore Capri pants on “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and to some extent she sparked a fashion trend. After a lull in the seventies and eighties there was a resurgence in sales after Uma Thurman wore them (and danced in them) in “Pulp Fiction”. Can’t stand the look of them myself …
52. Iowa’s largest export : CORN
The Corn Belt (sometimes “Grain Belt”) is a region in the Midwest where, since the mid-1800s, corn has been the major crop. Geographically, the Corn Belt covers Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and parts of Michigan, Ohio, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota and Missouri. About 40% of the world’s corn production comes from the region, and most of that production is used for the feeding of livestock.
53. Language group of central Africa : BANTU
There are hundreds of Bantu languages, mainly spoken in central, east and southern Africa. The most commonly spoken Bantu language is Swahili, with Zulu coming in second.
58. Anarchist’s aversion : LAW
Our word “anarchy”, used to describe a society without a publicly enforced government, comes from the Greek “an-” (without) and “arkhos” (leader).
61. Eponymous Dr. Alzheimer : ALOIS
Alzheimer’s disease is a form of dementia, the most common form of the condition. The disease is named for German psychiatrist and neuropathologist Alois Alzheimer, who first described it in 1906.
62. Young muchacho : NINO
In Spanish a boy is a “niño” or a “muchacho”. One can call also an adult male a “muchacho”, as in “one of the boys”. Calling an adult make a “niño” would be an insult.
63. New York’s ___ Field : CITI
Citi Field is the relatively new baseball stadium used by the New York Mets that sits right next door to the site of Shea stadium, where the Mets had played for decades. And the new facility’s name comes from corporate sponsor Citigroup.
64. Scrabble 1-pointer (but a Words With Friends 2-pointer) : N TILE
“Words With Friends” is a word game application that can be played on smartphones and other electronic devices. “Words With Friends” is basically Scrabble under a different name, or so I hear.
65. Years on the Yucatán : ANOS
The Yucatán Peninsula is located in southeastern Mexico, where it separates the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest from the Caribbean Sea to the southeast.
66. In a short while : ANON
“Anon” originally meant “at once” and evolved into today’s meaning of “soon” apparently just because the word was misused over time.
68. Lefties : SOUTHPAWS
A southpaw is a left-handed person. The term arose as baseball slang in the mid-1880s to describe a left-handed pitcher. Back then, baseball diamonds were often laid out with home plate to the west. So, a pitcher’s left hand would be on his “south” side as he faced the batter.
69. Notre Dame setting : SOUTH BEND
The city of South Bend, Indiana is located on the St. Joseph River. The actual location is on the most southerly bend of the river, hence the name “South Bend”.
Down
2. Theaters of antiquity : ODEA
In Ancient Greece an odeon (also “odeum”) was like a small theater, with “odeon” literally meaning a “building for musical competition”. Odea were used in both Greece and Rome for entertainments such as musical shows and poetry readings.
6. Aid in mischief : ABET
The word “abet” comes into English from the Old French “abeter” meaning “to bait” or “to harass with dogs” (it literally means “to make bite”). This sense of encouraging something bad to happen morphed into our modern usage of “abet” meaning to aid or encourage someone in a crime.
7. Sine’s reciprocal, in trig : COSEC
The most familiar trigonometric functions are sine, cosine and tangent (abbreviated to “sin, cos and tan”). Each of these is a ratio, a ratio of two sides of a right-angled triangle. The “reciprocal” of these three functions are secant, cosecant and cotangent. The reciprocal functions are simply the inverted ratios, the inverted sine, cosine and tangent. These inverted ratios should not be confused with the “inverse” trigonometric functions e.g. arcsine, arccosine and arctangent. These inverse functions are the reverse of the sine, cosine and tangent.
11. Like Edward Lear’s Owl and Pussycat : ASEA
“The Owl and the Pussycat” is a poem by Edward Lear first published in 1871. It tells of an owl and a pussycat who set out to sea in a pea green boat with honey and plenty of money wrapped in a five pound note …
13. U.N.’s location in Manhattan : EAST SIDE
While there are many neighborhoods in New York City’s Manhattan, there are some broader terms that are used to navigate one’s way around the island:
- Uptown: above 59th Street
- Midtown: between 59th Street and 14th Street (but sometimes 23rd Street or 34th Street)
- Downtown: below 14th Street
- Upper Manhattan: above 96th Street
- Lower Manhattan: below Chambers Street
- East Side: east of Fifth Avenue
- West Side: west of Fifth Avenue
The United Nations was established right after the end of WWII, and was a replacement for the ineffective League of Nations that had been formed after the end of WWI. The US was at the forefront of the founding of the United Nations, led by President Franklin Roosevelt just prior to the start of WWII. The UN’s headquarters is in international territory in New York. There are three regional UN headquarters, also located in international territory, in Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi.
21. Burglary, in police shorthand : B AND E
Breaking and entering (B&E)
The crime of burglary is the breaking into and entering of a building with the intent to steal. The actual theft itself is a separate crime.
26. Certain tow job : REPO
Repossession (repo)
27. Interstate 5’s locale : WEST COAST
I-5 is the main interstate out here on the West Coast, running from the Canada to Mexico, inland and parallel to the Pacific coastline. I-5 is the only Interstate that runs uninterrupted from the Canadian to the Mexican border.
28. Listless feeling : ENNUI
“Ennui” is the French word for boredom, a word that we now use in English. It’s one of the few French words we’ve imported that we haven’t anglicized and actually pronounce “correctly”.
31. Stretchy sportswear material : LYCRA
What we call spandex in the US is known as lycra in the British Isles. “Spandex” was chosen as the name for the elastic fiber as it is an anagram of “expands”.
34. Pea with a thick, rounded pod : SUGAR SNAP
Sugar peas are also known as snap peas. These peas are eaten before the seeds mature, and the whole pod is consumed.
35. Chess-playing movie villain : HAL
In Arthur C. Clarke’s “Space Odyssey” (famously adapted for the big screen as “2001: A Space Odyssey”) the computer system that went rogue was called HAL 9000, or simply “HAL”. HAL stands for Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer. Even though, Clarke denied it, there’s a good argument that can be made that the acronym HAL is a veiled reference to IBM, the big player in the world of computing at the time of the novel’s publication (1968). The acronym HAL is just a one-letter shift from the initials “IBM”.
39. Bon mot : QUIP
“Bon mot” translates from French as “good word”. We use “bon mot” (and sometimes just “mot”) to mean “quip, witticism”.
46. Network with news at the top of each hour : NPR
National Public Radio (now just called “NPR”) was established in 1970 after President Johnson signed into law the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. The station’s first broadcast took place in April of 1971, and was coverage of the US Senate hearings on the Vietnam War. The intent of the act was to provide funding for radio and television broadcasting that wasn’t simply driven by profit. As a longtime fan of the state-funded BBC in the UK, I’d have to agree with that intent …
51. 1986 rock autobiography : I, TINA
“I, Tina” is the 1986 autobiography of Tina Turner. The book was so successful it was adapted into a movie called “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” The film version was released in 1993 and starring Angela Bassett as Tina Turner.
53. Area of longtime contention : WEST BANK
The bulk of the Palestinian territories are located in the West Bank. The term “West Bank” is a reference to lands west of the River Jordan.
55. Pinot ___ : NOIR
The Pinot noir wine grape variety takes its name from the French for “pine” and “black”. The grapes grow in tight clusters shaped like pine cones, and are very dark in color. The Pinot noir grape is most closely associated with Burgundy wines in France, although in recent years the popularity (and price) of California Pinot noir wine has soared after it featured so prominently in the wonderful, wonderful 2004 movie “Sideways”. Grab a bottle of Pinot, and go rent the DVD…
57. Plenty, once : ENOW
“Enow” is an archaic form of the word “enough”.
60. Eurus, in Greek mythology : EAST WIND
In Greek mythology, Eos is the mother of the four winds:
- Boreas … north wind
- Eurus … east wind
- Notus … south wind
- Zephyrus … west wind
63. One waiting at the airport? : CAB
A hansom cab is a very specific design of horse and buggy that was patented by Joseph Hansom in 1834 in England. The “cab” in the name is short for “cabriolet”, an earlier design of carriage on which the hansom was based. It’s from “hansom cab” that we get our modern term “cab”.
Read on, or …
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1. Home to Santa’s workshop : NORTH POLE
5. Popular outdoor clothing brand, with “The” : NORTH FACE
9. Minnesota N.H.L. team from 1967 to 1993 : NORTH STARS
14. Ruler over Valhalla : ODIN
15. As dumb as ___ of rocks : A BOX
16. American of Japanese origin : NISEI
17. Mandatory: Abbr. : REQD
18. Gusto : ZEST
19. Change for the better : AMEND
20. Fraternity “T” : TAU
21. Dog that needs a muzzle, say : BITER
22. Novelist Charles with an appropriate surname : READE
23. Volunteer’s phrase : I CAN
25. Largest known asteroid : CERES
27. Giving over : CEDING
29. Part of the brainstem : MEDULLA
33. How most movies are released after theatrical runs : ON DVD
34. Send off, as an online order : SHIP
36. Remunerates : PAYS
37. What Friday has, unlike any other day? : AN I
38. Dividing line : EQUATOR
41. Subj. for Bill Nye : SCI
42. Candlemaking supply : SUET
44. Like Christmas sweaters, stereotypically : UGLY
45. Prefix with party or venous : INTRA-
47. Queen in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” : TITANIA
49. ___ Way (Roman road) : APPIAN
50. Calf-length pants style : CAPRI
52. Iowa’s largest export : CORN
53. Language group of central Africa : BANTU
56. Harsh : STERN
58. Anarchist’s aversion : LAW
61. Eponymous Dr. Alzheimer : ALOIS
62. Young muchacho : NINO
63. New York’s ___ Field : CITI
64. Scrabble 1-pointer (but a Words With Friends 2-pointer) : N TILE
65. Years on the Yucatán : ANOS
66. In a short while : ANON
67. Country hosting the 2018 Winter Olympics : SOUTH KOREA
68. Lefties : SOUTHPAWS
69. Notre Dame setting : SOUTH BEND
Down
1. Affluent Connecticut town : WESTPORT
2. Theaters of antiquity : ODEA
3. Food restriction before and after surgery, maybe : LIQUID DIET
4. Demise : END
5. Disconcerting : FAZING
6. Aid in mischief : ABET
7. Sine’s reciprocal, in trig : COSEC
8. Hand or foot : EXTREMITY
9. Caught : SNARED
10. “Pencils down!” : TIME’S UP!
11. Like Edward Lear’s Owl and Pussycat : ASEA
12. Tear apart : REND
13. U.N.’s location in Manhattan : EAST SIDE
21. Burglary, in police shorthand : B AND E
24. Kind of engineer: Abbr. : CIV
26. Certain tow job : REPO
27. Interstate 5’s locale : WEST COAST
28. Listless feeling : ENNUI
30. Bringing up the rear : LAST IN LINE
31. Stretchy sportswear material : LYCRA
32. Resident of China or Japan, but not India or Iran : EAST ASIAN
34. Pea with a thick, rounded pod : SUGAR SNAP
35. Chess-playing movie villain : HAL
39. Bon mot : QUIP
40. Make fun of : RIP ON
43. Capable of being touched : TACTILE
46. Network with news at the top of each hour : NPR
48. Revulsion : NAUSEA
49. Bridging : ACROSS
51. 1986 rock autobiography : I, TINA
53. Area of longtime contention : WEST BANK
54. Choir part : ALTO
55. Pinot ___ : NOIR
57. Plenty, once : ENOW
59. Huge amounts : A TON
60. Eurus, in Greek mythology : EAST WIND
63. One waiting at the airport? : CAB
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