0112-18 NY Times Crossword Answers 12 Jan 2018, Friday

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Constructed by: Erik Agard
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme: None

Bill’s time: 22m 08s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

16. Rhyming educational proverb : EACH ONE TEACH ONE

“Each one teach one” is a proverb that dates back to the dark days of slavery in the US. Slaves were routinely denied any form of education. Any slave that did manage to learn to read or write, then it became his or her duty to teach another slave. Hence the phrase, “each one teach one”.

17. Classic 1959 drama with characters from Chicago’s South Side : A RAISIN IN THE SUN

“A Raisin in the Sun” is a 1961 film starring Sidney Poitier that is based on a 1959 play of the same name by Lorraine Hansberry. Both film and play follow the lives of an African-American family from Chicago as they struggle with the decision about what to do with an insurance payout following the death of the family’s patriarch.

20. Meditation utterances : OMS

“Om” is a sacred mystic word from the Hindu tradition. “Om” is sometimes used as a mantra, a focus for the mind in meditation.

21. “The Waste Land” poet’s inits. : TSE

T. S. Eliot wrote his poem called “The Waste Land” in 1922. “The Waste Land” opens with the famous line, “April is the cruellest month …”

34. Llama, for one : CAMELID

Many female mammals lick off their newborn. That’s not an option for llamas as their tongues only reach out of their mouths about half an inch. Instead, llama dams nuzzle their young and hum to them.

35. Pastries similar to long john doughnuts : ECLAIRS

The name for the pastry known as an “éclair” is clearly French in origin. The French word for lightning is “éclair”, but no one seems to be too sure how it came to be used for the rather delicious bakery item.

37. Daily : DIURNAL

A diurnal animal is active during the day, whereas a nocturnal animal is active at night.

38. Big brand of kitchenware : OXO

The OXO line of kitchen utensils is designed to be ergonomically superior to the average kitchen too. The intended user of OXO products is someone who doesn’t have the normal range of motion or strength in the hands e.g. someone suffering from arthritis.

40. Big Apple? : IMAC

The iMac is a desktop computer platform from Apple introduced in 1998. One of the main features of the iMac is an “all-in-one” design, with the computer console and monitor integrated. The iMac also came in a range of colors, that Apple marketed as “flavors”, such strawberry, blueberry and lime.

43. Iridescent material : NACRE

Nacre is the strong iridescent material laid down by some mollusks on the inside of their shells, and it’s also what makes up pearls. The creature lays down nacre as a defensive mechanism, protecting the soft tissue of its body from the rough surface of the outer shell. Similarly, it uses nacre to encapsulate harmful debris or a parasite that penetrates the shell, and that’s how a pearl is formed.

47. Golfer Aoki : ISAO

Isao Aoki is one of Japan’s greatest golfers. Aoki’s best finish in a major tournament was runner-up to Jack Nicklaus in the 1980 US Open.

51. African capital where Berber is spoken : RABAT

Rabat is the capital city of the Kingdom of Morocco. After WWII, the United States maintained a major Air Force Base in Rabat, part of Strategic Air Command (SAC). Responding to pressure from the Moroccan government of King Mohammed V, the USAF pulled out in 1963.

53. 15 years before the Battle of Hastings : MLI

The Battle of Hastings took place in the South East of England in 1066. The battle took place between the native Anglo-Saxons led by King Harold Godwinson, and the Norman-French led by Duke William II of Normandy. William emerged victorious, earning him the moniker William the Conqueror. The victory also launched the Norman conquest of England.

55. Where people may order push-ups : VICTORIA’S SECRET

Victoria’s Secret was founded in 1977 in San Francisco, California. The founder wanted to create an environment where men were comfortable buying lingerie for their wives or girlfriends, an alternative to a department store.

58. D.C. thoroughfare with the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum : INDEPENDENCE AVE

The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in Washington, D.C. is that part of the Smithsonian Institution that holds the largest collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft in the world. The facility was opened in 1946 as the National Air Museum, and renamed to the National Air and Space Museum during the space race of the fifties and sixties.

60. Freddy Krueger, e.g. : SLASHER

Freddy Krueger is the creepy serial killer in the “A Nightmare on Elm Street” movies. Krueger has a burned and disfigured face, wears a brown fedora and a leather glove with metal razors that he uses to kill his victims during their nightmares. He is played by the actor Robert Englund in all of the films.

Down

2. Not halal, in Arab cuisine : HARAM

“Halal” is a term for an action or object that is permissible under Islamic Law. In particular “halal” is used to describe food that can be consumed. Anything that is not allowed is described as “haram”.

3. Follower of “pat” in Mother Goose : -A-CAKE

“Mother Goose” is an imaginary author of nursery rhymes and fairy tales. Even though collections of “Mother Goose” tales have been published over the years, there is no specific writer who has been identified as her creator. “Mother Goose” is a very common pantomime that is staged in the British Isles in the Christmas season.

4. Peter ___, co-founder of PayPal : THIEL

PayPal is an e-commerce business that has been around since the year 2000, born out of a merger of two older companies: Confinity and X.com. PayPal performs payment processing for online vendors. The company was so successful that it was the first of the beleaguered dot.com companies to successfully complete an IPO after the attacks of 9/11. Then in 2002, PayPal was bought by eBay for a whopping $1.5 billion.

5. One of Sports Illustrated’s two Sportsmen of the Year in 1998 : SOSA

Both Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire were named Sportsperson of the Year in 1998 by “Sports Illustrated” magazine.
Sammy Sosa was firmly in the public eye in 1998 when he and Mark McGwire were vying to be the first to surpass the home run record held by Roger Maris. McGwire fell out of public favor due to stories of steroid abuse (stories which he later admitted were true) while Sosa fell out of favor when he was found to be using a corked bat in a 2003 game.

7. Length of the final fight in “Rocky Balboa” : TEN ROUNDS

If ever there was a movie that defines a career breakthrough for an actor, it would have to be “Rocky” for Sylvester Stallone. Stallone was a struggling actor in 1975 when a Muhammad Ali fight inspired Stallone to write a screenplay for a boxing movie, which he did in just three days. His efforts to sell the script went well but for the fact that the interested studios wanted a big name for the lead role, and Stallone was determined to be the star himself. Stallone persevered and “Rocky” was eventually made with him playing title role of Rocky Balboa. The movie won three Oscars, and “Sly” Stallone had arrived …

8. On time, in Tijuana : A TIEMPO

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.

10. Wooden strip : LATH

The words “lath” and “lattice” have the same root in Old French. Laths are thin strips of wood that are nailed across a frame forming a backing to which plaster can be applied to finish a wall. The term is also used for the main elements in a trellis, or the lengths of wood in a roof to which shingles are nailed.

11. Phil who described himself as a “singing journalist” : OCHS

Phil Ochs was an American protest singer who was active in the days of the Vietnam War. Sadly, the singer’s mental health declined at the very time the war was winding down. Saigon fell in 1975, and Ochs committed suicide in 1976.

12. “Gone With the Wind” name : RHETT

In Margaret Mitchell’s novel “Gone with the Wind”, when Rhett Butler finally walks out on Scarlett O’Hara he utters the words “My dear, I don’t give a damn”. Most of us are more familiar with the slightly different words spoken by Clark Gable in the film adaption of the story: “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

14. Accustom : ENURE

“Enure” is a variant spelling of “inure”, which means “to harden oneself against the effects of, to accustom oneself to”.

23. Motion picture pioneer : EDISON

Fort Lee, New Jersey is located at the western side of the George Washington Bridge that spans the Hudson River. Fort Lee is known as the birthplace of the motion picture industry. The world’s first movie studio was built there by Thomas Edison, in a facility known as the Black Maria.

30. Some Secret Service wear : EARPIECES

The Secret Service was created by President Abraham Lincoln in 1865, with the mission of fighting currency counterfeiters. The additional task of protecting the US President was added by Congress in 1902 following the assassination of President William McKinley in the prior year. Only one Secret Service agent has given his life in the course of an assassination attempt. That was Private Leslie Coffelt, who was killed when two Puerto Rican nationalists tried to assassinate President Harry S. Truman in 1950 while he was residing in Blair House.

31. Writer who said “Living never wore one out so much as the effort not to live” : NIN

Anaïs Nin was a French author who was famous for the journals that she wrote for over sixty years from the age of 11 right up to her death. Nin also wrote highly regarded erotica and cited D. H. Lawrence as someone from whom she drew inspiration. Nin was married to banker and artist Hugh Parker Guiler in 1923. Decades later in 1955, Nin married former actor Rupert Pole, even though she was still married to Guiler. Nin and Pole had their marriage annulled in 1966, but just for legal reasons, and they continued to live together as husband and wife until Nin passed away in 1977.

32. Mrs., abroad : SRA

The equivalent of “Mrs.” in French is “Mme.” (Madame), in Spanish is “Sra.” (Señora) and in Portuguese is also “Sra.” (Senhora).

33. Non-Anglophone’s course, for short : ESL

English as a Second Language (ESL) is sometimes referred to as English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL).

40. N.F.L. Hall-of-Famer Michael : IRVIN

Michael Irvin played football for the Dallas Cowboys. I don’t follow American Football (forgive me!) but did see Irvin on “Dancing with the Stars” on television, and he acquitted himself quite well.

41. New Brunswick neighbor : MAINE

There seems to be some uncertainty how the US state of Maine got its name. However, the state legislature has adopted the theory that it comes from the former French province of Maine. The legislature included language to that effect when adopting a resolution in 2001 to establish Franco-American Day.
The Province of New Brunswick takes its name from the city of Braunschweig in Lower Saxony in northern Germany. Braunschweig, known as Brunswick in English, was the ancestral home of the British King George III.

44. ___ acid : AMINO

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

48. Woman’s name meaning “princess” : SARAH

The Hebrew name “Sarah” translates as “princess”, and also “lady”.

49. Motrin alternative : ALEVE

Aleve is a brand name used for the anti-inflammatory drug Naproxen sodium.
The anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen is sold under the brand names Advil and Motrin.

50. Weasel family member : OTTER

Male and female otters are known as dogs and bitches, with the offspring called pups. Males and females are are sometimes referred to as boars and sows. A collection of otters is a bevy, family, lodge or perhaps a romp. When in water, a collection of otters can be called a raft.

57. Show featuring Leslie Jones, for short : SNL

“Saturday Night Live” (SNL)

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. “You might be asking too much” : THAT’S A TALL ORDER
16. Rhyming educational proverb : EACH ONE TEACH ONE
17. Classic 1959 drama with characters from Chicago’s South Side : A RAISIN IN THE SUN
18. Begin all over : MAKE A FRESH START
19. Tillis or McDaniel of country music : MEL
20. Meditation utterances : OMS
21. “The Waste Land” poet’s inits. : TSE
22. Went back for more, in a way : RE-UPPED
26. Blew the budget : SPARED NO EXPENSE
34. Llama, for one : CAMELID
35. Pastries similar to long john doughnuts : ECLAIRS
36. Attending a lecture, say : IN CLASS
37. Daily : DIURNAL
38. Big brand of kitchenware : OXO
39. Cough syrup amt. : TSP
40. Big Apple? : IMAC
43. Iridescent material : NACRE
47. Golfer Aoki : ISAO
51. African capital where Berber is spoken : RABAT
53. 15 years before the Battle of Hastings : MLI
54. Coped (with) : DEALT
55. Where people may order push-ups : VICTORIA’S SECRET
58. D.C. thoroughfare with the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum : INDEPENDENCE AVE
59. Must : NEEDS TO
60. Freddy Krueger, e.g. : SLASHER

Down

1. Squad : TEAM
2. Not halal, in Arab cuisine : HARAM
3. Follower of “pat” in Mother Goose : -A-CAKE
4. Peter ___, co-founder of PayPal : THIEL
5. One of Sports Illustrated’s two Sportsmen of the Year in 1998 : SOSA
6. “It’s not ___, it’s a when” : AN IF
7. Length of the final fight in “Rocky Balboa” : TEN ROUNDS
8. On time, in Tijuana : A TIEMPO
9. Stat for a photographer : LENS SPEED
10. Wooden strip : LATH
11. Phil who described himself as a “singing journalist” : OCHS
12. “Gone With the Wind” name : RHETT
13. South Indian pancakes : DOSAS
14. Accustom : ENURE
15. Dollars for quarters : RENT
22. “It’s not the end of the world” : RELAX
23. Motion picture pioneer : EDISON
24. Pump up : EXCITE
25. Bad mark : D-PLUS
26. Lab subj. : SCI
27. Attracted to people of all genders, in modern lingo : PAN
28. Rival of Regal Cinemas : AMC
29. Made a move : RELOCATED
30. Some Secret Service wear : EARPIECES
31. Writer who said “Living never wore one out so much as the effort not to live” : NIN
32. Mrs., abroad : SRA
33. Non-Anglophone’s course, for short : ESL
40. N.F.L. Hall-of-Famer Michael : IRVIN
41. New Brunswick neighbor : MAINE
42. Choices on a standard Scantron test : ABCDE
44. ___ acid : AMINO
45. Decked out : CLAD
46. Hillocks : RISES
48. Woman’s name meaning “princess” : SARAH
49. Motrin alternative : ALEVE
50. Weasel family member : OTTER
52. “… max” : … TOPS
54. Numerical prefix : DECA-
56. Out of the game: Abbr. : RET
57. Show featuring Leslie Jones, for short : SNL

13 thoughts on “0112-18 NY Times Crossword Answers 12 Jan 2018, Friday”

  1. 12:25 Flew through this one. Missed my best Friday time by 8 seconds. Long triple or quad stacks can be hard but if you can get one or two of them quickly then they can go very fast. On top I got 4D, 5D, and 6D right away which helped me get 1A and 18A. With those in place the rest was easy. On the bottom I got 55A off the C in EARPIECES. I thought 58A ended in avenue but quickly fixed that when I reread the clue and realized it would be AVE.

  2. 34:18. It did seem easier than usual for a Friday. I looked at all those open squares and thought THATS A TALL ORDER, and the grid fell into place after that…. Not really but it would have made a great story. Actually I caught traction at the bottom and solved it from the bottom up. Really had to stare at the upper portion. Finally remembering Phil OCHS and changing O’Hara to RHETT got me enough to finish.

    Best –

  3. 10:28, no errors. My experience was eerily similar to Marc’s, with only slight differences in the details. (For instance, I missed setting a new “best time” for a Friday puzzle by 6 seconds, rather than 8!) Odd … ?

  4. I have often wondered what it is about a given puzzle that makes it unusually easy or unusually hard for me and I find myself quite curious about this one. Given that Bill reports an unusually large time and three others report an unusually short time, I speculate that the puzzle may be a kind of shibboleth for natural-born Americans. On the other hand, I don’t see anything about the entries that would seem to support this. Thoughts?

      1. Yeah, I probably could/should have worded that differently. In its broadest sense, a shibboleth is a test allowing one to determine to which of two groups an individual belongs. Its usage is based on a story from the Old Testament and is familiar to me as a relic of a misspent youth ?. There’s a Wikipedia article about it:

        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibboleth

        More than you would ever want to know, probably … ?

  5. 28:20, no errors. My experience appears to be the opposite of those posting above. Had a lot of difficulty with the top third, only entering AN IF, SLAT (in place of LATH), RHETT, INURE (in place of ENURE) and RENT. The long across entries didn’t become apparent until I corrected the errors, and filled in more verticals. Eventually filled this from the bottom up. INDEPENDENCE AVE. became the breakthrough entry.

    @Dave: Personally, I just attribute my fast or slow times to being ‘in sync’ or ‘out of sync’ with the setter. Perhaps my life experiences, education and current state of mind are so in line with those of the setter that the my first thought when reading every clue is exactly what the setter intended. Other times I either fall into every misdirection trap the setter creates, or simply have no clue as to what the setter is communicating.

  6. @Bruce … I’ve also used the “in sync”/“out of sync” metaphor for the phenomenon you describe. Every so often, though, a puzzle like this one comes along and seems to sort people into two very different camps. Odd.

  7. 19 mins 27 sec, but 6 errors: I messed up INDEPENDENCE AVE somehow, and the whole bottom right went to the dogs. Such was this week: one to forget completely.

    I liked this puzzle; it was a stiff challenge, but did not have to stoop to gimmicks, cynical cluing or any dirty tricks. Standing applause to the setter for his restraint and sense of fair play. (Almost makes me wonder how he got it through the editor without any of the usual shenannigans…)

    1. I’m proud of you, Allen! You made it almost all the way through that review without going to the dark side! … ?

  8. Easy for Friday until I moved up to the top three stacks where, after MAKEAFRESHSTART, I didn’t.

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