0227-18 NY Times Crossword Answers 27 Feb 2018, Tuesday

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Constructed by: Ross Trudeau
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Dreamers

Themed answers are famous people associated with DREAMS, as referenced in the clue:

  • 19A. “Montage of a Dream Deferred” poet : LANGSTON HUGHES
  • 29A. “The Interpretation of Dreams” writer : SIGMUND FREUD
  • 39A. “Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening” artist : SALVADOR DALI
  • 52A. “All I Have to Do Is Dream” singers : EVERLY BROTHERS

Bill’s time: 7m 33s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1. On VHS, say : TAPED

The video standard known as VHS is more fully referred to as the Video Home System. VHS was one of many standards touted by various manufacturers in the seventies. The biggest rival to VHS was Betamax, but we all knew which of the two standards won the final round in that fight.

6. Symbol in the middle of a Scrabble board : STAR

The game of Scrabble has been around since 1938, the invention of an architect named Alfred Mosher Butts. Butts determined how many tiles of each letter, and the point value of each tile, by analyzing letter distributions in publications like “The New York Times”.

10. Nile viper : ASP

The asp is a venomous snake found in the Nile region of Africa. It is so venomous that the asp was used in ancient Egypt and Greece as a means of execution. Cleopatra observed such executions noting that the venom brought on sleepiness without any painful spasms. When the great queen opted to commit suicide, the asp was therefore her chosen method.

13. The “S” of NASA : SPACE

The Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite towards the end of 1957, a development that shocked the establishment in the US. Within months, President Eisenhower created the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA, now DARPA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The Space Race had begun …

17. Philosopher who said “Man is by nature a political animal” : ARISTOTLE

Aristotle was actually a student of Plato in Ancient Greece (and in turn, Plato was a student of Socrates). Aristotle’s most famous student was Alexander the Great.

19. “Montage of a Dream Deferred” poet : LANGSTON HUGHES

Langston Hughes was a poet active in the Harlem Renaissance, and someone who helped develop the literary form known as “jazz poetry”. His poem “I, Too, Sing America” was published in 1925.

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.

Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed–

I, too, am America.

21. Pa Clampett of “The Beverly Hillbillies” : JED

The actor Buddy Ebsen was best known for playing Jed Clampett in television’s “The Beverly Hillbillies”. Ebsen had been cast in the role of the Tin Man in the 1939 movie “The Wizard of Oz”, but he developed an allergy to the aluminium dust that was used in the makeup. He ended up in hospital and had to walk away from the part. Ebsen blamed “The Wizard of Oz” on persistent problems that he had with his lungs in subsequent years. But Ebsen lived 16 years longers that any of the other major cast members of the film, so maybe he got the last laugh!

22. Ex-G.I. : VET

The initials “GI” stand for “Government Issue”, and not “General Infantry” as is widely believed. “GI” was first used in the military to denote equipment made from Galvanized Iron and during WWI, incoming German shells were nicknamed “GI cans”. Soon after, the term GI came to be associated with “Government Issue” and eventually became an adjective to describe anything associated with the Army.

24. Vicodin, e.g. : OPIATE

Vicodin is a brand name of pain-reliever. The formulation is a mixture of two ingredients: hydrocodone (an opiate) and acetaminophen (a non-opiate analgesic).

29. “The Interpretation of Dreams” writer : SIGMUND FREUD

Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist, and founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychiatry. One of Freud’s tenets was that our dreams are a necessary part of sleep as they prevent the dreamer from awakening due to desire for unfulfilled wishes. The dream’s content represents those unfulfilled wishes and satisfies the desire.

33. Macho sorts : HE-MEN

A man described as macho shows pride in his masculinity. “Macho” is a Spanish word for “male animal”.

34. Dictator Amin : IDI

Idi Amin ruled Uganda as a dictator from 1971 until 1979. Amin started his professional career as a cook in the Colonial British Army. Amin seized power from President Milton Obote in a 1971 coup d’état. The former cook eventually gave himself the title “His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular”.

35. “HAHAHA!,” in texts : ROTFL

Rolling on the floor, laughing (ROTFL)

39. “Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening” artist : SALVADOR DALI

The famous surrealist painter Salvador Dalí was born in Figueres, Spain. I had the privilege of visiting the Dalí Museum in Figueres some years ago, just north of Barcelona. If you ever get the chance, it’s a “must see” as it really is a quite magnificent building with a fascinating collection.

42. National bird of Australia : EMU

The official symbol of Australia is a coat of arms that features a kangaroo and an emu.

45. Singer Carly ___ Jepsen : RAE

Carly Rae Jepsen is a singer/songwriter from Mission, British Columbia. Jepsen got her start on TV’s “Canadian Idol” when she placed third in the show’s fifth season.

47. Where Red Square is : MOSCOW

I made it to Russia only once in my life, and it was a memorable trip. I saw all the sites in and around Red Square in Moscow, but couldn’t get in to visit Lenin’s Tomb. It was closed for renovations …

49. Fish in a 26-Down : AHI

Yellowfin and bigeye tuna are usually marketed as “ahi”, the Hawaiian name. They are both big fish, with yellowfish tuna often weighing over 300 pounds, and bigeye tuna getting up to 400 pounds.

52. “All I Have to Do Is Dream” singers : EVERLY BROTHERS

The Everly Brothers were noted for their steel guitar sound, and their great use of harmony. Their harmony onstage wasn’t reflected off the stage though. In 1973 the brothers decided to pursue separate careers and scheduled a farewell performance attended by many fans, family and stalwarts from the music industry. Don Everly came on stage too drunk to perform, and eventually brother Phil just stormed off into the wings, smashing his guitar as he left. The boys didn’t talk to each other for ten years after that incident. Phil Everly passed away in January 2014.

59. Chow : GRUB

“Chow” is a slang term for food that originated in California in the mid-1800s. “Chow” comes from the Chinese pidgin English “chow-chow” meaning “food”.

61. ___ Park (Edison’s lab site) : MENLO

Thomas Alva Edison (TAE) was nicknamed “The Wizard of Menlo Park” by a newspaper reporter, a name that stuck. He was indeed a wizard, in the sense that he was such a prolific inventor. The Menlo Park part of the moniker recognizes the location of his first research lab, in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

62. Special intuition, for short : ESP

Extrasensory perception (ESP)

63. Beans high in protein : SOYS

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”.

64. Early PC platform : MS-DOS

MS-DOS (short for Microsoft Disk Operating System) was the main operating system used by IBM-compatible PCs in the eighties and for much of the nineties.

Down

1. Org. with a 3.4-ounce container rule : TSA

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is the agency that employs the good folks that check passengers and baggage at airports.

2. Food symbolizing America : APPLE PIE

The full expression is “as American as motherhood and apple pie”. I think the concept here is not that America is the home of motherhood nor apple pie, but rather that America is as wholesome as motherhood and apple pie. I’ve heard that the phrase originated in WWII when GI’s being interviewed by journalists would say that they were going to war “for Mom and apple pie”.

3. Exemplar : PARADIGM

We tend to use “paradigm” to mean the set of assumptions and practices that define some aspect of life. It can also simply mean something that serves as a model, pattern or example. “Paradigm” ultimately comes from the Greek word for “show side by side”.

4. Class for a future M.B.A. : ECON

The world’s first Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree was offered by Harvard’s Graduate School of Business Administration, in 1908.

5. Mao’s successor : DENG

Deng Xiaoping was the Paramount Leader of the People’s Republic of China from 1978 to 1992. It was Deng Xiaoping who is given the credit for setting policies that led to China’s current economic boom. He moved the country towards a market economy and opened the borders to allow foreign investment.

7. Fortuneteller’s deck : TAROT

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.

10. Orwell or Wells : AUTHOR

“George Orwell” was the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair, the famous British author of the classics “Nineteen Eighty-Four” and “Animal Farm”.

The full name of the English author known as H. G. Wells was Herbert George Wells. Wells is particularly well known for his works of science fiction, including “The War of the Worlds”, “The Time Machine”, “The Invisible Man” and “The Island of Doctor Moreau”. He was a prolific author, and a prolific lover as well. While married to one of his former students with whom he had two sons, he also had a child with writer Amber Reeves, and another child with author Rebecca West.

11. Singer/actress Gomez : SELENA

Selena Gomez is a young actress from Grand Prairie, Texas. Gomez’s first television role was in the children’s show “Barney & Friends”. She then played the lead in the TV series “Wizards of Waverly Place”. Offscreen, Gomez made a splash as the girlfriend of Canadian singer Justin Bieber for a couple of years.

12. ___ v. Ferguson (1896 Supreme Court ruling) : PLESSY

In 1890, the State of Louisiana enacted a statute requiring separate accommodations for African Americans on trains, a statute called the Separate Car Act. An alliance of activists arranged for one Homer Plessy to be arrested for breaking the law, so that they could forward an appeal to the US Supreme Court. However, the plan backfired when the decision of the upper court led to the doctrine of “separate but equal”, a doctrine that remained in place until it was struck down in 1954 by Brown v. Board of Education.

18. John of “Do the Right Thing” : TURTURRO

“Do the Right Thing” is a Spike Lee movie that was released in 1989. Much of the action in the film is centered on a local pizzeria called “Sal’s” owned by Italian-American Salvatore Frangione (played by Danny Aiello).

20. “Frozen” reindeer : SVEN

“Frozen” is a 2013 animated feature from Walt Disney Studios that is based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale “The Snow Queen”. The film is all about the exploits of Princess Anna, the younger sister of Elsa, Snow Queen of Arendelle. Spoiler alert: Prince Hans of the Southern Isles seems to be a good guy for most of the film, but turns out to be a baddie in the end. And, a snowman named Olaf provides some comic relief.

Sven is a Scandinavian name. “Sven” is derived from the Old Norse word for “young man” or “young warrior”.

21. Kid around : JOSH

When the verb “to josh”, meaning “to kid”, was coined in the 1840s as an American slang term, it was written with a capital J. It is likely that the term somehow comes from the proper name “Joshua”, but no one seems to remember why.

25. Iowa college town : AMES

Iowa State University of Science and Technology (ISU) is located in Ames, Iowa. Among many other notable milestones, ISU created the country’s first school of veterinary medicine, in 1879. The sports teams of ISU are known as the Cyclones.

31. Medicine-approving org. : FDA

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves drugs for specific conditions. It is quite legal for a healthcare professional to prescribe an approved medication for a use that is different to the FDA-approved indication. This usage of the drug is described as “off-label”.

32. Epitome of stupidity : DODO

The dodo was a direct relative of the pigeon and dove, although the fully-grown dodo was usually three feet tall. One of the reasons the dodo comes to mind when we think of extinction of a species, is that it disappeared not too long ago (last recorded alive in 1681) and humans were the reason for its demise. The dodo lived exclusively on the island of Mauritius and when man arrived, we cut back the forests that were its home. We also introduced domestic animals, such as dogs and pigs, that ransacked the dodo’s nests. The dodo was deemed to be an awkward flightless bird and so the term “dodo” has come to mean a dull-witted person.

36. Ingredient in Worcestershire sauce : TAMARIND

Worcestershire Sauce is a variant of a fermented fish sauce that has been around since the days of the Roman Empire. The modern sauce was developed and marketed by Messrs. Lea and Perrins in the city of Worcester, then in the county of Worcestershire, hence the name. We vegans aren’t supposed to touch it, as it contains anchovies! Oh, and “Worcestershire” is pronounced “wooster-sheer” …

37. What Lindbergh famously did from New York to Paris : FLEW SOLO

Charles Lindbergh was the American pilot who made the first solo, non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean, a distance of nearly 3,600 miles. He won the accolades of a whole country for that feat, and was awarded the Medal of Honor (for which Lindbergh was eligible, as an Army Reserve officer). His new-found fame brought tragedy to his door, however, when a kidnapper took his infant son from his home in East Amwell, New Jersey. A ransom was paid in part, but the child was never returned, and was found dead a few weeks later. It was as a result of this case that Congress made kidnapping a federal offence should there be any aspect of the crime that crosses a state line.

40. Many A.C.L.U. staffers : LAWYERS

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has its roots in the First World War when it was founded to provide legal advice and support to conscientious objectors. The ACLU’s motto is “Because Freedom Can’t Protect Itself”. The ACLU also hosts a blog on the ACLU.org website called “Speak Freely”.

41. News item that its subject never reads : OBIT

“Obituary” comes from the Latin “obituaris”, originally the record of the death of a person, although the literal meaning is “pertaining to death”.

49. Bohemian : ARTSY

The region known as Bohemia covers most of the Czech Republic. Centuries ago, it was wrongly believed that gypsies came from Bohemia, giving rise to the term “Bohemian” meaning a “gypsy of society”.

53. Pizazz : BRIO

“Brio” is borrowed from Italian, in which language it means vigor and vivacity. “Con brio” is a musical direction often found on a score, instructing the musicians to play “with energy, vigor”.

Pizazz (also “pizzazz”) is energy, vitality. There’s a kind of cool thing about the “pizzazz” version. It is the only 7-letter word in English that cannot be played in Scrabble. You can get close by using the Z-tile with the two blank tiles to get to three of the required four Zs, but there’s no way to get to the fourth Z.

54. U.S. soccer great Mia : HAMM

Mia Hamm is a retired American soccer player, a forward who played on the US national team that won the FIFA women’s World Cup in 1991. Hamm has scored 158 international goals, more than other player in the world, male or female. Amazingly, Hamm was born with a clubfoot, and so had to wear corrective shoes when she was growing up.

58. Rapper ___ Def : MOS

Mos Def is the former stage name of actor and rapper Dante Terrell Smith-Bay, now known as Yasiin Bey. Mos Def is one of the few rap stars who is really making a name for himself in the world of movies. He received critical acclaim for roles in 2003’s “The Italian Job” , 2005’s “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, and for a featured role in an episode of television’s “House”.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. On VHS, say : TAPED
6. Symbol in the middle of a Scrabble board : STAR
10. Nile viper : ASP
13. The “S” of NASA : SPACE
14. Many a summer cottage locale : LAKE
15. Engagement at 20 paces, maybe : DUEL
16. Garment that might say “Kiss the cook” : APRON
17. Philosopher who said “Man is by nature a political animal” : ARISTOTLE
19. “Montage of a Dream Deferred” poet : LANGSTON HUGHES
21. Pa Clampett of “The Beverly Hillbillies” : JED
22. Ex-G.I. : VET
23. Firebugs’ felonies : ARSONS
24. Vicodin, e.g. : OPIATE
27. Fitting : APT
28. Sunshine unit : RAY
29. “The Interpretation of Dreams” writer : SIGMUND FREUD
33. Macho sorts : HE-MEN
34. Dictator Amin : IDI
35. “HAHAHA!,” in texts : ROTFL
39. “Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening” artist : SALVADOR DALI
42. National bird of Australia : EMU
45. Singer Carly ___ Jepsen : RAE
46. Thundered : BOOMED
47. Where Red Square is : MOSCOW
49. Fish in a 26-Down : AHI
51. Remarks around cute babies : AWS
52. “All I Have to Do Is Dream” singers : EVERLY BROTHERS
56. States of emergency : RED ALERTS
57. Self-evident truth : AXIOM
59. Chow : GRUB
60. Show deference to an entering judge, say : RISE
61. ___ Park (Edison’s lab site) : MENLO
62. Special intuition, for short : ESP
63. Beans high in protein : SOYS
64. Early PC platform : MS-DOS

Down

1. Org. with a 3.4-ounce container rule : TSA
2. Food symbolizing America : APPLE PIE
3. Exemplar : PARADIGM
4. Class for a future M.B.A. : ECON
5. Mao’s successor : DENG
6. Roofing material : SLATE
7. Fortuneteller’s deck : TAROT
8. In the same mold as, with “to” : AKIN
9. Mold anew : RESHAPE
10. Orwell or Wells : AUTHOR
11. Singer/actress Gomez : SELENA
12. ___ v. Ferguson (1896 Supreme Court ruling) : PLESSY
15. Feet, slangily : DOGS
18. John of “Do the Right Thing” : TURTURRO
20. “Frozen” reindeer : SVEN
21. Kid around : JOSH
25. Iowa college town : AMES
26. Common sushi order : TUNA ROLL
27. Superdry : ARID
30. Opposite of soar : DIVE
31. Medicine-approving org. : FDA
32. Epitome of stupidity : DODO
36. Ingredient in Worcestershire sauce : TAMARIND
37. What Lindbergh famously did from New York to Paris : FLEW SOLO
38. Jar tops : LIDS
40. Many A.C.L.U. staffers : LAWYERS
41. News item that its subject never reads : OBIT
42. Come out : EMERGE
43. Businesses that tend to be busiest at the starts and ends of months : MOVERS
44. Depleted : USED UP
48. Grouch : CRAB
49. Bohemian : ARTSY
50. Sprays (down) : HOSES
53. Pizazz : BRIO
54. U.S. soccer great Mia : HAMM
55. Strikes (out) : EXES
58. Rapper ___ Def : MOS

10 thoughts on “0227-18 NY Times Crossword Answers 27 Feb 2018, Tuesday”

  1. 8:27, no errors, but each of the theme entries took a little longer than it should have (as in, “I know that … it’s on the tip of my tongue … one more crossing entry and I’ve got it … old Whashisname … maybe one more crossing entry …”) … but, in the end, it all worked out … ?

  2. 9:24. I liked the theme – real people/places/things as opposed to plays on letters or words. Solved more like a themeless, however.

    Spanish speaking countries took the pronunciation issue out of Worcestershire sauce entirely. They just call it “salsa inglesa”. “English sauce”. Not a bad idea…

    Best –

  3. 9:52 No real problems. Only issue for me was I thought there was something more than just the names of the authors/artists going on so kept looking for something else.

  4. @Sandra … Many thanks for the limerick you posted yesterday! Funny and to the point!

  5. 10:30, no errors. Lost a little time entering OPIODS before OPIATE, otherwise a comfortable, straight-forward puzzle. Theme today? OK, if Bill says so. 🙂

    As a kid, I was impressed by Dali’s ‘Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus)’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. One of those things that you need to see in person to appreciate.

    1. Thanks for mentioning your initial confusion about OPIOID, Bruce. Since I often run into this same situation in crosswords, it prompted me to try to find out the difference between OPIOID and OPIATE. It turns out that there is a difference and the two words are not synonymous. The medical profession considers an OPIATE to be only those drugs derived naturally from the opium poppy. An OPIOID is a family of drugs that are chemically synthesized that have similar properties to the OPIATES.

      Now to get back to today’s puzzle, I was surprised to see that Vicodin was listed, not as an OPIATE, but rather as an OPIOID. So Vicodin is a laboratory chemical construction and cannot, therefore, be considered an OPIATE. So you actually had it right the first time.

      I realize that I am now saying that there is an error by the constructor and editor in today’s puzzle. My research was very preliminary so I could well be wrong about some of this. If there is any information to the contrary, then please share it.

  6. No errors. After finishing, I looked back for a theme and didn’t see anything. The problem was that I was only looking at the answers and not the clues. Since the themes are usually found in the answers, I have gotten into the habit of looking only at the answers. I will just have to mentally remember that themes may also sometimes be found only in the clues. So this has been a good lesson for me today.

  7. 7:43, no errors. Still couldn’t edge Bill’s time!!! He a tough ol’ guy!! 😀

    Theme…. too ethereal for me.

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