0729-18 NY Times Crossword 29 Jul 18, Sunday

Constructed by: Will Nediger
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme: Three in One

Themed answers appear to be ONE word at first glance, but actually comprise THREE separate words:

  • 24A. Former supporter of seabirds? : EX TERN ALLY (from “externally”)
  • 38A. Spray the monarch to keep him cool? : MIST A KING (from “mistaking”)
  • 40A. Prosecutor who’s sympathetic to the defendants in a witch trial? : PRO PAGAN DA (from “propaganda”)
  • 58A. Bridle strap utilized only on sidewalk surfaces? : REIN FOR CEMENT (from “reinforcement”)
  • 84A. What a dog groomer might charge? : PER PET RATE (from “perpetrate”)
  • 86A. Result of wearing a fedora at the beach? : MAN HAT TAN (from “Manhattan”)
  • 100A. Result of accidentally throwing a Frisbee into a campground? : DISC ON TENT (from “discontent”)
  • 40D. Apple devoured by an elderly relative? : POME GRAN ATE (from “pomegranate”)

Bill’s time: 25m 20s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1. Flaw, metaphorically : WART

It is said that the phrase “warts and all” was coined by Oliver Cromwell, although there is no real evidence that he ever uttered the phrase. Cromwell had his portrait painted by Sir Peter Lely, an artist who had a reputation for producing works that flattered the subject. Cromwell was a puritan, and may indeed have instructed Lely to produce a less flattering and more objective image. Indeed, the painting includes warts on Cromwell’s face, imperfections that could easily have been omitted.

5. Antismoking spots, e.g. : PSAS

Public service announcement (PSA)

14. Dress : FROCK

A frock is a woman’s dress, but “frock” also describes a robe worn by monks. Our use of “frock” comes from the Old French “froc”, which back in the 12th century was the name for a monk’s habit.

20. Lévesque of Quebec : RENE

René Lévesque was the Premier of Quebec from 1976 until 1985. Prior to entering the world of politics, Lévesque worked as a journalist and broadcaster.

21. Pelvis-related : ILIAC

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

26. Where the frontiersman Bowie died : ALAMO

The famous Alamo in San Antonio, Texas was originally known as Mission San Antonio de Valero. The mission was founded in 1718 and was the first mission established in the city. The Battle of the Alamo took place in 1836, a thirteen-day siege by the Mexican Army led by President General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Only two people defending the Alamo Mission survived the onslaught. One month later, the Texian army got its revenge by attacking and defeating the Mexican Army in the Battle of San Jacinto. During the surprise attack on Santa Anna’s camp, many of the Texian soldiers were heard to cry “Remember the Alamo!”.

33. The Big Board, briefly : NYSE

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is nicknamed the “Big Board”.

34. Funny Fey : TINA

Comedian and actress Tina Fey was born Elizabeth Stamatina Fey in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. Fey is perhaps best known to television viewers as a cast member on “Saturday Night Live” (1997-2006), and as the creator and star of the sitcom “30 Rock” (2006-2013).

40. Prosecutor who’s sympathetic to the defendants in a witch trial? : PRO PAGAN DA (from “propaganda”)

A pagan is someone who holds religious beliefs that are different from the main religions of the world, and especially someone who believes in polytheism. In classical Latin, “paganus” means “villager, rustic”.

43. Winter coat : RIME

Rime is that beautiful coating of ice that forms on surfaces like roofs, trees and grass, when cold water freezes instantly under the right conditions.

45. Singer Morissette : ALANIS

Alanis Morissette is a Canadian singer-songwriter. After releasing two pop albums in Canada, in 1995 she recorded her first album to be distributed internationally. Called “Jagged Little Pill”, it is a collection of songs with more of a rock influence. The album was a huge success, the highest-selling album of the 1990s, and the highest-selling debut album by any artist at any time (selling over 30 million units).

49. Director Jonathan : DEMME

Jonathan Demme is best known for directing “The Silence of the Lambs” for which he won an Oscar. Demme’s next movie was “Philadelphia”, which won an Oscar for lead actor Tom Hanks.

50. Agenda starter : ITEM ONE

“Agenda” is a Latin word that translates as “things to be done”, coming from the verb “agere” meaning “to do”.

52. Pontius Pilate’s province : JUDEA

Pontius Pilate was the judge at the trial of Jesus Christ and the man who authorized his crucifixion. Over the years, many scholars have suggested that Pilate was a mythical character. However in 1961 a block of limestone was found in the modern-day city of Caesarea in Israel, and in the block was an inscription that included the name of Pontius Pilate, citing him as Prefect of Judea.

55. First character in Genesis : SOFT G

The word “Genesis” starts with a soft letter G.

56. T. rex, e.g. : DINO

The Tyrannosaurus rex (usually written “T. rex”) was a spectacular looking dinosaur. “Tyrannosaurus” comes from the Greek words “tyrannos” (tyrant) and “sauros” (lizard) and “rex” the Latin for “king”. They were big beasts, measuring 42 feet long and 13 feet tall at the hips, and weighing 7.5 tons.

62. When Macbeth delivers the “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow” soliloquy : ACT V

There is a famous soliloquy in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” that is spoken by the title character. It is usually referred to as “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow”, from the second sentence:

She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
— To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing.

73. Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, with “the” : PRAIRIES

The Great Plains lie between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains in North America. This vast grassland is known as “the Prairies” in Canada.

75. Stuck-up person : SNOOT

“Snoot” is a variant of “snout” and is a word that originated in Scotland. The idea is that someone who is snooty, or “snouty”, tends to look down his or her nose at the rest of the world.

76. Aplenty : GALORE

Our word “galore”, meaning “in great numbers”, comes from the Irish phrase “go leór” that translates as “sufficiently, enough”.

79. Namesakes of Muhammad’s daughter : FATIMAS

Fatimah was the youngest daughter of the prophet Muhammad and his first wife Khadija.

86. Result of wearing a fedora at the beach? : MAN HAT TAN (from “Manhattan”)

A fedora is a lovely hat, I think. It is made of felt, and is similar to a trilby, but has a broader brim. “Fedora” was a play written for Sarah Bernhardt and first performed in 1889. Bernhardt had the title role of Princess Fedora, and on stage she wore a hat similar to a modern-day fedora. The play led to the women’s fashion accessory, the fedora hat, commonly worn by women into the beginning of the twentieth century. Men then started wearing fedoras, but only when women gave up the fashion …

90. T.S.A. agent’s tool : WAND

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

91. Item smashed by the original Luddites : LOOM

In contemporary usage, a “Luddite” is someone who is slow to adopt new technology. This usage has even been extended to “Neo-Luddism”, meaning the active opposition to some technologies. It has been suggested that the term “Luddism” commemorates a youth called Ned Ludd, who smashed two mechanical knitting machines in 1779, in the belief that they represented automation that took away jobs. In the following decades, Luddism became an active movement, with Luddites going on rampages, smashing equipment that was deemed to create unemployment.

92. Having a crisp picture, say : IN HD

High-definition (HD)

96. “Death of a Salesman” salesman : LOMAN

“Death of a Salesman” is a famous play by Arthur Miller that was first produced in 1949. “Death of a Salesman” won a Pulitzer and several Tony Awards over the years. The “Salesman” is the famous character Willy Loman. The play originally opened up on Broadway and ran for 724 performances. The lead role was played by veteran actor Lee J. Cobb.

98. Lead-in to phobia : AGORA-

In early Greece, the agora was a place of assembly. The assemblies held there were often quite formal, perhaps for the reading of a proclamation. Later in Greek history, things became less formal as the agora evolved into a marketplace. Our contemporary word “agoraphobia” comes from these agorae, in the sense that an agoraphobe has a fear of open spaces, a fear of “public meeting places”.

100. Result of accidentally throwing a Frisbee into a campground? : DISC ON TENT (from “discontent”)

The Frisbee concept started back in 1938 with a couple who had an upturned cake pan that they were tossing between each other on Santa Monica Beach in California. They were offered 25 cents for the pan on the spot, and as pans could be bought for 5 cents, the pair figured there was a living to be earned.

103. ___ California : BAJA

Baja California is both the most northern and the most western of the Mexican states. The name translates from Spanish as “Lower California”.

104. Plucked instruments : LUTES

The lute is a stringed instrument with a long neck and usually a pear-shaped body. It is held and played like a guitar, and was popular from the Middle Ages right through to the late Baroque era. A person who plays the lute can be referred to as a “lutenist”.

105. Compound imparting a fruity smell : ESTER

Esters are very common chemicals. The smaller, low-molecular weight esters are usually pleasant smelling and are often found in perfumes. At the other end of the scale, the higher-molecular weight nitroglycerin is a nitrate ester and is very explosive, and polyester is a huge molecule and is a type of plastic. Fats and oils found in nature are fatty acid esters of glycerol known as glycerides.

106. Hence : ERGO

“Ergo” is a Latin word meaning “hence, therefore”, and one that we’ve absorbed directly into English.

111. “Swiper, no swiping!” speaker of children’s TV : DORA

“Dora the Explorer” is a cartoon series shown on Nickelodeon. Part of Dora’s remit is to introduce the show’s young viewers to some Spanish words and phrases.

Down

1. Sound from a banshee : WAIL

A banshee is a female spirit in Irish mythology, from the Irish “bean sí” meaning “woman of the fairy mounds”. The banshee is supposedly heard wailing in the night, especially when someone is about to die.

2. Italian designer menswear since the 1970s : ARMANI SUIT

Giorgio Armani is an Italian fashion designer and founder of the company that has borne his name since 1975. Although Armani is famous for his menswear, the company makes everything from jewelry to perfume.

12. Move clumsily : GALUMPH

To galumph is to prance about, somewhat smugly. The word is an invention of Lewis Carroll and he used it in his famous nonsense poem “Jabberwocky”. Apparently he arrived at “galumph” by blending the words “gallop” and “triumph”.

13. Charybdis’s counterpart, in Greek myth : SCYLLA

Charybdis was a beautiful naiad, a water nymph of Greek mythology. Zeus became enraged with Charybdis and turned her into a sea monster. In Greek myth, the monstrous form of Charybdis lay at one side of a narrow channel of water, with another sea monster named Scylla lying at the other. Sailors found it impossible to navigate the channel as getting to a safe distance from one monster left them in the clutches of the other. From this tale arose the expression “between Scylla and Charybdis” meaning having two choices, neither of which is a good one.

14. Pharma watchdog : FDA

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has its roots in the Division of Chemistry (later “Bureau of Chemistry”) that was part of the US Department of Agriculture. President Theodore Roosevelt gave responsibility for examination of food and drugs to the Bureau of Chemistry with the signing of the Pure Food and Drug Act. The Bureau’s name was changed to the Food, Drug and Insecticide Organization in 1927, and to the Food and Drug Administration in 1930.

“Big Pharma” is a nickname for the pharmaceutical industry. The monker comes from the acronym for the lobbying group for the industry, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).

28. Serving during Prohibition : NEAR BEER

“Near beer” is slang term for a malt liquor that doesn’t contain enough alcohol to be labelled as “beer”. An example would be “O’Doul’s”, a beverage that I tend to consume in a glass full of ice when I am the designated driver.

The 18th Amendment to the US Constitution was a great victory for the temperance movement (the “dry” movement), and in 1919 ushered in the Prohibition era. Highly unpopular (with the “wet” movement), Prohibition was repealed in 1933 by the 21st Amendment.

38. One target of a childhood vaccine : MUMPS

Mumps is a painful viral disease that causes swelling of the salivary glands. The disease is a little more serious for males than females as there can also be a swelling of the testes, which can lead to infertility.

40. Apple devoured by an elderly relative? : POME GRAN ATE (from “pomegranate”)

The name of the fruit called a “pomegranate” comes from the Latin “pomum” meaning “apple” and “granatum” meaning “seeded”.

48. Car ad no. : APR

Annual percentage rate (APR)

49. Carol Ann ___, U.K. poet laureate starting in 2009 : DUFFY

Carol Ann Duffy is a poet and playwright from Scotland. When Duffy was made poet laureate in Britain in 2009, he became the first Scot to hold the position as well as the first openly gay person to be so honored.

52. Crave, with “for” : JONES

The slang term “Jones” is used to mean an intense addiction, a yen, and probably arose in the late sixties out of the prior use of “Jones” for the drug heroin.

59. “The Great” and “The Terrible” : EPITHETS

An epithet is a word or phrase used in a name to describe a quality of the person or thing bearing that name. For example, King Richard I was also known as Richard the Lionheart.

62. Blue alerts, in brief : APBS

An All Points Bulletin (APB) is a broadcast from one US law enforcement agency to another.

64. Meal with a set menu : TABLE D’HOTE

On a restaurant menu, items that are “à la carte” are priced and ordered separately. A menu marked “table d’hôte” (also called “prix fixe”) is a fixed-price menu with limited choice. “Table d’hôte” translates as “table of the host”.

69. Foe of Frazier : ALI

Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier had three memorable fights. The first was billed as the “Fight of the Century” and took place in 1971 in Madison Square Garden. It was a fight between two great boxers, both of whom were undefeated up till that point. Frazier won in a unanimous decision after fifteen rounds. A couple of years later, in 1973, Frazier lost his title to George Foreman. Ali and Frazier had a non-title rematch in 1974, with Ali coming out ahead this time, also in a unanimous decision. Later that year, Ali grabbed back the World Heavyweight Title in “The Rumble in the Jungle”, the famous “rope-a-dope” fight against George Foreman. That set the stage for the third and final fight between Ali and Frazier, “The Thrilla in Manila”. Ali won the early rounds, but Frazier made a comeback in the middle of the fight. Ali took control at the end of the bout, so much so that Frazier wasn’t able to come out of his corner for the 15th and final round. He couldn’t come out of his corner because both of his eyes were swollen shut, giving Ali a victory due to a technical knockout (TKO).

70. Egg-shaped item from a garden : ROMA TOMATO

The Roma tomato isn’t considered an heirloom variety but it is very popular with home gardeners, especially those gardeners that don’t have a lot of space. It is a bush type (as opposed to vine type) and needs very little room to provide a lot of tomatoes.

75. “On the Beach” novelist Nevil : SHUTE

“Nevil Shute” was the pen name of English-Australian novelist Nevil Shute Norway. Several of Shute’s more famous novels have been adapted for the big screen, including “On the Beach”, “No Highway” and “A Town Like Alice”. I was a big fan of Nevil Shute novels in my younger days …

“On the Beach” is a wonderful novel by Nevil Shute that was first published in 1957. The famous story is about the ending of the human race as nuclear fallout spreads south from the northern hemisphere after WWIII. The novel was adapted into a great 1959 movie starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner and even Fred Astaire.

78. Crime against good taste : TRAVESTY

Back in the 17th century, a travesty was a burlesque or artistic imitation of a serious work, a parody. The term “travesty” has come to mean a distorted representation in general, a sham or a mockery.

79. Dance mentioned in Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” : FANDANGO

A fandango is a dance from Spain performed by a couple who are usually playing castanets.

Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” is a marvelously unique song in the pop repertoire. It has a very appealing structure, with no chorus but three distinct parts and with three distinct “sounds”. The opening is truly a slow ballad, which morphs into an operatic middle section, ending with a really heavy, rock-guitar conclusion. The song monopolized the number one slot in the UK charts for weeks in 1975/76, and made a comeback in 1996 when it appeared in the movie “Wayne’s World”. Great stuff …

85. Some winds for seafarers : TRADES

The trade winds are the winds found in the tropics that blow predominantly from the east (from the northeast above the equator, and from the southeast below). Although the trade winds were crucial during the age of sail, allowing the European empires to grow and prosper, the use of the term “trade” had nothing to do with commerce. Rather, the name “trade” was a Middle English word that meant “path, track”, a reference to the predictable courses used by the sailing vessels. It was from these favorable “trade” winds that we began to associate commerce with the term “trade”.

95. Like a lot of zombie movies : GORY

A zombie is a corpse that has been brought back to life by some mystical means. Our modern use of the term largely stems from the undead creatures featured in the 1968 horror movie called “Night of the Living Dead”. Now that film I haven’t seen, and probably never will …

99. Intensifying word add-on : -ASS

… can be added to “smart” or “bad”, perhaps.

101. Disney collectible : CEL

In the world of animation, a cel is a transparent sheet on which objects and characters are drawn. In the first half of the 20th century the sheet was actually made of celluloid, giving the “cel” its name.

102. Request to Triple A : TOW

The American Automobile Association (AAA) is a not-for-profit organization focused on lobbying, provision of automobile servicing, and selling of automobile insurance. The AAA was founded in 1902 in Chicago and published the first of its celebrated hotel guides back in 1917.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Flaw, metaphorically : WART
5. Antismoking spots, e.g. : PSAS
9. Cleveland Browns’ defense, informally : DAWGS
14. Dress : FROCK
19. What a line doesn’t have : AREA
20. Lévesque of Quebec : RENE
21. Pelvis-related : ILIAC
22. ___ card (wallet item) : DONOR
23. ___ Reza shrine (Iranian holy site) : IMAM
24. Former supporter of seabirds? : EX TERN ALLY (from “externally”)
26. Where the frontiersman Bowie died : ALAMO
27. Burdened (with) : LADEN
29. Snatcher’s exclamation : YOINK!
30. Yawn-inducing : DULL
32. Postgame shower? : ESPN
33. The Big Board, briefly : NYSE
34. Funny Fey : TINA
35. Jewelry worn above the elbow : ARMLET
37. What’s brewing? : ALE
38. Spray the monarch to keep him cool? : MIST A KING (from “mistaking”)
40. Prosecutor who’s sympathetic to the defendants in a witch trial? : PRO PAGAN DA (from “propaganda”)
42. Play with : USE
43. Winter coat : RIME
44. Sound of something rushing by : WOOSH!
45. Singer Morissette : ALANIS
47. Not fixed : MUTABLE
49. Director Jonathan : DEMME
50. Agenda starter : ITEM ONE
51. Hog’s home : PIGPEN
52. Pontius Pilate’s province : JUDEA
53. Liqueur akin to sambuca : ANISETTE
54. Place for a browser : STORE
55. First character in Genesis : SOFT G
56. T. rex, e.g. : DINO
57. Metro ___ : DESK
58. Bridle strap utilized only on sidewalk surfaces? : REIN FOR CEMENT (from “reinforcement”)
62. When Macbeth delivers the “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow” soliloquy : ACT V
66. Potential dinner : PREY
67. Hitching spot : ALTAR
68. Rating that’s on the cusp of NC-17 : HARD R
73. Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, with “the” : PRAIRIES
75. Stuck-up person : SNOOT
76. Aplenty : GALORE
77. Ohio University team : BOBCATS
78. Informal expression of gratitude : THANX
79. Namesakes of Muhammad’s daughter : FATIMAS
80. Brilliant debut : SPLASH
81. Ruffian : BRUTE
82. Miss : LASS
83. “Who ___?” : AM I
84. What a dog groomer might charge? : PER PET RATE (from “perpetrate”)
86. Result of wearing a fedora at the beach? : MAN HAT TAN (from “Manhattan”)
88. Pulled off : DID
89. Make an effort : STRIVE
90. T.S.A. agent’s tool : WAND
91. Item smashed by the original Luddites : LOOM
92. Having a crisp picture, say : IN HD
94. Leave gratified : SATE
95. Must, informally : GOTTA
96. “Death of a Salesman” salesman : LOMAN
98. Lead-in to phobia : AGORA-
100. Result of accidentally throwing a Frisbee into a campground? : DISC ON TENT (from “discontent”)
103. ___ California : BAJA
104. Plucked instruments : LUTES
105. Compound imparting a fruity smell : ESTER
106. Hence : ERGO
107. Oodles : A TON
108. Shoots out : SPEWS
109. Without much confidence : SHYLY
110. It falls quietly : SNOW
111. “Swiper, no swiping!” speaker of children’s TV : DORA

Down

1. Sound from a banshee : WAIL
2. Italian designer menswear since the 1970s : ARMANI SUIT
3. Running start? : READY, SET, GO!
4. Like kiddie rides among all amusement park rides : TAMEST
5. School opening? : PRE-
6. Amorous play, in modern lingo : SEXY TIME
7. ___ Lavoisier a.k.a. the Father of Modern Chemistry : ANTOINE
8. Romantically involved with : SEEING
9. Light tennis shot : DINK
10. Reminiscent of : A LA
11. Iowa’s state flower : WILD ROSE
12. Move clumsily : GALUMPH
13. Charybdis’s counterpart, in Greek myth : SCYLLA
14. Pharma watchdog : FDA
15. Part : ROLE
16. “This isn’t very pleasant, but …” : ON A SAD NOTE …
17. Some calls to the police : COMPLAINTS
18. Norwegian money : KRONE
25. Genetics initials : RNA
28. Serving during Prohibition : NEAR BEER
31. Diplomatic office below an embassy : LEGATION
35. Nose : AROMA
36. Gathering around a campfire? : TALES
38. One target of a childhood vaccine : MUMPS
39. Oven : KILN
40. Apple devoured by an elderly relative? : POME GRAN ATE (from “pomegranate”)
41. Called : NAMED
44. United with : WED TO
46. Look for : SEEK
48. Car ad no. : APR
49. Carol Ann ___, U.K. poet laureate starting in 2009 : DUFFY
50. Not superficial : INNER
52. Crave, with “for” : JONES
53. Try to hit : AIM AT
55. Stable parents : SIRES
56. Thoro cleansing : DETOX
59. “The Great” and “The Terrible” : EPITHETS
60. Lookalike : CLONE
61. “There’s nothing else” : THAT’S ALL
62. Blue alerts, in brief : APBS
63. Arising : CROPPING UP
64. Meal with a set menu : TABLE D’HOTE
65. Certain cleric : VICAR
69. Foe of Frazier : ALI
70. Egg-shaped item from a garden : ROMA TOMATO
71. Performer in a campus production, often : DRAMA MAJOR
72. Sticky stuff : RESIN
74. Talks hoarsely : RASPS
75. “On the Beach” novelist Nevil : SHUTE
76. Nasty wound : GASH
78. Crime against good taste : TRAVESTY
79. Dance mentioned in Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” : FANDANGO
81. Like people who take lifts : BRITISH
82. Camper’s light : LANTERN
85. Some winds for seafarers : TRADES
86. Non-shiny finishes : MATTES
87. “Sucks to be you” : TOO BAD
88. Speedometers, typically : DIALS
90. Korean money : WON
93. Tied : DREW
95. Like a lot of zombie movies : GORY
97. Mom’s mom : NANA
99. Intensifying word add-on : -ASS
101. Disney collectible : CEL
102. Request to Triple A : TOW