Constructed by: Ryan McCarty
Edited by: Will Shortz
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… syndicated NY Times crossword
Today’s Theme: None
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Bill’s time: 26m 18s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
11. Stumpers? : POLS
“To stump” can mean to go on a speaking tour during a political campaign. This peculiarly American term dates back to the 19th century. Back then a stump speech was an address given by someone standing on a large tree stump that provided a convenient perch to help the speaker get his or her message across to the crowd.
15. Repetitive farewell from “The Sound of Music” : ADIEU ADIEU
“So Long, Farewell” is a song from the stage musical “The Sound of Music”.
“Adieu” is the French for “goodbye” or “farewell”, from “à Dieu” meaning “to God”. The plural of “adieu” is “adieux”.
“The Sound of Music” is a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that was made into a celebrated movie in 1965 starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The musical is based on “The Story of the Trapp Family Singers”, a memoir by Maria von Trapp. The von Trapp family ended up in Stowe, Vermont after the war, and one family descended from the Vermont von Trapps lives here in the same town in which I live in California.
16. Place : LIEU
As one might imagine perhaps, “in lieu” came into English from the Old French word “lieu” meaning “place”, which in turn is derived from the Latin “locum” that also means “place”. So, “in lieu” translates as “in place of”.
19. Swam with the fishes, say : SNORKELED
Our word “snorkel” comes from German navy slang “Schnorchel” meaning “nose, snout”. The German slang was applied to an air-shaft used for submarines, due to its resemblance to a nose, in that air passed through it and it made a “snoring” sound. “Schnorchel” comes from “Schnarchen”, the German for “snore”.
20. Prominent instrument in raga music : SITAR
The sitar has been around since the Middle Ages. It is a stringed instrument that is played by plucking, and is used most often in Hindustani classical music. In the West we have been exposed to the instrument largely through the performances of Ravi Shankar and some music by George Harrison of the Beatles, a onetime student of Shankar.
Raga isn’t really a genre of music, but has been described as the “tonal framework” in which Indian classical music is composed. Ravi Shankar was perhaps the most famous raga virtuoso (to us Westerners). Western rock music with a heavy Indian influence might be called raga rock.
22. Creek relative : SEMINOLE
The Seminole people originally came from what is know called Florida. Increasing migration of European Americans into Seminole lands led to the three Seminole Wars, the first starting in 1818, the last ending in 1858. The basic outcome of the wars was the relocation of the vast majority of Seminoles to reservations in Oklahoma.
24. It was launched on the same day as Windows 95 : MSN
The Microsoft Network (MSN) used to be an Internet service provider (ISP). These days, MSN is mainly a web portal.
25. Proud, passionate type, supposedly : LEO
The constellation named Leo can be said to resemble a lion. Others say that it resembles a bent coat hanger. “Leo” is the Latin for “lion”, but I’m not sure how to translate “coat hanger” into Latin …
34. Simple business, frankly speaking? : HOT DOG STAND
The frankfurter sausage that is typically used in a North American hot dog get its name from Frankfurter Würstchen. The latter is a German sausage that is prepared by boiling in water, just like a hot dog frank.
37. Main antagonist in “Toy Story” : SID
1995’s “Toy Story” was the world’s first feature-length computer-animated movie. “Toy Story” was also the studio Pixar’s first production. The main roles in the film are Woody and Buzz Lightyear, who are voiced by Tom Hanks and Tim Allen respectively. Hanks was the first choice to voice Woody, but Allen was asked to voice Buzz after Billy Crystal turned down the role.
44. Former Spice Girl Halliwell : GERI
Geri Halliwell was nicknamed Ginger Spice when she was with the Spice Girls, because of her red hair. Halliwell was quite a bit older than the rest of the group and so sometimes she was less charitably referred to as “Old Spice”. After launching her solo career, Halliwell released a fabulous 2001 version of the song “It’s Raining Men”, which was originally recorded by the Weather Girls in 1982. Great song …
50. Emmy-winning newsman Roger : MUDD
After a career with CBS and NBC, Roger Mudd was more recently an anchor for the History Channel. Mudd is perhaps best known for his 1979 interview with Senator Edward Kennedy. Ted Kennedy’s lackluster responses to some of Mudd’s questions were cited as the reason support plummeted for the senator’s 1980 Presidential nomination.
52. Saucony competitor : AVIA
The Avia brand name for athletic shoes was chosen as “avia” is the Latin word for “to fly”, and suggests the concept of aviation. Avia was founded in Oregon in 1979.
Saucony is a sportswear manufacturer that is known mainly making athletic shoes. The company was founded in 1898 on the banks of Saucony Creek in Pennsylvania, hence the name.
54. Tammany Hall cartoonist : NAST
Thomas Nast was an American caricaturist and cartoonist. Nast was the creator of the Republican Party elephant, the Democratic Party donkey, Uncle Sam and the image of the plump and jocular Santa Claus that we use today. Thomas Nast drew some famous cartoons in which he depicted the Tammany Society as a vicious tiger that was killing democracy. Nast’s use of the tiger symbology caught on and was used by other cartoonists to harp at the society.
The building known as Tammany Hall was home to the Tammany Society, an organization in New York City that came to be the political machine behind the Democratic Party that held sway in New York State from the late-18th century to the mid-20th century. The society was named for Tamanend, a leader of the Native American Lenape people.
55. Elite operative, for short : US NAVY SEAL
“SEAL” is an acronym used by the US Navy’s SEa, Air and Land teams. The SEALs were born out of the Navy’s special warfare groups from WWII, like the Underwater Demolition Teams and the Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons. The Navy SEAL unit was established soon after President Kennedy’s famous speech in which he announced the plan to put a man on the moon, as in the same speech the president allocated $100m of funding to strengthen special operations forces. The Navy used some of this money to set up guerrilla and counter-guerrilla units, which soon became the SEALs.
Down
1. Aromatic resin : BALSAM
The Balsam fir is an evergreen tree that is native to eastern and central North America. The Balsam is commonly used as a Christmas tree, especially in the northeastern US.
2. Studmuffin : ADONIS
In Greek mythology, Adonis is a beautiful young god loved by Aphrodite. Adonis dies in a hunting accident (gored by a boar), but not before he gives Aphrodite a child. Adonis was originally a Phoenician god “absorbed” into Greek lore (Phoenicia is modern day Lebanon). The child born of Adonis to Aphrodite was called Beroe, after which is named Beirut, the capital city of Lebanon. We also use the term “adonis” to mean “beautiful male”.
3. Two-pointed hat worn by Napoleon : BICORN
Something described as bicorn is crescent-shaped, or two-horned. The term comes from the Latin “cornu” meaning “horn”.
8. Frasier’s brother on “Frasier” : NILES
In the sitcom called “Frasier”, Niles Crane is the brother of the title character Frasier Crane. Frasier is played by Kelsey Grammer and Niles is played by David Hyde Pierce. Frasier was originally intended to be an only child in the show’s storyline, but the producers decided to add a brother when they noted the remarkable similarity in appearance between David Hyde Pierce and Kelsey Grammer.
9. Scientists who measure the exact shape and size of Earth : GEODESISTS
The term “geodesic” applied originally to the shortest route between any two points on the Earth’s surface. In this sense, a geodesic is an arc, a segment of a great circle that goes around the whole of the Earth. A geodesic dome is a structure that gets its strength from an interlocking network of triangular elements. The sides of those triangles are geodesics, arced segments of great circles that encompass the dome.
10. Big ___ : SUR
Big Sur is a lovely part of the California Coast located south of Monterey and Carmel. The name “Big Sur” comes from the original Spanish description of the area as “el sur grande” meaning “the big south”.
14. International soccer star Luis ___ : SUAREZ
Luis Suárez is soccer player on the Barcelona football team, as well as the Uruguay national team. As well as having a reputation as great soccer striker, Suárez is known for biting at least three of his opponents on the field (believe it or not!).
20. First name in psychoanalysis : SIGMUND
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.
23. People of southern Kenya : MAASAI
The Masai (also “Maasai”) are a semi-nomadic people found in Kenya and Tanzania. They are semi-nomadic in that over the years they have been migrating from the Lower Nile Valley in northwest Kenya, and are moving into Tanzania.
26. Author Welty : EUDORA
Eudora Welty was an author from Jackson, Mississippi who wrote short stories and novels about the American South. Welty won a Pulitzer in 1973 for her novel “The Optimist’s Daughter”. She was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 1980.
31. Trash-talk : DIS
“Dis” is a slang term meaning “insult” that originated in the eighties. It is a shortened form of “disrespect” or “dismiss”.
32. Massive resource: Abbr. : OED
Work started on what was to become the first “Oxford English Dictionary” (OED) in 1857. Several interim versions of the dictionary were published in the coming years with the first full version appearing, in ten bound volumes, in 1928. The second edition of the OED appeared in 1989 and is made up of twenty volumes. The OED was first published in electronic form in 1988 and went online in 2000. Given the modern use of computers, the publishing house responsible feels that there will never be a third print version of the famous dictionary.
33. What Hawaii has that Alaska lacks? : DOTTED I’S
There are two dotted letters I in the word “Hawaii”, and none in the word “Alaska”.
39. Shaded ring : AREOLA
An areola (sometimes “areole”) in anatomy is a small ring of color, as in the areola surrounding the nipple, and the areola surrounding the pupil of the eye. “Areola” comes from Latin, meaning “small open space”, and is a diminutive of the Latin word “area”, meaning “open space”.
43. Titular misanthrope in a Shakespeare play : TIMON
Timon of Athens was noted for renouncing society, for being someone who despised mankind. Timon started out life as a wealthy man, but he lost all his money by pandering to the needs of his friends. Without money, Timon’s friends deserted him. Timon became rich again when he found a pot of gold, and so his friends sought him out once more. Timon was very embittered and so drove everyone away and lived the rest of his life as a hermit. Centuries after he died, Timon of Athens was to become the title character in “Timon of Athens”, a play by William Shakespeare
47. Already: Fr. : DEJA
“Déjà vu” is French for “already seen”.
51. Computer hardware inits. : CPU
The central processing unit (CPU) is the main component on the motherboard of a computer. The CPU is the part of the computer that carries out most of the functions required by a program. Nowadays you can get CPUs in everything from cars to telephones.
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1. Alternatives to strollers : BABY SLINGS
11. Stumpers? : POLS
15. Repetitive farewell from “The Sound of Music” : ADIEU ADIEU
16. Place : LIEU
17. Show around the area? : LOCAL COLOR
18. Word from the Latin for “seaweed” : ALGA
19. Swam with the fishes, say : SNORKELED
20. Prominent instrument in raga music : SITAR
21. Put on ___ : AIRS
22. Creek relative : SEMINOLE
24. It was launched on the same day as Windows 95 : MSN
25. Proud, passionate type, supposedly : LEO
28. Downturn : SAG
29. Rapper ___ Khalifa : WIZ
30. Blarney stone? : FAUX DIAMOND
33. Problems resulting from a poor paternal relationship : DADDY ISSUES
34. Simple business, frankly speaking? : HOT DOG STAND
35. Trick : GET
36. It comes before long : ERE
37. Main antagonist in “Toy Story” : SID
38. Bit : TAD
41. Causing change : ALTERANT
44. Former Spice Girl Halliwell : GERI
45. ___ Falls, N.Y. : GLENS
46. Auction figures : BID PRICES
50. Emmy-winning newsman Roger : MUDD
51. Seller of shooting equipment : CAMERA SHOP
52. Saucony competitor : AVIA
53. Spitball, e.g. : PROJECTILE
54. Tammany Hall cartoonist : NAST
55. Elite operative, for short : US NAVY SEAL
Down
1. Aromatic resin : BALSAM
2. Studmuffin : ADONIS
3. Two-pointed hat worn by Napoleon : BICORN
4. All these ___ … : YEARS
5. Show signs of a sore loser : SULK
6. Spike : LACE
7. Subject of devotion : IDOL
8. Frasier’s brother on “Frasier” : NILES
9. Scientists who measure the exact shape and size of Earth : GEODESISTS
10. Big ___ : SUR
11. Everyday : PLAIN
12. Houston and Dallas, historically : OIL TOWNS
13. Passport or driver’s license : LEGAL ID
14. International soccer star Luis ___ : SUAREZ
20. First name in psychoanalysis : SIGMUND
23. People of southern Kenya : MAASAI
25. Equipment found in warehouse stores : LADDERS
26. Author Welty : EUDORA
27. Places to go out and have a gas? : OXYGEN BARS
30. Excess : FAT
31. Trash-talk : DIS
32. Massive resource: Abbr. : OED
33. What Hawaii has that Alaska lacks? : DOTTED I’S
34. Extremely, informally : HELLUVA
35. Comedian : GAGMAN
38. Expert on bugs : TECHIE
39. Shaded ring : AREOLA
40. Drive away : DISPEL
42. Stop by : END AT
43. Titular misanthrope in a Shakespeare play : TIMON
44. Hearts : GISTS
47. Already: Fr. : DEJA
48. “Go back” button abbr. on some remotes : PREV
49. Off-color : RACY
51. Computer hardware inits. : CPU
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