1015-18 NY Times Crossword 15 Oct 18, Monday

Constructed by: Amanda Chung & Karl Ni
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Reveal Answer: Young at Heart

Themed answers include hidden words defined by circled letters. Those hidden words AT the HEART (the middle) of each themed answer is a YOUNG animal:

  • 67A. With 68-Across, still feeling like a teenager, say … or a hint to the answers with shading : YOUNG …
  • 68A. See 67-Across : … AT HEART
  • 1A. Night demon : INCUBUS (CUB at heart)
  • 8A. Japanese dog : AKITA (KIT at heart)
  • 22A. Cable material that transmits data using light : OPTICAL FIBER (CALF at heart)
  • 39A. “Really?!” : ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! (KID at heart)
  • 49A. Legendary jazz saxophonist : JOHN COLTRANE (COLT at heart)

Bill’s time: 5m 33s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1. Night demon : INCUBUS (CUB at heart)

In folklore, a succubus is a female demon that takes on the form of an attractive female in order to seduce unwitting men. The succubus draws energy from the seduced men in order to survive, using sexual intercourse in the same way that a vampire might suck blood for the same purpose. The word succubus derives from the Latin “succubare”, itself from “sub” “cubare” meaning “to lie under”. There is a male equivalent to a succubus, namely an incubus.

8. Japanese dog : AKITA (KIT at heart)

The Akita breed of dog is named for its point of origin, the Akita Prefecture in Japan. When Helen Keller visited Japan in 1937, she asked for and was given an Akita breed of dog, with the name of Kamikaze-go. Sadly, the dog died within a year from distemper. The following year the Japanese government officially presented Keller with a replacement dog. Supposedly Keller’s dogs were the first members of the breed to be introduced into the US.

18. French novelist ___ France : ANATOLE

“Anatole France” was the pen name for French poet and novelist François-Anatole Thibault. France won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1921.

19. Perfume, as in a religious ceremony : CENSE

To cense is to perfume with incense. Such a lovely word …

20. Neither Dem. nor Rep. : IND

Independent (Ind)

21. “Mamma ___!” : MIA

The hit musical “Mamma Mia!” was written to showcase the songs of ABBA. I’m a big fan of ABBA’s music, so I’ve seen this show a couple of times and just love it. “Mamma Mia!” is such a big hit on the stage that on any given day there are at least seven performances going on somewhere in the world. There is a really interesting film version of the show that was released in 2008. I think the female lead Meryl Streep is wonderful in the movie, but the male leads … not so much! By the way, one can tell the difference between “Mamma Mia” the ABBA song and “Mamma Mia!” the musical, by noting the difference in the punctuation in the titles.

22. Cable material that transmits data using light : OPTICAL FIBER (CALF at heart)

Optical fibers are lengths of glass or plastic that are slightly thicker than a human hair. They are usually bundled into cables, and then used for transmission of data signals. Optical transmission has advantages over electrical transmission, especially in terms of interference and loss of signal strength.

30. Western tribe member : UTE

The Ute are a group of Native American tribes who now reside in Utah and Colorado. The Ute were not a unified people as such, but rather a loose association of nomadic groups. The word “Ute” means “Land of the Sun”, and “Ute” also gave us the state name “Utah”.

31. Candied Thanksgiving dish : YAM

Although in the US we sometimes refer to sweet potatoes as “yams”, the yam is actually a completely different family of plants. True yams are more common in other parts of the the world than they are in this country, and are especially common in Africa.

Thanksgiving Day was observed on different dates in different states for many years, until Abraham Lincoln fixed the date for the whole country in 1863. Lincoln’s presidential proclamation set that date as the last Thursday in November. In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday to the fourth Thursday in November, arguing that the earlier date would give the economy a much-needed boost.

32. Dog with a wrinkly face : PUG

The pug is a breed of dog of Chinese origin. Our current family pet is a boxer/pug cross, and is a good-looking mutt!

33. Transportation in the Old West : STAGE

Although the stagecoach is very much associated with the Wild West, the vehicle originated in England in the 16th century. Stagecoaches provided transportation for travellers and goods over long distances. The rest points for the travellers were known as “stages”, and later “stations”, hence the name “stagecoach”.

35. Stand around the mall? : KIOSK

Our word “kiosk” came to us via French and Turkish from the Persian “kushk” meaning “palace, portico”.

42. Alternative to a convertible or station wagon : SEDAN

The American sedan car is the equivalent of the British saloon car. By definition, a sedan car has two rows of seating and a separate trunk (boot in the UK), although in some models the engine can be at the rear of the car.

44. ___ G BIV (mnemonic) : ROY

“Roy G. Biv” can be used as a mnemonic for the colors in a rainbow:

  • Red
  • Orange
  • Yellow
  • Green
  • Blue
  • Indigo
  • Violet

45. Wrestler Flair : RIC

The wrestler Ric Flair’s real name is Richard Fliehr. Perhaps following the lead of his compatriot Jesse Ventura, Flair explored the possibility of running for governor of the state of North Carolina.

47. ___ system (GPS device) : NAV

The modern Global Positioning System (GPS) system that we use today was built by the US military who received the massive funding needed because of fears during the Cold War of the use of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. We civilians, all round the world, owe a lot to President Ronald Reagan because he directed the military to make GPS technology available to the public for the common good. President Reagan was moved to do so after the Soviet Union shot down KAL flight 007 carrying 269 people, just because the plane strayed accidentally into Soviet airspace.

49. Legendary jazz saxophonist : JOHN COLTRANE (COLT at heart)

John Coltrane was a jazz saxophonist who also went by the nickname “Trane”. John’s son Ravi Coltrane is also a noted jazz saxophonist.

55. Gov. Cuomo’s constituency: Abbr. : NYS

Andrew Cuomo won the gubernatorial election for the State of New York (NYS) in 2010. Andrew is the son of former Governor of New York Mario Cuomo. Andrew was also married for 13 years to Kerry Kennedy, a daughter of Robert F. Kennedy.

56. Dough raiser : YEAST

Yeasts are unicellular microorganisms in the Fungi kingdom. The species of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been used for centuries in the making of wine and beer, and in breadmaking. Saccharomyces cerevisiae converts carbohydrates into carbon dioxide and alcohol in the process of fermentation. When making beer and wine, the carbon dioxide and alcohol may be captured by the liquid. When making bread, the carbon dioxide and alcohol is driven off by heat.

60. Question ending many a riddle : WHAT AM I?

Here are a few riddles:

  1. Imagine you are in a dark room. How do you get out?
  2. What can travel around the world while staying in a corner?
  3. There is a word and six letters it contains. Take one away and twelve is what remains. What word is it?
  4. Two girls were born to the same mother, on the same day, at the same time, in the same month and year and yet they’re not twins. How can this be?
  5. What is so delicate that even saying its name will break it?
  6. What word in the English Language is always spelled incorrectly?

And the answers:

  1. Stop imagining.
  2. A stamp
  3. Dozens
  4. They’re in a set of triplets
  5. Silence
  6. Incorrectly

65. Container typically with a pull tab : SODA CAN

The term “pop top” refers to a whole family of designs for opening the top of a soda can. The oldest method is the “pull tab” or “ring pull”, invented in Canada in 1956. The design was long-lived, but it had its problems, so the world heaved a sigh of relief with the invention of the stay-on-tab in 1975. The new design led to less injuries and eliminated all those used pull tabs that littered the streets.

Down

1. Apple computer : 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.

5. Curl target, informally : BICEP

The biceps muscle is made up of two bundles of muscle, both of which terminate at the same point near the elbow. The heads of the bundles terminate at different points on the scapula or shoulder blade. “Biceps” is Latin for “two-headed”.

6. Card game made by Mattel : UNO

UNO is a card game that was developed in the early seventies and that has been sold by Mattel since 1992. UNO falls into the “shedding” family of card games, in that the goal is to get rid of all your cards while preventing opponents from doing the same.

7. ___ Friday (main role on “Dragnet”): Abbr. : SGT

The TV detective show “Dragnet” opened up each episode with lines spoken by the character Sergeant Joe Friday:

This is the city, Los Angeles, California, I work here. I’m a cop.

In later series, the phrase “I’m a cop” was replaced with “I carry a badge”.

8. Yoga posture : ASANA

“Asana” is a Sanskrit word literally meaning “sitting down”. The asanas are the poses that a practitioner of yoga assumes. The most famous is the lotus position, the cross-legged pose called “padmasana”.

10. Suffragist ___ B. Wells : IDA

Ida B. Wells was an African-American journalist and leader of the civil rights movement. She published a pamphlet in 1892 called “Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases”, which publicized the horrors of lynching of African Americans by white mobs in the South.

11. Vietnamese New Year : TET

The full name for the New Year holiday in Vietnam is “Tet Nguyen Dan” meaning “Feast of the First Morning”, with the reference being to the arrival of the season of spring. Tet usually falls on the same day as Chinese New Year.

12. Manhattan Project weapon, informally : A-BOMB

The Manhattan project was the joint US-Canada-UK project to develop an atomic bomb during WWII. Initially, the Army headquarters for the program was located on the 18th floor of a building on Broadway in New York City. Eventually, because of that first location, the project adopted the name “Manhattan”.

15. Peace Nobelist Wiesel : ELIE

Elie Wiesel was a holocaust survivor, and is best known for his book “Night” that tells of his experiences in Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. He was also the first recipient of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum Award, which was later renamed the Elie Wiesel Award in his honor.

20. Planets like Neptune and Uranus : ICE GIANTS

The eight planets of our solar system can be sorted into two categories. Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are “terrestrials” as they are largely composed of rock. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are “gas giants”, as they are largely composed of gaseous material. Uranus and Neptune can be called “ice giants”, a subcategory of gas giants. Ice giants have a lower mass than other gas giants, with very little hydrogen and helium in their atmospheres and a higher proportion of rock and ice.

23. Ballerina’s skirt : TUTU

The word “tutu”, used for a ballet dancer’s skirt, is actually a somewhat “naughty” term. It came into English from French in the early 20th century. The French “tutu” is an alteration of the word “cucu”, a childish word meaning “bottom, backside”.

25. Eastern ascetic : FAKIR

A fakir (also “faqir”) is an ascetic in the Muslim tradition. The term “fakir” is derived from “faqr”, an Arabic word for “poverty”.

27. Mineral springs : SPAS

The word “spa” migrated into English from Belgium, as Spa is the name of a municipality in the east of the country that is famous for its healing hot springs. The name “Spa” comes from the Walloon word “espa” meaning “spring, fountain”.

33. Drive-in chain featuring carhops : SONIC

SONIC Drive-In is a fast-food restaurant chain that is noted for its carhops who serve patrons on roller skates. SONIC was founded in Shawnee, Oklahoma in 1953 as Top Hat Drive-In. The restaurant introduced curbside speakers to hasten the ordering process. This led to the adoption of the slogan “Service at the Speed of Sound”, and renaming of the chain to SONIC.

34. Tarzan creator ___ Rice Burroughs : EDGAR

Edgar Rice Burroughs (ERB) was an author from Chicago who is best known as the creator of the “Tarzan” series of novels. Burroughs’ daughter Joan ended up marrying James Pierce, the actor who was the fourth to portray Tarzan on film. James and Joan Pierce also worked together, playing Tarzan and Jane on the radio show “Tarzan” from 1932 to 1934.

37. Pollution from car emissions, in part : SMOG

“Smog” is a portmanteau formed by melding “smoke” and “fog”. The term was first used to describe the air around London in the early 1900s. Several cities around the world have a reputation of being particularly smoggy. For example, the most smog-plagued city in Latin America is Mexico City, which is located in a highland “bowl” that traps industrial and vehicle pollution.

41. Hindu divinity : DEVA

In the Hindu transition, the devas are benevolent deities. The female form of “deva” is “devi”.

48. Classic VW : BEETLE

VW stands for Volkswagen, which translates from German into “people’s car”. The original Volkswagen design was the Beetle and was built under a directive from Adolf Hitler, who wanted a cheap car built that ordinary people could afford to purchase. He awarded the contract to engineer Ferdinand Porsche, whose name (paradoxically) would forever be associated with high performance, expensive cars. The Beetle was the official name of the VW model released in North America, but it was usually referred to as a “Bug” here in the US, and a “Beetle” elsewhere in the world.

49. Movie with an iconic theme that starts with two alternating notes : JAWS

“Jaws” is a thrilling 1975 movie directed by Steven Spielberg that is based on a novel of the same name by Peter Benchley. The film has a powerful cast, led by Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw. “Jaws” was perhaps the first “summer blockbuster” with the highest box office take in history, a record that stood until “Star Wars” was released two years later.

53. Forest or mountain maiden of myth : NYMPH

In Greek and Roman mythology, nymphs were divine female spirits associated with a particular location or landform in nature.

61. “___ Te Ching” : TAO

Lao Tse (also “Lao-Tzu”) was a central figure in the development of the religion/philosophy of Taoism. Tradition holds that Lao-Tzu wrote the “Tao Te Ching”, a classical Chinese text that is fundamental to the philosophy of Taoism.

62. Prefix with pressure or puncture : ACU-

Acupressure and acupuncture are related alternative medical techniques. Both aim to clear blockages in the flow of life energy through the body’s meridians. The treatment is given by stimulating “acupoints’ in the body, by applying pressure in the case of acupressure, and by applying needles in the case of acupuncture.

63. Mesozoic, for one : ERA

The Mesozoic Era is also known as “the Age of the Dinosaurs” and “the Age of Reptiles”. Most dinosaurs developed during that time and the era ended with the extinction of all dinosaurs (except the avian species, which developed into our modern birds). The Mesozoic Era started with another cataclysmic event, the so called “Great Dying”, the largest mass extinction in the history of our planet. During the “Great Dying” over 90% of all marine species and 70% of all terrestrial vertebrate species died off.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Night demon : INCUBUS (CUB at heart)
8. Japanese dog : AKITA (KIT at heart)
13. Romantically daydreaming of, with “over” : MOONING
14. Not the main wager : SIDE BET
17. Brandy fruit : APRICOT
18. French novelist ___ France : ANATOLE
19. Perfume, as in a religious ceremony : CENSE
20. Neither Dem. nor Rep. : IND
21. “Mamma ___!” : MIA
22. Cable material that transmits data using light : OPTICAL FIBER (CALF at heart)
27. Read, as a bar code : SCAN
30. Western tribe member : UTE
31. Candied Thanksgiving dish : YAM
32. Dog with a wrinkly face : PUG
33. Transportation in the Old West : STAGE
35. Stand around the mall? : KIOSK
39. “Really?!” : ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! (KID at heart)
42. Alternative to a convertible or station wagon : SEDAN
43. ___ beaver : EAGER
44. ___ G BIV (mnemonic) : ROY
45. Wrestler Flair : RIC
47. ___ system (GPS device) : NAV
48. Pleads : BEGS
49. Legendary jazz saxophonist : JOHN COLTRANE (COLT at heart)
54. King topper : ACE
55. Gov. Cuomo’s constituency: Abbr. : NYS
56. Dough raiser : YEAST
60. Question ending many a riddle : WHAT AM I?
63. State symbol of Massachusetts : ELM TREE
65. Container typically with a pull tab : SODA CAN
66. Answers : REPLIES
67. With 68-Across, still feeling like a teenager, say … or a hint to the answers with shading : YOUNG …
68. See 67-Across : … AT HEART

Down

1. Apple computer : IMAC
2. “Huh-uh” : NOPE
3. Food that’s husked : CORN
4. Togetherness : UNISON
5. Curl target, informally : BICEP
6. Card game made by Mattel : UNO
7. ___ Friday (main role on “Dragnet”): Abbr. : SGT
8. Yoga posture : ASANA
9. In a gentle manner : KINDLY
10. Suffragist ___ B. Wells : IDA
11. Vietnamese New Year : TET
12. Manhattan Project weapon, informally : A-BOMB
15. Peace Nobelist Wiesel : ELIE
16. Rip : TEAR
20. Planets like Neptune and Uranus : ICE GIANTS
23. Ballerina’s skirt : TUTU
24. “May ___ your coat?” : I TAKE
25. Eastern ascetic : FAKIR
26. “You can count on me” : I’M IN
27. Mineral springs : SPAS
28. Goal of cancer research : CURE
29. Elderly : AGED
33. Drive-in chain featuring carhops : SONIC
34. Tarzan creator ___ Rice Burroughs : EDGAR
36. Fairy tale fiend : OGRE
37. Pollution from car emissions, in part : SMOG
38. Unfortunate things to leave locked in a car : KEYS
40. Tall tale : YARN
41. Hindu divinity : DEVA
46. Scammer : CON MAN
48. Classic VW : BEETLE
49. Movie with an iconic theme that starts with two alternating notes : JAWS
50. Eight: Sp. : OCHO
51. Intoxicating : HEADY
52. Making up stories : LYING
53. Forest or mountain maiden of myth : NYMPH
57. Opera solo : ARIA
58. One with a crystal ball : SEER
59. Try out : TEST
61. “___ Te Ching” : TAO
62. Prefix with pressure or puncture : ACU-
63. Mesozoic, for one : ERA
64. Call from a tennis official : LET!

7 thoughts on “1015-18 NY Times Crossword 15 Oct 18, Monday”

  1. 9:02. Regarding the post for 60A: I got the last 4 riddles but not the first two. Number 1 made me laugh harder than a (supposedly) grown man of 55 should laugh at such a thing.

    Best –

  2. No errors. Maybe a little harder than the typical Monday. As usual, I had only a partial understanding of the theme. I saw that they were all “young” but did not pick up on how they were all at the “heart” of the answers. Thanks to Bill for his ever-enlightening puzzle skills.

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