0427-19 NY Times Crossword 27 Apr 19, Saturday

Constructed by: Joe Deeney
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme: None

Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers

Bill’s time: 12m 10s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 Extra in 2009’s “Public Enemies” : G-MAN

The nickname “G-men” is short for “government men” and refers to agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

“Public Enemies” is a 2009 crime drama tells the story of bank robber John Dillinger and his pursuit by the FBI. Star of the movie is Johnny Depp, who plays Dillinger.

14 Dawn of the Space Age? : EARTHRISE

“Earthrise” is the appearance of the Earth above the horizon when viewed from, say, the moon. There is a famous photograph with the title “Earthrise” that was taken from lunar orbit by astronaut William Anders during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968. The picture shows the Earth rising above the surface of the moon, and is a beautiful image.

16 Primer libro del Nuevo Testamento : MATEO

In Spanish, the “primer libro del Nuevo Testamento” (first book of the New Testament) is “Mateo” (Matthew).

The Gospel of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament in the Christian Bible. Despite the book’s title, the author is not named, with the words “according to Matthew” added about two centuries after it was written.

18 Crowdsourced compendia : WIKIS

A wiki is a website on which users are allowed to create and edit content themselves. The term “wiki” comes from the name of the first such site, introduced in 1994 and called WikiWikiWeb. “Wiki” is a Hawaiian word for “quick”, and is used because comprehensive content is created very quickly a there are so many collaborators contributing to the site.

Crowdsourcing is mainly an online phenomenon, and is the solicitation of perhaps services, ideas or content from a large group of people. “Crowdsourcing” is a portmanteau of “crowd” and “outsourcing”. An example of crowdsourcing is crowdfunding, where an individual solicits many small contributions from a large number of people to fund a project.

19 Autumn “invader” : LEAF PEEPER

“Leaf peeping” is the name given to the activity of viewing and photographing the change in the colors of foliage during the fall. Leaf peepers usually head for New England and the American Midwest in order to enjoy the rich colors exhibited by deciduous trees and shrubs in the autumn months.

21 Delta deposit : SILT

A river delta is a triangular landform at the mouth of a river created by the deposition of sediment. The Nile Delta in Northern Egypt is one of the world’s largest river deltas, and covers 150 miles of coastline on the Mediterranean. The most famous “delta” in the United States isn’t actually a delta at all. The Mississippi Delta is an alluvial plain that lies 300 miles north of the river’s actual delta, yet it is known as the “Mississippi River Delta”. Very confusing …

30 Stunted growth : BONSAI

The term “bonsai” is used more correctly to describe the Japanese art of growing carefully shaped trees in containers, although it has come to be used as the name for all miniature trees in pots.

32 Big Ten school : IOWA

The Iowa Hawkeyes are the sports teams of the University of Iowa in Iowa City. The school’s mascot is Herky the Hawk, who first appeared at n Iowa State football game in 1959.

34 Slightly : A TAD

Back in the 1800s, “tad” was used to describe a young child, and this extended into our usage of “small amount” in the early 1900s. The original use of “tad” for a child is very likely a shortened version of “tadpole”.

41 Half of a long-running Vegas show : PENN

Penn Jillette is one half of the duo of magicians known as Penn & Teller (Penn is the one who talks). Penn teamed up with Teller on stage in 1981, having met him through a friend back in 1974. As well as being talkative onstage, Penn is very vocal offstage when it comes his causes and beliefs. He is a devout atheist, a libertarian and a supporter of free-market capitalism.

42 Prepare, as scallops : SEAR

A scallop is a marine mollusk that is often served as seafood. Scallops are often served baked in milk and this method of preparation has become known as “scalloping”. So, scalloped potatoes are potatoes baked in milk.

47 “Inside the N.B.A.” channel : TNT

TNT stands for Turner Network Television. The TNT cable channel made a big splash in the eighties when it started to broadcast old MGM movies that had been “colorized”, not something that was a big hit with the public. In recent years, the TNT programming lineup is touted with the tagline “We Know Drama”, and includes shows like “Judging Amy”, “ER” and “Cold Case”.

50 Lake on the Arizona/Nevada border : MEAD

The reservoir on the Colorado River known as Lake Mead used to the largest reservoir in the US. Located outside Las Vegas, drought and increasing demand for water has shrunk Lake Mead so that now Lake Sakakawea on the Missouri in North Dakota has a larger surface area and volume of water.

53 Dutch craze of 1636-37, considered the first major speculative bubble : TULIP MANIA

The world’s first ever speculative “bubble” in the financial markets took place in 1637, when the price of tulip bulbs skyrocketed out of control. The tulip had been introduced into Europe a few years earlier and demand for tulips was so high that single bulbs were selling for ten times the annual income of a skilled craftsman. The climb in prices was followed quickly by a collapse in the market that was so striking that the forces at play were given the term “tulip mania”. To this day, any large economic bubble may be referred to as “tulip mania”.

58 Actress Knightley : KEIRA

The English actress Keira Knightley had her big break in movies when she co-starred in 2002’s “Bend It Like Beckham”. Knightley played one of my favorite movie roles, Elizabeth Bennett in 2005’s “Pride and Prejudice”. Knightley won a Golden Globe for that performance, although that 2005 film isn’t the best adaptation of Austen’s novel in my humble opinion …

63 Core belief : TENET

A tenet is an article of faith, something that is held to be true. “Tenet” is Latin for “he holds”.

Down

2 Zap lightly : LASE

The term “laser” is an acronym standing for “light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation”. It has been pointed out that a more precise name for laser technology is “light oscillation by stimulated emission of radiation”, but the resulting acronym isn’t quite so appealing, namely “loser”.

3 Major thing in the heavens? : URSA

The constellation Ursa Major (Latin for “Larger Bear”) is often just called “the Big Dipper” because of its resemblance to a ladle or dipper. Ursa Major also resembles a plow, and that’s what we usually call the same constellation back in Ireland, “the Plough”.

8 Site of one of Hercules’ labors : NEMEA

“The Twelve Labors of Hercules” is actually a Greek myth, although Hercules is the Roman name for the hero that the Greeks called Heracles. The first of these labors was to slay the Nemean lion, a monster that lived in a cave near Nemea. Hercules had a tough job as the lion’s golden fur was impenetrable to normal weapons. One version of the story is that Hercules killed the lion by shooting an arrow into its mouth. Another version says that Hercules stunned the monster with a club and then strangled him with his bare hands.

9 “Freude am Fahren” (“The joy of driving”) sloganeer : BMW

The initialism “BMW” stands for Bayerische Motoren Werke, which translates into Bavarian Motor Works. BMW was making aircraft engines during WWI, but had to cease that activity according to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The company then started making motorcycles, and moved into automobile production starting in 1928. BMW moved back into aircraft engine manufacturing during the build-up of the Luftwaffe prior to WWII.

10 Movie theater purchase : RAISINETS

Raisinets are chocolate-covered raisins produced by Nestlé. They are often sold in boxes in movie theaters.

11 Early 2000s low-carb fad : ATKINS DIET

Perhaps most notably, the eating of relatively few carbohydrates is central to the diet proposed by Robert Atkins. Atkins first laid out the principles behind the Atkins diet in a research paper published in 1958 in the “Journal of the American Medical Association”. He popularized his diet starting in 1972 with his book “Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution”.

12 English author of “Stardust,” “American Gods” and “The Graveyard Book” : NEIL GAIMAN

Neil Gaiman is an English author whose works include novels, comic books and graphic novels.

13 “If thou ___ marry, I’ll give thee this plague for thy dowry”: Hamlet : DOST

The full title of William Shakespeare’s play that we tend to call “Hamlet” is “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark”. It is the most performed of all Shakespeare’s plays and it is also his longest, the only one of his works comprising over 4,000 lines. That’s about a 4-hour sitting in a theater …

24 Massage deeply : ROLF

Rolfing is a trademarked massage technique developed by Ida Pauline Rolf in the fifties.

25 Five-time Pro Bowler with the Chicago Bears : DITKA

Mike Ditka is a retired NFL player, and retired coach of Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints. Ditka and Tom Flores are the only people to have won Super Bowls as a player, an assistant coach, and as a head coach.

26 Briton who wrote “A Fish Called Wanda” : JOHN CLEESE

The magnificent actor and comedian John Cleese came to the public’s attention as a cast member in the BBC’s comedy sketch show “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”. Cleese then co-wrote and starred in the outstanding comedy “Fawlty Towers”. He even had a role in two “James Bond” films.

The 1988 comedy “A Fish Called Wanda” is a favorite of mine. The film was co-written by and stars John Cleese, and has an exceptional cast including Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Cleese’s friend from “Monty Python”, Michael Palin. Kevin Kline won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance. The “fish” in the film is the con artist Wanda, played by Curtis.

29 Rose on hind legs, with “up” : RARED

Horses “rear up” on their hind legs. I think that the term “rare up” is used withthe same meaning, but it might be slang.

31 Like helium : INERT

Helium is the chemical element with the atomic number 2 and the element symbol “He”. Helium is a gas, and lighter than air. It is the second-most abundant element in the universe (after hydrogen). Helium was first detected in 1868 as an unknown yellow spectral line during a solar eclipse. As such, the gas was named for “Helios”, the Greek god of the Sun.

33 Original title of Shakespeare’s “Henry VIII” (the latter not used until the First Folio in 1623) : ALL IS TRUE

The consensus seems to be that William Shakespeare wrote 38 plays in all. Seven of the plays are about kings called “Henry”:

  • Henry IV, Part 1
  • Henry IV, Part 2
  • Henry V
  • Henry VI, Part 1
  • Henry VI, Part 2
  • Henry VI, Part 3
  • Henry VIII

35 Blows up : DYNAMITES

The explosive called dynamite contains nitroglycerin as its active component. Dynamite also contains diatomaceous earth and sodium carbonate that absorb the nitroglycerin. The absorbed nitroglycerin is far less sensitive to mechanical shock, making it easier to transport and to handle. Famously, dynamite was invented by Alfred Nobel, the man who used his fortune to institute the Nobel Prizes.

38 ___ Reader : UTNE

The “Utne Reader” is known for aggregation and republishing of articles on politics, culture and the environment from other sources in the media. The “Utne Reader” was founded in 1984 by Eric Utne, with management taken over by Eric’s wife Nina Rothschild Utne in 1990.

46 Presses down : TAMPS

“To tamp” means “to pack down tightly by tapping”. “Tamp” was originally used to specifically describe the action of packing down sand or dirt around an explosive prior to detonation.

51 Alfalfa’s sweetie in “The Little Rascals” : DARLA

Alfalfa’s love interest in “Our Gang” was Darla, whose real name was Darla Hood. Hood became quite a successful singer after she grew out of her “Our Gang” role.

54 Zero : LOVE

In tennis the score of zero is designated as “love”. Some people believe that this usage originates from the French “l’oeuf” (meaning “the egg”). The idea is that the written character “0” looks like an egg.

57 Creatures that produce neurotoxins : ASPS

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.

59 Legal advocate: Abbr. : ATT

Attorney (att.)

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Selling point : PLUS
5 Extra in 2009’s “Public Enemies” : G-MAN
9 Pain in the ass? : BRAND
14 Dawn of the Space Age? : EARTHRISE
16 Primer libro del Nuevo Testamento : MATEO
17 Subjective evaluation : ESSAY EXAM
18 Crowdsourced compendia : WIKIS
19 Autumn “invader” : LEAF PEEPER
21 Delta deposit : SILT
22 Swamps : FENS
23 Live : AIRING
25 Party mixers : DJS
28 Ado : STIR
30 Stunted growth : BONSAI
32 Big Ten school : IOWA
34 Slightly : A TAD
36 Welcomed : LED IN
37 What one doesn’t have in an emergency : THE LUXURY OF TIME
40 Protested, in a way : KNELT
41 Half of a long-running Vegas show : PENN
42 Prepare, as scallops : SEAR
43 Not permanent : ACTING
45 Scamper : DART
47 “Inside the N.B.A.” channel : TNT
48 Go ape : LOSE IT
50 Lake on the Arizona/Nevada border : MEAD
52 Email folder : SENT
53 Dutch craze of 1636-37, considered the first major speculative bubble : TULIP MANIA
58 Actress Knightley : KEIRA
60 Start running off? : GO TO PRESS
61 Has left : IS OUT
62 Fail to come to? : OVERSLEEP
63 Core belief : TENET
64 Make a homey home : NEST
65 Fruity coolers : ADES

Down

1 Spa option : PEEL
2 Zap lightly : LASE
3 Major thing in the heavens? : URSA
4 Fill positions in : STAFF
5 It’s paid by polluters : GREEN TAX
6 Gets into a fistfight : MIXES IT UP
7 Stat : ASAP
8 Site of one of Hercules’ labors : NEMEA
9 “Freude am Fahren” (“The joy of driving”) sloganeer : BMW
10 Movie theater purchase : RAISINETS
11 Early 2000s low-carb fad : ATKINS DIET
12 English author of “Stardust,” “American Gods” and “The Graveyard Book” : NEIL GAIMAN
13 “If thou ___ marry, I’ll give thee this plague for thy dowry”: Hamlet : DOST
15 Builds anticipation for : HYPES
20 Tease : RIB
24 Massage deeply : ROLF
25 Five-time Pro Bowler with the Chicago Bears : DITKA
26 Briton who wrote “A Fish Called Wanda” : JOHN CLEESE
27 Mild topping for a burger : SWEET ONION
29 Rose on hind legs, with “up” : RARED
31 Like helium : INERT
33 Original title of Shakespeare’s “Henry VIII” (the latter not used until the First Folio in 1623) : ALL IS TRUE
35 Blows up : DYNAMITES
38 ___ Reader : UTNE
39 Subject to discipline after misbehavior : ON REPORT
44 “Scram, you!” : GIT!
46 Presses down : TAMPS
49 Gently pull : TUG ON
51 Alfalfa’s sweetie in “The Little Rascals” : DARLA
52 Playlet : SKIT
54 Zero : LOVE
55 Beg for : NEED
56 “Makes sense” : I SEE
57 Creatures that produce neurotoxins : ASPS
59 Legal advocate: Abbr. : ATT