0601-19 NY Times Crossword 1 Jun 19, Saturday

Constructed by: Ari Richter
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme: None

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

Bill’s time: 9m 16s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Baseball great who was the subject of the 2006 best seller “Game of Shadows” : BONDS

Barry Bonds is a former baseball player who holds numerous records as a batter. He is a controversial figure in the sport, and was mired for years in baseball’s steroids scandal.

11 Takes heat from : UNARMS

“Packing” and “packing heat” are underworld slang for “carrying a gun”.

13 Political figure who became a CNN commentator in 2015 : AXELROD

David Axelrod was a key advisor to President Barack Obama in his 2008 reelection campaign . Axelrod was also a top advisor to President Bill Clinton while he was in office. More recently, he was appointed as a strategic advisor to the UK’s Labour Party, presumably with the task of helping party leader Ed Miliband win the anticipated 2015 general election. Didn’t happen, not even close …

21 Subject of an overnight lab study : SLEEP APNEA

Sleep apnea (“apnoea” in British English) can be caused by an obstruction in the airways, possibly due to obesity or enlarged tonsils.

23 D.O.T. branch : FAA

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was set up in 1958 (as the Federal Aviation Agency). The agency was established at that particular time largely in response to an increasing number of midair collisions. The worst of these disasters had taken place two years earlier over the Grand Canyon, a crash between two commercial passenger airplanes that resulted in 128 fatalities.

Department of Transportation (DOT)

26 Winner of the lowest-scoring Super Bowl in N.F.L. history (16 total points) : PATRIOT

The New England Patriots football team was founded in 1959 as the Boston Patriots. The “Patriots” name was selected from suggestions made by football fans in Boston. The team played at several different stadiums in the Boston area for just over ten years, before moving to their current home base in Foxborough, Massachusetts. At the time of the move, the “Boston” name was dropped and changed to “New England”.

39 Boston skyscraper, with “the” : PRU

“The Pru” is the familiar name given to the Prudential Tower in Boston. It is currently the second highest building in the city, after the John Hancock Tower. However, if one includes the height of the radio tower on its roof, then it is the highest building in Boston. When it was completed in 1964, the Pru was the tallest building in the country outside of New York City.

40 They’re spotted at fire stations : DALMATIANS

The Dalmatian breed of dog originated in Dalmatia, in the Republic of Croatia. Here in the US, Dalmatians are known as “firehouse dogs”. This association dates back to the use of Dalmatians in firehouses to guard the valuable horses that pulled the fire engines.

49 Like Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo : DECISIVE

Waterloo is a small municipality in Belgium. The name “Waterloo” originated with the Dutch and is probably an anglicization of a Dutch word meaning “wet clearing in a forest”. The town is famous for the Battle of Waterloo that took place nearby in 1815. Said battle was fought between the Imperial French army led by Emperor Napoleon, and an Anglo-Allied army led by Irish-born British Field Marshal, the Duke of Wellington. Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo led to his abdication and the restoration of King Louis XVIII to the throne of France. Bonaparte was exiled to the British-owned island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died in 1821. Such is the fame of the battle that the term “Waterloo” is used figuratively today for any decisive or crushing defeat.

51 Many a yak herder : NEPALI

Nepal lies to the northeast of India. Today, the state is known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. In 2008, the Communist Party of Nepal won the country’s general election. Soon after, the Assembly voted to change the form of government, moving away from a monarchy and creating a secular republic.

The English word “yak” is an Anglicized version of the Tibetan name for the male of the species. Yak milk is much prized in the Tibetan culture. It is made into cheese and butter, and the butter is used to make a tea that is consumed in great volume by Tibetans. The butter is also used as a fuel in lamps, and during festivals the butter is even sculpted into religious icons.

52 Gymnast Biles and others : SIMONES

Simone Biles holds the record for the most gold medals won by an American gymnast in a single Olympic Games. She achieved the feat at the 2016 games held in Rio.

53 “License to Kill” star : DALTON

Timothy Dalton is a British actor who is perhaps best known for playing James Bond in “The Living Daylights” (1987) and “Licence to Kill” (1989). Pierce Brosnan was the first choice to take over the Bond role after Roger Moore, but Brosnan could not get out of his contractual commitment to the show “Remington Steele”. For many years, Dalton was in a relationship with English actress Vanessa Redgrave.

“Licence to Kill” is a 1989 James Bond film, one starring Timothy Dalton as the iconic MI6 agent. One thing to note about “Licence to Kill” is that it is the first film in the series not to use a title of a story authored by Ian Fleming. Also, note that the film was released in the US with the American spelling “License to Kill”, but was sold into the US home video market with the British spelling.

54 Big name in hosiery : L’EGGS

L’eggs is such a clever brand name, I think. L’eggs is a brand of pantyhose (L’eggs = legs), with its product sold, well it used to be, in egg-shaped containers (L’eggs = “the” eggs). The brand was introduced in 1969 and was an instant hit. The inventive marketing of L’eggs pantyhose led to a competitive response by Kayser-Roth who introduced the No Nonsense brand in 1973. The idea behind No Nonsense was that the packaging of L’eggs was just a gimmick, and here was a No Nonsense alternative. L’eggs won the battle though.

55 Longtime film/theater critic Jeffrey : LYONS

Jeffrey Lyons is a TV and film critic from New York City. Interestingly, Lyons spent three seasons training as a field goal kicker with the New York Giants, and seven summers studying bullfighting in Spain.

Down

1 Start of many a morning commute, informally : BURB

Our verb “to commute”, meaning “to go back and forth to work”, ultimately derives from the Latin “commutare”, meaning “to often change”. Back in the late 1800s, a “commutation ticket” was a season pass, so named because it allowed one to “change” one kind of payment into another. Quite interesting …

2 Some first-years after undergrad : ONE LS

“One L” is a name used in general for first-year law students, especially those attending Harvard.

5 Go to pot? : SMOKE

“Potiguaya” is the Mexican-Spanish word for “marijuana leaves”. The slang name “pot” comes from “potiguaya”.

7 Classic blazer fabrics : SERGES

Serge is a type of twill fabric with diagonal ridges on both sides. The name “serge” comes from the Greek word for “silken”.

A blazer is a less formal version of a suit jacket, usually one with a less formal cut and often metal buttons. The original “blazer” was a red jacket worn by members of the rowing club at a Cambridge university in England. The “blazer” is so called because the Cambridge version was “blazing red” in color.

19 Squaw Valley backdrop : TAHOE

Lake Tahoe (often referred to simply as “Tahoe”) is up in the Sierra Nevada mountains, and is located right on the border between California and Nevada. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in the country, and the largest lake in general, behind the five Great Lakes. It’s also the second deepest lake, with only the beautiful Crater Lake in Oregon being deeper. Given its location, there are tall casinos that sit right on the shore on the Nevada side of the state line where gambling is legal.

The Squaw Valley ski resort is in the Lake Tahoe area of California. Squaw Valley was the site of the 1960 Winter Olympics. These were the first Winter Games to be televised live, which gave Squaw Valley a huge commercial boost.

22 Backing : AEGIS

Someone is said to be under the aegis (also “egis”) of someone else if that other person provides protection, or perhaps sponsorship. The word “aegis” comes from the Greek word for a goat (“aigis”). The idea is that the goatskin shield or breastplate, worn by both Zeus and Athena, gave some measure of protection.

27 Group working on P.S.A. campaigns : AD COUNCIL

The Ad Council is nonprofit that produces public service announcements (PSAs) for various groups, including agencies of the US government. Conceived in 1942, the council operated under the name “War Advertising Council” from 1943 to 1946. It was this organization that produced the famous wartime ads promoting military enlistment, conservation of war materials, and the purchase of war bonds. President Franklin D. Roosevelt made it clear that he wanted to the Ad Council to continue its work after the war, and he got his wish.

28 Big name in cookware : T-FAL

Tefal (also “T-Fal”) is a French manufacturer of cookware, famous for its nonstick line. The name “Tefal” is a portmanteau, of TEFlon and ALuminum, the key materials used in producing their pots and pans.

29 Stood on the hind legs, with “up” : RARED

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

31 Product made with steel wool : SOS PAD

S.O.S is a brand of scouring pads made from steel wool impregnated with soap. The product was invented as a giveaway by an aluminum pot salesman in San Francisco called Ed Cox. His wife gave it the name “S.O.S” as an initialism standing for “Save Our Saucepans”. Note the punctuation! There is no period after the last S, and that is deliberate. When Cox went to register the trademark, he found that “S.O.S.” could not be a trademark because it was used as an international distress signal. So he dropped the period after the last S, and I hope made a lot of money for himself and his wife.

32 Dark-skinned grape used in winemaking : SYRAH

The Iranian city of Shiraz has long been associated with wine, but there is no proven link between the city and the wine/grape we know today as “Shiraz” (also called “Syrah”). Having said that, some clay jars were found just outside of the city of Shiraz that contained wine; wine that was 7,000 years old!

33 Locale of London’s Leicester Square : WEST END

The West End of London is a part of the central area of the city that contains many tourist attractions and in particular a large number of theaters. The West End of London is also home to the most expensive office space in the world.

35 Abu Simbel statue honoree : RAMSES

Ramesses (also “Ramses”) was the name taken by eleven of the Egyptian pharaohs. “Ramesses” translates as “Born of the sun-god Ra”.

Abu Simbel is a location in southern Egypt, and the site of two temples carved out of a mountainside. The two rock temples had to be relocated to Abu Simbel in 1968 to save them from being submerged in the water above the Aswan High Dam that was being built across the Nile River.

38 Percussionist’s wooden sticks : CLAVES

The term “claves” is used for two hardwood sticks used as an instrument in some Afro-Cuban bands.

44 Do business? : SALON

That would be a hairdo in a styling salon.

46 Proctor’s declaration : TIME

A proctor is a supervisor, and especially a person overseeing a school examination or a dormitory. The word “proctor” originated in the late 1500s, and is a contraction of the word “procurator”, the name given to an official agent of a church.

48 Septet in Dante’s “Purgatorio” : SINS

The cardinal sins of Christian ethics are also known as the seven deadly sins. The seven sins are:

  • Wrath
  • Greed
  • Sloth
  • Pride
  • Lust
  • Envy
  • Gluttony

In Dante’s epic poem “The Divine Comedy”, the poet journeys through the three realms of the dead. The Roman poet Virgil guides Dante through Hell and Purgatory. Dante is guided through Heaven by Beatrice, the poet’s ideal of womanhood Beatrice

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Baseball great who was the subject of the 2006 best seller “Game of Shadows” : BONDS
6 Authorize, as a digital contract : E-SIGN
11 Takes heat from : UNARMS
13 Political figure who became a CNN commentator in 2015 : AXELROD
15 Won back : RETOOK
16 Advance showing of a film : SCREENER
18 Annoying bedmate : BLANKET HOG
20 “___ doomed!” : WE’RE
21 Subject of an overnight lab study : SLEEP APNEA
23 D.O.T. branch : FAA
24 Right now : THIS SECOND
26 Winner of the lowest-scoring Super Bowl in N.F.L. history (16 total points) : PATRIOT
30 Overindulge : GORGE
31 🙁 : SAD FACE
32 Pool party? : SWIMMER
34 Word before bait or buzz : OSCAR …
35 Certain grain source : RYE SEED
36 Hot wheels? : STOLEN CARS
39 Boston skyscraper, with “the” : PRU
40 They’re spotted at fire stations : DALMATIANS
45 “___ so” (“Nuh-uh”) : AIN’T
47 Classic baby food : MASHED PEAS
49 Like Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo : DECISIVE
51 Many a yak herder : NEPALI
52 Gymnast Biles and others : SIMONES
53 “License to Kill” star : DALTON
54 Big name in hosiery : L’EGGS
55 Longtime film/theater critic Jeffrey : LYONS

Down

1 Start of many a morning commute, informally : BURB
2 Some first-years after undergrad : ONE LS
3 ___ astrology, study with horoscopes : NATAL
4 Means of surveillance : DRONE
5 Go to pot? : SMOKE
6 Potential recidivists : EX-CONS
7 Classic blazer fabrics : SERGES
8 Ending with quart- or quint- : -ILE
9 Developed : GREW
10 “I’m fine, but thanks” : NONE FOR ME
12 Nonbeliever : SKEPTIC
13 Part of a fireplace : ASHPIT
14 Disturbed : DERANGED
17 Literary anthology : READER
19 Squaw Valley backdrop : TAHOE
22 Backing : AEGIS
25 Wasted word to a housecat : COME
26 Turnovers, e.g. : PASTRIES
27 Group working on P.S.A. campaigns : AD COUNCIL
28 Big name in cookware : T-FAL
29 Stood on the hind legs, with “up” : RARED
31 Product made with steel wool : SOS PAD
32 Dark-skinned grape used in winemaking : SYRAH
33 Locale of London’s Leicester Square : WEST END
35 Abu Simbel statue honoree : RAMSES
37 Activity for new parents : NAMING
38 Percussionist’s wooden sticks : CLAVES
41 As good as it gets : IDEAL
42 Try to get in, say : APPLY
43 “Suh-weet!,” quaintly : NEATO!
44 Do business? : SALON
46 Proctor’s declaration : TIME
48 Septet in Dante’s “Purgatorio” : SINS
50 Lose crispness, in dialect : SOG

7 thoughts on “0601-19 NY Times Crossword 1 Jun 19, Saturday”

  1. 22:48. Not bad by Saturday standards. That lowest scoring Super Bowl of all time was the one played this past February – a 13-3 win over the Rams.

    Best –

  2. 18:41, no errors. Made things difficult by entering DALMATIANS in 47A instead of 40A. After correcting that, I went through every pea preparation in my head: steamed, strained, pureed (it fit!) before arriving at MASHED.

  3. Much easier than the usual Saturday puzzle. I enjoy the challenge of the arcane cluing that is typical for Saturday’s.

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