Constructed by: Andrew J. Ries
Edited by: Will Shortz
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Today’s Theme: None
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Bill’s time: 13m 42s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
1 Tech’s character set : ASCII
ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) lists codes for 32 “control” characters, as well as the 95 printable characters. These binary codes are the way that our computers can understand what we mean when we type say a letter, or a number. Unicode is a more contemporary standard, and is like “Ascii on steroids”, encompassing more characters.
6 City on a gulf of the same name : ADEN
Aden is a seaport in Yemen that is located on the Gulf of Aden by the eastern approach to the Red Sea. Aden has a long history of British rule, from 1838 until a very messy withdrawal in 1967. A native of Aden is known as an Adeni. Some believe that Cain and Abel are buried in the city.
15 ___ war (conflict unlikely to hurt anyone) : NERF
Nerf is soft material used in a whole series of toys designed for “safe” play indoors. The Nerf product is used to make darts, balls and ammunition for toy guns. “NERF” is an acronym, standing for Non-Expanding Recreational Foam.
16 Letters on a crucifix : INRI
The letters written on the cross on which Jesus died were INRI. “INRI” is an initialism standing for the Latin “Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum”, which translates into English as “Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews”.
17 Oxymoronic break : WORKING VACATION
The word “oxymoron” is in itself an oxymoron. It derives from the Greek words “Oxys” and “moros” meaning “sharp” and “stupid”.
22 It’s a gas : OZONE
Ozone gets its name from the Greek word “ozein” meaning “to smell”. It was given this name as ozone’s formation during lightning storms was detected by the gas’s distinctive smell. Famously, there is a relatively high concentration of the gas in the “ozone layer” in the Earth’s stratosphere. This ozone layer provides a vital function for animal life on the planet as it absorbs most of the sun’s UV radiation. A molecule of ozone is made up of three oxygen atoms (O3), whereas a “normal” oxygen (O2) has just two atoms.
23 Had more than one could handle : OD’ED
Overdose (OD)
25 Sleepy still? : 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.
In the original Brothers Grimm fairy tale called “Snow White”, the seven dwarfs were not given any names. The names were added for the 1937 classic Disney film “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. The seven dwarfs are:
- Doc (the leader of the group)
- Grumpy (that would be me, according to my wife …)
- Happy
- Sleepy
- Bashful
- Sneezy
- Dopey
31 Abbr. after U.S.M.C., maybe : RET
Retired (“ret.” or “retd.”)
The US Marine Corps (USMC) is the smallest of the four branches in the US Department of Defense (DOD).
32 Was patronizing, in a way : MANSPLAINED
If a man explains something in a condescending manner to a woman, he is said to be “mansplaining”, a portmanteau of “man” and “explaining”.
40 Palynologists study them : SPORES
Spores are produced by many bacteria, fungi and non-flowering plants. A spore is a reproductive body encased in a protective shell that is highly resistant to damage, and resistant to heat in particular.
47 Part of Michelangelo’s “David” once maliciously broken with a hammer : TOE
When Michelangelo’s famous statue of David was unveiled in 1504, it was at a time when the city-state of the Florentine Republic was threatened by rival states (including Rome). The statue depicts David after he has decided to fight Goliath, and the subject is sporting what is described as a “warning glare”. David was originally placed outside the Palazzo della Signoria, the seat of government in Florence, and that warning glare was directed very deliberately in the direction of its enemy, Rome. The original statue of David can be seen in the Accademia Gallery in Florence, where it has resided since 1873. There is a replica of the statue in its original location in the public square outside of the Palazzo della Signoria.
49 Send a revealing image, say : SEXT
Sexting (a portmanteau of “sex” and “texting”) is the sending of explicit dialog and images between cell phones. The term “sexting” was coined by the UK’s “Sunday Telegraph Magazine” in a 2005 article.
50 Stock holding : STEER
A steer is a male bovine that was castrated when young and is then raised for beef. The term comes from the Old English “steor” meaning “bullock”.
51 Green film character : SHREK
Before “Shrek” was a successful movie franchise and Broadway musical, it was a children’s picture book called “Shrek!” that was authored and illustrated by William Steig. The title “Shrek!” came from the German/Yiddish word Schreck, meaning “fear” or “terror”.
53 Chance to take stock, for short : IPO
An initial public offering (IPO) is the very first offer of stock for sale by a company on the open market. In other words, an IPO marks the first time that a company is traded on a public exchange. Companies have an IPO to raise capital to expand (usually).
54 Coinage of 2000 : SACAGAWEA DOLLAR
Sacagawea was the Shoshone guide who accompanied Lewis and Clark on their famous expedition. She was hired as a guide along with her husband, a French-Canadian trapper named Toussaint Charbonneau. When the expedition set out, Sacagawea was pregnant and had her child on the journey, in early 1805. Three years after the journey ended, Charbonneau and his family settled in St. Louis, Missouri where Sacagawea died in 1812. Sacagawea’s image is found on a US dollar coin that was first minted in 2000. The coin has a copper core clad with manganese brass, so it has a golden color.
57 Risk territory bordering Ukraine and Afghanistan : URAL
Risk is a fabulous board game, and one introduced in France in 1957. Risk was invented by a very successful French director of short films called Albert Lamorisse. Lamorisse called his new game “La Conquête du Monde”, which translates into English as “The Conquest of the World”. A game of Risk is a must during the holidays in our house …
59 Star of “North Dallas Forty,” 1979 : NOLTE
Actor Nick Nolte got his big break playing opposite Jacqueline Bisset and Robert Shaw in “The Deep”, released in 1976. Prior to that, he had worked as a model. Nolte appeared in a magazine advertisement for Clairol in 1972 alongside fellow model and future actor Sigourney Weaver.
“North Dallas Forty” is a 1979 sport drama movie about a professional footballer who plays for a fictional team that resembles the Dallas Cowboys. Nick Nolte has the lead role, portraying an aging player who relies on painkillers to continue his career. The film is based on a semi-autobiographical novel by former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Peter Gent.
Down
1 “The Handmaid’s Tale” novelist : ATWOOD
Canadian author Margaret Atwood is best known for her novels. However, Atwood also conceived the idea of the LongPen, a remote robotic writing technology. The LongPen allows a user to write remotely in ink via the Internet. Atwood came up with the idea so that she could remotely attend book signings.
“The Handmaid’s Tale” is a remarkably well-received television adaptation of the 1985 novel of the same name by Margaret Atwood. The story is set in a future United State after a Second American Civil War. The “Handmaids” are the few remaining fertile women in the world, who are ritually raped and forced bear children by their masters.
3 Proceed wildly : CAREEN
The term “careen” dates back to 1590 when it meant “to turn a ship on its side, exposing the keel”. The word evolved from the Middle French word “carene” meaning “keel”. Our modern usage, meaning to lean or tilt, only dates back as far as the 1880s. Careen should not be confused with “career”, a verb meaning to move rapidly. One has to “career” from side-to-side in order to “careen”.
9 Rams home, for short : NFC
National Football Conference (NFC)
The Los Angeles Rams are the only franchise to have won NFL championships in three different cities, i.e. Cleveland (1945), Los Angeles (1951) and St. Louis (1999). The Rams were based in Cleveland from 1936 to 1945, in Los Angeles from 1946 to 1994, in St. Louis from 1995 to 2015, and returned to Los Angeles in 2016.
10 Actress/singer Gaynor : MITZI
Mitzi Gaynor’s most famous role has to be Ensign Nellie Forbush in the movie adaptation of the musical “South Pacific”. It is Gaynor who sings the song “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair”.
19 Sister company of Yahoo : AOL
Unless I’m mistaken, there should be a “!” at the end of “Yahoo!” in the clue.
The telecom giant Verizon acquired AOL in 2015, and Yahoo! in 2017. Just after the latter purchase, Verizon launched Oath, a subsidiary company that served as the umbrella under which AOl and Yahoo! continued to operate. Oath was renamed to Verizon Media Group after a corporate reorganization at the end of 2018.
24 One of the Wayans brothers : DAMON
The Wayans family is known as the First Family of Entertainment as it is replete with actors, directors, screenwriters and comedians. I hate to admit it, but I don’t think I know any of them!
30 Porters may be found near them : ALES
The many, many different styles of beer can generally be sorted into two groups: ales and lagers. Ales are fermented at relatively warm temperatures for relatively short periods of time, and use top-fermenting yeasts, i.e. yeasts that float on top of the beer as it ferments. Lagers ferment at relatively low temperatures and for relatively long periods of time. Lagers use bottom-fermenting yeasts, i.e. yeasts that fall to the bottom of the beer as it ferments.
Porter is a dark beer that originated in London in the 1700s. It is named for the street and river porters with whom it was very popular. Porter is a well-hopped beer made using brown malt, which gives it the dark color.
33 ___ Sea, body of water between Borneo and the Philippines : SULU
The Sulu Sea is found to the southwest of the Philippines, and the northeast of Borneo. Gene Roddenberry named the “Star Trek” character Hikaru Sulu after the Sulu Sea.
34 Rabbit’s favorite chain restaurant? : IHOP
The International House of Pancakes (IHOP) was founded back in 1958. IHOP was originally intended to be called IHOE, the International House of Eggs, but that name didn’t do too well in marketing tests!
36 Symbol of San Francisco : CABLE CAR
The Cable Car Museum in San Francisco is a little special in that it is housed in the same complex as the city’s cable car power house. While touring the museum, visitors can look out over the power house and see the huge haulage cables heading out to the streets to pull the cars up all of those steep hills.
38 Finally admit, say : FESS UP
The term “fess” is most often seen as part of the phrasal verb “to fess up” meaning “to admit to something”. “Fess” is simply a shortened form of “confess”.
41 Ignatius J. ___, protagonist in “A Confederacy of Dunces” : REILLY
John Kennedy Toole was an author whose most famous work is his 1980 novel “A Confederacy of Dunces”. Toole had committed suicide eleven years before publication, when he was just 31 years old. The author’s mother found a smudged carbon copy of the book’s manuscript after her son had passed, and she persisted in her efforts to get the novel published. She was finally successful in 1980, and the following year “A Confederacy of Dunces” won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Well done, Mom …
45 Norman Vincent ___, best-selling motivational writer : PEALE
Norman Vincent Peale was the author of the bestseller “The Power of Positive Thinking”. Peale was a Protestant preacher, and for decades was pastor of the Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan in New York City. Peale also founded the nonprofit group that publishes “Guideposts” magazine.
48 Keynote : ORATE
The “keynote” is the lowest note in a musical scale, as one might imagine. The term started to be used to mean a leading idea in the late 1700s, and the expression “keynote address” dates back to 1905.
51 Tar : SWAB
“Swabbie” (also “swabby, swab, swabber”) is a slang term meaning “sailor” that we’ve been using since the late 1700s. A swab was originally a member of the crew assigned to the swabbing (mopping) of the ship’s decks.
52 High-quality coffee variety : KONA
Kona coffee is cultivated on the Big Island of Hawaii, on the slopes of Mauna Loa and Hualalai, two of the five volcanoes on the island. Coffee plants were brought to Kona in 1828 and late in the 19th century, coffee became a viable and worthwhile crop. Today Kona is a one of the most expensive and popular coffees in the world.
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Tech’s character set : ASCII
6 City on a gulf of the same name : ADEN
10 Blow : MUFF
14 Tip, say : THANK
15 ___ war (conflict unlikely to hurt anyone) : NERF
16 Letters on a crucifix : INRI
17 Oxymoronic break : WORKING VACATION
20 Love lines? : ODE
21 Passes (out) : DOLES
22 It’s a gas : OZONE
23 Had more than one could handle : OD’ED
25 Sleepy still? : CEL
26 Brief flashes : GLINTS
27 Slacker’s opposite : DYNAMO
29 Stick in the dugout : OAR
31 Abbr. after U.S.M.C., maybe : RET
32 Was patronizing, in a way : MANSPLAINED
36 Room backstage at a playhouse : COSTUME SHOP
37 Step-by-step instructions? : DANCE LESSON
38 Bit of fudge? : FIB
39 Pleasant forecast : SUN
40 Palynologists study them : SPORES
44 Bit of fishing equipment : EEL POT
47 Part of Michelangelo’s “David” once maliciously broken with a hammer : TOE
49 Send a revealing image, say : SEXT
50 Stock holding : STEER
51 Green film character : SHREK
53 Chance to take stock, for short : IPO
54 Coinage of 2000 : SACAGAWEA DOLLAR
57 Risk territory bordering Ukraine and Afghanistan : URAL
58 Quash : HALT
59 Star of “North Dallas Forty,” 1979 : NOLTE
60 Public firing? : PYRE
61 Having the resources : ABLE
62 Wide gap : ABYSS
Down
1 “The Handmaid’s Tale” novelist : ATWOOD
2 Poorly crafted : SHODDY
3 Proceed wildly : CAREEN
4 Newspaper coverage : INK
5 “Just playing” : I KID
6 Cinematographer’s consideration : ANGLE
7 Long gestation for a film, informally : DEVELOPMENT HELL
8 They often start with elections : ERAS
9 Rams home, for short : NFC
10 Actress/singer Gaynor : MITZI
11 Local leader : UNION REP
12 Led : FRONTED
13 Descriptor for a police force : FINEST
18 Plea bargain component : NO CONTEST
19 Sister company of Yahoo : AOL
24 One of the Wayans brothers : DAMON
26 Nursery bagful : GRASS SEED
28 Foreign language dictionary abbr. : MASC
30 Porters may be found near them : ALES
33 ___ Sea, body of water between Borneo and the Philippines : SULU
34 Rabbit’s favorite chain restaurant? : IHOP
35 List from an etiquette expert : NO-NOS
36 Symbol of San Francisco : CABLE CAR
37 Like some laws : DIETARY
38 Finally admit, say : FESS UP
41 Ignatius J. ___, protagonist in “A Confederacy of Dunces” : REILLY
42 Many Lost Generation poets, briefly : EXPATS
43 Puts away : STORES
45 Norman Vincent ___, best-selling motivational writer : PEALE
46 Web address ender : ORG
48 Keynote : ORATE
51 Tar : SWAB
52 High-quality coffee variety : KONA
55 ___ moment : AHA
56 Easy pitch : LOB
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