0815-19 NY Times Crossword 15 Aug 19, Thursday

Today’s Reveal Answer: Reverse Engineer

Themed answers include the names of famous ENGINEERS, but written in REVERSE. Note that themed clues give the number of letters in the engineer’s name:

• 55A Take apart in order to reproduce … or a hint to what’s hidden in 17-, 23-, 34- and 46-Across : REVERSE ENGINEER

• 17A Easy quiz to grade [5] : TRUE-OR-FALSE TEST (reverse “Tesla”)
• 23A Bromantic activity [5] : MALE BONDING (reverse “Nobel”)
• 34A Drugmaker’s claim [6] : NO SIDE EFFECTS (reverse “Edison”)
• 46A TV star with a museum in Jamestown, N.Y. [4] : LUCILLE BALL (reverse “Bell”)

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

Bill’s time: 14m 15s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Skin pic : TAT

The word “tattoo” (often shortened to “tat”) was first used in English in the writings of the famous English explorer Captain Cook. In his descriptions of the indelible marks adorning the skin of Polynesian natives, Cook anglicized the Tahitian word “tatau” into our “tattoo”. Tattoos are sometimes referred to as “ink”.

4 Apt hairstyle for a gunslinger? : BANGS

“Bangs” is another word that caught me out when I arrived in the US. “Bangs” back in Ireland are called “a fringe”. Apparently the US term is somehow derived from the name given to the hair on a horse’s head.

9 Travelocity mascot : GNOME

In English folklore, the fairy’s anti-hero is the diminutive gnome, an evil ugly character. Over the centuries, the gnome has become more lovable. We now have garden gnomes, and even the Travelocity Gnome.

15 Speed skater Ohno : APOLO

Speed-skater Apolo Ohno has won more Winter Olympics medals than any other American. Ohno also did a great job winning the 2007 season of television’s “Dancing with the Stars”.

17 Easy quiz to grade [5] : TRUE-OR-FALSE TEST (reverse “Tesla”)

Nikola Tesla was born in Serbia, but later moved to the US. Tesla’s work on mechanical and electrical engineering was crucial to the development of alternating current technology, the same technology that is used by equipment at the backbone of modern power generation and distribution systems.

20 Craft-selling site : ETSY

Etsy.com is an e-commerce website where you can buy and sell the kind of items that you might find at a craft fair.

22 Civil rights legis. of 1990 : ADA

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)

23 Bromantic activity [5] : MALE BONDING (reverse “Nobel”)

“Bromance” is the name given these days to a close relationship between two straight males.

Alfred Nobel was a Swedish chemist and businessman. Nobel is famous for the invention of dynamite during his lifetime, as well as for instituting the Nobel Prizes by providing the necessary funds in his will.

26 Rebel Turner : NAT

Nat Turner was a slave in Virginia who led a slave rebellion in 1831 that led to the deaths of over a hundred people. Half of the casualties were white,and half were black. The 55 white deaths took place on the day of the rebellion as a growing mob of slaves traveled from house-to-house freeing fellow slaves but also killing any white people they came across; men, women and children. The rebellion was suppressed within two days by a white militia. Slaves involved in the rebellion were tried for insurrection and related crimes, and a total of 56 blacks were executed on suspicion of involvement in the uprising. In the aftermath, life for slaves became even more difficult as any freedoms that they had earned were largely curtailed.

27 Online admin : SYSOP

System operator (sysop)

34 Drugmaker’s claim [6] : NO SIDE EFFECTS (reverse “Edison”)

Thomas Alva Edison (TAE) was nicknamed “The Wizard of Menlo Park” by a newspaper reporter, a name that stuck. He was indeed a wizard, in the sense that he was such a prolific inventor. The Menlo Park part of the moniker recognizes the location of his first research lab, in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

46 TV star with a museum in Jamestown, N.Y. [4] : LUCILLE BALL (reverse “Bell”)

The city of Jamestown, New York was named for James Prendergast who settled in the area in the early 1800s. Jamestown’s most famous daughter is comedian and actress Lucille Ball, and the city is now home to the Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum.

Alexander Graham Bell was an inventor and scientist from Edinburgh, Scotland who later lived in Canada and the US. Both his wife and his mother were deaf, a fact that led to Bell spending much of life researching hearing and speech. Bell’s work on hearing devices led to the invention of the telephone. Paradoxically, Bell hated the telephone and refused to have one in the study of his home where he worked. I am with him on this one, as I hate the phone …

52 Org. with a top 10 list : FBI

The FBI was the first agency to create a “most wanted list”, introducing the “FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list in 1950. Director J. Edgar Hoover came up with the idea after fielding a question from a journalist asking for the names and description of the “toughest guys” being sought by the FBI. One misconception about the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list is that it is ranked, but there is no such thing as the “#1 Most Wanted Fugitive”.

53 High-percentage crime? : USURY

Usury used to be the practice of simply lending money at interest, but the term now refers to lending at rates of interest that are excessive.

54 Snack item once advertised as “WONDERfILLED” : OREO

Nabisco launched an ad campaign for the Oreo brand of in 2012, telling us that the cookie is “wonderfilled”, that the modest little Oreo cookie can bring about a positive change of perspective and create a sense of wonder. I think that’s the idea …

59 Asinine : INANE

The adjective “asinine” means “stupid, obstinate”, and comes from the Latin for “like an ass”.

60 ___ Mongolia : INNER

The East Asian nation of Mongolia lies between Russian to the north and China to the south. With an area of over 600,000 square miles and a population of about 3 million people, Mongolia is the most sparsely populated sovereign nation on the planet. Almost half of the Mongolian populace lives in the capital city of Ulan Bator.

61 Producer of the “Code Switch” and “Planet Money” podcasts : NPR

National Public Radio (now just “NPR”) was launched in 1970 after President Johnson signed into law the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. The intent of the act was to provide funding for radio and television broadcasting that wasn’t simply driven by profit. As a longtime fan of the state-funded BBC in the UK, I’d have to agree with act’s intent …

62 Big swigs : BELTS

A belt is a swift swig of hard liquor.

64 Chain fastened to a ship’s yard : TYE

In the nautical world, a tye can be either a chain or rope and is used to hoist a spar up a mast.

Down

1 Sacred symbol : TOTEM

“Totem” is a word used to describe any entity that watches over a group of people. As such, totems are usually the subjects of worship. Totem poles are really misnamed, as they are not intended to represent figures to be worshiped, but rather are heraldic in nature often celebrating the legends or notable events in the history of a tribe.

2 Some circulation channels : AORTAS

The aorta originates in the heart and extends down into the abdomen. It is the largest artery in the body.

4 Filled and steamed bun, in Chinese cuisine : BAO

A baozi (also “bou, bao”) is a steamed, filled bun in Chinese cuisine.

5 Mortgage fig. : APR

Annual percentage rate (APR)

Our word “mortgage” comes from the Old French “mort gaige” which translated as “dead pledge”. Such an arrangement was so called because the “pledge” to repay “dies” when the debt is cleared.

7 Prostate, e.g. : GLAND

The function of the male’s prostate gland is to secrete a fluid that helps to prolong the lifespan of spermatozoa in the vaginal tract.

8 Conductor Georg : SOLTI

Sir Georg Solti was a great Hungarian-British conductor, who spent 22 years as music director of the Chicago Symphony, one of many prestigious positions he held in the world of classical music and opera. Solti was awarded 31 Grammy Awards, the most won by any individual in any genre of music. I think it’s kind of cool that Solti’s name comprises two notes in the solfa scale: sol-ti …

9 Coach Popovich with five N.B.A. championships : GREGG

Gregg Popovich took over as coach of the San Antonio Spurs in 1996. He is often referred to as “Pop” or “Coach Pop”. Popovich holds the record for the NBA coach with the longest run of consecutive winning seasons.

10 Little carp : NIT

The word “carp” used to mean simply “talk” back in the 13th century, with its roots in the Old Norwegian “karpa” meaning “to brag”. A century later, the Latin word “carpere” meaning “to slander” influenced the use of “to carp” so that it came to mean “to find fault with”.

11 Sub tenant? : OCEANAUT

An aquanaut (also “oceanaut”) is a diver who occupies an underwater habitat, only returning to the surface after an unusually long period of time.

12 French ladies : MESDAMES

The abbreviation “Messrs.” is used at the head of a list of male names, in place of “Misters”. It is an abbreviation of the French “messieurs”, the plural of “monsieur”. The equivalent female term is “mesdames”, the plural of “madame”, and is shortened to “Mmes.”

18 Some hieroglyphic symbols : EYES

The prefix “hiero-” comes from the Greek word “hieros” meaning sacred or holy. The classic use of the prefix is in the term “hieroglyphics” (meaning “sacred carving”), the writing system that uses symbols and pictures.

24 First name of Russia’s first president : BORIS

Boris Yeltsin was elected the first President of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1991, at a time when Mikhail Gorbachev was President of the Soviet Union. When Gorbachev resigned, and the Soviet Union collapsed, Yeltsin emerged with his position intact. Yeltsin was re-elected in 1996, but his popularity declined in the late 1990s as the populace became discouraged with the country’s economic troubles and with political corruption.

25 Slanted column : OP-ED

“Op-ed” is an abbreviation for “opposite the editorial page”. Op-eds started in “The New York Evening World” in 1921 when the page opposite the editorials was used for articles written by a named guest writer, someone independent of the editorial board.

28 Sister network of Animal Planet and HGTV : TLC

The cable channel known today as TLC started out life as The Learning Channel. Programming on TLC was originally focused on educational content, but today there is an emphasis on reality television.

30 ___ Stark, “Game of Thrones” patriarch : NED

Ned Stark is the protagonist in George R. R. Martin’s fantasy novel “A Game of Thrones”, although his character doesn’t exactly come out on top by the end of the story. Stark is played by actor Sean Bean in the HBO television adaptation of the novel.

31 Aachen article : DER

Aachen is a city in the very west of Germany, right on the border with Belgium and the Netherlands. In English, we quite often refer to this city by its French name, Aix-la-Chapelle.

32 West Coast airport code : SFO

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) served as the main base of operations for Virgin America (sold to Alaska Airlines), and is also the maintenance hub for United Airlines.

33 Aspic-like dish : GELEE

“Gelée” is the French word for “frost”. It’s also the word used in France for jello.

34 Attention-getting phrase : NOTA BENE

“Nota bene” is Latin for “note well”, and is abbreviated to “NB”.

36 Office address abbr. : STE

Suite (ste.)

42 Dark hue : EBON

Ebony is another word for the color black (and is often shortened to “ebon” in poetry). Ebony is a dark black wood that is very dense, one of the few types of wood that sinks in water. Ebony has been in high demand so the species of trees yielding the wood are now considered threatened. It is in such short supply that unscrupulous vendors have been known to darken lighter woods with shoe polish to look like ebony, so be warned …

46 Angler’s purchases : LURES

We use the verb “to angle” to mean “to fish” because “angel” is an Old English word meaning “hook”.

47 ___ Missouri : USS

The USS Missouri was commissioned in 1944 and decommissioned in 1955, but reactivated in 1984 after which she even participated in Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Since 1998, Big Mo (as she is known familiarly) has served as a museum ship at Pearl Harbor. It was on the Missouri that the Japanese surrendered, marking the end of WWII.

49 Memorable 2011 hurricane : IRENE

Hurricane Irene caused extensive flooding in 2011 as it traveled through the Caribbean, up the East Coast of the United States and into the Atlantic seaboard of Canada. The hurricane was unusual in that it came so far up north. Fifty-five deaths were attributed to Irene.

50 ___ Cheney, former second lady : LYNNE

Lynne Cheney is the wife of former Vice President Dick Cheney. Ms. Cheney was actually mentioned as a possible running mate on the George W. Bush ticket in 2000. Dick Cheney headed up the nominating committee for the VP nominee, and ended up getting the slot himself.

51 Chuck nicknamed the “King of Sitcoms” : LORRE

Chuck Lorre created many great sitcoms that have stood the test of time. Included in the list of his shows are “Grace Under Fire”, “Cybil”, “Dharma & Greg”, “Two and a Half Men” and “The Big Bang Theory”. Lorre is famous for the “vanity cards” that appear for a few seconds at the end of his shows. The cards include a message directly from Lorre, perhaps an observation on life, and maybe something quite controversial. CBS has had to censor several of Lorre’s vanity cards, but you can read the uncensored versions on his website.

56 Treater of a deviated septum, for short : ENT

The branch of medicine known as “ear, nose and throat” (ENT) is more correctly called “otolaryngology”.

In the world of anatomy, a septum (plural “septa”) is a dividing wall within a chamber or other structure. For example, the interatrial septum separates the left and right atria of the heart, and the nasal septum separates the nostrils of the nose.

57 Test whose scores range from 100 to 200, in brief : GED

The General Educational Development (GED) tests are a battery of five tests designed to demonstrate that a student has the academic skills of someone who has graduated from an American or Canadian high school.

58 Government agcy. much impersonated in scam calls : IRS

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was set up during the Civil War to raise money to cover war expenses. Prior to the introduction of income tax in 1862, the government was funded by levies on trade and property.