Constructed by: Peter Gordon
Edited by: Will Shortz
Not your puzzle? Try today’s …
… syndicated NY Times crossword
Today’s Reveal Answer: Artie
Themed answers only include the consonants “RT” (sounds like “ARTIE”):
- 71A *Clarinetist Shaw … or, when said aloud, the only two consonants in the answers to the starred clues : ARTIE or RT
- 21A *Seesaw : TEETER-TOTTER
- 30A *Bring forward for display : TROT OUT
- 47A *British hitmaker on Iggy Azalea’s “Black Widow” : RITA ORA
- 57A *1970 war film about the attack on Pearl Harbor : TORA! TORA! TORA!
- 4D *”Sadly, you’re right” : TOO TRUE
- 9D *Vermin-hunting dog : RAT TERRIER
- 11D *Pasta-serving cafe : TRATTORIA
- 29D *Plumbing company whose jingle says “away go troubles down the drain” : ROTO-ROOTER
- 35D *Say again : REITERATE
- 46D *Trick-or-___ (kid on Halloween) : TREATER
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Bill’s time: 5m 29s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
1 Greek philosopher who was a student of Socrates : PLATO
Plato was a Greek philosopher and mathematician. He was a student of the equally famous and respected Socrates, and Plato in turn was the teacher and mentor of the celebrated Aristotle.
10 Some bake sale groups, for short : PTAS
Parent-Teacher Association (PTA)
15 With 52-Down, home of the Leaning Tower : PISA, …
(52D See 15-Across : … ITALY)
The city of Pisa sits right on the Italian coast, at the mouth of the River Arno. The city is perhaps most famous for its Leaning Tower. The tower is actually the campanile (bell tower) of the city’s cathedral, and it has been leaning since it was completed in 1173. Just shows you how important good foundations are …
16 French river to the English Channel : ORNE
Orne is a department and river in the northwest of France. Perhaps one of the most famous locations in Orne is the village of Camembert, the home of the famous (and delicious!) cheese.
19 Fill to excess : SATE
“Sate” is a variant of the older word “satiate”. Both terms can mean either to satisfy an appetite fully, or to eat to excess.
24 What a spin doctor might be called on to take care of : BAD PR
“Spin doctor” is a slang term for a professional in the field of public relations (PR).
28 Coin that’s been legal tender since New Year’s Day in 2002 : EURO
The reverse side of euro coins feature a common design, a design that includes the 12-stars featured on the Flag of Europe. The number of stars is not related to the number of states in the European Union, nor has it ever been. The number of stars in the design was the subject of much debate prior to its adoption in 1955 by the Council of Europe. Twelve was a deliberate choice, as at that time there was no political connotation, and twelve was considered to be a symbol of unity.
33 Island near Java : BORNEO
Borneo is the third largest island on the planet (after Greenland and New Guinea), and is located north of Australia in Maritime Southeast Asia. Most of the island is part of Indonesia (taking up 73% of the island) with almost all of the remainder being part of Malaysia (26%). The final 1% is home to the sovereign state of Brunei.
Java is a large island in Indonesia that is home to the country’s capital, Jakarta. With a population of over 130 million, Java is the most populous island in the world, with even more people than Honshu, the main island of Japan.
36 Bandmate of McCartney, Lennon and Harrison : STARR
Sir Ringo Starr’s real name is Richard Starkey. Before he joined the Beatles, replacing drummer Pete Best, Starkey played with the Raving Texans. It was with the Raving Texans that he adopted the name “Ringo Starr”, because he wore a lot of rings and he thought it sounded “cowboyish”. Back then his drum solos were billed as “Starr Time”.
38 Tech school on the Hudson, for short : RPI
The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) is a private school in Troy, New York. The university is named after its founder Stephen Van Rensselaer who set up the school in 1824. The goal of RPI has always been the “application of science to the common purposes of life”, an objective set by the founder. Given that, the name for the school’s sports teams is quite apt: the Engineers.
The Hudson River flows through eastern New York State from Henderson Lake in the Adirondacks to the Port of New York and New Jersey. The river is named for the English explorer Henry Hudson, who navigated the waterway in 1609.
39 Harbinger : OMEN
A harbinger is a person or a thing that indicates what is to come. The word comes from the Middle English “herbenger” describing a person sent ahead to arrange lodgings.
40 Falafel sauce : TAHINI
“Tahini” is the Arabic name for a paste made from ground sesame seeds. Tahini is a major ingredient in hummus, one of my favorite dishes.
Falafel is a ball of ground chickpeas or fava beans that has been deep fried and served in pita bread. I love chickpeas, but falafel is often too dry to me …
43 Singer DiFranco : ANI
Ani DiFranco is a folk-rock singer and songwriter. DiFranco has also been labeled a “feminist icon”, and in 2006 won the “Woman of Courage Award” from National Organization for Women.
44 Birds symbolizing peace : DOVES
The dove is a symbol of peace, and the hawk is a symbol of war.
45 Component of natural gas : ETHANE
Ethane is the second largest component of natural gas after methane. Ethane’s main use is in the production of ethylene, a compound that is widely used in the chemical industry.
47 *British hitmaker on Iggy Azalea’s “Black Widow” : RITA ORA
Rita Ora is a British singer who was born Rita Sahatçiu in Pristina, Yugoslavia to Albanian parents. The family name “Sahatçiu” comes from a Turkish word meaning “watchmaker”. Rita’s parents changed their name to make it easier to pronounce. So, the family name morphed from “watchmaker” to “time”, which is “ora” in Albanian.
“Iggy Azalea” is the stage name of Australian rapper Amethyst Kelly. I haven’t heard of her outside of crosswords …
50 “Cubist” Rubik : ERNO
What was originally called the “Magic Cube” became better known as “Rubik’s Cube”, and was named for its inventor Ernő Rubik. Rubik’s Cube is the world’s biggest selling puzzle game, with over 350 million sold in just over 30 years.
53 Mathematician once pictured on Swiss money : EULER
Leonhard Euler was a brilliant Swiss mathematician and physicist, and a pioneer in the fields of logarithms and graph theory. Euler’s eyesight deteriorated during his working life, and eventually became almost totally blind.
57 *1970 war film about the attack on Pearl Harbor : TORA! TORA! TORA!
The predetermined code word to be used by the Japanese if they managed to achieve surprise in their attack on Pearl Harbor was “tiger”, or “tora” in Japanese. This gave the title to the excellent 1970 movie “Tora! Tora! Tora!”.
61 Genesis woman : EVE
62 Genesis man : ADAM
According to the Bible, God created Adam from “the dust of the ground”. Eve was created as Adam’s companion, from Adam’s rib.
63 Forum garment : TOGA
In ancient Rome, the classical attire known as a toga (plural “togae” or “togas”) was usually worn over a tunic. The tunic was made from linen, and the toga itself was a piece of cloth about twenty feet long made from wool. The toga could only be worn by men, and only if those men were Roman citizens. The female equivalent of the toga was called a “stola”.
64 “The Handmaid’s Tale” author Margaret : ATWOOD
“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 to bear children by their masters.
66 ___ Field (home to the Mets) : CITI
Citi Field is the relatively new baseball stadium used by the New York Mets that sits right next door to the site of Shea stadium, where the Mets had played for decades. And the new facility’s name comes from corporate sponsor Citigroup.
67 Stuntman Knievel : EVEL
Daredevil Evel Knievel contracted hepatitis C from the many blood transfusions that he needed after injuries incurred during stunts. He had to have a liver transplant as a result, but his health declined after that. Knievel eventually passed away in 2007.
69 White Monopoly bills : ONES
The commercial game of Monopoly is supposedly a remake of “The Landlord’s Game” created in 1903 by a Quaker woman named Lizzie Phillips. Phillips used her game as a tool to explain the single tax theory of American economist Henry George. The Landlord’s Game was first produced commercially in 1924. The incredibly successful derivative game called Monopoly was introduced in 1933 by Charles Darrow, who became a very rich man when Parker Brothers bought the rights to the game just two years later in 1935.
71 *Clarinetist Shaw … or, when said aloud, the only two consonants in the answers to the starred clues : ARTIE or RT
Artie Shaw was a composer, bandleader and jazz clarinetist. Shaw’s real name was Arthur Jacob Arshawsky, born in New York City in 1910. One of his many claims to fame is that he (a white bandleader) hired Billie Holiday (a black vocalist) and toured the segregated South in the late thirties. Holiday chose to leave the band though, due to hostility from Southern audiences back then. Artie Shaw was married eight times in all. The list of his wives includes the actresses Lana Turner and Ava Gardner, as well as Betty Kern, daughter of songwriter Jerome Kern.
Down
1 Michelangelo masterpiece : PIETA
The Pietà is a representation of the Virgin Mary holding in her arms the dead body of her son Jesus. The most famous Pietà is undoubtedly the sculpted rendition by Michelangelo that is located in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. That particular sculpture is thought to be the only work that Michelangelo signed. In some depictions of the Pietà, Mary and her son are surrounded by other figures from the New Testament. Such depictions are known as Lamentations.
3 PC key : ALT
The Alt (alternate) key is found on either side of the space bar on US PC keyboards. The Alt key evolved from what was called a Meta key on old MIT keyboards, although the function has changed somewhat over the years. Alt is equivalent in many ways to the Option key on a Mac keyboard, and indeed the letters “Alt” have been printed on most Mac keyboards starting in the nineties.
7 Defame in print : LIBEL
The word “libel” describes a published or written statement likely to harm a person’s reputation. It comes into English from the Latin “libellus”, the word for a small book. Back in the 1500s, libel was just a formal written statement, with the more damaging association arising in the 1600s. The related concept of slander is defamation in a transient form, such as speech, sign language or gestures.
9 *Vermin-hunting dog : RAT TERRIER
The rat terrier is known as a farm dog, and was especially common on farms in the twenties and thirties. The breed has a great reputation as a hunting companion and for controlling vermin.
10 Stickie : POST-IT
The Post-it note was invented at 3M following the accidental discovery of a low-tack, reusable adhesive. The actual intent of the development program was the discovery of a super-strong adhesive.
11 *Pasta-serving cafe : TRATTORIA
A trattoria is an Italian restaurant. In Italian, a “trattore” is the keeper of said eating house.
12 The “a” of a.m. : ANTE
The 12-hour clock has been around a long time, and was even used in sundial format in ancient Egypt. Our use of AM and PM dates back to Roman times, with AM standing for Ante Meridiem (before noon) and PM standing for Post Meridiem (after noon). However, the Romans originally used the AM concept a little differently, by counting backwards from noon. So, 2AM to the Romans would be two hours before noon, or 10AM as we would call it today.
22 Part of the psyche : EGO
“Ego” is another word for “the self”, and is used to distinguish oneself from others and the world around one. In psychoanalysis, the ego is that division of the psyche that is most in touch with external reality, the part that is conscious. “Ego” is a Latin word meaning “I”.
23 Febreze target : ODOR
The odor-eliminating product we know today as Febreze was developed in England in the early nineties. Febreze is now produced by Procter & Gamble.
25 Ivy League school in Philly : PENN
The University of Pennsylvania (also “Penn” and “UPenn”) was founded in 1740 by Benjamin Franklin. Penn was the first school in the country to offer both graduate and undergraduate courses. Penn’s sports teams are known as the Quakers, and sometimes the Red & Blue.
29 *Plumbing company whose jingle says “away go troubles down the drain” : ROTO-ROOTER
The Roto-Rooter is an invention of Samuel Oscar Blanc. Blanc came up with the idea in 1933 after having to deal with a sewer line in his son’s apartment that was blocked with roots from a tree, a common problem. He put together his first version of the device using a washing machine motor, roller skate wheels and a steel cable. The “rotating rooter” snaked down the sewer line, and rotating blades at the tip of the cable cut through the troublesome roots. Blanc sold his machine for decades to people who set up their own drain clearing businesses. In 1980 the Blanc family sold the Roto-Rooter company to a Cincinnati concern that started buying up independent franchises that used the Roto-Rooter and created the national service with which we are familiar today. Oh, and my advice is, save yourself the cost of the service call and just rent a machine. That’s what I do …
30 Suede shade : TAN
Suede is leather made from the underside of an animal’s skin, usually the skin from a lamb. As such it is very soft, although not as durable as leather made from the exterior skin. The soft leather was, and is still used for making gloves. Back in 1859 these gloves were called “gants de Suede” in France, or “gloves of Sweden”. So, the name “suede” comes from the French word for Sweden.
31 Second word of fairy tales : UPON
The stock phrase “Once upon a time …” has been used in various forms as the start of a narrative at least since 1380. The stock phrase at the end of stories such as folktales is often “and they all lived happily ever after”. The earlier version of this ending was “happily until their deaths”.
37 “___ the season to be jolly” : ‘TIS
The music for the Christmas song “Deck the Halls” is a traditional Welsh tune that dates back to the 16th century. The same tune was used by Mozart for a violin and piano duet. The lyrics with which we are familiar (other than the “f-la-la”) are American in origin, and were recorded in 19th century.
“’Tis the season to be jolly, Fa la la la la la la la!”
41 Actress Gardner : AVA
Ava Gardner is noted for her association with some big movies, but also for her association with some big names when it came to the men in her life. In the world of film, she appeared in the likes of “Mogambo” (1953), “On the Beach” (1959), “The Night of the Iguana” (1964) and “Earthquake” (1974). The men in her life included husbands Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw and Frank Sinatra.
48 One of the Three Musketeers : ARAMIS
Alexandre Dumas’ “Three Musketeers” are Athos, Porthos and Aramis, although the hero of the novel is the trio’s young protégé D’Artagnan. A musketeer was an infantry soldier who was equipped with a musket. Funnily enough, the three “musketeers” really don’t use their muskets, and are better known for prowess with their swords.
49 Halloween shout : BOO!
All Saints’ Day is November 1st each year. The day before All Saints’ Day is All Hallows’ Eve, better known by the Scottish term “Halloween”.
51 Doughnut-shaped roll : BAGEL
The bagel was invented in the Polish city of Kraków in the 16th century. Bagels were brought to this country by Jewish immigrants from Poland who mainly established homes in and around New York City.
54 Téa of “Madam Secretary” : LEONI
Téa Leoni is an American actress. One of Leoni’s early parts was in the great film “A League of Their Own” (a minor role, Racine at first base). She also played the fiancée of Sam Malone from “Cheers” on the spin-off sitcom “Frasier”. A leading role on the big screen was opposite Adam Sandler in “Spanglish”. My favorite of her more prominent movie roles was as Jane in “Fun with Dick and Jane”. Leoni started playing the title role in the drama series “Madam Secretary” in 2014, and that’s a show I quite enjoy …
56 Only M.L.B. team that Johnny Bench played for (1967-83) : REDS
Johnny Bench is a former Major League Baseball catcher who played for the Cincinnati Reds. Bench is now a spokesman for the Stryker Corporation, makers of medical implants. After a career as a baseball catcher, his natural hip joint was in bad shape and so he had replacement surgery in 2004. Bench isn’t just a spokesman for Stryker, he’s a customer.
57 Part of a Chipotle order : TACO
Chipotle Mexican Grill is a chain of casual dining restaurants that was founded and is now headquartered in Denver, Colorado. For several years, the major investor in Chipotle was McDonald’s. The chain is named for the smoke-dried jalapeño called a “chipotle”.
58 Chief Norse god : ODIN
In Norse mythology, Odin was the chief of the gods. Odin’s wife Frigg was the queen of Asgard whose name gave us our English term “Friday” (via Anglo-Saxon). Odin’s son was Thor, whose name gave us the term “Thursday”. Odin himself gave us our word “Wednesday” from “Wodin”, the English form of his name.
60 ___ avis : RARA
A “rara avis” is anything that is very rare. The Latin term translates as “rare bird”.
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Greek philosopher who was a student of Socrates : PLATO
6 Disparaging remark : SLUR
10 Some bake sale groups, for short : PTAS
14 ___ box (computer prompt) : DIALOG
15 With 52-Down, home of the Leaning Tower : PISA, …
16 French river to the English Channel : ORNE
17 Parish leader : RECTOR
18 “Yeah, sure” : I BET
19 Fill to excess : SATE
20 Took in takeout, say : ATE
21 *Seesaw : TEETER-TOTTER
24 What a spin doctor might be called on to take care of : BAD PR
26 Hair stiffener : GEL
27 Prepare to be published : EDIT
28 Coin that’s been legal tender since New Year’s Day in 2002 : EURO
30 *Bring forward for display : TROT OUT
33 Island near Java : BORNEO
36 Bandmate of McCartney, Lennon and Harrison : STARR
38 Tech school on the Hudson, for short : RPI
39 Harbinger : OMEN
40 Falafel sauce : TAHINI
42 Noun-forming suffix : -TION
43 Singer DiFranco : ANI
44 Birds symbolizing peace : DOVES
45 Component of natural gas : ETHANE
47 *British hitmaker on Iggy Azalea’s “Black Widow” : RITA ORA
49 “It’s c-c-c-cold!” : BRRR!
50 “Cubist” Rubik : ERNO
51 Science class, for short : BIO
53 Mathematician once pictured on Swiss money : EULER
57 *1970 war film about the attack on Pearl Harbor : TORA! TORA! TORA!
61 Genesis woman : EVE
62 Genesis man : ADAM
63 Forum garment : TOGA
64 “The Handmaid’s Tale” author Margaret : ATWOOD
66 ___ Field (home to the Mets) : CITI
67 Stuntman Knievel : EVEL
68 Freshens, as a stamp pad : RE-INKS
69 White Monopoly bills : ONES
70 Depend (on) : RELY
71 *Clarinetist Shaw … or, when said aloud, the only two consonants in the answers to the starred clues : ARTIE or RT
Down
1 Michelangelo masterpiece : PIETA
2 Like sneakers but not slippers : LACED
3 PC key : ALT
4 *”Sadly, you’re right” : TOO TRUE
5 Fairy tale meanie : OGRE
6 Desire to harm : SPITE
7 Defame in print : LIBEL
8 Computer operator : USER
9 *Vermin-hunting dog : RAT TERRIER
10 Stickie : POST-IT
11 *Pasta-serving cafe : TRATTORIA
12 The “a” of a.m. : ANTE
13 Palm reader, e.g. : SEER
14 Lacking brightness : DRAB
22 Part of the psyche : EGO
23 Febreze target : ODOR
25 Ivy League school in Philly : PENN
29 *Plumbing company whose jingle says “away go troubles down the drain” : ROTO-ROOTER
30 Suede shade : TAN
31 Second word of fairy tales : UPON
32 Fork prong : TINE
33 Wild pig : BOAR
34 Prefix with potent or present : OMNI-
35 *Say again : REITERATE
36 Pronoun for a ship : SHE
37 “___ the season to be jolly” : ‘TIS
41 Actress Gardner : AVA
42 No ___ traffic : THRU
44 Word of warning : DON’T
46 *Trick-or-___ (kid on Halloween) : TREATER
48 One of the Three Musketeers : ARAMIS
49 Halloween shout : BOO!
51 Doughnut-shaped roll : BAGEL
52 See 15-Across : … ITALY
54 Téa of “Madam Secretary” : LEONI
55 Bring to mind : EVOKE
56 Only M.L.B. team that Johnny Bench played for (1967-83) : REDS
57 Part of a Chipotle order : TACO
58 Chief Norse god : ODIN
59 Wander : ROVE
60 ___ avis : RARA
65 Jokester : WIT
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