0903-19 NY Times Crossword 3 Sep 19, Tuesday

Constructed by: Evan Kalish
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Reveal Answer: Late Bloomer

Themed answers end a flower, a BLOOMER:

  • 61A One who catches up eventually … or a hint to the ends of 17-, 30- and 46-Across : LATE BLOOMER
  • 17A Excessively ornate writing : PURPLE PROSE (giving “rose”)
  • 30A Some sweet cocktails : BANANA DAIQUIRIS (giving “iris”)
  • 46A Did something hugely risky : COURTED DISASTER (giving “aster”)

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

Bill’s time: 6m 23s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 First word of “A Visit From St. Nicholas” : ‘TWAS

The poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” was published anonymously in 1823, and is better known today by its first line “‘Twas the night before Christmas”. Most scholars believe that the poem was written by Clement Clarke Moore, a theologian from New York City. Others say that it was written by Henry Livingston, Jr., a poet from Upstate New York.

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ’kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash …

14 Film character who says “Named must be your fear before banish it you can” : YODA

Yoda is one of the most beloved characters of the “Star Wars” series of films. Yoda’s voice is provided by the great modern-day puppeteer Frank Oz of “Muppets” fame.

16 Card game with a high level of chance : UNO

In my youth I remember being taught a great card game by a German acquaintance of mine, a game called Mau Mau. Years later I discovered that UNO is basically the same game, but played with a purpose-printed deck instead of the regular deck of playing cards that’s used for Mau Mau. I hear that Mau Mau is derived from the game called Crazy Eights.

17 Excessively ornate writing : PURPLE PROSE (giving “rose”)

Purple prose is writing that is overly ornate and flowery, so much so that it draws attention to itself, and detracts from the narrative.

19 Summer setting in K.C. : CDT

Central Daylight Time (CDT)

The Kansas City metropolitan area straddles the state line between Kansas and Missouri. The metropolitan area includes several cities, with the largest being (in order):

  • Kansas City, Missouri
  • Overland Park, Kansas
  • Kansas City, Kansas
  • Independence, Missouri

20 Whitney in the National Inventors Hall of Fame : ELI

Inventor Eli Whitney is best known for inventing the cotton gin. Whitney also came up with the important concept of “interchangeable parts”. Parts that are interchangeable can be swapped out of equipment or perhaps used in related designs.

21 Beverage in a 10-Down : IPA
(10D Craft beer spot : BREW PUB)

India pale ale (IPA) is a style of beer that originated in England. The beer was originally intended for transportation from England to India, hence the name.

30 Some sweet cocktails : BANANA DAIQUIRIS (giving “iris”)

Daiquirí is a small village on the coast near Santiago, Cuba and a key location in the American invasion of Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Supposedly, the cocktail called a “Daiquiri” was invented by American mining engineers in a bar in nearby Santiago.

33 You can take a trip with this without traveling : LSD

LSD (known colloquially as “acid”) is lysergic acid diethylamide. A Swiss chemist named Albert Hofmann first synthesized LSD in 1938 in a research project looking for medically efficacious ergot alkaloids. It wasn’t until some five years later when Hofmann ingested some of the drug accidentally that its psychedelic properties were discovered. Trippy, man …

36 .docx alternatives : PDFS

Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format introduced by Adobe Systems in 1993. PDF documents can be shared between users and read using many different applications, making them more universally accessible than documents saved by one particular program.

Microsoft Word documents have the “.doc” file extension, at least those created prior to the introduction of Microsoft Office 2007. The extension used now is “.docx”.

39 Long-stemmed mushroom : ENOKI

Enokitake (also known as “enoki”) are long and thin white mushrooms often added to soups or salads.

44 One who’s mastered the ropes : PRO

As one might expect perhaps, the phrase “learning the ropes” is nautical in origin. A new recruit on a sailing vessel would have to learn how to tie the appropriate knots and learn which rope controlled which sail or spar.

59 Alternative to .net and .gov : ORG

The .org domain was one of the six original generic top-level domains specified. The complete original list is:

  • .com (commercial enterprise)
  • .net (entity involved in network infrastructure e.g. an ISP)
  • .mil (US military)
  • .org (not-for-profit organization)
  • .gov (US federal government entity)
  • .edu (college-level educational institution)

65 ZIP codes, essentially: Abbr. : NOS

ZIP codes were introduced in 1963. The acronym “ZIP” stands for “Zone Improvement Plan”, a name indicating that mail travels more efficiently when the codes are included in the postal address.

67 Cathedral part : APSE

The apse of a church or cathedral is a semicircular recess in an outer wall, usually with a half-dome as a roof and often where there resides an altar. Originally, apses were used as burial places for the clergy and also for storage of important relics.

70 An “R” in R&R : REST

Rest and relaxation/recuperation/recreation (R&R, “R‘n’R”)

Down

1 Universal recipient’s category : TYPE AB

In general, a person with type O-negative blood is a universal donor, meaning that his or her blood can be used for transfusion into persons with any other blood type: A, B, AB or O, negative or positive (although there are other considerations). Also in general, a person with type AB-positive blood is a universal recipient, meaning that he or she can receive a transfusion of blood of any type: A, B, AB or O, negative or positive.

3 Rocky’s love in “Rocky” : ADRIAN

You might remember Rocky Balboa saying, “Yo, Adrian!” in the original “Rocky” movie. Adrian was Rocky’s wife played by Talia Shire, sister of director Francis Ford Coppola.

4 One who’s easily fooled : SAP

“Sap” is slang for “fool, someone easily scammed”. The term arose in the early 1800s in Britain when it was used in “saphead” and “sapskull”. All these words are derived from “sapwood”, which is the softwood found in tree trunks between the bark and the heartwood at the center.

7 Standard based largely on hole length : PAR

That would be golf.

9 Parks who is a civil rights hero : ROSA

Rosa Parks was one of a few brave women in days gone by who refused to give up their seats on a bus to white women. It was the stand taken by Rosa Parks on December 1, 1955 that sparked the Montgomery, Alabama Bus Boycott. President Clinton presented Ms. Parks with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996. When she died in 2005, Rosa Parks became the first ever woman to have her body lie in honor in the US Capitol Rotunda.

11 Cowboy : BUCKAROO

The American-English word “buckaroo” (sometimes “buckeroo”) comes from “vaquero”, the Spanish for cowboy.

18 Some lenders’ holdings : LIENS

A lien is the right that one has to retain or secure someone’s property until a debt is paid. When an individual takes out a car loan, for example, the lending bank is usually a lien holder. The bank releases the lien on the car when the loan is paid in full.

27 Tommy ___, Dodgers manager with 1,599 career wins : LASORDA

Tommy Lasorda had been with the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers for over sixty years when he retired in 1996 (although he did spend one season playing with the Kansas City Athletics).

31 “Skyfall” singer : ADELE

I have not been a fan of Daniel Craig as James Bond (preferring Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan in the role). However, I saw “Skyfall” when it first came out and have been won over. “Skyfall” is one of the best Bond films so far, in my humble opinion. And, Adele’s rendition of the title song is an added plus …

32 Lines that Groucho Marx is famous for : QUIPS

Groucho Marx’s real name was Julius Henry Marx. By the time Groucho started his successful, post-Hollywood career hosting the quiz show “You Bet Your Life”, he was sporting a real mustache. For all his movies, his mustache had been painted on with greasepaint.

36 Cheese whose name comes from the Italian for “sheep” : PECORINO

Pecorino is a family of hard cheeses from Italy, with the name coming from the Italian “pecora” meaning “sheep”. The most famous variety here in North America is Pecorino Romano, which we often refer to simply as “Romano”.

38 Source of added calories in many processed foods : FRUCTOSE

Fructose is also known as “fruit sugar”. It is commonly found in plants, and is the most water-soluble of all sugars. Many of us consume a lot of “high-fructose corn syrup”. This is a sweetener made from corn starch that is a mixture of glucose and fructose. The natural ratio of fructose to glucose is altered to produce a sweeter syrup by chemically converting much of the naturally occurring glucose into fructose.

40 Statue that might offend a bluenose : NUDE

A bluenose is a person who is excessively puritanical. Apparently the term comes to us from Nova Scotia, where the potatoes grown had a bluish skin and were called bluenoses. Later, that term was applied to the growers, and I guess they must have had a reputation for being prudish.

43 Popular Belgian beers, for short : STELLAS

The Belgian beer Stella Artois is named for the brewer Sebastianus Artois. Artois was the master brewer at the Den Hoorn Brewery in Leuven, Belgium in the early 1700s. The Den Hoorn Brewery has been around at least since 1366 … yes, 1366!

45 “One-man army” of the silver screen : RAMBO

“First Blood” was the original of the four “Rambo” films starring Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo, a troubled Vietnam War veteran. I thought “First Blood” was a pretty good film actually, but the sequels were terrible, and way too violent for me. But, action all the way …

49 ___ l’oeil : TROMPE

“Trompe l’oeil” is a technique in art that creates the optical illusion that a drawn object exists in three dimensions. “Trompe-l’oeil” is French for “deceive the eye”.

56 Tiffany treasure : LAMP

The archetypal Tiffany lamp is made using pieces of colored, leaded glass with a copper foil bonding the pieces together, and a solder applied over the foil. The resulting effect resembles a stained glass window.

63 “Able was I ___ I saw Elba” : ERE

The three most famous palindromes in English have to be:

  • Able was I ere I saw Elba
  • A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!
  • Madam, I’m Adam

One of my favorite terms is “Aibohphobia”, although it doesn’t appear in the dictionary and is a joke term. “Aibohphobia” is a great way to describe a fear of palindromes, by creating a palindrome out of the suffix “-phobia”.

64 Sculling implement : OAR

A scull is a boat used for competitive rowing. The main hull of the boat is often referred to as a shell. Crew members who row the boat can be referred to as “oars”. And, a scull is also an oar mounted on the stern of a small boat. It’s all very confusing …

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 First word of “A Visit From St. Nicholas” : ‘TWAS
5 Great : SUPERB
11 Great : BIG
14 Film character who says “Named must be your fear before banish it you can” : YODA
15 Captivate : ENAMOR
16 Card game with a high level of chance : UNO
17 Excessively ornate writing : PURPLE PROSE (giving “rose”)
19 Summer setting in K.C. : CDT
20 Whitney in the National Inventors Hall of Fame : ELI
21 Beverage in a 10-Down : IPA
22 Respond to an alarm : AWAKEN
24 “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” for instance : ADAGE
26 Sort : ILK
29 Preferred option for proceeding : PLAN A
30 Some sweet cocktails : BANANA DAIQUIRIS (giving “iris”)
33 You can take a trip with this without traveling : LSD
34 Refuse to acknowledge : SNUB
35 ___ bran : OAT
36 .docx alternatives : PDFS
39 Long-stemmed mushroom : ENOKI
41 Word that can precede water or war : HOLY …
42 Make a boo-boo : ERR
43 Indication of drunkenness : SLUR
44 One who’s mastered the ropes : PRO
46 Did something hugely risky : COURTED DISASTER (giving “aster”)
52 Perfectly timed : ON CUE
53 Have : EAT
54 Sign near a highway entrance : MERGE
55 Share, as an old story : RETELL
57 Bro or sis : SIB
59 Alternative to .net and .gov : ORG
60 Declaration just before a kiss : I DO
61 One who catches up eventually … or a hint to the ends of 17-, 30- and 46-Across : LATE BLOOMER
65 ZIP codes, essentially: Abbr. : NOS
66 Lacking principles : AMORAL
67 Cathedral part : APSE
68 Wedded : ONE
69 Slow, medium and fast : SPEEDS
70 An “R” in R&R : REST

Down

1 Universal recipient’s category : TYPE AB
2 Intended to, informally : WOULDA
3 Rocky’s love in “Rocky” : ADRIAN
4 One who’s easily fooled : SAP
5 Ooze : SEEP
6 Like bills that are overdue : UNPAID
7 Standard based largely on hole length : PAR
8 ___ rap : EMO
9 Parks who is a civil rights hero : ROSA
10 Craft beer spot : BREW PUB
11 Cowboy : BUCKAROO
12 Experiencing the first stage of grief, say : IN DENIAL
13 Took the gloves off : GOT NASTY
18 Some lenders’ holdings : LIENS
23 Funny Wong : ALI
25 The ___ (gang for a ladies’ night out) : GALS
27 Tommy ___, Dodgers manager with 1,599 career wins : LASORDA
28 Unusual sexual preference : KINK
31 “Skyfall” singer : ADELE
32 Lines that Groucho Marx is famous for : QUIPS
36 Cheese whose name comes from the Italian for “sheep” : PECORINO
37 Just kept talking and talking and talking and … : DRONED ON
38 Source of added calories in many processed foods : FRUCTOSE
40 Statue that might offend a bluenose : NUDE
41 Cheat royally : HOSE
43 Popular Belgian beers, for short : STELLAS
45 “One-man army” of the silver screen : RAMBO
47 Feel sorry about : RUE
48 Dire appraisal of a situation : IT’S BAD
49 ___ l’oeil : TROMPE
50 Exit : EGRESS
51 Feel sorry about : REGRET
56 Tiffany treasure : LAMP
58 Woes : ILLS
62 Little dipper? : TOE
63 “Able was I ___ I saw Elba” : ERE
64 Sculling implement : OAR

7 thoughts on “0903-19 NY Times Crossword 3 Sep 19, Tuesday”

  1. 13:44. A little tricky for a Tuesday. I thought the theme would be color related after seeing BANANA… and PURPLE… at the outset.

    Best –

  2. No errors. Much more difficult than the typical Tuesday. The theme was only slightly helpful by acting as a confirmation that I indeed had the theme answers correct. While this puzzle was a chore to get through, it does offer much great content of answers and facts to explore. And that makes it worth the effort.

  3. 11:29, no errors. All these years, I thought PURPLE PROSE was profanity. Learn something new every day.

  4. Unusually tough, like yesterday’s. Is this the start of any early-week trend? If so, I’d welcome it.

Comments are closed.