0513-20 NY Times Crossword 13 May 20, Wednesday

Constructed by: Benjamin Kramer
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Writing More and More

Themed answers each end with some of an author’s work, starting with just a PASSAGE and building up to his or her total OEUVRE as we descend the grid:

  • 17A Protection offered for a traveler in a dangerous area : SAFE PASSAGE
  • 24A Group of Greek women : SORORITY CHAPTER
  • 36A Member of the Apple family : MACBOOK
  • 50A 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, etc. : FIBONACCI SERIES
  • 59A Canapé, e.g. : HORS D’OEUVRE

… a complete list of answers

Bill’s time: 8m 54s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Family name on “Arrested Development” : BLUTH

“Arrested Development” is a sitcom that originally aired on Fox from 2003 to 2006. Ron Howard was heavily involved in the show behind the camera, serving as executive producer and also as the show’s narrator. Fifteen new episodes of “Arrested Development” were filmed specifically for release on Netflix in 2013, and there may even be a movie on the way.

15 Six Flags Great Adventure roller coaster with “explosive” speed : NITRO

The Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is an operator of amusement parks that is headquartered in Grand Prairie, Texas. Six Flags owns more amusement parks than any other company in the world. The first of these properties to open was Six Flags Over Texas. The park’s name was chosen as a homage to the flags of the six nations that have governed Texas, namely Spain, France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the United States of America, and the Confederate States of America.

16 Bar offering with “double” and “triple” varieties : IPA

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.

19 Flanders of “The Simpsons” : NED

Ned Flanders lives next door to Homer Simpson on TV’s “The Simpsons”. Ned is voiced by actor Harry Shearer, and has been around since the very first episode aired in 1989.

21 LP, e.g. : DISC

The first vinyl records designed to play at 33⅓ rpm were introduced by RCA Victor in 1931, but were discontinued due to quality problems. The first long play (LP) 33⅓ rpm disc was introduced by Columbia Records many years later in 1948, with RCA Victor following up with a 45 rpm “single” the following year, in 1949.

22 Denim : JEAN

Denim fabric originated in Nimes in France. The French phrase “de Nimes” (meaning “from Nimes”) gives us the word “denim”. Also, the French phrase “bleu de Genes” (meaning “blue of Genoa”) gives us our word “jeans”.

29 Author with a son named Christopher Robin : AA MILNE

Alan Alexander (A.A.) Milne was an English author who is best known for his delightful “Winnie-the-Pooh” series of books. He had only one son, Christopher Robin Milne, born in 1920. The young Milne was the inspiration for the Christopher Robin character in the Winnie-the-Pooh stories. Winnie-the-Pooh was named after Christopher Robin’s real teddy bear, one he called Winnie, who in turn was named after a Canadian black bear called Winnie that the Milnes would visit in London Zoo. The original Winnie teddy bear is on display at the main branch of the New York Public Library in New York.

30 Emmy-winning actress Uzo ___ : ADUBA

Uzo Aduba is an actress best known for playing prison inmate Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren on the Netflix TV show “Orange Is the New Black”.

33 N.L. East team, on scoreboards : ATL

The Atlanta Braves are the only team to have won baseball’s World Series in three different home cities. They won as the Boston Braves in 1914, the Milwaukee Braves in 1957 and the Atlanta Braves in 1995.

35 Architectural designer Maya : LIN

Maya Lin is a Chinese-American artist and architect from Athens, Ohio. Her most famous work is the moving Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Lin was only 21-years-old when she won a public design competition in 1981 to create the memorial. Although her design is very fitting, sadly Lin was not a popular choice for the work given her Asian heritage. As she said herself, she probably would not have been picked had the competition been judged with the knowledge of who was behind each submission.

41 Satyr’s stare : OGLE

The satyrs of Greek mythology came with a very high sex drive. They are the “rude” male subjects drawn on the side of old Greek vases. The nubile maidens known as nymphs were often an object of attention for the satyrs.

43 … — … : SOS

The combination of three dots – three dashes – three dots, is a Morse signal first introduced by the German government as a standard distress call in 1905. The sequence is remembered as the letters SOS (three dots – pause – three dashes – pause – three dots). That said, in the emergency signal there is no pause between the dots and dashes, so “SOS” is really only a mnemonic. Similarly, the phrases “Save Our Souls” and “Save Our Ship” are also mnemonics that were introduced after the SOS signal was adopted.

44 Big name in name tags : AVERY

Avery Dennison Corporation was founded as Kum Kleen Products in 1935, by R. Stanton Avery. Kum Kleen Products were the first manufacturers of self-adhesive labels.

50 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, etc. : FIBONACCI SERIES

Leonardo of Pisa was a famous and respected Italian mathematician, also known as simply “Fibonacci”. He is remembered for writing about a number sequence (although he didn’t “discover” it) that later was given the name “Fibonacci sequence”. He wrote about the series of numbers in his book called “Liber Abaci”, a celebrated work that introduced Arabic numerals (i.e. 0-9) to the Western world.

56 Third rank of the peerage : EARL

In Britain, there are five ranks of peers, namely duke, marquess, earl, viscount and baron, in descending order.

58 ___ 9000, figure in “2001: A Space Odyssey” : HAL

In Arthur C. Clarke’s “Space Odyssey” (famously adapted for the big screen as “2001: A Space Odyssey”) the computer system that went rogue was called HAL 9000, or simply “HAL”. HAL stands for “Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer”. Even though Clarke denied it, there’s a good argument that can be made that the acronym HAL is a veiled reference to IBM, the big player in the world of computing at the time of the novel’s publication (1968). The acronym HAL is just a one-letter shift from the initials “IBM”.

59 Canapé, e.g. : HORS D’OEUVRE

An hors d’oeuvre is a first course in a meal. “Hors d’oeuvre” translates from French as “apart from the work”, which really means “not the main course”.

65 Hip-hop artist whose name once ended with “tha Kyd” : SYD

“Syd” (also “Syd tha Kyd”) is the stage name of rapper Sydney Loren Bennett. I know nothing …

Down

1 Soaks in the sun’s rays : BASKS

Our verb “to bask”, meaning “to expose one to pleasant warmth”, is derived from the gruesome, 14th-century term “basken”, meaning “to wallow in blood”. The contemporary usage apparently originated with Shakespeare, who employed “bask” with reference to sunshine in “As You Like It”.

2 South American plain : LLANO

“Llano” is the Spanish word for “plain”.

4 Phat : THE BOMB

In hip-hop circles, the term “phat” means “excellent, first-rate”.

5 Luck, quaintly : HAP

One’s hap is one’s luck. So, to be hapless is to be out of luck, unfortunate.

6 As found : IN SITU

“In situ” is a Latin phrase meaning “in the place”, and we use the term to mean “in the original position”.

7 Rapper ___ Elliott : MISSY

Melissa “Missy” Elliott is a rap artist who was childhood friends with fellow rapper Timbaland.

8 Opposite of legato : STACCATO

Staccato (stac.) is a musical direction signifying that notes should be played in a disconnected form. The opposite of staccato would be legato, indicating long and continuous notes played very smoothly.

9 Tiny fraction of a joule : ERG

An erg is a unit of mechanical work or energy. It is a small unit, with one joule comprising 10 million ergs. It has been suggested that an erg is about the amount of energy required for a mosquito to take off. The term comes from “ergon”, the Greek word for work.

James Joule was an English physicist who spent much of his life working in the family brewing business. Joule used his work in the brewery to study the relationship between heat and mechanical work. In honor of his achievements, his name is used for the unit of energy in the International System of Units (i.e. the joule).

10 Foot gunk : TOE JAM

“Toe jam” is a slang term referring to any material that collects between the toes. Ick …

18 Tennis player’s chance to hold serve : AD IN

In tennis, if the score reaches deuce (i.e. when both players have scored three points), then the first player to win two points in a row wins the game. The player who wins the point immediately after deuce is said to have the advantage. If the player with the advantage wins the next point then that’s two in a row and that player wins the game. If the person with the advantage loses the next point, then advantage is lost and the players return to deuce and try again. The player calling out the score announces “ad in”, or more formally “advantage in”, if he/she has the advantage. If the score announcer’s opponent has the advantage, then the announcement is “ad out” or “advantage out”. Follow all of that …?

25 Criticize harshly, with “out” : REAM

I must admit that I find the slang term “to ream out”, with its meaning “to scold harshly”, to be quite distasteful. The usage of the word as a reprimand dates back to about 1950.

26 Angel hair accompaniment? : HALO

The Greek word “halos” is the name given to the ring of light around the sun or moon, which gives us our word “halo” that is used for a radiant light depicted above the head of a saintly person.

30 Standoffish : ALOOF

I suppose one might guess from the “feel” of the word “aloof” that it has nautical roots. Originally “aloof” meant “to windward” and was the opposite of “alee”. A helmsman might be instructed to stay aloof, to steer the boat into the weather to keep a distance from a lee-shore. It is from this sense of maintaining a distance that aloof came to mean “distant” in terms of personality. Interesting, huh …?

33 Ones feeling the crunch? : ABS

The abdominal muscles (abs) are more correctly referred to as the rectus abdominis muscles. They might be referred to as a “six-pack”, or even a “ten-pack”, in a person who has developed the muscles and who has low body fat. In my case, more like a keg …

37 Big part of a Risk board : ASIA

Risk is a fabulous board game that was introduced in France in 1957. It 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 …

47 Country music? : ANTHEM

The word “anthem” used to describe a sacred song, especially one with words taken from the Scriptures. The British national anthem (“God Save the Queen/King”) technically is a hymn, and so it came to be described as “the national hymn” and later “the national anthem”. The use of the word “anthem” extended from there to describe any patriotic song.

49 World capital at around the same latitude as St. Petersburg : OSLO

Oslo is the capital of Norway. The city of Oslo burns trash to fuel half of its buildings, including all of its schools. The problem faced by the city is that it doesn’t generate enough trash. So, Oslo imports trash from Sweden, England and Ireland, and is now looking to import some American trash too.

52 Kershner who directed “The Empire Strikes Back” : IRVIN

Film director Irvin Kershner was at the helm for several films, with most successful being sequels, such as “The Empire Strikes Back”, “Never Say Never Again” and “RoboCop 2”.

54 Any member of Abba : SWEDE

Only three members of the quartet that made up the Swedish pop group ABBA were born in Sweden. Anni-Frid Lyngstad was born in Norway just after the end of WWII, the daughter of a Norwegian mother and a father who was German soldier and a member of the German occupying forces during the war. The father returned to Germany with the army, and in 1947, Anni-Frid was taken with her family to Sweden. They left fearing reprisals against those who dealt with the German army during the occupation.

60 Lennon’s lady : ONO

Yoko Ono is an avant-garde artist. Ono actually met her future husband John Lennon for the first time while she was preparing her conceptual art exhibit called “Hammer a Nail”. Visitors were encouraged to hammer in a nail into a wooden board, creating the artwork. Lennon wanted to hammer in the first nail, but Ono stopped him as the exhibition had not yet opened. Apparently Ono relented when Lennon paid her an imaginary five shillings to hammer an imaginary nail into the wood.

61 This puzzle’s clues have two of them : EGS

Those would be in the clues for 21-across and 59-across.

The Latin “exempli gratia” means “for the sake of example”, and is a phrase we often use in English. “Exempli gratia” is almost always shortened to “e.g.”

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Family name on “Arrested Development” : BLUTH
6 “That’s enough for me” : I’M SET
11 Exclamation just before and after “just” : WOW!
14 Socially dominant : ALPHA
15 Six Flags Great Adventure roller coaster with “explosive” speed : NITRO
16 Bar offering with “double” and “triple” varieties : IPA
17 Protection offered for a traveler in a dangerous area : SAFE PASSAGE
19 Flanders of “The Simpsons” : NED
20 Bygone TV feature : KNOB
21 LP, e.g. : DISC
22 Denim : JEAN
24 Group of Greek women : SORORITY CHAPTER
28 Word after “pop-up” or “drop-down” : MENU
29 Author with a son named Christopher Robin : AA MILNE
30 Emmy-winning actress Uzo ___ : ADUBA
33 N.L. East team, on scoreboards : ATL
34 Ending with herbi- or insecti- : -CIDE
35 Architectural designer Maya : LIN
36 Member of the Apple family : MACBOOK
40 Served fare : FED
41 Satyr’s stare : OGLE
43 … — … : SOS
44 Big name in name tags : AVERY
46 Back after cancellation : ON AGAIN
48 Top-notch : A-ONE
50 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, etc. : FIBONACCI SERIES
55 Class act? : TEST
56 Third rank of the peerage : EARL
57 Kind of poker : DRAW
58 ___ 9000, figure in “2001: A Space Odyssey” : HAL
59 Canapé, e.g. : HORS D’OEUVRE
62 Mad state : IRE
63 Key in : ENTER
64 9-to-5 work : GRIND
65 Hip-hop artist whose name once ended with “tha Kyd” : SYD
66 Like some shaded spots : MOSSY
67 Brains : SENSE

Down

1 Soaks in the sun’s rays : BASKS
2 South American plain : LLANO
3 Not loath to do : UP FOR
4 Phat : THE BOMB
5 Luck, quaintly : HAP
6 As found : IN SITU
7 Rapper ___ Elliott : MISSY
8 Opposite of legato : STACCATO
9 Tiny fraction of a joule : ERG
10 Foot gunk : TOE JAM
11 Succeed in all one’s endeavors, so to speak : WIN AT LIFE
12 Question whose answer can go almost anywhere : OPEN-ENDER
13 Some bills or chewing gum : WAD
18 Tennis player’s chance to hold serve : AD IN
23 For the ages : EPIC
25 Criticize harshly, with “out” : REAM
26 Angel hair accompaniment? : HALO
27 Thin-sounding : REEDY
30 Standoffish : ALOOF
31 High muckety-muck : DIGNITARY
32 Like a map on a geography exam : UNLABELED
33 Ones feeling the crunch? : ABS
37 Big part of a Risk board : ASIA
38 Tour events : CONCERTS
39 Cartoonist Bob who co-created Batman : KANE
42 Me, myself and I : EGOS
45 Lush green vegetation : VERDURE
47 Country music? : ANTHEM
48 Put on the line : AIR-DRY
49 World capital at around the same latitude as St. Petersburg : OSLO
51 Work for doctors, lawyers and detectives : CASES
52 Kershner who directed “The Empire Strikes Back” : IRVIN
53 Makes, as bread : EARNS
54 Any member of Abba : SWEDE
58 ___ and hers : HIS
60 Lennon’s lady : ONO
61 This puzzle’s clues have two of them : EGS