0627-20 NY Times Crossword 27 Jun 20, Saturday

Today’s Theme: None

… a complete list of answers

Bill’s time: 33m 39s!

Bill’s errors: 2

• JASON MRAZ (Jason Maaz)
• SCHOOLMARM (schoolma’am!!!)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 2018 Stanley Cup champs, to fans : CAPS

The Washington Capitals hockey team is based in Arlington, Virginia. The team was founded in 1974.

The Stanley Cup is named for Lord Stanley of Preston, the Governor General of Canada from 1888 to 1893. Lord Stanley’s sons became avid fans of ice hockey while in Canada, and so he donated the trophy in 1909, originally as a challenge cup for the country’s best amateur club.

17 It travels from D.C. to Boston in about seven hours : ACELA

The Acela Express is the fastest train routinely running in the US, as it gets up to 150 mph at times. The service runs between Boston and Washington D.C. via Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. Introduced in 2000, the brand name “Acela” was created to evoke “acceleration” and “excellence”.

19 Seeped : OSMOSED

Osmosis is the movement of a solvent (often water) across a semipermeable membrane. In the process of osmosis, the solvent tends to flow from an area of less concentration to an area of higher concentration. This sense of absorbing water effortlessly gives rise to the expression “learning by osmosis”.

25 Monopoly card with property info : TITLE DEED

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.

30 Home of Florida Atlantic University : BOCA RATON

The name of the city of Boca Raton in Florida translates from Spanish as “Mouse Mouth”. There doesn’t seem to be a definitive etymology of the name but one plausible explanation is a nautical one. “Boca”, as well as meaning “mouth” can mean “inlet”. “Ratón”, as well as meaning “mouse” was also used to describe rocks that chewed away at a ship’s anchor cable. So possibly Boca Raton was named for a rocky inlet.

31 Singer/songwriter with the 2008 top 5 album “We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.” : JASON MRAZ

Jason Mraz is a singer-songwriter from Mechanicsville, Virginia. Jason is of Czech descent, and his name “Mraz” translates as “frost”.

32 Word that goes before and after “after” : DAY

Day after day.

36 Enchanting sort : MAGE

“Mage” is an archaic word meaning “magician”.

37 Bulk purchase at the post office : PANE

That would be a pane of stamps.

38 Mars, to Jupiter : SON

Mars was the god of war in ancient Rome. Mars was also viewed as the father of the Roman people and the father of Romulus and Remus, the twin brothers who founded Rome according to Roman mythology.

The Pantheon in Rome was built as a temple to all the gods of ancient Rome. Even though the Pantheon was built almost two thousand years ago, the roof at its center remains the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome.

41 Betty who sang “The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s in His Kiss)” : EVERETT

“The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s in His Kiss)” dates back to 1963 when it was written by Rudy Clark. The song was rejected by most singers to whom it was offered including the big “girl band” of the day, the Shirelles. It was first recorded by Merry Clayton, but it took a second recording by Betty Everett to hit the charts. Over in England, the Searchers had some success with the song in 1964, and then the Hollies, Swinging Blue Jeans, Helen Shapiro, Lulu and Sandie Shaw all had a go. Finally, along comes Cher in 1990 and records her version for the 1990 film “Mermaids”, and again it’s a flop. Cher’s version was re-released in the UK in 1991 and it just took off. It stayed at number one for 5 weeks. The public is so fickle …

52 Pennsylvania county or its seat : YORK

York, Pennsylvania was named for the historic city of York in the North of England. York was one of the cities that served as a capital of the Continental Congress during the Revolutionary War. It was in York that the Articles of Confederation were drafted and adopted.

Down

4 Baldness is the result of losing them : TREADS

One way to test the depth of tread on a tire is the Penny Test. Insert a penny into the tire’s tread, with Lincoln’s head upside down. If you can see all of the president’s head, then it’s time to replace that tire (tread depth is less than 2/32 inch).

9 Like the era that began in the early 1600s : JACOBEAN

The Jacobean era is that period in England and Scotland when the thrones were occupied by King James VI of Scotland, also known as King James I of England. “Jacobus” is the Latin for “James”.

11 Republic of ___, theocratic setting of “The Handmaid’s Tale” : GILEAD

“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.

12 A lot : SCADS

The origin of the word “scads”, meaning “lots and lots”, is unclear. That said, “scads” was used to mean “dollars” back in the mid-1800s.

15 Baker’s Joy alternative : PAM

PAM cooking oil was introduced in 1961 by Leon Rubin and Arthur Meyerhoff. The name “PAM” is an acronym … standing for “Product of Arthur Meyerhoff”. Who’d a thunk it …?

22 He’s “waiting in the sky” in a classic David Bowie song : STARMAN

“Starman” is a fabulous song released by David Bowie in 1972 on the famous album “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars”.

27 Regular guest on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” : DR OZ

Mehmet Oz is a cardiothoracic surgeon, and a TV personality known simply as “Dr. Oz”. Oz appeared as a health expert for several seasons on “The Oprah Winfrey Show”. Now he has his own “The Dr. Oz Show” on radio and television that is backed by Winfrey’s Harpo Productions.

31 Miss-taken identity? : JANE DOE

Though the English court system does not use the term today, “John Doe” first appeared as the “name of a person unknown” in England in 1659, along with the similar “Richard Roe”. An unknown female is referred to as “JaneDoe ”, and the equivalent to Richard Roe is Jane Roe (as in Roe v. Wade, for example). Variants of “John Doe” used outside of the courts are “Joe Blow” and “John Q. Public”.

32 Italian playwright who won the 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature : DARIO FO

Dario Fo is multi-talented actor and playwright from Italy. Fo’s most famous work is probably his controversial series of one-act plays titled “Mistero buffo” (“Comical Mystery”). “Mistero buffo” is set in the Holy Land during the first century CE. An Italian TV broadcast of “Mistero buffo” was denounced by the Vatican as “the most blasphemous show in the history of television”.

35 Things that go “Bang!” : GAVELS

The small hammer that one raps on a table or desk to call a meeting to order, or perhaps to signify a sale at an auction, is called a gavel. The term “gavel” is actually American English, and is a word that emerged in the early 19th century.

37 ___ Center, home of the Denver Nuggets : PEPSI

Pepsi Center in Denver is home to the NBA’s Denver Nuggets and the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche. The facility opened in 1999.

The Denver Nuggets basketball team was a founding member of the American Basketball Association in 1967, at which time they were known as the Denver Rockets. The team name was changed in 1974 as the franchise planned its transition to the NBA. The name change was needed as the NBA already had the Houston Rockets. As is tradition, the new name was chosen in a fan contest.

40 Stew thickener : OKRA

The plant known as okra is mainly grown for its edible green pods. The pods are said to resemble “ladies’ fingers”, which is an alternative name for the plant. Okra is known as “ngombo” in Bantu, a name that might give us the word “gumbo”, the name for the name of the southern Louisiana stew that includes okra as a key ingredient.

42 Pair of overalls? : ELS

There is a pair of letters L (els) in the word “overalls”.

43 Disney character who sings “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” : ANNA

“Frozen” is a 2013 animated feature from Walt Disney Studios that is based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale “The Snow Queen”. The film is all about the exploits of Princess Anna, the younger sister of Elsa, Snow Queen of Arendelle. Spoiler alert: Prince Hans of the Southern Isles seems to be a good guy for most of the film, but turns out to be a baddie in the end. And, a snowman named Olaf provides some comic relief.

46 Walk-___ : ONS

A “walk-on role” in a performance is one in which the actor makes an appearance on stage or on set, but has no dialog. One line of dialog elevates the role to a “bit part”.