1008-20 NY Times Crossword 8 Oct 20, Thursday

Constructed by: Francesca Goldston & Jeff Chen
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Reveal Answer: Time Is Money

Themed answers are common phrases in which the word “TIME” has been replaced by a form of MONEY, to give another common phrase:

  • 56A Benjamin Franklin adage … or a hint to interpreting the answers to the four starred clues : TIME IS MONEY
  • 16A *When many people solve crosswords : SPARE CHANGE (from “spare time”)
  • 28A *Rough patch : HARD CASH (from “hard time”)
  • 33A *Occupied oneself : PASSED THE BUCK (from “passed the time”)
  • 42A *Cheat on, say : TWO CENTS (from “two-time”)

Bill’s time: 14m 45s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Relief from the desert? : ALOE

Aloe vera is a succulent plant that grows in relatively dry climates. The plant’s leaves are full of biologically-active compounds that have been studied extensively. Aloe vera has been used for centuries in herbal medicine, mainly for topical treatment of wounds.

5 Judging partner of Simon, Heidi and Sofia on “America’s Got Talent” : HOWIE

Howie Mandel is a Canadian comic. He was a regular on TV a few years ago as host of “Deal or No Deal”, and more recently as a judge on “America’s Got Talent”. I remember Mandel from “St. Elsewhere” in the eighties, which was the first American TV show that I watched regularly when I moved to the US …

NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” is part of a global franchise based in the UK. The original show is called “Britain’s Got Talent”, and the whole franchise is owned by Simon Cowell. The first host of “America’s Got Talent” was Regis Philbin (2006), followed by Jerry Springer, Nick Cannon, Tyra Banks and Terry Crews.

13 “The gallant pig” of children’s literature : BABE

The hit 1995 film “Babe” was produced and filmed in Australia. The movie is an adaptation of a 1983 novel called “The Sheep-Pig” written by Dick King-Smith. “Babe” was a smash hit at the box office and was extremely well received by the critics. The film was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, but lost out to “Braveheart”. However, it did win the Oscar for Best Visual Effects by beating out “Apollo 13”, which was an amazing feat, I’d say…

15 Cinemax competitor : TMC

The Movie Channel is owned by Showtime, which in turn is a subsidiary of CBS. The channel’s name is often abbreviated to “TMC”, although this is informal usage.

18 Word that sounds like its second letter : ARE

“Are” sounds like “R”.

19 Sully : SMIRCH

“Besmirch” is a derivative of “smirch”, with both words meaning to “make dirty”. In particular, to besmirch is to sully someone’s reputation.

22 Player ___ : PIANO

A player piano is a piano that plays itself. The original Pianola, a brand introduced in the early 1900s, used a pneumatic mechanism to depress the keys. The tune itself was stored on a paper roll that had carefully positioned perforations.

23 Much-litigated 2010 law, for short : ACA

The correct name for what has been dubbed “Obamacare” is the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (ACA).

27 Rocinante, to Don Quixote : STEED

The full name of the author of “Don Quixote” was Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. As a young man in 1570, Cervantes was a soldier fighting for the Spanish Navy, stationed in Naples, at that time a possession of Spain. He was injured in battle, receiving three gunshot wounds including two to the chest. His injuries left him without the use of his left arm. After recuperating, he returned to active service, and in 1575 he was captured by Algerian corsairs, and spent the next five years in slavery in North Africa. His parents found him and bought his freedom, and brought him home to his native Madrid.

32 Big name in A.T.M.s : NCR

NCR is an American company that has been in business since 1884 and was originally called the National Cash Register Company. The company has done well in a market where new technologies seem to be constantly disrupting the status quo. NCR is a leading supplier of automated teller machines (ATMs) and barcode scanners.

33 *Occupied oneself : PASSED THE BUCK (from “passed the time”)

“Buck” is a slang term for “dollar”. The term has been around at least since 1856, and is thought to derive from the tradition of using buckskin as a unit of trade with Native Americans during the frontier days.

39 Mauna ___ : KEA

Mauna Kea is a dormant volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii, the peak of which is the highest point in the whole state. Mauna Kea is in effect the tip of a gigantic volcano rising up from the seabed.

40 Becoming new, in a way : WANING

The verbs “to wax” and “to wane” come from Old English. To wax is to increase gradually in size, strength, intensity or number. To wane is to decrease gradually.

42 *Cheat on, say : TWO CENTS (from “two-time”)

To put in one’s two cents is to add one’s opinion. The American expression derives from the older English version, which is “to put in one’s two pennies’ worth”.

47 One of three in a double magnum bottle : LITER

The list of standard sizes for wine bottles is quite long. The main ones encountered would be:

  • 187.5 ml: a “split”, often used for a single serving of champagne
  • 375 ml: a “half”
  • 750 ml: the standard size
  • 1.5 L: a “magnum”, double the standard size
  • 3.0 L: a “double magnum”, and also a “standard size” for boxes of wine

50 Common cause of tonsillitis : STREP

Streptococcus bacteria multiply and divide along a single axis so that they form linked chains. That behavior gives the genus of bacteria its name, as “streptos” is Greek for “easily twisted, like a chain”. I had to battle with streptococcal pharyngitis (strep throat) twice in the past few years and it was not at all pleasant, I must say. Another species of streptococcus is responsible for that terrible “flesh-eating” infection that makes the news from time to time.

The suffix “-itis” is used to denote inflammation, as in laryngitis (inflammation of the larynx), otitis (inflammation of the ear), tendinitis (inflammation of a tendon), tonsillitis (inflammation of the tonsils) and sinusitis (inflammation of the sinuses).

51 “It” factor? : HORROR

“It” is a 1986 horror novel penned by Stephen King. The title character is a demon who preys on children, primarily appearing in the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. The novel was adapted into a 1990 miniseries of the same name. I don’t do Stephen King …

53 How Lennon wrote the opening lines of “I Am the Walrus” : ON ACID

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 …

“I Am the Walrus” is a Beatles song released in 1967. It was written by John Lennon, with the “Walrus” being a reference to the poem “The Walrus and the Carpenter” from Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking-Glass”.

56 Benjamin Franklin adage … or a hint to interpreting the answers to the four starred clues : TIME IS MONEY

Benjamin Franklin came from a large family. He was his father’s fifteenth child (Josiah Franklin had seventeen children in all, with two wives). Benjamin was born in Boston in 1706. He had very little schooling, heading out to work for his father when he was ten years old. He became an apprentice printer to his older brother at the age of twelve. Benjamin did quite well with that limited education …

61 Hullabaloo : HOOPLA

The word “hoopla” means “boisterous excitement”. The term probably comes from “houp-là”, something the French say instead of “upsy-daisy”. Then again, “upsy-daisy” probably isn’t something said very often here in the US …

62 Avocado pit, e.g. : SEED

The wonderful avocado comes from a tree that is native to Mexico and Central America. The avocado fruit is sometimes called an avocado pear, because of its shape, even though it is not related to the pear at all. The fruit might also be referred to as an alligator pear, due to the roughness of the green skin of some avocado cultivars.

63 Quaker’s possessive : THY

Members of the Religious Society of Friends are known as Friends or Quakers. The Christian sect started in England in the 1640s, led by George Fox. The principal tenet at that point was that Christians could have direct experience of Jesus Christ without the mediation of clergy, a reflection of the increasing dissatisfaction with the established church at that time. The term “Quaker” is thought to have been used earlier in reference to foreign religious sects whose followers were given to fits of shaking during religious fervor. Somehow that term became used for members of the Religious Society of Friends.

64 Annual parade V.I.P. : ST PAT

The first Saint Patrick’s Day celebration in the US was held in 1600, in St. Augustine, Florida. There is some evidence that the first St. Paddy’s Day parade was held the following year, in the same locale. The annual parade in Boston dates back to 1737, in New York City dates back to 1762, and in Chicago dates back to 1843.

65 Recipe amts. : TSPS

Teaspoon (tsp.)

Down

3 44 years? : OBAMA ERA

When Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of the US in January 2009, the ceremony was attended by more people than had ever attended any event in the nation’s capital. Famously, President-Elect Obama strayed slightly from the required wording of the oath of office, and so he had to be sworn in again the next day.

4 Atmosphere on “The Twilight Zone” : EERINESS

The iconic television series “The Twilight Zone” first aired in 1959 and then ran for 156 episodes before being pulled in 1964. “The Twilight Zone” was revived for four years in the late eighties, and was also spun-off into a movie by Steven Spielberg in 1983.

6 British pop star 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.

8 “Young Frankenstein” role : INGA

I am not really a big fan of movies by Mel Brooks, but “Young Frankenstein” is the exception. I think the cast has a lot to do with me liking the film, as it includes Gene Wilder (Dr. Frankenstein), Teri Garr (Inga), Marty Feldman (Igor) and Gene Hackman (Harold, the blind man).

11 “Jackpot!” : I’M RICH!

The term “jackpot” dates back to the 1800s and comes from the game of poker. In some variants there are progressive antes. This means that players have to ante up, add to the “pot”, when no player has a pair of “jacks” or better. They build a “jackpot”.

14 Secretly include, maybe : BCC

A blind carbon copy (bcc) is a copy of a document or message that is sent to someone without other recipients of the message knowing about that extra copy.

21 Family inheritance? : DNA

Francis Crick and James Watson discovered that DNA had a double-helix, chain-like structure, and published their results in Cambridge in 1953. To this day the discovery is mired in controversy, as some crucial results collected by fellow researcher Rosalind Franklin were used without her permission or even knowledge. In 1962, along with molecular biologist Maurice Wilkins, Watson and Crick were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine.

24 One of more than 200 Bach works : CANTATA

A cantata is a piece of music that is sung, as opposed to a sonata, which is a piece that is played on some instrument, often a piano. A sonatina is in effect a sonata that has been labelled as something lighter and shorter.

Johann Sebastian Bach died when he was 65-years-old, in 1750. He was buried in Old St. John’s Cemetery in Leipzig, and his grave went unmarked until 1894. At that time his coffin was located, removed and buried in a vault within the church. The church was destroyed in an Allied bombing raid during WWII, and so after the war the remains had to be recovered and taken to the Church of St. Thomas in Leipzig.

31 Hockey fake-out : DEKE

A deke, also known as a dangle, is a technique used to get past an opponent in ice hockey. “Deke” is a colloquial shortening of the word “decoy”.

35 Christmas scent : BALSAM

The Balsam fir is an evergreen tree that is native to eastern and central North America. The Balsam is commonly used as a Christmas tree, especially in the northeastern US.

43 “We’re not ___!” (classic line from “Wayne’s World”) : WORTHY

“Wayne’s World” was originally a “Saturday Night Live” sketch starring Mike Myers (as Wayne Campbell) and Dana Carvey as Garth Algar. The sketch was so successful that it was parlayed into two hit movies, released in 1992 and 1993. Not my cup of tea though …

54 Org.? What org.? : NSA

The National Security Agency (NSA) was set up in 1952 by President Truman, a replacement for the Armed Forces Security Agency that had existed in the Department of Defense since 1949. The NSA has always been clouded in secrecy and even the 1952 letter from President Truman that established the agency was kept under wraps from the public for over a generation. I really like the organization’s nickname … “No Such Agency”.

57 Swab’s swab : MOP

“Swabbie” (also “swabby, swab, swabber”) is a slang term meaning “sailor” that we’ve been using since the late 1700s. A swab was originally a member of the crew assigned to the swabbing (mopping) of the ship’s decks.

58 Fuel economy authority, for short : EPA

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) routinely estimates the expected miles per gallon (mpg) for vehicles.

59 N.F.L. divisions: Abbr. : YDS

Yard (yd.)

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Relief from the desert? : ALOE
5 Judging partner of Simon, Heidi and Sofia on “America’s Got Talent” : HOWIE
10 Member of the fam : SIS
13 “The gallant pig” of children’s literature : BABE
14 Certain noble’s domain : BARONY
15 Cinemax competitor : TMC
16 *When many people solve crosswords : SPARE CHANGE (from “spare time”)
18 Word that sounds like its second letter : ARE
19 Sully : SMIRCH
20 Introduces to the mix : ADDS IN
22 Player ___ : PIANO
23 Much-litigated 2010 law, for short : ACA
26 Bar order specification : ON ICE
27 Rocinante, to Don Quixote : STEED
28 *Rough patch : HARD CASH (from “hard time”)
30 Puckered : PURSED
32 Big name in A.T.M.s : NCR
33 *Occupied oneself : PASSED THE BUCK (from “passed the time”)
39 Mauna ___ : KEA
40 Becoming new, in a way : WANING
42 *Cheat on, say : TWO CENTS (from “two-time”)
47 One of three in a double magnum bottle : LITER
48 Group of fish : SHOAL
49 Big mouth, informally : YAP
50 Common cause of tonsillitis : STREP
51 “It” factor? : HORROR
53 How Lennon wrote the opening lines of “I Am the Walrus” : ON ACID
55 See 48-Down : … OUT
56 Benjamin Franklin adage … or a hint to interpreting the answers to the four starred clues : TIME IS MONEY
60 [Groan] : [UGH]
61 Hullabaloo : HOOPLA
62 Avocado pit, e.g. : SEED
63 Quaker’s possessive : THY
64 Annual parade V.I.P. : ST PAT
65 Recipe amts. : TSPS

Down

1 Core components, for short : ABS
2 Loves every second of something : LAPS IT UP
3 44 years? : OBAMA ERA
4 Atmosphere on “The Twilight Zone” : EERINESS
5 “Everybody’s a comedian” : HAH HAH
6 British pop star Rita : ORA
7 Came out on top : WON
8 “Young Frankenstein” role : INGA
9 Provider of specs : EYE DOC
10 Equilibrium : STASIS
11 “Jackpot!” : I’M RICH!
12 Play part : SCENE
14 Secretly include, maybe : BCC
17 Loses ground slowly but surely : ERODES
21 Family inheritance? : DNA
22 Sony console of the 2000s, for short : PSP
24 One of more than 200 Bach works : CANTATA
25 Playful and teasing : ARCH
29 Doodled, e.g. : DREW
31 Hockey fake-out : DEKE
34 Turn down : DENY
35 Christmas scent : BALSAM
36 Price per piece : UNIT COST
37 Gemstones resembling topaz : CITRINES
38 Mired (in) : KNEE-DEEP
41 Org. : GRP
42 “Having said that …” : THOUGH …
43 “We’re not ___!” (classic line from “Wayne’s World”) : WORTHY
44 Rowboat mover : OAR
45 Fabrics : CLOTHS
46 Gone bad, to Brits : SPOILT
48 With 55-Across, public thanks : SHOUT …
52 Thigh-slapper : RIOT
54 Org.? What org.? : NSA
57 Swab’s swab : MOP
58 Fuel economy authority, for short : EPA
59 N.F.L. divisions: Abbr. : YDS