1106-20 NY Times Crossword 6 Nov 20, Friday

Constructed by: Aimee Lucido
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme: None

Bill’s time: 9m 18s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 Abbr. on a family tree : DESC

A descendant (desc.) is found in a family (fam.) tree.

9 “Dirty Harry” org. : SFPD

The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) is the 11th largest police department in the country. The SFPD dates back to the days of the Gold Rush, being founded in 1849 as a force of 35 officers. SFPD has featured a lot in movies and on television. The most famous films are probably “Bullitt”, the “Dirty Harry” series and “48 Hrs.” On television there was “Ironside”, “The Streets of San Francisco” and “Monk”.

“Dirty Harry” Callahan was the protagonist in a series of five movies starring Clint Eastwood:

  • “Dirty Harry” (1971)
  • “Magnum Force” (1973)
  • “The Enforcer” (1976)
  • “Sudden Impact” (1983)
  • “The Dead Pool” (1988)

13 Loaded questions? : BAR TRIVIA

Trivia are things of little consequence. “Trivia” is the plural of the Latin word “trivium” which means “a place where three roads meet”. Now that’s what I call a trivial fact …

31 Risen, in a way : LEAVENED

Leaven is a substance that causes bread to rise, perhaps yeast or baking powder. The term comes into English via French from the Latin “levare” meaning “to rise”.

36 German opposite of “junge” : ALTE

The German word for “boy” is “Junge”, and the word for “son” is “Sohn”.

39 Hello or goodbye : CIAO

“Ciao” is Italian for “‘bye”. “Arrivederci” is more formal, and translates as “goodbye”.

40 Lipton competitor : TETLEY

Tetley was founded by Joseph Tetley in Yorkshire in 1837. Joseph and his brother used to sell salt door-to-door from a pack horse and started to distribute tea the same way. They became so successful selling tea that they relocated to London. Notably, Tetley’s was the first company to introduce tea bags in the UK, back in 1953.

Sir Thomas Lipton was a grocer in Glasgow, Scotland. He founded a tea packing company in North America in 1893, in Hoboken, New Jersey. He was very successful as his blends of tea became popular in the US. Despite the Lipton roots in the UK, Lipton black tea isn’t available there, so I’ve always thought of it as an American brand.

47 Absolutely crazy : BANANAS

The expression “to go bananas” is one that I would have imagined had a clear etymology but that doesn’t seem to be the case. A further surprise is that we’ve only been “going bananas” since the sixties, in the days of flower power. One apt theory about the hippy roots of the phrase is that there was an unfounded belief that ingesting roasted banana peels had a similar hallucinogenic effect as magic mushrooms.

49 Rutherford and Shackleton, for two : ERNESTS

By some definitions, New Zealand-born physicist and chemist Ernest Rutherford was the first person to “split the atom”. Rutherford bombarded nitrogen with alpha particles and thereby forced neutrons out of the nucleus of the nitrogen atom. The first intentional nuclear “fission” came decades later in the 1930s, with experiments in which larger nuclei were split into smaller nuclei.

Sir Ernest Shackleton was a British polar explorer (although he was born in Ireland). His most famous venture was the last of the three expeditions Shackleton led to the Antarctic. His ship, the Endurance, was crushed by pack ice, forcing the crew to take to lifeboats. Shackleton led his men on a 720-nautical mile voyage in those open boats through freezing and stormy weather to safety.

51 Figure skating maneuver : LUTZ

In figure skating, a Lutz is a toe-pick-assisted jump that one starts skating backwards and ends skating backwards (there’s more to it that I don’t really understand!). The maneuver is named after Alois Lutz, an Austrian skater who first performed it in competition way back in 1913. Lutz wowed the crowd with a single jump, and today both men and women are landing triple Lutz jumps. No one has landed a clean quadruple Lutz in competition.

52 Buckingham Palace attendant : YEOMAN

The Yeoman of the Guard are the oldest military corps still existing in the UK. The role of the Yeoman of the Guard is to provide bodyguard protection for the British Monarch, although in modern times this role is purely ceremonial. One of the more famous duties of the Yeomen is a ceremonial search of the cellars of the Houses of Parliament prior to the State Opening of Parliament. The search commemorates the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 in which Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up the Parliament building.

54 Disney character who sings “Part of Your World” : ARIEL

“The Little Mermaid” is a 1989 animated feature from Disney that is based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of the same name. It tells the story of a mermaid princess named Ariel who falls in love with the human Prince Eric. Ariel’s father is chief merman King Triton. Her best friend is Flounder, who despite his name is not a flounder at all and is actually a tropical fish. Ariel is also friends with Sebastian, a red Jamaican crab whose full name is Horatio Thelonious Ignacious Crustaceous Sebastian.

61 Le ___ (French port) : HAVRE

Le Havre is a city on the mouth of the river Seine on the northwest coast of France. The city’s name translates as “The Haven”.

62 Satisfies, as with a small snack : TIDES OVER

Something is said to tide one over if it (often money) will see one through a rough patch. The idea behind the verbal phrase “tide over” is that a swelling tide can carry one over an obstacle without effort, as perhaps a reserve fund might keep the lenders from one’s door. The use of “tide” in this sense might come from some famous lines spoken by Brutus in the play “Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare

There is a Tide in the affairs of men,
Which taken at the Flood, leads on to Fortune

Down

1 Wane : EBB

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.

2 Month after avril : MAI

In French, “avril” (April) is followed by “mai” (May).

3 Muscleman who co-starred in “Rocky III” : MR T

Mr. T’s real name is Laurence Tero Tureaud. Mr. T is famous for many things, including the wearing of excessive amounts of jewelry. He started this habit when he was working as a bouncer, wearing jewelry items that had been left behind by customers at a nightclub so that the items might be recognized and claimed. It was also as a bouncer that he adopted the name Mr. T. His catch phrase comes from the movie “Rocky III”. In the film, before he goes up against Rocky Balboa, Mr. T says, “No, I don’t hate Balboa, but I pity the fool”. He parlayed that line into quite a bit of success. He had a reality TV show called “I Pity the Fool”, and produced a motivational video called “Be Somebody … or Be Somebody’s Fool!”.

“Rocky III” is the movie in which Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) goes up against Clubber Lang (Mr. T). “Rocky III” is a forgettable film, but Mr. T was grateful for his role no doubt as it launched his career and landed him a spot on television’s “The A-Team”. Also making an appearance was professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, an appearance that raised his profile as well and kick-started his career outside of the ring. But for me the most memorable thing is the song “Eye of the Tiger”, which was commissioned for “Rocky III”. A great tune …

4 Legal fig. : ATT

Attorney (att.)

8 R.O.T.C. group : CADETS

The Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) is a training program for officers based in colleges all around the US. The ROTC program was established in 1862 when as a condition of receiving a land-grant to create colleges, the federal government required that military tactics be part of a new school’s curriculum.

11 Uncultured sorts : PHILISTINES

“Philistine” is a derogatory term used to label someone as an anti-intellectual, or someone who undervalues art, beauty and intellect. Our use of the word derives from the German word “Philister” that was used originally by university students to describe, in a snide way, the townspeople of nearby Jena in eastern Germany. There had been a row between the students and locals resulting in several deaths. A university cleric admonished the participants in a sermon using a phrase from the Bible’s “Book of Judges”, saying “The Philistines be upon thee”, a reference to the conflict between Samson and the Philistines. Anyway, little did that cleric know how his words would ring out around the world over 300 years later.

12 Something summoned via a pentagram : DEMON

A pentagram is a star-shape with five points that has been drawn using five straight lines. The name “pentagram” comes from the Greek for “five line”. The shape is sometimes also called a “pentacle”, “pentalpha” or “pentangle”. The pentagram is used as a prominent symbol in several religions and movements, notably in modern occultism.

23 Director of “Get Out” and “Us” : PEELE

Jordan Peele is a former cast member of the sketch comedy show “Mad TV”. Peele created his own sketch comedy show “Key & Peele” with fellow-Mad TV alum Keegan-Michael Key. Peele started hosting and producing the revival of “The Twilight Zone” in 2019.

27 PBS-funding org. : NEA

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an agency funded by the federal government that offers support and financing for artistic projects. The NEA was created by an Act of Congress in 1965. Between 1965 and 2008, the NEA awarded over $4 billion to the arts, with Congress authorizing around $170 million annually through the eighties and much of the nineties. That funding was cut to less than $100 million in the late nineties due to pressure from conservatives concerned about the use of funds, but it is now back over the $150 million mark. I wonder how long that will last though …

The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) was founded in 1970, and is my favorite of the broadcast networks. I love PBS’s drama and science shows in particular, and always watch election results coming in with the NewsHour team.

35 Sources of tofu : SOYAS

“Tofu” is a name for bean curd, and is a Japanese word meaning just that … bean that has curdled. Tofu is produced by coagulating soy milk, using either salt or something acidic. Once the protein has coagulated, the curds are pressed into the familiar blocks. Personally I love tofu, but my wife, she absolutely hates it …

43 Festival de ___ : CANNES

Cannes is a city on the French Riviera that is noted as host of the Cannes Film Festival. The decision to host an annual film festival was adopted by the city just before WWII. However, the festival had to wait for the end of the war for its launch in 1946.

58 A.C.C. basketball powerhouse : UVA

The University of Virginia (UVA) was founded by Thomas Jefferson, who then sat on the original Board of Visitors alongside former US Presidents James Madison and James Monroe. In fact, the original UVA campus was built on land near Charlottesville that was once a farm belonging to President Monroe.

60 Tamil title : SRI

Tamils are a large ethnic group of almost 80 million people who speak Tamil as their mother tongue. Despite the large Tamil population, there is no Tamil state. The highest concentration of Tamils is in Sri Lanka, where they make up about 25% of the population.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 YouTube star Chamberlain, whom The Atlantic called “the most talked-about teen influencer in the world” : EMMA
5 Abbr. on a family tree : DESC
9 “Dirty Harry” org. : SFPD
13 Loaded questions? : BAR TRIVIA
15 Reacted in wonderment : OOHED
17 When it’s all *finally* over : BITTER END
18 Grade A : PRIMO
19 Hunches : SENSES
21 Bunches : A LOT
22 Crafts created on a rotating platform : SPIN ART
26 Strip at the beach? : TAN LINE
28 Kind of code : PENAL
29 Quarters abroad, maybe : HOSTELS
31 Risen, in a way : LEAVENED
33 Sides of a conversion : FAITHS
36 German opposite of “junge” : ALTE
37 “Thus …” : AND SO …
39 Hello or goodbye : CIAO
40 Lipton competitor : TETLEY
42 Easy-listening music : EAR CANDY
44 Take a good, long look at yourself? : EGOSURF
46 Political ___ : ARENA
47 Absolutely crazy : BANANAS
49 Rutherford and Shackleton, for two : ERNESTS
51 Figure skating maneuver : LUTZ
52 Buckingham Palace attendant : YEOMAN
54 Disney character who sings “Part of Your World” : ARIEL
56 Really bothered : DROVE NUTS
61 Le ___ (French port) : HAVRE
62 Satisfies, as with a small snack : TIDES OVER
63 In case : LEST
64 Gender-neutral possessive : ONE’S
65 Pickup order? : TAXI

Down

1 Wane : EBB
2 Month after avril : MAI
3 Muscleman who co-starred in “Rocky III” : MR T
4 Legal fig. : ATT
5 More urgent : DIRER
6 “Still …” : EVEN THEN …
7 Makes a big mistake : SINS
8 R.O.T.C. group : CADETS
9 Soup-soaked bread, say : SOP
10 Part of an apathetic remark : FOR ALL I CARE
11 Uncultured sorts : PHILISTINES
12 Something summoned via a pentagram : DEMON
14 ___ value : RESALE
16 Spoil, with “on” : DOTE …
20 Had done, as a portrait : SAT FOR
22 [Kerplop!] : [SPLAT!]
23 Director of “Get Out” and “Us” : PEELE
24 Daydreaming, maybe : INATTENTIVE
25 More familiar term for omphaloskeptics : NAVEL-GAZERS
27 PBS-funding org. : NEA
30 Stranger : ODDER
32 Deny : NAYSAY
34 “I ___ noticed” : HADN’T
35 Sources of tofu : SOYAS
38 Diagnostic computer setting : SAFE MODE
41 Length of time spent on hold, it often seems : EON
43 Festival de ___ : CANNES
45 No longer bothered by : USED TO
47 Bo-o-oring : BLAH
48 Kind of medical exam : AURAL
50 Parties with black lights, maybe : RAVES
53 “… now ___ the future” : OR IN
55 Rent out : LET
57 !, in some programming languages : NOT
58 A.C.C. basketball powerhouse : UVA
59 Stereotypical cowboy nickname : TEX
60 Tamil title : SRI