1129-20 NY Times Crossword 29 Nov 20, Sunday

Constructed by: Eric Berlin
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme: Six-Pack

Themed answers are each two terms that overlap each other. The SIX overlapping letters are “PACKED” together in each answer, one might say:

  • 23A Very short-lived gemstones? : EPH[EMERAL]DS (EPHEMERA & EMERALDS)
  • 34A TV quiz program about an epic poem? : GIL[GAMESH]OW (GILGAMESH & GAME SHOW)
  • 93A Magnificent plan of action? : FIR[STRATE]GY (FIRST-RATE & STRATEGY)
  • 107A Dance celebrating 2010 legislation? : OBA[MACARE]NA (OBAMACARE & MACARENA)
  • 3D Emergency situation caused by a terrier? : AI[REDALE]RT (AIREDALE & RED ALERT)
  • 11D Salon job named after a comic book hero? : SU[PERMAN]ENT (SUPERMAN & PERMANENT)
  • 63D Pounding on a pie topping? : HAM[MERING]UE (HAMMERING & MERINGUE)
  • 74D Entertainment host Ryan, that smart aleck!? : WI[SEACRE]ST (WISEACRE & SEACREST)

Bill’s time: 19m 47s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Its logo has a blue, red, orange, yellow and green “M” : GMAIL

Gmail is a free webmail service provided by Google, and my favorite of the free email services. Gmail made a big splash when it was introduced because it offered a whopping 1GB of storage whereas other services offered a measly 2-4MB on average.

11 Blitzed : STINKO

“Snockered” and “stinko” are slang terms meaning “drunk”.

17 Beethoven’s Third : EROICA

Beethoven originally dedicated his “Symphony No. 3” to Napoleon Bonaparte. Beethoven admired the principles of the French Revolution and as such respected Bonaparte who was “born” out of the uprising. When Napoleon declared himself Emperor, Beethoven (and much of Europe) saw this as a betrayal to the ideals of the revolution so he changed the name of his new symphony from “Bonaparte” to “Eroica”, meaning “heroic, valiant”.

18 Snoopy sort? : BEAGLE

The beagle breed of dog is a scent hound, one developed for tracking small game. Because of this characteristic, beagles are often used as detection dogs in customs halls around the world. The world’s most famous beagle is probably Snoopy from the comic strip “Peanuts”.

Snoopy is a central and much-loved character in the Charles M. Schulz comic strip “Peanuts”. He is Charlie Brown’s pet beagle, and first appeared in “Peanuts” just two days after the strip’s debut in 1950. He was identified as “Snoopy” a month later, and first “spoke” (in a thought balloon) in 1952. Initially depicted as a more traditionally dog-like figure, Schulz started to anthropomorphize Snoopy in 1952, first drawing him upright on his hind legs in 1952, while ice-skating on a frozen lake.

20 Materials from mollusk shells : NACRES

Nacre, also known as mother-of-pearl, is the strong iridescent material laid down by some mollusks on the inside of their shells, and it’s also what makes up pearls. The creature lays down nacre as a defensive mechanism, protecting the soft tissue of its body from the rough surface of the outer shell. Similarly, it uses nacre to encapsulate harmful debris or a parasite that penetrates the shell, and that’s how a pearl is formed. Cultured pearls are made by inserting a tissue graft from a donor oyster, around which the nacre is laid down.

21 Tried to respond, as a “Jeopardy!” contestant : RANG IN

The TV show “Jeopardy!” first went on the air in 1964, and is another successful Merv Griffin creation. But, it took the introduction of Alex Trebek as host in order to bring the show into the big times. Trebek was host from 1984 until his sad passing in 2020.

23 Very short-lived gemstones? : EPHEMERALDS (EPHEMERA & EMERALDS)

“Ephemera” was originally a medical term used to describe a fever that only lasted a day. The use of the term was expanded in the 17th century to include insects that were short-lived, and by the end of the 18th century ephemera were any things of transitory existence.

Emerald is a variety of the mineral beryl that is green in color due to traces of chromium. Beryl containing traces of vanadium are also considered to be emeralds, at least here in the US. “Vanadium emeralds” aren’t recognized as emeralds in Europe.

25 Nicolas ___, standout player in soccer’s Premier League : PEPE

The best soccer teams in England and Wales play in the Premier League. The league was founded in 1992 as the FA Premier League to take advantage of a generous television deal. Today, the Premier League is the most-watched soccer league in the world.

27 Drake’s output : RAPS

Drake is the stage name of rapper Aubrey Graham from Toronto.

30 Possible fallout of a controversy, informally : BAD PR

Public relations (PR)

31 RR stop : STA

A station (“stn.” or “sta.”) is a railroad (RR) or bus stop.

32 Name shouted in “The Chipmunk Song” : ALVIN

Alvin and the Chipmunks is a cartoon musical group that was created for the recording of a novelty song in 1958 called “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)”. The three Chipmunks (Alvin, Simon and Theodore) were all voiced by singer Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. but with a speedy playback to create high-pitched voices.

34 TV quiz program about an epic poem? : GILGAMESHOW (GILGAMESH & GAME SHOW)

The “Epic of Gilgamesh” is an epic poem from Mesopotamia. It is one of the earliest known works of literature that has survived. Fragments of the first version of the epic date back to the 18th century BC.

42 World view you might open up to? : ATLAS

The famous Flemish geographer Gerardus Mercator published his first collection of maps in 1578. Mercator’s collection contained a frontispiece with an image of Atlas the Titan from Greek mythology holding up the world on his shoulders. That image gave us our term “atlas” that is used for a book of maps.

44 NoDoz, for one : PEP PILL

NoDoz and Vivarin are brand names of caffeine pills.

52 Disney-owned cable channel : ESPN

The initialism “ESPN” stands for Entertainment Sports Programming Network. ESPN is a cable network that broadcasts sports programming 24 hours a day, and was launched back in 1979. ESPN has a lot of ardent fans. Several parents have named their children Espn (usually pronounced “Espen”) in honor of the network.

57 Vereen who won a 1973 Tony for “Pippin” : BEN

Ben Vereen is an American actor and dancer who is probably best known for playing Chicken George in the magnificent television miniseries “Roots”. When he was applying for a passport in the sixties, Vereen discovered that he was adopted. He then went looking for his birth parents and identified his birth mother (who had passed away by this time). She went away on a trip when Ben was very young, only to return and find that her child and the person minding him had disappeared. She never saw her son again.

“Pippin” is a stage musical by Stephen Schwartz that was first produced in 1972, on Broadway. The original Broadway production was directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse, for which work Fosse won two Tony Awards in 1973. The title character’s father in “Pippin” is named Charlemagne. The father-son characters are inspired by the Holy Roman Emperors Charlemagne and Pepin.

62 ___ Regal, big name in Scotch : CHIVAS

Chivas Regal is a blended Scotch whisky that is produced by Chivas Brothers, a company that was established in 1801. The Chivas Regal blend was first created in the early 1900s and was produced specifically for the US market.

68 General Motors division until 2010 : PONTIAC

General Motors (GM) introduced the Pontiac brand in 1926, naming the badge for the city where the cars were produced: Pontiac, Michigan. GM dropped the Pontiac brand in the aftermath of the government bailout of 2008, in a move to reduce costs.

73 Some “Babe” characters : EWES

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…

75 Designer Gucci : ALDO

Gucci was founded in Rome, in 1921, by Guccio Gucci. Guccio’s son Aldo took over the company after his father’s death in 1953. It was Aldo who established the international presence for the brand and opened the company’s first overseas store, in New York City.

76 Beat box? : METRONOME

A metronome is any device that produces a regular beat. The metronome was invented in 1815 by Johann Maelzel, who intended it to be an instrument for the use of musicians.

83 “Concentration” puzzles : REBUSES

A rebus is a puzzle that uses pictures to represent letters and groups of letters. For example, a picture of a “ewe” might represent the letter “U” or the pronoun “you”, a picture of an “oar” might represent the letter “R” or the conjunction “or”, and a picture of an “awl” might represent the word “all”.

“Concentration” is a TV game show that first aired in 1958. There was a reformatted version of the show called “Classic Concentration” that aired in the 1980s and 1990s and was hosted by Alex Trebek.

87 “The Divine Comedy” poet : DANTE

Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy” is an epic poem dating back to the 14th century. The first part of that epic is “Inferno”, which is the Italian word for “Hell”. In the poem, Dante is led on a journey by the poet Virgil, starting at the gates of Hell on which are written the famous words “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here”.

89 Brand of cologne with a literary name : ARAMIS

Alexandre Dumas’ “Three Musketeers” are Athos, Porthos and Aramis, although the hero of the novel is the trio’s young protégé D’Artagnan. A musketeer was an infantry soldier who was equipped with a musket. Funnily enough, the three “musketeers” really don’t use their muskets, and are better known for prowess with their swords.

95 Bone in the leg : TIBIA

The tibia is the shin bone, and is the larger of the two bones right below the knee. It is the strongest weight-bearing bone in the human body. “Tibia” is the Roman name for a Greek flute and it is thought that the shin bone was given the same name because flutes were often fashioned out of the shin bones of animals.

96 Key to get out : ESC

The escape key (Esc) was originally used just to control computer peripherals. It was a key that allowed the computer operator to stop what the peripheral was doing (cancel a print job, for example). Nowadays the escape key is used for all sorts of things, especially in gaming programs.

97 Maya Angelou’s “And Still ___” : I RISE

“And Still I Rise” is a 1978 volume of poetry by Maya Angelou. The collection’s title poem is “Still I Rise”, which ends with:

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

100 Cloth used in theater backdrops : SCRIM

“Scrim” is the name given to that transparent fabric that hangs down onto a theater’s stage, often used with special lighting for various effects.

107 Dance celebrating 2010 legislation? : OBAMACARENA (OBAMACARE & MACARENA)

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

“Macarena” is a dance song in Spanish that was a huge hit worldwide for Los Del Río in 1995-1996.

113 One of 17 in Monopoly : AVENUE

The street names in the original US version of the board game Monopoly are locations in or around Atlantic City, New Jersey.

115 Bibliophile : READER

A bibliophile is a lover of books.

118 Hip-hop’s ___, the Creator : TYLER

“Tyler, the Creator” is the stage name of rap singer Tyler Okonma.

119 First name in cosmetics : ESTEE

Estée Lauder was a very successful businesswoman, and someone with a great reputation as a salesperson. Lauder introduced her own line of fragrances in 1953, a bath oil called “Youth Dew”. “Youth Dew” was marketed as a perfume, but it was added to bathwater. All of a sudden women were pouring whole bottles of Ms. Lauder’s “perfume” into their baths while using only a drop or two of French perfumes behind their ears. That’s quite a difference in sales volume …

Down

2 Coffee variety named for a Mideast city : MOCHA

Mocha is a port city in Yemen on the Red Sea and was once the principal port for the capital city of Sana’a. Mocha was the major marketplace in the world for coffee until the 1600s, and gave its name to the Mocha coffee bean, which in turn gave its name to the mocha brown color, and the flavor of coffee infused with chocolate.

3 Emergency situation caused by a terrier? : AIREDALERT (AIREDALE & RED ALERT)

The Airedale terrier breed of dog originated in a geographic area of Yorkshire in the North of England … called Airedale. The breed was developed to hunt otters in and around the River Aire that runs through the area.

5 Hit with a beam, maybe : LASE

The term “laser” is an acronym standing for “light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation”. It has been pointed out that a more precise name for laser technology is “light oscillation by stimulated emission of radiation”, but the resulting acronym isn’t quite so appealing, namely “loser”.

7 Mascara applicators : WANDS

Variants of mascara have been around a long time, and certainly there was a similar substance in use in ancient Egypt. “Mascara” is a Spanish word meaning “stain, mask”.

8 Dozens of them are sold : EGGS

Our word “dozen” is used for a group of twelve. We imported it into English from Old French. The modern French word for “twelve” is “douze”, and for “dozen” is “douzaine”.

9 Actor Wallach : ELI

Eli Wallach appeared consistently and made great performances on the big and small screens since the 1950s. Wallach’s most famous role was probably as “the Ugly” in “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”. More recently he gave a very strong performance in 2006’s “The Holiday”. Sadly, Wallach passed away in June 2014, at the age of 98.

11 Salon job named after a comic book hero? : SUPERMANENT (SUPERMAN & PERMANENT)

Superman’s origins can be traced back to an illustrated short story titled “The Reign of the Superman” created by high school classmates Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in 1933. That first “Superman” wasn’t a very glamorous character. He was a vagrant who gained psychic powers and used them for nefarious purposes. By the time that Siegel and Shuster put together a comic strip called “The Superman”, the title character had evolved into a superhero. The pair sold all rights to “The Superman” character to Detective Comics in 1938 for the princely sum of $130.

“Perm” is the common name given to a permanent wave, a chemical or thermal treatment of hair to produce waves or curls.

12 Danson of “The Good Place” : TED

Actor Ted Danson is noted in particular for three successful roles that he has played on television. He played Sam Malone on the sitcom “Cheers”, the title role on the sitcom “Becker”, and eventually led the cast on the drama series “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”. Danson has been married to actress Mary Steenburgen since 1995.

“The Good Place” is a fantasy-comedy TV show about a woman who wakes up in the afterlife. The woman is played by Kristen Bell, and the afterlife is a heaven-like utopia designed by Michael, an immortal architect portrayed by Ted Danson. I haven’t seen this one …

15 Compulsive thieves, informally : KLEPTOS

Kleptomania is the compulsion to steal, whether or not one is in need of what is stolen. The term derives from the Greek word for “to steal”, “kleptein”, with the suffix “-mania”.

16 “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” for one : OLD SAW

A saw is an old saying, one that is often repeated and is very familiar. The term “old saw” is actually a tautology, as by definition a “saw” is “old”.

17 Hydrocarbon suffixes : -ENES

An alkene is an organic compound made up of carbon and hydrogen atoms. It differs from an alkane in that it has at least one C=C double bond. The simplest alkene is the gas ethylene, a major raw material used in the manufacture of plastics (like polyethylene).

24 River near Rotterdam : RHINE

The river running through Europe that we know in English as the Rhine, is called “Rhein” in German, “Rhin” in French and “Rijn” in Dutch.

Rotterdam is the largest port in Europe, and the second-largest city in the Netherlands (after Amsterdam). Indeed, Rotterdam was the busiest port in the world from 1962 to 2004, when that honor went to Shanghai. Rotterdam’s economic importance is largely due to its location at the confluence of the Rhine, Meuse and Scheldt rivers that provide navigation into the Central European hinterland.

30 Who wrote “Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation” : BILL NYE

That would be “Bill Nye the Science Guy”. Bill’s show ran on PBS for four years, from 1993-97.

33 Recipient of special treatment, in brief : VIP

Very important person (VIP)

34 Very cold : GELID

“Gelid” is such a lovely word, with the meaning “icy cold”. “Gelid” derives from the Latin “gelum” meaning “frost, intense cold”.

35 Klingons, e.g., for short : ETS

Klingons are a warrior race often featured in the “Star Trek” franchise of shows. Back in the first “Star Trek” movie, the actor James Doohan (who played “Scottie”) put together some Klingon dialogue that was used in the film. For subsequent movies, the American linguist Marc Okrand was commissioned to develop a working Klingon language, which he duly did, using the original words from Doohan as its basis.

37 ___ Plaines, Ill. : DES

Des Plaines is a suburb of Chicago that is located next to O’Hare International Airport. The city is named for the Des Plaines river that runs through the area.

38 Liquor component : ETHANOL

Ethyl alcohol is more usually known as ethanol. Ethanol is the alcohol found in intoxicating beverages, and nowadays is also used as a fuel for cars. It is also found in medical wipes and hand sanitizer, in which it acts as an antiseptic.

49 Metric prefix : DECI-

Our prefix “dec-” comes from “deka”, the Greek word for “ten”. The prefix “deca-” means “multiplied by ten”, and “deci-” means “divided by ten”.

51 Natural bridge : ISTHMUS

The word “isthmus” (plural “isthmi”) comes from the Greek word for “neck”. An isthmus is a narrow strip of land that usually connects two large land masses. The most notable examples of the formation are the Isthmus of Corinth in the Greek peninsula, and the Isthmus of Panama, connecting North and South America.

55 Family tree word : NEE

“Née” is the French word for “born” when referring to a female. The male equivalent is “né”. The term “née” is mainly used in English when referring to a married woman’s birth name, assuming that she has adopted her husband’s name, e.g. Michelle Obama née Robinson, and Melania Trump née Knavs.

57 Chin-up target, informally : BICEP

The biceps muscle is made up of two bundles of muscle, both of which terminate at the same point near the elbow. The heads of the bundles terminate at different points on the scapula or shoulder blade. “Biceps” is Latin for “two-headed”.

61 Bitter brew, for short : 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.

64 Cloud ___ : STORAGE

In the world of computing, when one operates “in the cloud”, one’s files and key applications are not stored on one’s own computer, but rather are residing “in the cloud”, on a computer somewhere out on the Internet. I do 90% of my computing in the cloud. That way I don’t have to worry about backing up files, and I can operate from any computer if I have to …

69 SpongeBob SquarePants and others : TOONS

SpongeBob SquarePants is a cartoon character in a Nickelodeon television series. Spongebob first appeared in 1999, and he “lives in a pineapple under the sea”. The character was created by marine biologist, cartoonist and animator Stephen Hillenburg.

74 Entertainment host Ryan, that smart aleck!? : WISEACREST (WISEACRE & SEACREST)

The word “wiseacre” dates back to the late 1500s, when it was a botched translation of the Middle Dutch word “wijsegger” meaning “soothsayer”. Originally, there was no derogatory connotation to the word, but over time a “wiseacre” had become a know-it-all.

Radio and television personality Ryan Seacrest is best known as the host of the talent show “American Idol”. Seacrest has also been hosting “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” on ABC since 2005, and co-hosting “Live with Kelly and Ryan” since 2017. He is also a producer, and is the man behind the show “Keeping Up with the Kardashians”. Ryan has a lot to answer for …

78 Belt in judo : OBI

The sash worn as part of traditional Japanese dress is known as an obi. The obi can be tied at the back in what is called a butterfly knot. The term “obi” is also used for the thick cotton belts that are an essential part of the outfits worn by practitioners of many martial arts. The color of the martial arts obi signifies the wearer’s skill level.

Judo is a martial art from Japan that was developed relatively recently, in 1882. The name “judo” translates as “gentle way”. Practitioners of judo proceed through a series of proficiency grades known as the kyu-dan system. At each progression, a different colored belt is awarded.

80 Mustachioed Springfield resident : 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.

“The Simpsons” television show is meant to be set in “Anytown, USA”. The creators chose the name “Springfield”, as it is one of most common town and city names in the country.

82 Baseball’s Mel : OTT

“Mel Ott: The Little Giant of Baseball” is a biography of the baseball legend that was penned by Fred Stein.

84 One of the Schuyler sisters in “Hamilton” : ELIZA

Elizabeth “Eliza” Schuyler Hamilton was the wife of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. Eliza was with her husband when he passed away the day after his famous duel with Vice President Aaron Burr.

“Hamilton” is a 2015 musical based on the life of US Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, as described in the 2004 biography by Ron Chernow. The show opened off-Broadway in February 2015, and transferred to Broadway in August of the same year. Advance ticket sales for the Broadway production were unprecedented, and reportedly amounted to $30 million. The representations of the main characters are decidedly ground-breaking. The show is rooted in hip-hop and the main roles such as Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington are all played by African-American and Hispanic actors.

88 Places to play Skee-Ball : ARCADES

Skee-Ball is the arcade game in which you roll balls up a ramp trying to “bounce” it into rings for varying numbers of points. The game was first introduced in Philadelphia, in 1909.

92 With regard to : VIS-A-VIS

We can use the French phrase “vis-à-vis” as a preposition meaning “compared with”. When used as an adverb or adjective, it means “face-to-face”, which is a more literal translation from French.

99 Dancer with glowsticks, often : RAVER

As you might imagine, I’ve never been to a rave, and don’t have one upcoming in my diary. And as raves often start at 2 a.m.,then I’m unlikely ever to experience one. A rave is generally an all-night party featuring loud, electronically-synthesized music usually played by a DJ as opposed to a live band.

101 Actress Zellweger : RENEE

Renée Zellweger’s big break came in the 1996 movie “Jerry Maguire”. A few years later, Zellweger followed that up with a string of successes in “Bridget Jones’ Diary” (2001), “Chicago” (2002) and “Cold Mountain” (2003). My wife and I love watching her play Bridget Jones, and as someone coming from Britain and Ireland, I have to say that Zellweger does a remarkable job with the accent. She worked hard to perfect that accent, and of course she had a voice coach. She also went “undercover” and worked as a temp in an office for three weeks fine-tuning her skills.

103 Fannie ___ (some securities) : MAES

The Federal National Mortgage Association is commonly called “Fannie Mae”, a play on the initialism FNMA. Fannie Mae was founded during the Great Depression as part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal.

105 Charging option : VISA

VISA doesn’t actually issue any credit or debit cards. VISA just sells the electronic systems and infrastructure to banks who then put the VISA logo on their own cards. Seeing the logo, both customer and merchant know to use the VISA system when making a transaction.

110 Cyber Monday mo., usually : NOV

Cyber Monday is the Monday after Thanksgiving, when retailers offer incentives to online shoppers in the hope of boosting sales. The term “Cyber Monday” was coined in 2005 in a press release issued by the website Shop.org. In recent years, consumers have been spending more money online on Cyber Monday than any other day in the year.

112 Daisy Ridley’s “Star Wars” role : REY

Rey is a central character in the “Star Wars” universe, who first appeared in 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”. Rey is played by British actress Daisy Ridley.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Its logo has a blue, red, orange, yellow and green “M” : GMAIL
6 Win every game : SWEEP
11 Blitzed : STINKO
17 Beethoven’s Third : EROICA
18 Snoopy sort? : BEAGLE
19 You can scratch with it : CUE BALL
20 Materials from mollusk shells : NACRES
21 Tried to respond, as a “Jeopardy!” contestant : RANG IN
22 Gave the latest news : UPDATED
23 Very short-lived gemstones? : EPHEMERALDS (EPHEMERA & EMERALDS)
25 Nicolas ___, standout player in soccer’s Premier League : PEPE
27 Drake’s output : RAPS
28 Thinly veiled criticism, in modern slang : SHADE
29 Blow off steam, say : HISS
30 Possible fallout of a controversy, informally : BAD PR
31 RR stop : STA
32 Name shouted in “The Chipmunk Song” : ALVIN
34 TV quiz program about an epic poem? : GILGAMESHOW (GILGAMESH & GAME SHOW)
37 Handed a hand : DEALT IN
40 Bully’s threat : OR ELSE!
42 World view you might open up to? : ATLAS
43 Suffix with towel : -ETTE
44 NoDoz, for one : PEP PILL
46 Help with the dishes : RINSE
48 Fragment : SHARD
50 Look back fondly : REMINISCE
52 Disney-owned cable channel : ESPN
56 Ask to be handed a hand? : ANTE
57 Vereen who won a 1973 Tony for “Pippin” : BEN
58 Prefix akin to mal- : DYS-
59 Haphazardly organized : IN A PILE
61 Having four sharps, musically : IN E
62 ___ Regal, big name in Scotch : CHIVAS
65 “And so on and so forth” : ETC ETC
67 Expected : DUE
68 General Motors division until 2010 : PONTIAC
70 Resident: Suffix : -ITE
72 One-named singer with the 2019 Song of the Year nominee “Hard Place” : HER
73 Some “Babe” characters : EWES
75 Designer Gucci : ALDO
76 Beat box? : METRONOME
79 A brother of 32-Across : SIMON
81 Zing : OOMPH
83 “Concentration” puzzles : REBUSES
86 Reasonable : SANE
87 “The Divine Comedy” poet : DANTE
89 Brand of cologne with a literary name : ARAMIS
91 Jazzed (up) : LIVENED
93 Magnificent plan of action? : FIRSTRATEGY (FIRST-RATE & STRATEGY)
95 Bone in the leg : TIBIA
96 Key to get out : ESC
97 Maya Angelou’s “And Still ___” : I RISE
98 Nev. neighbor : ARIZ
100 Cloth used in theater backdrops : SCRIM
104 ___ Defense (classic chess opening) : SLAV
106 Cozy home : NEST
107 Dance celebrating 2010 legislation? : OBAMACARENA (OBAMACARE & MACARENA)
109 Glad ___ (good news) : TIDINGS
111 Turn up : ARRIVE
113 One of 17 in Monopoly : AVENUE
114 Manages, barely : EKES OUT
115 Bibliophile : READER
116 Tightfisted sorts : MISERS
117 Back up again : RESAVE
118 Hip-hop’s ___, the Creator : TYLER
119 First name in cosmetics : ESTEE

Down

1 Plot lines? : GRAPH
2 Coffee variety named for a Mideast city : MOCHA
3 Emergency situation caused by a terrier? : AIREDALERT (AIREDALE & RED ALERT)
4 Pre-snowstorm purchase : ICE MELT
5 Hit with a beam, maybe : LASE
6 Makes watertight : SEALS
7 Mascara applicators : WANDS
8 Dozens of them are sold : EGGS
9 Actor Wallach : ELI
10 Friends you may never have met : PEN PALS
11 Salon job named after a comic book hero? : SUPERMANENT (SUPERMAN & PERMANENT)
12 Danson of “The Good Place” : TED
13 Building girder : I-BAR
14 Actress Lyonne : NATASHA
15 Compulsive thieves, informally : KLEPTOS
16 “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” for one : OLD SAW
17 Hydrocarbon suffixes : -ENES
18 The thought is there : BRAIN
19 Serving of tea, to Brits : CUPPA
24 River near Rotterdam : RHINE
26 Some lawn maintenance tools : EDGERS
30 Who wrote “Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation” : BILL NYE
33 Recipient of special treatment, in brief : VIP
34 Very cold : GELID
35 Klingons, e.g., for short : ETS
36 What Hypnos is the Greek god of : SLEEP
37 ___ Plaines, Ill. : DES
38 Liquor component : ETHANOL
39 Over : AT AN END
40 Outdoor : OPEN-AIR
41 Part of a glass … or glasses : RIM
45 Before: Abbr. : PREV
47 More dangerous to drive on, in a way : ICIER
49 Metric prefix : DECI-
51 Natural bridge : ISTHMUS
53 Supporting musician in a jazz band : SIDEMAN
54 Guest’s guest : PLUS ONE
55 Family tree word : NEE
57 Chin-up target, informally : BICEP
60 Leaders of the pack? : ACES
61 Bitter brew, for short : IPA
63 Pounding on a pie topping? : HAMMERINGUE (HAMMERING & MERINGUE)
64 Cloud ___ : STORAGE
66 Followers of bees : CEES
69 SpongeBob SquarePants and others : TOONS
71 Opposition : ENEMY
74 Entertainment host Ryan, that smart aleck!? : WISEACREST (WISEACRE & SEACREST)
77 To wit : THAT IS
78 Belt in judo : OBI
80 Mustachioed Springfield resident : NED
82 Baseball’s Mel : OTT
84 One of the Schuyler sisters in “Hamilton” : ELIZA
85 One sharing a bunk bed, briefly : SIB
87 Animosity : DISLIKE
88 Places to play Skee-Ball : ARCADES
90 Turn off and on again, say : RESTART
92 With regard to : VIS-A-VIS
93 Get worse through neglect : FESTER
94 “Give it ___!” : A REST
95 Need in Boggle : TIMER
98 Withstand : ABIDE
99 Dancer with glowsticks, often : RAVER
101 Actress Zellweger : RENEE
102 Get accustomed (to) : INURE
103 Fannie ___ (some securities) : MAES
105 Charging option : VISA
107 Said aloud : ORAL
108 Showed up : CAME
110 Cyber Monday mo., usually : NOV
112 Daisy Ridley’s “Star Wars” role : REY

14 thoughts on “1129-20 NY Times Crossword 29 Nov 20, Sunday”

  1. 34:13. Got the idea of the two words blending together. Took me a bit to see where one word ended and another began. Of course, paying attention to the theme would have helped – DUH! I did this Sat night and don’t quite remember where any hangups were.

    @Bill – hope you’re feeling better soon.

  2. 50:52, all because I had “shame” instead of “shade” and I didn’t have a clue how to spell “Airedale” until I broke down and looked it up…and that was only after contemplating why “airemalert” just didn’t look right.

    Hey Bill, ya scared me for a sec with the late blog post, hope you’re okay👍

  3. 39 minutes…ish. I don’t remember the time, and I’m having issues looking it up on the NYT page.

    Anyway – very clever theme. I’d have to have a shot of bourbon with a 7 aspirin chaser to think those things up.

    Nonny or anyone who uses the NYT app – Just an admin question:
    When I go back and look at old puzzle times, it actually tells me how long it’s been since I started. For example, my time for today’s puzzle says 8 hours 16 minutes 24 seconds. That’s when I started it obviously, but it doesn’t give my time for it. Am I looking it up incorrectly? Anyone know how you can see old times?

    Bill – There’s generally only one illness one hears anything about these days. Hope you get well soon no matter what it is. But with all the Guinness and Bushmills running through you, I can’t imagine any bug surviving in you very long anyway. 🙂

    Best –

    1. @Jeff …

      Like @DuncanR (whose answer is below), all the times reported by the NYT Crossword app on my iPad are the actual finish times for the puzzles (1807 of them so far). What’s happening to you sounds like a serious problem with the app on the particular platform you’re using.

  4. 44:05. Very clever. It took me a bit to get all the words within words, but very rewarding.

  5. Jeff…assuming I was supposed to check my old times via the archives, my times were accurate. fwiw, I’m using the App on an IPhone 6S

    1. Duncan… Occasionally my times look very suspect when I go back for a review as well. Other things are going on with my computer, but if I just do a browser refresh – sometimes two – then it seems to give me an accurate time. Give that a try.

  6. 25:48, 1 error (same mistake as DuncanR). Pretty average puzzle for me–average interest level in the theme, average solving time for a Sunday.

  7. 43:29, 2 errors: REM(E)NISCE/GEL(E)D. GELID was an answer, not too long ago, embarrassed I didn’t remember it. Setter must have spent a lot of time creating this one. Enjoyed the challenge.

  8. Like @DUNCAN, I had AIREMALERT. Seemed like SHAME fit for 28A. Never heard of SHADE as a slang for “thinly veiled criricism”.. but I suspect its defined somewhere.
    Don’t get 19D either.. CUPPA?

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