1130-20 NY Times Crossword 30 Nov 20, Monday

Constructed by: Emma Craven-Matthews
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Reveal Answer: Canada

Themed answers are things associated with CANADA:

  • 71A Place associated with the answers to the starred clues : CANADA
  • 8A Capital of 71-Across : OTTAWA
  • 18A *Restaurant chain known for its coffee and doughnuts : TIM HORTONS
  • 62A *Pancake topping : MAPLE SYRUP
  • 4D *Leafs-watching time, maybe : HOCKEY NIGHT
  • 27D *Important step after erring : SAYING SORRY

Bill’s time: 4m 57s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 “Hell ___ no fury …” : HATH

The phrase “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” comes from the 1697 play “The Mourning Bride” penned by English playwright William Congreve. A more complete quotation is:

Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned
Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned …

5 Shout from Scrooge : BAH!

The classic 1843 novella “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens has left us with a few famous phrases and words. Firstly, it led to popular use of the phrase “Merry Christmas”, and secondly it gave us the word “scrooge” to describe a miserly person. And thirdly, everyone knows that Ebenezer Scrooge uttered the words “Bah! Humbug!”.

8 Capital of 71-Across : OTTAWA
(71A Place associated with the answers to the starred clues : CANADA

Ottawa is the second-largest city in the Province of Ontario (after Toronto) and is the capital city of Canada. The name “Ottawa” comes from an Algonquin word “adawe”, which means “to trade”.

15 Life is short and this is long, per Hippocrates : ART

The famous Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates wrote “Art is long, life is short”, which translates into Latin as “Ars longa, vita brevis”.

16 Places to sweat it out? : SAUNAS

As my Finnish-American wife will tell you, “sauna” is a Finnish word, and is pronounced more correctly as “sow-nah” (with “sow” as in the female pig).

17 Painter Chagall : MARC

Marc Chagall was a Russian-French artist, one of the most successful of the 20th century. Unlike so many painters, Chagall was able to achieve wealth and fame for his work during his own lifetime. It did help that Chagall lived to a ripe old age though. He passed away in 1985, when he was 97 years young. One of Chagall’s most famous works is the ceiling of the Paris Opera. The new ceiling for the beautiful 19th-century building was commissioned in 1963, and took Chagall a year to complete. Chagall was 77 years old when he worked on the Paris Opera project.

18 *Restaurant chain known for its coffee and doughnuts : TIM HORTONS

Tim Hortons is a Canadian chain of fast food restaurants that is known especially for its coffee and doughnuts. The chain is named for one of the founders, hockey player Tim Horton.

22 1950s presidential inits. : DDE

Future US president Eisenhower was born in Denison, Texas in 1890 and given the name David Dwight, but by the time he made it to the White House he was going by the name Dwight D. Eisenhower (DDE). Growing up, his family called him Dwight, and when “Ike” enrolled in West Point he himself reversed the order of his given names.

23 Writer/illustrator Silverstein : SHEL

Author Shel Silverstein had a varied career and did a lot more than write books. Silverstein was a poet, composer, cartoonist and screenwriter among other things. One of his successful children’s books is “A Light in the Attic”, a collection of poems that was first published in 1981. Some parents have tried to get the book banned from libraries. The collection includes the poem “How Not to Have to Dry the Dishes”, which encourages disobedience and making a mess. Scandalous …

28 Nobelist William Butler ___ : YEATS

Irish poet and dramatist William Butler Yeats won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923 for “inspired poetry” that gave “expression to a whole nation”. Yeats was Ireland’s first Nobel laureate.

32 Spy grp. : CIA

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is the successor to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) formed during WWII. The CIA was chartered by the National Security Act of 1947. The organization is often referred to familiarly as “the Company”.

33 Word often following “best-case” or “worst-case” : SCENARIO

A scenario is an outline of the plot of perhaps a novel or play. The term “scenario” can also describe a sequence of hypothetical events.

40 Arizona tribe : HOPI

Many members of the Hopi nation live on a reservation that is actually located within the much larger Navajo reservation in Arizona.

41 Pepsi and Coke : COLAS

The Pepsi-Cola formulation was developed by one Caleb Bradham who made the drink at home and sold it as Brad’s Drink. Bradham’s aim was to provide a drink that was pleasant to taste, that would aid digestion and boost energy. Included in the formula were pepsin (a digestive enzyme) and kola nuts. These two ingredients inspired the brand name we use today: Pepsi-Cola.

The exact formula for Coca-Cola is a trade secret. The secret recipe is locked in a vault. That vault is on public display in the World of Coca-Cola museum in Atlanta, Georgia.

43 ___ the Terrible : IVAN

The Grand Prince of Moscow, and first Tsar of Russia, Ivan IV became known as “Ivan the Terrible”. The name “terrible” is a translation from Russian, and perhaps creates the wrong impression about the man. The Russian word is “Grozny”, which is more akin to “strict” and “powerful” rather than “cruel” or “abominable”.

44 Conundrum : ENIGMA

“Conundrum” is a relatively new word, even though it sounds like Latin. It was coined in the late 16th century in Oxford University, England as a slang, pseudo-Latin word meaning “pedant”. Somehow, this meaning evolved into “riddle, puzzle” in the late 18th century.

50 Early challenge overcome by Joe Biden : STUTTER

President-elect Joe Biden was a US Senator representing the state of Delaware from 1973 until he joined the Obama administration. While he was a senator, Vice President Biden commuted to Washington from Wilmington, Delaware almost every working day. He was such an active customer and supporter of Amtrak that the Wilmington Station was renamed as the Joseph R. Biden Railroad Station in 2011. Biden has made over 7,000 trips from that station, and the Amtrak crews were known to even hold the last train for a few minutes so that he could catch it. Biden earned himself the nickname “Amtrak Joe”.

54 Actress Rae of “Insecure” : ISSA

Issa Rae is a Stanford University graduate who created a YouTube web series called “The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl”. Rae also plays the title role in the series, a young lady named “J”. “Awkward Black Girl” was adapted into an HBO comedy-drama called “Insecure”, in which Issa Rae stars.

62 *Pancake topping : MAPLE SYRUP

About 75% of the world’s maple syrup comes from the province of Quebec. The US’s biggest producer is the state of Vermont, which produces 5-6% of the world’s supply.

66 Seized property, for short : REPO

Repossession (repo)

69 Greek “H” : ETA

Eta is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, and is a forerunner of our Latin character “H”. Originally denoting a consonant, eta was used as a long vowel in Ancient Greek.

70 Weather often associated with Vancouver : RAIN

Vancouver in British Columbia is a major port in western Canada. It is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the nation (after Toronto and Montreal), and the country’s most densely populated city. Vancouver grew out of a settlement called Gastown named for “Gassy” Jack Deighton, a steamboat captain from Yorkshire, England who opened a saloon in the area in 1867. Gastown became the town of Granville, named for the British Colonial Secretary at the time, Lord Granville. Granville incorporated as a city in 1886, and was named “Vancouver” in honor of Royal Navy officer George Vancouver who explored and charted the northwestern Pacific Coast of North America.

72 Professor’s deg. : PHD

“Ph.D.” is an abbreviation for “philosophiae doctor”, Latin for “teacher of philosophy”. Often, candidates for a PhD already hold a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, so a PhD might be considered a “third degree”.

73 Village People hit with a spelled-out title : YMCA

“YMCA” was released in 1978 by Village People and has been adopted as an anthem by the gay community. The song was written by Victor Willis, a straight member of the mostly gay band, and he clarifies that the lyrics are extolling the virtues of the “YMCA” as a source of recreation for black urban youth. I think he might have been winking when he said that …

Down

2 Saudis, e.g. : ARABS

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the largest Arab country in the Middle East and is the world’s largest oil producer, home to the world’s largest oil reserves. The Saudi dynasty started in central Arabia in 1744 when the secular leader Muhammad ibn Saud joined forces with the Islamic scholar and Imam, Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab. At the time, Saud was a ruler of a town near Riyadh and he was determined to bring “true” Islam to the Arabian peninsula. Since 1744 the fortunes of the Saudi family have risen and fallen, but it is that same family who rules what we know today as Saudi Arabia.

3 Bar mitzvah text : TORAH

A Jewish girl becomes a bat mitzvah at 12 years of age, the age at which she becomes responsible for her actions. Boys become bar mitzvahs at 13. The terms translate into English as daughter and son of the commandments.

4 *Leafs-watching time, maybe : HOCKEY NIGHT

The Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team was founded way back in 1917. As members of the National Hockey League, the Maple Leafs have won the Stanley Cup championships thirteen times, the second best record in the league. Having said that, the last championship the team won was in 1967, and the resulting “drought” is the longest in the NHL.

5 Cave dwellers : BATS

Bats are the only mammals that are capable of sustained flight.

6 “Salome” solo : ARIA

Richard Strauss’s opera “Salome” was based on the play of the same name by Oscar Wilde. The opera created quite a fuss in its early performances due to its erotic “Dance of the Seven Veils”.

7 Web designer’s code : HTML

The initialism “HTML” stands for HyperText Markup Language. HTML is the language used to write most Internet web pages (including this one).

8 Bear, in un zoológico : OSO

In Spanish, an “oso” (bear) might be found in “un zoológico” (a zoo).

9 Road goo : TAR

The terms “tarmac” and “macadam” are short for “tarmacadam”. In the 1800s, Scotsman John Loudon McAdam developed a style of road known as “macadam”. Macadam had a top-layer of crushed stone and gravel laid over larger stones. The macadam also had a convex cross-section so that water tended to drain to the sides. In 1901, a significant improvement was made by English engineer Edgar Purnell Hooley who introduced tar into the macadam, improving the resistance to water damage and practically eliminating dust. The “tar-penetration macadam” is the basis of what we now call “tarmac”.

10 Pharaoh known as a “boy king,” informally : TUT

“King Tut” is a name commonly used for the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun. Tutankhamun may not have been the most significant of the pharaohs historically, but he is the most famous today largely because of the discovery of his nearly intact tomb in 1922 by Howard Carter. Prior to this find, any Egyptian tombs uncovered by archaeologists had been ravaged by grave robbers. Tutankhamun’s magnificent burial mask is one of the most recognizable of all Egyptian artifacts.

11 Battery terminal : ANODE

A battery is a device that converts chemical energy into electric energy. A simple battery is made up of three parts: a cathode, an anode and a liquid electrolyte. Ions from the electrolyte react chemically with the material in the anode producing a compound and releasing electrons. At the same time, the electrolyte reacts with the material in the cathode, absorbing electrons and producing a different chemical compound. In this way, there is a buildup of electrons at the anode and a deficit of electrons at the cathode. When a connection (wire, say) is made between the cathode and anode, electrons flow through the resulting circuit from the anode to cathode in an attempt to rectify the electron imbalance.

12 “A Fish Called ___” : WANDA

The 1988 comedy “A Fish Called Wanda” is a favorite of mine. The film was co-written by and stars John Cleese, and has an exceptional cast including Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Cleese’s friend from “Monty Python”, Michael Palin. Kevin Kline won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance. The “fish” in the film is the con artist Wanda, played by Curtis.

13 Plus on the balance sheet : ASSET

The balance sheet of a company is a snapshot (single point in time) view of a company’s financial position. The balance sheet lists all the company’s liabilities, all of its assets, and all of its ownership equity. The assets of a company, less its liabilities equals the ownership equity. The term “balance” is used because assets always balance out with the sum of liabilities and shareholder equity.

19 Lang. in which “peace” is “shalom” : HEB

“Shalom” is a Hebrew word meaning “peace” that is also used to mean “hello” and “goodbye”.

21 Home of the ancient philosopher Zeno : ELEA

Zeno of Elea was a Greek philosopher who lived in Elea, a Greek colony in Southern Italy. Zeno is famous for his paradoxes, a set of problems that really make you think! In the problem known as “Achilles and the Tortoise”, Zeno tells us that Achilles races a tortoise, giving the tortoise a head start (of say 100 meters). By the time Achilles reaches the starting point of the tortoise, the tortoise will have moved on, albeit only a small distance. Achilles then sets his sights on the tortoise’s new position and runs to it. Again the tortoise has moved ahead a little. Achilles keeps on moving to the tortoise’s new position but can never actually catch his slower rival. Or can he …?

25 Representative Alexandria ___-Cortez : OCASIO

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a politician who is often referred to by her initials “AOC”. A Democrat, she was first elected to the US House of Representatives in 2018, representing part of the Bronx, Queens and Rikers Island in New York City. When she took office in 2019 at the age of 29, AOC became the youngest woman ever to serve in Congress.

26 Mark, as a ballot : X IN

Today, a ballot is a piece of paper or equivalent used to cast a vote. Back in the 1500s, a “ballot” was a small “ball” used in the process of voting.

29 Esoteric : ARCANE

Something that is arcane is something understood by only a few, something that might be described as mysterious.

Something described as esoteric is meant only for a select few with special knowledge. The term “esoteric” comes from the Greek “esoterikos” meaning “belonging to an inner circle”.

33 ___-crab soup : SHE

She-crab soup is a specialty in coastal Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia. The soup is very rich as it is made with cream and is similar to a bisque. The list of ingredients includes Atlantic blue crab, and crab roe. It is the use of the roe that gives the name “She-crab”, as that’s where the roe comes from!

35 Commercial prefix with Pen : EPI-

EpiPen is a brand of epinephrine auto-injector. An EpiPen delivers a measured dose of epinephrine, which is a common treatment for an extreme allergic reaction.

38 D.C. player, formerly a Montreal Expo : NAT

The Washington Nationals (“Nats”) started out life as the Montreal Expos in 1969, and were the first Major League Baseball team in Canada. The Expos moved to Washington in 2005 becoming the Nats.

42 Pint at a pub : ALE

A US pint comprises 16 fluid ounces, and an imperial pint is 20 fluid ounces. The term “pint” comes into English via Old French, ultimately from the Latin “picta” meaning “painted”. The name arose from a line painted on the side of a beer glass that marked a full measure of ale.

47 Guitarist Clapton : ERIC

Can you believe that the great Eric Clapton only had one chart-topper in the US? In 1974, Clapton released a cover version of the Bob Marley classic “I Shot the Sheriff” and ended up selling more copies of that song than Bob Marley did himself. Clapton is the only person to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times: once as a member of the Yardbirds, once as a member of the supergroup Cream, and once as a solo artist.

50 Poison ___ : SUMAC

Sumacs are a group of flowering shrubs and small trees that include poison oak, poison ivy and poison sumac (nasty stuff!). The leaves of some species of sumac contain tannins that are used for tanning leather. Morocco leather is an example of the use of sumac tannins.

55 Cook, as mussels : STEAM

“Mussel” is a common name for several types of clam and other bivalve molluscs, both saltwater and freshwater.

56 Savory jelly : ASPIC

Aspic is a dish in which the main ingredients are served in a gelatin made from meat stock. “Aspic” is a French word meaning “jelly”.

59 Elite sort of school, for short : PREP

A preppy is a student or graduate of a preparatory school. Such a school is designed to prepare students for college, and is often private with expensive fees.

60 The “R” of R.B.G. : RUTH

Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) served on the US Supreme Court. Justice Ginsburg was the second woman to join the Court, and was nominated by President Bill Clinton. She was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1999 and underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. During that time she did not miss one day on the bench. In 2009 Justice Ginsburg had surgery for pancreatic cancer, and was back to work 12 days later. She had left-lung lobectomy to remove cancerous nodules in 2018, which forced Justice Ginsburg to miss oral argument in January 2019, for the first time since joining the court 25 years earlier. She finally succumbed to pancreatic cancer in 2020. Much of Ginsburg’s life is recounted in the excellent 2018 movie “On the Basis of Sex”.

61 Apple tablet : IPAD

The iPad wasn’t Apple’s first foray into the world of tablet computing. Apple created great buzz by introducing the Newton MessagePad way back in 1993. This innovative machine was fraught with problems and really died a very slow death, finally being withdrawn from the market in 1998.

63 N.Y. airport with many flights to Toronto Pearson : LGA

Fiorello La Guardia was the Mayor of New York from 1934 to 1945, racking up three full terms in office. The famous airport that bears La Guardia’s name was built at his urging, stemming from an incident that took place while he was in office. He was taking a TWA flight to “New York” and was outraged when the plane landed at Newark Airport, in the state of New Jersey. The Mayor demanded that the flight take off again and land at a small airport in Brooklyn. A gaggle of press reporters joined him on the short hop and he gave them a story, urging New Yorkers to support the construction of a new commercial airport within the city’s limits. The new airport, in Queens, opened in 1939 as New York Municipal, often called “LaGuardia” as a nickname. The airport was officially relabeled as “LaGuardia” (LGA) in 1947.

65 Govt. agency for retirees : SSA

The Social Security Administration (SSA) was set up as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. The first person to receive a monthly retirement benefit was Ida May Fuller of Vermont who received her first check for the sum of $22.54 after having contributed for three years through payroll taxes. The New Deal turned out to be a good deal for Ms. Fuller, as she lived to be 100 years of age and received a total benefit of almost $23,000, whereas her three years of contributions added up to just $24.75.

67 “Cat ___ Hot Tin Roof” : ON A

“Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” is the play that won Tennessee Williams the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1955. The play was adapted into a famous film version in 1958, with Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman playing the leads.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 “Hell ___ no fury …” : HATH
5 Shout from Scrooge : BAH!
8 Capital of 71-Across : OTTAWA
14 Suffix with switch : -EROO
15 Life is short and this is long, per Hippocrates : ART
16 Places to sweat it out? : SAUNAS
17 Painter Chagall : MARC
18 *Restaurant chain known for its coffee and doughnuts : TIM HORTONS
20 Classic fund-raising event : BAKE SALE
22 1950s presidential inits. : DDE
23 Writer/illustrator Silverstein : SHEL
24 Premium theater spot : BOX SEAT
28 Nobelist William Butler ___ : YEATS
32 Spy grp. : CIA
33 Word often following “best-case” or “worst-case” : SCENARIO
36 Nobody special : ANYONE
40 Arizona tribe : HOPI
41 Pepsi and Coke : COLAS
43 ___ the Terrible : IVAN
44 Conundrum : ENIGMA
46 Estrange : ALIENATE
48 Chick’s mother : HEN
49 Corporate shuffle, for short : REORG
50 Early challenge overcome by Joe Biden : STUTTER
54 Actress Rae of “Insecure” : ISSA
57 Container for a caterer : URN
58 Some brandy fruits : APRICOTS
62 *Pancake topping : MAPLE SYRUP
66 Seized property, for short : REPO
68 Makes flush (with) : ALIGNS
69 Greek “H” : ETA
70 Weather often associated with Vancouver : RAIN
71 Place associated with the answers to the starred clues : CANADA
72 Professor’s deg. : PHD
73 Village People hit with a spelled-out title : YMCA

Down

1 ___ and haw : HEM
2 Saudis, e.g. : ARABS
3 Bar mitzvah text : TORAH
4 *Leafs-watching time, maybe : HOCKEY NIGHT
5 Cave dwellers : BATS
6 “Salome” solo : ARIA
7 Web designer’s code : HTML
8 Bear, in un zoológico : OSO
9 Road goo : TAR
10 Pharaoh known as a “boy king,” informally : TUT
11 Battery terminal : ANODE
12 “A Fish Called ___” : WANDA
13 Plus on the balance sheet : ASSET
19 Lang. in which “peace” is “shalom” : HEB
21 Home of the ancient philosopher Zeno : ELEA
25 Representative Alexandria ___-Cortez : OCASIO
26 Mark, as a ballot : X IN
27 *Important step after erring : SAYING SORRY
29 Esoteric : ARCANE
30 Spanish uncle : TIO
31 Word before system or power : SOLAR …
33 ___-crab soup : SHE
34 Opposite of pro : CON
35 Commercial prefix with Pen : EPI-
37 Eggs in a lab : OVA
38 D.C. player, formerly a Montreal Expo : NAT
39 Toronto-to-Montreal dir. : ENE
42 Pint at a pub : ALE
45 ___ Gala (big event in fashion) : MET
47 Guitarist Clapton : ERIC
50 Poison ___ : SUMAC
51 Gaily sung syllables : TRA-LA
52 Remove, as a brooch : UNPIN
53 Unit of sunshine : RAY
55 Cook, as mussels : STEAM
56 Savory jelly : ASPIC
59 Elite sort of school, for short : PREP
60 The “R” of R.B.G. : RUTH
61 Apple tablet : IPAD
63 N.Y. airport with many flights to Toronto Pearson : LGA
64 Cease : END
65 Govt. agency for retirees : SSA
67 “Cat ___ Hot Tin Roof” : ON A