1213-20 NY Times Crossword 13 Dec 20, Sunday

Constructed by: Dan Margolis
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme: Cinéma Vérité

Themed answers are famous movies, and themed clues are all film-related terms. The title of the movie is a literal interpretation of the corresponding clue:

  • 26A Indy film? (1981) : RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
  • 36A Road movie? (1950) : SUNSET BOULEVARD
  • 56A PG movie? (1992) : PATRIOT GAMES
  • 81A Family film? (1972) : THE GODFATHER
  • 103A Dock-udrama? (1954) : ON THE WATERFRONT
  • 114A Short film? (1989) : HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS

Bill’s time: 14m 08s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Advice columnist Savage : DAN

Dan Savage is an author and journalist who is famous for writing a sex advice column under the title “Savage Love”. “Savage Love” is directed towards the gay community and is syndicated in several dozen newspapers across the world.

8 Saturn or Mercury, once : CAR

Saturn was a brand of automobile introduced by General Motors (GM) in 1985. The Saturn line was GM’s response to the increase in sales of Japanese imports, and was initially set up as a relatively independent division within the company. Saturn had its own assembly plant, and its own network of retailers.

The Mercury brand of car was made by Ford from 1938 until 2011. Mercury was introduced by Henry Ford’s son Edsel Ford. Mercury vehicles were positioned as being more luxurious that the regular Ford models, and more economical than Ford’s high-end Lincoln models.

16 Prayer leader : IMAM

An imam is a Muslim leader, and often the person in charge of a mosque and/or perhaps a Muslim community.

18 Opening opening? : LONG O

The opening letter in the word “opening” is a long letter O.

20 Yeats or Keats : POET

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.

English poet John Keats died in Rome in 1821, and is buried there in the Protestant Cemetery. His last wish was that his grave be marked with a tombstone bearing just the words “”Here lies One whose Name was writ in Water”, and no name nor a date. Keats’ friends honored his request to some extent, as the words were included on the stone and no name is given. The full epitaph reads:

This Grave
contains all that was Mortal
of a
Young English Poet
Who
on his Death Bed, in the Bitterness of his Heart
at the Malicious Power of his Enemies
Desired
these Words to be
engraven on his Tomb Stone:
Here lies One
Whose Name was writ in Water.
24 February 1821

21 Pliocene, e.g. : EPOCH

Geological time is divided into a number of units of varying lengths. These are, starting from the largest:

  • supereon
  • eon (also “aeon”)
  • era
  • period
  • epoch
  • age

23 Ancient Aegean land : IONIA

The geographic region called Ionia is located in present day Turkey. Ionia was prominent in the days of ancient Greece, although it wasn’t a unified state and rather a collection of tribes. The tribal confederacy was more based on religious and cultural similarities than a political or military alliance. Nowadays we often refer to this arrangement as the Ionian League.

The Aegean Sea is that part of the Mediterranean that lies between Greece and Turkey. Within the Aegean Sea are found the Aegean Islands, a group that includes Crete and Rhodes.

26 Indy film? (1981) : RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK

“Raiders of the Lost Ark” is, in my humble opinion, the best of the Indiana Jones franchise of movies. This first Indiana Jones film was released in 1981, produced by George Lucas and directed by Steven Spielberg. Harrison Ford was Spielberg’s first choice to play the lead, but Lucas resisted as he was concerned that he would be too closely associated with the actor (as Ford played Han Solo in “Star Wars”, and also appeared in Lucas’s “American Graffiti”). Tom Selleck was offered the role but he couldn’t get out of his commitments to “Magnum, P.I.” Eventually Spielberg got his way and Ford was hired, a good thing I say …

George Lucas created a lead character named “Indiana Smith” for what was to be his “Indiana Jones” series of films. Lucas asked Steven Spielberg to direct the first film, and Spielberg wasn’t too fond of the name “Smith”. Lucas then suggested “Jones” as an alternative, and Indiana Jones was born.

31 Female deer : HINDS

Nowadays, a hart is a male red deer over five years old. A hind is a female red deer.

32 Classic sci-fi anthology whose first story is titled “Robbie” : I, ROBOT

Science fiction author Isaac Asimov wrote a marvelous collection of short stories titled “I, Robot” that were first published together in 1950. In the stories, he makes repeated reference to the Three Laws of Robotics, which he introduced in the story “Runaround”, first published in 1942. The three laws are:

  1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
  2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
  3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

36 Road movie? (1950) : SUNSET BOULEVARD

“Sunset Boulevard” is a classic film noir co-written and directed by the great Billy Wilder, and released in 1950. It’s a story about a faded film star (played by Gloria Swanson) who dreams about making a return to the screen. Andrew Lloyd Webber made a reasonably successful musical adaptation of the film using the same title, which opened in London in 1993.

40 Some M.I.T. grads: Abbr. : EES

Electrical engineer (EE)

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was founded in 1861 and first offered classes in 1865, in the Mercantile building in Boston. Today’s magnificent campus on the banks of the Charles River in Cambridge opened in 1916.

41 Bizarre : OUTRE

The word “outré”, meaning “unconventional, bizarre”, comes to us from French, as one might imagine. It is derived from the verb “outrer” meaning “to overdo, exaggerate”. “Outrer” is also the ultimate root of our word “outrage”.

52 Cannoli ingredient : RICOTTA

Ricotta is an Italian cheese made from the milk of a sheep or a cow. It produced from the whey of the milk, the liquid left after the curds have been separated out (curds are used to make “traditional” cheese). The whey is heated again so that the remaining protein precipitates out, producing ricotta cheese. The word “ricotta” literally means “recooked”, which makes sense to me now …

Cannoli (singular “connolo”) are Italian sweet pastries that originated in Sicily. Cannoli are made by filling tubes of fried pastry dough with a creamy filling that usually contains ricotta cheese. “Cannolo” is Italian for “little tube”.

56 PG movie? (1992) : PATRIOT GAMES

“Patriot Games” is a 1987 novel from Tom Clancy that features his hero Jack Ryan. The story opens with Ryan saving the lives of the Prince and Princess of Wales during a kidnapping attempt by an Irish terrorist group. In the 1992 film adaptation of the book, the Prince and Princess of Wales are dropped from the story, and replaced by the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

63 Anthem opening : O SAY …

“O say can you see by the dawn’s early light” is the opening line of “The Star-Spangled Banner” by Francis Scott Key. The song was adopted as the US national anthem in 1931, although it had been used officially by the US Navy since 1889, played when raising the flag.

64 A little bit of work : ERG

An erg is a unit of mechanical work or energy. It is a small unit, with one joule comprising 10 million ergs. It has been suggested that an erg is about the amount of energy required for a mosquito to take off. The term comes from “ergon”, the Greek word for work.

69 One whose range goes from about F3 to F5, musically : ALTO

In choral music, an alto (plural “alti”) is the second-highest voice in a four-part chorus made up of soprano, contr(alto), tenor and bass. The word “alto” describes the vocal range, that of the deepest female singing-voice, whereas the term “contralto” describes more than just the alto range, but also its quality and timbre. An adult male’s voice (not a boy’s) with the same range as an alto is called a “countertenor”.

72 World capital with the Gangnam district : SEOUL

Seoul is the capital city of South Korea. The Seoul National Capital Area is home to over 25 million people and is the second largest metropolitan area in the world, second only to Tokyo, Japan.

75 Hummingbird feeder filler : NECTAR

Hummingbirds are the smallest of all the birds. The bee hummingbird is native to Cuba and weighs less than a tenth of an ounce and is about two inches in length!

79 N.Y. engineering sch. : RPI

The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) is a private school in Troy, New York. The university is named after its founder Stephen Van Rensselaer who set up the school in 1824. The goal of RPI has always been the “application of science to the common purposes of life”, an objective set by the founder. Given that, the name for the school’s sports teams is quite apt: the Engineers.

80 Actress de Matteo of “Sons of Anarchy” : DREA

Drea de Matteo is an actress who is most familiar to me for playing Adriana la Cerva on HBO’s wonderful series “The Sopranos”. De Matteo also played Joey’s sister on the short-lived “Friends” spin-off called “Joey”, and the character Angie Bolen on “Desperate Housewives”.

“Sons of Anarchy” is a popular FX crime series about an outlaw motorcycle club in California’s Central Valley. Apparently, it is the most successful FX show ever.

81 Family film? (1972) : THE GODFATHER

“The Godfather” series of films is based on “The Godfather” novel by Mario Puzo, first published in 1969. Francis Ford Coppola worked with Puzo in partnership to adapt his novel into the screenplay for the first film, and to write the screenplays for the two sequels. Coppola holds that there are really only two films in “The Godfather” series, with “The Godfather Part III” actually being the epilogue.

87 Thor : Thursday :: ___ : Wednesday : ODIN

In Norse mythology, Odin was the chief of the gods. Odin’s wife Frigg was the queen of Asgard whose name gave us our English term “Friday” (via Anglo-Saxon). Odin’s son was Thor, whose name gave us the term “Thursday”. Odin himself gave us our word “Wednesday” from “Wodin”, the English form of his name.

90 Oration station : DAIS

A dais is a raised platform for a speaker. The term “dais” comes from the Latin “discus” meaning a “disk-shaped object”. I guess that the original daises had such a shape.

94 Cleverly self-referential : META

In recent decades the prefix “meta-” has been used as a standalone adjective. In this sense “meta” means “self-referential”, describing something that refers to itself. For example, “This sentence starts with the word ‘this’ and ends with the word ‘this’” might be called a meta sentence. A movie that is about the making of the very same movie could also be described as meta.

98 Social stratum : CASTE

Although caste systems exist in several societies around the world, we tend to associate the concept with the social stratification that is still found in many parts of India. The term “caste” comes from the Portuguese word “casta” meaning “race, breed”. The Portuguese used the term to describe the hereditary social groups that they found in India when they arrived in the subcontinent in 1498.

103 Dock-udrama? (1954) : ON THE WATERFRONT

The 1954 drama “On the Waterfront”, starring Marlon Brando, told a story of violence and corruption among longshoremen. The movie was based on a series of 24 articles written by investigative journalist Malcolm Johnston and published in “The New York Sun”. The original news stories uncovered mob infiltration on the New York City Waterfront, but the location for the film was chosen as Hoboken, New Jersey.

110 ___ Palace, Indian tourist attraction : MYSORE

Mysore lies about 100 miles southwest of Bangalore. Tourists flock to Mysore especially during the ten-day Mysore Dasara festival, a draw not only for Indians but foreigners as well. Mysore is known as the City of Palaces as it is home to seven palaces in all. The most famous of these is Mysore Palace located within the city’s Old Fort. Mysore Palace is perhaps the second-most famous tourist attraction in India, after the Taj Mahal.

114 Short film? (1989) : HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS

“Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” is a fun movie from 1989 starring Rick Moranis as a goofy professor who accidentally shrinks his children. The movie was written with Chevy Chase in mind for the starring role, but he was busy filming “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”. John Candy was a second choice, but he decided to pass and suggested Rick Moranis instead. I think the final choice was a good one …

118 Where Minos ruled : CRETE

Minos was the King of Crete in Greek mythology, and the son of Zeus and Europa. Minos had an elaborate labyrinth built under the island that was designed by the architect Daedalus and his son Icarus (who famously died trying to escape from the island by “flying” away). In the labyrinth, King Minos kept the Minotaur, a dreadful creature with the head of a bull on the body of a man.

120 Safe, on board : ALEE

Alee is the direction away from the wind. If a sailor points into the wind, he or she is pointing aweather.

121 Violet variety : PANSY

The pansy is a garden flower that takes its name from the French word “pensée” meaning “thought”. This name was chosen as the flower was often used as a symbol of remembrance. The petals of pansies have dark blotches that often appear to form the outline of a face.

126 Nair rival, once : NEET

The hair removal product “Neet” was launched in Canada in 1901, and was also sold as “Immac”. Today, it is sold under the name “Veet”.

128 Nile reptile : ASP

The asp is a venomous snake found in the Nile region of Africa. It is so venomous that the asp was used in ancient Egypt and Greece as a means of execution. Cleopatra observed such executions noting that the venom brought on sleepiness without any painful spasms. When the great queen opted to commit suicide, the asp was therefore her chosen method.

Depending on definition, the Nile is regarded generally as the longest river on the planet. The Nile forms from two major tributaries, the White Nile and the Blue Nile, which join together near Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. From Khartoum the Nile flows north, traveling almost entirely through desert making it central to life for those living along its length.

129 Its name is derived from the Greek for “I burn” : ETNA

Mount Etna on the island of Sicily is the largest of three active volcanoes in Italy, and indeed the largest of all active volcanoes in Europe. Etna is about 2 1/2 times the height of its equally famous sister, Mt. Vesuvius. Mt. Etna is home to a 110-km long narrow-gauge railway, and two ski resorts. It is sometimes referred to as “Mongibello” in Italian, and as “Mungibeddu” in Sicilian. The English name “Etna” comes from the Greek “aitho” meaning “I eat”.

Down

6 ___ mundi : ANNO

Anno Mundi is abbreviated as AM, and translates from the Latin as “in the year of the world”. The AM calendar dates from the year of creation, so the actual year changes in different versions depending on which year is understood to be “year 1”.

9 Fine spray : AEROSOL

Strictly speaking, the term “aerosol” defines a suspension of either liquid droplets or solid particles in a gas. A good example of an aerosol is smoke. We tend to use the “aerosol” to describe what comes out of a spray can, even though the liquid droplets usually fall out of the gas and don’t stay suspended.

10 66 and others: Abbr. : RTES

The famous old highway called Route 66 has largely been replaced by modern interstates. It ran from Chicago to Los Angeles, right through the heart of America, and so it was often called the “Main Street of America”. The road gained notoriety because of Nat King Cole’s song “(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66”, and also because of the sixties TV show called “Route 66”.

11 One of the Borgias : CESARE

The Borgias were a papal family that was very prominent during the Renaissance in Europe. Two of the Borgias became popes, namely Pope Calixtus III and Pope Alexander VI. Pope Alexander VI had several children, including Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia. Cesare became a cardinal, and was the first cardinal to resign from the post. Lucrezia earned a reputation as a femme fatale, and as such turns up in many artworks, novels and movies.

14 “Vous êtes ___” (French map notation) : ICI

“Vous êtes ici” are important words to know when navigating your way around Paris. They mean “You are here”, and you’ll often see them on maps in the street.

15 Grp. with the Vezina Trophy : NHL

The Vezina Trophy is awarded each season to the National Hockey League’s (NHL’s) most outstanding goaltender. Established in the 1926-27 season, the award is named for Georges Vezina, goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens from 1910 until 1925.

29 ___ Tuesday (Aimee Mann’s band) : ‘TIL

Aimee Mann is a rock singer and guitarist from Virginia. Mann is married to Michael Penn, the brother of actor Sean Penn.

33 Dot follower : ORG

The .org domain was one of the six original generic top-level domains specified. The complete original list is:

  • .com (commercial enterprise)
  • .net (entity involved in network infrastructure e.g. an ISP)
  • .mil (US military)
  • .org (not-for-profit organization)
  • .gov (US federal government entity)
  • .edu (college-level educational institution)

34 Some ESPN highlights, for short : TDS

Touchdown (TD)

37 Something often underlined and blue : URL

An Internet address (like NYXCrossword.com and LAXCrossword.com) is more correctly called a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

38 Half-moon tide : NEAP

Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon on the oceans. At neap tide, the smaller gravitational effect of the sun cancels out some of the moon’s effect. At spring tide, the sun and the moon’s gravitational forces act in concert causing more extreme movement of the oceans.

42 Balderdash : UTTER ROT

“Balderdash” means “senseless jumble of words”. The original balderdash (back before the late 1600s) was a jumbled mix of liquids like maybe beer and wine, or even beer and milk!

47 Short-legged hound : BASSET

The basset hound wouldn’t be my favorite breed of dog, to be honest. Basset hounds have a great sense of smell with an ability to track a scent that is second only to that of the bloodhound. The name “basset” comes from the French word for “rather low”, a reference to the dog’s short legs.

48 Fuel additive brand : STP

STP is a brand name of automotive lubricants and additives. The name “STP” is an initialism standing for “Scientifically Treated Petroleum”.

51 Director Ashby : HAL

Hal Ashby was a movie director from Ogden, Utah. Ashby’s most famous films are from the seventies: “Harold and Maude” and “Shampoo”.

52 Dappled horse : ROAN

A roan horse has an even mixture of white and colored hairs on the body with the head, lower legs, mane and tail having a more solid color.

53 Key : ISLET

A key (also “cay”) is a low offshore island, as in the Florida “Keys”. Our term in English comes from the Spanish “cayo” meaning “shoal, reef”.

57 In poor condition, as old machinery : RUSTED

Rust is iron oxide. Rust forms when iron oxidizes, reacts with oxygen.

58 Choler : IRE

“Choler” is “anger, irritability”. Choler (also “cholera”) was one of the body’s four basic substances of medieval science, the so-called four humors. All diseases were caused by these four substances getting out of balance. The four humors were:

  • Black bile (melancholia)
  • Yellow bile (cholera)
  • Phlegm (phlegma)
  • Blood (sanguis)

71 New Deal program, in brief : TVA

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has to be one of America’s great success stories when it comes to economic development. Created in 1933, the TVA spearheaded economic development in the Tennessee Valley at the height of the Great Depression. Central to the success was the federally-funded construction of flood-control and electricity-generation facilities.

73 Co. with brown trucks : UPS

United Parcel Service (UPS) is based in Sandy Springs, Georgia and has its own airline that operates out of Louisville, Kentucky. UPS often goes by the nickname “Brown”, because of its brown delivery trucks and brown uniforms.

76 Palindromic title : AGA

“Aga” (also “agha”) is a title that was used by both civil and military officials in the Ottoman Empire.

82 Lady of Spain : DAMA

In Spanish, a “dama” (lady) might be referred to as “Señora” (Mrs.).

83 Anti-mob law, for short : RICO

The RICO Act is more fully called the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The law was used largely to prosecute members of the Mafia in the seventies, and has been applied more broadly since.

85 Baby shower gift : ONESIE

A onesie is a baby’s one-piece bodysuit, and is a common gift at a baby shower.

88 Photographer Goldin : NAN

Nan Goldin is an American photographer who works out of New York, Berlin and Paris.

90 ___ Pérignon : DOM

Dom Pérignon is a prestige label of champagne from Moët et Chandon, the French winery. The label’s name honors the Benedictine monk, Dom Pérignon, who helped to improve the quality and production of champagne in the early 18th century. Although Dom Pérignon made major contributions to champagne production, many of the stories in which he figures are just myths. He did not “invent” champagne, nor sparkling wine in general. Nor did he say the famous words, “Come quickly, I am drinking the stars!”. That lovely line first appeared in a print advertisement in the late 1800s!

92 “My package arrived!” : IT’S HERE!

Yay, Amazon!

95 French stars : ETOILES

In French, one can see “étoiles” (stars) in the “ciel” (sky).

97 Utah national park : ARCHES

The gorgeous Arches National Park is located in eastern Utah, just outside of Moab. The main focus of the park is the preservation of over 2,000 natural sandstone arches. The arches are relatively fragile, and 43 have collapsed since 1970, mainly due to erosion caused by wind and rain.

99 Bit of ranch dressing? : STETSON

Stetson is a brand of hats manufactured by John B. Stetson Company of St. Joseph, Missouri. The so-called “cowboy hat” that Stetson pioneered was such a success that the company became the largest hat maker in the world, producing over 3.3 million hats per year.

101 Street vendor : PEDDLER

In its purest sense, a peddler is someone who sells his or her wares on the street or from door to door. The term probably comes from the Latin “pedarius” meaning “one who goes on foot”.

104 First name of a literary “Papa” : ERNEST

Apparently, author Ernest Hemingway picked up the moniker “Papa” on the birth of his first child (as one might expect!). Hemingway seemed to like the nickname and welcomed its use outside of the family, and his admirers obliged.

106 Cat’s pajamas? : FUR

Our word “pajamas” (sometimes “PJs” or “jammies”) comes to us from the Indian subcontinent, where “pai jamahs” were loose fitting pants tied at the waist and worn at night by locals and ultimately by the Europeans living there. And “pajamas” is another of those words that I had to learn to spell differently when I came to America. On the other side of the Atlantic, the spelling is “pyjamas”.

113 Parts of kingdoms : PHYLA

Biological classification is a method used to group organisms by biological type. The method uses a hierarchy of nested classes, with an organism being classified with reference to evolutionary traits. The major taxonomic ranks used are:

  • Life
  • Domain
  • Kingdom
  • Phylum (plural “phyla”)
  • Class
  • Order
  • Family
  • Genus (plural “genera”)
  • Species

115 When repeated, a “Seinfeld” expression : YADA

“The Yada Yada Yada” is the title of the 153rd episode of “Seinfeld”. Before “Seinfeld” made “yada yada yada” famous, we were more likely to hear the phrase “yadda yadda” that was often used by comedian Lenny Bruce, for example.

118 With 78-Down, Greek letters that together sound like a world capital : CHI 78D See 118-Down : RHO

Cairo is the capital city of Egypt. It is nicknamed “The City of a Thousand Minarets” because of its impressive skyline replete with Islamic architecture. The name “Cairo” is a European corruption of the city’s original name in Arabic, “Al-Qahira”.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Advice columnist Savage : DAN
4 Out of tune … or bubbles : FLAT
8 Saturn or Mercury, once : CAR
11 ___ fever : CABIN
16 Prayer leader : IMAM
18 Opening opening? : LONG O
20 Yeats or Keats : POET
21 Pliocene, e.g. : EPOCH
22 Something to build on : SITE
23 Ancient Aegean land : IONIA
24 The fly in fly-fishing, e.g. : LURE
25 Turn : SPOIL
26 Indy film? (1981) : RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
30 Render unnecessary : OBVIATE
31 Female deer : HINDS
32 Classic sci-fi anthology whose first story is titled “Robbie” : I, ROBOT
35 Sound from a flock : BLEAT
36 Road movie? (1950) : SUNSET BOULEVARD
40 Some M.I.T. grads: Abbr. : EES
41 Bizarre : OUTRE
43 React to a stubbed toe, maybe : YELP
44 Confident juggler’s props : EGGS
45 Film director’s cry : CUT!
46 Blood work locales : LABS
49 Sound of relief : AAH!
52 Cannoli ingredient : RICOTTA
56 PG movie? (1992) : PATRIOT GAMES
63 Anthem opening : O SAY …
64 A little bit of work : ERG
66 Brush off : SPURN
67 Draw out : ELICIT
69 One whose range goes from about F3 to F5, musically : ALTO
70 Hilarious folks : RIOTS
72 World capital with the Gangnam district : SEOUL
74 Challenge : DARE
75 Hummingbird feeder filler : NECTAR
77 Blatant : OVERT
79 N.Y. engineering sch. : RPI
80 Actress de Matteo of “Sons of Anarchy” : DREA
81 Family film? (1972) : THE GODFATHER
84 Barely contain anger : SMOLDER
86 ___ glance : AT A
87 Thor : Thursday :: ___ : Wednesday : ODIN
89 Suffix with hero : -INE
90 Oration station : DAIS
94 Cleverly self-referential : META
98 Social stratum : CASTE
100 Common 99¢ purchase : APP
103 Dock-udrama? (1954) : ON THE WATERFRONT
108 Spendthrift’s opposite : SAVER
110 ___ Palace, Indian tourist attraction : MYSORE
111 Perfectly timed : ON CUE
112 Pilot, e.g. : EPISODE
114 Short film? (1989) : HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS
118 Where Minos ruled : CRETE
120 Safe, on board : ALEE
121 Violet variety : PANSY
122 Wait in neutral : IDLE
123 Jack rabbits, but not rabbits : HARES
124 Saturnus or Mercurius : DEUS
125 Part of a sewing kit : SPOOL
126 Nair rival, once : NEET
127 Not so moving? : INERT
128 Nile reptile : ASP
129 Its name is derived from the Greek for “I burn” : ETNA
130 OB/GYNs, e.g. : DRS

Down

1 Wear off? : DISROBE
2 Easygoing : AMIABLE
3 Hometowners : NATIVES
4 Toy (with), as an idea : FLIRT
5 Least strict : LOOSEST
6 ___ mundi : ANNO
7 Popular ABC programming block of the ’90s : TGIF
8 “Perhaps” : COULD BE
9 Fine spray : AEROSOL
10 66 and others: Abbr. : RTES
11 One of the Borgias : CESARE
12 Rubber-stamp, say : APPROVE
13 Kids use it for texts : BOOKBAG
14 “Vous êtes ___” (French map notation) : ICI
15 Grp. with the Vezina Trophy : NHL
17 Pastels and charcoal, for two : MEDIA
19 Swear words? : OATHS
20 More than enough : PLENTY
27 Enjoy some dishes without doing dishes, perhaps : EAT OUT
28 Hasten : HIE
29 ___ Tuesday (Aimee Mann’s band) : ‘TIL
33 Dot follower : ORG
34 Some ESPN highlights, for short : TDS
37 Something often underlined and blue : URL
38 Half-moon tide : NEAP
39 ___ the crack of dawn : UP AT
42 Balderdash : UTTER ROT
45 Trickster of Shoshone mythology : COYOTE
47 Short-legged hound : BASSET
48 Fuel additive brand : STP
50 17, for an R-rated movie : AGE LIMIT
51 Director Ashby : HAL
52 Dappled horse : ROAN
53 Key : ISLET
54 Hidden downside : CATCH
55 Man’s name that’s another man’s name backward : ARI
57 In poor condition, as old machinery : RUSTED
58 Choler : IRE
59 ___ about (approximately) : ON OR
60 Undesirable plane seat : MIDDLE
61 Often-animated greeting : E-CARD
62 Yes or no follower : … SIREE
65 Flub : GOOF
68 Eye drop : TEAR
71 New Deal program, in brief : TVA
73 Co. with brown trucks : UPS
76 Palindromic title : AGA
78 See 118-Down : RHO
82 Lady of Spain : DAMA
83 Anti-mob law, for short : RICO
85 Baby shower gift : ONESIE
88 Photographer Goldin : NAN
90 ___ Pérignon : DOM
91 ___ given Sunday : ANY
92 “My package arrived!” : IT’S HERE!
93 Alcoholic drink consumed in one gulp : SHOOTER
95 French stars : ETOILES
96 Clench : TENSE UP
97 Utah national park : ARCHES
99 Bit of ranch dressing? : STETSON
100 Got around : AVOIDED
101 Street vendor : PEDDLER
102 Radio buttons : PRESETS
104 First name of a literary “Papa” : ERNEST
105 Diminutive : WEE
106 Cat’s pajamas? : FUR
107 Extends a tour : REUPS
109 Invite to enter : ASK IN
113 Parts of kingdoms : PHYLA
115 When repeated, a “Seinfeld” expression : YADA
116 Scruff : NAPE
117 Masseur’s target : KNOT
118 With 78-Down, Greek letters that together sound like a world capital : CHI
119 Dashed : RAN

9 thoughts on “1213-20 NY Times Crossword 13 Dec 20, Sunday”

  1. 28:17 with one lookup, sad to say, as this was fairly straightforward. I was done in about 15 minutes except for the bigger NW corner and the area around 117 down. There I had KINK vs. KNOT. Getting KNOT unSPOOLed that block. For 18A I had INTRO vs LONGO for quite a while but getting 4A FLAT, helped me clean up that block. But just kept cycling thru the NW corner (even with IMAM in place) for a long time and looked up 30A – then I was able to make sense of the rest.

  2. 33:32, completed at 0130 hrs while my wife and daughter binged watched something downstairs. I had 2 Saturns both went well over 200K miles between me and the family I sold them to. Great cars for the salted roads of western NY with their plastic bodies.

  3. 17:26. About as fast as I’ll ever do a Sunday puzzle. Stunningly, I actually knew all the movies so they came quickly.

    A lot of mob and mob movie references in this one The GODFATHER, DREA de Matteo from The Sopranos, the RICO act, and even “cannoli” in a clue – “Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.” – The Godfather.

    Best –

  4. 29:18, no errors. Pretty easy Sunday for me. I got all the movies without many crosses. I probably would have been a little faster without grandkids bouncing all over me. But totally worth it.

  5. 14:11 no errors, breezed through this one fairly quickly by my standards.
    I wouldn’t say “Savage Love” is targeted to the gay community necessarily–more an all-inclusive sex advice column.

  6. 31:06, no errors. Unfamiliar with almost all the proper names; the movie titles, however, helped significantly.

    1. Did ok. Got all the movies. Messed up on DOM PERIGNON. I had DON and I knew better but I didn’t know the difference between NYSORE or MYSORE. Thanks Bill for educating me on MYSORE.

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