0112-21 NY Times Crossword 12 Jan 21, Tuesday

Bill’s time: 5m 15s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

8 E.R. V.I.P.s : MDS

One might find a registered nurse (RN) and a medical doctor (MD) in an emergency room (ER).

11 “___ homo” : ECCE

According to the Gospel of John, when Pilate presented a scourged and beaten Jesus to the crowd he used the words “Ecce homo”, Latin for “Behold the man”.

15 “Insecure” actress : ISSA RAE

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.

16 Alley ___ (flashy basketball play) : OOP

An alley-oop is a play in basketball in which one player lobs the ball close to the basket for a teammate who usually scores with a slam dunk.

22 Queen’s realm? : ANT COLONY

The queen ant of some species can live to a ripe old age of 30 years, which is one of the longest lifespans in the insect world.

24 They aren’t what they appear to be : SHAMS

A sham is something that is imitation, fake. In the world of bed linens, a sham is also an imitation or fake, in the sense that it is a decorative cover designed to cover up a regular pillow used for sleeping.

27 Boxer’s cry : ARF!

The boxer breed of dog (one of my favorites) originated in Germany. My first dog was a boxer/Labrador mix, a beautiful combination. Our current family dog is a boxer/pug mix, and is another gorgeous animal.

28 Base on balls : WALK

That would be baseball.

35 Norm: Abbr. : STD

Standard (std.)

36 Word in an alumnae directory, maybe : 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.’

An alumnus (plural “alumni”) is a graduate or former student of a school or college. The female form is “alumna” (plural “alumnae”). The term comes into English from Latin, in which an alumnus is a foster-son or pupil. “Alum” is an informal term used for either an alumna or alumnus.

45 Coat in winter : RIME

Rime is the beautiful coating of ice that forms on surfaces like roofs, trees and grass, when cold water freezes instantly under the right conditions.

60 Ben & Jerry’s alternative : EDY’S

Dreyer’s ice cream sells its products under the name Dreyer’s in the Western United States, and Edy’s in the Eastern states. The company’s founders were William Dreyer and Joseph Edy.

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield did a correspondence course on making ice-cream in 1977 that was given by Pennsylvania State University’s creamery. The following year they opened an ice cream parlor in an old gas station in Burlington, Vermont. Today Ben & Jerry’s has locations in over 20 countries around the world, and theirs was the first brand ice-cream to go into space.

61 Jiffy : BRIEF MOMENT

“Jiff”, or “jiffy”, meaning “short time, instant” is thought originally to be thieves’ slang for “lightning”.

66 Santa’s coat? : SOOT

Saint Nicholas of Myra is the inspiration for Santa Claus. Nicholas was the Bishop of Myra (now in modern-day Turkey) during the 4th century AD, and was known for being generous to the poor. Centuries after he died, his remains were desecrated by Italian sailors and moved to Bari in Italy. One legend has it that the relics were moved again centuries later and reburied in the grounds of Jerpoint Abbey in Co. Kilkenny in Ireland, where you can visit the grave today. I choose to believe that Santa Claus’s relics are indeed buried in Ireland …

67 Novelist Rand : AYN

Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist born “Alisa Rosenbaum”. Her two best known works are her novels “The Fountainhead” published in 1943 and “Atlas Shrugged” from 1957. Back in 1951, Rand moved from Los Angeles to New York City. Soon after, she gathered a group of admirers around her with whom she discussed philosophy and shared drafts of her magnum opus, “Atlas Shrugged”. This group called itself “The Collective”, and one of the founding members was none other than future Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan. Rand described herself as “right-wing” politically, and both she and her novel “Atlas Shrugged” have become inspirations for the American conservatives, and the Tea Party in particular.

70 Disreputable newspaper : RAG

A low-quality newspaper is often referred to as a “rag”. There are lots of rags out there …

71 Jane Pauley and Rachel Maddow : TV HOSTS

Jane Pauley is a television journalist who is perhaps best known for co-hosting the NBC morning show “Today”, and the current affairs program “Dateline NBC”. Pauley has been married since 1980 to cartoonist Garry Trudeau, creator of the comic strip “Doonesbury”.

We used to be able to listen to “The Rachel Maddow Show” on Air America Radio before the radio station went bust. Now we can see Maddow on a TV show with the same name, every night on MSNBC. She was the first openly gay anchor to host a primetime news program in the US.

Down

2 Thomas in the Basketball Hall of Fame : ISIAH

Isiah Thomas played his whole professional career with the Detroit Pistons, and he is now the head coach with the Florida International University Golden Panthers. When you’re out shopping for popcorn, keep an eye out for the Dale & Thomas brand, as it’s co-owned by Isiah Thomas.

3 Paper you take to go on a trip? : LSD TAB

The drug LSD is often sold impregnated into blotting paper. The paper blotter is usually divided into squares with ¼-inch sides, with each square referred to as a “tab”.

4 “Dapper” guy : DAN

A man described as a Dapper Dan is one who is dressed very nattily. There have been a few people who have used the Dapper Dan moniker over the years, including a gangster in the twenties nicknamed Dapper Dan Hogan and a baseball player who was active around the same time nicknamed Dapper Dan Howley.

5 “Able was I ___ I saw Elba” : ERE

The three most famous palindromes in English have to be:

• Able was I ere I saw Elba
• A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!
• Madam, I’m Adam

One of my favorite terms is “Aibohphobia”, although it doesn’t appear in the dictionary and is a joke term. “Aibohphobia” is a great way to describe a fear of palindromes, by creating a palindrome out of the suffix “-phobia”.

6 “No ___!” (or its response) : WAY

No way! …. Way!

8 Ocean dweller so named for its roundish, silvery body : MOONFISH

“Opah” is the more correct name for the fish also known as the sunfish, moonfish or Jerusalem haddock. I’ve seen one in the Monterey Aquarium. It is one huge fish …

11 Govt. testing site for air and water quality : EPA LAB

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

12 Area between Virginia and Georgia : CAROLINA

The states of North and South Carolina are referred to collectively as “the Carolinas”. Before statehood, the Carolinas were known as the Province of the Carolinas. The province was given the name in honor of King Charles II of England (“Carolinus” is Latin for Charles). The father of Charles II, Charles I, had given a land grant for the area in the name of “Corolana”. Earlier still, French settlers called the region “Caroline”, in honor of King Charles IX of France.

23 The “O” of B.Y.O.B. : OWN

Bring Your Own Beer/Bottle/Booze (BYOB)

25 They get dropped for emphasis : MICS

A mic drop takes place when a performer has done particularly well and decides to celebrate by throwing or dropping the microphone to the floor. That doesn’t seem to happen at the performances I tend to frequent …

30 Greeting in Honolulu : ALOHA

The Hawaiian word “aloha” has many meanings in English: affection, love, peace, compassion and mercy. More recently, “aloha” has come to mean “hello” and “goodbye”, but only since the mid-1800s.

Honolulu is the largest city in Hawaii, and the state capital. Located on the island of Oahu, the name “Honolulu” translates from Hawaiian as “place of shelter, calm port, sheltered bay”.

32 Do some improv : AD LIB

“Ad libitum” is a Latin phrase meaning “at one’s pleasure”. In common usage, the phrase is usually shortened to “ad lib”. On the stage, the concept of an ad lib is very familiar.

33 “___ Miz” : LES

The 1980 musical “Les Misérables” is an adaptation of the 1862 novel of the same name by Victor Hugo. The show opened in London in 1985, and is the longest running musical in the history of London’s West End. My wife and I saw “Les Miz” in the Queen’s Theatre in London many years ago, but were only able to get tickets in the very back row. The theater seating is very steep, so the back row of the balcony is extremely high over the stage. One of the big events in the storyline is the building of a street barricade over which the rebels fight. At the height we were seated we could see the stagehands behind the barricade, sitting drinking Coke, even smoking cigarettes. On cue, the stagehands would get up and catch a dropped rifle, or an actor who had been shot. It was pretty comical. I didn’t really enjoy the show that much, to be honest. Some great songs, but the musical version of the storyline just didn’t seem to hang together for me.

38 Complained about ad nauseam : HARPED ON

To harp on something is to talk too much about it. The original expression with the same meaning was “to harp on the same string”, which is a reference to the musical instrument.

To do something “ad nauseam” is to do so to a ridiculous degree, to the point of nausea. “Ad nauseam” is the Latin for “to sickness”.

41 “Wow, that’s 2 funny!” : LMAO!

Laughing my a** off (LMAO)

48 ___ Intrepid (N.Y.C. carrier museum) : USS

The most famous warship to bear the name USS Intrepid was an aircraft carrier launched during WWII and decommissioned in 1974. The Intrepid was the first US carrier to launch planes with steam catapults, and she was also a recovery ship for two NASA space missions: one Mercury flight and one Gemini flight. You can go see the Intrepid now in New York City where she is the base for the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum. You can even see a retired British Airways Concorde at the museum.

49 Gaelic language : ERSE

There are actually three Erse languages: Irish, Manx (spoken on the Isle of Man) and Scots Gaelic. In their own tongues, these would be “Gaeilge” (in Ireland), “Gaelg” (on the Isle of Man) and “Gaidhlig” (in Scotland).

50 Protests during an anthem, say : KNEELS

The word “anthem” used to describe a sacred song, especially one with words taken from the Scriptures. The British national anthem (“God Save the Queen/King”) technically is a hymn, and so it came to be described as “the national hymn” and later “the national anthem”. The use of the word “anthem” extended from there to describe any patriotic song.

55 Bulb units : WATTS

James Watt was a Scottish inventor. He figured prominently in the Industrial Revolution in Britain, largely due to the improvements he made to the fledgling steam engine. The SI unit of power is called the watt, and was named in his honor.

56 Córdoba : Nicaragua :: ___ : Cuba : PESO

Cuba is the only country in the world that has two official currencies. The Cuban peso (CUP) is referred to as the “national currency”. Government workers are paid in CUPs, and CUPs can be used to pay for government-provided services and price-controlled items such as fruit and vegetables. There is also the Cuban convertible peso (CUC) that was introduced in 1994, when its value was pegged to the US dollar. Most products available in stores are imported, and have to be purchased with CUCs. Cubans with access to CUCs, like hotel workers interfacing with tourists, tend to have better lifestyles than government workers in general.

57 Transport up a bunny slope : T-BAR

A T-bar is a ski lift on which the skiers are pulled up the hill in pairs, with each pair standing (not sitting!) either side of a T-shaped metal bar. The bar is placed behind the thighs, pulling along the skiers as they remain standing on their skis (hopefully!). There’s also a J-bar, which is a similar device but with each J-shaped bar used by one skier at a time.

58 Maisie Williams’s role on “Game of Thrones” : ARYA

Maisie Williams is the English actress who plays the tomboyish young girl Arya Stark on the hit HBO series “Game of Thrones”.

63 V.J. employer, once : MTV

MTV (the Music Television Network) started using “video jockey” (VJ, veejay to describe the media personalities who introduced music videos. The term is a derivative of the already well-established “disk jockey” (DJ).

64 ___Kosh B’gosh : OSH

OshKosh B’gosh is a company that produces and sells children’s clothes. The trademark OshKosh bib-overalls remind us of the company’s roots, as it was originally a manufacturer of adult work clothes based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

65 Iconic Andy Warhol subject : MAO

Andy Warhol made a famous series of portraits of Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong in 1973. An exhibition of Warhol’s works toured China in 2012 but the images of Mao were excluded, apparently at the request of the Chinese government.