Constructed by: Brad Wiegmann
Edited by: Will Shortz
Not your puzzle? Try today’s …
… syndicated NY Times crossword
Today’s Theme: Crossword Buff
Themed answers are common phrases reinterpreted with reference to being in the BUFF, being a NUDIST:
- 24A Leadership style of the nudist club president? : BARELY MANAGING
- 41A When the nudist club was founded? : MANY MOONS AGO
- 56A New members of the nudist club? : RAW RECRUITS
- 78A What happens in the stand-up show at the nudist club? : COMIC STRIPS
- 92A Hours spent by the pool at the nudist club? : EXPOSURE TIME
- 108A How people returned from a week at the nudist club? : FULLY RECOVERED
- 4D Where the nudist club orchestra plays its concerts? : BOTTOMLESS PIT
- 59D Victory in the annual nudist club 1K? : WINNING STREAK
Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers
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Bill’s time: 19m 08s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
1 Man who had all the answers? : TREBEK
Alex Trebek was the host of “Jeopardy!” from the launch of the syndicated version of the game show in 1984 until his passing in 2020. Trebek missed just one episode during that time, when he and host of “Wheel of Fortune” Pat Sajak swapped roles in 1997 as an April Fool’s joke. In 2014, Trebek picked up the Guinness World Record for hosting the most episodes of a game show.
7 Some baggage : VALISES
“Valise” is a French word meaning “suitcase”.
14 Fillet, say : DEBONE
A fillet is a boneless cut of meat or fish. The term “fillet” comes from the Old French “filet” meaning “small thread, filament”. Apparently, we applied the term to food because the piece of fish or meat was tied up with string after it was boned. Here in the US, we tend to use the French spelling “filet”.
20 William Howard Taft or William McKinley : OHIOAN
The state of Ohio shares the nickname “Mother of Presidents” with the state of Virginia, as seven US presidents were born there:
- Ulysses S. Grant
- Rutherford B. Hayes
- James A. Garfield
- Benjamin Harrison
- William McKinley
- William Howard Taft
- Warren G. Harding
Additionally, Virginia born Henry Harrison lived most of his life in Ohio, and indeed is buried there.
22 First-aid item for allergy sufferers : EPIPEN
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.
29 Steamboat Springs alternative : VAIL
The Vail Ski Resort in Colorado is the largest single-mountain ski resort in the whole country. The resort was opened in 1962, basically in the middle of nowhere. It was given the name Vail after Vail Pass which runs by the mountain (now also called Vail Mountain). The town of Vail, Colorado was established four years later in 1966, and now has a population of about 5,000.
Steamboat Springs is a major winter resort destination in Colorado. The area in which the city is located is home to many hot springs. The chugging sound of the hot springs reminded early settlers of steamboats, so they named their settlement “Steamboat Springs”.
31 Like Ahab’s pursuit of Moby Dick : OBSESSIVE
In Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick” the obsessed Captain Ahab manages with a final effort to lodge his harpoon in the whale’s flesh. He yells out “… to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee.” With that, the injured whale dives, and Captain Ahab is pulled under to his doom with a loop of the harpoon’s rope wrapped around his neck.
35 Winter driving hazard : SLEET
Apparently, “sleet” is a term used to describe two different weather conditions. One is a shower of ice pellets that are smaller than hail, and the second is a mixture of rain and snow, with the snow melting as it falls.
41 When the nudist club was founded? : MANY MOONS AGO
The first recorded mooning incident took place in 66 AD during the First Roman-Jewish War. Roman soldiers decided to moon Jewish pilgrims as they traveled to the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.
50 Home to the world’s three highest capital cities : ANDES
The administrative capital of Bolivia, La Paz, is officially named Nuestra Senora de La Paz (Our Lady of Peace). La Paz is the seat of the Bolivian government, even though the constitutional capital of the country is Sucre.
The full name of the capital city of Ecuador is San Francisco de Quito. Quito is the second highest administrative capital city in the world, after La Paz, Bolivia.
Bogotá is the capital city of Colombia. Noted for having many libraries and universities, Bogotá is sometimes referred to as “The Athens of South America”.
51 Nicolas who directed “The Man Who Fell to Earth” : ROEG
Nicolas Roeg is a film director from England with quite the pedigree when it comes to association with great movies. He contributed to 1962’s “Lawrence of Arabia”, and he himself directed noted films like “Walkabout” (1972), “Don’t Look Now” (1973) and “The Man Who Fell to Earth” (1976).
The 1976 British film “The Man Who Fell to Earth” is perhaps most famous for its star, David Bowie. The movie was directed by Nicolas Roeg, and is based on a 1963 novel of the same name written by Walter Tevis.
55 Place for a throne : 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.
59 Pans for potstickers : WOKS
“Wok” is a Cantonese word, and is the name for the frying pan now used in many Asian cuisines.
60 Time’s Person of the Century : EINSTEIN
“Time” magazine started naming a “Man of the Year” in 1927, only changing the concept to “Person of the Year” in 1999. Prior to 1999, the magazine did recognize four females as “Woman of the Year”: Wallis Simpson (1936), Soong May-ling a.k.a. Madame Chiang Kai-shek (1937), Queen Elizabeth II (1952) and Corazon Aquino (1986). “Time” named Albert Einstein as Person of the Century in 1999, with Franklin D. Roosevelt and Mahatma Gandhi as runners-up.
63 Two are named after Douglas and Fraser : FIRS
Firs are evergreen coniferous trees, with several species being popular as Christmas trees. The most commonly used species during the holidays are the Nordmann fir, noble fir, Fraser fir and balsam fir. We also see a lot of Douglas fir trees at Christmas, but they’re not actually true firs.
67 School with a 15th-century chapel : ETON
Eton College near Windsor in the south of England was founded way back in 1440 by King Henry VI. Originally known as “The King’s College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor”, the school was intended to provide free education to poor boys. Free education today at Eton? Not so much …
71 “Raspberry ___” (Prince hit) : BERET
The singer Prince was born in Minneapolis, and he lived there most of his life. Born Prince Rogers Nelson, his given name honored his father, a jazz musician who used the stage name Prince Rogers. Prince died in 2016 due to an accidental fentanyl overdose at his home and recording studio located just southwest of Minneapolis. The home and studio, known as Paisley Park, is now a museum that is open to the public.
73 Liquor with a double-headed eagle logo : SMIRNOFF
The Smirnoff brand of vodka was introduced by Pyotr Smirnov in his Moscow distillery in the late 1800s. Smirnoff was the first vodka to use charcoal filtration in the vodka production process.
77 Polo course? : EAST
Marco Polo was a merchant from Venice and a famous traveler throughout Asia. Polo journeyed with his father and uncle on an epic tour of Central Asia and China that lasted 24 years. Marco tends to be the member of the party we remember today though, because it was he who documented their travels in a book called “Il Milione”.
81 Robert who played A. J. Soprano : ILER
Actor Robert Iler’s most famous role was A.J., son of mob leader Tony Soprano in HBO’s “The Sopranos”. Apparently Iler’s screen persona has spilled over into his personal life, as he was arrested for armed robbery of two tourists in 2001 (and pleaded guilty to a lesser charge).
82 Pro wrestler Flair : RIC
Wrestler Ric Flair’s real name is Richard Fliehr. Perhaps following the lead of his compatriot Jesse Ventura, Flair explored the possibility of running for governor of the state of North Carolina.
83 John for whom the Voting Rights Advancement Act was named : LEWIS
John Lewis was a civil rights leader, and a prominent leader in the 1963 March on Washington in which Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. Lewis also suffered a fractured skull as he walked at the head of the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma on Bloody Sunday. Lewis was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1987, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011 by President Obama. Lewis passed away in 2020.
88 Taco Bell slogan : LIVE MAS
Taco Bell was founded by a former US Marine, 25-year-old Glen Bell. His first restaurant was Bell’s Drive-In, located in Southern California. After opening that first establishment, Bell bought up some more restaurants including four named El Taco. He sold off the El Taco restaurants but used the name in part when he opened his first Taco Bell in 1962. Bell then sold franchises, with the 100th Taco Bell opening in 1967. The ex-Marine sold off the whole chain to PepsiCo in 1978, and I am guessing he made a pretty penny. Taco Bell has been using the “Live Más” slogan since 2012, with “más” being the Spanish word for “more”.
94 Popular hiding spots in hide-and-seek : CLOSETS
In Old French a “clos” was an enclosure, with the diminutive form “closet” describing a small enclosure or private room. Over time this evolved into our modern usage of “closet”, describing a cabinet or cupboard.
100 “Cómo ___?” : ESTA
“Cómo está?” is Spanish for “how are you, how’s it going?”
115 2006 World Cup champion, to native fans : ITALIA
The FIFA World Cup is the most prestigious tournament in the sport of soccer. The competition has been held every four years (excluding the WWII years) since the inaugural event held in Uruguay in 1930. The men’s World Cup is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, even outranking the Olympic Games. And, the women’s World Cup is fast catching up …
Down
2 Largest South American bird : RHEA
The rhea is a flightless bird that is native to South America. The rhea takes its name from the Greek Titan Rhea. It’s an apt name for a flightless bird as “rhea” comes from the Greek word meaning “ground”.
3 A quarter of vier : EINS
“Eins, zwei, drei, vier” is German for “one, two, three, four”.
6 Site of the Minotaur’s Labyrinth : KNOSSOS
Knossos was a city on the island of Crete that is widely believed to be the oldest city in Europe. The ruins of Knossos date back to the Bronze Age and have been extensively excavated since their discovery in 1878.
In the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, Theseus sailed to the island of Crete in order to convince the Minotaur to stop devouring young boys and girls who were sent into the Minotaur’s lair, the Labyrinth. Soon after Theseus landed on Crete, he fell in love with Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, the King of Crete. Ariadne gave Theseus a ball of string that he unraveled as he ventured deep into the Labyrinth. He found the Minotaur and slew him, and then followed the unraveled string back to the entrance of the Labyrinth, and into the arms of Ariadne.
9 Choreographer Lubovitch : LAR
Lar Lubovitch is an American choreographer noted for his stage work, but also for choreographing figure skating routines for the likes of John Curry, Peggy Fleming and Dorothy Hamill. In New York City in 1968, he founded the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, which is still going strong.
12 One-named Irish singer : ENYA
Enya’s real name is Eithne Ní Bhraonáin, which can translate from Irish into Enya Brennan. Her Donegal family (in the northwest of Ireland) formed a band called Clannad, which included Enya. In 1980 Enya launched her very successful solo career, eventually becoming Ireland’s best-selling solo musician. And, she sure does turn up a lot in crosswords!
13 Final Four game, e.g. : SEMI
In the NCAA Division I Basketball Championship, the teams remaining at various stages of the tournament are known as:
- The “Sweet Sixteen” (the regional semi-finalists)
- The “Elite Eight” (the regional finalists)
- The “Final Four” (the national semi-finalists)
15 Cleanup grp. : EPA
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
17 ’60s TV kid : OPIE TAYLOR
Opie Taylor is the character played by Ron Howard on “The Andy Griffith Show”. Opie lives with widowed father Andy Taylor (played by Andy Griffith) and his great-aunt Beatrice “Aunt Bee” Taylor (played by Frances Bavier). Ron Howard first played the role in 1960 in the pilot show, when he was just 5 years old. Howard sure has come a long way since playing Opie Taylor. He has directed some fabulous movies including favorites of mine like “Apollo 13”, “A Beautiful Mind” and “The Da Vinci Code”.
18 Child, in Chile : NENE
The nation of Chile has a very distinctive shape. It is a narrow strip that runs up the west coast of South America. The average width of the country is only a little over 100 miles, and yet its length is about 2,700 miles. Chile is touted as the longest country in the world, although I am not so sure what that means exactly. I mean, Russia extends about 4,800 miles from east-to west, so maybe “longest” implies long in the north-south direction?
19 Part of the U.K.: Abbr. : ENG
The terms “United Kingdom”, “Great Britain” and “England” can sometimes be confused. The official use of “United Kingdom” originated in 1707 with the Acts of Union that declared the countries of England and Scotland as “United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain”. The name changed again with the Acts of Union 1800 that created the “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland” (much to the chagrin of most of the Irish population). This was partially reversed in 1927 when the current name was introduced, the “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”, in recognition of an independent Irish Free State in the south of the island of Ireland.
37 Baseball Hall-of-Famer Slaughter : ENOS
Enos Slaughter has a remarkable playing record in Major League Baseball over a 19-year career. Slaughter’s record is particularly remarkable given that he left baseball for three years to serve in the military during WWII.
38 Element of Freddy Krueger’s glove : BLADE
Freddy Krueger is the creepy serial killer in the “A Nightmare on Elm Street” movies. Krueger has a burned and disfigured face, wears a brown fedora and a leather glove with metal razors that he uses to kill his victims during their nightmares. He is played by the actor Robert Englund in all of the films.
39 Hawaiian house feature : LANAI
A lanai is a type of veranda, and a design that originated in Hawaii. A kind blog reader tells me that the etymology of “lanai” seems unclear, but that the island name of “Lana’i” is not related.
40 Recipe direction : ADD IN
The Latin “recipere” means “to take”, and the imperative form “recipe” was written at the top of medical prescriptions as an instruction, i.e. “take (the following)”. This use of “recipe” evolved into the instruction for preparing a dish of food in the mid-1700s.
43 Balrog’s home in “The Lord of the Rings” : MORIA
Moria is a Middle-earth location in Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” series of fantasy novels. Moria is home to the Dwarf clan called the Longbeards.
44 Techies and Trekkies, stereotypically : GEEKS
Originally, a geek was a sideshow performer, perhaps one at a circus. Sometimes the term “geek” is used today for someone regarded as foolish or clumsy, and also for someone who is technically driven and expert, but often socially inept.
45 Elevator innovator : OTIS
Elevators (simple hoists) have been around for a long time. What Elisha Otis did was come up with the “safety elevator”, a design that he showcased at the 1853 World’s Fair in New York. At the Fair, Otis would stand on an elevated platform in front of onlookers and order his assistant to cut the single rope holding up the platform. His safety system kicked in when the platform had only fallen a few inches, amazing the crowd. After this demonstration, the orders came rolling in.
51 L.G.B.T. symbol : RAINBOW
The best-known rainbow flag is the one representing gay pride. Such usage of the rainbow flag was popularized in 1978 by artist Gilbert Baker. The varying colors of the flag represent the diversity of the gay community.
56 Kylo ___, “Star Wars” villain : REN
Kylo Ren is the son of Han Solo and Princess Leia Organa in the “Star Wars” universe. The character’s birth name was Ben Solo. He was trained as a Jedi knight by his uncle, Luke Skywalker. However, Ben came to embrace the Dark Side, and changed his name to Kylo Ren. Ren is played by actor Adam Driver.
57 Signed i.o.u.’s : CHITS
A chit is a note or a short letter. The term tends to be used these days in the sense of an amount owed (as in a poker game). The word used to be “chitty”, which is now obsolete but was closer to the original Hindi term. I feel a tad obsolete myself, because when we are at school we would be excused from class if we had a “chitty”.
59 Victory in the annual nudist club 1K? : WINNING STREAK
People have been running around naked for an awfully long time, but the application of the word “streaking” to the phenomenon only dates back to 1973. A journalist was reporting on a mass nude run of 533 people at the University of Maryland in 1973, and used the words “they are streaking (i.e. moving quickly) past me right now. It’s an incredible sight!”. The Associated Press picked up the story the next day, and interpreted “streaking” as the term to describe “running naked”, and we’ve been using it that way ever since.
61 Face card’s value in blackjack : TEN
The card game known as “twenty-one” was first referred to in print in a book by Cervantes, the author famous for writing “Don Quixote”. He called the game “veintiuna” (Spanish for “twenty-one”). Cervantes wrote his story just after the year 1600, so the game has been around at least since then. Twenty-one came to the US but it wasn’t all that popular so bonus payments were introduced to create more interest. One of the more attractive bonuses was a ten-to-one payout to a player who was dealt an ace of spades and a black jack. This bonus led to the game adopting the moniker “Blackjack”.
66 Muscle above an ab : PEC
“Pecs” is the familiar name for the chest muscle, which is more correctly known as the pectoralis major muscle. “Pectus” is the Latin word for “breast, chest”.
68 “___ So Sweet to Trust in Jesus” (hymn) : ‘TIS
“‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus” is a Christian hymn with lyrics that were written by Louisa M. R. Stead. Apparently, Stead was inspired to write the words after her faith saw her and her daughter through the misery that followed her husband’s death by drowning, which Stead herself witnessed.
69 Big name in windshield wipers : RAIN-X
Rain-X is a company that mainly makes products used to repel water. The active ingredients in Rain-X formulations are polysiloxanes, compounds that bind to the surface of glassy materials.
72 Nellie’s love in “South Pacific” : EMILE
The storyline in the musical “South Pacific” centers on a young American nurse named Nellie Forbush and an expatriate French planter named Emile de Becque.
77 The lake in “lake effect” snow : ERIE
Lake Erie is the fourth-largest of the five Great Lakes by area (Lake Ontario is the smallest). The lake takes its name from the Erie tribe of Native Americans that used to live along its southern shore. Erie is the smallest of the Great Lakes by volume and the shallowest, something for which nearby residents must be quite grateful. Being relatively shallow, much of Erie freezes over part way through most winters putting an end to most of the lake-effect snow that falls in the snow belt extending from the lake’s edge.
78 Whale constellation : CETUS
Cetus is a constellation named after a sea monster from Greek mythology. Today, Cetus is often called “the Whale”.
87 Tenor Andrea : BOCELLI
Andrea Bocelli is a classically-trained tenor from Italy who sings popular music, and hence is a so-called cross-over artist. Bocelli was born with poor eyesight and then became totally blind at the age of 12 when he had an accident playing soccer.
89 In relation 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.
91 Supercilious sort : ELITIST
“Supercilious” is such a lovely-sounding word, with a not-so-lovely meaning. Someone described as supercilious is lofty with pride, haughtily contemptuous. The term derives from the Latin “supercilium” meaning “eyebrow” (actually “above the eyelid), the idea being that a person is prone to raise his or her eyebrows to express haughtiness.
93 Syngman ___, first South Korean president : RHEE
Syngman Rhee was born in Korea, but received much of his education in the US, including a Ph.D. from Princeton. The very much westernized Rhee returned to Korea in 1910, a Korea that by then had been annexed by Japan. Soon after he found himself President of a Provisional Government of Korea based in Shanghai, but was eventually ousted for misuse of power. After WWII, Rhee was installed as President, heavily backed by the United States. However, Rhee’s rule proved to be more like tyranny and during the Korean War his relationship with the US Government became very strained. He stayed in power until 1960 when student revolts became popular enough to force him out of office. The CIA flew him out of the country and he went into exile in Hawaii, where a few years later he died of a stroke.
94 Sin’s counterpart : COS
The most familiar trigonometric functions are sine, cosine and tangent (abbreviated to “sin, cos and tan”). Each of these is a ratio: a ratio of two sides of a right-angled triangle. The “reciprocal” of these three functions are cosecant, secant and cotangent. The reciprocal functions are simply the inverted ratios, the inverted sine, cosine and tangent. These inverted ratios should not be confused with the “inverse” trigonometric functions e.g. arcsine, arccosine and arctangent. These inverse functions are the reverse of the sine, cosine and tangent.
97 First name on the Supreme Court : ELENA
Elena Kagan was the Solicitor General of the United States from 2009 until 2010, when she replaced Justice John Paul Stevens on the US Supreme Court. That made Justice Kagan the first female US Solicitor General and the fourth female US Supreme Court justice. Kagan also served as the first female dean of Harvard Law School from 2003 to 2009.
106 Neural transmitter : AXON
A nerve cell is more correctly called a neuron. The branched projections that receive electrochemical signals from other neurons are known as dendrites. The long nerve fiber that conducts signals away from the neuron is known as the axon. A neuron that has no definite axon is referred to as “apolar” or “nonpolar”. In apolar neurons the nerve impulses radiate in all directions.
109 Dark side : YIN
The yin and yang can be illustrated using many different metaphors. In one, as the sun shines on a mountain, the side in the shade is the yin and the side in the light is the yang. The yin is also regarded as the feminine side, and the yang the masculine. The yin can also be associated with the moon, while the yang is associated with the sun.
114 Many a golden parachute recipient, in brief : CEO
A “golden parachute” or “golden handshake” is an agreement between a company and a key employee defining a severance package, often one that is specifically triggered in the event of a merger or takeover. The term “golden parachute” was coined in 1961 to describe the employment contract given by TWA to CEO Charles C. Tillinghast. Tillinghast was appointed by TWA’s creditors as part of a move to wrest control of the company from the hands of Howard Hughes. The CEO was able to negotiate the golden parachute given the uncertainty of TWA’s future.
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Man who had all the answers? : TREBEK
7 Some baggage : VALISES
14 Fillet, say : DEBONE
20 William Howard Taft or William McKinley : OHIOAN
21 “It’s just me” : I’M ALONE
22 First-aid item for allergy sufferers : EPIPEN
23 Shared with, for a while : LENT TO
24 Leadership style of the nudist club president? : BARELY MANAGING
26 Like a senior year : LAST
27 Dates : SEES
29 Steamboat Springs alternative : VAIL
30 Pint-size : WEE
31 Like Ahab’s pursuit of Moby Dick : OBSESSIVE
35 Winter driving hazard : SLEET
38 Ascribe to, as fault : BLAME ON
41 When the nudist club was founded? : MANY MOONS AGO
46 They hit the sauce a lot : LADLES
47 “There’s another good point” : THAT TOO
49 “Hold on!” : NOT YET!
50 Home to the world’s three highest capital cities : ANDES
51 Nicolas who directed “The Man Who Fell to Earth” : ROEG
52 Puffs : DRAGS
54 Graduation wear for a University of Hawaii student : LEI
55 Place for a throne : DAIS
56 New members of the nudist club? : RAW RECRUITS
59 Pans for potstickers : WOKS
60 Time’s Person of the Century : EINSTEIN
62 Lit into : HAD AT
63 Two are named after Douglas and Fraser : FIRS
64 Big name in tennis balls : PENN
65 Weigh in : OPINE
67 School with a 15th-century chapel : ETON
69 It comes straight from the horse’s mouth : REIN
71 “Raspberry ___” (Prince hit) : BERET
73 Liquor with a double-headed eagle logo : SMIRNOFF
77 Polo course? : EAST
78 What happens in the stand-up show at the nudist club? : COMIC STRIPS
81 Robert who played A. J. Soprano : ILER
82 Pro wrestler Flair : RIC
83 John for whom the Voting Rights Advancement Act was named : LEWIS
84 Slangy contraction : AIN’T
85 Rock genre : INDIE
86 Soon : IN A BIT
88 Taco Bell slogan : LIVE MAS
91 Its size may be measured in liters : ENGINE
92 Hours spent by the pool at the nudist club? : EXPOSURE TIME
94 Popular hiding spots in hide-and-seek : CLOSETS
95 Virtual currency : E-CASH
96 Sensitive subject : SORE POINT
99 Mimic : APE
100 “Cómo ___?” : ESTA
103 Strong desire : LUST
104 Not a joke, say : REAL
108 How people returned from a week at the nudist club? : FULLY RECOVERED
113 Mountaineer’s tool : ICE AXE
115 2006 World Cup champion, to native fans : ITALIA
116 Popping up : ARISING
117 Follower of high or dry : … SEASON
118 Goal of some workouts : TONING
119 Break between workouts : REST DAY
120 Symbolic gestures : TOKENS
Down
1 Travel expense : TOLL
2 Largest South American bird : RHEA
3 A quarter of vier : EINS
4 Where the nudist club orchestra plays its concerts? : BOTTOMLESS PIT
5 Graze : EAT
6 Site of the Minotaur’s Labyrinth : KNOSSOS
7 Feelings in the room, informally : VIBES
8 Build up : AMASS
9 Choreographer Lubovitch : LAR
10 Mont-Saint-Michel, e.g. : ILE
11 Not in debt : SOLVENT
12 One-named Irish singer : ENYA
13 Final Four game, e.g. : SEMI
14 Thieves’ hideout : DEN
15 Cleanup grp. : EPA
16 Conference with five University of California schools : BIG WEST
17 ’60s TV kid : OPIE TAYLOR
18 Child, in Chile : NENE
19 Part of the U.K.: Abbr. : ENG
25 “What’s more …” : ALSO …
28 Poetry night? : E’EN
32 Humbugs? : BEES
33 A negative has a reverse one : IMAGE
34 Acid container : VAT
36 Joneses : LONGS
37 Baseball Hall-of-Famer Slaughter : ENOS
38 Element of Freddy Krueger’s glove : BLADE
39 Hawaiian house feature : LANAI
40 Recipe direction : ADD IN
42 “Hey, man!” : YO, DUDE!
43 Balrog’s home in “The Lord of the Rings” : MORIA
44 Techies and Trekkies, stereotypically : GEEKS
45 Elevator innovator : OTIS
47 You might skip it if you’re in trouble : TOWN
48 Self starter? : HER-
51 L.G.B.T. symbol : RAINBOW
53 Statistic in football or basketball : ATTEMPT
56 Kylo ___, “Star Wars” villain : REN
57 Signed i.o.u.’s : CHITS
58 Published : RAN
59 Victory in the annual nudist club 1K? : WINNING STREAK
61 Face card’s value in blackjack : TEN
63 Supporting : FOR
65 Question that introduces doubt : OR IS IT?
66 Muscle above an ab : PEC
68 “___ So Sweet to Trust in Jesus” (hymn) : ‘TIS
69 Big name in windshield wipers : RAIN-X
70 Need for a jailbreak : ESCAPE PLAN
72 Nellie’s love in “South Pacific” : EMILE
73 Behaves badly : SINS
74 Many a goodie, they say : OLDIE
75 Fighter’s fake : FEINT
76 Releases : FREES
77 The lake in “lake effect” snow : ERIE
78 Whale constellation : CETUS
79 Not as unruly : TAMER
80 Small inlet : RIA
83 Vanderpump of Bravo’s “Vanderpump Rules” : LISA
85 Privy to : IN ON
87 Tenor Andrea : BOCELLI
89 In relation to : VIS-A-VIS
90 Punk cousin : EMO
91 Supercilious sort : ELITIST
93 Syngman ___, first South Korean president : RHEE
94 Sin’s counterpart : COS
97 First name on the Supreme Court : ELENA
98 Like babies’ legs, often : PUDGY
99 Thermostat setting : AUTO
101 Permanent marker? : SCAR
102 Hightailed it : TORE
105 Minimal effort : EASE
106 Neural transmitter : AXON
107 Common prescription item : LENS
108 In shape : FIT
109 Dark side : YIN
110 Criticize constantly, with “on” : RAG …
111 Is, in ancient Rome : EST
112 Divest : RID
114 Many a golden parachute recipient, in brief : CEO
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13 thoughts on “0228-21 NY Times Crossword 28 Feb 21, Sunday”
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19:02, after taking about half a minute to find and fix an error. Relatively smooth.
34:42 Longer than it should have taken. Got hung up in a couple small areas, for indiscernible reasons. I got the theme, but didn’t always home in quickly on the answers.
26:45, no errors. Amusing theme.
Forgot to stop the clock when I let the new puppy out. So I’m guess around 35-37 minutes. Pretty close to my standard Sunday time. Enjoyed the cute theme. Oh, and as of last night, I’m back in Alaska.
37:43. Pretty much what Ron said. Late again today.
EINSTEIN as man of the century would get my vote as well. I’ve heard a pretty compelling argument that Churchill could have been, but I’d still stick with EINSTEIN.
Don’t “bone” and DEBONE mean the same thing?
Who knew they threw frat parties in 66AD??
Best –
Nene? Not nino? I thought ‘nene’ was a Hawaiian goose.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=nene
We both learn something new today.
37:35, no errors. So many unknowns, bailed out by crossing entries.
42:11, no errors. Pretty much the typical poor NYT Sunday experience…
Not a tough one..
I don’t get the connection between JONESES and LONGS?
Me either. Anyone figure this out? Should be explained in the answers but it isn’t. Their both plural?
Looked and looked and didn’t find and suddenly from obvious place, Merriam-Webster thesaurus, “Synonyms & Antonyms of joneses (for) to have an earnest wish to own or enjoy “
Best view i have ever seen !