0314-21 NY Times Crossword 14 Mar 21, Sunday

Constructed by: Jacob Stulberg
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme: They All Laughed

Themed answers are inventions described by “MAD” magazine’s cartoonist AL JAFFEE years before they were realized:

  • 101A Satirical cartoonist, born 3/13/1921, known for dreaming up ridiculous inventions … or are they? : AL JAFFEE OF “MAD” MAGAZINE
  • 22A Architectural innovation jokingly predicted by 101-Across in 1982 : GRAFFITI-PROOF BUILDING
  • 38A Grooming tool jokingly predicted by 101-Across in 1979 : THREE-BLADE RAZOR
  • 52A Writing aid jokingly predicted by 101-Across in 1967 : SPELLCHECKER
  • 73A Winter sport jokingly predicted by 101-Across in 1965 : SNOWBOARDING
  • 84A Telephone feature jokingly predicted by 101-Across in 1961 : AUTOMATIC REDIAL

Bill’s time: 18m 45s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Some rappers : MCS

Rapper MC Hammer (aka Hammer and Hammertime) was born Stanley Kirk Burrell, and was very popular in the 80s and 90s. Being around that early, MC Hammer is considered to be one of the forefathers of rap. Nowadays, MC Hammer is a preacher, and uses the initials MC to stand for “Man of Christ”. If you are so inclined, you can learn a little about Hammer and his family life by watching past episodes of the reality TV show “Hammertime”, which aired in 2009.

4 Music genre for Carmen Miranda : SAMBA

Carmen Miranda was a Portuguese-born samba singer and dancer who grew up in Brazil. She became a big star in Hollywood films in the 1940s and 1950s. Miranda had a signature look in all her movies, sporting exotic outfits that usually included elaborate hats featuring tropical fruit. Such was her popularity and success at the height of her career that she was the highest-paid woman in the US in 1945.

9 Pioneer in 35mm cameras : LEICA

Leica is a German optics company that is famous for production of lenses and cameras. The 1913 Leica was the first practical camera that could use 35mm film, a size chosen because it was already the standard for film used in motion pictures.

18 His face overlooks Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución : CHE

Ernesto “Che” Guevara was born in Argentina, and in 1948 he started to study medicine at the University of Buenos Aires. While at school he satisfied his need to “see the world” by taking two long journeys around South America, the story of which are told in Guevara’s memoir later published as “The Motorcycle Diaries”. While travelling, Guevara was moved by the plight of the people he saw and their working conditions and what he viewed as capitalistic exploitation. In Mexico City he met brothers Raul and Fidel Castro and was persuaded to join their cause, the overthrow of the US-backed government in Cuba. He rose to second-in-command among the Cuban insurgents, and when Castro came to power Guevara was influential in repelling the Bay of Pigs Invasion and bringing Soviet nuclear missiles to the island. Guevara left Cuba in 1965 to continue his work as a revolutionary. He was captured by Bolivian forces in 1967, and was executed. Fidel Castro led the public mourning of Guevara’s death, and soon the revolutionary was an icon for many left-wing movements around the world.

22 Architectural innovation jokingly predicted by 101-Across in 1982 : GRAFFITI-PROOF BUILDING

“Graffiti” is the plural of “graffito”, the Italian for “scribbling”. The word was first used to describe ancient inscriptions on the walls in the ruins of Pompeii.

26 Actress Perez : ROSIE

Rosie Perez is an American actress of Puerto Rican descent born in New York City. As well as pursuing her acting career, Perez is an activist promoting Puerto Rican rights, and was arrested in 2000 at a rally to protest US Navy weapons-training off the coast of Puerto Rico.

30 Goofy images, perhaps? : CELS

Disney’s Goofy first appeared as Dippy Dawg in 1932. Goofy became famous for his “How to …” series of cartoons in the 1940s which dealt with everything from snow skiing to sleeping, and from football to riding a horse. Goofy’s last theatrical appearance was in a 2007 work called “How to Hook Up Your Home Theater”.

32 Kitchen brand whose name becomes an animal after adding a “t” : O-CEL-O

“o-cel-o” is a brand of kitchen sponge introduced in 1947, and is made today by 3M. The “o-cel-o” name comes from chemical components used in the product’s manufacture, i.e. oxygen-cellulose-oxygen.

The ocelot is a wildcat found mainly in South and Central America, although there have been sightings as far north as Arkansas. An ocelot doesn’t look too different from a domestic cat, and some have been kept as pets. Perhaps most famously, Salvador Dali had one that he carried around everywhere with him.

33 Old N.Y.C. subway inits. : IRT

The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) was the original private operator of the New York Subway when it opened in 1904. The city took over ownership of the system in 1940, but the lines originally operated by the IRT are still known by the IRT moniker.

43 ___ Sea, whose eastern basin has become a desert : ARAL

The Aral Sea is a great example of how man can have a devastating effect on his environment. In the early sixties the Aral Sea covered 68,000 square miles of Central Asia. Soviet irrigation projects drained the lake to such an extent that today the total area is less than 7,000 square miles, with 90% of the lake now completely dry. Sad …

44 Either spy to the other in “Spy vs. Spy” : ENEMY

“Spy vs. Spy” is a comic strip that has run in “MAD” magazine continuously since 1961. It was drawn by Antonio Prohias, a refugee from Cuba, until his retirement. The early storyline was very fitting for the times, a statement about the futility of the arms race, detente and the Cold War.

45 Prop in a Shakespeare tragedy : 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.

“Antony and Cleopatra” is one of William Shakespeare’s tragedies. It tells the story of the relationship between Mark Antony and Cleopatra after the death of Julius Caesar.

47 Abbr. at the end of a planner : DEC

December is the twelfth month in our calendar but was the tenth month in the old Roman calendar, hence the name (“decem” is Latin for “ten”). Back then there were only ten months in the year. “Ianuarius” (January) and “Februarius” (February) were then added as the eleventh and twelfth months of the year. Soon after, the year was reset and January and February became the first and second months.

48 Classic board game derived from pachisi : SORRY!

Sorry! is a board game that dates back at least to 1934 when it was introduced in the UK market by Waddingtons. The game itself is based on the ancient game of pachisi, and involves players racing against each other to move their playing pieces around the board as quickly as possible. Players can cause opponents to return to the start, hopefully while saying “Sorry!” in the process.

Pachisi is an ancient Indian game that has been commercialized in the West as Ludo, Sorry! and Parcheesi. The name “pachisi” derives from the Hindi “pachis” meaning “twenty-five”, which is the largest score that can be thrown in one move in the original game.

50 Place to order a cassoulet : BISTRO

Cassoulet is a delicious stew from the south of France that consists mainly of some meat (usually sausage) and white beans. The dish is named for the “cassole”, an earthenware pot in which it is traditionally prepared and served. Cassoulet is a favorite meal in our house …

58 “Yellow Flicker Beat” singer, 2014 : LORDE

“Lorde” is a stage name of the singer-songwriter Ella Yelich-O’Connor from New Zealand. Lorde’s cover version of the great Tears for Fears song “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” was used in the soundtrack for “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” (2013). Her song “Yellow Flicker Beat” is included in the soundtrack for “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1”.

59 Type of headsail : JIB

A jib is a triangular sail that is set at the bow of a sailboat.

66 “___ Lisa” : MONA

“Mona Lisa” is a marvelous 1950 song that topped the charts for Nat King Cole for eight weeks. The song was written for the film “Captain Carey, U.S.A.” that was released that same year, and starred Alan Ladd. “Mona Lisa” won the Oscar for Best Original Song.

68 Some sports car options : T-TOPS

A T-top is a car roof that has removable panels on either side of a rigid bar that runs down the center of the vehicle above the driver.

69 Painter Paul : KLEE

Artist Paul Klee was born in Switzerland, but studied art in Munich in Germany. We can see many of Klee’s works in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. If you get to Bern in Switzerland, even more of them can be seen at the Zentrum Paul Klee that was opened in 2005. Klee’s most celebrated work is his pointillist painting from 1932 called “Ad Parnassum”, which is owned by the Kunstmuseum, also located in Bern.

72 Butler played by Gable : RHETT

Famously, Clark Gable played Rhett Butler in the 1939 film adaptation of Margaret Mitchell’s novel “Gone with the Wind”. However, Butler wasn’t the first choice for the role. It was offered to Gary Cooper, but he turned it down. Apparently, Cooper said, “‘Gone With The Wind’ is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history. I’m glad it’ll be Clark Gable who’s falling flat on his nose, not Gary Cooper”.

80 Taters : SPUDS

The word “spud”, used as a slang term for “potato”, was first recorded in the mid-1800s, in New Zealand would you believe?

82 Nominee’s place : BALLOT

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.

89 Porters, e.g. : BREWS

Porter is a dark beer that originated in London in the 1700s. It is named for the street and river porters with whom it was very popular. Porter is a well-hopped beer made using brown malt, which gives it the dark color.

92 Stampede member in “The Lion King” : GNU

The gnu is also known as the wildebeest, and is an antelope native to Africa. “Wildebeest” is a Dutch meaning “wild beast”.

95 Early smartphone model : TREO

The Treo is a smartphone that was originally developed by a company called Handspring. Handspring was bought by Palm Inc. Subsequently, the Treo was phased out and replaced by the Palm Pre.

96 Italian lager : PERONI

The Peroni Brewery is based in Rome, although it was founded in Vigevano in Lombardy in 1846. Outside of Italy, Peroni is particularly popular in the UK.

98 Square thing : MEAL

A square meal is one that is substantial and nourishing. According to some sources, the phrase “square meal” originated with the Royal Navy, and the square wooden plates on which meals were served. However, this centuries-old practice is an unlikely origin as the phrase is first seen in print in the US, in 1856. An advertisement for a restaurant posted in a California newspaper offers a “square meal” to patrons, in the sense of an “honest, straightforward meal”. The “honest” meaning of “square” was well-established at the time, as in “fair and square”, “square play” and “square deal”.

108 Peter the Great and others : TSARS

Peter the Great (aka “Peter I”) was perhaps the most successful of the Romanov tsars, and was famous for modernizing Russia and expanding the country’s sphere of influence, creating the Russian Empire. He ruled from 1682 until his death in 1725.

110 Jellied British delicacy : EEL

Jellied eels are a traditional British dish associated with the working class East End of London. Historically, the eels used were caught in the River Thames. The dish is prepared by boiling up eels that have been chopped into rounds in a seasoned stock and then allowing it to set. The eel contains a lot of gelatinous protein so the stock forms a jelly as it cools.

112 Fender product, for short : STRAT

The Stratocaster (often “Strat”) is an electric guitar made by Fender since 1954. The company that made Fender electric guitars was founded in Fullerton, California in 1946 by Leo Fender.

113 Windows forerunner : MS-DOS

MS-DOS (short for “Microsoft Disk Operating System”) was the main operating system used by IBM-compatible PCs in the eighties and for much of the nineties. Microsoft introduced the Windows operating environment in 1985 to sit above MS-DOS as a graphical user interface (GUI). That move was made in response to the success of Apple’s GUI released with the Lisa and Macintosh platforms. A court case ensued, one that was eventually settled in court in favor of Microsoft.

Down

1 Phil of “Dr. Phil” : MCGRAW

Dr. Phil (McGraw) met Oprah Winfrey when he was hired to work with her as a legal consultant during the Amarillo Texas beef trial (when the industry sued Oprah for libel over “Mad Cow Disease” statements). Oprah was impressed with Dr. Phil, and invited him onto her show. We haven’t stopped seeing him since!

2 Intensity of color : CHROMA

Colorfulness, chroma and saturation are related concepts that help define the intensity of a particular color. Frankly, I don’t really understand the specifics!

5 Comedian Wong : ALI

Ali Wong is a stand-up comedian from San Francisco who is a protégé of Chris Rock. She made two very successful Netflix stand-up specials “Baby Cobra” and “Hard Knock Wife”. She also worked as a writer for the hit sitcom “Fresh Off the Boat”.

6 Gym array : MATS

Our word “gymnasium” comes from the Greek “gymnasion” meaning “public place where exercise is taken”. The Greek term comes from “gymnos” meaning “naked”, as that physical training was usually done unclothed in ancient Greece.

7 Sweet bread : BRIOCHE

“Brioche” is a French bread that has been enriched with lots of egg and butter, to the extent that it is also considered a pastry.

9 Language not traditionally written with spaces between words : LAO

Lao, the language of Laos, does not use spaces between words (or periods!), although this is apparently changing. Spaces are used between sentences and clauses.

10 Ambient musician Brian : ENO

Brian Eno was one of the pioneers of the genre of ambient music. Eno composed an album in 1978 called “Ambient 1: Music for Airports”, which was the first in a series of four albums with an ambient theme. Eno named the tracks, somewhat inventively, 1/1, 1/2, 2/1 and 2/2.

11 Like Bach’s first two “Brandenburg” Concertos : IN F

The six, beautiful Brandenburg Concertos were composed by Johann Sebastian Bach and presented to the Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt in 1721.

12 Like dice, shapewise : CUBICAL

The numbers on dice are arranged so that the opposite faces add up to seven. Given this arrangement, the numbers 1, 2 and 3 all meet at a common vertex. There are two ways of arranging the 1, 2 and 3 around the common vertex, a so-called right-handed die (clockwise 1-2-3) or a left-handed die (counterclockwise 1-2-3). Traditionally, dice used in Western cultures are right-handed, whereas Chinese dice are left-handed. Quite interesting …

23 Narrow inlet : FIRTH

“Firth” is a word used in England and Scotland for an inlet. It tends to be used in the same way as “fjord” is in Scandinavia.

25 ___ of Man : ISLE

The Isle of Man is a large island located in the middle of the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland. I used to spend a lot of time there in my youth, and a very interesting place it is indeed. The Isle of Man is classed as a British Crown Dependency and isn’t part of the United Kingdom at all. It is self-governing and has its own parliament called the Tynwald. The Tynwald was created in AD 979 and is arguably the oldest continuously-running parliament in the world. The inhabitants of the island speak English, although they do have their own language called Manx, which is very similar to Irish Gaeilge and Scottish Gaelic. And then there are those Manx cats, the ones without any tails. I’ve seen lots of them, and can attest that they are indeed found all over the island.

32 Cosmetics brand with “Face anything” ads : OLAY

Oil of Olay was developed in South Africa in 1949. When Oil of Olay was introduced internationally, it was given slightly different brand names designed to appeal in the different geographies. In Ireland we know it as Oil of Ulay, for example, and in France it is Oil of Olaz.

34 Ex-QB football analyst Tony : ROMO

Tony

38 Big part of the S&P 500 : TECH

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) is a financial services company that is famous for its stock market indices, especially the S&P 500. The company also publishes credit ratings for sovereign governments, and in 2011 famously lowered the rating of the US federal government from AAA to AA+.

45 Org. concerned with performance rights : ASCAP

ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) collects licence fees for musicians and distributes royalties to composers whose works have been performed. BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated) provides the same service.

46 Mace, for one : SPICE

The fruit of the nutmeg tree yields two very different spices. What we call “nutmeg” comes from the seed of the tree. “Mace” is the dried covering of the seed.

49 “___ From Muskogee” (Merle Haggard hit) : OKIE

Merle Haggard was a country singer and songwriter whose most famous recording has to be “Okie from Muskogee” released in 1969. Haggard would tell you that the song was actually meant as a spoof, but it has become a country “anthem”.

50 Cartoonist Dave famous for “The Lighter Side of …” : BERG

“The Lighter Side of…” is a series of comic strips published in “Mad” magazine starting in 1961. The strip was the most famous work from the pen of cartoonist Dave Berg. The series ended in 2002 when Berg passed away.

53 Mormon church, for short : LDS

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) is known colloquially as the Mormon Church.

55 “Mountain of God,” in Exodus : HOREB

In the Book of Deuteronomy, it is stated that Moses was given the Ten Commandments on Mount Horeb. In other parts of the Bible the same event is described as taking place on Mount Sinai. So, many think that Horeb is an alternative name for Sinai.

58 Longtime name in cinemas : LOEWS

Loews Theatres was a chain of movie theaters founded in 1904 by Marcus Loew and Brantford Schwartz. The chain merged with AMC Theaters in 2006.

60 Like slapstick comedies : INANE

Slapstick is a physical form of comedy or horseplay. Back in the late 19th century, the term “slapstick” described a device made from two sticks loosely fastened together, which could be “slapped” together to create a sound effect offstage. The sound effect augmented the audience reaction when a clown or actor was given a slap on stage.

61 Feature of a Care Bear’s belly : BADGE

The Care Bears franchise includes a line of toys as well as TV shows and movies. The original Care Bears were characters created for greeting cards marketed by American Greetings starting in 1981.

65 Hazard on an Arctic voyage : FLOE

An ice floe is a sheet of ice that has separated from an ice field and is floating freely on the surface of the ocean.

66 1960s style : MOD

“Mod” is short for “modernist”, and describes a subculture that originated in London in the late fifties. Young men who called themselves mods tended to wear tailored suits, listen to pop music and drive around on Italian motor scooters. Mods came into conflict with another subculture that emerged at the same time in the UK called the rockers. Rockers were into rock and roll music, and drove motorcycles I remember as a young kid in school having to declare myself as either a mod or a rocker. I don’t think our “gangs” back then were quite the same as they are today though …

68 Blues ensemble? : THE SMURFS

The Smurfs are little blue people created in 1958 by the Belgian cartoonist who went by the pen name Peyo. The Smurfs became famous in the US when Hanna-Barbera used them in a children’s cartoon series. The characters are largely a group of males. The original lineup included just one “Smurfette”, who is wooed by almost all of the boy Smurfs. Later, another female was introduced into the mix called Sassette, and still later along came Granny Smurf.

71 Brush brand : ORAL-B

The Oral-B toothbrush was introduced to the world in 1950, designed by a California periodontist. The first “model” was the Oral-B 60, a name given to reflect the 60 tufts in the brush. In 1969, the Oral-B was the first toothbrush to get to the moon as it was the toothbrush of choice for the crew of the Apollo 11 spacecraft.

73 Swizzle : STIR

“Swizzle” drinks date back to the early 1800s. The drink gave rise to the verb “to swizzle” to mean “to stir” from the mid-1800s. The drink also gave the name to the swizzle stick, which was introduced in cocktails in 1933. I drank a rum swizzle or two on the island of Bermuda many years ago, and very nice they are too. They are so popular in Bermuda that the swizzle is often called the island’s national drink.

82 Its coat of arms features a marlin and flamingo, with “the” : … BAHAMAS

The Bahamas is a group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean lying in the same island chain as Cuba and Hispaniola. The Bahamas was a British colony for many years but became independent in 1973, although it retains membership in the British Commonwealth.

83 Baseball’s “Big Papi” : ORTIZ

The Dominican-American baseball player David Ortiz has the nickname “Big Papi”. After each home run that Ortiz scores, he looks upwards and points to the sky in a tribute to his mother who died in a car crash in 2002 when she was only 46 years old.

86 Principles : TENETS

A tenet is an article of faith, something that is held to be true. “Tenet” is Latin for “he holds”.

87 Russian assembly : DUMA

A duma is a representative assembly in Russia. The Russian word “dumat” means “to think, consider”.

88 Gutter nuisance in cold climates : ICE DAM

Ice dams are build-ups of ice along the edge of a roof. The term “dam” is used because the ice can trap water on the roof as snow melts or rain falls. That “dammed” water might get under the shingles and inside the house.

90 Apt surname for a hot dog vendor? : WEINER

What we call a wiener in this country is known as a Vienna sausage in Germany. It was first produced by a butcher from Frankfurt who was living in Vienna, hence the name “Wiener”, which is German for “of Vienna”. Paradoxically, the same sausage is called a Frankfurter in Vienna, as it was created by someone from Frankfurt. It’s all very confusing …

99 Suet alternative : LARD

Fat, when extracted from the carcass of an animal, is called suet. Untreated suet decomposes at room temperature quite easily so it has to be rendered, purified to make it stable. Rendered fat from pigs is what we call lard. Rendered beef or mutton fat is known as tallow.

101 It might come in a yard glass : ALE

A yard of ale is a very tall glass, one that is just under a yard (three feet) long. It holds about 60 fluid ounces of beer. I’ve tried drinking out of one, and it is extremely difficult. There is a bulb at the bottom of the glass. When you get towards the end of the drink, that bulb causes a kind of airlock and the remainder of the beer rushes to the top of the glass splashing you in the face.

104 ___ diavolo (in a peppery tomato sauce) : FRA

Fra diavolo is a spicy sauce used for pasta and seafood that is usually made with chili peppers in a tomato base. The name “Fra diavolo” translates to “Brother devil”. The sauce may be named for the Italian revolutionary Michele Pezza who was also known as Fra Diavolo.

105 Year-round Phoenix hrs. : MST

The city of Phoenix is the capital of the state of Arizona. Home to almost 1.5 million people, Phoenix is the most-populous state capital in the country.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Some rappers : MCS
4 Music genre for Carmen Miranda : SAMBA
9 Pioneer in 35mm cameras : LEICA
14 Bit of bait : WORM
18 His face overlooks Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución : CHE
19 Fire ___ : ALARM
20 See 67-Across : … ANNUM
21 Refurbish : FIX UP
22 Architectural innovation jokingly predicted by 101-Across in 1982 : GRAFFITI-PROOF BUILDING
26 Actress Perez : ROSIE
27 Performer’s showcase : SOLO
28 Gave out : ISSUED
29 God of love : AMOR
30 Goofy images, perhaps? : CELS
32 Kitchen brand whose name becomes an animal after adding a “t” : OCELO
33 Old N.Y.C. subway inits. : IRT
36 Wish list items : WANTS
38 Grooming tool jokingly predicted by 101-Across in 1979 : THREE-BLADE RAZOR
41 “Gotcha” : OH, I SEE
43 ___ Sea, whose eastern basin has become a desert : ARAL
44 Either spy to the other in “Spy vs. Spy” : ENEMY
45 Prop in a Shakespeare tragedy : ASP
47 Abbr. at the end of a planner : DEC
48 Classic board game derived from pachisi : SORRY!
50 Place to order a cassoulet : BISTRO
52 Writing aid jokingly predicted by 101-Across in 1967 : SPELLCHECKER
55 Therefore : HENCE
56 ___ block : CINDER
57 Midnight trip to the fridge, say : RAID
58 “Yellow Flicker Beat” singer, 2014 : LORDE
59 Type of headsail : JIB
62 Super-duper : ACES
63 Shake off : ELUDE
65 Hammer out, say : FORGE
66 “___ Lisa” : MONA
67 With 20-Across, yearly : PER …
68 Some sports car options : T-TOPS
69 Painter Paul : KLEE
70 “Them’s the breaks!” : TOO BAD!
72 Butler played by Gable : RHETT
73 Winter sport jokingly predicted by 101-Across in 1965 : SNOWBOARDING
75 Treadmill settings : SPEEDS
77 They’re not known for neatness : STIES
78 Word connecting two place names : … VIA …
79 Word connecting two last names : … NEE …
80 Taters : SPUDS
81 Ragamuffin : WAIF
82 Nominee’s place : BALLOT
84 Telephone feature jokingly predicted by 101-Across in 1961 : AUTOMATIC REDIAL
89 Porters, e.g. : BREWS
92 Stampede member in “The Lion King” : GNU
93 Manual readers : USERS
94 “___ fun!” : SUCH
95 Early smartphone model : TREO
96 Italian lager : PERONI
98 Square thing : MEAL
100 Like some rights and engineers : CIVIL
101 Satirical cartoonist, born 3/13/1921, known for dreaming up ridiculous inventions … or are they? : AL JAFFEE OF “MAD” MAGAZINE
107 Ransacks : LOOTS
108 Peter the Great and others : TSARS
109 Eponym of an M.L.B. hitting award : AARON
110 Jellied British delicacy : EEL
111 Goes down : EBBS
112 Fender product, for short : STRAT
113 Windows forerunner : MS-DOS
114 Droll : WRY

Down

1 Phil of “Dr. Phil” : MCGRAW
2 Intensity of color : CHROMA
3 When the president may make a pitch : SEASON OPENER
4 Ump’s call : SAFE!
5 Comedian Wong : ALI
6 Gym array : MATS
7 Sweet bread : BRIOCHE
8 Not as scarce : AMPLER
9 Language not traditionally written with spaces between words : LAO
10 Ambient musician Brian : ENO
11 Like Bach’s first two “Brandenburg” Concertos : IN F
12 Like dice, shapewise : CUBICAL
13 Finding it funny : AMUSED
14 Off the mark : WIDE
15 Substance that helps a spaceship’s fuel burn : OXIDIZER
16 Direct : RUN
17 It’s greener the higher it is, for short : MPG
21 Glow, in a way : FLUORESCE
23 Narrow inlet : FIRTH
24 Part : ROLE
25 ___ of Man : ISLE
31 Exposed to high heat, in a way : SEARED
32 Cosmetics brand with “Face anything” ads : OLAY
34 Ex-QB football analyst Tony : ROMO
35 Word repeated before “again” : TRY
37 Move stealthily : SIDLE
38 Big part of the S&P 500 : TECH
39 “It’s co-o-old!” : BRRR!
40 Toss in a chip, maybe : ANTE
42 Hid : SECRETED
45 Org. concerned with performance rights : ASCAP
46 Mace, for one : SPICE
48 Oodles : SCADS
49 “___ From Muskogee” (Merle Haggard hit) : OKIE
50 Cartoonist Dave famous for “The Lighter Side of …” : BERG
51 How anatomy charts are drawn : IN DETAIL
53 Mormon church, for short : LDS
54 Blow : ERUPT
55 “Mountain of God,” in Exodus : HOREB
58 Longtime name in cinemas : LOEWS
59 Hire calling? : JOB INTERVIEW
60 Like slapstick comedies : INANE
61 Feature of a Care Bear’s belly : BADGE
64 Oodles : LOTS
65 Hazard on an Arctic voyage : FLOE
66 1960s style : MOD
68 Blues ensemble? : THE SMURFS
69 Slices easily (through) : KNIFES
71 Brush brand : ORAL-B
72 Command+Y, on a Mac : REDO
73 Swizzle : STIR
74 Cartoon speech bubble, often : OVAL
75 Whirled around : SPUN
76 Sting, e.g. : PUT-UP JOB
77 Egg holders : SACS
80 Droop : SAG
81 Most sinewy : WIRIEST
82 Its coat of arms features a marlin and flamingo, with “the” : … BAHAMAS
83 Baseball’s “Big Papi” : ORTIZ
85 Since : AS OF
86 Principles : TENETS
87 Russian assembly : DUMA
88 Gutter nuisance in cold climates : ICE DAM
90 Apt surname for a hot dog vendor? : WEINER
91 Alone : SOLELY
97 Gobbles up : EATS
99 Suet alternative : LARD
100 Survivalist’s stockpile : CANS
101 It might come in a yard glass : ALE
102 High toss : LOB
103 Crew’s control? : OAR
104 ___ diavolo (in a peppery tomato sauce) : FRA
105 Year-round Phoenix hrs. : MST
106 Sticky stuff : GOO

12 thoughts on “0314-21 NY Times Crossword 14 Mar 21, Sunday”

  1. 38:25 Was about 1/2 done in 12 minutes and then got really hung up in the SE 1/3 of the puzzle. Gave my Care Bear a NAVEL, wanted 65D (vs 50D) to be a BERG; had 55D as SINAI vs HOREB (unfamiliar with this); etc. Kept thinking 101A was someone’s very long name. Seems that Jaffee was a bit of a Nostradamus in his fore-tellings.

    And per the theme of the LAT puzzle – Happy Pi Day (3/14)!

  2. 29:59, no errors. Cool theme. Perhaps Mr. Jaffee should be given an honorary Nobel for planting seeds in the minds of a few young readers of Mad magazine … 😜.

  3. I was a huge fan of Mad Magazine as a kid…and truth be told, as an adult. So I really enjoyed this puzzle and it’s amazing how prescient Al Jaffe was. 32:30 and my final “get” was the GRAFFITI of GRAFFITIPROOFBUILDING.

  4. 31:39. Really liked the stroll down memory lane. I loved Mad Magazine as a kid. Like most so called comedy these days, it’s devolved from political satire to political activism guised as comedy, but it was good in its day when there was more light-hearted parts to it.

    I was a big fan of AL JAFFEE, Dave Berg and Spy vs Spy. Great idea for a puzzle.

    If I had a dinner party and told everyone I serving jellied EEL, I wonder how many people would show up?

    Best –

  5. 45:45 had square “deal” instead of “meal”, took forever to find the error and that was only after breaking down and looking up “duma” vs. “duda”. Jagged and the “usual gang of idiots” were geniuses, sad it didn’t get recognized until they were gone.

  6. 21:16. Relatively smooth, but since the theme was not wordplay, it took me a little longer to fill in those long ones.

    As a kid I remember hanging out by the magazine rack at the local grocery store perusing Mad while my parents shopped. Not doing the fold-in though, because they frown on that if you’re not buying it…

  7. Damn autocorrect changed “Jaffee” to “jagged”… it pays to proofread, which I failed to do

  8. 1:27:43 no errors but not much fun…I guess not being a fan of Mad Magazine had something to do with it.
    As for SPELL CHECKER I used one for several clues.
    Stay safe😀
    Play ball!!!

  9. 33:41, no errors. I don’t think being a fan of Mad helped much in this puzzle, but it definitely brought back memories to those of us who were.
    @Jeff: I can guarantee that I would be among those who would NOT attend your jellied EEL dinner. My Great-Uncle took me out fishing/eeling on Long Island Sound, when I was a child. NO WAY would one of those things find its way into my mouth. He would make jellied eel, pickled eel and eel in sour cream sauce; no thanks.

  10. No errors and a good time. My mom kept me well supplied with back issues of Mad that she found while frequenting the used book stores in the area during the late 50’s and early 60’s. Seemed to me like Mad lost some of its “snap” in later years, kind of like Saturday Night Live.
    They also got a bit too political for my taste. My favorite segments were the strips written and drawn by Don Martin.

  11. 44:00, 1 error. For me, it might as well be Pad Magazine, which it was in this puzzle. Anyway, another addition to the very long streak of bad 21x21s in the New York Times.

  12. I wasn’t up on my MAD Magazine as I thought I was. I had several (more than 2) spelling errors with the crosses I didn’t know.

    GRAFFITIPROOF was the last to fall for me.

    I read MAD magazine when I was a kid also. Loved the Spy vs Spy cartoons.

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