Constructed by: Jennifer Lee & Victor Galson
Edited by: Will Shortz
Not your puzzle? Try today’s …
… syndicated NY Times crossword
Today’s Reveal Answer Face Recognition
Themed answers each end with a syllable that sounds like part of the FACE:
- 36A Technology used by smartphones nowadays … or a hint to the ends of 16-, 24-, 44- and 57-Across : FACE RECOGNITION
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Bill’s time: 5m 54s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
1 Destination for a shopaholic : MALL
Surprisingly (to me!), our word “mall”, meaning “shady walk” or “enclosed shopping space”, comes from the Italian for “mallet”. All of our shopping-style malls are named for “The Mall” in St. James’s Park in London. This tree-lined promenade was so called as it used to be a famous spot to play the croquet-like game called “pall-mall”. The game derived its name from the Italian for ball (palla) and mallet “maglio”. The London thoroughfare called the Mall still exists, at one end of which is Buckingham Palace. Indeed, parallel to the Mall is a street called Pall Mall.
13 Healing succulent : ALOE
Aloe vera is a succulent plant that grows in relatively dry climates. The plant’s leaves are full of biologically-active compounds that have been studied extensively. Aloe vera has been used for centuries in herbal medicine, mainly for topical treatment of wounds.
14 Fail to give a true impression of : BELIE
The verbs “to confute” and “to belie” both mean “to show to be false”.
18 Writer Jaffe : RONA
Rona Jaffe was an American novelist perhaps most famous for two of her books, “The Best of Everything” and “Mazes and Monsters”. “The Best of Everything” was published in 1958 and has been compared with the HBO television series “Sex and the City” as it depicts women in the working world. “Mazes and Monsters” was published in 1981 and explores a role-playing game similar to Dungeons & Dragons and the impact it has on players.
19 PC program ending : EXE
In the Windows operating system, a file with the extension “.exe” is an “executable” file.
27 Old Apple image-editing software : IPHOTO
iPhoto is a digital photo manipulation application that Apple no longer supports, having replaced it with the Photos app.
31 Kevin once of “S.N.L.” : NEALON
Actor and comedian Kevin Nealon is probably still best known for his time with the “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) cast from 1986 until 1995. He’s also a regular on the excellent Showtime comedy drama “Weeds” that ran from 2005 until 2012.
32 Place to see Dalí, Ernst and Kahlo, informally : MOMA
The founding of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City was very much driven by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, wife of John D. Rockefeller. Working with two friends, Abby managed to get the museum opened in 1929, just nine days after the Wall Street Crash. The MoMA’s sculpture garden bears the name of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, and has done so since 1949.
The famous surrealist Salvador Dalí was born in Figueres, Spain. I had the privilege of visiting the Dalí Museum in Figueres some years ago, just north of Barcelona. If you ever get the chance, it’s a “must see” as it really is a quite magnificent building with a fascinating collection of art.
Max Ernst was a painter and sculptor, and a pioneer in the Dada movement and Surrealism. Ernst was born near Cologne in Germany in 1891 and he was called up to fight in WWI, as were most young German men at that time. In his autobiography he writes “Max Ernst died the 1st of August, 1914”, which was a statement about his experiences in the war. In reality, Ernst died in 1976 having lived to the ripe old age of 85.
Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter famous for her self-portraits. She was married to the equally famous artist Diego Rivera. Kahlo was portrayed by actress Salma Hayek in a film about her colorful life called “Frida” released in 2002.
33 Public health regulatory org. : FDA
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves drugs for specific conditions. It is quite legal for a healthcare professional to prescribe an approved medication for a use that is different to the FDA-approved indication. This usage of the drug is described as “off-label”.
39 Mork’s home planet on “Mork & Mindy” : ORK
“Mork & Mindy” is a sitcom that originally aired from 1978 to 1982. The title characters were played by Robin Williams and Pam Dawber. Mork is an alien from the planet Ork who reports back to his superior called Orson. Orson is played by voice actor Ralph James. Ralph James was also known for providing the voice of Mr. Turtle in famous Tootsie Pop commercials in the seventies. Nanu nanu!
40 Bow-wielding god : EROS
The name of Eros, the Greek god of love, gives rise to our word “erotic” meaning “arousing sexual desire”. Eros was referred to in Latin as both “Amor” (meaning “love”) and “Cupid” (meaning “desire”).
41 Verdi opera set in Cyprus : OTELLO
Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Otello” was first performed in 1887 at La Scala Theater in Milan. The opera is based on Shakespeare’s play “Othello” and is considered by many to be Verdi’s greatest work.
Cyprus is an island nation in the Mediterranean Sea, and a member of the European Union. Cyprus is a divided island, with the Republic of Cyprus controlling about 60% of its area. The remaining 40% calls itself the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and is occupied by Turkish forces.
42 Relative of a shantytown : SLUM
Shanty towns that were built by homeless people during the Great Depression were often called “Hoovervilles”. The name was a reference to President Herbert Hoover who was blamed by many for the onset of the Depression. The term itself was coined by Charles Michelson, the Democratic National Committee’s publicity chief.
49 ___ Tuesday (translation of “Mardi Gras”) : FAT
“Mardi Gras” translates from French as “Fat Tuesday”, and gets its name from the practice of eating rich foods on the eve of the fasting season known as Lent. Lent starts on the next day, called Ash Wednesday.
51 Singer Erykah : BADU
“Erykah Badu” is the stage name of Erica Wright, an American “neo-soul” singer. Badu gained some notoriety in March of 2010 when she shot a scene for a music video in Dallas. In the scene, she walks to the spot where President Kennedy was assassinated, removing her clothes until she is nude, and then falls to the ground as if she has been shot in the head. For that stunt she was charged with disorderly conduct.
53 Yang’s partner : 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.
56 Animal that “claps” : SEAL
Male seals are called bulls, females are cows, and babies are pups.
61 Like a beanpole : LANKY
The term “lank” can describe something that is straight and flat, particularly hair. The usage was extended in the early 1800s (especially in the form “lanky”) to mean “awkwardly tall and thin”.
62 Start of a counting-out rhyme : EENY …
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,
Catch the tiger/monkey/baby by the toe.
If it hollers/screams let him go,
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, you are it!
64 Ice cream brand : 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.
Down
1 Mother with a stable home? : MARE
There are lots of terms to describe horses of different ages and sexes, it seems:
- Foal: horse of either sex that is less than one year old
- Yearling: horse of either sex that is one to two years old
- Filly: female horse under the age of four
- Colt: male horse under the age of four
- Gelding: castrated male horse of any age
- Stallion: non-castrated male horse four years or older
- Mare: female horse four years or older
4 Hawaiian garland : LEI
“Lei” is a Hawaiian word meaning “garland, wreath”, although in more general terms a lei is any series of objects strung together as an adornment for the body.
7 Best Musical Tony winner of 1975, with “The” : … WIZ
“The Wiz”, the 1974 musical, was written by Charlie Smalls and is an African-American adaptation of Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”. The film version of the stage show was released in 1978, starring Diana Ross as Dorothy and Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow. I haven’t seen it, though. “The Wizard of Oz” scares me, as the flying monkeys creep me out. There, I’ve admitted it in public …
9 Cousin of a trumpet : CORNET
The cornet is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet, although it is quite a bit shorter. Despite the difference in length, the cornet and the trumpet have about the same length of tubing. The trumpet’s tube is coiled once, and the cornet is coiled twice.
14 Chinese steamed bun : BAO
A baozi (also “bou, bao”) is a steamed, filled bun in Chinese cuisine.
23 Swiss cheese feature : HOLE
“Swiss cheese” is a relatively generic term for a type of cheese produced in various countries and not necessarily in Switzerland. What they all have in common though, is a resemblance to the original Swiss Emmental cheese.
25 Sailor’s libation : GROG
Edward Vernon was a naval officer with the nickname “Old Grog”. In 1740, Vernon ordered that the daily ration of rum for his sailors should be watered down, in order to reduce discipline problems caused by drunkenness. The diluted rum was sweetened with sugar, and lemon or lime added to help preserve it on long voyages. This recipe, found to reduce scurvy among sailors (because of the citrus) spread throughout the Royal Navy, and “grog” was born. As an aside, George Washington’s older half-brother named the famous Washington Mount Vernon Plantation in honor of Edward Vernon. We use the derivative term “groggy” to mean “unsteady on the feet”, as if under the influence of “grog”.
28 D’Anjou, for one : PEAR
The Anjou pear is a cultivar of the European Pear. The Anjou is thought to have originated in Belgium or France (Anjou is a province in the Loire Valley of western France).
32 Rapper ___ Def : MOS
“Mos Def” is the former stage name of actor and rapper Dante Terrell Smith-Bay, now known as Yasiin Bey. Mos Def is one of the few rap stars who is really making a name for himself in the world of movies. He received critical acclaim for roles in 2003’s “The Italian Job” , 2005’s “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, and for a featured role in an episode of television’s “House”.
33 PDF, JPEG and others : FILE TYPES
Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format introduced by Adobe Systems in 1993. PDF documents can be shared between users and read using many different applications and platforms, making them more universally accessible than documents saved by one particular program.
The JPEG file format (also “.jpg”) was created by the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), hence the name.
35 12-Down en español : ANOS
12D Junior and senior : YEARS
“Español” is Spanish for “Spanish”.
37 Italy’s Lake ___ : COMO
Lake Como is a glacial lake in Lombardy in Italy. Lake Como has long been a retreat for the rich and famous. Lakeside homes there are owned by the likes of Madonna, George Clooney, Gianni Versace, Sylvester Stallone and Richard Branson.
38 Prefix with byte : TERA-
The prefix “tera-” signifies a trillion, and comes from the Greek word “teras” meaning “monster”.
47 Wood for piano keys, once : EBONY
The traditional materials used for the manufacture of piano keys were ebony (black) and ivory (white). Ebony is still used, but now for both white and black keys. The white keys are made by covering ebony with white plastic.
48 Fires : SACKS
The term “to sack” meaning “to dismiss someone from a job”, used to be phrased as “to give the sack”. The expression probably came from the idea of firing a worker and sending him or her off with tools in a sack.
52 Word before trader or tripper : DAY …
Day trading is the buying and selling of financial instruments within the same day, with all trades being settled by the closing bell. This used to be the realm of professional investors and speculators, but day-trading has become a big fad for at-home traders since the Internet made buying and selling transactions so easy and rapid.
54 Stevie Wonder’s “___ She Lovely” : ISN’T
“Isn’t She Lovely” is a Stevie Wonder song that he released in 1976. The song refers to Wonder’s daughter Aisha Morris, who was born in the prior year.
The great musician Stevie Wonder signed on with Motown Records when he was just 11-years-old. He has been remarkably loyal to the label and is still recording with Motown some 50 years later. The level of Stevie Wonder’s success is illustrated by his 22 Grammy Awards, the most Grammys awarded to a male solo artist. Wonder was born 6 weeks prematurely, and incomplete development of blood vessels in his eyes caused the retinas to detach leaving him blind soon after birth. His mother, Lula Mae Hardaway, co-wrote many of Stevie’s songs when he was a teenager, including “I Was Made to Love Her”, “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours” and “I Don’t Know Why I Love You”.
55 R&B singer with a hyphenated stage name : NE-YO
“Ne-Yo” is the stage name of R&B singer Shaffer Chimere Smith.
58 Embellish, as a résumé : PAD
A résumé is a summary of a person’s job experience and education and is used as a tool by a job seeker. In many countries, a résumé is equivalent to a curriculum vitae. “Résumé” is the French word for “summary”.
Read on, or …
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Destination for a shopaholic : MALL
5 Friend, in slang : DAWG
9 Evasive : CAGY
13 Healing succulent : ALOE
14 Fail to give a true impression of : BELIE
15 Strauss’s “Concerto in D Major for ___ and Small Orchestra” : OBOE
16 Inject new life into : REVITALIZE (ends with “eyes”)
18 Writer Jaffe : RONA
19 PC program ending : EXE
20 Go here and there : ROVE
21 Below : UNDER
22 Not having quite enough money : SHY
24 Bridge and highway designers : ENGINEERS (ends with “ears”)
27 Old Apple image-editing software : IPHOTO
30 Primitive boat : RAFT
31 Kevin once of “S.N.L.” : NEALON
32 Place to see Dalí, Ernst and Kahlo, informally : MOMA
33 Public health regulatory org. : FDA
36 Technology used by smartphones nowadays … or a hint to the ends of 16-, 24-, 44- and 57-Across : FACE RECOGNITION
39 Mork’s home planet on “Mork & Mindy” : ORK
40 Bow-wielding god : EROS
41 Verdi opera set in Cyprus : OTELLO
42 Relative of a shantytown : SLUM
43 Tennis balls are usually sold in these : THREES
44 Hawaii ___ National Park : VOLCANOES (ends with “nose”)
49 ___ Tuesday (translation of “Mardi Gras”) : FAT
50 Mountaineer’s tool : ICE AX
51 Singer Erykah : BADU
53 Yang’s partner : YIN
56 Animal that “claps” : SEAL
57 End of the world : APOCALYPSE (ends with “lips”)
60 Radio recording : TAPE
61 Like a beanpole : LANKY
62 Start of a counting-out rhyme : EENY …
63 Social workers? : ANTS
64 Ice cream brand : EDY’S
65 Regarding : AS TO
Down
1 Mother with a stable home? : MARE
2 Soccer star Morgan : ALEX
3 B-52s hit named by Rolling Stone as the best single of 1989 : LOVE SHACK
4 Hawaiian garland : LEI
5 Dig (into) : DELVE
6 One from another world : ALIEN
7 Best Musical Tony winner of 1975, with “The” : … WIZ
8 “You don’t say!” : GEE!
9 Cousin of a trumpet : CORNET
10 “Humble” home : ABODE
11 One who’s done for : GONER
12 Junior and senior : YEARS
14 Chinese steamed bun : BAO
17 “Take a deep breath …” : TRY TO RELAX …
21 Not following one’s vows : UNFAITHFUL
23 Swiss cheese feature : HOLE
25 Sailor’s libation : GROG
26 Reply to “Yes you are!” : I AM NOT!
27 Lowdown : INFO
28 D’Anjou, for one : PEAR
29 Minimal lead in baseball : ONE RUN
32 Rapper ___ Def : MOS
33 PDF, JPEG and others : FILE TYPES
34 Portion (out) : DOLE
35 12-Down en español : ANOS
37 Italy’s Lake ___ : COMO
38 Prefix with byte : TERA-
42 Symbol of the goddess Justitia : SCALES
44 Picturesque view : VISTA
45 View from a beach resort : OCEAN
46 Vaulted : LEAPT
47 Wood for piano keys, once : EBONY
48 Fires : SACKS
52 Word before trader or tripper : DAY …
54 Stevie Wonder’s “___ She Lovely” : ISN’T
55 R&B singer with a hyphenated stage name : NE-YO
57 Tap offering : ALE
58 Embellish, as a résumé : PAD
59 Nay’s opposite : YEA
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10 thoughts on “0727-21 NY Times Crossword 27 Jul 21, Tuesday”
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11:17, had to read the blog to get the theme…someday I’ll get the theme on my own…someday : – )
9:51. I got the theme only after the reveal and used it to get VOLCANOES in the SW.
I liked MOS Def’s appearance in the series Dexter. I’ve since learned that Mos Def is street lingo for “most definitely”.
Never made the connection of a navy GROG and the word “groggy”, but it makes sense.
Best –
7:46, no errors. I did it as a themeless. Late posting, as I’ve been preoccupied with other things … 🤨.
10:57. @Nonny I’m later than you were. Had my puppy devour raisin bread. Raisins are toxic to dogs. Expensive trip to the vet to pump her stomach.
If that ever happens again, force-feed your pup
a couple of ounces of Hydrogen Peroxide immediately …
It will cause them to vomit up anything they’ve
got in their stomachs. I’ve used it successfully twice
for raisins and grapes. Works like a charm !
Cute.. nice Tuesday puzzle
14 minutes. No errors etc. I have to admit I never caught onto the theme.
BADU & NE-YO were totally unknown to me but easy to get from crosses so…
9:29, no errors. Fortunately for me, I don’t consider ‘getting the theme’ to be part of the solution.
@ BruceB: IMHO, if you didn’t get the theme, you didn’t “get” the puzzle. (But who am I to say so?)