1001-21 NY Times Crossword 1 Oct 21, Friday

Constructed by: Jim Horne & Jeff Chen
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme (according to Bill) Batty, Man!

Themed answers refer to the superhero BATMAN. We also have three BATS (made from black squares) flying across the middle of the grid:

  • 17A Fictional home with a secret basement : WAYNE MANOR
  • 57A Locale below 17-Across, as suggested by three images in this puzzle’s grid : THE BATCAVE

Bill’s time: 13m 12s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

4 Like Marcia, among the “Brady Bunch” daughters : ELDEST

On the television show “The Brady Bunch”, Marcia was the eldest of the girls in the family, and was played by Maureen McCormick.

The famous sitcom “The Brady Bunch” originally aired from 1969 to 1974 on ABC. If you ever see a movie called “Yours, Mine and Ours” starring Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda (and remade with Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo), you might notice a similarity in storyline. It was because of the success of the 1968 movie that ABC decided to go ahead with the development of “The Brady Bunch”.

15 Cry at sea : LAND HO!

The cry of “land ho!” from a sailor means that land has just been spotted. A similar shout is “sail ho!”, indicating that another boat has been spotted.

16 Jay-Z’s “___ the Next One” : ONTO

Jay-Z, as well as being a successful and very rich rap artist, is married to singer Beyoncé. Jay-Z was born Shawn Corey Carter in Brooklyn, New York. As Carter was growing up, he was nicknamed “Jazzy”, a reference to his interest in music. “Jazzy” evolved into the stage name “Jay-Z”. Jay-Z and Beyoncé have a daughter named Blue Ivy Carter, and twins named Rumi and Sir Carter.

20 Whom Sarah had in her early 90s : ISAAC

According to the Bible, Abraham’s son Isaac was born to Abraham’s wife Sarah when she was beyond her childbearing years and when Abraham was 100 years old. Isaac himself lived until he was 180 years old. When Isaac was just a youth, Abraham was tested by Yahweh (God) and told to build an altar on which he was to sacrifice his only son. At the last minute, an angel appeared and stopped Abraham, telling him to sacrifice a ram instead.

21 Super group : AVENGERS

The Avengers are a team of superheroes in the Marvel Comics universe. The original lineup, which dates back to 1963, consisted of Ant-Man, Hulk, Iron Man, Thor and the Wasp. Soon after their formation, the Avengers rescued Captain America trapped in ice, and thereafter he joined the team. There is a 2012 movie called “The Avengers” that features Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk and Thor.

23 Part of FWIW : IT’S

For what it’s worth (FWIW)

25 Part of Q.E.D. : ERAT

The initialism “QED” is used at the end of a mathematical proof or a philosophical argument. QED stands for the Latin “quod erat demonstrandum” meaning “that which was to be demonstrated”.

30 ___ Lynch, first African American woman to serve as U.S. attorney general : LORETTA

Loretta Lynch is a former Attorney General of the US, having assumed office in April of 2015. Lynch was the first African-American woman to hold the post, and only the second woman (Janet Reno was the first).

37 Activity with a rake : CRAPS GAME

If one considers earlier versions of craps, then the game has been around for a very long time and probably dates back to the Crusades. It may have been derived from an old English game called “hazard” also played with two dice, which was mentioned in Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” from the 1300s. The American version of the game came here courtesy of the French and first set root in New Orleans where it was given the name “crapaud”, a French word meaning “toad”.

40 Badger : RIDE

To badger is to harass. The verb “to badger” comes from the cruel practice of badger-baiting, which dates back to medieval times. Badger-baiting is a blood sport in which a dog is used as bait for a badger in its den, to draw it out into the open. The den is an artificial structure built to resemble a natural badgers’ den, complete with a tunnel entrance. The dog is sent down the tunnel causing the badger and dog to lock their jaws on each other. The badger and dog are then removed from the den by pulling on the dog’s tail. Horrible …

41 Some corporate holdings, for short? : MBAS

The world’s first Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree was offered by Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, in 1908.

43 Open ___ : MRI

MRI scans can be daunting for many people as they usually involve the patient lying inside a tube with the imaging magnet surrounding the body. Additionally, the scan can take up to 40 minutes in some cases. There are some open MRI scanners available that help prevent a feeling of claustrophobia. However, the images produced by open scanners are of lower quality as they operate at lower magnetic fields.

44 Hydration locations : OASES

An isolated area of vegetation in a desert is called an oasis (plural “oases”). As water is needed for plant growth, an oasis might also include a spring, pond or small lake. We often use the term “oasis” more generally to describe a haven, a place of rest.

49 Its products often come with Allen keys : IKEA

The IKEA furniture chain was founded by Ingvar Kamprad in 1943, when he was just 17-years-old. IKEA is an acronym standing for Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd (don’t forget now!). Elmtaryd was the name of the farm where Ingvar Kamprad grew up, and Agunnaryd is his home parish in Sweden.

The Allen wrench (or “Allen key”, as we call it back in Ireland) is a successful brand of hex wrench that was trademarked in 1943 by the Allen Manufacturing Company of Hartford , Connecticut. However, the hex wrench had in fact been around since the mid-to-late 1800s.

51 Where uniforms are worn with sweaters? : GYM CLASS

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.

56 Soviet fighter jets : MIGS

The Russian fighter jets that we know as “MiGs” are so called because they were designed by the Mikoyan-and-Gurevich Design Bureau, and MiG is an acronym for “Mikoyan-and-Gurevich” in Russian.

57 Locale below 17-Across, as suggested by three images in this puzzle’s grid : THE BATCAVE
(17A Fictional home with a secret basement : WAYNE MANOR)

Wayne Manor is the home of Bruce Wayne, the alter-ego of Batman. It is a huge manor that lies just outside Gotham City. Looking after the house is the Wayne family servant, Alfred. Beneath the grounds of the manor is an extensive cave system where Bruce Wayne put together his Batcave. Access to the cave is via a staircase behind a hidden door. The door is opened by moving the hands of a non-functioning grandfather clock to 10:47, the time at which Wayne’s parents were murdered. It is the murder of his parents that sets Bruce off on his journey of crime fighting.

59 Keeps informed, in a way : BCCS

A blind carbon copy (bcc) is a copy of a document or message that is sent to someone without other recipients of the message knowing about that extra copy.

63 Cartoon character who says “Come over here, you skwewy wabbit!” : ELMER

Elmer Fudd is one of the most famous Looney Tunes cartoon characters, and is the hapless nemesis of Bugs Bunny. If you have never seen it, check out Elmer and Bugs in the marvelous “Rabbit of Seville”, a short cartoon that parodies Rossini’s “Barber of Seville”. Wonderful stuff …

64 Cover-up in old Rome : TOGA

In ancient Rome, the classical attire known as a toga (plural “togae” or “togas”) was usually worn over a tunic. The tunic was made from linen, and the toga itself was a piece of cloth about twenty feet long made from wool. The toga could only be worn by men, and only if those men were Roman citizens. The female equivalent of the toga was called a “stola”.

66 Does some crime scene work : DUSTS

In the world of criminology, there are three classes of fingerprints:

  • Patent prints are those which are obvious, easily spotted by the naked eye.
  • Impressed prints are those made when the fingertips apply pressure to a soft material or surface, such as the skin.
  • Latent prints are those that are invisible to the naked eye, but which can be detected using special equipment and materials.

67 Sample collector, maybe : Q-TIP

Cotton swabs were originally marketed under the name “Baby Gays”. This was changed in 1926 to “Q-Tips”, with the Q standing for “quality”.

Down

1 This will never fly : KIWI

The kiwi is an unusual bird in that it has a highly developed sense of smell and is the only one of our feathered friends with nostrils located at the tip of its long beak.

2 Headwinds can push them back, in brief : ETAS

Estimated time of arrival (ETA)

3 His “La Maja Desnuda” was never publicly shown in his lifetime : GOYA

Francisco Goya was a Spanish painter who was often called the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Two of Goya’s most famous works are “The Nude Maja” and “The Clothed Maja”.

María Cayetana de Silva was the 13th Duchess of Alba. She was a favorite subject of the Spanish painter Francisco Goya. The duchess is the subject in the famous portraits known as “La maja desnuda” (The Nude Maja) and “La maja vestida” (The Clothed Maja). “Maja” translates from Spanish as “beautiful lady”.

4 Members of a certain college : ELECTORS

The Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1804, and redefines procedures used by the Electoral College during a presidential election. Prior to the amendment, each member of the Electoral College cast two electoral votes, after which the candidate with the most votes was elected president, and the candidate with the second-most votes was elected vice president. As a result of the amendment, each member of the Electoral College casts one vote for president, and one vote for vice president. So, the Twelfth Amendment makes it unlikely that we end up with a vice president who is not supportive of the president, as the victorious pair probably campaigned together on the same ticket, and had not been rivals in the election.

5 Flight : LAM

To be on the lam is to be in flight, to have escaped from prison. “On the lam” is American slang that originated at the end of the 19th century. The word “lam” also means “beat” or “thrash”, as in “lambaste”. So “on the lam” might derive from the phrase “to beat it, to scram”.

6 It’s self-replicating : DNA

The two most common nucleic acids are deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), both of which play crucial roles in genetics. The DNA contains the genetic instructions used to keep living organisms functioning, and RNA is used to transcribe that information from the DNA to protein “generators” called ribosomes.

7 First name of the poet whose “candle burns at both ends” : EDNA

Edna St. Vincent Millay was an American poet and playwright, and the third woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (in 1923 for “The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver”). Millay was noted not only for her work, but also for the open arrangement that she and her husband had in their marriage. Millay took many lovers, including the poet George Dillon, for whom she wrote a number of sonnets.

9 They don’t put up with any bull : TOREROS

The term “torero” is used to describe all bullfighters. The term “matador” is reserved for the bullfighter whose job is to make the final kill. Aptly enough, “matador” is Spanish for “killer”.

13 Caber ___ (Scottish athletic event) : TOSS

The caber toss must be the most recognizable event in the Scottish Highland Games. The tall pole is 19’ 6” long and weighs a whopping 175 pounds. The event may have originated with the practice of tossing large logs across chasms in order to cross them.

18 Depilatory brand : NAIR

Nair is a hair-removal product that has some pretty harsh ingredients. The most important active constituents are calcium hydroxide (“slaked lime”) and sodium hydroxide (“caustic soda”). Other Nair components seem to be there to soothe the skin after the harsher chemicals have done their job. The name “Nair” probably comes from combining “no” and “hair”.

A depilatory agent is something capable of removing hair. The root of the term is “pilus”, the Latin for “hair”, and the same word that gives us “pile” (as in a carpet).

22 Snitch (on) : NARC

Back in the 1800s, “to nark” was “to act as a police informer”. The spelling of the term has started to evolve into “to narc”, due to the influence of the noun “narc”, slang for a narcotics officer. The ”nark” spelling is still used on the other side of the Atlantic.

26 Econ subfield : MACRO

Macroeconomics is the study of economies as a whole, rather than individual markets. Microeconomics is focused on the actions of individual entities like companies or individuals, and how these actions impact specific markets.

27 Sunlit spaces : ATRIA

In modern architecture, an atrium (plural “atria” or “atriums”) is a large open space usually in the center of a building and extending upwards to the roof. The original atrium was an open court in the center of an Ancient Roman house. One could access most of the enclosed rooms of the house from the atrium.

29 Driver around a lot? : ADAM

Adam Driver is an actor best known to TV audiences for playing Adam Sackler on the show “Girls” that airs on HBO. Driver’s movie career got a huge boost in 2015 when he played villain Kylo Ren in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”.

32 Its players never want to be at the top : TETRIS

Tetris is a very addictive video game that was developed in the Soviet Union in 1984. The name Tetris comes from a melding of the prefix “tetra-” (as all the game pieces have four segments) and “tennis” (a favorite sport played by the developer). Since 2005 there have been more than 100 million copies of the game installed on cell phones alone.

42 Jaime ___ a.k.a. the Bionic Woman : SOMMERS

I so much preferred “The Bionic Woman” than the original show, “The Six Million Dollar Man”, but that was probably because I was “at that age” in the mid-seventies when the star Lindsay Wagner was attracting my attention! Wagner played Jaime Sommers, who was badly injured in a parachute jump. She was treated by implanting robotic devices that gave her speed, strength and exceptional hearing.

45 Some hospital supplies : SERA

Blood serum (plural “sera”) is the clear, yellowish part of blood i.e. that part which is neither a blood cell nor a clotting factor. Included in blood serum are antibodies, the proteins that are central to our immune system. Blood serum from animals that have immunity to a particular disease can be transferred to another individual, hence providing that second individual with some level of immunity. Blood serum used to pass on immunity can be called “antiserum”.

52 Inits. that often precede “+” : LGBTQ …

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning (LGBTQ)

53 “Now!” : STAT!

The exact etymology of “stat”, a term meaning “immediately” in the medical profession, seems to have been lost in the mists of time. It probably comes from the Latin “statim” meaning “to a standstill, immediately”. A blog reader has helpfully suggested that the term may also come from the world of laboratory analysis, where the acronym STAT stands for “short turn-around time”.

55 Org. with a list of Supreme Court cases on its website : ACLU

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has its roots in the First World War. It grew out of the National Civil Liberties Bureau (CLB) that was founded to provide legal advice and support to conscientious objectors. The ACLU’s motto is “Because Freedom Can’t Protect Itself”. The ACLU also hosts a blog on the ACLU.org website called “Speak Freely”.

60 “Star Wars” staple, for short : CGI

Computer-generated imagery (CGI)

61 Fool : SAP

“Sap” is slang for “fool, someone easily scammed”. The term arose in the early 1800s in Britain when it was used in “saphead” and “sapskull”. All these words are derived from “sapwood”, which is the softwood found in tree trunks between the bark and the heartwood at the center.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Barrel of fun? : KEG
4 Like Marcia, among the “Brady Bunch” daughters : ELDEST
10 No longer following : LOST
14 Diminutive suffix in Spanish : -ITO
15 Cry at sea : LAND HO!
16 Jay-Z’s “___ the Next One” : ONTO
17 Fictional home with a secret basement : WAYNE MANOR
19 “___: Hawaii” (TV spinoff) : NCIS
20 Whom Sarah had in her early 90s : ISAAC
21 Super group : AVENGERS
23 Part of FWIW : IT’S
25 Part of Q.E.D. : ERAT
26 Pacific evergreen with orange-red bark : MADRONA
30 ___ Lynch, first African American woman to serve as U.S. attorney general : LORETTA
34 Put away : ATE
35 Range of consideration, metaphorically : RADAR SCREEN
37 Activity with a rake : CRAPS GAME
39 Good name for a wrestler? : MATT
40 Badger : RIDE
41 Some corporate holdings, for short? : MBAS
43 Open ___ : MRI
44 Hydration locations : OASES
46 Some formal promises : I DOS
48 Open ___ : MIC
49 Its products often come with Allen keys : IKEA
51 Where uniforms are worn with sweaters? : GYM CLASS
53 Environmentally friendly way to travel : SOLAR CAR
56 Soviet fighter jets : MIGS
57 Locale below 17-Across, as suggested by three images in this puzzle’s grid : THE BATCAVE
59 Keeps informed, in a way : BCCS
62 ___ urbis conditae : ANNO
63 Cartoon character who says “Come over here, you skwewy wabbit!” : ELMER
64 Cover-up in old Rome : TOGA
65 Completely, after “in” : … TOTO
66 Does some crime scene work : DUSTS
67 Sample collector, maybe : Q-TIP

Down

1 This will never fly : KIWI
2 Headwinds can push them back, in brief : ETAS
3 His “La Maja Desnuda” was never publicly shown in his lifetime : GOYA
4 Members of a certain college : ELECTORS
5 Flight : LAM
6 It’s self-replicating : DNA
7 First name of the poet whose “candle burns at both ends” : EDNA
8 Past the approval stage, in construction slang : SHOVEL-READY
9 They don’t put up with any bull : TOREROS
10 Enduring : LONG-TERM
11 Years back : ONCE
12 Not remain completely asleep : STIR
13 Caber ___ (Scottish athletic event) : TOSS
18 Depilatory brand : NAIR
22 Snitch (on) : NARC
24 Hitch or glitch : SNAG
26 Econ subfield : MACRO
27 Sunlit spaces : ATRIA
28 Like the loser’s locker room after a stunning upset : DEAD SILENT
29 Driver around a lot? : ADAM
31 An eagle is the most common one in the U.S. : TEAM MASCOT
32 Its players never want to be at the top : TETRIS
33 Foolery : ANTICS
36 Written designs that are also readable when flipped or rotated : AMBIGRAMS
38 Cry to a baby : PEEKABOO!
42 Jaime ___ a.k.a. the Bionic Woman : SOMMERS
45 Some hospital supplies : SERA
47 College dept. : SCI
50 Made a move : ACTED
52 Inits. that often precede “+” : LGBTQ …
53 “Now!” : STAT!
54 “This can’t be happening …” : OH NO …
55 Org. with a list of Supreme Court cases on its website : ACLU
58 Old pro : VET
60 “Star Wars” staple, for short : CGI
61 Fool : SAP