Constructed by: Jeff Chen
Edited by: Will Shortz
Not your puzzle? Try today’s …
… syndicated NY Times crossword
Today’s Theme Common Core
Five additional answers run diagonally through the grid, sharing their CORES with five across-answers, having those CORES in COMMON. The diagonal clues/answers are, descending the grid:
- Starts drinking : HITS THE SAUCE
23A Meaningful work? : ROGET’S THESAURUS - Compassionate : SOFT-HEARTED
36A Ballet supporter, e.g. : PATRON OF THE ARTS - Truly magnificent : AWE-INSPIRING
63A Present without being present : THERE IN SPIRIT - Nickname for Mars : THE RED PLANET
87A Ritzy transports : CHARTERED PLANES - Breakfast side dish : BACON STRIPS
106A You wouldn’t want them to have a crush on you : BOA CONSTRICTORS
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… a complete list of answers
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Bill’s time: 20m 48s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
6 Big name in investing : SCHWAB
The Charles Schwab investment company was founded in 1971 as First Commander Corporation. Investor and businessman Charles Schwab and four partners purchased First Commander and changed the name to Charles Schwab in 1973.
19 Meghan ___, Grammy’s 2015 Best New Artist : TRAINOR
Meghan Trainor is a singer-songwriter from Nantucket, Massachusetts now living in Los Angeles. Trainor’s style is sometimes described as “retro”, with strong influences from the fifties and sixties.
22 Word with water or Electric : … SLIDE
The Electric Slide is a line dance that purportedly dates back to 1976. It’s a dance often associated with the 1983 song “Electric Boogie” performed by Marcia Griffiths.
23 Meaningful work? : ROGET’S THESAURUS
The first person to use the term “thesaurus” to mean a “collection of words arranged according to sense” was Roget in 1852, when he used it for the title of his most famous work. Up to that point in time, a thesaurus was basically an encyclopedia. Before being used with reference to books, a thesaurus was a storehouse or treasury, coming from the Latin “thesaurus” meaning “treasury, treasure”.
25 Rock bottom : NADIR
The nadir is the direction pointing immediately below a particular location (through to the other side of the Earth for example). The opposite direction, that pointing immediately above, is called the zenith. We use the terms “nadir” and “zenith” figuratively to mean the low and high points in a person’s fortunes.
27 Like TV’s Niles Crane and Monica Geller : NEUROTIC
In the sitcom “Frasier”, Niles Crane is the brother of the title character Frasier Crane. Frasier is played by Kelsey Grammer and Niles is played by David Hyde Pierce. Frasier was originally intended to be an only child in the show’s storyline, but the producers decided to add a brother when they noted the remarkable similarity in appearance between David Hyde Pierce and Kelsey Grammer.
28 Their existence is debatable : ALIENS
In 1952, the USAF revived its studies of reported sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) in a program called Project Blue Book. Project Blue Book ran from 1952 until it was shut down in 1969 with the conclusion that there was no threat to national security and that there were no sightings that could not be explained within the bounds of modern scientific knowledge.
30 Conflict in 2017’s “Wonder Woman,” in brief : WWI
“Wonder Woman” is a 2017 film starring Gal Gadot as the superhero title character. It is listed by many as one of the best superhero movies of all time. Gadot had played Wonder Woman before, in the 2016 film “Batman v Superman”.
32 Source of Supergirl’s powers : SUN
Kara Zor-El is Superman’s cousin, and is also known as Supergirl. Supergirl’s father and Superman’s father were brothers. On Earth, Supergirl uses the name “Linda Lee”.
41 N.A.A.C.P. ___ Awards : IMAGE
The NAACP Image Awards are presented annually to recognise people of color in the worlds of film, television, music and literature. The first awards were presented in 1967, and the ceremony usually takes place in Los Angeles.
43 REI competitor : LLBEAN
L.L.Bean (note the lack of spaces in the company name) was founded back in 1912 in Freeport, Maine as a company selling its own line of waterproof boots. The founder, Leon Leonwood Bean, gave his name to the enterprise. Right from the start, L.L.Bean focused on mail-order and sold from a circular he distributed and then from a catalog. Defects in the initial design led to 90% of the first boots sold being returned, and the company made good on its guarantee to replace them or give back the money paid.
46 Unflappable : STOIC
Zeno of Citium was a Greek philosopher famous for teaching at the Stoa Poikile, the “Painted Porch”, located on the north side of the Ancient Agora of Athens. Because of the location of his classes, his philosophy became known as stoicism (from “stoa”, the word for “porch”). We get our adjective “stoic”, meaning “indifferent to pleasure or pain”, from the same root.
52 Main squeeze, in modern lingo : BAE
“Bae” is a contemporary term of endearment. It is a pet name that is an abbreviation of “babe, baby”, although I’ve also read that it is an acronym standing for “before anyone else”.
53 Texas hold ’em pair nicknamed “ducks” : DEUCES
A two in a deck of playing cards might be called a “deuce”, from the Middle French “deus” (or Modern French “deux”) meaning “two”.
54 “___ and Fugue in D Minor” (piece used in “Fantasia”) : TOCCATA
A toccata is a virtuoso piece of music, one usually written for a keyboard or plucked string instrument, and one that has fast-moving passages that emphasize the dexterity of the performer’s fingers. It is a piece of music with an “improvisatory feel”, a piece that seems very spontaneous in form. The name “toccata” comes from the Italian word “toccare” meaning “to touch”.
“Fantasia” was Disney’s third feature length movie, and was released in 1940. The film had a disappointing critical reception and pushed the Disney company into financial difficulties. RKO took over the film’s distribution in 1946. The folks at RKO cut a full hour off the running time and relaunched the movie into a successful run. If you haven’t seen “Fantasia”, I urge you to do so. It’s a real delight …
56 Lucifer : SATAN
According to some Christian traditions, Lucifer was an angel who rebelled against God and so was condemned to the Lake of Fire. Lucifer is also known as Satan or the Devil.
58 The “vice of narrow souls,” per Balzac : HATRED
Honoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright from the 19th century. Balzac wrote a huge collection of related novels called “La Comédie humaine” (The Human Comedy). The work includes 91 stories, novels and essays, written from 1815 to 1848. Balzac also left 46 unfinished works as part of the collection.
59 Goddess who sprang from her father’s head : ATHENA
According to myth, the goddess Athena competed with Poseidon for the privilege of being the patron of the city we now call Athens. Poseidon gave the city a salt water spring, and Athena offered an olive tree. As the olive tree was a source of wood, oil and food, Athena won the competition, and the city was named “Athens” in her honor.
60 Bibliophile : books :: oenophile : ___ : WINES
In Greek mythology, Oeno was the goddess of wine, giving us “oeno-” as a prefix meaning “wine”. For example, oenology is the study of wine and an oenophile is a wine-lover.
61 “Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism” author : LENIN
I made it to Russia only once in my life, and it was a memorable trip. I saw all the sites in and around Red Square in Moscow, but couldn’t get in to visit Lenin’s Tomb. It was closed for renovations …
69 Like a space cadet : MOONY
The expression “space cadet” is used to describe someone who is eccentric and disconnected from reality. It may even imply that the person is a user of hallucinogens. The phrase has been around since the sixties, and may be derived from the science fiction TV show “Tom Corbett, Space Cadet” that aired in the fifties.
70 Part of the body named after Dr. Ernst Gräfenberg : G-SPOT
The full name for the G-spot is the “Gräfenberg spot”, named after German doctor Ernst Gräfenberg. Gräfenberg is best known for developing the intrauterine device (IUD).
76 Posted one’s thoughts : BLOGGED
Many folks who visit this website regard it as just that, a website. That is true, but more specifically it is referred to as a blog, as I make regular posts (actually daily posts) that then occupy the “front page” of the site. The blog entries are in reverse chronological order, and one can just look back day-by-day, reading older and older posts. “Blog” is a contraction of the term “web log”.
78 Souvenir for a Final Four team : NET
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)
83 Company with an iconic yellow Running Man logo : AOL
Founded as Quantum Computer Services in 1983, the company changed its name in 1989 to America Online. As America Online went international, the initialism AOL was used in order to shake off the “America-centric” sound to the name. During the heady days of AOL’s success the company could not keep up with the growing number of subscribers, so people trying to connect often encountered busy signals. That’s when users referred to AOL as “Always Off-Line”.
84 “The Lion King” trio : HYENAS
Among the group of lions at the center of “The Lion King” story, young Simba is the heir apparent and the lion cub destined to take over as leader of the pride. His uncle is jealous of Simba, and plots with a trio of hyenas to kill Simba, so that he can take his position. The uncle was originally named Taka (according to books) but he was given the name Scar after being injured by a buffalo. The trio of hyenas are called Shenzi, Banzai and Ed.
94 Japanese prime minister before Suga : ABE
Shinzo Abe first became Prime Minister of Japan in 2006, at which time he was the youngest person to hold the post since WWII and was the first PM born after the war. Abe was in office for less than a year, but was voted in again in 2012. At the end of 2019, Abe became the longest-serving Prime Minister in the history of Japan. He resigned from office in 2020, citing medical issues.
95 Hosp. diagnostic : MRI
An MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) machine uses powerful magnetic fields to generate its images so there is no exposure to ionizing radiation (such as X-rays). We used MRI equipment in our chemistry labs at school, way back in the days when the technology was still called Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging (NMRI). Apparently the marketing folks didn’t like the term “nuclear” because of its association with atomic bombs, so now it’s just called MRI.
96 Where Gal Gadot was born: Abbr. : ISR
Gal Gadot is an actress and former Miss Israel. She played Gisele Yashar in the “Fast & Furious” film franchise, and then began portraying Wonder Woman in superhero movies.
102 Not worth a ___ : SOU
A sou is an old French coin. We use the term “sou” to mean “an almost worthless amount”.
105 Pal of Buzz Lightyear : WOODY
1995’s “Toy Story” was the world’s first feature-length computer-animated movie. “Toy Story” was also Pixar’s first production. The main roles in the film are Buzz Lightyear and Woody, who are voiced by Tim Allen and Tom Hanks respectively. Hanks was the first choice to voice Woody, but Allen was asked to voice Buzz after Billy Crystal turned down the role.
106 You wouldn’t want them to have a crush on you : BOA CONSTRICTORS
Boa constrictors are members of the Boidae family of snakes, all of which are non-venomous. Interestingly, the female boa is always larger than the male.
110 Director DeMille : CECIL
Cecil B. Demille was a movie director and producer who started his professional career in the silent era. DeMille’s movies were often epic works, such “Cleopatra” (1936), “Samson and Delilah” (1949), “The Greatest Show on Earth” (1952) and “The Ten Commandments” (1956). The Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award is named in his honor, and indeed he was its first recipient.
111 Chuck E. Cheeses, in part : ARCADES
Our word “arcade” comes from the Latin “arcus” meaning “arc”. The first arcades were passages made from a series of arches. This could be an avenue of trees, and eventually any covered avenue. I remember arcades lined with shops and stores when I was growing up on the other side of the Atlantic. Arcades came to be lined with lots of amusements, resulting in amusement arcades and video game arcades.
Chuck E. Cheese is a sit-down pizza restaurant that features entertainment for children. The original Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theatre was opened in San Jose, California in 1977 by founder Nolan Bushnell. Bushnell had already achieved success in the business world as the founder of Atari.
115 One of the Magi, along with Melchior and Balthazar : GASPAR
“Magi” is the plural of the Latin word “magus”, a term applied to someone who was able to read the stars. Hence, “magi” is commonly used with reference to the “wise men from the East” who followed the star and visited Jesus soon after he was born. In Western Christianity, the three Biblical Magi are:
- Melchior: a scholar from Persia
- Caspar (also “Gaspar”): a scholar from India
- Balthazar: a scholar from Arabia
Down
2 Peace Nobelist Yousafzai : MALALA
“I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban” is a memoir co-written by Malala Yousafzai and British journalist Christina Lamb. The title tells the essence of Malala’s story. She started a blog when she was 11 or 12 that outlined her life in northwest Pakistan under occupation by the Taliban. As the Pakistani military regained control of the area, Malala’s story was related in a documentary and she gave frequent interviews. One day a gunman came looking for her, and found her on a school bus. He shot Malala three times, with one bullet going into her forehead. She survived, and was taken to England to recuperate. She was a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 at the age of 17, making her the youngest ever Nobel laureate.
5 Fuel for a camp stove : STERNO
Sterno is a jellied alcohol that usually comes in a can. The can is opened and the contents burn very easily and persistently. The brand name “Sterno” comes from the original manufacturer, S. Sternau & Co. of Brooklyn, New York.
6 Houston A.L.er : ‘STRO
The Houston baseball team changed its name to the Astros (sometimes “’Stros”) from the Colt .45s in 1965 when they started playing in the Astrodome. The Astrodome was so called in recognition of the city’s long association with the US space program. The Astros moved from the National League to the American League starting in the 2013 season.
8 Macbeth trio : HAGS
The Three Witches in William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” are referred to in the text as the “weird sisters”. They cook up an ugly brew in their cauldron:
Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witches’ mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravined salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock digged i’ th’ dark,
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat and slips of yew
Slivered in the moon’s eclipse,
Nose of Turk and Tartar’s lips,
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-delivered by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab.
Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron,
For the ingredients of our cauldron.
9 Golfer Michelle : WIE
Michelle Wie is an American golfer on the LPGA Tour. Wie began playing golf at the age of four and was the youngest player ever to qualify for an LPGA tour event. She turned pro just before her 16th birthday.
10 Sight on an M. C. Escher Möbius strip : ANT
M. C. Escher was a graphic artist from the Netherlands. Escher was noted for creating works inspired by mathematics, often works that were physical impossibilities. One such work is “Drawing Hands” (1948) in which a pair of hands emerge from a piece of paper and actually draw themselves. He also created a drawing in which a group of red ants are crawling around a Möbius strip, never reaching the end.
A Möbius strip is a surface that has only one side. One is easily made by taking a strip of paper and joining the ends together, but with a twist so that it isn’t a regular “band”.
11 Balkan region : BOSNIA
Bosnia and Herzegovina was one of six federal units in former Yugoslavia that gained independence after the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. There are three main ethnic groups in Bosnia. The largest group are the Bosniaks, the second the Bosnian Serbs, and the third the Bosnian Croats.
The Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe is usually referred to as “the Balkans”. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains located in present-day Bulgaria and Serbia. “Balkan” is Bulgarian for “mountain”.
12 Director Welles : ORSON
Orson Welles is perhaps best-remembered in the world of film for his role in 1941’s “Citizen Kane”. In the world of radio, Welles is known for directing and narrating 1938’s famous broadcast of “The War of the Worlds”, a broadcast that convinced many listeners that the Earth was indeed being invaded by aliens.
14 Feng ___ : SHUI
Feng shui is the ancient Chinese tradition of arranging objects, buildings and other structures in a manner that is said to improve the lives of the individuals living in or using the space. “Feng shui” translates as “wind-water”, a reference to the belief that positive and negative life forces ride the wind and scatter, but are retained when they encounter water.
16 Something bottled in Cannes : EAU
In French, Perrier “par exemple” (for example) is a bottled “eau” (water).
Cannes is a city on the French Riviera that is noted as host of the Cannes Film Festival. The decision to host an annual film festival was adopted by the city just before WWII. However, the festival had to wait for the end of the war for its launch in 1946.
17 Price abbr. : CTS
When writing an amount of money, the two digits to the right of the decimal point signify a number of cents (cts.).
20 GPS recommendation: Abbr. : RTE
A global positioning system (GPS) might point out a route (rte.).
29 Kenan Thompson is its longest-tenured member, for short : SNL
Kenan Thompson is an actor and comedian who is perhaps best known as a “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) cast member, joining the show in 2003. Thompson holds the record for the most celebrity impressions on SNL, at over one hundred. He also is the longest-tenured member of the cast in the history of the show.
31 Ming-Na who starred as Mulan in 1998’s “Mulan” : WEN
“Mulan” is a 1998 animated feature film made by Walt Disney studios. The film is based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, a woman who takes the place of her father in the army and serves with distinction for twelve years without reward. Disney’s lead character was given the name Fa Mulan. Donny Osmond provided the singing voice for one of the lead characters, after which his sons remarked that he had finally made it in show business as he was in a Disney film.
37 Olympic gold-medal gymnast Korbut : OLGA
Olga Korbut is from modern-day Belarus, but was born during the days of the Soviet Union. Korbut competed for the USSR team in the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games. She was 17 when she appeared in the 1972 Munich Games, and had been training in a sports school since she was 8-years-old. The world fell in love with her as she was a very emotional young lady, readily expressing joy and disappointment, something that we weren’t used to seeing in athletes from behind the Iron Curtain. Korbut immigrated to the US in 1991 and now lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.
40 Horse of a different color : ROAN
A roan horse has an even mixture of white and colored hairs on the body with the head, lower legs, mane and tail having a more solid color.
42 Sit shiva, e.g. : MOURN
Shiva is a period of mourning in the Jewish tradition that lasts for one week. “Shiva” is a Hebrew word meaning “seven”. The immediate family members of the deceased usually “sit shiva” in the home of the deceased, and there receive visitors. The ritual of sitting shiva is based on the story in Genesis in which Joseph mourns the death of his father Jacob for seven days.
46 Male deer : STAG
A male deer is usually called a buck, and a female is a doe. However, the male red deer is usually referred to as a stag. The males of even larger species of deer are often called bulls, and the females called cows. In older English, male deer of over 5 years were called harts, and females of over 3 years were called hinds. The young of small species are known as fawns, and of larger species are called calves. All very confusing …
48 Diez menos dos : OCHO
In Spanish, “diez menos dos” (ten minus two) is “ocho” (eight).
49 Most of Greenland : ICE
Greenland is the largest island on the planet. Geographically, Greenland is part of the continent of North America, but culturally and politically is considered part of Europe. The island became a Danish colony in 1815, and joined the European Economic Community (EEC) with Denmark. Greenland withdrew from the EEC after a referendum in 1983. Since 2009, Greenland has been relatively autonomous, with the Danish government retaining control of foreign affairs, defence and the judicial system.
50 Like dim sum : CANTONESE
Dim sum is a Chinese cuisine made up of small portions of various dishes. The tradition of serving dim sum is associated with the serving of tea, when small delicacies were offered to travelers and guests along with tea as a refreshment. The name “dim sum” translates as “touch the heart” implying that dim sum is not a main meal, just a snack “that touches the heart”.
55 Some Chevy S.U.V.s : TAHOES
The Chevrolet Blazer SUV was renamed, and is now known as the Chevy Tahoe. And, the GMC Yukon is basically the same car. All very confusing …
64 Denouement : END
The “denouement” is the final resolution of a dramatic plot. The term is French, and derives from the Old French for “untying”, an “unknotting” as it were.
74 Law that led to a 1773 revolt : THE TEA ACT
The famous destruction of tea in Boston Harbor to protest against the Tea Act took place on December 16, 1773. The action was referred to as the “destruction of the tea” for decades, and it wasn’t until 1834 that the term “Boston Tea Party” first appeared in print.
75 Actress Ward : SELA
Actress Sela Ward turns up in crosswords a lot. Ward played Teddy Reed in the TV show “Sisters” in the nineties, and was in “Once and Again” from 1999-2002. I don’t know either show, but I do know Ward from the medical drama “House” in which she played the hospital’s lawyer and Greg House’s ex-partner. That was a fun role, I thought. More recently, Ward played a lead role on “CSI: NY” and was a very welcome and much-needed addition to the cast. And, Ward played Dr. Richard Kimble’s murdered wife in the 1993 film version of “The Fugitive”.
76 Abacus piece : BEAD
The abacus (plural “abaci”) was used as a counting frame long before man had invented a numbering system. It is a remarkable invention, particularly when one notes that abaci are still widely used today across Africa and Asia.
77 James who sang “At Last” : ETTA
The 1942 song “At Last” was written for the 1941 musical film “Sun Valley Serenade” in which it is performed by Glenn Miller and his orchestra. Etta James recorded a version of the “At Last” in 1960, after which it became her signature song.
78 Nary a trace (of) : NO HINT
The adjective “nary” means “not one”, as in “nary a soul” or even “nary a one”.
84 Altitudes: Abbr. : HTS
Height (ht.)
85 It guards against UVB : SPF
In theory, the sun protection factor (SPF) is a calibrated measure of the effectiveness of a sunscreen in protecting the skin from harmful UV rays. The idea is that if you wear a lotion with say SPF 20, then it takes 20 times as much UV radiation to cause the skin to burn than it would take without protection. I say just stay out of the sun …
90 Little blob : AMOEBA
An ameba (also “amoeba”) is a single-celled microorganism. The name comes from the Greek “amoibe”, meaning change. The name is quite apt, as the cell changes shape readily as the ameba moves, eats and reproduces.
91 Critic of the Great Society : NEOCON
By definition, a neoconservative (neocon) is a formerly left-aligned politician who has moved to the right, and who now supports the use of American power and military might to bring democracy, liberty, equality and human rights to other countries.
The Great Society was a social initiative launched by President Lyndon B. Johnson in the mid-sixties. The initiative had the goal of eliminating poverty and racial injustice. Some of the Great Society programs still exist today, including Medicare and Medicaid.
92 Radicchio relative : ENDIVE
Endive is a leaf vegetable belonging to the chicory genus, and so is in the daisy family. Endive is also known as “escarole”.
95 Real, in Rio : MONEY
Rio de Janeiro is the second largest city in Brazil (after São Paulo). “Rio de Janeiro” translates as “January River”. The name reflects the discovery of the bay on which Rio sits, on New Year’s Day in 1502.
99 Disney villain voiced by Jeremy Irons : SCAR
In the 1994 movie “The Lion King”, the protagonist is Simba, a lion cub born to Mufasa and Sarabi. The main antagonist is Scar, Simba’s uncle and Mufasa’s brother. Simba is voiced by Matthew Broderick, and Scar is voiced by Jeremy Irons. “Simba” is Swahili for “lion, king, strong”.
Jeremy Irons is a much-respected English actor who is noted for his stage, television and film performances. My favorite of these performances is the one that brought him into the limelight, playing Charles Ryder in the 1981 TV adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s “Brideshead Revisited”. Irons won a Best Actor Oscar for playing Claus von Bülow in 1990’s “Reversal of Fortune”. He is married to Irish actress Sinéad Cusack, and the couple own a castle in County Cork in the south of Ireland.
100 Bar mixer : SODA
We call carbonated water “club soda”, because “Club Soda” used to be a brand name. The Club brand of drinks is actually Irish, and is owned by a company now known as C&C. As kids, we grew up on Club Orange and Club Lemon. Club Soda, not so much …
101 The Cardinals, on scoreboards : ARI
The Arizona Cardinals were founded in 1898 as the Chicago Cardinals. That makes the Cardinals the oldest, continuously-run, professional football team in the whole country.
102 Series that might feature a long-lost father-uncle : SOAP
The original soap operas were radio dramas back in the fifties. Given the structure of society back then, the daytime broadcasts were aimed at women working in the home as housewives. For some reason the sponsors of those radio shows, and the television shows that followed, were soap manufacturers like Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and Lever Brothers. And that’s how the “soap” opera got its name …
103 Only known animal to prey on great white sharks : ORCA
The taxonomic name for the killer whale is “Orcinus orca”. The use of the name “orca”, rather than “killer whale”, is becoming more and more common. The Latin word “Orcinus” means “belonging to Orcus”, with Orcus being the name for the Kingdom of the Dead.
The great white shark is one big fish, and can grow to over 21 feet long and weigh over 7,000 pounds. Great whites also live long lives, over 70 years. They have no natural predator, and are responsible for far more attacks on humans than any other shark species.
108 Summer worker, in brief? : CPA
Certified public accountant (CPA)
109 French possessive : TES
In French “tes” means “your”, when referring to a single individual and multiple items. The plural of “tes” is “votre”.
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Conveniently forgets to mention, maybe : OMITS
6 Big name in investing : SCHWAB
12 How many writers work : ON SPEC
18 Ran out of patience : HAD IT
19 Meghan ___, Grammy’s 2015 Best New Artist : TRAINOR
21 Get warmed up : PREHEAT
22 Word with water or Electric : … SLIDE
23 Meaningful work? : ROGET’S THESAURUS
25 Rock bottom : NADIR
26 Special ___ : OPS
27 Like TV’s Niles Crane and Monica Geller : NEUROTIC
28 Their existence is debatable : ALIENS
30 Conflict in 2017’s “Wonder Woman,” in brief : WWI
32 Source of Supergirl’s powers : SUN
33 Clothing line : HEM
36 Ballet supporter, e.g. : PATRON OF THE ARTS
41 N.A.A.C.P. ___ Awards : IMAGE
43 REI competitor : LLBEAN
44 Shout of support : OLE!
45 Gamelan instruments : GONGS
46 Unflappable : STOIC
51 Basic point : GIST
52 Main squeeze, in modern lingo : BAE
53 Texas hold ’em pair nicknamed “ducks” : DEUCES
54 “___ and Fugue in D Minor” (piece used in “Fantasia”) : TOCCATA
56 Lucifer : SATAN
58 The “vice of narrow souls,” per Balzac : HATRED
59 Goddess who sprang from her father’s head : ATHENA
60 Bibliophile : books :: oenophile : ___ : WINES
61 “Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism” author : LENIN
62 Muck : GOO
63 Present without being present : THERE IN SPIRIT
66 Ship for 28-Across : UFO
69 Like a space cadet : MOONY
70 Part of the body named after Dr. Ernst Gräfenberg : G-SPOT
71 Accustomed (to) : ENURED
73 On edibles, say : STONED
75 A shore thing : SHELL
76 Posted one’s thoughts : BLOGGED
77 Makes a comeback? : ECHOES
78 Souvenir for a Final Four team : NET
79 Ingredient in many balms : ALOE
81 Hones : WHETS
82 Lock : TRESS
83 Company with an iconic yellow Running Man logo : AOL
84 “The Lion King” trio : HYENAS
86 Receiver of private instruction : TUTEE
87 Ritzy transports : CHARTERED PLANES
94 Japanese prime minister before Suga : ABE
95 Hosp. diagnostic : MRI
96 Where Gal Gadot was born: Abbr. : ISR
97 Instigate : FOMENT
98 Once : AS SOON AS
102 Not worth a ___ : SOU
105 Pal of Buzz Lightyear : WOODY
106 You wouldn’t want them to have a crush on you : BOA CONSTRICTORS
110 Director DeMille : CECIL
111 Chuck E. Cheeses, in part : ARCADES
112 One way to go : IN PEACE
113 Better than : ABOVE
114 Off course : ASTRAY
115 One of the Magi, along with Melchior and Balthazar : GASPAR
116 Designated things for bikes and buses : LANES
Down
1 “Sick burn!” : OH SNAP!
2 Peace Nobelist Yousafzai : MALALA
3 Cry of success : I DID IT!
4 More orderly : TIDIER
5 Fuel for a camp stove : STERNO
6 Houston A.L.er : ‘STRO
7 Field’s yield : CROP
8 Macbeth trio : HAGS
9 Golfer Michelle : WIE
10 Sight on an M. C. Escher Möbius strip : ANT
11 Balkan region : BOSNIA
12 Director Welles : ORSON
13 Fastidious : NEAT
14 Feng ___ : SHUI
15 As things might happen : PERCHANCE
16 Something bottled in Cannes : EAU
17 Price abbr. : CTS
20 GPS recommendation: Abbr. : RTE
21 Look over : PERUSE
24 Get a move on : HUSTLE
29 Kenan Thompson is its longest-tenured member, for short : SNL
30 Reminiscence about an epic party : WHAT A NIGHT
31 Ming-Na who starred as Mulan in 1998’s “Mulan” : WEN
34 Played a Halloween prank on : EGGED
35 Pickle : MESS
37 Olympic gold-medal gymnast Korbut : OLGA
38 Govt. agency that Jimmy Woo works for on “WandaVision” : FBI
39 Santiago of “Scandal” : TESSIE
40 Horse of a different color : ROAN
41 “Aha!” : I GET IT NOW!
42 Sit shiva, e.g. : MOURN
46 Male deer : STAG
47 Completely, after “in” : … TOTO
48 Diez menos dos : OCHO
49 Most of Greenland : ICE
50 Like dim sum : CANTONESE
52 One hitting the low notes : BASS PLAYER
53 Name that means “God is my judge” : DANIEL
55 Some Chevy S.U.V.s : TAHOES
57 Present, e.g. : TENSE
58 She/___ : HER
60 Droll : WRY
61 Kid ___ : LIT
64 Denouement : END
65 One who asks a lot of questions : POLLER
66 The munchies, e.g. : URGE
67 Step two? : FEET
68 Nine to five, for example : ODDS
69 Animal on Ontario’s coat of arms : MOOSE
72 “Not this again!” : UGH!
73 Take out of the game : SCRUB
74 Law that led to a 1773 revolt : THE TEA ACT
75 Actress Ward : SELA
76 Abacus piece : BEAD
77 James who sang “At Last” : ETTA
78 Nary a trace (of) : NO HINT
80 With 83-Down, puzzle solver’s starting point : ONE-
83 See 80-Down : -ACROSS
84 Altitudes: Abbr. : HTS
85 It guards against UVB : SPF
88 Like the sun at dawn : RISING
89 Lite : LOW-CAL
90 Little blob : AMOEBA
91 Critic of the Great Society : NEOCON
92 Radicchio relative : ENDIVE
93 Distinctive flairs : STYLES
95 Real, in Rio : MONEY
99 Disney villain voiced by Jeremy Irons : SCAR
100 Bar mixer : SODA
101 The Cardinals, on scoreboards : ARI
102 Series that might feature a long-lost father-uncle : SOAP
103 Only known animal to prey on great white sharks : ORCA
104 Person calling tech support, say : USER
106 Bleat : BAA
107 Some conjunctions : ORS
108 Summer worker, in brief? : CPA
109 French possessive : TES
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13 thoughts on “1017-21 NY Times Crossword 17 Oct 21, Sunday”
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17:51. A little bit slow in the SW. The theme was sort of interesting as far as it goes, but didn’t really require any special thought to solve the puzzle; I basically ignored it until I was done.
21:46, no errors. What Tom said, though I appreciated it after the fact.
1:14:32 and I had I SEE IT NOW for 41D.
A Jeff Chen puzzle without a partner?
Stay safe😀
GET THE SHOT🙏
26:10. I saw the theme as I did the puzzle, but it didn’t help much. Clever nonetheless.
Anyone care to try to say “Sit Shiva” ten times fast?
Best –
Can anyone explain why a CPA is a summer worker?
“summer” as in adding…
He sums…as in sums columns of numbers. Beware as you’ll run into this again in crosswords.
Summer as in one who adds.
Because he works with sums? I know, I know …
37:56, 2 errors: (L)OOSE/(L)OONY. Didn’t recheck the clue for 65D, which would have revealed my error.
26:18, no errors.
Almost like @BruceB… had GOONY/GOOSE.. otherwise a good run.
I was 2 dimensional in trying to see the theme.. didn’t have my “Z” axis glasses on.
Puzzle solved but I’m still not getting the diagonal aspect for clues like started drinking