1029-21 NY Times Crossword 29 Oct 21, Friday

Constructed by: Aimee Lucido
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme None

Bill’s time: 11m 41s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Rhyming ice cream treat : CHOCO TACO

A Choco Taco is an elaborate ice cream dessert that was created in the eighties by the Jack and Jill Ice Cream Company in Philadelphia.

16 If you ask her to make you a sandwich, she’ll say “OK, you’re a sandwich” : ALEXA

Alexa is a personal assistant application that is most associated with Amazon Echo smart speakers. Apparently, one reason the name “Alexa” was chosen is because it might remind one of the Library of Alexandria, the “keeper of all knowledge”.

17 Boob tube? : UNDERWIRE

The word “brassière” is French in origin, but it isn’t the word that the French use for a “bra”. In France, what we call a bra is known as a “soutien-gorge”, translating to “held under the neck”. The word “brassière” is indeed used in France but there it describes a baby’s undershirt, a lifebelt or a harness. “Brassière” comes from the Old French word for an “arm protector” in a military uniform (“bras” is the French for “arm”). Later “brassière” came to mean “breastplate” and from there the word was used for a type of woman’s corset. The word jumped into English around 1900.

19 Summer setting in the Windy City : CDT

Central Daylight Time (CDT)

20 Ten C-notes : ONE G

One G, one grand, one thousand dollars.

21 Bachelorette party accessories : SASHES

Back where I come from, bachelor parties are called stag parties, and bachelorette parties are known as hen parties.

22 One in the Jenner family : KRIS

Kris Kardashian is the matriarch of the Kardashian clan. She was married to the lawyer Robert Kardashian who was one of O. J. Simpson’s lawyers in his 1995 murder trial. The couple divorced in 1990 and Kris then married the celebrated decathlete from the 1976 Olympic Games, Bruce Jenner. That marriage ended in divorce as well, in 2015.

26 High rollers’ rollers : LIMOS

The word “limousine” derives from the name of the French city of Limoges. The area around Limoges is called the Limousin, and it gave its name to a cloak hood worn by local shepherds. In early motor cars, a driver would sit outside in the weather while the passengers would sit in the covered compartment. The driver would often wear a limousin-style protective hood, giving rise to that type of transportation being called a “limousine”. Well, that’s how the story goes …

In the world of gambling, a high roller is a person who brings a relatively large amount of money to the table and who routinely risks big sums.

28 Some world leaders : EMIRS

An emir is a prince or chieftain, one most notably from the Middle East in Islamic countries. In English, “emir” can also be written variously as “emeer, amir, ameer” (watch out for those spellings in crosswords!).

29 Way to go: Abbr. : RTE

Route (rte.)

36 Org. involving course work : LPGA

The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) was founded in 1950 by a group of 13 lady golfers, and today it is the oldest ongoing women’s sports professional organization in the US.

38 Dept. store stock : MDSE

Merchandise (“mdse.” or “merch”)

41 Neighbor of Caps Lock : TAB

Like most features on our computer keyboards, the tab key is a hangover from the days of typewriters. When using a typewriter, making entries into a table was very tedious, involving lots of tapping on the spacebar and backspace key. So, a lever was added to typewriters that allowed the operator to “jump” across the page to positions that could be set by hand. Later this was simplified to a tab key which could be depressed, causing the carriage to jump to the next tab stop in much the same way that the modern tab key works on a computer.

43 N.B.A. team coached in the ’70s by Bill Russell : SONICS

The Seattle SuperSonics were the professional basketball team based in Seattle from 1967 to 2008, at which time the franchise moved to Oklahoma City (and became the Oklahoma City Thunder).

Bill Russell is a retired basketball player who played for the Boston Celtics from 1956 to 1969. Russell also captained the gold medal-winning US national team at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.

47 Sea eagle : ERN

The ern (sometimes “erne”) is also known as the white-tailed eagle or the sea eagle.

51 Nickelodeon’s longest-running game show : DOUBLE DARE

When Nickelodeon launched in 1979, it became the first cable channel dedicated to programming for children.

56 Certain blood vessel, to a physician : VENA

The superior vena cava is a large vein carrying deoxygenated blood from the upper part of the body to the right atrium of the heart. The inferior vena cava does the same thing for the lower part of the body.

58 ___ Burgundy, Will Ferrell persona : RON

Ron Burgundy is the title character in the “Anchorman” series of films. Burgundy is a news anchor played by comedian Will Ferrell. Apparently Burgundy loves a glass of scotch, poetry, and his dog Baxter.

59 Shield adorned with Medusa’s head : AEGIS

According to Homer’s “Iliad”, the aegis is either an animal skin or a shield that was carried by Athena and Zeus. The aegis is also described as bearing the head of Gorgon, a female creature with hair made of venomous snakes. The aegis provided some level of protection to the bearer, a concept that has been extended to our contemporary usage of “aegis”. Someone under the aegis of someone else is protected or sponsored by that person.

In Greek mythology, Medusa was one of the monstrous female creatures known as Gorgons. According to one version of the Medusa myth, she was once a beautiful woman. She incurred the wrath of Athena who turned her lovely hair into serpents and made her face hideously ugly. Anyone who gazed directly at the transformed Medusa would turn into stone. She was eventually killed by the hero Perseus, who beheaded her. He carried Medusa’s head and used its powers as a weapon, before giving it to the goddess Athena to place on her shield. One myth holds that as Perseus was flying over Egypt with Medusa’s severed head, drops of her blood fell to the ground and formed asps.

60 Ginormous : HUMONGOUS

Something humongous is a very, very large. “Humongous” comes from the words “huge” and “monstrous”.

65 Lewis Carroll character who asks “Does your watch tell you what year it is?” : MAD HATTER

In Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, the Mad Hatter makes his first appearance in a chapter called “A Mad Tea-Party”. This event is usually described as “The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party”, even though the Mad Hatter was just a guest. The host was the March Hare. In fact, the phrase “Mad Hatter” doesn’t appear anywhere in Lewis Carroll’s novel, although the character, the Hatter (and sometimes “Hatta”), is described as “mad”.

Down

2 Woodstock headliner : HENDRIX

Many of his contemporaries regarded Jimi Hendrix as the greatest electric guitarist in the history of rock music. Hendrix was from Seattle and didn’t really have a really stellar start to his working life. He failed to finish high school and fell foul of the law by getting caught in stolen cars, twice. The courts gave him the option of the army or two years in prison. Hendrix chose the former and soon found himself in the famous 101st Airborne. In the army, his less-than-disciplined ways helped him (as he would have seen it) because his superiors successfully petitioned to get him discharged after serving only one year of his two-year requirement, just to get him out of their hair.

4 The Browns, on scoreboards : CLE

The Cleveland Browns football team was a charter member of the All-American Football Conference, formed in 1946. Cleveland is the only NFL city that has never hosted nor sent a team to the Super Bowl. And, the Browns are the only NFL team without a logo on their helmets.

5 Oaxacan “other” : OTRO

Oaxaca is a state in the southern part of Mexico on the Pacific coast. The state takes the name of Oaxaca, its largest city.

6 Burgs : TOWNS

“Burg” is an informal term used in the US for a smaller town that comes from the German word “burg” meaning “fortified city”.

12 Ulta competitor : SEPHORA

Sephora is a French chain of cosmetic stores, founded in 1969. The name “Sephora” is derived from the Greek for “beauty” (“sephos”). We’ve been able to visit Sephora outlets in JCPenney stores since 2006.

23 River in Picardy : SOMME

The Somme is a river in the north of France. The name “Somme” comes from a Celtic word meaning “tranquility”. Paradoxically, the Somme is remembered as the site of a devastating WWI battle. The river separated British and French forces from the German army from July to November 1916. By the end of the battle, over one million soldiers had been wounded or killed.

25 Yemeni money : RIAL

The rial is the currency of Yemen (as well as Oman, Iran and Tunisia). Generally, there are 1,000 baisa in one rial.

31 Gave faithfully, in a way : TITHED

Traditionally, a tithe is a payment of one tenth of a person’s annual income and is usually given to a church. Tithing is a practice taught in many traditions, and according to a 2002 survey, about 3% of American adults donate 10% or more of their income to a church.

38 Traffic dividers : MEDIANS

Here in the US, the area separating opposing lanes of traffic on a divided highway called the “median strip”. Over in Britain and Ireland, that median strip is known as the “central reservation”.

42 Virtuosa’s display : BRAVURA

“Bravura” is an Italian word meaning “bravery, spirit”. We started using the term in English to describe a piece of music that is florid and colorful, and requires great skill to play. The meaning was extended in the early 1800s to also describe a show of brilliancy or daring.

46 Name on many a sports jersey : SPONSOR

We use the word “jersey” for a sports shirt worn by a particular team member, one that usually bears the player’s name and team number. Back in the mid-1800s, the term was used for a knitted shirt or close-fitting tunic. The item of clothing was named for Jersey in the Channel Islands off the coast of France. The island was famous for its knitting trade during the Middle Ages.

52 Capital near the old Oregon Trail : BOISE

Boise, Idaho is the capital and the largest metropolitan area in the state by far. There are a number of stories pertaining to the etymology of the name “Boise”. One is that French trappers called the tree-lined river that ran through the area “la rivière boisée”, meaning “the wooded river”.

The Oregon Trail was established by fur trappers and traders as early as 1811. The first migrant wagon train traveled the route in 1836, starting off in Independence, Missouri and going as far as Fort Hall, Idaho. In the coming years, the trail was extended for wagons as far as the Willamette Valley in Oregon.

53 Eldest son of Cain : ENOCH

According to the Bible’s Book of Genesis, Enoch was the son of Cain, and therefore the grandson of Adam and Eve. Enoch’s mother was Awan, who was also Enoch’s aunt (Cain’s sister).

57 “Puppy Love” singer, 1960 : ANKA

“Puppy Love” is a song written and recorded by Paul Anka in 1960. He wrote the song for his girlfriend at the time, actress and singer Annette Funicello. “Puppy Love” was covered by Donny Osmond who had a big hit with it in 1972.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Rhyming ice cream treat : CHOCO TACO
10 They may be loaded or covered : BASES
15 What there will be if you cross the wrong person : HELL TO PAY
16 If you ask her to make you a sandwich, she’ll say “OK, you’re a sandwich” : ALEXA
17 Boob tube? : UNDERWIRE
18 Foolish in an endearing way : DIPPY
19 Summer setting in the Windy City : CDT
20 Ten C-notes : ONE G
21 Bachelorette party accessories : SASHES
22 One in the Jenner family : KRIS
24 One might begin “It was a dark and stormy night …” : SCARY STORY
26 High rollers’ rollers : LIMOS
28 Some world leaders : EMIRS
29 Way to go: Abbr. : RTE
30 Absolved : EXEMPT
32 French word that sounds like a letter of the alphabet : EAU
33 Ask “Why should I?,” say : SASS
34 Vote by ___ : MAIL
36 Org. involving course work : LPGA
38 Dept. store stock : MDSE
41 Neighbor of Caps Lock : TAB
43 N.B.A. team coached in the ’70s by Bill Russell : SONICS
47 Sea eagle : ERN
48 [More worms, mama!] : [CHIRP]
50 Easy-peasy : A SNAP
51 Nickelodeon’s longest-running game show : DOUBLE DARE
54 Hairstyle for 2-Down : AFRO
55 Tight (with) : IN GOOD
56 Certain blood vessel, to a physician : VENA
58 ___ Burgundy, Will Ferrell persona : RON
59 Shield adorned with Medusa’s head : AEGIS
60 Ginormous : HUMONGOUS
62 Static, e.g. : NOISE
63 “That sounds ’bout right” : I RECKON SO
64 Twisted look : SNEER
65 Lewis Carroll character who asks “Does your watch tell you what year it is?” : MAD HATTER

Down

1 Response between a smile and a belly laugh : CHUCKLE
2 Woodstock headliner : HENDRIX
3 Bygone : OLD-TIME
4 The Browns, on scoreboards : CLE
5 Oaxacan “other” : OTRO
6 Burgs : TOWNS
7 Individually : APIECE
8 I Spy or Backseat Bingo : CAR GAME
9 Spanish “Hey!” : OYE!
10 Fierce : BAD ASS
11 Most desirable, as guests : A-LIST
12 Ulta competitor : SEPHORA
13 Whizzes : EXPERTS
14 Accepts a ring, perhaps : SAYS YES
21 Ice cream shop supplies : SYRUPS
23 River in Picardy : SOMME
25 Yemeni money : RIAL
27 Facial spot : SPA
31 Gave faithfully, in a way : TITHED
33 ___ Stark, role for which Sophie Turner was Emmy-nominated : SANSA
35 Put down : LAID
37 ___ step further : GO A
38 Traffic dividers : MEDIANS
39 Talk long and boringly : DRONE ON
40 Wearable blanket : SNUGGIE
42 Virtuosa’s display : BRAVURA
44 Short person’s group photo position, ideally : IN FRONT
45 Go barhopping, say : CAROUSE
46 Name on many a sports jersey : SPONSOR
48 Dealmaking pro : CLOSER
49 Taking a heavy science course load, perhaps : PREMED
52 Capital near the old Oregon Trail : BOISE
53 Eldest son of Cain : ENOCH
57 “Puppy Love” singer, 1960 : ANKA
60 He/___ pronouns : HIM
61 Caught : GOT