1111-21 NY Times Crossword 11 Nov 21, Thursday

Constructed by: Mark MacLachlan
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Reveal Answer Compass

Today’s grid includes four plus-like figures made from black squares. These are COMPASSES. The compass points N, S, E & W are used in answers that abut those points. Also, The four compass points are shown in the angles of the X-shape at the center of the grid:

  • 65A Provider of directions … or a hint to the four “+” shapes in this puzzle’s grid : COMPASS
  • 23A Staff : CREW
  • 24A Back in college? : ENDOW
  • 25A Noble title : EARL
  • 35A KFC side dish : SLAW
  • 36A Grub : EATS
  • 50A Change states, perhaps? : THAW
  • 51A Jostle : ELBOW
  • 52A Send out : EMIT
  • 5D It covers 90+ million acres of the U.S. : CORN
  • 10D Many a TikToker : TEEN
  • 21D Arabian gulf port : ADEN
  • 32D Business that makes cuts in order to turn a profit? : SALON
  • 34D Smooth, lustrous material : SATIN
  • 40D Breaks down : SOBS
  • 59D Car radio button : SCAN
  • 61D Acronym in academics : STEM

Bill’s time: 14m 19s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 A test of one’s humanity? : CAPTCHA

A CAPTCHA is a challenge-and-response test that is used to determine if a user is a human or some automated program. The acronym “CAPTCHA” stands for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart”.

8 Holding in a cryptocurrency wallet : BITCOIN

A cryptocurrency is a digital asset that I simply do not understand. Apparently, an essential aspect of cryptocurrency is that it has no central administration. The first, and most famous, decentralized cryptocurrency is bitcoin.

17 Winter Olympics events since 1988 : SUPER GS

Super Giant Slalom (Super G) is an alpine skiing event introduced in 1982. The Super G isn’t as fast as its sister event the Downhill, but is faster than the more technical Giant Slalom.

25 Noble title : EARL

In the ranking of nobles, an earl comes above a viscount and below a marquis. The rank of earl is used in the British peerage system and is equivalent to the rank of count in other countries. Other British ranks have female forms (e.g. marquis and marchioness, viscount and viscountess), but there isn’t a female word for the rank of earl. A female given the same rank as an earl is known as a countess.

26 Fats Domino’s “___ That a Shame” : AIN’T

“Ain’t That a Shame” was co-written and recorded by Fats Domino. That said, the initial 1955 recording by Domino was mistakenly labeled “Ain’t It a Shame”.

28 There are 5,164 along the Great Wall of China : STEPS

The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications that was built and rebuilt over the centuries to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire. Most of the existing wall was reconstructed during the Ming Dynasty. This Ming wall is about 5,000 miles long. There is an urban myth that the Great Wall is visible from the Moon, or from space. NASA has shown that the Great Wall can only be discerned from low Earth orbit (about 100 miles), and that is no more or less visible than any other man-made structure.

30 “A Death in the Family” writer : AGEE

James Agee was a noted American film critic and screenwriter. Agee wrote an autobiographical novel “A Death in the Family” that won him his Pulitzer in 1958, albeit posthumously. He was also one of the screenwriters for the 1951 classic movie “The African Queen”.

31 Philippines battle site of W.W. II : BATAAN

Bataan is a peninsula in the Philippines that is located on the side of Manila Bay opposite to the capital city. In WWII, Bataan was where American and Filipino forces made their last stand before the Japanese took control of the country. The Battle of Bataan lasted three months, at the end of which 75,000 captured prisoners were forced to march from Bataan to various prison camps. It is thought that between 6,000 and 11,000 men died on the march, many from the physical abuse above and beyond the rigors of the 5-6 day march without food or water. For obvious reasons, the 5-6 day trek is referred to as the Bataan Death March.

35 KFC side dish : SLAW

The term “coleslaw” is an Anglicized version of the Dutch term “koolsla”, which in itself is a shortened form of “Koolsalade” meaning “cabbage salad”.

The famous “Colonel” of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) fame was Harland Sanders, an entrepreneur from Henryville, Indiana. Although not really a “Colonel”, Sanders did indeed serve in the military. He enlisted in the Army as a private in 1906 at the age of 16, lying about his age. He spent the whole of his time in the Army as a soldier in Cuba. It was much later, in the 1930s, that Sanders went into the restaurant business making his specialty deep-fried chicken. By 1935 his reputation as a “character” had grown, so much so that Governor Ruby Laffoon of Kentucky gave Sanders the honorary title of “Kentucky Colonel”. Later in the fifties, Sanders developed his trademark look with the white suit, string tie, mustache and goatee. When Sanders was 65 however, his business failed and in stepped Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s. Thomas simplified the Sanders menu, cutting it back from over a hundred items to just fried chicken and salads. That was enough to launch KFC into the fast food business. Sanders sold the US franchise in 1964 for just $2 million and moved to Canada to grow KFC north of the border. He died in 1980 and is buried in Louisville, Kentucky. The Colonel’s secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices is indeed a trade secret. Apparently there is only one copy of the recipe, a handwritten piece of paper, written in pencil and signed by Colonel Sanders. Since 2009, the piece of paper has been locked in a computerized vault surrounded with motion detectors and security cameras.

45 “___, Red-Hot & Live” (1982 soul album) : ETTA

“Etta James” was the stage name of celebrated blues and soul singer Jamesetta Hawkins. James’ most famous recording was her 1960 hit “At Last”, which made it into the pop charts. James performed “At Last” at the age of 71 in 2009 on the reality show “Dancing with the Stars”, which was to be her final television appearance. She passed away in 2012.

53 They go to great heights : ALPS

There are eight Alpine countries:

  • Austria
  • Slovenia
  • France
  • Switzerland
  • Liechtenstein
  • Germany
  • Monaco
  • Italy

62 Repeat : ITERATE

The verb “to iterate” means to repeat over again. The verb “reiterate” means the same thing. One might suspect that “reiterate” is one of those words that has crept into the language due to repeated (reiterated?!) misuse. Well, that’s not quite the case, but close. Back in the 1400s, “iterate” meant “repeat”, and “reiterate” meant “repeat again and again”. We’ve lost the distinction between those two definitions over time.

64 Nitpickers : PEDANTS

A pedant is a person “who trumpets minor points of learning”, a person who tends to nit-pick. “Pedant” comes via Middle French from the Italian word “pedante” meaning “teacher”.

Down

1 Bygone game show with a mobile set : CASH CAB

“Cash Cab” is a fun TV game show that originated in the UK and is now shown all over the world, including here in North America. In the US version, contestants are picked up in a cab in New York City and asked questions during their ride.

2 School houses? : AQUARIA

“Aquarium” is a Latin word meaning “pertaining to water”, although in Latin the word only existed as a noun with the meaning “drinking place for cattle”. Before the use of the noun “aquarium” (plural “aquaria”) in the context of fish, a tank was sometimes referred to as a marine vivarium.

3 Accommodations on a scouting trip : PUP TENT

A pup tent is a small ridge tent, one meant for use by 2-3 people. The term “pup tent” has been around since the mid-1800s. A pup tent was sometimes called a dog tent.

6 ___ Jass, subject of one of Bart Simpson’s prank calls : HUGH

On the animated TV comedy “The Simpsons”, Bart likes to prank-call Moe’s Tavern. Bart asks Moe to “page” someone in the bar using a fictitious name, a name which sounds like a rude phrase when called out loud. This running joke on “The Simpsons” is a homage to a series of legendary calls made in real life to the Tube Bar in Jersey City by John Elmo and Jim Davidson that were taped and circulated widely in the mid-seventies. Some of the milder names used in the original prank calls were:

  • Al Cholic (alcoholic)
  • Cole Kutz (cold cuts)
  • Sal Lammy (salami)
  • Anita Bath (I need a bath)

8 Circus venue : BIG TOP

The Circus Maximus was an ancient stadium used for chariot racing in Rome. It was the first such stadium built by the Romans, and was the largest ever to be built in the whole of the Roman Empire. The Circus Maximus was over 2,000 feet long and just under 400 feet wide, and could house about 15,000 spectators. There is very little of the original structure remaining and the site is now used as a major park. It was the Circus Maximus and similar “circa” that gave rise to our contemporary word “circus” describing an arena used by clowns, acrobats, etc.

9 Onetime radio host Don : IMUS

Don Imus’s syndicated radio show “Imus in the Morning” used to broadcast from New York City. Imus has been described as a “shock jock”, a disc jockey who deliberately uses provocative language and humor that many would find offensive . I’m not a big fan of shock jocks …

10 Many a TikToker : TEEN

TikTok is a video-sharing service that is based in China, and is very popular with the younger set. The TikTok mobile app provides tools facilitating production of sophisticated selfie videos that use special effects.

11 Mama of pop : CASS

Cass Elliot (born “Ellen Cohen”) was one of the four singers in the Mamas and the Papas, a sensational group from the sixties. “Mama Cass” was performing sold-out concerts in London in 1974 when she was found dead one morning, having had a heart attack. She was only 32 years old. Eerily, Elliot died in the same flat (on loan from Harry Nilsson) in which the Who’s drummer Keith Moon would die just four years later.

21 Arabian gulf port : ADEN

Aden is a seaport in Yemen that is located on the Gulf of Aden by the eastern approach to the Red Sea. Aden has a long history of British rule, from 1838 until a very messy withdrawal in 1967. A native of Aden is known as an Adeni. Some believe that Cain and Abel are buried in the city.

29 Put on the schedule : SLATE

To slate is to propose or schedule, a meaning that has existed since the 1880s.

34 Smooth, lustrous material : SATIN

The material known as “satin” takes its name from “Zayton”, the medieval Arabic name for the Chinese port city of Quanzhou. Quanzhou was used for the export of large amounts of silk to Europe.

42 Homeland of gymnast Nadia Comaneci : ROMANIA

Romania sits just east of Hungary and north of Bulgaria in Europe. It was formed from the union of two principalities in 1859, Moldavia and Wallachia. The Kingdom of Romania grew larger in size after WWI with the addition of three new regions, including the “vampirish” Transylvania.

Romanian Nadia Comaneci won three golds in the 1976 Summer Olympics and was the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of ten in the gymnastics competition. Comaneci published a book called “Letters to a Young Gymnast” in 2003, and now lives in the United States.

54 Red Cross fluids : 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”.

Back in 1859, a Swiss businessman called Henri Dunant went to meet French emperor Napoleon III, to discuss making it easier to conduct commerce in French-occupied Algeria. The Emperor was billeted at Solferino, where France and Austria were engaged in a major battle. In one day, Dunant witnessed 40,000 soldiers die or get wounded on the battlefield without any organized medical care. Dunant abandoned his business agenda and instead spent a week caring for the sick and wounded. Within a few years he had founded the precursor to the Red Cross, and in 1901 he was awarded the first ever Nobel Peace Prize.

55 Former senator Trent : LOTT

Trent Lott is a political figure who first went to Washington to work as an administrative assistant to Representative William M. Colmer, from Mississippi. After four years working for Colmer, Lott ran for the House seat that Colmer was to leave vacant on his retirement. Colmer endorsed Lott in that election, even though Colmer was a Democrat and Lott ran as a Republican. Lott won the race very handily, launching a 35-year career representing his home state of Mississippi in both the House and the Senate. Lott eventually ran into trouble for remarks he made that were interpreted as being racially motivated, and ended up resigning in 2007.

56 Puerto ___ : RICO

Puerto Rico (PR) is located in the northeastern Caribbean (in the Atlantic Ocean), east of the Dominican Republic. The name “Puerto Rico” is Spanish for “rich port”. The locals often call their island Borinquen, the Spanish form of “Boriken”, the original name used by the natives.

57 Complaining fish? : CARP

Carp are freshwater fish that are used as food around the world, although they aren’t very popular in North American kitchens. The ornamental fish that we know as goldfish and koi are all types of carp.

The word “carp” used to mean simply “talk” back in the 13th century, with its roots in the Old Norwegian “karpa” meaning “to brag”. A century later, the Latin word “carpere” meaning “to slander” influenced the use of “to carp” so that it came to mean “to find fault with”.

61 Acronym in academics : STEM

The acronym “STEM” stands for the disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. An alternative acronym with a similar meaning is MINT, standing for mathematics, information sciences, natural sciences and technology.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 A test of one’s humanity? : CAPTCHA
8 Holding in a cryptocurrency wallet : BITCOIN
15 Watery : AQUEOUS
16 Emphatic refusal : I MEAN NO!
17 Winter Olympics events since 1988 : SUPER GS
18 “I suppose” : GUESS SO
19 Cartwheels and such : HATS
20 Intensifies, with “up” : HEATS …
22 It might be on the nose : STUD
23 Staff : CREW
24 Back in college? : ENDOW
25 Noble title : EARL
26 Fats Domino’s “___ That a Shame” : AIN’T
28 There are 5,164 along the Great Wall of China : STEPS
30 “A Death in the Family” writer : AGEE
31 Philippines battle site of W.W. II : BATAAN
33 Hard-hit line drives, in slang : LASERS
35 KFC side dish : SLAW
36 Grub : EATS
37 Hardly a green vehicle : GAS HOG
41 Land: Sp. : TIERRA
45 “___, Red-Hot & Live” (1982 soul album) : ETTA
46 Extent : SCOPE
49 Exactly right : TO A T
50 Change states, perhaps? : THAW
51 Jostle : ELBOW
52 Send out : EMIT
53 They go to great heights : ALPS
55 Second or third person? : LOSER
57 ___ Grande, city south of Phoenix : CASA
58 Phone meeting, briefly : TELECON
60 Colossal : TITANIC
62 Repeat : ITERATE
63 Place to perform figure eights : ICE RINK
64 Nitpickers : PEDANTS
65 Provider of directions … or a hint to the four “+” shapes in this puzzle’s grid : COMPASS

Down

1 Bygone game show with a mobile set : CASH CAB
2 School houses? : AQUARIA
3 Accommodations on a scouting trip : PUP TENT
4 Driving needs : TEES
5 It covers 90+ million acres of the U.S. : CORN
6 ___ Jass, subject of one of Bart Simpson’s prank calls : HUGH
7 OK : ASSENT
8 Circus venue : BIG TOP
9 Onetime radio host Don : IMUS
10 Many a TikToker : TEEN
11 Mama of pop : CASS
12 Making a scene, say : ON STAGE
13 It’s got you covered : INSURER
14 Chinese restaurant fare : NOODLES
21 Arabian gulf port : ADEN
27 ___ Smith, star of Tyler Perry’s “For Better or Worse” : TASHA
28 Issues while fishing : SNAGS
29 Put on the schedule : SLATE
30 It’s on the plus side : ASSET
32 Business that makes cuts in order to turn a profit? : SALON
34 Smooth, lustrous material : SATIN
37 Be informed, perhaps : GET A TIP
38 Olympian, e.g. : ATHLETE
39 Like many paper handouts : STAPLED
40 Breaks down : SOBS
42 Homeland of gymnast Nadia Comaneci : ROMANIA
43 California ___ : RAISINS
44 Paroxysms : ATTACKS
47 Double figures? : CLONES
48 Kind of justice or license : POETIC
54 Red Cross fluids : SERA
55 Former senator Trent : LOTT
56 Puerto ___ : RICO
57 Complaining fish? : CARP
59 Car radio button : SCAN
61 Acronym in academics : STEM