0116-22 NY Times Crossword 16 Jan 22, Sunday

Constructed by: Derrick Niederman
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme: Playing the Hits

Themed answers are HIT songs. The cryptic clues are quite PLAYFUL:

  • 23A THE LADY VANI_ _ _ _ (#2, 1964) : SHE’S NOT THERE
    The letters SHES are NOT THERE at the end of the “The Lady Vanishes”
  • 29A BILLE (#3, 1972) : I’LL BE AROUND
    The letters “ILL” have the letters “BE” AROUND
  • 36A x0 (#1, 1985) : THE POWER OF LOVE
    The letter x is raised to THE POWER OF LOVE (zero)
  • 60A VAUDEVILLIAN (#2, 1988) : DEVIL INSIDE
    The word “DEVIL” is INSIDE the word “vauDEVILle”
  • 71A LOST, E.G. (#1, 1984) : LET’S GO CRAZY
    “LET’S GO” CRAZY/anagrammed is “LOST, E.G.”
  • 93A CHAN_E _PPEA_ANCE TO CONCEA_ _ _D MISLEA_ (#1, 1968) : JUDY IN DISGUISE
    The letters GARLAND/Judy are found in “CHANGE APPEARANCE TO CONCEAL AND MISLEAD
  • 101A TITTLE-TATTLE (#16, 2011) : RUMOUR HAS IT
    Tittle-tattle/RUMOUR HAS the word “IT” inside
  • 110A ENTICEMENT (#1, 1983) : COME ON EILEEN
    Enticement/COME ON has “I” lean (in italics) inside, and “I lean” sounds like “EILEEN”

Bill’s time: 24m 58s

Bill’s errors: 2

  • AWW (aws)
  • WEEDY (seedy)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

7 Compañero : AMIGO

In Spanish, an “amigo” is a male friend, and an “amiga” is a female friend.

12 Delhi issue : SMOG

“Smog” is a portmanteau formed by melding “smoke” and “fog”. The term was first used to describe the air around London in the early 1900s. Several cities around the world have a reputation of being particularly smoggy. For example, the most smog-plagued city in Latin America is Mexico City, which is located in a highland “bowl” that traps industrial and vehicle pollution.

New Delhi is the capital city of India. New Delhi resides within the National Capital Territory of Delhi (otherwise known as the metropolis of Delhi). New Delhi and Delhi, therefore, are two different things.

19 Water buffalo, for one : BOVINE

Something described as bovine is related to a cow, ox or buffalo, or indeed any ruminant in the genus Bos. “Bos” is the Latin for “cow”, and “bovinus” a Late Latin derivative term.

Domestic water buffalo are found all over the world, but mainly in the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and China. More people depend on water buffaloes than any other domestic animal. They have many uses to man, from pulling plows to providing milk.

21 Land of blarney : EIRE

“Éire”, is the Irish word for “Ireland”. The related “Erin” is an anglicized version of “Éire” and actually corresponds to “Éirinn”, the dative case of “Éire”.

Blarney is a town in County Cork in the south of Ireland. Blarney is home to Blarney Castle, and inside the castle is the legendary Blarney Stone. “Kissing the Blarney Stone” is a ritual engaged in by many, many tourists (indeed, I’ve done it myself!), but it’s not a simple process. The stone is embedded in the wall of the castle, and in order to kiss it you have to sit on the edge of the parapet and lean way backwards so that your head is some two feet below your body. There is a staff member there to help you and make sure you don’t fall. The Blarney Stone has been referred to as the world’s most unhygienic tourist attraction! But once you’ve kissed it, supposedly you are endowed with the “gift of the gab”, the ability to talk eloquently and perhaps deceptively without offending. The term “blarney” has come to mean flattering and deceptive talk.

22 Pass during the N.F.L. playoffs : BYE

The word “bye”, as used in sport, originated in cricket. A bye is a run scored due to an error by the wicketkeeper (similar to a catcher in baseball) when he fails to stop a ball bowled by the bowler (like a pitcher in baseball). Later the word “bye” in sport came to mean the position of a player in a tournament who is left without a competitor when the rest have drawn pairs. In these commercial times, those byes tend to be awarded to the best (seeded) players, so that the most popular players always advance past the first round of competition.

23 THE LADY VANI_ _ _ _ (#2, 1964) : SHE’S NOT THERE

The Zombies are a rock band from St. Albans in England that formed in 1962. The band’s big hits were “She’s Not There” released in 1964 and “Time of the Season” from 1968.

“The Lady Vanishes” is a classic 1938 Alfred Hitchcock movie that is based on a 1936 novel “The Wheel Spins” by Ethel Lina White. Star of the film is Margaret Lockwood, who plays an English tourist on a trans-European train journey who finds herself looking for a lady who she believes has vanished from the train. Hitchcock makes his trademark cameo appearance near the end of the movie, as a passenger standing in the railway station.

25 Who infamously boasted “They can’t collect legal taxes from illegal money” : AL CAPONE

Chicago gangster Al Capone was eventually jailed for tax evasion. He was given a record 11-year sentence in federal prison, of which he served 8 years. He left prison suffering from dementia caused by late-stage syphilis. Capone suffered through 7-8 sickly years before passing away in 1947.

27 Luxurious : POSH

No one really knows the etymology of the word “posh”. The popular myth that “posh” is actually an acronym standing for “port out, starboard home” is completely untrue, and is a story that can actually be traced back to the 1968 movie “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”. The myth is that wealthy British passengers traveling to and from India would book cabins on the port side for the outward journey and the starboard side for the home journey. This trick was supposedly designed to keep their cabins out of the direct sunlight.

29 BILLE (#3, 1972) : I’LL BE AROUND

The Spinners are an R&B vocal group that formed in 1954. They are best known for their recordings on the Motown label in the 1960s. Indeed, the group is sometimes known as the Detroit Spinners or Motown Spinners. These alternative names were used to distinguish the American group from the successful UK folk group also known as the Spinners. Some of the hits for the (Detroit) Spinners are: “I’ll Be Around” (1972), “Then Came You” (1974), “The Rubberband Man” (1976) and “Working My Way Back to You/Forgive Me, Girl” (1979).

31 He gave Starbuck’s orders : AHAB

The most famous whale-hunting ship in fiction has to be Herman Melville’s Pequod, which is featured in his novel “Moby Dick”. The Pequod is skippered by the maniacal Captain Ahab, and the young chief mate is the thoughtful and intellectual Starbuck. Starbuck’s name was lifted and used by the Seattle-based coffee company.

34 NATO members, e.g. : ALLIES

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was founded not long after WWII in 1949 and is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. The first NATO Secretary General was Lord Ismay, Winston Churchill’s chief military assistant during WWII. Famously, Lord Ismay said the goal of NATO was “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.”

36 x0 (#1, 1985) : THE POWER OF LOVE

Huey Lewis and the News are a band based in San Francisco. When the movie “Ghostbusters” came out in 1984, the band sued Ray Parker, Jr. who wrote the film’s theme song, claiming that it was very similar to their own song “I Want a New Drug”. The case was settled out of court, and the following year “Huey Lewis and the News” made the most of an opportunity to write a movie theme themselves. Their smash hit “The Power of Love” was written for “Back to the Future”, and propelled the band into stardom.

The exponent of a number is the power to which it is raised, perhaps “2” for a square or “3” for a cube.

43 Porky Pig’s girlfriend : PETUNIA

Petunia Pig is a cartoon character in the “Looney Tunes” and “Merrie Melodies” universes. Petunia is the girlfriend of Porky Pig and has been around since 1937.

Porky Pig was the first of the characters created by Warner Bros. to become a hit with audiences. Porky Pig is the guy with the line at the end of each cartoon, “Th-th-th-that’s all folks!” If you don’t mind a little adult language, there’s a very funny 11-second Porky Pig clip that the studio released on a blooper reel in 1938. Porky Pig stutters out “Son of g-g-gun”, only he doesn’t say “gun” …

47 Home of Iowa State : AMES

Iowa State University of Science and Technology (ISU) is located in Ames, Iowa. Among many other notable milestones, ISU created the country’s first school of veterinary medicine, in 1879. The sports teams of ISU are known as the Cyclones.

49 Help with a crime : ABET

The word “abet” comes into English from the Old French “abeter” meaning “to bait” or “to harass with dogs” (literally “to make bite”). This sense of encouraging something bad to happen morphed into our modern usage of “abet” meaning to aid or encourage someone in a crime.

50 Google web browser : CHROME

Google’s Chrome is the most popular web browser by far, with Mozilla Firefox in second place and Apple’s Safari in third. I find Chrome to be much, much more user-friendly than Safari, and more featured than Firefox. Chrome also works very seamlessly with other Google products and with Android phones.

54 Like the Balkans in the 1990s : WAR-TORN

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”.

57 Certain peaceful protest : LIE-IN

A die-in (also “lie-in”) is a protest in which those demonstrating lie on the ground and pretend to be dead. One of the more famous die-ins was held in Washington D.C. in 2007 to protest the Iraq War. There were several thousand protesters, almost two hundred of whom were arrested, including ten veterans of the Iraq War.

58 Country singer McEntire : REBA

Reba McEntire is a country music singer and television actress. McEntire starred in her own sitcom “Reba” that aired on the WB and the CW cable channels from 2001 to 2007. She is sometimes referred to as “The Queen of Country”.

60 VAUDEVILLIAN (#2, 1988) : DEVIL INSIDE

INXS (pronounced “in excess”) was a rock band from Australia. The band formed in 1977 in Sydney as the Farriss Brothers, as three of the original lineups were indeed brothers. The biggest INXS hits in the US were “The One Thing” (1982), “Devil Inside” (1988) and “Suicide Blonde” (1990).

71 LOST, E.G. (#1, 1984) : LET’S GO CRAZY

“Let’s Go Crazy” is a song by Prince and the Revolution. It is the first track on the famous 1984 album “Purple Rain”, and the first song on the soundtrack of the 1984 movie “Purple Rain”.

73 Glacier-scaling tool : ICE AXE

A glacier is a body of ice that persists throughout the seasons, and which moves under its own weight. The term “glacier” ultimately derives from the Latin “glacies” meaning “ice”.

79 ___ Lilly (pharmaceutical giant) : ELI

Eli Lilly is the largest corporation in the state of Indiana. Founder Eli Lilly was a veteran of the Union Army in the Civil War, and a failed Mississippi plantation owner. Later in life he returned to his first profession and opened a pharmaceutical operation to manufacture drugs and sell them wholesale. Under Lilly’s early guidance, the company was the first to create gelatin capsules to hold medicines and the first to use fruit flavoring in liquid medicines.

82 Actress Garr : TERI

Actress Teri Garr had a whole host of minor roles in her youth, including appearances in nine Elvis movies. Garr’s big break came with the role of Inga in “Young Frankenstein”, and her supporting role in “Tootsie” earned Garr an Academy Award nomination. Sadly, Teri Garr suffers from multiple sclerosis. She is a National Ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

86 Only player to win the U.S. Chess Championship with no losses or draws : FISCHER

American Bobby Fischer was one of the greatest chess players of all time, enjoying remarkable success from a very early age. Perhaps his most famous victory was against Boris Spassky in 1992, a match held in Yugoslavia. At that time, there was a strict embargo against the country, bringing Fischer into conflict with his own government in the US, after which he roamed the world, never to return home. He lived in Hungary, Germany, the Philippines and Japan, and finally in Iceland where he died in 2008 at 54 years of age

92 ___ story (tale of a car company’s bankruptcy?) : SAAB

“SAAB” stands for Svenska Aeroplan AB, which translates into English as Swedish Aeroplane Limited. Although we usually think of SAAB as an auto manufacturer, it is mainly an aircraft manufacturer. If you take small hops in Europe you might find yourself on a SAAB passenger plane. The SAAB automotive division was acquired by General Motors in the year 2000, who then sold it to a Dutch concern in 2010. However, SAAB (automotive) finally went bankrupt in 2011. A Chinese consortium purchased the assets of SAAB Automotive in 2012, and so SAAB vehicles are in production again. The new vehicles are using the SAAB name, but cannot use the SAAB griffin logo, the rights to which have been retained by the mother company.

93 CHAN_E _PPEA_ANCE TO CONCEA_ _ _D MISLEA_ (#1, 1968) : JUDY IN DISGUISE

Actress Judy Garland’s real name was Frances Gumm. Garland was respected and loved both within and without the entertainment industry. She was the youngest recipient, at 39 years old, of the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in the motion picture industry.

97 Islamic spirit : DJINN

The concept of djinn existed before the Qur’an was written. It was the name given to various spirits considered lesser than angels. The word “djinn”, meaning “spirits”, also made it into the Bible. In the Qur’an, djinn are more specifically spirits of free will “created by Allah from smokeless fire”. People who exhibit unsavory characteristics can be said to be possessed by djinn. Independently, in Latin-based languages, the word “genie” is from the Latin “genius”, a guardian spirit thought to be assigned to each person at birth. When the book “The Thousand and One Nights” was translated into French, the word “djinn” was transformed into “génie”, because of the similarity in sound and the related spiritual meaning. Purely as a result of that translation, the word genie has come to mean that djinn that pops out of the bottle. Quite interesting …

100 Madhouses : ZOOS

The world’s first zoo opened in Britain in 1820. Now known as “London Zoo”, the facility was referred to back then as the “Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society of London”. The term “zoo” is a shortening of “zoological”.

101 TITTLE-TATTLE (#16, 2011) : RUMOUR HAS IT

“Rumour Has It” is a 2011 song co-written and recorded by English singer-songwriter Adele (hence the spelling “Rumour”). The “rumors” referred to in the song concern media gossip about Adele’s breakup with her boyfriend at the time.

109 Furnace for calcium oxide production : LIMEKILN

The name of the element calcium comes from the Latin “calcis” meaning “lime”. “Quicklime” and “burnt lime” are common names for calcium oxide.

110 ENTICEMENT (#1, 1983) : COME ON EILEEN

“Come on Eileen” is a great song by the English group Dexys Midnight Runners that was released in 1982. The astronauts on one of the Space Shuttle Discovery missions were woken up by NASA on the final day to the strains of “Come on Eileen”. The mission’s commander was astronaut Eileen Collins.

118 “___ Como Va” (Santana hit) : OYE

“Oye Como Va” is a song written by Tito Puente in 1963. The best-known recording is the cover version by Santana released in 1970.

119 Female Olympian of note : HERA

In Greek mythology, Hera was the wife of Zeus and the goddess of women, marriage, family and childbirth. She was noted for her jealous and vengeful nature, particularly against those who vied for the affections of her husband. The equivalent character to Hera in Roman mythology was Juno. Hera was the daughter of Cronus and Rhea.

Mount Olympus is the highest peak in Greece. In Greek mythology, Mount Olympus was home to the gods, and in particular home to the principal gods known as the Twelve Olympians.

121 Place of worship whose third, fourth and fifth letters are appropriate : PAGODA

“Pagoda” contains the hidden word “god”.

Pagodas are tiered (“storied”) towers, found in various parts of Asia, that are usually built for religious purposes.

Down

1 One of eight in a stick of butter: Abbr. : TBSP

Tablespoon (tbsp.)

5 Mary ___ Evans a.k.a. George Eliot : ANN

“George Eliot” was the pen name of English novelist Mary Anne Evans. As one might think, Evans chose a male pen name in order that her work might be best appreciated in the Victorian era. Eliot wrote seven novels including “Adam Bede” (1859), “The Mill on the Floss” (1860), “Silas Marner” (1861) and “Middlemarch” (1871-72).

6 Opposite of paleo- : NEO-

The prefix “paleo-” means “prehistoric, primitive”. It comes from the Greek word “palaios” which means “old, ancient”. The prefix “neo-” would be the opposite, meaning “new, recent”.

7 Memo abbr. : ATTN

Attention (attn.)

8 When doubled, Hawaiian food fish : MAHI

“Mahi-mahi” (meaning “very strong”) is the Hawaiian name for the dolphinfish, which is also known as the dorado. The mahi-mahi is an ugly looking creature if ever I saw one …

9 Pique : IRE

Our term “pique” meaning “fit of ill feeling” is a French word meaning “prick, sting, irritation”.

11 Opera with the aria “Ave Maria” : 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.

12 Naval engineer : SEABEE

The Seabees are members of the Construction Battalions (CB) of the US Navy, from which the name “Seabee” originates. There’s a great 1944 movie called “The Fighting Seabees” starring John Wayne that tells the story of the birth of the Seabees during WWII. The Seabees’ official motto is “Construimus. Batuimus”, Latin for “We build. We fight.” The group’s unofficial motto is “Can Do!”

14 Quint’s boat in “Jaws” : ORCA

The famous line “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” from 1975’s “Jaws” was ranked no. 3 in a list of top movie quotes compiled by “The Hollywood Reporter”. The top of the list makes interesting reading, with the following comprising the top five:

  1. “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” from “Gone With the Wind” (1939)
  2. “Here’s looking at you, kid.” from “Casablanca” (1942)
  3. “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” from “Jaws” (1975)
  4. “May the Force be with you.” from “Star Wars” (1977)
  5. “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” from “The Wizard of Oz” (1939)

17 Arthur who invented the crossword puzzle (1913) : WYNNE

Arthur Wynne is generally credited with the invention of what we now know as a crossword puzzle. Wynne was born in Liverpool, England and emigrated to the US when he was 19-years-old. He worked as a journalist and was living in Cedar Grove, New Jersey in 1913 when he introduced a “Word-Cross Puzzle” in his page of puzzles written for the “New York World”. The first book of crossword puzzles was published by Shuster & Shuster, in 1924. The collection of puzzles was a huge hit, and crosswords were elevated to the level of “a craze” in 1924 and 1925.

24 Kind of terrier : TIBETAN

Most terrier breeds of dog originated in Britain and Ireland. Terriers were developed as working dogs, with the job of controlling populations of rats, rabbits and foxes by rooting them out above and below the ground. The name “terrier” comes via Middle French from the Latin “terra” meaning “earth”, a reflection of the breed’s habit of burrowing into the earth looking for its prey.

26 Young chicken, e.g. : POULT

A poult is a young fowl, like a turkey, chicken or pheasant

30 Actress Tyler : LIV

Actress and model Liv Tyler is the daughter of Steven Tyler, lead singer with Aerosmith, and Bebe Buell, a celebrated model and singer. Liv Tyler plays the Elf maiden Arwen Undómiel in Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

40 Out of gas, informally : ON E

On empty (on E)

44 Part of the brainstem : PONS

In anatomical terms, a “pons” (plural “pontes”) is a slender tissue joining two parts of an organ. “Pons” is Latin for “bridge”. Sometimes the term “pons” is used to describe a band of nerve fibers on the front of the brain stem that links (“bridges”) the medulla oblongata and the cerebellum with the upper part of the brain. This band is referred to more completely as the pons Varolii.

46 Greek letter that might follow “z” : ETA

Eta is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, and is a forerunner of our Latin character “H”. Originally denoting a consonant, eta was used as a long vowel in Ancient Greek.

50 Eyelashes : CILIA

“Cilia” (singular “cilium”) is Latin for “eyelashes”.

51 Ketchup brand : HEINZ

The HJ Heinz Company is an American concern that is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded in 1869 by Henry John Heinz. It was Heinz himself who came up with the marketing slogan of “57 Varieties”. The “57” really doesn’t have any relevance to the range of products available as Heinz chose the “5” because it was his lucky number, and the “7” because it was his wife’s lucky number.

The term “ketchup” may be of Chinese origin. One suggestion is that the name comes from “kôe-chiap”, meaning the brine of pickled fish. The name may also come from the Chinese “jyutping”, meaning “tomato sauce”.

52 “One ___-dingy” (Ernestine the operator’s catchphrase on “Laugh-In”) : RINGY

Lily Tomlin is a comedian and actress who got her big break as a regular member of the cast of “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” in the late sixties and early seventies. Tomlin created several great characters on the show. My personal favorite is Ernestine, the condescending telephone operator with the marvelous nasal voice and snorting laugh. Ernestine was fond of saying “One ringy dingy …” I really enjoy Tomlin’s performances as an actress, notably in the movies “9 to 5” and “All of Me”, and on the TV shows “The West Wing” and “Grace and Frankie”. I went to her stage show many years ago in San Francisco, and just did not enjoy it. I was devastated …

55 Arch type : OGEE

An ogee is a type of S-curve. Specifically, it is a figure consisting of two arcs that curve in opposite directions (like an S) but both ends of the curve end up parallel to each other (which is not necessarily true for an S). An ogee arch is composed of two ogees, with one being the mirror of the other and meeting at the arch’s apex.

57 Petrol unit : LITRE

Petrol is the same thing as gasoline. “Petrol” comes via French from the Latin “petroleum”, itself derived from “petra” meaning “rock” and “oleum” meaning “oil”.

61 Mi, in a C major scale : E NOTE

The sol-fa syllables are: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la & ti.

63 Pelvic bones : ILIA

The sacrum and the two ilia are three bones in the human pelvis.

68 Island where Paul Gauguin painted : TAHITI

Tahiti is the most populous island in French Polynesia, which is located in the central Southern Pacific. Although Captain Cook landed in Tahiti in 1769, he wasn’t the first European to do so. However, Cook’s visit was the most significant in that it heralded a whole spate of European visitors, who brought with them prostitution, venereal disease and alcohol. Included among the subsequent visitors was the famous HMS Bounty under the charge of Captain Bligh.

Paul Gauguin was a French artist in the Post-Impressionist period. Gauguin was a great friend of Vincent van Gogh, and indeed was staying with him in Arles when van Gogh famously cut off his own ear. Equally famously, Gauguin “fled” to Tahiti in 1891 to escape the conventions of European life. He painted some of his most famous works on the island. After ten years living in Tahiti, Gauguin relocated to the Marquesas Islands, where he passed away in 1903.

69 Book that’s the source of the phrase “a land flowing with milk and honey” : EXODUS

The Book of Exodus is the second book in the Bible, and deals with Moses leading the Hebrews out of Egypt. The name “Exodus” comes from the Greek “exodos” meaning “departure”.

70 Go back (on) : RENEGE

To renege on something is to back out of it. It’s a verb commonly used in card games like bridge and whist. A renege is when a player doesn’t follow suit, even though there may be a card of the suit led in his/her hand.

74 “Zebra” : REF

A football referee is sometimes called a “zebra”, a reference to the striped shirt that is part of the official uniform.

75 Slugger from Louisville : ALI

Boxer Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. was born in 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky. Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali when he converted to Islam in 1964. Who can forget Muhammad Ali lighting the Olympic flame for the 1996 games in Atlanta?

The city of Louisville, Kentucky was chartered as a town in 1780 and was named in honor of King Louis XVI of France as French soldiers were aiding Americans in the Revolutionary War that was raging at that time.

80 Annual eight-day celebration : CHANUKAH

The term “Hanukkah” (also “Chanukah”) comes from the Hebrew for “to dedicate”. Hanukkah is a holiday lasting eight days that commemorates the rededication of the Holy Temple of Jerusalem after a successful Jewish revolt against the Seleucids in the 2nd-century BCE. The story of Hanukkah includes the miracle of the one-day supply of oil that kept the menorah alight for eight days.

81 Basketball stat: Abbr. : REB

Rebounds (Reb)

82 Numbskull : TWIT

“Twit” is a word not used very often here in America. It’s a slang term that used to be quite common in England where it was used for “someone foolish and idiotic”.

87 Craft carried over a portage : CANOE

The boat known as a canoe takes its name from the Carib word “kenu” meaning “dugout”. It was Christopher Columbus who brought “kenu” into Spanish as “canoa”, which evolved into our English “canoe”.

Portage is the carrying of a boat and/or its cargo over land, perhaps to circumvent an obstacle.

88 Rhythmic part of a heartbeat : SYSTOLE

In the heart, the term “systole” describes the rhythmic contraction of the ventricles to pump the blood around the body.

93 Protagonist in “The Stepford Wives” : JOANNA

“The Stepford Wives” is a 1972 novel by Ira Levin about a Connecticut community in which the husbands replace their wives with docile robots. There have been two film adaptations of the book, the first released in 1975 and starring Katharine Ross (my favorite). The second movie adaptation, released in 2004, isn’t as good in my opinion, although Bette Midler plays a great supporting role.

94 FedEx competitor : UPS

United Parcel Service (UPS) is based in Sandy Springs, Georgia and has its own airline that operates out of Louisville, Kentucky. UPS often goes by the nickname “Brown”, because of its brown delivery trucks and brown uniforms.

96 Old Glory : US FLAG

The person who coined the phrase “Old Glory” with reference to the American flag was Captain William Driver, a shipmaster from Salem, Massachusetts. As Driver was leaving on an 1831 voyage aboard the brig Charles Doggett, he unfurled the American flag that he had just been given by a group of friends. As the flag caught the breeze, he uttered the words, “Old Glory!”. That’s the story anyway. On that same voyage, Charles Doggett rescued the famous mutineers of the HMS Bounty, after he encountered them on Pitcairn Island.

97 1964 Tony Randall title role : DR LAO

“The Circus of Dr. Lao” is a novel by Charles G. Finney, first published in 1935. There was a famous film adaptation released in 1964 called “7 Faces of Dr. Lao” starring Tony Randall in the title role. Randall wasn’t the first choice, as the director wanted Peter Sellers for the part. However, MGM insisted on an American lead, and it turned out to be a great choice.

Actor Tony Randall was from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Although he had a long and distinguished Hollywood career, Randall was best known for playing Felix Unger on the TV version of “The Odd Couple” by Neil Simon. Randall was married to his first wife for fifty years, before she passed away in 1993. A few years later, the 75-year old veteran actor married his second wife, who was 50 years his junior. The happy couple had two children together.

99 Duck or Penguin : NHL’ER

The Walt Disney Company founded the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim hockey team in 1993, with the franchise’s name being a nod to the 1992 Disney movie called “The Mighty Ducks”. The name was changed to the Anaheim Ducks when Disney sold the team before the 2006-2007 season.

The Penguins are the professional hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They have been around since 1967, and were one of the first expansion teams when the NHL grew from six to twelve teams. The expansion team were to play in Pittsburgh’s Civic Arena, a domed structure known locally as the Igloo. It was the “Igloo” name that inspired a fan to suggest the “Penguins” moniker, which won a contest to choose the name of the new franchise.

102 Frost : RIME

Rime is the beautiful coating of ice that forms on surfaces like roofs, trees and grass, when cold water freezes instantly under the right conditions.

104 Richard and Jane in court : ROES

Though the English court system does not use the term today, “John Doe” first appeared as the “name of a person unknown” in England in 1659, along with the similar “Richard Roe”. An unknown female is referred to as “Jane Doe ”, and the equivalent to Richard Roe is Jane Roe (as in Roe v. Wade, for example). Variants of “John Doe” used outside of the courts are “Joe Blow” and “John Q. Public”.

106 Commercial prefix with postale : AERO-

Aéropostale was a French aviation company founded in 1918 in Toulouse. When Aéropostale was founded, its focus was to be carrying mail, hence the name. The Aéropostale clothing retailer takes its name from the airline.

107 Out of office?: Abbr. : RETD

Retired (“ret.” or “retd.”)

108 One-named Irish hitmaker : ENYA

Enya’s real name is Eithne Ní Bhraonáin, which can translate from Irish into Enya Brennan. Her Donegal family (in the northwest of Ireland) formed a band called Clannad, which included Enya. In 1980 Enya launched her very successful solo career, eventually becoming Ireland’s best-selling solo musician. And, she sure does turn up a lot in crosswords!

112 Madrid’s country, in the Olympics : ESP

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) uses its own set of three-letter abbreviations for country names, e.g. HUN (Hungary), ECU (Ecuador), ESP (Spain) and CRO (Croatia).

Spain is the second largest country in the European Union (after France). “Spain” is an anglicized form of the Spanish name “España”, which comes from the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula “Hispania”.

Madrid is the most populous city in Spain, and is the nation’s capital. It is located very close to the geographical center of the country. Madrid is the second-largest city in the European Union by population, after Berlin. People from Madrid called themselves Madrileños.

113 Song lead-in to “Believer,” “Loser” or “Survivor” : I’M A …

“I’m a Believer” was a big hit for the Monkees in 1966. The band’s recording of “I’m a Believer” is a cover version. The song was written and originally recorded by Neil Diamond.

The Beatles song “I’m a Loser” first appeared on the “Beatles for Sale” album in 1964. The first pressing of the album listed the song’s title as “I’m a Losser”, i.e. with a spelling error. If you have one of those records, I’d say it’s worth a pretty penny …

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Symbol of authority, informally : THE MAN
7 Compañero : AMIGO
12 Delhi issue : SMOG
16 Reaction to puppy pics : AWW!
19 Water buffalo, for one : BOVINE
20 French ___ (trick-taking game) : TAROT
21 Land of blarney : EIRE
22 Pass during the N.F.L. playoffs : BYE
23 THE LADY VANI_ _ _ _ (#2, 1964) : SHE’S NOT THERE
25 Who infamously boasted “They can’t collect legal taxes from illegal money” : AL CAPONE
27 Luxurious : POSH
28 Suffix in some pasta names : -INI
29 BILLE (#3, 1972) : I’LL BE AROUND
31 He gave Starbuck’s orders : AHAB
34 NATO members, e.g. : ALLIES
35 Adorable sort : CUTEY
36 x0 (#1, 1985) : THE POWER OF LOVE
41 Barnyard baby : CALF
42 Keep one’s mouth shut? : HUM
43 Porky Pig’s girlfriend : PETUNIA
44 It cost 5¢ in 1965 : POSTAGE
47 Home of Iowa State : AMES
49 Help with a crime : ABET
50 Google web browser : CHROME
53 Laser pointer chaser : CAT
54 Like the Balkans in the 1990s : WAR-TORN
57 Certain peaceful protest : LIE-IN
58 Country singer McEntire : REBA
59 Captivate : ENGAGE
60 VAUDEVILLIAN (#2, 1988) : DEVIL INSIDE
65 Become more complicated, say : DEEPEN
66 Getting together : UNITING
67 Sheen : LUSTER
71 LOST, E.G. (#1, 1984) : LET’S GO CRAZY
73 Glacier-scaling tool : ICE AXE
74 Yard tool : RAKE
77 Private student : TUTEE
78 Figure it out : CATCH ON
79 ___ Lilly (pharmaceutical giant) : ELI
80 “Jeez!” : CRIPES!
82 Actress Garr : TERI
85 Beach shaper : TIDE
86 Only player to win the U.S. Chess Championship with no losses or draws : FISCHER
88 Darling : SWEETIE
91 Harbor helper : TUG
92 ___ story (tale of a car company’s bankruptcy?) : SAAB
93 CHAN_E _PPEA_ANCE TO CONCEA_ _ _D MISLEA_ (#1, 1968) : JUDY IN DISGUISE
97 Islamic spirit : DJINN
99 Brand of insecticide strips : NOPEST
100 Madhouses : ZOOS
101 TITTLE-TATTLE (#16, 2011) : RUMOUR HAS IT
103 Opposite of post- : PRE-
105 Airline posting : FARE
109 Furnace for calcium oxide production : LIMEKILN
110 ENTICEMENT (#1, 1983) : COME ON EILEEN
114 Big club in Las Vegas? : ACE
115 The final word : AMEN
116 Give a lift : ELATE
117 Know-it-all : SMARTY
118 “___ Como Va” (Santana hit) : OYE
119 Female Olympian of note : HERA
120 Palindromic battlers : SEXES
121 Place of worship whose third, fourth and fifth letters are appropriate : PAGODA

Down

1 One of eight in a stick of butter: Abbr. : TBSP
2 Jolly laugh : HO HO!
3 Dec. 24 and 31, e.g. : EVES
4 Minor accident : MISHAP
5 Mary ___ Evans a.k.a. George Eliot : ANN
6 Opposite of paleo- : NEO-
7 Memo abbr. : ATTN
8 When doubled, Hawaiian food fish : MAHI
9 Pique : IRE
10 Terk in Disney’s “Tarzan,” e.g. : GORILLA
11 Opera with the aria “Ave Maria” : OTELLO
12 Naval engineer : SEABEE
13 Air traveler’s accumulation : MILES
14 Quint’s boat in “Jaws” : ORCA
15 Enclosure for a bike chain and sprockets : GEAR CASE
16 180 : ABOUT FACE
17 Arthur who invented the crossword puzzle (1913) : WYNNE
18 Overgrown, say : WEEDY
24 Kind of terrier : TIBETAN
26 Young chicken, e.g. : POULT
30 Actress Tyler : LIV
32 Move barefoot across a scorchingly hot beach, maybe : HOP
33 Shock’s partner : AWE
34 Throw ___ (rant and rave) : A FIT
36 No longer frozen : THAWED
37 Kind : HUMANE
38 Crop up : EMERGE
39 Chafe : RUB
40 Out of gas, informally : ON E
41 Internet ending that’s also an ending for inter- : -COM
44 Part of the brainstem : PONS
45 Chatter : GAB
46 Greek letter that might follow “z” : ETA
48 Affix, in a way : STAPLE
50 Eyelashes : CILIA
51 Ketchup brand : HEINZ
52 “One ___-dingy” (Ernestine the operator’s catchphrase on “Laugh-In”) : RINGY
55 Arch type : OGEE
56 Landlord’s due : RENT
57 Petrol unit : LITRE
58 Surgically remove : RESECT
60 Unearthed : DUG UP
61 Mi, in a C major scale : E NOTE
62 Number twos : VICES
63 Pelvic bones : ILIA
64 Air carrier : DUCT
68 Island where Paul Gauguin painted : TAHITI
69 Book that’s the source of the phrase “a land flowing with milk and honey” : EXODUS
70 Go back (on) : RENEGE
72 Instruction in an oatmeal recipe : STIR
74 “Zebra” : REF
75 Slugger from Louisville : ALI
76 Florida city whose name has three pairs of doubled letters : KISSIMMEE
78 Upscale watch brand : CITIZEN
80 Annual eight-day celebration : CHANUKAH
81 Basketball stat: Abbr. : REB
82 Numbskull : TWIT
83 Poetic dusk : E’EN
84 Color of traffic on a GPS : RED
87 Craft carried over a portage : CANOE
88 Rhythmic part of a heartbeat : SYSTOLE
89 Same: Prefix : ISO-
90 Sense of self : EGO
93 Protagonist in “The Stepford Wives” : JOANNA
94 FedEx competitor : UPS
95 Clears for takeoff? : DE-ICES
96 Old Glory : US FLAG
97 1964 Tony Randall title role : DR LAO
98 Like oranges and some gossip : JUICY
99 Duck or Penguin : NHL’ER
102 Frost : RIME
103 Davidson of “S.N.L.” : PETE
104 Richard and Jane in court : ROES
106 Commercial prefix with postale : AERO-
107 Out of office?: Abbr. : RETD
108 One-named Irish hitmaker : ENYA
111 Tops : MAX
112 Madrid’s country, in the Olympics : ESP
113 Song lead-in to “Believer,” “Loser” or “Survivor” : I’M A …