0118-22 NY Times Crossword 18 Jan 22, Tuesday

Constructed by: Kate Schutzengel
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Reveal Answer: The Doctor is Out

Themed answers are common phrases with DR taken OUT:

  • 63A Lucy’s empty-booth sign in “Peanuts” … or a hint to 16-, 24-, 37- and 55-Across : THE DOCTOR IS OUT
    • 16A Possible requirements for joining a tattoo club? : TWO-INK MINIMUMS (from “two-drink minimums”)
    • 24A A healthy person regularly calling in sick, e.g.? : ILL PRACTICE (from “drill practice”)
    • 37A What a nervous public speaker sounds like? : UM MACHINE (from “drum machine”)
    • 55A Preceded in commenting on an adorable kitten photo, say? : BEAT TO THE “AW” (from “beat to the draw”)

    Bill’s time: 8m 39s

    Bill’s errors: 0

    Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

    Across

    1 “I feel pretty, ___ pretty” (“West Side Story” lyric) : OH SO

    Leonard Bernstein’s musical “West Side Story” is based on William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”. The musical is set in New York City and features two rival gangs: the Sharks from Puerto Rico and the Jets with working-class, Caucasian roots. Tony from the Jets (played by Richard Beymer) falls in love with Maria (played by Natalie Wood) from the Sharks. All this parallels Romeo from the House of Montague falling for Juliet from the House of Capulet in the Italian city of Verona. The stage musical was adapted into a very successful 1961 movie with the same title.

    14 Artificial feature in New York’s Central Park : LAKE

    The man most associated with the decision to develop Central Park in New York City was William Cullen Bryant, the editor of what today is the “New York Post”. He argued that the growing city needed a large, public open space, along the lines of Hyde Park in London and the Bois de Boulogne in Paris. Most of the park’s construction took place between 1860 and 1873. Much of the clearing work was accomplished using gunpowder, and it is often noted that more gunpowder was used in Central Park than in the Battle of Gettysburg.

    15 Oak or beech : TREE

    The oak was named the official National Tree of the US in 2004. It is also the national tree of many countries around the world, including England, France, Germany, Jordan, Poland, Serbia and Wales.

    The small triangular nuts of the beech tree are edible, but are very bitter. The nuts are called “beechmast” or simply “beechnuts”.

    20 It’s “the word” : MUM

    The phrase “mum’s the word” has been around since the early 1700s. “Mum” has been used to mean “silent” for centuries, the idea being that “mum” is the sound made when the lips are tightly sealed.

    23 Material easily mistaken for aluminum : TIN

    Before thin sheets of aluminum metal were available as aluminum foil, thin sheets of tin were used in various applications. Tin foil isn’t a great choice for wrapping food though, as it imparts a tinny taste. On the other side of the pond, aluminum foil has a different name. No, it’s not just the different spelling of aluminum (“aluminium”). We still call it “tin foil”. You see, we live in the past …

    28 Drifting sheet : ICE FLOE

    An ice floe is a sheet of ice that has separated from an ice field and is floating freely on the surface of the ocean.

    30 Italian author Umberto : ECO

    Umberto Eco was an Italian writer who is probably best known for his novel “The Name of the Rose”, published in 1980. In 1986, “The Name of the Rose” was adapted into a movie with the same title starring Sean Connery.

    31 Lil ___ X : NAS

    “Lil Nas X” is the stage name of rapper Montero Lamar Hill. He was born and raised just outside of Atlanta. His first hit was “Old Town Road”, which is classified as country rap.

    35 Italian author Ferrante : ELENA

    Elena Ferrante is an Italian author, best known for her 4-part series known as the “Neapolitan Novels”. What is very interesting about “Ferrante” is that the moniker is a pseudonym, and no one seems to know the author’s real name. There is some speculation that “Elena” is in fact a man.

    49 Word in a “Batman” balloon : POW!

    The television show “Batman” aired from 1966-1968. Burt Ward played Robin opposite Adam West’s Batman. Supposedly, Burt Ward was offered the part taken by Dustin Hoffman in “The Graduate”, but Ward couldn’t get out of his contract for the “Batman” television series. Holy xxxx, Batman!

    50 Org. that creates the G.R.E. : ETS

    The Educational Testing Service (ETS) was founded in 1947, and produces standardized tests for students from kindergarten through college. Perhaps most famously, ETS operates the SAT testing process.

    Passing the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is usually a requirement for entry into graduate school here in the US.

    53 “Carrying the Banner” musical : NEWSIES

    “Newsies” is a 1992 musical drama film that is based on the Newsboys Strike of 1899. Starring in the film are Christian Bale, Bill Pullman, Robert Duvall and Ann-Margret. Back in the late 1800s, “newsies” were young homeless children selling newspapers as a living. The boys organized themselves and went on strike for two weeks in protest against the money they were paid. The strike was successful and the rates were raised.

    59 Annual festival in Austin, Tex. : SXSW

    South by Southwest, also known as “SXSW”, is an annual festival that has been taking place in Austin, Texas since 1987. SXSW is a melded event, combining a music festival, a film festival and an interactive festival.

    60 Sigma/upsilon go-between : TAU

    Tau is the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet, and the letter that gave rise to our Roman “T”. Both the letters tau (T) and chi (X) have long been symbolically associated with the cross.

    61 Tabloid twosome : ITEM

    An unmarried couple known to be involved with each other might appear in the gossip columns. This appearance as “an item” in the papers, led to the use of “item” to refer to such a couple, but only since the very early seventies.

    “Tabloid” is the trademarked name (owned by Burroughs Wellcome) for a “small tablet of medicine”, a name that goes back to 1884. The word “tabloid” had entered into general use to mean a compressed form of anything, and by the early 1900s was used in “tabloid journalism”, which described newspapers that had short, condensed articles and stories printed on smaller sheets of paper.

    63 Lucy’s empty-booth sign in “Peanuts” … or a hint to 16-, 24-, 37- and 55-Across : THE DOCTOR IS OUT

    In Charles Schulz’s fabulous comic strip “Peanuts”, Charlie Brown is friends with at least three members of the van Pelt family. Most famously there is Lucy van Pelt, who bosses everyone around, and who operates a psychiatric booth that looks like a lemonade stand. Then there is Linus, Lucy’s younger brother, the character who always has his security blanket at hand. Lastly there is an even younger brother, Rerun van Pelt. Rerun is constantly hiding under his bed, trying to avoid going to school.

    69 Single-serve coffee holder : K-CUP

    A K-Cup is a single-portion cup of coffee, tea or hot chocolate in which the beverage is prepared in situ. K-Cup packs are used with brewing machines made by Keurig, a manufacturer of coffee brewers based in Reading, Massachusetts. Personally, I use a Nespresso machine …

    70 Cannabis strain named for its regional origin : KUSH

    Hashish is a drug that is derived from the Indian hemp or cannabis plant. The term “hashish” (also “hasheesh”) comes from the Arabic word for “grass”.

    71 Yemeni 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.

    Down

    4 Lena or Ken of film and TV : OLIN

    Lena Olin is a Swedish actress, and clearly someone who had acting in her blood. Her mother was the actress Britta Holmberg and her father the actor and director Stig Olin. Olin had a very successful career in Sweden, often working with the great Ingmar Bergman. Olin’s breakthrough international and English-speaking role was playing opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” released in 1988. Way back in 1974, Miss Olin was crowned Miss Scandinavia in a beauty pageant for Nordic women held in Helsinki, Finland. Olin’s most famous performance was in “Chocolat” released in 2000, and then she won an Emmy in 2003 for Best Supporting Actress in the TV show “Alias”.

    Ken Olin was one of the stars on the hit television series “thirtysomething”, playing Michael Steadman. After “thirtysomething”, Olin moved behind the camera and is now a producer and director.

    5 Reform leader memorialized in the Stone of Hope, for short : MLK

    Martin Luther King, Jr’s father was born Michael King. On a trip to Germany in 1934, Michael came to admire Protestant leader Martin Luther and changed his name to Martin Luther King on his return to the United States. Famously, he passed on his new name to his son, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr (MLK).

    6 Billie Eilish’s “Therefore ___” : I AM

    Billie Eilish is a singer-songwriter from Los Angeles. She has won several awards, and is the youngest person to have won all four major Grammy categories in the same year, i.e. Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Album of the Year.

    8 Academic job security : TENURE

    A job in a university that is described as “tenure-track” is one that can lead to a tenured position. A tenured position is a “job for life”. A person with tenure can only be dismissed for cause.

    10 It may be found above the mantle : CRUST

    The mantle of a terrestrial planet is the layer between the planetary core and planet’s crust. The Earth’s mantle has a thickness of just under 1,800 miles, and is a silicate rocky shell.

    17 Singer Young or Diamond : NEIL

    Neil Young is a singer and songwriter from Toronto, Ontario. Young is known for his solo work, as well as his earlier recordings with Buffalo Springfield and as the fourth member of Crosby, Stills & Nash. Young is also a successful movie director, although he uses the pseudonym “Bernard Shakey” for his movie work. Included in his filmography are “Human Highway” and “Greendale”.

    I saw Neil Diamond in concert back in the mid-nineties, and I must say he put on a great show. His voice is cracking a bit, but that didn’t seem to spoil anyone’s enjoyment. I’ve also seen Diamond interviewed a few times on television, and I wouldn’t say he has the most scintillating of personalities.

    18 Apple offering : IMAC

    When Apple chose the letter “I” prefix for the iMac in 1998, that letter “I” stood for “Internet”. Steve Jobs and his marketing team followed up with the message that I also stood for “individual, instruct, inform and inspire”.

    22 High, flat land feature : MESA

    “Mesa” is the Spanish for “table” and is how we get the term “mesa” that describes the geographic feature. A mesa is similar to a butte. Both are hills with flat tops, but a mesa has a top that is wider than it is tall. A butte is a much narrower formation, taller than it is wide.

    23 Idiosyncrasy : TIC

    The prefix “idio-” indicates something peculiar, as in “idiosyncrasy”, a peculiarity exhibited by an individual or a group.

    25 Good dirt : LOAM

    Loam is soil made up of sand, silt and clay in the ratio of about 40-40-20. Relative to other soil types, loam is usually rich in nutrients and moisture, drains well and is easy to till. Loam can also be used in constructing houses as it is quite strong when mixed with straw and dried.

    26 “Star Wars” princess-turned-general : LEIA

    The full name of the character played by Carrie Fisher in the “Star Wars” series of films is Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, and later Leia Organa Solo. Leia is the twin sister of Luke Skywalker, and the daughter of Anakin Skywalker (aka “Darth Vader”) and Padmé Amidala. Leia is raised by her adoptive parents Bail and Breha Organa. She eventually marries Han Solo.

    27 Ethan or Joel of filmmaking : COEN

    I think it’s great to see two brothers working together and being so successful. Joel and Ethan Coen are two movie producers and directors who both live in New York City. The Coen brothers do love the movie-making business and they even married industry “insiders”. Ethan’s wife is film editor Tricia Cooke, and Joel is married to one of my favorite actresses, the talented Frances McDormand.

    29 “Family ___” : FEUD

    “Family Feud” is an American game show that has been remade in countries all over the world. We even have a version in Ireland that we call “Family Fortunes”.

    34 Hosts, informally : MCS

    The term “emcee” comes from “MC”, an initialism used for a Master or Mistress of Ceremonies.

    41 Transmissions triggering manhunts, for short : APBS

    An All Points Bulletin (APB) is a broadcast from one US law enforcement agency to another.

    48 Cleopatra’s snake : ASP

    The asp is a venomous snake found in the Nile region of Africa. It is so venomous that the asp was used in ancient Egypt and Greece as a means of execution. Cleopatra observed such executions noting that the venom brought on sleepiness without any painful spasms. When the great queen opted to commit suicide, the asp was therefore her chosen method.

    51 Pet transported in a bike basket amid a whirlwind : TOTO

    Toto is Dorothy’s dog in the film “The Wizard of Oz”, and in the original book “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum. Toto was played in the movie by a dog called Terry, but Terry’s name was soon changed to Toto in real life due to the success of the film.

    54 Event with V-E Day and V-J Day : WWII

    World War II started in 1 September 1939 with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany. V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day) was celebrated on 8 May 1945, when the German military surrendered in Berlin. V-J Day (Victory over Japan Day) was celebrated on 2 September 1945 when the Japanese signed the surrender document aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

    56 Quaint contraction : ‘TWERE

    “‘Twere” is a quaint contraction for “it were”.

    65 Paris accord? : OUI

    In French, a response on “un questionnaire” (a questionnaire) might be “oui” (yes) or “non” (no).

    66 Dashboard reading, for short : RPM

    Revolutions per minute (rpm)

    Back in the 1800s, “dashboard” was the name given to a board placed at the front of a carriage to stop mud from “dashing” against the passengers in the carriage, mud that was kicked up by the hooves of the horses. Quite interesting …

    67 “Hallowed be ___ name” : THY

    “Hallowed be thy name” is a phrase from the Lord’s Prayer.

    Complete List of Clues/Answers

    Across

    1 “I feel pretty, ___ pretty” (“West Side Story” lyric) : OH SO
    5 Spray lightly : MIST
    9 Sore from exercise, say : ACHY
    13 Chicken or duck : FOWL
    14 Artificial feature in New York’s Central Park : LAKE
    15 Oak or beech : TREE
    16 Possible requirements for joining a tattoo club? : TWO-INK MINIMUMS (from “two-drink minimums”)
    19 Zero : NONE
    20 It’s “the word” : MUM
    21 Not great, as chances : SLIM
    23 Material easily mistaken for aluminum : TIN
    24 A healthy person regularly calling in sick, e.g.? : ILL PRACTICE (from “drill practice”)
    28 Drifting sheet : ICE FLOE
    30 Italian author Umberto : ECO
    31 Lil ___ X : NAS
    32 Give up : CEDE
    33 Point : AIM
    35 Italian author Ferrante : ELENA
    37 What a nervous public speaker sounds like? : UM MACHINE (from “drum machine”)
    41 As an ___ (parenthetically) : ASIDE
    44 Outdoor “carpet” : SOD
    45 Intro to girl : ATTA …
    49 Word in a “Batman” balloon : POW!
    50 Org. that creates the G.R.E. : ETS
    53 “Carrying the Banner” musical : NEWSIES
    55 Preceded in commenting on an adorable kitten photo, say? : BEAT TO THE “AW” (from “beat to the draw”)
    58 Megan Thee Stallion genre : RAP
    59 Annual festival in Austin, Tex. : SXSW
    60 Sigma/upsilon go-between : TAU
    61 Tabloid twosome : ITEM
    63 Lucy’s empty-booth sign in “Peanuts” … or a hint to 16-, 24-, 37- and 55-Across : THE DOCTOR IS OUT
    68 Uncommon : RARE
    69 Single-serve coffee holder : K-CUP
    70 Cannabis strain named for its regional origin : KUSH
    71 Yemeni port : ADEN
    72 Prop for a tilting bookcase, say : SHIM
    73 Dog command : STAY!

    Down

    1 Frequently, in poetry : OFT
    2 “Isn’t that special!” : HOW NICE!
    3 Reacted to a dreamboat, maybe : SWOONED
    4 Lena or Ken of film and TV : OLIN
    5 Reform leader memorialized in the Stone of Hope, for short : MLK
    6 Billie Eilish’s “Therefore ___” : I AM
    7 Economize : SKIMP
    8 Academic job security : TENURE
    9 Cash-out spot? : ATM
    10 It may be found above the mantle : CRUST
    11 The difference between a mini and a midi : HEMLINE
    12 Confident shout from an optimist : YES I CAN!
    17 Singer Young or Diamond : NEIL
    18 Apple offering : IMAC
    22 High, flat land feature : MESA
    23 Idiosyncrasy : TIC
    25 Good dirt : LOAM
    26 “Star Wars” princess-turned-general : LEIA
    27 Ethan or Joel of filmmaking : COEN
    29 “Family ___” : FEUD
    34 Hosts, informally : MCS
    36 Grassy expanses : LEAS
    38 Come face to face : MEET
    39 Sharpen : HONE
    40 “What’s the big ___?” : IDEA
    41 Transmissions triggering manhunts, for short : APBS
    42 Really overdoing it, in slang : SO EXTRA
    43 “They conned me!” : I WAS HAD!
    46 Exhaust : TIRE OUT
    47 Olympic group with a red, white and blue insignia : TEAM USA
    48 Cleopatra’s snake : ASP
    51 Pet transported in a bike basket amid a whirlwind : TOTO
    52 Library area : STACKS
    54 Event with V-E Day and V-J Day : WWII
    56 Quaint contraction : ‘TWERE
    57 Rabbit holder : HUTCH
    62 Wordless admonishments : TSKS
    64 Family room : DEN
    65 Paris accord? : OUI
    66 Dashboard reading, for short : RPM
    67 “Hallowed be ___ name” : THY