0203-22 NY Times Crossword 3 Feb 22, Thursday

Constructed by: Adam Wagner
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Reveal Answer: Cross Your Ts

Every apparent letter “l” in the clues is really a letter “t”, because we forgot to CROSS OUR TS. Very clever …

  • 61A Proofreader’s reminder … or some advice for finishing here? : CROSS YOUR TS
  • 16A Where a sleeping bag may be found : TEACUP (“steeping”, not “sleeping”)
  • 18A Warm coals : DOWN JACKETS (“coats”, not “coals”)
  • 20A Shakespearean fool : IAMB (“foot”, not “fool”)
  • 33A Walls in a cinema : NAOMI (“Watts, not “walls”)
  • 39A Key lime : MOMENT OF TRUTH (“time”, not “lime”)
  • 64A Agcy. making lax regs : IRS (“tax”, not “lax”)
  • 65A One who makes bail, perhaps : ANGLER (“bait”, not “bail”)
  • 2D One for whom libel is a major issue : DALAI LAMA (“Tibet”, not “libel”)
  • 4D Hurl, say : SAD (“hurt”, not “hurl”)
  • 27D IV device found in many homes nowadays : ROKU (“TV”, not “IV”)
  • 38D Goal keepers’ kin : SHEPHERDS (“goat”, not “goal”)
  • 63D Squalled, say : SAT (“squatted”, not “squalled”)

Bill’s time: 16m 22s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Aid in woodworking : ADZ

An adze (also “adz”) is similar to an axe, but is different in that the blade of an adze is set at right angles to the tool’s shaft. An axe blade is set in line with the shaft.

8 Neighbor of Francia : ESPANA

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”.

14 Chinese “way” : TAO

The name of the Chinese character “tao” translates as “path”, but the concept of Taoism signifies the true nature of the world.

17 Spokeswoman in Progressive insurance ads : FLO

Progressive is a popular auto insurance company, the one that uses the perky character named “Flo” as a spokesperson. Flo is played by comedian and actress Stephanie Courtney.

20 Shakespearean fool : IAMB (“foot”, not “fool”)

An iamb is a metrical foot containing an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. The lines in William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18” use five sequential iambs, e.g. “Shall I / compare / thee to / a sum- / -mer’s day?” With that sequence of five iambs, the poem’s structure is described as iambic pentameter.

22 Pop singer Jason : DERULO

“Jason Derulo” is the stage name of singer Jason Desrouleaux from Miramar, Florida.

23 4G ___ (phone norm) : LTE

In the world of telecommunications, the initialism LTE stands for Long-Term Evolution, and is wireless broadband communication standard. In general terms, LTE improves broadband speeds. As I understand it, LTE technology allows a 3G network to perform almost as well as a true 4G network, and so LTE is sometimes marketed as 4G LTE, even though it’s really “3G plus”.

26 Arnaz of 1950s comedy : DESI

Desi Arnaz has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. One was placed to mark his contribution to motion pictures, and the other for his work in television.

28 Hurried home, in a way : SLID IN

That would be baseball.

30 Beverage brand whose name means “fresh” in Hindi : TAZO

The Tazo Tea Company was founded in 1994 in Portland, Oregon. Tazo was purchased in 1999 by Starbucks, and then by Unilever in 2017.

33 Walls in a cinema : NAOMI (“Watts, not “walls”)

Actress Naomi Watts was born in the UK and moved to Australia when she was 14 years of age. It was in Australia that Watts got her break in television and movies. Probably her most acclaimed role was in the 2003 film “21 Grams” with Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro. Watts is best friends with fellow Australian actress Nicole Kidman.

43 Moviemaker Miyazaki : HAYAO

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese film director and animator who specializes in producing anime feature films. Anime is animation in the style of Japanese manga comic books.

44 Homophone of a synonym for “obey” : HE’D

“He’d” is a homophone of “heed”.

Homophones are words that are pronounced in the same way (e.g., ere, air, err and heir). Homonyms are a subset of homophones, and are words that have the same spelling and the same pronunciation but different meanings, for example, skate (a fish) and skate (worn on the foot).

46 Big Board org. : NYSE

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is nicknamed the “Big Board”.

48 Skunk marking : STRIPE

Skunks have anal scent glands that can be used as defensive weapons. The glands produce sulfur-containing chemicals that have a really awful smell and that can irritate the eyes and skin.

50 1942 romance movie heroine : ILSA

Rick Blaine and Ilsa Lund were played by Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in the 1942 movie “Casablanca”. I love the words of one critic describing the chemistry between Bogart and Bergman in this film: “She paints his face with her eyes”. Wow …

53 Preceder of Romeo or Bravo : ALFA

The NATO phonetic alphabet is also called the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) phonetic alphabet. Alfa, Bravo, Charlie … X-ray, Yankee, Zulu.

60 Paper view? : OP-ED

“Op-ed” is an abbreviation for “opposite the editorial page”. Op-eds started in “The New York Evening World” in 1921 when the page opposite the editorials was used for articles written by a named guest writer, someone independent of the editorial board.

64 Agcy. making lax regs : IRS (“tax”, not “lax”)

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was set up during the Civil War to raise money to cover war expenses. Prior to the introduction of income tax in 1862, the government was funded by levies on trade and property.

65 One who makes bail, perhaps : ANGLER (“bait”, not “bail”)

We use the verb “to angle” to mean “to fish” because “angel” is an Old English word meaning “hook”.

66 Buggy app version, maybe : BETA

In the world of software development, the first tested issue of a new program is usually called the alpha version. Expected to have a lot of bugs that need to be fixed, the alpha release is usually distributed to a small number of testers. After reported bugs have been eliminated, the refined version is called a beta and is released to a wider audience, but with the program clearly labeled as “beta”. The users generally check functionality and report further bugs that are encountered. The beta version feeds into a release candidate, the version that is tested just prior to the software being sold into the market, hopefully bug-free.

69 Primer dog : SPOT

In the “Dick and Jane” series of books for children, Spot was a cat back in the thirties, but then became a dog in later editions.

A primer is a textbook used to teach the alphabet and basic reading. When “primer” is used in this sense in the US, it is pronounced with a short letter I (giving “primmer”). I’ve never understood why such a pronunciation would be used …

70 Org. Edward Snowden once worked for : NSA

Edward Snowden is a former NSA contractor who leaked several top secret NSA documents to the media beginning in June 2013. After disclosing his name as the source of the leaks, Snowden tried to seek asylum in Ecuador. While traveling to Ecuador he had a layover in Moscow. While in Moscow, the US government revoked his passport, which effectively left him stranded in the transit area of Moscow Airport. The Russian government eventually granted him annually-renewable temporary asylum.

Down

2 One for whom libel is a major issue : DALAI LAMA (“Tibet”, not “libel”)

The Dalai Lama is a religious leader in the Gelug branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The current Dalai Lama is the 14th to hold the office. He has indicated that the next Dalai Lama might be found outside of Tibet for the first time, and may even be female.

Tibet is a plateau region that is part of China, and is located northeast of the Himalayas. Tibet declared its independence from China in 1913, but fell back under Chinese control after the Invasion of Tibet in 1951. The Tibetan leader, the 14th Dalai Lama, fled the country during the 1959 Tibetan Rebellion. Since then, he has led the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India.

5 Kind of ring or music : MOOD

Mood rings were invented relatively recently, in 1975, and became a bit of a fad for a few years. A mood ring is one containing a “stone” that changes color with temperature, although the color change is touted as being dependent on the wearer’s mood. The part of the ring that changes color is actually a liquid crystal that responds to temperature changes.

8 And so on : ET ALIA

“Et alii” (et al.) is the equivalent of “et cetera” (etc.), with “et cetera” being used in place of a list of objects, and “et alii” used for a list of names. In fact, “et al.” can stand for “et alii” (a group of males, or males and females), “et aliae” (a group of women) and “et alia” (a group of neuter nouns, or a group of people where the intent is to retain gender-neutrality).

9 Dry, as a vino : SECO

In Spain, one might drink “vino seco” (dry wine).

10 Afg. neighbor : PAK

The suffix “-stan” in many place names is Persian for “place of”. One example is “Pakistan”, the Place of the Pure. “Pakistan” is a relatively recent name, coined in 1933. It comes from the abbreviation PAKSTAN, standing for Punjab – Afghan Province – Kashmir – Sindh – BaluchisTAN, all regions in the north of India. The “I” was added to Pakistan to make it easier to pronounce, and to fit the translation “Land of the Pure”.

11 Express service since 2000 : ACELA

The Acela Express is the fastest train routinely running in the US, as it gets up to 150 mph at times. The service runs between Boston and Washington D.C. via Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. Introduced in 2000, the brand name “Acela” was created to evoke “acceleration” and “excellence”.

13 Church areas : APSES

The apse of a church or cathedral is a semicircular recess in an outer wall, usually with a half-dome as a roof and often where there resides an altar. Originally, apses were used as burial places for the clergy and also for storage of important relics.

27 IV device found in many homes nowadays : ROKU (“TV”, not “IV”)

Roku is a manufacturer of digital media players that allow access to audio and video programming over the Internet that is shown on television. Roku was founded in Los Gatos, California in 2002 by Anthony Wood. Wood chose the company name “Roku” as it is the Japanese word for “six”, and Roku is the sixth company that Wood founded. For what it’s worth, Rokus are my streaming devices of choice …

29 Grandma, in Cambridge : NAN

The famous university city of Cambridge in England takes its name from an Old English term meaning “Bridge on the River Granta”. The river in question is now called the River Cam, with “Cam” being a back formation from “Cambridge”.

34 Game whose board is an 8×8 grid : OTHELLO

The game of Reversi is also sold as Othello. The name “Othello” was chosen as a nod to the play by William Shakespeare.

35 Big bygone bird : MOA

Moas were flightless birds native to New Zealand that are now extinct. The fate of the Moa is a great example of the detrimental effect that humans can have on animal populations. The Maoris arrived in New Zealand about 1300 AD, upsetting the balance of the ecosystem. The Moa were hunted to extinction within 200 years, which had the knock-on effect of killing off the Haast’s Eagle, the Moa’s only predator prior to the arrival of man. Moa were huge creatures, measuring up to 12 feet tall with their necks stretched upwards.

37 Addis Ababa denizen : ETHIOPIAN

Ethiopia holds an important position within the nations of Africa, with the capital of Addis Ababa being home to many international organizations that are focused on the continent.

40 Suvari of “American Pie” : MENA

Mena Suvari’s most famous role to date is probably “the beauty” in the 1999 movie “American Beauty”. She played the teenage girl with whom the Kevin Spacey character becomes infatuated. Suvari also plays Heather in the “American Pie” films.

41 Profs’ aides : TAS

Teaching assistant (TA)

45 Some of Jordan’s border : DEAD SEA

The Dead Sea is a salt lake that lies over 1,000 feet below sea level in the Middle East. It is one of the saltiest bodies of water in the world, with a salt content that is almost ten times that of most oceans.

The nation that we know as Jordan takes its name from the River Jordan that forms part of the country’s border with Israel and Palestine to the west. Jordan achieved independence in 1946 after the UN approved the end of the British Transjordan Mandate. The Kingdom of Transjordan changed its name to Jordan in 1948.

47 Companions of Dionysus : SATYRS

The satyrs of Greek mythology came with a very high sex drive. They are the “rude” male subjects drawn on the side of old Greek vases. The nubile maidens known as nymphs were often an object of attention for the satyrs.

Dionysus was the party animal of Greek mythology. Dionysus was the god of wine, ritual madness and ecstasy! His Roman equivalent was Bacchus.

49 Offspring of Kanga : ROO

Kanga is a friend of A. A. Milne’s “Winnie-the-Pooh”, and is a kangaroo. She is the mother of Roo, who appears more frequently in the storyline.

50 Quechua speakers : INCAS

Quechua was the Native-American language adopted by the Incan Empire and favored over other dialects. Today, Quechua is one of the official languages in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, alongside Spanish.

51 “___ Doone” : LORNA

The novel “Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor” was written by Richard Doddridge Blackmore. R. D. Blackmore was an English novelist, very celebrated and in demand in his day (the late 1800s). His romantic story “Lorna Doone” was by no means a personal favorite of his, and yet it is the only one of his works still in print.

52 Cheap cigar : STOGY

A stogie (also “stogy”) is both a rough, heavy shoe and a long, cheap cigar. Both items were favored by the drivers of the covered wagons called Conestogas that wended their way across the Midwest in days gone by. The term “stogie” is derived from the name of the wagon, which itself is named after the area in which the wagons were built, i.e. Conestoga, near Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

55 “Mad Men” worker, in brief : AD REP

“Mad Men” was the flagship show on the AMC television channel for several seasons. Set in the sixties, it’s all about an advertising agency located on Madison Avenue in New York (hence the title). “Mad Men” became the first show created by a basic cable channel to win an Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series.

59 Prussia’s ___ von Bismarck : OTTO

Germany first became a country of her own in 1871 when the Princes of the various independent German states met at Versailles outside Paris to proclaim Wilhelm of Prussia as the Emperor of the German Empire. The man behind this historic development was Wilhelm’s Ministerpräsident, Otto von Bismarck. Von Bismarck was a powerful figure in Prussia and indeed on the world stage, earning him the nickname “Iron Chancellor”.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Aid in woodworking : ADZ
4 Having excessive pride : SMUG
8 Neighbor of Francia : ESPANA
14 Chinese “way” : TAO
15 Primo : A-ONE
16 Where a sleeping bag may be found : TEACUP (“steeping”, not “sleeping”)
17 Spokeswoman in Progressive insurance ads : FLO
18 Warm coals : DOWN JACKETS (“coats”, not “coals”)
20 Shakespearean fool : IAMB (“foot”, not “fool”)
22 Pop singer Jason : DERULO
23 4G ___ (phone norm) : LTE
24 Springs (from) : RISES
26 Arnaz of 1950s comedy : DESI
27 Sunbeams : RAYS
28 Hurried home, in a way : SLID IN
30 Beverage brand whose name means “fresh” in Hindi : TAZO
32 Go for bronze? : TAN
33 Walls in a cinema : NAOMI (“Watts, not “walls”)
36 Squeaks (by) : EKES
39 Key lime : MOMENT OF TRUTH (“time”, not “lime”)
42 Over again : ANEW
43 Moviemaker Miyazaki : HAYAO
44 Homophone of a synonym for “obey” : HE’D
46 Big Board org. : NYSE
48 Skunk marking : STRIPE
50 1942 romance movie heroine : ILSA
53 Preceder of Romeo or Bravo : ALFA
56 Whoop-de-do : HOO-HA
57 “Kidding!” : NOT!
58 “Good enough” : IT’LL DO
60 Paper view? : OP-ED
61 Proofreader’s reminder … or some advice for finishing here? : CROSS YOUR TS
64 Agcy. making lax regs : IRS (“tax”, not “lax”)
65 One who makes bail, perhaps : ANGLER (“bait”, not “bail”)
66 Buggy app version, maybe : BETA
67 Drink suffix : -ADE
68 Acquiesce : SAY YES
69 Primer dog : SPOT
70 Org. Edward Snowden once worked for : NSA

Down

1 Before knowing more : AT FIRST
2 One for whom libel is a major issue : DALAI LAMA (“Tibet”, not “libel”)
3 Magnifies, in a way : ZOOMS IN ON
4 Hurl, say : SAD (“hurt”, not “hurl”)
5 Kind of ring or music : MOOD
6 Nonunion? : UNWED
7 Sci-fi or romance : GENRE
8 And so on : ET ALIA
9 Dry, as a vino : SECO
10 Afg. neighbor : PAK
11 Express service since 2000 : ACELA
12 Harebrained : NUTTY
13 Church areas : APSES
19 Provide a good reason for : JUSTIFY
21 King or queen : BED
25 Fibrous : SINEWY
27 IV device found in many homes nowadays : ROKU (“TV”, not “IV”)
29 Grandma, in Cambridge : NAN
31 Beginning of an ordered sequence : ZEROTH
34 Game whose board is an 8×8 grid : OTHELLO
35 Big bygone bird : MOA
37 Addis Ababa denizen : ETHIOPIAN
38 Goal keepers’ kin : SHEPHERDS (“goat”, not “goal”)
40 Suvari of “American Pie” : MENA
41 Profs’ aides : TAS
45 Some of Jordan’s border : DEAD SEA
47 Companions of Dionysus : SATYRS
49 Offspring of Kanga : ROO
50 Quechua speakers : INCAS
51 “___ Doone” : LORNA
52 Cheap cigar : STOGY
54 Messes up : FLUBS
55 “Mad Men” worker, in brief : AD REP
58 “Hmm …” : I SEE …
59 Prussia’s ___ von Bismarck : OTTO
62 Foxy : SLY
63 Squalled, say : SAT (“squatted”, not “squalled”)

9 thoughts on “0203-22 NY Times Crossword 3 Feb 22, Thursday”

  1. 21:03, no errors. I was quite … well … puzzled by this puzzle’s theme until I finally got to the revealer at 61-Across. At that point, I went back and rechecked all the clues and answers before putting in the final letter, thereby inflating my time a bit. (Mind you, I don’t care that much about solving times, but I don’t want to look like a total snail, either … 😜.) A very clever construction!

  2. 49:52 Not to worry about your snail’s pace, Nonny, DuncanR to the rescue with more than double your time!👍
    Same as you regarding figuring out the gimmick after the reveal answer. What really got me was having to guess multiple combinations of letters for Tazo and Zeroth. Never heard of either one until now. Mistakenly having “etalli” didn’t help….

  3. 22:30 – with an assist in the NW corner. I got most of the answers from crosses, tho I didn’t understand several of the answers, obviously – even after getting the revealer at 61A. I went to the Wordplay article to make sense of the “trick” – a clever one I might add. I was certainly stumped.

  4. 25:31. Indeed very clever. Even after I got the reveal, I wasn’t sure what was going on. IV in the home becoming ROKU was the “aha” moment for me.

    Best –

  5. 16:38, no errors. Fortunately, got almost all the theme answers from crosses; only using the theme to make sense of NAOMI and SHEPHERDS. Got thrown for a bit by the use of the upper case I since most of the theme clues used lower case l. Learning about the ‘Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics’ finally reaped rewards…

  6. From syndication land and a day later: I don’t think “IV device…” is part of the theme clues. “IV” is a fairly common abbreviation for “internet video”. Plus, it doesn’t have a symmetrical clue — “Suvari of American Pie”, maybe “Suvart of Amertcan Pte”?

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