Constructed by: Kameron Austin Collins
Edited by: Will Shortz
Not your puzzle? Try today’s …
… syndicated NY Times crossword
Today’s Theme: None
Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers
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Bill’s time: 28m 32s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
1 Birdie of Broadway’s “Bye Bye Birdie” : CONRAD
“Bye Bye Birdie” is a stage musical set in 1958, and first performed in 1960 on Broadway. It was inspired by the real-life events surrounding Elvis Presley getting drafted into the Army in 1957. The “Elvis” character in the musical is called Conrad Birdie, a play on the name of the singer Conway Twitty. One of the songs from the show is “Put on a Happy Face”.
7 Maize patties : AREPAS
An arepa is a cornmeal cake or bread that is popular in Colombian and Venezuelan cuisines in particular. Each arepa has a flat, round shape and is often split to make a sandwich.
15 Poet who wrote “Love is so short, forgetting is so long” : NERUDA
“Pablo Neruda” was the pen name, and eventually the legal name, used by Chilean writer Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. Basoalto chose the name as an homage to Czech poet Jan Neruda.
16 Korean rice dish often served in a hot stone bowl : BIBIMBAP
The name of the Korean dish bibimbap translates literally as “mixed rice”, with “bibim” meaning “mixed ingredients” and “bap” meaning “rice”. Generally, the dish comes as a bowl of white rice topped with sautéed vegetables flavored with chili pepper paste. Variants often include a fried egg and sliced beef.
22 Like typical projects in Popular Mechanics magazine, in brief : DIY
Do-it-yourself (DIY)
23 Palindromic periodical title : ELLE
“Elle” magazine was founded in 1945 in France and today has the highest circulation of any fashion magazine in the world. “Elle” is the French word for “she”. “Elle” is published monthly worldwide, although you can pick up a weekly edition if you live in France.
24 Crime show extras, for short : PERPS
Perpetrator (perp)
25 Memory measure : BYTE
In the world of computing, a bit is the basic unit of information. It has a value of 0 or 1. A “byte” is a small collection of “bits” (usually 8), the number of bits needed to uniquely identify a character of text. The prefix mega- stands for 10 to the power of 6, so a megabyte (meg) is 1,000,000 bytes. The prefix giga- means 10 to the power of 9, and so a gigabyte (gig) is 1,000,000,000 bytes. Well, those are the SI definitions of megabyte and gigabyte. The purists still use 2 to the power of 20 for a megabyte (i.e. 1,048,576), and 2 to the power of 30 for a gigabyte.
28 ___ noires (bugbears) : BETES
“Bête noire” translates from French as “black beast”, and is used in English to describe something or someone that is disliked.
38 Horne of music : LENA
Lena Horne was an American jazz singer, actress, dancer and civil rights activist. Horne started her career as a nightclub singer and then began to get some meaty acting roles in Hollywood. However, she ended up on the blacklist during the McCarthy Era for expressing left wing political views. One of Horne’s starring roles was in the 1943 movie “Stormy Weather” for which she also performed the title song.
42 Sayings attributed to Jesus : LOGIA
“Logia” is a term of Greek origin that is used for the collection of sayings attributed to Jesus.
44 Dome : NOGGIN
Slang terms for “head” are “bean”, “coconut”, “gourd”, “noodle” and “noggin”.
46 Sugar substitute? : SNOOKUMS
The term of endearment “snookums” comes from the family name “Snooks”. Snooks was a name used in Britain in the 1800s for some hypothetical, unknown individual (as we would use the name “Joe Blow” today).
51 “Ruff ___ Anthem,” 1998 hit single for DMX : RYDERS’
“DMX” and “Dark Man X” are stage names used by rap artist Earl Simmons. DMX’s biggest hit is “Party Up (Up in Here)” released in 1999 (I know that song!). DMX seems to get in trouble with the law a lot, an awful lot …
Down
1 Old-time messages : CABLES
At least colloquially, a telegram was a telegraph message sent inland, while a cablegram was sent overseas. The use of “cablegram” came about as the message was transmitted via a submarine cable.
2 Colorful bird in the blackbird family : ORIOLE
The songbird called an oriole builds an interesting nest. It is a woven cup-like structure that is suspended from a branch like a hammock.
3 Crab ___ : NEBULA
The Crab Nebula is located in the constellation of Taurus. It was discovered in 1731 by English astronomer John Bevis, although it appears to correspond to a bright supernova reported by Chinese astronomers in 1054.
5 Horde : ARMY
A horde is a large crowd. “Horde” ultimately derives from the Turkish “ordu” meaning “camp, army”.
6 Talk over? : DUB
If voices needed to be altered on the soundtrack of a film, that means double the work as there needs to be a re-recording. “Dub” is short for “double”, and is a term we’ve been using since the late 1920s. The term has been extended to describe the adding of sound to an otherwise silent film or tape.
7 Home to the highest active volcano in the world : ANDES
The Andes range is the longest continuous chain of mountains in the world. It runs down the length of the west coast of South America for about 4,300 miles, from Venezuela in the north to Chile in the south. The highest peak in the Andes is Mt. Aconcagua in Argentina, at an elevation of 22,841 feet. Interestingly, the peak of Mt. Chimborazo in Ecuador is the furthest point on the Earth’s surface from the center of the planet. That’s because of the equatorial “bulge” around the Earth’s “waist”.
10 Sighting in a classic Looney Tunes cartoon : PUDDY TAT
Sylvester J. Pussycat is also known as Puddy Tat, and is a character who appeared in “Looney Tunes” and “Merrie Melodies” cartoons. Sylvester is the cat who is often trying to get the better of Tweety Bird, Speedy Gonzales and Hippety Hopper. Sylvester’s trademark line is the exclamation “Sufferin’ succotash!”, which emphasizes the character’s pronounced lisp.
“Looney Tunes” and “Merrie Melodies” are two series of animated short films produced by Warner Bros. from 1930 until 1969. The list of famous “Looney Tunes” characters includes Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Tweety Bird, and my favorites Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.
17 The right one can produce a smile : PARENTHESIS
An emoticon is a glyph created using text characters to represent facial features, and usually oriented sideways. The emoticon is designed to indicate emotion or attitude. The classic example is the smiley face 🙂. “Emoticon” is short for “emotion icon”.
21 Bronze producers : SPRAY-ON TANS
The most effective fake tans available today are not dyes or stains. Instead, they are sprays with the active ingredient dihydroxyacetone (DHA). DHA reacts chemically with amino acids in the dead layer of skin on the surface of the body. Sounds a little risky to me …
24 ___ Vecchio : PONTE
The Ponte Vecchio is the oldest bridge that spans the Arno river in Florence, Italy. The bridge dates back to medieval times, and indeed the name “Ponte Vecchio” translates as “Old Bridge”. Famously, there are two rows of shops built on either side of the roadway crossing the bridge.
25 Eponym of a lifetime achievement award in fashion since 1984 : BEENE
Geoffrey Beene was an American fashion designer. He had an impressive list of clients that included First Ladies Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon and Nancy Reagan. He had a very successful line of clothing called “Beene Bag”.
27 Holiday pancake : LATKE
A latke is a delicious potato pancake (I’m Irish, so anything made with potatoes is delicious, to be fair).
32 Like early uncensored Hollywood films : PRE-CODE
The Motion Picture Production Code that was in place from 1930 to 1968 was named for Presbyterian elder Will H. Hays. Hays was hired by the movie studios to help clean up Hollywood’s image after several scandals had hit the industry. The actual list of standards was drawn up by Catholic layman Martin Quigley and Jesuit priest Father Daniel A. Lord in 1929, but the code still came to be known as the Hays Code.
33 Hollywood precursor? : PLANET …
Planet Hollywood is a fun, themed restaurant where you can eat, listen to rock music and browse some interesting Hollywood memorabilia. The restaurant venture is backed by several Hollywood stars: Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore and Arnold Schwarzenegger. I actually bumped into “Arnie” in a Los Angeles “Planet Hollywood” many moons ago, soon after the chain opened in the early nineties.
35 River that flows through or beside 10 countries : DANUBE
The Danube is the second largest river in Europe (after the Volga). It flows through four European capitals (Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade and Bratislava).
36 Compound with a chemical “twin” : ISOMER
In the world of chemistry, isomers are two compounds with the same chemical formula (i.e. the same atomic constituents), but with a slightly different arrangement of the atoms relative to each other. The differing arrangement of atoms often leads to different chemical properties.
37 Nonproliferation treaty subjects, in brief : N-TESTS
Nuclear test (N-test)
42 Bygone Vatican money : LIRE
Vatican City is not a member of the European Union (EU), but does have the euro as its official currency by virtue of a special agreement with the EU. Vatican City is allowed to issue a limited number of its own euro coins, but no banknotes. The cap on the number of coins issued is raised in the year that a new pope is named. As a result of the limitations, Vatican euro coins are highly prized by collectors.
43 Booker of the Senate : CORY
Cory Booker has been a US Senator for New Jersey since 2013, having previously served as the Mayor of Newark. Booker is one of the few vegetarians in the US Congress.
47 “___ Mutual Friend” (Dickens’s last completed novel) : OUR
“Our Mutual Friend” is the last novel that Charles Dickens finished, first published in 1865. The last novel that Dickens worked on is “The Mystery of Edwin Drood”, which he left unfinished.
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Birdie of Broadway’s “Bye Bye Birdie” : CONRAD
7 Maize patties : AREPAS
13 Throw on the floor : AREA RUG
15 Poet who wrote “Love is so short, forgetting is so long” : NERUDA
16 Korean rice dish often served in a hot stone bowl : BIBIMBAP
18 Silent partner? : DEADLY
19 Replete (with) : LOUSY
20 Like the villainous Max Shreck, at the end of “Batman Returns” : TASED
22 Like typical projects in Popular Mechanics magazine, in brief : DIY
23 Palindromic periodical title : ELLE
24 Crime show extras, for short : PERPS
25 Memory measure : BYTE
26 Word with bass or bed : SEA …
27 Humble : LOWER
28 ___ noires (bugbears) : BETES
29 Certain pie filling : BANANA CREAM
31 Archetypal bossypants : PETTY TYRANT
32 Result of selling out : PACKED HOUSE
33 Part of a quote : PRICE
34 Tears : RENDS
35 It’s a racket : DIN
38 Horne of music : LENA
39 Disbands : BUSTS
40 Live on water, say : FAST
41 Part of a play group? : ACT
42 Sayings attributed to Jesus : LOGIA
43 “I can row a boat. ___?” (groaner joke) : CANOE
44 Dome : NOGGIN
46 Sugar substitute? : SNOOKUMS
48 Russian writer and dissident Limonov : EDUARD
49 There’s no doubt about it : SURE BET
50 Gets tight : TENSES
51 “Ruff ___ Anthem,” 1998 hit single for DMX : RYDERS’
Down
1 Old-time messages : CABLES
2 Colorful bird in the blackbird family : ORIOLE
3 Crab ___ : NEBULA
4 Subject of an end-of-year office memo, maybe : RAISE
5 Horde : ARMY
6 Talk over? : DUB
7 Home to the highest active volcano in the world : ANDES
8 Kind of grass : REED
9 Period : ERA
10 Sighting in a classic Looney Tunes cartoon : PUDDY TAT
11 Appointed by the court : AD LITEM
12 Accept a proposal : SAY YES
14 Marijuana, some say : GATEWAY DRUG
17 The right one can produce a smile : PARENTHESIS
21 Bronze producers : SPRAY-ON TANS
24 ___ Vecchio : PONTE
25 Eponym of a lifetime achievement award in fashion since 1984 : BEENE
27 Holiday pancake : LATKE
28 Majors, say : BRASS
29 Kufrin of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” : BECCA
30 Disgusting buildups : CRUDS
31 One way to put on a coat : PAINT GUN
32 Like early uncensored Hollywood films : PRE-CODE
33 Hollywood precursor? : PLANET …
35 River that flows through or beside 10 countries : DANUBE
36 Compound with a chemical “twin” : ISOMER
37 Nonproliferation treaty subjects, in brief : N-TESTS
39 Gets tight (with) : BONDS
40 Staged : FAKED
42 Bygone Vatican money : LIRE
43 Booker of the Senate : CORY
45 Oomph : GAS
47 “___ Mutual Friend” (Dickens’s last completed novel) : OUR
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12 thoughts on “0205-22 NY Times Crossword 5 Feb 22, Saturday”
Comments are closed.
20:58. Very hard puzzle. Tough cluing and what I thought was some pretty obscure fill. The SW really bogged me down. Good challenge.
26:27, no errors. Mr. Collins does not disappoint! Good one! And it’s a good thing “BIBIMBAP” recently appeared in another puzzle!
28:26, but with some help. Very hard puzzle for me. 🥺
54:08 2 lookups and misspelled parenthesis(I used the plural), other than that, took twice as long as a normal human being.
You are the normal human being
24:36, no errors.
Definitely needed help.
BECCA ADLITEM BEENE LOGIA
Thought AWEPAS was a new word because I had WEED for 8D. Whoops, it was REED and 7A was ALEPAS.
Still didn’t know AREPAS.
tough day but it gets me ready for the Saturday Stumper!!!
@Anon Mike … The Stumper is definitely one to get ready for! I just finished it: no errors, no cheats, but it involved a very thoughtful 50 minutes. After the fact, all the answers make perfect sense, but I scratched my head a lot along the way.
32 minutes, no errors for me. By far not the hardest I’ve done this week, but definitely a good clean grid compared to most of the “hard” stuff out there.
38:57, no errors. Ready to throw in the pencil several times. Eventually nibbled around the corners until GATEWAY DRUG allowed me to start filling in a blank center section. Very challenging puzzle. Lucky coin flip decided that the cross between CORY/RYDERS would been a Y instead of an I.
@anonnymus – I’ve recently been doing the Stumper starting in the corners. 3 weeks in a row and I still get stuck in the middle. I keep painting myself into the center.
For today. Got the theme. The second one came later as I was solving. Missed a couple of crosses but still enjoyed it .
Couldn’t get any tractation in the center of the puzzle, especially because I was *so* sure that “archetypal bossypants” was LUCYVANPELT. Er, it wasn’t.