0311-22 NY Times Crossword 11 Mar 22, Friday

Bill’s time: 11m 45s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Parent company of Stroh’s and Schlitz : PABST

Frederick Pabst was a brewer from the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area who had immigrated to the US from Prussia with his parents. Pabst bought himself into his father-in-law’s small brewery and over the years grew the enterprise into a public company. The most famous beer from Pabst is Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Bernard Stroh was the son of a German brewer. Bernard immigrated to the US in 1848 and set up his own brewery in 1850 in Detroit. Years later, the Stroh Brewing Company introduced a European process called fire-brewing. This results in higher temperatures at a crucial stage in the brewing process, supposedly bringing out flavor. Apparently, Stroh’s is the only mainstream American beer that still uses this process.

The Joseph Schlitz brewery in MIlwaukee was once the largest beer producer in the country. The brewery was founded in 1849, and was acquired by Joseph Schlitz in 1858. Schlitz had worked in the brewery as a bookkeeper and took over management of the company after the founder, August Krug, passed away. A few years later, Schlitz married the founder’s widow and changed the company name to his own.

6 Acronym on a pay stub : FICA

The Federal Insurance Contributions Act tax (FICA) was introduced in the 1930s as part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal. FICA payments are made by both employees and employers in order to fund Social Security and Medicare.

10 Many Kellogg School grads : MBAS

The business school at Northwestern University is called the John L. Kellogg School of Management. John L. Kellogg was the son of Will Keith Kellogg of breakfast cereal fame, and John’s foundation made a generous donation in 1979, hence the current name for the business school.

16 Lake bordering four states : ERIE

Lake Erie borders four US states (Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Michigan) and one Canadian province (Ontario).

17 It’s a blank : TABULA RASA

Tabula rasa (plural “tabulae rasae”) is the idea that people are born with a “blank, clean slate”, and that knowledge comes from experience and perception. “Tabula rasa” translates literally from Latin as “scraped tablet”.

18 Key ___ : LIME

The species of citrus fruit called a key lime is so named due to its association with the Florida Keys.

19 “The Simpsons” grandfather : ABE

In the animated TV show called “The Simpsons”, Grampa Abe Simpson is voiced by Dan Castellaneta, the same actor who provides the voice for Homer.

20 Name of a family that took in an extraterrestrial : KENT

Superman was sent to Earth in a rocket as a child by his parents, who remained on the doomed planet of Krypton. On Earth, the child was discovered by Jonathan and Martha Kent, farmers who lived near the fictional town of Smallville. The Kents raised the infant as their own, giving him the name Clark, which was Ma Kent’s maiden name.

22 Kvetcher’s list : WOES

The word “kvetch” comes to us from Yiddish, with “kvetshn” meaning “to complain” or “squeeze”.

24 Like a screwdriver : ORANGE

The cocktail called a screwdriver is a mix of fresh orange juice with vodka. Apparently the drink originated with a group of engineers in the late forties who used to spike small cans of orange juice with vodka, and then stir it in with their screwdrivers.

31 Dolly-esque, say : OVINE

Dolly was the most famous sheep in the world. She was a clone, and was born in 1996 near Edinburgh in Scotland, grown from a cell taken from the mammary gland of a healthy donor sheep. When asked why she was called Dolly, the scientist responsible said, and I quote:

“Dolly is derived from a mammary gland cell and we couldn’t think of a more impressive pair of glands than Dolly Parton’s”.

36 Company whose corporate logo is known as “the Fuji” : ATARI

Founded in 1972, electronics and video game manufacturer Atari was once the fastest-growing company in US history. However, Atari never really recovered from the video game industry crash of 1983.

38 Points on a math test : LOCI

In mathematics, a locus (plural “loci”) is the set of all points that satisfy a given requirement. For example, the locus called a circle is the set of all points equidistant from a single point.

45 Largest digit in a set : BIG TOE

The big toe is referred to anatomically as the hallux (plural “halluces”). The thumb is referred to as the pollex (plural “pollices”).

61 World-weary sort? : ATLAS

In Greek mythology, Atlas was a Titan who was tasked with holding up the celestial sphere on his shoulders. The Greeks observed the planets moving and the stars in fixed positions. They believed that the stars were on the surface of a single starry sphere, the celestial sphere that was supported by Atlas.

Down

1 Moussaka go-with : PITA

Moussaka is a delicious dish from the Balkans that uses eggplant or potato as a base. The dish often includes ground meat, particularly lamb.

2 “Grand, ungodly, god-like” man of fiction : AHAB

Captain Ahab is the obsessed and far from friendly captain of the Pequod in Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick”. The role of Captain Ahab was played by Gregory Peck in the 1956 John Huston film adaptation. Patrick Stewart played Ahab in a 1998 miniseries in which Peck made another appearance, as Father Mapple.

4 Show on which Mariska Hargitay stars as Olivia Benson, informally : SVU

Mariska Hargitay is the actress who plays Olivia Benson on the long-running police drama “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”. Mariska’s father was actor and former Mr. Universe Mickey Hargitay. Her mother was Hollywood star Jayne Mansfield.

6 Common setting for a Grimm tale : FOREST

The Brothers Grimm (Jacob and Wilhelm) were two German academics noted for collecting and publishing folk tales. Among the tales in their marvelous collection are “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, “Sleeping Beauty” and “Cinderella”.

7 Land south of the Caspian Sea : IRAN

The Caspian Sea is a landlocked body of water lying between Asia and Europe. By some definitions, the Caspian is the largest lake on the planet. The name “Caspian” comes from the Caspi people who lived to the southwest of the sea in the South Caucasus.

9 Actress de Armas : ANA

Ana de Armas is an actress from Cuba. Having attended the National Theater School of Cuba, she moved to Spain at the age of 18. Thre, she made a name for herself in a Spanish TV series called “El Internado”. De Armas moved to Los Angeles in 2014, after which her performance opposite Ryan Gosling in 2017’s “Blade Runner 2049” earned her critical acclaim.

12 Rocker Mann : AIMEE

Aimee Mann is a rock singer and guitarist from Virginia. Mann is married to Michael Penn, the brother of actor Sean Penn.

15 Cho’s predecessor in the “Star Trek” franchise : TAKEI

Mr. Hikaru Sulu was played by George Takei in the original “Star Trek” series. Takei has played lots of roles over the years, and is still very active in television. Did you know that he appeared in the 1963 film, “Pt-109”? He played the helmsman steering the Japanese destroyer that ran down John F. Kennedy’s motor torpedo boat. From destroyer helmsman to starship helmsman …

John Cho is an actor and musician who was born in Seoul, South Korea but has lived in the US since he was a young boy. Cho’s break in movies came in playing Harold Lee in the ”Harold & Kumar” films. He is now making a name for himself playing Mr. Sulu in the latest “Star Trek” movies.

22 Multiweek quadrennial event : WINTER GAMES

The first Winter Olympic Games were held in 1924, in Chamonix, France. The Winter and Summer Games were held in the same year until 1992 after which they were staggered, so that we have an Olympic Games every two years.

23 Marine ___ : ONE

Marine One is the call sign used by a Marine Corps helicopter when it is carrying the US president. In fact, the call sign can be used by any Marine Corps aircraft carrying the president, but usually refers to either a Sea King or White Hawk helicopter that is used routinely in transportation to and from the White House.

25 Shankar with a Lifetime Achievement Grammy : RAVI

Ravi Shankar was perhaps the most famous virtuoso (to us Westerners) from the world of Indian classical music, and was noted for his sitar playing. Shankar was the father of the pop singer Norah Jones.

26 Agreement between mates : AYE

On a merchant ship, the first mate (sometimes “first officer, chief mate”) is the highest-ranking deck officer, and reports directly to the captain.

27 Tha ___ Pound (hip-hop duo) : DOGG

Tha Dogg Pound is a rap duo made up of Daz Dillinger and Kurupt.

30 Muse of love poetry : ERATO

In Greek mythology, Erato was the Muse of lyric poetry. She is often depicted with a wreath of myrtle and roses, and playing a lyre.

33 Color whose name comes from the French for “unbleached” : ECRU

The color ecru is a grayish, yellowish brown. The word “ecru” comes from French and means “raw, unbleached”. “Ecru” has the same roots as our word “crude”.

36 Pedigree alternative : ALPO

Alpo is a brand of dog food introduced by Allen Products in 1936, with “Alpo” being an abbreviation for “Allen Products”. Lorne Greene used to push Alpo in television spots, as did Ed McMahon and Garfield the Cat, would you believe?

37 Ecosystem that comes and goes : TIDE POOL

A tidal pool (also “rock pool”) is a pool of seawater that is left along a rocky coastline after an ebb tide.

41 Org. with a Morning Rounds daily briefing : AMA

American Medical Association (AMA)

45 Singer with the alter ego Ziggy Stardust : BOWIE

David Bowie was the stage name of English singer David Jones. Bowie adopted the alter ego Ziggy Stardust during his glam rock phase in the 1970s. Sadly, Bowie passed away from liver cancer in early 2016.

47 “Regrets,” perhaps : RSVP

“RSVP” stands for “répondez s’il vous plaît”, which is French for “answer, please”.

49 1960s-’70s Soviet space program : LUNA

The Soviet Union’s Luna program sent a series of unmanned spacecraft to the moon, some ebing orbiters and some landers. Luna 2 hit the moon’s surface in 1959, and became the first manmade object to reach the moon. Luna 17 and Luna 21 carried robotic vehicles that roamed around the moon in 1970 and 1973. Some Luna missions went to the moon, collected samples and then returned those samples to Earth.

51 ___ Turnblad, John Travolta role in “Hairspray” : EDNA

In the musical “Hairspray”, Edna Turnblad is one of the main characters. “Hairspray” was originally a John Waters movie, from 1988. In that film, Edna was played by Divine, a famous drag queen who featured in many Waters films. In the stage musical that opened in 2002, the original Broadway cast featured Harvey Fierstein as Edna. The 2007 movie adaptation of the musical had John Travolta in the role.

54 James Corden’s network : CBS

James Corden is an English actor and comedian who is best known in the US as the host of “The Late Late Show”, a talk show for which he took the helm in 2015. Prior to establishing his career on this side of the Atlantic, Corden was quite the celebrity in Britain and Ireland. He appeared in the sitcom “Gavin & Stacey” (great show), which he also co-wrote. He also hosted the comedy-sports panel show “A League of Their Own” (also great).

55 Org. targeted by Moms Demand Action : NRA

National Rifle Association (NRA)