0429-22 NY Times Crossword 29 Apr 22, Friday

Constructed by: Erica Hsiung Wojcik
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme: None

Bill’s time: 21m 27s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

10 Peak also known as Mongibello : ETNA

Mount Etna on the island of Sicily is the largest of three active volcanoes in Italy, and indeed the largest of all active volcanoes in Europe. Etna is about 2 1/2 times the height of its equally famous sister, Mt. Vesuvius. Mt. Etna is home to a 110-km long narrow-gauge railway, and two ski resorts. It is sometimes referred to as “Mongibello” in Italian, and as “Mungibeddu” (sometimes “Muncibeddu”) in Sicilian. The English name “Etna” comes from the Greek “aitho” meaning “I eat”.

14 Big brand of kibble : 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?

“To kibble” is to crush or grind coarsely. This verb evolved into the noun “kibble” meaning meat and/or grain that is ground into small pellets, especially when it is used for pet food.

16 He called Hulk a “friend from work,” in a Marvel movie : THOR

Thor Odinson is a superhero who was introduced to us by Marvel Comics in 1962. The character is based on the Norse god Thor, and comes complete with a magical hammer. Like so many comic book heroes it seems, Thor has made it to the big screen. Actor Chris Hemsworth played the role in the 2011 film “Thor” directed by the great Kenneth Branagh. Branagh must have needed the cash. Thor’s father Odin is played by Anthony Hopkins. He must have needed the cash too …

The comic book hero named “The Hulk” first made an appearance in 1962. The Hulk is the alter ego of reserved and withdrawn physicist Bruce Banner. Banner transforms into the Hulk when he gets angry.

19 Victor ___, Nobel winner for the discovery of cosmic rays : HESS

Victor Hess was the physicist who discovered cosmic rays, winning him the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1936. Up until Hess did his experiments, it was believed that the ionizing radiation in the atmosphere originated from the Earth. Hess took measurements himself in a balloon at various altitudes (incurring some personal risk) and showed that the radiation did indeed decrease up to about 1km, but then started to increase again as the atmosphere thinned. This showed that we experience radiation at ground level that originates in outer space, a radiation later termed “cosmic rays”.

Cosmic rays aren’t actually rays at all. They are high energy particles that originate in outer space outside of our solar system. Cosmic rays interact with atoms in our atmosphere creating secondary particles that can reach the Earth’s surface.

20 Romeo and Juliet, e.g. : TEENAGERS

In Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, it is explicitly stated that Juliet is 13 years of age, and the assumption is that Romeo is perhaps a little older.

22 Show featuring Bowen Yang, for short : SNL

NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) was named “NBC’s Saturday Night” during its first season. This was to differentiate it from the ABC show airing at that time, called “Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell”. Chevy Chase uttered the famous line “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night” in the very first SNL episode on October 11, 1975. That careful wording has persisted, even though the NBC show’s name was changed to “Saturday Night Live” after Cosell’s show went off the air in 1976.

23 Item at a T.S.A. checkpoint : BIN

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) loosened the ban on liquids, aerosols and gels in carry-on baggage in 2006, From that date onwards, passengers had to abide by the 3-1-1 rule, i.e. 3.4-ounce or less containers (3), in a one-quart ziploc bag (1), one bag per person (1).

24 Symptoms of stress, it’s said : ULCERS

Until fairly recently, a peptic ulcer was believed to be caused by undue amounts of stress in one’s life. It is now known that 70-90% of all peptic ulcers are in fact associated with a particular bacterium.

26 Montreal’s Côte Saint-___ : LUC

The original name of Montreal was “Ville-Marie”, meaning “City of Mary”. “Ville-Marie” is now the name of a borough in the city, the borough which includes the downtown area and “Old Montreal”. The present-day city covers most of the Island of Montreal (in French, “Île de Montréal”) that is located where the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers meet. The name “Montreal” comes from the three-headed hill that dominates the island and is called “Mount Royal”.

27 Largest city in the U.S. that’s not a county seat : MESA

The city of Mesa, Arizona is in effect a suburb of Phoenix. The original settlement of non-Native Americans was founded by Daniel Webster Jones who led a Mormon group from St. George, Utah. The settlement was first called Jonesville, then Fort Utah and eventually Lehi. A second group of Mormons arrived and formed a settlement on top of a nearby mesa. It was this use of a mesa that eventually gave the city its current name.

29 “O patria ___” (“Aida” aria) : MIA

“O patria mia” is an aria from Verdi’s “Aida”. The aria is sung by the title character, with “O patria mia” translating as “O, my homeland”.

41 Schedule abbr. : TBA

Something not yet on the schedule (“sked” or “sched.”) is to be advised/announced (TBA).

45 Apple counter : GENIUS BAR

The technical support desk found in Apple Retail Stores is rather inventively called the Genius Bar. The certified support technicians are known as “Geniuses”. The trainees are called GYOs: Grow-Your-Own-Geniuses.

50 Repeated cry in aerobics : STEP!

Aerobic exercise is moderate activity designed to be at a low enough intensity that very little anaerobic activity takes place. In other words, the exercise is at a level where oxygen is taken in to burn fat and carbohydrate and to create energy. Anaerobic exercise is more intense and uses carbohydrate (glycogen) in the muscle to provide energy, without the need for oxygen. Aerobics are also called “cardio” as the exercises strengthen the cardiovascular system.

51 Marc or Pau of the N.B.A. : GASOL

Pau Gasol is a Spanish basketball player who started his professional career with FC Barcelona Bàsquet. He started playing in the NBA in 2001, turning out for the Memphis Grizzlies. Pau’s younger brother Marc also signed up with the Memphis Grizzlies, in 2008.

52 Cher, but not Sonny : ALTO

“Cher” is the stage name used by singer and actress Cherilyn Sarkisian. Formerly one half of husband-wife duo Sonny & Cher, she is often referred to as the Goddess of Pop. In her acting career, Cher was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar of 1984 for her performance in “Silkwood”. She went further in 1988 and won the season’s Best Actress Oscar for playing Loretta Castorini in “Moonstruck”.

Sonny Bono was a recording artist who later moved into the world of politics. As a musical entertainer, Bono was most famous for his recordings as a duo with Cher, who later became his second wife. The couple divorced, but continued to work together. Bono went into politics, first as the mayor of Palm Springs, California and later as a representative for a California district in the US House of Representatives. Sadly, Bono was killed in a skiing accident in 1998. Coincidently, Michael Kennedy (son of Robert F. Kennedy) had died in a similar skiing accident just one week earlier. The epitaph on Bono’s gravestone reads “And the Beat Goes On”, a reference to the 1967 Sonny & Cher hit “The Beat Goes On”, which was written by Sonny.

53 Dance wildly : MOSH

Moshing (also “slam dancing”) is the pushing and shoving that takes place in the audience at a concert (usually a punk or heavy metal concert). The area directly in front of the stage is known as the mosh pit. When a performer does a “stage dive”, it is into (or I suppose “onto”) the mosh pit. It doesn’t sound like fun to me. Injuries are commonplace in the mosh pit, and deaths are not unknown.

Down

2 Klein who once managed the Beatles and Rolling Stones : ALLEN

Allen Klein was a big player in the music industry starting in the sixties. He managed the Beatles as well as the Rolling Stones, both groups at the same time. Klein was a controversial figure though, eventually spending a couple of months in jail for making false statements on a tax return.

3 Pitch : SPIEL

4 Cape ___, place where the Pacific and Atlantic meet : HORN

Cape Horn is sometimes cited as the most southerly point of South America, In fact, that honor goes to the Águila Islet of the Diego Ramirez Islands. Cape Horn is however the northern point of the Drake Passage that was used by sailing ships to pass between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The use of the Drake Passage fell off with the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914.

5 “Waiting for Godot,” e.g. : TRAGICOMEDY

“Waiting for Godot” is a play by novelist and playwright Samuel Beckett that premiered in 1953. Irishman Beckett actually wrote the piece in French, under the title “En attendant Godot”. He then translated the play into English himself.

7 Sheik’s peer : EMIR

“Sheikh” (also “sheik”) is an Arabic title used by the head of a family or by the head of a Muslim religious order. The term arose in the 16th century and came from the Arabic word “shaykh”, meaning “chief, old man”.

9 Bit of info for an accountant: Abbr. : SSN

The main purpose of a Social Security Number (SSN) is to track individuals for the purposes of taxation, although given its ubiquitous use, it is looking more and more like an identity number to me. The social security number system was introduced in 1936. Prior to 1986, an SSN was required only for persons with substantial income, so many children under 14 had no number assigned. For some years the IRS had a concern that a lot of people were claiming children on their tax returns who did not actually exist. So starting in 1986, the IRS made it a requirement to get an SSN for any dependents over the age of 5. Sure enough, seven million dependents “disappeared” in 1987. Today, a SSN is required for a child of any age in order to receive a tax exemption.

13 ___ Technica (website) : ARS

Ars Technica is a technology news website that launched in 1998. The site was purchased by Condé Nast Publications in 2008.

18 An infant’s mind, according to John Locke : 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”.

John Locke was an English philosopher whose most famous work was “Essay Concerning Human Understanding”. Locke’s position was that at birth the mind is a blank slate, a “tabula rasa”, and that knowledge is determined by experiences perceived through our senses.

21 False and malicious : SLANDEROUS

The word “libel” describes a published or written statement likely to harm a person’s reputation. It comes into English from the Latin “libellus”, the word for a small book. Back in the 1500s, libel was just a formal written statement, with the more damaging association arising in the 1600s. The related concept of slander is defamation in a transient form, such as speech, sign language or gestures.

25 Org. that merged with AFTRA : SAG

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was formed back in 1933, at a time when Hollywood stars were really being exploited by the big movie studios, especially the younger and less inexperienced performers. Early supporters of the Guild included famous names like Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney (you could imagine them in a negotiation!). Past presidents of SAG were also big names, such as Eddie Cantor, James Cagney, Ronald Reagan, Howard Keel, Charlton Heston, Ed Asner and Melissa Gilbert. SAG merged with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) in 2012 to create SAG-AFTRA.

26 Diving bird : LOON

The bird known as a loon here in North America is called a diver in Britain and Ireland. The name “diver” comes from the bird’s habit of swimming calmly and then suddenly diving below the surface to catch a fish. The name “loon” comes from an Old English word meaning “clumsy” and reflects the awkward gait of the bird when walking on land.

28 Where Oliver Hazard Perry said “We have met the enemy, and they are ours” : ERIE

After defeating and capturing several Royal Navy vessels in the Battle of Lake Erie, American Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry sent a famous message to Major General William Henry Harrison:

We have met the enemy and they are ours. Two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop.

Strangely enough, the quote is perhaps best known these days on the form of a parody penned by Walt Kelly in his comic strip “Pogo”:

We have met the enemy and he is us.

Kelly’s parody was used in a strip published on Earth Day in 1971, a strip bemoaning humankind’s pollution of the planet.

34 One of the Maritime Provinces: Abbr. : PEI

Prince Edward Island (PEI) is a maritime Canadian province. The island at the center of the province was named for Prince Edward, the fourth son of King George III and the father of Queen Victoria. PEI is the smallest Canadian province, both in terms of land area and population.

39 The “a” of Torah? : ALEPH

Aleph is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and beth is the second.

42 Tonal language family : BANTU

There are hundreds of Bantu languages, which are mainly spoken in central, east and southern Africa. The most commonly spoken Bantu language is Swahili, with Zulu coming in second.

45 Chips go-with, for short : GUAC

Guacamole is one of my favorite dishes. It is prepared by mashing avocados and perhaps adding the likes of tomato, onion and lime juice. The guacamole recipe dates back as early as the 16th century, to the time of the Aztecs. “Guacamole” translates as “avocado sauce”.

46 Bygone U.S. fuel brand : ESSO

The Esso brand has its roots in the old Standard Oil company as it uses the initial letters of “Standard” and “Oil” (ESS-O). The Esso brand was replaced by Exxon in the US, but ESSO is still used in many other countries.

49 Tiny dosage units: Abbr. : MGS

Milligram (mg)

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Clean : WASH
5 Brims : TEEMS
10 Peak also known as Mongibello : ETNA
14 Big brand of kibble : ALPO
15 Anthony of “In the Heights” : RAMOS
16 He called Hulk a “friend from work,” in a Marvel movie : THOR
17 Dalliance : FLIRTATION
19 Victor ___, Nobel winner for the discovery of cosmic rays : HESS
20 Romeo and Juliet, e.g. : TEENAGERS
21 Reverential term of address : SIRE
22 Show featuring Bowen Yang, for short : SNL
23 Item at a T.S.A. checkpoint : BIN
24 Symptoms of stress, it’s said : ULCERS
26 Montreal’s Côte Saint-___ : LUC
27 Largest city in the U.S. that’s not a county seat : MESA
29 “O patria ___” (“Aida” aria) : MIA
30 It’s just you and me, baby : SOLO PARENTING
33 Rhetorical question of self-deprecation : WHO AM I KIDDING?
34 They promise no hurt feelings : PAIN RELIEVERS
35 Goof : ERR
36 ___ + anais (baby care brand) : ADEN
37 “___ sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes”: Paul Laurence Dunbar : ERE
38 “Doesn’t matter to me” : I’M EASY
40 “What do we have here!” : OHO!
41 Schedule abbr. : TBA
44 ___ Chen, member of the girl group S.H.E. : ELLA
45 Apple counter : GENIUS BAR
48 Unoccupied : IDLE
49 Score keeper? : MUSIC STAND
50 Repeated cry in aerobics : STEP!
51 Marc or Pau of the N.B.A. : GASOL
52 Cher, but not Sonny : ALTO
53 Dance wildly : MOSH
54 Tea party serving : SCONE
55 Haze : BLUR

Down

1 Floats : WAFTS
2 Klein who once managed the Beatles and Rolling Stones : ALLEN
3 Pitch : SPIEL
4 Cape ___, place where the Pacific and Atlantic meet : HORN
5 “Waiting for Godot,” e.g. : TRAGICOMEDY
6 Put down the hatch : EATEN
7 Sheik’s peer : EMIR
8 Stock exchange? : MOOS
9 Bit of info for an accountant: Abbr. : SSN
10 Guiding principles : ETHIC
11 Eerie-sounding instruments that are played without physical contact : THEREMINS
12 Item of punk jewelry : NOSE RING
13 ___ Technica (website) : ARS
18 An infant’s mind, according to John Locke : TABULA RASA
21 False and malicious : SLANDEROUS
24 It’s on the road again : USED VEHICLE
25 Org. that merged with AFTRA : SAG
26 Diving bird : LOON
27 “___ Whoopee” (jazz standard) : MAKIN’
28 Where Oliver Hazard Perry said “We have met the enemy, and they are ours” : ERIE
30 “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” group, with “the” : … SHIRELLES
31 Bundle : PILE
32 Wear (out) : TIRE
33 Grew in appreciation for : WARMED TO
34 One of the Maritime Provinces: Abbr. : PEI
39 The “a” of Torah? : ALEPH
40 Cause of bad breath : ONION
41 Intro to America’s pastime : T-BALL
42 Tonal language family : BANTU
43 Fervor : ARDOR
45 Chips go-with, for short : GUAC
46 Bygone U.S. fuel brand : ESSO
47 Try : STAB
48 End of class? : -ISM
49 Tiny dosage units: Abbr. : MGS

10 thoughts on “0429-22 NY Times Crossword 29 Apr 22, Friday”

  1. 20:29 on a Friday with no errors? And a minute faster than Bill? Wow, I’ll take it! I must have been in the zone today.

  2. 13:41, no errors. At the end, “TRAGICOMEDY” gave me the “D” of “ADEN + anais” (something that, apparently, not even my crossword lizard brain has ever encountered).

    In today’s “New Yorker” puzzle, “ON THE MAKE” is clued as “Seeking fortune unscrupulously”, for which I entered “ON THE TAKE” until crossing entries made it clear what was required. I intend to do further research on this, but I sort of think the clue is wrong. Anybody agree?

    1. And, actually, the dictionaries I’ve checked agree with the usage in that New Yorker crossword (and also with the usage I had in mind). Perhaps the phrase has mutated during my lifetime … 🤨.

  3. 17:19. Just checking in from a few days south of the border. The NFL Draft is overwhelming Las Vegas so I ran away.

    Easy for a Friday although my guessing was better than usual. Sometimes they really get me into trouble, but they saved me today.

    Be back home on Monday.

    Best –

  4. 40:31 “eden” instead “aden”, other than that, just the usual Friday slog. Can’t wait for the usual Saturday slog!

  5. 11:06, a little on the fast side for a Friday for me. Nothing got me really bogged down.

  6. I’m still amazed at you sub 30 minute people for a friday. Good job. About an hour for me.

    Almost no errors for me. Had GASOL for 51A cuz I thought 49D was MCS. Actually, I had CCS to start. I fixed the first C when I discovered 49A was MUSIC STAND and never looked back.

    I had to look up THEREMIN. I got it by crosses. Did a utube on it. Quite the instrument. 100 years old in 2019.

  7. DNF…way too many foreign words and “never heard of” clues👎👎
    Stay safe😀

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