Constructed by: Chase Dittrich
Edited by: Will Shortz
Not your puzzle? Try today’s …
… syndicated NY Times crossword
Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Start Within
Themed answers each include circled letters that spell out the first word of that answer:
- 17A Info typically not found in the Yellow Pages : (HOME) PHONE NUMBER
- 29A Creative activity for grade schoolers : (ARTS) AND CRAFTS
- 45A Reason to sleep with a night light : (FEAR) OF THE DARK
- 60A Prized possessions for numismatists : (COIN) COLLECTIONS
Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers
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Bill’s time: 14m 04s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
11 Word with snow or bank : … JOB
We use the phrase “snowed under” to describe a state of being or feeling overwhelmed, as if one was helpless when covered in a snowdrift. The derivative term “snow job” describes an attempt to convince someone that something is true, when in fact it is not.
14 Holiday trio, with “the” : … MAGI
“Magi” is the plural of the Latin word “magus”, a term applied to someone who was able to read the stars. Hence, “magi” is commonly used with reference to the “wise men from the East” who followed the star and visited Jesus soon after he was born. In Western Christianity, the three Biblical Magi are:
- Melchior: a scholar from Persia
- Caspar (also “Gaspar”): a scholar from India
- Balthazar: a scholar from Arabia
15 Mark in the World Golf Hall of Fame : O’MEARA
Mark O’Meara is a golfer from Goldsboro, North Carolina. He is known as one of the American players who competes in international tournaments more than most, and has a reputation as a real gentleman all around the world.
17 Info typically not found in the Yellow Pages : (HOME) PHONE NUMBER
A yellow pages phone directory is a listing of business and telephone numbers. The first yellow pages directory was introduced here in the US, back in 1886. The phrase “yellow pages” has become almost ubiquitous, although some countries (like my native Ireland) use “golden pages” instead. The term lives on in the modern era, as the name of the business review website Yelp.com is a contraction of “YEL-low P-ages”.
21 Washington post? : EMBASSY
Most of the embassies and diplomatic missions in Washington, D.C. are located in a section of Massachusetts Avenue. As a result, that section of the thoroughfare earned the nickname “Embassy Row”. Some embassies and diplomatic buildings occupy buildings in nearby streets, and so the term “Embassy Row” can be extended to include a whole neighborhood.
27 Railroad stops: Abbr. : STNS
A station (“stn.” or “sta.”) is a railroad (RR) or bus stop.
34 Neighbor of Sudan : CHAD
The landlocked African country called Chad takes its name from the second largest wetland on the continent, which is known as Lake Chad.
Sudan was the largest country in Africa until 2011, when the Southern Sudan region opted by referendum to become independent. “North Sudan” retained the name of Sudan, and the new state is called South Sudan. Sudan is now the third largest country in the continent, after Algeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
36 “Back to the Future” actress Thompson : LEA
Lea Thompson is well known as the star of “Caroline in the City“, the TV show from the nineties. That said, the Thompson performance that I most remember is her playing Marty McFly’s mother in the “Back to the Future” trilogy.
In the fun 1985 movie “Back to the Future”, Marty McFly finds himself back in 1955, and is trying to get back to HIS future, 1985. But on the other hand, 1985 is really Marty’s present, before he went back in time. Why does time travel have to be so complicated …?
37 Can type : AEROSOL
Strictly speaking, the term “aerosol” defines a suspension of either liquid droplets or solid particles in a gas. A good example of an aerosol is smoke. We tend to use the “aerosol” to describe what comes out of a spray can, even though the liquid droplets usually fall out of the gas and don’t stay suspended.
41 Arafat’s grp. : PLO
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was founded in 1964. The PLO’s early stated goal was the liberation of Palestine, with Palestine defined as the geographic entity that existed under the terms of the British Mandate granted by the League of Nations back in 1923. The PLO was granted observer status (i.e. no voting rights) at the United Nations in 1974.
Yasser (also “Yasir”) Arafat was born in Cairo in 1929, the son of two Palestinians and the second-youngest of seven children. Arafat was beaten by his father as a child and so did not have a good relationship with him. Arafat did not attend his father’s funeral, nor did he visit his grave. The beatings were apparently administered because the young Arafat was repeatedly attending religious services in the Jewish quarter of Cairo. Arafat’s explanation was that he wanted to “study the mentality” of the Jewish people.
42 Writer Gay : TALESE
Gay Talese is an American author, famous as a journalist in the sixties at “The New York Times”. His 1981 book “Thy Neighbor’s Wife” is a study of sexuality in America in the early fifties. Apparently, as research for the book, Talese had sexual relations with his own neighbor’s wife for several months at a sexuality resort in Southern California called Sandstone Retreat.
47 Spell-offs : BEES
Back in 18th-century America, when neighbors would gather to work for the benefit of one of their group, such a meeting was called a bee. The name “bee” was an allusion to the social nature of the insect. In modern parlance, a further element of entertainment and pleasure has been introduced, for example in a quilting bee, or even a spelling bee.
48 Org. in “The Bourne Identity” : CIA
“The Bourne Identity” is a great spy novel written by Robert Ludlum, and first published in 1980. It has been ranked as the second best spy novel of all time, just behind the even more enjoyable “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold” by John le Carré. Ludlum wrote two sequels, and all three parts of the Bourne Trilogy have been made into very successful movies now, starring Matt Damon in the title role. Ludlum died before he could write more than three novels featuring Jason Bourne, but five more titles in the series have been published, each written by Eric Van Lustbader. I must check them out …
51 Full of noxious vapors : MIASMIC
The word “miasma” was first used for the poisonous atmosphere thought to arise from swamps and rotting matter, and which could cause disease. Nowadays, a miasma is just a thick cloud of gas or smoke.
55 Pop singer Simpson : ASHLEE
Ashlee Simpson is the younger sister of Jessica Simpson. They are both reality show stars. I know no more …
59 “Catch-22” character : ORR
The bomber pilot in Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22” is named Orr. He has no other name, just “Orr”.
60 Prized possessions for numismatists : (COIN) COLLECTIONS
A numismatist is a coin collector. The term “numismatics” comes into English via French from the Latin word “nomisma” meaning ”coin”.
65 David Ortiz had 1,768 of them, for short : RBIS
The Dominican-American baseball player David Ortiz has the nickname “Big Papi”. After each home run that Ortiz scores, he looks upwards and points to the sky in a tribute to his mother who died in a car crash in 2002 when she was only 46 years old.
67 Unknown people, in slang : RANDOS
“Rando” is a slang term describing a “random person”. The term tends not to be used flatteringly.
Down
1 Digital clock toggle : AM/PM
The 12-hour clock has been around a long time, and was even used in sundial format in ancient Egypt. Our use of AM and PM dates back to Roman times, with AM standing for Ante Meridiem (before noon) and PM standing for Post Meridiem (after noon). However, the Romans originally used the AM concept a little differently, by counting backwards from noon. So, 2AM to the Romans would be two hours before noon, or 10AM as we would call it today.
2 When doubled, seafood burger choice : MAHI
“Mahi-mahi” (meaning “very strong”) is the Hawaiian name for the dolphinfish, which is also known as the dorado. The mahi-mahi is an ugly looking creature if ever I saw one …
4 Switch maker : NINTENDO
Nintendo is a Japanese company, and one of the largest manufacturers of video games in the world. Nintendo was founded way back in 1889 and originally made hanafuda cards, Japanese playing cards. The name “Nintendo” translates as “leave luck to heaven”.
5 Sonata finale, often : RONDO
A rondo was often chosen by composers in the classical period for the last movement of a sonata (or symphony or concerto, for that matter). In rondo form there is a principal theme that alternates with a contrasting theme(s). So, the original theme anchors the whole piece in between secondary digressions.
8 Broccoli ___ : RABE
Broccoli rabe is perhaps better known as “rapini”, and is a vegetable often used in Mediterranean cuisines. It is quite delicious sauteed with garlic …
9 City near Provo Bay : OREM
Orem, Utah was originally known as “Sharon” (a Biblical name), then “Provo Bench”, and in 1914 it was given the family name of a local railroad operator called “Orem”. Orem gave itself the nickname “Family City USA” and sure enough in 2010, “Forbes” rated Orem the 5th best place in the country to raise a family.
10 Vintage military planes : WARBIRDS
Warbirds are vintage military aircraft that are operated by civilian organizations, often at airshows.
11 Rescue tool at a crash site : JAWS OF LIFE
“Jaws of Life” is a trademark, owned by Hurst Performance. It applies to a hydraulic tool used by rescue crews to extricate victims from automotive accidents. The tool is a relatively new invention, developed in 1963 for use after race car crashes.
18 Some reef dwellers : EELS
A reef is a ridge of stable material lying beneath the surface of a body of water. They can be made up of sand or rock, and also of coral. The largest coral reef on the planet is Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, which stretches over 1,400 miles.
22 Mathematician Lovelace : ADA
Ada Lovelace’s real name and title was Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace. She was the only legitimate child of Lord Byron, the poet. Lovelace was fascinated by mathematics and wrote about the work done by Charles Babbage in building his groundbreaking mechanical computer. In some of her notes, she proposed an algorithm for Babbage’s machine to compute Bernoulli numbers. This algorithm is recognized by many as the world’s first computer program and so Lovelace is sometimes called the first “computer programmer”. There is a computer language called “Ada” that was named in her honor. The Ada language was developed from 1977 to 1983 for the US Department of Defense.
24 Rice dish infused with saffron : PAELLA
Paella is sometimes referred to as the Spanish national dish, but not by Spaniards. In Spain, paella is regarded as a typical regional dish from Valencia. The name “paella” means “frying pan” in Valencian, and is a reference to the shallow vessel traditionally used to cook the dish over an open fire.
Saffron is the world’s most expensive spice by weight. It is derived from the saffron crocus. The spice itself is the dried stigma found in the flower of the plant.
25 Neighbor of Ire. : ENG
The terms “United Kingdom”, “Great Britain” and “England” can sometimes be confused. The official use of “United Kingdom” originated in 1707 with the Acts of Union that declared the countries of England and Scotland as “United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain”. The name changed again with the Acts of Union 1800 that created the “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland” (much to the chagrin of most of the Irish population). This was partially reversed in 1927 when the current name was introduced, the “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”, in recognition of an independent Irish Free State in the south of the island of Ireland.
28 The Hanged Man and The Chariot, for two : TAROT CARDS
Tarot cards have been around since the mid-1400s, and for centuries were simply used for entertainment as a game. It has only been since the late 1800s that the cards have been used by fortune tellers to predict the future. The list of tarot cards includes the Wheel of Fortune, the Hanged Man and the Lovers.
31 Language spoken in the Canadian Prairies : CREE
The Cree are one of the largest groups of Native Americans on the continent. In the US, Montana is home to most of the Cree nation. They live on a reservation shared with the Ojibwe people. In Canada, most of the Cree live in Manitoba.
34 Guitar clamp : CAPO
A capo is a clamp-like device that is placed around the neck of a guitar or other stringed instrument to shorten the strings, and hence raise the pitch. The full name, rarely used these days, is “capo tasto”, which is Italian for “head tie”.
50 Assails, with “into” : LACES …
To lace into is to attack violently. “To lace into” is similar to the verb “to lay into”.
51 Place to see a Matisse in N.Y.C. : MOMA
The founding of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City was very much driven by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, wife of John D. Rockefeller. Working with two friends, Abby managed to get the museum opened in 1929, just nine days after the Wall Street Crash. The MoMA’s sculpture garden bears the name of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, and has done so since 1949.
Henri Matisse was a French artist renowned for his contribution to modern art. In his early career, Matisse was classed as a “fauve”, one of the group of artists known as the “wild beasts” who emphasized strong color over realism in their works. He was a lifelong friend of Pablo Picasso, and the two were considered to be good-natured rivals so their works are often compared. One major difference between their individual portfolios is that Picasso tended to paint from his imagination, whereas Matisse tended to use nature as his inspiration.
52 Biometric scan identifier, maybe : IRIS
An iris scan is a method of biometric identification. It relies on the fact that the complex patterns in the irises are unique to an individual. Note that an iris scan differs from a retinal scan. The latter uses technology that scans the unique pattern of blood vessels in an individual’s retina.
53 Smidge : IOTA
Iota is the ninth letter in the Greek alphabet, and one that gave rise to our letters I and J. We use the word “iota” to portray something very small, as it is the smallest of all Greek letters.
Our word “smidgen” (sometimes shortened to “smidge”) is used to describe a small amount. The term might come from the Scots word “smitch” that means the same thing or “a small insignificant person”.
56 Gray wolf : LOBO
The timber wolf is also known as the gray wolf, tundra wolf or lobo.
57 Children’s author Blyton : ENID
Enid Blyton wrote stories for children that were very popular when I was growing up in Britain and Ireland. Some time back, I purchased and reread my favorite of her stories growing up, a children’s novel called “The Secret Island”. Now as an adult, it’s very obvious to me that Blyton’s writings were out of step with attitudes in post-WWII Britain, when she was most prolific as an author. Accusations ring true with me, that her writings exhibited sexism, xenophobia and racism …
61 Psilocybin alternative, for short : LSD
Psilocybin is a compound found in many fungi species that converts to a psychedelic (psilocin) when metabolized. Absorbing psilocybin results in mind-altering effects similar to those produced by mescaline and LSD.
62 W.W. II zone: Abbr. : ETO
European Theater of Operations (ETO)
Read on, or …
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 “Damn right!” : AMEN!
5 What a lizard’s tail can do : REGROW
11 Word with snow or bank : … JOB
14 Holiday trio, with “the” : … MAGI
15 Mark in the World Golf Hall of Fame : O’MEARA
16 Kerfuffle : ADO
17 Info typically not found in the Yellow Pages : (HOME) PHONE NUMBER
19 Become one : WED
20 Like produce in the produce aisle, often : MISTED
21 Washington post? : EMBASSY
23 Surreptitiously say “26-Across,” say : ELOPE
26 See 23-Across : I DO
27 Railroad stops: Abbr. : STNS
29 Creative activity for grade schoolers : (ARTS) AND CRAFTS
34 Neighbor of Sudan : CHAD
35 Aspect : REGARD
36 “Back to the Future” actress Thompson : LEA
37 Can type : AEROSOL
39 Instinctive behavior for a mother-to-be : NESTING
41 Arafat’s grp. : PLO
42 Writer Gay : TALESE
44 Tiny salamanders : EFTS
45 Reason to sleep with a night light : (FEAR) OF THE DARK
47 Spell-offs : BEES
48 Org. in “The Bourne Identity” : CIA
49 Positions : ROLES
51 Full of noxious vapors : MIASMIC
55 Pop singer Simpson : ASHLEE
59 “Catch-22” character : ORR
60 Prized possessions for numismatists : (COIN) COLLECTIONS
63 Prefix with century or sentence : MID-
64 Just one little bite : A TASTE
65 David Ortiz had 1,768 of them, for short : RBIS
66 Jerk : ASS
67 Unknown people, in slang : RANDOS
68 Not yet completed : TO DO
Down
1 Digital clock toggle : AM/PM
2 When doubled, seafood burger choice : MAHI
3 Some causes of stubbornness : EGOS
4 Switch maker : NINTENDO
5 Sonata finale, often : RONDO
6 Only living creature in the genus Dromaius : EMU
7 Little treasure : GEM
8 Broccoli ___ : RABE
9 City near Provo Bay : OREM
10 Vintage military planes : WARBIRDS
11 Rescue tool at a crash site : JAWS OF LIFE
12 Lines that lift : ODES
13 Main section of text : BODY
18 Some reef dwellers : EELS
22 Mathematician Lovelace : ADA
24 Rice dish infused with saffron : PAELLA
25 Neighbor of Ire. : ENG
27 ___ life : SHELF
28 The Hanged Man and The Chariot, for two : TAROT CARDS
30 Scandinavian-inspired shoe brand : DANSKO
31 Language spoken in the Canadian Prairies : CREE
32 Farmer’s market sights : TENTS
33 Droops : SAGS
34 Guitar clamp : CAPO
35 Shoulder’s place : ROAD
38 Early vehicle that could take up to 30 minutes to start : STEAM CAR
40 One might be graphic : TEE SHIRT
43 Screw up : ERR
46 What’s-___-name : HIS
47 “Yours truly” alternative : BEST
50 Assails, with “into” : LACES …
51 Place to see a Matisse in N.Y.C. : MOMA
52 Biometric scan identifier, maybe : IRIS
53 Smidge : IOTA
54 Rap’s Wu-Tang ___ : CLAN
56 Gray wolf : LOBO
57 Children’s author Blyton : ENID
58 Italian for “it” : ESSO
61 Psilocybin alternative, for short : LSD
62 W.W. II zone: Abbr. : ETO
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