0706-22 NY Times Crossword 6 Jul 22, Wednesday

Constructed by: Sam Koperwas & Jeff Chen
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Reveal Answer: Magic Trick

Today’s puzzle includes three incidents of a RABBIT being pulled out of a HAT. Those RABBITS cross HATS in the grid:

  • 59A Pulling a rabbit out of a hat, e.g. … which happens three times in this puzzle : MAGIC TRICK
  • 5D ___ Rabbit : BR’ER
  • 17A Fad item of the 1990s : BEANIE BABY (“Br’er Rabbit” out of a “beanie” hat)
  • 29D ___ Rabbit : ROGER
  • 40A Certain Kentucky racer : DERBY HORSE (“Roger Rabbit” out of a “derby” hat
  • 32D ___ Rabbit : PETER
  • 35A Big hot dog? : SHOWBOATER (“Peter Rabbit” out of a “boater” hat)

Bill’s time: 10m 02s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Beanstalk climber in a fairy tale : JACK

“Jack and the Beanstalk” is a fairy tale from England. In the story, young Jack sells the family cow for some magic beans. He plants the beans and a massive beanstalk grows up into the sky. At the top of the beanstalk there lives an ogre. Jack climbs the beanstalk and adventures ensue …

5 Actress Sonia : BRAGA

Sonia Braga achieved fame in her native Brazil playing the title role in the movie “Gabriela”. There followed roles in American films such as “Kiss of the Spider Woman” and “The Milagro Beanfield War”. She has also played in the Portuguese version of “Desperate Housewives”.

10 Range for yodelers : ALPS

There are eight Alpine countries:

  • Austria
  • Slovenia
  • France
  • Switzerland
  • Liechtenstein
  • Germany
  • Monaco
  • Italy

17 Fad item of the 1990s : BEANIE BABY

There were originally just nine Beanie Babies when Ty Warner introduced the stuffed animal in 1993. In the late nineties the toy became a real fad, largely due to innovative marketing techniques. For example, there was no mass marketing with constant TV ads, and the production volume was limited pushing the line into the realm of collectibles. Beanie Baby models were also “retired” on a regular basis, fueling a “must have” behavior in the market.

20 Fig. with two hyphens : SSN

A Social Security number (SSN) is divided into three parts, i.e AAA-GG-SSSS. Originally, the Area Number (AAA) was the code for the office that issued the card. Since 1973, the Area Number reflects the ZIP code from which the application was made. The GG in the SSN is the Group Number, and the SSSS in the number is the Serial Number. However, this is all moot. Since 2011, SSNs have been assigned randomly. However, some random numbers have been excluded from use, i.e. Area Numbers 000, 666 (!) and 900-999.

22 Jaguar spot, for example : CAR AD

Auto manufacturer Jaguar started out as a manufacturer of sidecars for motorcycles back in 1922, when the company was known as the Swallow Sidecar Company (SS for short). The company changed its name to Jaguar after WWII, because of the unfortunate connotations of the letters “SS” in that era (i.e. the Nazi paramilitary organization).

23 Worker with books, for short : CPA

Certified public accountant (CPA)

25 Brand so named because it limits ultraviolet light : RAY-BAN

Ray-Ban sunglasses were introduced in 1937 for the US Army Air Corps. The Ray-Ban Aviator model of glasses became very popular with the pilots, and apparently with General Douglas MacArthur. MacArthur was wearing a pair when he was photographed “returning” to the Philippines in WWII. The name “Ray-Ban” was chosen to “reflect” the ability of the sunglasses to stop (“ban”) the ingress of UV or IR “rays” of light.

28 Big name in shampoo : PRELL

Prell shampoo was introduced by Procter & Gamble in 1947. Back then it was a clear green concentrate sold in a tube (like toothpaste).

30 Country band, for short? : THE UN

The United Nations was established right after the end of WWII, and was a replacement for the ineffective League of Nations that had been formed after the end of WWI. The US was at the forefront of the founding of the United Nations, led by President Franklin Roosevelt just prior to the start of WWII. The UN’s headquarters is in international territory in New York. There are three regional UN headquarters, also located in international territory, in Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi.

34 Santa ___, Calif. : ROSA

Santa Rosa is the largest city in California’s Wine Country, and the county seat of Sonoma County. The epicenter of the so-called 1906 San Francisco Earthquake was located near Santa Rosa. There was actually more damage in Santa Rosa, for the size of the city, than there was in San Francisco.

35 Big hot dog? : SHOWBOATER

Although “hotdogging” is a term now used across all sports, it was primarily associated with skiing and described the performance of showy and risky stunts on the slopes.

37 Land on Lake Victoria : UGANDA

Uganda is a landlocked county in East Africa lying just to the west of Kenya. It was ruled by the British as a protectorate from 1894 and gained independence in 1962. Uganda is very much associated with the tyrannical rule of Idi Amin in the 1970s.

Lake Victoria is the largest lake by surface area on the continent of Africa. It was named by English explorer John Hanning Speke in honor of Queen Victoria of the UK. Speke was the first European to set eyes on the lake.

40 Certain Kentucky racer : DERBY HORSE

The first Kentucky Derby took place in 1875, and was a race modeled on the Epsom Derby in England and the Grand Prix de Paris (now called the “Prix de l‘Arc de Triomphe”). As such, the Kentucky Derby was run over 1½ miles, although in 1896 this was shortened to 1¼ miles. The winning horse is presented with a very elaborate blanket made of red roses, and so the Derby is nicknamed “Run for the Roses”. The race is held on the first Saturday in May each year, and is limited to 3-year-old horses.

44 Small-arms runner of years past? : T-REX

The Tyrannosaurus rex (usually written “T-rex”) was a spectacular looking dinosaur. “Tyrannosaurus” comes from the Greek words “tyrannos” (tyrant) and “sauros” (lizard) and “rex” the Latin for “king”. They were big beasts, measuring 42 feet long and 13 feet tall at the hips, and weighing 7.5 tons.

46 Land bridge between Africa and Asia : SINAI

The Sinai Peninsula is in the eastern part of Egypt, and is a triangular landform bounded by the Mediterranean to the north and the Red Sea to the south. It is the only part of Egypt that lies in Asia as opposed to Africa. The eastern land border of the peninsula is shared with Israel, and Israel occupied the Sinai during the 1956 Suez Crisis and the Six-Day War of 1967.

48 Recovers from a bender, with “up” : SOBERS …

The terms “jag” and “bender” describe periods of unrestrained activity, particularly those involving alcohol. Both words have been in use since the 1800s.

49 Key that works to exit but not enter : ESC

The escape key (Esc) was originally used just to control computer peripherals. It was a key that allowed the computer operator to stop what the peripheral was doing (cancel a print job, for example). Nowadays the escape key is used for all sorts of things, especially in gaming programs.

53 Touchdown figs. : ETAS

Estimated time of arrival (ETA)

55 Smidge : TAD

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”.

65 Gumbo ingredient : OKRA

Gumbo is a type of stew or soup that originated in Louisiana. The primary ingredient can be meat or fish, but to be true gumbo it must include the “holy trinity” of vegetables, namely celery, bell peppers and onion. Okra used to be a requirement but this is no longer the case. Okra gave the dish its name as the vernacular word for the African vegetable is “okingumbo”, from the Bantu language spoken by many of the slaves brought to America.

Down

2 Best four-of-a-kind : ACES

That would be poker.

4 Knowledge : KEN

“Ken” is a noun meaning “understanding, perception”. One might say, for example, “half the clues in Saturday’s crossword are beyond my ken, beyond my understanding”.

5 ___ Rabbit : BR’ER

Br’er Rabbit and Br’er Fox are characters in the Uncle Remus stories, written by Joel Chandler Harris. The “Uncle Remus” stories are adaptations of African American folktales that Harris collected across the Southern States. “Br’er” is an abbreviated form of “brother”.

7 Plains people : ARAPAHO

The Arapaho tribe lived on the eastern plains of Colorado and Wyoming. The Arapaho traditionally wintered in small camps in the foothills of the Rockies, and then relocated to plains in the spring where they hunted the buffalo that were gathering to give birth to their young.

12 Typesetting unit : PICA

A pica is a unit of measure used in typography. One pica is equivalent to 1/6 of an inch. Also, each pica unit contains 12 points.’

18 Editorial slant?: Abbr. : ITAL

Italic type leans to the right, and is often used to provide emphasis in text. The style is known as “italic” because the stylized calligraphic form of writing originated in Italy, probably in the Vatican.

22 Vessel that may be portaged : CANOE

The boat known as a canoe takes its name from the Carib word “kenu” meaning “dugout”. It was Christopher Columbus who brought “kenu” into Spanish as “canoa”, which evolved into our English “canoe”.

Portage is the carrying of a boat and/or its cargo over land, perhaps to circumvent an obstacle.

26 Certain evergreen : YEW

Yew trees were placed around churches and in graveyards all over Europe. The reason for the practice seems to be unclear, but one suggestion is that fronds from yew trees were used as substitutes for palms on Palm Sunday.

27 Singer Michael known as the “King of Christmas” : BUBLE

Michael Bublé is a singer from Burnaby in British Columbia. He is of Italian descent on his father’s side. Bublé has held dual Italian-Canadian citizenship since 2005. He dated English actress Emily Blunt for a while, and she sang background vocals and the final verse for his 2007 version of “Me and Mrs. Jones”. Also, Bublé wrote his 2007 song “Everything” for Blunt.

29 ___ Rabbit : ROGER

“Who Framed Roger Rabbit” is a clever 1988 film featuring cartoon characters that interact directly with human beings. The most memorable cartoon characters have to be goofy Roger Rabbit, and vampish Jessica Rabbit. The film is based on a novel written by Gary K. Wolf called “Who Censored Roger Rabbit?” There is a prequel floating around that has never been produced, which is titled “Who Discovered Roger Rabbit”.

32 ___ Rabbit : PETER

Beatrix Potter was an English author famous for the children’s books she wrote and illustrated. The most famous character in her stories was Peter Rabbit, whose sisters were Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail. Potter put her talent as an artist to good use in the scientific world as well. She recorded many images of lichens and fungi as seen through her microscope. As a result of her work, she was respected as an expert mycologist.

33 Kind of vote : PROXY

Our word “proxy”, meaning “the agency of one who acts instead of another”, comes from the Latin “procurare” meaning “to manage”. So, “proxy” has the same root as our word “procure”.

35 Term of address in colonial India : SAHIB

“Sahib” is most recognized as a term of address used in India, where it is used in much the same way as we use “mister” in English. The term was also used to address male Europeans in the days of the British Raj. The correct female form of address is “sahiba”, but in the colonial days the address used was “memsahib”, a melding of “ma’am” and “sahib”

38 Hoover rival : DYSON

Dyson vacuum cleaners do not use a bag to collect dust. James Dyson invented the first vacuum cleaner to use cyclonic separation in 1979, frustrated at the poor performance of his regular vacuum cleaner. As Dyson cleaners do not use bags, they don’t have to deal with collection bags that are blocked with fine dust particles, even after emptying. Cyclonic separation uses high speed spinning of the dust-containing air so that the dust particles are thrown out of the airflow into a collection bin. We have a Dyson now, and should have bought it years ago …

41 The Chiffons’ “___ Fine Day” : ONE

“One Fine Day” is a song written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin that was a 1963 hit for the Chiffons. The title of the song was inspired by the famous aria “Un bel di” (“One Fine Day”) from Puccini’s opera “Madama Butterfly”.

The Chiffons were a female singing group from the Bronx in New York who were at the height of their success in the early sixties. Soon after releasing the 1962 hit “He’s So Fine”, the group released two singles as the Four Pennies. When “He’s So Fine” became such a great success, they abandoned the Four Pennies moniker and stuck with “the Chiffons”.

43 ___ Chapel : SISTINE

The Sistine Chapel is located in the Pope’s residence in Rome. The chapel takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who was responsible for restoring the old Capella Magna in the 15th century. It was about a century later (1508-1512) that Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel under the patronage of Pope Julius II.

47 What drivers do to cars at Car and Driver : TEST

“Car and Driver” is an automotive magazine published in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “Car and Driver” first appeared in 1955, when it was called “Sports Cars Illustrated”.

52 Leader overthrown by a revolution : TSAR

The year 1917 saw two revolutions in Russia, with the pair collectively called “the Russian Revolution”. As a result of the February Revolution that centered on Petrograd, the last Emperor of Russia (Tsar Nicholas II) abdicated and members of the Imperial parliament took control of the country, forming the Russian Provisional Government. The Provisional Government was itself overthrown in the October Revolution, which was led by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolshevik party.

56 Big name in PCs : ACER

Acer is a Taiwanese company that I visited a couple of times when I was in the electronics business. I was very impressed back then with the company’s dedication to quality, although I have heard that things haven’t gone so well in recent years …

57 Fashion inits. : DKNY

Donna Karan is an American fashion designer, creator of the Donna Karan New York (DKNY) clothing label. Karan was very much raised in the fashion industry, as her mother was a model and her stepfather a tailor.

60 What “syne” means in “Auld Lang Syne” : AGO

The song “Auld Lang Syne” is a staple at New Year’s Eve (well, actually in the opening minutes of New Year’s Day). The words were written by Scottish poet Robbie Burns. The literal translation of “Auld Lang Syne” is “old long since”, but is better translated as “old times”. The sentiment of the song is “for old time’s sake”.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And days of auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear
For auld lang syne
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet
For days of auld lang syne

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Beanstalk climber in a fairy tale : JACK
5 Actress Sonia : BRAGA
10 Range for yodelers : ALPS
14 “Ailment” for the heart : ACHE
15 Appeared in syndication, say : RERAN
16 Yowl : WAIL
17 Fad item of the 1990s : BEANIE BABY
19 Creatures that can be both pets and pests : MICE
20 Fig. with two hyphens : SSN
21 Hallucinatory experience : TRIP
22 Jaguar spot, for example : CAR AD
23 Worker with books, for short : CPA
25 Brand so named because it limits ultraviolet light : RAY-BAN
28 Big name in shampoo : PRELL
30 Country band, for short? : THE UN
31 It requires a tap to get started : APP
34 Santa ___, Calif. : ROSA
35 Big hot dog? : SHOWBOATER
37 Land on Lake Victoria : UGANDA
39 Gave for a while : LENT TO
40 Certain Kentucky racer : DERBY HORSE
44 Small-arms runner of years past? : T-REX
45 Poetic preposition : ERE
46 Land bridge between Africa and Asia : SINAI
47 Welling up : TEARY
48 Recovers from a bender, with “up” : SOBERS …
49 Key that works to exit but not enter : ESC
50 Habitually : OFTEN
53 Touchdown figs. : ETAS
55 Smidge : TAD
58 There’s a bridge near the top of it : NOSE
59 Pulling a rabbit out of a hat, e.g. … which happens three times in this puzzle : MAGIC TRICK
62 Something stored in an upright position on a plane : TRAY
63 Person with talent : AGENT
64 50-50 : EVEN
65 Gumbo ingredient : OKRA
66 Many indoor tennis facilities have them : DOMES
67 Super : VERY

Down

1 Much of sparring : JABS
2 Best four-of-a-kind : ACES
3 “Seems likely …” : CHANCES ARE …
4 Knowledge : KEN
5 ___ Rabbit : BR’ER
6 New beginning : REBIRTH
7 Plains people : ARAPAHO
8 Be a chatterbox : GAB
9 Whichever : ANY
10 “Gosh dang it!” : AW, MAN!
11 Den : LAIR
12 Typesetting unit : PICA
13 Unlikely Christmas present in Hawaii : SLED
18 Editorial slant?: Abbr. : ITAL
22 Vessel that may be portaged : CANOE
24 Next-best option : PLAN B
26 Certain evergreen : YEW
27 Singer Michael known as the “King of Christmas” : BUBLE
28 Fuddy-duddy : PRUDE
29 ___ Rabbit : ROGER
31 Tempting, as an offer : ATTRACTIVE
32 ___ Rabbit : PETER
33 Kind of vote : PROXY
35 Term of address in colonial India : SAHIB
36 Pot seeds? : ANTES
38 Hoover rival : DYSON
41 The Chiffons’ “___ Fine Day” : ONE
42 It’s a beauty in its setting : RARE GEM
43 ___ Chapel : SISTINE
47 What drivers do to cars at Car and Driver : TEST
48 “Buh-bye!” : SEE YA!
50 Not sucked in by : ONTO
51 Go off in two directions : FORK
52 Leader overthrown by a revolution : TSAR
54 Takes steps : ACTS
56 Big name in PCs : ACER
57 Fashion inits. : DKNY
59 Hopping ___ : MAD
60 What “syne” means in “Auld Lang Syne” : AGO
61 Increase the speed of : REV

13 thoughts on “0706-22 NY Times Crossword 6 Jul 22, Wednesday”

  1. 15:28 I’m typically slow on the theme/gimmick uptake, but I never would have picked up on the rabbit/hat connection….. Ever.

  2. 13:20. I was flying through this one…until l wasn’t. The theme reminded me of the Rocky and Bullwinkle gag where Bullwinkle tries to pull a rabbit out of a hat…

  3. 9:47. Got the theme because I was curious about it and actually looked for it (for once) after seeing the revealer.

    Was a little unsure of the theme because I didn’t know what a BOATER was. I looked it up. It’s called a BOATER because it’s the hat the gondoliers in Venice wore.

    Best –

  4. 21:13, no errors. Spent about 5 minutes trying to find my error: LE(F)T TO/A(F)TES. Two favorite misdirection clues: Jaguar Spot = CAR AD and Country Band = THE UN.

  5. Didn’t get the theme. Missed it by that much.

    But I messed up CANOE. didn’t see that. Had THE US instead of THE UN and BROW BEATER instead BROW BOATER which I never heard of.

    Oh well.

  6. 24:45 no errors…I got the hat part of the theme but missed the rest😥
    Under 30 minutes with no errors on a Jeff Chen and partner (always a partner) puzzle is a win for me👍👍
    Stay safe😀

    1. AnonDS – From Google

      What does the Scottish word Syne mean?
      since then : ago
      chiefly Scotland. : since then : ago.

  7. 20 minutes. No errors etc. Didn’t have time to worry about the theme. Too busy trying to fill in the answers.

  8. My favourite misdirection was 44A: Small arms runner of years past : T-Rex .Made me chuckle 🤭
    Have a great rest of day Folks 🤗
    EllE

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