0709-22 NY Times Crossword 9 Jul 22, Saturday

Constructed by: Kevin G. Der
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme: None

Bill’s time: 63m 46s!

Bill’s errors: 2

  • ZAZIE BEETZ (Zazye Beetz)
  • BODILESS (bodyless!!!)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Quinceañera honoree : CHICA

In Spanish, a “niña” is a young girl, a child. The term “chica” applies to an older girl or perhaps a young woman. The term “muchacha” applies to girls in general, I think …

“Quinceañera” is a celebration of a girl’s fifteenth birthday, and is an event common in many parts of Latin America.

15 Hub for Nollywood movies : LAGOS

Lagos is a port and the biggest city in Nigeria. It used to be the country’s capital, until it was replaced in that role in 1991 by Abuja, a city built just for this purpose. Lagos is also the most populous city in the whole of Africa (followed by Cairo in Egypt).

16 What a snake or dragon can represent : LUNAR YEAR

A solar calendar is based on the 365 1/4 days it takes for the earth to orbit the sun. A lunar calendar is based on the moon’s phases, and has 12 lunar months of 29-30 days, with the “lunar year” ending eleven days earlier than the “solar year”. So, solar and lunar calendars are always out of sync. There is a device called an epact that adjusts the lunar calendar to bring it into sync with the solar calendar.

The 12-year cycle in the Chinese calendar uses the following animals in order:

  • Rat
  • Ox
  • Tiger
  • Rabbit
  • Dragon
  • Snake
  • Horse
  • Goat
  • Monkey
  • Rooster
  • Dog
  • Pig

19 “Midnight Cowboy” role : RATSO

Enrico Salvatore “Ratso” Rizzo is one of the characters in the groundbreaking 1969 movie “Midnight Cowboy”. Rizzo is a down-and-out con man played by Dustin Hoffman.

23 Bit of summer wear, informally : TANK

“Tank top” is another one of those terms that always catches me out, as it has a different meaning on each side of the Atlantic. In the US, a tank top is a sleeveless shirt, something we would call a “vest” back in Ireland (and the US “vest” is what we call a “waistcoat”). A tank top in Ireland is a sleeveless sweater, which further adds to the confusion. The name “tank top” is derived from “tank suit”, an old name for a woman’s one-piece bathing suit. The use of “tank” for the bathing suit came from “swimming tank”, an obsolete term used in the 1920s for a swimming pool.

24 Adroit, as a trick : NEAT

The French for “to the right” is “à droit”, from which we get our word “adroit”. The original meaning of “adroit” was “rightly, properly”, but it has come to mean dexterous and skillful. Someone described as “maladroit” is unskilled and awkward.

25 Home of the Plain of Jars, a UNESCO World Heritage site : LAOS

The present-day nation of Laos can trace its roots back to the historic Lao kingdom of Lan Xang that existed from 1354 to 1707. The full name of the kingdom was “Lan Xang Hom Khao”, which translates as “The Land of a Million Elephants and the White Parasol”.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is better known by the acronym “UNESCO”. UNESCO’s mission is to help build peace in the world using programs focused on education, the sciences, culture, communication and information. The organization’s work is aimed in particular at Africa, and gender equalization. UNESCO also administers a World Heritage Site program that designates and helps conserve sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to humanity across the world.

26 Pair of pants? : LUNGS

The lungs are the two main organs in the human respiratory system. It is in the lungs that oxygen is extracted from the air and transferred into the bloodstream. At the same time, carbon dioxide is removed from the bloodstream and released into the atmosphere.

27 Indoor rowing machine, in brief : ERG

An indoor rowing machine is often referred to as an ergometer (or simply “erg”). However, the term “ergometer” really applies to a device that measures the amount of work performed.

28 Group that counts Harding, Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy as former members : ELKS

The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE) was founded in 1868, and is a social club that has about a million members today. It started out as a group of men getting together in a “club” in order to get around the legal opening hours of taverns in New York City. The club took on a new role as it started to look out for poor families of members who passed away. The club now accepts African Americans as members (since the seventies) and women (since the nineties), but atheists still aren’t welcome. The list of US presidents that have been members of the BPOE includes Presidents Eisenhower, Harding, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy and Ford.

30 1982 film with the tagline “Behind every great man, there is a woman!” : TOOTSIE

“Tootsie” is a hilarious 1982 comedy starring Dustin Hoffman in the title role, a male actor who adopts a female identity in order to land an acting job. Jessica Lange won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance in the film. “Tootsie” also provided Geena Davis with her first movie role.

32 Material in some china : BONE ASH

Bone china is so called because one of the main components is bone ash derived from animal bones.

36 Halloween costume requiring a full-body suit : APE

All Saints’ Day is November 1st each year. The day before All Saints’ Day is All Hallows’ Eve, better known by the Scottish term “Halloween”.

38 Big retailer of camping gear : REI

REI is a sporting goods store, with the initialism standing for Recreational Equipment Inc. REI was founded in Seattle by Lloyd and Mary Anderson in 1938 as a cooperative that supplies quality climbing gear to outdoor enthusiasts. The first full-time employee hired by the Andersons was Jim Whittaker, who was the first American to climb Mount Everest.

43 Cameron with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame : DIAZ

Hollywood actress Cameron Diaz started out her professional life as a model. Diaz’s first acting role was in the 1994 film “The Mask”, starring alongside Jim Carrey.

45 Actress with an Emmy nomination for FX’s “Atlanta” : ZAZIE BEETZ

Zazie Beetz is a German-born actress who immigrated to New York City with her family as a young girl. Beetz is known for playing Vanessa “Van” Keefer on the comedy-drama show “Atlanta”, as well as the superhero Domino in the 2018 movie “Deadpool 2”.

51 Ratio of two sides in a right-angled triangle, in brief : COTAN

The most familiar trigonometric functions are sine, cosine and tangent (abbreviated to “sin, cos and tan”). Each of these is a ratio: a ratio of two sides of a right-angled triangle. The “reciprocal” of these three functions are cosecant, secant and cotangent. The reciprocal functions are simply the inverted ratios, the inverted sine, cosine and tangent. These inverted ratios should not be confused with the “inverse” trigonometric functions e.g. arcsine, arccosine and arctangent. These inverse functions are the reverse of the sine, cosine and tangent.

Down

1 Wind known for its warmth : CLARINET

The clarinet is a lovely-sounding instrument, isn’t it? The name “clarinet” comes from the Italian word “clarino” meaning “trumpet”, with the “-et” suffix indicating “small”.

2 What might lead a person to drink : HABANERO

The habanero chili has a very intense flavor. Interestingly, the correct spelling of the chili’s name is “habanero”. We often try to be clever in English and add a tilde making it “habañero”, which isn’t right at all …

4 Symbol of confinement : CORSET

A corset is a close-fitting undergarment that is stiffened with a material such as whalebone. Corsets are more usually worn by women, to shape the body. The word “corset” is a diminutive of the Old French “cors” meaning “body”.

5 ___ Place, one of the original 28 stations of the New York City subway : ASTOR

Astor Place is a neighborhood around a two-block street in Manhattan, New York City that bears the same name. Astor Place is named for John Jacob Astor who was once the richest person in the country.

7 Flexible musical tempos : RUBATOS

“Tempo rubato” is a musical instruction encouraging the conductor or soloist to speed up and slow the tempo at his or her own discretion. Often singers and musicians vary the tempo anyway, giving the piece of music their own “imprint”.

8 Vacuum tube parts : ANODES

A diode is a component in a circuit, the most notable characteristic of which is that it will conduct electric current in only one direction. Some of those vacuum tubes we used to see in old radios and television were diodes, but nowadays almost all diodes are semiconductor devices.

12 Washington airport, informally : REAGAN

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) is located in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the two main airports serving the nation’s capital, along with Washington Dulles. Washington National opened for business in 1941, and was dedicated to President Ronald Reagan in 1998.

14 Settings for some scuba dives : WRECKS

The self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) was co-invented by celebrated French marine explorer Jacques Cousteau.

22 Holden’s brother in “The Catcher in the Rye” : ALLIE

“The Catcher in the Rye” is the most famous novel from the pen of J. D. Salinger. The main character and narrator of the story is Holden Caulfield, a teenager who gets expelled from a university prep school. Caulfield also makes appearances in several short stories written by Salinger, as do other members of the Caulfield family. The title “The Catcher in the Rye” is a reference to the 1782 poem “Comin’ Thro” the Rye” by Scottish poet Robert Burns.

33 Mozart’s “Voi, che sapete” and others : ARIETTAS

An arietta, quite simply, is a short aria.

35 Informal title in city government : HIZZONER

“HIizzoner” is a corruption of “His Honor”.

37 Fleet runner : GAZELLE

When running at a sustained speed, gazelles can move along at 30 miles per hour. If needed, they can accelerate for bursts up to 60 miles per hour.

39 Pool side : SOLIDS

In a game of eight-ball pool, the solid-colored balls are numbered 1 through 7, and the striped balls are numbered 9 through 15. The “eight-ball” is solid black in color.

41 Japanese mat : TATAMI

A tatami is a traditional mat used on floors in Japan. The term “tatami” comes from the Japanese word “tatamu” meaning “to fold”, reflecting the fact that the mat is designed to be folded up for storage.

43 From square one : DE NOVO

“De novo” is Latin for “anew”, and is a term that we use in English with the same meaning.

46 Contractor at a gym? : BICEP

The biceps muscle is made up of two bundles of muscle, both of which terminate at the same point near the elbow. The heads of the bundles terminate at different points on the scapula or shoulder blade. “Biceps” is Latin for “two-headed”.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Quinceañera honoree : CHICA
6 Draft pick? : CRAFT BREW
15 Hub for Nollywood movies : LAGOS
16 What a snake or dragon can represent : LUNAR YEAR
17 Go/no-go directive : ABORT
18 Despise : ABOMINATE
19 “Midnight Cowboy” role : RATSO
20 Achieved something wondrous : MADE MAGIC
21 Worked together (with) : INTERACTED
23 Bit of summer wear, informally : TANK
24 Adroit, as a trick : NEAT
25 Home of the Plain of Jars, a UNESCO World Heritage site : LAOS
26 Pair of pants? : LUNGS
27 Indoor rowing machine, in brief : ERG
28 Group that counts Harding, Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy as former members : ELKS
29 Louis ___ (predecessor of the franc) : D’OR
30 1982 film with the tagline “Behind every great man, there is a woman!” : TOOTSIE
32 Material in some china : BONE ASH
36 Halloween costume requiring a full-body suit : APE
37 Subject of a smash hit? : GONG
38 Big retailer of camping gear : REI
39 Make no effort to stop something : SIT BY
42 Charged : BADE
43 Cameron with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame : DIAZ
44 Like many place mats : OVAL
45 Actress with an Emmy nomination for FX’s “Atlanta” : ZAZIE BEETZ
47 Dealer’s new offering, perhaps : LATE MODEL
49 Starter course : INTRO
50 Snarled : IN A TANGLE
51 Ratio of two sides in a right-angled triangle, in brief : COTAN
52 Submissions for a casting director : DEMO REELS
53 Shake : EVADE
54 They’re sported while going on a run : SKI PASSES
55 Wannabe : POSER

Down

1 Wind known for its warmth : CLARINET
2 What might lead a person to drink : HABANERO
3 “Time to split” : I GOTTA GO
4 Symbol of confinement : CORSET
5 ___ Place, one of the original 28 stations of the New York City subway : ASTOR
6 Specialty of Rhode Island cuisine : CLAM CAKE
7 Flexible musical tempos : RUBATOS
8 Vacuum tube parts : ANODES
9 Illustrious : FAMED
10 Baseboard, e.g. : TRIM
11 Intrinsically : BY NATURE
12 Washington airport, informally : REAGAN
13 Attacking a sub, say : EATING
14 Settings for some scuba dives : WRECKS
22 Holden’s brother in “The Catcher in the Rye” : ALLIE
26 Out of bounds, in a way : LONG
28 Spot : ESPY
29 Foundation, often : DONEE
31 Variety of games : TABLETOP
32 Incorporeal : BODILESS
33 Mozart’s “Voi, che sapete” and others : ARIETTAS
34 Business of the Dutch East India Company : SEA TRADE
35 Informal title in city government : HIZZONER
37 Fleet runner : GAZELLE
39 Pool side : SOLIDS
40 Zeljko ___, 2008 Emmy winner for “Damages” : IVANEK
41 Japanese mat : TATAMI
42 Scout’s collection : BADGES
43 From square one : DE NOVO
45 Districts : ZONES
46 Contractor at a gym? : BICEP
48 Max ___ (couture label) : MARA

19 thoughts on “0709-22 NY Times Crossword 9 Jul 22, Saturday”

  1. DNF. I did finish in a little over 45 minutes, but that was with several hundred lookups – or so it seemed. It just turned into an open book exam for me. I’ll just consider this a learning experience and move on. Some of the cluing was a bit questionable, but I doubt it would have made a difference.

    Is it Sunday yet?

    Best –

  2. DNF. The middle right was a complete clusterf***. Never heard of ZAZIE BEETZ. or BONE ASH. And I think SEA TRADE instead of TEA TRADE was a pretty severe misdirection. I also thought LUNGS for “pair of pants” was a stretch. Likewise LONG for “out of bounds, in a way” seemed pretty tortured. But maybe I’m just grumpy because I had 4 or 5 spaces wrong when I threw in the towel at 27 minutes.

  3. Okay, so I’m going to yield to an unseemly urge to pat myself on the back: I did this puzzle last night. At about the 20-minute mark, I began to fear that a DNF or a bunch of look-ups were in my future, but I stuck with the task and finished in 34:48, with no errors, by putting in the “I” of “BODILESS” (a toss-up choice) and “ZAZIE BEETZ” (a name I think I may have encountered once before in my life), and my thought as I turned out the light was, “Old man, your time reveals that you really are losing it!” So I’m thankful that it wasn’t just me, that it really was a difficult puzzle, and that, this morning, I can indulge in a shameless bit of Schadenfreude … 😜.

  4. What Jeff and Tom R said. It’s as if Mr. Der was trying to compensate for something.

  5. DNF after 1 hour 25 minutes. 40 day streak came to an end. Gratz to Dave for beating this. Many of my thoughts have already been expressed above, so less said the better. New streak starts tomorrow.

  6. DNF, I flew the white flag after an hour. Never saw Midnight Cowboy, no clue who Zazie Beetz is, never saw Atlanta(don’t have Netflix). This thing was a train wreck for me, and I like trains….

  7. 52:34, 4 Naticks. Let’s say it’s just a banner week in having 3 constructors earn their way onto my sh*tlist this week.

  8. DNF…I hearby nominate this piece of garbage for “CRAP PUZZLE OF THE YEAR”
    How does the setter get from one room to another with a swelled head so big?
    Here’s hoping to never see that name again👎👎👎👎👎
    Stay safe😀

  9. Finally quit after about an hour. Had donor instead of donee which threw me off a couple of others. I have to respectfully disagree with TOM r. In tennis for example a ball that is long is out. Also if I remember my sixth grade history the primary business of the Dutch East India Company was Tea. Certainly a tough puzzle though.

  10. Wow. This was difficult and then some. I finished but had 5 wrong squares which is the worst result in a long time. But Saturday should be like that once in awhile so kudos to Kevin Der.

  11. Yep… DNF for me. That SE corner did me in.
    No help with ZAZIE BEETZ which I didn’t know. Then DENOVO , Then …. yadda yadda yadda.. tough time.

    Like they said….

    And I’m going to show my ignorance again but what is with BADGES and SCOUTS?? What am I missing.? Even CHARGES and BADE? I hung out in that section for a long time.

    1. Scouts, as in boy- and girl-, earn merit badges for proficiency in various areas. If you bid someone to do something, that’s charging them to do something, yes? Past tense of bid is bade. Hope that clears it up.

  12. DNF
    I always look forward to the challenges of the Friday / Saturday crosswords, however this one was way too out there for me.
    Reading the others comments makes me feel better but this was not a fair test.

  13. Had I remembered how to spell BODILESS, with an i instead of the y I used, the other two squares I missed would have been corrected. I like a challenge but this one did me in.

  14. This one humbled me. Real questionable clues in this one but I was outclassed.
    Got grouchy babysitting my grandson even.

    Looking forward to the Weekend Edition.

  15. This one was very difficult. I finished with no errors, but it took me several hours over three sessions.

  16. WOW! Crazy hard! My lookups (3) and mistakes (2) is seemingly in line with the others solvers.
    When I was done, I used it to line the bottom of my bird cage.
    I DO respect the constructor.
    Like attempting to climb Mt. Everest suffering from C O P D.

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