0726-22 NY Times Crossword 26 Jul 22, Tuesday

Constructed by: Lillian Simpson
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme: Going Somewhere?

Circled letters O in the grid are EGGS. We have three sets of FRIED EGGS in the grid: EGGS over HARD, EGGS over MEDIUM, and EGGS over EASY:

  • 58A Breakfast order visually suggested three times in this puzzle’s grid : FRIED EGGS
  • 14A What’s all around ewe? : WOOL
  • 17A Apple product that’s not suitable for kids : HARD CIDER
  • 25A Certain spousal state : WIFEHOOD
  • 29A Newspapers, books or magazines : PRINT MEDIUM
  • 41A What Brits call a biscuit : COOKIE
  • 45A Ideal marks for scammers : EASY TARGETS

Bill’s time: 6m 39s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Vocal range below soprano : ALTO

In choral music, an alto (plural “alti”) is the second-highest voice in a four-part chorus made up of soprano, contr(alto), tenor and bass. The word “alto” describes the vocal range, that of the deepest female singing-voice, whereas the term “contralto” describes more than just the alto range, but also its quality and timbre. An adult male’s voice (not a boy’s) with the same range as an alto is called a “countertenor”.

5 Sports org. for the Sky and the Sun : WNBA

The Chicago Sky are a professional basketball team based in Rosemont, Illinois that plays in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). The Sky were founded in 2006

The WNBA’s Connecticut Sun joined the league as an expansion team in 1999 as the Orlando Miracle. The Miracle moved to Uncasville, Connecticut in 2003, changing their name to the Sun. For several years, the Sun were the only WNBA franchise that didn’t share the local market with an NBA team. That distinction ended when the NBA’s Supersonics relocated, leaving the WNBA’s Storm as the only professional team based in Seattle.

14 What’s all around ewe? : WOOL

An adult male sheep is a ram, although a castrated ram is known as a wether. An adult female is a ewe, and a young sheep is a lamb.

21 Hairy cousin in “The Addams Family” : ITT

In the television sitcom “The Addams Family”, the family had a frequent visitor named Cousin Itt. Itt is a short man with long hair that runs from his head to the floor. He was played by Italian actor Felix Silla.

They’re creepy and they’re kooky,
Mysterious and spooky,
They’re altogether ooky,
The Addams Family.

23 French wine : VIN

In French, a “vin” (wine) might be “rouge” (red) or “blanc” (white).

24 Hotelier Helmsley or singer Lewis : LEONA

Leona Helmsley was a high-rolling real estate investor and hotel operator in New York City. She was convicted of income tax evasion in 1989 and sentenced to 16 years in jail. At her trial a witness quoted her as saying “We don’t pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes.” No wonder she was known as the Queen of Mean …

Leona Lewis rocketed to fame after winning the British TV show called “The X Factor” (the show that spawned the UK’s “Pop Idol” and America’s “American Idol”).

34 Credit figs. : APRS

Annual percentage rate (APR)

38 Jeweler’s eyepiece : LOUPE

A loupe is a small magnifying lens that is held in the hand. “Loupe” is the French name for such a device.

40 Wasps’ home : NEST

While wasps are considered a nuisance by many, they are very important to the agricultural industry. Wasps prey on many pest insects, while having very little impact on crops.

41 What Brits call a biscuit : COOKIE

Our word “biscuit” comes from the Medieval Latin “biscotum” meaning “twice-baked”. This etymology reflects the original two-step process used to make biscuits. After initially baking at a relatively high temperature, biscuits were then dried out in an oven set at a lower temperature.

43 Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Mona ___” : LISA

Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece that we know in English as the “Mona Lisa” is called “La Gioconda” in Italian, the language of the artist. It’s also known as “La Joconde” by the Government of France which owns the painting and displays it in the Louvre Museum in Paris. The title comes from the name of the subject, almost certainly Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo. Giocondo was a wealthy silk merchant in Florence who commissioned the painting for the couple’s new home to celebrate the birth of their second son.

47 Slumber party attire, informally : PJS

Our word “pajamas” (sometimes “PJs” or “jammies”) comes to us from the Indian subcontinent, where “pai jamahs” were loose fitting pants tied at the waist and worn at night by locals and ultimately by the Europeans living there. And “pajamas” is another of those words that I had to learn to spell differently when I came to America. On the other side of the Atlantic, the spelling is “pyjamas”.

50 More eye roll-inducing, maybe : CHEESIER

“Cheesy” can mean “of poor quality”. The term’s usage dates back to the late 1800s when it evolved from the Urdu “chiz” meaning “thing”. “Chiz” was used to describe a big thing, something important, and our word “cheesy” is an ironic derivative from that sense.

51 Gold standard : KARAT

A karat (also “carat”, the spelling outside of North America) is a measure of the purity of gold alloys, with 24-karat representing pure gold.

53 “Eureka!” : AHA!

“Eureka” translates from Greek as “I have found it”. The word is usually associated with Archimedes, uttered as he stepped into his bath one day. His discovery was that the volume of water that was displaced was equal to that of the object (presumably his foot) that had been submerged. He used this fact to determine the volume of a crown, something he needed in order to determine if it was made of pure gold or was a forgery.

54 N.B.A. official : REF

Back in the early 17th century, a referee was someone who examined patent applications. We started using the same term for a person presiding over a sporting event in the 1820s. “Referee” is a derivative of the verb “to refer”, and literally describes someone who has the authority to make a decision by “referring” to a book, archive etc.

55 Capital of Montana : HELENA

Helena is the capital of the state of Montana, and is known as the Queen City of the Rockies. Helena’s main street has a very colorful name, i.e. Last Chance Gulch.

56 Helpful theorem, in math : LEMMA

A lemma is a helping theorem, a subsidiary proposition that helps prove some other proposition. A problem offering two equally acceptable (or unacceptable) possibilities might be described as a “double lemma”, and hence our term “dilemma”.

62 It can harden into igneous rock : LAVA

Magma is the molten material below the Earth’s surface. When magma cools, it forms igneous rock. “Magma” is a Greek term that describes a thick ointment.

63 Uncute fruit : UGLI

The ugli fruit is a hybrid of an orange and a tangerine that was first discovered growing wild in Jamaica where most ugli fruit comes from today. “UGLI” is a trademark name that is a variant of “ugly”, a nod to the fruit’s unsightly wrinkled rind.

64 Maine-to-Florida rte. : US-ONE

US Route 1 runs from Fort Kent in Maine right down to Key West in Florida.

66 Santa’s bagful : TOYS

The name “Santa Claus” is American English, and came into the language as a phonetic variant of “Sinterklaas”, the Dutch for “Saint Nicholas”.

Down

3 Middle parts of bodies : TORSOS

“Torso” (plural “torsi”) is an Italian word meaning the “trunk of a statue”, and is a term that we imported into English.

4 Like days of yore : OLDEN

We use the word “yore” to mean “time long past” as in “the days of yore”. “Yore” comes from the Old English words for “of years”.

5 Tiny amount : WHIT

Both “whit” and “fig” are used to describe a trivial amount, a mere trifle.

7 Symbol of busyness : BEE

A simile is a figure of speech in which a comparison is made between two things that are unalike. For example, a person might be described as “cute as a kitten” or as “busy as a bee”.

13 1982 film inspired by Pong : TRON

Released in 1982, Disney’s “Tron” was one of the first mainstream films to make extensive use of computer graphics. The main role in the movie is played by Jeff Bridges. The original spawned a 2010 sequel called “Tron: Legacy”, as well as a 2012 TV show called “Tron: Uprising”.

Do you remember the arcade video game that is like a game of tennis, with paddles moving up and down to hit what looks like a ball, over what looks like a net? Well, that is Pong. The arcade version of Pong was introduced in 1972, with Atari selling a home version through Sears for the Christmas market in 1975.

18 Game where rolling two fours is a “square pair” : CRAPS

If one considers earlier versions of craps, then the game has been around for a very long time and probably dates back to the Crusades. It may have been derived from an old English game called “hazard” also played with two dice, which was mentioned in Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” from the 1300s. The American version of the game came here courtesy of the French and first set root in New Orleans where it was given the name “crapaud”, a French word meaning “toad”.

27 Thor’s father : ODIN

In Norse mythology, Odin was the chief of the gods. Odin’s wife Frigg was the queen of Asgard whose name gave us our English term “Friday” (via Anglo-Saxon). Odin’s son was Thor, whose name gave us the term “Thursday”. Odin himself gave us our word “Wednesday” from “Wodin”, the English form of his name.

31 Winter hrs. in Denver : MST

Mountain Standard Time (MST)

Denver, Colorado is nicknamed “Mile-High City” because its official elevation is listed as exactly one mile. Denver City was founded in 1858 as a mining town. The name was chosen in honor of the Kansas Territorial Governor at the time, James W. Denver.

36 Rock-paper-scissors, by another name : ROSHAMBO

Rock-paper-scissors is a hand game played by two people, at least here in North America. Back in Ireland we called the game “scissors-paper-stone”, and another name encountered around the English-speaking world is “roshambo”. The game is often used as a way to choose between two options or two individuals.

37 Scottish isle with a namesake terrier : SKYE

The Isle of Skye is off the northwest coast of Scotland in the Inner Hebrides. It is the second largest island in the country, and has been linked to the mainland by a road bridge since 1995. I’ve never been there, but I hear the views are spectacular.

The Skye terrier is a breed of dog that is actually under threat of extinction. A few years ago, there were only 30 Skye terriers born in the breed’s native land of the UK. The breed was named for the Isle of Skye in Scotland.

42 State repeatedly : ITERATE

The verb “to iterate” means to repeat over again. The verb “reiterate” means the same thing. One might suspect that “reiterate” is one of those words that has crept into the language due to repeated (reiterated?!) misuse. Well, that’s not quite the case, but close. Back in the 1400s, “iterate” meant “repeat”, and “reiterate” meant “repeat again and again”. We’ve lost the distinction between those two definitions over time.

47 Expecting a baby, in slang : PREGGO

The normal gestation period for humans is 280 days, a little over 9 months. The gestation period can be a little shorter, or longer. Back in 1945, a pregnancy was confirmed at 375 days, which is just over 12 months.

52 Language related to Inupiaq and Yupik : ALEUT

The Aleuts live on the Aleutian Islands of the North Pacific, and on the Commander Islands at the western end of the same island chain. The Aleutian Islands are part of the United States, and the Commander Islands are in Russia.

53 Baseball family name : ALOU

Moisés Alou played Major League Baseball, as did his father Felipe and his uncles Matty and Jesús.

57 60 secs. : MIN

We use base-10, the decimal system for our numbers. Base-60, the sexagesimal system, was used by the ancient Babylonians. This ancient usage gives rise to our 60 seconds in a minute, and 360 (6 x 60) degrees in a circle.

60 “___ had it!” : I’VE

Me too …

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Vocal range below soprano : ALTO
5 Sports org. for the Sky and the Sun : WNBA
9 Audible response of contempt : SNORT
14 What’s all around ewe? : WOOL
15 Broke ground, in a way : HOED
16 Solitary sort : LONER
17 Apple product that’s not suitable for kids : HARD CIDER
19 Playground retort : ARE SO!
20 Coin slot directive : INSERT
21 Hairy cousin in “The Addams Family” : ITT
23 French wine : VIN
24 Hotelier Helmsley or singer Lewis : LEONA
25 Certain spousal state : WIFEHOOD
28 Equivalents of ums : ERS
29 Newspapers, books or magazines : PRINT MEDIUM
32 Bad button to click accidentally : SEND
33 They rise during inflation : PRICES
34 Credit figs. : APRS
38 Jeweler’s eyepiece : LOUPE
40 Wasps’ home : NEST
41 What Brits call a biscuit : COOKIE
43 Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Mona ___” : LISA
45 Ideal marks for scammers : EASY TARGETS
47 Slumber party attire, informally : PJS
50 More eye roll-inducing, maybe : CHEESIER
51 Gold standard : KARAT
53 “Eureka!” : AHA!
54 N.B.A. official : REF
55 Capital of Montana : HELENA
56 Helpful theorem, in math : LEMMA
58 Breakfast order visually suggested three times in this puzzle’s grid : FRIED EGGS
61 Planet’s path : ORBIT
62 It can harden into igneous rock : LAVA
63 Uncute fruit : UGLI
64 Maine-to-Florida rte. : US-ONE
65 Examined : EYED
66 Santa’s bagful : TOYS

Down

1 Some time : AWHILE
2 Short-term offering from an auto shop : LOANER
3 Middle parts of bodies : TORSOS
4 Like days of yore : OLDEN
5 Tiny amount : WHIT
6 Silent approval : NOD
7 Symbol of busyness : BEE
8 Floating aimlessly : ADRIFT
9 Spread thickly, as sunscreen : SLATHER
10 Neither’s partner : NOR
11 What those in agreement speak with : ONE VOICE
12 Traces left behind : RESIDUES
13 1982 film inspired by Pong : TRON
18 Game where rolling two fours is a “square pair” : CRAPS
22 Blustery storm : TEMPEST
25 Lover of the grape : WINO
26 Allow oneself the pleasure : INDULGE
27 Thor’s father : ODIN
30 Press statement : RELEASE
31 Winter hrs. in Denver : MST
34 Virtuoso : ACE
35 Illegal hunters : POACHERS
36 Rock-paper-scissors, by another name : ROSHAMBO
37 Scottish isle with a namesake terrier : SKYE
39 Fishing site : PIER
42 State repeatedly : ITERATE
44 Sought consent : ASKED
46 Leaf (through) : RIFFLE
47 Expecting a baby, in slang : PREGGO
48 Sounding like keys or loose change : JANGLY
49 Equilibrium : STASIS
52 Language related to Inupiaq and Yupik : ALEUT
53 Baseball family name : ALOU
55 Leader : HEAD
57 60 secs. : MIN
59 Beam of sunshine : RAY
60 “___ had it!” : I’VE

10 thoughts on “0726-22 NY Times Crossword 26 Jul 22, Tuesday”

  1. 11:09, no errors. Just poking along on a blustery day here in Alaska. I’ll take my eggs scrambled, please.

  2. 8:07. I like mine sunny side up so I feel left out of this puzzle.

    I know what a LEMMA is, but I never made the connection to the word “dilemma”. Seems so obvious now.

    Best –

  3. 16:17 and I spelled karat KARET…duh🤪
    When was the last time you said WIFEHOOD?
    Stay safe😀

  4. I was taught that “to iterate” was to list all the possibilities
    one by one. As in saying to “A,E,I,O,U” iterate the vowels.

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