0803-22 NY Times Crossword 3 Aug 22, Wednesday

Bill’s time: 10m 13s

Bill’s errors: 2

• SHADE TREE (elm tree)
• PASTEL SHADE (pastel elm!! … don’t ask!)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 Carpenter’s bladed tool : ADZ

An adze (also “adz”) is similar to an ax, but is different in that the blade of an adze is set at right angles to the tool’s shaft. An ax blade is set in line with the shaft.

12 ___ al pastor (Mexican street food order) : TACOS

A taco al pastor is a popular street food from Mexico that can also be found in parts of the US. The key ingredient in al pastor is sliced, spit-grilled pork. The cooking method, using a vertical spit, is one introduced into Mexico by Lebanese immigrants in the 1800s. The term “al pastor” translates from Spanish as “shepherd style”).

14 Pool accessory : CUE

The name of the game billiards comes from the French word “billiard” that originally described the wooden cue stick. The Old French “bille” translates as “stick of wood”.

16 With 30- and 49-Across, test question to be answered by filling in the correct circle : IN A SCRABBLE GAME, …
30 See 16-Across : … WHAT TILE IS WORTH …
49 See 16-Across : … TWO POINTS?

The game of Scrabble has been around since 1938, the invention of an architect named Alfred Mosher Butts. Butts determined how many tiles of each letter, and the point value of each tile, by analyzing letter distributions in publications like “The New York Times”.

19 Park City getaway, say : SKI TRIP

Park City in Utah is located just 30 miles or so southeast of Salt Lake City. Park City’s economy is very much dependent on tourism. It is home to two ski resorts: Deer Valley and Park City Mountain. It is also home to the annual Sundance Film Festival.

21 “___ My Ride” (2004-07 MTV series) : PIMP

“Pimp My Ride” is a reality show that used to air on MTV, that was hosted by rap star Xzibit. The show covers the restoration of cars in poor condition.

27 His name means “desire” : EROS

The name of Eros, the Greek god of love, gives rise to our word “erotic” meaning “arousing sexual desire”. Eros was referred to in Latin as both “Amor” (meaning “love”) and “Cupid” (meaning “desire”).

34 Pair in a dinghy : OARS

Our term “dinghy” comes from the Hindi “dingi”, a word meaning “small boat”.

35 Character in “Face/Off”? : SLASH

“Face/Off” is a 1997 action movie starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage as an FBI agent and terrorist who “swap faces”. Yes, that sounds ridiculous, but I find this movie quite entertaining …

36 Rice bowl garnish : NORI

Nori is an edible seaweed that we used to know as “laver” when we were living in Wales. Nori is usually dried into thin sheets. Here in the US, we are most familiar with nori as the seaweed used as a wrap for sushi.

37 Mich. neighbor : ONT

The Canadian province of Ontario takes its name from the Great Lake. In turn, Lake Ontario’s name is thought to be derived from “Ontari:io”, a Huron word meaning “great lake”. Ontario is home to the nation’s capital of Ottawa as well as Toronto, Canada’s most populous city (and the capital of the province).

41 ___ Ray (pioneer in Surrealist photography) : MAN

Man Ray was an American modernist artist who spent most of his working life in Paris. Man Ray was born in South Philadelphia in 1890, and his real name was Emmanuel Radnitzky. His family shortened “Radnitzky” to “Ray” in response to the anti-Semitic feeling that was prevalent at the time. Emmanuel was known as “Manny”, and he decided to assume the name Man Ray and use it for his work.

46 Healthful practices, collectively : HYGIENE

Hygieia was both the Greek and Roman goddess of health and cleanliness. She was a daughter of Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine. The name “Hygieia” gives us our contemporary term “hygiene”.

51 Part of a Velcro shoe : STRAP

The hook-and-loop fastener that we now call “Velcro” was invented in 1941 by Georges de Mestral, a Swiss engineer. Mestral noticed that the seeds of the burdock plant (burrs or burs) stuck to his clothes. Under the microscope he found hooks on the burrs that grabbed hold of loops in his clothing. After years of development, he came up with a way of simulating the natural hook using man-made materials, and Velcro was born.

59 Swahili word meaning “freedom” : UHURU

The Uhuru Movement is an organization that works for the cause of all native Africans and their descendants around the world. While focused mainly on the welfare and development of native Africans on the continent itself, another goal is the release of all African-American prisoners in US prisons. “Uhuru” is the Swahili word for “freedom”.

60 One of two in Monopoly : DIE

The commercial game of Monopoly is supposedly a remake of “The Landlord’s Game” created in 1903 by a Quaker woman named Lizzie Phillips. Phillips used her game as a tool to explain the single tax theory of American economist Henry George. The Landlord’s Game was first produced commercially in 1924. The incredibly successful derivative game called Monopoly was introduced in 1933 by Charles Darrow, who became a very rich man when Parker Brothers bought the rights to the game just two years later in 1935.

62 Genre for Mary J. Blige : R AND B

Mary J. Blige is a singer-songwriter from the Bronx, New York. Her best known album is probably “My Life”, released in 1994. Blige is also making a name for herself as an actress, and was nominated for several awards for her performance in the 2017 film “Mudbound”.

Down

1 Redding with 11 Top 40 hits : OTIS

Otis Redding is often referred to as the “King of Soul”, and what a voice he had. Like so many of the greats in the world of popular music it seems, Redding was killed in a plane crash, in 1967 when he was just 26 years old. Just three days earlier he had recorded what was to be his biggest hit, “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay”.

3 Juice stand berry : ACAI

Açaí (pronounced “ass-aye-ee”) is a palm tree native to Central and South America. The fruit has become very popular in recent years and its juice is a very fashionable addition to juice mixes and smoothies.

5 Like singing in the rain, usually : A CAPPELLA

A cappella music is sung without instruments accompanying. “A cappella” translates from Italian as “in the manner of the chapel”.

6 Make a knight, e.g. : DUB

Kneel, and a monarch might “dub thee a knight” if you’re lucky. “Dub” is a specific term derived from Old English that was used to mean “make a knight”. As the knight was also given a knightly name at the same time, “dub” came to mean “give someone a name”.

8 Leader of the Decepticons in the “Transformers” series : MEGATRON

The 2007 blockbuster hit movie “Transformers” was inspired by a line of toys. Toy transformers can be morphed from their mundane looking appearance as a vehicle or perhaps an animal, into a robotic action figure.

9 ___ Office : OVAL

Although there have been several “oval” offices used by US presidents in the White House, the current Oval Office was designed and constructed at the bequest of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The room has four doors. One door opens onto the Rose Garden; a second door leads to a small study and dining room; a third opens onto the main corridor running through the West Wing; the fourth door opens to the office of the president’s secretary.

10 Something shared a lot online : MEME

A meme (from “mineme”) is a cultural practice or idea that is passed on verbally or by repetition from one person to another. The term lends itself very well to the online world where links, emails, files etc. are so easily propagated.

11 Musher’s vehicle : SLED

Mushing is the use of one or more dogs to pull a sled. “Mush” is thought to come from the French “marche” meaning “go, run”.

18 Trudeau’s party: Abbr. : LIB

Justin Trudeau ascended to the leadership of Canada’s Liberal Party in 2013, He led the Liberals to a decisive victory in the federal election of 2015, after which he assumed the office of Prime Minister of Canada. Justin is the eldest son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who led Canada for 15 years starting in 1968.

23 Song sung at sea : SHANTY

A sea shanty (also “chantey”) is a song sung by sailors, often when they are working away on some repetitive task.

28 Start of a famous line from a balcony : O ROMEO …

In William Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet”, the lovers discuss the sad fact that they have been born into two feuding families in the famous balcony scene. Juliet says:

O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.

A little later she utters the famous lines:

What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;

40 Hue such as pale mint or lilac : PASTEL SHADE

A “pastel” is a crayon made from a “paste” containing a powdered pigment in a binder. The term “pastel” can also be used to describe a work created using pastels.

43 Slowing down, musically: Abbr. : RITARD

Rit. (or sometimes ritard.) is the abbreviation for “ritardando”, a musical direction to slow down the tempo.

45 It’s destiny! : KISMET

“Kismet” is a Turkish word meaning “fate, fortune, lot”.

47 Classical lyric poem : EPODE

An epode is a lyric poem made up of couplets in which the first line is long, and the second line much shorter. The form was invented by the Greek poet Archilochus, and was most famously used by the Roman poet Horace.

51 Big ___ : SUR

Big Sur is a lovely part of the California Coast located south of Monterey and Carmel. The name “Big Sur” comes from the original Spanish description of the area as “el sur grande” meaning “the big south”.

52 Hip-hop article : THA

“Tha” is slang for “the” in the world of rap music.

56 Mars ___ : BAR

Having lived on both sides of the Atlantic, I find the Mars Bar to be the most perplexing of candies! The original Mars Bar is a British confection (and delicious) that was first manufactured in 1932. The US version of the original Mars Bar is called a Milky Way. But there is a candy bar called a Milky Way that is also produced in the UK, and it is completely different to its US cousin, being more like an American “3 Musketeers”. And then there is an American confection called a Mars Bar, something different again. No wonder I try not to eat candy bars …