Constructed by: Ella Dershowitz
Edited by: Will Shortz
Not your puzzle? Try today’s …
… syndicated NY Times crossword
Today’s Reveal Answer: Pop-Up Shop
Themed answers each include the hidden word “SHOP”, with the “HO” POPPING UP into the line above in the grid:
- 60A Temporary spot to do business … or a hint to answering 17-, 35- and 41-Across : POP-UP SHOP
- 17A World’s oldest golf tournament, familiarly : BRITISH OPEN
- 35A “Fingers crossed” : HERE’S HOPING
- 41A After-dinner drink made with crème de menthe : GRASSHOPPER
Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers
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Bill’s time: 12m 36s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
1 Cubans are full of it : HAM
A Cuban sandwich almost always includes Cuban bread filled with roast pork, glazed ham, Swiss cheese and sliced dill pickles. The Cuban was designated the city of Tampa’s signature sandwich in 2012.
4 Order in New Orleans : PO’ BOY
A po’ boy is a submarine sandwich from Louisiana. The name of the sandwich apparently dates back to 1929. It was a sandwich given away free to streetcar workers in New Orleans during a strike, i.e. to “poor boys” not earning a wage. A po’ boy differs from a regular submarine sandwich in that it uses Louisiana French bread, which is soft in the middle and crusty on the outside.
9 Sexology subject : G-SPOT
The full name for the G-spot is the “Gräfenberg spot”, named after German doctor Ernst Gräfenberg. Gräfenberg is best known for developing the intrauterine device (IUD).
14 Dish seen around the world? : UFO
Disc-shaped flying objects have been reported in the sky since the Middle Ages. In the modern era, the event that launched the term “flying saucer” was a UFO sighting in 1947, which was covered widely in the media. Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine unidentified flying objects in formation near Mount Rainier in Washington. In describing the objects, he repeatedly used the words “saucer”, “disc” and “pie-plate”. Newspapers latched onto the terminology, and we’ve been seeing flying “saucers” ever since.
16 Sam who directed 2022’s “Doctor Strange” sequel : RAIMI
Sam Raimi is a very successful director and producer. He was behind the “Spider-Man” series of films among others, and TV shows such as “Xena: Warrior Princess”. In 1993, Raimi married Gillian Green, the youngest daughter of actor Lorne Greene of “Bonanza” fame. Raimi and Greene named their eldest son Lorne, after his grandfather.
17 World’s oldest golf tournament, familiarly : BRITISH OPEN
The golf tournament that we usually refer to as “the British Open” here in North America, is more correctly known as “The Open Championship”. The tournament has earned its somewhat haughty title as it is the oldest golf tournament in the world. The Open was first played in 1860, at Scotland’s Prestwick Golf Club. That first tournament attracted a grand field of eight professional golfers, with Scotsman Willie Park, Sr. emerging victorious.
19 Animal in the same family as the wolverine : OTTER
Male and female otters are known as dogs and bitches, with the offspring called pups. Males and females are sometimes referred to as boars and sows. A collection of otters is a bevy, family, lodge or perhaps a romp. When in water, a collection of otters can be called a raft.
The wolverine is a mammal related to weasels and stoats that looks more like a small bear. Adult wolverines are about the size of a medium dog, but tend to be quite ferocious and can take down a prey that is several times its size.
21 Airer of “Tiny Desk” concerts : NPR
National Public Radio (now just called “NPR”) was established in 1970 after President Johnson signed into law the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. The station’s first broadcast took place in April of 1971, coverage of the US Senate hearings on the Vietnam War. The intent of the act was to provide funding for radio and television broadcasting that wasn’t simply driven by profit. As a longtime fan of the state-funded BBC in the UK, I’d have to agree with that intent …
22 ___ Johnson a.k.a. The Rock : DWAYNE
Dwayne Johnson is a former professional wrestler whose ring name was “the Rock”. He has used his success as a character in the ring, to cross over into television and movies. He is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as getting the highest payment for a first starring role, an incredible $5.5 million.
23 One of the Obamas : SASHA
Sasha is the younger of the two Obama children, having been born in 2001. She was the youngest child to reside in the White House since John F. Kennedy, Jr. moved in with his parents as a small infant. Sasha’s Secret Service codename is “Rosebud”, and her older sister Malia has the codename “Radiance”.
25 “Great ___!” : SCOTT
No one seems to know for sure who the “Scott” is in the exclamation “great Scott!”. One theory is that the reference is to the commander-in-chief of the US Army during the Civil War, General Winfield Scott. Scott weighed in at 300 pounds later in his life, and was so obese that he could not ride a horse.
28 Ecstasy : EUPHORIA
“Euphoria” is a Greek word meaning “power of enduring easily”. In the 18th century, the term was imported into English medical jargon to describe a sick person’s condition when feeling healthy and comfortable. Today, “euphoria” is used more generally to describe any feeling of well-being or elation.
32 Collar feature, perhaps : ID TAG
Identity document (ID)
37 Today, in Toledo : HOY
Toledo is a city in central Spain that is located just over 40 miles south of the capital Madrid. Toledo is sometimes called the “City of Three Cultures”, due to the historical co-existence of Christian, Muslim and Jewish traditions.
39 Abbr. meaning “in particular” : ESP
Especially (esp.)
41 After-dinner drink made with crème de menthe : GRASSHOPPER
A grasshopper cocktail is usually served martini-style, and is a mix of equal parts (green) crème de menthe, crème de cacao and cream. I just found a corny joke about the drink that I think is worth repeating:
A grasshopper walks into a bar and hops up onto the counter. The bartender says “we have a drink named after you”. The grasshopper replies “You have a drink named Carl?”
A “cream liqueur” is one that includes dairy cream. The most famous example is probably Baileys Irish Cream, which is made from cream and Irish whiskey. A “crème liqueur”, on the other hand, is one that includes a lot of added sugar, but no dairy cream. Examples are crème de cacao (chocolate-flavored), crème de menthe (mint-flavored) and crème de cassis (blackcurrant-flavored).
44 Letter-shaped piece of piping : U-BEND
Most sinks in a home have a P-trap in the outlet pipe that empties into the sewer line. This P-trap has at its heart a U-bend that retains a small amount of water after the sink is emptied. This plug of water serves as a seal to prevent sewer gases entering into the home. By virtue of its design, the U-bend can also capture any heavy objects (like an item of jewelry) that might fall through the plughole. But the “trapping” of fallen objects is secondary to the P-trap’s main function of “trapping” sewer gases.
48 Von Trapp girl who sang about being 16 : LIESL
The von Trapps portrayed in the musical “The Sound of Music” were a real family, as is well known. In the musical and film, the eldest daughter is Liesl, although in real life her name was Agathe. Agathe came with her family to the US in 1938, and operated a private kindergarten in Baltimore, Maryland for 35 years. Agathe passed away in 2010. Agathe/Liesl was the daughter who was “Sixteen Going on Seventeen”.
49 Baby carrier : STORK
In German and Dutch society, storks resting on the roof of a house were considered a sign of good luck. This tradition led to nursery stories that babies were brought to families by storks.
55 Tobiko or ikura, at a Japanese restaurant : ROE
In Japanese cuisine, the roe of salmon is called “ikura” and the roe of flying fish is called “tobiko”.
57 Part of Florida : KEYS
The Florida Keys are a chain of low islands that stretch from the tip of the Florida peninsula, about 15 miles south of Miami. The westernmost inhabited island is Key West, and the westernmost uninhabited island is Dry Tortugas. Most of the inhabited islands are connected by US Highway 1, which traverses several impressive bridges.
59 Shinto gate : TORII
A torii is a very traditional Japanese gate, one often seen at the entrance to a Shinto shrine.
60 Temporary spot to do business … or a hint to answering 17-, 35- and 41-Across : POP-UP SHOP
A pop-up store is one that is temporary. The idea is that a pop-up store opens in empty retail space for a limited period of time, often to meet the needs of a particular season or holiday. Examples of the genre might be Halloween stores or Christmas stores.
65 Set of flippers? : TONGS
A pair of tongs is a tool with a scissor-like hinge used to pick up things, like meat cooking on a barbecue grill or ice from an ice bucket. The verb “to tong” means “to handle with tongs”.
Down
2 Styles for Questlove and Jon Batiste : AFROS
“Questlove” (also “?uestlove”) is the stage name of musician and DJ Ahmir Khalib Thompson. He is the drummer of hip-hop band the Roots. The Roots were the house band on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon”, and followed the host when he moved in 2014 to “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”.
3 Mother on “Schitt’s Creek” : MOIRA
Catherine O’Hara is an actress and comedian from Toronto, Ontario. One of O’Hara’s more famous film roles is Kevin’s mother in the Christmas classic “Home Alone”. She also plays a lead character (Moira) in the excellent sitcom “Schitt’s Creek” alongside Eugen Levy.
4 Inflation spec : PSI
Pounds per square inch (PSI) is a measure of pressure.
5 “You just got burned!” : OH SNAP!
“Oh snap!” might be described as street talk. The phrase is used as a retort to someone who makes a verbal dig at you. It was apparently popularized by Tracy Morgan on “Saturday Night Live”.
6 He independently discovered the same comet as Hale : BOPP
Comet Hale-Bopp was an unusually bright comet that was observable in the night sky for 18 months in the late 1990s. The comet was discovered in 1995 by professional astronomer Alan Hale and amateur observer Thomas Bopp, hence the name. Famously, claims were made that there was an alien spaceship travelling behind Hale-Bopp. 39 members of a San Diego religious cult called Heaven’s Gate committed mass suicide in 1996 in order to reach the spacecraft.
8 Craving : YEN
The word “yen”, meaning “urge”, has been around in English since the very early 1900s. It comes from the earlier word “yin” imported from Chinese, which was used in English to describe an intense craving for opium.
18 Model Y maker : TESLA
Tesla Motors was founded in 2003 as a manufacturer of electric vehicles based in Palo Alto, California. Tesla is noted for producing the first electric sports car, called the Tesla Roadster. The company followed the sports car with a luxury sedan, the Model S. The Model S was the world’s best selling plug-in electric vehicle of 2015. Tesla Motors shortened its name to Tesla in early 2017.
26 Shaman, at times : CURER
A shaman is a supposed intermediary between the human world and the spirit world.
32 Roderigo’s killer, in Shakespeare : IAGO
In William Shakespeare’s “Othello”, Iago is the villain of the piece. At one point he readily admits this, saying “Thus do I ever make my fool my purse”. Here he is claiming to make money out of making fools of others. In this case, he takes money from Roderigo, who believes that Iago will help him bed Othello’s wife Desdemona.
47 Imitation : PSEUDO
A pseudo (or “pseud”) is an artificial or pretentious person.
51 Home of Nijo Castle, built by the Tokugawa shogunate : KYOTO
The city of Kyoto was once the capital of Japan, and in fact the name “Kyoto” means “capital city” in Japanese. Kyoto is sometimes referred to as the City of Ten Thousand Shrines.
53 2017 Pixar film set in the Land of the Dead : COCO
“Coco” is a 2017 Pixar movie about a 12-year-old boy named Miguel who ends up in the land of the dead by accident. There, he seeks out the help of the great-great-grandfather to get back to his family in the land of the living.
54 Beginning of some blended juice flavors : CRAN-
When early European settlers came across red berries growing in the bogs of the northern part of America, they felt that the plant’s flower and stem resembled the head and bill of a crane. As such, they called the plant “craneberry”, which evolved into “cranberry”.
56 Stone with silica : OPAL
97% of the world’s opals come from Australia, so it’s no surprise perhaps that the opal is the national gemstone of the country. The state of South Australia provides the bulk of the world’s production, i.e. about 80%.
60 Tour group, for short : PGA
The Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) was founded in 1916 and today has its headquarters (unsurprisingly) in Florida, where so many golfers live. Back in 1916, the PGA was based in New York City.
Read on, or …
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Cubans are full of it : HAM
4 Order in New Orleans : PO’ BOY
9 Sexology subject : G-SPOT
14 Dish seen around the world? : UFO
15 Go all in, in poker lingo : SHOVE
16 Sam who directed 2022’s “Doctor Strange” sequel : RAIMI
17 World’s oldest golf tournament, familiarly : BRITISH OPEN
19 Animal in the same family as the wolverine : OTTER
20 Vexed : SORE
21 Airer of “Tiny Desk” concerts : NPR
22 ___ Johnson a.k.a. The Rock : DWAYNE
23 One of the Obamas : SASHA
25 “Great ___!” : SCOTT
27 “Yeah, right!,” e.g. : LIP
28 Ecstasy : EUPHORIA
32 Collar feature, perhaps : ID TAG
35 “Fingers crossed” : HERE’S HOPING
36 Sound at the doctor’s office : AAH!
37 Today, in Toledo : HOY
39 Abbr. meaning “in particular” : ESP
40 One of “them” : FOE
41 After-dinner drink made with crème de menthe : GRASSHOPPER
44 Letter-shaped piece of piping : U-BEND
46 Trying to be quiet, in a way : ON TIPTOE
47 Whiz : PRO
48 Von Trapp girl who sang about being 16 : LIESL
49 Baby carrier : STORK
52 Deal : ACCORD
55 Tobiko or ikura, at a Japanese restaurant : ROE
57 Part of Florida : KEYS
59 Shinto gate : TORII
60 Temporary spot to do business … or a hint to answering 17-, 35- and 41-Across : POP-UP SHOP
62 “Sorry, ask someone else” : I CAN’T
63 Rest area on a hike : GLADE
64 Put the food away : ATE
65 Set of flippers? : TONGS
66 Dispense : ALLOT
67 Finishing touch, so to speak : BOW
Down
1 Centers : HUBS
2 Styles for Questlove and Jon Batiste : AFROS
3 Mother on “Schitt’s Creek” : MOIRA
4 Inflation spec : PSI
5 “You just got burned!” : OH SNAP!
6 He independently discovered the same comet as Hale : BOPP
7 Superintend : OVERSEE
8 Craving : YEN
9 Something a teen usually experiences : GROWTH SPURT
10 Straddled : SAT ATOP
11 Feel for : PITY
12 Something interpreted from a bird’s behavior, in the ancient Greek practice of ornithomancy : OMEN
13 Word before iron or chain : TIRE …
18 Model Y maker : TESLA
22 Dimwits : DOPES
24 Gaiety : HIGH SPIRITS
26 Shaman, at times : CURER
29 Teeming : RIFE
30 Privy to : IN ON
31 Dry-___ beef : AGED
32 Roderigo’s killer, in Shakespeare : IAGO
33 “Nuts!” : DARN!
34 “What’s ___?” : THAT
35 What-if propositions, informally : HYPOS
38 Chose : OPTED
42 Keeping isolated : SILOING
43 Sushi order with a salty-sweet sauce : EEL ROLL
45 Has reservations about? : BOOKS
47 Imitation : PSEUDO
50 ___ center : REHAB
51 Home of Nijo Castle, built by the Tokugawa shogunate : KYOTO
52 Bickering : AT IT
53 2017 Pixar film set in the Land of the Dead : COCO
54 Beginning of some blended juice flavors : CRAN-
56 Stone with silica : OPAL
58 Blow out : SPEW
60 Tour group, for short : PGA
61 Kind of project : PET
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7 thoughts on “0804-22 NY Times Crossword 4 Aug 22, Thursday”
Comments are closed.
22:56. A lot of unforced errors solving this one. ACE before PRO which made PSEUDO hard to get. Also just typoed an extra H in GROWTH SPURT so I thought it didn’t fit. I refused to put enter it as such until crosses insisted. A few other bad errors were similar.
I’ve ordered Cuban sandwiches a lot. I see what’s on them, and I always think I should like them, but I never do. Maybe the HAM, pork, salami mix is just too much for me.
Would never have guessed that an OTTER and a wolverine are related.
Best –
26:38, no errors. Complete utter total nonsense all the way through.
horrible puzzle
Brilliant puzzle. Wonderful leaps of closure. Whizzed right through it once I saw GRASSHOPPER (a drink I knew because my parents used to make it for themselves when I was a kid) wouldn’t fit (and my little bit of Spanish gave me HOY above it).
Over an hour and a half but I was determined this was not going to be a DNF.
No errors despite a cluster of Japanese clues.
Stay safe😀
Bravo, Jack! 👍👍👍
I struggled with this. I knew something was “up” but I couldn’t pin point it.
A “POP UP SHOP” never really hit me until it became too obvious. PGA was not where I started and GLADE was not where I started. Until I Sussed that out, I stared a lot. I even had the three themed parts figured out.
Stubborn I am.