Constructed by: Brooke Husic & Will Nediger
Edited by: Will Shortz
Not your puzzle? Try today’s …
… syndicated NY Times crossword
Today’s Theme: Stacking Up
Unusually, we have a themeless Sunday puzzle today. There are lots of long across-answers STACKED on top of each other. Impressive …
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… a complete list of answers
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Bill’s time: 21m 06s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
6 Singer Celia Cruz or actress Rosie Perez : AFRO-LATINA
Celia Cruz was born and grew up in Cuba, but spent most of her working life in the United States, playing out her salsa singing career in New Jersey. Around the world, Cruz was known as the “Queen of Salsa”.
Rosie Perez is an American actress of Puerto Rican descent born in New York City. As well as pursuing her acting career, Perez is an activist promoting Puerto Rican rights, and was arrested in 2000 at a rally to protest US Navy weapons-training off the coast of Puerto Rico.
16 Second-least populous state capital, after Montpelier : PIERRE
Here’s an old chestnut of a trivia question for you … what’s the only state capital in the Union for which the name of the capital and the name of its state share no common letters? You guessed it: Pierre, South Dakota …
Montpelier is the capital of the state of Vermont, the smallest state in the Union in terms of population. The city was named for the French city of Montpelier in the days when there was great enthusiasm for things French after the aid received during the American Revolution.
19 It may give a bowler a hook : HAT TREE
I think that a bowler hat is usually called a derby here in the US. The bowler was first produced in 1849 in London by hatmakers Thomas and William Bowler, hence the name. The alternative name of “derby” comes from the tradition of wearing bowler hats at the Derby horse race (a major race held annually in England).
25 Embarrassing miss : AIR BALL
An air ball in basketball is a shot that misses without even touching the rim, net or backboard.
26 ___ culpa : MEA
Many Roman Catholics are very familiar with the Latin phrase “mea culpa” meaning “my fault”, as it is used in the Latin Mass. The additional term “mea maxima culpa” translates as “my most grievous fault”.
29 Fifth-century nomad of central Asia : HUN
The Huns were a nomadic people who originated in Eastern Europe in the 4th century. Under the command of Attila the Hun they developed a unified empire that stretched from modern-day Germany across to the steppes of Central Asia. The whole of the Hunnic Empire collapsed within a year of Attila’s death in 453 AD.
31 “___ Te Ching” : TAO
Lao Tse (also “Lao-Tzu”, “Laozi”) was a central figure in the development of the religion/philosophy of Taoism. Tradition holds that Lao-Tzu wrote the “Tao Te Ching”, a classical Chinese text that is fundamental to the philosophy of Taoism.
33 Org. that regulates pet food and false eyelashes : FDA
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has its roots in the Division of Chemistry (later “Bureau of Chemistry”) that was part of the US Department of Agriculture. President Theodore Roosevelt gave responsibility for examination of food and drugs to the Bureau of Chemistry with the signing of the Pure Food and Drug Act. The Bureau’s name was changed to the Food, Drug and Insecticide Organization in 1927, and to the Food and Drug Administration in 1930.
37 Showcase for a first chair in an orchestra : SOLO
In an orchestra, the first violins are led by the concertmaster (from the German “Konzertmeister” meaning the same thing), who is often referred to as the “first chair” in the US. The first chair is usually regarded as the most skilled of the first violin section, and will usually play any solo passages (unless a guest soloist is performing a violin concerto).
40 Some Minecraft blocks : ORES
Minecraft is a video game that was released in 2011. It has been cited as one of the most influential video games of all time.
41 Only sch. to have a gold medal-winning athlete in every Summer Olympics since 1912 : USC
The University of Southern California (USC) is a private school in Los Angeles. Apart from its excellent academic record, USC is known for the success of its athletic program. USC Trojans have won more Olympic medals than the students of any other university in the world. The USC marching band is very famous as well, and is known as the “Spirit of Troy”. The band has performed with many celebrities, and is the only college band to have two platinum records.
42 Nuclear model named for a physicist : BOHR ATOM
Niels Bohr and Ernest Rutherford introduced a model in which the atom comprised a small, positively charged nucleus around which traveled negatively-charged electrons. This model is often referred to as the Rutherford-Bohr model, or simply the Bohr model.
Niels Bohr was a Danish physicist who won his 1922 Nobel Prize for his work on quantum mechanics and atomic structure. Later in his life, Bohr was part of the team working on the Manhattan Project that developed the first atomic bomb. Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein had a series of public debates and disputes in the twenties and thirties. Although the two respected each other very highly, they held very different views on quantum theory, different views on the laws of physics at the atomic level. The passage of time has shown that Bohr won out in those debates.
44 Actress Dennings : KAT
Kat Dennings is the stage name of actress Katherine Litwack, who is noted today for her co-starring role on CBS’s sitcom “2 Broke Girls”. Dennings is an avid blogger, and you can check out her video blog on YouTube.
48 Carpentry peg : DOWEL
A dowel is a rod made from plastic, wood or metal. In its complete form, it is referred to as a “dowel rod”. We are perhaps more used to the rod cut into short lengths known as “dowel pins”.
50 Attack, Quixote-style : TILT AT
“Jousting” and “tilting” are synonyms describing the medieval competition in which two horsemen yielding blunted lances attempt to unseat each other. Such an event has been referred to as “jousting” since the 1300s. At some point, the path of the two charging horsemen was separated by a cloth barrier known as a tilt (“tilt” meant “cloth covering”). The term “tilting” was applied to the sport in the 1500s, although by then the cloth barrier had been upgraded to a wooden fence.
The phrase “tilting at windmills” means “attacking imaginary enemies”. The idiom comes from an episode in the novel “Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes, in which the hero of the piece charges at windmills that he imagines are giants.
52 Specialized vocabularies : ARGOTS
“Argot” is a French term. It is the name given in the 17th century to “the jargon of the Paris underworld”. Nowadays argot is a set of idioms used by any particular group, the “lingo” of that group.
53 Indicators of status in Maori culture : FACE TATTOOS
The Māori are the indigenous people of New Zealand. They are eastern Polynesian in origin and began arriving in New Zealand relatively recently, starting some time in the late 13th century. The word “māori” simply means “normal”, distinguishing mortal humans from spiritual entities. The Māori refer to New Zealand as “Aotearoa”.
55 Disney girl who fosters an alien : LILO
“Lilo & Stitch” was released by Disney in 2002. Compared to other Disney feature-length cartoons, “Lilo & Stitch” was relatively cheaply produced, using the voices of lesser-known actors. One interesting change had to take place in the storyline during production, when Lilo was meant to fly a Jumbo Jet through downtown Honolulu in one sequence. This was replaced with a sequence using a spaceship instead, as the producers were sensitive to public sentiment after the September 11 attacks.
63 Where many people walk out? : GAY PRIDE PARADE
The first gay pride parades were held all on the same weekend in 1970, in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
65 Juan ___, baseball star nicknamed “Childish Bambino” : SOTO
Juan Soto is a professional baseball player from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. He made his MLB debut with the Washington Nationals in 2018, and in so doing became the youngest player in the majors (at 19).
66 Seattle team : THE MARINERS
The Seattle Mariners (SEA) are the only Major League team never to have appeared in a World Series. The Mariners are owned by the Nintendo Corporation of America, making them one of three Major League teams owned by businesses. The other two are the Atlanta Braves (owned by Liberty Media) and the Toronto Blue Jays (owned by Rogers Communications).
67 Pressed (down) : TAMPED
To tamp is to pack down tightly by tapping. “Tamp” was originally used specifically to describe the action of packing down sand or dirt around an explosive prior to detonation.
71 E.C. ___, creator of Popeye : SEGAR
Elzie Segar was a cartoonist who went by the name E. C. Segar. He was the man who created the strip “Thimble Theater”, home of the character Popeye.
73 Kind of high-fat diet used as an epilepsy therapy : KETO
A ketogenic (also “keto”) diet is a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet. When a body consumes insufficient carbohydrates to meet the need for energy, then the liver converts fat into fatty acids and ketone bodies in order to make up the energy deficit. An elevated level of ketone bodies in the bloodstream is known as “ketosis”, a term that gives rise to the name “ketogenic diet”. Medical professionals sometimes prescribe a ketogenic diet in order to control epilepsy in children. A condition of ketosis can reduce the frequency of epileptic seizures.
74 “The Marvelous ___ Maisel” : MRS
“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” is a comedy drama TV show set in the late fifties and early sixties. The title character, played by Rachel Brosnahan, is a New York housewife who opts for a career as a standup comedian.
78 Like Plan B, for short : OTC
Plan B is a brand of emergency contraceptive pill that is sold over the counter (OTC). It is often described as a morning-after pill.
79 Fromage base : LAIT
In French, “fromage” (cheese) is made from “lait” (milk).
80 Royal house on the Arabian Peninsula : SAUD
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the largest Arab country in the Middle East and is the world’s largest oil producer, home to the world’s largest oil reserves. The Saudi dynasty started in central Arabia in 1744 when the secular leader Muhammad ibn Saud joined forces with the Islamic scholar and Imam, Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab. At the time, Saud was a ruler of a town near Riyadh and he was determined to bring “true” Islam to the Arabian peninsula. Since 1744 the fortunes of the Saudi family have risen and fallen, but it is that same family who rules what we know today as Saudi Arabia.
84 Online shopping site for handicrafts : ETSY
Etsy.com is an e-commerce website where you can buy and sell the kind of items that you might find at a craft fair.
85 Vanilla unit : POD
The flavor extract that we call “vanilla” comes from the pod-like fruit of climbing orchids belonging to the genus Vanilla. Genuine vanilla is a relatively expensive spice, second only to saffron, due to the amount of work required to grow and harvest the fruit (also called “beans” and “pods”). Spanish and Portuguese explorers came across the Vanilla orchid while exploring the Gulf Coast of Mexico. They gave it the name “vainilla” meaning “little pod”.
87 Kangaroo ___ : RAT
The kangaroo rat of North America is no relation to its larger cousin, the kangaroo of Australia. They do move around with a similar gait, hopping around on their relatively large and strong rear legs.
88 Mermaid’s home, maybe : LAGOON
A lagoon is a shallow body of water, usually separated from the sea by sandbar or reef. The term “lagoon” comes from the Italian “laguna”, the word for a pond or lake. The original “laguna” is the “Laguna Veneta”, the enclosed bay in the Adriatic Sea on which Venice is located. In 1769, Captain Cook was the first to apply the word “lagoon” to the body of water inside a South Seas atoll.
The mythological creatures named mermaids are usually depicted with the head and upper body of a human female, and with the tail of a fish. The term “mermaid” comes from the Old English “mere” meaning “sea, lake” and “maid” meaning “young woman”. The original mermaids were probably tail-less, with that “fishy” addition likely coming with comparison to classical sirens. The male equivalent of a mermaid is “merman”.
95 Orpheus’ instrument : LYRE
Orpheus is a figure from Greek mythology very often associated with poetry, singing, music and the lyre in particular. In ancient Greece there was even an Orphic cult that in effect adopted the poetry ascribed to Orpheus as central to the cult’s belief system. The adjectives “Orphic” and “Orphean” describe things pertaining to Orpheus, and because of his romantic, musical bent, the term has come to describe anything melodious or enchanting. One of the more famous stories about Orpheus describes his attempts to rescue his wife Eurydice from the underworld.
98 Its falls are quite dramatic : NIAGARA RIVER
The mighty Niagara River flows from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, and forms part of the border between the US and Canada. The river is only about 35 miles long, so some describe it as a “strait”. It has a drop in elevation of 325 feet along its length, with 165 feet of that drop taking place at Niagara Falls.
101 Freeway dividers : MEDIANS
Here in the US, the area separating opposing lanes of traffic on a divided highway called the “median strip”. Over in Britain and Ireland, that median strip is known as the “central reservation”.
103 Dillydallying : KILLING TIME
To dillydally is to loiter, delay. The verb “to dally” also means “to linger, dawdle”, and so “dillydally” is simply a duplication of “dally”, one that dates back to the mid-1700s.
106 Some bishops : POPES
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome and the leader of the Roman Catholic Church. The term “pope” comes from the Latin “papa”, and ultimately from the Greek “pappas”, with both terms being a child’s word for “father”.
Down
1 Response to “Danke” : BITTE
In “Deutschland” (Germany), a “danke” (thank you) is often met with a “bitte schön” (you’re welcome).
2 “If we must die, O ___ us nobly die”: Claude McKay : LET
Claude McKay was a Jamaican-American novelist and poet whose name is very much associated with the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s.
3 Like the concept of a flat Earth : ERRONEOUS
The Flat Earth Society is a modern incarnation of a much older group that believed that the earth was in fact flat and not an oblate spheroid. The new version was established by Samuel Shenton in 1956 in Dover in the UK. When man ventured to the moon, the Flat Earth Society took the position that the Apollo program was an elaborate hoax. The contemporary Flat Earth Society is run out of Lancaster, California.
7 Cold, as agua : FRIA
In Spanish, refreshing “agua” (water) is “fría” (cold).
8 Word on an invoice : REMIT
An invoice is an itemized bill. The term comes from the Middle French “envois” meaning “dispatch (of goods)”. The root verb is “envoyer”, which translates as “to send”.
11 Met highlight : ARIA
The Metropolitan Opera (often simply “the Met”) of New York City is the largest classical music organization in the country, presenting about 220 performances each and every year. Founded in 1880, the Met is renowned for using technology to expand its audiences. Performances have been broadcast live on radio since 1931, and on television since 1977. And since 2006 you can go see a live performance from New York in high definition on the big screen, at a movie theater near you …
15 Words before “gratia plena, Dominus tecum” : AVE MARIA …
“Ave Maria” (“Hail Mary” in English) is the prayer at the core of the Roman Catholic Rosary, which itself is a set of prayers asking for the assistance of the Virgin Mary. Much of the text of the “Hail Mary” comes from the Gospel of Luke. The words in Latin are:
AVE MARIA, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.
The prayer has been adapted as a hymn. The two most famous musical versions of “Ave Maria” are by Charles Gounod (based on a piece by Bach) and by Franz Schubert.
24 Performers wearing pa’us and malos : HULA DANCERS
The hula is a native dance of Hawaii that uses arm movements to relate a story. The hula can be performed while sitting (a noho dance) or while standing (a luna dance).
35 Kind of tape : VHS
The VHS video standard is more fully referred to as the Video Home System. VHS was one of many standards touted by various manufacturers in the seventies. The biggest rival to VHS was Betamax, but we all knew which of the two standards won the final round in that fight.
39 Useless : OTIOSE
“Otiose” means “lazy, indolent”, and comes from the Latin word “otium” meaning “leisure”. Use of the term has extended to mean “without profit, futile”.
47 Descriptor for IHOP’s Fresh ‘N Fruity pancakes : ROOTY TOOTY
The International House of Pancakes (IHOP) was founded back in 1958. IHOP was originally intended to be called IHOE, the International House of Eggs, but that name didn’t do too well in marketing tests.
51 Twitter titter : LOL
Laugh out loud (LOL)
53 Actress/activist Jane : FONDA
Jane Fonda is the daughter of Henry Fonda, sister of Peter Fonda, and aunt of Bridget Fonda, making the Fondas quite the acting family. Jane Fonda had many memorable screen performances, but is equally memorable for her anti-war activism. Most famously she was outspoken against the Vietnam War, going so far as to visit North Vietnam during the height of the conflict in 1972, posing for photographs and making radio broadcasts denouncing American leaders as “war criminals”. For her stance, Fonda was nicknamed “Hanoi Jane”.
64 Keystone State airport code : PHL
Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) opened for business in 1925 as a training airfield for the Pennsylvania National Guard. Famed Aviator Charles Lindbergh dedicated the site as Philadelphia Municipal Airport in 1927. The facility became Philadelphia International Airport in 1945, when American Overseas Airlines started direct flights to Europe.
67 Tallied : TOTALED UP
Back in the mid-1600s, a tally was a stick marked with notches that tracked how much one owed or paid. The term “tally” came from the Latin “talea” meaning “stick, rod”. The act of “scoring” the stick with notches gave rise to our word “score” for the number in a tally.
68 Journalist/screenwriter ___ Rogers St. Johns : ADELA
Adela Rogers St. Johns was a journalist, novelist and screenwriter from Los Angeles. St. Johns’ father was a good friend of William Randolph Hearst, and she secured her first job working for Hearst as a reporter on the “San Francisco Examiner”. St. Johns was most famous as what was then called a “girl reporter”, in the twenties and thirties. Much later in her life, she was a regular guest on the “Tonight Show” hosted by Jack Paar.
69 Bongo-playing 1950s stereotype : BEATNIK
The term “beatnik” was coined by journalist Herb Caen in 1958 when he used it to describe the stereotypical young person of the “beat generation”, which is oft associated with the writer Jack Kerouac. That stereotypical beatnik would be playing the bongos, rolling his or her own cigarettes. Male beatniks tended to sport goatees and wear berets.
Bongo drums are Cuban percussion instruments consisting of a pair of drums, one larger than the other. The smaller drum is called the “hembra” (female) and the larger the “macho” (male).
72 Dirk Nowitzki, for 21 seasons, in brief : MAV
Dirk Nowitzki is an NBA player from Northern Bavaria in Germany. Nowitzki has scored more points in the NBA than any other foreign-born player in the league’s history. He also turns out for the German national team, for which is the captain. Indeed, Nowitzki was named German Sports Personality of the Year in 2011.
73 Designer Anne : KLEIN
Anne Klein was a fashion designer from Brooklyn, New York. She was born Hannah Golofski, and founded her first clothing company in the 1940s along with her first husband Ben Klein.
75 High-speed races with gates : SUPER GS
Super Giant Slalom (Super G) is an alpine skiing event introduced in 1982. The Super G isn’t as fast as its sister event the Downhill, but is faster than the more technical Giant Slalom.
81 Triangular snack chip : DORITO
The product that was to become Doritos was a creation at the Casa de Fritos in Disneyland in the early sixties. A marketing executive from Frito-Lay noticed how well the snack was selling in the park, and made a deal to produce the chips under the name “Doritos”, starting in 1964. “Doritos” translates from Spanish as “little bits of gold”.
86 New Jersey athlete : DEVIL
The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark. The club was founded in 1974 in Kansas City, originally as the Mohawks, and then quickly renamed the Scouts. The franchise moved to Denver in 1976, becoming the Colorado Rockies. The move to Newark happened in 1982, when the team was renamed the New Jersey Devils.
89 Cloud on a summer day : GNATS
Gnats are attracted to the smell of rotting food, and vinegar. Simple homemade traps that use vinegar are often constructed to attract and kill gnats.
92 Singer with the album “Voyage to India” : ARIE
India.Arie is an American soul and R&B singer who was born India Arie Simpson in Denver, Colorado.
93 Ethiopia’s Lake ___ : TANA
Lake Tana is the largest lake in Ethiopia, and is the source of the Blue Nile. The lake has a number of islands of significant size, many of which are home to ancient monasteries.
99 Day-___ : GLO
“Day-Glo” is a registered trademark used for an ink or paint that glows when exposed to a black light in a darkened room. When Day-Glo paint is viewed in daylight, the colors can look particularly vivid because they respond to UV light present in sunlight.
102 Bit of land in la mer : ILE
In French, an “île” (island) is “terre dans la mer” (land in the sea).
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Farm cry : BLEAT
6 Singer Celia Cruz or actress Rosie Perez : AFRO-LATINA
16 Second-least populous state capital, after Montpelier : PIERRE
17 Like fire drills and dress rehearsals : PREPARATIVE
19 It may give a bowler a hook : HAT TREE
20 “We must wait to see what happens” : TIME WILL TELL
22 Pause, in music : REST
23 Legal profession? : OATH
25 Embarrassing miss : AIR BALL
26 ___ culpa : MEA
27 Gently enter : EASE IN
29 Fifth-century nomad of central Asia : HUN
31 “___ Te Ching” : TAO
32 Needing another dryer cycle, say : DAMP
33 Org. that regulates pet food and false eyelashes : FDA
34 Design, as software : DEVELOP
37 Showcase for a first chair in an orchestra : SOLO
40 Some Minecraft blocks : ORES
41 Only sch. to have a gold medal-winning athlete in every Summer Olympics since 1912 : USC
42 Nuclear model named for a physicist : BOHR ATOM
44 Actress Dennings : KAT
45 Symbol of longevity in Chinese numerology : NINE
46 “We don’t need to hear the details!” : SPARE US!
48 Carpentry peg : DOWEL
50 Attack, Quixote-style : TILT AT
52 Specialized vocabularies : ARGOTS
53 Indicators of status in Maori culture : FACE TATTOOS
55 Disney girl who fosters an alien : LILO
56 J.G. Ballard dystopia about a man stranded between motorways : CONCRETE ISLAND
59 Huff : SNIT
60 Agreement : CONCURRENCE
61 Has an understanding : SEES
63 Where many people walk out? : GAY PRIDE PARADE
65 Juan ___, baseball star nicknamed “Childish Bambino” : SOTO
66 Seattle team : THE MARINERS
67 Pressed (down) : TAMPED
69 Sci. class with dissections : BIO LAB
71 E.C. ___, creator of Popeye : SEGAR
72 Pharmaceutical company whose Nasdaq symbol is MRNA : MODERNA
73 Kind of high-fat diet used as an epilepsy therapy : KETO
74 “The Marvelous ___ Maisel” : MRS
76 Set aside : DEDICATE
78 Like Plan B, for short : OTC
79 Fromage base : LAIT
80 Royal house on the Arabian Peninsula : SAUD
82 It’s back on Broadway : REVIVAL
83 “Candyman” director DaCosta : NIA
84 Online shopping site for handicrafts : ETSY
85 Vanilla unit : POD
87 Kangaroo ___ : RAT
88 Mermaid’s home, maybe : LAGOON
90 Connections : INS
91 Like many a dinner function : CATERED
95 Orpheus’ instrument : LYRE
97 They’ve taken the veil : NUNS
98 Its falls are quite dramatic : NIAGARA RIVER
101 Freeway dividers : MEDIANS
103 Dillydallying : KILLING TIME
104 “We’re all ___ here” : ADULTS
105 Informal favor request : DO ME A SOLID
106 Some bishops : POPES
Down
1 Response to “Danke” : BITTE
2 “If we must die, O ___ us nobly die”: Claude McKay : LET
3 Like the concept of a flat Earth : ERRONEOUS
4 Side-by-side calculation : AREA
5 Certain chew toy : TEETHER
6 Fitting : APT
7 Cold, as agua : FRIA
8 Word on an invoice : REMIT
9 What the musicals “Beggar’s Holiday” and “Rent” are based on : OPERAS
10 Compendium of case reports : LAW BOOK
11 Met highlight : ARIA
12 Like one on stilts : TALL
13 “C’mon, ___ be fun” : IT’LL
14 Small fault : NIT
15 Words before “gratia plena, Dominus tecum” : AVE MARIA …
16 Italian dance form from the Spanish for “walk in the street” : PASSACAGLIA
18 Erbium, terbium or ytterbium : ELEMENT
19 Dance move that resembles a front flip : HEADSPRING
21 Momentary slip : LAPSE
22 Negative responses : REFUSALS
24 Performers wearing pa’us and malos : HULA DANCERS
28 “Seems likely” : I’D BET
30 Having free time : NOT OCCUPIED
32 “That’s enough lip out of you!” : DON’T SASS ME
35 Kind of tape : VHS
36 “Mighty Morphin” TV character : POWER RANGER
38 Crystalline structure : LATTICE
39 Useless : OTIOSE
43 Utility company professional : METER READER
47 Descriptor for IHOP’s Fresh ‘N Fruity pancakes : ROOTY TOOTY
49 Result of a delay : LATE ARRIVAL
51 Twitter titter : LOL
53 Actress/activist Jane : FONDA
54 Minds : TENDS
56 Portuguese city with a historic university founded in 1290 : COIMBRA
57 They don’t express gender : NEOPRONOUNS
58 After-school activities one wouldn’t list on a college app : DETENTIONS
60 Really wallops : CREAMS
62 Noisemakers dangling below a “Just Married” sign : SODA CANS
64 Keystone State airport code : PHL
67 Tallied : TOTALED UP
68 Journalist/screenwriter ___ Rogers St. Johns : ADELA
69 Bongo-playing 1950s stereotype : BEATNIK
70 Introduction to an adage : IT IS SAID …
72 Dirk Nowitzki, for 21 seasons, in brief : MAV
73 Designer Anne : KLEIN
75 High-speed races with gates : SUPER GS
77 Guide outside a bus station, often : CITY MAP
81 Triangular snack chip : DORITO
86 New Jersey athlete : DEVIL
89 Cloud on a summer day : GNATS
91 Like suboptimal kite-flying weather : CALM
92 Singer with the album “Voyage to India” : ARIE
93 Ethiopia’s Lake ___ : TANA
94 Kind of bra cup : DEMI
96 Overhaul : REDO
99 Day-___ : GLO
100 Word with hot or headed : RED-
102 Bit of land in la mer : ILE
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11 thoughts on “0821-22 NY Times Crossword 21 Aug 22, Sunday”
Comments are closed.
13:53. Pretty breezy solve, but impressive construction.
31:31, no errors. Agree with Tom, impressive construction. Unfortunately for me today, my tablet decided to reboot while the timer kept running.
30D reminds me of a comment I heard: “Just because I’m not doing anything doesn’t mean I’m available. It means I’m not doing anything”.
33:23. I always say how much I like these Sunday themeless puzzles. They should all be like this, but I suppose I’m in the minority. Intimidating grid to look at, but they made a lot of the longer answers easy enough.
A MEDIAN is a “central reservation” over in England? I certainly didn’t know that. The few times I’ve been to England I don’t think I was ever on a freeway. Oh well, they drive on the wrong side of the road so what do they know….(that was for Bill)
NEOPRONOUNS? Give me a break. The Soviet Union used to control language in order to control thought. It was one of their most adhered to tenets – controlling speech. Sure sounds familiar…
Best –
OMG
59:54, So the one time I decide to solve sitting on the back sun porch and the neighbor’s dog gets blasted at near point blank range by a skunk. I immediately abandoned ship and adjourned to the living room after closing all the windows in the house. That had to add at least 2 minutes to my typically pathetic solving time :- )
If it’s a themeless puzzle, why give it a title? I hunted for a theme despite the disclaimer in the Will Shortz’s introduction.
Could someone please explain “do me a solid”? How does that relate to the definition, asking for a favor?
From my observation over the last 70 years: asking someone to do a ‘big favor’ morphed into asking for a ‘solid favor’; which subsequently decomposed into asking for a ‘solid’.
1:46:21 but no errors…I felt like I needed a passport to work this one.
My paper does not identify the setter(s) but I figured there had to be 2 to come up with all this nonsense.
Stay safe😀
@Sylvie in case you read this…”do me a solid” is just another way to say “do me a favor”
Ah, Adela Rogers St. John! She and Alexander King used to be my favorite guests on Jack Paar’s Tonight Show. She fascinated me with stories about Hearst and Marian Davies, and he had me rolling in the floor ( and Paar helpless with laughter.).
25:41, no errors.
No errors but this was like doing 2 or 3 sunday puzzles in one.
Seemed there were several attempts at misdirects…
BTW – a METER READER is not an utility company professional.