1002-22 NY Times Crossword 2 Oct 22, Sunday

Constructed by: Kathy Bloomer
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme: Le Puzzle

Themed answers are common phrases with -LE added as a prefix to one word:

  • 22A “When will the leaky faucet get fixed?,” e.g.? : TRICKLE QUESTION (from “trick question”)
  • 106A Where you’d find sap for syrup? : ALL OVER THE MAPLE (from “all over the map”)
  • 3D Says “John, Paul … and Ringo”? : SKIPS A BEATLE (from “skips a beat”)
  • 15D Show up naked, perhaps? : STARTLE DATE (from “start date”)
  • 31D M __ U __ H? : WORDLE OF MOUTH (from “word of mouth”)
  • 34D Loss of the winning ticket? : LOTTERY PICKLE (from “lottery pick”)
  • 60D King and queen? : PALACE COUPLE (from “palace coup”)
  • 63D The three R’s? : CLASS TRIPLE (from “class trip”)

Bill’s time: 22m 50s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

7 Experience equanimity : FEEL OKAY

Equanimity is the quality of being composed and calm. The term comes from the Latin”aequus” (even) and “”animus” (mind). “Equanimity” is one of my favorite words of all time …

19 Inventor Tesla : NIKOLA

Nikola Tesla was born in Serbia, but later moved to the US. Tesla’s work on mechanical and electrical engineering was crucial to the development of alternating current technology, the same technology that is used by equipment at the backbone of modern power generation and distribution systems.

21 Old-fashioned trial transcriber : STENO

Stenography is the process of writing in shorthand. The term comes from the Greek “steno” (narrow) and “graphe” (writing).

22 “When will the leaky faucet get fixed?,” e.g.? : TRICKLE QUESTION (from “trick question”)

The common “faucet” in an American house is almost always referred to as a “tap” on the other side of the pond.

24 “___ Speaks!” (Marx brother autobiography) : HARPO

Harpo Marx was the second-oldest of the Marx brothers. Harpo’s real name was Adolph, and he earned his nickname because he played the harp. Famously, Harpe didn’t speak on screen, a routine that he developed after reading a review that he performed really well when he just didn’t speak! He would usually whistle or toot a hand-held horn instead of speaking.

25 Equinox mo. : SEP

An equinox is a phenomenon dictated by the tilt of the earth’s axis. Twice every year, that tilt “evens out” and the sun is equidistant from points at the same latitude both north and south of the equator. It is as if the earth has no tilt relative to the sun. The term “equinox” comes from the Latin for “equal night”, inferring that night and day are equally long, as the effect of the earth’s “tilt” is nullified. Equinoxes occur each year around March 21st (the vernal equinox) and September 23rd (the autumnal equinox).

26 PC key : ALT

The Alt (alternate) key is found on either side of the space bar on US PC keyboards. The Alt key evolved from what was called a Meta key on old MIT keyboards, although the function has changed somewhat over the years. Alt is equivalent in many ways to the Option key on a Mac keyboard, and indeed the letters “Alt” have been printed on most Mac keyboards starting in the nineties.

27 Actor Astin : SEAN

Sean Astin is best known for playing the title role in the 1993 film “Rudy” and the character Samwise Gamgee in “The Lord of the Rings” movies. You might also have seen him playing Lynn McGill in the 5th season of “24”. Astin is the son of actress Patty Duke, and the adopted son of actor John Astin (of “The Addams Family” fame).

28 Spam generator : HORMEL
36 Spam containers : TINS

Spam is a precooked meat product that is sold in cans. It was introduced by Hormel Foods in 1937. The main meat ingredients are pork shoulder meat and ham. The name “Spam” was chosen as the result of a competition at Hormel, with the winner earning himself a hundred dollars. According to the company, the derivation of the name “Spam” is a secret known by only a few former executives, but the speculation is that it stands for “spiced ham” or “shoulders of pork and ham”. Spam is particularly popular in Hawaii, so popular that it is sometimes referred to as “the Hawaiian steak”.

29 Gridiron gains: Abbr. : YDS

We never used the word “gridiron” when I was growing up in Ireland (meaning a grill used for cooking food over an open fire). So, maybe I am excused for taking two decades living in the US to work out that a football field gridiron is so called because the layout of yard lines over the field looks like a gridiron used in cooking.

30 Bygone theater chain : LOEWS

Loews Theatres was a chain of movie theaters founded in 1904 by Marcus Loew and Brantford Schwartz. The chain merged with AMC Theaters in 2006.

33 Lithe : SVELTE

“Svelte” comes into English from Latin, via the Italian “svelto” meaning “stretched out”. Something or someone described as svelte would be slender and graceful.

41 German physicist with an eponymous law : OHM

The unit of electrical resistance is the ohm (with the symbol omega) named after German physicist Georg Simon Ohm. Ohm was the guy who established experimentally that the amount of current flowing through a circuit is directly proportional to the voltage applied, (V=IR) a relationship that every school kid knows as Ohm’s Law.

42 Focal points : LOCI

“Locus” (plural “loci”) is Latin for “place”, and is used in English with the same meaning. The term can also be used to describe a center of power or activity. In mathematics, a locus is a set of points that satisfy some property. For example, a locus might be a straight line, part of a line, a surface, or perhaps a curve.

43 Worldly : URBANE

We use “urbane” today to describe something courteous or refined. Back in the 1500s, the term was used in the same way that we now use “urban”. Those townsfolk thought they were more sophisticated than the country folk, and so the usage evolved.

47 Oklahoma city named for a character in a Tennyson poem : ENID

Enid, Oklahoma takes its name from the old railroad station around which the city developed. Back in 1889, that train stop was called Skeleton Station. An official who didn’t like the name changed it to Enid Station, using a character from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Idylls of the King”. Maybe if he hadn’t changed the name, the city of Enid would now be called Skeleton, Oklahoma! Enid has the nickname “Queen Wheat City” because it has a huge capacity for storing grain, the third largest grain storage capacity in the world.

51 One-named singer whose last name is Adkins : ADELE

“Adele” is the stage name of English singer Adele Adkins. Adele’s debut album is “19”, named after the age she was during the album’s production. Her second album was even more successful than the first. Called “21”, the second album was released three years after the first, when Adele was three years older. Her third studio album “25”, released in 2015, broke the first-week sales records in both the UK and the US. “30” followed in 2021.

52 Faulkner’s “As ___ Dying” : I LAY

“As I Lay Dying” is a novel by William Faulkner first published in 1930. The book has an unusual structure, with stream-of-consciousness writing throughout. There is one whole chapter that I’d like to quote here:

My mother is a fish.

That’s a five-word chapter …

53 Setting for a classic Agatha Christie novel : NILE

Agatha Christie wrote a very successful crime novel called “Death on the Nile” that was first published in 1937. That novel had started off life as a play that was never performed, one that Christie called “Moon on the Nile”. Christie then adapted the novel back into a play again, calling it “Murder on the Nile”, which opened in London in 1946.

56 Baby louse : NIT

Lice (singular “louse”) are small wingless insects, of which there are thousands of species. There are three species of lice affecting humans, i.e. head lice, body lice and pubic lice. Most lice feed on dead skin found on the body of the host animal, although some feed on blood. Ick …

59 Potentially offensive, say : NOT PC

Non-politically correct (non-PC)

62 Easy pill to swallow? : GELCAP

Gelatin capsules (gelcaps) might be an issue for those on a strict vegan diet. The gelatin used in the capsule is made from collagen extracted from animal skin and bone.

64 Candy bar whose name is an exclamation : OH HENRY!

Oh Henry! is a candy bar that was introduced in 1920 by the Williamson Candy Company of Chicago. There doesn’t seem to be a definitive explanation for the name, although it does seem to be a play on the name of the American writer O. Henry. There is also a story that it was named after a young man named Henry who used to flirt with the female candy makers in the Williamson Candy Company. What is true is that the bar was invented by a candy maker named Tom Henry, who sold the recipe to Williamson.

66 2015 inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame : O’MEARA

Mark O’Meara is a golfer from Goldsboro, North Carolina. He is known as one of the American players who competes in international tournaments more than most, and has a reputation as a real gentleman all around the world.

The World Golf Hall of Fame is located near St. Augustine, Florida. Two other halls of fame were merged into the World Golf Hall of Fame over the years. The PGA of America’s Hall of fame was incorporated in the 1980s, and the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame in 1998.

68 Bloke : FELLA

“Bloke” is British slang for “fellow”. The etymology of “bloke” seems to have been lost in the mists of time.

69 Covers, as the bill : FOOTS

To foot the bill is to pay it, to pay the total at the “foot” of the bill.

72 Most popular dog breed in the U.S., familiarly : LAB

The Labrador (Lab) breed of dog has been around at least since 1814, and the chocolate Labrador appeared over a century later in the 1930s. The name “Labrador Retriever” is simply a reference to the breed’s origin and behavior. Labs originally “retrieved” from the “Labrador Sea”.

83 Floppy features of basset hounds : EARS

The basset hound wouldn’t be my favorite breed of dog, to be honest. Basset hounds have a great sense of smell with an ability to track a scent that is second only to that of the bloodhound. The name “basset” comes from the French word for “rather low”, a reference to the dog’s short legs.

87 Editorial override : STET

“Stet” is a Latin word meaning “let it stand”. In editorial work, the typesetter is instructed to disregard any change previously marked by writing the word “stet” and then underscoring that change with a line of dots or dashes.

88 Word before crow or dirt : EAT …

The phrase “eat crow”, an alternative to “eat humble pie”, perhaps refers to the fact that cooked crow may be edible, but is not a great food choice.

89 Prop for a painter : EASEL

The word “easel” comes from an old Dutch word meaning “donkey”, would you believe? The idea is that an easel carries its load (an oil painting, say) just as a donkey would be made to carry a load.

90 Former attorney general Holder : ERIC

Eric Holder was the Attorney General of the United States from 2009 to 2015, the first African American to hold the position. Holder was close to President Obama during the presidential campaign. Holder was the campaign’s legal advisor and was also one of the three members on the Obama vice-presidential selection committee that recommended future Vice President Joe Biden.

92 Home to the University of Georgia : ATHENS

The Georgia city of Athens lies about 70 miles northeast of Atlanta. Athens might be described as a college town, and is home to the main campus of the University of Georgia. The settlement of Cedar Shoals was chosen as a site for the new university in 1801. That same year, Cedar Shoals was renamed to Athens, after the Greek city that was home to the Platonic Academy of Plato and Aristotle.

The University of Georgia (UGA) is primarily located in Athens, Georgia. UGA was founded in 1785 and was the nation’s first state-chartered university. UGA’s sports teams are called the Georgia Bulldogs (sometimes just “Dawgs”).

104 Country bordering Oman, for short : UAE

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven emirates (states) in the Middle East. Included in the seven are Abu Dhabi and Dubai, with the city of Abu Dhabi being the UAE capital and cultural center.

105 Versatile neutral shade : TAUPE

Taupe is a dark, gray-brown color. The word “taupe” comes from the Latin name of the European Mole, which has skin with the same color.

106 Where you’d find sap for syrup? : ALL OVER THE MAPLE (from “all over the map”)

About 75% of the world’s maple syrup comes from the province of Quebec. The US’s biggest producer is the state of Vermont, which produces 5-6% of the world’s supply.

112 Condition treated with insulin : DIABETES

Diabetes is a group of disorders characterized by high blood sugar levels (hyperglycemia). Type 1 diabetes is caused by the body’s failure to make enough insulin, a hormone that promotes the absorption of glucose from the blood. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body’s cells fail to respond properly to insulin.

114 Wedding invitation enclosure, in brief : SASE

An SAE is a “stamped, addressed envelope”. An SASE is a “self-addressed, stamped envelope”.

Down

1 Fidgety : ANTSY

The word “antsy” embodies the concept of “having ants in one’s pants”, meaning being nervous and fidgety. However, “antsy” has been used in English since the 1830s, whereas “ants in the pants” originated a century later.

3 Says “John, Paul … and Ringo”? : SKIPS A BEATLE (from “skips a beat”)

The Beatles went through quite an evolution of names and band members. The evolution of band names was the Blackjacks, the Quarrymen, Johnny & the Moondogs, Beatals, the Silver Beetles, the Silver Beatles and finally the Beatles.

4 Post ___ (occurring after the event) : HOC

The term “post hoc” is used to describe a conclusion made about an earlier event at the time of a later event. Post hoc reasoning is basically an argument made late in the day, an argument that the earlier event caused the later event. If you know what I mean …!

5 Basic : ALKALINE

The “opposite” of an acid is a base. Acids turn litmus paper red, and bases turn it blue. Acids and bases react with each other to form salts. An important subset of the chemicals called bases are alkalis, hydroxides of the alkali metals and of ammonium. The term “alkali” is sometimes used interchangeably with “base”, especially if that base is readily soluble in water.

7 Help page initialism : FAQ

Most websites have a page listing answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). Even this blog has one!

8 URL ender : EDU

An Internet address (like NYXCrossword.com and LAXCrossword.com) is more correctly called a uniform resource locator (URL).

10 Goes berserk : LOSES IT

Our word “berserk” meaning “deranged” comes from the “Berserkers”, Norse warriors described in Old Norse literature. Berserkers were renowned for going into battle in a fury, and some believe that they consumed drugged food to get themselves worked up for the fighting ahead.

11 About 6.5 inches, on a standard piano : OCTAVE

I find that terminology in music can be confusing. My way of looking at an octave (my way … don’t shout at me!) is thinking of a piano keyboard. In the key of C, the seven notes of the octave are C, D, E, F, G, A, B (or “do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti”). These are all white keys. Most of these “white notes” are separated by whole tones, so there is room to add a “semitone” in between most of them, and these are the black keys (C-sharp for example). There is room for five black keys in an octave, and 7 + 5 adds up to 12. I assume we use the term “octave” because we often add an eighth note on the end “to bring us back to do” as the song says (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do … or … C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C). That eighth note is really the first note in the next octave up.

12 Virginia senator Tim : KAINE

Tim Kaine took office as US Senator for Virginia in 2013, having served as the state’s governor from 2006 to 2010. He was also chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2009 until 2011. Famously, Senator Kaine ran as vice presidential running mate in Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 2016.

14 Currency that features “The Tale of Genji” on one of its bank notes : YEN

The Japanese yen is the third-most traded currency in the world, after the US dollar and the euro.

16 Emma Watson’s role in the Harry Potter films : HERMIONE

Emma Watson is an English actress famous for playing Hermione Granger in the “Harry Potter” series of movies. Watson continued her education while pursuing her acting career and studied at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

21 “Yellowjackets” airer, for short : SHO

“Yellowjackets” sounds like an interesting TV show. It is about four teenage girls who survive a plane crash, and have to live for nineteenth months alone in the Canadian wilderness. While this story unfolds in the show, we also track their lives as adults, 25 years later.

23 Summer abroad : ETE

In French, “été” (summer) follows “printemps” (spring).

28 Plant fiber used to make some jewelry : HEMP

Hemp, also known as “cannabis”, is a hardy, fast-growing plant that has many uses mainly due to the strength of the fibers in the plant’s stalks. Hemp is used to make rope, paper and textiles. The term “hemp” is sometimes reserved for varieties of the plant grown for non-drug use.

31 M __ U __ H? : WORDLE OF MOUTH (from “word of mouth”)

Wordle is a web-based word game that a Welsh software engineer developed to play with his partner during the COVID pandemic. The name “Wordle” is a play on the engineer’s own name: Josh Wardle. Wardle published the game on its own website in 2021, primarily for the use of Wardle’s family. One month later, the game had 90 players, and a month later 300,000 players. A week later, the number of daily players had grown to two million! The New York Times purchased Wordle in 2022 “for an undisclosed price in the low-seven figures”.

38 Like venison : GAMY

Venison is the meat of a deer. In days of yore, the term “venison” applied not just to deer, but to any large game. The word ultimately derives from the Latin “venare” meaning “to hunt”.

46 Leo with the 1977 #1 hit “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” : SAYER

Leo Sayer is a British singer who was big in the seventies with hits such as “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” and “When I Need You”. Sayer now lives in Australia.

49 Asset when playing cornhole : AIM

Cornhole is a game in which contestants throw bean bags towards a tilted-up platform with a hole in it. Bags that land in the hole score 3 points, and bags that land on the board score 1 point.

54 Sappho and Mirabai : POETS

Sappho was an Ancient Greek poet born on the Greek island of Lesbos. Sappho was much admired for her work, although very little of it survives today. She was renowned for writing erotic and romantic verse that dealt with the love of women as well as men. It was because of this poetry that the word “lesbian” (someone from Lesbos) is used to describe a gay woman.

55 Certain fed. security : T-NOTE

A Treasury note (T-note) is a government debt that matures in 1-10 years. A T-note has a coupon (interest) payment made every six months. The T-note is purchased at a discount to face value, and at the date of maturity can be redeemed at that face value. A Treasury bill (T-bill) is a similar financial vehicle, but it matures in one year or less, and a T-bond matures in 20-30 years.

57 Alternatives to shakes : MALTS

Walgreens claims to have introduced the malted milkshake, back in 1922.

60 King and queen? : PALACE COUPLE (from “palace coup”)

A coup d’état (often just “coup”) is the sudden overthrow of a government, and comes from the French for “stroke of state”. The Swiss-German word “putsch” is sometimes used instead of “coup”, with “Putsch” translating literally as “sudden blow”. We also use the abbreviated “coup” to mean “sudden, brilliant and successful act”.

63 The three R’s? : CLASS TRIPLE (from “class trip”)

The “three Rs” (RRR) are reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic.

71 Quill go-with : INK

Quills have been used as writing implements since the 6th century. Historically, goose, swan and turkey feathers have been the quills of choice. A bird’s feather is well suited for writing, as the hollow shaft acts as a reservoir for ink which then flows to the tip due to capillary action. Choice of feather is important. Right-handed writers are best served by feathers from the left wing, as the feather curves away from the palm of the hand when writing. The tip of the quill is sharpened using a “quill knife”. This quill knife is the ancestor of what we know today as a “penknife”.

75 Raw power : SINEW

“Sinew” is another name for “tendon”. Tendons are bands of collagen that connect muscle to bone. Tendons are similar to ligaments and fasciae, which are also connective tissue made out of collagen, but ligaments join bone to bone, and fasciae connect muscle to muscle. We also use the term “sinew” to mean muscular power.

76 Salon job, informally : MANI

Back in the 1870s, a manicure was a person who cared for the hands and fingernails. Before the end of the 1800s, the term “manicure” was applied to the treatment itself. “Manicure” comes from the Latin “manus” meaning “hand” and “cura” meaning “care”.

81 Bout enders, for short : KOS

Knockout (KO)

82 Caballero, e.g. : HORSEMAN

“Caballero” is Spanish for “knight, gentleman”.

84 Bog contents : PEAT

When dead plant matter accumulates in marshy areas, it may not fully decay due to a lack of oxygen or acidic conditions. We are familiar with this in Ireland, because this decaying matter can form peat, and we have lots and lots of peat bogs around the country.

93 Razzle-dazzle : ECLAT

“Éclat” can describe a brilliant show of success, as well as the applause or accolade that one receives for that success. The word “éclat” derives from the French “éclater” meaning “to splinter, burst out”.

97 Superman’s birth name : KAL-EL

Jor-El was a scientist on the planet Krypton who was married to Lara. Jor-El and Lara had an infant son named Kal-El who they were able to launch into space towards Earth just before Krypton was destroyed. Kal-El became Superman. In the 1978 movie “Superman”, Jor-El was played by Marlon Brando, Lara was played by Susannah York, and Kal-El/Superman was played by Christopher Reeve.

98 A pomegranate can contain a few hundred of these : SEEDS

The name of the fruit called a “pomegranate” comes from the Latin “pomum” meaning “apple” and “granatum” meaning “seeded”.

102 Name of either brother in a classic Nickelodeon sitcom : PETE

“The Adventures of Pete & Pete” is a comedy TV show on Nickelodeon. The title characters are two young brothers, both of whom have the name “Pete Wrigley”. One uses the nickname “Big Pete”, and the other “Little Pete”.

106 Computing pioneer Lovelace : ADA

Ada Lovelace’s real name and title was Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace. She was the only legitimate child of Lord Byron, the poet. Lovelace was fascinated by mathematics and wrote about the work done by Charles Babbage in building his groundbreaking mechanical computer. In some of her notes, she proposed an algorithm for Babbage’s machine to compute Bernoulli numbers. This algorithm is recognized by many as the world’s first computer program and so Lovelace is sometimes called the first “computer programmer”. There is a computer language called “Ada” that was named in her honor. The Ada language was developed from 1977 to 1983 for the US Department of Defense.

109 Menu eponym : TSO

General Tso’s chicken is an American creation, and a dish often found on the menu of a Chinese restaurant. The name General Tso may be a reference to General Zuo Zongtang of the Qing Dynasty, but there is no clear link.

110 Pint contents : ALE

A US pint comprises 16 fluid ounces, and an imperial pint is 20 fluid ounces. The term “pint” comes into English via Old French, ultimately from the Latin “picta” meaning “painted”. The name arose from a line painted on the side of a beer glass that marked a full measure of ale.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Complete jerk : ASSHAT
7 Experience equanimity : FEEL OKAY
15 Word with ghost or pirate : … SHIP
19 Inventor Tesla : NIKOLA
20 Champion : ADVOCATE
21 Old-fashioned trial transcriber : STENO
22 “When will the leaky faucet get fixed?,” e.g.? : TRICKLE QUESTION (from “trick question”)
24 “___ Speaks!” (Marx brother autobiography) : HARPO
25 Equinox mo. : SEP
26 PC key : ALT
27 Actor Astin : SEAN
28 Spam generator : HORMEL
29 Gridiron gains: Abbr. : YDS
30 Bygone theater chain : LOEWS
33 Lithe : SVELTE
36 Spam containers : TINS
37 Opposed to, in dialect : AGIN
39 Song from back in the day : OLDIE
41 German physicist with an eponymous law : OHM
42 Focal points : LOCI
43 Worldly : URBANE
45 Hoot : RIOT
46 Part of a how-to manual : STEP
47 Oklahoma city named for a character in a Tennyson poem : ENID
48 Curt summons : SEE ME!
49 Remarks further : ADDS
50 It may be unlimited in a phone plan : DATA
51 One-named singer whose last name is Adkins : ADELE
52 Faulkner’s “As ___ Dying” : I LAY
53 Setting for a classic Agatha Christie novel : NILE
54 Opt for “deluxe,” say : PAY EXTRA
56 Baby louse : NIT
57 The brother in 24-Across, for one : MIME
58 Harvester of the future : SOWER
59 Potentially offensive, say : NOT PC
62 Easy pill to swallow? : GELCAP
64 Candy bar whose name is an exclamation : OH HENRY!
66 2015 inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame : O’MEARA
68 Bloke : FELLA
69 Covers, as the bill : FOOTS
70 Labneh go-with : PITA
72 Most popular dog breed in the U.S., familiarly : LAB
73 Gives a whirl : ATTEMPTS
75 Without: Lat. : SINE
76 A bunch of : MANY
77 Common stain on a baseball uniform : GRASS
80 Adversaries : FOES
81 Bit of spice, figuratively : KICK
82 Writers not likely to win literary prizes : HACKS
83 Floppy features of basset hounds : EARS
84 Asset : PLUS
85 Possible cause for road rage : HONK
86 Boos : HONEYS
87 Editorial override : STET
88 Word before crow or dirt : EAT …
89 Prop for a painter : EASEL
90 Former attorney general Holder : ERIC
91 Salty droplet : TEAR
92 Home to the University of Georgia : ATHENS
94 Begins giving solid food, say : WEANS
96 Green-lights : OKS
99 Floating : ADRIFT
101 Whip : CROP
103 Imitate : APE
104 Country bordering Oman, for short : UAE
105 Versatile neutral shade : TAUPE
106 Where you’d find sap for syrup? : ALL OVER THE MAPLE (from “all over the map”)
111 Sam the ___ (patriotic Muppet) : EAGLE
112 Condition treated with insulin : DIABETES
113 Rang : CALLED
114 Wedding invitation enclosure, in brief : SASE
115 The other you : ALTER EGO
116 Protests, in a way : KNEELS

Down

1 Fidgety : ANTSY
2 Spawned : SIRED
3 Says “John, Paul … and Ringo”? : SKIPS A BEATLE (from “skips a beat”)
4 Post ___ (occurring after the event) : HOC
5 Basic : ALKALINE
6 Brewski : TALL ONE
7 Help page initialism : FAQ
8 URL ender : EDU
9 Times outside office hours, in personals : EVES
10 Goes berserk : LOSES IT
11 About 6.5 inches, on a standard piano : OCTAVE
12 Virginia senator Tim : KAINE
13 From ___ Z : A TO
14 Currency that features “The Tale of Genji” on one of its bank notes : YEN
15 Show up naked, perhaps? : STARTLE DATE (from “start date”)
16 Emma Watson’s role in the Harry Potter films : HERMIONE
17 Not marked permanently, say : IN PENCIL
18 Lounge chair location : POOLSIDE
21 “Yellowjackets” airer, for short : SHO
23 Summer abroad : ETE
28 Plant fiber used to make some jewelry : HEMP
31 M __ U __ H? : WORDLE OF MOUTH (from “word of mouth”)
32 It’s a slippery slope : SLIDE
34 Loss of the winning ticket? : LOTTERY PICKLE (from “lottery pick”)
35 A layoff, crudely : THE AX
38 Like venison : GAMY
40 Salon specialties : DOS
43 Exploiting : USING
44 Kind of map : RELIEF
46 Leo with the 1977 #1 hit “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” : SAYER
49 Asset when playing cornhole : AIM
50 New beginnings : DAWNS
51 It may be vegetal or fruity : AROMA
53 Lightly bite, as a pup : NIP AT
54 Sappho and Mirabai : POETS
55 Certain fed. security : T-NOTE
57 Alternatives to shakes : MALTS
58 Drinks that are “slammed” : SHOTS
60 King and queen? : PALACE COUPLE (from “palace coup”)
61 Exhibiting the effects of too little sleep, say : CRANKY
63 The three R’s? : CLASS TRIPLE (from “class trip”)
65 Stays optimistic : HOPES
67 Bottomless void : ABYSS
71 Quill go-with : INK
74 Note in the C minor scale : E-FLAT
75 Raw power : SINEW
76 Salon job, informally : MANI
77 Develops, as an idea : GESTATES
78 Like some high-quality bonds : RATED AAA
79 They might tie the room together : AREA RUGS
81 Bout enders, for short : KOS
82 Caballero, e.g. : HORSEMAN
84 Bog contents : PEAT
85 Hosts : HAS OVER
86 Nag : HENPECK
89 Dress for graduation : ENROBE
93 Razzle-dazzle : ECLAT
95 Contented sigh : AAH!
97 Superman’s birth name : KAL-EL
98 A pomegranate can contain a few hundred of these : SEEDS
100 Corkage ___ : FEE
102 Name of either brother in a classic Nickelodeon sitcom : PETE
106 Computing pioneer Lovelace : ADA
107 Teeny : LIL’
108 Rule, informally : REG
109 Menu eponym : TSO
110 Pint contents : ALE

9 thoughts on “1002-22 NY Times Crossword 2 Oct 22, Sunday”

  1. 19:13 after I found and fixed an error (had NON PC originally). This was one where the theme was pretty obvious just from glancing at the puzzle title, and then confirmed by the first theme clue.

  2. 34:28, no errors. I should’ve looked at the puzzle title earlier. It was obvious what was happening after the fact. Average Sunday for me.

  3. 39:12, I still don’t look at the title prior to a Sunday solve, that said, I might have been even faster if I could ever remember how to spell Tesla’s first name….

  4. 21:33. I don’t ever remember beating Bill on a Sunday, but I did have one (stupid) error so maybe this doesn’t count.

    Interesting that ALL OVER THE MAPLE and DIABETES were so close together. Hmmmm

    Best –

  5. I often note that when a clue’s answer is mysterious to me, even if I filled it in right, Bill must not have understood it either (he’s left that line unexplained). Example: 86 across – Boos are Honeys?

  6. 19:10, 1 dumb error. Hate the last part, but pretty good for me when it comes to doing this on paper and pencil that I didn’t get (too) tired doing it before I got done.

  7. Couple of dumb errors..

    Didn’t get BOOs either. Does it go with BAE?

    ASSHAT???

    anyway, nice run on this one.

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