Constructed by: Garrett Chalfin
Edited by: Will Shortz
Not your puzzle? Try today’s …
… syndicated NY Times crossword
Today’s Theme: With Ease
Themed answers are common two-word phrases with an E-sound added to the end of both:
- 23A Kitchen at a barbecue restaurant? : CHILI FACTORY (from “chill factor”)
- 28A Result of a 1960s Haight-Ashbury shopping spree? : HIPPIE BOOTY (from “hip boot”)
- 38A Highly visible belly button? : POINTY OUTIE (from “point out”)
- 48A Good friend who won’t stop snooping? : NOSY BESTIE (from “knows best”)
- 66A Prenuptial agreement? : SWEETIE TREATY (from “sweet treat”)
- 85A Long anecdote from a complainer? : WHINY STORY (from “wine store”)
- 91A Tinker Bell or Puck? : CRAFTY FAIRY (from “craft fair”)
- 104A Bad person for a gambler to make bets with? : PHONY BOOKIE (from “phone book”)
- 110A Acolyte with a bad temper? : TESTY GROUPIE (from “test group”)
Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers
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Bill’s time: 19m 41s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
6 Activates, as yeast : PROOFS
When baking, proofing (also “proving”) is the resting of a dough made with yeast, allowing it to rise prior to baking.
15 Great Britain, geographically : ISLE
The terms “United Kingdom”, “Great Britain” and “England” can sometimes be confused. The official use of “United Kingdom” originated in 1707 with the Acts of Union that declared the countries of England and Scotland as “United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain”. The name changed again with the Acts of Union 1800 that created the “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland” (much to the chagrin of most of the Irish population). This was partially reversed in 1927 when the current name was introduced, the “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”, in recognition of an independent Irish Free State in the south of the island of Ireland.
19 “My ___ (You’re Never Gonna Get It),” 1992 hit by En Vogue : LOVIN’
En Vogue is an all-female R&B group that formed in 1989 in Oakland, California. The group briefly performed under the name “4-U”, before changing to “Vogue”. The shift to “En Vogue” happened when they discovered another group using that name.
20 Not a big Mac? : LAPTOP
Macintosh (also “Mac”, since 1998) is a line of computers from Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced in 1984, and I remember someone showing me one at work in those early days of personal computing. There was a piece of white plastic connected to the main computer by a cord, and I was amazed when the guy showed me that it controlled where the cursor was on the screen. My colleague told me that this lump of plastic was called “a mouse” …
22 “I am not a glutton — I am an explorer of ___”: Erma Bombeck : FOOD
Erma Bombeck wrote for newspapers for about 35 years. She produced more than 4,000 witty and humorous columns under the title “At Wit’s End”, with all describing her home life in suburbia.
23 Kitchen at a barbecue restaurant? : CHILI FACTORY (from “chill factor”)
The full name of the dish that is often called simply “chili” is “chili con carne”, Spanish for “peppers with meat”. The dish was created by immigrants from the Spanish Canary Islands in the city of San Antonio, Texas (a city which the islanders founded). The San Antonio Chili Stand was a popular attraction at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, and that stand introduced the dish to the rest of America and to the world.
28 Result of a 1960s Haight-Ashbury shopping spree? : HIPPIE BOOTY (from “hip boot”)
Haight-Ashbury is a neighborhood in San Francisco that is centered on the intersection of Haight Street and Ashbury Street. The district was one of the epicenters of hippie life in the sixties, and was home to psychedelic rock performers of the day including Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin.
30 It’s in your blood : GENE
A gene is a section of a chromosome that is responsible for a particular characteristic in an organism. For example, one gene may determine eye color and another balding pattern. We have two copies of each gene, one from each of our parents, with each copy known as an allele.
33 Ones coming “home” at homecoming : ALUMS
An alumnus (plural “alumni”) is a graduate or former student of a school or college. The female form is “alumna” (plural “alumnae”). The term comes into English from Latin, in which an alumnus is a foster-son or pupil. “Alum” is an informal term used for either an alumna or alumnus.
37 Host : SLEW
Our usage of “slew” to mean “large number” has nothing to do with the verb “to slew” meaning “to turn, skid”. The noun “slew” came into English in the early 1800s from the Irish word “sluagh” meaning “host, crowd, multitude”.
38 Highly visible belly button? : POINTY OUTIE (from “point out”)
The navel is essentially the scar left behind when the umbilical cord is removed from a newborn baby. One interesting use of the umbilicus (navel, belly button) is to differentiate between identical twins, especially when they are very young.
42 Actress Fisher of “Now You See Me” : ISLA
Isla Fisher is an Oman-born, Australian actress who really launched her career with a recurring role on the Australian soap “Home and Away”. She started a career in Hollywood portraying Mary Jane in the 2002 film “Scooby-Doo”. Fisher married English actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen in 2010.
47 Streamlet : RILL
The word “rill”, meaning a small brook or rivulet, has German roots. It has the same roots as “Rhine”, the name of the major European river.
53 What to add to “Iraq” to make it adjectival : AN I
Iraq is often called the “Cradle of Civilization” as it was home to Sumer, which was the earliest known civilization on the planet. By 5000 BC the Sumerian people were practicing year-round agriculture and had a specialized labor force. For the first time, a whole race was able to settle in one place by storing food, instead of having to migrate in a pattern dictated by crops and grazing land.
54 Subwoofer sound : BASS
In a sound system, the subwoofer produces the very low end of the sound spectrum.
55 Jhumpa ___, author of the Pulitzer-winning “Interpreter of Maladies” : LAHIRI
Jhumpa Lahiri is an English-born American author of Indian descent. Many of her works explore the experiences of Indians who immigrate to the United States. In 2011, Lahiri moved to Italy. There she learned the native language, and has written several published works in Italian.
58 Some cameras, in brief : SLRS
Single-lens reflex (SLR) camera
60 SETI subjects : UFOS
“SETI” is the name given to a number of projects searching for extraterrestrial life. The acronym stands for “search for extraterrestrial intelligence”. One of the main SETI activities is the monitoring of electromagnetic radiation (such as radio waves) reaching the Earth in the hope of finding a transmission from a civilization in another world.
62 Language in which “puzzle” is “pid sa” : LAO
Lao, the language of Laos, does not use spaces between words (or periods!), although this is apparently changing. Spaces are used between sentences and clauses.
66 Prenuptial agreement? : SWEETIE TREATY (from “sweet treat”)
Our word “nuptial” is an adjective meaning “of marriage, of the wedding ceremony”. The term derives from “nuptiae”, the Latin for “wedding, marriage”.
69 “Geaux Tigers!” sch. : LSU
The Tigers are the sports teams of Louisiana State University (LSU). They are officially known as the Fightin’ Tigers, and the school mascot is “Mike the Tiger”. The name comes from the days of the Civil War, when two Louisiana brigades earned the nickname the “Louisiana Tigers”. Given the French/Cajun history of Louisiana, the LSU fans use the cheer “Geaux Tigers” instead of “Go Tigers”.
71 Feature of Sylvester’s speech : LISP
Sylvester J. Pussycat is also known as Puddy Tat, and is a character who appeared in “Looney Tunes” and “Merrie Melodies” cartoons. Sylvester is the cat who is often trying to get the better of Tweety Bird, Speedy Gonzales and Hippety Hopper. Sylvester’s trademark line is the exclamation “Sufferin’ succotash!”, which emphasizes the character’s pronounced lisp.
72 Comedian Rudolph : MAYA
Comic actress Maya Rudolph got her break as a regular cast member on “Saturday Night Live”. Rudolph’s mother was singer Minnie Ripperton, who had a big hit in 1975 with the single “Lovin’ You”.
73 Taiwanese president ___ Ing-wen : TSAI
Tsai Ing-wen was elected as Taiwan’s first female president in 2016. Tsai was also the nation’s first unmarried president.
75 Skateboard tricks : OLLIES
An ollie is a skateboarding trick invented in 1976 by Alan “Ollie” Gelfand. Apparently it’s a way of lifting the board off the ground, while standing on it, without touching the board with one’s hands. Yeah, I could do that …
79 ___ Tac (mint) : TIC
Tic Tacs aren’t American candies (as I always mistakenly believed). Tic Tacs are made by the Italian company Ferrero, and were introduced in 1969.
81 Throat bug : STREP
Streptococcus bacteria multiply and divide along a single axis so that they form linked chains. That behavior gives the genus of bacteria its name, as “streptos” is Greek for “easily twisted, like a chain”. I had to battle with streptococcal pharyngitis (strep throat) twice in the past few years and it was not at all pleasant, I must say. Another species of streptococcus is responsible for that terrible “flesh-eating” infection that makes the news from time to time.
87 Italian mount : ETNA
Italy is home to three active volcanoes:
- Stromboli (in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the north coast of Sicily)
- Vesuvius (overlooking Naples)
- Etna (on the island of Sicily)
88 Astronomer Sagan : CARL
Carl Sagan was a brilliant astrophysicist, and a great communicator. He was famous for presenting obscure concepts about the cosmos in such a way that we mere mortals could appreciate. Sagan also wrote the novel “Contact” that was adapted into a fascinating 1997 film of the same name starring Jodie Foster.
90 One with an underground colony : ANT
Anthills are actually underground nests. The ants in the colony excavate below ground, resulting in a pile of sand or soil above ground.
91 Tinker Bell or Puck? : CRAFTY FAIRY (from “craft fair”)
Tinker Bell is a fairy in the “Peter Pan” story by J. M. Barrie. “Tink” is a minor character in the original play and novel, but evolved into a major character in the many, many film and television adaptations of the tale.
Puck (aka “Robin Goodfellow”) is a character in William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, one of the Fairies in the tale. One of Puck’s tasks in the storyline is to use love juice that is made from a flower that has been hit by cupid’s arrow. The magical juice is applied to the eyelids of someone sleeping, so that the person wakes and falls in love with the first living things he or she sees. Of course, Puck drops the love juice on the wrong character …
100 Whence feng shui : CHINA
Feng shui is the ancient Chinese tradition of arranging objects, buildings and other structures in a manner that is said to improve the lives of the individuals living in or using the space. “Feng shui” translates as “wind-water”, a reference to the belief that positive and negative life forces ride the wind and scatter, but are retained when they encounter water.
103 Didn’t give forever : LENT
Here in North America, we tend to use the verb “to loan” to mean “to give for a while”, with “loaned” meaning “gave for while”. Over on the other side of the pond, it is common to use the “to lend” to mean “to give for a while”, and so “lent” can mean “gave for a while”. American English favors the use of “to loan” in the context of borrowing money at interest. Well, that’s my impression …
110 Acolyte with a bad temper? : TESTY GROUPIE (from “test group”)
The word “acolyte” comes from the Greek “akolouthos” meaning “companion, attendant, helper”. In the Christian tradition, an acolyte is an individual who assists some way in a ceremony, by lighting candles for example. In more general terms, an acolyte is a devoted follower or attendant.
114 Part of Q.E.D. : ERAT
The initialism “QED” is used at the end of a mathematical proof or a philosophical argument. QED stands for the Latin “quod erat demonstrandum” meaning “that which was to be demonstrated”.
116 Nueva York, por ejemplo : ESTADO
In Spanish, examples of an “estado” (state) are “Nueva York” (New York) and “Dakota del Norte” (North Dakota).
Down
1 Trio with the 1995 #1 hit “Waterfalls” : TLC
The girl band called TLC is from Atlanta, Georgia. The band’s name comes from the trio’s original members:
- Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins
- Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes
- Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas
“Waterfalls” was a hit in 1995 for girl group TLC. It was to become the band’s signature song, and is notable in that it is the first number-one song to reference AIDS. In fact, “Waterfalls” also mentions the illegal drug trade and promiscuity.
5 Most snarky : SNIDEST
“Snark” is a term that was coined by Lewis Carroll in his fabulous 1876 nonsense poem “The Hunting of the Snark”. Somehow, the term “snarky” came to mean “irritable, short-tempered” in the early 1900s, and from there “snark” became “sarcastic rhetoric” at the beginning of the 21st century.
9 Plains tribe : OTO
The Otoe (also “Oto”) Native American tribe originated in the Great Lakes region as part of the Winnebago or Siouan tribes. The group that would become the Otoe broke away from the Winnebago and migrated southwestward, ending up in the Great Plains. In the plains the Otoe adopted a semi-nomadic lifestyle dependent on the horse, with the American bison becoming central to their diet.
16 Sin city : SODOM
The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, as well as Admah and Zeboim, were destroyed by God for the sins of their inhabitants, according to the Bible. The name Sodom has become a metaphor for vice and homosexuality, and gives us our word “sodomy”.
18 Avant-garde : EDGY
Someone or something described as avant-garde is especially innovative. “Avant-garde” is French for “advance guard”.
24 “My name is Prince, and I am ___” (Prince lyric) : FUNKY
Singer Prince was born in Minneapolis, and he lived there most of his life. Born Prince Rogers Nelson, his given name honored his father, a jazz musician who used the stage name Prince Rogers. Starting in 1993, he changed his stage name (adopting an unpronounceable symbol) and was often referred to as “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince” (TAFKAP). He died in 2016 due to an accidental fentanyl overdose at his home and recording studio located just southwest of Minneapolis. The home and studio, known as Paisley Park, is now a museum that is open to the public.
29 Sauces made with basil and pine nuts : PESTOS
Pesto sauce is more completely called “pesto alla genovese”, i.e. pesto from Genoa. A traditional recipe calls for crushed garlic, pine nuts, salt, basil leaves, parmesan cheese and olive oil. Yum …
32 Slinky, e.g. : COIL
The marvelous Slinky toy was invented in the early forties by a naval engineer named Richard James. James was developing springs for the navy that could stabilize sensitive instruments in rough seas. One day he accidentally knocked one of his experimental coils off a shelf and watched it “step” onto a stack of books, then onto a table and from there onto the floor where it recoiled itself very neatly. The Slinky was born …
34 Sales promotion acronym : BOGO
Buy one, get one (BOGO) or buy one, get one free (BOGOF).
38 “The Office” role : PAM
In the excellent sitcom “The Office”, the character Pam Halpert (née Beesly) is played very ably by Jenna Fischer. If you’ve seen the original version of “The Office” from the UK, then you’d have met Pam’s equivalent character, whose name is Dawn Tinsley.
44 Turkish money : LIRAS
The currency of Turkey is the Turkish lira, which is divided into 100 kuruş. In 1927, the Turkish lira replaced the Ottoman lira, which had been in use since 1844.
45 Letters found in a so-called “supervocalic” word : A-E-I-O-U
A supervocalic word is one that contains just one occurence of each of the five vowels. Examples are lovely words like sequoia, ambidextrous and milquetoast, as well as … supervocalic.
49 Spots on a Rorschach card : BLOTS
The Rorschach test is a psychological test in which a subject is asked to interpret a series of inkblots. The test was created by Swiss Freudian psychoanalyst Hermann Rorschach in the 1920s.
52 Stahl of “60 Minutes” : LESLEY
Television journalist Lesley Stahl first appeared on “60 Minutes” in 1991, after serving as moderator of “Face the Nation” for almost 8 years starting in 1983. Stahl is married to author and journalist Aaron Latham. One of Latham’s claims to fame is that he wrote the article that inspired the movie “Urban Cowboy”.
The marvelous news magazine program “60 Minutes” has been on the air since 1968. The show is unique among all other regularly-scheduled shows in that it has never used theme music. There is just the ticking of that Aristo stopwatch.
57 Like chicken cordon bleu, originally : SWISS
A “cordon bleu” dish is a meat dish, one prepared by wrapping the meat around cheese, covering it with breading and then pan-frying. Specifically, veal cordon bleu is made using veal that is pounded thin and wrapped around slices of ham and cheese. The term “cordon bleu” translated from French as “blue ribbon”.
59 British sailor, in slang : LIMEY
“Limey” is a slang nickname for someone from Britain, and is a term used in particular by people from North America and Australia. “Limey” is thought to be short for “lime-juicer”, an insulting phrase used to describe Royal Navy sailors who were given lime juice while at sea to help stave off scurvy.
63 Is exultant : CROWS
The verb “to crow” meaning “to exult in triumph” is imitative of the sound made by a crow, perhaps as it settles over some dead animal that it has found …
64 City of 16+ million straddling the Yamuna River : DELHI
The Yamuna is a tributary of the Ganges in India. Just like the Ganges, many Hindus consider the Yamuna to be sacred. The list of cities on the river include Delhi (the nation’s capital) and Agra (home to the Taj Mahal).
65 7-10, e.g., in bowling : SPLIT
In ten-pin bowling, a split takes place when the number-one pin (headpin) is knocked down with the first ball and two or more non-adjacent pins are left standing. The most difficult split to deal with is the infamous 7-10 split, where just the rear pins at the extreme right and left remain standing.
67 Big name in printing : EPSON
Seiko Epson is a Japanese company, and one of the largest manufacturers of printers in the world. The company has its roots in the watch business, roots that go back to 1942. Seiko was chosen as the official timekeeper for the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and was asked to supply a timer that produced a printed record. This request brought Seiko into the business of printer production. The company developed the world’s first mini-printer for the 1964 Games and called it EP-101 (with “EP” standing for Electronic Printer). In 1975 Seiko introduced the next generation of EP printers which was called EPSON, from “SON of EP”. Cute, huh?
68 Plants used in wickerwork furniture : RATTANS
Rattan is the name of a large number of species of palms, all of which look less like trees and more like vines. The woody stems are used for making cane furniture.
The Wych elm is also known as the Scots elm. It is the most common species of elm found in Europe. The term “wych” comes from the Old English “wice” meaning “pliant, supple”. The word “wice” also gives rise to our word “wicker”.
78 Bit of hype, informally : PR TALK
Public relations (PR)
82 Worry for a speakeasy : RAID
A speakeasy is an establishment that sells alcoholic drinks illegally. Speakeasies were very big in the US in the days of Prohibition. The obvious etymology, of a speakeasy owner asking his or her customers to “speak easy” so as not to draw attention to the authorities, is thought to have originated in 1888 in McKeesport just outside Pittsburgh.
87 Language in which “puzzle” is “puzal” : ERSE
There are actually three Erse languages: Irish, Manx (spoken on the Isle of Man) and Scots Gaelic. In their own tongues, these would be “Gaeilge” (in Ireland), “Gaelg” (on the Isle of Man) and “Gaidhlig” (in Scotland).
91 “Is that understood?” : CAPEESH?
“Capeesh?” is a slang term meaning “do you understand?” It comes from the Italian “capisce” meaning “understand”.
95 Seton who wrote “Dragonwyck” : ANYA
“Anya Seton” was the pen name of Ann Seton, an author of historical romances from New York City. Seton’s 1944 novel “Dragonwyck” was released into theaters in 1946 and starred Gene Tierney and Walter Huston.
101 Navajo dwelling : HOGAN
The traditional dwellings built by the Navajo people are known as hogans. “Hogan” is the anglicization of a Navajo word meaning “the home place”.
102 One of the Corleones : SONNY
Sonny Corleone was the eldest son of Don Vito Corleone in Mario Puzo’s great novel “The Godfather”. In the movie, Sonny was played by James Caan. Sonny appears as a boy in the movie “The Godfather: Part II”, and is played by director Francis Ford Coppola’s own son, Roman Coppola.
103 Interlocking bricks : LEGOS
Lego is manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company headquartered in Billund, Denmark. The company was founded by a carpenter called Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1934 and the now-famous plastic interlocking blocks were introduced in 1949. The blocks were originally sold under the name “Automatic Binding Bricks” but I think “Lego” is easier to remember! The name “Lego” comes from the Danish term “leg godt” meaning “play well”.
106 ___ Park, home to the University of Chicago : HYDE
Hyde Park is a Chicago neighborhood located on the shores of Lake Michigan. The area is home to the University of Chicago, and is also home to former US President Barack Obama.
107 One-on-one Olympics event : EPEE
There are three fencing events in the modern Olympics, with each distinguished by the weapon used:
- Foil
- Épée
- Sabre
112 Top part of Scotland? : TAM
A tam o’shanter is a man’s cap worn traditionally by Scotsmen. “Tams” were originally all blue (and called “blue bonnets”) but as more dyes became readily available they became more colorful. The name of the cap comes from the title character of the Robert Burns poem “Tam o’ Shanter”. A pom-pom adorning a tam is known as a toorie.
113 “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” feeling : ESP
Extrasensory perception (ESP)
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Warming periods : THAWS
6 Activates, as yeast : PROOFS
12 Chatter : GAB
15 Great Britain, geographically : ISLE
19 “My ___ (You’re Never Gonna Get It),” 1992 hit by En Vogue : LOVIN’
20 Not a big Mac? : LAPTOP
21 Nail, as a test : ACE
22 “I am not a glutton — I am an explorer of ___”: Erma Bombeck : FOOD
23 Kitchen at a barbecue restaurant? : CHILI FACTORY (from “chill factor”)
25 Potentially adoptable pup : STRAY DOG
27 Misfit : ODD DUCK
28 Result of a 1960s Haight-Ashbury shopping spree? : HIPPIE BOOTY (from “hip boot”)
30 It’s in your blood : GENE
31 Play parts : SCENES
33 Ones coming “home” at homecoming : ALUMS
34 Quick-moving : BRISK
36 Corp. shake-ups : REORGS
37 Host : SLEW
38 Highly visible belly button? : POINTY OUTIE (from “point out”)
40 Up to, informally : ‘TIL
42 Actress Fisher of “Now You See Me” : ISLA
46 Curious in the extreme : AGOG
47 Streamlet : RILL
48 Good friend who won’t stop snooping? : NOSY BESTIE (from “knows best”)
51 The first one was built in 1925 in San Luis Obispo, Calif. : MOTEL
53 What to add to “Iraq” to make it adjectival : AN I
54 Subwoofer sound : BASS
55 Jhumpa ___, author of the Pulitzer-winning “Interpreter of Maladies” : LAHIRI
56 Take a load off : REST
58 Some cameras, in brief : SLRS
60 SETI subjects : UFOS
62 Language in which “puzzle” is “pid sa” : LAO
63 Burnable media : CDS
66 Prenuptial agreement? : SWEETIE TREATY (from “sweet treat”)
69 “Geaux Tigers!” sch. : LSU
70 Be an agent for : REP
71 Feature of Sylvester’s speech : LISP
72 Comedian Rudolph : MAYA
73 Taiwanese president ___ Ing-wen : TSAI
75 Skateboard tricks : OLLIES
77 Went 90, say : SPED
79 ___ Tac (mint) : TIC
81 Throat bug : STREP
85 Long anecdote from a complainer? : WHINY STORY (from “wine store”)
87 Italian mount : ETNA
88 Astronomer Sagan : CARL
89 Takes a load off : SITS
90 One with an underground colony : ANT
91 Tinker Bell or Puck? : CRAFTY FAIRY (from “craft fair”)
94 Fruit-based dessert … or a possible description of its flavor : TART
97 “Sorry to say, you guessed wrong” : ALAS, NO
99 What many clocks and card games have : HANDS
100 Whence feng shui : CHINA
102 Skiing areas : SLOPES
103 Didn’t give forever : LENT
104 Bad person for a gambler to make bets with? : PHONY BOOKIE (from “phone book”)
106 Plant with purple-pink flowers : HEATHER
109 Rustic abode : LOG CABIN
110 Acolyte with a bad temper? : TESTY GROUPIE (from “test group”)
114 Part of Q.E.D. : ERAT
115 Cozy stopover : INN
116 Nueva York, por ejemplo : ESTADO
117 Word with code or rehearsal : DRESS …
118 Cozy spots : DENS
119 It appears blue as a result of Rayleigh scattering : SKY
120 Chimes and dimes vis-à-vis this clue’s answer : RHYMES
121 Difficult to climb, in a way : STEEP
Down
1 Trio with the 1995 #1 hit “Waterfalls” : TLC
2 Jolly laugh : HO! HO!
3 Passionate : AVID
4 Fragrant medicinal plant also called colic-root : WILD GINGER
5 Most snarky : SNIDEST
6 Finish second : PLACE
7 Something to hang your hat on : RACK
8 Elect : OPT
9 Plains tribe : OTO
10 Not to go : FOR HERE
11 Bugging people, perhaps : SPYING
12 Displays of shock : GASPS
13 Start to play? : ACT I
14 Put on no pretensions : BE REAL
15 “Fine by me” : IF YOU WISH
16 Sin city : SODOM
17 Commits piracy : LOOTS
18 Avant-garde : EDGY
24 “My name is Prince, and I am ___” (Prince lyric) : FUNKY
26 Proficient : ABLE
29 Sauces made with basil and pine nuts : PESTOS
31 Songs to be played at a concert : SET LIST
32 Slinky, e.g. : COIL
34 Sales promotion acronym : BOGO
35 Hoot : RIOT
36 Downfall : RUIN
37 Shifty : SLY
38 “The Office” role : PAM
39 Gives a grand speech : ORATES
41 It’s up for debate : ISSUE
43 Alternative to sparkling : STILL
44 Turkish money : LIRAS
45 Letters found in a so-called “supervocalic” word : A-E-I-O-U
48 “Yuck!” : NASTY!
49 Spots on a Rorschach card : BLOTS
50 They don’t require much study : EASY AS
52 Stahl of “60 Minutes” : LESLEY
54 I’m toast! : BREAD
57 Like chicken cordon bleu, originally : SWISS
59 British sailor, in slang : LIMEY
61 One who’s rolling in money : FAT CAT
63 Is exultant : CROWS
64 City of 16+ million straddling the Yamuna River : DELHI
65 7-10, e.g., in bowling : SPLIT
67 Big name in printing : EPSON
68 Plants used in wickerwork furniture : RATTANS
74 “Worth a try” : IT CAN’T HURT
76 Gut feelings : INSTINCTS
78 Bit of hype, informally : PR TALK
80 Scoop : INFO
82 Worry for a speakeasy : RAID
83 Slips up : ERRS
84 Layer : PLY
86 Parlor offering, for short : TAT
87 Language in which “puzzle” is “puzal” : ERSE
91 “Is that understood?” : CAPEESH?
92 “Is that understood?” : Y’HEAR?
93 State of uneasiness, informally : FANTODS
95 Seton who wrote “Dragonwyck” : ANYA
96 Prayer leaders : RABBIS
98 Hang around : LOITER
100 Taking out the trash, for one : CHORE
101 Navajo dwelling : HOGAN
102 One of the Corleones : SONNY
103 Interlocking bricks : LEGOS
104 Made a case : PLED
105 Word that may come from a pen : OINK
106 ___ Park, home to the University of Chicago : HYDE
107 One-on-one Olympics event : EPEE
108 “All ___!” : RISE
111 Farm structure : STY
112 Top part of Scotland? : TAM
113 “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” feeling : ESP
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13 thoughts on “0122-23 NY Times Crossword 22 Jan 23, Sunday”
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18 flat. Never heard of FANTODS. “It’s in your blood” for GENE is pretty misleading (beyond usual crossword misdirection). I mean, yes, kinda, but GENE is really more of a conceptual word that represents a locus of DNA and the effects it has on the cell and organism. The clue kind of equates GENE with DNA, when they’re not really functionally interchangeable terms. Maybe “It’s nuclear” or “It helps make you” or something like that would’ve been better. Perhaps I’m being pedantic.
37:26. Really struggled with all the song lyrics and actors etc in this puzzle. Leaned on the theme heavily – especially towards the bottom. Got PHONY BOOKIE before I had any crosses.
A couple of stupid errors not worth mentioning. Also had VEGAS before SODOM – hazard of living here. ODDball before ODD DUCK. Got a kick out of 120A – rhymes with RHYMES.
Never heard of FANTODS either. Clue for GENE was indeed very general. It was not inaccurate, but it’s like cluing AIR with “Something in your house”. Or perhaps you could say that being related by “blood” is the same as being related by “GENEs” or genetically – i.e. using the meaning of blood as in related.
Best –
31:20, no errors. FANTODS must be an acceptable crossword entry. It seems to have been used at least 3 times in the last 200 years. I couldn’t accept the misspelling of capisce until the crosses gave me no alternative.
If BruceB is right and FANTODS has been used 3x in 200 years, it is not “informal”, if you ask me. I agree with the complaints about GENE. Like Tom said: kinda. “Genetic” answering “In your blood” would be more acceptable. But my personal bugaboo was UFOS for SETI subjects. They’re searching for electromagnetic signals from ET intelligence — which probably has invented objects that fly, but SETI is not searching for flying objects that we can’t identify. Some of these clues feel like they were written by someone who’s heard about something once but doesn’t really remember what it was about.
For the record, the word “fantods” is completely familiar to me, though I’m sure it’s a bit out of date. I’m a couple of weeks shy of 80 and I’m sure it was used in my family as I was growing up, but I probably also encountered it in “Huckleberry Finn” at an early age.
And, as for the other complaints, I can only repeat what I have said before: They’re called “clues”, not “definitions”.
what the hell does chili have to do with barbecue?
Hallelujah, I finish this one with no errors, but it took me forever to understand the gimmick. Very rare that I aced the crossword puzzle AND I took first place in the Sunday morning poker tournament at Agua Caliente in Palm Desert. Double yay!
I still don’t get SLEW for “Host”. Just can’t get my brain around it. Maybe someone can explain it to me.
In doing a puzzle, you can run into a “slew” of problems or a “host” of problems. The slang usage may or may not be familiar to you.
Oh, got it. Yeah, definitely wasn’t coming up with that interpretation! Thanks!
No errors. Wondered about fantods. For @davekennison, I found the following-
Mark Twain used the word to refer to uneasiness or restlessness as shown by nervous movements—also known as the fidgets—in Huckleberry Finn: “They was all nice pictures, I reckon, but I didn’t somehow seem to take to them, because … they always give me the fantods.”
I also came across that quote from “Huckleberry Finn”, and I know that I read the book very early, but I’m also convinced that the word was used in my family. (And, of course, I could be wrong … 😜.)
For whatever reason, I learned a lot of odd words in childhood and I think many of them came from my grandfather. A recent example of this: due to changes in the skin on the soles of my feet, I recently bought a pumice stone, which I asked for by the name I learned as a boy: “pummy stone”. After observing that people didn’t seem to know what the heck I was talking about, I looked the word up in every dictionary I own and found that only the OED has an entry supporting my pronunciation. (Sadly, the OED sheds no light on where that pronunciation is common or how it made its way to me.)
Another (probably more common?) example: My grandfather frequently expressed his approval of a particular item of food by pronouncing it larrupin’. That one is in various slang dictionaries, which mostly say that it’s a slang term from Texas, possibly derived, somehow, from a noun meaning a “whipping” or a “beating”. I don’t know how that derivation came about or how it got from Texas to my granddad.
I had no issue with “it’s in your blood”. I’ve heard the expression used to describe any trait that might as well be genetic. Extreme miserliness or self-importance or kindness would be “in his blood”.