0215-23 NY Times Crossword 15 Feb 23, Wednesday

Constructed by: Sean Ziebarth
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Reveal Answer: Double V

Themed answers are names of celebrated African Americans, with each name including a letter W. That “V” is written in the grid as a DOUBLE “V”:

  • 38A W.W. II-era campaign that helped usher in the civil rights movement … and a hint to four answers in this puzzle : DOUBLE V
  • 17A Investigative journalist and civil rights pioneer who co-founded the N.A.A.C.P. : IDA B WELLS
  • 23A Novelist and civil rights activist who wrote “Go Tell It on the Mountain” : JAMES BALDWIN
  • 52A African American who received a posthumous Medal of Honor for valorous service in W.W. II : GEORGE WATSON
  • 62A Historian, essayist and civil rights leader who was the first African American to receive a doctorate at Harvard : WEB DU BOIS

Bill’s time: 9m 11s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Kit Kat component : WAFER

I grew up eating Kit Kat bars as a kid. The Kit Kat hit the shelves on the other side of the pond in the 1930s, but didn’t make it into US stores until the 1970s. I’ve seen new varieties of Kit Kat bars over in Britain and Ireland, such as an orange-flavored version. I’ve been told that there are even more varieties available in Japan.

10 “Ruler,” in Quechua : INCA

Quechua was the Native-American language adopted by the Incan Empire and favored over other dialects. Today, Quechua is one of the official languages in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, alongside Spanish.

16 Transport up a bunny hill : T-BAR

A T-bar is a ski lift on which the skiers are pulled up the hill in pairs, with each pair standing (not sitting!) either side of a T-shaped metal bar. The bar is placed behind the thighs, pulling along the skiers as they remain standing on their skis (hopefully!). There’s also a J-bar, which is a similar device but with each J-shaped bar used by one skier at a time.

17 Investigative journalist and civil rights pioneer who co-founded the N.A.A.C.P. : IDA B WELLS

Ida B. Wells was an African-American journalist and leader of the civil rights movement. She published a pamphlet in 1892 called “Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases”, which publicized the horrors of lynching of African Americans by white mobs in the South.

19 Some bunts, in brief : SACS

To bunt in baseball is to barely hit the ball, just enough to have it roll slowly in front of the infielders.

22 California’s “Eureka,” for one : MOTTO

“Eureka” is the Greek for “I have found it”, and is the motto of the state of California. The motto was chosen as a nod to the discovery of gold in the state.

23 Novelist and civil rights activist who wrote “Go Tell It on the Mountain” : JAMES BALDWIN

James Baldwin was an American writer, poet, and activist who is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential voices of the civil rights movement. He was born in Harlem, New York in 1924 and began writing at a young age, publishing his first book, “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” in 1953.

32 Automated tweeter : BOT

A bot is a computer program designed to imitate human behavior. It might crawl around the Web doing searches for example, or it might participate in discussions in chat rooms by giving pre-programmed responses. It might also act as a competitor in a computer game.

38 W.W. II-era campaign that helped usher in the civil rights movement … and a hint to four answers in this puzzle : DOUBLE V

The Double V campaign was a slogan and drive for African Americans to achieve both victory in the war abroad and victory over racism at home during World War II. It played a significant role in laying the foundation for the Civil Rights Movement that would follow in the decades after the war. The campaign highlighted the contradiction of fighting for freedom and democracy overseas while African Americans faced discrimination and segregation at home.

42 Letter after phi : CHI

The letter chi is the 22nd letter in the Greek alphabet, and the one that looks like our Roman letter X.

43 Make a pit stop at a punk show? : MOSH

Moshing (also “slam dancing”) is the pushing and shoving that takes place in the audience at a concert (usually a punk or heavy metal concert). The area directly in front of the stage is known as the mosh pit. When a performer does a “stage dive”, it is into (or I suppose “onto”) the mosh pit. It doesn’t sound like fun to me. Injuries are commonplace in the mosh pit, and deaths are not unknown.

45 Bodybuilding supplement co. : GNC

General Nutrition Centers (GNC) is a retailer of health and nutrition supplements based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded in 1935 as a small health food store in downtown Pittsburgh. There are now about 5,000 stores in the US. The GNC slogan is “Live Well”.

48 Rank above a viscount : EARL

In the British peerage system, a viscount ranks below an earl and above a baron. The term “viscount” basically means “deputy of a count”, i.e. “vice-count”.

52 African American who received a posthumous Medal of Honor for valorous service in W.W. II : GEORGE WATSON

George Watson was a United States Army soldier who received the Medal of Honor for his bravery during World War II. He was not initially awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism. Instead, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the second-highest military award, for his actions during the Battle of Attu in May 1943. In 1997, Watson’s award was upgraded to the Medal of Honor by President Bill Clinton, making him one of only seven African American soldiers to receive the medal for their actions in World War II. Watson was presented with the medal in a ceremony at the White House in 1997, more than 50 years after his heroic actions on Attu Island.

56 “Star Wars” beeper, informally : ARTOO

Artoo’s proper name is R2-D2 (also “Artoo-Detoo”). R2-D2 is the smaller of the two famous droids from the “Star Wars” movies. British actor Kenny Baker, who stood just 3 feet 8 inches tall, was the man inside the R2-D2 droid for the first six of the “Star Wars” movies.

57 Nest egg inits. : IRA

A nest egg is an amount of money laid down as a reserve. This is the figurative use of “nest egg” that originally described an artificial egg left in a nest to encourage a hen to lay real eggs in that spot. So our financial nest egg is set aside in anticipation of continued growth, more eggs being laid.

61 When repeated, a sport fish : MAHI

“Mahi-mahi” (meaning “very strong”) is the Hawaiian name for the dolphinfish, which is also known as the dorado. The mahi-mahi is an ugly looking creature if ever I saw one …

62 Historian, essayist and civil rights leader who was the first African American to receive a doctorate at Harvard : WEB DU BOIS

W. E. B. Du Bois was a sociologist and civil rights activist from Massachusetts. Du Bois was the first African American to receive a doctorate from Harvard, and went on to become a professor at Atlanta University. In 1909, he was a co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

68 Waze way : ROUTE

Waze is a navigation app that is similar to Google Maps and Apple Maps. Waze was developed in Israel, and was acquired by Google in 2013.

69 Trimester, e.g. : TERM

“Semester” is a German word from the Latin “semestris”, an adjective meaning “of six months”. We use the term in a system that divides an academic year into two roughly equal parts. A trimester-system has three parts, and a quarter-system has four.

Down

1 Consoles whose controllers have wrist straps : WIIS

“Wiimote” is an alternative name for the Wii Remote, the controller for the Nintendo Wii gaming console.

2 Hawkeye’s player on “M*A*S*H” : ALDA

Hawkeye Pierce is the lead character in the “M*A*S*H” novel, movie and TV series. Hawkeye was originally portrayed by Donald Sutherland in the film, and then by Alan Alda in the television show. Pierce is the only character appearing in all 250 episodes of the groundbreaking TV series.

6 Enemy org. in Bond novels : SMERSH

James Bond’s enemy was the fictional organization SMERSH, but Ian Fleming lifted that name from a real Soviet agency named SMERSH. The Soviet acronym comes from melding two Russian words meaning “Death to Spies” (and that’s the real agency!). This SMERSH was founded in 1943, and directed counter intelligence for the Soviet Army.

8 “That’s ___ she wrote” : ALL

No one seems to be very certain of the origin of “that’s all she wrote”, meaning “there’s nothing more to be said”. One popular story is that it stems from the unfortunate “Dear John” letters that some soldiers received during WWII.

9 K-pop megastars : BTS

BTS is a boy band from South Korea with seven members. The initialism “BTS” stands for the phrase “Bangtan Sonyeondan”, which translates literally as “Bulletproof Boy Scouts”. BTS is the best-selling musical act in the history of South Korea.

11 Where to see Timberwolves battle Grizzlies : NBA TV

The Minnesota Timberwolves is the NBA franchise based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves joined the league as part of an expansion in 1987. The NBA had been in Minneapolis before as the city was home to the Minneapolis Lakers from 1947-1960, until the team moved to Los Angeles.

The Grizzlies are the NBA team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies moved to Memphis in 2001, having been founded as the Vancouver Grizzlies in 1995. As a result of the move, the Grizzlies became the only team from the “big four” professional sports based in Memphis, and the Toronto Raptors were left as the only Canadian team in the NBA.

12 Mojave flora : CACTI

The cactus (plural “cacti”) is a member of a family of plants that are particularly well-adapted to extremely dry environments. Almost all cacti are native to the Americas, although some succulent plants from the old world are similar in appearance and are often mislabeled as “cacti”.

The Mojave Desert in the southwest is named after the Native-American Mojave tribe. Famous locations within the boundaries of the desert are Death Valley, Las Vegas, Nevada and the ghost town of Calico, California.

24 Actress de Armas : ANA

Ana de Armas is an actress from Cuba. Having attended the National Theater School of Cuba, she moved to Spain at the age of 18. Thre, she made a name for herself in a Spanish TV series called “El Internado”. De Armas moved to Los Angeles in 2014, after which her performance opposite Ryan Gosling in 2017’s “Blade Runner 2049” earned her critical acclaim.

26 Off-base, in a way : AWOL

MPs (military police officers) often track down personnel who go AWOL (absent without leave).

28 ___ folder : SPAM

The term “spam”, used for unwanted email, is taken from a “Monty Python” sketch. In the sketch (which I’ve seen) the dialog is taken over by the word Spam, a play on the glut of canned meat in the markets of Britain after WWII. So “spam” is used for the glut of emails that takes over online communication. I can just imagine nerdy Internet types (like me) adopting something from a “Monty Python” sketch to describe an online phenomenon …

29 Durango dough : PESO

Durango is one of Mexico’s 32 “estados” (states). It is landlocked, and is located in the northwest of the country.

32 Original “Fleabag” airer : BBC

“Fleabag” is a marvelous tragicomic television show written and created by, and starring British actress and writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge. The very talented Waller-Bridge also adapted the “Codename Villanelle” novels into the hit TV show “Killing Eve”.

36 “___ me!” (checkers cry) : KING

In the game of checkers, when a “man” reaches the other side of the board, it is promoted to “king”. The king is designated by placing a second piece on top of the first.

40 Silver State sch. : UNLV

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) was established in 1957 as the Southern Division of the University of Nevada, Reno. One of UNLV’s flagship departments is the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration, which is consistently ranked as one of the best hotel and hospitality colleges in the nation. I suppose that’s not surprising given the proximity to the Las Vegas Strip.

The official nickname of Nevada is the Silver State, a reference to the importance of silver ore in the state’s growth and economy. An unofficial nickname is the Battle Born State. “Battle Born” is a reference to Nevada being awarded statehood during the American Civil War.

41 Bygone home theater components : VCRS

Video Cassette Recorder (VCR)

47 Popular card game : UNO

The classic card game Uno now comes in several versions. Uno ColorAdd allows people with color blindness to play, and there is also a Braille version that allows blind and sighted friends to play together.

52 Full spectrum : GAMUT

In medieval times, the musical scale was denoted by the notes “ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la”. The term “gamma ut”, shortened to “gamut”, was used to describe the whole scale. By the 1620s, “gamut” was being used to mean the entire range of anything, the whole gamut.

60 On the briny : ASEA

The briny is the sea, with “brine” meaning “salty water”. The term “briny” was originally used for “tears”.

62 Keydets’ sch. : VMI

The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is one of the six senior military colleges in the country, and is located in Lexington, Virginia. The sports teams of VMI are known as the Keydets, southern slang for “cadets”.

63 Screen, as a candidate : VET

The verb “to vet” comes from the term “veterinarian”. The idea is that to vet something is to subject it to careful examination, like a veterinarian checking out an animal.

64 “www” address : URL

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

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Kit Kat component : WAFER
6 Heal (over) : SCAB
10 “Ruler,” in Quechua : INCA
14 Words before “darned” : I’LL BE …
15 What ice cream and hearts may do : MELT
16 Transport up a bunny hill : T-BAR
17 Investigative journalist and civil rights pioneer who co-founded the N.A.A.C.P. : IDA B WELLS
19 Some bunts, in brief : SACS
20 Exhaust : SAP
21 Boiling sensation : IRE
22 California’s “Eureka,” for one : MOTTO
23 Novelist and civil rights activist who wrote “Go Tell It on the Mountain” : JAMES BALDWIN
28 Language in which “eleven” is “once” : SPANISH
30 One way to crack : WISE
31 Holiday pie flavor : PECAN
32 Automated tweeter : BOT
33 Ribs serving : RACK
37 “___ away!” : ASK
38 W.W. II-era campaign that helped usher in the civil rights movement … and a hint to four answers in this puzzle : DOUBLE V
42 Letter after phi : CHI
43 Make a pit stop at a punk show? : MOSH
45 Bodybuilding supplement co. : GNC
46 Interrupt, as at a dance : CUT IN
48 Rank above a viscount : EARL
50 Road flare, e.g. : WARNING
52 African American who received a posthumous Medal of Honor for valorous service in W.W. II : GEORGE WATSON
56 “Star Wars” beeper, informally : ARTOO
57 Nest egg inits. : IRA
58 Transcript stat : GPA
61 When repeated, a sport fish : MAHI
62 Historian, essayist and civil rights leader who was the first African American to receive a doctorate at Harvard : WEB DU BOIS
66 Manipulates : USES
67 Whimper : MEWL
68 Waze way : ROUTE
69 Trimester, e.g. : TERM
70 ___-bitsy : ITSY
71 Many, informally : LOTSA

Down

1 Consoles whose controllers have wrist straps : WIIS
2 Hawkeye’s player on “M*A*S*H” : ALDA
3 Griddle goodies : FLAPJACKS
4 Beach retreat? : EBB
5 Give juice to : REV
6 Enemy org. in Bond novels : SMERSH
7 Big name : CELEB
8 “That’s ___ she wrote” : ALL
9 K-pop megastars : BTS
10 “We’re through!” : IT’S OVER!
11 Where to see Timberwolves battle Grizzlies : NBA TV
12 Mojave flora : CACTI
13 Crime of combustion : ARSON
18 Competes (for) : VIES
22 G.P.s, e.g. : MDS
24 Actress de Armas : ANA
25 Yours might be made up : MIND
26 Off-base, in a way : AWOL
27 Lo-cal, perhaps : LITE
28 ___ folder : SPAM
29 Durango dough : PESO
32 Original “Fleabag” airer : BBC
34 Throwing a tantrum, say : ACTING OUT
35 Facial feature that many characters on “The Simpsons” lack : CHIN
36 “___ me!” (checkers cry) : KING
39 Fairy tale baddie : OGRE
40 Silver State sch. : UNLV
41 Bygone home theater components : VCRS
44 Selfless courage : HEROISM
47 Popular card game : UNO
49 In the past : AGO
50 Like a songbird : WARBLY
51 Hardly any : A TAD
52 Full spectrum : GAMUT
53 Clear the board : ERASE
54 ___ half (partner) : OTHER
55 Peak perks : VIEWS
59 The stones in stone fruits : PITS
60 On the briny : ASEA
62 Keydets’ sch. : VMI
63 Screen, as a candidate : VET
64 “www” address : URL
65 Cry that might make you jump : BOO!

5 thoughts on “0215-23 NY Times Crossword 15 Feb 23, Wednesday”

  1. 12:19. No major issues with this one. I always see Wednesday as a crossword wild card day. They can resemble Mondays or Fridays (or anything in between) in difficulty.

    SMERSH was something started by Joseph Stalin (SMERt SHpionam as Bill mentions means “death to spies”) as a way to get Nazi spies out of Soviet ranks. It morphed into a “filtering out” (read: killing) of any anti-Soviet personnel or activity up to and including self-inflicted wounds. Just one of countless atrocities committed by Stalin on his own people.

    Best –

  2. @jeff – thanks for the SMERSH thing. I was wondering about it. I remember SPECTRE but not SMERSH.

    hadn’t heard of DOUBLE V but I knew all the characters. That helped me realize there was 2 V’s involved.

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