0320-23 NY Times Crossword 20 Mar 23, Monday

Constructed by: Adam Vincent
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Reveal Answer: Dine and Dash

Themed answers each comprise two words. The first is something on which one might DINE, AND the second is a synonym of “DASH”:

  • 55A Not pay for a meal at a restaurant … or a hint to each half of 16-, 19-, 34- and 50-Across : DINE AND DASH
  • 16A Ice cream dessert served in a boat : BANANA SPLIT
  • 19A Vegan version of a classic brunch dish : TOFU SCRAMBLE
  • 34A Citrusy cocktail garnish : LEMON PEEL
  • 50A Sweet spiral pastry topped with icing : CINNAMON ROLL

Bill’s time: 5m 33s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 Pearly ___ (entrance to heaven) : GATES

“Pearly gates” is a term used for the gates of Heaven. The phrase comes from a description of “Heavenly Jerusalem’ in the Book of Revelations in which the walls of the city had twelve gates, each made from a single pearl.

10 Org. overseeing Rx’s : 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.

There seems to be some uncertainty about the origin of the symbol “Rx” that’s used for a medical prescription. One explanation is that it comes from the astrological sign for Jupiter, a symbol put on prescriptions in days of old to invoke Jupiter’s blessing to help a patient recover.

14 Cured slice on a deli tray : SALAMI

“Salame” (note the letter E at the end) is an Italian sausage that is traditionally associated with the peasant classes. The meat in the sausage is preserved with salt, and it can be hung and stored for as long as ten years. The name “salame” comes from “sale”, the Italian word for salt, and “-ame”, a suffix indicating a collective noun. Our English word “salami” is actually the Italian plural for “salame”.

15 Place to lay a napkin : LAP

Our word “napkin” dates back to the 1300s, when it had the same meaning as today. The term comes from the old French word “nape” meaning “tablecloth” and the Middle English suffix “-kin” meaning “little”. So, a napkin is a little tablecloth.

16 Ice cream dessert served in a boat : BANANA SPLIT

The banana split was created in Latrobe, Pennsylvania in 1904. This particular sundae was the idea of David Stickler, a young apprentice pharmacist at the Tassel Pharmacy’s soda fountain.

18 Address ending in .com or .edu, e.g. : URL

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

19 Vegan version of a classic brunch dish : TOFU SCRAMBLE

Our word “brunch” is a portmanteau of “breakfast” and “lunch”. The term was coined as student slang in Oxford, England in the late 1890s. However, “brunch” described a combined meal closer to the breakfast hour, and the term “blunch” was used for a meal closer to lunchtime.

24 Bird symbolizing the arrival of spring : ROBIN

The American robin has a reddish-orange breast. This coloring gave the bird its name, due to the similarity to the European robin. The two species are not in fact related, with the American robin being a thrush, and its European cousin an Old World flycatcher. It is the American robin that famously lays light-blue eggs.

25 Vietnam’s capital : HANOI

Hanoi (“Hà Nội” in Vietnamese) was the capital of North Vietnam, and Saigon the capital of South Vietnam. After the Vietnam War, Hanoi was made capital of the reunified state. Saigon, the larger metropolis, was renamed to Ho Chi Minh City. Hanoi is located in the delta of the Red River, and is just over 50 miles from the Gulf of Tonkin in the South China Sea.

26 “M*A*S*H” eatery : MESS TENT

“Mess” first came into English about 1300, when it described the list of food needed for a meal. The term comes from the Old French word “mes” meaning a portion of food or a course at a meal. This usage in English evolved into “mess” meaning a jumbled mass of anything, from the concept of “mixed food”. The original usage, in the sense of a food for a meal, surfaced again in the military in the 1500s when a “mess” was a communal eating place.

“M*A*S*H” has only three stars (three asterisks, that is). These asterisks first appeared on the poster for the 1970 movie, but they were omitted in the opening titles. The TV series went on to use the asterisks from the poster.

30 Podcasting partner, e.g. : COHOST

A podcast is basically an audio or video media file that is made available for download. The name comes from the acronym “POD” meaning “playable on demand”, and “cast” from “broadcasting”. So, basically a podcast is a broadcast that one can play on demand, simply by downloading and opening the podcast file.

33 Pushing the envelope, so to speak : EDGY

The phrase “push the envelope” is a relatively recent one, and only dates back to the 1970s. It was popularized in Tom Wolfe’s celebrated book “The Right Stuff”, as it was oft-quoted during the space program. The envelope in question was the mathematical envelope that had to be “pushed” in order to make the space program successful.

34 Citrusy cocktail garnish : LEMON PEEL

Our word “cocktail” first appeared in the early 1800s. The exact origin of the term is not clear, but it is thought to be a corruption of the French word “coquetier” meaning “egg cup”, a container that was used at that time for serving mixed drinks.

36 Lofty spot for K-I-S-S-I-N-G, in a schoolyard taunt : TREE

The somewhat cruel kid’s rhyme goes:

“Jack” and “Jill” sitting in a tree:
K-I-S-S-I-N-G
First comes love,
then comes marriage,
then comes baby in a golden carriage!

40 What the fish said when it swam into a concrete wall, per an old joke : DAM

The terms “cement”, “mortar” and ”concrete” are related, and tend to get confused at times. Cement is a binder that hardens over time and binds other materials together. Cement mixed with a fine aggregate forms mortar, a workable paste used to bind building blocks together. Cement mixed with sand and gravel forms concrete, a pourable slurry that hardens into an extremely robust building material.

43 Witty banter : REPARTEE

Repartee is conversation that includes witty remarks. “Repartee” comes from the French “repartie” meaning “answering thrust”, originally a fencing term.

48 Neighbors of flutists, in an orchestra : OBOISTS

If you want to read a fun book (almost an “exposé”) about life playing the oboe, you might try “Mozart in the Jungle” by oboist Blair Tindall.

59 Durable wood that’s softer than oak : ELM

Elms are a genus of tree comprising 30-40 different species. Sadly, most elm trees in the world have died in recent decades due to the spread of Dutch elm disease.

63 Lowly workers : PEONS

A peon is a lowly worker who has no real control over his/her working conditions. The word “peon” comes into English from Spanish, in which language it has the same meaning.

Down

2 “Eureka!” : AHA!

“Eureka” translates from Greek as “I have found it”. The word is usually associated with Archimedes, uttered as he stepped into his bath one day. His discovery was that the volume of water that was displaced was equal to that of the object (presumably his foot) that had been submerged. He used this fact to determine volume (and density) of a crown, something he needed in order to determine if it was made of pure gold or was a forgery.

6 Mountains where St. Bernards were originally bred : ALPS

The St. Bernard dog originated in the Italian and Swiss alps, and was indeed specially bred for rescue. The breed dates back at least to the early 1700s when the dogs worked from the traveler’s hospice at the St. Bernard Pass in the Alps between Italy and Switzerland. The breed took its name from this famously treacherous route through the mountains.

7 Soft mineral powder : TALC

Talc is a mineral, hydrated magnesium silicate. Talcum powder is composed of loose talc, although these days “baby powder” is also made from cornstarch.

8 Kuwaiti ruler : EMIR

The State of Kuwait sits at the northern tip of the Persian Gulf, sharing a border to the north with Iraq. After WWI, Kuwait was a Protectorate within the British Empire and then gained independence from the UK in 1961. Iraq annexed Kuwait in 1990, which led to the Gulf War of 1990-1991.

9 Instruments for Ravi and Anoushka Shankar : SITARS

Ravi Shankar was perhaps the most famous virtuoso (to us Westerners) from the world of Indian classical music, and was noted for his sitar playing. Shankar was the father of the pop singer Norah Jones.

Anoushka Shankar is a British sitar player, and is the daughter of Indian sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar. Through her father, Anoushka is also the half-sister of American singer Norah Jones.

12 Galore : APLENTY

Our word “galore”, meaning “in great numbers”, comes from the Irish phrase “go leór” that translates as “sufficiently, enough”.

20 Quintessential Route 66 lodging : MOTEL

The famous old highway called Route 66 has largely been replaced by modern interstates. It ran from Chicago to Los Angeles, right through the heart of America, and so it was often called the “Main Street of America”. The road’s name really came into the public consciousness because of Nat King Cole’s song “(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66”, and also because of the sixties TV show called “Route 66”.

In ancient Greece, Aristotle believed that there was a fifth element, beyond the accepted four elements of earth, wind, fire and water. This fifth element he called aether, postulating it was the makeup of celestial bodies. In Middle French in the 14th century, the “fifth element” was called “quinte essence”, coming into English as “quintessence” in the early 15th century. In the late 1500s, “quintessence” came to mean “purest essence” in a more general sense, with “quintessential” meaning “at its finest”.

27 Bruins legend Phil, to fans : ESPO

Phil “Espo” Esposito is a former professional hockey player who played for the Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins and New York Rangers. Espo scored 126 points in the 1969 season, hence becoming the first NHL player to score 100 points in a season.

36 Windpipe : TRACHEA

The windpipe (also “trachea”) connects the lungs to the pharynx, the cavity of the mouth. The trachea is lined with special cells that secrete mucus which is then moved upwards by tiny hairs (cilia). The mucus traps dirt and dust particles inhaled with the air and cilia move the mucus contaminant away from the lungs’ delicate air sacs, into the mouth. Cigarette smoke overwhelms the mucus and cilia, so that smoke particles make it all the way into the lungs. Not a good thing …

38 Ones after whom others are named : EPONYMS

An eponym is a name for something derived from the name of a person, as in the food item we call a “sandwich”, named after the Earl of Sandwich.

41 Museum hangings : ART

The term “museum” comes from the ancient Greek word “mouseion” that denoted a temple dedicated to the “Muses”. The Muses were the patrons of the arts in Greek mythology.

52 Not hoodwinked by : ONTO

“To hoodwink” has had the meaning “to deceive” since about 1600. Prior to that it meant simply “to blindfold”, and is simply a combination of the words “hood” and “wink”.

58 Partner of skip and jump : HOP

The track and field sport sometimes called the “hop, skip and jump” is more correctly termed “triple jump”. The triple jump dates back as an event to the ancient Olympic Games. When the modern Olympics were introduced in 1896, the triple jump consisted of two hops on the same foot followed by a jump. Today’s triple jump consists of a hop, a bound and then a jump.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Important skill in an awkward interaction : TACT
5 Pearly ___ (entrance to heaven) : GATES
10 Org. overseeing Rx’s : FDA
13 “Here comes trouble …” : UH-OH …
14 Cured slice on a deli tray : SALAMI
15 Place to lay a napkin : LAP
16 Ice cream dessert served in a boat : BANANA SPLIT
18 Address ending in .com or .edu, e.g. : URL
19 Vegan version of a classic brunch dish : TOFU SCRAMBLE
21 Basic country dance : TWO-STEP
24 Bird symbolizing the arrival of spring : ROBIN
25 Vietnam’s capital : HANOI
26 “M*A*S*H” eatery : MESS TENT
29 “Peeper” that makes no sound : EYE
30 Podcasting partner, e.g. : COHOST
33 Pushing the envelope, so to speak : EDGY
34 Citrusy cocktail garnish : LEMON PEEL
36 Lofty spot for K-I-S-S-I-N-G, in a schoolyard taunt : TREE
39 “Count me in!” : I’M DOWN!
40 What the fish said when it swam into a concrete wall, per an old joke : DAM
43 Witty banter : REPARTEE
45 Euphemism for an expletive, with “the” : … F-WORD
47 Love to bits : ADORE
48 Neighbors of flutists, in an orchestra : OBOISTS
50 Sweet spiral pastry topped with icing : CINNAMON ROLL
54 Hit the ___ (go to bed) : HAY
55 Not pay for a meal at a restaurant … or a hint to each half of 16-, 19-, 34- and 50-Across : DINE AND DASH
59 Durable wood that’s softer than oak : ELM
60 Numerous beyond calculation : UNTOLD
61 Big name in dry-erase markers : EXPO
62 Stubborn animal : ASS
63 Lowly workers : PEONS
64 Cut the crop? : REAP

Down

1 Big ice cream container : TUB
2 “Eureka!” : AHA!
3 Pro’s opposite : CON
4 “Oh, really?” : THAT SO?
5 Fill one’s tank : GAS UP
6 Mountains where St. Bernards were originally bred : ALPS
7 Soft mineral powder : TALC
8 Kuwaiti ruler : EMIR
9 Instruments for Ravi and Anoushka Shankar : SITARS
10 Misspoke a line, e.g. : FLUBBED
11 “Honey” or “sugar” alternative : DARLING
12 Galore : APLENTY
14 Out of danger : SAFE
17 Catch sight of : NOTICE
20 Quintessential Route 66 lodging : MOTEL
21 With 23-Down, a person’s soul mate : THE …
22 Method : WAY
23 See 21-Down : … ONE
26 World, in French : MONDE
27 Bruins legend Phil, to fans : ESPO
28 Fume (over) : STEW
31 Skip over : OMIT
32 Catcher’s spot, in baseball : HOME
34 Get educated (about) : LEARN
35 Surround completely : ENFOLD
36 Windpipe : TRACHEA
37 Tries to call again : REDIALS
38 Ones after whom others are named : EPONYMS
40 Fancy hairstyles, informally : DOS
41 Museum hangings : ART
42 Physicians, for short : MDS
44 Get educated (on) : READ UP
46 Harder to tame : WILDER
48 Tests taken verbally : ORALS
49 Connect as pals : BOND
51 “It’s ___, all ___!” : MINE
52 Not hoodwinked by : ONTO
53 Like glow paint colors : NEON
56 Lumberjack’s implement : AXE
57 Me-day destination : SPA
58 Partner of skip and jump : HOP