Constructed by: Malaika Handa & Erik Agard
Edited by: Will Shortz
Not your puzzle? Try today’s …
… syndicated NY Times crossword
Today’s Theme: None
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Bill’s time: 28m 46s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
1 Sitcom joke involving a change in setting : CUTAWAY GAG
In filmmaking, a cutaway scene is one inserted into another scene, thereby interrupting the continuously filmed action. After the cutaway, the film usually returns to the original scene.
15 What plastic wrap is designed for : ONE-TIME USE
What’s known as plastic wrap in America, we call cling-film in Ireland. The brand name “Saran” is often used generically in the US, while “Glad” wrap is common down under. Plastic wrap was one of those unintended inventions, a byproduct of a development program to create a hard plastic cover for cars.
17 Zesty liqueur : LIMONCELLO
Limoncello is a rather tasty lemon liqueur that is mostly associated with Southern Italy. I’ve come across California-made limoncello quite a lot in recent years …
31 Bird named for a Titan : RHEA
The rhea is a flightless bird that is native to South America. It takes its name from the Greek Titan Rhea. That’s an apt name for a flightless bird as “rhea” comes from the Greek word meaning “ground”.
In Greek mythology, Rhea was one of the Titans. She was the sister and wife of Cronus, and together they had six children, the last of which was Zeus. Cronus swallowed all of his children as soon as they were born, except for Zeus, who Rhea managed to hide from her husband.
The Titans were a group of twelve older deities in Greek mythology, the twelve children of the primordial Gaia and Uranus, Mother Earth and Father Sky. In the celebrated Battle of the Titans, they were overthrown by the Olympians, who were twelve younger gods. We use the term “titan” figuratively to describe a powerful person, someone with great influence.
35 Panels at anime conventions : MANGA
Manga, Japanese graphic novels, can be grouped into five genres based on the target readership:
- Shonen: Manga targeted at tween and teen boys.
- Shojo: Manga targeted at tween and teen girls.
- Seinen: Manga targeted at adult men (18+).
- Josei: Manga targeted at adult women (18+).
- Kodomomuke: Manga targeted at young children.
Anime drawings are known for their distinct style, which often features large eyes, colorful hair, and exaggerated expressions.
37 Asian wrap : SARI
The item of clothing called a “sari” (also “saree”) is a strip of cloth, as one might imagine, unusual perhaps in that it is unstitched along the whole of its length. The strip of cloth can range from four to nine meters long (that’s a lot of material!). The sari is usually wrapped around the waist, then draped over the shoulder leaving the midriff bare. I must say, it can be a beautiful item of clothing.
38 Gil Scott-Heron poem inspired by 1969 events : WHITEY ON THE MOON
Gil Scott-Heron was a jazz poet and musician who is best remembered as a spoken word performer from the seventies and eighties. Scott-Heron’s most famous work is the poem and song “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”, the title of which became a popular slogan for the Black Power movements in the sixties.
45 World capital whose last two letters are its first two letters upside down : MOSCOW
Moscow is the capital of Russia. If one considers Europe to be all points west of the Ural Mountains, then Moscow is the most populous city on the European continent. Moscow also is home to more billionaires than any other city in the world, according to “Forbes” magazine. The city is named for the Moskva River which flows through Moscow. People from Moscow are referred to as Muscovites.
47 Curing agent : SALT
Salt is used to “cure” meats. Curing is a preservation process. The salt kills and inhibits the growth of microorganisms by sucking the water out of the microbe’s cells in the process of osmosis. Smoking is also cited as a curing process, although smoking alone is insufficient for preserving food as the antimicrobial smoke compounds only adhere to the outside of the meat or fish. Smoking is usually combined with salt-curing or drying.
49 Where the first five counting numbers are “üks kaks kolm neli viis” : ESTONIA
The European nation of Estonia has embraced the concept of electronic voting. Each citizen is issued an ID card that includes a chip. The ID card allows a citizen to cast a vote via the Internet using a computer with a card reader. One advantage of electronic voting in Estonia is that votes can be cast early, but can be changed right up to the end of election day.
53 ___ Nguyen Dan (celebration of spring) : TET
The full name for the New Year holiday in Vietnam is “Tet Nguyen Dan” meaning “Feast of the First Morning”, with the reference being to the arrival of the season of spring. Tet usually falls on the same day as Chinese New Year.
54 Major lobby in D.C. : NEA
The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in the country, and mainly represents public school teachers.
56 Lead-in to mail or box : VOICE-
The voice box or larynx is where pitch and volume of sound are manipulated when we talk. The structure called the Adam’s apple that protrudes from the human neck is formed by the thyroid cartilage that surrounds the larynx. The Adam’s apple of males tends to increase in size during puberty, so the feature tended to be associated more with males in days gone by, perhaps leading to the name “Adam’s” apple. A doctor specializing in treating the larynx is a laryngologist.
60 Lover of Rochester, in fiction : EYRE
“Jane Eyre” is a celebrated novel written by Charlotte Brontë, under the pen name Currer Bell. The love story is perhaps represented by the oft-quoted opening lines of the last chapter, “Reader, I married him”. There is a wonderful 4-hour television adaptation made by the BBC that I highly recommend to fans of the novel …
62 World capital on the Aker River : OSLO, NORWAY
The Norwegian capital of Oslo is located at the northern end of a fjord known as Oslofjord. The fjord is home to 40 islands that lie within the city’s limits. Oslo also has 343 lakes.
65 Scar line? : ROAR
Among the group of lions at the center of “The Lion King” story, young Simba is the heir apparent and the lion cub destined to take over as leader of the pride. His uncle is jealous of Simba, and plots with a trio of hyenas to kill Simba, so that he can take his position. The uncle was originally named Taka (according to books) but he was given the name Scar after being injured by a buffalo. The trio of hyenas are called Shenzi, Banzai and Ed.
67 Participates in a Seder, say : SUPS
The Passover Seder is a ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish Passover holiday celebrating the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.
68 Deification : APOTHEOSIS
The apotheosis is the ideal example, the epitome. The term is originally Greek, from “apo” meaning “here” and “theos” meaning “god”.
Down
1 King of verse : COLE
Old King Cole was a merry old soul
And a merry old soul was he;
He called for his pipe, and he called for his bowl
And he called for his fiddlers three.
Every fiddler he had a fiddle,
And a very fine fiddle had he;
Oh there’s none so rare, as can compare
With King Cole and his fiddlers three.
2 System for servers : UNIX
Unix is a computer operating system that was developed at Bell Labs in 1969. The initial name for the project was Uniplexed Information and Computing Service (Unics), and this evolved over time into “Unix”.
In the world of computer science, a computer accessing a service is called a “client”. The service is provided on a computer called a “server”. These days, clients and servers often communicate via the Internet. I am typing up this blog post on my laptop (the client) and am connected via the Internet to the Google Drive service that resides on a computer somewhere (the server).
4 Coral arrangement : ATOLL
An atoll is a coral island that is shaped in a ring that encloses a lagoon. There is still some debate as to how an atoll forms, but a theory proposed by Charles Darwin while on his famous voyage aboard HMS Beagle still holds sway. Basically, an atoll was once a volcanic island that had subsided and fallen into the sea. The coastline of the island is home to coral growth which persists even as the island continues to subside inside the circling coral reef.
5 Fruit also called a wax gourd : WINTER MELON
Winter melons are named for the fact that they have a long shelf-life, and with careful storage may be available in the winter months.
6 Theater inits. : AMC
The AMC theater chain used to go by the name American Multi-Cinema Inc., hence the initialism “AMC”.
9 Literary stand-in for Christ : ASLAN
In the C. S. Lewis series of books known as “The Chronicles of Narnia”, Aslan is the name of the lion character (as in the title “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”). “Aslan” is actually the Turkish word for lion. Anyone who has read the books will recognize the remarkable similarity between the story of Aslan and the story of Christ, including a sacrifice and resurrection.
10 Glam rock pieces? : GEODES
A geode is a rock in which there is a cavity that is lined or filled with crystal formations. The crystals inside a geode form when mineral-rich water seeps into a cavity in a rock, leaving behind dissolved minerals that gradually build up over time. Some of the largest geodes ever discovered have been as big as a room and can take millions of years to form.
11 Text that’s often an exaggeration : LOL
Laugh out loud (LOL)
23 Actress Mitchell of “Pretty Little Liars” : SHAY
“Pretty Little Liars” is a mystery drama TV series aimed at teens. It is based on a series of novels penned by Sara Shepard.
27 New York Liberty, e.g. : TEAM
The New York Liberty was founded in 1997 and was one the original eight teams to play in the WNBA. The franchise is based in Newark, New Jersey.
36 Provider of a broad world view : ATLAS
The first modern atlas was published in 1570 by Abraham Ortelius, a Flemish cartographer. It was called “Theatrum Orbis Terrarum” (Theater of the World).
41 Division of Comcast : NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) has had a number of different logos in its history, including the famous peacock with which we are familiar today. The first peacock logo was introduced in the early days of color television and was designed to illustrate how wonderful color television would be, so go buy one! (NBC was owned by RCA, and so had a vested interest in sales of color television sets).
Comcast is the largest cable company in the United States. It was founded in 1963 as American Cable systems. Comcast provides many of its services under the brand name “Xfinity”.
45 Poetic considerations : METERS
The meter of a poem is its rhythmic structure.
50 Man known for his morals : AESOP
Aesop is remembered today as a fabulist, a writer of fables. Aesop lived in ancient Greece, probably around the sixth century BC. Supposedly he was born a slave, somehow became a free man, but then met with a sorry end. Aesop was sent to the city of Delphi on a diplomatic mission but instead insulted the Delphians. He was tried on a trumped-up charge of stealing from a temple, sentenced to death and was thrown off a cliff.
52 Middle section : TORSO
“Torso” (plural “torsi”) is an Italian word meaning “trunk of a statue”, and is a term that we imported into English.
57 “___ born by the river / In a little tent” (start of Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come”) : I WAS
Sam Cooke’s 1964 song “A Change Is Gonna Come” is about the struggle that African-Americans were facing in the US in the sixties. Cooke was inspired to write the song after he and his associates were refused rooms at a “whites only” Holiday Inn motel in Shreveport, Louisiana.
58 Sactown’s locale : CALI
Sacramento, California’s state capital, was named for the Sacramento River. The river was named by a Spanish explorer, who called it “Rio de los Sacramentos”. This translates as “River of the Blessed Sacrament”.
64 Japanese masked drama : NOH
Noh is a form of musical drama in Japan that has been around since the 14th century. Many of the Noh performers are masked, allowing all the roles to be played by men, including the female parts.
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Sitcom joke involving a change in setting : CUTAWAY GAG
11 Hollow, perhaps : LAIR
15 What plastic wrap is designed for : ONE-TIME USE
16 ___ something : ONTO
17 Zesty liqueur : LIMONCELLO
18 Not following, maybe : LOST
19 Lift up : EXALT
20 Part of a paw print : PAD
21 Surname that’s also transliterated as Zuo : TSO
22 Cautionary conjunction : LEST
25 Buzzkill’s response while playing Would You Rather : NEITHER
28 On, say : LIT
31 Bird named for a Titan : RHEA
33 Bad mouths? : SNEERS
34 “___ was!” (“No way!,” in German) : ACH
35 Panels at anime conventions : MANGA
37 Asian wrap : SARI
38 Gil Scott-Heron poem inspired by 1969 events : WHITEY ON THE MOON
42 Mouthy? : ORAL
43 This old thing? : RELIC
44 Lump : NUB
45 World capital whose last two letters are its first two letters upside down : MOSCOW
47 Curing agent : SALT
48 High key : ESC
49 Where the first five counting numbers are “üks kaks kolm neli viis” : ESTONIA
51 Knife cut : SLIT
53 ___ Nguyen Dan (celebration of spring) : TET
54 Major lobby in D.C. : NEA
56 Lead-in to mail or box : VOICE-
60 Lover of Rochester, in fiction : EYRE
62 World capital on the Aker River : OSLO, NORWAY
65 Scar line? : ROAR
66 Priceless, in a way : NOT FOR SALE
67 Participates in a Seder, say : SUPS
68 Deification : APOTHEOSIS
Down
1 King of verse : COLE
2 System for servers : UNIX
3 Ghanaian city that’s an anagram of 27-Down : TEMA
4 Coral arrangement : ATOLL
5 Fruit also called a wax gourd : WINTER MELON
6 Theater inits. : AMC
7 “___-haw!” : YEE
8 [This is looking very bad for me] : [GULP]
9 Literary stand-in for Christ : ASLAN
10 Glam rock pieces? : GEODES
11 Text that’s often an exaggeration : LOL
12 “Where do all of these keep coming from?!” : ANOTHER ONE?!
13 “I think I can see a future with him” : IT’S SERIOUS
14 Turning points : ROTORS
23 Actress Mitchell of “Pretty Little Liars” : SHAY
24 Range just below 55-Down : TENOR
26 One eating a lot of wings : INSECTIVORE
27 New York Liberty, e.g. : TEAM
28 Translation of “torah” : LAW
29 Select words? : I CHOOSE YOU
30 Sexy selfie posted on social media, in lingo : THIRST TRAP
32 French film director Varda : AGNES
36 Provider of a broad world view : ATLAS
39 One may be ordered “con todo” : TACO
40 Sledding site : HILL
41 Division of Comcast : NBC
45 Poetic considerations : METERS
46 Activist LaDuke who was twice a Green Party vice-presidential candidate : WINONA
50 Man known for his morals : AESOP
52 Middle section : TORSO
55 See 24-Down : ALTO
57 “___ born by the river / In a little tent” (start of Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come”) : I WAS
58 Sactown’s locale : CALI
59 Looks over : EYES
61 Sounds of uncertainty : ERS
63 Way more than ne’er : OFT
64 Japanese masked drama : NOH
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