0720-23 NY Times Crossword 20 Jul 23, Thursday

Bill’s time: 16m 20s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 N.F.L. team with a logo of a bird’s head, for short : ARI

The Arizona Cardinals were founded in 1898 as the Chicago Cardinals. That makes the Cardinals the oldest, continuously-run, professional football team in the whole country.

13 Conjunction in a text : CUZ

Because (CUZ)

14 Grammy-winning jazz singer/pianist Krall : DIANA

Diana Krall is a jazz singer and piano player from Nanaimo, British Columbia. Krall is married to English rock musician Elvis Costello.

15 Experts : GURUS

“Guru” is a Hindi word meaning “teacher” or “priest”.

16 Online tabloid based in L.A. : TMZ

TMZ.com is a celebrity gossip website launched in 2005 by producer Harvey Levin. “TMZ” stands for “thirty-mile zone”, a reference to the “studio zone” in Los Angeles. The studio zone is circular in shape with a 30-mile radius centered on the intersection of West Beverly Boulevard and North La Cienega Boulevard.

17 Worth discussing, as an issue : UP FOR DEBATE (sleeping “FORD”)

Industrialist Henry Ford was born in Michigan, and was the son of an Irish immigrant from County Cork. Ford’s most famous vehicle was the one that revolutionized the industry: the Model T. Ford’s goal with the Model T was to build a car that was simple to drive, and cheap to purchase and repair. The Model T cost $825 in 1908, which isn’t much over $20,000 in today’s money.

19 Polo competitor : IZOD

Jack Izod was a tailor of some repute over in England producing shirts for King George V, as well as other members of the Royal Family. As Izod was about to retire, he was approached for the use of his name by an American clothing manufacturer based in New York. The brand Izod of London was introduced to America in 1938.

22 James who was played by Beyoncé in the biopic “Cadillac Records” : ETTA

“Cadillac Records” is a 2008 movie about the life of Leonard Chess who founded Chess Records along with his brother. There are some famous characters appearing in the film, including Chuck Berry (played by Mos Def) and Etta James (played by Beyoncé Knowles).

23 Crown cover : ENAMEL

Tooth enamel covers the crowns of our teeth. It is the hardest substance in the human body. It is composed of 96% crystalline calcium phosphate.

25 City on a gulf in either Europe or the U.S. : NAPLES

Naples (“Napoli” in Italian) is the third largest city in Italy. The name “Napoli” comes from the city’s Ancient Greek name, which translates as “New City”. That’s a bit of a paradox as today Naples is one of the oldest continuously-inhabited cities in the world.

The Florida city of Naples in the south of the state on the Gulf Coast. The city was settled in the 1880s, at a time when the Florida peninsula was being compared with the Italian peninsula. Developers were touting the climate in the area as “surpassing the bay in Naples, Italy”. Apparently, that analogy struck home, and the new city was named “Naples”.

32 Inter ___ : ALIA

“Inter alia” is Latin for “among other things”.

36 Chart topper, for short? : CEO

That would be the top of an organization chart.

37 Snowbird or Steamboat : SKI AREA (sleeping “KIA”)

Alta ski resort actually lies within the Salt Lake City Metropolitan Area. The first ski lift in the resort was opened way back in 1939. Today, Alta is one of only three ski resorts in the country that prohibits snowboarding (along with Deer Valley, Utah and Mad River Glen, Vermont). The ski resort of Snowbird, located next to Alta, has been in operation since 1971.

Steamboat Springs is a major winter resort destination in Colorado. The area in which the city is located is home to many hot springs. The chugging sound of the hot springs reminded early settlers of steamboats, so they named their settlement “Steamboat Springs”.

Kia Motors is the second-largest manufacturer of cars in South Korea, behind Hyundai (and Hyundai is a part owner in Kia now). Kia was founded in 1944 as a manufacturer of bicycle parts, and did indeed produce Korea’s first domestic bicycle. The company’s original name was Kyungsung Precision Industry, with the Kia name introduced in 1952.

40 Lead-in to gender : CIS-

The term “cisgender” is used as the opposite of “transgender”. Cisgender people have a gender identity that matches the sex they were assigned at birth.

44 Letters in the classical spellings of “Homer” and “Helen” : ETAS

Eta is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, and is a forerunner of our Latin character “H”. Originally denoting a consonant, eta was used as a long vowel in Ancient Greek.

45 D-Day vehicle: Abbr. : LST

The initialism “LST” stands for Landing Ship, Tank. LSTs are the large vessels used mainly in WWII that have doors at either ends through which tanks and other vehicles can roll off and onto beaches. The design concept persists to this day in the huge fleet of commercial roll-on/roll-off car ferries, all inspired by the LST.

49 Princess in L. Frank Baum books : OZMA

L. Frank Baum wrote a whole series of books about the Land of Oz. Princess Ozma appears in all of them except the one that’s most famous, namely “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”.

52 Fictional swinger : TARZAN

In the stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes was actually Englishman John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke.

55 Q: “Did you hear about the cow that cried wolf?” A: “Fake ___!” (dad joke) : MOOS

Here are a few dad jokes that I use to annoy my kids:

• When does a joke become a “dad joke”? When it becomes apparent.
• I had a happy childhood. My dad used to put me in tires and roll me down hills. Those were Goodyears.
• It’s a shame that the Beatles didn’t make the submarine in that song green. That would’ve been sublime.
• I told your mom she needs to start embracing her mistakes. So she hugged me
• When your mom is depressed, I let her color in my tattoos. She just needs a shoulder to crayon.

58 Warm beverage cover : COZY

A tea cozy is an insulated cover for a teapot, something to keep the tea hot. I don’t know what I’d do without my tea cosy/cozy …

59 Accommodation for a long train trip … or a hint to entering a certain letter 14 times in this puzzle : SLEEPING CAR

Pullman cars were sleeping cars used by railroads in days gone by. They were so called because they were manufactured by the Pullman Company. Over in Europe, the Pullman Company made dining cars and lounge cars as well, and so the term is used more broadly over there.

62 A goose egg : ZIP

The use of the words “zip” and “zippo” to mean “nothing” dates back to the early 1900s, when it was student slang for being graded zero on a test.

64 Instrument played with a mezrab : SITAR

The sitar has been around since the Middle Ages. It is a stringed instrument that is played by plucking, and is used most often in Hindustani classical music. In the West we have been exposed to the instrument largely through the performances of Ravi Shankar and some music by George Harrison of the Beatles, a onetime student of Shankar.

66 Número of African countries where español is an official language : UNO

Equatorial Guinea is the only country on the African continent that has Spanish as her official language. The nation, located in the central west coast, was formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea and gained independence from Spain in 1968.

67 Quick to start in, perhaps : TESTY

Somebody described as testy is touchy, irritably impatient. The term “testy” comes into English from Old French, ultimately deriving from “testu” meaning “stubborn, headstrong”, literally “heady”. So, our word “testy” comes from the same root as the French word “tête” meaning “head”.

69 Police title: Abbr. : SGT

Sergeant (sgt.)

Down

2 Chews (on) : RUMINATES

Ruminants are animals that “chew the cud”. Ruminants eat vegetable matter but cannot extract any nutritional value from cellulose without the help of microbes in the gut. Ruminants collect roughage in the first part of the alimentary canal, allowing microbes to work on it. The partially digested material (the cud) is regurgitated into the mouth so that the ruminant can chew the food more completely, exposing more surface area for microbes to do their work. We also use the verb “to ruminate” in a figurative sense, to mean “to muse, ponder, chew over”.

3 Technological breakthrough first seen on “Jeopardy!” in 2011 : IBM WATSON (sleeping “BMW”)

Watson is a computer system developed by IBM. Watson is designed to answer questions that are posed in natural language, so that it should be able to interpret questions just as you and I would, no matter how the question is phrased. The program is named after the founder of IBM, Thomas J. Watson. Today’s Watson competed in a few memorable episodes of “Jeopardy!” in 2011 taking out two of the best players of the quiz show. That made for fun television …

4 Highball offer? : SIP

A highball is a mixed drink comprising a relatively small amount of alcoholic drink, mixed with a larger amount of non-alcoholic mixer. The origin of the term is disputed, but one suggestion is that it derives from the practice of serving “highballs” in “tall” glasses.

6 Six + cinq : ONZE

In French, “cinq plus six” (five plus six) makes “onze” (eleven).

7 Certain Palestinians : GAZANS

After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the boundaries of the strip of land on the Mediterranean around Gaza were fixed in the Israel-Egypt Armistice Agreement. The boundaries were specifically defined but were not to be recognized as an international border. From 1948, the Gaza Strip was occupied and administered by Egypt, until 1967 when Israel took over occupation following the Six-Day War. In 1993, Israel and the PLO signed the Oslo Accords which handed over administration to the Palestinian Authority, but with Israel retaining control of the Gaza Strip’s airspace, some land borders and its territorial waters. The intent was to further this agreement, but discussions between the parties broke down. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

9 The “R” of the M.M.R. vaccine : RUBELLA

The MMR vaccine protects against three diseases, namely measles (M), mumps (M) and rubella (R).

German measles is a disease caused by the rubella virus, with the name “rubella” coming from the Latin for “little red” (a reference to the red rash symptom). The disease is known as “German” measles because it was first described by physicians in Germany in the mid-1900s. Rubella is most serious for pregnant women as it can cause spontaneous abortion or cause the baby to be born with life-threatening organ disorders. When I was growing up in Ireland, I remember catching German measles along with my brother, and then having young girls from the neighborhood paraded through the house. The hope was that they would catch the disease and acquire the resulting immunity before they entered their childbearing years. Most children in North America receive a German measles vaccine as part of the MMR vaccine.

11 Long-running comic strip whose main characters aren’t human : MUTTS

The comic strip titled “Mutts” first appeared in 1994, and is drawn by Patrick McDonnell. The main characters are a Jack Russell terrier named Earl, and a black-and-white house cat named Mooch.

12 Like Magellan in 1519 : ASEA

Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer who was hired by King Charles I of Spain to find a westward route to the Spice Islands, now known as the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. Magellan headed west through the Atlantic starting out in 1519. He passed south of the Americas through what is now called the Strait of Magellan. He gave the name “Peaceful Sea” to the body of water that he encountered west of the Americas, which we now know as the Pacific Ocean. He and his expedition reached the Spice Islands in 1521, and returned home via the Indian Ocean. This voyage was the first circumnavigation of the globe in history.

14 “My man!” : DUDE

Our term “dude” arose as slang in New York City in the 1880s, when it was used to describe a fastidious man. In the early 1900s, the term was extended to mean “city slickers”, easterners who vacationed in the West. The first use of the term “dude ranch” was recorded in 1921.

18 Oscar-winning director Chloé : ZHAO

Chloé Zhao is a Chinese filmmaker who gained international recognition with the film “Nomadland” (2020), which she wrote, directed, edited, and produced. In addition to her work in film, Zhao is also a trained classical pianist and has played in orchestras in both China and the United States.

20 Chanted syllables : OMS

“Om” is a sacred mystic word from the Hindu tradition. “Om” is sometimes used as a mantra, a focus for the mind in meditation.

24 Hilarity, in an internet-y spelling : LOLZ

Apparently, the text-speak “LOLZ” is the plural form of LOL (laugh out loud).

26 Deer stalkers : PUMAS

The mountain lion is found in much of the Americas from the Yukon in Canada right down to the southern Andes in South America. Because the mountain lion is found over such a vast area, it has many different names applied by local peoples, such as “cougar” and “puma”. In fact, the mountain lion holds the Guinness record for the animal with the most number of different names, with over 40 in English alone.

29 Truss who was Britain’s prime minister for 49 days : LIZ

Liz Truss took over as Prime Minister of the UK from Boris Johnson in September 2022. She was the fifteenth and final British PM to serve under Queen Elizabeth II, who died just two days after appointing Truss to the office. Truss resigned on her fiftieth day in Downing Street, after a chaotic six-week spell leading the country. She was succeeded by fellow Conservative Rishi Sunak.

32 Peaceful quaker? : ASPEN

The “quaking” aspen tree is so called because the structure of the leaves causes them to move easily in the wind, to “tremble, quake”.

34 Classic 1934 novel written in the form of an autobiography : I, CLAUDIUS (sleeping “AUDI”)

“I, Claudius” is a 1934 novel penned by Robert Graves, written in the form of an autobiography of Emperor Claudius of Rome. Graves wrote a sequel in 1935 called “Claudius the God”. Both books were adapted by the BBC into a fabulous television series that went by the name of the first book “I, Claudius”.

The predecessor to today’s Audi company was called Auto Union. Auto Union was formed with the merger of four individual entities: Audi, Horch, DKW and Wanderer. The Audi logo comprises four intersecting rings, each representing one of the four companies that merged.

38 Inbound or outbound thing: Abbr. : RTE

Route (rte.)

39 Middle ___ : EAST

In geographical terms there are three “Easts”. “Near East” and “Middle East” are terms that are often considered synonymous, although “Near East” tends to be used when discussing ancient history and “Middle East” when referring to the present day. The Near/Middle East encompasses most of Western Asia and Egypt. The term “Far East” describes East Asia (including the Russian Far East), Southeast Asia and South Asia.

41 Wawrinka of tennis : STAN

Stan Wawrinka is a professional tennis player from Switzerland. Wawrinka has won three Grand Slam singles titles: the Australian Open (2014), the French Open (2015) and the US Open (2016).

47 Weigh station sight : SEMI

A “semi” is a “semi-trailer truck”. The vehicle is so called because it consists of a tractor and a half-trailer. The half-trailer is so called because it only has wheels on the back end, with the front supported by the tractor.

50 Hop aboard? : OLLIE

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 …

56 Man-eater : OGRE

An ogre is a monster of mythology and folktales that has the appearance of a man, and which eats human beings. The term “ogre” comes to us via French from the name of the Etruscan god Orcus, who feasted on the flesh of humans.

57 Turn into a PDF, perhaps : SCAN

Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format introduced by Adobe Systems in 1993. PDF documents can be shared between users and read using many different applications and platforms, making them more universally accessible than documents saved by one particular program.

63 “The devil’s lettuce” : POT

“Potiguaya” is the Mexican-Spanish word for “marijuana leaves”. The slang name “pot” comes from “potiguaya”.