0812-23 NY Times Crossword 12 Aug 23, Saturday

Bill’s time: 19m 13s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

16 Calibrated, in a way : TARED

Tare is the weight of a container that is deducted from the gross weight to determine the net weight, the weight of the container’s contents.

18 Old Ford Motors offering, informally : T-BIRD

Ford manufactured the Thunderbird (T-Bird) from 1955 to 2005. Originally a two-seater sporty convertible, the T-Bird was introduced as a competitor to Chevrolet’s new sports car, the Corvette. The “Thunderbird” name is a reference to a legendary creature from the culture of several Native-American peoples. There’s also a story that the name is a direct reference to the Thunderbird Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California of which the then chairman of Ford’s board was a member.

19 Currency that features a phoenix on one of its bank notes : YEN

The Japanese yen is the third-most traded currency in the world, after the US dollar and the euro.

20 Classic board game invented by an Oscar-winning French filmmaker : RISK

Risk is a fabulous board game that was introduced in France in 1957. It was invented by a very successful French director of short films called Albert Lamorisse. Lamorisse called his new game “La Conquête du Monde”, which translates into English as “The Conquest of the World”. A game of Risk is a must during the holidays in our house …

21 Show rooms? : VENUES

A venue is a specified locale used for an event. The term “venue” came into English via French from the Latin “venire” meaning “to come”. So, a “venue” is a place to which people “come” for an event.

22 Jump, in a way : POGO

What we know today as a pogo stick was invented in Germany by Max Pohlig and Ernst Gottschall. The name “pogo” comes from the first two letters in each of the inventors’ family names: Po-hlig and Go-ttschall. The highest jump on a pogo stick was achieved by Fred Grzybowski in 2010. He jumped over three cars and reached a height of 9 feet, 6 inches.

28 “Hang On ___” (official rock song of Ohio) : SLOOPY

“Hang on Sloopy” was a big hit in 1965 for the McCoys. The song was first recorded a year earlier as “My Girl Sloopy” by the Vibrations.

31 International cricket powerhouse: Abbr. : PAK

The suffix “-stan” in many place names is Persian for “place of”. One example is “Pakistan”, the Place of the Pure. “Pakistan” is a relatively recent name, coined in 1933. It comes from the abbreviation PAKSTAN, standing for Punjab – Afghan Province – Kashmir – Sindh – BaluchisTAN, all regions in the north of India. The “I” was added to Pakistan to make it easier to pronounce, and to fit the translation “Land of the Pure”.

Cricket is the national game of England. The term “cricket” apparently comes from the Old French word “criquet” meaning “goalpost, stick”.

34 Birthplace of Ang Lee : TAIWAN

Ang Lee made history at the 74th Academy Awards in 2002 when he won the Best Director award for “Brokeback Mountain.” He became the first Asian person to win the award and the first non-white person to win in the category.

37 Poker variety? : AWL

An awl is a pointed tool used for marking a surface or for piercing small holes. The earliest awls were used to pierce ears, apparently. The tool then became very much associated with shoemakers.

41 Nonplussed : AT SEA

To nonplus is to perplex completely. The idea is that one becomes so perplexed that “no more” can be said. “Non plus” is Latin for “no more”.

42 They’re not easy on the eyes : STYES

A stye is a bacterial infection of the sebaceous glands at the base of the eyelashes, and is also known as a hordeolum.

43 It helps keep you on your toes : BALLET SLIPPER

“En pointe” is ballet dancing on the tips of the toes, and is a French term. A ballerina wears pointe shoes (sometimes “toe shoes”) to perform this delightful-looking, albeit unhealthy, feat (pun!).

49 Scarfing down : INHALING

To snarf down is to gobble up, to eat voraciously. “Snarf” is a slang term that is probably related to “scarf”, which has the same meaning.

54 Never-seen character on TV’s “Mork & Mindy” : ORSON

“Mork & Mindy” is a sitcom that originally aired from 1978 to 1982. The title characters were played by Robin Williams and Pam Dawber. Mork is an alien from the planet Ork who reports back to his superior called Orson. Orson is played by voice actor Ralph James. Ralph James was also known for providing the voice of Mr. Turtle in famous Tootsie Pop commercials in the seventies. Nanu nanu!

56 Animal studied for its regenerative abilities : NEWT

Newts wouldn’t be my favorite animals. They are found all over the world living on land or in water depending on the species, but always associated with water even if it is only for breeding. Newts metamorphose through three distinct developmental stages during their lives. They start off as larvae in water, fertilized eggs that often cling to aquatic plants. The eggs hatch into tadpoles, the first developmental form of the newt. After living some months as tadpoles swimming around in the water, they undergo another metamorphosis, sprouting legs and replacing their external gills with lungs. At this juvenile stage they are known as efts, and leave the water to live on land. A more gradual transition takes place then, as the eft takes on the lizard-like appearance of the adult newt.

58 Heavy read : TOME

“Tome” first came into English from the Latin “tomus” which means “section of a book”. The original usage in English was for a single volume in a multi-volume work. By the late 16th century, “tome” had come to mean “large book”.

59 Company whose name sounds like its last two letters : ESSO

The Esso brand has its roots in the old Standard Oil company as it uses the initial letters of “Standard” and “Oil” (ESS-O). The Esso brand was replaced by Exxon in the US, but ESSO is still used in many other countries.

Down

4 Bon ___ : MOT

“Bon mot” translates from French as “good word”. We use “bon mot” (and sometimes just “mot”) to mean “quip, witticism”.

5 Over, in Österreich : UBER

The name “Austria” is a Latin variant of the German name for the country, “Österreich”. “Österreich” itself means “Eastern borderlands”, a reference to the country’s history as a prefecture of neighboring Bavaria to the west.

6 Former Chicago mayor ___ Lightfoot : LORI

Lori Lightfoot assumed the office of Mayor of Chicago in 2019. In so doing, she became the first LGBT black female mayor of any major city in the US.

8 Ready to fly, as an arrow : NOCKED

The nock is the slot that is cut into the end of an arrow into which the string is placed as the bow is drawn.

12 Hybrid with a Latin name : PRIUS

The Toyota Prius is still one of the most fuel-efficient, gasoline-powered cars sold in the US, according to the EPA. The name “Prius” is a Latin word meaning “ahead, leading”. In the US we pronounce the name “pree-us”, but across the Atlantic it’s pronounced “pry-us”. According to Toyota, the plural of “Prius” is “Prii”.

13 Toast starter : HERE’S …

The tradition of toasting someone probably dates back to the reign of Charles II, when the practice was to drink a glass of wine to the health of a beautiful or favored woman. In those days, spiced toast was added to beverages to add flavor, so the use of the word “toast” was an indicator that the lady’s beauty would enhance the wine. Very charming, I must say …

27 Tang, e.g. : DYNASTY

The Tang dynasty of China lasted from 618 to 907 CE.

32 Equestrian princess in the 1976 Olympics : ANNE

Anne, Princess Royal was born in 1950 and is the only daughter of British Queen Elizabeth II. Princess Anne has been in the public spotlight for many things, including her success as an equestrian. Princess Anne was the first member of the British Royal Family to have competed in an Olympic Games. Her daughter Zara Phillips continued the tradition and competed as a member of the British equestrian team in the 2012 Olympic Games. Zara’s medal was presented to her by her own mother, Princess Anne.

33 Command and Control : KEYS

Keys on keyboards.

41 Alternatives to Budgets : ALAMOS

The third-largest car rental company in recent years is Alamo, which was founded in 1974. Alamo made inroads (pun!) into the market by popularizing the idea of “unlimited mileage”.

43 A baby one is called a red dog : BISON

There are two species of bison left (four species are extinct). We are most familiar with the American bison (commonly called the American buffalo), but there is also a European bison, which is sometimes called a “wisent”.

44 “L’elisir d’___” (Donizetti opera) : AMORE

“L’elisir d’amore” is an opera by Donizetti, the title of which translates as “The Elixir of Love”. The opera is performed quite often today, as is the beautiful aria from the work called “Una furtiva lagrima”. “Una furtiva lagrima” translates from Italian as “A single furtive tear”.

50 None of it is good, in an aphorism : NEWS

No news is good news

An aphorism is a short and pithy statement that embodies a general truth or insightful observation. Some great examples are:

• Life is a journey, not a destination (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
• The average person thinks he isn’t (Larry Lorenzoni)
• To err is human, to forgive divine (Alexander Pope)
• Reality is an illusion, albeit a very persistent one (Albert Einstein)
• Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely (Lord Acton)

51 Castilian cat : GATO

Castile and León is the largest of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain, and is located in the northwest of the country. The separate kingdoms of Castile and León were united in medieval times, but the autonomous community was constituted much more recently, in