0824-23 NY Times Crossword 24 Aug 23, Thursday

Bill’s time: 10m 03s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 Black Widow’s former org. : KGB

The “Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti” (KGB) was the national security agency of the Soviet Union until 1991. The KGB was dissolved after the agency’s chairman led a failed attempt at a coup d’état designed to depose President Mikhail Gorbachev.

8 Off-roaders, for short : ATVS

All-terrain vehicle (ATV)

12 Style of René Lalique’s glasswork : DECO

The French jeweler René Lalique was also a glass designer and was well known for glass art, which included automobile hood ornaments. Lalique designed the art deco glass walls and columns in the dining room and grand salon of the SS Normandie. He also provided much of the interior art for St. Matthew’s Church on Jersey in the Channel Islands, so that it is sometimes referred to as “Lalique’s Glass Church”.

13 Fair-hiring inits. : EOE

Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE)

14 Campaign to increase Election Day participation : VOTER OUTREACH

Election day was chosen by Congress back in 1845. The month of November was selected as it suited an agricultural society, following the fall harvest and yet not too far into winter, which could make travel difficult. Tuesday was chosen so that people had time to travel to polling stations. Monday elections might have meant that some would have to start out on Sunday, and that could interfere with Christian services.

22 When one might show one’s age, informally : B-DAY

Birthday (b-day)

25 Seven-___ (worst hand in Texas hold ’em) : DEUCE

The official birthplace of the incredibly popular poker game of Texas hold ’em is Robstown, Texas where the game dates back to the early 1900s. The game was introduced into Las Vegas in 1967 by a group of Texan enthusiasts including Doyle Brunson, a champion often seen playing on TV today. Doyle Brunson published a poker strategy guide in 1978, and this really helped increase the popularity of the game. But it was the inclusion of Texas hold ‘em in the television lineup that really gave the game its explosive surge in popularity, with the size of the prize money just skyrocketing.

40 Jimmy Carter’s Secret Service code name : DEACON

President Jimmy Carter was the 39th President, and the only US president to receive the Nobel Peace Prize after leaving office (Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and Barack Obama have also been so honored, but while in office).

41 News stand? : OP-ED

“Op-ed” is an abbreviation for “opposite the editorial page”. Op-eds started in “The New York Evening World” in 1921 when the page opposite the editorials was used for articles written by a named guest writer, someone independent of the editorial board.

46 Liqueur in some coffee cocktails, familiarly : BAILEYS

A “cream liqueur” is one that includes dairy cream. The most famous example is probably Baileys Irish Cream, which is made from cream and Irish whiskey. A “crème liqueur”, on the other hand, is one that includes a lot of added sugar, but no dairy cream. Examples are crème de cacao (chocolate-flavored), crème de menthe (mint-flavored) and crème de cassis (blackcurrant-flavored).

48 Foil, e.g. : SWORD

Before the foil was introduced as a sporting weapon, it was used as a blunted weapon for sword practice. It has been suggested that the sword was blunted by wrapping metal foil around the tip, hence the name.

51 Green standard : PAR

That would be golf.

52 Org. opposed to “speciesism” : PETA

The term “speciesism” has two common meanings. In one sense, speciesism is used in a similar way to racism and sexism, and refers to the apparent prejudice by humans against certain species of animals. In another sense, speciesism refers to the concept of human supremacism.

63 Certain sodas, for short : DEWS

Mountain Dew was originally created as a mixer for alcoholic beverages, and was marketed as “zero-proof moonshine.” The original formula included caffeine and sugar, which helped to make it a popular mixer for whiskey and other spirits.

65 Annual multimedia festival, informally : SXSW

South by Southwest, also known as “SXSW”, is an annual festival that has been taking place in Austin, Texas since 1987. SXSW is a melded event, combining a music festival, a film festival and an interactive festival.

Down

1 Poet laureate Limón : ADA

Ada Limón was named US Poet Laureate in 2022. Here is her poem “Field Bling”, which comes from her 2015 collection “Bright Dead Things”:

Nights when it’s warm
and no one is watching,
I walk to the edge
of the road and stare
at all the fireflies.
I squint and pretend
they’re hallucinations,
bright made-up waves
of the brain.
I call them,
field bling.
I call them,
fancy creepies.
It’s been a long time
since I’ve wanted to die,
it makes me feel
like taking off
my skin suit
and seeing how
my light flies all
on its own, neon
and bouncy like a
wannabe star.

4 Fait accompli : DONE DEAL

“Fait accompli” is a French term that translates literally as “accomplished fact”. It is used in English to mean “a done deal”.

5 French military cap : KEPI

A kepi is a circular cap with a visor, one that’s particularly associated with the French military.

9 One in a onesie : TOT

A onesie is a baby’s one-piece bodysuit, and is a common gift at a baby shower.

10 Twitch streamer with a digital avatar, say : VTUBER

Twitch is a live-streaming platform used primarily by gamers. Folks playing games can broadcast their game play live to an audience.

19 Bartender’s stock : RYES

For whiskey to be labeled as “rye” in the US, it has to be distilled from at least 51% rye grain. In Canada however, a drink called rye whiskey sometimes contains no rye at all.

21 Something that’s designed to be buggy? : WEB

The silk that makes up a web is a protein fiber that is “spun” by a spider. Spider silk is about one sixth of the density of steel, yet has a comparable tensile strength.

25 “Je pense, ___ je suis”: Descartes : DONC

The great French philosopher Rene Descartes made the famous statement in Latin, “Cogito ergo sum”. This translates into French as “Je pense, donc je suis” and into English as “I think, therefore I am”. Anything pertaining to the philosophy of Descartes can be described by the adjective “Cartesian”.

28 Doubleday who didn’t really invent baseball : ABNER

Abner Doubleday was a general in the Union Army during the Civil War. Some say that Doubleday fired the first shot in defense of Fort Sumter in the first battle of the war. After the Civil War, while stationed in San Francisco, Doubleday took out a patent for the cable car system that still runs in the city. Claims have been made that Doubleday also invented baseball, with the first game being played in Elihu Phinney’s cow pasture in Cooperstown, New York.

29 2016 title role for Auliʻi Cravalho : MOANA

Auliʻi Cravalho is an actress who made her debut voicing the title character in the 2016 animated feature “Moana”. Cravalho is a native of Hawaii, and reprised her role as Moana in a Hawaiian-language dubbed version of the film.

32 Pioneer in color TV broadcasting : 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).

35 Named, in brief : ID’ED

Identity document (ID)

36 Caffeine-containing ingredients once used in soft drinks : KOLA NUTS

The nut of the kola tree has a bitter taste, and is loaded with caffeine. Despite the taste, the nut is habitually chewed in some cultures, especially in West Africa where the tree is commonly found in the rainforest. Here in the US we best know the kola nut as a flavoring used in cola drinks.

39 Gridiron stats : TDS

Touchdown (TD)

42 Nile reptiles : ASPS

The asp is a venomous snake found in the Nile region of Africa. It is so venomous that the asp was used in ancient Egypt and Greece as a means of execution. Cleopatra observed such executions noting that the venom brought on sleepiness without any painful spasms. When the great queen opted to commit suicide, the asp was therefore her chosen method.

44 Drag race conveyance : HOT ROD

A hot rod is an American car that has been modified for speed by installing a larger than normal engine. A street rod is generally a more comfortable type of hot rod, with the emphasis less on the engine and more on custom paint jobs and interiors. By definition, a street rod must be based on an automobile design that originated prior to 1949.

47 Event for a unicorn, perhaps, in brief : IPO

An initial public offering (IPO) is the very first offer of stock for sale by a company on the open market. In other words, an IPO marks the first time that a company is traded on a public exchange. Companies have an IPO to raise capital to expand (usually).

In the world of finance, a unicorn is a privately-held startup company that has a value of over $1 billion. The derivative terms “decacorn” and “hectacorn” refer to companies with valuation of over $10 billion and $100 billion respectively. The use of the term “unicorn” reflects how unlikely such valuations are.

49 ___ Theatres : AMC

The AMC theater chain used to go by the name American Multi-Cinema Inc., hence the initialism “AMC”.