0830-23 NY Times Crossword 30 Aug 23, Wednesday

Bill’s time: 15m 47s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Once ___ a time, : UPON
5 not so ___ ago, : LONG
69 And, of course, ___ lived : THEY
70 happily ___ after. : EVER

The stock phrase “Once upon a time …” has been used in various forms as the start of a narrative at least since 1380. The stock phrase at the end of stories such as folktales is often “and they all lived happily ever after”. The earlier version of this ending was “happily until their deaths”.

15 her prized ___. : OBOE

We’ve all probably heard the phrase “‘tis an ill wind that blows nobody any good”. The poet Ogden Nash made a “punny” statement about the oboe, calling the instrument “an ill wind nobody blows good”. I must say though, I disagree …

17 despite sitting next to the noisy ___, : CLARINETS

The clarinet is a lovely-sounding instrument, isn’t it? The name “clarinet” comes from the Italian word “clarino” meaning “trumpet”, with the “-et” suffix indicating “small”.

20 One day, after school, Ava called a ___. : LYFT

Lyft was founded in 2012 as a ride-sharing service in San Francisco, California. The company’s original name was “Zimride” and it was focused on long-distance ride-sharing. One of Lyft’s early marketing campaigns involved drivers attaching furry, pink mustaches on the front of their vehicles. The company walked back that idea in 2015 as some riders objected to arriving at formal events in a car with a giant mustache on display.

22 “___, I guess. At least the week’s over.” : TGIF

“Thank God It’s Friday” (TGIF) is a relatively new expression that apparently originated in Akron, Ohio. It was a catchphrase used first by disk jockey Jerry Healy of WAKR in the early seventies. That said, one blog reader wrote to me to say that he had been using the phrase in the fifties.

26 Just then, Dana, a bandmate Ava was crushing on, walked up lugging a ___. : TUBA

The tuba is the lowest-pitched of all brass instruments, and one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra (usually there is just one tuba included in an orchestral line-up). “Tuba” is the Latin word for “trumpet, horn”. Oom-pah-pah …

41 were ___ that Dana was smitten, too. : SIGNALS

“Smitten” is the past participle of “to smite”, meaning “to inflict a heavy blow”. We tend to use “smitten” to mean “affected by love, love-struck”.

44 “I got the shirt from ___; glad you like it.” : EBAY

There have been some notable things sold on eBay over the years. For example:

• Ad space on a guy’s forehead, in the form of a temporary tattoo – $37,375
• William Shatner’s kidney stone – $25,000
• A cornflake shaped like Illinois – $1,350
• A single corn flake – $1.63
• A box of 10 Twinkies – $59.99
• The original Hollywood sign – $450,400
• The meaning of life – $3.26

46 Ava mustered every ___ in her brain : NEURON

A nerve cell is more correctly called a neuron. The long nerve fiber that conducts signals away from the neuron is known as the axon. The axon is surrounded by a myelin sheath, which acts as an electrical insulator and which increases the rate the impulses pass along the axon.

57 and Ava learned Dana loved “Much ___ About Nothing.” : ADO

“Much Ado About Nothing” is a play by William Shakespeare, and a favorite of mine. It is a comedic tale of two pairs of lovers with lots of mistaken identities and double meanings. I once saw the play performed in the fabulous Globe Theatre in London … by an all-female cast. Such a performance was somewhat ironic, given that in Shakespeare’s day the practice was to use an all-male cast.

58 Though Dana wanted to visit Timbuktu in ___ : MALI

The Republic of Mali is a landlocked country in western Africa located south of Algeria. Formerly known as French Sudan, the nation’s most famous city is Timbuktu. Mali is the third-largest producer of gold on the continent, after South Africa and Ghana.

61 and Ava preferred Accra in ___, : GHANA

Accra sits on Ghana’s coast and is a major seaport as well as the country’s capital city. The name “Accra” comes from a local word “Nkran” meaning “ants”, a name chosen because of the large number of anthills found in the area when the city was founded.

65 One night, after watching “___ Python,” : MONTY

The zany comedy show called “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” first aired in 1969 on the BBC. The show ran for four seasons and finished up soon after John Cleese decided to leave the team and move onto other projects.

67 listening to Nat King ___, : COLE

Nat King Cole’s real name was Nathaniel Adams Coles. Cole made television history in 1956 when his own show debuted on NBC, a first for an African-American. Cole couldn’t pick up a national sponsor, so in order to save money and possibly save the show, many guest artists worked for no fee at all – the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Harry Belafonte and Peggy Lee. The show survived for a year, but eventually Nat King Cole had to pull the plug on it himself.

68 Ava and Dana shared their first kiss over cream ___. : SODAS

Cream soda is a carbonated soft drink that is flavored with vanilla. There is a suggestion that the name “cream soda” was chosen as the taste is reminiscent of an ice cream soda. I’m not so sure …

Down

1 Trojans’ sch. : USC

The University of Southern California (USC) is a private school in Los Angeles. Apart from its excellent academic record, USC is known for the success of its athletic program. USC Trojans have won more Olympic medals than the students of any other university in the world. The USC marching band is very famous as well, and is known as the “Spirit of Troy”. The band has performed with many celebrities, and is the only college band to have two platinum records.

3 Skin cream brand : OLAY

Oil of Olay was developed in South Africa in 1952. When Oil of Olay was introduced internationally, it was given slightly different brand names designed to appeal in the different geographies. In Ireland we know it as Oil of Ulay, for example, and in France it is Oil of Olaz.

4 Round, squishy toy : NERF BALL

Nerf is a soft material used in a whole series of toys designed for “safe” play indoors. The Nerf product is used to make darts, balls and ammunition for toy guns. “NERF” is an acronym, standing for Non-Expanding Recreational Foam.

5 Actor Chaney : LON

Lon Chaney, Sr. played a lot of crazed-looking characters in the days of silent movies. He did much of his own make-up work, developing the grotesque appearances that became his trademark, and earning himself the nickname “the man of a thousand faces”. Most famous were his portrayals of the title characters in the films “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (1923) and “The Phantom of the Opera” (1925).

8 Daring deed : GEST

Our word “gest”, meaning “great deed or exploit”, has been around since about 1300 and comes from the Old French word “geste” meaning the same thing. These days, “geste” can also mean “gesture”.

10 Obergefell v. ___, Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage : HODGES

Obergefell v. Hodges is the 2015 case in which the US Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have the fundamental right to marry. Famously, President Obama had the White House illuminated in rainbow colors on the night of the ruling.

13 Reds great Roush : EDD

Edd Roush was a big hitter who played Major League Baseball, starting in 1913 for the Chicago White Sox. He jumped ship to the Federal League in 1914, a league set up to compete with the already well-established National and American Leagues. The upstart league only lasted a couple of seasons. When Edd Roush passed away in 1988 at the age of 94, he was the last surviving player from the short-lived Federal League.

18 Figure skater Midori : ITO

Midori Ito is a Japanese figure skater. Ito was the first woman to land a triple/triple jump and a triple axel in competition. In fact, she landed her first triple jump in training when she was only 8 years old. Ito won Olympic silver in 1992, and was chosen as the person to light the Olympic cauldron at the commencement of the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.

27 Inuit skin boat : UMIAK

There is a type of boat used by Inuit people called a “kayak”. The term “kayak” means “man’s boat”, whereas “umiak” means “woman’s boat”.

28 It’s a sure thing : BIRD IN HAND

The oft-quoted phrase “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” comes from the world of falconry. The idea is that a bird in the hand (the falcon) is more valuable than two birds in the bush (the prey).

30 Dawn goddess : EOS

In Greek mythology, Eos was the goddess of the dawn who lived at the edge of the ocean. Eos would wake each morning to welcome her brother Helios the sun. The Roman equivalent of Eos was Aurora. Rather delightfully, Homer referred to Eos as “rosy-fingered dawn” in both “Iliad” and “Odyssey”.

32 Synthetic fabric : ORLON

Orlon is the brand name used by the DuPont Corporation for the acrylic fibers the company developed in 1941.

45 Language from which we get bupkis and shtick : YIDDISH

“Bupkis” (also “bubkes”) is a word that means “absolutely nothing, nothing of value”, and is of Yiddish origin.

A schtick is a routine, a bit, a piece of entertainment. It comes from the Yiddish “shtick” which has the same meaning and derives from the Middle High German word “stücke”, the word for “piece”.

50 Knuckle-headed gesture? : NOOGIE

A noogie is a childish move in which someone rubs his (and it’s always a guy!) knuckles into a person’s head to create a little soreness.

53 Neuters : SPAYS

Our verb “to spay”, meaning “to surgically remove the ovaries of” (an animal), comes from an old Anglo-French word “espeier” meaning “to cut with a sword”.

55 911 responder : EMT

The first use of a national emergency phone number was in 1937 in the UK, where the number 999 was introduced to call emergency services. If you need emergency services in the UK or Ireland to this day, you have to dial 999. It’s not really clear why 911 became the emergency number in the US. The most credible suggestion (to me) is that when it was introduced by the FCC in 1967, it was a number that “fit” with the numbers already used by AT&T for free services (211-long distance; 411-information; 611-repair service).

57 Hamlet’s interrogative after “How now!” : A RAT?

In Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, the title character utters the line “How now, a rat? Dead for a ducat, dead!”. Hamlet then thrusts his sword through a tapestry covering an alcove and kills Polonius, who was lurking there.

59 Pope after Benedict IV : LEO V

Pope Leo V was head of the Roman Catholic Church for just one year, from 903 to 904. Leo V was imprisoned by Antipope Christopher just two months after taking office. It is likely that both Antipope Christopher and Pope Leo V were executed on the orders of Sergius III, who took over the papacy in 904.

60 Bali, for one : ISLE

Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. It is known as the “Island of the Gods” due to its rich and unique culture, which is steeped in religious and spiritual beliefs.

64 Title for “Game of Thrones” knights : SER

“A Game of Thrones” is the first novel in the series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin titled “A Song of Ice and Fire”. That first novel’s title gives its name to “Game of Thrones”, the incredibly popular HBO television series that uses the storyline from the whole series of books.