0901-23 NY Times Crossword 1 Sep 23, Friday

Bill’s time: 16m 01s

Bill’s errors: 2

• FAA (RAA!)
• FAKE (rake)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Food Network host ___ Brown : ALTON

Alton Brown is a celebrity chef who is behind the Food Network show “Good Eats”, and is the host of “Iron Chef America”.

16 Sanskrit for “force” : HATHA

Hatha yoga is a yoga system developed in 15th century India. Traditional Hatha yoga is a more “complete” practice than often encountered in the west, involving not just exercise but also meditation and relaxation. “Hatha” is a Sanskrit word meaning “force”.

17 Stone-faced sorts? : GARGOYLES

Gargoyles are fabulous carvings placed on the side of a building. Gargoyles include an internal spout that is designed to convey water collected on the roof away from the walls of the building. The term “gargoyle” comes from the French “gargouille” which can mean “throat, gullet”.

18 Adams who was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980 : ANSEL

As an avid amateur photographer, I have been a big fan of the work of Ansel Adams for many years and must have read all of his books. Adams was famous for clarity and depth in his black and white images. Central to his technique was the use of the zone system, his own invention. The zone system is a way of controlling exposure in an image, particularly when there is a high contrast in the subject. Although the technique was developed primarily for black & white film, it can even apply to digital color images. In the digital world, the main technique is to expose an image for the highlights, and one or more images for the shadows. These images can then be combined digitally giving a final photograph with a full and satisfying range of exposures.

20 Rapper with the 2012 #1 album “Life Is Good” : NAS

Rapper Nas used to go by an earlier stage name “Nasty Nas”, and before that by his real name “Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones”. Nas released his first album “Illmatic” in 1994, and inventively titled his fifth studio album “Stillmatic”, released in 2001.

32 Sound from a saxophone : WAIL

Saxophones are made of brass, but they also have some features in common with woodwind instruments, such as the use of a reed to create sound. Because of that reed, the “sax” is classified not as a brass instrument, but as a woodwind.

33 ___ Yello (drink) : MELLO

Like so many beverages introduced by the Coca-Cola Company, Mello Yello was launched to compete against a successful drink already on the market. Mello Yello first hit the shelves in 1979, and was designed to take market share from Pepsico’s “Mountain Dew”.

35 The late Mrs. Flanders on “The Simpsons” : MAUDE

Ned Flanders lives next door to Homer Simpson on TV’s “The Simpsons”. Ned was married to Maude, with whom he had two children Rod and Todd. Maude died in an accident involving a T-shirt cannon. Ned is voiced by actor Harry Shearer, and has been around since the very first episode aired in 1989.

36 Alice ___, 20th-century women’s suffrage activist : PAUL

The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was written by the American suffragist leader, Alice Paul. Although Paul was successful in her campaign to get passage of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution (guaranteeing voting rights regardless of sex), her 1923 Equal Rights Amendment didn’t make it to the Senate floor until 1972. The amendment was passed by the Senate, and then headed to the state legislatures for the required ratification. 38 states had to approve the legislation for the amendment to be adopted, but only 35 states voted in favor before the deadline. The amendment is still pending, although about half of the fifty states have adopted the ERA into their state constitutions.

43 Eponymous Belgian town : SPA

The word “spa” migrated into English from Belgium, as “Spa” is the name of a municipality in the east of the country that is famous for its healing hot springs. The name “Spa” comes from the Walloon word “espa” meaning “spring, fountain”.

48 Agcy. within the Dept. of Transportation : FAA

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was set up in 1958 (as the Federal Aviation Agency). The agency was established at that particular time largely in response to an increasing number of midair collisions. The worst of these disasters had taken place two years earlier over the Grand Canyon, a crash between two commercial passenger airplanes that resulted in 128 fatalities.

53 Biopharmaceutical giant in the Fortune 200 : AMGEN

AMGen is a biotechnology company that was founded in 1980 as Applied Molecular Genetics. The company’s headquarters is in Thousand Oaks, California.

55 Inventor of the first commercially successful steel plow : DEERE

John Deere invented the first commercially successful steel plow in 1837. Prior to Deere’s invention, farmers used an iron or wooden plow that constantly had to be cleaned as rich soil stuck to its surfaces. The cast-steel plow was revolutionary as its smooth sides solved the problem of “stickiness”. The Deere company that John founded uses the slogan “Nothing Runs Like a Deere”, and has a leaping deer as its logo.

56 Montgomery of jazz : WES

Wes Montgomery was a jazz guitarist from Indianapolis. He was known for his unique playing style and innovative use of octaves in his solos. He also played with his thumb rather than a pick, which gave his playing a warmer and more rounded tone.

57 Bids one club, say : OPENS

The version of the card game bridge that is played mostly today is contract bridge. Auction bridge is a similar game, and is a precursor to contract bridge.

Down

1 Longhorn’s longtime rival : AGGIE

Texas A&M is the seventh largest university in the country, and was the first public higher education institute in the state when it accepted its first students in 1876. The full name of the school was the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (hence “A&M”) and its primary mission used to be the education of males in the techniques of farming and military warfare. That’s quite a combination! Because of the agricultural connection, the college’s sports teams use the moniker “Aggies”. Texas A&M is also home to the George Bush Presidential Library.

The University of Texas at Austin was established back in 1883. UT Austin is known as one of the “Public Ivies”, a publicly-funded university at which a student can get an education comparable to that provided by the Ivy League. The school’s sports teams are known as the Texas Longhorns, named for the Longhorn cattle that is now the official “large animal” of the state of Texas.

4 Indie band whose name is a two-word command : OK GO

OK Go is a rock band that formed in Chicago before relocating to Los Angeles. Apparently, OK Go is known for producing some zany music videos.

5 Prefix with -plasm : NEO-

In terms of pathology, neoplasm is a new growth of abnormal tissue, tissue that often forms a tumor. The term comes from “neo-” meaning “new”, and the Greek “plasma” meaning “formation”.

6 Building installations that work with beams : SOLAR PANELS

Solar panels are arrays of solar cells that make use of what’s known as the photovoltaic effect. We are more likely to have learned about the photoelectric effect in school, in which electrons were ejected from the surface of some materials when it was exposed to light or other forms of radiation. The photovoltaic effect is related but different. Instead of being electrons ejected from the surface, in the photovoltaic effect electrons move around in the material creating a difference in voltage.

8 They’re even at the start, in brief : OTS

Overtime (OT)

10 Malicious programs that block file access : RANSOMWARE

Ransomware is a piece of software used to extort money from computer users ranging from individuals to complete enterprises. The ransomware usually encrypts the victim’s data, and presents a message demanding a payment in exchange for the key needed to decrypt the data. One famous example is the WannaCry ransomware attack that was launched in May of 2017. Almost a quarter of a million computers were affected in over 150 countries. Actual ransom payments made by victims (to bitcoin accounts) amounted to over $130,000. The attackers have never been brought to justice.

12 Silverstein who wrote the words and music for Johnny Cash’s “A Boy Named Sue” : SHEL

Author Shel Silverstein had a varied career and did a lot more than write books. He was a poet, composer, cartoonist and screenwriter among other things. One of his successful children’s books is “The Giving Tree”, which was first published in 1964. “The Giving Tree” tells of a young boy who has a special relationship with a tree in a forest. The message of the book seems to be that the tree provides the little boy with everything he needs.

“A Boy Named Sue” is a classic song by Shel Silverstein that was popularized by Johnny Cash. Famously, Cash recorded the song at a live concert he gave in 1969 at San Quentin State Prison.

13 Lager descriptor : PALE

Lager is so called because of the tradition of cold-storing the beer during fermentation. “Lager” is the German word for “storage”.

23 Pro ___ : BONO

The Latin term “pro bono publico” means “for the public good”, and is usually shortened to “pro bono”. The term applies to professional work that is done for free or at a reduced fee as a service to the public.

24 Some adventures in the Serengeti : JEEP SAFARIS

The Jeep is the original off-road vehicle. It was developed by the American Bantam Car Company in 1940 at the request of the US government who recognized the upcoming need for the armed forces as American involvement in WWII loomed. The Bantam Company was too small to cope with demand, so the government gave the designs to competing car companies. The design and brand eventually ended up with AMC in the seventies and eighties.

“Safari” is a Swahili word meaning “journey” or “expedition”.

The Serengeti is a region in Africa located in northern Tanzania and southwest Kenya. The name “Serengeti” comes from the Maasai language and means “Endless Plains”.

26 Assessors of verbal reasoning, in brief : LSATS

Law School Admission Test (LSAT)

29 Calls balls, say : UMPS

Back in the 15th century, “an umpire” was referred to as “a noumpere”, which was misheard and hence causing the dropping of the initial letter N. The term “noumpere” came from Old French “nonper” meaning “not even, odd number”. The idea was that the original umpire was a third person called on to arbitrate between two, providing that “odd number” needed to decide the dispute.

31 Range mentioned in “Take Me Home, Country Roads” : BLUE RIDGE

The Blue Ridge Mountains are part of the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern US. The range is noted for the bluish colors of the peaks. The blue hue is actually caused by the emission of an organic compound called isoprene into the atmosphere. The isoprene contributes to the blue haze that covers mountain ranges.

“Take Me Home, Country Roads” is a 1971 song that was co-written and performed by John Denver. It was destined to become John Denver’s signature song, as well as one of the several official state anthems of West Virginia.

Almost heaven, West Virginia
Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River
Life is old there, older than the trees
Younger than the mountains, blowing like a breeze

35 Department store eponym : MACY

The original Macy’s store was opened by Rowland Hussey Macy in Haverhill, Massachusetts in 1851. This store, and several others that Macy opened, all failed. Macy picked himself up though, and started over again in New York City. Those early New York stores all focused on the sale of dry goods, but added departments quickly as the clientele grew. The Macy’s red star logo has been around since the company was first established. Macy chose the star because it mimicked the star tattoo that he got as a teenager when he was working on a whaling ship out of Nantucket.

37 Traipses (about) : GADS

To gad about is to move around with little purpose. The word “gad” comes from the Middle English “gadden” meaning “to hurry”.

38 First Southeastern Conference school to field an African American athlete : TULANE

Tulane University is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Tulane was founded in 1834 as the Medical College of Louisiana. The university was privatized with the aid of an endowment from philanthropist Paul Tulane in 1884, and as a result the school’s name was changed to Tulane University. The school’s sports teams use the name Tulane Green Wave, and the team mascot is Riptide the Pelican.

44 Name on 2008 campaign stickers : PALIN

When John McCain selected Sarah Palin as candidate for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she became the first Alaskan to go on the national ticket for a major party. She also became the first woman nominated for Vice President by the Republican Party.

45 City east of Montpellier : ARLES

Quite a few years ago now, I had the privilege of living just a short car-ride from the beautiful city of Arles in the South of France. Although Arles has a long and colorful history, the Romans had a prevailing influence over the city’s design. Arles has a spectacular Roman amphitheater, arch, circus as well as old walls that surround the center of the city. In more modern times, it was a place Vincent van Gogh often visited, and was where he painted many of his most famous works, including “Cafe Terrace at Night” and “Bedroom in Arles”.

46 Roe source : SHAD

The shad is also known as the river herring. The eggs (roe) of the shad are prized as a delicacy, especially in the Eastern US.

47 Unlike a mustang : TAME

A mustang is a free-roaming horse, and a descendent of a once-domesticated animal. The English term comes from the Spanish “mesteño“ meaning “stray livestock animal”.

48 Charlatan : FAKE

A charlatan is someone who makes false claims of skill or knowledge. “Charlatan” is a word we imported from French, although the original derivation is the Italian “ciarlatano”, a term meaning “quack”.

51 Index since 1896, with “the” : … DOW

Dow Jones & Company was founded as a publishing house in 1882 by three newspaper reporters, Charles Dow, Edward Jones and Charles Bergstresser. Today, the company’s most famous publication has to be “The Wall Street Journal”. In 1884, Charles Dow started reporting the average dollar value of the stock of eleven companies, an index which spawned a whole host of metrics that carry the Dow Jones name to this day. The most famous of these metrics is the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), also known as “the Dow 30” or simply “the Dow”.