0920-23 NY Times Crossword 20 Sep 23, Wednesday

Bill’s time: 11m 15s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 “Insecure” star Rae : ISSA

“Insecure” is a comedy-drama TV show that premiered in 2016. It is co-written by and stars Issa Rae, who also created the comedy web series “Awkward Black Girl” on which “Insecure” is based.

5 Deck divided into the Major and Minor Arcana : TAROT

In a 78-card tarot deck, the picture cards are referred to as the Major Arcana. The remaining cards are known as the Minor Arcana. The Major Arcana included The Fool, the Wheel of Fortune, the Hanged Man, and Death.

14 Footwear to knock around in : MOCS

“Moc” is short for “moccasin”, a type of shoe. The moccasin is a traditional form of footwear worn by members of many Native American tribes.

15 Israel’s national tree : OLIVE

The olive tree developed in and around the Mediterranean Basin, but has been cultivated in many locations around the world for thousands of years. The fruit of the olive tree is prized as a foodstuff, as well as a source of olive oil. Our word “oil” ultimately derives from the Greek “elaia” meaning “olive”.

19 Tiny pest : FLEA

Fleas are flightless insects, but they sure can jump. Their very specialized hind legs allow them to jump up to 50 times the length of their bodies.

21 Who blows thar? : SHE

“Thar she blows!” is a phrase that originated on whaling ships. A lookout spotting a whale surfacing to breathe might see the spray from the blowhole caused by the expulsion of carbon dioxide. Thar (there) she blows!

23 Rowing machine, informally : ERG

An indoor rowing machine is often referred to as an ergometer (or simply “erg”). However, the term “ergometer” really applies to a device that measures the amount of work performed.

27 ___ Elise Goldsberry, portrayer of Angelica Schuyler in the original “Hamilton” cast : RENEE

Renée Elise Goldsberry is an actress and singer who is best known to me for playing the attorney Geneva Pine on the TV show “The Good Wife”. Goldsberry also originated the role of Angelica Schuyler Church in the hit Broadway musical “Hamilton”.

29 M.S.G. athlete : KNICK

The New York Knickerbockers (“Knicks”) team is one of only two founding members of the original National Basketball Association that still plays in its original home city. The other is the Boston Celtics.

Madison Square Garden (MSG) is an arena in New York City used for a variety of events. In the world of sports it is home to the New York Rangers of the NHL, as well as the New York Knicks of the NBA. “The Garden” is also the third busiest music venue in the world in terms of ticket sales. The current arena is the fourth structure to bear the name, a name taken from the Madison Square location in Manhattan. In turn, the square was named for James Madison, the fourth President of the US.

31 1971 hit for the Carpenters : SUPERSTAR (SUPERPOWER & STAR POWER)

The Carpenters were a musical duo comprising brother and sister Richard and Karen Carpenter. Karen had an amazing contralto voice, and played the drums. Richard played the piano, and composed and arranged most of their music. Tragically, Karen Carpenter died in 1983 due to heart failure brought on by an eating disorder. She was only 32 years old.

36 Michelle Obama ___ Robinson : NEE

Michelle Obama née Robinson grew up on the South Side of Chicago. Her brother is Craig Robinson, former coach of men’s basketball at Oregon State University. After graduating from Harvard Law School, Michelle Robinson worked as an associate at the Chicago office of the Sidley Austin law firm. Barack Obama joined the firm as a summer associate and Michelle Robinson was assigned to mentor him, and as they say, one thing led to another …

41 Campaign grp. : PAC

A political action committee (PAC) is a private group that works to influence the outcome of a particular election or group of elections. Any group becomes a PAC by law when it receives or spends more than $1,000 for the purpose of influencing the outcome of an election. In 2010 the Supreme Court ruled that PACS that did not make direct contributions to candidates or parties could accept unlimited contributions. These “independent, expenditure-only committees” are commonly referred to as “super PACs”.

43 One of a famous septet : SIN

The cardinal sins of Christian ethics are also known as the seven deadly sins. The seven sins are:

• Wrath
• Greed
• Sloth
• Pride
• Lust
• Envy
• Gluttony

44 1972 hit for Elton John : ROCKET MAN (ROCKET POWER & MANPOWER)

Elton John’s 1972 hit “Rocket Man” was inspired by a short story of the same name written by Ray Bradbury. It’s a great song that tells the story of an astronaut heading out for a routine space mission.

47 Orbitz listings : FARES

Orbitz is one of the big online travel companies, one that is based in Chicago. Orbitz was originally set up as a joint-venture of several airlines including Continental, Delta, Northwest and United.

52 Castle defense : MOAT

A moat is a protective trench that surrounds a castle, say, or an exhibit in a zoo. A moat may or may not be filled with water.

59 Word with clam or trunk : STEAMER …

Soft-shell clams are so called because they have thin calcium carbonate shells that are easily broken. They are known as “steamers”, especially in New England where they are often served at a clambake.

Back in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, steamer trunks were the equivalent of our modern carry-on bags. They were containers for clothes and other belongings that had flat tops and low profiles so that they could fit under a bunk on a steamer (steam ship) or on a train. Steamer trunks usually contained a passenger’s essentials, with the bulk of the items stored in the main luggage.

61 Children’s author Blyton : ENID

Enid Blyton wrote stories for children that were very popular when I was growing up in Britain and Ireland. Some time back, I purchased and reread my favorite of her stories growing up, a children’s novel called “The Secret Island”. Now as an adult, it’s very obvious to me that Blyton’s writings were out of step with attitudes in post-WWII Britain, when she was most prolific as an author. Accusations ring true with me, that her writings exhibited sexism, xenophobia and racism …

65 “Handle” of a pumpkin : STEM

The pumpkin is a winter squash that is grown for food, and for carving as a jack-o’-lantern. Pumpkins can grow to very large sizes. Mature giant pumpkins can weigh over 2,000 pounds!

67 Snake eyes : ONES

“Snake eyes” is a slang term describing a roll of two dice in which one pip turns up on each die.

68 Sea dogs : TARS

A jack tar, or just “tar”, was a seaman in the service of the British Empire. The term probably arose due to a sailor’s various uses of tar back then, including waterproofing his clothes and using tar in his hair to slick down his ponytail.

70 Treats, as leather : TANS

Leather is made from animal skins. When the flesh, fat and hair is removed from the skin and it is dried, the resulting product is rawhide. Further treatment of the skin with chemicals that permanently alter the protein structure of the skin is known as tanning, and the resulting product is leather.

Down

3 Garlicky shrimp dish : SCAMPI

The Italian dish known as “scampi” is a serving of shrimp in garlic butter and dry white wine.

5 Marisa ___, portrayer of Aunt May in the Marvel Universe : TOMEI

Marisa Tomei’s first screen role was in the daytime soap “As the World Turns”, but her break came with a recurring role in “The Cosby Show” spin-off “A Different World”. Tomei won an Oscar for her delightful performance in “My Cousin Vinny” in 1992.

“Spider-Man: Homecoming” is a 2017 superhero film. It is a “reboot” of the “Spider-Man” series, introducing a new storyline, and new actors to play the main characters. English actor Tom Holland has the title role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man, with Marisa Tomei playing Peter’s Aunt May Parker.

9 A.I., e.g. : TECH

Artificial intelligence (AI)

18 Onetime capital of Poland : KRAKOW

Kraków is the second largest city in Poland, and was a capital for many centuries. The Archbishop of Kraków was Karol Wojtyla, one of the most famous people to have lived in the city. In 1978 Archbishop Wojtyla was installed as Pope John Paul II. Kraków was also where the bagel was invented, in the 16th century.

22 “The cautious seldom ___”: Confucius : ERR

The sayings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius (anglicized from “K’ung Fu-Tse”) are collected in a work called “The Analects” or “Linyu”. It wasn’t Confucius who wrote down his thoughts though, but rather his pupils, some 40 or so years after his death in 479 BC.

28 Neighbor of Francia : ESPANA

Spain is the second largest country in the European Union (after France). “Spain” is an anglicized form of the Spanish name “España”, which comes from the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula “Hispania”.

38 Something Maggie is always seen with on “The Simpsons” : PACIFIER

Maggie Simpson is the youngest child of Marge and Homer Simpson on the animated tv show “The Simpsons”. Maggie is voiced by Nancy Cartwright, who also voices Bart Simpson.

39 Captain Morgan offering : RUM

The Captain Morgan brand of rum comes from Jamaica in the West Indies. It is named for the privateer from Wales, Sir Henry Morgan, who plied his trade in the Caribbean in the 17th century.

41 Italian cornmeal dish : POLENTA

Polenta is a porridge made from finely ground corn. The term “polenta” is Italian in origin.

44 Like AB negative, among all blood types : RAREST

Here is an approximate distribution of blood types across the US population:

• O-positive: 38 percent
• O-negative: 7 percent
• A-positive: 34 percent
• A-negative: 6 percent
• B-positive: 9 percent
• B-negative: 2 percent
• AB-positive: 3 percent
• AB-negative: 1 percent

45 Announcement from the cockpit, for short : ETA

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the original “cockpit” was a “pit” used for fighting “cocks”. The term was then applied nautically, as the name for the compartment below decks used as living quarters by midshipmen. The cockpit of a boat today, usually on a smaller vessel, is a sunken area towards the stern in which sits the helmsman and others (who can fit!). The usage extended to aircraft in the 1910s and to cars in the 1930s.

48 ___ Quimby, Beverly Cleary heroine : RAMONA

Ramona Quimby is a character in a series of “Henry Huggins” children’s novels penned by Beverly Cleary. As she became a little older, Ramona merited her own set of stories.

49 Record amount of Oscars won by a single film : ELEVEN

The celebrated 1959 Charlton Heston movie “Ben-Hur” is a dramatization of a book published in 1880 by Lew Wallace titled “Ben-Hur: A Tale of Christ”. The 1959 epic film won a record 11 Academy Awards, a feat that has been equaled since then but never beaten. The other winners of 11 Oscars are “Titanic” (1997) and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003).

57 Pillow cover : SHAM

A sham is something that is imitation, fake. In the world of bed linens, a sham is also an imitation or fake, in the sense that it is a decorative cover designed to cover up a regular pillow used for sleeping.

58 Camouflage : HIDE

Our word “camouflage” (often abbreviated to “camo”) evolved directly from a Parisian slang term “camoufler” meaning “to disguise”. The term was first used in WWI, although the British navy at that time preferred the expression “dazzle-painting” as it applied to the pattern painted on the hulls of ships.

62 Private Insta conversations : DMS

Direct message (DM)

64 Model Carangi : GIA

Gia Carangi was a fashion model, one often described as the world’s first supermodel. Carangi was from Philadelphia, and had her first modelling jobs appearing in newspaper ads. She started to abuse heroin in 1980, at 20 years of age. She contracted AIDS, and died at 26 years old. Carangi was one of the first famous women to succumb to the disease, in 1986. HBO made a biopic about Carangi’s life called “Gia” in 1998. Angelina Jolie played the title role.