0926-23 NY Times Crossword 26 Sep 23, Tuesday

Bill’s time: 6m 28s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 City that’s home to the University of Ghana : ACCRA

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.

14 Kind of green energy : SOLAR

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.

17 *Program that detects junk emails : SPAM FILTER

The term “spam”, used for unwanted email, is taken from a “Monty Python” sketch. In the sketch (which I’ve seen) the dialog is taken over by the word Spam, a play on the glut of canned meat in the markets of Britain after WWII. So “spam” is used for the glut of emails that takes over online communication. I can just imagine nerdy Internet types (like me) adopting something from a “Monty Python” sketch to describe an online phenomenon …

19 Penne ___ vodka : ALLA

Penne alla vodka is a pasta dish with a sauce made of vodka, cream, tomatoes, onions and sausage or bacon.

22 Spills the beans : BLABS

To spill the beans is to divulge a secret. The expression first appeared in American English, in the early 1900s. The phrase arose as an alternative to “spoil the beans” or “upset the applecart”. The similarly meaning phrase “spill the tea” is more prevalent on the other side of the Atlantic.

27 Piglet’s pal : ROO

In A. A. Milne’s “Winnie-the-Pooh” collection of stories, Pooh has many friends in the Hundred Acre Wood. Besides Christopher Robin, who doesn’t actually live in the woods, the list includes Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, Rabbit, Tigger and Owl.

29 Closest bud, in brief : BFF

Best friend forever (BFF)

38 Dietary network in an ecosystem … or a punny hint to the answers to the starred clues : FOOD WEB

A food chain is a series of organisms, the smallest of which gets eaten by a larger one, which in turn feeds a still larger one, etc. Food chains are considered part of a food web.

41 Genetic messenger : RNA

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is an essential catalyst in the manufacture of proteins in the body. The genetic code in DNA determines the sequence of amino acids that make up each protein. That sequence is read in DNA by messenger RNA, and amino acids are delivered for protein manufacture in the correct sequence by transfer RNA. The amino acids are then formed into proteins by ribosomal RNA. An added complication is that small changes in the sequence of amino acids specified by DNA sometimes takes place in a process known as RNA editing. This RNA editing occurs after the nucleotide sequence has been transcribed from DNA, but before it is translated into protein.

42 Podcast interruptions : ADS

A podcast is basically an audio or video media file that is made available for download. The name comes from the acronym “POD” meaning “playable on demand”, and “cast” from “broadcasting”. So, basically a podcast is a broadcast that one can play on demand, simply by downloading and opening the podcast file.

44 Robert Devereux, Earl of ___ (favorite of Elizabeth I) : ESSEX

Robert Devereux was the 2nd Earl of Essex, and a favorite in the court of Queen Elizabeth I of England. Eventually however, Essex fell foul of the government and was found guilty of treason. He was executed on Tower Green in the Tower of London. Famously, his executor took three strokes of the axe to complete the beheading. Essex was the last person to be beheaded at the Tower.

46 Mercator projection, e.g. : MAP

A Mercator projection is a type of map, one named for Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator. The map distorts reality in that line of longitude are parallel to each, rather than meeting at the north and south poles. The resulting effect is that land masses are distorted in size, with more and more distortion taking place moving away from the equator and towards the poles.

47 ___ Guevara (revolutionary) : CHE

Ernesto “Che” Guevara was born in Argentina, and in 1948 he started to study medicine at the University of Buenos Aires. While at school he satisfied his need to “see the world” by taking two long journeys around South America, the stories of which are told in Guevara’s memoir later published as “The Motorcycle Diaries”. While traveling, Guevara was moved by the plight of the people he saw and their working conditions and what he viewed as capitalistic exploitation. In Mexico City he met brothers Raul and Fidel Castro and was persuaded to join their cause, the overthrow of the US-backed government in Cuba. He rose to second-in-command among the Cuban insurgents, and when Castro came to power Guevara was influential in repelling the Bay of Pigs Invasion and bringing Soviet nuclear missiles to the island. Guevara left Cuba in 1965 to continue his work as a revolutionary. He was captured by Bolivian forces in 1967, and was executed. Fidel Castro led the public mourning of Guevara’s death, and soon the revolutionary was an icon for many left-wing movements around the world.

48 Major component of a ketogenic diet : FAT

A ketogenic (also “keto”) diet is a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet. When a body consumes insufficient carbohydrates to meet the need for energy, then the liver converts fat into fatty acids and ketone bodies in order to make up the energy deficit. An elevated level of ketone bodies in the bloodstream is known as “ketosis”, a term that gives rise to the name “ketogenic diet”. Medical professionals sometimes prescribe a ketogenic diet in order to control epilepsy in children. A condition of ketosis can reduce the frequency of epileptic seizures.

56 Director DuVernay : AVA

Ava DuVernay is a filmmaker who became the first African-American woman to win the Best Director Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, a feat she achieved in 2012 for her feature film “Middle of Nowhere”. “Middle of Nowhere” tells the story of a woman who drops out of medical school to focus on her husband when he is sentenced to 8 years in prison. DuVernay also directed the 2014 film “Selma” about the 1965 voting rights marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.

59 First-year law student, for short : ONE L

“One L” is a name used in general for first-year law students, especially those attending Harvard.

60 *Download that may improve streaming lags : JAVA UPDATE

Java is a programming language that was developed by Sun Microsystems. Java was originally designed for interactive television, but it didn’t fit the needs at the time. Back then, the language was called Oak, named after an oak tree that stood outside the designer’s office. Later it was called Green, and finally named Java, which was simply picked out of a list of random words.

65 Luxury pajama fabric : SATIN

The material known as “satin” takes its name from “Zayton”, the medieval Arabic name for the Chinese port city of Quanzhou. Quanzhou was used for the export of large amounts of silk to Europe.

Our word “pajamas” (sometimes “PJs” or “jammies”) comes to us from the Indian subcontinent, where “pai jamahs” were loose fitting pants tied at the waist and worn at night by locals and ultimately by the Europeans living there. And “pajamas” is another of those words that I had to learn to spell differently when I came to America. On the other side of the Atlantic, the spelling is “pyjamas”.

Down

4 Fortification in “The Star-Spangled Banner” : RAMPART

A rampart is a raised embankment, mound of earth, or length of wall that is used as a fortification. Ramparts often surround castles and forts.

The words “o’er the ramparts we watched” come from “The Star Spangled Banner” written by Francis Scott Key.

6 “Nomadland” director Zhao : CHLOE

Chloé Zhao is a Chinese filmmaker who gained international recognition with the film “Nomadland” (2020), which she wrote, directed, edited, and produced. In addition to her work in film, Zhao is also a trained classical pianist and has played in orchestras in both China and the United States.

“Nomadland” is a 2020 American drama film based on the non-fiction book “Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century” by Jessica Bruder. Both the movie and book explore the experiences of older Americans who have lost their homes and jobs and now live on the road as “nomads.” The film stars Frances McDormand as Fern, a widow who becomes a nomad after losing her job and home in a Nevada mining town. Great movie …

9 The “p” of r.p.m. : PER

Revolutions per minute (rpm)

10 Novelist Calvino : ITALO

As well as being an author, Italo Calvino was a famous Italian journalist. He was a supporter of communism and so wasn’t very popular in the US nor in Britain.

11 Places to see the romaines of the day? : SALAD BAR

Romaine is also known as cos lettuce, with the “romaine” name being most common here in North America.

18 “if u ask me” : IMHO

In my humble opinion (IMHO)

22 Pre-year 1, in brief : BCE

The designations Anno Domini (AD, “year of Our Lord”) and Before Christ (BC) are found in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The dividing point between AD and BC is the year of the conception of Jesus, with AD 1 following 1 BC without a year “0” in between. The AD/BC scheme dates back to AD 525, and gained wide acceptance soon after AD 800. Nowadays a modified version has become popular, with CE (Common/Christian Era) used to replace AD, and BCE (Before the Common/Christian Era) used to replace BC.

26 Skye of “Say Anything …” : IONE

Ione Skye is an American actress born in London, England. She is best known for portraying the character Diane Court in the 1989 high school romance movie “Say Anything…”, starring opposite John Cusack. Skye is the daughter of the Scottish folk singer Donovan.

30 Plant also known as linseed : FLAX

Flax is mainly grown for its seeds (to make oil) and for its fibers. Flax fibers have been used to make linen for centuries, certainly back as far as the days of the ancient Egyptians. Flax fibers are soft and shiny, resembling blond hair, hence the term “flaxen hair”.

31 Baby buggy, to Brits : PRAM

Another word used in Britain and Ireland that’s rarely used over here is “pram”, which in my day was the most common term for what is called a baby carriage in the US. “Pram” is short for “perambulator”.

34 2019 Taylor Swift album with a romantic theme : LOVER

Singer Taylor Swift had one of her first gigs at the US Open tennis tournament when she was in her early teens. There she sang the national anthem and received a lot of favorable attention for the performance.

35 Many a Pablo Neruda work : ODE

“Pablo Neruda” was the pen name, and eventually the legal name, used by Chilean writer Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. Basoalto chose the name as an homage to Czech poet Jan Neruda.

39 Home of the palace Hanaiakamalama : OAHU

Oahu has been called “The Gathering Place”, although the word “O’ahu” has no translation in Hawaiian. It seems that “O’ahu” is simply the name of the island. One story is that it is named after the son of the Polynesian navigator who first found the islands. The island is made up of two volcanoes, Wai’anae and Ko’olau, joined together by a broad valley, the O’ahu Plain.

47 Network with an eye logo : CBS

CBS used to be known as the Columbia Broadcasting System. CBS introduced its “eye” logo in 1951. That logo is based on a Pennsylvania Dutch hex sign.

48 Mrs., in Munich : FRAU

Munich is the capital of the German state of Bavaria, and is the third-largest city in the country (after Berlin and Hamburg). The city is called “München” in German, a term that derives from the Old German word for “by the monks’ place”, which is a reference to the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city in 1158.

50 All-out brawl : MELEE

Our term “melee” comes from the French “mêlée”, and in both languages the word means “confused fight”.

51 Courtroom banger : GAVEL

The small hammer that one raps on a table or desk to call a meeting to order, or perhaps to signify a sale at an auction, is called a gavel. The term “gavel” is actually American English, and is a word that emerged in the early 19th century.

58 Cub Scout units : DENS

As every little boy (of my era) knows, the Scouting movement was founded by Lord Baden-Powell, in 1907. He also founded the Girl Guide and Girl Scout organization in 1910, along with this sister Agnes Baden-Powell. The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) soon followed, also in 1910. The Boy Scouts motto is “Be Prepared”.

60 Toast topping : JAM

Jelly is made using strained juice from crushed fruit. Jam is similar, but the whole crushed fruit is used, and often includes seeds.

62 Letter before omega : PSI

Psi is the 23rd and penultimate letter of the Greek alphabet, and the one that looks a bit like a trident or a pitchfork.