1001-23 NY Times Crossword 1 Oct 23, Sunday

Bill’s time: 23m 05s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Flowers that Tiny Tim “tiptoed through” in a 1968 hit : TULIPS

“Tiptoe Through the Tulips” is a 1929 song that was popularized back then by jazz guitarist and singer Nick Lucas. More recently, the song became a 1968 novelty hit for ukulele player and singer Tiny Tim.

7 High-altitude grazer : ALPACA

Alpacas are like small llamas, but unlike llamas were never beasts of burden. Alpacas were bred specifically for the fleece. As such, there are no known wild alpacas these days, even in their native Peru.

13 Jazz pianist ___ Jamal : AHMAD

Ahmad Jamal is an American jazz pianist who often played with Miles Davis.

18 With 23-Across, second film to win all five major Academy Awards (1975) : ONE FLEW over …
23 See 18-Across : … THE CUCKOO’S NEST

Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is set in a psychiatric hospital in Salem, Oregon. The novel was adapted into a stage play in 1963 starring Kirk Douglas, who had purchased the rights to produce it on stage and screen. The film version was finally made in 1975, with Kirk Douglas’s son Michael Douglas as co-producer.

20 Disappear unexpectedly : GO AWOL

AWOL (absent without leave)

25 Land united by Theseus : ATTICA

The historic region of Attica is home to the city of Athens. It comprises a peninsula in the southwest of the country that juts out into the Aegean Sea. As a result, the region is sometimes referred to as the Attic peninsula.

29 Districts in N.Y.C. and London : SOHOS

The Manhattan neighborhood known today as SoHo was very fashionable in the early 1900s, but as the well-heeled started to move uptown the area became very run down and poorly maintained. Noted for the number of fires that erupted in derelict buildings, SoHo earned the nickname “Hell’s Hundred Acres”. The area was then zoned for manufacturing and became home to many sweatshops. In the mid-1900s artists started to move into open loft spaces and renovating old buildings as the lofts were ideal locations in which an artist could both live and work. In 1968, artists and others organized themselves so that they could legalize their residential use of an area zoned for manufacturing. The group they formed took its name from the name given to the area by the city’s Planning Commission i.e “South of Houston”. This was shortened from So-uth of Ho-uston to SoHo as in “SoHo Artists Association”, and the name stuck.

The area of London called Soho had a very poor reputation for most of the 20th century as it was home to the city’s red-light district. Soho went through a transformation in recent decades, and has been a very fashionable neighborhood since the 1980s.

33 Spacecraft for NASA’s Artemis 1 mission : ORION

NASA is developing a spacecraft for human exploration of asteroids and of Mars. The craft is known as the Orion MPCV (Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle).

NASA’s Artemis program has the goal of landing the first woman and the next man on the Moon by 2024. Artemis is viewed as a step along the road to sending humans to Mars in the 2030s.

38 Long of Hollywood : NIA

Nia Long is an actress who is probably best known for playing Will Smith’s sometime girlfriend and fiancee Lisa Wilkes on the TV show “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”.

39 Tolkien’s Treebeard, for example : ENT

Treebeard is the elder of the tree-like people called Ents in J. R. R. Tolkien’s series of novels set in Middle-earth.

41 Blockbuster sequel with an iconic plot twist (1980) : THE EMPIRE STRIKES back

The main “Star Wars” franchise of films, sometimes referred to as the “Skywalker Saga”, comprises three trilogies:

1. The prequel trilogy:
• Episode I – The Phantom Menace
• Episode II – Attack of the Clones
• Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
2. The original trilogy:
• Episode IV – Star Wars
• Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back
• Episode VI – Return of the Jedi
3. The sequel trilogy:
• Episode VII – The Force Awakens
• Episode VIII – The Last Jedi
• Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker

46 Ultimate medical breakthrough : PANACEA

Panacea was the Greek goddess of healing. She lent her name to the term “panacea” that was used by alchemists to describe the beguiling remedy that could cure all diseases and prolong life indefinitely.

49 A praying mantis has just one, found on its stomach(!) : EAR

The term “praying mantis” is often used for species of insects more correctly called simply “mantises”. The familiar term refers to the prayer-like posture adopted by the insect with their forelimbs folded. Strangely, the praying mantis is the only animal that we know with only one ear. That ear is located deep in the thorax or chest.

52 Midwest metropolis: Abbr. : CHI

Chicago, Illinois is the US’s third most populous city, after New York and Los Angeles. It is also home to O’Hare airport, the busiest airport in the whole world (in terms of takeoffs and landings). Chicago takes its name from the Chicago River, which in turn takes its name from the Native American word “shikaakwa” that translates as “wild onion” or “wild garlic”. Early French explorers chose this name as they found dense growths of wild garlic along the banks of the river.

53 Heavy bass? : 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 …

56 Oil holder, maybe : EASEL

The term “easel” comes from an old Dutch word meaning “donkey”, would you believe? The idea is that an easel carries its load (an oil painting, say) just as a donkey would be made to carry a load.

58 Like many Instagram influencers : PHOTOGENIC

When the word “photogenic” was coined back in the 1830s, it had the meaning “produced by light”, and came from “photo-” meaning “light” and “-genic” meaning “produced by”. Back then, the new technology of photography was referred to as “photogenic drawing”. “Photogenic” evolved into the current meaning of “photographing well” in the 1920s.

64 Yogi Bear wears one, despite having no shirt : TIE

Yogi Bear made his debut for Hanna-Barbera in 1958, on “The Huckleberry Hound Show” before he was given his own series. Do you remember that collar that Yogi wore around his neck? That was a little trick from the animators. By using the collar, for many frames all they had to do was redraw everything from the collar up, saving them lots and lots of time. Yogi and Boo-Boo lived in Jellystone Park, and made Ranger Smith’s life a misery.

65 Arles article : UNE

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”.

67 Romantic dramedy directed by Sofia Coppola (2003) : LOST in TRANSLATION

“Lost in Translation” is a very entertaining 2003 film starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. Directed by Sofia Coppola. It is about a somewhat over-the-hill movie star (Murray) who befriends a young wife (Johansson) as they are both staying at an upscale Tokyo hotel. If you’ve ever suffered from jet lag while visiting a city that’s foreign to you, this is the movie for you …

Sofia Coppola is a filmmaker, following in the footsteps of her father Francis Ford Coppola. She has made some very interesting films, with “Lost in Translation” (2003) and “Marie Antoinette” (2006) being my personal favorites. Before turning to filmmaking, Coppola appeared in front of the camera in several films. She was an infant at a baptism in “The Godfather”, an immigrant child in “The Godfather Part II”, and Michael Corleone’s daughter Mary in “The Godfather Part III”.

72 Certain chess piece : BISHOP

In the game of chess, the piece known in English as the “bishop” can have other names when translated from other languages. For example:

1. Elephant: Chinese and Russian
2. Jester: French
3. Runner: German
4. Camel: Hindi
5. Standard-bearer: Italian

77 Iceberg and others : LETTUCES

Iceberg lettuce is the most popular lettuce consumed in the US. Also known as “crisphead”, it is considered by many experts to be one of least flavorful varieties of lettuce available. I agree …

86 ___ acid : AMINO

There are 20 different types of amino acids that make up proteins. However, only 11 of them can be synthesized by the human body, while the remaining nine essential amino acids must be obtained from food sources.

88 “The Simpsons” grandpa : ABE

In the animated TV show called “The Simpsons”, Grandpa Abe Simpson is voiced by Dan Castellaneta, the same actor who provides the voice for Homer.

89 Coen brothers farce involving the C.I.A. (2008) : BURN after READING

“Burn After Reading” is a 2008 black comedy from the Coen Brothers that really disappointed (I thought). It had a great cast, headed by George Clooney, Brad Pitt, John Malkovich and the lovely Frances McDormand, but it just did not deliver. Die-hard Coen Brothers fans might want to take a look though.

103 Driving aid : TEE

A tee is a small device on which, say, a golf ball is placed before striking it. The term “tee” comes from the Scottish “teaz”, which described little heaps of sand used to elevate a golf ball for the purpose of getting a clean hit with a club.

104 Nail polish brand : ESSIE

Essie Cosmetics is a company that was founded by Essie Weingarten, and which is now owned by L’Oreal. Apparently, Queen Elizabeth II would only wear Essie’s Ballet Slippers color nail polish. Well, that’s what Wikipedia claims …

105 Precursor to Windows : MS-DOS

MS-DOS (short for “Microsoft Disk Operating System”) was the main operating system used by IBM-compatible PCs in the eighties and for much of the nineties. Microsoft introduced the Windows operating environment in 1985 to sit above MS-DOS as a graphical user interface (GUI). That move was made in response to the success of Apple’s GUI released with the Lisa and Macintosh platforms. A court case ensued, one that was eventually settled in court in favor of Microsoft.

114 With an unseen portion of 128-Across, Oscar-winning martial arts film (2000) : CROUCHING TIGER, hidden dragon

“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” is a martial arts movie released in 2000. Despite the film’s Mandarin dialogue, it still became a huge international hit. “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” grossed well over $100 million in the US alone, and is still the highest-grossing foreign-language film in American history.

124 Caterpillars, e.g. : LARVAE

Caterpillars are the larval form of butterflies and moths.

125 Prix fixe offering : SET MENU

On a restaurant menu, items that are “à la carte” are priced and ordered separately. A menu marked “table d’hôte” (also called “prix fixe”) is a fixed-price menu with limited choice. “Table d’hôte” translates from French as “table of the host”.

126 “Dónde ___?” (“Where are you?”) : ESTAS

127 Home visits? : AT-BATS

128 Deliberately procrastinate : (DRAG ON)E’S FEET

Down

1 Tyke : TOT

“Tyke” has been used playfully to describe a young child since at least 1902 For centuries before that, a tyke was a cur or mongrel, or perhaps a lazy or lower-class man.

2 Granite State campus, in brief : UNH

The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is the largest university in the state. UNH was founded as the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts in 1866 in Hanover. The college was moved to Durham in the early 1890s, which is where UNH’s main campus is located to this day. The school’s athletic teams are known as the Wildcats.

New Hampshire is called the Granite State, because it has lots of granite quarries and granite formations.

3 Spike of cinema : LEE

Film director Spike Lee was born in Atlanta, Georgia but has very much made New York City his home and place of work. Most of Lee’s films are set in New York City, including his first feature film, 1986’s “She’s Gotta Have It”. That film was shot over two weeks with a budget of $175,000. “She’s Gotta Have It” grossed over $7 million at the US box office.

4 “Portlandia” airer : IFC

“Portlandia” is a satirical sketch show that airs on the Independent Film Channel (IFC). The show is set in Portland, Oregon and takes its name from a statue called “Portlandia” which sits above the entrance to a building in downtown Portland. The statue is a copper repoussé work, and is second in size in the US only to the Statue of Liberty.

5 Fruits that are 87% water : PLUMS

There are many plum tree cultivars that bear edible fruit. Examples are damsons, prune plums, greengages and mirabelles.

6 Dry, like some Rioja wine : SECO

Rioja wines come from the province of La Rioja in Northern Spain. In my days living back in Europe, Rioja wines were noted for their heavy oaky flavors and it wasn’t uncommon to order a “rough Rioja” when out for dinner of an evening.

10 Leave gobsmacked : AWE

“Gobsmack” is slang from Britain and Ireland. “Gob” is also slang for “mouth”. So someone who is gobsmacked has received a smack in the “mouth”, is stunned.

12 Lead-in to cumulus : ALTO-

Altocumulus clouds are globular clouds seen in layers at medium altitudes. The name comes from the Latin “altus” meaning “high”, and “cumulus” meaning “heaped”.

14 Warm offering at a sushi bar : HOT SAKE

We refer to the Japanese alcoholic beverage made from rice as “sake”. We’ve gotten things a bit mixed up in the West. “Sake” is actually the word that the Japanese use for all alcoholic drinks. What we know as sake, we sometimes refer to as rice wine. Also, the starch in the rice is first converted to sugars that are then fermented into alcohol. This is more akin to a beer-brewing process than wine production, so the end product is really a rice “beer” rather than a rice “wine”.

15 Line of Android smartphones : MOTO

The original Motorola is now two independent companies called Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions. Motorola started in 1928 as the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation in Chicago. Founder Paula V. Galvin created the brand name “Motorola” for a car radio the company developed in 1930. He linked “motor” (meaning “car”) with “-ola” (meaning “sound”), implying “sound in motion”.

16 Semiautobiographical film set in rural Montana (1992) : A RIVER RUNS through it

“A River Runs Through It” is a 1992 film based on the novella of the same name published in 1976 by Norman Maclean. The movie was directed by Robert Redford and stars Brad Pitt among others.

30 Native Americans of Nebraska : OMAHAS

The Omaha Nation was one of the most welcoming of the Native American tribes, never resisting the influx of European explorers and traders. The Omaha even fought alongside Union troops during the American Civil War, and have stood by the US people ever since. Regardless, the Omaha people lost most of their land and now reside on the Omaha Reservation in northeastern Nebraska and western Iowa.

35 Certain religious leaders : IMAMS

An imam is a Muslim leader, and often the person in charge of a mosque and/or perhaps a Muslim community.

36 Mayberry character : OPIE

Opie Taylor is the character played by Ron Howard on “The Andy Griffith Show”. Opie lives with widowed father Andy Taylor (played by Andy Griffith) and his great-aunt Beatrice “Aunt Bee” Taylor (played by Frances Bavier). Ron Howard first played the role in 1960 in the pilot show, when he was just 5 years old. Howard sure has come a long way since playing Opie Taylor. He has directed some fabulous movies including favorites of mine like “Apollo 13”, “A Beautiful Mind” and “The Da Vinci Code”.

37 Author Anaïs : NIN

Anaïs Nin was a French author who was famous for the journals that she wrote for over sixty years from the age of 11 right up to her death. Nin also wrote highly regarded erotica and cited D. H. Lawrence as someone from whom she drew inspiration. Nin was married to banker and artist Hugh Parker Guiler in 1923. Decades later in 1955, Nin married former actor Rupert Pole, even though she was still married to Guiler. Nin and Pole had their marriage annulled in 1966, but just for legal reasons, and they continued to live together as husband and wife until Nin passed away in 1977.

43 Actress Brosnahan of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” : RACHEL

Actress Rachel Brosnahan is best known for playing the title character in the comedy drama “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”. Prior to that success, she had a recurring role playing sex worker Rachel Posner in the political thriller “House of Cards”.

47 Dietary measure : CALORIE

I wish we’d stop using the term “calorie”, because it is so confusing. In terms of physics, a calorie is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree celsius (at one atmosphere of pressure). The so-called “food calorie” is one thousand times as large, as it is defined in terms of kilograms instead of grams. In attempts to differentiate between these two definitions, the former is sometimes referred to as the “small calorie” and is given the symbol “cal”. The latter is referred to as the “large calorie” and given the symbol “Cal”, with a capital C. If only we’d use the SI system of units, we’d be thinking in just joules, instead of large and small and food calories.

64 They deal with a lot of baggage, for short : TSA

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is the agency that employs the good folks who check passengers and baggage at airports.

68 Entertainment at many a wedding : LIVE DJ

The world’s first radio disc jockey (DJ) was one Ray Newby of Stockton, California who made his debut broadcast in 1909, would you believe? When he was 16 years old and a student, Newby started to play his records on a primitive radio located in the Herrold College of Engineering and Wireless in San Jose. The records played back then were mostly recordings of Enrico Caruso.

69 Lucille Clifton’s “Homage to My Hips,” for one : ODE

Author Lucille Clifton served as Poet Laureate of Maryland from 1979 to 1985. Clifton’s poetry is known for its personal explorations of themes such as race, gender, family, and identity. She wrote many poems about her own body, using parts of her body to explore the perception of African-American women within our society.

71 Book after Leviticus : NUMBERS

The Book of Numbers in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles relates much of the journey of Moses and the Israelites from Egypt to the promised land. The title comes from the numbering of the people that is described in the beginning of the book.

73 Paris’s ___ de la Cité : ILE

There are two famous “îles” (islands) in the middle of the River Seine in Paris, one being the Île de la Cité, and the other Île Saint-Louis. Île de la Cité is the most renowned of the two, as it is home to the cathedral of Notre-Dame.

74 Dark comedy about a carnivorous plant (1960, 1986) : little SHOP OF HORRORS

“Little Shop of Horrors” is a 1982 rock musical based on the cult 1960 film “The Little Shop of Horrors”. The stage musical was adapted into a 1986 film of the same name, directed by Frank Oz. Not my cup of tea …

78 Madrid or Barcelona, por ejemplo : CIUDAD

Madrid is the most populous city in Spain, and is the nation’s capital. It is located very close to the geographical center of the country. Madrid is the second-largest city in the European Union by population, after Berlin. People from Madrid called themselves Madrileños.

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain, after the capital Madrid. It is also the largest European city that sits on the Mediterranean coast, and the capital city of the autonomous community of Catalonia.

79 Physicist Fermi : ENRICO

Enrico Fermi was born in Rome, Italy. He moved to the US just before WWII, largely to escape the anti-Semitic feelings that were developing in Italy under Mussolini. Fermi traveled from Rome to Stockholm in 1938 to receive that year’s Nobel Prize in Physics. Instead of returning to Italy, Fermi and his family traveled on to New York City, where they applied for permanent residency. It was Fermi’s work at the University of Chicago that led to the construction of the world’s first nuclear reactor. Fermi died at 53 years of age from stomach cancer . Cancer was a prevalent cause of death among the team working on that first nuclear pile.

80 Bono and Liston : SONNYS

Sonny Bono was a recording artist who later moved into the world of politics. As a musical entertainer, Bono was most famous for his recordings as a duo with Cher, who later became his second wife. The couple divorced, but continued to work together. Bono went into politics, first as the mayor of Palm Springs, California and later as a representative for a California district in the US House of Representatives. Sadly, Bono was killed in a skiing accident in 1998. Coincidently, Michael Kennedy (son of Robert F. Kennedy) had died in a similar skiing accident just one week earlier. The epitaph on Bono’s gravestone reads “And the Beat Goes On”, a reference to the 1967 Sonny & Cher hit “The Beat Goes On”, which was written by Sonny.

Sonny Liston won the heavyweight boxing championship in 1962 by knocking out Floyd Patterson in the first round. Liston suffered a first-round defeat himself in 1965, to Muhammad Ali. The picture of Ali standing over Liston was featured on the cover of a special “Sports Illustrated” edition featuring “The Century’s Greatest Sports Photos”.

83 Beyoncé’s “If I Were ___” : A BOY

“If I Were a Boy” is a 2008 song co-written and performed by singer-songwriter and actress BC Jean. Beyoncé recorded a cover version that same year, the version that is most well known.

84 Univ. of Maryland athletes : TERPS

The sports teams of the University of Maryland are called the Maryland Terrapins, or “Terps” for short. The name dates back to 1932 when it was coined by the university’s president at the time, Curley Byrd. He took the name from the diamondback terrapins that are native to the Chesapeake Bay.

85 Longtime N.B.A. executive ___ Ujiri : MASAI

Masai Ujiri is a former professional basketball player who became president of basketball operations for the Toronto Raptors in 2016. Ujiri was born to a Nigerian family in Bournemouth on the south coast of England, and moved back to Nigeria with his family when he was a toddler. He left Nigeria to play college basketball in the US, before returning to England to play as a professional. After a playing career with various teams in Europe, he turned to coaching in North America.

89 Classic cars : REOS

The REO Motor Company was founded by Ransom Eli Olds (hence the name REO). The company made cars, trucks and buses, and was in business from 1905 to 1975 in Lansing, Michigan. Among the company’s most famous models were the REO Royale 8 and the REO Flying Cloud.

90 “The Hurt Locker” danger, for short : IED

Improvised explosive device (IED)

The 2008 movie “The Hurt Locker” is a disturbing drama about a US Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team on the front lines during the Iraq War. The film appears to be very realistic, and was filmed in Jordan just a few miles from the Iraqi border. The screenplay was written by Mark Boal, a journalist who was embedded with an EOD team in 2004. “The Hurt Locker” won six Academy Awards, including Best Director for Kathryn Bigelow, the first woman to be so honored.

93 Roald Dahl heroine : MATILDA

“Matilda” is a children’s novel by Welsh author Roald Dahl. Hero of the piece is an extraordinary little girl called Matilda Wormwood.

97 Door parts : JAMBS

A door jamb or window jamb is the vertical portion of the frame. The term “jamb” comes from the French word “jambe” meaning “leg”.

98 Cousin of euchre : ECARTE

Écarté is a card game that comes to us from France, with a name that translates into ‘discarded”. Écarté is similar to whist but is played with a stripped-down deck and involves only two players.

Euchre is a card game that probably came to the US from Germany, introduced by German farmers who settled in Wisconsin. Euchre is a trick-taking game usually played by four people in two partnerships. Unlike bridge, Euchre is played with a stripped down deck of 24 or 32 cards. The verb “to euchre” is slang for “to cheat, swindle”, a term that presumably comes from the card game.

100 A.P.R. reducer, potentially : REFI

Annual percentage rate (APR)

108 Bruins’ home, in brief : UCLA

The UCLA Bruins’ mascots are Joe and Josephine Bruin, characters that have evolved over the years. There used to be “mean” Bruin mascots but they weren’t very popular with the fans, so now there are only “happy” Bruin mascots at the games.

109 Idiot, in Britspeak : PRAT

“Prat” is a slang term for the buttocks. A “prat-fall” is when someone falls and lands on the buttocks. The term “prat” is also British slang for “contemptible person”.

112 Pulitzer Prize winner for “A Death in the Family” : AGEE

“A Death in the Family” is a 1957 novel by James Agee. It is about the death of a father and the impact it has on his family. The novel won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1958, and was adapted into a 1963 film “All the Way Home” starring Jean Simmons and Robert Preston.

116 A.C.C. school : UVA

The University of Virginia (UVA) sports teams are known officially as “the Cavaliers”. The unofficial nickname is “the Wahoos”.

117 Garfield or Sylvester : CAT
118 Garfield and Sylvester : HES

“Garfield” is a comic strip drawn by Jim Davis from 1978. The title character is an orange tabby cat. Davis named his cartoon hero Garfield after his own grandfather.

Sylvester J. Pussycat is also known as Puddy Tat, and is a character who appeared in “Looney Tunes” and “Merrie Melodies” cartoons. Sylvester is the cat who is often trying to get the better of Tweety Bird, Speedy Gonzales and Hippety Hopper. Sylvester’s trademark line is the exclamation “Sufferin’ succotash!”, which emphasizes the character’s pronounced lisp.

119 Global economic org. : IMF

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was established at the end of 1945 with 29 major economies supporting and funding an effort to stabilize economies across the globe after WWII. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the IMF has 187 member countries.