1017-23 NY Times Crossword 17 Oct 23, Tuesday

Bill’s time: 6m 43s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Highland garment outlawed by the Disclothing Act of 1746 : KILT

The Scottish skirt called a “kilt” takes its name from the Middle English word “kilten” meaning “to tuck up”. The idea is that the kilt can be tucked up around the body to give freedom to the legs.

9 Paris subway : METRO

The Paris Métro is the busiest underground transportation system in western Europe. The network carries about 4.5 million passengers a day, which is about the same ridership as the New York City Subway. The system took its name from the company that originally operated it, namely “La Compagnie du chemin de fer métropolitain de Paris” (The Metropolitan Paris Railroad Company), which was shortened to “Métro”. The term “Metro” was then adopted for similar systems in cities all over the world.

17 S, in Morse code : DOT DOT DOT

The first telegraph message in the US was sent by Samuel Morse from the US Capitol in 1844. The message was received by a B&O railroad depot in Baltimore, Maryland. The message content was the words “WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT”, a quotation from the Book of Numbers in the Bible.

20 Friend of Tarzan : APE

Kala is the fictional ape that rescues the infant Tarzan from the dangerous leader of the apes. In the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel, Kala is killed a few years later by a hunter, for which Tarzan exacts the ultimate revenge. In the 1999 Disney adaptation of the story, Kala doesn’t die.

24 Priestly vestment : ALB

An alb is a white, neck-to-toe vestment worn by priests, usually with a rope cord around the waist. The term alb comes from “albus”, the Latin word for “white”.

31 Emphatic challenge : DOUBLE-DOG DARE

The idiomatic phrase “double-dog dare” is very American, and dates back at least to the 1940s. One reference from back then cites the incrementally daring sequence:

• I dare you
• I dog dare you
• I double-dog dare you
• I black-dog dare you
• I double-black-dog dare you

36 Japanese audio brand : AIWA

Aiwa was a Japanese company that produced consumer electronics, mainly audio and video equipment. Sony bought Aiwa in 2002 and eventually discontinued the brand in 2006. The Aiwa trademark was acquired by a Chicago-based consumer electronics company in 2015.

37 Covers, as a country road : TARS

The terms “tarmac” and “macadam” are short for “tarmacadam”. In the 1800s, Scotsman John Loudon McAdam developed a style of road known as “macadam”. Macadam had a top-layer of crushed stone and gravel laid over larger stones. The macadam also had a convex cross-section so that water tended to drain to the sides. In 1901, a significant improvement was made by English engineer Edgar Purnell Hooley who introduced tar into the macadam, improving the resistance to water damage and practically eliminating dust. The “tar-penetration macadam” is the basis of what we now call “tarmac”.

42 “Kiss From a Rose” singer : SEAL

Seal’s song “Kiss From a Rose” was originally released in 1994, and re-released in 1995 when it was included in the soundtrack of the movie “Batman Forever”.

43 Middle: Prefix : MESO-

The prefix “meso-” means “middle, intermediate” and comes from the Greel “mesos” meaning “middle”. Examples of the use of the prefix are in the terms “Mesoamerica” and “Mesozoic”.

49 Irish name variant derived from John : SHAYNE

The name “John” translates into Scottish as “Ian” or “Iain”, into Russian as “Ivan”, into Italian as “Giovanni”, into Spanish as “Juan”, into Welsh as “Evan”, and into Irish as “Seán”.

52 Free spot, in brief : PSA

Public service announcement (PSA)

54 Lead-in to meter : DECI-

A decimeter is one tenth of a meter.

59 Feminine aspect of the masculine personality, in Jungian psychology : ANIMA

The concepts of anima and animus are found in the Carl Jung school of analytical psychology. The idea is that within each male there resides a feminine inner personality called the anima, and within each female there is a male inner personality known as the animus.

67 Home of the Inca Trail : PERU

The Incas built almost 25,000 miles of road, and much of that roadway system persists to this day. The most famous section is known as the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. The backbone of the system is formed by two north-south routes, one running along the west coast of the continent, and the other running relatively parallel, further inland.

68 Coldplay’s “___ la Vida” : VIVA

Coldplay is a rock band that was formed in London in 1996 by Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland. Chris Martin was married to the American actress Gwyneth Paltrow for twelve years.

69 Drawn-out military attack : SIEGE

Our word “siege” comes from a 13th-century word for a “seat”. The military usage derives from the concept of a besieging force “sitting down” outside a fortress until it falls.

71 Throw forcefully, in modern parlance : YEET

In contemporary slang, to yeet is to throw away, discard. “To yeet” usually implies the use of force and a general disregard for what is being discarded. As in, “I really want to yeet the word ‘yeet’ …”

Down

7 Thematic element in 2023’s “Oppenheimer” : ATOM

J. Robert Oppenheimer was a key member of the Manhattan Project team, the man who led the group of scientists and engineers who designed and built the first atomic bombs. After WWII, Oppenheimer became a chief advisor to the US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). Like many scientists who worked on the development of atomic weapons, Oppenheimer spent many years lobbying against nuclear proliferation.

9 Car whose emblem is a trident : MASERATI

Maserati is a manufacturer of luxury cars in Italy. The company was founded in Bologna in 1914 by five brothers: Alfieri, Bindo, Carlo, Ettore and Ernesto Maserati. The company uses a trident logo that is based on the trident depicted in the Fountain of Neptune in the Piazza Maggiore in Bologna.

11 Crack after a bolt : THUNDERCLAP

The word “thunder” precedes the word “lightning” in the phrase “thunder and lightning”. However, thunder comes after lighting in reality, at least to the observer. The observer sees the flash of lightning and then seconds later hears the crash of thunder. That’s because light travels faster than sound.

12 Soprano Fleming : RENEE

Renée Fleming is a marvelous soprano from Indiana, Pennsylvania. Famous for her appearances in opera houses and concert halls all over the world, Fleming is also noted for her willingness to bring her craft to the masses. She was a guest on “Sesame Street” singing “counting lyrics” to an aria from “Rigoletto”, and she has appeared a few times on Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion”.

38 Daniel who led a 1786-87 rebellion : SHAYS

Shays’ Rebellion was an uprising around Springfield Massachusetts in 1786-7, led by Daniel Shays. The rebels were mainly farmers who were struggling to survive under the burden of debt and taxes.

40 Arizona city that hosts the Fiesta Bowl : GLENDALE

The Fiesta Bowl is a college football bowl game played every year at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona.

48 ___ pot (receptacle for clearing nasal passages) : NETI

A neti pot is a spouted vessel that is used for nasal irrigation. “Neti” is a Sanskrit word meaning “nasal cleansing”.

50 Saigon’s counterpart, once : HANOI

Hanoi (“Hà Nội” in Vietnamese) was the capital of North Vietnam, and Saigon the capital of South Vietnam. After the Vietnam War, Hanoi was made capital of the reunified state. Saigon, the larger metropolis, was renamed to Ho Chi Minh City. Hanoi is located in the delta of the Red River, and is just over 50 miles from the Gulf of Tonkin in the South China Sea.

55 11-time sci-fi role for Anthony Daniels : C-3PO

C-3PO (or “Threepio”) is the protocol droid that appears in the “Star Wars” movie franchise.

60 Ryan of rom-coms : MEG

“Meg Ryan” is the stage name of the actress Margaret Mary Hyra. Ryan’s big break came with the excellent 1989 movie “When Harry Met Sally …”, from which she went on to star in some of the most popular romantic comedies ever made.

65 Fink : RAT

A fink is an informer, someone who rats out his or her cohorts.